#she actually HAS a reason to complain but she's a clever person who grew up extremely marginalized and knows how to play the game

[llycaons]

spinning silver has an extremely rigid and vicious fantasy hierarchy involving the suicide of 'failed' servants similar to tge but unlike tge it also has the main character go 'this is incredibly fucked up oh my GOD' and even though the entire book and the entire pov is spent with maia, it feels like miryem's relationship with power is explored with actual nuance bc it's not presupposed she's Always Good and Right before she even steps into the room. even in this small scene it's better handled! she does screw up, she does misuse her new power, she does internally AND externally interrogate that. and even though her title is just as forced on her as maia's was, and even tho she's surrounded by (from her pov) literal monsters who kidnapped her, trap her, neglect her, and force her to use her wits every single day just to stay alive, she's WAY less of a whiner than maia was. 'wahhh my attendant's don't approve of me I'm such a victim' dude you are the literal MOST powerful person in the entire kingdom if you don't shut the fuck up....

[chalkrevelations]

SO, Episode 28 of Word of Honor was a roller-coaster ride.

(Spoilers, as ever, so scroll away and come back later if you want to see it unspoiled.)

They managed two entirely separate scenes in this one that had me going “Did … did that just happen? Is this really happening?” Let’s get this one out of the way first: The scene of Zhao Jing in his serial killer lair with the altar and memorial tablets and his serial killer trophies. Y’all. I swear, scene opens with a shot from behind of drunk Awful Yifu in his Fantasy Ancient China underwear staggering through a set of doors into a room with candles and draperies, and before I was able to register the rest of the set design, my brain gave a terrified squeak and started rabbiting around like, “Oh my god, please do not let this be Xie’er’s bedroom. Oh my god, they wouldn’t actually go there, not even hinted, surely that would be too far!” Then my eyeballs caught up and registered the set, so I thought I was safe, but that didn’t even turn out to be the moment in the scene that had me going “Is this really happening?” (Although I do think the fact my brain immediately jumped to that scenario speaks to the creepy vibe the show has managed to build between Awful Yifu and Xie Wang). So, Zhao Jing is a sloppy drunk and absolutely shitfaced, stumbling around and yelling at his dead brothers, and I’m sitting here watching him, feeling like I need a shower, with my skin a little bit trying to crawl off my body, and then he picks up Rong Xuan’s memorial tablet and pours an entire stream of alcohol out of the pitcher all over it, and I say, out loud, to the screen, “Oh my god, they just had him figuratively piss on that tablet.” Only, no, they didn’t, because there was no need to have him do it figuratively because then, he literally whips it out of his pants and takes a piss on the tablet, complete with sound effects, and I’m open-mouthed, thinking “Is this really happening?” As some background, I grew up in mainstream U.S. culture where ancestor veneration isn’t formally practiced - although it isn’t an entirely absent part of our cultural mythos, it’s just that now when I when I offer cultus to the Patres Patriae, it’s deliberate and intentional – but I’ve been doing ancestor work in my particular flavor of polytheism for long enough, and intensely enough, that I had a visceral reaction of disgust and horror to this. Hand literally clapped over my mouth in shock, even after watching all of his ranting at his dead brothers and spitting at his dead shifu and just generally being a disrespectful asshole with delusions of grandeur building up to it. So, yes, show, you have indeed convinced me that Awful Yifu is the worst, even in an episode that also devoted that much screentime to Prince Jin.

Fortunately, the other “Is this really happening?” moment was at the other end of the spectrum, somewhere in the face of how married Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are, which I cannot believe passed censorship. I know I keep saying that, but every time I think I’ve adjusted to how far they’re going to go, the show laughs gay-ly as it pushes the envelope another mile down the road. Truly, this show is the gift that keeps on giving where these two are concerned, and not just because of Zhang Zhehan’s face. I realize I had to spend 50 episodes deciphering Lan Wangji’s smallest microexpression (not that I’m complaining), but I can’t believe how expressive both Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun are in these roles, with Gong Jun’s little sadness eyebrows when WKX wants ZZS to humor him, and how soft Zhang Zhehan’s face gets when ZZS looks at WKX, and how great they both are at making all this look like a pair of adults who are in an established relationship and confident of each other. I’d be as weak as Wen Kexing if Zhou Zishu pouted at me the way he does when he tells Chengling that he can’t do anything to help decorate the Manor except observe and direct because he’s oh, so injured and frail, poor him. Wen Kexing can laugh at Zhou Zishu when ZZS pokes at him by saying the papercrafter was such a beauty! (Compare this to his reaction back in the day, when ZZS deftly manipulated him out of bringing A-Xiang along on their honeymoon adventures by calling her a beauty and implying she might draw attention away from WKX!) Wen Kexing waves kitchen knives at Zhou Zishu in (somewhat fond) exasperation! Zhou Zishu now accepts Wen Kexing piling his plate with food at the table as perfectly normal! There’s no crying in Spring Festival! They send their kid outside to watch the fireworks so they can have sex some alone time! (Merciless killers. How the fuck so adorable?) Someone must have backed up an entire truckful of money to the house of someone very important to get this aired, because what is the heterosexual explanation for … any of this?

Other thoughts:

We continue to get small things that maintain the parallels between Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishou and Gu Xiang/Cao Weining, including the mirrored theme of finding a home with a welcoming family, shown through family dinner, and expressed through WKX’s description of his former self as a “lonely ghost,” echoing A-Xiang’s self-description (to Shen Shen in an earlier ep) the same way.

HAN YING! Listen, I am stupidly attached to this bit player, and not just because he’s a familiar face (because half of Wen Xu’s screentime in The Untamed was just a disembodied head hanging at the entrance to the Unclean Realm, so it’s not like there was time to get … attached). And I say stupidly attached because ever since we first saw the way he looked at ZZS with big puppy heart-eyes, I knew he was going to be a goner. I just know they’re gonna fridge him for the next step in ZZS’s journey, because something has to pry ZZS out of Four Seasons Manor, as much as I, personally, would like nothing better than to see 8 more episodes of wedded bliss for two gay dads and their son. (OK, one thing I would like better would be if their daughter and son-in-law came to live with them, too.) At least it looks like Han Ying will get to die taking a figurative bullet for ZZS, which will make him happy and might prevent him from finding out the Glazed Armor he’s so proud of bringing is actually pointless, because don’t think that didn’t hurt to know while I watched him being so proud of managing to get his hands on it. But I’d prefer he didn’t die at all, show. Also, why on earth are there only two (completed) stories under the ZZS/Han Ying label on AO3? Because yes, I have looked. I have the search open in another tab right now. Why haven’t more people taken advantage of this guy’s utter devotion for ZZS? How are people looking at the way Han Ying reverently brushes his fingers over the single white blossom on the wall mural in ZZS’s rooms back in Prince Jin’s palace and not falling all over that?

Xie’er, oh, Xie’er. You’re killing me, here. I need someone to rescue you, you desperate affection-starved little sociopath. So, to recap, last time we met, your Awful Yifu finally let it slip that he was never ever going to acknowledge your existence in public. So now, you’re being a very clever boy, setting up a scheme to manipulate him into having to publicly acknowledge you if he’s going to claim credit for your successes (because I’m sure you can’t even contemplate failure) in service to Prince Jin. So clever, but I hate to tell you, you’re clever at everything except learning from your mistakes when it comes to your Awful Yifu. You really learned nothing from Beauty Ghost, did you? Ugh, your sad little face as you watch your hot mess of an Awful Yifu while you wait for the maids to make tea – it hurts me. Please tell me you’re playing some kind of long game, and you’re just a really great actor. Because he’s sloppy drunk, and right now, watching your face journey, I think maybe you think that makes what he’s saying true – that he’s not guarding his words, and he means it when he tells you that of course he loves you and would never leave you. “Are you still angry with me?” Awful Yifu literally asks. “Alright, I’ll apologize. I was just mad. It didn’t mean anything. We’re together in this. I’ll always stand by you.” Xie’er, you have got to stop believing gaslighting abusive men who shovel that BS. This is what they call the honeymoon period in the cycle of abuse. Seriously. This is textbook. Please stop making the same mistakes over and over again. Maybe think about the fact that your Awful Yifu is, single-handedly, the reason the Department of the Unfaithful actually exists in the first place. He is THAT AWFUL. I would like to think actually seeing his serial killer trophy room will make a difference, now that you have some confirmation of what Tragicomic Ghost told you and not the ability to wave it off as part of some he-said, she-said situation where how could we ever possibly know the truth, despite the fact that Zhao Jing has shown he’ll stab anyone in the back in his quest for power? But, then, I also thought maybe learning last ep that he never planned to publicly acknowledge you would make some kind of difference. Are you going to roll the dice again, gambler? Because I’ll tell you right now, the house always wins. (Not that you’d listen to me anymore than you listened to Beauty Ghost.)

(Also, wait wait waitwaitwait. Waitaminit. This is pure speculation and probably way too out there to be true (oh, but, someone’s going to write this AU for me, right?) Hot-mess drunk yifu tells Xie’er that they’ve been depending on each other “ever since I picked you up and brought you back home.” I can’t remember if we know anything about Xie Wang’s background at this point, but it does sound like Zhao Jing might have literally yoinked him off the street to raise him. He … he doesn’t think Xie’er is actually Yan’er, does he? Only he kidnapped the wrong orphaned urchin by mistake? I’m just sayin’, thinking back to Shen Shen’s reaction to finding out Zhen Yan was still alive, it would be exactly the kind of thing Zhao Jing would do, to keep this kid that his brother(s) wanted to find hidden right under their noses.)

Chengling and the chicken. I can’t, y’all. And Zhou Zishu’s face as soon as he realizes what Wen Kexing is telling Chengling to do – he knows this is going to be a show.

Prince Jin, you are almost as bad as Xie’r and his awful Yifu combined:

Prince Jin: Zhou Zishu, you mastermind, your super-secret spy network continues to spread everywhere, including into my very own palace. Oh, the things you must be plotting against me!

Zhou Zishu, chillin’ at Plum Blossom Manor, day-drinking, dressing up in pretty festive robes, taking advantage of his disciple’s unpaid labor so he doesn’t have to raise a finger for himself, and providing his husband with sex so incredible he is never required to actually cook: “OK, my gay husband and our son-with-two-dads, how about we just stay here together forever and be happy?”

Also Prince Jin: *Creeps on Zhou Zishu like a gaslighting m’fker*

Anyway, if Prince Jin always knew what Han Ying was up to all along, is the letter about ZZS’s father a plant, with false info? It was just kind of suspiciously hanging out in the open on Prince Jin’s desk.

[lilallama]

(Sorry if I spell something wrongly lol) Idk, This is my opinion? Gryffindor, Jungkook. Hufflepuff, Taehyung & Yoongi. Ravenclaw, Namjoon & Jin. Slytherin, Jimin & Hobi??? I literally just searched the meaning of each house and just picked one based on the personality shown. Also, If you don't think this matches them, Sorry ;-;

[Don't worry, sweetie ^^. You don't have to apologise! 💕🍑]

Hoseok is a lot more two faced than I actually tend to show. The way he presents himself is mostly a mask. While he seems mostly calm on the outside, he's actually quite the opposite on the inside. Out of all the boys it'd be easiest for him to manipulate/influence Y/n (@bangtans-apollo Tae is quacking-) and he's aware of that. That's one of the reasons why they started the club 1. To protect Y/n, 2. The club concept came because it'd be easier to meet up and they would automatically get a clubroom and 3. Hoseok threatened to tell on them if they don't join, he'd make Y/n despise each one of them.

He is a strong leader (one of the Slytherin traits), I try to make him resourceful (but I am not myself so that might not shine through too much), he is definitely cunning. The whole ordeal with wanting to be with Y/n no matter what is pretty ambitious, I'd say. And lastly the traditionalism trait, he is very into tradition and has to keep his domestic fantasies with Y/n a secret. His parents raised him very traditional, he would hate it if (female) Y/n would ask him out first or would propose first and would at first frown upon his attention to (male or non binary) Y/n.

All in all Slytherin seems very accurate.

Now concerning Jimin; similar to Hoseok he too can be a two faced snake. He doesn't hide his true thoughts from Y/n or the boys, if anything he overshares sometimes (one time he started talking to Taehyung about some... rather inappropriate things concerning Y/n. That got his Y/n privilege taken away for a whole month). And despite practically pleading to be the "dumb bimbo" stereotype, he is surprisingly clever and intelligent. Before Highschool, before he made his first experiences with popular boys, he was a straight A's and B's student. Yet once he had his first boyfriend, he discovered that the people surrounding him typically preferred the dumb blondes. (He actually broke up with the captain of the football team for Y/n.)

He also sometimes displays ambitious, just in a whiney sort of way. Self preservation is definitely something. Unlike Taehyung, Yoongi, Namjoon or Jeongguk, he wouldn't let himself be killed for Y/n's sake. If Y/n were to be killed he would end up deluding himself into thinking a person who looks similar to them is them and would force Y/n's personality and style on them. Cunningness is 100% accurate. He's fake. He pretends to be a silly sweetheart who loves everyone but will spread rumours about you, blame things on you etc. and everyone believes him. His cunningness concerning Y/n is more whiney than anything.

So I do think Jimin fits Slytherin.

Namjoon was raised by strict parents who forbade him a tremendous amount of things and painted his world for him. It was engraved in his head, he was going to be the CEO of their company one day. Yet despite everything he still had a head of his own. Maye it was because if his high IQ that he understood that his parents weren't the only opinion in his life. Don't get me wrong, they still left him scarred (sadly literally, as his father once hit him bloody) and traumatised but not without a mind of his own. Ever since he was small creativity and originality was something he admired and loved. It was partly reason of why he fell for Y/n, their individuality, their mind, their heart, their soul.

We will not need to discuss intelligence, it's a trait he undoubtedly has. He is always willing to learn and showed interest in many different things before Y/n captured his focus. He is most likely one of the wisest members as he is aware of how twisted his love for them truly is (once again something I tend to fail at portraying) and tried to stop it when it started. But somehow that only made everything worse and by now he doesn't care anymore at all. When he was a child he used to be more openly curious than nowadays (as it caused him many punishments from his parents).

I feel that Namjoon would fit Ravenclaw.

Seokjin was spoiled all his life. His parents adored him, other kids adored him, everyone adored him. While he might've acted oblivious he knew that it's because of his money. Similar to Jimin, Seokjin changed when he entered high school. While he always was a pretty intelligent and well behaved student (still very arrogant though) he then became less concerned with studies and once made a teacher cry (that was before he met Y/n). He loves standing out as an individual, that includes making anyone change who crosses his path with the same outfit (not in school as they wear a school uniform. But outside, yes, he has that much power. Everyone knows Kim Seokjin).

As said before, Seokjin is far from stupid. He is a very intelligent individual but doesn't show the extent of his nolage. Instead aiming for a cool "Queen B" persona. He is witty with his comebacks (something I cannot write because I do not possess that superpower), he's quick with his words. He holds respect for people who are 60+ years old as he believes they've been through a lot in life already. These people have wisdom he could only gain by experience and that he respects (there is one very sweet lady that lives alone in a very big mansion a few streets away from his penthouse. He always visits her because he loves her genuine kindness. When he met Y/n she recently passed away and he saw a part of her in them).

Seokjin could qualify for a Ravenclaw.

Taehyung was raised by a very Christian family that he still cherishes very much. Because of their intense belief he was raised to worship. He never fell in love, so when Y/n crossed paths with his, he started showing love how he's used to it (Out of all the boys Taehyung is straight up insane. Something in his brain might be wired wrong, there is no explanation on why he likes them, on why he believed that's what love is because his parents treated him with normal, familiar love. So he is simply sick, there is no "saving" him. He's better of in a mental hospital). But he was always a very kind boy. Giving instead of taking, never wanting anything in return. Out of everyone, Taehyung was the one who welcomed new students and made tons of friends. But he grew out of it as his focus turned to art. He aimed to make his parents proud so he didn't have time for friends.

His loyalty is unlike any other. You could torture him half dead and he'd still forgive you, stay loyal to you, serve you. He is Y/n's servant. He works hard on improving his artistic abilities and also to maintain fairly good grades. For Y/n any labour he'd have to be put through would seem like a blessing. Another trait for Hufflepuff would be fairness and he surely is fair. As one of the least jealous members of the club he really only cares if Y/n's okay with what's happening or could get hurt (he always kets the other members have more privileges than he has because he believes it'd be not only greedy but prideful to want Y/n to hinself. He avoids any sin when it comes to Y/n, envy, wrath, pride, sloth, nothing will ever come near his modern day Jesus).

Taehyung definitely is a Hufflepuff.

If the boy who works two parttime jobs, to pay for rent, bills and food, cleans the shabby apartment by himself because his alcoholic mother is busy messing it up again, yet still treats his mother with kindness, only to be treated like trash by seven more powerful and successful guys in his school who all like the same person he does and still manages to maintain the position as intern and honour roll student at a prestigious school for roch people, isn't in Hufflepuff then I don't know what. This poor soul is incredibly sensitive and kind. He isn't judgemental (as he himself is used to people judging him). All round very sweet.

I think it's very clear that he's very diligent and hard working. He holds great passion for music and enjoys writing poetry, a very sensitive soul. Yoongi isn't someone to complain about something being unfair (cough cough Jimin cough cough) or try and steal Y/n away from them. His day dreams consist of imagining Y/n liking him back, but he is certain that would never happen (according to you guys, it seems a lot of you would pick Yoongi if you'd get to decide). Not only is Yoongi kind but loyal as well, he'd never imagine leaving anyone behind even his useless mother.

Yoongi is 1000% a Hufflepuff.

Jeongguk tends to be hot tempered, he goes from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds. Everything in life seems like a challenge to prove he's better than others think (his father was a notorious serial killer who killed twenty one people yet got away with a ten year prison sentence and got released after six, ten months later Jeongguk was born). In truth he did not care for anyone else, only Y/n. So all tge chivalry he could muster was directed at them.

He is one brave guy who doesn't get easily scared (I guess living with as well as being a serial killer at sixteen years old desensitised him). Jeongguk is courageous just not in/for a positive way/purpose. He deluted himself into thinking that Y/n needs protection, HIS protection. He once attacked a teacher because they were helping Y/n with a question, that's very daring (more like stupid) just not in a good way. A (still not) more positive example of his daringness is when he wants to impress Y/n. He hung from a skyscraper for five minutes doing pullups, just to inpress them. One time he also jumped across his luxurious pool at home (and almost slipped, almost bashing his head in) just to prove that he can jump further than someone they talked about.

I could very much picture him as a Griffendor.

If you enjoyed reading my work, please consider reblogging it. Thank you for reading

[border-spam]

Regarding ur pain snippet, would Troy feel comfortable venting around Sei? And if yes, how would they handle it??

Troy doesn’t feel comfortable venting about it with anyone. He’s spent his entire life trying to not be pitied while stumbling in the shadow of Tyreen’s blinding light, demanding perfection from himself to hide physical weaknesses and chronic illness from the greedy eyes of the billions of online followers who obsess over the twin’s every recorded breath.

But if you know God King Calypso well enough, if you’re close enough to him?

There are gentle ways to reassure Father Troy it’s safe to tell you the truth.

Sei and Troy are very close. 

They weren’t originally, it was actually Tyreen who was far more in tune with Seifa in those first couple of months together, back when the twins were recovering on her ship after their first failed attempt at surviving on Pandora.

Ty was engaging, a bubbly young woman full of endearing chattiness and interested in everything Sei did. A hundred questions an hour as she followed Sei around the ship like, what are sponsorships? How do you get marks to keep their eye on you and not be distracted by competition? How do you move to make them hungry for your body? How do you know when you’ve gone too far? How do you read the room? How do you - 

Tyreen had a million hows and a mouth that never seemed to need to rest, but Troy was silent. He had his reasons... he didn’t want to be there after all. 

Pandora had been cruel to them both from the moment their worn soles crunched into its acrid dust, but it had hurt Troy. Really, it had almost killed him.

He’d been left sick, uncomfortable in his own stretched skin, and wary of anyone who was other - which meant Seifa. Thinking back on it, she had been pretty insulted by how he’d acted in the first few weeks in her home, before she understood.

Tyreen on the other hand was thankful for her. She was a font of laughter and energy, flitting about the ship as her new friend worked and attempting to “help her” in thanks for the hospitality Sei had shown them, as if hindering her chores with constant interruptions was somehow going to pay her back for taking them in, but Troy? He was just... there. 

A looming, gangly shape standing awkwardly in corners. Rudely quiet, only proving he wasn’t mute through crackly whispers to his twin that would fall silent when Seifa would approach. A nervous, cagey giant of a child who came across as both irritated and terrified by Sei, till he’d finally talked, and he’d explained everything.

Tyreen had been the one who filled the ship with laughter in those first 6 months, but Troy had been the one to tell her the truth of things. 

They settled as companions, slowly.

By the time Seifa had accepted the twin's request to join their management staff in the early growth of the COV and had returned to Pandora, the friendship between the three was easy. 

Tyreen was still the focus of all attention mind you, it was still her who'd control the conversations and limelight when they'd meet each week in the "God Twin's" shared cloister to relax together in dropping their charades and becoming human again for a few hours.

Troy was happy just to sit between the women and smile as they eased into their drinks and each other's company on those nights. It was enough for him to simply exist next to people who liked his presence. There was warmth in those times, Sei's snorting laughter cracking a smile across his face he could never quite hide as she'd lean against the weight of his side, Ty insisting they watch as she theatrically reenacted how the day's encounter with off-world investors had gone. Never well for them, but always hilariously in her favor.

As the months turned to a year though, Tyreen just slowly stopped turning up.

They never really noticed as it happened, it was subtle, one missed night a month, then 2, then 3... It became Sei and Troy instead of Sei and the Twins.

The conversations would turn a little gentler without Tyreen's razor sharp energy to infect them, and they’d sit side by side, sharing snippets of each other's pasts, their hopes, and the things they both wanted from this newborn cult. Regrets sometimes, if the atmosphere was right.

The cloister slowly started to feel empty with just two people, and they knew deep down that Tyreen was unlikely to start joining again - she was far too busy with her God Queen persona and heaving fanbase to have the time to waste doing fuck all with close friends. The high walls and open space decor of the twin's shared quarters started feeling cold without her electricity, so they shifted to his ship instead. Troy's Sanctum.

She'd still turn up every so often, a couple of months of no appearances and then that crystalline laughter would ring through his quarters and they'd turn to raise a glass at the holy Vault Mother as she kicked off her boots with gusto and grabbed a seat, but eventually, that stopped too, and for quite a long time it was just Troy and Seifa on those nights, together in warm comfort.

A friendship that had bloomed into the easy, open kind where silence didn't mean awkwardness, where you could sit arm against arm and breath out the stresses of titles, and Godhood, and the crushing weight of responsibilities you never really asked for or wanted, and just... be. Just exist next to the reassuring presence of someone who never wanted more from you than what you could honestly give, because they knew who you really were, deep in your core.

It was Jak-Knife who joined next.

Troy's bodyguard had stood stoically outside his Sanctum's doors so many times that they’d become part of the evening, nodding at the Mechanicum's Saint as Seifa would arrive. Return her wink and knowing chuckle as they'd step to the side for her. It made sense they'd eventually find their way inside at his welcome, and the shared laughter in his home grew with their gruff warmth and open heart.

It was Ven, after.

The Oracle was impossible to avoid in general, he was a grandstanding assault on the senses with charisma almost as flamboyant as his dress sense, but the longer anyone spent around Ven, the easier it was to truly appreciate his company for what it really was. Someone who genuinely liked you for who you were, and not what his unique insight told him you could provide him in the future.

Troy had always had a soft spot for the gaudy soothsayer. Personal reasons maybe, he was the only one who knew what Ven had signed his life away to the COV in return for after all, and maybe that was why when Ven began to fill Sanctum with terrible stories and obvious lies about the beautiful people who fawned over him on benders in the Holy City's slums, it didn't take long before his delicate brother Eli joined them too. 

Seifa saw the connection even if the other's didn't, Eli's joint braces and medical equipment, the sadness in Troy's glances. Physical weakness, unashamed from someone so strong in character. She saw how Troy looked at the other man, the fleeting respect in those ice-blue eyes. The shame.

They became a unit in the end, Jk, Ven, Eli, Seifa, and their broken God King, a rickety family existing inside the guts of a monstrous one as the COV surrounded and spread through their lives with every passing day its grip across Pandora tightened.

But Seifa and Troy are very close.

They know each other, inside and out. They've shared their failures, illnesses, rages and tears. They are the keeper of each other's years of secrets. That he's so sick so often, that her right eye is practically blind, that he wishes he wasn't what he's turned into, that they are both so desperately lonely.

She knows how to manipulate him into being honest about the painful reality he carries in a body that's never really functioned well, that's gnawed at inside by half of a power no one understands enough to try and heal.

She perfected it by watching the other people who care about him.

JK, huffing theatrically as they eye an exhausted Troy's shaky hand as he forces himself to continue working, complaining that they are hungry, that he may be a workhorse but they need to rest, then chuckling at his blustery ego as he mocks them and takes the out.

Ven and his little white lies, his warnings that Troy needs to stop pouring over the latest viewer statistics and take a break, because he "got glances" at bad outcomes if they weren't left till later. The reassurances that everything will be fine and things will turn out better if he stops for the night.

Eli, explaining how the latest medication course Troy's medical team recommended really helped with the tension pull in his shoulders from his spinal issues, chatting in surprising detail about how relieving it's been, what dosage he's been taking...

Troy will not talk about his chronic issues with anyone, because he is terrified of appearing weak. She doesn't know why for definite, but she can guess, and is pretty sure it's related to his childhood. From the snippets he's given her, the emotionless monotone of his voice when he speaks about his father, well, she has hunches. 

Neither of the twins were happy as children, neither of them talk about "home" with even a vague sparkle of joy in their dead eyes. But Troy, he shies away from it, like there is something he's ashamed of, or the lingering ghost of something that haunted his early years and follows him still.

Troy is terrified of being pitied, because he so desperately wants to be seen as reliable. He wants to be strong. He wants to be useful.

So to get him to open up? You need to ask for his help.

Sei is a clever woman, and Troy is a lost, broken man who is so easy to wrap around her finger that sometimes she wonders at times if it's intentional.

When she sees him flagging, when his skin is a little lighter than normal, the dark under his eyes deeper, she'll play the damsel. She'll let him be the knight in shining armour that the little boy in him so clearly wishes it could have grown into. Sei will gasp gently when they are alone in his ship on these nights, pinch her lip between her teeth as she slowly rotates her wrist and stares sadly at the tremor that runs through it. She'll act it out, knowing he's watching, and wait for him to take the bait.

He always does - he can't help it. He'll always try and help her even when he's sick or exhausted. He'll always approach and ask if she's ok even if a migraine is rendering him barely able to stand.. because that's who he is. That’s the real Troy DeLeon.

She'll sit on the plush edge of the recessed couch in the floor of his Sanctum, and wait for him to shakily lower his towering body to the cushioned floor in front of her, before he gently takes her wrist in a hand that could easily crush it.

She'll wince, flutter her eyelashes with a gasp, and nod along to his muttered questions as he turns it so carefully, crankily asking when it last acted up, why hasn't she seen the specialist he contacted months ago, why she’s not taken time off when he knows he’s not working her that hard, why is she such a pain in the ass, how bad does it hurt, is he helping...

Seifa will wait, all quiet sighs and hitched breaths till he's so focused in shifting the tiny bones of her wrist under the pressure of his thumb that she can ask him how he feels, and he'll tell her.

That's the key. 

Troy Calypso is so terrified of being seen as less because of his pain, that he'll pretend it doesn't exist, he'll suffer in silence alone in the sorrow of his empty ship. But if he's protecting someone else? If he is massaging the old fracture in Seifa's wrist and lost in the concentration of trying to ease her distress? He'll tell her about his neck if she asks, or the pain in the dull hollow of his lumbar, or how he's thrown up 4 times today, how he woke up the other night and was sure his heart had stopped.

He'll mumble out secret fears he was hiding behind the God King's vicious mask for weeks, and he'll let her run fingers through his hair as she tells him how strong he really is.

[its-all-ineffable]

"In reference to why Loki is so massively underpowered in the series and Sylvie is a bad ass I keep seeing Loki labeled as a “pampered prince” and Sylvie as “someone who has been fighting the TVA her whole life. But this idea of “pampered prince” comes only from Ragnarok. (And even there you have to overlook the fact that Loki went one on one with Valkyrie who tossed a guy 30 feet in the air with one hand and he also was slaughtering magic powered zombie Einherjar with a freaking headband.) Is Thor too, a “pampered prince?” Can a normal human kick Thor‘s ass? Because Loki is almost as strong as his brother.  He hits strong enough to stagger Thor. If Loki hit a normal human he’d punch a hole right through their body and out the outer side. He’s fast enough to throw up a magic shield before he gets hit by bullets, he easily snatches an incoming arrow out of the air. He is strong and quick and skilled enough to kill six dark elves in three seconds. And then he’s clever enough kill the super powered dark elf who has been beating Thor into a pulp. He’s strong enough to take the crushing grip of a Frost giant and then in the middle of a terrible shock ran a knife through it’s heart. He kicked Captain America’s butt. He survived a beating by the Hunk, which smashed a reinforced concrete floor into rubble and that only gave him a couple of bruises and knocked the wind out of him. If Thor, reduced to human strength and with no powers, can take out a bevy of highly trained and armed shield agents, why is Loki, who didn’t have his strength reduced getting his ass handed to him by a bunch of Alabama rednecks? And don’t give me that he was trying to beat them without hurting them bullshit. If a frail 90 year old tried to attack me I could take them done without getting my ass kicked. And that is what a normal human would be to him, weak slow and fragile. He grew up in a warrior society, he was trained as a fighter his entire life, presumably by people who knew about fighting, and he has fought in battles at Thor’s side for a thousand years. Sylvie is shown to be the superior fighter from childhood, but it’s such a ridiculous scene. She is able to bite through the super armor that supposedly makes the TVA so strong. Then with the  superior strength of a frightened eight year old girl, twist free of an adult,  (The same adults a full grown Loki can’t break free from.) steal a timepad, which she has only seen used once, if that, and  while the rest of the super TVA agents stand around and do nothing, teleport herself out of the TVA. Then this scared little girl manages to elude them for years and grows up to be a super fighter. Without training, she becomes a super fighter?   Does this mean if you take a gang kid from the mean streets and put them in the ring with a martial arts master they are going to kick the martial arts master’s ass?? And also why is she so weak physically too? Here is the reason. Because it’s so much easier and cheaper to choreograph fight scenes if both participants are at the same level of strength. So Disney has decided to erase Loki’s (and Sylvie’s) physical strength, their speed, and in Loki’s case his skill. Why not? They already stripped him of his dignity, his reserve, his intelligence, his power and his menace"

Source: drachenkinder

sadly this person is spot on.

In your opinion. Yes, Loki is strong, and a good fighter, but even good fighters loose and get their asses kicked - it happens to the other avengers. Also - Loki is still severely injured (possibly from torture at the hands of Thanos) and his MANY battles with the avengers/being Hulk-smashed, so...I don't blame him for not being at full strength yet.

I actually don't know why I'm replying to this as if you're a reasonable person anyway, cause your not. None of you in this fandom are. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE SHOW, THAT'S FINE.

BUT I DO.

And I would thank you, anon, and everyone else to leave my inbox alone and stop talking shit about how "Loki's underpowered!" and "This show mistreats Loki by doing xyz!". Maybe in YOUR OPINION, it does. But MY OPINION is different to yours and it's allowed to be. I still like the show, and it's plot, and it's characters, and nothing you petty people say will make it otherwise. We are all allowed to have different opinions on things. I ask that you respect mine, as I respect this is yours.

Also - the next person that decides to send me an ask/message about how the Loki series is flawed and wrong and I shouldn't like it because etc. ...you will be told to fuck off. That's the only answer you will get. Two words. FUCK. OFF.

I left this blog because of people like you anon, and while I'm still checking up on it, you and people like you that can't stop complaining and ruining other people's enjoyment of things are making me consider leaving it forever. Completely.

[lov3nerdstuff]

Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 2.5}

*Severus Snape x OC*

Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.

General warnings: professor x student (however no underage romance), blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing

Words: 5.4k

Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!

______________________________

As she rose to her feet with her book tightly hugged to her chest, she took a deep breath and pushed her emotions and anxiety into the back of her mind, before building her wall of neutrality. By the time she had climbed up onto the catwalk, she almost felt calm again. From what she saw, almost nobody was paying her attention anyway, and nobody could care less if she got her butt kicked or not. Most of the students as well as the teachers were chatting among themselves, and Robin got the impression that they were all waiting for the main act to begin once this warm-up game of the lower years was finally over. A quick glance told her that Professor Snape was still facing the book in his hands, but his eyes were following Robin through the room as she approached Morgan. Well, at least Snape would make sure that she didn't get killed. Probably.

"Up front at last… You can read in your freetime." Professor Morgan drawled quietly, and grabbed the book out of Robin's hands a little too forcefully, only to toss it to Snape on the nearby stand with a mean sarcastic smile. Then he turned to the audience all around them. "Any volunteer who would like to try their luck against Miss Mitchell?"

Multiple hands rose immediately upon the question, most of them Slytherin students but also a few others, and Robin sighed to herself. So much for spending the day reading… despite her walls, she still felt subtly embarrassed that Morgan had given her book to Snape. That had been such a petty move yet again, and probably only meant to mess with her nerves. However keeping the anxiety away was working rather well at the moment, and Robin drew her wand out of her sleeve before taking on the position she knew was expected of her, without actually listening to Morgan speaking. It didn't matter that she hadn't chosen to be here. She was here now, and she would try her very best to go against whoever Morgan could set her up with. Whoever his choice might fall onto, he surely wouldn't pick in her favor.

A Slytherin boy of her grade jumped onto the catwalk then, with a menacing sneer directed at Robin, and she heard quite a few people rooting for him rather audibly. Her face however remained in perfect neutrality, even as they stood right in front of each other and then made their ways to their respective ends of the catwalks after Professor Morgan had explained the procedure Robin already was familiar with.

"Prepare yourselves!" Morgen called to them over the quite significant noise around them, and Robin took on the stance she had practiced. Maybe practicing on real life people would have been better than perfectly still trees… It didn't matter now. The very moment Morgan had stepped off the catwalk and gave the go, Robin sent her opponent flying through the room before he'd even gotten out a word. Well… that had been surprisingly easy.

The chattering around her got quieter for a moment, then picked back up. The boy on the other side of the catwalk sat back up, groaning in pain before lying right back down, and Morgan awkwardly got back into his place in the middle. "Well, it seems we have a winner." Very mild applause followed. "Would anyone else like to go against Miss Mitchell, seeing as we were done so very… timely?"

The hands that were still risen now were more reluctant, and mostly coming from students in higher years. Robin was pretty sure that she would get her ass kicked now, but at least she hadn't gone down right in the first round. That would've been rather embarrassing. While Morgan picked her next opponent, Robin risked a side glance at Snape. He had closed his book and was following the ongoings with very much feigned indifference now, which Robin could only tell because she figured that if he actually wouldn't care, he would still be reading.

"Next up is Miss Augustine against Miss Mitchell! I have… taken the liberty to pick an opponent from a higher grade, that surely is alright with you, isn't it, Mitchell?" Morgan asked with another bright smile, but didn't actually wait for an answer before he stepped aside once again. "Prepare yourselves… and go!"

The older girl was faster in her attack than Robin's last opponent had been, but Robin could block it off fairly easily with a spell that reflected whatever had been thrown at her, which in return caused the other girl to take a tumble. Just as Robin believed it already was over again, her opponent fired the same thing as before at Robin while still on the ground, making Robin fall on her behind too, rather harshly. In her shock at actually getting knocked off her feet for the very first time, she didn't bother getting up, and threw a fairly impulsive petrifying spell at the Gryffindor girl who had just risen back to her feet. Too slow to block, the girl froze with a surprised face, and then fell to the ground stiff as a pillar with a dull thud.

While Robin quickly got back onto her own two feet, she looked around with a hint of insecurity on her mind that actually did reflect in her face for now. She hadn't exactly paid attention to the rules of this specific event, and didn't know how far she was allowed to go, or if maybe she could even use that one spell she had discovered by accident… but as of yet, nobody complained. Indeed, the chattering had died down a little further now as the older girl was being carried off the catwalk, and Morgan stepped back into the middle.

"Uh, well… what a surprise! Seems like Miss Mitchell has had a bit of practice beforehand! Who would like to go against her next?" His voice was still too bright, but it had gotten so shallow that most people probably could tell that he was very much irritated by this turn of events.

Robin herself smoothed out her robes, and stared at a spot on the ground. It was odd, going against real people… She wanted to win, but she also was scared of accidentally hurting them. Also, it was quite hard to believe that she had already won two fights in a row without any prior experience. Sure, she had knowledge, but not experience. It really was the same thing that she'd observed while working in the greenhouse with Sprout… knowing something and doing something were quite far from each other at most times. But, obviously, knowledge without experience already sufficed to have an advantage over experience without knowledge. Still, she didn't want to believe quite yet that she was actually any good at this. The people who volunteered for this pathetic show of pride likely weren't those who actually were any good at it, and those who were good at it probably didn't have any interest in going against an inexperienced second year.

That assessment of the situation was only supported by the performance of the next person she went against, a fourth year with a superior look on his face even before the flight started, and who then couldn't even think of more than the same two spells which he fired at Robin continuously. She blocked them all without much effort, but didn't attack in return while he only grew more and more aggressive in his own attack. Eventually after a few minutes, when he needed two seconds to catch his breath, Robin saw her chance and sent him flying in the same manner as the first boy. He hit his head rather harshly on the wooden catwalk, and stayed down just like the others before him.

Alright, this was getting ridiculous… Robin didn't want to make it look like she even remotely knew what she was doing. The only reason why she was still up here and refusing to lose was because she didn't want Morgan to see her losing. Well, neither did she want Snape to see her losing, but that was a whole different issue.

The next person she went against was a sixth year, and Robin actually felt a little concerned. This guy should have triple the knowledge AND experience she did, and probably a whole different motivation to win, if one could go by the group of giggling girls in the ranks. If he actually sent an attack her way, she was pretty sure that she would go down immediately. Well… she still had no intention of admitting her loss to Morgan, thus she would have to simply be faster than this boy. As they each got into their respective ends, Robin already planned what she would do, and as soon as the go was given, she set it to action. Before her opponent could open his mouth to voice a probably very clever attack, Robin simply sent a very fast ‘immobile’ at him, and his mouth stayed hanging open from his attempt to speak. After that, a simple ‘expelliarmus’ sufficed to demonstrate that she could've used any choice of harmful attack instead. Honestly, she was mostly surprised that this had worked. While what she'd done in the beginning was solely the defense and attack spells she'd read about when studying duelling, she slowly discovered that it actually was the use of non-native spells that gave her an advantage. And fast thinking, but that wasn't really something she had studied for.

While the sixth year was freed from Robin's spell and led off the catwalk, Professor Morgan once more asked for volunteers to go against Robin, however this time nobody raised their hand. As Robin studied the audience, it appeared that people had split into two patterns of behavior: those who still seemed ineffably bored and disinterested (and who likely were the ones that were any good at this in the first place) and those who had stopped chattering in order to watch the quite unique show of a second year beating up student after student with the most basic spells. That however also meant that a lot more people were watching her now, and Robin felt uncomfortably put on display. Still no volunteer, and she started feeling awkward up there on the catwalk while Morgan tried everything to encourage the students. No chance… the show-offs were scared of possibly embarrassing themselves by losing against her, and the talented people didn't care enough to try.

"Fine…" Morgan finally announced loudly, and Robin had the faint hope that he would send her back to her seat. But oh, was she wrong. "If nobody sees themselves fit to face a mere second year… I will."

Robin's jaw dropped quite literally, as did a few others in the audience room. Was he actually being serious about this?! As Robin made her way to the middle of her unfortunate pedestal for the usual procedure to begin, she couldn't quite suppress all of her anxiety anymore, not even close, but she kept an indifferent face nonetheless. This really must be a bloody joke… Even if Morgan wasn't all that good at magic, Robin still was only a second year student and he a stupid and irresponsible professor who had already hurt her quite a bit once, and gone on to try a second time as well. Geez… now was his third chance.

"Don't worry, Miss Mitchell, I will not be all too hard on you." He grinned at Robin, and she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as she stood directly in front of him now. Maybe she just had to make the best of this yet again.

"May I make use of one of my own spells, sir?" Robin asked sweetly, feigning a smile as she spoke.

"Is it in any form harmful to the bystanders, or lethal to the person attacked with it?"

"Not at all, sir."

"Then I don't see why you would want to use it in the first place, but go ahead and use it if you fancy." He shrugged, and waved Professor Flitwick over to be the replacement judge for the unusual fight.

Meanwhile, Robin's eyes sought out Professor Snape in the crowd, only to find him staring at Morgan with that grave look of danger he'd already worn that night in the hallway last year. While she was looking at the crowds already, she discovered that now almost every person in the room was curiously observing the spectacle in the middle. Observing Robin.

"This might not be the playground fight you're used to, Mitchell, but I expect you to give your very best." Morgan said with a truly mocking tone now. "And Mitchell… don't hold back. There's little you can do that would harm me." With that he bowed and Robin did it likewise, before turning away and heading into their respective ends.

Bloody hell bloody hell bloody hell… she needed a strategy. She didn't really believe that Morgan would harm her, not seriously at least, but she also couldn't have him talk to her like that and get away without a scratch at least. She knew however that her chances at bettering him were very limited. Maybe she would use her accidental spell creation after all… She'd really only stumbled across it because she'd been curious. After new year's, she just hadn't been able to get Snape's comment about attacking a mirror out of her head, and sooner or later she had researched a spell for creating a mirror outside (so she wouldn't have to carry it from the castle all the way to the lake) and tried it out for herself. The result of her researched spell in combination with a mixup with a duelling spell… had been quite fascinating, and not really what she had expected.

Upon the call to ready herself, Robin took on her most confident stance, and upon the go, she already spoke the broadest overall defense spell she knew before she even heard Morgan mutter a word. However she was very right to do so, as an infinitely short amount of time later a spell came crashing against her defense and almost made her trip over. Wow… he clearly wasn't holding back either.

Robin used the second of surprise on Morgan's part about not having hit Robin right on the first attempt to send a short row of attacks his way in return, which obviously he blocked with ease. But he waited after that, not attacking immediately like some of the students, actually all of the students, had. This probably was where the experience came in. Robin kept the words for a defense on her lips as she decided to wait as well, taking a fairly reluctant step forward, in the knowledge that sooner or later Morgan's hatred for her would force him to act. The room around them was almost dead silent, you could've heard a pin drop, as everyone was watching the absolutely unfair duel between a thirteen year old and a thirty year old. However as of yet, Robin was still standing, and she was determined to stay that way as long as she could. A moment later her guess proved to be right, as the professor sent a rather colourful row of attacks Robin's way, some with and some without words. Robin blocked some of them, and impulsively decided to simply physically dodge a few others. Just because nobody ever did that didn't mean it didn't work, right? And she could focus on getting the few spells she knew right without having to lose quality due to pace.

Morgan seemed surprised at that once more. Almost five minutes had passed, and Robin was still there. If that wasn't something, at least… She carefully studied his features, finding the surprise followed by anger and an obvious slipping of patience. Not good… As he raised his wand for what seemed to become a fairly brutal attack, Robin knew that it was time for her own little spell. Either it would work like she believed it to, or she would wake up in the hospital wing. Either was fine if it meant finally getting out of this stupid fight.

"Spectulo contemplari!" Robin got out a broken second before Morgan could voice his own spell, and immediately a sleek silver surface separated Professor Morgan from Robin herself. It spanned almost the size of a normal size wall, and reflected whatever lay on both sides like a mirror. Thus it was that Robin only saw her own messed up hair and blotchy face being thrown back at her instead of whatever was happening on the other side of the mirror wall. However seeing as Morgan had voiced his spell and yet it had not reached Robin, her plan truly seemed to have worked. That thesis was strongly supported by a loud thud, and a groan coming from the other side. A fair amount of gasps and giggles filled the room, and she allowed herself a brief smile of relief upon that. But it soon faded when she heard rather than saw magic being thrown against her mirror wall violently, and she took on a defensive stance once more. She had no idea how long the wall would throw Morgan's spells back at him before it broke under the assault, but she wanted to be prepared nonetheless. Soon enough the cracking sound of not-quite glass was to be heard, and as Robin moved to speak her defense, she already saw the fury filled eyes of her professor instead of her own, followed by a flash of red light. Then, everything was black.

… … …

If there ever had been something like an essence of headaches, Robin was sure that it was this exactly which had been given to her, as she opened her eyes with a groan. Her eyelids felt heavy like someone had clipped weights to them, and her head was throbbing so desperately that she couldn't even tell if there was anything else hurting in her body. But a headache at least meant she wasn't dead yet, and as she finally could will her eyes to open enough to actually see something, that suspicion was confirmed. She was lying in a bed in the hospital wing, for all she could tell, and the light of the candles on her nightstand felt like daggers to her brain. With another groan, she closed her eyes again. But the little relief this brought was taken right away again once the painful light was replaced by painful sound.

"Miss Mitchell! Good to have you back at last…" Madam Pomfrey's voice sent a new dagger through Robin's skull. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore." Robin croaked out in return, feeling like her throat had been sore indeed for weeks. "The light hurts."

"Nah, if you can sit up for a moment, I can give you something to take the headache and sensitivity away."

"Sure…" Robin sighed as she forced her eyes open once more and then scooted herself into a sitting position to still more or less blindly take the cup from the healer and gulp down whatever was in it. Tasted quite horrible… but after a few seconds the most urgent pain in her head, throat and eyes decreased, however not without making room for a new soreness of her body. With a small frown Robin took in the darkness of the room for a while, then looked back at the healer standing by her side. "Is it still Friday?"

"Well, yes… It is Friday, but it's been a week since you were brought here."

"A week?!" Robin gasped, staring at Madam Pomfrey incredulously. She did feel a little stiff, admittedly, but a week?! How?! "I can't have been sleeping for a week!"

"You were unconscious, not sleeping. But from what I was told, it actually is surprisingly early for you to be back up, considering what happened to you!"

"What… did happen to me, exactly?" A deep nervousness settled in the pit of Robin's stomach, as she merely remembered flashes of her fight with Professor Morgan. Had that pillock seriously sent her into a coma for a week?!

"I wasn't there to witness the incident, but from what they told me, you got hit by a spell meant for game hunting during that silly duelling workshop."

"...Game hunting?" Robin's eyes, her voice, her expression, everything was a perfect representation of her sheer incredulity. Was this a joke?!

"You know, hunting boar and stag and-"

"I know what game hunting is!" Robin groaned and rested her head back into her pillow with enough force to create a new headache. After staring up at the dark ceiling, she spoke on in a much calmer voice. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap…"

"Don't fret, I am used to far worse from you Slytherins."

"I'm not like them." She said more to herself than to Madam Pomfrey, but also didn't mind her possibly hearing.

"You should rest now. As I said, your waking was quite a bit earlier than expected, and your body still needs to recover from the internal bleedings. Is there someone you would like me to notify of your bettering state?"

"No… I think sleep will do me better than company at the moment." Also, Robin knew of no one who would actually care.

"Well, that's a first!" The healer let out a surprised laugh as she gathered the cup from Robin's nightstand. "Usually I am the one to tell you lot that."

"Told you I'm not like them…" Robin sighed as she was left to herself, likely being expected to sleep, but she remained sitting for a moment nonetheless. Her eyes wandered through the dark room, taking in a few other occupied beds, some surrounded by vases of flowers and treats, others quite as sterile as hers. Maybe she wasn't the only one in Hogwarts without friends… actually, very likely she wasn't the only one. A school housing that many people just was prone to have more than one loner (professors excluded from Robin's mental statistics, for now). As she laid down to get some sleep indeed, she thought that if today was Friday she must've missed two defense against the dark arts classes. The thought made her smile. However as she realized that on the flip side of that she had also missed potions, she buried her face in the pillow with a groan and forced her mind to stay blank until she fell asleep at last.

… … …

The next morning turned out to be a lot less painful in terms of waking up, however a lot more annoying in terms of company. Robin was rather suddenly ripped out of her sleep by Madam Pomfrey, and she was still hazed by sleep when she was told that she would be getting visitors in a few moments. While Robin honestly couldn't imagine who would come to visit her, especially this early on a Quidditch Saturday, she also didn't want to look like a total mess to whoever it might be. Thus she sat up a little too quickly for it not to hurt, then somewhat fixed her hair and finally rubbed the tiredness out of her face as good as she could. Half a minute later she saw that it had been well worth her effort, as an entire brigade of professors came heading her way. Great…

"Good morning, Miss Mitchell." Professor Dumbledore was the first to speak up as the (admittedly) small group came to stand at the end of Robin's bed. If the headmaster himself had made time to show up at her bedside, this surely would be interesting at least. "It was… reported to me, that you were awake. I hope this is not an unfortunate time?"

"Good morning… everyone." Robin replied a little awkwardly, looking from Dumbledore to McGonagall, to Morgan, to Snape and Madam Pomfrey at last. Why exactly were all these professors here in the first place…? Anyway, she would have to talk to them now. "It's as good a time as any. I mean, of course it's not unfortunate!" Could she be any more awkward? It was too early for this… her mind needed to wake up first.

"Madam Pomfrey has assured me that your health should allow a conversation, but we all shall see to it that this visit will be kept quick." Dumbledore said, with a diplomatic smile at Robin first and then a peculiar look at Morgan. "Go right ahead, Professor."

With a clearly feigned smile, Professor Morgan took a step forward, and Robin tensed up instinctively as he spoke up. "I would like to apologise to you, Miss Mitchell. My actions during last week's duelling workshop were, by all means, irresponsible and inappropriate." His words were as forced as his apologetic expression, and likely every single person in the room was aware of that as well. "It should have been obvious to me that a duel against a student, a mere second year student at that, was HIGHLY unfair. I apologize for letting myself get… carried away."

Too many eyes were on Robin then, expecting her to accept the apology and smile like a good girl would, and she felt like she had no other choice. Dumbledore might mean well in having Morgan apologize like a little kid, but in reality this was only making things much worse. Morgan would hate her even more for this, and Robin would only suffer more in return. Her only hope was that Morgan might lay low for a while after this, out of fear to get caught once again. That however didn't help her now. He hadn't even apologised for hurting her, or sending her into a freaking coma for a week… only for picking a fight with her despite being 'obviously superior'. Bloody bullshit. And while she couldn't tell him that, she certainly could play along.

"Thank you for the apology, professor." Robin replied with a diplomatic smile she borrowed from Dumbledore for the occasion. "I also would like to apologise. I hope my actions didn't lead to you getting hurt all too badly."

And while there definitely was a quiet snort coming from someone in the room, Robin couldn't tell who had been the origin. Her eyes were solely fixed on Morgan's, and she watched his pasty facade quake and falter as she herself wore innocence like a second skin.

"No, in fact, I am quite alright." Morgan chirped in a cutting tone. "Which, until just recently, couldn't be said about you in return."

"And whose fault is that?" Snape hissed lowly in an immediate reply, glaring daggers at Morgan who took an instinctive step backwards and thus away from both Robin and Snape.

"Now, now, Severus… I think now that Miss Mitchell is recovering, it is time to move on and forget this unfortunate accident." Dumbledore intervened before another hospital bed could get a new occupant. "However while unfortunate indeed, we all shall make sure that it is not forgotten, and we learn something out of it." The last part was spoken with another pointed glance at Professor Morgan, who finally gave up his act and scowled openly.

"If I am not mistaken, Damion, you mentioned an urgent appointment you have to attend to today. As you put it, this visit already delays you almost unfashionably… and seeing as we are done here, I'm sure you will be kindly excused." McGonagall spoke up after a short moment of uncomfortable silence, and Robin didn't miss the dismissive subtone. Why did this feel so much like she was kicking him out? Robin didn't mind one bit, though.

"Yes, ah, you're quite right, Minerva." He changed back from scowl to smile in an instant. "If you would indeed excuse me… headmaster, Severus…" With one look at each man, Morgan turned on his heel and almost fled from the room. Robin let out an audible sigh once the door had closed behind him.

"It appears to me, Miss Mitchell, that you and Professor Morgan have quite the… mutual distaste for each other. Did I assess that correctly?" Dumbledore said a moment later and drew Robin's attention back towards him.

"Yes." She replied without even a hinch of embarrassment, which actually surprised her a little bit herself.

"Well? No excuses?" McGonagall asked with a risen eyebrow, but she sounded surprised rather than scolding, which only assured Robin in her eerie calm that she still didn't quite understand why she had it in the first place. Maybe Madam Pomfrey had given her some drugs that were only now kicking in, or she'd hit her head a little harder than she'd been told… but she just didn't feel like giving half truths right now.

"Professor Dumbledore didn't ask for my excuses, I believe… only if he's correct about the mutual dislike between Professor Morgan and me. To which the answer was a simple ‘yes’. There's not more to it. If you were hoping for me to elaborate however, I can assure you that I have none and never had the intention to act upon my dislike. I don't want to be disrespectful, no matter what he thinks about me, but I quite frankly refuse to take all of his acts without reacting within the boundaries he has set himself."

"I see." Dumbledore answered with a humored smile that mainly confused Robin (she hadn't said anything funny, had she?), while McGonagall simply looked at Robin like the girl had grown a second head. But it was Dumbledore who continued. "Thank you for your honesty, Robin, it is sometimes hard to come by in this castle and therefore all the more appreciated. I hope you will have fully recovered from this unpleasantry soon." With that he bowed his head a little, smiled, and made his way out as well. That still left Snape and McGonagall, with the latter still looking too surprised for words.

Thus it was Professor Snape who now moved to place the book she'd been reading last week on her nightstand, again in perfect neutrality and without the daggers from minutes ago in his eyes. "We wouldn't want you to miss out on your education while stuck in here, would we now?"

"Of course not, sir." Robin smiled up at him in appreciation. He likely could guess that Robin would be bored out of her mind if she was stuck in here until tomorrow, but of course he would never admit to actually doing something nice out of his own interest. So why not blame it on education, sure.

"Once you are well enough to, you will have to enlighten me about that spell creation of yours…" He mused with another look at Robin, and a tiny not-smirk, then turned to McGonagall. "I believe we have a game of Quidditch to attend."

As they made their way out of the infirmary, Robin barely picked up on McGonagall asking, "Did you teach her to speak in cryptic remarks like that, Severus?!", before the doors finally fell shut behind them as well.

As Robin flipped the newly regained book open a few minutes later, she almost wasn't even surprised anymore to find another small piece of parchment falling into her lap. With a smile on her face, she scanned the spidery handwriting.

You did NOT hear this from me under any circumstance and you will not tell a single soul about it either: You won the duel against Morgan. He used multiple spells that were clearly against the set of rules, and thus he was disqualified subsequently, in private by the headmaster himself. You were better indeed. 

- Snape

Robin's grin took over her entire face, but she just couldn't help it. This was amazing, even if no one could ever know about it. Snape and Dumbledore knew, she knew, and Morgan knew, and that was enough for now. It might only be a formality that led her to win in the end, or rather his mistake of being a cheating idiot, but she at least could happily live in the knowledge that she had NOT lost to Morgan. Oh, she really couldn't wait to tell Snape all about her mirror spell indeed. Perhaps he would actually be proud of her for once.

______________________________

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[devourer--of--books]

I’m mad about Hunter being written off and here’s why you should be too

You: wasted potential.

Me, an intellectual: ah, Hunter and Nicola’s friendship

I have strong opinions about Hunter.

Yeah, you heard me right.

Look, I have strong opinions about many, many, things. Today, we are taking a dive on Hunter and Nicola. First I’d like to blame this post on Kate, as I decided to make it after I tried to articulate why Hunter being written off TCY makes me so angry in a huge comment under her latest OTK post but it ended up being too big and messy so I deleted it. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone elaborate on it, so if you were also mad about this, bro, not to be intense, but like, are we soulmates or...??

Before anything else, as I usually do with my text posts (which I haven’t done in a while, opsies), I shall provide you with arguably unnecessary context. Sit down, grab yourself some snacks, make yourself at home, I’m about to rant you into oblivion.

Since I know many accounts weren’t around back then, I’ll also give you the socio-political vibes of the time period, as any self-respecting half-baked essay written last minute should.

POV, you’re 14/15 year-old me. You flat iron your hair, you don’t use sunscreen, you think you’re straight and your school makes you wear those horrid low rise uniform pants, but at least you can somewhat do your make-up decently now that you grew out of your emo phase.

The year was 2016. The Ever Never Handbook has just come out. You re-watch the handbook trailer on youtube for the fifteenth time. Everyone is losing their minds over OcTObeR 14tH and “a student named Agatha ~ now Agatha of Camelot~”, as well as the portraits and the teasing for a new SGE book. Quests For Glory is announced just a few days later. 2016 tagatha ship week happens a few months down the line. 

This is the SGE Tumblr Fandom Peak.

Now, let’s start right there, two-ish weeks after the release of the Handbook, right as the QFG announcement comes out.

We all knew Soman wasn’t done with SGE after TLEA. He definitely had been teasing something in his weekly blogs (lol, remember when I used to check the blog, what a time to be alive) and once we got the ENH, we got quite lot of info to theorize. Here’s some that I can think off the top of my head: 

- The coven was going on a mission to find a new School Master.

- Tedros and Agatha were struggling financially in Camelot but were going to get married soon (even if Sophie doubted Tedros would have asked Agatha yet, as of the time of the Ever Never RoundTable, but we’re taking that with a grain of salt, because she was written to sound jealous here, and I won’t acknowledge that kinda of bs, she is happy for her friends okay, we’ve been though this-)

- Sophie had completely remodeled the School For Evil and was getting on Dovey and the rest of the faculty’s nerves (except for newly hired history teacher, Hort).

- The rest of the supporting cast had just graduated third year and was to be off in quests soon.

- The School was now accepting applications, and two of those applicants are Nicola and Bogden.

Now, I’m not even gonna bring up how it was mentioned in a video in EverNeverTv that Bogden would be an important character in TCY, and yet, I can’t think of anything relevant about him other than the fact that he knew tarot apparently, or how his application had more personality than him in the entire series, or how he was basically there so we could look at him and Willam and be like “oh, representation”, or how he’d be a good insight on how Galvadon perceives Sophie and Agatha post-TLEA, or- I’m just not gonna.

Oh, no. Instead, we are here to discuss Nicola’s application.

If your memory is foggy, let me remind you:

Nicola’s application is submitted, according to the Handbook, by her friend, Hunter. For convenience sake, we’ll assume Hunter is a guy (I’ll tell you why Hunter being a guy works better for me in a bit), but his gender is not mentioned anywhere in the ENH. I don’t think he has been gendered in any version (correct me if I’m wrong) or if there are any pronouns for him during TCY, but I’m fairly confident he isn’t mentioned at all.

Hunter tells us he is applying on Nic’s behalf, as she’d never apply for herself. He mentions that she is more or less the Galvadon equivalent of an activist for women’s rights, founding a rugby unisex team and campaigning for pants instead of skirts for the local school uniform, as well as having a feminist sounding book as her favorite book. It’s heavily implied that she is a jock, as he lists that, if marooned on a desert island, Nicola would want to have a soccer ball, a hockey stick and a set of dumbbells (“and none of this 5-lb nonsense”) with her.

Upon asked why Nicola should go to the school, his answer is: “because there’s a greater place for her in the world, where she can learn a girl’s true worth, and I don’t think it’s here.”

Then you have a note from (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) the very late, long, long gone, absolutely dead, August Sader, telling the Deans to accept her application, despite having no reason to do so, as Nicola was to “play a crucial role in it’s [the school’s] survival.” Dovey and Sophie agree to flip a coin to decide which school will take her, which Sophie must have lost, as Nicola is accepted into the School For Evil.

By now, I think we all agree that Nicola was done dirty. If you check my QFG re-read you’ll notice that I complained about her there. As I had to go though her introduction chapter again to make this post, let me tell you why: Nicola wasn’t written to be likeable.

She simply wasn’t. That’s the one conclusion I can draw. Whether that’s intentional or not, I can’t tell, but the backlash she received was fairly useful, as it meant Soman could write her off the main story without much backlash from his target audience (aka, not us, pesky pretentious older readers).

The Nicola I was introduced to, not only in the Handbook but on her trailer for QFG was not the girl on QFG. 

Nic is there to be the smart  girl™, and while I do appreciate having a character who is a bit cocky about their brains, it just doesn’t work well there. Because her bond to other characters and the way she earns their respect feels so weak, she just comes across as pretentious. Characters like Hester and Agatha, who are supposed to be smart, feel dumbed down to show us how clever Nicola is. Agatha is supposed to be the resourceful thinker and Hester wanted to be class captain, you bet she studied like crazy, she probs knows every fairytale in existence. 

Then you add that to the (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) Nicola and Hort fiasco and Nic feels like a weirdly written OC insert.

Handbook!Nicola sounded like a smart jock kind of character (read, more Gryffindor than Ravenclaw). Handbook!Nic was a Reader who read the tales as a hobby, but her favorite book is not a tale, it’s a non-fiction book (as far as I can tell). She might not be the fairytale expert, but she sounds like a practical thinker, as sport requires strategy, which is not Hester’s strong suit, given she is rather impulsive, or Agatha’s, given she is often unwilling to make hard decisions due to her Good nature and her own insecurities. C’mon, Handbook!Nic would have taken one look at Hort and sent him running to hills, because she would be able to smell his bs three miles away. She’s no one’s replacement, least of all Sophie’s (whom she probably would not have gotten along with (at least they got this part right) given Sophie’s “my prince will sweep me away from an ordinary life” phylosophy). To be honest she doesn’t sound like she’d be interested in dating at all.

But this post is about Hunter right? Let me remind you, Hunter is not mentioned in Nicola’s introduction, when she talks about her life in Galvadon. Canon!Nicola tells us that she has two brothers who want to inherit her father’s pub in order to sell the place, but Nicola is close with her father and likes working there to some extent, even if she has bigger ambitions. She believes her brothers sent her application as a way to get rid of her.

Back when I still had some faith that Soman had an arc for Nicola that included resolution, I had my theories as to why she wouldn’t mention Hunter: maybe he was to appear in later books and they’d have a huge backstory explaining their friendship, as well as a dramatic confession that Hunter sent her application because he felt Nicola deserved to live an adventure, and Nicola would either realize that she was meant for something more or that she wanted to live a quiet life, honestly either would be nice. I would have taken anything. Truly, if Nicola’s k-pop boyfriend in the OTK epilogue had been replaced with Hunter, I might be able to hate it less.

Especially if they came to the (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) school wedding as friends. Because you know what?

We are starved for male-female friendships in the SGE universe.

Tedros’s only female friends (all his friends in general) are Agatha’s friends (who all tried to get rid of him at some point, save for maybe Dot) and his actual friends are all dead (Bettina/Chaddick). Hort could be counted as Agatha’s friend, if only he didn’t bash her every five seconds like a moron (he literally pitched the idea that Agatha should be executed by Tedros in OTK, just because he was envious or her relationship with Sophie (not jealous, envious, because Sophie wasn’t his to begin with)) over his delusional sense entitlement of Sophie’s affections (which I hate, but as this is not a Hort-bashing post, I won’t get too much into), but the coven, Beatrix, Renna and co. would not touch him with a stick. Merlin’s friendship with Lady Of The Lake is gone, and Dovey is dead. Rhian and Kei both had that frenemies thing with Sophie in ACOT/beggining of OTK, but I think it was supposed to be romantic? It wasn’t ew (I hate Rhian but he’s also wasted potential, and so was Kei, whom I liked, rest in peace). Japeth hates women for??? Whatever. Willam and Bodgen are such background characters I could not care less about them. The new students weren’t memorable enough for me to remember their names. I think this about covers the main male cast.

There’s a lack of male friendships too, but we kinda have (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) Tort and whatever was that rushed Tedros/Chaddick friendship.  Rhian and Kei were gay friends (yeah, right, sure, very platonic). Tedros and Rhian could have been friends if Rhian redeemed himself, but otherwise no. Tedros and Filip… gay. Japeth literally killed Rhian, so also not very good friendship between brothers. Hort has no friends, because Ravan would so not be here for his bs. Willam and Bogden are a couple and (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) so were Aric and Japeth, I guess.

Still don’t believe Hunter was wasted potential? Okay, let me tell you what my ideal Nicola arc would be, mixing Handbook!Nicola with some canon!Nicola and including Hunter.

- Nicola is the one inheriting the pub (once she gets married), despite Galvadon’s pre-TLEA sexism and conservative views, because she is her father’s only child and her brothers are actually her older half-siblings from her mother’s previous marriage.

- Her mom died at some point early in her childhood. Not a childbirth tho, because Callis, local witch gynecologist (have you checked my post on this yet? no? you should) was there for her, even if it was a high risk pregnancy because the mom was already older.

- Because of that, Nicola’s father actually sells bread to Callis for cheaper prizes, but don’t tell the elders, shhh

- Anyway, because her mom was gone so early, Nicola was raised by her dad, brothers and by the employees (mostly men, as I don’t think it was all that common for women to work jobs in Galvadon) of her father’s pub. Due to being a girl, most guys weren’t willing to befriend her (sexism, am I right), but because she was a tomboy she had difficulty bonding with the other girls at school, even when they weren’t outright hostile (cof cof Sophie). 

- Example: she and Belle had a tentative bond over their love of cooking, but often ran out of things to talk about and the conversation fell flat.

- Which is how she ends up befriending Hunter. 

- Hunter is the only boy in a family of many girls and his father works all day. He has a good heart and is rather emotional, but he always feels like he has something to prove, which leads him to being rather impulsive. Both Nicola and Hunter love sports and are very competitive people. Once Nicola gains his respect, he feels very protective of her and often feels the need to stand up for her, even if she doesn’t need it.

- Nicola knows Hunter feels overlooked in his family, so she is always inviting him over and taking care of him, keeping him out of trouble. Her father begins to see him as his own son, and soon he spends more time at Nicola’s house than at his own.

- Everyone thinks they’ll get married some day. His sisters tease him mercilessly about it, and so does Nic’s father, but frankly, Nic and Hunter see each other as family.

- You can bet Hunter is the one teaching Nic about periods after asking his sisters, so she wouldn’t have to suffer with Galvadon’s horrid Sex Ed. (go check the Callis headcanon’s okay, give me clout, that it my favorite post I’ve ever made)

- They tried to kiss once. Nicola vomited and Hunter gaged.

- Hunter is Nicola’s number one supporter and fan, 100% had those gender-equality pins she made for her campaigns all over his bags and jackets.

- Since most wedding matches are arranged by the elders before girls even graduate, it was settled that Nic and Hunter would get married to each other and then inherit the pub. It would of course, be a secretly platonic match and they would suspiciously have no children (Nicola even had a plan to visit Callis to get a potion for infertility, just in case the elders wanted to check on her... okay, I’ll stop).

- Hunter doesn’t tell her, but Nicola knows he wants to marry for love and have a family of his own. She tries to talk him out of marrying her, but he insists that he would be doing it out of love for her, even if not romantic, because Nic didn’t deserve to be matched up with some stranger she barely knows who would no doubt be less tolerant of her more radical views.

- She tells him it’d be fine for him to have a affairs then, but he insists he would never do that to her, because people would talk about Nic if that was the case and her reputation would be ruined.

- The night of Sophie and Agatha kidnapping Nicola tells him she would rather be taken to the School than to stay there and make him live an unhappy life.

- Hunter is horrified (remember, everyone thought going to the school was a fate worse than death) and makes her promise to never treat her life so fickly.

- Sophie and Agatha get taken, come back, but during Tedros’ reign of terror in Galvadon, right before they return to the Woods, Nicola’s father grows very very sick.

- Nic thinks he’s going to die, and she frets, not only because they’re close but also because she can’t inherit the place if she doesn’t marry Hunter. But, well, she sort of always knew, but now that feels very real, she thought she had some more time before that.

- They set a date for the wedding, but thankfully, Tedros and Agatha’s escape ends up causing the ceremony to be delayed.

- By the time the new date is set, there’s no more elders and Stefan is now mayor.

- But just because he is the mayor doesn’t mean the law and the sexism is gone overnight.

- Nic’s father is getting somewhat better, but she is still very worried about him, because of his old age.

- Once SGE starts having applications and has been proved to be, well, somewhat safe, Hunter suggests that Nicola applies, but after the scare that she might lose her father sooner rather than later, she tells him she can’t bring herself to leave him.

- Hunter doesn’t want her to throw her life away, specially now knowing that in the Endless Woods there were people like her and that progress would get there before it ever got to Galvadon 

- (He also wants to not marry someone he views as a sister, pls).

- So he files her application in secret.

- Nicola gets accepted, upon Sader’s request and Sophie’s bad luck, into the School For Evil. She and Sophie still don’t get along, the Evil castle rejects her and she gets pushed to Good, becoming an Ever, but she’s only staying until Christmas, because she is worried sick about her father.

- She thinks the application was a plot from her brothers because she doesnt think Hunter would ever betray her trust like that, after she specifically told him she wouldn't go.

- There’s no Hicola, instead, she and Hort become friends and she talks him out of his delusions with Sophie, because as much as Nicola dislikes her, Sophie was a girl too, and deserved to have her feelings respected. 

- She also punches Hort into giving up his envy of Tedros and Agatha while at it, because she is just that efficient.

- Everything else up to OTK can be pretty much the same because I can’t remember what happens, other than everytime Nicola is smart girl™, it’s not “because she reads”, but because she is practical. 

- Example: on the boat scene where she very pretentiously sasses Agatha for not saying hello to her (canon!Nicola, girl, she just suffered six months of loneliness at Camelot because Tedros shut her out and is now on a quest to save her happy ending, probs didn’t get much sleep, maybe cut her some slack) and then tells her how to sail a boat (despite the fact that there are no boats in Galvadon and I’m sure you can’t just read Peter Pan and learn to sail a boat, unless I did it wrong or something, maybe the storian version comes with a crash course). Here, instead, Nicola presses Hort (who is a pirate’s son) to remember literally anything to help them (therefore making him not completely useless on this quest), and he does and they tell Agatha and she’s like sure and does it.

- Now, in OTK, I literally can’t remember where Nicola was for most of it and I read that book not too long ago, so I’m worried. 

- Okay, so, have the Knights Of Eleven actually serve some purpose, include a scene where Tedros and Nicola stress-play rugby and get her some internal conflict.

- Nic now loves this world. She just spent the last few weeks fighting to protect it. She is now a Knight, and she loves the adventures and the new friends she made. Can she really go back to Gavaldon to take care of a pub? Well, she needs to, doesn’t she? That’s what a good daughter would do.

- After Japeth’s execution, Nic goes straight home.

- Her father’s condition is stable, as he is being treated by Hunter and his new wife.

- Oh boy, Hunter has some explaining to do.

- Nicola is furious that he broke her trust, but at the same time, she’s happy he’s happy and well, Hunter what do you have to say for yourself?

- “Damn, Nic, nice armour- ouch, my arm!”

- Apparently, since Nicola was taken, Stefan approved a law for people to be able to leave their inheritance to whomever they wanted. And since Nic was gonna be at the Woods, her father was more than happy to leave it to Hunter. Of course, unless Nicola wanted to stay at Gavaldon. 

- Does she? She’s not sure.

- Hunter and Nicola attend the tagatha wedding at Camelot (what, like I wasn’t gonna fix this part?), Hunter is Nic’s plus one.

- There, Hester, Anadil and Dot show her Sader’s note, and ask her, not to become School Master, but to become Dean Of Good, because she would be perfect for the new brand of Good to match Sophie’s Evil. You know, since she is all for gender-equality, good manners, practicality and was particularly good at dealing with Sophie’s bs.

- Since Tedros has the Storian Ring, the pen doesn’t need actual protection, well, not more than it can get from Nic and Sophie.

- Sophie herself insists that Nicola accept the position, not because she doesn’t want to be alone at the school now that Hort and Dovey are dead, no, of course not, since when did Sophie ever need anyone, she was just asking cause… cause Nicola looked lonely. The pretty boy who came with her was not her boyfriend, was he? Sophie was prettier than him anyway. Who needs a boy when they can have her?

- Whether they become a couple or not, I’ll let you decide.

- Bonus: years later, Hunter’s eldest daughter is accepted at the School for Good. Nicola is her godmother, and her favoritism shows.

There, if nothing else, the reason you should be mad about Hunter and the Handbook in general is because this didn’t happen.

[blucmoon]

━  ☾ ⊹  ( bang chan, cis male , he/him ) say hello to HWA YOHAN / CHANCE HWA, the TWENTY FOUR YEAR OLD that seems to have a lot in his hands with HIS job as a STREAMER AND CONTENT CREATOR! beyond that, they seemed RELIABLE AND PASSIONATE upon first glance. i heard someone say they’re sort of SELF-CONSCIOUS AND CAUTIOUS though. HE seems to live in a 2 BEDROOM APARTMENT in SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA. anything else to add? oh, yeah! he also USED TO BE A PROFESSIONAL GAMER PART OF SEOUL DYNASTY (OWL) UNTIL HE GOT KICKED OUT.

basic information

― full name: hwa yohan / chance hwa ― nicknames: yohwa ― age: twenty four ― date of birth: october 3rd, 1996 ― birthplace: cheonan, south korea. ―hometown: sydney, australia ― current location: seoul, south korea ― living arrangements: 2 bedroom apartment ― ethnicity: korean ― nationality: dual, korean (natural born) and australian (naturalized) ― gender: cis male ― pronouns: he / him ― orientation: demiromantic, heterosexual. ― religion: atheist ― occupation: streamer ― language(s) spoken: korean (fluent), english (fluent) ―accent: heavy australian accent

physical appearance

― faceclaim: bang chan / christopher bang of stray kids. ― hair: naturally brown, though he often dyes to a variety of colors, mostly black and blue. right now, it’s a purple color that’s already fading. ― eye colour: coffee brown ― height: 171cm ― weight: 56kg ― tattoos: none at the moment. ― piercings: lobe and upper lobe on both ears. anti-tragus, orbital and rook on the left one. double helix on the right one. ― clothing style: regularly techwear when he goes out and athleisure at home.

personality

― label: the cynical ― positive traits: attentive, dependable, reliable, passionate, brave, energetic, honest, humorous, clever, versatile, truthful, affectionate, sociable ― negative traits: self-conscious, cautious, opinionated, arrogant, detached, critical, tactless, stubborn, loud, quick-tempered, harsh, unfiltered, cynical, restless, ambitious, ― hobbies: baking, collecting enamel pins and funkos, jigsaw puzzles, skateboarding, reading, listening to music, curating playlists when he has time, learning origami. ― habits: obsessively organising, borrowing books and rarely ever returning them (he forgets who they belong to ok), really bad road rage, awful at keeping track of time, people watching, always wears a black ring on his left index finger, always hugs something when sleeping, gets easily impressed by things, quotes movies and shows in regular conversations, knuckle cracking, snacking between meals, eye rolling without noticing, squinting when concentrated, crossing his arms over his chest, running hands through his hair, slouching, rolling his shoulders. ― zodiac sign: sun libra, moon gemini, ascendant libra. ― mbti: infp-t “the mediator” ― enneagram: 8w7 “the nonconformist”. ― temperament: melancholic ― hogwarts house: ravenclaw ― moral alignment: chaotic neutral ― primary vice: greed ― primary virtue: diligence ― element: air

trivia:

― he’s played all kind of games and his twitch channel was created 9 years ago (whew) and it currently has over 5 million subscribers. currently, he streams mostly genshin impact, valorant, league of legends, overwatch, spider-man: miles morales, cyberpunk 2077 and the witcher iii. every now and then he makes charity streams. he also makes special lives with other gamers and figures where they play games like among us, minecraft, fortnite (though he absolutely hates it), party animals, fall guys and other party games.

― despite the rumours around him and his parents, he’s never talked about them to the media. it’s not like chance hides the information, after all it’s online, but he swerves questions about them and pretty much decides to not say anything about them just to avoid controversy. his parents didn’t mind until last year the company they worked at offered him a sponsorship and yohan turned it down. it’s safe to say they were pretty hurt over this and they haven’t talked much recently.

― yohan is, in his words, the biggest fan of spiderman (not really) but he’s his favorite heroe of all times and he collects everything and anything that has him in it. his biggest collection is funko pops with over 30+ figurines. he collects funkos of various other interests of him as well as enamel pins.

― lowkey a weeb. he likes watching anime in his spare time and if he likes it too much, he’d buy the manga and read it as well. his latest obsessions are kimetsu no yaiba, boku no hero academia, haikyu and jujutsu kaisen.

― won’t ever admit this out loud, but almost every ghibli movie makes him cry his eyes out, even when he’s watched the same one over and over again. he prefers to watch these on his own. his favorite one is grave of the fireflies.

― it took him a while to get used to korean culture, a part of him is still trying to. luckily, his family would speak in korean in their household most of the time and this helped him not struggle as much when it came to the language. his streams are most of the time in english to cater to a bigger audience, but recently he’s got himself a small team of an editor and a translator that’s helped him add subtitles to the videos he uploads in youtube.

― his current setup is completely sponsored except for a few extra things he’s bought himself and he has minimal experience when it comes to builds, though he’s really interested in learning and has recently researched more about the whole topic, hoping to get his first custom build by the end of the year.

― has terrible road rage and this is the reason why he doesn’t own a car or a driving license, even being in the backseat makes him anxious and would much rather prefer to use the bus, a bike or his skateboard to commute between places. taxis and other rides are his last option, if he’s quite honest.

― as a neighbour, he’s polite and tries to be mindful just to avoid needless problems. the first thing he did was soundproof his office in order to not disrupt others, but sometimes this doesn’t work as well due to how loud he can be. chance will try to greet every neighbour he encounters either with a wave or a simple nod.

― loves dogs but doesn’t feel he’s responsible enough to take care of one yet, though he will certainly volunteer to pet-sit his friends’ dogs.

background:

born in cheonan, south korea to two very affectionate parents and an older sister, yohan was the name given to the first boy of the hwa’s; a small loving family who moved to australia two years after his birth.

the reason for this is that his mom was promoted to become the director of a renowned gaming company that was opening its new headquarters in sydney. his father is a software engineer specialised in videogames development who works under the same company.

his sister is a graphic designer and she, too, is currently working with them in the multimedia and design area. she’s almost 7 years older than him and ever since they were kids, she took a protective role over yohan.

it was easy for yohan to get really invested in videogames from a young age, after all, his parents would often bring home their newest releases as well as games from other various companies (his father liked to play a lot as well and he himself was a fan of many games, mostly the nintendo classics).

fast forward to his teenage years; he was actually good at school, not the best, but definitely did good enough to not worry his parents with his grades. sports always piqued his interest. he was part of the basketball team and would use his skateboard often to get to school (which would earn him earfuls from the teachers saying how dangerous it was.) other than that, he was an active member in the gaming club (shocking, i know).

at 14 he got his first close up at what esports were like after participating in a tournament of counter strike, junior division. his team (which was made up by members from the gaming club) won and he got to watch matches from other divisions, only growing more and more fascinated about the whole thing. the idea of becoming a professional gamer didn’t seem so far fetched then.

around late 2011, the same year twitch started as what it is, yohan found the platform and immediately grew curious about it. it was fascinating to watch other people play, thus it didn’t take him long to start his own channel under the username “chance” right after he turned 15. it took him a while to find his own pace there, not quite sure of what to say or how to act. eventually, he saw that the less reserved and cautious he was, the more people watched and liked his stream, so from then on, he stopped worrying about what ifs and what people would think about him.

this is a double edged sword: as his popularity grows, he becomes more and more brutally honest and less mindful of the consequences his words and actions could have. whereas he quickly became one of the public’s favorites, he was also viewed as someone potentially problematic that could bring a bad reputation to the community, though this only seemed to be a prejudice from other gamers and public figures.

he doesn’t care, however, and chance was pretty dead set on keep doing his thing. he was also really active in tournaments, either small or big, and other teams would often reach out for him to fill in. he rarely ever turned down an opportunity and even though they didn’t always win, participating was more than enough for him to gain the favor of the audience.

when he was 18, a formal contract to be part of the chiefs esports club (a recently founded professional club with teams competing in counter-strike: global offensive and league of legends based in australia) was presented to him and of course he signed.

between his streams, which had become a tri-weekly kind of deal, and the “training” with his teammates the rest of the days, it was clear that yohan wasn’t in the slightest interested to pursue a higher education, and honestly his parents didn’t complain about it as he was already doing well on his own. nonetheless, his sister was concerned and pushed him to at least take a couple of online classes (which he did, but mostly to learn how to edit videos and understand audio aspects to improve the quality of his streams.)

around this time, nasty rumours about his parents buying his way into the club were spread which earned him the dislike of some of his teammates. it was the first time yohan ever encountered a situation like that but thanks to the management, he was able to move past that. the oceanic pro league was founded in 2015, a professional league of legends competition, and the chiefs esports club participated and won. this helped the rumours around him disperse for he proved his skills were what put him into the team. sadly, he left the club a year later.

for the next couple of years, he focused on his stream and growing his community. yohan was invited to different events, tournaments and other collaborations during this time and he was always excited for them. he even decided to create a youtube channel to upload highlights and vlogs.

then, the overwatch league was announced (chance quickly became addicted to this game and even reached top 500 in competitive) and he was contacted by the seoul team (seoul dynasty) to become part of their team for the inaugural season. like that, at 21, yohan packed his bags and moved to south korea.

between 2017 and 2019, he was part of the team as dps. he had to change his schedule yet again to stream only on the weekends and with some restrictions his contract established (like not talking about the team or the league live). some of his fans voiced their dislike for this new attitude of his, which yohan brushed with a roll of the eyes and a joke.

however, before the 2020 season started and the team was on break, chance was one day streaming and offhandedly said a comment about another player in the league which he had a match with. this caused a really big commotion online and several pro-gamers were rubbed the wrong way about his words (to this day, he still doesn’t know what was so wrong about calling out someone t-bagging him in a pro game) and his reputation was admittedly tarnished. the seoul dynasty’s management team decided that it was better to let him go.

that’s how last year, chance moved into his current apartment after looking online for a new place to live.

in the present, he streams 5 days a week a variety of games and his schedule varies, some days he goes live in the mornings and other days really late at night. he has a steady income from various sponsorships as well as the monetization of his youtube channel, which he updates twice a week.

[heloflor]

Ducktales S2 episodes thoughts

So I finally caught up with Ducktales, since I stopped watching in the middle of season 2, right after “Whatever happened to Della Duck”; and I’ve decided to share my thoughts on each episode of the post-hiatus S2 and the episodes of S3 we have so far. So here is season 2 for those who are interested, and yes, this post is going to be long (this is definitely not the most practical way to do it but I don’t want to make one post per episode) :

“Treasure of the Found Lamp!” : not much to say on this one, aside from the fact that this is probably an ‘’’excuse’’’ to show more of the Beagle Boys (when you think about it, these guys barely show up after S1) and that the character of Djinn is pretty cool; I like him.

  “The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck!” : still a delight to see Scrooge and Goldie interact and see how these two are genuinely attracted to each other but their desire for gold prevent them from being together. Though honestly, you can’t convince me that they didn’t date at some point, unless one of the creators (*cough* Frank *cough*) says otherwise. I mean, in season 1, when Goldie is introduced, not only does Scrooge immediately calls her his ex but Goldie is also willing to kiss him 5 minutes into their first meeting in years. Seriously, in season 1, you can tell that these two know they are attractive to the other, they know the effect they have on each other, and it wouldn’t be surprising that they acted upon those feelings at some point, before betraying each other again. Hell, remember the best quote from this episode ?

“You love gold more than you loved me.”

“And that’s why you loved me.”

They’re literally admitting that they’re in love with each other, or at least loved each other at some point.

  “The 87 Cent Solution!” : this episode did not age well. AT ALL. But this aside, the scene with Glomgold showing up during the funeral was one of the most hilarious things this show has done. And speaking of Glomgold, I really like how threatening he was in this. It shows that when he has a plan in mind and the right tools, he can really pull it off. We need more of Glomgold being clever like that (though I’ll admit he is pretty hilarious the way he is and in season 3 we have our lot of serious/threatening villains).

  “The Golden Spear!” : And they were roomates ! But more seriously; speaking of threatening villains : Lunaris is amazing as a strategist villain ! I absolutely love the way he’s able to pass himself as the good guy and manipulate everyone to get what he wants, whether it be Della by asking her for the ‘blueprints’ or his own people by making Della a traitor to their eyes. Hell, even Penumbra is at a loss by the end of the episode and doesn’t seem to know whether she should obey or not. And speaking of Penumbra, her evolution throughout the episode is really great. I especially like how Della is just so oblivious to the hatred Penumbra has for her. Honestly this episode alone is definitely enough justification for the Penny/Della shippers.

As for the “B plot”, it was nice to see a bit more of Donald being a dad, especially with the kids starting to realize the impact their actions can have on him. Though, they made Donald such an interesting and tragic character in this show that I’m not that big of a fan of seeing him get hurt for laughs.

Oh and one last thing about Della : for some reason, that shot of her in the rocket, seeing the earth and crying while saying “mommy’s coming home” gets me very emotional every time I watch it. I think it’s because we know that she spent 10 years trying to get home to meet her kids, facing failure after failure; and finally, after all these hardships, she’s going back with nothing to stop her.

On the same note, Donald’s hope when seeing the rocket and his accidental launch were pretty heartbreaking.

  “Nothing can stop Della Duck!” : Ok, first off, that intro. It is waaay too early in the episode for such feels and I love it ! Although, on one hand I’m a bit disappointed that the boys accept their mom so quickly (I expected a bit more heartbreak) but on the other hand it works because they all have a different reaction that truly fit with their personalities.

Secondly, the way Della is in this episode. It’s perfect. She’s not a mother, this is something the fandom had realized ever since “The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!”. Della had children too early, at a time when she was too immature for such responsibility. And her ten years on the moon, most of them in total isolation, didn’t help making her wiser. So now she’s back, still as immature, but now she has three kids to take care of; and she has no idea what she’s doing. Also, like some people already pointed out last year (or at least it probably was last year), Della doesn’t immediately know about Donald leaving the mansion for a decade. To her, the triplets grew up exactly like she did, hence why she doesn’t think her scary story would terrify them that much.

I also really like how Louie was and how Scrooge and Beakley handled the situation. I like how one of the kids wasn’t completely sold at the thought of their mom being back, and Louie works as the insecure triplet there. As for the adult characters, I love how they both knew that Della needed to learn how to be a parent but at the same time she just arrived, so they kept their distance to let her be with her kids while at the same time being close enough to act if something goes wrong.

Finally, it’s sweet to see how Della is truly willing to learn how to be a good parent, although the road is still very long, even in season 3.

  “Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!” : Nothing much to say about the plot with Glomgold. It’s just Glomgold being Glomgold while Owlson and Scrooge are just done with his shit. As for Della and Dewey, it’s a great plot. We see Della trying to bond with her kids by doing what they like, and it was pretty obvious that Dewey would be the first on the list. After all, he was the first to wonder about his mom and they both share the same thirst for adventure. And it’s great to see how Della doesn’t know her kids’ abilities. So at first, she’s completely fine with putting Dewey in stressful situations; but by the end of it, she realizes how dangerous things are and what she could lose, while Dewey started to believe too much in himself due to what his mother told him, only realizing too late in which situation he put himself in.

So yeah, it was great to see Della discover what her kids are able to do during their adventures, especially their limits.

  “Friendship Hates Magic!” : So, when I watched in 2017-2018, I didn’t really understand where the whole Lena/Webby came from; but seeing this now, I was definitely blind (and it didn’t help that I used to ship Webby and Dewey until I discovered Ace Att//orney and the ‘found siblings’ relationship between Edge//worth and Fran//ziska). Also I’m a bit split on Violet. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a good character and I do like how she got interested in studying magic and her personality in general. But at the same time her personality kind of rub me the wrong way, not in a “she’s evil” way but more a “I don’t like her” way. It’s weird.

As for the rest, it’s sweet how Webby tried to be more normal because she’s afraid to lose a new friend, and her reaction to seeing Lena again was adorable. Lena was also really sweet in how much she cares for Webby and wants her to be safe.

As for the B-plot, it was nice seeing Beakley and Launchpad get along, and it’s pretty clever how what brought them together was their liking for heroism.

  “The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!” : Firstly, the kids are still shippers, which is a nice touch.

Secondly, that scene with Beaks and the lasers was amazing. If the scene at Scrooge’s ‘funeral’ is the best Glomgold scene, then the scene with the lasers is the best Mark Beaks scene so far.

Thirdly, I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that Launchpad is pansexual. I mean, if a person can date anyone regardless of species, then gender shouldn’t be much of an issue. Also Launchpad mentions in his ‘list’ a wereduck and a ninja, which are often considered as male (by that I mean that, while werewolves and ninjas can be both male/man and female/woman, when you think of one of them you’ll have a tendency to see them as masculine, because that’s how they are represented in media most of the time). He also mentions a clone of himself, so another same-sex relationship; and a talking cloud of energy, which I’m pretty sure doesn’t have a gender to begin with. So yeah. Pansexual Launchpad. Or at least non-straight Launchpad. And speaking of Launchpad, I like how he can tell that Fenton isn’t smooth at all and puts some music on to prevent the duo to be forced to talk; it’s a pretty sweet gesture. Honestly it’s great how Launchpad is often seen as a complete idiot but then you have those specific ‘fields’ in which he knows and lot and can really shine (*cough* the next episode *cough*).

Update after lurking on Tumblr : apparently there’s an LGBT+ Ducktales event and a member of the crew made an art about Launchpad and all the people he dated (including his clone and the cloud of energy and I love this person for adding this); and given the appearance of several of them, it’s clear that this guy is pan. By the way if you want to see the art just time “Ducktales love is like a hurricane” on Tumblr and you’ll find it.

Fourthly, the “It’s a date” song is great and catchy.

Fifthly, the fact that DR. Atmosphere feels insulted by Fenton not giving much effort really works with him being a reference to Doofenshmirtz. After all, in Phineas and Ferb, we see that Heinz is just a lonely guy who truly likes Perry and takes their relationship seriously, between writing his monologues to making big musical numbers to complain when Perry isn’t there at the right time (and yes, by season 4, being evil is more of a job to him than an actual wish to dominate the Three-State Area).

Finally, the heart of this episode : Fenton. This episode worked well in how it develops how Fenton views his new role as a popular hero. We especially see how he struggles to balance his two lives and his relationships, wishing to be liked for who he is as a person instead of as a hero. It’s also interesting how much work he does as a hero, to the point of not really caring anymore about being dramatic and saying catchphrases and all that yada-yada. His relationship with Gandra is also pretty nice, although it is very predictable and by the end of the episode, I’m not even sure if they do end up together ? Like, Gandra talks about a second date but it’s just a trick to get Fenton to say the code thing; and though she does help at the end and give Fenton the right ‘formula’ (she draws a molecule so yeah, formula) for his invention, she still leaves without much words and seems to have taken the original ball (I think ?). Though, the idea of them dating could be very interesting in regards of her afflictions with F.O.W.L.

  “The Duck Knight Returns!” : so, first off, I never saw an episode of Darkwing Duck before seeing the recent fanart of the dt17 fandom. I more or less knew the show existed as a kid (there was a channel with old Disney shows in the early 2000s) because I remember there was another show than Ducktales that had Launchpad in it but I didn’t like his character at that time so I never watched. But I recently started watching and I have to say, the most surprising thing about it has to be the fact that Drake has a girlfriend because holy shit this show is gay ! Seriously ! Two guys, living together and raising a child together, having tons of domestic moments. Whoever wrote this show had no gaydar whatsoever ! And honestly this makes the whole thing hilarious. But shipping aside, the show’s pretty good. It has different villains with different goals and personalities, they decided to make the action cartoonish, which works well, and the show has some pretty good and hilarious quotes there and there. But what really makes this show a great one has to be the domestic moments, especially the relationship between Drake and Gosalyn. These two are adorable and their father/daughter relationship is both wholesome and feels realistic. On the same note, it’s great to see how a show from the 90s was breaking the gender norms not only by making a single father character (or, if you see Launchpad as a father figure too, you could say making two men be parents) but also by having a girl be a tomboy without it being seen as an issue by anyone (except for like one episode). So yeah, Darkwing Duck’s a pretty good show and if you like the duckverse and haven’t seen it yet, you should give it a watch !

Now, onto the actual Ducktales episode. It’s really great. I won’t talk much about it because pretty sure it’s been talked a lot already but yeah, it’s a great way to introduce Drake and give a backstory to Negaduck. Though my favorite thing about this episode has to be Launchpad. I love how he knows from the beginning that Jim’s plan is bad but still feels like he should roll with it because the guy’s his idol. I especially like the detail of Launchpad covering the eyes of the Scrooge logo while breaking into the studio. Also the “I’m trapped in a prison of guilt !” line. I also really like his interactions with Drake, especially at the end when he inspires him to become Darkwing. It really shows that, while Launchpad’s an idiot most of the time, when he’s truly passionate about something, a much more smooth and clever side of him shines (seriously during that part when he inspires Drake to become a hero, he sounds so smooth and yet it seems to come so naturally. And you can tell how much respect it makes Drake have for him with the way he looks at Launchpad when putting his hat on).

One last thing to say about this episode : there’s that scene right before Jim tries to trap Drake in which Dewey and Launchpad talk about how things are currently going for them; and when Dewey talks about how excited the whole ‘making a movie’ thing is for him, for some reason I absolutely love the animation of Dewey jumping into Launchpad’s arms while Launchpad tries not to drop him. I don’t know, it just feels really ‘fluid’ or something (I have no idea what’s the language for animation) but yeah, props to the animators for that moment.

  “What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?!” : First off, the highlight of this episode is definitely the speech about Donald going to a therapist to control his anger. It’s simply amazing to have a children cartoon show a character having issues and deciding to deal with them in a healthy way, and it’s great to see Dewey realizing how much Donald does for him and his brothers and being touched by it. It’s also a great lesson about how you can’t make your anger magically disappear but you can work to deal with it in the best way possible.

As for the scenes on the moon, between Lunaris being extremely manipulative and planning everything, Penumbra trying to do what she believes is best and Donald’s determination to go home and parental instincts shining through, it was a really enjoyable episode. Not much to say about Dewey and Webby though. It’s just Dewey and Webby being Dewey and Webby.

  “Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake!” : Doofus is still as terrifying as before, Goldie is still the same gold-driven robber as usual, Louie is still looking for an easy way to get rich, Glomgold is still doing weird schemes and Beaks is still relying on technology too much. So overall, not much to say aside from it’s a great and fun episode; the scene at the end with Scrooge and Louie is sweet and Boyd is a precious baby. Also I still love Goldie’s character and it’s great to see Doofus’ parents finally be free from their son’s creepy bullshit. Also also, seeing Della bond with Huey was really sweet, especially how she was willing for a while to stay with him and his garden despite how boring it was to her.

  “A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill!” : again, not much to say. We get to see more of Violet’s character, along with what the kids dream of, which is a good way to reinforce their personalities but also their desires and fears (I especially like Dewey’s dream having him cry on the moon, it’s a great touch given that he spent an entire season trying to find more about his mom). And obviously, we get to see more of Lena and how afraid she is to be a bad person. I also like how it’s unclear by the end whether or not she can control her magic, which left room for season 3 to expand upon. It’s also great how by the end of the episode, her biggest comfort didn’t come from her friends but from seeing by herself the state in which Magica currently is. I don’t know why but I’d say it makes the whole thing more realistic ? Like, there’s only so much friends can do to help you, but seeing your abuser being in a terrible state is a much more direct proof that there’s nothing to fear.

  “The Golden Armory of Cornelius Coot!” : again, not much. It’s a classic fun episode with the kids trying to solve a mystery while some bad guys are on their tail. Though, I really like the whole thing with Webby trying to be more like Della, with Della starting to be a bit of a mom to her. I also liked seeing Della and Launchpad interact more and it’s still funny to see how the ship that so many people liked in season 1 is slowly fading away as we see Della having a hard time accepting Launchpad and as we have Tumblr remember how much it likes gay ships with the introduction of Penumbra and Drake (by the way, I’m not saying that Della/Launchpad is a bad ship; it’s just that I find it funny to see how quick a fandom is to change their opinion on shipping, especially when ‘gay options’ are created).

Although, Della felt a bit uncharacteristically cold and aggressive towards Launchpad, especially when compared to how she was with Dewey in “Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!”. But I guess it has to do with how she felt like Launchpad replaced her, making her more protective over her plane and her talent as a pilot.

  “Timephoon!” : so I have no memory of Bubba (the caveman duck) from the old Ducktales so I can’t compare him. But from what I’ve seen in this episode, he’s fine. Not the best character but he works as a one-off character and I wouldn’t mind a cameo or two in the future (as long as it’s not an entire episode focused on him because that would get boring pretty quickly).

Now, for the rest of the episode, I want to talk about Della, because she’s clearly the most interesting part here. Della was gone for a decade, she barely knows anything about her kids, especially the mischiefs they can get into, and that’s what the episode plays into. Della discovers that her kids don’t just get into danger from adventuring, they can put themselves in danger, more or less voluntary. And the way she reacts to it (along with the season finale) makes it feels like Donald and her never or rarely got into these kinds of situations, although Beakley’s line near the end of the episode might say otherwise. And speaking of which, I really appreciate how Scrooge and Beakley were when Della scolded Dewey. At first, Beakley was ready to step in when Louie made the comment of Della not being better than him; but Della made it clear that she needed to do it on her own. And afterwards, we see both Scrooge and Beakley respect her decision and staying silent as Louie is pleading them to step in. They know that Della needs to learn to be a good mother so they respect and support her decision. Though, if you search the name of the episode on Tumblr, there’s a post about how Della went too far given her current relationship with Louie, though it isn’t her fault as she doesn’t know him enough. You should try finding this post, it’s definitely worth giving it a read ! And yeah, there’s also a lot of other posts talking about the issue with much more analysis than I do so if you’re interested, go read the discourse on Tumblr.

  “GlomTales!” : first off, they used the takeover as the intro and I love every second of it !

Secondly, Della….yikes. Yeah. Grounding Louie was the right decision to make but forcing him to stay trapped in a room with a dangerous robot guarding him and ‘taunting’ him with recordings telling him about how much he fucked up, all the while the rest of the family is in vacation in a place he dreamed of visiting…I think you get the point. They went way too far with the punishment, so it’s no surprise when Louie wants to join the bad guys who let him do all the scheming he wants. And while Della accepted his personality more by the end of the episode, these two still need to connect more.

Speaking of the bad guys, they were pretty fun in this episode. I like how their different personalities and knowledge led them to act with each other. I especially liked Magica trying to get back her former glory and overstepping on Glomgold for the role of leader, Glomgold who is still as dramatic and dumb as ever while having actually smart schemes and I love it.

  “The Richest Duck in the Word!” : while the structure of the episode was pretty cliché (character suddenly has tons of powers but doesn’t realize the responsibilities that go with it), the ending with Louie and Scrooge was really sweet and satisfying. Honestly the season is supposed to be about Louie having a company and yet he and Scrooge didn’t have that many interactions (they still had some, but they could have more) so it’s really sweet to see them solve an issue linked to Scrooge’s company together.

And let’s not forget that Owlson finally stood up for herself and quitted (good for her honestly, she deserves a job where she can be happy and get what she wants done) and that Launchpad actually managed to land a plane without crashing (and it’s not even acknowledged !).

  “Moonvasion!” : the season finale, aka the one that should have its own post. You know what ? I’ll put the review here and, eventually, I’ll split it into its own post if it’s requested.

So, Moonvasion. Where to start. Ok, first off, it was an amazing episode. Just like the first finale, this was possibly the best episode of the season (depending of your point of view though, tastes and expectations are different). It was great to see so many characters come together and fight together, all with different fighting methods. I especially like Fenton’s mom being a protective badass, Beakley being a total badass and Gyro with his clone army (I especially love his line when everyone is debating on what to do and he’s like “Simple. Clone. Army.”. I just love the delivery here).

Secondly, I really like how they expended on Della there. As we’ve seen in previous episodes, Della still doesn’t know her kids and their abilities; so in the face of danger, she’d rather flee to protect her. On the other hand, Donald trust the kids to defend themselves and immediately starts strategizing with them. And speaking of Donald, I love how they acknowledge how much and how well he took care of the kids with the line about Della’s lullaby. In general, that entire sequence on the island with the twins and their kids (no incest intended) was probably the best part of the episode, along with the big fight with everyone and that “Hey kids.” line from Scrooge near the end. Oh yeah, and also the space fight with the moon theme playing and the family working together with the twins fighting and Scrooge being happy to have his angry babies back. This entire sequence was also amazing. And when Penumbra shows up, I love how she’s using the original spear of Selene. Again, just like last finale, the crew outdid themselves.

Another thing that I can praise here is Glomgold. I really love how they made his weird schemes work out. I also love how not only did he do this to help but he also used the situation to spite Scrooge by trolling him. Also earth baby jail. Just earth baby jail.

And speaking of strategists, I absolutely adore Lunaris in this episode. This guy was truly prepared for anything Scrooge could send him and it’s great.

Another character that I’d like to mention in this episode is Drake. Basically, watching the episode again, I’m pretty sure that guy has no fucking clue on what to do. I mean, we see him show up at Launchpad’s place at the beginning of the invasion, then he’s at the meeting with the others and gives ideas that show he’s much more on the theatrics parts of being a hero, which is fitting with him being an actor (side note that I forgot to mention earlier : I really appreciate that they made Drake an actor. It really fits with how overly dramatic he was in the old show; and it could play with his ego as well, though DT17 Drake doesn’t seem to have that big of an ego). Then, before the giant fight, he’s on a car with Launchpad and once Scrooge takes his place in it, Drake still holds onto it. And by the end of the second act, he’s trying to fight with Launchpad helping him. In other words, Drake spends the entire episode glued to Launchpad. So personally, I interpret it as Drake not really knowing what to do so, since Launchpad is the one who inspired him to be a hero in the first place and is the only one taking him seriously, Drake is going to try to stay with him and have him as support. And yeah, overall, the joke about nobody knowing who the fuck Drake is was pretty hilarious.

Finally, because no episode is perfect, here’s a few details that, while not making the episode any less amazing, still bother me a bit.

- When Della left Duckburg on a gigantic plane, how come no Moonlanders tried to follow her ? Hell, we know they came to her specifically and we see later that Lunaris was able to see her position; so what gives ? And even when they’re in Egypt, though I can understand why they wouldn’t try to follow since they only have one ship. But still, Della was able to fly for possibly hours before getting attacked, and they only got attacked because they landed on a place that was about to be invaded !

- What happened to Drake after he fainted ? Like, don’t get me wrong, I understand while we stop seeing him. After Scrooge see the landing of the ship, we get into the third act, which seems to take place a few hours after the previous scene (given that several characters changed clothing and it started freezing). And I know that, since it’s the third act, they only wanted the main characters to play a role. But still, one minute we see Drake faint into Launchpad’s arms and the next Launchpad arrives alone saying everyone was captured. So what happened to Drake ? I see three possibilities, all with a few flaws : A) Launchpad ditched Drake/the two split up. Let’s be honest, this didn’t happen. Launchpad would never let an injured person behind, especially not someone he admires so much. B) Launchpad tried to find a safe place to hide Drake so that the guy can rest; but given that they’re in an invasion, finding such a spot could be very hard. C) During the time between the two acts, they got attacked by Moonlanders and either Drake was too weak to fight and got captured or he basically sacrificed himself so that Launchpad can go try to find Scrooge; with a “He needs you more than me” move. But, again, it would feel weird for Launchpad to abandon someone but then again, if it’s for the sake of everyone by trying to find his boss, I guess it could happen. This scenario would even fit with the “everyone got captured” line. Though, if Launchpad and Drake got attacked which led to them being separated, then we were robbed of a perfectly good action scene !

- There’s a shot at some point where you can see Doofus and his family and I have two questions there : 1. Why are the parents still wearing the maid outfits (and why do they keep doing it in season 3) ? and 2. Can’t Boyd do anything to help them ? Like, I know he believes he’s a real boy but that doesn’t stop him from having some pretty powerful defense mechanisms.

Update (before the post was made; I know) : so I ended up wasting 4 hours of my life reading all of Frank’s answers that I hadn’t seen yet (the things asperger makes you do…) and apparently Doofus burned his parents’ other clothes. Still doesn’t explain Boyd tho.

- During the fight in space, when the Duck family started to lose, they took a few damages before finding themselves behind the rocket. So, if they were to take damage anyways, why couldn’t Della immediately pull them on the side to get out of the way instead of heading to certain doom ? And yes I completely understand that it was a very stressful situation so she did the first thing she had in mind. Honestly that last flaw is the one that bothers me the less in a characters’ standpoint, though it still feels like plot convenience.

  So that’s all for season 2 ! Again, I could put the finale on its own post if requested. As for season 3, it’d be in a second post. This one is long enough. The post for season 3 will most likely be split in half, with the last episode talked about depending on which episode airs last before the post is made.

[ao3porcelainstorm]

poison ivy & stinging nettles 14

On Ao3

Pairing: Sherlock/OFC

Rated: M

Warnings: eventual violence, torture, swears, adult themes (no explicit smut)

Chapter 13 - Chapter 15

Chapter 14- Asphodel

~~~

They’re both idiots. Emotionally stunted idiots with only concern for the world and never for themselves.

~~~

The viewing had gone as well as could be expected. Sherlock had to admit, whoever patched the hole in the back of Maxwell’s head had done a spectacular job.

Amelia hung back, chatting politely with family, and Sherlock noticed that she never went up to the casket before it was sealed up and the memorial was moved to the gravesite outside.

Hugging her cousin as the family moved, she whispered something in Ruth’s ear that made the other chuckle quietly.

She gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, and when Sherlock arrived at the graveyard, Amelia was gone.

He realized that in all the fuss and bustle, she must have slipped away before the actual memorial began.

She hadn’t been missed, the focus falling on Ruthie and her family, occasionally Lydia. Once the body was in the ground, and people began lingering around for condolences, he went for the gardens. He was positive this time he would find his friend there, as the house was being prepped for a large dinner.

Sure enough, Amelia was sat up under a tree, bundled in her winter jacket, with a sketchbook propped in her lap. She didn’t notice him approach, and barely reacted when he sat down next to her,’ glancing at the picture she was drawing.

“Asphodel,” she explained without looking up. She shaded in the stems, pausing with the end of her pencil between her lips. “A bundle means ‘my regrets follow you into the grave’.”

“Seems appropriate,” he commented.

“Burials freak me out,” she admitted. “And I couldn’t listen to the priest talk about what a great guy he was. I mean, maybe he was for a while, but he did nearly kill John.”

“And you,” Sherlock reminded her. She made a noise under her breath, dismissing his commentary.

“It’s so permanent,” she continued, her sketching a little more intense as she spoke. “Buried in the ground.”

“Flowers sprout from the ground,” Sherlock reminded her quietly. She didn’t react immediately, considering his words before she furrowed her brow in thought.

“Exactly, they spout and grow and become beautiful things,” she lowered her sketchbook to look at him directly. “A coffin just sits there. The body bloats and decays, contributing nothing and warping and bleh.”

“I’ll be sure to plant some nice roses over your body when the time comes,” he smirked.

“But that’s more productive,” she pointed at him with her pencil. “Roses thrive with bonemeal and blood. They love it.”

“I can assure you comfortably,” his smirk grew wider. “You’ll be very much unaware of your surroundings when your time comes. Dead people tend not to complain about their accommodations in my experience.”

“I’m holding you to that,” she poked his arm with her pencil. “Otherwise I’ll haunt you.”

“Ghosts aren’t real, but I’d be willing to see you try and prove otherwise.”

She snorted a laugh under her breath, folding her sketchbook shut.

“Did you see my great-aunt Marge?” she asked in a low voice.

“Is she the one who threw herself over the body?” he questioned in amusement.

“Yep,” she nodded. “She’s been complaining about not getting a cent in my grandpa’s will for decades now. Seems to think Ruthie’s gonna cut her a check today. Her son’s been playing boo-hoo all day too.”

“He called Tommy, ‘Johnny’,” Sherlock supplied, earning a fit of giggles from her. It was far more peaceful in the gardens, even if the plants were mostly bare in anticipation of the upcoming winter weather. There were certainly fewer fake criers.

“Should we even stay for dinner?” she asked, cringing at the thought. “I think I heard Mycroft and my mother are leaving soon.”

“Thank God,” Sherlock muttered, visibly relieved. He was not looking forward to holding his tongue around these people for a few more hours. Aunt Marge alone was enough to provide him snide comments for the next few weeks. “I can be packed in ten minutes.”

Amelia hopped up eagerly, offering a gloved hand and pulling Sherlock to his feet.

“Make it five and we can stop for Indian on the way back.”

~~~

Returning home was uneventful. Both Amelia and Sherlock agreed that it was a bit of a relief not to be staring danger in the face the whole time. It’d been a long few hours, but immediately upon passing the threshold of Baker Street, they were energized again.

Home was home, after all.

John and Mrs. Hudson greeted them with homemade chicken soup, the pair dropping into the kitchen chairs and devouring the meal.

“How has Ruthie held up?” Mrs. Hudson inquired, pouring tea for everyone once they’d finished eating, and moved to the living room.

“As well as you did during your husband's trial,” Sherlock replied briskly. “Favouring the grape, so to speak.”

“To be fair,” Amelia cut in, scowling at Sherlock. “She’s had a chaotic few weeks. I’d be drunk too.”

“But you haven’t been,” Sherlock pointed out. “Comparably, you’ve had a chaotic few months.”

“I have some old whiskey in the pantry. Is that your blessing, Sherlock? Or shall I start spending the nights in the pub with Jessica Reynolds?”

“You two are always at each other,” Mrs. Hudson tutted. “After what John told me, I thought you’d be like honeymooners when you got back.”

Amelia immediately turned her focus to John, who was doing his best to avoid the Auburn-haired woman’s gaze.

“Oh? And what did John tell you?” she squeaked out, face red.

Sherlock even had to admit, it was an amusing response.

“I’m not getting in the middle of this,” Mrs. Hudson stood up and retreated for the stairs. “Forget I said anything. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

“Clever girl,” Amelia muttered after the landlady had closed the door to her flat. She kept her eyes on John, waiting for him to break. It was bound to happen. He always broke with that look.

“Really?” he set his tea down, looking between Sherlock and Amelia impatiently. “Nothing happened?”

“I’m not sure I understand your question, John,” Sherlock crossed his legs, taking a slow sip of his tea. “Would you please expand on what you mean?”

Scoffing, he turned to Amelia.

Smart, Sherlock relented. Her every expression read like a book. Perhaps they’d all gotten too familiar with one another, each roommate reading the other so easily.

“Mia?” he asked.

Amelia shrugged, mumbling something non-committal about there only being one bed.

“We didn’t bang!” she finally snapped under John's scrutinizing look. “Stop being childish John. Honestly.”

“Just shared a bed,” Sherlock hummed. “Pressed against one another the entirety of the night.”

“Fully clothed,” Amelia supplied with a huff. “You’re both enjoying getting a rise out of me and I won’t have it.”

“I think, you wouldn’t be worked up if there wasn’t something you were concerned about being taken out of context,” John reasoned, leaning into his chair smugly.

“Yeah, you thinking I’d sleep with Sherlock,” she scoffed.

“And what’s so bad about that?” Sherlock poked the bear a little further, his face stretched in feign outrage.

Between embarrassment, frustration, and panic, Amelia looked like she short-circuited at the question.

“I’m going to bed,” she stood up, grabbing her blanket, and hobbled down the stairs to her room.

“You’re enjoying this?” John asked with a chuckle.

“Immensely,” Sherlock admitted, smirking to himself.

“And how did you feel about sharing such an intimate space with her?” John quizzed, brow arched expectantly.

How on Earth did he turn it on him?

Narrowing his eyes, Sherlock scanned John over. What was his goal here?

Personal satisfaction? No, John wasn’t vindictive like that. He wouldn’t cause trouble for the sake of trouble, he was trying to figure something out.

“Don’t be a busy-body, John, it’s unbecoming,” he rolled his eyes, pulling his phone out and pretending to browse the web.

“Mhm,” John tapped a finger to his chin. “And how did it feel to be ‘pressed against one another the entirety of the night’?”

“I was just teasing Amelia,” he countered.

“You’re not a robot, right?” John sighed.

“I don’t understand what you’re implying?” Sherlock huffed. “What a waste of time.”

He went to retreat for his room when John finally spoke up.

“Amelia,” he caught his friend by the wrist before he passed him. “Do you have feelings for her?”

What?

“What?” Sherlock gaped at him. “Are you mad?”

“What’s her favourite colour?” John waited.

“Marigold yellow,” he replied quickly. “I know yours too, an embarrassingly boring shade of taupe.”

“Favourite book?”

“Anything by Ernest Hemingway.”

“My favourite?”

“John, you’re not proving your point by quizzing me on basic facts about the people I surround myself with,” he pulled his hand free. “She’s a friend.”

“Would you spoon me tonight, then?” John challenged to Sherlock's back.

“Sod off!”

And so John had his answer.

Now to help Amelia and Sherlock to figure it out. He was a good friend after all, and they were a pair of emotionally stunted idiots.

~~~

Sherlock, for his part, truly didn’t believe he had feelings for Amelia Brenner.

For starters, he didn’t know her middle name. Only that it started with “O”. He could have easily gotten her birth certificate but remained convinced that would be cheating.

So how could he have feelings for someone he didn’t fully know?

Of course, John was the one pressing it. The guy who falls in love after one date, clearly confused by two close friends. Just because they were of opposite genders did not mean they automatically were attracted to one another.

And while Sherlock was attracted, a little bit, to Amelia, that didn’t change his stance. That was physical attraction, not anything deeper or meaningful and he was too much of a gentleman to lure her down that road.

He knew Amelia got flustered when it came to romantic entanglements. He didn’t actually believe she had any real feelings for him. It would have been obvious. Most people were obvious, and she’d slept with him, hugged him, touched him, without any hesitation or second thought. That’s just how she was, and that’s why it was so easy for him to tease her.

None of it was genuine.

Grabbing a book off his nightstand, Sherlock was disappointed to find it was a novel he’d finished before leaving for Sirenshore. Not willing to sulk back into the living room to grab something new, he started flipping through the pages until he found a section he’d enjoyed.

He wasn’t entirely sure how long it’d been, but at some point, John went to his bedroom upstairs and the flat was silent.

Aside from the thud of Amelia’s boot and a string of curse words in what Sherlock imagined was her attempt at being quiet.

Setting his book aside, Sherlock crept toward the kitchen, watching from the hall while Amelia made peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She’s changed to her pajamas but clearly hadn’t been sleeping, as her fingers and arms were covered with paint.

She leaned against the countertop, biting into her sandwich and reading the ingredients on the peanut butter container.

He knew she had to have been exhausted after the long trip back and the funeral. Why hadn’t she fallen asleep yet?

He glanced at the kitchen clock. It’d been nearly three hours, and it was considerably late in the night.

Then he remembered.

The basement flat. She didn’t like it down there alone, not recently.

But, with John home, she couldn’t very well sleep on the sofa as she had been. Amelia likes pretending things were fine, even when it was obvious she was on the verge of a breakdown.

“Is the bread stale?” he asked, announcing himself before stepping into the light.

“What?” she chewed a bit, confused at the question. “I mean, no? It doesn’t taste like it.”

“Right,” he nodded, moving to the same countertop and mimicking her lean. Lots of paint on her arms. More than usual. She was being sloppy, which confirmed his theory she was tired.

“What time did you wake up today?” he asked, trying to stay casual.

“Around six-thirty... you were there...” she lowered her sandwich. “Why are you being weird?”

“You’ve been up painting,” he commented, lifting her arm toward the light. “Can’t sleep?”

She tugged her arm free and took another bite of her sandwich.

“Inspiration struck,” she answered. “It’s not very good, but I needed to get it out of my system. Why aren’t you in bed?”

“I never sleep,” he replied. “If you’d like, I was going to do some reading by the fire. It’s warmer than in my bedroom. You’re welcome to come back, John shouldn’t be up until morning.”

She ate the final piece of the sandwich, watching him suspiciously.

“Is this about what John was going on about earlier?” she asked. “Because I know I got weird but seriously, intimacy and whatever freaks me out and he’s totally reading into things.”

“I know,” he stood up. “He’s John. He’ll get over it soon enough. The injury probably is making him bored so he’s coming up with fantastical ways to entertain himself.”

It made sense and Amelia seemed content with the answer.

“That’s...” she laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. Let me grab an extra blanket and something to do. I’ll be back.”

When she returned for the evening, she had a sketchbook under her arm and a blanket was thrown over her shoulders. Settling in, they both worked quietly until Sherlock no longer heard the scratch of her pencils against the paper.

Sure enough, she’d passed out, the sketchbook set aside and the blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders. She looked relaxed, the same peaceful expression on her face as she’d had at Sirenshore.

Sherlock tossed another log into the fire. He wasn’t planning on sleeping any time soon, his mind still reeling over everything from the last weekend. He needed to find Moriarty before he enacted whatever it was he was planning.

He needed to keep his friends safe.

Chapter 15

[gawaincomic]

What do you personally like about Gawain? Or what do you think are his most redeeming qualities? (You do wonderful work, by the way! I can't wait to read every new page of the comic!)

(Thank you very, very much! You don’t know how happy it makes me to hear that people actually like this comic. <3)

My goodness, what a question though. Gawain and I have some 25 years of history by now. That’s an entire adult life. That means that the way I see him and the reasons why I like him have changed, because I have changed too. So, it has become a bit complex.

I think my fascination with Gawain marked the switch from my childish love of heroes to my teen and adult love of antiheroes. When I was younger, my favourite knight was Lancelot. Lancelot has the potential to be a complex character (indeed, in several modern adaptations he is), but he is often treated as unproblematically heroic, despite his adulterous love for Guinevere. Gawain first stood out to me in The Once and Future King, where - since the book builds on Malory - he is not a true hero figure. He is a very flawed man who aspires to heroism but struggles with his own temper, his passions, his loyalties. He is someone who makes mistakes, and he can’t put them right. The same novel features one of my favourite Lancelots. He, too, is flawed - but he is presented as getting things right and even being capable of miracles, almost despite himself. He is actually superhuman. Gawain, by contrast, is very, very human in this book.

So I like to think that I first came to like Gawain because I grew up.

As I read more widely, I noticed that while it is difficult to like Gawain in Malory and the Vulgate Cycle, he is, frankly, a delight elsewhere. Here are a few things that I love about him and that also happen to set him apart from Lancelot:

Whereas in Malory and the Vulgate, Gawain is presented as a hothead and, well, not particularly smart, in other versions he is characterised as clever and eloquent and, typically, a knight who prefers to talk first and fight later. He doesn’t charge unthinkingly into a fight. In the Mabinogion version of the tale of the Knight of the Lion, there is a passage where Cei actually complains that Gawain is going to talk instead of fight again, and you can imagine him rolling his eyes at that. Indeed, Gawain often avoids violence by talking knights around to coming along peacefully. Cei may sneer at this and call it cowardice, but the reader and the other characters know that Gawain isn’t a coward and could probably take the other knight out if he wanted.

I’m not sure that it’s ever stated outright - I don’t think medieval romances ever do that sort of thing - but I always get the feeling that Gawain has a sense of humour and doesn’t take himself too seriously. Gawain and the Green Knight is *not* a particularly good example of this. There he is very serious indeed, though he still manages to talk pleasantly to Lady Bertilak. But in many of his other medieval adventures, there is this sense that he is ... game? Lancelot is a knight on a mission, I think. Gawain mostly seems to be having fun.

Another thing Malory and the Vulgate seem to miss (or discount?): Gawain is fond of animals. I can’t think of another knight who will fight someone because they are mistreating a pack of hunting dogs. (True, he does accidentally kill a woman because he gets into a rage about her husband slaughtering innocent dogs. I can’t deny that part is major fail.) And of course, we can’t talk about Gawain and animals and not mention Keincaled/Gringolet, who seems to be his best buddy in the whole world. Also, I mustn’t forget to mention that time when he is a guest in the house of the Carl of Carlisle and makes sure that the one foal among the horses in the stable gets enough food. This is put into contrast with Kay and bishop Bedwin, who make sure their own horses can feed.

Gawain is also fond of children. I’m not sure any other knight would gladly champion a little girl at a tournament to console her for being teased by her sister, and take this championing just as seriously as if she had been an adult. This is King Arthur’s heir, on his way to defending himself against a murder accusation (... yeah, people do like to accuse him of things, don’t they?), he’s carrying Excalibur at this point - and he takes the time to make a little girl happy. If anyone can tell me when Lancelot, Tristan or Gareth ever do such a thing, I’d be curious to hear it.

The thing that bugs me most about Malory and the Vulgate and authors who take a leaf out of those books is that Arthur dearly loves Gawain in just about every version in which Gawain is his nephew. Some of the most moving bits of medieval Arthurian texts are Arthur (and other people!) lamenting Gawain’s death. But how is that supposed to make sense if you depict Gawain as a bit of a prick? Would Arthur entrust Excalibur to Gawain if he had to say, “oh, and do watch out whom you kill with this, the most powerful sword in the world, okay?” Would Arthur make Gawain his heir if he was a bit rubbish? Ah well, it’s true that there are versions in which Arthur is a bit rubbish too, but as far as I’m concerned, the very point of Arthur is not to be rubbish.

There are other things that I love about Gawain, but I should probably not go into the bits that I’ve invented :p.

[senpai-no-lie]

Black Eagles Route

Finally, with a certain level of dread in my heart, I completed Crimson Flower

Why I chose Black Eagles (specifically Crimson Flower): I had already completed Azure Moon and Verdant Wind, so it was just a matter of picking between Crimson Flower or Silver Snow. I figured it’d be best to just knock out Crimson Flower, since I still needed Hubert, Jertiza, and Edelgard’s supports.  

Who Was My Dancer: Sylvain! I kept my recruits for this route only to characters I needed to complete supports, and then also Sylvain, because his aesthetic sense just seemed to jive with the Black Eagles. As a dancer, he did okay, but I think I much prefer him on a horse. However, his dancing was crucial to killing Dimitri before Dedue turned into a beast, and a few other pivotal moments. I just don’t think Sylvain has the magical firepower I like with my dancers (It should be known I don’t typically use the dancer character at all in other FE games, but I really enjoy the magic-utilty they have in 3H) 

What Paired Endings Did I Get:  

Edelgard & Hubert (I actually feel really bad for Hubert; it wasn’t my intention to do this)

Linhardt & Hapi

Dorothea & Petra

Jeritza & Bernadetta 

Ferdinand & Mercedes

Not as many paired endings as usual because I really only cared about filling out my missing supports

Who Did Byleth Marry: Sylvain. Totally, totally not who I meant to marry; my intention was Yuri, but then I never used Yuri. And I just have a soft spot for Sylvain. I stand behind my decision. 

Which Edelgard Do I prefer?: Purely on aesthetics, post-timeskip Edelgard is p hot, ngl, but I find her to be more intolerable because of how hard they push that weird sort of gap moe waifu bait with her. So I guess pre-timeskip, even if that’s not much better.

General Thoughts: I tried, oh so hard, to go in with an open mind about Edelgard and the other route exclusive characters. Edelgard leaves about 0 impressions in the other routes, as far as being an antagonist goes, but from the opening chapters on my first playthrough, I found her to be manipulative, condescending, and perhaps a bit immature. And yeah, she’s all of those things and more.... But Hubert, Hubert I love and I’m so mad that I can see the appeal of Hubert x Ferdinand now. My only point of contention remains the fact that in canon they remain subservient to her in their paired ending. 

I also went out of my way to kill every single named character throughout the route, and it was both satisfying and heartbreaking. That Dimitri and Dedude death scene, Seteth’s shouts as I struck down Flayn, the dialogue between Sylvain as he fought against his childhood friends.... so good. 

The Black Eagles Characters:

I did almost all the supports possible, sans route exclusives and DLC on my first playthrough, but I’ve yet to hash out my general feelings about the Black Eagles. 

Edelgard: Plain and simple, I do not stan Edelgard. I found a lot of her behavior more reasonable if she was 13 pre-timeskip and 18 post-timeskip, but a 23 year old being so cringey and unaware of the greater political climate (Hubert regularly does things behind her back that she doesn’t even notice or care to notice, while complaining that Hubert makes her work for ambitions rather than letting her eat sweets or stare at the sky all day, ugh) is just unappealing as hell. The whole sequence where I had two opportunities to call her fear of rats “cute” was super off-putting, and the don’t get me started on her drawing Byleth fanart. She’s constantly looking for affirmation from Byleth (despite insisting she doesn’t need praise in lecture), while being manipulative and condescending to everyone else. Her calling Lysithea “good girl” when Lysithea is 20/21, only three years younger, and an entire inch taller than Edelgard post-timeskip is pure cringe. Also the name Black Eagles Strike Force is an awful name and I’m not sorry I told her as much. 

Hubert: I’m torn on whether or not Hubert is my favorite Black Eagle. I really enjoy devoted servant characters, and I find him more endearing because Edelgard doesn’t deserve him. He’s so visually unappealing (though, not as bad as I find Lorenz to be) and weird, but I respect that about him. 

Ferdinand: Sweet, dumb Ferdinand. I love him; his supports are a delight and I am consistently charmed by how sweet he is in his supports. I prefer him in other routes than how he has to behave in Crimson Flower, but what can ya do. Truly, the noblest of nobles

Linhardt: I’ve heard mixed opinions about Linhardt, but I for one like him. He’s a fair-weather sort of guy who only cares about a few things, and I support that. He’s just strange and intelligent and a dry sense of humor I can appreciate.

Caspar: This moron, I love him. Caspar is the one person I’d expect to follow Edelgard unquestioningly because he just doesn’t have enough brain cells to do otherwise. I think he’s funny, even if his tone-deaf screaming in eagerness to kill and conquer Fodlan grew taxing. 

Dorothea: I like Dorothea alright; I think she has a lot of personality in her supports, but she’s not really the sort of character I find especially endearing or relatable. Nothing wrong with that.

Petra: A great girl! I find her manner of speech endearing, and I’m personally grateful that didn’t try to do some sort of accent for her that’s 1:1 for the real world. I was a bit put-off by how gungho she is with siding with Edelgard and dismantling Fodlan, but ya know, what choice does she have a political prisoner shoved into the black hole that surrounds Edelgard?

Bernadetta: People complain that Sylvain doesn’t mature post-timeskip, but Bernedetta still does that awful screeching and being a recluse routine up until the very end. I don’t like her or find her funny, but I do enjoy the sort of moral relativism she employs. Her supports with Yuri made me feel exceptionally sorry for Yuri. 

Jeritza: His voice and cadence irritates me to no end, but he was enjoyable as a unit, at least. I think his “personality” or “two personalities” is troupey to the max, and his supports with Byleth were especially off-putting. I feel like if you’re going to make a murder-happy character like Jeritza, especially one with like a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde thing going on, it needs to be way more campy or bombastic. 

I could honestly write a bunch more, but it’d mostly be me bitching about specific cringe-inducing moments with Edelgard that I’m sure other people who aren’t aggressively stanning her have brought up. If you like Edelgard, good for you, but I’m of the opinion that she’s a snake, and not even a clever or tactful one. Crimson Flower is so painful with how obvious it is with it’s Edelgard-pandering that it took me out of the game multiple times. All their routes have their flaws, but I guess the last (and only) animated sequence for CF was pretty dope, at least.  

[hvnriks-archive]

✦ — [ josephine langford. 22. she/her. peter pan ] WENDY DARLING was just spotted coming out from the LIBRARY, with ALESSIA CARA, SEVENTEEN; playing as a constant tune inside their head, it might as well be their song. easily noticed by their DELICATE BLUE RIBBONS, HAIR TUCKED BEHIND THE EAR, & WIDE DOE EYES. WENDY is not one to be forgotten.

✦ — what are you keeping from the original canon

i’m keeping a majority of the canon information that you get at the beginning of the movie - wendy comes from an upper middle class family from london, where she lives in a fairly respectable home in bloomsbury with her two younger brothers, her parents, and their family dog, nana. the family has a decent amount of wealth and privilege and as a result she grew up with pretty firm expectations of what a ‘ respectable lady ‘ looked like

also similar to the movie, she was pushed into a maternal role in raising her two younger brothers from a young age, and due to the fact their parents were constantly out at various work events and charity functions, she had a heavy hand in looking after them. i’d imagine they’d still be quite close, but from wendy’s side at least there’s always that barrier of feeling like a parent not just a friend or sibling

i think the main place her backstory would differ from the movie is in the lack of visit from peter pan and adventure to neverland - that was kind of the one thing that helped her cling to that love of stories and childhood whimsy and not wanting to grow up, and without that happening she much more quickly caved to the pressures from her father to grow up and abandon frivolous pursuits. this modern day wendy is a lot less inclined to dreaming and flights of fancy

✦ — personality

squeaky clean, bright eyed bushy tailed girl next door. in general just gives off the clean cut aura of the perfect all american girl ( or i guess in this case british girl? ) – sweet and innocent and golden. her parents raised her incredibly well, to the point they were almost forcefully overbearing, and that polite demeanor definitely shows

as the eldest and only daughter, her parents were very preoccupied with raising her to be mature and responsible and grown up, and to help take care of her younger siblings. she really took this to heart, and as a result can come across as a little ( a lot ) uptight. she’s lowkey way too formal even in everyday life and holds herself very prim, very proper. manners on point ( read: looks like she’s never had a day of fun in her entire life ). everything is about presenting herself as capable and respectable and perfect, and while she means well, she can come across as a little judgmental. she would probably rather jump off a cliff than break the rules or do anything remotely risky like … ever

to go with this, she’s also probably a little naïve. circumstance has left her pretty sheltered – the definition of book smart with 0 street smarts. experience outside her own very structured and suffocating upbringing has been fairly limited, and i don’t even think she recognizes how naïve she really is, she’s definitely the type that thinks she knows everything and yet could easily get fooled in 2 seconds flat. very mom who thinks they know best, sometimes condescending without intending or realizing

however, as much as her family has tried to squash and mold her into more practical and respectable pursuits, she does retain an almost lifelong love and appreciation for storytelling and the fantastical. beneath her more stern and buttoned up persona, there’s more whimsy and imagination than you would probably expect, it just needs to be teased out. i think that’s something she’s grappling with - her more innate dreaming side versus the mature expectations being thrust upon her

i just really want to play on scenes from the movie like when peter is trying to get her to come to neverland and she’s all “ but i need to pack! i need to leave a note! i need to do x y z !! ” or when the mermaids are teasing her and she gets all indignant and stuffy. or even when all the lost boys are jumping here there and everywhere and she just plops down in the middle, entirely unwilling to participate. just that tight laced inability to let go

+ mature, maternal, poised, eloquent, responsible, meticulous, organized, rule abiding, kind, imaginative

- uptight, perfectionist, sheltered, naïve, stubborn, judgmental, self critical, pretentious

✦ — your characters schooling

currently wendy’s major is education, which her parents strongly advocated for. she enjoys it to an extent - there is something to be said for sharing the things she enjoys with a new generation, and she’s quite good at it teaching, if she does say so herself ( all those years looking after her siblings paid off ) she could see herself being content with that. but her true passion is really creative writing and fantasy literature; the only reason she’s not pursuing it is that she’s been told time and time again by her parents that it’s not a useful or adult degree and that she needs to pursue something more practical and mature. she does still try to take as many literature electives as possible, though, despite this

she’s an okay student, fairly clever but not overwhelmingly naturally gifted, but she’s incredibly earnest and tries to make up for it through hard work and dedication

wendy’s also involved in a fair amount of extra circular activities - again, at the urging of her parents. a lady must be well rounded, after all. student council, tutoring, and orchestra are all things i can see her being involved in. she probably also pops her head into the book club when she get’s the chance, more for her own enjoyment than any perceived obligation. she is a BUSY lady  

i can def see her being roomed in welbeck manor because her parents are afraid of the co ed dorms haha and are convinced it’s the more respectable option

✦ — two connections

( JOSEPHINE LANGFORD ) our WENDY DARLING is looking for JOHN DARLING to fulfill their YOUNGER BROTHER. They would be <22 and would most likely look like UTP. You DO NOT have to contact the player. @hvnriks. description: i would love for this to be a fairly close relationship, at least outwardly, but that carries maybe an underlying tension between them ? wendy loves her brother, of course she does, she literally helped raise him, but i think she may hold some jealousy or bitterness under the surface for the expectations that she was forced into as the oldest and the mother role she was expected to fill while he got off a little more scot-free

( JOSEPHINE LANGFORD ) our WENDY DARLING is looking for PETER PAN to fulfill their BAD INFLUENCE. They would be UTP and would most likely look like UTP. You DO NOT have to contact the player. @hvnriks. description: i just really love that dynamic of good girl responsible wendy trying her damn best to be a grown up and peter crashing in there and ruining it all. there’s definitely a part of her that wants to rebel and experience all the things she never got to so i can see her very easily being lead into bad decisions, no matter how much she may complain about peter’s so called immaturity. or even getting her heart broken if that’s a route we wanted to go  

✦ — three head canons

definitely the proper little lady in more than just demeanor - wendy went to an all girls private school growing up, as well as was educated in a lot of the more formal arts, such as ballet and violin and even etiquette. her parents were very dedicated to raising her as a  ‘well rounded and well adjusted young lady ’, for better or for worse. ( they’re also the ones that basically picked sherwood for her on the basis that it was a highly respected institution with a good reputation ) she’s also picked up a lot of the more homely skills, such as cooking and sewing and the like, as a result of looking after her brothers and filling in as an almost second parent

has 100% never dated or even really had a crush on anybody. absolutely naïve and misinformed about the perils of romance and going to get taken advantage of

dresses a little … stuffy. a little boring. for all that she’s actually quite adept at sewing, she tends towards the safe options. a lot of soft cardigans and peter pan collars ( ha ) and plaid skirts in soft colours. just another facet of her proper british lady persona that i don’t think she’s even crafting intentionally. just exactly how you would imagine a good private school girl to dress

[science-lings]

Crazy AU maybe? Tony is a King who keeps pissing off his court by not having an actual heir, just adopting multiple poor orphan kids and making them princes/princesses. The more the court complains, the more kids he accumulates

Okay so, first of all, this ended up a lot longer and a lot off prompt than I originally planned, second, it’s important to note that this is in my already established fantasy AU world. Honestly, I just wanted a reason to write more for it. I actually tried to write it in the Tumblr reply box thing but it kept on getting deleted. Those were the more on prompt drafts so I apologize for not making the prompt my complete priority. However, I think you’ll like what’s in store anyway.

 The prompt was just so much already part of the original AU itself that I had to just continue with it.  I hope you guys enjoy! the rest of the AU can be found HERE

Lord Anthony Stark had always been a strange but brilliant man. Even when he was just a squire he was too intelligent and inventive to be wasted as a knight. His father, Lord Howard Stark was a retired knight of the king. Given countless sacks of gold and his own section of the kingdom to rule over so that the lazy king wouldn’t have to do it himself. 

Anthony grew up like a prince. A clever and envied boy that was much more than his parents ever saw him as. He was trained to fight, even if he wouldn’t be a knight. He made a friend of the son of a farmer, who would eventually become Anthony’s greatest ally. 

Before he was old enough to be coronated, his parents were killed by men sent by the king. The king had grown tired of Lord Howard’s greed and lacking of loyalty and hoped that his only son would do better. He had never met the boy but if he was smart, he would stay out of the king's way. 

So, Anthony Stark became a Lord and molded his little section of the kingdom into what he thought was best rather than what his father would’ve wanted. However, the king's eyes were always on the young lord, in the form of a large man named Sir Obadiah Stane. He too was a knight too old to fight, but he didn’t want land like his old friend, he wanted to bide his time to gain all he could from the golden goose that was the last Stark. He made himself the Lord's advisor with only the word that he worked with the boy's father.

When the boy became too much for the old knight, Sir Stane decided to get rid of him. He gave the Lords gold to a group of notorious bandits to attack the man while he was out traveling. Little did he know that the last Stark was much more than a beautiful prince. 

Anthony Stark came back with not only his life but with an infant scarlet and golden dragon gripping onto his shoulder and several mystical eggs in his bag. Stark had cared for the baby dragon until it could help him out of his prison with its breath of fire. 

Lord Stark imprisoned Sir Stane and everyone lived happily ever after. 

The End

Lady Virginia Potts finished her story as she rocked her baby in her arms. 

“You’re boring her my lady.” Her husband whispered from the doorway, the only light being a candle he was holding. 

“She loves dreaming of dragons and hellfire my lord.” Virginia smiled as Lord Stark approached her. 

“Just like her mother.” Anthony leaned down and their lips met for a brief sweet moment. 

“Is everyone else settled? It would be a miracle to herd them all to rest.” Virginia said as Anthony took their child from her mother and set her in her crib, knowing that her godmother Margret would be but a room away. 

“I handled it. It turns out that convincing squires who have been training all-day to have exotic pastries was not too difficult. I’m mostly sure that they’re at least preparing for bed now.” Anthony said as he took his wife's hand and walked with her in the castle halls. 

“Are you going to be stationed outside of Peter’s room again, in case he has another nightmare?” 

“I’m planning on being nearby, as you said, just in case.” He admitted. 

“I admire your intentions but you need sleep too-” Lady Virginia was interrupted by a servant stumbling towards them. He had the kings crest of a gold fist surrounded in violet. Sir Rhodes and a female guard followed loosely behind.

“I apologize, my lord and lady, I’ve been sent by the king.” The young man stumbled. The Lord and Lady shared a look and looked at the king's servant, knowing that their lives were likely about to get more complicated. 

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

In the morning, they all set off for the king’s castle. Their horses were clearly marked in the gold and scarlet cloth embroidered with dragons, signifying their adopted family brand. Only little Morgan was left at the castle, with dozens of maidservants at her side as well as all of the lord's dragons. 

The eldest member of their odd family was sat straight on her horse, Margret’s graying hair still immaculate in the early dawn. Harley and Riri leaned heavily into their steeds and yawned at increasing intervals.  Peter was more used to strange sleeping schedules so he seemed fine but he led the group with the knowledge that his magic could predict the worst before his words could warn them. 

It took two nights of travel to get to the king's castle. Two long nights of storytelling and playing with magic so that they didn’t die of boredom. Two very long days and nights of slowly getting more and more sick of sitting on the back of their horses. 

They were almost relieved when they got to the king's castle. Almost. The king was an asshole so they weren’t that excited. 

The king's daughters were waiting outside of the castle in dark purple dresses trimmed in gold. Princess Gamora had long dark hair in gold ribbons and darker skin than what was common in the region. Her adopted sister Princess Nebula had no hair at all and odd blue tattoos on her pale skin. They both had stone-cold expressions and neither of them looked comfortable in extravagant dresses. 

“Your highnesses,” The lord greeted with the mask of a charming smile. 

“Lord Stark. It is a pleasure to meet you and your ward. The king is waiting.” Princess Gamora said. Anthony saw something more behind her eyes, he knew she was hiding something. 

“I suppose we shouldn’t keep him waiting then.” Lord Stark suggested as he dismounted from his horse. He helped his wife off of her horse and watched as Harley tried to help Riri and almost fell to the ground. Margret rejected Peter’s offer of help and hopped off of her own horse with no trouble at all. 

The king’s guards accompanied the group into the towering castle. Anthony noticed Gamora’s eyes wandering around nervously before snapping back in front of them. She walked by Lady Virginia and at one point discreetly slipped something into her palm. The lord didn’t make a scene and only placed the information at the back of his mind. He was about to introduce his whole family to the most dangerous person in all the kingdoms after all.

The throne room was a little dramatic, even through Anthony’s eyes. There was no lack of gold in intricate designs and decorations. Violet cloth and colorful jewels were placed everywhere they could fit. Images of the king completing his conquests decorated the walls like a proud pharaoh. A single glorious throne sat at the end of the room. In it, was the king, in his large armored glory. 

King Thanos was larger than any normal man, many people thought him half giant. No one would dare say it out loud as there would be consequences for slander against the king. Scars adorned his face like he had gotten into an altercation with a lion. He had no hair but his head was covered by a gaudy crown with jewels every color of the rainbow. 

“Lord Stark! I was beginning to lose hope that you were coming. I was looking forward to meeting your ward. You do have… quite the assortment.” Thanos said, his booming voice filling the room easily. His tone suggested polite friendliness but Anthony knew better than to trust the king. 

“I could say the same about you my liege, it’s a pleasure to be invited back.” Lord Stark forced out. “However, I don’t think you invited me over just to meet my family…”

“You’re right. I invited you here to take your family. You’ve become a problem.” Doors slammed closed and the dozen guards and the princesses all pointed their weapons at the visitors. The Stark’s mostly stood unwavering. Anthony, Riri, and Harley all drew their swords in an instant while Lady Virginia held a small knife that none of them recognized. Margret pulled out a small handheld automatic crossbow wielding poison darts and paralyzing toxins. Peter stood weaponless in the center, knowing that revealing his magic would be a death sentence if they couldn’t beat the king’s forces. The king wasn’t one to throw away anything he could use, he would keep them alive if they gave him any sort of advantage. A man who could sooth a raging dragon was an advantage. 

Lord Stark stood unafraid with a fiery look behind his eyes, full of rage at the sheer audacity of the king to threaten his family. Actually, he was afraid. He couldn’t stand his makeshift family being in danger. But he did know that they were a force to be reckoned with. Even without dragons. 

There was a moment of tense silence. Those on the kings side waiting for orders and the Stark’s were not going to start the fight, even though the fight was inevitable. The king seemed to enjoy the fact that the Stark’s were completely surrounded, outnumbered, and moments away from permanent captivity. 

“I let you get away with so much, I refuse to be any more lenient. You should be grateful, I’m keeping you alive, you’re still useful to me. Your children however… will only stay alive if you behave. I do not want to waste dungeon space on them…” the king said in that infuriatingly condescending way. 

“We surrender. Just don’t hurt them.” Lady Virginia dropped her knife and made momentary eye contact with Princess Gamora before looking straight at the cruel king with the same steely expression as her husband. 

Lord Anthony dropped his sword, hoping that he was making the right decision. He would do anything to keep his children safe. The Stark’s surrendered. Even Margret grumbled as she put down her handheld crossbow. She muttered something about being able to take them. 

And just like that, the Stark’s were defeated. For now. It wouldn’t last very long. 

_______

Peter sat in his cell with his eyes closed. He was trying something. It wasn’t working. The elders in his village would do this thing where they could remove their spirits from their bodies and contact the other clans of magic users in the land. But there were no more elders and no more village and Peter had no idea what he was doing. He had never done anything like this before and he didn’t know if he even could. 

He wished he could talk to the dead. Talk to his parents or his aunt and uncle, the elders, just someone who could help him. He wasn’t that kind of magic user though. There were necromancers out there that could but Peter wasn’t born with that kind of magic. He didn’t have any help. That made everything a whole lot harder. 

After what felt like the thousandth time of trying, he got a little frustrated. It’s not like he couldn’t get out of the cell, he totally could do that easily. But right outside his cell was way too many guards that he wasn’t sure he could beat with his current energy level. It turned out sleeping on the ground for a few days and trying to nap on a horse wasn’t the best way to get enough energy for a big fight. 

He could barely see Lady Stark and Harley through the little windows in the side of his cell. Everyone else was too far away. He tried to think of a way to get them out of there, but the slight sluggishness of his mind made it almost painful to try. He was tired of putting all of his energy somewhere that bore no fruit.

Peter slumped down against the rough stone wall in exhaustion and found himself dozing off. His head hurt and he was only alive because the king thought it would motivate Lord Stark to do something for him. He wished he had stayed back at their own palace with Morgan. Then he could at least bring the dragons to the rescue. He had only just barely gotten them to trust him and they were still weary of the servants and anyone that wasn’t a Stark. 

He fell into a momentary sleep against the wall until a loud noise woke him up. This loud noise ended up being a guard yelling for him to wake up. He scrambled to his feet before actually being able to perceive the situation. 

The princess stood outside of the bars that kept him in. Instead of a dress, she wore dark leather and had her long dark hair down in perfect waves. She looked just as cold as before as she spoke. 

“The king has asked for you Peter. I’m here to escort you to him.” Gamora said calmly. “If you try anything, I have been ordered to kill you.” 

“I understand,” Peter gulped nervously. The door to his cell opened and a guard yanked him out. 

“Are you sure you want to take him alone Princess?” The guard asked. 

“I can handle a child. Do you doubt me?”

“Of course not your highness.” 

“Good. I will take him to my father now. I would keep my mouth shut if I were you.” The princess hissed and grabbed Peter’s arm. As she led him away, he looked back to see his everyone except Lady Virginia looking alarmed. Lord Stark was grasping the bars of his cell like he was willing the metal to bend for him. Everyone else looked like they were trying, and failing, to hide their worry. Peter smiled a little in an attempt to ease their worry but he was sure that they were right to fear for his safety. The king was known for his hatred of magic. If they knew he had magic than he was likely headed to his death. Fun. 

Princess Gamora led Peter through the endless halls of the castle, but not towards the throne room. The princess avoided the guards to a point of pressing him against the wall and using her body to casually hide his when they went by. This was when he realized that she may actually be helping him. 

She snuck him up the tallest steeple of the castle and led him to a dusty room that she unlocked with a rusty strange key. Peter was shocked when he recognized what the room contained. There were crystal balls and magical artifacts thought to be lost in the destruction of the king. Weapons that could only be used by people with magic in their veins and even a full alchemy setup. He had never seen one so complete. Even Uncle Ben only had a partial set. 

“Why are you helping me?” Peter turned to the princess. 

“I want the king dead. I want to live in a way that I do not have to fear for my sister’s life and I am sick of seeing the destruction he brings. I want to be free.” 

“Then I am glad to be of service. I’ll do my best to repay my debt to you.” Peter smiled as he saw a small relic. He recognized it immediately. It was an orb of contact. It was used to contact the sorcerer supreme and the leaders of each tribe of hidden magicians. Needless to say, he grabbed it immediately. 

The room around him disappeared and he felt completely weightless. A well-lit table appeared in front of him and each seat had a symbol that mirrored the tribe whose leader sat there. Peter stayed at the head of the table. At the other end, he appeared. The sorcerer supreme. A tall angular man with a black goatee and streaks of white in his hair. He wore a large scarlet cloak and an eye amulet around his neck. 

One by one, they began to appear. The strongest magic users that Peter had only heard about. This was when he started to get nervous. Maybe this was not as urgent… fuck it, he was in the kings castle, the king who enjoyed commiting mass genocide on people with magic and as far as he knew, was the last survivor of his magic tribe. He needed some help from these people. 

The famed Scarlet Witch sat in the seat representing the tribe Mutae, A woman wearing purple robes and massive bright red hair sat in the seat representing the tribe of the Inhumans, An asian woman with scars all over her face and simple clothes sat in the seat for the tribe of the Kree, Captain Marvel, not a leader but a powerful magic user sat in one of the seats, Freya of the Asguardian tribe, and a dozen more sorcerers that Peter couldn’t even name. 

Every seat was taken except for his tribes. Conforming to him that he was the last one left. He looked up at the most powerful people in the world and straightened his back. 

“I am Peter Stark. The last survivor of the Tribe Arachne, and I need a little help.” 

_________

Gamora shut the door to the witch's quarters. It wouldn’t be long until her father found out what she did. Someone would notice. She just hoped that she could give the kid enough time. She didn’t know what he was doing but she knew that it was time for a new king. She kept her palm on her sword’s hilt and casually strolled down the spiral staircase. 

On the way, she ran into her sister. Nebula looked at her sister expectantly. 

“Do you have the kid?” 

“Does it look like I have the kid?” 

“You know what I mean.” Nebula hissed. “The Black Order noticed that he’s gone. I think they’re onto us.” 

“I’ll get them off our tail, just make sure they don’t get to the kid.” Gamora ordered, receiving a quick nod from her sister. 

Nebula ran up to where the boy was and found him floating in the air and looking up at the ceiling with his eyes glowing gold. He was also holding a strange colorful glass sphere that had a strange white glow to it. She had seen the object before but it had never glowed. Moments later, the kid gently landed on the ground and his eyes faded a little. Now only his iris’ glowed. He smiled at her in that kind of optimistic way that somehow lightly eased the sense of dread she had ever since they came up with the plan. 

“What do you have?” She asked. 

“I have help.” Peter held out the hand that didn’t have the orb. In it was a glowing orange stone. Peter looked around the room before picking up a golden jeweled staff, He put the gem into the end of the staff and it started to glow with the same energy. 

“What is it going to do?”

“It’s going to send the king somewhere where we will never have to worry about him ever again. Can you help me get to him?”

“Yes. Stay behind me, don’t do anything stupid.” She ordered. Peter just shrugged. It took a little bit of waiting before he could actually do something, but now that he could, he was nervously ecstatic. 

While he was talking to the sorcerer supreme, he asked what it would mean for the kingdom if he were to reveal his magic and if his pseudo father took the throne. The man had just smiled at him and said that with the dragon king on the throne, they would be free. He said that he had seen what would happen to the kingdom with the Stark’s on the throne and reassured him that everything would be okay. 

All he had to do was defeat King Thanos. 

Piece of cake… 

_________

After Peter was taken away, Lord Stark felt sick to his stomach. What were they going to do to him? Did they know he had magic? Is he going to come back? Anthony was not a stranger to overthinking but this was a little excessive. He may have been spiraling. 

When Princess Gamora came back down without his kid, he only got more worried. He obviously wasn’t the only one by the sound of Harley and Riri’s frantic whispering. It was Margret who spoke first though. It was actually more of a demand. 

“Where is Peter! Where did you take my grandson!” Gamora looked at her calmly with a tiny hint of a smile behind her eyes. 

“Leave us! I have some words from the king for the Starks.” The heavily armed guards looked at each other before bowing to their princess and leaving the room. 

“Peter is safe, I’m getting you out.” She said when the king's guards were out of earshot. She took out a ring of keys and started to unlock Lord Stark’s cell. 

“Why are you helping us?” Margret asked. 

“Because… the king… stole me from my family and killed my parents in front of me. I never thought I would meet someone as powerful as him. And then I heard about the son of a knight that rose from the fire of dragons. And the rumor came to light that he made a horse grow wings and leave an entire camp of bandits dead on the ground.” Gamora started to unlock the other cells. 

“So you want us to kill the king?” Harley questioned as he was released. 

“No, I want him to.” Gamora turned to Anthony. 

_________

Thanos was in the throne room waiting for them. No visible guards and no weapons even though he clearly knew they were coming. Naturally, Lord Stark was pretty cautious. The king must have something up his sleeve. He would never just stay out in the open like that unless he genuinely didn’t know he was coming. Peter thought that was unlikely. 

The king was incredibly intelligent but as proud as the king of everything could be. The king had conquered everything. He had conquered everyone. Everyone except the Starks. No one could conquer the clan of dragons. At least not with Anthony as the head. 

The king was proud. He believed he knew what was best for everyone and was the ultimate authority. He believed himself to be a god. Everyone else was under him, either for him to crush or to force into compliance. He feared magic because there was a chance that people who had it could become more powerful than him. 

The king had the largest army of magic hating barbarians in the history of the kingdoms that forced those with magic to completely go into hiding. The initial massacre was massive and successfully make every magician fear the king. Even the Sorcerer Supreme disappeared. They got used to living in the shadows and never being safe. The genocide of Peter’s tribe was only another reminder that they were never safe from the king.    

After all of that, Peter stood in the throne room with only the king's youngest daughter behind him and a new powerful weapon that Peter barely knew the extent of. He didn’t know if Gamora was coming back or if Thanos’ personal guards were on their way.

It didn’t matter. Peter had so much rage pumping through his veins just seeing the king that it made his fear slip to the back of his mind. It took a moment to realize that it wasn’t all his rage. It was the rage from the stone. The Sorcerer Supreme called it the ‘Soul Stone’ so Peter felt that the rage came from the souls of the magic users that Thanos had killed without mercy. He had never felt such fire in his soul. It was like the mind-numbing fear he felt when he watched all he had ever known burn to the ground was replaced with pure anger. 

Peter was never a destructive person but at that moment, looking into the king's soulless eyes, all he wanted to do was burn the castle to the ground and hope Thanos was burnt to a crisp in the process. His body felt too small for the unwavering rage inside of him. 

“Welcome back child, I was wondering who would be first to escape. You Stark’s, are quite… stubborn.”

“I think you messed with the wrong people. My people.” Peter growled. “And I think, it’s time for a change. A change in power.” 

Peter’s eyes glowed with the fury of every soul the king had destroyed. Every witch he had burned, every person defeated in battle, every civilian of every village he had set ablaze. Peter felt all of them. They were all with him in the little glowing stone. There was a lot of power in not being alone. There was a lot of power in so much pain. Peter was born from pain as all the Stark’s were. 

Golden ribbons of light sprouted from Peter’s skin. The energy swirled in the air and created an image around him. Lines of warm yellow power outlined a massive reptilian head in front of his own. Small curled horns grew from the forehead of the light creature and the rest of its body emerged from the base of its skull. Around Peter was the body of an adolescent dragon made out of magic. In a flash of light, the dragon gained scarlet and blue flesh and its golden eyes faded to reveal Peter’s warm brown ones.  

Dragon Peter roared and for a slim moment, he saw fear in the king's eyes. 

_______________

Once everyone got their weapons back, Lord Stark and Princess Gamora led the group up the stairs, heading towards the tower, where she last left Peter. Servants and maids hid behind doors and pressed themselves against the wall. But they weren’t afraid, they didn’t intervene. They didn’t tell any guards and only sent curious glances their way. 

Everything was tense but calm until there was the muffled sound of a screaming roar that Tony knew better than any person in the kingdoms. It was the roar of a dragon. He had no idea how a dragon got there and the slight shake of the grounds made his heart jump. 

“The boy-” Princess Nebula sprinted towards the group. “He went to confront Thanos.” 

“By himself?” Harley exclaimed. 

“That’s not exactly out of character for him,” Riri muttered. 

“A dragon is a little bit dramatic don’t you think?” Lady Virginia suggested. 

“He’s been hanging around us, what did you expect?” Anthony shrugged as they walked quickly to the large doorway leading to the throne room, which was more of a titanic hall than a room. It was large enough to hold a dragon pretty comfortably anyway. 

Gamora opened the door quickly to the sight of the back of a dragon the colors of Peter’s favorite outfit. Red and deep blue with a little bit of gold. The dragon whipped its head towards them and Lord Anthony got a glimpse of its eyes. They were brown and human. No dragon had brown eyes. No dragon had slitted pupils. This wasn’t just a dragon, it was Peter. 

“Kid?” The lord muttered as the dragon nodded. Dragon Peter then turned back to Thanos and roared again. The king himself had gotten a hold of a massive stone-crushing double-bladed sword and he held it in front of his stupid bald head as some sort of sheild from Peter’s burst of white-hot flames.

________

King Anthony Stark was not just a great man, but a great king. The kingdom sighed in relief when the previous king was confirmed dead and his daughters released from their torment. The specifications of which the tyrant king was defeated were only known to those who had laid eyes on the event. 

Followers of Thanos crept into the darkness and were sure to return but for the moment, the Starks were alive and at the center of the kingdom. The new royalty were mostly accepted among the people. The new king didn’t threaten them harshly if they questioned his questionable law. The new king had several advisors and was planning to have a group of qualified individuals at his side to help protect his kingdom. 

Witch hunters went out of business in a flash as the most aggressive magic hater was out of the picture. The new king spent a mountain of his fortune on keeping as many magic users safe as he could and banned hate crimes towards them as a whole. 

The deep violet and the golden fist that decorated the castle was replaced with rich scarlet and images of dragons. The fear that was gripping everyone under the king’s rule had eased and it was like the sun had risen for the first time in decades after everyone had gotten used to the constant darkness. 

Of course, just because the king was dethroned didn’t mean that all the evil was defeated. The black order had vanished and there were still plenty of allies of the old king that were hiding across the ends of the land. They would be back, the new king was sure of it, but they would bide their time. The Starks were powerful enough together that approching them now would be suicide. They defeated the single most powerful man in the land without the dragons they were known for. 

For now however, they were safe. Gamora had packed all of her things and was determined to find an adventure. She said goodbye to her sister before setting off on the dangerous roads towards the lands of Asgard. 

Nebula had nowhere to go and she wasn’t planning on following her sister wherever she was heading. King Stark was happy to let her stay until she decided on what she wanted. Unlike with Thanos, she had a choice. It meant more to her than the man who gave it to her would ever understand. 

Anthony didn’t expect to become the king when he left his castle, in fact, the idea hadn’t even crossed his mind until well after Thanos was defeated. He only wanted his family to be safe. Becoming king was not exactly part of his plan but with neither of the princesses wanting the throne and Lord Stark being part of the previous king’s assassination, was the obvious choice for the role. 

Of course, the Lord accepted, if not for the fact that anyone would be a better ruler than Thanos, but because he was wise enough not to rule alone. Anthony was aware that he would never know what was best for everyone. There were things that he didn’t understand. Things that he would never fully understand. Because of that, he had the idea of making a team, a ‘knights of the round table’ kind of team. He wanted to get the best of everyone and they would help him protect his kingdom. 

King Anthony Stark sent out the wax-sealed invitation letters only a day after being crowned King by Princess Nebula herself. No one else was qualified and it implied a peaceful transition of power even though Thanos wasn’t exactly dethroned peacefully. 

And so, the reign of the titan king was ended and the dragon kings began. As long as the dragon king sat upon the throne, there would be light.

[fae-fucker]

Zenith: Chapter 33-36

Chapter 33

So we’re back in Andi’s POV, finally. She’s woken up by Dex who is all worried and Andi vomits in his lap and then thinks about how sexy he is. Mind you, they are in a ship filled with corpses and there’s an unconscious and busted Valen near them who’s probably dying slowly, plus the vomit.

But I guess that just turns Andi on more? Discuss.

They find Valen barely alive among the corpses and Dex is surprised he’s not dead.

Hey bud. Didn’t you throw the guy down a flight of stairs a few chapters ago? I don’t think you’re in any position to make glib remarks, my guy.

Andi takes out the pilot with a shoelace, which, alright, and Dex says something about how she’s still afraid to fly a ship because she asks him to do it. Wow, an actual symptom of PTSD? In my Zenith? What a time to be alive. 

The chapter ends with Andi angsting about how she’s had to murder another person. Except she didn’t have to do that. She could’ve just knocked the pilot out and locked them in the storage with the other corpses to get rescued later. The pilot didn’t know there were live people on board so they wouldn’t know who attacked them anyway. I mean yeah they’d probably sustain brain damage but they wouldn’t be dead.

Methinks Andi really likes murder and justifies it to herself by saying it’s a necessity. 

Chapter 34

We’re in Dex’s POV and he’s complaining about how everything smells like trash on the Marauder now that Alfie took the door off the trash shoot. 

Hey. Hey why don’t you just ... blast it out? Like. Just shoot the trash out. Why do you store it on the ship that gets lighter and faster when you spend ammo? You’re in space. Just blast that shit. Or convert it into biofuel. Apparently it smells of “unmentionable” things so that makes me wonder if they store their actual shit in there as well? What the fuck is in their trash department that it smells so bad? If they can’t blast out the trash (which makes no sense), why didn’t they get rid of it when they were getting repairs before the mission? Why didn’t they get rid of it during the numerous times they’ve landed? Why the fuck does this ship have a dedicated trash department anyway? 

The little fire-haired gunner had wanted to know if the blood on Andi belonged to her or some “now-ball-less bastard,” to which the giantess had responded, Of course it’s not hers, Gil. And don’t say bastard. Say prick.

Comedy. 

Dex is being patched up by Alfie (who is described as “fawning” over his wounds, which doesn’t sound right), and thinks about how he’s gonna drink himself into oblivion later. Alcoholism? Love it. I bet Shinsay will know exactly how to handle this, with how many references their super cool and mature characters make to getting absolutely shitfaced.

Dex sulks himself out of the “med bay” (Why don’t these idiots have medical staff? For the same reason they don’t have mechanics I suppose.) to go and update General Cortas on their progress. 

The general is all grumpy and shit and reminds Dex that he’s in charge and can fuck him up good if anything happens to Valen, and tells him to keep Andi away from him. Because he thinks Andi will ... kill Valen too? I guess he thinks Andi is addicted to murdering his kids or smth. 

Anyway, Dex gets all mopey because the big scary man said some mean things but then he hears classical music and enters Andi’s room. It’s time for some bullshit, lads. 

Chapter 35

So finally we get the scene where Andi “dances” with the dead, which turns out to actually just happen in her head while she spaces out and cries. She imagines herself on a stage with an audience of ghosts of all the people she’s killed, and they come up and dance with her one by one and she “memorizes” their features. I’m not sure how she does that because the narration during action scenes keeps emphasizing how quick and cool she is so I have no idea how she can “memorize” the features of someone she’s probably only looked at for a couple of seconds at most. Also, I dunno why she’s memorizing something she clearly already remembers. I know it’s a nitpick but it’s just bad, y’all.

If this is supposed to be atonement ... God I hope it’s not. It’s honestly written like it makes Andi some sort of pure angel who just Does What She Has To, instead of just being a coping mechanism. Behold:

Tears streaked down Andi’s cheeks, pulling her from the vision she’d created so clearly in her mind. The music grew louder, silencing her tears. She closed her eyes and forced herself back into her mind. She owed this to the dead. This pain, this dance, this time where she gave herself fully to their memory.

Anyway, the last ghost is Kalee of course, and I’m not entirely sure how many people Andi’s killed if every single dance is as detailed and long as the ones with latest ghosts (the descriptions are quite lengthy so I assume it’s a couple of minutes or so), but it looks like Kalee’s ghost has to sit there and wait a while lmao. Even in death this brat can’t catch a break.

Sorry, I know I’m laughing at trauma here, but it’s not real trauma, it’s badly written melodramatic trauma. Like, I just don’t see someone who genuinely doesn’t like to murder people keep “crossing that line” (yes, apparently whenever Andi does a murder, she “crosses a line” she’s set for herself, wowza) and all they do for atonement is keeping a mental list and queue of all the fake made-up ghosts she needs to dance with. Like. I get that people cope differently but this is less of a coping mechanism and more Shinsay crossing shit off a list to make Andi more palatable.

I just don’t believe it. Not after I’ve seen how proud she is of being the Bloody Baroness and how Glorious it feels to Do A Murder.

Also, this chapter is rife with weird fucking grammar and writing in general. Some examples: 

[Kalee] was dressed in a shimmering blue gown that swirled around her ankles like fragments of cloud.

“Fragments of cloud”????

The transport creaked. Groaned, as the fire licked closer and closer.

Why did you. Break, the sentence up like that. 

The chapter ends with Dex giving Andi some time to pause her PTXD so they can have the talk she promised him. Which is nice of him, I guess. Despite being obnoxious and a dweeb, Dex manages to be better than every SJM love interest ever? Wow.

Oh but don’t you worry, it lasts uuuh until just now.

Chapter 36

Andi thinks about how sexie Dex is now that he’s washed the blood and vomit off and changed some clothes. Which ... there’s no mention of him doing since he returned from the corpse hauling ship ... The last chapter from his POV had him arriving at the Marauder and having his wounds checked, after which he instantly went to call General Cortas, and then he went directly to Andi. 

I guess he’s got time travel powers? Or are we supposed to believe he showered before being brought into the med bay?

Whatever. 

Dex says that Andi doesn’t know the “full story” behind the reason he turned her over to the Patrolmen, and Andi responds with:

“I loved you, and you threw me away like some common whore!”

But god forbid we actually say the word “sex” or stop being immature little shits every moment we make a dirty reference, amirite guys? Calling women whores and sluts is a-ok but if you even TRY to discuss sexuality in a mature and relaxed way you WILL get eaten by the mommy police.

Dex is like “pwease wissen to me :C” and she’s like “fucking dammit he’s just so hot not to listen to”:

She wanted him to hurt. To feel the soul-deep pain, just as she did. Physical wounds would heal, but the internal scars never would.

SOUL-DEEP PAIN. 

Not sure Andi has a soul but go off.

“You were my whole world. You showed me that I could still be loved. When everyone else—an entire planet full of people—hated me so much they wished me dead, even my own parents...I found you. I started to live again. I started to trust. Then I lost you, too, just like all the others. You turned away, just like they did.”

Thanks for mapping out the exact reasons for your angst, Andi. It’s not like we’re clever enough to know you have trust- and/or abandonment issues.

More like Angstdi amirite?

Dex gets all defensive and instead of giving her the real reason for his betrayal, he starts mouthing off and justifying himself.

“I turned you in because you were running from the law! You lied to me about your past, Andi. I did nothing that wasn’t expected of me! My duty as a Guardian was to the welfare of the galaxy, not to some runaway Spectre who’d failed her entire planet! You made the choice to fly that transport ship. It was your hands that crashed it. Your failure that killed Kalee! You ran, Androma.” 

H-hey bud? This is, as far as you know, your only chance to justify yourself. Maybe calm your tits and tell her what you’ve been keeping secret instead of confirming her beliefs about you? Since you were so desperate to talk to her?

No? Ok. For someone who displays some amount of emotional maturity (good god I can’t believe I just said that about fiking Dex Dogtective), you sure do get fired up easily, huh. Must be all that will-they-won’t-they tension.

They circled each other like predators, blood boiling, bodies shaking with rage as the stars looked on.

I can promise you the stars have better things to do than to give a shit about this petty squabble, Shinsay.

“Did you ever think about my side in all of this, Androma?” Dex’s voice cracked suddenly as he ran his fingers through his dark hair. “You may think you know the whole story, but you are so consumed by hate that you only see yourself.”

SO MAYBE STOP JUSTIFYING YOUR ACTIONS AND ACTUALLY TELL HER WHY YOU DID IT IF IT’S SO FUCKING IMPORTANT FOR HER TO KNOW?!

But no, we can’t have that yet. He follows it up with this:

“Your side of the story doesn’t matter. You sunk a knife into my chest. You stole my ship and left me to die.”

BECAUSE YOU TURNED HER OVER TO THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD MURDER HER. 

CAN YOU MAYBE NOT?! 

HOLY SHIT DEX DOGTECTIVE YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE FUCKING MORON, AREN’T YOU? 

No wonder she fuckin stabbed you. I would’ve stabbed you multiple times and made sure you were actually dead before leaving your sorry ass.

Anyway, they stare at each other and Dex is all “uwu ur the only woman I ever loved” and we all know that doesn’t mean bi!Dex because Shinsay can’t think of a their manly man getting dicked down by another man, nu-uh.

Then we finally get the reason Dex did it. You see ...

They had his dad. And threatened to kill him if he didn’t turn Andi in.

Yeah. That old chestnut. It does unfortunately open up all of the plot holes. Like for example, if they knew where Dex was, why didn’t they just ... find him and thus find Andi? They knew she was with him. He was a Guardian at that point, surely they know where their men are stationed? Apparently he’d known Andi for a year when he turned her in, and he hadn’t realized who she was until the general’s men approached him. So ... how did the Patrolmen realize he was with Andi if even he didn’t know it? Or did they just threaten a family member of every Guardian on the off-chance that one of them knew Andi and would give her up to save them?

Maybe there’s something I’m missing, but this smacks of contrivance for the sake of conflict. 

Anyway, apparently Dex had tried to give Andi a head start the morning before he turned her in. By giving her a vaguely worded warning that she didn’t get. 

What a peach. 

They bribed Dex on top of threatening his father, which is like, beating him with the carrot stick, and I don’t understand it at all. But Dex feels very terrible about what he did to teh womaine he wuvs :c and apparently tried to plead with them that she was young and made a mistake. 

“Andi,” Dex whispered. “Please. Look at me. Tell me we can move past this. We both made mistakes. We both made our choices, and we’ve had to live with them.”

Seems a little manipulative there, Dexyboy. I’m getting a lot of mixed messages, but the loudest one seems to be “you did a bad and I did a smaller bad that’s justified and I feel kinda bad but also you’re also at fault and can we bone again please” and I’m not into it, Dexyboy. 

You wanted her to get away, to give her a head start. You agree that she’s innocent and she made a mistake when she was a child. Yet you blame her for stabbing you and fleeing from certain death? Ok. 

I mean, I get it, getting stabbed probably ain’t so fun, especially when it’s the womaine you lurv :c, and sure maybe it hurts both physically and emotionally to have her turn on you so fast and without hesitation ... BUT YOU DID PROVOKE IT BY TURNING HER OVER TO PEOPLE WHO WOULD DEFO 100% MURDER HER ASS. If you love her so much, can’t you extend just a bit of sympathy for her actions? Since you are the reason she did those things in the first place? Fucking dumbass.

Also, why the fuck have you been acting like a huge cocky asshole this whole time since you reunited? For kicks?

I get Shinsay wanted a sexie snarky love interest just like SJMommy but they’ve done it at the cost of consistent characterization.

Andi says that there’s no getting back to how it was and tells Dex to leave so she can cry and carve more tallies into her swords.

It’s very deep, y’all.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Do you want cat to change? If cat dies, will you keep working on gk? It's more like a personal question so you dont have to answer it if you dont want to.

I guess with ‘cat’ you mean Ogata, don’t you?

Now, in regard to your questions...

First the easy one.

If cat dies, will you keep working on gk?

While Ogata is my fave character and one of the biggest reasons due to which I started reading Golden Kamuy I’m not here SOLELY for him.

He’s part of a story, a part that for me is very interesting, but he’s just a part of it. If the story were to turn boring I would probably stop being interested in it even if Ogata were to live, and if the story remains good I will probably remain hooked to it even if Ogata were to die.

Of course though I’ll be very sad if he were to die very much so, and Ogata’s eventual death will likely bring away a big part of my enjoyement of Golden Kamuy no matter how  well executed it will be because I’ve lot of fun trying to figure him out, way more than what the other characters give me.

But I really can’t tell you if the story will become boring all of sudden.

It really will depend on how Noda will develop it.

For example if Golden Kamuy were to start supporting the idea Asirpa's compassion is wrong and she has to become a person who kills without hesitation... if the story were to start supporting murdering without guilt... if characters simply stopped evolving and the story were to support that the way they are is the RIGHT way to be... then I will likely be disappointed a lot as well.

At the moment though I think it’s a big early to worry about this.

It’s pretty unlikely Ogata will die in the next chapter as it will probably continue/end the Koito flashback, so we’ll see what will happen in the future.

Next...

Do you want cat to change?

Hum... not quite, though it really depends from what do you mean with ‘change’ and what do you think makes the core of who Ogata is.

Let’s pick Shiraishi.

Shiraishi is consistently a friendly guy, who can be clever on some things and a complete dunce on some others, who can be fearful for his life but can also take risks if he judges it’s worth it as he likes betting and who’s definitely not prioritizing honestly. He is lazy, would like an easy life and longs for a woman.

This is his core. This doesn’t change through all Golden Kamuy.

Yet we can say that Shiraishi ‘changed’ as when he formed meaningful relations with Asirpa and Sugimoto.

That’s because his priorities shifted and he included them among the things he judged precious. So, even though he was afraid for his life, even though he believed betting on Tsurumi would be more advantagious, he remained with Asirpa. And because he also grew close to Kiroranke he couldn’t wave away his dead like he did with Kumagishi, whom he tricked and then abandoned in a prison and then, when he heard the guy died trying to escape labelled as a dummy because he told him not to escape during outside labor [Chap 86].

He complains Kiro was too serious but it’s clear Shiraishi is grief-striken by his death and buries him with special care.

It’s not that this Shiraishi is another person compared to the Shiraishi who shrugged away Kumagishi’s death. This Shiraishi is merely a Shiraishi who cared for Kiro, who was his friend and wanted the man to live, that regrets he’d dead even if he knows he betrayed them and would just like for Kiro to at least rest in peace.

Kumagishi instead, for Shiraishi, was just a guy who was in his same prison. Not a friend, a mere aquaitance, one he didn’t care for.

Everyone can grow to care for someone else, even the Lighting bandit and O-Gin, who were notable for their viciousness, loved each other and loved their child.

And now let’s move to Inkarmat.

Inkarmat is consistently a clever and independant woman, who can use her brain and her gift of foretelling to try to influence people and get what she wants. She however blindly believes in the prophecies she makes and is strongly tied to her past with Wilk.

However, although her prophecies told her she would never meet Wilk again,

she resumed hoping she would meet him again.

That’s because due to the meaningful near death experience she had she learnt fate can be changed.

It’s not she became a completely different woman. She just acquired a new knowledge that changed her mindsetting.

Sugimoto is a bit of the same as originally he believed Ainu to be against him but soon enough he learns they have no ill intentions toward him.

So what I want for Ogata isn’t exactly ‘to just change’.Ogata, the core that makes him who he is, has to stay the same.

I simply want him to form meaningful positive relations, to go though new positive experiences that will expande his understanding of the world and will cause a shift in his priorities.

I like to think the result will be that even if Ogata will remain Ogata, his path will change.

In short I don’t want him to be a character who remains still, who stagnate where he is, but one who grows, like each human does.

But so far he didn’t quite have chances to have positive interactions and experiences.

We don’t know much of his childhood but during the was he was under Tsurumi and become his accomplice.

His partnership with Tsurumi is, in a way, similar, to Shiraishi’s partnership with Hijikata.

Hijikata gave him the choice of giving him a copy of his tattoo and become his ally or not, but he made clear Shiraishi would not walk away if he were to choose ‘no’. As a result Shiraishi officially agrees and does his bidding but ultimately betrays Hijikata in favour of Sugimoto, even if back then he didn’t trust Sugimoto either (he was scared by him and believed Sugimoto would have killed him if he were to knew of his partnership with Hijikata).

Ogata too could have refused when Tsurumi wanted him to become his hitman and murder people in the army who were against Tsurumi, he could have refused when he was told to make friend with Yuusaku (whom Ogata wanted to avoid) in order to corrupt him, could have refused when told to murder Hanazawa but... what then? Tsurumi would have found a new hitman and dispose of the people he wanted to dispose along with Ogata.

Ogata clearly couldn’t denounce Tsurumi, no one would listen to him.

So he joins forces with him and then, like Shiraishi did with Hijikata, betrays him.

We don’t know if Ogata first joined the rebel group or Kiroranke.

We know though he joined Kiroranke prior to joining Hijikata and that allegiance is part of what stops him from forming connections with the members of the Hijikata group or of the Sugimoto group.

He knows he’s there not to make friends but to kill Wilk.

It clearly doesn’t help Hijikata doesn’t trust him at all and tries to keep away from himself by placing him with Ushiyama first and then with Sugimoto and will go ask information about him.

Sugimoto made matters even worse by not only refusing to trust him and generally being a jerk but also by stating that ‘any man who turn traitor once will do it again’...

he is basically trying discouraging Hijikata from cooperating with Ogata in case Hijikata hadn’t realized Ogata has diserted from the 7th who was anyway a traitor unit and Sugimoto knows... and worsen matters further by trusting Tanigaki instead, who also has left the 7th but that Sugimoto doesn’t consider as a traitor... and by trusting Shiraishi who yes, hadn’t betrayed Sugimoto but had betrayed Hijikata and so is technically a traitor.

Add to this how Ogata was made fun of due to his mother in the Army and you get why he doesn’t really manage to relate with the people in the groups he is in.

And things turn slightly sour with Kiro as well, as it’s implied Ogata had no idea the guy planned to drag Asirpa in Russia or to free Sofia from Ankou prison. Ogata loses faith in him as a partner, loses faith in a partner who had him kill his best friend and now is manipulating his best friend’s very young daughter and praising how Wilk was capable to kill allies easily when they were wounded and useless.

Probably Ogata ended up seeing Tsurumi in Kiro even if the two are so very different and Kiro is actually so blinded by his great ideals and his care for the minorities he’s not really seeing what he’s doing.

But Asirpa?

Some might ask.

She consistently tried to get friend with him.

And in fact he made small progresses in that way... not huge but there was a tiny start in this direction... but everything was tained by the fact when all is said and done he was her father’s murderer and he’s sure she would kill him due to it and by how he didn’t quite realized she cared about him too.

Long story short, what I want is for Ogata to have experiences that will affect him and his behaviour so that he’ll end up making better choices.

You can see this as him changing or, more simply, as him evolving, growing, like it happens to... almost all humanity.

What however I specifically want is for those experiences, for those relations to be positive, to have a positive influence over him as what he had experienced so far actually influenced him in a negative way. It was still evolution, it was still growth but in the wrong direction.

I’d like for him to find the right path for a change. But well, I don’t know if this can be done. He’s in a horrid situation because after being shoot by Asirpa’s arrow he ended up prisoner of people who hated him and wanted him dead and with Asirpa in shock and rightfully very upset at him.

Not the best setting for positive experiences/relations.

And now he’s trying to escape to those people and I can’t genuinely see how he’ll manage to do so in the situation he is and this too isn’t the best setting for positive experiences/relations.We’ll see if things will change in the future, or he’ll never get a chance.

Noda clearly has a plan, we can just wait and see if he’ll end up like Youichirou, who managed to find peace and love among the Ainu and lived for a long time with them

or like Sekiya, who fundamentally found peace only when God punished him by having Hijikata survive at his test and kill him.

We’ll see. Thanks for your ask and sorry it took me so long to reply!