#she's so spoiled its diabolical

[breedabletrait]

Matteo couldn't bear to see his little princess sad over Magnus' death, so he raced to Simjiji to find her a new cat

[mangledscrimp]

HAIII,, Here is Desmond for dy au :3,, I redid her ref sheet and I think it looks so much better than the original sprite edit! (comparison)

(WILL HAVE AZRAN LEGACY SPOILERS.)

As a bit of a warning;; There will be nonsexual nudity in the post going over scars from surgeries and wounds (not very graphic)

As usual, going to go through each bullet.

•Pronouns

Desmond goes by He/She/They/Its. Everything pretty much goes for them. She’s genderfluid.

•AroAce

Desmond in this au is aroace. He still had that past partner like canon desmond does. But after she had disappeared, it helped him discover himself after being unable to be a suitable partner for anyone else due to stress and general complications with understanding people.

•Artistry

Desmond is still very much into art, but taxidermy is what she values higher than most. She thinks it’s a beautiful way to show the life an animal once lived or a creative way to express oneself through an animal.

•Airship or water ship?

Desmond in this au owns a mixture of both! She owns a cruise ship with an attached airship at the top (the Bostonius)! Making her able to leave the ship without having to turn the cruise around and an easier place to have the airship without having to put it into a hanger. Her crewmates often call her red or dessy, a fun little nickname!

•Glasses?

Surprisingly, her glasses are only for show. She’s got no lenses in those red rims and are merely an accessory.

•Profession

Desmond studied the arts of archeology and anthropology. He’s well versed in the two topics. Archeology is something that peaked his interest since it was a major thing in his childhood. Often times, his father would bring him to dig sites to see pottery from the past and how humans used to live. Unfortunately, his father was taken by a suspicious group of people, as well as his mother.

Anthropology also peaked Desmond’s interest as it went along with Archeology. Learning about how human being behaved throughout history over time is interesting to them.

This is more of a habit but, Desmond is also an interested hunter. While learning about different cultures and their practices, she learned more and more about different hunting strategies used by many cultures. These were inspirational, so it slowly became a hobby. Of course only in areas that allowed hunting. Nothing non-ethical for her!

———— AZRAN LEGACY SPOILS!!!

I feel like…you guys will hater me for what I did to descole for the au ok…Don’t get mad at me pleaseeeee!! :< She’s kinda cringe but I DON’T CAREEE MWAHAHA I AM FREE I CAN DO WHATEVER I WISH!!

Cannibalism and Hunting mention uwaaa

remember shit gets diabolical in this au, so don’t be surprised when the main villain is a cringe scary character that goes EEEVIL!!

ok yah this is..this is descole in this au.

Again, gonna do what I gotta do. A lot of what’s in here is related to lore stuff that some people may have or have not read..sooo tralala

This ref is general and not affected by gameplot!

•Similarities and differences

Desmond and Descole act VERY differently. Desmond is simply just an act for the public eye.

Also, not called “Jean Descole” in this au. She’d probably find it rather ugly to be called “Jean” and thinks that name is stupid. Her canon counterpart would definitely hate her.

Desmond and Descole both share the same pronouns, that part does not change. Same with their sexuality.

Desmond is more open and tries her best to communicate with people, while Descole acts more cold and serious. Descole also gets agitated more easily compared to Desmond.

•Outfit and design.

Descole’s outfit is made to hunt. It’s hunting gear. She has white hunting gloves and a purple hunting jacket.

The boa and cravat is for style, might as well look good when you’re hunting. (Not..very affective..but don’t tell her that..)

The cape is also for style but it’s also used to hide her belt and anything else she has concealed in her pockets. The pattern of the cape isn’t very consistent but it has the overall pattern of a leopard with a soft texture. Often times her chihuahua, treats, enjoys to lay in it. (Treats is the Keats dupe for this au! hehe). Can ditch the cape when she needs to run after prey and it’s slowing her down.

Her boots are lightweight so she can easily run after her prey if needed.

her hat is funny, that’s why I did it lols. She can’t own a cat, or else it would knock it off all the time haha!

Under everything, it’s just a plain cream shirt with her hunting pants.

The shadow is a design choice that I like hehe, it allows her to blend in with the darkness since she mostly hunts at night. Also makes her mysterious hehehe lalalal! Desmond can also have this shadow to show the cover being blown.

Mask to conceal her identity.

Wig is not connected to the hat, if she wants to take it off, she’ll take it off from the front, similarly to how the masked gentleman takes off the costume for the big reveal.

•Weaponry

Descole carries a belt on her waist that holds her smaller tools. For example, her cautery tool she stole from her adopted father (Raymond). Carrying it around incase she needs it for prey. (Of course, it’s only been used on one creature she’s hunted.)

Another weapon in her arsenal would be her handgun. It’s used near the ending of Randall’s game. She has larger ones but she carries a small one for quick trips and not for longer hunts.

Lastly, she owns a net guns. Made by herself. The case is a deep dark purple with a red “D” to label it as her own. It has foam to protect each netgun head and handle. The yellow button on the handle is to release her white web onto her prey. She mostly uses her net guns instead of killing what’s she’s hunting right away.

• Diet.

She’s a hunter that eats her prey. if her prey so happens to be Human, she won’t find a problem using every piece that she can.

With her normal hunting, she often uses every part of the animal. For example, if she were to hunt a deer, she’d use every piece.

Though, she has yet to eat a human being. She had plans to feast on a red headed woman after her plans had failed since she had no more use for her, but that sadly didn’t go through. Once you aren’t needed anymore in her eyes, she’ll find a way to satisfy her hunger.

Under the cut there is nudity!! NOT SEXUAL! Just to show Des’s body.

Warn for scarring and nonsexual nudity!! uwaa

This is how Des looks underneath everything!

•Under Both

During the Randall game, Des gets shot in her shoulder, leaving a scar after raymond tried to tend to its wound.

Des had gotten breast reduction surgery by raymond. Raymond has surgical experience, he’s a retired surgeon who decided to work in an orphanage where he met Des and her future crew.

Raymond is like a father to des and was happy to make her feel more confident in himself.

The wound on their right hand was caused by desperate measures going through the labyrinth in Randall’s game. She carved a pathway onto her hand so she wouldn’t get lost.

He’s got a symmetry line down its chest. Idk, just a neat body detail I wanted to add because I think it’s nice! hehe

• Under Descole

She wears a binder under her descole outfit to appear more flat chested. She doesn’t mind her breasts but she’d rather wear that when she’s hunting that a bra. Feels more contained.

OK LALALA THAT IT!!

[stylosha]

SUBMISSION:

I wanna know your main 3 suitors hcs !!

ouuugh you're putting me on the spot here cuz you didn't specify and idk where to start 😭 i'll just tack on my antiamphieury designs above and go over some ramblings for them if that's chill! this post ended up pretty long, so i've put everything under the cut 😋

ANTINOUS OF ITHACA 🐺

he/him, 26, leader of the suitors.

bisexual, polyamorous... something along the lines of that. unfortunately i'm a little uncreative with my identity hcs cuz i don't really see any of the suitors' having intense preferences in that regard

a surprisingly pious man despite his diabolical violation of sacred laws (xenia)! i mean, this isn't really a headcanon since the text seems to say so, but i guess it's more emphasized in my characterization of antinous. it's not like it helps him in the end anyway 😔 i think of him to specifically be a zeus, apollo, artemis (yup! the twin gods!!) and dionysus devotee (subject to change)

in the poem; the suitors are often seen dancing which i think is also a form of terrorism over the ithacan palace not just cuz it's not their home but also cuz they mostly suck at it. antinous carries them on his back tho cuz sacred laws be damned that suitor can DANCE

unfortunately for everyone antinous is a daddy's boy 🥲 the earrings i designed him with are matching family heirlooms he and his parents wore. there are excess of another 2 sets because eupeithes had one sister (antinous' aunt) and another brother (antinous' uncle), but the suitor ended up being an only child, so it seems like he's saving the unused heirlooms (now including his mother's, making 3) just in case. (he never does, of course, antinous had many things he intended to do before his death. that's just how it is.)

on family it can get a little hmm. complicated. antinous loves his father and eupeithes loves his son, that much can be said! but their time with the taphian pirates was rough, particularly for a child antinous. and it's not like eupeithes ever intended to harm him – no, not at all! that's his son, his jewel! – but making the choice for them to live like that certainly didn't help either of them in the long run. internally; antinous can't help but blame his father, and eupeithes can't help but blame himself.

I'm still unsure about what to do with antinous' mother; i believe the only time we've seen her portrayed is in l'oddisea (1968) (which i can't recommend enough for odyssey likers btw PLEASE WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE FOR FREE PLEA—), where she spends a scene crying as she watches antinous' corpse be taken away, before cutting to eupeithes(?) and his original revenge speech – two rather haunting scenes to watch back-to-back, i'd say. so while i've yet to write her myself, the only thing i can think of is; damn, antinous. you were loved. (melantho seems to be his lover in l'oddisea too so, you can add her for that adaption.)

anti is completely blind in his scarred left eye, i like to think he got it from an incident with the taphian pirates, one way or another.

antinous feud list /ref; leodes (suitor), agelaus (suitor) and probably his whole gang by proxy (also suitors), eumaeus (slave / swineherd) and the rest of the palace's slaves, telemachus (prince, obviously), and like 10 billion other people if i had to guess

EURYMACHUS OF ITHACA 🐍

he/she, 25, leader of the suitors.

omnisexual, polyamorous, vers... this man's never had to make a decision in his damn life 😭

unfortunately for everyone eurymachus was raised in a household where he's never been told "no" before. a 20 something spoiled brat!!

i'll just put it out there that i consider eury to be a zeus, hermes and hecate devotee

the suitors mostly dance to phemius' (or whichever minstrel is unfortunate enough to end up on their door that day) melodies and tales but a drunken eury sung to the group once or twice and they've never forgotten it. even a snake tongue has its uses!!

antinous your co-leader looks gnc af /ref

^ well i mean. he was kinda born looking feminine in the face, her clothing is fairly masculine but eurymachus just isn't strict with this whole "gender expression" thing. he'll wear whatever she wants as long as it costs somebody's life savings

from what i can gather from brief research; makeup was often seen as a form of trickery, or at least, that's how male authors put it. this obviously isn't true in a general sense, but when it comes to eurymachus... well, i suppose it wouldn't be a reach. that snake!!

^ i've mentioned this before; but i hc that eury with easily irritable skin, so she wakes up a little earlier than most of the suitors to fix herself up before putting himself on display for the general public. that or – on unluckier days – he shows up fashionably late to the suitors' assemblies (whatever he may have had to attend to at the time). this pisses off many people (especially agelaus and co. cuz they value "discipline" funnily enough).

she's endorsed by icarius (penelope's father) and well. seemed to be in the lead when it came to which suitor was closest to actually marrying penelope. cuz of his heaps of expensive gifts, so i like to think eury buys a little something for every person she favours (my melantho and matching earrings, melanthius and a helix piercing... i plan for antinous and amphinomus to have something in their full-body designs too) as a... symbol of his love! that's an awfully noble way to put it though, he just likes showing off what's his 🙂‍↕️

^ also yes errr going strictly by the odyssey's text, eury favours both dark flower siblings! i mean we all know she's greedy.... in more ways than one..... walks away and doesn't elaborate

in my huge mind palace he also has a situationship with agelaus and eurynomus 🤫 she likes fucking around with age and co. in general i think

sorry to put this horrendous reference in here but for aura points eury is like a parselmouth to me

also sorry to randomly chuck a modern au in here but i want to make it known that i am a firm believer in the idea that eurymachus would LOVE the real housewives franchise. hell, his situation is basically the real suitors of ithaca ���

AMPHINOMUS OF DULICHIUM 🐻

he/they, 24, leading and youngest of the suitors.

not a bad person he's just badpersonsexual i fear. his dick has led him to places he wouldn't go with a gun

^ this is a JOOOOOKE this is a JOKE. anyway they sincerely just don't care about that stuff so i'm saying unlabeled + polyamorous

my amphi is mainly based off bears (thanks messy) but i designed him with a bird-like birthmark so second to that i like to think he has an affinity with them too... eagles, specifically. (zeus moment)

^ i consider amphinomus to be a zeus and harmonia devotee

amphi kind of sucks at both singing and dancing (the latter a little less) i'm so sorry brother... you'll get them one day 😭...

i realize that i've mentioned antieury's relationship with agelaus so i'll just tell you that they're on good terms since they're the forbearing and "orange" (you'll only get this if you read my agelaus design notes lol) leading suitors... leodes does have one-sided beef with amphi tho which is a story for another day lmao!!

moulius is a herald and slave of amphinomus who only appears once in the odyssey but given how amphi speaks of odysseus' slaves i think they're on good terms as well. both of them are equally bothered by the suitors' behaviour but amphi assures him that it's fine... probably. we never get moulius' reaction or fate after his owner's death, but he may have been killed by ody and co. as well.

amphinomus' family situation is also interesting cuz they're doting but he feels like it can be. conditional at times. he's the only prince / royalty out of the suitors, so you can imagine there's some inherent pressure on his back when it comes to how they act and definitely when it comes to who they marry!

i think this is part of the reason he decides to stick around the suitors despite. well, everything. they just happen to be a breath of fresh air for amphinomus and it's not like that makes those youths any less insane but. you do understand where he's coming from, yeah?

and errr (flipping through notepad) i think that pretty much it? for now? these are all the general things i've come up with, but everyone's free to ask for more specific hcs with antiamphieury!! i love talking about them a lot 🫶

[faithchel]

cw flops thoughts under the cut (this is a joke)

there is no universe where i could viably justify sile in-character letting him go through with the ascention because she has already lost literally everyone EXCEPT for those currently around her (nessa included she's with them by then) she's ever been close to and so the second she even gets a vague "lol btw you'll be destroyed" inkling she is going to shut that the fuck down absolutely not (would love to claim it's because she has a moral interest here but she does not) BUT

gnashing my teeth over that lowkey bc yeah yeah good for her this bitch actually wins and gets her Good Ending for once in her long long existence (sorry baby) and yes that warms my cold cold heart and if i think too long about the fact that this is the only life where she is fighting tooth and nail to live instead of a determination to take the world down with her i'll have a fucking meltdown but i am who i am so naturally what i spend my time thinking about instead is that she would never be able to stay with ascendedstarion as a partner she would not be who she is if she was someone who could live with that imbalance in a relationship (she would not want it in reversed roles either at this stage in her life, hashtag growth) so while she would stay his ally and sort-of friend once he has his three days of sulking because morality has never been the obstacle for her there and she and minthy probably still sneak into his parties for the next few decades (if i decide to metagame and just say Uh They Assumed She Was Dead and call it a day since it wouldn't occur to sile to leave anyone alive on purpose which i. probably will i will allow myself SOME indulgences) that would be that on that but!! while that's not their Canon End and it's not her canon #Winning end i 1) think their dynamic would be objectively fucking hilarious and 2) it's still kind of. a good ending for her in the way that her actual ending is because look on paper playing consort and seizing power and control dot mp3 was always MEANT to be her future that's quite literally what she was raised for and trained for and the endgame of her life as essentially a glorified courtesan before her family fell and no she never wanted that for herself. no she's never been good at sitting still no she's never been good at doing what she's told and while she's an excellent leader she is too intemperate to be an excellent ruler and she has always known that she NEVER wanted that constraint but she also always knew it was realistically what was in store for her in spite of all of her small rebellions and public scandals of self-sabotage. and maybe maybe maybe if she stands still long enough to hear her inner voice creep up (she has spent the last decade doing her very best not to give it the chance) maybe it wasn't mercy or pragmatism or compliance that led her to take the blade her father handed her and slaughter them. maybe she already knew she'd never finish it and turn it on herself because maybe this was the only way she could ever actually live the life she wanted maybe it was the only way she could ever escape her fate and maybe her sort-of uncle did her the greatest service anyone ever would when he led that coup. and now she's not that nineteen year old girl anymore she's not a spoiled noble brat anymore she's been the one in control now for ten fucking years and she is never giving that up for anyone or anything so she looks at the life she was meant for with whatever is left of her best friend and says no i won't do this for you i won't be this again. haha. :)

(obvs Bad Ending~~ or whatever would be she does cave and she does become exactly what she was always meant to be and fate came and swallowed her whole Even After Everything and she's the beautiful woman with everything and nothing again, now eternal, which also holds its appeal for my diabolical self but that's a character choice she would never make AFTER a character choice she would never make so. very far removed from anything i could viably do without betraying her characterization integrity)

but again this is all for naught because she actually just Wins and Gets Everything She Wants in this life. enjoy the rest of your human lifespan. bitch

[gachaparadise]

overall tb mission thoughts below >>>

haahhhhhh idk how to organize my thoughts on the tb mission. uh. it was to long. i liked it a lot and i think it was pretty well written but. it dragged in parts. as i neared the end i was like. okay now its over. okay NOW it's over. OKAY now its over. NOW. this time for sure. and that went on for like 3 hours. let me leave.

this is partially my own fault. if i wasn't so insistent on rushing it so i don't get spoiled it wouldn't be a problem but... well i don't wanna get spoiled damn it!

i think the emotional moments with the former nameless were all GREAT. loved Mickail and Teirnan and Razelina. thought Clockie was great. Misha really tugged at the heartstrings.

the fake ending was diabolical. i think it was cool buuut... it kinda sucked the tension outta the room a little.

i don't know. we still have the epilogue to look forward to so. there are little things here and there i'd like resolved. like. was Sparkle up to anything or was she truly just the most red herring girlie of all time? i wanted her to go full joker pilled and blow up penacony with her funny bombs. and firefly just kinda fucked off lmao. she's busy i guess.

the beginning was really good! i liked the bladie/firefly car scene. he's so gentle and sweet in his own sad strange little way. such a girl dad.

wish Argenti's voicelines worked, i can't believe i missed them :( love him for rescuing my babygirl from the abyss tho <3

speaking of Churin. I'm glad my wife is safe. i hope he gets that promotion.

this is kind of disjointed because i dunno what to talk about. a lot of this update was just lore and lore and more lore so like. it was cool but i don't have much to say about it. it was cool if a little needlessly verbose. it was all NEEDED exposition i think, just delivered it a bit of a meandering way.

also. don't love the weight given the Acheron name reveal. girl i don't play H3rd i dunno whats important about that.

all in all i liked it and think they stuck the landing i'm just. tired from playing like 10 hours of star rail lmao.

[evievigilant]

Well I finished Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright! That was a hell of a ride. I hope my posting about it wasn’t Too Much heh. 

Final thoughts below (mostly just for me to sort them out but hey) (also I spoil the first 3 Layton games too I’m sorry):

The mystery as a whole kinda disappointed me? And I feel bad for saying that since the world-building and lore was so heavy, but I think that was to its detriment at times. It was all SO much in order to make anything make sense. I really really loved the first half of this game, since it felt like we could reasonably solve the mystery within the world around us and play within the established rules of this particular world (i.e., one where magic and witches do exist). The information we got felt like it was gradually building to something, and I was excited to see what would happen and see if I could figure it out. With the latter half, all the intrigue was kind of stripped from the first half. Kira’s not dead, Layton wasn’t turned into gold, Maya’s fine, and in fact, except for Belduke (and well, the town ages ago), no one died at all. The main mystery requires that everything you experienced was false, but in a way that made it seem like all those events had no weight to them in the end. And in doing so, the reality of the situation is less interesting and far more convoluted than what was presented to you in the first half.

Now you may be saying, “You fool, Layton games often end with the deconstruction of the supposedly supernatural setting they’re in! And Ace Attorney exists within the normal realms of society for the most part (minus spirit channeling but ya know),” and yeah sure, you’re absolutely right about that. But the thing is, sometimes the twist in Layton games is done well (Curious Village, Unwound Future) and sometimes it’s not (....Diabolical Box (I’m sorry! I don’t like the twist in this one, even if the rest of the game is enjoyable)). The reason I like the twists in the Curious Village and the Unwound Future is because while both times you do prove the town is fake, everything still builds to something else that is real. Flora was still in the tower and the mystery had to be solved for her, and Clive set the trap in motion for a reason. The falsity of those locations builds to a more interesting purpose in the end. It replaces your initial understanding of the circumstances with another more interesting circumstance (e.g. “Oh we need to find the Golden Apple” to “Oh shit, robots” and “Oh no we’ve traveled to the future” to the very real threat of “Oh no this guy kidnapped a bunch of scientists and this OTHER guy is using him as a pawn to enact his revenge”). The latter half is more interesting than the first half. With the Diabolical Box, the time spent in Folsense felt a little more wasted because it was all a hallucination (one that occurred on VERY loose grounds in my opinion) and to me, a hallucination that even the main culprit is unaware of is less interesting than a mystery town with a vampire. In Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright, I don’t know if I can say that the MASSIVE effort to keep up the illusion of this town served to tell a more interesting story than one where witches and magic do exist, especially since the reasoning behind creating the town was.....a lot, to say the least. The real reason for the town existing isn’t NOTHING but I don’t know if I 100% like it. 

I kinda figured magic existing in this world would be fine since this game doesn’t seem the most canon. And I’d honestly prefer it, since it could have led to a more cohesive story, but oh well.

In all honesty, the ending was just so much to take in, and half the revelations weren’t anything we could have predicted without the people responsible just ADMITTING it through a ton of exposition. Like not only was Labyrinthia a research facility, but it was set up for Espella so she wouldn’t have to deal with her trauma, and also Darklaw is Espella’s childhood friend Eve, and also the town has been hypnotized to not see the pure black machinery that is responsible for the “magic” in town, and also the Shades are witches and victims that are alive and well, and also Shades can mess with people’s memories with silver by making people unconscious because everyone has a condition that makes them do that because of the water, and also pamphlets at the parades were used to hypnotize them more, and also Eve was rewriting the story, and also Espella rang the bell (except no she didn’t, Eve did), and also The Storyteller has an incurable disease, except no there’s a wonder drug for it now, it’s fine. And perhaps if this were all revealed gradually throughout the game it would be fine, but this was all basically revealed in the last trial. And as a result, it’s hard to feel like you have a decent grasp of everything.

The game reaaalllyyy wanted me to be sympathetic towards the Storyteller and well....I am not. Also Eve Belduke did nothing wrong (she did a few things wrong but I sympathize with her because wow. WOW). 

Barnham was done so dirty, oh my goodness. I had to think about how I felt about certain parts of the game more than others, but one thing I knew IMMEDIATELY when finishing was that this guy had so much potential and it was squandered. He started to become really interesting after Maya’s trial (especially since he felt guilty over her situation and started to question his role as an Inquisitor a bit, what with his talk about his duty in protecting the town) and we even saw him spy on Darklaw and the Shades. And then they just....sent him to the dungeon. And he wasn’t seen til the ending cutscene. They could have done SO much more with him. I thought for the longest time, “No way are they going to build up his character like that and then throw him away. He’ll probably come back somehow.” Like I thought he and Greyerl were gonna plan an escape heist haha. Turns out I’m the fool here. I wish he had more connection to the main mystery. Perhaps his character arc could have been made more satisfying then.

Honestly pleasantly surprised with how much Layton + Luke and Phoenix + Maya worked together as a group. I didn’t know how that would work out but I liked their dynamics.

I enjoyed how trials and investigations were balanced, and how elements from both Ace Attorney and Professor Layton were incorporated. The puzzles were very fun in this game!!

It was really cool seeing elements from this game that were later carried over to others. For instance, having multiple witnesses and pursuing them based on their reactions to other pieces of testimony was something I didn’t know originated with this game. Always thought it was only a Great Ace Attorney thing. Cool to find out otherwise!

The middle of this game (basically after Greyerl’s trial) was pretty dark! I’m surprised they went in that direction with what I first thought would be a wholly delightful crossover featuring Gentleman Puzzle Man. But it was a welcome surprise because I was heavily invested, especially since some really heavy stakes were established (until they weren’t lol). I made the very Wrong deduction that in order to get Layton and Maya back, we’d have to convince the Storyteller to rewrite the story to bring them back somehow, or rely on time travel bullshit. And well. It does not happen like that.

This game’s music is outstanding. I don’t know if it’s my favorite but it’s definitely up there (tbh though, it’s a difficult mountain to climb to get anywhere near TGAA2′s soundtrack). The pursuit theme is one of my favorites now, too. One of my favorite parts of playing AA games is first hearing what the pursuit themes sound like, and when I first heard this one I was SO impressed. 

Overall I liked this game, even though there were definite problems towards the end. The ending severely tanked its standing in my ranking of AA games unfortunately (I’m sorry :( I value good endings) but I still enjoyed playing it.

[royallyprincesslilly]

Title: Rumor Has It {Epilogue}

Chris Evans x Famous Reader Uriah “Riah” Tyler

Warning: Cursing, Plot, Fluff, 

Words: 2.2k

Summary: You and Chris have been married for four years after a whirlwind romance. You are both happy and trying to navigate marriage in the public eye while balancing your successful careers. In the entertainment industry, not everything is as it seems, the flash of a camera lens impairs vision. As scandal and flashing lights put a strain on your once fairytale marriage is it possible your Hollywood marriage can stand the test of the rumor mill?

**Inspired by a video seen of Chris and his co-star Ana De Armas on their press tour for Knives Out at TIFF where she kept touching his chest and face standing about five inches apart.

NOTE: DO NOT COME FOR ME. THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION.

**Loosely Edited/Proofread**

Thank you guys for reading!!!! If you enjoyed this please LIKE, COMMENT, REBLOG. 😊❤️❤️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If the public ripped Chris a new asshole when the odds seemed ever not in his favor, they massacred Ana once the facts were revealed. When it came out just how low Ana had gone in her efforts to get your husband, the world turned into a colder place. The tabloids ran endless pieces on what a horrible person she was. They were relentless when it came to nitpicking not just her behavior and actions, but they even went in on her acting. You could have said you felt bad for her, but you didn’t. Not one bit.

 The support that came out for you and Chris was heartwarming. Everyone seemed to want to wrap the two of you in a cocoon of support and love. You received well-wishes from fans and supporters, and even celebs sent floral arrangements, all expressing their support for you. The narrative that was spun was the diabolical plot of Ana and jilted ex Christiano who concocted a plot that was to end with Ana getting Chris and Christiano kidnapping you. Most of the details were released to the press, though you and Chris had both tried to keep as much of it under wraps as possible. Neither one of you wanted to continue dealing with it. You just wanted to move forward and focus on better things—happier things.

 Because Christiano had broken into your home and attempted to cause harm to its residents, Chris’s actions were seen as self-defense, and Chrisnao’s death ruled an accidental result of self-defense. Though the White family were distraught once they were faced with the severity of Christiano’s actions and continued plans, they didn’t have the heart to put you through any further trauma. You’d suspected it was Christina’s doing, and a floral arrangement from her a few weeks after the incident proved your suspicions.

 You’d been friends with her first, and it was a friendship that survived the end of your relationship with Christiano. This was her way of letting it be known that her brother did wrong. A month after the incident, her statement shed light on Christiano’s mental health and revealed he’d been struggling for several years since the break-up. She made no apologies for his actions and didn’t try to make him seem like a victim. She was adamant about letting the full truth be seen. She did offer an apology to you, Chris, your families, and your children.

 For her part in the plot, her actions of physically trying to kill you, not knowing you pregnant at the time, was what sealed Ana’s fate. She was sentenced to jail, and it wasn’t entirely the sentence of a privileged woman. It was one of a criminal who showed no remorse for their actions. She was given nine years behind bars, and because she was living and working in the US on a visa rather than citizenship, after the completion of her sentence, she would be deported to Spain. 

Even film studios were distancing themselves from her at record speed. All the roles she had been considered for quickly changed their views and voiced wanting you to have the roles. It was sort of poetic to you. She hated you because you were black, and you didn’t deserve all you had, including your career and husband. In the end, she was the absolute furthest from your husband, and now everything that was hers would be yours.

 You and Chris were on a flight to Massachusetts two days after the incident. Neither of you were suspects; there was no reason for you to remain in LA, so you quietly packed up what you wanted and made arrangements to pack up the house for the foreseeable future, then went where both of you felt like you belonged. You left any details about your career plans to your manager to close. Everyone seemed to understand the want you had to step back from work and Hollywood, especially when the news was out that you were going to be parents.

 That was the only thing Chris seemed to care about. He was on a mission to keep you comfortable, happy, and taken care of. From the minute he carried you over the threshold of the home he’d built for you, it felt like a fresh start, a new beginning meant just for the five of you.

 He was there beside you every morning, patting your back as you vomited because of your morning sickness until you were four and a half months along. He was there for every single appointment. He read every book you did to prepare for the remainder of your pregnancy and life with twins. He was there preparing you lunch every afternoon, there massaging your feet and back at the end of every night. He was there to lather on the cocoa and shea butter to your growing belly. He was there to compliment every stretch mark you received because of your quickly stretching skin. He was there to kiss each of them while telling you how much he loved each and every tiger stripe, as he called them. He was even there for you when none of your clothes fit you, and he offered you all his cable-knit sweaters, hoodies, sweatpants, and button-downs.

 When your belly became so big you couldn’t see your feet; he put your shoes on for you. When you couldn’t get up without looking like a beached whale, Chris was there to carry you wherever you wanted to go. There rarely went an hour that went by where he didn’t strip you to worship your body as if you were his scripture, and he worshiped you and you alone. Not a day passed where you didn’t feel loved, desired, and protected.

 Through it all, you decided that therapy was beneficial and a powerful enough tool to bring you back together that you wanted to continue. Dr. Danquah was thrilled having the two of you as clients again and, because of your progress, saw no need for you to see her more than twice a month to keep the lines of communication and the roots of love and passion ever strong. The love you felt for Chris and the connection you felt to each other only deepened throughout your pregnancy.

 Just when you thought you couldn’t love him anymore, he did something to prove you wrong. Every day you found something more to love. If it wasn’t his fun-loving nature that was on display every time he played with Dodger, it was his outdoorsy adventurism with the way he bounded from the bed once the sun rose to drag you on another of his nature walks so he could photograph the trees or the hills. If it wasn’t his romantic side with how he prepared candlelit baths every night that posed as a prequel to dinner by candlelight and the most passionate session of lovemaking, it was his undercover, not so undercover freak antics with him wanting to christen every single room in the house and a few spots outdoors with your lovemaking. At nights when he thought you were sleeping, you heard him talking to the babies as he caressed your stomach. That was what you loved most. His sheer love, devotion, and adoration for his children and the strong protector that resided in him. he was the only one for you.

 “Push Riah.”

 “Don’t fucking tell me to push. You push!”

 Chris snorted, and you wanted to kill him. His hands rubbed your belly before he kissed your jaw from his position behind you in the tub in your bathroom.

 “I can push with you, but you have the babies in you. You have to show them the way.”

 You groaned, and it echoed in the hallowed bathroom.

 “You can do this, Uriah,” Lisa encouraged, giving your shoulder a firm squeeze.

 You looked across to your mother, who nodded, hoping to steel your nerve. Chris kissed your ear.

“Come on, dragonfly. You got this. Bring our babies into the world so we can spoil them.”

 And you can change all the poop diapers?”

 Chris snorted again. “I don’t recall making any such promise.”

 You squeezed his hand with everything you had. He groaned and hissed from the pain.

 “Ah, ah, wow. Okay, I see my error. Yes, all poop diapers that you don’t want.” You released his hand, letting him relax somewhat.

 “Use that, baby. I know it’s hard. I know it hurts, and I’m sorry.”

 “This is your fault,” you pointedly accused.

 “Yes. My fault. I take full blame. I’m sorry.”

 “You owe me so big for this, Evans.”

 He nodded, agreeing with you. that was when the pain intensified at levels that made you regret choosing a natural birth at home.

 “Oh fuckity, fuck. So big, Evans!”

 “You’re crowning. Do you want to come over here and catch your baby, dad?”

 Chris moved from behind you and got into position between your legs. His eyes widened, clearly seeing the baby’s head. The excitement around you was palpable, and it gave you a burst of energy to get the baby out. You grabbed your knees, hunkered down, and pushed because whether you were supposed to or not. Your scream was loud, and the screams of those around you picked up. They shouted to you, encouraging you to keep going and not to stop. The look on Chris's face suddenly changed, and you saw the tears in his eyes.

 “Oh my god, Riah, I can—I can see—oh baby, I can see a face. come on, Dragonfly, one more push.”

 You screeched out and fought through the intense burning you felt, and in seconds the crying of a baby echoed in the bathroom.

 “Aah, oh my god, Riah, it’s a girl. She’s here,” Chris elated as tears rolled down his cheeks.

 You smiled widely as Chris held your daughter and cut her umbilical cord before he placed her on your chest.

 “Oh my god!”

 She was perfect, with a full head of hair that was the color of Chris’s and cheeks so plump you were tempted to pinch them. You only had a moment to place a kiss on her forehead before you felt another stab of pain that made you shout again. The second midwife took the baby from you so you could focus on pushing out her sister.

 “She’s right there, Uriah. You’re doing incredible, baby,” your mother informed.

 “I’m thinking three good pushes, Uriah.  When you feel the urge, push.

 You instantly felt the urge to push and returned to your previous position and pushed as hard as you could. This push was just as painful as the first one, but you felt this push accomplished more.

 “Good push, her head is out. One more, and she’ll be out,” your first midwife said.

 The look on everyone's face was one of anxiety and excitement. The sounds of your first daughter’s cries had died down, and the only thing that could be heard in the room was your panting, screeching, and grunting.

 “Fuuuuuck!”

 You managed to push your daughter out, and her cries filled the bathroom. Soon, it was not one baby crying but both of them.

 “You did it!”

 Lisa and your mother both kissed your cheeks and forehead, happily congratulating you and telling you how well you’d done while the midwives cleaned the babies to bring them to you. When Chris came up beside you, your mothers backed away, giving you a few moments together. Chris kissed your forehead.

 “You’re incredible. You did so good, dragonfly. I’m so proud of you.” He kissed you once, then twice, and nuzzled his nose against yours.

 “I love you so much.”

 “Did someone order two perfect babies?”

 The midwives placed your daughters in your arms.

 “This is baby A; she was born first and her sister.”

 Your tears flowed freely as so much emotion filled you. Love in it’s purest form washed over you.

 “Chris. They’re beautiful.”

 “Of course they are. They look just like you,” Chris said, kissing your temple.

 A comfortable silence fell between you as you admired your newborn daughters.

 “Any decision on names?”

 You smiled and ran your thumb across the baby’s brow in your arm.

 “Yeah. How do you feel about Nova and Rae?”

 Chris’s face lit up as his smile spread so wide that you wondered if his face would split in two.

 “I love them. Nova and Rae Evans,” he uttered. You nodded and couldn’t help but choke up, seeing the emotion on his face.

 “Chasing dragonflies,” he whispered the meanings of the names you’d discussed weeks ago before his lips met yours for a tender kiss.

 With his forehead pressed to yours, he whispered again. “Rumor has it you’re going to be an amazing mom.”

 You smiled and looked at him before pressing your lips to his for a quick kiss. “Rumor has it you’re a DILF.”

 Chris laughed so loud it startled your babies, making them stir and cry. You joined in laughing with him, unable to keep your sublime happiness under wraps any longer.

 “Rumor has it you two will have siblings in record time,” Lisa said slightly above a whisper.

 Everyone in the room laughed, not knowing how true those were most likely were. You and Chris gazed at each other with longing and love in your eyes. When Chris kissed you again, this time taking his time to do it properly, completely and heartily, you knew his mother’s words would be the truest spoken.  

                                             The End!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag List:

@chaneajoyyy @caplover22​ @caramara3 @southerngracela @cyntgefel01 @vannahvannahhh @lorainnebabyy @patzammit @yourwonderbelle @pennywisesmistress @theblulife @kelbabyblue @bugngiz @kikimiyazaki @toniilaney @areubeingserved @chaos-crusader @thinkxlovexloud @cocothewriter @periodtcevans @bellaamor88 @mack-jay @titty-teetee @pananegra @wellthirsted @sup3rn0va13 @nova3312 @hello-therree @valkyriesnymph @squeackygee @niyashell @allmonstersxarehuman @zsuzstyina @peggy-potts @amelatonin @lvlyab @sullyosully @taylorveebee​ @renesmeeharelds @capslut2014 @ilovehatembj @thelittlemoistcarrot @sarcastic-sunshines @a-dizzle777 @taylorveebee @jesseswartzwelder @90sinspiredgirl @allnamesicouldthinkofweretaken @choices97  @jd-now-jq @actorinfluence @chrisgalore @rynabarnesrogers @ab-baybay @motivation-idontknowher @lo-cheu  @builtalongthewaysi @momobaby227@drsunshine97 @cleothegoldfish

@thatrandomhetaliachick @missdeerstalker15 @queenbetter @ilovehatembj @briellableu @zaddysqueen7 @melaninhawtie @simplyyamberr  @ashanti-notthesinger @chezdricks @euh-say-what-now @afraiddreamingandloving @ajspencer1892 @wakanda-inspired @chillavesss @theunsweetenedtruth @geeksareunique @aykanna @hanasamara @profilia @ollieveracity @autumn242 @missyperle @forbeautyandlife @kreolemami @songtoyou @designerwriterchic @firedolphin04 @academic-glowup @periodtcevans @nova3312 @naturalthrone22 @squeackygeecapslut2014 @queen-audsalena

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@imthatbitchsworld @soul–notforsale @toni9 @someone-really-bored @venustrap04 @chrisevansdaddycap @kittykatlow @live-laugh-love-ki @asiaaisa77 @melanicia @fistmetonystark @livinglifeformemyselfandi @crowngold @allnamesicouldthinkofweretaken @lost- ssoull @give-me-a-million-dollars-pls​ @shar74nett @cltex84 @badbitchhtown @petty-bitch-akira​ @unknownmystery22​ @raveviolet @madixii @almosttherebutnot @rainbowkisses31​​ @smediumsmeatbae @bernie-k @nina1800 @nervousninjatheorist @lo-cheu @creole-mami @acciolove724 @shipatheart @captainchrisstan @ramp-it-up @bforbbgirl @brownskinafro @jhayes6984 @badbo1-evans @msblkfire84 @jovanaprime @poshgirl2 @marvelatthis30 @littlepreciousangel @youremysuperstar @alookintohersoul @cleopatra-knowles​ @xsweetdellzx @cxmfort​ @i-just-like-fanfics @storiestoldbyjazz @jennmurawski13 @imthewarmpenguininthemiddle @ak329​

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***There are a few that are bold that I tried to tag but your @ wasn’t coming up. I’m not sure why. Please check that you are taggable. I’m sorry.***

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 2 Review/Rundown

Cr

I feel like this about sums up the general reaction after this week. So let’s dive into how it got out of hand so fast.

We open, a little surprisingly, on a shot we saw at the end of last Volume: Qrow looking at Clover’s bloody badge in his hand. We hear Robyn ranting and raving at someone about how this situation is all their fault, how all she wanted was to bring people together. She’s pacing in her cell, and at first you worry she’s turned on Qrow and hates him for fighting Clover and getting them both arrested, but no. She’s berating Jacques, and thank god someone is. He quotes his daughter in Volume 1 and claims he is a victim, but it was more endearing and memorable coming from the Ice Queen. He continues to assert his innocence, saying Watts used him and his power for diabolical purposes. Sure, he is guilty of many things, but he should not be held responsible for this. And at least his charges don’t include murder. That gets Qrow’s attention, since it was of course a dig at him. That quells Robyn’s fury rather quickly, and she does defend Qrow’s innocence. But she hops right back on the flame train and (while wonderfully insulting his mustache) says she’s not about to agree with the words of an accomplice to Watts’ sins against Mantle. Sure enough, the man of the hour is also in an adjacent cell, and he’s resigned himself to being stuck here like the rest of them. We get a look at where exactly “here” is, a 2 by 2 grid of square cells whose walls are Hard Light Dust shields. It’s a room that’s otherwise rather empty, and the Dust walls seem to be the only source of light. A very makeshift appearance, all things considered, and I worry about Watts being in a cell surrounded by Dust tech he might be able to manipulate. Then again, they took his rings, but he’s got to be pretty resourceful. Meanwhile, Jacques has all the confidence of a spoiled rich brat put behind bars for a misdemeanor. He’s quite sure Whitley will be rushing to get the family’s legal team on the case, and he’ll be out within... well we don’t know exactly how short he thinks his incarceration will last because Robyn gets pissed and punches the wall dividing them. That shuts him up rather well. And really, Jacques-ass? You’re putting your faith in a teenager to help overturn alleged war crimes? What an out of touch prick. 

All four of them are shaken from their particular trains of thought by an alarm buzzing and the door opening. Three guards file in, disengage one of the walls of Watts’ cell, and go inside to smack him with the muzzle of a gun and drag his ass outta there. Jacques cringes at the sight of such sudden violence, and Robyn looks momentarily surprised before seeming to accept this. Guess she didn’t expect Ironwood to be so ruthless so soon. She sits back on her bed, which looks like its just a hard slab, and laments being unable to do anything. But Qrow says there is something they can do: kill the man who put them here. To paraphrase Agent Washington, that has got to be the worst plan ever. Of all time. You’re already in jail on murder charges, and now you want to actually cross the line and kill THE LEADER OF A KINGDOM?!?!?! I realize that Ironwood has gone of the deep end and needs to be stopped, but this is not the way to do it. This will only lead to failure, I’m sure of it.

Meanwhile, we cut down to an Atlas news reporter doing a story in Mantle. He’s doing his thing, talking about the unprecedented Grimm hordes and Ironwood not doing anything about it yet. But just as he’s going on about the dedication of his station, the Atlas Eye, Joanna comes up and swipes his microphone to deliver her own message to the people. She tells it like it is, saying that the Happy Huntresses are here to offer aid when Ironwood will not, and spreading the word for people to gather what supplies they can and head for the crater. We see one of the kids from Jaune’s crosswalk scene, and thank goodness his mom is still alive. Joanna talks about all of Mantle coming together to hold the line against the coming Grimm, otherwise the storm at their gates will sweep in to wipe them all out. Yang’s group get into Pietro’s pharmacy, and open the door to the backroom to discover something that makes them very happy. As we saw from the promo clip several months ago, it’s three hoverbikes which we then see them riding through the streets. Yang’s a natural at it, driving up a ramp to do a cool flip off a wall much to Oscar’s panic and discomfort as some of her hair gets in his mouth. Jaune and Ren are... adequate by comparison. Noticing the purple glow of what I presume is Gravity Dust propelling them and allowing the bikes to hover, I wouldn’t be shocked if Yang gives hers a paintjob to be the new Bumblebee: Now with added shipping material! What’s far less pleasant to notice is the Grimm squatting like a gargoyle on the bridge they drive under. We see this thing on the rooftops in a few more shots and then... whooo boy. But we will get there. For now, the biker gang finds more people to protect and help on the journey through town to the crater. One of the Real Thirsty Moms has armed herself with a snow shovel and isn’t totally sure if the crater will be a safe place, but Yang puts on her bravest face to reassure her... just before the screams of people being chased by Grimm get her attention. It’s only two Sabyrs, and Jaune stops their progress by throwing a Hard Light shield spawning grenade that we can assume was with the stash of new gear earlier. Ren drops down to stab both Grimm to death and kicks the quickly deactivating grenade back to Jaune who uses the Gravity in his shield to draw it to him. Very handy with all the tools, bud. Oscar is worried the Grimm Salem has brought with her have already gotten this far into the city, but Yang rationalizes they’re stragglers from the big attack last night. Cuz yeah, we’re still only 12 hours or so removed from the climactic latter half of Volume 7. She doesn’t wanna take any chances though, and asks Ren if Jaune can amp his Semblance up so he can mask the whole crowd for the trip. Ever the realist, he gives a less than encouraging answer, but Jaune sees how badly these people need some hope and comfort. So he makes it into a reassuring promise that the trip will be totally safe and Grimm free. Good job, man. But in every crowd of people, there’s always... a Karen. In this case it’s a grandma who doesn’t want to go stay in the slums among the “animals”, she wants to go to Atlas dammit. But Yang has been waiting to berate someone after the morally grey argument with Ruby last episode, so she takes full advantage of this. This lady might want to be in Atlas, but it’s become clear that Atlas doesn’t want her or any of the other people in Mantle, whereas the Faunus in the crater are showing more kindness than she deserves and giving her a warm place to stay amid all these Grimm. That shuts her up quick, and her daughter (one of the Real Thirsty Moms!) nervously butts in to say that yeah, they’ll accept the offer and she’ll go get their stuff now. We fade to seeing the greyed out crowd walking down the street with Yang giving frontal support, Ren riding on Jaune’s bike in the midst of the crowd to mask outwards in a radius, and Oscar guarding the rear. Grandma Karen is still whining about having to go to the crater, but her daughter is trying to get her to pipe down.

Oscar laments how hard it’s been to get folks to cooperate, with Ozpin chiming in to say he’s preaching to the choir on this one, and that he’s becoming increasingly concerned about that challenge. Oscar grumbles about the unencouraging internal peanut gallery, and Oz gets right to the point. The teens all have every right to be mad at him for dipping on them in Mistral, none more so than Oscar himself, but that’s not what Oscar’s beef is about. He’s mad that he gave him false hope, that in the time Oz was gone Oscar was able to really start coming into his own as a fighter and a member of the team. But now he’s back and Oscar will go back to just being the vessel for the guy everyone really cares about. Oz acknowledges and validates that, but admits that he was never really gone at all so... the merging is still going. Oscar is gaining deep memories and what magic Oz has left, so it’s closer than ever. Neither of them want this to happen, but what can they do? Further up, Ren’s cloaking flickers for a second and Jaune checks on him. He’ll be fine, he’s just got a lot to focus on. Jaune tries to give him a pep talk, but silence is more needed here and Ren is a little snippy in saying so. Jaune seems pretty bummed that Ren is in such a state, but I can’t really say he’s mad at him. More upset with himself and his leadership. One member of his team left to do something else, and the other is in a mental funk he has no clear idea how to help him out of. That’d bum anyone out. Let’s talk about Ren for a moment, actually. I think part of the reason his semblance is working at less than 100% is the same reason he’s pissy with Jaune. He has too many emotions bottled up and he’s trying to ignore them for the sake of staying neutral and calm to be at his best. But if you force yourself to always be neutral, it becomes that much harder to shift into the zen needed for this power. He needs to let himself have emotional highs and lows so he can transition naturally into the middle ground. In other words, TALK ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS, BUDDY!!! It’s also been theorized that his semblance can work for more than just neutrality and he might be projecting his inner turmoil onto the crowd. But that’s yet to be proven. Oz appropriately closes out the scene by saying that they ALL need to figure out a way to work together, but something tells me that’s not coming for another 8 episodes at least.

Changing locales, we see Penny outside of a building with a puffing smokestack on the edge of the city. Turning around, we see where the city of Mantle ends and the slums of the crater begin, and how many people are making there way down from one to the other. But quickly look back, as Blake has just cut off the lock on the chain link gate to the building and May is leading our girl squad inside. That’s right, the one and only May Marigold is coming along on this mission so we get a chance to see her really show her stuff! Nora is grateful for the assist, but May assures her this plan would have definitely gotten Robyn’s backing judging by how much she talked about Amity Tower once she was in the know, so she’s all too happy to help get it up and running. And the Happy Huntresses can afford to be sending her for this, since Fiona has the rest of the team helping her out. The reminder that their partners are off doing a separate mission dampens Blake and Nora’s smiles though... Ruby worries about the safety of going into this place, but once inside Weiss gives the rundown. This is a subsidiary of the Schnee Dust Company that specializes in shipping packages of refined Dust from the mines up to various areas of Atlas through pneumatic tubes. And since it’s a small side business, the worker robots have no direct chain of command to Ironwood, just the Schnees. And Weiss’ grand plan for transportation up to the Atlas military base is something Ruby jokingly suggested back in Volume 2... mailing themselves to their destination. You’re becoming more like that dolt every day... and as a White Rose shipper I love it~ Blake takes this opportunity to rain on Weiss’ confident parade with a dig at the high percentage of buildings in Atlas the Schnee family must own at this rate, and Weiss refuses to comment on how many they actually don’t own. Glad to see Blake being playful like this, shows she’s really comfortable being back with the group again. Everyone spreads out to look for the tube they need, and Penny finds the one for Atlas Academy instead. It reminds her of the confrontations that were had there last Volume, and it clearly still bothers her. Ruby comes over to check on her, and incorrectly assumes Penny’s lamenting about friends fighting is regarding her and Yang. You may be the protagonist, but not everything is about you Ruby. Penny meant Ironwood, Winter, and the Ace Ops, the people Team RWBY had become such fast friends and trusted allies with in Volume 7. The people who are doing and saying such unkind things now, like Ironwood telling her people will die unless she does as she says. Maybe that’s why she’s lingering at this terminal, she’s debating giving herself up to him for the sake of others? 

Ruby is having none of this self blaming talk though, and turns Penny around to look her in the eyes as she assures her that no, that isn’t true at all, Ironwood was just saying it to hurt her and make her feel bad enough to come back. Penny admits that she misses the days when she was just the Protector of Mantle, that she now has so much heavy responsibility and duty thrust upon her as the Winter Maiden and she wishes she did not. She was struggling enough to find an identity as a normal girl, now she has a whole other identity to grapple with, it’s all truly unfortunate and sad. Holding her hands in a very similar way to how she did back when she first found out Penny was an android, Ruby assures her that she is still very much the girl she once was. She protected Mantle by taking the Maiden powers so they wouldn’t be misused to hurt the city. This seems to cheer Penny up a bit, and she thanks Ruby for it. The two have another nice hug, before Nora calls out that she’s found the terminal they need. Blake notes that this is the point of no return, and May asserts her confidence that between Penny’s capabilities with the computers they’ll encounter and her own invisibility Semblance they’ve got this in the bag. Penny doesn’t like being referred to as a secret weapon, or a weapon of any kind, but she says nothing about it. For now, let’s praise May for being sassy and cool and doing a cute little curtsy for style. Nora asks the important question of how the heck they’re gonna use this thing, and Weiss goes into tutorial mode again. Just lie back into the tube and hit the launch button, easy enough. Except she was sitting on the edge of the tube for a visual aid and Nora got bored. So ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM goes Weiss up the tube with a frightened screech. Everyone just watches in slack-jawed shock and confusion, but Nora immediately goes giddy at what has just happened and what will soon happen to the rest of them. I can’t imagine what Ruby and Blake must be thinking, not to mention what’s going through May’s mind with this being her first exposure to Nora being... Nora.

But that’s all we get of them for this episode, so Weiss is Schrodinger’s Heiress for the next week. We go to the crater as Joanna heads into a tent where Fiona is hunched over a map coordinating over comms with someone we’ve yet to meet named Crimson. As she finishes the call and whines over how stressful this all is, Joanna drops a small crystal of fire Dust into a sort of furnace and assures her that she’s doing a great job. Fiona absorbs the map into her hand of infinite holding and says Joanna’s big display on the news makes her more qualified for this job. Joanna laughs that off and says it was necessary to spread the word, which seems to be working judging by how many folks are arriving. The group they’re now noticing come in is the one Yang and her squad have just arrived with from Sector 7. The happy lamb does a happy hoppy dance hearing that they’ve already cleared out that sector, and admits her previous doubts that they could manage this much with only half their team. This hits a sore nerve for both Ren and Yang, and the former stomps off while the latter gives a passive aggressive response. They really need to address this soon or it’s all gonna explode in their faces... Oscar wisely changes the subject to ask how they’re managing to house and provide for all these people, and the two Huntresses give a rundown. They’re doing what they can with houses and shelters, and a lot of people are trying to make old mineshafts into someplace livable, and they’ve been looting SDC refineries for Dust to keep everyone warm. Unlike our own society, no one is getting arrested amidst the end of the world. But they substitute that with the terrifying dread of not knowing when the majority of the Grimm will finally attack, what they’re all waiting for. We and the teens know they’re waiting for Salem’s command, for an opening to cause the most damage. And the longer they wait the more the negative emotions build to draw them in. Clever clever, you old witch you. The ominous mood is interrupted by the badger guy from episode 1 running up to inform Fiona that another fight has broken out among the people. He’s voiced by RT founder Gus Sorola, and apparently he’s Fi’s uncle! She seems bummed about having to go break up another fight, but Joanna’s got this one covered. But problems keep coming, and Crimson reports in that there’s a group of Grimm coming in from the east that he can’t handle while transporting civilians. Yang and co are all to ready go get this off Fiona’s plate for her, and we cut to Yang being pursued by a Teryx. We soon see she’s leading it into an ambush, as Ren and Oscar come riding in at an intersection to toss a grenade baton beneath it which presumably contains air/wind Dust because it gets propelled upwards to crash into a bridge and fall back down stunned. Yang gets out of the way and Jaune charges in for the kill. With that job done, Fiona immediately has a new group for them to clear out on the west side. The kids are getting real tired of this constant rushing around killing Grimm, but its part of the job they made such a fuss about going to do so they gotta do it. Oscar points out what I mentioned before, the negativity from everyone worrying when Salem will strike is luring in the stragglers amongst the Grimm. Speaking of stragglers, three Sabyrs come charging up the street much to Ren’s annoyance. But before they can make contact, something gets their attention and they turn tail to run. This puzzles and concerns the team, since Grimm have never retreated before. Before they can finish asking themselves what the Grimm were running from, they get an answer. A large dog-like Grimm pounces on Oscar and starts mauling him and thrashing his body around. He tries to fight back, kicking at one of its legs, but it is unfazed and keeps hitting him until his aura is gone. We see this thing has no eyes to speak of, but it soon gains apposable hands and hind legs capable of bipedal movement. All the better to carry Oscar away with, and shockingly enough, all the better to hold him in front of it as a human shield when Yang comes charging in to try and save him. She has to swerve and avoid hitting the kid, but gets grabbed by the head and tossed against a wall. Ren is the next to attack, but his bullets do jackshit to its back and his “grapple into the enemy and pull myself at it for a kick” has never worked before and continues to not work now. The Hound, as it is named in the credits and in concept art, stretches out its arm much like the Nuckelavee back in Volume 4 and swats Ren away. Jaune is about to charge in too, but Yang warns him about the Hound’s shield tactic. He’s in disbelief, because they may have seen old Grimm that have gained beastial sentience but never this kind of sapience and creative thinking. Ren grabs his guns but the Hound holds Oscar up again to stop him. Ren, naturally, yells at the Grimm to give their friend back. 

But the Hound just stretches its neck with a few cracking sounds, and says “No”.

This leaves the huntsmen and huntresses in a silent stupor of shock and fear, and I would not blame them. If all of my world’s history has been telling me that the monsters I hunt are mindless beasts of violence and destruction, nothing more, that’s one thing. If I learn they were created by a deity solely for the sake of destroying my civilization and are nothing but his avatars of darkness and wreckage, that’s a big theological pill to swallow but I still know how these things always tend to act. If I am on 6 hours of sleep vs 28 hours of being awake, just had a big personal argument over what our job should be amidst the apocalypse, and now my entire understanding of the monsters I at least thought I knew how to handle is thrown out the window?????? Yeah, I would need a goddamn minute before I could think rationally and quickly again. So you’ll excuse me for giving Yang, Jaune and Ren a pass as they just stand there and watch the Hound grow bat-like wings in a very painful and goopy transformation that gets some goo on Oscar’s unconscious face and then climbs up a building with Oscar in its mouth to fly away. When they do recover their senses they hop on their bikes and chase after the beast at full speed, giving a hasty and vague apology to Fiona for having to go handle this emergency that she wouldn’t believe even if they told her. And that’s it, we have to wait a week or longer to find out if they catch this thing and get Oscar back. Judging from the intro, I’d say they won’t and he will be brought before Salem for torture. Fun!~ This definitely opens the door for brand new possibilities of what Grimm are capable of doing or being, and lots of people are theorizing the Hound is so intelligent because Salem stuck a person in there, possibly someone we thought was dead but perhaps isn’t? Who knows, we’ll have to wait and see.

Sorry it’s so late, but hope this is a good review.

[dragonrebelrose]

TROS Reaction 12-20-19. AKA my 6 page long dissertation about why I really disliked TROS.

I didn’t think it would be this bad. I truly thought there would be some gleaming moments of redeemability, but no. It’s one...giant...shit-show. What a horrible blow to the end of not only the sequel trilogy and these characters but to everything that came before. It really takes skill to mess up this badly.

A little something nice though, was the guy I sat next to. Really nice (and cute too ^-^ ) and he offered me some of his candy (Buncha Crunch! My favorite!) before the film started and then throughout the film because he said, “Well this is consolation for having to sit next to me.” Aw I couldn’t have asked for a better seat partner, I didn’t even know him! And then when the film ended he knew I didn’t take it well and I cried and shook through many moments and he offered the rest of his candy and I said, “Thanks, I think I need it.” I asked him what he thought overall and he said, “C-3P0 was pretty funny.” I said, “Yeah I agree. I actually knew everything that happened before I saw it, and I thought it was a mess.” He chuckled and said, “Me too, but I didn’t want to say anything in case you liked it.” I said, “Oh, no, I didn’t really like it. But I gotta be honest, Ben Solo didn’t deserve to die. That’s just my opinion.” I think he was surprised by that but didn’t disagree. He just kinda nodded or something and then we said goodbye and he left with his buddies, who also seemed pretty unenthused by the whole movie. Hopefully I gave him something to think about with my comment, but he was really nice and I’m glad he sat next to me.

Pessimism aside for now, I’ll start by listing the things I liked. I gotta be honest, there’s not much here.

Reylo is canon! But, in my opinion, it was handled pretty badly. Ben’s death is only the start of the problems for it, but more on that later.

C-3P0 is funny I guess. Yes he is annoying sometimes like usual, but not more so than other times.

D-O is freaking adorable. Out of everything good I’ve listed I have no qualms with this one. His manner is cute, his speaking is very funny, and his actions are just precious.

Babu Frik is very cute too, just perfect! Lovely little puppet! Don’t know why he was shoehorned in at the end battle but whatever. We never saw him again.

Maz is a puppet now? Okay, cool. Wish that would’ve been the case since the beginning. You had the technology JJ.

The music is good, when it’s given its own time to shine and be noticed. I feel like I barely noticed it was there because sound effects just drowned it out. Really wasted, but still good nonetheless.

Leia’s death and how it affected Ben. Wow. This was the first moment I truly cried. This was handled very well by Adam Driver, and then Maz saying “Goodbye, Princess.” Ouch, that got me.

Ben talking to the memory of his father! This is something I did not know was in the movie and boy am I glad I wasn’t spoiled for it! THIS is where the really hard tears and sobbing came. I was literally shaking and shivering trying to keep it in so as not to disturb everyone else. This. Part. Was. Perfect. Ben looks at him like he wants to say “I love you,” and Han says out loud “I know.” *crazy screaming and crying* Out of all the things they got wrong for Ben in this film, THIS they got right!

Ben Solo is the Solo boy we always wanted. Running in with a t-shirt, gun slinging, blasting opponents without even looking. THIS is a true son of Solo! But of course they give him no lines except “Ow.” THAT was a bad idea.

And that’s it. Yes those are the only things I even remotely liked, but I have to be honest, each one of these has some kind of problem attached to it which sours the real enjoyment.

On to what I disliked. Strap in lads, this is going to be a long ride.

1. The pacing. OH. MY. GOSH. SLOW. THE. FUCK. DOWN. For fucks sake I couldn’t even process what the hell was happening before we were on to the next thing! This was the biggest problem with the movie, BY FAR. Yes I know the story is terrible, we’ll get to that, but the pacing just completely took me out of the movie. I couldn’t feel invested in anything because it was all in one ear and out the other like ten-fold!

And this is part of the issue I have with how Reylo was handled. It. Felt. So. Rushed. And. Unfinished. There weren’t enough scenes with them and the scenes we did get were so fast and then over with that it felt like no progress was being made at all! It felt, for lack of a better word, unearned. And I know, that’s not really the case since they’ve had plenty of build-up in the last 2 films, but there wasn’t enough time with them spent NOT fighting and hating each other and opposing each other. Yes, I know, Kylo kept trying to get Rey to take his hand, but it doesn’t feel genuine because even Kylo feels out of character, and Rey too, big time. Now this isn’t the actor’s faults, they did what they could with the shitty story they were given, so I put all this blame at JJ’s desk.

In any case the overall film pacing was too fast, too much, too soon, too many things onscreen, too many things happening at once, not enough character, not enough motivation, not enough letting scenes breathe and just play out naturally. Everything felt forced for the sake of the “plot.” Oh we gotta get this thing, and then that thing, to get this thing, so we can defeat these guys! LET. US. BREATHE.

2. The story. My gosh, they couldn’t have picked a worse storyline to follow. Everything truly felt like it was written by a fanboy who wanted to retcon everything in TLJ, even down to the dialogue. Everyone keeps saying to Rey “You’re a Palpatine.” But it sounds SO strange, like nobody says things like this. I get it, it’s a space fantasy, they talk weird mumbo jumbo but it just sounds like a fanboy ghost wrote this. Like we gotta have everyone know now she’s a Palpatine! You’re a Palpatine! You’re a Palpatine! Palpatine heir! All bow down to the Palpatine! Give me a break.

3. Yeah, let’s talk about Palps. The old raisin himself. You know, I never really liked ROTS, but Palps was always a great thing about it. He was sinister, diabolical, he had a plan and knew what to do with it. But this Palps. *le heavy sigh* What a waste this was. For one thing, the lightning effects that lights up his face is really annoying, even for someone who doesn’t get seizures, I can’t even imagine what it’s like for those who do, I’m so sorry. And like, he has this whole legion of Sith followers? The fuck? Where the hell were these guys before? I’m sure they existed BEFORE the last Sith Lord died, right?

I digress. I have a question though: why does he want Rey so much? Why didn’t he try to get his son to take over? Wouldn’t that have been easier? Also, WHO DID HE FUCK TO GET A SON?? HOW DID HIS SON GET AWAY FROM HIM?? WHY DID HIS SON APPARENTLY TURN TO THE LIGHT?? THERE’S TOO MANY QUESTIONS HERE AND NO GOOD EXPLANATIONS. AND NO DISNEY, I DON’T WANT A 10-PART COMIC ON THIS. GO FUCK YOURSELVES.

The only interesting thing about Palps in this film is that his face gets melted off like a Raiders of the Lost Ark knock-off. He better not be coming back. Ever again.

4. And hey, while we’re on the subject, let’s talk about Rey’s parents. So apparently they’re both good people. *le sigh* But what kind of good people leave their daughter alone on a harsh and unforgiving planet with a blubber guy? And don’t tell me they didn’t know he was an abusive asshole, they LIVED on Jakku, they HAD to have known him, ESPECIALLY if they truly were junk traders, they would have DEALT with him. Oh, and apparently the “I’ll come back for you sweetheart, I promise” line is changed up a bit and given to her father after all. No. Screw that. That line was meant for Ben, I don’t care how petty this sounds, this is terrible. So yeah, fuck Rey’s parents, I don’t care how “good” you try to make their intentions, they’re badly shoehorned in and they screw up anyway. Next.

5. Ben’s story and his fate. So yeah, obviously I hate that Ben died, but more than that I hate how his story was handled here. It was so rushed, it didn’t feel as natural as it should have. It needed time to BREATHE. A lot of time! And I feel like they really shafted Kylo/Ben’s story off to the side to give more time to the hereby named GoldenTrio. (You know who I mean...we’ll get to them.) It really seemed like JJ didn’t even care about Ben’s fate anymore, and just kind of put it in as an afterthought. His death scene? Not even given a fucking minute to process because WE GOT TO PARTAY. All in all, his whole story is so terribly sad that I don’t even know if I can watch TFA or TLJ anymore, knowing how it ends.

6. The GoldenTrio. Oh for fucks sake, JJ, you should have killed Poe off when you had the chance, because now the story is all about THEM. Boom! They’re literally front and center in the movie. I don’t even think Reylo gets as much screen time as them. I mean really, Ben’s death scene and Rey’s grieving gets 1.5 minutes, tops. GoldenTrio reunion and threesome hugging? 5 fucking minutes of nothing but them hugging. I’m not even exaggerating. (Okay maybe I am, but it’s given more focus and time to “breathe” than Ben Solo’s fucking death. I’m getting a headache remembering it.)

Hey, remember in ESB and ROTJ where the trio got split up and had their own story lines and own purposes to fulfill without each other hanging around (apart from Han and Leia because their story lines are interconnected)? Yeah, I miss that too.

Also, Rey keeps wandering off being “pulled” to something, and every...single...time, Finn is like “Rey, wait! Poe we gotta get her! rEy CoMe BaCk!!” This happens at least 5 times, pretty consecutively too. It gets old real fast. Boy do I miss the days of TLJ where people got to be away from each other to discover new things without interference.

Which leads me to another point: They tried to shove FinnRey in here while shitting on FinnRose quite literally. What. A. Slap. To. The. Face. This is horrible treatment, and I hope Kelly will never do another interview for Lucasfilm again. She doesn’t deserve this.

7. The Ending™. Wow. What a way to show that your characters haven’t progressed at all by showing them in the same environment that they started in. Let’s do an overview: Rey starts out alone on a desert planet and meets a droid that isn’t hers. Rey ends up alone on a desert planet with a droid that still isn’t hers. PROGRESSION 101!! *slaps forehead* I mean, don’t even get me started on the fact that Ben isn’t there with her and that literally one half of her soul is gone (how is she not in agony right now??), but then to add more salt to the wound she’s just like “oh yeah I must be the rightful successor to the Skywalker name, even tho I’m a Palps...makes sense to me!” Fuck off. You don’t deserve that title after hating Luke for not doing what you wanted him to do and for hating Ben for most of this movie too.

Can we also acknowledge that this is THE ABSOLUTE WORST POSSIBLE WAY TO END A 40 YEAR SAGA AND FAMILY LEGACY? So, Palps had a kid who had a kid. This kid is then deemed a-okay by the family that was affected most by Palps and they welcome her like the sunshine child she is, yet shun their own offspring for being damaged goods because he was being manipulated by said Palps. Okay, it’s official now, everyone’s an asshole...except Ben. He seemed to be the only one to understand his faults and right his wrongs and not be an idiot. Then the kid who was abused and manipulated is killed because “reasons” or “problematic” or whatever and the offspring of Palps lives while the family that Palps manipulated is ultimately gone forever because it’s last descendant wanted to save the offspring of Palps out of the goodness of his heart. Now the offspring of Palps doesn’t even give a flipping thank you and steals their name. wHaT a SaTiSfYiNg EnDiNg!!! Someone gag me.

8. Luke’s X-Wing being raised out of the water and it’s in perfect working condition. What. The. Fuck. I don’t know if you guys realize this, but this completely undermines Luke’s arc in TLJ. That X-Wing was sunk and dead to show that he had no desire to return to the outside world. He was staying on the island. For good. And he buried that thing in water to make sure he couldn’t use it ever again, but it was still visible to him to remind him of his conviction if ever he questioned it. But no. That thing is a-okay and ready to fly. No need for parts, there’s no rust or any sea salt corrosion, ready to go skipper! This was just added for easy call-backs to ESB but boy this had absolutely 0 weight to it. I literally yawned or looked at my watch around this part thinking “oh my gosh isn’t it over yet?” Pretty much sums up my entire experience.

9. Rose got shafted to appease the fanboys. This one needs no further explanation or analysis, it just sucks and has no real reason to exist.

10. Luke was barely in it and offered not that great advice. Poor Mark. His performance really peaked with TLJ and never went back up.

11. Rey is suddenly the Avatar now? You can now talk to all previous Jedi’s who existed? What buffoonery is this? Oh, but Ben doesn’t get a single. fucking. word. from Anakin, the man he looked up to. I’m so tired right now. What’s left?

12. The message changed from “it doesn’t matter if you’re a nobody, you’re a somebody to me” to “you’re a somebody with a bad bloodline, but that doesn’t define you (except when it totally does)”. That sort of message would be fine if it had been the message since TFA, but it wasn’t. The message since TFA was “I’m a nobody, but I can become a somebody regardless of my lineage or my childhood.” Why change the message in the 11th hour? To appease fanboys. Literally anything that makes no sense in this movie can be attributed to fanboys. There’s so much contradiction and hypocrisy in this film from both the narrative and the characters that it’s insulting.

13. Hux was utterly shafted too. What a waste of a well built up and conniving little bastard who in the end gets shot for shock value and laughs. It’s like what TLJ did but way worse because he’s actually killed. Hux as the spy? Just no.

14. Jannah was kind of wasted too, not enough screen time. I get her and Finn kind of bonding over being ex-stormtroopers, but it’s not really delved into. Also the whole “nature vs. machinery” thing kinda briefly shows up at the big battle and feels unearned too, because there was nothing before in this movie or others to suggest there was a war between the two.

15. Poe is treated more as the heir to Leia than Ben is. Poe gets to fly the falcon and gets to wreck it up (dishonoring who it belonged to before), gets to be by Leia’s deathbed, etc. Not earned at all.

16. The pointlessness of random cameos or thrown in references. Not a single person in my theater noticed John Williams as the bartender, nobody pointed out or said anything about any reference from previous movies, it was silent.

17. What the hell was even the point of the whole “Dark Rey” vision? Oh, she shows her scary pointy teeth ala Bilbo style. No thank you.

18. Why the hell does it feel like these characters aren’t the characters from TFA and TLJ? They feel so different and it’s noticeable.

19. Finn is Force sensitive. Literally tacked on like nobody wouldn’t notice. We noticed JJ. We notice everything.

20. Rey and Kylo/Ben fighting for way too much of the film and their interactions. Not enough caring or understanding, not enough longing looks, it feels like their romance was almost cut from the film entirely.

21. Oh yeah, Rey floating at the beginning? Looked stupid as hell. And the “Be with me” line? I thought maybe, just maybe, she meant Ben, but no. She’s trying to reach “her past selves” like the fucking Avatar and she’s even floating rocks around like Aang did. Ugh.

22. Anything else? Oh yeah, this movie sucks completely and wholly...FOR NOT GIVING ONE FUCKING LINE OF DIALOGUE TO BEN SOLO AFTER HE HAD BEEN REDEEMED. HOW HEARTLESS CAN YOU BE THAT YOU LET HIM DIE WITHOUT SAYING ONE FINAL THING?!?! DAMN J.J. YOU’RE STUPID.

And that’s it. Kudos if you read the whole thing. I ramble a lot.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Idea time! Oscar is kidnapped and the group go to rescue him... only to find Salem controlling him with a grimm that amplifies his negative emotions. They try to reach out to him but he throws everything back in their face. "Please, Oscar, fight! We care about you!" "... since when? If I never had Ozpin in my head, would you have paid a moment's notice to me?" "We want to help you!" "Like you helped me after the train? At Argus? At Atlas? I can do without that kind of help."

Ruby takes it the worst and brainwashed!Oscar completely destroys her with a Reason You Such Speech, outlining every single one of her flaws and failures, and it's only more potent because Oscar sees right through her so well already.

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

Squiggles Answers: 

Hiya Miki-chan o/ Hmmmmmmm….intriguing. I quite dig this idea. As a matter of fact, mind if this squiggle meister adds to it?

Have you heard of the Tales of Arcadia Trilogy or at least Trollhunters? 

Without spoiling much from the series, just in case you haven’t seen it, let’s just say that at some point during the story, an ancient evil returns. Much like Salem, this ancient evil is an evil sorceress who later in the series possesses one of our main heroes and uses them as a vessel; silently infiltrating the hero group to thwart their plans to conquer the forces of evil.

Since you brought up brainwashed Oscar, imagine if…unbeknownst to our heroes, Oscar gets baptised in the Grimm Pools of Darkness during his imprisonment; corrupting the poor little prince and turning him into the perfect pawn for Salem to rule Remnant beside her much like she had envisioned to do with Ozma long ago.

But here’s the real zinger twist with this concept---as I mentioned, our heroes---lead by Ruby Rose--- are blissfully unaware of Oscar’s corruption and rescue him from Salem, confidently believing that they were successful in rescuing their friend. Only to discover later down the line that Oscar had actually been turned by Salem and had been acting out her diabolical schemes; infiltrating the heroes under the guise of their comrade all the while Salem manipulated his actions from the comforts of her tower, like a puppet on a string.

Basically, it’s a scenario where a corrupted Oscar unwillingly (since he was being controlled) betrays his friends to work with Salem and let’s say…in the midst of all this, Oscar aids Salem in staying one step ahead of our heroes’ actions since she basically used Oscar’s body as her eyes and ears within the team to spy on them and even sabotage some of their plans?

And thus, this all culminates in that very scene you described---where our heroes, particularly Ruby go to confront Salem and rescue Oscar for a second time only this time, Salem pits Oscar against Ruby and the two smaller, more honest souls are forced to fight one another similar to Ozma and Salem’s duel in the Lost Fable.

And to add onto your idea of Oscar chastising Ruby, let’s say…for their dual, Oscar pretends to be himself to lure a naïve Ruby Rose; desperate to save her friend, into a fortress that is actually a new-type of Grimm that forces a person’s fears and insecurities to manifest before them. I hereby dub this Grimm---the Baobab (for obvious reason).

So while Oscar and Ruby are fighting, Oscar uses the Baobab’s power to emotionally and psychologically torture Ruby? So as Corrupted Oscar yells every failure Ruby has ever made in her face, including failing to save him, the Grimm basically repeats Oscar’s words to Ruby forcing to echo all around her and practically down the girl in the burden of her own mistakes. 

And to add an extra kick to Ruby’s chest, let’s say the Baobab also showed Ruby visions of what really happened to Oscar while he was imprisoned---how he was tortured by Salem, broken and beaten into nothing, all the while screaming for her to come save him from his pain only for her to never come when he needed her---thus further tormenting Ruby with the guilt of what her friend had to go through while her and the others fought amongst themselves before coming to cohesive plan of action to help him.

Heck! Why not stop there? Imagine if…the Baobab Grimm shows Ruby all the times when Oscar had been hurt either in her presence or as a result of her and the other’s actions while Ruby was either never around or practically stood there and, in from Corrupted Oscar’s pointed of view, allowed it to happen?

Like when Qrow punched Oz into a tree and Ruby did nothing to stop her uncle from hurting him. Or when Qrow basically told Oscar that he wasn’t his own person, all the while Ruby just stood there and said nothing else to comfort him. Or how Ruby and the others practically abandoned Oscar all alone and never checked in on him while on Brunswick Farm after Oz had left. Everyone was there for each other, but not him. The same thing also happened in Argus.

Even after Jaune hurt Oscar right in front of their faces, no one cared to see if he was alright afterwards. No one care. The only time they cared about him was when he disappeared. So, in Corrupted Oscar’s, him going away for good is the only way the others, including Ruby, will actually give a damn about him. You get the gist, right?

What do you think of that? 

I know it deviates a little from your idea but I definitely do like your idea of a Corrupted Oscar turned into a pawn and vessel for Salem. It basically mimics our  Black Rose Ruby Little Red headcanon only the corrupted is Oscar.

For the longest time, the series has omitted showing how Oscar truly felt about all that has happened to him. The show always portrayed him as being perfectly complacent even in the face of what is basically abuse by his so-called peers. 

I love Oscar. I mean I really REALLY do since he’s my favourite character but as sad as it is for to admit as a Pinehead, Oscar is unfortunately the RWBY equivalent of a human pin cushion. No matter how many times he is pricked by the PLOT, his reaction in the aftermath is always neglecting of  his own emotional pain to an annoying degree.

I get that Oscar seems to be the selfless type who places others over himself which is very noble for kid of his age and upbringing (and part of the reason why I like his character so much) and gives the little prince something in common with his rose Ruby...but...in all seriousness...

How much more does this poor boy have to go through before the PLOT can let him be an actual human being with feelings who shouldn’t have to be okay with everything?

This is yet another instance where Oscar’s character is reminding me of Steven Universe. Steven went through so much during his own story so I personally liked how Steven Universe: Future tackled how much Steven had been suppressing over the years in terms of his own trauma and emotional fears; culminating in what happened to him in the finale.

I’m not saying I want Oscar to turn into a giant monster needing all of his friends to finally come together for him in order to help him after all the times he’s helped them…I don’t need RWBY to go to that extent (since I highly doubt it’ll happen canonically given the awkward way the show does handle its characters; particularly Oscar).

…Hoooooooooweverrrrr….I will say it would be nice if we did have a confrontation where Ruby and our heroes are forced to finally see the extent of their past actions, poor decisions and downright mistakes through their treatment of Oscar since…in an odd way, he is a casualty of it.

Oscar Pine is, in an odd sense for me to say, a victim of our hero’s mistakes---first Ozpin’s (by extension of Ozma) and now JNR_RWBY’s.

But then again, this is just my views on it. I hope this answers you Miki-chan. If you can, let me know your thoughts on my thoughts here.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[mangledscrimp]

PART 2 of DIABOLICAL YURI AU POSTING!!

This is also a general lore tldr miracle mask spoils & Azran Legacy stuff

fyi, this part may have triggering topics like homophobia, suicide, and gory descriptions(near the end)…blehh

PART 1 OF THE DY POSTING!!

Randall had quite the smile when she was interested on things, a bit creepy if you’ll ask angela, but they still love her even with such a smirk, definitely from her father.

The woman in question!

This is Maria or Rosa..Ascot..RANDALL’S MAMA!!

Haha..I really can’t decide on which name to choose so I’d love to hear feedback regarding names for her. also as seen in the image, both her and Randall have one large canine tooth.

She’s rich, she’s old, and loves to control. Speaking of controlling, that’s definitely how I’d describe her parenting. With Randall, she’s always talking about Randall’s looks regarding her facial hair. She hates it since it reminds her of Izan. Making her shave on a regular basis. Whenever he,Izan, comes up in conversation, she’ll try to ignore it and get frustrated. Calling him a deadbeat father or a failure to the ascot name.

A few years after Izan’s disappearance, Randall turned 17. In her teens, RM (Randy Mom), pressured her about liking people of the same gender and told her it was distasteful and shameful to the ascot name. She also had planned arranged marriages for when Randall turned 18. Not good at all!! This led to Randall getting stressed out and depressed.

Her actions led Randall to an emotional outburst with Hershel, slapping her when she tried to comfort her about what she saw on her body, and running away into the labyrinth with the mask in hand. With its crack, she broke it with too much pressure and now only has the upper half in her possession. This eventually leads to her fall in a pit of cicadas shells…(There is more to this haha..and a whole interaction…BUT WE MUST CONTINUE!! )

a time skip of 17 years-

Randall is living in the labyrinth with her cicada family!! She takes food from villages nearby the labyrinth in her cloak made of vines. Tho this backfired on fateful night.

(I’ll make a better version of this some day HAHHA)

HERE THEY ARE!! DIABOLICAL YURI AU DESCOLE!!

(Any pronouns, also haha please don’t say anything weird…she does not..swing that way..or has romantic feelings in general)

This is diabolical Yuri au descole!! She’s ruthless with her methods of getting information out of others.

She had been interested in finding Randall after reading a copy of Izan’s journal

(this doodle is kinda dookie but whateva)

After finding out Randall’s location, he tracks her down in one of the villages she’s taking crops from. In the process, a chase erupts through the forest as Randall tries to make it back to the labyrinth. She trips on a branch and Descole takes the opportunity to trap her with her net gun.

(Part gets gory here)

After Randall’s refusal to talk and trying to squirm away like a snake, Descole thinks Randall should look the part. Reaching into her belt pockets for her cautery tool, making Randall feel a burning sensation on her tongue, splitting and separating it, just like a snake.

how it looks ⬇️

Let’s take a break from that with a shitpost doodle comic of Descole and Raymond..haha…

Part 3 coming soon!!!

[thewreckkelly]

A Deplorable Basket Case

An old fat impotent vain man sits on a throne of iron pyrite squeezing a 231 year old antique in his small hands - becoming more and more puzzled as to the level of resistance being displayed by this not so fragile thing he knows little or nothing about.

He is a vulgar man who has grown from a spoiled brat of a child whose white Anglo Saxon racist father compensated for early signs of learning difficulties by self-educating the boy in a feral curriculum of narcissism, lying and the art of the steal – the vulgarity revealed itself as a natural trait by the age of three before becoming all consuming in his sixteenth year.

He is a violently dishonest man with little or no physical courage and a diabolical fear of his own mortality despite his over developed loaded God complex. There is little redeeming in who he was and what he has become. He is truly an outstanding example of the awful.

His mother taught him that in order to succeed money would not be enough. His mother was very aware his ability with money was on a par with the IQ of a gatepost. She coached him to prey on the weak, target the stupid, greedy, cowardly, grow in stature as a well protected bully and become immune to criticism in any form. He was her Oedipus and she was his best teacher.

The Republican Party of  2016 was the perfect victim for all his mother and father had taught him.

-o-

Those who make up the Republican Party today are, at best, despicable - I include them all, there are no innocents here. The 73,000,000+ American ‘Adults’ who voted for Donald Trump in this year’s general election lack any true morality clause in their trusty survivalist manual – I include them all, there are no innocents here.

Trump, as designated leader of the Grand Old Party, when not being held up and used by Machiavellian types is barely capable of standing upright within the slime of his own family – all of whom are whores to the great god vanity, (they check their teeth and manes like we would buying horses), and wear such prostitution as a badge of honour while following blindly in their patriarch’s footsteps like the good little lemmings they are.

Imbecilic would be a compliment to Trump’s powers of coherent considered thought. Morality has avoided him his whole life and therefore not a factor in anything he does - the people, who follow him, in any guise whatsoever, are knowingly absent when the roll of humanity is called.

‘Honesty’ and ‘Truth’ are still to be found defined in the book by Noah Webster ….. but then again …. so is ‘Deplorable’.

The United States of America is not a tin pot banana republic – so why is it behaving like one? Let’s stop excusing greed and dishonesty and tell the truth about Trump and his millions of sycophantic minions who have chosen stupidity over progress.

They are simply just bad people who have been fostered in a country that has become indoctrinated by the facile and puerile to a point of mind numbing terror. The US needs to stop heralding its many successes as a mask for its greatest failure - grow up and take responsibility for what’s actually happening.

73,000,000+ - Seriously?

[pikapeppa]

Felassan/f!Lavellan: Imshael

Chapter 14 of The Love That Grows From Violence (Felassan x Tamaris Lavellan) is posted!

In which a lot of lore is discussed, including the story from Tevinter Nights that’s narrated by a character named Hollix. A note before we start: Hollix is a master of disguises whose gender identity is non-binary or fluid, but in this fic, I have Dorian calling Hollix ‘she/her’ because that’s what Dorian calls Hollix in the Tevinter Nights story — he gets the impression that Hollix is a ‘she/her’ based on Hollix’s disguises, an impression that Hollix doesn’t correct because they easily and cheerfully slip into either gender identity/role as part of their position as a Lord of Fortune.

~6000 words; read here on AO3 instead.

**********************

“Listen closely now,” Dorian said jauntily. “My story begins with a series of unsolved and rather gruesome murders that had been going on in Minrathous for some time. Rumours had started to circulate that the perpetrator was a creature that came to be called the Cekorax.”

“Cekorax?” Varric asked. “What does that mean?”

“It’s a butchering of the old Tevene word for ‘headsman’,” Dorian said. “The creature earned this charming name because its victims were all found without their heads.”

Tamaris grimaced, and Felassan laughed. “This story is exciting already.”

“Not quite so exciting for those who lost their heads, but I digress,” Dorian said delicately. “No one was doing anything about it, unfortunately, especially since the beast hadn’t attacked any of the altus class yet. So I put out a bounty for the perpetrator’s head, and the person who came to my aid was a wily little thing whom I’ll affectionately call Hollix.”

Tamaris raised an eyebrow. “That you’ll call Hollix? What was their actual name?”

“I haven’t a clue,” he said cheerfully. “I called her Hollix on a whim. She decided to keep the name while she was in Minrathous, and who am I to argue with the adoption of a silly nickname?”

“Fair enough,” Varric said.

“Of course you’d agree,” Dorian said drolly. “In any case, Hollix did some unsavoury investigating for me — for a fair price, of course — and discovered that the creature doing all the killing was…” He sighed. “Frankly, it was a creature of unearthly and uncanny horror. And you know I don’t say this lightly, considering all that we’ve seen together.”

“No kidding,” Tamaris said flatly.

Felassan sat forward and rested his elbows on the table. “What did it look like? This uncanny creature of horror?”

“I can only tell you so much firsthand, as I was high above the action when the creature presented itself,” Dorian said. “But Hollix described it more fully. It was…” He hesitated for a moment before going on. “It was an enormous fleshy mass as large as a house that was able to peel parts of itself away to produce… tentacles. Unbelievably long tentacles bearing human eyes that it had stolen from its victims’ heads.”

Tamaris exchanged a horrified look with Varric. “So it just took the victims’ eyes?” she asked Dorian. 

“Unfortunately, no,” Dorian said. He sounded very serious now. “In the deepest part of this fleshy mass, it was harbouring the heads of all of its victims. Over two dozen heads, Hollix said — all perfectly preserved as though they were still alive. And the monster was… animating the heads. Speaking through their mouths.”

A cold ripple of revulsion ran down the back of Tamaris’s neck. “Oh fuck,” she breathed.

“Shit,” Varric muttered.

Felassan narrowed his eyes. “It was speaking through the heads? Using their mouths to express its own thoughts?”

“Apparently,” Dorian said. “Hollix said it was trying to lure her into joining it. To ‘keep her safe’, it said.”

Felassan leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers on the table. “So it seemed to have motivations of its own. That’s fascinating.”

Tamaris tilted her head. “Do you know something about this?” 

He grinned. “Are you asking if I’m responsible? That hurts. I’m clever, but I’m hardly diabolical.”

She tsked. “Of course I don’t think you’re responsible. But is it an ancient monster or something like that?”

His smile faded slightly. “I… honestly can’t say.” To Dorian he said, “How did you defeat this creature in the end?”

“An ingenious plan that I regret to admit was not mine,” Dorian said. “The creature had entwined itself in one of the city’s finest public gardens, which happens to be just below my apartment. Hollix cleared the gardens and exploded the fountain with gaatlok so the creature was drenched, and Maevaris and I electrocuted it from the upper balcony of my apartment.”

Tamaris raised her eyebrows. “So wait, you weren’t even in the garden during all this? I thought you said you were involved in the disgustingness.”

“I was involved,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I was in it. Can you imagine?”

Tamaris snorted in amusement. “You’re such a spoiled noble.”

“I do miss your loving insults,” he said. “In actual fact, though, Mae and I had to keep distant so the monster wouldn’t suspect anyone else but Hollix was involved. I do feel sorry for Hollix though, poor thing. The creature popped like an enormous filthy balloon when we zapped it, and she got rather, er, moist in the process. When all was said and done, only the creature’s skin was left behind.”

Varric grimaced. “Like a sausage casing?”

“Ugh,” Dorian said. “That’s what Hollix said. Believe me, you wouldn’t be thinking about food if you’d seen what I had.”

Tamaris looked at Felassan. “So? Does it sound familiar to you?”

He twisted his lips. “Yes and no, actually. It almost sounds like one of Ghilan’nain’s delights, but not completely.”

Tamaris blinked in surprise. What did Ghilan’nain have to do with a horrific murderous monster in Minrathous?

“Ghilan’nain?” Dorian said. “Isn’t that one of the Dalish gods? Er, so to speak.”

“Yes indeed,” Felassan said. He raised his eyebrows at Tamaris. “Would you care to start us off?”

She groaned. “Do I have to?”

He chuckled. “No, you don’t. But it would be informative for everyone.”

“Uh-huh,” she said skeptically. Then she addressed Varric and Dorian’s crystal. “The Dalish say that Ghilan’nain was the mother of halla, and the goddess of navigation and wayfaring. She was actually a mortal who was raised to the status of a goddess thanks to Andruil, who’s the goddess of hunting.” Then she frowned at Felassan. “But in the Temple of Mythal, we found an old inscription that Solas translated. It said that Ghilan’nain created all kinds of creatures, but the creatures ran rampant through the elves’ lands until the Evanuris offered her godhood in exchange for destroying them.” 

Felassan grinned. “Fen’Harel translated that for you?”

“Yes, he did.”

Felassan chuckled. “I can just imagine him screaming on the inside while he read that to you.”

She offered him a slightly bitter smirk, and he folded his arms. “Well, that inscription had the right of it. Like all the Evanuris, Ghilan’nain was a powerful mage, and her favourite hobby was creating new forms of life.” He held up a finger. “Wait, I should be specific: she created new forms of life from ones that already existed, blending and forming them into new creatures that were increasingly spectacular and powerful.”

Tamaris harrumphed. “Until the Evanuris got sick of her shit, it seems.”

Felassan smiled at her. “Blunt as always, avise, but yes. This was before my time, but my understanding is that Andruil became enamoured with Ghilan’nain, who created increasingly insane creatures for Andruil to hunt. Andruil praised her efforts, which spurred Ghilan’nain’s experiments on.” He smirked. “They encouraged each other’s insanity, just as any good couple should.”

Dorian chuckled, and Varric ruefully shook his head. “Very romantic, Jester.”

“I am, aren’t I?” he said. “In any case, Andruil and Ghilan’nain’s… activities eventually drew concern from the other Evanuris, who offered to raise Ghilan’nain to the status of a goddess if she destroyed her more disturbing creatures. By that time, she had already gained a measure of infamy among the people, so it took little propaganda for them to believe she was a goddess like the others.”

“Let me guess,” Dorian said. “Her experimenting didn’t stop just because she became a goddess.”

Felassan widened his eyes in mocking surprise. “How did you know?”

Tamaris folded her arms. “But you don’t really think that this Cekorax could actually be one of Ghilan’nain’s creatures. That would mean it was thousands of years old.”

Varric shrugged. “It’s not impossible, Cuddles. Think about some of the old shit we’ve encountered. Corypheus, the Titan…”

“A certain person in this room,” Felassan said blandly.

Tamaris snorted a laugh, and he winked at her. Then Dorian spoke through the crystal. “Whether this creature is new or old, what was it doing roaming around beneath Minrathous?”

“That is an excellent question,” Felassan said thoughtfully.

“Can you answer it?” Tamaris asked.

He shrugged. “I can try.” To Tamaris and Varric he said, “Recall that I told you about Mythal’s Sentinels, and how the other Evanuris sought warriors who were equally dedicated and fierce?”

“Yeah,” Varric said.

Felassan nodded. “Ghilan’nain’s efforts involved attempts to make hybrid… species that would be good fighters and soldiers. And her experiments didn’t just use non-sentient animals anymore.”

A cold stone of horror dropped into Tamaris’s gut. “She started experimenting on slaves?”

“Yes,” Felassan said. His manner was completely serious now, without a hint of levity. “From what we gathered at the time, she wanted her… creations to have some level of sentience, but not so much that they would try to rebel. Which is why I wonder if this Cekorax wasn’t just a simple monster, but a monster possessed by a spirit, since it sounds like it had more… motivation than Ghilan’nain’s surviving creatures had.”

Varric sighed and rubbed his chin. “A possessed monster? As if a regular monster wasn’t bad enough.”

Felassan didn’t reply, and Tamaris looked at him; he had an oddly absent-looking half-smile on his face.

“What?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

He met her eye, then let out a little laugh and shook his head. “Oh, nothing. Just an idle thought, really.”

She narrowed her eyes, but Dorian spoke before she could press Felassan further. “This still doesn't explain why one of Ghilan’nain’s creatures might be roaming around beneath Minrathous now.”

Felassan sobered once more. “Ghilan’nain had multiple hidden… laboratories, for lack of a better word, where she was creating her so-called soldiers. I don’t know where they were located as her activities weren’t my particular area of focus, but if one of Ghilan’nain’s laboratories was recently… activated, or disturbed, then it’s possible that this Cekorax broke free.”

Dorian sighed. “The murders started shortly after some surviving Venatori opened an underground cavern of some kind.” 

Felassan grimaced. “That could explain it. You should probably look into where that cavern was, in case you start getting more lovely visitors from the deepest pits of Ghilan’nain’s twisted imagination.”

Dorian tsked. “Fasta vass. Of course. We’ll look into that.”

“Felassan,” Tamaris said. 

“Yes, avise?” he said pleasantly.

She frowned slightly. “You mentioned that you thought the Cekorax was possessed by a powerful spirit.”

“I did, yes.”

“Do you know the spirit that might have been possessing it?”

A slow smile lifted the corners of his lips. “Why do you say that?”

“Why are you dodging?” she said quietly. 

His smile faded. “Force of habit,” he said ruefully. “I apologize. I did wonder if the spirit might be one that I was acquainted with in the past.” He smirked and rubbed his chin. “Possessing a many-headed and many-eyed monster that can shape itself at will would be in keeping with this particular spirit.”

“What spirit?” Tamaris asked.

“It called itself the Formless One,” he said. “As you can probably guess, it didn’t have any particular shape that it preferred, nor a name to go by.”

“A name?” Dorian said in surprise. “Spirits have names?”

“If they want one, certainly,” Felassan said. “Though many of them are boring and keep the name of the virtues they embody.” His tone was bland once more, and Tamaris shot him a chiding smirk; he was clearly taking a jab at Solas.

Dorian’s voice was keen with curiosity through the sending crystal. “What are some of the spirit names you’ve known?” 

Felassan casually laced his fingers behind his head. “There was an amusing group of spirits who were banished from Elvhenan long before I was born. Or were supposed to have been, at least,” he added with a smirk. “The Formless One was one of them, though it obviously didn’t have a name. Gaxkang was one, and Imshael was another—” 

Tamaris straightened in surprise, and Varric interrupted. “Imshael?” he said.

Felassan’s eyes widened, and he smiled. “Don’t tell me you met him.”

Varric and Tamaris stared incredulously at him, and Dorian answered. “We didn’t just meet him. We killed him.”

Felassan’s face slackened with surprise. Then he laughed. “You’re kidding. Well, now you have to tell me how that happened.”

They told Felassan how they’d met Ser Michel de Chevin during their travels to Emprise du Lion, and how Michel had asked for their help defeating Imshael at Suledin Keep. When they described how Imshael had been directing and guiding the growth of red lyrium in the Red Templars and peasants in the quarry, Felassan laughed and tugged his ear.

“Well, I suppose I did tell him to have fun,” he said dryly. “Not the sort of fun I would have chosen, but…”

Tamaris recoiled slightly at his flippant reaction. “Were you friends with Imshael?” she asked.

“More like long-time acquaintances who made deals sometimes,” he said. “He was supposed to have been banished from our lands along with the others I mentioned, but he, er, stuck around.”

His tone was curled with mischief. She eyed him shrewdly. “Did Solas know you made deals with a spirit who was supposed to be banished?”

“He knew, but... unofficially,” Felassan said.

“Why unofficially?”

“Because Mythal didn’t know,” Felassan said slyly. “She was one of the Evanuris who banished him, you see.”

He was grinning now. Tamaris frowned more deeply. “How is this funny?”

“It’s not, actually,” he said. “Not at all. Can I ask if Fen’Harel was present when you met Imshael?”

Varric nodded. “Yeah, Chuckles was there.”

“And he didn’t say anything?” Felassan said. “Any… recognition or anything?”

“Not a fucking word,” Tamaris said bitterly.

Felassan let out a snort of laughter. “I bet he was fuming on the inside. If I wasn’t already out of the picture, he probably would have skinned me.” He snorted again and rubbed his mouth, then suddenly burst into laughter.

Tamaris’s heart clenched; the quality of his laughter was wild and uncontrolled. She took his hand and squeezed it. “Hey,” she said quietly. “Just breathe.”

Another blast of laughter left his lungs. Tamaris stroked his arm with her metal fingers. “Look at me, brat,” she said softly. 

He wheezed as he met her eye, and Tamaris nodded encouragingly. A few breaths later, he was calm again.

She squeezed his hand before releasing it. “Why did you say Solas would skin you?” she asked.

“Because it’s my fault Imshael was free to run a red lyrium farm in Emprise du Lion,” Felassan said. “And whatever shortcomings the Dread Wolf has, he does not like red lyrium.”

“No one in their right mind does,” Varric said flatly.

Tamaris frowned. “What do you mean, it was your fault Imshael was free?”

He looked at her, and her belly jolted; for a split second, an odd flash of wistfulness had crossed his face before his usual pleasant half-smile returned. “Imshael had been summoned and bound by a Dalish clan,” he said. “My… lack of involvement, shall we say, led to him being set free.”

Her gut twisted with apprehension. A Dalish clan?

Dorian’s words echoed her thoughts. “You were with a Dalish clan?” he asked.

“For a very brief time, when I was travelling with Briala and the others,” Felassan said. His tone was light and pleasant, but he was still gazing steadily at Tamaris, and there was something about the neutrality of his expression that she didn’t like. 

Then Dorian spoke in a peevish tone. “I beg your pardon, but what in Andraste’s sacred underthings are you talking about? I’m feeling terribly left out.”

Felassan finally looked away from her to face the crystal. “I travelled for a time with Celene, Briala, and the illustrious Michel prior to the Orlesian civil war breaking out in earnest,” he said. “At one point during our travels, we were hosted by a Dalish clan.”

“Hosted?” Dorian said. “The Dalish hosted Celene and Michel?”

Varric spoke up. “I didn’t think Dalish hospitality extended to humans. No offense, Cuddles.”

She didn’t reply; she was too focused on Felassan, who was now wearing a little smile that somehow made his face look empty.

Felassan shrugged. “Well, they tied Michel up and beat him, and they kept Celene under guard. Does that count as hospitality?” 

Tamaris’s gut twisted. Something awful had just occurred to her. “Felassan, what happened to the Dalish clan after Imshael was freed?” she said quietly. 

His eyes returned to her face. “Imshael killed them all.”

A jolt of shock stabbed her in the gut. She stared at him for a second before finding her tongue. “Imshael killed them?” she said weakly. “The… the whole clan?”

“All but one, yes,” Felassan said. He was still wearing that empty little smile, and he sounded so casual, and it… it didn’t add up. 

“Wait,” she said. “He…” She trailed off; her heart was thrumming now, and it was making it hard for her to breathe. She forced herself to inhale. “Imshael went after the clan because you let him go free?”

“Yes,” Felassan said.

She dragged in another breath. “Did you know that Imshael would attack the clan?” she demanded.

“Yes,” he said. 

He wasn’t smiling anymore. He looked so serious now — no, not just serious. He looked…

Her heart twisted. He looked wolfish, somehow. Dangerous. This wasn’t the Felassan she knew. 

She swallowed hard and lifted her chin. “So you… you purposely let a demon go free, knowing it would kill an entire Dalish clan.”

“Yes, Tamaris,” he said. “I did.”

She stared at him in shock. His face was so forbidding and his voice was uncharacteristically hard, and … and he’d purposely given a demon free reign to kill a Dalish clan. 

She hadn’t known. She hadn’t known about this. He hadn’t told her about this, for obvious reasons — he’d gotten a Dalish clan killed, for fuck’s sake, so of course he hadn’t told her. But if he hadn’t told her this, what else was he hiding from her? What other ugly secrets was he keeping? 

Nauseous with horror, she gazed into his violet eyes — his beautiful violet eyes that were usually full of warmth and humour, and that she’d been growing to trust more and more with every passing day. 

Beautiful violet eyes that were probably hiding all kinds of deeds that Tamaris knew nothing about. 

She rose from her chair, and his hard expression cracked. “Tamaris,” he said.

She shook her head and took a step back from the table. Felassan stood up and reached for her hand. “Tamaris, don’t—”

She whipped her hand away. “Don’t touch me,” she snarled. She turned on her heel and ran up the stairs.

She went straight to her room and shoved open the window, then climbed up to the roof and started pacing. Her heart was pounding in her chest and behind her eyes, and her fingers shook as she dragged them through her hair.

Felassan had gotten a Dalish clan killed. He had purposely let a demon run rampant and kill an entire clan, and he hadn’t told her. They’d been living here for weeks and he hadn’t… she had no idea.

She was so stupid. She was so fucking stupid to have thought she could trust him. He was thousands of years old and she’d only known him for three weeks, and — she knew basically nothing about him. How could she have thought she could trust him at all? 

It’s Solas all over again, she thought. Once again, she’d been lulled into a false sense of safety with a compelling older man, and once again, he’d betrayed her trust. 

Her ribs felt like they were swelling with misery. She sat down abruptly and leaned back against the chimney, and for some uncounted time she just sat there ruminating on her own idiocy. 

Eventually, she heard the distinctive soft shuffle of bare feet joining her on the roof. She clenched her jaw and looked away, but Felassan sat beside her anyway.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said.

His voice was back to its usual warmth, but this only made her feel worse. She shot him a venomous look. “Don’t act like you know everything about me. You’ve only known me for a couple of weeks.”

He elegantly lifted an eyebrow. “Can I speak without you biting my head off?”

“Why should I let you?” she snapped. “So you can talk circles around me?”

His eyes narrowed. “I have never done that to you and you know it.”

A pang of remorse penetrated her anger, and it was enough to make her relent. She shrugged and looked away from him. “Fine. Talk.”

“As I said, I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “You’re thinking that I’ve withheld this terrible tale from you, and that if I was hiding this, there must be an entire thaig’s worth of villainous secrets that I’m keeping from you. I am extremely old, after all. There must be hundreds of skeletons in my proverbial closet that you don’t know about, so how can you possibly trust me?”

His tone was annoyingly playful, but what really rankled her that he was right. “Look at you, using your spy skills to figure me out,” she said snidely. 

“I am only using the information that you told me yourself,” he said. “I know you’re on alert for reasons to cast me aside. I am not going to give you any.”

A sudden throb of pain in her chest took her by surprise. She swallowed hard and lifted her burning eyes to the sky as Felassan continued to speak. “I was not purposely hiding this from you. If the topic had come up before, I would have told you.” He lowered his voice. “And I think you know that.”

Fuck, her lips were trembling. She looked away from him and didn’t speak, and Felassan was silent as well. 

When Tamaris was able to control her face once more, she shot him a hard look. “Tell me why you let that clan get killed.”

His shoulders loosened slightly. “The practical reason is that Imshael had something I needed: a keystone to unlock the eluvians. Setting him free gave us access to the keystone, which ultimately ended up in Briala’s possession.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it,” she said coldly.

“I do know what you mean,” he said calmly. “The real truth is this: I could have gotten that keystone in other ways. I knew Imshael, and I knew how his mind worked. But I wanted that clan to suffer.”

“Why?” she demanded. “What the fuck did they ever do to you?”

“Nothing,” he said. “They did nothing to me, and there was nothing they could have done to harm me.” He paused and clenched his jaw, and her gut twisted; his expression was hardening again in a way that she didn’t like. 

“It was the way they treated Briala,” he said. “Briala had been supplying information to that clan for years through me. She’d pinned her hopes and dreams on them, and do you know what they said to her when they finally met her?”

“What?” Tamaris said faintly.

“They called her a flat-ear and said that she was not their people,” Felassan said.

For a moment, Tamaris stopped breathing. That was what Abelas had said to her at the Temple of Mythal, and she still remembered the way his disdain seemed to stab her straight in the heart.

Felassan went on. “Their Keeper, Thelhen…” He curled his lip in disgust. “It wasn’t that he was blind to the plight of the alienages. He knew what they suffered, and he didn’t care. He was no better than the human nobles that beat and killed city elves for looking at them the wrong way. He knew the problems that city elves faced, and he chose to do nothing, claiming that they were not his people.”

His voice was growing angrier by the second, and Tamaris held up a hand in surrender. “Okay,” she said quietly. “Okay, I… I hear what you’re saying.”

He took a deep breath and nodded, then leaned his head back against the chimney, and for a moment they were both silent. 

For once, Tamaris broke the silence. “Was that the only clan you ever had dealings with?” 

“No,” he said. “But I had dealings with Clan Virnehn for as many years as I have known Briala. No matter how many times I told them that a city elf was the one to thank for their knowledge of Orlais and how to avoid the shemlen troubles that plagued the country, they still refused to accept her as their own.”

“I hear you,” she said gently. “Honestly, I do. And that’s… it’s fucking awful, and I’m sorry Briala had such a shitty experience with the first Dalish clan she finally had a chance to meet. But do you really think that’s enough reason to let the entire clan get killed?”

He exhaled heavily. “Tamaris…”

She pushed on ruthlessly. “What about the kids in that clan? There had to be kids. Did they deserve to die because their Keeper was a piece of shit?”

“You don’t understand,” he burst out.

“What don’t I understand?” she asked. 

“The…” He dragged his hand over his hair and glared at her. “The frustration of living through the same short-sighted stupidity from thousands of years ago. The fact that our people are still so divisive and blind. You can’t understand how frustrating it is to wake up thousands of years later to realize that the worst attitudes of my time were one of the things that survived.”

“You can’t judge all of the Dalish based on that one clan’s attitudes,” she said firmly. “That’s you and Solas’s biggest problem. You’re judging all of us based on just a few.”

He let out a rather tired-sounding laugh. “This kind of sparkling optimism is a strange look on you.” 

She couldn’t tell if he was complimenting her or insulting her, but it didn’t matter right now. She shifted a little closer to him. “My clan isn’t like that, Felassan.”

“You’ve said that before,” he said. “You told me you take in city elves who run away from the alienages.”

“Yes, we do,” she said.

“And the elves who can’t run away?” he said. “Those who are stuck in the alienages with no means of escape? You told me you knew of the massacre of Halamshiral’s alienage. What did you do about it?”

His tone was calm but piercing somehow, like he was trying to dig beneath her skin with his pointed words, and Tamaris forced herself to reply just as calmly. “Me personally?” she said. “Nothing. By the time I heard about it, it had happened six months before and I was travelling to the Temple of Sacred Ashes to spy on the Conclave.”

“And once you became the Inquisitor?” he said. “Once you had power? What did you do then to help your brothers and sisters in the alienages?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I allowed the Empress of Orlais to be murdered in order to make a city elf the real power behind the throne,” she said quietly. “Or have you forgotten that already?”

His eyebrows rose. After a brief pause, he smiled and bowed his head to her. “Fair enough, avise.”

She relaxed slightly. “I can’t speak to that clan you ran into,” she said. “And… fine, all right, I’ve known some people from other clans who… who feel like we don’t owe anything to the city elves.” She scowled at him. “But Clan Lavellan is not like that, okay? I’m not bullshitting you. We don’t look down on city elves that way. My clan purposely went into Wycome to protect the city elves, for fuck’s sake.”

He looked at her in surprise. “They did?”

“Yes,” she said. “This was a couple years ago. The Duke of Wycome was involved with some Venatori, and they were trying to frame the elves for red lyrium getting into the water supply. The humans tried to burn the alienage down, and my clan interfered to help the city elves fight back. After the Duke was killed, my clan stayed in Wycome to support the city elves, and my Keeper and a city elf got sworn in on the city council along with some human merchants to run Wycome. A third of the clan is still there.”

He nodded slowly. “And the rest?”

“They didn’t want to stay in the city,” she said. “Most of us prefer the woods. But a number of city elves wanted to leave the city with them, and guess what? My clan adopted them.”

He gazed at her appraisingly and didn’t speak, and she gave him a pointed look. “What, nothing to say? That’s new for you.”

“It is, yes,” he said. “It’s an interesting change. It’s not often I’m struck speechless.”

“You do talk a hell of a lot,” she said.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it,” he retorted.

She scoffed, then realized she wasn’t feeling angry anymore. And then she felt weird about the fact that she wasn’t angry.

He tilted his head. “What are you thinking?”

“I don’t… really know,” she said slowly. She was feeling oddly at a loss, and she couldn’t say why.

He gave her a slow smile. “You’re not used to winning arguments about the virtues of the Dalish, are you?”

She lifted her chin. “So you admit that I’ve won.”

He chuckled and flicked her knee. “Yes, avise, you’ve won. You can gloat if you like.”

She didn’t laugh. Instead, she studied him thoughtfully. “You really care, don’t you? About the elves of this time. The city elves especially.”

“Why wouldn’t I care about them?” he said.

She didn’t reply right away, but instead continued to study him. The more she thought about it, the more she understood where his attitude about present-day elves came from. Felassan might wear vallaslin and know things about the elvhen gods, but his origins as Andruil’s slave gave him far more in common with city elves than the Dalish. 

A little pang squeezed her heart. That was why he cared about the city elves and their suffering. He’d essentially been one of them, back in the times of ancient Elvhenan.

He lifted one eyebrow quizzically, so Tamaris replied. “Solas didn’t care about the city elves,” she said. “Not like you do.”

Felassan sighed. “I suspect the issue is more that he couldn’t care. He couldn’t afford to. With all that guilt hanging over his head? He couldn’t afford to carry any more by caring about anyone else that he couldn’t save. It would crush him.” He suddenly grinned at her. “I imagine he must have been furious with himself when he realized he was in love with you.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You think that makes it okay that he… how he treated me?”

“No,” Felassan said. “Not by any means. A stronger man would have distanced himself from you.”

She huffed, then shrugged. “He tried to. Sort of.”

Felassan shot her a half-smile. “Meaning what exactly?”

“He warned me more than once that getting involved with him was a bad idea,” she admitted. “I guess I… I should have listened.” She scowled. “But he was saying one thing and acting a different way… fucking Solas.”

Felassan smiled to himself, and Tamaris shot him an exasperated look. “What’s so funny now?”

His smile widened. “If I tell you, you’ll say I’m full of shit.”

“Well, now you have to tell me,” she said.

He huffed a little laugh and shook his head, then looked her in the eye. “Fine. I say a stronger man would have distanced himself from you. But it would require the strength of Titans to resist your brassy charms.”

She stared at him. Then she started laughing. “You are completely full of shit.”

He placed one hand on his chest and bowed his head politely. “Acknowledged and accepted.”

She smiled at him, then chuckled and shook her head before taking a joint out of her breast pocket. She lit the joint and took a drag, then offered it to Felassan.

He accepted it with a nod and lifted it to his lips, and as she often did, Tamaris appreciatively watched his lips as he drew from the joint and released the smoke into the air. 

He took another drag and blew a perfect series of smoke rings before offering back the joint, and she carefully took it from his fingers. “You know,” she said, “for someone that he tried to kill, you sure spend a lot of time trying to make me forgive him.”

“That’s not my intention,” Felassan said. “I told you before: I’m not defending him, only explaining him. Know your enemy, blah blah and so on.” He shrugged casually. “Besides, there is only so far that sheer anger can take you. An adversary as unexpected and subtle as Fen’Harel can be requires an approach that’s equally unexpected and subtle.”

She wrinkled her nose. “What approach is that?”

He gave her a fond look that made her heart flip. “This is one thing I won’t tell you,” he said. “Think about it, avise. You’ll figure it out on your own.”

She harrumphed, but with no real ire. “Fine. Keep your secrets.” She took a drag from the joint.

He gently took the joint from her fingers. “I will say this: of everyone who is working against him, you stand in a unique position. You are someone who knows Fen’Harel, loved him, and still wants to defy him. You may be the single most dangerous person to him in all of Thedas.”

She shot him a sharp look. “Is that really what you think?”

“Of course,” he said. “I always tell the truth. To you, at least,” he added with a smirk.

“Then you’re just as dangerous,” she said firmly. “You know him and loved him, and you’re defying him too. You’re just as dangerous as me.”

He raised his eyebrows, then brought the joint to his lips. “How about that? What a team we make. The woman who dances with fire and the slow arrow.”

Her heart did a little squeeze. He’d called himself a slow arrow, not a broken one. 

She smiled at him, and he smiled back at her. Then she reached up and plucked the joint from his lips. “I still think you’re a fucking asshole for letting a demon loose to kill that clan.”

“I know you do,” he said. “And I’m not asking your forgiveness. But I will ask you to recognize that I did not lie about this to you.”

She eyed him appraisingly for a moment, then nodded. “I know. And… I do appreciate that.”

They smoked together quietly for a moment, and the silence between them stretched like warm taffy. From the corner of her eye, she watched as the joint met his lips and moved away to let the smoke bleed from his perfectly sculpted mouth.

She had no reason to trust Felassan. There were thousands of years’ worth of heinous things he could have done and hadn’t told her about. But he had been honest with her about his reasons for doing this one heinous thing. He hadn’t tried to sugarcoat anything, and he hadn’t tried to prevaricate. He’d even followed her to the roof in order to tell her the truth, knowing full well that she wouldn’t like it. 

He offered her the joint once more, and she took it. But instead of bringing it to her lips, she leaned into his side and rested her head on his shoulder. 

He shifted slightly so her head was tucked more snugly against his neck. When he turned his head to speak to her, his words wafted over her forehead in a soft murmur. “You walked away from me.” 

She sighed and closed her eyes. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right,” he said. “It gave me an excuse to watch you walking away.”

She snorted a laugh. “You’re such a fucking rogue.”

He chuckled and took the joint from her fingers, and for a time they simply sat pressed together on the roof with her head tucked against his neck. The longer she sat there savouring the steady warmth of Felassan’s neck against her temple, the more she realized how strange it was to feel this relaxed and at ease after a fight. How strange it was to feel so… resolved.

“Any particular thoughts on your mind?” he said.

His voice was low and warm, and it was just as comforting as the warmth of his neck. She shrugged and nibbled the inside of her cheek as she considered her reply. She was having plenty of thoughts, thoughts about Felassan’s mischievous smirk and his righteous anger and how patient he was with her, even though she’d walked away. 

She was having thoughts, all right. But nothing that she was ready to say out loud just yet. 

“Not really,” she said. “I’m just… content.”

“Ah, contentment: my favourite,” he said. “It really is an underrated feeling, you know.”

“You said that before,” she said drolly. But in the privacy of her heart, she knew what she was really feeling.

Athdhea’lath, she thought: the precursor to love. A feeling which Felassan had openly admitted to having, and which he was so carefully fostering in the closely guarded garden of Tamaris’s heart.

A little jolt of nerves plucked at her gut, but she took it in stride. She drew from the joint once more, then exhaled and closed her eyes. She breathed in the scents of herbal smoke and Felassan’s skin, and she enjoyed the feeling of being… content.

[rachaelslibrary]

Let’s Talk Books - The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

I don't know why I keep doing this to myself.  I've never really liked romance, but I've also never read it as an adult reader, I've just steered clear of it since middle school.  Also, I really did like Bridgerton the show despite its problems, so I decided to try to broaden my horizons into a new genre by starting with something that I felt like I would like already.    Holy shit was I wrong.  It feels like this book took the problems that I had with the show and amplified it a few hundred times.  And maybe it was just because I was listening to it on audiobook, but the sex scenes were pretty cringey.  I enjoyed the sex scenes in A Court of Silver Flames, which was part of the reason why I thought I might warm up to romance, but these just felt extremely jilted and awkward and were definitely not for me.

  I'm not going to summarize this book, because I feel like everyone and their mother has seen the show by now or at least has some idea of what it's about, so just know that this book coincides with the first season of the show, and tells the tale of Daphne and Simon's relationship.    I'm really not going to have a pre-spoiler section for this book just because I'm worried about what would spoil the show if you haven't seen it, so SPOILERS AHEAD.  But also know I graded this 2/5 stars.

Alright so let's get into the nitty gritty here.  A lot of the problem I had with this book was the society's attitude towards women.  Don't get me wrong here, I understand that that is how it was in the regency era and for several generations afterwards but I didn't like it at all.  Maybe I need some unrealistic historical romance, I don't know.  But there's a line in here where Simon tells Daphne that he owns her and like...I don't even know what to say I fucking rolled my eyes so hard.  Gross.  In that scene it also seemed like he was pretty close to physical violence with her, which frankly to me is unacceptable no matter what time period you live in.  I'm glad that the show left that part out because I probably wouldn't have continued with it afterwards.    The other main thing that I think the show did a lot better than the books is fleshing out Daphne and Simon's relationship.  In the show they get like four episodes of flirtiness and sexual tension where the viewers can really see how much they like each other.  In the book they get maybe two scenes, a dinner party and an outing and then Daphne is basically dragging Simon in the garden to make out and that's when they're forced to get married.  I understand it's because the show had much more time for everything whereas the book only had about 350 pages, but it was still more enjoyable on the show.    Also in the book Daphne is basically viewed as this "not like other girls" girl that is friends with the guys and that's why no one wants to be with her.  There was a few hints of people not wanting to have to deal with her older brothers as well, but I liked that the show made her out as the diamond of the season who everyone wants, but they don't want to have to deal with Anthony.    Anthony is a major douche pretty much for the entire book.  He's a dick to Daphne and a dick to Simon and it honestly doesn't feel like they were ever friends because of how much of a jackass he is to him.  Although towards the end there's a scene where Anthony, Benedict, and Colin all show up at Simon and Daphne's house and refuse to leave until they're convinced that Simon actually loves her.  That was pretty cute.    I also want a drinking game where we take shots every time Daphne says she has four brothers for an excuse as to why she knows/can do something.  I'm glad that that's a trope that today's authors have sort of steered away from.    And finally, I have to talk about how Daphne rapes Simon.  Basically, if you don't know, Simon uses the pull out method to not get her pregnant because he doesn't want kids and when Daphne realizes this he forces her to finish inside her even though he pleads with her to get off him.  In the show, after that happens they have a big fight where Daphne explains what she learned and how she feels lied to and deceived.  I do kind of understand where she's coming from, but it's no excuse for what she did, and the story still would have been compelling if she had just confronted him verbally and that was the conflict, but she took it too far.    The book does it even worse.  In the book, she confronts him and they fight about it, which is what I wanted in the first place.  BUT then, DESPITE already having had the conversation and arguing about it, DESPITE knowing that he doesn't want children, she STILL rapes him anyway because he's basically too drunk to say no.  I never thought I would like how the show handled that situation, but compared to the book they did it soo much better.  Book Daphne is absolutely diabolical in that scene and it was really hard to read/listen to.    The book ends with Simon caving and deciding to have kids to make her happy, and as someone who doesn't want kids myself I had a really, really hard time with that.  Why should one person have to change something so drastically for their relationship to be happy?  While Daphne was slightly deceived, she also knew what she was getting into in their marriage.  I just wish there would've been some kind of compromise and they would have adopted a long lost cousin or something instead of Simon basically flipping a switch on what he has wanted to do his whole life.

   I'm sure I could talk about this book all night, but those are my main thoughts and feelings.  I'm debating on if I want to read the second book, just because I would like to know what will happen in the second season of Bridgerton, and maybe I need to give historical romance a second chance.  If you have read the second one, please let me know if it gets better and if I should continue. Until next time :)

[katieskarlette]

Fifteen years of thinking too much about Jaina and Arthas

Now that I’ve posted my thoughts on Arthas’ potential return in Shadowlands, I wanted to give more context to where I’m coming from.

Jaina has also been one of my favorites since the beginning.  In 2005 I started playing vanilla WoW as a total newbie to the Warcraft universe, and picked mage because I wanted to be a spellcaster instead of melee, but didn’t want to heal or be evil (i.e. priest or warlock).  So I can’t say I started maining a mage because of Jaina, but when I did encounter her I was kindly disposed toward her due to sharing a class.  As I got to know her, and went back to play WCIII, I liked her even more.  

She’s intelligent, resilient, independent, stoic, resourceful, brave, clever, powerful, and retains her compassionate streak even when the world does its best to beat it out of her.  I cringed through years of “she’s a dreadlord” jokes because she was no such thing:  she was a complex character who had been through some serious traumas.

Goofy screenshot series aside, I’m no Arthas apologist.  Even before the Scourge struck he was brash, haughty, stubborn, bull-headed, entitled, hot-headed, and immature.  But he also genuinely cared about Jaina, wanted the approval of his father and fatherly mentor, feared not living up to the expectations that were heaped on him as a paladin and a future king, and was willing to sacrifice his own well-being if it meant saving the people of his kingdom.  If the Scourge had never happened, he may well have matured into a fine paladin, king, husband and father.  He was a three-dimensional character with good and bad traits, and that made him memorable.  I’ve said for years that Arthas was the best villain the franchise has ever had.

Both Jaina and Arthas are interesting, well-developed characters in a literary sense.  When Wrath of the Lich King came around, I was swept up in their story even more.  Jaina’s inner conflict wasn’t touched on a lot in game (except for the the Halls of Reflection and the “he kept the locket” bit after ICC that I still have never seen in-game myself) but my imagination was sparked. 

How torn she must feel, I thought.  Helping her closest allies plan to destroy the man she had once planned to marry.  Unable to truly mourn him and move on because he wasn’t really gone...but he was...but he wasn’t.  Not even knowing how much of the evil he did was of his own volition, or if Nerzhul forced him to do it through Frostmourne.  Forever second guessing herself, wondering what she could have done to save him and all those he killed.  Not knowing if her allies truly trusted her, or if they saw her as a liability who might switch sides at a crucial moment.  Not sure herself what she would do when faced with him again.  Feeling guilty for harboring any kind of positive feelings for a man who had done such abominable acts. Wishing there was a way to redeem him, yet knowing he didn’t deserve it (...or did he?)  Knowing even if there was a way to reverse what Frostmourne had done to him, he would never be forgiven or welcomed by the world at large.

It was a fantastic story, so full of conflict and angst, and I loved it.  I even dipped my toes into machinima for the first (and so far only) time to make a video about them!

I remember the music score for the cinematic leaked before the dialog or video, sparking a frenzy of speculation about what would happen in the final fight.  Also, the achievement for finishing ICC said “victory over the Lich King” and not “kill the Lich King,” fueling the fire even more.

Blizzard played up the uncertainty, too, including so many little teases in-game about the possibility of his redemption.  (That’s four different screenshot links, by the way.)

Some people were adamant that Arthas was 100% indelibly evil and didn’t deserve any pity or humanization.  Some people (like me) thought it would be much more interesting and emotional if we did catch a glimpse of the golden prince he had been (especially after less diabolical characters like Illidan and Kael’thas had already been unceremoniously tossed under the villain bus with no glimmers of redemption.)  Both camps kind of got what they wanted.  The “Arthas is totally irredeemable” crowd got “I see only darkness before me,” and my side got him reaching out to his father like a frightened boy asking if his suffering was over.  

I was disappointed at the time that the Lich King’s death cinematic was about Tirion and Bolvar as much as it was Arthas.  I wanted Jaina to be there, to have that closure, to symbolize how far he had fallen and what could have been.  In a way Terenas’ ghost served that purpose, but I wanted the over-the-top tragic romance.

And, minor flashbacks aside, that’s all we’ve seen of Arthas since.  That was just over a decade ago!  (According to my journal at the time, the ending cinematic of ICC was datamined February 1st, 2010.) 

I imagine it’s hard for people who weren’t up their eyebrows in the lore at the time, anxiously awaiting each new patch and datamined tidbit, and getting into passionate debates about the plausibility of a redemption arc, to understand how fans like me feel about him, Jaina, and their bittersweet history. He’s not my favorite WoW character by any means, but he and Jaina hold a special place in my heart.

So when I get giddy about the thought of Arthas returning in Shadowlands, reconnecting with Jaina, showing remorse, even trying to atone for his past misdeeds, that’s where I’m coming from.  It’s not just “spoiled asshole prince did stupid things and turned super evil.”  There’s nuance and fifteen years of history there, at least for me.  

There’s plenty of fascinating angles to explore if they do cross paths in Shadowlands.  If they reconcile enough to have a civil conversation it would be interesting to see how they would get along now, after everything she’s been through since they parted.  She’s not the naive, starry-eyed, young mage she was during the events of Warcraft III.  She’s faced her own dark side many times, wrestled with the balance between idealism and nihilism, done morally questionable things for the greater good, made sacrifices, and regretted actions done in the heat of the moment.  She has felt the burden of leadership, the guilt of losing lives she was responsible for, and the temptation to lash out in vengeance.  They would have a lot to talk about.

[bouncyirwin]

KakaSaku Fic Rec | Readers’ Favourites

This took forever. Mainly because I had to retrieve the links myself, but it’s finally here! I present to you the KakaSaku fanfiction recommended by this fandom through comments, messages and asks per my request. Thank you to everyone who sent in their recs and to those who recommended some of my writings. Happy reading! Find 50 fics under the cut.  I added a (*) next to my personal absolute favourites if you’re interested ;) Although I should point out I haven’t read everything on this list yet!

A Study In Movement by @ila-moon-beam | Ongoing | M

Sakura juggles taking care of her 12- year- old, working as a nurse technician and exotic dancer. It's not an easy life, but it's the best she can do given what she has. What she isn't prepared for is Sarada's handsome teacher who she meets at the parent/teacher conference, as well as his surprise appearance at the strip club she preforms at one night with his friends.

Private Practice by @alienwritesstuff​ | Ongoing | M

When nineteen year old Kakashi is injured during a mission, it's Sakura's job to see that he is healed properly. But, Kakashi is interested in a bit more than the healing she can give him. [Age Swap AU]

Nama-Stay Away From Me by @the-copy-mistress​ | Ongoing | M

When Sakura’s impeccable schedule keeps getting thrown by her gym’s ever tardy yoga teacher, she decides to give him a piece of her mind. Things do not go as she predicted. Modern AU.

Moment You Loved Her (back) by LindtLuirae | Completed | T

Some things are just worth breaking for. KakaSaku AU.

Hungry Hearts by @ila-moon-beam | Ongoing | M 

Sakura is a single mom who works tirelessly to finish her bachelor's degree. She does what many other single moms her age do; they go to school, they work, they take care of their children. Except, things are different for Sakura in her last semester of her college career. Her daughter, Sarada, will be staying with her grandfather, she will be TAing for this mysterious new Professor at her university, and she will soon find a familiar face coming back to haunt her; determined to reconcile their family.

Everyone Goes to Tsunade’s by @mrssakurahatake​ | Ongoing | M 

1920s AU, After their long term business partner forces them out, Tsunade and Jiraiya decide to open their own New Orleans speakeasy. Business isn't going well, can a new house band help them turn things around?

Into Darkness by @lady-otori​ | Ongoing | M

For Sakura, being the granddaughter of the head of the largest Yakuza clan in Shikkotsu wasn't easy. For Kakashi, being forced to consider marriage with the Fire Country's most spoiled Yakuza princess was worse. When the wolf and the dragon of the criminal underworld go head to head, bystanders had better look for cover. [KakaSaku] [Yakuza AU] [Arranged Marriage]

The Beginning, the Middle, and the Coda by @lady-otori​ | Complete | M

The beginning, the middle, and the coda to Kakashi and Sakura's relationship, in which it all begins when he expresses the most important thing in the most awkward way possible. A three-part series of interconnected oneshots, exploring three different stages of their love. [KakaSaku] [Fluff] [Smut]

Reciprocity by @sparkswithyou​ | Complete | M

On a mission gone wrong, one thing goes right.

Insatiable by @somnificsheep​ | Complete | M

Sakura tugs the covers back to reveal dark, pleading eyes looking up at her. “If you don’t mind it in the shower,” she says. “Some of us--” she leans down to nuzzle his forehead-- “have work to get to.”

“Maa, Sakura, anyone else might think you’re calling me lazy,” he drawls. “I’m simply taking advantage of having some time off, is all.”

House of Crows by SilverShine | Complete | M *

KakaSaku. War is coming to Konoha and Sakura is far from home, uncertain of her future. But one thing is for sure, Sakura will protect her unborn child at all costs, whether it be from Konoha's enemies... or from its own father.

Crowns Of Blood And Bone by @raendown​ | Complete | T

He hates and hates and hates until he loves her, slowly and in small pieces.

Daughter of Fire by JulietteDeschemps | Ongoing | M

Sakura got up and didn’t bother brushing the dirt from her dress. She had a feeling she was about to get even dirtier.

She looked at the memorial stone one last time, memorizing the characters without even realizing she was doing it. It would serve from that moment on as a reminder of her determination. She wouldn’t let Naruto and Sasuke join the names carved on that stone.

That was her nindo.

you'll never leave me behind by PersephoneHemingway | Completed | M 

Sakura went ANBU and Kakashi hasn't seen her in a while. They face certain truths.

Masks by madstoryteller999 | Ongoing | T

When Sakura walks home after sending Naruto and the Sasuke Retrieval Squad off, the last thing she expects is to be attacked. What she could have never anticipated is that evening changing...everything.

In which: Sakura's Inner is far more diabolical than anyone ever expected, crows demonstrate themselves to be cruel mentors, the complications of selfdom in ANBU are realized, and Sakura learns exactly how much she hates Kakashi (and how alike they are in the most terrible of ways)

Pink Clouds by CharredCitadel | Ongoing | M

Konoha has fallen to Danzo, and Sakura has fled far away...right into the arms of the Akatsuki. Who would have thought that life as a missing nin could be so liberating?

Wish I Knew You by LindtLuirae | Ongoing | T

A lost bet and a forced dare brings two lonely losers together. Sakura never thought something as absurd-sounding as the 'No More Lonely Losers' program would land none other than Konoha's hottest bachelor and her long-time crush in her lap. KakaSaku. Rating might be upped later.

Mariposa by WhiskeyBlair | Ongoing | M 

It wasn’t until he found himself getting a face full of skull fragments and brain matter that he even realized he was being rescued

To Grow A Garden by Wolfy Tales | Complete | T *

"So what do you think about having a kid with me, Sakura?" - A family focused one-shot [KakaSaku]

Follow Your Nose by @tipsyraconteur​ | Complete | M

Sakura decides to find her signature scent. Kakashi "helps". Things get out of hand. (Kakasaku. One-shot.)

In Case of Blue Scroll by Leola Majora | Complete | M *

In Case of Blue Scroll the Hokage must lock himself in his office and pull his hair out as what he thought were memories of a long lost love turn out to be the memories of a mission he was about to assign his former student, Sakura Haruno.

Konoha Files by @mummapaintstheblues | Ongoing | M

Exactly one year since his partner's untimely murder, Detective Kakashi Hatake is forced back into active duty.

He is paired with up and coming Detective Sakura Haruno.

Through their work together, not only do they catch a killer, but Kakashi begins to see a fresh new hope to the dismal world around him. But is this new partnership enough for him to abandon the darkness altogether?

Kakashi Candyman by @xoxoendoh​ | Complete | M

"Just how much did you drink before coming down here?" 

"Sakura," Kakashi murmured darkly, trailing his hands down her thighs as he knelt at her feet, "I'm still thirsty." 

Kakashi notices that his wife could use a little 'de-stressing' before hosting the Halloween Benefit Gala…. —Swalloween2018, KakaSaku, NC17—

Adaline by @nikkigrand | Ongoing | T *

I would choose you in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I would find you and I would choose you.

I pecan U by merrrcurius | Ongoing | M

It all started with a twig and a razor. The pecans didn't count because they didn't work.

Kakashi's just doing his duty as Captain.

It takes them places.

Discoveries in Oil by @nikkigrand​ | Complete | G * 

Kakashi always knew that he would always be there for Sakura, even when she belonged to someone else. Birth AU

The Fletcher's Heart Paradox by @Moonlady9 | Completed | M 

They are familiar yet total strangers. She knew their names but not the kind of people they were in this moment in time, she knows who they are from her moment in time. 28 years is a long time for people to change, but how much will Sakura change? How long will her heart stay steadfast, now in this new time. Time changes people, and their hearts.

House Calls by Spoiled Sweet | Complete | M *

Always the Team Mom, Sakura opens up her home as a clinic for the hospital-phobic ninja of Konoha. At the same time, her relationship with Kakashi begins to evolve in a way she never expected. M for swearing and later content.

make it holy by faeritell | Complete | T

Neither Kakashi nor Sakura welcomed the names on their skin.

Duty Before Honor by SilverShine | Complete | M *

[KakaSaku] Sakura knew why Tsunade didn’t want a virgin on this mission. Things might get out of hand. Acts might be carried out too far. She was glad Kakashi was accompanying her, but right then she wouldn’t have minded the entire population of Konoha.

The Cabinet Door by @itslulu42 | Complete | M

It says something about her, she thinks, that the only thing tying her to sanity is a talking dog. 

Everything But The Kitchen Sink by @itslulu42​ | Ongoing | M

Kakashi must have angered a god in a previous life. Why else would his soulmate be such a walking cliché? A Kakasaku Variety Pack of Modern Day AUs!

Omega Erased by @ila-moon-beam | Ongoing | M

A shift in equality caused a change in the dynamic between Alphas and Omegas. With the emergence of Alpha woman, the hierarchy reflected as such. Alphas began to mate with Alphas, simply using Omegas for their respective heats and ruts.

They were seen as play things. As a means to an end. As anything but equal to an Alpha. It had been this way for the past hundred years, society punishing Omegas for bringing out the worst in Alphas.

It was an Alpha world, and Sakura was just living in it.

A dystopian omegaverse.

Double Edged by nimblnymph | Complete | M *

Seduction is like a double-edged sword. You never know when you'll go from being the seducer to being the seduced. 

your most important person by @fineillsignup​ | Complete | M

Some people got their soulmarks on their arms or faces or some other place that was more difficult to hide. He remembered how Minato-sensei’s hair would sometimes be lifted by the wind enough to reveal “Uzumaki Kushina dattebane!” written boldly across the back of his neck in crimson. His teacher had sometimes laughed in his gentle way about it, saying that fate was determined to make things easy for him.

Your Most Important Person

Or, Kakashi tries to fight fate and fate fights back.

Or, how many ways can a soulmark screw you over?

Or, sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

the malady of solitude by moonvalentine | Complete | T

A few years after the war, they're still trying to regain their footing.

Friendship by Numbers series by Oroburos69 | Ongoing | M

Sakura's too young, Kakashi's too...different, and neither knows what to do with a real, live friend. Clueless and incompetent, they stumble down the path of friendship, accidentally getting naked and engaged along the way. Seriously.

Take my past and take my sins by @thekatthatbarks​ | Complete | M

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, not wanting him to play it off like he always did. Her hands came up to his face. “You look like you haven’t slept in months, Kakashi.” Before he could respond, her hands went down to his waist and she tugged at the hem of his pants. Unsurprisingly, there was slack. “And you’ve lost weight.”

“Sakura –“ Kakashi started, grabbing the hand that was at his pants.

A thought crossed her mind, making her blood go cold as she realized. She cut him off with a glare, “You picked up the mask again, didn’t you?”

A Poor Imitation by leafygirl | Complete | M

Sakura is injured on a mission, forgetting everything she knew of life in Konoha.

The Samurai and the Oni Girl by selberias | Complete | T

AU KakaSaku set in Edo-period Japan. Sakura is the descendant of a red-haired foreigner as well as a merchant's daughter. Kakashi is a local samurai who has fallen on hard times, a man whose pride has been broken down to this point. Love comes after.

It's Something Unpredictable (But in the End is Right) by BasicallyAnIdiot | Completed | G

The problem was not that Sakura broke into his apartment.

It was that she had opinions about his defences.

Scar Tissue by @TipsyRacounteur | Complete | M

She comes to him on the type of day that he has way too often—the type of day that almost breaks a man—and she asks him to let her take care of him. And just like that, he starts to let her in, without ever even meaning to. (For KakaSaku Month 2018 Healing Prompt.)

Better Man by Kakashisgf | Complete | M

Sakura and Sasuke have been married for over a decade, but things are far from perfect, and Sakura's beginning to realize that maybe she deserves better. KakaSaku

Say it Again by @nyxako​ | Ongoing | M

A story in which Kakashi loses his hearing during a mission, only to later realize that the only thing he can hear anymore is the sound of Sakura's voice. [KakaSaku]

The Taste Of Fire by @alienwritesstuff​ | Ongoing | M *

**Hogwarts AU** Like a moth to the flame, Kakashi couldn't seem to stay away from her. He knows it's wrong, knows it's too dangerous. But, he's drawn to the fire. And fires like these tear the whole world apart.

Aposematism by @youngjusticewriter​ | Ongoing | T

Pretty things were dangerous more often than not. They had to be.

Don’t you know that the world has a tendency of yanking beautiful things up and leaving them to slowly die wherever they were taken to?

Dear fellow traveler by youngjusticewriter | Ongoing | M

“You’re thinking too much. Let me make you stop,” Sukea offered and, yes, his voice was different but Sakura liked it even if something about it made her mind inch.

“Okay,” she agreed before closing her eyes. She didn’t want to (see the world, she just wanted to wake up to find out the mission had been a bad dream) see Sukea and think on the things that she kept picking up on from him. All Sakura wanted was to be Chinami who was just a traveler just like Sukea was. A traveler who didn’t have people’s lives slip through her hands because she wasn’t good enough.

Destroy the middle, it’s a waste of time by youngjusticewriter | Ongoing | T

“Another one?” Mrs. Takahashi asked, “You’re going to burn yourself out.”

(You’re not good enough to keep working; you can’t endure like others do. You’re too young. You’re supposed to just wait around until your teammates get back because those who abandon their teammates are worst than scum.

And Sakura wanted to laugh despite the loneliness that had dug itself into her skin, and had made her bleed, so not to be shaken off.

They left - they left and now it was just her so why should she wait until they got back? She wasn’t a piece of cake that could be discarded.

Sakura had wanted Sasuke and now she wanted to be better in serving her village. Her crush, her teammate, refuting her didn’t stop her chasing after him even though she should have respected his choice. What was their opinions, strangers opinions, compared to that?)

Then I burn, were the words Sakura wanted to spill out from her tongue, to spew out as though they were poison she studied and used, and I get up from my ashes.

Don’t slam the door, Sakura thought as paws pressed into her hand as though to hold it. It (having to pay for another door) wouldn’t be worth it.

(Don't) lay me to sleep by youngjusticewriter | Ongoing | G

Sakura doesn’t need defending though.

Sakura smiled at the girl, because that’s what Ami is and what Sakura hasn’t been since her dreams started, with tired eyes (with eyes too old because that’s what happens when your soulmate is a jonin with a pretty painted mask).

You got to choose before the choice is pulled from you by youngjusticewriter | Complete | G

Kakashi didn’t greet her with an apology, a lie, or even with a hello. (He wasn’t too for gone that he had neglected himself to point he couldn’t sense her coming.)

That’s okay because Sakura doesn’t smile up at him, she doesn’t (lie) promise everything is going to be okay, nor does she greet her husband like she would have this morning if he wasn’t already out of the house. Sakura didn’t even take one of Kakashi’s hands into her own and give it a small squeeze in comfort, in a subtle way to remind him she was still here. No, instead Sakura exhaled the breath she had been holding in and it doesn’t remove the heaviness she feels in her chest.

“You need to come home.” Sakura doesn’t ask for him to do it for her even though Sakura had too lost their child. (We’re not dead, Sakura wanted to yell, and if you continue to keep your company with them, with the dead, then one day when you do come home we might just have become the company you prefer to keep. We might just become the dead you idolize because you were too late in life to realize how much your loved ones meant to you.)

Ceremonial by youngjusticewriter | Complete | T

With bloodied lips and sharp canines Kakashi smiles at the sight - it’s only for a night after all. In the past he had tried to shove it down, had never voiced that sin unlike the others (so many others) to the tombstones of his fallen comrades, but he’s dying now. He can have it just for a little bit. The air is hard to breath in, its too cold or maybe he’s too out of breath, and there’s clothe from his destroyed mask in his bloodied mouth but that’s okay. It’ll be over soon.

Twisted fingers - Kakashi could actually see a bone poking out of one - reach up to touch but it’s too late.

come through (like the sweetener you are) by exarite | Complete | M

Kakashi was not Sakura's sugar daddy.

(Or was he?)

It Wasn't Even Us In The End by tedthedead | Complete | M 

How many years?

How many years had he been lovesick, a yearning child needy for her comforting touch, a desperate man aching for the soft silk of her skin?