#so he backtracked on her morals AND she was starting to get along with the team and he backtracked on that too | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ohnopoe · 3 years ago

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Hiya there!!!! Could i maybe please have some headcanons about the characters you write for being in love with a very domestic/ cottagecore/ disney-princess-loving sweet girl who works at a daycare (with babies) ?

Im sorry if that didnt make much sense im french but i love your writing!!! Have an amazing day!! 😊

Your patience is extraordinary. I’m so sorry this took so long, and I’m additionally sorry that I couldn’t provide more characters for this. Between it beginning to feel repetitive and just having a mental block on it, which has been practically consuming my ability to write, I’m afraid I was only able to give you five characters, but hopefully the accidental mini stories they turned into makes up for that!

Under the cut you will find headcanons or miniature fics tbh for Din Djarin, Ezra, Frankie Morales, Javier Peña and Poe Dameron

Din Djarin

Looking after Grogu is Din’s priority. So, when he sees his adoptive son clinging to your leg after he leaves him at the small daycare on Nevarro, utterly enraptured in your every movement as you finish putting away the colourful pencils the children had been playing with, well, he’s intrigued.

When Grogu is reluctant to leave the planet, putting on a fuss as he flies away, well, he’s fascinated.

Plenty of people got along with the little green baby, and it seemed people fell for his big bug eyes everywhere they went. But he hadn’t seen the child so enraptured before… It was almost the same kind of adoration he seemed to throw towards Din.

Weeks pass before he’s landing back in Nevarro, ready to take on another job, and he’s almost forgotten about you. But the way Grogu perks up at the familiar surroundings is an instant reminder.

He hadn’t even intended to leave the kid at the daycare this time, it was only meant to be a short trip after all, but who could say ‘no’ to those pleading eyes?

The day’s half over when he knocks on the door. Children of all species are spread about the room, and there’s an air of chaos to the scene, but as you meet his gaze through that vizor that keeps him shielded from the rest of the room, he finally understands the absolute sense of calm you exude.

He’s frozen.

Your smile cuts through him, it’s gentle and soft and reassuring and everything he didn’t know he’d been missing for so many years now.

He stutters, genuinely stutters when he hands Grogu over, asking if he can spend the rest of the day with the other children. And if you notice, well, you’re not about to mention it just yet.

He’s making more trips to Nevarro, even he refuses to acknowledge why. The kid needs to socialise more, jobs from Karga are smarter, it’s good to keep in contact with the Cara, to know what the rebellion is up to… Excuses seem to pile up upon one another. Of course it couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that every time he sees your smile directed at him, every time he watches the way you play with Grogu, the world seems a little lighter.

A dangerous mission is what changes things.

He knows it’ll bring good credits, and provide more safety for the kid in the long run, but bringing him along for the ride is too risky, and it’s exactly what the enemy would be expecting. So he asks if you’ll look after him, just for a few days.

Of course, you’re more than happy to take the little green menace, but it’s the way you tell him to be careful, the way he can almost see genuine worry in your gaze as you utter words of care that he’s so damn unused to that has him struck once more.

The sight of you there, looking at him with such a gentle look, with his kid in your arms, well, it distracts him more than he’d care to admit.

So when he comes back to Nevarro, to your house of all things, he’s a little worse for wear, and he’s certainly not expecting the way you usher him in, or the way you look after him. Suddenly, leaving Nevarro at all seems like the stupidest decision possible, when you’re there in your humble house that still screams home more than anything he can remember.

He stays for days, you’re insistent that he heal properly and take the time to rest before he goes rushing back into the universe. And it’s the most relaxed he’s ever felt.

Ezra

After his time in The Green, Ezra is certain of one thing, he’s had enough of that damn colour.

There’s only so long you can spend surrounded by shades of green before it starts to haunt you, and even the most poetic of people lose any sense of beauty they once found in it.

But then there was you.

You, who lived a life so far removed from what he had experienced, that the flowery poetics seemed to just flow from him once more.

His insecurities after losing his arm seemed to lessen in your presence, caught up in the whirlwind that was you.

Laughter and joy seemed to fill the days, and sometimes he’d even help you with your work simply to enjoy the bubble of joy you seemed to exude, to embrace every moment of happiness that he was lucky enough to experience.

Colours seemed brighter, and filled with a range he had only hoped to see, when you were around. And those poems he had loved so dearly were not just a distant dream, they were tangible and real.

Softness and beauty coloured his days once more, and his heart was full.

Even green seemed more beautiful now.

Frankie Morales

In all honesty? He’s terrified. You’re his daughter’s daycare worker and it doesn’t matter that you make him smile, make those damn butterflies fill his chest in a way he hasn’t felt since he was an awkward teenager. It doesn’t matter that your smile is so damn captivating that it has him smiling goofily to himself the whole damn drive to work after he drops his daughter off with you.

It doesn’t matter because it can’t. He won’t interfere with your work and he certainly won’t be that creep who asks you out when you look after his daughter, no, nope, absolutely not.

But then, a year later, and his daughter is off to preschool, and yeah, ok, he’s a bit of a wreck as he shops for school supplies, but suddenly you’re there. It hasn’t been long at all, and yet he can’t help but think how much he has missed that smile.

It’s so much harder to explain to his little girl that, despite the chance encounter, you won’t be a part of her life anymore, especially when she’s so darn excited to see you, and so he stumbles, he struggles and glances to you for help and, well, the help you give has him even more lost for words.

You suggest lunch, on the first weekend after she’s started school. Just Frankie, her and you, all meeting at a park where his daughter can tell you all about ‘big school’.

He’s silent so long that you worry you’ve overstepped, and just as you’re about to ramble off some excuse in a desperate attempt to backtrack, he offers you the most beaming smile you’ve ever seen.

Well, your not so little crush was doomed, and so was your heart. But after lunch that soon turned into a weekly affair, you soon came to realise, your heart was in very safe hands.

Javier Peña

I’m not going to lie, at first Javier is skeptical to say the least. He’s seen chaos and pain and suffering for so long, that seeing someone so damn gentle? Yeah, he’s wondering what your game is. But then it becomes something else, it becomes a fascination. You seem sincere in your softness, and he finds himself smiling back at you in an instant, before he can even question it.

So, skepticism turns to curiosity. Are you just naive to the horrors of the world? Are you really that sheltered that you believe what the fairytales told you the world would be? He has to know, even if he’s cursing himself the whole damn way.

He’s spending more time with you to figure you out, that’s what he tells himself. Of course, it’s obvious to everyone else the change that you bring. His shoulders are less tense, he’s not bitting people’s heads off at work, hell, he’s smiling more.

It’s different to what he’s used to. It’s softer, and slower, and he’s reluctant as hell, but things just seem to happen.

You’re at his place as often as your own. You’re sharing movies with him that he’s never even considered seeing before, you’re sharing your lives with one another, and there hasn’t been a single date so far.

You’re everything he’s fighting to protect, before he can even acknowledge his own feelings for you. But as oblivious as Javier can be to these things, you’re not. You know the stories, the tales of love that seemed to pass him by. You’re patient as he navigates his way through his feelings.

It’s a random moment in time, really. You’re on his couch, talking about the children you work with, it’s just another day. But it’s everything to him. It’s the moment he realises you’re his all, that being right there, in that moment, listening to you talk about children you clearly adore, children that aren’t even your own, it’s all he’s ever needed, and all he ever wants.

The progression from that odd friendship to something more is surprisingly smooth.

Of course, he’s bound to stumble along the way, it’s so far from what he’s used to that he’s terrified half the time of stuffing up to a point of no return. But it’s genuine, it’s real, and you can both simply be yourselves; even if he does tease you a little about the ‘childish’ decor that starts to fill the apartment when you finally move in.

Poe Dameron

It was an accident, the first time Poe quite literally ran into you. BB-8 assured him that it would be faster to get to his ship through the path he had never ventured before as he rushed to fly out for a sudden mission, and he was right. What the little droid had failed to mention, however, was that said path ran directly through the resistance’s schooling area.

It was a small group of rooms, with few children of resistance members actually living on base, but it was something so downright shocking that it had him stumbling in shock as he glanced about at the colourful finger paintings and bright array of plants that he didn’t even notice the way the group of preschoolers stared up at him in awe, or, for that matter, the fact that you were standing before him... until you weren’t. The force of his sprint landed you on the floor with nothing but a surprised “ooft!” coming from your lips, and an echoing round of shocked and anxious gasps from your students.

After an awkward round of apologising, and continuing to call out long after he had checked you were alright and helped you up, he was off, making his way once more, the sound of “sorry!” fading away as he drifted further down the corridors.

One chance meeting suddenly turned into more. It seemed wherever he turned, there you were. Grabbing a late meal at the same time, having your med-checks one after the other… it was as if fate itself had decided the two of you simply had to interact.

You filled his mind, someone so normal amongst the chaos of war. And while he may not have realised it, he began to seek you out.

Chatting with your kids about flying, bringing back interesting plants he saw on his adventures, there was always a reason to see you, after-all, Poe Dameron was the King of Excuses.

But you brought him a sense of hope and home, something he had missed for far too long, and he wasn’t about to give that up anytime soon.

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ghost0loxer · 3 years ago

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Imagine, a gender fluid teenager like myself has a favourite/feel-good film and that film is “Just One of the Guys,”from the mid 80s.

Picture this: theatre class, we watch “She’s The Man”, a dreamworks film from the 2000s. And yet, the social justice issues within the film are glaringly obvious to today’s society. Don’t get me wrong, it can be a funny film in a group setting - but then there are scenes that are just uncomfortable. Now, we discussed these themes in class, but I just can’t help but think about the film that came before it. Yes, StM (she’s the mans) is a modern day adaption of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” but I was thinking about the modern day adaption before StM, “Just One of the Guys” from the mid 80s.

I love this film. For multiple reasons, which I hope to discuss.

Number one, our main character. Terry Griffith is stubborn. If she thinks something is right, she won’t let anyone say no or get in her way. Now in some cases, this is great. It’s definitely a shift in the usual romantic comedy female lead (especially for the 80s). But it’s one of her biggest flaws. In the beginning, Terry doesn’t win a contest for a part-time job at the Sun Tribune. She believes her article was amazing, but she speaks with her English teacher and he gives it to her straight. “You don’t have what it takes to be a reporter.” Her article is boring; it’s about the nutritional value of the lunch menu in the school cafeteria, of course it’s boring. But the words her teacher tells her has her convinced it’s because she’s a woman. Thus, she leaves school for two weeks and transfers as a buy to another school who are holding the same competition. Once she gives her article, she is told almost the same thing, but this time, she’s given proper feedback to improve it. Of course, there was some irony with this scene between Terry and the teacher. “Just because you’re guy, doesn’t mean you can’t be sensitive or light.” Thing is, she doesn’t give up, she strives to fix it and finds a new angle. I love her determination, I love the way she doesn’t let others push her around. Furthermore, her transition to a man. In StM, Viola as a guy is made to be cringey and comedic, you watch and think, there’s no way a guy would do that. But Terry, having grown up with a younger brother and is actually smart, manages to nail the role. Sure, she has slip-ups, but she stays afloat and she’s not being over the top. She’s chill and convincing, yet you as the audience can tell she’s trying to appear masculine. Her lines are witty and she’s sharp. Someone has something to say, she’ll be able to backtrack and answer with a joke or sarcasm quickly. I like smart characters.

Another point, the way women are written in this film. A lot of women in this film are treated like shit, but it’s probably a realistic depiction of the 80s. Everyone is talking about dating and sex, it seems to be the only topic the women in this film speak about, unless they are Terry. Terry seems to be the only character in this film whose main goal is not romance or sex. She strives to be a reporter, she wants to prove herself, and she rejects the advances upon her frequently. Whether it’s the boys asking her on dates in halls, or her own boyfriend attempting to seduce her when her parents aren’t home, she doesn’t put them above herself, yet she still lets them down easily, unless they become more pushy (case in point, her boyfriend, Kevin, in the beginning). She can stand up for herself, but she’s not the only one. Her best friend, Denise is one of the many women looking for love, nevertheless, she holds standards. I will admit, I didn’t like Denise’s acting in the beginning; she’s not a great character, but even she manages to reject men’s advances constantly. She’s not afraid to say it bluntly and she expresses her true emotions when certain guys try to ask her out. She tells it to them straight, and I respect her for that (despite her lack of empathy for some). Terry’s brother is constantly hitting on Denise, but she stands her ground. She doesn’t hit him or curse him out, she spins words around him and always lead back to the key word “no.”

This is my third, and maybe final point, (because I’m not great at writing but I’m starting to get tired) the way they handle sexual orientation. It seems if you’re going to make a film about a cross-dressing woman who falls in love with a man, you have to discuss sexuality and this film is not afraid to. That was my biggest beef with StM, when Viola confessed her love to Duke, the made it blatantly clear that it was “weird” and “unusual”; the editing and music cuts. It was done for comedic purposes, but in that moment, it just made me cringe. Even when the principal marched onto the field during the big match to expose Sebastian as “the woman he was all along,” he used a big megaphone and said to the whole crowd this man is in fact a girl. If it were to happen in the real world, and this character was a trans male, that would be traumatizing and so so insensitive. I couldn’t help thinking the way they handled the reveal in StM was poor and shitty.

But with JOotG (just one of the guys)? It’s done respectfully. Throughout the film, Buddy, Terry’s younger, sex-obsessed brother (I have thoughts on this character), often refers to Terry as a transvestite or sexually confused. They make references about her dating other women and jokes. It’s not treated like taboo, but just something people normally talk about, and as a questioning kid when I first watched the film, I really needed that. Although it was used for jokes, the fact that it wasn’t treated like a silent topic made me think more of it and discover who I was; it was media like this that made me accept myself.

Even with the reveal. Kevin, Terry’s boyfriend (or ex boyfriend by the end), stomps up to Terry after she’s wrestled with the school bully and was dumped into the waves at prom. Rick, who’s been Terry’s friend (and is the male lead) throughout her time at his high school, immediately questions who Kevin is and he responds with a harsh and sure “Terry’s boyfriend.” Of course, that doesn’t expose Terry as female, but makes Rick assume she’s a homosexual. But instead of calling her weird or replying negatively, he answers Kevin’s question calmly and says he’s just a friend. There is no prejudice, no disgust, Rick is shocked, but that’s expected. Furthermore, this reveal not only does not alienate homosexuality, it puts the center of focus on the main characters rather than have the whole audience/prom witness this exchange. Sure, the rest of the school is watching but the camera never pans over to them, and even then, Terry drags Rick away from the crowds to a secluded area to explain more.

Even once they’re secluded, Rick doesn’t yell at her or is homophobic. He just says “I understand, you’re gay.” As we know, Terry is not in fact gay and she reveals this to him in a similar fashion as StM, at least it’s not flashing a whole crowd. But the thing that hits me, is the fact that it’s not used as a joke or for comedy. Throughout the film, they’ve mentioned homosexuality and being transgender, but it was used as a light-hearted joke (nothing insulting or derogatory). In this moment, it’s not a joke, and it’s the bare minimum for a emotional scene like this, but it always hits me.

Of course, Rick gets justifiably mad that he’s been deceived and he storms off. Terry’s flaw catches up to her here, as she kisses him in front of the prom guests, stubborn to make him realize how much she cares. ( I didn’t agree with this action to be frank, I cringed ). The crowd gasps and it’s the usual reaction to a homosexual kiss and Rick just pulls back, says “It’s alright everyone, he’s got tits,” and leaves with Deborah.

In true romantic comedy fashion, life moves on. Terry gets the job at the Sun-Tribune after writing her article about posing as a guy and everyone who was longing for love in the beginning has found it, except Terry. The ending, however, is Rick coming back for her after a couple (days? Weeks? Idk all I know is it’s summer by the time he comes back, how much space between prom and summer?) and they kiss, go on a date and all is good.

Now after writing this long ass post, I’ve come to realize the main reason I like this film. Sure, Terry is a good character (not morally sometimes, but she’s interesting to watch), the way women are presented also is good, but my main source of affection for this film (in comparison to StM) is the way they handle the switching of genders. I’m gender fluid, I don’t always like being a woman or a man, I switch almost daily and half the time can’t decide if I want to grow out my hair or cut it. Seeing Terry, originally a woman, manage to convince people she was a guy made me wish I could do it too. It made me realize, I don’t always like being a woman. I want to be a guy sometimes, and I want that to be accepted. It was media like this, like Ouran High School Host Club, like Bare: A Pop Opera, that made me understand my gender and sexuality. (Even media that didn’t have any relation to LGBTQ+ helped).

When I first heard of “She’s the Man”, I had hoped it would be like these pieces of media. And it wasn’t. It was an alright film, but made me feel disappointed and somewhat let down. And that’s why I just prefer Just One of the Guys. Maybe it wouldn’t float in today’s political climate, maybe I’m wrong for seeing these points as reasons it’s one of my favorites, but its still better than StM and is one of my favourite films.

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lucrezia-thoughts · 4 years ago

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What Comes Next?

Pairing: Frankie Morales x (Female) Reader

Warning(s): morning after, meddling friends

Summary: Frankie really should have slowed down to think things through..

Link to Master List

Frankie really should have slowed down to think things through. He'd been so preoccupied with the fact that his attraction hadn't been one sided, he'd jumped right into bed with you and now you were asleep on his chest and he had no idea of what comes next. Was this a one night stand? Was it something more? Were you going to wake up and want round four? Shit, were you going to wake up and regret this?

Mind spinning, he reached out to fumble around the nightstand to grab his phone to distract himself and he was greeted with a litany of missed messages in the group chat.

[Pope: don't blow this fish]

[Benny: but do GET BLOWN 👅🍆]

[Redfly: what are u 5?]

[Benny: fuck u man he had a dry spell he should live it up]

[Redfly: the emojis man]

[Redfly: we told you about that shit]

[Benny: 🖕🖕🖕]

[Redfly: how many times have we told him now will?]

[Ironhead: 3]

[Redfly: thank u]

[Pope: besides everyone knows u don't use the 🍆 anymore]

[Benny: the 🍆 is classic]

[Pope: don't listen to him fish]

[Pope: take care of her first]

[Benny: 👅💦]

[Redfly: that how u get so many informants?]

[Benny: DAMN]

[Pope: fuck off]

[Ironhead: pope is right]

[Pope: THANK U]

[Ironhead: focus on her]

[Redfly: don't forget to wrap that shit up]

[Pope: remember they expire]

[Benny: make her cum first]

Frankie sighed. Did they seriously think he didn't know this shit? It might have been a while, but he wasn't stupid.

"Something wrong, Frankie?"

He tore his eyes away from his phone to see you looking up at him.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?" He set the phone back on the nightstand to give you his full attention, come what may.

"In a way..." You grinned and shifted slightly so you were straddling his lap and he couldn't help but groan.

"Shit-" He hissed out and grabbed onto your hips. "Baby...hold on." He groaned and stroked his thumbs over the small of your back.

"Oh... I... I'm sorry, should I go?" Your brow furrowed as you tried to push up and climb off him.

"What? No!" Frankie kept hold of your hips as he tried to backtrack. "Unless you want to. I mean...hijo de puta. I'd like it if you stayed."

"You don't want me to go?" You asked quietly after a moment and he shook his head.

"No." He let one hand leave your hip to gently cup your cheek. "I want you to stay, hermosa. I...I want to get to know you." He continued as his eyes searched your face to gauge your reaction.

"I want to get to know you too." You admitted and smiled at him. He didn't even stop to think before he leaned forward and pressed his lips to yours.

You moaned into the kiss and slid your hands up his chest to wrap around his neck. Opening his mouth to deepen the kiss, he ignored the first chirp of his phone as you slid your tongue along his. As his hand on your hip urged you to start moving; however, his phone started to chirp rapidly and he pulled back with an annoyed groan.

Fully intending to silence it, he angrily grabbed his phone but his thumb unlocked it and the thread popped up on the screen.

[Pope: anyone hear from fish yet?]

[Benny: no man complete radio silence]

[Ironhead: no]

[Redfly: nothing]

[Redfly: think he got lucky?]

[Pope: she wanted him man]

[Benny: he definitely got some]

[Redfly: as long as he didn't blow it]

"Seriously?" You asked as he looked up to see you staring down at the screen. "Who is that guy?" You pointed at Tom's most recent message. "He's kind of an ass."

Frankie couldn't help but laugh. "He was my captain when I was active duty, so yeah, he is kind of an ass."

He watched as your eyebrow raised and you took his phone. "Hermosa?" He asked with a grin as you pulled up the camera app and switched to the front facing one. Holding the phone out, you leaned forward to kiss him and held your middle finger up in front of you as you snapped a picture.

Nipping at his bottom lip before you pulled away, you selected a few things on his phone before you handed it back to him. Checking the phone he laughed when he saw the picture you took and sent in the thread.

"Now, I think we were starting something?" You grinned as you pulled him into a deep kiss.

Frankie blindly put the phone back on the nightstand and wrapped his arms around your waist. The thread was still open, but he ignored the chirps.

[He didn't asshole.]

[Benny: FUCK YES GET IT FISH]

[Pope: i like this girl]

[Ironhead: me too]

----

A/N: As always, comments and feedback are love!! Oh, and please let me know if you want to be tagged on updates!

#fanfic #frankie morales #francisco catfish morales #frankie morales x you #frankie morales fanfiction #frankie morales x f!reader #frankie morales x reader #francisco morales x reader #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal #female reader #francisco 'catfish' morales #frankie catfish morales #triple frontier

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fktonofwhatnow · 4 years ago

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ok hold on. acomaf is my fave book out of the whole series (it's mostly out of emotional value, i read it when i was younger and didn't have a real understanding out trauma and abuse only that i saw a character i loved getting out of a bad situation and getting happy) so obviously i didn't mind feysand being endgame and the development all of the characters had. i can accept tamlin turned out like that is realistic due to his trauma, i can accept feyre had to flee because it wasn't right for her, but the thing is after acofs i see no point to feyre leaving tamlin when rhysand ends up doing everything they told us tamlin was evil and unredeemable for. hiding the risks of her pregnancy, putting on shields on her, having feyre need to compromise over it. i honestly felt so betrayed by that. i'm not saying feyre and tamlin were good for each other, but it doesn't feel worth it to dismiss the potential they had for what we got with feysand.

also, sarah learn to treat "ugly" trauma with respect challenge. no they don't need to learn to physically fight to fight it. no they don't need a love interest to overcome it. yes the behaviors acquired from trauma and abuse aren't pretty but that doesn't mean a person is undeserving of kindness and compassion.

i think i had a point somewhere but i can't get to it. so hope you don't mind my rambling. anyway i loved your meta about tamlin i think he deserves better too

HOLY SHIT THIS ONE IS SO GOOD OK IM SO EXCITED

Bro you are so fine, I'm the one who doesn't make any sense and I totally get what you're trying to say. (Acomaf was actually my favorite book in the series too ngl)

BUT FUCK YEAH LETS TALK ABOUT RHYSAND.

I don't think it's a secret that Rhysand is one of my least favorite characters in media, probably ever? (How do I even put this into words) He is a bad character and to me, laughably so. You know how if you've ever written a character, there's that little phase that's like "what if people don't like this character' and then you're sad for a little bit? That's how Rhysand feels to me. He feels like SJM looked at this character and thought "I can't stand the thought of people not liking this character because I love him so much" and then did everything in her power to make sure we know how great he is.

Idk if this is just me screaming into the void, but I get to this place with my characters where like, especially if they are a little more morally gray or their decisions have negative impacts, I understand that I don't need the audience to like my main character. they can stand on their own, they can own up to what they do and they can grow from it. Thats what a good character does. That's how you keep your audience rooting for them. You gotta knock them over sometimes.

SJm doesn't knock Rhysand over. She doesn't push him to make mistakes, apologize, own up and move on. Rhysand has never made a decision that ended poorly for him. Everything goes the way he wants it to, because SJm wants us to know how cool and great he is. People who are cool and great don't make bad decisions! SJm doesn't let Rhysand fail, and she doesn't let him suffer his own decisions. Everyone else suffers his decisions, not him.

Rhysand's reputation as a good person hinges entirely on the audience liking him and/or thinking he's hot. And then what happens when the audience thinks neither of those things? Ya get a rly long post like this by a lil enby who is mad all the time. Rhysand loses all credibility when you look at him through a critical lens. Not a single thing the man does makes any goddamn sense. Here I thought acosf would give us a different perspective on Feysand and I was desperately hoping that Nesta would tell us what she really sees in them and how people around them really feel, I hoped that SjM would throw us for a loop and tell us that hey, she does know that Feysand are fucking toxic as hell and ruin the lives of people around them and she wants to show us that from an outside perspective but noooOoOOOoOoOOOO...

Instead we get Nesta hating herself because Rhysand told her that she shouldn't tell Feyre that Feyre could uh die in childbirth. Hey what the fuck.

Now I don't actually ship feylin, I kinda always sorta knew, even without spoilers, that it wasn't going to work out. Tamlin isn't sjm's idea of a good partner because he's not charming and witty and dark and handsome ya know? We met Rhysand and I knew that I was going to fucking hate this romance. Which sucks because I found Rhysand so intriguing in the first book. Ngl all the time spent in the spring court was kinda boring and every time Rhysand showed up to throw dead faeries at Tamlin I was like "oooooo" and I wanted to know more about why Tamlin, this awkward, blunt and kinda shy dude had beef with this super duper sly and shady man from another court.

I don't know if I've ever said this before, but SJm doesn't let her love interests grow. Rhysand doesn't change over the course of the story because he was already a good guy and his motives were for Feyre's sake I swear, the same goes for Rowan in TOG. SJm doesn't give Rhysand room to change. She needs to get to the part where they fuck make sure everyone knows that Rhysand is a good guy and actually he was good all along so that we like him more than Tamlin. It backtracks on everything bad Rhysand has ever done because you know... He had a good reason! It's fine!

I know it's probably just because SJm doesn't actually know how to write a good character growth arc but... Like can you imagine if Rhysand stayed the bad guy? Or at least remained the bad guy through acotar and acomaf? And then when Rhysand comes to take Feyre for his bargain it really was only to spite Tamlin? What about Rhysand, taking Feyre to the night court with him once a week every month for a long time, if only to see Tamlin's eyes grow darker and emptier every time he goes, and then he really starts to fall in love with Feyre. He's been a monster all this time, angry and cold and cruel and then he actually starts to fall in love. And then to get Feyre to stay he really does try to change, he stops antagonizing Feyre, he stops throwing dead faeries at Tamlin, and he stops harassing the Spring court. He starts spending genuine quality time with Feyre, he starts to learn about her and all the things she likes and he stops trying to get her to come with him just so Tamlin will be mad. He starts asking her to come with him because he wants to be around her and he prays that someday she'll want to be around him too. What if SJm let him grow.

But nahhhhhh instead we have a character who always knows the right answer to things, and he always knows how to fix every issue, and he is always so innovative and outside the box except that he isn't. We get a character who does the same shit as Tamlin but it's ok because he had a good reason not to tell Feyre that she could very well die in childbirth. Uhhhh don't know what that is but uhhh I know he has his reasons because all he has are his reasons.

It would be so easy to hold a mirror up to Rhysand and say "look at this. Look who you are. Do you not look just like Tamlin right now?"

But nooooooooOoOOOo Rhysand doesn't get to be wrong. Rhysand doesn't get to look like Tamlin because Tamlin is evil and Rhysand is definitely NOT I SWEAR.

But yeah I think the point I'm trying to make is that Sarah thinks so highly of Rhysand that he could never do wrong. He could never be like Tamlin, despite the narrative literally telling us the exact opposite.

Like you said, we lost the potential of what feylin could have been if SJm didn't suddenly decide that her audience needs to love Rhysand as much as she does. I think feylin could have been slow and sweet and a story of true healing and learning about one another. I think it would have been kind and steady and lots of "are you ok"s and "I'm sorry"s and "talk to me"s. Everything about Feysand feels rushed and hard and fast and the rest of the world doesn't have time to catch up. It's fucking exhausting to read it ya know what I'm saying.

(also can we talk about Rhysand like dying and Feyre finding the suriel and learning he's her mate and then instead of being like "k let's put a pin in that and fuckin save his life first" she like throws him around and everyone is like "wtf woman" and she's like I neeD tO Be alOnE these people have no idea how to prioritize)

Truly, I think it's innocent to a degree. There is absolutely no harm in wanting people to like your character. The harm comes when you destroy another character with no reason or explanation other than you want people to like a different character. Villain arc? Completely out of left field. You gotta build to that shit or like... Make it so that when you look back you slap your forehead and yell at a wall "OF FUCKING COURSE I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT"

anyways, SJm treat "ugly" trauma with respect challenge SECONDED.

WELL IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK ME WEEKS YO WRITE IM HAVING A HARD TIME I know it probably doesn't make any sense I can't find my braincells BUT thanks for the ask @xelly

Tell me all your acotar things I love yo hear them !!

#rhysand #anti rhysand #anti sjm #anti acotar #anti inner circle #tamlin #lucien deserved better #they all deserved better frankly

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butwhatifidothis · 3 years ago

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Imo, CF is the worst route when it comes to character development in Byleth

In AM, they have snarky lines that show a bit of personality and show genuine care for Dimitri and want to help him while also disaproving of some of his decisions.

In VW they're shown smiling in the end cutscene which shows that they're able to express emotions without a problem, show that they genuinely care about their class bc they want to help them fight against the Empire despite refusing at first bc of Rhea being their priority, have a lot of scenes with Claude where it's shown that the he trusts them (also he banters quite a bit with them which I find cute).

Then there's CF, where Byleth just parrots Edelgard's opinions and never questions what they're told (including the fact that the goddess is false DESPITE KNOWING THAT'S A LIE), have their achievements claimed by her and dont get credited for their work, Edelgard shows disapproval when they expresses emotions and prefers it when they're stoic...

And yet, CF is the best ending for Byleth somehow?? With them following a leader who feeds them lies (some of which they know are false) and who also hates a part of them (bc Byleth has the goddess' powers). It's just sad.

Maybe it’s because Byleth is the most like a blank slate in CF?

Cuz like, in AM they disapprove of a good bit of the route lord’s actions; they have an active opinion on something that goes against the route’s main character’s opinions and that disagreement crops up at multiple points. In VW, they have a separate goal from the route lord in wanting to find Rhea out of a personal want to, not strictly for answers. This again goes against the route’s main character, and while that main character accommodates that difference in opinion it’s still there. There’s something, small or not, that puts a clear difference between Byleth and the route’s lord in AM and VW.

The same can’t really be said for CF. Byleth never disagrees with Edelgard, even when they know she’s either wrong or lying about something. They agree with Hubert that they ought to be put down if they start “losing their humanity” (aka, acting too Nabatean) when that aspect of themselves is something they either don’t mind or come to embrace in other routes. They lose what little emotional output they had after being around Edelgard, and instead of worrying about that or questioning why that is they instead paint it in a good light, saying that that means they and Edelgard are “fated to be friends.” They’re okay with working with TWS despite hating them for murdering their father, and they never show inner moral conflicts about doing so, all because Hubert says they need to work with them.

The little bits of Byleth they have are completely washed away in CF, in order for them to blindly follow Edelgard. Especially once the war phase hits, they never question any of her morally dubious actions, nor do they have any differing goals to her; they’re essentially a bobblehead nodding along to everything she says. Once you hit that “Yes, I want to enter CF” choice, Byleth for all intents and purposes becomes “Edelgard But They Can Use The SotC,” which might be why Edelstans like them in CF more.

They don’t want to oppose Edelgard, so they like it when Byleth doesn’t. They don’t like that Byleth is part Nabatean, so they like it when CF makes Byleth reject that aspect of themselves. They agree with Edelgard and Hubert when they say that they “have” to work with TWS, so they don’t care that that means having Byleth work with their father’s murderer. They like it when Edelgard and Byleth are connected in some way, so they don’t care that one of those ways is actively backtracking on Byleth’s progress in emoting themselves better if it means they’re closer with Edelgard.

For CF Byleth is basically a suit for those that already agree with Edelgard to slip on. Blind loyalty is the name of the game here, not questioning your ally’s choices over how right or wrong they are or having your own personal desires that differ from that ally’s.

#ask #anon #anti edelgard #Anti-edelgard #just to be safe #like the Sothis thing is the best example of CF!Byleth blindly following Edelgard #because like you said THEY KNOW that she's real #THEY KNOW that she couldn't have done anything for a long time due to the state she was in #THEY KNOW that she's not this evil monster that ruined or didn't care for people's lives #THEY KNOW THAT about Sothis THEY LIKE Sothis but that does NOTHING to incentivize them to correct Edelgard's words about her #Edelgard can say whatever horrible things she wants about Sothis without ever having to worry about her pretty teacher saying a thing

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nocturnal-milk-dud · 4 years ago

Text

Call Me: Chapter 2

That’s right. Chapters. I can’t believe I’m doing this to myself.

Previous Next

Pairing: Frankie ‘Catfish’ Morales x Reader (in memory only)

Summary: The morning after the party, Benny takes you out for breakfast. Things don’t go the way you expect.

Rating: PG

Warnings/notes: swearing; I would just like to mention that I am undefeated in rock paper scissors with my boss. He refuses to play it now.

Word count: 1435

You wrenched one eye open to see Checkers looking down at you, her paw pushing down on your forehead, just above your right eye. She let out a soft squeak.

“Scram,” you said, waving her away. She stepped off of you and curled up next to you on the bed, staring at you, waiting.

“I told you last night was a bad idea,” you said, rubbing her side. She rolled, showing you her belly. “You hungry?”

You watched your eggs cook on the stove, the smell of coffee filling the kitchen. You had turned on music to drown out the silence. You’d also managed to spill the salt, and found yourself thinking back to one of the many mornings with Frankie in your kitchen. You’d spilled the salt then too, and, being superstitious about some things, you threw some over your left shoulder--and hit Frankie in the eye. He had been coming up behind you to hug you good morning and instead he’d been pelted with salt first thing. You had laughed so hard tears sprang into your eyes, breathlessly apologizing to Frankie.

“It’s so funny on its own,” you’d said when you’d calmed down, “but you know the whole reason people throw salt over their shoulder? It’s to blind the devil.” Frankie had been rinsing his eyes with water and he looked up at you, still leaning over the sink, squinting his eyes. You’d watched as he shut the tap off and straightened up, his head tilted to the side as he stared at you.

“Are you calling me the devil, querida?”

“No, you said that,” you had said, backtracking figuratively and literally because Frankie was moving closer to you. “I just thought, ya know, because I blinded you…” He nodded, a grin spreading across his face as you fumbled your sentence, and he caged you against the refrigerator.

All that happened this time was the salt hitting the floor with a soft bristle.

There was a knock at your door and you groaned, tilting your head up to the ceiling.

“It’s too fucking early for whatever this is,” you said. You opened the door just a crack and saw Benny standing on the other side.

“And what are you doing here?” you asked. Benny held his hands up in a “what did I do” shrug, a disappointed frown replacing the smile.

“We’re getting breakfast,” he said like you should have expected this. “We talked about it last night when I called.”

“No, see, you said we’d get breakfast, I said no, and you said you’d come pick me up anyway.”

“So why aren’t you dressed?” Benny said, earning a glare from you.

Benny coaxed you with music on the way to the restaurant, playing songs he knew you liked, trying to pull you out of your funk. He sang along himself, nudging you to join in, and you felt a begrudging smile tug at your lips. Eventually you gave in, and the two of you rolled into a parking space singing at the top of your lungs. Inside, you learned a surprise was waiting for you. You heard Benny tell the hostess that the two of you had friends there who’d already got a table, and you came up on Santiago and Will sitting in a booth. Hugs were exchanged and you and Benny sat down across from them, your heart feeling lighter already. The four of you ordered a bunch of food, sharing it with each other, a tradition started when you and the Millers were young, and soon you all were laughing.

“How are you still eating?” Santiago asked you. He was slouched in the corner, looking like he was going to have to be rolled out of the restaurant.

“I love breakfast,” you said. You and Will reached for the last bite of a strawberry crêpe at the same time, and you looked up at him, an expression of mock outrage on your face.

“Alright, William. You wanna do this, huh?” He raised his eyebrows, tilting his head to the side, grinning at you.

“What is happening right now?” Santiago said, looking back and forth between the two of you. You and Will set your forks down and leaned in over the table, staring intensely into each other’s eyes.

“Two out of three?” Will asked.

“Of course,” you said, as if it was a stupid thing to ask. Both of you held up your fists.

“She’s undefeated,” you heard Benny whisper to Santiago, and the corner of your mouth pulled up in a proud smirk.

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” you both said together. You won the first round, but it didn’t matter. Benny swept in and took the last piece.

“Dude!” Will said, throwing his napkin at Benny.

“We have rules! Two or more people want the last bite of something, you have to play for it, that’s how it goes. You broke the rules, you’re buying,” you said.

“Unbelievable,” Will said.

“Yeah, unbelievable, Benjamin,” Santiago said, looking at Benny sternly and shaking his head. Everyone was silent for a moment, and your gaze shifted from one man to the next, watching the smiles creep into their faces, and then your corner of the restaurant was alive with sound as the four of you collapsed into fits of laughter.

The table was cleared except for coffee cups and water glasses, and the four of you had settled back into your seats, full and happy. Eventually, Will cleared his throat and sat forward, resting his elbows on the table.

“Listen,” he said to you, “about last night…”

“What about last night?” you asked, discomfort suddenly stirring in your gut. Will looked at Santi and Benny.

“We talked to Fish after you left,” he said finally.

“Okay,” you said, the feeling worsening. Where was this going? Wasn’t this breakfast part of Benny’s plan to make you feel better?

“He broke down and told us everything. He told us why he left,” Santiago said. Benny was quiet, staring down at his coffee.

“We think you should talk to him,” Will said. “Let him explain. He’s really broken up about the whole thing, and it might do you some good to hear what he has to say.”

“What is this? A relationship intervention?” you demanded. Santiago said your name, reaching his hand out across the table in an appeasing gesture.

“He’s really broken up about the whole thing,” you repeated. Will started to speak again, but you interrupted him. “Don’t you dare tell me how he feels when it doesn’t seem like you’ve stopped to think about how I feel. He left me and then you all disappeared. I’d never felt more alone in my life and now you’re telling me I’m supposed to care how he feels?” The table was silent and none of you looked at each other. It was hard to believe that just a few moments ago you were all laughing.

“I don’t owe him a thing. He had the chance to explain, but he just left instead.” You got to your feet and took a deep breath. “I love all of you, but this is between me and Frankie, and what’s done is done.” You started to walk away and then the realization hit you. You turned around and looked at Benny.

“You drove me here,” you said awkwardly.

“I can’t believe you roped me into that,” you said to Benny. The two of you were back in his car and the radio was turned off. He had been driving in silence for some time when it became too much for you to take. Benny sighed and pulled over to the curb, putting the car in park. He turned to face you.

“Listen,” he said, “you are the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. Ever since we were kids, your pride ruled everything. You’re right, Fish should have talked to you. Maybe if he had you two could’ve figured things out together. But you two could be happy, right now. Why are you so set on keeping yourself miserable?”

“What did he say last night?” you asked after letting his words sink in.

“Nope,” Benny said, pulling back out onto the street and turning the radio on. “Gotta go to the source for that one.”

taglist: @dodgerandevans @slugbuggie @reading-rosa @bi-son-writes @souls-rain @heythere-mel @pascaliprincess @vanthrefrigeration @icanbeyourjedi @queenofspades20 @godohammers @mandodjarinn @this-cat-is-dea @chasingdreamer @that-sarcastic-pisces

#i hope i got everyone for the tag list #frankie morales x reader #frankie morales fic #frankie morales #frankie catfish morales #catfish morales fic #catfish morales #triple frontier #benny miller #will miller #will ironhead miller #santiago pope garcia #pedro pascal #garrett hedlund #charlie hunnam

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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

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I get where you’re coming from, but I also don’t understand why you keep bringing up the “let the characters suck!” thing when it’s clearly not what RT intends. RWBY+=always right, everyone else=always wrong. Wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am. Like, for fuck sakes they make the characters who are supposed to liked hated and who are, at very least, wrong liked. Did Clover ever piss you off? He didn’t me, even when he was making the “mistake” of not immediately trusting a teenaged girl he just met.

Throwing these three anons together!

First, it’s more about having a theory than being misinformed - “I theorize that...” is how that previous anon phrased the asks. Whether they knew about the supplementary material discussing Yang’s arm isn’t the point. The point is that, despite being told “This was planned,” we’re faced with all these discrepancies in how that plan was executed and one way to explain that is to go, “Maybe it wasn’t planned.” To be clear, I don’t mean that as an accusation, that RT is straight up lying to their audience (even though, as a company, there is something to be said for the tendency to spin everything into the best light possible). Rather, there are lots of different ways to interpret “It was planned” or even “It was planned from the start.” Using Yang’s arm as the example, what was planned? That she would lose her arm at some point during the series? That she would lose it specifically during the Fall of Beacon? That she would lose it to Adam? That is would start a multi-volume PTSD arc? I’ve mentioned elsewhere in regards to Ironwood that “It was planned” doesn’t tell us how detailed that plan was, when it would be implemented, or even when the plan was formed. They planned to have Maria and Penny arrive in the story earlier, but that obviously didn’t happen, so how many other plans have been heavily modified? And in long running series written by multiple authors over the years, it can be easy to frame an idea as a plan. Were they really writing Ironwood to eventually become a bomber back in Volume 2, or did they just have the idea that he might become a bad guy, with no solid understanding of when that would happen and how? Were they really writing Yang with the knowledge that she was heading towards this specific trauma and recovery, or was it a broader idea that might have come about in any number of ways? “It was planned” is a pretty nebulous statement on its own, even more-so in a series with a lost creator and a revolving crew of writers. For every “Pyrrha’s VA was told that she’d die” with the implication “They know what they’re doing” attached, there’s a “Ironwood’s VA had no idea his character had a semblance and had to find out through a fan” with the implication, “They don’t.” Penny is another example of this where yes, some fans think it was planned because of the Pinocchio inspiration, but that falls apart in the face of the number of characters who don’t follow their original character arcs, the fact that we already had a Blue Fairy stand-in confirm Penny’s realness (Fria), and that this flies in the face of seven seasons worth of thematic messages. So it comes down to execution. Either RWBY isn’t planned like RT says and they’re not able to write a compelling, consistent story on the fly, or it is and they’re still not able to accurately present the what they’re after on screen.

So the critique isn’t so much about whether RT is planning or not (though that’s still a legitimate question: Do you know what you’re doing with the Relics? With Salem? How this story will end?), but the fact that their execution is severely lacking. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether Yang’s arm was planned or not because we’re still left with this issue of why what she’s learned as a result of that tragedy has been tossed out the window. None of us will ever be able to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what exactly was planned and to what extent, but focusing on that becomes an easy way to shut down the discussion. The underlying purpose behind the previous anon’s thoughts wasn’t so much to prove that Yang losing her arm wasn’t planned, it was to try and find a way to explain these writing problems: Why has she regressed? Why wasn’t Adam’s history explored? Why was the recovery arc so shaky in places? Questioning whether this was actually intentional is one way of explaining why these problems exist despite a supposed plan. Maybe the plan doesn’t exist, despite claims otherwise. Or maybe our understanding of a plan is very different from RT’s. But going, “it was planned” carries with it the implication that, because there was planning in place (taking that at face value), there’s no longer a problem. It dismisses the critique at the heart of the theory. Another fan wrote on the same post, “Yeah no this is wrong. She was supposed to lose her arm from the start” and... that’s it. That’s the conversation. Rather than engaging with these problems, “it was planned” is used as a catch-all explanation for why the writing supposedly isn’t bad. Yang’s arm was planned. Pyrrha’s death was planned. The bees are planned. The Fall was planned. Ozpin’s history was planned. This fight was planned... and because it was all planned, you have no right to criticize how that plan was executed, let alone challenge whether it was actually planned in the manner RT implies it was.

Never mind that, if all of this was planned to a T, that just makes things worse. The assumption of planning throws all these contradictions, mistakes, backtracks, and confusing choices into a far harsher light. Considering that RWBY is perhaps not planned in the way RT would like us to believe it is results in the understanding of, “Oh, well then no wonder things are a bit of a mess. They’re figuring it out as they go, dropping, erasing, and rushing into ideas along the way.” Meanwhile, pushing the idea of a perfectly planned story results in, “Oh, so... you've known this would happen for years and still didn’t manage to lead up to it well, keep the facts straight, or follow up on the event in a satisfactory manner?” Given how many problems RWBY has atm, RT shouldn’t want the audience to think this was all planned because that invites a far more critical look at their writing choices than an author who goes, “Yeah, we didn’t know we were going with this until the season it was written, so it’s a bit rushed in places. Sorry, we’re working on that.”

As for why I care about letting the characters suck at times, that’s because allowing for such basic characterization would go a long way towards resolving the execution issue. This insistence on making Ruby’s group morally perfect - that intention - is likewise making the authors blind to all the problems this creates. Clover is a great example. In order to make the heroes out to be perfect, Clover becomes the bad guy... despite not having done any work in the previous volume to show that. The authors apparently can’t see that discrepancy, or they simply don’t care about it. Allowing all the characters to make mistakes and grow from them would free up the other characters to be more consistent. If Ruby was allowed to be flawed then there’d be no need to make Clover one of her many (supposed) contrasts and no contrast means no retconning of his personality. These problems in the writing are interconnected. The insistence on “Team RWBY is perfect no matter what” encourages the authors to ignore when their execution is lacking - such as, say, suddenly having Yang no longer frustrated with Ruby’s leadership - and that lack of execution in turn makes it impossible to believe the “Team RWBY is perfect no matter what” claim - the story has shown me how flawed they are, so... why aren’t we acknowledging that? The fandom’s focus on, “It was planned from the beginning! They have Monty’s notes!” ignores that whether it was planned or not, there are serious problems in how these ideas are implemented, hindered by a black and white morality in a show that simultaneously wants to be gray. Part of why the execution is so lacking is because what’s been introduced in the past is inevitably tossed aside for the “Ruby is right” ending and that past writing includes what may or may not have been planned.

#rwby #rwde #mymetas #Anonymous

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amostimprobabledream · 5 years ago

Text

Why I hate Grace.

I was giving my thoughts on Peaky Blinders a few weeks ago and I danced around the subject of my dislike for this character but didn’t have time/room to get it all out. So here it is! Grace fans, you probably want to look away now. So to me, Grace is kind of symbolic of the bad writing on Peaky Blinders, which is especially egregious because usually the writing of the show is good. But right off the bat, her arrival creates a number of plotholes that don't resonate with Tommy's character. Just for a start, nobody seems to find it suspicious that an apparently attractive woman (seriously, people go on and on about how pretty Grace is and while it's not as though she's ugly at all, you can't help but wonder if the Peaky boys merely think so because she's the only woman of significance not related to them) is so determined to be a barmaid in The Garrison, where Tommy, upon seeing her, immediately asks her if she's a whore. Grace is understandably offended by the question, which again makes you wonder why she'd want to work somewhere where such a question isn't just an assumption, but the first thing Tommy asks - we know she's a spy, but the other characters don't.

Then, Tommy corners Grace and starts asking why she keeps being so nosy about the Blinders and their business. They go for a walk and Tommy asks Grace if she's a Catholic. She says she is, but when Tommy points out that no good Catholic girl would walk into a church without making the cross, he immediately exposes her as a liar and points out he also knows that she lied to him about what town she was from, because he asked around and nobody had ever heard of her. So what does he do? He...promotes her to being his secretary? What?

Okay, so you might argue that Tommy puts her in said position to keep an eye on her, or thinks she might be useful if she has the balls to lie to him, but she tells such an easy-to-unravel lie and her excuse is because she wants to "fit in". Again, he lets her off the hook but she covers up a lie with an even more obvious one - if Grace cared about fitting in, she'd make more of an effort to do so, but she keeps demanding Tommy let her sing in the pub and asks questions above her station to Arthur, which got reported back to Tommy. Sure, it's her job to spy on the Peaky boys, but she's so transparent about it that it's honestly ridiculous that Tommy would ever put her in a position that close to his personal affairs. Not to mention, Grace is so inexplicably haughty towards Tommy, telling him, "You disappoint me" when he kisses her. You'd think if she was good at her job, she'd learn to shut her mouth and keep her head down like a decent spy, but she always acts as if she's better than Tommy because, like Polly points out, she's a spoiled little rich girl at heart and she does think herself above the Shelby's.

Then Tommy completely inexplicably chooses to give Grace a fucking gun and tells her some men are going to come in and try to kill him and he's relying on her to bail him out. I know the cops were meant to come in at the stroke of six and they fuck up, but WHY would you ever place that level of trust in someone you already know is a liar? Sorry, but I just don't buy that Tommy was blinded by "love". I can buy that maybe he was curious about Grace, possibly even fancied her a bit, but definitely not so stupid that he thinks it's a good idea to put his fucking life in the hands of a woman he knows basically nothing about. She could have fallen out of the sky for all he knows. Tommy even continues to trust Grace after she kills an IRA guy right in front of him because she sobs, "I didn't know I had it in me like that", yet she disobeyed his instructions and whenever Arthur or John do that, Tommy gives them a bollocking. He lets Grace off, again, for seemingly no reason other than she played the damsel in distress role and he buys it. This doesn't make Tommy look like a smart man blinded by love, it just makes him look like an idiot around Grace.

Also, there seems to be an uncomfortable level in Tommy/Grace of Tommy getting a kick out of using Grace to piss Campbell off. It's pretty obvious Campbell has a creepy crush on her, and Tommy exploits that for all it's worth when he explicitly rings Campbell to inform him that he's going to bang Grace. (Incidentally, their sex scene made me go, "Oh, I guess they're gonna fuck now. Yup." It was like they did it because the screenwriter said so.) He's basically cucking Campbell and I think it's a big reason why even Grace fans admit that she's "not as good" in Season Two - Grace just doesn't work without Campbell around. At least in Season One you can argue that every shitty thing Grace does to Tommy/the Peaky Blinders is partly because of her job as a spy and Campbell is her boss. In Season Two, there are no excuses for the way Grace acts. She's a selfish, self-righteous hypocrite. She jumps at the chance to go to Birmingham on the offchance it was Tommy who called, then acts all offended when he assumes she came to sleep with him, to the point she actually smacks him in the face. What does Tommy do about this? Nothing. When Grace complains they could have run away to New York together, all Tommy says is, "I had things to do", instead of asking Grace why she thinks he'd abandon his family, business, friends and country all to chase after the woman who sold him out to his worst enemy. Grace honestly expected Tommy to put her first after everything she did to him. I won't act like Tommy is a saint in this - he did nearly pimp her out to Billy Kimber - but at least he acknowledges it was wrong of him to do and he never acts like he occupies any moral highground like Grace does. When Grace admits she sold Tommy out, she sobs she "did a terrible thing," yet never tries to actually help him out in a way that would put her at risk - she quit her position, sure, but Campbell's creepiness had gone so far as to propose marriage to her, Grace was still looking out for herself when she left, because it got her away from Campbell. She asked Campbell to spare him, knowing full well that Campbell has wanted Tommy dead since day one. She plays the damsel in distress again and she's pissed when Tommy doesn't fall for it a second time. Then when she talks about her husband, she tries to rub it in Tommy's face how he's “a good, kind man”, but then quickly backtracks on that to fuck Tommy anyway because her husband is impotent - and Grace just can't deal with not getting what she wants. Tommy's rich enough to afford to buy a house for Ada and Polly by this point, he's running Birmingham and seeking to expand into London, so Grace pulls the oldest trick in the book and gets pregnant - then Tommy has to do the responsible thing and marry her, because the baby is his and it's literally the only piece of leverage she has over May. (May even points out that she's been stringing Tommy along and all Grace can do is throw the fact that "Grace's Secret" is the horse's name at her. Again though, did Tommy call it that to piss off Campbell? This was before Grace returned to Small Heath but after Campbell had, so I think yes.)

Then in Season Three, again, Grace is pretty much a pointless character, because she has no purpose anymore outside of being "Tommy's wife". Campbell is dead and so the conflict of her character in Season One, as contrived as that was, is gone. People complain about Grace being stuffed into a fridge and whatnot, (and tbh, you could say that about Freddie, but Freddie also served his purpose in Season One after he buried the hatchet with Tommy), but honestly I think that it was all they could think to do with her because Charlotte Riley was unable to pick up her role as May for Season Three, so they had to work around it. It's the only explanation I can think of about why Grace is just such a blatantly awful person in the Second Season - I've heard people say before that Tommy leaving the field after his assassination was prevented would have been the perfect ending to the season, but that scene at the end where he returns to The Garrison and announces he's getting married seemed really hastily tacked-on - I feel like it was added because they were forced to rewrite the drafts for Season Three and put whatever plans for May they had on the shelf. Not to mention, Grace's actress Annabelle Wallis has apparently stated she hates May because she's "annoying" and "gets inbetween Tommy and Grace". No, Grace got in the way of Tommy and Grace - she's the one who chose to leave Birmingham after she got exposed as a Mole instead of taking the consequences! And also, how is May the annoying one? At least she doesn’t whisper all her lines. It's just so immature of the actress to bash on the character and encourage ship wars, especially considering Grace comes out the winner of the love triangle, so what's the bitterness about? (I've not heard what her opinion is on Lizzie, but I doubt it's as hostile, because it's made obvious in the show that Tommy doesn't love Lizzie the same and the poor girl is constantly competing with a dead woman for her husband's love.) Plus, in Season Three, the wedding is all about not upsetting Grace, Tommy's family have to play nice with Grace's family, and Polly is once again the only person who knocks Grace's smug ass down a peg by reminding her that the family haven't forgiven or forgotten Grace's crimes against them - the only reason they're putting up a pretence of tolerating her is for Tommy's sake. Not hers. Not everybody in the world wants to accommodate Grace. Killing Grace was honestly the highlight of the entire Season, because I couldn't stand watching her smirking over how she got everything she wanted when she didn't pay for any of it. (Polly is also the only one who comments on how Tommy has conveniently forgotten all the shit she pulled on him and Tommy acts like she was a totally innocent bystander when she got killed and it’s like, no, Tommy, baby. Grace knew what she was getting into when she married him and he knew that - it’s pretty much common knowledge that everybody who is even tangentially associated with the Peaky Blinders gets hurt eventually, just look at how Ada was nearly gangraped even though she hadn’t been involved with the family business for two years.)

Come Season Four and Five and there's already a problem here - there is still more to talk about with Grace, even though she’s dead and Tommy spends most of Season Three rampaging over her death. But he just inexplicably won't let go of her. And again, this doesn't come across as Tommy being so in love with Grace he can't fathom a world without her, it comes off like her actress has dirt on the director or something. He constantly hallucinates the bitch, we hear her singing all the time, it's kind of implied that Tommy prefers Charles over Ruby because Charles a boy and has a saintly dead mummy while Ruby is the daughter of a former whore (not that Tommy doesn't love Ruby, obviously, because he absolutely does), and what really annoys me about Tommy hallucinating Grace is that she's the only character he does this with. He doesn't dream about Greta, his first love, he doesn't dream of Danny or Freddie or his mother. He doesn't even fucking dream about John! Remember John, Tommy's little brother he knew his entire life? Apparently nobody else does! No, it's always all about Grace, who keeps helpfully telling Tommy to hurry up and kill himself so he can be with her again. This doesn’t seem like an out-of-character, guilt-induced vision - it mimicks her attitude in Season Two, that nothing else in his life can be as important as she is.

And that's why I hate Grace. (Please don’t send me rude or hateful messages over this post, it’s just my opinion and it’s pretty much irrelevant anyway since I doubt Stephen Knight is going to stop using Grace up as some kind of martyred dead saint anytime soon. I just wanted to get this rant out of my system.)

#Peaky Blinders #Grace Burgess #Tommy Shelby #May Carleton #Rant #Chester Campbell #Polly Shelby #Blogging

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maxgrayarchived · 5 years ago

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Learning How to Write a Redemption Arc from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender is a legend in redemption arcs, and the first example many people think of. He went from being the Avatar’s enemy, his biggest goal being to capture the Avatar and deliver him directly to the Fire Nation’s most vile tyrant, to being the Avatar’s good friend and ally. He makes plenty of mistakes along the way, but he atones to them and becomes a better person.

Today we’re going to be talking about Zuko, and what makes his redemption arc so effective.

For those who don’t know anything about the series, the show’s intro for the first episode tells you all you need to know:

“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace, when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads- But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, only he could stop the ruthless fire benders, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads, and that the cycle is broken, but I haven’t lost hope. I still believe that somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.”

The show follows Avatar Aang and his two friends, Katara and Sokka, as he learns the four styles of bending to defeat Fire Lord Ozai. Let’s break down Zuko’s general demeanor in each book (season) to get an overview of what his arc looks like.

Zuko, Book One

In Book One, Zuko is, irrefutably, our enemy. We may have some sympathy for him at times, but it doesn’t change the fact that his goal is to capture the Avatar, and ours is to keep him free and kicking so he can save the world.

He doesn’t have much hope for redemption in this book. He’s a total asshole, he doesn’t treat his crew well, and he’s selfish. However, we have his uncle Iroh, a man who is impossible not to love and happens to love Zuko very much.

Zuko, Book Two

This is the main part of Zuko’s struggle. He’s faced with many hard decisions, and tends to go back and forth with his morality. He makes tons of mistakes and takes several steps backwards, and he’s drowning in anger and confusion. It’s the most critical part of his arc.

Zuko, Book Three

Book Three is our payoff, and the peak of Zuko’s redemption. He finally knows what he really wants in life, and has faith in his destiny- His real destiny, the one he chose for himself. He joins the Avatar and his group, and earns their forgiveness and trust.

Motivations

Zuko’s main motivation, and more importantly, why, was clear from almost episode one. Yes, he wanted to capture the Avatar, but the why was something we could sympathize with. When a child thinks the reason their parents don't love them is their fault, especially when they think they did once have their parents’ unconditional love, they will put themselves through hell to get it back.

Avatar gave us all the ugly details, as well. When Zuko stands up and speaks against a plan that would end up with the intentional deaths of new Fire Nation soldiers that he believes to be innocent, his father demands Zuko to an agni kai, or a firebending duel. Zuko originally misunderstands and agrees to fight the general he disrespected, only to be faced with his own father. He refuses to fight, dropping to his knees in respect and pleading for his father’s forgiveness, only for Ozai to severely burn the left side of his face and banish him from the Fire Nation. He told Zuko that he could only return home if he returned with the Avatar, something that was thought to be impossible by almost everyone in the Four Nations.

To make it even harder to watch, his Uncle Iroh is the one telling this story, and as Zuko screams in agony while his father burns him, Iroh is so distraught that he has to look away. (There’s another thing to be said about how Iroh, a respected war general, drops everything to go with Zuko when he himself could remain safe and free in the Fire Nation, but that’s a different topic).

Afterwards, one of Zuko’s crewmembers says,

“So that’s why he’s so obsessed. Capturing the Avatar is the only chance he has of things returning to normal.”

His motivations don’t justify all the shitty things he does, not by a longshot, but the simple, humanizing act of saying exactly why he does what he does goes a long way. He’s not just an angry kid being needlessly cruel. He’s not an evil person, and we knew that from the beginning.

Mistakes

Mistakes are one of the most important parts of a redemption arc, because they’re what humanizes everything and makes the transformation believable. It’s impossible for a person to get better in a straight line. They will make mistakes, and they’ll backtrack.

But be careful: There are some things you can’t come back from. Don’t overdo it.

In the Crystal Catacombs in Book Two, Zuko makes a HUGE mistake. He has to choose between Azula (his sister), his father, and his nation… And his uncle. He chooses Azula, and attacks the Avatar (directly after trying to convince Katara that he’s changed lmaoooo). He’s so caught up in the idea of getting his father’s love ‘back’ and regaining his title that he ignores how much his uncle loves him and all that he’s done for Zuko.

There was also an episode, way early in Book Two, where Zuko splits up from Iroh entirely, because they had “nothing left to gain from traveling together.” He hurts Iroh’s feelings and makes himself more vulnerable for… What? Some teen angst? That’s the kind of shit I did in high school, and still sometimes now but come on.

He made a lot of mistakes with Iroh, in fact. He was constantly mean to him and taking out his anger on him. In “The Storm,” one of Zuko’s crewmembers says this,

“What do you know about respect? The way you talk to everyone around here, from your hard-working crew, to your esteemed uncle, shows you know NOTHING about respect! You don’t care about anyone but yourself! Then again, what should I expect from a spoiled prince?”

He made the mistake of trusting Azula MULTIPLE times! When Azula comes to Zuko after two years of his banishment, in the beginning of Book Two, she claims that Ozai had changed his mind and wanted Zuko home. He believes her, even though there’s not a single trustworthy thing about her. After she leaves them to talk it over, Iroh and Zuko have this conversation:

“He cares about me!”

“I care about you! And if Ozai wants you back, well, I think it may not be for the reasons you imagine.”

“You don’t know how my father feels about me. You don’t know ANYTHING!”

“Zuko, I only meant that in our family, things are not always what they seem.”

“I think you are EXACTLY what you seem: A lazy, mistrustful, SHALLOW old man who’s always been jealous of your brother!”

Finally, the last one that bears mentioning, happens at the start of Book Three. Zuko goes up to the Gaang and tries to convince them that he’s a good person now and should teach Aang firebending. They yell at him and tell him to leave, but after he does, Toph insists that Zuko is right and they should try to get along. She sneaks out later to talk to him, but she came in the dead of the night and Zuko is now an enemy to pretty much all four nations, so when he hears someone moving, he makes an intimidating ring of fire around his camp. However, Toph is blind, and she accidentally steps back onto the fire.

Zuko shouts apologies and tries to help her, but she’s panicking and hurries back home.

This is part of one of Zuko’s main arcs: Him learning how to control his firebending enough to not hurt innocent people.

Significant Steps

Like I mentioned: Don’t overdo it. Characters undergoing a redemption arc need to take positive steps in the right direction, but a lot of writers (me) get caught up in the mistakes part and lose all the redemption.

Among the many little hints and glimpses of hope you have, there should be a couple of major decisions that show your character’s progress- And the decision part is important.

In the first season, Zuko has a choice between saving his kidnapped uncle, and chasing the Avatar. He chooses his uncle, and good thing, too, because if he was mere seconds later, Iroh would have lost his hands. This also happens in a later episode, “The Storm,” when Zuko and his crew are caught in a typhoon. Zuko sees Appa, Aang’s bison, flying overhead and the crewmember who previously disrespected him and politely asked what Zuko wants to do.

He hesitates, before saying, “Let him go. We need to get this ship to safety.” He also apologizes to his uncle, who immediately accepts it.

Zuko is given the option several times to put his search for the Avatar over the safety of his family and crew, and he never takes it. Moments like this keep him from being completely irredeemable.

There’s another scene, at the beginning of the phenomenal episode “Zuko Alone,” where we see Zuko barely conscious, stumbling along on his ostrich-horse, presumably days without food. He passes a couple who’s cooking food on the road. He reaches for his broadswords to indulge in his newfound kleptomania, but stops as he realizes the girl is pregnant.

There’s also the very critical moment in Book Two, after the Gaang had been separated from Appa and were frantically looking for him. Zuko finds Appa, ends up letting him go, and evens drops his vigilante “Blue Spirit” mask into Lake Laogai, renouncing his search for Avatar. Iroh finds him, about to steal Appa, and yells at him, saying that it’s time for him to look in and ask himself the big questions- “Who are you, and what do you want?”

Dropping his search for the Avatar means abandoning a destiny that had been forced on him for two or three years (which is a long time for a 16 year old). It’s so scary and uncomfortable at first that he falls into a harsh sickness, but when he comes out of it, he feels much better. We see him smile for maybe the first time in the entire show!

There are also the moments that solidify his redemption, during and after the Gaang accepts him as one of their own. He goes with Sokka to The Boiling Rock to try and rescue his father, a prison where no one has ever escaped from, and goes with Katara to confront the man who killed her and Sokka’s mother. During the final battle, he sacrifices himself to save Katara and almost dies! It’s impossible to still hate him after that.

Sympathy & Humility

We should care about these characters the moment you start their arc, starting slowly and building as their redemption does.

Avatar starts early, with Commander Zhao. We definitely don’t like Zuko at this point, but we meet him and then we meet Zhao and they’re enemies and Zhao is so much more of an asshole that we find ourselves rooting for Zuko. After Zhao, a grown ass man, demeans Zuko, insults him, and pokes at his banishment- little reminder that Zuko is fucking sixteen years old -Zuko challenges Zhao to an agni kai. Zuko wins this, but as he’s walking away, Zhao attacks him from behind! Iroh steps him and says this:

“So this is how the great Commander Zhao acts in defeat? Disgraceful. Even in exile, my nephew is more honourable than you.”

And he’s got a point.

Zhao ends up going from a minor headache to a big fucking problem in that book, and even though we know if Zuko wins, he’ll have a chance to capture the Avatar, we’d rather take our chances there than have Zhao around one moment longer. I mean, he tried to kill the moon, for fuck’s sake.

When we meet Azula for the first time and she tells Zuko that Ozia regretted his banishment, an important but understated part of that scene is how goddamn happy Zuko is. We see all his excitement and relief, and then all his pain and anger surge back up when it’s revealed that Azula was taking them home as prisoners.

After Zhao died and Zuko was huddling in a cave during a snowstorm with a captured Aang, he talks about his homelife, specifically mentioning something his father said: That Azula was born lucky, and Zuko was lucky to be born. We see countless flashbacks, especially in “Zuko Alone,” of Zuko as a little boy just trying to win his father’s approval.

We root for Zuko countless times in that episode, actually, and this is before his redemption. “Zuko Alone” is such an important episode because it’s Zuko’s very first, real look at the war and what it does to people. After Zuko finds out that the family he is staying with has a son fighting in the war with a very real chance of dying soon, he makes a decision that he had purely good intentions with, but he’s so ignorant and naive to how the war works that he almost causes their only other child to be put in the war as well, and has to go rescue him.

In the episode “Crossroads of Destiny,” Zuko and Katara have a moment in the Crystal Catacombs of old Ba Sing Se, and it’s, like “Zuko Alone,” one of the first times he can actually put a face and a name to the victories of The Fire Nation- When Katara tells him about her mom. He doesn’t have any excuses here, and is forced to admit that the Fire Nation hurt him, too.

In “The Ember Island Players,” when the Gaang is watching a play that… Kind of, tells the story so far, Zuko says this:

“It takes every mistake I’ve ever made in my life and shoves them back in my face.”

He talks about his greatest regret- Betraying Iroh -and his he’s afraid he’ll never get to redeem himself. Later, Zuko and Iroh reunite, and Iroh says that he was never angry, he was just sad because he thought Zuko had lost his way. Zuko admits that he did lose his way, but he found it again.

We see Zuko struggle so much throughout the show with his morality and making the right decisions, so when he finally does, it’s a huge relief. He makes mistake after mistake, but nobody wants him to fail, not because we want another good guy, but because we see that he has good in him and we see how much Iroh believes in him.

Glimpses into the Future

It’s important that we have an idea of where this character is going to end up. We want something to look forward to so that we can push through the annoying stuff.

In the episode “The Blue Spirit,” the first time we see Zuko in his anonymous vigilante alter ego, we see what a great team he and Aang make when he rescues Aang from Zhao. They have a great battle chemistry and communicate well without Zuko needing to speak, then after Zuko is knocked out and Aang finds out his identity, he saves Zuko because Zuko saved him.

In “The Storm,” when Iroh is telling the crew how he got his scar and the conditions of his banishment, Iroh tells us, the audience, exactly what’s going to happen later in the series.

When the crew member says that Zuko finding the Avatar is the only chance he has for things returning to normal, Iroh says,

“Things will never return to normal. But the important thing is: The Avatar gives Zuko hope.”

Iroh recognizes that the kind of love Ozai would give him, if any, isn’t the kind that Zuko craves. Zuko only realizes this himself in Book Three, when he's back in the palace, back with his girlfriend Mai, and he’s won his father’s and people’s respect back. He admits to both Azula and Mai that something is wrong and he’s still not happy.

A Good Mentor

Most of the show, we see Iroh and his infinite patience trying to guide Zuko away from the same mistakes he made when he was younger. Before the start of the show, Iroh was a greatly respected, and feared, war general. This is referenced countless times throughout the series. He was so successful and respected that even leaving the Fire Nation to follow the banished prince couldn’t tarnish his reputation. Iroh had fallen into the same trap most of the Fire Nation did, that to be a man meant you had to be powerful, to be hurtful, and angry, and violent. He lost his only son to this ideology and was terrified of losing Zuko to it as well. At the end of Book One, before he and Zuko split up, Iroh’s begging him to be careful and admits that ever since he lost Lu Ten, he sees Zuko as a son of his own.

After Zuko’s betrayal in Ba Sing Se, Iroh leaves Zuko and forces him to make his own choices, which is when Zuko finally steps up (after some struggle).

Iroh made it very easy to care about Zuko, alongside Zuko’s moments of humility and glimpses of hope.

Summary

In short, Zuko is such a legendary character because he was well-rounded, and humanized. He never overstepped to the point where he couldn’t be redeemed, and even when he was at his worst, we knew who he could be, and that he does have good in him.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #avatar #avatar aang #atla zuko #zuko #amwriting #writeblr #writing #i love writing #writeblr advice #writing advice #redemption arcs

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microcos-pod · 4 years ago

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Micro-Cosmos S1E3: A Little Piece of Home Transcript

(The crew celebrates a special day. Transcript begins below break.)

[THEME MUSIC FADES IN] ANNOUNCER Futuristic Trail Mix Productions presents Micro-Cosmos: A Science Fiction Podcast. [THEME MUSIC FADES OUT] [sfx: button press] ATHENA Hey, HQ. It's Officer Athena Romero, with Crew #0137-F. I'm transmitting from... North 54 degrees, West 109 degrees, in a moment of alone time. Camp's not too far, I just... wanted to come out here to record. We were up so, so early, but we made really good time getting our travel in for the day. And... I don't know. I felt like being introspective. I know that's rarely a good thing to be, for people of our situation... but sometimes it can't be helped, I guess. We're nearing what Doctor Couvillion calls the temperate forest region of the planet. Oh, uh, Felix is... fine, by the way, in case you were wondering. I know I haven't talked about him a lot for the last week since his little run in with Mercutio, and in hindsight, that was probably a little alarming from your perspective. But, no. He's, um... just been very focused on his work. Ever since our encounter with that little... strange... cat lizard dinosaur thing, he's taken to a pretty enthusiastic approach of figuring out what it actually is. You know, what is eats, how it behaves, it's characteristics. Thus, he's not been his usual social self, but he's had what I guess you'd call a breakthrough. He's named it. The species, I mean. Varanus concolor. Apparently he's determined that it's a new species of monitor lizard. Exciting stuff. Miles and Cal have been sorta... tense, the last little bit? I don't know if Miles is still mad at them about that terrible, terrible prank or just for being, you know, Cal. I like Cal. And Miles. Honestly, I do. I think they're almost a little too similar to get along sometimes. I get that. I've been in the same spot for most of my life. I only recently figured out how to sort of... stop taking my own reflection personally. [sfx: fingers drumming on comms, pacing footsteps] ATHENA (CONT’D) Alex is good! If you're wondering. You know, morale and all. We've been talking a lot, since we're sort of the only ones not in our own world. Well, I guess we're all in our own world, that's sort of our job, but...

[Athena laughs.] ATHENA (CONT’D) Literal humour, Athena. Good one. Anyways, she's nice to talk to. Leadership skills to boot, in case you didn't already know and needed someone to sing her praises. I think I'd be more than willing to sing her praises. So... the mission's going very well. Everyone is healthy and accounted for, and we're absolutely on track to get to our shipment drop-off point. Comms and tech and climate are all nominal. We're okay. We're okay.

[sfx: bag shuffling as she picks it up, footsteps] ATHENA (CONT'D) Oh, by the way, before I head back. It's my birthday. I don't know if that's something I should mention. Just thought... I don't know. I don't expect the others to notice, or even know at all, really. But it's nice to acknowledge another year, you know? I'm certainly not spending it where I would've expected to be if you had asked me on my previous... thirty birthdays. Anyways. Yes, it is my birthday, and I kind of miss home, and also I kind of don't, and also being here is present enough. So, I will celebrate by breaking open some of the candy in my bag, and getting some sleep- FELIX, ALEX SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! [Athena laughs.] ATHENA Guys! What are you doing?

ALEX Oh, come on Romero. You didn't really think you were going to get it past us, did you?

ATHENA No, I wasn't meaning to-

ALEX Oh, don't bother backtracking. You're busted.

FELIX There's no real party, or, presents, or... anything that would make this a proper birthday because of our circumstance, of course, but...

ALEX But an ambush was the least we could do.

FELIX The Commander and I only found out when she was conversing with Cal, inquiring of the database today's points of interest, or else we would've...

ALEX Done more than an ambush.Alex observes Athena, who's just standing there, staring at the two of them and grinning. But, I don't know. Seems like the ambush worked out pretty well. Try to smile less, huh?

ATHENA Heh. I, I mean... this is really sweet of you guys, I appreciate it.

MILES Appreciate what?

[sfx: footsteps, tapping on a screen] [C41′s JINGLE PLAYS] ATHENA Oh, uh, hey Miles!

MILES Heeey Athena, guys. What's up?

FELIX Did we...?

ALEX Nope.

FELIX So we forgot to...?

ALEX Yep.

FELIX Dammit.

ALEX Well, when you assume...

C41 Oh, um! Happy Birthday, Athena!

ATHENA Oh, uh, thank you Cal. Anyways, I was thinking we could get to bed early-

MILES Crap, it's your birthday?

ATHENA ... Yeah.

MILES I am so so sorry, I had no idea, I must have like, missed the memo, but-

ATHENA No, no, Miles, it's okay, I promise. I didn't say anything, and so how would you know? Spending it away from home, I wasn't really sure what to do, it's kind of hard, but...I just got busted by the Commander, so... [The crew laughs nervously.] MILES Happy Birthday.

ATHENA Thanks.

MILES You're welcome. Yeah, uh, actually, Cal and I forgot something back at our setup.

C41 We did?

MILES We did. The thing. We need. We need that thing, Cal, uh... we will be back... later. [sfx: footsteps walking away]

[C41′s JINGLE PLAYS.] FELIX Well, who wants to get this party started and play some cards?

***

MILES Caal! Why didn't you tell me it was Athena's birthday?

C41 I didn't think it was that big of a deal. It's just another day of the year, which... happens to be the day that Athena was born. You can congratulate her on still being alive, like you did, and then move on! Didn't seem that important to me.

MILES Yes, it's a big deal! It's like you said, it's the day someone was born, not just another day. Come on, Cal! Remember when Em and I made a huuuge deal about it on the anniversary that I created you?

C41 By chance, do you mean Doctor Macey? If so, then unfortunately, yes I do remember. It was very loud. If not, I haven't the slightest clue who 'Em' is.

MILES Yes. Her. Doctor Macey.

C41 Okay whatever. Anyways. Do continue on with what you were saying. It's proving to be really entertaining.

MILES Oh, I'll show you entertaining.

How did you not know that birthdays were important? Seriously, there's even a song about them. I taught you better than that.

[Miles sighs.]

MILES Cally, I didn't mean it like-

C41 It's Cal. And no, you're right. Why would something the O Great and Powerful and All-Knowing Miles Abbott made be so inconsiderate and dumb?

MILES Seriously, Cal. I didn't mean it. You know how I get.

C41 Yeah?

Oh, just drop it.

[C41 lets out a long series of scoffs and huffs in the following silence.]

C41 (CONT'D) ... Miles?

Miiiiiiles...?

MILES Caaaal....

Caaaaaaaal.....

C41 Miles- MILES Cal, I need to make Athena a birthday present!

I don't even know what she'd like, let alone what I could make her! There's like, nothing even worthy of being a gift on this planet.

[sfx: Miles snapping.]

MILES (CONT'D) What do I have? What do I even have? What does our camp have? I need to find something. Anything. I'll make it work. Cal, help me look. Please.

[C41 snorts.]

C41 Oh.

Oh, you mean actually help.

[sfx: a buzzing noise of C41′s form]

C41 (CONT'D) Um... well there are some big batteries that Alex didn't need over there, she left them this morning with her equipment. There is a... There is a... it looks like... is that a plastic fork? I really hope that isn't used. You all are a mess. And, um... what's that box, over there? What's that?

[sfx: footsteps, objects being knocked over]

MILES It's, uhhh... Chocolate. And... more chocolate. A gift from Emily, I... forgot I had these.

C41 Huh. A... whole box, huh? Of chocolate? What could you even make with those?

MILES I don't know, okay? I don't even know like, maybe I'm overreacting. Athena didn't tell us because she's not at home, or whatever-

Wait. Cal, what, um, what does Athena's home have?

C41 What?

MILES Where she's from. What's it like?

C41 Patroclus C? Well, it's-

[sfx: a long glitch]

C41 (CONT'D)- Patroclus C. A moon in orbit around more well-known terrestrial body Mirana Dunis. Patroclus-C is known for it's industrial prosperity and plentiful resources, as well as it's freezing conditions.

Notable landmarks include it's few geysers. All imported plant and animal life have adapted to the cold climate, however they take refuge in the steamy geysers that provide both water and heat- MILES Okay, Cal. That's enough, thanks.

[sfx: the same glitch, a zap]

C41 Oh, ouch. Eugh. Why did you let that happen? You know I hate that mode!

MILES I'm sorry! I'm stressing a bit here, if you haven't noticed.

C41 Yes, I'm well aware.

MILES Anyways. I... I think I have a plan.

C41 That's never good.

MILES Let's just hope this turns out. Mmm.... a decent start. ***

FELIX Have any... fives?

ALEX Go fish. [sfx: drawing a playing card].

ALEX (CONT'D) Got any queens?

FELIX Yes, yes. Queen of stars.

ALEX Thank you! Got any threes?

FELIX Go fish.

[sfx: drawing a card]

ALEX So close.

[sfx: approaching footsteps]

FELIX (with his mouth full) Better luck next time. Do you have any-

ALEX Want us to deal you in, Romero?

FELIX Athena? Hm. Cannot believe you were still doing work on your birthday.

ATHENA What's the name of the game?

ALEX Go fish. Do you play?

ATHENA I like to think cribbage is more my forte but... sure. Deal me in.

[sfx: cards shuffling]

ATHENA (CONT'D) Who's winning?

ALEX Me. I've won three matches.

ATHENA And how many has Felix won?

ALEX We've played three matches.

[Alex and Athena laugh.]

FELIX I am beginning to suspect her a cheat.

ALEX Can't help having an eye for this stuff.

ATHENA For what, counting cards?

ALEX I wish. Patterns. Got any kings, Athena?

ATHENA Go fish. Is that technically cheating, then? Patterns?

[sfx: drawing a card]

FELIX I believe I can call it cheating if it makes me feel badly about myself.

ATHENA Fair enough. Felix? Any fours?

FELIX Go fish. See, that felt perfectly fair.

ALEX Doc, I said patterns, not x-ray vision. You keep accusing me of cheating, I'm gonna start to take it personally.

FELIX I harbor suspicion, not accusation. Commander, do you have any aces?

[Alex sighs.]

[sfx: passing cards]

ALEX Dishes and comets. Happy?

FELIX Yes. Athena, do you have any sixes?

ATHENA Yeaaah. Here you go.

[sfx: passing cards, movement of pairs]

ALEX Feeling better about yourself?

FELIX Yes. Very.

ATHENA Jeez, you're already on track to win.

ALEX Felix, should I start repaying you all that whining?

FELIX I-

MILES (distant) DOES ANYONE HAVE JUMPER CABLES?

[sfx: stumbling, approaching footsteps]

FELIX Speaking of.

ALEX Uh... no, I don't think so. Maybe you should ask Cal?

MILES (distant) No. That's okay. I'll use the transport hawser. That should work... just as well if not better. I'll... I'm gonna go get that. Bye.

[sfx: retreating footsteps]

ATHENA That's... that's for... emergencies, what do they need that for-

ALEX My guess? Nothing good.

FELIX Commander, do you have any twos?

ALEX No, but I do have a Petty Officer who needs their marbles back.

[sfx: standing, retreating footsteps]

ATHENA Alex?

ALEX (O.S.) I'll be right back!

FELIX It's her turn, actually. Which one of us should go next?

ATHENA It's my birthday. Got any sevens?

***

[sfx: shuffling]

MILES I got something! Not cables, but... almost even better.

[C41′s JINGLE PLAYS]

C41 You're... actually doing this?

Oh... Okay. Even if it may be sliiiightly dangerous? Not that I care or anything-

MILES Look, I just can't sit back and do nothing for Athena's birthday.

C41 Yeah, but I think it would be better to guarantee everyone's safety than... You know, possibly blowing us up and setting everything on fire.

[sfx: metal chain drops]

[Miles sighs.]

MILES I guess that's true. I just don't want to disappoint her.

ALEX You're not disappointing her, kid.

MILES Huh?

Oh. Hi, Commander.

ALEX Wipe that sad look off your face. Even if you didn't know, she's happy that you're at least thinking about her right now.

[sfx: footsteps, shuffling, sitting]

MILES I... guess that's true. But I want to make her something. That's what I specialize in.

ALEX Fair enough. I guess I just didn't know you guys were this good of friends.

MILES I don't know that we are. It just seems like the kind of thing I should've tried for, I guess. We've got so much time to spend together and I don't want you guys thinking I'm cold and ignoring you all just because I get wrapped up in crap and get away from myself and especially lately with everything going on with Cal-

ALEX Hey. We don't think that. And I'm not just saying that, either. What were you planning on doing?

MILES I- ... Well, if I tell you, it would ruin the surprise.

ALEX Okay, okay. Do your thing, fix-it guy.

[sfx: getting up, a few footsteps]

MILES Hey, Commander? What if she doesn't like it?

[sfx: footsteps stop]

ALEX Remember what we talked about, kid. Make it from your heart, and she'll love it.

MILES O-okay, Commander... Thank you.

ALEX No problem, Miles. Always here to help. Let me know if you need anything else, yeah?

MILES Mhm! Now, I... I gotta get this show on the road.

ALEX Cal, keep an eye on them for me.

C41 Will do, Commander.

ALEX Good luuuck!

[sfx: retreating footsteps, tent closes]

C41 Well, that surely was-

MILES Alright Cally! We have some major business to attend to!

C41 -motivational.

MILES Okay, so I'm thinking... What if we melt the plastic fork? Like, all the way, and then, and, and then shape it around to make a base for the volcano geyser thing?

C41 That sounds incredibly dangerous. And like it would be highly amusing to watch.

[sfx: a whirring]

C41 (CONT'D) And according to my calculations I am correct on both counts. Do it.

MILES And... then we can put the chocolate in- Hold on, do we have anything to keep the chocolate melted?

C41 Hm. Probably not.

MILES Dammit, okay. That's fine, that's cool, uh... We can hook it up to the batteries someway to keep the heat constant and the launch device powered, that's fine, I can do that...

This is going to be a piece of cake. Let's go, Cally!

C41 How many times to I have to tell you? It's Cal.

MILES Mhmm, yeah. Let's just kick this baby in the teeth.

C41 Wh... what?

MILES It's an expression. Like, "let's blow this popsicle stand"? Or... "let's get this show on the road"?

C41 I don't understand how that could be related to either of those meanings.

MILES Whatever. I am gonna get this thing started, and it's going to be great.

[sfx: prolonged noises of tinkering and contstruction, a zap of electricity]

[Miles yelps.]

[C41 laughs.]

MILES Not funny!

[sfx: more sounds of construction and tinkering]

MILES Aaaaand there! Done. Finished. Phew.

C41 That looks...That... looks...I mean, um...That looks so good!

MILES You think?

C41 Yeah, I think she's-

ALEX (O.S.) How's it looking in here?

MILES Yeah, I think everything went great!

ALEX Perfect!

[sfx: Alex claps]

ALEX (CONT’D) Well, grab it and let's go; we have a birthday to celebrate. Take Cal and we'll meet her and Felix at that clearing. We're doing a little more celebration for Athena.

MILES Okay, Cal. You heard the boss; let's get going then.

C41 Yuuup.

MILES You know, I’m pretty proud of this.

C41 As you should be, Miles.

***

[sfx: approaching footsteps]

MILES HEY! Hey, guys I'm back!

FELIX Hello- oh. Oh wow. What...

ATHENA Miles... what's all this?

MILES It's, uh, it's your gift!

ATHENA Oh, Miles, really you didn't need to do that, that's super sweet, but-

MILES Oh, it's... it's just a little... something... electrocuted myself a few times making it, but- Happy Birthday!

ATHENA Oh. Oh, wow, that's really something, Miles, I love it!

What is it?

MILES It's a geyser. Like... you said. Well, actually you didn't say, but I did some digging and your... your home plant has... geysers, yeah? So it's like a little piece of home.

A geyser.

ALEX A geyser.

ATHENA Oh! Yes! A geyser. Of course! That's really thoughtful, Miles, you, uh... you shouldn't have! So it's like a... trinket! Or a little... a sculpture!

ALEX Oh... just you wait.

MILES Well, it's for more than just show.

Heh. Bet you've never seen anything like this before.

FELIX I'm quite sure I have not.

[sfx: setting down the present, the geyser bubbles and erupts pathetically, with a crackle]

[Miles breathing heavily.]

MILES Ta-dah!

ATHENA Ohhhh, wow, that's... that's so cool. Was it... was it supposed to melt like that?

MILES It was not the intention but apparently... that doesn't matter now-

[C41′s JINGLE PLAYS]

C41 Evidently.

[sfx: more crackling]

ALEX Oh, okay, is this thing going to blow, Miles? Like actually, really blow?

MILES Shouldn't. It's a possibility... but it shouldn't.

ALEX Cal?

C41 Probably not? It'll be fine! Maybe Miles should get a little closer to shield the blast just in case.

MILES DON'T YOU RUIN THIS BY TRYING TO GET ME KILLED!

C41 Who, me? Never.

[sfx: the crackling and bubbling stops]

ALEX Alright, okay, okay. That was very cool. Right Athena?

ATHENA Right!

ATHENA (CONT'D) Look Miles, I really appreciate this, it's very, very sweet and I just hope you didn't feel like you had to do this, or anything-

MILES No, no, no. I wanted to. I mean... you were around to... keep me calm when I thought we were gonna get eaten in the woods. I didn't want you to think I didn't care, and... I wanted to make something nice for you. Normally I have more stuff to work with than forks and batteries and... chocolate.

FELIX Real chocolate?

ALEX Yes, real chocolate. Not now.

FELIX Ugh, and it's all on the grass, and... what a waste.

ALEX There will be more chocolate. Actually. Felix?

[sfx: receding footsteps]

[Alex and Felix whisper as they retreat.]

ATHENA Um, okay, but... Anyways. Thank you, Miles. That was a lot of fun. And I hope you didn't actually electrocute yourself.

MILES Oh, don't worry, it's not the first time.

C41 They're not joking.

MILES More of a shock than anything.

ATHENA Doesn't sound great for your health either way.

MILES Well, heh, yeah, I mean- Hey, wait a second. Wait what's-

ATHENA Huh?

[sfx: candles burning, approaching steps]

[Alex, Felix, Miles and C41 begin singing “Happy Birthday”]

ATHENA (overlapping) Oh, my... guys, what are you... that better not be our only fruit cake-

ALEX Come on, blow out the... flare candles. Make a wish.

ATHENA Okay, okay!

[sfx: blowing on candles, a glitch]

[sfx: candles burning]

[Alex laughs.]

[Athena hums in confusion]

[sfx: blowing on candles, a glitch]

[sfx: candles burning]

ALEX Come on, Romero. All in one go, now.

ATHENA Right. [sfx: blowing on candles, candles extinguishing]

[The crew cheers.] ALEX Happy Birthday. I'll clean up Miles's present later.

[Alex and Athena laugh.]

FELIX Time for cake!

[Felix leads Alex, Miles, and C41 in singing “For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow”]

FELIX Cake! ***

[THEME MUSIC FADES IN]

ANNOUNCER Micro-Cosmos: A New Science Fiction Podcast. This episode, "A Little Piece of Home", was written by Zyrel Thompson and Lauren Tucker, edited by Luka Miller, and directed by Jesse Smith, Zyrel Thompson, and Lauren Tucker. It starred Jesse Smith as the voice of Athena Romero, Jackson Rossman as the voice of Miles Abbott, Luka Miller as the voice of Alex dela Cruz, Kaleb Piper as the voice of Felix Couvillion, and Pippa van Beek-Paterson as the voice of Cal. Original music by Julia Barnes, and sound editing by Tobias Friedman. Be sure to stay tuned to our feed for upcoming episodes from the new backpacking intergalactic adventure from Futuristic Trail Mix Productions. To follow the show and find transcripts, you can find us on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram as @MicroCosPod. Questions, comments, and concerns can be emailed to us via [email protected]. Find more information on the show on our website, microcospod.space. Thank you for listening.

[THEME MUSIC FADES OUT]

#micro-cosmos #Microcosmos #micrcosmos #microcos pod #new podcast #science fiction #sciencefictionpodcast #audio drama #microcospod #podcast reccomendation #fiction podcast

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nelllraiser · 4 years ago

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chains and grace | adam & nell

TIMING: october 30th, the full moon, just before sunset. LOCATION: the trees near dark score lake. PARTIES: @walker-journal & @nelllraiser SUMMARY: adam and nell prepare themselves for their first full moon as werewolves. CONTENTS: medical blood (sacrificial fingerstick prick)

Fallen leaves rustled under Adam’s feet, forming a carpet of brilliant oranges and yellows while subtler strings of red and browning rot. The waning afternoon sun forged the forest canopy in halcyon golds. The shadows of the sun-silhouetted branches played across Adam’s face as he affixed more chains to the trunk of the stoutest tree he could find. Adam had no idea how strong he’d be on the first transformation, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

Kaden may’ve not wanted to kill him, but Adam had more than a few former coworkers with aim that’d put an army Ranger sniper to shame and fewer qualms about pulling the trigger. Thus a remote location and strong bonds were preferable here.

Adam ‘I love fine ass and incendiary rounds’ Walker realized that there might just be a certain ironic justice in him worrying about trigger happy paramilitary.

“How’s yours going,” Adam asked his dance partner for this lunar stakeout.

If Nell hadn’t been treating this evening as a sort of funeral for life as she knew it, the autumnal palette of the trees paired with the steadily setting sun and the company of Adam would have made for a wholly enjoyable setting. As it were, the somber feelings she’d been trying to avoid ever since being bitten by the werewolf were quickly encroaching, refusing to be shoved away in these last moments, effectively ruining any hope for a happy or peaceful outing.

“I’m going for a nice cat’s cradle look,” Nell answered, still managing to refuse the dread in her stomach access to her sense of sarcasm, even if the joke fell flatter than it normally would have. “I thought it’d be a nice last ‘screw you’ to the wolf part of the situation.” The chains alone were enough to cause her anxiety to prickle uncomfortably, not exactly a fan of imprisonment ever since she’d been trapped beneath the Ring. “What about you?” She looked to Adam as she reversed the question, posing it both as an attempt to get a read on his tree to chain ratio, as well as how he might be handling the situation as a whole.

“Kind of just going for restraint over style here,” Adam noted as he strained his way through some of the last preparations, the muscles of his neck and upper arms wiry the fallen Hunter leveraged one foot against the tree he was trying to bind chains around. “Y’know”, Adam posited, leaning back far enough to look at Nell upside-down he continued to heave at the chain into place around a huge super maple while pushing against the bark with a leg. “I’d hoped when we were going to start tying each other up it’d be…”

This particular train of thought was interrupted by a rasping click as the last chain link slid past the main knot into tautness. Adam stumbled backward, taking off guard by the unexpected success and tripping over a root.

“Guess what I mean is,” Adam amended, changing his tone and just decided to own the mishap by sitting up with his back against the chained tree. “We still don’t have to do this together if you don't want to,” he prevaricated carefully. “When we first change we’ll have no control, and I honestly dunno if like...we might end up hurting each other with the chains? I dunno.”

The truth of why he thought Nell might not want him here on the night she lost her magic had little to do with safety, but Adam wanted to give her an easier out here if she wanted it.

In the end Nell would most likely be banking on the power of her magic when it came to the hardness of her chains. Physical knot tying wasn’t a practical skill she’d been taught when the same end could be achieved with a simple spell. Still- she sat back on her heels to take a look at her handiwork, head tilting to the side to gain a new perspective that didn’t actually provide any other insights. Sparing Adam a flicker of amusement both at his words and momentary fumble, she dusted her hands on the sides of her pants restless now that she didn’t have the chains to preoccupy them. “Never say never. Maybe it could be a treat for making it through the first full moon.”

Maybe Nell had misjudged where that sentiment was going, though. Was Adam having second thoughts? “Why wouldn’t I want to? Do you not want to? Do this together, I mean.” Nell generally gravitated towards having what she perceived as moments of weakness by her lonesome, preferring not to have audiences for the times she felt most vulnerable. But in a break from tradition— she’d been grateful to not have to do this alone. There was nothing more she could do for the chains, and she let her own back slide down the trunk of her tree before settling onto the ground. “I thought werewolves don’t usually go after each other.” Or was there a different reason he might want to change their plan, and go his own way.

Adam sat on leaves at the foot of his chained tree, glancing up at the boughs swaying above him in the canopy overhead before looking back to Penelope. He drew a knee up and laid an arm across it, flexing his fingers and ignoring the whisper of imagination that visualized claws tearing their way out of them.

“I’m down to do this together,” he assured carefully, pushing images of shredding skin and distending ribs out of his brain. “I just...I dunno.”

“Feel you are losing a lot more than me here,” the fallen Hunter pointed out softly, “thought you might want me not being here when… y’know.”

“Oh-” was Nell’s unintentional filibuster of a reply, unsure if she wanted to open the floodgates concerning that particular can of worms. For the most part she’d been avoiding it, preoccupying herself with learning as much as she could get her hands on when it came to Bloody Mary, the mysterious sands, and Adam’s own disappearing abilities. The looming loss of her powers left her feeling as if there were a black hole deep within her stomach, and if the witch so much as stood still for a single moment to spare it a thought— it would pull her in, dragging her under like a similar hole had threatened to do when Bea had been killed. “I just...you know when Bea died?” she began, not entirely certain how to express herself. “And sometime afterwards you let me come over- and it was nice. I don’t know-” she backtracked self-consciously. After all, sharing emotions in person was not one of her stronger suits. “I guess maybe I thought it’d be nice again or something- if you were here.” As for what there was to lose... “Do I? I mean I know your abilities are gone right now, but I’m sure whatever strength and senses that come from being a werewolf won’t be the same as what you had, right? And- well- I can’t imagine it’s all that comforting to become something you were trained to kill.” Dark brown eyes that appeared nearly black in the fading light of the setting sun rose to find Adam’s while she finished.

Adam nodded as Nell alluded to when he’d broke down and they were together. While some fraternity mates had given him knowing nod the morning after the truth was….more vulnerable than that. Adam’d played along with lascivious implication because it was easier to let play it off as just another fuck-romp then admit he’d been falling to pieces. “I’m glad you’re here Nell,” he said with steady directness. “No matter what happens.”

“I’m more ...worried that I am trained to kill and I kinna get lost in it,” Adam admitted. He was past the point of pretending that he wasn’t an adrenaline junkie who got a rush when his family had warned he should only feel dutiful dispassion when dispatching the enemies of mankind. “Part of me can’t get enough and it made me good at what I do for all the wrong reasons,” confessed one who might’ve become a very different man if he hadn’t been born into a Hunter family that stressed moral utilitarianism and military discipline rather than bloodsport. “I tried not to let that control me but uh…”

“Guess what I’m trying to say is that if I’m this fucked up as a human,” Adam tried again, “what is wolf-me going to be like?”

“I’m glad you’re here, too,” Nell answered with her own unwavering certainty, a gentler smile granting itself to Adam. It was softer- calmer than her usual confident grins and smirks, though just as sincere. “Whatever happens I’m glad we can do it together.”

The mention of her magic had reminded Nell of the flower seeds she’d brought along with her, hoping to create one last thing with her gifts before she had to say goodbye to them. Not yet retrieving them from her pocket, she began to draw a circle in the dirt between their two trees, a single finger paving the way of runes and sigils as it trailed along the forest floor.

Her spellwork paused as she listened, looking up with a slight frown as he shared. “I don’t think you’re fucked up,” she said reflexively, never enjoying those she cared about speaking of themselves in such a way. “I think we’re just...doing the best with what we’ve got, you know?” But she knew it went beyond that. There was no denying that werewolves had a natural bloodthirst about them the closer it was to the full moon, and it made sense that Adam might dread what result that would garner when paired with a desire that was already present. “Well that’s why we’ve got each other, right?” she asked, referring to the unofficial pact they’d made to check on one another when it came to questionable deeds. “To make sure...we’re still the people we want to be. I won’t let it happen-” Her voice was strong, Nell’s sheer determination peeking through. “If getting lost to that isn’t what you want- if it seems like you’re getting close...we can figure out how to pull you back. And I think at the end of the day the fact that you don’t want to become that says more about you than liking the rush of a kill says. Intentions are more powerful than people give them credit for,” she ended, somewhat aware that her words bordered on lines of witch-hippy speak, but also knowing it to be true after a lifetime of powering her magic with just that.

“Thanks Nell,” Adam managed with a thick swallow, wanting to echo her sentiment but feeling guilt for being the impetitus of this whole situation. Seeing Penelope perform this last swan song of a spell just hit it home that he’d fucked up the life of yet another of his friends.

Ma’al had suggested another way right? Service to Hell for being a Hunter again?

But ..Nell was losing her powers for the sake of saving his life. If Adam was really considering taking on the mark and swearing himself to the Hells, shouldn’t it be to restore her powers, not his?

“Nell uh.” Adam swallowed, feeling the horrible tension of this last option in his chest as the sky gained streaks of livid violents and yellows in the countdown till sundown.

“If I could make a deal to save your powers...even if it might mean doing something morally uh, not so great.” That admittedly was probably an understatement given what Ma’al true form actually was, but Adam didn’t want to foist that on Nell’s conscience. “Would you take it?”

He felt real shitty dropping this on Penelope as they were trying to resign themselves to their fate. But if he could offer her a chance to keep this part of herself...wasn’t even becoming Ma’al’s new pet wolf worth it?

“I’ll do it if you need me too,” Adam assured, suddenly thankful for the tree’s unyielding support against his back.

Nell’s face had been turned towards the sun as it continued to sink lower, half-convinced she could see every single millimeter disappear behind the horizon as it went. It felt as if it were some great celestial clock counting down the minutes she had left with her magic, and the moments left until she’d lose a piece of herself that was as much as part of her as an arm or leg. Then as Adam called her attention back, she sat back on her heels next to her tiny circle, satisfied with the work she’d done. “A deal?” she echoed first, not entirely certain what he’d meant by it. Her reflexive gut reaction was a quick reply of “Don’t do that.”

The little indent between her eyes furrowed as Nell tried to truly process what it was Adam was offering, and potentially at the expense of himself. “Listen-” she began carefully, hoping she’d somehow manage to find the right words. “When I came to help you- Sure- I didn’t know that it’d result in losing my magic. But well- the thing is-” She paused on the precipice of her words, still not quite used to bearing herself openly though she was getting used to it with Adam. “I’d still do it knowing what I know now.” Though her magic was the biggest price she could think to pay, there was one thing that she knew would demand an even larger toll, and it was losing someone she cared for as much as she did for the hunter before her. “And if it’s morally questionable- and I just got done telling you I’d help keep you from that…I wanna keep that promise to you.” There was a pause before she continued on. “I don’t know what I am without my magic,” she admitted with a hitch in her voice, “but I know it’s not a person that wants to have a hand in something that might hurt you.” This time she leaned forward to place a tentative hand on top of Adam’s. “But thank you.” She wasn’t sure how else to show that the gravity of his offer hadn’t been lost on her.

She glanced back at her circle, finally taking the daffodil seeds from her pocket. “Do you wanna help me?” she asked with a nod towards the magic runes, deciding that if they were going to have this transformation together- why shouldn’t they do this together as well?

Adam wasn’t going to force anything on another person, but Nell’s decision still made his teeth grit down. Guilt and the trainwreck he’d brought his friends’ lives seemed to line his gut with lead.

Morgan had told Adam something about what it was like to wield magic and lose it. Adam couldn’t really relate to be able to feel the universe coursing through him, that meld his pure intent with quantum fields, or beckon beings across universes through sheer desire. In truth, Adam was a pretty physical guy who was content with the simpler animal pleasures of life.

Sure, he knew a lot more about other dimensions and otherworldly beings than people might expect from his test scores, but Adam's soldiering upbringing had viewed the multiverse as a dark and pitiless infinity full of eldritch predators and malevolent alien gods.

Not exactly something you want to “embrace.”

He wanted to be there for Nell, to be a pillar for her while she went through this loss like Morgan's girlfriend had been. But Adam worried that he couldn’t relate enough to how Penelope experienced the world to be who she needed him to be. When Nell had said earlier that intentions were powerful, the cold utilitarianism of ‘threats’, ‘tactical priorities’, and ‘strategic objectives’ that Adam was brought up in almost led him to say something dismissive before he stopped himself.

It was that impulse Adam feared. Ideological baggage doesn’t just disappear. That bullshit stays with you, lodged deep in your brain stem somewhere, jumping out whenever you were scared or uncomfortable. Like when you were about to literally split out of your own skin and become something hunted by your own people.

As just a random example.

Adam got up and dusted off the leaves from his jeans and walked over to Nell. He took a knee by the arcane diagram. “So uh...we need to chant ominously in Latin or…?”

Despite the heaviness of the air surrounding them, Nell cracked the beginnings of a smile while Adam posed his question, reminded of the time they’d worked on the demon amulet in her greenhouse. “I think I can carry the chanting part and make it just ominous enough.” Tearing open the seed packet with her teeth to sprinkle them over the center of the circle, she felt her the ache of her loss rise to meet her as she reached for her magic for the last time that mattered. “Remember when I said emotions can make magic stronger? Like the wolpertingers at my birthday party?” she asked. “They help fuel it and make it more powerful if you focus on them. And then it’s almost like you can just pour them into the spell. Just letting them leave you to create something new that isn’t exactly them.” Nell couldn’t help but feel that no amount of the dread and premature mourning for her abilities she put into the spell would be enough to chip away at them, but at least she could use them to form something that would live past that loss. “It’s like free magical therapy,” she tried to joke, though her hands wavered as she passed them over the seeds. “So if you just focus on what you’re feeling, and let them go into the spell- you’ll be helping too.”

Nell reached forwards to lightly clasp Adam’s wrists in her hands, trying to guide his palms to the center of the circle where the seeds lay before resting them atop the soil. Pulling a hidden fingerstick out of a bobby pin from her hair that was kept for situations such as these, she looked at it for a moment too long— realizing there’d be no need for it after tonight. How many more things like this would she find after her magic was gone? Like little knives hiding around her life to slip between her ribs when she least expected it. Shaking the thought away she pricked the tip of Adam’s finger, letting the droplets of blood wet the dirt. Then she did the same to herself before covering the hunter’s hands with her own, the Latin falling from her as the blood mixed. She let every emotion she’d been forcing down for the past month painfully bubble up inside her until it felt like she might burst before letting it spill over into the magic. Slowly but surely, green shoots began to sprout through the cracks of their fingers, the stalks reaching towards the setting sun as new life was born, already desperate to survive. Nell could have gone further- taken the plants to completion and let them bloom. Instead she let the magic end after the daffodils had grown a few inches above the ground, wanting them to find their own way in a new world just as Nell and Adam would have to do in the coming days.

“Well- that’s it, I guess,” Nell said shakily. It was over. “Chain time now?” she asked as casually as she could, tilting her head back towards their respective trees.

Adam looked up at a sky the color of blue slate, crisscrossed by the lines of cirrus clouds that’d had been lit up in a conflagration of deep carmine by the setting sun. The branches of the forest’s canopy stretched across the sky panoramy like arms through up against the crepular glare, the autumnal reds and oranges of their leaves transmuted into titian gold by the last sunlight passing through them.

But shadows deepened in this last fading flare, lengthening from the trunks of trees, gnarled masses of roots, and undersides of the softly swaying branches. The leafy carpet of the forest floor darkened until the conjured daffodils seemed defiant against the gloom in their lush newborn yellow, basking in the last dappled rays.

Adam glanced from the blood lingering on his finger to the daffodils that’d blossomed in the span of seconds. It occurred to him that...in a way...these flowers had come from him and Nell, there was a tiny part of him in those stems and blooms. “Woah Nell, like...that's amazing,” he breathed, not sure why this small last act of fertility should get so much more of a reaction then the crazier stuff he’d seen Nell do on the battlefield.

Maybe this was part of what Morgan had meant about the universe becoming a part of you?

A cold dismissive part of Adam reminded himself that he wasn’t thoughtful or smart and he shouldn’t be doing galaxy-brain bullshit about some fucking flowers. It was the same remorseless inner voice that’d always reminded Adam that orders were orders, he needed to focus on the mission not the distractions.

The boyish sense of wonder snapped off like a light switch. Even in his last minutes of humanity, the bone-deep conditioning still put blinders on Adam’s selfhood.

“Yeah we need to get ready,” Adam rose to his feet again. He hesitated a moment, wondering if he should hug Nell, say something that he more felt for her then knew.

Adam’s lips parted as he searched for words for a moment, but they closed as he swallowed down his own sense of guilt and failures as a man. He’d tried to meet Nell’s eyes, but quickly averted his own gaze and started busying himself with the chains, affixing heavy iron locks to his wrists.

Nell mirrored his hesitation after they’d stood, knowing she wanted something in that moment— but uncertain how to act on it. But tonight they didn’t have time to find the words or motions, seemingly already a prisoner to the rising moon and setting sun despite the shift having not yet happened. The last grain of sand had fallen through their hourglass, and now they had to face the inevitable. This wasn’t the end— not really. But no matter how many times Nell tried to tell herself such, she couldn’t get the words to stick. Things were changing after tonight whether she liked it or not, doors closing and opening. Some were clear cut and well-defined like the loss of her magic, others were shrouded in darkness, unable to be found in the gloom of uncertainty that was where they went from here. The rooms the doors were closing on were the ends of many a thing she wasn’t wanting to relinquish, and even if she lived to see the sunrise it wouldn’t be what it was before.

At least Nell wouldn’t have to do it alone. This was the only good she could think of that was coming of tonight as she glanced over to Adam once more, still trying to find what it was she wanted to say. Instead she focused on shackling herself, locking the cold metal around her wrists in a way that was little too reminiscent of her prisoner days in the Ring. Ignoring the shiver that went down her spine, she decided this was her last chance to say something and did her best. “This is gonna sound shitty- and I don’t mean it like that but...if I was gonna get bit I’m glad it’s with you.” It wasn’t perfect, but it’d have to do.

The last ray of light blinked out of existence in those last moments, and Nell waited- not knowing in the least how to prepare for what was coming, going forth into the darkness with the realization that at least she had one, tiny lantern in the form of the guy who’d stumbled into the Ring looking for a demon amulet all those months ago. She didn’t know how they’d gotten here, but even now she wouldn’t change it, somehow grateful in these last moments for it. Nell waited until the pinks and purples of the sky stopped reflecting against the new glass of the lake, waited for what felt like hours but couldn’t have been more than mere seconds. Waited until she heard the first cricket begin its song, and there wasn’t a scrap of light left in the sky. But there was nothing. Her hands were still her hands, her feet still encased in the sneakers she’d worn, and her magic…

Nell reached for it once again, a half-laugh, half-cry of relief breaking from her lips as she realized that one in a million had come to fruition. The full moon had come, and she was still here, human and magic and everything she’d been before. Instantly she tried to crane her head towards Adam’s direction, struggling to get far enough away from the tree to see him clearly in the new darkness. “Adam?” she asked carefully, unsure whether she’d get words or a wolfish snarl in response. She repeated his name more insistently. “Adam? Are you there?”

Adam felt the moon in his blood. The air felt heavy around him, as the tidal pull of the moon was ripping at his body. Energic pressure seemed to press down on Adam. His heartbeat hammered in his temples.

Nell said something to him. Where was he?

Red tinged thoughts flooded into Adam’s head, a visceral longing that quickened his breath and brought up goosebumps of frisson along his skin.

He needed to snap Nell’s neck, to hold her close as she went still and cold.

It’d make him strong again. Whole again.

The Hunter’s Moon whispered in Adam’s veins like wine seeping deep into his bloodstream.

But Adam looked down at his hands and saw only human fingers.

The fuck? Why’d he feel this way...the moon...what was going on?

“Yeah I’m here.”

Nell muttered a spell to unlock the metal around her wrists, a wave of relief once tumbling through her as Adam voiced his confirmation. “You’re okay? You’re human?” she asked again, as if she could hardly believe it. And why should she? Kaden had said their odds were one in a million and here they were— apparently two in one million. “You’re sure?” Another breathless laugh found her as she marveled at their luck. “We fucking did it,” she said before stepping forwards to unlock Adam’s own shackles, even though they’d had no hand in deciding their fates when it came to turning into werewovles or not. Gone was the hesitation she’d felt before they’d locked themselves to the tree, rushing forwards to throw herself into Adam for a hug as elation made quick work of any previous uncertainties.

Adam looked at the places on his wrist that Nell had unlocked the shackles from. There were no signs of struggle. He hadn’t just wolfed and out blacked out. His clothes weren’t shredded and Nell was elated.

What happened? Had his mutation differentiated into those of a Beast Hunter after that encounter with the wolves, granting him immunity? But if that was the case how had Nell not contracted it?

Adam took Nell into his arms, just content with the reassuring presence of it as his brain still tried to go through the stages of shock, acceptance, and relief. He tried to banish that ingrained Hunter paranoia and just enjoy being alive and human with Nell. “Yeah, we made it,” Adam affirmed back to her in a murmur as he held Penelope close.

The moon burned like molten silver in the sky, seeming to briefly ripple into deep crimson in Adam’s vision like a heat mirage. He could feel Nell’s heartbeat against his chest. Even as he craved Nell’s touch to reassure him that this was real, that they were really going to make it, a small savage thought slithered into Adam’s mind.

What would it be like to feel that heartbeat stop?

Somehow Adam knew...without knowing how...that it’d make him strong, vital, ecstatically alive.

He pushed the thought away, hoping it was just some lingering trace of lycanthropy in his bloodstream reacting to the full moon.

Yeah, must be.

His embrace tightened around Penelope, content to just hold her close and just ...be..for a little while, enjoying this unexpected act of mercy from the universe.

#wickedswriting #chatzy #ch:adam #med blood tw #chains and grace

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silver-wield · 4 years ago

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(1/3) Agreeing with the 🌼 anon. That blogger didn’t use “woman empowerment” but she did use “female assertiveness”, and she’s actually an abuse victim herself. Only problem is that she seems to invalidate people who’ve had different abusive/uncomfortable and toxic experiences with behaviors like Aerith’s. I think she raises some good points about the use of the word “abusive” in fandom spaces, but her assumption that the people speaking out haven’t suffered abuse is what makes me critical.

(2/3) She’s recently talked about how Tifa forced Cloud to do things as well. I’m of the opinion that the two situations are largely different for a variety of reasons. Cloud never outright tells Tifa “no” and has it ignored. His grumping is often just a front. With Aerith, on the other hand, he’s consistently uncomfortable. Forced to take little to no pay for his work, faced with people who don’t take no for an answer, and is prevented from leaving by Aerith intercepting him.

(3/3) I said “prevented from leaving” when I should have said she exhibited some truly stalkerish behavior and jumped out at him in the darkness from an alley as he was trying to go. It’s not exactly shining behavior on her part. Especially when she then delays his leaving even more. I think it’s strange to grasp for a lot of people because Cloud doesn’t put up more of a fight, but I also think some manipulation tactics were put into play.

(4/5) Anon who agrees with 🌼 again. The issue has been bothering me a bit because she does raise a good point: why doesn’t Cloud ask anybody else for help? I was wondering if you could answer that question (no pressure, of course). What bothers me the most is that this blogger keeps assuming people are mentioning this as a way to justify hating a character. She implies that the people speaking up haven’t experienced abuse and that they only know it as an abstract concept.

(5/5) That’s incredibly damaging to a lot of people. I myself liked Aerith as a character once I got to know her better, and actually ship her with Cloud (I’m a multishipper), but there’s no ignoring that Aerith acts very strange in chapter 8, at the detriment of Cloud’s consent, comfort, time, and stability. The fact that so many people have spoken up about this isn’t a coincidence. People with bad experiences are coming out and getting disregarded. That shouldn’t be happening.

Apologies for the long post 😅 I hope you don’t mind. I’m pretty impassioned about this issue, honestly. Because I do actually agree with the blogger on multiple points, but find that she seems to keep missing the issue and hurting other people in the fandom. Cloud doesn’t need to be held at gunpoint to be put into an uncomfortable (and possibly dangerous - he doesn’t know Aerith all that well) situation. She’s right about how certain words are misused, but she’s dodging the heart of the issue.

Honestly, it’s exhausting how these people take concepts they don’t understand and slap them on shit that’s the exact opposite like if they scream they’re right enough people will believe them.

It takes as long as your browser and typing speed to look shit up.

Assertiveness is the quality of being self-assured and confident without being aggressive.

WITHOUT.

Assertiveness is not gender oriented, so what the fuck even are people blabbing about now? Female assertiveness? Gimme a break. Being assertive is a character trait. Some people are naturally assertive, while others need to learn how to stand up for themselves. Like a particular spiky haired protagonist.

Aerith’s not assertive, she’s pushy because she doesn’t respect Cloud, and respect is part of being assertive. Being able to get your point across without being a douchebag about it. Like how certain people are constantly screaming how they’re right and dragging everyone else through the mud. Those people aren’t assertive because assertiveness is a positive trait. It implies confidence in oneself and one’s ideals. There’s no need to be a dick to people because they believe in their viewpoint and see no reason to pull others down.

Ex: I’m both assertive and can be a dick because one of my other traits is petty bench, but on the whole I’m assertive without activating that petty bench mode until people piss me off because I operate on a respect and respect alike policy. If people come to me and give me shit then they shouldn’t expect flowers in exchange.

Back to the thing.

Aerith talks over Cloud, ignores his opinion, bullies him into doing what she wants “this is the plan, Cloud, and you’ll learn to love it” and deliberately ignores the fact he says no. That line creeps me tf out and it obviously does Cloud too because he literally steps up to her and says “what?” in an aggressive voice. Cloud has a limit and Aerith was very close to going over it.

Cloud. said. no.

And guess what? Cloud’s not assertive. Not for himself. Not until he’s pushed beyond normal means.

He couldn’t say no to Jessie, despite not being happy about the job. He couldn’t refuse to help Aerith, despite not wanting to fight Reno -- he knows how tough Turks are, he’s not an idiot -- and then he got compensated with a date that made Reno call him a weirdo (and he never accepted it either, so Aerith’s yet another person in sector 5 who took him for a fool). So, yeah, no goddamn wonder Cloud’s reluctant to argue when Aerith could ruin his hard won reputation inside of an afternoon. He says “That wasn’t the deal” when she tries to force him to stay, but can’t keep insisting when that doesn’t work. Because Cloud is shy af. Were people not paying attention to the promise? To CC? That’s real Cloud and real Cloud makes up the core of soldier Cloud. He’s a shy, awkward boy who could barely speak to his crush. He didn’t get along with others because he’s introverted. He’s quiet and reserved. Just because he kicks all the ass doesn’t change that about him.

Cloud isn’t a talker. Everyone knows this about him. It’s a canon fact. So, not being a talker, being reserved, quiet, introverted, unable to speak up for his own sake when he wants something that together showcases someone who isn’t good at standing up for himself. He tries. He tried so hard to refuse Aerith, but he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He either got lost trying to get home or he put up with the pushy girl who keeps making him do shit he doesn’t want to. He sighs and pulls faces and doesn’t look happy. He wants to go home. He still said no several times to her whenever she tried to waylay him further. She didn’t care about what he wanted. That doesn’t make her assertive. It makes her the asshole because she has no respect for him.

People think that because he called Jessie desperate that it meant he wanted to stay with Aerith. That he’s capable of speaking up for himself. Nope With Jessie, he’d had a long ass day of work and longer ass night, been excluded by both Barret and the Avalanche trio, made to break into Jessie’s house (which doesn’t sit well with Cloud’s actual moral compass), then did a bunch more difficult shit fighting off Shinra and then literally jumped off the plate. Okay?! Cloud had a long ass day and it was like 4am by that point and he was tired. Anybody tries to say after that much work they’d be nice Imma call them a goddamn liar.

Aerith refused to tell Cloud the way home, absolutely prevented him from leaving, made him do a bunch of work for shitty or no pay, belittled and insulted him, then barricaded the hallway so he couldn’t escape and stalked him to the exit when he escaped. He literally pulls a yessh face after reluctantly agreeing to let her show him how to get home. And then when they get there she withholds vital information for how he can actually get into the sector (or did people not notice him saying the giant gate was shut too?) until she gets what she wants out of him. And he sighs. Again. He has no say in anything because Aerith doesn’t listen to anyone but herself. The only reason he starts being nice to her is she tries to get info about Zack out of him and Cloud’s a nice guy who feels sorry for her. He knows he’ll never see her after this (or did people also misinterpret that reaction to Elmyra? Probably, since the only person he’d want to make a normal life with is Tifa, so being told he can’t is gonna get a reaction duh), so why be a dick to a girl who’s obviously upset about her boyfriend? Literally the second he saw Tifa -- barely even saw her because he knew that was her from the back of her head, her shoulder and hands -- he ran to her. He forgot Aerith even existed. But, sure, please do focus on the fact that he respected Tifa enough to do as she asked after an entire goddamn day of being disrespected by someone else. He’s not gonna treat Tifa the way he was just treated by Aerith. He actually cares about her.

And what did they think the message in Stand Up was? It’s not about dancing ffs. Andrea’s telling Cloud not to be afraid to be himself. That means speaking up for himself too, not about being real Cloud, which is a message he wouldn’t even understand at that point because he’s soldier Cloud and not aware of real Cloud. Andrea figured out Cloud right away. He saw a boy who’d do anything for the woman he loved, even let himself get pressured into something he’d be embarrassed by. That’s what stand up means in relation to Cloud.

Tifa never forced Cloud to do anything. She asked him to go with her to collect filter money, then immediately backtracked when she realised she’d have to pay him for that too. Cloud agreed and smiled at her. She also let him keep all of the money they got, which in the end gave him a grand total of 2150 gil, not the 2000 he was promised, so they overpaid him to make up for the delay.

She also asked him after the first quest “what do you want to do now?” and he said “Dunno,” so she made a suggestion. There’s no force behind that. He could refuse and go take a nap or something. She spent the day getting him work and helping him with that work, so much so that he was fully prepared to split the fee with her. Unlike with Aerith.

I could go on and on about this because I’ve gone over that chapter so many times. I don’t just replay odd chapters to get stuff, I replay the entire game, so I get to see the development of everything as it unfolds and see those connections between things that I overlooked before because I was too busy looking at something else. People think because they spend umpteen hours in sector 5 that Cloud did too. Nope. Cloud was there for around 11 hours before he left.

It was morning when he woke and since in December the sun would rise around 8am, that’s the earlier possible time that it could’ve been. In fact it could’ve been later. Cloud and Aerith spend several hours getting back to the sector so that it’s close to dinner time when they arrive. She then makes him do odd jobs for a few hours and then they eat and Cloud has a nap -- because he literally has a dream. You know, that thing people keep clinging to. He can’t dream if he’s not asleep. When he wakes up it’s dark and since it’s past dinner time, it’s around 6-7pm when he escapes and makes for the sector 6 exit. And that’s chapter 8.

Chapter 9 takes around 4 hours for them to complete. They spend a couple of hours fighting in the coliseum, then Cloud messes around while Aerith’s getting ready, which from Madam M seems to take around an hour. That leaves the rest of the time for the honey bee inn show, getting Cloud changed, walking to Corneo’s and the bit in the dungeon. Then they get dropped in the sewers.

Do you see how little time Cloud actually spent with Aerith? He’s known her for like 15 hours total before he reunites with Tifa. And people think he fell in love with her? Ew. Even Disney knew better than to try that.

#ship war #for common sense #long post #for the cinnamon roll

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