#so i don't think she is villain but she is not without a fault in regard to social segregation

[greenqueenhightower]

why do you think traditional feminine women get more hate in AsoIaF fandom. is it just bigotry or more? there are varied examples: elia, sansa, alicent, catelyn, even helaena all of them are hated or disliked even by the women in the fandom who ought to atleast try to understand it was not easy for them. they were also trying to survive and navigate this world. they were not flaw-less, they fumbled, they made mistakes, they were selfish, ruthless, vindictive ect but most of the times they were trying to survive.

also the argument that they perpetuate patriarchy is so tone deaf in AsoIaF context?? every woman in-universe perpetuated patriarchy in some way or other because they were raised that way and had little choice. women like visenya, alyssa, even alysanne, rhaenyra, cersei, lyanna perpetuated the existing westerosi norms knowingly or unknowingly, and sometimes went beyond.

not every woman can wield sword and fight or WANT TO wield a sword, wear pants or fight. if women like sansa are interested in feminine pursuits what is wrong with that? if women like alicent are inclined to be female politicians without lifting a weapon, whats wrong with that? if women like catelyn can verbally and physically defend their family and still be soft and motherly whats wrong in that? if women like elia do their duties with diligence and delicacy, and expect loyalty and protection in return, whats wrong with that? if women like naerys and rhaella were sexually abused by their husbands IS THE FAULT WITH THEM?? it was not easy being a feminine woman in this world either. as the lady of a house, they had hundreds of things to oversee. to undermine that as women because they didnt rebel for the sake of it, is so wrong on so many levels.

Hi anon💚

You are right, traditional feminine women in media seldom get any recognition or sympathy and understanding from the viewers. I think it has to do with the prevalence of "girlboss" characters in media who at times stretch the norms to an unrealistic degree. There's nothing wrong with girlboss characters, as there shouldn't be anything wrong with traditional feminine women. Representation matters, context matters, how well a character is built and developed also matters.

I have a personal theory as to why women like Alicent are often misunderstood and either victimized or villainized by viewers, without being allowed any space to just be. Sadly, it's very difficult for a lot of "modern" minds to shake away the misogyny that's shaped their worldviews growing up. Such misogyny dictates that traditional women are "dumb" because they like girly stuff for example, or they suck at male fields because they like to do their hair and nails every month, or because they menstruate. What I'm saying is, a lot of negative stereotypes about traditionally feminine women still exist, and unfortunately they still influence and predispose the viewers' opinions when a character who fits those stereotypes appears on screen. It's easier to call a woman a "whore," a "terrible mother," a "monster," a "villain," a "witch," "evil," "dumb," a "horrible driver," a "horrible person," "blonde=stupid," etc and you don't get the same insults hurled at men, because the whole world, irrespective of culture or time period, has been calling women as such. Women have been accused of all sorts of failings regardless of whether they were traditional, feminine, pretty, ugly, or not. It's a fact that women are more easily to put the blame on than men, and have proven to historically accept that blame more easily than men, since they had limited freedom and power to choose otherwise.

It makes sense, therefore, for a female character who defies all norms to be celebrated and praised when she appears in media, like Rhaenyra. She stands against her society's conventions, she exercises free will, bends the rules, and acts like a man would in that society. Such behavior is unexpected and therefore it attracts attention and admiration. What often happens, though, is that viewers get so fixated on the "uniqueness" and "badassery" of her character that don't question anything else. Her motivations, her personality, the way she exercises her authority, her female mind. In the end, without realizing it, they can easily get caught up in celebrating a behavior that would be rather off-putting if it was coming from a man within that same society.

And in so doing, the "other woman," the more traditionally feminine one, is again neglected. Sidelined and marginalized, subjected to the same treatment that the viewers are so averse towards when it comes to female representation. By not acknowledging her struggles, the social conventions she has to abide by, the motivations and fears behind her actions, by again not being able to appreciate her female mind, they become her oppressors—just like the men who historically policed female bodies and hated and abused women by their exercise of authority and control over them.

So what I'm saying is, sadly, in every fandom women are never loved for being just women. This will hurt a lot of Rhaenyra's fans to hear (women included), but Rhaenyra is more loved and celebrated for closely resembling a man rather than challenging stereotypes of womanhood, and Alicent is hated and villainized just because she closely resembles a traditional woman.

[satoshy12]

It all started when Dani was known as a villain who fought against the Young Justice and Teen Titans, and Danny learned about it.

Let's say he wasn't happy and made his way to the Justice League reporting station to report the error.

So while there, Danny has a massive argument about why Dani isn't a villain, but the Young Justice and Teen Titans are the villains.

And showed a PowerPoint presentation about why Dani can't be a villain.

1 She is adorable.

2 She is my baby girl.

3 She can't do wrong.

4 She is a good girl.

5 Just look at these pictures of her!

And Danny did then go from her eating all her vegetables to wearing her home knit sweaters, sleeping during the day and when she is told, always brushing her teeth on time 3 times a day, and reading the books she is giving in school without arguing about pictures!

It ended up with Batman sitting down with Danny after Flash brought both coffee and saying. "He knows how Danny is feeling; the people don't understand that his son, Red Hood, is just misunderstood, not a villain."

Danny then said, " But where did I do wrong? I was a hero before I retired; was it because I date a retired villain?"

Danny had been dating Blackfire for a long time. He saved her after she had fallen to Amity Park, and she is pretty good at taking care of the house and loves the engagement ring. Komand'r Fenton fully retired as villain or alien princess. 

Batman:" I did the same, but I don't think it's that fault. My others are heroes."

A/N

Dani's villain costume is based on Danny's and Blackfire's costumes.

[lightningbreath]

If I had a nickel for every time a female character was blamed for a male character's mistakes, I'd be a millionaire.

The only Links that had direct influence from Hylia in their journey were SS Link and BOTW/TOTK Link (and in that case, she could only help by giving them more heart and more stamina) but she had no influence on the lives of the other Links, and if the issue is the fact that they are the reincarnation of the Hero's Spirit, it's not her fault either, it was Demise who put him in this cycle of reincarnation along with Zelda.

Jesus, Hylia's plan, which was that whole thing of choosing a Hero (in Skyward Sword) to help her human reincarnation get rid of the problem that was Demise really was a terrible plan... and SHE HERSELF ADMITTED IT AND ASKED LINK FOR FORGIVENESS (through Zelda), Hylia expected SS Link to be the ONLY HERO, she expected the problem to end with SS.

She had no way of predicting that mf Demise would be a sore loser crybaby who would curse Link's soul and Zelda's bloodline to battle him from time to time.

She also had no way of predicting that the Three Golden Goddesses would decide to use Link and Zelda to deal with Hyrule's worst problems.

I bet my house that if Hylia were a God and not a Goddess, no one would care about her mistakes and wouldn't basically go out of their way to foment a hate campaign against her (to the point where there are people who blame Hylia for things that were done by the Three Goddesses and/or Demise).

But of course, we have to take as much blame off Demise/Ganondorf as possible (after all, he's apparently incapable of making decisions and answering for them) so that he can be a """poor victim of this evil Goddess who is the true mastermind of all the problems in the series and who is a misunderstood anti-hero/villain""".

But of course, the audience doesn't want to lose the trope of ""Evil Goddess who is the true mastermind behind all the series' problems, who destroys the protagonist's life and where the conquering villain is actually a misunderstood anti-hero/villain uwu"" and if for that, they need to completely destroy the characters to put them in those roles, then so be it. If this is the so-called ""gray writing, without good guys or bad guys"" then this is just hypocritical shit from people who want to think they are the moral superiors, because believe me, in these """gray"" stories, most of them always make it very clear who is the good guy and who is the bad guy and how these bad guys are pure trash who don't deserve sympathy.

[lexirambles]

Azuretime has changed my brain chemistry, so I'm going to ramble about some headcannons I have about their relationship. Hold onto your hats, this is gonna be a doozy!

The reason Two Time is always smiling is because of Azure. He always said to smile no matter what, that it makes hard times easier, that it lifts people around them up, that their smile is so, so beautiful. So they did, if anything, just to see Azure's face light up. Even after they killed him, they kept smiling. Even in purgatory, they kept smiling. It's kinda similar to Alastor's mentality on smiling. No one has ever seen Two Time's without that manic grin, only ever fading rarely when experiencing nightmares. The moment that smile breaks, the last piece of Azure that they have left will die, and then he'll really be gone. So they can never stop smiling, no matter what happens.

Azure's garden is a secret, a secret garden, if you will. The thing about cults is that they take everything that makes you an individual, everything has to involve the cult. Your relationships, your hobbies, your thoughts, your feelings. If everything you do isn't in the name of what you follow, then there's room to doubt. Azure doesn't garden because the cult wants/needs him to, he does it because it's his hobby! It's an attempt to hold onto his own individuality, to be his own person. Of course, he wants the same for his partner, so they sneak away to hang out where no one can judge them. It's where the whole "Quiet, Two Time! They're not supposed to see in here," came from. They thought it was secret, but being very close to Two Time, Amarah caught onto what they were doing. She didn't really interfere, though, as she knew Azure would be a "problem" anymore.

EVERYTHING IS AMARAH'S FAULT! She was the one that got Two Time into the cult, and served as their mentor once a member. She gave Two Time the dagger. Once she found out what they and Azure were doing, she knew it could be a very big problem. If this continued, he could convince them to stray away, or ever run away together. Well, one must take a life to gain their second, why not take out two lovebirds with one stone? She convinced Two Time of what they must do, one cannot love someone more than they love the spawn, they must get rid of him. And as we know, everything went exactly to plan. Also, I use She/Her for Amarah, I just prefer it, female villains are so much more fun. We did it with 1x, WE CAN DO IT AGAIN! Gaslight gatekeep girlboss!

Azure shows affection through gift giving. It's his way of showing that he's thinking of them and how they see him. Objects are symbols of their memories, the moments they share, and he wants to remember all of them. So whether it's a picture of them together, a pendant of The Spawn, or matching scarves, he loves giving Two Time random, useless stuff. He is very sentimental, and will keep anything Two Tiem gives them. The feeling is mutual, Two Time has a special place in their room for keeping all of Azure's gifts.

Two time is very physically affectionate, but only with Azure. They're always holding hands, brushing against each other, holding each other, touching the other's face, smooching galore! But they're only like this around Azure, they're pretty jumpy if anyone else tries to touch them. But with Azure? Full body hugs! Two time is also very small, especially when compared to Azure, who is pretty built. So they just get ABSORBED into Azure when they cuddle! In Forsaken, they are very touch starved, but doesn't feel comfortable being touched by any of the other survivors. Part of them don't think they deserve to be loved like that again... In fact, they actually enjoy being attacked/killed by Azurewrath, just to be touched by him again.

Azure loves tea! His favorites are floral teas, of course. He'll hold lil tea party dates in their secret garden with Two Time. He is on a personal quest to try EVERY SINGLE TEA THAT EVER EXISTS! He's even made his own blends. Are they good? No one knows! Two Time doesn't have the heart. Two Time's favorite is earl grey.

I see Two Time is AFAB, again because there are like NO WOMEN IN THIS GAME! Thus, they are inflicted with The Blood Curse (we all know.) Azure immediately enters Caretaker Mode every time. He'll take over their duties, get them chocolates, tea, a heating pad, and something for the cramps. They 100% have tried using their own period blood for a blood sacrifice and got scolded for it!

In similar regard, Two Time has a VERY high pain tolerance. They kind of have to, with how painful the second life process is, all the blood ledding rituals, and dying over and over again indefinitely. They has definitely creeped the other survivors out with this. They can break their own arm and not even flinch. They've ran off with greivous injuries they didn't even notice were there. Pain is no deterrent for them, and he holds no fear of death, making them incredibly reckless with absolutely no regard for their physical health. While certainly not to the same degree, before being Forsaken, Two time was still very durable and completely uneffected by pain. Azure would often be the one to nurse their wounds and keep them from throwing themselves into something too dangerous and getting hurt. They have absolutely tried to eat an extremely poisonous plant Azure was growing and had to be stopped.

ALRIGHT! That's all I got in me for today. Honestly sounds fun to just write a line of episodic one shots with all these ideas, but that's a project for another day. Enjoy your fluff and angst, fellow Azuretime shippers!

[tryingtofindmycomputer]

I'm too lazy to finish my wips but I'll let them free otherwise who know how long I would keep them as my skeletons in the closet (they're coming out, they're gay ur honor)

The prompt I came up with is that Shen Yuan plays a dating simulator based on PIDW but for girls and ends up transmigrated in it. (End game ship is scumcum cuz they're my little miaw miaws.)

Yes, Shen Yuan knows! The absolute embarrassment of a righteous cultivator setting that the original novel was, with thousands of beauties to be lost in the flowerbed, is being advertised as a dating sim?! Towards girls?? Unthinkable!

Shen Yuan doesn't see the appeal and wonders if whoever agreed with this was high off their kite! He bought the game anyways.

Don't get him wrong, he's not a masochist. He just wanted to see if he could find out more about the characters between all of the horrendous plot holes.

Who was he kidding? Himself! That absolute trash novel gave birth to the trashiest game ever! No contest for first place when you hold all of the seats at the podium of the horrorlympics.

Shen Yuan tried to find out more about each character because the novel was just a lake of red herrings, even if it still wasn't finished, but all of the cultivators ended up getting killed by Luo Binghe by the time he got even remotely close to romance between any of them.

At first he was okay with it since it was the stallion protagonist conquering his destiny and marrying his destined wife but there were only so many routes you could finish with Luo Binghe without it looking like lazy writing. This monstrosity was the same as the novel! Started out with good plot but ended up making him regret ever thinking the author of the book behind this game could be anything but a suck-up to perverts!

Yue Qingyuan? Dead. Wei Qingwei? Dead. Gongyi Xiao? Dead(??). Ming Fan? Dead. Liu Qingge? Dead... Well, that wasn't Binghe's fault. Shang Qinghua? Dead... That one also wasn't quite Binghe's fault. Mu Qingfang? Who even knows! Alive somewhere despite his sect being literally massacred. Shen Qingqiu? Dead, maybe?? In this point in time?? But he deserved it!

Oh! Don't even mention how he couldn't choose to be a guy! They didn't give him a choice, the hacks!! The beauty (read: amoeba) he was playing always ends up married to that bride snatcher, Luo Binghe!

And there are soooo many papapa scenes! The quality is not even good, where the fuck did all of the budget go except to animate papapa? Who did they even pay? They were scammed! Robbed! Swindled! Shen Yuan is sure people don't bend like that! The moment those scenes appeared? Literal jumpscare.

Shen Yuan found out last minute the game did not have a censoring feature so he was assaulted by Luo Binghe's heavenly pillar. You couldn't imagine the horror in his face at realizing that would enter someone's body. He was beginning to understand why Binghe's wives started to lose their iq the more time they spent in the harem. No space for them when they had to accommodate that thing! Some of them daily too! What are these proportions? Not human and shouldn't be justifiable, absolute bullshit! It's bigger than his forearm!!

The only thing that they did right is commissioning the original artist of the novel and merch to draw the backgrounds and character pictures when they're not... moving. The NPGs basically.

Who even is this fan service directed to?? Whoever tries to watch this will get turned off by the sheer amount of weird illogical poses and unnecessary ads littered everywhere. Sell-offs! Also, how is she, meaning his character, not at a gynecologist or something similar?!

Anyways, after trying all possible routes unfortunately leading to Luo Binghe, he has found a special character! Shen Yuan had found you could date Shen Qingqiu, the scum villain who deserves to be castrated.

Shen Yuan had just started Shen Jiu's love route by becoming a Qing Jing disciple (because why not, it's not real life) but he is sure the guy deserved at least some of the torture he got. Shen Yuan can't even keep count of the amount of times the guy has gotten on his nerves. May that bastard walk on guqins barefoot until he repents!

The game was wrong here too! They characterized him wrong, the antagonist did not even try anything with his character even though Shen Yuan had upgraded all of his beauty's stats to literal succubus-charm-your-pants-off.

He doesn't understand why the scum villain isn't jumping him when his beauty is at blows-your-socks-off levels, he thought the guy was perving on his students but whoever made this game probably didn't read some parts of PIDW or was a scum apologist. Divine retribution to whoever wrote this excuse of a game storyline. Ah, my script!

Probably one of those hare-brained people Shen Yuan wrote whole essays to, scathing them and the villain who should be castrated. The story that is barely found between all of the bad papapa was, after all, to show Luo Binghe's rise to power and inflicting justice against his past bullies and scum shizun! They gave him a ticket to becoming an invincible protag, he gives them a ticket to get their lives ruined. Easy logic.

Shen Yuan kept ranting in his head, too furious to notice the snack he had gotten for himself had already long ago expired.

He ate his pork bun too angrily, too stiff and yet still cursing out the novel and disgustingly named author, and didn't notice until it was too late how his healthy body couldn't take such abuse.

"Dumbfuck author, dumbfuck novel, dumbfuck game!"

These were the last word Shen Yuan could curse before he died.

Who would have thought a strong young man of a wealthy family would die this way after spending so much money on a specific stallion novel. At least he did before the dating game became the one mostly draining his bank account. Even so, it was not even out of natural causes like his own body failing on its own out of old age. No, it just had to be because he didn't notice what he was eating!

Shen Yuan was too angry he felt he could come back from the dead only to haunt the authors of the game, but especially give Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky a heart attack. He would make sure to haunt that hack writer's dreams even if it's the last thing he does.

Into the darkness he went, he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't see anything.

Then, a sudden but clear noise came from somewhere inside the void.

[ Activation code: 'Dumbfuck author, dumbfuck novel, dumbfuck game'. Automatically triggering system. ]

Shen Yuan looked around but could not find where the ai-like voice was coming from. 'System? Like a-'

[ We welcome your entrance into the system. This system is based on the developing concept of 'You can you up, no can no BB'. We hope to provide you with the best experience. It is our sincere hope that during the course of your experience, you can achieve what you desired. To transform a piece of stupid writing in accordance to your wishes into a high-end, impressive, and high-grade classic work (of porn). We pray for your happiness. ]

Amidst the dizziness, Shen Yuan could hear someone, a voice, close to him. It was asking, "...–Shidi! Can you hear me? —

(that's all I have)

[rootspiral]

Agatha All Along deep dive: episode 4 part 4

(Wandavision entries: [1][2][3])

(AAA entries: ep1 [1][2][3][4] ep2 [1][2][3][4] ep3 [1][2][3] ep4 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][+1] ep5 [1][2][3][4][5] ep6 [1][2][3] ep7 [1][2][3][4][5][6] ep8 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] ep9 [1][2][3][4][5][6])

agatha once again protecting billy with her whole body.

"I didn't think it was real! I thought it was me, that it's my fault that I can't keep a job, that everything I touch turns to shit! That I couldn't save her!"

The poison drips through (yes I love Succession). Generational curse, generational trauma. The pain of who knows how many centuries of parents and grandparents and great-grandparents times a thousand. It's like a boulder that you're carrying around on your shoulders, and you can't see it and you can't put a name to it, how could you? How can you possibly know why your mother drank herself stupid, why your grandmother abused her children? You were born yesterday and drank all that poison without knowing what it was, you let it take it over and you walk around spreading it to the world.

And amidst all the pain, alice only ever chose to blame and hurt herself and she was always gentle to others. her biggest regret is not having been able to save her mom! you know why alice never turned into a villain like agatha? because her mom loved her. as simple and as that. lorna was so ill-equipped to save alice, she didn't know what she was up against, she was in a world of pain herself. and she went above and beyond to show her child how infinitely precious and loved she was.

oh wow, I usually say I'm crying as a figure of speech, but I am crying for real thinking about this.

lilia who has lived so long and experienced her big share of suffering, knowing all too well what alice is going through. there's so much compassion in her voice

jen stubbornly refusing to care about anything but her own pain, which is actually a very human way to respond to trauma? it's like she's at a crossroads and it's up to her to choose whether she goes back to being the force of good she used to be, or whether she goes down agatha's same path. I say it's up to her because it ultimately is, but she was so lucky finding this coven and community at such a crucial moment. agatha didn't have any of it.

no! don't apologize, you beautiful, generous soul! the sense of guilt and inferiority complex is real

agatha's face when billy is attacked

she starts running toward him even before alice

but when she gets there she freezes and lets alice go check on him

when she sees he's fine, she sighs and collapses against the door, clutching her chest.

lilia is really starting to get attached to everyone, and throughout her life love and loss have always been inherently linked. she already knows she's going to lose them.

okay jen refusing to leave the circle is still funny, I'll give her that

through all this rio has been watching and studying agatha, she always does. she knows that her diabolically smart wife loves to be in charge and come up with plans. she's being encouraging!

look at how small alice is! she's been helping and consoling billy just a moment ago, despite being miserable herself.

first of all, that's hilarious, so jot that down. second of all, you know agatha is so relieved she has to put on a show instead of doing something icky like, idk, sitting in a circle and talking about their feelings. and look at rio at the drums, she's already put all the clues together as well

oooh, she's doing the thing! she's detectiving! agatha harkness ladies and gentlemen, her hobbies are women, murder and puzzles.

and who gives her the solution? who has had millennia to study and commiserate human love and grief? she says it and she looks at agatha so pointedly.

The song that's so irrevocably linked to Nicky's memory, the song that she's been desecrating and using as a means to kill. A mother took it and poured all her love into it and made it pure again. Agatha has to live with that now, and you know that's going to take root inside her and affect her no matter what

this whole performance is patti going I might be singing backup again but watch me be a total diva about it

I LOVE YOU PATTI LUPONE

you'd think that alice should sing lead vocals here, seeing as it's her trial and her mom's song and all. WELL THINK AGAIN

the massive ego agatha has, honestly. you gotta respect that.

the feeling when you are the only normal person in a group of total hooligans. did I already say how gorgeous sasheer looks in that outfit? no I didn't. you are an apparition, sasheer.

but I want the song to have its own separate entry so hold on tight, brb

go to episode 4 part 5

[maristrange221b]

I'm sorry, but the fact that Chat Noir's new power is so convenient that Marinette doesn't face the consequences of hiding a terrorist's identity from her own teammates because they MIGHT tell Adrien is the stupidest argument this series has ever presented

And they created the Magical Charms.

I've said a thousand times that the justification for not telling Adrien anything being "we have to protect him, he can't suffer," is horrible, and I disagree. As Alya said in the last episode, no one can decide for Adrien whether he knows or not.

Taking care of him shouldn't be an excuse to lie to him, or to anyone else.

Adrien more than anyone deserves to know who his dad was and the things he did and why. He deserves to grieve for him and hate him if he wants to. Not telling anything is keeping Adrien in a bubble, a little glass box where he's safe.

Ladybug should have told him that Gabriel was Monarch immediately after the fight ended. She doesn't know that Adrien is Chat Noir, so she doesn't know there's a risk of the world ending because Chat went crazy and used his power.

She had the Miraculous at that time, so the only risk Adrien ran by telling him the truth was crying his eyes out. PLUS, he wasn't at risk of being akumatized because Gabriel was dead and Ladybug was there.

She didn't even have to make the information public; she just had to tell Adrien.

So no, I don't believe there was no option but to not tell him anything.

And I'm a little tired of people justifying all this by saying "Marinette is only 14, she's a child."

I get it, but there's a chapter where they tell you that Ladybug is already mature enough to be considered AN ADULT and use her powers infinitely. Even though Mari is 14, she's been Ladybug for about a year, where she's seen more than one loved one die, fought terrorists, adult supervillains, and even faced Su Han and the heroes of New York as an ADULT. Why is it that when it comes to taking responsibility (and almost always around Adrien), she's "just a child"?

But back to the last episode: Giving Chat Noir the power to erase memories is stupidly convenient for the plot. Marinette is safe from facing the consequences for lying and can continue being Alya's best friend and Adrien's perfect girlfriend without any problems because then if it happens again, she'll just find Chat and ask him to erase their memories again because "they know a secret that I can't tell you what it is, but it's bad and they have to forget it."

Only Mari doesn't know that Chat is Adrien, and that's another big problem. Marinette doesn't want to know Chat's identity, so she can't trust him with things because "maybe he knows Adrien and can tell him" is stupidly convenient and only makes me think that Marinette really doesn't trust Chat enough to tell him who the villain they've been fighting since day one is.

At this point, I really can't blame Lila for hating Marinette (look what you've turned me into, writers!) Marinette is really annoying, especially when it has to do with Adrien.

Sometimes I feel like Marinette sees Adrien more as a trophy, something perfect she wants, and not the guy behind it all. But that's the fault of the writers and their annoying need to make Adrien perfect and devoid of personality throughout the seasons. Not even Chat Noir can get a power upgrade on his own; it's Ladybug who has to tell Chat what to do.

And then the episode tries to teach you that erasing Alya's memory is actually giving Marinette the freedom to choose when to tell the truth.

FREEDOM FOR MARINETTE. But never for Adrien to feel ANYTHING.

I'm going to really enjoy it when Lila decides to really attack, even if it only lasts 10 seconds until everyone forgives Marinette for lying and Adrien just says "I love you even though we've been dating for months and you lied to me and hid sensitive information about my family. It must have been really hard for you to hide that my dead dad was the man who psychologically tortured all of Paris and even me, just because he wanted to revive my dead mom who had been hiding in the basement of my house for a year. Do you want to go to the movies tomorrow?"

And I can almost bet that Chat Noir's new power will be used to get Marinette's memories back if she gives up being a guardian, in a very convoluted way typical of the show.

Like: "The akuma caused Marinette to have to give up the box and lose her memories. If we use the Chat Noir Miraculous, we can erase the consequences of the akuma and Marinette will get her memories back."

Or much worse.

Paris found out that Ladybug lied and they hate her. We're going to use the Chat Noir Miraculous to erase their memories so they won't mistreat her anymore :D yeii freedom

[sage-is-in-fact-very-tired]

so like . maybe opening a Google doc for this is a bit much however (future sage after they finished, it was not. it was not a bit much) . consider . who cares

the paragraph analysis (that isn't 2k words) - morally grey, maybe leaning more villain, some vague concepts of like- power? (of the magic kind?), probably was part of a group / company and isn't anymore . also like . getting vague toxic ex vibes from at least two of those songs.

anyway. I've gotten very good at analyzing songs as we all know. and so - a short little analysis based on nothing but the vibes of those songs <3

-> [Bones]

-> giving very morally grey kinda vibes? something about like- “I'll take the long road home that's lined with blood and snow” have they killed people? maybe their past involves some kind of death? the whole thing of innocent but they'll still serve time, maybe they're being blamed for some kind of death? The line about being your own worst enemy - do they blame *themself* for something that happened? do they think they're a bad person and keep going on anyway? Also that first like “can you believe in something that you can't even see? Can you agree we're part of something bigger than you and me?” Very ‘part of a suspicious group” kinda vibes, especially with the other lines about blood and innocence. “The mirror's always showing me a shell of who I used to be” maybe they used to be a better person than what they are now? (Looks at Little Wolf. looks at Little Wolf so hard)

-> vaguely kinda . toxic (or more than just toxic) ex vibes if you look at it in the right lens . like the lines about “you can give and take” and “Crack my bones but my heart won't break” like. yeah

-> [AC/DC]

-> this one is giving me . a time . because okay the main thought is of course like- robot. or some kind of mechanical parts, connected somehow to something like that?

-> if we go robot route, you have the obvious of like- morally grey robot being used by slightly evil group / company to do their dirty work, but in combination with all of the other songs I'm not quite sure that really fits completely?

-> could actually be more *the group / company* talking to starbound!sherb as opposed to starbound!sherb themself, which in context to the other songs I feel might be a bit more likely? honestly this song is the most confusing one to me-

-> [Rats]

-> something about how the group they work for is a little evil and they're all kind of rats and rats aren't considered good or clean or anything (something about having blood on their hands?) “Guess he's only got himself to blame” Something about how they've done bad things but (they believe) it's kinda their fault because they kept doing it without any question

-> and the other thing . toxic ex vibes . just very toxic relationship vibes . something about “love me like the rats in the cupboard” but like they wouldn't be loved because no one *wants* rats in their cupboard. the “watch me me burn and feed the flames” something about a possible partner (or I guess this could be like- okay I have brain worms and they definitely *were* apart of some kind of group so this could be referring to that but . lemme have my fun <3 - and this doesn't feel like the kinda song sherb would pick if thats the case? soooooo /silly) letting them wear themself down and feed the fire of why they're not a good person? “Do you ever get sick of watching me cave in” like ??? okay now . something about getting close to someone and then just . They don't help you and just watch you from afar. mmm. “Pull me apart and spreed me thin” do I need to elaborate . like. same reason as the last one- “told me she was back and here to stay, said she loved me and she wants my money, well I told her not today” very like- maybe controlling past partner maybe? this whole song gives very toxic relationship vibes and I dunno how else you want me to say that- “love me like the rats in the cupboard, not enough to keep a dying flame” something something starbound!sherb finally walking away from this? finally going off and trying to distance themself from this person?

-> half vaguely coherent thought of maybe like- them leaving the possible group they could've been apart of and like- getting into a relationship that isn't healthy in the slightest bc they haven't been able to process and the other side is just toxic? you know? shrug

-> [Sinners]

-> very just . morally grey vibes. not like lyric wise just like Vibe wise you must listen to it to understand I feel. “I must be good for something” so they want to be useful huh? is that a thing they wanna do? hm? /silly “oh Sinners come down, come gather round” something about maybe formerly being in a group - maybe being in some sort of higher up position? who knows, not me, clearly. “Let's go have some fun before they put us in the ground” so there's people after their group or just them perhaps? (with the addition of leave me alone later on the playlist, this is highly likely that *someone* is after them) “lions sit in solemn lines, drinking gin and dropping lines” something about whatever they do being very like- controlling? (could tie back to AC/DC maybe?) like them being on a tight ship perhaps? there's a lot of repeating lyrics in this one so there's not too much for me to look at with my eyes :(

-> [Little Wolf]

-> so this is the outlier of the group it'd seem . and . okay I've been brain worms about this one. because there's like- two ways yoou can see this one. also they're for sure not Athena I hope we can agree on that-

-> so option number one that- I think makes the most sense, is that in the context of this song they'd be antinuous. Kinda of more of that “morally grey, leaning a bit more ‘villain’” kinda vibes they got going? Just very antagonistic and stuff like that? (To who is another question but we probably can't get that just from the playlist)

-> other option is they're telemachus - a younger version of them only hoping to be a good person (perhaps joining a group in hopes they'd be able to help out with space horrors?), being taken under the wing of someone older and willing to protect them. (something about how arguably, under this interpretation, they could very easily be *both* telemachus and antinuous, trying to be good at the beginning and only ending up a worse person despite. Perhaps this is some kind of internal dialog, who knows. it's funky thinking about what's up with them)

-> [Dark Science]

-> This is the part I get the vague power vibes from? it just has that vibes and I can't explain it more than that-

-> actually on second thought it could also just be like- the group they were / could've been a part of? like something about their leader or a recruiter talking to starbound!sherb? and or star!sherb talking to like- a victim, but I lean more to the first option? something about the pre-chorus “Of your cold heart, no spark Restarting your true dark With mismatched animal parts Cannibal starved, natural Death is just the start” Feels very like- trying to convince them that it's gonna be fine and whatever they're going to do to star!sherb will all be fine (maybe they're like- cyborg? or along this song maybe some funky alien things? which could maybe also add to the powers idea that I've slightly squashed) and the chorus telling someone to not be afraid feels very “someone trying to convince someone else this group / these people are good and this is completely normal and ethical :)” also this - “With every draw I paint a picture Perfect murder scene But if these mortuary walls could talk We both know that they’d scream Hindsight is the only judge and jury that I need” feels very like- their story has *something* to do with death of some kind, be that literal or like- something else I'm not sure we can figure out. also the bridge talks about control and being a “cog” and. yeah I think their story perhaps also has something to do with control . I feel like those are the two major vibes I get. (Add the toxic ex idea to that? mmmmmm)

-> [Cavalryman]

-> something about being a soldier something about doing people's dirty work something about being apart of a slightly evil group something something. I don't have big brain worms about this song its just very big vibes honestly. also a lot of stuff about death yet again? like I feel like this could perhaps be a big part of their story… just guessing here though who knows… /silly

-> [Do What I Gotta]

-> morally grey bitch <3 /pos - also, seems like they might be on their own now perhaps? not apart of a group anymore - something like they left it for something better? (being morally grey still <3) anyway. “This city got issues lucky for us though I'm a one man armada” something about them trying to fix everything on their own (points back to that idea in Sinners of “I must be good for something” perhaps?) “I'm a bottle half full cause I got a good feeling that this world will truly start healing long as I do my part and keep a head start” very funky vibes going on here - seems a but more optimistic than the previous songs seemed? maybe they're trying to change their ways (albeit still in a definitely morally grey kinda way) or something like that so they can reverse any harm they could've done? “Imma do what's best if I get knocked down i'll start from the bottom” something about how they're willing to start all over if they get knocked off wherever they are? thyre *willing* to start over and still climb their way back up to the top. and then the . “count your days, I don't care what city you stay, I don't care what path you walk, the fact that you walks enough to get slain” Oh so like they're definitely killing people . so like regardless of what they did before they're probably definitely killing people still- “”we are your friends, we're in your crew, we are like you,” or that what they say” so maybe they're killing the people they used to associate with question mark? “Your choice is easy just pick a side but pick the wrong one and you'll probably die” funky funky funky for sure guys . normal

-> [Leave Me Alone]

-> puts my fingers together . toxic ex makes an appearance perhaps . I dunno something about this song in combination with Rats (and also Bones a little) is giving very toxic ex vibes and also probably like- their past group too but. lemme toxic ex truth here for a little bit please <3 “you took the money but the money couldn't buy a friend” points, there was a reference to money in rats and it was In a very oh this person wants this but I won't give it to them and this also maybe has that kinda vibes. also the whole just . leave me alone idea . toxic maybe kinda controlling vibes from rats and bones - it's not a *long* stretch to assume they might be after star!sherb? “The devil that you is better than the devil that you don't” perhaps like- maybe star!sherb not wanting to hurt whoever after them despite everything (the devil they know being the person after them, and the devil they don't being star!sherb? something about how star!sherb definitely is like . okay with murder-) “go fly a kite until your tangled in the hanging tree” Well that's a way to tell someone to kill themself- okay no for real something about how maybe in this case star!sherb doesn't want to get their hands dirty? and they want someone else, or even the person after them, to do it themself as opposed to otherwise (if we go toxic ex situation, something about still feeling things for them despite everything?)

uhhhhhhhh, I think that's all. word count on all of that is like two thousand words . thought that'd be shorter guess I'm just too much of a loser for that. anyway I have brainworms about starbound!sherb I hope that's clear 🧍‍♂️

[cookiesama7]

Just Listen to Me (Min Ho x reader)

Summary: Min Ho has been giving you the silent treatment, and you have no idea why. No calls, no texts, no stolen glances in the hallways—just cold, distant silence. When you finally break down, unable to take it anymore, the truth comes out. And it turns out, none of this was your fault.

Word count: 795

Masterlist

Min Ho Masterlist

It had been a week.

A week of silence.

A week of Min Ho walking past me like I didn't exist. A week of him ignoring my texts, pretending not to hear me when I spoke, acting like I wasn't the person he used to kiss goodnight.

I tried to act normal. To pretend it didn't hurt.

But it did. It killed me.

I didn't know what I had done. That was the worst part. I replayed every conversation, every moment we had spent together, searching for the mistake I didn't even know I had made.

But I came up with nothing.

And now, sitting alone on the rooftop, I finally let the tears fall.

I pulled my knees to my chest, my fingers gripping my sweater sleeves as I tried to breathe through the pain. The city lights blurred through my tears, and a choked sob escaped before I could stop it.

Why? Why was he doing this? Why did it feel like I had lost him without even knowing why?

"(Y/N)?"

The voice I had been longing to hear.

I stiffened, quickly wiping at my face. "Go away, Min Ho."

He didn't listen.

Of course, he didn't.

Instead, he stepped closer, his voice sharp but hesitant. "Are you seriously crying right now?"

I scoffed, still refusing to look at him. "Wow. You finally noticed me."

He exhaled, and I heard the frustration in his voice. "(Y/N), don't start—"

"Don't start?" I snapped, finally lifting my head. My vision was still blurry with tears, but I didn't care. "Are you serious right now? You've been ignoring me for a week, Min Ho! A whole week! And I have no idea why!"

He clenched his jaw. "Maybe you should think harder."

My heart cracked. "I have been thinking. I've been thinking every second of every day, trying to figure out what I did to make you hate me." My voice broke at the last part.

Min Ho flinched.

His expression flickered—just for a second. Like he wasn't as sure about his anger as he wanted to be.

I wiped my face angrily. "If you're just going to stand there and act like I'm the villain, then—"

"She told me you cheated."

The words knocked the breath out of me.

I stared at him. "What?"

"Stella," he muttered, his voice laced with something bitter. "She said she saw you with someone else. That you were just playing me."

My stomach dropped.

"Stella said—" I cut myself off, my blood running cold. "And you believed her?"

Min Ho tensed. "I didn't want to—"

"Oh my God." I let out a hollow laugh, shaking my head. "You believed her over me."

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "(Y/N), she sounded convincing, and I—"

I took a shaky breath, my eyes burning, "I would never do that to you."

He stared at me.

"I love you," I whispered, voice cracking. "And you threw me away because of a stupid lie?"

Min Ho's face fell completely. "(Y/N)..."

"I needed you, Min Ho," I whispered. "I needed you, and you weren't there."

Silence.

For the first time, Min Ho looked at me like he was actually seeing me. And his expression shifted—from anger to realization. To regret.

Then, suddenly, he closed the space between us.

His arms wrapped around me, pulling me in so tightly that I almost lost my breath.

I tensed at first, my heart pounding. But then I sank into him, my hands gripping the fabric of his sweater like he might disappear.

"I'm sorry," he murmured into my hair. "God, I'm so sorry."

I squeezed my eyes shut. "Why did you believe her?"

His hold tightened. "Because I was stupid. And scared."

I let out a shaky breath. "You hurt me."

He nodded against me. "I know. And i'll spend forever making it up to you."

We stayed like that for a while—just holding each other, breathing in the warmth we had been missing.

Finally, he pulled back slightly, resting his forehead against mine. "I love you, (Y/N)."

I searched his eyes, looking for any hesitation. But there was none. Just pure, raw honesty.

Despite everything, I still loved him.

And I always would.

"Promise me you'll never do that again," I whispered.

He cupped my face, his thumb brushing over my cheek. "I promise."

I let out a breath, finally letting myself relax against him. "Then I forgive you."

His whole body sagged with relief, and he pulled me back into his arms, holding me close.

"Let's go inside," he murmured. "I'm not letting you of of my sight for the rest of the night."

I smiled softly against his chest. "That sounds like a plan."

[jumpywhumpywriter]

Hero Kidnaps Villain Part 7

Warnings: kidnapping, restrained villain whumpee, overpowering hero whumer, full-blown panic attack/conditioned terror, mentions of past torture sessions, deeply screwed up villain

This piece was partially influenced by THIS anon's request. Thank you anon for the clever idea!

Hero's eyes flared with anger, a low growl rumbling deep in her throat, and then she pounced -- lunging forward and wrapping a hand around his throat, forcing him to lay on his back and pinning him to the bed.

Villain considered fighting back just to spite her, but he was viscerally aware of how he was at a massive disadvantage here. Hero could absolutely throttle him if he pushed her too far, and there wasn't much he would be able to do to defend himself, tethered to the headboard like he was. Even if he got a few hits in, there would be no escaping unless Hero chose to uncuff him.

Villain lazily rolled his eyes with an annoyed groan. "What, now you're gonna beat the answers out of me? You don't have the guts, Hero."

"You didn't think I had the guts to drug you either," Hero purred coldly, leaning in close. "I saw how surprised you were when I did it anyway. Is this a game you really want to play with me?"

Villain couldn't help a shudder, remembering how it had felt to be completely paralyzed and at her mercy, his voice and body stripped away from him, rendered limp and useless.

She was right -- he hadn't thought she'd have the guts for something like that. She must be more desperate for answers than he'd thought, if she was willing to cross so many moral lines to get him here.

A starving dog is loyal to no one, he remembered.

He scowled in frustration, baring his teeth.

Hero only smiled viciously in a way she was fully aware got under his skin like nothing else. She let go of his neck and backed off to let him sit up again, crossing her arms over her chest expectantly.

"Well, Villain?" She purred darkly. "Are you going to behave?”

And that's what set Villain off. Not the way she'd said it, but those particular words -- drilled into him over and over again until he'd learned their meaning on an intimate level, associated with torture and pain.

Are you going to behave??

And Villain's whole mind abruptly blanked, slipping somewhere far away from his body to dissociate. A conditioned response that felt as natural as breathing to him by now.

His reaction was exactly what he'd been taught, though it had apparently never been good enough to spare him from excruciating punishment by Agency members charged with dealing with him. He'd never been able to live up to their impossible standards, submissive and docile but not passive enough, by their books.

He was a failure. A failure. Stupid. Useless. Meaningless. Unwanted. A villain who would never change. A lost cause.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, shoulders suddenly hunching instinctively as he shrank in on himself in a posture he knew well, that guarded his vitals as he pulled his knees to his chest. This way at least the strikes of the whip or cane would cause the least damage. He'd learned early on that a vicious cane to the legs or back was far better than being beat on the stomach and ribs.

It would hurt, but not every time he breathed. If he stayed relatively still and unmoving after a beating it hurt less and was more bearable than the torturous bruises on his chest and lungs had been.

But no matter what he did to appease his torturers, he always did something wrong, and it was always his fault. He'd learned to accept responsibility and take his punishments without a fight.

Because he deserved to suffer. He was bad, bad -- always bad. An irredeemable monster. The people at Agency were just trying to make him better -- they were helping him through torture. How else was he supposed to learn wrong from right?

Agency had said once he was submissive and obedient enough he could be let out with other captive villains to socialize and the torture sessions would be less frequent -- but he hadn't reached that point before Hero kidnapped him and took him out of that awful place.

No, no... not awful. Never think anything bad about Agency. Because that was evil. Wrong. He wasn't supposed to do that. Gosh, now he was really going to be punished. One day out of Agency and he was already relapsing into his disobedience. Stupid, stupid Villain...

Villain wrapped his arms around his legs to curl into a ball and rocked back and forth as far as the cuff on his wrist would allow, repeating what he was supposed to in his head:

Be obedient. Listen to instructions. Do not resist. Do not fight back.

"I'm sorry -- I'll be good. I'm sorry -- I know it's my fault again. I'm sorry -- I'll do better." He started babbling inconsolably, hyperventilating and panicking, totally shutting down. He was speaking like a broken record, going in circles with the same programmed responses that had been drilled into him during agonizing torture sessions.

"I'm sorry -- I'll be good. I'm sorry -- I know it's my fault again. I'm sorry -- I'll do better."

"Villain -- what the literal heck?!" Hero shrilled, baffled by his response. This was so unlike the villain she knew, the one who was always full of snark and sarcasm, always confident and collected at all times.

And yet here he was, completely falling apart right before her eyes and shaking, physically shaking in terror. Trembling so violently his teeth were chattering between the panicked words flooding from his mouth on repeat.

He’d been snapping at her not even a minute ago – what had happened?!

"Villain, stop," Hero said gruffly. "I don't know what's wrong with you right now, but it's seriously creeping me out. Is that part of your elaborate plan? Convince me you've gone insane so I'll go easy on you?"

But Villain sure didn't look like he was faking it. And he didn't stop – if anything, her words sent him into an even deeper panic, his eyes glassy and unseeing as he stared straight ahead, speaking robotically on full autopilot. He was practically begging her to believe how sorry he was at this point -- prove his remorse.

"What did Agency do to you?!" Hero breathed, and waved a worried hand in front of Villain's face. "Villain? Villain!"

He didn't even blink, repeating his perfect mantra over and over again.

Maybe he really had lost his mind, Hero wondered, horrified. A part of him was deeply broken, that much was clear-- broken so thoroughly she didn't think it could ever be fixed.

She hadn't left him in Agency's possession for more than two weeks before stealing him away -- what on earth had happened in that time to traumatize Villain so badly?! How did they do this to a living person??

⏪️ Back Next ⏩️

Masterlist

@scoundrelwithboba @lumpofsand @isikedmyself878 @iamheretohurt @fleur-a-whump

@ay5ksal @otterfrost @sausages-things @togzy

@whump-till-ya-jump @cravesunconditionallove @whumpwritinglover222 @written-in-the-stars135 @neverthelass

@starz8nk @redwinesupanover @whumpisgoodwhumpislife @theforeverdyingperson @writing-with-olive

[bonefall]

Mapleshade Discourse O'Clock

It's that time again!!! SO I just kinda want to jot down all of my various thoughts about it as a story and just generally weigh in about Mapleshade.

I like the idea of Mapleshade more than the actual Mapleshade that is used throughout the books.

She has a really good gimmick-- to haunt Applekin though the generations. I don't like how they turn her into a generic "cat satan" for Tigerclaw's Fury and keep making her appear as a vain lackey demon.

I like her characterization in Mapleshade's Vengeance the most, of all her appearances.

But, I don't think my reading of the character depicted in MV is what the author intended.

See, I like MV as a story with no hero. The only blameless characters are the kittens who drowned and Perchpaw, while everyone else is some flavor of selfish, cruel, or vengeful. Everyone thinks they're in the right, but no one truly wins in the end.

Nothing about it was noble. Every tragedy that happened was utterly avoidable. In the end, everyone bears some responsibility for the pain and suffering that happened the day those children drowned.

BUT I'm pretty certain that the intended reading was that Mapleshade would be the one clearly in the wrong the whole time, as she justifies her own actions like a villain does.

Especially knowing how poorly the writers thought of similar female characters like Squilf and Leafp lying about the three, or Nightcloud being jealous her crummy husband is acting strange around another woman.

I feel justified in assuming that when Mapleshade is not happy she's being cheated on, or when she refuses to correct Frecklewish's record knowing it's unsafe if her kits are revealed as half clan, the writer really does think you're not supposed to take her side.

Because women should just not have emotions about being cheated on or something, and lying is unspeakably bad even if the truth puts you and your children in danger.

But. Y'know. We can all use the braincell for a moment and see that this is fucking stupid

SO when the book goes on to have Mapleshade ignore all the warnings about the swollen river, show both ThunderClan and RiverClan being obscenely cruel to her, and then walk across that bridge while insisting in her head that the deaths weren't her fault, I think the implication is obvious AND SHITTY.

Ergo I reject it completely. I can see what the book wants to say, and I think it says something trashy.

In spite of how badly the writer wants it to be Mapleshade's fault the kittens died, I say it was the asshole who threw a bunch of kittens out into the rain for being mixed race, actually.

Oakstar had the power here. Ravenwing had some power as well, but he makes it clear it wasn't his suggestion to throw the babies out into the woods.

And when it comes to Bridge Discourse, it was at least the afternoon, raining heavily, and Mapleshade was trying to get to RiverClan Camp. A straight shot across the stepping stones.

I think it is ridiculous to imagine an extremely emotional parent managing three very scared children, attempting to get out of the rain and dangerous wilderness before nightfall, would be rational enough to realize a large detour would be safer.

MAYBE the distance from ThunderClan Camp to the Bridge is equal to the distance to the Stones. But the distance between the bridge and RIVERCLAN Camp is longer.

I hope this goes without saying; but Frecklewish didn't deserve the Dark Forest.

Even in Banana World logic where she was sitting on the bank watching those kids doggy-paddle. Do not fucking jump in to save drowning people if you are not trained to do that.

I'm dead serious, this is the first thing you learn in any kind of water safety course. They WILL panic, you WILL get dragged down, you WILL become another liability someone else has to save instead of helping your initial target.

And that isn't even mentioning this being a flooded river. That's POOL safety.

In spite of how I think Mapleshade was right to lie, I do think Frecklewish being that upset and angry was understandable.

You're entitled to your feelings, but not how you treat people. She still attacked Mapleshade and called the kittens a slur.

That's what makes her interesting, though.

I don't think she deserves the Dark Forest, but Frecklewish's anger is an interesting trait. I don't like how a lot of defensive interpretations of her character end up downplaying how she acted at the exile

why does a woman being rightfully angry suddenly strike people as "unsympathetic." Girls can also say things in fury they don't fully mean. OR girls can rationalize their unjustified, ballistic response post-hoc out of pride.

Idk let girls be mad. Admit they were wrong without deserving HELL. I don't like the woobification impulse.

It's not really a hot take anymore I think, but Frecklewish is definitely only in the DF because the writing team judges women characters more harshly. Oakstar threw babies out in the rain in fury, and Ravenwing didn't stop it. But somehow only Frecklewish, a normal warrior, gets DF'd.

But what really rattles around in my head about the whole story is the way that the in-universe culture is able to suddenly value ethics like peace, forgiveness, and tolerance when MAPLESHADE is ready to throw those things out, but BEFORE then, it's well established that Clan culture is violent, vengeful, and intolerant.

One of our earliest scenes is Rainfall snarling at Mapleshade that he loves the way Birchface and Flowerpaw drowned. He's threatening that he'll kill even more ThunderClan warriors.

Over in ThunderClan, everyone is itching for revenge against Appledusk for those deaths, even though it seems to have been an accident. Oakstar even hates RiverClan well into sequel books for this.

But then later on, everyone acts Shocked Pikachu that Mapleshade actually went and GOT revenge.

And like, let's be real. This is a battle culture. Yes, by OUR standards Revenge Is Bad.

But in these books, so full of war and clan conflict...?

What I'm saying is that I wish the books let Mapleshade be a little more "controversial" in-universe. Like some cats actually frame the story very differently, and you can learn a lot about a person by who they think the hero is.

And how RiverClan responds to the drowned kids bugs me a lot tbh

We just established over in ThunderClan that there are people who think the babies were born filthy for being HalfClan.

We know everyone there stood by and watched as Oakstar threw them out into the rain-- only Ravenwing even seemed uncomfortable.

AND we know very well that in a few generations, TigerClan will rise. Which openly executed a HalfClan cat and wanted to kill 2 apprentices.

We KNOW the bigotry in Clan culture is deadly and unfair.

But then they go over to RiverClan and Darkstar is sad these three kids are dead? And RC is furious with Mapleshade for that?

Again, YES, you and me with OUR morals know that this bigotry is insane and spiteful. What I'm getting at is that IN-UNIVERSE half clan kittens and their parents face extreme discrimination. Even within this book.

It's odd to me that Darkstar refuses to let Mapleshade bury their bodies, sends her away for the death of the kids while saying it's "not the season for losing warriors" to Appledusk, and it's meant to come across as delusional that Maple thinks her babies were buried dishonorably

I wish more women in WC got so pissed off at the absolute injustice of it all that they went on a girl rampage. Perhaps it's my own taste, but I like it a lot more when the villain isn't entirely wrong and there's several angles you can read the story from. If she didn't do what she did, she would have been the only one who saw any consequences for anything that happened.

Anyway in conclusion uhhh idk murder is wrong. But Mapleshade's allowed to do it because she's a silly billy. Her greatest crime was not killing Oakstar also

[blueishspace]

Hero, Villain God 31

(Prev) (Next) (First)

*Grian's pov*

You and Scar make your way to the mall, you find out that he actually really likes to talk about himself once you get him started and he is free from worrying about secret identities...you learn a lot about him in the process, and by that you truly mean a lot, you don't mind though It's actually pretty endearing.

Apparently this is his first time at the mall in years, since he has become a hero, so he doesn't know much of what's there, you say you are in a very similiar boat and leave it at that because that's easier then explaining you are secretly a super ancient god of chaos who has not been in a "mall" ever.

You also learn that he uses a walking stick to go around in his civilian disguise... you don't ask, It's not your buisness, he looks relieved that you don't bring attention to it so you'll take that win... You do mind the way the mortals look at him though, it stirs something in you. You question when you began separating him from the mortals in your head.

As you reach the mall Pearl is waiting with her friends, you might have gotten a bit lost trying to navigate public transport... Pearl has a knowing look in her eyes because of course she knows... It's not your fault billions of year of experience aren't enough to read subway station maps.

"Finally, Grian what took you so long mate?"

Way to put you on the spot. Well, unluckily for her you do have a cover story already-

"Nevermind, I don't really care. Cleo, you have already met him a few days ago. Scott, this is my brother Grian and that is his... uh...friend Scar."

"Hi?"

Scar waves akwardly, you narrow your eyes at her...you can tell she rehersed that line and you know that she said friend in that way to imply something...you don't know what but it is something for sure... You step in.

"Well now that we are all introduced we can go do the...mall stuff"

Cleo laughs at that last part, you know you are hilarious, but the Scott guy stops you by grabbing your shoulder.

"I actually invited another friend of mine. We should wait for them."

What? You don't even get to be the last ones here? No fair, that's so boring...Also what's taking this guy so long? You and Scar literally got to the opposite side of the city.

But you do decide to wait for them and eventually they do arrive... He has to be shapeshifter because you are completely certain that that is vice mayor Martyn with just a different face. He even introduces himself as Martyn.A shapeshifter? No, that can't be right...

So you ask Pearl about it later.

"So, Martyn? What's up with that"

"You noticed?"

"Shapeshifter power of some kind?"

"Sure thing, just not his."

"Huh?"

"Mayor Ren's power, they seem to have a deal going on... Cleo and Scott have no idea though, that's why they are friends."

"Not big fans I take it?"

"Definitely not, I thought it would be obvious considering the whole villainy thing."

"Eh, you know what they say about assumptions, they make an ass out of you and me."

"So you know that very specific saying but not what a mall is? Or how to read a map?"

"I know how to read a map, It's just the subway map that's unnecessarily complex...also I heard that quote from a tv series Mumbo was watching, really funny"

"Hmmm"

Wait, now that you think about it there is something else you want to know.

"What's with that anyway?"

"Uh?"

"The you know, villainy, what is their tragic backstory™? All heroes and villains have those, except for me of course."

"Unless you count being a bored immortal as tragic"

"You are right, I do have a tragic backstory"

". . .I don't know Cleo's, I doubt Scott does either."

"And you haven't looked into their mind?"

"No. It wouldn't be fair. And they are my friend."

"You did it to Mumbo"

"Well, he's your friend, to me he's more of a friend in law then an actual friend really."

"Liar! You two got along great."

"Well that was after I read his mind so..."

... Ok then, you don't think you can argue anything with her without losing- wait, she didn't actually answer all of your question!

".And what about Scott?"

"He told me a bit, he was engaged at one point, on the day before the wedding ceremony was supposed to happen his fiance and his fiance's sister went missing, just one day went poof it seems. He has proof that the hero association was behind it in some way, it seems even they couldn't remove all the traces leading back to them...or they were prideful enough to not care."

Uhh... yikes, you didn't expect that. Wait... You do have a suspicion though...you do keep it for yourself now though.

"Oh, well, anyway-"

Pearl's voice cuts yours...rude, you were trying to say something.

"We should probably reunite with the others now."

That's..true, it doesn't take much to know it would be weird to just disappear on them...so you nod and do so.

As soon as the two of you are back with the others you hear Scar stop and gasp in excitement.

"Scar?"

"Grian! Look!"

He's pointing as a weird looking figure with a humanoid body but very inhuman and disproportionate features... You don't know enough about mortal media to know which character this is supposed to represent... All you know is that Mumbo doesn't watch it so it can't possibly be that good. . . Well, Scar seems to disagree, you do have to ask though.

"Uh... Who?"

Scar gasps again but this time in shock, is it really that weird, is it like an important piece of mortal culture or is Scar being extra? You can't tell.

"This is-"

"Guys why did you stop? Did you see something you like?"

It's Cleo, she seems to be the only one to have noticed.

"Oh It's nothing, me and Grian were just talking! Coming!"

He sounds cheery but you can see he looks dejected...and embarassed. Is he ashamed? Why not just show the figure like he did to you? Hmm... When nobody is looking you create a clone of the weird figurine and pocket it.

When later on you eventually leave the mall you take it out and give it to him... You don't know why his smile goes so wide over something as...small as this but you can't help but smile back.

Wait, this whole thing was for Pearl to do her goddess of wisdom thing on Scar and make him less stressed... AND YOU FORGOT. . . He did seem happier though, maybe...maybe it won't be needed. You hope so at least because you doubt there is going to be another mall meetup to crash.

[thebluestbluewords]

take my bones

Jay leans one arm up against Ben's locker with all the charm of one of Aurdrey’s bracelets. "Hey." 

Ben could shut the locker and then laugh when he falls over, but he's not going to do that. "Hey. What's up?" 

"So, the music yesterday--" 

"Chad likes pop," Ben says apologetically, before the grin on Jay's face can turn sharp and mean with the fresh ammunition against the VKs favorite person to antagonize. Not that it's undeserved, exactly, but it's still pretty mean of them. Chad's not a bad sort of guy, he's just not very good at being aware of anyone other than himself, and he's constantly putting his foot in his mouth because of it. "It's only fair. He's allowed to play whatever he wants on his days. You can play whatever you want when it's your turn to pick." 

"Yeah, about that. I, uh." Jay shoves a hand through his hair, shaking it loose from the tie. "I kind of. Can't." 

Ben's got a copy of the list for who picks the team lift music somewhere in his locker. Or possibly in his gym bag. Jay's name is definitely on it, because as team captain he had to sit down with Coach and work out where to put a new kid with no last name into the alphabetical lineup. "You're on the list. After Hector Ingles. We put you in under J." 

Jay grins. "Thanks, man. It's not that. I wanna play Isle music." 

A vision of Lo-Fi Tormented Screams to Chilllax To flashes through Ben's head, but he's not going to be another person who makes inaccurate, hurtful assumptions about his friends, so he pushes it back. "Sure. It'll be something different to look forward to!" 

Jay's grin grows wider. "You can say if you think t'll suck. I'm not offended." 

Oops. 

"No, it'll be cool. No problem." Ben insists. He really doesn't hate listening to new music. After Herkie played Country Toads eighteen times in a row on his last turn, he can tolerate listening to anything. Just as long as it's not Country Toads again. 

"Well, actually....." Jay trails off, meaningfully. "I could kinda use your help with getting some of it." 

"Fairy Godmother won't approve a trip off campus." Ben says immediately. He knows where this is going. There's a music store in town that carries everything, and Robbie swears they have Isle music behind the counter that they'll sell to anyone who knows the code word.  "After what happened with the silly string, I don't think she's going to let any of the junior class out without an adult. Possibly ever again." 

"That wasn't even my fault!" 

"Fairy Godmother won't care, unfortunately. I can't go against her rules." 

Jay holds out his phone. There's a fresh bite mark on the rubber case, but it's not a bloodstain, so that's....solid progress from the last time Ben saw his phone case. "I just need an unfiltered internet connection. Five minutes. I can download the stuff I need, and we never have to talk about it again." 

"You're going to be the death of me." 

He wiggles the phone. "C'mon, man.YOLO." 

"You did not just say that." 

"YOLO. YOLO. YOLO--" 

"Bullying!" 

Where one VK goes, the others follow, so it's not exactly a surprise to feel another warm body drape over his back. 

"I'll save you, babe," Mal coos in his ear, wrapping her arms over Ben's neck and planting a boot on his knee to kick herself high enough to manage the whisper. "Is the big mean villain kid bullying my poor little kingling?" 

"Terribly," Ben murmurs, twisting his shoulder so that he can get an arm around her. "He's sooooo mean to me." 

"I'll eliminate him." Mal promises. "You hear that, Jaybird? I'm going to take you down. You'll never bully my little king again." 

[eriochromatic]

I love your Silco takes so I was wondering if you could share yours on Vander and the drowning incident because no matter what angle I look at, it doesn't make sense.

As far as I can tell from what we're shown, the riot was well under way before Silco threw that molotov, and it's confirmed that enforcers killed Felicia. Thing is, it's implicit that Felicia chose to participate in the riot because a.) Why else would she be there, and b.) She was down with Zaun being independent for HER KIDS. Also, anyone who participates in a riot, or even a peaceful protest, knows they're putting their life on the line. So while I understand reacting to loss with intense grief, it's not exactly a surprise? It's something you have to mentally prepare for when you take a stand against an oppressor?

But then, if you go the ideology route with Silco taking it too far and the riot was Silco's idea, that stunt on the bridge was most likely pre-planned, organized resistance. This means a sizable number in their community, including Felicia and Connol, supported it. Even if Vander had doubts, he went along with it. Otherwise, why does the show open with him beating an enforcer on the bridge? Vander had other options: he could have split the resistance group down the middle by sitting it out and/or trying to stop Silco, neither of which he did!

The letter highlights the loss of Felicia as Vander's triggering event, and Vander admits that there's blood on both their hands. To be honest, I kind of like this because it hints that Silco's violence was acceptable to Vander within the context of revolution, and he thought he could handle the sacrifices required. Ironically, when he couldn't handle it, HIS violence pushed Silco towards any-violence-necessary because you can't trust anyone ever anyway!

Anyway, I know this is the fault of flimsy writing in S2 and what feels like internal censorship with challenging political status quo during production, but two drowning attempts (which for Silco came out of nowhere), followed by expulsion from the Lanes (which he helped build), the guilt of Felicia's death, and the total loss of the friends and community he was fighting for ... I mean, at least Silco's villain era makes complete and total sense???

Ugh honestly I try not to think about the drowning incident or even make sense of it anymore because every time I do, it's just so obvious to me that the writers themselves had no idea what they're doing. Timelines are completely off, character motivations make no sense, so why is it up to me to untangle the mess they made?

I have a huge love hate relationship with season 2 because on one hand, I didn't expect as much Silco crumbs we got in the first place and I'm SO HAPPY we got to see him normally in episode 5 and thriving in episode 7. But the retcon… I was so pissed when Act 2 dropped because the whole bridge incident just stopped making sense like you said.

Then when Act 3 happened, it all clicked together, but not in the "ohhh the story makes sense now" way but in the "oh the writers needed to set up smth previously so this would work." and it completely took me out of it. Like. The writers wanted Vander and Silco to make up with each other. But they don't know how to do that. Let's add some underlying sentimentality between Vander and Silco and Vi's mom, then kill Vi off. That'll make them go back together (along with that STUPID LETTER Vander wrote). Sure that's a bandaid solution and on surface level it works, but I don't think the writers really thought we would think about Silco this much so the moment you peel back the layers nothing makes sense anymore. I think they could've crafted a way more interesting story if they ACTUALLY SAT DOWN AND TRIED to have Silco and Vander reconcile without using Felicia as a crutch, but season 2 has an overarching problem of "lets have all the important things happen offscreen and only imply that they happened" which is just��� so lazy…. so I'm not surprised that this happened.

It just weakens so, so many parts of the story and raises way more questions than answer them. Why does Silco pull away and distance himself from Felicia's family? Surely Vi should know him from before? Does Silco only take in Powder because he knew she was Felicia's daughter? Why, WHY does Vander go like "there are worse things than enforcers out there" (implying Silco) in s1 while talking to Benzo????????? when he's apparently felt guilty this whole time ??????? what happened to "I've looked everywhere????" etc etc idk man. from s1 I always thought the bridge incident happened way, way earlier from Felicia dying bc Vi looked like she was about 7 years old during the bridge and around 14 during act one, but then if you see Silco during the s2 warwick flashback he looks like he's 25. maybe 30 at the maximum. aint no way he aged that much in 7 years, in act one he and Vander both feel like they're in their mid 40s idk.

This is lowkey why I kind of only want to draw young Silco.. I love old man yaoi but like. If everything I draw is just flashback version of him, I don't need to worry about logistics of the bridge thing bc it hasn't happened yet lmfao. Or the AU version where everything is solved and no one rlly thinks about that time anymore.

Honestly I've tried to write this response several times trying to spell out my version of the timeline but just. nothing makes any fucking sense. I don't like thinking about how badly the writers fucked up on this part. Silco magically gets an eye injury caused by Vander and they had yaoi divorce but it's fine now. That's just how it is for me and if I think about it even a little more in depth my head will explode and I have better things to do with my time like draw zaundads yaoi

[cripplecharacters]

Alright, I'm just gonna bite the bullet. Worst that can happen is I make a fool of myself. I've been working on superhero stories, versions of the same universe since I was in 8th grade and what I want more than anything is to modernize superheroes, create a world where they act for all people's social good and take representation to the highest level I can think of. From your position of expertise, what can I do with the creation of disabled characters that would buck the trend, do some good, and show a good side. The non-prosthetic and non-corrected for disability rep in the genre is basically nil, I have no ideas and nothing to draw on. I guess I just wanna know what disabled audiences might like to see for once in their lives.

Hello!

Disabled superheroes are awesome. There's really few of them but the ones that we do have are often really important to us - you can look at the reactions to Sun-Spider being first introduced to the Spiderverse, back then I couldn't open my fridge without seeing that one panel where she explicitly says she has hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos.

Here are a few suggestions of what I'd like to see in the superhero genre:

Superheroes with facial differences. Comics love to use us for their ugly disfigured evil villains but not much else unfortunately. I'd kill for a superman type hero who saves people with a smile and a facial difference on his face. Especially for superhero stories that are geared towards kids and teens, we just desperately need something to help with shifting the public perception of people with facial differences from "evil and ugly" to "people that can be awesome". A hero with burn scars, with Treacher Collins syndrome, Bell's palsy, neurofibromatosis... anything.

Superheroes who use disability aids (and still need them when doing their job). Sun-Spider is an awesome example, she swings from her crutches and has a spider wheelchair. That's cool as hell. But even a less in-your-face aid would be great. A superhero flying above the city with her ankle-foot orthoses visible would go really hard. Also, superheroes who are concerned on how much these things cost and try their best to make sure they're still functional while they save the city.

Heroes with different causes of their disabilities. The vast majority of morally good disabled characters were involved in An Accident or some sort of Attack that disabled them. That's not bad or wrong at all, but I think in media is kind of oversaturated with this specific portrayal when a lot of people have progressive or congenital conditions. We need more stories that show those who were born disabled as heroes equal to those who were born abled and spent most of their lives abled. Superheroes with cerebral palsy, chromosomal disorders, congenital rubella, achondroplasia, all the disabilities that tend to get ignored despite so many people having them. Same for really common chronic illnesses, diabetes or COPD are criminally underrepresented.

Disabled superheroes that aren't saints because of their disability. This is the whole "disabled person can do no wrong" trope that appears sometimes. I'm mentioning it since superheroes are more "perfect" than most characters in other genres, so try to not make it so the disabled ones can do no wrong. Disabled people can still make mistakes that are their fault, make poor decisions, or just simply be angry sometimes.

When there's no active superhero action going on, show the normal human parts of the disabled experience. Depending on the demographic you're writing for it would be different things, but there are some fairly universal concepts like inaccessibility, microaggressions, or just boring things like the prosthetic leg no longer fitting well after the character gained some weight. If your characters are from the US, don't be afraid to mention that their insulin costs are barely affordable with their superhero pay. Show how the common everyday kind of ableism affect them when they're in civilian mode. This will make it much more authentic to disabled readers.

These are my suggestions, and I hope they are helpful. My last advice is to have multiple disabled characters, and in different roles. Maybe a character with ALS can no longer do superhero fighting, but he can still be a wonderful parent. Maybe the character with Usher syndrome is more interested in the hero than being a hero themselves (disabled heroes in relationships!). Maybe the character with phocomelia can't be a hero yet because she's six, but she can train hard to be one when she's older. Keep it varied, have them come from different life situations and have different goals just like abled characters do.

I hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[mbruben-stein]

Hello! I love love love your works!

May I request headcanons for:

Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, and Loki

In which the reader (fem or gender neutral) gets hurt to protect them (or the reader got hurt taking a blow which was meant for them), and is dying.

I don't know if you've written this before, and you don't need to rush to write this, if you do write this, thank you so much!

P. S. Your works brighten my day, thank you!!

Avengers reaction to fem s/o getting hurt protecting them/taking a blow for them, and dying in their arms.

Warning: this Mentions Death, and it's sad.

~Peter Parker~

Peter cradled s/o's broken body in his arms, his mind reeling in horror and despair. Just moments ago, they had been fighting side-by-side against the villain's henchmen. But in a cruel twist of fate, s/o had jumped in front of Peter to shield him from a powerful energy blast at the last second. Now she lay dying from catastrophic wounds, her breaths coming in short, pained gasps.

"No, no, no… s/o, stay with me, please," Peter begged, tears streaming down his face as he held her close. His voice cracked with anguish. "Why did you do that? I'm Spider-Man, I have powers, I could have…"

"I had to…" S/o whispered weakly, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. "I couldn't let you die… I love you, Peter."

"I love you too. More than anything. You can't leave me, not like this!" Peter sobbed. His mind raced desperately, trying to think of some way, any way to save her. But deep down, he knew it was too late. Her injuries were too severe.

S/o's eyes fluttered as she struggled to focus on Peter's grief-stricken face one last time. "I'm sorry… Take care of yourself and stay strong… for me…"

With those final words, s/o went limp in Peter's arms, the light fading from her eyes as her spirit left her body. An anguished, inhuman howl of misery tore from Peter's throat. He hugged s/o's lifeless form to his chest, rocking back and forth as he wept uncontrollably.

His beloved s/o, the person he cherished most in this world, had sacrificed herself to save him. Devastation overwhelmed Peter, along with crushing guilt. He should have been faster, should have protected her. What good were his powers if he couldn't even keep the woman he loved safe?

As he knelt there in the wreckage, shattered by grief and loss, Peter silently vowed that s/o's death would not be in vain. He would keep fighting to protect others, no matter the cost. He owed her that much. Even as his heart lay in pieces, he would honor s/o's memory by being the hero she always believed him to be.

~Tony Stark~

Tony cradles s/o's broken body in his arms, the chaos of the battle still raging around them. Her breaths come in short, pained gasps as blood seeps through her torn tactical suit.

"No no no, stay with me baby, stay with me," Tony pleads desperately, voice cracking with emotion. He brushes her hair back from her ashen face with a shaking hand.

S/o weakly reaches up to grasp his hand. "T-Tony…"

"Shh, don't try to talk. Save your strength. I'm gonna get you out of here, you're going to be okay…" But even as the words leave his mouth, Tony knows they ring hollow. Her injuries are too severe.

Tears stream down his face as the horrible realization sinks in - she sacrificed herself to save him. Jumped in front of that blast meant for him without hesitation. And now the woman he loves is dying in his arms because of it.

"I-I had to… c-couldn't let you die…" s/o whispers, life quickly fading from her eyes.

"You shouldn't have done that! Not for me. God, not for me…" Tony's body shakes with sobs, cradling her close. "Please… I can't lose you…"

With the last of her strength, s/o reaches up to touch his face. "I love you…"

Then her hand falls limply to the ground as she breathes her last. Tony lets out an anguished cry, burying his face against her neck as grief consumes him. She's gone. And it's his fault.

The profound guilt, devastation and self-loathing would haunt Tony deeply. Blaming himself for not protecting her, for once again failing someone he loved most. Her death saving his life would weigh heavily on his soul, tormenting him endlessly. The sacrifice of his beloved s/o would break something fundamental inside Tony and leave scars that would never fully heal.

~Natasha Romanoff~

Natasha cradles s/o gently, a look of anguish on her face as she sees the severity of s/o's wounds. "Why did you do that?" she asks softly, her voice trembling slightly. "You shouldn't have…"

S/o manages a weak smile. "I couldn't let you get hurt. Not when I could do something about it." She winces in pain.

Natasha shakes her head, fighting back tears. "You brave, stubborn woman. Always putting others first." Despite the direness of the situation, there's a note of pride and deep affection in Natasha's voice.

She holds s/o closer, stroking her hair soothingly. "Just stay with me, okay? Help is coming. You're going to be alright."

S/o's breathing is growing shallower. "Nat… I need you to know… meeting you, loving you… it's been the best part of my life. You made me so happy…"

A tear slips down Natasha's cheek as she presses her forehead to s/o's. "Don't talk like that. Don't you dare say goodbye," she whispers fiercely. "You're my heart, s/o. I can't do this without you."

"You're the strongest person I know," s/o murmurs. "You'll be okay. I love you so much…" Her eyes flutter closed.

"No, no, no, stay with me!" Natasha pleads desperately. "I love you too. More than anything. I can't lose you!"

She holds s/o tightly as the sound of the medevac approaches, silently praying to anyone who will listen to let her love survive this. In this moment, the Black Widow facade is gone - there is only a woman terrified of losing the most precious thing in her world. All of her walls have crumbled, revealing the deeply vulnerable, human side of her that s/o alone was privileged to know.

It's a poignant, heartwrenching scene, illustrating the depth of love and raw, aching humanity beneath Natasha's guarded exterior. Her s/o means everything to her.

~Steve Rogers~

Steve would be utterly distraught seeing his beloved S/O gravely injured and dying in his arms, especially knowing she sacrificed herself to protect him. As she lay there growing weaker, he would cradle her gently, his blue eyes filled with anguish and glistening with tears he's struggling to hold back.

"Stay with me, please. Don't leave me," he would plead desperately, his normally steady voice breaking. The thought of losing her would be unbearable to him.

Ever the soldier, he would call urgently for medical help, putting pressure on her wound to slow the bleeding, refusing to give up. But he would also take her hand and stroke her face tenderly, wanting her to feel his presence and love in what could be their final moments together.

"You're going to be alright, just hold on," he would say, even as the life fades from her eyes. "I love you so much. I can't do this without you."

As she drew her last breaths, he would hold her close and whisper softly to her. "It's okay. You can rest now. I've got you."

Even if help arrived too late, he would refuse to let her go, rocking her in his arms as sobs overtook his body. The guilt and grief would threaten to consume him. He would forever remember her final act of love and carry it with him always, even as he struggled to imagine a life without her by his side. The woman he loved, his partner and soulmate, gone in an instant… it would shake him to his core and leave him a broken man.

~Loki~

Loki cradles s/o's weakening body in his arms, green eyes wide with shock and anguish as he takes in her grave injury. The chaos of battle fades into the background as his entire focus narrows to the woman he loves, her life force fading by the second.

"No, no, no…" he mutters in disbelief and growing despair. "S/o, why did you do that? Why would you sacrifice yourself for me?" His normally smooth voice cracks with raw emotion.

S/o manages a pained smile up at him, raising a trembling hand to caress his pale cheek. "Because I love you, Loki. I couldn't bear to see you hurt."

Loki shakes his head, tears welling in his eyes and spilling down his face. "You foolish, beautiful, brave woman. I never deserved your love, your loyalty." He pulls her closer, burying his face in her hair.

"I'd make the same choice again," s/o whispers. "I regret nothing… except leaving you." Her breathing grows shallower, more labored.

"Don't you dare leave me!" Loki commands desperately, his slender frame shaking with repressed sobs. "Stay with me, love. I can heal you, I can fix this!" His hands glow with seidr as he frantically tries to knit her grievous wounds back together.

But the damage is too extensive. s/o weakly grips his wrist, stilling his movements. "No, my darling. We both know… it's too late for me."

"You can't go," Loki pleads brokenly, his heart shattering. "I need you. I've lost so much already…"

With the last of her waning strength, s/o pulls his head down and presses a tender kiss to his lips. "I'll always be with you, Loki. In your memories, in your heart." Her voice is fading, her skin growing cold. "Promise me…you'll keep living. Keep fighting for good."

"I promise," Loki chokes out. "I love you, s/o. More than anything."

She smiles serenely as the light leaves her eyes. "And I love you…always."

S/o goes limp in his arms, and Loki unleashes an anguished, grief-stricken scream, his magic exploding out of him in uncontrolled waves. The battle turns in his favor as he cuts down enemies in a berserk rage, tears streaming down his face.

When the last foe falls, Loki collapses beside s/o's body, gathering her into his arms once more as he weeps, desolate and heartbroken without her. He knows he'll have to find a way to carry on, to honor her memory and sacrifice. But for now, all he can do is grieve the loss of his soulmate and vow vengeance on those responsible.