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thrudgelmir2333 · 1 year ago

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LR Characters Retrospective: Corvus Cerah Heloise & The Knights of the Zodiac

Pictured: Aquila Daese (left) and Corvus Cerah (right), art by Balasdan/Bluefeather Oh Cerah, Cerah. ＞︿＜ Is there a character of mine I have changed my mind about more over the years than you? *sigh* Let's get this started.

1. Creating Cerah - LR Version 2 and its Character Improvisation

Every now and then, as a creative writer, you come up with an idea for a character that really works with what you're doing. They just kind of click into your head, sometimes WHILE writing a storyline, because your experience and instinct let you realise "Hey, if this type of character suddenly came into picture, they would really help deepen what I'm doing." Sometimes those characters end up elevating the storyline to a whole new level. Nina from the Death Queen Island Storyline was one such example. Even way back during Version 2 of LR, I wasn't going to have an Esmeralda clone hanging around Guifi, because I didn't want to do the same thing Kurumada did, but while writing that storyline it just came to me that I could take the concept of Esmeralda and kind of make it my own by giving it my personal twist. In the process, Nina kind of took the storyline to a whole new level as a way to show just how manipulative and screwed up Death Queen Island can be, while still surprising my readers. Looking back, she may have been one of my proudest additions. Another was Elisa. A short-lived character, Elisa was initially just going to be someone Lance would meet on his way to pick up Aphrodite for the Pope, but she just sort of naturally evolved into this greater-scope role in that storyline that allowed me to both foreshadow some of the Civil War strife left in Sanctuary and Lance's dissatisfaction with being the Cancer Gold Saint. Just, overall, Elisa was a really good addition, she fulfilled her role and left the stage at just the right moment. A third, more recent example might be Papillion Ainsel. I wasn't originally planning to have more than a couple of False Specter 'Elites' under Daemon Lucifer, but now he might be my favorite False Specter, simply because he's so useful as a story device. His abilities allowed me to write the False Holy War much more consistently and the way he played off his adversaries was also quite useful. Sometimes good characters prevail not so much for their chemistry but for the roads they open in your writing. Point is, some of my characters tend to surprise me with how well they integrate, despite being introduced on the fly. There's just a potential to them I don't realise at first, which is why I always defend writers should stop planning so much and start writing already. Cerah isn't one of these. Despite my best intentions. And she may even be a case arguing for more planning and less writing on my part.

When I created Cerah back in Version 1 of Lance's Role, I wasn't really looking for an avenue to deepen my story or explore a concept better. I just wanted to break up the massive sausage party that Lance's Role was in the first year of its development (2010-2011). And to be frank, I thought of Yushira first for the role, but decided I could use that one for other more dignified writing purposes. To compound the immaturity of my thought process, Cerah was even going to be a generic love interest, way back in 2011. She was actually going to be a Nymph like Eurydice. In retrospective, I feel like I was aping off LYKM's storyline of Eurydice and Hypnos, rather than doing my own thing, something I'm not very proud of nowadays. It was a terrible way to do things and it was doomed to fail. I often get the feeling that the insecurities I was feeling about my character writing back then may have helped fuel my decision to go back and rewrite Lance's Role from the beginning.

And what this means is that, walking into Version 3, Cerah's foundations as a character were very shaky, and it would just get worse overtime. I don't think I honestly knew what I wanted to do with her and at one point I thought I should even just discard her altogether. However, when I got to the "Arrival of the Gods" storyline, I realised I still needed someone to bring Eurydice into Sanctuary, as well as someone to show that Lucian had a human side to him beneath his resentment and status as Specter, so I realised I had to do something. I needed Cerah in the story, but who would I make Cerah into?

2. What is Cerah & The Knights of the Zodiac

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There isn't a cat crawling through my keyboard. It's me furiously typing my frustration into the laptop. It's the only way I can express my feelings about this new topic.

Well, let's start with the strict answer to the question, just like we did with Lance. Let's begin by defining the sure fire things about her.

Corvus Cerah Heloise... is the wielder of the Corvus Silver Cloth. In the context of Lance's group you can kind of look at her as the Yellow Ranger to Lance's Red. She is NOT, however, a Saint or an Amazon of Athena. She is a Knight of the Zodiac.

Yeah, Saint Seiya fans right now are probably going "What? What's the difference?" And yes, to most people, the two terms "Saint of Athena" and "Knight of the Zodiac" mean the exact same effing thing. Because they sort of do, even in LR. But I have to be different, don't I? I have be fancy :v

In the context of Lance's Role, no, Knight of the Zodiac doesn't mean the exact same as being a Saint of Athena. Rather, a Knight of the Zodiac is more of a Knight Templar of Athena, if that makes sense? All Knights of the Zodiac are Saints of Athena, but not all Saints of Athena are Knights of the Zodiac. It's a personal response I had to a question that I think made sense to ask of Kurumada's world, that question being; "Hey. What happened to all the paladin types?" Cause if you look at Saint Seiya, especially from the optics of the spin offs, that's a pertinent question, isn't it? It can't just be Kouga who has the Light Element, or just Aiolos and Seiya who are super devout, or even just the Gold Saints who are really gungo about killing Specters. If Sanctuary is a continous society with people who have opinions about what's going on and are educated by Sanctuary and it's point of view, then there's gotta be people in it who probably take these Holy Wars a bit too seriously. And really, just from a historical perspective, there's always been people in all sorts of societies who are fanatical about the local ideologies and conflicts, or who use religion and wars to cement their privilige and self-righteousness. There's always been moralist preachers and blood knights and templar bankers and they've always been both the origin of xenophobia and the target of xenophobia, a lot of times to tragic outcomes. And in a general sense, there's also always been people who form little stupid clubs in their societies when they feel they can do a better job fixing the problems at hands privately than in the context of the public. Coming from a nation of Catholic crusaders (though we are mostly remembered for sailing and trade), I can see, to the modern day, the strong impact that things like monastical groups, Orders of Knights, feudalism and closed off religious societies have had in the make up of my society. These power organs have always spawned and evolved largely because of contexts of widespread religious warfare, where Kings had to rely on giving land to religiously devout people with swords because it was simply to expensive to defend borders otherwise. You can look at maps of administrative divisions in Iberia during the Renaissance, for example, and understand how entrenched these groups were, and how it could shape societies for centuries to come. Not just their own, but their neighbour societies and societies beyond the Atlantic. It's impossible to ignore the impact it has had not just on it, but on how it's perceived from the outside (by English and Dutch propagandists, for example). In a lot of ways I feel like I have a personal stake in exploring this topic within the context of SS so as to just vent about how much it permeates my country to this day. Hell, we have an "Order of Veterinaries", for christ's sake. Why would you need a coat of arms for a group of people who earn a living shoving a thermometer up your cat's bum, unless the Order of Christ has deeply impacted every facet of your society? Well, what if Sanctuary had Knight Templars? What if we took the international name for Saint Seiya, "Knights of the Zodiac", and gave it a little spin?

3. Cerah's Phase 2 - the "Knight of the Zodiac"

So, in Version 3 of LR, I knew Cerah wasn't going to be a nymph anymore, but I knew I still wanted her to sort of be the "Yellow Ranger" to Lance's "Red". The question was;

1. how to make that work within the context of Saint Seiya? 2.how to justify her presence in the Underworld? 3.how to explain the absence of her subgroup in the canon storylines? 4. How to keep her "yellow"? When you think about it, making Cerah some kind of paladin is a perfectly valid idea that would answer all 4 of these questions.

First of all, going back to earlier points about how knight orders are formed, it seemed to make perfect sense to me that Sanctuary would have people in it that were a bit more fervorous about the Holy Wars than most. And it made perfect sense that their primary target would be Hades, not Poseidon, because Poseidon only comes once every 1800 years, but Hades pops up whenever he thinks Athena isn't paying attention. Which is all the freaking time.

And it made EXTRA sense that those people would be all the Light cosmos users hanging around that for some reason are absent in Classic SS and Omega. Second of all, the color Yellow can be pretty well represented by the Light element. Some people might prefer electricity for this, but honestly that kind of depends on people's preferences? My point is that you can frame it well enough so that Cerah could keep her Yellow Range theme. Third of all, if there's one thing people know about the Knight Templars, other than that they presumably were knights fighting the Crusade, is that the King of France burned them at the stake for heresy (as an excuse to seize their banks). Is that what happened to Cerah's Knights of the Zodiac?

*shrug* Idk, maybe? Look, if you think your favorite author had all the questions figured out before he started writing, then you know nothin' about writing, kay?

But this faction destruction did provide the perfect set up to answer Questions 2 and 3; cause it makes sense that such a group of people would attract ire from their Sanctuary brethren, especially as Sanctuary tethers closer and closer in the 20th century to how we've come to see it being like under Saga's regime.

On a side note, honestly? I always thought the idea that Saga being the source of all the evil in Sanctuary, and that if Athena replaced him every selfish person in it would convert back into righteousness, was stupid and infantilising. Militarised societies throughout the world are PACKED with selfish, corrupt pigs who use their weapons and positions for personal benefit, because it's not about who's in charge, it's about what kinds of candidates jobposts with this kind of authority attract. Anyway.

The mythical destruction of the "Knights of the Zodiac" in LR's history provided a lot of useful background for Cerah's character. Suddenly, there was a world inside Sanctuary that could be Cerah's. It was her own avenue to explore, and it could provide her her own ethics and point of view to offer the group.

And in a strict action sense, it pretty much revolutionised Cerah's role. She was now a fighter, just like Yushira. And some of the abilities I came up for the Knights were actually kind of exciting. While I feel like I overstepped myself here and there with the concept of "Lightcraft", it did provide some really cool options for what Cerah can do. I still think, to this day, that the scenes of Cerah battling Urial's skeletons and Cyclops Servo in the Arrival of the Gods storyline are some of the best action I've written in my early phases.

Not only that, but the Knights of the Zodiac themselves (or Cyrulian Knights as I once called them, don't wanna get into that now) were rife with potential that I immediately capitalised on. One of the things that made sense to me, especially with the added idea of Lightcraft, was the the Knights of the Zodiac would have created Clothstones and guarded that technology very secretively, which may have motivated the Topaz Purge.

So things were looking good for Cerah. I figured her out, framing wise (～￣▽￣)～ But then I made a fatal mistake. I made Cerah too young.

See, being from Lance's generation, Cerah is kind of just as ignorant about what it means to be a Knight as Lance is towards being a Saint. She is way too young to understand what happened to the Knights of the Zodiac or even who they were beyond the Cloth Stone she carries with her.

However, unlike Lance, Cerah doesn't really have anyone to teach her that. Other than, obviously, Daemon Lucian, a freaking Specter, who she was left with lol And he has no reason to do so.

This, of course, means Cerah couldn't be my vehicle to talk to my readers about what the Knights were, a problem that was going to increasingly haunt me over time. She could only be the vehicle to the questions, not the answers.

So what do you do? Well, I can't really change Cerah's circunstances, so if Cerah is the vehicle for questions, then I need to introduce someone who can be a vehicle for answers.

4. Aquila Daese Heloise: Cerah's Kastiel

We are gonna talk a bit about the character on the left of the post's image, the one in blue armor. This character could be a whole blogpost in and of herself, so I will try to be expedient and to the point.

Aquila Daese is Cerah's older sister. Chronologically, she is actually introduced BEFORE Cerah is in Lance's Role, during the "Goodbye" Storyline, as Sagittarius Priam's right hand and bodyguard. More importantly, Daese is an enemy of the Pope and fights in Priam's behalf for revenge over the Topaz Purge, the event when Sanctuary killed or exiled most, if not all, of the remaining Zodiac Knights.

She is also Cerah's older sister who was forced to leave her in Lucian's care and, as of recent chapter revelations, she may be involved with the incident where Lance first manifested his cosmos and Triangle Noah lost their right leg, all of which are blocked by Lance's trauma memory seal Noah made for him.

More importantly, Aquila Daese's defining flaw as a character is that, as a Knight of the Zodiac who REMEMBERS what it was like to be part of the order, she is inserted into its culture, unlike Cerah. As such, Daese is blinded by the pain the Topaz Purge caused her and by the culture of zealotry the Zodiac Knights instilled in her. A good example of this is that she considers Specters to be such sworn enemies of the world, while Cerah sees them more as victims of Hades, that fighting Priam's war is the most important thing she can be doing, while Cerah is more free to pick better sides. Case in point, in the "Two Towers" storyline, Daese plays right into Daemon Lucian's manipulations when he forces her to confront the fact that her love for Cerah is kind of in question when she's willing to leave her for years under a Specter's care so she can go off fight her guerilla war.

Hey, teenagers. ￣へ￣ They be dumb.

This, of course, doesn't mean Daese isn't a good person or that she doesn't love Cerah. It just means she's immature and has room to improve, and in a way is also a victim of Lucian's manipulation and the power plays of the LR world. I frankly think some people get hanged up on hating these kinds of characters like Daese, cause they often see the neglect on TV and books and they relate it back to personal experiences of being neglected by family and friends. These experiences are important, yes, but it doesn't mean it makes the character on screen a bad person.

At the end of the day, having Cosmos just makes you strong. It doesn't make you heroic. Daese was barely a teenager when the Topaz Purge happened. She could easily get hunted down if she used cosmos too much and she had a baby sister to keep alive. What would you do?

Daese's abandonment, in any case, plays an integral part of Cerah's character. In a way, she is Cerah's answer to Lance's Kastiel, except the motivations of the abandonment are reverted, so I always kinda found it funny that my beta-readers sometimes would compliment moments of Kastiel showing a deeper character, but kind of glazed over my attempts to give Daese some moments. Maybe I just wasn't writing them effectively. Or maybe this might be because people feel more judgmental of good people making mistakes, because they already expect bad people to fuck up.

Daese, however, does present some challenges for my writing because, quite simply, it forced me to involve Sagittarius Priam in the story a whole lot more. Especially at a time where, frankly, I wasn't prepared to do a good job with him. I remember my first attempts to write him portrayed Priam as this kind of air-headed idealist aviator that frustrated Guardnia with how he didnt realise the consequences of his actions. It just made sense to me that someone willing to go to war with Shion was someone who had a complex motivation but didn't grasp the full consequences of them. Nowadays I barely ever mention those aspects and Priam just feels like an older Aiolos. Like I said; I simply wasn't prepared to do a good job with him.

This is part of the inherent challenging nature of trying to write a comprehensive, epic scale fic about... anything. Sometimes it's going to test you on something you're not prepared for, and you're gonna flunk really badly and everyone's gonna see it. It's something I struggle with even today, because it often makes me feel like I'm doing a worse job than I can be realistically expected to. Writing good characters takes build up and time, and a lot of times you don't do a good job from the get-go. Not everyone in your story is going to be memorable.

But back on point, while Daese did solve some of the problems with Cerah's framing by giving both extra backstory and someone to answer questions about Cerah's faction, it did rob Cerah of that privilige. So what could Cerah be now, if not a pure Knight of the Zodiac?

4. Cerah's Phase 3 - the Superego of LR

Well, a unique aspect to Cerah she maintains to this day is that, in a way, she is a Zodiac Knight raised by a Specter, which is an interesting backstory of its own. Unlike Daese, Cerah understands what it's like to NOT be a Knight of the Zodiac and even what its like to be a Specter (or what to have to work in the Underworld is like, anyway).

It's actually in this phase of her development I found the most use for her as a character, I want to stress that strongly. And with that in mind, let's finally answer the question of Who is Cerah? You know, rather than just what.

Cerah is a war refugee raised by a Specter Prince. She's optimistic, rule-abiding, admirant of older figures, compromising, dedicated to her job, considerate, hard working, sacrificial, respectful and surprisingly brave.

But she is also insecure, has pathologically low self-confidence, tends to just outright believe what older people say and tell her to do, can't function without someone like Eurydice or Olivia reassuring her fears, craves the aproval of figures she admires and may have repressed feelings of envy and greed towards the affluence of others that are constantly poked at by her Corvus Cloth's spirit.

In Saint Seiya terms, she's a bit of a cross between Shiryu and Shun, with an extra X chromosome added in. Some of these traits, like her bravery and hard work, are part of her nature, while others, like her lack of self-confidence, come from being raised by someone as overshadowing as Daemon Lucian, the Celestial Star of Pride and Left Hand of freaking Hades.

As a person who grew up deprived, ripped from her Zodiac Knight cradle and put under the strict boot of Daemon Lucifer in the Underworld, Cerah has grown to consider both sides of every matter and also a bit hesitant to question the morality of her mentor figures, aspects which can be both positive or negative depending on the context.

So, really, Corvus Cerah makes a perfect Saint Seiya Gemini.

These are all traits shown in the story, by the way. I dont just write profiles of the characters are supposed to be at the start of the fic and then expect my readers to accept that in their brains. There is work put into each of these details and how they impact Cerah's choices and actions. That can probably give you an idea of why LR is so goddamn long (at the time of this writing, LR is literally 1000x longer than my second longest fic "Guilt of Phoenix", that I made when I was 17). All these traits make Cerah rather useful as a character, because it lets me have a pair of eyes on the story that is questioning, yet earnest, which is something neither Lance nor Shinta ever really provide.

In other words, if Lance is the Ego (what should be done) of the party and Yushira is the ID (what we want done), then Cerah could occupy the role of SuperEgo (what is right to do) and all three form different social groups and priorities while forming a natural trio with one another. A lot of people compare this framing to the "Devil/angel on the shoulder" trope, but I disagree, cause that implies that people's basic desires are inherently evil and that their moralism is inherently righteous, when, in reality, that's more context-dependant than anything. Yushira's point of view is just as valuable as Cerah's and it's just the sort of thing you balance out to create believable character dynamics. But regardless, this was always the framing I had in mind for what Cerah would contribute to the story as a character and it remains true to this day. However, it also carries the risk of having her sound too close to Shinta, the other 'heart' of the cast. This was something I forgot to account for because, in my mind, Shinta was never going to be a member of Lance's 'party', just an important person in his life of the same sort as Noah, so when I planned the best balance for the 'party', this was a conflict that just slipped my mind. And because she was off doing her own things in the story for so long, I never had to write her close to Shinta for a very long time, which just made me miss the problem even more.

Hopefully now you see why I started this post talking about how much a headache Cerah has been in my life. And why she keeps falling into comas.

5. Why is Cerah always falling into comas?

When a writer isn't sure where to take a character next just yet, or fix some kind of major problem with them, a perfectly valid way to solve the problem is to just... stuff it in a fridge for a while and wait to see how things develop.

This is because writers aren't static people who start with the same level of creativity they end their careers with, and you never really know when you might gain a new perspective on your work that lets you figure something out, or when the story develops better conditions to include the characters you want to have. If you ever wondered why a character you like is being sparsely used by a show, it might very well be because the writers are having a harder time putting them to use than you think. This actually happens very frequently to side characters, but when it happens to main cast members, it can be quite jarring for an audience. While Cerah was a pretty active side character in the False Holy War, she has been put into the fridge about three times in LR, so far. The first was when she fell into a coma after her battle with Cyclops Balgo's squad and Gryphon Urial, not to mention getting stabbed by Nasu Erika. Unsurprisingly, falling prey to attacks from a bunch of really powerful Specters landed our poor Silver-Rank girl in a near death situation, and a year-long coma. This was both a way to account for her absence in the story from chapters 1-20 of LR and to impact her and Eurydice's life in a forever-bonding traumatic experience. The second was when she fell into a coma again after battling Alraune Queen in Arc 3. This time, she was asleep for only about a week and even unlocked the 7th sense, but still, thats gotta be pretty traumatic for her. It even formed the backdrop of Lance and Olivia pairing up. I wasn't trying to really put her away from the story, I just thought that at this point she wasn't really vibing the way I wanted her to and I was feeling more potential out of Olivia. I needed space to figure her out, and Cerah was kind of getting in the way.

The third one might be the weirdest one, because this time Cerah isn't even unconscious or missing; she's just training. And this is where we get to the final phase of her character, or at least the one I'm currently on.

6. Cerah's (Final?) Phase - the Dragon Knight?

If there is one male role model figure important to Lance's life, it's Libra Dohko. Dohko is just one of those dads that know exactly where you're taking things too seriously on and why, which is why he has a natural master-student dynamic not just with Shiryu, but Ohko as well. Dohko, however, is also a useful tool for me to introduce a little direction for the characters in the story, because he isn't just an older figure, but he's knowledgeable of his world's history.

However, Dohko's particular legacy, that of the Dragon and Libra Cloths, don't really fit into Lance. Being Shiryu or even Ohko ain't his style. Lance isn't smooth and calm like Shiryu; he's short-fused, awkward, a skeptic and a determinator, and he isn't really brash, arrogant and demeaning like Ohko, but more so just has little patience for Sanctuary's mysticisms and people's bullshit. So he doesn't make a good dragon or tiger. The importance of Dohko as his 'Master' has always been far more towards maturing Lance as a person than teaching him the Ascending Dragon Fist.

And yes, while the dragon techniques were important to Lance during the False Holy War, remember, those were just so he could SURVIVE. He was up against a freaking Prince of Hades, someone above the three Judges, and anyone who's read Lance's fights with Lucian know those were less fights and more struggles for survival. Now that he has an opening to decide his own path, Lance isn't really interested in keeping the moves other than as a crutch to hold Guilty's influence at bay.

And that kind of leaves an open spot for a Dragon in the story, doesn't it? And like I said, Cerah is kind of a cross between Shiryu and Shun anyway, plus her Knight Clothstone is a Silver Cloth, plus Dohko and Lucian are lifetime enemies, which would make a person trained by both of them even more of a Gemini mess, so... See where I am going with this? It sounds like the natural choice, doesn't it? Just make Cerah the new Dragon Saint. Boom, baby. Fem-Shiryu in the story. And this wouldn't be out of nowhere, either; during the False Holy War, Cerah drank the Waters of Life, which healed her wounds and attuned her to Seiryu (its even part of why she got closer to getting the 7th sense), as a consequence of a bunch of separate storylines involving Pegasus Lance and Ophiuchus Iaso colliding with hers. It almost feels like this is where the story just naturally led the character to, through her choices and adventures.

Plus, I think I can do some really cool things by combining Shiryu technique lore with Zodiac Knight Lightcraft abilities.

Except... there's some timing issues at hand. Cerah already has a Silver Cloth with her, why should she waste her time with a Bronze one? Plus it doesn't mean she would be a good match as a student to Dohko. Plus, this is gonna toss the whole Saintia Academy thing out of the window and none of this means that Cerah's new path will reflect into entertaining or effective action in what is, for all intents, an action story. Great. Another mess. Like I said; this girl's a giant headache. Let's wrap this up, okay?

7. Conclusion

There's an argument to be made that a bit more of planning could have solved this, that if I had stopped a bit longer and laid things out better, contradictions between Cerah's attachment to the Saintia Academy and what I now want to do with her wouldn't be an issue, right?

No.

This isn't me being stubborn. Let me elaborate. Planning, or lack thereof, didn't really cause this. Cerah's writing is just a product of her development. It was natural for her to land at the academy, just as it was for her to be a viable candidate to the Dragon Cloth, because her life and her choices led to both options being open. She wouldn't have met Lance and Olivia, for example, without Adriana putting her in the academy. And without meeting Olivia and Lance, she wouldn't have gotten the 7th sense and become interested in Lance's crusade into the Underworld, either. If anything, this is more the fault of my writing of LANCE. Yes. Cause if I hadn't tried to make him such a blend of Shiryu and Ikki, and more of his own character earlier on, that would have given me more options for Cerah's development that wouldn't create so much of a feeling of kaleidoscopical blurness in my cast, where everything meshes together.

So what do we take from this? What do I conclude from Cerah and how do I prevent future headaches?

Well, just that my writing is often messy and throws me a curve ball every now and then. I have benefitted just as much from unexpected developments in creating a chapter as I have ran into walls previously unseen. Storytelling is something you kinda have to at some point put to the test, especially when it's as long as LR. The same adventure that had her drink the Waters of Life also had her share an adventure with Yushira and landed her in Adriana's hands and let her witness the destruction of the False Holy War, all things that benefitted her character.

Im never gonna be that kind of writer that just gets everything perfect right away and has instantly charismatic characters. I'm too much of a hermit to get people right. Planning even more isn't gonna make any difference, because I don't really know how things will work out. The best I can do is try to compile enough experience that I can minimise long term problems. There's only one thing that is going to fix this mess with Cerah, and it's writing better in the future and try to harness that natural synergy a bit better. And honestly, I think I've been getting better at that. The character of Atlae went off to a rocky start, but as soon as I went into writing his backstory, things began clicking a lot better. Hopefully Cerah will be the same. The headaches are always gonna be there, tho, that's for damn sure.

#saint seiya #os cavaleiros do zodiaco #fanfic #fanfiction #writing #characterisation

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jacarandabanyan · 3 years ago

Note

📚for the fanfic plot ask thing!📚

Okay so- plot of one (of many) fanfic I haven't written (because to be honest, I don't have the skill to pull this off yet) but often daydream about:

I would love to write a This-Is-How-You-Loose-The-Time-War-inspired spy-vs-spy KisaIta fic. It would feature baby ANBU Itachi trying desperately to find a solution to the tensions brewing between his family and the village (massacre was still a few years off when he first joined ANBU, I believe). This eventually leads to him hunting down all reports/intelligence related to the night of the Kyuubi Attack and finding a few small scraps of information that hint at the existence of the Masked Man.

(He is a pre-teen, so he doesn't really *get* that finding a different scapegoat/"revealing the truth of what happened that night" probably isn't going to fix issues that are rooted in three generations of Village Policy and History, because he may be a genius at killing people but his education has not emphasized critical thinking)

He eventually tracks what little (extremely scant) evidence he has to Kiri, where he comes to believe the Masked Man is operating.

He gets himself sent on endless missions to the Land of Water in pursuit of his pet project, gaining himself a reputation in the process. There are no shortage of missions- the Land of Water is rapidly devolving into three different simultaneous civil wars, and resentment over the last Great Shinobi War lingers enough that Kiri and Konoha will likely never be friends in Itachi's lifetime.

(This is gonna get really long, so here's a read more)

At the same time, recently-made-ANBU Kisame has been mostly assigned to intelligence-related missions, as in canon. However, over the course of his first few months worth of missions, he comes to suspect that there's a leak in ANBU, and he sets about trying to find it and silence it. He slowly develops a reputation for ruthlessness even among ANBU, a cut above the normal Kiri ruthlessness, as he secretly works to get his fingers into every hidden nook, cranny, and conspiracy until he finds the disloyal one.

(And maybe he's projecting his issues/self-hatred related to killing other Kiri ninha just. a little bit. on this mysterious leaker. How dare this person sell out the Village? How dare they give out the information that gets other Kiri shinobi killed? It's easier to hate the faceless traitor than it is to hate himself. And at least he still *has* values. He killed the Few to protect the Whole.)

Over time, as the two develop their reputations, their respective villages start pitting them against each other in the field. Konoha has an unofficial policy of trying to off Seven Swordsmen hopefuls before they can get powerful enough to actually get a blade, and Kirigakure knows that the unstoppable Konoha operative is a Sharingan-user, and Obito-controlling-the-Mizukage is always down to take down his estranged family members.

Danzo is less eager to have Itachi take care of the Uchiha for good, not out of any particular maneuvering on Itachi's part, but because he also remembers the last Great Shinobi War, and how brutal Kirigakure was during it. He sees their ongoing civil strife and fears that one faction will eventually WIN and turn their attention on their neighbors. Itachi has made himself the best operative at getting into and out of Kirigakure- if he wants to interfere from the shadows and keep the civil strife going, he needs to keep Itachi in the field. (Don't worry, he finds other ways to be awful/keep the pressure on).

Itachi and Kisame are a good match-up. Itachi might be a natural genius with a fancy kekkei-genkai, but Kisame has way more experience than him. Also, unlike laser-focused Itachi, Kisame is actually keyed into the intelligence world, so he always has more information than Itachi.

They clash over and over again over several years, and slowly learn more and more about each other. They mature into seasoned ANBU operatives, have epiphanies about themselves and their villages. And slowly come to like each other.

Itachi has his sexual awakening when he sees Kisame rise up out of an ocean of blood, shirtless, effortlessly hoisting a struggling Jonin one-handed over his shoulder, big tooth-filled grin on his face.

They infiltrate each others' villages and insert themselves into each others' missions in disguise. Itachi genjutsus a Kiri team to think he's one of their teammates, whom Kisame secretly has orders to eliminate. He feels a surge of relief when the teammate he'd known since his Academy days dissolves into a murder of crows moments before his sword pierces their chest- his teammate is still dead, but at least this time they were killed by an enemy, not Kisame himself.

Kisame knows his mysterious counterpart is a Sharingan-user, so he infiltrates the Uchiha compound to tease out what the situation is with the clan in Konoha right now (and maybe see if he can figure out who his counterpart is).

While he's in the village, tracking kekkei-genkai users, he discovers Root and exposes it. This is both a huge win for Kiri Intelligence and put Danzo in a tricky situation, since he supposedly disbanded it.

Eventually Kisame figures out that some of the leaked information is making its way to Danzo, so he goes to kill Danzo and try and figure out who he's getting his information from. This is right around when Danzo's started making threatening noises towards the Uchiha again, since Root was just rediscovered (by foreign intelligence, no less!) and he needs to redirect attention off himself and onto the Uchiha. He's even considering the total elimination plan again- Itachi's work in the Land of Water is valuable, but not more valuable than consolidating control over the Village.

(Or perhaps he doesn't need Itachi for this- Shisui is also a talented ANBU operative, after all. Sasuke was originally supposed to be the spare Uchiha left alive in the village, so they wouldn't loose the precious Sharingan, but it's becoming increasingly clear that while he's good, he's not as good as Itachi. Why keep the subpar tool and throw away the masterwork?)

Itachi develops a humorous problem where he's leading three different fake lives, and is covering up with by genjutsu-wammying anyone who might notice anything suspicious in the timing of his long absences. He's infiltrated Mei's rebellion as a spy who needs to disappear a lot to go do spy stuff, while at the same time pretending to be an official in the Water Daimyo's court, while also posing as a regular Kiri Jounin.

His Regular Kiri Jounin act is so solid, they give him a genin team. One of the genin is related to the civilian official he's impersonating in the Daimyo's court, and she constantly comes to see him and tell him all about her sensei. On of the other genin on the team is related to a the Mizukage, and Mei orders him to kidnap that genin away from their sensei, which is also him, so that he can be used as leverage. The third genin turns out to be a secret kekkei-genkai user, and actually wants to be kidnapped away to the rebellion so that they won't have to live in fear of being discovered, and also because they hate the current government. This genin who wants to be kidnapped is constantly fighting with the genin he's actually supposed to kidnap, and whines that "Sensei, you're not supposed to play favorites! Why do they get to get kidnapped but I don't? They don't even want to get kidnapped!"

(Itachi the Regular Kiri Jounin, who is Unquestionably Loyal and Totally Not a Radical Who Would Join the Rebellion, ends up dating Kisame, whose identity as an ANBU is technically a secret. This relationship runs on willful ignorance.)

Kisame and Itachi would end up taking each others' places at some point to take down each others' mentors- Kisame walks right into Danzo's office looking like Itachi, and no one blinks when they sense the genjutsu because Itachi is always casting genjutsus. No one even realizes anything's wrong until Danzo's dead and "Itachi" is making his getaway.

Itachi would be approached by Fuguki at some point with an offer to sell information, and immediately realizes that this is Kisame's leak. He argues to Danzo's replacement that the value of Kiri's ANBU turning on each other is greater than the value of having someone willing to sell the occasional nugget of info. He has to work not to laugh behind his ANBU mask, because Konoha nin just don't get how down Kiri nin are to turn on each other at the drop of a hat. "Turning Kiri ANBU against each other" please, as if the Seven Swordsmen don't regularly train their own murderers. As if one of the fastest ways to gain cache isn't by offing your superiors. It's like Konoha Intelligence knows nothing.

He wins his case, and reveals what he knows to Kisame, who goes and kills Fuguki like he did in canon. Obito reveals himself, same as in canon, and Kisame immediately knows how he's going to pay Itachi back. He's still disillusioned with the Shinobi world like in canon, but he had his initial Pit of Despair moment years ago, when he figured out there was a leak in ANBU and that truly there were lies everywhere. He's learned how to compartmentalize since then.

He pretends to join Obito so that he can feed Itachi information. Together they take down Obito, revealing his crimes to both Kiri and Konoha.

It should be over then- Kisame found the leak, Itachi cleared his family's name- but it's been around a decade at this point. Both of them have played so many roles as spies that they don't know how to go back to who they were before.

Itachi's almost spent more of his life in the Land of Water than in the Land of Fire at this point, and he certainly knows more people there than in the Land of Fire. He's passed his twentieth birthday by now, and he's no longer a pre-teen with no concept of the world and his place in it outside of Konoha Propaganda/Brainwashing. He doesn't know how to relate to Sasuke's fierce, uncomplicated desire to grow up to be the best Shinobi, because how can he think that's a good thing at this point?

Meanwhile, Kisame still kind of hoped that killing the liars/traitors who had sent so many Kiri-nin to their deaths would make him feel better about all the comrade-killing, but it doesn't. He can't seem to reconcile his absolute loyalty to the Village and its ideals with his disgust at everything they do.

For a brief while, he and Itachi join Mei's rebellion for realsies (Itachi still as one of his undercover roles) and help her topple the Bloody Mist government and install a new one, but it's not enough. What she's proposing is still a Ninja Village. It's better than what there was before, but that's not really a ringing endorsement.

Itachi's the first one to decide to walk away. He lets Kisame "kill" him on a random mission in a way that doesn't lend itself to a body being returned or retrieved, then settles down and builds himself a life as a secret kekkei-genkai child who grew up hidden like Mei, but never learned to be a proper shinobi. He spends his days at a quiet house outside Kiri proper gardening and making jam by the side of a lake Kisame made during one of his fights with Itachi. There's a ghost town near the lake, emptied during the Civil War years. He develops a reputation as a ghost.

Kisame walks away not long after. He can't really leave, of course- unlike Itachi, he has no desire to settle down in a foreign country, and too many people know him here- but he does step away from active duty. He "kills" Itachi The Regular Kiri Jounin-Sensei and takes his genin team for himself. The kids know something's up because their Sensei still visits them sometimes, though he half-heartedly tries to convince them he's a ghost. They help spread the story about the ghost living by the lake anyway, just in case anyone starts investigating.

Kisame quietly moves out of his shitty Kiri apartment to join Itachi by the lake. Some of the seven swordsmen do come investigating then, but when they discover that Kisame's just moving in with his squeeze who he really sexily fake-murdered, they decide not to do anything about it. Besides, they like Itachi and don't want to have to write up a report about how dangerous it is to Kiri security that he lounges around a lake all day, drawing birds and cooking elaborate meals in an attempt to blend the comfort food of his youth with the produce and spices native to Kiri that are honestly more familiar to him at this point than the ones that grow in the Land of Fire.

Itachi sometimes goes and visits Sasuke and Shisui back in Konoha, but mostly he hangs out in his new home and lives out his soft, domestic, non-violent dreams with Kisame and his cute little genin. It's a sappy ending.

#naruto #fanfiction #kisaita #kisame #itachi #This is totally different from my other Kisaita Spy AU because in that one only Itachi is the spy

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avelera · 4 years ago

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I think my final weird historical ramble of the day As Brought to You By my research for Lights Out/Old Guard Nicky/Joe fic into the Crusades is how seeing Europeans as like a colonizing force during the Crusades or the Crusades as a “Clash of Civilizations”, East vs. West, Muslims vs. Christians, etc etc, the way many people view it in the US and indeed the way I was initially taught to view that conflict, is wrong because apparently it gives way too much credit for how haphazard, pathetic, and primitive the Europeans actually were.*

I mean, far from being some unstoppable European war machine of CONQUEST and EMPIRE, these hapless European, barely-more-than-barbarian-tribes, forces basically stumbled into establishing a Latin Christian presence in the Levant mostly because of internal political strife on the part of the defending Fatimid Caliphate + the Fatimid’s conflicts with the Seljuk Turks (both Muslims and often conflated by Westerners - basically, the players were Latin Christians and Byzantine Greek Christians, who were often infighting, Seljuk Turkish Muslims and Arabic Fatimid Caliphate Muslims, who were originally fighting but then later once the Europeans arrived were sometimes allied but also each of them respectively were sometimes allied with the Latin Christians once those forces got their feet under them and began to operate as just another political force in the region and ANYWAY THE POINT IS, this whole thing was a MESS and not a clash of two monoliths AT ALL at least not for the first HUNDRED YEARS of the conflict).*

(*according to several lectures I have listened to, please do not consider this comprehensive knowledge, it’s a product of around 100 hours of research, not a PhD)

The thing is, the Europeans didn’t set out to “conquer” the Middle East when they answered Pope Clement II’s call to “liberate” Jerusalem (which was more of a favor that Clement was doing for the Emperor of Constantinople anyway and it backfired for that Emperor in so, so many ways). The Casus Belli really was just to “liberate” the Holy City from the “pagans” (no mentions of Islam as a faith that they were fighting but, interestingly, the Latin Christians, at least the Italians, may not have even really seen Islam as a separate faith as such in fact some may have seen it as a heretical Christian sect which is kind of wild but also, like, a little closer to the reality in that both faiths are Abrahamic as compared to incorrect interpretations that it’s just an entirely “pagan” religion??). So the Christian forces were mustered, it seems for the most part, by Clement inspiring them based on the incredibly devout faith of the Europeans who stepped up for the call, NOT as much by inspiring in them the the hopes of gaining money or territory, except for by a few minor princes who figured out that there was an opportunity to gain territory only AFTER they were there. So, to characterize this conflict as financially motivated on the part of the European Crusaders is to ascribe modern motives to an ancient, truly religiously-motivated conflict.

Now, financially, fortunes WERE made in a very cynical way as a result of this conflict, but it was the CHURCH milking the Crusaders, not the Church expecting to gain any wealth from the Holy Land. They became a de facto bank lending money to Crusaders could buy equipment and horses in exchange for loaning or selling their lands and livestock to the Church (I’m sure Jesus would have LOVED that!) BUT the Crusaders all did so at a HUGE disadvantage because, uh, supply/demand kicked in because there was a TON of land suddenly up for sale and EVERYONE needed a horse (or 3) and weapons and armor and food so you see where this is going the Church made BANK and the Crusaders went BANKRUPT for this cause that they were pretty much doing JUST out of a desire to save their SOULS, NOT out of hope of plunder!

So they eventually get to the Holy Land, probably like 50% of the *knights* who set out to fight there die along the way, let’s not even get INTO the Peasants Crusade or the camp followers/civilians who tagged along. And really, the plan was to kick out the “pagans” from Jerusalem, in theory hand the territory back over to the Byzantine Christians in Constantinople and just... go home. Then a bunch of stuff happened and they stayed.

BUT to go back to my original point, acting like it wasn’t a total haphazard mess that led to the conquest of Jerusalem, let alone holding it, that the Europeans had any idea what they were doing, that they were anything more than just ANOTHER band of smelly barbarians rolling through, setting up some short-lived fortresses and then fucking off again once any kind of serious local resistance gets organized, is to give the Europeans WAY too much credit. They’re not the sophisticated war machines of modern era Imperial Britain or France, these are barely more than Frankish clans and German feudal lords along with a bunch of whackadoodle Christian believers, getting tricked more or less by their religious leaders to go maraud to a random place on the other side of the world, bankrupting and/or killing way more than half of these hapless guys, for reasons that were largely baffling to the more sophisticated governments currently “in power” (for a certain value of “power” given internal divisions in the Fatimid Caliphate).

TL;DR The Europeans were basically a barbarian hoard, who lacked the manpower to do more than cling to the edges of the coast for barely a century before being driven off again. If this was the Romans and the Gauls we’d consider this occupation a footnote, if not for the long-term ramifications that we continue to suffer from this event, but more from the PERCEPTION of this event more than the material reality of it, for the last 1,000 years.

And anyway, as an Ancient Rome/Greece nerd primarily, this has been an interesting thing to learn!

#tog meta #the old guard #kaysanova #tog fic #history #actual historians please be gentle this is as much me trying to put my 101 thoughts in order

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scottymcgeesterwrites · 4 years ago

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Final Fantasy VII Remake Review

Year: 2020

Platform: PS4

I finished this game shortly after posting all my main single-player series Final Fantasy reviews. I was still digesting it and thinking about it to put together my review.

Synopsis:

The Shinra Electric Power Company rules over the city of Midgar, and the eco-terrorists AVALANCHE stop at nothing to try and prevent the life essence of the planet from being used as energy. Barrett, leader of AVALANCHE, hires a mercenary named Cloud Strife for their bombing mission on a Shinra Mako Reactor. Cloud doesn’t care much for the greater cause and only wants his pay. But then, after a mission goes awry, he meets Aerith, a flower girl who is the descendant of the Ancients. He quickly finds himself wrapped up in the greater conflict against Shinra.

Gameplay:

Final Fanatasy VII Remake has one of the best gameplay styles of any Final Fantasy game. It’s that good. It seems like after all these years, this is what Square really wanted to do. Since this was released after Final Fantasy XV, it’s pretty much the successor to its gameplay. While Final Fantasy XV has you more or less spamming the attack button with occasional spell casting and item usage, Final Fantasy VII Remake has you much more involved with the Materia system, abilities, and guarding/evading. One notable example is that Final Fantasy XV always told you when you should guard in order to counter, but Final Fantasy VII Remake has you figure that out on your own.

The abilities are so goddamn flashy and cool during gameplay. Tifa’s moves are quite possibly the most awe-inspiring.

My only complaint is locking onto the enemy during battle. You have to press down on R3 to lock onto an enemy, and I sometimes found that jarring with the camera controls. Sometimes I accidentally disengaged from an enemy and missed an attack. Since your moves are dependent on an Active Time Battle system, you can waste a turn if you get hit while conjuring a spell or taking out an item. That sometimes made me go “REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”. But in the long run, those were very small gripes. The battles are so much fun.

Since the game follows only the Midgar portion of the story, it’s linear. But you reach sections where you are free to roam around and do sidequests before continuing with the main objective. I’m sure the later releases of the remake will feel much less constrained. But this remake does a good job at expanding upon Midgar without feeling too redundant.

Graphics:

Jesus Christ. This game is gorgeous.

Both in-game graphics and pre-rendered cutscenes. The switch between a pre-rendered cutscene and in-game cutscene has become much more seamless than ever before.

If you remember my Final Fantasy XV review, I mentioned how NPCs and other in-game animations seemed stiff and stilted. Final Fantasy VII Remake takes steps to remedy that. Characters have more fluid movements and everyone’s lips move a lot more. However, lip movements can come off as awkward. My friend was watching me play, and during one in-game cutscene they said “Something looks weird with their lips.” At times, lip movements seem too dynamic when the character is standing relatively still, which comes off looking like Mr. Ed the horse trying to talk.

Despite those small awkward things, the rest of the game is extremely polished. Remember how blocky Final Fantasy VII was? We now finally see these characters and the world of Midgar brought to life in beautiful HD graphics.Like holy shit. Everyone looks so beautiful.

Before I played this game, I was a Tifa stan, but now, ho man, they made Aerith so much more appealing.

SO.

MUCH.

MORE.

APPEALING.

And Tifa shines better than ever. I’m very tempted to just gush about her but here is just a couple enticing gifs.

Imagine playing this game and still thinking gamers are oppressed.

Story:

Final Fantasy VII Remake follows from the start of the original game up until the party leaving Midgar. Square plans to release the rest of the remake later.

I have to say, they made the story a lot more engaging than the original. That may seem like blasphemy, but the dialogue and voice acting was just so damn good. Some of my favorite moments included the banter between Aerith and Cloud. Like I said, I wasn’t into Aerith that much until I played the remake. She’s just so damn cute and charming. One of my favorite parts was when she said, “Shit” and almost fell, after mentioning how she didn’t need help climbing a ladder. Her voice is so lovely and amusing to listen to. The growing romance between her and Cloud doesn’t come off as forced or cringey, because we now spend so much time with Aerith.

Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie have much more important roles in the story. This gives us a greater sense of Avalanche as a ragtag group.

Entire chapters focus on them, especially Jessie. I cringed a bit at Jessie to be honest, despite her popularity. She now comes off as a copy of Aerith in the sense that she comes on strong to Cloud. But really strong. Like “I want that D right now” strong. Cloud has officially become your usual anime boy who is good at everything that can make any woman magically fall in love with him. So that whole thing made me roll my eyes.

There are some new characters inserted, such as the SOLDIER Roche. I thought they were going to do more with him but, apparently not. The new characters can be a bit “meh”, such as Chadley. Johnny isn’t a new character but may as well be since his role is so expanded. He was probably the most annoying, constantly calling Cloud “bro”. That gave me some bad flashbacks of Prompto’s modern-speak in Final Fantasy XV.

The remake adds a certain new plot element that you’re not sure at first where it’s going until it’s revealed at the very end. The ending can be a bit out there, as the original storyline is changed significantly. SIGNIFICANTLY I was curious if this game would make sense to first-timers, but, probably not when you reach the end. The ending heavily relies on you knowing the original game.

My only complaint about the story was how they started the motorcycle chase cutscene. That was my favorite cutscene of the original game, with Cloud driving down the stairs and the group getting into the car. I liken it to the barrel scene in the original Hobbit novel. But like the Hobbit movie, they made the motorcycle scene pretty outrageous. Like so over-the-top that my initial reaction was to scoff at it. It also struck me as awkward, because there were many moments when the bad guys could have shot them but just. . .stood there watching Cloud kick their asses.

Some people may be upset by how the remake ended, while others find it cool. I thought it was cool. But at the same time, now I want an official “remastered” Final Fantasy VII too. Just a game strictly like the original but with vastly improved graphics.

Music:

The music was pure eargasm. There were many moments when I fanboyed screaming “THIS IS THE SONG! YESSS!” They remixed the songs so well, from the battle theme to the Shinra theme, and the Wall Market theme. Everything you loved about the original soundtrack but MORE gusto, more pomp and circumstance.

A couple complaints though.

1 – I think the focus on making the music more orchestrated takes away the mood of the original music. I missed some of the synth and electronic from the original game because it related well to the technological city of Midgar. The synth and electronic featured in the original game gave off a brooding, darker mood.

2 – I didn’t like what they did with the Crazy Motorcycle music.

Notable Theme:

It’s difficult to find pieces of the original soundtrack as of today, because Square is taking them down from YouTube. Still, some people have managed to keep up some of the coolest tracks from this game. Unfortunately, the videos have gameplay footage, which could be spoilers, technically.

I’ll just leave it as this:

The Jenova battle theme is a much longer piece in this game, but it pays off at the final quarter of the song.

Trust me.

Verdict:

The remake does the original justice. We waited so long for this game and it delivered, unlike Final Fantasy XV.

I don’t think a first-timer would really appreciate it though as much as a fan of the original game would. Sure, there’s nothing stopping you from just going into it without knowing the original game, but there are things that one wouldn’t understand unless you played the original game. In that sense, the word “remake” is a bit misleading. Maybe they’re “rebooting” the entire Compilation of Final Fantasy VII? It seems like they’re going for what they did with the newer Star Trek movies, if you catch my drift. But I can’t say for sure exactly where they’re going with it until the next game comes out, but it seems that way to me.

#final fantasy #final fantasy vii #final fantasy vii remake #tifa lockhart #aerith gainsborough #cloud x tifa #cloud x aerith #aerith #tifa #square #onvideogames #video games #final fantasy jessie #jessie avalanche #final fantasy vii remake jessie

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beyoncesdragon · 4 years ago

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Sokovian Bastard (Pietro Maximoff)

Requested: No Warnings: Swearing, Pietro being a cocky bitchTM

Summary: Being an avenger has never been easy, and after a certain Sokovian joins the team, it really just does not help your concentration. At all. Especially because the two of you just wouldn't get along.

My Masterlist

Part 2

I thought of myself as a rather nice person. Not overly nice maybe and very much depending on my mood and my surroundings, but, and I stand by that, not unnecessarily rude. I could even keep my cool with Senator Stern last year (many may remember him from that very much public and very much embarrassing Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, D.C. where Tony Stark had been summoned to attend to and in which Tony had skinned the annoying git alive). So yes, I would describe myself as a nice or maybe, collected person. At least until last winter’s mission in Sokovia, where we happened to run into a pair of genetical mutated twins, going by the name of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Originally recruited by one of the leaders of HYDRA, Mr. Wolfgang von Stucker, Pietro and Wanda had taken part in a series of tests involving Loki’s mysterious scepter (in sweet memory it may be now) they had somehow mutated into not quite humans anymore. Wanda received a number of mental abilities, Pietro acquired the ability to move at supersonic speeds and other physical features (of where his disturbingly pleasing looks weren’t part of, I had seen before and after footage, much to my displeasure). In Sokovia then, a country which was entangled in constant war and strife and also had been the former base of HYDRA cell operations, they had crossed their path with us for the very first time. Long story short; it wasn’t a very friendly meeting, though you could maybe blame it on the circumstances. Later on, they somehow affiliated with Ultron which was a problem or/and enemy we (or Tony and Bruce) had actually created ourselves…which wasn’t a fact that stopped them from joining Ultron’s side, making them to our opponents. Somewhere along the line they had then switched sides and so on, now both of them were Avengers and helped us with our…duties I guess you could call them. Of course that was very rushed and short and not very much in detail, but it sure does the job.

Now, where Wanda wasn’t the problem and after they cut strings with Ultron, I had started to like her a lot and quite fast, her twelve minutes older twin Pietro very much was. I don’t know how he did it and I had never met someone like this before, but he somehow managed to push all my buttons just right to drive me nuts in no time. I also don’t know when our mutual dislike started, but it must have happened in the very beginning, back in Sokovia. Maybe my hatred started when he had mocked me a bit too long and a bit too personal after pushing me off a balcony at the HYDRA basement back then. Or when he had nothing but bad words to say about my technique of combat or when he decided not to help me when I almost got overwhelmed by Ultron’s soldiers. I only know that my dislike, as well as my attraction (which made that whole mess a bit more complicated) must have been instantly. We just wouldn’t click, not even when he almost sacrificed his life for Clint, back on that godforsaken rock Ultron had planned on dropping down on our beloved planet. So the bickering went on and whilst everyone seemed to get along perfectly fine with the twins, Pietro and I kept lashing out at each other at every chance we’ve got. And that was very often, much to the annoyance of Wanda and the rest of the Avengers.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the cool glass in the conference room. Tony had called in a meeting and almost everyone had appeared on his call. Steve sat around the black table in the center of the room, Natasha and Clint next to him. Wanda had occupied the only more or less comfortable chair in the room and Banner was eyeing her grumpily. Tony leaned against the wall, waiting like everyone else until Maria Hill would appear. Thor wouldn’t come around until we’d throw a party (somehow those invitations never got lost on their way to Asgard…) and Rhodey would probably arrive with Maria. Vision sat hovering in some corner, attentively eyed by Wanda. The door opened and Maria and Rhodey entered the room but leaving the door open. “Can we then start?” I asked slightly impatient. I wanted to take a nap since I hadn’t slept well tonight. Which was also entirely the fault of Mr. Maximoff who had decided to run laps until three o’clock on the complex meadow, which happened to be pretty much in front of my window. The light of his abnormal speeding actions had light up my room until he stopped, making it impossible for me to fall asleep on time. Shutting the light out was close to impossible, since his gleaming energy-thingy he did, was not only bright but also seemed to shine through every crack. Adding to that was the fact that I was already angry, so I laid awake until about four AM.

“Atta princess, I knew that you are not quite fond of me, but trying to start a meeting without me…I am hurt.” My eyes snapped up at the sound of the familiar sokovian accent and I frowned. “Just sit down, your late already and preventing this to be over soon, speedster.” I snapped angrily and he closed the door before leaning on the wall in opposite of me. “What got your panties in a twist today, moody blue?” he mocked with a crooked eyebrow.

“Actually, darling, you did.”

His other eyebrow shot up. “I am all ears.” I growled angrily. “I hope you are. Because if you ever plan on running around until three o’clock on that bloody lawn, I will rip your face off. Do you know how fucking bright that light is when you run around in the night? Bright and not possible to shut out. Just like you, obnoxious and not possible to shut out.” He huffed softly, tilting his head. “Always so angry…” he mumbled and I could’ve strangled him now and here if it wasn’t for Tony who had decided to end our brawl by letting a holographic map appear in the middle of the room. “Enough kids, we know you love each other but now we must return to the reason we’re all here.” I sighed and nodded, focusing back on Tony. He pointed at a pulsing dot on the map, zooming in with a flick of his hand. “We located another HYDRA base. A small one, but one less is one less, no matter how big.” He immediately had the attention of the whole room, me being no exception.

The discussion went on back and forth. Shall we just blow that darn building up? Or shall we go in and check if there were any prisoners or on going experiments happening? The latter would mean that we would have to risk our lives for something that was very uncertain would be there, on the other hand…we couldn’t just kill innocent people just because we were too lazy or practical to risk our own health. We were the Avengers after all, almost dying was part of the contract. After debating another half an hour, we finally decided on storming the basement. For that we would first get inside, check if there was anything, then blow that thing up. Taking as many prisoners as possible and getting out alive would be the optimum…but with a look at Pietro I disagreed silently. Maybe he could miss out on that alive part for all I cared. He caught my eyes and rolled his, before looking back at Stark.

“We should always go in groups. I’d suggest the twins together, Clint and Natasha, Rhodey if you want to come with me…” Steve found my eye and gave me a nod. “Team, love?” I nodded with a grin. “It would be a pleasure.” Banner cleared his throat. “What about me? Can I stay in the Quinjet…?” Tony nodded slowly. “I thought because you complained about stress the last few missions it would be more safe…Vison if you could back up Bruce…?” Bruce nodded quickly. “Yeah, I’m fine with that. So I’ll blow that thing up on your word.” Tony nodded. “Exactly.” I frowned softly. “It would be a waste of cover and energy if he would land to drop us off…shall we parachute out?” Pietro laughed softly. “I don’t know if you realized it already princess, but we’ve got what…one, two, four people of eight can fly themselves. How about those who can fly take someone with them?” I glared angrily at him. “What you actually intended to say was, that you are scared of parachutes, right?” I sassed back, looking back at Tony again. He, like a few others had that partly amused and partly annoyed look on their faces that always appeared when the two of us skirmished again. Rhodey chuckled softly, shaking his head. “Unbelievable. But I have to agree with Pietro…it would be easier and quicker.” I nodded softly. “Alright, if you say so. So who with who?” I asked, avoiding Pietro’s eyes.

“I am not carrying that 90-pound asthmatic anywhere.” Tony exclaimed dramatically and Steve rolled his eyes. “I could take him.” Vison offered quietly and everyone was quick to agree. “I’ll go with Wanda.” Pietro then said but now it was my turn to sneer. “Maybe that is not the best idea, speedster. No offense but since your sister is smaller than you are, maybe you are too much for her to carry safely to the ground. No offense Wanda.” She just smiled softly. “None taken. I think you’re right…probably you should come with me.” I nodded softly, giving her a small smile. Pietro huffed in disbelief. “Wow sister…that hurt. Besides I strongly doubt that she’s any easier to carry than I am.” He mumbled dismissively under his breath. “What are you implying with that speedster?” I snapped sharply, pushing myself off the wall. “Oh nothing. And can you stop calling me speedster, please.” I snorted. “If you stop with that princess-crap.” He just shrugged. “Not gonna happen anytime soon, sorry princess. I just love how fired up you get over it.” I rolled my eyes and tried my best to ignore him. “Alright…now Pietro you can come with me, Clint and Tony…?” Rhodey offered and everyone agreed. We then went through the whole plan again, as a quick repetition.

“Just one last quick question: I kinda missed when the mission is taking place.” I piped in at the end, regretting my question the second the words left my lips. I should’ve just asked Banner later or something. “In two days, princess. Have you not paid attention? The Quinjet is currently being fixed and updated. Looks like your wandering mind is another thing you should try and get under control.” I snapped up at his comment. Was he actually referring to my weight right now? Or was he just…I couldn’t tell, his face was completely emotionless. “Great. Are there any more questions?” Nat asked, getting up slowly. Everyone shook their heads. “Hope that works out.” Clint said with a sigh.

“What can even happen? I mean we’ve got our local Lighting McQueen in the flesh on our team and he apparently doesn’t only know everything but can also assist as a life coach…” I mocked venomously, shooting Pietro an angry glare. “How original.” He growled back, crossing his arms over his chest, looking away from me.

There was only one ray of sunlight that feel through the clouded sky and through the window and he happened to stand exactly there…and that was only making it more obvious that he looked fucking fantastic. What ugly irony that was. With that amused, boastful twinkle behind the infamous azure eyes and that fucking smirk…paired with that disgustingly cute sokovian accent; the most insufferable and cheeky git I had ever met in my life. “Drooling again?” his sneery voice ripped me out of my thoughts and washed over me like icy water. “Oh, in your filthy dreams maybe, Maximoff. However, I was thinking of every way you could fortuitously die. Y’know, “someone” could accidentally lock you up in that basement and leave you behind. No one would notice until it’s too late.” He just snorted amused, leaning back against a column. “I am scared, princess.” Tony sighed softly.

“Are the lovebirds done now?” I snorted irritated, before leaning back at the column facing him and looking down on the ground. “Sorry, go on.” I mumbled, inspecting my nails carefully. I felt Nat’s eyes on me but chose to ignore her for now. She would probably approach me anyways, sooner or later.

I grabbed a towel and a bottle of water and quickly pushed it inside my bag before throwing a last glimpse back into my room. I already wore my training gear, there were no keys to take with you, and everything else FRIDAY would provide quickly. I was ready for my training with Nat. My eyes fell on my floor-length mirror at the back of my room. I liked what I looked at, I was satisfied with my progress I had achieved in training so far. But maybe…my thighs could use some more attention? Pietro’s dismissive comment gnawed at my self-esteem, even though I kept telling myself that I was just reacting overly sensitive. He had probably not even meant it that way. And if he did…well then he was an asshole. I closed the door that locked immediately with a quiet peep and jogged, the duffle over my shoulder, down the hallway. If I would keep that pace I would even make it on time…or not. Pietro stood in the hallway, his eyes focused on a thin device in his hand. At the sound of my steps he looked up, posture immediately tensing.

Oh wonderful.

I planned on just simply jogging past him, but Pietro seemed to have other plans. He positioned himself right in the middle of the hallway, arms crossed over his chest and successfully blocking the way. I slowed down. “Get out of my way Sonic.” I huffed roughly, but with a mocking lilt to my tone. “Sonic now, yes? How often do you think about me, making up all those names just to try and annoy me with them, hm, princess?” he asked, his lips turned into a lazy, self-satisfied grin. Bloody… “Try to annoy you? Oh my dear supersonic Hedgehog, I think I did more than that already. But back to your question…not that much, you just happen to run through my thoughts once in a while, funny enough, always when I see you. Else, you are practically non-existent. Now move.” A blatant lie, obviously, but who needed to know that right? No one, especially not him.

“And I think I could sense that flat lie all the way from Sokovia…” he warbled softly, still that mocking smirk on his annoying face. “Sure pretty. And I am sure that if you would be in Sokovia right now and I would stand in my room, looking out the window, I could still see your monstrous ego all the way. Now would you mind and step the fuck aside, please.” He just huffed irritated, probably because he didn’t received the answer he wanted. I however passed him with a light skip in my step, hurrying off to the training facilities.

“You’re late.” Natasha called as I opened the glass doors. “I’m sorry. Would’ve been on time if I hadn’t run into a certain post-transition metal…”

“You mean…quicksilver?”

“as I was saying, I would’ve been on time.” Natasha arched her eyebrow. “What is that even between the two of you?” she then asked, fastening her boxing glove again. “Between Pietro and I? That is hostility in its purest form, dear Natasha.” I snorted, pulling the glove over my hand using my teeth. “Likely paired with great hatred and dislike.” I added, fishing for my other glove. “I see that. But why?” I shrugged rolling my shoulders back. “Guess we just don’t roll well.” Natasha still had that frown on her face. “And there isn’t more?” I gave her a skeptical look. “What more should there be Nat? Thought you wanted to start with training?” she shrugged softly, going into the first stretch position. “Alright then. Let’s warm up our cold muscles…if there are any.” She added with a wink and I rolled my eyes amused.

“You sure I am not…uhm, too heavy for you?” I asked Wanda quietly as everyone in the quinjet started to get ready. The atmosphere was calm and composed, everyone was preparing for today’s mission in his own way. “What?” Wanda asked with big eyes, a smile playing around her lips. “Where’d you get that fear from? Course I can carry you, it’s not like you’re that much taller than I am?” I shrugged uncomfortable. “Yeah but you are so…petite, kinda? I am not quite that slim love.” Wanda laughed it off. “Whatever. Don’t worry about that okay?” I nodded, returning her smile carefully. Jesus, Pietro’s comment really messed more with me than what I’d originally thought. Speaking of him, my eyes fell on his sitting frame just that second. He had his chin resting on his fists, looking relaxed as he observed the others. He wore his skintight suit, especially designed by Tony himself. Tony had once explained to me, that Pietro’s suit was made out of special fibers that would resist the strong friction that would occur and in a result, wouldn’t melt. Melted clothes was a problem we’d faced with Pietro in the first few days and Stark had been quick to solve them. I blinked my thoughts away, tearing my eyes off his frame and quickly walking over to Cap. “Nervous?” he asked as soon as I stepped next to him. “A little bit? I’m glad that I don’t have to jump out of the plane to let myself get caught by Tony and Rhodey though.” Cap laughed. “I am glad too. But Nat’s done that couple o’times. She’ll be fine. And I don’t think you have to worry about Pietro…” I gave him a dark look, “and I doubt that you do, but I am sure it all will go well.” I nudged his side playfully and he shot me a grin. “Now come on, I think I saw Rhodey and Tony give the sign.” I nodded quickly, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves. My eyes met with Natasha’s and I quickly nodded at her. “Good luck Nat.” she just grinned softly, nodding back.

“I saw you looking.” Someone mumbled next to me and I almost groaned. “Good luck to you too, Pietro.” I simply decided to say, earning a surprised look by the blonde. “That wasn’t what I said.” I shrugged, not looking at him. “But uhm…good luck to you too.” He suddenly mumbled, stepping a few steps back as the jet opened his cargo hatch before jumping out into the night. Natasha followed him after a few seconds, not hesitating a moment. I grabbed Wanda’s hand. “Ready?” I asked, carefully eyeing the yawning abyss. The wind howled and pulled at my clothes, the dark clouds looked like scary, puffy monsters bellow us. “Ready. Let’s go!” Wanda exclaimed and we let ourselves fall into the sky. The wind was ear-splittingly loud and it was incredibly cold as I clung myself at Wanda with all I’ve got. “I’ll let go now! I need my hands, okay?” Wanda yelled close to my ear and I could only nod. The fall stopped abruptly as we hovered in the air for a few seconds. “Don’t let go.” Wanda suddenly said, and that was the only warning I’ve got before we flipped around and speeded towards the ground. I could even scream anymore, all I could do was dig my fingers into Wanda’s clothes and close my eyes.

I was still shaky when Cap and I started to run towards a ventilations flap right above the ground. That would be our entry into hell, about twenty feet away from the basement and cameoed in the forest. We had only found it because of FRIDAY’S scans. “You got anything to open that?” he whispered quietly and I gave him a sly look. “I mean I’ve got a screwdriver but that could take a while.” His face dropped. “First challenge and we fail.” I grinned, stepping towards the grille. “Kidding. Tony equipped me.” And with that, a red laser started to steadily melt away the bars in a somewhat rectangular shape. “Thought so.” Steve muttered, ripping the part out with one pull. “Ladies first.” It was dark as in a cow in that darn shaft and I prayed that the blueprints Tony had somehow hacked into, were updated and we would reach the hallway we’re supposed to check out soon. Turns out that they were up to date and we soon reached another flap. After cap and I had removed it in the same way like the first one, it was our time to check out the different rooms that adjoined the corridor. “You go right, I go left, we check out two rooms and we return. We can’t split too much.” I nodded, carefully making my way towards the right side. I could hear my heart beat loudly when suddenly light flashed up, the clicking and humming of the automatic light sounding through the corridor. I looked back at Steve who grinned at me innocently. “Whoups?” I just shook my head amused. “Well done, old man.”

Someone had caught up on us. Not particularly us as in Steve and I, but there being intruders – avengers – in the building. Out of nowhere red lights started to blink and an alarm went off. “Unpleasant.” I mumbled under my breath, burning a small cross into the iron door of the room I had just checked out. It had been empty except for a few computers, tables and chairs but it all was layered with dust and dirt. It was the third room Steve and I checked out that looked like this. We were most likely in the area where they kept their old stuff or summat like that.

“Nothing?” I shook my head. “Maybe this is like…an old archive or something. They don’t do active experiments over here.” I shrugged, pushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Nat? All good?” I then whispered, pressing on my earpiece.

“We’re clean…nothing but computer stuff and maps. We scanned it all, FRIDAY should’ve already received everything. I’m just wondering where they are?”

I frowned, Steve shooting me a worried look. “What do you mean, they?” he asked now as well.

“We haven’t found one HYDRA agent yet…Team iron cans, how’bout you guys?”

I grinned slightly at her mocking call, waiting for Rhodey and Tony to answer.

“Same situation over here…Twins?”

It was quiet for a few seconds before someone answered.

“West Wing, we’ve got them all. A little help would be appreciated.”

It was Pietro, sounding slightly out of breath. “Copy that, we’re coming.” I replied without hesitation, checking my tracker. “We’re quite close…just a few floors away from us.” I informed Steve who kept looking at me funnily. “What?” I asked insecure, scratching my neck. “Nothing. I just thought you’d like to lock him up somewhere here and not go and save him…” I rolled my eyes. “Well I can’t lock him up if I don’t have him, can I? Now come on!” and we sprinted through the empty corridors. “I hope this isn’t a trap…” Steve breathed as we slithered around a corner. “Don’t think so.” I mumbled, dodging a bullet and jumped at its shooter. Just a few corners ago, we had finally come across some very confused HYDRA agents. “We’ve still got the element of surprise.” I pushed out between two powerful hits that knocked the man out. “You look like Nat.” Steve suddenly remarked, throwing his shield down the hallway. “That is the greatest compliment I could ever receive. Thanks man.” he grinned, fishing his shield out of the air. “Welcome darling.”

It really wasn’t a trap. Wanda and Pietro just had had the luck to crash a meeting or something, which was why the rest of the building was close to deserted the moment we went in. Now…it wasn’t. Guards came from everywhere now, the air was filled with various sounds of gunshots, the sound of Tony’s unibeam repulsors and Cap’s shield knocking out people. It was going great so far. We had now all reached a rather tall built complex, some sort of industrial hall or something. Tanks stood around, similar to the ones in Sokovia, some trucks and even a wrecked looking jet sort of thing. A bitter smile crossed my lips as I read the dusty lettering on its side; SHIELD. With two bullets into the engine, I made it close to useless, with two others into the tank I sealed its fate. That thing would explode the second you used it.

Two agents stormed towards me, one looking rather bulky and…well scarier than the other one. I had the latter knocked out with a bullet in his leg, however, that wouldn’t work with the first one. He swung a truncheon that had the imprint of the HYDRA logo, and he was annoyingly precise with it. I escaped my death by ducking behind the wings of the jet before the black stick came smashed down the second later. My skull would’ve been smashed into smithereens if I’d waited one more moment. By the gods… I twisted my two knifes between my fingers as I stood up again, blocking another blow successfully. What I forgot was his legs, which was why he was able to kick me across the room with his iron capped boot. I groaned as I hit the floor. Sucker…my fingers found my button with the laser pointer as I tried to get him away from me. I managed to burn a hole in his shoulder, but right afterwards he somehow managed it to reflect the laser back to me…hitting my hip. I screamed in pain and immediately deactivated the laser. That was going wonderful, really. “Looks like you need help, princess.” I closed my eyes and groaned, pushing me up again. Pietro approaching me in the state I was in right now, was not what I had planned happening. This cocky little shit would remind me every chance I’ve got. On the other hand…I really needed help with that one. “For once…I do.” I pushed out grumpily, seeing the gigantic son of a… whatever mutation that was, approach again. “Say please.” Pietro mocked, a triumphal gleam in his eyes as I looked up to him. Oh how I hated this cocky little bastard. “Please Pietro.” He winked only, extending his hand towards me, helping me up. “Wasn’t that hard, wasn’t it?” I huffed quietly, not looking up again. Pietro was gone in the blink of an eye. I took a deep breath before running towards the soldier again. Pietro had kept him occupied quite a bit. His nose was bleeding from the Sokovians punches and he stumbled around like a beaten pup. His annoying stick however was still in his hand. I made it to my mission to change that. It only took a precisely thrown knife to make him drop the bat and distract him long enough that Pietro could belt a solid bar of iron over his head. He dropped to our feet unconscious, but not dead.

“The NATO will deal with them. They’re on their way.” Tony’s voice suddenly sounded through the facility and made Pietro and I snap up. “Wonderful.” I whispered, the adrenaline that had kept me fighting disappearing from my system. The injury the laser beam had caused me hurt so bad, that white specks were dancing in front of my eyes. “Easy there…” someone suddenly said, and I felt someone gripping my arm. “Our little missus is hurt…she should get medical treatment as fast as possible.” Pietro said next to me, carefully pushing my arm over his shoulder. “I can walk McQueen.” I snapped weakly, knowing damn well that I couldn’t. He just laughed and gave a side eye. “And you could’ve also finished that soldier on your own, I bet?” I huffed again. “I had it under control.” That made him laugh even louder. “Just shut up.” And I did, trying to ignore how good it actually felt to have his arm wrapped around me.

#pietro maximoff #pietro maximoff x reader #pietro #maximoff twins #marvel imagine #marvel #reader insert #imagines #imagine #fanfiction #multifandom #age of ultron #avengers #avengers imagine #steve rodgers x reader #tony stark x reader #natasha romanov #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes imagine

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cad-faoi-maeglin · 5 years ago

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So what was Mairon doing with regards to serving Melkor?

This morning I was thinking about how, because Tolkien doesn’t give us much on the relationship between Mairon and Melkor specifically, their partnership (?) can seem a little...random? Their goals and the core of their beings seem to be at odds. We know that Mairon wanted to rule and to order the world, Melkor introduced chaos and wanted to destroy it. Yet these two worked together for millennia. So, I just wanted to do a little exploring of this odd couple!

To me their allyship makes the most sense in it’s beginning. Now, I know we’re not told exactly when Mairon entered Melkor’s service, but since the Valaquenta states that he was originally one of Aulë’s Maiar, I think it’s safe enough to say that it was after he entered Eä. Though, I suppose, there is always the possibility that he was one of the spies Melkor was said to have had in Almaren and that his service to Aulë was feigned from the very beginning. Whatever way you slice it though, Mairon comes into Melkor’s service quite early in Arda’s history and, as such, would have encountered Melkor before his full-blown ‘the world must be destroyed’ mentality had set in. And, in his beginning, Melkor wasn’t completely antithetical to Mairon’s goals.

Initially, Melkor wanted to rule. On his own. He saw himself as the greatest of the Ainur and felt that it was his right to create and to rule and to own as he saw fit. Who else does this sound like? While Melkor’s lashing out at those that didn’t accept him as their ruler obviously introduced chaos and strife to Arda, his underlying motive may not have been that different from Mairon’s or, at least, may not have been wholly incompatible with Mairon’s. We can see from Mairon’s creation of the One Ring, with it’s ability to control those who wear other rings of power, that Mairon’s idea of order is quite literally that, Mairon’s idea of order. He knew best how to organise the world. From this point of view, I think it’s possible that Mairon may have been more happy to side with Melkor on the grounds that Melkor was one individual who wanted to shape the world his way, than with a group of the Valar who had to have council meetings before any decisions were made. (Of course, power also comes into this. Being Melkor’s right hand man obviously came with more power than being one of many Maiar serving a whole group of Valar and from Tolkien’s comment that Mairon wanted to be worshiped as a God-King, I think it’s safe to say that he also just likes having power!)

The thing is, where was Mairon going with this? Obviously serving Melkor meant that he himself would never be the power in Arda. It also would have meant that he wouldn’t get to organise things his way. Or would it? We’re told in the Valaquenta that “In all the deeds of Melkor the Morgoth upon Arda, in his vast works and in the deceits of his cunning, Sauron had a part”. Technically, this could be read as Melkor constantly giving Mairon jobs to do but, seeing as Mairon’s own intelligence is often emphasised and that we know that he wasn’t physically taking part in everything going on (in fact, he seems to rarely actually appear anywhere!) I think it’s more likely that this line is saying that Mairon was very much someone whose opinion and input was appreciated. In other words, serving Melkor may have given him a bit of a circuitous way of doing things the way he wanted them done. There is also another quote that I can’t seem to find, but it says that Melkor often had great ideas but was too impatient to carry them out and that that often fell to Mairon to do. So here is probably another case of Mairon sneakily getting his way, even though he serves another.

Now, there’s another aspect aside from Mairon sneaking his own plans into Melkor’s. In Myths Transformed in Morgoth’s Ring, we are told “While Morgoth still stood, Sauron did not seek his own supremacy, but worked and schemed for another, desiring the triumph of Melkor, whom in the beginning he had adored”. See, we can’t forget that Mairon is a Maia. The Valaquenta describes them as the “servants and helpers” of the Valar and, seeing as they seem to be inherently less powerful than the Valar, it is possible that they saw this as kind of a ‘natural order of things’. Perhaps Mairon’s happiness to serve a being that he viewed as greater than himself has a somewhat...eh...cultural basis? And that it’s only when he’s forced to go it alone that he starts to think that he’s the one who should be in charge. Maybe putting himself in the position of power was not how Mairon wanted to go about creating a world the way he thought it should be created. He liked order. Maybe at the time putting himself, a Maia, above a Vala didn’t seem like the correct way to order things. (That’s just complete speculation, I know, but it doesn’t not fit?)

So, from what we know about them, their initial partnership can be made to make some bit of sense. At least, to me anyway! But it gets a little confusing when thinking about how they sustained it. Melkor’s motives change. The more he realised that he can’t have the world, the more he thought that no one should have it. So what was Mairon going to do? Did he really adore his master enough that he would follow him even into doing things that were the opposite of his own goals and ideals? We’re not really told how this part of their relationship worked. Well, we’re not told much of any of it, but at least some of it can kind of be reasoned out. But when their ideals start to diverge so drastically, where were they going to go? Sometimes I think perhaps Mairon may have been biding his time and plotting but, as the quote above says “While Morgoth still stood, Sauron did not seek his own supremacy”. So what exactly was he doing? And was he really staying out of loyalty or out of fear? His actions after his defeat by Lúthien suggest that he was afraid of Melkor. His actions in Númenor could be interpreted as loyalty, though they could just as easily be interpreted as either name-dropping or mimicry. And what were Mairon’s intentions with his attempted surrender to Eönwë? Was he genuinely that afraid of the Valar? Was it some scheme? Was he really that flaky and willing to switch to the ‘winning’ side? Was he just completely lost? He had served Melkor for thousands of years and as soon as Melkor is captured he goes ‘take me home, Eönwë!’?? Was Mairon’s rise to be the Second Dark Lord an attempt to finish what Melkor had started? Or had Mairon just developed a taste for power and a complete lack of morals? I find it so interesting that we have this relationship that’s fairly central to the history of Arda and yet we don’t know much about how it worked. Especially once you consider how, towards their end, their partnership doesn’t even quite make sense anymore. I would love to know how it would have progressed had Melkor not been captured.

#mairon #sauron #melkor #morgoth #silmarillion #lotr #tolkien #silm meta #i spent soooo much time working on this when i'm meant to be doing college work that is already several months late T_T #long post

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madamhatter · 4 years ago

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Only brought up in heavy-built plots or threads based into Sophie when “older” (but can happen as soon as 18), but her relationship with Fanny and living situation itself is throttled into disarray. Growing tension between mother and daughter, daughter’s façade crumbling at the painfully acute awareness of her situation, and the full realization of mother’s treatment of daughter by said daughter are what escalate this point.

The eldest daughter, across verses that fall under the umbrella of ‘modern verse’ that includes AUs and her standard, would be homeless. She also will not be on speaking terms with her mother, but she will find herself obligated to come back to help. Sophie is deserted of home, of security, of protection, and of stability to the life she willingly accepted for the sake of her sisters’ happiness.

( For a glimpse of how it plays out in Sophie’s default modern verse, check out this drabble! )

The situation shifts per verse, but is always started/surrounding Sophie’s intent of rectifying and needing to do something to help out her family or handle larger problems that could harm her family. The time that is spent away from the household, as the sisters are in their apprenticeship, could vary but it is usually some months.

Overview:

Fanny ends up spending much of the money Sophie makes for the business that is meant to both keep it open, support Martha and Lettie, and care for her late father’s debts.

Sophie does not have a livable wage. Actually, to be blunt, she has no wage. She does not receive ANY monetary compensation, despite how much her work makes.

Any money paid is directed to her mother. She does not have a private bank account where she can place away money. An account exists but Fanny has access to it. Sophie keeps money stowed away

Any responsibilities including bookkeeping and budgeting is done by Sophie, but she has been getting her mother’s clearance to push through with her plans. Fanny always agrees to do it.

Sophie’s absence/disappearance can be seen as her running away (as per book canon) that Fanny bemoans is from Sophie being overworked. The mother’s mistreatment of the daughter isn’t anything a new revelation and has been known in the household and others. However, Fanny never batted an eyelash or even just, you know, cared to talk to her daughter about it.

Sorry, this is a tangent, but it makes no sense for someone to conjure a story (or reason) that Sophie ran away, considering her personality and mentality. In the material, Sophie is explicitly described as the opposite of even wanting to go out and would rather work herself to death. It is alarming and suspicious for someone like Sophie to suddenly vanish! Her behaviors and personality are NO secret from her family, which makes the Fanny explanation a brain-scratcher.

Sophie absolutely hates the idea of ‘running away’ when it comes to responsibilities and helping. That’s no secret either! She’s full-on vocal about it!

Fanny ends up voicing her worries when they reunite but doesn’t continue further on that. It’s only the sisters, Lettie mainly, who realize the strangeness of sister’s disappearance is, thought her to be in trouble, and mobilizes something. The mom ends up putting up an award, but hm...

Then comes the fact that Sophie literally told no one about her situation, canonically, as a means to not inconvenience them/trouble them. Which is something connected to her inability to ask for help and keeping a lot to herself.

Sophie’s sisters understand her a LOT more than their guardian does. That’s my takeaway.

During her disappearance/absence, Fanny marries Mister Smith and, in this case, sells the family home and moves elsewhere. The house itself is unrecognizable from the inside, almost looking like no one lived there at a point.

In the case of absence, Sophie isn’t informed of the wedding, nor invited. In the case of disappearance, it was something that was planned during her time gone. In both cases, this relationship was built up within roughly less than a year of the father/husband’s death.

Sophie basically returns to an empty house and is well, already on the edge after her trouble. She later learns the news of her mother being remarried. Any concerns or worries that she have thought her mother had for her is proven wrong.

There is much more under the surface; especially with how proud/protective Sophie can be about anything regarding family (i.e., memorializing/keeping things in check). This applies to the family house, something that’s been with the Hatters for generations, and something she maintained, repaired, and worked from. It’s a lot more symbolic to her to represent what she needs to keep up for her sisters.

There will be a first and “final” confrontation between the two. It turns amicable and slightly tense, to a complete mess. Depending on the verse, she is already a vagrant when this event happens, or this is the event that pushes her over the edge to make that decision.

During this time, Sophie will be attached to a suitcase and end up having to frequently move around and will not have a permanent residence for a while.

She still retains responsibilities to the company, but she is sending everything she can to familiar employees belonging to her mother’s office. Sophie set a “dead line” for all of the extraneous work Fanny doesn’t do. When that date comes, she will not do any more paperwork or make major decisions. She will only continue doing commissions and designs pre-existing patrons that originally were her father’s patrons. Unfortunately, most of that money will still go to her mother! So, she takes up more independent work to try and support herself.

Character-wise, Sophie in this state is very, very much trying to act like nothing is wrong. It’s a part of her defense mechanism and she will not ever utter her circumstances to anyone. Most may perceive that she is living life normally (or as she usually does), but that is far from the truth. If anyone catches any truth to the situation, and tries to help, she is refusing it on the spot, and going to talk down the offer -- almost outright offended by the implication.

However, she is very very much not in any healthy state, emotionally, mentally, and physically. She will push herself, now more adamant to overwork herself and her health issues will spike. There is a great deal of strife, pain, and doubt inside of her. She refuses to let it out.

Dread looms over her and drags down her façade, revealing quite a bit of unrefined and troubled parts of herself. There can be instances of unbridled snappiness and cold shut-downs, leaving her to become extremely reclusive. Usually, it would be trying to overcompensate these feelings and trying to find her footing.

Though, to observe that (the more negative sides), you need to be in a private space (read: residence or living quarters). It is possible if the person managed to drag her to stay with them or she may be temporarily staying with them.

If you managed, good luck!

TLDW; Sophie, in this stage of life, is doing that big change that is going to be very painful and troubling for her.

#( in which we learn about the eldest ; headcanons )#long post #long post tw

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normallee · 4 years ago

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Lost in the Supermarket || Tatiana and Norma

TIMING: Current LOCATION: Grocery Store PARTIES: @tatiana-rosales and @normallee SUMMARY: Grocery stores are very confusing. So is pudding.

Human activities were certainly strange. Though Norma supposed it did make sense that humans did need to consistently feed themselves, the large warehouse-like stores full of oddly packaged consumable goods made far less sense to her than the old days where there were farms and simple trading and shared goods. No one seemed to know how to skin and gut a deer anymore which really was a shame, she so enjoyed watching that. It was no blood sacrifice to the gods but it was at least along the same lines. There was no blood sacrifice to be found in the grocery store. At least not as far as Norma could tell. It wasn’t even radiating any chaos. She sighed. What was the point of being here? Oh yes, to keep up her charade. She had learned normal humans kept well stocked fridges and was determined to do the same. Only she was unaware of what to stock it with. Her cunning plan was to follow the woman who had walked in just ahead of her and follow along with her shopping trip. The lady looked perfectly normal to her. Whatever she purchased was surely the most human options.

This was truly brilliant of her. Norma supposed herself very clever, a smile on her face as she wandered up and down aisles, following this woman along and picking out every item that she had. Norma eventually followed along to an aisle full of plastic wrapped squishy rectangles. They looked to be made of grain but Norma had to question the purpose or nutrition of them. All the same, like she had done earlier, she followed behind the woman in question and picked out the exact same item she did and put it in her own cart. 58 pudding cups is a lot, right? Should I stop? I should stop now, right? No, nevermind it’s definitely not enough. Hmm. What a strange thought. Norma paused and scrunched her face in thought. Strange. It seemed like a word from the gods, it certainly came from nowhere. She had to pursue it. Only, she was unaware how. Norma walked up behind the women she had been following and tapped her on the shoulder. “Excuse me. Can you tell me what a pudding cup is and where I might find them? It’s very important.”

Tatiana loathed shopping. Hated it with a fiery, burning passion. Especially grocery shopping. Had she still been living with her father, he would have taken care of it all. But she'd decided to be a proper adult and moved out on her own, so she found herself having to go every couple of weeks. She always made a list and seeing as it usually consisted of the same items, she had developed somewhat of a routine while at the store. One that involved going in the middle of the day during the week when the store was most likely to be empty. Because if there was one thing she hated more than shopping, it was shopping while also dealing with a crowd.

And that was why Tatiana found it very odd that a woman seemed to be following her around the store at the moment. She'd noticed her after the first couple of aisles, but chalked it up to a coincidence. However, three stops later and Tatiana was surreptitiously glancing over her shoulder to see what the woman was picking up. Turned out she was picking up the exact same items Tatiana was. Okay now she was a bit concerned. Do people actually like fried foods? They smell awful. There was that voice again. And they were wrong. Fried foods smelled amazing and dammit now Tatiana wanted fried chicken. She paused in front of the bread and pulled out her list to add the items she would need for fried chicken when someone tapped her on the shoulder. A small turn revealed them to be the woman that had been following her. And the woman was asking about...pudding cups? Who the hell didn't know what pudding cups were? Was this a joke? Tatiana decided to take pity and give her the benefit of the doubt. "Well pudding cups are exactly what they sound like. Prepackaged cups of pudding. You can usually find them in the dairy section near the milk and cheese. Although there are some brands that don't have to be refrigerated, so they'll just be in the snack food aisle." She smiled before pushing forward with a question of her own. "I have to be frank here. Have you been following me?"

“Oh, yes. Thank you, that makes perfect sense! Not about the dairy and cheese or snack parts but the fact that they put pudding in a cup and call it as such, that actually makes sense,” Norma answered with a smile. She looked off for a moment, her brows knitting together. “What’s pudding?” she asked. She tried to pool her knowledge from over the years and human food wasn’t something she had spent much time on up until recently, it was mostly a waste of time for her. The only food she was intimately familiar with was on the menu of the Bottomless Booty and there was no pudding there as far as she could recall. She was about to return to her cart before hunting for the 58 necessary pudding cups when the woman asked her another question. “Nice to meet you, Frank! I’m Norma! Anyway yes, I have definitely been following you. I was unaware of what to purchase and you seemed rather sure of yourself. I figured it was the best way to learn how to use the grocery store.”

Tatiana found herself staring at the woman, bewildered beyond belief. Was this woman for real? With every sentence she spoke, Tatiana grew increasingly concerned that she was being pranked. Her jaw dropped slightly for a moment at the question, but she quickly recovered and answered, “Um...I’m really not sure of the best way to describe it. It’s a sweet dessert that has a similar consistency to custard. Do you...know what custard is?” Her eyebrow raised ever so slightly as she prayed the answer would be a simple yes. The eyebrow arched even higher, however, as the woman, Norma, answered her initial question. “Oh no I- My name isn’t Frank. That’s just an expression. My name is Tatiana. Is this your first time at the grocery store? How is that possible?” While Tatiana hated shopping, she at least knew the basics of what to do. How had this woman made it through her life without ever learning how to “use” the grocery store? A terrible thought struck Tatiana that perhaps this woman had been kidnapped as a young child and was only recently freed. Or that she’d recently escaped a cult. She shook both theories away as she most likely would have heard about such a thing happening.

Norma placed her hand on her chin, a gesture of which she often saw humans do when they were thinking very hard. “Custard sounds familiar but I am not sure I’m aware of what a standard custard consists of.” It was largely because she didn’t care much one way or the other for human customs. “What meal is custard often paired with? Perhaps I will have a better understanding of it then.” She wasn’t sure what compelled her to need the pudding cups, maybe it was the gods, unlikely though that may be, but she was sure extra understanding couldn’t hurt. “Oh, alright. If you say so. That was a very short period in which to decide to change your name. I waited a tho--” Norma caught herself. Shoot, she needed to remember to maintain her cover at all costs. “I respect your chosen name, either way.” She knew it was important to mortals to validate their identities. As boring as those identities often were. That said, her eyes grew wide as she realized this boring human had started to pick apart her rouse. She couldn’t have that. “It is not my first time! That would be ridiculous!” Norma laughed nervously. How often did humans normally do this? “This is my fifth--” The expression on Tatiana’s face still signaled that was incorrect. “No, tenth. This is my tenth trip to the grocery store!” She announced proudly. Crisis averted. Her cover was completely intact.

Tatiana could not believe this was happening. She didn’t even want to be here in the first place and now she was attempting to explain pudding and custard to a complete stranger. How was this real life? “Well pudding and custard are usually eaten for dessert after dinner. Although they are sometimes eaten as a snack any time.” She hoped that was enough to help the woman out. Norma as she had called herself. And now Norma seemed to believe that Tatiana had decided to change her name on a whim. Tatiana sighed heavily and shook her head. “No, I didn’t just decide to change my name. It’s always been Tatiana. The phrase ‘I have to be frank’ is just an expression. It means I’m being honest. I thought it was fairly well known.” The longer she spoke with Norma, the more she felt that the woman wasn’t from here. Not from White Crest. Not from Maine. Likely not even the United States. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and confusion at Norma’s answer. Maybe this woman wasn’t even from this planet. Aliens totally existed right? Tatiana was definitely starting to believe in them. “People don’t...count how many times they’ve gone to the grocery store. It happens pretty regularly, so that’s just not a thing. Just so you know. So where are you from originally?”

Norma nodded along, showing understanding and solidarity. Only she had plenty more questions but she could feel some stirrings of annoyance coming from Tatiana Not Frank. It was so tempting to ask for more clarification, reach out and inspire more strife, escalate it all. And she almost did. But once again, she held back. Her powers were off limits. For now. Norma sighed to herself. She needed to lift this bounty and return to her full form. This was honestly pathetic. “That is very good to know, thank you kindly for explaining that to me. I will take note for next time.” Norma pulled out her shopping list, she was told that all humans have one, and scribbled a few lines onto it. Excellent note taking. No one would suspect a thing. “Are you sure? It can’t possibly be that many times. You only live so long.” Norma’s smile pulled into a thin line. Oh no, that was not quite right. “I mean we, we only live so long. There must be a finite easily trackable number of times to enter such an establishment.” Mortals were so confusing. They kept track of their time on earth sometimes down to the hour, the number of people they smashed bodies with often times, too, as well as how many hours a day they worked. But apparently not how many times they entered a grocery store. It was all arbitrary and baffling. “Oh, where am I from? I’m from Dinkytown, Minnesota of course. Home of the dinks! Born and bred American, USA all the way! Why do you ask? How did you suspect as such that I was not from White Crest?” If she could figure it out maybe she could avoid it in the future.

Tatiana caught the slip and narrowed her eyes slightly. You only live so long? Did that mean something? It had to mean something. Was Norma actually an alien? Okay, okay. Maybe not an alien. But she couldn’t possibly be human. Tatiana knew enough about this town and some of the creatures that existed in it to know that Norma likely wasn’t human. She shrugged slightly and shook her head. “I’m sure it is easy enough to track how many times you go to a grocery store, but it’s such a mundane activity that people just don’t. If you cook, you’re going to have to go to the grocery store to get the ingredients. And if you cook a lot, odds are you go at least once a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I imagine by the end of someone’s lifetime they will have gone to the grocery store thousands of times.” Her head tilted to the side and her eyebrow arched as Norma explained where she was “from”. Taking a few steps forward, Tatiana spoke in a lowered voice so no one else would hear, “How did I suspect? Honestly, I’m not even sure you’re human. You asked what pudding cups were and said that you were learning how to use the grocery store. You explain things just a little too much and your general demeanor just doesn’t make sense.” As much as she didn’t want to continue, she couldn’t help but take pity on the woman in front of her. “Listen, you don’t have to admit to whether you’re human or not. And you don’t have to tell me where you’re actually from. But it’s clear you’re trying to be a normal human, and you still have a lot to learn. If you ever have questions, feel free to contact me.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a business card. “That has my email and phone numbers as well as my contact information for the community website.”

Thousands of times? Oh. Well that was highly unfortunate for Norma’s cover. “Well, you see, I do not cook. I never have, you see! I just have not had too much need for groceries in that case. It’s very funny, I’m sure you can see.” She hoped that would offer enough explanation but this Tatiana was surely suspicious of Norma, she could tell. That was highly unfortunate. She wondered if there was a way to alleviate those suspicions but then Tatiana said the “human” word and she froze. “What? Not human?! How could I be anything other than human? I mean, look at me!” she said with fake laughter, gesturing to her body. Yes, it was woefully human shaped. No one would ever suspect that it could house a fury’s power. Her useless, dormant, but infinite power. “I’m very human and very nor--” Of course the mortal said the word normal before she could. Well that was truly unfortunate. Perhaps it was time to switch tactics. Instead of covering up what she was, perhaps it was time to shift to threats. Only this mortal seemed… helpful? And willing to keep her secret. Norma’s head titled as she took the small rectangular stiff paper card from the woman. This was interesting, she had not encountered this particular human custom. It was hard to interpret the true meaning and intent behind this. Norma inhaled and tried to read the emotions coming from the woman across from her. It wasn’t hostile, she knew that much. Interesting. “As long as this is kept secret,” she said, her voice taking on a more sincere and serious tone than it had their entire encounter. “You know, if I had any of those,” she replied, her timbre returning to its plucky “human” nature as before. “I greatly appreciate your assistance. Would you like me to cease observing your shopping trip now?”

As Norma continued to insist that she was human and totally normal, Tatiana just shook her head. It was clear this woman had a lot to learn about being human. Did she really have time to help someone learn? Well she’d already offered and Tatiana wasn’t the type to renege on an offer of assistance. Norma’s demeanor changed as she said that it had to be kept secret. Tatiana smiled and nodded in agreement, chuckling softly at Norma’s final question. “I would actually. And you’d have to either way. I’m finished and am heading up to check out. I’ll see you around, Norma. Have a good day.”

#wickedswriting #writing #chatzy #tatiana #tatianarosales

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pulchralilium · 4 years ago

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Cloud was never very good at picking gifts out for people, even for those close to him, and knowing that Aerith’s birthday was a little closer to the wire than he’d like, the panic began to set in just a little bit.

He had less than a week to get something together to give her, had even been brazen enough to ask if there was something in particular she wanted. Of course her answer was always the same: “Just you~”

It was sweet, it was, that she felt that he was all she really wanted, but it wasn’t what he really wanted to hear. Truth be told he was a pretty useless gift when one was to boil it all down; he’d only just learned the difference between a tomato and an apple (Boy, was that a rude wake up call) he never knew how to start a conversation or how to maintain it amongst many other failings including not having the brain capacity to figure out what to get the love of his life for her damn birthday!

He’s hopeless… and doomed. If Cloud Strife could screw himself up and throw himself in the trash he most certainly would have done before now.

Still, during one of these many panic inducing blank thought processes came an epiphany; so she didn't want anything, but that didn’t mean there was nothing she didn't need, even if Aerith didn’t know she needed it yet. Cloud may not know much about flowers, but his little stint in raising and breeding Chocobo’s had taught him everything he needed to know about gysahl greens (Which he had originally thought were actually carrots… but that’s another story for another time) and all plants needed one common ingredient in order to grow.

Cloud sets to work. Under the guise of setting off for deliveries on a day he had purposefully kept clear for this one task (Which just so happens to be her birthday of course) He waits until Aerith is safely within the confines of her stall before returning to their home and their ever expanding garden, filled with all manners of exotic plants, flowers, herbs and even a vegetable patch in the far corner. One corner was still spare, and with copious amounts of room for his plan to come to fruition, Cloud’s got this in the bag.

Aerith had returned home later that day, and they chit chatted over dinner; that chicken strawberry salad with the candied pecans she liked so much. Ordered in of course, and a bottle of wine he’d picked up from Tifa’s. All of that before he’s leading her through the garden, hands over her eyes until he guides her to the construct he’d spent the best part of half a day putting together.

“I know you said you didn’t want anything, but…” he lifts his hands from her eyes so she can spy the composter he’d built that afternoon. It wasn’t decorative by any means, but it was practical for its purpose - constructed from pallet wood he’d scavenged from businesses around the city - and he’d given it a bit of a head start with one of the many sacks she still had laying about. But at least this way she no longer needed to feel downhearted when the flowers began to die, as nothing would ever go to waste here. The plants which didn’t make it were used to bring life to new ones, at least that was the way he saw it.

He just hoped she liked it, even if she said she didn’t want him to go to any effort.

“Happy Birthday, Aerith~"

@azure-steel

Leave it to Cloud to continue to surprise her. She had guessed that Cloud would have recruited Tifa or someone to help pick out something for her. Not that Cloud couldn’t get her something on his own, but that she gave no indication that she wanted anything. Spending time with him was enough, and truthfully, it was what she was looking forward too the most. They’ve both been busy! Why wouldn’t she want time with him?

Still, leaving that more she had a twinkle in her eye. He hadn’t mentioned her birthday, he kissed her and went about their normal day. As she sat in her stall, receiving small gifts and snacks from others, Aerith began to wonder. Had Cloud forgotten?

Sure not, there was no way with how everyone was talking about it. Still, she had sent him a quick text, and received a reply that T R U L Y made her believe he had.

Until he reminded her that it was a joke.

He said two hours. Two hours and then she could come home. Coming home, she felt a little weary the moment he covered her eyes with his hand. Then she began the questions, “What are you doing? Where are we going? Cloud?!” She pouted, until he uncovered her eyes and she spied the very thing he had builtfor her.

“Cloud!” She whined softly, spinning so quickly on her heels it’s likely he barely saw it. Her arms are around his neck faster than he can react, and she’s surprised they hadn’t tumbled down together from the sheer force of her affection. “Thank you” She hums softly, nuzzling into his neck with pure joy.

“Thank you, thank you thank you” She breathes, pulling back to look up at him. She may not have asked for anything, but Cloud had figured out exactly what she needed. And she was so thankful that he had built it for her, given her something that no one else could. “I love you” She breathes softly, peppering kissing onto his face in rapid succession. “I love you, I love you, Cloud Strife I love you~!”

#☽❀☾『Wherever you stray I follow』→Azure-Steel #;A petal's day 2021 #submission

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mobius-prime · 5 years ago

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126. Knuckles the Echidna #25

Childhood's End

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Manny Galan Colors: Mark Bernardo

It's finally time for a reunion a long time in the making - the reunion, of course, between Knuckles and Locke! Due to this being the 25th issue, it's not part of a larger arc, it's standalone. Knuckles is helping Julie-Su clean up the mess left behind by the fight against the Legion in the base where they were both held captive a couple issues ago, when upon picking up Benedict's robotic skull, he spots a reflection on its side that stuns him. He drops the skull as Julie-Su calls after him, racing after the figure he saw reflected and ending up on the streets of the city.

There's a lot of things Knuckles could do here. I'm sure many people expected him to be angry, yell at his father for leaving him and keeping secrets, act on any feelings of betrayal he may have. But in the end, this is a teenager who, according to the intro page, hasn't seen his father in six whole years, ever since he jumped into the wall of fire in front of him, and so he begins to cry and embraces Locke, saying how happy he is to see him. They just stand there hugging for a moment, and then Knuckles begins to boil over with questions, wanting to know everything. Locke leads him away so they can talk more privately, and they head out jut as Julie-Su emerges onto the street as well, looking for him.

Ooh boy, I sense a conflict coming up. Locke and Knuckles get into a shuttle and Locke pilots them to Haven, which Knuckles asks for more information on, seeing as he didn't spend very long there before and thus didn't get many answers about it. And so Locke begins a flashback-laden history lesson, pretty much par for the course for anything Kenders gets his hands on. Haven was originally built by the fire ants to be a base for the current Guardian, Steppenwolf (remember him? Son of Edmund), to carry out his duties. Eventually Steppenwolf had a son, Moonwatcher, and trained him to be a Guardian as well. However, soon enough, Steppenwolf realized that there might be more danger to the Floating Island than just that from within.

Man, why are the Overlanders always so evil in these earlier issues? It's like the entire species is constantly plotting to take over everything and kill Mobians just because they can. Then again, the ones up there are led by a Kintobor, so I guess the Kintobors have always just been a crappy family. Steppenwolf senses their insincerity, and proceeds to mind-torture them with extreme pain until they agree to never set foot on the island again. Geez, man, I get they were traitorous, but did you really have to go that far? Turns out it was the fire ants with their telepathic powers that were able to warn him of the Overlanders' intentions. Steppenwolf had a chat with his fire ant mentor Christopheles, and together they agreed that there would always be more people trying to invade the island, so they should take extra security measures to ensure it would be properly protected.

As Locke tells this story, they land in Haven, and Knuckles begins to ask about it again, prompting Locke to reveal that it wasn't always kept a secret from the current Guardian. He continues his story - originally, Steppenwolf decided that there should be more than one Guardian always at the ready to protect the island, so he brought Moonwatcher to Haven, and they began to trade off duties. One would explore the surface of whatever landmass they were flying over, while the other would remain on the island and look after everyone on it.

I like how Harlan looks like a totally normal Knuckles clone while Rembrandt looks like this crazy hippie who decided to only dress himself in articles of clothing he found at grandpa's garage sale. The family line continued up to Rembrandt's son, Aaron, which is probably the most normal name for any echidna we've seen so far. Aaron was on the surface of the planet one day when he encountered a squad of Overlanders roaming around with, to his shock, some Dark Legionnaires, who, upon seeing him and recognizing him as a Guardian, tried to capture him. Aaron tried to run away but ran straight into Menniker himself (who was still alive because of the slower passing of time in the Twilight Zone, if you'll recall Kragok mentioning before), next to a giant missile. Apparently the Dark Legion was conspiring with the Overlanders to just straight up explode the Floating Island, and, panicking, one of the Overlanders fired the missile prematurely, to Menniker's fury. Aaron jumped up and managed to land on it, and was doing a fine job of disarming it midair until Menniker landed on it as well to stop him.

Both Aaron and Menniker were vaporized in the explosion, and Rembrandt and the rest of the Guardians were distraught at the loss. However, the family line didn't end there, as Aaron's younger brother Jordan offered himself up to become the next Guardian in his late brother's place.

Thus began the tradition of a father training his son in isolation on the island, then disappearing to Haven when the time was right to allow their offspring to take over their duties alone, this time never leaving the island's surface. Knuckles is somewhat relieved to hear that his father never abandoned him all those years ago, though he perhaps may have been slightly less relieved if he'd known that he was spying on him all that time, including all his private conversations with friends and Julie-Su, but I digress. When Locke mentions something about Knuckles' training being more important than any other Guardian before, Knuckles presses him on the issue, insisting he's ready to hear the answer when Locke hesitates. Locke explains how one night after being married to Lara-Le for a while, he had a nightmare of a strange series of events, which included a giant robot looking kind of like Robotnik destroying a city while his future son faced it down. He awoke in a cold sweat, but had this dream again and again, which prompted him to go to Athair of all people for advice, who told him it was a dream of the future that he must prepare for.

Yes, that's right. Locke altered his own genetic material so that he could shoot mutant super-sperm into his wife to create a superpowered baby, without telling her any of what he was doing, of course. But then he wasn't even satisfied with that! As soon as his wife laid Knuckles' egg, he took it and stuck it in the Chaos Chamber where he blasted it with radiation from the emerald in front of the rest of the Brotherhood. This is the true backstory of Knuckles' birth, and his apparent destiny. I've heard it summarized before as "had a bad dream, better microwave the baby," which, yeah, that's basically exactly what happened. Locke could have, with his foreknowledge of things to come, simply worked on training his son adequately for the future he saw, ensuring as well that he had the full backing of the rest of the Brotherhood for his entire life. But no, instead he did… well, this. (Ironically, the vision as seen in his nightmare depicted above never even slightly came to pass over the course of the comic, due to things like changing storylines and new head writers. Perhaps Locke's actions averted that future, or perhaps he really did just have a bad dream and microwave the baby as a result - there's no way to know for sure.)

And did it work? Did Locke's son, in fact, come out of the egg as a superpowered savior of echidnakind?

Oh, did you think those were just part of his gloves installed there to help him punch better? Nah, out of all the echidnas, only Knuckles has actual echidna knuckles. Somehow, this one tiny detail was enough to convince Locke that his genetic alterations worked and that Knuckles would be the ultra-powerful savior of the echidna people, even though it could also have been, I dunno, a genetic defect caused by all the mutant sperm and radiation that went into making this child. Of course, Knuckles is intimidated by all this - I don't think anyone has ever had a positive reaction to hearing they're a genetically-engineered destined hero - but Locke retorts that he had similar misgivings when he was still a Guardian trainee, and that his decision to microwave his baby was also really hard for him, calling it a decision between "sacrificing the world or siring a son to save it." I'm still not buying it, Locke, but Knuckles seems placated for now, and Locke suggests that, for the time being, they just spend some long-overdue time together as father and son. Knuckles happily agrees, exchanging "I love you"s with his father for the first time in who knows how many years.

So my opinion on all this? Well, I've already given some of it above, but honestly, I think that Locke far overreacted to his whole nightmare situation. He's been awful to Lara-Le both through their entire marriage and after as a result, constantly lying to her, keeping secrets, and interfering with her attempts to be a part of her son's life. He put his son through a lot of emotionally traumatizing experiences, allowing him to believe his own father had incinerated himself just to try to teach him self-reliance, and then spying on his every private moment from afar. The thing is, every bad guy sees themselves as the hero. And while I don't necessarily categorize Locke as an out-and-out villain, I do believe that, in almost every decision he ever made, he was in the wrong. You can even see it in the way the other members of the Brotherhood treat him, where even though most of them went through the same training regimen with being left behind by their fathers and all, nearly everyone in Haven, especially his own father, thinks Locke is too distant from his son and should reveal himself to him. Locke waited this long - Knuckles is almost sixteen, as we'll see in more detail next KtE arc - and almost every one of his plans went awry somewhere along the line, causing a lot of strife, bad feelings, and chaos for Knuckles throughout the course of the comic. Locke had the best of intentions, and the worst of executions.

Here's the thing. Kenders has said before that he based Locke on his own father, with whom he'd had a difficult relationship when he was younger. I see nothing wrong with basing a character on someone that one knows in real life, but one must also take into account the ramifications of such a thing, seeing as you wouldn't want to portray someone you care about as a bad guy. As it is, I feel that Locke would make a much better villain than… well, than whatever he currently is. If some plot points, character attitudes, etc. were changed, Locke could end up as this mastermind behind a plot that Knuckles would have to uncover, only to heartbreakingly discover his own father behind everything he'd been through. If Knuckles then rejected his father's path to instead carve his own, Locke would become angry, and there would be a lot of strife, a lot of fighting that could come of such a thing. But he wouldn't be a pure villain, either - he'd have a redemption arc, where he'd begin to understand just how badly he'd messed everything up. Then there would be more conflict concerning whether his self-awareness came too late to repair any kind of relationship with his son, let alone achieve forgiveness, or indeed forgive himself. Kenders is trying so hard to portray his own father-insert in a sympathetic light that there's this weird disconnect between how his selfish actions are portrayed by the writing in the comic, and how they come across to anyone looking critically at the plot. I understand his intention in writing everything this way, I really do, but ultimately, he was unwilling to put good storytelling first, and now we've ended up with this muddled mess.

That said, I know I've talked about this before, but I'm far less… I don't know, hateful of Kenders' work than many people in the Archie Sonic fandom. I think he's put together a truly fascinating world here, with many varied characters and a lot of potential for conflict to arise out of any situation naturally - true character-driven conflict, where the mores and values of different people clash dramatically causing strife, which I've always seen as the most interesting kind of conflict. The problem with his work, in the end, usually comes down to execution, and to, well, his own limitations as a writer of dialogue in particular. Seriously, not to insult him too harshly, but his dialogue is so often stilted and awkward that I really think he'd be better off as creative director of any project he worked on, coming up with characters and plots and worldbuilding and the like, while leaving the actual writing to someone else. In addition, quite frankly, he needs an editor that's willing to tell him "no" sometimes, but I've also heard that he's quite hard to work with, always wanting his own ideas to go exactly the way he wants them. And while as a writer myself I understand to a point being protective about one's own ideas, if you're working on a comic like this, dude, you have to be willing to work with others.

But anyway, I've rambled on far too long about this. One textbox aside next to the panels of Locke's nightmare promise us an epic upcoming "Knuckles Twenty Years Later" story in a future Sonic Super Special. As anyone who's read the comics already knows, that whole shebang is kind of infamous for being… well, boring, uninspired, and ultimately unimportant to the plot of the rest of the comic. It's one of the few parts of Kenders' work that I'm wholly uninterested in, not really even a little bit, but I'm still going to cover it once we come to it (which isn't for quite a long while, actually), as there's a lot of criticism to be had there, and what's a comic review without a healthy dose of criticism, eh?

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #kte 25 #writer: ken penders #pencils: manny galan #colors: mark bernardo

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gavillain · 5 years ago

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Maleficent

I guess I kinda like this one? ;)

Lol, jk, Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty/Kingdom Hearts) is my favorite fictional character of all time. I love literally everything about her. All of this is on my villains’ list entry on my profile, but I’ll copy and paste it here so I can get my praise for her out there.

So oftentimes when I set out to explain why Maleficent is my favorite villain, I struggle a bit. Usually in villain list entries I just go over the elements to them that I like with a bit of analysis and personal narrative mixed in for good measure, and I'm certainly going to do a bit of that here. However, that's not really the big picture. Maleficent is more than the sum of her parts, more than whatever interesting analysis I could pin on her, more than some childhood story I can relate back to you. She's literally a villain I could go on for a paragraph gushing about how excited I get by the back of her head, I love her so much. She just transcends explanation; she is villainous perfection incarnate. She is the perfect model who all my other favorite villains are in some form or fashion a reaction to. She is fundamental.

Though really, when you get down to it, there's not really some big huge secret to why Maleficent is simply the best. She's just the perfect blending of elements to create a whole that never could have been achieved if anything was handled slightly differently. No other villain is quite that same perfect balance of threatening, regal, powerful, charismatic, entertaining, visually stunning, and intriguing all put into a single package. And because all of these facets to her are there, they create a solid entirety that can only truly be described as a masterpiece.

So let's actually get into some of those parts that make Maleficent the greatest Disney villain of all time and my personal favorite villain period. First there's her name. The word "maleficent" is a Latin derived adjective meaning "doing evil or harm." Her very name describes the evil that she inflicts upon others. Yet, though "maleficent" is an English adjective, it's not one with widespread popular use. However, even to a casual viewer who might not know that "maleficent" is anything other than the character's name, the meaning behind her name still gives the same impression because it phonetically sounds like a blending of the more commonly used words "malevolent" and "magnificent." Her evil and regality both are phonetically ingrained within her very name, yet unlike the ridiculously derivative names that you may see crop up in bad fanfictions or pretentious fantasy novels, it still very much sounds like a name. It rolls off the tongue beautifully, yet it's not complex, and from the moment you hear it spoken, you know she's not someone to be trifled with.

The next big element to Maleficent that warrants discussion is, of course, her magnificent character design. And Disney is of course known for their incredible artistic vision, but, from where I'm standing, Maleficent is one of those figures where that vision is most apparent. Sleeping Beauty on the whole is designed to emulate the style of medieval tapestry, so for Maleficent to blend, she had to become essentially a meeting ground between the demonic religious symbolism apparent in pre-renaissance art as well as a believable human female form. She couldn't be too monstrous or the climax with the dragon wouldn't have the same emotional resonance, and she couldn't be too human or they'd risk her just looking like the Evil Queen again and clashing with the stylized and intentionally different look of the rest of the film. And if you look at the concept art for her, you'll see that it took a while to get to just the right design.

So why is this one of the great Disney villain designs to the point where it's pretty much the gold standard that all of the villains in the 90s were in some way looking to duplicate? Well, first of all, there's those medieval demonic elements that crept in. The horned headdress (yes, it's a hat) is the most obvious detail, clearly meant to invoke the idea of the Devil, later complimented by her vocally invoking all the powers of Hell. From these horns we know she's an inhuman force of evil and sin before she even speaks a line. Her dress has a motif of flames in the sleeves and train, again, invoking the notion of Hell fire, and the collar of the dress is based on bat wings. And not only does all of this character design shorthand her evil, it harmonizes together beautifully thanks to the purple, black, and green color scheme that is applied in just the right way. Not to mention, of course, that the entire design foreshadows her dragon transformation in the climax (put a pin in the dragon for now).

This design is one that honestly never fails to make me gush in awe. It's such an artistic masterpiece that flows so elegantly and powerfully that I by and large credit it's incredible design for getting me to love villains in the first place. When I said earlier that I could gush about the back of her head, I genuinely meant that. A lot of people scoff at character design being used as a metric for liking a character, but in the realm of animated film, character design and animation is job number one. And here's the truth of the matter: Maleficent would still be on a pedestal among Disney villains even if she was just this magnificent character design. But she's not. She's more than just this magnificent, unparalleled design.

When a design as beautiful as Maleficent's, finding a voice that can breathe life into it in a way that harmonizes and accentuates the quality of the design is not an easy task. A poor voice casting could have killed Maleficent right where she stood. Thankfully, Walt personally suggested that they bring back Eleanor Audley, who had previously worked with them on Lady Tremaine. Audley of course blended so well with the animation because she was such a talented actress and because Maleficent's facial expressions were modeled on Audley's own. But Audley in general turned in the greatest performance as a villain that I have ever seen. Her delivery is just melodic, and she brings a great degree of power, control, and arrogance to the role simply through voice. It's absolutely stunning.

Of course, Audley's not working alone on that front. The actual dialogue writing on Maleficent is top tier stuff as well. These two elements working in perfect harmony helps gives Maleficent one of the most subtle yet charismatic personalities in all of Disney. She's stern, powerful, and she inspires fear in all who encounter, yet she's not just some domineering bully. She also has a delicious little playful quality to her, such as when she pretends like she's embarrassed about showing up unwanted and pretending to leave without causing a scene directly before cursing Aurora. She's coy, and she uses that to play with her enemies' emotions. But if you test her, she'll explode in violent storming rage. She's this beautiful blend of powerful regality, playful coyness, and loud wrathfulness – a perfect evil personality.

Her role in the story isn't especially complex. She's a fairytale villain, and she fulfills that role nicely. She's not complex or deep with a tragic backstory; she doesn't need to be. She's a fantasy evil incarnate, and she does it marvelously. Every bit of misfortunate that befalls the characters in Sleeping Beauty is directly attributable to her. She allows her minions to do some of the dirty work, but most of the time she's right there taking action for herself. She curses Aurora, causing King Stefan and Queen Leah to miss out on raising their daughter, and she later kidnaps Prince Phillip and plans to keep him locked away until he's an old man so that when he awakens Aurora, he'll be old and she'll be young. She uses time as a weapon to inflict suffering and misery. For all that she hurls lightning, her modus operandi is almost always to cause internal pain and strife, and I love that quality to her.

A lot of people tend to oversimplify and misrepresent her motivation as her just being upset that she wasn't invited to a birthday party, and, honestly, that's such a blatant oversimplification that it barely deserves to be dignified. Maleficent is a villain entirely motivated by her arrogance and desire for respect. Any act of disrespect to her is an act of war, no matter how insignificant it might seem. She lets no affront to her go unpunished, and that's why she's so terrifying. Though also, what's nice about how her motivations aren't spoon-fed to the audience is that it leaves a lot of room for interpretation. We're left with a lot of questions about why Maleficent cares so much about disrespect, and every possible answer makes her more interesting. She's a perfect example of how effective "less is more" can be in storytelling.

And of course, it all culminates in the best finale ever put into a Disney film: the final battle against the dragon. Actually, there's no dragon anywhere in the original Sleeping Beauty fairytale, but because Sleeping Beauty was striving to be a grand medieval fairytale fantasy epic unlike anything the studio had ever produced, and because having Prince Phillip throw a sword into a human looking Maleficent would be unseemly for a family film, they decided to put the cherry on top with the most recognizable medieval fantasy creature to face against the brave knight in shining armor. And it really is the perfect climax to the story. Prince Phillip, who is wielding the Sword of Truth and Shield of Virtue and fighting on behalf of true love, clashes against Maleficent, who invokes all the powers of Hell to become a Satanic creature motivated by hate and pain. It is the ultimate symbolic battle of good triumphing over evil, and the fact that Maleficent so perfectly incarnates that evil makes it all come together.

So, naturally, it is already very apparent that I greatly admire and enjoy Maleficent and think she's an incredible villain. Yet, the question still remains: why is she the number one spot? Why was she the villain who clicked with me on such a profound level that I can write an over four thousand word essay on how much I like her purely recreationally? The answer is honestly pretty simple: consistency. Maleficent is the one villain who, no matter where I am in my life, she's always to some extent at play.

She was my favorite villain when I was a kid whose movie's tape I wore out rewatching. She was my favorite villain to drag my parents to the Disney store and start my collection of villain merchandise I have to this day. She was my favorite villain at the Disney parks when I'd visit and watch her in the shows. She was my favorite video game villain when I got into Kingdom Hearts as I got older. She was my roleplay character who I played on the side while playing Hades. She was my favorite villain to edit with when doing the villain tournaments. She’s my favorite villain who I write for on a consistent basis with my fanfic. And she's my favorite villain now with all of that looking back and still having the same enthusiasm for her as the first time I watched the movie.

In a kind of bizarre way, Maleficent has been one of the biggest constants in my life. No matter how things have changed, no matter where I've gone or what I've become, she's always been right there, holding my hand through all of it. Other villains and characters, love them though I do, come and go in phases. Maleficent never does. She's always there, and in some way, every single villain who I love has some element that links them back to her. She's that inescapable bedrock to everything fictional that I love and hold dear.

She's the Mistress of All Evil, one of the greatest villains of all time, the single most important fictional character in my life, and my absolute personal favorite. Long may she reign!

#Maleficent #Sleeping Beauty #The Mistress of All Evil #opinion #long post

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fangirlinghard-spoilerson · 6 years ago

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SECRETS & BETRAYALS (5)

Rated: M Wordcount: 1446 Summary: Much time has passed since Jude Duarte was exiled in the mortal world. But now she's back to Elfhame and Cardan will not like to discover her reasons for coming back. Is Jude still the Queen of Nothing? Other parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, (To be added) This is a The Folk of the Air’s Fanfic. The original work belongs to Holly Black.

Bran. Jude had said the name with so much disappointment that it felt like an accusation. As if she were the one in position to make accusations. She left him. He feared she was dead, feared she might be hurt and needing his help. He hopped for her to come after him for her comeback. His spies had sought out her for years without find any clue of her whereabouts. Which was no different at the times when Cardan went see her and Jude was too busy with some dangerous scheme to find him. None of his spies could tell what she was doing then, where or with whom she was.

Now Jude was back with news. Astonishing ones. Dangerous ones.

His late mortal wife was alive and not so mortal after all. They had a son, a grown son who had been kidnapped for a dangerous, bloodthirsty and hungry-power maniac, with whom Cardan was at war and whom his wife had a meeting.

And they were close enough for him to propose to her.

His chest was burning uncomfortably. Jude could have said that she wasn’t inclined to accept any proposal, but Cardan was realistic enough to admit that Jude and Diarmuid had at least three things in common.

And she had not come back for Cardan. He had come back for her son, or at least she said that. Maybe she was fooling Cardan, maybe she was fooling Diarmuid. Maybe, both. Jude was Jude. She could do something like that. But whatever her move would be, she wanted High King participation.

Se had not asked for help. Wise of her. A favor for a favor, that was Faerie. And Cardan would loved leave her indebted to him. And it did not matter what he would have to do to that.

However she had come, told the news and expected him to get involved. She had expected him to worry about that brat. But he could not even imagine why he should worry about someone he had never met instead of worrying about her. The idea that he had a child was still just... an idea. Cardan could not even imagine how he should react to that.

His gaze went to the gold stain on the floor. At some point they had kicked the bottle. Probably when they rolled across the floor as if they had yearning for touch the other for almost one hundred years. And may they had. That day was the 93rd anniversary of her disappearance. Cardan had planned a self-pity party and Jude had ruined everything.

That troublemaker.

Cardan was sited in the sofa feeling everything and nothing at all. His mind was not much different from the weather outside his window. Like in his wed, he found it embarrassing how Elfhame could so easily expose him.

Jude had vanished in the air. Again. It was only necessary that he get up to call his spies. Turned his back on her had been a mistake, walk to the door had been a mistake. Because when Liliver and Van entered in his bedchambers, Jude was gone as if she was the hallucination he had believed she was. If he had not saw they looking for her without an order to do so, he would not believe that she had been there.

“Always full of surprises, isn’t her?” Roach had back wet with rain. He was good with his sly foot, but not good as his Queen.

“If we're lucky, less surprises than we can handle.” The King voice ton was hash enough to make it clear that his Queen surprises was not the best one. “You found anything?”

“No, your Highness. It's like she has not even been here.” Fear squeezed Cardan's stomach. Of all ways Van could express himself… “She was good before, but now...”

...she is more dangerous than ever.

Against all the tension in the room, Bomb said softly “I’m relieved that she is okay.”

And Cardan was too.

The Roach, either.

“So, what brought her back to the marriage bed?”

“She looked concerned about the safety of the prince of Faerie.” Cardan chuckled.

His spies exchanged disturbed looks. They had planned the better way to protect that prince. “Oak is fine.”

“Not that one.” Part of him was happy not to be on the scandalized side of the conversation. “I believe she was talking about my son.”

The Roach choked, probably, on all the questions that statement raised or the complete discomfort of being caught between in a Royal marital strife. Liliver's eyes, widely opened, were revealing everything she tried to keep hidden. She was too discreet to not try.

Always full of surprises, indeed.

The High King took the paper portraits his wife left in his table and shuddered.

In the first one, the brat was no more a brat. He was all grow up and trying charm someone. Cardan knew that because that was the way he looked like when tried charm anyone. The boy had Jude’s colors - darker skin and lighter eyes than Cardan’s - yet someone could look at mother and son and never guess so. They did not resemble each other. In other hand, it seemed impossible that anyone who knew Cardan could look at his son and not know.

They had a son. A son.

Cardan was someone’s father.

That was unbelievable and not advisable.

Jude arranged the portraits backwards. He saw a happier version of himself who had been in both worlds, mortal and fairy. In Seelie and Unseelie courts. But they did not reveal too much. Cardan did not recognize any of those places and, at the same time, he found them very familiar. His wife had paid close attention to them and to what she chose show him.

Jude was there too. Never alone. This collection had a theme and it was not about her. But the ones in which she was had been his favorites. She teaching sword-play. They dancing. She holding a fairy boy - their fairy boy - in her arms. They lying on the grass with soundless laughter.

They belonged to the nobility. His son had not grown up in a environment so different from the one in which Cardan grew up. But the portraits were stranger. Jude and... Bran, they did not pose for them as Cardan had been taught to. In that portraits they smiled, pout, made faces, faking sadness, showed teeth, were taken by surprise.

They were playful.

He felt bitter and alone than ever.

His son be undeniably similar to him meant that to keep the secret, Jude had hidden far away from the reach of the High King’s power and far from everyone who knew her as his senescal. And that meant far.

Maybe Cardan should be happy that Jude could love someone who resemble him so much. That she could love his son. But all he could think was that even if the son had his face, Bran was not him.

Maybe it was what Jude had felt about Taryn. Maybe that was what Taryn had felt about Jude.

Cardan held up the photos toward Liliver. “Here, Bomb.”

She smiled shy and apologetic. “Your Highness, it’s not my business.”

Nonsense. Gossip about the royal family was always everybody's business.

“Take them before I change my mind.” And she took. Her eyes was hungest than mortals who eated faerie fruit. She took her time in each as she need time to understand what she was looking at.

Van looked from behind her shoulder. “He looks like you.” This was a euphemism. “She said his name?”

“Bran.” Cardan spat the name like it was poisoned. The spies politely faked do not notice that.

“Bran. Braaaan. Bran. Good. I liked it.” For a moment there was silence. Two of the three present wanted the father to pronounce on it. Cardan said nothing. But spies should not push their king against the wall, so Bomb questioned something which would lead them to subjects that spies should know. “He knows about you?” Do you want one of us to go to him? Should we bring him to Elfhame?

“I didn’t ask.” The answer was disgusted. Until that moment Cardan had not thought that his son could know about him and chose not to met him. Or that whatever Bran knew about his father would have come from gossips, enemies and rivals. Or from his mother, which could not be better. “Why you two came here to night?”

“Oh, that.” Van scratched the tuft of hair on top of his head in an almost embarrassed way. “It will look silly right now, but we may have a problem.”

Thank you all.

When you decide to turn your headcanon into a fanfic you never expect to have 5,000 words and not be near the end yet. At least now I know that the past tense of 'leave' is 'left'.

TFOTA TAG LIST: @lazyperfectionistteen, @afexiss, @thequeenofeveything, @nitrot150, @fangirling101, @thejiminsjamsowner S&B TAG LIST: @ashlightgrayson, @saea Do you wanna join?

My others TFOTA/Jurdan Fanfics that you may like:

Fantasies

You said The Queen of Nothing’s excerpt? Sorry, I heard prompt.

Fox Hunting Season

[After TQoN’s synopsis, Before the March, 26 Excerpt] Taryn visited Jude in mortal world. But she returned to Faerie with a breaking down. Locke wanted a reaction, now he got one.

Sinking

[After TWK] Jude returned to Elfhame. Maybe she should had taken along a squeegee.

The Dance

Cadan’s POV in Dain’s never-gonna-happen-coronation, when he dances with Jude.

#jude duarte #cardan greenbriar #secretsnbetrayals #snbfhso #The Folk of the Air #the wicked king #fhso fanfic #tfota fanfic #fhso tfota fanfic #jurdan

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makeste · 6 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 221: What’s Up, Doc

Previously on BnHA: We caught up with everyone’s favorite squad of homicidal misfits some six-odd weeks before the start of the current arc. Tomura and the gang were straight up broke, squatting in a condemned building somewhere out in the mountains and raiding racist secret societies to steal their shit. As it turns out, having no money and no sense of direction or purpose starts to weigh on one’s soul after a while, and Spinner in particular seemed to be having a bit of a hard time, since he only joined the League because of Stain. Just when it looked like we might be in for a bit of internal strife, our friend Gigantomachia literally tore the door down, announced he was there to meet AFO’s successor, and then demanded for him to prove that he was worthy. Which is how the League found themselves getting their asses kicked by this sobbing giant rock man as he lamented over how weak they were. The chapter ended with Giganto’s discarded radio trying to get Tomura’s attention. Apparently the voice on the other end belongs to none other than AFO’s personal physician, a mysterious man known only as “the doctor” who is behind the creation of the Noumus.

Today on BnHA: The doc explains that Gigantomachia is All for One’s former bodyguard and one of the people AFO trusted the most. AFO hid him away a few years back, anticipating his own eventual defeat. Unfortunately, Giganto’s unfailing loyalty to AFO has made him unwilling to accept anyone who doesn’t live up to his former master. For the time being, the doc calms him down by playing a recording of AFO’s voice. He then proceeds to teleport the entire League to his hideout using the black sludge warping quirk. Over at the hideout, we see that the doc is in fact the spitting image of Deku’s old doctor from chapter 1, pretty much confirming a long-held fan theory. Also, this dude’s got no fewer than 12 motherfucking High-End Noumus floating around in tanks. The doc introduces himself as Ujiko Daruma (which even he admits is a fake name), and he tells Tomura that he summoned him and his gang because he wants Tomura to prove he’s worth. Anyway so during this chapter I proceeded to lose my shit like 1700 times, and tbh even rereading it now it still gets me hyped up. Oh my freaking god.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 226, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

oh my god

safe to say that “hyped as fuck” is a pretty accurate description of what I’m feeling right now

lol what the

Horikoshi, PSA, that’s not how radios work. were you perhaps thinking of cell phones? or walkie-talkies??

then again I suppose this might be some fancy schmancy radio FROM THE FUTURE or whatever

oh shit Tomura ain’t even joking though

giganto smash

I can’t believe Shigaraki Tomura is fucking dead. so much for your successor AFO

nah just kidding, he’s fine, at least presuming that he’s able to somehow land safely after all... this

guess we know what happened to poor Naomasa and that mountainside now

anyway, so guys. shit like this? is why Deku fucking needs to power the fuck up though. friendly reminder that the current #1 hero almost lost to fucking Hide and Seek Noumu. meanwhile this guy is out here leveling countrysides with a single Goron Pound. even Gran Torino wasn’t able to touch him. literally if our boy doesn’t get his Avatar State on soon the heroes are going to be in very bad shape here

anyway, so Giganto is still sobbing, and shouting to All for One (he can’t hear you, bro) that he wants to accept Tomura but he just can’t

okay but consider reading chapters 159 and 160 and then coming back and letting me know if you’ve had a change of heart. I’m just saying. he fucked up Overhaul something fierce and he deserves some credit. even if it was all just so he could steal Overhaul’s evil plan all for himself. because he has yet to come up with any kind of decent evil plan of his own. because between you and me, I don’t think he’s quite cut out for -- you know what, shit. maybe you’re onto something after all

so now Tomura is having a hilarious conversation with this sobbing rock man and a radio while still in mid-air

-- RECORD SCRATCH. FREEZE FRAME

SAY WHAT NOW. BACK THE FUCK UP, PRAYTELL??

are you saying this guy is the original Talking Noumu?? did AFO give him multiple quirks? is he like Wolverine or something and he’s got like a healing factor that can take a licking and keep on ticking? so they got all excited and loaded him up? ARE YOU EVEN REALLY MADE OF ROCK, FRIEND, OR IS THAT JUST ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR LIES

(ETA: I think this translation is wrong, actually; Viz’s translation says that Giganto is strong enough to be AFO’s bodyguard even without multiple quirks. in other words, he’s as strong as a Noumu without actually being one. which is arguably just as much of a shocking statement though.)

anyway so What’s Up Doc is continuing to explain Giganto’s life story so let’s un-freeze that frame

more evidence that AFO was taking steps to ensure himself a line of succession even before meeting Tomura. AFO have you ever seen Guardians of the Galaxy 2? spoiler alert, you know how Peter’s dad went and had a bunch of kids with people of all different species in order to try and create offspring that carried the same power as him, so he could use them to destroy the galaxy and shit? well my question for you is Did You Do That Exact Same Thing, Minus The Galaxy-Destroying Part. huh. huh

anyway now Dabi’s weighing in

and What’s Up Doc is all

“yep! we fucked up!!”

lol he says Giganto’s loyalty is too strong for his own good. went a bit overboard did we AFO

and nice lowkey Tomura burn as well. he says that Giganto is despairing at the “huge gap” between AFO and Tomura

so now Dabi is all “okay so we just have to do our best to kick his ass until he likes us?”

and he’s firing some flames, looking like he’s not exactly opposed to the thought

but WUD is saying that’s impossible, oh damn

what the

the hell was that click?? did he just hang up??

doesn’t seem that way, so... hmm. does he maybe have Giganto conditioned to respond to certain sounds or something? Pavlov-style?

(ETA: this really reminds me of the Avengers doing that “hey big guy, sun’s getting real low” lullaby thing with the Hulk lol.)

did he just shrink back down to size

um, what

should we... give him a moment

ohhhhhhhhhh

well that explains it then. no wonder they had him with the radio strapped around his neck

I wonder what would happen if they found out Mina was also capable of calming him down. Giganto whisperer. if SIXQUIRKS Deku ultimately fails, she may just be our last hope

and Tomura, shush. we’ve been waiting for him to join your party since chapter 50-something. this is literally years in the making. it took you time to warm up to your other misfits too, so you shut up and you deal with it

last observation before I click to the next page: is Giganto not wearing any pants. because. it looks to me like he’s not wearing any pants. just saying. um. ...

(ETA: you guys this makes me so uncomfortable though.)

OH SHIT WUD is calling Tomura out!!

AS THE PHILOSOPHER JAGGER ONCE SAID, “YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT”

fucking look at that halo of realization surrounding Tomura at this concept, though

wow he’s taking it better than I thought though

I’m not sure what Tomura’s relationship with WUD is, but up until this point I can’t recall him ever actually listening to another character and not throwing a tantrum even when they tell him something he doesn’t want to hear. like, he listened to Kurogiri more or less, but bitched about it endlessly when he didn’t like it. and even with AFO he would whine until he got his way

and yet here WUD is straight up telling him “AFO done spoiled you, kid” and he’s just like “ouch. that’s pretty harsh” but at the same time just... accepting it. Tomura you’ve done quite a bit of growing up, haven’t you?

and I think part of it is also that he’s probably been coming to these realizations on his own as well, but not really wanting to accept them yet. but he’s not stupid; what with their recent troubles it was probably starting to sink in just how good he’d had it earlier

anyway, so now WUD is saying “a moment please” and I guess he’s going off to do something

DFAKLSDJFLAKSD

HOLY SHIT IT’S THE BLACK OOZE WARP AGAIN

ARE WE FINALLY GOING TO MEET THE MYSTERIOUS UJIKO PLEASE SAY YES OH MY GOD OH SHIT

holy shit

so even they don’t know what’s going on. well I’m glad that someone is finally having the same freaking-the-fuck-out reaction that I did back in chapter 191 but no one else seemed to share my shock or concern even though WHAT THE FUCK YOU GUYS

so quick reminder that this quirk works by teleporting the user a short-range distance (supposedly; I think the limit was 5km) either toward the quirk-user, or toward someone with whom the user is well-acquainted with. so presumably that means that whoever’s using the quirk is closer to them than they think, and also this person is with the doc right now

(ETA: though on further reflection I think that AFO’s may have just had limited range because he’d just acquired it. it must be one of those quirks that you can power up with time and practice. 5km is way too limited of a range given how this quirk has been used the last few times we’ve seen it.)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HOLY SHIT IT REALLY IS HIM!?!?!

holy fucking shit holy shit oh my god holy shit

this is Deku’s quirk doctor. that’s him, 100%. Tsubasa’s grandpa, who 100% confirmed turned his grandson into a Noumu. and who is now confirmed to be AFO’s personal doctor. and just happened to be hanging out in Musutafu conducting quirk tests on our protagonist when he was a young child

you guys I’m calling it -- Dad for One just went up to 50% likelihood. we are up to a 1 in 2 chance of this shit being confirmed as fucking canon. we have officially reached the point where these are confirmed to no longer be coincidences, or reaching for something that isn’t actually there. this is now either deliberate misdirection on Horikoshi’s part... or. it’s fucking true

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(ETA: that was a four-page quadruple fucking whammy you guys. shock after fucking shock. this chapter is amazing.)

oh my god!?!?!

okay so first of all, is that Hyped Up Noumu there on the far right?? it’s the same head, for sure. doesn’t quite look exactly the same as the final version, though. so maybe just a brother or cousin, or maybe he was incomplete

and we’ve got our first female Noumu as well! League of Villains doesn’t discriminate! nope

two of these Noumus appear to be missing the lower halves of their legs. friendly reminder that these were once normal people -- quite possibly children -- and we don’t know how much they can actually still feel. this is fucking horrifying and I’m not even joking, it’s fairly sickening to think about

I’m trying to see if I can identify any other familiar quirks, but so far it’s a no. I will point out that that one Noumu second from the left appears to have multiple Xenomorph heads. enjoy your nightmares kids

and last, these are all black Noumus, a.k.a. the special super-powerful kind. and there are at least a dozen here that we can see

so once again, just throwing it out there -- we might just be in need of a superpowered OFA kid with SIXQUIRKS once shit hits the fan and the fucking APOCALYPSE breaks loose or whatever the fuck this is all building up to, holy fucking shit

I’m seriously fucking stunned, though. leave it to Horikoshi to have me dropping my jaw to the floor on one page and then making my eyes fucking bug out of their sockets with the next

and so the heroes, as it turns out, did not even come close to unpacking all of AFO’s secrets. didn’t that one cop say way back in like chapter 96 that it was almost like he’d wanted the police to find that warehouse, and that it almost seemed too easy? so now this is evidence that everything -- basically all of Kamino -- was actually all according to AFO’s plan, and he intentionally let that hideout fall into the heroes’ hands. and even more terrifyingly, he most likely intentionally let himself get captured and it’s all part of a long con that he is currently enjoying the shit out of

tl;dr we’re screwed

anyways I think that’s all the freaking out and speculation and weak-attempts-at-analysis I can squeeze out from this two page spread for now. so let’s finish up the rest of the chapter then

so we’re getting confirmation now that Tomura has never been here before

oh my god the shock is finally wearing down and being replaced by HYPPPPPPPPE you guys...!!

so Doctor Eggman here is cackling and confirming that these are indeed not your everyday Noumu

“these children” oh my god

I suddenly feel the urge to go and hug all my U.A. babies. god bless them and please keep them safe! and I feel a particularly urgent need to hug my boy Katsuki especially, because yet again I got to wondering just what would have happened to him if he hadn’t been rescued, if All Might and the Pizza Delivery Team hadn’t come right when they did. and if he’d still refused to join Tomura. and just... shit

and one last friendly reminder that Tsubasa was Katsuki’s friend. the two of them were colossal assholes to Deku together (or well, Katsuki was an asshole and Tsubasa just followed him around smiling, mostly) when they were only four years old. there is a decent chance he’s actually met this man in the context of him being Tsubasa’s grandfather (not that he’d recognize the face given how little attention he pays to these things). and of course, Deku has met him face to face as well -- this is the man that completely altered the course of his life from age 4 through 14

sorry I keep getting so sidetracked guys, but this chapter just portends. y’know? this is some ominous foreshadowing fucking destiny shit. like, this seriously just became one of the most important plot chapters in the entire series. and just, we are finally, finally on to big things once again, and ffffffffffff but I’m so excited I can’t even fucking sit still

sdlfkjsadlkflSLDFHHSDKHFLKHLKJLKJ

THE HANDS. THE FUCKING -- HOLY SHIT

and also! he’s going to duplicate the fucking PERMANENT QUIRK-BE-GONE AHHHHHHH

this just got so much worse. everything. so much fucking worse

honestly starting to feel like six quirks may not actually be enough

anyway, so Compress is squinting and saying that he can’t clearly make out Eggman’s face “what with that backlight”

and. uh

hahaha well fuck. okay then

and Twice is all “jesus christ okay then dude, you’re the one who fucking brought us here to begin with”

and yeah, speaking of. care to explain that?? ever???

all right, so Eggman’s saying that he teleported them there because he doesn’t want to reveal his location

DLSAFHOIHW

so he’s Ujiko??? well shit, there goes the possibility of Ujiko being a lady villain. sorry Toga. still all you, Best Girl

after this I’ll have to go check out Caleb Cook’s twitter to see what he has to say about the name, given that Ujiko claims to have made it up on the spot just now

(ETA: here:

so basically his way of saying he’s AFO’s disciple, I guess.)

anyway, so now he’s saying that the reason he called Tomura here was out of respect for some arrangement that he had with AFO

I’m gonna assume that AFO was procuring quirks for him to aid in his research

oh my god you guys

it just occurred to me that this arc? might be Tomura’s version of getting his own power-ups similar to what Deku’s gotten recently. gotta keep that playing field level after all

lol oh damn

so this is like a Price is Right showcase. all this can be yours, if...

so what are you gonna do now, Tomura. ball’s in your court

and that’s the end of the chapter. oh my god

how many chapters into this arc are we actually?? and already we’ve got the Detnerat shit; Shouto and Katsuki finally getting their licenses (KACCHAN WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO CONFIRM YOUR HERO NAME???); and now these last two incredible League of Villain plot chapters. it’s been like five chapters, and this arc is already like a top three. absolutely incredible

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hereticaloracles · 5 years ago

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TNO Watch: Eris

Helios on Eris– So, somehow in my accounting of the Transneptunians, I managed to overlook the biggest, most prolific of them all (however not the first to be discovered past Pluto!)- Eris! Now I can’t rightly finish off the archive without her, now can I? So without further ado, let me formally welcome back the most controversial dwarf planet back into the party! Gird your loins, y’all

The Astronomy– Eris is the most massive and second-largest (by volume) dwarf planet (and plutoid) known in the Solar System. Eris was discovered in January 2005, and in September 2006 it was named after Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Eris is the ninth most massive object directly orbiting the Sun, and the 16th most massive overall, because seven moons are more massive than all known dwarf planets. It is also the largest which has not yet been visited by a spacecraft. Eris was measured to be 2,326 ± 12 kilometers (1,445.3 ± 7.5 mi) in diameter. Eris’s mass is about 0.27% of the Earth mass, about 27% more than dwarf planet Pluto, although Pluto is slightly larger by volume.

Eris is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) and a member of a high-eccentricity population known as the scattered disk. It has one known moon, Dysnomia. As of February 2016, its distance from the Sun was 96.3 astronomical units (1.441×1010 km; 8.95×109 mi), roughly three times that of Pluto. With the exception of some long-period comets, until 2018 VG18 was discovered on December 17, 2018, Eris and Dysnomia were the most distant known natural objects in the Solar System.[

Because Eris appeared to be larger than Pluto, NASA initially described it as the Solar System’s tenth planet. This, along with the prospect of other objects of similar size being discovered in the future, motivated the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term planet for the first time. Under the IAU definition approved on August 24, 2006, Eris is a “dwarf planet”, along with objects such as Pluto, Ceres, Haumea and Makemake thereby reducing the number of known planets in the Solar System to eight, the same as before Pluto’s discovery in 1930. Observations of a stellar occultation by Eris in 2010 showed that its diameter was 2,326 ± 12 kilometers (1,445.3 ± 7.5 mi), very slightly less than Pluto, which was measured by New Horizons in July 2015.

The Myth– Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. The most famous tale of Eris recounts her initiating the Trojan War by causing the Judgement of Paris. The goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite had been invited along with the rest of Olympus to the forced wedding of Peleus and Thetis, who would become the parents of Achilles, but Eris had been snubbed because of her troublemaking inclinations.

She, therefore (as mentioned at the Kypria according to Proclus as part of a plan hatched by Zeus and Themis) tossed into the party the Apple of Discord, a golden apple inscribed Ancient Greek: τῇ καλλίστῃ, “For the most beautiful one”, or “To the Fairest One” – provoking the goddesses to begin quarreling about the appropriate recipient. The hapless Paris, Prince of Troy, was appointed to select the fairest by Zeus. The goddesses stripped naked to try to win Paris’s decision and also attempted to bribe him. Hera offered political power; Athena promised infinite wisdom; and Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta. While Greek culture placed a greater emphasis on prowess and power, Paris chose to award the apple to Aphrodite, thereby dooming his city, which was destroyed in the war that ensued.

Another story of Eris includes Hera and the love of Polytekhnos and Aedon. They claimed to love each other more than Hera and Zeus were in love. This angered Hera, so she sent Eris to wreak discord upon them. Polytekhnos was finishing off a chariot board, and Aedon a web she had been weaving. Eris said to them, “Whosoever finishes thine task last shall have to present the other with a female servant!” Aedon won. But Polytekhnos was not happy by his defeat, so he came to Khelidon, Aedon’s sister, and raped her. He then disguised her as a slave, presenting her to Aedon. When Aedon discovered this was indeed her sister, she chopped up Polytekhnos’s son and fed him to Polytekhnos. The gods were not pleased, so they turned them all into birds.

Eris has been adopted as the patron deity of the modern Discordian religion, which was begun in the late 1950s by Gregory Hill and Kerry Wendell Thornley under the pen names of “Malaclypse the Younger” and “Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst”. The Discordian version of Eris is considerably lighter in comparison to the rather malevolent Graeco-Roman original, wherein she is depicted as a positive (albeit mischievous) force of chaotic creation.

A quote from the Principia Discordia, the first holy book of Discordianism, attempts to clear up the matter: One day Mal-2 consulted his Pineal Gland and asked Eris if She really created all of those terrible things. She told him that She had always liked the Old Greeks, but that they cannot be trusted with historical matters. “They were,” She added, “victims of indigestion, you know.” Suffice it to say that Eris is not hateful or malicious. But she is mischievous and does get a little bitchy at times.

The story of Eris being snubbed and indirectly starting the Trojan War is recorded in the Principia and is referred to as the Original Snub. The Principia Discordia states that her parents may be as described in Greek legend, or that she may be the daughter of Void. She is the Goddess of Disorder and Being, whereas her sister Aneris (called the equivalent of Harmonia by the Mythics of Harmonia) is the goddess of Order and Non-Being. Their brother is Spirituality.

Discordian Eris is looked upon as a foil to the preoccupation of western philosophy in attempting to find order in the chaos of reality, in prescribing order to be synonymous with truth. Discordian Eris teaches us that the only truth is chaos and that order and disorder are simply temporary filters applied to the lenses through which we view the chaos. This is known as the Aneristic Illusion.

Why She Matters– Okay, its no secret that Eris is fantastic and I love her. Yes, Eris is chaos, but you know what? So is life. You can try and plan and make things nice and neat, but then the Universe comes through like a toddler who just learned how to walk, hellbent on getting to the other side of the room- consequences be damned. Eris is that universal action. Make no mistake, she is a destroyer and lives for the battlefield, but she also loves to dance, finding the beat in the deaths of men clamoring to prove that they are right to unseen forces (but most of all, themselves). If Mars ever did drag, she would look like Eris (and you bet your ass there would be death drops and shablams like you’ve never seen before!)

When people (read: hecklers) try to come at me with proof that astrology works (but who don’t have their birth time handy for me to utterly eviscerate them) I point to Eris. I remember when she was discovered, and the excitement that her unveiling brought to all of us. And then I remember, quite vividly, the fallout from the IAU decision after she was named but then relegated to dwarf planet status. It was a repeat of the Judgement of Paris myth! She was snubbed, yet again, by the authority, and Pluto was caught up in the fallout as collateral damage just because she was bigger than him (men and size issues, amirite?). And the authority paid for it in the end! Even total luddites who don’t follow the whirling and twirling of the planets (dwarf or otherwise) have a strong opinion about the decision. It made people care about these crazy space rocks, which brings me great happiness.

We aren’t all running around fighting all the time in this modern age, so how do we look at Eris now? A primal force of chaos doesn’t really mesh with our modern sensibilities- or does it? One of the more enlightening views on Eris comes when we consider her in terms of Justice, especially against any kind of oppressive authority. This can be seen in almost every major social movement to demand better treatment, to deny an oppressive ruling class its ability to exploit those below it- Stonewall, May Day, Ferguson, Rodney King, The Arab Spring…. Hell, even the Boston Tea Party! Eris is that urge we feel to stand our ground and refuse to roll over to the bad guys. Eris is the urge to fight for our rights. Yes, it can get violent- but better short violence that changes things for the better than the long, slow violence of inaction. Far better to live boldly and bravely. More commonly though, Eris spurs us on to fight with our racist uncles on Facebook or send petty gifs in the group chats calling out our friends for being slutty… but like, in an endearing way. In fact you could solidly call Eris the Goddess of Shade. Hey, not every action can be a revolutionary one after all- sometimes you just want to get brunch with your girls.

Eris isnt just Chaos, by the way- she also represents Strife. More specifically, what you are striving for. What do you want out of this life? If you are lost, look to Eris and she can help you find your way when you’ve lost it. Mind you, you’ll be in for a HELL of a trip with her (more Thelma and Louise than Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas- That’s solidly Arawn territory) and you might not survive, but at least you’ll know!

Now, we all have all of these planets and asteroids SOMEWHERE in our chart, so in you is the seed of chaos- even the most holier-than-thou Libra. As with all of the Transneptunians, look at her house placement, not necessarily the sign, to see her effect. To find out where she shows up in your chart, go to astro.com, put in your birth details and in the extended options, all the way at the bottom of the next page, there will be a menu of additional objects. Under that is a blank space where you can enter the number 136199, for Eris. Once you have it entered, generate the chart! Where does Eris affect your life? Let us know in the comments below!

Support us on Patreon so that we can keep delivering content like this! https://www.patreon.com/hereticaloracles

TNO Watch: Eris was originally published on Heretical Oracles

#asteroid astrology #eris #eris astrology #transneptunian astrology #Transneptunians #astrology #tarot #fuckstrology #bruja #brujeria

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imagine-loki · 6 years ago

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Loki and the Minion

TITLE: Loki and the Minion

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter-3

AUTHOR: latent-thoughts ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki hiring you as his manager while he slowly takes over Midgard again. You are to manage his PR, his daily schedule, and you also are his guide to everything Midgardian. He doesn’t make it easy for you, though. He causes trouble, doesn’t listen to your advice very often, and in general, annoys and intimidates you. He is the God of Mischief after all, and you are the nearest target available to him. You suffer through his antics because he pays well and also, you don’t know what might befall you if you refuse him. He is kinda scary after all.

RATING: T for now, will definitely change later.

NOTES/WARNINGS: None

A/N: I’m pretty sure no one even remembers this fic but I feel glad to be writing it again. Forgive the delay.

_________________________

“Several countries have called for an urgent UN meet in the aftermath of Loki’s return and declaration…”

“….meetings are being held by various establishment agencies over this new and unexpected development…”

“People are calling for the Avengers to strike, but it’s hardly an easy task, especially when he is incognito…”

“Loki has declared that he is here to help. Should we give him a chance?”

“In the released video Loki claims that he was brainwashed into attacking earth. Could there be truth to his words?”

“Contact with Asgard has not been established. It is difficult to discern the facts correctly.”

“Reports have been leaked of a statement by Thor which reveals him saying that Loki was, in fact, not himself during the attack of New York. This lends credence to Loki’s version of the events.”

‘Reports of a leak from SHIELD files reveals mistreatment of Loki…”

“Was Loki not allowed to tell his side of the story?”

“…is an unfair way to handle the situation, if indeed he is telling the truth…”

“Yes, but under whose influence was he?”

“…Asking the relevant question here—who compelled Loki to attack Earth?”

Loki sat regally in Elsa’s living room, occupying almost the whole of the three-seater sofa. He was listening to the news feeds quite intently, often telling her to switch channels.

She did as he ordered, now that he was her boss. Also, she was eager to see how he reacted to her handiwork, and hence, very keen to show him how the world was reacting to his recent public statement.

It hadn’t been easy. She had left her job at Stark’s in a hurry, citing very bullshit reasons for it. There really had been no time at all to prepare for the new job, with Loki wanting her to immediately come up with a good action plan towards mending his public image.

Though, she had wanted to tell him that simply being a good person and doing good things for others would do it… she hadn’t wanted to take the risk of getting fired this early in her stint.

The public image mending was something that he had been very particular about, and so, she used whatever was in her arsenal to deliver him the goods. That had required some bending backwards, but she had used her contacts in the media to deliver his message to them in the form of a video recording.

The recording had featured Loki looking quite repentant and also, like a victim of circumstances. Honestly, he had been so convincing in it that she had wondered if he had been a part of the royal drama club on Asgard.

“Your suggestion seems to have worked,” he remarked, giving her a shrewd look of contemplation.

“Yeah…” She pried her gaze from his, feeling self-conscious under his intense scrutiny.

“I knew I was making the right gamble with you. You shall help me greatly in my endeavor.”

She muted the TV and gave him her full attention. “What exactly is your endeavor?”

“Helping your pathetic race become less pathetic.”

Well, that wasn’t condescending at all…

“Do you, like, seriously want to help us?”

“Is that so hard to imagine?”

“No…” she backtracked, “I just… wonder how.”

“How I shall help?”

She nodded.

“I am well versed in all the manner of magic and technology of the nine realms. I have more knowledge than any of your mortal scholars of cosmos, science and the ilk.”

“Scientists you mean?”

He nodded. “I have delved into many fields of study, as well as performed fact resolution on topics which often invited strife.”

Elsa stared at him with the wonder of a new discovery. “So, you’re basically a nerd?”

Loki narrowed his eyes sharply, and she realized that she may have overstepped her boundaries.

“I’m a scholar, a warrior, a sorcerer, not to mention, an innovator and a strategist. I’m not sure your realm has a term to define me.”

She stared at him kind of disbelievingly. “I don’t know… I’ll have to look it up. Is everyone from Asgard like that… like you?”

Loki snorted at that, but still looked elegant doing it. ”No, not at all.”

She paid close attention to his face then. It seemed to hold a vulnerability to it then, that he usually didn’t possess.

“Is that why you were… kind of cast out? Like you said in your video?”

The nebulous vulnerable expression vanished from his face then, replaced by the usual menacing stare.

“I wasn’t cast out. I was betrayed,” he said evenly, and his tone suggested that she would do well to leave the matter alone then and there only.

“I see. Then you landed in the arms of the wrong people, right? That guy, Thanos…” She knew she was kind of poking the bear, but still… she was curious. And he had appeared to be in a merry mood.

“Arms would be an exaggeration of the highest order.” He turned his attention back to the TV. “But yes, I did explain it in my speech. The one you circulated.”

She nodded, instinctively realizing that he was not going to explain it further.

“If you want to talk about it—like, I know such a thing could be traumatic—then, I’m here to listen.” She wasn’t sure why she made that offer, but it seemed appropriate to do so.

Loki hummed in response but didn’t react otherwise.

Oh well, she tried.

———————————————————————

“What is the meaning of this?” Loki regarded the hoodie Elsa was holding out to him with pure disdain, not even touching it, let alone taking it from her.

“Just, please wear it. It’s very comfortable.”

Loki gave her a glare that had her wishing that she hadn’t suggested the little do-gooder jaunt. “I care not about comfort. I cannot look like a mortal beggar while on this errand.”

Elsa bit her lip as she tried not to make a snarky counter-argument about clothes and comfort. “It’s for blending into your environment. You cannot be obvious while doing this thing.”

He tilted his head, looking truly confused, not to mention, progressively more annoyed. “I thought that the point of this foolish endeavor was to make me look ‘good’? If no one is able to recognize me while I do it, then pray tell, what is the point of doing it at all?”

She sighed and put the hoodie on the armrest of the nearest chair. “Look, I promise you that you will be seen doing the good deeds. It’s just not going to be in a conventional way.”

Loki narrowed his eyes at her, crossing his arms. “Tell me about it.”

“I have a paparazzi agency on the hotline. They’re going to take your pictures as you help out the people.” She turned her phone on and showed him the number, lest he disbelieve her. “This way, it won’t look like you’re trying too hard to appear as good and rehabilitated to everyone. This would make people believe that you’re actually doing good deeds, but without seeking publicity for the same.”

Loki walked up to her with a slow but decidedly intimidating gait. She stepped back as he came closer.

He picked up the hoodie from the chair and brushed his thumb across its fabric. “That’s a very circuitous way of doing things.”

She shrugged, almost giving up on the whole thing now.

“Hmm, I like it,” he said, moving his gaze from the hoodie to Elsa again.

“The hoodie—I mean, the garment?”

“No, the manner in which you’re handling this task.”

“Oh.”

Well, that was unexpected. He was finally going to do it.

Elsa couldn’t help but release a long sigh of relief.

The sigh was, however, cut short as Loki started unbuttoning his formal shirt.

“Umm, what are you doing, Sir?”

“What does it look like?”

The shirt slipped off him gracefully, revealing a lean, muscled frame. Elsa just couldn’t help but stare at him, even though in the back of her mind she was scolding herself for it.

How unprofessional!

Loki slid the hoodie over his arms with ease, lifting his hair out from under it. “This is indeed quite soft.”

“Huh?” Elsa blinked a few times to get her bearings again.

Loki didn’t bother repeating. “Does this mechanism work in the same manner as the fastenings of pants?”

He raised the zipper ends of the hoodie to observe them closely, and at once, Elsa realized that he was wondering how to make the zipper work.

“Oh, you have to bring them together to attach them,” she said, approaching him a bit hesitantly. Getting so close to him made her so damn nervous.

As she took the ends from him, her fingers brushed against his, nearly sending her into a tizzy. Somehow, she persevered.

“You have to attach them like this.”

She tried to attach the damned zipper ends but her fingers were all trembling.

“Steady,” he murmured, grasping her wrists, a bit of humor in his tone. It did make them shake less.

Without daring to look up at him, she tried to attach the ends again. This time, she succeeded.

Hallelujah!

“Ah, so that’s how it is done,” he exclaimed, just as she started zipping up the hoodie carefully, trying her best not to touch his abdomen or chest.

“You usually wear it over the shirts or t-shirts,” she mumbled, finally daring to meet his eyes. “No need to take them off to wear it.”

“Duly noted.”

He was doing the snake impersonation again, and for a moment she wondered if his eyes might just turn serpentine. She squirmed under his gaze, finding it really hard to maintain eye contact with him.

“You need to let go of my wrists, Sir,” she managed to say, wiggling her fingers a bit.

He did let go, but not before giving her a lopsided smile, the meaning of which she couldn’t really decipher.

———————————————————————

Elsa rang the bell of the penthouse that Loki had somehow procured for himself without getting caught by the law or the Avengers yet.

She wasn’t going to question the things she didn’t understand here. Loki was a blackhole of such things, and it was better to remain at a safe distance.

When the door didn’t open immediately, she raised her hand to ring the doorbell again. However, before she could do it, the door opened.

She entered and looked behind the door, but no one was there. Apparently, there was some automatic door opening mechanism here. Or just a magical door opening mechanism… considering who resided here.

She shook her head and ignored it, going in search for her new boss instead.

“Umm… anyone here? Sir? Mr. Loki… of Asgard?” she called, and it suddenly struck her that she didn’t know his last name.

Well, Thor was Odinson… so by that logic, Loki must also have that last name. Right?

“Mr. Odinson?” she called, a little louder this time.

“That would be my brother, not me,” came the prompt reply from behind her.

She jumped in surprise and whipped around to see Loki standing in the middle of the expansive living room. He hadn’t been there when she came in.

His magic was indeed a thing that she wasn’t yet used to.

Taking a deep breath to calm her suddenly rocked nerves, she went up to him and handed him her tablet. “I thought you two were brothers? Brothers have the same last name, no?”

The thought that he was not on good terms with his brother came just a tad bit late to her, and now, it was too late to retract her question. She mentally slapped herself for not being more careful.

Thankfully, Loki didn’t react badly. He took the tablet from her, giving her a raised eyebrow. “I told you I’m adopted. And I’d rather be dead than be known by Odin’s name.”

She turned the tablet on, where a web portal was already open, showing him the media coverage of his ‘covert’ operation of helping out the homeless and the poor.

“Do you not have a last name, then?”

“I do.” He saw her use the touchscreen to scroll down and easily took over from her. “It’s Friggason.”

She noted the way he spoke that name almost reverentially. Curiosity coaxed her to ask more about it, but she tamped it down.

He wasn’t overtly acting so, but she could feel that he was tense. It was in his posture, and the almost unfeeling way he was scrolling through the news feed, with his eyes slightly unfocused.

He let out a sigh, grimacing at some of the negative coverage, she assumed. “You want to know what that name means.”

She bristled at being caught, but nodded anyway.

“I’ve taken my adoptive mother’s name for my last name. Frigga, queen of Asgard.”

“Oh.” She didn’t know why, but she found it extremely appealing. Perhaps it was appeasing the feminist in her.

“I know that most Midgardian cultures do not follow any such customs. Here the names follow the patronymic order.”

“I thought Asgard was like that as well.”

“It used to be. However, now it depends on the situation, and also, on the choice of the offspring. Though, this rule doesn’t apply to the royal family. I’m the exception here, as always,” he stated wryly, handing the tabled back to her.

“Things have changed here as well. Now, we can change our last name… if we want to, that is.”

He gave her a low grunt of approval, then stepped away, pushing his hands into the pockets of his dark formal pants. “You did well with the endeavor of repairing my image in the public eye.”

She perked up at the compliment. “It’s just the beginning, but I’m glad that we have received positive feedback. You will have to work on it still. I have a few jaunts planned already.”

“I see,” he replied tersely.

“Don’t be so bitter about it. I’ll handle it smoothly.”

“You are assuming too much.” He began pacing from one end of the room to the next, not bothering to even look at her. “There are other things on my mind, and they are of much more significance to me than repairing my public image.”

That took her by surprise. “Care to share?”

He gave her a sharp, disapproving look. “It’s not part of your services to me.”

It was clearly a convoluted way to say that it was none of her business. That really soured and deflated her happy, bouncy mood. She had been expecting some form of enthused approval from him, and that, she realized, was her inherent problem here. She had expected too much, too soon.

She looked down at her hands as he continued to pace. “Ok, umm… then I’d take my leave.”

“No.”

“No?” she squeaked in surprise, then cleared her throat to try it again. “No? I don’t understand.”

“This is a full-time service. You cannot just take your leave.” He halted the pacing for the time being and twisted his fingers in the air. With a green glow, a sheet of paper materialized in his hands. “I have prepared a list of things for you to do, to be completed within this week.”

Elsa approached him quietly and tried to take the sheet from him. He pulled it away at the very last moment, using his height to keep it out of her reach.

She looked at him bemusedly, wondering just what hell he was up to.

He looked down at her with that snake-like expression again, which immediately made her palms clammy. “If you don’t complete them within the stipulated time, there might be… punishments in store for you.”

“Punishments? What kind of punishments?” She wondered if he understood how ridiculous this whole thing sounded.

“I’ll be the one deciding on that.”

Elsa cleared her throat then, and tried to compose herself. “Sir, our contract didn’t talk about punishments. That’s not how services are given here on Earth.”

“No?” he asked, tilting his head. “What a dreary way to go about it.”

She mentally made a point to check her contract again. “Yes, well, it’s not slavery.”

“Don’t you receive cuts in your pay for any transgressions?”

He had her there. “Well, under certain circumstances—”

He cut her off before she could say more.

“Yes or no.”

She gave him a small nod, pursing her lips in displeasure.

“There it is, then. You will complete all these tasks for me within the given time, unless you want a cut in your pay.”

She nodded again, her mind already racing on how to best go about completing these tasks. The trouble was… she hadn’t even had a look at the list of things he had given her.

Loki hummed and handed her the list then, a wide grin stretching his lips (not unlike a shark). “Good girl. Now off you go.”

Elsa took a deep breath once she came out of the penthouse. It was only then that she gave the list a good look. He had written it by hand, as was evident with his typical, almost calligraphic handwriting.

Tasks for Elsa Trembley.

Time limit: A Midgardian Week.

Procure a set of communication devices for me, all of the ones that I’ve seen you use. They should be of the highest quality and they should be connected and safe for me to use.

Make a list of all the possible small term investment options available in this realm.

Prepare a brief note on all the economic and political dynamics of the realm.

Procure a decent set of books and media which cover the geography of the realm.

Prepare a brief note on this issue of ‘climate change’ that I keep seeing in the news every other day. I want to know everything about it.

Prepare a list of sweet treats which I can try here in New York. I’d like to order large portions.

Elsa’s eyes widened upon reading the list, and she could only mutter one word in reaction to it.

“Motherfucker!”

#Loki #God of Mischief #Submitted fic #submission #loki and the minion #Latent-thoughts #Chapter 3

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