#sorry i keep calamity posting it will continue

[potatoesandsunshine]

at this point calamity is like my special treat. like yes. what's the point of loving something if you don't love it enough to destroy the world. i get it. i see. what if you spent every day of your life building and maintaining and improving the thing that would ultimately ruin everything. isn't that like love too. and there are no brakes on it

[husky-studies]

What is with this little gremlin I have to babysit (2)

Concept: a continuation of my previous headcanon

Character(s): Blade, mentions of the Astral Express family; Jing Yuan; Yanqing; Yukong; Fu Xuan; and Kafka

Warning(s): none, the relationships between the characters and reader is strictly platonic

Note(s): Wow another Blade post. I was bored so i decided to make a continuation of this. Plus i can't sleep right now 💀😭

-SO after your whole fiasco of bombing the place that keeps Blade imprisoned, the Xianzhou now has a wanted poster for you as well for bombing the place HAHAHA

-The Astral Express is sorta confuse with the fact that someone, A TEEN NONETHELESS, has nukes and already DID BOMB THE XIANZHOU

-I can imagine Blade bringing you back to the xianzhou, he send you off somewhere while he deals with something else

-You were just walking, then the next thing you know tou got into a cat fight with the one and only YANQING

-When Blade was finished, he went looking for you and found you chucking nukes to Yanqing

-THEN THERES JING YUAN LOOKING FOR YANQING AND LOOKING ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIED

-And boom shakalaka the astral express crew was just walking by, March being March, she's curious and wants to see the commotion and saw that

"That's the teen that bombed the Xianzhou? Pretty short if you ask me" (SORRY IF YOU'RE TALL-)

"Its unbelievable that the teen bombed the Xianzhou, but at least theres proof thats the actual teen that bombes the Xianzhou"

-We got Jing Yuan pulling an already slightly battered Yanqing, and we got Blade pulling your ruffled up form away by the back of your shirt while going back to Kafka

"How did you get into a cat fight with the lieutenant?"

"Idk, I was walking and the next thing I know, im just chucking bombs at him"

-Cue Blade just sighing at your explanation

-Now if y'all remember, I wrote about pilot reader for a request, imagine if pilot!reader and the teen reader being a duo

-THOSE TWO R GOING TO CAUSE AN AIRSTRIKE

-The Xianzhou had seen enough at this point

-Fu Xuan foreseen some calamity, WELL THE LITTLE SPUNK IS THE CALAMITY WITH THE AMOUNT OF THINGS THEY HAVE NUKED

-At this point everyone believed you followed nanook with the amount of destruction you caused

-Blade really needs a vacation before he becomes Balde

Tag(s): none atm

[one-flower-one-sword]

Hello! I’m new to your blog so it’s possible you may have shared similar thoughts. I recently finished the novel and just wanted to share some random thoughts. :-D Did you figure out Hua Cheng was Wu Ming before the novel revealed it? I was spoiled on this before reading and so saw the hints leading up to it. I don't know if I would have figured it out beforehand, but I just think it's interesting seeing some of the hints. One being when Hua Cheng and Xie Lian were running on the rooftops of the Heavenly Capital, trying to get to his guoshi. Xie Lian felt a sense of deja vu I think. And then Hua Cheng's reaction when Xie Lian made a joke about being stabbed and turned into mush. I just thought that was really good foreshadowing. _____

I’ve seen some of the jokes about Hua Cheng being a stalker and I have to say again just how not true that is and it’s not even something I want to joke about. Seeing how Jun Wu actually stalked him, tormented him and all the pain that caused Xie Lian. Hua Cheng never did, and would never do anything like that. This man has such a visceral reaction to any pain Xie Lian has that it would be, at this point, like going against his very nature to do so. He is so careful about not wanting to cause Xie Lian harm by his own actions ( and of course by others).

—--------------- I was reminded from a TGCF discussion thread how young Hua Cheng was during the time Xie Lian was the White Clothed Calamity. He was 16-17 or 17-18. After all the suffering he saw Xie Lian go through, of course he was ready to burn the world down for him. It’s completely understandable even if one doesn’t agree with it. And as soon as Xie Lian changed his mind, he put aside his own desire for revenge and helped Xie Lian stop it by sacrificing himself.

I once read a thread where a comment was made that Hua Cheng encouraged Xie Lian to commit genocide because he asked why wait 3 days to inflict the Human Face Disease and it bothered me because that just wasn’t the case. And I feel it kind of does a disserve to Hua Cheng - missing out on the fact he too had just witnessed his beloved stabbed to death. Ofc, he wanted revenge but he never let that desire override what Xie Lian ultimately wanted to do.

I remember a fanfic I read kind of addressed how back then Hua Cheng didn’t try to stop Xie Lian from doing something that would’ve hurt him mentally and emotionally. Hua Cheng said at present he would say something to Xie Lian if  something were to happen again. Although Hua Cheng didn’t deny he’d ultimately follow through if Xie Lian persisted, Xie LIan said he wouldn’t because he’d listen to Hua Cheng. I know it’s fanfic, but I thought that was the best way to surmise how things would play out because Hua Cheng at present wants Xie Lian to keep from being hurt in all ways, not just his body, but of course will ultimately follow whatever Xie Lian says.

I guess I just wanted to know, from your reading and thoughts on the characters, how do you think Hua Cheng would respond to Xie Lian if he was on the verge of doing something of that nature again? 

Sorry for the word vomit, happy to clarify anything that got too jumbled up! And if it's too much to answer, any thoughts you'd like to share about anything I mentioned is just fine. :) Thank you!

hi, thank you so much for your ask! I'm honestly still really humbled people want to know my tgcf opinions, I did not expect this much interest at all when I started posting.

I was also spoilered for Hua Cheng being Wu Ming, but yeah, the foreshadowing in this novel really is amazing! as with the Black Water arc, every time I reread the novel I spot another small bit of foreshadowing.

I also feel your frustration in regards to the "Hua Cheng is a stalker" thing, I'm continually baffled when it comes up in fandom - because like you said, it was Jun Wu who repeatedly displayed this kind of violating behavior towards Xie Lian, not Hua Cheng. I've mentioned it in previous meta posts, though I've not yet talked extensively about it. I have a longer post in the works though where I tackle several takes on hualian's relationship that seem popular in fandom yet I feel are directly contradicted by the text.

In regards to your last questions, I've also wondered about these kinds of what-ifs, though I think the point of this storyline was that Xie Lian ultimately did choose kindness and forgiveness, and also that he was only brought to this point after suffering through the trauma of incredibly brutal violation and torture and the loss of his parents through suicide. and in regards to Hua Cheng, like you said it needs to be kept in mind what witnessing Xie Lian be violated and tortured like this did to him as well. it's very obvious both from Hua Cheng's wrath against anyone and anything who causes Xie Lian pain - including Hua Cheng himself when he feels he's failed Xie Lian in some way - as well as his unflinching self-sacrifical protectiveness towards Xie Lian, how deeply he was traumatized by what he witnessed people do to Xie Lian. unfortunately i feel like the complexities of the whole situation often get flattened out or outright ignored in certain fandom circles in favor of takes like "and that's why hualian is a toxic relationship" and other such nonsense.

also like you said it's often a disservice to Hua Cheng in particular, who I've several times seen described as one-dimensional and "walking red flag of a person". honestly one of the reasons I've been focusing so much meta on him is because of how baffling and frankly annoying I find these kinds of takes.

I think I may have read that same fanfic btw! that conversation feels familiar :3 I don't remember all the details but it did make sense to me.

don't apologize for rambling btw, always feel free to send me your thoughts! I feel like this reply ended up also quite rambly, I hope my answers were at least somewhat satisfactory anyway. some of the things you touched upon I will definitely address with more detail in that longer post I mentioned on hualian's relationship that I've been working on.

[eerna]

the thematic shift from botw to totk is so weird when u rly think about it bc in botw its all about a failed prophecy; zelda couldnt awaken her powers and the champions couldnt defeat ganon as it was foretold. it was about breaking free from tradition and convention and trying to find other means of defeating this evil (zeldas fascination with sheikah tech for example). i think this theme also aligns with the entirety of the loz franchise as a whole, given how botw did a complete 180° on the zelda formula theyve always had. everything just worked!!!

and then in totk its just like ... we go back in time and use the powers of old to defeat ganon ... ? not to mention that every researcher in the game is fascinated by these ancient texts and architecture. rather than innovators they become historians. youre expected to look for answers in the past rather than learn from naively following prophecies and suffering its consequences.

however i do think totk had a rly interesting premise when they decided to implement time travel. like i absolutely LOVEE everything about the light dragon etc etc but the story in general just did not hit as hard :( i adore this game its so fun and its so beautiful but there is so much room for criticism as well

also sorry for this long ass ask omfg .. but ur post earlier got me going !!

It's ok, I fully support long elaborations based on whatever I went off about! :D

Oh, that's an interesting view of it! I personally didn't think BotW was about forgetting tradition at all? The Sheikah tech is still history, it's still following in the footsteps of those who came before - the prophecy itself is was what led to its discovery in the first place. I interpreted BotW as a story about what happens when people try to imitate the past, I agree, but in the end the point was that they shouldn't let it weight them down, but should still pay respects to it. Hyrule forgot all about its history - who knows what might have happened if that ancient king never got spooked by the Sheikah tech and buried it! If it didn't stay exactly the same as it was 10000 years ago, Ganon might have never influenced it so strongly, and the Calamity might have never have happened! Zelda couldn't escape her history, all the progressive tech in the world couldn't imitate her role, but the only way she was able to realize her destiny was through her own means, on her own time. It wasn't about her rejecting convention, it was about her finding her own spin on it. She was being held back by the shadow of her mother and the expectations of the monarchy, and found a way to channel her inheritance through the wild, and through Link. And that was the theme of the game! Looking back at decades' worth of games, then picking and choosing what to keep and what to give up on! It is so cool!

I think TotK did great to continue this line of thought regarding Zelda's character - she is not a princess-princess she was forced to be 100 years ago, she is a teacher/researcher/engineer-princess, and everyone loves her and looks up to her. She is still a sort-of leader, but she is doing it in her own way, without castles or thrones or holy powers and almost entirely hands-off, letting the people guide her. In my opinion, it treats the researchers the same way it did in BotW, except yes, a new faction has been introduced to the plot that is dedicated to historical research. I don't doubt that the decade leading up to the Calamity also had a bunch of historians running around deciphering old texts and figuring out how stuff worked, we just didn't get to see it and got the finished results instead. Also, it's pretty clear that Zonai tech requires a Zonai to work it (Link can do it because of his right arm), so it's not as widely malleable as Sheikah tech which was able to be used by all inhabitants of Hyrule. And the finale of the game FULLY goes against history even harder than BotW did - yes, Ganondorf CAN be defeated, even if Rauru failed. Yes, Zelda CAN be returned to her original form, even if the transformation is supposed to be permanent according to Zonai history. In fact, the Zelda thing annoys me (no matter how much I love it) because it wasn't set up in a way that carried over any sort of a message or a theme. Impa said she would find a way to turn her back, I was expecting a quest dedicated to it, be it finding ancient texts or a new loophole, and then whoosh she's back through a Sonia-and-Rauru-ex-machina. I would say that TotK can't decide if it wants to break away from its history (by making half the game a completely new, blank slate) or go along with it (by making the other half of the game clearly love what happened before, all the way back to a divine Hyrulean monarchy) which is why it's so jumbled up at times.

Like you said, I love the game, I cry whenever I remember that beautiful finale, but it really dropped the ball when it came to BotW's comprehensiveness. Why did Link fail to catch Zelda in the beginning, but managed in the end? What changed? What is its significance? It's a beautiful scene and makes me so emo, but it rings hollow if I try to find a deeper meaning, and that's basically the game in a nutshell.

[killacharacterbingo]

Prompt Master List

(Updated as prompts are added)

If any prompts don't make sense check this post: A prompt explained and A prompt explained II

Switching Places

Near-Death Experience

Drowning

Dumb Ways To Die

Blood Loss

Suicide

Your Worst Fear

Sacrifice

Sickness

Lightning

Fire

Hard Choices

Dead On Their Feet

Hero/Villain Swap

Torture

Crossover

Covid

Tomorrow Isn't Promised

Car Accident

Falling

Presumed Dead

Storm-Chasing

Canon Compliant

Never Meet Your Heroes

Stalker

Dictionary Death

Friendly Fire

13th Reasons Why

Musical Death

Survivor's Guilt

Conversation With Death

Collateral Damage

Test Subject

Pulling The Plug

Yandere

Betrayal

One Punch Can Kill

Medical Malpractice

The Blip

Cast It Into The Fire

"I Have The High Ground"

Deactivated

Once Bitten Twice Shy

Bleeding Blue

To Be Or Not To Be

Stabbing

Car Crash

Mugging Gone Wrong

Into The Woods

Death Of The Soul

Dormammu, I’ve Come To Bargain

The Cake Is A Lie

Even Heroes Die

With Great Power 

Sacrificed To The Gods

“Sometimes Death Is Better”

"I Finally Have Something To Leave Behind"

Natural Disaster

Mistaken Identity

Bucketlist 

Ten Years Later

Not So Secret Monologues

180 - The Character Doesn't Die

Final Destination

Raped To Death

Chronic Illness

Outed As A Spy

Bulletproof Vest

Sung To Sleep Forever 

A Soft Epilogue 

Wait For Me In Valhalla 

“I Was Saving My ten” - pain scale

“There’s A Boat Jack” 

Married Life Montage 

“You Have Your Mother’s Eyes” 

Russian Roulette

Guinea Pig

Defenestration

Karma’s A Bitch

Toxic Gas

Murder-Suicide

Famous last words

"Hey, i think we're going to be okay after all!"

"I'll always come back!"

In another's arms

Accident

Revenge

"You can rest now..."

A long time ago

Falls through the Ice

Asthma attack

Shock

Hypothermia

Pushed to the Limit

Commotio Cordis

Death row

Breaking the 4th wall

Wikihow to Die

Time loop

“If I can’t have you…”

Cardiovascular collapse

Allergic reaction

Erased from existence

Dead all along

Dying alone

Gunshot

Blood from the mouth

Patient zero

Old age

Overdose

Fatal Weakness

Assassinated

Infection

Suffocation

One moment stretched into a thousand

Origin story gone wrong

Area 51 raid

Trapped in a tiny space

Poison

Hanahaki / Hanakanjo / Hanauso

Tenshibyou

Kousekibyou

Shinshoubyou

Bouaishoukougun

Hoshinamidabyou

Death by ordinary illness

Hit and run

Starvation

Stroke

War

Cancer

Mercy Killing

Plane crash

Brain death

Fireworks

Death by seduction

Death bed confession

Organ Transplant

Their Legacy Is continued

Bound By Fate

Running out of time

Can’t breathe

Apocalypse

Shot down

Sepsis

Saving Throws – DnD

CPR

Self-harm

Smoke inhalation

Death by coconut

“Help me!”

Climbing accident

Blood-stained tiles

“You weren’t meant to be there”

“I love you”

“No… not like this”

Dug their own grave

Undead

Bees

The AO3 Curse

Deathly kiss

Going through hell

Meeting at the gates

Return from Hiatus

"watch out for the flying blades!"

5+1

Roofie

Left for dead

Strapped to a bomb

Hunger games

Zombification

Order 66

Aneurism

Executed

Lobotomy

Murder on the dance floor

Come to terms with death

“It’s okay”

Keeps dying

Letting go

Coma

Appendicitis

Neuromuscular blockade

Unfriendly pet

Explosion

Aftershock

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy

Faking their own death

Post traumatic amnesia

Schrödinger's paradox

Arbitrary hilarious death

Lack of Oxygen

High altitude

Diving deep

180 - the character becomes the killer

Angel of death

"You're going down with me!”

Never got to say goodbye

Graphic gore

Haunted

Calamity

The end of the world

Immortalized

Uploaded to the server

Reincarnated

Deleted

Sheep in wolves' clothing

Electrocuted

Adrenaline crash

911

Alternate universe ending

Radioactive

Acting on instinct

Collapses

“I miss you…”

Those left behind

Wind phone

Life support

Time Paradox

Temporary character death

Death during childbirth

PTSD

Cannibalism

Nightmares

Life flashing before your eyes

… Needs a hug

Headcanon

Returning home

Internal bleeding

Death of the universe

Empath

Relapse

Last person alive

“Sorry I have already tried and failed at it.”

“I told you so”

Should have seen it coming

Bad Aim

Forgotten

“Kill me instead…”

Warning shot

Canon died a brutal yet Necessary death

On the run

Miscarriage

Not guilty

Knocked over by the wind

Killed by a garden gnome

“Did you fall? Or did you let go…?”

Crushed

Bleeding from the ears

Hallucinogen

[somethingclevermahogony]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday!

I notice you've got a fair number of lovely maps, so I'll keep this Ask geographical.

Are there any regions in your Setting which have, in the past, been fought over by the societies in or near it? Why did these conflicts happen, and who controls it now?

Get ready BIG POST, a shit ton of worldbuilding, I'm sorry, but with several maps! If this is rambling, I apologize we just moved into a new flat, I can't sleep, and it is 4am right now. There WILL be typos, please don't judge me too harshly. This post will concern the lands of Kishetal, Korithia/Arkodai, Ikopesh, Baalkes, and Dirsia. Feel free to ask questions, I love questions and I swear they aren't usually quite this long.

1. The Beginnings (Very Very Simplified)

After the events of the Calamity and the subsequent destruction of 92% of all human life and the complete destruction of all non-subterranean settlements, most surviving humans dwelled within the mountain sanctuaries of a number of kindly spirits over a period of roughly 300-500 years (It should be noted that some populations descended earlier or in very rare cases did not go into the shelters at all, due to the exposure to massive amounts of wild magic, most of these peoples became forestfolk, this will be discussed further below). It so happens that a number of these mountains can be found in the Green Sea. For the purposes of this discussion, the two important ones are Mt. Daruz in what is now Shabala and Mt. Argino in what is now Korithia.

After the descent of the humans from the mountain sanctuaries, over the course of many millennia of development, war, etc, the first kingdoms were formed. The three dominant powers within the Early Green Sea were Shabala, Arkodai, and Apuna. For this discussion we are interested in the first two.

Continues below the cut!

The Birth of Arkodian Bronze and The Line of Tamel and the Birth of Kishetal

The magical metal known simply as Arkodian Bronze was first created in the Arkodian city of Myminat, famed for its sages, and was the result of a collaboration between said sages and metallurgists. It is said that the metal was created in response to the tyrannical Spiritblooded King Akamanon, and was subsequently used in his defeat. The metal has several miraculous properties: it does not tarnish or rust, its ability to hold a razor sharp edge is unmatched. Most forms of metal armor are practically useless in the face of an Arkodian Bronze blade. Further, Arkodian Bronze is capable of harming Spiritbloods far easier than other forms of metal, and can even damage and kill beings like spirits and demons. Arkodian Bronze can only be destroyed via the application of heat. This magical material was incredibly expensive to produce, and its creation a jealously guarded secret, one which was passed down orally and never written. Using the wealth gained by the creation of these new super weapons, and their ability to kill the once dreaded Spiritblooded warlords of the Green Sea, Arkodai became an empire, creating colonies in the northern peninsula which they called Wanakat. At the same time, the Arkodians attempted on multiple occasions to colonize the islands they called Heliko (Ikopesh). These attempts ranged from the diplomatic to unabashed attempts at invasion, however in all instances, they were rebuffed by the native forestfolk population. Roughly contemporary with the initial colonization of Wanakat, the Shabalic kingdom was embroiled in a civil war between two claimants to the throne, half-brothers Kaloch and the Spiritblood, Tamel. Kaloch allegedly with the use of the Dragon Urudu, captured his siblings stronghold at the city of Kur. Tamel was forced to flee along with those families that had remained loyal to him.

These refugees would sail south, most landing in the wild and dangerous lands of the Qish Peninsula. A few of these ships however, landed instead on the isles of Iko (Heliko, in the language of the Arkodians), inhabited by the forestfolk known as the Ikopi. The Ikopi were a short people, rarely taller than 4'. They were well-suited to a semi-aquatic life, with large lungs, and webbed feet. Most striking however was their naturally brightly colored hair, most typically appearing in shades of Blue and purple. These groups would intermingle, forming the Ikopeshi ethnic group and people. The Ikopeshi, identifiable by the brightly colored hair inherited from their Ikopi ancestors, are now the most numerous forestfolk population in the Green Sea. Meanwhile Tamel and his followers would engage in the subjugation and conquest of the Qish peninsula, culminating in the creation of a new kingdom, Kishetal. Tamel's centuries long reign (Spiritbloods do not die of old age, and if allowed could theoretically live forever) saw Kishetal grow into a powerful empire, one which would go on to overshadow that which it had originally sprang from, Shabala.

Tamel's last conquest before his death were the islands of Ikopesh, justified as reuniting the two lands with shared Shabalic heritage (though very little actual Shabalic culture remained within Ikopeshi customs.)

However, during the course of the conquest, in a moment of desperation, the Ikopeshi managed to send a message to another power, one which they themselves had warred with before, Arkodai.

The Arkodic-Kishic War: The End of Empires and the Rise of Kingdoms

It's not entirely clear what drove the Arkodian lord, Ukilat, to heed the call of the Ikopeshi. Though most likely, the Arkodian's themselves hoped to colonize or otherwise control the islands for themselves. The Battle of Shattered Oars is now remembered as the first battle of the Arkodic-Kishic War. Ukilat, at the head of 30 ships, engaged 23 Kishic ships, including the royal barge of Tamel. Tamel's supernatural strength was rendered useless by the battle at sea, and ultimately the barge was sunk, taking Tamel with it.

In a bizarre twist of fate, Ukilat himself would be attacked and killed after landing in the Ikopeshi islands by the very people who had called for his help.

(The battles of the Arkodic-Kishic war are shown above in chronological order) The response to the murder of Tamel by the cities of Kishetal was immediate and severe. The war would rage for nearly twenty three years, and would ultimately see the almost complete destruction of the line of Tamel, as all seven of his children, and the vast majority of his grandchildren would die in the ensuing battle. Though greatly outnumbered, the strategic power of the islands and the use of magical weapons allowed the Arkodians to temporarily hold off the Kishic armies. However, ultimately, a number of factors including drought, the sheer brutality of the Kishic invaders, and the appearance of Baalki raiders to the south, the Arkodian Empire would crumble. It is said that the fate of Arkodai was decided at the Siege of Myminat, the very same city in which Arkodian Bronze had been created only a few centuries before. The city was under the protection of the Spiritblood mercenary, Mikrab, and the giant warrior successfully held off the armies of the Kishics. Until for reasons unknown, Mikrab broke down the very gates that he was meant to guard, allowing for the capture and destruction of the city. In stories, Mikrab is most often remembered as Mikrab the Mad.

An intended consequence of the complete destruction of Myminat, was the loss of the sages who had been taught in the ways of making Arkodian Bronze. The art was lost, all Arkodian Bronze which now exists in the world of Kobani, can be sourced to before this battle. Though the Kishics had won, the victory would ultimately be a Pyrrhic one. The cost in both gold and human life was massive, nearly 1/5 of all adult Kishic men died during the war (though compare this to 4/5 of all Arkodians killed during the War and the subsequent slaughter). The royal line was destroyed, the Ikopeshi had revolted and seized independence, even raiding up and down the Kishic coast. In the ensuing chaos, the various commanders of the "victorious" Kishic army began to squabble over the throne and the spoils of war. This would ultimately end in the Kishic Civil war, which would further weaken the empire, leading to its shattering into the Kishic city-states which exist today. Kishetal lost control of the Islands of Ikopesh, which would go on to become a naval power in their own right. Additionally, in the face of growing pressure by rural groups and bands, the Kishics were forced to abandon the ruins of Arkodai. Though settlers from the Western Coast of Kishetal were successful in creating several permanent settlements in Wanakat, or as they would rename it, Makora.

New Kingdoms and the Arkodian Diaspora

These rural groups, known as the Korithii, would go on to form a culture from the ruins of the Arkodians that preceded them, the city-states of Korithia, in time even managing to recolonize parts of the northern peninsula alongside Kishic colonies.

However, the Korithians would ultimately be unable to reclaim the full extent of the Arkodian domain, as the western isles were firmly in the hands of the Pyritian raiders and settlers or "Baalki" who had settled there in the wake of Arkodai's destruction. These lands have henceforth been known as Baalkes. Some Arkodians did escape from the carnage, settling primarily on the islands of Kulayu (The Clay Women of Kulayu are their own unique topic) and Kachanogoch, integrating and eventually vanishing into the culture of the first and combining to form the new Dirsian culture with the second.

The Winner: Ikopesh

In a strange twist of fate, it would ultimately be Ikopesh, caught between two great powers, that benefited most from the chaos of the war. Ikopesh is known in the present as a culture of great sailors and warriors, their pirates and raiders feared among the descendants of both Arkodai and Kishetal. Though several attempts have been made by a number of Kishic city-states, Korithian entrepreneurs, and even the Apunian throne, to conquer the islands, all have been met with bloody failure, and often immediate and brutal retaliation. Ikopesh may not be the largest of lands, nor the most advanced, but it is agreed with near unanimity, that the Ikopeshi rule the waves.

@patternwelded-quill @flaneurarbiter @skyderman @blackblooms @roach-pizza @illarian-rambling @dezerex @theocticscribe @axl-ul, @persnickety-peahen, @surroundedbypearls

[writingnocturne]

WIP Wednesday!

A sneak peek at Origin of Calamity this WIP Wednesday! If you liked my one-shot, A Glimpse into the Past and Future, you will like this one a lot (as well as the tie in one shots I have planned for it)!

With a twitch of her ear, she perks up. “There you are. Did you—?” Zelda’s voice trails off as it’s clear her attention rests on the three connected masks in his other arm. Not a moment sooner, she springs up to meet him. “Are these it?” “They’re haunted.” Link blurts, completely straight-faced. As soon as Zelda is about to respond, he interrupts to elaborate: “I’m serious! I promise!” Presenting the three Zonaite faces to Zelda, he lets his thoughts continue to spill. “It’s like it knows I was thinking about it! And that’s not even mentioning what I saw in the window last night—”

“You saw something in the window last night?”  “It was—” He shakes his head. “You go first. I could tell you wanted to say something.”  “Link—” Defeated, Zelda exhales. She squints. “Alright, but I’ll be bringing that up again soon.” She kneels down to take a closer look at the masks, although careful to keep a safe enough distance. “They look so identical, but they’re in perfect condition! I thought you fought Ganondorf with these equipped? Yet there isn’t a scratch!” Her eyes light up.  “Haunted.” Link repeats. The structure around his right arm idly turns and clicks (something he has hardly cared to notice with all the mind-jumbling this magic stuff has been doing). 

Straightening up, the princess gives a firm nod of acknowledgement. “I swear Sonia and Mineru and I spoke about these things at one point…” She couldn’t help herself, especially when she realized she was living in ancient history. “Hold on. Look!” Zelda yanks the Purah Pad from the hook on her belt, opening the archive she had uncovered from when the item was still in her possession over ten-thousand years ago. Upon finding what she’s looking for after a long series of scrolling, she practically shoves the screen in Link’s face— so close that he can’t really read it at all. “Ah— Sorry.” The Purah Pad is pulled back a decent distance. She reads bits and pieces aloud alongside Link’s own reading. 

I was trying to channel the silly BotW dialogue options for this one.

Origins of Calamity is a fic I have in progress (I'm not posting just yet just to be sure it's PERFECT) that is meant to bridge the gap between BotW and TotK's histories. From the perspective of Link and Zelda in the present studying the Ancient Hero, they begin to uncover the memories of him and the past Princess Zelda in the aftermath of the Imprisoning War and the shadow of a looming Calamity. There will also be a proper fic showing the same discoveries in more detail from the perspective of the past Zelda herself following this one!

[dalleyan]

Elfwine Chronicles (new LoTR stories, Fishing posted, 10-4-23)

Eomer takes a break from his duties to go fishing.  (Family, Humor)

(June, 7 IV)

Originally, Eomer had thought to go on a small fishing trip with Eothain.  Once his son got wind of his plans, however, he eagerly begged permission to accompany them, and have his father teach him to fish.  Briefly, Eomer was torn between wanting the simple relaxation that fishing afforded and wanting to spend the time with his son, but eventually he decided the latter was more important to him and he consented.

The boy’s mother was not quite so taken with the idea, thinking their son rather young for such a venture, but her husband assured her it would not be dangerous, and even if the boy caught nothing, he would enjoy himself. 

“You will not get so caught up in fishing with Eothain that you forget to keep watch over your son – and allow him to get hurt or drown or…something?” Lothiriel demanded.

Eomer let out a choked laugh, then bent and kissed her on the nose, wrapping his arms lovingly around his wife.

“Tell me, Thiri,” he inquired with a chuckle, “do all mothers envision these dreadful calamities befalling their children, whenever the children leave their sight?  Or is it just you, my love?”

She ducked her head sheepishly and could not hold back a guilty grin.  “I am sorry–” she began, but he cut her off with a kiss.

Catching her by the shoulders, he looked deeply into her eyes.  “I promise I will not let anything bad happen to our son – I would sooner die myself.  But you are right to remind me not to get so involved in my own pleasure that I neglect my duty to Elfwine.”

Reassured, she nodded, and hugged him tightly in gratitude for his patience with her.

continue reading on AO3:

               (https://archiveofourown.org/works/50443300/chapters/127761781)

[mell0bee]

CR asks: 1 & 17 if you're feeling spicy; if you're not, 9, 14, 25, 39 (feel free to pick & choose)

i took so long to do this because i had all the questions answered and then tumblr crashed and deleted it all :( but here we go (also thank u for the ask!!!)

9- Location in Exandria you'd like to see in a possibly canonical one-shot/EXU but with non-main campaign characters (as in Song of the Lorelei/The Darrington Brigade)

vasselheim!!! i doubt it will be a major location again for a full campaign because it was featured so heavily in c1 but an exu type deal could be so cool!!! i thought that vasselheim was SO underutilized in c1. when i was first watching it i was Big Sad that the no arcane magic thing was played for laughs, you could easily center a whole campaign around that idea. i wanted to see more of it during c1 and obvs after exu calamity i want to see more of it Even More. theres just so much to learn about it after the context of exu calamity. like i want inside information about the political system. i want to explore how decisions get made there. and like bro do u want a story about Hubris??? oh yeah??? you like critical role so are you perhaps a Hubris Enjoyer??? perhaps of the Magic User Variety?? imagine a wizard or a warlock trying to hide their magic in vasselheim. it basically writes itself. imagine a high-ranking cleric as a pc. or a noble. based on what's happening in c3 do you think they have like. an Old Secrets Protection Board? and perhaps some Scholar Spies trying to break in? idk man there's so much you can do there and i would like to See It Please Thank You

14-Describe the art you would most like to create or commission if talent/money were no object.

i have like 7 animatics in my head that i am not talented enough to make but honestly. this whole jester-focused animatic set to folding chair by regina spektor. it’s really good in my head i swear. also a post c1 animatic set to dodie's cover of blackbird which has been in my head since i finished c1 god i have actual brainworms

25-What class do you most want to see Matt play if he is in a future EXU campaign as a new (not Dariax) PC?

artificer. primarily bc as much as i love him, matt’s pcs tend not to be my kind of character. at least in cr oneshots he’s got a thing for the Generic Edgy Protagonist Boy type which i’m sorry buddy but like. no thanks. and based on artificer/engineer type npcs he’s played i doubt he will go for that archetype as a pc. matt loves some Insane Scientists and so do i, easy S tier character trope, so whether he plays it straight or goes for the more unhinged type like most of his npcs im down 100%. also i had a whole rant here abt how much i love dariax and i hope that matt continues to step out of his comfort zone for pcs because for me personally i think it works really well!!

39- favorite parental figure NPC?

I HAD A WHOLE RANT HERE ABT HOW MUCH I LOVE MARION LIKE I THINK I WROTE LIKE 300 WORDS. the gist of it was how i love that she is very much an imperfect parent which we can see in jester now, but she’s still a good parent!! she’s still trying!!! she’s got her own trauma but she’s trying!!! idk that is v important to me. also i love how she is a sex worker and is not shamed for it at all. and that she has agoraphobia (sp?) and its treated as like!!! fine and not irrational at all!!! idk man idk how matt and laura did such a good job with such a respectful and grounded portrayal of a character like marion but they DID also parent trap ftw

spicy answers under cut, just keep scrolling if u dont want to see my mildly lukewarm takes. thank u.

1- Character you don't particularly like, but will defend vehemently when people dislike them for the wrong reasons.

(also this is the only answer that saved lmao)

sadly i cannot think of any other characters so i have to talk about Mr. Warcrimes McTreason. i like canon essek okay though i do think he is Overhyped, but fanon essek is so annoying lmao which makes me not particularly like him. on the other hand i think people not liking him bc they don’t think he deserved redemption are Wrong. as a redemption arc it was like. Fine. not everyone can pull a zuko and like. whatever. and idk i think that redeemed heroes should be a little morally dubious. as a treat. i guess in a way i am glad that aeor arc essek doesn't get to actually be morally gray bc the fandom would be insufferable but Hot Take i am a Gray Morality Enjoyer i think that More protags should be war criminals actually.

17- You know that post that's like "I wish you could filter in ao3 on 'attitude towards a canon event'?" In the world of imagination, you can! What's the event or attitude?

*gestures vaugely at kingsley* to be completely honest i was pretty sad for a few moments there that they succeeded in rezzing molly, was tentative when whatever the end of 140 was, and i’m so happy kingsley is a thing. i think that people who wanted molly back have Missed The Point Entirely. molly needed to stay dead and talesin knew that (thank you talesin) (also not to mention fanon molly, who is infinitely worse than fanon essek. god can you imagine that. again thank you talesin.)

[migmiy0221]

Hello migmiy... It's me again.. The one who started all of this, and the one who is gonna end it.

I seen your latest post and I'm really sorry. I really am.

So I wanted to have a talk with you and end this stupid drama once and for all.

I was gonna ask if you could let me in your DM's so we can have a small talk. A good talk. No roast battles, no offensive stuff and no bullying. Just a peaceful little chat of us solving this problem together and fixing everything. You can even vent to me. I'll listen♡

And wanna hear something? You're not the only one feeling bad everyday because of this. I wake up feeling like crap knowing there's a fight going on because of me and I'm probably causing someone to cry every night.

I'm a minor too. Heck, we are probably even at the same age. Our problems are not so different.

I want to end this once and for all. So let us both stop cowering away and solve this drama like the grown ladies we are😌

Please don't ignore this. If you do,this nightmare is just gonna keep going and going. I'm giving you a chance to make you and ALSO ME AND EVERYONE IN THIS FANDOM happy again.♡♥︎♡♥︎♡

I'm just going to come clean in the most possibly calam way I can. One of the goals that I've had ever since I first became a teenager was to live a good teenage life before I head away from my family. I didn't really want any trouble at first because... Well I'm still expressing myself. I'm still trying to figure out who I am as a person and I still have some traits that I figured out throughout it all. None of them are good but that doesn't mean that I'm not a good person entirely. The things that I said were just because I didn't know what else to say. I have a bad way with words and you can probably blame me for not trying to read a dictionary once in a while and figure out what most of the words you guys are using mean. I was going to post about saying that I was going to take a break and just take a couple weeks off to try and recover but I decided against that since I still got a couple things I have to finish up before I actually do or if I want to. I can't easily make up my mind.

The amount of times I said that I wish I never shipped Barnaby and Billie were because I was feeling bad about being myself and trying to have others see who I am as a person. Of course my family knows how messed up I can be at times but they still support me. And I didn't really want to get my family involved in this because I just wanted to see if I can figure this out on my own since I'm going to be an adult soon enough but I guess from the words of my therapist sometimes that's not how it works. Not everyone can be independent and I had to learn that the very hard way when you have suppressed emotions in some of which don't even know how to do their part anymore. And these are times when I wish that I wasn't honest person and could actually have just done something about this. Some of my problems might continue into adulthood but I know that this one might not be since it doesn't always last forever for the criticism. But I try to tell myself everyday that if I survived much more criticism than this then I'll survive this.

I'm just a butterfly that has to learn that their wings are beautiful and they are important. If only I could see that. It might take a while but I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to show people what I'm made of.

And in case you were wondering, you didn't start all of this. Nothingless2 started it. With that damn post ruining my life and traumatizing me for then last 2 months or so. Making me feel more insecure about my personality and stuff. But it's not going to affect me anymore. Because I'm brave and I'm confident with myself. No matter who I am as a person. The haters are going to hate and the supporters are going to support. That's basically all I have to say.

P.S. the reason why I'm shipping Barnaby and Billie isn't because I'm into that stuff, but because I'm more of a person that makes stories that are sort of related to their family and some kind of way. I actually have a family member in my family who is married to someone that is 10 years apart from them. My grandmother was around Billie's age when she met my grandfather who is around Barnaby's but minus the 100 years. I thought that was kind of cool but I didn't know that that was some sort of pedophile stuff at the time. Even if I had heard of the word I wouldn't even know what the word would have meant until all this Drake stuff started to go around. I aged down Barnaby once I realized what was happening or aged up Billie And at least tried to make it believable and not something Pro shipping like. But the damage had already been done. I know my mistakes but I don't want to expose my family in any kind of way. Mind you this was back in the day. So I'm pretty sure nothing would have been done about it at the time like things are today.

[ravenwitch45]

Parallels Between The Calamity Trio and The Ancient Three

Now The Core and The King literally came out today, so of course spoilers if you haven't watched it and please do as it is a great episode but I wanted to bring a few observations up. But Please watch it before hand!

Still here? Okay. I noticed similarities between a member of both groups, Marcy parallels Barrel, Sasha parallels Leaf, and most surprising at least to me, Anne parallels Andrias. Don't believe let's get into it

Marcy And Barrel, AKA The Peace Keepers

Marcy and Barrel wouldn't seem to have much in common at first, but they do have one thing. They hate the idea of fighting their friends or just their friends fighting.

During the Dinner Marcy for the most part ended up trying to keep Anne and Sasha from fighting again and refused to take either side "This crazy you guys!" blaming both for it essentially remaining neutral. She also isn't the one to get mad at Sasha in true colors, seeming hopelessly confused instead. And while we have much less time with Barrel we have something simalir

During the Core and The King's flashback Leaf steals the Calamity Box in attempt to keep it away from Andrias's family so it can't be used to conquer Earth, Andrias runs into Barrel and tells him that Leaf is a traitor, Barrel replying that she would never do that.

He still helps chase her and when cuts her off, he says he doesn't want to do this, of course he doesn't she's his friend, he hesitates when she tries to reason with him and she get's away replying that she confused him when Andrias scolds him, seeming very conflicted.

Neither can really handle the idea that their friend's hate each other, and it's honestly just sad they had to see it.

Sasha and Leaf AKA The Well Meaning Traitors

(Sorry the pictures are messy, Leaf was hard to find anything for)

Now the title is pretty telling, Both betrayed their friends with good intentions. Sasha to control Amphibia with her friends, and later to keep Andrias out of power after she learned he was hiding something, and Leaf to save Amphibia and the Universe by stealing the calamity box from Newtopia.

The intersting thing is that they both regretted it almost instantly, Leaf clearly hated doing the whole thing but reluctantly continued, Sasha took a little longer but she literally pleads Anne to listen to her about Andrias on the walls of Newtopia. And is reformed by the time Anne returns to Amphibia.

This one could be longer but I don't know how so let's move on

Anne and Andrias AKA The Blinded Leaders

Now this admittedly feels like the biggest stretch of this whole post, but is just feels so right to me. In true colors Sasha attempts to reason with Anne to tell her about what Andrias is hiding, but Anne is so blinded with rage (Rightfully) from her trust in Sasha being thrown back in her face for second time that she won't listen.

And as it turns out Andrias did almost the exact same thing to Leaf, In the flashback Leaf get's a vision from the Calamity Box, of a lot but most importantly is the Night, Mother Olm's prophecy and the destruction Andrias is currently causing in the present.

She fails to covince Andrias's father, the current king who in private told Andrias that since he's royalty, his friends are going to use him for control, when Leaf says that Andrias can just not use the box since he's going to inherit the throne soon, He snaps at her which he quickly apoligizes for but still doesn't listen, this forces Leaf's hand to steal the box unkowingly causing Anne, Marcy and Sasha to find the box centuries later causing the events of the whole show. But if he listened then Amphibia would peaceful, he never would have isolated himself like he did.

One More Similarity

Now there is one more thing that I wanted to bring up to parallel them, All the way till Marcy is found in season two, both Sasha and Anne keep one thing to remember her, to tell them to keep looking for her.

The picture and guess what

They had one two, which in The Core and The Kind we found out Andrias tore to shreds, right after their friendship was torn apart. Thank you for listening. I rest my case.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Ice Queendom Recaps: “Red, White, Black, Yellow”

Hello, RWBY fandom! It feels good to be back.

Technically I never left — still answering the occasional ask, just finished up "The Girl in the Tower" recap — but between the extra long hiatus and my continuing obsession with Our Flag Means Death, it feels like I've been out of the RWBY loop for a while. I wanted to start this post with that acknowledgement because I had assumed that's why I didn't realize that Ice Queendom had dropped the first three episodes. Sure, I got an anon asking my opinion of the reboot (AU? Rewrite? We're all a little unclear about that still), but I had thought that was just in preparation for the July 3rd premiere. So imagine my surprise when I did a bit of googling last night — just in case — and found a new trailer, then a three episode sneak peak, but it weirdly wasn’t on First, but it was on Crunchyroll, and (at the time) it was set to drop on YouTube at 1:00pm today, but only for a short period? Some fans had clearly seen the episodes already, yet there wasn't nearly the amount of posting I'd expect for a community-wide, anticipated drop, and official information seemed to be scarce ... but surely my confusion was simply a result of me taking a semi-break from keeping up with all RWBY info, right?

Ehhh...

This is an excerpt from MurderOfBirds’ tweet thread (URL posted at the end of the recap, in case tumblr is still being weird about links) and, if you've been in the RWBY community for any significant length of time, you'll understand my shock that he of all fans was calling RT out like this. To be honest, I don't have much to say beyond, "This is happening"? From what little I've gathered, fans seem to have enjoyed the IQ premiere — or at least, they haven't called for a salt and burning yet — but RT's relative success in that regard doesn't suddenly erase all the other problems surrounding RWBY as a franchise. RTX planning remains a mess, communication about upcoming projects is shoddy at best, RT's company culture is continually under fire, worries about Volume 9 and the upcoming video game haven't disappeared just because we've had little reason to discuss them lately, etc. Regardless of what we think about IQ as a story, it's coming into a tumultuous IP — to put it mildly.

Again, I fully acknowledge that I haven't been actively seeking out every bit of RWBY info lately, but the fact that I, someone who is generally working to keep up with the story, had to suddenly scramble to figure out how and when and why a big chunk of the new installment was releasing now is... not great. And apparently I'm not the only one who feels this way.

That said, let's get into the story proper. In case it's not abundantly obvious by the title, I've decided to keep these recaps separated by episode, despite 1-3 releasing as a single hour of content. You all know I can write enough for each, even with a lot of this plot being repeated. No sense in giving you all a dissertation to wade through lol.

Let's do it!

We begin, as we did originally, with Salem's voice-over telling us how the humanity of today came to be.

(Oh yay, a nice het-centric creation myth. Look, I really wasn't joking about being obsessed with OFMD right now. After months of canonical queer pirates, I'm feeling a little salty towards RWBY's version of queer rep. I won't get over it, sorry, but I promise I won't bitch about it too much.)

(Actually wait, one more point: I saw a post here — which I’ve now lost — where the author didn't seem terribly enthusiastic about IQ, but they said they'd forgive it if Blake and Yang made out in every upcoming scene and like yeah, joke-y posts are jokey-y, I love them, but AS IF. If IQ confirms Bumbleby I'll just straight up die of shock. You all can @ me in the afterlife.)

(But oh god can you IMAGINE if IQ confirmed the fandom's biggest ship before the webseries? Chaos. Calamity. An actual, defensible position for IQ being better. It would be a complete disaster, yeah... but potentially an entertaining one.)

Anyway, back to the plot. We go through a version of our opening speech and, frankly, I don't think the actress playing Salem sounds nearly as menacing as Taylor does. I've always cared more about the characters themselves than the actors playing them, so I don't have any big opinions on the casting here. This is just a little acknowledgement that, had I been watching IQ prior to RWBY, I never would have gone, "Oh, this is our villain" like I did during the webseries’ opening. At least not until the end of the episode when we get the more threatening dialogue. Regardless, the animation more than makes up for that, showing us not merely the paper-like history of humanity, grimm, and the rise of their combat capabilities, but far more visceral images like a man collapsing amidst a field of flames, very nearly succumbing to them. That sells the idea of humanity almost crumbling back to dust.

But then, “The smallest spark of hope brought forth a great light�� and humanity discovers capital 'D' Dust, which allows them to maintain and spread civilization despite the grimm. Salem says that it was through their “power and ingenuity” that they secured it and I'm like... really? Because the animation just shows an almost-dead guy stumbling upon a glowing rock in the ground and presumably thinking, "Hey, that might be useful." Not sure there's much power and ingenuity in randomly finding a magic mineral lol.

With the history lesson out of the way, we find Ruby at Summer's grave with... a military-like march soundtrack? It's an intriguing choice and, combined with Ozpin’s introduction + Weiss' AU design, I'm curious to see how much this story will feed into RWBY's (badly managed) anti-military themes. Though introducing our simple soul protagonist with that vibe doesn't seem like a great start...

What is done well is the character work in this scene. Actually, that's something I want to praise about the episode as a whole: IQ is very good (so far) at developing the cast and the world, something it absolutely has over the original RWBY. Remnant feels lived in, the characters' stories are better intertwined — helped by making this episode a combination of the trailers and “Ruby Rose” — and I actually feel like they have internal lives they're living, rather than just existing as archetypal puppets under the Rule of Cool's strings. Sure, RWBY gets better at that as time goes on — I wouldn't care about the early Volumes like I do if the characters didn't feel engaging to me — but IQ nails it right from the start.

Case in point, Ruby isn't just staring at a mysterious grave that was added last minute because hell, why not. She's really talking to Summer, telling her all about how Yang made it into Beacon Academy and that she "always said she wanted to be a huntress." Such a small line of dialogue and yet suddenly Yang’s motivations better align with Ruby's. Rather than being the party girl just out for a good time (the club scene doesn't even make it into this episode, if it shows up at all), Yang always wanted to be a huntress, specifically — just like their mom. It stabilizes Yang's career path and helps sell the idea that one primary, personal conflict is how Ruby will break away from her sister's shadow: she's talking to Summer primarily about her "sis," she wants to be a huntress just like Yang, she's kinda jealous that Yang is already on her way — a nice detail that makes Ruby feel like a legit person with complex emotions — Tai is worried about his youngest standing on her own, and meanwhile Ruby is asking her mom, “What can I do to be more like [Yang]?” Frankly, this scene sells the idea of Yang raising and influencing Ruby far more than the entirety of Volumes 1 and 2 did. We can see how Yang has become the mother figure that Ruby is desperate to emulate, even as she says she also wants to follow in Summer's footsteps. From Yang and Tai talking about Ruby like they're the parents waiting on their wayward child, to the hug where Ruby is positioned more like the child as Yang holds her and looks to Summer —

I feel like the show has visually told me that Yang helped raise Ruby, episodes before we get to that talk with Blake. Sure, they're absolutely still playful sisters — and Yang calls Summer "Mom." No Raven complications just yet — but IQ changes the dynamic slightly, making Yang come across as more mature and, consequentially, more of a mentor figure for Ruby. Yang is someone Ruby needs to eventually step away from in order to forge her own path.

Also, love that they give them the exact same wink. Again, they're close and we can see Ruby mimicking some of Yang's mannerisms:

However, this is perhaps as good a time as any to admit that I don't really like the character designs? Outside of their normal outfits/distinguishing features, of course. I mentioned weeks back that I find their eyes to be creepy as hell and though I realize now that's a visual staple of the creator's... it doesn't change that I think they're creepy lol. Worse, there's something very doll-like about the models that makes my skin crawl. It's not too bad when we've got a fight sequence going on, but when Ruby is just standing there with her unnatural eyes, glossed lips, painted cheeks, kinda shiny skin like she might be made of porcelain...

Yeesh.

I don't know. I'm assuming this is purely a me problem (no doubt born from too many horror movies in my youth) and not every shot is bad! But some definitely make my brain go, "Nope, nope, nope, NOPE" in a very Uncanny Valley kind of way.

I mean sure, the animation quality is undoubtedly better, but original Ruby just looks more... real to me? You know? Does anyone else get that?

Yeah, I can't explain it well. It’s fine. Just don't let IQ!Ruby into my room at night, please.

We cut to Weiss standing before the garden monument — which I've only now realized is kinda weird. Who gives a snowflake wings? —  and she's approached by Klein who is, for all intents and purposes so far, a totally different character. There's no sign of his semblance (no real loss imo) and he's far more formal — deferential — towards Weiss than he’s ever been in the webseries. Gone is the chaotic, buddy-buddy dynamic they had and in its place is the far more common “Play-by-the-rules butler has a soft spot for the young mistress, allowing for a bit of parental love to shine through.” Think Carson with Lady Mary. Or even Alfred with Bruce. Though I’m personally a big fan of this character type—I’m an absolute sucker for love pushing up against class/social expectations/job formalities—this is a case where IQ arguably moves backwards. Rather than introducing a bit of depth like we saw between Ruby and Yang, we’ve reverted to a far simpler setup. Which, I want to emphasize, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I don’t think Klein is important enough to necessitate that creativity when being a fond, long-suffering butler serves the story just as well. It’s just an observation that they have stripped him of what made him stand out from the butler crowd.  

He tells Weiss that the “arrangements” have been made and they walk together to the ballroom where her final test is to take place. On the way we spot a day-drinking Willow from behind and the shot reminds me a bit of the comic panels:

and we also run into Whitley, still leaning smugly against the wall like he did in the webseries. This time though I’m reading him through the lens of the kid he is, rather than the scheming, Jacques Jr. that both stories seem to be going for. See: Whitley smirking from the shadows while Weiss walks through beams of beautiful light, finally settling between the pillars in the full sun. It’s not subtle.

This is one of a couple split-screens in our opening episode and though it’s a technique the webseries has made use of recently (think the Team RWBY vs. Ace Ops fight), personally it’s something that I think should be used sparingly. Like here, do we really need to get Klein’s reaction and, in the process, see the awkwardness of Weiss with half a face? Or, in a moment, a shot of her boots?

Next to the contrast of Weiss and Whitley, which actually serves a narrative purpose, these just feel unnecessary. Technique for the sake of technique.

We also get a shot of the family portrait as Weiss passes by. Nothing detailed unless you pause the episode, but it's a glimpse of that supposedly picture-perfect family right before we see it unravel. Whitley questions Weiss’ ability to pass this test, she tells him to just watch her do it, and then we get what I think is a damn solid line:

“I’ve always watched you, my fearless, foolish sisters."

We’ve got the story introducing that there's a third sibling before we see Winter at the test. There’s Whitley's quiet admission that yes, he's been watching them (looking up to them) for, presumably, years. Also an acknowledgement of those complicated emotions tied up in their choice to not just become Huntresses, but to use the career as a means of escaping their father's abuse when he, someone without combat skills, can't follow them. Is it foolish then, or fearless? Depends entirely on whether you have that option to begin with. This is a Whitley who, right from the start, feels like a kid struggling under an inability to follow in his sisters' footsteps, despite how the animation paints him as the shadowy antagonist, with the concept of paths and having to carve out your own tying in nicely with Blake's story.

Weiss arrives at the test where both Winter and Jacques are waiting for her. It puts them on fairly even footing — both watching this dangerous battle with detachment, both taking up the same position on opposite sides of the room — despite the fact that verbally Winter is more supportive of Weiss than Jacques has ever been in his life. Still, that parallel combined with Winter being "too busy" when Weiss leaves for Beacon and her cold approach to training her in the flashback makes this version of Winter seem far less welcoming than the original. “The powerless return to dust. That is the law of this world” she tells Weiss after she fails to defeat all of her summons (as seen in the Volume 5 short) and while that is a very cool line that hints at how Remnant's history has influenced the peoples’ philosophy, it’s also a damn bit more dismissive than Weiss promising to do better and Winter saying only that she hopes she can — she'll need it to escape. I can't imagine this Winter playfully batting Weiss' head and demanding information about the friends she's made.

I do want to emphasize that Weiss' entire story is much clearer for the audience though. We're told exactly who all these people are (at least in relation to one another). We've established that Weiss is undergoing a test to get into Beacon. We have a line about Klein releasing the grimm, right on the heels of our intro explaining wtf grimm are, and oh look, now she's fighting it. All of "Red, White, Black, Yellow" flows together more smoothly than the trailers + "Ruby Rose” do, meaning there's no mad scramble to, say, explain to the community that this is a flashback, Weiss got that scar during her fight—look, there’s a bit of blood—she’s singing on her father’s orders, yeah idk why exactly it’s just a thing she does, mhmm the fight is a test to get into Beacon, etc. I didn’t come into RWBY until Volume 3, but I remember finding old posts that worked to clarify the iffy canon of our trailers (and, indeed, acknowledging that some details like Ruby’s strength against the grimm remain in the realm of “Not canon, actually”) as well as explaining what precisely happened in each. None of that is necessary here. The only thing the scene doesn’t clarify is how a suit of armor is also a grimm, but failing to get into the possession abilities is small potatoes compared to the potential confusion we started out with.

Yet despite the obvious benefits of that clarity, the fight itself is just… fine? Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing bad about it—except, perhaps, the weird glyph sound effects that I personally hate—yet even following much of the original choreography, I didn’t have an emotional investment in this fight like I did the White Trailer. I think a great deal of that comes down to the music. Though I’ve always agreed that the soundtrack is a huge part of RWBY’s personality, I didn’t realize quite how much of the emotion it carried until it was gone. The generic battle music of IQ just can’t compare to hearing

Mirror, mirror

Tell me something,

Who’s the loneliest of all?

…I’m the loneliest of all.

while Weiss is framed in front of the broken moon, expression stony, this epic moment inter-cut with her future self belting this lament, all right before she drives through the knight and lands, perfectly confident in her victory.

IQ!Weiss technically has the same combat beats of the original fight (with the exception of the knight’s sword nearly crushing Klein??), but it’s a completely different vibe. IQ!Weiss feels frantic at the end to me and her getting to coldly demand the Beacon reward from her father is a one-up moment that doesn’t jive with, say, Weiss later trying to muster up a fake smile in the elevator to convince her family that everything’s fine. She feels too confident, like she’s already won against Jacques and RWBY!Weiss’ journey (marred as it was by Volume 8) isn’t even on the table anymore. And, you know, maybe it’s not. Though the changes are subtle so far, this is already a very different version of Weiss. Personally, I prefer the theme of loneliness in the original: Weiss standing as the knight is obliterated behind her, bloody face fading into someone who, despite this victory, is still left standing there, alone on stage, performing for her father. She won the battle, but is still fighting the war.

(Gotta love shots like this though. The size difference! The scale! The seemingly insurmountable challenge!)

With a red leaf that looks a lot like a rose petal flying by—nice—we transition to Blake who is…

…Naruto running with Adam?

alksdfjalsjfa okay, cool.

Their section is pretty similar to the Black Trailer, though this time around Blake’s decision to leave feels like it’s really coming out of left field. I mean, she questions whether they’ll be fighting actual people, but Adam reframes that around Blake’s courage and there’s no visual cue from her that he’s wrong about that. Then we get a seemingly sweet moment where she doesn’t even look at the Atlas soldier behind her, knowing Adam’s got her back

and though she’s clearly not happy about Adam crashing the train when there are people on board, Blake doesn’t have that much of a reaction to it. She just walks over to the next car and severs the connection, leaving the audience with Adam’s supremely awkward line, “Are you betraying me? Betraying the White Fang?”

Easily the worst part of the episode for me 😬 You know you haven’t written a scene well when a character has to spell things out in the most heavy-handed way possible.

To be honest, I’ve always found the Black Trailer to be the weakest of the bunch and I don’t think IQ has succeeded in improving on it. If anything, I think having Blake sneak away while Adam is busy with the mech, only for him and the audience to both realize she’s on a different, separated car works better than… this. I suppose neither version really sells me on the idea that this was a breaking point for Blake and if it wasn’t, why leave now, right in the middle of a mission? Compared to the clarity of our other stories, Blake’s remains lacking in some respects.

We get to Ruby’s Dust shop robbery and, given that we’ve just gone through two of the trailers, I’m a little disappointed that the Red Trailer wasn’t included. Certainly it’s the least plot connected of the four and yes, they’ve done away with Yang’s too, but Ruby taking out a horde of grimm under a shattered moon is the defining image of the franchise—at least for me. It’s not just what IQ decided to cut out though. Like Weiss’ fight sending a very different message thanks to the time spent on clarifying her test and its consequences, the development of Ruby’s character pre-robbery means that we’ve lost the appealing surprise of who she really is. What I mean is, outside of the Red Trailer, the moment Ruby turns—tiny, bright-eyed, sporting headphones and a weapons magazine—is our first introduction to her and that particular image contrasts wonderfully with her kicking that goon to hell and back. I mean sure, we already know how such “surprises” work (especially in a combat webseries. It’s not really a surprise), but I still love the (supposed) shock of this child being cornered, but then turning around and kicking ass.

That doesn’t happen in IQ precisely because the show does a better job of developing Ruby beforehand. We’ve already watched her tell Summer about how she might be getting bad grades, but she’s an expert with weapons. She’s already visited a weapons store before popping into the Dust shop.

She’s already gushed over the weapons magazine and even quoted from it, rather than that existing purely as a background detail for the audience to catch. Hell, we’ve already seen Crescent Rose, at least in its compact state, which makes the robbery “reveal” no longer a reveal at all. There’s no, “Oh cool the vulnerable kid is actually a badass fighter! And she’s got a scythe!!” reaction because the show has established that as a firm part of Ruby’s characterization. We know about Yang and Beacon and Ruby’s long-term combat goals. This

just doesn’t have the same impact anymore.

It’s the same with Zwei. Do I love seeing my favorite pupper right in the first episode? Hell yeah. Have we now lost the opportunity to introduce him through the mail—another iconic RWBY moment? Also yeah.

Which, again, is not automatically a bad thing. This isn’t a case of “Choice A works, but Choice B doesn’t.” Although IQ’s timeline is arguably a more productive way to write a long-term story, in inevitably comparing it to the webseries, I can’t help but notice that we’ve lost a certain absurdity and, well, fun that’s a part of RWBY’s charm.

(That’s an awesome shot though. Love the lighting.)

So Ruby works her way through the goons—a combat sequence I quite enjoyed. Very liberal on the crunchy faces. Looked painful—and Roman runs through most of his original lines. This time he does comment, “Semblance? A Beacon Academy student?” when Ruby busts out the window, which both hints at the fact that semblances might be comparatively rare (remember that Roman doesn’t have one) and, by extension, highlights Ruby’s innate abilities. The fact that Roman assumes she must go to Beacon implies that only someone two years older than her could pull that kind of control off. Ruby, as the talented protagonist, has managed this early.

Roman throws his smoke bomb, runs up the building, Ruby follows him… calls him a thief even though technically he didn’t take any of the Dust with him lol. While they’re on the roof, Tai, Yang, and Zwei arrive on the scene, having grown worried when Ruby failed to return home at a normal time.

(Why is that clock so cool and why don’t I own it.)

Again, IQ does a really great job of fleshing out the world and the characters’ relationships, especially in just 20 minutes. I love that Ruby was out looking for a present for Yang (still bitter we never got to see what she bought her in Volume 6), that Yang and Tai have this conversation about Ruby’s growth, Zwei is being used as a bloodhound to track her, the fact that yeah, of course there are other civilians about and the police were called on scene.

Personally, I think there’s a nostalgic charm to RWBY’s shadow people, but it’s still true to say that animating actual characters responding to situations goes a long way towards making your world feel lived in. 

Also, can I just SHOUT FROM THE ROOFTOPS that Tai is out looking for his daughter? I never cared about his character much until post-Volume 3 when the fandom started dragging him for… well, everything. How dare you make a joke your daughter clearly loved. How dare you tell her the truth in an effort to keep her from losing another limb—or her life. (Which, I will always point out now, happened! Yang stupidly jumped in front of Ruby, just like she stupidly charged Adam, and Neo killed her!! You have a ranged weapon, Yang, oh my god—) How dare you fail to follow one kid while the other is at home with severe depression. How dare you not follow both when [checks notes] you’re not a part of the primary plot. Tai really went the way of Ozpin and Ironwood (pre-Volume 8 Ironwood, anyway) where potential mistakes are declared unforgivable sins and… that’s it. You’re Remnant’s #1 Worst Dad. Sucks to be you.

So hell yeah, good on IQ for reminding everyone that Tai, even an AU Tai, is of course worried sick over his missing kid and will do whatever he can to help her. Double kudos for managing that alongside a slight increase in mom!Yang energy.

Glynda (my beloved) shows up and does her thing. Cinder never comes out to fight them, but we still see her piloting the airship, which is interesting. At least, it is to me given that I’d assumed going into IQ that a lot of the larger plot-lines would be dropped in favor of the new story: the White Fang, Cinder’s lust for power, even Salem herself. Obviously that’s not the case, so now I’m wondering if IQ is like an interlude type story? We get a mostly-the-same Volumes 1-2, then a totally new adventure, then the implication that the characters go back to a version of the original tale with Relics, Maidens, la de da? We’ll have to see.

After Ruby DOESN’T ask for Glynda’s autograph (tragic) and she’s getting her lecture while Tai and Yang wait at the station, Ozpin shows up to… salutes?

That’s a choice.

You know how I was saying that Whitley’s characterization feels more in line with where he’ll end up several Volumes later? Well, Ozpin’s characterization feels more in line with where the show says he ends up several Volumes later… even though they never actually wrote that. Meaning, this is an Ozpin introduction that actually implies an ulterior, morally gray motive. This is a guy that does feel sketchy to me.

Let’s tally the details.

Ozpin arrives at the station—now overtly a police station and not the ambiguous closet of the webseries—and is saluted by everyone there. He doesn’t wave the formality aside with discomfort or anything, but takes it as a given. If I didn’t know better, I’d think that was Ironwood walking into the room.

He still gives Ruby cookies, but this time we see that he didn’t arrive with them. Meaning, he must have made one of the officers scrounge them up which, while still potentially just a nice gesture, feels like it has more potential for manipulation. More “Do the work for me so I can look good to the kid” rather than, “I heard Glynda had you in her clutches and brought cookies from home to soothe that :D”

Ruby never gives her passionate speech about wanting to help people like her parents taught her to and how Beacon is her plan to do that. So although the fandom has long assumed that Ozpin invited her partly due to her Silver Eyes—an assessment I agree with—that motivation feels far more prominent without Ruby overtly wanting to come. At least, she doesn’t tell Ozpin she wants to come. Now, instead of making Ruby’s wish come true (with the added benefit of assisting Ozpin’s war) Ozpin offers a place seemingly out of the blue, still putting some focus on Ruby’s combat skills, far more on those special, Silver Eyes. This feels like a recruitment now, not a benevolent gesture towards a family friend’s kid.

Going off of that, there’s no playful banter between Ozpin and Glynda about Ruby getting in early. This Ozpin has very little of the kind, fatherly energy of the webseries.

Finally, we see Ozpin talking to Tai afterwards and though Tai is quite taken with Ruby getting to skip two years, it’s not like Ozpin is asking his permission here. Sure, sure, we could get into the question of how much agency Remnant kids actually have—Blake’s parents are cool with her going off to Beacon after being missing for a time, no one is looking for Oscar, etc.—but the point is that twice, once before meeting Ruby and once after, Ozpin has the chance to offer Tai this opportunity for his daughter, but very overtly does not. He says that he will be speaking to Ruby. He says that she will be attending Beacon. He’s in control here.

The combination of this creates a far less approachable, more calculating Ozpin. AKA, the kind of Ozpin that RWBY failed to write, but the fandom insists is there in an effort to make the fury in Volume 6+ make sense. I’m not sure how I feel about it? On the one hand yeah, I’m glad to see IQ setting the stage for future reveals. This is an Ozpin who really might be puppeteering this war in a way the cast can be justifiably disgusted by. Yet on the other hand, it doesn’t feel much like Ozpin to me. Though small changes have been made to all the characters, they still feel like themselves (Klein being the exception). Ozpin though… there’s no interest in Ruby’s passion, no teasing Glynda, no intimacy with Tai. Seriously, go back and watch “Ruby Rose.” We’ve got Ozpin’s dad-like concern over Ruby using one of the “most dangerous weapons every designed,” his clear fondness for his “dusty old crow,” offering the cookies only after Ruby has explained herself a bit and her actually eating them (comfortable in his presence/trusting what he gives her), the eye-twitch when she talks with her mouth full, fond smile as Ruby gushes about her uncle, laughing a little at her karate chops, “adorable girl,” the very stern “You want to come to my school?” which forces Ruby to clearly state her own goals and desires (that oh so conveniently align with his), THIS

I mean, Ozpin is a dad. I feel like that’s a very crucial part of his characterization. He’s a romantic who settled down, had kids, does the stupid voices while reading his beloved fairy tales… and then his life went to absolute shit. He’s an exhausted dad who is still fighting because he believes wholeheartedly that the world is worth fighting for. He’s exactly the kind of guy who would bring a talented kid cookies and let her skip two years, all while ensuring her happiness benefits humanity somehow.

This guy feels like a creep—and that’s not just because of the weird doll features.

So good for the fandom, finally has a legitimately suspicious Ozpin to embrace? Yay IQ laying the groundwork for future plot-points? But as my favorite character, I wish we had Ozpin back. Especially since he’s only existed as an extension of Oscar for the past five Volumes, one everyone uses as a punching bag.

Maybe his characterization will change in the upcoming episodes? :(

We near the end of “Red, White, Black, Yellow” with a bit of additional worldbuilding slapped onto the trailer content. Weiss learns from Winter that there are hard rules to their totally-not-magic system—“Your Aura can only take a direct attack once or twice at most. The moment you’re hit, you’re finished”—and that’s reiterated by Glynda to Ruby: “Is your Aura strong enough to stop every bullet they fired?”

Cue me CACKLING at, like, every single RWBY fight ever. Will IQ do what the webseries couldn’t and actually stick to its own rules? We’ll have to see…

Blake is off in a… barn? Some isolated place with a bag of supplies now. She gets her admission notice from Beacon and I have to wonder when she took that exam. Was it before she left Adam, thereby making her leaving him feel a little less random? Was it after her escape and she’s been, what? Just running through grimm infested territory since then, popping into Beacon once for a quick test? Why didn’t she ever go home?? Yeah, there are still aspects that don’t quite add up for me. Regardless, Blake gets teary and says that now she’s really able to follow a “different path.”

Klein sends Weiss off with faith that she’ll carry on the legacy of Master Nicholas Schnee and, after Ruby tells Tai that she’ll make a ton of friends at Beacon (that’s a change in characterization), we finish with them all boarding the same transport. We then get a really lovely moment where both Weiss and Blake stare at their reflection on opposite sides of the ship, mustering up a smile.

Watching OFMD grow as a fandom these last few months, I’ve gotten to see a lot of people question certain fandom trends that have popped up, including asking, “Wait, people ship that?” Ignoring for the moment that you obviously don’t need a reason beyond, “I like it,” we can usually pinpoint why fans end up liking that particular duo (or trio). The important takeaway here is that it doesn’t take much—at ALL—to spark that interest. This moment is a perfect example of that. Blake and Weiss are set up to parallel and contrast one another. One is the rich heiress harming the faunus. The other is the (right now reading as) poor faunus fighting the heiress. They’ve got that Romeo and Juliet potential—two houses not meant to join—and yet we also see, right here, that they’re so much more alike than either will initially believe. They’re separated now, haven’t yet met, are literally on opposite sides of the transport, and yet they both go through the exact same motions of sighing in relief at making it in time, catching sight of themselves in a reflective surface, considering who they are, and then smiling. There’s so much potential there! We in the RWBY fandom know that Bumbleby and White Rose are the two heavy-hitters, but right now Weiss hasn’t met Ruby and Blake hasn’t met Yang. I guarantee that if IQ were its own show and we were waiting a week for the next, totally original episode, fans would be all over Monochrome as the primary ship. It would have sunk its teeth into the community from that alone and even if IQ went the way of RWBY, splitting them up and starting numerous moments of other shipping potential (Weiss slowing coming to care for Ruby, Yang opening up to Blake, etc.) there’s a good chance that Blake/Weiss would have hung on like whoa, just from this moment and a week of theorizing alone. Never doubt the power of fans to imagine up the most epic romances from a single, thematically loaded shot.

We’re given our first glimpses of Jaune (vomiting), Nora (hanging onto Ren), Ren (suffering, but he likes it), and Pyrrha—taking up most of the screen as Salem says that “even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die.”

I can’t go through this again 😭

At least that’s a WAY better introduction for Pyrrha than being Jaune’s background, quirky girl...

And, of course, we end on a close-up of Ruby as Ozpin talks about small sparks and simple souls igniting the most change.

(I’m sorry she looks so creepy here hOW IS THAT NOT A MURDER DOLL??)

So, just to summarize, there's really good character work throughout this episode. Not only are the introductions tighter and better interwoven with Remnant's worldbuilding, but IQ does a decent job of setting up future themes, conflicts, and — if the plot circles back to canon — foreshadowed events like Pyrrha’s death. Basically, this is what happens when you take your story through another draft. This is RWBY with an eye towards what did and didn't work the first time around.

Yet for all that praise... I have to admit that a certain spark is missing. Yes, the animation is so much better, but as said, there's something charming about RWBY's janky movements and shadow people. Yes, the characters' introductions fit more neatly into the story-world now, but it was exciting to get individual action trailers, unsure at first how they would develop into a plot-driven narrative. No, there's no reason to waste time on silly things like Jaune being Vomit Boy, but the lack of stupid humor in this premiere makes me feel like a crucial part of RWBY is missing. There's no disappearing cookies, or Ruby being chill about Yang kicking men out of club windows, or karate chops, or (and this is a real travesty imo) a cringey "Can I have your autograph??" towards Glynda. Maybe it's that we're nearly a decade out from the original air date and tastes have changed, or maybe it's just straight up nostalgia on my part, but for however good IQ is so far, it doesn't feel like it has the same heart that RWBY did — and I don't think it's capable of recreating that. RWBY was a specific storm of Monty + 2013 + the appeal of a group of fans doing something fun in their basement over something objectively "good," and who knows what else thrown into the mysterious pot of success. You literally can't recreate that, especially when so much of RWBY's fanbase are adults now, unable to return to their teenage years — or even just the eight years younger version of themselves if they were adults the first time around — and the headspace of when they first fell in love with the story. That doesn't make IQ bad by any means (and it may well get its own fanbase of first-time viewers). I really enjoyed this first episode... but I enjoyed it in the way I enjoy lots of other well-made, but kinda generic anime. Without it already being a RWBY story and without RWBY having caught my imagination back when it did, I don't think I would have gotten hooked on IQ in the same way. The premier is good, arguably far, FAR better than "Ruby Rose" ever was, and yet, whether due to time, nostalgia, or something else entirely, RWBY still feels like it comes out on top. It’s just got... something that IQ lacks.

Not that it's a competition, of course, though certain members of the fandom seem to believe quite strongly that it should be. More because they’d like a built-in reason to drag anyone with a criticism of IQ/RWBY than because they actually believe two versions of a story can’t co-exist.

But I digress.

With that, we've completed "Red, White, Black, Yellow"! At a measly 6,000 words, no less. (I’m apologizing now for the inevitable typos. It’s past 1:00am now and I can’t read through this again...) As is abundantly obvious, these recaps take a long time to write and this sneak peek has, quite unexpectedly, dropped the equivalent of three weeks worth of RWBY content into my lap all at once. Normally I'd have no problem buckling down to write the next episode, but I have a number of fic commitments at the start of July that I can't afford to ignore. So writing time will be going towards those, first and foremost, with me continuing to work on Ice Queendom on the side. I hope to have the next episode recapped in the next few days — at the latest — but that depends entirely on how kind the writing Gods are to me this week.

So stay tuned and, as always, thanks for reading! <3

MurderOfBirds' Twitter Thread: https://twitter.com/MurderofBirds_/status/1540414268457340928

[sonofrose]

Marcy Wu’s escapism

Before I start a quick shoutout to @pyroclastic727​ and @magicman111​ who wrote some posts I used as inspiration.

Now onto my post.

Marcy Wu.

After a notorious no-show in season 1, she quickly became a fan favorite in season 2. That being said the girl also became a mystery for the fandom because she was nothing like we thought she would be. 

As Ms. Croaker puts it we are "regarding her with extreme borderline paranoid suspicion", partly because Andrias is planning something once the gems are recharged and Marcy will be smack dab in the middle of that plan (personally, I'm still worried about that "people are just another puzzle to solve" comment).

Another post (THAT FOR THE LIFE OF ME I CAN'T FIND AGAIN!) said that, unlike Sasha, Marcy's flaws are not apparent, but we know they're there. We know Marcy has some toxic trait, but are having difficulty pinpointing it.

One of the reasons for that is... that this is the internet and its definition of a toxic person degraded thanks to the G.I.F.T. phenomenon, to the point its just the default term used to refer to someone giving an (admittedly rude at the least) opinion opposed to yours.

When people nowadays think of a toxic person they think of someone like that as either rude, degrading, discriminatory, manipulative, deceptive, etc. and while these are characteristics of a toxic person they're not the only ones, you could say they are the active toxic traits... but there also exists passive toxicity: indifference, stubbornness, negativity, inconsistency, even being too self-aware.

The other reason is... well look at her!

This is a literal ray of sunshine, how could she do something bad?

To that, I answer: are you sure she was always like this?

By the time we finally meet Marcy she's been months in Newtopia; we know their time in Amphibia has changed all the girls.

This all relates to the point of this post:

Why Marcy will accept Andrias' proposition.

(yes, this was just the introduction... sorry for the following wall of text and images).

First off let me get this out of the way: I have no idea what Andrias offered to Marcy, but I believe it will at least involve keeping her friends and staying in Amphibia.

Now, why would Marcy want to stay? Well, let us analyze the experiences of all 3 girls in amphibia (because if we talk about one of the girls we talk about all the girls).

Let's start with the one more determined to leave:

Sasha "This show's designated Knight of Cerebus" Waybright.

Let's be honest Sasha has probably had the hardest time in Amphibia, she is separated from her friends, captured by giant talking toads, and locked up and that was just day one.

Things looked up after the heron attack... and then the collapse of Toad Tower happened with Sasha, Grime, Percy, and Braddock marked as traitors and pursued.

By all intents and purposes, Sasha has lost everything, her home, her friends, her position of power, and deep down she knows it's her fault, but maybe if she can return home with her friends she can return everything to how it was.

Now let's look at Anne "Someone give this girl a leafblower for her hair" Boonchuy.

This one is quite straightforward, at least on the first days Anne had it as hard as Sasha, and while her situation improved thanks to the Plantars, she has many things she'd like to return to: her cat, her family, a life where she is not in danger every day, and of course her friends.

Lastly let's look at Marcy "I have trouble looking people in the eye sometimes" Wu.

I want you to think back to all of Marcy's appearances in Amphibia and compare them to the flashbacks of Earth. Do you notice something? or rather the lack of something?

Marcy hasn't taken out her videogame console once in any episode, only in flashbacks, and we know she has it, she offered to let the Plantars play it.

The reason is simple, she doesn't need it anymore.

Marcy is completely enamored with Amphibia, its people, its cities, its animal and plant life, and most importantly the fact that it's by all intents and porpuses a fantasy world made real.

Marcy is like Luz, they were given a chance to live out all their fantasies and make them real, but while Luz ironically got many reality checks in the Boiling Isles, Marcy has just lived one flawless adventure after the other.

She has a statue, a position of power and importance, respect, a friendship with the King of the continent, she is even losing her clumsiness.

She is the most Isekai protagonist of the 3 girls, and now that she knows her friends are here, well, quoting Mabel: "now that [they're] here this place is finally perfect".

Just like with Sasha we don't know what her home situation on Earth is like, but it's obvious she was not invested in her reality, if she returns to Earth, she goes back to a life of being the clumsy straight-A student and gamer, and also she would return to being the third wheel of a lifelong friendship.

Many Isekai protagonists never return home, because their new life is infinitely better than the old one.

I only have one last thing to say: I hope you actually took the time to enjoy these 2 weeks of slow episodes because there will be few of them from now on and next week...

We continue heading towards the Calamity.

[myonepiece]

Hello 😳 so I saw your post about Kyoshiro and Bartolomeo with a clingy short fem!S/O who's also a scary cat, and let me tell you, that post AWAKENED something inside of me 🤤💞 so I would like to request a King, Sanji, and Mihawk with clingy short fem!S/O who's also a scary cat if your request are still opened that is 😚👉👈 thank you in advance, and you can ignore this request if you want. I hope you have a good day or night luv 😚💗

King, Sanji with a clingy short fem!S/O who’s a scaredy cat

King x Reader,   Sanji x Reader

Description: King & Sanji (seperate) with a short fem!S/O who is clingy and gets scared easily + oneshot/drabble with her getting scared and hiding behind character

Warnings: very mild implied sexual harrassment (in King’s oneshot), mild cursing

A/N: I’m so glad you liked it, it was so fun to write! 💐 (I love how you used so many emojis in your request) and I hope it’s okay I only did sanji and king, it’s just that this situation ends up fairly long 💕

*for King let’s say you’re around his height, the top of your head is a little above his waist 

King is definitely not the most affectionate person, he’s not a fan of PDA other than having you sit on his lap. if you get too physically affectionate (which is very) then King will warn you in a stern voice to stop, and if you don’t then he’ll move you away or simply place you on the ground and push you away

in private he’s more okay with you being clingy, still not the fondest though

he has nothing against your height, he (secretly) finds it adorable and he likes to watch you walk around the Beast Pirates crew because he finds it amusing to see the height differences between you and everyone else, your height is another reason he prefers having you stay on his lap often or at least have you right next to him- he’s worried someone (Kaido) will step on you

he also likes the way your hand looks on him, whether it’s resting on his arm, his chest, or his own hand, he always stares at the interaction and admires how precious and sweet you look

he sometimes finds your cowardness irritating, but even as he scolds you or strictly teases you for being scared so easily, he’s happy that you come to him to feel safe- honestly he never thought someone would feel safe with him nor did he want someone to until he met you

and after he scolds you he always pushes you away or behind him so he can handle whoever messed with his angel (usually it’s Queen, he likes messing with King and one of the most effective ways to do that is to mess with you) he also uses his wings as somewhat of a shield for you, providing cover usually 

+ oneshot

You tentatively walked through the dimly lit hall in the Beast Pirates base, the cold stone chilling the air around you and creating a slight echo of the patter of your shoes.

keeping your eyes trained on the ground while a few lesser crew members passed you, you followed the little cracks in the stone, branching out and creating intricate patterns- your eyes fell upon a pair of shoes and you froze midstep, looking up and perceiving Queen staring down at you, an unsettling smirk contorting his face

you smiled slightly up at him, trying to step around him and continue only to be stopped by his hand reaching out and tilting your head to look at him, the touch seding shivers down your spine, the bad kind of shivers

it wasn’t unusual for Queen to mess with you, enjoying your disturbed and fearful reactions as the sadistic man he is, and the reaction he gets from King is pure gold to him- he enjoys making King get protective so he can tease him for being so smitten

“______, how bout you come with me! some of the crew are going to sumo wrestle! come see their heads pop off!”

Queen laughed at your unsettled expression before leaning down a bit and blowing smoke out into your face,

“or maybe I should snap the collar on you an’ throw you into the ring”

you gasped, causing Queen to chortle in amusement- you took the moment of his distraction to move away from his touch and scurry off down the hall, hearing Queen call after you in a mocking tone and follow in pursuit

you hurried through the halls and spotted King at the end in the large room at the end, he stood at the table conversing with Jack, though clearly uninterested with the subject

you picked up your pace and your heels clicked against the ground alerting King, who knew you are the only one who wears shoes that make that sound. he turned to the entrance happy to have something to do other than play with Jack, but he didn’t like the worried expression on your face- nor Queen rounding the corner after you having all too familar mischievous expression on his lips. 

scurrying into the room, you ran over to King and hid behind his large wings. his glare never left Queen as the large man entered the room and moved towards where you stood huddled against King’s wings, stopping in front of the armored man and taking a long drag on his cigar. 

“what are you doing you moron”

Queen laughed at King’s protectiveness already showing, finding amusement in his crewmember’s smittenesque.

“I was inviting her to play a game you jackass!”

he laughed heartily at King’s insulted and angry expression. your boyfriend took a step forward, now only a few feet away from Queen- the atmosphere in the room grew tense and Jack was watching with wary eyes matching yours as you watched the two calamities square up, both ready to strike if it came to it. but King is observant, he saw that Queen had no intention of hurting him, he simply wanted to scare you and get a rise out of him.

he scoffed and turned begrudgingly back to you, moving to take a seat at the table and lifting you onto his lap with ease. you settled against his steel covered chest, still slightly shaking from Queen’s scare- King’s eyes narrowed at Queen when he chuckled again and sat in the chair between King and Jack, throwing a wink in your direction. King visibly flinched and his behind left the chair momentarily before returning, remembering that’s what Queen wanted- and you were safe on his lap. 

Sanji is super clingy himself, he has no problem at all with your affection and neediness. he’s always more than happy to hug you or cuddle you or kiss you, it’s one of his favorite things to do- he’s constantly asking himself how he got so lucky to have a girl like you

one of the things Sanji finds most adorable about you is your height, no matter what you do Sanji thinks you’re the cutest thing ever, he’s always offering to carry you, he always pulls you onto his lap- back hugs are another one of his favorite things because your body is so much smaller than his own and he thinks it’s adorable how perfectly you fit in his embrace, and don’t even get him started on how cute your hands look holding onto his hand

your slight cowardness gives him an excuse to hold you even more, he offers his hand or arm for you to hold, and whenever you grab onto him he has to fight back the squeals and focus on the problem at hand, making sure you feel safe and are completely out of harm’s way

+ oneshot 

the island you docked at had a quaint little town, small but bustling with life- you had gone to look at a store for some new clothes. unfortunately you couldn’t find anything and you had to head back to the ship empty handed. to make things even worse, while you were watching the ground you bumped into someone, who happened to be much bigger than you and piss drunk. 

“oi! what the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”

you swallowed the lump in your throat, stuttering out an apology that only seemed to make the man madder. 

“you need to fucking watch where you’re... you’re going”

he swayed on his feet and leaned down so that he was face level with you, pointing an accusing finger in your face and once again his alcohol filled breath invaded your senses.

“you-you have no idea who you’re dealing with”

his words slurred together and his unbalance caused him to lean forward slightly and you took a step back- all of a sudden you heard a familiar voice over the crowd’s chatter.

“______-swaaaan!!”

you looked to the side and spotted the relieving blond hair bouncing through the crowd while your boyfriend quickly weaved his way through the crowd towards you. stopping beside you and throwing his hands wielding shopping bags into the air.

“I got you gifts my beautiful  _____-swan!” 

this is when he noticed the man far too close for his liking, his face fell with his arms, turning to one of suspicion and confusion, then to one of disgust and slight anger. he handed you the bags gently and stepped in front of the man, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“why are you bothering my little _____-swan?”

his voice was tight and you could tell he was mad, but the strager didn’t seem to pick up on the danger in his drunkness. you reached up and clutched the bottom of Sanji’s jacket in your hand, he felt the action rigth away and his anger dissipated and his face broke into a huge grin. he spun on his heel and threw his arms around your waist, picking you up and smushing his cheek against yours while he rambled about how adorable you are- his perfect moment ruined by the stranger’s words.

“she ran into me you bastard, make her *hiccup* apologize before I do”

“oi, don’t ignore me!”

Sanji’s smile faltered slightly and he lifted his foot, spinning quickly and kicking the man with such force that it sent him flying away through the wall of the shop behind. 

“I’m trying to hug my angel! don’t interupt you idiot!”

“_____-swan I’m so sorry you had to see that~!”

you giggled at Sanji’s foolishness, leaning you head down to peck his nose- making his cheeks turn an even brighter red and he squealed. 

“ooh we need to get back to the ship so you can try on the clothes I got for you my dear!”

he placed his arm under you, switching to holding you in a bridal style, and he pranced off down the street towards the awaiting ship- his face still dangerously flushed and his eyes closed in joy.

[marjiandco]

14. Row

Time/Place: Post Endwalker, no spoilers. Raiku tries to get some fishing done but catches feelings instead

“My Dad used to take us out here all the time. See over there?”

Raiku points towards a clearing, slowly pulling the oars out of the water to keep silent. Sure enough, a pair of does and one fawn comes into view from the tall grass. Giant lashes blink at the pair on the boat. The does accept the fishers, and bend slowly at the neck to get a drink of water. Crickets chirp over one another, fireflies slowly fading into the morning light.

“Even before the calamity the deer would come to that particular spot for water. My dad would shush us to get our hyper brains to pay attention to the nature of Gridania. It didn’t always work; what kid gets excited to get up at the crack of dawn to sit in a boat quietly for hours?”

He hands Marji a rod while sticking a new lure on his own. She watches and copies him, resulting in a little lopsided wiggler. She threw the thing in the water before he can notice.

“You don’t usually talk about your family, why now?”

He shrugs, throwing his own hook on the opposite side. They sat shoulder to shoulder, can feel the muscles in his arms stir as he reels and releases.

“Feeling nostalgic? I dunno, the waters of the Black Shroud make me think on the better memories.”

“He’s tried to kidnap you multiple times.”

“What father hasn’t?” he says, a glint in his eye.

“Sure,” Marji snorts.

“After everything that’s happened, it almost feels…empty? An empty threat, or just a person trying to get their unruly son into the carriage to get home. He’s always had this expectation of me to continue his empire. So as a kid, all the things he did; taking me on trips, going to Ul’dahn food banks, the markets, all sorts of tutors and teachers gave me most of my tools. I just don’t know how I feel about why he did it.

“I was angry before; I just felt like this checkmark in his list of duties rather than his kid. I think I still do, but now it seems so far from what I’ve experienced I don’t feel…” He waves his hands around, almost dropping his rod as he thinks of the right thing to say.

“Its like if someone took a piece of gum from you as a kid and you’re all mad about it, but then someone punches you in the face the next day it as if the gum thing doesn’t matter.”

“Are you thinking of talking to your family again?”

He shrugs again, pulling the hook out of the water and fiddles with it.

“It’s not as if I was mad at my brothers and sisters. I mean seven hells it was my fathers overbearingness and my mother’s abcense that I couldn’t stand. I just didn’t know how to remove a part instead of the whole.”

She places her palm over his knuckles, and he realizes the knots he’s putting into the twine of his fishing pole.

“Maybe you’re just not scared of him anymore, rather than it being a lesser problem?”

Raiku flinches away as if Marji slapped him, red coloring his cheeks. “I’m not-”

“Not consciously, right? You don’t have to be a mess when you’re afraid of something. Sometimes it just comes out in avoiding a problem.”

“Oh sure like how you avoid your issues?” Raiku says meanly. “Zenos ring a bell.”

Her ears flatten “Don’t be like that. I meant that it’s still a problem, and will continue to be one even if worse things have happened to you. Minimizing it just because you feel differently leaves you open to a desire to seek out even crueler experiences. That I do know.”

“Sorry.” Raiku leans against her, resting his head on top of hers. “This was supposed to be a relaxing little trip and all the silence got me thinking.”

“Silence? Around you? Never.” She said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and squeezing.

They sat like this for a moment, recentering themselves to their surroundings

[idaluiso-noir]

oh hi it’s wip wednesday again

yo sorry its been four months since the last update A) i got a full time job, B) i fell into a different hyperfixation, though thanks to that last nintendo direct i think im falling back into my zelda hyperfixation which is pretty slay of me

n e ways please enjoy this snippet for the upcoming ‘stamp me with your signature’, sequel to ‘i’m your bitch, you’re my bitch’. no idea when im gonna finish this fic and post it but keep your eyes peeled, for now, happy wednesday

Later, Zelda buried herself in another memory. A memory of sleeplessness, of watching the white moon climb the sky outside her window. She let it play out, content to lay on her side with the moon in her eyes, hands pillowing her cheek.

“Why didn’t you do it?” a warm, dark voice asked.

Zelda didn’t flinch, didn’t startle, merely continued watching the moon. “Because that’s not who I am,” she’d replied.

“And who are you?”

“You should know,” Zelda quipped, refusing to roll over and face him. “You’ve been infiltrating my memories this whole time.”

“You’re a scared little girl.”

“Gee, thanks.” She rolled her eyes.

“A scared little girl that has somehow kept me at bay for seventy-six years.” The voice bit. “Will your silly hero ever wake up?”

Zelda snorted. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“You’re getting tired,” he mused. As if on cue, her body grew more exhausted, a weight on her frame pushing her down. “It’s how I’ve been able to speak to you like this.”

That gave her pause. Was her power truly waning? Was she reaching her breaking point? How long before her body gave out? Would Link still sleep soundly while her very essence was consumed by the Calamity?

Zelda shoved the thought away. “I liked you better when you were just some swirly tentacles trying to grope me every couple of years,” she sighed, pulling her bed covers closer around her.

She didn’t hear him approach, but felt the bed dip as he sat down on its edge. “And what might I be now?”

“A man.”

“Still, a man that could snap your neck,” he countered. “A man that could eat you whole and digest you into nothing but a memory. A man that could hold you captive as he tortures your pathetic hero into a weeping mess.”

Surprisingly, he said these with no real threat, a jovial sort of small talk - a hidden warning.

Zelda finally rolled onto her back. The man who greeted her was beautiful; warm Gerudo skin offset his flaming hair upon which was woven a headdress she’d seen many a time on her godmother. Below midnight blue eyelids, golden eyes sparkled. A strong Gerudo brow made his calculating smirk all the more sinister, and his strong jaw was highlighted by the short, neat cut of his scarlet beard. He was draped in gold, Gerudo finery clinking from his ears, clasping around his arms, baring his chest but covering his hips and thighs. He was strong, built well, built for war.

There were always tales that Ganon had been Gerudo. But these were simply scary bedtime stories passed down over twenty-thousand years. Laying eyes on him now, on the Gerudo warlord turned swirling Malefic entity, Zelda believed it.

“You’re Ganondorf,” Zelda breathed.

A large hand propped him up as he leaned in over Zelda, close enough for her to see the flecks of silver in his eyes. His grin was menacing and his voice breathy and low as he confirmed, “The one and only.”