#that is just an side effect from taking the element of destruction back on season 9

[themetallicnemesis]

Amber Spiral

[whispering-about-loki]

A Little theory regarding the Loki series

Warning! Image-heavy!

I am going to preface this by saying that this won’t happen. Well, maybe it won’t. Most of it won’t. Maybe some of it will. So SPOILER warning, in case it does. 

I’ll put some of my thought process in a note at the end.

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After Loki is arrested and brought before court to be charged for his part in certain time crimes, Mobius M. Mobius takes him “somewhere to talk”. He shows Loki snippets of how his life would have gone if he hadn’t skipped out with the Tesseract, then he tells him that he needs his help. Someone has been causing changes throughout history, making a myriad of variant timelines. Mobius believes that someone is taking advantage of their position in the TVA to cause this chaos; but his superiors refuse to believe that any of their ranks would behave in such a manner. So Mobius figures that if you want to handle chaos, you need to embrace chaos, and without consulting his superiors about it, he offers the God of Mischief a deal: help him find and bring back the rogue agent, and Loki will get his freedom. 

It is, of course, against the rules; but Mobius is willing to bend the rules a bit, if it means ending the time incidents. Loki agrees, thinking he will be able to use the situation to escape. But Mobius understands Loki’s thought process and warns him that if he strays from his assignment, he will be brought right back to the TVA. Loki being Loki, though, does try to skip out; but after he is zipped right back to the TVA a couple times, he doesn’t try it again.

Loki then does what he agreed to, slipping through time with Mobius and looking for the cause of the chaos. Disconcertingly, though, Loki’s power and strength begin to diminish, to the point where simple attacks he should have been able to easily counter are enough to take him down. Mobius says he doesn’t know why it is happening.

After a while Mobius's superiors suspect he is up to something, so he begins sending Loki out on his own, staying behind at the TVA to keep the others off his trail. Loki still doesn't like being in someone's "servant", and he resents being kept on such a tight temporal leash; but he continues reporting back to Mobius. While on assignments, Loki occasionally ends up preventing disasters that the “Agent of Chaos” had set in motion; though he also can’t help but make some “small” changes to the timeline, himself.

Mobius tells him to be more careful, or he might cause unforeseen effects. When Loki scoffs at this, Mobius asks him if he wants to see the world where he “won” the battle of New York. Mobius doesn’t wait for Loki’s answer, but immediately ships Loki off to an apocalyptic-looking New York City. When Loki gets there, the air is cold to the point where he can see his own breath, and it is utterly silent. A result, it appears, of not only the Chitauri attack, but of the bomb that the Humans used to try to wipe out the invading army. Apparently, the only ones that got wiped out were the Humans -- Avengers and all.

Loki wanders around the desolation for a while, until he is at last found by a roving group of ragged men. They seem to recognize him and he is brought to the leader of the city, who happens to be himself. Boss-Loki has gone a bit around the bend, though. He has been stuck in this place for years since the attack, and has carved himself out a little “kingdom” in the ruins, based in an old arcade. Our Loki is shocked and almost disgusted to see how far he has fallen. When Boss-Loki’s men turn on him because of this other Loki’s presence, though, our Loki gets caught up in the fighting. He calls out to Mobius that he has made his point, and to get him out of there.

Loki goes on doing his “job” then, being more careful with time. At long last, he finds a strange object at the scene of one of the chaotic events, and he brings it back to Mobius, who recognizes it as something he had taken from one of the young agent recruits, a girl named Sylvie. Mobius explains that some of the agents in the TVA are clones (like himself), but that some are recruited at a young age by the TVA because they show special abilities. Sometimes these recruitments occur from outside the main timeline, which is where they found Sylvie. Not only was she a gifted individual, but the TVA records showed that she should not have existed in the first place; so they took her in to train her, and also so that her presence would not disrupt the flow of time. 

Mobius and Loki go to confront her in her room, but she is gone. Mobius feels responsible because it was he that “recruited” Sylvie. Additionally, he knew that she had a habit of slipping through time on “joy rides” and coming back with souvenirs, which was strictly against the rules. She always seemed innocent, though, so he went easy on her about it. Hidden in a drawer in her room, they find other “souvenirs”, and Loki notes that some of them have Asgardian runes on them. Mobius says that Sylvie is human, according to her genetic code, so he doesn’t understand what she is doing with the runes. 

As they ponder the meaning of this, an alarm sounds in the TVA headquarters, and they know something terrible is happening in some variant timeline. They leave Sylvie’s room to try to get to the portals to take them to the time-incident; but on the way, some TVA agents try to stop them. They claim that Loki is the rogue element that has been causing all of the chaos, and that he needs to be “erased” as soon as possible. 

Mobius pretends to be on the agents' side, then sets them off-guard so Loki can get to the scene of chaos. After fighting his way through the Minutemen that are guarding the portals, Loki arrives when/where Sylvie is--at a quarry mine--the moon is shattered and the fragments are falling to the Earth. 

Loki runs to get to safety, and the ground opens up as the mine before him collapses, blocking him off from the now-adult Sylvie, who is staring up at the falling moon. She turns and looks at him just as the ground completely falls out from underneath him.

Suddenly the world around him stills and he lands hard on the ground. He struggles to his feet and looks up to see that everything has frozen around him. As he is standing there, gaping in disbelief, he turns and sees Sylvie standing beside him. She is wearing clothing very similar to his old Asgardian outfit, and she is smiling at the destruction and chaos before them.

“Hello, Father,” she says. “Have I made you proud?”

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Notes: 

SPOILERS below.

My main thought was that since Cailey Fleming is listed as playing “Young Sylvie”, that would imply the presence of an older Sylvie. Otherwise, she would have been listed as “Sylvie”. Sylvie Lushton being the girl that Loki, in the comics, empowered and/or created, and who later became a version of Enchantress. 

That is who I think Sophia Di Martino is playing as an adult, rather than Lady Loki, like I used to think. Her hair is the wrong color to be Loki, for one thing; and she has been shown filming in the same location as Tom Hiddleston, who was wearing an Agent outfit at the time. I’m not gonna put the set photos here, but you know the ones... the pictures where she is wearing just about the same outfit as Loki has in the past. And we know that this character is the one that is causing the chaos, because in those set photos she is wearing a certain pair of boots and fingerless gloves, both of which are freeze-frame bonusses on the “mystery figure” in the trailer (when she drops the lantern and lifts her hands to her hood).

I’d also like to point out that she is wearing what appears to be a sword on her hip:

Anyway, I figure it goes something like this: 

Sylvie exists because another version of Loki had adopted her when he discovered that she had talents close to his own. He had begun training her how to use magic; but he was not so good a teacher as Frigga was, and the training was complicated by her wily and independent nature. Loki in that timeline died, though, leaving Sylvie alone. 

The TVA (specifically, Mobius) took her in, but because of her abilities, she was naturally able to slip through time, create illusions, age herself up and down, etc. Eventually, she decided she would “make her father proud” by sowing chaos. The thing is, she has grown stronger and more chaotic since Loki showed up at the TVA, because she has been inadvertently drawing his power and life force from him -- basically depowering him to charge herself up (c’mon... he gets laid out by a Roomba...). In fact, the draining of his life-force was what killed her “father” in her own timeline, though she didn’t know it.

Additionally (and on another note), the Loki series is said to be a “crime thriller” with sci-fi aspects; so while Loki tracking down a rogue time-agent seems to be a pretty straightforward idea, it could be given a nice twist at the end by having the rogue element not be an agent, but someone of Loki’s own making. And it would be one hell of a cliffhanger for the next season.

And... that’s all I got for now.

[miraculouswolf99]

Breaking Into The Watchtower Part 2

Part 2, and the final part, of my Miraculous-Justice League crossover. Prepare for a long one, readers.

*****

After recharging, the masked teens all gathered back in front of the heroes. Since the ones that had used their powers had to recharge, their power effects lifted from Dr. Fate and Superman. It allowed both heroes to be free once more. The Justice League and Young Justice all returned to their seats. If Wonder Woman was honored to meet them, then they should hear them out before deciding what to do with them.

The group was about evenly split to be on either side of who seemed to be the leaders of their group. The ladybug and butterfly girls as well as the wolf and black cat boys.

“Introductions would certainly be the best way to start,” the ladybug girl said. “My name is Ladybug and I am one of the leaders of the Miraculous hero team of Paris. Right next to me is my partner, Cat Noir.”

The black cat boy nodded at the heroes.

“My name is White Wolf and I am the co-leader of the Miraculous team along with Cat Noir, Ladybug, and my partner Beautifly,” the wolf boy motioned to the butterfly girl when he mentioned her.

“Pleasure,” she nodded to the heroes like Cat Noir.

“With us are all of our team members,” Ladybug motioned to the rest of the heroes. “To my right is Vulpix, Emerald Shell, Queen Bee, Tigress, Lady Unicorn, and Shadow Cat.”

“To my left is the rest of our team,” White Wolf says. “Viperion, Ryuko, Ocean Mage, King Monkey, Gladiator, and Bunnix.”

All of the other heroes nodded when they were introduced.

“For three years, Paris has been terrorized by a terrorist known as Hawkmoth and as have come to personally ask for your help,” Beautifly says.

Ladybug then stepped forward and took the yo-yo off of her wait. She opened it and typed in a few commands. A hologram appeared out of it, like the holographic screams and projectors that the league uses. Ladybug put her yo-yo on the ground so that the others could use their weapons/communicators to control the images that are seen. Cat Noir took out his staff and used it to punch in a command. The hologram then showed images of a few of the miraculous. The most well-known ones, such as the ladybug and black cat as well as the moth/butterfly.

“The miraculous are an ancient set of jewelry enchanted and bonded to gods known as the kwami,” Ladybug explains. “Each piece, along with the kwami that it is bonded to, represents a specific aspect of magic. Creation, destruction, illusion, protection, and more. But that is specifically the miraculous of ancient China, where most of our miraculous come from.

“The miraculous that are used by myself, Beautifly, Tigress, and Gladiator use miraculous that originate from ancient Greece,” White Wolf says. “Our representations are more general but also more specific at the same time. Mine represents Winter’s Hope, as in the hope that comes when you know and hope about how the frost protects the earth before it gives way to the flowers of spring. Beautifly’s represents Spring Love, coming from the original belief of flowers and Spring being associated with love.”

“My miraculous comes from the mystical creature miraculous, where each represents a magical creature and what their core is all about,” Ocean Mage said. “Mine is the miraculous of the mermaid.”

The Justice League paid close attention to what the group was saying. Most of Young Justice was looking at Kid Flash, who was glaring at the teen heroes. He was probably itching to yell at them that “magic wasn’t real” because of his extreme disbelief in it. But the Flash was next to him and making sure that he did not let his former sidekick’s delusions interrupt the Miraculous Team.

“So, it would be a magical threat, right,” Aqualad guessed. “That would be the only reason why the miraculous would be called into action, correct?”

“Exactly,” Beautifly answered the Atlantean.

Cat Noir punched in a command into his baton and the hologram changed. It now showed an image of Hawkmoth. 

“He looks like a Mexican wrestler reject,” Red Hood said.

Most of Team Miraculous had to hold their hands over their mouths to stop them from bursting into laughter and ruining their aura of seriousness.

“This is the terrorist that we have been fighting,” Cat Noir says. “He showed up about three years also, almost four. He has been using the stolen butterfly/moth miraculous in order to turn unsuspecting people into superpowered villains.”

“How can he do that,” Flash asked, curious. “What exactly is the power of his miraculous?”

“The power is originally known as Empowerment,” Cat Noir said. “The miraculous are not meant to be used for evil, so Hawmoth has turned the power into Metamorphasis. He uses it to sense those that are feeling intense negative emotions and takes advantage of them in order to turn them into his villains. Anger, sadness, betrayal, heartbreak, anything negative.”

“His goal has remained the same for the entire time that he has been active,” Viperion says. “He desires to obtain the ladybug and black cat miraculous.”

“What is it about those two that he specifically wants them above all the others,” Black Canary asked them.

“The ladybug and black cat are the most powerful of the ancient China miraculous,” Ryuko tells the league. “They’re the complete opposite of each other with the ladybug being creation and good luck while the black cat is destruction and bad luck. When you combine them, the person wielding them is given the power to bend reality in order to make a wish.”

“So this guy is terrorizing your city just to make a single wish,” Green Arrow raised an eyebrow.

“Must be something that can not be obtained any other way or he is just really desperate for a quick solution,” Red Arrow said.

“If it was a simple wish, there would not be much of an issue,” Ladybug says. “But because the ladybug and black cat need each other to balance the other, the wish itself would also require balance.”

Viperion was the one to put in the next command. How he was able to do that with a harp, none of them ever asked. Three more images appeared, replacing Hawmoth’s. Pompeii, the Black Plague, and even the Salem Witch Trials.

“All of these things were caused by a wish,” Superman sounded skeptical.

“There are many examples of magic throughout history,” White Wolf says. “You just have to know where to look.”

Vulpix took his turn to speak. He used his flute to point at specific images when he was talking about them.

“In Pompeii, someone wished for their family to not be killed by disease,” Vulpix said. “But that ended up causing a volcano that wipes out a majority of the city and most of its population. A man’s wife was sick and he wished for her illness to go away. But then the illness spread since it left one person and turned into a plague. Last was a miraculous holder that was deeply afraid of being discovered and wished to never be accused of using magic. But then dozens upon hundreds of innocent people were convicted and executed during the witch trials.”

“The balance is why the wish is so dangerous,” Emerald Shell says. “Everything that is wished for usually ends in disaster. Even those with pure intentions are not spared. But since Hawkmoth definitely is planning on using the wish, it is either for something extremely wrong or just extremely selfish. Either would end in hell on Earth.”

“It’s so hard to believe that a wish could do all of that,” Black Lightning was shocked.

“Magic does that,” Beautifly says. “It makes the impossible turn possible.”

“If it is the miraculous of ancient China that Hawkmoth wants, why not use the others you have access to,” Red Tornado asked. “It is the logical choice to keep the miraculous that he desires out of his reach. You do have access to the ancient Greek miraculous, given White Wolf, Beautifly, Gladiator, and Tigress.”

“We wish it was that simple,” Lady Unicorn said.

“The problem is that the powers of Hawkmoth’s miraculous can only be undone by the ladybug miraculous,” Ladybug says. “And since the ladybug and black cat have to balance each other, both have to be active at the same time or neither of them can be active. I am the only one that can purify his akumas and then fix all the damage that they cause with my Miraculous Cure.”

Queen Bee typed a command into her top. A video replaced the images of the disasters that the wish caused. The video was from the Ladyblog and it was of the first akuma attack. It showed Ladybug casting her first-ever cure and everything being fixed by it.

“This was only the first of Hawkmoth’s attacks,” she said.

“There is also the added issue that the Greek miraculous also have a wish tied to the most powerful ones,” White Wolf says.

“They do,” Wonder Woman did not know about the Greek miraculous since neither she nor any other Amazon came into contact with them.

“As we have said, the wolf and butterfly miraculous are each themed by elements of Winter and Spring,” White Wolf says. “So you know that would leave the other two seasons. Those two exist in the power of Summer’s Heart for the songbird miraculous along with the Wildness of Autumn for the panther miraculous. Combining all four seasons gives the same wish ability as the combined ladybug and black cat.”

“But there is still the balance issue even with a different set of miraculous,” Tigress added. “Magic always comes at a price. That is the universal law of magic.”

The Justice League all nodded, most of them understanding the price that could come when you use magic. The Young Justice team remembered Zatanna explaining her powers to them when she had first met them. She had said that the power of her spells usually has to come from within, meaning that the more powerful spells would seriously drain her energy. Plus, there is also the known fact that Dr. Fate was never controlled by who wore the helmet. They were like a coat that the lord of order would put on in order to be active. Zatara was still in there but the price he paid was only being able to see his daughter once a year.

“So, what exactly is it that you need from us,” Batman asked the teens.

He was surprised to have heard about the villain in Paris before. Sure, he rarely ever left Gotham unless it was an international emergency, but this was a serious problem. If this villain, or any villain, got their hands on the miraculous, it would be a complete hell on earth. Lord knows what disaster would happen if the Joker made a wish.

“We actually have been requesting help for years,” Queen Bee glared at the league. “Ladybug has called, Cat Noir has called, even the mayor of Paris has called. You all brush us aside and have even told us to stop calling the League to trick them with ‘such an unrealistic prank.’ It’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.”

“While Queen Bee could have been a bit more diplomatic, she is correct,” Ryuko says. “The miraculous are not so unrealistic when you have magic-users like Zatanna as a part of the League while also having Dr. Fate, whose helmet inhabits a lord of order that possesses whoever wears the helmet. That is not unlike the miraculous, only slightly different.”

Guy Gardner looked particularly embarrassed by that. That made the rest of the league realize who had been ignoring their calls for help, waving it off as a prank. You would think that someone with a powerful piece of jewelry himself would believe in the miraculous.

“As much as it pains us to admit, we no longer know what to do,” Cat Noir says. “Hawkmoth has been growing in power ever since Heroes Day almost two years ago. That was also the first time that his partner revealed herself.”

Vulpix was the one that typed in the command this time, into his flute. The hologram changed to show Mayura. The elegant woman looked even more dangerous with her fan allowing only access to her deadly gaze.

“This is Mayura,” Emerald Shell said. “She appeared on Heroes Day and foiled the closest time that the team had ever come to defeating Hawkmoth. She wields the peacock miraculous, which grants the power of Emotion, which allows her to make inanimate objects into guardians. Only they are now called sentimonsters. They are a monster created by a person’s negative emotions just like Hawkmoth’s akumas. While she is not as common as Hawkmoth, the two of them do combine their powers to give akumas a powerful allie.”

Emerald Shell typed in a command and pictures of some of her sentimonsters appeared around the image of Mayura. The moth creature that she usually gives Hawkmoth, Refleckdoll, the lollypop monster, and Feast.

“Why does she not appear as often as Hawkmoth,” Martian Manhunter asked.

“From our own research, and from what our kwami have told us, the peacock miraculous is broken,” Ladybug says. “In an effort to repair itself, it takes away the energy and life force of the person using it. Each time that Mayura transforms, she is risking her life.”

“You think she would actually risk her life just for Hawkmoth to succeed,” Captain Atom asked.

“Mayura has shown to be loyal to a fault,” Shadow Cat said. “The fault being that she is loyal to Hawkmoth. We also suspect that whoever she was had also allowed herself to be akumatized into Catalyst on Heroes Day in order to give Hawkmoth the needed power-up that he needed to do what he did.”

“What exactly did he do,” Green Lantern (John) asked.

“Catalyst gave Hawkmoth a power boost that he used in order to use his power on a massive level, allowing him to become Scarlet Moth,” Beautifly says. “He akumatized almost everyone that had previously been victimized by him. Dozens of his akumas flooded the streets while more of his akuma waited for others to feel negative emotions to infect them as well if they were not under the control of the mind-controlling akumas like Darkblade or Queen Wasp.”

Queen Bee shifted a bit at the mention of her second akuma form, but she got her composure back quickly.

“Hawkmoth had been able to accomplish that when he used a previous akuma to create an illusion of Ladybug being akumatized and killing Cat Noir,” Gladiator said. “All those people feeling the same negative emotion of fear and hopelessness was what allowed him to akumatize so many people at once.”

He typed in a command and the image of Mayura and her sentimonsters were replaced by a clip of what had happened during the parade played.

“And ever since Heroes Day, Hawkmoth has been getting a lot worse,” White Wolf says. “His akumas used to be a lot easier and were relatively harmless to even those affected by them. Like Princess Frangrance only hypnotized those that smelled her perfume and Silencer only took people’s voices. But then you compare that to Syren and Stormy Weather, both have caused natural disasters. Hawkmoth is getting deadly in his desperation for the miraculous.”

He typed in a command and the image changed to show the range of akuma that have happened over the years. Harmless ones like Mr.Pigeon, deadly ones like Queen Of Hearts, and natural disaster ones like Syren.

“We can deal with the akumas,” Ladybug says. “But with Hawkmoth constantly sending them out, we have no time or energy to put toward finding him and taking him and Mayura down for good.”

“Do you have any suspects,” Nightwing asked.

“We had a promising suspect in fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste,” Ocean Mage said. “He lives a secluded life away from people, butterflies are pretty common in a lot of his designs, and there was also that a lost grimoire had also been found in a secret vault by his son.”

“But we had to cross him off the suspect list when he was akumatized,” Tigress says. “But even our only suspect for Mayura puts him right back in the suspect pool.”

“You mean his assistant, right,” Red Robin was looking at the holographic screen over his glove, same as Oracle. “Nathalie Sancoeur.”

“She had had multiple doctor’s appointments ever since this Heroes Day you told us about,” Oracle continued for him. “And every time it is for the same thing. Dizziness, fatigue, constant headaches, and multiple coughing fits.”

“Yes, she is his assistant,” Shadow Cat answered. “She has also shown that she is incredibly loyal to Gabriel no matter how inhumane the things that he wants his son to do are. His diets and constant photoshoots should never be given to a teenager.”

“He also has a motive,” Cat Noir looked to be the most reluctant out of all of them on this topic. “Gabriel Agreste’s wife vanished about six months before Hawkmoth appeared and many assume that she is dead by now. He could desire to use the wish to either bring her back or to bring her back to life. Either would probably cause the balance to cause something horrible to happen.”

“If you suspect those two, do you also suspect Agreste’s son, as well,” Red Robin asked.

“That is the thing that we want to avoid,” Shadow Cat says. “Most of us know his son or have met him because he was targetted by an akuma. Adrien is known as the Sunshine of Paris. There is no way that he is involved even if those two are behind it.”

“We also do not want it to be true because that would also mean that Mr.Agreste put his own son in danger by sending akumas after him,” Lady Unicorn added. “It would also mean that Adrien would probably have his life destroyed if those two really are behind the attacks.”

“I am sure that he would greatly appreciate you all standing up for him,” Wonder Woman smiles at the teen heroes.

Robin had been staring at the group the entire time. He was not only the only blood son of the world’s greatest detective, but he also had a trained assassin’s eye. He noticed things that others didn’t. Like there was an unspoken bond and closeness between the black cat boy and the wolf boy. The other obvious couples seemed to be the horse and tiger girls as well as the dragon girl and snake boy. The fox and turtle boys were also definitely together.

“Is there anything else,” Superman asked.

The teens shared a look with each other. It seemed that this part was probably something that they had discussed before. Ladybug nodded to Cat Noir. He typed in a command and the image of a civilian girl appeared. 

“Why does this girl have sausages on her head,” Red Hood asked.

Most of Team Miraculous did not even try to hold in their laughter this time. But they had to soon get back their composure since this was a very serious situation.

“This is Lila Rossi, daughter of an Italian diplomate,” Ladybug said. “She has been akumatized almost fifty times. She is mostly akumatized as Volpina, which is a poor copy of Vulpix and his powers. But she also has been akumatized into Chameleon, which is an akuma that can shapeshift into anyone or anything that she kisses, as well as Miracle Queen, which can create illusions that can hypnotize people. We believe that she is working for Hawkmoth since Volpina is the only akuma that could have created the illusion on Heroes Day.”

“Why does that make her a suspect,” Green Arrow asked.

“Because I didn’t purify Volpina’s akuma that day,” Ladybug says. “And since Hawkmoth had to akumatize another person into Catalyst after the illusion that was created, that meant that she was akumatized and didn’t tell anyone.”

“There is also that the mayor’s daughter, Chloe Bourgeois, sent us this,” Queen Bee types in a command.

Next to the image of Lila appeared a video that was obviously taken on a cell phone while a person was hiding. It showed Lila running toward an akuma and literally jumping up to snatch it out of the air. She then placed the akuma into the necklace that she was wearing and actually smirked as a glowing butterfly outline appeared over her eyes.

“Because of Chloe’s previous reputation of being a bully and a spoiled brat that likes getting others into trouble, she knew that only we would actually believe her when she gave us this video,” Ladybug says.

“There is also the fact that Lila is a pathological liar that puts on a sweet and innocent front that makes it almost impossible for people to see her as the horrible person that she really is,” Emerald Shell of all people basically growled.

“Lila has spent years telling tall tales about being Ladybug’s best friend,” Vulpix said. “As well lies about musicians like Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale, comic book artists like the writers of the Miraculous Adventures comic, fashion designers like Style Queen and MDC, as well as Adrien Agreste himself. Anyone that has ever called her out has had their lives ruined.”

“More research into her revealed that at every single school that Lila has ever attended, there has been either a suicide, a deadly accident, or a person getting greatly injured,” Viperion says. “All of them have been about kids that were once popular and loved, but their lives went to hell once Lila attended their schools.”

“You believe that this Lila girl is behind all of these things,” Superboy asked.

“We connected everyone that we could that was connected to her past victims,” Gladiator said. “They all said the same thing, that Lila came to the school with tales of grand adventures and their friend or child realized that she was lying. Then she would start whispering lies about these kids to all of her loyal listeners. She would make up stories about them bullying her, threatening her, stealing from her, talking behind their backs, anything that she could think of.”

“She would turn everyone that she could against them,” Ocean Mage crossed his arms. “Friends, teachers, principals, even family. There were those that killed themselves over the bullying they received, but it was actually worse for those that were too strong for that. Lila would then either cause an accident that would kill them or injure them in a way that broke them even further.”

“Take a look at this,” Tigress made an image appear of a kind-looking boy that looked to be from Spain from the background of the image. “This is Mateo Santiago. He went to the same school as Lila when she was in Spain. He was once a popular boy that had a gift for singing. He won countless youth singing contests all over Spain. When he heard Lila’s tales, he did his research and found her to be a liar. But just like all the others, she turned everyone but his family against him. But Mateo remained strong and did not let her or anyone get to him, confident because of how much he performed in front of others. So, Lila took that away from him.”

“See, Mateo was allergic to fish,” Beautifly took over the story. “It gave his throat a bad reaction, so he stayed away from it to keep his vocal cords safe. But one day, Lila managed to get into his locker and pour fish sauce all over his lunch salad. So when lunch came, he had an allergic reaction. He was taken to the hospital and the procedure that saved his life also damaged his vocal cords. He would be mute for the rest of his life. All of that because he knew Lila was a liar and tried to expose her.”

“Lila has been trying to do the same in Paris as well,” White Wolf says, making an image of a Chinese-French girl be exchanged for Mateo’s. “This is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Lila’s latest victim. See, Marinette is a fashion design hopeful and has already designed for those like Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Adrien Agreste, and even been noticed by Style Queen herself for a simple hat. Since she has her own connections, she knew right away that Lila was a liar.”

“You may notice from any research that you do that Vulpix, Emerald Shell, and Lady Unicorn have not always been those that wield the fox, turtle, and horse miraculous,” Cat Noir says, making images of three previous holders appear next to Marinette’s picture. “This is Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Pegasus. They were the previous holders of those three miraculous.”

“Did something happen to them,” Red Arrow asked.

“Lila happened,” King Monkey crossed his arms. “These three used to be friends of Marinette’s. Especially Rena and Carapace. But then Lila came along and Marinette tried to expose her. Lila managed to sway half of Marinette’s class into being her attack dogs to attack Marinette even if Lila looks even the slightest bit upset.”

“Marinette is a sweetheart,” Shadow Cat added. “She was the class president, got some of the best grades in her class, does charity work, babysits, helps her parents in their bakery, and has always bent over backward to help others. But Lila took most of that away with her lies. She probably would have destroyed Marinette if not for her having loyal friends.”

“Marinette has been the victim of physical, mental, and emotional bullying for years because of Lila,” Cat Noir looked ready to hiss. “But she remains positive the entire time. She’s transferred classes, has gotten a new phone number, and even uses a secret identity when she designs to keep Lila from claiming her designs as her own.”

“Lila has also chosen to act as a spy for Gabriel Agreste,” Ladybug’s fists were clenched tight. “She has used her lies to get close to him and he uses her to try and separate Adrien from ‘bad influences.’ Which is basically just Lila using more lies to try and isolate Adrien so that he would only have her. Adrien actually stays away as best she can, especially since she is sexually harassing him, but his father always gives them photoshoots together. She constantly threatens him by saying that with one word, Adrien will be back under house arrest by his father no longer letting him leave the house.

“Between her causing akumas, being akumas, Hawkmoth, and Mayura, we need help,” Beautifly says. “There must be something that you can do to help us.”

The league all shared looks with each other. These heroes have obviously been doing a great help if Paris is still standing, but they also look so tired and in dire need of their help.

“We’ll help,” Robin tells the heroes before the league actually answered.

[aria-i-adagio]

Mudlark

aka. Chapter 46 of Where the Elfroot Grows (read on AO3)

---

Rhys Trevelyan - Fucking Herald of Andraste and newly appointed Lord Fucking Inquisitor - kneels on the warm ground of Skyhold’s garden, ripping out weeds with his bare hands, getting dirt all over his trousers, and trying his best to enjoy the autumn sun in peace. The walls of the garden are working as they should, collecting and trapping the heat of the day, even as the shadows cast by the trees begin to grow long. It’s brilliant engineering, even more brilliant than he thought at first. Even at lower elevations, the season for pears and applies should have passed, but the trees here are still producing. He suspects some sort of enchantment built into the walls to amplify the natural effects of the design, but he hasn’t been able to clear enough growth to uncover all the stonework. He’d have finished days ago. Except for Leliana and Cassandra interrupting his plans to declare him Inquisitor.

He’s as close to alone as he’s likely to manage anytime soon. Mother Giselle wandered into the chapel a half hour or so ago either to pray or to work on cleaning and repairing the ancient statue. She’d probably tell him that work and prayer are much the same if one has the right attitude of devotion to Andraste’s teachings and the Maker’s will. He heard the sound of other feet in the gallery a bit after Mother Giselle passed followed by the scraping of a chair being pulled into a desirable spot. Someone might be there still, but whoever it is, they aren’t bothering him, just trying to get a break of their own from the general cacophony of a hundred or so people trying to make Skyhold fully habitable.

It shouldn’t bother him so; it wasn’t as though he’d ever had space to himself in the Circle, but there’s something very different about being in charge of more than seedlings. And Inquisitor feels so much more permanent, so much heavier, than Herald.

Josie kidnapped him promptly after breakfast and trapped him in meetings all day. First with Leliana about the couriers she would be sending: to the Inquisition camps around Redcliffe, to the Chantry, to the College of Enchanters, to Queen Anora in Denerim, to Orzammar, maybe to the Queen of Antiva. Rhys had honestly lost count at a certain point, even though he did his best to read the ones she wanted him to sign. They were all variations on the same theme - an announcement that the Inquisition had survived the destruction of Haven, a reminder that they were responsible for closing the Breach, and requests for supports to oppose Corypheus.

Then, Rutherford and Cassandra wanted to discuss the soldier’s progress repairing an old road that ran through a pass between Ferelden and Orlais, just under the peak on which Skyhold sits. Rutherford says the road is in shockingly good condition and mostly only needs a bit of clearing a few holes filled to be usable by caravans. At the moment, the engineers can’t explain why it was abandoned, as once opened the route will save a significant amount of time transporting products between Orlais and the Lake Calenhad region. Further, they’d discovered auxiliary forts will secure Skyhold's control of what will be a valuable trade route. There’s some discussion of collecting tolls as a source of income for the Inquisition, but it all seems very abstract to him.

The only part of the report that Rhys is internally motivated to be interested in is the repair work on an ingenious winch and cable system that would allow people and goods to be moved up and down the mountain in a matter of hours, versus days. Like the road, it is in remarkable condition - a little grease and a few solders to the heavy cables made it functional again. They’re already able to use it to send messages and lightweight supplies up and down the mountain. (And one adventurous member of Bull’s Chargers. Rhys is slightly envious.) To operate it with any significant amounts of weight, they'll need some strong draft animals to turn the winches at the base and the summit, but Rhys is told that the contact he had made with the farmers around Redcliffe and a few generous handfuls of gold should be able to make that happen.

Rhys had just thought assisting the farmers to secure watchtowers so that they could better defend themselves seemed like the right thing to do as he had no solution to the conflict in the area. Even without Templars and Maleficarii, there were still bears to worry about. Rhys has developed a strong dislike of bears. But they do all the allies they can manage. And Rhys wouldn’t say no to a bear fur or ten or a hundred. Skyhold is magnificent, but with the exception of the garden suntrap, the temperatures are rapidly dropping below anything he’s ever experienced.

An hour after lunch, when he thought the four of them were finished with him, Harritt showed up talking about the tunnels underneath the keep that he’d been exploring with a small team. They go deep, far deeper than Harritt is comfortable taking the men without reinforcements, but he just feels that they reach the Deep Roads. Skyhold is close to Orzammar after all. No signs of Darkspawn, thank Andraste! But they do need to be mindful of the possibility of an attack from below. (It balances the threat of an attacking dragon from above, Rhys supposes. Good to keep your equations balanced.) Cassandra suggested that Harritt take Blackwall along with a few soldiers to explore further, and around yawns, Rhys agreed with her. If the road between Ferelden and Orlais is somehow valuable, why not a road to Orzammar? Or Minrathous? All the roads!

Rhys continues ripping out vines and mentally curses all four of them for promoting him from Herald to Inquisitor. (Although, he’s fairly sure that Rutherford isn’t entirely happy about having a mage in charge for the longue durée.) Morning glories - another plant that would generally need a warmer clime to survive, even as stubborn as it is. Pretty flowers, but they take over everything. He’ll transplant some to a bed near an arbor he discovered two days ago when he swung a machete at a stand of ragweed and hit a metal post. The morning glories will be a desirable replacement - Josie will like the decorative element - if he can keep them contained.

Why couldn’t Andraste just need a gardener?

That question, of course, assumed that Andraste is in fact, the Bride of the Maker and thus, endowed with the power to toss Rhys back out of the Fade (however he ended up there in the first place), which, in turn, assumes the existence of the Maker and not just an empty throne in the middle of a Golden City. And as far as Rhys has ever been able to tell, the Maker’s existence can be neither proven nor disproven, and the people debating it - quietly, of course - were both wasting their breath and risking their necks.

A better question might be, why in the Void did he let Cassie talk him into agreeing to lead the Inquisition? It was a bit unfair of her and Leliana to ambush him with the question in public. And Josie and Rutherford’s little display of rallying acclamation from the survivors of Haven strongly suggested that the decision had already been made before Cassandra and Leliana asked him.

From the Fade and into the fire. Just my luck.

Rhys is too distracted by humoring his own grumbling to notice the loose, mounded soil hiding under the vines until his right hand is buried well past his wrist and stinging sharply from hundreds of tiny mandibles pinching the flesh and sinking venom under the surface of his skin.

Rhys springs up and back with a yelp, flinging his arm to the side in an attempt to shake the ants free, then immediately back in front of him to cast a cage of lightning around the anthill, hoping that it circles deep enough underground to cut off the entire colony before any more of the ants can swarm out to attack him.

“Andraste’s flaming weasel -” Some of the ants have already gotten under his sleeve, and it doesn’t take many of this species to produce abject misery. He swats futilely at his arm, then gives up and tears off his jacket. “Knickerbocker tits!”

“Rhys, has some demon of dance possessed you?”

“Ants.” Rhys tosses the jacket aside and tries to crush the insects between the fabric of his sleeve and his arm for a second before ripping the buttons on his shirt open and stripping it off as well. A couple of the damned terrors have made it to his neck and chest. “Blighted fire ants.” Ugh. That’s a horrible notion - fire ants infected with the Blight. The Maker really will have abandoned us.

“So dramatic. Here -” Dorian attempts to brush a few of the blighters off before Rhys can stop him. “Fasta vass! That thing bit me.”

“Yes.” Rhys flicks one off his neck and sweeps his left hand over his right arm. Be damned nice if this Anchor were effective against fire ants. “Get me a bucket of water, will you?”

The static cage spell will wear off shortly, releasing any of the ants that hadn’t been shocked to death already. And those ants will be an infuriated horde with murder on their hive mind. Rhys ignores the stinging long enough to cast as controlled and intense of a fire spell as he can manage over the mound and watches with satisfaction as it erupts through the weeds and rolls over the anthill in a destructive wave. Invasive little fuckers. Kill them. Kill them with fire.

Rhys grabs the full bucket from Dorian and splashes the water over his right side, knocking most of the remaining ants loose and hopping away from that bit of ground before they can recover and decide to crawl up his leg.

“The hell are those things?”

“Fire ants.” Rhys glares at the scorched earth, watching for movements that might single a second assault. Dorian really must have spent the majority of his time in cities and libraries if he didn’t know about fire ants. The things are native to Tevinter and had been slowly invading the south for decades. He goes back to the well in the center of the garden and draws another bucket of water to dump over his head. “Also known as the most vicious little blighters known to Thedas.”

“Certainly they can’t be that bad. They’re just insects.”

“I fell into a mound once when I was still an apprentice... I’ll take a small horde of Darkspawn over these things.” Rhys rubs his hands over his neck and face. He doesn’t think he’s allergic; the bites should just be an irritant - just one more irritant for an irritating day - but people do develop allergies to insect bites following initial exposure. He can’t feel any swelling around his throat, but there is an itch along his jaw. He swats at his cheek - unsure if there’s an ant, or if he’s just imagining it - and inadvertently smears water and dirt together into mud.

“Ah, thus the warpaint.” Dorian smirks at him.

Rhys touches his face. The tacky mud over his cheek and nose sticks to his fingertips. Fortunately, it seems like Dorian is the only other person about to bear witness. Rhys laughs. Ah yes, he should definitely be in charge of a quasi-religious movement with a military. “Yes. The warpaint.” He slaps his thigh as he feels another series of stingings pricks. Excellent. One or two had made it to his legs, but at least it’s not a swarm. “And the two or three more fireballs I’m about to hit that mound with.”

“Such a vengeful little mudlark. Ready to defend his territory. Want help?”

“Oh yes. Fire. Kill them with fire.” Rhys casts another fire spell over the mound as the first burns out, silently apologizing to any innocent soil dwellers caught in it... But... Fire ants.

“Then quick healing spell, a bath, and clean clothes, I suppose?”

“Volunteering to help with that too?”

“I could be.” Dorian paces a tight circle around Rhys and flicks one of the insects off his back with a single manicured nail. “You seem rather distraught to be left alone.” A wave of magic - Dorian’s spells always feel warm - flows over him, easing the stinging, although the sensation - real or imagined or a combination - of insect feet has Rhys ready to crawl out of his skin - along with the rest of his clothes.

“Inquisitor?” Cassandra shouts down from a window in the tower she’s claimed for herself. “What are you doing? Why are there flames?”

“Fire ants!” Rhys yells back. That should be self-explanatory. He thinks the known range of the damned bugs includes Nevarra, but then Cassandra hasn’t spent that much time in Nevarra, and probably not that much time stomping through weeds anywhere. Andraste! Fire ants under armor. He shivers at the thought.

“What?” Cassandra sounds confused.

“Don’t worry about it, Seeker. The Herald and I have everything under control.”

Rhys can imagine her grumpy huff even if he can’t hear it over the sound of the shutters of the window slamming shut.

Dorian’s eyebrows arch high with amusement. “Be careful, Rhys, or there’ll be a rumor started that you’ve gone quite mad.”

“If I get many more bites -” He smacks a different spot on his thigh. “I just might.”

“Well then, we’d better go make sure you get them all drowned then. Is it safe to touch your shirt?”

“Leave it. Damn things will get confused now that their colony is gone and wander off in a bit.” He can retrieve the shirt and jacket to be cleaned later - once the ants are well gone. The morning glory vines around the ant mound are too green for the fire to spread easily, but Rhys throws another bucket of water over them to be safe. Josie would probably tell him it’s bad form to burn down one’s new base of operations. And then yet another bucket over his head.

If Varric has questions when Rhys, shirtless and still dripping water stalks past the table he’s writing at with an amused Dorian following behind, he keeps them to himself.

“Why so grumpy today?” Dorian asks. He’d volunteered to go find some dry, ant-free clothes for Rhys, and after returning to the kitchen storeroom - the most rational place to locate a tub for bathing until further repairs are made - had remained, leaning against the closed door and toying with the rings he wears, switching them from finger to finger. “You're normally as chipper as a little bird.”

“A mudlark?”

“Does that bother you? I won't call you that if it does.”

“No, no. I kind of like it.” Rhys scrubs a bit of soapy flannel between his toes - just in case an ant had found its way there. At least Josie won’t be able to complain about dirt under his fingernails for a few hours. “Much better than Herald.”

“Or Inquisitor?”

“Definitely better than Inquisitor.” Rhys slides down in the tub, dunking his head under the water again. His next oldest brother and little sister calling him snaggletooth when he was eight would be better than Inquisitor. Besides, he likes the way that Dorian says ‘mudlark’ when talking to him. Rhys resurfaces and pushes wet hair out of his face. “I really don't want to be called Inquisitor. And yet, here I am.”

“You know, the fact that you don't want to be Inquisitor might be precisely the reason why you should be.”

“I spent all morning trying to keep up with discussions on topics that I know nothing about. Politics, economics - roads! I’m not the right person for this.”

“You’ll learn. Quickly, I’m sure.”

“You’re more confident than I am.” Rhys flicks idly at the surface of the water. “But for what it’s worth, thanks.”

“Rhys, the kind of person who would be prepared for something like this is also the kind of person who is likely to abuse any power they are given. And you will have power once the rest of Thedas realizes the threat Corypheus poses. Wouldn’t you rather be the leader and not just the tool?”

Rhys lifts his left hand from the water and studies the Anchor carefully. Yes, a tool. An instrument that controls the Veil in terrifying ways that he doesn’t understand. Something that he’s not supposed to have and that an ancient monster desperately wants. The faint green glow is more apparent in the dim light of this basement room than it was in the sunlight of the garden - one more reason to cherish the place. “It feels so foreign. Wrong. Like some disease that should be pruned away.” He touches the first three fingers of his right hand to his palm and draws them slowly down to the fold of his elbow, following the path that the magic flows along before Solas pushes it back again.

Dorian’s brow creases and moves fluidly, kneeling on one knee beside the tub and catching Rhys’s hand in his. “You’ve managed well this far.” He weaves their fingers together, and almost - almost - touches his lips to Rhys’s knuckles. “You can always come rant to me, you know. If any given day is too much.”

Rhys remains still for the space of one, two, three heartbeats, then he runs his thumb over Dorian’s fingers, soft skin, metal rings warm with heat from his body.

Dorian’s eyes drop. His cheeks might be colored a touch, but Rhys can’t quite be sure in the dim light. He rises to his feet and turns away in a single elegant motion. “You should take a break. Soak for a while. Relax a bit.” He pushes the door open, just a crack, hesitating for the barest second. “I guess I’ll -”

“Dorian?”

His back straightens as he turns back around. “Yes.”

“Keep calling me mudlark.”

Dorian glances down, breaking eye contact between them, but the corners of his eyes crinkle as he smiles. “You know where to find me, Mudlark, trying to salvage books. I could try to do something about the mess you’ve made of your hands playing in the dirt again.”

[firebunnylover]

LoSH S2 discussion

I love Legion of Superheroes. And i love season 2, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think about how it could have been improved. In terms of quality, it varies more than season 1. Some parts are top tier while others… eh.

Season 2 is darker than season 1. And there’s the inherent stigmatism that darker means better. But it’s not true.

A horror schlock film is not inherently better than an animated film.

I don’t blame the staff on all its shortcomings. Kids WB was on its deathbed, so they probably had less time to work and iron out ideas. And executive meddling.

The second season had a lot of good elements, but there are things that weighed it down. I am here to discuss how to improve said things.

Heads up: ended up editing part of this post after rewatching the episodes.

This first bit is more of a personal preference, but instead of the 41st century, maybe move the original source of conflict to a farther region of space, one that the UP doesn’t interact with, and has been growing in terms of turmoil until they finally resort to bringing the Legion over. In other words, it has just been put aside by everyone else to the last minute.

Parallel to Brainy’s relationship to Brainiac. He doesn’t want to deal with it. He never brings it up. But maybe if he did, he wouldn’t have gotten corrupted.

This place still has plenty of old documentation of the original age of superman, so Kell is disillusioned with the ideal glory days. Keep Kell Edgy.

Kell’s home and K3NT still gets destroyed - reflects Krypton’s own destruction.

SPEAKING OF KELL:

Make his story more apparent that it’s one realizing that kindness is not an inherent weakness. And neither is being soft. He was raised for fighting and killing Imperiex, and was taught to think that they were weaknesses. Have him realize his identity can be beyond the Clone of Superman made to kill Imperiex. Or rather, have him react more to realizing that he’s moving beyond his given identity.

To clarify; they do address his development in the show a few times, but I want more continuous development instead of the rapid nods we get. Have him try to interact in a more humane way with others. Especially with other members of the Legion. Where they have to take a double take in seeing him acting not that edgy. Maybe offer more flashback of him fighting Imperiex in comparison, and how he treated allies then.

Also put K3NT’s story under the microscope. I doubt Imperiex just came out of nowhere with his attacks. Plus the fact they went far enough to send a hitman after a fucking child? That screams yikes and maybe we need to double check the story.

And an overall issue to be addressed is what rights do robots have and what conditions need to be met? Because let’s face it, we make robots to do complex work for us. But Colu is a culture where the main people ARE robots. Like in Transformers. What line do we draw between non-sentient robots vs the sentient ones in the 31st century? And what about cyborgs/people who give up their original bodies for robotic ones?

Plus Imperiex himself came to be because of the perfected combination of organic tissue and robotics. This topic of robots and individuality/personhood could have been a fun topic to explore.

Don’t sideline the girls. Leave TG alone. 

Don’t put SG in a coma for nearly the whole season - seriously it’s the reason why the guys make one bad decision after the other. Although with that said, it’s because she’s not around we got the majority of s2 plots. She’s the goddamn mom of the squad. Just make her busier and unable to keep an eye on her idiot boys for the plots based on bad decisions to happen. 

Or have her deal with after-effects of what Esper did to her. Maybe after a whole season of being the emotional support character, have her be the one in need of emotional support or not being able to help directly, especially when the group needs emotional support. Emotional support paradox.

Maybe don’t make Cosmic Boy appear as much as a dick in the episodes where he does show up. He’s trying to hold this goddamn team together, and there’s a goddamn tyrant trying to conquer the galaxy. HE’S FUCKING TIRED AND STRESSED. AND IM SURE THERE ARE A BUNCH OF JERKS WHO WANT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT TO DISSOLVE THE LEGION. Better yet, throw in some more backstory with him and his little brother Pol!

And in regards to Imperiex… The dude has a lot of potential. I like his voice actor, Phil Morris. The guy voiced Dr. Sweets from Atlantis.

But his writing needs help.

In the original DC comics, he’s the embodiment of Entropy. Anyone who’s seen Madoka is probably familiar with what that is. But if you're not, here’s a definition: “ the measure of a system’s thermal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work...” He’s the embodiment of that energy that cannot be used for anything. And Entropy grows over time.

Another definition of what Entropy is “lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.”

In the comics, he’s more of a cosmic being as a result of him being an embodiment of unusable energy. He’s been in existence since, well, the beginning. He had destroyed the universe and recreated it multiple times. Okay, so that lines up with how the show portrays him. And technically, he does get the universe to reset itself in the 41st century when he alters the 31st century enough.

But I personally feel that making him a cosmic being is kinda… meh?

I personally prefer more personal villains most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, an Eldritch being done right makes a great character, but I can’t see Imperiex as one. At least not LoSH’s version.

Plus I like it when the protagonist sees the villain has a point and has changed as a result for the better.

You know, over a year ago, I used to think that it was impossible to make a tyrannical villain who’s presented as real evil seem complex.

And then… I was introduced to TFP Megatron.

Now for you LoSH fans who haven’t watched Transformers Prime, Megatron was once Megatronus. A low caste member who worked in the mines and Gladiator games. He wanted to fix the growing corruption of Cybertron. To make things better.

But his worse personality traits took over, and he lost that good motivation. Now he’s just fighting to win and defeat Optimus Prime. 

But despite the change of goals and ideals, he doesn’t want to simply abandon his relationship with Optimus. He and Optimus, or as he used to be called, Orion, were fighting for the betterment of society. And they meant something to each other. Megatron doesn’t want to just get it over with. He wants fanfare for his victory over Optimus. And he doesn’t want anyone else to rob him off that. But he isn’t opposed to getting Optimus/Orion back on his side. It’s because of this you can still argue that there is a remaining shred of good in him.

They were the best young lovers anD NO I AM NOT CRYING OVER THEM!

Also, the fact we know he was part of a minority group in the form of the lower cast  that was enslaved can make us sympathize with Megatronus of the past, as well as understand how he came to be.

It doesn’t mean we forgive him for his actions - and he has done a lot of shitty things. And I mean a lot.

But his history is more understandable. TFP Megatron’s a fall from grace.

OK I’m done dissecting TFP Meg’s writing.

We know Imperiex was a slave, and was originally organic, who’s from a society where his purpose is literally just to fight, and was gradually stripped of his original body. He was originally stripped of any agency before then though.

But he says this was a good thing. Calling his original body a weakness. And refers to his old self as a pathetic slave.

He gave up whatever softness he had.

Also, this is where K3NT’s story needs to be reexamined. Imperiex was made during what K3NT described as “A Time of Extended Prosperity”. That time had freaking slaves. And K3NT says that when Imperiex did rise up, they were unprepared. So… they were prosperous, but lacked defense to prevent anything like that happening? Or perhaps those who were in charge were that unpopular that it was easy for Imperiex to start the war.

What made him decide conquering the galaxy was the next thing to do after he had every bit of his original self stripped away? Why go as far as destroy it?

What I’m trying to say is that they could borrow a few pages from the Megatron book. Maybe he was once trying to better the society he was part of, but he decides to play the violent card at some point. And somewhere along that strategy, he starts to lose sight of the initial goal. With that, being the victor and in control becomes the main one.

Or perhaps he has grown cynical of the galaxy as it is and decides it just needs to go all together, and then start from scratch.

Like the second definition of Entropy, he gradually declines in predictability and descends into disorder.

Maybe to juxtaposition the fact that Brainiac became the main threat at the end, make him the opposite or foil to him. Rationality or logic do not serve as first-or-second influences to decisions under pressure. Emotions and his own perceived ideas do.

Speaking of Brainiac, maybe offer more of the OG Brainiac. Give us more of that smooth-voiced Corey Burton. 

Or TFA Megatron.

Seductive Bastard.

I’m sorry I have fallen for the shady-business-mafia-boss-but-morally-grey robot.

Also, the members of the legion that only get one episode focus? Give them more screen time. You can’t just introduce superman’s new adopted son Karate Kid and just not bring him for another speaking role again!

Actually, that brings me to another point.

As @spandexinspace​ pointed out, his episode is not the best, and is arguably the worst written of the whole series. Things that are issues do get brushed off to the side.

So a proposal on potential rewrite:

First, have the legion look over its current rules and what exceptions/changes they need to make.

Explore the subject of kids having to participate in these fights.

To clarify, kid shows are meant to be escapism for kids.

Shocking, I know.

So it makes sense that some characters would be the same age as the viewers. 

But while this is good representation, as you get older, you find yourself going “WHY WOULD THE ADULTS LET THEM ENDANGER THEMSELVES?!”

Kids having to fight at that age does have consequences. Batman Beyond certainly addressed it. So did Steven Universe Future.

Steven ended up being responsible for so much, that when he no longer needed to take care of things, he was unsure of who he was. And then there’s the fact he ended up with PTSD because of him having to fight so much. Then you have the fact that Greg and Rose never intended to raise him like their caretakers did... but as good as their intentions were, they still caused damage. Rose for… all the gem stuff. And look, Greg is a great dad, but not enforcing anything for Steven when he’s growing up still has it’s cost.

With Batman, he’s obviously going to do his damn best to keep kids safe, including the Robins. But sometimes, it’s not enough. He wasn’t able to keep Tim safe in the event with the Joker in Batman Beyond. Where he was held captive and tortured.

But the Batkids are never expected to resolve this stuff by themselves. Because Batman knows how much you can get screwed up as a kid. He fucking cares.

And to be fair, in most continuities I’m aware of, the other sidekicks came out pretty okay overall.

Except Jason Todd.

So my proposal?

Have Val originally with Grimbor, as a sort of Protege. But have the legion capture him, only to go “uhhh this is a child with no powers”. And Superman, being the good, wholesome paragon we all love, takes him under his wing.

In all honesty, I want Superman pulling a batdad for Karate Kid in his intro episode the whole time. That was the best part of the episode for me.

Plus after the events of “Cry Wolf”, the Legion should examine the no-killing rule. Because they do need to kill Imperiex to save the universe. But that goes against the code. But they can argue it’s a necessity. But Mar Londo is also a monster. He’s the everyday monster some of us have grown up with.

When do you need to make exceptions to kill someone?

And my final main suggestion:

Add more Mekt.

What the heck were you guys expecting? You all KNOW me by now. I LOVE MY GARBAGE BOY.

Joking aside, here’s what I would do.

Have the Chained Lightning episode pushed back, but have Mekt with Imperiex earlier. Most of us would yell “Why the heck would you join the guy whose main goal is to destroy the galaxy?!” But this is one of the easiest things to address.

Explore more of his past. Use the comic sources with him being outcast for being a solo on Winath. With that in mind, him deciding to side with Imperiex can make sense.

Why try protecting something that has done nothing but hurt you?

There’s actually a pretty good reason why he would side with Imperiex, as seen in Champions and Lightning Storm. Remember, Mekt was willing to cheat to get ahead of the sports competition he was introduced in. And also was thrilled when fighting Garth and was beating him on his own. He likes being in power.

Imperiex offers him that.

As for why Imperiex would bother with Mekt? That’s a little harder to answer. He knows that Mekt has a soft spot for his brother, and in turn sister, which proves to be the reason why the Tachyon Cannon fails. You’d think Imperiex would remove a huge fatality.

But he doesn’t.

Maybe he could hold another type of value for Mekt. Perhaps... nostalgia?

I’m still sold on the idea that they were sleeping together.

Also, give us a conclusive answer on where Mekt stands with the LSV. In the comics, he was the leader, but that role was given to Tyr in the cartoon more or less.

OK I think this has been polished enough for me to post now. What you guys think? Feel free to add on!

[lightdancer1]

One of the main points of the cycle:

Is that Death of the Endless is, as there is canonical text, not subtext, literal text in big bold letters, a being who is deeply starved of affection and easily prone to being overly affected by the views of others and not in a good way. At the same token she is selflessly prone to give to a fault and this is very explicitly a fault.

Dream of the Endless is humongously self-absorbed and navel-gazing with his creations across iterations but that is the exact opposite fault to Death, who is too selfless for her own health, and to Destiny, who is cosmically so apathetic his presence tends to be non-existent and it's easy to forget he not only exists but is the most powerful of all the Endless in terms of ability to directly influence material reality.

Destruction likewise takes things too personally, Desire is a sadist, Despair dissociates and Delirium is....Delirium.

I like Death of the Endless very much, she's my favorite character....and the one that I write is entirely based on what is not so much headcanon (that would be the cycle of her lifetimes and noting various effects on her that it has and that's where that comes in) as text applied within that headcanon and its logical elements.

Death is no less flawed in her own ways than her brother, and stories that focus on her perspective rather than Dream's will be very different in tone and context and connotation than stories based on Dream. The views of her in the Sandman reflect those of the Morpheus and Daniel at the times the stories are set more than Death herself, and from her own perspective her motivations are so different to his interpretations of them as to bluntly illustrate the unreliable narrator effect.

So too with why Desire is an ace sadist who likes toying with mortals but takes xir own responsibilities just as seriously as Dream, and the feud is really more of a one-sided exercise in pettiness on Desire's part with Dream seldom if ever truly caring or exercising concern about it. But messing with the more amoral Morpheus is not always in itself a bad thing, and one of the big reasons Death is so willfully blind on Morpheus's fault and unwilling to straightforwardly call them out is that she was so lonely before Dream connected to her that she's unwilling *to* risk too much to do so lest she go back to being that lonely again.

Which means in the occasions that she *does* do it, as with Preludes and Nocturnes and Season of Mist, it stands out that much more in the relative absence of it otherwise. And her enabling Dream to go down the path he does as Morpheus is not to her credit as a person or a sister, and when Desire calls this out, as xie does across different timelines and iterations, they're the most unpleasant and nightmarish of the Endless for mortals but Desire is entirely *right* to say what xie says, as xie says it.

[jackedspicer]

a bio for my xiaolinsona! she’s a work in progress so i’m bound to come back and change it. trivia and more in depth information is under the readmore :)

continued trivia:

she’d show up somewhere near the start of season 4

she’s used a LOT for slapstick. in fact she’s mostly a comic relief character

she’s guided mainly by emotions, is right brain oriented, and is a hands-on learner

there is a running gag where she frequently has bandaids on her fingers, hands, arms, or anywhere really

she’s a massive funk junkie. LOVES disco. she’s also a great dancer

when she comes up with xiaolin showdowns, sometimes she’ll base it off of fun recreational activities or things that seem harmlessly mundane, like mini golf..... tic tac toe.....dance-off...... rock paper scissors..... the showdowns themselves obviously end up being high-stakes and lethal as they always are, except they’re based off of goofy premises

she’s probably musically accented by grunge that’s slightly funky

when it’s funny, she occasionally will use huge words or make jarringly philosophical statements, eg patrick star’s “the inner machinations of my mind are an enigma” cut to footage of milk spilling

shes a lot like charlie kelly. in general. any charlie moment is just. Her. she’s a wild card and screams every line and huffs glue and tries to get the honey out of a hornets nest outside of jacks house because she thinks hornets make honey and she likes ghouls and she genocides the rats in his basement and sleeps ass to ass with him and is illiterate

she likes to do arts and crafts but they almost always come out as abominations. she’ll occasionally borrow some of jack’s tools to construct her latest atrocity, and she’ll refer to them by a wrong/made up name while she’s at it. “the hacksaw duey”, “the electric hole puncher,” ”the automatic pizza cutter”, etc. yes the projects and the bandaids have a direct cause and effect relationship. please refer to this video (and this channel in general)

imagine her sitting at a table and just doing this in jack’s lair... this video alone can be used to sum up so much of her. the technique. the bandaids. the blatantly wrong information that’s said with such conviction. the dark turn towards the end of the video. “superfluous protrusion.” the way it ends

continued trivia pt. 2, taken from my instagram

(i’ll get into this more further down the post)

fighting style because this is xiaolin showdown:

she has a very nimble, disorienting style of combat. using pokemon stats as an analogy, her highest would be speed by far, followed by attack, with her lowest stats being defense and special attack. this combined with her unrelenting nature makes her an excellent distraction and a general nuisance, but she doesn’t fare well in prolonged head to head battle.

favorite shen gong wu: 

monkey staff, mikado arms, fancy feet, neptune helmet, hoduko mouse, woozy shooter (on herself), tongue of saiping, longi kite, indigo pyramid (on jack (cause it’s funny))

*the shen gong wu she’s most skilled with in battle are ones that trip up her opponents and cause status ailments. kinda like a prankster

backstory/analysis:

at her core, she’s a jolly, optimistic, humorous person, but her unruly, isolating childhood put a blow on her psyche. much like jack spicer, she’s been virtually alone her entire life - she was rejected by peers and adult figures alike since earliest childhood, and her home life was turbulent at best.

to ease the pain, at some point, she took on resenting and judging those around her as a means to cope. she has a holden caulfield-esque defense mechanism in play where if everybody sucks for this reason, or that reason, or those reasons, then she has justification for detaching herself from others, and she can derive her only source of self esteem from being better than them. this hurts far less than the devastating truth that she cannot connect with people on account of feeling so worthless and estranged from other human beings that she could never have the chance to be cared about by anyone. deep down, she’s in desperate, thrashing need of support and genuine human connection, and she has a warped perception of how she can achieve that.

she’s taken up evil as a hobby because it nurtures her desire to be destructive and, again, just like jack spicer, she engages in it as a way to feel seen. all press is good press, and the best way to make the headline is to cause some damage. what sets her apart from him in this regard, though, is that she takes all of her pain out on her enemies (in this case, the xiaolin monks) because she can’t stand how well off they are - instead, on the basis of their acceptance of one another, she sees them as goody two-shoes phonies who ought to be knocked down a peg. while evil to jack is both a means of getting much needed attention and a convoluted way of spending time with friends, to sid it’s a way to vent frustrations and a way to, well... still garner attention, but also spend time with a friend, except the friend is jack.

the other half of the reason she partakes in petty villainy is that it’s just... fun. she only got wrapped up in all this because she’d been restlessly putzing around somewhere remote, found a neat doohicky she planned on keeping, and when one thing led to another she wound up in a xiaolin showdown against jack. experiencing the chaos unfold revealed a golden opportunity she couldn’t pass up, so she asked jack to let her come with, debuting their partnership (i talk about this in further detail at the end of the post). goofing off and doing evil with him is so much fun to her! it makes her feel alive, a sensation and state of mind she never could fully achieve before.

noteworthy relationships:

jack: 

they have a team rocket thing going on. not in terms of their interpersonal dynamic, but rather their role in the story, how much of a threat they pose as, their schemes, and even their overall attitude are reminiscent of the iconic duo; they’re petty, recurring villains with hearts of gold who aren’t above occasionally siding with the good guys.

even though they both are on the same tier of comic relief and general foolishness, the metaphor i like to draw is that jack is the left brain and sid is the right brain.

their personalities have such chemistry and they’re both so goofy that they effortlessly sync up. everyone thinks it’s REALLY annoying

they’re best friends! they actually care very deeply for one another, even if they might have funny ways of showing it. they may be evil, but they’re mutually the only and closest friend the other has ever had, and with that carries a lot of weight. think of it - the first person you meet who hasn’t been nothing but awful to you likes you and wants to be around you. What a concept

while their relationship is platonic, there are several gags implying a romantic element, even though nothing is ever outright stated. kisses on the cheek, bashfulness, other characters making fun of them (“where’s your DUMB little girlfriend?” “..........she’s not DUMB!!!!!”), domestic references (“am i sleeping on the couch”)..... it’s left ambiguous because it’s hetbait plain and simple. somebody asks them what they even are and they say Partners In Crime wym. jack asks sid What Are We and she fist pumps the flat of her own chest twice, throws a peace sign and says We’re Bros

their nicknames for each other include but are not limited to “jackass, jacky-boy, jack-o-lantern, smarty pants, wiggles, spack jicer, spack, mr spack, spackle”, and “shortstack, pipsqueak, sid the kid, champ, funky monkey, foxy (in a funny way, he’ll say it like Whatcha Up To Foxy ? while she’s like making a mess doing an arts & crafts abomination or just vibing bein her weird lil self....  it comes from a place of playful sarcasm and affection) (champ, funky monkey, and foxy are courtesy of @currentlyfallingthroughspace)

to piggyback off of the left brain vs. right brain metaphor, “heart vs. brain is how they think, right brain vs. left brain is how they act, and two halves of a heart represents their natural dispositions” is how my aforementioned friend put it. they both have a lot of heart and are ooey gooey on the inside, but the difference is that sid can grasp the intricacies of emotional/psychological matters while jack can’t (actually knowing how to EXPRESS this is another topic). it’s in the same way that jack can effectively plan ahead, use logical reasoning, and know where to go and how to get there, but sid is shabby in this department. “one is aware but doesn’t address it until it’s too late, and one can’t see it and doesn’t ask until it’s too late.”  

another feature of potential conflict in all incarnations of them is the juxtaposition of sid actually being more down to earth than jack in the grand scheme of things. jack has the potential to go completely overboard, and whether or not he demonstrates the ability to catch himself on the event horizon will ascertain the outcome.

deep down, neither of them are truly evil, and they bring this out in each other as they ultimately contribute to the redemption of one another. how this actually happens is a lot rockier. sid has the intuition and self awareness to become increasingly cognizant of the fact that she engages in schemes as a way to bond with her friend, and, over time, she’s able to recognize that she’s simply been acting out, and she consequently softens up over time - but jack is much denser in this regard. he doesn’t consciously pick up on the same things she does and still believes that she’s drinking the koolaid as much as he is. the crucial dissonance in what matters most that had been incubating under the weight of things left unsaid emerges in a major falling out that challenges the nature of their entire dynamic and respective moral codes. i had a lot of help from the same friend with the following series of events and it’s really something that ought to be gone into detail on its own post, but a whirlwind brief summary is that jack becomes desperate from losing over and over so he comes up with this sinister plan that’s just too far, sid tells him to stop, they get into a nasty fight, sid leaves and makes it clear she’s not coming back, she goes to the xiaolin dragons for help, jack goes on an evil rampage but also loses his grip and has this mental breakdown because he lost the one person who’s ever cared about him (or so he thought), sid has the same brutal separation pangs but it doesn’t change the fact that jack is still doing what he’s doing, sid gets a firsthand view of a fight breaking out between the monks while she’s working with them and has a moment of clarity when she observes how they resolve it in such a healthy way, as they continue to work together and help her through the whole fiasco she realizes they’re not so bad, an entire excruciating series of events that’s genuinely too large to fit on this post unfolds and it ultimately ends with jack actually having to team UP with the good guys to stop what he started, and it ends with them breaking down, apologizing, and beginning their redemption BUT not without the illustration of several lessons that arose out of the complications of the entire thing...... the overarching lesson that’d been entrenched in their entire dynamic from the start, albeit corny, is that caring and being cared for was all they ever needed, and they learn to cultivate that within each other right under their own noses. it would be fun to have them stay as recurring villains forever, but seeing how much good is in their hearts is enough to make you wonder how they were ever evil.

xiaolin monks:

she thinks she hates them, but she doesn’t really. while her opinion of them is marked by resentment and distaste, she also holds them in high regard. a part of her wishes she could be friends with them, but the mental landscape she’s paved for herself doesn’t reveal that as an option. in her mind, she’s already been rejected by them. so why try?

the way she takes her pain out on them - people who had nothing to do with her traumas - can be summed up by the spinel su quote, “why do i want to hurt you so bad? i’m supposed to be a friend. i just want to be a friend.”

she gets chummier with them upon her redemption. out of the group, she gets along best with clay and dojo :) 

bonus origin episode

this would be the imaginary early season 4 episode i mentioned at the beginning of the post. it’s more of a loose string of ideas tied together with reckless abandon but hey. the episode would open with jack feeling lonely and down on his luck to establish the theme that he kinda needs a friend (”wuya’s gone, chase trained his cats to get surly with me if i show up, my evil dream team won’t answer my calls....”). his sulking is interrupted by a shen gong wu alert and he’s like. whatever. i don’t need them. i’m still gonna do this on my own. even if it’s. ˡᵒⁿᵉˡʸ. fastforward to the scene i described where sid is putzing around with her doohicky (which i’m considering might be the neptune helmet) all by her sad miserable lonesome when suddenly some flying bloke in a trenchcoat who looks like he hasn’t seen the sun in years shows up telling her she’s got something he needs. she of course responds with something along the lines of “you know what? why don’t you try to take it from me since you want it so bad, mr big stuff,” triggering a xiaolin showdown. this is around the time the xiaolin dragons show up too late - but they’re grateful for somebody having been there to fight jack in time, even if they have no idea who they are. she has no clue what’s going on, but whatever it is, she LOVES it. she goes buckwild. she has a time. jack, on the other hand.... well, understanding how badly he needs that wu is certainly throwing a wrench in it, but he can’t help but feel like he’s having a bit of fun too. well, up until he loses. post-showdown, the monks kinda count their chickens before they hatch so to speak and they rush over to this new kid with a shower of praise, thinking they have a friend on their side. instead, she cuts them off, shouts to the guy who’s gathering his bearings (or lack thereof) - “hey! jack was it?” - and playfully tosses her shen gong wu in the air, catching it. “you look like you need this thing way more than i do. tell you what! take me with and i’ll let you borrow it,” is what she follows it up with, implying she wasn’t really that invested and only saw the whole thing as a fun game. jack and the monks are flabbergasted. what’s more bizarre is she did in fact ask to join him, something nobody’s ever done out of their own volition before. she talks about how boooooooooooring it is here and how that was soooooo much fun and to pleeeeeeeease take her with. he’s really iffy about it and doesn’t know if it’s such a good idea. he tries to make himself look cool, telling her “as IF, shortstack..........im afraid The Jack Rides Alone................................................. but-” and ultimately buckling because he can’t deny that it would be nice to have someone around.

[mylordshesacactus]

The Legend Of No I’m Still Not Done With This Nonsense

The last post kind of went balls to the wall on the Black Lotus rescue which is fair and valid because he’s a very good boy but I HAVE actually had other thoughts.

I recommend opening this post in a new tab because the dashboard eats nested bullet points now. Fun and functional webbed site.

Anyway so, some thoughts on our Avatar’s continued adventures.

I said in the last post that Book One ends with her and her new waterbender friend fleeing the Northern Water Tribe because she’s not ready yet to like, Come Out As The Avatar without any time to prepare or even knowing whether her family might be killed or hurt because of that decision.

Regardless, that’s not just...a thing you can do, when you don’t actually have Appa or a girlfriend who owns an airship company in your back pocket.

Hero and her new history nerd healer buddy really just have to gtfo of the spirit oasis without being connected to the intrusion, which isn’t easy but they’re not like, being hunted afterward.

There’s probably a fun bit of filler where her eyes or Red’s markings or both keep inconveniently glowing while they’re trying to get somewhere unsuspicious. This IS Avatar after all, we gotta get in some humor as well.

I actually think it’s very likely that they don’t get away with it; I don’t want this to be an ATLA-style ‘the hero is running from [the fire nation/conspirators/etc/” for the most part. I think they’re ID’d by waterbending masters and afterward Our Hero is overwhelmed and Healer Buddy is like “hey, do you want to....leave?”

Side note: Our Hero’s nerdy water tribe buddy who trained specifically as a healer? He will never use his waterbending in combat. He’s a specialist. It’s very possible that he’ll use some technique that’s technically “combat,” like an ice wall, to defend the group--but he will never use it as an offensive weapon.

This is never made into a ‘thing’. It’s just never questioned. There’s no big Ethical Statement, he never has to tell Our Hero that he refuses to use his bending as a weapon, it’s just....not something he does, and not something he’s ever asked to do.

Anyway. For whatever reason, they are trying to ever-so-casually skedaddle out of the Northern Water Tribe. Our Hero briefly, uncomfortably expresses guilt--isn’t she, you know, supposed to....is she gonna doom the world if she doesn’t “master waterbending” or whatever? Healer Buddy points out that water is fire’s natural opposite--and she doesn’t have to master it before she’s ready. Whereas air and fire are natural companions. If she wants to master something, it’d make more sense to learn airbending and strengthen her earthbending before she tries to tackle water.

He does offer to try to teach her some healing as they travel though, and she agrees because it sounds like a valuable ability.

Healer Buddy uses some of his savings to get them passage--legally, this time--on a ship headed to the Earth Kingdom. 

Our Hero, briefly, freezes.

She KNOWS they can’t go back to the Fire Nation. She knew they weren’t planning to. But--her baby sister is back there.

Healer Buddy can tell she wants to be alone and goes to talk with the captain of the ship to see if there’s any fees associated with [name] the rhino. While he’s gone, an Air Nomad woman approaches Our Hero where she’s having a minor anxiety attack at the railing. She’s a young mother, maybe ten years older than Our Hero, has a few kids running around.

“I...left my baby sister in the Fire Nation. And my partner. I had to, they understood, but I promised I’d come back for them when I could, and...I just don’t like the feeling that I’m getting further and further away from them.”

They bond. Air Mom (who is not a bender, though one of her kids might be) can tell there’s a lot going on for this kid and they talk. Normally they’d be taking the family bison back from the NWT, but they realized the bison’s sick or pregnant and a long flight wouldn’t be good for her, so here they are.

In a good portion of this season there’ll be a running background plot that I haven’t entirely worked out. It starts out looking VERY ominous; maybe that Air Mom, or someone else, sold them out. A shadowy room, an unseen figure, and someone who may or may not have seen something they shouldn’t saying something to the effect of “I know something that may be of GREAT interest to you” etc.

Regardless, what actually happens is that a whole network of people--for maximum emotional devastation, a whole string of contacts who’ve been helped by Our Hero in the past, a string possibly including the Firelord whose son has by now been revealed as a sham--coordinate to safely evacuate her family to the Western Air Temple to meet her there.

Air Mom would have sent her oldest son off to start this chain of events early in the season--subtly, so as not to attract Hero’s attention.

The point is, when Our Hero arrives in the air temple, the audience knows that something happened to her family but we don’t. It’s very possible that the last we saw of them, the actual Firelord had just shown up at the girlfriend’s door in the middle of the night. If so--the two of them run out to greet Hero when she shows up, it’s beautiful, and then the Firelord bows to her and we get the reveal that he’d been trying desperately to find and protect the real Avatar after his treacherous son fled, to protect her, etc. It’s great.

Our Hero, who revealed herself to Air Mom eventually (since “the known Avatar was a fake” isn’t a secret anymore it wasn’t life-threatening but like, old habits) has been trying to learn airbending. Air Mom acknowledges that she’s not a bender, but she can tell her what all Air Nomads know about their element, if it helps.

A recurring theme--every time Our Hero tries to airbend, she firebends instead. It’s not aggression. It’s fear. The fact that she’s afraid--terrified for the safety of her family, who she can’t contact while they’re in the Fire Nation for fear of getting them killed--prevents her from releasing enough tension to airbend.

It’s the same reason she can’t waterbend even though Healer Buddy’s trying to teach her--you can’t really CONTROL water, only direct its own natural ebb and flow. And giving up any control, her whole life, means she and everyone she loves will die.

Air Mom finally, gently tells her, while watching Baby Sister play with her own kids at the Air Temple, that she had her childhood stolen. Maybe it won’t help you airbend...but, it wouldn’t hurt you to learn how to have fun again.

Hero goes down to join a game of airball. For the first SEVERAL minutes she’s just playing like a nonbender, ie, badly--but good-natured about it, relaxing as she makes a fool out of herself. Visibly growing lighter inside. Eventually laughing--and eventually, without thinking about it, airbending. 

The last thing I’m certain of: She has never, in all of this, accessed the Avatar State.

Think about it--it’s the same reason she can’t waterbend. She was a firebender who was pretending not to be. If she lost her temper, if she lost control, if she got in over her head and allowed herself to tap into some additional power...

That was not an option.

So she has never accessed the Avatar State, and she’s never managed to waterbend more than maybe enhancing a few waves.

Someone gets hurt.

I don’t actually think it’s the sister, it’s definitely not the girlfriend. It’s probably one of the air nomad kids. I’m not sure under what circumstances--if the reunion with her family is the midseason special, this would be the season finale.

Therefore, probably this is the confrontation with the Firelord’s son, because I don’t want that to be the FINAL final challenge for our young Avatar. He’s clearly still after her with his little group of conspirators, etc, and there were casualties in the crossfire despite everyone’s best efforts.

Healer Buddy, the only one with a chance, does his best--but it’s not going to work, the kid’s dying. Waterbending can only accelerate the healing the body can perform naturally, and....Hero, there’s no natural healing from this. There’s nothing. No Waterbender in the world could heal this, and I’m not even a Master.

No Waterbender in the world could heal this--but the Avatar might have a chance.

She doesn’t know how to waterbend, you can’t get these people’s hopes up--I’m not a healer, I’m not a real Avatar!

Yes, you are.

The first time she channels the Avatar State--a spiritual binding with Avatars past, intended for moments of intense danger--it’s not out of anger, or a desire for destruction. A moment of absolute desperation--but not for herself.

It’s a moment of peace. For the first time, the very first time--she’s recognizing value and power in herself as well as others. 

There’s probably an achingly soft rendition of the Avatar Theme playing over this moment ngl.

Giving me feelings bro.

[thehandleisjammed]

I dub this self indulgent Alternate Universe: The A(W)U! Basically, in this universe, the effects of the Timeblades are countered by Wu’s elongated life span and he grows up at the same rate as any other kid, rather than staying 10 for 50 years, or going through mega growth spurts, like in Season 9. This means his memories come back to him more slowly, and the more he remembers and learns about his past self, the more he honestly wishes he could forget... he goes so far to pick a new name for himself: Tamako, Tama for short. Middle name Cole, because of course he’s going to keep his new dad’s name. Maybe he’ll pull a Lloyd and take Cole’s name as his last!

The Ninja, primarily Cole, get to be parents longer, and Tama can ask existential questions like: “Why the HECK did I do THAT?!”, “Should I grow up to be the same person?” and the all time classic: “Do I even get a choice in who I grow to be?”

Fun Facts: 

- Tama is not proud of much, but he LOVES his hair. Having it braided, trying out new styles, he just likes carding for it and having it brushed.

- He loves dragons, despite the fact that, because his body is so young he smells extra Oni-ish, meaning Dragons hate him with a burning passion. It’ll probably mellow out as Tama grows, but until then Tama is content with admiring these fantastical creatures.

- His diet is 90% tea. If anyone tries to take his tea away, he has a large stash hidden somewhere.

- Tama’s Sixth Sense, (i.e. the future vision he and Zane posses) is extra potent since technically he built it up in his previous life. This means he can randomly zone out and have a vision of something specific happening in vivid detail minuets before it happens. However, Tama has no control over it and often has nightmares of bad memories from Wu’s past mixed in with possible prophecies.

- Tama is has a constant feeling of doom and guilt over him with the nagging suspicion that there’s nothing he can do to help people. He tries to combat this by being as helpful as possible.

- Since both Garmadon and Wu had equal amounts of Oni and Dragon lineage, both had potential to wield the Elements of Destruction or Creation, or (as their father hoped) just grow up to be balanced and well rounded people. Unfortunately, the Bite from the Great Devourer changed everything and force Garmadon down the road of Destruction, and Wu had to follow Creation to help his brother and balance him out. Now with Garmadon gone and all of Wu’s secrets forgotten, Tama unknowingly walks a dangerously perilous path. Should he let his negative emotions over come him, he might inadvertently tap into his Oni heritage to an intoxicating degree.

- Tama is a dutiful student, but he secretly really wants to be a dancer. Fighting is optional in that profession! He was inspired to get into the musical world by Cole dancing and singing with him when he was little. He’s not confident enough to tell the ninja though.

- He has a hidden sassy side that he tries so, so, so hard to keep in check.

- I may or may not have made a kind-of playlist for him. 

[ferusaurelius]

Nihlus Fic Headcanons

My latest fic, The husbandry of victory is blood (on AO3), is basically a Nihlus Kryik and Mass Effect mercenary/batarian culture headcanon backstory where @expertmakodriver reacted by asking me to ... please translate w/e I was on about.

So here it is! The English translation of my Nihlus Kryik worldbuilding art project.

In reality, this type of character sketch is something I would normally keep private. But since we need more Nihlus content, both it and the headcanon basis are all public and free to use and/or transform as you see fit without attribution.

Please, I’m begging anyone who might want to use any of these ideas in whole or in part: write it and save me from having to do it myself. You do not need to credit me, but I would appreciate a link to your work so I can promote it! :)

Tfw you actually need to annotate your own fic...

Long post - everything is under the cut!

Organized by the order each element is referenced in the fic, with the divided sections labeled as [NUMBER] on the left.

Edited 5/28/2021 because I forgot some things.

[Title] “The husbandry of victory is blood” - Taken from “Sparta Says No” by A.E. Stallings. I actually thought about using this as an alternative title for another fic, but I figured this background sketch for Nihlus more aligned with the themes. I strongly suggest you go and read the poem without taking my word for the following interpretation: the contrast between growth and destruction, and civilization built through conquest or through agriculture. I enjoy the high-level commentary on society. The metaphorical encounter between farming and war is something I wanted to bring to my work, and I wanted the title to color the tone of the epigraph from Virgil’s Georgics. On a more personal level -- my grandfather joined the military in part to seek out opportunities he wouldn’t have had if he’d stayed on a farm, and I decided to draw on that experience for Nihlus.

[Epigraph] - Virgil, Georgics Book I (tr. H. R. Fairclough) - I picked a public domain translation of the poem and went hunting around for a line that had juxtaposed farming and war imagery. It’s a fairly common classical motif! Wars often stopped and started based on the seasonal harvest and the necessity of feeding the community and supplying the troops. You can’t fight a war and gather in wheat at the same time. Digging up the weapons pf the dead in farm fields is a powerful image. My take on Nihlus draws on the tension between fighting and negotiation that I also connect to the symbolic opposition between agriculture and warfare. The Georgics are also just really neat.

[1] Half-face markings - I could write a whole headcanon post on turian colony markings and how mercenary modifications fit in with them (and I will at some point). You’ll see in this fic that I regularly use terms for how much ‘real estate’ the colony markings cover. My HC is that there are variations of colony markings that can be worn as minimalist (smallest critical details), half-face (upper or lower, may include simple full-face designs without a lot of paint), full-face (both, usually more elaborate), and full-crest (what it sounds like on the tin). These are all just different styles and up to personal preference, though there are a few cultural connotations or stereotypes about people who choose which version. Plus I felt really bad for people who might have super-complicated full versions of markings and wanted to give them something more aesthetically lightweight that would have the same meaning. 

[1] Batarian trader patois - An evolving lingua franca with many dialects. Nihlus is uncannily fluent at the one spoken in the Terminus, which is mutually intelligible with the dialect spoken in the Attican Traverse. This is a language without a formal codex that sounds a little strange even to batarians born into the Hegemony. Since batarians have been around and in contact with the Citadel and council races for ~1000 years longer than turians (true if the timeline on the wiki is correct, but I haven’t done the backdating myself), I HC that batarians have a more refined and developed spacer and trading culture. Traders and smugglers are infamous for liking to be beyond Hegemony control and when their government withdrew from Council space, they just kept up with business as usual. Many of them have a shared religion based on debate and argument over the meaning of the Pillars of Strength and the way to live an honorable life.

[1] Terminus languages - They exist, both with and without formal linguistic codexes available to ordinary citizens of Council space.

[1] Hierarchy basic - The common turian colonial language spoken in Hierarchy space. Nihlus was born outside turian space, so he had to learn it from his parents and from educational videos. While he has only a vague accent, certain words and phrases he uses come off as very strange to turians who were raised in Hierarchy space.

[1] Draughts - A popular ancient board game dating back to before the Romans. Pieces move by sliding on the board or jumping over each other to capture. I originally wanted to use river stones as a metaphor, but Nihlus at that age had never seen naturally flowing water. I figure everyone has a version of a capturing/marker/stones sort of game.

[1] Amma and appa - Batarian words for grandmother and grandfather. Nihlus is a bit of a ‘surprise’ baby for his parents. This nice older smuggler couple are longtime associates of the mercenary group and, while they have never done fighting themselves and have no children of their own, they are friends of his mother and father and are absolutely delighted to “adopt” him. He is their smol spikey grandson, they teach him to speak and act like a proper young batarian, and anyone who argues with them about how exactly he is related will end up on the wrong side of an airlock.

[1] Vatar - A canon planet in the Mass Effect universe with a cold and inhospitable environment, located a short relay hop away from Omega (“downtown”) in the Terminus Systems. Mercenary groups have outposts dug into the surface. I rolled with it. 

[1] Falx - The turian name of the mercenary group Nihlus is born into. A falx is both a Roman entrenching tool and also the most overhyped Dacian curved blade weapon you’ll see in ancient art and literature. In essence? The word has been used to refer to both weapons and farming tools for a very long time. The group is a batarian-lead mercenary company with a very long history of turian cooperation, which enjoys stable political ties to other such batarian splinter groups. Traders and smugglers often form the links between them. The batarian word for members of this same group translates as “harvesters” or “reapers.” HAHA. And you thought this was a no-Reapers AU…

[1] Truce customs - A batarian mercenary outpost thing. If you’re friendly and in mechanical distress, or if you have something to trade, it’s not unusual to head to a known group of mercenaries and ask for truce on tightbeam broadcast to get someone to meet you or actively flag your ship with their ident codes (aka: make you temporarily register in local space as belonging to their ‘fleet’). This is usually for medical essentials, emergency mechanical trouble, and also serves as an informal way for Terminus merchants and traders to make a living without having to worry about being boarded every time they deliver the groceries. It’s considered a grave breach of etiquette to violate truce terms and those who do are hunted down as examples to the rest. Truce terms make “ordinary life” possible for outposts that are otherwise on the edge of traveled space.

[1] Trade-cloth - A canon quarian cultural object. Mentioned in the the fandom wiki and probably part of a quarian codex somewhere. Intricately patterned cloth is common on the Migrant Fleet, but the personal cloths are seldom given to outsiders. Nihlus’s gift is one used in trade, but displays a pattern with more ‘friendly’ cultural connotations than something that would be sold and mass-produced in a shop. It was made special for him by his childhood quarian friends. It’s something that it would be appropriate for him to wear like a scarf on formal occasions when he’s dealing with quarians, or when he’s invited to quarian parties or festivals.

[1] Colony crescents / Falx sickles - Yeah there’s some repetition here, but it’s mostly to contrast the two. I HC that Nihlus’s base colony markings are already curved. “Sickles” are embellishments which add a cutting or combative edgeline in some places and very overt stylized weaponry to standard colony markings. They are additions or alterations that are unique to mercenary groups and may read as “flamboyant” or “aggressive” because they are noticeably different in appearance to Hierarchy turians. This is more or less on purpose, and is a bit on the taboo side. One does not wear these additions or draw their markings in these styles without genuinely belonging to one of these groups -- the patterns are not easy to reproduce correctly or in the right places, and they are generally a source of stigma in Hierarchy basic training.

[1] Sand-bath - How you clean a turian when water is scarce and everyone has to share it.

[2] Draw and fire from retention - The shooting-sports specific term for “shooting from the hip.” Kinda. This breakdown of a scene from Collateral, one of my all-time favorite Michael Mann films, will give you an idea. All of the referenced gun techniques are also more or less real, and lining up your body posture so that it helps with aiming and putting the rounds where you want them to go is a real thing.  Nihlus has a great deal of practice in shooting as self-defense and was training alongside professionals from a young age. Going to the range is one of his hobbies (but not mine, I’m lame and that’s loud).

[2] Triginta Petra - A canon Mass Effect world that is a dustball home to hardscrabble turian farmers. Kavala Kryik’s family were some of the first colonists and they’ve been scratching a living from the surface since she was nine years old. They are very proud of this fact, since it gave them opportunities they wouldn’t have had on their native Oma Ker (also a canon turian world).

[2] Laskaris - Nihlus’s mother’s original family name. Kavala Laskaris. While I don’t have any particular headcanon about whether or not turians do the whole ‘changing surname’ thing when they marry or pair off or whatever, Kavala really liked both the alliteration and the overall aesthetic. Joked with Inaros Kryik, her husband and Nihlus’s father, that she only married him for his pretty colony markings.

[2] Lupulin - Literally, hop acids and the essential oils that you get from ‘hoppy’ beer. A direct reference to hops (Humulus lupulus) and brewing, because why not? Actually is a mild sedative and produces a bit of a chemical high.

[2] Stiletto - A pistol from Haliat armory (turian weapons manufacturer).

[2] Blooded sickles - Worn only by mercenaries who are full / fighting members of Falx or their direct allies. Batarians have their own culturally-coded marks, some of which have been adopted and/or adapted by their turian members as embellishments to colony markings. I HC that newer “commercial” groups like the Blue Suns and Nyreen’s Talons, without a shared cultural background, are imitating this style of marking rather than the other way around. Merc-born turians with old-style batarian trade connections tend to recognize each other through these symbols, which are used most often outside of Council space (i.e. the Terminus Systems and the Attican Traverse).

[2] Pillars of Strength - Canon batarian religious artifact. I treat them as a text or a particular philosophy that values free will and independent action as the signifiers of ‘strength.’ While I don’t have a fleshed out or specific HC for what the ‘tenets’ are, I do know that slave implants are treated as anathema.

[3] Struthious - A reference to Earth ostriches. Some kind of chicken-like prey animal that turians like to cook and eat. Mostly because the thought of Nihlus running around like a chicken to entertain his sisters made me laugh.

[4] Cutter - Bigger than a personal clipper and better armed, with living space for a crew. They come in various sizes and are smaller than frigates.

[4] Cup of mourning - A turian funerary ritual. On Taetrus, performed with a distinctive form of dark ale. Different colony groups have different cultural traditions.

[4] Thalia, Tomyris, and Traian - Nihlus’s three turian siblings. Thalia and Tomyris are his younger twin sisters. Traian is the youngest and his baby brother. While they’re only hinted at in this fic, I do plan to make some references to them in the Air Needing Light arc at some point. There’s also a chance they’ll get their own short!fic appearances.

[4] Hierarchy military grants - A HC pool of money that the Council races put up to fund large-scale basic training for anyone (turian or another client race) completing compulsory citizen service.

[5] Talons and suns - Generic references to other symbols that are common incorporations for mercenary groups. I HC that these were adopted and color-coded by the Blue Suns and the Talons rather than conceptually created by them! 

[5] Fuck the cause, we’ll die for a drink! - Profane versions of the turian Hierarchy anthem are popular drinking songs among the merc-born. If it’s a patriotic and well-known song, you can pretty much guarantee turian mercenaries have parodied it.  Awkward for colony-born squadmates who find these renditions hilarious and catchy—but also a little horrifying.

[6] Optio Sideris, 85th Atrax Legion, Fifth Cohort Operations Section - A one-off turian Blackwatch OC I may bring back in another fic at some point because I ended up liking her. The Hierarchy military organization borrows from the HCs I use for the Air Needing Light AU: 85th Atrax Legion is a joint special forces organizing legion made up of six cohorts. The 5th Cohort is informally known as Blackwatch, while the “Operations Section” is a generic term used by intelligence operators. Optio is a mid-tier leadership rank.

[6] Batarian body language - Batarian language and manners are highly dependent on physical cues according to the Mass Effect canon. I took this one step further with a HC that Nihlus is essentially a native speaker of turian-adapted gestures that translate successfully into batarian social patterns. This physical vocabulary is most refined and most present in culturally batarian mercenary and trading groups with a strong history of turian association and recruitment. While older turians can learn and approximate the gestures, they are best learned and absorbed in childhood. Nihlus “speaks” a form of gestural batarian that places him as a native of the Terminus Systems.

[6] Interrogating batarian prisoners - No torture involved! Optio Sideris trains Nihlus in a more practical form of intelligence gathering that involves building rapport, establishing trust, and remaining consistent. Even pirates or smugglers who would not normally give information to a Hierarchy patrol flotilla can be convinced to—if not speak—occasionally offer hints about the locations and activity of slavers. Nihlus is notable for actually being conversant in traditional batarian moral interpretations of the Pillars of Strength, as well as being able to walk the fine cultural line between guarded respect and abject deference. 

[6] Merc Red - Nihlus’s batarian nickname among the patrol flotilla’s prisoners. A sign of individual respect, since it contains no profanity and is just blandly descriptive.

[7] Broken weapons - A traditional sign of thanks between two non-allied mercenary groups when one has agreed to truce terms. Mostly symbolic.

[7] Tattoos - The permanent marking method of choice when turians are full-grown and have developed a strong preference for the color and personal style of their colony markings. Nihlus decides on a complex ‘full-crest’ Taetran colony pattern embellished with Falx blood sickles. This is more or less him being loud and proud about both his colony origins and his mercenary background, as well as putting them on an even footing by tattooing the entire pattern: mercenary symbols and all.

[hmsannlett]

Foe the salty asks:

4. Do you have a NoTP?

25. Would you change the ending of Anna/Hewlett(/Selah)???

4. Anna/Abe is a big nope for me and is probably the ship that irks me the most on the show because there’s so many destructive elements to it, and yet the show just kept pushing it. Their relationship has huge collateral damage for everyone who has the misfortune of getting dragged into it and, imo, does a disservice to both their characters (especially/mainly Anna).

Anna/Simcoe also bothers me, because she could not more clearly be terrified of him, and he uses that against her and doesn’t respect any of the times that she says no to him. It especially strikes a negative chord with me because I’ve been in Anna’s position more than a few times with men that just won’t take a no (although not to the extent that Simcoe took it to), so I truly empathize with the powerlessness that she feels. It’s the worst position to be in, and to feel completely alone like she does makes the situation all the more unsettling.

Both ships are unhealthy in their own ways, imo. Fortunately, neither ship is/has been very popular in the fandom.

25. Oh, goodness. So many thoughts on this. I’ll try to not write a whole thesis here lol and just distill it down to my main thoughts.

In short, yes, I would love a different ending. I will preface all of this, though, by saying that I’d like married couples to be happy with each other and remain together as much as anyone. I’m not completely against the idea of Anna/Selah (though Annlett is my fav and will always be my otp); I just don’t agree with how all of Anna/Selah was written and how Anna/Selah/Hewlett ended.

So, from a writing perspective, I think Selah was brought in too late in S4 to have the character development that he needed after how he was depicted in S1 (and, according to the show’s writers, Anna and Selah were supposed to have a pretty unhealthy dynamic in S1; some of these scenes had to be cut for time constraints, though, so we only get small glimpses of this dynamic). There wasn’t much opportunity to connect positively with Selah in S1 or S4, and as a result, his quick character arc in S4 (to me) breaks the age-old writing rule of showing vs. telling.

There’s no buildup to Anna’s and Selah’s reunion that shows him growing as a character or even what it was that caused him to grow and respect Anna. Why would he suddenly respect her now in S4 more than he did in the first part of S1 after she all but said that she wanted to end their marriage by jumping from the boat, publicly humiliating him, and causing their lengthy separation – during a time period when desertion/an extended period of separation was, in some of the colonies, considered equal to divorce? There’s no apparent motivation (that we’re shown) to inspire his growth. We’re just told as an audience that he’s changed, and I think that weakens the growth that the writers were aiming for. It could be that Selah spent a lot of time reflecting while he was in Philadelphia, but we don’t get to see that onscreen. And for me, what is shown on the screen is much more convincing and effective than whatever we are told happens off-screen.

My other issues with Anna/Selah’s ending are that

1.) If their relationship was so unhealthy before, is his change in how he treats her sustainable? (Would he still treat her with respect after he found out/got confirmation about her affair w/Abe? That tended to make a woman “damaged goods” back then.)

2.) If Anna feels that “he’s not the same man I married,” why then does she seem so upset in 4.10 when they return to Setauket and in the epilogue? It seems like the story ends w/Anna being in exactly the same spot she was in in S1 – unhappy w/her life for whatever reason – and feels like she had more of a character circle than a character arc. She didn’t really end up anywhere different than where she started, even though she had grown so much throughout the show. It just feels like lazy writing to me, and I had really hoped that all of Anna’s sacrifices and growth during the war would be rewarded (even if that wasn’t necessarily a future w/Hewlett like my shipper heart wanted).

Conversely, there was excellent growth shown between Anna and Hewlett, both individually and as a couple. We got to watch each of them grow to respect each other’s character, sacrifice for each other, and fight for each other over the span of almost two seasons – and do so even when both of them felt there was no hope that the relationship could continue. There was a purity and selflessness to their relationship that none of the other relationships on the show were really able to capture, and, imo, is absent from most relationships in films/shows. And I had hoped that that kind of character development would be rewarded or at least considered in S4 after dedicating so much screen time to it. I also feel that Hewlett offers what Anna truly wants: respect, agency, and to be seen as a person, an equal. Like I said above, I don’t know if Selah could offer that level of respect long-term in their relationship. I’d like to hope so, for Anna’s sake, but she definitely doesn’t seem satisfied to me in 4.10.

Anna and Hewlett each left a significant mark on each other and were an enormous part of each other’s individual growth, and I feel like that was largely ignored in S4. For two characters so dedicated to their causes (and practically acting as the epitomes of the two sides’ warring ideologies) to be able to see each other as people and respect the person/character they saw in each other, even at the end of their relationship, is huge. And it seems like the writers just abandoned that without a second thought because they felt that they (finally) had to be historically accurate.

So for me, it’s disappointing that a show that was so heavily focused on character development (and, by and large, executed that development very well throughout the seasons) took what felt like a cop out and didn’t fully realize/fulfill Anna’s, Selah’s, and Hewlett’s individual character arcs. Since the showrunners felt they had to keep Anna/Selah for historical accuracy, I would have preferred that their relationship had been given more time to develop before his arrival in S4 because they had grown very far apart and had significant issues to address before moving forward. But ideally, of course, my Annlett shipper self would have liked the writers to stick with the two seasons of character development between Anna and Hewlett, resolve their relationship, and find a way of kindly writing Selah out (because, tbh, he kind of deserves a better ending too. Anna did betray him deeply, and it’s a lot to ask of him to just overlook/forgive that and move forward with their relationship. Furthermore, I don’t know that Anna is capable of really, truly loving him – it’s always come off as more loyalty/obedience to me – and that’s not a very satisfying conclusion for his character either). And as for how I would end Anna/Selah/Hewlett…well, there is a fic in the works…

Annnnd this is over 1k and has indeed become a thesis, so I’ll leave it at that because this is probably waaaaay more than you wanted lol. This post pretty much hits the nail on the head (succinctly! unlike me lol) with my frustrations about the writing of Anna/Selah/Hewlett and the closure of their character arcs/relationship arcs, as well as the balance of character development and historical accuracy. If you want me to explain any of my litany of thoughts more than I have here (this is the best I can do at an overview of all my thoughts lol; I have many), I can write responses/metas that go into more detail. :)

tl;dr: I wish the show had decided earlier on whether it was going to go with the character development it had created or with historical accuracy, because I don’t feel either Anna/Hewlett or Anna/Selah got the ending they deserved. Annlett was left with two seasons of development unfinished and forgotten, and Anna/Selah was drawn to a close without enough development to make it feel truly convincing for me.

[sometimesrosy]

who is/was your favorite “villain” on the 100?

You know what? That question is too hard. Because there have been some great villains, and then sometimes those villains don’t STAY a villain, and what makes them great might have been what makes them great non-villains. So in order to answer that appropriately, I’m gonna have to go by season. 

Season 1-- Bellamy Blake. He most definitely WAS a villain. He was the main villain on the ground for the first half of the season. And the same qualities that made him the best villain made it so Clarke could bring him to her side. Setting up the essential dynamic of learning to understand your enemy as your own shadow, making peace with them, and in so doing, becoming a whole and healthy individual. He’s not the enemy anymore, but that yin yang push and pull gave season 1 it’s energy.

Season 2--Lxa. Wow I never thought I’d say that. But I am. For much the same reasons as Bellamy. The enemy shadow within yourself thing. She might not have stayed a villain (although I maintained she was Clarke’s love interest/antagonist through s3 because she was an obstacle to her getting the peace and unity that she wanted,) but she started one. She’s the reason the grounders attacked the delinquents. She was ready to annihilate them at any moment. Revealing that the water girl was the heda was SUPER bad ass and great female empowerment. I don’t personally like Lxa as a character, but as the villain/antagonist of s2, that’s some good stuff. And tbh, the alliances she made with Clarke, the FRIENDSHIP, the ROMANCE are part of what made her a good villain. Because we thought something good could come of it and then. OMG THE WORST BETRAYAL OF THE WHOLE DAMN SHOW AND THE TRAUMATIC EVENT THAT SET CLARKE UP FOR NEAR DESTRUCTION. Maybe I can say this now because she came back in season 5 and apologized, admitted she was wrong and said that love wasn’t an enemy, thereby allowing Clarke to process and heal from that trauma. hmm. 

Oh wow. Wait a minute. There’s a correlation between Clarke’s shadow being Bellamy in season 1 and her shadow being Lxa in season 2 and 3. [symbolism and deep analysis coming up you may want to look away until s3 villain also yes, it subordinates CL in the story to BC, tough noogies. CL is subordinate in the story to BC.] Okay. The same dynamic is set up with BC and with CL with Clarke attempting to win L to her side with the same techniques as she did B. It didn’t work. L refused to partner or give up her power or honor her agreements, leading to that terrible trauma of betrayal, genocide and horror, which she ran away from and was dragged back kicking and screaming to face. I think they used the Clarke’s shadow story of CL to actually deepen the connection between Clarke and Bellamy. They couldn’t have had him betray her that badly and have it come back to be something like a healthy true love relationship. But I think they needed Clarke to sink to the dark side while letting Bellamy rise from his dark side, in order to create the symbolic balance that has them spinning around each other... like binary stars, right? She needed the pain from love but he couldn’t be the one to give it to her. Therefore they brought in another love story to punch Clarke in the heart. Very cruel. Very hard. Intensifies everything. Wow I don’t know if I could do that to my characters. But it was effective. In the long run. Even bringing her back for that resolution after 6 years of healing. (all of this is really about a way to tell a story and make it deeper and more difficult without harming the essential romance irredeemably. Use a mirror of the relationship that plays out some of the possibly harmful elements. Make that relate subconsciously, but not really. you guys can all ignore it. it’s not really about villains. although i like it because you get the enemies to lovers thing but the harmful parts are shifted into the secondary relationship.)

Season 3-- PIKE. I LOVE PIKE. LOVE. I get Pike. Pike is a teacher and he will do ANYTHING to protect his kids. And he was a really good leader and managed to keep Farm Station alive despite being hunted across the mid atlantic. Hey. This also follows the shadow villain theory, because Pike is BELLAMY’S shadow. He is who Bellamy could have become without the balancing element of Clarke. He is a good man at heart who has demonized “the other” in order to protect his own. (This is also what Lxa did, btw. Although she did make alliances when it was in her benefit.) He would not have become as violent as he did if he hadn’t been attacked, but in reaction he became a xenophobe. I mean, I can’t say this isn’t a reaction to the trauma that he experienced. Being hunted by Azgeda. I do think that he could have changed if he’d lived. He was already cooperating with Indra, and while he’s biased and bigoted against grounders, he was not blind. He recognized, I think, that he was wrong and there was room for him to learn. Alas, Octavia took care of that. Also, other than Bellamy and Clarke, he’s tops on my own “hot” list. I know he’s too old for all y’all, but not for me. :)

Season 4-- The real villain is Praimfaya, so I’m gonna pick Roan as my favorite villain. Is he a villain? Is he an ally? No one ever knows. One minute he’s working with them, the next minute he’s capturing someone. One minute he’s making deals with them, the next minute he’s putting roadblocks down in front of them. One minute he’s refusing to be allies, the next minute he’s allying. MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MIND. If he weren’t raised in Azgeda under Nia, with all that politicking and power plays he might have been a good guy, but he can’t help wanting to replicate the domination of his mother. Too bad because he’s funny and insightful and sarcastic and I think he really LIKES Clarke and Bellamy.

Season 5-- TOUGH TO DECIDE. Is my favorite the awful truly awful Octavia who mucks everything up because she’s gone to the darkside. Or is my favorite the awesome Diyoza who is no longer a villain by the end of the season, but was formidable and quite the opponent, and really another shadow of Clarke, who Clarke could have been if she had been pre-apocalypse. I think I’m going with Diyoza, because she’s funny, and reasonable, and she likes everyone and Octavia is just so damned grim and vindictive. It might make a more evil villain but as for who I like better? I think it’s Diyoza. Both were fun, but Diyoza is fun as in I liked her character, and Octavia was fun as in, OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE DID THAT. Octavia also has that storyline of being the symbolic representation of the toxic state of humanity, caught in the cycle of violence and perpetuating it. She’s definitely more important in the storyline but I like Diyoza better.

Season 6-- Hands down: Josephine. We again have the shadow aspect of Clarke, trying to TAKE OVER Clarke. She’s not as arrogant as Russell, but she’s more psychotic. She’s also funnier and more charming. Kind of combines the fun and evil aspects of Diyoza and Octavia from last season. And she probably edges out Pike as my all time favorite villain because she is both evil AND likeable, whereas Pike was misguided and likable. Well, maybe less likable.Some of him was likeable. And he wasn’t writing pro eugenics books. He was volunteering to go down with the delinquents.Anyway. Josephine has a fantastic story. The way she refused to relinquish Clarke’s body like the entitled brat she was, and then tried to mess with everyone around her to get her way. Of course, when Bellamy had her, and she started digging into his relationship with Clarke that was great for story momentum, and then we had the sympathetic True Love story of Josephine/Gabriel, even though you knew it was wrong. Sympathetic but also toxic. Is true love really good if it enables such evil to be done? ANywAY. Loved Josephine. Also, great outfits. A+ for getting Clarke into some decent clothes. That tailored coat was great.

[coleisunderrated]

Season 11: The Destruction of Zane Julien

You read that right. Season 11 ended up doing nothing more but destroy everything about Zane that made him who he was and was one big middle finger to all the character development and hardships he went through. Follow the cut for why and my biggest rant yet and the bane of my time in this fandom

Making one of the ninja evil was kind of a given seeing how much the fandom wanted it. I wouldn’t have had a problem with it either but the writers decided to ‘play it safe’ by using Zane simply because he’s a robot who can just be reprogrammed. It really dehumanized him, especially after he struggled time and again to be just as human as the rest of the ninja. I know Ninjago’s writing has never been stellar but there was a whole bunch of problems with Zane being the Ice Emperor. What was the point in making him evil if he had no real reason other than a shoehorned case of amnesia? which was the laziest way to go And why would they do it if they won’t go into the undoubtedly traumatic effects it will have on him or even the changes that could’ve happened within the team?

And worst of all, all the damage from that lazy and bad writing has been done. Season 11 ended up completely destroying his character.

Before season 11, Zane was the sweetest person of Ninjago. He grew and learned about himself and the world just like any other human. He was always the odd one out but soon earned his place in the team. He had a very sweet and loving relationship with his father and even if it’s been retconned, he was also accepting of his brother Echo. He found his true potential by embracing who he was and knowing the love he had for his friends. He even sacrificed his own life to stop the Overlord, dying as a true hero. He was a true protector and went through way more than any ninja did (besides Lloyd) to save Ninjago time and again. Even if he was a robot, he was, in a way, more human than many other characters in Ninjago. His story has been told and the only way to add more was to explore more of his past such as his encounter with the previous Master of Ice or his life between his father’s first death and meeting Sensei Wu. But all of that, all the character development and growth he had, and all the suffering he endured to uphold his duty, has been rendered meaningless and thrown down the drain the moment Zane was revealed to be the irredeemable and monstrous Ice Emperor.

Zane was made to protect those who can’t protect themselves. As the Ice Emperor, he did the exact opposite by ruling not just a city like Garmadon did but an entire realm with an iron fist. He also killed countless innocent beings. He committed genocide on Krag’s species and most likely many others who weren’t lucky to have any lone survivors. The formlings and the villagers being frozen wasn’t treated as such because ‘oh hey they’re still alive, they just can’t do anything’ but it was really no better than if he actually killed them. For the formlings, their culture, way of life, and knowledge of shapeshifting, had been wiped out for countless years. He killed so many people and living things, brought so much suffering to a whole realm, and committed countless atrocities that are absolutely unforgivable. Nothing could ever make up for what he did. He jumped beyond the moral event horizon further than any villain in Ninjago ever did and yes, that includes Harumi.

Much of the fandom and even canon put all the blame on Vex and while he can be considered the true villain of the Ice Chapter and him manipulating Zane to do his dirty work for him made him all the more vile, what is often overlooked is that Zane still did these terrible things out of his own will. The scroll corrupted him but didn’t erase his will and tyrant or not, he could still disagree with Vex, make his own decisions, and even did things Vex had no say in such as imprisoning Lloyd.

And then the writers only made it even worse with the way they ended it.

When Boreal was defeated, the other ninja finally realized the Ice Emperor is Zane yeah Ninjago has never been good with subtlety I’m actually disgusted that they, especially Cole, took him back. They knew he was a genocidal tyrant who caused decades of suffering to the whole Never Realm yet they don’t have to do any fighting and let Lloyd take all the credit and welcome him back to the team like all that never happened. They all took a backseat throughout the whole Ice Chapter so Lloyd to get all the spotlight and do everything himself yet again (which is a whole other issue in of itself). And once they meet up with Zane, all of his crimes and atrocities they know he did are forgotten just because he’s their friend and the protagonist who should always be treated as a hero no matter what he does. And Krag doesn’t even seem to be scared or angry when he sees Zane, who killed his kind. And then he gets to be with the ninja for a bit before they go home while the denizens of the Never Realm don’t seem to react at all to his presence. Even if he never really showed his face up to this point, the ninja and Vex would’ve surely said something but no, he's not an evil dictator anymore and was a good guy all along so he won’t have to face any repercussions or fess up to all the horrible crimes he committed. Then again, what’s the point if nothing could ever redeem him after all that?

And the message at the beginning of the Ice Chapter has also ended up being irrelevant. It strongly implied that not only is Zane no longer the good-natured nindroid we all know and love but that there will also be no going back. The only way it could’ve had any impact at all was if Zane was actually going to be gone for good. The possibility of it being the key to restore Zane’s memories also a waste of potential. Speaking of which, it was unrealistic and a blatant deus ex machina that Vex only had to say ‘protect’ and boom! Zane’s memories are back and he returns in a flash and everything is all good and normal again. He didn’t have to struggle one bit to recover his memories. Regaining memories is not that simple and Zane didn’t even acknowledge all the harm he caused nor does he really do anything to Vex other than freezing him for a bit. At this point, he has devolved into nothing more than the unsympathetic and unforgivable karma houdini he now is.

All this makes me think of a Twitter post I saw earlier of how ‘we were not ready for the ending’. With Nya learning to control ice at one point, the writers seemed like were seriously going to kill off Zane or write him off permanently and replace him with Nya. What could’ve also happened is somehow, if Zane survived, the First Spinjitzu Master’s spirit may sense what Zane did and would be so disgusted by his actions he takes away his elemental powers and pass them on to Nya or Zane himself does so. With Zane powerless and traumatized, he ends up leaving the team for good. He certainly won’t be able to stay in the Never Realm either given all the harm he caused and everyone there would most likely want him dead. If he didn’t die, he either shuts down permanently or leaves for some completely different realm and never comes back. I remember when the whole fandom was scared something like that would happen but looking back now, those would’ve been way better than that awful finale we got. Killing off Zane for good or him leaving permanently would’ve been a very huge move and Ninjago is no stranger to this stuff but that leads to another problem. The problem isn’t whether or not the writers will make any big moves, it’s that they often end up doing a bad job at it.

And the finale. Goddamn the finale.

The finale only made Zane look even more unsympathetic and undeserving of the happy ending or anything resembling it. You can forgive the monster who killed and harmed countless innocent people and caused a devastating eternal winter to a whole realm simply because they happen to be your corrupted friend who doesn’t remember you but they’re memories came back in a snap and you can fix them in an instant with the Power of Friendship(TM)! That is complete and utter bullshit! And it completely destroyed his place in the team. He can’t be seen as a ninja or a good guy anymore and the ninja know they’re siding with a murderer and tyrant who’ll never have to face any consequences for all the terrible things he did and will most likely never address all the trauma he’ll now have. And while I may not ship Pixane, can you imagine how devastating it would be for Pixal to know what Zane did? If the Pixane episode doesn’t address any Ice Emperor stuff or her trying to help him, it’s gonna feel very... off. Honestly, Zane’s relationship with the ninja and even Pixal is now very toxic.

And no, Zane apologizing or the ninja helping him being 'behind the scenes’ just won’t cut it. We can only get so much from what actually happens in the show. Even if it appeared in the show he’s done way too many things that are too terrible to deserve even an ounce of sympathy.

Gonna diverge a bit here but am I the only one who thought Vex also got off way too easy?

Anyway, with all said and done, Zane now feels completely out of place in Ninjago. The writers most likely had a different ending in mind that would result in Zane being gone for good but they changed it at the last minute and as a result, it doesn’t feel right with him there. It no longer feels like he’s part of the team and while the ninja still serve their purpose and have more of their story to tell, Zane doesn’t seem to fit in anymore and is... just there. The Ice Chapter completely threw away all the development he had and made his story a total waste. I’m also starting to fear this will affect Pixal, who (as far as the writers are concerned) is most relevant as a love interest, not a samurai or even her own character.

The only way the writers could salvage Zane’s character at all is to consider this season nonexistent and they’re doing a pretty damn good job at that and that isn’t really a good thing. As for the next season, I’m feeling ‘meh’ about it and while Cole seems to finally get some attention after that, I have some bad feelings about what’s gonna happen. Besides all that, Zane’s presence and status as a good guy now feels unearned and forced. And if he goes into any ‘protecting others’ spiel, what was once a core element of his character has become hollow and now makes him a massive hypocrite. That’s how bad this season ended up being for Zane, his story, and everything that made him who he was.

All in all, congratulations Ninjago writers. You took one of your most beloved and well-developed characters who deserved the world and completely ruined him beyond repair. I can’t wait to find out who will be the next character you’ll destroy.

[consummate-deviant]

Continued thoughts about Catra and Hordak...

Hello again, y’all!  Is life still treating you okay?  Have you spent time with your pet lately?  Eating a healthy and balanced diet?   Just a smaller thing today, not one of my full-blown book reports, but the infection that is she-ra passion has somehow managed to reach me even through the haze of pokemon breeding that has owned my soul this past week, and I gotta words some more.  The topic of discussion today will be Catra and Hordak… namely, how I interpret their dynamic going through season 4, and why some people view it as romantic. I’m… a bit of a windbag, though!  So, just to be safe, I’m gonna put the rest of this post behind a cut.  Let it never be said I was aught but a considerate dude.  Let’s discuss!

Now, as I mentioned earlier, I don’t view the dynamic between Catra and Hordak as romantic in season 4.  I think the reason it can kind of seem that way is that season 4 really did shift their relationship in a fairly dynamic way, and the contrast between the way they interacted before and the way they interacted after is pretty stark. Normally, such a wide contrast is brought about by the development of romantic interest by one or both parties, but in this case I posit that the cause was something equally interesting...  though quite a bit more tame: it was the first time there was any sort of emotional interaction between them, at all.

I should probably step back though!  Lemme explain what I mean.  How would you describe Catra’s relationships with Hordak and Shadow Weaver across the first three seasons of the show?  One of the more interesting takes I’ve heard is that the dynamic between the three of them is an allusion to a dysfunctional family.  Catra is the child acting out because she wants Mom and Dad to acknowledge her.  Shadow Weaver is the caustic maternal figure, emotionally sabotaging her child for her own benefit, and Hordak is the aloof, emotionally detached father figure…  The kind of Dad who can’t come to your basketball game this week, kiddo, because work called… but he’ll be there next week for sure!

...unless work calls again next week… and work always calls again.  

I agree with about half of this.  The fact that Shadow Weaver is meant to be seen as an allusion to a poisonous maternal relationship feels pretty close to undeniable.  Likewise, any doubt that Catra sought to be valued emotionally by her flew out the window when we saw the way Shadow Weaver treated her in the illusory reality created by the portal.

Pictured... kitty getting scritches.

Catra wanted to be appreciated, accepted, and loved by Shadow Weaver, and the tragedy of her character comes from being denied those things.  By contrast, when it comes to Hordak, of those three desires: appreciation, acceptance, and love… she only really wants two of them.

There is no personal element to the early relationship between Catra and Hordak, on either side.  Catra neither seeks fatherly love from Hordak, nor seems to be distressed by the lack of it, and that difference in her dynamic with Shadow Weaver and Hordak is pretty important.

Catra desires maternal love from Shadow Weaver.  What she desires from Hordak isn’t paternal love, but rather patriarchal validation.  Hordak represents the power structure of the world into which Catra was born, and her desire is to be seen as a component of that structure that has value.

For three seasons, where Hordak is concerned, her first priority is to be seen as an undeniably competent subordinate.  She endeavors to complete the tasks she’s given efficiently, and attempts to make suggestions with the intent of increasing the effectiveness of the organization. She fails in gaining his appreciation, and grows annoyed and frustrated by this, but that shallow anger she expresses toward him pales in comparison to the absolute devastation that Shadow Weaver’s ever-more-personal rejections bring her.  Had the status quo remained where it was, the two of them likely would never have grown any closer to one another… but then season 4 happened.

So, last week I shamelessly stole a question aimed @cruelfeline​ , and in my tactless theft I mentioned my answer to the question “why didn’t Catra just kill Hordak when she had him at her mercy in episode one”. I’m going to repeat that here, just to make sure it’s established:

“Some people don’t get why she spared Hordak instead of killing him, when she had him at her mercy, but she actually had a pretty vital need for him.  Catra has lost the ability to self validate: a lifetime of being raised by Shadow Weaver has beaten it out of her.  Thus, she has a pretty intense desire to receive external validation from an outside force… and with Shadow Weaver gone, Hordak was the only person around who could provide that.”

And let’s be clear on this first and foremost: the S4 relationship between Catra and Hordak is, for both parties, an attempt at rebound.  This is the first time Catra has Shadow Weaver fully cut from her life, leaving her with only Hordak to supply her with parental appreciation, and Hordak has been betrayed by someone he cared for deeply, but receives motivation to destructively channel his negative emotions from Catra.

This is also the first time Catra interacts with the real Hordak, and not the mask he usually wears before his subordinates.  While being exposed to his vulnerability gave her the power to usurp him, it also led her to a realization:  Hordak is… a lot like her.  One of my other favorite moments of wordless acting takes place with Catra in season 4. Hordak is expressing his feelings of inadequacy and desire to be acknowledged by his brother while destroying them princesses, and Catra, despite saying nothing, displays a range of expressions and ear movements that seem to say ‘wait a minute… is this guy… actually my dad, after all?’

That realization of commonality leads to the first actual emotional interactions between the pair.  The first actual attempt to understand each other, and that is, undeniably, a massive shift from the cold professionalism of their previous relationship.  Catra was always quick to assure Hordak that their actions were leading them down the path to his brother’s acknowledgment, and Hordak, in turn, validated Catra’s actions and choices… which she especially needed to hear in season 4, when she pushed literally everyone else out of her life. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, their relationship was mutually self destructive… each brought out the worst from the other, and helped their downward spiral remain in motion.  It’s interesting how there is a bit of similarity to the dynamic between Hordak and Entrapta and the one between he and Catra. Both are examples of awkward, lonely people, realizing they share more in common than they realized, and growing closer as a result. The latter is more parental than romantic, but the similarity is intentional, all the same… a way of contrasting healthy and unhealthy relationships, if I had to guess.

So… yeah!  If you’re wondering what the point of all that was… well… I’m flattered you think highly enough of me to assume I ever have a point to saying anything!  I was just pondering she-ra while biking across Galar, waiting for my rookidees to hatch...as you do… and decided I wanted to talk about  it some more! As always, I’m not really out here to persecute the Catdak shippers… er… all five of you.  I will never be the guy to judge people who ship things I personally don’t like, because I’m not a mailbox head.  Just expressing why I don’t think it’s romantically coded, but also why I still find it fascinating regardless. That’s enough outta me, though!  You guys have a lovely and productive week. If you have any she-ra related thingamajigs you, for whatever reason, wish to hear my thoughts about, feel free to ask, and I’ll see ya the next time I have the urge to feel ways about stuff.  Been procrastinating on my fanfic writing… so I think my next order of business will be to get that ball rolling again.  Anyhow, see ya!  Be sure to indulge in the finest of all winter beverages: warm, spiced eggnog.

[gvnbreaker]

CHARACTER SURVEY || Aja Hyskaris

@yascaret​ edited/removed some of the questions to make this more FFXIV-friendly. I made a few of my own changes as well.

RULES.  Repost, don’t reblog! Tag 10! Good luck!

TAGGED BY.  @yascaret​ and @wood-warder​

TAGGING. If you’re reading this, you’re tagged!

BASICS. FULL  NAME :   Aja Hyskaris

NICKNAME :  None (yet?)

AGE :  Appears around late 20s/30 by hyur standards

BIRTHDAY :   Midsummer

GENDER : Non-binary; she/they

ETHNIC  GROUP : Viera (Rava)

NATIONALITY :  Ivalician (?)

LANGUAGE / S : Common

SEXUAL  ORIENTATION :  Homosexual

ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION : Homoromantic

RELATIONSHIP  STATUS :  In a relationship with Lofn Yascaret & Pjel Qoet

HOME  TOWN / AREA :  The Hyskarian Deepwood, Golmore

CURRENT  HOME :  A small house in Shirogane.

PROFESSION : Mercenary. Bounty/monster hunter & occasional bodyguard.

PHYSICAL. HAIR : Vibrant red, wild, curly, falling to mid-back; undercut. Sideburns and widow’s peak.

EYES :  Amber.

FACE :   Square with a sharp jawline. High cheekbones, thick, arched eyebrows, and a prominent, aquiline nose. Often smirking insufferably or flirtatiously, prone to great expressiveness and wide smiles but just as easily brooding. Sharp teeth.

LIPS :  Full. Her smiles are crooked to begin with and deadened nerves on the left side of her mouth add to the effect.

COMPLEXION : Deep brown with warm undertones, lighter palms and soles of her feet, a lighter smudge underneath her nose and around her nostrils. Freckling around her shoulders, arm, the tops of her thighs and her lower back.

BLEMISHES : None of note.

SCARS :  Covered in scattered scars of varying age, depth, and severity, particularly on her left side and near her prosthetic arm. Ceruleum burns on torso; old, ringed scar around throat; vertical scar on left corner of mouth; small scar across nose; edge of left eyebrow; three scars beneath right eye.

TATTOOS & PIERCINGS :  Blackwork tattoos around forearm and legs, among others (design with art to come); white tattoos (curve, three dots) beneath eyes; Several gold rings along outer shells of ears; gold septum ring

HEIGHT :   Just under six fulms, not counting her ears.

WEIGHT :   Average.

BUILD :   Muscular and stocky, with broad shoulders tapering to a strong waist and thighs. [body type reference]

FEATURES :  Her left arm, from the start of the bicep, is a mechanical prosthetic, appearing to be of magitek-or-close make.

ALLERGIES :   None that she knows of.

USUAL  HAIR  STYLE :  Worn loose and wild, not so much a style as a thick mane.

USUAL  FACE  LOOK :  Bare-faced, wearing tinted red pince nez. Smirking, grinning, flirting--generally looking like a complete asshole.

USUAL  CLOTHING :  Loose, open shirts, trousers, long coats, heavy, knee-high boots, leather jackets.

PSYCHOLOGY. FEAR / S : Imprisonment, isolation, drowning, Garlean war machina.

ASPIRATION / S :  Stability, helping others, belonging. In her younger years, she had romantic visions of knighthood, but those have since quieted with the years.

POSITIVE  TRAITS :  Adventurous, Passionate, Brave, Charismatic, Strong, Empathic

NEGATIVE  TRAITS :  Cocky, Bull-headed, Self-destructive, Reckless, Impulsive

MBTI : ESFP

ZODIAC :  Leo

TEMPERAMENT :  Sanguine

SOUL  TYPE / S :   Warrior

ANIMALS :   Wolf

VICE HABIT / S :   Brooding, drinking to excess, recklessness, impulsive decisions, using sex as validation.

FAITH :  She spares it little thought.

GHOSTS ? :  Yes.

AFTERLIFE ? :  Maybe.

REINCARNATION ? : Hopefully.

ALIENS ? :   When she met her first hyur man, she knew aliens were real.

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : Garlemald bad, fuck cops.

EDUCATION  LEVEL :  Average for a viera of her village. She's taught herself to read between the lines better after being conned out of a full hunt reward once or twice in her early days in Rabanastre.

FAMILY. FATHER :   Fleeting contact a lifetime ago.

MOTHERS :  Still in the Wood.

SIBLINGS :   Several, no contact. She was close with one, but has made peace with never seeing any of them again.

EXTENDED  FAMILY :  Still in the Wood--as far as she knows.

NAME MEANING / S :  Aja, from the Hyskarian Deepwood

HISTORICAL  CONNECTION ? : She was born in Golmore, but as far as she knows her name has little meaning.

FAVORITES. BOOK :  Adventure stories and romance novels. She’d never admit it, but they can be found hidden in her satchel or underneath or inside other things.

DEITY :  She tries not to think about them.

HOLIDAY :  Moonfire Faire, ????

MONTH :  Summer

SEASON :  Summer & Fall

PLACE :  A grassy field. The back of a cycle. On top of someone or between someone's legs.

WEATHER :  Thunderstorms, rain showers, clear skies and bright sun overhead.

SOUND / S:  Rain, thunder in the distance, the soft breathing of a woman asleep.

SCENT / S :  Metal, cedar, rain, leather, girlfriend ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

TASTE / S :  Meat, whiskey, curry, girlfriend ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

FEEL / S :  Furs, leather, grass, rain, girlfriend ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

ANIMAL / S :  Cats, coeurls, dogs.

NUMBER :  7

COLORS :  Red, browns, black, gunmetal

EXTRA. TALENTS :  She's a blunt instrument, so beating the shit out of things. Flirting. Fixing things, usually the mechanical variety. Making friends. Diffusing social conflicts as often as she creates them. She's a good cook, but it's suitable really nowhere else but over a fire with a beast's flank in one hand and a metal spit in the other.

BAD  AT :  Love. Understanding and accepting her feelings. Has a chronic case of Foot-in-Mouth Disease. Has a long fuse, but her temper can spin out of control when pressed. Terrible at restraint and not being reckless and impulsive.

TURN  ONS :  Stockings, especially with the seam up the back. The nape of a woman's neck. Banter. Compliments. Smiles. Give her a smile and a coquettish eyelash flutter or make her feel strong and she's useless putty in your hands.

TURN  OFFS : Flirtatious men, cowards, cruelty, Garleans.

HOBBIES : Fishing, tinkering, gambling, trying new foods, sparring and training, exercise.

TROPES :  You Can’t Go Home Again, Badass Longcoat, Dark-Skinned Readhead, Cannot Spit It Out, Hot-Blooded, Scars Are Forever, Everyone Can See It, Artificial Limbs, Berserk Button, Unusual Eyebrows, Dark and Troubled Past, Rage Breaking Point, Cool Bike, Hot-Blooded Sideburns, Fiery Redhead, Red Oni Blue Oni, Gun Blade, La Résistance, Spell Blade, Love Epiphany, Bruiser with a Soft Center, Didn’t Think This Through (Gonna stop now or I’ll be here all night)

QUOTES : “Ah, fuck.”

MUN QUESTIONS. Q1 :   If you could write your character your way in their own movie,  what would it be called,  what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?          

A1 :  John Wick mixed with Final Fantasy VIII mixed with Drive but with Garlean soldiers, turncoats, gay bro content, a sorceress, and also heaps of gay in general.

Q2 :   What would their soundtrack/score sound like?          

A2 :  Chromatic rock, Nightrun, hair metal, a lot of Deftones, Tool, the Weeknd, indie and acoustic rock for angst.

Q3 :   Why did you start writing this character?          

A3 :   When viera were teased at Fanfest, I lost my mind and have been unable to concentrate on any other character since. Aja was actually going to be a hrothgar, but when they genderlocked them and the model and general design didn’t fit her body type, well… plans changed.

Q4 :   What first attracted you to this character?          

A4 :   Much like @yascaret’s answer, getting my gay hands on viera in FFTA and being obsessed since then. I wanted to write a warrior, a little battered but unbroken despite everything. She came out differently than originally planned, but in a good way. She’s just an even bigger himbo now.

Q5 :   Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse.

A5 :   I worry about Flanderizing her too hard, because while she is a big flirtatious himbo idiot I also want it to come across that she has depth.

Q6 :   What do you have in common with your muse?          

A6 :   Not a lot. I guess we're both stubborn idiots with very long fuses that nonetheless eventually explode and/or destroy whatever is on the receiving end. Also what's gender precious

Q7 :   How does your muse feel about  you?          

A7 :   She probably wouldn’t acknowledge me at all, but we might bond over spicy noodles.

Q8 :   What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ?        

A8 :   Lofn and Pjel are the obvious choice, but… Lofn and Pjel. I really love writing her alongside and against them because their personality traits both complement and chafe against one another, often in the same scene. Also I love their chemistry and look forward to how that plays out.  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Q9 :   What gives  you inspiration  to write  your muse ?        

A9 :    B u n y  d e a t h  s q u a d. Just in general seeing my RP partners and roleplayers I haven’t interacted with yet writing and posting content for their characters really inspires me. As far as writing Aja, I take a handful of aesthetics, design elements, and themes and smash them together until something clicks. Listening to music and rolling through a prompt generator usually kick starts me into writing a drabble or developing something, and the FFXIV Write challenge has been great for that this month.

Q10 :  How long did this take you to complete ?          

A10 :  About an afternoon and part of an evening. I fell into TV Tropes a little too hard near the end.

[jonsafan-blog]

The Tarly Troubles

Sansa’s main objection to Daenerys before Jon left to Dragonstone was that she was an unknown element. Daenerys had just arrived from Essos, and while it was possible stories of her adventures had become known to the North, her personality would not have been.

However, Daenerys is her father’s daughter - the man who burned their grandfather alive and made their uncle watch.

While they could trust Tyrion more than most people in Westeros, Daenerys was coming to Westeros to conquer it, including the North. That made her a de facto enemy to the Starks.

The problem in this situation with the Mad King isn’t just that the Mad King was evil, but that the Starks were part of the rebellion to overthrow the Targaryens. The Starks benefitted from the demise of the Targaryens.

Daenerys is well aware of that.

The Starks have their own experience with traitor families.

Even though Jon pardoned Ned Umber and Alys Karstark and allowed them to keep their castles, this was considered an unusually merciful action. Sansa would never have executed them, but she did worry that the same advisors responsible for helping the previous Lords of the house would continue to advise Ned and Alys to act against the Starks.

Sansa appeared to get along well with Ned. He is a child who shares the name of her father, so perhaps that is part of it, but I imagine there is a different pressure to Ned and Alys’s continued loyalties given they are not the only Northern houses, but these two houses were the ones primarily responsible for aiding the Boltons in the Battle of the Bastards.

That makes them outliers - not the norm. Half of the Seven Kingdoms rebelled against the Targaryens, and the remaining families: Lannisters, Tullys, and Arryns, are also rebels of that rebellion. The Greyjoys are also included in that list, but Yara pledged for Daenerys long before she set sail, which resulted in Yara retaining her crown similar to Dornish princes.

Putting Sansa’s own experience with traitors to her family, it makes sense why she would be wary around Daenerys. Daenerys might think it prudent to strip the Starks of their lands in the North if she came into power. Daenerys might also strip the lands of the Lannisters, Tullys, and Arryns as well.

Sansa is not aware of Daenerys’s desire to break the wheel, but it is clear that Daenerys likely consider stripping the rebellious families of their lands.

Or, she could simply execute Jon after arriving on Dragonstone because he believed to be Ned Stark’s son.

This is what Sansa worried about before Jon left.

That didn’t happen, which I imagine does assuage some of the worst fears for Sansa, though it does not remove a fear which is certainly at the back of her mind:

Daenerys is Queen now, which means she can take away the North if she so pleases.

The only reason Daenerys was likely accepted into Winterfell wasn’t just because she was helping them with the White Walkers, but because Jon still lived.

As it stands, Daenerys is still an outsider - an unknown element, to the Northerners. They aren’t sure if she will respect their way of life should they all survive the war.

They had already lost their right to self-rule because of Jon, and history has proven that some Targaryens were insane and attacked their vassals.

That Daenerys would be Queen in the south would mean that she is removed from their influence. The Northern lords would not have a seat at the table like they do with the King in the North.

However, the current objections Sansa and the Northerners have against Daenerys is assuming she is a rational ruler now but that they fear for their future, either in her late rule or in her heirs.

Her father wasn’t always insane. King Aerys was once a beloved king for many years in his early reign, but his insanity gripped him and he even acted out on former friends.

This insanity is a known trait among Targaryens, and something which is described with a coin: when a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. That means there is effectively a fifty-fifty change Westeros will have a terrible ruler. An insane ruler.

But again, Daenerys is merely a Targaryen, not necessarily the worst of her family. She has freed slaves and done a lot of good. She is also helping the North fight against the White Walkers and she wants to overthrow Cersei.

The North hates slavery. They need help against the White Walkers. Cersei is also the devil incarnate to them.

All in all, the North should reasonably expect a positive alliance with Daenerys.

Only there are inklings she may not be a great ruler, and the North is very aware of that.

There is a lot working against Daenerys going into season eight. Some of it was in her control, and some of it is just her own misfortune.

She has not received an appropriate Westerosi education

Daenerys was pursued by Robert for much of her early years and was raised by her older brother who was barely more than a child himself. They depended upon charity to survive, and Daenerys was effectively ignorant of her homeland.

We know this because she latched onto Jorah and his gift of books on Westeros. He was like an oasis in the desert for her.

Upon arriving in Westeros, it is clear Daenerys isn’t fully informed on how to approach different families and cultures.

As an example: everyone in Westeros mocks the North for their severity. However, they are not unaware of what a typical Northerner is like.

Daenerys seems completely unprepared for handling the North and Westeros in general. However, I get the sense this miscommunication does not come across as naive ignorance, but willful disregard.

Northerners do not like pretense, but they know southerners still pretend.

Tyrion tried to reach out to the North in the Great Hall using Jon as the bridge. It did not work, but it showed sincerity Daenerys did not... because Daenerys does not know it is expected that she will try to bridge the gap between them.

She also appears to misunderstand the gravity of winter and the importance of the house structure in Westeros, given her own ill-prepared state going into the war and her dismissal of the importance of the Tarlys in the power vacuum of the Reach and southern kingdoms.

Jorah is at her side

I love Jorah Bear. He’s the best. But the Northerner’s wouldn’t think so.

On the surface, he appears to be a boon, not a detriment, but it is important to realize that Jorah committed a serious crime in Westeros when he sold poachers into slavery. He did not hand them over to face justice, but profited of their servitude. His wife’s expensive tastes were not an excuse... and he knew that. He fled Westeros rather than face justice himself.

His father, Jeor Mormont, actually abdicated his position as Lord of Bear Island to give his son an opportunity to lead the house... meaning his son had far more money that he would have had previously.

Combined with the fact that he became a mercenary in Essos, he likely has a very negative reputation even before his connection to Daenerys is considered.

And he is her longest-serving advisor and her closest friend. I’m glad she hasn’t abandoned him, and she shouldn’t, since he is loyal to her and provides pretty good advice most of the time, but it is clear his presence actually detracts from her influence in the North rather than helps.

She is a Dothraki khal

The Dothraki are the most hated people from Essos in Westeros. They live nomadic lives pillaging and raping everyone in their path. They are like the Ironborn, but worse.

Before Daenerys became an abolitionist, she was the wife of the most famous Dothraki khal. It was rumored that Khal Drogo was working with Viserys to invade Westeros. This never came to pass, but that Daenerys leads an army of Dothraki to invade Westeros is not in her favor when it comes to winning the hearts and minds of Westerosi.

Jon was killed for letting in Wildlings, and Westeros prefers wildlings to Dothraki.

Her dragons are monsters

Before even getting into what her dragons have actually done, it is important to note that dragons are considered the weapon of mass destruction in this universe. The Valyrians almost took over the whole world because of their dragonriders, and the Targaryens took over an entire continent with just three dragons.

Dragons themselves are animals that can burn entire armies and castles. They have voracious appetites and can be difficult to control.

They also have a mind of their own, which means they can go rogue and cause a lot of damage.

Daenerys didn’t come to Westeros with the most powerful army in the world - she came with nuclear weapons she intends to use on its people. She intends to keep those weapons to keep those people in line.

She likely intends to hatch more dragons and keep the symbol of her famiy’s power in tact.

And there is every sign in the world that bringing dragons into the world and keeping their requires bloodshed. The attempted hatching at Summerhall resulted in the death of most of the Targaryens even before Robert’s Rebellion.

Dragons, and everything connected to them, are very fatal.

She already lost a dragon.

Daenerys wants to help the North, but her help has already resulted in the war against the dead being more difficult than it already was.

The problem with creating weapons is that once something is in the world, it’s hard to take it out of the world. Nuclear weapons on Earth have proliferated, and it is an earnest fear of many governments and individual citizens that it may come into the hands of a rogue nation or terrorist cell.

That’s exactly what has happened in with the Night King.

Before the battle was a fight against a traditional army that happened to be undead. Now the battle is against an undead dragon that can cause just as much damage as a traditional dragon but is a lot harder to kill.

And that weapon has destroyed the wall - one of the greatest wonders in the world. Before the war had been about keeping the White Walkers on the other side of the Wall, but now they are past the wall and there is no way they can get the White Walkers to retreat and stay trapped behind it.

The North and Westeros have lost their greatest defense mechanism against the worst army in the history of the world - that is now a lot stronger because Daenerys lost control of her weapon of mass destruction.

All might have been forgiven if Daenerys was who she said she was and not who people feared her to be

The crux of the mistrust towards Daenerys by the North, and especially Sansa, is that Daenerys has a lot going for her and what goes against her can be forgiven by unfortunate circumstances or twisted in a favorable light for her allies.

However, this benefit of a doubt is given to Daenerys because she claims to be all her great titles in a positive and affirming way without being the Mad King that was her father.

But when Daenerys participated in her first real battle in Westeros, she did everything she wasn’t supposed to do and confirmed the fears of Tyrion by doing so.

She burned an entire army indiscriminately, and then burned alive those who would not submit to her.

This indiscriminate execution is the exact reason Robert’s Rebellion happened in the first place. Rhaegar and Lyanna running off instigated the conflict, but it did not happen in isolation of other events. Westeros was angry and afraid of the mad king for some time, and when Sansa and Jon’s grandfather went to King Aerys to demand justice, justice was answered with torture.

Not, "I’ll look into it guys” or even “Tough luck, I believe in my son” but murder. And a murder that everyone at court felt powerless to stop. The Starks weren’t even the first people burned alive at court. Nor were they the last. There were many other pyromanic executions at court.

While Westeros is unaware of it, Aerys also planned to burn all of Kind’s Landing down until Jaime stopped him.

That’s what happened on the Gold Road. Daenerys decided that the Tarlys deserved a painful death similar to the method her father preferred. This went against the advice of her advisors, and everyone watched in horror as they were unable to prevent an event very similar to what caused Ned, Robert, and Jon Arryn to raise their bannerman in rebellion in the first place.

Sansa fears that Jon bent the knee not to save the North, but because he loved Daenerys. Sansa also knows that love makes people blind - it blinded Robb and resulted in his death, and Sansa fears that Daenerys may just be a pretty Aerys.

There is not yet any proof of Daenerys being a mad queen.

But not for lack of evidence - the North just isn’t aware of what happened at the Gold Road yet. And once they know... it might change everything.

It will change the North.

It will change how the North perceives Daenerys.

It will change how the North perceives Jon.

Among the Starks, it will also damage the relationship between Jon and Sansa the most.

What happened to the Tarlys is a fundamental problem for the North in their acceptance of Daenerys that cannot be disregarded because it confirms all their worst fears about Daenerys.

It also confirms their worst fears about Jon.

When Jon left for Dragonstone, he did so against the wishes of his people. He then did not communicate his intentions or provide updates on his progress effectively. This lead to the Northerners believing he abandoned them when they needed Jon most.

They wanted to make Sansa their Queen.

Sansa is their rightful queen.

She turned them down because Sansa does not want to be Queen for the sake of power. She merely wanted to return home. She wanted to be safe. She wanted to be with her family. Jon was part of her family.

However, the Tarly Troubles present a different set of problems to the story for everyone involved. We know this because of what happened before Daenerys even arrived in Winterfell.

Once the North knows about the Tarlys... everything changes.

Daenerys becomes a threat, and so does Jon.

Why? Because Jon was incommunicado with Daenerys for a long time, and during that time Daenerys was burning armies and noble families.

Jon may not have known, but will the Northerners believe him?

I’m hard-pressed to believe that this is something that can just be smoothed over. They were already ready to depose him. Had Sansa been less of a person, had she loved him less, she would have seized power for herself.

So why would the North suddenly change?

The answer is they won’t.

Jon Snow is Jon Snow. They call him the King in the North whose name is Stark, but his name is not really Stark... is it?

And that’s before the fact he is a legitimate Targaryen comes into question and it looks like he is colluding with his real father’s family.

There are other Starks in the world... capable Starks in their mind. And she also helped lead the North against the Boltons. She was the one who brought a friendly long-allied army to their cause.

She did not leave the North.

Now we as fans know that Daenerys is not mindlessly evil and we know that Jon is loyal to the Starks, but the North isn’t so sure, and the Tarly Troubles will really put a light on those issues.

Going into this season, it is clear that a lot of fandom theories and are not only possible... but necessary to resolve the political tension in the story.

The best way to ensure the North is ruled by a Stark is to put a Stark into power. However, that political tension is not resolved by Sansa staying in the North and Jon ruling in the south.

The North never wants to be ruled by a southern leader again.

That said, it would be ridiculous to presume that Jon won’t redeem himself in the eyes of the North in a major way. The North will come to trust Jon again, though they will always have a nagging worry about his lineage.

The easy solution is one of two paths should Jon survive the end of the series: He never marries... or he marries the Stark the North realizes they want: Sansa.

Jon is not even nominally a Stark, even though he was raised by Ned and his cousins accept him. He was a Snow, and eventually, it will be revealed that he is a Targaryen.

That’s a problem.

It’s also not just a problem for the North - the southern houses will want to eliminate the legacy of the Targaryens, and Sansa has strong connections to the Riverlands and the Vale.

Remember: Catelyn was able to take Tyrion hostage in the Riverlands and have him tried in the Vale. This is important, because that is two kingdoms of which Sansa has potential influence in - two kingdoms that also hate the Targaryens.

It’s no mistake or coincidence that Sansa has been held up as the “key to the North” or that she has been seen as the second-coming of Catelyn Tully. That she also spent an impressionable amount of time in the Vale and is loved by Robin Arryn is also no coincidence.

Sansa is politically powerful. Arya and Bran are never held up to the same standard... because their role narratively is not to be the ruler of Winterfell.

But Jon and Sansa coming together is not just a matter of politics. When Sansa confronts Jon about bending the knee to a Targaryen queen, it is clear that she is personally hurt by his decision. She is, in essence, jealous.

Some people read this as political jealous while others believe it is personal jealousy.

Either way, there is a strong amount of jealousy there which suggests Sansa is not just ideologically opposed to Jon’s actions on a pragmatic level... she feels personally attacked.

That’s an interesting emotion given the fact we know Sansa chose to abstain from taking Jon’s power even when it was easy. Even when it was legally hers.

Even though Jon himself admitted she was responsible for winning the Battle of the Bastards.

But Sansa doesn’t see Jon as King of the North as being personally robbed. She was happy.

Sansa was not happy when Jon appeared loyal to Daenerys over his own family... over Sansa.

And the way Sansa’s jealousy is made clear is one of romantic intentions.

Sansa believes Jon bent the knee because Jon is in love with Daenerys. Not in love with her ability as a ruler... in love with Daenerys.

The Tarly Troubles confirm the seed Littlefinger planted in Sansa’s mind last season when he said that Jon and Daenerys might marry because she was attractive.

Throughout the last season, Sansa was worried because Jon left the North and did not communicate his intentions. When he returned, all her worst fears were realized:

He gave up the crown Sansa fought for him to keep because she loved him more than power.

He gave away the security of the North’s future post-Long Night even though Sansa didn’t fight for Winterfell for the coming war... she fought for it from the Boltons to have forever.

He didn’t tell her anything that was happening while he was away.

Sansa may think Jon kept the news about the Tarlys from her so that she would accept he bent the knee. People lie for the people they love, and if Sansa believes he lied... she will definitely think he did it for love.

So what Sansa and Jon need personally is to reunite on more equal terms. In this world, hierarchy is a powerful thing. You are either in power over someone, or someone is in power of you. This is true in the Stark family. Although Sansa jokes that Arya will need to call her Lady Stark, it is true that Sansa has a higher rank than Arya and they have a different relationship dynamic because of it.

Before Bran and Arya returned, Jon and Sansa were uniquely positioned as equals. He was King in the North, but Sansa was Lady of Winterfell. This is symbolically two halves of the same position historically, and both Jon and Sansa treated each other as equals. So too did the North once Jon had left - Sansa can step into his role when he is gone, and it is presumed that Sansa would have expected him to be Lord of Winterfell had she gone.

Their entire aesthetic is as a power couple: Jon is Ned Stark and Sansa is Catelyn Stark. Jon brings the military might of Ned, while Sansa brings the political savvy of Catelyn.

They needed each other to rule. They still do.

Sansa will never find an equal in Jon when it comes to a military commander. Jon will never find a political equal in Sansa when it comes to understanding the social dynamics of Westeros.

But they have temporarily split apart when Jon went south, and then forever split apart by Daenerys’s arrival.

The Tarly Troubles send them running in completely separate directions entirely.

However, is marriage alone enough to solve the personal break between Jon and Sansa?

No.

Ned and Catelyn were not on good terms at the start of their marriage. Catelyn had felt betrayed in a similar way that Sansa did. She had lost faith in Ned even though he was a famously honorable person.

It took years to build their relationship again. It’s even stated in the books that Catelyn knew men fathered bastards... but they did not bring them home. And Ned never admitted to Jon’s mother either. This led Catelyn to believe that Ned was in love with another woman. Catelyn was very jealous.

Catelyn only ever asked about Jon’s mother once... and she had been so frightened by Ned’s response she never asked again. She grew to distrust Jon overtime because she feared that Jon’s grandchildren would one day be a threat to her own grandchildren. Jon was always considered an outsider because of it.

Jon brought Daenerys home. Sansa never expected that. He also would not tell her the truth about Daenerys. And Daenerys was a threat to the future of the Starks in Winterfell... especially in Jon was in love with her!

Because you know - the Ned and Catelyn parallels are never exhausted with Jonsa! And nor are the Ned, Catelyn, and Targaryen child parallels!

But Ned and Catelyn did get married, and they did fall in love. And you know who represents the love of that union?

Sansa Stark.

She was the first child born after Ned and Catelyn’s fallout. She was the promise that the Stark line would continue.

Sansa has also been the promise of the Stark line since Robb died.

There is also a lot of show-related anxiety Catelyn had for not “loving a motherless bastard” which we were reminded of in the teaser.

It’s important that Sansa loves Jon more than anyone else as the symbol for Catelyn.

And it’s important that Sansa and Jon continue on as Starks, which they can only do together politically and personally.

Jon needs to feel truly loved by someone else. He also needs the freedom to love another person and have a child without the name Snow. It’s something he has wanted all his life... and what he has always secretly wanted is to have a child with the name Stark.

Which only Sansa can give him.

Likewise, Sansa wants to feel loved herself. She has been abused for so many years by the men in her life. However, all she has ever wanted was to marry a prince and have his babies... but then she realized that brought her pain, so now all she wants is what she has.

But she no longer has what she had before Jon left for Dragonstone, and the irony was that Jon, whom she had, was also a prince.

Jon was part of her family, and now she fears she has lost him to Daenerys.

I don’t think Jon not marrying Daenerys but then marrying another woman would ever fix that worry for Sansa, just as Jon marrying Daenerys and naming his child Targaryen would ever answer his dream of having a child with his name. Jon always assumed he was a Stark, and I don’t think he can shed that desire for the name for Targaryen. He might as well have been Jon Sand.

Jon and Sansa are uniquely the answer to all their hopes and dreams, and the pain both are experiencing at the beginning of season seven is because they have been pushed on different paths and that path is about to get more treacherous because of the Tarly Troubles.

Jon and Sansa don’t want to be separated. They want each other. They were reunited as a power couple to take back Winterfell because that is who they are and who they will be.

And the story can only end with them having each other.