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husbandohunter · 4 years ago

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The Calamity in our Stars [Sentient AU! Genshin Impact x Isekai!Reader] Part 1

Synopsis: Knowing all of the events of Genshin Impact you were sucked into their world with the power of awareness. Anyone who touches your hand will realize the truth, breaking the fourth wall.

(When the guys find out they're in a video game)

Characters: Diluc, Kaeya Albedo

Heads up: a bit lore heavy

"Dear anon who requested this, I accidentally deleted your ask when trying to remove the unfinished version!!! But I remember your sentences, big brain scenarios are so much fun to write, thank you for your request~"

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~Introduction~

In the world of Teyvat, the sky was a lie and the frauds were the gods. History repeats the story of mankind's arrogation and how it knows no limits stemmed by their unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Hence, to protect the heavens, the gods concealed the truth as much as they could.

‘Twas the will of the Supreme Ruler that commanded all of Khaenri’ah to be punished with the power of every divine for breaking their laws. The gods did it for peace but what is peace in lies and destruction? Peace is an illusion, a dreamland-- and those who once dreamt of dreaming were determined to shatter through it’s deceitful walls.

Two stars hailing from worlds afar, together they were inseparable, now they stand on opposite ends. The first being Lumine, she who woke up into the fall of Khaenri’ah five centuries ago has claimed the Abyss under her rule. She led the mages and waged war against humanity, her heart too broken to recognize hope once more. Lumine did it for justice yet her actions only brought more injustice to the innocent civilians living in Freedom’s city. She will continue to create nightmares across the lands, with her own hands, as if, trying to bury the naivety she used to have. Justice for unjust. If she can’t be happy, if her people can’t be happy, then no one else deserves to be happy either.

Then there was Aether, the fortunate twin, the star who still kept his light. He pursues a path full of righteousness and fights for those in need. Despite the glory he earned, Aether only had one simple wish-- to see Lumine again, his precious other half. And when he did, he looked into her golden eyes to see all that he couldn’t. Aether slayed many dangerous beasts, defeated an ancient god, saved Liyue and saved all of mankind, however, he couldn’t save a broken heart. What did she experience that changed her so much? Why was she so adamant about destroying the heavens? If he had to travel to the ends of the earth to understand the pain she went through then he would do it in a heartbeat. He will do anything to bring back that luminous glow which once danced in her eyes. All for Lumine, everything for his sister.

Through your computer screen you watched the whole scenario play out between the siblings, from start to finish, after ten years Mihoyo finally decided to draw the conclusion to their story. Like their previous games it was always a tragic ending. The hero falls in front of the Supreme Ruler, bleeding all over as he grabs onto his sword for support. She smiles down at him sinisterly with a dark orb pulsing by her fingertips and says,

"At last, your journey ends here outlander. It was a mistake for you to try and defy our laws."

Your heart beats loudly in your chest, a hand gripping tightly around your mouse in anticipation. Over the course of time you've grown to love each and every character. Their sadness was your sadness and their joy was your joy. You couldn't help but feel useless while watching Aether struggle in his final moments. Despite all that he went through, was this his outcome? Is this all you could do?

"No…" the blonde boy denies, "What Lumine said, I think I understand now. She wasn't doing it to kill you, she was doing it to protect us," his voice cracks at the mention of his sister's name, "But you killed her…!"

The Supreme Ruler, Asmoday, remained indifferent to the boy's grief. The same expression she had when she took Lumine's life.

"That's why I'm going to put an end to this cycle, not for me. For her," Aether declared, the hilt of his held sword shaking in the process, "I'm going to reweave the strings of fate and break through these walls. Even if it erases my existence."

Your eyes burst open. Aether turned his head. Gold. He was looking directly your way.

I'm counting on you.

With a roar from his mouth, Aether channels all his energy into the sky and forms a crack in it's void. The space around you begins to spiral out of control simultaneously. No time to protest and no time to scream, you were sucked into your computer with nothing but your clothes. The air whips around your face from the impact of the deafening force of gravity as you were falling right into a river.

Starfell Lake's river.

Coughing a few times you climbed upon the cliffs, "What...on earth," and saw a familiar city in front of you. It's beauty was breathtaking, something you've always wished to see up close, until you remembered where you came from, "Mondstadt? Wait! This can't be."

And that's when you realized that you were thrown into a world against your will and the only way out was to finish what was started.

{Diluc}

Fate was something Diluc thought bore no meaning when life was meant to be taken by one's own hands. He sincerely believed he already found his own purpose, fighting against evil while living for the sake of surviving and abandoning things that were deemed unnecessary even at the cost of his own happiness. Diluc wanted to find meaning in all his misfortunes, knowing that only those who triumph through darkness can see the dawn.

Henceforth, the sun arrives. When he reached the top of Starnatch Cliff, Diluc saw you for the very first time. Like a sighing breath the wind cascades along your hair as you turn around slowly, your wondrous gaze taking his. It’s Diluc, the Darknight Hero!!! He couldn’t understand your prolonged staring, though he was guilty of it as well. You had a distinct aura that he couldn’t describe through words, your eyes were distant like the galaxies itself with a little bit of enigma. He was good at judging first impressions, a skill he developed through his lone ventures and among the prestigious people he met, you were the only one who was able to entrance him in a single glance.

Erm, what should I say? A greeting? How do you greet someone in Teyvat...you scattered your brain for any references you could find and formed an eloquent yet awkward sentence, “Greetings good sir, how do you do today!”

Diluc returns his signature unimpressed look. You sweatdropped, remembering that he was the type to dislike idle chit chat. But before you could leave the conversation, he adds in and tells you, “Nothing to complain about. However, I have never seen anyone in Mondstadt wearing your kind of attire. Where are you from?”

Ah, he was suspicious of you. Very much like Diluc indeed.

Although Diluc intended to keep an eye on you, as he would on any unfamiliar figure that could be a potential threat, he easily falls prey to your unparalleled friendliness. Most people would shy away from the Master Diluc as his atmosphere can be suffocating at times but you treat him like anyone else, like he wasn’t a noble to begin with. You somehow knew exactly what to say during the times he needed to hear those words the most. About his father, about his life. It was as if you understood him, completely, even more than himself.

In return he looks at you with reverence. Perhaps you were an old childhood friend he had long forgotten. What other can explain this deep rooted connection he felt? Or perhaps there is a possibility that fate did exist after all.

But in a way you were just as distant. While you were so open to knowing the world around you, your face still hid a glimpse of a lost soul trying to find something, especially when you looked at the stars. Diluc couldn’t help recognize that similar emotion. Like sailing through the unknown sea, trying to find a lighthouse, a destination, questioning why you were here in the first place. Just like he was questioning all his events. Why were you so hesitant when talking about your home? Why did you seem sad when mentioning where you received your powers? Why do you always flinch as he tries to hold your hand? Didn’t you tell him that you also felt the same way?

“I’m sorry Diluc,” you sadly apologized, remembering what Dainsleif said in his collected miscellany, if Diluc saw what he saw and what you saw then it would most definitely shake his resolve. Even so the guilt of lies eventually consumes you, “You deserve to know the truth.”

When you cupped your soft hands over his calloused ones, a wave of memories flash through his head. All the things he couldn’t understand, now he knows why. He finally found the answer to everything he ever questioned in the cruelest, devastating and defeating way possible.

His life was a game.

Diluc leans against the wall in quiet exasperation, clutching his red locks against his face, the frightened man says, “All of this...for nothing?”

Nothing. Nothing was his reply. Nothing to gain in his suffering-- the experience between his adopted brother and him nor was there any significance in his father’s sacrifice. The reason why you acted the way you were was because he was just a character in a setup for someone’s own selfish entertainment. That his feelings didn’t matter to begin with. Did they ever matter? He already tried to discard them a long time ago but they rushed back like drowning in the stormy sea, blood pulsing through his veins as his expression switched from disbelief to anger. Every thought and every comforting advice you’ve said was because…

“You knew about this,” he whispered, disheartened. His trust broken, mind awoken as he kept the words that were left unspoken. Because he still cared about you regardless even if: you’re one of them.

“No I-” I didn’t mean to. Your mouth stops short before spilling out your sentence. Was that really felt? Or a veil to live in a dreamland? The purpose of playing a game was to entertain yourself, the more the characters went through turmoil the more interesting the story became. Did you really care about Diluc? Or you pitied him because he was a tragic hero and you thought you could save him just to satisfy your own worth as a self-proclaimed hero?

Since then Diluc was never the same again. He was once a passionate man holding justice and value close to his heart. Now as if the flames had been stamped out, he acted indifferently. He questioned everything, the denial in him searching for a spark yet not even a flicker. That his venture through the darkness did not end with dawn, there was no dawn, only infinite nothingness.

Diluc knew one solution to all of this-- revenge. To the false gods who brought upon his misfortunes and those sentient beings that stringed it all together. And you. You? A part of him still reasons that it wasn’t entirely your fault as you were also a victim to their cause but he couldn’t be too sure anymore. He couldn’t trust anyone. He was torn apart and nothing could fix that.

Sometimes you wonder if what Aether did was the right decision. If he truly believed that only the truth would set you free. But then why did it trap you in a prison of regret?

{Kaeya}

Kaeya denies fate, continuously, with every breath he takes. But fate does not deny him.

He wondered if he ever had a choice in life. The Prince of Khaenri’ah wears his crown like chains made of bones and flesh, out from his dead ancestors who failed to exact their vengeance. You are our last hope, the weight of his father’s palm rests upon his head when he said those dutiful words, a reminder of who he is. Kaeya became stranded alone in this vast land of freedom. Freedom. Does that mean he was free? No, his hoe never left him to begin with, it stays in his mind, it echoes through the last memory of his father, it runs in his veins. Freedom was a wish, a dream and like his ancestors, he was cursed to continue dreaming of this dream.

That is why Kaeya lives everyday through short pleasures and alcohol as if they were a daring adventure. He cared less of the consequences that came with it. Everything was going to be temporary anyways so mind as well enjoy them while they last.

Behind the screen you always took the initiative to search for the Cavalry Captain but the current situation demands a different outcome. He was meant to be avoided. Kaeya is capable of great intelligence and the last thing you wanted was for him to find out that you were a suspicious visitor with no identifiable background roaming near the Favonius Headquarters. Though your presence was quite noticeable due to the attire you wore and somehow he found his way over to your space in his usual sneaky manner.

“Ah what a pleasant surprise. You must be the new traveller everyone in Mondstadt has been talking about these days,” Kaeya speaks charmingly, a singular eye sharpening out of mischief, “What brings you here? Certainly it must be tiring to venture off from your distant homeland.”

Amusement is what had drawn him to you. He found you hard to read and your actions unpredictable, Kaeya wanted to make a game out of it. How long will it take for that mask of yours to break until your true self has been revealed? After all, everyone hides behind a mask in one way or another, in order to survive. He knew that better than anyone. It was how he lived his whole life. It was what he, himself, had to do in order to survive.

Because everything that happened to his past relationship with Diluc was shattered from the truth.

Then why is he so obsessed with revealing others?

Well, misery loves company.

But in your company Kaeya made the mistake of allowing himself to get too involved. The heart wants what it wants no matter how much he tries to shield it away. Like a delectable drink he fell deeply into the spell of intense infatuation, the way you showed yourself without remorse. Oftentimes he would take advantage of someone’s spilled secrets however he couldn’t bring himself to do the same here. You were similar to him, that you both share a burdened responsibility. He could hear it in your tone, he could tell by your body language and he could catch the hidden remarks of what he assumes to be about your homeland. Just like him, you were trying to find ways to distract yourself from your responsibilities. Unlike him, you did it in ways that he would have never thought of. Your eyes still held hope for a brighter future which expanded to the horizon he couldn’t even see. You believed through every turmoil there was a light at the end of the tunnel and like a moth to a flame, he was drawn to your light.

The warmth of your hand he takes, became one of his worst decisions later on.

“Ha…”

Staggering back, Kaeya simply laughs, mouth parting to reveal a set of brilliant white teeth. He knew it. All of the events happening in his life, every single one of them were stringed together for some grand scheme. He constantly wondered, why did the stars choose him? And for what reason? To be a hero? Or a villain? To be anything at the very least just no this. Kaeya was relieved that he finally had some sort of answer but at the same time, distraught to know he was a means to an end. He once thought he would be stuck in a long battle against fate. Though it seems fate had already won the game.

You never saw Kaeya again. Or rather, he chose to keep his distance again.

The Cavalry Captain spends his days in deep thought while sipping his drink. Even Diluc began worrying to the point he pushed himself to approach his brother despite not being on very good terms. Instead of answering him, Kaeya pushes him away, noticeably, it was unlike his usual slick manner. The truth had always damaged Kaeya and he should have known better to cut ties with you sooner before the whole thing happened. Was there any point in carrying out his father’s will? Was there any point in being a spy? Was there....any point in thinking of an answer to all his questions?

For the first time in the longest he cries. The man drops to his knees before hunching forward, letting his tears stain the floor. Someone must be watching behind the screen as he was in this pathetic state, someone must be writing his next move and every outcome. It didn't matter to him anymore. Kaeya already gave up long ago.

{Albedo}

What is the truth of the universe?

To Albedo, the question was not only a formula that must be solved but served as the last memory of his Master before she left him alone. Eventually, that memory became the center of his universe.

Who am I? What am I? Why am I here?

Albedo observed the branch in his grasp. Plants grow when they are nurtured by the sun and children grow as their parents guide them through life’s experiences. Nature and nurture. The law he didn’t belong in. Just like the leyline branch he held he was a force created by unnatural usage of alchemy, however, a part of him yearns for that companionship. Perhaps this was the reason why he was so obsessed with the universe? His Master had high expectations over Albedo whenever she gave him an assignment and would leave if he were to fail. Hence completing his task would prompt her to come back. After all, any child wants the presence of their parent and Albedo was no exception to that.

The alchemist relentlessly searches. Even obtaining some achievements and high praise from the Knights but none of that mattered to him when his purpose was greater than the tasks they had given. He went through every book, every place, every trench of Dragonspine’s wrath. Still, he couldn’t find the answer. Albedo would sometimes ponder that his Master purposely gave him an impossible assignment as an excuse of some sort. Not to abandon him but allow him the freedom to choose what it means to live a happy life. Yet a part of him believed he may never see her again because to this day, Albedo struggles to understand what a happy life is.

In the middle of his predicament, he stumbles upon your arrival.

“You carry the aura of the stars.”

There was no fooling him. Albedo immediately knew you were an outlander coming from a world that carries all his answers.

Chalk pursues gold, you recall what Dainsleif once said in the prophecy readings. If Albedo were to know too much then he’ll turn into the monster that once threw Khaenri’ah and all its people into dismay using his creations. So you refrained from telling him, thinking that you could change his fate and save him from that ending.

Of course, Albedo did not understand. Whatever caught his attention he was persistent to break it down. There was a time where he was close to bribing you with the possibility of helping you find your home but even to that offer, you resisted. Who would’ve thought a person can be so stubborn under no given reason. He felt somewhat irritated for once. Though, as an alchemist, Albedo knew there was a process for everything and he figured that he had to gain your trust first before diving into details.

It wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

So much effort was involved in connecting with people. How do you gain someone’s trust? Albedo consulted with Sucrose: it comes naturally. He went to the Acting Grandmaster for help: assist with the intent to care. He asked several more people he knew and they all boiled down to one principle: humanity. But what does it take to be human?

The more Albedo spent time with you, he somehow discovered a little more about himself. Like him, you also had no one to tell you or guide you through your journey as you searched for the reason why you were here. It was a lonely task, he knew that much when he realized how distant he grew from the others when he became too indulged in his research. At first loneliness was only a word by definition to describe his standpoint, now loneliness was a feeling when he looked at you. And it was through that loneliness he found what companionship meant-- to connect.

So he connects his hand with yours and knowledge consumes him.

The truth of this universe...is all just a game.

Just a game.

Albedo’s mind draws a blank as his eyes stare into space. Is that it? Throughout all his trial and errors, the effort he put in and the relentless hours to no rest for such an anticlimactic answer? This brand new feeling of awareness brought him to question himself, what role does he play as one of the key characters in the game? Why did the creators make him a monster in the first place? How did they create all this?

“Master, I have completed the assignment you gave me. About the truth of this universe it wasn’t what I expected to be,” he says to himself, red and purple veins pulsing around his body as he was transforming.

You couldn’t bear to look at him. It was too late. He went too far to be saved.

Within the last moments you slowly walked towards the alchemist, wrapping your arms around him in a solemn manner.

“I’m sorry that your Master left you like this.”

He finally understands the meaning behind his existence. What it means to feel, shed tears and be human. Why he was so fixated on a single goal. Master Rhinedottir was his only kin and all he wanted was to see her again. Hence he returns to your embrace, whispering that everything will be okay and that he has no regrets.

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local-ground-apple · 4 years ago

Note

May I request scenarios of Diasomnia and Pomefiore taking care of their child s/o? Sort of similar to the one you did for when Silver, Rook, Kalim etc being turned into children ❤️❤️❤️

Hope you will enjoy it~! ❤️❤️❤️

🐲 Malleus thought nothing could surprise him anymore in his long life, yet when he saw your small form, he had to admit he hasn’t expect you to turn into a child anytime soon,

🐲 tries and will find a solution quicker than Crewel or Crowley,

🐲 at first, Malleus is lost. The whole situation is new to him and he doesn’t really know how he should take care of you or what he could be doing with you, until you get back to your normal form,

🐲 he did ask Lilia for help,

,,Y’N, what would you want to do?” ,,You’re a prince” “Yes, indeed” “Teach me how to dance”

🐲 Malleus furrowed his eyebrows, a bit taken aback with your sudden request, but soon a soft smile graced his lips. You were truly adorable as a child and he absolutely wouldn’t refuse you anything,

🐲 needless to say, you stomped on his feet a lot,

🐲he carries you on his shoulders almost all the time and you refuse to get down from them. You just wanted to touch his horns, but you really liked the feeling of being so tall and the view up there was truly amazing,

🦇 the only one who actually knows what he’s doing,

🦇 at first, Lilia gets a bit emotional, as all those fond memories he had created with Silver when he used to be a child flooded him. You two ended up looking at pictures from Silver’s childhood,

🦇 won’t stop cooing how adorable you are and he will certainly take a million of pictures much to your dismay (enough to create a whole album just with the photos from two days you spent as a child)

🦇 Lilia saw this a perfect opportunity to cook especially for you. Before this ancient fae burnt a whole kitchen down or accidentally poisoned you, Silver appeared with edible food and saved you from Lilia’s questionable dishes,

🦇 you had a lot of fun with Lilia, since you two organised a sleepover. Eating pizza, building a pillow fort, eating unhealthy ammounts of sweets, pranking Sebek - you truly had the best time of your life and you two even invited Malleus to join you (Silver fell asleep halfway through).

🦇 fun ended when you told a “spooky” story and Lilia being Lilia decided to pull some ancient, fae book with terrifying stories that made Silver suddenly more than awake,

🦇 needless to say, you, Silver, Malleus and even Sebek ended up sleeping all together in the pillow fort with Lilia that night, refusing to turn off the light,

⚔️ Silver refused to let you touch his sword. Actually he hides it before you, so you won’t get hurt by accident. He hides everything that is sharp,

,,No, Y/N, you’re not going to climb that horse” “But, we always go horse-riding on Tuesdays!” “Yes, when you’re an actual adult”

⚔️ so instead you decided to go to sleep,

⚔️ you both spend a lot of time napping together. Lilia often sees you two sleeping peacefully underneath a tree in the forest, while animals are all around Silver who has clovers in his hair (all thanks to you)

,,Can I braid your hair?” “...” “please?” *sigh* “Yes, sure”

⚔️ your braiding-hair skills certainly got better, even Vil would be impressed,

⚔️ when he’s asleep, you often sketch Silver trying to capture his beauty. Lilia finds your drawings purely adorable and he always coos how cute you are. Of course, Silver has no clue that you have a whole stash of drawing of him and you wish to keep it that way,

⚔️ Lilia of course offers his help, even if it mostly consists of him telling you all the embarrassing stories from Silver’s childhood

⚡ panics on the inside and on the outside. Can’t and won’t calm down anytime soon,

⚡Sebek hides any dangerous weapon from you and tries to babyproof the house as much as possible,

⚡tries to be quieter with you, as Sebek thinks children generally aren’t fond of loud sounds (oh how wrong was he). Somehow you managed to be louder than him, when you decided to throw a tantrum,

⚡takes you with him literally everywhere. May it be his sword training, actual classes or just his night patrol, Sebek refuses to leave you unattended,

⚡ you ask him to read you and he gladly complies. Sebek switches from actual history textbooks to some fairytales, but you don’t mind this duality. Just hearing his soft voice reading you something before sleep is more than enough to calm you and lull you,

⚡you often fall asleep in his lap,

💜a child, huh? Something truly unexpected. Vil is the first one to put his initial shock and disbelief aside and he immediately starts working on potion to turn you into adult again. He really wants to dedicate himself to it and at first Vil is engrossed in his work,

💜at first. Soon, you get rather bored and you begin to disturb him. Vil wanted to yeet you to Rook, he truly did, so he could focus on making a potion for you. Yet, after certain hunter told him for the umpteenth time that professor Crewel is taking care of it, he started considering taking a break,

💜your absolutely adorable puppy eyes finally convinced Vil to spend some time with you,

,,Can I style your hair?” “Absolutely no” “Please?” “I said no, but we can throw a small fashion show, hm?

💜 you two throw a small fashion show, but perhaps, a raid on Vil’s closet would be a more appropriate word. You tried a lot of his clothes and Vil taught you how to do poses,

💜 you two sneaked out to Heartslabyul to taste some strawberry tarts baked by Trey (even though Vil certainly was on a diet),

🏹 oh là, là. Room won’t shut up about how cute you are. He constantly coos how lovely you are. You quickly get tired of this bullshit,

,,Could you stop!” “My, my, mon lapin, tu est trop mignon~!”

🏹 Rook lets you style his hair,as well as wear his hat,

🏹takes you on his regular Leona-watching-from-the-bushes-event and you enjoy your new, stalkerish role perhaps a bit too much,

🏹Rook obviously refused to take you hunting, yet you followed him either way and you ended up convincing him not to kill a hare, but to adopt him,

🏹 Vil certainly wasn’t pleased when you showed up with a hare named “Five”

🏹 your puppy eyes and pouting face is enough to persuade Rook to do whatever you wish. Literally, he won’t be able to refuse you

🏹Vil told him not to give you any sweets, but one look of your puppy eyes and Rook is melting. He will sneakily give you chocolate when Mr.Schoenheit is not looking,

🍏 Epel has absolutely no clue how to take care of you. Absolutely, he’s just lost,

🍏 but he tries his best to keep you from dangerous, sharp things that may result in you hurting yourself,

,,I’m not a baby, I can slice the bread myself” “Y’N, you’re literally a child”

🍏 however, Epel let you help him bake some apple cookies and you two ended up having a flour fight (yes, you started it on purpose),

🍏 you two become partners in crime. Sneaking out at the evening to Savanaclaw, eating snacks past bedtime, violating practically every, single rule Vil imposed on you two and finally raiding Rook’s stash of sweets - there’s just plenty of things you both managed to do together,

🍏 Epel plays a loooooot of board games with you - literally every, single game he managed to find in Pomefiore, while you both sip on hot chocolate with marshmallows,

🍏 he is elated, when you turn to your original form. Sure, he had a lot of fun taking care of child version of you, yet he much more prefers your older self (mostly because he can finally kiss you)

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jadespadegames · 4 years ago

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5 and/or 7 for the writer ask?? :0

Cass bless you for asking aaa

(Fic ask game)

5: Share a snippet that you’re proud of from an upcoming fic/chapter.

DAMN CASS YOU REALLY WANT A THV PREVIEW SNIPPET HUH

(For those who don't know, I am rebooting my fanfic, more info in my pinned post.)

PLEASE DON'T COUNT ON THIS SCENE STAYING THE SAME IN THE FINAL PRODUCT BUT ANYWAY CRINGE PARAGRAPHS FROM MY FAIL WRITING

MonoWither backed away from the throne as three ghostly vexes, which looked like smaller versions of Yingzhe with dragon wings, flew in front of them.

"Careful there!!!" MonoWither cried out as the vexes pointed sharp swords at them. "Remember the rule about no violence against the show's hosts?! You're getting really close to breaking it!"

"I DON'T CARE!!!" Yingzhe glared up at the machine, burning hatred in his eyes.

7: Were there any ideas you had for [insert fic] that you couldn’t make work? What were they?

I'm just gonna answer this for Withering Hope, but there were so many scrapped ideas that I can't possibly remember them all. However, I am happy to say that I have actually figured out how to write some of the ideas that I previously gave up on into THV!

(Withering Hope/The Hopeless Void spoilers in the Read More)

I had a lot of ideas for the third case to try and make things more complicated. I originally had Ashley be the one they found unconscious in the cello case instead of Jordan (she knocked herself out to seem innocent), but I couldn't figure out how to actually make that work. I also wanted Ashley to frame Annie for her crime, but that didn't end up happening partly because I forgot about that idea until later but also because I couldn't figure out how Ashley would be able to do that.

I wanted Ashley to have a flashback to her childhood with Bodil where they played in the snow, prompting her to start deliriously making snow angels until the avalanche buries her, but since the story was strictly told from Seto's POV for the most part I had to scrap it. In hindsight though, I feel like her canon final moments where she just stared up at the avalanche coming her way were a lot more realistic, so I don't really regret having to scrap this one.

I thought I would use the incinerator more in the cases (especially the third one), but I ended up not really needing it past the first case.

CODIE was going to just straight up die in the fifth part, but then in the sixth part I realized that I still needed that boi for clues so I had to bring him back 😭

Later on in the story, I had a lot of second thoughts about killing off Jason. I guess I got a lot more attached to him than I thought I would? It might be because in the very beginning, back when I didn't really have a good grasp of the characters, I had considered him to be more of an asshole after Husky died. (Or at least, not as likable as he ended up being.) Ultimately, I stuck to my guns and killed him off. Wish he could've lived, but I have a story to write and I can't afford to show mercy-

At some point, I wanted a scene where Seto saves someone from an execution??? I definitely wasn't able to fit that anywhere in the plot though lmao

There have been so many scrapped ideas for the ending of WH, but I can't describe any of them because obvious spoilers. Even now, I'm still reworking stuff for THV's ending. Endings are so hard jesus

The original epilogue that I wrote very early on was ultimately scrapped. I might rework elements of it into THV's ending, but we'll see. It makes me sad because I really liked it, but I made a lot of changes to the ending that rendered said scene unable to occur.

ONE ending that I briefly considered in my writing midlife crisis was this really stupid ending where it turns out that everyone was just brainwashed into believing the Minecraft VR they were trapped in was their reality 😭 Can you imagine if that actually was canon I think that would be the dumbest thing in eternity holy shit

In Part 04, I wanted Bart and Dave to actually hide the evidence that showed Steven was the killer. Ultimately I scrapped this because I didn't need them to do this, nor was there much evidence for them to hide in the actual murder anyway.

Everyone other than Tyler and Seto was going to have badass fighting moments against the robots when they all went to rescue the two, but I got way too lazy in the end. Plus, it would've probably ruined the pacing. (That's what I'm telling myself, at least.)

Thought about having Tyler kiss Seto in Part 05 before Seto went to spy on the Puppetmaster. Ultimately I thought that was way too cheesy and would distract from the moment.

I swear Sky's amulet was supposed to show up a lot more, but I kept forgetting about it. That probably describes a lot of scrapped ideas that I'm not recalling.

There were... a lot of YouTubers that I wanted to have in WH. I am so glad that some of them didn't make the cut because of shit that was uncovered about them-

Uhhh I can't think of anything else. This ended up being a lot longer than I expected, god I love to ramble I'm so sorry

Finally, here are two more scrapped ideas, but they need a suicide trigger warning. You don't need to keep reading if you don't want to. (If you did read this far, thanks so much hghhgkdgmd).

(Suicide tw ahead)

Had an idea where Bodil would try to kill himself in Part 04 but proceed to fail and Yingzhe would save him??? It ultimately didn't fit the pacing/tone I was going for so I tossed that one.

Jordan was also going to attempt suicide by jumping off a ledge, only for Steven to grab his arm. However, Steven wouldn't be able to pull Jordan up, resulting in him accidentally letting go and "killing" Jordan. Scrapped this one because how tf was MonoWither supposed to manipulate that specific scenario into happening for sure??? It was also a lot harder to connect that back to Steven being a spy.

#ask #wh spoilers

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mellowasinyellow · 4 years ago

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100daysofwriting - Day 1

So I thought for the first day I might just briefly outline all of the WIPs I have actually made a start on and that might help me to decide where I want to focus some energy. I have some for Katniss/Peeta in THG fandom and some for Natasha/Clint in the MCU.

Everlark

folklore series - so I started this series of fics inspired by songs from Taylor Swift's album folklore because honestly those songs just immediately bring to mind so many scenarios that made me think of Katniss and Peeta. I made a start on chapters based on peace, my tears ricochet, invisible string, this is me trying, and mad woman. I also have a bit of an outline for continuing the story that was started in 'the 1'.

I've had this one WIP ongoing since about 2015(?) which is a bit of a monster that has grown beyond me but basically it involves Katniss and Gale being raised in the Capitol in relative poverty after their fathers are conscripted into the peacekeepers because of traitorous activity. Mrs Everdeen is still from 12 but was moved to the Captiol to be married (this part is sketchy) and she still had a little childhood romance with Mr Mellark. Peeta gets reaped and Mrs Everdeen reacts to this as he looks like his father. Katniss gets a crush on him as she watches him prepare for the games. She hates herself for it but finds herself checking up on how he is doing even during non-mandatory viewing.

Arranged Marriage - I feel like this is such a cliche for thg fandom, but I just imagined my own way that the pairings happen but I'm so bad at writing slow burn so this will probably never materialise, but if you want a semi-decent thought out pairing/arranged marriage system I would be happy to lend you mine.

Miscarriage fic - I will never post this, but it's in my WIP folder. It's full of nasty feelings that feel a little better when they are written about.

Modern AU Pandemic Quarantine! - ofc, this is essential. Katniss and Peeta end up as the only people not to move home from their dorm for the quarantine. Slow burn that I can't fucking write should ensue.

Canon Pandemic Quarantine AU - pandemic a few years after the end of the war forces Katniss to admit she wants Peeta as more than a friend with whom she hunts, bakes, rebuilds the district. Cue sexy pandemic times and a resentful Haymitch that keeps accidentally breaking the rules.

Divorced but co-parenting Everlark - obviously finding their way back together

Another classic of their children being reaped and dying - I don't know why I write things this depressing. They just tend to come out in one big rush and then I never address them again.

Real weird teen pregnancy modern day AU - don't know where it's going or why...

Modern day AU dead Prim - Peeta and Katniss just met each other through mutual friends and are kind of flirting. Peeta is a bit infatuated. Katniss stops going to mutual friend parties and he finds out it's because her sister died. Instead of staying away he gets tangled up in her grief and does all sorts of practical things while Katniss wallows. Also it's E rated but not that much fun... can't entirely explain where this one came from either...

Single Parent AU where Finnick and Annie play match maker. Probably my fave Everlark in the works but it's another one that has grown so big for the 20 minutes I can dedicate to it each week.

Clintasha

Red Room Take Down - Nat and Clint are retired and living a quiet family life with their child. SHIELD appears asking for Nat's help in taking down the red room and dealing with the fall out, specifically what to do with the girls that they get out. Nat is torn but chooses to go. Chaos ensues with the 'rescued' girls. I need to actually develop some OCs a little if I ever want this to be good but tbh the pending Black Widow movie is kind of holding me back on this one too because I hope we find out more about the red room.

So I have a weird habit of writing from Lila Barton's POV. I can't explain it. I have AoU and like to pretend it never happened but anyway I have a WIP about Lila detailing the collapse of her parents' marriage after Clint retires and he and Laura actually have to spend time together without Natasha. She then goes on to describe the custody settlement and her utter joy that Auntie Nat sleepovers with them at her dad's place. She feels utterly betrayed when she finds out they are getting engaged.

Fluffy AU - Clint and Natasha in an established relationship with a son born between infinity war and endgame. Natasha still sacrifices on Vormir, but Steve gets her back no bother and it's so nice and happy and fluffy and Clint and Natasha are together and they have a son who has both parents back and Steve gets to make all this happen and he is so happy too and they have a barbecue and go swimming in a lake and clint/natasha have private time, and their kid wants to be captain america, and did I mention how HAPPY everyone is?

Another fic similar to the above just about everyone being so HAPPY. Endgame reverses the snap and instead of weird farm family coming back Clint and Natasha get their daughter back and it's just a cute moment about her reappearance and their race back to the spot she disintegrated from. (Steve/Bucky go to Vormir and Steve is sacrificed, but that fucker CHOSE to leave).

This is another one that has just grown bigger than my brain. it's based off the idea that Natasha helped with coordinating fosterings during the blip time. Clint loses his mind when he loses his family and crashes in BedStuy but finds a neighbour girl (Kate Bishop) who is fending for herself in post-apocalyptic Brooklyn. He helps her out and tries to get children's services involved but it has collapsed. Finds out Natasha is the one getting everything in order. He gets in touch. She's at the end of her tether and asks why he can't keep looking after her. In the end he does and she ends up getting involved and all three get overly attached to each other. I haven't got as far as the events of endgame and idk what's going to happen. It might be tragic.

Pregnant Natasha but nobody knows what is wrong with her because they don't even suspect her being pregnant is possible. Just a real vivid description of the early unpleasant pregnancy symptoms.

Another absolute monster - Sort of canon compliant to begin with aside from before the farm family disappear. Clint and Laura are in the middle of separating and tensions are running quite high at the farm. Snap happens. Nat and Clint accidentally run into each other while both a bit low during the blip and get drunk and share home truths. Begin working together from HQ and both get a little less sad. He convinces her she doesn't have to be responsible for the world's fate every moment of every day. Clint has a break down at Morgan's 1st birthday and realises that things will have to change. Nat has this realisation later. They begin sleeping together. Accidental pregnancy. More feelings come out between them. They enter a more conventional relationship and have baby. Baby is really hard work (colic) and they struggle with comparisons and feelings of inadequacy. Pepper helps them to identify the colic and improves everything greatly. Happy times with baby while also running the avengers. Opportunity to reverse snap. Some good scenes between Nat and Tony. A big conversation between Nat and Clint about what it will mean. Steve and Nat end up going to Vormir together. Nat is obviously about to commit suicide. Steve over powers her and gives her a pep talk about the situation she is running away from and how to deal with it. He self-sacrifices. Clint goes back to farm fam and Natasha goes back to BedStuy with baby. Clint has to tell Laura and then the kids about the last 5 years and their new siblings. Nate is super into it. Cooper is a bit aloof and cynical. Lila is confused. Laura is quietly seething. Clint helps put the farm back together about 5 years of neglect and the kids meet baby. Family gets happier. Laura and Nat eventually meet again and it's civil/friendly.

My own version of what happened in Budapest.

The Call - inspired by a post here on tumblr. Nat calls Clint as she bleeds out. Just needs a beta reader and then I would consider publishing.

AoU reimagined but with Clintasha - I'm not sure where this one is going it's like a massive spider web right now with lots of ideas shooting off, but basically it is inspired by this post and just involves a lot of hoodwinking the other avengers.

Accidental Baby Acquisition - Natasha becomes Yelena's child's legal guardian after Yelena gets taken out. Natasha and Yelena are estranged at this point and Natasha things the whole thing is a trap and brings Clint along. He is surprisingly good with the baby so she ropes him in to teach her. The three of them end up bonding.

5 times there's only 1 bed + 1 time they choose to sleep in the same bed.

non-superhero AU Clint and Nat both think they have adopted a stay cat but actually the cat has owners and just likes strokes and eats a lot so has many 'families'. They get into an argument over which of them the cat belongs to only to find out the cat has owners and they are moving away. They decide to adopt a cat between them as both are not hope that much and the shelter refused them as single people. Slow burn ensues, which I am shit at writing.

#100daysofwriting #everlark #clintasha #thg #mcu #clintasha fanfic #clintasha fanfiction #clintasha fic #everlark fic #everlark fanfic #everlark fanfiction #natasha romanoff #clint barton #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark

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lemonietrinket · 4 years ago

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nct/wayv masterlist

number of works: 48+

begun: 20/08/2019 last updated: 11/12/2020

key

request ✤ musical ♫ halloween/spooky ☾ christmas ❅ oddball ♧ idol birthday present ✧

᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃

drabbles

Not the Reason ||| Taeil x Reader ✧ ||| fluff, mild angst ~ taeil finally admits something small, and maybe its a step towards the biggest confession of them all

Arms ||| Johnny x Reader just fluff ~ sleepy cuddling with johnny

Pro Gamer ||| Taeyong x Reader ✧ ||| fluff lol ~ playing animal crossing with your boyfriend, and hes not having a lot of luck

00:13 ||| Taeyong x Reader timestamp ||| angst mostly, fluff ~ late at night you hit a depressive spiral after feeling very ignored by your friends

Yuta x Insecure!Reader angst, reassurance fluff ~ because of your insecurities with your body, you make sure youre never as physically close to your boyfriend as much as you want to be. yuta wants to fix that ~ warnings: body insecurities (kept vague, but focusing around chest and stomach), general feelings of upset, tears, swearing (1x f**k)

Epilogue ||| Kun & Reader smutty undertones, lil fluff ~ prequel to ‘Candy Baby’, involves a soft, embarrassed and ultimately curious kun, and an accidentally nosey reader

Peace ||| Kun x Reader big fluff ~ waking up with kun is great—but you know what is also good? falling right back asleep again

Victory ||| Ten x Reader fluff, humour ~ sad ten wants cuddles and mean reader wont give him any

Merigold ||| Jaehyun x Reader angst with tiny fluff ~ when buying flowers for your date, you end up falling in love—with the wrong guy

Safe Haven ||| Mark x Reader big fluff ~ while waiting for your boyfriend to come home, you sit curled up on the sofa, stuck on the edge of sleep

Catgroove - Parov Stelar ||| Hendery x Reader ♫ ||| humour ~ pranking hendery with a classic

Pair ||| Jaemin x Reader ✤ ||| solid fluff ~ you wait for your boyfriend to come home so you can spring a surprise

reactions

How NCT would comfort you after a bad day fluff, bit of angst, some curse words ~ kind of just what it says on the tin

How NCT 127 would react to accidentally hurting you fluff, some tiny spicier elements, but they’re so mild, attempts at humour, tiny bits of angst in some? ~ scenarios in this are only very small things, and are mostly he members being clumsy/forgetting to be a bit careful in normal everyday situations—no one gets really hurt!

How NCT Dream would react to you getting the hiccups pure fluff, humour

Small Displays of Affection in Domestic Life with Dream pure fluff and bad humour

oneshots/imagines

Stay ||| Taeil x Reader fluff ~ boredom strikes you in your tired state, leading you to think back on the night before

Dreams Come True ||| Johnny x MakeupArtist!Reader ✤ ||| fluff, small angst if you squint, some more inferred heated elements ~ johnny is kind to all the members of staff, and so you believe that he thinks no differently of you

Kestrel ||| Johnny x Reader ♧ ||| wistful angst, fluff ~ youre on the cusp on a huge change in your life, but a part of you cant let go, and youre not sure how youre supposed to

Lie to Me ||| Johnny x Reader subverted angst, fluff, smutty undertones ~ you and johnny dont agree on everything. and this time neither of you are great at backing down

Save A Nation ||| Johnny x Reader ❅ ||| humour, lil fluff ~ unistudent!johnny knows how hot he is. oh he knows. he also knows that a certain someone has had a crush on him for a very long time. and he also knows youre not confident enough to address it. but this is the catch for you, you see: because he is

Candy Baby ||| Yuta x Reader ❅ ||| lil fluff, humour, lil smutty undertones ~ you and your boyfriend are shopping at a special lingerie store. though not for the reasons that anyone may first expect…

Entranced ||| Yuta x Reader fluff, lil smutty undertones ~ waking up in yutas arms in the morning, bc who doesnt want that

Mishap ||| Yuta x Reader humour, lil fluff? ~ yuta is not known for his woodwork skills. he is also not particularly known for any common sense that would also come with it. however, good things can be made of the worst scenarios, and yuta is not completely inept—no matter what winwin tries to assert.

Cosiest Place on Earth ||| Kun x Reader big fluff, some humour ~ where Kun is relaxing in peace, and a certain someone decides its a prime time to ‘annoy’ him

Home ||| Kun x Reader ❅ ||| big fluff ~ just cuddling with your long-time boyfriend after a busy day with the rest of wayv

Snow Drift ||| Kun x Reader ❅ ||| fluff, humour ~ going sledding with your boyfriend, what can possibly go wrong?

A Good Reason to Break the Law ||| Doyoung x Reader humour, fluff ~ doyoung does love you. and you wouldnt really call yourself a rule-breaker. yet you always find a way to worry him—which isnt particularly difficult, if you were honest

Baby Baby ||| Doyoung x Reader ♧ ||| fluff ~ a long day out leaves both you and bf!doyoung exhausted, and though its nowhere near over yet, you at least you have each other

Dinosaur ||| Doyoung x Reader fluff, humour, heated elements ~ doyoung was worried to meet your family, but he needn’t have been

Definitions ||| Doyoung x Reader ❅ ||| fluff ~ you’re studying with doyoung after returning home for christmas

Fail-Safe ||| Ten x Reader ❅ ||| big fluff ~ cuddling late at night with your slightly clumsy boyfriend

Aster ||| Jaehyun x Reader ✤ ||| fluff, mildly heated elements ~ just some calm, soft times in bed with a very shirtless jaehyun

Ladder ||| Lucas x Reader ❅ ||| humour, fluff ~ you love your bf lucas, you really do. but sometimes, his chaotic tendencies led him into all kinds of trouble. and you never, ever laugh at him. totally. not even when he puts himself in a compromising position. not even once.

Spirit ||| Xiaojun x Reader ✤ ||| fluff, little bit of sad ~ bed cuddles with your boyfriend after a hard day

Look Down ||| Mark x Reader angst, bits of fluff ~ mark invites you to a pretty bridge at sunset to finally confess to you

Ready ||| Mark x Reader ✧ ||| fluff ~ first time hand-holding with a shy, slightly awkward bean

Beautiful Like the Moon ||| Jeno x Reader ✧ ||| fluff ~ moongazing with your boyfriend to celebrate the end of his birthday

Strength ||| Jeno x Reader fluff ~ even with a cold you cant be stopped, and jeno loves you all the more for it

Sun vs Sun ||| Haechan x Reader humour, fluff ~ playful times out camping with hyuck and the others. but mainly hyuck.

Lung Crusher ||| Johnny x Reader x Haechan ✤ ||| fluff, humour ~ after a long day, you and johnny are peacefully dozing on the sofa. you expected the two of you would be left alone, but youd be wrong

Loved ||| WayV x Reader ✤ ||| big sad, big fluff, big humour ~ everyone needs to be taken care of sometimes, no matter how strong they are. and so when you come home from an awful day in the outside world, you are blessed to have several people come and pick you up again, setting you back on your feet ~ long fic ~ - NOTE: this is the old version of a new multiparter fic seen below, named Love. This version, Loved, will not be edited or updated but will be kept up for the slightly different series of events that it follows in comparison to its new version.

multi-parters

The Code ||| Doyoung x Barista!Reader slight angst, some fluff, mostly a mystery ~ doyoung has a thing for a barista at the best cafe in town, and after finding out the boss there is super strict, he counts his chances out. however, a bizarre set of events lead to an opening for someone clever enough to take it, and luckily his heart has chosen well. Part One ~ where doyoung remembers a special moment and confesses much to his own regret Part Two - coming soon ~ where doyoung begins to find strange numbers on his averley recyclable cups

King and Lionheart ||| King!Jungwoo x RoyalKnight!Reader ♧ ||| angst, fluff ~ inspired by the song of the same name, jungwoo is your king who you serve with your life, and you are his beloved knight in shining armour Part One ~ where you flee with nothing but the clothes on your backs and one another Part Two - coming soon ~ where you fight

Love ||| WayV x Reader ✤ ||| reader big sad, lots of fluff, quite a bit of yearning & foreshadowed drama Main Story ~ everyone needs to be taken care of sometimes, no matter how strong they are. and so when you come home from an awful day in the outside world, you are blessed to have several people come and pick you up again, setting you back on your feet. though, not everything is as a clear cut as you perhaps once thought ~ long fic ~ - slow updates - Ending One - Kun - coming soon . Ending Two - Ten - coming soon . Ending Three - Sicheng - coming soon . Ending Four - Lucas Extra Special fluff, soft angst ~ ft jungwoo & reader; you and xuxi have an impromptu slumber party where your feelings are finally admitted to one another with the accidentally prompting on jungwoo’s behalf . Ending Five - Xiaojun Jigsaw Puzzle fluff, bit of humour ~ after finding the hedgehog’s plastic bowl broken, you and xiaojun head to the pet store to buy a new one . Ending Six - Hendery - coming soon . Ending Seven - Yangyang - coming soon

Camping ||| NCT 127 & WayV x Reader fluff, some spicier elements sometimes ||| choose-your-own-story Start - in progress: 9,575 words collectively so far - - slow updates - ~ where you go camping with nct 127 & wayv, and end up in the most boring tent after dark during a small storm

extra

Vibe Checking NCT ~ don’t ask just read

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chat-noir-always-here · 4 years ago

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Marinette and Anxiety

First, lets count all the things Marinette has that Adrien doesn’t have:

She has a healthy and positive home environment

Both of her parents are living, active presences in her life

Tom and Sabine love Marinette unconditionally

On top of having loving parents she has extended relatives who care deeply for her

she is allowed to go out and have friends over

going to public school is treated as a necessity rather than a privilege

she has, to some degree, or at least more so than Adrien, knowledge of socializing and is able to perceive signals better

she is on good terms and has a history with almost all of her classmates

she is allowed to explore her hobbies

she is allowed to choose her own occupation

she has the freedom to do whatever she wants with her schedule outside of school and curfew

I could go on but I trust my point is clear? Marinette is blessed with many of the things Adrien has been denied. Worse, everything listed above falls under the category of “normal” “common decency” or “necessity.”

Long post is long and I don’t like cuts because I’ve lost a few posts in the past using them. Please filter the tag “long post” i use it for walls of texts like this one.

But Mari’s life, despite being vastly different and more fulfilling than Adrien’s, isn’t perfect.

In order to understand Mari’s struggles we need to take a look at her history.

We see in Origins that Marinette has been the target of Chloe’s bullying for a long time—three years or perhaps even longer. As is the case with many victims of bullying she lacked the courage and confidence to stand up for himself and more or less suffered in silence until Alya encouraged her to fight back.

Something to understand about bullying: it drastically warps someone’s perspective. Not only in how they view themselves but the people and environment around them. The end result? Some form of isolation and possibly PTSD. Bullying victims tend to be either physically/mentally withdrawn, or both.

Not a lot is known about Mari’s life before the Origins episode, but given that none of her classmates stood up to Chloe except Alya, we can infer that they have grown accustomed to Chloe’s treatment of Mari and are likely not especially close with her at this point in time.

In her “In defense of Chat Noir” video, Toon Ruins states that Adrien isn’t especially close with his classmates yet either, saying he is “that friend that your mutual friends invite along and is just kinda there.” Its not unreasonable to presume that Mari was in that spot before she became Ladybug, befriended Alya, and developed enough confidence to stand up for herself as well as others.

It would also help explain why her friends were so quick to doubt her when Lila accused her in the Ladybug episode. Despite everything she’s done for them between Origins and Ladybug, they simply haven’t been close for very long and as Alya pointed out the evidence “was stacked against her.” Of course Alya and Adrien believed her because they are closer with Mari than practically any of her other classmates.

Adrien glaring at Lila when Marinette calls out to him for help. I cannot~~~~

Of course there was another, more obvious reason they doubted her: her feelings for Adrien and how intense she is when acting on them, which as Alya puts it served as her supposed “motive” for “hurting Lila.”

Marinette has often been seen crossing lines that are better off left uncrossed when it comes to Adrien. Her friends, especially the girls, are even somewhat aware of how intense these feelings are. (i.e. Alex’s comment during Gigantitan “Marinette knows a lot about Adrien it’s kinda creepy”).

More often than not, Mari wants to go somewhere mainly for the sake of seeing Adrien. Examples of this are when she’s supposed to wait for Nadja to come pick up her cake and during Simon Says when she is grounded for valid reasons . Often times there is some obligation involved—her promise to show up at Alix and Kim’s challenge and her promise with Nino in Simon Says—but chances are if Adrien weren’t there she wouldn’t want to go so bad (until an akuma showed up that is).

Something to understand about this: Mari has little to no opportunity to see Adrien. Worse, her history of being bullied and her previous status as an “acquaintance” rather than a “close friend” gives her at least some modicum of understanding about his situation. She empathizes with Adrien and cares for him, and is aware of his loneliness. During her life before Ladybug she likely longed for someone who would comfort and console her, and yeah probably found some relief with her mom given how Sabine seems aware of Chloe’s treatment of her daughter.

But Adrien has no one, and knowing that makes Mari all the more anxious when he doesn’t show up for their social gatherings as well as driving her desire to be the source of love and comfort he so desperately needs.

I won’t deny Mari literally breaking the law for Adrien isn’t okay. Sneaking into his home, stealing his phone, and kissing his statue (its a statue in an important museum. Chances are you’re not supposed to touch those, let alone kiss them) are simply NOT OKAY things to do. A lot of this behavior earns her some hate from the fandom and some well-deserved scolding from Tikki. But rather than making me hate her, or call her a stalker, I’m mostly concerned that she doesn’t understand how bad that is.

But Chat Blanc was a game changer. Adrien would NEVER have seen Ladybug in his room if she hadn’t taken her sweet time inspecting his belongings, smelling his pillow, etc. Meaning Adrien could have had her present and not known about Ladybug (he may have been curious as to how Mari’s gift got past security though).

However since Marinette WAS seen by Adrien, he was able to learn her secret identity which led to this:

This is a scenario she never expected. And as she learns this was caused by her own poor judgement, she wastes no time in saving Chat Noir, erasing her name from her gift and allowing Adrien to believe it’s a gift from his Brazilian fan club instead of from her, Marinette.

Chat Blanc was one of the last episodes of s3. Safe to say she probably won’t be breaking into anything anytime soon (theres some debate over the chronological order of the episodes, but if I recall this one takes place either in the last four or five episodes on most lists). She nearly lost her kitty for good after all--that’s not a price she’s ever been willing to pay.

This likely wouldn’t have happened at all except Mari’s life as ladybug has caused her to become accustomed to certain behavior in order to keep her secret. Yeah Mari stole Adrien’s phone right out of his locker—and no that wasn’t okay. But remember when she stole her textbook back from Alya? Taking it right out of her bag when Alya wasn’t looking? Just so you know, in the French version, Mari tells Tikki she wrote her name in that textbook. So her secret identity was in grave danger and she had to act quickly.

You’re damn lucky Alya didn’t crack that book open the minute she got it, Mari.

Anyhoo the point is this: Mari is applying what she has come to know as “acceptable behavior i do to protect my secret identity” to her situation with Adrien and misinterpreting it as “acceptable behavior I do to keep Adrien from possibly rejecting me and crushing my soul.” And in her head, they’re similar even though the consequences of either secret coming out are vastly different.

Really think about the context of that voicemail she sent Adrien—if she had accidentally butt dialed Adrien while taking to Tikki about her life as Ladybug and then had to go steal his phone to keep him from learning the truth the fandom wouldn’t have had nearly as much beef with her over that as she wasn’t the one who created the “secret identities rule.”

The reason the two secrets are equally crucial in keeping, in Mari’s mind, is likely due to her overwhelming anxiety. Which even before she became the Guardian of Paris and then the Guardian of Miraculous she was still an anxious person.

She didn’t have much confidence or even a large support network. But in the span of one day she was entrusted with the safety and well being of every single person in Paris.

She didn’t believe she was cut out for being Ladybug but was denied the option of refusing the position and told to just do her best.

She knew going out she would likely screw up the job and given her task failure wasn’t really an option.

Then her worst fears were realized when she failed to capture her first akuma and many citizens were turned into stone statues. The only way to turn them back was to allow Ivan to be akumatized so she could defeat him and take his akuma. The very knowledge of which crippled her and caused her to give up the ladybug earrings.

She tried to go back to her normal life but couldn’t. Ivan was akumatized, Alya’s life was in danger and Chat Noir was struggling to the point he got captured and needed her help. So she took up being Ladybug again in order to help them.

What was she supposed to do? Watch?

From the very beginning she had no say in the matter. Her life as Marinette wasn’t and isnt easy—she has plenty of her own problems but she was given a Miraculous and basically condemned to being at war with Hawk Moth indefinitely.

Ever give a thought as to why the French government allow these two vigilante teenagers to handle the situation? Because ordinary people can’t. In other words if Mari thought only of herself she would give up the fight and ignore all the ensuing damage. But she can’t. And she won’t. She has a job to do. She could give up her miraculous but that would mean taking the pressure off her shoulders and dumping it all onto someone else just as it was dumped onto her. She cant bring herself to do that and even if she could—who would she possibly give it to?

Just imagining that kind of pressure makes me want hurl from nerves. And as of the S3 finale its gotten worse as she has lost Fu, the person who could give out Miraculouses to other people in case she never comes back one day.

Hawk Moth would win. Game over. That’s what it would mean.

Ladybug and Chat Noir know what Hawk Moth winning would mean better than anyone else does. Of course they won’t walk away from this fight. But that means they have to juggle their double lives until its over, and apparently have to do it again with a second hawk moth later on in the future.

And again, even before all of this Mari had a lot she suffered from. Chloe bullying her, feeling lonely, being clumsy. Clumsiness is mortifying--it truly means suffering. Being the class clutz is like being the class laughingstock. Mari seems to handle it fairly well.

Until she’s around Adrien. I mean look at her!

Poor girl can’t stand looking so uncool in front of her crush. Even though he seems to find her clumsiness endearing.

Going off what was said in my “Debunking: Adrien is perfect” post, Marinette is hyper-sensitive to Adrien’s situation despite not really knowing the full extent of his suffering.

Marinette doesn’t know Gabriel is Hawk Moth either, but she does understand Adrien is lonely, isolated and in need of a source of love and comfort. She also understands to some degree that his heart is delicate, so she constantly handles him with kid gloves and looks on him with a perfection filter. We see how Mari reacts to upsetting Adrien in Malediktator when she softly whispers an apology after Adrien expresses his sorrow over everyone celebrating Chloe’s departure. She seems pained and distraught over causing him to be upset. Thus the reason Marinette calls Adrien perfect isn’t that she never sees any of his flaws--she just cannot acknowledge or process them under these conditions. She’s too busy trying not to hurt him.

Marinette can comprehend Adrien’s situation, couples that with her own past experiences of bullying/ loneliness/ being a clumsy laughingstock. That combined with her love for him and her anxiety-warped common sense, led to the behavior which has earned her some disapproval from the fandom at large.

But really? Marinette’s not a terrible person. Anymore than Adrien is.

Adrien’s sometimes-obnoxious-flirting is brought on by his desire to “not look lame” in front of Ladybug. Ergo, his own insecurities are amplified around her because he too lacks confidence.

Likewise Marinette’s stammering and clumsiness are amplified around Adrien, as is her anxiety and her desire to be cool in front of him.

They both feel they have to prove themselves to the other in some regard. And they both have past and present experiences that have left them hurting and/or warped their judgement in some ways.

This doesn’t make Mari’s irrational behavior any more acceptable than Adrien’s troubles make his leading Kagami on and lying to Ladybug acceptable. It’s not acceptable. But Mari is no more deserving of hate than Adrien is.

They’re just a couple of stressed out kids, folks

#long post #marinette dupain cheng #Marinette #adrien agreste #adrien #miraculous ladybug

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land-of-classpects-and-analysis · 4 years ago

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Knight of Heart

There are so many different ways in which the concept of an identity, the self, who we are as people can be interpreted. While many try to put this concept of an identity into a binary, a system, a set of rules meant to be followed, there is truly no proper way to simply exist. The soul cannot be perfectly summarized with the symbol of a heart, a ghastly spirit, or anything of the like. It is far more complex than that, especially when taken to an individual basis. Even if two people were to have the same name, the same gender and/or sex, have similar lives and stories to tell, there will always be something that will make these two people unique to who they are. Many of us are often born with a handful of preset traits, a preset appearance, a living situation, so on and so forth. Many of us are, but there are some of us where, as soon as we are born, it’s as though who we are meant to be was determined before we even had a name. A babe who has only been truly alive for 20 minutes may have already made newslines, or been given a label with a destiny attached that they couldn’t even begin to comprehend. As the child grows and becomes more aware of reality, they would come to realize that not many people actually truly know or see this child for who they are, but what destiny they have been so selfishly thrown into. They never asked to be given this title, these expectations to live up to, but they have no choice. To go against such a thing is to risk being put under scrutiny and endless criticism, judgement, being told that they are wrong and selfish for not being happy about the way their life has been formed. The Knight of Heart is one who may have all the building blocks necessary to have an identity, but it is not one they wish to have.

It is through this scorn for their preconceived identity that the Knight of Heart’s facade will grow. While many Knights tend to lean more towards facade than the other, the Knight of Heart is one where, due to their near constant identity crisis, they are one of the Knights who has many, many masks to put on and take off as they see fit. Around certain people, they may be the cool dude who doesn’t allow anything to get to them. Then, around different types of people, or in different situations, they may be aggressive and vicious to a certain extent, snapping their jaws and snarling at anyone who manages to get beneath their thin skin. Of course, there are many more facades for the Knight of Heart to put on, such as the generous friend and leader, the rebellious yet caring person, the self-centered crude soul who is still somehow popular, and so on. The reason for this is due to the fact that since they reject the identity already presented to them, they are so desperately trying their best to find and cling to another one, all the while accidentally creating so many masks, facades, and splinters of themself that, at the end of the day, they may look themself in the mirror and ask the constant burning question - who am I? What the Knight of Heart falls to see is that, while the building blocks for their identity have already been made to create a brick-wall, the only person preventing themself from turning it into a true piece of art is themself.

While this may sound as though the Knight of Heart is meant to break down that wall, this is only partially true. Really, what the Knight of Heart is meant to do with this wall is make it into something that fits them more than it fits those who tried to box them in. Going around and making all of these facades is not doing any real damage or bringing any change to these walls. Rather, it is far more akin to a child beating their fists and kicking their feet against a wall while throwing a tantrum, or them plugging their ears, closing their eyes, and pretending that if they ignore the walls aren’t there, then they’ll somehow manage to be outside of them. That is not the case, though, no matter how hard the Knight may try to defy the expectations set forth by them. In the end, all they are doing is hurting themself, when the solution to their problems is easier than it needs to be. Knights are known to be rather stubborn at times, unfortunately, and the Knight of Heart is not exempt from this. One of the biggest things the Knight of Heart truly needs to realize first and foremost is that while this cage of rock may have been made by those on the outside, the only person keeping the Knight of Heart inside of it is themself and their fear of not ever being able to withhold a true and solid identity outside of these walls.

Despite some of their facades not being the prettiest, the Knight of Heart is still someone everyone in their life would find charming in one way or another. If anything, it could be argued that perhaps, out of all the Knights, the Knight of Heart is one of, if not most certainly the Knight who brings the most attention to themself. After all, they have so many versions of themself, that they most likely will be able to pull off a performance for any type of person. However, it is because of these constant ever-shifting states of identity that only help to enable and enforce this jumbling of identities, pointless rebellion against who they are, and so on. However, maybe the Knight of Heart surrounds themself with all these diverse, interesting, radical people so that somehow, someway, they may find an identity that is not like that of the one they still remain trapped inside of - like that of a circus animal. All the while, the Knight must also take into account those above them, looking down in anticipation, brimming with hope that the Knight will eventually clean themself up and accept their predetermined destiny. No matter how loving their home may be, how wealthy and well-off their life is being built up to, all the Knight can focus on is that the person they are expected to grow up to and the footsteps they are meant to follow will never fit just right to the Knight. Yet no matter what they do, how hard they try, who they pretend to be, they still have to come home and be the child with a grand and important legacy on their head.

Of course, it is only when the time finally comes for the Knight of Heart to step up and do something with themself, their identity, that all they have worked towards will begin to come crumbling down. All the thin threads holding them together will snap, sending them crashing down into a state of confusion and despair. There are many ways in which this awakening, the beginning of the Knight’s journey, looks like. Perhaps they were finally caught up in all of their accidental, or maybe even purposeful, lies, and they could do nothing to save or protect themself from all of the rubble that would come crashing down upon them. In another case, they could have been called upon into action for a certain situation, specifically one where they might have had to sacrifice a piece of themself for the betterment of everyone, but instead ran away to save their own skin. Maybe they were asked to officially, undoubtedly defy their parent(s) and their wishes in some fashion, swearing themself fully to one identity while also throwing away the legacy, the building blocks of their identity, they were meant to follow; whether they go through with it, though, once again depends on the Knight of Heart. The cause for any of these downfalls would ultimately be the Knight becoming entangled and strangled by all their facades and the changing morals surrounding them. Not just that, but the Knight, even in these dire moments, has still not found a way to either break out from their internalized cage nor how to get rid of the fear of becoming someone they are not. Even if the Knight were to become hurt from any of these scenarios, all it would do is make them want to push themself further away from the people around them. While being away from some people may benefit the Knight in pondering their actions and identity, what the Knight of Heart will ultimately need is to encounter someone just like them - confused, lost and scared of who they are, and who they might be.

Due to the Knight’s immense exposure to all types of different people, having lived through countless versions of who they can present themself to be, the Knight of Heart is one who already has quite a bit of a head start on their journey. For now, let’s pay attention to the Knights of Heart who will take these experiences and use them as a driving force to protect their Aspect itself. These are the Knights of Heart who would take the effort to truly go out and try their best to help out and lead those in their life towards their true identities. The Knight of Heart most definitely has collected a series of scarred and broken hearts over their time of life, whether they are from past lovers or the hearts of friends that have long since left them. In a way, the Knight of Heart may show that they don’t particularly care what happens to everyone else, especially in regards to their own Hearts. However, if someone were to confront the Knight on this, chances are that they would respond with genuine shock and confusion, claiming that they thought what they were doing was normal and wasn’t actually hurting anyone. Even if it did, they may also voice that they thought everyone could handle this sort of stuff on their own, silently or otherwise. Chances are the reason for this accidental yet rather harmful mindset is because this is the life the Knight of Heart has been living this entire time.

Constant doubt as to who they really are, if they are doing the right thing by rebelling against their parent(s), what it will mean years down the line when they have become older and still haven’t figured themself out. Even when the Knight of Heart seems to be at their most certain as to who they want to be and what they want to do with their life, there is still that deep, deep internal fear that they are making the wrong choice. After all, their life has essentially already been written for them, and it shows great promise of being a stable, risk-free existence. Why, then, do they feel the need to push it all away - to kick, punch, and scream inside of the four walls of identity built around them, forcing them into a box they never even asked to be put inside of? To simply put, it goes against what the Heart-bound stand for, and that is to build up a sense of self from the ground up. The Knight of Heart feels cheated on their identity, their legacy, who they are meant to be. That is why they have been so adamant in trying every way to simultaneously defy and fight back against authority while also trying to coexist with it. All this time, though, the Knight of Heart has been left blind to so many things about not only themself, but also the world around them.

Only after the Knight of Heart has been made aware of their instinctual selfish needs - lying and living not double, not triple, but countless other lives all while collecting the company of so many other people. While the Knight of Heart may have played the role of supporter in a few cases, there were just as many times where they played the role of the selfish, self-centered, and downright narcissistic. It is these negative facades of the Knight of Heart that many people who have been left with a bad taste call the Knight out for, pointing out how they only seemed to care for others when it would directly benefit the Knight more than the person actually in distress. How, even when the Knight seemed to care, deep down it was obvious they were only doing it for themself. While the Knight of Heart may want to fight against this, to deny all responsibility for such claims, they know it would not only make them look even worse, but may prove the other person right. At first, this may bring the Knight of Heart to truly move away from others, and instead only focus on themself - slowly lingering closer to an epiphany that would set them on the right foot of continuing their journey of protecting Heart. One of the biggest things the Knight of Heart would need to ponder and reflect on is the question of why they were so quick to try and shut down any criticism of themself and their actions - why they believe themself to be above it.

During this time of reflection, there is quite a high possibility that the Knight would become extremely upset with themself, once again finding themself pacing back and forth inside of their self-locked cage of concrete. It is within this moment of frustration, exasperation, that a stroke of realization would hit the Knight rather hard. All this time, the Knight of Heart has been trying to rebel against these walls built around them, looking upon them with scorn and hatred for what they represent. Yet, as this has been happening, they have failed to realize that everyone else has been having their own struggles, been trying to climb or break out of their own personal cages, all the while looking towards the Knight of Heart for help and assistance. What did the Knight of Heart do? Either nothing, willfully ignoring the struggles of those they may have thought of as friends, or shallowly used their suffering and struggles as a way to make themself look better. They may not be the only one who is dealing with these problems, but they are someone who is more than capable of giving the support that they never truly received.

Upon making this self-discovery, the Knight of Heart may find themself having a profound tidal wave of shame and guilt, as they realize that they truly have been nothing but a selfish “friend”. It may be a painful, large pill for the Knight to initially swallow, but it is a bitter medicine they so desperately needed to have. Through this self discovery, the Knight of Heart will come to realize that this isn’t who they want to be - they want to be a hero, not the bad guy. Chances are that it will be an uphill battle for the Knight of Heart from this point onward, especially if they do reach out to those who may have been harmed the most from the Knight’s accidental selfishness. Now, though, the Knight of Heart is someone who would strive to be the person to go out of their way to help and protect others who may be struggling to find themself. Most importantly, they would be protecting others struggling with this from being exploited and taken advantage of, their identity possibly becoming twisted and tainted if the Knight were to not step in in time. They are someone who would learn that the walls built around them, given them a basis for their identity, are not meant to be hated. Rather, they are not just walls meant to keep the Knight of Heart safe from any outside influence, but they are the perfect canvases for the Knight to build a strong, sturdy identity.

As for the Knights of Heart who protect through their Aspect, their journey is a rather interesting and peculiar one. After all, the basis of their power is that they essentially protect others through their own Heart, soul, identity, and so on. Yet the Knight of Heart is one who has spent so long defying their one, true identity, who could they possibly protect through it? To answer it quick and simple before delving further in, the Knight of Heart would realize that, while they may not particularly enjoy the label, destiny, and identity forced upon them, they will make no progress in life if they continue fighting. Therefore, who is truly stopping them from using it - exploiting this identity of privilege for all it can offer - in order to protect those who are in a far more desperate situation than the Knight? The longer answer is one that will, obviously, go far more in-depth as to why and how the Knight of Heart came to make this conclusion. Let’s dive into that, shall we?

From the complete and utter fallout that the Knight of Heart would encounter - whether it is between friends or family - they would be met with the ultimate, burning question that most, if not all Heart-bound face at many points in their life; is who they are now really the person they want to be? This may take the Knight of Heart a long time to answer, or it may take them only a day or two, but no matter what the end will most likely be the same for many of the Knights of Heart. That answer is no. Being viewed as a heartless, selfish person is not what the Knight of Heart wants, but for many people who have made their own truth of the Knight’s identity and intentions, there is not much the Knight can do in order to fully change their minds. At least, that’s what the Knight of Heart may believe at first - that what’s done is done and there is nothing they can do to fix themself nor how people see them. For some Knights of Heart, this is where they are most likely to throw in the towel, continuing to live a life of confusion and heartbreak for the rest of their years, or at least until they have finally given in to their pre-set identity. For the ones who wish to persist, to prove those people wrong and show that they are more than just what the walls around them will show, they might only take a little while to stew in their feelings before they manage to realize the true solution to their problems.

Rather than succumbing to the expectations of those around them, the Knight can instead take hold of their one true identity and learn how to use it to their advantage. They were given a privilege one way or another, and while they may have tried to push it away, hide from it, separating themself as best as they can. However, all it did was create a wall between them and the blade they are meant to wield - if they even want to take up the opportunity to be a true hero in the first place. While they may still have a few issues with their identity, the strongest of these Knights of Heart are the ones more than willing to lean a little more towards their privilege, if only so that they may protect others. At first, some people may still take this as the Knight trying to make themself look like a noble person. Maybe other people, especially those in authoritative positions, might see them as continuing to try and be rebellious. The only thing that ultimately matters, though, is that the Knight of Heart knows their own intentions are good and pure. They have taken an identity that they swore to never settle on, never make their own, and instead turned it into something they can slice away foes with and protect those in need. In a way, by exploiting this identity, twisting it into a form it was not originally expected to be made into, as well as becoming a protector of those who are not as privileged as them, the Knight of Heart has done exactly what they wanted from the start - they have made their own identity, but still managed to do so with the one already made for them.

The Knight of Heart is one who began their life with many people putting them under scrutiny, placing the Knight into a neat box with four walls closing them in, always being too high for the Knight to ever truly climb over. At first, they would see this as a cage, a box, something meant to keep them quiet and obedient as they marched onward towards a destiny they never even asked for it in the first place. Because of this, the Knight of Heart would grow hatred for the box they were put into, and begin to make a complete mess of their identity - their box. They would punch and kick at the walls, trying to break them down so that they can finally escape it, all the while crafting and perfecting all different types of masks for them to wear when amongst various groups. The Knight of Heart didn’t want to be known as the heir(ess) to a big corporation, the offspring of some famous soul, or the person with more money in their wallet than anyone could ever dream of having. What they really wanted was to be seen as a friend, a guardian, a sibling, a normal person who does good because they want to. For many years, they may succeed in pulling off this facade of just being a normal person, but as many of us know - nothing lasts forever.

It is the reveal of their true, despicable self that would bring on the charge for the Knight of Heart to truly bring about the beginning of their journey. Being discovered as not only someone who has great privilege, but also someone that bears so many masks that the lines between genuine love and theatrical performances becomes blurred. Questions begin to fly, as well as accusations and perhaps even a few punches, and before the Knight of Heart knows it they are placed under the gaze of judgement and scorn once again. “Why?” they may ask themself, “Why can’t I just be happy with who I am?” While these types of questions may bring the Knight quite a lot of grief, pain, and confusion, it is this one simple word that will often be the driving force for why they would continue down the path of their journey. It is these questions of “why” and “who” and “what” that will push them onward, bringing them closer and closer to their ultimate goal of becoming someone worthy to wield their Aspect like that of a shield, so as to protect those who do not have the privilege of walls being fortified around them, or that of a sword, honing in on their Aspect sharply and acutely enough that it has no choice but to become as fine, thin, and deadly as a blade.

The Knights of Heart who protect their Aspect, especially in regards to the threat of it being exploited, are the ones who involve themselves far more in the lives of those around them. Having realized that the walls around them were meant more to protect not only themself, but more specifically their own identity from being taken advantage of by others. While it may have been frustrating and perhaps even downright painful and/or humiliating for the Knight to have realized how foolish they were to believe those walls to be a prison of identity, as long as they stick to their path of self reflection and discovering who they are, then they will come to learn that they are not the only person whose identity is at risk of being exploited and twisted. Not only are they not the only one who is at risk of such a profound, personal danger, but that they have the better mind to be the one who helps to protect those that were not fortunate enough to have those walls around them and their identity. The Knights of Heart who protect their Aspect are the ones willing to become those walls - to shield someone still trying to figure out who they are from any negative outside influence. Some people who knew the Knight before their awakening may be skeptical of their reasoning to protect these people. However, as long as the Knight is loud and makes it be known that they have learned from their mistakes and realized their privilege, deciding to use their wisdom as a means to protect others who need and want it, that is all that truly matters. Someone who has spent so long pretending to be so many different identities at once, only for their stage to come crashing down - it only seems fitting that they would find their own identity amidst trying to help others find their own. That identity is that of a protector and leader, at least for more personal issues.

The Knights of Heart who protect through their Aspect are ones who went on a far more personal journey, and their powers speak greatly of it. They are the ones who saw the devastation brought on by their accidental selfishness, all rooted in their desire to escape those walls - their identity. All this time spent trying to make the perfect identity, the perfect mask, when really they had their answer there all along. Rather than push and hide away from their privilege, they were meant to embrace it in a way that would not only benefit them, but benefit everyone else they cared for and loved. Chances are that it may take the Knight of Heart a long time for them to fully approach their Aspect, as well as their own identity, if only because they still hold some disdain for it. Most Knights have friends there to help support them in removing their facade(s), but not the knight of Heart. They have already put enough stress and brought enough harm to those they love, and so they have dubbed this journey one that they should go on alone. Once they manage to complete their journey - wherein they realize that their privilege and their entire self is something that everyone can benefit from - the Knight of Heart will finally be able to remove their sword from their Heart, being able to wield their soul like that of a weapon. They know how to use their gifts as a way to protect others, and they are more than willing to step in and be the one to do so. Not only that, but they are someone who would most likely be willing to protect through their own physical self, along with their more spiritual and metaphysical one. Because of this possibility, these Knights of Heart might be one of the most dedicated Knights in their efforts of protection and servitude to their friends and allies.

In general, the role of the Knight of Heart is one far more personal and close, especially when it comes to how they interact with their group. As long as someone is willing to forgive the Knight for the wrongs they did in the past, then the Knight would be more than happy and willing to throw themself in between that friend and an enemy if the need were to ever arise. They are the one you can trust in sharing your personal problems and endeavors, especially if it is something that involves your own identity. Despite their track record of living many different lives and identities, it is because of these deceptions that the Knight of Heart is capable of helping others find their way and their own path. They would try to keep their friends and allies on the right path, asking them the same question that they asked themself for many, many nights: is this really who you want to be? Who you want to be remembered as? As long as the other party is willing, then the Knight of Heart will more than happily take these lost and confused souls and bring them under their cape, discussing with them the ins and outs of the soul and how, really, there is no real, substantial, binary way to go about it. Your identity is how you want the world to perceive you, but it’s also how you wish to recognize yourself when you look into the mirror. Not only that, but they are the people who will stand up for those who don’t have a voice, or they will happily give a platform for those people to have voices. When someone they love and/or know can’t protect themself is in trouble, the Knight of Heart will often be the first one to charge in, using themself - in one way or another - as a way to protect those in need. If given a chance, whether it it is the first or even fourth time, the Knight of Heart is someone who can prove themself to be not only a great friend, but a truly dedicated and witty protector.

#Knight #Knight of Heart #Homestuck #Hiveswap #Knight of Heart Analysis #Heart Aspect #Noble November #Heart

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murasaki-murasame · 4 years ago

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Thoughts on Higurashi Gou Ep11

*Rika voice* we poppin’ the BIGGEST bottles next week when we successfully tear apart fate and reclaim our happy ending! :)

Anyway, thoughts under the cut.

I think we can all agree that there’s no way in hell this is going to go as smoothly as this episode wants us to think it will, when we still have 13 episodes left to go before this all ends, lol.

Obviously this won’t play out exactly the same as Minagoroshi, but even Minagoroshi ended with everyone getting brutally murdered because they didn’t actually manage to achieve the proper win condition, so going into this type of scenario was never really a good sign anyway.

And yeah on that note, this episode takes a hard swerve into full on Minagoroshi mode, which I figured might happen, but not in such a 1:1 way. But the fact that it’s suddenly lining up so much with that arc just makes me even more suspicious that we’re being given a false sense of hope.

Obviously the bottom line is that one way or another, this isn’t Minagoroshi, it’s Tataridamashi, and the overall situation is distinctly different. Like how Ooishi is on bad terms with Keiichi this time around, unlike in Minagoroshi, so they’re probably going to have a much harder time getting the large-scale protesting done if he decides not to help them. Which might also lead to the Sonozaki family refusing to help them either.

I also get the feeling that even if Keiichi has been successfully convinced by his dream to not murder Teppei, it still feels like both Rena and Shion are on the brink of going off the deep end, and if their attempts to handle the situation via peaceful protesting gets shut down by the cops this time, that might push them over the edge.

And even though I have mixed feelings about the ‘Satoko culprit theory’, I’m becoming increasingly convinced that the big twist of this arc will be that Teppei already got murdered off-screen by Satoko before anyone else could get to him, and she’s been lying about it.

Specifically I don’t like the idea of her being some kind of villain who’s intentionally and maliciously lying about being abused to get away with murder, but I think it’d make a lot of sense if we find out that Satoko did something like accidentally overdose Teppei with his medication, or push him down a flight of stairs in an abrupt fit of her syndrome, and then afterward she might enter the stage we saw in Tatarigoroshi where she straight up hallucinates that he’s still alive. So even if he’s dead, she might not be intentionally lying about it.

I can at least imagine a scenario where the gang [or at least part of the gang] gets fed up once and for all and breaks into Teppei’s house to murder him, but they find his corpse instead. And in a Tatarigoroshi type of way, maybe Satoko will see them and assume that they’re the ones that killed him, and everything will go to shit.

Then there’s also the whole separate question of what’s going on with Takano and Tomitake, and the statue in the Saiguden, and so on. We should at least get some more clues about that stuff before the question arcs end.

This episode is also making me even more confused about how much Rika actually knows about what’s going on, and what arcs she actually remembers. She seems to directly quote Keiichi from Minagoroshi in this episode [I think], but even in the VN they stated that she completely forgot what happened in that arc, and Hanyuu had to tell her about it later.

But her being more active in this episode and thinking that they actually have a shot at winning this is kinda just making it even more strange that she hasn’t said or done anything about the Takano situation. Especially since the entire deal with Minagoroshi in the first place was that they assumed dealing with Teppei in a timeline where neither Rena or Shion go L5 was enough to get a happy ending, but then Takano came around and killed everyone. So the fact that she seems to have basically the exact same mentality she had in Minagoroshi after Keiichi convinced her she could change fate makes it feel like she’s in the exact same position of thinking that Takano isn’t important.

And then there’s the fact that in ep2 she talks about ‘knowing who kills Furude Rika’ and how they all achieved their happy ending, so really there’s just a lot of conflicting information going on here, lol. I honestly can’t tell if it’s intentional, or if it’s literally just weird writing and Rika is acting ‘out of character’ because having her immediately reveal the Takano situation would spoil new fans.

I can’t exactly deny that it might just be a weird writing issue that we shouldn’t think much about, but I think it’s more interesting to try and think about what it could mean if this apparent contradiction in Rika’s level of knowledge and her actions in Gou thus far is actually intentional and meaningful.

I haven’t entirely ironed out my theory about this yet, but my current idea is that the whole meta-structure of Gou is that it’s basically a series of fictional stories created by Rika and Featherine together after the events of Matsuribayashi, and the Rika we see in Gou is effectively just a fictional character in this story who doesn’t actually align fully with Rika from the VN.

Specifically I think that Gou’s whole story is basically written from the premise of being a what-if fanfiction of sorts, where the Rika we see in Gou is more or less based on Rika’s character as of the end of Meakashi, or maybe Tsumihoroboshi. So she starts off in Gou at the point where she’s already figured out the basic rules of the gameboard, but doesn’t actually know about Takano, and also hasn’t experienced in any timelines where they successfully deal with Teppei, and she maybe also hasn’t seen any of her friends start to remember past timelines yet.

And I think the way they might explain what we see Rika say in ep2 of Gou is that Tataridamashi is actually the first arc chronologically in Gou, and it might with a deceptively happy ending where everyone on paper gets their happy ending, and everyone even survives long enough for Rika to go to high-school, but then she winds up dead there, and it’s after that point that Rika wakes up in ep2.

I don’t even necessarily think this would be incompatible with the idea of this arc going off the deep end and going in a more tragic direction. Maybe Teppei does end up dying one way or another, but everyone else survives, not even Satoko goes L5, and Teppei’s murder gets successfully covered up and everyone just goes back to living their lives. And because of whatever’s clearly been changed behind the scenes with Takano, the GHD never happens, so everyone just assumes they managed to achieve their happy ending by killing Teppei. But then Rika ends up dying a few years later in high-school anyway, in a way that ties into whatever the actual mystery of Gou is that all the characters are missing. At the very least I think teenage Satoko is gonna end up being the one to kill teenage Rika, and I could easily see that happening in a timeline where Teppei dies and she doesn’t immediately go off the deep end, but still has psychological scarring that nobody is fully aware of or properly deals with. So maybe she ends up becoming secretly resentful of Rika and all of her friends, blaming them for what happened, and she winds up killing Rika because of it.

I think this would actually pretty neatly explain the apparent contradiction of Rika talking about ‘knowing who killed her’ and ‘getting her happy ending’, while coming across like she genuinely doesn’t understand what’s actually going on. Her wording to Hanyuu in ep2 was always intentionally vague, but instead of just being about hiding the truth from new fans, maybe it was a multi-layered twist where what she’s talking about is totally different to what VN readers assume she means. Maybe the happy ending she meant was Tataridamashi, with everyone killing Teppei, and the person who kills her is Satoko.

She did act like she knows who kills her in *every* timeline, but if Rika in this arc is effectively pre-Minagoroshi, and this ends with a version of events where Takano never kills anyone and the GHD never happens, and it’s Satoko who kills Rika, that might lead Rika to falsely assume that her death in at least most of the timelines is just a result of Satoko going L5 and killing her.

Gou’s whole deal seems to be based on the idea that Rika is acting on false information, so I think it’d make sense if we find out that the truth she talked so confidently about knowing in ep2 was totally misleading.

One thing I’ve also been considering that might support this is that we see what at least seems to be teenage Satoko in the OP, but given that they’re going to change the show’s subtitle for the second half, they might change the OP too, which would imply that we’ll see teenage Satoko before this arc ends. Which makes me think that there’ll be some kind of timeskip epilogue at the end of the arc, and it’d be pretty likely at that point for that to be the big pivotal thing that happened with Rika as a teenager.

It’d also just flow better for new fans if the timeskip stuff with them in high-school takes place after one of Gou’s arcs, rather than Matsuribayashi, since that’d be kinda confusing and make new fans feel like they’re missing out on vital information.

Either way, like most people I think most of Gou’s central mystery is going to revolve around Satoko, and I think ultimately it’s gonna boil down to the question of what it would truly take to ‘solve’ all of her personal problems, and whether or not just getting rid of Teppei would be enough. For one thing, I imagine this arc will also still leave Satoshi’s whereabouts completely up in the air, which is another bit of unresolved trauma for Satoko.

More broadly than that, though, I feel like the Gou gameboard is Featherine’s way of giving her own perspective on the original story of Higurashi, and being like ‘if I take control of the story and introduce a new element to get rid of Takano before she does anything, does that automatically mean that everyone will get their happy ending, or is it more complicated than that?’. And I think this arc might be the best representation of that, where everything seemingly goes well for everyone, and Takano seems to never do anything evil, but everything still goes to shit anyway because of the various issues that the main characters still have even if Takano is dealt with.

I’m not sure exactly what new elements Featherine could bring to the board, and how it could lead to Takano being dealt with in every arc, but it probably has to do with what Takano found in the Saiguden, and also the fact that Featherine herself literally appears in the Saiguden in the OP.

I won’t get into super explicit details about Umineko here, but I think that Umineko Ep5 gives a pretty good example of how a new author can take control of a gameboard and insert a new ‘piece’ in order to achieve some new goal.

Anyway, once we get into the second half, I think the next arc will basically just be a version of Meakashi that acts as Watadamashi’s answer arc. We’ll probably spend about three episodes on Shion and Satoshi’s whole backstory from Meakashi [mixed with some of the flashbacks from Matsuribayashi], and then the arc will end with showing Shion and Mion’s perspective on Watadamashi, which I don’t think would take very long if they just focus on showing what they were doing in some of the important scenes. And some of it still might be left a little intentionally ambiguous.

Then I think that either whether they label it as it’s own arc or just treat it as part of one big final arc, we’ll get around three episodes that show Onidamashi from Rena’s POV, which would basically serve as a substitute for Tsumihoroboshi, and we’ll finally get an explicit reveal of how Keiichi hallucinated part of their fight scene. It might play out in the exact same way, but I could also see it seeming like a 1:1 retelling of Onidamashi at first, that then diverts at the last minute by having Keiichi remember the truth of what really happened in Onidamashi after he invites Rena into his house, in time for him to talk her down from killing him. Then after that I think we’ll basically get Gou’s take on Matsuribayashi, where everyone properly tackles the real issues and mysteries going on, to achieve a proper happy ending.

I’m not really confident about a lot of this, but I think it all more or less makes sense, especially since I’ve been thinking for a while that Gou will probably end up being much more of a remake than a full on sequel.

And then in the final episode we might get a glimpse at the ‘outside world’ where Rika/Bern is going over Featherine’s manuscript version of Gou, to help explain the whole framing device.

Also, I’m still wondering if Lambda is gonna play into Gou’s story at all, going by how we’re more or less already dealing with Bern, and Featherine has shown up in the OP and will presumably come into play later on. It’d feel a bit weird to have those two show up but not Lambda.

I feel like it’d be much harder to provide context for her whole deal compared to those two, though, but if Gou is effectively a fictional story in-universe, then she doesn’t necessarily need to follow the same logic she did in the VN. She was technically already present [but unmentioned] in the VN as being the witch who provided Takano with her blessing of certainty, so maybe she’s going to do the same for Satoko here instead [and maybe her not providing Takano with her blessing within the context of Gou is part of how Featherine is ‘dealing with her’]. Maybe a post-Tataridamashi Satoko ends up making a deal with Lambda as a result of her years of unresolved trauma and whatnot. Maybe she wants to go back in time to stop herself [or her friends] from killing Teppei, and Lambda agrees to provide her with the power to turn back time.

And along those lines, I’m also wondering if that might be part of why the Saiguden statue’s hand is undamaged in Gou. We’ve seen how Satoko thinks that she got cursed when she did that, and that it caused everything in her life to go to shit, so maybe she specifically wants to go back in time to prevent that incident from happening. And like I’ve also theorized, maybe the statue is undamaged in the first two Gou arcs because they happen chronologically after this one, and start from the premise of Satoko avoiding that incident.

Anyway, this is a whole lot of wild speculation that might not turn out to be true at all, lol. For one thing, even though I think teenage Satoko will show up in this arc because she’s in the OP, I’m not sure if or even how Featherine might appear in this arc, and that might really take things in a whole new direction I can’t predict.

#murasaki rambles #higurashi #higurashi gou #this got longer than I planned but I've got lots of theories lol #I probably should have just made a separate post about them but oh well

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chronicallylatetotheparty · 4 years ago

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Two Gods, One Braincell Ch.5 Reflections

Summary: You must pass one introspection check to move on.

---------------

Kagami eyed Nino as he flew just behind Adrien and herself. Tail twitching as she contemplated whether she was more amused or annoyed.

"We're not going to do anything, Nino," Adrien called back, paws skimming over the air currents. "You don't have to keep following us."

"Uh-huh," Nino replied, unconvinced. Not looking up from preparing his tea, which laid in front of him on an extra large hexagon. "That's what you always say."

"What reason have we given you to doubt us?" Kagami snorted, exhaling a small cloud that drifted into Nino.

Nino wiped the specks of moisture that clung to his hair and face with one hand. Flicking his other wrist, a scroll appearing and starting to unroll. "You want the short version?"

"I can't believe you have a list!" Adrien pouted.

Kagami wondered how he did that in cat form. "You know the council insists protectors keep a record of their interventions."

"I know, love. I meant: I can't believe you brought a list with you!" Adrien eyed the scroll as it kept unrolling. Fluttering in the wind as it went on and on... and on. "Isn't this a bit off?"

"These are just the natural disasters." Using his free hand to hold his tea up and sip from it, Nino looked rather smug.

A mischievous gleam sparked in Kagami's eyes. "Like that volcanic eruption you and Alya were intimately familiar with?"

Nino choked on his tea. The now kilometer long scroll shot back into his hand and vanished. "Th-th-that was one time!"

Kagami was only mildly disappointed he didn't spray tea everywhere but the rest of his reaction was incredibly satisfying. "Yes. It was very memorable."

Sidling up to Nino, Adrien shifted, hand reaching for the teapot. "Such passion, you were lucky that tsunami dissipated before hitting any of the inhabited islands."

Cheeks darkening in embarrassment, Nino sat up straight. "You wanna talk volcanoes? What about- Oh, no, you don't!"

Nino snatched his teapot out of Adrien's reach and pushed him away with his foot. "Tea is for best friends who behave!"

"Aw, c'mon, Nino! Please?" Adrien widened his eyes and added a subtle halo to his hair.

Eye twitching at the assault on his resolve, Nino forced himself to shake his head.

Shifting, Kagami knelt opposite Nino on his hexagon. "Adrien, initiate Plan Neko."

Grinning, Adrien shifted and laid his feline head on his paws. Large eyes sparkling as his ears drooped pleadingly.

Nino tried to hide behind his hands but it was too late. He could feel those big, feline eyes staring at him. So innocent and trusting and- "Alright, fine! Just stop, god!"

"Yay!"

Adrien materialized his cup and held it out to Nino. Kagami following suit. Glaring at both of them, Nino reluctantly poured them tea.

Eagerly bringing the hot liquid to his lips, Adrien gasped. Sticking his tongue out as it burned him.

Nino scowled, arms crossed. "Why're you so darn cute?"

"Adrien is significantly larger than a lion and his claws can tear through the fabric of reality," Kagami pointed out as she blew on her tea.

"I know! It's adorable!"

Well, she couldn't argue with that. "Agreed."

Adrien beamed like the cat who got the cream at their praise. Then reached for the container of said cream.

She eyed him with mild displeasure.

Noticing this, Nino smirked. "If you're going to be together you'll have to get used to Adrien taking his tea with milk."

Kagami waved this away. "Just because Adrien has terrible taste in tea doesn't mean I love him any less."

Sticking his tongue out in a decidedly more deliberate manner, Adrien exaggerated the motion of adding his milk.

Smiling at her chosen partner's foolery Kagami sipped regally from her own cup. "... It was Marinette's idea for you to follow us, wasn't it?"

Far less embarrassed at being found out than about the volcano incident Nino just shrugged.

"Just like a creation goddess to butt in on another goddesses' business." Though Kagami acknowledged that Marinette was particularly prone to this.

"I mean, Mari's hardly ever wrong, goddess," Nino reminded her.

"It's that sort of thinking that let's her get away with it." Kagami pointed a finger at Nino for emphasis. Dragons had long memories and Kagami was no ordinary dragon.

"As opposed to you, Ryuko," Adrien teased her. "You never let anyone get away with anything."

"I accept your gratitude for preventing the formation of bad habits."

Adrien's eyes softened as he smiled at her. Kagami taking a careful sip as pink dusted her cheeks. By the heavens those eyes were dangerous.

"Gods if you could not make me the third wheel that would be great!" Nino protested.

Turning to face his best friend, Adrien raised an eyebrow. "Oh, like you and Alya were so subtle."

"Subtler than you two."

He thought that wasn't being subtle? Kagami leaned forward and pulled Adrien close to her. Then planted a kiss firmly on his lips. The wind picked up along with their heartbeats. Thunder booming in the distance. Clouds swirling together.

Breaking apart with a gasp, Kagami glanced at Nino and- The smug little turtle was grinning! Chin resting on his cupped hands as he gazed happily at them.

"Oh, no. Please stop," Nino protested sarcastically.

Blinking to clear the surprise and passion from his eyes Adrien looked from Nino to Kagami. A single name passed between them. "Alya."

This is what Kagami got for being friends with love goddesses. She was used to Alya and Marinette's shenanigans, though. And gave as good as she got.

"I warned you," Adrien intoned.

"Doesn't count, god!" Nino protested.

Instead of replying Adrien gently turned Kagami's face and gave her a kiss of his own. More prepared this time, the only reaction was sparks of lightning between them. The stormclouds they accidentally summoned already dissipating.

Letting their breath mix together, Kagami asked. "What was that for?"

"You caught me by surprise." The 'I barely had time to enjoy it' came across as clearly as if Adrien had spoken aloud.

Stretching as he stood up, Adrien rolled his neck. Eyes locking onto Nino's. They grinned at each other.

Nino shot off the hexagon as Adrien pounced after him.

Kagami traced her name on its surface to stabilize it in case Nino's magic was directed elsewhere. Considering the way he ran across floating, hexagonal steps with Adrien at his heels that was very likely.

Her scales itched to be a part of the hunt but two against one was hardly fair. She'd ask to spar with Adrien later to make up for it. And if he thought 'Ryuko' would go easy on him just because they were together... No, Adrien never insulted anyone by going easy on them. It was one of the reasons she liked him so much.

Case in point, Nino was Adrien's best friend. He was barely keeping out of Adrien's paws but Adrien didn't let up.

Kagami stared at the reflection in her cup, thinking about her friends. Marinette liked to think she thought things through more than others. This was inaccurate. She was simply annoyingly good at thinking on her feet. While Kagami was arguably the better combatant, Marinette was invariably the best strategist.

And Nino kept his wits about him when even Marinette had trouble finding hers. As demonstrated by the momentary shift into his large turtle form to rebound Adrien from his magically reinforced shell before scampering off again.

Adrien, when he bothered to use it, had more forethought than any of them. However, his intelligence was usually overshadowed by his impulsiveness. Something Kagami also needed to work on. But his instinctive talent with people was second to none. Kagami often thought that if he had been a love god no one could stand against him.

There was a flash as Adrien shattered Nino's magical shield... Not that standing against him now was an easy task.

He was a contradiction. Adrien the Destroyer. Adrien the Merciful. Countless mortals would never know that he had chosen to spare them judgment where other destroyers did not hesitate.

Kagami... understood what it was like to have a complex relationship between mortals and her sacred duty. Every piece of himself Adrien shared with her gave her a clearer picture of who he is.

Marinette by contrast was more confusing. She couldn't not imagine every possible consequence to a given scenario. It wasn't in her nature. Yet, whenever her friends were involved she plunged in headfirst without bothering to check for rocks beneath the surface. Kagami enjoyed teasing her about that for the next few decades.

Creation goddesses were never satisfied. Even a 'finished work' was merely a stepping stone to something greater. As such, they tended to deliberate. Destroyers were the ax that cut off the infected branch to save the tree. A task that appeared deceptively straightforward on the outside.

Much like Adrien's fighting style. He didn't let up. Didn't give his opponent room to breathe, time to think. A development no doubt spurred by his many sparring sessions with Marinette and, Kagami was pleased to note, integrating part of her own fighting style.

Despite the generally fickle nature of other weather gods' Kagami always knew what she wanted in a way her friends and now partner didn't. Weather had patterns, rules, seasons. In spite of her disregard for the council (and love for an embodiment of chaos) Kagami valued order.

Maybe that was why she was so drawn to them. They broke the rules in different ways. Marinette regarded rules more as polite suggestions. Taking whatever steps she thought necessary in any given situation. Adrien followed all he believed to be fair (another contradiction). If a rule protected someone he would defend it utterly and break it as casually as shifting if someone was harmed by it.

Kagami fell somewhere in the middle. Dragons were creatures of order. Yet here she was, disobeying the council on her way to break a curse that was most definitely deserved when it was cast.

Adrien landing back on the hexagon with his arms locked around Nino's head was a welcome distraction. Kagami had no desire to go over her Mother's lessons on Celestial Law at the moment.

"We talked about this, Nino," Adrien chastised. "What did we say about enabling love goddesses?"

"Can we call it something else?" Nino squirmed in Adrien's unyielding hold. Unsuccessfully trying to push his head out.

"No," Kagami stated simply.

"Aw, c'mon gods! You know things usually work out!" Nino was referring to Marinette and Alya's meddling.

"Marinette already thinks she's smarter than everyone. I won't have Alya thinking it too." They'd be insufferable together (more than usual) and Kagami could not allow that. Her dignity took enough hits as it is.

Twisting his head at an angle to get a better look at her, Nino pointed out. "Marinette is smarter than everyone."

Adrien nodded appreciatively. "He's got a point, love."

"All the more reason!" Kagami knew, intellectually, that she was being silly. But... it'd been a long time since she got the opportunity. "What did we say about enabling love goddesses?" she repeated Adrien's words.

Nino sighed. "To, not to."

Adrien released him after playfully rubbing his hair. "It's for their own good," Adrien reminded him.

"I don't see why-"

"Your tea's getting cold." Kagami pointed at the barely steaming cup.

"Nooooooo!" Rushing forward, Nino quickly downed it before it could cool any further.

Adrien mimicked his best friend but his tea was still quite hot.

Smirking at him, Kagami answered Nino's unfinished question. "I like my privacy."

"It's true. My Ryuko values her alone time." Adrien sighed contentedly as he drank a protector's tea.

Kagami arched an eyebrow the way Adrien had taught her. "Your Ryuko?"

Tilting his head, Kagami could've sworn Adrien shifted for a second. "Am I not your cat?"

Trying to hide her blooming blush, Kagami brought her cup up and subtly lengthened the sleeves of her kimono.

That didn't stop Adrien from purring. Obviously taking her reaction as affirmation. He laid his hand between them and Kagami wrapped her fingers around his.

"Love you, Ryuko," Adrien stated simply, sincerely. For no other reason than because he wished to say it.

"And I love you." In the back of her mind Kagami decided he was far too good at making her blush. The scales had to be balanced... later.

"And Alya thought they needed a push," Nino mumbled to himself, refilling his cup.

Unbothered by the great winds of the upper sky, the three gods flew towards the setting sun. Speaking of events millennia past throughout the night. Their destination illuminated by the dawn.

---------------

@kagamiappreciationweek2020 Super late!

#kagami tsurugi #adrien agreste #nino lahiffe #adrigami #adrimi #ml fanfic #kagami appreciation week

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blaster-aichi · 4 years ago

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Cardfight!! Vanguard Extra Story IF 22 things

forgot to post this, heck

Aw, cute shopping trip because they feel things are drawing to an end, barrier or no — [gets distracted by the little girl who looks just like Shingo]

Given the topic of conversation, felt Emi’s downcast expression was a hint of bittersweet realization that her time with Shuka is running down, then get smacked with even ruder sads.

There’s something massive ironic about Majesty Lord being pulled to the antagonistic side of battle after his role in the original Season 1 and embodying unification between Royal and Shadow Paladins when things get dire, now faced against the both of them.

Ren taught Shuka ‘Bukki’, bless.

Very appreciative of the explanation why Majesty Lord was so importaant to Shuka to Realize, though curious as to why he wouldn’t manifest in the first place.

MISAKI SIGHTED. Please don’t relegate her to post-Legion Mate Quatre Knights of voiceless cameos.

Side-eyes Emi for picking cards purely because of their cuteness, your friend’s calling you out.

With the truth of what led Aichi to ruling Sanctuary, Emi’s moment of finding no alternative but for the blame to fall on him is very relatable; at least some of us have been grasping at any explanation because we couldn’t imagine Aichi doing this of his own will, it’s incongruous with his character, and Emi may have been doing the same, but with options whittling down, she’s been forced to face that scenario that this has been all by his design and it upsets those of us who have been trying to figure out any other scenario, but to her, naturally it’s world-shattering.

How dare you fuckers use the same sads track from episode 7 where she was talking about the Aichi she knew.

He looks so worn down and I’m so upset. — Even his tone when speaking reflects his exhaustion and reluctance to deal with shit. Please let me hug him.

Is this the first time he’s said ‘Toshiki’? Feels like this is the first time he’s said ‘Toshiki’.

Even when they don’t meet, fate crams them into one another’s heads. That’s gay. (But doesn’t go the Legion Mate route and make it a clean injection, both of them have become tremendously distressed and pained and I scream).

Takuto, you can’t just say that in front of him?!

Emi actually draping Aichi’s jacket over her shoulders is so cute, she really is giving it a piggyback ride. After he mentioning it aloud how he left it behind, half-expect returning it to be one of her first gestures once he’s brought out of his antagonist role.

Takuto’s referencing Outside World Aichi brings back thoughts of the previous theory that IF Aichi had been doing all this in an effort to reach outside IF, why do you hurt me in these ways after that backstory, Bushi? At the same time, Takuto needs shaking if he had any inclination that IF Aichi would have the mental fortitude to cope with that possibility existing elsewhere after a lifetime of loneliness.

The poor boy hid in the shadows and hunted for Kai-kun just to verify Takuto’s theory and torment himself more, sweetie no... Considering his methods for keeping his very existence from the potential of breaking the IF illusion, it’s consistent, but sweetie no...

Takuto onto Aichi’s bullshit. The post before this clarifies, but his solemn delivery and feeling responsible for accidentally instigating everything, would like to hope he’ll be able to make a move in helping to rectify Aichi’s state.

Two things: You’re saying he had nothing to pass on through Miwa? And why did he never contact Suiko or Rekka before? Because there was no certainty they were inside IF? Isn’t it apparent they would follow once he and Kourin never returned? Did he even try?

Sad Rena howling noises in the background.

If Aichi is banking on her saving him, never let him know there was a moment where it all got too much and Emi gave up on him. — She’s doing the Misaki episode thing again. — Though it’s understandable the guilt she must feel; they might be correcting the timeline, but she’s conveyed her feelings before that each iteration of a person isn’t any less valid than another; though Kai-kun has come to terms with and accepted that there is another version of himself in a “proper” timeline, the same is essentially true for Aichi and Emi, who for all we know, could/will vanish along with him. It might not just be Emi sympathizing with others and not wanting to write them off as incorrect versions, but trying to validate her own and her brother’s existences as well.

Suiko and Shuka are onto the price the group are going to pay regardless; the preview isn’t subtle about it. Whether it’s Shuka having to move onto another place where more cards are waiting for her to rescue them or something more final awaits her, it’s difficult to tell. Though the former is simply a part of her journey and might not evoke the sorrow from someone like Suiko, it might be a sore spot for her, particularly with everything she, Kourin and Rekka lost, faced with having to watch the same happen to someone else. But Emi herself seems already be aware of this, she’s a smart girl.

IF 23

Squad goals. Squad goals.

Aichi looks ready to straight up murder and have to wonder who taught you how to pull those faces, boy?

If you’re going to be fighting in the area, please keep the babies safe from harm. Who knows what they might see?

What space-time commotion did you guys cause to alert all the other major characters across the city?.

On the one hand, more Majesty Lord Aichi aaaaaaa. On the other hand, that episode title, screams. (Now are you guys directing that to Aichi, Kai-kun or Shuka? Sus)

This take on the “They Never Met” story:

It’s taken a while for the fact IF is taking the route it is with the story to sink in; a lot of thoughts and feelings are still incredibly jumbled, but here goes An Effort.

As someone who's childhood has a lot of overlap with Aichi’s, it’s incredibly painful to actually see him endure it without the beacon of hope that gave him solace and the toll it’s taken on him to endure it. Having a loving family and a sibling could alleviate the pain, there are fond memories with things with my family that don’t make my childhood an unending nightmare, and it’s apparent that he and Emi were particularly close; though understand that by 16, he’s exhausted by it all, pretty sure I was.

I want to believe that he was able to find at least one other hobby to keep his life from being completely devoid of happiness; reading, writing, art, a love of animal, photography, meeting people on the internet, there has to be something. There are plenty of outlets that could have channelled his imagination to keep it from building with no freedom. The lack of clarification about what he spent his time doing does nothing to help this belief or deter the fears that he really never tried to find anything, and really hoping that’s able to change before the season is through.

But something about Aichi’s reasoning really doesn’t line up. He claims to be doing this so that he be the only one who has to suffer. And really struggle to fathom how he could think so when Emi and Shizuka, would and are suffering with him. Emi’s own pain has been right in his face and he’s turned away, he can’t be that narrow-minded to think she isn’t in anguish or that forgetting him would magically erase that of her or Shizuka.

My understanding (or interpretation, headcanon, what have you) of Aichi has always been that his unrelenting kindness stems from knowing well the absolute agony of complete loneliness and hopelessness, so he acts to help alleviate or prevent the same feeling upon others. Vanguard shouldn’t have any bearing on that trait staying with him or not; that’s something within Aichi, not created by one facet of his life that appeared one day, particularly when he’s even more familiar with such a rock bottom, even if the exhaustion of it weighs on him; he’s always put on a smile and done his best for someone else’s sake, no matter the cost to himself — and that is what he’s doing, but it’s incredibly difficult to believe he can only manage that demonstration of kindness towards others when he’s connected to or aware of Vanguard.

I can understand Aichi being worn down, I can understand him being a bit hostile and reluctant. But to lack his good heart and throw everything away, to put his family through the nightmare he has been, I can’t understand that, it just isn’t him. He isn’t that dependent on Vanguard to be a good kid.

With how vital the event and relationship are to both Aichi and Kai-kun, to explore the possibility that they would never meet is fascinating, but this feels like a lukewarm attempt at it, at least in regards to what this episode covered and that in itself is saddening, it feels like an incredible premise with wasted potential, just like Legion Mate. It saddens me immensely that this is how they tell that story, more so when it’s the last one we might ever have from this cast.

Late-Bloomer PsyAichi:

The only possibility, and this is very much a last-ditch at this point, draws on ideas from Override (is there an IF plan in the works? laughs with shovel maybe since the day before epi 1 aired), so chances are these might be as swiftly debunked as other ideas.

With the rapid influx of memories breaking through the IF illusion, Aichi’s imagination’s shackles were released, according to Takuto. The result was Psyqualia overloading Aichi, its poisonous nature of the original continuity repeating itself as a result of festering inside of him for years without usage.

By retaining this nature, it amplifies Aichi’s fixation on Kai-kun, maybe through an amalgamation of other PsyAichi remnants in line with the original continuity who became overwhelmed by that obsession blinding him to the pain that other characters have experienced through their connections with Vanguard or the suffering he’s putting his own family through to see IF secured.

His mind struggles to contend with the sudden explosion of power and his sanity withers when viewing possibilities that he was never granted, reinforced by Takuto’s claim that Kai-kun’s life is better as it is, of Aichi’s strength in those other worlds, of longing to reach his alternative selves and feel his existence holds any value. He doesn’t truly have control over himself as a result of this madness, which is why he refers to Kourin by just her name.

How Sanctuary itself formed, there’s just nothing that comes to mind. Unless IF has special properties that just haven’t been explained that allow for more supernatural events to occur — like Sanctuary’s appearance, the battlegrounds that don’t inflict real world damage on their sites — can’t really wrap head around how Aichi was able to create it.

The original distortion’s root:

Something else that still doesn’t make sense is Shuka being led to Blaster Blade as a withering existence. And as Aichi himself never played a part in that, the past couple of weeks had had me suspicious of Nome, and other fans have been pointing fingers his way as of late. His disappearance in episode 1 hasn’t been addressed, and it’s odd for him to so briefly show up only to seemingly play no part.

It’s just a possibility, but he, whether tainted by something Brandt or sibling jealousy, tampered with the Akashic Records to lure Shuka in and cause the accident that prevented Kai-kun and Aichi from meeting, shaping IF Aichi’s life to keep him from deviating from a path that Nome had set for him, using someone else’s brother (and someone known to be a powerful force is let loose) as a weapon.

If Brandt has a part in any of this, perhaps he infected Aichi with it, to allow it/his Psyqualia/imagination to overload him when exposed to the truth beyond IF.

This is all just grasping at straws at this point because really struggle to see Aichi doing this of his own accord and I believe him to be better than this, I want to believe the writers do too.

#Cardfight!! Vanguard #Cardfight!! Vanguard IF #cfv spoilers #idk i'm just sad and other feelings that don't know how to word #this feels even more difficult to take than if he was being completely controlled or manipulated or something

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tarhalindur · 3 years ago

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Higurashi Sotsugou crackpot theory under the cut:

... Prompted by this post over on the Higurashi subreddit, my brain has just spit out an “H173 is to Sotsugou as magic is to Umineko; all Gou cases have a solution that does not involve the use of H173″ take. All apparent deployments of it are metaphorical at best (it may denote which character is succumbing to Gou’s version of Rule X); the shift from OG’s presentation of Hinamizawa Syndrome to Sotsugou’s H173 usage represents the change in the game and/or game master. (Interestingly, this would tie into an old argument of mine involving agnosticism: that it is fundamentally impossible to conclusively distinguish between what occultism would call higher-plane influence and a mere intersection of random chance and incentives, because they result in no clear distinction of outcomes.)

Which would mean that we actually get to start solving again, so what the hell let’s roll with it and see what we get:

Tataridamashi-hen/Tatariakashi-hen: See above linked post for the general shape, though I’m not sure the details are right and check next episode for more details. At minimum, Ooishi went L5 (naturally as per the interview, the events as shown on screen are the lie) and Teppei’s change of heart is genuine (we can posit this as a miracle, analogous to Keiichi’s past timeline memories from Tsumihoroboshi-hen), but I’m not sure about the posited mechanism for Satoko’s relapse. (I’m also not entirely sure the K1 culprit version is wrong, though if so the shape of it is “Satoko set up a trap for Keiichi because Satoko and accidentally sent him straight into L5″. But Ooishi going L5 naturally and shooting up the festival is guaranteed.)

Onidamashi-hen/Oniakashi-hen: Probably still easy; we were positing Tsumihoroboshi-hen running in the background well before any H173 vials started to show up, that could simply still be the case with Rena developing the Syndrome naturally. (She went to the infirmary after class in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, too, due to HS effects.) We can even potentially take Rina’s partial change of heart as real (with Rena just having gone too far into high-level HS at that point), or alternately a break with Teppei resulted in her coming to Hinamizawa and events ensuing that resulted in her death. The biggest sticking point is the ending scene with Keiichi in the hospital, but there’s a simple answer there: we’ve seen K1 implicitly succumb to HS in the hospital after traumatic events before, back in Watanagashi-hen, no reason he didn’t just have a heart attack this time around too. The other decent possibility is that we got Yomi 4′d after all and Keiichi is the culprit again, but this means the syringe is not indicating the Rule X victim. Either way, however, the suicides of Rika and Satoko are not lies - suicide is consistent with both of their motivations.

Watadamashi-hen/Wataakashi-hen: The hard question. Positing that H173 is not real reopens the question that’s been hanging over the arc from the beginning: why would Mion go L5? As per Rika, she never does so in OG; Mion’s personality and circumstances effectively protect her from the worst of HS. But, there’s the other niggling issue: we never actually see someone actually inject Mion with H173, do we?

If this corner case is the world we’re in and the H173 isn’t real, then there’s a real chance we’re getting played here. (”There is no surer sign you’re being played than being certain you’ve grasped your opponent’s intent.”)

My baseline assumptions:

- Without access to Witch powers, Satoko cannot have a gun. Ergo, the final scene of Wataakashi-hen is a lie.

- Without H173 actually being in play, Mion has no reason to go L5, and we never actually saw her getting injected. Ergo, Mion did not go L5 (at least prior to the very end of the arc) and is not actually the culprit.

- The Yamainu are no longer in play in any timeline.

- Assuming Ooishi’s report of which characters died is reliable (I’m not familiar enough with Umineko rules to be sure either way here), then at least one culprit had opportunity to kill both Oryou and Kimiyoshi. With Mion ruled out and the Yamainu out of play, the only characters I can think of with opportunity are the police and Shion - K1 himself simply doesn’t have enough knowledge of the village to know how to contact and corner either of them. (Note that if Ooishi’s report is not reliable then Oryou and/or Kimiyoshi can simply not be dead. Alternately, I suppose they could have killed each other and/or simply died of natural causes.)

- Rika disappeared after leaving school on the 20th (unless I’m off a day on anime and/or manga timeline again).

Best guess: Shion, in fact, went L5 again. Either Mion gushed about the doll with the same effect that her complaints would have had or something else happened with the same effect, but at any rate Shion hit L5 later on the night of Watanagashi. She then proceeded to kill Oryou and possibly Kimiyoshi (presumably present on Gosanke business) and then attempted to kill or subdue Mion but failed and died in the attempt. Meanwhile, either Rika committed suicide (believing the worst after Keiichi entered the Saiguden) or Keiichi himself went L5 due to the pressure from entering the Saiguden and killed Rika himself after their episode 7 conversation. Either way, Mion discovered the body, assumed Keiichi or someone after him was responsible, and hid it just like she did with Teppei’s body in Tatarigoroshi-hen. (Alternate possibility: Mion finally went L5 after killing Shion in self-defense and then killed Kimiyoshi and Rika - but her actions later in the arc fit the former scenario better.) Mion then proceeds to shelter Keiichi - but is approached by Satoko, who is attempting to ascertain Rika’s whereabouts. Mion tells Satoko the truth; Satoko then commits suicide (or alternately Mion possibly kills her if we’re in late L5 Mion worlds) and then Mion either commits suicide herself or dies in a confrontation with the raiding police.

(Alternately, if Ooishi’s body reports can’t be trusted there’s a very real chance that there was no murder at all in this arc. Assume Rika and Satoko both committed suicide again (the two deaths we can be sure of due to loop mechanics), which is consistent with their motivations, and that Mion ran across the former’s body, assumed that Keiichi was the murderer, and covered for him, with Oryou either not minding or dead of natural causes. Everything fits, with Kimiyoshi and Shion alive and Mion either also alive or having died by her own hand/in a confrontation with the police.)

- Nekodamashi-hen: Insufficient information unless either Rika is committing suicide each time or Keiichi is always the culprit.

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poptod · 5 years ago

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The Dead Heed No Lies (Ch. 2)

Description: If you won't join the life of the party upstairs, the life of the party comes to you.

Notes: Building up. Word Count: 1.9k

Chapter Two: Holed Up

It had been approximately a week since you’d fainted in the break room, found by Ahkmenrah, who was apparently worried about you after you hadn’t returned, even as dawn approached. When you came fully back to consciousness, he sat with you, explaining what the tablet did, how it needed moonlight, which was the real reason for the transfer. He further explained that it only worked during the night, which was why everything seemed so still during the day. He’d been gracious about the whole fainting thing, telling you that it wasn’t entirely unexpected, simply wishing you a better day ahead of you before he left to his exhibit.

You decided not to accompany him. Watching a man crawl into his own grave to die seemed like something that wouldn’t be good for you.

“How long are you staying here?” You asked Tilly, watching from the balcony as chaos ensued in the form of an almost hysterical party.

“Dunno, this is a pretty prestigious museum. But should be for another few months.”

“That’s quite a while,�� you noted, nodding in a mildly impressed manner.

“Should give you enough time to get to know Ahk more,” she said, leaning over to you, attempting horridly at a wink.

“I - what?”

“You know, you and the King,” she said, saying his title with a theatrical form of reverence.

“… Right. Me and the King. What is this, Disney?” You shook your head, chuckling to yourself.

“What? You’d make a great couple,” she said, nudging you with her elbow.

“Til, I barely know him. You’re seeing things.”

“Whatever you say,” she said skeptically, turning and leaving down the stairs.

The whole notion she was proposing was ridiculous. You’d spoken to him a grand total of three times, the first being when you met him, the second was him waking you from a black out, and the third was you accidentally running into his parents, and he quickly introduced you to them.

On the whole, the conversation wasn’t bad, but it could’ve gone better. It felt rather like a young teen who had modern ideals with two racist parents, but this time it was an actual King and Queen who had Jewish slaves and their son, who had apparently never agreed with that.

You didn’t agree with it either, being Jewish yourself. After his parents had left, Ahkmenrah explained that it wasn’t the first time it’d happened, that it was equally embarrassing as it was funny. You agreed, and quickly excused yourself.

As fun as it was to be upstairs during the night of life, you had a job, and it couldn’t be avoided. Especially since McPhee was now breathing down your back, which was a change, because usually he was at home, asleep, during your work hours. Now, fully awake, he was free to observe your every movement. Not that he did, he was busy making sure nothing in the museum was destroyed. You stayed far away, in the basement, locked up and sorting through the archives.

Every now and then Tilly would come down, asking you to take a break, which you nearly always declined.

Then the King visited you.

You could tell it was him without even looking up, from the way his cloak dragged across the ground, and his sandals hitting the asphalt.

“Hi Ahk,” you said, not looking up from the papers you were sorting.

Man killed 150 bears in American wilderness, original article…

“Hello. How’d you know it was me?” He asked, chuckling as he sat down beside you. That was something you hadn’t expected of him when you first met him - for him to be normal, to stoop down to your level. Sit with you on the ground, cross legged, looking like a perfectly normal man in an impeccable costume. Warm and human.

“I can hear your cloak. No one else wears a cloak,” you said, smiling as you looked at him, before looking right back down again.

“Ah. Suppose it does sort of… give it away,” he said, fumbling with his cape in his fingers.

“It’s fantastic material, though. I assume it’s the same clothing you were embalmed with?” You said, and without thought you fingered the material, always wondering what fine cloth would feel like. As much as you studied history, you never actually experienced any of the findings it brought.

“Oh, uh, yes. It is. Gold sewn in and all. I think we were a little dramatic back then,” he laughed quietly, his eyes fixed on your hands.

You knew it was inappropriate, but dear God it was soft.

“Well you had a lot of gold. Symbol of status, a way of letting people know how much you were worth. It’s like people owning mansions nowadays, buying fancy cars. Just a show of wealth and status.”

“Unsightly,” he joked.

“Unseemly,” you said with a chuckle, playing along. After a moment of quiet giggles you turned back to your papers, continuing to sort through them though it was the last thing you wanted to be doing. Here you were, studying historical records when a literal goldmine of information was in front of you, and he acted quite like he liked you, and a lot, always open to talk, always trying to learn more about you. Overall, very friendly.

“Ahkmenrah, I was wondering,” you started, setting your papers down. The more you looked at them, the duller they got. He looked expectantly at you, so you continued.

“There’s hardly any mention of you at all in any history books. No statues, we only found out you existed when we found your, um. Your sarcophagus. Do you have any idea as to why that is?”

It was, maybe, a sensitive topic. Maybe it was a question he didn’t know the answer to. Either way it evoked some emotional reaction out of him as he shifted uncomfortably, tucking his feet and hands further into himself in a psychological sign of defensiveness.

“I didn’t know, for a while. I found out later when my parents told me. I don’t remember this for whatever reason but my brother killed me, and uh… took the throne? It was his birthright, to be fair,” he said, defending him though he deserved none of it.

“He was older than you, but your parents gave you the throne?”

“Yes. I know it’s odd,” he sighed, relaxing as he leaned back on his arms. “But they thought it would be a better decision if I ruled instead of him, and generally speaking, I think they were right. My brother’s a bit, ah, bloodthirsty, you could call it?”

The two of you laughed, but you wondered what in the hell his brother could’ve done in Egyptian times to be considered bloodthirsty enough to pass the throne to the younger child.

“Anyway, he poisoned me, and my parents were still alive when this happened, but they couldn’t do much while he desecrated everything that ever mentioned me.”

“That’s depressing,” you sighed, stretching your arms as you relaxed, looking ahead to the rows of boxes.

“What’s depressing,” he said, his tone suddenly changing, “is you sitting down here all night when all the fun is upstairs.”

“Oh not you too,” you groaned, not wanting to have to convince another person that you had an actual job to do.

“What? It’s not healthy, you know,” he said, laughing, knowing he was a terrible influence.

“I’m fully aware of that but it’s my job. Wouldn’t expect you to understand that, all you do is have fun,” you chuckled, digressing into a tired sigh. He hummed, quiet and low, relaxing in his position once more.

“In that case, if you really can’t be swayed, I’ll stay with you.”

You stammered, fully disagreeing. If he stayed you’d never get anything done, he was a huge distraction, him and his beautiful flowing robes and his stupid gorgeous face - no, you couldn’t do it, you would absolutely not stand for it.

However, before you could go off on a rant of why that was a terrible idea (while completely avoiding your actual lovey-dovey reason as to why it was a terrible idea), he saw the look in your eye, and his smile faded into a sad, open mouthed, glittering eyed expression that made him instantly look like he’d been crying.

Like a goddamn puppy.

“Fine,” you sighed, giving in without a word exchanged. “But don’t distract me!”

“Me? Never!” He laughed, standing up and wandering through the aisles, letting you have your silence as you worked. You didn’t say anything, but you appreciated the thought deeply.

Every now and then, over the next few hours that passed, you’d see him through the spaces between the boxes. His head would poke out, and sometimes he’d kneel down to where you were, giving you a funny face for you to soften and laugh at.

This boy is too kind for his own good, you thought to yourself, wondering if he was like this during his life in Egypt. As you sorted mindlessly through sheets of paper, your mind wandered, going through the two different scenarios.

If he was exactly the same then as he was now, you wondered how he survived. As a prince, he was supposed to be mature, a role model for his kingdom. He should’ve been manly and strong, neither of which were traits he’d shown thus far.

If he was not the same, you wondered when the change happened. What he was like back then. Was he cruel, antisemitic, and a succinct ruler? Or was he just as kind as he was now, just more mature, with the weight of his responsibilities drowning out his personality?

“You look lost,” he noticed, boxes pushed to the side as he poked his head through the other side of the open shelf. You laughed, pushing the boxes back together to force his head out. He whined, jogging his way around the long hall to make it to you.

“No need to be ashamed. I, too, get lost in sheets of paper,” he chuckled, sitting down behind you and looking over your shoulder. He was slightly taller than you, allowing him a vantage point.

“You know, you speak remarkably good English for a 4,000 year old Egyptian Pharaoh,” you said, using the end of your pencil to tap his nose.

“What can I say, it’s what everyone else speaks. I hardly ever speak Egyptian now except with my parents.”

“I guess that makes sense,” you said, growing slowly quieter. “Your version of the language is dead now.”

A clangor of Rex’s roar resounded from upstairs, a sound you now knew signified that everyone needed to return to their place.

“Just as I am soon about to be,” he said, grunting slightly as he stood. Without thought you stood with him, letting your pencil and paper fall to the ground clattering quietly. With a chuckle he looked you up and down, almost sarcastically wondering if you’d do anything else embarrassing. You just glared, the blushing heat in your cheeks obvious.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed,” you mumbled, leading him out the door and up the stairs. He followed, and the two of you walked to his old room in the museum.

As you reached the threshold he stopped, turning to you.

“I must leave you now,” he said, his words dramatic but his tone sincere. His hands came up to hold yours, another sign of his truthfulness.

“Try and do what I said?” He asked of you.

“What was that again?”

“Have some fun. Don’t hole up in that basement.”

You laughed, shaking your head.

“Sure.”

He left you with a smile, never wanting people to see him as he wrapped himself back up in his tomb. You understood his wish, obeying his need for privacy.

Until tomorrow night, you thought to yourself.

#ahkmenrah x reader #Night at the Museum #ahkmenrah #rami malek #rami malek character #ahkmenrah x male reader #ahkmenrah x female reader #gender neutral reader

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insectbah · 5 years ago

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2019 Beta Read Recs

I wasn’t able to beta nearly as many fics in 2019 as I would have liked, for health and school reasons (who knew a broken hip and phd were so time consuming?), but I wanted to do a late version of the end of the year meme. These are the fics I was tagged in or reminded of, so I’m sorry if I’ve left any out and please let me know so I can add it. I loved working with all of these authors so check out the fics if you haven’t already!

January

the places where the internet could not go by @templeofshame

They’ve just hung up on Skype, excitement crashing quickly into a wired sort of exhaustion that isn’t leading to sleep any time soon. He’s ordered the tickets. Actual, real, not-inexpensive tickets that will take him to Manchester and, unfortunately, back. Dan hopes Phil’s still on that wave of excitement. He hopes Phil doesn’t understand this dark, sinking feeling.

Because of Reasons by @adorkablephil

There’s always a reason why … so they come up with compromises. Or, Dan and Phil go out for a fancy dinner to celebrate Phil’s birthday.

Dragon Breeders by @terpia

Phil is a dragon breeder, awaiting the arrival of a new dragon. However, when it finally gets there, it is the delivery man that catches his eye.

Trying to Try by PoisonedMind (@bie-lovers)

So, Dan got Phil’s number and Phil got Dan’s. This is great - amazing actually - except… Phil has no idea how to proceed from here.

February

captive audience by @callofthecurlew

It feels silly to actually be glad about airline delays. It’s definitely silly for him to be thankful there was a blizzard, but Dan doesn’t have that many friends to begin with. There’s never been much opportunity for friendship in his line of work, so if latching onto the first person who has shown common interests with him is desperate, well maybe he doesn’t mind being desperate.

June

(if you and i are) all that's left by @templeofshame

Dan spends a lot of time thinking about what the end will be. Whatever that means.

in love with the colors of you by @capriciouscrab

Phil takes a deep breath and clicks play.

the scariest part (is letting go) by @huphilpuffs

Dan's journey with sexuality continues long after he meets Phil.

July

not quite chaos by @caibrynm

From birthday parties to princess gowns, Dan and Phil navigate a day in their life with kids.

September

Cross-pollination by citizen101erased (@throwing-roses-into-the-abyss)

Captain Turak from Vulcan did not mean to crash on earth with her crew. She especially did not mean to break all the rules and accidentally have first contact with two humans called Dan and Phil, while at a Muse concert. But it happened anyway, and maybe everyone gets out of this a little bit better than before.

(when the nuclear winters) turn our beaches to glass by @templeofshame

Phil is looking for his first flat as an Adult. And thinking about worst case scenarios.

November

No Terms But Our Own by @judearaya

Phil had written the words into Dan’s skin with kisses and Dan had pressed the promises into the pages of a journal. They’d spent five years fighting for the privilege of the trip of their dreams, on no one else's terms but their own.

Five years ago, Phil surprised Dan with the trip of their dreams. A trip that had been amazing, yes. Still, they always dreamed of doing it again, when things would be different.

Dan would give Phil the world, but right now, he reckons, Japan, they way they want to do it, is a good start.

December

through the years we all will be together by @possumdnp

Martyn comes home for Christmas in 2009 and finally meets Dan, that guy his brother won’t shut up about. Ten years later, and it’s like Dan’s always been a part of the family.

Two of Martyn’s family Christmas celebrations, a decade apart.

no longer feel alone by @natigail

who'd have known that a random act of kindness from a stranger could lead to this.

#fic rec #beta

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rpgsandbox · 5 years ago

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One moment sets the course of destiny.

But what if that one moment was changed in the smallest of ways?

What if one madman's plan actually were to succeed beyond our known history?

Darker Hue Studios presents its second project:

Haunted West, A Historical-Fiction, Weird-Western, Spaghetti-Action Game.

This is a game about hope through struggle. It is a game that pieces together the stories of the largely forgotten people of the Old West, the people who have been whitewashed by history. Discover the American experience in the Weird West.

Grab your rifle, jet pack, and spurs to battle traitorous rebels in the defense of freedom, join the fight against temporally displaced dinosaurs, rustle cattle to make ends meet, and hijack a train full of illicit Confederate gold!

I hope you’ve got the grit and gumption to see this through.

Head 'em up. Move 'em out.

The Train Heist

The Old West—The Wild West, The American Frontier—is one of the world’s most familiar modern myths. The time was draped in ruggedness; there was an idealized dream of freedom, and a notion that just one person could shape the world. That myth belongs to all of us. Yet so many stories of truth, justice, and the American Way have been stolen, erased, and never recorded. Haunted West aims to tell many of those stories, to shine a light on the proud people who shaped America and fought for her just as much as those people whose stories are central to widely-known American folklore.

Haunted West honors the many forgotten voices of the American Frontier, tips its hat to the Weird West genre, rides the trails with the Spaghetti and Hollywood Westerns, and drinks at the saloon with historical truths. It’s a game about our real-world history that does not whitewash it, but instead amplifies the voices that shaped the West, and thereby America, helping define the world. We’ve taken an entirely new approach to the Weird West genre in gaming, with a system built from the ground up to enable you to tell the kind of stories you want, and accurately represent the history of the Old West while running games as gritty or as pulpy as you want.

Haunted West approaches the Weird West in a unique way, riding the rails toward something new. This is fertile ground for all. Haunted West explores the true history of the American Frontier with a focus on the tales of the forgotten, unknown, and overlooked, and all through Weird-West-goggles.

When I was young, growing up in the deep South of Alabama, I would watch Westerns with my grandmother on our one television in the house. Though we weren't always close, we huddled around that TV and explored the great Old West together, and that's how my love for the genre began. The only problem? No one looked like me unless they were cast as the villain or, sometimes, the butt of the joke. Haunted West aims to change that.

In Haunted West you'll battle the Weird, take side jobs to get by, and help shape a nation one step at a time. Experience adventures in the vein of Deadwood, High Noon, Gallowwalkers, Hell on Wheels, The Magnificent Seven, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., and more.

This is a role-playing game inspired by real-life icons such as Bass Reeves, Belle Star, Cathay Williams, Tom Threepersons, Ah Toy, Nat Love, Kate Warne, Jerome Crow Dog, Joaquín Murieta, John Henry Holliday, Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons, Jackson Sundown, Mary Fields, and Fee Lee Wong.

Haunted West hears the voices of the past and amplifies them for all to hear.

"We need to haunt the house of history and listen anew to the ancestors' wisdom." - Maya Angelou

The world of Haunted West: Reconstruction begins close to our known history, but branches off a few years into the Reconstruction era following the Civil War, dropping you in the middle of an evolving historical timeline. The War’s aftermath burns bright in people's minds, no matter if they or their kin fought with the victorious North or the traitorous South.

In our known history, John Wilkes Booth assassinates Abraham Lincoln, which accidentally elevates Andrew Johnson, a Southern former slave owner, into the presidency. He goes on to fight against every change the people, their country, and fallen soldiers had earned.

Haunted West: Reconstruction creates a timeline in which, in addition to killing Lincoln, Booth's assassination plot also kills Johnson as he had originally intended. Lafayette Foster becomes President, and without presidential opposition, the Southern confederates are not allowed back in congress. The land is divided and given to the enslaved people as was actually planned in our known history, changing the power dynamic of America, with black landowners battling against traitors who are terrorizing them and trying to steal their legally-owned land.

We've worked with historians to help us imagine how that new dynamic plays out in our alternate timeline.

We think you'll love exploring the alternate timeline. As a gamer, I love world meta plots but I also like having the ability to run my own game. So in Haunted West we give you options. The game is layered, empowering you to run a purely historical game including many of the forgotten voices of the Old West, where you're more likely to die of dysentery than a bullet; or you may choose to take a turn toward the Spaghetti and Pulp Western; or, my hope is you'll want to take the ride into the alternate timeline which can be played in either gritty or pulp style—your choice.

That’s right, this is an entirely new system specifically designed with the Narrator's and players' enjoyment in mind. The system’s core mechanic is a 1d100 based system with some new twists. It’ll feel familiar and easy while having a level of complexity to appeal to old school gamers.

The rules themselves layer on top of each other for ease of use and can be applied in many ways.

Why a New System?: We created a new system to provide exciting versatility of play styles, a system that is tailored to create iconic stories of the West, and a consistent way for you to tell your stories. For me, it was important to have something fresh to empower the player and Narrator alike. The system is easy to pick up for new gamers and has levels of complexity for old school gamers looking for that. But at the heart of it, it’s built to aid in telling stories.

The Essential Mechanics: The ‘Ouroboros System’ is unique in its approach to modular play and has a number of easy-to-apply rules. The core mechanic is a 1D100 roll under system with degrees of success and failure that have different impacts. Skilled Paragons are able to invest a portion of their successes into ‘The River’ and use that portion for a later challenge when the chips are down. Each skill is associated with 1 of 7 different attributes that confer a starting percentage in the skill.

Paragons: Paragons are our system's player characters. We chose the term 'Paragon' because they are iconic, modeling an aspect of the Old West and larger than life.

Mock Up of Character Sheet

Skinwalkers, vampires, werewolves, aliens, clockworks, monstrosities, magic, and more await you here!

The Weird populates Haunted West on the fringes. People may know about it but rarely discuss it; it's not proper, and if you name it, you give it power. The Weird is rarely in plain sight and anyone that has a touched it is forever changed by it. These folks have seen beyond the horizon and understand the world is more, more dangerous, and more wonderous than anyone imagined. But unlike a Mythos protagonists, the people of the West are made of stern stuff. They don't faint or break easily.

Haunted West builds its Weird from myths, stories passed down from generations, real-world sightings, and from the recesses of our minds. We've got supernatural horrors, science fiction aliens with technology to astound, and more. Stepping out of your door into the world isn't for the faint of heart.

Artwork: Battling the Weird

Haunted West is a core book containing everything a Narrator needs to run scenarios in the Weird and Wild West. The book itself is an exquisitely designed hardcover 8.5” x 11” book clocking in at well over 130,000 words. Haunted West will be printed in two editions. The first will be available via offset printing for our US customers and the second will be available through DrivethruRPG for our overseas fans which will help to minimize the cost of shipping. Both versions of the book will be FULL COLOR! Our goal is to deliver the book to you Summer 2020.

Mock-up cover. Final design is pending.

This hefty tome would give any cowpoke pause from its hidden secret and arcane lore of the past. If you’ve got the resolve, I’ll tell you a bit about it and hold back a few prizes for a surprise when you open the book. Rest assured it’s not a snake in your boot.

A brief, “Howdy, partner!” We’ll chat around the campfire about history, how to apply the Weird, the horrors and wonders of the West, and the new system.

Then we sit a spell at the trading post to make some characters, what we're calling Paragons, and you'll have your choice of 10 distinctive archetypes that cover a lot of ground, enabling players to make any character they can think of. The creative posse has built a detailed Life Path system to guide character creation from your lineage, to your crew, to a few antagonists that don’t fancy your face.

Each Paragon has a couple of aptitudes making them more than a run-of-the-mill town person. Maybe they can shoot a little straighter, train horses a little faster, or rumor has it that some sawbones can bring the dead back to life.

Skills are the salt-of-the-Earth of what a Paragon can do. Qualities are those small traits that make you stand out. It could be something like striking looks, a 500-dollar bounty, or an intimidating gaze that forces any law officer to keep walking.

You can’t have the weird without a little magick. We start the ball rolling with four historically-based Western theme magicks of the time. They've been researched and gamified for those looking to meet at the crossroads to barter with a demon.

Book excerpt

We'll delve into an engaging narrative about the true West from before time until the early 1900s. Our story is sprawling with unknown visages and we touch on a lot of them, like an old friend buying the first round at the saloon. We’re storytellers crafting a tale that has never been told.

Haunted West takes the reigns and gives you all of the West, above and below to explore. Paragons may be dueling clockwork gunslingers in Deadwood, trading for supplies with the Lakota, holding the line with Texas Rangers against an unknown army, debating Southern politicians in halls of power on the East Coast, or stealing aboard steam-powered cities in the heavens. We are boundless.

The book comes primed with over 50 historical folks for the Paragons to meet, call out, run from, or with whom to posse up. These are real-life icons pulled from history, and their voices are waiting for your breath to make them live again.

See 'Methods of Play' for all the gunslinger goodness.

What kind of no-good scallywag would I be without offering a Narrator a helping hand for running games, discussing the careful economic and racial divides you’ll need to navigate? I am not alone; I've got a crew of diverse voices to help tell the tales.

Haunted West: Reconstruction is the world setting. The entire book up until now has been a historical game plus how to apply the Weird, and this section gives you over 10,000 words dedicated to the alternate timeline. In this timeline, in addition to killing Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth's assassination plot also kills Johnson as he had originally intended. The alternate timeline imagines how this new reality plays out.

The world of Haunted West is a grim place of untold horror, the supernatural, sights that shatter even the toughest gunslinger, with wonders beyond description. It is the Old West—the frontier of America—with her people arriving from every corner of the globe, seeking fortune, fame, and a moment in the sun.

The Paragons encounter rumors of some flying machine beyond description that's leaving mutilated cattle in its wake. They need the thing stopped before they go bust. But a deeper horror awaits those who follow the Aerostat.

We present over 40 creatures pulled from folklore and myths, both supernatural as well as alien, to baffle and combat your players' Paragons.

We’ll have a foldout train map of the United States, a reusable town map, and an old west hex map for miniature combat.

Artwork: Ghost Town

Kickstarter campaign ends: Fri, November 1 2019 3:00 PM UTC +00:00

Website: [Darker Hue Studios] [facebook] [twitter]

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