#there's one line that references the finale
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
I know plenty of people have already made a version of the "Jinx is alive" theory post but I've also seen so many of you mourn her death that I decided to gather all the evidence and make another post, turning this theory into a fact.
Because Jinx is alive. It's not a speculation. It's literally there.
The first thing I'm going to mention are the context clues Jinx gives herself. First, the last thing the ghost of Silco tells her. I think the cycle only ends when you find the will to walk away. Then, the realization she comes to when Vi hugs her in the cell. You're never gonna give up on me, are you? What she tells Vi after she leaves her in that cell. You don't need to worry about me anymore. [...] And yes, her initial plan is to kill herself, because she thinks the only way for Vi to move on is for her to be gone. And Ekko gets there just in time to stop her but it looks like he doesn't convince her to abandon her plan, just change it.
And later, when she joins Vi in the final fight. What does she tell her? Still don't get it, huh, sis? I'm always with you. Even when we're worlds apart.
Everything that happens after is constructed specifically to let us and Vi believe that Jinx died. Until we get to this scene:
Caitlyn is studying the Hexgates designs.
She's looking through the pages depicting the place where the final fight happened, specifically focusing on the air vent shafts, while toying with a monkey bomb head - the same monkey bomb that Jinx used in her supposed last monents.
She looks down at the monkey...
Watch the eyes. The realization hits her...
And she smirks, knowing. Jinx used one of the air vents to escape before the explosion.
I've studied the explosion frame by frame. First, a small yellow explosion goes off - Jinx sets off the monkey bomb.
As it becomes bigger, she shoots out of there
this is still the beginning of the blast when we can still see her, and the big boom that destroys everything starts 10 frames later
Last context clue is a reference to the very first episode, which is clearly depicted in this gifset here, so instead of explaining, I'll just send you there to check for yourselves.
One thing that is speculation here is, how exactly did Caitlyn come into possession of the monkey bomb head? I doubt she found it there because it would have been turned to dust. And I'm thinking, Jinx took it with her and left it for Cait to find as a clue. She didn't want Vi to know but maybe she wanted Cait to figure it out. I imagine her sneaking into her house and maybe leaving it somewhere for Cait to find, like her desk or something. It gives Cait an idea, a gut feeling she needs to check, and that allows her to figure it out. Just like we are supposed to figure it out on our own.
Bottom line, Jinx is alive. She escaped the explosion through the air vents, then boarded the airship and left the city, convinced that the only way to give her sister a happy ending is to take herself out of the equation. The glitching closing shot saying The End in Jinx's colorful handwriting is a sign that she is telling us that this is where this story ends, like she's saying "don't look for me. It's over." That's also probably why we aren't shown what Caitlyn does with the information she now possesses.
I hope this helps take away from the grief 💙
#arcane#arcane spoilers#arcane season 2#arcane season 2 spoilers#vi arcane#jinx arcane#caitlyn kiramman#jinx and vi#vi and jinx
521 notes
·
View notes
Text
hezenkoss: it's touching that you brought your new friends to do with you, volkarin. hezenkoss: i'll be sure to bury you and your new lover in the same tomb!
i got this line finally during the fight with hezenkoss on my emmrich romance pt. the fight usually ends too quickly to trigger all combat dialogue.
anyhow, this banter once again reminded me of the short story 'flame eternal'.
i'm not sure if the callback is intentional, if it is, it's a cruel one.
the short story references johanna and emmrich investigating a haunting that they later find out is caused by two lovers being separated in death. emmrich manages to soothe the spirit by reuniting them:
Emmrich closed his eyes. Whispers came, and when he spoke, the air vibrated. “By breath and shadow. By endless night. Tell us what haunts you.” The skull’s sockets flared green. “Divided. Cold. Two graves where there should be one!” “Twaddle.” “Johanna!” Emmrich cleared his throat and turned back to the skull. “Tell me: what will grant you rest?” “Take this one… to sunken black walls… by silver flames…” The skull’s glow flickered, faded. It resumed its earsplitting shrieks.
and
Emmrich leaned over a coffin ringed by bowls of silver fire. He placed the skull next to the body of an old woman, humbly dressed but crowned with white roses. The screaming stopped. “Mathilde…” “Your wife left gently, in her sleep, last midnight.” Emmrich smiled. “The records confirm she also wished to be interred together. You’ll not be parted again.” There was a sigh. Did the old woman’s mouth quirk, or was that the dancing flames? Johanna snorted. “All that fury, ending in another grave.” “Oh, I don’t know.” Emmrich ran a hand along the coffin’s snowy marble. “It would be rather fine to possess such an enduring affection. Besides, you did see this through.”
you can read the entire short story here, if you haven't yet, and i highly recommend it.
#having said that#emmrich will have to pull leander back when johanna's in her skull jail ngl#emmrich volkarin#johanna hezenkoss#rook dragon age#emmrich x rook#rook x emmrich#dragon age 4#dragon age: the veilguard#da4#datv#otp: love undying#ch: emmrich volkarin#ch: leander aurelian thorne#ch: johanna hezenkoss#vg: dragon age 4#series: dragon age#da4 spoilers#datv spoilers
206 notes
·
View notes
Text
time present and time past
spencer tried to explain einstein’s theory of relativity once. and now, with spencer beside you in bed, you think you finally understand what he was on about. because time is relative. and if he doesn’t wake up, this moment will never end, and maybe you can slow down time itself.
pairing: spencer reid x fem!reader (second person, no y/n)
genre: angst
content: situationship core. they argue. avoidant!-ish.
word count: 3.4k
note: i have a final in 3 days and thought now would be the perfect time to write and post my first fic. yay! anyways this is inspired by an old literature text i studied, einstein's theory of relativity and what not. a line: I’ll come to you before you call—Just to prove that I don’t come to you every time you call.
time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future, and time future contained in time past. if all time is eternally present all time is unredeemable. - t.s. eliot
You've never been one for physics, the numbers, the theories, the science of it all. But that’s never stopped Spencer from launching into explanations like a rocket whenever the chance presents itself. You would nod along, a smile on your face though whatever he's saying might as well be in a foreign language.
He tried to explain Einstein’s theory of relativity once. Something about clocks, something about a kind of gravitational field.
"Think of it like I’m on the jet," he started, and if you try hard enough you can imagine him on the other end of the line gesturing with his hands in that animated way of his. "Now imagine if I run down the aisle—”
“Hotch would kill you,” you interrupted, biting back a grin as you tried to picture the sight.
“Just imagine it,” Spencer laughed.
“Okay, okay.”
“So, if you time me and I make it down the aisle in five seconds—”
“Highly unlikely, but sure.”
“Angel,” he warned, but there was no real bite in it. He waited for your giggles to subside before pressing on, “It takes me five seconds to get from one end of the plane to the other. Right?”
“If you say so...”
Spencer sighed, but soldiered on. “But for you, timing me, you’d also have to factor in the distance the jet travelled in those five seconds.”
“Ah.”
“You don’t get it.”
“No, I do. I do.”
“Okay, so explain it.”
You paused, your lips twitching with suppressed laughter. “Uh… You can run faster than a jet?”
Spencer groaned, but he was laughing too. “Time moves slower for those in the jet!” he said profoundly as though he was the one who had discovered the theory of relativity itself. “It’s fascinating really.”
“Ohhh” you sound, trying your best to feign understanding.
“You know what,” he said between laughs, “I’ll explain it when I’m back, I know you’re a visual learner.”
But he never did. And so you never understood it, not really. At least, you thought you didn’t—until now.
Not until he’s lying in your bed again, your sheets tangled around him like they’ve claimed him as their own.
Einstein says that time is relative. He says that the rate at which time passes depends on an observer's frame of reference.
The observer in this case—You.
And if one observer moves at the speed of light, time will slow down for them.
Spencer’s asleep beside you. His face is soft in the flickers of streetlight creeping through the blinds. They give you just enough visibility to watch the rise and fall of his chest and you wonder if he's dreaming. The sound of his breathing, steady, is the only thing keeping you tethered.
If you squint hard enough, there’s almost something domestic about the scene. You ignore the fact that this is the nth time you’ve done this because ignoring is easier. It’s easier to think about how he smells like his shampoo, and how his shirt is thrown haphazardly over your nightstand. A sight you missed more than you would admit. You think about reaching for it, but your hand stays where it is. You stay where you are—just watching, observing. Because Einstein said the rate at which time passes depends on the observer’s frame of reference. And if you stay still enough, maybe you can slow down time itself.
You like moments like these. The simplicity of it. You tell your friends the same thing when they ask, their voices thick with judgment, their eyes too knowing. “We don’t do anything” you insist to the room of raised eyebrows. “We’re just hanging out, you know, as friends” you say, as if saying it enough times will make it true.
“Just hanging out?” “Yup.”
“As friends?” “Yup.”
You know you’ve hit a new low when you have to pull the ‘hanging out’ card, but you take a sort of comfort in that fact. Because at least he’s not like those other guys, right? That’s your silver lining. That it’s not like that. He’s not like that. But in the quiet after, when his breathing is the only sound and you feel walls closing in you, you can't help but wonder which is worse: the thing that he is, or the thing you’re letting yourself become.
You reached out first this time. A small victory in the game you’ve been playing against yourself. There’s some semblance of control in it, you rationalize. If you’re bound to fall, tethered to this fate of always crawling back, at least let it be on your terms.
I’ll come to you before you call—Just to prove that I don’t come to you every time you call.
Come over. Made too much pasta. You texted. It’s an olive branch, a peace offering after a fight that had left you both frayed at the edges. A throw of the same old ball back to his side of the court where the game has dragged on far too long. Proof to him that you didn’t mean what you’d said, that you’re not done yet. That you’re still okay with this.
You can take it.
The fight had been about work—or at least, that’s how it started. He’d mentioned a new trainee in passing, his voice light, almost too casual, as he spooned rice out of the takeout box. “She’s new,” he said, with a shrug. “Eager, maybe too eager. Emily says she’s a bit of a people pleaser.”
She. You watched him carefully, trying to read between the lines.
“Oh?” you replied, keeping your voice as even as you could manage. Muscle memory. You’ve been here before. Just because Spencer wasn't one of those guys didn't mean you haven't had your fair share of them.
You smile as you meet his eyes asking all the right questions. Where’s she from? How’s she doing?
He glanced up at you, surprised by your interest. Light work you thought. “Somewhere out West, I think. She’s doing fine—rookie mistakes, you know. She had a bad day last week, though. Got rattled on a case. Garcia said Hotch was too hard on her.”
“Poor thing,” you murmured, “Hope she’s feeling better.”
“Garcia thought I… thought she was pretty,” he added laughing, the words tumbling out like an afterthought. Like the words don’t hold the weight that he knows it does.
Ah. There it is.
“Well, did you?” you asked, trying to keep your voice steady, casual.
“She’s… alright,” he said, his tone too high, too quick. You didn’t miss the way he swallowed hard afterward.
“You’re avoiding the question,” you teased lightly, smiling even though your stomach was beginning to twist itself into knots.
“I’m not,” he countered, shoving another bite of food into his mouth. “You asked if she’s pretty, and I said she’s alright.”
“You’re totally avoiding it,” you said, laughing to keep the air light even as the knot pulled tighter. “Spence, you can just say it.”
“Say what?” he asked, eyes darting up to meet yours, then back to his plate.
“Just say it.”
“I don’t know what you want from me.”
“Admit that she’s pretty.”
“Okay.” He exhaled sharply, like the word had been dragged out of him. “I think she’s pretty.”
Oh.
There was something in the way he said that made your chest constrict.
I think she’s pretty.
He thinks she’s pretty. Not like it was some objective fact, not something calculated or reasoned. Not that she was statistically pretty, backed up by some symmetry or math behind it. He just… thought so—No, he thinks so. Thinks. Present tense. Meaning as he’s sitting here, across from you, eating the takeout you suspected he’d purposefully ordered too much of, he thinks she’s pretty.
You stared down at your plate, your appetite long gone. The silence stretched between you, heavy and uncomfortable. You could hear the faint hum of the refrigerator, the distant murmur of voices from the apartment next door.
“You’re quiet,” he said finally, his voice softer now, hesitant.
“I’m fine,” you replied too quickly, a smile pasted on your face as you looked up. “Just thinking.”
“About?”
You shook your head, forcing a smile. “Nothing. Pass the soy sauce?” He passed it without another word, but you could feel his eyes lingering on you.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” you finally said, your voice sharper than you intended.
“I’m not,” Spencer replied, his tone defensive, though his eyes stayed trained on you. “You’re just… quiet. It’s not like you.”
You laughed, a hollow sound. “Yeah, well, maybe I’ve run out of things to say.”
“Is this because I said she’s pretty?” he asked after a beat, his voice cautious, careful. “Because I didn’t want—”
“Spencer stop,” you interrupted, setting your fork down with a deliberate clink against your plate.
“I wasn’t going to say it. You asked me to say it.” he countered. “And the term pretty is subjective anyway, I think you’re pretty too.” You stayed silent, not meeting his eyes. “Don’t be like that. You know I care about you.”
“It sure doesn’t feel like it,” you shot back, your voice trembling despite your best efforts to steady it. You knew you were being petty. Acting like a child who didn’t get their way, grasping at anything to make the hurt feel justified. But you couldn’t help it.
“You just—you talk about work, about—god, about pretty girls and I—”, You stopped, swallowing hard, trying to tamp down the words you weren’t ready to say. “I feel like I’m just… here. Someone you call when you’re bored or when you’ve ordered too much food or when—”
“That’s not true,” he argued, his tone sharp now, defensive. “You’re twisting it—”
“Am I?” you snapped, your eyes finally meeting his. They were wide, startled, but it didn’t stop you. “Because I’m starting to think this is exactly what it is.”
“Well, what do you think this is?” he asked, his jaw tightening as his hands gripped the edge of the table.
“I don’t know,” you said bitterly. “Why don’t you tell me?”
“We’ve talked about this,” Spencer said, his voice low and deliberate, each word cutting deeper than the last. “You said you wanted to be friends. Friends do this. Friends have dinner. Friends don’t force someone to admit someone else is pretty and then make it all—I don't know, all weird after.”
You winced, his phrasing like a mirror reflecting every misstep, every conversation where you’d backed yourself into this corner. He’s not wrong—you had said you wanted to be friends. But he didn’t know the weight behind that concession.
You’d thought back to those late-night conversations. The ones where he’d laid out his reasons like a clinical diagnosis: I don’t have the time. It wouldn’t be fair to you. I’m not ready. So, you’d waited, convincing yourself that 'not now' meant 'not yet'. But eventually, you’d called it yourself, told him you should just be friends. A sad attempt at controlling a situation you were only ever destined to be hurt by. Because your own destruction should only ever be yours to wield—and you have to claim it before it can claim you.
He’d agreed it was better this way and you’d nodded along. Not because you believed it, but because it was a way to keep him in your life. A lifeline you clung to no matter how much it cut into your hands. But labels don’t erase what’s already happened. They don’t undo the stolen glances, the kisses in the quiet moments, the nights where you felt like the only two people in the world. They just build a fragile scaffold over it all, a flimsy way of holding up what’s already crumbling. Dating. On a break. Dating again. Friends. They pile on top of one another like a pathetic plaster over the hurt of what you wished things could be.
“Right,” you said finally, the word brittle and sharp as it escapes your lips. Your voice was hollow as your eyes met his, daring him to flinch. “So I guess that means I can’t expect anything from you, right? No decency, no consideration, no… nothing. Because we’re not in a relationship. We’ve never been in a relationship. Right?”
“Don’t,” Spencer said quietly, almost pleading now. “That’s not fair. Don’t turn this into something it’s not.”
“You’ve made it perfectly clear what this is,” you said, standing from the table, your hands trembling as you gathered your things.
“Wait,” he said, standing too, “You don’t have to—”
“And by the way, Spence,” you cut him off, reaching into your bag and slamming the extra key he’d given you months ago onto the table. It clattered louder than you expected, echoing in the tense silence between you. “You can have this back. Because last I checked, friends don’t have keys to each other’s apartments.” You were acutely aware of the venom dripping in your voice but you pressed on, the words spilling out before you could stop them. “And thanks for the flowers, but I don’t think friends go out of their way to buy a bouquet to make up for every friendly dinner they miss.” You didn’t wait for a response. You didn’t look at his face, didn’t want to see whatever expression he was wearing.
But the satisfaction of that slam felt distant now. You think back fondly of the girl who had made her point so clear, so definitive. A line drawn in the sand. But winds blow and sand moves. That girl seems like a lifetime away from the girl you are now—the one lying here, beside him, again.
Spencer stirs beside you, a quiet sigh escaping his lips, and your breath hitches. You don’t want him to wake up. Because if—when he does, you know he’ll leave. But until then, in this moment of temporary serenity, you can pretend it doesn’t matter. You can pretend it’s okay. You can pretend you’re okay.
After all, Einstein said that time is relative. If he doesn’t wake up, the moment will never end, and maybe—just maybe—you can slow down time itself. You stare at the ceiling, letting the minutes tick past, each one stretching longer than the last.
Your thoughts drift back to what Spencer had said. Time moves slower for those in the jet.
Well, if your apartment is the sky, then this bed is the jet. In the quiet of this moment, his warmth beside you, the faint smell of him lingering on the pillow—this is where time bends. The rate at which time passes depends on the observer’s frame of reference. Maybe you can trick the universe, make these seconds stretch into hours. Maybe, if you stay still enough, think hard enough, the world outside won’t come knocking. You can freeze this bubble of peace.
But the illusion is tenuous, and reality looms like turbulence on the horizon. Time doesn’t truly stop, you know that, we’re all forced to move on along with it. They say time waits for no man—least of all a broken-hearted girl. The clock keeps ticking, indifferent to your longing. Sooner or later, he’ll wake, and the bubble will burst.
You wonder how long you can keep this up. You’d just been talking earlier tonight, telling each other what had happened in the days you hadn’t spoken since the argument. The words had come easier than you expected, though none of them seemed to solve anything. Spencer had fallen asleep mid-sentence, right as you were recounting something trivial about your day. His exhaustion was written all over his face—the heavy pull of his eyelids, the way his head tilted slightly toward you before finally giving in. You’d paused, watching him, and the words you were about to say dissolved into silence. You hadn’t wanted to wake him.
The old you would’ve been angry, the frustration bubbling up into sharp words and accusations. The fight was always the same, well-rehearsed and raw: You always do this. I’m sorry. When are you not? I missed you. Then why won’t you stay? You know I can’t. You can. I can’t. It was less of a conversation and more of a script. It had long since stopped being about what either of you said; it was about how you said it and where it always led. It would’ve ended in a fight, Spencer’s guilt countered by your hurt, spiralling into a familiar standoff with no real resolution.
But that was the old you. She’d had more fight in her, more fire to demand the things she felt she deserved. That fire has dimmed now, not extinguished, but banked low and steady, like you’ve learned to ration it. It’s not that the frustration has disappeared—it lingers, an ache beneath the surface—but you’ve stopped letting it boil over. Deep down, you know the real reason you didn’t start a fight tonight. It’s not just that you’re tired of fighting, though you are. It’s that you don’t know how much fight he still has in him. You don’t know if one more argument, one more crack in this fragile thing between you, will be the thing that makes him walk away for good.
And you’re not ready to find out.
So you let it slide. Not because you want to, but because you can. You’ve told yourself you’re strong enough to carry it—to make up the weight of his distance, his exhaustion, his inability to give you what you need. You let him sleep, listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing, and you tell yourself it’s enough.
But Spencer shifts again, and this time his eyes flutter open. You freeze, your body tense, as if staying perfectly still might undo his wakefulness.
“Hey,” he murmurs groggily, his voice thick with sleep. His arm snakes over your waist, pulling you closer. For a brief, fleeting second, you allow yourself to relish the warmth of his touch, the illusion of intimacy.
Then his hand moves. He’s reaching—not for you, but for his watch on the bedside table.
He checks the time, squinting in the dim light filtering through the blinds. And you know. You know what’s coming next.
“I should go.” he says softly, his arm already retreating from where it had rested over your waist. He pushes himself up, running a hand through his sleep-mussed hair.
You sit up slightly, the sheets pooling around you, and force a small smile. “Okay” you murmur, the words feeling hollow even as they leave your lips.
Spencer’s already out of bed, reaching for his shirt and bag. The routine feels mechanical, practiced—a series of motions he’s repeated so many times it barely registers as something that could hurt you. He pulls the shirt over his head, adjusts the strap on his bag, and leans down to kiss your forehead. Friends, as if. You think.
It’s a fleeting gesture, a touch that’s supposed to mean something but feels more like a formality now. More perfunctory than tender.
“I’m sorry I fell asleep,” he says as he straightens, glancing at his watch like he’s late for something more important. “You should’ve woken me up.”
You shake your head silently, not trusting that your thoughts won’t betray you. Don’t wake up. Don’t leave me. Don’t go. Instead you settle for, “You were tired. You should get some rest.” The weight in your chest feels unbearable but you press your lips into a tight, strained smile anyways. A silent permission for him to leave.
He doesn’t hesitate.
“Drive safe,” you say quietly as you walk him to the door.
“I’ll text you?” he offers, already halfway out.
“Okay,” you reply, the word barely audible.
And then he’s gone.
The sound of the door clicking shut echoes in the quiet of your apartment, final and unrelenting. You stand there for a moment, staring at the door as if willing it to open again, as if hoping he might turn around and come back. You know he won’t.
You turn and lean against the wall, the cool surface grounding you, a poor substitute for the warmth that was just beside you. The apartment feels colder, emptier now, the silence deafening. The clock on the wall ticks forward, oblivious to your grief, dragging you further away from the moment he was just here. You feel stuck in place, a reluctant passenger watching the world rush forward while you’re left behind, stranded.
You think back to what Einstein had said and you think he’s got it all wrong. How if one observer moves at the speed of light, time will slow down for them. Because no matter how tightly you try to hold on, the jet doesn’t slow down. It won’t wait for you. The jet will keep moving forward, unrelenting, and him along with it. With or without you.
And as you stand alone in the stillness he’s left behind, you realize it’s always been without you.
⋆✴︎˚。⋆ hi if you're here! thank you for reading! feel free to like or reblog or comment or reply!
#spencer reid#spencer reid fanfic#spencer reid fic#spencer reid imagine#spencer x reader#spencer x self insert#spencer reid x reader#criminal minds#criminal minds fic#criminal minds x reader#criminal minds imagine#spencer reid fanfiction#spencer reid angst#spencer reid x you#spencer reid x reader angst
75 notes
·
View notes
Text
Transformers One setting, I like to headcanon that the 50 cycles when the High Guard were being hunted down were rough especially as energon no longer flowed. Now imagine soon after the events of the movie when Megatron is with the rest of the High Guard at their new base that’s still half being set up, Starscream or one of the others will just mention something extremely wild that happened to them casually to each other that it makes Megatron go “that can’t possibly be real” or “for your sake I really hope you’re lying”. For instance, imagine Starscream trying to actually impart some surface survival skills to their new leader and points to a set of weird looking plants/grass growing out of the planet and Starscream is like “if you’re ever extremely desperate and stranded with no energon sources wandering wastelands on the brink of shutting down, you can eat these as a last resort. It will give you the energy to stay online, but be careful. It’s best to only consume it if you have someone with you who can tie you up and carry you. I recommend taking shifts so you can keep moving forward”.
Megatron, confused: Wait why would I need someone to tie me up and carry me?
Starscream: Side effects. I mean it about it being a last resort. It makes you not yourself. Feral, aggressive, and a potential danger to both yourself and others. Then the hallucinations start setting in. You start hearing and seeing things. The visions are different for everyone, but rarely are they pleasant. And the feeling of it finally burning out of your system at the end hurts like a glitch.
Megatron: How do you even know for sure that’s what it does?
Starscream: First hand experience. But one day it could save your life so remember it.
Megatron, doubtful if Starscream is telling the truth, but morbidly curious: What did you hear and see?
Starscream: Have you ever seen the dead come back to life wrong and their face plates slowly melting off as you hear the dying screams of bots long past?
Megatron: No…
Starscream: Let’s try to keep it that way.
He wonders if maybe Starscream is just messing with him or trying to scare him about the surface, but then he turns his head to see Shockwave and Soundwave nodding seriously and confirming Starscream’s statements.
Shockwave, referring to Starscream: I used to have dents in my old arm from when he bit me under its effects. Of course I can’t show you since that was on my old arm before I lost and replaced it later down the line.
Megatron: Wait that’s not your original arm? What happened to it?
Shockwave, casually with no context: Oh Starscream cut it off. I don’t hold it against him though, it was the logical thing to do at the time.
Megatron is just like wtf were you guys doing in those 50 cycles?! In what circumstances does cutting off someone’s arm make logical sense?! Poor Megatron is probably wondering if it’s not too late to run back to Iacon.
I just like the idea that during those 50 cycles the High Guard were going through the Horrors™.
#transformers#transformers one#tf one#starscream#shockwave#megatron#tf one high guard#tf one starscream#tf one shockwave#tf one megatron#tf one spoilers#transformers one spoilers#I think the high guard should go through the odyssey levels of suffering during those 50 cycles#long post#headcanon
103 notes
·
View notes
Text
How statistics can easily be manipulated to fit a certain agenda in Formula 1
Hello! I’ve seen a lot of f1 fans or media sources bring up statistics incorrectly to prove their points recently, which is really getting on my nerves. So here is a comprehensive guide, with examples, of how statistics work and why they are not the be-all and end-all some people might think them to be. This is a pretty long post, so the explanations are all below the cut. With that, I hope you find this useful!
Multiple factors come into play when analyzing a statistic, so I’ve separated them in different categories: what data set is used to make the stat, how the stat can be interpreted and how being factually correct doesn’t equate a valid argument :
THE DATA SET
To make a statistic, you first need values which correspond to a data set. What said data set is made of is very relevant to the exactitude of the stat and how much regard should be given to it.
For example, to determine the average lap times of a driver over a stint you would need to divide the sum of all lap times by the number of laps executed. Which means that theoretically you could use a single lap as an average, e.g. 1:57:325/1 which gives an average lap time of 1:57:325s.
However, as you might imagine this stat is not representative of a driver’s stint, since the lap chosen to be analyzed could very well be an outlier. That’s why sample sizes matter, the more values make up your data set, the more representative of reality the result obtained is.
It is also important to know what the data set consists of. Let’s reuse our average lap times of a driver over a stint example, are outlaps/inlaps included? Is it based on clean air, dirty air? Are there laps excluded due to driver mistakes (e.g. going off track)? A stat being presented without any explanation of how it was calculated is absolutely worthless.
Finally, comprehension of the data set is very valuable as well.
Let’s imagine this fictional scenario where Ferrari makes Charles and Carlos compare average lap times. They both use the same car, on the same track, on the same tires, at the same time, for a stint of a total of 10 laps. Both drivers average a lap time of 80.125s over their whole stint, so is the conclusion that they have both done the exact same thing accurate? No!
Despite having the same average lap times in this scenario, the data set suggests a different conclusion, and different trends. Considering stints in a race are going to be longer than 10 laps, it can be assumed that Charles would average better lap times thanks to his consistency compared to Carlos, who would get worse lap times as time passes as can be observed thanks to the trend line in his graph.
2. INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA
Now that we can recognize the importance of the data set and its constituents, it is time to understand how the data provided can be used to make a statistic.
More than one answer can be correct based on the same sample of data. Despite using the same set, depending on how the data is used it can lead to different statistics that drive different arguments both being factually correct.
For example, I’d like to refer to the wonderful basspro24chevy World’s Destructor Chamionship from Brazil 24 on Reddit in an effort of determining who is the most destructive driver. Here is a chart I’ve made which also includes number of races each driver took part in (Ollie not included I was too lazy to recalculate how it affects the drivers he’s replaced’s damage bill) and the average cost of damage per race of each driver.
Based on these statistics, both arguments could be made to justify either Checo being the most destructive driver, since he’s the one who’s cost his team the most damage over the whole season, or Franco, since he’s the one who on average costs the most for his team per weekend.
Depending on someone’s biases, they could make some drivers look better than others despite using the same data set as another person, and depending on how their argument is justified even if they end up with a different conclusion it doesn’t mean they aren’t right as well.
3. FACTUALLY CORRECT ≠ VALID ARGUMENT
Even if you are factually correct with your statistic’s interpretation, and it is based on an acceptable data set, it doesn’t mean it has a direct link of causality with your argument and provides validation to the point you are trying to make.
For example, someone could argue that Checo is a safer pair of hands in races than Pierre, because over the course of the 2024 season he has DNFed 2 out of 21 races, meanwhile Pierre has DNFed 3 out of 21 races. However, the point being argued here is which driver is a safer pair of hands, and other variables than the drivers come into play when discussing those two’s DNFs.
Indeed, Checo drives a RedBull with a Honda engine, whilst Pierre drives an Alpine with a Renault engine. Out of Checo’s 2 DNFs, 2 were caused by driver mistakes. Out of Pierre’s 3 DNFs, 3 were caused by engine issues. The World’s Destructor Championship can also be used as a counterpoint to Checo being a safer pair of hands than Pierre by comparing damage bills.
Thus, instead of the conclusion being that Checo is a safer pair of hands than Pierre, the DNFs statistic is more appropriate to conclude that the Honda engine is more reliable than the Renault engine.
Which means that to make a valid argument, you need to be able to explain why the statistic presented is relevant and what it suggests. Alleviating circonstances also need to be taken into account to solidify the point being made.
For example, let’s imagine a scenario where Fernando is 1.235s off Lance during a qualifying run. To use this stat in an argument, you need to be able to justify why he was so far off. Was it genuine pace? Did he make a mistake which ruined the lap? Were they on the same tires? Was it track evolution? Are they on the same setup? Did Fernando come across traffic? Did Lance get a significant tow?
Contextualization matters twice as much as the actual statistic being presented, because the statistic without context can easily be manipulated in a way to drive a certain agenda.
4. CONCLUSION
All in all, what I’m trying to say is that even maths can be used to drive agendas. Statistics can not be taken at face value, because there are multiple factors that can influence their relevance. I hope you found this little guide helpful, and that it will help you analyze better the information you see online on how drivers are performing (or argue better with crazed fans, you do you 🫡)
Thanks for reading and have a good day!
#f1#formula 1#max verstappen#checo perez#charles leclerc#carlos sainz#lando norris#oscar piastri#lewis hamilton#george russell#fernando alonso#lance stroll#nico hulkenberg#kevin magnussen#ollie bearman#alex albon#logan sargeant#franco colapinto#yuki tsunoda#daniel ricciardo#liam lawson#esteban ocon#pierre gasly#valtteri bottas#zhou guanyu
83 notes
·
View notes
Text
My favourite activity to indulge in recently in non-stop binging The Crane Wives' songs, especially the new album, and tallying how many times I can somehow link the lyrics to Desert Duo.
At this point it might be a talent of delusion, and I am winning.
Here is a list of lyrics in the newest album that I am particularly delusional about (it's long. It's 2am)
(btw it's every single new song. I am tired as fuck)
Scars:
"All the love, all the kindness, all your best-laid plans/Couldn't stop me from becoming the way that I am" (3rd Life reference referring to Scar inevitable turning red despite all of Grian's plans to keep him alive and safe)
"A fatal fault at the start/Tell me it's inevitable that I'd end up with scars" (3rd Life, when Scar is quickly killed in the beginning by Grian)
"Nothing could have been done/Is that right?" (3rd Life. Conversation between Grian and Scar after the creeper prank)
"Nothing could have been done" (3rd Life. After Scars falls to red)
"Nothing could have been done/Is that right?" (3rd Life. After Grian kills Scar with his own bare hands)
"End up with scars from falling/Down, down" (3rd Life, Grian's final death via suicide)
"We were always meant to fall apart" (Not even one specific series. Every single one of them actually.)
Bitter Medicine:
"Are you ashamed of me, or did you buy what I'm selling?" (3rd Life reference about Scar's scamming nature and Grian's disappointment that hides the fact that he's charmed by Scar. Every. Single. Time.)
"Made my bed but I'll sleep anywhere, anywhere" (Wild Life reference. I think we all know. Pillows smelling like waffles? Yeah.)
Higher Ground:
"I gave up the truth and now I can't take it back" (3rd Life. Grian telling Scar that he was the one that brought the creeper over. Or. Double Life Grian if he ever told Scar about his Secret Soulmate. OR. Wild Life, Grian telling Scar literally anything about the wildcard)
"I didn't wanna hurt anyone" (Oh.)
"The corvids are calling/Warning the forest a predator is approaching/Am I in danger, or am I the threat" (Grian is often characterised as a corvid if not a parrot. Basically any scenario in Wild Life where Grian is warning Scar about the wildcards despite the fact that he is at fault of making them happen)
Predator:
"What were you thinking?/Shouldn't you know better?/You opened a door for an apex predator" (Any scenario in which Scar welcomes Grian into his home and doesn't think twice about the danger the other could be harbouring. His trust for Grian is unimaginable)
"I keep forgetting the lessons I've learned/So I keep getting hurt" (Before Scar won, he never remembered what had happened with Grian, so he went back to him for safety multiple times, teamed with him, didn't mind his company, not knowing the dangers that Grian represents just by existing)
"Your heart is a nasty place/I'm afraid to say no to you" (...Yeah)
"Keep your lies and your denial/I am fighting for survival/My heart is a changing shape/What if I said no to you?" (DOUBLE LIFE DESERT DUO TAKE ME HOME. The 'changing shape' line implying that their soulmates could change their soulbound partners if they really wanted to, and could adapt to being with another if they desired it)
"You took advantage of another anxious people-pleaser" (I can't keep doing this. Honestly, depending on your point of view, this could go either way for them in varying seasons, they're doomed in every universe)
"I keep forgetting that you wont learn/So I keep getting hurt" (And now it switches to Grian on this paralleling line. He forgets about Scar's undying loyalty and falls into the trap of his safety every time, only to come out hurting him or not protecting him like he swore to in 3rd Life. This line goes so hard)
Say It:
"Say it/If it's over, say it/So I can move forward/Please don't leave me in the dark/Praying for a wayward spark" (This whole chorus screams them. They won't communicate. They never officially separate from one another, always somehow intertwined, but neither will finalise their allyship. I need therapy)
"I'm haunted by your tenderness" (3rd Life Grian traumatised by the half-hearted hits Scar was giving because he was letting Grian win, he never wanted to fight, he felt Grian deserved to win because he had done so so much for him. He was completely smitten)
"And if we meet as strangers again/Would you refuse to meet my eyes?" (Grian internally questioning Scar after he killed him in the 3rd Life finale, harbouring more guilt than he can comprehend, literally)
"You know I'm loyal to a fault" (Scar and Grian interchangeably in 3rd Life...)
"I will sit here waiting/Waiting for the axe to fall" (Scar submitting his life to Grian after they are left the last two alive. And also, if you're insane for Treebark, there is a glaringly obvious implication of Martyn feeling incredible guilt after axing Ren down to red, even if he asked him to.)
Mad Dog:
"Keep looking for the end of the tunnel/Never seems to get any closer" (The two waiting as winners for the games to end and alongside it, their suffering as well. They will never be free from circling around each other, over and over and over again)
"We both know the ship is gonna sink/But I keep reaching for the shore/Never seems to get any closer" (They both keep reaching towards each other, knowing that they will never truly be able to be together, especially after the first time where they did, and it ended horribly for them)
Arcturus Beaming:
"My sanctuary to worship the pain" (References the panda sanctuary that Scar built to help the soulmates heal their bonds, only to never complete its purpose with the two that needed it the most, ironically including the one that built it)
"And I am tired of forming a cliff face/Inside of my chest now" (Grian remembering jumping off of Monopoly Mountain and the weight that it now burdens his heart with. This line is diabolical with the right context)
"I'm grieving all that I gave" (Both of them grieving the sacrifices they made for one another, their sacrifices only making their relationship more strained overtime)
"A mirror image of us here, but they're pointing up at our sun and/Asking themselves/What exists beyond, beyond, beyond, beyond?" (Other versions of themselves in different life series looking at their 3rd Life selves and wondering what it was like to be so tightly allied)
"But there's still time, it's not too late/Nothing will change until I change" (Grian's attempt at teaming with Scar in Limited Life, savouring the time he had with him before killing him. He will never change their bond, he is always destined to kill him one way or another)
Time Will Change You:
"Planting hearts in a grave/Pray they grow after it rains" (Grian burying all his allies, hoping that as he digs their graves, he can heal their broken bonds, the cracks only caused by himself. This can unfortunately apply to a lot of Grian's allies, but Grian and Scar's relationship tries to heal itself each season)
"Someday/Time will change you/You'll leave behind what doesn't move" (Someday Scar will remember and he'll leave Grian behind once he realises that Grian was never able to move on, and that his heart is still stuck neck deep in the sand where both their bodies laid at the end of 3rd Life)
"Give me a chance to get this right/I'm learning how to let go" (They're learning, but they'll always fail, no matter how many chances)
Black Hole Fantasy:
"There's a black hole in the living room floor/I keep trying to ignore, but it's growing" (Their need to team and interact is overwhelming, and the longer they ignore one another, the larger their need will get)
"If love is just a chemical reaction/Is there a pill to take? Something to quell this ache?/ Is this the real thing or a distraction/Is it worth the risk?/My life would detonate" (Mmmmmm I'm losing it here)
"I'm on my way to your house, I can't wait anymore" (Yeah.)
"My knuckles hesitate an inch away from the door/What happens when it opens?" (They've spent so much time apart and away from one another that they feel fear that the moment they reconnect, it won't be the same as it was in the desert)
"And on the other side is another life/A version of me with a spark in her eyes that I don't have" (Looking back to 3rd Life when everything was simpler and happier)
"You pull me in your arms and I feel your heart pounding/I take a step back to catch my breath/And we look at each other and double over/And laugh, and laugh, and laugh" (Yeah. Just yeah. This whole verse makes me sob)
Red Clay:
(Already I want to make a link to 'red' and Scar's existence in 3rd Life being very red)
"Blistering sun, my sweat soaking my clothing" (THE DESERT???)
"We don't have to do this the hard way" (We don't have to battle to the death bare handed. We don't have to.)
River Rushing:
"I know I can't grow with a hand around my throat/Hold yourself steady/Whenever you're ready" (Reference to their fight to the death in 3rd Life)
This entire song is just a narration of their fight honestly and it makes me violent.
#life series#traffic smp#life series smp#3rd life#last life#double life#limited life#secret life#wild life#grian#gtws#gtwscar#goodtimeswithscar#trafficblr#trafficshipping#desert duo#scarian#im going insane#This took me over an hour#and I'm not ok#GO LISTED TO THIS ALBUM IF YOU HAVENT ALREADY#MY GODDDDD#I get violent over these two it's not even funny#They're so upsettingly tragic I can't breathe#there might be typos or smth but I can't be asked to proof read this rn it's 2:38am and i have college#the crane wives
78 notes
·
View notes
Text
JINX IS ALIVE AND I CAN PROVE IT!
OK so, in the final episode of arcane Jinx blows herself up along with Vander/Warwick so she must be dead right?
WRONG
Here's my evidences
1. Foreshadowing, The Airship
Arcane is full of foreshadowing, nothing in this show is meaningless, repeating motifs and Chekhov's guns are plenty. In the very first act in episode 1 of the show the first words out Powders mouth to the audience is "One day, I'm gonna ride in one of those things.", this is in reference to an airship floating past.
The start of the shot has the ship fly above the camera and allow us to see the back fans. See how this frame is set, its a establishing shot with a focal point on the left side with the airship above the horizon line on the left. Now look at the end shot of act 3 season 2
It is a replace, a beat for beat copy of the first airship shot, arcane is the most expensive animated show to ever be produced, this is not a coincidence, this is foreshadowing. Its telling the audience that Powder fulfilled her wish. But there's more.
2. Repeating motifs, Jinx's scribbles/ film noise
At the end of the act3 s3's shot is this glitched out end card, before it for a few frames we se film noise. Film noise is when dust or other stuff gets on the film roll creating white specks and streaks, this is significant because its a running motif with Jinx and her hallucinations.
The first image is the end scene of arcane while the second image is from ep6 s1, notice the white streaks in each. Film noise, it only appears with Jinx, its a visual motif of hers, denoting her grip on reality and saying to the audience that she is here, its her motif.
3. Visual story telling, Caitlyn, The Monkey, The Hexgate and Shimmer
Caitlyn is first and foremost a detective, she is a brilliant minded woman who was able to figure out most of Silco's plot without any contact in the undercity, she has a keen eye for detail and can reconstruct in her mind a crime scene as seen in ep 4 s1.
We see her in the final minutes of ep 9 s2 pondering Jinx's "death", I think she believes Jinx is still alive and is gathering evidence.
She has with her the monkey head of the monkey bomb Jinx used. It is the same one as the bomb, the same red paint on the ear and middle nail. But here's the thing, if the monkey head survived getting blow up, there should be remnants of Jinx's body or cloths or anything but we are show nothing.
This tells me Caitlyn also thinks Jinx is alive and is trying to figure out how. She looking through her mothers archives on Jayce's blueprints of the hexgate. and she zooms in onto the part of the blueprints that show vent ways in roughly the same area Jinx would have fell, meaning that Jinx had an escape route out of the hexgate and away from the explosion.
This leads me on to my finale point of the visual story telling and it has to do with shimmer. Jinx gains this uncanny speed with shimmer and when she uses this new power we see these trails of pink. In this new season we also see how she seeming goes so fast we cant see her except for the trails of shimmer.
This leads me to the explosion, if we slow it down we see the same pink glowing streak rushing away from the explosion. Jinx used her shimmer speed to get out.
We only ever seen this pink streak is with Jinx and other shimmer enhanced people but Jinx is the only one with this ludicrous speed that could outrun an explosion.
I do believe Jinx lives, there is to much evidence and frankly, Jinx is to much of a money maker for Riot to just kill off. I bet we will be seeing her soon in Riot's new show even if its small cameo
#jinx#jinx arcane#jinx lol#arcane#arcane season 2#arcane season 2 spoilers#arcane spoilers#arcane theory#arcane league of legends#league of legends
85 notes
·
View notes
Text
corporal: ch 2 - expectations
SUKUNAxF!READER ☽☾ HEIAN ERA AU ☽☾ ONGOING SERIES ☽☾ AO3
☽☾ 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: CH1: PUNISHMENT ▪︎ CH2: EXPECTATIONS
☽☾ 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: You are such a menace that your father decides to offer your eternal servitude as a gift to the King of Curses.
Sukuna has not accepted such a tribute in years, more often opting to eat the young girls rather than put them to work, which is perfectly acceptable as far as your asshole dad is concerned.
Will the demon make an exception for you?
☽☾ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬/𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐬: 18+MINORS DNI, blood and gore, violence, abuse, true form sukuna, eventual smut (still not yet), references to cannibalism, angst, I suck at tags
☽☾ 𝐭𝐚𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @sodapop182 ; @moonchhu
☽☾ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: CH: 3.5k TOTAL: 7.7k
If you would like to be added to the taglist, please comment something to that effect. But please put an age in your bio so i don't have to block you. lmk if I'm doing this right, I'm an absolute virgin and open to suggestions. Thanks for reading. 🖤
Tearing through the woods outside of the shrine, you don't think about your sister, this time. You don't think of your father or his men, your mother, nothing. No memories, pleasant or unpleasant, swim up through the ink of night as the trees claw at your clothes and skin. Your mind is eclipsed with a fear as hot and red as the fire in your lungs.
You have not known fear like this for a long time, perhaps ever. All the running that you did from your father and his men was done more out of spite than fear. You had certain expectations of them. You were familiar with their cruelty and the limitations placed on it by society, or by your mother, perhaps. You father was not a kind man, by any means, but his eyes softened somewhat when they looked at her. The only power that you had was that of being able to put them through their paces. Here, you did not even have that. The comfort of expectations does not exist for the monster at your back, no more than the limitations of ordinary men.
So, you run, spurred by terror long after your rapidly depleting stamina should have forced you to stop. It feels like hours have passed when you finally come to a halt, hands on your knees, panting, muscles burning. Hyperaware of every sound, every sensation, even the trickle of sweat down the line of your back is enough to raise your hackles, but there is nothing but the ragged sound of your own breathing in the stillness.
As you try to slow your respirations, you ask yourself what it is you're so afraid of. Pain? You are overly familiar with pain. Your heart gradually slows as you come to the conclusion that Sukuna can only hurt you or kill you, just like any other man. Pain you can endure. And death? Well, if you are dead, then you won't be bothered, will you? You'll just be dead. What would wound you more is humiliation. Your mouth presses into a grim line as you ponder it.
Did the bastard confiscate your things and let you go, trusting that you would meet your own end in the forest without his help? Not the worst plan, you decide, as it occurs to you, for the first time, that you really have no place to go, no plan beyond running. Beyond escape. You've never had to plan beyond that because you've always been outnumbered, overpowered and dragged back.
Does he think you will return on your own? You scoff into the darkness at the thought. I'd sooner hang myself from one of these trees, you think to yourself as you look up at the branches, silver in the Autumn starlight. Still. Quiet. Unnaturally so, as if the earth itself is holding it's breath. Hiding.
Even before you hear it, you feel it, looming large and lethal at your back. Larger than Sukuna, even. Much larger. It shifts it's enormous weight, rustling the leaf litter. As you peer over your shoulder, your eyes widen and your heart hammers against your ribs like you never stopped running. A reptilian chittering sound blooms out of the dark: a bony whisper, a rattlesnake kind of warning. The moon outlines it's dark shape in indigo, a moving mountain that tears trees right out of the earth as it moves after you. How you didn't see or hear it before is a mystery.
Your feet slam against the shuddering ground with the slowness of nightmares as a scream claws it's way out of your throat. You don't make it very far before a root hooks your foot and sends you sprawling. A sickening snap followed by bright sparks of pain shoot up from your wrist as you catch your fall with your hand. When you look down to see splinters of bone jutting out of a ragged wound, a hysterical sob escapes your mouth. You clutch your injured limb against your chest as your heels churn at the dirt, propelling you backwards, too slow as the monster stops short in front of you.
It is too awful to look at, a twisted amalgamation of drooling faces and colorless eyes shining with idiot hunger as it prepares to stuff you into its many jagged mouths. You dig your chin into your shoulder, squeezing your eyes shut and baring your teeth as you feel it's hot, putrid breath against your skin. Thick, black saliva drips into the dirt between your feet and burns it like acid, white tendrils of smoke rising from the bubbling pool.
The chittering sound rises again, like a demonic chorus of cicadas. Distantly, you realize the effect is created by all of those throats babbling at once. You find yourself too breathless to scream as it's clumsy teeth try to find purchase in the flesh of your calf, only succeeding in lightly scratching and slobbering all over it. Perhaps in frustration, its crying slowly rises in pitch, high and keening.
Then, there is another, quieter sound, that cuts the wailing short. It is soft like a whip cutting through the air before it cracks, like the hiss of lightning parting the sky before the thunder of it crashing back together. Crashing like the quivering weight that descends upon your lower body as the monster inexplicably falls to pieces at your feet. You blink owlishly at the dismantled pile of flesh, hardly daring to believe that it is truly dead, even as its quivering breaths grow still.
Your legs throb under the lifeless weight of it. It is impossible to drag yourself out from under it with your one good arm, so you resort to wiggling on your back in the dirt, removing yourself inch by excruciating inch. You haven't yet had the time, nor the prescence of mind to worry about what lurking horror might have so effortlessly ended the dead thing that pins you to the dirt. That mystery is soon solved for you when a familiar voice comes out of the dark behind you.
"Tch. Pathetic."
You cease your struggles and crane your neck back, pressing the back of your head into the dirt to meet Sukuna's garnet gaze. He leans against a tree, as if he can't be bothered to hold himself up, looking only vaguely interested in the scene before him.
"Me, pathetic?" You spit, redoubling your efforts to writhe out from under the dead thing. "Was I not easy enough to kill? You had to sic your pet on me?" The thought had only now occurred to you, that Sukuna had unleashed this thing on you, but the notion already has your blood boiling with rage.
Sukuna snorts, "Not mine." His eyes leave you in favor of examining the corpse. "Hm. A grade two, this one," he mutters.
Your eyes follow his and you notice a jagged, black fang, about the length of your outstretched hand, lying in the dirt by your hip. Glancing back to ensure his eyes are still focused on the monster, you stretch out your good arm and wrap your fingers around it. The edges bite into your fingers, but you clutch it like a lifeline, headless of the pain.
"Well, do you intend to finish the job, or are you just going to stand there, blabbering nonsense?" You sneer, craning your neck to look up at him.
His eyes snap back to yours and he smirks, lazily peeling himself away from the tree and stepping towards you. "So eager to die, arent you?"
He lifts the bulk of dead flesh away from you with one hand as he hooks another into the pit of your injured arm and drags you to your feet.
Gritting your teeth, you swing your good arm, arcing your makeshift weapon to catch him in the back, but he snatches your wrist away with yet another arm. Now, you are leaning awkwardly against his chest as he supports most of your weight. You legs are not as useful as you might have hoped. They burn painfully and buckle at the knees as the blood rushes back to your cramping muscles.
He eyes the monster's tooth in your hand with mild interest. "You want to hurt me with that?" He asks with a mean grin. "Go ahead."
With that he lets go of you and takes a step back. You cry out in frustration as your traitorous legs buckle underneath you and you land on your knees at his feet. He throws his head back and laughs as you snarl up at him and swing your makeshift weapon at his legs, which dodge your clumsy blows effortlessly.
"For weeks you lived in peace with me and now all these theatrics, for what reason?" He muses as he steps this way and that to avoid your rageful attacks. It doesn't take long for him to grow bored of this game, and you are taken aback when he sinks to his knees in front of you. Even so, he towers over you so that you have to hyperextend your neck to see his face. His lower set of hands snatch you up around the waist while the upper pain pin your arms to your sides. You grunt at the pain in your broken wrist, but he takes no notice.
"I asked you a question," he snarls, holding you at eye level.
He huffs when you only writhe in his grip and scream in his face until your throat is raw and you are too breathless to continue.
"Fucking feral little rat," he mutters. "Is it because I touched your leg?" He asks, eyes dragging the length of your body.
You scoff. Of course it wasn't just that it's...
"Are you throwing a tantrum because I didn't ask permission? Hm? And what was the plan? Where will you go?" He cuts off your thoughts by echoing your own thinking from earlier. It has you subconsciously biting into your cheek hard enough to draw blood. Infuriating.
He smirks. "Just a spoiled little princess playing at running away. Well. Time to grow up, little girl, and realize that you will always belong to a man. Before, you belonged to your bitch of a father, and now, you belong to me."
No longer able to hold in your rage you shreik and slam your head forward in an attempt to split his smirking lips. Of course, he leans away and you only succeed in tossing your hair, drawing another cackle from his mouth.
"You want to hurt me? Try, brat," he bellows to be heard over your shreiking as he presses his forehead against yours hard enough to bruise. The moment he releases your good arm you sink the oversized canine into his temple and drag it down, flaying his cheek. A second swing and his larger, upper eye is reduced to a wobbling jelly running into the bleeding wound. Slick with gore, the tooth drops from your hand and Sukuna slams you down on your back with enough force to steal the air out of your lungs.
Then he is folded over you, hand on your jaw tilting your gaze to his wounded face. "Look at me," he instructs and your stomach lurches as the flesh bubbles and warps. Then it is takes its old, unmarred shape, as new and smooth as ever. You stare at it, blinking as if that brief interruption of sight might return it to ruin, as it was seconds ago. As if to dispel your disbelief another of his hands grasp your broken wrist, lifting your hand so that your fingertips brush his new skin. At the same instant, your injured joint transforms the same way his wounds had until it is new and free of pain.
Speechless you stare at your hand on his cheek until you realize that he is no longer holding it there. He leans in until his lips are nearly brushing your ear. "I can touch you however I like, whenever I like," he says, slipping a hand from your waist to trace the angle of your hip bone and the curve of your outer thigh through your ruined kimono. "I can break you and mend you, break you and mend you and never, ever let you die." His hand slips from your jaw to your throat where he squeezes briefly before, suddenly, he hauls himself off of you.
"So, brat," he says, standing over you haloed in the pink light of dawn, "if you are ever so lucky as to have me touch you again, try not to overreact."
All you seem to be able to do is slide your eyes stupidly from your healed wrist to his unblemished face until all the breath decides to leave your lungs at once. The sky, blushing with dawn and tattooed with skeletal branches, fades to black.
...
Emika, grinning, face tilted toward the dappled sunlight, laughter bubbling out of her throat. It is a musical sound until it changes, distorts into a horrible chittering, vacous and reptilian. Her mouth opens, impossibly wide, a poisonous womb that delivers a wailing many-faced blackness that swallows the world. Closer, the newborn horror leans in until all you can see is a single wet, red maw screaming its hunger and eager to feed on you. It is made of hunger and fear. Its tongue lolls out and begins to twist and warp. It pales and changes shape, grows four garnet eyes, a tattooed jaw, a laughing mouth. Sukuna's face leaning close to yours. "Look at me," he says, surrounding you, a universe that leaves you no choice. He is still laughing when he tilts away, falling out of orbit as gravity pulls your back into the dirt. He is replaced by a robin's egg sky seen in patches through the green leaves of spring.
Emika's face glides into view, a smiling autumn moon in the Spring sky.
Her bamboo sword taps your neck.
"Dead," she says.
Dead like the warrior she once daydreamed of being, with a katana on her back and a pretty servant girl at her side.
"Dead." She smiles, haloed in sunlight.
Your eyes blink open. Even as the nightmare fades you realize it holds too many parallels to waking life for comfort. Finding yourself suspended above the ground in an unfamiliar position, your body jerks, your legs inadvertently tightening around Sukuna's waist. He is carrying you like a child on his hip, his lower arm hooked under your backside while his upper one supports your back. Your chin rests over his shoulder, your cheek pressed into his neck. Finding this abhorrent, you squirm weakly.
"I can walk now," you mutter, but you are so tired. Your eyelids, leaden.
"Walking has caused you enough trouble, wouldn't you say?" He chuckles, a sound that is becoming increasingly annoying.
In any case, the dead weight of your body against his is enough to refute your claim.
Your eyes flutter closed, head lolling against his neck. He smells of smoke, blood and earth and he is warm against you. The effect is like a sleeping tincture.
"I want to know," you mutter against his skin as you struggle against your rapidly retreating consciousness. "I want to know what is expected of me."
You are too exhausted to think of your statement as an acquiesence, but that is what it is. Sukuna is taking you back to the shrine and you are accepting it. Perhaps that is why he laughs. Your eyes pop open at the hateful sound and you hope that he does not discern the increasing tempo of your heart with the way that your chest is pressed into him. Wouldn't want to give him the satisfaction.
"Expectations," he says. "You can't live without them, hm? How, then, would you rebel?"
You clench your teeth. He is unbearable. You hate him. God, you hate him. But you are just so tired right now.
"I have no expectations of you, rat." He continues after a pause, although he thinks to himself that you are really more of a mouse, at the moment, as you go limp again with sleep.
...
When you wake again, from a long sleep that is blessedly dreamless, there is nothing to greet you but silence and the shrinking light of early evening. You lie for a moment on the futon, staring at the dark grid of ceiling in your chambers.
Under the thinning haze of sleep that still clouds your mind, a flickering flame of rage persists. When you look down at yourself, filthy with mud, blood, and mystery secretions from whatever that thing in the forest was, it grows brighter. Cast off and forgotten like a broken doll. You flex your healed wrist. Why does it make you even angrier?
I have no expectations
You tear off your kimono and toss it aside, fuming.
Rat.
You tear the linens, ruined by your dirtiness, off of your futon and thrust them away to join your clothing on the floor.
"Maybe I will go around naked, then," you fume, stomping towards the door, but you stop there, losing your nerve. "Bet you wouldn't expect that. Bet you would find that you have some expectations after all."
spoiled little princess
"Maybe I will go around like this is my home and you are an unwanted guest," you hiss into the silence.
time to grow up and realize you will always belong to a man
You retrieve your dirty kimono and shrug into it, gathering the fabric loosely around your chest with one hand while you rip something clean out of the wardrobe with the other. The shoji door slams against the doorframe as you storm out of the room not bothering to close it.
now you belong to me
Uraume and Baba look up from their work, picking vegetables for dinner in the courtyard as you tear across it without sparing them a glance. You make quite a sight, blood-streaked and furious.
"He'll be getting his kicks with that one for quite some time, I'll say... yes," Baba croaks as her milky eyes track your movements.
"Baba!" Uraume scolds.
"It's the truth," Baba crows. "It is!"
...
The steaming water of the hot spring soothes the aching muscles of your legs. This makes encroaching on his territory doubly satisfying, even if he, being a morning bather, in your limited experience - doesn't find out. You close your eyes and hold your breath, sinking to the bottom on your knees. Your fingers rake through the matted mess of your hair, breaking loose the dirt and dried blood. You stay under until your lungs burn and then burst to the surface with a sharp inhalation.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing?"
You startle at the sound of Sukuna's voice booming over the soft gurgling of the water. He is standing at the opposite end of the spring, kimono pooled around his feet, hands frozen at his waist in the middle of loosening his hakama.
"Whatever I want, since you have no expectations," you retort, having recovered quickly from your surprise.
He snorts. "Alright."
You glare at each other through the rising steam.
You are the first to avert your eyes when Sukuna resumes undressing, unceremoniously dropping his hakama.
Your back is turned and you make a point of staying submerged to the shoulders as you make your way to the edge of the pool. You movements increase in urgency, heart thumping faster as you hear him splash into the water behind you. Unwilling to let him see your bare skin, you pull your clean kimono into the water and put it on while still submerged.
When you drag yourself over the lip of the pool in your dripping robes, he is laughing. Your skin erupts in goose flesh that cannot be entirely attributed to your soaked clothes and the chill in the air. Although it pisses you off to no end, you try to at least appear unperturbed. Chin held high, you make it a point not to look at him as you march back toward the shrine, as if he is beneath your notice. You hope he feels it.
"Come here, rat."
You pause, your back still turned to him.
"I said, come here." He repeats.
Vacillating between the desire to defy him and the desire to seem unafraid, you settle on the latter and make your way back to the water's edge. There is a deliberate slowness in your movements, to show that you are in no hurry to obey him.
Sitting on the lip of the pool, you let your calves dangle over the edge, lazily treading water.
"What do you want?" you hiss, meeting his crimson gaze.
#sukuna x reader#jjk fanfic#jjk smut#jjk x reader#fanfiction#true form sukuna#jjk sukuna#jujutsu kaisen#sukuna x female reader#ryomen sukuna x reader#sukuna x y/n#sukuna x you#no use of y/n
82 notes
·
View notes
Note
Do you think Gabriel's writing flaws were meant to be intentional character flaws?
It really depends on which flaw you're referring to. Some seem accidental, some seem intentional, and some are the result of the show's formulaic nature (and arguably the writers' skills) holding him back.
Let's start with an example of that last point: Gabriel squanders opportunities left and right while creating the most asinine plans you can think of and only wins in the season four and five finals because of sheer dumb luck. In spite of this, I think that he is genuinely supposed to be seen as clever and creative. That's why you get Nathalie spouting lines like this one from Catalyst:
Nathalie: As predicted, [Lila's] anger will reach devastating heights. Your plan is perfect, sir.
And this one from Risk:
Gabriel: Ladybug never makes a mistake! Nathalie: Neither do you.
And a whole host of other moments from seasons three and four where Nathalie just straight up fawns over Gabriel's brilliance. Even in season five, she still seems to think that he's a genius, she just wants him to give up on winning to spend his final days with Adrien.
You don't write that kind of dialogue unless Gabriel is supposed to be smart or Nathalie is supposed to be a bit of a fool (or, at the very least, someone blinded by love). I think it's pretty clear that Nathalie is not supposed to come across as lacking in the intelligence department and her admiration continues after her "redemption", so the most logical conclusion here is that Gabriel is supposed to be a smart villain. We're supposed to think that he makes really cool and intelligent plans.
The problem is that, if Gabriel was smart, then he'd have won ages ago. The butterfly is simply too powerful for him to lose. If you want to play him as a genuine threat, but also keep his losses believable, then - at the very least - you have to majorly nerf the butterfly. You also need to let him actually plan and scheme, setting up future akuma victims over multiple episodes before they come to fruition. Due to the show's format, we rarely get this. I think that Scarlet Moth and Miracle Queen are the only real exceptions. While they're the rare exceptions, I will note that their existence also backs this "Gabriel is supposed to be smart" read, the formula just doesn't allow him to come across that way.
This issue is why formula shows favor serious one-off villains that get defeated by the episode's end or non-threatening over-the-top comedic villains that return time and time again. For an example of the first, think the antagonists in crime serials like NICS or Sherlock Holmes stories and for the later think of pretty much every villain in Kim Possible or Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb.
The reason why formula shows take these paths is that it's genuinely difficult to have a villain that shows up every week and never wins, but who also feels like a true threat. At some point, the villain starts feeling incompetent because they're the ones making the plans. The puzzle masters. That puts them at a strong advantage. For a smart Gabriel to work, the show would need to be way less formulaic and/or his story would need to be much shorter. The butterfly nerf is also a must in my book.
In my intro, I also mentioned unintentional flaws. When I said that, I was primarily referring to the child abuse and Gabriel's general attitude toward his son. The writers seem to be genuinely oblivious to how badly Gabriel came across as the show went on. In the first season or two, I could have given the writers some grace on this topic as Gabriel's behavior could be argued as the cartoonish exaggeration of an overprotective-but-not-abusive parent just like Marinette's parents get to be cartoonishly loving at times and Marinette's crush is cartoonishly over-the-top.
We also had moments like the end of Gorizilla and Style Queen which gave Gabriel a chance to show off his love for Adrien and give it some real narrative weight. After Chat Blanc, that grace was gone and the show would continue to paint Gabriel as worse and worse right up until the season five final where all that terrible behavior culminated in Gabriel... getting a happy ending?
While it's always possible that later seasons will actually address Gabriel's abuse, it's pretty hard to come back from an ending that let him ascend into the light with his wife while smiling and perfectly at peace. That's not the ending that you give to a black-hearted villain who views his son as nothing more than a tool. The only logical read here is that Gabriel was supposed to be sympathetic and he was supposed to love Adrien, just not enough to pick Adrien over Emilie. Why heal yourself and be with your son when you can just die so that you don't have to live without your wife? What a positive and uplifting message for children!
To finish this up, let's quickly touch on the intentional flaws. There are mostly the things that even a five-year-old could pick up on because that is the show's target audience. Gabriel's arrogance, his unwillingness to give up, and his inability to see other points of view are very clearly meant to be his true flaws. He's also apparently supposed to be a creative contrast to Marinette with him being cold mass-production and her being individualism, but the writers kind of forgot to put that into the show. I think Marinette gets five designs and Gabriel gets two, making it somewhat difficult to see one as a font of individuality and one as an evil, mass-market fast-fashion producer. I'm not even sure what kind of fashion Gabriel creates!
In conclusion, Gabriel is as much of an inconsistent mess as Marinette is, which is unsurprising since they're arguably the two main characters. The ones with key roles in basically every episode. That meant that they had to warp and twist Gabriel to make the akuma of the day work even if that akuma made Gabriel look like a monster by doing things like attacking Adrien. It's just a variant of the way they had to warp Marinette into being wrong even if she really wasn't or if it went against her established character. This makes it hard to pick up on the "true" Gabriel, but I've always been of the opinion that he's supposed to read as a smart, sympathetic villain who loves his family, but is driven to evil by grief and an unwillingness to move on. The ending just sealed that read for me even though I 100% agree that this is not the character that they actually wrote. It's just who they clearly wanted to write.
#ml writing critical#ml writing salt#anon ask#this is not how you write a formula show#Gabriel deserves better#Give me my sympathetic villain!#Give me my sad spiral into evil!#Or don't and just make him a silly old man I can point at and laugh#that works too
43 notes
·
View notes
Note
are you still doing the post where you explain the ranking?? don’t mean to be impatient i was just wondering! (take your time) <3
@imperatrice21
Hey y'all! You asked and I deliver ;)
Alrighty let's get to it!!
So in THIS POST which is being referred to, I had created a ranking of Bruce's favorites in order from most to least.
And this was the ranking:
Dick
Damian
Cass
Jason/Tim (tie)
Tim/Jason (tie)
Steph
Now lets get into why.
Dick
I don't want to rehash why Dick is the favorite because I went into a lengthy explanation in the referred post as to why. It's not even close, and it's really explicitly stated that Dick's the one that Bruce likes the most. If you haven't read the post or want a refresher, I've already linked it but here it is again - OG POST
Infinite Crisis Issue #3
and also
JLA (1997) Issue #73
"The only time I ever feel pride is when I look at Nightwing. Sometimes I think he's the only thing I ever did right."
When something happens to Bruce, he only tells or trusts Dick with the information of what happened.
Batman and Robin Eternal Issue #1
His only message was addressed to Dick. Like I could go on and on about this, but I feel my other Dick and Bruce posts give a pretty good idea on how Dick is special to Bruce.
And that's where we will leave the blatant adoration for Dick by Bruce and move on to the next person, cause really, 'nuff said.
Damian > Cass > Tim/Jason > Steph
Dami!! I also explained a bit of why Damian is so loved by Bruce through the comparison of Bruce's reaction to Damian death vs Bruce's reaction to Jason's death in the referenced post, but I never talked about why he's the next in line for favoritism.
Rather, it's a process of elimination of who does Bruce not like the least which we can find through how Bruce treats each member of the batfam and reacts to traumatic passings.
6. Stephanie
The least favorite is, unfortunately, very obvious and it's Stephanie.
Why is it obvious? Because Bruce treats Stephanie like utter shit. I have never seen him act so callously to a member of the bat crew aside from Stephanie. He literally didn't even care that Stephanie died in the War Games arc.
He didn't even want Stephanie in the first place, only using her to manipulate Tim back into being Robin because he knew Tim care about her and knew the dangers of being Robin so he wouldn't want her getting her.
Robin (1993) Issue #92
And so she becomes Robin, eventually.
But Bruce and Stephanie have an extremely strenuous relationship. Stephanie is very independent but Bruce like obedience. A long time ago he would have appreciated independence but not anymore, not when the result is death.
On the final mission of Stephanie being robin, Batman gives her repeated orders that she disobeys.
Robin (1993) Issue #128
Bruce becomes completely fed up with her and fires her.
Long story short, Stephanie steals one of Batman's plans for the city that involved Matches Malone. Steph doesn't know that this is one of Bruce's identities and the whole thing quickly goes way out of control and sets off a city-wide bloody war - AKA War Games. Stephanie gets caught by Black Mask who tortures her and she dies from her injuries in Leslie's Clinic when she escapes. But -
Batman (1940) Issue #633
And after this happens, this bitch sits down has a drink with Dick, who woke up from coma or something I can't remember (he was dealing with the aftermath of Tarantula which is why he wasn't around. Also Alfred threatened to kneecap him if he didn't get back on the bed) asks Bruce what he's gonna do -
And what does he do?
Batman (1940) Issue #634
Bitch. This is the only time (the War Games) Dick walked out on him after Bruce asks for help. Fun fact, Leslie intentionally let Stephanie die even though she could have saved her. She let her die to teach Batman a lesson about making kids Robins. It was later retconned that Leslie secretly saved her life but in the original, Stephanie was gone. And Batman straight up did not care.
He didn't care about Stephanie as a person and ignored her passing, completely unaffected.
So that's why Stephanie's 6th on the list.
5. & 4. Tim and Jason (Tie)
I don't want to rehash this again because I truly do not believe I can go into more detail about why they're a tie and who Bruce loves more.
THIS POST I made for anon who asked about the tie will be the answer. But I want to highlight @canthandlethishit 's reblog because in my post had said I didn't know why it feels like Tim was slightly less even though Bruce treated him better.
This line: "there’s a saying “the kid who cries gets the candy/milk” and sometimes being too easy to raise makes a kid receive less love & attention from their parents"
EXCELLENT! Fantastic analysis!!
3. Cass
Cass is tricky because because Bruce doesn't actually have a reason for liking her. He just does. I think what Bruce really loves about her is her dedication to making Gotham good.
Batgirl (2000) Issue #50
Batman & the Outsiders (2019) Issue #17
I think the reason Batman treats her so well is because she acts like a daughter to him. None of his children are so open with wanting affection as Cass is, ironically. And Bruce appreciates that. He's a dad and some part of him, behind all his walls, wants to be needed as dad which Cass does for him. She understands what he wants because she's good at that and loves him because she wants it too. Cass is Bruce's only daughter. So it's a combination of dedication to faith that Gotham City can be better as well as the fact that she's ready to genuinely be a daughter for him.
2. Damian
A big part of it is that he's Bruce's blood son. I know we make jokes about being wanted vs forced or whatever with Damian but Damian's arguments in those jokes do hold.
Aside from Dick, Bruce doesn't react to anyone as strongly as he reacts to Damian. When Damian was dying and died, he lost it. I would provide panels but it's basically the entirety of Batman and Robin (2011).
A part of it, is also that Bruce actually raised Damain. He and Dami struggled with each other for the longest time and still do, but that's his son.
Batman Incorporated (2012) Issue #10
The following panels of Bruce going crazy are, as you probably guess it, in the OG Post and the Eldest Daughter Syndrome Post where I talk a little about the effect Damian's death has on Batman.
#dick grayson#nightwing#bruce wayne#batman#jason todd#red hood#stephanie brown#spoiler#tim drake#red robin#damian wayne#robin#cassandra cain#batgirl#orphan#batfamily#On a side note I was suddenly reminded why I hate reading Batgirl comics when Nightwing's in them.#The only comics in the existence of DC that dumb Nightwing down so Barbara Gordon can look better.#cl anon asks#cl 1vyyxo asks#cl asks#thanks for the ask!
35 notes
·
View notes
Text
Young adult designs
Finally redesigned them!!! I wasn't really comfortable with keeping my late teen designs and young adult designs looking mostly the same aside from a few minor details so this is to fix that!! I've said I was gonna do this for a while lmfao... Anyways this look will span from 21 to 30 in which they undergo changes that I may not post rn? Adult and early teens are both sort of untouched designs. I have the looks in mind, but they're not really heavy on plot so... They haven't been drawn out. But I will post middle aged designs!! Now for obligatory "what are they like"
Nigel: looks pretty dead beat. He lost his arm in a mission for the KND some time ago. He's difficult to find, as he doesn't really... Live anywhere. If you need him, just wish for him. He'll probably arrive... Or not, because he's not a mind reader. He's starting to get into minor conflicts with the police. No one knows anything more about him, and that's probably his goal.
Hoagie: went cold turkey on EVERYTHING when he got his apartment. He's too busy fooling around with Wally or working to do anything bad to himself... He works a pretty rough 7-5 at a store where he does whatever they ask him to. Stock shelves, mop the floors, deal with customers... But it keeps a roof over his head, so he does it. He tends to wear a basic company uniform to work, that he absolutely DESPISES. Once he's home, he usually gets into something feminine. His job sometimes requires him to work extra hours or stay a bit longer to finish something. He holds internal anger for it, because he just wants to get home and smother Wally with love, but he does it because he DOES get paid for overtime. That's the least he could ask for, really.
Kuki: working a 9-5. She plans on getting to college to become a lawyer at some point. No one knows what exactly her job is. It's not her fault, she just doesn't care for it enough to remember. She got top surgery at 22 after working her ass off for the money she'd need. Don't tell anyone, but Hoagie helped a little. Also, she has her own apartment, too. It's really fancy and decked out, but she lives alone. She likes it that way. After years of living with her parents, she needs alone time all the time, unless she actively decides to invite someone over.
Wally: also went cold turkey on everything when he moved into the apartment. He's taking college classes at UVA to become a pediatrician. It's not quite Harvard, but it's damn near close. He's actually pretty dedicated to it. ADHD medication is the sole reason he can be so dedicated. He tends to wear somewhat feminine attire, as he's learning to understand that he doesn't have to conform to how society believes the genders should dress, and isn't any less of a boy just because he wants to wear feminine clothing.
Abby: going to an unknown college for her therapist degree. She doesn't tell anyone because she worries they may show up there to bother her, or something along those lines. She's often very busy studying, and if she isn't, she's doing volunteer work. She lives with her parents still. Chronically tired, just like, a little bit more than before. She has stopped caring about what she wears and just puts on whatever the hell works. She visits Kuki whenever she needs socialization or love.
Additional piece: the layout of Hoagie and Wally's apartment. This was for my own reference but I'd figure I'd post it
#knd#codename kids next door#codename knd#numbuh 1#numbuh 2#numbuh 3#numbuh 4#numbuh 5#reference sheets#adult designs
34 notes
·
View notes
Text
There's something worth saying about Ambessa's connection with death in the show, and I feel like because of her lore it was already kind of obvious that she'd have to end this whole show dead. And that's just because unknown to most Arcane watchers, she has this really strong connection with an actual aspect of Death in League lore known as the Kindred.
"Kindred" is a champion in League of legends who represents Death in Runeterra in the same way as a grim reaper who comes to collect souls. They are two spirits, a Wolf that likes to hunt, and a Lamb that wears a mask and wields a bow. Many of the nations in Runeterra believe in Kindred in some way or another, but each nation has their own way of viewing Kindred (because each Nation has their own views on death and what not).
Ambessa repeatedly says "A wolf shows no mercy" and that's mostly because of her warrior spirit, but its also quite literally how Wolf (the second half of Kindred) acts. The Wolf is a merciless beast that only craves violence and a good hunt, while the lamb is an emotionless hunter who can't understand the feelings of the ones she hunts down in the first place.
The splash art above is from the Chosen of the Wolf skin line that Ambessa got when she was first released into the game. In the Chosen of the Wolf lore, Ambessa basically brings about the end of the world and becomes "Chosen" by Kindred to carry on an endless hunt (Basically death for everyone...forever lol) In this lore, Lamb fully embraces the nature of the Hunt regardless of sense or reason. She even wears a "Wolf" mask, to symbolize how they're both "The Wolf" now and there's really no mercy in death anymore (at least in this timeline)
Its also worth pointing out that the Chosen of the Wolf skinline looks awfully a lot like the world Leblanc shows Mel. When Leblanc recruits Mel, she shows her a future that looks almost identical in nature to this future, where there's no mercy for anyone and Ambessa is fighting an endless war forever T_T
Because Ambessa is Noxan, it's obvious that her and a lot of other Noxans view death through the Wolf, as something violent, gorey, and painful. Merciless. However, when Ambessa passed away in Mel's arms she says "You are the wolf" which to me is actually her acknowledging that there is mercy in death, in a wolf specifically because Mel ended up trying to save her from Leblanc even though she was still upset with her.
A wolf may not show mercy, but the lamb does. And I think that Ambessa's death in the show was her finally coming to terms with the fact that she didn't have to continue on with the endless fight for legacy and to achieve greatness, because she had already achieved those things through her daughter. The tragedy is that she couldn't understand or see that until it was too late.
Anyways I just wanted to write this post about Ambessa because she's actually really cool and I haven't been able to stop thinking about her phrase "A wolf has no mercy" and how it was almost a direct reference to Kindred almost. But to show that this was also Ambessa willfully looking past the other half of Death, which is the Lamb who is merciful and wants to understand people even though she can't.
38 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ever since I watched Tennelle Flower's video analyzing Chikai and Don't Think Twice a few months ago, my mind felt like an egg that had been cracked open, leaking yolk all over my writing and my daily life. I'd heard these two songs through my Utada rotation on Spotify over the years, thought they were pretty, never thought to look up the Japanese lyrics, etc. I think even if I had, without the context of being songs written specifically for Kingdom Hearts, I would have remained blissfully ignorant, never knowing just how much they could inflame the torch I carried for SoRiku in my heart.
Link to the video, for reference -
youtube
All my thoughts after watching this video were stuck between two, major and immoveable truths -- one, that I 100% agreed that Chikai was from Riku's point of view (on top of the perfect lyrics, it played first the first time during his reveal trailer, after all), and two, that as much as I wanted to agree with Tennelle, I couldn't think of Don't Think Twice being from Sora's pov with the same conviction. I thought it could make a neat inspiration for fanfic, being so full of longing and portraying an unfulfilled connection between two people. It clearly expresses a desire for closeness, a gratitude for being a part of this other person's life. But underlying all of it is a bittersweet frustration that their feelings aren't being returned, that even after making promises to change they are practically begging for any hint of affection from the other person. It made no sense to have two people, mutually declaring their love and a desire to stay together, being framed in one of the songs as having unrequited feelings.
So I sat on it, listened to it, sang it, watched more videos, and finally came to a different realization. Don't Think Twice is from Kairi's point of view.
And all the puzzle pieces fell nicely into place.
How did I live in a kingdom of thieves And people who say things they don't really mean - Kairi's early life in Radiant Garden
You're only everything I ever dreamed Ever dreamed of - Kairi's desire for Sora in her life, his steadfast companionship, is a balm to her lonely soul
I want you for a lifetime So if you're gonna think twice, baby I don't wanna know - Sora's initial rejection and hesitance over sharing a paopu fruit with her; she doesn't want to know the real reason, or how he feels, she just needs him to take it and give her peace of mind
If you want to take it to an even higher level All you gotta do is say the word, you know I'll follow - She's still waiting, hopeful for some word of affection, some sign that Sora is willing to give her a chance and take the next step in their friendship If you want to make it happen, nothing's impossible All you gotta do is say the word, the walls will crumble If you want to make it happen, nothing's impossible - Kairi's unrequited longing is so clear here, how desperate she is for a chance to be what Sora wants, even though he is still giving her no sign that it's going to happen.
This block of lyrics is really where I started to doubt that this song was from Sora's point of view. The line "nothing's impossible" and all the sentiment around it feels really naive, like a schoolgirl with her first unrequited crush. A relationship of mutual affection isn't built on breaking the laws of reality, on forcing something that's impossible to become real. This struck me too heavily with a feeling of, "I'll change, I'll be anything you want, just say the word and I'll be everything you need, I promise." But why should there be a need to change in the first place, unless they know deep down that their feelings aren't returned?
I won't go deeply into Chikai's lyrics, since I think it's a given that it's from Riku's perspective. But I do want to point out the contrast between the two songs and how difficult it is to think that they're being offered as the sentiment of two people that have the same feelings for each other. Chikai is all about the awe and wonder of discovering that their secret feelings are actually mutual, that their self-perception of unworthiness hasn't chased away the other person or gotten them rejected. And from that point onwards it's nothing but pure conviction, an outpouring of their deepest feelings, and a declaration to keep their lover close for the rest of their lives. It's a vow of everlasting love.
And who has always been at the center of the love triangle between the Destiny Islands trio? Sora, of course.
So it makes sense to me that both of these songs are being sung TO Sora. One, wishing for more but knowing deep down that their romantic feelings are unrequited. The other, expressing their disbelief that they were chosen, and then charging full-speed ahead without hesitation (I love you too, I want you in my arms forever, let's get married).
And there's my analysis. SoRiku is endgame.
[As an aside, I have to thank the existence of MDZS for even more firmly cementing Chikai being from Riku's pov. I think I would have fallen into that uncertainty that our fandom is often plagued with otherwise, because SoRiku is built on context clues rather than explicit narrative, and we deal with a fan-majority that is indifferent to or outright hates any mention of homosexuality in the game. But if I had been presented Chikai without knowing it was from KH, and been asked to think of a character it could have been written for, I would immediately pin it on Lan Wangji and his feelings for Wei Wuxian. The instant change from, "Wait... you feel the same as me?" to "I love you too, I will promise you forever, let's go get hitched," is too on-the-nose to ignore. I wonder if Utada is a secret MXTX fan...]
34 notes
·
View notes
Text
the quarry master list
summary: Welcome to Hackett Quarry camp counselors! We know the events that have unfolded back in 2021 was devastating but we’re happy to announce we’ll be opening for the summer of 2025! With new management and now even more tighter security, we can guarantee your children are safe. We'll love to introduce our new counselors this year! warning(s): Minors do not interact! All characters will be aged up! The boys are in a relationship with the reader but not with each other! They will all be in their early 20's, including the hyung line. This is a horror fic! There will be mention of blood and guns. Characters will curse frequently, make many lewd sexual remarks toward one another, and reference drugs and alcohol, even going as far as having a few drinks around a campfire. Minors do not interact!
𝓉𝒶𝑔𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉 𝒾𝓈 ℴ𝓅ℯ𝓃 ♡︎
♡︎ 𝓅𝓁ℯ𝒶𝓈ℯ 𝒸ℴ𝓂𝓂ℯ𝓃𝓉 ℴ𝓇 𝓈ℯ𝓃𝒹 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓈𝓀 𝓉ℴ 𝒷ℯ 𝒶𝒹𝒹ℯ𝒹
prologue chapter one: hackett's quarry forever! chapter two: the hag of hackett's quarry chapter three: truth or dare chapter four: trouble in paradise chapter five: late night dive chapter six: hold still chapter seven: who and what the fuck is going on chapter eight: you shot him! chapter nine: werewolves chapter ten: the final boss epilogue
#ateez x reader#ateez fanfic#ateez x y/n#ateez imagines#ateez#ateez scenarios#ateez hongjoong#hongjoong ateez#hongjoong#kim hongjoong#park seonghwa#jeong yunho#kang yeosang#choi san#song mingi#jung wooyoung#choi jongho#seonghwa x reader#yunho x reader#ateez horror#જ⁀➴ the quarry#the quarry au x ateez#poly ateez x reader#ateez poly#polyteez#hongjoong x reader#Seonghwa x reader#Yunho x reader#Yeosang x reader#san x reader
33 notes
·
View notes
Note
lamine girlfriend being so happy that he’s finally taking the time to rest, like he tells her he’s not playing and he’s not going with the national team and she almost cries because she’s always so stressed that he’s pushing himself too much
Baby, I Love You — Lamine Yamal.
Pairing: Lamine Yamal x Fem!Reader
Summary: After an intense amount of worrying about your boyfriend and his constant urge to play, he shares some news with you that leaves you feeling both worried and relieved.
Word Count: 465+
Disclaimer/s — None really, just comfort/and fluff.
A/N: And then you open TikTok and see him dancing bachata to Aventura 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️ boy PLEASE.
It was nearing midnight when you received a text from Lamine asking if he could come over. It was never unusual for him to ask, but considering he had a game to practice for, you couldn’t stop the small pang of confusion that rose within you.
You opened the boy’s message and replied back quickly, ‘Hi, of course. I’ll leave the door unlocked.’
With nothing else to do but wait, you decided you’d finish up your homework, not even noticing the sight of your door slowly creaking open.
It wasn’t until you saw his figure from the corner of your eye that you gasped and jumped up, your eyes narrowing when you heard Lamine laugh.
“Lamine—no call, no text, not even a greeting!?” You exclaimed, covering your face with your hands. “Oh, my God. I can’t even look at you.”
Hearing his footsteps toward you, he uses his hands to pry your own away from your face. “I’m sorry! You said it’d be unlocked. I thought you’d be, I don’t know, waiting for me or something.”
“Well! You thought—whatever. Sit! Sit! Tell me about your day. Did something happen or…?”
Doing as told, he moves to sit on your chair, and that’s when you notice something’s wrong. It takes you a few seconds to realize, but it clicks—he has a limp. “Wait. Lamine, what happened?”
“I’m not able to play for Spain,” he grumbled.
That wasn’t what you were referring to, yet the relief you felt was unmistakable. He could rest, but at what cost? “I’m sorry. Because of that?”
Following your line of sight, Lamine offers a small chuckle and nods. “Yeah, because of that. I’m out for the break. Might be even more, I’m not sure.”
You stand up and plop down beside him. “You’ll be back. Even better and even stronger. Not that you weren’t already before. Does it hurt at all?”
“Only if I apply too much pressure on it. Nothing an ice pack can’t fix. Or help lessen the pain.”
“Ice pack,” you repeat quietly. “I’ll be right back.”
“I don’t need one now—hey,” Lamine frowned when you stand up, his hands finding both of yours. “It’s fine. Can we just… do something?”
“Sorry, of course. We can build Legos, watch a movie, a show, or just lay down. Your choice!”
“What were you doing before I came and—”
“Scared me? I was just finishing up homework.”
Your answer does absolutely nothing but make his expression morph into one of disgust, eliciting a laugh from you. “I thought so. Lay down, go on your phone, I’ll be done super soon, okay?”
“Take your time,” he hums. “Can I sleep over?”
With a shrug, you smile and say, “Well, you’re already here. I don’t really see why you can’t.”
Likes, reblogs, and comments are always appreciated ^_^.
DT(s) — @planetpedri + @spidybaby + @iovepoem + @sakashq + @joaoflms ! ౨ৎ
#lamine yamal#lamine yamal x reader#lamine yamal x fem!reader#lamine yamal x you#lamine yamal x y/n#lamine yamal fluff#lamine yamal comfort#lamine yamal blurb#lamine yamal imagine#lamine yamal oneshot#request#jilval#baby i love you - ramones
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
Proof that Lucien knows that Helion is his father / that he is the heir of Day:
I'm always wondering how so many assume that Lucien, the smart-ass fox of Prythian, wouldn't know that he is the heir of a court. That would be a major plot hole. His Day Court powers have to be way stronger than the fire he inherited from his mother.
So let's dive into some possible evidence:
Helion was a minor noble before the previous High Lord of Day and his family were killed by Amarantha. Which makes me guess that Lucien obtained his heir powers the same time Helion became High Lord and finally had a name to the male who was likely unknown to him until then.
1. The first clue is that Dagdan used the words "who cleaved" instead of something else, suggesting that someone actually spell-CLEAVED them. I highlighted the (very revealing) words that were used to describe Lucien that moment- sunlight and gold. Which made me think that it was Lucien who cleaved those holes. Everyone else was trapped UTM. He was the only one who could have done it.
Lucien knows the details by heart. Because he walked and cleaved that border, probably for years.
We later learn about Helion's title and that he's Lucien's biological father.
2. The biggest proof is this line:
There's no way a female in Dawn can glow like Helion himself (Edit: unless he has a daughter we don't know of or the Day fae there generally possess that ability, that's not confirmed yet). Either way I found it suspicious that he avoided the term "Day" and chose to say "Dawn". Lucien very obviously meant himself, but mixed truth with lies.
3. Another hint: Tamlin's words to Helion. I think he referred to Lucien with this one.
Neither Tamlin nor Lucien were surprised when he spell-cleaved in Hybern. They might have figured his powers out together back then when everyone was trapped UTM. Tamlin likely witnessed him cleaving the wall, it was the only way to reach the human lands. They needed the holes.
4. Let me quote Eris again. Always mix truth with lies.
That's exactly what Lucien does. He uses his mechanical eye as a disguise to explain his abilities to see through spells and glamours. There's no way that eye can provide him with Helion's powers. It might be able to enhance his abilities, but it's not the cause of it.
I wanted to do this for a long time - let me know what you think. 😁
28 notes
·
View notes