#there. i honestly almost used that one but the reason i didn't is because faith was there. almost 'early' if you will (because she had

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Parallels: The fact that in their series, Buffy, Angel, and Faith are always having barbecues with their teams (usually at the end of the seasons).

And then in Buffy season 12, where Buffy, Angel, and Faith are all working together again and are all living together in the same city once more by the end of it, they all have a barbecue together:

[benjinotes]

𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 - chapter I

previous -> next

(daella targaryen x benjicot blackwood)

don’t translate.

The sound of music mixed with loud laughter reached Benjicot's ears, but he seemed strangely annoyed with his surroundings.

Seated at one of the wooden tables in the main hall of his family's small fortress, he observed the reinforcements with a distant gaze, too bored to even hear the conversation of his friends and guests around him.

The torches along the walls were the only thing that illuminated those cold, dark walls, and strangely enough, the extreme intensity of the fire that surrounded them was the only thing that kept him in a better mood. With his index finger, Benjicot began to trace some patterns on the dark wooden table with his fingers, trying to ignore the sound that was in the place and instead listen to the storm that was outside.

He knew what that rain meant; the gods were angry, and deep down, he wanted to know who was stupid enough to anger them in such a way.

When he was still a little boy, Benjicot used to hear his mother tell him that every time a young soul dies, heaven weeps and welcomes him with open arms, and for a long time, he wanted to believe it. However, he ended up adopting the more rational version that his faith allowed him to have and that his father taught him: divine things don't cry, divine things punish.

The first mortal blow he dealt someone was also on a rainy day like this. He was still able to remember the raindrops that ran down his fingers, mixed with the blood of the first man he had killed, and how the sky seemed to thunder when he delivered the first blow to the enemy soldier's stomach. It was sickening; he knew that, but for some reason, he enjoyed the feeling of the gods' punishment mixed with the blood he himself had spilled. He was a hypocrite.

Benjicot was not stupid; he knew that many people were afraid of him. After all, there were rumors that he was a bloodthirsty psychopath and countless other slanders that he refused to listen to. But honestly, he didn't care about any of that. The battlefield was the only place where he truly felt himself. The chaos and danger, the clash of steel, and the screams of the dying—all of it made him feel strangely exultant. It was ironic, almost paradoxical, that the thing that made him feel most alive was being so intimately familiar with death.

But the guilt never consumed him, because he always knew he was fighting for the right side.

"Are the rumors true?" One of his friends suddenly asked, causing Benji to quickly look up questioningly, waiting for him to continue. "Rumor has it that you are going to marry Princess Daella Velaryon, the daughter of the rightful queen." The black-skinned man, Helion, spoke in a whisper as he watched the conversation at the table gradually die down to eavesdrop on the small interaction.

At the sudden question, Benjicot licked the inside of his cheek in a brusque manner and slammed his fist on the dark wooden table, causing some of his companions to jump at the sudden noise. He could have sworn that his aunt was giving him a scolding look at that moment, but honestly, he had already lost all the good humor he had, and dealing with Alysanne's "lectures" at that moment wasn't going to help anything.

The truth was, he wasn't upset by the question, but rather by the lack of answers he had to offer. The raven had left two days ago; however, the answer had not yet returned to Blackwood Fortress, which made him anxious and irritated about the possibilities he was not sure he possessed.

Of course, he knew that what he had asked the queen was too much. Someone like him didn't deserve to marry Rhaenyra Targaryen's only daughter, and he knew he was at least crazy enough to make such a request to the queen. However, the possibility of angering the Brackens with someone from royalty made him ecstatic and almost satisfied, and he knew he had to take the risk before someone else did.

"I still don't know." He replied sincerely, leaning back a little and resting his arm on the back of the chair next to him. "My father sent the proposal to the queen two days ago, but unfortunately, we still haven't received a response." angry, and the table erupted in laughter that almost made him hit the table again, if someone hadn't interrupted him first.

"Are you angry because the queen didn't answer you in two days?" One of his table companions laughed loudly, and Benjicot grimaced when he saw wine run down the man's beard. "Do you really think that with the coming war she has time for that?" The man asked mockingly, and Benji had to control himself not to rub his face on the stone floor.

"Besides, the journey to Dragonstone is considerably long." One of the other men said this as he massaged his full belly, and Benji sighed in defeat as he realized that the man was probably right.

He hated it when old men were correct.

"But let me ask you something, is she pretty?" A man asked curiously, and the lord's son gradually became irritated by the question, especially when he saw the other men at the table leaning forward waiting for an answer, an answer he didn't have.

Benjicot had heard rumors of the beauty of Rhaenyra Targaryen's only daughter, but although he felt inclined to believe it, part of him didn't want to. After all, he didn't like most of the rumors that the winds whispered about him, so he didn't want to believe them. the ones they made about his possible future wife, even if they were good.

Furthermore, he was almost certain that she was beautiful; after all, according to his logic, all princesses were beautiful, all dragons were scary, and all Brackens were idiots. He trusted this assessment almost completely.

"Of course she's beautiful, you idiot! She's a princess!" replied Helion loudly while wiping the grease from his fingers on his clothes, making Benji laugh loudly at the man's inappropriate behavior. One of the things I most appreciated about that soldier was the fact that they both always shared the same opinion.

With the insult hurled, the other man began shouting obscenities in response, triggering a loud and chaotic exchange of insults across the table and causing the rest of the men in the room to whistle and enjoy the fight. Benjicot, in turn, gave a short laugh before turning to the table where his father and uncles were sitting, furrowing his eyebrows when he saw one of the fortress servants handing an envelope into his father's hands.

He frowned when he saw his father smile as he opened the letter, and for some reason, his heart seemed to beat faster, which made him lean on the wooden chair and debate whether he should go to his family table.

However, before Benji even had time to react, Samwell Blackwood stood up and slammed his hand on the table so hard that his wrist turned red, and in an instant, the noisy room assumed an unusual silence.

Everyone had their heads held high as they watched the lord with the letter in his hand, and when his smile widened, whispers were heard around the hall. "I have great news!" The lord spoke loudly, raising a glass of wine in his hand, and Benjicot could see his aunt from afar, trying to hide a smile. "My son, Benjicot Blackwood, is now betrothed to Princess Daella Velaryon of House Targryen!" The man shouted, and the room erupted in applause.

The lord's son could feel the pat that the other men were giving him on the back; however, he didn't care about the pain or the congratulations that came his way; his head was blank, and he could hardly believe that he was engaged—even more engaged to a princess. He was sure he was going to vomit at any moment, and the pats on his upper back were indicating that he should do so.

"And!" Samwell shouted once more, and the hall fell silent as they waited for further news. "Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen has requested our presence in two weeks!" The lord celebrated, and once again, the hall exploded with screams and whistles.

This time, Benjicot found himself swept up in the moment, though whether his scream was out of excitement or nervousness, he couldn't quite tell.

𝟓 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑, 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞. 📍

The comforting warmth of the hot water in the bathtub enveloped Daella's body like a warm hug, while the soft light from the candles in the room delicately illuminated her face, where tears glistened and her cheeks displayed a subtle blush, yet she remained there, immersed in the quietness of the place, and stuck in her thoughts as she fought not to start sobbing.

Even though five days had passed since the raven brought the news, Lucery's death still haunted her. She could barely find an appetite or sleep, and she was almost certain that this bath was the first one she had taken since receiving that news, and she was only taking it because she was forced by Baela to do so.

She could feel her cousin's slender fingers through her hair, giving her a massage that almost made her feel comfortable enough to let some of the sobs that were stuck in her throat escape, but nevertheless she decided to remain silent, having no energy for another breakdown.

Many of the candles that had previously illuminated the space were now extinguished, leaving the place gradually enveloped in shadows. With each passing minute, the room seemed to sink a little more into darkness, creating a heavy and unsettling atmosphere. This caused Daella to make a sudden movement forward, as if trying to escape the darkness that was thickening around her. The sudden gesture immediately captured her cousin's attention, who watched her with a look of deep questioning in her eyes.

"What's wrong? Have I hurt you?" Baela inquired worriedly, picking up a sponge she had beside her stool, concern still visible on her beautiful face. "Cousin?" The girl called her, concerned; yet, Daella only sighed and gently returned to her area in the water.

"I'm sorry, I'm just..." Daella began, but the words caught in her throat, causing her to bite her lip before she began to speak. "Do you think it was dark when Luke died?" She asked suddenly, and the other girl gave a sad sigh, the concern from earlier turning into understanding, but before she could even respond, Daella placed her chin on her knees and began to speak.

"He didn't like the dark." She began, and Baela could hear the tree in her cousin's voice, and she quickly got up from her stool to sit on the floor next to the bathtub, ignoring the water there. "Luke was afraid of the dark; I don't want to think about the fact that he could have died in the dark, alone and scared." The princess admitted it, and Baela gave a shaky sigh as she placed a comforting hand on her bare shoulder.

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have brought that up." Daella spoke in a sigh, and this time she could help but let out a strangled sob, which made her cousin move even closer to her.

"You don't have to apologize to me, cousin." Baela began, her voice bringing some comfort to the Velaryon girl, who looked at her with red eyes. "You're grieving." She finished softly, and the Velaryon gave a dry laugh.

"You're grieving too." Daella replied, her voice unexpectedly harsh, and cursed herself immediately for the unintended edge in her tone. Surprisingly, the other girl seemed unfazed by it.

"Yes, I am." Baela admitted, biting the inside of her cheek hard and ignoring the almost regretful look the other girl was throwing her way. "But not as much as you; after all, it was your brother, and I can't even imagine the state I would be in if Rhaena died." She admitted it, and the other girl looked at her gratefully.

"But you can be sure of one thing." She spoke in a joking tone, which made Daella look at her with an eyebrow. "I would at least take a shower." She finished and laughed loudly when she saw the face Daella was making.

"You are so funny." The Velaryon said sarcastically as she threw a few drops of water in the face of Baela, who was trying to keep the composter while moving back to the bench amidst laughter, and the princess couldn't help but smile when she heard the outrageous laughter.

"I know, I know, I'm hilarious, but now seriously, let's wash you!" Baela managed to say it through laughter while squeezing out a mouthful of foam from the sponge.

"Why are you the one washing me, and not one of the maids?" Velaryon inquired curiously, and her cousin arched an eyebrow.

"Because they obeyed you when you said no, and also because you wouldn't come if you weren't dragged." Baela said, however, that her voice didn't have any hint of joke or mockery; she was genuinely worried for the simple fact that Daella was in such bad shape that she didn't have the strength to do basic things like that. "And besides, your fiancé arrives here in 2 days." Baela spoke in an obvious tone, and Daella turned around in a sharp tone, wetting the other girl once again.

That really caught her attention, and she couldn't help but bite her lip in nervousness upon hearing those words. Her betrothed, a man she had never seen in her life, was coming for a visit, and she didn't know what to do.

Daella wasn't stupid, she knew the rumors that were circulating about her future husband, and as much as she wanted to admit it, she felt a little afraid of him, for others he was a bloodthirsty idiot who only felt good in the world. battlefield, it was dirty and rough and noisy, and even though she wasn't a big fan of rumors, she couldn't stop questioning whether it was actually true.

Deep down, a part of her screamed that if it were true, her mother had never accepted the proposal, and whether she wanted to or not, she was holding on to the hope that this was real.

"That was actually the same reaction I had when I found out you were getting married." Baela tried to calm the situation, gently taking the other girl's arm to wash it. "Wait until Jace discovers this fact too!" She giggled, and the Velaryon girl wrinkled her nose as she imagined the mockery she would suffer from her twin brother.

Lucerys would probably mock her too if he were there.

"In two days?! No one had told me he was even coming!" Daella sighed loudly.

"I just know he's coming because I heard my father talking to our grandmother." Baela said softly as she rinsed her cousin's hair. "I don't even know if I was supposed to know that."

"But the queen isn't here; how can he come and talk about business if my mother left a few days ago and hasn't returned yet?" Daella questioned. She knew Rhaenyra needed time alone, but she couldn't help but worry about the hours her mother had already spent outside Dragonstone.

"Well, I guess that's not a problem anymore." Baela whispered under her breath, her ears catching Syrax's distant roar echoing outside the fortress. Hastily, she scrambled to fetch a towel, handing it over to the other girl who was now craning her neck to peer through the small window, hoping to catch a glimpse of the capricious dragon.

A sudden knock on the door made both girls startle, but their tension dissolved as they recognized Rhaena's familiar voice. She entered, carrying clothes in her arms and scanning the room for her sister and cousin.

"Come on."She urged gently. "The queen is probably waiting for us."

wattpad link.

english is not my first language, so pls be understanding.

tags: @marytvirgin @aelora-a @maidr-00

[furiousgoldfish]

To all of you who are feeling behind on survival skills, worried you won't be able to succeed in life because you're not allowed to learn/not able to learn, I want you to know that some basics are extremely easy to get once you're able to try it on your own, or even just have one person explain it to you.

When I ran away from home, I didn't know how to cook, I wasn't allowed to learn, and first month or so, I was preoccupied with just learning how to cook. What I learned was that it was far more easy than my parents ever made it seem. If you're trying to cook just for proper nutrition and not make some fancy meals, most of what you have to do is heat the groceries, and salt them. If you cut up some vegetables and put them in water an add salt, you will have a soup. If you lay them on a tray and put them in the oven, you've made food. You can put stuff in a pan with some oil and stir it on heat and you have a meal. For basic eating, it can be really that simple. I also was able to pick stuff up just from my roommates, who would happily answer my questions, and a lot of people out there will happily explain to you how they make a certain food, and of course, there's video tutorials for specific meals, if you want to make something more complex. Once you have absolute freedom in the kitchen, you will pick this up rapidly.

I have never used a washing machine prior to running away, and then one person showed me once how to use one, and that was that. I was washing-machine certified after that. I gained extra knowledge about cleaning it on the internet, and some people randomly had tips for me about it. I learned to handwash later as well, and that works good too.

I've struggled at the beginning, to find easy and cheap ways to get stuff; the most common way to get things is to go to the store, but I didn't have a lot of money, and buying things was too expensive for me. I've since discovered just where to find the second-hand markets, how to get people to give me their old clothing so I never have to buy any, how to temper with stuff I have so I wouldn't have to buy anything, at this point I even know how to fix shoes and sew my own stuff. I've fixed blinds on almost every window in here, without even knowing how, I just dismantled everything and figured it out. I've put together closets and lamps. I've learned to open up my own laptop and change the parts inside, I've even changed the screen on my own, by watching a video on how it's done. I've learned how to repaint walls, how to tend to plants, how to maintain a living space. Often I'd see someone else who is able to do these things, and just ask. People who are not parents have no reason to gatekeep this information, and they proudly told me how they do it.

I've learned to organize my stuff to the point where I'm able to easily clean a big mess, and I don't get overwhelmed with things anymore. I've had to do some reading on the internet to figure out the situation with finances and economy, and I also asked some people, got wildly different answers from every person. When I have the opportunity to chat with someone who has a specific job, I ask them about what they do, and have them describe to me how that field of work functions. It gave me insight into a lot of inner workings of society that were previously a mystery to me.

I was able to figure this all out while having zero faith in myself; I believed I was stupid, incapable of survival, honestly thought I would be dead within few months. I was reading army survival guides so I could survive in the wild if I ever got homeless. I was learning even without believing that all of this would help me, it's only now looking back at everything that I understand how much knowledge I gained just from trying it and doing it in every possible way until it clicked.

The most complex for me, were the social skills, since I'm still easily scared of people. But I am slowly making progress on that and finding better ways to deal with people's behaviours. Being curious works well because people love when someone is curious about them and shows interest in what they do. It's been a revelation that outside of my home, I really can just ask any question I am interested about, and will usually get some kind of an answer, and not 'how do you not know this already'. Outside of abusive homes, you're not expected to know everything, without ever being told.

While survival skills and independence are deeply forbidden in an abusive situation, being out of one will practically guarantee you that you'll get them. Sometimes you'll be forced to learn some stuff like cleaning and cooking and you'll have no choice but to learn, and it will become easier the more you do it. But nobody will make you feel bad for not doing it right the first time, there will be no punishment, no berating, you're free mess it up any amount of times, without any consequences. I would say that maybe you wasted some time and effort, but no time or effort is truly wasted when you're learning something; rather it takes that time and effort to learn. But it's not painful, it's not shameful, it's not forbidden anymore. You can learn a lot of things at your own ease and convenience, without worrying about someone's opinion on what you're doing. You can also learn dumb things and never be criticized or called out on it, you can do absolutely ridiculous stuff that brings you joy and no harm is done.

I know feeling behind sucks, and it feels shameful and horrible, but the good news is that you can catch up very quickly, and not only that. If you really want to have a lot of survival skills under your belt, and you keep learning, you will soon know more than most people do. You can out-do any person out there if you have a passion for it. I had people who were telling me how to do basic stuff, surprised at me knowing more than they knew, just months later. It's a great feeling!

[doberbutts]

Saw in one of your transition timeline posts that you got taller on T and was real curious since that’s a really rare experience. Do you think you just had the dna for it/height range in your family ? Or were you surprised by the change?

In addition: do you have any other ways you’ve tried to transition physically other than HRT? Like do you use minoxidil / work out more than you did and stuff like that. Pseudo medical changes that don’t get talked about often are always interesting to me.

If I’m too nosy feel free to leave this in your inbox. Just hope you know I’m asking in good faith! Also I always appreciate you on my feed man. Good takes plus good selfies AND good dogs makes for a pretty damn good blog you really cracked the code on that one

Honestly I didn't expect to get taller at all and in fairness it was a fairly marginal amount (2in) BUT a couple things to consider:

I am intersex and began puberty at 6ish, had C cups by 7, and had my first period by 10. That is VERY early and likely accounted for my relatively short stature compared to the rest of my family, which brings me to my next point

My entire family is filled with people who are 6ft tall at minimum and I am one of only ones that never hit 6ft. And while that's not so unheard of, I think it also has a lot to do with my height gain. My biological sister is over 6ft tall. My father is over 6ft tall. My mother is almost 6ft tall. My aunts and uncles and cousins are largely over 6ft tall. The shortest of us is my adopted sister (4'9"), genetically my cousin, whose mother is over 6ft tall but her father was just over height of legal dwarfism (5ft even), so it makes sense that she's a little smaller. I was the next shortest at 5'8" which isn't really that short but seemed noticeably small when compared to the dozens of 6'2"-6'7"s of the rest of the family.

I think that also had something to do with how long it took to recognize that the early puberty did have an effect on my natural growth, because of course no one thought it was strange when I'm over the average height of a cis woman anyway... but then when compared to the rest of the family, my doctors quickly realized that I'm the odd one out and probably for a reason.

So while I was surprised by the change, it was more the fact that I started HRT at 30 and nearly 20 years post-puberty and less that I actually gained height. Like, I figured if I had started T when I'd wanted to at 13, I probably would have gotten taller. Maybe even that 6ft range the rest of my family's in. But I thought my height was simply my height when I did actually start T almost 2 years ago, so realizing one day that hey wait a second I'm actually taller was a pleasant surprise.

I am not on any other sex hormone supplement. I did start a cholesterol medication and change my diet when T made my cholesterol jump, mostly at my doctor's urging, but that wasn't a surprise because both the men and women in my family have cholesterol problems. I also expect to be diabetic at some point for the same reason. I don't work out, but I am more active on T, largely because it fixed a lot of my joint pain and chronic fatigue and blood pressure/heart rhythm issues. And just this month I started an inhalant steroid for my asthma, but I don't think it would have any effect on height as that's mostly just to make sure I can actually breathe during allergy season.

I'm not bothered by these questions at all. Ask away!

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hey I have a question for you if you ever end up writing more meta on wandlore. In book 7 Harry's wand spits flames at Voldemort. The explanation we're given is that it imbibed some of his powers in the graveyard. The problem is it didn't react to him like this when Harry faced him in book 5. I think this is just a plot hole on JKR's part but from an in-universe POV do you have thoughts on what could have caused this? Only thing I can think of is either that Voldemort briefly possessing Harry in book 5 further linked them and/or that in book 5 Harry didn't even try to defend himself because he was taken by surprise and thus didn't try to do anything before Dumbledore intervened. Interesting to hear your ideas.

Hi!

This is a really fun ask, I love me some wandlore! That and one of my favorite pastimes is solving JKR magical plot holes by figuring out the magical theory she didn't think all the way through.

So, the first thing I did was compare the two scenes you mentioned. This is the one from book 5:

“I have nothing more to say to you, Potter,” he said quietly. “You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!” Harry had not even opened his mouth to resist. His mind was blank, his wand pointing uselessly at the floor.

(OotP, 813)

This is the one from book 7:

It was over: He could not see or hear where Voldemort was; he glimpsed another Death Eater swooping out of the way and heard, “Avada—” As the pain from Harry’s scar forced his eyes shut, his wand acted of its own accord. He felt it drag his hand around like some great magnet, saw a spurt of golden fire through his half-closed eyelids, heard a crack and a scream of fury. the remaining Death Eater yelled; Voldemort screamed, “No!”

(DH, 58)

Now, honestly, you're right, if the magic imbued Harry's wand in the graveyard I'd expect it to react to the killing curse Voldemort casts in book 5 the same as it did in book 7. And clearly, it does not. Even when it's the same situation, same spell, same enemy, Harry can't defend himself (if for different reasons). In both, his wand isn't even aimed at Voldemort at first at all.

So, I started wondering what is different between the scenes. Clearly, the situation is almost identical, so what difference could affect how Harry's wand reacts?

And then it hit me: Voldemort's wand.

In the first scene, in book 5, Voldemort is using his own wand, yaw and phoenix feather, brother wand to Harry. In the scene in book 7, the wand Voldemort uses is Lucius'.

So, my theory is that Harry's wand reacted differently because Voldemort wasn't carrying its brother, but a different wand.

So, with this in mind, let's try to explain what Harry's wand is doing and why.

The explanation we get in the books is that the Piori Incantatum in the graveyard essentially "charged" Harry's wand against Voldemort specifically:

“I believe that your wand imbibed some of the power and qualities of Voldemort’s wand that night, which is to say that it contained a little of Voldemort himself. So your wand recognized him when he pursued you, recognized a man who was both kin and mortal enemy, and it regurgitated some of his own magic against him, magic much more powerful than anything Lucius’s wand had ever performed. Your wand now contained the power of your enormous courage and of Voldemort’s own deadly skill: What chance did that poor stick of Lucius Malfoy’s stand?”

(DH, 600)

But I already mentioned here, that I don't think this scene is the real Dumbledore. So, I'm not sure how much faith can be placed in this explanation, especially since when Voldemort carried the brother wand, Harry's wand didn't shoot out golden flames.

(As an aside, I don't think wands can sponge up magic like that at all...)

But I think Harry's subconscious is right about the flames resulting from the multitude of magical connections between Voldemort and Harry. After the graveyard, they are, like, crazy magically connected. We've got:

Soul - Harry has a piece of Voldy's soul because he's a Horcrux

Blood (spirit) - Voldemort used Harry's blood in his resurrection ritual so their lives are bound to each other.

Magic - wands share a core.

And I'm going to forgo talking about the prophecy for this, but it's kind of bonkers how many layers of magic are binding them. And I think this is the key to it all.

So, essentially you have two wizards, that for the intent and purposes of magic, are as close as kin as possible. By soul and spirit, they are an extension of each other. So certain magic (like Lily's blood protection that is based on blood) probably sees Voldemort as an extension of Harry or vice versa. But they are not the same, as Dumbledore said in OotP: "but in essence divided", and other magic can recognize that (like the Elder Wand).

And the wands know this. Voldemort's yaw wand and Harry's holly wand are referred to as brothers, and I think that name is quite telling. Brother wands don't seem to want to fight each other, they share a core so they aren't meant to turn on each other, they are kin, extensions of each other. This is why the Priori Incantatum happened in the graveyard — to stop them from fighting. And if Harry cast a spell in the ministry in OotP, it would've happened again.

I think that first Priori Incantatum did change something and mattered for what happened in book 7. It basically was like an introduction. Afterwards, Harry's wand can recognize Voldemort, his magic, and his wand.

What I think happened with Lucius' wand is not far from Harry's subconscious explanation. The wand recognized Voldemort as Harry's kin, an extension of Harry himself, but he was carrying an unfamiliar wand - an enemy wand. I think the combination of kin with an unfamiliar wand is what caused it. Kind of like a jealous sort of "Harry isn't supposed to be with another wand". The yaw wand was fine because it shared the same core, the wands are connected just like Voldemort and Harry, so the brother wand wouldn't register as a threat.

For the holly wand, being attacked by an extension of Harry with an unfamiliar wand, felt off. Wrong. The magic felt wrong like it was 3 inches too far to the left. And I think that's what it reacted to. To the sense of wrongness that comes with seeing a familiar person somewhere, they really shouldn't be. This whiplash, I think, is what registered as a threat to the holly wand.

We know some wands can be sentient to this degree. Sycamore wands, burst into flames when they get 'bored':

It is a quirk of these handsome wands that they may combust if allowed to become ‘bored’, and many witches and wizards, settling down into middle age, are disconcerted to find their trusty wand bursting into flame in their hand as they ask it, one more time, to fetch their slippers. 

(from Pottermore)

Hazel wands die with their masters:

so devoted to its owner that it often ‘wilts’ (which is to say, it expels all its magic and refuses to perform, often necessitating the extraction of the core and its insertion into another casing, if the wand is still required) at the end of its master’s life

(from Pottermore)

So I think it's completely in line with what we know about wands that Harry's wand would get protective when something in Voldemort's magic feels off due to the unfamiliar wand. On the same page about wand woods holly wands are said to be very volatile and protective, so the behavior fits its personality. I think Harry's wand is protective of him and acts up to protect him when it recognizes it needs to. Voldemort and Harry's connection along with Voldemort using a different wand registered to the holly wand as a threat it needs to protect against.

TL;DR

Harry's wand recognized Voldemort as a kin of Harry. Voldemort's wand is its own kin, and therefore not a threat in OotP. The moment Voldemort, whom Harry's wand now recognizes, used an unfamiliar wand (Lucius' wand) Harry's wand registered him and the unfamiliar wand as a threat and reacted to protect Harry. The magic flames shot out were its own, not Voldemort's sponged-up magic.

At least, that's my theory.

[imagine-silk]

i feel like varric is a classic platonic yandere.

do NOT fuck with his friends thank you.

》Honestly he's already halfway there. Also I'm gonna use a Adaar non!inquisitor.

》This has been so long in the making I am sorry TTMTT

He does a lot for his friends. He makes sure Merrill is unbothered by paying off people, even going so far as to pay people as pseudo bodyguards. Helped Anders stay hidden underground and stocked. As much as he teased Carver he made sure prices at the shops he went were more affordable, if you catch my drift. And at the Conclave he shut his mouth at the end of the story. The champion of Kirkwall vanished in the wind. Lie by omission.

Something about you though clicked in his head and rang it like a bell ten-fold. He would die for his friends, yes, but he would kill for you.

A Tal-Vashoth mercenary who was stranded. The reason you were working with them was to cover a debt you owed. So when your company died and you were the only survivor you knew they would tax you for it. There was no doubt they would keep you working for the rest of your life, no matter how long or short it may be. But the so-called Inquisition was housing the homeless and faithful. That included you because going back wasn't an option.

Cassandra used you to help detain Varric so when she saw you among the people she sniffed you out as not a refugee. She was going to throw you out but Trevelyan stopped her and offered you shelter in exchange for work.

It's a funny thing, you were the one to seek him out. You almost tripped over him and ended up jumping over him. He was always a sucker for interesting introductions. The next time you were going to apologize for how you treated him in his detainment.

He quickly realized you were seeking him out because he was a constant to you who never ever showed you ill will. That was the slope to madness.

Going out of his way to talk you was received as well as he thought it would, you were basically vibrating in your seat. After a few times of hearing his stories at the pub you realized what he meant when he said he was a liar, but you told him you found it funny.

He heard someone in Haven dragging the 'Mercenary Qunari' through the mud. See as there was a grand total of seven Qunari at Haven he knew who he was talking about. Suddenly they got the worst chores to do, separately.

Other than him you're pretty isolated. All your friends were dead, no family, and the people who wanted you also wanted you as a slave. For some reason that didn't make him want to make you some friends like he did for Merrill. Your time was his.

You making friends was by no means illegal but he would interfere. Maybe he needs you to read the newest chapter of his murder serial. Or somehow they get extra shifts that make them keep moving. He will never pull the 'I need some company' card but if you see him struggling he won't turn away like he would with others.

After Haven goes down he gets more serious in his attempts to help but also to keep you out of the limelight. The more he gets involved in the Inquisitor's inner circle the more he keeps an eye on you. There is nothing you do he doesn't know about, nowhere you get deployed he didn't allow.

At Skyhold you feel like he's the only real person you can go to and he does his best to reinforce that feeling. "Remember; you always got this friend in your corner."

Cole knows about all of this but because you are happy and so is Varric he doesn't interfere. He does say something to Varric about how this friendship feels different to him, more intense, but Varric dismisses it.

If Hawke is saved he introduces you to them and you two hit it off, Varric guiding the conversation as smoothly as it could go. After Hawke will remark to him in private how he seems very invested in you and he doesn't seem to want to go back to Kirkwall like they thought he would. He dismisses it. If Hawke was left in the Fade he is devastated, truly. When you go to console him he allows it to happen and he doesn't try to use this against you even if it would be really easy. He would let this one go unspoiled.

At the end of it all and he goes back to Kirkwall he takes you there. You might think he asked you but there was never any room for you to deny it. Taking down a Qunari quietly wasn't too difficult for a rogue like him. You would have been asleep in ten minutes and onboard in eight. When you get there you are basically confined to his estate. You're not locked in but he tells you not to go certain places and it's most of Kirkwall. You can go to the Hanged Man and everyone in there knows not to try and hassle you in any way. If they do at least twenty people will stop them.

[More when the new game comes out]

[hekateinhell]

I just need to get something off my chest real quick, there's really no need to read this unless you want to because you're bored lmao.

So I used to be really good at answering the asks I got. I wouldn't say I answered all of them, but I think overall I had a good ratio for a long time! And I loved it! I think the asks feature is the best thing that tumblr has to offer as a social media platform (god knows just about everything else sucks).

I loved getting asks and answering them and it's a great way to talk to others in our little fandom bubbles and trade thoughts and insights with one another. My mental health did take quite a few hits in the past several months, and part of that was real life (school, sickness, death in the family) and part of that was bullshit fandom drama.

But it just occurred to me yesterday that the reason I'm nowhere near as prolific in answering the asks I get is because I have always put so much effort into putting disclaimers behind all my meta, walking on eggshells so people won't throw tantrums every time I share an opinion they don't like.

And you know what? That just made me an nervous, erratic person afraid of her own tumblr shadow. The thought of having to do all the work to put ten thousand disclaimers behind everything I say so some asshole won't vague me because I accidentally hurt their feelings just made me not want to reply to anything at all. It's fucking exhausting having to think of every scenario in which people might interpret whatever you're saying (about fictional characters may I remind you) in the worst light possible.

In the end all that time and effort I put into censoring myself—because I try to be a nice person, I don't want anyone to feel bad because of me, regardless of the fact that that's been never my intention—in the end none of that mattered! There's people that have been vaguing me for almost two years now and it's not like I go seeking out this information but it's a small fandom and I stumble over it on another blog or some shit every once in a while.

Agonizing over whether or not some random is going to interpret everything I say in the worst possible faith and have a fit on main about my shit takes and make a block list of people who interact with my posts is just so stupid honestly, and trying to censor myself didn't do me a shred of good. People still regularly call me names and insult my intelligence because of the characters I ship, the meta I write, and the kinks I enjoy talking about. It doesn't even matter if I've been active recently or not, they're still mad about stuff I said ages ago! I can't win!

So from now on I'm just to do my best to break this depressing old habit and be online without being apologetic and diminishing my own opinions, answer asks however the hell I want without feeling obligated to coddle a bunch of grown ass adults, and if people want to cry about it, there's a box of tissues in the corner. Go nuts. ♥️

[viridiave]

❤️💚💀 for the ask game 👀👀

Hi Sly!! Thanks for the ask!! Gonna assume this is about the 8path games lmao

❤️: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

I'm not sure tbh - rather than mischaracterized I think Ochette tends to be handled carelessly? And it kind of frustrates me that this isn't COMPLETELY the fandom's fault, because canon doesn't really treat her much better despite having good potential. There's a lot about Ochette's character that I wish was explored on a deeper level, like her general philosophy on forming ties and using her love of food for something deeper than a quirk of her character - they ALMOST had it with how her Chapter 3 ended, but to me she didn't amount to being much more than like. The Christian kid in Filipino movies who tells the adults to stop fighting because it's silly (if you know, you know).

Other than Ochette I think Ogen gets bad credit sometimes too. Like I get that logistically speaking his license should be revoked but honestly looking at Alfyn's Chapter 3 and what he's supposed to represent to Alfyn, he WORKS - he's a jaded man whose ideals were shaken and this drove him down a morally complicated route, using his talents to render judgement as he sees fit. He's someone who clashes with Alfyn (who would beat the hell out of thugs if he really needs to but still ultimately turn the other cheek and heal them once he gets everything he needs) on a fundamental level - something that Alfyn was bound to face EVENTUALLY. I don't think Alfyn's Chapter 3 (and really. Alfyn's story in general) would have worked nearly as well without him and Miguel together.

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

Damn I can't even pick who my favorite is. But I guess if I REALLY had to say something, I think how Crick's devotion to Temenos tends to be portrayed misses the mark on his relationship to him. Vice-versa too if I'm gonna be particularly nitpicky about things. As much as I enjoy Temenos and Crick's dynamic, there's a lot more broiling underneath the surface between them both - one such thing is like. The deeper implications and meaning behind Crick's devotion to the Sanctum Knights and why he's so quick to defend its name. We KNOW he wasn't raised in faith, faith saved HIM - and this does a LOT of mean things to his psyche. What Temenos does to him is cruel and tough but ultimately NECESSARY. I'd like to see more turbulence between them, that's honestly what makes their relationship so interesting to me - not because Temenos is some forbidden unknown that enters Crick's life, but because Temenos plays an active part in SHATTERING everything that was keeping Crick afloat in the years following him abandoning his old life.

Edit: on the Temenos doing cruel things bit I mostly refer to his subtler attempts at breaking Crick's rose-tinted view of the Church - starting with himself and the role of Inquisitor. Temenos is kind of the beginning of Crick's existential destruction and the catalyst for his rebirth and growth, if I had to put it to poetic words

💀: If you had to choose one major character to die, who would you choose?

Okay damn this is a hard question. Am I allowed to think about this in a postgame context. Because my honest answer would be either Cyrus or Temenos - like don't get me wrong, I love both of them to bits, but in my brain it just makes sense to me that out of their respective parties, they'd be the first ones to kick the bucket? It's hard to explain but if I was gonna kill anyone off in a fanfic they'd definitely be the easiest ones to come up with a reason for.

Cyrus I'm picking because I just think that regardless of how selfless anyone else in the party could be, in a life or death situation - he'd be the quickest one to make the hard decision, if he thinks that's the best solution to the problem at hand. Temenos more or less has the same reasoning for me but for him it'd also just be so much meaner to have him watch everyone ELSE die first, so I feel like in a script he'd die first just to spite my expectations.

[theflyindutchwoman]

I know Angela and Aaron are often considered as the captain of the Chenford Ship (and for good reasons)… But in some ways, I feel this title should go to Grey : he's the one who made this ship possible. Who had a hand in getting Tim and Lucy together. Because Lucy almost wasn't assigned to Tim... if Commander West had had his way. Instead, Grey ignored him. He saw how these two could learn from one another right from the start. And he was correct in his assessment. Which is also why his first suggestion for an aide was Lucy. He couldn't have foreseen how their relationship would evolve, of course. But their initial partnership is what made Chenford who they are. It's what gave their relationship a solid foundation.

And when these two idiots were being… well idiots, Grey was still the driving force that shook things up and ended the status quo. He made them ride together again when honestly, Tim could have managed a day without an aide. But this situation forced them to face their awkwardness and to face their feelings. And when Tim and Lucy were both hiding their relationship, Grey was again the one who paired them together which gave them the necessary push to disclose their relationship. Because, let's be real, Nyla and Angela didn't need Aaron for the stakeout that day. As it is, he barely had anything to do.

And in a way, that's probably why Grey's influence is easy to forget : he never said anything directly. But he had to suspect. He saw Tim's desperation when they found Lucy. Just like he saw Lucy's looks at Angela's wedding. When Tim turned down his offer, he knew it was for Lucy. He barely blinked an eye when he found himself roped into their shenanigans and just agreed to play the umpire. And he had to have read the report when they found Chris - Angela may not have been the only one curious as to what Tim was doing in Lucy's apartment… But, suspicious or not, the fact is he never called them out and it just shows how much faith he had in them. Because, as their supervisor, his leadership could have been questioned if something had gone wrong. Especially if he had an inkling and didn't act. Instead, he trusted them and gave them the time and space to figure things out. The only time he came close to intervene, was after their first date. But even then, he never asked directly for an explanation or anything. He simply tried to warn them of the potential consequences by using Aaron and Celina as a cover. I have no doubt that he was suspicious of what was going on by that point - he basically admitted it - but he also didn't want to force them to disclose their relationship until they were ready to do so.

And even now, he still shows how he has a high regard for them. He let them work together. He assigned Tim as Lucy's case officer for her latest undercover op despite the potential conflict of interest. He was even keeping an eye on Tim when he was getting uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation when they all met Lucy for a sitrep. And God knows how long he had to wait for Tim to come back from his meeting with Lucy in the laundry room...

| Chenford &… Sergeant Wade Grey

[asexxxualauthor]

RWBY Rewrite: Change

[We focus in on Ruby, slowly coming back to consciousness on the floor. She groans as she slowly pushes herself up, dazed and confused.]

Ruby: "N-ngh...h-huh? Where am...I..."

[Ruby drifts off as her vision focuses—she's in a room of some lavish building, and just a few feet away from her is a large table, behind which are sitting a few figures. Figures she recognizes. Pyrrha. Ozpin. Oscar. Ironwood. And right in the middle of them is Neo...and Roman Torchwick.]

Torchwick: "Ah, Red! So good to see you again! Come, take up a seat—we were just about to get started."

[Ruby stares dumbfounded, taking a step closer. Neo is smiling almost sweetly at her, while seeming to steep something in a dainty tea cup.]

Ruby: "How...what is this? How are you here?"

Torchwick: "Oh yes, bet you weren't expecting me, were you? My darling Neo has quite a way with her illusions these days, isn't that right, Neo?"

[Torchwick gently caress' Neo's cheek, and Neo leans back into him.]

Torchwick: "Honestly, I ought to thank you—if it weren't for the insufferable rage you've given her, she might not have ever reached this level of control...and all it took to get her there was losing everything."

[Ruby, aghast, takes a step back]

Ruby: "I-I—what? Because of me?"

[Torchwick's tone turns cold, and he plucks a teacup from off the table.]

Torchwick: "Of course. I mean, that's what you do, isn't it, Red? You ruin lives—everyone around you, even those that put their faith in you, you ruin."

[He begins to walk around the table. Slowly, one by one, the others around the table speak up.]

Pyrrha: "You could've saved me, if you were just a bit faster. But you didn't, and now I'm dead because of you."

Ozpin: "I had such high hopes for you as my student, and now you've gone and let another kingdom fall."

Oscar: "All I ever wanted was to live up to your expectations, and all you've ever done is shove me aside and judge me."

Ironwood: "We could've worked together, saved all of Atlas and Mantle, but you had to be stubborn and refuse to listen to reason."

[Ruby, overwhelmed, grabs the sides of her head and shakes.]

Ruby: "N-no! No, stop it, you're wrong!"

Torchwick: "Oh, but they're right, little Red. Every single word they say—you know in your heart just how true their words are."

[Torchwick scoffs, lazily swirling the teacup before him as he finally makes his way behind her. He holds the teacup out, showing her the Ever After leaf steeping in it.]

Torchwick: "You know, it's funny. This land is one that deludes its denizens with the notion that people can change. That you can work to achieve your goals, your purpose, and become something new, something better than you were before. But you and I both know the truth, Red."

[Torchwick rudely tosses the teacup to the floor, shattering it and spilling the contents. As one, the others around the table other than Neo stand up—the puppet master choosing to sit back and watch. Torchwick sneers and lifts his cane.]

Torchwick: "People like us, Red—we never change!"

[All at once, the five illusions rush at Ruby and start fighting her.]

[Insert epic fight scene here]

[Scene cuts to outside the mansion, and WBYJ arriving. Yang, who has been leading the group so far, points out ahead.]

Yang: "There! That's Neo's symbol, Ruby must be in there!"

Weiss: "Then let's get inside—hurry!"

Jaune: "Right—Juniper! Onward!"

[Jaune's jackalope steed bucks up and rushes down the hill, carrying the group to the mansion's front doors.]

[Scene cuts back to Ruby as she's in the middle of the fight—she tries to dodge an attack and runs right into another, throwing her back against the table, right by Neo watching in amusement. Torchwick sneers as he twirls his cane.]

Torchwick: "My my, seems little Red's finally met her match. Nowhere to run this time, sweetheart—you're getting what's been coming to you for the past two goddamn years."

[Ruby, panting, looks around for some sort of escape, but there is none—the other illusions are closing in the circle around her. There's nowhere to go...and then her gaze lands on one of the untouched teacups in front of Neo.]

[A replay of Curious explaining Ascension plays in her head, and we see her ball up her fist on the edge of the table.]

Ruby: "Maybe not...but there's still one way out."

[Ruby immediately snatches the cup up off of the table. Neo jerks back in surprise, thinking she was about to lunge at her, and the Illusions rush in to protect their creator. Ruby takes the chance to whirl a short distance away, panting from exhaustion.]

Ruby: "I'm sorry Yang...I don't know what I'll become, but I hope it's better than this."

[Neo, realizing too late what's happening, finally stands up. Torchwick lunges out to Ruby.]

Torchwick: "Wait! Stop!"

[As tears roll down her cheeks, Ruby knocks back the full cup of tea, the multicolored liquid spilling down the sides of her mouth. As she lowers the cup, the doors to the mansion finally crash open as the cavalry arrives.]

Yang: "Ruby? Ruby!! Ruby, we're here to save...you..."

[Ruby stumbles a bit—we see her vision start to swim and shimmer with colors. She looks to her sister.]

Ruby: "Yang...?"

[Yang takes a hesitant step closer, reaching out to her sister.]

Yang: "Ruby...what...what did you do..."

Ruby: "I...I'm sorry...I couldn't..."

[Ruby can't finish the sentence—suddenly her body goes slack, eyes roll back, and she drops to the ground, which seems to swallow her up in roots and vines as the tree accepts her bid for Ascension. The last thing we see is Yang, followed close by Weiss and Blake, rushing towards the spot where she disappeared.]

Yang: "RUBY!!"

[Credits roll]

[hazelnut-u-out]

EPISODE REVIEW TIMEEE:

(contains spoilers for "a rick in king mortur's mort")

i actually really loved that episode. i've been so fucking starved for morty content that this was really nice. i loved the callbacks, parallels, and contrasts that were drawn pretty clearly between this episode and "the vat of acid episode." TVOAE is actually one of the episodes that makes me the sickest to my stomach. it's so unsettling and bone chilling to watch.

this episode, on the other hand... this felt earned.

(perhaps because of my morty bias and the fact that i've gotten basically no morty this season, buuuuut...) i'm giving this one a 10/10???

wow... didn't think i'd go that far, but uhhhh... yeah. i went there.

it just mastered the art of parallels, callbacks, and development beautifully.

my initial thoughts, as always:

(this is a long one… yk how i am with morty…)

-morty acted so much like early-series rick at the beginning that i was honestly a little bit ready to accept that part of his character progression is becoming a mini-rick. to be honest, i still see that being a possibility, but this was... not exactly that.

he still took the sword for a reason early-series rick would have instead of a classic "these guys seem cool" morty reason ("oh shit these other guys want the sword so now i want the sword, even if i'm jaded and cynical about it"), and it almost felt like the "rick and morty" dynamic was flipped a little bit- as in, morty being the rigid jerk and rick being berated verbally for a second. that being said, morty was still childishly excited about being a medieval knight and it was cleared up that morty was only being rude to rick initially as a trauma response. he expected rick to abuse him, but that wasn't the case. when he realized he was safe, he let his guard down.

(look at him sulking in line awww)

-RICK USING MORTY PET NAMES. RICK USING MORTY PET NAMES.

i think a little part of me melted when he called morty "lil junebug."

SHUT THE FUCK UP- i am so unwell. so mentally normal about that.

i genuinely cannot believe that's a canon nickname rick uses for morty. that. is. so. cute.

just the sweetest lil pet name.

(plus grandpa rick putting a hand on his lil junebug's shoulder, because why not?)

-OMFG RICK APOLOGY?? like genuinely?? oh my god??

i mean... that was still kinda dickish lol. "i'm gonna intentionally do the least amount possible to actually change, but make you feel like i am."

you know what, though? bc of the fact that this is essentially a follow-up to TVOAE, i'd say the entire premise of this ep WAS change, and highlighted that... so i'm giving the undercut a pass.

-i also liked the subtle callback to the "auto park feature" with the sword "fighting deacon frost." i liked that morty didn't think it was cool, but it didn't trigger some insane reaction in rick.

he's just like, "i dunno... i thought it was cool... :(" and he moves on.

-"holy shit, this is who i am to this kid?!... i've gotta fix this!"

and then he... actually puts in the work to better a real human connection instead of manipulating morty to keep him pliant?

wow.

-like i said, rick is still being a fucking dick here and there in the convo, but i'm genuinely proud of him.

-i'm also so happy for morty. this must have been such a healing experience for him. god. he's been through so much. shoutout to the writers for not putting him through more emotional abuse for fun.

-another bit that made me think that morty is slowly developing into a little rick was the moment where he uses a science lecture to ruin the knights' faith in their culture. during that whole sequence, he does sound a lot like rick...

-SPACE BETH CHILLING WITH HER GIRLFRIEND, GUYS.

-RICK BRAGGING ON MORTY ABOUT THE LITTLE LECTURE! THE HANDS ON THE SHOULDERS! EVERYTHING!

this reminds me of an ask i answered a little bit ago where i talked about rick being morty's primary caregiver. this episode felt a lot more like a father/son type development than a grandfather/grandson.

i get that the rest of the family was proud of morty, but rick was the one saying "hey! this is the little dude i'm raising! look at him go!"

-i was a little nervous that morty was going to kill/let rick kill the knights, which would have meant that he's veeeery similar to rick now, but he chose not to. that was a nice touch.

-(i thought the little moment where jerry was like "what's happening? appliances are breaking that i haven't touched!" was funny hehe..)

-i thought it was sweet that rick got the meeting's attention just to give morty the floor.

-i wasn't a fan of morty begging rick to stop supporting him, though. it felt like punching the underdog character with his own fist, but i guess i like it better in hindsight because it shows yet another trauma response. morty doesn't trust himself AT ALL. he thinks that by doing this his way, something will inevitably go wrong. damn.

-i also liked the little details about how witchy rick can be, haha. first, we see him ACTUALLY bend down and read the bones himself, then the witchcraft penis? that was a nice touch. rick definitely has an interest in witchcraft.

-(one of my favorite songs as a kid was "ruby tuesday," and i got so excited that the montage song was a cover of it, but... alas... no.)

(i just thought mort looked cute here lol)

-THE HUG? (of course they had to make it less heavy with the "we're gonna make your dick so fake," comment, but it's so nice to see rick hug morty and try to calm him down.)

-TELEPATHY? WHAT THE FUCK? THAT THREW ME SO HARD I GOT WHIPLASH.

-shit, man....

"i love you."

"i love you, too..."

-as soon as morty asked rick if he was a robot/clone, i was on the edge of my seat, chewing my lip, biting my nails, pulling my hair- waiting for the reveal that he was, but...

they didn't fake us out! hey! :)

(will say that the "this family has enough clones and robots in it" comment did make me a lil nervous, bc we KNOW of a clone, but... uhhh... who's the "robot"?)

-one of my biggest issues with "rick: a mort well-lived" was that marta stayed in the game, meaning that the only part of morty that heard rick say he loved and respected him didn't join with our morty. it bothered me that our morty didn't get to hear that.

i'm so happy that they fixed that this ep. MORTY HEARD RICK IS PROUD OF HIM. MORTY HEARD RICK LOVES HIM. i hope this is the "morty gets the grandpa he deserves" beginning. i'm loving it, and hope it's far more than just 22% of the time.

overall, AHMAZING EPISODE! kinda sad we had to wait until the end of the season to get a decent in-depth exploration of morty, his current character, and his reaction to rick's healing, but i'm so glad my boy got his apologies. he got his "i love you." he got his "i'm proud of you." he got is hug.

he got his autonomy.

congrats, lil junebug.

hope ya get more <3

[theamityelf]

Ngl, I want to see an interaction between Angie and Junko so badly. (Warning that this post is going to mention cults a lot. Also warning that it's going to be kind of OOC because it's a brainstorm.)

Specifically, imagining if Angie and Junko were both at Hope's Peak at the same time. Angie being almost the only one who knows what Junko's up to.

If we're taking in-game characterization at face value, maybe they're both starting different ideological/spiritual movements at the same time. They cross paths every now and then, and Angie's like, "You won't win, you know~. God has chosen this school to be a place of good, not evil. 😊"

Junko could play coy, but first of all if we're counting the anime as canon it seems like she was pretty much never not being obviously evil, and second of all even if we're not counting the anime as canon I could see her making the calculation that she has nothing to lose engaging with Angie semi-honestly, if they're alone. So maybe she goes, "You think everyone you sway to your side believes in the same idea of good and evil as you? How naive. As long as you teach them not to think for themselves, you're priming them for me. You think you're taking them out of play, but really you're just making them more vulnerable."

Angie giggles. "You're so silly, senpai! Angie never told anyone not to think for themselves." With a joyous but penetrating gaze, she continues, "If your goal is to hate yourself half as much as God loves you, you'll never succeed, you know!"

Junko could go a lot of ways; she could go Sad Mode and say, "I wish I could hate myself. A feeling like that might be kind of exciting." Or she might go Cute Mode and say, "Aww! I've never had an underclassman try to psychoanalyze me before!" Or neither of those. Honestly, I'm writing this post mostly because I'm trying to brainstorm how Junko might react to Angie, on the premise that she doesn't just blow her off as insignificant. Both Junko and Angie are characterized as extremely competent at seeing a person's innermost wants and vulnerabilities. It would be cool to have them see through each other. (Though of course, obligatory "But Angie didn't see through [so-and-so]," and arguably the same for Junko.)

My very first thought was of someone like Mukuro asking Junko, "Is Yonaga creating her own cult a problem for us?"

And Junko sarcastically going, "Oh you're right, how can I possibly sow corruption into an extreme religious movement?"

But it's fully reasonable to say that outside of a killing game Angie just kind of wouldn't start a cult because she wouldn't feel threatened enough to do that. I view Angie as a cult survivor who exhibited cult behaviors in the killing game because she didn't know another way to express her fear without interpreting it as a lack of faith, so a more healing version of her school days would have her unlearning some of the stuff the was raised with (And, if I were keeping with my own personal headcanons, beginning to engage with her own culture outside the paradigm of the cult that appropriated it.) and being able to identify the threat of despair earlier than some because she knows what to look for.

It would still be cool for her and Junko to talk, though.

[vaalthus]

Convergence Part 2 (spoilers)

Let's get into it.

Honestly, I fell in love with this full synchronization animation alone and I can see from the quality, as well as everything that comes after, is the reason why the release had to be delayed.

Truth be told, prior to this release, I was expecting Jaania's fully synchronized form to be quite the visual abomination. What with her soul being in tatters and the circumstances regarding Hesperrhodos' creation. So imagine my surprise to find a certain level of beauty in this form and it's one that perfectly encapsulates Jaania's character.

The way I see it, if Uaanta's transformation was the last stand of a hero offering up all her devotion and faith to her gods through her body and Remthalas' transformation was that of an eldritch monstrosity puppeteering its slave, then Jaania's transformation is that of a scarred woman, hence her face scar being highlighted in the transition, frantically control the order of the very world itself. Her many hands meant either guide or cut away whatever she deems fit in her eternal era of perfection.

I like how in spite of the noble intentions that's clearly driving her, these few lines really reveal the egotism that's mixed up in her reasoning. It's "her" perfect world we stand in the way in and it's our fault for wanting to stop her from a plan that could doom the very world she wants so desperately to protect. And that is reason enough determine that we don't have a future worth preserving.

I love how Draco tried to pull the same little attack on Jaania that they did to Voyna, but she just doesn't even react to it. Never change little fella.

The entire boss fight that ensues after this is truly something. Very thematically fitting in terms of Jaania's character while also somehow managing to be a step up above even the last one in part one. I'd say in spite of it being elevated to the complexity of the Inn at the Edge of Time, it still felt pretty manageable even as a Chaosweaver, so I get the thrill of kicking Jaania's butt as a weaver twice.

In addition, I feel like a lot of the pop up text and status effects that Jaania has, or gives, really cement my thoughts in that she is rather similar to Notha's character, but unlike Notha, who existed on the side of Doom/Chaos, Jaania is the epitome of Order and Destiny. Which makes her vision for Lore all the more terrifying when she shows us what a world of perfect order looks like to her because it's a complete nightmare for the Hero.

A frozen stagnant world, forever kept in stasis. One that keeps everyone from ever being hurt again but one that also keeps people from growing as they should in this world.

Fortunately, we once again prove we are more than a match for Jaania rejecting her delusion of control.

And honestly, this just as much of the sorry sight I expected to be. All that time and effort she put into the Rose, to trying, in her very misguided way, to protect everyone and everything and it's all down the drain. Her hair is almost completely white now, meaning her soul is on the very brink and the people that were sacrificed along the way have essentially been wasted.

One of these days I would like to take a further look into how the Hero views, well, heroism and how they've struggled with because it's an interesting sight.

I'm not sure what comes next for Jaania at this moment. She didn't die in her fight but it's clear her soul is not in good condition anymore. Even if she survives the trek back to surface, the Magesterium made it pretty clear they wanted her in their custody for judgement. Not only that, the judgement that remains back home in Greenguard for her actions and that of the Rose. Even if she's kept from any harsh punishment, where does she go from here? Will she sit in a wallow in misery? Try to atone for what she's done, provided she can be made to see the error of her ways? Perhaps Kara could help with that but beyond that I'm not sure what lies ahead for Jaania but I'm curious as to what comes next. I am satisfied with this conclusion.

However, there's that one little wrinkle to deal with.

THIS BUTTHEAD IS STILL BREATHING AND ABOUT TO DO THE THING!!!

....AND HE'S JACKED. I mean seriously I know the experiments made him strong as hell but good lord! I suppose it makes sense it would end this way though as our band, and even the hero, has no means of actually subduing or harming Akanthus and so it's a race to ensuring that bomb does not go off in the Mana Core as there is still no telling what it might do to the Core though my guess is still that it might corrupt it with doom energy.

As for Akanthus himself, I'm not sure. It's starting to feel like he might actually just straight up and try and bathe in the core itself to connect with it at this point. Either way, this is ending in a titan fight. >:)

We are soon to reach the end of this saga Loreians. Get ready.

[beardedmrbean]

Just say a post saying Islam and Judaism never cause as much damage as Christianity did….

This person never looked up what the Hindus history with Islam was. For they will put out the mess the Catholic Church cause to their country.

From what I read, the conflicts between Muslims and Hindus make the ones between Protestants and Catholics look tame when it comes to hatred.

It's a thing in western education, we focus on the western world and not much else.

Most everything I learned in school that involved Islam was the Crusades and honestly there was very little about them other than that they happened.

I learned the Ottoman Empire existed and then after WWI it didn't anymore, Barbary pirates were a thing and one of the big reasons that the US decided to have a full time navy.

I didn't learn about the arabization of Persia when the Muslims swept in and displaced a bunch of the native population of what is now Iran and managed to take a indigenous religion that at it's peak had 40-50 million followers and well.

Persecution of Zoroastrians

Persia was Assyria btw, they and Rome didn't get along on general principal and Christians weren't so nice to them either, not to the extent the Muslims were but still not nice, fair amount of fighting.

Jews managed to avoid annihilation because there were lots of them elsewhere, Babylon had seen to that, Assyria let many of them go home but not all, then came Greece and Rome who decided that last rebellion was the last straw and scattered them again, which lasted like 1800 years.

Here's some ways you might have heard of it too,

History of slavery in the Muslim world

This shit, I didn't learn anything about.

There's zero doubt that Christianity has a big body count attached to it, also managed to almost or completely wipe out so nobody is innocent there.

Judaism has never been big enough to cause a large amount of trouble, that strip of land called Israel is not quite all of their ancient territory that was stolen from them, some stuff on the other side of sea of Galilee and what not but not a terribly numerous people at an point so I don't think they could square even with Christianity or Islam.

But saying Islam isn't at the same level or worse than Christianity when it comes down to it is ridiculously ignorant, hell earlier this century Islam was causing damage with isis destroying priceless artifacts and trying to erase the history of the territory that they had claimed for their caliph and please don't say they're not real Muslims, it's a cop out and they'd say the same about the faithful in Morocco.

[itsbenedict]

Games I Played In 2023 And Whether Or Not I Thought They Were Good (Part 4/4)

This last part, I'm going to go over the games I played but didn't finish in 2023, for various reasons. None of these because they were bad, really- I'm still in the middle of most of them. Just didn't have time! But here's my impressions anyway:

[1] - [2] - [3] - 4

Fire Emblem: Vision Quest

This is a hack of Sacred Stones that I played just because I had a hankering for Fire Emblem and wasn't going to stoop to playing Heroes or Engage. It delivers pretty well, I think! It's challenging and fun, if a little dull on the story end.

The main innovation here is... just, an atypical willingness to give the enemy's rank-and-file mooks special weapons, actually. The map design is generally really satisfying and challenging, because... you really can't just throw your strongest guys into the middle of the enemy and let them crash against their defense stat. Enemies routinely carry things like weapon-triangle-reversing -reaver or -slayer weapons, or hammers and rapiers and things that deal massive bonus damage, or these unique-to-the-hack gem weapons that double down on weapon triangle effects. You've got to be really mindful of exactly which units you're putting yours in range of...

...but you can't just take it slow, because almost every map has some kind of timed objective, and you've got to be advancing at a decent clip or else lose out on rewards. Moreover, you've got to be careful about which enemies you kill, because... the shop at base never sells better than D/C-tier weapons, enemies rarely drop weapons, and you almost never receive gold as a part of the story progression. Your only real source of income is using the party thief to steal gems from enemies that don't drop them on death, and she's pretty fragile, so every map has a secondary objective of "nab all the stuff you can sell for money so you don't literally run out of weapons to use because you're broke". You really need to approach every map with a plan.

It's not... great on story and character, honestly. It's doing something, but the character writing's just a touch too flat to carry the story. It's faithful to other GBA fire emblems in that respect, I guess- it's maybe a cut above those, for the most part? Doesn't really have an eye for comedy to give texture to the serious-mans-fight-serious-war stuff. I think it's trying to do, like, a subversion thing, where the hook is that you play as the map-1 Generic Ugly Bandits, forced by circumstance into heroism? But they don't really lean into that enough.

oh also the main character's name is "Storch". which sounds like something the Game Grumps would name Link in a zelda game.

Void Stranger

Man, Zero really wanted me to like this game. And, like, I kinda appreciate what it's doing, it's clever, but I just...

Void Stranger, on the surface, is a gauntlet of a few hundred block-pushing puzzles.

It has a unique gimmick where you can use a magic wand to pick up floor tiles and place them elsewhere, which it uses in a lot of really clever ways- the puzzles are definitely well-designed and reward you for sneaky lateral-thinking solutions. But it's a gauntlet of a few hundred block-pushing puzzles.

It's clearly doing some crazy mind-blowing The Witness or Tunic-esque mechanics-hidden-in-plain-sight stuff where the nature of the game transforms when you realize the significance of that one strange geometric shape, or learn a bizarre rules interaction that opens up what's possible. But it's a gauntlet of a few hundred block-pushing puzzles.

It's got a story- but I put like ten hours into the game without it managing to hook me. There's some mystique to the true nature of the mysterious videogame dungeon you're exploring that I never learned much about- but also, every few dozen block-pushing puzzles, you'll get to take a brief rest and watch (or sometimes play) a brief cutscene wherein the player character is serving as handmaiden to a headstrong rebellious disney princess type. It didn't really manage to go anywhere interesting after a gauntlet of 160-something block-pushing puzzles, but maybe does after a few thousand more.

Also, there's a lives system, and no save system, and if you run out of lives you have to start the gauntlet of hundreds of block-pushing puzzles over again. Which also happens if you [spoilers], or accidentally [spoilers], and I'm given to understand that the real game is the really cool metagame of doing multiple runs of the game over and over after learning new mechanics and secret truths about the game's structure. After the fourth time I died slash accidentally triggered a reset by screwing around and lost all my progress, I lost patience with replaying the same gauntlet of a few hundred block-pushing puzzles and dropped it.

Sorry, Zero- I just don't have the patience for it. You should probably just tell me about all the cool shit it does.

Pokemon Infinity

This is a Pokémon fangame! It's... kind of nothing to write home about- it's just polished and has good QoL and a lot of fun regional forms. I'm pretty far in- beat the last not-a-gym-leader and am about to embark on the bog-standard Evil Team Wants To Do Some Kind Of Apocalypse Evil By Controlling A Legendary Pokémon So Go Take Some Time And Stop Them Before Doing The Elite Four segment of the game.

The thing that stands out about it is how much it feels like it really could just be an entry in the mainline franchise from an alternate timeline. As mentioned, it's very polished, and the writing has exactly the same kind of inoffensively uninteresting tone as most real games in the series. Very authentic, with a lot of effort put into nailing the feel.

(The only big mechanical addition is the way it does HMs- they exist and control the progression, but you don't actually have to teach them to your pokemon to use them on the field. You get Fly pretty early on, and as long as you have a pokemon that could use Fly, you can just Fly with them from the party menu without wasting a moveslot. Very appreciated.)

Unnamed Space Idle

Ugh. I'm only really posting about this as a mea culpa- I kicked the idle game habit for all of a month and a half before getting hooked on another one. This one's annoyingly well-designed, with a shitton of different mechanics and ways to optimize your build for different objectives. There's always some low-hanging progression fruit you can pick by respeccing some stuff, and it's paced out to introduce new systems the instant the existing ones start getting old. The balancing and timing of it is pretty immaculate... for the purpose of getting me to check in and waste time on it every couple hours. Huge addictive time sink- keep a safe distance.

Fate/Hollow Ataraxia

You may have noticed that the title bullet point is not a link to a store page or something, unlike the rest. That's not because I don't want you to find the game- it's because much like Fate/Stay Night, the sequel Hollow Ataraxia is fucking impossible to find a way to purchase legitimately. Big thanks to Tulip and Wise for providing me with a copy. It's a whole process.

Anyway- FHA is a sequel to FSN, which I've mentioned on here before. FSN had this whole dark and complex plot about mages fighting a secret shounen battle war except the war was sort of fake and a conspiracy and you had to figure out what was really going on... and FHA is weirdly doing the same thing, except replace "shounen battle" with "slice-of-life omake collection".

It's very strange. It's like... "hey, thanks for playing our very serious and dramatic game! now that you've done that, how about you relax with some hilarious vignettes about all your favorite characters from that game just kinda hanging out and doing wacky anime hijinks, instead of trying to kill each other? don't worry, nothing sinister is happening in the background! this is just a fun video game! don't read into it! for the love of god, DON'T REĄ̴͕͈͓̮̘̘͌̆̇͗̕̕̚D̷̡͚̰̤̱̝̰̣͙̼̙͍̬̻̈́́͛́͝͠͝ ̸̮̭̙̳̯͍̤̣͎̖̺̊̌̔̄̇̉̽̀͐͘I̶̢̛̻̦̙͚͔̻͖͙̞̺͖͑̇̈́̌̾̑͌͝N̶̢̛͙̭̫͆͆̽̑̈́̇̎͛͛̔T̴̨̨̡̰̘̮̺̝̠̬̼̗̬̝̜̼̒̋̿̔͐O̵̢̻̟̮̩̘̖̙̖͍̒̅͑́̎̏̍ͅ ̶̨̙̱̥̣̙͔͔̫̰̲͎̣̘̹̭̰̒͐̽̐̆͂̎̏̂̍̂͑̚͝I̷̢̡̧̛͙̤̠̦̖̩͂̆̈́̔͊̽͒͐̃̽͑͗͘T̵̡̨̪͕̘̲͔̮́̚͝!!̶̡̧̧̟̮̜̻͔͓̜̩̟͖̼͓͕̑͛͌̀̃̐̊̑͗̋̅̀́̔̓́͂!"

But yeah, there's a whole-ass actual sequel going on here, except the veneer you're trying to decipher the truth of is goofy romcom nonsense instead of super sugoi battle anime nonsense. It's doing a lot of sneaky stuff, and I'm pretty sure I've twigged to a couple of the big twists already, which fills so many of these scenes with delicious dramatic irony.

I haven't finished it yet, though, mainly because when I have the wherewithal for visual novels lately, I've been working through...

The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass

I mentioned I'd started on this last year, and I've now sunk over 60 hours into it and have finally managed to finish chapter one.

This VN is long, and it is dense. It's an ontological mystery type thing about people trapped in a facility where Weird Time Shit is happening... and fuck almighty they are doing everything but explaining how the Weird Time Shit works. There's a magic egg that works as a time machine, but how exactly its time travel powers work, mechanically, is the central mystery of the story. And the game just bombards you with incident after incident of weirdass time travel and teleporting going on, each more impossible than the last, and you're supposed to, like... grope around blind-men-and-the-elephant-style, using all these weird incidents as clues to how the time travel has to work.

Except, clearly, at least one of the characters, probably multiple characters, already know how the time machine works and are hiding that fact, while actively attempting to misdirect and obscure what they're doing with the time machine to try and throw off other time travelers. So the actual whodunit mystery of who- uh, murdered some people, there's murders that occur- is this whole other layer of complication where you can't exactly trust that any given instance of time machine behavior isn't some elaborate ruse.

So this is, obviously, catnip for me.

But it's taking fucking forever- I can't just read this thing and absorb it- I have to stop every five minutes and pace around the room and lay down in the dark and focus on time travel logistics for half an hour. SO MUCH insane shit happens! Like nonstop! And every time someone suggests a plan for testing or investigating the latest insane shit, that becomes the staging ground for new insane shit! It's so, so fucking complicated, and every new piece of evidence comes with a dozen caveats and additional mysteries! It's fully bonkers and it's eating my brain.

As long as it's been taking me to work through this... I feel like the game could benefit a bit from being a little slower-paced, giving the cast some room to do things other than dig themselves deeper into impossible time travel logistics from time to time. Some of this stuff needs time to settle! It's exhausting. Static and unexpressive character portraits and kinda flat dialogue writing make it all the more difficult to focus and take in what's happening, and honestly the VN format makes it kind of harder to consume. It'd be a lot easier to follow along with the logistics if, like, the game was in 3D and we could look around and see how people were moving.

Still, I'm gonna keep at this one. It's got its hooks in me and won't let go, and I'm really impressed by how meticulously it manages to lay out its stable time loops without giving the game away for this long. Wild stuff.

-

Alright, that's it! That's everything I played in 2023. I still want to go on an in-depth mega-rant about how furious I am at all the stupid little things in Horizon Forbidden West, but that's for later. For now... onward to 2024!

[1] - [2] - [3] - 4

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s3 ep7: Sacred Ground

This episode is one of the most woo-woo mystical storylines Voyager ever did, but it's not a genre that really works for Star Trek, at least not outside of Deep Space Nine. Plus, it's truly bizarre anti-science stance is honestly baffling for a science fiction show.

I didn't mind this one as a kid, but as an adult, it really doesn't hold up, on any level. First of all, using Kes as a damsel in distress is not my favorite thing. At least it was Captain Janeway who had to rescue her and not a male character, but still, if they needed a character Janeway would feel protective and motherly toward to go rescue, it could as easily have been Harry Kim. But a storyline where no one had to be the sleeping beauty damsel would have been better.

But the biggest problem I had with this episode was that this script felt like it was preaching to us to cast aside our foolish godless atheist belief in science and embrace blind belief in a mystical higher power that knows what's good for us. Which is gross in general, but doubly gross to say to Star Trek fans. For one thing, the assumption that you can't believe in science and believe in any kind of god is weird and totally wrong, and the assumption that seeking to understand something will ruin it's magic or whatever, is bizarrely backward, and literally the exact same reasoning that theocracies use to maintain their stranglehold on power.

This episode was obsessed with the idea that it's desperately important for everyone to have 'blind faith', but unquestioning loyalty to any religious doctrine is the anathema to the cooperative future that Star Trek imagines. Any idea that's set above question, beyond the reach of empirical evidence, is ripe for any charismatic, unscrupulous person to twist for their own gain and use to divide and conquer. Science, meanwhile, is not a belief system, and it's not comparable to a religion, in that science still exists, whether you believe in it or not. Science is simply observation of the world around us, and it's always struck me as odd when some religious people take offense to that. If you believe a god created the world, aren't you honoring your god by learning about their creation? Anyone who forbids or discourages learning is always trying to maintain power over others. Romanticising ignorance or blind faith, and ridiculing those who seek to learn and understand the truth is always ill-intentioned, ALWAYS. This episode natters on about how Janeway supposedly needs to find some faith, but when she expressed her absolute confidence in her ability to find a scientific explanation for everything, she was expressing faith, in her own way, but still, the supposed 'ancestral spirits' in this episode mock her, and disdain the faith she already has, just because it isn't faith in them, and their power. This story fell apart, right there.

These 'spirits' are obviously not benevolent if they'll only help people who worship them blindly, and the people on the planet absolutely were assholes to not let the Voyager crew just scan the energy field in the first place. If saving an innocent person's life would 'offend the spirits', then your spirits are assholes, dude! They don't deserve anybody's worship, considering they're happy to let someone almost die, and her whole crew worry about her, just to teach some passing strangers a lesson about how blind faith in them is the only way- and it wasn't! Science literally would have fixed it immediately! Once again, this script hurts itself in it's confusion!

I did think the part about the trials in the ritual being whatever the individual person invented for themselves was an interesting concept, since a lot of times, people do believe that they have to suffer to gain something they seek, and put themselves through needless torment. That was a much more interesting concept to explore, especially for Janeway, but it was steamrolled by the constant, condescending, holier-than-thou crap in the rest of the episode.

Having Janeway be sad she found out the scientific explanation at the end was the most ridiculous, out of character nonsense I can think of. Even if she'd have said she was glad to know, but didn't really need to this time, that would have been fine, but to have her literally be like 'boo, finding out how it works ruined the magic!!!' was the dumbest thing ever, and no scientist would think that, ever. Does the writer of this ep really have such lack of poetry in their soul that finding out the science behind a rainbow makes the rainbow less beautiful and miraculous to them? Because that's what I'm sensing from this godawful script.

There was some nice dramatic lighting, and the temple design was atmospheric, but that's about all I can say in this ep's favor.

Tl;dr: A truly bad faith take on the nature of both science and faith, that manages to be offensive toward both concepts. It wanted very hard to be deep, but it felt more like an evangelical sermon than a Star Trek episode.