#they defy and go beyond everything we know about

[mischievous-thunder]

Conquering the multiverse together

[shitpostingsapphic]

Why I don't feel disappointed by Vi's arc, but you might

I usually have pretty strong and polarizing opinions when it comes to my takes on Arcane, but this is one where I wanna open up the discussion a bit more and invite people to my perspective, and it's fine if you don't see it this way.

I think there are two primary reasons why people feel disappointed by the arc of s2 Vi. The first, being that Vi had stronger voiced concerns about the state of Zaun in the first season. The second, being that she spent the whole show wanting to be with her sister and she didn't end up getting that.

Why I actually feel fulfilled in Vi's arc has to do with these two points, and I invite you to sit with what I have to say next.

Both of these parts of Vi have to do with her fatal flaw: her neglect of self.

We know two things based on what the creators have said about the show: the theme of Arcane is the cycle of violence, and the entire show was written together, instead of season 2 being written after season 1 production. From this, I can then ask: what do the creators want to tell their audience about this message, knowing they wrote it all out together, knowing the events of season 2 were very purposeful, using Vi as a conduit for that message?

If violence is a cycle, can one person defy it? No, of course not. At the start of Vi's arc, she wants to be a person that breaks it, though. She wants to change things in Zaun, wants a better life for her sister. As season 1 continues on, she wants to pick up where she left off with Powder without truly processing the gravity of the years between them. She thinks she can hold the world on her shoulders and fix any problem that comes her way. She thinks she can use her fists to make progress, thinks she can physically reach out and create change, but it only contributes to the cycle. And that's not because she's morally in the wrong when she does so, but she doesn't grasp yet that her fists can't fix everything. Vander tries to tell her as such in act 1, and it's a lesson that goes beyond just the literal application.

Vi's tendency to try and fix everything around her leads to her neglect of self. Inevitably, when you try to change things you have no control over, it leaves wounds. It leaves a person feeling like something is deeply wrong with them. And we watch Vi go down this spiral. I actually find myself really brokenhearted watching Vi in the first 2 acts, because I think she represents a lot of us: we see pain and devastation around us, but we don't know what the right thing to do is. We try different tactics and try to fix things and are left wondering why things feel worse than how they started.

I think that's something a lot of viewers could benefit to reflect on: I think in watching a show with strong political messaging, we yearn for a message that tells us the answers to these big problems. Truthfully, most of us don't have a fucking clue what we're doing. We want change but don't know how to see it through. That includes the writers. This isn't a show about the solution to political strife. It's about the cycle of violence. It's about not knowing how to change something that's been continuous throughout history in some form.

If we put ourselves in Vi's shoes, it would eventually take a toll on us to try and change something that isn't within our ability to change. Vi can't fix the problems in Zaun. Vi can't change the way time and distance and pain has warped her sister into someone else. In season 2 act 1, she's still trying to take responsibility for things that are outside of her control. She blames herself for the way Jinx has changed and has to tell herself that the only way to fix it is to end the cycle with her own fists. She teams up with Caitlyn because she's convinced herself it's the only way she can help. She sees how violence has devastated not only Zaun but innocents in Piltover as well, and she feels responsible for it.

BUT SHE IS NOT AT FAULT. And she cannot fix it any more than she could have created it.

Perhaps people may feel Vi's arc is lacking because they wanted to see more of her involvement in the revolution of Zaun. They wanted to see her be able to change the situation with her sister and for them to live happily together. But because of the circumstances surrounding both, for Vi to do so, she would inevitably lean into her fatal flaw. She cannot do either of those things without neglecting herself. That's not who she is.

The whole point of a character arc is for someone to be a changed person from beginning to end. If Vi starts out as someone passionate about enacting change to the point of self-destruction, what would a resolution for a character like that look like?

Vi needs to choose herself. Vi needs to release herself of the responsibility of changing the world. She can't do it. There are ways to contribute to positive change that don't involve putting the world on your shoulders, and Vi has yet to put herself first in any situation. Vi choosing love is how she does it.

Amanda Overton, one of the main writers that contributed to Vi's character and the Caitlyn and Vi dynamic and relationship, said about Vi: "If she has no one left to protect, she would fall in love". If Vi finally lets go of this crutch of hers to protect, to fight, to take responsibility for things that aren't her burden to bear, she would fall in love. She would finally be able to choose something for herself.

This is why I find her arc fulfilling. I feel like it's not an arc we really see a lot. It's not every day we have a character that starts out like the classic anime slash marvel protagonist, and instead of being the person that saves the world, they accept they're not a superhero and it's okay to choose love and personal happiness.

If it applies, and you're reading this, I want you to ask yourself: are you perhaps disappointed with her arc because you expected her to be the superhero? And would you be okay with accepting that she isn't and doesn't need to be? That it would be better for her to choose herself?

[the-clock-of-the-time-dragon]

Musings on how magic works in the Wicked musical/film(s):

So I've actually never really heard anyone explore in-depth how the powers work in Wicked, because I guess they're both simple AND mysterious enough that most people regard them as self-explanatory. But I think there's actually a lot of interesting things we might learn about the characters and world through observing how and when magic happens in Oz.

So with the Grimmerie, it seems to work by reading people's hearts and granting them an approximation of what they ask for. I've pointed out before how it's kind of a mirror version of what the Wizard does: people come asking for their "heart's desire", and both the Wizard and the Grimmerie want to grant that desire and make people happy. But whereas the Wizard must do this with charlatanry (and in the end, people always end up having to either go and get what they came for themselves, elsewhere, or they already had it all along), the Grimmerie can actually twist reality to give people some version of what they wanted (and didn't already have): but it always comes with some fucked up cost that makes them regret it. It plays into the overarching theme of "what is happiness? Is it getting your heart's desire? What will you give up to get it? Is it worth it?", etc. I think it could even be inferred that every character who ever comes into contact with the book — directly or indirectly — is in a way "cursed" to never obtain true happiness, only a mockery of what they'd imagined happiness to be. This extends to the Wizard, Glinda, Morrible, Elphaba, Nessa, and even Chistery. And the grander the desire, the graver the cost for getting it — Chistery is able to get away with physical pain for his dream of flying, but the human characters all have their dreams come true only in ways they are never able to actually enjoy. I think the reason Elphaba is the only one able to not only read the book but get away with using it repeatedly, is due to her own innate power.

Elphaba's power is very different from that of the Grimmerie. She seems to have the ability to just flat-out REJECT ACCEPTED REALITY. She defies the law of gravity; even TIME (essentially "remembering" things that have yet to happen). Every time we see her use her powers, she does so to STOP what is transpiring, or simply to say NO to what is before her. Making things fall up instead of down, recalling the future instead of the past, reading books that are illegible. It's in keeping with her overall character, being off, or backwards, or at odds with everything around her: crowds part as if repelled when she comes near; her first day of school she's already being told she's going to excel far beyond what any of the other students could ever hope to achieve. The idea of "I clash with everything" isn't just a joke about color coordination, it's quite literally how she interacts with the world, including on a metaphysical level. She distorts and repulses.

The reason she has such a different relationship to the Grimmerie than everyone else who's tried to use it, is precisely because she clashes with everything. More importantly: she rejects both the world as it is, AND the world as she wants it. She denies her own desires for the sake of what she considers more important. She knows that she can have all she ever wanted: but she can't. She won't. She chooses to go AGAINST heart's desire, REJECT happiness — to deny HERSELF. Something that, perhaps, only a child of both Oz and Kansas — of fantasy and reality — is able to do. She's so at odds with the fantasy world she's been born into, so committed to Truth — a world of objective non-fiction — that she actively says no to her own dreams, and can literally disrupt and challenge the basic laws and logics of the story that she's in. She can use the Grimmerie because she uses the same language: negation. You can't reverse the Grimmerie's spells because they ARE reversals — distortions of a twisted nature. But Elphaba can't want what she truly wants in her heart; she rejects it; it's already reversed. To the "what are you willing to give up to get what you want?" question, Elphaba is the only one in Oz who can honestly just reply "NO", and give up her heart's desire of her own accord.

Now, how Morrible's powers work seem to be a lot different from the others. Her abilities aren't derived directly from the Grimmerie (though we know she has at least studied it), and appear to be innate like Elphaba's, but they manifest very differently. But why weather?? I think it pertains to her innate nature. She's a manipulator whose temperament changes like the wind (warm with some and cold with others), capable of clouding the truth or making things clear as she pleases, and acts as if the world revolves around her like a cyclone. She has total control over her powers because her power is control. There might have been a time when her powers were more benign — she says her talent is "encouraging talent", so perhaps we could infer that her true powers are motivating/suggesting things, giving directions, and that whenever she developed into the truly wicked person she is now, that power darkened into coercion/manipulation. So she can direct a cloud to disperse, encourage a wind to blow, or persuade a crowd to become a raging tempest.

As for Glinda: the musical/film(s) kinda implies she doesn't have any powers?? At least not the innate kind that Elphaba and Morrible have. We haven't seen her use any spells (except a simple one that got cut way back in the pre-Broadway tryout run of the musical), her bubble is shown to be mechanical rather than magical, and she's obviously interested in learning sorcery but fails the only time we really see her try to use it, and she doesn't believe she can read the Grimmerie. So whatever magic Glinda possesses has to be developed, and given she has never really been encouraged to do so (whether in school or when she's Glinda the Good), she probably hasn't had much of a chance to become a real witch by the time the story wraps up (although it would be a fun inclusion if the second film shows her using a spell at some point). Also: since magic seems to be related to character's personal qualities or narrative themes, it's actually quite meaningful that Glinda (at the very least) struggles to use it — she's constantly questioning who she is, what she wants, etc., and so whether she possesses a natural power of her own or needs to develop it through training, we might infer that her magic is similarly "unsure" of what it's supposed to do.

Feel free to respond with any thoughts — I just find this aspect of the story really interesting and hopefully this all came together to at least mostly make sense, lol

[pucksandpower]

IN MY BLOOD

Y/N SENNA x CHARLES LECLERC

Series Masterlist // Previous Part // Next Part

PART I: Level Up

y/nsenna

Liked by bugattiracing, f1, and 1,372,865 others

y/nsenna Today my heart soars with overwhelming joy and gratitude. It is with immeasurable excitement that I announce signing my first Formula 1 contract with Bugatti Racing.

This moment is not just about me, it is a tribute to the trailblazing women who shattered barriers in motorsport and paved the way for this incredible opportunity. To those fearless heroes who dared to challenge conventions and fought against all odds, I am forever indebted. Your courage has lit a fire within me that will burn fiercely on every lap.

As I enter this next adventure, I carry with me the spirit and legacy of my father. His passion for racing, unwavering determination, and undying love for the sport continue to guide my every move. Today, I make a solemn promise to him: I will give my all, every single race, and honor the Senna name with everything I have.

Papai, I wish you were here to witness this exciting chapter in my life. Your footsteps echo in my heart, and I know you are watching over me, pushing me forward, and whispering words of encouragement in the wind. I hear your voice guiding me every time I get in the cockpit. I hope to make you proud, to show the world the legacy we carry, and to inspire others to chase their dreams relentlessly.

I am immensely honored and filled with gratitude as I express my heartfelt thanks to Bugatti Racing, my incredible team, and the Bugatti Driver Academy, which has been instrumental in shaping my development until this remarkable moment. It is through their unfaltering belief in my potential and their tireless support that I stand here today, ready to embark on this incredible journey in Formula 1. Bugatti Racing, with its rich history and unwavering commitment to excellence, has provided me with an opportunity of a lifetime, and I am determined to seize it with both hands. With Bugatti Racing and the Bugatti Driver Academy behind me, I am ready to push boundaries, defy expectations, and make an impact on and off the track. Thank you for believing in me. Together, we will write an extraordinary chapter in motorsport history.

To my incredible fans, friends, and family, thank you for standing by me throughout this incredible journey. Your unwavering support has been my driving force. This is just the beginning of a thrilling ride, and I am beyond grateful for every moment, every challenge, and every victory that lies ahead. The road may be long, but together, we will conquer it.

View all 3,948 comments

lewishamilton Congratulations on your incredible achievement! It is a pleasure to welcome you to the F1 family. Your father was a true legend and my idol, and I have no doubt that you will make him proud. Looking forward to competing with you on the track!

hamilfan Lewis’ acknowledgement means a lot! We should be in for some epic battles 👀

gisele Parabéns, querida! Your journey is just beginning, and I can't wait to see you conquer the F1 tracks. Your father's spirit lives on and I'm sure he's beaming with pride from above ❤️

speedchaser She's carrying on the Senna legacy with so much passion! Can't wait to see what she can do in F1

massafelipe Bem-vinda à família da Fórmula 1! It's an honor to have you on the grid, carrying on your father's legacy. Wish you the best of luck and many podium finishes ahead! Go out there and make Brazil proud 🇧🇷

brazilianrocket Massa knows what it takes to make Brazil proud and his support speaks volumes. Brazil is with Y/N all the way!

neymarjr Parabéns, garota! A new star is born in the world of racing. Keep pushing limits, breaking barriers, and chasing greatness. Wishing you a successful and thrilling journey ahead 🏆

sportingbrazil This is huge! Two young Brazilian icons in their respective fields lifting each other up. They’re both going to be something special 👏

adrianalima Congratulations, darling! You are an inspiration to so many women around the world. May you continue to shine bright ☀️ Keep chasing dreams and breaking barriers!

girlypower Adriana is an inspiration to so many and now we have another role model to look up to! What an amazing milestone

bsennaofficial I couldn't be prouder! Your talent and dedication are unmatched. Keep pushing and make our family name even brighter! Love you ❤️

racetrackhero Incredible to see the Senna name continue to shine on the F1 stage 🙌

2012 Monaco Grand Prix — Wednesday Press Conference

Comments

⤷ What a phenomenal achievement! So proud to see a talented young woman like her breaking barriers in the world of F1. Wishing her all the success!

⤷ This is just a publicity stunt. She's only getting this opportunity because of her famous last name, not her talent.

⤷ This is a fantastic step forward for diversity and equality in motorsport. It's inspiring to see her following in her father's footsteps.

⤷ I highly doubt she has what it takes to compete at the highest level. F1 requires exceptional skill and experience.

⤷ Such a talented and determined driver! Can't wait to witness her skills on the track and watch history being made. The future of F1 is bright!

⤷ Women don't belong in F1. It's a male-dominated sport for a reason. This is just political correctness gone too far.

⤷ Congratulations to her on this amazing opportunity! A new generation of talent is emerging and she's leading the way. Rooting for her every step of the way!

⤷ She's going to be a liability on the track. F1 is a dangerous sport and I just don't think she can handle the pressure.

⤷ I'm not impressed. There are more deserving drivers out there who have worked hard and earned their way into F1. This feels like a token gesture.

⤷ It's so exciting to see the Senna legacy continue. She's going to bring a fresh perspective and a new wave of enthusiasm to the sport. I followed her closely in Formula Renault and I’m looking forward to her F1 debut!

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[wingedshadowfan]

⚠️arcane s2 act iii spoilers // caitvi ending commentary ⚠️

the difference between the last individual scenes of vi and caitlyn, and the one they shared actually made me sob, so here's my analysis of what it all meant

caitlyn is at home, in her family mansion in piltover. her monologue seems to be a messege or an archive for the kirammans or historians after her; she's also looking at the kiramman house files, a family heirloom, a symbol of her legacy and her station, a connection to her mother. she's perhaps searching for something needed in order to start rebuilding the city, perhaps checking if jinx could still be somewhere out there, maybe even seeing what ekko saw about the undercity's vents and water ducts. she still seems to have purpose, or to be in search of one for herself.

vi is also in caitlyn's house in piltover, but she's not with caitlyn. in a city not her own, in a house not her own, it seems she's chosen to sit in a room alone with her thoughts, staring at the fireplace. we hear her humming the tune to a song her mother used to sing, the same one jinx was humming when we first saw her this season - vi's small comfort, the faintest memory from those before her, and nothing to leave to those after her. no roots and no legacy. she's grieving everyone and everything she's lost. stripped of will and void of purpose.

caitlyn is excited to hear vi humming a song. we don't know how long it's been since the war ended, but this implies she hasn't been doing much other than sitting by herself in silence in quite some time. she's become a shell of herself, and caitlyn is worried - she's there for her but doesn't want to push her either. she asks her if she's "still in the fight", and this is a loaded question that i can see two main meanings in - one notably sadder.

1) are you still in there?

what part of you is left, and is it strong enough to keep fighting this state you're in? do you have it in you to keep going? do you have the will to live in spite of it all? is there any fight left in you? are you still with me, or are you just in the room?

and i feel like caitlyn knows the answer but wants to hear it from vi, check in on her and encourage her to open up if she's feeling ready to. because she heard her humming to herself.

and when vi says she's the dirt under caitlyn's nails, she doesn't mean it in a cute, flirty or romantic way. she means it in a self-deprecating "i know i'm not being easy right now" kind of way.

i'm not fun to be around, to have to take care of and wait around for. i'm making things harder for you and i'm holding you back by not cooperating and just getting better. i can't help it.

and she adds onto this, "nothing's ever gonna clean me out"

you're stuck with me. i'm a nuisance to you but i can't leave you because you're all i have left. i think i'm lost and broken beyond repair. i'm crooked. i think i'll never be okay again.

2) have you given up on zaun?

are you still in on fighting the system? have you given up on trying to make others see your people for who you are? do you still have hope in the dream for unity and freedom for zaun?

it sounds like caitlyn does, and she's still up for it, just like she was in the latter half of the first season, before jinx kidnapped her, tried to get vi to kill her, and blew up the counsil building just as its members were about to vote for zaun's sovereignty, killing caitlyn's mother. but caitlyn can't do it on her own - it's vi's home, vi's people, vi's identity - and she needs to know if vi still believes they can change something.

and when vi says she's the dirt under caitlyn's nails, she doesn't literally mean caitlyn, or herself. she means the opposing poles they represent - piltover and zaun, oppressor and oppressed, a pristine policewoman and a crooked criminal. until piltover's view of the undercity and its people changes, zaun will always be a torn in its side, fighting it, defying it, trying to free itself from its clutches. small, perhaps insignificant, an inconvenience, but a part of it that it can't get rid of or erase. it'll always be there, it'll always fight back.

and when she says nothing's ever gonna clean her out, she means she'll never be bent out of shape and lose that part of herself - the ugly, dirty, raggedy part that grew up on the streets of zaun and was raised among all the tragedy, misery and poverty of the undercity. a product of the system. she'll never let that be "washed out" of her, she won't forget her origin or her goals. this is who she is, her identity - not just in the eyes of piltover, but in her own heart - a zaunite.

EDIT: i also saw this interpretation on tiktok if you're interested. to summarize: there's a spanish saying "like nails and dirt" which is used to refer to two people who are inseparable, so this is a testimony of vi's love for caitlyn having given her reason to keep going and stay by her.

[quokkacolazero]

You know what I realized this morning?

Jason doesn't have a happy ending.

And I don't mean because he died, if Jason had survived, he still wouldn't have gotten one.

Just think about it, Percy and Annabeth are finally together and are going to university and during the holydays they see their families. Yeah, they still need to do a couple of quests, but this is like the calmest their lives have ever been, and a dream come true for them.

Hazel and Frank are Praertors of Camp Jupiter. Sure, that was never their plan but mostly because they could never have seen themselves doing something like this. Just look how they've grown! No longer are they the shy probatios that mess everything up, but the most important and most respected people at camp and they're really good at it. AND they get to do it together. Not to mention they've had big shoes to fill (they’re the successors of Jason Grace and Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, no pressure am I right?).

Leo finally found a family. He now has TWO moms, a little sister, an older sister, new friends, a girlfriend (even if it doesn't work out, I think they'd stay friends), a really cool home... He finally belongs and its everything he's ever wanted.

Piper had a really good ending too like, yeah, her dad lost his job, money and all his assets but this is something she accepted. Because in a twisted way, it's also a dream come true for her. Her father finally has time for her and can pay her attention. She can rediscover her roots and she is figuring herself out without her mom or Hera breathing down her neck. This is literally the best possible outcome.

Even Nico had a happier ending. He is accepted in Camp Half-blood and considers it his home. He has a great boyfriend, is learning to accept himself, has a sister he can visit and is healing.

And finally, Reyna, my Aro-Ace Queen! The girl that was always perceived as "the one that Jason should have ended up with". She defied everybody's expectations and became a hunter of Artemis with her best friend, let go of all the stress she was under and is also finally discovering herself.

But where does that leave Jason? Assuming he had survived, where would he have gone when it was all over? The boarding school? Camp Jupiter? Sure, he had all those temples to build, and he was gonna be pontifex, but that's just a job and those temples were built pretty quickly. We know very little of Jason's life, but we know it couldn't have been easy. Being raised as child soldier since he was a toddler and before that, being raised by wolves. I imagine the closest thing he has to a parental figure is Lupa. Lupa! I mean how fucked up is that? Unless he had some kind of foster parents, but I doubt it, or it would have been mentioned somewhere. What I'm trying to say is that ever since he was a toddler Jason has had this huge weight on his shoulders of being the forbidden child of Jupiter. He was trained from very early on not show his emotions, has had little to no support system and definitely no childhood. (No wonder he is "boring" and "doesn't have a personality", where was he supposed to find the time between not getting eaten and sword training?). So, would permanently going back to Camp Jupiter be healthy? He won't be able to grow there or figure himself out beyond being the son of Jupiter. Plus, he did say he belongs to both camps. But what does that mean? Would he just travel back and forth between the camps? That still feels kind of unstable. He can't even stay with his sister since she's a hunter of Artemis. Sure, his friends would take him into their homes, no questions asked, but where is his home. Where does Jason Grace belong when he isn't the son of Jupiter.

[sugar-petals]

I screamed when I saw Tim on your feed yes we love a pretty guitar man

finally a fellow Tim Henson enthusiast!! 🎉

guess we have a type (= overqualified youtube twink w/ a futuristic fashion sense aka the best young guitarist out there 🗣).

risky post incoming cuz he's HOT & i love hands

[for those who don't know who this pretty boy is: tim's yt | tim's ig | tim's twt | about his band polyphia]

i agree he's gorgeous: jealousy magnet, mr henson has it all!!

- the delicious ink 😍 (neck tattoo: the sign of a masochist)

- 0% gravity hair (those fluffy waves! looking so soft tim, geez 🤒)

- the sexy 8 string guitar, cause he can, how does he do that??

- the alt beauty (tim radiates haughty expensive power bottom who talks back to get punished ngl, he's prog rock's #1 it boy)

-the sweater game, all day, every day (unmatched)

-the best technique. ice cold (easily most proficient hands in the music biz as of lately 😏 people either 1. hate him to the death or 2. need him carnally for this lmao, love me a polarizing guitar prodigy)

-A WHOLE FEMBOY BODY (even his ass is huge as of recently!! and the waist keeps getting smaller helpp)

I'm going feral over his body linee don't @ me!! how smokin' could anyone be??

-the actual live skills, not just yt editing (needless to say! any straight or bi man should be able to move his fingers like that hhh there I said it 😂 tim keeps the standards as high as he is lmao)

-the studio (oh the things that should be happening on that chair! ...anyways: it's so modern but not boring, i like it)

-the stylish guitars with the floral fretboards (guitar fuckers assemble!!! finally nylon strings are back thanks to him 💕)

-even more gorge guitars YES model it for us legend!!

-plus he's got an all-round good taste in everything. quality is key! composition and character is always a matter of taste. but timmy never dropped a bad video, bad promo, bad album covers, bad vlogs, bad cinematography, bad advert, bad ig post, bad anything. he's always the sassiest gnc slayer short king golden boy in the room doing the most 👑

...and seriously tho tim being texan youth i respect him defying the status quo!! that's real rock'n'roll☝️ he dressed for women and tops on the internet just to serve and confound some boomers along the way! prince would be proud 😎

homophobes leaving him anti-androgynous/misogynist/bodyshaming comments just can't cope with the sexiness, which he never compromised🤘 i truly pronounce tim bi ppls' favorite. since apparently nobody except the guitar community wants him we now own this man 🔥

-BONUS: last but not least look at this silver ibanez. look at it! tim is a design and aesthetics icon i rest my case... that many people still don't know about him is beyond me. he deserves all the clout!

i mean even personally... he's the kinda guy where you don't know if you came for the looks/fit or the skills and you stay for both! his playing style never disappoints. i always look forward to him dropping new material. tell me what your fave tim piece to listen to is ❤️

[thescarletnargacuga]

OOOH CARNIVAL FICS?

Boy, I have a thing for you!

I've recently fallen in love with the song "Kiss me (Kill me)," and it gave me an idea.

You know when sm-baby mentioned how Pomni may be the final boss? Well... Pomni loses control after Caine beating Kinger's level, it results in a battle between Caine... And Pomni...

Towards the very end her sentience returns for a brief moment to aid him.

But... Results in her tragic end.

Leaving Caine heartbroken.

- Fowl Anon

A/N: how devastating...

GAME OVER

A TRAGIC CARNIVAL AU SHOWTIME ONESHOT

Carnival AU credit: @sm-baby

WARNING: HEAVY angst, hurt/some comfort, digital violence, main character death, non-sentient Pomni

~~~

The King fell from his throne with a heavy thud. It was over. It was finally over. Caine stood shakily next to the dethroned King boss. Pomni was hiding in the curtains that separated the room from the main hallway. A heavy silence filled the room as they processed what they had just done.

Caine was still trying to catch his breath when he looked around for Pomni, seeing her peak from her hiding spot.

"...you did it." She said in quiet astonishment as she stepped out into the open. A wide smile slowly grew. "You did it!" She cheered as she ran to Caine, arms open.

Caine barely registered in time she was going to hug him before impact. "Oof! Ha...yeah...I guess I did." He side eyes Kinger as he embraces Pomni. Something still felt off. He couldn't figure what was bothering him in the back of his mind, but it felt like a memory trying to make its way through the blackout.

Pomni's smile faltered. A faint green glow circled her irises before being blinked away. She couldn't move.

"What..? Oh, come on! Not again!" Sentient Pomni groaned inside her own head.

Pomni whispered to Caine. "Well done, player. Your final reward awaits you in the Circus." She gave him a seductive smirk as she pulled him towards the curtains by the hand.

"Uuugh...you know, I don't need you to keep flirting with him. We're already sorta...uh, actually, I don't know what we are-"

Caine blushed. Being completely distracted by the look in her face, he misses her calling him Player. "Of- of course, Pomni, but I feel I should tell you that I don't really care about the award. Whatever it is. I'm just happy your friends are free of the madness."

"Trust me, you'll enjoy this." Pomni stepped back into the darkness beyond the curtains. A look of mischievous glee on her face.

Sentient Pomni didn't know what the program was talking about. There was nothing past Kinger. HE was the final boss. The game credits should be rolling or something. Where were the ending cutscenes? Why did everything still feel the same?

Caine's mind raced, trying to figure out what she was talking about. He stopped himself before it went places that would defy the game's E rating and followed Pomni into the loading screen for the hallway.

Some things are too good to be true...

Caine took a deep breath, happy to be out of the Kings court, but a sense of bittersweetness hit him. He's done. He and Able can leave... but what about Pomni? She can't leave. Maybe he could come back? Maybe the game would work properly now that everyone's madness has been corrected? He squeezed his teeth shut at the overwhelming thoughts.

He needed to talk this through with her, he knew that much. They've grown close. He cares for her. He didn't want to just leave. "Pomni- ...Pomni?" He opened his teeth to find himself alone in the hallway. "Maybe she's taking longer to load in?" He waited. She never came.

Band organ music came from the far end of the cavernous hall, playing a showtime tune. It eerily echoed to Caine like a circus siren's call. Caine followed the music cautiously. "Pomni..?" It came from behind Pomni's door, light shining from beneath. With no other options on what to do, he opened the door and stepped through.

Welcome to the show

Caine entered the tent to applause, lively music playing and spotlights flashing around the unseen audience. He hasn't seen the circus so lively since his performance in level one.

Around the center ring were figures Caine couldn't quite make out, the bright spotlights blinded him with every pass. He got closer. The figure nearest him was moving erratically.

"Caine!! Caine, it's a tra-mmph!!" Able tried to warn his brother, only to be silenced by a dancer's ribbon wrapping his cards together.

The lights stopped. The music stopped. A single spotlight came on over a figure on the high tightrope. "Tsk...tsk...why must you spoil the surprise?" A high feminine laugh fills the big top.

More lights come on over the restrained figures around the center ring. Ragatha. Gangle. Jax. Zooble. Kinger. All bound in chains along with Able.

"Pomni!? What's going on??" Caine was mortified, seeing the malicious grin on her face. His head hurt. The foreign memory feels closer.

"Congratulations, Player. You've defeated everyone who stood in my way. Now, this is MY Carnival! MY SHOW! And you..." She chuckles darkly. "...are no longer required."

"CAINE! I'M SORRY! I CAN'T STOP THIS!" Sentient Pomni screamed from inside, fighting back as hard as she could.

"The secret boss..." Caine said to himself. "You....no..." It was in the game files he read before he ever entered to find his brother. Information that was stored in Bubble, but never knew the true identity of the boss. Only that they existed. "Pomni, don't do this!" He pleaded.

"WELCOME TO YOUR GRAND FINALE!!" Pomni raised her arms and the circus became vibrate neon. Every color was an attack on the senses. Loud music blared. NPC circus performers and toy-like life sized animals emerged from backstage. It was a flurry of movement that disoriented Caine.

A massive health bar, one ever larger than Kinger's, appeared in Caine's lower field of vision. She was not Pomni. She was THE JESTER.

An elephant with performers atop it rampaged at Caine. He dove out of the way just in time. He looked back up at the tightrope. The Jester was gone. He has to keep moving. Every step he took, another performer was attacking him. "POMNI! STOP! I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU!!"

Multiple confetti canons aimed and fired. Caine's preacticed reflexes kept him clear of each shot as he searched for Pomni in the chaos. He dodged flying balls and colorful performing horses. He didn't see the arial silk performers swinging at him, and he was struck in the chest.

Caine rolled across the circus floor, slamming into one of the poles supporting the tightrope. He struggles to get to his feet, winded from the hit. Someone stood before him, he looked up to see the Jester glaring down at him. She grabbed his collar and pulled him to his feet with unknown strength.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, don't hurt him!" Sentient Pomni begged.

"Then take your final bow, Player. Because everything ends here." She threw him away from her in time for a trapeze to swing low and knock him to the far side of the circus.

Caine lost a whole third of his health. Tears brimmed his eyes. This was too much. Everything was happening at once. He wasn't ready for this.

He tried to run for the door.

He slammed into it as it refused to budge.

"Nuh-uh-uh, Player." The Jester giggled. "There is no escaping me." She sent a flurry of streamers to entangle her prey.

Caine moved quickly from the door, outrunning the streamers as they reached for him.

Pomni grunted in frustration. "Stop moving!" She pointed to Caine, confetti canons ready to fire.

Caine ran around until he stood between the Jester and a canon. "I'm sorry..." He dove out of the way in time for a shot of violent confetti to smack the Jester off her feet.

"Ah!" Sentient Pomni screeched from the hit. She could still feel everything happening to her body.

The damage to the boss Jester was minimal, but Caine felt a rock in his stomach having to hurt her. Tears made it hard to focus. "I'm sorry!" He ran for a trapeze pole to get away from the chaotic movement on the ground.

The Jester wiped her lip, cackling. "Yes, Player! Fight back! Give the audience a show they'll never forget!"She raised her arm and a swinging performer grabbed her to move her up.

Caine found himself where this all started; on a small platform, high above the circus, Pomni opposing him, but instead of performing together...he was meant to defeat her. His chest felt tight. "Pomni! I know you're in there! It doesn't have to be this way! There's always a choice!"

Sentient Pomni cried from inside her prison. "Not this time..."

The Jester grinned. "Win or lose. That is your choice, Player."

Caine looked down at his brother. Able was still bound, desperately fighting the restraints.

Defeat the Jester, and he and Able are free.

Die, and Able and the others live in the Jester's world forever.

Caine clenched his fists. He glares at the Jester with mournful anger. "I'll find a way! I'm not finishing this without Pomni!"

The Jester let out a shrill laugh. "Then you are a greater fool than you seem!" She leapt from her platform to grab a trapeze. The audience cheered as the Jester did a flip to the next trapeze to get closer to Caine.

An idea came to him. He grabbed the trapeze hooked to his side and swung. The Jester spun midair to catch another swinging trapeze when Caine came up high and clothes lined her with his leg.

"Ack-!" The Jester was struck in the neck and missed the bar. She was caught by another passing aerialist.

The crowd booed and a good chunk of the Jester's health bar went down.

"Goodness, that worked!?" Caine gasped as he landed on a platform.

Sentient Pomni groans, instinctually rubbing her neck. Then she suddenly felt less restricted. "Huh?"

Green and blue pixels distorted the Jester's eyes, she shook it off. "ARGH!" The Jester growled, kicked the NPC off of her and swung herself at Caine.

Caine dove for a passing silk and arched with it at the oncoming Jester. He twisted his silk with hers, preventing her from doing anything impressive.

The crowd booed harder.

"NO!!" The Jester snarled, trying to get her silk swinging again. Her health went down more. "NO!! MY PERFORMANCE WILL NOT BE RUINED!!" She jumped from the silk to a passing elephant, doing a handstand. She got a few cheers and her health increased some.

Sentient Pomni slammed herself against the borders of her mind. With each hit she felt movement in her own fingers again. "You can't hold me! I'll make sure you fail!" One more good try and her arms glitched out on the hand stand, dropping the Jester on her face.

Caine saw the glitches. "Pomni!! Keep fighting!" He swung himself to trapeze and gained some speed to fly kick at the Jester.

The Jester sat up on the elephant in time to see a boot flying at her face. She tried to duck, but she glitched back up.

BAM!!

The Jester fell backwards off the elephant to the dusty floor outside the ring. The Jester glitched and pixelated severely. Health dropping, Pomni fought hard for control. "Caine! Please!! End this- NO! I will have what is due! I am the Ringmaster now- CAINE!!" Pomni the Jester's eyes flashed between blue and green. Glitches distort their appearance and voice.

Caine had landed nearby and watched the horrific ordeal Pomni was facing. "Pomni, I can't! You- I don't want to defeat you! Regain control!"

"She's too- YOU WILL NOT STOP ME!!" The Jester got up faster than Caine could react. Her eyes blazed green as she shoved Caine over the edge of the ring. He fell backwards into the path of the stampeding animals and performers. "NOOO!!"

Caine was trampled by zebras and clowns on pogo sticks. He crawled as far as he could out of the way but took serious damage. His health was in the red. He planted as he crawled for the pole ladder. He glared back at the Jester. "You want me? ...come and get me."

"Caine! Don't!" Pomni fought the Jester as she grabbed a circling performer to the other pole connecting the high tightrope. Glitches made her slip every few rungs, but the Jester determinedly climbed in her single minded agenda to end this.

Caine met the Jester's glare across the wire. The audience below awed at the spectacle of the two performers making their way toward the middle. Caine focused hard to keep balance. He has a plan.

When the Jester was far enough from her platform, he pirouetted, making the wire wobble. This got him applause and thwarted the Jester's attempts at a stunt. The Jester's health fell to critical and she glitched hard. She fell on the wire and koala clung to it.

Caine moved closer, ready to grab at her. "Fight her, Pomni! You can do it!"

Pomni fought with all her might, but it wasn't enough. Whatever restrictions were on the program that allowed her to maintain control were gone. The Jester was here to stay. "I-I- can't!" Pomni glitched again as the Jester fought back. She slid, hanging on the wire with only her hands.

Caine dropped on the wire and grabbed her arm. "I believe in you, Pomni! Please! I've got you!"

The failed wire stunts made the crowd angry. They booed and hissed at the "poor" performance, making the Jester screech and glitch. Her hands slipped off the wire.

Caine gripped her wrist as hard as he could. "Pomni!!"

Pomni held tight as she saw the chaos below. Then Abel. Her friends. This was bigger than her. This ended with her, one way or another. She looked back at Caine, sorrow in her eyes. "Let me go..."

"WHAT!? No! You're going to win this!"

"She's too powerful. This won't stop until it's over. It's the only way you'll get home."

"It can't be the only way! Don't let go!" He pleaded as he felt her slipping.

Pomni gave him a sad smile. "I love you, Caine Alexander Eden..." She let go of his wrist.

"POMNI!!!" He cried out as her hand slid through his grasp.

Pomni closed her eyes as she fell to the circus floor. Caine lost sight of her in the crowd of performers and made his way to the nearest platform to climb down.

A hush fell over the tent as the performers vanished. The music stopped. The colors muted. The audience went silent. The chains binding Able and the others broke.

Pomni was revealed lying face up in the center of the circus, as though she only fell asleep. Caine rushed to her, fell to his knees and held her to his chest. "Pomni? Pomni, please." He gently brushed the hair from her face. He shook with grief. This couldn't be how things were supposed to end.

He held her for a long while, part of him hoping she would just...wake up. He couldn't hold in the sorrow that washed over him. He wailed as he held her against him. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Pomni, I'm sorry!" He hiccupped as he sobbed against her face. "I love you too...I always have...I'm sorry I was too much of a coward to tell you..."

Able kneeled next to Caine. There was nothing he could say that would make the situation better in the slightest. He sat with Caine just to be there for him. The others didn't crowd, but they were mournfully silent in solidarity.

Bubble popped in, gently leaning against Caine's shoulder. His abilities calm Caine's heart rate.

Caine felt Pomni get lighter in his arms. He sat up with a gasp, a split second of hope in his heart that she was getting up. Instead, her body turned to wisps of glitter. She fell apart in his hands and flew to create a doorway in front of him.

The glitter solidified and became a bright red door with the word exit printed on it. Caine sat, mortified as the ending text appeared before him.

Thank you for playing the Amazing Digital Carnival!

[torchwood-99]

I Do Like We Never Get Eowyn's Date of Death

I can grumble a bit about it, that this seems overlooked, yet at the same time it kind of feels right for Eowyn's arc, especially if you compare it to Arwen's arc.

Eowyn's arc is all about choosing life. For the longest time she wishes to choose death, she has no desire to live, and even when after she achieves a great deed and so earns herself the renown she needs, and has defied the orders that kept her in the cage she so feared, still she wishes for nothing but to die in honour and glory.

Yet ultimately she chooses life. She chooses to heal, she chooses to grow, she chooses to go to Ithilien so everything there might bloom with her coming, taking on Galadriel's role as a "White Lady" of a forest, Galadriel now leaving her forest fading as the time of the elves ends and the power of Nenya dies, while Eowyn entering her forest kingdom which is free to heal now that the One Ring has been destroyed. Her arc is all about making the choice to live.

Therefore, to end with a note on the date of her death, even in the appendices, would undermine this theme. Instead, the appendices remark she won renown for her deeds on the Pelennor, remembered forever as "Lady of the Shield Arm". We do not know when she dies, but we can be certain she lived in memory beyond her death.

Arwen's is the opposite. Arwen's arc is about choosing to die. Choosing to endure the pains and sorrows of mortality, choosing the unknown of the world after death, choosing change and a loss of everything known and familiar, all for love. Her story ends in her lying down to die, because she no longer wishes to live, in a forest that has gone past its glory days, clinging to memories of what came before. The closing remarks on her narrative speculate on how eventually she and her story will be forgotten, for even that will end.

Eowyn and Arwen almost have a reversal of roles, one starting in despair and anger, moving onto joy, the other beginning in a place of contentment, only to fall into grief and despair.

[sunderwight]

I keep seeing people argue that Aziraphale is "intelligent" or "not a fool" and that this means he can't possibly have fallen for the Metatron's blatant manipulation tactics or still genuinely believe in Heaven's righteousness.

Setting aside the validity of various theories (most of which I at least find interesting, if not outright compelling!) I think there's an issue here, which is that intelligence doesn't protect you from cult-like thinking. Especially not when you've been more or less born and raised in the environment.

In fact, what intelligence tends to do to people who have been indoctrinated into cults (and a cult is exactly what GO Heaven operates like) is give you even more tools for justifying or thinking your way around the contradictions of the cults actions vs message.

We even see Aziraphale do this, several times!

In fact, at the end of S1 doing this is part of what helps save the day. When he points out that Heaven can't know that they aren't defying God's ineffable plan while trying to follow the Great Plan, he's not just talking them into standing down, he's giving them an out. Because the whole Armageddon thing has already gone to shit and cannot proceed without Adam's cooperation, what they're really dealing with at that point is getting Heaven and Hell to accept that without retaliating. Even when Satan shows up it's because he's pissed, not because doomsday is still on.

Aziraphale uses the cult's own logic to give Heaven (and Hell) a plausible reason to back down without completely losing face. They don't have to admit that they were wrong, they can just file everything under "ineffability". Aziraphale pulls this off so well in part because he's been doing this to himself for millennia.

When he doesn't understand or really approve of the Flood, he files it under "ineffability". God has a plan but it's too complex and beyond even angelic comprehension to understand, so there must be a good reason for the Flood, it's just that Aziraphale can't see it. When he sees Heaven being complicit in Job's suffering and the potential murder of his children, he reconciles it by deciding that what God really wants is for him and Bildad to secretly stop it. But he flounders on that later, because to some extent I think he knows that this reasoning is self-serving.

(Knowing it's self-serving doesn't refute it, though, it just means that he worries about that until he talks himself into a bunch of reasons why it's still probably true.)

In S1, when Crowley broaches the subject of the apocalypse, Aziraphale's initial response is to recite the propaganda. It's all going to go according to plan, and it will all be great! When that doesn't work (because of course it won't be great, he's going to end up losing his true home and the person he loves most if this all goes down no matter who wins), he lets Crowley help talk him into how he could thwart the plan without "really" betraying his concept of God.

Basically, if Aziraphale's values come into conflict with Heaven, he decides that God secretly agrees with him. It's very like people who find their values coming into conflict with the institution of their church or temple, and so decide that there's nothing wrong with their actual religion, it's all just normal human corruption (or in GO's case, angelic corruption) muddying the waters of an otherwise purely good thing.

Now in real life of course this gets to be a thorny issue, but keeping it simple there isn't really a total separation between a faith and its institutions. You can't claim that there's nothing in the religion that lends itself to bad takes, just like you also can't claim that any ideology or belief system is invulnerable to corruption. Likewise, even if every bad thing in GO were to turn out to be the fault of Heaven and Hell and not God, God would still be accountable for a lot of the situation because God still set the stage.

But what matters for Good Omens and Aziraphale and this post is that, Aziraphale has put considerable mental energy into justifying how God and Heaven can still be Good and Right even as both of them do things he finds intolerable. Whether it's "God secretly wants me to do what I think is right instead of what I'm being told" or "Heaven has earnestly misinterpreted the will of God due to not knowing as much as I do", he puts his intelligence to use in protecting himself from the kind of revelation that would uproot his worldview.

The only kind of knowledge that actually protects people from cults is the knowledge of how they operate, and awareness that you're dealing with a cult. Aziraphale has a terrible disadvantage on both fronts because even though he's spent years watching humanity get into hot water with this stuff, he does so with the firm perspective that things are different for angels. He can't necessarily apply what works for humans to himself, because he knows he's a different kind of being (and unlike with IRL cults, it's actually true in his case, though I think demons and angels are both less different from humans than they believe).

Though, interestingly, he's closer to a accepting the truth when it comes to the differences between angels and demons. In S1 he is fully confident that he could possess someone, because even though angels don't do that, demons can. Whether he admits it or not, Aziraphale really does believe that Crowley is not meaningfully different from himself in terms of personhood or ability. If he can make the leap to the idea that angels and demons are not exempt from human-oriented concepts of self-determination and free will and unfair treatment by authority, and reconcile it with his own intense distress at challenging a core belief, then the fact that he's quick on the uptake will really start to work in his favor.

[sunllghtt]

Rocket and his complex relationship with power and authority

(I'm not really familiar with the comics so this whole thing is solely based on evidence from the trilogy and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy game ok thank you)

It's repeatedly shown to the audience that Rocket has absolutely no respect for authority and whoever's supposed to be above him. Though it definitely has some deep roots and goes way back to his experience with control and the High Evolutionary (once he's out, there's certainly the wound and the wrath of a victim who's been abused and dehumanized for years in the name of someone else’s twisted will – someone who should've protected him and promised a reward at the end of the torture), I don't think that's where the resentment stops.

Rocket will go out of his way to spite authorities. He'll go out of his way to prove to them their hierarchy means dogshit to him. In the first movie, when they get caught, he calls the Nova “fascists” and talks about how they're “corrupt and cruel” (which doesn't fall far from Rocket's game iteration, who would rather do literally anything but pay the goddamn fine. His resistance is beyond their lack of money and comes from something bigger he can't step over, as if giving them any ounce of their money would be a betrayal to himself and his beliefs). In the second movie, Rocket impulsively steals a shit ton of batteries at the very clear risk of getting his whole team killed, and despite the self-destructive, self-sabotage aspects of the whole thing, it was also his “fuck you” letter to the people who, besides being directly connected to the High Evo and most likely bringing back not so awesome memories, made sure to talk down to him and his friends and literally just exist to serve as this perfect, unflawed images of unquestionable power.

Before we understand what it is, we need to understand what it can't be. When we go back to Vol. 1 and look at the other characters, especially Quill, we learn that Rocket knew about the political state the galaxy was in. He knew about Gamora, about Ronan, about most of their plans and had a clear idea of what was going on in general. Meanwhile, one of the only reasons Quill just stood still and let it happen for so long was his own ignorance and lack of information, and he takes a side as soon as he realizes what's about to happen – while Rocket's still reluctant until the last second (“What’s the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you wanna save it?). Rocket actively chooses to keep himself as far as he can from any of that, and not out of ignorance or neglect, but a conscious and resistant decision.

Rocket's hate toward the system might be related to some sort of trauma response and a lot of hard-learned experience. He knows what injustice is. He knows the Nova Corps will always help everyone and everything out of the kindness of their heart and their flourishing goodwill, as long as it fits their own interests. They'll watch over whoever benefits them the most. He knows the system has a funny tendency to side with the rich, the great, the powerful, and he knows he's none of those things. The High Evolutionary had done whatever he wanted, took as much as he pleased, hurt whoever he wanted for hundreds of years and still got praised for his hard work and had his face openly circulating around the whole galaxy like he hadn't torn him and his friends apart. People like him got to stay safe while Rocket would get arrested for stealing a protein bar. Everybody knows and nobody does anything.

I guess what I'm trying to say with all this rambling is the reason Rocket is, or at least used to be, so thrilled about defying authority figures is because he's seen enough to be hopeless, he's seen enough to know most of them have no problem being selfish, sadist, oblique, fascist, corrupt and cruel when given the opportunity.

[lloydfrontera]

Hello, I would like to ask: What was the moment when Javier's rating of Lloyd increase the most in the novel? I'm new to this fandom and just picked up the novel a few days ago but am already getting obsessed with their relationship :)

it is in one of my favorite moments of the whole novel <3

spoilers for ch 320!

when lloyd is finishing the jewel of truth an angel, raphael the throne, descends from heaven and tells him he's going to demolish the building for legal reasons. and when lloyd obviously refuses to let him, raphael tries to execute him for defying the will of heaven.

and javier doesn't allow it of course.

and it's in this moment, when he's literally facing off an angel and going against heaven itself to protect lloyd that javier wonders... why? why is he going so far to protect this man? why is he trying so hard to keep safe someone who has lied to him for so long? someone who isn't part of the family he swore to protect?

he doesn't really know. there just one thing clear in his mind.

I want to protect him. Lloyd is my true master in my heart. Lloyd was his friend. And now, Javier wanted to protect Lloyd. He would sincerely protect him with everything he had.

and it's when he realizes just how much lloyd truly means to him, how much he genuinely cares for him, that the RP system fully reflects javier's feelings about lloyd.

[Javier Asrahan has finally become aware of his feelings of friendship and loyalty toward you deep inside his heart.] [His impression of you has greatly changed.] [Deep inside him, you have become "Someone I genuinely wish to protect" from "Someone I am forced to protect."] [Your likeability with Javier Asrahan has increased by 45 points.] [Current RP with Javier Asrahan: +68] [You have earned 810 RP by improving your relationship with a main character.] [Current RP: 9,385] [The intimacy level with Javier Asrahan has increased two levels from <Average Favor> to <Close Friendship>.]

it's. it's so fucking good.

i've freaked out about this before but i can do it again

i really love the confirmation that javier is so good at emotionally repressing himself that he only realizes how deep his feelings about lloyd are long after they came to exist.

especially because in this same scene javier realizes there's a reason he wants to protect lloyd more than anything but he can't put a name to it and eventually decides that it doesn't really matter because he already knows lloyd is his friend and that's enough anyway.

like. canonically. javier has a deeper reason to care about lloyd beyond just being his friend. one he can't fully identify. one he puts aside to figure out later because lloyd being his friend is enough to justify putting his life on the line for him right now. and we find this out right before we get confirmation that javier is very good at burying feelings that have been there for longer than he's been aware of.

which. uh. incheresting.

anyway. one of my favorite chapters of all time fr <33

[kradogsrats]

Thinking about the suddenly pervasive theory that Callum and Rayla will break Runaan out of prison, and how that could resolve in a way that I don't hate (because while prison breaks are funny, on the surface it would also be a weird character regression on like... everyone's part). I do think it could work, though:

We know Rayla is going to go back to the Silvergrove and face her Ghosting, and it's not going to be a case of "well, now that Runaan is here to vouch for you, everything's fine"—she's specifically facing her comrades who died because of the choices she made, even though the story has made it clear they were the right choices. She and Runaan are intertwined in having to acknowledge the consequences of their last mission, so if Rayla is going to follow through on that, Runaan has to do the same. The only way busting him out of prison works with that is if after seeing a) Callum defy his brother and king for him on Rayla's account (reminiscent of what he maybe should have done), and b) Rayla then accept her trial in spite of all the mitigating circumstances that made her right, he chooses to go back to Katolis and acknowledge his wrongdoing to Ezran (and Zym).

The Ezran-Aanya dynamic is also going to be very important here, at least as (if not more) important as the Callum-Ezran one. Aanya represents someone else who lost both parents to Xadia, and specifically to Avizandum, himself—Zubeia's mate and Zym's father. When Viren came calling in s2 to rally the Pentarchy against Xadia, she had more reason than anyone there to throw in with him, but she refuses, citing her responsibility to prioritize her people and their lives instead of wasting them. Then in s3, she does take Duren to war, but to defend Xadia, Zubeia, and Zym against the combined forces of the rest of humanity. Realistically, she had every right to be in Prince Kasef's place, but she chose to commit to a course that went against all of her peers (as much as the other rulers can be called that) and counter to her own history of loss. I think she's going to be crucial in taking Ezran through the conclusion that it may be harder than he ever anticipated, but he should still choose love, and to make history a narrative of love. (P.S. if we find out some of what Harrow wrote in his last letter to Ezran here, that would be absolute chef's kiss.)

I think both of arcs do have to work in concert, if only because Ezran pardoning Runaan and letting go of that hate (though he may never forgive him, and he doesn't have to) is going to be a very tough sell if Runaan remains unrepentant. We also need to see the beginning of change to the system that Runaan represents, so him changing—beyond just admitting that he shouldn't have attacked Rayla—is important.

I'm kind of ignoring the potential for Callum's emotional development here because tbh I only find Callum interesting when he's fucked up. It makes every kind of sense for him to choose a passing whim of Rayla's ("I want my dads back together") over Ezran's emotional struggle, because he's also going to choose Rayla later, when the stakes are much higher. The problem is cycling him back from that after the fact. Is there anything that would make him see that was a pretty shitty thing to do? I'm genuinely uncertain whether he's capable of more than "sorry I hurt you, but I was right," given that he really does rival Claudia for emotional immaturity in some ways.

[dawnbreakerluna]

I really like this theory! Because I was thinking the same during the last few chapters when we finally get a glimpse of Sylus and MCs memories. This is the link - https://x.com/millecreupe/status/1813809147508613476?t=2YsqG032kliHKY18Z4QKZg&s=19

The way I'm so dedicated to this cause that I ended up making a Twitter account just to view this.

Let me preface that I am a bit freaked out right now because everything OP wrote about in this thread is pretty much accurately aligned with every specific detail I've predicted/theorized about Sylus and his purpose of changing fate/breaking cycles/etc. I've delayed making any posts about lore because I genuinely don't want to go back into the story chapters to take screenshots and shit, it's very tedious to me LOL 😭😭😭😭😭 I promise I remember what I can, even if it's not miniscule details, I just take away the important things!

(Side note: I've previously predicted/prophesized things before that have come true & I'm a little spooked by it. I don't like to put things out there unless I'm super passionate about a subject LMFAO)

[Warning: VERY LONG info dump/theory post ahead!]

Often when it comes to unveiling or creating monsters, there is always a price to pay. That's the common formula for any story involving someone who has an alternate form or is on the verge of becoming something non-human. It takes a special kind of trigger - often, it's intense emotional states - to unleash a creature or be granted a uniquely regal power. (ex. Eren from AoT, Nero in DMC5, Ignis in Final Fantasy 15)

I'm going to follow the evidence listed in OP's thread for my references + additional responses to the thread that are relevant, which I will link here for easy clickback! (Thank you so much again anon!)

I want to dive into one of the examples I listed first before I proceed. (Light spoilers ahead, and iffy details since it's been so long since I played the game.) While Ignis doesn't have an alternate form whatsoever, there's a DLC in FF15 where you have the opportunity to play as him during the climatic event of main story. Essentially, this would involve Ignis changing the planned fate of the protagonist where he would end up sacrificing himself in the very end to save his world and his people. Ignis pretty much defies that fate, going against godly forces and sacrificing a part of himself that ends up changing the canon ending. In short: Ignis saves the protagonist, everybody else, and everything's great. Yay!

I'm a broken record at this point by saying Sylus' involvement is going to defy fate and interrupt the timelines. TLDR; He's going to ultimately save MC from her curse and break the cycles, no matter the cost.

First, let's discuss Sylus' Evol (power). Energy manipulation can mean a lot of things, though as far as the story has shown us, this means he can bend anything/anyone at will through energetic binds. Also, he can know someone's deepest desires, which is activated when his right eye glows.

At a certain point in Chapter 9 (or 2.1), Sylus mentions something about the MC's Evol being weaker/not as strong as before. While we know Energy Resonance is the MC's power, there seems to be something more at play when it comes to it. It's a likely possibility that the MC herself is more powerful beyond resonating with others, perhaps to the point of causing re/destruction.

I like what OP says in part 3 of the thread: "I assumed MC didn't kill him but instead resonated with Sylus, making his self healing ability double in power, AND at the same time directly **pouring the energy of her aether core into the core the he would be implanted, forcibly reshaping a "heart" in his body."

[Previous quote was in alignment to: "Sylus turned into a wanderer. And if mc died and didn't kill him there, he might completely turn into a wanderer..."]

It's hard to deter me from the belief that in the flashback we saw towards the end of 9.2 that Sylus was literally in a Wanderer form. The arm that moves and reaches out to MC is a lot bigger than her own and when looked at closer, you can make out a textured hand with claws. You can see his palm held out faced upwards, and a weapon floating(?) just atop the center of it.

[10/25 UPDATE: The last time I touched this post was back in July, LMAO. This has been sitting in my drafts for months, but now with the Sylus Translation Project, I'm happy to add it to this mini dissertation.]

Here are some points from the Reddit post that struck my interest the most:

[Changed Facts] Changes how Sylus's powers work: specifically, there are invisible shackles inside of his body that prevent him from absorbing even more power. There is not a tether that prevents him from "tapping into" more power. This is a fundamental power difference and has created a complete misunderstanding about how his powers truly work amongst English-only speakers in the global community.

[Missing Fact] Sylus's Aether Core works by him invading and taking over consciousness; he does not merely perform basic mind control, it's actually far more insidious and terrifying.

[Power Nerf] Sylus's powers are actually described as "all-powerful and all-encompassing" but this was somehow reduced into merely blocking exits.

I encourage you to read the entire post in full, for it shifts so much about Sylus' character. Though for me personally, it only justifies all my speculations and conclusions about his character even beyond mistranslation. I will repeat myself over and over and OVER again: Sylus is beyond powerful, way more than we even know and I'm honestly just waiting for Infold to do something to show this grand transformation or show of power.

With these fixed translation points, it makes sense why he's so desperate to resonate with MC. A few comments on the Reddit post have the same speculation I did that it's possible him and MC have the same Aether Cores in their bodies. [OP responded to a comment with: "MC hears things like "Devour," "He's yours," "It belongs to you," I almost wonder if it's actually because they share two halves of a single Aether Core…"] [[THIS I AGREE WITH HEAVILY.]] If this is the case, I don't doubt that Sylus knows this, but he would rather MC find this out on her own due to some morale of integrity, building her inner strength, etc.

TLDR; Her resonating with him would unleash those shackles. I also don't think it's amiss that MC also has some kind of shackles, but that's just me thinking of other possible scenarios. Everything is so vague with this story because we've only been fed so much tidbits.

But one thing's for sure... I really, really think these two are the true fated pair, to a certain degree. And why it's difficult for them to resonate is due to the fact that they both wield a power that can shift the world, the universe... everything altogether.

[gwynrieldreams]

It just striked me so hard how boring Elriel is as a ship.

Or maybe it's because of what Elriels have invisioned. Elain is apparantly already very happy and content in the night court. Her family, the IC is with her and so is her second family, Azriel and the wraiths. Her and Azriel are already in love and the only thing that stands in their way of their ultimate happily ever after are 2 redheads. One who would accept rejection and the other who's literally just minding her own business.

Then there's the fact that apparantly you.. aren't allowed to be cold to Elain? No, you have to be very nice and soft with her! The wraiths are good enough to be friends with her cause they'd never challenge her, unlike Vassa and Jurian.

No Elain absolutely never did anything wrong! She's perfect and very powerful!

- they've made fun of gwynriel cause Azriel wasn't already so trusting with Gwyn in the bonus chapter. Laughing that he doesn't consider her a friend.. like??? Yeah?? Why would I want them to be already in love? Lmao it's not the end of the world that they aren't close?? It makes perfect sense that they aren't. I actually prefer it that way.

Same with Elucien. Because they aren't close it means it's a lost cause! Elain isn't comfortable with Lucien! (even though we don't know why and Lucien hasn't done anything to make her feel that way).

Maybe it's just cause they want Gwyn and Lucien out of their way, which is why those 2 could never win in their eyes no matter what. Azriel thinking nothing beyond sexual fantasies is fine and understandable but how dare Lucien breath the same air as Elain?! He's abusive! How dare he stay away 7 courts away from her?! He doesn't care about her!

Idk. I'm just not interested in reading a book about a girl who has everything she wants and everyone loves her and her obstacles very easy to overcome. Why does Elain's love interest have be a complete simp? Elriels can't even take the smallest inconvenience. Lucien giving her gifts on Winter solstice is enough to traumatize them I guess.

I want to read Gwynriel's whole progress. I can take Azriel being harsh or not trusting to her sometimes. I'm cool with it. I want them to go from 0% to 100% in a full book, ON PAGE. I want them to challange each other.

It's all over the place but I hope you get what I'm trying to say..

To be fair, I get why some people want to read a story about defying fate and god and say fuck to all of that, I will follow my heart BUT I don't think they will find that sort of thing in SJM's books, let alone in elriel.

Azriel, like the rest of the ic, puts her in a box. He constantly unknowingly contradicts her wishes during acosf. Elain wants to scry for the Trove, Azriel doesn't want her to. Elain doesn't want to be fought over, Azriel wants to fight for her. Azriel contemplating killing her mate just because he assumed she's not interested WITHOUT EVER DISCUSSING IT WITH HER! (I love Az but he made me so mad in this part). Even in acowar nobody acknowledged her part in killing Hybern, but Lucien. Lucien has done nothing but respect her wishes.

I've already made a post about it but I will shortly explain why elriel doesn't make sense to me. Their "romance" could end in like 5 chapters. Elain rejects Lucien, Lucien accepts it, they live happily ever after. There is not going to be any Blood Duel between them because if it did then sb would have to die. SJM can't kill her characters. Even if she did though, who would lead the next vassien book that all elriels like to claim will happen? If there's no conflict and everything is perfect how is that a good story? What would be the logic in making Lucien the villain in the elriel book and in the next we'd have to fall in love with him through Vassa's eyes?

The irony is that her stans also fight over her and baby her like no other. As if she so fragile, she will break if she faces any kind of inconvenience. I'm sorry to be the one to tell them but Elain in her book will probably go through shit -like any other mc- because that's what makes a good story. If you want to read about Elain frolicking in flower fields and baking go read a fanfic.

Let's not forget Azriel is never going to reject his mate. Gwyn and Az are perfect for each other in so many ways.

"He didn't consider her a friend, but..." First of all this happened in the Winter Solstice, when they barely knew each other. Second, I thought it was a wink wink monent as in he hasn't "friendzoned" her, so maybe they can be friends or sth more(?) I definitely wouldn't want to be best bros with the guy I liked. I don't know if SJM will go with the friends to lovers route, I wouldn't mind it. I'd personally prefer if they had more like a rivalry, constantly challenging and teasing each other (maybe because that's how I flirt 😅 but I also think that's more SJM's style).

[jessij1997]

MASTERLIST 📜

Loving a soldier

Word count: 35,230 | Summary:

Ian joins the army and Mickey stays behind until two soldiers knock on his door.

Loving a civilian

Word count: 39,215 | Summary:

Ian is called to his next overseas mission and has to leave Mickey behind again until he almost saves another soldier's life.

Kinktober 2024

15 fics of kinky Gallavich 🤭

A Haven Beyond the Horizon (ongoing)

Word count: 16,699 | Summary:

London, 1789 - hidden from society’s gaze, a forbidden love blooms in the shadow. Every stolen moment could be their last, every secret kiss could mean the end. As the pressure becomes unbearable, Ian and Mickey flee, hoping to find a haven beyond the horizon. But along the way, betrayal and sacrifice await them, and the question of whether a love that defies the world rules is strong enough to survive.

Hooked - What's worth fighting for

Word count: 32,785 | Summary:

Mickey, a lone underground fighter drowning in debts and rage, survives each fight by sheer grit and raw instinct. When Ian Gallagher, a composed and skilled ex-boxer turned trainer, sees potential beneath Mickey’s rough edges, he offers him a way out. But leaving the dirty world of street fights and his ties to a dangerous dealer like Tony isn’t easy. As Mickey struggles between survival and a chance for something more, the tension between him and Ian grows, blurring the lines between mentor, rival, and something deeper.This is a story about fighting for freedom, self-worth, and discovering what’s worth staying in the ring for.

The Way We Are

Word count: 21,455 | Summary:

Of course, they never really talked about all the shit that had happened over the years but they somehow had managed to be happy. A delayed honeymoon in a mysterious house throws them both off track and they are painfully reminded of their past. Will they be able to let go of fear and guilt and painful memories? Will they be the same afterwards? And the much more important question: Will Mickey manage to save Ian and himself?

The Apocalypse (Galladrabbles series) ongoing

Word count: 2,300 | Summary:

Mickey has always been a lone fighter, especially since the apocalypse. But when a redhead stumbled through his door, his broken world was turned upside down.

A Touch of Ice and Fire

Word count: 1,193 | Summary:

In the icy darkness of Winterfell, Mickey and Ian fight side by side – discovering a bond that connects them more strongly than the looming cold of the North.

Whumptober 2024

Word count: 5,560

November Drabble Challenge

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |

15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |

The stranger

26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

The Night you Stayed

Word count: 4,848 | Summary:

Around Christmas, it's hell at the Milkoviches. So Mickey runs away. Good thing Gallagher has a van in the backyard.

Word count: 2,613 | Summary:

Video Edits

Ian meets a black-haired stranger on the bus. The rest is maybe just smut.

Trapped - every Choice has a Price

Word count: 2,547 (ongoing) | Summary:

They wanted to celebrate their anniversary, but someone had obviously drugged them and brought them here to fight for their lives - for their lives, their relationship, and against time.

The Beauty and the Beast

Word count: 15,730 | Summary:

Some of you know the story from your childhood: The Beauty meets the Beast, and with a kiss, everything is fine. But what if it isn't as easy as the fairy tales promise? Because real life isn't a fairy, right?

🧡 Ian & Monica

🧡 Gallavich - Everytime we touch

🧡 Does he have this look in his eyes?

My Art

This and this aaand this and this Nsfw