#they're on opposite sides of this conflict and are going to probably kill each other. like it doesn't even have to end any differently

[bagheerita]

DS9's "Second Skin" once again shaming the Stargate Atlantis writing team by doing an episode they wrote but over 10 years earlier and 50 times better. I went on a rant about "Sunday" vs "Lessons" a couple years ago, but watching "Second Skin" is like seeing what "Michael" could have been if written by people who understood drama instead of only being acted by people who did. There are definitely differences, like we start out having a relationship with Kira which we don't with Lt Kenmore, but with the whole fake identity plot having the person's actual parent there makes it sooooooo much more emotional. (This is what I wanted from "Michael"!! Not just handing him a stock photo that literally looks like it came with the frame and telling him "These are your parents." But an actual emotional connection, any tie for him to cling to to believe your bullshit and not just Teyla being quietly agreeable like whoring her out is the only way you can sell your lies. Because, here in DS9 as well, the lies are so obviously bullshit.) But making it a double blind also, where you lied to the parent as well to make sure you manipulated that honest emotional connection into existing, fantastic, exquisite, Stargate wishes. And in the end the point of the episode is different, as Lt Kenmore is the focus of his episode and Kira is really just the excuse to expose the Legate by having him try to protect his "daughter," but (and as much as I love "Michael") the emotional content here is so much deeper and sweeter. Maybe SGA writers are allergic to honest emotions, or maybe the writers were trying to hedge their bets with not portraying their main cast as being as evil as the Obsidian Order... though if you're going to go with the war crimes go whole hog with the war crimes come on.

[hatchet-boy]

Judging SPN Seasons By How Messy It Would Be If Sam And Dean Started Having Sex

Season 1: freshly reunited. no one else in their world but them. they are obsessed with each other. they would fuck like feral dogs and it would make them so much worse. also dad is there. unspeakably messy. 12/10

Season 2: dad just died. the grief sex would be more tears than come and at least one of them is probably saying johns name mid fuck. dean might have to kill baby brother (TM) and so the obvious reaction to this would be extremely possessive sex. sam would not like that attitude (with the one exception of if it happens when hes drunk in playthings). messy in even grosser but marginally less feral ways than szn one. 13/10

Season 3: milder. still obsessed with each other but more settled into it now. deans turn to maybe die and sams turn to be uber-doober possessive about it. unlike sam, dean would be extremely into that. and his deal is comin due so he might as well. sad and tragic,, but not that messy. probably still more tears than come. 6/10

Season 4: dean just came back from hell to find sam fucking his new demon girlfriend. the angels are there. they're still hunting but Stuff Is Going On and god knows they need to be grounded with each other to make it through. sex would probably help. would do the opposite than make things messier. would be vicious. definite chance dean might try to feed sam his blood. 4/10

Season 5: apocalypse fuck. oh fuck. ruby is dead. angels and death and demons and god and destiny. sam and dean are the most experienced and secure theyve ever been and yet. the whole damn world is about to explode. and yet they are still tortured and annoyed by the goofy everday hunting horrors. fucking would be nice for them, would remind them they belong to each other. they think theyre gonna die so the consequences wouldnt matter a whole lot. less insulated and worried about holy judgment so the incest thing may be a bother now. 2/10

Season 6: you fuck your brother but its not your brother he's different in ways you cant explain but you havent seen him in months and you thought you lost him and hes not quite right but fuck he looks like him and talks like him and knows everything about the two of you and he fucks like a greek god and hes mean as a motherfucker in bed but you can take it its fine its worth it its sam godammit-

15/10

Season 7: stranded up the creek without even a twig for a paddle. both brothers are destroyed and traumatised and forcing each other forward by force of necessity and a brotherly hand on the back of the neck. at least its just them alone together (dean please ignore the hallucination of lucifer sitting in the corner and judging our cock size-). sex would go terribly and be the most unsexy sex ever sexed. but they would probably like the closeness if sam could handle it. messy but wouldnt ruin them long term. there would be a terrible Dick joke. 8/10

Season 8: WHOA BOY WHAT A DOOZY. BOTH BROTHERS HAVE PARAMOURS ON THE SIDE WHOM THE OTHER FUCKIN HATES. DEAN IS PURGATORY FERAL AND HAS ONE EYE ON A VAMP. SAM IS SOFT HAS HIS PINKY FINGER TWINED AROUND SOME RANDOM GIRL. WHY DIDNT YOU LOOK FOR ME?? // YOU TOLD ME NOT TO!! // YOU TRUST A DAMN VAMPIRE OVER YOUR OWN BROTHER?? // YOU HIT A DOG... meanwhile sam is doing the trials losing his mind again and dean is losing his mind about that. letting you down was my biggest sin//there is nothing i would ever put in front of you. messy. 10/10.

Season 9: less than ideal with sam possessed by and angel. dean is rocking with the guilt and confliction. the mark of cain is also making him a bit feral again. theyre safe together in the bunker but thats already claustrophobic enough sex might just suffocate them both. pretty messy. 7/10

Season 10: your big brother is an angry angry man but its not his fault right??? its because of the mark right?? he cant control it and you love him and you want to stay in the safe house/bunker/tomb with him you dont want to leave anymore and you need him. youve both been through enough. you deserve this. there would be minimal messiness caused by sex with your brother rn. exception to those few weeks where he was a demon. 2/10

Season 11: gods sister is here and its the apocalypse again. dean hates what he has with Her. at least his sammy is here. at least theyre together. still crazy about each other. gay incest sex is the most reasonable reaction. god might find out- but then again, he and his sister are pretty wacked out together too, and are we not made in gods image?. 1/10

Season 12: Mom is here and so is lucifer and his kid and also the cunt ass brits. not ideal. minimal messiness so long as no one finds out. and fuck all them anyway its pretty clear sam and dean can only ever really trust each other. sex would be affirming and safe here. they are absolutely fucking in the kitchen to the smell of toast and coffee. dean discovers he has an std because no its not normal that your balls have iched like that for the past four years you need to go to a doctor and dean i swear on the impala if you gave it to me- . 3/10

Season 13 to 15: fellas is it gay to have sex with your brother who you've been functionally married to for over a decade? probably not right ha ha. if they havent already fucked by now theyre not going to. theyre just gonna be intensely platonically married until they die. they both have erectile dysfunction by this point . sex would mean everything to them but change nothing they would still be old and married in their bunker with the devils kid tomorrow regardless. they dont care what people think anymore. fuck all messiness. 1/10

Post Season 15 Finale/Heaven: we deserve a soft epilogue my love sammy. mildly concerned about being kicked out of heaven for incest but with everything else theyve done they still made it there. it would be the least of their sins. lovely soft and nothing hurts. can you make a sex tape in heaven? 0/10

[evaglass]

Speculation about Mizu's parents pt. 6

Mizu has already killed one of the first white men, Violet. Fowler isn't going to last too long once there's no use for him, and assuming both Routley and Skeffington are in the British Isles, because I doubt the show will have Mizu relocate again farther from Japan to find her target, Mizu will most likely kill them three in season 2, and that seems a bit too easy.

Having her kill all the four white men by season 2 seems too quick, especially since the people behind the show want four seasons. It's too quick, unless there's a plot twist, like none of the four men being her father and none of them putting the bounty on her.

Don't get me wrong, they probably were involved in Mizu's mother getting killed. Remember the bird Mizu had to kill when on the mission Madame Kaji requested?

A bird flies from its nest for two reasons if a person is near, one reason is to fly away from danger. The other reason is that if the bird has eggs or hatchlings, it will try to defend its nest, like how the bird in that scene tried to do.

Look at the way the dead bird was laid out, the four white eggs that are there, almost like they're looking at the dead mother bird.

It looks like these two scenes I brought up before.

Mizu finding out her mother was the European one instead of her father will not make her happy; it will fill her with a lot of complicated feelings, especially anger, and she might even hate her mother. The worst part about it is that her mother is likely dead, and she can't enact her vengance on her mother if she's already dead. She will believe it was all for nothing.

I do think she will probably eventually find self-acceptances, especially if she finds out her mother really did love her and died protecting her. Maybe she'll even find an old diary of her deceased mother describing how much she loves her.

The revelation will probably lead to Mizu wondering who actually put the bounty on her, which will lead her back to Japan seeking answers, which will set up Lady Itoh as the final antagonist.

I already can tell Akemi is gonna have conflict with Lady Itoh, especially if Akemi and Takayoshi start developing actual romantic feelings for each other because that would make Lady Itoh lose more control over him. I highly suspect Lady Itoh is behind the death of Takayoshi's first wife, so that puts Akemi in potential danger, and Lady Itoh has no problem trying to put Akemi down with what she pulled in the dinner scene. I think the common enemy of Lady Itoh will have Akemi and Mizu ally with each other

Going back to this scene, I think there's more potential foreshadowing to explore here. I think the man who tried to kill baby Mizu was voiced by the same man who also voices the older son, Kazuyoshi, while the man who stopped him was voiced by the same guy who also voices Takayoshi. I think this will foreshadow what choices Kazuyoshi and Takayoshi will make in the future.

Look at this scene that's in the POV of Kazuyoshi before he does what his mother tells him to do, which is to lock in the Lords to die because they saw his father's shame. Look at how his mother is in front, then Takayoshi, and then Kazuyoshi's own wife is way in the back.

This may show that Kazuyoshi puts his mother first, then his brother, and then his wife last. I think both Kazuyoshi and Takayoshi will have a choice: they will either have to choose their mother or their wives, and by extent, their possible half-sister Mizu.

Kazuyoshi will choose his mother, while Takayoshi will choose Akemi and Mizu.

The show has subtle moments of sibling tension and/or drama; Akemi and her younger half-brother show the different societal expectations set for them, Fowler's backstory with his dead sister who's kidneys he had to eat to survive, the two men in the beginning of episode three could have easily been brothers, the subtle hints that Kazuyoshi and Takayoshi could end up on opposite sides later in the show, and I also possibly believe that Mizu's mother may have been one of the four white mens' sister, mostly leaning towards Routley because of the "pretty eyes" comment from Fowler.

It could be possible that Routley brought his sister with him to Japan. I can assume that Violet was the oldest of the four men, and they all came from broken backgrounds like Fowler before Violet took them under his wing. It's probably why Fowler looked so upset when he realized Mizu was the one who killed Violet. Routley could have easily been an orphan with his sister before meeting Violet and working with him.

This would mean that Routley probably agreed to betray Mizu's mother in order to keep the deal with the shogunate intact, and oh man, I love sibling angst and betrayal. It's probably why Fowler thinks he's worse in his opinion.

Now there's one more film I want to talk about. It was cited that there were a good number of films that influenced the show, the main two being Yentl and Kill Bill, another I stated earlier was also Lady Snowblood.

Now I can't find any source to claim that the film I'm about to bring up also influenced Blue Eye Samurai, but it could be possible that it did, because like Kill Bill I heard it was also inspired by Lady Snowblood

I'm talking about the South Korean film Sympathy For Lady Vengeance.

I've also seen this film. It's about a woman named Lee Geum-ja who gets pregnant in her teens and decides to run away from home and stay with a former teacher of hers who used to make really inappropriate comments about her (she was a scared pregnant teen who wasn't thinking straight, and probably thought if she came home to tell her parents she's pregnant they would have kicked her out).

Obviously, it goes south pretty quickly. The man is still a teacher, and one day, he decides to murder a boy from another class. The teacher makes Geum-ja take the fall for him due to him threatening her baby's life. She falsely confesses to the murders and spends 13 years in prison, planning her revenge against the teacher for when she is released from prison.

When she is released, Geum-ja puts her plan in motion and also finds out her daughter was adopted by a couple in Australia and was named Jenny. She goes to Australia to meet her daughter, in which her daughter threatens to stab herself with a knife if she doesn't let her visit Korea.

Geum-ja loves her daughter, but Jenny is mad at her for giving her up (she's a 13 year old kid) she expresses that in a letter, which Geum-ja reads after getting it translated and then takes Jenny to where teacher is being held by her and makes him translate her speech to her in English

The reason I bring up this is not only because of influences from Lady Snowblood from what I heard, but also the themes involving mother-daughter relationships

The complexity, tragedy, sacrifice, anger, hate, sadness, and love can all align pretty well with Mizu and her mother. Mizu will no doubt have complex feelings about her mother, especially if she was the European one, but I think under the circumstances, I've brought up Mizu's quest for vengance will shift to making her potential white father pay for her existence to avenging her mother.

One more thing before I finally finish this. I want to briefly talk about the theory that Lady Itoh could be Mizu's mother or her maternal aunt. I can see where it's coming from, and it is possible, but I can also see it being a red herring

Yes, both Lady Itoh and Mizu have smaller faces, but Lady Itoh's features are still round and soft while Mizu's are angular and sharp; Lady Itoh's face is more oval shaped while Mizu's is more shaped like a diamond. Even up close, their noses look a bit different as well.

I also think that if any of the four white men actually impregnated and killed a Japanese noble woman when they first got to Japan, they would have lost the trading deal. Yeah, Fowler killed the Shogun, but that was after 10 years of building up an army. Plus pretty poetic that they're reminded of the woman they betrayed through her daughter's eyes.

But I'm open to being wrong. Anyway, I'm sorry this was long but now I'm done. Let me know what you guys think, I'm totally open for discussion

Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5/Part 6

[mytalemyworld]

YABANI / ASI & ALAZ SEASON 2 THOUGHTS

It's been months since I wrote here: a very busy real life schedule, a finger injury, not any tv show that piqued my interest caused me not to come here but escapism is very much needed right now. And Yabani is like that your old friend you know you should stay away but as long as it's there, you don't have power to run away.

I seriously didn't expect much from the show considering what we've got so far. Also I really understand the difficulty the new head writer has to live. She took over a wreck, nothing they would write could save the show. So that's why I just watch Asi and Alaz and care about only them. They still make me emotional even though their scenes last only like 5 minutes. Yeah yeah, the new plots, the new characters etc. These are just excuses, because they already have a good, exciting story potential yet the writers choose to ignore it. Once again.

For example, the new bearded guy and the evil lady. You know those old casettes which have two sides: A and B. A side is always aimed to give you the best tracks and as for B, it kind of exists only to fill the casette. To me, no matter how hard the writers try to make them look like an A side track they are just so useless and end up B side. I don't even want to know what their stories are.

The other problem, just for the rating, Asi's long lost family turned out to be a bunch of lunatics. No need to say they're the second B side track for me to skip endlessly.

I am not surprised anymore, I just want to express my frustration.

So let's take a look at our problematic couple.

The things I like:

The fact that he has never moved on.

It's kind of realistic. He's an extreme character, always going back and forth over two opposite edges, and turning any emotion into an obsession level of craziness. Be it love or hatred.

So, it's not surprising to see him like this, desperate, aimless, lost and tired.

The guy has never had a life purpose, not even in season 1. His journey is not about finding himself or his potential etc. He seeks love and wants to be loved. So the first conflict was about the lack of parental love, then Asi (he even chose her over his brother, I mean, it should give you an idea)…and now it's also about his baby.

If the story gives me a wrecked man, I would like to see a consistent behavior. Otherwise all scenes about how lost he is wouldn't matter.

To avoid this kind of problem, the confrontation between Alaz and Asi shouldn't have been his dream. It MUST have been the real one.

Because it would make sense.

Because no effing one could hold himself back after going through a never ending torment for these two years.

Because the actor killed it.

I am not good Asi. Not at all. Every day I've thought this moment. If I found you, If I saw you what would I say? There's not even a single moment that I don't regret, Asi. We could have been so happy. If we had a baby…I always thought it would be a girl. We could have named her Ece. Then we, three of us, would set off by a caravan. You'd sing and I'd play the guitar. Maybe she wouldn't have a perfect life but would be so happy. Because we would love her so much. Because we loved each other so much. And I still love you so much. Please…please, forgive me. I can't do without you. Please don't give up on me.

The fact that he realised he could be a good father because he loves the mother of his child and she loves him back, because he could give all his love to their kid and make him/her feel loved. The fact that he finally realised they have what his parents lack: a mutual love which could make the child literally a love child (he knows this makes a difference) and of course caring about the kid you make, putting his/her needs first.

And he probably came to understand why Asi wanted to keep the child: The need for having a family which he felt like he lost two years ago.

This kind of desperation is so hard to come by on tvs right now. And let me tell you, I've been watching tr dramas for almost 25 years and this is one of the most intense scenes I've ever seen. So raw and so strong.

His soul is on his knees, he wears his heart on his sleeves, he is dying to find out if he has a second chance. He looks like a candle burning and perishing slowly.

However God knows for what reason they chose to keep this scene only in his mind and gave us this:

You still love me.

Sometimes I feel like he has a serious personality disorder. Look, he kind of slayed this too, however it didn't go over well especially after 37th episode.

Maybe I am right maybe he's really unstable, I mean look at him. He has this selfish side that doesn't seem to get healed even after 2 years. He loves being loved, he enjoys seeing being wanted, he has this telling look which says he's glad that she can't move on either no matter how painful it's for her.

Well, he's kind of saying he wants her back and is ready to do anything for it but the scenes are so short which makes the effect weak.

STILL.

They have an effect on me anyway.

[lagomorphics]

Majora's Mask remaster for the Nintendo Switch OLED screen could you please make a relationship chart for your AU's 🥹👉👈

ABSOLUTELY. SMILES. i've only made charts for narigoatlamb / narilamb but at some point i'll probably do some big charts including the bishops and other side characters :)

PUTTING IT UNDER THE CUT THOUGH BECAUSE THIS GETS. VERY VERY LONG. because i looove overexplaining myself <3

starting with lucky card!! since i'm still working out everything for how i want these threes dynamics to evolve i only have one version of their relationship </3 but heres my longass ramble on each dynamic:

Ines and Jahel's relationship kinda takes front and center for most of the au, since they're in close proximity most of the time, and they care about eachother A LOT. pre-Ines' deal they were 'friends', and only got closer because of All This Mess. Ines likes the fact they can be themself around Jahel, and Jahel loves Ines for all their snark and charm <3

Ines and Nari spend a lot of time having a very hot n cold relationship. Narinder usually texts Ines and holds the deal over their head to get them to go somewhere or come to the casino for something, which pisses Ines OFF because they like DOING THINGS, NARINDER. Nari has a very hard time being emotional and is practically A Wall, and Ines is. well. the opposite. Ines does think Nari is extremely hot, and (while annoyed) does go along with the deal they have, but it's only really late into things do they actually start to genuinely Fall for Nari. Nari falls first, because Ines' presence starts becoming less of an annoyance and more of something she.. really enjoys. Sorry about the divorce in their future

AND FOR THE MOST STRANGE OF THE BUNCH. HOO BOY. Nari does NOT trust Jahel (for very funny reasons. haha. lmao. lol.) and thinks they're going to ruin everything she has been trying to accomplish. Jahel is doing everything they can to convince her like "hey. i know. i swear i'm not that." but its. a very very slow process. The two probably wouldn't ever be alone with oneanother until like halfway through the plot, where Nari DOES try to kill Jahel. lol. it's fine. I'd say after that they'd start trying to get along a little better. They don't fall in love until post Nari's 'defeat' though

i also included a little funny. Jahel has another connection that they feel very very conflicted about :) wow i wonder who that is. aha. whaat. runs away extremely fast.

SNAH au <33 three lil versions of their dynamic evolving (can you tell i REALLY rotate this au around)

to start off; when Narinder was TOWW, Lambert was VERY infatuated with him, to the point that they kinda convinced themself that despite how much he talks about sacrifice, they would be the exception. To TOWW though, he grew to care about them and admired how vengeful they were, but watched as that vengence slowly cooled and mellowed out, almost resenting it. He always planned to sacrifice them, because to him; what's a greater honour than that? he promised he'd make theirs meaningful, though. Obviously Lambert did not like this in the slightest.

Post-defeat and for the early days of their relationship, Nari just kinda hated them really bad. To him, Lambert took EVERYTHING from him, including his own death. my Nari is.... not the most stable at the start? he struggles a lot mentally, and (if the day ever came) he knew he wanted death to be his end, to not even have That pissed him off. Lambert, however, still has lingering feelings for him, because at the end of the day, Narinder was like a friend to them. he did listen to them, let them spend time with him, gave them advice etc etc... so it hurts a lot to know that a) he was gonna sacrifice them (they are very pissed off about that still) and b) he is actively making everything difficult. it does not help that Nari is able to read minds and can use magic, hes causing problems and its stressing them out </3

they do eventually get to a point of being friendly though!

AND THE LAST ONE. so in SNAH, Nari DOES die at a specific point (lol), and it is an extremely rough time for both of them because Narinder realises Oh actually. i dont want to die. and his time in the afterlife is horrible, and Lambert is freaking the hell out because Holy shit. Hes dead. Oh my god. They actually personally go and retrieve his soul because the last thing they wanted was to potentially fail the resurrection ritual, but after all that happens they both just... grow closer. Narinder realises that Lambert cares about him so much, always reaches out for him and is ready to catch him at any moment. He realises he does still care about them, and he also starts to appreciate mortal life and everything way more. what dying does to a mf.

Nari dying also made Lambert realise their infatuation HAD changed into being genuine love and care, and also it hurt really bad to see him like that. it also helped them connect better to the domain they now rule over, and just... they realise that they never want to see him hurting like that again. they really do love him and want him by their side, if he wants that too. (they get. way better at Being Normal about their own emotions)

AH!!! AGH!!! (BLOWS UP)

[pumpkinhimiko]

Helloooo :3 I like your takes. My questions are: In what aspects do you think Kaito and Kokichi are opposites? If Kokichi represents lies, who represents the truth?

Erika Furudo There isn't a character in V3 that has a relationship with truth in the same way Kokichi does lies. Kokichi loves lying and hates when others lie. Lying is a deeply personal and integral part of his identity. There aren't any characters that interact with the truth in this manner; even the game's detective character starts off resistant to uncovering the truth and terrified of facing it. And after his character development, Shuichi still doesn't have personal investment in truth--he doesn't respect or uphold the truth for truth's sake. Solving mysteries is something he's doing for the sake of survival. By the end, he basically says, "Screw the truth, what matters is that our feelings were real."

I find the question of who represents truth to be a pedantic one, because usually what fans are really getting at when they have this discussion is "Here's why X represents truth and why that makes them Kokichi's narrative foil and therefore soulmate" (never mind that it's entirely possible to parallel Kokichi in ways unrelated to truth/lies--I know I just said it's integral to his character, but he does have other traits). The setting is a killing game where lies, truth, doubt, trust, and mystery-solving are the main themes of the story, so obviously "truth" is something the focal characters are all going to have to contend with at some point--it doesn't mean they're the embodiment of the concept. Like all decent character writing, there's nuance to this, so trying to shoehorn characters into the box of "Truth Representative" comes off as reductive. Consider the third trial where Kokichi encourages the group to doubt each other because, no matter how trustworthy they may seem, everyone still tells lies. Kaito responds that the truth isn't that important, and just because everyone lies that isn't a reason not to trust them. It's scenes like this where you could argue that Kaito is more on the side of lies than Kokichi is; much of their conflict doesn't stem from Kokichi being a liar, but rather Kokichi's fear of other people's lies, and Kaito's lack thereof.

As for Kaito and Kokichi being opposites… I mean, how much time do you have? This is a whole essay, probably. Although it would take even longer to list all the ways they're similar; their differences are mostly superficial and aesthetic ones, while their similarities are deep-seated and fundamental. What makes their paths diverge, though, has nothing to do with truth or lies. It's that Kaito tried to beat the game through unification and Kokichi tried it through separation.

[yanderes-galore]

Stan vs Cartman

Anyone and Cartman causes issues 😅 Aged up as usual, but before Post-Covid.

Yandere! Stan Marsh vs Eric Cartman

Pairing: Romantic - Rivalry

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Clingy behavior, Jealousy, Violence, Toxic mindsets, Possessive behavior, Mature language, Stalking, Overprotective behavior, Thoughts of murder.

Stan and Cartman are conflicting yanderes.

Not as much as a Kyle and Cartman rivalry... but it's up there.

Let's compare their yandere behaviors. Green text just means they share a trait.

Stan is Obsessive, Clingy, Manipulative, Caring, Sympathetic, Delusional, and Sometimes violent.

Cartman is Manipulative, Clingy, Degrading, Deceptive, Forceful, Obsessive, Self-Absorbed, and Possessive.

Their yandere types have different motives towards their darling.

Stan wants to dedicate himself to his darling.

Cartman wants his darling to dedicate themselves to him.

The rivalry has constant manipulation from both sides.

Both of them are Obsessive, Manipulative, and Clingy yanderes.

It's just Stan has the more positive traits and Cartman's more negative.

The dynamic of the rivalry would probably be Stan trying to keep you away from Cartman as he knows he'd mistreat you.

Cartman, of course, doesn't like the idea of Stan keeping you to himself.

Both of them aren't healthy.

But Stan is the better choice.

Stan feels like he's defending you from Cartman.

He isn't blind, he's seen how Cartman treated Heidi.

Stan hates the idea of that.

Cartman thinks Stan should mind his own business.

Cartman's deceptive and tells you he'll be different... he's changed!

He has not... he's just trying to find a way into your affection so he can drain you for every last drop.

Stan may develop an overprotective mindset with you if he knew Cartman had his sights on you.

Stan may even alert Kyle to it, trying to have his best friend's help.

Stan barely leaves your side.

You'll notice your friend is more clingy than before.

He's telling you to stay away from Cartman and holding tightly on your arm when you walk.

This makes you on edge and makes you distrust Cartman.

Which pisses Cartman off.

Each time Cartman just tries to hang out with you, you give him fearful looks.

Which is cute but really...?

Cartman tries to get you to hang out whenever Stan is not around.

Which, in turn, scares Stan.

He told you Cartman is a horrible person...

Why are you with him!?

Oh... they're both stalkers.

Both have many pictures of you.

They also both have the ability to be violent.

Stan would fight Cartman less than Kyle but would still attempt it.

Stan is willing to fight for you while Cartman wants you to fight for him.

You're going to see them fight... a lot.

It's mostly verbal.

Which usually leads to Cartman provoking Stan... and Stan punching him.

In this rivalry, Cartman barely has time with you.

Stan's way too overprotective which would mean Cartman would have to take you by force.

Which means more fighting as Stan does not take his eyes off you.

They both have potential to kill and kidnap.

If they'd kill each other is possible but would take time.

They are still "friends".

Yet you matter the most to them.

Stan plans to have a family with you and love you with all his heart once he gets to keep you.

Cartman plans to drag you around like a pet and have you pamper him when he finally has you.

Both yanderes are complete opposites of each other...

They'd fight over you until one of them backs down... most likely by force.

[distort-opia]

What is your ideal ghostbat dynamic?

Oh it's definitely the thrice-divorced snarky middle-aged men performing intricate rituals thing they currently got going on.

Batman 2022 Annual

Bruce Wayne, being a character with almost a century of history, has beein paired with so many individuals. There's a lot of relationships he's formed over time, but a particularly interesting type is the people-who-knew-him-before-Batman category. Harvey Dent, Thomas Eliot, Zatanna Zatara, Talia al Ghul... and now Minhkhoa Khan. Obviously, quite a lot of these characters ended up as unequivocal villains Batman has had to fight (Two-Face, Hush) while Zatanna remained a childhood-friend-and-almost-lover. Talia and Khoa are more complicated; they're definitely not heroes, not exactly on the same side as Bruce. But they aren't downright villains either. The waters are more muddled. In Talia's case there's the conflict between her loyalty and love for her father, duty and legacy; this opposition to Bruce's own goals was there from the start. But (to finally get to my point with this tangent) there was no such thing with Khoa, and that's basically my main draw to the ship. Bruce has other people that know him as just Bruce and not Batman, or as the in-between (all unique and complex relationships in their own right), but I can only think of Khoa as someone who was present for Batman being forged. While Talia was there when Bruce was training, she didn't share the same goal of combating crime, but Khoa did. For someone so desperately lonely as Bruce is, having someone to share that road with meant so much. Not only that, Khoa contributed to the formation of Batman by engaging him in the wild competitive streak they share, by pushing Bruce to rise to his level.

Hence... the unique kind of familiarity they have even decades later, despite the numerous betrayals along the way. That's an ideal component to me-- Bruce feeling like he can easily be himself. It's a rarity to him, since he plays so many different roles to many different people. And after Alfred's death, someone so important who knew him utterly and supported him from the start, he clearly missed it. It didn't really matter that Khoa killed dozens of people when he showed up in Gotham and literally declared he'll traumatize Bruce by killing a kid in front of him (which he probably would have done, if Harley hadn't managed to be as persuasive as she was). After Selina leaving him, Dick getting shot, his own father and Bane taking his city away, Alfred dying, losing his fortune and Joker War happening... myeah, I really feel like Khoa showed up at the perfect moment.

Which leads me to another component of their dynamic that I favor, and that's both of them being manipulative assholes and equals capable of kicking each other's asses. Why did Khoa show up with all of his resources after Joker War specifically? Why did Bruce ask him to stay so readily, forgoing the things Khoa had done? Hah. Khoa's undoubtedly been obsessed with Bruce, if keeping tabs on him and seeking out Jonathan Crane to learn fear and hell, even getting a sidekick to mirror Batman having a Robin is any indication. He gets to be close to Bruce and potentially ingratiate himself to him while fully knowing Bruce is using him, and Bruce knows it too-- but he's still allowing himself to depend on Khoa's resources and on him becoming part of Batman Incorporated and the more extended Bat-team. Khoa's always been manipulative; wonder if Bruce ever found out that in The Knight #4, Khoa was the one to tell those assassins Bruce's location, thus orchestrating a situation in which Bruce would finally accept to take him with him. But then, while they were training with Avery, Bruce was manipulative back, and you can literally see Khoa falling in love over it in The Knight #5, after Bruce distracts him with flirting and then steals the book.

At the end of the day, Khoa is a psychopath; perhaps not the sadistic kind, but he still operates as one, and Bruce can not only handle it, but he can handle it well. He's proven himself to be an equal, someone who challenges Khoa to improve and become better. Thing is, psychopaths overlap with narcissists a lot due to a basic reason. For neurotypical individuals, empathy acts as a way to see conspecifics as others, but like-minded others. You see other people think and emote like you, and you register them as human beings just like you. 'I feel what you feel, therefore we are the same.' But psychopaths work differently, in the sense that they often have excellent cognitive empathy, but a dulled affective one. They can tell how people think, but emotionally these things don't resonate with them-- the consequence being that they don't easily register others as equals, like-minded others. It's easy to then see yourself as the most valuable individual ever, as the center of the world, because you haven't truly ever shared that world. Which is why, when a psychopath meets someone they can relate to... they don't just relate, they become obsessed. Much like Khoa has. If all your life you felt you're separate from everyone else, having this kind of connection is life-changing, and you'll do whatever you need to preserve it. Including manipulative and murderous acts. But that's fine, because Bruce is attracted to this kind of thing. He himself has thought at some point about a woman (Jezebel Jet) that he should've known she was villainous and would betray him, because he had been attracted to her. I could get into Bruce's dating history and what it says about his preferences, but 'nuff said.

...Anyway, this got away from me, Anon :)) You probably didn't expect a whole-ass essay, but I hope you enjoyed reading through my personal take on them. I really like Khoa's character, since it's not often you get a morally-grey and complex psychopath like him, in comics. But to summarize my answer, my ideal Ghostbat dynamic is definitely one based on them being equals who know each other on a fundamental level, capable of handling both the good parts and the bad parts of the other; the one that solidified after decades of a push-and-pull between their core principles and ideals.

[lilietsblog]

So I'm probably making myself a target for some nasty shit by doing this, but it's just bothering me a lot to scroll through tumblr in the middle of all this, so here it is: my understanding of the whole Gaza/Israel issue.

Based on tumblr's usual noise, but also on Ukrainian news sources, which I p much trust on this because... well, because of the specific things they say that check out, and also because Israel isn't actually supporting Ukraine in this war, and is apparently also trying to suck up to Russia (it's not working, Putin and Co are too antisemitic for that), so no reason for our news to suck up to them. (Especially the independent opposition bloggers I also follow)

Yes, Israel got itself into the whole mess via its own very special ill-thought-out policy. And they're basically stuck this way because of external and internal political reasons. Here's hope they manage to sort it out in a way that doesn't result in ever more deaths, misery and horror -_-

Yes, there was a violent terrorist attack by HAMAS that resulted in... at least several hundred deaths, including torture, rape etc of civilians, including visiting foreigners.

Yes, Gaza inhabitants are often aggressively antisemitic in a "want to kill them all" way. That's where HAMAS recruits its terrorists from.

Yes, again, it's predominantly the fault of the government of Israel and the decisions it's made. No, it's not the fault of each individual citizen of Israel, let alone every Jew, and it's not the fault of every single person who thinks Israel deserves to exist as an independent country, either.

No, Israel did not bomb the hospital. I have yet to see a single relevant photo on tumblr, but I did see relevant photos in Ukrainian sources, and they're of an explosion in the parking lot. The casualty numbers were grossly overexaggerated in the initial reports, and the actual cause for the explosion was a misfired rocket from HAMAS. There've been corrections from some sources, none from others, but overall I believe that the final version is that.

No, Palestinians are by and large not inhuman monsters who deliberately use their own children as human shields then blame Israel. There are, have been and will be a few fanatics who do do that though - even besides specific reports, I'd be very skeptical if someone told me apropos of nothing that after several decades of conflict there wasn't a SINGLE person who was that far gone. It's just how human variance works. I mean, I'd buy it if someone said that a Ukrainian did that, too - have you read Taras Bulba?

Yes, HAMAS absolutely does use Palestinian civilians (including children) as human shields. It's a terrorist organization that thinks they're in the right and the ends justify any and all means. Of course they would.

Yes, Israel is doing some fucked up shit with forcing civilian population to evacuate within 24 hours, shutting off water and gas, etc. I don't think they're enacting deliberate genocide and I do think they're at least trying to avoid casualties (see: telling them to evacuate instead of bombing as is, and shoutout to Russia for absolutely not doing that), but their solutions are still horrifying and lead to misery and deaths.

Pretty sure Egypt is not helping either, I trust the Ukrainian sources on that. Nothing to gain from lying, there.

The whole thing is resulting in an explosion of antisemitic AND islamophobic AND just overall racist violence all over the world, including riots BY the affected populations in response to it. Everyone is in the wrong, and everything sucks. I'll be blocking people for both sentiments should any make their way through tumblr savior, so fair warning here. Have an opinion based on the understanding of both sides as actual human people, or go fuck yourself with a rusty fork. Thanks.

So this one might be the most controversial, but: I think it'll be good for Israel to get US weapons. They don't need them against Gaza, they can handle Gaza. Those are against hostile neighbours that support HAMAS and are currently, right now, attacking the territory of Israel. I do not think they should get to do that, and I think Israel should continue to exist as a country. A country that could very much stand to improve its internal and external policies, but that the world is better off having than not anyway.

(I'm seriously biased in that last one, because weapons for Israel getting bundled with weapons for Ukraine is VERY VERY GOOD for us specifically, including for personally me in my personal interest of not getting personally blown up by a rocket from Russia. Very much biased here)

(And to be clear, I don't think this bias affects the news sources, because those news were posted before the bundle idea came up)

(And yes, I do think US military intervention / aid can be in the right and make the world a better place. Not because US is flawless, colonialism is good, etc, but - broken clock, twice a day, you know the drill. I think these are both the twice a day in question.)

[limerental]

Dijkstra/Isengrim, Triss/Philippa

Well oopsie whoopsie, I did basically immediately fall asleep after reblogging that ship game last night but lol

Dijkstra/Isengrim

What made you ship it?

I'm working on an entire essay at the moment of "why I ship it and you should too" but in brief, they're both ugly, snarky, intelligent, and devious outcasts who did objectionable things and in any other story would have probably ended up as villains and gotten their comeuppance. But they're not villains and also not heroes, and they ultimately end up discarded by the powers that be when their usefulness ends. If they'd met a year earlier, they would have dismissed or outright killed each other without a second glance. They're equals from opposite sides of a conflict that ultimately had no sides. And there's something about that understanding they have in their Lady of the Lake chapter that is just soooo deeply important to me.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I love that witty banter is a given, that a lot of things are said without being said, and that they're both fiercely loyal and stubborn characters who would easily turn that loyalty toward one another but also likely consistently irritate one another with how stubborn they can be. I love that they're equal partners. I love that Dijkstra's a big tall fat ugly guy and that Isengrim's also ugly and disfigured and it's the first thing anyone notices about either of them. I love the thought of these two old men, both of them capable of great violence and rage toward those who have wronged them and indifference to the suffering of those they feel deserve it, being domestic and almost cloyingly romantic with one another. Just. The gooiest, softest romantic domesticity two old men in love have ever known, and they also could wreck your shit in an instant if you wrong or threaten them.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't really like the direction CDPR/the games chose to go with Dijkstra's character and so usually chose to ignore it. His character design? Wonderful. Innovative. Excellent. Show-stopping. Exquisite. But his storylines and motivations... have very little to do with his book character and I don't really like them. Book Dijkstra isn't ambitious and especially post book canon after getting burned, I don't think he'd give a shit about politics or power.

Triss/Philippa

What made you ship it?

Triss' character arc is one of my favorite's in the whole book because it's so... she's terrified and she's convinced she's doing the right thing and she's insane and she's compassionate and she's emotional and she's traumatized and she's trying to cling to anything that makes any kind of sense in a world that doesn't make sense. And Philippa is so radically her opposite in every sense and also, I don't think she's every really wholly loved anyone but maybe for a little while wants to love Triss and maybe she does. I love the ship as an inevitable tragedy, like watching a car wreck that you can't look away from.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Honestly I just really love morally dubious lesbians doing questionable things. I love that Philippa brings out the worst in Triss that was there before her and that she is convinced doesn't exist, and I love that maybe Triss could bring out the good in Philippa even for a moment. Also, the imagery of a bird of prey and her gentle, rabbit-soft lover... Triss getting pulled in by her dangerous, seductive allure and Philippa getting pulled in by her supposed delicate fragility hiding claws... They're not some great love story, but they do have strong potential for the messiest codependent yucky absurdity with a lot of hard kink and rare soft moments.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Maybe not that unpopular of an opinion, but I think Philippa being a lesbian was not some progressive move by Sapko or even a very genuine character decision but really just a big joke (most of his characters are ultimately big jokes though, the whole story is a bit of a joke). I don't think Triss/Phil was intended to be canon but just accidentally looks that way if you squint. Death of the author though, that yucky lesbian is ours now.

[brotherslayer]

The dynamic of Callisto, Iklies and Penny (who I like to call Tragic Triad) in JSaBB is just... They're skirting the line between enemy and lover (Callisto on one side, the other two on the opposite side) and there's a sort of “you understand me” thing going on and they yearn and they want all three to be on their side yet none of them can make the move to abandon their side, their cause, their ideals, or in Callisto's case whatever memory or something is holding him back. This is all beautifully tragic and everything but man, wouldn't it be fucking great if they also had a tinge of fucked up “well I can just capture them and keep them captive :)” thing going on...

I know JSaBB canon will go this way with Penny killing Callisto and him lamenting he should've joined their side in his dying breath and all, but y'know what'd be delicious and hilarious? If Penny and Iklies announced Callisto dead but they kept him secretly alive and well, he's captive.

Gotta love how we chose to fixate on different fucked up love interest candidates we love to hate (you with Derrick, me with Callisto). I should probably feel braver to put out my Callisto stuff more.

Being slapped and called a whore wouldn't have fixed Callisto but it might have calmed him down a little. Honestly 11/10 best ending suggestion so far. Callisto can make up for his crimes by becoming the new ruler's boy toy and putting all his homicidial energy into fucking Penelope and Iklies good instead of murder. Penny can finally feel what it's like to be in the position of power in a relationship after having been trapped in a yandere love triangle for almost a decade and Iklies has found a way to vent his childhood resentment, his jealousy over Penelope and desire for revenge into someone.

Iklies and Penelope would feel hella conflicted about their actions towards Callisto for different reasons. Iklies would feel guilty because he is showing compassion to his family's murderer by letting him live in secret while Penelope would feel guilty because she is essentially putting Callisto through something that Derrick wanted to do to her, making her not much different from her own abuser. Publically announcing your enemy's/lover's death while keeping him secretly captive, hmm...sounds like someone took out a page of Derrick's book of relationship advice. After the war the events have changed them so much that Penney would feel bad for having developed a cruel side while Iklies would feel bad for not being able to be cruel enough when it was the opposite problem back then.

It would be fun if they agreed to keep Callisto imprisoned for ~torture~ (they'd keep making excuses like "death would be too merciful for him") but would remain completely unaware of each other's nightly visits of him until one day they run into each other. It'd either end in the worst or best threesome of Callisto's life.

[leofrith]

also leofrith/eivor for the ship ask 🥰🥰

YES license to talk about my silly little rarepair from hell that has completely taken over my brain that i haven't shut up about in our dms for the past two months straight. thank you for dealing with me btw. 🥰🥰 this is going to get long.

What made you ship it?

i liked leofrith almost from the moment he was introduced in my first playthrough and just kept spiralling as i discovered more of the little notes and things about him/from him strewn about the map (which are a subplot all on their own, to be honest). and i was dreading the inevitable boss fight and the fact that the game was probably going to force me to kill him because he is so clearly just a really good, loyal guy who gives a shit about protecting the people under his care and who just happened to pledge his sword to a total asshole. so you can imagine my immense relief when i found out i could choose to spare him.

eivor and leofrith are parallels of each other in a lot of ways imo but specifically in that they're two people who are fiercely loyal, sometimes to their own detriments. that was the first thing i noticed about them that made me start to look at them through a potential romantic lens. them being at different points in the same journey, with leofrith having been thrown to the wolves by the king he would have gladly given his life for, and then watching the same sort of thing happen with eivor and her own loyalty to sigurd when he starts acting up and treating her horribly after being freed from fulke. everything about it is just soooooooo. i could talk about them all day long... and i have.

anyway, i had sort of been dancing around them for a long while and thinking their dynamic would be neat to explore until something snapped in me in november (i wanna say the idea of hidden one leofrith? and also just finally coming up with a fic idea for them that i could invest myself in) and now i've been making it everyone else's problem ever since. 😇

What are your favourite things about the ship?

two people who are incredibly loyal and to whom honor is very important, meeting on opposite sides of a conflict that neither of them really necessarily chose to take part in but were drawn into regardless because of their loyalties (eivor to sigurd and her clan and leofrith to burgred). they're classic enemies to friends to lovers, except they barely qualify as enemies because their conflict is never personal and is entirely just them happening to be on opposite sides of the war that week. i think they have a mutual respect for each other as warriors when they first cross blades, despite being on opposing sides, which very quickly blossoms into a kinship once they no longer have to fight because they see a lot of themselves in each other.

leofrith acting as an outside observer in a way that the rest of the raven clan can't, who challenges eivor to not let sigurd walk all over her but who also intimately understands why she feels indebted to him, because he has his own sibling who pulled him out of a dark place, and for whom he would also do anything (because leofrith canonically has a sister and i love her to death even if she only exists as a name on an easily missable note and as an original character in my brain).

they also share a weakness for children, and you cannot convince me that ceolbert's affection for leofrith didn't go both ways. that is their pseudo child and leofrith is a card carrying member of my rapidly growing band of gruff men who become accidental father figures.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

i know that i call this a rarepair and the truth is that it probably doesn't truly qualify as a rarepair, because there's quite a lot of leovor content with boivor from what i've seen. but unfortunately i could not give less of a shit about boivor. sorryyyy. that's havi to me. let bi4bi leofrith and canon eivor into your hearts. ♥️

Send me a ship and I’ll answer three questions based on if I ship it or not.

[wickedpact]

I adore your commentary on different scenes from the movie and have been meaning to ask for your input on why Joe looks so exhausted and devastated (and other emotions I don't even know how to label) after he kills Keane?

i think the keane bit really emphasizes the strength of the compassion the squad (and joe in this specific case) have for humanity. i mean, joe really wanted keane dead. he went straight for the guy after he crashed through the window, and (ive mentioned before) he has several opportunities to shoot keane throughout that fight, but he doesnt, he just beats on him

and its been analyzed up and down how ruthless keane was when fighting joe and nicky, especially to nicky, so joe has all of the reason in the world to go after keane. but despite that, after his cute one liner and sweet ass over-the-shoulder move, he looks pretty miserable once keane is actually dead

in this interview gina talks about how killing has an affect on the squad despite their age

In order to make the characters feel real and to justify some of their actions, it was important that the centuries of killing had taken a psychological toll on them. Rucka credits Prince-Bythewood with taking the comics’ heightened, twisted, tongue-in-cheek style and balancing it out with a real moral gravity. “It’s an action movie, and you can still enjoy it,” he says, “but at the same time it actually interrogates the necessary question of what it means to take a life.”

so despite that violence is sort of *their thing* and despite how much joe clearly wanted keane Fucking Dead they still see each person they kill as a person, a being whose life has value despite the things they've done-- i mean, this is the guy who befriended & fell in love with a man who was on the opposite side of a war to him, and that was back when he was 30, not 900, and saw so much less and experienced so much less.

all of the members of the squad probably knew and loved some shitty people at some point in their lives, (have probably been pretty shitty at some points as well) and after experiencing so much of humanity and seeing firsthand how cyclic and pointless war is, its probably difficult for them to fall into that 'us vs them' stance that gets most soldiers psychologically through wars. i think after living so long, befriending so many enemies, changing sides in so many wars, abandoning so many pointless conflicts, you can't see any person as 'just' a hostile, and no matter what they've done to you or how much you want or require their death, they're still a person, a person who could've been so much better given the proper opportunity

[siswritesyanderes]

I love your stories! In fact I was rereading Rule One when I had a thought, how would it be different if Sadie had been in Forks around the time they met Bella? Would Alice try to get Bella on her side earlier than canon so that was Bella could talk her and Jasper up to Sadie? Would Sadie feel more comfortable because she's not the only human mate? Would Jasper be more likely to run ideas by Bella before trying to talk to Sadie because he's not sure how a human would react?

Thank you, and good questions!

I feel like Alice and Edward would both be pushing for Sadie and Bella to be friends with each other, because Alice knows that Bella will love vampires and want to be immortal, and she hopes that Bella will be an influence on Sadie, and Edward hopes that Sadie will have the opposite influence on Bella and get her to respond more reasonably to him. (He's still in "I'm a monster" mode, so his concerns are more vampire-based, but Sadie's concerns are more on the "He breaks in and watches you sleep?!" side of things.)

Bella and Sadie actually would offer each other a lot of support and encouragement. They wouldn't change each other's opinion much, but the feeling of community, going through the same thing as someone else, would be good for them both.

Seeing the trajectory of Edward and Bella's romance would make Sadie more secure about her initial relationship with Alice and Jasper, since they're moving more slowly and communicating more explicitly and she doesn't feel as overpowered by them as Bella seems to be by Edward. Also, Bella would be a safe place to bring her more sentimental feelings; when Sadie starts to feel something for Alice and Jasper, Bella (who is fully in love with Edward by that point) will be someone she can talk to about it. (Also, Jacob not being in the family yet would mean that, for better or worse, there would be less conflict because Alice and Jasper would get away with a lot more.)

As for Bella, Sadie's friendship would make her feel more comfortable about doing things Edward doesn't approve of. In Eclipse, she often sneaks away to hang out with the wolves, and the vibe is very much like that of a child sneaking out on their parents; Sadie would advocate for Bella's right to hang out with her friends without having to run it by Edward. (Sadie would also want to hang out with the wolves, which could actually be a source of drama, because before the Cullens have hung out with the wolves much, Alice and Jasper would be very tough customers about Sadie going to a place they're not allowed to go and where Alice can't see.)

I think Jasper would hang out with Bella more than he does in canon, if only to test his control. He has to make sure he's fully in control of his thirst, before he allows himself to breathe around Sadie. And it has the added bonus of making Bella like him a lot (which would subtly influence Sadie to like him), because Jasper would be emanating great vibes around Bella, despite using her as a guinea pig for his bloodlust.

The conflict of the first book would be changed by Sadie being involved, because she would probably also be at the baseball field and also need to be protected when James decides he wants to eat Bella. But she would refuse to just skip town and leave her parents, nor would she be willing or able to throw a fake tirade at her house to convince her parents to let her leave. Jasper and Alice would try to insist that they need to bring her with them and Bella, and the conversation from there would basically look like:

"So what's the plan?" Sadie demands, while Edward continues to floor the gas pedal. "We just never come back, in case the tracker thinks to look for us here?"

"We can come back when he's dead," Jasper says.

"By 'when he's dead', do you mean 'when you've killed him'?"

"Probably, though I'm not picky about how he dies, so long as he stops being a threat."

"If he won't stop chasing us and eventually you're going to have to kill him to keep him from killing, then why split up to vastly different locations in the first place?"

And they'd end up just killing James in Forks. Victoria would still get away, since that's a skill of hers, but I feel like Jasper would treat her being loose as a bigger problem, since now she's a threat to Sadie, too, so I don't think Victoria would make it all the way to Eclipse, with Jasper and the wolves on her the whole time.

New Moon mostly doesn't happen. Jasper probably wouldn't lose control over his thirst for Bella's blood with Sadie also in the room, though I feel like it would be a pretty awesome conflict if he did. If Sadie saw him almost kill Bella. That would be wild. Either way, though, the Cullens would not move. Edward might break up with Bella to protect her, and Sadie might stop talking to Alice and Jasper for a while after seeing Jasper try to kill Bella, but the Cullens would stay in town. Bella's depression wouldn't be as intense, because the "It will be as if I never existed" aspect of Edward's dumping wouldn't be there, and because Sadie knowing about vampires, too, and knowing what she's going through would be reassuring. And Sadie would have Alice and Jasper trying to convince her that they're safe to be around. Eventually, Bella would still end up hanging out with Jacob, and Edward would crack and get back together with her when he worries about her hanging out with werewolves. No Volturi visit, so no deadline to change Bella or Sadie. Bella would still really want to become a vampire, but the fact that Sadie is happy with aging would decrease Bella's complex about the whole thing. They'd at least start college before either of them becomes a vampire.

Jasper having been a Confederate soldier would obviously still be a huge source of conflict, especially if Bella is the one to tell Sadie, like if Edward casually tells Bella and Bella casually tells Sadie. That would be a seismic rift between Sadie and the vampires and between Sadie and Bella; she would probably hang out with the wolves way more, over it. At which point Alice and Jasper might break the treaty by going to La Push to get Sadie back, and that would end up being the main conflict.

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

I keep saying "the most annoying thing about this is x" but more and more things keep comin' up to usurp the last most annoying thing lol, so I guess ANOTHER most annoying thing about this whole thing is that this game has like... no reason to BE a multi route game, unlike 3H which at least had Byleth's narrative intent going for it.

In 3H, Byleth is written into the narrative as being the reason the war changes how it does for each route. However much that is warranted or written well is up for debate, but that is clearly what they are supposed to do. But Shez, as per the developers saying so, doesn't impact the lords or the world as much as Byleth does. They are really Just Some Guy/Gal with... whatever Arval is supposed to be living in their head. So how is it that the routes of 3Hopes are so different based on who Shez chooses, if Shez... is meant to not impact anything that substantively?

Like, looking at the example: why does Claude join The Gard on his route and on SB, but joins Dimitri on AG? When in both GW AND AG, he and Dimitri are both able to fend off against The Gard (even if it's a struggle for them)? Why does playing on AG give you a Claude that does the opposite of what he does on his own route? Because the only notable difference between the routes is who Shez picks (and conveniently, Claude always seems to follow where Shez is in this game; they don't seem to have an actual relationship of some sort to explain that, but welp, that's what he does) - but, again, Shez isn't meant to be impactful to these characters like Byleth was, and from what I've seen of AG (Chapter 8) Shez doesn't really impact anything (any more so than any other character, that is - it's not win-or-lose because of them like Byleth was).

And it's not like GW, at least, expands on Claude's thought processes any - not in any logical sense, anyway. Not when his entire route snaps on its head to be all about killing Rhea the second his eyes hit The Gard and - from what I can tell - pretty much ignoring the Empire for the most part. How can Claude be both a character that is willing to side with a warmonger, become a warmonger, and agitate border conflicts, all because of a motivation to kill Rhea... and also a character that is willing to side with the one side in the war giving Rhea shelter, without ever seeming to take that chance to kill her? What changes between the two routes?

Given that AG seems to keep the characters mostly intact (FAR more so than the other two at least), it only really makes sense for 3Hopes to be a one-route game. But then that'd upset the fans who want to walk with The Gard/otherwise don't want to side with Dimitri, I guess :/

probably should have put this in the masterpost but, oh well. no one said i was a particularly smart individual.

Anyway, Shez remains just some merc from what I've seen from AG/GW. Like. Yeah a commander in the army, but they're really just kinda There. I was curious to see what the Shez/Claude dynamic would be, because he was considerate enough to apologize to them for all the trouble in the prologue (though I'll admit I was worried about it being a repeat of a certain other lord/avatar dynamic), but it's not even like you can blame that, because he teams up with Her Majesty on two of three routes. Incomprehensibly. I literally don't understand it at all dfglkjdfg the writing of this game is just so bad in so many places.

[qilingxiong]

also, follow up: please tell us ur thoughts on chengning. i am intrigued by their potential dynamic.

(i apologize if u’ve already done that, i’m relatively new here)

Consider This My Unofficial Chengning Manifesto

    I'm so sorry this is late, anon. I was in the middle of writing a much more in-depth post to answer this, but then real life got in the way and I'm not sure I'll finish it. I have a free moment now, though, so I'm going to do my best. It's probably going to be long, and rambling, and a slight mess. You have been Warned.

    So, Chengning. These two don't seem to make much sense together at first, considering that they've ended up on opposite sides of almost every conflict that involved them, but they actually share a lot of parallels and those combined with their differences make this ship so much fun to dig into. Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning are younger brothers whose older siblings would and did do everything in their power to protect them. They're the experiments of each other's sibling as a result of that protection (the first sentient fierce corpse and the first recipient of a golden core transfer). Both of them live in the shadows of their siblings' glory up until they become feared instead of admired, and both of them shared a connection with the other's sibling that ended in tragedy. For more Chengning comparisons, I will direct you to @elysean's gifset here.

    (To be honest, the things that tie the Yunmeng Shuangjie and the Wen siblings together could be an essay all on their own, but this is about Chengning, so I'll move on.)

    What separates these two didis is their choices, which we see throughout canon but I'll do a quick recap. Wen Ning endangered his clan for Wei Wuxian's sake again and again, but when the Dafan Wen needed help, Jiang Cheng didn't offer it. These two witnessed the destruction of each other's clans. Wen Ning killed Jin Zixuan. Jiang Cheng let both Wen Ning and Wen Qing march to their demise at Jinlintai. Skip to the present day, and Jiang Cheng becomes the only person Wen Ning loses his temper at while fully conscious, during the golden core transfer reveal. But a day later, Wen Ning saves Jin Ling and Jiang Cheng from Baxia, despite knowing how much Jiang Cheng hates him.

    By the end of canon, we're left with two people who are the last of their clans (save for nephews with different surnames), who share some very messy history and traumatic events, but also similarities and the potential to get to a better place. What can we do with that?

    Well, post-Guanyin Lan Sizhui and Jin Ling are going around night-hunting together, and it's canon that Wen Ning and Jiang Cheng follow their respective nephews around during hunts to make sure they don't get hurt. That's a lot of time around each other in forced proximity, where they have to be civil for the sake of the juniors. And possibly work together to defend said juniors from harm. At some point you have to go, Okay, you keep saving my nephew whether it was a deliberate choice or not, maybe you aren't completely terrible.

    Also, both sides of Chengning are removed from Wei Wuxian in this situation, who is someone who ties them together and exacerbates their problems with one another. There's a slightly better chance of open communication working out in the middle of the forest, away from the cultivation world and all the judgment and baggage that goes with it.

    I'm not saying these two work it out just like that, though. No, I'm of the belief that Chengning's first real step toward each other is hatesex, along the lines of Fuck you, you keep saving the only family I have left and you're good at it, and some mixture of unwilling attraction. Look, both Sandu Shengshou and the Ghost General are hot, single and lonely. In addition, I think it's hilarious to make Jiang Cheng have a very good time while regretting it more than most things in his entire life, and Wen Ning deserves to be mean in a fun way! Whether or not you want Chengning to acknowledge the things they have in common at this point is for your interpretation, but I think it adds to the pairing if their thoughts are somewhere around I hate you, but you're the only person who actually gets what I feel like.

    With Chengning as reluctant night-hunt chaperones and enemies-with-benefits, we have room for trust to form. An unconscious trust in each other to watch their nephews' backs in a fight, to watch out for each other, and while Chengning's lingering anger at one another is still counterproductive to where we want them to go, there's a twisted sense of trust to be found in that too. It provides them with a sense of agency- Wen Ning believes Jiang Cheng doesn't need to be shielded from secrets and told him the truth about his golden core, and Jiang Cheng has blamed Wen Ning specifically for his actions for a very long time. It's not exactly healthy, at least not at first. But having someone you can consistently rely on to view you as a person with flaws, who thinks you deserve to be held responsible for bad things and possess the autonomy to do so, is more than most have been willing to give Wen Ning or Jiang Cheng.

    Being able to trust someone's rage gives Chengning the open space to process their emotions, for Jiang Cheng to break down and Wen Ning to lash out. It's an outlet they both need, and these are two people who will be able to understand what the other person is going through regardless of what they think about it. There's something to be said for acknowledging the person across from you as a reflection of yourself, until you learn to see them not with hatred or anger, but something close to acceptance. Of them, and of yourself.

    From there, it's a journey for Chengning to be on the same side of something for once, and actively making that decision. It's about the slow unveiling of vulnerability! It's about healing yourself by doing the same for someone else! It’s about looking back at a fractured past and choosing to make the future something different! Everything I’ve said is just one example of how Chengning could go, of course, nothing is set in stone. But you asked specifically for my thoughts, so these are some of the broad points in a Chengning arc I like to see.

    The way I look at it, Chengning is not a soulmate story, it’s a story of two people who had to put in the immense, terrible effort of understanding and reconciling the other, and they got through those conflicts in the end. And once they’re actually together, Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning’s personalities actually go fairly well together. Their strengths are different, and they’re willing to confront in situations where the other withdraws. Wen Ning can soothe Jiang Cheng’s temper, Jiang Cheng can draw out more of the emotions Wen Ning keeps hidden. This already happens in canon, because Jiang Cheng has seen the anger Wen Ning didn’t show anyone else, and Wen Ning has seen Jiang Cheng at some of the most vulnerable points in his life. 

    And I have to mention this last point because we, the people sharing the one (1) Chengning braincell in this fandom have collectively lost our minds over this multiple times, but Wen Ning and Jiang Cheng each have sixteen years’ worth of touch starvation. To whoever’s bothered to read this far, if nothing else has convinced you to ship Chengning, imagine them cuddling. Imagine just a few of these touches, but reciprocated, and all the time. (If you want your fill of this, @gusu-emilu has been doing the gods’ work and writing fantastic Chengning cuddling for the few of us in the rarepair seats.)

    I could go on about Chengning for hours (and most definitely have on more than one occasion) but I think that covers the basics of this pairing. I’ll leave you to decide whether you ship it or not, though at the very least, I hope I provided you with a change in perspective. Thanks for the ask!