#truly i have no idea how i summoned the motivation for these

[lumiious]

oc seasonal sync pair designs

[please-read-the-manga]

I re-read the manga/get back into thinking about this series like once or twice a year... needed a place to post my thoughts amid the sea of disingenuous, bad faith takes I often see regarding too many characters (mostly Uchiha) and their related scenes.

Wondering about my general takes?

Here's a list:

Sasuke deserved better, mostly from fans who willfully misinterpret or trivialize his character arc/motivations.

Sasuke's worst 'crime' (imo) is stabbing Karin and nothing else even compares. In fact, throughout Shippuden he mostly helped Konoha indirectly (even if that was not his intention). He killed three rogue ninja (Orochimaru, Deidara, and Itachi), he freed Orochimaru's prisoners, he stopped Kabuto/the edo tensei with Itachi, he summoned the past Hokage who helped with the war, and he was fundamental in saving the world and defeating Kaguya - you wouldn't even have a prison to 'lock him up' in (as if he could even be held at this point lmao) if not for him helping save the world.

Actually, let me keep ranting about Sasuke's 'crimes' for a minute... Re: Danzo, the guy was already about to be jumped at the Five Kage Summit for his multiple unraveling deceptions (and generally being a bum ass lol) even before Sasuke got there. Fr, dude had so much blood on his hands/insanely dirty laundry it's not even funny... so, again, Sasuke did Konoha another favor by taking him out. And bffr about the nameless, faceless samurai for 3 seconds OR acknowledge that others, like Gaara when he invaded the Leaf, should be locked up for life for also killing 'innocent' fodder in the background... like c'mon, we're not going to be that disingenuous about the world/setting are we? He also went to the 5KS under stealth which was only ruined by Zetsu announcing his presence and kickstarting an insane gauntlet with the kage that Sasuke didn't give a shit about/hadn't intended. Re: Akatsuki, he joined them for 0.5 seconds, failed the mission to capture Bee, and then immediately dropped them after getting Itachi's eyes. He also claimed he wanted to 'destroy Konoha' and be 'darkness incarnate to unite the world' and, again, didn't do anything truly actionable about those fleeting plans before immediately dropping the ideas altogether after another 0.5 seconds of consideration. And during this series of events we even have rare insight into Sasuke's psyche which reveals that (at this point in the story) he was notably lost and confused, deep in his grief, and very desperately trying to wrap his head around how the world could be so cruel that his own beloved brother was groomed and manipulated into mercilessly slaughtering their entire family/clan (and for WHAT) - he's hopelessly searching for answers/solutions during this time because the reality that the Hidden Villages/Shinobi World are 'just like that' (ie. fundamentally cruel/broken), is too much for him to bear. You could argue one of his 'big crimes' was being a rogue ninja (which in-universe is stated to be treasonous) after he left the village at 12 to train with Orochimaru... but to that I'd counter, even if he didn't know the full truth behind his clan's indiscriminate slaughter, he was still willing to make such a personal sacrifice/abandon the village because he knew by then that Konoha didn't actually give a shit about his quest of justice for the Uchiha. So Sasuke, even then, out of his deep love for his family and an intrinsic need for justice, decided there was nothing left for him in a Konoha that wasn't going to help him achieve his righteous goals of avenging the clan. He left and became a rogue ninja for what he saw as a higher (and certainly a more moral) calling.

Sasuke wasn't constantly 'arrogant' and Naruto's POV often gets this wrong about his character. While Naruto can be excused for how he interpreted/viewed Sasuke from afar as it's his own bias, it's still the reader's responsibility to realize Naruto's perception is often flawed and should not be simply accepted at objective face value. We, the reader, know that for much of his childhood Sasuke was a severely depressed and traumatized child who had been given the monumental task of seeking justice for his entire clan and their legacy. We often see Naruto wrongfully interpret this as Sasuke being aloof and cocky when really we know that (most of the time) Sasuke was just barely hanging on by a thread and none of his peers could even begin to understand/fathom what he had been through or why he felt compelled to work so hard and undertake his incredibly grueling quest.

The Leaf owes the Uchiha reparations and were/are fundamentally wrong in orchestrating the genocide of ANY clan, let alone a founding clan. There is absolutely no justification for genocide so don't even try to make one with me. The Leaf should be groveling at Sasuke's feet, begging for his forgiveness of their egregious crimes to him and his family. The fact that today (Boruto-era), Sasuke instead chooses to quietly protect them is testament to Sasuke's incredible generosity/capacity for forgiveness - not theirs.

Sasuke is/was the glue that holds Team 7 together. Until Itachi came back in part one to 'kidnap' Naruto and violently torture/mentally destroy his brother again (ie. remind Sasuke of the ultimate task of justice he had bestowed on him/keep him 'on track' with Itachi's plans for his brother), Sasuke had really been opening himself up to his team which was no small feat after the enormous tragedy of the Uchiha Clan Massacre and how badly he had been scarred after horrifically losing everyone he'd ever loved. Sasuke is the reason Team 7 passed Kakashi's bell test and remained shinobi, Sasuke decided that Naruto being fed mattered more than their sensei's arbitrary rules, Sasuke showed Naruto kindness that literally no one else ever had (let alone a peer), Sasuke was willing to DIE for Naruto and give up on his dreams just to make sure Naruto survived (and this resulted in Naruto's life fundamentally changing for the better - this is one of the key reasons why Sasuke is Naruto's most important person/personal mission), Sasuke was the one who led Team 7, Sasuke called Team 7 his precious people and wanted so desperately to keep them safe. Team 7 has always been Sasuke leaving a lasting and profound impact on his teammates and him, in turn, choosing to love and protect them even though he intimately knows how great the cost of loss/losing those he loves is.

The Uchiha Clan Massacre was a horrific event that should not be undermined or underplayed. If you don't remember it this way, then you need to re-read the manga. It was so bad that at seven years old (SEVEN) Sasuke unlocked his sharingan, that is younger than any other Uchiha character we've seen. It's even worse when you remember that Sasuke tried to dissociate so completely from this traumatic event that he didn't re-unlock his sharingan until he was twelve and risking his life to protect Naruto. I hate playing the 'Trauma Olympics' this fandom tries to encourage but don't even go there with me on the Uchiha Clan Massacre OR Sasuke's subsequent torture over it at his brother's hands.

Sasuke is not an 'edge-lord' or an 'emo' or a 'cry baby'... it is 2024 about to be 2025 and if you're still serious about those interpretations of the character then I'm going to assume you've only consumed Naruto through TikTok/Youtube clips and therefore don't have any meaningful grasp on the source material/its themes. The fact Sasuke was able to keep going after what Itachi did (which, as another reminder, was annihilating his entire family, culture, and sense of safety on top of violently torturing him as a seven-year-old) speaks so much to Sasuke's resilience and strength.

Actually (re: UCM), I consider this thread fundamental reading: Kishimoto's Writing on the Uchiha Is Unironically A Good Example of Real Life Pro-Genocide Propaganda (by u/livingwithstupidity).

Itachi is a complicated character to me. I greatly enjoy his pre-massacre relationship to Sasuke and believe he was a loving brother. I also greatly struggle with the way he violently tortured Sasuke in an attempt to mold him into own his perfect vision of 'strength' rather than see Sasuke for the individual he was. Itachi even vaguely tries alluding to this mistake when he dies. That being said, I think Itachi is also a victim of the ninja system and he was far too young to be given the responsibilities he had... buuuuut, the fact he still doesn't acknowledge that the shinobi world (and by extension Konoha itself) is inherently flawed and was wrong for putting him through it all, irks me. So he's complicated in my book.

I like Kakashi, but sometimes I can't stand his fans and it can bleed into my views on the character (though I do try to couch my biases). And I recognize that the reverse is probably true for them of us Sasuke fans lol. You like what you like, I get it. I'm just saying my piece. Kakashi has a lot of heavy baggage from his past and is mentally unwell but shown to be 'managing' it. Like Itachi, he is also a victim of the broken/corrupt shinobi system and it's important to recognize that he responds to his trauma within this system differently than Sasuke, differently than Naruto, etc. while also being an adult with additional experience under his belt. But, when his fans cheer him on for being unable (and many of them think he is actually 'unwilling', which I'd argue is not true nor would it be in-character) to help Sasuke who is drowning in grief... it just rubs me the wrong way lol. I can completely understand/recognize that Kakashi was out of his depth with handling Sasuke... In fact, after what Sasuke has been through, I personally don't they should have even trained him to be a child soldier to begin with, but whatever the Leaf has to make its money. It's weird to me that, rather than acknowledging this as a difficulty Kakashi is navigating as Sasuke's mentor, some of his fans will just completely villainize Sasuke's valid-but-raw emotions in favor of hyping up Kakashi's stoicism as the preferred/'better' trauma response. Ignoring the fact that this 'stoicism' is really a way for Kakashi to (literally lol) mask his own barely healed emotional turmoil, they're also refusing to explore the far more compelling idea of how varied the processing of grief/trauma can be and how under-explored/understood it is within the shinobi world (especially to the extent that Kakashi was set up for failure here). Not to mention the fact there's a really interesting connection between the two characters and their emotional pain that Kakashi himself recognizes/is reminded of when he sees Sasuke struggling. I just think some fans, in their attempt to woobify Kakashi, diminish the character's agency and his personal journey of navigating how to be an effective mentor to the next generation of struggling kids while still not being completely mentally well/healed/adjusted himself.

Sasuke is Naruto's best friend and most important person. Full stop. It's not Shikamaru, Hinata, Gaara, or Sakura. The narrative repeatedly, constantly, blatantly, underscores Sasuke's fundamental importance to Naruto and who he is as a person. He can be great friends with all of these other people, but each and every one of them will pale in the way he views and holds Sasuke in his heart. This is directly from the text.

Sasuke worked incredibly hard to be where he is today. I think the misconception that he didn't maybe comes from a few comments made in part one by characters implying Sasuke was 'only' good because of his clan's legacy... but again, we know this is untrue. We see Sasuke training constantly. Even as a young child, he works tirelessly to grasp the fireball jutsu to impress his father - it didn't come naturally to him (in comparison to someone like Itachi), but he worked nonstop to make up that difference. At the academy, especially post-massacre, if not dissociating/slipping into depression we see that one of the only things driving him is continuing his training/performing at the top level in hopes he can one day avenge his family. Naruto also gets flak in this 'hard work v. natural talent' debate and even if both he and Sasuke did have natural advantages, they still had to work hard to fully harness and utilize those talents and I don't think that should be negated.

Tobirama's design is sick (in a good way) but his politics are also sick (in a very bad way lol). If you know, you know.

I think Hashirama owed more to Madara. He kind of acknowledges it in the end when they're together/dying once again, but really Hashirama flagrantly ignoring/not doing enough regarding Madara's concerns about his brother's bias against the Uchiha (which we see still remains when Sasuke summons the past Hokage) is a major misstep that I feel falls on Hashirama's shoulders. Madara has his own many faults (no question about that lol), but it's a two-way street and the foundation for Konoha was rocky from the very beginning (and don't even get me started on 'We-Should-Vote-For-Hokage' Tobirama who then goes on to field promote his own successor to the role and continue the lineage nepotism/Senju concentration of power in Konoha lmao). Oy. That said, I do really enjoy the Founders era and wish we had a prequel centering on the Senju/Uchiha instead of Boruto.

Madara and Naruto parallels are awesome/fascinating as are Hashirama and Sasuke parallels. That's it, just wanted to state that. I really appreciate all the talented people who have brought forth that analysis as it's definitely altered the way I re-read/examine certain scenes now.

In general, I'll just never understand Uchiha haters who wish the Uchiha didn't exist... like wdym lol, there'd be no narrative or story without them. They are the drama, they are the moment. Naruto without the Uchiha constantly bringing their best (and worst lol) is nothing.

Neji deserved better - the Hyuga should have been called out and brought to task for their horrific practices.

The Tailed Beasts and Jinchūriki deserved better. The practice of making what are akin to living nuclear bombs for the purpose of warmongering and statecraft is inhumane both to the enslaved tailed beast and the (often) nonconsenting jinchuriki host. It's an archaic and gross practices that divests living, breathing creatures from their autonomy and the oppression that many nonconsenting jinchuriki face as a result of hosting them (with the expectation that they will be used as state weapons of horrifying power) is genuinely gross. Honestly, I think more was owed to Naruto (who never asked for this) and Kurama (who definitely didn't ask for this and has been abused as a weapon of war for decades).

Ame deserved better. I don't like to venture into Boruto because I don't keep up with the chapters as often (the art style is so bad to me, I'm sorry) but the fact that two sitting Hokage (Kakashi and then Naruto) have done nothing to repay what Konoha did to them is egregious.

Team Taka deserved better. I just really like them and what they represented. The way each of them reflected different key aspects of Sasuke's character was woefully underexplored. I also wish we had gotten to see them accomplish their individual goals/how those goals would evolve over time. Suigetsu reviving the legendary swordsmen, Jugo finding a way to tame the curse inside of him, Karin maybe carrying on Uzumaki culture/lineage as one of the very few remaining members of the clan -- I don't know, I just wish it had been more developed because I really vibe with the concept.

The Hidden Villages can talk all the shit they want but we still never really had a conclusion regarding the impact of their involvement in atrocities against one another nor their latent support of the Akatsuki as an organization and the role that played in the overall war. People are constantly demanding consequences for Sasuke (which, go back up and read my first few points if that's you) while the villages themselves are never held accountable for their own actions and the grave harm that they've caused.

The Elders who helped Danzo plan the massacre should have been called out and brought to task. The fact they continue to sit on the Hokage's council even now is insidiously evil.

Fugaku wasn't a bad father. He was simply stern and struggled to sometimes connect with his kids... but he obviously respected and loved them. Sasuke was an incredibly happy and dedicated child growing up (albeit a bit shy) and he clearly felt comfortable enough going to his parents with honest questions - he does this with both Mikoto and Fugaku who reassure him that he is loved and his own person (ie. he doesn't have to be Itachi). The Uchiha are a clan of deep love/loyalty and even if bad actors like Tobirama want to twist that into a terrible thing, I think it's wonderful and I won't tolerate Fugaku slander lol.

Naruto filler/anime-only changes are the bane of my existence. The manga is superior for many reasons, but a big one for me is that so much is lost in the original work's expressions when it is animated. The way certain filler goes out of its way to assassinate certain characters as well (Sasuke and Sakura, in particular) is just... awful. If I have to see the 'Sasuke would have still been an asshole even without the massacre' take one more time and watch that person cite the horrifically bad, non-canon filler that was Tsunade's stupid Infinite Tsukuyomi dream then I'm gonna lose it lmao.

This matters very little to me, but I've been asked before so I'll put it here - I really don't care about romantic pairings at all in Naruto. I think sometimes fans make fun/funny content with the pairings, but the purpose it serves in the narrative doesn't really do anything for me.

Maybe I'll add more to these as time goes on lol. Interestingly, I've held many of these thoughts/opinions for years now. Even as a young kid reading the manga religiously after school in the public library, Sasuke and his pursuit of justice really resonated with me... so it's nice to see that some things never change haha.

That being said, outside of a few of my hard lines (trivializing genocide, for example), I'm largely fine with reading alternative interpretations/analysis when it comes to Naruto and its characters -- especially when it is backed up by the text. I really appreciate anyone who backs up their thoughts with evidence from the manga because I think it goes a long way in combatting the wild misinformation that gets circulated through fandom groupthink and the far too common consumption of Naruto through limited/edited videos of the anime (including filler that gets treated as canon).

TLDR: Most of my opinions/takes revolve around the fact that I think the fandom owes Sasuke a lot more grace and that, in a better timeline, the Uchiha clan (and many other characters) would have received better, more satisfying narrative conclusions than what we were ultimately given.

Adding Disclaimers:

I am first and foremost a manga reader/purist.

I have only fully watched through the anime (sans filler) around two times. While I've revisited certain arcs as some can be better/more faithful than others, I generally dislike how the anime portrays a lot of characters and I feel it has a severe decline in quality over the art of the manga. All that to say, if not otherwise stated I am gauging my analysis/opinions exclusively via what is portrayed in the manga.

Anything from filler is garbage to me. Sorry. It's not canon and 9/10 I do not care for it and find that it bastardizes the characters even worse than the general anime portrayal does.

This is embarrassing to admit, but because Sasuke didn't really feature in them I think I only ever saw one of the earliest Naruto 'movies' and then never bothered again lol.

In general, if Sasuke/Uchiha characters don't heavily feature in a particular chapter... I will probably need to re-read it before I can faithfully engage in dialogue about it (I know, I have no shame lol but I do promise to re-read... it's good for me).

I consider the 'light novels' to be somewhere around 'canon-lite' (it's murky) but have not engaged with them as they don't really appeal to me (though I am aware of some details/the general plot points of a few stories).

[monstersdownthepath]

Herald of Lissala: Kurshu the Undying

CR 15

Lawful Evil Large Outsider

Adventure Path: Shattered Star: Into the Nightmare Rift, pg. 88-89

"Lissala?" I hear some of you ask in confusion, "who's Lissala? I've never heard of her!" And as I turn from the chalkboard to explain, the unfortunate who asked is teleported before the decrepit and mummified Kurshu to receive a fate worse than any I could bestow: an in-depth history lesson of an empire which survived for thousands of years before being struck down by an apocalypse. I speak, of course, of ancient Thassilon--the very same empire ruled by the archmages known as the Runelords--of which Lissala was the chief deity. When Thassilon was destroyed by Earthfall, so too was Lissala's faith, an organization of millions reduced to a fraction of its glory in mere moments, which inevitably dwindled until basically nothing was left. Lissala was not killed by this event (though many believe she was), but faded into total obscurity on Golarion, leaving behind countless markers upon history and a great many of her divine creations, Kurshu included.

Even in the modern day, there are very few beings in existence who even know about Lissala, let alone worship her, but nevertheless there are some who still fervently hold onto their faith that she may one day return, chief among them Kurshu herself and the Rune Giants who remain slavishly devoted to both Lissala and the dwindling Runelords. Now and then a true Cleric of Lissala will rise up and show actual divine power, but it's a coin flip as to whether they've truly forged a connection with the lost Thassilonian deity or are being deceived by some other entity... and if they ARE, then they have Hell to pay when Kurshu tracks them down to investigate.

Having spent many thousands of years wandering Golarion and the Great Beyond in the hopes of finding traces of Lissala's presence to soothe her (which the book hearbreakingly describes as "similar to a widower smelling his dead wife's clothes in the hopes of sparking a lost memory"), Kurshu has grown to possess a paradoxical resentment for her deity and creator for abandoning her to wallow among the filth and ruin left in the wake of Thassilon's fall. Though she remains devoted, this devotion is described in a way that almost feels like a drug addiction than a true bond, with every part of Kurshu screaming for any sign of her goddess even while she's is painfully aware of how pitiful it's making her and how much she desires to simply stop and find something else. She hates Lissala. She loves Lissala. She resents her, and yet is fully aware she would gladly crawl back into her master's lap if it meant never again feeling the longing she does now. She is pitiful, but she despises the idea of being pitied. Do not bring up how relieved she looks when a Cleric of Lissala shows true promise, or when she finds some artifact or place which resonates with the power of the lost goddess.

While many Heralds possess duties they're expected to perform, Kurshu is a free agent, able to pursue her own goals. These goals continuously revolve around Lissala and Thassilon, but she is free to pursue them with her endless time, pausing only occasionally for a snack break, but we'll get to THAT in a moment. Unlike other Heralds, Kurshu has no goddess to direct her and is free to respond to the summons or prayers of ANY being that invokes her regardless of alignment should see use in it. She is also able to track down anyone wishing to learn more of Thassilon and its rune magic to teach them, and can actually replace the target of a Greater Planar Ally spell being cast by a Lawful Evil-aligned caster if they're not careful in how they word their requests for knowledge. Guarded by her own obscurity, most beings don't know just who or what they're dealing with until it's far too late, and she's seized control of them. But what will she do once she has someone on a leash? Let's find out...

Kurshu has two primary motivations in any encounter: survive first, and locate more Thassalonian lore after. To aid in her survival, she often has a menagerie of Outsiders of varying alignments and strengths at her beck and call, a small army she is prompted to stock with subject hovering between CR 8 and 10 due to her horrific hunger. You see, without Lissala's divine power flowing into her, Kurshu suffers from Divine Separation, an affliction which imposes 1 negative level every day she goes without devouring the corpse of an Outsider (including Native Outsiders; tieflings and aasimar beware!), which often means that--if she's trying to be economical with her livestock--she's encountered with anywhere between 2 and 6 negative levels to sap her otherwise potent skills.

Further confounding the issue is the fact that she refuses to consume Lawful Evil Outsiders on principal (but will if she's desperate), AND that in order to alleviate her hunger, the consumed victim must have at least 8 Hit Dice; she cannot simply feed upon Quasits to stave off her decay, she must at the very least be slaying creatures like Succubi, Choral Angels, and Pelagastr, creatures which can actually fight back against her. Every HD from a consumed Outsider instantly removes an equal number of negative levels, meaning she can "waste" her food by eating Outsiders with too many HD, something she's painfully aware of and which can often cause her to wait a little longer than advisable between feedings, weakening her if her enemies are trying to hunt her down. Similarly, if she knows she's being hunted she may burn through her supply faster than she intends trying to keep herself at full strength, forcing her into a desperate catch-22 as she runs out of minions to slow her adversaries down.

But how does she keep this army of hers in check? Limited Wish. Unlike many monster entries where Limited Wish is simply a blank check, the book goes into a lot of detail about how Kurshu manipulates this powerful spark of divine magic she retains and can use, for free, 3 times a day. She primarily uses it as Charm Monster to snare the minds of her prey, keeping them docile and willing to listen to her for two weeks per casting, weakening them with a Wished up Mind Fog if need be, though she can also save a wish casting by instead heightening her spells with a 3/day Power Surge, a swift action she can invoke to raise the save DC of the next spell she casts by +2.

In case you thought she only had her wishes available, this is far from the truth. She has a LONG list of 3/day spells available to her, including but not limited to Cure Serious Wounds, Hold Person, Stinking Cloud, and Slow, with simple but potent offensive options like Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and the reliable Vampiric Touch. She can counter enemy tricks with Dispel Magic and defend herself or a valuable ally with Displacement, and of course she can use all of these while flying*, leaving her foes to tangle with her ground-bound allies while she rains debuffs, damage, and debilitation upon them.

*NOTE: There's an error in her Archives of Nethys sheet; she's supposed to have a 60ft Fly speed (Good) maneuverability!

The book amusingly notes that her tendency to have a flock of Chaotic Outsiders with her, and her own withered appearance, causes many of her enemies to waste powerful anti-Chaos or anti-Undead spells upon her in the mistaken belief she is also some minion of chaos or undeath, often giving her just enough time to retaliate with a powerful blow of her own. In especially dramatic cases, someone may rush up and hit her with a powerful Cure Wounds or Heal spell in the hopes of ending her, only to watch her HP refill and invite her retaliation.

She's no melee fighter and prefers to keep at a distance for fear of death, but the token melee abilities she has are quite potent: her lashing tail can slam victims for 1d8+2 damage, then Grab and constrict them for 1d8+5 damage each round until they either escape or succumb to whatever spell she prepares to melt their brains with via Limited Wish (such as the crushing, no-save-allowed Geas, a spell that LW allows her to cast as a standard action!). And speaking of brain-melting, I'm sure there's a very select audience reading this that will enjoy knowing the snake woman can also shave 1d4 Intelligence off any creature she strikes with either of her two slam attacks (1d8+5 on their own), allowing her to literally beat someone stupid.

Defensively, Kurshu is a tank to a degree matched by few other casting-focused Heralds. 30 AC, DR 10 that's only bypassed by a magical cold iron weapon, and a decent 26 SR to fizzle most spells being cast by the creatures she's hoping to face. She's also got 30 Resistance to (almost) every element but Force, severely cutting down on any attempt to damage her with elemental power... unless that power is Acid damage, which not only does she have no resistance to, but is the only damage type that shuts off her Regeneration 5, an ability she will take full advantage of by keeping out of reach or even teleporting away to heal up.

Kurshu does not wish to fight to the death, and will use her 3/day Greater Teleport or Plane Shift to escape any encounter that begins to turn against her, and trying to counter that with Dimensional Anchor or similar may see her using Limited Wish to break the effect without risking a dispel check failure... or simply teleport her enemies away instead of herself. "Wait, that's not a spell effect in Pathfinder!" To which I smile and point at the fourth line in Limited Wish: "Produce any other effect whose power level is in line with the above effects, such as a single creature automatically hitting on its next attack or taking a -7 penalty on its next saving throw." The example lines on LM's spell card are merely to show the power level it can manage, its actual effect can be anything that roughly matches a 6th level Wizard or Sorcerer spell in terms of power, which a hostile Dimension Door effect to send multiple people hundreds of feet away falls into. Even if she can't get the full party with it, splitting them enough to let her either pick off one or two key members or simply flee the combat is a good enough use in her eyes.

Having spent millennia avoiding her own death with a fear matched only by mortals, Kurshu has no end to emergency options. As mentioned, she can Greater Teleport or Plane Shift away from conflicts she wants no part of up to 3/day. In addition, she has both Craft Wondrous Item and Scribe Scroll, but can combine them with her unique Spell-Like Crafting, allowing her to use her spell-like abilities to meet the prerequisites when creating magic items, something that would normally prevent her from having three or four Limited Wishes on her belt waiting for her personal supply to run out. The same can be said for her transport spells, or scrolls of Tongues (which she can use at-will), Stinking Cloud, or Slow. Such valuable items also act as potent bribes to make other Lawful creatures more likely to serve her by their own free will, if she doesn't simply wish up a pile of valuables to pay them.

Kurshu can be a frightening and powerful foe, even moreso than most other Heralds due to the lack of divine restriction she operates under. She does not need to be invited into a situation by Lissala's worshipers, she can simply show up of her own free will with a small army of fiends, monitors, and celestials at her beck and call, and now everyone simply has to deal with her presence and whatever nonsense her ensorcelled "allies" are getting up to. Why is she here? That's probably the true mystery of the adventure, and solving it brings the party one step closer to making her leave without provoking her potentially apocalyptic wrath.

You can read more about her here.

[plusultraetc]

I'm having a normal time which is why I literally teared up during the first ten minutes of You're Next bc I am so proud of that kid :')

movie spoilers under the read more!!

DEKU HAD AN ALL MIGHT MOMENT. That was honestly all I could think when he stopped that trio of villains at the beginning like it was nothing. That whole sequence was so well done and I was sitting there with tears in my eyes and a huge stupid grin on my face like I AM SO PROUD OF YOU. I saw the movie with a friend who is familiar but not at all caught up with the series and I think talking about MHA with her and having her perspective so fresh in my mind made me kind of emotional about how far these characters have come.

I'M SO PROUD OF ALL OF THEM ACTUALLY. 1-A killed it in this movie. Keeping up that hopeful, heroic spirit on patrols. Prioritizing comforting & rescuing people over confronting villains. Seamless teamwork. The kids are alright!!!

Bakugou was so funny in this, we were genuinely wheezing laughing every time he spoke. Also he and Todoroki 🤝 'destroy everything,' guys PLEASE.

Midoriya was lowkey a mess in this movie but in a fun & funny way. He and Giulio were an enjoyable duo even though I found Giulio's characterization a little wobbly throughout (I still really liked him, and not just because his cybernetic eye was SICK. I was and am and forever will be OBSESSED.)

EVERYONE had a long-lost relative in this movie. Shinsou. Kirishima. Aizawa (x3). Nomu. Everyone. This is our Italian relative family reunion academia. That being said NEW SHINSOU BACKSTORY JUST DROPPED FOR ME SPECIFICALLY.

MIRIOOO!!! I did not know he was in this, when I tell you I clapped (I remembered at the very last moment that I was in a movie theater and it was the softest clap you've ever heard in your life). Hawks said he sent a hero into the fortress and I went from ?? to :D so fast.

Aizawa was not in this movie (though Mirko was, preserving the all-important Nine Lives timeline even though I am... kind of confused about when this takes place in canon) but he was there in spirit & ✨thematic relevance✨ Once again we have a character with a nullification quirk whose job it is to stay close to a character with a dangerous, uncontrollable quirk. I definitely will be chewing on some of the ideas Giulio & Anna raised but for now, if I had a nickel for every time a character with a nullification quirk lost an eye and a leg...

Todoroki's dream. Listen. Listen. The second Touya spoke I grabbed my friend's arm and just kind of clung there like a miserable little barnacle. And SHOUJI'S DREAM. Such a brief flicker of a scene and yet it knocked the wind out of me.

But my favorite dream sequence was Midoriya's. Baby Izuku!! All Might!! YOICHI!!! When the vestiges showed up immediately to snap him out of it?? You can never and I mean NEVER brainwash this haunted ass quirk!!

UNEXPECTED BIRD BROS SCENE. Hawks was in this movie way more than I expected (my Hawks cardi summoned him obv) and I was delighted, but then we get a super quick Tokoyami team up?? Truly blessed, tysm.

The pros in general,,, So many cameos by so many faves, including Mt. Lady, Ryukyu, Mirko, AND VLAD. HE DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING BUT I CHEERED. Vlad babe you literally just have to show up and I will be thrilled.

I really enjoyed how thoughtful certain elements of the movie were. Just little things--I knew from the second I saw Anna's flowers to look out for a rose on Dark Might's suit when he ditched the cape; the little nod to 1-A having a lot of experience with cancelling quirks; OFA and Giulio's cybernetics being disconnected from Deborah's quirk. A lot of things felt very underexplained, but I liked these little inclusions.

Overall both Dark Might's quirk and his motivations were incredibly underbaked to me, but honestly I didn't even mind bc I was having such a good time. I will let so much slide in the name of fun and this movie was so fun. 100% recommend.

I had a couple of other notes but this is already So Long. Anyway I needed this movie so much & could absolutely see myself rewatching it in the future, thank u You're Next

[joyride-time]

Roleswap: Boy Genius AU

I’m not above low-hanging fruit when it comes to titles. Thanks to @annoyinglandmagazine and @grandpuppyalpaca for being interested

The past generation is all the same, and so is the present generation except for Agatha, Gil, and Tarvek. And Moloch, who is now a woman.

What I’ve decided on about the au is:

The Heterodyne son genes were too strong and the Holy Child was born male. Almost all male Sparks the appropriate age mysteriously disappear while the Geisters are looking for the Holy Child, but Anevka is still the one put in the Summoning Engine because, well, Aaronev had no illusions that either of his kids is the Holy Child and was just rolling the dice to get Lucrezia back. Also, I can’t decide what Gil Sturmvoraus is up to, so is he even at Sturmhalten?

Tarvek Clay lives in Beetleburg with his loving family and a job as Beetle’s assistant. People understand why he’s there less because ornamental male assistants aren’t as popular, but it doesn’t become a big problem.

I think OG Tarvek’s legacy obsession is fun, so here he’s half-convinced that his Uncle Barry really is Barry Heterodyne. He lives with the logical and emotional sides of his brain at war and constructs elaborate fantasies about what his parents are up to. I imagine him less laser-focused on making something Sparky than Agatha was… maybe his experiments exploding is a little more private?

Agatha is the Baron’s Beautiful Daughter and can bench press a car, because Klaus did the same improvements to her as he did to Gil. Not sure if she is as explicitly into the heroing hobby as Gil is in Paris, but she probably runs into a lot of trouble she can’t resist solving. Is she still a heartthrob to the ladies of Paris? Flip a coin. Does she have as much of a foot-in-mouth syndrome as Gil? I say no, since Gil’s seems to be his brain working at half power around a girl he likes and Agatha mostly powers through her own “hot boy” moments.

Agatha’s role is easy to leave static at the start of the story and Gil and Agatha are very similar people to me, but… I just have no idea who Gilgamesh Sturmvoraus would be as a person. Nature vs nurture debates whip at me relentlessly, not just because of his new family but because I don’t have a solid idea of how much of his upbringing makes up his canon self.

My only two really solid ideas for him are 1) Klaus decides that Agatha-Gil friendship could be romantic and is partially motivated to separate them by not wanting to be in-laws with the Sturmvorauses. This changes nothing but it’s funny. 2) Agatha goes “why is the only guy I click with fucking Sturmvoraus” and this is part of her designated Wulfenbach “alone forever” angst. Or maybe she does try dating… if that even goes well.

For other things… How much does Gil care about his family? Does he think becoming Storm King is a good idea? Does he manage to save Anevka? I think the bio equivalent to Anevka is probably cloning her… but again, does he even care if Aaronev is stable? Is running away an option? Is whistleblowing, once he discovers the Summoning Engine? Does he try to play incompetent like canon Tarvek or just go with being as powerful and scary as he can manage being? Does he have any self-made friends? Is he obsessed with the Muses? What’d he do with the Violetta situation? Does he like Zulenna? Does he obsess over Agatha's secrets or try to move on? Are he and Zola friends? Did Bang kidnap him with associated sexual harassment vibes? Are either Agatha or Gil library nerds?

He still dislikes Martellus, so there’s that. I like to think Agatha and Zola become friends… Truly the biggest twist of the au.

Back to the other two… Agatha gets called on having Heterodyne style possessiveness in canon, but here she’s not a Heterodyne. And does she hate Gil as long as/the same way that Gilvek hate each other? And if Tarvek’s morals are wibblier than Agatha’s, him having The Voice could be worse. Also, it’s unlikely Dr. R would grope him, but I’m sure he can get pissed off in some other way. I'm swapping Moloch because even if Tarvek is scantily clad, the Spark mix-up relies on gender assumptions.

Also, Gil is exposed to too many giant spiders for his liking. Maybe he'll get less scared of them. Or not.

[imthepunchlord]

do you think gabriel would work better as a villain if he had another miraculous? because his motivation is to heal emelie but his miraculous easily allows that and doesn't seem to fit his personality as he's very brash and forceful so... do you think he would work better with canon tiger or is there another miraculous you think would fit him better?

Yes and no.

At the core, the biggest struggle with Gabriel as a villain is his polarity and how it just doesn't balance out well, how it feels like he ping pongs between two extremes. They want him to be the BIG BAD that we take seriously and there's supposed to be some level of fear towards him, which is why we get see Butterfly and Peafowl be so OP and limitless in what they can do; but they also want Gabriel to be the campy Saturday morning villain, which you laugh at his idiocy and you don't take as seriously.

Gabriel is now the best example on why you don't mix these two polar types of villains. If Gabriel is meant to be a very serious and dangerous threat, you can't really do so when you know he's an idiot. Why, the start of s5, he could've won then and there cause he had the time traveling Rabbit. Success was right there at his fingertips, and he botched it.

And that there is the biggest struggle for Miraculous in general, they need to pick a lane and stay in it. Now, if they want to weave out of that lane a little, they can do so as long as it doesn't clash with the route they're taking (doing something far out of your lane will make the character OOC). So no matter what Miraculous Gabriel has, it's not going to work unless it's decided if Gabriel is meant to be the cartoony Saturday morning villain or if he is meant to be a serious and dangerous threat.

I will add, what Miraculous he uses can shape that too.

Butterfly and Peafowl, both being long range Miraculous, set their users up to be long term villains. As they can hide themselves away and have minions do the work for them, they control how long this game goes on. They end things on their terms, whenever they are ready to come out of hiding.

By set up, I'd say they'd work better for a serious threat. Butterfly works off emotional manipulation, which typically is a serious threat; and Peafowl can take whatever you imagine and bring it to life (which I'd vote that's more fitting of Creation). So these two Miraculous would best serve with someone that's a more serious threat. Butterfly is set up to force people to try and learn emotional control, to shut down what they feel, less they get taken advantage of. And Peafowl is peak unpredictability, you have no idea what this user is going to throw at you.

So these two are best set up to be used by a serious threat.

To add to it, things would need to be cut or changed with Emilie if Gabriel is meant to be a more serious threat. As what we see with these two is kinda limitless in what they can do. So they should grant healing power or make a healing entity and revive Emilie that way, and to my knowledge, we don't really have a good reason on why Gabriel hasn't tried it (aside from possibly he's an idiot who hasn't thought of it). So it may serve better to just cut reviving Emilie out entirely, go with Gabriel's apparent want for world domination.

OR you go with Emilie being deady dead dead, and she's been dead for a good long year, and the one thing these two Miraculous can't do, is revive Emilie the way Gabriel wants. Butterfly could maybe only make a champion that could either reanimate Emilie's corpse (which doesn't go great) or summon her soul back to the material plane, but she's a ghost now. Peafowl could technically create Emilie, but that wouldn't truly be Emilie, that'd be a copy, an imitation. This latter reason could back Gabriel needing that wish, for these two Miraculous, for all that they can do, can't truly bring Emilie back to him. Not in the way he wants her back.

Now, a Miraculous that will have him out in the open, like Tiger, is better set up for a Saturday morning villain. Now, not to say that Tiger wouldn't be a threat if misused, but the sheer factor of being out in the open, throwing hands with kids, and having more of a risk of having that Miraculous taken, that's a better set up for Saturday morning villain vibe, especially as he'd get to directly banter off the heroes.

Like, with the Tiger example specifically mentioned, you can even have the fun of him and Adrien getting into a "cat fight" over puns, as it is canon (s1 wise anyway) that while Adrien likes to crack puns, he doesn't like other people making puns. So there's some fun you can have right there.

Also, him being out and about, close to heroes, it puts a limit on how long he'd be a villain, as all they have to do is get that Miraculous off of him, and they'd have direct access to him vs waiting for him to come out of his lair for once. And that can set Gabriel up to be a one to two season threat, maaaaybe three if you have him work off other villains who can help him last, but depending on how it's handled, that could also push it.

As for what other Miraculous, well, to work off color coding, Dragon does stand out to me, as Gabriel does have that similar color scheme that Kagami initially had in her intro, having the red and white to contrast Longg's red and black. Dragon would also be the best choice for having an offensive power that has you out and about, but also allows him to be elusive and escape from the heroes as he can become literal elements and escape them that way, as it's impossible to grab air or water.

Also, by set up, other Miraculous can better work off him just not having the means to revive Emilie, as they just don't really have that power too; though exceptions are Rabbit (due to time travel), Rooster (it has the power to hop into other dimensions/realities, so healing should be a cinch), Ladybug (through the Cure), and possibly Cat (cats are tied to healing in various mythology, and technically destroying does play a part in some healing, so could destroy the coma state and revive her that way? maybe?).

At the core, no matter what Miraculous Gabriel has, what sort of villain he is needs to be decided on, else it still won't work. Either he's a serious threat to take seriously, or he's a campy villain to laugh at his dramatics and idiocy. He can't ping pong between both like he does in canon.

[pyromaniacldrt]

Heyy uhh... I have a theory.

Yk, I've always wondered why Jason and Thalia, though sons of Zeus and Jupiter, weren't as powerful as Percy- a son of Poseidon, that, while still one of the Big Three, is in a lower rank.

And, like, I get it, he's the protagonist, maybe it's the genetics, it's a once-in-a-century-thing, blah blah.

Still, that doesn't explain how some demigods are way stronger than their own siblings. Why is it that Leo has abilities that none of his siblings have? Or like, why is Clarisse stronger than all fellow Ares kids? How come Luke is the only one that had pick locking abilities?

That made me wonder, what if there was something else into it? What makes a demigod be born with such powerful abilities while others either don't or are weaker?

And what if... It had something to do with the relationship their parents had?

I mean, we know that the gods in some way kind of "lend" a bit of their powers to their children in an unconsciousness level, as we also know they consider giving their children-cough Athena, cough- to the mortal parents as some sort of "gift".

What if the power that the demigods have is kind of a consequence of how much the gods loved their mortal parents when conceiving said demigods?

Like, we know that Hades loved a lot Ms. Di Angelo, and that Bianca and Nico, even if the first one didn't get to show her power, were both a neon sign of "come and eat me!" for monsters, which, yeah, it might be because they're Hades's, but Hazel wasn't persecuted by every monster in a five kilometer radius, so I like to think my point still stands.

Although, it might be because of Gaia.

...Anyways-

Another case is my beloved Meg. She's a child of Demeter, and we were told prior to this saga that both Aphrodite's and Demeter's were the safest demigods to roam outside of camp, hence them being quite "weak", most of them with barely any powers (Katie and Drew might be exceptions, considering the plant powers and charmspeak).

Yet, we have Meg. A ten(?) year old that can summon cereal demons, grow plants outta nowhere and (kinda) communicate with trees.

This girl is insanely powerful, and even Lester admits it.

Let's not forget Demeter really loved Meg's real dad, who had a nature sanctuary where many driads lived, and truly believed nature was beautiful. They both appreciated each other a lot, and for what I can remember, even after Meg they kept in a somewhat from of contact until you-know-who ruined everything.

I think Demeter was truly in love with him.

Let's go back with Thalia, Jason and Percy for a second.

When I say that these two arent as powerful as Seaweed, I don't mean to say that Zeus didn't love their mom. In fact, I believe he did a lot, specially considering he fell for her in both his Greek AND Roman form.

What I do believe is that she didn't love him the same way. I think she loved more the idea of being with a god rather than the god itself. They both are highly egoistical people as far as I've seen, so my guess is that, while they felt attracted to each other, they liked themselves more, which is what drove them apart in the first place.

There's also Percy himself, who is my last point to concrete my theory. Him, the son of the sea god, who thought Sally was the Queen of Ninphs. Poseidon, who said Percy's mom was the most beautiful woman in the world. The Earthshaker, who admitted to have never loved someone as much as he did with Sally.

He, who said he'd never forget her.

What I'm trying to say is, I think demigods strength and godly abilities are heavily caused by the love their parents felt for each other.

After all, Love is one of the most powerful feelings to exist, being even older than gods themselves (Aphrodite is technically a Titaness when it comes to mythology accuracy).

So to believe that love is the source of power of the children of two creatures that, godly or not, are motivated by their primal emotions and feelings, it doesn't surprise me to think their power comes from the strongest of said emotions.

[eventinelysplayground]

Checkmate

This is the first fic I've finished for my 50 follower event and the idea was submitted by @reenrabbit. I posted her exact ask yesterday for anyone who wants to read it. This is one where I got the idea and it never changed, I hope it meets what you were looking for as it's my first request I have finished and posted 🙂! Time has passed and it is now the final move of Chevalier and Gilbert's game. WC approx 1745.

The nondescript carriage traveled down the road at a quick yet steady pace. Inside it's passenger stared intently out the window, a letter held between two of his fingers.

‘I invite you to come and visit me, alone of course. You made me a promise after all.’

The letter had been purposely short and vague. Although he was intrigued it was not the letter itself that made him decide to take the risk, it was the tiger insignia that accompanied it that made his decision for him.

It seems this game will be coming to an end soon, as expected my most valuable piece still remains in play.

Chevalier leaned his chin on his hand. When he had first laid eyes on Belle he was intrigued by how she could manage to take action when others couldn't, how she met his gaze even with his sword drawn and pointed at her throat. When Gilbert showed interest in her he knew that if he could persuade her she would be a valuable pawn.

It was never without risks but she has performed above my expectations.

Truthfully before the end of that fateful month she had been turned from a simple pawn into a queen. She moved freely around the board, never under either side's complete control it seemed. Not until that night in the chapel when Lucian announced she was returning as Empress of Obsidian. That move had been unexpected and had taken his most valuable piece out of his direct control.

Chevalier disliked it but in the end he relented for the good of the kingdom as he always did. He had been prepared to give up many things for the security of the kingdom; however, to give up the only person who ever saw him for who he truly was, the only one who ever took comfort in his presence, the only woman he would ever love… The events at the ceremony on White Rose day and Gilbert's subsequent actions made any other move impossible at the time and so he would make sure this loss of his most valuable piece was only temporary.

I did not like being manipulated into having the game go in his favor but I will still emerge the victor.

It was dark when the carriage reached the iron gates of the castle. They encountered no opposition along the way and the driver only had to state they were summoned to be granted entry. They were directed to a side door outside of which stood a man with curly hair, his expression one of exasperation. The driver of the carriage alighted from his seat and opened the carriage door.

“Never thought I'd be here again.”

“You will be fine on your own.”

“Depends on your definition of fine.”

A slight smirk touched Chevalier's lips.

“I may not be clear on his motives but I doubt eyepatch’s plans are for harm this time. Plus I promised my fool brother I would return you in the same condition you left in.”

“Great.”

Chevalier stepped out of the carriage and looked at the driver.

“Still, do not let your guard down Red.”

“Understood your Majesty.”

When the waiting man caught a glimpse of the guest he sighed. It was clear he was not informed on who he would be greeting, it was also clear this man was not a soldier despite his uniform.

“King Chevalier, if you'd follow me please.”

The man gestured towards the door and Chevalier inclined his head.

“Proceed.”

I have waited long enough for this already.

The two men walked silently down twisting corridors until at last they came to a halt in front of a heavy door. The man hesitated to open the door and Chevalier sighed.

“You need not worry about me yet.”

“Oh that's comforting! Just what is wrong with the two of you anyways?”

Chevalier made no reply. The other man let out a frustrated groan and opened the door.

“Your guest has arrived.”

“Oh good, make sure to bring the driver a meal. I'm sure he's missed our food if nothing else. Now leave us.”

Gilbert stood in front of a bookcase, his voice chipper and his smile the same as it always was yet Chevalier knew immediately that this was all an act. The curly haired man hesitated, looking as if he wanted to speak.

“If you don't want to listen then that's fine, time to kill you.”

“Alright I'll go, but I'm just delivering the food then coming straight back here. And you better be in bed once I get back!”

“Yes yes.”

Chevalier watched Gilbert wave the man off with a smile on his face. As soon as the man had gone he turned his attention to a still smiling Gilbert.

“Did you have a nice trip, Chevalier?”

“Why have you called me here?”

“Not even a hello for your old friend? You're cold.”

Chevalier made no reply to which Gilbert merely shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m certain you've been keeping well informed about what's going on in my country lately.”

So, it is as I have suspected and they have started to move.

“I really should have moved faster, but I admit I've been preoccupied with more pleasant things lately and now…”

The smile fell from Gilbert's face as he let out a violent cough and moved slowly towards the bed.

“And now it seems I’m out of time.”

“Just how out of time?”

“You wouldn't make it back to Rhodolite before receiving notice of my death.”

Gilbert sat on the edge of his bed resting his hands together in his lap.

“What of fake eyepatch?”

“Unfortunately he's dead, natural causes.”

Chevalier let out an annoyed huff.

“You took care of those natural causes I assume?”

Gilbert only smiled at Chevalier's words.

The issue must be more complex if they were even able to get to someone so skilled. Though I am not surprised, it is the price all us beasts must pay.

“My plan had been for Roderich to take my place when the time came, however now I need a new plan, and soon. The government can run without me but the Empress will need an imposing ally while she rules as regent.”

“And this concerns me how?”

“Oh? Are you really going to pretend you don't know?”

I know far more than you believe I do.

“You want me to protect the Empress based on an agreement made years ago?”

Just how much do you assume to know?

“No, I want you to protect the Empress because you're still in love with her.”

Chevalier said nothing but his ice blue eyes wavered slightly and that was more than enough.

“That’s why I asked you that favor back then after all.”

“Ridiculous.”

Chevalier scoffed which only made Gilbert smile.

“What's ridiculous is that even after the late Queen died without producing a child you refused to take another woman into your bed.”

“Why would I want to take more scared prey into my bed?”

“Producing heirs is one of the most important responsibilities or royalty and yet you ignored it.”

“My brother's have produced children.”

“And if their children prove to be unfit?”

“I have time.”

“That's the only part of what you've said that isn't a lie. We both know the truth, Chevalier. Be honest with your old friend one last time, please?”

What exactly is it that he’s after?

Chevalier looked at Gilbert, a sad smile across his once friend's face. He decided that just this once he could give into the conquering beast.

“It was not the only truth. There is no point in taking scared prey to bed, even if they can perform as required, what would come about as a result? None of the women thrown at me could ever look me in the eye, instead they all trembled in fear.”

“But my little rabbit never did, even after she saw you covered in blood.”

“No, she continued to approach me even after seeing what a beast I truly am. I wondered if she was really just that simple at first. However she proved to be quite capable, in her own way.”

She may be a simpleton but her heart is strong. She will survive both of us in the end because of it.

“I agree, the Empress is very accomplished and well loved by many here. Truthfully it annoys me as I would have preferred to keep her for myself-”

“Yet now you are giving her to me?”

“Only for protection, nothing more will ever happen no matter how much you want it to.”

You believe you can still control the game when you have no moves left to play?

“Are you certain of that? She clearly has a preference for beasts.”

“Hahaha, do you really think you can beat me? I'm the undefeated general after all.”

“I don't have to beat you.”

I set the pieces in play for just this moment almost from the start, all I needed was patience.

“You don't?”

“No, time has and will continue to do that for me.”

“Has this been your plan from the beginning?”

Chevalier did not answer Gilbert, there was no need to and he smiled as he recalled a not too distant memory.

‘You made sure everyone would treat us well while we were here didn't you?’

‘As the Princes of Obsidian your children are valued guests even at their very young ages.’

‘I know that but…’

‘But?’

‘I’ve been one of them for a while now and yet you treat me the same as you always have, why?’

‘You are the most valuable piece in the game with eyepatch.'

'Oh, I see.'

'It is also to lay the foundations for them to accept your continued presence in the future.’

‘For easier ongoing diplomatic relations?’

‘Partially but also because you are mine.’

‘What... what are you saying?!’

‘Emma, when the time comes and the board is to be reset…'

Chevalier's smile was not missed by Gilbert and what he saw in that smile made him frown.

“It appears you've been several moves ahead of me this whole time. Well, if you think you can make my little rabbit fall in love with you once I'm gone then go ahead and try but you're going to be disappointed.”

“Unfortunately for you, you will not be around to see which of us is correct.”

Emma, when the time comes and the board is to be reset, no matter how far she has moved or how close she was to the black King, the white Queen always returns to her place by the white Kings side.

[lepus-littlebear]

(Analysis?) Summoner(MC) returning to home-world

“We’ll help you return to your home world……or not?”

The ArTw boys and their views about sending Summoner back home analysis(?). It's more like a rant but here we go.

Disclaimer, i wrote this at 1 in the morning so i may have left out more things i got to say and i’ll probably add them later but have this for now-

SPOILER ALERT

·̩̩̥͙＊•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚　　˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚＊·̩̩̥͙

I’ll use Summoner’s canon official name here- “Lee Dam”/”Dam(i)”(first name) bc it’s convenient ✩

So as far as we've established, Lee Dam is from Mid-Eartheim or at least that’s what people around her conclude. Later in the story, they even suspect that Dami is not from another world at all.

But here, we’ll go with our main boys’ perspective.

When it comes to sending Lee Dam home, the boys seem to have separate opinions.

🐑Arcturus above all seems to be very keen and persistent in Dami returning back to her world. He’s the first one of the boys to promise her a safe return home and not only that, he’s the only one who keeps on insisting on this promise for the first few chapters of the story to the point where he’s the only sorcerer with a voice line in home screen who once again promises her to find her way back and asking her to trust him.

I, at first was like yeah Arcky being helpful lil bean like he is but is he really? That’s what I thought after progressing throughout the story. Arcky looks like one of the purest guy ever but later as we move on in main story, he seems somewhat shady. My theory is that he is hiding the fact that he knows or even better remembers something that others don’t.

Y’know the Void organization thing going on? I suspect Arcky of having something to do with The Void. But when there’s discussion of Void, he says that he’s been curious about it and has no idea what it is. Although I would like to believe him, I have this teeny tiny feeling he’s pretending OR he forgot and remembers only fragments of those memories related to Void.

In a library scene,  he clearly sighs and seems relieved after he says that info about Void is top secret.

Further on, when things are still tense and even Schedar orders that Dami should be guarded even more than before, the always over-worrying Arcky is careless and invites Dami over to grab snacks outside knowing full well he is supposed to be extra careful. And he doesn’t even sense that someone is following them at all? This seems far too careless even for someone as clumsy as Arcky.

Vega even reminds Arcky later on about this mistake and states the duo was being followed. That he should’ve consulted with others before doing anything. Vega requested for an urgent summon by Dami’s side and his voice in the call seems to be audibly restless hinting it was no small matter.

Maybe Arcky just absent-mindedly did that or maybe he didn’t.

I cannot be sure here but Arcky in my opinion seems to have a motive other than being simply helpful to Lee Dam find her way back. He’s more consistent about this matter than anyone, almost as if he thinks she needs to go back. She shouldn’t be here.

Again, i’m not sure but we’ll see how it plays out. But one thing I’m certain is that he doesn’t truly wish for Dami to get hurt or at least that’s what I like to believe. He cares for her genuinely.

♊Pollux is a confusing one for me. He seems kinda neutral on the matter. But my conclusion is that he doesn’t like the thought of Dami returning back. Despite saying “i don’t make friends easily” in their first meeting, Pollux actually is the one who initiates their friendship. Saving a seat for her, texting her lecture materials, helping her out, etc. He even grows protective of her later on and continuously suspects Sirius, his clan fellow when it comes to Dami.

But hey, nobody rlly trusts Sirius so understandable. And with this growing closeness, Pollux would rather not part with Lee Dam but i feel like if he’s told it’s for her safety & well-being, he would let her go for her good.(cue some crying and stubbornness)

🐨🐺Listen I may sound crazy but in this matter Alpheratz and Sirius are quite similar. In one side, there’s Alpheratz continuously suggesting Lee Dam to not get herself involved in all of this, and on another, we have Sirius always warning Dami to not see, respond, or hear to the entity appearing in her consciousness time and again. Although both have not clearly revealed their say on our summoner’s return to mid-eartheim, I feel that they think it’s better to leave and go back to her normal world. A world where she won’t have to worry about being targeted every 5 seconds.

Alpharetz indirectly expressing that he would rather she return to her world by always insisting Lee Dam to not tag along with the guides to their dangerous trips and his affection level going up when Dami chooses to stay behind.

Sirius closing her eyes and ears every time it feels like Dami is again in contact with the giant eye and the entity, and warning her to not come to the tower when she does. Him texting her that he prays she leaves before matters get worse.

Sirius is confusing, he involves her and initiates danger but still protects her and says he would rather like it if she isn’t included in all that chaos. BUT after reading floor 11, I have a feeling Alpheratz changed his mind a bit? It’s more like, she’s someone i’ve wished for years and years– since the previous timeline so I’m reluctant to lose her again, that’s why I’d rather give my all to keep her safe this time no matter what.

❄️Vega, oh Vega, my sweet lil snowball. I’ll say that he’s conflicted. There are many assumptions in my mind about him. It’ll be so freaking hard for him to let go of Dami, his childhood sweetheart who he waited an entire decade and more for. Will he let go of someone who he spent his lifetime waiting for? Hard to say but maybe yes. Vega is selfless and wants her to be safe above anything else.

He also says that he is sick of seeing Dami be involved with this world and its dangers that she doesn’t deserve. He might side with Alpheratz slightly. He doesn’t want to let go of her but at the same time, he would rather have her be happy than see her get hurt and lose her forever. Or even better, he leaves with her since they’re both from Mid-Eartheim. After all, Vega spent his entire lifetime awaiting one star and that's Lee Dam and only Lee Dam, no one else.

♍Have you noticed that Spica’s the only one who has never stated that he wishes Lee Dam to return and not be involved with Bound Arlyn’s crisis? Yes, some other guys haven’t either but have you noticed he’s rather opposite to wanting her to return? He advises Arcky to not keep false promises like sending her home. He’s also continuously shown to want Dami to join them when they plan to go on a field trip(visit) and actively invites her to potentially dangerous places.

He does not have any malicious intentions but instead, from what I see, I’m rather suggesting that Spica wants Dami to adapt to her new life completely and continue as a summoner. He’s always keen when it comes to discussing Lee Dam’s potential as a sorcerer and even asking her if she wants to become a constellation’s choice. Imo, Spica wants Dami to get better in her school activities and use her power for the betterment and protection of the world. HOWEVER remembering that sus lil conversation he shared with our local shady man who's trusted by no one in the banquet, i have doubts on Spica too. (basically, i doubt 3/6 of these men bc otoges have taught me better than to trust someone even if they are love interests)

To put in small words, let me categorise them-

“I want you to return back”

-Arcturus

“It’s better to go back”

-Alpheratz, Sirius, Vega(?)

“I don’t want you to but it can’t be helped”

-Pollux, Vega(?)

“Would you like to stay instead?”

-Spica

The following pics kinda summarise my thoughts(?)

·̩̩̥͙＊•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚　　˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚＊·̩̩̥͙

anyways thanks if you read until here, i just wrote this for fun and none of these are facts but rather my silly little venting bc the plot is just too good.

Here's a bonus: our local shady war criminal as Florida man news headlines

he would do this.

[wyverns-blog]

You know, I'm still suffering from the fact that they didn't give Obito a legitimate summoning jutsu. I mean, he had the Gedo and the Kyubi, but they were due to a time limit and what I'm going for is a more "normal" summon, like the one with Kakashi's dogs.

I usually think he would have a fun mole summon, at least like Tobi. It would be very fun to see him place bombs underground while the moles help him or distract the enemy.

Going for something more serious, I would say that it would have a summoning of wolves.

Wolves are considered by many people to be solitary and solitary creatures, which is false because wolves depend on their teamwork to survive and obtain sustenance, forming packs and having souls etc etc. Although I remember that at some point in their lives, when the wolves stopped being puppies, they began a 'journey' as adults until they found a pack to which they belonged.

Without a doubt, teamwork and camaraderie was something that marked Obito's life, with his legendary phrase that we all know through Kakashi's mouth. That was how his shinobi path began, regardless of what happened next. And even after that "later", camaraderie remained fundamental for this Uchiha, in a darker or twisted way, but still there at the core. The moments that stand out from this were his trust in Kisame, how he protected him from an attack even though Kisame was completely capable of defending himself.

Or when he was angry at Konan for betraying him. Obito credits the Akatsuki as tools for Infinite Tsukuyomi, but when they die he ends up thanking them for their efforts, even when most of them only participated in the hunt for their own interests.

In short, Obito never stopped appreciating his companions, it was just that hatred destroyed his own philosophy of not abandoning them.

On the other hand, as a child, Obito was considered far inferior to Kakashi, despite his Uchiha genes. Although we don't know the Hatake clan very well, it is clear that the Uchiha has more dominance. Watching Obito lose to Kakashi is like watching a wolf lose to a dog. And I really don't know if you've heard that saying about "a dog raised in a family of felines", but I think it completely complements Obito and how he couldn't adapt to those who would become his family.

When Obito loses his team (post kannabi accident), it is the same as a wolf losing its pack and being vulnerable to more ferocious creatures and famine. Having to coexist with others like Akatsuki to move forward, being truly alone and just keeping watch. Lonely until he manages to redeem himself through the combined words of Naruto, Kakashi and Minato.

Obito has this appearance of being lonely and dangerous, and he is, but deep down, he wanted to return to what he could consider was his family. Very similar to the wolf, huh...

Wolves have their strength in their pack, where the group hunting strategy is a pillar for their survival. Obito was alone and away from his clan as an outcast, weak because he didn't have someone who would take the time to really motivate or teach him (Minato is not a good sensei, sorry), and wolf cubs need training to learn to hunt and be strong.

In short, Obito is the idea of a wolf who lost his pack and had to survive by adapting to loneliness alone.

[giyuulatte]

alright i finally finished the uncanny counter 2 and…

hmm

my thots and spoilers below

THIS IS ALL MY OPINION AND IM BLABBING AND IT IS YAP TIME

it’s 1am so i’m a lil coocoo

once again all MY OPINION if anyone sees this

honestly speaking this season was alright. it def did not compare to season one, which i was expecting. yet it wasn’t up to par with it either. it felt like too much and not enough at the same time so it kinda fell flat to me

in season one everything was connected and there were very clear motives. from the bullying, so mun’s parents, the evil spirits, ji chung shin himself, and the corrupt government. and chung shin’s backstory made me feel for him which is what made him a great antagonist imo. like i loved him

but hwang pil gwang (slick back), gelly (hongjoong variant LMFAOO), and wong (just wong tbh)….mmph

i can’t really remember the beginning it took me 2 months to finish it but, dude and his crew showed up outta nowhere and just started creating chaos for funsies???? now don’t get me wrong, i’m all for villainy for fun but i just couldn’t get into for some reason with them. it just feels like their characters weren’t fleshed out enough for me to actually like them no matter how fine they are bc the whole crew could get it

and then we move to ma ju seok my adoring and loving husband. now this was something i could get behind. him going on a rampage trying to get revenge for his wife and baby, having enough rage to summon an evil spirit on his own??? like that’s what i’m talking about!!! i felt for him and wanted him to succeed bc that con man was also annoying as shit. i really and truly wanted him dead bc he was the absolute worst jfc

if the story only focused on him, and getting his revenge and having to take him down. and only him. seeing how far his rage could take him and what would happen ON HIS OWN without any outside manipulation pil hwang *coughs* would have been a lil more interesting to me and i think i would have enjoyed it more. ik pil gwang wanted his power n shit BUT WHY. like give me a reason.

TO ME hwang pil gwang and his crew added absolutely nothing to this for me. and gelly betraying slick back and all that other stuff just felt unnecessary to me. gelly not being able to do anything and literally almost every single time the crew showed up, and bc pil gwang wouldn’t help her. GIRLY STAND UP AND HAVE SOME RESPECT YOU ARE A BADASS TF YOU DOIN???? GET OFF YA KNEES

AND ms chu’s newest child lim jae yeol….why was he there??? and be honest. what did he do for the plot other than give ms chu another child and show her backstory

and then do hwi, lawd my sweet piano man. WE WENT THROUGH ALL THAT JUST FOR HIM TO FORGET HA NA IN THE END I WAS SO PISSED bc once again. what tf did he add. i feel like he could have been good to ha na, genuinely. imagine getting dumped by ya not girlfriend after y’all done hung out together and have each other hiccup remedies, and then getting attacked by someone who finna rap they verse in bouncy i am so dead

i understand they were trying to idk, give their characters more depth but pls

mo tak punching so mun was NAWT on my 2023 kdrama bingo card. and he didn’t even apologize for it!!!! i understand he was angry and upset bc he thought lost his partner and so mun was doing a bit too much but i just feel like that was outta character for him to do…. and for him to not apologize for it was just, what???

and don’t get me started on jeok beong. i was um, expecting a lil bit more. yoo in soo is a FANTASTIC actor. if you told me he was gwi nam from aouad before hand i would have passed out. THAT MF RANGE IS INSANE!! but, but, jeok bong could have been more. i love him to death but he stayed the same person the entire time. granted towards the end he did start meshing with the group a bit better and throwing ideas out and stuff but i dunno bruh. i was feeling him and not feeling him at the same time.

the same goes for kang ki young. baby if you say that was myung seok from attorney woo i would have passed out pt2. like he did his thang bc i deadass hated his character even tho he was looking good as hell

the lack of so mun’s friends also bummed me out bc i really like them and they are an important part of his life. wanted to see more of those three together as well. my found family was not found with them this season

but the counters dynamic was still a++ like that’s real family. teasing ha na and do hwi, ha na having to save so mun while he was in a coma, then going to yung to ask why so mun leaving, jeok bong calling mun his brother just *wipes tear* magnificent

and why tf did mun have to lose his powers again. we did that shit in season one there was no need for that tbh

nothing to say about ms chu god bless.

nothing to say about jang mool god bless.

mun going over seas and seeing wi gen’s daughter like ENOUGH.

just…. too much, and yet not enough at the same time.

but i still very much enjoyed 8.5/10 BAYBEE

[666writingcafe]

Lucifer's Object

The House of Lamentation (8)

MC: I am going to have to return to the human world soon, but before I go, I would like an object from each of you that I can take with me and use to summon you.

Slight content warning for the last sentence.

MC already has the object. When I first heard the news, I was a bit taken aback. To know that Thirteen kept her promise after all this time, even though our last meeting ended disastrously...

Then again, she always had reasons she did things that she never disclosed to anyone, not even me, so who knows what motivated her this time. Still, I am grateful that she did what she did.

I don't know what I would have done if MC didn't survive.

A gentle knock on the door interrupts me from my thoughts.

"Come in," I reply, knowing exactly who's on the other side. After all, I asked them to see me.

"Hello, Lucifer," MC greets as they enter my study, closing the door behind them before sitting in front of me. "How are you doing?"

"I'm actually in a really good mood right now." Some of that is amplified by the little cocktail I created for myself a few minutes ago, but at least my emotions are my own.

"I can imagine, between the wine and the music..." MC trails off as they sniff the air.

Right. I forgot. They're really sensitive to it.

"Lucifer, why?" I smile. I'm starting to feel a bit loopy, but in a good way.

"It's quite good mixed in with Demonus."

"Are you going to be okay?" I nod my head.

"I only put in a little bit of the syrup."

"It only took a little bit to set you off the last time." It's cute how worried they are about me.

"I develop tolerance far quicker than the average demon. I won't lose control this time."

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why..." They trail off again, this time appearing as though they're recalling something.

"What's on your mind, MC?" I prop my chin up with my hand.

"I wish you didn't have to rely on substances to open up about your feelings." I chuckle.

"Like I told you long ago, my pride often gets in the way. I have to get it to shut up somehow." MC sighs.

"I know. I just wish your pride would trust me."

"It's getting easier the longer I know you." I reach my other hand out to MC, and they take it with their own. "I love you so much, MC. You have no idea how happy I am to know that the Ring of Light chose to protect you and keep you safe."

"Because it was once yours?"

"Partially." I lace my fingers in between MC's as I move my free hand away from my chin to gently grasp the other side of their hand. "It truly is a wonderful feeling to know that my two most treasured items are together at last. It's as if the union proves that you need me in your life." I momentarily pause before quickly adding,

"I hope that's not too conceited of me."

"I don't expect anything less from the Avatar of Pride." I find myself chuckling again.

"I guess this syrup really is dangerous, huh? I feel like saying things I never would under normal circumstances."

"Like what?" I playfully tut at them, making them jokingly roll their eyes. "Let me guess: I'm going to have to order you to tell me."

"If that is what your heart desires, then yes." After a moment of contemplation, they grab a blank sheet of paper and a pen and scribble down a quick note. Once they're done, they turn it towards me so I can read it.

ﺍ ʱᵅᵛᵉ ᣵᵒᵐᵉᵗʱꜟⁿᵍ ꜟⁿ ᵐꜟⁿᵈ˒ ᵇᓑᵗ ﺍ ᵈᵒ ⁿᵒᵗ ʷꜟᣵʱ ᵗᵒ ᵗᵅᵏᵉ ᵅᵈᵛᵅⁿᵗᵅᵍᵉ ᵒᶠ ᵞᵒᓑʳ ꜟᵐᵖᵅꜟʳᵉᵈ ᣵᵗᵅᵗᵉ. ᵀʱᵉ ᶩᵅᣵᵗ ᵗʱꜟⁿᵍ ﺍ ʷᵅⁿᵗ ꜟᣵ ᵗᵒ ᶠᵒʳᶜᵉ ᵞᵒᓑ ᵗᵒ ᵈᵒ ᣵᵒᵐᵉᵗʱꜟⁿᵍ ᵗʱᵅᵗ ᵞᵒᓑ ᵈᵒⁿ̍ᵗ ʷᵅⁿᵗ ᵗᵒ ᵈᵒ. 𝑠ᵒ˒ ﺍ ʷꜟᶩᶩ ʷʳꜟᵗᵉ ᵐᵞ ʳᵉ٩ᓑᵉᣵᵗ ᵈᵒʷⁿ˒ ᵅⁿᵈ ᵞᵒᓑ̍ᶩᶩ ᵗᵉᶩᶩ ᵐᵉ ʷʱᵉᵗʱᵉʳ ᵞᵒᓑ ᵅʳᵉ ᵒᵏᵅᵞ ʷꜟᵗʱ ᵐᵉ ᣵᵅᵞꜟⁿᵍ ꜟᵗ ᵒᓑᵗ ᶩᵒᓑᵈ.

(Transcription: I have something in mind, but I do not wish to take advantage of your impaired state. The last thing I want is to force you to do something that you don't want to do. So, I will write my request down, and you'll tell me whether you are okay with me saying it out loud.)

"Got it," I reply, turning the piece of paper back to them. More scribbling ensues. The whole thing is rather amusing, but also quite sweet.

Especially when I read the exact command they want to give me.

I hope they're ready to spend the rest of the evening with me, because I don't plan on stopping until every fiber of their being knows exactly how much I love and adore them.

"You can say it," I tell them. They take a deep breath before looking me right in the eyes.

"Fuck me."

[trubbishrubbish]

Happy Last Day of 2023. Here's a long overdue update over how I have been.

As you recall, Jabberwock Genocide Part 2 was uploaded 3 weeks ago. And the only thing I did this whole month of December after Part 2 was uploaded was that I went to Canada to climb a huge mountain and confront my other self because it’s cheaper than going to therapy.

Just kidding, I just worked on more Jabberwock Genocide, nothing else.

This is a positive as I have made so much forward progress in the animation and the upcoming part 3 that you guys won’t have to wait 9 months for more Genocide Jack fun time. However, there is a cost to just working on Jabberwock Genocide, one that I’m currently struggling to find a way to deal with.

Basically, all my free time, focus and thinking has been dedicated to Jabberwock Genocide, but other stuff I do and create I have left to the dust.

My output in making Genocide Jack posts has just stopped.

I keep neglecting to share updates to my Sho Shrine. I am still getting new stuff for it but I have not yet organized it and taken picture of it.

I have barely played any new games. The last game I have beaten that is new was Super Mario Bros Wonder. I loved that game, but I had a hard time sitting down to play it for long sessions as I wanted to work on Jabberwock Genocide.

And tragically, I have really neglected interacting with my online friends. This I feel the most guilty of as I have no excuse for it. I know there are friends I used to talk to a lot before that I have now stopped engaging with for a really long time. If you are one of those people I just to say that I am sorry for ghosting you. I still consider you a friend I don't want our friendship to slowly die out due to lack of communication on my end.

This is my struggle. I love making Jabberwock Genocide. It’s honestly the most enriching thing I am currently doing in my life. I’m creating a story with my favorite character, Genocide Jack. I’m developing my skill as a sprite animator. I’m constantly thinking about how to create a particular scene with the limited resources I have. I get a real kick of joy when I am creating a scene and suddenly an idea comes to mind that I love and I put it in the animation.

I feel so satisfied when the ideas I have for a scene that I see in my head are transmitted into actual animation on my editor. More often then not, what I make in the final product is better than what I imagine in my head. Every single line, every single detail, every single joke, it all feels so amazing to craft them into a video.

It’s crazy to think that just a few months ago, I was at a low point in the animation where all of my motivation was drained and I struggled to make progress for weeks. But now, I feel so freaking happy and elated just thinking about the animation. Heck, even doing really tedious tasks like making every single sprite jump a little is still enjoyable to me. I’ve been working on this project since August 2022. I never expected this to be what is now when I first started writing down ideas. But I am happy the project did turn into this, because I really, truly enjoy working on this.

But… That’s the problem. I enjoy working on Jabberwock Genocide so much that any other hobbies, I find less fun. I rewrote my brain to dedicate huge parts of it to think about Jabberwock Genocide. I’m fully being this attached to a project like this isn’t healthy. I should be consuming different media and doing other activities and talking to my friends. I know this but I find it difficult to summon the energy to do it.

I’m still trying to find a good balance between working on the project and doing other leisure activities that I enjoy doing. I’m going to make this a goal for 2024, it might take me a while to find that balance but I will try to. Hopefully when I do, I can slowly rekindle friendships that I have abandoned.

That’s what I wanted to say. Thank you for taking the time to read this. See you in 2024.

[ashadowofburnedoutstardust]

Hello again anon 🐯

Yeah, this bullshitshow has been anything but private

I don't think this man has any comprehension of the damage he has done to his image

As it stands he currently has no audience, no fandom, very little to motivate anyone to follow him around regardless of whatever project he has going

His fans are losing interest?

I started watching the video for the award and lost interest so I have no idea what's been said and I have zero interest in finding out, but then I'm not a Chris Evans fan either, I just stumbled across them after having a weird prophetic dream and following the algorithmic narratives

For the most part, they're pretty awesome people. I didn't like seeing them treated the way they have been so I took what action I could. I'm pretty picky about people and they're the only reason I've stuck around this long

He needs a better team?

He doesn't just need a new team, he needs a new name, a new house, a new life; the man needs to disappear out of the pure embarrassment he's caused himself and all of those around him

And he's badly embarrassed his fans by proxy for having supported someone with no fucking spine willing to betray even the lies he used to help con them with

(Sorry to be harsh, I haven't had dinner yet and it has been a long day at work)

Is he being honest with himself meaning it wouldn't end up like this?

I do truly wonder if he understands that he has also bought into his own image. Does he think that any part of the persona hes had curated over the years actually reflects who he is?

Christopher, you are nothing like any of the characters you've played and each piece of them that's been published in place of your actual personality traits in articles is simply another lie to yourself

Being private doesn't mean being ashamed?

If hes not he should be. Ashamed. Ashamed. Ashamed.

It ties into the lies he's told himself. Honey blocking people is not going to make them stop talking about you

If you are genuinely so scared that telling the truth about whats gone on then maybe you shouldn't have been doing it to begin with

Christopher if this is truly your choice, to fuck around with 20 somethings at your fucking age then yes you should be ashamed because you are a Hollywood cliche and still emotionally a 15 year old boy, basically a rich pervert and theres no amount of PR cleaning that's going to get you out of that after so badly knocking down the fan support system holding you up and paying your bills

Your team aren't the only ones who have been coasting

It's odd a little for me. I tend to be optimistic by nature and not the "hyper-critical debunking character" I've played so much on my blog so there is that genuine little part of me that despite not being a fan I really do want a positive outcome for him

But let me be clear about this: it's not that I'm hoping for it for him, I'm hoping for it for his fans

When you are strangers on the internet it can be a lot easier to let things out to people when you have a safe place to do it from behind an internet profile. Like I've said before I've talked to thousands of his fans by now and the number of them that were distressed, that needed a safe place to vent is extensive

I may not be a mean person IRL, (I get called bubbly.....a lot lol) but I'm fairly sure after spending so much time consoling so many of them I could summon genuine enough rage to scare him straight, or at the very least some common fucking sense

These days I work in....well......let's generalise and say Healthcare; it's a very people focused job where taking into consideration that you have no idea what's going on in the rest of their life and how that affects their experience when they are in the establishment, the ability to empathise with so many people every day is really quite a natural thing for me despite my general introversion

But there are some things you have to learn to be firm on and is one of the most difficult lessons I had to learn to do my job and help make the environment a better place

I have to say I don't think this man has ever learned how to establish boundaries with literally anyone, no wonder I got the impression he needed a strong woman to tell him what to do

(He really does need a replacement Lisa that tells him what to do, but also one that's actually happy to actually do it no woman should ever let a man put their emotional labour on them)

I've done my best to fuck up their narrative bullshitshow as much as possible as revenge for fucking with the fandom friends I had and lost because of what they did

Indeed anon, good luck Chris. If you never learn to stand your ground in a meaningful way nothing will ever change

Do something different

[nightcolorz]

tagged by @molloytheboy Ilysm king thank u for the tag <3 this is so fun

How many works do you have on AO3? 10

What’s your total AO3 word count? 74,616

What fandoms do you write for? right now just the vampire chronicles + amc iwtv. I used to write Batman fan-fiction about the rogues gallery but I stupidly deleted them from a03. I wrote one fic that’s still up about hazbin hotel, and I used to write a lot for our flag means death but for some reason never published any of that

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? You can lean on my arm as you break my heart, Millennia Gate, A Slave For God, церковь в огне, and Must Have Been the Wind

Do you respond to comments? I try to always respond to comments! I love comments so so much and if someone is taking the time to tell me how they feel about my fic then they deserve to hear back from me ❤️🙏‼️ often times all I can think to say is a heart felt thank u, but I want the ppl who get something from my writing to know how much it means to me

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? this is a tough one bcus a lot of my fics are straight up heart attacks. I usually end up defaulting to a small bit of hope to end things off when I go rlly dark, and the only time I didn’t do that was with “You can lean on my arm as you break my heart”, which is probably my darkest fic anyway. A handful of my fics end ambiguously bleak like that but I think the intensity of that one makes the sort of ambiguous sort of bleak ending extra upsetting. But most of my fics end badly

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Definitely “A vile hunger for your hammering heart” haha. That is one of my favorite fics I’ve written but it’s so niche and stupid it rarely gets any attention 😭🙏

Do you get hate on fics? I only ever got a hate comment once on my tiny Drabble collection, for tagging it as bpd cuz lestat was displaying some heavy bpd traits and they didn’t like that ig. I deleted the comment and vagued them on my tumblr and they showed up in my ask box so I hope this doesn’t summon them 💀. It was funny tho! Rlly rlly confusing stuff😭. But nah otherwise not rlly, which is surprising to me cuz I write some stuff definitely hate worthy 🙏but I don’t think hate is super common on a03, at least in this fandom

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yeah sometimes. I only can rlly write smut that’s traumatic and unhealthy 😭. I wrote happy smut once in my life, in “it must’ve been the wind”. Otherwise I write evil smut

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I honestly am not a fan of crossovers 💔

Have you ever had a fic stolen?I hope not! 😭. But no I don’t think so.

Have you ever had a fic translated? I wish!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I consider my claim to fame “millennia gate” to be co written, but it technically isn’t written by two ppl lol. I write it and my boyfriend helps me brainstorm and edit

What’s your all time favorite ship? Daniel x Armand, for sure. Weirdly enough I’ve only ever written and published Drabbles about them. I’ve been planning to write more of them tho 🙏‼️

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I hate this evil ass question 😭 I don’t want to say millennia gate bcus I love her and so many ppl love her but I’ve rlly been struggling to find motivation to write her lately. Millennia gate is a reflection of such a specific time in my life and I used it to vent a bunch of issues I was having, and it’s hard for me to tap into that now that I’ve grown sm as a person. I think and hope that inspiration will come back to me tho cuz I hate the idea of abandoning her 🙏 my love child truly.

What are your writing strengths? I’ve been told I’m good at writing dialogue, themes, and pacing. Ive also been told im good at understanding and portraying characters in a way that’s true to the source material+ compelling, which is good cuz I write fanfic lol. A lot of ppl read my fics cuz they like my metas, so I think that’s a strong suit. I’m also a freak for metaphors 😭 oh my god I use elaborate figurative language in casual conversation, it’s bad. The best praise I ever got was from a teacher, she said I write like Anne rice but way better 😭. I don’t rlly think that’s true, but I love it.

What are your writing weaknesses? I find it hard to be subtle and let my writing speak for itself, I tend to hammer things home a bit too strongly so that the effectiveness wears off. I always fight the urge to write big blocks of unnecessary text just so the audience knows what I’m getting at, over explaining and stuff. I struggle with writing sentences that aren’t super long and clunky. I’m rlly bad with grammar. I can’t spell 😭. I also am blind to the quality of my own writing and tend to over edit unnecessarily cuz I find it hard to open up to beta readers

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I do it all the time. I don’t use google translate, I try to use more deluxe sources when I write in languages I don’t speak because I’d be so embarrassed if I got something wrong 😭. But I rarely write in a language I don’t speak for more then a sentence or two. Once someone who speaks French commented that they loved that they could read the French in my Lestat fic and I was so happy and relieved it was coherent to someone who speaks the language 😭

First fandom you wrote for? The first fandom I wrote for was technically the how to train your dragon books in my childhood notebook, but the first fanfic I ever published was for Harry Potter. I remember it was an angsty backstory fic about Remus lupin, lmao.

Favorite fic you’ve written? it changes, but right now it’s церковь в огне, because I re read and think about it as if it’s a fic I haven’t written 😭. But I have my favorite memories attached to “must have been the wind”, “A vile hungering for your hammering heart” and Millennia gate. Those last three have started inside jokes with me and my friends, and r often quoted to me 😭 so definitely I consider them favorites thank u again for the tag Finn!! Tagging @oopsallvampires @discomfort-character @lestatslestits

[aotopmha]

I finished the Pandemonium raid series.

I thought Anabaseios was solid.

P9N and P12N are great.

I feel P10N and P11N have the same issues P6N and P7N fell into except to a lesser extent because I like them more.

P9's expanding and contracting donuts and circles were a ton of fun. And I really liked how Kokytos embodying different creatures changed his attacks. Super neat identity to the fight.

P10 was a similar case to P7 in that it had a really unique arena, but this time around I think the dodging was much more interesting and there was at least something that used the arena.

P11 is the weakest fight in Anabaseios, I think. The light/dark balance mechanic did some neat stuff because you had to stay in it and think about area denial a bit, but like a lot of Abyssos, I feel it should've had more mechanics, which were more complex and executed at a faster rate. You had something there, but the boss died before it truly got to stand out. I think I still like it more than P6N and P7N, though because this one specific idea was there "all the way through" and actually evolved, giving it a stronger identity than those fights.

P12 is my favourite fight in Pandemonium, I think, cool manipulation of platforms, neat play on donuts and circles, little bit of memory game dodging. A complete fight where different mechanics actively happened and evolved.

In terms of story, I think this was the most dense part. There were so many element happening at once and I think all of it tied together everything that came before.

We got an answer for what was going on with the Heart of Sabik (which in turn also made Ivalice relevant, which I'm super happy for because it at least made that slog matter).

It made Athena an actual character and she ended up being one of my favourite villains at the very least within all of the raid series because female villains often don't get to be smart or competent, much less have interesting motivations that aren't tied to their gender.

She is a fairly straight-forward as a personality, but the motivations we do get have a bunch of depth – they are tied to the ancients' search for perfection.

She is a foil to Venat's faith in humanity within their imperfection and her belief in humanity's freedom, instead wishing to build a perfect world within her singular vision; another twisted result of the ancients' belief in bettering their world by removing imperfect elements from it.

In a contrast to Hermes who chose to "test" humanity, she takes it upon herself to "perfect" humanity.

She is another result of the flaws of the ancients' society (in conjuction with alien influence, of course, because that always makes things a lot more fun). I dig her character a bunch.

Equally, I love how this final wing of the raid completes the character of Elidibus in its entirety.

I think he's like the perfect morally gray villain because in the end the faction that summoned Zodiark also wished for the world to be saved.

The Ascians were no different from Venat's faction in terms of motivation.

And I love how up to the end, the story is empathetic towards this idea and the character embodying the iconic Warrior of Light image does end up saving the world.

If he wasn't defeated and his aether and being wasn't available within the Crystal Tower, the causal loop/time travel would've never happened and the world would probably not have been saved from the Final Days.

All of the efforts, all of the work ends up worthwile because the world survived, humanity survived.

It's like the perfect ending for a morally ambigious struggle like this to me. Don't remove any of the bad the characters did, but make the noble intentions matter.

I already talked about Lahabrea in a previous post, so there are only two things I want to add.

First, I like how his character arc of taking responsibility and facing his problems and incorporating his bad parts back into himself probably also lead to him becoming Praetorium Lahabrea, but he also admits that yes, he'd probably do all of that because of the strict and uncompromising parts of himself (Athena's/the Heart of Sabik's influence, of course, helping it), so there's some fun causality here.

Second, I like how Athena is quoting his Praetorium speech (technically other way around).

Finally, there are Erichthonios and Claudien.

Him saying no to an abusive parent and becoming your own person making your own choices is such a satisfying character arc. It happened with Hephaistos and was even better with Athena. I actually have no other opinions about him.

Everything with Claudien on the other hand entirely feels like setup.

He has an ancient's memories and is now holding the Heart of Sabik.

Maybe a little too much naivete on the characters' part (ancient alien artifact left with the soul of someone potentially susceptible to its influence), but all of it tells me they have more coming where that came from and the unknown is super fun and exciting.

Now out of the major story material, all I have left is 6.2-6.55 MSQ. Looking forward to it.