#would have made her wanting to save the timelines have more of an impact

[iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid]

bruh she just trash compacted an entire room of people. fuckin brutal

[archaeren]

How I learned to write smarter, not harder

(aka, how to write when you're hella ADHD lol)

A reader commented on my current long fic asking how I write so well. I replied with an essay of my honestly pretty non-standard writing advice (that they probably didn't actually want lol) Now I'm gonna share it with you guys and hopefully there's a few of you out there who will benefit from my past mistakes and find some useful advice in here. XD Since I started doing this stuff, which are all pretty easy changes to absorb into your process if you want to try them, I now almost never get writer's block.

The text of the original reply is indented, and I've added some additional commentary to expand upon and clarify some of the concepts.

As for writing well, I usually attribute it to the fact that I spent roughly four years in my late teens/early 20s writing text roleplay with a friend for hours every single day. Aside from the constant practice that provided, having a live audience immediately reacting to everything I wrote made me think a lot about how to make as many sentences as possible have maximum impact so that I could get that kind of fun reaction. (Which is another reason why comments like yours are so valuable to fanfic writers! <3) The other factors that have improved my writing are thus: 1. Writing nonlinearly. I used to write a whole story in order, from the first sentence onward. If there was a part I was excited to write, I slogged through everything to get there, thinking that it would be my reward once I finished everything that led up to that. It never worked. XD It was miserable. By the time I got to the part I wanted to write, I had beaten the scene to death in my head imagining all the ways I could write it, and it a) no longer interested me and b) could not live up to my expectations because I couldn't remember all my ideas I'd had for writing it. The scene came out mediocre and so did everything leading up to it. Since then, I learned through working on VN writing (I co-own a game studio and we have some visual novels that I write for) that I don't have to write linearly. If I'm inspired to write a scene, I just write it immediately. It usually comes out pretty good even in a first draft! But then I also have it for if I get more ideas for that scene later, and I can just edit them in. The scenes come out MUCH stronger because of this. And you know what else I discovered? Those scenes I slogged through before weren't scenes I had no inspiration for, I just didn't have any inspiration for them in that moment! I can't tell you how many times there was a scene I had no interest in writing, and then a week later I'd get struck by the perfect inspiration for it! Those are scenes I would have done a very mediocre job on, and now they can be some of the most powerful scenes because I gave them time to marinate. Inspiration isn't always linear, so writing doesn't have to be either!

Some people are the type that joyfully write linearly. I have a friend like this--she picks up the characters and just continues playing out the next scene. Her story progresses through the entire day-by-day lives of the characters; it never timeskips more than a few hours. She started writing and posting just eight months ago, she's about an eighth of the way through her planned fic timeline, and the content she has so far posted to AO3 for it is already 450,000 words long. But most of us are normal humans. We're not, for the most part, wired to create linearly. We consume linearly, we experience linearly, so we assume we must also create linearly. But actually, a lot of us really suffer from trying to force ourselves to create this way, and we might not even realize it. If you're the kind of person who thinks you need to carrot-on-a-stick yourself into writing by saving the fun part for when you finally write everything that happens before it: Stop. You're probably not a linear writer. You're making yourself suffer for no reason and your writing is probably suffering for it. At least give nonlinear writing a try before you assume you can't write if you're not baiting or forcing yourself into it!! Remember: Writing is fun. You do this because it's fun, because it's your hobby. If you're miserable 80% of the time you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong!

2. Rereading my own work. I used to hate reading my own work. I wouldn't even edit it usually. I would write it and slap it online and try not to look at it again. XD Writing nonlinearly forced me to start rereading because I needed to make sure scenes connected together naturally and it also made it easier to get into the headspace of the story to keep writing and fill in the blanks and get new inspiration. Doing this built the editing process into my writing process--I would read a scene to get back in the headspace, dislike what I had written, and just clean it up on the fly. I still never ever sit down to 'edit' my work. I just reread it to prep for writing and it ends up editing itself. Many many scenes in this fic I have read probably a dozen times or more! (And now, I can actually reread my own work for enjoyment!) Another thing I found from doing this that it became easy to see patterns and themes in my work and strengthen them. Foreshadowing became easy. Setting up for jokes or plot points became easy. I didn't have to plan out my story in advance or write an outline, because the scenes themselves because a sort of living outline on their own. (Yes, despite all the foreshadowing and recurring thematic elements and secret hidden meanings sprinkled throughout this story, it actually never had an outline or a plan for any of that. It's all a natural byproduct of writing nonlinearly and rereading.)

Unpopular writing opinion time: You don't need to make a detailed outline.

Some people thrive on having an outline and planning out every detail before they sit down to write. But I know for a lot of us, we don't know how to write an outline or how to use it once we've written it. The idea of making one is daunting, and the advice that it's the only way to write or beat writer's block is demoralizing. So let me explain how I approach "outlining" which isn't really outlining at all.

I write in a Notion table, where every scene is a separate table entry and the scene is written in the page inside that entry. I do this because it makes writing nonlinearly VASTLY more intuitive and straightforward than writing in a single document. (If you're familiar with Notion, this probably makes perfect sense to you. If you're not, imagine something a little like a more contained Google Sheets, but every row has a title cell that opens into a unique Google Doc when you click on it. And it's not as slow and clunky as the Google suite lol) (Edit from the future: I answered an ask with more explanation on how I use Notion for non-linear writing here.) When I sit down to begin a new fic idea, I make a quick entry in the table for every scene I already know I'll want or need, with the entries titled with a couple words or a sentence that describes what will be in that scene so I'll remember it later. Basically, it's the most absolute bare-bones skeleton of what I vaguely know will probably happen in the story.

Then I start writing, wherever I want in the list. As I write, ideas for new scenes and new connections and themes will emerge over time, and I'll just slot them in between the original entries wherever they naturally fit, rearranging as necessary, so that I won't forget about them later when I'm ready to write them. As an example, my current long fic started with a list of roughly 35 scenes that I knew I wanted or needed, for a fic that will probably be around 100k words (which I didn't know at the time haha). As of this writing, it has expanded to 129 scenes. And since I write them directly in the page entries for the table, the fic is actually its own outline, without any additional effort on my part. As I said in the comment reply--a living outline!

This also made it easier to let go of the notion that I had to write something exactly right the first time. (People always say you should do this, but how many of us do? It's harder than it sounds! I didn't want to commit to editing later! I didn't want to reread my work! XD) I know I'm going to edit it naturally anyway, so I can feel okay giving myself permission to just write it approximately right and I can fix it later. And what I found from that was that sometimes what I believed was kind of meh when I wrote it was actually totally fine when I read it later! Sometimes the internal critic is actually wrong. 3. Marinating in the headspace of the story. For the first two months I worked on [fic], I did not consume any media other than [fandom the fic is in]. I didn't watch, read, or play anything else. Not even mobile games. (And there wasn't really much fan content for [fandom] to consume either. Still isn't, really. XD) This basically forced me to treat writing my story as my only source of entertainment, and kept me from getting distracted or inspired to write other ideas and abandon this one.

As an aside, I don't think this is a necessary step for writing, but if you really want to be productive in a short burst, I do highly recommend going on a media consumption hiatus. Not forever, obviously! Consuming media is a valuable tool for new inspiration, and reading other's work (both good and bad, as long as you think critically to identify the differences!) is an invaluable resource for improving your writing.

When I write, I usually lay down, close my eyes, and play the scene I'm interested in writing in my head. I even take a ten-minute nap now and then during this process. (I find being in a state of partial drowsiness, but not outright sleepiness, makes writing easier and better. Sleep helps the brain process and make connections!) Then I roll over to the laptop next to me and type up whatever I felt like worked for the scene. This may mean I write half a sentence at a time between intervals of closed-eye-time XD

People always say if you're stuck, you need to outline.

What they actually mean by that (whether they realize it or not) is that if you're stuck, you need to brainstorm. You need to marinate. You don't need to plan what you're doing, you just need to give yourself time to think about it!

What's another framing for brainstorming for your fic? Fantasizing about it! Planning is work, but fantasizing isn't.

You're already fantasizing about it, right? That's why you're writing it. Just direct that effort toward the scenes you're trying to write next! Close your eyes, lay back, and fantasize what the characters do and how they react.

And then quickly note down your inspirations so you don't forget, haha.

And if a scene is so boring to you that even fantasizing about it sucks--it's probably a bad scene.

If it's boring to write, it's going to be boring to read. Ask yourself why you wanted that scene. Is it even necessary? Can you cut it? Can you replace it with a different scene that serves the same purpose but approaches the problem from a different angle? If you can't remove the troublesome scene, what can you change about it that would make it interesting or exciting for you to write?

And I can't write sitting up to save my damn life. It's like my brain just stops working if I have to sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen. I need to be able to lie down, even if I don't use it! Talking walks and swinging in a hammock are also fantastic places to get scene ideas worked out, because the rhythmic motion also helps our brain process. It's just a little harder to work on a laptop in those scenarios. XD

In conclusion: Writing nonlinearly is an amazing tool for kicking writer's block to the curb. There's almost always some scene you'll want to write. If there isn't, you need to re-read or marinate.

Or you need to use the bathroom, eat something, or sleep. XD Seriously, if you're that stuck, assess your current physical condition. You might just be unable to focus because you're uncomfortable and you haven't realized it yet.

Anyway! I hope that was helpful, or at least interesting! XD Sorry again for the text wall. (I think this is the longest comment reply I've ever written!)

And same to you guys on tumblr--I hope this was helpful or at least interesting. XD Reblogs appreciated if so! (Maybe it'll help someone else!)

[phantomantz]

some changes i would have made to the characters storylines in tua s4

disclaimer: i am no writer, it's just fun to think about the possibilities. btw anyone feel free to use any of these ideas for fics idc

lila doesn't cheat for starters. instead she and diego have both been secretly doing vigilante missions and keeping it from the other because they think they'll be mad. on one of these missions the two run into each other and rekindle their spark. basically the five and lila story but with diego and lila instead thanks. maybe one or both of them almost die or their kids are put in danger, and they decide to find a much less dangerous hobby, because while its thrilling in the moment they realize they wouldn't sacrifice their family for it

luther is shown to be much more depressed about sloanes absence (if there really is no way for her to come back) but he's trying to hold it together to be there for his family. would be nice if he bonded with characters like klaus, viktor or allison who have also lost their lovers. diego and lila shenanigans means they need luther to babysit a lot and luther finds happiness caring for his nieces and nephew. maybe he also finds a fulfilling job where he can meet a lot of people and help others.

five still finds the time subway but without lila. we get more time exploring the alternate timelines and seeing different ways the apocalypse has happened including ways the other sibs have ended the world. his PTSD and reliving his trauma is also explored. he eventually ends up in the five diner where he's told that they end the world every time but instead of excepting defeat and making everyone sacrifice themselves he finds another way (what exactly that is im not so sure) and becomes the first and only five to successfully prevent the apocalypse forever

allisons relationship with claire and ray are explored more heavily as well as everything she did in s3. i like the idea that she takes care of klaus because 1: hes the only sibling that will still talk to her and 2: because of the guilt she feels after getting him killed. i just wish her arc focused on something OTHER than saving klaus because thats basically all she did this season. would be nice if she spent more time with viktor and luther the two people she wronged most heavily in s3.

i would keep viktors confrontation with reggie but alternatively i would make this reginald umbrella reginald so it has much more weight to it. either that or have viktor express that even though he said his piece toward this reggie he will never actually get closure with their real father and nothing will remove the pain from his childhood. the rest i would keep pretty similar. reginald wants to kill ben and viktor wants to stop him at any cost. viktor knows what its like to be "the bomb" and doesn't want the same thing that happened to him to happen to ben. instead of working together to find ben however they're more in a race against eachother. maybe allison joins him and they make up on the way. i would have liked for ben and viktor to have had a heart to heart in the beginning of the season, maybe about how ben felt like a monster sometimes because of his powers, and viktor relating. idk how this would work with sparrow ben because he doesn't seem to hate his powers the same way brelly ben did but it would have been nice to show another reason why viktor is going through so much trouble to save him. and the ending where he trys to talk him down would be more impactful i think.

for klaus i would keep everything pretty much the same up until he runs into that quinn guy. instead i would have him travel to the subway with five in lilas place. five and klaus' powers are the most mind boggling out of the bunch not to mention time and death are inherently intertwined and this needed to be explored. also, you're telling me klaus literally has the power to talk to GOD and this never has any plot relevance???? klaus should have been involved in finding the solution to the apocalypse imo. also we needed klaus and ben interactions. idk how or when but it NEEDED to happen

ben and jennifer being the catalyst for the apocalypse is making it very hard for me to figure what to do with him tbh. i just wish he had more time with the other sibs and didn't turn into a horrific blob monster at the end 😭he felt less like a character this season and more like a plot device and he deserved to have some scenes that actually fleshed him out. it would have been cool if the reason he causes the apocalypse was actually because of his powers and not just because he happened to be the one to make skin contact with jennifer. i really thought that the twist was gonna be that the squid that jennifer was stuck in was the one that ben summons and that was why they were connected. not the fact that they both just had reactive magic particles in them that anyone could have set off. like what if jennifer being cut out of the squid was what killed ben?

OH! what if jennifer was an eldritch horror from the same dimension that bens tentacles are from and for some reason she wants to kill the brellys/end the world and because bens powers are linked to her she can control his mind ???? c'mon i feel like i've got something here

a have a couple of other ideas but don't know where they would fit in rn so yeah.

[beforetimes]

feel like this gets overshadowed by the fact that ekko saved jinx at her very lowest, but i think that their relationship 100% works both ways when it comes to helping the other. and the way jinx helps ekko would be in helping him to loosen up / free him of this massive sense of guilt and responsibility he carries himself with.

we see this thematically in s2ep7 and s2ep9 mostly. when ekko goes to the alternate timeline we get the line that it was his tip that lead to vi's death. which i've mentioned in a previous post as something that i think the og ekko would carry as a source of guilt that guided him to throwing himself into helping the people of zaun, a way to work through his remorse.

and in that deleted scene where ekko goes after powder only for her to say she doesn't want to be saved and that she's jinx now, i feel ekko would have blamed himself for that and internalized it both by using it to fuel his guilt complex but also by painting her as someone past saving. in essence he thinks he killed powder and created jinx. someone who only hurts the undercity by working as silco.

but after his dive into the alternate timeline where he sees and connects with powder and realizes all the potential she has when she grows up, i think he realizes that there is still someone to save back in his original world. that jinx couldn't possibly erase everything that made alternate timeline powder who she is because powder reminds him of their childhood and things left unsaid and how things could be different if they both chose forgiveness (sort of elaborated on here).

anyway, i think jinx's role in accepting ekko's proposal to help out with the war on piltover/zaun would be to show ekko a) that he didn't kill powder completely and that jinx was never truly 100% metamorphosized by this job that he sent them on that indirectly 'killed' her and b) shows that she (in his minds eye) chooses to forgive him, relieving a large part of his guilt, and build something better. which is what ekko has been all about. not necessarily forgiving, but building something better. its what he does with the firelights and their commune.

now, how is freeing him communicated in the show?

i think that they show the way jinx's character allows him to be more free in expressing himself through the change in wardrobe. it is more visually vibrant in comparison to his large jackets in the first season when we see him, but there's also less smoke-screening and secrecy. no more masks, no more gloves, no more large jackets that hide the form. everything is on display now! abdomen and face, skin exposed. and jinx's impact on this change from the first season is visually marked by the x on his shirt. she is directly involved in his evolution into this freer, unburdened self.

i felt in this, the artists were showing how jinx's refusal to stay within the lines would affect ekko in making him freer as well. not just physically revealing himself but also maybe through the way her acceptance of his offer to save her again (after the failed deleted scene mentioned) frees him of the guilt of failing the first time + guilt over what led to him thinking he killed powder.

so while timebomb does feel skewed in showcasing ekko primarly as her saviour and jinx as someone who needed saving, i think that there is a reciprocal nature to the type of healing they can offer each other. ekko through his belief that jinx can be good without needing her to be the way she was before and jinx through her relieving ekko of guilt that has ruled his life since he was a child.

[ihopeicanchangethislater05]

a teeny tiny overanalysis i found while watching 02x17 "all in" courtesy of @jayjamjary

its very fascinating that wilson knows about Esther

like its a case house couldn't solve TWELVE years ago (as said by cameron cos of her file)

do note that this was in 2006 so Ester died in 1994.

now this may be unrelated but i think it just gives this kind of timeline to show how close house and wilson were when this case happened:

wilson was married to sam from 1990-1991 as he told thirteen in lockdown

so the divorce happened somewhere in say '91-'92 and thats when house and wilson met

so say wilson didnt start working at ppth till '93 and this case was in '94

it just fascinates me how wilson knew about her in such great detail and even remembered her name too.

so tell me, how many evenings (on separate occasions i'm sure) has house spent, talking about esther to wilson. about what he could have done to save her and what he would have done if he just had a little more time. so much so that it feels like she made such a big impact on house. and wilson was there for him and saw his struggles to diagnose her.

i love this episode so much

(edit cos i apparantly have more to add)

so well after cuddy throws him off her case house is standing in his and wilson's shared balcony right? and wilson all giddy with his win comes to house to tell him that

but well house isn't in that great of a mood and asks wilson to talk to him tomorrow.

but wilson knew how badly this boy's case had affected him, cos house wasnt able to solve esther's case, once again even after so many years. so regardless of what he said wilson STAYED.

and god that smile on house's face said everything. that even tho he asked wilson to leave he really wanted him to stay, and wilson understood that.(gosh they are so good at non verbal cues. i aspire to be this good)

and ofc as usual wilson gave way to that epiphany, curing the patient

[ai-manre]

Following the Roses: A Meta

Having remerged into the fandom now after a long break, I was surprised to see all the currently prevailing ideas on a lot of things. It looks like the longer we go without the books, the more cycles and counter-cycles of convictions we have as a fandom, as our echo-chamber gets more intense and the contexts that much matter so much in canon fade. It was interesting to see all the different ideas and head-canons of people regarding R+L now in particular (with many now stalwartly characterizing Rhaegar as a prophecy-obsessed lunatic who impregnated Lyanna, with or without her will, and that Lyanna later grew to hate him). That made me curious into delving back to see what the books tell us and try to see where the narrative is leading us. Or maybe, more specifically, it's the roses I want to follow. The winter roses.

**The Introduction**

GRRM does a beautiful misdirection in the first book. Having Ned associate Lyanna again and again with the winter roses in his thoughts, by the time the origin of the winter roses is shown in Ned's last chapter, we have already associated Lyanna singularly with the roses. Rather than feeling the full impact of them being associated with her. So I'd like to go through the winter roses chronologically instead, according to the timeline.

**What is the narrative telling us?**

>Yet when the jousting began, the day belonged to Rhaegar Targaryen. The crown prince wore the armor he would die in: gleaming black plate with the three-headed dragon of his House wrought in rubies on the breast. A plume of scarlet silk streamed behind him when he rode, and it seemed no lance could touch him. Brandon fell to him, and Bronze Yohn Royce, and even the splendid Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning.

>Robert had been jesting with Jon and old Lord Hunter as the prince circled the field after unhorsing Ser Barristan in the final tilt to claim the champion's crown. Ned remembered the moment when all the smiles died, when*Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horse past his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell, to lay the queen of beauty's laurel in Lyanna's lap. He could see it still: a crown of winter roses, blue as frost*.

>*Ned Stark reached out his hand to grasp the flowery crown, but beneath the pale blue petals the thorns lay hidden. He felt them clawing at his skin, sharp and cruel, saw the slow trickle of blood run down his fingers, and woke, trembling, in the dark.*

>*Promise me, Ned, his sister had whispered from her bed of blood. She had loved the scent of winter roses. "Gods save me," Ned wept. "I am going mad."

This is the origin of the winter roses according to the timeline. We do not get mentions of Lyanna with the winter roses before Rhaegar crowned her with them. When Bran looks back in time and sees Lyanna, she's not seen around those roses. When the Northmen discuss her in her childhood, they don't mention her roses, only her horse-riding skills. In Howland's story of the wolf maid, she is not associated with them. Winter roses start featuring prominently around Lyanna Stark only after Rhaegar crowns her with them. Considering this to be the origin of the roses, I would find it safe to interpret that the roses don't solely symbolize Lyanna, but rather *the bond that grew between Rhaegar and Lyanna*. This way, the roses also work as a great narrative device for Ned to covertly think of R+L without directly giving it away to the readers.

This interpretation fits in very well with the next words, where Ned reaches out to touch the flower crown and feels the thorns underneath that claw at him. The beauty of the petals was hiding the "sharp and cruel" thorns underneath which could draw blood. Just like R+L's love which likely seemed a thing of great beauty to them, but resulted in pain and suffering for both of them and all around them. If, as some other interpretations go, the roses were meant to symbolize only Lyanna as a Stark maiden or represent her connection to Winterfell, it would make no sense for the sharp and cruel thorns to appear underneath.

In the words after, Ned describes her words from bed of blood and again, seemingly out of nowhere mentions how she had loved the scent of winter roses. Why was this sentence put here? In the middle of a seemingly irrelevant of her death? Following the narrative flow of where the roses began a few sentences ago, the meaning is clear. Lyanna had loved the scent of winter roses, loved the beauty of her bond with Rhaegar, maybe ignorant or uncaring of the thorns underneath.

>"And now it begins," said Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. He unsheathed Dawn and held it with both hands. The blade was pale as milkglass, alive with light. "No," Ned said with sadness in his voice. "Now it ends." As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. "Eddard!" she called. *A storm of **rose** petals blew across a blood-streaked sky, as **blue** as the eyes of death.*

This is our next memory of Lyanna after the crowning at Harrenhal. Ned clashes with the Kingsguard trying to get to Lyanna, Ned's subconscious and the narrative associates this clash against a background of *storm of rose petals as blue as the eyes of death*. Again, the rose petals are associated with things like pain and blood and death. The blood-streaked sky is the background of the war, the war sparked by R+L's actions, the beautiful petals are still blowing, though they are "death". Rhaegar who is dead and Lyanna who is dying, their love that has started the fire that killed them both and many more including all the kingsguard and many northmen here here. (Though the situation was far more nuanced than just R+L being responsible for all the bloodshed that happened).

> "I was with her when she died," Ned reminded the king. "She wanted to come home, to rest beside Brandon and Father." He could hear her still at times. *Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses.* Promise me, Ned. The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister's eyes. *Ned remembered the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the **rose** petals spilling from her palm, dead and black.* After that he remembered nothing. They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman, Howland Reed, had taken her hand from his. Ned could recall none of it. "I bring her flowers when I can," he said. *"Lyanna was … fond of flowers."*

Now we come to her death. Ned remembers her room which had smelled of blood and roses. More importantly, he recalls the rose petals spilling from her palm as she died, implying that she had been holding on to them until the point of the death. The fact that her room smelled of roses itself implies that she had been making an effort to keep the roses around her, nothing was forcing her to have them around considering Rhaegar had left her months ago and died as well. (Unless anyone thinks evil Rhaegar ordered his Kingsguard to keep bringing roses to her against Lyanna's will? Or that the Kingsguard wanted to force her to continue having the roses around her? Imo that's ridiculous). It seems clear if we follow the narrative that the only roses these can be are the winter roses which connects her with Rhaegar. The fact that she took the effort to keep surrounding herself with roses, that she held onto the roses *until the moment of her death*, seems pretty irrefutable proof that she loved Rhaegar till the very end.

I have seen interpretations before that she was holding onto the roses as they symbolized her connection with Winterfell and her home. Apart from the reasons I had already mentioned above regarding why the roses clearly don't represent Winterfell, there is also the fact that if Lyanna wanted a connection to her home, her brother Ned Stark should be a much clearer option to cling onto rather than the roses connected heavily with Rhaegar (who according to this interpretation, she must have grown to hate). If it was only about her desire for home, we would have only gotten mentions of how hard she clung to Ned, there was no reason to mention the roses. But they were mentioned. And she did. She clung onto the roses as hard as she'd clung on to Ned, until death forced her to let go. This is capital R romanticism, Rhaegar died with Lyanna's name on his lips, Lyanna died with his roses (the last remnant of their love) in her palm. They died thinking of each other. And the roses, the roses are now "dead and black" just as both of them are.

After remembering that moment, Ned tells Robert that he brings her flowers. That Lyanna had loved flowers (note the ellipses). Lyanna had loved the scent of winter roses, even as they'd brought her death. She had loved Rhaegar, even as that brought her so much pain.

> Her eyes burned, green fire in the dusk, like the lioness that was her sigil. "The night of our wedding feast, the first time we shared a bed, he called me by your sister's name. He was on top of me, in me, stinking of wine, and he whispered Lyanna." *Ned Stark thought of pale blue roses, and for a moment he wanted to weep.* "I do not know which of you I pity most."The queen seemed amused by that. "Save your pity for yourself, Lord Stark. I want none of it."

Next, Ned thinks of the roses when he speaks with Cersei. And this, I love this!! Ned having to confront Robert's love for his sister and all that had cost him (not getting into Robert's vices here), knowing that Lyanna had loved Rhaegar. To see his friend cost himself a life and the love of Cersei by not getting over Lyanna, unknowing that Lyanna had never loved him! What Ned doesn't know but the narrative enriches is "I do not know which of you I pity the most" because Cersei had wanted Rhaegar as much as Robert had wanted Lyanna. Both were defeated so thoroughly by R+L's love for eachother.

>He was walking through the crypts beneath Winterfell, as he had walked a thousand times before. The Kings of Winter watched him pass with eyes of ice, and the direwolves at their feet turned their great stone heads and snarled. Last of all, he came to the tomb where his father slept, with Brandon and Lyanna beside him. "Promise me, Ned," Lyanna's statue whispered. *She wore a garland of pale blue roses, and her eyes wept blood.* Eddard Stark jerked upright, his heart racing, the blankets tangled around him. The room was black as pitch, and someone was hammering on the door. "Lord Eddard," a voice called loudly.

Nothing much here, just Lyanna again with her garland of roses (aka R+L) reminding Ned of his promise to protect their only son. This is a covert reference to R+L=J. With this, we end Ned's POV and move on to the next references of winter roses.

>She smiled again, a flash of white teeth. *"And she never sung you the song o' the winter rose?" "I never knew my mother. Or any such song."*

The next time the mentions of winter roses crop up again is in Jon's story, where Ygritte asks him if his mother had never sung the song of winter rose to him. To which he responds that he'd never known his mother or such a song, unknowing that this song was the hint to his mother, that this song represented her life.

>North or south, singers always find a ready welcome, so Bael ate at Lord Stark's own table, and played for the lord in his high seat until half the night was gone. The old songs he played, and new ones he'd made himself, and he played and sang so well that when he was done, the lord offered to let him name his own reward. 'All I ask is a flower,' Bael answered, 'the fairest flower that blooms in the gardens o' Winterfell.'"

>*"Now as it happened the winter roses had only then come into bloom, and no flower is so rare nor precious. So the Stark sent to his glass gardens and commanded that the most beautiful o' the winter roses be plucked for the singer's payment. And so it was done. But when morning come, the singer had vanished . . . and so had Lord Brandon's maiden daughter. Her bed they found empty, but for the pale blue rose that Bael had left on the pillow where her head had lain." Jon had never heard this tale before.*

A singer and a Stark maiden. The Stark girl who loved Bael so much that she'd given him a son (just as Jon himself was born) and who later threw herself off a tower when her son brought her Bael's head. Quite a few narrative resonances here, death of the Stark maid in a tower, a relative who had a hand in the death of her love. "No flower so rare nor precious". Is there anything so rare and precious as true, unconditional love? As Maester Aemon says, "We are only human after all, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory and our great tragedy."

> But there were others with faces he had never known in life, faces he had seen only in stone. *The slim, sad girl who wore a crown of pale blue roses and a white gown spattered with gore could only be Lyanna.* - Theon V, ACOK

The next mention is, oddly enough, in Theon's prophetic dreams. Again, Lyanna is associated with the crown of roses Rhaegar gave her and death. The white gown might represent marriage as it is an interesting detail to have mentioned (instead of just calling it a gown) but I don't have strong opinions on it either way.

The next mention is the most interesting to me, as for the first time, the roses lead to the future rather than the past.

>Then phantoms shivered through the murk, images in indigo. Viserys screamed as the molten gold ran down his cheeks and filled his mouth. A tall lord with copper skin and silver-gold hair stood beneath the banner of a fiery stallion, a burning city behind him. Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and he sank to his knees in the water and with his last breath murmured a woman's name. . . . mother of dragons, daughter of death . . . Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow. A cloth dragon swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd. From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire. . . . mother of dragons, slayer of lies . . . Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars. A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly. A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness. . . . mother of dragons, bride of fire . . . - Dany IV, ACOK

>"Perhaps," she said reluctantly. "Yet the things I saw . . .""A dead man in the prow of a ship, a blue rose, a banquet of blood . . . what does any of it mean, Khaleesi? A mummer's dragon, you said. What is a mummer's dragon, pray?" - Dany V, ACOK

And what a lovely image it is. Jon, the sole child of Rhaegar and Lyanna, the only remnant of their love, growing at the Wall. For once, the imagery is overwhelmingly positive. The beautiful blue rose, against all odds, flourishes in the harshest of environments and what's more, it "fills the air with sweetness". Rhaegar and Lyanna might have died, but the child that resulted from their bond is making the world better.

The Conclusion

What's more, even in the latest calendar illustration GRRM had [commissioned](https://www.reddit.com/r/ImaginaryWesteros/comments/1093bgk/2024_calendar_cover_art_by_justin_sweet/), we know instinctively that it is Rhaegar and Lyanna thanks to the winter roses. Rhaegar who crowned Lyanna with these roses. Lyanna who died clutching them till the last moment. Their son who fights to protect the realms of men, doing the duty of a King without even knowing that he is one, that he is the King of the narrative. The blue rose who continues to bloom in the harshest of places.

The significance that in the text, it's Jon and only **JON** who is connected with/represented as the blue winter rose is important. Neither of the Stark maidens, Sansa or Arya, are ever connected with the blue rose in the text itself despite both having love for flowers. No other Stark has this motif in their story. The motif belongs solely to Bael and his Lady Stark, to Rhaegar and Lyanna, to Jon himself. It's the motif of love. Prince Rhaegar had loved his Lady Lyanna and thousands died for it. Lady Lyanna had loved her Prince Rhaegar and their child is saving the realms of men.

The roses that bloomed for them and between them. That showed how beautiful their love was and how painful. The world is cruel, the world is beautiful.

[tsukimefuku]

Let me die

I've been obsessed with a bit for a fic I want to write, so I just decided to put it here. Nanami fluff and some angst ahead, be careful.

Disclaimer: NO ONE DIES, it’s just a conversation in a bar where y/n requests something.

This is part of my "Jujutsu Partners Canon Divergence AU". A sequence of short stories and random drabbles for a fic I'll eventually write (eventually). To see the ever-growing list of one-shots, please visit my masterlist :) 

Disclaimer: they’re NOT written and posted in chronological order of events. To see where this story fits in the timeline, please check the masterlist mentioned above.

You had just finished a mission that left a pretty bad taste in your mouth. You were forced to choose between two people to save, and one of them was your friend. Was.

The glare she had as she embraced her beloved's dead body made you sure that she would never forgive you for saving her instead of him. You chose to save her for egotistical reasons, you knew that. You knew (or thought you knew) that his death would not weigh on your shoulders as much hers would. However, you just didn't account in your egotistical equation how much his death would weigh on her, and how much more suffering you bestowed upon her by choosing to let him die in exchange for her life.

"Nanami, I need to drink." you said on the phone. "I had a horrible day. I'd like some company."

"We can meet at the bar by your house at 7PM." He promptly replied.

You and Nanami had grown close during the course of the last few months. He was assigned to you as your informal mentor until you were promoted from a grade 2 to a grade 1 sorcerer. There was some history before you went to work for Jujutsu High. Both of you met when he was on a mission that led to him eventually saving your life, and your gratitude eventually started to become something more. Sometimes, you wondered if he felt as close to you as you felt to him. These night drinks were turning into a regular thing, and you usually let your mouth say things you couldn't think to say out loud if it weren't for a few beers in, and Nanami being the person you were talking to.

***

After a while, when you spend so much time around somebody, you tend to pick up on their mannerisms, like their brows frowning, the way their mouths twitch when they feel mad, or how they are dead silent because they're drowning in unsaid things.

"What is it?" Nanami asked, out of the blue, surprising you. Both had already been drinking for a while, and you specifically were 4 beers down in misery. "I can hear your thinking from the other side of the table."

“I have a request for you.” You answered.

He took another sip of his drink, and said, unfazed, "What request?"

He inquired like he already knew you wanted to ask something from him, even before you knew you would.

"If you’re ever faced with a situation where you have to choose between saving my life or someone else, don’t choose me." you said. Nanami lifted his gaze to meet yours, and seemed surprised.

You continued. "Please, don’t make me live with the fact that me being alive is because someone died in my place and I had no choice over that. Don’t assign me that guilt.”

It would be something harsh to say to anybody, but you knew Nanami. You knew him well enough to be sure he'd not take that as an accusation of sorts. That's why you chose to tell him this kind of "if this ever happens" desire before telling anybody else. Shoko would probably chastise you for such a request, given you were prone to overthinking and martyrdom, and Gojo would never listen to that in the first place, simply doing whatever he felt like.

Nanami went silent for a while, mulling over what you asked him to do. Different from you, someone that had a little trouble controlling your emotions and how they impact your words and actions, Nanami was the man that you used to call in your head as nerves of steel. You had never seen him lose his composure. Ever.

He started talking, his face lightly flushed from alcohol. “There are two sides for this. You assume I’d be willing to live with the guilt of not saving you when I could have done so."

You were not expecting that answer. He was the most dutiful sorcerer you had ever met — hell, he was the most dutiful person you knew. If there was one thing Nanami was known for, it was not letting his emotions interfere with his judgement when making a decision. You never thought he could ever feel guilty if you died in a situation where you gave him permission to let you die.

"You'd feel guilty?" You questioned.

"Yes." He replied. "Your request would make me live with a guilt I don’t want, either."

"My request of letting me die, with my authorization, to save somebody else?" You inquired.

"Yes." He replied, looking down on his glass.

You were both silent for a moment.

"I can't accept your request, because you’re assigning me your guilt just as much." He took another sip from his now almost empty glass of whiskey. "I don't think I could bring myself to let you die, even if you asked me to.”

That pulled on your heart strings. Hard. You were instantly flooded with all the memories of the time you two spent together working, or simply chatting like this. All the times you had a silent but deep understanding of each other. Could he be...?

"I never pegged you for someone with any dose of egoism of not letting someone go when they'd rather die." You responded.

"Not letting you die." He answered. His answer made you fluster, ever so slightly, and you reclined yourself in your chair, trying to hide your face in the bar's dark ambiance.

“Would you ever curse me for that?” You asked. "Curse me for dying to save somebody else?"

“No, I wouldn't.” He replied. "That's who you are, and that is something about you that I respect, even if I don't understand it."

You chuckled softly, trying not to get too emotional. The alcohol was not helping. “Well, I might just have to curse you, then.” you responded, smiling.

“To curse me for saving you, you'd have to be alive.” He bottomed his drink. "I can live with that.”

[dflogerzi]

Hello friends. Okay, I spent some time offline, and did speak in length to a dear friend in England today. I think I understand a few things more. Firstly... there are no rules. And this is my timeline, and I get to change it as I see fit. When I first came to Tumblr it was for one purpose, I kid you not. I knew that Meghan Markle was in her supposed first pregnancy... and I knew it was a lie. I have carried a baby, I know how it works, and she was in my opinion lying. This timeframe coincided with my recent awakening of world events and falling down other rabbit holes.

I was gung-ho on both. And I must say, the world events thing did not serve me well on social media. I have never found it beneficial to argue with others about things we do not agree with. And so a few months into my profile building here on Tumblr and connecting I set my own rules on what it is I am here for. And trust me... the people I have connected with mean so much to me. Now then... I do follow some who I only give out likes to and more private conversations. You know who you are. So for the record I am going to be clear of who I am.

I served under Ronald Reagan while in the Navy. I was always more on the conservative side, although I used to joke that as a Californian, I was sitting on the wall in between and fell over to the right. I used to think a lot of liberal policies sounded good on paper, but that in reality they did not work very well. That has been proven to be true in my estimation. But let me be clear. I do not think the Republican view as it stands today is working out either in a bulk of cases, especially in Washington D.C. Our government is seriously compromised within both parties, and I am also speaking of all branches. Neither party is what it once was, and if you are not aware of what the Global agenda is for the common person I cannot help you. And it is not my place in life to even attempt it. We all journey as we do.

I then found my feet here. My goals were to talk of things I am interested in, loved all my life, and to find some fun in my days. When I stick to that... I thrive. But I am finding that as many more are awakening to the fact that our world is slipping away... we are all talking more. And the planned divisiveness is impacting all of us.

It is going to get worse. No matter what your stand is. And I completely believe this summer is going to get rough in the US. Very rough.

So what did I decide? Well... I want to be here. If I drift off, which was surprisingly easy this week, I do not get to enjoy dishing on all things royal, art, history, travel, spiritual life, pets, and the love I have for friends I have made here.

I may veer off to world events. I am no longer affiliated with any political party. I do not believe there are many in places of power who have our best interests at heart. When the WEF says that population control is a main agenda, I believe them. I have done my studying and digging... and I understand. History is repeating itself, but there is no one who will be landing on a shore in Normandy to save our world any longer.

I am not going to try to influence a single soul here. Nope. I just want to vent a bit on how dumb and ridiculous Harry is, how narcissistic I find Meghan, how much I admire Anne, and my hopes for Catherine's full recovery. I also want to read your posts on cute furry creatures, other lands and travels, inward journeys, art, and whatever else it is in life the day brings. But I admit that I may slip, and I go off on a world event. I apologize for it now. Just scroll on by if you would.

I had a tough time since last summer. I did. But that is what life can bring. And hopefully we grow. And in the end it will be what we take with us. Many changes do come on life's paths.

Love to friends. Thanks for listening. Going to just post this mess, warts and all.

[munmomuu]

Gale's ambition and the orb's hunger

Rambling about Gale's ambition after seeing the alternative ending dialogue for Gale. Spoilers for the entirety of his story.

This dialogue shows that even though Mystra doesn't rid Gale fo the orb, after defeating the Netherbrain his orb seems to change. It's hunger, gone.

Did Mystra quiet the orb?

If the player asks about it being Mystra's influence, Gale doesn't deny it could be Mystra, but refers that the orb's hunger was fuelled with his own. I have seen some origin spoilers for Gale that Mystra does apparently tell him that the orb is a consequence of his actions - this is why she hasn't "done" anything about it. It's a punishment.

It wouldn't make sense in this timeline that she would rid Gale of his orb because during the game, he didn't obey Mystra at all. While it could be possible that Mystra would do it out of "well you saved the world, I guess that's good enough" reward, she never really presented that as an option. She wanted the crown. Saving the world was seemingly secondary to her.

What we know about the orb previously?

So, just to know if Gale being content would affect the orb, we should consider what it does to him. Thorought the game, we get several references it being compared to hunger directly. "Clawing my insides like a teething displacer kitten"; narrator describing the hunger when he shows the orb to you; his condition is called "Arcane Hunger".

His treatment is literally feeding pure weave to it, and this is also what Mystra does once Elminster places her charm on him. It seems like the Karsite weave is to made to consume weave. He descibes that consuming the magic "never feels right, but it relieves".

We can't talk about the orb without mentioning Karsus. There's also a lot of mentions about Karsus being ambitious, same as with Gale, especially after hitting act 3. We know that Gale was ambitious even before the game - his orb is the consequence of that ambition, when he wanted to prove himself worthy of wielding more power to Mystra.

Was the orb's hunger strenghtened by the tadpole and the Crown?

Gale doesn't seem to know that the orb is Netherese until Mystra tells it is Karsus' creation. Gale seems to know the orb is Netherese origin, but doesn't connect it to Karsus until Mystra tells him. We also know from the hag, if we try her let help us with the tadpole, that the tadpole is imbued with Netherese magic. Gale's offhanded comment about the orb destabilizing because of Netherese sandals seems like a joke to me, but his condition started to decline eventually when he was tadpoled, until Mystra starts to feed it.

I think being near the crown also affected Gale. During his romance scene in act 2, he mentions about feeling the heart of Absolute, and how much heavier his heart becomes. It could be a metaphor just him sensing being closer to death, but what if it is actually a physical sensation he feels being nearer the crown? He can't feel the hunger anymore that the orb would cause, because it is being fed.

If you kill Elminster before he can set the charm on Gale, the end of act 2 is the furthest you can get Gale to come with you until he leaves permanently, because the orb gets so destabilized he feels it's not safe to be around you anymore. This could be the Crown's influence on him overtaking his hunger.

Act 3 - Physical hunger is gone, but the mental hunger lingers

The reason why I keep repeating that the orb is being fed, is that it's important to understand that Gale doesn't feel the orb's hunger physically, but the mental hunger still is there. Ambition. This is why there is quite a swap in Gale's demeanor once he sees the Crown - I believe the orb somehow influences the wizard's ambitions, similarly to Karsus.

At this point, the player has quite the impact on how Gale wil handle his ambition. I will talk only about romance standpoint since it's the one I'm familar with. If you choose him to give up on his ambitions with the crown, you have to convince him that he is enough as he is. This is a completely new situation for him - he always has strived to be better and do more. He doesn't know how to just be. Of course he wants to survive the battle with the Netherbrain, but after that? What ambitions he would have anymore? The orb has nothing to work with anymore - the tadpoles are dead, the brain is dead, the Crown is shattered in the Chiontar.

What about if you encourage his ambitions? His mindset seems to shift quite drastically compared to when we met him. He's feeding into the resentment for believing Mystra took his powers and that she didn't give him more than what he deserved in his mind.

A small side tangent: With Patch 4, Larian added a glow effect to the orb while he says the line about controlling the Karsite weave. I've been thinking about the symbolism for it - is it a power flare up? It is the same effect which Mystra's charm has, does it mean that Mystra stopped feeding Gale's orb?

Whatever it is, at this point Gale has completely changed. During the boat scene he says he doesn't wish to ascend, but now he wants to be a god. If Tav tries to tell him not to do it, he emotionlessly leaves them. Let that sink in. The hopeless romantic, who shared his spirit with his lover, assured how there is no force to come between them and disobeyed his goddess for them, leaves them for more power without hesitation.

And that isn't even the worst part of it. Disclaimer: Datamining is never "a sure way to know what the devs intented" and shouldn't be used as a true point for canon, but let's humor my angsty mood with it. According to the datamined endings that Withers would have told what happened the companions after the game, even if Tav would support sharing Gale's godhood, Gale never returns to Tav to fulfill it because ambition doesn't like to share. That shows how much Gale changes during the game if his ambition takes over. Maybe even claim that the orb's hunger takes over. ** Strikethrough added after patch 5, see my note in the end.

To end this on a more positive note, him overcoming that toxic ambition is huge, and the fact that he would feel content by Tav's side is really romantic considering all what could have happened.

** Added after patch 5 and epilogue stuff: I won't be typing out what happens in the epilogue (I have posted the outcome to Youtube if someone is curious), but needless to say, it's a good point on never trusting datamining as a canon point. But, the epilogue proves that original datamining point obsolete.

[bella-goths-wife]

Hey! I had an Idea for the Father Lost Boys, How do you think the boys would react to accidently killing the reader, during the attack of the Emersons and the boys?

If you don't want to write it that's ok!

Thanks!

Lost boys accidentally killing their daughter

Hiya :)

I’m happy to write this but it won’t be for the Emerson attack because I don’t want to rush my timeline in my head for my fics if that makes sense?

This isn’t canon for my lost boys daughter au :)

Contents: how the lost boys would react if they accidentally killed their daughter

Warnings: overdoses, gore, death, murder, descriptions of wounds, burning, blood

Dwayne

You had been running around the cave trying to escape them again, you were trying to leave them and Dwayne couldn’t stand it.

Your leg muscles screamed in protest, for you to just take a break and to stop running. You couldn’t though, you were so close to the exit.

You had just reached the exit to the cave when Dwayne appeared behind you. You could hear the waves thrashing against the sharp rocks of the cliff side below.

“You can’t keep running sweetheart” Dwayne tries to say gently in an attempt to coax you back into the cave, his tone comes off more sinister than he wanted it to.

“Papa please, I can’t stay here” you say with tears in your eyes “not with David, I can’t be one of you”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you have to stay with us” Dwayne says firmly as he takes a few steps forward and you take a few steps back in response “we’re a family”

“No we’re not” you say with frustration in your voice “families don’t lock their children away in small spaces and starve them, families don’t hit their children and leave scars on them!”

“Stop talking like that baby, we’re a happy family and your our perfect little girl” Dwayne refuses to look outside his delusional view of the family as he comes closer and closer to you “your just going through an emotional phase right now”

“You can’t be serious” you yell in desperation “you all abused me, you locked me away and lied to me for years”

“Enough (y/n).” Dwayne orders firmly as he closes his eyes and attempts to calm his growing rage “your being ridiculous”

He continues to walk closer and closer as you back away with every stop he takes.

“You killed my mother!” You yell in a grief stricken rage “your all fucked in the head, your all sick-“

“I SAID ENOUGH” Dwayne yells in rage while his vampiric features forced their way to his face and he stared at you without a hint of recognition for you.

You hadn’t realised how close to the edge you were until Dwayne’s angry screams had scared you into moving backwards again, causing you to miss a step and fall down the cliff side.

There is a moment of hesitation in Dwayne’s actions as he watched the little girl that he had held as a baby and raised fall to her death. The shock rendering him stuck in place for a few seconds.

After the shock passed, he ran forward and attempted to use his vampiric abilities to reach you and save you, but it was too late.

He heard you let out a loud grunt as your body made impact with the sharp rocks below, but he still wanted to try and save you.

He fell to his hands and knees as he looked below and saw your body impaled on a particularly large rock. Even from the distance between the top of the cliffs to the waves and rocks below, he could hear you choking on your own blood.

He saw your pain filled eyes meet his and he watched as your life drained from them while your spirit left your body.

Dwayne stared with widened eyes at your mutilated body for a few minutes before the tears started to flow and he let out what could only be described as a pained howl of grief.

He had killed his little girl, and your last memory of him was watching you die.

Paul

Paul hadn’t meant to leave you locked up. He just forgot.

After David had commanded him to keep watch of the punishment room with you locked inside, Paul got bored, and when Paul got bored he got high.

After taking enough pills to tranquillise, or a vampire in this case, Paul fell asleep on the couch for several hours.

And when he awoke, he was still under the effects of the hallucinogenic medication.

“Kid?” He spoke confused with a raspy voice as he saw your figure sitting at the edge of the couch with your back to him “your not meant to be here”

“The sun rises soon” you whisper with no emotion in your voice “the rest will be back”

“How did you get out of the punishment room?” Paul asks confused and half asleep as he sits up on the couch and stares at your turned figure “it’s almost impossible to get out”

“Why did you take the pills Paul?” You ask calmly “don’t you know how dangerous that could be?”

“Don’t start (y/n)” Paul warns with a groan as he rubs his temple in an exasperated manner “or I’ll just take you straight back to the punishment room and make you spend another night in there”

“I don’t see how you could do that Paul” you say with what sounded like amusement “tell me Paul, have you always been this uncaring for me or is it a recent development”

“I love you kid, you know that” Paul says with an annoyed groan “but I can’t stop my fun for you all the time”

“I’d check your watch Paul” you warn calmly “it’s almost time”

“Time for what?” Paul asks exasperated “why are you talking in riddles?”

“Do you remember what you did after you locked me in that room?” You ask ominously “do you remember exactly”

“I locked the door, I pulled over the bolt and I lit the candle in the candle holder outside your door” he answers with an annoyed sigh “are you going to tell me I forgot to lock the door or something?”

“Which candle holder did you use Paul?” You prompt “the one on the right side of the door, or the one on the left side of the door”

“Does it matter?” Paul asks with a roll of his eyes

“The right side was cleaned and repaired by Dwayne the night before so that it was safe to hold the weight of the candle, the left side was rusted and falling apart” you state “so which did you use?”

“I don’t remember-“ Paul answers but you cut him off

“Fucking think about it” you snarl “which one did you use-“

“The left one!” Paul yells back “I used the left candle stick holder-“

Paul stops speaking when he smells smoke wafting down the caves tunnels. He springs up off the couch at the sudden realisation as he runs inhumanly fast to the punishment room.

When he gets to it, it’s covered in fire and smoke. The left candle stick holder is reduced to pieces of rusted metal on the floor and the candle sits idly next to the wooden door, erupting it into flames.

“The candle fell three hours into your nap, the fire started ten minutes after that” Paul heard your voice behind him but he could rip his eyes away from your cremated corpse that was laying on the floor in front of him, you were barely recognisable with your body burnt to charred skin apart from those damn eyes that stared at him lifelessly “I tried to stave the carbon dioxide that was going to suffocate me by placing blankets under the door but they eventually caught fire so I called for your help but you were too high to realise, I eventually suffocated after two hours of torture and then the fire reached my body and burned me to ash on the cave floors”

“This isn’t real” Paul denies frantically “you can’t be dead, your talking to me”

“You didn’t think those pills would effect you at all, did you?” You ask as your figure walks in front of him and looks him the eyes “I’m not your real daughter silly, she’s dead and burned”

“Please I’ll do anything, I’m so sorry” Paul gets to his knees and begs “please I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Bring me back to my little girl”

“Your so pathetic Paul” you spit “but there is one way you can see her again”

“How?” Paul asks desperately “please tell me”

You make your way behind him so he has a view of the flaming room as it crumbled beneath the hot temperatures.

“Walk into the flames” you command “and the you can be with her”

“I’ll die, I can’t” Paul refuses with a shake of his head

“The others will kill you once they get back anyway Paul” you remind

You walk in front of him and you hold your hand out for him to take.

“Walk into the flames with me papa” you command almost gently, wearing a joyful smile that reminded him of when you were a young girl “and we can stay together forever”

Paul stares at you figure with tears rolling down his cheeks. He knows your a hallucination, but your the closest thing he has to his daughter right now.

He wipes his tears and takes your hand before walking into the flaming room, ready to accept the fate he forced upon you.

Marko

This wasn’t markos best idea, but it was the only one he had.

He knocked on your door gently with the sandwich and milk on his hand, and he mustered a genuine smile to his face.

“Pops?” You say confused as you open the door to your room “what’s up?”

“I’ve made you some lunch” he says with an innocent smile “it’s your favourite from when you were a little girl, peanut butter and jelly sandwich”

“That’s nice pa, but I’m going for lunch with James and faith” you remind gently as possible to make sure not to anger him, markos face has an annoyed twitch at the mention of your lovers “did you forget?”

“Oh sorry baby” he coos almost condescendingly “but it’s a shame to waste the food, it’s not like I can eat it”

“Pa it’s sweet of you to offer but I don’t want to be full” you say apologetically

“So your not gonna eat it? I went out and bought bread specifically for you” he attempts to guilt “but I guess if your not hungry enough”

“No, no” you say quickly as you take the plate from him “I’m sorry I’m being rude, I’ll eat it”

“That’s my girl” marko says with a smile as he kisses your forehead “shout if you need me”

Marko walks away and once your door closes he lets a sinister smile spreads over his face. He thought himself so clever.

He stockpiled Paul’s sleeping pills for months so he could save you from having to go out with your lovers. Now every time they try and take you out you’ll simply sleep through it until they get tired of trying.

He thought crushing those pills up and putting them in your food was the best option, he didn’t know it would bite him in the ass.

After a few hours of you not emerging from your room and being hours late for the date with your lovers, Marko let a smirk come to his face.

After a few more hours the cave felt colder because of the winter air, so marko being a ‘dutiful’ father decided he should go bring you a blanket and tuck you in. Humans are fragile after all.

He opens your door with a grin and a blanket in his hands. He sees you turned on your side in the bed with your back facing him.

“It’s just me baby” he whispers to your sleeping form “i didn’t want you to get cold, so I brought you a blanket”

He approaches your sleeping form and notices your lack of snoring, he thought it was the sleeping pills just putting you in a deep sleep but that changed when he also noticed your lack of heartbeat.

He rushes to your body and turns you over to find a glassy sheen over your eyes and froth at your mouth.

“Baby?” He says desperately as he shakes your body in an attempt to wake you up “baby please”

You don’t wake up, your icy cold in his hands as he stare at your expressionless face and empty eyes.

“Your just sleeping” he tries to convince himself as he wipes your mouth “you made such a mess baby, it’s okay I’m here to clean in”

He strokes your hair gently before his hand brushes against your ice cold cheek.

“You should have told me If you were cold sweetie” he scolds your corpse as hysterical chuckles force their way up his throat “here let’s wrap you up nice and warm”

He wraps the two of you up in the blanket and he lays your head on his chest. He holds your limp body close to him as he tries his best to convince himself that your just asleep.

“My sweet girl, my little baby” he coos in delusional “I’m so sorry that your so sleepy, it’s all my fault”

He sobs and he holds your corpse close to him under the blanket, convinced that he’ll be wake you up if he gets you warm enough but you were dead hours before he found you and he never heard your heartbeat slow or you choking on your own vomit from the overdose.

The others would deal with him when they got back.

David

It was another typical day with David, the usual arguments and anger filled the room that only held the two of you.

David wanted time with you and you wanted to be as far away from him as you possibly could be, but he had the power to force you into the room with him. That didn’t mean you had to play nice for him.

He had your leg chained to the wall with a long chain that made it so you could sit on the couch with only a slight bit of discomfort. David was sat next to you as he pretended to watch whatever movie was on the old television.

“Stop staring at me” you commanded sternly as you kept your eyes on the tv and David’s gaze burned into the side of your face “it’s creepy”

“I’m your father, could it be creepy?” David questions with a scoff

“Technically you’re not” you point out with a huff “so it makes it creepy”

“I fed you, clothed you, and raised you” David points out as he sips his beer with a furrowed brow “that makes me your father”

“If we’re going by that logic then your still not my father” you scoff “Dwayne would be my only father if we go by your logic”

David massages his temple with a frown and an angry glare.

“Enough” he commands with a glare “i don’t even know how you got this attitude, but you need to cut it out”

“I got this attitude when I found out you killed my mother, kidnapped me, lied to me and abused me my entire life” you exclaim angrily

“Yeah but you seem extra pissy today and it’s pissing me off” David says in a sinister tone “so just shut the fuck up and enjoy the movie”

“Maybe I’m extra pissy today because I’m chained to the fucking wall David” you yell before sighing “your a sick fuck, y’know that David?”

“Yeah yeah, I get it” he refutes back unamused “poor you having a roof over your head and unconditional love from four fathers, woe is me and all”

“Unconditional love?” You laugh humourlessly as you stand to face him “love that I received in the form of starvation and abuse?”

“You needed to be punished” David says with an annoyed sigh

“What happened to you David?” You ask as he stands and you use all your force to push him away from you “who fucked you up this much? Who made you into this cruel monster? What happened to you? Did daddy hit you so now you have to do the same to me?”

David’s eyes widened and his head jerks to look at you as he grabs your arms and holds you in place.

“Listen here you little bitch” David seethes as he holds you in place “you don’t talk to me like that ever again. Do you understand me?”

“Or what David? You gonna hit me again?” You say without fear as you shove him away again “your just a coward David, a stupid fucking coward who targets children and vulnerable women just to feel less like a miserable fuck up”

“enough kid” David commands firmly as he balls up his fists and his vampiric claws begin to extend and stab into his palms

“Is that why you started this little group of emotionally stunted men? To feel less alone and less of a fuck up because you always had people to fall back on?” You scream in his face as you push him again in anger

“Enough (y/n)” David repeated louder this time as his fangs extended and he felt rage build up inside him

“Is that why you kidnapped me? Because you wanted to feel less alone so you stole me away and isolated me from everyone I loved” you scream “or did you do it because you wanted to prove to max that you don’t fuck up everything you touch and you thought a child would be the best option for that? Well David you fucking failed”

“Enough” David yells again as he stalks closer and you push him back once again

“I hate you” you yell out “you should just kill me like you killed my mother”

“Stop it” David yells sternly “shut the fuck up”

“Go on murder me, murder me like you murdered my mother” you yell louder with each word as you get more in David’s face “murder me! Murder me like you. Murdered. My. Mother!”

“I said stop” David yells and he pounced on you with his hands wrapping around your neck harshly and his vampiric claws dig into the delicate flesh of your neck “shut the fuck up”

David only realises your bleeding when he hears your pained howl. He removes his hands quickly from your neck and sees a large slit across your neck that his claws caused.

He stares at his blood covered hands before his gaze travels up your trembling body until it reached your fearful, teary eyed face.

“Oh baby” he says desperately as he holds his hand to your wound and applies pressure in attempt to stop the bleeding “oh fuck, what have I done”

Your tears run down your cheeks as you begin to gasp for air and choking on your own blood. You look David straight in the eyes as you feel yourself slowly choke.

“Dwayne! Marko! Paul! Help us! Please” David cries before returning his gaze back your bleeding neck as he hears your desperate gasps for air “no baby please, it’s gonna be okay, I’m here baby”

He clutches your neck desperately trying to stop the bleeding, knowing he couldn’t lose you. No one was responding to his calls and he could hear your heartbeat slowing down

“I’m so sorry baby” David cries as tears begin to build up in his eyes “I’m so so sorry, I didn’t mean to”

You feel your self losing consciousness and with your last moments of life.

“Fuck you” you mouth through choking on your own blood, your vocal chords had been cut apart so you unfortunately couldn’t scream like you wanted to

You go limp in David’s arms after a few minutes but the blood still pours from your neck like a waterfall as it creates a puddle on the cave floor. David sobs as he holds your corpse and looks into you now doll like eye’s because all they held was emptiness and a lack of a soul.

David cries apologies as he realises that his child is dead and gone, never to be with him again.

Until a thought pops into his head, how could he keep a part of you with him forever?

David’s fangs extend and poke holes into your half drained neck as he bites down and tastes your blood.

David cried as he drains your body of blood before letting your corpse gently fall to the ground. Now your blood was in his system, David was convinced that you’d never leave him.

Sorry this took so long I wanted each of the deaths to be unique because I like to imagine it as a alternative universe for the lost boys daughter au where she died and I wanted to make how the boys reacted very different or creepy

Thank you so much for the request, I love getting them :)

[greenorangetree]

a lot of people have said that the den o ending took away from the emotional impact of the set up for it. i honestly dont quite think so.

i think the imagin getting to live is another heart touching part of their story. they are imagins, intangible sand creatures who prey on people in their worst moments, twisting their deepest wishes in order to go back in time to the absolute most important time in their lives to destroy the timeline from there, yet clearly have chosen to do good--they have love and affection for their contract holder and do not want to simply use him for any ends of their own, they have chosen to sacrifice themselves in order to save this timeline, a time they are not even from, a time with happy and sad moments alike, all because of what being a part of den o has done to them. they have grown from the uncaring and often cruel imagin they were at the start, hurtful to ryotaro by using his body as they felt, hurting him physically, trying to kill him, etc, to beings who genuinely adore ryotaro as a part of their family in a way. getting in one last defiance to their nature by getting physical forms and a FUTURE because they chose to save this timeline and created memories with people instead of destroying it entirely, that twists my heartstrings and definitely made me cry on my first watch and my many rewatches of den o.

now why do i say all of this about den o's ending? i want to mention how much i love it already and that is why the version of it where the imagin dont get to live absolutely would have CRUSHED me.

think about it:

- ryotaro is absolutely crushed. he has always been destined to be alone by nature. he is a singularity point. he can remember everything while everyone else forgets. his family died at an early age, his sister's fiance left and took with him his sister's happiness, who, mind you, is his only relative left, and also had to drop out of high school because of that. the one time he gets to make some close connections with anyone, who also remember because they were theyre with him and had his back through all the bullshit that was thrown at him? they get erased alongside the rest of their kind. they fought so hard to save the timeline, a timeline they didnt belong to, just because ryotaro showed them that they could do better than their own natures? who fought despite ryotaro's fear of losing them? this would absolutely destroy ryotaro. how could he go back to living life while also grieving the loss of the intangible demons that lived in his head? every little thing they left behind-- momotaros's wardrobe that he spent all of ryotaro's cash on, gifts left from urataros's paramours, kintaros's weights and gear, the drawings ryutaros made-- all of these tangible things that were left by the imagin, who didnt get to live for themselves without being tied to ryotaro as their only anchor for existing in this timeline? seeing them without the imagin who they belong to would be absolutely devastating.

- airi, who has gone through this intense period of grief before over something she couldn't remember or understand, once again has to deal with it, except in her brother. she can't really understand what hes been through, but she can remember those times when her little brother wasnt acting quite like himself, but rather someone quite younger and more impulsive, yet clearly loved her with a passion, just like her brother does. she can only do so much for him, like how he had to do for her merely a year ago. she can't help him through the worst of it, but also has to deal with her own memory problems and lingering grief over her fiance.

- hana would have to go back to being alone. she has no where else to go, as her future and her timeline is gone, erased. living alone on the denliner in the time before ryotaro and his merry gang got on board would havr been hard. she had just lost everything in her life, after all. but now, having seen the denliner full of life and color and energy with those imagin, having to go back to the cold, empty, sterile interior of the denliner's dining car? even naomi is crushed by the loss. it hurts to lose everything once, but this life that shes managed to rebuild in some sense of normalcy had made her happier, nicer. losing it all again in one fell swoop, once again powerless to do anything, that is absolutely despair inducing.

- and of course, sakurai yuuto. unlike hana, he really IS alone. hana has naomi, owner, any passenger who boards the denliner from time to time, but aboard the zeroliner? just him and deneb. without deneb, he is truly alone. he doesnt belong in the timeline anymore. it was his own (future self's) doing, after all. what life he had, he chose to leave it. for all the time he spent protecting time, he had his partner with him. he cooked and cleaned and tolerated yuuto's aggression. he may not have been the nicest, hell he hated deneb's over enthusiasm, his overbearing compassion, the shittake mushrooms in his food, and showed it through violence, but what was he supposed to do without the one who's been through it all with him? whos been his carer, his one connection through it all? deneb was someone who, knowing his fate, left behind one last meal for yuuto, and simply requested he eat his mushrooms, too kind for his own good, and is now gone forever. yuuto isn't a singularity point. he cant change things or protect the way ryotaro or hana can through their memories. but he has done everything in his power already to protect his former time. he has already sacrificed it all--the memories of himself, memories are time, after all, and it is the most he can ever give. he has never felt more powerless. he has felt lost, just doing what his future self had told him to do without any real connection to what he was protecting, sure, but never has he felt so useless in the way he feels when he couldnt even protect deneb's existence.

yeah im going through it, the den o time tripping ride! honestly this was a fun brainworm to have lol

[buckybarnesss]

Heather - I once again come to you with strange character choices that Jeff made that actually make sense?

Like how Derek just stood there and took Allison's abuse of him (and by extension his pack) when she was manipulated into becoming emo!allison at the end of season 2 - but he still doesn't tell her??! that her mom was also a kool aid drunk psycho who wanted to kill the love of her life and also just a tiny baby 16 year old?! He doesn't tell her! He just stands there, stoically and withstands the abuse.

S3 derek is so _chefs kiss_ I LOVE LOVE that arc of him becoming more like his mother, where he embraces his ideals of power and family and pack and GOD I will never forget that moment in s4 where satomi looks like LOOKS at derek and goes "you really remind me of your mom" I gotta make that gifset one of these days.

derek and allison parallels my beloved.

derek is fully aware allison would never believe him about what went down with her mother no matter what he said. instead he tells her, "your family's little honor code killed your mother, not me." which is true. the argent code of suicide rather than be a werewolf due to their own bigotry is what ended up really killing victoria in the end. not once did chris or victoria stop to question it or the impact this would have on allison or how gerard could manipulate them and her. they're both fully indoctrinated into the hunting delusion of righteousness.

no the information that victoria attempted to kill scott has to come from scott. that's why derek kept pushing scott to tell her the truth. he could've ignored it all together but derek respected allison enough to believe that she deserved the truth of what happened. that it was unfair to hold back a vital piece of information as to what occurred in the timeline of victoria's death that led to allison being manipulated by gerard.

the truth doesn't exactly clear his name with allison but it provides context that derek was acting in defense of scott. something that could change allison's perception. i think some part of derek sympathizes with her because he's been manipulated, lied to and abused in the past himself. he knows what can happen to an otherwise decent person under those circumstances. he to an extent understands allison's pain.

scott withheld the information from a place of good -- he didn't want to hurt allison further by tainting the memory of her mother -- but ultimately doing so i think was selfish. the lack of information is what harmed allison more in the long run as it allowed gerard to manipulate her.

derek values truth and forthrightness which contrasts peter and lessons peter has attempted to teach derek. derek spends a lot of season 2 contending with that conflict and when he gives up his alpha spark to save his sister he proves to be his mother's son over peter's protégée. derek was able to walk away from power in a way that duecalion, peter, kate, gerard and jennifer were not. they were consumed by it and derek instead used his to save cora's life.

[dude1818]

Children of Memory

Actual review of Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky now. I'll admit I wasn't super excited for this one. Time was great, but Ruin fell a little flat for me. The latter was trying to do the same thing as the former, but had to up the weirdness to 11. And then its epilogue presented this post-scarcity, FTL-enabled civilization, somewhere between Star Trek and the Culture, and I didn't see how that could support a third telling of the same basic plot

Boy was I wrong. Other than a brief aside for the introduction of the Corvid sapient race, Memory decided to tell the story of an actual ark ship colony, separate from the uplift projects the first two books were about. There were two main characters: Liff, a 13 year girl born on the dying colony; and Miranda, an explorer from the Uplift civilization who leads the infiltration team prior to first contact. All of the Children of books lean heavily on jumping back and forth between different POVs at very different points in the timeline, but I appreciated that this one focused a lot more on these two in particular (even while the timeline still kept jumping). It made it feel a lot more grounded than the other two

Miranda was a fantastic character. She was actually part of the Nodan entity, now that it's struck a truce with the Uplift civilization. Giving a grey goo organism a redemption arc can be interesting on its own: it's gone from absorbing others into itself to attempting to preserve the cultures it comes across, since it values diversity now. But then the role reversal where in order to save the individuals of this colony, they will have to reveal the Uplift civilization, which will definitionally destroy the culture they're trying to save. It is an incredible conflict to watch Miranda struggle with. (Also, I love how "going on an adventure" was still in her vocab, and it kept making people flinch re: the events of Ruin)

The Corvids, Gothi and Gethli, were also great. We only got occasional glimpses from their POV, but their banter was hilarious. I love a Chinese room character that knows it's a Chinese room. There was a lot of philosophy about what it means to be sapient at the end, and while Gothi and Gethli concluded that they were like the ants that run Kern's AI, I felt they were more like the Octopuses. Based on the events of Ruin, I was never really convinced that the Octopuses were properly sapient, since they have three disjoint minds that don't communicate. Although, the Corvids also act like an extreme version of this deeply unsettling neuroscience evidence that suggests a human brain has separate consciousnesses in each hemisphere, only one of which "you" are aware of

The plot itself started straightforward. The terraforming on this world was not enough to establish a stable ecosystem, so by the time the recon ship arrives, it's starting to break down. As they infiltrate, the people are going hungry and turning on their neighbors. (Somewhat similar to Arkhangelsk, which if I had realized, I would have waited longer between them. It's a little heavy.) Around halfway through the book, things go real bad for Miranda et al, and then it gets weird (almost Harrow the Ninth style). I had a pretty accurate hunch for the twist this was setting up, but that didn't matter really, since it didn't give away anything about how they were going to get there

But then at the 90% point the book revealed an ever bigger reverse twist, and holy shit, I was not prepared for that. The first twist had been revealed at that point and Miranda's character knowledge was supposed to line up with the audience again, so pulling the rug out again was so much more impactful. Incredible ending. I was sated at the end of Time and Ruin, but now at the last book in the trilogy I want more of these particular characters

[thatweirdfandom]

Grief and Doctor Who

alright yeah i’m sure someone has made this connection before

this is all in line with nuwho timeline starting with 9th to current 15th

9th doctor: denial

the entire introduction to a whole new generation of doctor who fans. we are on a fresh start, but there’s little bits of history sprinkled here. 9th spends his time frivolously, not entirely seriously, he doesn’t address anything like it’s permanent or real.

denial is a hard scale to describe or understand as it changes quite easily and it’s more subjective to the person. 9th was dealing with all his people, his life, everything he knew. it’s not that he denies these facts, he avoids them, what he denies is that he has to deal with it. that it had a significant impact on him, that the consequences will come back and hurt him. he might know logically that he will be faced with this that it’s all buried deep down. but he refuses to acknowledge it.

rose is a good distraction, she’s fresh and she in a way scales the doctor. at first fights back, then leans to him, then repeat. rose is suppose to be our view, we are seeing nuwho through her eyes- not meaning to but she is the denial of everything before. not on purpose though, but it is perfect foil of where the characters stand, where we stand and what is going on. in a way, the “fresh start” of nuwho pushes a plot of denial and avoiding the past.

the best part about doctor who is everytime he regenerates we hit the high and low points of the transition into the next stage. 9th was forced to face his story, that he will have to keep facing it, that he’s the only one left.

10th doctor: anger

yeah 10ths is the most obvious and easiest to point out. where 9th was never one to kill outright, 10th has no mercy in distributing the pain he feels. he’s furious that this is what he has to live with, he wants revenge. he wants to rid himself of his pain by bringing it to those who wrong him. yes the doctor still has a saviour complex and still has the hero look on him. but he’s slipping, martha doesn’t help either (could be they poorly wrote her but i digress) martha is trying to latch on to what rose left behind. the doctor knows this and he lets it happen and it’s cruel.

he has to deal with his own story of his past and the current where everyone dies, no one wins, at least not him, not in the way it matters. we get three companions here in the end but all are gone in the end and he’s alone again. donna was one that could have helped him, but it wasn’t her time, they were unbalanced, the scales would go up and down.

as we go to transition into the 11th doctor, yes i’m gonna talk about the specials- but particularly the waters of mars. i think this shows a significant example of from anger to bargaining. at the end of the episode he decided no one is going to die, that he will get to change time itself. he decides to become god in this moment, he’s angry at everyone he’s lost that he keeps loosing. he forsakes everything he’s known that he followed to find some relief that he can save someone. the results, balance out in the end. and he knows what he did.

[thedeafprophet]

If you don't mind me asking, who were your tes ocs?

Ah im being visited by the ghost of Hyperfixations past. I'm giving a warning that the art here is older, some more so then others.

SO I had a few characters.

behold: old pinterest boards [this is not all of them lol]

But my main oc who I've had since i was like 13 is Eliana. She's changed a lot over the years. I was, suffice to say, pretty obsessed with her for quite awhile.

She was my main PC for Skyrim, and she primarily did the Dragonborn stuff alongside Dawnguard and the like [i split up the different plotlines among different characters]. She's a battlemage, uses a combination of fire magic and sword work, and tends to wear more lighter armor for dexeterity based moves. Originally from Hammerfell, she came to Skyrim on a rather personal mission before, yknow, all hells broke loose and oh boy! Suddenly you're expected to save the world and also you're not entierly mortal, have fun with that.

(Also fun fact, while obviouslly not by name in universe, she has type 2 waardenburg syndrome, which is why her eyes are discoloured + has hearing loss)

El's generally a pretty friendly and sweet girl, but she very much tends to get caught up in her own head, and struggles a lot with the balance between power and responbility, and uh, quite a lot of ptsd and stress by the end of it. theres a lot more but uh, we would be here forever lmao.

and uh. i guess ill give a brief overview of the others under the cut. I had vague ideas of a lot of them exisiting in the timeline and their interactions overlapping.

Laymus is an imperial who originally grew up on a farm with a lot of siblings. He struck out on his own in hopes of taking a stronger control of his own life, and because there wasn't really much for him there. Primarily a hunter, Laymus had an unfortunate encounter with a werewolf... which, left a substiantial impact on his being. He specializes in archery and fighting from a distance... at least, most of the time. [yea he's a werewolf lol. i was gonna do the companions quest with him but never got around to it. i usually play as him when im playing with survival mods, its very fun. he was also one of my earliest forays into having a transmasc oc ]

Faelynn is a bosmer, but was actually raised in Cyrodiil by her adoptive father, who ran a tavern there. She is considerbly older then some of my other characters, and long since outliver her human parent. She had a fascination in poisons from a young age, and after an... incident, became far more invested in them. She is the character I play through the dark brotherhood with, specializes in daggers and poison, alongside alchemy.

Erion is an aldermi character of mine, someone who's family has ties to the thalmor, an area of which he does not connect to. He has a rather.... unfortunately complicated history with his family, that was made all the more interesting by an encounter with Nocturnal at a young age...

He focuses on shadowy skills, a master of sneaking and not being seen when he doesn't want to be. He is the one i do the thieves guild questline with.

Adra is a dunmer, and grew up with a particularly strong set of daedra worshippers, which, suffice to say, has some complications with her background. She vaguely remembers her mother, but has little concept of who her father could even have been. She struggles a lot with self esteem and has a tendancy towards jealousy of those she percieves as doing better then her.

She specializes as a mage, primarily in destruction magic, with a knack for electricity and lightning. She is a student at the college of winterhold.

and that covers the main ones! Or, at least the ones i play the game with anyway. Honourable mentions are Valia and Ashanta, who are Eliana's mothers.

These two met during the battles between Hammerfell and the Aldmeri Dominion, of which Ashanta was a warrior on Hammerfell's side, and Valia was a healer of whom defected, their paths crossing. Its quite a tale in and off itself!

Valia died prior to the start of skyrim.......... the aldmeri are particularly kind to defectors, we shall say.

And then i have a few others. Anja is a nord background character concept I made, who runs a bakery in Riverwood [inspired by me learning about the history of bread making and the important of a baker in a town]. She also ends up adopting some of the orphans in the game lol. Allian is my oblivion character who wasnt ever super developed, i should get back to that... he's an imperial, and is actually Laymus' uncle.

I'm pretty sure I have a few more somewhere but uh. yea! thats the base up of it. hope you were prepared for my great overview XD XD

[kursed-arcana]

Psycho Pass Providence Review

I saw it in theaters and it was even better then I imagined.

Turning Akane into a tragic heroine may have been the best choice for her character after all. Her self sacrifice elevated her character to another level in my eyes.

I have not yet watched season 3 or first Inspector due to patiently waiting for the dub, but knew akane's fate and how it resolves. I went into this movie hoping it would explain how Akane was imprisoned and fearing she would take the fall for Shindo based on the context the film provided, instead I was pleasantly surprised to see our heroine take her fate into her own hands and make a difficult choice. Her self sacrifice was flawless and I was nearly in tears when she broke down. There is even a fantastic parallel between her choice here and Kougami's at the end of one. They both leave each other letters and both call the other an idiot for their decision. I left the theater fully satisfied.

I really appreciate how Kougami and Akane are always on eachothers minds and how their past interactions motivate their present actions even when they're apart. I think they'd make an excellent couple and Kougami being such a stubborn baby and not apologizing to Akane and being shocked when she hung up on him was too funny. I feel like them understanding eachother so well is both a strength and a weakness. It could very well be what keeps a a clear canon paring for them from happening. But I feel like this ending for Akane opens a lot of doors for them going forward. In the eyes of sybil, they're now two of a kind. The power imbalance barrier from their different statuses is now gone! And from what I hear about season 3 and first Inspector, I believe we'll be able to get more content of the two of them working together again in the near future.

On to the rest of the movie and cast.

I can't help but enjoy Mika. I think her character arc in 2 was actually really interesting and a nice contrast to Akane. And seeing her devastation at Akane's actions after she had just tried to save her, really spoke to me. I feel like she's still very much that broken girl from season 1 and Akane's loss probably opened up those wounds again. Her character has a lot more potential than most fans acknowledge.

Gino also has a prominent supporting role in this movie. Whether interacting with Kougami, Akane and Frederica he really shines. He is clearly happy to be with Kougami again, but let's his pride get in the way. But at the end of the day, they are both incredibly loyal to Akane. While Gino protects her as a shield, Kougami fights for her like a sword. It offers a unique dynamic. They essentially have Akane on a pedestal, as does sybil itself, which makes her very public and on purpose fall from grace all the more interesting. What will these two men do now that Akane has made herself a martyr for the justice her ideals strive to protect? I think we all have an idea of where the story goes from here whether we've watched the next material in the timeline already or not.

Finally its worth noting that essentially the entire supporting cast gets a few moments to shine, whether from season 1 or 2, and of course some characters from 3. The cast from 3 may not be the focus this time but they are still present in the background and I believe this movie answers some questions about their pasts.

In closing some stray thoughts.

- I can't help but ship Frederica and Gino now. They had great chemistry and a moment of theirs mirrors and earlier Koihami x Akane ship baiting moment in the movie. Keep yours open for it!

-we lost a good man this go around. His death generally shocked me. Keeping it vague so I don't lessen the impact!

- the music for this movie is A+ however, there is no after credit scene if you dont want to listen to the ending