#Ad Aglaophotis | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rin-the-shadow · 5 years

Text

Need to ramble about episode 22

And when I say ramble, I do mean with little side tangents here and there. Spoilers below the cut.

So as you might have figured out from previous posts, reblogs, and questionable parodies, I have very aggressively mixed feelings about episode 22 of Dororo, with a variety of different things bugging me about it.

One is how fast things deteriorated post-episode 19. The way things had been going up until that point, and up until Dororo’s near-drowning, it’s hard for me to buy that they would have gotten to the point they were in episode 22 that fast. I can buy the freakout at the end of episode 20 because it’s in the moment, but the area that makes it harder to swallow is the aura suddenly going completely red around the heart without so much as a warning beforehand from Biwamaru, who has, for the most part, been fairly consistent with commenting on it before.

Still, we’ve got the explanation that something is happening with the last demon, which could potentially explain it, if now that it’s not being held back by the Goddess of Mercy, it’s able to exercise a degree of influence. Sure, why not.

But aside from the way the pacing feels like it suddenly realized it had four episodes left and floored the accelerator, it also feels like the writers are trying really hard to sell this “oh no he might become a demon” plot point, but with less and less communication about it from Dororo--who, to be fair, is only eight--ten-ish, but has also had no problem point-blank saying “if you do that, you’re acting like a demon” before. I can understand him struggling to articulate, but at the same time, it also feels a little like the writers are slamming a clamp down on communication in areas that it would be kind of important.

The main issue I’m having is the sudden shift to “stab anything in my path while riding a flaming demon horse” mode. Hyakkimaru has been established with a capacity towards ruthless pragmatism before. He’s been established as reacting strongly emotionally in the moment, but he’s been able to work back from it relatively quickly once the moment’s passed. Even when he slaughters the samurai who murdered Mio and the kids in episode 6, it’s still a pretty fast turnaround once Dororo interferes, and it isn’t like any of them weren’t directly involved or like he goes hunting other samurai after the fact.

This most recent thing felt like senseless carnage extended over a majority of the episode. And frankly, it feels like it’s the writers trying to push “oh noes he’s going to become a demon, maybe he should have just sat back and happily let the demons eat him before.” Which, I will be pissed if that’s what it ends up saying. As Dark_FalconZ had stated in their post about it, it feels excessively cruel for Hyakkimaru’s character. And again, with what I spent a majority of series episodes watching of him, it feels like a really sudden swerve.

There’s a very large part of me that hopes the following episodes have a damn good explanation for it, because at this point, I don’t buy it. I don’t buy it as anything other than writers desperately feeling that they need angst and stakes and whatever.

At the same time, I also have to remind myself that at this point in Princess Tutu, which features a ballerina helping a prince restore the pieces of his fragmented heart and started off comparatively lighthearted before getting dark, the prince was a demon bird actively trying to feed people to the raven, because the raven’s blood was tainting one of his heart shards, and it wasn’t like that didn’t get better. (It also had a similarly lighthearted and silly episode 19 before everything went to crap and he started molting feathers before becoming a demon bird, so there’s that.) Like, it’s not the same show, but a part of me wants to hold on to the similar tone things in hopes that we might get some relief.

As for things I have aggressively mixed feelings on, I’d like to mention Tahomaru’s reaction when Mutsu tried to sacrifice herself. On one hand, sure, you don’t want your friend to do that, understandable. On the other, sacrificing one person for the good of the many sure doesn’t sound so great when it’s someone who actually matters to you, now, does it? And with Mutsu being a willing sacrifice as well, the situation was a little different.

Like, I don’t want them to die. I’m actually opposed to character death except when it is in some way fulfilling to their character arc, with a prime example, for me at least, actually being Tahomaru’s arc in the game Blood Will Tell, where his loyalty to his father drives him to fight Hyakkimaru initially, but then (ironically because he doesn’t have the information about the deal) backs off once he realizes he’s hunting demons, with the warning to stay out of his way. His loyalty drives him to stop his father from killing an unconscious Hyakkimaru inside a temple, recognizing that Daigo isn’t acting like himself. He comes to the conclusion that the demons influencing his father are what’s making him not himself, and resolves to help Hyakkimaru and Dororo with the hope of purging his father of their influence, ultimately throwing himself between Dororo and the disembodied demons in order to prevent their corrupting him.

And ultimately, his becoming a Fiend and being cut down in Dororo’s place is what allows Daigo to shake off the remainder of the Fiends’ influence, meaning his death accomplishes what he had set out to do. If he’d been killed off right after his own boss fight, even during the Kyubi boss fight? Not so much.

So I don’t want them to die, especially in a pointless shock death or an “oooooh, look how far Hyakki and Taho have fallen!” moment, but I do have a hard time not raising a brow a little bit that we were all “needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one, but only if the one isn’t someone who matters to me.”

That said, I actually wish the whole “We can’t sacrifice one person if it’s actually someone who matters to me!” had been touched on earlier. Episode 22 is a bit too late to bring that up and actually have it go anywhere, and if it had happened sooner, it’s something that could have given the character (and the writers) opportunity to explore and see where it leads. And I’m kind of interested in seeing that. But it’s not going to happen because there’s fricking two episodes left in the series.

At the same time, I’m also aware that I’m a little prickly about the plot right now because of how things were handled in Avengers: Endgame, and Infinity War before it, and Madoka Magica: Rebellion before that, and so there is a part of me that worries this will be the same. On the other hand, I have a hard time thinking they’ll go that route, based on previous adaptations (particularly the movie and the game). Turning your protagonist into a monster on the 50th anniversary of the series strikes me as a bit in poor taste, but at the same time, I’ve read enough comics to know that writers don’t always think about that sort of thing. But I’m still hoping that it’s just me being prickly and overreacting, and that they won’t do the thing I’m dreading on their own fricking 50th anniversary.

I would like to remain...dubiously optimistic about the conclusion (and hey, maybe Jukai and Biwa carry aglaophotis somewhere), and I would like to think the writers are simply setting us up to expect worse than we’ll get. The fact that I haven’t been able to find any episode preview for 23 does raise a brow, but then that could also go either way. I would like to remain optimistic. But I also think I needed to ramble a bit in order to do so.

If you’ve somehow managed to read through to the end of this with my rambly nervy writing, then thank you for that. I have a tendency to overexplain while adding a bunch of extra metaphors/comparisons, and then overexplain those, and it gets worse when I get nervous. With these already being a bunch of relatively disorganized thoughts about the latest episode....

Again, thank you if you’ve somehow made it to the end of this with any part of it making any sense. If you’ve got your own two cents, I’d be interested to hear them.

#spoiler warning #dororo #dororo 2019 #episode 22 spoilers #blood will tell spoilers #princess tutu spoilers #though mostly dororo spoilers #rin rambles #rin overanalyzes stuff #rin's aggressively mixed feelings and bitchiness

17 notes · View notes

cassidydanvers · 7 years

Text

Cassie Come Home (2) || Solo

In the days following the sighting there hadn’t been any sign of her other self anywhere. Life carried on as normal, it had to, albeit a little on standby. So, when two A.M rolled around and her twelve hour shift was over she started the journey back to her apartment, while it was still her apartment, and the comfort of her bed.

Trying to be quiet was proving tough. Every little sound seemed to bounce around the space and increase tenfold. Cassie cussed under her breath as she knocked into one of the flowerpots one of her neighbors had added to the hall and it clattered and rolled along the floor. Picking it up and setting it right she was sure there would be a few angry neighbors to contend with tomorrow so to avoid making it worse she padded as quietly as she could to her apartment door. She took her keys out to open the door and leaned against the back of it once she was safely locked inside with a small sigh of relief.

After dropping her keys into the bowl by the door she shrugged off her jacket and moved to turn her Hi-Fi to whichever radio station was still playing this late. She turned the dial just high enough for some background noise to help her sleep and to keep her mind from wandering to places and thoughts she’d worked hard to keep down during the day. It wasn’t fool proof, but it at least stopped them from resurfacing in technicolour clarity. The tuner eventually settled on some late night easy listening and Cassie paced to her bedroom and fumbled against the spot on the wall to switch on her bedroom light then headed back out to the small kitchen attached to her living room and ran the faucet to get a glass of water quickly before bed.

The air in the apartment felt weird her, head felt light and she wondered if she was having the start of a migraine. Her grip seemed to slip and she felt the glass fall out from her hands but didn’t hear it smash. In fact, she didn’t hear anything. Cassie closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose and opened them again to a completely new place. The rug she’d been standing on was replaced with hardwood flooring under her sneakers. A cold breeze cut through the darkness in front of her save for what looked like the inside of a church. A podium was built up in the front of the room on some sort of stage. Squinting into the darkness she could make out a balcony or a gallery circling around the upper level lined with pews. No, not a church. Since when did churches have packing crates piled everywhere and cabinets full of antiques and whatever the hell else those things in the jars were? To top it off someone had drawn an incomplete circle in chalk on the floor. Feeling disoriented she took a moment to shake it off and give her brain time to register that she’d fallen asleep, hoping she would wake up by the foot of her bed as usual. When she opened them again there was no such luck.

When she turned around to go back into where her living room should have been there was instead a grey toned wall lined with pictures and plaques. Above the door she’d just come out from there was a sign for the gavel room, she was in the auction house. How she had ended up there of all places in the middle of the night she didn’t know. In another room there was some sort of music playing,something maudlin and wistful as it echoed around the empty space around her. In the darkness Cassie squinted again as her eyes adjusted and could just about make out some light from the outside a little farther from where she was stood and hoped it was her way out. Her sneakers didn’t carry much noise. The building was eerily silent as the music grew louder as she moved towards it.

‘I’m just a poor Wayfaring stranger….’ the voice was distorted and drawling as it crackled from a speaker in the darkness….’Travelling through this world below…’ The whole thing felt unsettling, the words she could make out gurgled and warped, ‘there is no sicknessss…no toil no dangerrr…’

As she got closer to the exit the track started to skip and loop while Cassie headed towards where she could see the streetlights reflected in the glass just ahead. To her right there was the strong smell of what seemed like burning lilies and something chemical that itched the back of her throat and stung her eyes which could just make out a figure cross from one door to another in the distance. What followed was the sound of objects crashing to the ground or scraping against the floor at speed. Before she got arrested for breaking and entering she decided now was a good time to get the hell out.

The music jarred and repeated the same line over and over again increasing in speed, ‘…I’m going there no more to roam-no more to roam-to roam-roam-roam….’followed by a shrill screech from the speakers then silence. Someone moved out into the corridor in front of her. Cassie could make out the long straggling strands of hair on the back of someone’s head and the unnatural grey hue of their skin and clothing as they seemed unaware of her presence. Until it turned around to face her. Seeing its face she could see that in life it had been a woman. Her skin looked taut against her skeletal frame with sunken white eyes looking out towards her and a look on her face that was twisted into a hideous permanent sneer from what remained of her face that hadn’t been eaten away. She tilted her head at an unnatural angle and grinned wide with every discoloured tooth in her mouth as she advanced towards her.

The dead woman was moving with alarming speed through solid walls and the furniture dotted along the hallway. Cassie turned heel and twisted into a sprint without looking back as the dead woman flickered and reappeared closer and closer in the time it took to blink. If she didn’t haul ass she was going to catch up. A door creaked open a little ahead. ‘In here, move’ she heard someone hiss as the figure neared. As soon as Cassie was close enough an arm shot out from inside the door and grabbed onto hers, pulling her inside. Before she could react the hand wound round the crook of her arm and pulled her backwards into the room proper. Out of fear and instinct Cassie lashed out bringing her elbow back with as much force as she could and twisted with her free arm and was about to take off when something loud crashed down outside followed by a wave of similar sounds getting closer and closer.

Her would-be assailant hadn’t put up so much as a whimper and instead had her hands up. ‘It’s me, it’s me,’ someone wheezed, doubled over, ‘Jesus Laura,’ a familiar voice griped, ‘what the fuck,’ she hissed and straightened.

Cassie recognised the same red shirt she’d saw herself wearing, now a little worse for wear and worn by a now pale faced mirror of herself. All the questions she had saved up for this moment fell away as she stared at herself in a state of disbelief that was mirrored in the other woman, the other her. Cassie was finally the one who spoke first. ‘What the hell is this?’

‘Exorcism, first and last,’ she wheezed. ‘She’s too far gone, there’s nothing human left. Never saw anything like- I wouldn’t, but Laura needed somebody who could see the bitch so- and I don’t even know where she is. So now I’m stuck in a closet talking to myself,’ a bubble of hysterical laughter escaped her. She seemed to remember something and scattered some sort of dried herbs along the line of the door. Cassie ran a hand through the top of her hair to think while the other Cassie spoke again.

‘Okay,’ she let out a breath to settle her nerves, ‘I need you help me.’

‘what-what do you want me to-‘

‘Light this in the fourth corner, in the storage room,’ she tossed Cassie a purple lighter and what looked like a clump of flowers, grass and kindling bundled and tied up. As though she read Cassie’s mind she answered, ‘it’s just some St John’s Wart, little Angelica, Aglaophoti mix’ she stopped, ‘drives them away and pisses them off. I need to get that thing out there into the penalty box back in the gavel room. You do that I can draw it towards me, just don’t get me killed.’

She stopped and looked at Cassie properly and looked her up and down, ‘where’s your?’ she raised her arm, on her wrist was a thin cord wrapped around it with a silver piece of jewelry attached. Cassie had no idea what she was talking about and gave her a bewildered look. The other woman’s eyes widened, ‘shit, do you know anything?’

‘I really am a freak,’ was all she could manage. ‘I’m a freak who hunts ghosts.’

‘Here,’ her other self rolled her eyes and pressed a bag of course salt into her hand and wiped a hand over a cut in her hairline that she had just noticed and took some things out from a bag at her feet.

Cassie held up the clear plastic bag to get a better look. Regular table salt, like the kind she’s used, or threatened to use, at the diner. ‘This actually works?’

‘Sometimes,’ that reply didn’t fill Cassie with confidence. She watched as her other self took chalk, salt, and some leaves in a ziplock bag out before closing it up and slinging it over her shoulder and looked back up at her to reply. ‘Keeps them away for a few hours. It’ll buy you time if things go south. Ready?’

‘I-not really,’ Cassie stuffed the salt bag into her pocket and glanced at the door, thinking about what was waiting on the other side. ‘So, I just light this,’ she held up the bundle, ‘then what?’

‘Then it gets stuck here and I can close the circle. I-we do that and I just need to find Laura so she can finish this shit. Then you tell me how to get back to Ashkent for good,’

‘I thought you knew, I thought-the guy that came out of the fire,’ she dropped her hands down to her sides, ‘I thought that was why you came back, to switch back.’

‘Okay one thing at a time, we deal with this then we talk all this other crap. Figure something out. Let’s just get this over with.’ Taking a few moments to psyche themselves up they gave each other a nod of encouragement and stepped back out to go their separate ways. For now.

The storage room was close by, just across the hall. Cassie pushed the door open and darted to the end of the room. She took the lighter and the bundle and tried to get it to light. As if on cue a shiver ran up her spine and down her arms. She didn’t need to look to know that the dead woman was there. Something hit against her back and smashed on impact as a volley of objects were tossed in her direction. A statue teetered and wobbled but she kept going as something else smashed into her side and soaked into the grey fabric of her shirt.

‘Get bent,’ Cassie hissed in pain, anger flashing to the forefront and struck her thumb against the clicker and the lighter sparked one or twice before puttering out the first two attempts. As the dead woman made to snake a lamp cord along the floor Cassie reached into her pocket and threw a handful of salt in her direction which she recoiled back from and fled. Third time was the charm and she started to light the bundle and set it down on the floor. As the putrid smoke plumed from the bundle and travelled in the air she felt the lighter slip from her hands and the floor and space around her shift. She didn’t have time to warn herself.She was pulled back to Ashkent where the pale blue light of dawn leaked through the windows of her apartment.

#para #solo #cassie come home 2 #touchoffinale #// i was so tempted to name this suck it ghost adventures but changed my minnd

6 notes · View notes

ao3feed-timdrake · 5 years

Text

Birds in a Cage

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2qPgnXv

by EmeraldHeiress

“Shut it!” She hissed. “It’s not fucking funny!”

“No,” he affirmed, “but you’re adorable.”

“I,” she started with quiet dignity, “am a dangerous international criminal. I am not adorable.”

“You’re hiding in a blanket because you got arrested for indecent exposure.”

Words: 1043, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 9 of Ad Aglaophotis

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Under the Red Hood

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Jason Todd, Slade Wilson, Tim Drake

Relationships: Jason Todd/Slade Wilson

Additional Tags: Female Jason Todd, Omega Jason Todd, Alpha Slade Wilson, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, jail cell, Fluff and Humor

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2qPgnXv

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #DC #DC comics #Tim Drake #Batman #teen titans #young justice

0 notes

ao3feed-brucewayne · 5 years

Text

Vertigo

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2GUrCTA

by EmeraldHeiress

“Why?” Dick asked, his voice low with threat, locking eyes with hers in challenge, “Why do you smell like Deathstroke, Little Wing?”

Words: 2950, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of Ad Aglaophotis

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Damian Wayne, Tim Drake

Relationships: Jason Todd/Slade Wilson, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain & Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain

Additional Tags: Omega Jason Todd, Female Jason Todd, a/b/o dynamics, Explicit Language, Venting of Feelings, Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Pack Dynamics, Bruce and Dick Bashing, Other Bats are Love, Dick is Being a Dick, Jay is Not Having It, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, Alpha Dick Grayson, Alpha Bruce Wayne, Alpha Cassandra Cain, Omega Stephanie Brown, Beta Tim Drake, References to Family Abandonment

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2GUrCTA

#IFTTT #ao3feed #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #gotham

0 notes

primeemeraldheiress · 3 years

Text

Hey y'all!

@omegajasontoddweek is running awards!

I thought, you know, that it might be a good time to trot out a something of a masterlist of my OJT works. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

If I Told You

Jason Todd/Bruce Wayne

“Ukhai!” Came a wail from the top of a stacked pile of crates. The pup’s voice was filled with fear and exhaustion.

“We don’t even know what he’s saying.” Nightwing whispered furiously. “He’s snapping at anyone that comes near and he won’t come down. I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s a League word.” Jason said as he joined them. “It means, roughly, ‘lead omega that is not mated to pack alpha’.”

“But we don’t have a pack omega.” Tim groaned. Jason snorted softly.

Strive for Stature (Transmutation)

Jason & Damian

His knees brushed something under the desk, causing it to crinkle. Reaching under, Damian pulled out a piece of paper that had been taped underneath. His heart jumped as he smoothed it out and read the message inscribed on it League script.

Coordinates, a time, and a reminder not to be seen.

As if he needed such an admonishment. He was almost insulted.

None So Devotional

Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne

Bruce didn’t need the blood on the blade — the tissue — to tell him that it was his pup under that helmet. He could smell him. The scent of tea on the wind, crisp mint and honey. Barely dampened by the rain. It was older. Mature. Omega.

Underneath, though, a new darker note. Something… twisted.

More than Blood - Warriorverse

Damian Wayne & Jason Todd

Damian stepped out of the shadows and into the alley. The boy scrambled to get to his feet, hand clenching convulsively around the tire iron. Blackwing’s eyes flicked to the Batmobile half a block away. He could see two tires missing and felt the edges of his mouth twitch.

Father was going to be pissed.

Debts Be Paid - Warriorverse

Damian Wayne & Jason Todd

The fate of Jason Todd is the same throughout the multiverse.

Most Mad and Moonly

Female Jason Todd/Bruce Wayne - E

“Leave!” It was almost a whimper as she pointed to the door.

“Jay.” The alpha’s voice was low.

She trembled. “B. Get out.”

Yet, she made no move to make him. That alone said more than anything else about what she wanted. That alone told him more than anything else about how she felt.

“You hid this.” Bruce was displeased. That his pack — his Jay — would hide such a thing from him.

The Corner of Divinity

Jason Todd/Slade Wilson - E

He stared, heart in his throat. He couldn’t tear his eyes away. The heavy tang of blood was thick in the air and his feet felt like lead. He couldn’t move. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to. Whatever he’d expected to find, it wasn’t this.

Deathstroke’s lips twisted in a smirk. “I hoped you would show.”

“How could I resist?” Jason drawled, grateful his helmet hid his voice and for the scent blocking patches on his neck. “It was such an artfully worded invitation.”

Tidings of the Soul

Jason Todd & Dick Grayson

As Fine As Spider Silk

Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Jason Todd & Talia al Ghul

Jason receives a gift from Talia on Mother's Day.

Where the Journey Always Leads

Jason Todd/Dick Grayson

A touch of anxiety twisted low in his gut. It was his first time running with Selina again after returning. He knew word would travel quickly of Stray’s reappearance at Catwoman’s side. There was no way they weren’t going to run into the Bat tonight.

Suspending Gravity - Ad Aglaophotis

Female Jason Todd/Slade Wilson - E

She froze once she entered the living room on the way. Slade Wilson, in all the glory of his Deathstroke armor, was stretched out on her couch, watching her. His heady alpha scent of gunmetal and cedarwood wafted over her. What the fuck was he doing here and how did she miss that when she came in?

Vertigo - Ad Aglaophotis