#also the opening is so intense 'dreams save all of us' and the arc starts with luffys dream i might throw up | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

elshells · 1 year

Text

Top 10 Character Essence Tag

Tagged by @writernopal here!

Rules:

A challenge to give your Top 10 favourite characters, based on their ESSENCE. They have to be favourite characters that also have a deeper literary value, where you enjoy their specific role in the story, and this means that the list also should exclude characters that would normally count as favourites if for purely nostalgic reasons. They can be from film, tv, or written media, anything.

This one was so hard. I had trouble narrowing it down to ten characters, and I'm sure more ideas will come to me right after I post this! But right now, this is what I've got! Hope I'm doing this thing right!!

I'm going to leave this as an open tag because I'm very behind on these and want to avoid spamming people with tags. XD

10. Claude von Riegan - Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Claude's character arc is one of my favorite parts about this game, because his first impression is so deceiving. On the surface, he's a witty, devil-may-care kid who had nobility fall into his lap despite the secrets of his past. But as you follow him through the game, you learn of his struggles with past anger, racism, and of his efforts of proving himself worthy of the title of duke. He has every excuse to be bitter and jaded—and many other characters end up that way—but in the end, he always has a smile and a plan. The only reason he wants to lead is so he can achieve his dream of freeing his home kingdom from war and make peace with the other factions. He keeps all of this a secret for so long because his ideals seem so absurd and radical, but he remains earnest and genuine to his beliefs that he can follow through on his goal.

9. Trixa Teardu - Dark and Dicey

This anti-hero campaign is what got me into DND in the first place, and Trixa is one of the most endearing (and complex) characters in the game! Played by voice actor Anna Brisbin, Trixa is a halfling barbarian haunted by a demon with a hunger for violence. She's adorable, enthusiastic, and loves her friends, but at the same time, she's desensitized to so many worldly horrors and clearly a little touched in the head. Her character is all about unresolved trauma, and it's fascinating to watch her progression through the campaign. The demon first manifests to protect her from her abusive father, and we see how he comes to her aid whenever she gets hurt in a fight. The problem is, he'll ruthlessly attack and kill anyone in sight, including Trixa's friends, and there's nothing she can do to stop him. When she learns that the only thing she can do to banish him is to forgive her family for hurting her, she immediately rejects that idea and decides to learn how to cooperate with him. Slowly, she starts to regain a sense of control and uses his strength to her benefit, and the two develop a relationship built on respect and appreciation. As a metaphor, it's incredibly powerful, and shows that forgiveness is not the only way to cope with your trauma.

8. Linh Cinder - The Lunar Chronicles

Not only is Marissa Meyer one of my favorite authors, she's also one of the first (if not the first) authors who got me hooked on sci-fi, so of course I have to talk about Cinder! I feel like so many people gloss over the fact that Cinder, as a cyborg, is by definition disabled, and while her being a cyborg is a huge part of her arc, it doesn't get in her way. The original story of Cinderella taught the lesson of strength and perseverance in the face of your abusers, and Cinder taps into this in such an intense, visceral way. She fights back against injustice at every opportunity, but her sharp wit and even sharper tongue especially sets her apart from her fairytale counterpart in a unique way. She's far from an optimist, and pretty much nothing goes her way during the story, but she's determined to save the ones she loves and stands up against adversity at every opportunity, even if it criminalizes her.

7. Yelena Belova - MCU

In my humble opinion, Yelena can and should have anything she wants (including my social security number). Her debut in Black Widow was far and away the best part about that movie, with her snark and dry humor immediately endearing herself to the audience. Even after what she had to endure in the Red Room, she keeps a part of her inner child close to her heart. She may be disturbed and a hardened killer, but all she wants is a family, to have a relationship with Natasha, and to free all the other Widows—her sisters—from the Red Room's clutches. She's been taught to reject and weaponize her femininity, but her choice to reclaim it for herself makes her one of the strongest and most relatable of the new characters that the MCU has produced.

6. Circe - Madeline Miller's Circe

Circe was the first book I read by Madeline Miller, and it completely blindsided me upon my first reading. Like many others on this site, I grew up on Percy Jackson and went through an aggressive Greek mythology phase, and this book singlehandedly rekindled that love. The characterization of Circe is so unique and refreshing to read about, and develops her deeper beyond that of an evil witch and temptress. Miller gave her the proper motivation for all of her actions and made us root for her—which can be somewhat of a feat when it comes to women in Greek mythology—and allowed us to reimagine her as a central part of other stories, like the Minotaur of Crete and the journey of Odysseus. The world was not kind to her, so she created her own to thrive. And isn't that what we aim to do as writers?

5. Tarkhal Crownsilver - Nights of Eveningstar

Another DND campaign! The dynamic between the players and DM is one of the best I've ever seen, and while I don't think Tarkhal is my absolute favorite character, he's definitely the most relatable. He's thrust into a position of authority with no experience, relying heavily on his nobleborn sister to teach him the ropes. For the first few episodes, he's so unsure of himself and can't make decisions alone, but when he starts acting on his ideas and when he sees how well they work, he starts to gain more confidence, and by the end of the campaign, he's as strong and assertive of a leader as everyone else. As a rogue and a warlock, it would have been so easy for him to follow a darker, negative path, and while he's tempted at times, he never fully succumbs. Seeing his arc go in the opposite direction was super refreshing to watch.

4. Cassandra Cillian - The Librarians

This is my ultimate comfort show, and this list would be nothing but the main cast of characters if I had no self-control. But alas, I exercised restraint, and decided I had to include my girl Cassandra, a bubbly mathematician who's eager to please. She has a photographic memory and synesthesia, and can visualize information as she recalls it, all thanks to a terminal brain tumor. Despite knowing that she's on borrowed time, Cassandra is overjoyed that she lived long enough to learn that magic exists and uses it to do whatever she can to help others, even when the rest of her team has a less optimistic view.

3. Zuko - Avatar: The Last Airbender

I'm sure this one is self-explanatory. Zuko is a classic example of a redemption arc gone right, where his change of heart was an aid to the plot and benefitted the overall story. Even when he was an established villain, you still wanted to him succeed, knowing what he had to endure and what was at stake for him. I found him both endearing and fascinating with each episode, and I would argue that his journey is one of the best aspects of the show.

2. Miles Morales - Into the Spiderverse

I couldn't make this list without including a character from my favorite movie of all time!! Miles is such a fun character to follow because he's out of his element everywhere he goes. From the beginning of the movie when he starts attending a new school to his journey of learning how to be Spiderman. Every situation is uncomfortable and frightening, but it isn't until he believes himself (and takes his leap of faith) that he starts to thrive. It's so empowering to see what amazing acts can be accomplished when you step out of your comfort zone, especially when so many of us are afraid of putting ourselves out there.

Jinx - Arcane

I've never played League of Legends, but I fell in love with Arcane, and I especially fell in love with Jinx. As Powder, she was instantly relatable to me. As the 'little sister,' she was never taken seriously and viciously criticized by her siblings for her mistakes, which I also felt growing up as the youngest child (although not to that extreme of a degree). Her downward spiral into villainhood was heartbreaking to watch, and I love how the show chose to portray her mental illness in a genuine way that didn't disrespect her. She's so hurt and guilt-ridden, even as she destroys anything in her path, and I'm so eager to see how her character progresses in the next season!

#character essence tag #tag game #writeblr tag games #character analysis

3 notes · View notes

sortasirius · 4 years

Text

“Gimme Shelter” and The Bomb

Living in the middle of clown town is always an adventure but they’re recently opened a five star restaurant that’s free to all residents so we’re eatin good lmao.

Wow. Uh. Wow. Lots and lots and lots to unpack here.

This is.........long lmao

I mean. Should we just talk about some of the *cough cough* married details we’ve got going on? That picture of Cas from “Tombstone”? Who took that? Who else COULD have taken that? Why is it a printed photo that Cas just happens to have? Why did it look like it was cut in half?

Okay, I also want to talk about the energy between Dean and Cas, and not the energy of two intensely married people. We haven’t seen them together that much since 15x09 right? I mean we’ve had bits here and there, but to me something still feels off. I just can’t help but go back to the unresolved ending of their time in Purgatory (”I have to say something.” “You don’t have to say it, I heard your prayer.”). It just feels like there’s awkwardness hanging in the air, like when Dean and Sam leave right when Cas gets back, or the way that Dean hangs up on him. It feels like we’re supposed to be sus, which I most definitely am. Things aren’t 100% fixed, even though they’d like us to believe that they are.

Baby man Jack? “Marvelous Marvin the talking teddy, I have one!”

Also just,

“Can we wear matching ties?!”

“Yeah, blue’s a good color on you.”

I CRY.

I think it’s FASCINATING that Rowena is spending her time in Hell making things “boring” for demons, changing things. “People will end up where they belong.” There is NO WAY that’s throwaway.

“Hello! Where can I find the Kool Aid.”

Literal king.

There are a lot of ~parallels~ in this episode, a whole lot of callbacks, and not in the jokey oh hey remember that episode. There are all very deliberate and coded carefully into the dialogue so that even people who watch casually and pay attention will pick up on them.

“We...dated. Years ago, sort of. More like we watched a lot of old movies together.”

Ok.

Which, nbd, same exact fucking episode as

Come on guys. Just like. Come on. Davy. My man.

Good to point out too that Davy Perez also wrote “Tombstone.”

I just want to take a second and appreciate that we at got this Amara this season. No weird drama between her and Dean, just a literal badass who knows she’s a badass. Dabb and co are going to save every poorly written character before this is over.

Cas’ fucking speech y’all.

“I do know what blind faith is. I used to just follow orders without question, and I did some pretty terrible things. I would never look beyond the plan. And then of course when it all came crashing down, I found myself lost. I didn’t know what my purpose was anymore. And then one day something changed, something amazing. I...I guess I found a family. And I became a father. And in that, I rediscovered my faith. And I rediscovered who I am.”

First of all, we deserved to see this from Cas. We deserve to hear him talk about how much he’s grown, how much he’s changed from the “soldier” in season 4.

Cas found who he was with Jack, with Sam, with Dean. He found out he was a Winchester. His love for others is so palpable this episode, the way he mother hens around Jack, the way he looks at Dean, I just completely adore him, and I loved being able to see him reflect on his own growth.

Okay, moving along to Amara and Dean’s convo...fuck man. F U C K.

Dean’s pain in this scene. His pain over Mary, over the lack of choice. It’s so palpable, and I don’t think anything could have prepared me for Amara’s answer to his “Why?”

“I wanted two things for you, Dean. I wanted you to see that your mother was just a person. That the myth that you’d held on to for so long of a better life, a life where she’d lived was just that. Myth. I wanted you to see that the real, complicated Mary was better than your childhood dream because she was real. That now is always better than then. That you could finally start to accept your life.”

“Hm. And the second thing?”

“I thought having her back would release you. Put that fire out. Your anger. But I guess we both know I failed at that.”

His anger.

His anger through the whole season.

His inability to let go of the anger.

Dean’s anger, his inability to let go, we now know, of course, that his happiness didn’t come from Mary. He still had the fire, he still couldn’t let go of the anger, the rage. So what is it? Not even Amara knows what will bring him peace, she just knows that her solution failed.

And then, as if we needed more parallels to this season:

“I’m furious. To learn that all my life I’ve been nothing but a hamster in a wheel, stuck in a story.”

If that line sounded familiar to you. It’s because it is.

It’s not a common phrase, especially since Davy Perez FILLED this episode with callbacks. We’re in the endgame, nothing is unimportant.

For Dean to bring this line back up, right after Amara tells him that she thought that Mary would bring him peace, that she was wrong in that assumption. For that line to get brought back up when Dean talks about his anger in that scene with Cas, right in the middle of their breakup, where the whole catalyst of his prayer is about his anger, how he can’t let go of his anger. How he’s sorry he got so angry at Cas.

Bruh.

And then, as if all of this wasn’t enough. Jack drops the twist. That he has to die to kill Chuck and Amara.

It’s his own version of the empty deal. That isn’t a mistake. Both are going to come into play, Jack’s deal and Cas’. Mirrors of each other.

Putting his hand on Cas’ shoulder, telling him his death is not Cas’ choice, but his own. I think this, this scene is going to come back into play.

And then to end the episode with Cas telling Dean, telling him about Jack’s death.

“In case something goes wrong and I don’t make it back, there’s something you and Sam need to know.”

So...our fluff episodes are over.

There’s so much in this episode, but what I think bears repeating at the end is Dean’s anger, what will bring him peace, Jack’s impending death, and Cas’ deal. All of these are going to be our catalysts moving forward. Dean’s anger arc isn’t over, just as Cas’ deal hasn’t been resolved. Next week ~seems~ like it’ll be a fluff episode, but I am certain that it won’t be. There’s gotta be some big to do about what Cas is going to tell Dean.

Idk what to tell y’all other than the volume inside of this clown car is astronomical.

#supernatural #spoilers #spn 15x15 #spn #my meta #destiel

567 notes · View notes

hamphobicbasil · 3 years

Note

Could u elaborate about the dsmp story being bad? Not a rabid/brain dead fan, just genuinely curious and I enjoy reading people's rants lolol

oh you dont know the floodgates you just opened

a few things:

1. despite not liking the creators of the dsmp anymore, I don't actually hate most of them. [the ones that are particularly unsavory fall outside of this of course] so all that I'm saying i truly mean in a critical sense towards the story, its also just all purely my opinion as someone who enjoys fictional and fantasy stories and who like criticizing works to see what it does well and what it doesn't do well

2. for clarification I'm going to use the c![name] to indicate when I'm talking about the characters. Don't get me wrong, I think its annoying too but its the only way I'm gonna be able to write this thing without getting something across the wrong way yknow?

3. I stopped watching the streams after November 16th, [save for one Techno one but I closed out after a particularly bad story beat lol] and so all information coming afterward is all second hand from either me seeing people on twt talk abt it or people dming me. All i really know is up to dream's imprisonment and some stuff past that.

4. This is mostly aimed towards the "main" story, so stuff abt the badlands, eggpire, and whatnot are briefly mentioned.

anyways uh, i'll try to be brief but also include enough information to get why i feel the way i do on some stuff across

A. Performances Alright obviously these people are all streamers, so obviously they might not be the best actors, and hell no one is even asking that of them. However, when you're telling a story that's based on the audio with the visuals kinda coming to a second, it's gotta be pretty strong. I will say, some of the best actors in my opinion are Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo. I would include Ranboo but I never watched any of his story bits or story streams so I can't say much. Wilbur and Tommy are excellent in selling their character's emotions and feelings, when I watch the stream I don't feel like I'm watching an rp but an actual thought-out story yknow? And one of my favorite Tubbo examples was in the Hog Hunt video whenever Techno attacked him, he sounded genuinely afraid and I believed everything his character was feeling.

However, unfortunately, not everyone is gonna be that good. And I'm gonna say it; Dream and Techno have to be the worst out of the entire cast. I understand Techno's whole character is this monotoned badass, however, when really emotional moments hit I feel like he never lets that fall, and a lot of intense moments just ring hollow. And I'm sorry but Dream's attempts at being intimidating leave me laughing whenever I watch them. It feels like he watched that one scene from The Marriage with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannson and said "Oh this is what good acting looks like! Just yelling." His whole "I don't give a FUCK about Spirit!" speech isn't as great as people keep making it out to be. And whenever he tries to act coy when being a villain it feels like a guy reading the script for the first time, a bit like he's trying too hard. I have more problems with his character but his portrayal certainly doesn't help.

Everyone else is fine, and I don't feel strongly either way about a lot of them.

B. The "Lore" Okay first off, I can't be the only one who thinks it's silly that people are calling the dsmp's story "lore" when it's not, it's the fucking story. Lore indicates backstory to either the world or the characters, which a lot of the streams don't really pertain to. This is a really petty section but god it's a weird pet peeve of mine.

Other than the misusage of "lore" vs "story", the actual lore and world-building of the world are so lackluster that new elements can be introduced whenever and it often feels cluttered or not well thought out at all. And here's the thing, I feel like if the writers sat down just for a few minutes to establish world rules and general history, a lot of this could be solved! but so much is made up on the spot that it starts to feel like they're grabbing at straws to keep people invested, trying to reach that next high and intense story beat without actually earning it.

C. The Egg / Eggpire This is a pretty minor note since I was only invested in the Egg storyline for a little bit, but god it's so underused that it's almost embarrassing. Bad has provided this super interesting antagonistic force that's infecting the SMP, can control people, and who one of our main character is immune to, and it's just never used or even talked about again? Now I understand if he wanted to keep it to a side storyline only, however, to introduce this borderline eldritch creature and force within the world and then never have it dealt with is so weird.

D. The Writing Oh boy this is. kinda a big one. Now I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty obvious I have a bias for the Wilbur writing over the current team [that consisting of Dream, Quackity, and Tommy mostly]. I don't this his writing is perfect by any means, the characters constantly bringing up traitors got obnoxious after a while, and writing Hamilton but in Minecraft really isn't the modern Shakespeare or anything. However, I think his exploration of characters and plot progression was a lot more thought out and well planned, like he actually had two brain cells behind the story yknow? The current team I think fails to be as emotional or even impactful, things happened too fast and my god was everything drowned in angst for so long.

Don't get me wrong, you gotta have your characters face hardships to make them reach their goal believable, but some of the shit they put the characters through just felt like too much. From c!Tubbo's constant comparison to c!Schlatt [who btw, fucking ordered his death and kept him from his friends in a nation he felt trapped in] and on a side note, i kinda really fucking dislike the "c!Schlatt dad!!" au's or the au's where c!Tubbo inherits some of Schlatt's features, it would be like c!Tommy getting a c!Dream mask after his exile, it's feels so weird yet people eat that shit up for some reason.

But god, did c!Tommy get the brunt of it all and in retrospect after his final death, it kinda feels really fucking gross. Now obviously, I'm not trusting any of these people to write decent mental health representation, but c!Tommy's PTSD and how it was explored was just degrading. [Specifically the scene in that one Techno stream where he saw the final control room from the first war, and had a flashback / panic attack where he started calling out for c!Dream. I understand this is an actual thing people with PTSD will experience, but it felt so fucking stereotypical it got on my nerves. I actually had to close out of the stream because it made me feel sick, fiction shouldn't leave you feeling that way.] And don't get me started on how they basically reused the formula from the previous arc. [Problem introduced -> Tensions rise as things start to fall apart -> Big confrontation -> Exile -> Return from Exile -> Blowing up L'Manberg, again.]

And speaking of characters-

E. Character Arcs, or the lack of them In my genuine opinion, some of these characters' arcs are so disappointing. Especially c!Tommy's. I'm not one to believe that he was a "selfish" character or anything, however, his goals were simply set on his discs and maybe c!Tubbo, he didn't have much outside that. However, L'Manberg gave him something to care about, he gave up his discs for it and he fought for it tooth and nail, I think it taught him to open up to others and trust more. It was a great character arc for him to have, seeing him still fight even after his first exile alongside c!Wilbur, to return safely to the nation that he and his found family had built.

But then his second exile happened, and I feel like all of that was undone.

c!Tommy's exile genuinely pisses me off for so many reasons. It's not that characters can't have their low points after reaching a major change or feeling like they've "completed" their arcs or anything, but it's more of the fact that it seems like he's never going to heal that feels like a spit in the face, especially to people who might have had setbacks like that before. Progress isn't linear, sometimes things happen and you get knocked back down, it can take a while to get back up, but I don't think c!Tommy's character is ever going to be allowed to get back up. From c!Dream, who pretty much was a constant abuser in his life, killing him then reviving him, and his still fractured relationship with c!Tubbo, which by the way I have a had time believing they would still be friends after all that happened, it feels like he can never get a win and it's generally kinda a shit way to treat your characters who have been abused. Of course, not all abused characters are going to get happy endings, I'm not trying to dictate that they all should, but c!Tommy deserves one and the fact that it's so obscure feels shitty.

Side note: we still don't have a canon reason to give a shit abt the discs. Like I'm sorry but without some sorta connection to the MacGuffin why should we give a shit about him getting them other than "he wants them lol". Like hell, I would even accept the classic "they were the last gifts from his parents" or something, but we still don't have a reason.

c!Tubbo also lacks a fulfilling arc as well, from someone who started out as a yes man, he has progressed a bit into having his own interests first, but besides that sometimes his character makes me so. depressed. He's easily one of the most pushed around and hated characters within the story, all for being a kid who didn't know what to do and he's in the same vein as c!Tommy; these kids can't get a break. Also, his anti-violence beliefs morphing into the "lets kill c!Techno lol!" bit was so out of place and without proper build-up it was like. what. And now he's building nukes?? god c!Tubbo makes me so sad because he's kicked around constantly and never given a chance to grow.

Another small note, I also don't really enjoy c!Techno at all. Besides the previously stated reasons of lack of emotions when they're really needed, I find his character to be weirdly pretentious. He talks as if he's constantly been betrayed and hurt but I personally, don't see it? Like, I think one of the main examples was the Pogtopia vs. Manberg war, yknow he wanted to end the government but they just reinstated it after they won = c!Techno upset. But this doesn't make sense to me because why did he think otherwise? The entire time c!Tommy had talked about taking back their nation and starting again, so the fact that c!Techno suddenly thought there would be a sudden change is, to put it bluntly, kinda fucking stupid. I don't want to say that he "plays the victim" or anything because that feels a bit harsh, but his character feels so far up his own ass that I can't enjoy him.

I have a major grip with c!Dream as well, but that's getting it's own fucking section.

F. L'Manberg This is a quick note before we get into the, forgive me for this, endgame, of this entire rant, since the next two sections are tied together. But god, L'Manberg makes me upset because it feels like they gave up on it.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that it is supposed to be c!Wilbur's "unfinished symphony", the thing that destroyed a once charismatic and widely loved man, his attempt at power that utterly ruined him. But the fact that it just got blown up in the end after everything and left to rot felt like such a waste of time. From the first war, to Pogtopia, to even c!Tommy's exile, it all felt fucking worthless in the end, and the story is actively closer to how it was when it started now more than ever. I wished it was actually allowed to exist and continue to be a peaceful place in what is a chaotic world, but no it was just snuffed out because why dedicate to this concept of finding others you can band together with and feel safe. fuck that noise apparently?

G. The Villains Now villain-wise, I'm only talking about c!Dream [during the first war], c!Schlatt, and c!Wilbur. And believe it or not, this is actually mostly positive.

Now I'm not gonna lie, c!Dream as a staring antagonist wasn't bad actually, he posed a genuine and threatening opposition to L'Manberg, even if we didn't know his real intentions or motivations as to why he was against it. He's lucky in this sense because he didn't have to be good, he had to be passable. If anything, he felt more like an anti-hero than a tyrant or traditional villain, and my god do I wish he kept this theme going forward.

Now quick disclaimer, I don't like JSchlatt as much as the next guy, he's an adult man who should know better than to joke about some sensitive topics and act the way that he does. But the one thing I'll ever give him is that damn, was he a good actor for his character.

Now here's the thing, c!Schlatt wasn't particularly deep at all. He had no real motivations behind his exile of c!Wilbur and c!Tommy other than getting competition out of the way, had no reason to act the way that he did and yknow? that's fine. The reason why he worked was from his performance alone, he was actually intimidating. When he came onto the stream and was doing his typical bad guy stuff, it was actually intense to see what he would do. Whenever he would almost catch c!Tommy back in Manberg, whenever he would begin to pressure c!Tubbo, it put you on the edge of your seat and it felt like everything would change at the drop of a pen. He's a villain to be a villain, and this works out because he's just charismatic and well put together enough to make it interesting, even without the backstory or motives.

c!Wilbur however, is much more tragic, and the best villain of the story. He essentially was the "mentor turned evil" trope and it felt terrible watching him descend into madness, unable to trust barely anyone except for c!Techno and c!Tommy. Hell, in the end I think he still cared about them both, despite losing everything. Sure, he blew up L'Manberg, but there was still a smidge of the old c!Wilbur in there made everything he did feel melancholic. His death at the hands of his father after achieving his final wish was chilling, and something I still think about.

Until yknow, Ghostbur came back way too soon to let people feel his loss as a character within that world. And then he got revived, pretty much-undoing everything that moment meant for his character lol.

And then there's the worst one:

H. Dream. I'm going to be completely honest, c!Dream is one of the main reasons why I dislike the current dsmp stuff so much. Outside of his actions as a person, the way Dream decided to write his character as this overpowered madman of the dsmp really just. destroyed any intrigue that he could've had. Perhaps this is from my growing dislike towards him, manifesting into a bias towards his character, but god I cannot fathom why people try to insist he's interesting when he has as much depth as a fucking puddle.

And here's the thing, I'm not even entirely against c!Dream being a villain, hell I think he would've been great as an anti-hero if anything. Make him sympathetic but not through c!George to get your precious "DNF" points or anything, but show him actually caring about the people within the dsmp, including c!Tommy and c!Tubbo. This would make his rival status with them just a bit more complicated, sure they're enemies, however, he doesn't want to hurt or kill them, and there's still a level of friendship there that keeps them bonded when things get super bad. This could've been super interesting to see, the first villain of the story receiving a sorta redemption arc then descending into madness as he started to fixate on being a god. This is all how I feel personally, but god do I feel like it would've been better than his current character, and hell would've worked with how he was during the Pogtopia arc, before the war that is. I'm not trying to tell Dream how to write his own character, but there are so many other ways he could've done the madman seeking to become god rather then. whatever the hell we got.

Because instead, we got this power-mad asshole who does things... because he can? And that's one of my major issues: he tries to surround his character in mystery to make him "intriguing" but it's kinda like c!Techno, it comes off as pretentious. Not only that, but you cannot keep waving around this mystery of a backstory without ever actually revealing it. I know the story isn't over, but c!Dream is effectively at his lowest point, now would be the time to reveal his backstory. But no just keep it in the dark and keep everyone guessing, that's totally fun and not at all tiring and annoying. (sarcasm, if anyone needs it)

And back to his performance, he doesn't sell this aloof, cynical and strategic warrior that has perfected the blade or some shit, he comes off as some angry guy yelling on reddit. which i don't need to tell you, isn't intimidating. It feels like he's trying to have c!Schlatt's intimidation combined with c!Wilbur's depth, but instead he's like a little brother who's trying to hard to mimic his older brother and is kinda embarrassing himself.

but other then that i dont feel too strongly abt the dsmp lol

but seriously, these are the main complaints I have abt the story tbh, I could probably talk about more but I wont because man. this is probably gonna get me in trouble if any of the hyper-dsmp fans actually read it.

#wow this is long #txt #anti dsmp #anti dream #dsmp crit #dsmp critical #yeah im tagging it i dont give a shit #dream crit #dream critical #the story is shit yo!

66 notes · View notes

crimeronan · 4 years

Note

Can you explain the appeal of Julian Blackthorn? This is a genuine question because I read the books and came away utterly bored by him and unconvinced of his moral greyness as opposed to like, Adam Parrish’s. He seemed so one dimensional to me but I want to know if I’m Wrong TM considering I tend to be very very biased toward my favourite characters and bored by the rest, and my favourites were Mark and Kieran. So maybe I just didn’t pay him enough attention??

it’s been a while since i wrote any earnest tsc meta but cringe culture is dead and the chance to infodump about my julian thoughts has me vibrating where i’m sitting so. yes okay.

technical stuff

(aka: things pertaining to How The Story Is Constructed)

cassandra clare’s characterization has become much stronger just in general since she first began writing the series like twenty years ago

perhaps most importantly: the more recent stuff i’ve read from her has involved characters who actually grow, change, and learn from their past mistakes

rather than repeating the same stupid decisions over and over again

and over and over and over some more

seriously take a shot every time someone in tmi miscommunicates or self-destructs in ways They Have Learned Not To Do for no real reason. u will die of alcohol poisoning

in tda this shines ESPECIALLY with the evolution of mark, kieran, and cristina’s relationship, but that’s a separate post

clare’s trademark is also the angsty traumatized jerkass love interest with a secret heart of gold

the woman is almost singlehandedly responsible for draco in leather pants and the proliferation of this kind of character type in fandom and teen lit. this isn’t a criticism it’s me marveling at how if you commit hard enough to a single trope you truly can change the world. follow your dreams

sad jackass with a heart of gold isn’t an Inherently Problematic Character Type

but poorly done it can lead to relationship dynamics in which one partner is constantly being hurt by and then forgiving the other despite them making no real effort to change, because they are narratively absolved due to being sad

(there’s a lot of this with earlier jace content. in some ways i think will was later created specifically to be a same-archetype protagonist who actually does get called on his shit and grow. that’s also another post)

also if all of your sexy male love interests are tortured jackasses with a heart of gold then people start calling you a one-trick pony

enter julian blackthorn!

from the very start everything about him is designed to be the INVERSE of the heart of gold jackass. which immediately makes him interesting just from a meta perspective

(mark and kieran are also both alternate angles on this time-honored archetype. mark gets the heart of gold and kieran gets the jackass and then they’re both much more deeply messy than that. yet another post)

julian is kind, self-sacrificing, empathetic, artistic, emotionally supportive, responsible, and favored by old grannies everywhere

so a completely nonthreatening milquetoast guy, right

immediately forgettable if you’re only here for the dramatic conflicts and shithead antics of clare’s other protags

except that he is A Mess

and that he has structured his priorities very carefully, and they are as selfless as you expect from The Hero (TM) but they are also Not Heroic (TM) and they do not align with the moral framework The Hero (TM) is supposed to use

moral ambiguity in characters always exists in relation to their narratives imo. you mention adam parrish - trc’s narrative already mucks around in different ethical shades of gray, and adam falls on the canon scale about where julian does on his canon scale. both more willing than the average pov character to do the ruthless thing or make the fucked-up choice if the ends justify the means; both with an intensely strong sense of internal priorities that they adhere to at all costs, both so unbelievably fucking down for murder; etc

i do think there are ways julian’s choices could have been pushed even further, but considering the number of readers who hate his guts already, i can see why clare opted not to go for the most controversial possible conflicts

so we’re flipping the narrative

instead of seeing this angsty bad boy and peeling back the layers of his trauma to find his heart of gold, we’re seeing the put-together selfless family man and peeling back the layers of his Responsibility Mask to expose the rotting husk underneath

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

THAT IS FUN AS FUCK

then when julian DOES lash out in hurtful, uncontrolled ways, he has significantly more narrative justification for it than most of clare’s protagonists (will elaborate in characterization thoughts)

julian is also interesting as fuck because of how his struggles allow for a more in-depth look at the failings of shadowhunter society, something that’s also sorely lacking in clare’s earlier work

his apparent amorality is simply the result of him making pragmatic and impossible choices because he has been faced with fucked-up ethical dilemmas since age 12 Because Society Has Failed Him

which opens the door for narrative exploration of how and why he’s been failed so badly & what needs to change

i also love that he has such a coldly calculated way of analyzing situations and allowing harm to occur when need be, bc a lot of clare’s early protagonists have such a bad case of Rush In And Get Myself Killed Because I’ve Got Feelings About Impulsive Heroism syndrome that i wanna push them in front of a truck

probably there’s other meta narrative stuff i could say but i’m stopping myself and moving on to character analysis

characterization stuff

(aka: reasons why i’m also attached to him in a vacuum)

i don’t read him as one-dimensional at all tbh

u may feel the narrative pushes “ruthless julian blackthorn” too much without delivering enough actual ruthless julian But i don’t think that’s the same as having only one dimension

from the get-go, the big question centered on julian is always “how far are you willing to go?” and the narrative pushes the stakes slowly higher and higher to continuously test julian’s “the price is always justified” mindset

he has a far more layered and realistic response to trauma than clare’s early protagonists - trauma affects every single aspect of his personality and how he conducts himself, and the effects vary depending on the circumstances

his conviction that he has to be the perfect parent to his siblings because they will fall apart if they see him show weakness?? rooted in how he feels like he’s fallen apart since losing the stable adult support he once relied upon

his willingness to hurt semi-innocent people, commit coldblooded murder, manipulate people using political leverage, allow harm to befall any stranger if it protects his family?? rooted in how he has already had to ask himself how much he’s willing to sacrifice, and how his family is his only source of stability when the world has never done Shit for him

his conviction that he has a darker heart than anyone else because he killed his possessed father, even though intellectually he knows he was saving his brother’s life?? rooted in having no means of processing this trauma and being unable to voice his feelings for fear of backlash from a deeply non-understanding society

the way he represses every single negative emotion he ever has, to the point where emma - his actual literal magic soulmate who can feel his emotions - is startled to find him hurting or angry?? once again all about how he has to be the perfect father or he’s failed completely

the way his anger is so totally disproportionate to different situations and the way his negative emotions can only come out in completely uncontrolled breaks?? all that repression baybey. this kid has not processed a single bad feeling in five years. every single real grievance and petty annoyance has been festering indefinitely inside him like a slowly spreading infection

julian’s arc involves him needing to get thru being his worst self to actually start to heal

as in, he has to actually learn to acknowledge his feelings, take care of himself, lean on his family, and let other people take some responsibility

he also has to learn that in his quest to be the perfect emotionally controlled authority figure, he has not actually learned how to control or deal with his emotions. like. At Fucking All. good god

the narrative setup is also about asking “how far are you willing to go?” until the answer is finally “not this far. not this far”

and once he reaches that point, he has to reevaluate everything about how he weighs his priorities and morals and plans, etc

(i also like that emma has a perpendicular arc in which she’s always the one tempering julian and telling him “no we can’t go that far” until she’s willing to do something horrific that he absolutely won’t and HE has to stop HER. very sexy)

it’s also just really nice to have a character who’s learned to relate so well to literally every single member of his family while still having a very detached ruthless interior consciousness. i have similar feelings about how adam teaches himself to love people, but with julian it’s spelled out more explicitly in canon & it’s a more central character theme

i’m sure i’m also forgetting stuff here but this post is long enough so i’m gonna say good enough

and like i said in the tags on my other post, there are things i’d personally write differently if it were my story - plot points i’d shift, character contrasts i’d up, themes i’d explore differently, pacing i’d adjust, etc. i have plenty of ways i could be nitpicky and editorial about the effectiveness of julian’s arc. but i also don’t feel like writing them out at the moment & none of my critiques on effectiveness have an impact on the core appeal of his character 2 me. he’s so fucking good

#replies #tsc #tda #julian blackthorn #meta #long post #ungodly long post.#shadowhunters #Anonymous

208 notes · View notes

mariaantonnietta · 3 years

Text

Okay, the promised is debt.let"s talk about Gintaka moments!!!

I said a long time ago I was gonna do a compilation of Gintaka/Takagin moments. And I will deliver right now! (op skimmed the jp twitter and is excited/can’t wait to see the movie )

Ok, no, this will be mostly my disorganized headcanons, moments where I can see the ship with my shipper googles on, some paralels? Haha, honestly just to show the ship some love!!!

It’s also my perspective on why I love this ship!!

Of course, I'm going to talk about all the series and go back and fort, so there’s going to be spoilers all around, so if you have not seen the manga end, best skip it.

The rest is under the cut, let’s go!!!!!

So, I started shipping Gintaka/Takagin after the Shougun Assasination arc, best strangled friends story I have ever seen. I like a lot of Gintoki ships, but it became my favourite really fast. Then, looking back, I noticed these haha:

the first meeting in the show (ep 17). I know it was threatening, but watching it again the fireworks exploded over their heads as they met.Isn’t that a romantic troupe? (and also in this scene makes Takasugi face scarier, haha). And also how Gintoki stopped Takasugi blade, so obvious for point one that they knew each other.(the interactions here are so painful in retrospective 'When his father saw his son's head, imagine the rage he felt?😭')

(and then there’s also , in the extra episode where the yoroyuza go to China, they help a poor dude with his first date with a girl, and Gintoki comments how the first date should have fireworks, haha, at the time there were some images on pixiv of child Gintoki and child Takasugi seeing the fireworks together, it was so lovely, good headcanon!)

There's the Senbonsakura arc, and Takasugi appearing at the reunion scene looking at the moon, woah (there's also them crossing paths, but that's more dramatic of the ideologies maybe, still this a shipping post so ' them crossing paths there, the athmosphere of fated (rivals) people!!!')

( ‘They both had sad eyes’)

I like how even as they are different their core is the same, even if not these character are so raw together in their feelings

Let's talk about the movies for a moment: in the movie version of the Benizakura arc, Gintoki dreams with Takasugi, and IDK, but for how haunting it is, it also feels intimate, and that makes it hurt most.

About the second movie when we saw it we didn't know what the hell happened to Takasugi, but looking back he's dead by that time....maybe. (why didn't you give us a clear answer at the end sorachi).Okay but for practical purposes of what the cast knows he's dead (maybe...ahhh let's says it's like that) and well, haha, gintoki of the future dying looking at the sunset haha don't think of him daydreaming things.(When I saw the movie I had the impression that takasugi was dead, for both katsura clothes that are not called as a joke, and future gintoki 'the only one that can kill me is me', if takasugi was alive, he wouldn't let gintoki claim that so hypotrically, that's what I believed.)

There's the mini arc of the underseas dragon palace, (I remembered this one because of takasugi 'monster' form) I'm just gonna said that even if I read too much into ot there are some interesting paralels maaaaaybe, this one is a strech.

Talking about far fetched things, you people remember the Love Chorris arc? The one with the virtual girlfriends game? I think I am not the first person to point this out, but if you analyze Gintoki girl:

Gintoki selects her and (accidentally)kills her son.After that, she is bend of killing him in return in revenge. With his son corpse at her back to haunt him too.

She later confesses to him that she knew he wasn't at fault for her sons death, and that she focused on blaming him to be able to handle the pain, that she's grateful of Gintoki for understanding this.

The spirit of her son aproves their relashionship.

Now tell me this doesn't remain you of someone in particular and his relashionship with gintoki. And this is gintoki mind perspective and hopes, and fears.

(Well it probably isn't that deep, its the chorris arc, but still)

The way you can see Sakamoto’ jokes as a friend teasing because he knows they like each other. The fight when they to a red district gaining another lining.

The rajuko arc, when they exchanged blades to save the other newfound friends/family. The fucking red string of blood that they form together.

In the manga there was the famous saying attributted to takasugi historical counterpart :

'I want to kill all crows in the three thousand world, and sleep in with my heart's master'

This if I remember correctly because crows caw mark the morning, and in a brothel you have to leave.

So the meaning is ' I want to kill all crows in three thousand worlds(so that morning never comes) and sleep/stay in (forever) with my heart' master'

(Of course this could refer to shouyo, but it could be about gintoki, they go directly to meet the other)

It's a famous saying used in songs, I believe.

The part when he doesn’t want to see more rain, its of course because seeing gintoki's crying was imprinted in his mind for so long and influenced how he thinks. He is so important to him!!

And of course the final arc, where they are more open to each other,(the strangled friends are so happy to be together again) both Takasugi who finally let go of that 'burn the world down' and of Gintoki that walks besides him. The way Gintoki looks at Takasugi with a soft expression on his eyes. Matako ' I have never seen before Shinsuke sama with those eyes, I couldn't stop them'

The Glorious Days ending, that's when one (me) realises, 'oh ... this two care about each other and want to save the other' and while it isnt surprising for Gin, it was for Takasugi at the time.Rewatch the openings and endings in general, and see Takasugi place in them. IDK, he is usually the last alone waiting under the moon. And it gets me...cant really explain that.

The radio call, how we couldn’t see gintoki's initial reaction as Takasugi talked to him, gintoki even pretending not knowing (painfully bad) he didn’t know the other voice.

And of course the myriad moments in the final arc, Gintoki promply saying he is the one he wants to protect, the death sequence 'maybe we were just born under that kind of (tragic) star'

Gintoki teading takasugi that his parents would cry if they see the delincuent he is bringing home 🤣🤣.

Fuck, in the spin off Takasugi as a student novel, when he and Gintoki meet they can't keep the skit up, they talk directly to each other.

Also about the special episode, there's another...uh this is more of a paralel, and purely a headcanon, but here it goes: the yorozuya meet with kamui while trying to help a woman about her mother setting her up in blind dates, and in one moment she starts mothering both kamui and kagura and they get, well their eyes are animated different in that moment, and then they start listening to her. They were probably remainded of their own mother. And then I realised that I have seen Kamui make those eyes before (I will look for a pic, it's a very distintive shift), when talking to Takasugi. Is in one op too.

Of course the childhood friends dynamic. Regardless of nature, nobdy can deny the deep connection these two have.

(Here's the image from the op, is less obvios in the ep I think...or I'm overthinking, that's more possible)

Here’s Kamui and Kagura’s eyes when tehy get scold by the mother:

(I’m not crazy, they are similar XD Maybe XD)

I remember thinking to myself at the time 'woah, Kamui shows a admiring expression with takasugi somentimes' and now I fully believe is a childlike more like expression because takasugi reminds him of his mother(subconsiously). I can see the resemblance, especially towards the end of the series. As Gintoki and Umibozuo paralel too(both of them act like Kagura's dads) I just....haha parallel things.

There's a hundred things more, I'm sure I'm forgetting some (may add in a reblog after). All their fucking dialogue with each other is so intense. I I just love this ship sooo much

Totally up to talk about this ship if someone wants to!!

#gintama #gintaka #takagin #gintama spoilers #the movie is close so just to be sure anime watchers arent spoiled #gintoki sakata #takasugi shinsuke #somentines I play a little game called 'which gintama end lyrics fit takagin better XD'#grammar mistakes probably #will edit later...probably #add more pictures since it's difficult on phone #also this post is really a continent away fron serious analysis XD #tumblr stop fucking with my paragraphs order challenge #Edit: there were some sentences out of order still #I added one or two more pictures #thanks for liking my rambles

102 notes · View notes

lostsoulaltair · 4 years

Text

Owari no Seraph. Special Analsys for Hiragi Mahiru - Part II

Yesterday I started updating again, likewise, I posted an analysis of Mahiru’s actions related towards chapter 97 but, likewise, people have different opinions and that’s alright, but well, I’d like to reply to the post of a person that was kind enough to give its respective opinion; as for that, I do have answers for the actions Mahiru did in the past; therefore, let’s begin!

Before starting to reply said post which is something I’ve seen with other people that share the same ideas, let’s first recall what was Mahiru’s vision back in the LNs along the criteria that is often thought about Mahiru:

Mahiru manipulated Guren (Wrong)

First of all, Mahiru and Guren didn’t meet as a random thing; their meeting was elaborated by Rigr Stafford; at that time, Mahiru and Guren were 5 years old; back in the day, Mahiru’s mother was murdered by Tenri’s orders; which made Mahiru leave the Hiragi household; what she wouldn’t expect was to meet a young boy around her age.

(This is taken from Catastrophe LNs and World Resurrection LNs)

The young girl didn’t reveal information about her since she wanted for once be a normal girl, she called herself a fairy of the forest; of course Guren didn’t believe such thing but nevertheless, both enjoyed each other company; said happiness wouldn’t last forever, since the Hiragi Family found Mahiru and of course, that leads us to the scene on which Guren is beated

According to the Official LNs of the World Resurrection at 19; Rigr planned those two to meet each other; he wanted to keep removing the power within the Hiragi household but what he didn’t expect was that Guren Ichinose and Mahiru Hiragi would fall in love with each other.

After Mahiru was taken back, Guren kept on with his training which is something Mahiru did as well until the promised day came, they met back back when they were in highschool.

Back in the LN Vol 3, Mahiru made a phone call for Guren, on which she begged him to kill her; Guren of course, having the same feelings towards hers wants to know why Mahiru is doing all of the activities she did back in the Catastrophe; Guren eventually reaches a building; said building had a diary. Such diary was Mahiru’s diary.

Such diary had information about her and Shinoa such as the events we saw in the latest chapter whcih focused on the Hiragi sisters; Guren learnt that Mahiru and Shinoa were born as guinea pigs, they were the only ones that remained alive and healthy, eventually said experiment was stopped due to the cost it carried.

Though, new experiments started and this is due to the fact, Mahiru one day had a dream, a dark dream; she was in an endless darkness and was constantly interrogated by an Oni or a Demon. Said dream was shared with Shinoa; which is exactly the events of chapter 97; Mahiru warned Shinoa to not tell anyone about it, and of course, in order to make Shinoa endure all the torture methods they could do, Mahiru managed to erase Shinoa’s memories in order to make her a person without emotions.

Due to this, Shinoa ended up forgetting many things, and eventually Mahiru ended up removing Shinoa’s demon and took it within her; which is also stated in the diary she left for Guren back when she had more control over herself.

Mahiru’s contradiction (wrong)

Another point a user along and friend of mine that has been doubtful pointed out, was that why Mahiru cared if in chapter 57 Mahiru was encouraging Shinoa to open up her heart a bit more so she could see her again:

(Image taken from Official Translation of chapter 56)

Back then, Mahiru didn’t know what monster was exactly possessing her sister, Mahiru believed Shinoa could take down her demon after so many years passed, after the experiments no longer existed, but, now, you might wonder how she wasn’t able to recognize how dangerous was Shinoa’s demon if she took it within her.

For this, there’s an explanation; Shikama Doji is capable of only displaying himself as a scythe, in the catastrophe, he was tied to Tenri Hiragi, he wasn’t tied to a contract until the cursed gears existed; Mahiru used Shikama Doji when she went to meet up the Queen and eventually made Guren to return it to Shinoa; but, the sole issue is, that Shikama is known for being a liar along being someone who’s able to have control over its own manifestation as seen in chapter 72

(Image taken from Official Translation of chapter 72)

Within that arc, Guren and Mahiru were aware a monster was roaming free, a monster trying to possess the Hiragi Family, but here comes the issue, they believed that whoever controlled fate and the Hiragi Family, was a monster that came directly from Tenri, instead of having suspiciousness of being the same monster residing within Shinoa:

(Image taken from Official Translation of chapter 72)

Within those moments, Shinoa was ambiguous and didn’t reveal whenever the monster was the same as the one possessing Tenri or Kureto, but rather, gave an idea that she was fending against that thing for so long, when in reality, the monster has been the one she was born to; and that revelation occured when Yu was in danger

(Image taken from Official Translation of chapter 74)

At that very moment, Guren realized who they were fighting, and, by obvious reasons, Mahiru as well, which that’d explain that Mahiru didn’t know Shikama Doji’s real appearance but then again, how can I state that?

That’s very simple:

(Image taken from Official Translation of chapter 71)

Mahiru found out thanks to being a demon, who was the monster that always tried to prey within them, but well, things went south with Shinoa, she got possessed but eventually was saved.

Mahiru murdered Guren’s friends out of anger (Wrong)

It is believe that Mahiru enjoyed the chase of the cat and the mouse with Guren and his squad along Kureto, this is wrong; she was delaying everything; back in the Catastrophe, she was keeping two demons within her, which were corrupting her and taking away her humanity faster; she couldn’t withstand the intensity of having two demons within her since she could hear the voices from them; but, at the same time, she remembered what was she fighting for; she was often seen as a person with hurry but in fact, she was desperately trying to make or set things in order to keep her two loved persons alive, them being Guren and Shinoa.

After she became a vampire, the contract with Shikama Doji and Asuramaru was broken, her heart was no longer human, and the cursed gears were like poison to her and the final race was beginning.

While I understand why people get angry about her for killing Guren’s squad, there’s a reason for that.

Have you forgotten that Tenri Hiragi was alive at those moments?

If Mahiru didn’t kill Guren’s friends, they wouldn’t have been saved in any possible way, how can I state that?

Tenri’s goal was to follow up the orders of the First Progenitor; and he’d always neutralize whoever was a nusiance or in this case, he’d have gotten rid of the people who didn’t serve any longer; Mahiru would have been dead still but in the case Guren’s friends didn’t die, Tenri would have personally killed them without mercy, and thus, Guren wouldn’t have been able to even bring them back.

You might ask or wonder how I can state such things and this is due to the fact, that in the Final Volume of the Catastrophe, Kureto had a conversation with Tenri Hiragi; Kureto learnt that Tenri was behind everything along the fact that he used Shinoa as a hostage so Mahiru couldn’t refuse or do the opposite of what she wished to do; so Mahiru did her best to fool Tenri along the Hyakuya Sect without having Shinoa getting killed.

Within this, it doesn’t mean her actions are well seen, nor it’s something that readers enjoy, myself included, but, if she didn’t do such things, there wouldn’t be even a story in the first place; if Mahiru didn’t protect Shinoa, Shinoa would either have been dead or would have been submitted to worser experiments until they were able to trigger her demon within the process.

The experiments of the Hyakuya Sect and Mahiru were part of a deal; the Hyakuya Sect which was under Rigr Stafford’s care had its own goals, Mahiru only aimed to use Rigr’s personal ambition and goal to actually use it in benefit for humanity in order to make humanity get rid of the curse.

Along this, it is to state that she never enjoyed children experimentation; back when she visited Yu, she was angry by the fact on how he was experimented upon; which is why, when she saw him, she told him he had the right to live along finding a reason to live.

For now, this will be the second part of her character analysis. Mahiru is a complex character that hides too well her emotions but in reality, Mahiru was afraid, she had to face the world alone, she was gifted but instead of being like Tenri, she aimed to break the ties she had with them, she tried to bring some sort of salvation to new generations to come along the fact she entrusted many things to Guren.

Guren’s decision to stand next to her or follow her wasn’t due to manipulation or the sorts, Mahiru was dwelling between demon and her own persona. Within this, a decision was eventually taken, Guren wanted to learn and be next to her and fight with her.

Guren might be seen as an evil character but he’s an anti-hero, he’s doing what it’s possible to bring back what was lost, to actually defeat and get over the curse the First settled within the world. And for that, even if it was inmoral, he required the help of the boys that were experimented upon long ago.

Therefore, I can only say that, despite being portrayed as an evil character, Mahiru did many inmoral things in order to give at least hope to humanity to fight back agains the cruel destiny that was settled in by the First.

#owari no seraph #seraph of the end #guren ichinose world resurrection at 19 #owari no seraph catastrophe at 16 #guren ichinose catastrophe at 16 #hiiragi shinoa #shinoa hiiragi #mahiru hiragi #Mahiru No Yo #guren ichinose #kureto hiiragi #shikama doji #Tenri Hiragi #mahiru hiragi character analysis #deep analysis

103 notes · View notes

hemera989 · 4 years

Text

Blue Exorcist Headcanons: Okumura Yukio

I started this on twitter but I wanted to share them here! Headcanons about Yukio~! also asking to please keep yukio hate away please and thank you also tw for talks about mental health and suicidal thoughts! Standard Yukio Things.

I would also like to preface that this account is my first dip into the aoex fandom on tumblr, and I apologize for any similarities to other user’s headcanons!

Silly Headcanon List and GO

He has no idea what medical specialty he wants to go into, or even a vague idea of a field

Actually, his dream of being a doctor isn’t exactly as strong as other people think it is. He believed in it when he was younger, and truly did want to go into medicine, but as he grew up, it became more of an instinctual answer whenever anyone asked about his future. He lost faith in his dreams when he went through the trials of becoming an exorcist, and especially in recent manga chapters, he never expected he would actually live long enough to have a future.

Yukio still passively plans for medical school. He’s very aware of how much debt he’ll likely go into, and has been saving money in an account ever since he started getting paid for being an exorcist.

Because of that, and how poor the monastery tended to be, he’s very much a penny pincher. He spends money where he needs to, and doesn’t when he doesn’t. His scholarship to True Cross was actually a life saver.

He can be pretty spaced out most times. He has Many Things to think about, and so tends to lose track of anything that doesn’t have academic or professional importance.

This includes eating. This boy will go days without eating, or maybe surviving off of protein bars and energy drinks if he has to. He doesn’t avoid activities like this, but he’ll totally forget about them if someone doesn’t remind him.

This also means that his glasses get super dirty. He gets used to the dirt on his glasses and never thinks to clean them, really, and if they get really bad, he’ll just swap them out with another pair.

Yukio has somewhat of a Terrifyingly Blank Resting Face. When he’s not thinking about it, he just has no expression on his face, and it’s unsettling to people around him. He trained himself to smile passively and unconsciously, because he tended to freak his classmates out somewhat.

His growth spurt came rather suddenly, and hit him hard. He grew taller and wider faster than he could really keep up with. So, in battle, and in training, and fighting, he’s in control of his body and rather graceful. But in every day life, he can be clumsy as hell. He usually underestimates how long his arms and legs are.

Speaking of growth spurts, he has a lot of sections of stretch marks on his body, because his growth just came so quickly.

Because of his resistance to flames, he also has somewhat of a heat resistance, and he can be rather oblivious to the temperature of a room. It takes him longer to actually feel the heat, which is why he can go so long in his heavy exorcist coat even in the middle of summer.

While Rin’s temperature tends to run warm, Yukio is actually a few degrees colder than the average person.

Yukio gives incredible hugs because he pours all of his sadness into them because he’s just that perfect mix of tall, not too muscled, and comfortable. He doesn’t give hugs very often, but he has a habit of almost... enveloping the other person? Very comfy hugs don’t ask how i know i just know

This boy has the most severe Gifted Kid Syndrome (but honestly that’s not even a headcanon, that’s just canon).

BONUS future headcanons!

He finds out rather quickly after this arc that he... actually has no idea what he wants to do in the future. He’s torn between going back to his doctor dream, because it’s what everyone expects of him and because it’s what he knows, versus leaving it behind for something more new.

He spends a couple of months in intensive therapy, once he finally has the time after high school (or after the Order finally takes him off duty for his absolutely terrible mental health). He’s initially an awful and combative patient, but after a few weeks (and plenty of visits from Rin and the other exwires plus Shura) he becomes more open to treatment, and finds himself making genuine progress.

He gets his problems solved and the help he needs and grows up happy and healthier thats it the end

Thank you for reading! And please feel free to add on, I’m starving for more content of him.

#blue exorcist #ao no exorcist #yukio okumura #okumura yukio #headcanon #yuriotoko rants

109 notes · View notes

beastars-takes · 4 years

Text

Zootopia Takes: The Power of Really Liking Each Other

Our main event, Beastars Takes, will resume soon, but in the meantime I want to talk about one of my favorite movie relationships:

Has this been talked about to death by other people? Yes. But this is my blog and I write it for free so I can do what I want.

Note: this is not a shipping post--this is just an examination of their canonical relationship in the movie and why it rules.

At first glance, this is your typical enemies-to-friends story. I love those. But while the typical arc tends to involve two characters who can’t stand each other, who eventually develop a grudging respect for one another (often through some kind of shared ordeal) and maybe thaw into actual friendliness at the end. Zootopia packs all of that into the first half--by the midway point they are clearly not just allies, but friends, and by the end of the film they’re inseparable.

It’s important to recognize this isn’t just for the hell of it, or just to be cute--the closeness and trust they build is the linchpin of their success in the final moments of the movie.

All the reasons why, after the jump.

Something I talked about in the previous post was the messaging of Zootopia, and I don’t want to rehash it too much here. It’s a movie about prejudice, and the work it takes to overcome it. A key theme (one that it shares with Beastars, incidentally) is that friendships with those who are different from you are hard--but they are worth it.

Part 1: They Hate Each Other! (Right?)

Now...it goes without saying that when these two first meet, they bounce off each other hard. Each is seeing the other at their absolute worst.

Judy can’t stand Nick because he takes every bit of optimism she has about this world and throws it back in her face. She want to use him as a prop in her vision of an equal society, where “not all foxes” are crooks. He laughs at her. He humiliates her. All he has to do is walk away, but he takes his time. He twists the knife.

For his part, Nick sees a laughably ineffectual bunny who condescends to him and threatens him with jail for the crime of...humiliating her. She may not personally be a threat to him, but she wields the institutional power of the ZPD--a power he has plenty of reason to be afraid of--and she does it irresponsibly.

On first viewing, Nick inarguably wins this exchange. He avoids arrest, reads her to absolute filth and leaves her stuck in cement.

And he makes her really sad. Nice!

But, and I don’t pretend to be the first person to have pointed this out, on second viewing it’s obvious he can guess her story so well because it’s basically his story. The only difference, in his mind, is that he’s accepted the reality that he’ll never be allowed to live the life he wants, while she is still vainly pursuing hers.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but the people I’ve met who have always most pissed me off are the people who remind me of things I hate about myself. The people who seem to embody the flaws I’ve worked to minimize. Nick’s naive hope is what has brought him the most pain in his life. He sees this bunny full of the same naive hope, surmises that she’s facing the same failures he did and yet stubbornly refusing to learn from them. It’s irritating.

Pictured: irritation.

Maybe I am projecting, but if Nick is anything like me, he probably didn’t walk away entirely happy from this exchange. Yes, he “won,” but he was also reminded of everything about himself that he least wanted to think about.

Part 2: They Are Not Very Good at Hating Each Other

So, the thing about Judy is, she is naive. By default, she assumes people are her friend. But she’s not stupid.

Nick assumes she is stupid, not least because she hasn’t wisely given up on her dreams like he has, and...he learns that she maybe not so fun to pick on after all.

So they wind up doing the first part of this enemies-to-friends routine, allies of necessity.

So, naturally, because he is Him, he makes it his mission to torment her.

In fact, we get two whole scenes where all he does he does is watch her struggle and make this face.

The first read of this behavior is that he’s just enjoying the failures of someone he hates. He says as much later. But I would also argue--from a viewer’s perspective--Judy is ridiculously entertaining and charming throughout these encounters. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and it’s hard not to like people like that.

Is there more happening here than just schadenfreude? I won’t pretend to know for sure. But worth considering.

By the time they’re investigating the limousine, his sabotage has diminished into something more like gentle trolling. And you can’t see this face, in context...

...and tell me she isn’t starting to like him, at least a little bit.

He’s also starting to help! By the time they’re past the minor detour of almost being murdered by a mob boss, he’s entirely cooperative, helping her conduct interviews and look for clues. The movie doesn’t call particular attention to this, but it almost did.

Finally, let’s look at Nick’s behavior when they’re being chased by a rabid jaguar. He could have absolutely booked it, with no regard for the cop who was blackmailing him into helping her.

These moments go by so quickly, but they’re hugely revealing of his true character, even before he defends her in front of Chief Bogo.

He picks her up when she falls.

More importantly, when he gets to the skytram, his first instinct isn’t to jump in--it’s to hold the door for her:

He sees she can’t make it, and she even tells him to leave without her. He doesn’t. He holds the door until he can’t anymore, and as a result he’s nearly killed.

Nick is a good boy.

Part 3: They Are Friends Now

She save his life, so he saves her job. This is a key story beat, and it’s a Disney movie, so there’s not a lot of subtlety (except how the specular highlights in Judy’s eyes fade as Bogo asks for her badge--the light literally goes out of her. Go watch).

But it’s such a sweet moment of teamwork--he was contemptuous toward her from the start because she believed in herself. This is the first time she’s simply given up in the whole movie, and he steps up. Because he believes in her now.

And she believes in him! Or, she wants to.

Judy’s supportiveness here is sweet, but it’s also still a little selfish. It’s not that different from their interaction at the ice cream shop, really: she wants to meet a fox who defies stereotypes, who is easy for her to like. Someone who ticks all the boxes to prove her family wrong.

When he starts being more foxy, later--self-identifying as a predator, showing his claws, challenging her--we learn that her supportiveness is conditional.

Am I being too hard on her? Sure. She’s been in bunny country her whole life. She’s new to this and she’s trying. But that’s where she’s at.

But still! They’re friends now. They’re no longer pretending they don’t like each other. Judy’s openly encouraging, Nick is fully in her corner, and we get a few cute sequences where they keep being more and more impressed with each other.

He’s still not above affectionately messing with her, and she’s getting worse at pretending to dislike it.

And he trusts her enough to let her flush him down a toilet...

Which gives us this heartbreaking shot where he thinks she’s drowned. He cares a whole lot about this bunny.

She likes him too! Enough to want to team up on a more permanent basis. This is pretty standard-fare enemies-to-friends stuff now, but considering where we started, and considering they’ve known each other for all of two days? Not bad!

It’s clear this moment means far more to him than it does to her, too. It’s actually taken very little persuading from Judy to get him to step up and be brave and helpful and trustworthy. The fact that he’s turned around and opened up to her so fast suggests he’s been ready for an opportunity like this for his entire life, and never got it. I mean, look at his face.

The foundational flaw in her worldview is still there, though, and it’s about to do almost-irreparable damage to their whirlwind friendship.

Part 5: Fuck!

So Judy gives her press conference, and gives a great example of why police usually answer every question with “the matter is currently under investigation,” or “we’re not prepared to comment further at this time.” Honestly, though, this is on Bogo--I had coworkers who once did some press interviews, and they spent over a week doing media training. They didn’t even break a major kidnapping case. So, you know.

So she repeats some weird race science stuff she assumes is true because someone in a lab coat said it, which is amusingly similar to how race science (or “race realism”) often propagates--people with low-rent doctorates from crappy universities write a bunch of scientifically shoddy material and people say “well, he has a PhD!”

And then Nick has a PTSD flashback? I don’t want to be irresponsible and make an armchair diagnosis, but also...that is absolutely what is depicted on screen.

You’re not immediately “better” after something like this, which is why I cut Nick a bit of slack when he basically blows up their friendship.

Judy...doesn’t get it. It’s completely heartbreaking, because she likes him, and doesn’t understand why he’s mad, and isn’t self-reflective enough to stop and think maybe he has a point. Not until it’s too late. He tests her, and she fails.

Their friendship has always been a little inequal. He’s trusted her with everything, shown her his deepest vulnerabilities. She’s never trusted him completely.

So he leaves.

I don’t want to impugn her professionalism by suggesting she wouldn’t have quit the force if she hadn’t had that friendship-ending fight, but, you know. Maybe.

This is the second time she gives up, and this time he’s not there to pick her up again.

Judy is intensely goal-oriented, and I don’t think she realized what Nick’s friendship meant to her, as the first person in the city who truly believed in her, until it was too late. Judy is sweet and well-meaning but emotional intelligence is not really her strong suit (which is actually cool to see in a female Disney protagonist, imo).

So, while it would have been nice for her to track Nick down immediately and apologize, I think it makes sense for them to spend time apart. Her own self-perception has been shattered, and she needs time to figure out how she went so wrong.

So when she does come back, she delivers one of the best animated apologies I’ve ever seen. Only AtLA compares, in my mind.

Part 6: They Are Much Better Friends Now

Nick forgives her, because of course he does.

(Sidebar--people talk about how he kept her carrot pen the whole time they were apart. He also kept his handkerchief from Ranger Scouts, AND he only wears shirts that match the wallpaper in his mother’s house. He desperately needs a hug.)

Credit to Nick also, who can’t fight and has no police training whatsoever, who has multiple times been almost killed helping her out, now agreeing to help her out again. She’s not even threatening him with jail this time!

We, the viewers, are then rewarded with this great montage of them being best friends.

She’s finally stopped pretending not to be amused by his shenanigans.

(One other sidebar here--Nick is canonically a really gentle character. For all their adventuring, this is only time in the movie he gets physical with anyone: to protect the bunny. Again, he definitely can’t fight and immediately gets smacked across the room. But it’s the thought that counts, right?)

Per the post title, more visual evidence of them really liking each other.

Judy trips on a dead body, and here we get the second time in the movie that Judy tells Nick to leave without her, and he won’t--this time, he refuses explicitly.

Which then gives us the opportunity for the big moment--the culmination of all this care and intimacy and trust.

In order to con Bellwether, she lets him stalk her, and bite her throat. This has been often pointed out, but it’s important--throughout the movie, Judy’s wriggling rabbit nose has been used as a signifier of fear and suspicion. It wriggles when she’s spying on Nick at the beginning. It wriggles like hell when he confronts her after her press conference.

Not here. Doesn’t move. It’s a great, clearly intentional animation choice that tells a close observer (or more likely, a repeat viewer) that she’s completely unafraid.

She trusts him.

I could write a whole other post about how well-scripted this movie is, how every scene is doing half a dozen different things, but the way the personal and the professional come together here, the way the threads of prejudice and friendship and the police case all tie together in this moment. It’s good shit.

This is basically where things end, in terms of character development, but we get a bunch more shots of them clearly adoring each other:

So there it is.

To sum up, certainly not suggesting this movie invented “characters liking each other,” or anything like that. But it goes above and beyond in portraying a friendship that’s not just one born of circumstance, one that’s authentic and unmistakably loving. Characters who enjoy spending time with each other, regardless of what’s going on around them.

I hope everyone is able to experience friendships like that. I absolutely treasure the few I have.

Appendix: The Shipping Thing

I hope I’ve made all this ship-agnostic, which was my intention. I personally like the ship, and I think the reason it resonates with people is because that love and trust and closeness is clearly there, and a romantic relationship creates a lot more easy opportunities for dialing those things up even higher.

I would also argue, if pressed, that the amount of teasing and physicality that happens reads as pretty flirty. If they were humans I knew in real life, I’d definitely think there was something going on there. But I’m an American, where touching and emotional intimacy tends to be read as romantic. Also, animals are a lot more cuddly than humans. So who knows? I think it’s perfectly reasonable to read them as platonic friends until the end of time.

But, one way or another, they love each other a lot. Shout out to this, one of the most emotionally rewarding relationships I’ve ever seen in a cartoon.

#zootopia #zootropolis #zootopia takes #judy hopps #nick wilde #disney

230 notes · View notes

um-in-o · 4 years

Text

Charachter astrology: Leorio and Kurapika

Just like for the first post i'm only going to discuss sun, moon and rising signs along with possible dominants and elements. Also I'm keeping the sun signs/birth dates that Togashi came up with because they are super accurate and he chose them with intention.

Let's start with Sun signs: Pisces and Aries. Beginnings and endings, leading and supporting, taking action and dreaming, doing and feeling. Total opposites. Aries is ruled by mars, planet of passion, ambition and fighting spirit, Pisces is ruled by Neptune (Venus and Jupiter). The sun sign represents the ego, the self and the center of the personality. Kurapika is in fact a headstrong, stubbord and fiery person. He Is dominated by his ambition, his rage and his pride(ex: The first episode). He wishes to keep his anger and thirst for revenge alive and burning because he has built his whole life, and personality, around it. When in reality without the tragedy of his family he could have been a fun loving, passionate leading figure for others. Not that he isn't anymore, he's just buried away anything that wasn't useful to him in his quest for vengeance. So he kept the rage, ambition and impulsiveness of the aries while throwing away the fun, free spirited, naif persona. He has the most troubled heart of the four. Leorio on the other hand has the calmest heart. He is soothing, watery, healing. He is caring, kind and loving. When confronted with his own trauma, instead of pushing away his vulnerable side like Kurapika he exaggerated the traits that he saw useful to others. He wasn't able to save his childhood friend trough feelings alone so he became a doctor to share his care and to help to as many people as possible. His " "revenge" was more internal, as in " i'll show the world that I'm not helpless" and as in beating himself up for what happened even though It was out of his control. Kurapika's quest is self destructive, Leorio's healing.

( reminder: i'm not judging I love them both equally so so much)

The Moon: emotions, the vulnerable and hidden self, intuition. Leorio's emotions are intense, passionate and lead him to be impulsive and get angry quickly. Kurapika Is pretty rational and detached from his emotions but when he is in touch he's witty, fun to be around and anxious for others. Leorio is an aries moon while Kurapika is a gemini moon. Leorio wears his heart on his sleeves and you can get him mad in seconds and it's pretty fun to see. The combo Pisces sun and aries moon makes him pretty naïve and idealistic but also super duper lovable as he is honesty personified( take the election arc). Also both Kurapika and Leorio were ready to throw hands at Gon's last match for the exam but Leorio went about it in a more simply aggressive way while Kurapika was equally angry but also more controlled and that made him scarier. Kurapika rationalises everything, he doesn't need to feel he needs to think. He Is the smartest of the four and he loves to brag about his knowledge. He knows a lot of culturally diverse stuff and he reads a lot. He's good at coming up with strategies ( i mean... the fucking boat arc ). Yet his emotional intelligence is on the low. Not towards others, absolutely not, but towards himself. He pretends he can control his feelings, his body, his mind and when he cannot he breaks down. He is fundamentally anxious and a perfectionist (Kill ALL the members, get all the eyes etc). However when calm and balance he's funny in a sarcastic and Witty manner, he loves to banter and to jokingly provoke Leorio for example. He can also be reliable and quick thinking in stressful situations.

Finally the rising sign: the persona we show others and the qualities that we project outwards. Kurapika and Leorio both have in common the fact that they present each other in a way that's pretty different from Who they are deep down. Probably because, unlike the children, they have more experience with the world and its dangers and difficulties so they feel like they have to put up a front. Leorio Is a capricorn rising and Kurapika an aquarius rising. Leorio wants to be seen as an adult ( not an old man though), a business man, someone respectable and with authority. And what does he believe to have the most Power and authority? Money. So he always dresses up , he brings with him his medical supplies in a briefcase wherever he goes. He wants to be taken seeiously and wants to be seen as someone who is in control. In the beginning he also acts coldly towards Gon and Killua only to have his heart warmed pretty damn soon ( Remember the First episode and the fight with Kurapika?). Kurapika on the other hand appears as someone who is completely detached from others, cold, intellectual, calm and collected and a bit bratty. He seems to think likes he's better(and smarter)than others at first only to show his caring, sensitive and passionate side later on. He has trust issues and like Leorio has experienced grief associated to loss so it's only natural that he hides his feelings to others while only showing his strenght, when needed, and his sharp toungue and wit.

To me this SCREAMS that they are deeply connected ( yes romantically) to one another because they complement eachother perfectly while still having some similar charachteristics. They also went trough similar experiences and know and understand eachother better than anyone else.

They are both hot headed and impulsive and passionate (Aries and Fire Energy) but Leorio is more open and balanced (water and earth) while Kurapika is detached and separated and extremely imbalanced( air dominant).

Again: like Gon and Killua, if they just open up( and with this I mean Kurapika) and come toghether they can help one another a lot just by being close.

Hope you enjoyed!

#leorio kurapika #leopika #charachter astrology #hxh #my post

66 notes · View notes

manga2day · 3 years

Text

Vinsmoke Sanji

Sanji, born as Vinsmoke Sanji is also known as "Sanji the Black Leg", is a pirate and the chef-chef of the Straw Hat Pirates. 👨‍🍳 He is the fourth member to join the ship. He is the third son of the Vinsmoke family , which makes him a prince, but he relinquished his title and reneged on his family twice after leaving Germa 13 years ago and after Big Mom's betrayal of the Vinsmoke family. He was born in North Blue, in the kingdom of Germa, he is the first straw hat not to be from East Blue. He's one of the top four fighters on the crew alongside Luffy, Zoro, and Jinbe. His dream is to find the famous All Blue, which is where East Blue, West Blue, North Blue and South Blue meet with their wildlife 🐟 a cook's paradise. His first bounty was 77,000,000 berrys after beating Jabura with the CP9 🐺 , but the photographer was wrong and replaced his photo with that of Duval . His second bounty was 177,000,000, but he survived thanks to the request of his father, Judge Vinsmoke. After his escape from Totto Land, Sanji's current bounty is 330,000,000 berries, but the text on his poster has changed from "only alive" to "dead or alive" and has his last name printed due to his ties to the Vinsmoke family, despite rejecting his surname "Vinsmoke".

During his childhood, his father, Vinsmoke Judge, abused him and his brothers intimidated him. He has lost all respect for almost all of his family and hates them except for his deceased mother and sister . When he leaves, Judge allowed him to leave on one condition: never tell anyone about their relationship ⛔. After he left, Sanji severed his family ties and raised Zeff like a real father. He was forced by Judge to marry Big Mom 💍's 35th daughter, Charlotte Pudding , as a pawn for his own purposes, until he learned that he and his family were also pawns of Big Mom.and that they had been deceived by her. He learns that Big Mom's real intention is to kill him, his crew, and his family during their so-called "wedding" 🔪. After that, he turned on Big Mom by ambushing and tying up a guard in the infirmary to see his sister Reiju. He encouraged him to go with Luffy and the others and let his family die . But he and Luffy formed a temporary alliance with one of the supernovas, Capone Bege , to save his family from Big Mom's shenanigans at the wedding ceremony🍰. After saving his family, he definitively rejected them (with the exception of his sister, Reiju) and asked them to never again show their noses in his life or that of his crew.

After the Whole Cake Island Castle collapses 🏯, Sanji and his friends prepare to escape Totto land until Pudding (who has sincerely fallen in love with Sanji) shows up to insist that he help out. make a substitute cake for Big Mom , who suffers from eating disorders . After completing the Cake 🎂 for Big Mom Disorganized by Bege and the Fire Tank Pirates, he returns to Cacao Island to help Luffy escape. They are surrounded but until the Germa 66 arrives and fight the Big Mom Pirates squad led by the 4th son of the Charlotte family, Oven to escape Totto land. After escaping from the land of Tottoland, he refused to try the Raid Suit and viewed the Vinsmoke family as a curse due to the greedy amibitions of his father Judge and the fate of his biological family to be betrayed by d 'other stronger organizations, like the Big Mom Pirates after deceiving them into forming an alliance with them and the world government for their failed attempt at an alliance with Big Mom and severing their ties with the Germa Kingdom 👨‍👨‍ 👧‍👧.

After the ellipse

After the two year ellipse, Sanji's hair now covers his right eye, shows his left eye which also has a curly eyebrow, he also wears a dark goatee and mustache on his upper lip. Her left eyebrow and right eyebrow are both curled to the right. Sanji's neck also thickened, like Luffy and Zoro's. He is wearing a black and yellow three-piece suit 🤵. In Punk Hazard, he wears a three-piece full black suit.

In Punk Hazard, Kinemon used his devil fruit power 🍓 from fuku fuku no mi (clothing) to give Sanji a coat made for the cold, as he was stuck in Nami's body due to Trafalgar law.

Sanji's past

The Dream of Two Fools (Zeff & Sanji) Sanji was Zeff's protege and sous-chef, and the two had a long history together. Nine years earlier, while young Sanji was working as a cook on the cruise ship Baratie 🚢 a North Blue, the red-footed pirate Zeff and his crew attacked the ship. But both ships got caught in a sudden storm, and sank. Zeff managed to save young Sanji from drowning, losing part of his leg and the two were washed away on a small desert island. Before the storm tore the boats apart ⛵, Sanji cried out his dream of finding the All Blue, and was saved by Zeff. Sanji subsequently realizes that Zeff has lost his leg. Despite their good fortune, there was little food for them: a few rations had been thrown on the rock with them, but there was no vegetation, no animals, and no way to reach water for them. to fish. Separating the few remaining rations, Zeff ordered Sanji to sit on the other end of the island 🏝 and look for a boat. Sanji protested that Zeff kept a large bag for him, but Zeff pushed him away, saying that as an adult his stomach was bigger.

Days passed, Sanji was out of food 🍠, but there was still no sign of a boat. Several weeks later (the exact length differs between the manga and the anime), an emaciated Sanji decided to take a risk and kill the old man for his food. But he didn't kill Zeff: when he opened the old man's bag in a fit of rage, he discovered that there was no food inside, only treasure. To his dismay, he realized that Zeff had sacrificed his own leg to save him . Zeff confessed that he often ran out of food on the high seas and planned to open a restaurant on the sea 🍴. Sanji, guilty of plotting to kill Zeff, agreed, but Zeff pointed out that he was too weak to help him. Soon after, a ship appeared, and they were spared death. In the manga, Sanji started smoking soon after he started working at Baratie in order to impress Zeff 🚬, despite the latter's warnings that it would destroy his taste buds, Sanji replied, "Now I'm a man. ! "

Abilities and Powers

Sanji is one of the top four fighters on the crew , having the third highest bounty, after Luffy and Jinbe. Sanji typically faces off against an explicitly weaker third-rank opponent than Zoro's. This is the case for example when Sanji fought Jabra of CP9 🐺 , who had a slightly lower power level than Kaku, who lost to Zoro. Douriki's introduction during the CP9 arc is one of the only times in the series where opponents' strengths have been measured numerically. He received a genetic modification for superhuman strength. However, his modification was undone by his mother, Sora, using an antidote 💉 to have traces of emotion. Physical capacities Immense Strength: Although Sanji is best known for the incredible strength of his legs, the rest of his body is shown not to be outdone, including his arms 💪, which allows him to use a whole host of grips, for his fighting style, which makes him much more versatile in certain combat situations. In his first appearance, Sanji held Fullbody by the neck without support with one hand even before showing his lower body strength. A particular example of his inhuman strength is given during the Skypiea Arch. While aboard the Vogue Merry, he was able to lift a large mallet that appeared to weigh several tons 🔨 before using it to strike an impact dial that was resting on a cannon; Needless to say, the impact would most likely have made a hole in the deck of the Vogue Merry had it not been absorbed by the dial. The strength of Sanji's arms Another example of his physical power is when he was able to hold Absalom in place by grabbing hold of his leg, despite the latter's reinforced muscle structure and being repeatedly punched in the process. In the same fight, Sanji was able to hold Nami above her head and keep her in balance while receiving countless attacks from Absalom on her body 🤕. During the arc of Water 7, Sanji was also able to easily prevent Chopper at Heavy Point from going to heal Usopp's injuries . In the sixth film, Sanji was shown lifting a huge pot and physically turning over a giant meal 🍽.

In the Zou rc, Sanji was shown lifting a huge pile of injured mink with little help. After two years of training, his body became much stronger and also gained in rapidity, being able to break a pacifista's neck with a single kick, severely damaging it, and showing no signs. of fatigue after such a feat (which he couldn't do before the time jump) or being able to smash a Sea Granite cage with a simple kick (as seen in the episode of Luffy ). When he was reunited with his family, his younger brother Yonji attempted to reprimand him , which prompted Sanji to attack him, leaving him with a lump in his face as Sanji walked out without a scratch; it should be noted that Yonji used to bully Sanji in the past because Sanji was not as powerful as his other siblings 👩‍👩‍👧‍👦. His brother couldn't believe that Sanji was able to outdo him as he was such a weak person thirteen years ago. Sanji later managed to match his father Judge , the leader of Germa 66 in a duel, and his newly improved strength left his onlooker father and sister surprised, the latter calling him a "beast."having a hard time believing he was the same little boy he was back then. Later, in the same arc, Sanji matched Charlotte Daifuku and Charlotte Oven in strength and in Wano's arc, Sanji overpowered Page One with a kick of rare power. Immense Resistance: Through years of extremely intense physical training under Zeff's guidance until the start of his adult life, Sanji's body has become extremely resilient. He was able to survive the decompression when Kuroobi forced him to descend into the water of the very deep pool in Arlong Park, while suffering frontal attacks like the punches of Kuroobi's Fish-Man karate. Sanji was able to survive Ener ⚡'s "El Thor" , an attack so powerful that it disintegrated a normal man earlier in the arc and took out the great serpent Noa, but Sanji resisted the lightning at close range. and was able to still stand and make fun of Ener before collapsing.

Sanji's extreme resilience Sanji was caught off guard and nearly beaten to death by Kalifa 👩 after being affected by his Devil Fruit powers, but later, when freed from them, he was able to continue fighting Jabura to the point of receive half of the latter's "Gekkou juushigan" just before counterattacking them with his kicks and even winning the confrontation. In Thriller Bark, Sanji was stabbed in the back by Absalom with a knife long enough to go through his chest and still managed to defeat him with great ease (which Zoro in a similar situation was unable to do, when 'he was stabbed by Buggy). In the Sabaody Archipelago, Sanji survived a laser beam from Pacifista that passed through his chest .

After the two-year ellipse is also able to withstand pressures of over 5,000 feet under uncoated water, a depth that would have crushed a submarine . Sanji was also able to receive direct punches from Jinbe and Luffy to the head, from both sides simultaneously, with relatively minor injuries (although he was left bleeding on the ground 🩸). At Punk Hazard, while Nami was in his body, he also displayed enough endurance to withstand a direct explosion from Caesar's castanets. Moments later, after recovering his body, he could still fight on a par with Vergo and recover from a broken shin 🩹. In Whole Cake Island, Sanji even ignored a gunshot wound to his arm while protecting Luffy from Oven's army on Cacao Island, and didn't notice it until Chopper reported it. Sanji's Inhuman Speed Immense speed: Sanji's speed, agility and reflexes are formidable. In fact, his speed rivals that of Brook and even Luffy's in Gear 2. In his first fight with the Krieg Pirates, Sanji moved so fast that he seemed to disappear and reappear 💨 . In Little Garden, Sanji dodged the machine gun fire 🔫 from Miss Friday and in Jaya, he dodged the Mont Blanc Cricket shot at point blank range. Even in the face of lightning-fast CP9s and their formidable Rokushiki techniques, Sanji proved her mobility by easily countering Kalifa's Soru and forcing her to the ground, causing the assassin to collapse. amazed at the cook's speed.

He mustered enough centrifugal force to lightly pierce the guard power of Blueno's Tekkai with a single kick to the side. Sanji managed to dodge the blows of the oars, which annoyed Luffy's shadow. After fleeing the kingdom of Okamas Kedetrav 🏰 for two years, the already impressive speed Sanji has grown massively. Sanji managed to dodge Vergo's kick a few inches from his face and, in Dressrosa 🦩, he took out a sniper 🏹 (who had Sanji in his sights) that was 16 yards off the ground and claimed that it was "nothing" to Viola. Sanji was confident he could dodge a point blank shot from Pudding and was quick enough to dodge Charlotte Katakuri's jelly projectile from several yards away, an exceptional feat as Katakuri is a user of Kenbunshoku no Haki. extremely skilled and couldn't predict that Sanji would be quick enough to dodge his shot and he was surprised by Sanji's reaction. In the same arc, as Pound attempted to defend Chiffon against Oven, Sanji was able to instantly push Oven away and grab Chiffon without Pound or Oven noticing.

In addition, during the time he spent fleeing Okama on Momoiro Island, he developed the "Blue Walk" and the "Sky Walk", techniques similar to the Geppou technique of Rokushiki, allowing him to swim (at high speed) and to fly respectively . Sanji's fighting style Sanji has mastered a martial art called "Black Leg Style" that the pirate Zeff is said to have taught him. His legs and feet are extremely powerful, capable of breaking rocks ⛰ and effortlessly defeating creatures much larger than himself (like Bananawani and Meuh-Meuh ). His legs also give him superior agility, and his speed is fit for a Superman as he was easily able to overtake the super fast limbs of the CP9 . He also said the reason he fights with his feet is because he doesn't want to risk damaging his hands because he needs them for cooking., although handles are not prohibited. Facing Jabra, Sanji unleashes a new movement, the "Devil's Leg", which allows him to heat his legs to such a high temperature that they turn red 🌋, turning quickly in place , which makes his attack more powerful. .

After spending two years on the run from the Okamas, his sprinter abilities reached a point where he can momentarily run underwater, using a technique similar to that of the Geppo, he called it "Blue Walk" . In addition, the latter is not slowed down by the weight of the water as it was during the Arc d'Arlong, it can also run at an incredible speed, as fast as a fish 🐠. Usopp also said that Sanji's speed is comparable to that of a fish, yet they are at their best physical level when underwater. He is also able to jump and run much further than most humans. He then enhanced this ability by using his version of “Geppo” in a move he calls “Sky Walk” . Whether his mastery of this technique is comparable to that of other CP9 members remains a mystery 🤔. Additionally, after the ellipse, he's been shown to now be able to use fire in his strikes, such as in his Devil's Leg. This is in part due to the trauma Sanji has endured over the past two years, so much so that just remembering it causes him to burst into flames in sheer anger 💢. Which he shows after easily defeating the gigantic fishmonger Wadatsumi, using "Hell Memories" while in this mental state to engulf the enormous enemy in flames.

This unusual martial art seems to be inspired by Brazilian martial art, Capoeira , and Korean martial art, Taekwondo , and may have taken part of the Chinese art, Tan Tui. The inspirations can also refer to a known French fighting style, the Savate . Originally developed by French sailors, the Savate uses techniques that use the hands to somehow support the body and give more power to kicks , and is particularly useful on a swaying ship. At that time, French law considered hands to be lethal weapons ☠, which could result in death if the hands were used to kill someone. Perhaps this is why Sanji's main opponents throughout the series so far have all been martial artists with their own unique styles (like Kuroobi's "Pisces-Men Karate", the " Okama Kenpo "from Bon Kurei," Ramen Kenpo "from Wanze and" Tekkai Kenpo "from Jabra) 🥋. As for the use of his actual "attacks", Sanji has a very large number of specific kicks and techniques that he uses to fight. It's worth noting that he doesn't call out an attack name every time he kicks someone or something, but for important events and fights, he usually does . Most Read the full article

4 notes · View notes

andrewmoocow · 3 years

Text

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 11: In Dreams (originally posted on March 29, 2021)

AN: Hope you all packed your bags dear readers, cause we're gonna go on a real trip. One of my initial ideas for Alternate Future was with the addition as Aquamarine as a more major antagonist, we'd also have a mini-character arc about Peridot blaming herself for Steven's capture at the end of Season 4 even years later, which I felt was kind of a waste of possible character development for the little nacho. Regardless, it's time I finally see it through myself. And trust me, I'm really gonna put Peri through the wringer.

Synopsis: Steven's dream powers start acting up when he and Peridot want to watch TV.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven, Stefan

Shelby Rabara as Peridot

Johnny Hawkes as Cookie Cat, Rodrigo

Marieve Hernington as Jasmine

Della Saba as Marine, Aquamarine

The night was dark as Steven strolled through Beach City on his way home after a long day until he heard music. Racing to the beach house, he discovered that colorful flashing lights and loud music were coming from inside the house, and that got him super excited.

"All right!" Steven gasped cheerfully. "Now that I've saved the universe, I finally get to party!" When he raced to his front window, Steven could see all his friends inside dancing the night away. Garnet, Amethyst & Pearl, Lars and the Off-Colors, Lapis, Bismuth & Peridot, Connie, even Onion was breaking it down. Before he could join the fun, however, the door and windows suddenly vanished, leaving behind an empty wooden wall. "Huh? Hey guys, let me in! This isn't funny!"

"STEVEN!" a booming voice echoed from above. When Steven looked up, he discovered that Obsidian's head was replaced with a giant Cookie Cat looking down on him with a taunting grin. "NOBODY NEEDS YOUR HELP! SO WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!"

"What?!" Steven cried before the porch opened up like a trap door under him, forcing the boy to fall through the sky screaming.

"STEVEN! STEVEN!"

A little voice broke Steven out of slumber and back into the real world in his bedroom. "Why do I keep having these dreams?" he mused to himself. "Are they telling me something?"

"STEVEN, OPEN UP!" the voice cried out while pounding on the door.

"Peridot?" Steven began to recognize the green Gem's nasally voice as he walked downstairs and let the former Kindergartener in.

"STEVEN STEVEN STEVEN STEVEN!" Peridot chanted, beetling in place while holding popcorn and drinks. "Today's the big day! Did you tape the premiere?!"

"What premiere? I have no idea what you're talking about." Steven said coyly.

"But you promised me!" Peridot whined, not realizing that her half-organic friend might be joking.

"Oh, you mean the premiere of the reboot of the classic Great North teen camping drama Camp Pining Hearts that I recorded," Steven revealed as he pulled out a VHS tape. "on this very tape?"

Peridot gasped at the mere mention of the show she had awaited for so long and began squealing excitedly. "Yes, it's finally here!"

"THE RETURN OF CAMP PINING HEARTS!" the pair declared joyfully.

Steven and Peridot raced upstairs to watch the Camp Pining Hearts reboot when Steven realized someone was missing. "Hey, where's Lapis? I thought she was a big fan of CPH as you are."

"Oh, she declined to attend our viewing because she feels this reboot will be an abomination." Peridot answered as she sat down at the foot of Steven's bed. "You know that United Defenders of the World show? She really likes that too, and that's gotten a reboot much like Camp Pining Hearts, but she doesn't like how that is so dark and depressing because apparently, it's more adult. I mean, come on! Can't we go one minute without any intense violence or Mangolin yelling so many nasty wo-"

"What, she's not coming because one show clouds her judgment of another?" Steven rolled his eyes at Peridot's explanation while putting the tape into his VHS player. "That's a little silly. But I'm glad you were still able to come because I've been having these weird dreams lately. Like, are any of them real or-"

"That's not important Steven!" Peridot shut her fellow fan's mouth. "Now press play already you monster!"

Steven chuckled for a bit before he started the tape, and the theme song for the Camp Pining Hearts reboot began to play while two attractive young actors were credited for the roles of its leads, Jasmine and Rodrigo. Steven excitedly ate popcorn while Peridot waved a Great North flag around as the show began.

Fifty-two minutes later, the credits finally rolled, and Steven & Peridot were left stunned, silent, and disappointed.

"L-Lapis warned me, and I didn't listen." Peridot quivered in shock.

"W-what?" Steven added, just as horrified. "What…."

"WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?!" the pair roared in unison.

"What is with that Rodrigo guy?!" Peridot began complaining and clawing at her face. "He has no charisma! He is clearly inferior to the old cast!"

"And can we just talk about the cinematography?" Steven added just as furiously while Peridot got up and marched towards the TV.

"They changed all the characters, and I don't care about any one of them!" Peridot threw a tantrum and began venting by picking up the set & slamming it to the ground. "How could this happen to us?!" she began to cry her eyes out on the television. "Camp Pining Hearts was my escape when I first arrived on Earth, when my whole world was nothing but chaos!"

"CPH brought us all together." Steven comforted his green friend, though he was sobbing as well.

"And now, just look at this nightmare!" Peridot yelled with a hand to the TV screen when it stopped showing the Camp Pining Hearts reboot. Instead, it began playing Steven's dream from last night. "Wait, Steven, when were you ever an actor?"

"What? No, they didn't!" Steven exclaimed as the dream continued on television. "Is this my dreams?" When Steven watched himself fall from the beach house in his dream, the TV then switched back to Camp Pining Hearts. "Whoa! My dream powers must be messing with the TV signal!"

"How in the world is that even possible?!" Peridot raised an eyebrow at this revelation, but it also gave her an idea. "Wait just a second. Steven, you realize what this means?!"

"I should start wearing a tinfoil hat?" Steven asked, unaware of what the little genius had planned.

"No!" Peridot answered. "If we use your dream powers on the TV, we can make our own Camp Pining Hearts! We'll reboot the reboot!"

"Reboot the reboot?" Steven realized and excitedly stood up. "Peridot, you're a genius!"

"I know." Peridot smugly declared.

"Plus, it would be really fun to fix something small this time." Steven said before Peridot wrapped a lime-colored arm around his neck.

"This shall be the beginning of Peridot & Steven Productions!" Peridot triumphantly declared.

"Yeah!" Steven added, and then he fell from Peridot's grasp.

Later that day, Steven and Peridot were now standing in front of a whiteboard detailing all their plans for fixing the Camp Pining Hearts Reboot, bouncing more plans off each other in regards to shipping.

"So Peridot, you think Jasmine's endgame should be Khaz or Rodrigo?" Steven asked Peridot while looking at a web of pictures of the characters from the reboot.

"It seems the characters are trying to railroad us into a Jasrigo relationship, despite turning everyone else into complete jerks just because they don't agree with-" Peridot began, but then she started getting irritated. "Gah, these characters have no chemistry together! It's like they're being shipped just because they're the leading man and woman!"

"Just can't get into Rodrigo, eh?" Steven asked his writing partner.

"He's just so passive and quiet, it's positively irritating!" Peridot yelled. "He has none of the old cast's personalities that made them so memorable!"

"Sure he may be really quiet and soft," Steven assured Peridot. "but what if we try to do something with his social anxiety and peanut allergy despite them not being connected to the larger story, like make him a foil?"

"A foil, you say?" Peridot raised an eyebrow at Steven's idea. "Okay, I'm listening."

"I got it!" Steven declared before he sat down in front of some pencils and paper and began to draw. "I call him Stefan." He began explaining while drawing. "He's a hunky lifeguard friend with nice muscles that everyone likes and wants to hang out with. His popularity is both a blessing and a curse, yet always makes time to help his buddy Rodrigo boost his confidence." He handed his final drawing over to Peridot, which turned out to be a sketch of a more muscular Steven.

"So he's like your self-insert!" Peridot beamed at her friend's work. "I like your ideas, Stefan!"

As night fell, Steven got back into bed with a bowl of chili in his lap while Peridot inserted the tape into the VCR player.

"Uh, why are you eating at bedtime?" Peridot questioned Steven's choice of a bedtime meal.

"Oh, you mean my chili?" Steven replied, gesturing to the chili in his hands. "I read that eating spicy stuff before bed makes your dreams super vivid."

"I appreciate your initiative, fellow creator." Peridot grinned at Steven's idea while he continued eating his chili.

"Thanks, Peridot." Steven thanked Peridot before putting the bowl on his nightstand and tucking himself in. "Okay, good night."

"Good night Steven. But remember," Peridot said as she started whispering into Steven's ear. "action-orientated storytelling."

"Hey Jasmine, I hear you love birds." A tanned, muscular version of Steven said flirtatiously to a cute brown-haired girl examining a bird perched in her hand.

"Sure Stefan." Jasmine giggled cutely.

"Well, a little birdie told me downstream that there's a special island somewhere 'round here." Stefan replied, leaning against a tree and giving Jasmine a wink while pointing offscreen. "I hear it's full of rare specimens."

"Did you hear that?" Jasmine gasped elatedly. "Thank you so much Stefan!" Stefan responded by giving Jasmine another wink.

Meanwhile, Rodrigo was by himself at a campsite reading an instructional book on how to date when Stefan came racing to him.

"Rodrigo, I've got terrible news!" Stefan exclaimed, catching Rodrigo's attention. "Jasmine's in danger!"

"Wait, what?!" Rodrigo did a double-take in response.

"She's headed for that island full of dangerous birds!" Stefan revealed, propping one foot on a rock and dramatically pointing to the river nearby. "But if we go downstream, we can surely save her!"

"Okay Stefan, you're the best!" Rodrigo shouted. "Let's go save Jasmine!"

The pair raced for a pair of canoes docked close to the campsite and began rowing through the river to rescue Jasmine.

"Thanks for telling me Jasmine was in trouble Stefan, you're such a great guy." Rodrigo complimented Stefan.

"You're welcome Rodrigo." Stefan replied gratefully. "You're pretty great yourself, y'know, great enough for Jasmine to like you."

"You really mean it?" Rodrigo asked eagerly.

"I can tell by the way she looks at," Stefan began, but then he started getting sidetracked by Blue Diamond with the body of a dolphin, a gargantuan pineapple with Yellow Diamond's face on it, and a pair of White Diamond's feet right next to the fruit. "you? Huh?"

"Stefan, is something the matter?" Rodrigo asked Stefan, or rather Steven, who had now replaced Stefan in the dream.

"Oh no, not again!" Steven began panicking as he started to glow pink yet again, not knowing how things ended up like this.

As Steven woke up in his bed, he found Peridot standing at the side of his bed, looking very excited at how the experiment went.

"Oh my stars Steven, you did it!" Peridot cheered excitedly. "You just fell asleep and started turning pink, which started happening in the dream! Here, I'll show you!" She then ran over to the TV and began playing Steven's dream again. "Our script, our story, it's on the television and it's wonderful!" she kept on praising. "Not sure what you were going for with that bizarre imagery towards the end but I'll admit, seeing Yellow Diamond's face on a pineapple made me laugh."

Amid Peridot's eagerness, however, Steven then started to get drowsy again.

"Steven, are you okay?" Peridot asked with concern.

"Sorry Peri, just feeling a little off." Steven assured her. "Maybe eating that chili wasn't a great idea."

"Yeah yeah, don't believe everything you read online and all that." Peridot japed. "We got none of the money in the world, and all the time in our hands. Hey, I've got a great idea of my own! Picture this, a mysterious young woman with a teardrop tattoo on her face arrives at the camp because she wants to kidnap Stefan for her own dark designs. But before she can succeed, Pierre from the original Camp Pining Hearts comes in to save the day!"

"Uh, okay then." Steven replied awkwardly while trying to make himself comfortable. "But you're right, let's pull off a do-over. We can try as many times as we want until we get it right."

"Less talking, more sleeping." Peridot pushed a star-shaped pillow into Steven's chest and forced him onto his mattress before pulling his eyelids down.

Every time Steven went to sleep, he was back to canoeing with Rodrigo to rescue Jasmine. And every time, Rodrigo was replaced in his canoes by some very unexpected characters.

The first time this happened, Rodrigo was suddenly replaced by Dogcopter, of all things. As Dogcopter flew off using the propeller on his back, Stefan reached out to the flying canine before Steven awakened with bags under his eyes.

The second time, Rodrigo's place was taken by Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. The three Gems then flew away from Stefan just like Dogcopter did, and Stefan cried out for them before Steven woke up yet again, and the bags were starting to get darker.

The third time, Rodrigo didn't disappear. Instead, he started getting more unnerved as Spinel's massive Injector was present in the background, and Stefan was suddenly replaced with Steven as a baby.

Suddenly, a young woman with a teardrop tattoo on her face, just like what Peridot had described, snatched the baby Steven from the canoe with a maniacal laugh before Pierre, who now looked like he had green-lensed glasses and triangular hair, boldly stepped in and stood up to the woman.

Steven once again woke up, his baggy eyes now at their darkest, while Peridot just sighed in defeat.

The next morning, Steven sat down to some cereal and milk in the kitchen when Peridot suddenly appeared with a big stack of papers in front of her. "Uh, what's all this?"

"I've concluded that a script just wasn't working!" Peridot proudly announced. "So I've decided to take a more visual approach and made a whole series of storyboards for us to use! Besides, I've seen tons of cartoons use more storyboards than scripts, for better or for worse."

"You made all of these in one night?' Steven gasped in amazement at the triangular Gem's feat while looking through the storyboards.

"Duh, I'm good at everything!" Peridot bragged. "Now please study these in preparation for tonight."

"Hey, I got a question." Steven said while putting out one of the storyboards that featured the same tattooed woman from his dream. "Who's this girl, and why does Pierre look so much like you now?"

"Uh, that's Marine, Pierre's new arch-foe!" Peridot answered, awkwardly twiddling her fingers and looking in every conceivable direction. "She is totally not based on anyone we've met before."

"Are you sure?" Steven asked suspiciously while flicking through more storyboards featuring Marine. "Cause her haircut and location of her tattoo kinda reminds me of Aq-" Suddenly, he stopped to discover a new storyboard of Stefan having a romantic moment with Jasmine. "Wait, why is Stefan kissing Jasmine?"

"It's perfect!" Peridot yelled eagerly. "Right as Rodrigo is about to save Stefan from this reverse damsel in distress situation, he discovers that Jasmine got to him first, and they're already kissing too! Imagine, Jasmine defying gender clichés to save Stefan, unaware that they're stroking the fires of Rodrigo's jealousy!"

"I can't do Rodrigo this dirty!" Steven objected to the idea. "It's not only a betrayal of the friendship we gave him and Stefan, but it's also poor romantic drama too!"

"Whoa, take it easy Steven, they're just characters. No need to become so addicted to their love lives!" Peridot tried to excuse herself. "This is a story, and a good story needs conflict!"

"No, I still don't want to do this!" Steven declared angrily, startling Peridot before she came to an understanding.

"Look Steven, I can see you're pretty worn out from last night." Peridot said sadly as she began to get up and walk away. "Let's just scrap the whole project."

"What?" Steven replied in shock.

"There's really no point in continuing if it stresses you out that much." Peridot sighed as she grabbed the door handle. "Besides, I got classes to teach at Little Homeworld anyway."

But when Peridot was close to opening the front door and leaving the house, a flash of pink convinced Steven to change his mind. "No, wait!" he exclaimed, stopping the little Gem in her tracks. "I'll do the scene."

"Really?!" Peridot turned back with a cute smile and stars in her eyes.

"Anything to make you happy." Steven replied wearily. Though he was happy that Peridot was happy, he let out a heavy sigh as he was forced to put his friends before himself yet again.

"Oh no, that dastardly Marine has Stefan captured!" Rodrigo cried as he quickly rowed downstream to save his dear friend. "Jasmine said she's going to help him, but I haven't heard from her since!"

But just as Rodrigo finished his sentence, he finally found Stefan and Jasmine safe from harm, while Marine was left tied up beside them.

"You won't get away with this Stefan!" Marine yelled before she noticed Rodrigo, and had another fiendish idea in the works. "Hey Rodrigo, look! Your best friend's a cheater!"

"What?!" Rodrigo exclaimed, staring straight at Stefan and Jasmine kissing passionately. "Stefan, how could you?!"

"Rodrigo, this isn't what it looks like!" Stefan cried to Rodrigo in Steven's voice, but he wasn't there. And neither were Jasmine and Marine. And right before Stefan was a very angry-looking Connie. "Connie?"

Suddenly, Connie began to grow into the size of a giant and then turned into Obsidian. Stefan meanwhile was turned back into Steven as the Connie-Obsidian hybrid raised a foot and lowered it to crush him.

Steven then woke up in his old room wearing his old pajamas. Just like in the real world, Peridot remained by his side watching the television, but she was eerily silent, a far cry from her usual smug and loud yet cheerful nature.

"Peridot, my dreams are going nuts!" Steven informed Peridot while getting out of bed and walking over to her. "First everyone disappeared, then Jasmine turned into Connie, and she tried to squish me which is how I ended up here!" However, Peridot said nothing and continued facing the television. "Peridot?" Steven asked as he grabbed the green Gem's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

When Steven turned Peridot to face him, her visor and gem were now filled with SMPTE color bars and her expression showed no emotion at all. Steven's old bedroom abruptly vanished, and his PJs turned into his normal clothes as he noticed Peridot emotionlessly marching towards the beach house from the dream he woke up from the previous day. "Peridot!"

"Oh, poor little Steven." A familiar bratty voice called to Steven as he chased after Peridot. From the clouds came Aquamarine, still as haughty as ever and now in possession of her wand once more. "Don't you see? It's all her fault that I kidnapped you, that you had to learn all those horrible things about your mother! And yet not once did her blatant betrayal ever come up again."

"You don't know Peridot like I do, you little twerp!" Steven yelled at Aquamarine as he gained on Peridot, who was about to open the front door. "She's changed ever since we first met. She once tried to kill me like every other Gem who's ever antagonized me, but now she's become so sweet and funny!"

"Oh please, just because you like her now doesn't mean you should completely forget about all the ways she's harmed you." Aquamarine taunted before she restrained Steven with a tractor beam, but his iron will allowed him to resist as he tried to stop Peridot.

"Please Peri, don't go in there!" Steven strained from resisting the tractor beam and reached out to Peridot. "I still really want to hang out with you!" Just then, the floor disappeared beneath Steven and Peridot just like in the earlier dream. Peridot seemingly floated in midair while Steven leaped to the edge of the porch and continued reaching out to her, as the front of the house turned into color bars as well. "We always had something to fix together! The Cluster, the Diamonds, Spinel, but I don't know how I can be anyone's friend without something to fix!"

"Why can't you just surrender already?!" Aquamarine yelled as she tried to reel Steven in like a fish. "Your suffering is all because of her, and she's felt so worthless because of you!" Unfortunately for her, the tractor beam broke and the small, flying Gem was catapulted away from the pair. "We'll meet again brat!"

"I-I just can't do it anymore!" Steven cried to Peridot, unaware of the dream version of Aquamarine's failure to catch him. "I'm just so tired, and now I'm even trying to fix something in my dreams!" He soon started to cry as he got closer to Peridot. "I'm sorry I can't do this for you! Just please don't leave me!"

Peridot remained stoic as Steven kept on grasping for her. "Don't…leave."

The dream ended just like a VHS tape being removed from a VCR before a muffled voice began calling for Steven.

"Steven? Steven!"

Steven was suddenly shook awake with tears in his eyes, and he discovered Peridot leaning over him crying just as much.

"I saw everything Steven, and yes, it is true!" Peridot admitted sorrowfully. "A good reason why I was using your dreams is because I never got over how you were kidnapped because of me! I was so worried the other Gems would declare me a traitor, but they never bothered to bring it up. You know what, we don't have to do this anymore!" Steven then gave her a tight hug. "I don't care about the show anymore, or Rodrigo especially! I just want what's best for you! I'm such a clod!"

"It's okay Dottie, it's okay." Steven comforted his green pal. "I kind of knew something was up when you first mentioned Marine and Pierre, but I didn't know you've bottling this up for so long."

"I know, it's so unhealthy of me." Peridot wept. "I just needed something to vent with, so that's why I wanted to spend time with you. It's okay if you don't want an excuse to hang out anymore."

"But I do want to keep hanging out." Steven assured Peridot. "With or without all this trauma. We're friends, right?"

"I guess you're right." Peridot smiled sadly.

"You still want to watch CPH together," Steven offered. "even if it's terrible?"

In response, Peridot took off her visor and began wiping some tears, shedding the mask she had kept up for her entire stay. "Of course."

"How could you lie to me like this Rodrigo?!" Jasmine yelled crossly at her love interest while Steven and Peridot laughed as it all went down. "I bet you just can't help being an awful person!"

"You just buried a dead body Jasmine, and you're getting mad at Rodrigo for cheating at cards?!" Peridot cackled, pounding her fist on the floor. "Some protagonist you turned out to be! Oh my stars, this show is the worst!"

"This show is the best." Steven smiled contently before the pair leaned up against each other with smiles on their faces.

Like I said, wasted opportunity for more Peridot development. And yes my friends, that United Defenders of the World show was a total middle finger to dark & edgy teen drama reboots of family-friendly properties with fans of all ages. It happened to Archie, it happened to Winx Club and it's even gonna happen to the Powerpuff Girls soon. But I'm getting off topic, this was a pretty fun chapter to write since I love Peridot so much and she has an incredible dynamic with Steven. Speaking of green Gems, next chapter goes into original territory once again as we finally shine a light on a corrupted Gem that's seemingly been erased from existence come Future. That's right Nephrite, come on down!

#steven universe #steven universe future #fanfiction #steven universe alternate future #steven quartz universe #peridot

7 notes · View notes

itmighthavebeenintentional · 4 years

Text

Walk Me Home - Ch 9

Summary: Twenty-four years ago, Kimberly Harper met a boy who changed the course of her entire life before up and leaving one night. She spent years moving past the memories, building a stable, satisfying career as professor of folklore and mythology at the local university. Then the accidents start, and she’s forced to seek help among her hunter contacts. All it takes is a knock on her office door to send Kimber’s carefully built emotional walls crumbling to the ground.

Featuring: Teen Winchesters, high school romance, reunions, misunderstandings, high intensity emotional turmoil, Dean’s love of pie, Dean being adorable, Sam being adorable and maybe a bit nosy eventually, much group adorkable-ness, show-style investigation, mention of our favorite werewolf, gratuitous and obvious love of fall, DID I MENTION ROMANCE, fluff, smut, tension.

Warnings: Show level violence, show level parental neglect (let’s not John bash, I’m just saying), show-style witchcraft, show-level mental manipulation, stalking, bit of angst, sexual content (higher than show level),swearing, general yearning

Word Count: 3168

Author’s Note: Coming up on the end. Hope you guys have enjoyed this ride as much as I did. One chapter to go after this. All my thanks to @mskathywriteswords , @fangirlxwritesx67, and @cracksinthewalls for all your magnificent help. Also, random, the theme song for this chapter is “These Dreams,” by Heart. Just for fun.

Keep in Mind: There are a lot of flashbacks. I tried to write current events in present tense and flashbacks in past tense. Here’s hoping I got everything right!

Please read/heed the warnings. 18+ ONLY.

In Case You Missed It: Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 ItMightHaveBeenIntentional’s Masterlist

Chapter 9

Kimber’s hands fly up, clenching on the wrist in front of her throat, and the blade twitches in warning. Pain stings the side of her neck, her fingers contract, and a trickle of warmth drips down to her shoulder.

Before she can speak, Dean is in front of them, gun drawn and face murderous.

“Let her go.”

Laughter, broken and mocking, shakes against her back. Kimber’s vision grays at the edges, and she forces herself to slow her breathing. She focuses on the sting of the cut, slamming her eyes shut to block out the fear she can read in Dean’s eyes.

“She’s mine, can’t let her go. Just got her. Been lookin’ for so long. Her blood is mine, that’s the rule.” The witch’s voice goes from rough to reedy and back, pitch wobbling all over the place. “Gonna spill this pretty blood. You’re a hunter, you can help. Like she helped the other hunter. Spilled our blood. Took...took...”

Kimber shudders unconsciously, and the witch yanks her left arm back, fingernails digging into the flesh just above her elbow. A strangled yelp escapes her throat, and Kimber bites down on her lip.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

“Back up,” the witch barks suddenly. Dean’s eyes flash, nostrils flaring, but he doesn’t move.

“Ain’t happening, asshole. Let her go. I’m not sayin’ it again.” The hammer clicks on Dean’s gun, and the witch adjusts his grip, pulling her more firmly in front of him. The knife presses again, slicing deeper this time, and Kimber‘s focus slips. The trickle becomes a steadier stream, and she opens her eyes to see Dean’s cheek twinge above his clenched jaw.

He never lowers his aim as he steps carefully back. Kimber is shoved forward, knuckles white on the man’s wrist. Her heart thumps painfully against her ribs as she racks her brain.

I know this, I know what to do, I can get out of this, I can, I just-

“Good boy,” the witch says. The manic glee in his voice sets Kimber’s nerves on edge, clearing a little of the panic from her thoughts. “So good at taking directions. Much better than her. Shoulda taken you up on the roof, she coulda watched you jump. Would’ve been fun. So...fun.”

White-hot fury lances through her fear, burning the last traces of it from her mind, and she remembers exactly how to get out of this hold. She widens her eyes, mouth tight, staring a hole at Dean. It takes a second for him to turn his glaring attention from the witch, but he finally meets Kimber’s gaze.

She has never wished so hard in her life to be a telepath as she does right now.

Please understand, Dean, she thinks with all her might, her eyes flicking down and to the side before meeting his again. Please be ready.

She can distract the witch, can get out of the way, but she can’t kill him, and she has no idea if he has another spell ready. They’ve got one chance.

“Gonna have some more fun with you two. Messy fun. Had fun with her friends, so many stairs, so many staples.” He holds the last word out, elongating it, and the hairs on Kimber’s neck stand on end. “Make you have fun with each other, gonna get messy. Don’t need a hex bag this time, can just-”

Kimber jerks down on the knife-wielding hand, pulling it towards her left hip. She ducks her head back and shoves her shoulder into the witch’s chest, knocking him off kilter. Her right hand arcs back, completing the circle and shoving the witch’s hand, knife and all, straight into his side. He throws his head back, howling, and a deafening bang fills the room. Pain explodes in Kimber’s ears, and the witch drops, a bullet hole in the center of his forehead.

Kimber blinks, her head spinning, and then Dean is in front of her, his hands holding the sides of her face steady. His mouth opens, he’s speaking, but she can’t hear anything over the clanging in her ears.

Her eyes stray down to the body on the floor, waiting for it to move. They need to leave, need to get away while they can, but she can’t make her legs work right. Her knees are locked, and the room is swaying.

No, that’s not right. She’s swaying. She should probably sit.

Then she’s on the bed, and Dean kneels down in front of her, pressing a cloth to the side of her neck. She sucks in a breath, and the pain shocks her brain back into focus. He speaks again, but she can’t understand him.

“We have to go, he’s going to get back up-” But Dean holds up a hand, shaking his head and frowning. He opens his mouth again, sucking in a breath like he’s going to shout, but then stops. He lifts her hand to the cloth on her neck, indicating for her to hold pressure while he rises.

He glances around and snatches a pad of paper and pen from the bedside table. He scribbles quickly and holds the pad up in front of her. Her eyebrows lift in amazement as she reads “witch killing bullets.”

“Seriously?” He nods, then flips the paper and scribbles again.

“Not used to gunfire?” the pad says. She shakes her head, then immediately regrets the action. The room spins, and then Dean is supporting her, steadying her before she hits the floor. He holds her upright for a few moments until she regains her balance, then he waves to get her attention.

He tilts his head towards the door, eyebrows lifted. She closes her eyes, concentrating, and forces her legs to cooperate, pushing up until she’s able to walk unsteadily, leaning hard against Dean. She feels colder than the seasonal temperature calls for, and she shivers hard against him.

Shock, she realizes. Yeah, I’m pretty sure…

The next thing she knows, they’re in Dean’s car, and she’s leaning against the window, her cheek chilled and damp on the glass. Dean’s jacket is draped over her, and she can make out the rumble of the engine and Dean’s voice, responding to someone she can’t hear.

Phone? her worn out brain offers. She yawns, and a dull throb ripples through her ears instead of the usual popping. She winces, and a warm hand slides over hers.

“Can you hear me, sweetheart?”

“Yeah,” she says slowly, working her jaw carefully against the ache in her ear canals. “But it’s kind of muffled. Am I gonna need a hearing aid now?”

“No, honey,” he sighs, his relief mixed with exasperation. “One gunshot near your head, you’ll be fine. Wasn’t even a high enough caliber for concussive damage.”

“Oh.” She thinks for a minute, her brain still a little sluggish. “Can I go home, now, though? Because I’d really like to change clothes.” To her growing dismay, she realizes that one side of her is splattered with blood and...something else.

Not to mention her own blood staining her shoulder. Her shirt is definitely beyond saving.

“Sam, check out the motel, see if you can find a car or anything. Maybe we’ll get a clue about who this asshole actually was. I’ll check back in with you.” He disconnects the call and glances at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Think maybe we should get you some stitches for that cut.”

“I have butterfly bandages and pajamas at home,” she counters, feeling mulish. It has been a hell of a night, a hell of a week, and a hell of a month. Her stalker is dead, she’s feeling more disgusting by the second, and she wants to sleep for a year, at least. After the world’s hottest, longest shower, that is.

Dean frowns, his eyebrows drawing down as he prepares to dig his heels in. That’s when Kimber pulls out her trump card.

“I’ve got a Sara Lee deep dish apple pie in the freezer. Can have it hot out of the oven in about an hour.” She wants to laugh as Dean’s foot presses down on the accelerator, but she settles instead for leaning her leaden head on his shoulder and letting her eyes drift shut. The last thing she feels is his arm pulling her just a little closer.

“I got you.”

“I know.”

…

When they arrive at Kimber’s house, the first order of business is a shower (after putting the pie in the oven, of course). True to her earlier promise, Kimber scrubs every inch of Dean’s back, wishing distantly that she was in a better frame of mind to enjoy the experience. Really, though, neither of them are up for any more than tired smiles and rinsing of suds.

She throws on the jeans and tshirt that are lying on top of her hamper, too thrashed to search for anything else. When they reconvene in the kitchen, the oven still shows eighteen minutes left on the timer. Though Dean took pains during their shower to carefully clean the cut on her neck, he insists on fully inspecting it in better lighting. She’s too worn out to argue, so she drags out her first aid kit and drops into a chair.

She’s surprised at how comfortable the silence between them is. He cleans the cut again with peroxide this time before smearing a thin line of antibiotic ointment. She thinks he mutters something about “dirty witches,” but she’s so tired at this point she doesn’t completely catch it. Her hearing is more or less back to normal, although she keeps having to shake off the sensation that there’s water in her ears.

“Sam’s back at the motel, checking to see if the guy had a car, anything to give us an idea of what his damage was.”

She nods slowly, thoughts swirling in one too many directions. “He said...something about another hunter, me helping another hunter. I checked my notes, though, I don’t…”

“He said a lot of crazy shit, guy was unhinged.” Dean’s voice is hard, his eyes tight as he places butterfly strips along the side of her neck. “Probably not the best idea to revisit all of it just now.”

Gonna have some more fun with you two. Messy fun.

Kimber’s stomach lurches, and saliva pools in the back of her mouth.

“Don’t you throw up on me, I just got clean. I’m not missing out on pie just ‘cause you can’t keep the contents of your stomach to yourself.”

She laughs, just as he intended, broken out of her toxic train of thought.

“You’re right, I know you’re right. There’s much better things to think about tonight. We can go over all the gory details in the morning.” She raises her hand to stifle a yawn, and Dean catches her wrist, pulling her arm out straight to examine it. His eyebrows lower as he frowns at the line of crescent-shaped gouges on her arm just above her elbow.

“That was where he grabbed my arm. I guess his nails dug in?”

Dean actually clicks his tongue against his teeth and reaches for the peroxide again. When he glances up at her, she can’t hide her amusement from his observant eyes.

“What?” he asks, indignant. “Human fingernails are some of the filthiest things on the planet. And that guy was a witch, no telling what kinds of nasty he’s been diggin’ in. Now hush.”

“Yes, sir.”

The timer for the pie goes off a few minutes later, and Kimber makes the executive decision that a huge slice of shared apple pie with ice cream is more than enough of a balanced dinner for the two of them. She rinses off the plate in the sink while Dean cleans up the scraps from their impromptu doctoring. She sets the plate in the drying rack and turns to find him watching her, one corner of his mouth curled fondly.

“Bed?”

“Bed.”

She excuses herself to the bathroom to brush her teeth and slip into something a little more comfortable. She finishes by wrapping her bathrobe around her middle and tying the belt. When she enters the bedroom, she finds her comforter in a discreet pile on the far side of the room, and Dean reclining on the sheets, clad in nothing but his boxer briefs.

She opens her closet and pulls a spare blanket down from the top shelf. Dean slides off the bed, reaching out to take the blanket when his phone rings from the bedside table. She nods at the phone and shakes the blanket out while he answers.

“Sam found the guy’s car. Wants to know if you want to come check it out.” Dean raises his eyebrows at Kimber. She straightens and looks him dead in the eyes, then unties her robe and lets it drop from her shoulders to puddle around her feet.

His eyes widen, and his voice turns distracted. “Gonna pass tonight, Sam, but you save some of those juicy clues for us tomorrow, ‘kay?”

He hangs up, sets his phone on the bedside table, and turns the covers down. Then he throws himself onto the bed and holds his arms out to Kimber, his eyes sparkling.

“I have to say, Dr. Harper, I never imagined a distinguished college professor would own a set of pajamas like that.”

She switches off the light and slides into bed, her back fitting to his front, the last piece of a puzzle locking into place. His hands begin to roam over her fleece pants, exploring the soft material. She yawns again, letting her head loll back to rest against his collarbone.

“Gotta tell me where you managed to find Sasquatch pajamas; I know exactly what I need to get Sam for Christmas.”

She giggles through another yawn, then turns in his embrace. In the dim light of her room, the green of his eyes is lost to the darkness, but the faint smile on his lips...that she can see just fine.

Their kiss is slow, soft, and sleepy, and she allows herself two more before settling into the crook of his neck.

“Dean?”

“Mmm.” His voice is just as gone as hers. His fingers, having found their way under the edge of her pajama top, are stroking over the small of her back as he drifts off.

“Is this what it’s always like for you and Sam? For hunters?”

The quiet stretches on long enough that she thinks he’s fallen asleep, but then he shifts and clears his throat.

“Sometimes. Sometimes it’s better; easier cases, less gun shots, maybe a spell or two thrown around. But you know the lore, you work with hunters. It’s usually a lot worse.” He leaves his sentence there, obviously not willing to elaborate at the moment.

“On the other hand,” he adds a minute later, his voice thick with fatigue and another emotion she’s sure she’d be able to place if she were properly awake, “I don’t get to end every hunt like this, so that definitely counts for something.”

It definitely does, she thinks.

…

“You gotta pull the knife-hand towards your outside hip, then swing your head and shoulder at the same time, hit me hard as you can,” Dean coaxed patiently. They had spent most of sixth period study hall actually studying today, so Dean decided they needed to work on something else after school.

During their second tutoring session, Kimber learned that despite his willingness to be tutored by a girl, he chafed a little at the concept of receiving said tutoring without offering anything in return, so he suggested showing her some self-defense moves.

“In case the star quarterback ever gets any ideas that you’re not cool with,” he grinned. She rolled her eyes but accepted his proposition anyway. It meant coming into close, physical contact with Dean, for one. And it never hurt to be prepared, after all.

They went through the move again, Dean holding a stick to her neck in place of the knife. He made her work through it until she could pull off the maneuver without the sting of bark on her skin, until she managed to jab the stick hard enough against his side for him to wince in real discomfort.

The pleased smile he turned on her as he clutched his ribs made her toes tingle.

“I don’t see me using this kind of a move anytime soon, but it’s definitely good to know,” she admitted, picking up her denim jacket. The days had begun cooling off lately, fall making its presence abundantly known, and she shivered in the breeze as she zipped all the way up to her collar.

“You never know,” he agreed. He picked up her backpack, hanging it over his shoulder. “You could be set upon by anything: a pickpocket, a bank robber, a lone vampire looking for a snack. There’s no telling when that move could help you.”

“I doubt the vampire part, or even the bank robber, but yeah. I know a couple of people who’ve been mugged who could’ve used your expert training.” He slung his free arm around her shoulder, and they headed across the park.

“There are all sorts of critters out there that could creep up on you,” he said, his eyes sparkling mischievously. “Vamps are just one of a hundred, and one of the ones most likely to go for the neck.”

“One of a hundred,” she repeated. She was intrigued by the mention of monsters, had always loved reading old ghost stories and legends, but surely there couldn’t be that many monster stories in the world.

“I’ll trade you stories for pie,” he said. She shot him a skeptical glance, and he gave her an exaggerated, stern face. “I never joke about pie, and I know stories that would make your hair curl. Satisfaction guaranteed.”

“Okay,” she finally agreed. “But we’re talking at least three stories for one piece of pie.”

“Two stories and another self-defense lesson.”

Later on, as they stood outside her front door, she smiled shyly up at him, her cheeks warm despite the drop in temperature.

“I would have gotten you the pie just for another self-defense lesson,” she admitted, marveling at how he made her feel timid and brave all at once. His thumb brushed over her cheekbone, tucking a stray strand of hair out of his way. He pressed a gentle kiss to her mouth, not even long enough for her eyes to flutter shut. His smile, when he straightened, was soft and genuine.

“I would have traded the stories for the same.”

…

Kimber wakes, turning in Dean’s arms. It’s still dark out, nothing is out of place. She settles against him, her lips pressing against his collar bone.

“‘S’matter?” His words are slurred, muffled by her hair, and his arms tighten for a moment. She can feel the stretch rippling down the length of him, and that hidden spot in her chest spreads out, sending tendrils of soothing warmth through every part of her.

“Not a thing. Goodnight, Dean.”

“Night, sweetheart.”

…

Chapter 10

42 notes · View notes

travllingbunny · 4 years

Text

The 100: 7x10 A Little Sacrifice

After The Flock - the show’s weakest episode in a long time - and an unfortunate hiatus after that episode, A Little Sacrifice helped get season 7 back on track. It’s one of the best episodes of the season: it was exciting, things finally happened - a lot, we got a big revelation about what the endgame is likely to be all about, there were fights, an attempted mass murder/genocide (what would a season of The 100 be without those?), some really good character work, and the first major death of the season.

Yes, Charmaine Diyoza was not a main character. but after being introduced as a villain in season 5, she has grown into one of the most memorable and interesting characters on the show - in large part due to Ivana Miličević’s charismatic performance - with a complex and morally ambiguous characterization and backstory (which I really hope to maybe learn more about one day in the prequel flashbacks? Please?). She has been one of my favorite characters since season 5, and I loved her development and her relationship with Octavia, her mother/daughter relationship between her and Hope, her past fights to protect “expendable” prisoners and her S7 attempts to find peace and renounce violence, and hope (!) that at least her daughter will get to have a different and better life where she wouldn’t need to resort to it. She became a (not so little) sacrifice for the better future we saw her dreaming of in season 5 in that conversation with Kane - maybe that dream is something we will see the new generations live in the series finale?

The one thing I wasn’t too happy about (I was OK with the lack of Bellamy cliffhanger since we got him in the promo for 7x11 right afterwards) was that Clarke did not have any more screentime than in the other recent episodes. But, especially on rewatch, she had some great subtle little moments.

You know what is not subtle? Sheidheda. He’s finding new ways to be completely OTT. This time he can finally stop pretending to be Russell, so he gets a makeover, more in tune with the...interesting Grounder fashion styles, chews the scenery even more, and then - thanks to Madi - he loses an eye (just as he did during his original lifetime), getting closer to his season 6 Emperor-like look, though he’s missing a cloak this time. He also doesn’t have enough facial hair to twirl his moustache, but he actually hisses at one point. This part of the episode was, this time, really fun and intense, including a really good fight scene and some really emotional and important moments for Indra, Madi and Murphy, but doesn’t need much analysis and doesn’t require attention on rewatch.

I’m still not sure how/if these two storylines will connect. But I can see a thematic connection of sorts: Sheidheda is the embodiment of the worst parts of the Grounder culture, with the worship of violence and power and killing all those who oppose you; and not just that - he’s all egotism taken to the extreme, the kind of “wild beast” as Anders would despise, but in this case, he would actually have good reasons to. On the other hand, we have the Disciples with their sterile white rooms, order and the propaganda of the abnegation of self in the favor of the collective, and dreaming of “transcendence” instead of trying to get back to the “old ways”. But they really come off as two sides of the same coin: both ideologies are about worship of and subjugation to a leader, both believe violence is the solution, and both are against love and see it as a danger.

Brand new opening titles - these opens start with a shot of Sanctum and end with the Bardo Stone Room with the Anomaly Stone - and guess what makes a cameo near the end of the credits? That’s right, Earth. I was starting to think that any return to Earth won’t happen, but now I’m not so sure.

Sanctum

The episode opens with the immediate aftermath of Shady’s massacre of the Faithful. We see Madi’s friend Rex (that’s his name according to the credits) - the Sanctum boy who offered Madi’s other friend, the null boy, to play soccer - mourning someone, probably his mother. This scene had to be there so we’d feel some sympathy and sadness over the deaths of the Faithful rather than just be relieved they’re (mostly) gone. One of the wounded ones is Jeremiah, the same guy who developed deep gratitude for Murphy for saving his son. Although the Faithful have been very annoying, I do feel a tinge of sympathy for this guy, who’s so clueless that he never understood he had any agency in what happened to his son and seemed really convinced it was all about the will of the “gods”. He now asks Murphy to take care of his son when he dies, but Murphy insists he will not let Jeremiah die. (Trey, the annoying a-hole who was brainwashing Jordan, and used to act as the leader of the Faithful, is credited in the episode but I didn’t see him anywhere - so I have no idea if he’s among the dead, or he survived and was in a deleted scene.)

Madi has a really nice mini arc in this episode. She already had PTSD from her experience and possession by Sheidheda in season 6, so she is absolutely terrified when she learns he is back, and when he threatens her in a really creepy way. Excellent acting by Lola. Later, after being comforted by Murphy and joining the survivors,she shows strength in comforting Rex for his loss; and in the end, overcomes her fears and risks her life to save Indra.

Not that it matters, but Sheidheda’s real name is Malachi. (I’m still gonna keep calling him Shady.) We learn that when he recites the lineage - the names and clans of all the previous Commanders, which we know from S3 is a Grounder custom for a new Commander to do. Of course, we only get to hear some of the names in the middle (a couple of random Commanders called Maffei kom Boudalankru - the Rock Line and Kemji kom Trishanakru) and the end, when he mentions Lexa and Madi. The show wasn’t going to spoil the prequel by revealing the names of early Commanders,

The fight itself was really intense and maybe the best Grounder-style duel in the show (yes, I prefer it to the 3x04 one, which involved too much showmanship to look as a real death match). Shady is obviously going to be there for a while and things aren’t going to get so easily resolved, so he wins and is about to kill Indra - who refuses to kneel to save her own life - but just as he’s about to kill her, Madi finds the courage to come as the Big Damn Hero at the crucial moment, pluck out Shady’s eye and save Indra’s life. But then as he is about to kill Madi, Indra decides to (metaphorically, since she’s lying and about to pass out) kneel in order to save Madi’s life. Indra’s arc with Shady has come full circle: this may finally make her understand her mother’s choice and realize she was unfair to her. She grew up blaming her mother for agreeing to kneel to Sheidheda and considering her “weak”. The battle had been lost, her father was already dead, and her mother made the best possible decision and wasn’t just saving herself but her daughter, too. Otherwise, as we see in this episode, Shady would have ordered the daughter to be killed, too, after the mother - as he thinks children of the people he killed should also be eliminated so they couldn’t pose a threat and seek revenge.

That last order even shocked Knight, who may be having some second thoughts about the awesomeness of “Sangedakru’s greatest champion” (but this doesn’t mean he won’t keep obeying him). Penn and the other Trikru guy we know, who are loyal to Indra, reluctantly knelt when Indra asked them to.

Madi, Rex and the other Faithful (including Jeremiah, who has indeed survived) have gone into hiding with Murphy and Emori - and hiding at the abandoned reactor. We didn’t see Jackson, but i’m sure he’s there. (Sachin is a guest star and must skip some episodes he’s not really needed in.) So now we’re finally reached the part of this storyline where Shady is in power and our heroes are the resistance. And Murphy is now, with Emori, a part of a power couple protecting these people and taking care of them (who would’ve expected that back in season 1?) - much like we’ve seen Clarke and Bellamy do over the seasons - even though most of the same people resented them for being fake Primes just a few hours earlier. Maybe they’re finally starting to get a clue and feel respect and gratitude to people who are trying to save them just because it’s a decent humane thing to do, rather than for being self-proclaimed “gods” who participated in their murder, oppression and exploitation.

Bardo

After 4 episodes, Clarke, Raven and Miller finally left the Stone Room! Yay! Jordan and Niylah stayed in it, and as it turns out, Jordan has a much more important and interesting role to play by reading the Anomaly Stone, while Niylah’s role in S7 has been to be exposition machine for Grounder history and have bad one-liners while Miller has the good ones. I’m glad there was no prolonged “OMG are they really brainwashed and on their side?” misunderstanding, as Clarke and the rest of the group, after learning about MCap from Gabriel, quickly realized that Octavia, Echo and Diyoza are only pretending, since they haven’t blown the secret that Clarke doesn’t have the Flame.

Speaking of one-liners, Miller’s “Get the flock out of here” really made me laugh out loud.

Callie is known as the Pramfleimkepa - the First Flamekeeper - which should mean she was never a Commander (I imagine that would supersede the position of the Flamekeeper or at least be as worthy of mention). I was afraid for a moment that Niylah had given the game away when she told Cadogan that - but fortunately, he didn’t understand what it meant, as he never knew that Becca called ALIE 2.0 “the Flame”.

Gabriel and Cadogan have a long conversation over dinner (or breakfast or lunch of whatever) about Earth before the bombs and Cadogan’s beliefs. The two of them are one of the few remaining humans who knew life before the apocalypse. (After Diyoza’s death in this episode, the only other people left from that time are the Eligius prisoners in Sanctum.) But while Cadogan is chronologically ‘older’ than Gabriel, as he was a Millennial, while Gabriel was born a couple of decades later, and because Cadogan has technically been alive for thousands of years on Bardo - Cadogan spent most of that time in cryo (same as Diyoza and the other prisoners). Gabriel is the real Old Man - at least 260 years old, having lived and experienced all those years. We learn a bit more about Gabriel’s background - that his family were from Colombia and his grandmother was poor, making him a “self-made man” - another contrast between him and the love of his life Josephine (which makes their season 6 parallel to Clarke/Bellamy even more perfect). Gabriel is the go-to-guy this season for having conversations about the worship of false gods and trying to challenge the Disciples’ beliefs. Cadogan, again, denies that he’s a cult leader (sure), reveals he doesn’t believe in God, and claims he doesn’t consider himself one (he sure doesn’t mind being treated like one, though). Instead, he claims his purpose is for everyone to “transcend” and become like gods - though he doesn’t really explain what that would consist of, and he also doesn’t offer any explanations as to why there is supposed to be a “Last War” and who the enemy in that was is supposed to be. Seven episodes have gone by with the characters talking to the Disciples, and no one has ever asked that question: who is the enemy? I guess they don’t even know that, they just think that, when they type in the code, they will learn who the enemy is and the war will begin, for... reasons? He also adds some BS about “this life” being unimportant compared to afterlife. (Now, to be clear - I actually do believe in the afterlife in general (though I don’t know in which form), but I really, really hate it when religions make the afterlife the focus and treat the life we actually know and are sure we have as less important, use it as an excuse to teach people to accept any sort of crap in their lives and not ask for more instead of living their lives to the fullest and trying to build something worthwhile in this life.) Gabriel is less than impressed with Cadogan, and challenges him by pointing out that “You can’t fight a war for the soul of the human race with an inhuman army” and that a life without love, individuality or freedom is pretty worthless, but Cadogan has the afterlife as a ready excuse, even though that doesn’t really answer the question.

The most important revelation that we finally get in this episode is that Cadogan has most likely mistranslated and completely misunderstood the ancient Bardoan text that he’s based his entire belief system on. And his mistake was in large part due to confirmation bias - he saw what he wanted to see, even though the idea of ending wars and violence by starting and fighting a war is absurd. (Niylah, for once, has a good line, when she points out that every major war is supposed to be the “last” but it never is.) Jordan’s interpretation - that it is really about a test that the species needs to pass - makes a lot more sense. Not a literal test - I really can’t imagine the show introducing some kind of godlike “higher beings” - but, I think, something that will require the characters to use all their strength and moral sense and all the experience they’ve had and wisdom they may have gained, to find the best solution to save the human race and rebuild the civilization, hopefully into something better (and it’s really not too hard being better than the mess of tribalism and constant wars and conflicts we’ve seen on the show). I don’t know what this will be, but the words “the orb becomes like a star” make me thing of a natural phenomenon.

It’s also cool that it was knowledge of the Korean language that helped Jordan decipher the text - proving how helpful it is to be familiar with multiple languages and cultures and how much it expands one’s way of thinking. Do Disciples speak any languages other than English? They seem to foster cultural uniformity, so probably not. (it’s also confirmed now that Monty was half-Korean on his father’s side - Chris Larkin is Korean, but the actress who played his mother, Donna Yamamoto, is Japanese, so I assume Monty is half-Japanese.)

If you doubted that 7x09 flashbacks were a waste of screentime, we get a confirmation early on that Echo has just been pretending to be loyal to the Disciples, while plotting revenge all the time, when she kills a Disciple and saves Hope from being sent to Skyring. This plot could have continued straight from 7x07, when Echo’s Azgeda ritual was strongly hinting that she’s out for revenge. (And yes, the writing in 7x09 was just that clunky as I feared - of course that Chekhov’s WMD that Levitt mentioned for no reason would be used in the very next episode for someone to try to kill all the Disciples in another Mount Weather parallel.)

A tiny bit of info about the Disciples - a Disciple addressed Hope as “Seeker Diyoza”. I don’t know if that’s a title for those trying to reach Level 1 or something else.

Hope, with her usual anger and impulsiveness, reminiscent of how Octavia used to be once, and her naive black and white views, is all for revenge-genocide, too, in spite of Octavia’s and Diyoza’s disagreement. Her mother tries to, again, teach her the lesson she tried to in 7x07, that she should turn to love instead of violence and killing (which carries a lot more weight when it comes from someone like Charmaine Diyoza rather than a hippy): “I know what it's like to kill innocent people for a cause, and I promise you, it's not gonna fill that hole in your heart. Only we can do that.” But Hope retorts that “There are no innocent people here”, echoing Nikki’s words to Nelson that “There are no innocent people at the end of the world”. It’s not that Hope doesn’t have a point that everyone in Bardo is a part of the society that’s been kidnapping and torturing her family and that stole her childhood, but collective responsibility is a concept that only works in terms of moral responsibility, not as an excuse to commit genocide because you’ve decided that everyone in the other group is evil and the “enemy” and deserves death. Some people have compared it to Maya saying “None of us is innocent”, but I don’t think this comparison works, because that line changes the meaning entirely depending on whether you are holding yourself and your society morally accountable for its failings and complicity in crimes against humanity, or if you’re using it against others, in order to justify hate and commit crimes against humanity.

Even though neither Clarke nor Octavia had huge screentime in this episode and may not have done anything big (like Diyoza sacrificing herself and saving everyone, or Jordan figuring everything out), they had some wonderful, subtle little moments that spoke volumes:

I loved the hug between Clarke and Octavia - where Clarke said her condolences to Octavia and then Octavia said them back, letting Clarke know she knew what Bellamy meant to her and that she is grieving just as much. (”I’m sorry, Octavia” - “So am I”)

Raven and Miller exchanged a wordless look - probably because of how awkward it was for Miller to see Octavia again. Although these 4 people all go back to season 1 (and it was the first time in a while they were in the same room), for Miller it’s been just a few weeks since she was Blodreina and he was her follower, and the last time they saw each other (in season 6), he yelled at her that he’s not following her orders anymore - which was about him struggling with his guilt and seeing her as an embodiment of it. But for Octavia, it’s been over 10 years and a huge character development, which Miller doesn’t know about. But they had no time to go over it - instead, she just hugged him and asked him to hug her back, and he did.

When the group went to find Levitt - still tied up and bloody after Echo had tortured him and killed two Disciples in front of him to force him to tell her about Gem9, the WMD that can destroy everyone on Bardo (he must be really traumatized one - Clarke obviously immediately realized what was going on when she saw Octavia come to check on Levitt, going by the look on her face, and her look when she turned to go and the others went after her, while Octavia was still there -as if saying "I realize you need a moment with this guy, but don't wait too long". Although Levitt looked disappointed and shocked that Octavia didn’t untie him, she was really doing what was the most reasonable way to try to protect everyone - the priority was to stop Echo from killing all the Disciples, which would include Levitt, but also to stop Levitt from alerting Anders, which he would’ve done, because Octavia also wanted to save Echo and her people. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t care for Levitt, but she’s not the 17 year old girl who’d go: “I just met you but you’re immediately the most important person to me and I’m going to prioritize you over everyone I know”.

And then we get to the final and most dramatic scene of the episode... Echo’s attempt to commit genocide out of revenge, while Octavia, Clarke and Raven tried to talk her down.

Octavia tried to reach Echo by, again, talking about their shared grief over Bellamy, as she did in 7x07, but again, it did not work - because Octavia and Echo, and Clarke and Echo, are different people, who grieve in different ways and think and act in different ways. It doesn’t mean that any of them are grieving more or less than another one - but their responses are very different. Octavia - this mature Octavia who is more able to empathize with others and doesn’t react with impulsive violence as she used to - responded by trying to reach out to others who were also grieving for Bellamy, Echo and Clarke, and validating their grief, too. Clarke reacted - after the initial shock and grief - by sucking it up, as she does, in order to take care of the others, and focusing on saving the people Bellamy loved, telling Raven “We do this for him” and focusing on saving Octavia and Echo. Echo, on the other hand, reacted destructively and violently and by killing people for revenge and then plotting genocide as revenge for 3 months. This is the only way she knows how to process grief - she’s never known a different way, as I’m sure Azgeda weren’t known for compassion and sharing feelings. When Bellamy was grieving Clarke in season 6, she asked him “When do we attack?”, because that’s what she expected him to do, too. She’s also lost because she hasn’t lost just a boyfriend, but a leader and anchor in her new post-Praimfaya life, and because she had made saving Bellamy her mission she was waiting to fulfill during the 5 years on Skyring. If she had carried out her plan, I’m not sure she’d know what to do with herself. (I don’t know what it says about the mindset of us, humans of 2020, that so many fans have decided that Echo’s way of grieving is the superior one and the one that shows that she loves Bellamy the best. It certainly doesn’t show anything good.)

Octavia’s next argument - that there are many good people on Bardo she’d be killing - was even less successful, as Echo threw her relationship with Levitt back in her face, pointing out that he stole her memories, talking of him as one of their enemies, and then even saying: "Way to honor your brother's memory!" Echo came off as very judgmental here, and more than bit hypocritical - after all , she personally almost killed Octavia twice, and Bellamy started trusting her and dating her on the Ring, after she had given them both far less reason to trust her than Levitt did. Levitt actually took a risk and was helping her against Anders just out of his feelings for Octavia, while Echo only helped Bellamy and others after she was exiled and had to in order to survive. She seems to value forgiveness only when it’s others forgiving her (”Who knows more about forgiveness than us?”), even though she never expected them to and was a bit shocked that they did.

Clarke then tried to use her standard “This is not who you are” plea, but it didn’t work with Echo, since Clarke doesn’t really know Echo, and the words felt empty. There really is very little reason for Clarke to think this is not who Echo is, except for her tendency to assume Echo must have changed for the better because she’s Bellamy’s girlfriend and Bellamy loves her (see their conversation in 5x12). Clarke also tried to use her own experience - as she did with Raven earlier in the season - telling Echo that “a choice like this” would haunt her forever (of course Clarke would bring up MW, it always goes back to MW for her), but Echo rejected that comparison and, for a moment, channeled me by pointing out that Clarke’s motivations were to save her people, while Echo’s are purely revenge. Which was, however, a strange argument in context - pointing out that Clarke’s reasons were much better and she had no choice but to kill all of the Mountain Men or let them kill all of her friends and family, while Echo wasn’t achieving anything good and could just save all her people and not take revenge on the Disciples. But Echo seemed to be telling Clarke that they different, and she cannot assume that Echo will feel the same way about mass murder Clarke does.

Then Clarke finally brought up Bellamy, pointing out that he would not want a genocide to be committed in his memory. I don’t know how anyone who’s watched the show for 6 seasons could disagree with Clarke. But Echo did. What’s more, she yelled "You have no idea what Bellamy wanted!" in a really angry, resentful way. It felt personal. I don’t know if Echo has felt romantic jealousy of Clarke over Bellamy - she has sure kept it close to her chest - but it certainly felt like some kind of possessiveness, like resenting the idea that Clarke was as close or closer to Bellamy and knew him better. In any case, this was a moment of extreme dramatic irony - because we know (and really, Echo should know as well) that Echo is the one who doesn’t seem to know, or is simply ignoring, what Bellamy would have wanted and who he was. And she should know. She was there when he talked down Riley from killing Roan, telling him “War made me a murderer, don’t let it do it to you too”, she was there when Bellamy refused to kill 283 prisoners in cryo sleep and said “Clarke didn’t die for us to go back and make the same mistakes”. And she was there when Bellamy was grieving Clarke but decided not to take revenge for her death - not even by killing the man who murdered her, Russell - but to try to honor her memory by doing what she would want and surviving and keeping their people alive. Which directly contradicts Echo’s statement that Bellamy would be doing the same she is if one of them (Clarke, Octavia or her) were killed. Does she really not know him? Most of the time they spent together were in a time of peace and boredom with just 7 people on the Ring. She seems to be projecting her own ideas and views and character into him.

Then Raven went on to agree with Clarke (but Echo did not resent her for saying it), pointing out how Bellamy has grown and changed and that the post-season 3 Bellamy certainly would never do that. I was slightly annoyed when she said that Bellamy of season 3 may do that - but to be fair, she did say, “maybe”. Now, season 1 or season 3 Bellamy was certainly angrier and more prone to black and white thinking when it came to enemies, and he may very well have agreed to kill all of the adult Disciples if he thought they were likely to be a threat to his people (which is what he did when he agreed to help Pike kill Lexa’s army), but he sure wouldn’t agree to kill any of them just for revenge, or to kill children and non-combatants (the one time he did it was MW, when he and Clarke knew there was no other way to protect their people from being horrifically killed, and he hated it and was haunted by it then). Nevertheless, that’s a minor thing as the point of Raven’s speech was the way Bellamy has grown and developed. Echo hasn’t really changed, certainly not as much as Bellamy wanted to think in S5. Is there still time for her to change?

In the end, love did save the day - but it wasn’t Echo’s love for Bellamy, it was her non-romantic love for Raven and Raven’s for her. Raven calling her a sister only helped pave the way - but she had to actually threaten to stay there and force Echo to choose between killing Raven and giving up her revenge, for Echo to finally stand down. The fact she did shows that maybe there’s still hope for her to change and give up revenge and violence for things like friendship.

But then Anders had to appear and ruin everything, He could have just tried to arrest the group, rather than threatening them and giving them speeches about how he despises them for being “beasts raised in the wild”. (I’ve wondered many times since 7x05 is Anders is supposed to be smart or a complete dumbass. He was definitely a dumbass.)

Diyoza took charge, as the most experienced and tactical one, and almost. And then Hope was again being her impulsive, angry, out of control self - Anders is always the person most likely to set her off - killing Anders (which I wouldn’t mind) but then also making her own attempt to commit genocide. (It’s funny that the four Disciples just froze and did nothing while all of that was happening.)

What happened then was both a heroic sacrifice and one of the best and most heroic death scenes on the show, a fitting ending for Charmaine Diyoza (even a visually beautiful death in a creepy way, as Diyoza turned into a crystal statue), with her final message to her daughter to be “better” than her in the future - and a heartbreaking loss for Hope, who has just been punished by the narrative/fate for her devotion to violence and hate and attempt at genocide, by causing her own mother’s death. She was obsessed with revenge for her lost childhood and the fact her mother was taken from her - instead of focusing on the future and what she still had. I’m sure that Hope will survive to the end of the series, and will have to question herself and change. She still has Aunty O to help her and be her family.

As we’re approaching the endgame, the show here made an obvious point about violence, hatred and revenge and having to give up those things - not for Anders’ unemotional duty to the collective, but for love and compassion/

Rating: 8.5/10

#the 100 #the 100 7x10 #a little sacrifice #the 100 season 7 #charmaine diyoza #clarke griffin #octavia blake #gabriel santiago #jordan green #indra kom trikru #indra #john murphy #madi griffin #sheidheda #emori #bill cadogan #hope diyoza

35 notes · View notes

ohwereusingourmadeupnames · 4 years

Note

16 for starker plz

I’d Choose To Fall

Pairing: Peter Parker/Tony Stark (Starker) Rating: Mature (M) Word Count: 4.1k Notes: @goindownshipping, you’re always dropping prompts in the box that foster immediate ideas - I got this one up and started typing and all of the sudden several thousand words were in front of me. As always, thanks for the inspo and support. You’re the best <4. Warnings: Brief description of injury, handy j’s, NSFW stuff. Summary:

It’s not love at first sight, or even love that makes sense. The way Peter loves Tony is like a slow morning - filled with the best things and so easy.

Or - the one where Peter and Tony fall in love without noticing and spend their retired years living simply in the mountains.

50 types of kisses prompts

Stepping away from the Avenger’s after Thanos was one of the best decisions Peter ever made.

The constant worry and unknown of 5 years attempting to not only bring people back but set time straight too – it took its toll.

For a couple of months following the time-travel discovery, Peter waited impatiently for the other shoe to drop. Between himself, Tony, and Bruce, they’d been working tirelessly and now that the answer was within their grasp, it seemed a little too good to be true.

Yet, when they did the physical work to balance out the theoretical, Peter found himself losing that feeling. And when the machine was built and their hands were wrapped around the mechanisms filled with Pym particles, he knew they were going to accomplish their task. He wasn’t sure at what cost, but at least an end was near.

It took him several months to recover after wielding the gauntlet that finally put Thanos down and set the timeline back to where it needed to be. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen when he snapped his fingers, but he recognized the fact that Tony was going to do it and couldn’t let that happen. If anyone stood a chance at actually surviving, it was Peter.

Most of the energy damage was external and though his expedited healing could take care of it, the whole process was slow going and way more painful than Peter ever could have imagined.

At the beginning, Peter always felt a little surprised to blink awake from a pain induced nap to see Tony sitting by his bed. The longer Peter spent in the makeshift hospital unit they set up at Stark Tower, the more used to it he got – even Tony started to settle in, the older man’s hand finding his during the struggle or just because.

Unaccustomed to being so debilitated for so long, Peter started to get antsy a few weeks into his recovery. That was right around the time he got his feet back under him, so after a bit of begging, Peter was cleared to walk around and get minimal exercise. When Bruce gave him the go ahead, he slung his good arm through Tony’s and pulled him out of the hospital wing with him. In the 8 weeks he was confined to his bed, Tony must’ve been there at least once a day, every day. It only made sense to include him in the next step.

Peter’s intuition led him to daily walks with Tony around the tower and then later, when he was almost back to total health, jogs and long runs around the indoor track of the big gym Tony had the forethought to add during reconstruction.

Each time they got together to go through rehab and train, Peter learned something new about Tony.

For a while, they didn’t do much talking at all. Tony looked at him with a mixture of gratefulness and guilt for the first few weeks. Peter also figured Tony was trying to deal with the 5 years’ worth of work that trickled down to a singular instant. So many things happened that were hard to handle – it wasn’t surprising that everyone involved was grieving.

The better he got, though, the more Tony seemed to open up. Tony’s eyes didn’t look as haunted when they were trained in Peter’s direction, and when he spoke, his voice was filled with trust and genuine interest. Instead of being the young boy that was in way over his head, Peter got some sort of promotion in Tony’s eyes – he felt the most like a grown-up when Tony talked to him like the rest of the crew, like an adult; and sometimes, even like a friend.

Things got a little more intense when Bruce gave Peter the all clear. He didn’t have any plans for after, because he didn’t know how the entire thing was going to play out.

All of his friends and family, including May, got taken away in the snap. It was necessary to move on in the time half the planet was gone – he couldn’t go back and just act like everything was normal. He got his high school diploma and went through an online college program to have a degree. Between the times they were working on a solution, Peter was bored and needed something to fill the space. They were right where they left off, but Peter wasn’t - not even close.

Tony seemed interested in his plans after the fact, too – the man brought them up for a whole week after Peter got the good news. After what felt like the 100th time, Peter finally addressed it. “Any reason why you keep asking me? If I’m overstaying my welcome, just tell me, Tony,” Peter said, his arm still across Tony’s chest where he flung it out to stop their movement. “I have no plans – there hasn’t been any time to make any.”

A soft smile was the only thing he got in return for a while, Peter felt Tony’s chest rise and fall, the thrum of the arc reactor familiar and now more comforting than most of the other things in his life. Tony finally took a step back, Peter’s arm falling to his side.

“You haven’t overstayed anything, Pete. I’m trying to decide what I want to do and since you’re someone I care about, I wanted to know what your next move was – if I could help at all…” Tony trailed off, his right hand reaching behind his head to scratch at the back of his neck, the gesture recognizable as a nervous habit after so much time together. “I don’t think I’m going to stick around and try to save the world, anymore. Something quiet might be nice.”

Peter played those words back in his head for a while after that – Tony gave his shoulder a brief squeeze and headed back to the penthouse, his eyes clouded with thought. Without any hesitation, Peter kept going in the opposite direction, his own brain trying to process what the older man meant. A particular part of him wondered if Tony craved the same closeness that he did – the idea of a nice, simple life with Tony was one thing he actually could picture. He couldn’t pinpoint when that became a thing, but it did – the Peter Tingle hadn’t led him wrong yet, so he wasn’t going to stop listening to it now.

Convincing Tony, on the other hand, took a bit of work. The next couple of days’ worth of walks consisted of Peter talking about what a future house might look like and how a lab could easily be incorporated into the dream. Though he was the smartest man in the world, Tony didn’t pick up what he was laying down. With that in mind, Peter changed his tactic – despite showing the world such a tough exterior, Tony had a soft side; he could play into that.

“I think I’m going to step away from the superhero thing,” Peter said out of nowhere during their very next workout. Now that he was feeling a little bit better, Tony didn’t join him for weights nearly as often – the man could only do so much to keep up with the strength he was very quickly regaining. It’d been a couple of days and the smile he saw on Tony’s lips settled a little further into his core than usual. Maybe accepting the fact that Tony meant more to him than he originally thought was a world shifting thing for him – watching the older man light up felt fantastic.

“Oh? You’re not going to protect the streets of Queens, anymore?” Tony asked, his breaths heaving a bit from the chest set he just pumped out. He sat up on the bench and focused more fully on Peter.

It took him a second to pull his eyes away from the bead of sweat that dripped down the side of Tony’s face – It settled in the thickness of his goatee and disappeared. Blinking, he forced himself to look right into Tony’s eyes. “I think I’ve done enough. I got some of the strength and speed back, but my healing and trust in myself are nowhere near where they used to be. Seems like sign enough,” Peter replied easily. “I was thinking about moving out of New York completely, actually.”

He broke eye contact and moved around the bench to change the weight; his hands desperate for a distraction as the next question came out of his mouth. “Want to come with me?”

There weren’t any plans in the works, or anything like that – he hadn’t looked at houses or even decided where the hell he wanted to go; but, it felt important to make sure that Tony got the memo – that, after everything, Tony didn’t have to lose everything.

A few beats of silence passed before Tony got up from where he was sitting and stilled Peter’s hands on the bar. The heat from his touch felt molten, his palms were filled with blood from the previous exercise and a tantalizing combination of both calloused and soft. It felt good – better than good.

With a grin, Tony nodded, his sweaty hair swinging into his eyes with the movement.

“I do.”

----

The simplicity of those 2 words kicked them both into gear. Since Stark Tower and the Avenger’s compound were both being used by the remaining crew, it only made sense to gather what they wanted from it and head out into their own space. When Tony pulled out a map and told him to pick where they were going, Peter closed his eyes and let the Peter Tingle pick for him. The mountains of the Pacific Northwest were as good a place as any.

With enough money to last them a few lifetimes, Peter and Tony set out for North Bend, Washington – a small house in a mountain clearing already in the works. For the months it took to have their house built, Peter got a technology repair business off the ground – running it out of their apartment was good practice for the small storefront he imagined for when Parker’s got a little bit bigger. Though Tony helped every now and again, Peter took on the brunt of the work. They were both aware of the fact that they didn’t need to bring in any income – but, it felt necessary, anyway – he wanted to take care of Tony, too.

Fine craftsmanship went into the house that was built specifically for them. Tony’s only request was a lab that he could spend countless hours in, which was the easiest thing to deliver in the form of a detached shed a few paces from the main house.

The house was 2 stories and had a big open floor plan on the bottom floor – the kitchen opened up into a large dining room and an even bigger entertainment room. There were a couple of bedrooms at the far side of the first level. A large wooden staircase led up into another large open space on the upper floor – the idea for a game room leading off their bedroom one that Peter was the most interested in during the build.

And though their relationship didn’t start in a whirlwind of passion and inability to keep away from one another, Peter found that the gradual attraction and build up to finally coming together was much nicer than the hurried encounters he found himself in before. The burn he felt for Tony started in the tips of his toes and spread like wildfire up his legs, through his core, and across his chest and arms. It settled like something long term – like a thing that when nurtured, would burn him from the inside out for as long as he fanned the flame.

They didn’t sleep together completely until their first night in the new house. Peter tasted the deliciousness of Tony’s flesh many times over – he knew that Tony’s right side just under his 4th rib was ridiculously ticklish, and when in the right mood, his lover liked to have his balls worshipped with just the tip of his tongue and the ghost of warm breath. It felt like enough until he understood the complete feeling of having Tony inside of him, filling him up not just with his cock, but with the assurance of stability and strength.

Lying beside him, sweat still cooling on their skin, Peter let his fingertips run across the soft skin on the inside of Tony’s arm. “You’re my best friend, Tony,” Peter mumbled, his skin pebbling in the cool air, the truth of his words affecting him immensely. “I think I’m in love with you.”

Not worrying about the puddle of cum lingering on the sheets below them, Tony rolled until he could pull Peter against his chest. “Good – I’m in love with you, too. This, you - it’s everything.” Tony pressed a kiss against his head and didn’t say anything further – the depth of their connection more than enough to carry the feeling and keep it lingering in the air long after the verbal admittances settled.

----

Once they got everything settled in the house, Peter let himself get into a routine that fit doing what he wanted and running the small business that he’d been nurturing for more than a year now. Tony took to the retirement life easily – he spent time with Peter when he was around, and when he wasn’t, he could be found in the lab working on car restorations or random pieces of tech that usually led to some sort of adventure or war of wit and skills with whatever Tony made.

Though he wasn’t responsible for Tony or his satisfaction in life, Peter decided early on in his thing with him that doing whatever he could to keep the man happy was a top priority. The fact that Tony seemed to be flourishing in the random chaos lessened the self-induced pressure. He thought, for a brief moment, that slow wouldn’t be something for Tony after all. Being proven wrong made the tangible happiness so much more meaningful.

As any retired person did, Tony slept in until Peter roused him every morning. Early into their transition into the house, Peter put together a gym in the open part of the garage and furnished it with weights and every cardio machine he could ever want. Getting into town wasn’t a burden, but slow mornings and extra time with Tony was motivation enough.

Peter usually got up and spent a couple of hours in the gym – though he wasn’t a superhero anymore, his strength hadn’t gone anywhere. It took a little extra time to get out all of the energy that built up throughout the days that were filled with too much idling and enjoying the concept of doing nothing. Every now and again, he got the web shooters out and took a swing through the trees that surrounded their house – using his talent for nothing but enjoyment gave him the kind of rush he could cling to.

When he got back, Peter turned on the coffee pot and went about getting ready – a thing that usually consisted of rousing Tony and cleaning off the morning’s sweat. Since he set his own business hours and took appointments only, Peter went as fast or slow as the day called for.

That particular morning, Peter didn’t have anything going on, so he went about his routine slowly, enjoying every bit of it. Instead of the coffee pot, he put water on to boil and pulled out some of the good coffee beans from the panty, a couple scoops going into the French press. Sticking around until the kettle started to steam, Peter pulled it from the burner and went about making them both a cup of coffee.

Carrying them into the bedroom, Peter set both cups on the dresser before walking further into the room. His breath caught when he noticed a completely naked Tony sprawled across the mattress. The sheet must have slipped down when he starfished out, his right arm clutching Peter’s pillow tightly to his chest. The rush of affection that washed over him whenever he caught a rare glance of Tony’s vulnerability had his fingers tingling and a wide smiling slipping across his face. The ability to keep falling in love never ceased to amaze him.

He let a warm hand rest on Tony’s shoulder, the touch the first rousing stimulus. Climbing into the bed, Peter let his sweaty body press into Tony’s personal space – if his fingers on him didn’t do the trick, the muggy musk of his sweat usually did. His arm wrapped around Tony’s chest, that contact the thing that finally brought Tony around.

“Mm, you stink,” Tony mumbled, his sleepy brain ditching the pillow in his arms in order to seek out more contact with Peter. “I love sweaty, Pete.” To prove his point, he nuzzled his nose in Peter’s sweat-soaked shirt.

Peter wrinkled his nose and shifted, his head shaking a little. “You’re an animal,” Peter muttered, the words mixing into the soft kisses he placed against Tony’s cheeks, then nose, then lips. “Time to get up, sunshine. Come take a shower with me and then take me through those specs you were talking about last night.”

Tony’s eyes closed again, his lips tilting into the cutest pout. “I don’t want to get up yet, Pete,” Tony said, his voice just moments away from being completely petulant. Turning his face away from Peter, Tony let out a huff and tried to settle back into the mattress as much as he could without losing contact with sweaty skin.

Shaking his head, Peter leaned in a little more firmly, his weight pressing into Tony in a way that he knew the older man liked. His hand shifted a little until it was running a straight-line down Tony’s chest, the muscles there rippling with every new step of his descent. Fingertips danced along the skin he knew was sensitive, and when he tugged on the trail of hair leading to well-groomed pubic hair and a quickly hardening erection, he had to stop a moan from slipping from his own lips.

The overt lack of reaction from Tony drove Peter on, his hands moving with a renewed purpose. If Tony wanted to pretend to be fussy, Peter wasn’t above playing dirty to get his lover’s head out of his ass. Using his nose to run down the line of Tony’s neck, Peter mimicked the move with his hands across long sides and the width of trim hips. He neglected Tony’s cock, the length now fully hard and pulsing any time Peter got within reach of it.

His hands kept up their teasing touch until Tony’s hips started to rise, the guise of sleep totally lost. Peter bit into his lip to keep the beaming grin from slipping across his face – the sneaky routine only worked if he kept his cool. By the time he couldn’t stop himself from wrapping his hand around the pulsing erection, the tip of Tony’s cock was dripping, the wetness there making his own arousal spike.

Finally, Tony turned his head and locked eyes with Peter, his mouth open wide as small pants left his lips. Grinning, Peter leaned forward and let his lips trail over Tony’s, the older man trying to resist for about ten seconds before giving in completely. The moan leaving his chest created just enough of a gap for Peter’s tongue to slip inside the other’s mouth. A wet tangle of tongues followed.

In the heat of it all, Peter felt his hips seek out contact against Tony’s side – the warm skin tangible through the thin layer of his running shorts. They didn’t cover much of his leg, Peter’s bulge within them causing the fabric to ride up even further. Each pass of the soft, sweat absorbing material of the shorts across his cock sent a lightning bolt of want straight to his core. It wasn’t difficult to set a pace with his hand that his hips could easily keep in their desperate quest to get enough friction to chase the same pleasure.

Tony’s desperation to touch and be touched and finally cum all over the place had him grabbing at Peter’s face, their kisses frenzied and wet at that point. His fingers finally found some purchase in the hair at the side of Peter’s head – Tony’s nails digging in against his scalp adding to the overall experience. Peter picked up the pace of his hand in response, his thumb swiping across the tip to collect the dribbles of precum to ease the slide of his hand.

The collection of wetness in his own shorts had him finally breaking from the siren call of Tony’s lips – Peter panted out a couple of breaths and tried to hold himself back. The idea was to get Tony there first; his stubborn lover didn’t learn anything unless there was a practical demonstration. Peter found himself teetering over the edge, too – his intentions obviously bigger than the hand that held onto his self-control.

“Fuck, Pete – I’m going to cum,” Tony gasped out, his words thick and heavy, muddled with sleep and the heady arousal that served as prequel to the delicious pleasure of a well-built orgasm. A second later, Peter felt the cock in his hand pulse and twitch, Tony’s cum spilling out over his fist and onto the clenching muscles of the older man’s chest.

Grunting, Peter ground his hips against Tony’s side one more time before following him over the edge, a sharp “fuck!” falling from his lips. Despite himself, Peter found himself floating on that comfortable edge between too much and not enough, the pleasure plane one that felt like a syrupy haze.

Soft fingers and the uncomfortable wetness in his shorts brought him around a few minutes later, a sigh falling from his lips. “Now it’s totally time to get up,” Peter mumbled, his brain still a little addled from his orgasm. “Come shower with me.”

He shifted a little, his lips just an inch or two away from Tony’s. The older man looked at him for a second before mimicking his pout from earlier, the look almost convincing if it weren’t for the shine in his eyes. Closing the gap, Peter let his lips linger in a series of chase kisses. An unmistakable look of affection and acceptance sat on Tony’s features when they pulled away.

“Alright, alright. I’m up, I’m up,” Tony muttered with reluctance, his traitorous cheeks slipping up into a smile despite the fact that Peter knew he’d been trying to hold out. He pressed up and got another couple of kisses from Peter before he detached and got out of bed.

The lack of shame in Tony’s movements made a big grin slip across his own cheeks. Throughout his adventure with the other man, Peter learned that Tony liked his body and wasn’t afraid to show it off when the time was right. He also figured out that he liked the preening and would gladly enjoy the show.

From where he was standing, Tony watched him, the sleepiness in his eyes leaving by the second. It was a battle of glances for a couple of heartbeats before Tony was turning, his legs carrying him towards the bathroom. When he got to the door, he stopped and grabbed the edge of the frame. Looking over his shoulder, he sent Peter a wink. “I thought we were getting in the shower.”

Shaking his head, Peter got up from the bed and stripped out of his ruined shorts and wet tank top. His own confidence grew every time Tony looked at him the way he was now, with big eyes and the intention of taking in every detail. He knew, deep down, that no matter what he looked like, Tony would stare at him that way.

Their relationship wasn’t conventional and didn’t start in the way that most did, but it was true and solid, built on a foundation of understanding and a true knowledge of wants, needs, fears, and desires. Peter didn’t have to guess and could handle the whiplash that sometimes came with Tony’s array of uncontrollable thoughts. Tony knew Peter would always be there, no matter how scattered he became.

Loving and being loved by his best friend was an absolute gift.

And as he wrapped his arm around Tony’s waist and pulled him deeper into the bathroom, Peter knew for certain that leaving the Avenger’s was the best decision he’d ever made.

#goindownshipping #starker #ironspider #bobbie writes #i'd choose to fall

27 notes · View notes

bethelina · 4 years

Text

Big Trouble in Radiant Garden

Contains: Tiny Ven, Big Terra, Big Aqua, Big Lea, Big Isa, size shenanigans, handhelds, protective angst

Word Count: ~4,475

Warnings: Drowning mention, Birth by Sleep mid-game spoilers(?)

Summary: When Ventus leaves Castle of Dreams and arrives in Radian Garden, he finds that he is still only a few inches tall. Ventus spots Terra and tries to flag him down. Unfortunately for Ven, it isn’t Terra that notices him, but the Unversed.

Note: I’m sorry for this stupid little dabble, but I was challenged to rewrite the scene where Ven and Lea meet, but in a G/t context. I wasn’t planning on posting this, but I was pressured into it. XD This was a quick one-shot, so it’s not my best writing. But it’s a fun little haha romp nonetheless.

Ventus strode across the smooth expanse of stone that comprised a great courtyard, looking at his surroundings with wide eyes. Something felt off about this new world. For some reason, this enormous courtyard seemed to span a mile in diameter, easily. Behind him and flanking the edges of the great expanse lay huge swaths of flowers. Flowers that stood taller than the young keybearer.

“What is going on?” Ventus muttered to himself. His mind must have been playing tricks on him, but he quickly realized something was terribly wrong. It wasn’t just his imagination.

“Why am I still so small?!” he shouted to no one in particular.

The last world he had visited had been truly bizarre. He had found himself greatly outsized by everything around him. At first, he assumed it was a world of giants. He could now see that he had somehow shrunk down to just a few inches in height. And to make matters worse, leaving that world did nothing to alleviate him of his… condition.

Previously, he had met a young lady named Cinderella. She was so big (or rather, he was so small), he had easily fit within her hand. She had mistaken him for a mouse, which didn’t make any sense to Ventus. Granted, she did have talking mice as friends… and those mice also wore clothes. During his travels, Ventus had learned that every world was completely different and unique. He had accepted that talking mice wearing shirts and shoes was par for the course.

“I wonder what happened to me?” he asked softly. He lifted his arms and examined them. Holding out his hand, he easily summoned his keyblade. “At least that is still okay.” Sighing, he dismissed his weapon and rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess I better start walking.”

His trek across the courtyard was taking a lot longer than he expected. This place was even bigger than he had originally thought. He considered summoning his keyblade glider, but decided against it. He couldn’t afford any locals spotting his otherworldly weapon. Speaking of which, he spotted a giant young boy walking alongside an even bigger man near the far edge of the expanse. He would have been shocked to see their huge sizes, if he hadn’t already met Cinderella. He briefly wondered if they would be mindful of his tiny size. Thankfully, the two were walking in a different direction.

After nearly ten minutes, Ventus reached the far side of the courtyard at the bottom of a huge slope. The flowers, with their assortment of colors, intrigued him. Just for fun, he decided to measure himself next to a yellow tulip.

“Yep, they’re taller than me alright,” he chuckled to himself.

Behind him, Ventus felt a rumble that quickly grew in intensity. Someone was coming! THUD! A shoe twice as long as he was pounded the ground right next to him. Before he could think, a curtain of cloth swept over him and sent Ventus rolling away into the flowerbed.

“Ah!” Ventus fearfully shouted when he finally stopped rolling. It had all happened so quickly. The titan didn’t hear him and continued on his path. Shaking his head, he slowly lifted himself upward, unable to see past the tops of the flowers. As quick as he could, he ran out onto the paved floor to catch a sight of the giant that had sent him sprawling.

His heart dropped. The giant of a man wore sweeping, light-brown samurai pants, a dark skin-tight shirt, and had stylized brown hair.

“Terra?” the boy whispered, reaching out a tentative hand. Terra seemed to be on a mission, focused forward, and getting farther with every booming step. He hadn’t even noticed that he had nearly trampled little Ventus in his haste. And if Ventus didn’t do something soon, he would never notice him.

“TERRA!!!” he shouted, scrambling into an all-out sprint. His heart pounded and spurred him faster after the quickly retreating giant. What was he going to do if he couldn’t get Terra’s attention? His mind raced with fearful predictions. He had to catch up to Terra! He just had to!

THUD thud thud. He was too far away. There was no way Terra was going to see him now. Ven slowed to a walk, finally collapsing to his knees, his hands bracing on the stone. Squeezing his eyes shut, he quietly asked, “How am I supposed to get help now?”

Ventus didn’t have very long to contemplate before he heard more sounds of life around him. This time, they were the unmistakable squirming sound of Unversed. Jumping into a defensive stance, he summoned his keyblade.

“Oh no…”

A group of the squiggly floods surrounded him, accompanied by three archravens. Normally, Ventus would have these pesky interlopers dealt with in no time. That is, if they were not several times his size.

“That’s not fair!” he shouted at them. “Why aren’t you small like the Unversed in Cinderella’s world?”

The floods merely twitched their spikey appendages as they silently judged him. One made a lunge, and Ventus quickly countered with his keyblade. It barely budged under his pressure. Another was approaching from the side. With quick thinking, Ventus threw his keyblade in its direction. His weapon bounced off its side, only annoying the creature more than anything. These things were way too big!

He winced and held out his hand for his returning keyblade. However, an archraven plucked him off the ground as easily as it would a worm as it took to the sky, forcing his keyblade to clatter across the stone.

Ventus watched with horror as the ground fell away from him. He dangled precariously from the beak of the bird by the scruff of his collar. “Put me down this instant!” he shouted. The Unversed didn’t seem to care.

He held out his trembling arm and willed his weapon to return, his whole body being battered by the winds whipping by. As soon as it reappeared within his grasp, the boy thrust it backwards toward the monster. The motion only succeeded in twisting him around. Without anything to stand on, he was horribly unstable.

The archraven flew at stomach-churning speed, passing many houses, stores, and fountains. Ventus scanned the rapidly passing scenery. Something around here could be of use.

Even better, someone—two someones.

In the courtyard below stood two keyblade wielders. One had cropped blue hair, while the other was nearly responsible for his earlier demise. They both were squaring up with an (even more) monstrous Unversed.

“Aqua!” shouted the tiny blond at the top of his lungs. “Terra!”

Aqua and Terra didn’t seem to notice. The archraven was circling too high. Not to mention they had their hands full, deflecting attacks from the huge armor-like creature. Just when Ventus was about to give up hope, luck would have the archraven swoop down toward the two new victims.

“AQUA! TERRA!” He twisted, kicked, and shouted with all his might. “Up here! Look up here!!”

Aqua’s head whipped around as she zeroed in on her dangling friend. A gasp escaped her lips. “Ven?!”

Ventus waved even harder. “Aqua! It’s me! Help!”

Terra finally noticed the commotion. A look of confused shock rippled across his face. “Ven? What happened?” The armored Unversed didn’t let this opening go to waste as it zoomed forward with a counterattack. The two older keyblade wielders refocused on their enemy, just barely holding their ground.

“We’ll come help you Ven! Just as soon as we can!” Aqua yelled, her eyes still locked on the enormous monster.

The archraven must have decided these two new victims weren’t worth its trouble. With two powerful flaps, it zoomed off. Ventus irritably swung his keyblade at the bird again. He swung back and forth, but made no contact.

An idea quickly brewed in his mind and he began swinging from side to side, gaining momentum. At the peak of his swing, he threw his keyblade in an arc upwards—right at the creature’s eye.

“Let me go!”

Amazingly, it hit the target despite the forward motion and air resistance. The archraven recoiled and opened its beak just enough to allow his collar to slip out. Ventus’ expression went blank as he fell.

Falling towards the ground backwards was the most terrifying thing Ventus had ever experienced. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. Then—splash! He was submerged in water. More water poured and spilled all around, mixing together with the already accumulated liquid. The boy spun round and round in the churning water, unsure of which way was up. A panic welled up inside him, and air began to bubble out of his lungs.

Something large and cushiony swept underneath him, pulling him upward. He breached the surface, sputtering and gasping for air. Feeling the surface of his leathery platform, Ventus quickly realized what he was sitting on—a hand. He looked upward past the orange top and yellow scarf to the face of the giant who had saved him.

The teen’s sea-green eyes widened as they locked onto his tiny form. He exhaled and shook his head in wonder, his bright red hair swaying as he did so. “What are you?” he asked curiously, the giant’s voice reverberating around him. “And what were you doing in the water?”

Ventus laughed nervously and began to wipe the water off of his face and arms. The guy looked to be about his age—maybe a year or two older. If he was kind enough to pull him out of the water, he was mostly likely in safe hands. “I kinda fell in.”

The redhead smirked. “I noticed.”

“Lea,” said a booming voice behind them. “What are you doing now? Rescuing stray puppies from the fountain?” Another teenage boy came into view. This one had similar eyes, but his hair was a dark blue, not unlike Aqua’s. “We have things to do.”

Lea turned to his friend. “Not a puppy, Isa…” He held his hand out to display the tiny human held entirely within his cupped palm.

The giant named Isa zeroed in on Ventus, subtly balking at the sight.

“Hi, I’m Ventus,” he offered to the two giants with a little wave. “But you can call me Ven.” Since they were so big, he could only look at one at a time.

The redhead cued in on his tiny motion, a huge smile breaking out over his face at the sight. “The name’s Lea,” he said with bravado, pointing his free thumb at his chest. “And this doofus—” he added, pointing backwards, “is Isa.”

Isa bonked Lea on the back of his head. “I think you’re confusing yourself with me.” He attempted to appear annoyed, but a whisper of a smile on his lip betrayed his front.

Ventus grinned up at the two giants, feeling much more at ease. He was suddenly glad that it was a warm day. Even though this giant’s hand gave off a nice warmth, he would have caught a chill from that dunking. Regardless, when a small wind whipped around them, it sent a shiver up his spine. The giant seemed to notice and removed the yellow bandana from around his neck. He extended it out to the tiny boy standing in his palm.

“Thanks Lea,” Ventus said, graciously accepting a very small corner of the enormous cloth as he began to wipe himself down. It could have been cut in half four times, and each piece would have been able to cover a double bed with room to spare. “And thanks for saving me.”

“No prob. You’re really small, you know? You could get hurt!”

He rubbed his face and neck down. “You’re telling me.”

Isa watched with quiet curiosity, a faint smile still lingering on his face.

He finished wiping the remaining water as best he could and returned the bandana into the awaiting hand. Lea lowered the parachute-sized cloth out of sight, presumably to his lap Ventus imagined.

“So Ven, what are you?” Lea asked, lifting him a bit higher. His eyes searched him with curiosity. “Some kind of fae?

The tiny blond felt a bit self-conscious under the scrutiny of such large beings. Was fae another word for a fairy? He had never met a fairy, but if they were the same size as his current stature, they would be tiny things indeed. Ventus made a mental note to be slow and gentle should he ever encounter one.

“I’m not normally this small,” he said, looking down to examine his body. “I’m usually at least this much bigger.” He hovered his hand a few inches over his head. At least, it was a few inches relative to him.

This elicited a full-blown smirk out of Isa and a hearty laugh out of Lea. The hand holding Ventus shook with his laughter, causing the blond to stumble. Before he could fall, the other hand came swooping up to steady him between finger and thumb.

“Heh, sorry about that, little guy.”

Ventus let go of the retreating fingers and tried his best to give a confident stance on his ever-shifting platform. “It’s alright,” he said, giving a thumbs up. “I was my proper size this morning. And then…” he motioned to himself, “this.”

Ventus did not think it wise to mention this size seemed to be a left-over from the previous world. He knew, above all else, he had to keep the knowledge of other worlds a secret.

“Did someone preform experiments on you?” Lea asked, his eyes growing. A curled finger approached and gently lifted one of Ventus’ arms for closer examination.

“No,” the blond said. He allowed this but shifted nervously on the enormous palm. He didn’t think the giant would hurt him; nevertheless, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy at being so easily manipulated. “Well, at least, I don’t think so.”

Lea’s finger withdrew. “It’s like someone tried to make you the size of a squirrel, Ven!”

“More like a mouse,” Isa added.

“Never heard that one before,” Ventus sarcastically retorted with a playful grin.

“Maybe it was that wizard who moved in recently,” Lea mused.

Isa shook his head. “More likely, it was the lord scientist.”

“Who?” Upon their looks of disbelief, Ventus quickly added, “I’m actually not from around here.”

This seemed reasonable enough to Lea as he explained. “The lord of the castle. They call him Ansem the Wise. He’s a scientist, goes everywhere in a white lab coat.”

Ventus cocked his head. “Wait. Does he have really long blond hair?”

Isa nodded silently.

“I think I saw him earlier today. He was with a little—eh, well—a young boy. Blue hair.”

“That’s him,” Lea said. “The two of them like to get ice cream from the same place we do.”

“Same flavor too,” Isa said.

“There’s been some weird stuff happening around here lately. We think he’s doing some experiments.” Lea continued. “We’re kinda worried about the kid. He’s never said so much as a word to us. The lord seems a nice enough guy, but…”

“We’re not entirely convinced,” Isa finished.

Ventus nodded at the two giants.

“We hope that the lord isn’t doing any kind of experiments on him. But something is happening. Somewhere in that castle.”

“Which is where we were going before you got side-tracked, Lea,” the blue-haired teen said in a tone that reminded Ventus of the Master.

“Yeah, but how could I have let our new little friend drown?” Lea flashed him the biggest puppy-dog eyes as he lifted Ventus level with his head. The tiny boy had to grab his raised thumb for balance, flashing a nervous smile at the blue-haired giant.

Isa sighed and shook his huge head, placing a hand on his side. “You’re obnoxious. What am I ever going to with you? The both of you.”

Lea flashed him an even wider smile, chuckling. He lowered Ven back down to mid-chest height, suddenly very solemn. “If Ven’s size really is the result of one of his experiments, we can’t let lord Ansem get his hands on him. Or any of his minions, either. We have to take him somewhere safe.”

Ventus frowned as he concentrated. He didn’t know about this Ansem guy, but he would rather be safe than sorry. In any case, he needed to get back to Terra and Aqua. They could surely help him. Knowing how skilled they were, they were bound to be finished with the Unversed by now. If only Ventus could find them. He was way too small to go about searching for them all by himself. Even if he could find them, who’s to say they would see him? Terra didn’t notice him from just a few feet away, and nearly stepped on him to boot. However, if he could have these two new friends to help him, perhaps it was possible.

“About that,” Ventus started, “maybe you could help me. I’ve been looking for—”

But Ventus was never able to finish his sentence, for at that very moment, a voice from a mile or two down the path (from Ven’s perspective) shouted out, “Excuse me!”

An eternal moment of shock froze the three teenagers. Just an instant later, it was over. The hand that had been holding Ventus suddenly folded up around him. A small yelp escaped his lips as the pillars of flesh encased him in darkness. He was rotated and lowered in an arcing motion, making his head spin. Dazed, he tried to piece together what had just happened. By his best guess, Lea had him in a fist and was hiding him behind his back. He pushed the leathery skin away from his face. He only hoped Lea could keep him hidden from this new giant, whoever it was.

“Have either of you seen a boy about your age,” asked the voice, muffled by the folds of skin. A familiar voice. The fingers around him tensed up as the voice continued. “He has blond hair and would be about… this small.”

Terra!

Ventus began squirming around in the darkness. He had to somehow inform Lea that this person was his friend. The giant hand squeezed him twice in quick secession, silently asking him to keep still and quiet. The squeezes were gentle but nevertheless frightening. He realized how easily one of his tiny bones could be broken at the slightest oversight of one of these giants. Even accidently, a great deal of harm could befall little Ventus, and there was no way he could stop these titans, which to him may as well be forces of nature.

“What’s it to you?” came Lea’s voice with a certain sharpness. Although his voice was muffled through the thick skin surrounding Ventus, it still boomed around him.

“No need to get angry,” said a female voice. “We just need to know if you’ve seen him.”

Aqua!

It was just his luck. By trying to protect him, these giants were keeping him from the two people who could potentially help him. It really wasn’t his day.

“You two get out of the castle much?” Isa’s voice snidely remarked.

“What?” asked Terra’s voice.

His chance at reunion was quickly slipping away. Ventus struggled with renewed vigor. Again, the hand squeezed, just as gentle, but this time slower and sustained. Lea wasn’t going to release him in front of Terra and Aqua.

He slipped his hand through the small opening made by the creases of skin. Fervently, he patted his minuscule hand against the outer skin of the giant one. Whether Lea was too distracted to notice or couldn’t feel the slight sensation, Ventus didn’t know.

There were no options left. Ventus summoned all of his strength and breathed in deep and steady. He cupped his hands around his mouth and aimed for the small gap in the skin.

“TERRA!”

Everything stopped. And then, his world in the darkness flung into motion again.

“Where is he?!” Terra shouted. His voice came from just beside Lea. “Where are you hiding him?!”

Lea’s hand jerked in every direction, seemingly all at once. Ventus thought he was going to be sick. Then the motions grew sharper.

“Let me go!” Lea shouted. “Don’t you dare take him! I won’t let—aaaahhh!”

The tiny boy was rotated upside down as Lea screamed in pain. Light streamed through parting fingers. And for the second time that day, Ventus found himself falling through the air.

Because this fall was so brief, he had only enough time to yelp before landing into a second hand. This new hand, which was smoother with slender fingers, pulled him away from the action. From his vantage point, he could see Terra gripping Lea’s shirt with one hand and wrenching Lea’s wrist back with the other.

“Don’t you touch him!” Lea sputtered, but Terra only gripped his shirt tighter.

Disorientated and a bit stunned, Ventus looked up into the face of his new holder. “Aqua?” he managed, dazed.

Aqua held him close, but only glanced down once before returning her sights on Isa. She had her keyblade pointed squarely at him. He returned her icy glare, lowering into fighting stance.

“You gonna hurt us?” Isa snarled. “We’ll make sure to return the favor.”

Ventus shook his head and gathered his wits. “EVERYBODY STOP!” he yelled, surprising even himself at his own volume.

All four giants turned their eyes upon Ventus. He took a shaky breath as he met their gazes, one by one. “Nobody has to hurt anybody!”

“Ven?” asked Aqua softly. “What are you talking about? These guys were trying to kidnap you.”

“Kidnap?” Lea said sharply as he wiggled in Terra’s loosening grip. “Isn’t that what you’re doing?”

“No, no!” Ventus shouted, waving his tiny arms to keep the giant’s attention. “Terra, let him go! Aqua, please! The Master would be angry if he saw what you were doing.”

Aqua and Terra shared a confused glance but complied. Once released, Lea brushed his shirt in a huff. Isa watched Aqua’s keyblade vanish in a sparkle of light before lowering his fists, still looking on edge.

“Lea, Isa, these are my friends. They don’t work for Ansem!”

“You don’t? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Lea said in a huff as he crossed his arms.

“And Terra, Aqua, they saved me. They were only trying to help.”

“Ven,” Terra said, his huge face coming closer, “then why did you shout like that? We thought you were in danger.”

“Well…” Ventus turned his hands up. “They thought you were going to take me away to do some experiments. So I had to shout to make sure you didn’t leave without me.” He didn’t have the heart to explain his earlier attempts in alerting Lea. But Lea quickly put two and two together. His face turned pink, and he averted his gaze.

“I don’t want my friends to fight!” he continued. “You were all just trying to keep me safe. Please, can’t we all get along?”

The four giants read each other’s faces, relaxing by degrees.

“Lea, Isa, these are my two best friends, Terra and Aqua. We train under the same master. Terra, Aqua, this is Lea and Isa.” Ventus pointed to each in turn. “They rescued me from drowning.”

“I can’t exactly take credit for that one,” Isa offered. “It was all this doofus.” Lea grinned at the recognition, putting a hand behind his head. His mood was quickly improving.

“I’m really sorry for all the trouble,” Terra said with a slight bow. “Thank you for protecting Ven.”

“’Was no prob,” Lea said, waving away the praise. “But could you do me a solid? You gotta tell me where I can get one of those magical disappearing and reappearing swords!”

Terra and Aqua shared a nervous glance.

“Is that all you can think about? New weapons?” Isa said with a raised brow. “Didn’t you get those stupid frisbees last month?”

“They are not stupid. You’re just mad that you lost to me in every match we’ve had since I’ve gotten them!”

“Heh, if I was mad, you’d know it,” Isa coolly retorted.

All three keyblade wielders released a breath at the change of topic.

“Lea, didn’t you say something about a wizard?” the tiny boy said.

“Oh yeah! Let’s go see him together! He might be able to help you.”

Aqua held Ventus closer, venturing a look at her vulnerable friend. “What have we got to lose?”

================================================

“Hmm, yes. This is strange magic,” mused the wizard, stroking a lengthy white beard. “Strange magic indeed.”

Ventus stood on a wooden table in a room stacked full of books and glass beakers. The wizard was using a wooden stick about as thick as he was to lift his limbs and direct him into different positions. Meanwhile, the other four giants stared down at him from around the rounded table. He was starting to feel like he really was in an experiment.

“Can you help him, Merlin, sir?” Lea asked, trying to sound respectful.

“Now, now, my boy. You simply can’t rush these things, you know.” Merlin pulled a pair of wiry glasses from a pocket and put them on. Instantly, his already giant eyes magnified several times. Ventus didn’t know whether he felt more self-conscious or like laughing. The two emotions seemed to balance each other out, so he was able to contain himself.

After several minutes of mind-numbing silence in which Merlin continued to manipulate Ventus as he hemmed and hawed, the wizard pulled back and plopped back into a huge red armchair. “That is an easy enough spell. I’ve cast it several times before myself. However, there is something otherworldly about this magic. You’d have to go and find whoever cast this upon him in the first place. I’m afraid that if I tried to dispel it, I would only cause undue harm to the poor boy.”

Lea and Isa looked downcast, but the three keyblade wielders shared a knowing look.

“Ven,” Aqua asked slowly. “Have you been this small… in other places.”

Ventus understood her messaging at once. “Yes, with a girl named Cinderella.”

Terra stood suddenly. “I think we need to pay a certain godmother a visit.” Aqua nodded in agreement. He placed his hand flat for Ventus. The blond hesitated only a moment before clambering up onto the sprawling hand.

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Lea said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Don’t worry. Once I’m fixed, I’ll be back,” Ventus said as he turned to face the huge redhead, one hand resting on Terra’s thumb. “We’re friends after all, aren’t we?” He raised his tiny hand out toward the giant.

Lea blinked, smiled, and leaned forward. Gently tapping his pointer finger against Ventus’ hand as a high-five, he flashed him a giant of a smile. “Always.”

28 notes · View notes