#but generally no it’s going to be used for evil | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cosmxc-ars3hol3 · 3 days

Text

Oh, ashes, ashes, Dust to dust

Title - Oh, ashes, ashes, Dust to dust

Rating - General Audiences

Archive Warning - No Archive Warnings Apply

Category - M/M

Fandom - Keeper of the Lost Cities - Shannon Messenger

Relationship - Councillor Bronte/Fintan Pyren

Characters - Fintan Pyren, Councillor Bronte

Additional Tags - Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 03: Everblaze (Keeper of the Lost Cities)

Summary - ‘After Fintan burnt Oblivimyre down during his healing, he sneaks his way into Bronte’s Castle in Eternalia so he has somewhere to stay. Bronte decides to help him stay hidden/keep people thinking he’s dead.’

its gonna be a multi chapter (hopefully) fintante fic that my tumblr mutual kale gave me when i was bitching about the appalling lack of fintante fics on ao3 (thanks kale!)

The fic is also under the cut

Bronte lightleaped back to his castle with a heavy heart; his and the other councillors' castle was luckily not in the section of Eternalia that got burned down by fintans Everblaze. He unlocked the door, his bodyguards trailing in behind him, patrolling the lower levels of the castle. The air was thick with the scent of ash, an unsettling reminder of the chaos that had unfolded, strange but not yet suspicious.

The goblins conducted a thorough search that ended with them telling Bronte it was safe, yet Bronte couldn't shake a feeling of unease. It must be leftover nerves from what happened at Oblivimyre. Going alone, he went to the more familiar and comforting parts of his castle. Weary both emotionally and physically, he went to his lounge room, intending to calm down and eventually sleep, if he could, for the night. But as he got into the room, a prickling sensation told him he was not alone.

"Who's there?" Bronte's voice cut through the silence, betraying a mixture of weariness and apprehension. He could tell there was someone there. Today had taken its toll on him, and now the break in felt like a cruel twist of fate. The scene of earlier in the evening rushed back to him: the council’s idiotic decision to entrust Sophie, a mere 13-year-old, with the responsibility of bringing Fintan back to sanity. to fix what used to be impossible.

Sophie is the only currently existing telepath with the ability to bring back a broken mind. He would say skill, but she didn't work for it; she was handed it on a silver platter by her creators, the Black Swan.

The Black Swan were a group of law-breaking rebels that, although they aren't totally law-abiding, they're also not as evil as everyone originally thought. They used to be the only known rebel group, but through a fiasco a few months ago, when Sophie was kidnapped, it was revealed that there was another rebel group, one that had everyone pinning their actions and crimes onto the Black Swan. It was then revealed that Fintan, an old friend to many of the current and past councillors, was a part of this newly discovered rebel group. The council decided to break Fintan's mind in an attempt to get more information out of him—information that he was refusing to give up willingly.

The break ended with many things going wrong, all of which are public knowledge and heavily talked about amongst people. Alden's mind broke, and with the help of the black swan, Sophie realised that she could heal him, something previously thought to be impossible.

The council decided, against Bronte’s better wishes, to heal Fintan's mind and try to get the same information that they previously failed to extract. It was a gamble that Bronte had foolishly hoped the council wouldn't take.

Bronte knew what his old friend? enemy? Bronte didn't know how to describe him; he knew what he is like. was like.

As he predicted, the healing went wrong—so much more wrong than he could have ever predicted himself.

Sophie, without a hitch, healed fintan’s broken mind.

That's where it went wrong. Bronte knew that it would be stupid to bring back Fintan's sanity, he was already too far gone from how he used to be.

Bronte looks back to those days with fondness and love.

Fintan used to be so good, so caring. Bronte knew that the person his old friend used to be was dead. and now his old friend has died.

In an attempt at something, while they were all in that building, all glittering and seemingly perfect, he called down Everblaze.

He's dead now, as is Kenric. and Bronte has to cope with losses.

Kenric, a trusted ally, was among the casualties, leaving Bronte to deal with the loss, although he didn't have it as hard as Oralie did. Kenric's death hurt because it was avoidable; Fintan’s hurt because Bronte was mourning the person his friend used to be.

‘Whoever is here, you better show yourself before I get my bodyguards,’ Bronte's voice held a steely edge, a futile attempt to mask his trepidation. The intruder remained hidden, refusing to reveal themselves despite Bronte's threats. With a resigned sigh, he shed his supposedly "fireproof" cape, not that it worked when faced with Everblaze, the sun’s fire on earth, only able to be summoned by the most powerful of pyrokinetics. Fintan did it in absolute zero conditions with a still-healing mind.

As much as Bronte hated to admit it, Fintan scared him.

‘If you don't come out now, I will be calling them in to find you,’ he warned. ‘I'm sure you're aware that goblins have excellent senses. They will find you in no time. So either show yourself or risk my bodyguards and jail,’ he finished. sitting down on one of the chairs lying around his lounge room, where he knew the perpetrator was hiding, waiting for them to emerge from their hiding spot to show themselves so Bronte could finally go to bed and try to process that evening.

‘I'm sure I can handle the goblins. Im sure I could take you out too,’ said the intruder.

‘Show yourself now, or I will send the full force of my inflicting your way. Responding tells me where in the room you are.’ said bronte with an eerily calm voice when compared to his threatening words.

‘alright, alright. I will show myself IF you agree to hear me out, not call for your goblins, or arrest me,’ replied the stranger. Although Bronte recognised his voice from somewhere, he couldn't place it, but the voice felt really familiar.

And why would I agree to that? Chances are, you're a member of a rebel group, probably the same one Fintan was working with. You're a criminal, a big one at that, because you chose to break into a councillor's office.’ Bronte stated, ‘You should be glad I didn't immediately get my goblins to sniff you off here and into a jail cell,’ he threatened, even though he knew it was pointless.

The ashy smell he picked up on entry to his castle that he mistook for his own clothes wasn't him. The intruder was a part of the same rebel group that fintan was a leader to.

He waited a moment before adding, ‘But I'm curious, so I'll agree.’

‘Hopefully curiosity won't kill the cat.' replied the intruder, about to finally reveal himself, ‘Hey bronte.’

It was Fintan. somehow it was Fintan.

‘You’re supposed to be dead,’ said Bronte in shock.

He punches Fintan.

#kotlc #fintan pyren #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc fintan #koltc #keeper of the lost cites fan fiction #fanfic #writing #kotlc fanfic #fintante #councillor bronte

34 notes · View notes

2stepadmiral · 17 hours

Text

So I have some thoughts on tonight‘s episode of acolyte, thoughts that I don’t think are being considered widely enough. The general response seems to be, from what I can tell and what I’ve seen online, that the witches were pretty much just doing their own thing, and the Jedi just showed up and started being assholes, and I’ve kind of got to argue against that.

Now to be fair, the topic of Jedi recruiting children has always been a bit of a problematic thing. From what I can tell, Jedi never just take children from their parents, but they do strongly encourage and probably to some degree manipulate parents to get permission. Definitely problematic. However, the situation with Osha was pretty obviously very different. Osha wasn’t an infant or a young toddler who just found, tested, and then convinced their parents to hand her over. She’s an eight-year-old girl who is visibly uncomfortable with what her parents, sister, and community expect from her.

She has said several times that she doesn’t want to be a witch, and in every instance, her reluctance is casually dismissed. Whether it’s Mae pulling the bossy sibling who knows best routine, Koril trying to aggressively shut down any dissent, or Aniseya affectionately assuring her that she will eventually grow out of her silly individualism, everyone in her immediate vicinity is basically telling her what she wants doesn’t matter. Then, Sol and Indara show up, and one of the first things they do is recognize Osha’s individual wants and encourage her to act on them. Yes, what Osha wants is in line with what they want, and as a child, she doesn’t fully understand what it is that she’s asking for, but they make it clear that the decision is hers, and all they encourage her to really do is to be honest with herself and be brave enough to be honest with everyone else. No one else in her life has ever encouraged her to do so, and there is a degree of child abuse present in that reality.

When the Jedi arrive at their home, there is obvious tension between the witches and the Jedi. Sol might be blatantly prepared for hostility, and Indara definitely had the air of someone who was ready to fight, but generally, the Jedi make an effort at being polite, despite the open hostility and even aggression the witches treat them with. Bear in mind, we don’t yet know the history of this particular group of witches, so whether or not the hostility is justified on either side remains to be seen. We know that the witches have a clear, victimhood mentality, based on the fact that their ceremony starts with a speech about how they’ve been persecuted for this appearance of using dark powers. Again, whether or not their powers are dark, or whether or not they’ve actually been victimized by anyone remains to be seen. They could be witches of Dathomir who were driven off world and legitimately persecuted due to incorrect association with the Nightsisters, or they could actually be Nightsisters or similar dark witch organization who are bitter about having their dark ambitions thwarted.

I’ll wrap it up real quick, basically, the coven, whether or not they are night sisters, is clearly a cult, and possibly a dark side cult that has in history of being up to no good. If that is the case, then the Jedi are probably justified in wanting to keep a close eye on them and being concerned about them training children. And yes, the Jedi have faults, and their recruitment methods are also problematic, but considering that when in their ideal form, the Jedi are truly a force for good in the galaxy that do go through times where they primarily function as tools of the Senate, they are definitively the lesser of two evils here. Especially when the coven is actively engaged in highly controlling behavior towards the children in their care.

#star wars #the acolyte #star wars the acolyte

33 notes · View notes

herefortheships · 3 days

Text

"Evil" Yuji Itadori Theory is not as insane as you think

So today I was thinking about this new viral theory in the Jujutsu Kaisen fandom about Yuji turning evil or "crashing out" after he realizes Yuta is using Gojo's body to fight Sukuna, another plan of which he was not made aware of. And while it might seem like a far-fetched, unlikely theory, it does make sense if Yuji's story ends up going in that direction, as insane as it may appear to some fans.

(Let me preface by saying: Obviously this is speculation and theorizing; no need to get heated if you don't agree with this post. Not agreeing is totally okay! If you don't want to read about this theory/speculation/character analysis, you don't have to. Just scroll past this. 💜)

In this post I'm going to expand on a comment I used to explain why some fans think this is going to happen or, like myself, at least like this theory. My comment went like this:

"[Yuji could crash out] because he’s witnessed so many deaths of those he loves, back to back, plus he’s lost his friend to Sukuna, and this friend wouldn’t even let him save him (Yuji wasn’t enough to save Megumi despite their friendship and all their efforts and all that was going on), and now he is seeing Yuta use Gojo’s body, plus the sacrifices he himself has had to make like eating his own brothers. It would be understandable if he crashes out and wants to end it all, Jujutsu sorcerers included.

He’s seen his friends and even himself become a monster, he’s lost people he loved and has no family left (except for Sukuna, but Yuji doesn’t know that, plus, it’s Sukuna). Seeing Gojo’s body being used as a weapon and by one of his friends on top of it, who, if his brain has been swapped like this, is likely to die or lose his original body forever, that might be the last straw for Yuji to finally lose it.

He’s a noble and kind soul, but even the kindest most patient people have a limit, and Yuji might finally have reached it.

In the end, it would even be the most believable plot twist this manga would pull. That said, it’s VERY unlikely Gege would go there, but it isn’t like shounen manga hasn’t seen the main character go through a villain arc. AoT did it really well. I believe it’d be a dark ending but a fitting one if Yuji ends up as the Sukuna of his generation, if he ends up the strongest who sacrificed everything. It’s all just theories though and very unlikely, but still interesting to discuss."

Now, to expand on these points:

Yuji has seen friends with whom he was finally finding a home after the death of his grandfather die brutal deaths one after the other right before his eyes. These were people who took him in and gave him a chance after he found himself alone in life. As far as we know, Yuji didn't have where to go after his grandfather's death, as far as family goes. And he had to move to Tokyo when he ate Sukuna's finger. He had to leave the friends he had and the life he knew completely. Yuji now has lost the mentors who were guiding him and giving him a sense of security in this new Jujutsu world he suddenly found himself in. Mentors like Gojo and Nanami were to Yuji almost like "uncle" or "fatherly" figures in a sense. As a matter of fact, without Gojo, Yuji would have been killed, so Gojo is not just a mentor but also someone to whom Yuji owes his life.

Then there came the loss of the closest friend he made in this new Jujutsu world. He lost Nobara. Listen, Gege Akutami can tell me in this story over and over that Megumi is Yuji's most important friend, but the writing is showing me something different. The story has shown me that Nobara was the one Yuji was closest to. Unless the Gege just wanted to make a distinction between best friend, giving that role to Megumi, and love interest, giving that role to Nobara, but that's up to interpretation. He saw Nobara get killed by the very same monster who killed Nanami right in front of him, in the very same night. If it wasn't for Todo, Yuji would not have made it out of Shibuya alive. As a matter of fact, if he wasn't killed, maybe Sukuna would have taken hold of him permanently right there and then, and then all he had to do was find Megumi and transfer without Yuji being capable of doing anything to stop him. Mahito might have failed at killing him, but that night of October 31st permanently altered Yuji's soul.

But Yuji's will is strong and unshakable, something that has perturbed even Sukuna himself. Yuji has suffered through great losses, over and over, and has even been the tool by which a massacre was committed, and yet, he still tries; he still moves forward and doesn't succumb to the suffering. It's one of the reasons Sukuna absolutely loathes Yuji: he could never break him. I also head-canon that Sukuna hates Yuji because he was forced to experience love through him, while trapped inside Yuji's body, but I guess we still have to see the love theme play out in the story to rule that one out. Who will teach Sukuna about love? Yuji already has, but Sukuna has yet to figure that one out. Yuji is technically his nephew, will that play into this theme before the end? That's entirely another post, though.

Even losing his friend Megumi to Sukuna did not take down Yuji; on the contrary, he unleashed more power than Sukuna expected him to have and faced him by himself.

But then, December 24th arrived, and it was time to face Sukuna in the flesh. The plan was to save Megumi's soul and take out Sukuna. Satoru Gojo was the first contender, and while Gojo was the strongest sorcerer of his time, he was to face the most brutal, most powerful and evil sorcerer of all time. Not to mention they gave him a full month heads-up. Oops... And while there was a hope placed in Gojo to finish this, as he always did, there was also a silent knowledge that this might be too big of a task even for him. Not only was Sukuna the most powerful sorcerer just by himself, he had also absorbed into himself one of the most powerful techniques of all: the Ten Shadows, a power that once took out a member of the Gojo clan with the very same abilities Satoru Gojo was born with. Gojo would be facing a Ten Shadows user fused with the most powerful sorcerer to ever live. Contingency plans were made in the event that he was defeated, some of which, to keep it a secret from Sukuna, had to be kept secret from Yuji.

Did Yuji know some plans would be kept from him? Or is he just finding out they kept things from him, right there in the battlefield?

What Yuji did know was that his role was going to be to separate Megumi's soul from Sukuna; to save Megumi as everyone took Sukuna down. And he managed to touch Megumi's soul and talk to him! But what did Megumi do? Megumi refused to be saved. Yuji's friendship was not enough; Yuji's words were not enough; Yuji's and everyone's efforts were not enough. Megumi wasted it all, despite the fact that his friends, mentors (including Gojo, who was Megumi's benefactor and pretty much his adoptive father!) were falling dead one after the other through Sukuna. In the end, for Megumi, there was only one person that mattered, and that was his sister. With her gone, Megumi lost his will to live, and Yuji had to see his remaining closest friend choose death over being saved.

Next Yuji saw more of his colleagues die or get potentially mortally wounded. Higuruma, Kusakabe, Yuta were all injured too badly to keep fighting, or were killed. Even though Sukuna was already handicapped by this point after fighting Gojo, having lost half of his hands and ability to use reverse curse technique, he still was capable of casting a Domain Expansion, and so, the person Yuji lost next was his blood brother, Choso. Choso gave his life for his younger brother, and died right in front of Yuji. One more horrific death Yuji had to witness right in front of him. Once again, if it wasn't for the arrival of Todo right in the perfect moment, Yuji would have collapsed right there.

Choso was his only family left, and they had just recently found each other and started to bond; Yuji, by all effects, is now alone in this world. At least, he still has a few friends around him to keep him from falling apart.

But.

Lots of people in the fandom have been commenting "Yuji hasn't spoken a word since Choso died". That is incorrect, since Yuji has asked where everyone is after Sukuna used Fuga, and he might have also said something to Todo as well, I don't remember. Maybe what they mean is that Yuji has been different since Choso's death and what we did see him say was this short statement: he declared that he was going to destroy Sukuna's heart, as he was clawing his hand right into Sukuna's chest. His eyes looked wild and ready to do exactly as he intended.

And that's when they were interrupted by Yuta, using Gojo's body just like Kenjaku used the bodies of dead people to further his plans.

Listen, even the kindest, most compassionate person has a limit. With everything I have described in this post that Yuji has experienced, and his current state of mind, is it truly that far off to conclude that Yuji might have reached his limit? And we're talking about a powerful half-human, half-curse (Yuji was pretty much a result of Kenjaku's experiments plus now he possesses Sukuna's cursed energy and the abilities and qualities he gained by holding Sukuna's soul and eating the cursed wombs). Yuji is someone who has latent potential within him similar to Sukuna's. After all he's gone through at this point, is it that far-fetched to consider that he might lose his mind and choose to go the darkest path? After seeing Yuta use Gojo's body as a tool, just like Kenjaku used Yuji's mother's body as a tool to create him, used Geto's body to cause so much chaos.

Yuji would NEVER harm or kill his friends, this wouldn't happen, but what happens when he's lost everyone? What happens when the few that are left are doing something so inhumane and monstrous to take out Sukuna? How different are they from someone like Kenjaku or Sukuna? Who is right and who is wrong? What happens when he realizes he is just like them as well, being a product himself of the Jujutsu world, having done a monstrous thing in eating his own brothers. Everything in the Jujutsu world is messed up! Not just the curses, but the sorcerers as well. What happens when, most harrowingly, Yuji realizes that this entire situation with Sukuna is, in part, a result of his actions (eating Sukuna's finger that night at the school)?

Yuji has lived through enough horrible experiences that him crashing out not only makes sense, but is also expected. As unlikely as it would be for Gege to give Yuji a villain arc however short it might be as the series reaches its end.

Yuji choosing to end not just the curses, but also the Jujutsu Sorcerers; choosing to end it all. If Yuji gets such a dark twist in this story, given all that he's lived through, plus his potential in power and his soul connection to Sukuna himself, it wouldn't be far-fetched or out of character; at this point, it would completely make sense.

It is very unlikely something like Yuji having a villain arc will happen, but we cannot say that this theory has no basis in the canon. In fact, depending on how it's handled by Gege, this could be the most logical plot twist to come out of this story as it reaches its ending.

Yuji would end up as the Sukuna of his generation, especially if the ending with him standing alone in the end is the one Gege chooses to write.

26 notes · View notes

frozenjokes · 3 days

Text

The Art Of Being Kidnapped [1/2]

next / Ao3 link with CWs

“Byeeee! Have a nice time!” Tango’s cheery lilt echoed across the icy cavern before the metal door, built like a vault, slammed shut. A superhero Jimmy didn’t recognize rolled across the slick floor, momentum from being thrown inside carrying him a considerable distance. Sometimes Jimmy forgot Tango was quite strong; certainly not the beefiest among his line of work, but enough to send a small avian skidding across the floor of his dungeon.

The avian’s wings and hands were bound, just like Jimmy’s were, but the ropes were only meant to last for travel, and sure enough, within minutes of writhing and foaming at the mouth on the ground (which he didn’t have to do, his legs weren’t bound..), the superhero was free, flying to the door and slamming the full force of his body against it, predictably, winding himself immediately.

Jimmy stifled a laugh as the avian stumbled backwards with a heaving chest, falling into a sit to catch his breath. It was a wonder he hadn’t noticed Jimmy yet, but then again, the particularly angry superheroes always took a bit more time. Unfortunate. Jimmy hoped this guy wasn’t as much of an asshole as he looked (after many years of this, Jimmy got pretty good at figuring out who he was dealing with relatively fast), but if that was the case, Jimmy was sure he could needle a larger tip out of Tango in the case that this guy really gave him trouble. This was an unusual job in the first place; Jimmy had never been asked to trap participants in a maze before, then supervise while they traversed it. But Decked Out was fun and Tango paid handsomely, so really, Jimmy didn’t mind the change of pace.

“Help?” Jimmy tried, though the hero didn’t hear him over his own banging on the door and ferocious screeching. He got a sense of dejavu watching, though he’d seen this kind of temper tantrum about a thousand times by now. Still, the familiarity of this hero was something he couldn’t quite shake.

“Hey! Help me? Please?” Jimmy wiggled a little pathetically against his restraints, far from tight, but enough not to slip out without effort. Personally, Jimmy would rather save his energy for the hero.

The avian turned, then froze where he stood, like the guy he was called to come save was the last thing he expected to see at his feet. Jimmy suppressed a sigh. This guy was going to be insufferable.

“JIMMY!?”

Jimmy stopped. Now, that sort of reaction wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for heroes that knew him, but Jimmy had never seen this one before, so unless this guy had been warned (something which, hilariously, never seemed to be the case), Jimmy didn’t know what to do with that. But the avian didn’t sound angry.. Oh, worse idea, Jimmy used to know this person. Not the least bit unlikely given he attended the shittiest college in the city with all the poorest, most troubled kids around. Jimmy hadn’t even lasted long enough to get a degree, it was just too much. Hence the work he did now.

Exactly what that was..? Well, when people asked what he did for work, he usually answered freelance. Freelance kidnapping? Freelance being kidnapped? He was still working on the title. Needless to say, living in a place like this you learn pretty quickly that 90% of the ‘superheroes’ and the villains they fight are either cripplingly insecure, pieces of shit, or both, but sometimes the wannabe villains have a bit of an attention craving they just can’t scratch on their own. It turns out that Doing Evil can be a lot of work, and sometimes you just want to take out your daddy issues on an equally unstable individual under the guise of villainy without all the fuss! So for a price, Jimmy makes the fuss for them! He’ll scream, let himself be dramatically carried away, shoved into an unmarked van, generally manhandled- whatever gets the attention of an unsuspecting superhero who Jimmy would then lead into a trap, arena, whatever he’s getting paid for, and bam! Everyone’s happy!

Some villains didn’t even want the attention of superheroes, they just enjoyed catching Jimmy off his guard, which, by the way, was not part of any of his contracts, but Joel wasn’t going to stop Kidnapping First, Paying Later anytime soon, so at this point it was just a fact of his life he had to get used to.

Oh right, the job he was doing right now.

“Do I know you?” These words seemed to snap the hero back in his facade, the avian shifting his weight in a show of nerves.

“I- no, I don’t think so. No, no, definitely not. Probably not. Sorry. Just reminded me of someone I know.”

Jimmy snorted, rolling his eyes. “Someone called Jimmy? That’s my name too, what a coincidence.”

“You don’t have a brother, do you?” The hero looked sheepish, but it was good natured, a ghost of a smile just visible under his mask.

“Oh yeah, I’ve got one. He looks exactly like me and’s called Jimmy, how did you know?”

Ther hero crossed his arms in a sweeping gesture, snarking with a scoff, “Oh shut it with the sarcasm,” but even though the tone behind his voice was teasing, Jimmy felt like he had been transported right back to his college dorm. He recognized that. He knew exactly who this was. Short, dirty blonde avian with dark talons and a darker temper? Of course he became a superhero, what a damn perfect fit for a guy like that. ‘JIMMY?’ He recognized that too. The scream, pitched in all the worst ways. After a while, every word Grian spoke was like pulling a cheese grater over and over across his ears until they were nothing but stumps. Yeah, Tango would be tipping him big today.

“Jimmy? You okay?” The direct address snapped Jimmy back to reality, though he wasn’t sure how much he had missed. Regardless, Grian did get to work, kneeling to undo his restraints. Jimmy was relieved to stretch his wings, slowly getting to his feet once the ropes were cut. “This is embarrassing,” Grian said, and Jimmy was sure it was, “Forget I said anything. I think we shared a class or two, that’s all.”

“I get it.” Jimmy mumbled, tucking his wings back. “Tango’s been sending out all sorts of reports and notices to trick people into coming out here, so it’s your lucky day I guess. You won’t be staying long though, he just wants you to run the dungeon and then you can fly off.”

Grian’s eyes were obscured by the mask, but Jimmy was pretty sure they narrowed. “I’ve never heard of a ‘Tango’ before. Who is he? How long have you been here? Is he just keeping you here as bait?” How sweet of Grian to not realize he’s been set up yet. Well, Jimmy wasn’t about to break the news if he didn’t have to.

“He keeps a low profile. Tango’s been shut in working on this place for the last fifteen years, so I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of him, especially since the location is so out of the way of the city. Decked Out is newly finished- it’s a game, basically. He wants to watch people play it. It’s not what you’d call ‘up to code’ though, so it’s pretty dangerous. Need the athletic sort to make it any bit interesting. But yeah, I’m bait.” Jimmy shrugged, “He keeps me around to explain the rules. Usually the kidnappee, you, is a little more receptive to someone on their level, me, rather than.. y’know.”

“I’ll get you out of here.”

Jimmy laughed, he couldn’t help himself, though he quieted when he saw the bottom half of Grian’s face screw up, bracing himself to be yelled at. It never came.

“I’ve heard that before,” Jimmy settled on instead, taking a careful breath. He didn’t like the way Grian was looking at him. He never really liked the way Grian looked at him; despite his softer features, Grian’s face was anything but kind.

“Well I’m sure you’ve heard this before as well, but I’m different. I do my due diligence unlike most of the douchebags in this town. Where’s the way out?”

Stubborn. Vindictive. Jimmy wondered if Grian had changed at all in the dozen years since they’d talked. He shrugged. “The gate isn’t open yet, but it should be ready soon. Until then, what should I call you?”

Grian blinked. “Oh- CuteGuy. You can call me CuteGuy.”

“Well then, CuteGuy, once you go in you’re going to get a compass-“ Jimmy stopped short at yelling from down the hall, Grian as well freezing in his place.

“UNHAND ME AT ONCE! I SWEAR if you singe my uniform I am SENDING YOU THE BILL!” Oh! Well that was a lovely surprise. Jimmy heard Tango grumble something in response, but he was mostly drowned out by HotGuy’s dramatics. Good man HotGuy was, always making sure to give those supervillains what they paid for, though, Tango wasn’t exactly looking for a fight.

At once Grian was on his toes, creeping toward the door, but Jimmy shook his head. “I would stand back.”

‘Tango breathes fire’ was left unsaid when Grian shot him a sharp glare, not listening of course, and Jimmy wasn’t about to fight him, perfectly content to watch Grian get a face full of flame as Tango swung the door open. Grian reeled back with a startled yelp, but Jimmy doubted he was actually too hurt, not when Tango was skilled in controlling the temperature of his fire. His eyes would certainly sting though; deserved, certainly, for thinking Tango wouldn’t be ready for an attack. Idiot.

In the wake of the flame, a thoroughly netted HotGuy was pushed inside, decidedly much heavier than an avian and therefore unthrowable, but HotGuy didn’t seem to mind, struggling valiantly until the metal door slammed shut, Tango continuing to grumble from the other side as he walked down the hall.

“Jimmy!” HotGuy threw up his arms, a gesture hindered by the net. Jimmy snorted, moving to help HotGuy out while he continued to blabber on, “I was hoping you’d be here! It’s been a while dude, how’ve you been? Still going strong?” HotGuy didn’t even wait until the net was entirely untangled to try and stand, movement that made everything needlessly difficult, but Jimmy didn’t mind. Though he didn’t get the chance to respond either when HotGuy screamed, practically jumping into Jimmy’s arms.

“CuteGuy! How long have you been there, standing all stiff and puffed up and angry like a miniature gargoyle, look at you!”

Grian did, in fact, look like a puffed up cat, but HotGuy’s comment snapped him out of his frozen state, shooting back with a huff, “Miniature? How big do you think gargoyles are?”

“I mean, probably pretty big! Protecting stuff and all.”

Grian sighed sharply, a sound that set Jimmy’s feathers on end. But Grian didn’t push back, changing the subject. “You two.. know each other?”

HotGuy jumped to his toes, eyes absolutely radiant as he turned to Jimmy. “He doesn’t know?” his tone was colored with excitement, and Jimmy had to laugh, shaking his head.

“Know what?” Grian snapped at HotGuy, sucking away all the joy from the air, “What don’t I know?” Jimmy couldn’t stop himself from whirling around, an aggressive movement that seemed to catch Grian off guard, surprise clear in his raised wings, but Jimmy stopped himself, shaking his head. Not worth the fight. HotGuy looked confused by the rise in tension, bringing Jimmy back down to Earth.

“I doubt anyone else will come,” he said instead, stony, “I rarely get two at once. The gates should open soon.”

Grian. God. Jimmy should be over this by now. He thought he was over it.

Jimmy was a sociable guy. Making friends wasn’t a chore for him, but keeping them was much harder, and finding perfect fits seemed nearly impossible. Oftentimes he felt very out of place. He was an athletic sort of person, sporty, but a lot more sensitive than most guys. He really enjoyed being in shape, the structure of practice and working out, but he didn’t always love the social aspect of playing competitive sports, and college football wasn’t an exception. Too much pressure, too much toeing the line of people he wanted to associate with, and don’t get him wrong, these guys were his brothers, that’s just how the intensity of college sports worked, but Jimmy never felt able to be wholly.. there. They just weren’t exactly right, not warm enough, not free enough with their interests and hobbies and love.

Grian was his randomly assigned roommate for the first semester of college dorm life, and like most people Grian was pretty reserved in the beginning. Didn’t have many friends, kept to himself, but liked to go to the dining hall and such with Jimmy if for no other reason than to have someone to go with. Grian was chatty once you got him going, and weird, unabashedly odd in all the best kinds of ways. They didn’t have many common interests, but talking with Grian made Jimmy want to check out the things he was into, to understand all his incredibly specific rants and takes on topics Jimmy had zero knowledge of. Grian was fun, a little shy at first, but genuinely delightful to listen to, confident in his opinions in the way that put you on board even when you had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. He was charming! He was kind of cool in a way, the dorky kind of cool. The ‘cringe is dead and Grian killed it’ kind of way.

But even on his best behavior, Grian was always so.. angry. It changed the atmosphere of every room he entered, thick and boggy like wading through swamp water. There was just something wrong with him, like, literally wrong, the type of wrongness that sparks concern, that makes you wonder what happened? The type of wrongness that makes an outsider want to meet you with compassion, to help you, to make your miserable world a little bit less drab.

The delusions of a savior complex, really. But at first it wasn’t that bad. Grian was mostly reclusive, but despite a bit of awkwardness, he was surprisingly socially adept, charming and funny when it came to first impressions and relatively skilled at being liked by his peers. But the warning signs were there. The constant balling of his fists when the smallest thing didn’t go his way, the twitch of his strained smile, his always-tense shoulders. Grian seemed to view every social interaction like it was war, and he’d do anything to win. It was like he knew how pervasively unpleasant he was inside, how bubbling negativity coated his insides like black tar. He needed to be competitive. He needed to be on top.

And somewhere along the line Grian had decided Jimmy was the enemy.

Jimmy didn’t know what he’d done to make Grian hate him so much. Was it the positivity? Jimmy had tried to offset the stream of anger with his own suggestions; maybe she was late for class, maybe the sun was in his eyes, maybe they just missed the trash can and didn’t notice- He hadn’t been trying to challenge Grian, he didn’t even believe half of the excuses he spouted whenever Grian whined or complained about something entirely inconsequential, he just wanted his ex-roommate to realize that not everyone was personally out to get him, y’know?

How Grian decided Jimmy was one of those people working against him, Jimmy had no idea. Sometimes Jimmy thought that Grian was psychotic, like, literally in the Very Mentally Unwell sense of the word. He was just so.. defensive. Paranoid. Mean, and not always on purpose, he would just say things that dug at Jimmy’s patience until he was constantly teetering on the edge of snapping back and really making a mess of things.

Most of the time though, when Grian was mean, it was on purpose. At some point early on Grian had decided he couldn’t trust Jimmy, and god Jimmy spent so much time trying to earn that trust back just to be slighted over and over- petty things, constant criticism over the slang he used, the music he listened to- god forbid Jimmy forget something in the dorm or come back a little late from a bar after Grian had gone to sleep.

And the worst thing was, Jimmy wanted to help him! He still wanted to help Grian after months and months of being mistreated. He wanted to be a friend to someone who clearly needed some sort of support in a city that was run dry of resources for even those who could afford them. Jimmy wasn’t stupid. He’d grown up on the edge of poverty like so many of his peers, worked to help pay his parents’ debts since he was first able. He’d watched high school classmates do the same, fall to drinking or drugs, die before they even hit 18. He spent so much time being afraid for Grian, intrusive imaginings of how he might die young haunting boring lectures. Oftentimes he’d be overwhelmed by those anxieties, intense impulses sending him sprinting back to the dorm, throwing the door open certain of what he’d find, just to see Grian in his lofted bed, headphones in, glaring at his phone. Sometimes Grian would look up, meet Jimmy’s frightened eyes, then look back down. Sometimes he’d be ignored altogether. Sometimes.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

Grian knew Jimmy’s schedule by heart, memorized before even Jimmy had it down. Oftentimes, Jimmy found that Grian would get quite upset, if either of their schedules were changed last minute. If Jimmy showed up somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be when Grian wasn’t expecting it.

That made bouts like this all the more embarrassing. Grian wanted an answer. Jimmy didn’t want to know what he’d say if he heard Jimmy was worried about him for no reason. So he lied. He always lied.

“I forgot. I’ll go now.”

Grian would scoff. “Idiot.” Jimmy heard that a lot. Stupid. Dumbass. Idiot. The like.

Jimmy wasn’t stupid.

But the harder Jimmy tried, the more Jimmy pushed, the more vindictively abusive Grian became. That first semester of college were some of the worst months of Jimmy’s life. Trapped in a dorm room not much bigger than a prison cell with a guy who went out of his way to find fault with every singular thing Jimmy did. You’re so loud Jim, you’re so damn loud. That was his main complaint. As much as Jimmy loathed Grian’s voice, the other seemed to despise his own tenfold whether Jimmy was singing, talking on the phone, or simply speaking to friends while playing games, Grian had these physical reactions like he wanted to tear off his own skin. By the end of the semester, both of them sat on their sides of the room in complete silence.

Jimmy didn’t see HotGuy coming when the hero launched forward for a hug, a gesture Jimmy returned with a laugh as HotGuy squeezed, picking him up and spinning him around. At this point, Jimmy had accepted HotGuy had way too much energy to spend doing anything else, and honestly, he couldn’t say he minded. It was nice to have someone be so excited to see him.

“How long has it been? Over a year, surely!” HotGuy practically sang right into Jimmy’s ear, and Jimmy couldn’t help the dry thought of how much Grian must hate HotGuy from slipping through. “I missed you! You’ve got to come by more often, come on, work can’t be that hard to come by in the big city, huh?”

Jimmy wheezed a bit under HotGuy’s grip, tapping his shoulder somewhat urgently, “Okay, bud. Can’t breathe. Time to put me down, big man. And yeah, work can be that bad when everyone knows who you are. Sorry!”

“I’m feeling out of the loop here,” Grian cut in, but to Jimmy’s own sick delight, HotGuy didn’t even acknowledge the other hero, focus entirely on Jimmy.

“So what’s it this time? We busting you out? Dramatic chase? Explosions? Actually, I would rather not get blown up. But this guy’s got a fire thing going on, is stuff going to explode?”

“You’re not busting me out,” Jimmy waved HotGuy off when the other lingered a little too long in his personal bubble, “There’s an exit at the end of the game whether you win or lose, but since you’re going in one at a time, there won’t be any-“

THE DUNGEON IS READY FOR ITS NEXT VICTIM

The gate ahead began to churn open and cool air whooshed through, particles of ice and snow dusting the path ahead. Jimmy laughed off HotGuy’s mortified looking expression, uncomfortably avoiding Grian’s eye. He didn’t imagine a trapped Grian was a very pleasant one, and given the loaded silence as Jimmy started toward the open door, he got the sense Grian was thinking quite intensely. Jimmy had zero desire to know what was going on in that head.

“Come on,” he said, forcing a smile to a wary looking HotGuy, “It’s not too bad. I’ll grab you both your compasses and give the rundown. You’ll have to leave that bow though, sorry. It’ll be returned to you later.” HotGuy blinked back to attention, scrambling a little to catch up while Grian stayed at the rear, quiet.

“I have to leave my bow? Are you sure? I don’t know if I like the sound of the uh- dungeon. Do I get anything to defend myself? What’s down there?”

“Tango’s dogs are down there. You don’t want to shoot Tango’s dogs, do you HotGuy? Those are his pets!”

“Well-“ HotGuy looked flustered, like a guy who probably would want to shoot Tango’s dogs, but didn’t want Jimmy to know that. There was a reason Jimmy didn’t outright say Tango’s dogs were actually ravagers. “Alright, but do Tango’s dogs eat people?”

“They might shake you around a bit, but no, they won’t eat you. Plenty of people have gone through the dungeon plenty of times, lost, and hopped right back in. It’s meant to be played over and over, you’ll be fine.”

“And it’s the only way out?” Grian’s voice sliced the air, hard and focused, and Jimmy nearly jumped at the sound. Everything sounded so critical out of his mouth.

“You think I’d lie?” Jimmy couldn’t crush down the snark as he side-eyed Grian behind him, but Grian’s expression barely shifted, his wings only lowering slightly.

“I didn’t-“

“Wellllll,” HotGuy cut in unhelpfully, missing the tension as he wrapped a playful arm around Jimmy’s shoulder.

“Okay-“ Grian shook his head, hands brushing his face in loose fists, “What is going on with you two.”

“Nothing! Nothing!” HotGuy jumped up and away, instead falling back to walk with Grian, getting in his space and tousling his hair. The casual movement made Jimmy freeze in place, but Grian only squeaked, batting at HotGuy with palmed hands, careful not to catch the other’s skin with his talons. For a moment Grian met Jimmy’s eye, and then it was over, HotGuy grabbing at his hands and wrestling him without a single care in the world.. Whatever.

Warily, Jimmy left them to do their thing. He didn’t feel good about it- actually, he felt a lot like he was leaving HotGuy with a ticking time bomb, but he did have to get their compasses, so might as well go while Grian was in a good(?) mood. What a novel concept that was. Jimmy sighed, zipping up his coat as he stepped into a side room.

For a long moment he considered giving Grian a Level 2 compass, but that wouldn’t really be plausible, and honestly Grian probably wouldn’t make it out of Level 1 anyway. Tango wouldn’t be happy either; his focus was on testing how new players reacted to the game, and anything beyond Level 1 would probably be overwhelming.

Hm. Would Tango let Jimmy into the tunnels to watch Grian’s run while HotGuy was still in the waiting room? Jimmy would really love nothing more than to watch Grian scream and run around and eat shit on the icy paths, but Tango wouldn’t want HotGuy unsupervised, so it probably wouldn’t happen. Unless Jimmy sent HotGuy in first.. Surely the few extra minutes spent with Grian would be worth it. Yeah, no, that would be good. He’d give HotGuy an easy artifact spot so he’d either win or be carried out by a ravager quickly, then send Grian deep into Level 1. Yes. Perfect.

“Is this it?” HotGuy asked when Jimmy returned, fingers curled around the bars of the gate that separated the three of them from the dungeon. Grian was looking as well, though more intensely, head pressed against the bars like he wanted to gather as much information as humanly possible. Jimmy couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Yeah,” he started, slipping into his prepared speech, “So basically, the point of the game is to find an artifact hidden in the dungeon, then bring it back to the start without getting caught by Tango’s dogs. The artifact placement is random, but your compass will help you find them; they point in the direction of a hidden panel on the floor. Once you find the panel, press your compass to the spot and it will be exchanged for an artifact. Then bring it back here.”

“How do we start?” Grian turned, eager, or maybe just antsy as he eyed the compasses in Jimmy’s hands.

“Not yet, and you’ll go one at a time, HotGuy first.” Though Grian didn’t look satisfied, and in a panicked gesture to appease him, Jimmy added, “Here, both of you can take these and once you’re ready you’ll press the bottom to the indent over on the panel by the gate,” Jimmy handed the compasses over gingerly, HotGuy taking it with curious fingers and Grian outright snatching it out of Jimmy’s hand, but before Jimmy could recoil or even react, Grian was on top of the panel, slamming his compass in before whirling around and grabbing Jimmy’s hand in a vice grip.

“I’m getting you out of here. Come on, HotGuy! Let’s get this over with.”

Jimmy’s mouth ran dry as the gate screeched open, only managing to squeak out a “One at a time!” before he was yanked forward, HotGuy cheering behind him. Jimmy nearly tumbled down the steps as Grian bolted into the maze, struggling to catch his tongue enough to form words. “This really isn’t necessary!”

“We’re going to save you, Jimmy!” HotGuy sang, oblivious to his distress, “Don’t worry a hair on your silly little head, with us you’ll be out of here in no time!” HotGuy winked and Jimmy didn’t get the chance to groan, far more preoccupied with Grian’s refusal to let go, and only having the mind to struggle out of his grip as the gate shuddered to a close.

“The game isn’t- guys-“ Jimmy stumbled back to the gate, but it would not be reopening any time soon. “The game isn’t meant to be played with three people! I don’t even have a compass! You need an artifact to get out!”

“Sounds to me like you only need one,” Grian said, perfectly unconcerned despite the new danger, not that he knew the ravagers were around, “I’m sure all three of us can scoot out at once if we’re quick, and if this ‘Tango’ tries to do anything about it, there’ll be two of us to keep you safe.” Jimmy didn’t even get the chance to respond to that before Grian clicked his tongue, “HotGuy, give me your compass.”

“Why? What if I want it?” HotGuy smirked and Grian scoffed, hopping forward to snatch it from him. HotGuy stepped out of the way and held it high out of Grian’s reach, causing the other to squawk and ultimately slip on the ice when he jumped to grab it. Jimmy found himself flinching when HotGuy laughed in Grian’s face, but the hero’s joy quickly turned to a shrill yelp as Grian leapt on him, clambering up his body with the compass in his sights. Unfortunately, the added weight unbalanced HotGuy on the ice and sent both of them tumbling to the ground. Certainly within Grian’s reach, the avian lunging for his prize and rolling out of range of a possible retaliation before getting to his feet.

“Right then.” Grian examined both compasses with great scrutiny, walking a little ways in different directions and nearing corners Jimmy just hoped had a ravager behind them. But Grian was never punished for his lack of attention, never straying too far. In fairness, HotGuy was doing very little to be careful himself, struggling to keep his footing without the talons Jimmy and Grian had; Jimmy would have given him grips for his shoes, but someone was in a hurry. For himself he would have grabbed the fluffy socks Tango had made to help keep his feet from getting too cold, so that was just another thing to resent Grian for. (Grian would not get socks. He did not deserve them.)

“HotGuy’s artifact is closest, so we’re going there.”

“How’d you puzzle that out? Actually, I don’t care.” HotGuy shuffled closer, poking his head over Grian’s shoulder. HotGuy caught Jimmy’s eye, throwing him a narrowed eye smirk before wiggling his fingers and jumping on Grian, wrestling the screeching avian until they both slipped, a crushed Grian losing his grip on the compass and unable to reclaim it before HotGuy scrambled over him (both parties kicking and screaming) until he slid across the compass, grabbing it with both hands.

“If it’s my compass, I get to hold it!” HotGuy got to his knees, arm shooting into the air to brandish his prize.

Grian let his head hit the ice. “We are never getting to our location.”

Jimmy crossed his arms. “Hey, HotGuy gets around the city fine. He could be a great maze navigator.”

“Thank you!” With some struggle, HotGuy got back to his feet, the momentum sliding him back into a forked path where he promptly fell back on his ass.

“We are never getting to our location.”

“You just wait CuteGuy, I’m gonna..” but HotGuy trailed off, eyes blinking wide as he stared at something down the tunnel. Jimmy’s feathers rose as he heard the grunt, but Grian didn’t seem to understand, looking between the two of them with a confused expression before the ravager bulldozed down the hall, HotGuy having no time to run before he was bowled down the hall, “THAT’S NOT A DOG!”

Jimmy spun on his heel, but the noticeable absence of Grian made him turn back around, having to lunge to grab him before the idiot tried to fight a ravager on HotGuy’s behalf.

“Other direction!”

“HotGuy’s-“

“He’ll be fine. We need to go.” Jimmy didn’t give Grian the time to argue, grabbing his wrist and overpowering him when it came to dexterity on the ice. Grian squawked, but luckily ravagers were not sensitive to sound, extra lucky when they turned a corner directly into the face of another and Grian shrieked, nearly falling on his ass before Jimmy pulled him up and back in the right direction.

“Get out of its line of sight!”

Grian only continued to shriek in response. Great. But after dragging Grian kicking and screaming around a couple corners, the ravager got off their tails, grunting as its heavy hooves lumbered down another icy tunnel. Grian let himself slide to a stop once Jimmy let go of his wrist, drifting to a wall and sliding against it to sit on the rocky ground and catch his breath. Jimmy hardly stopped himself from rolling his eyes.

“They don’t have much object permanence,” he mumbled instead, “Poor hearing as well. Still, maybe try to stop screaming. There’s about five around on this floor, so at the very least we know where a few of them are. We should keep going.”

“There’s more than one floor?”

“Yes, but our artifacts are on Level 1. It’s not too bad. And if we’re quick, we might still be able to find HotGuy. The ravagers are trained to take someone out of the game once they’re sufficiently down for the count, which is usually about two hits. If HotGuy got away, his artifact is definitely easier, but Tango will take the compass if he’s down, so we have to find him quickly. I think I know where he’ll end up, but stay on your guard.

Grian was quiet for a moment, catching his breath, sure, but the silence seemed deeper than that. Grian was always an intense thinker, the kind of intensity that weighed the air.

“You’ve been in the dungeon before? Tango is putting civilians in here?” He sounded angry. Not surprising, really, but..

“Yeah,” Jimmy shrugged, struggling not to feel defensive, “Not that many though. One guy just won’t leave. It’s kind of a volunteer program.”

“You’re not a volunteer.”

Technically, this was true. Jimmy was being paid; to run the dungeon as well as lure superheroes into it, though he hadn’t run it since a ravager broke a rib on Level 2.

For a moment Jimmy thought about telling Grian the truth, ditching the ‘helplessly kidnapped’ act and putting everything out on the table so Grian would stop trying to rescue him and leave well enough alone. That way at the very least he could call for Tango who might let him leave through a maintenance tunnel and not have to continue with whatever the hell was happening here. Jimmy didn’t even get the chance to register a deck before they started! However, the thought was dismissed immediately, partially because they only had one compass. In the case that Tango decided to be petty, Jimmy was not about to throw himself into the tusks of a ravager, and he could fantasize all he wanted about throwing Grian to the wolves and stealing the compass for himself, but it just made more sense that they stuck together.

But there was the fear, too, far more persuasive than any sense, the kind of deep seeded instinct that would have Jimmy sprinting in the opposite direction rather than be alone with his college tormentor, look him in the eyes, and tell him he’d been deceived.

Grian always thought Jimmy was hiding something from him. There had been multiple instances of Grian rummaging through his things, not taking, just looking, but not quite putting things back where they had been before. It really messed with Jimmy’s head- what he was even looking for? Grian didn’t have money to spend, but even when Jimmy had left his valuables and cash unguarded, Grian never stole. Jimmy never knew Grian to want anything either; weed, alcohol, the like, but for the most part Jimmy didn’t keep any of that in the dorm, and Grian never expressed interest. Grian didn’t even borrow pens or notebook paper; Jimmy was pretty sure he’d rather die than ask for help in any form, but regardless, it drove Jimmy crazy just to have Grian rummaging through his shit and having no idea what he wanted.

“Hey, if you need anything man, you just let me know, alright? I’ve got extra school supplies if you need to borrow anything for exams,” Jimmy had said one night, testing the waters in the rare occurrence when Grian’s headphones were off.

Jimmy would never forget the look of distaste Grian threw him, head cocked and eyes dark and narrowed; Grian didn’t even have to say anything to hurt him most days. “No.”

And that was that.

He never dreamed of confronting Grian, no, Jimmy would never bare his hand to a cornered animal. But one thing was for certain, he kept his phone and laptop passwords close, changing them regularly. Anything remotely private he locked up in his closet while he was out, Grian’s eyes burning into his back, suspicious and untrusting. He always made Jimmy feel so afraid. He wasn’t hiding anything or whatever it was Grian had convinced himself Jimmy was doing, he just wanted to keep his privacy private. Jimmy still had a habit of hiding his things, squirreling them away in odd places even when he was living alone. He didn’t realize he was doing it most of the time, but at some point it was pointed out to him (“This is why you can never find anything Jimmy, who keeps their receipts under the blooming mattress!”), and Jimmy had no doubt where the habit came from.

Apparently Jimmy’s lack of answer to Grian’s question was enough of an answer to him. “I’m going to get you out of here.” Intense. Always so intense.

Jimmy had no desire to fight him. “Okay.”

#hermitcraft #hermitfic #cw: past abuse #tw: past abuse #jimmy solidarity #solidaritygaming #gtws #goodtimeswithscar #grian #tangotek #decked out #decked out 2 #hotguy #cuteguy

34 notes · View notes

lady-griffin · 4 hours

Text

I wanted to quickly write out my feelings/thoughts on the song in Arcane’s new teaser trailer.

It could just be trailer music, but I believe Arcane Season 1’s trailer used Dirty Little Animals; so, it doesn’t seem farfetched to say this song will be in Season 2.

I just really loved the song.

It fit with what we see in the trailer as well as certain things I want for S2.

The music has a religious quality to it, not so much it’s like a hymn but with the chanting or choir, it feels very much – invoking a bigger force than one’s self, a calling to something bigger.

I also love that it's children singing, because again, the vibe I'm getting is a calling of arms.

Piltover abandoned Zaun’s children and while we’re obviously not going to only see children fighting Piltover; we are going to see a lot of young people going against Piltover or fighting for Zaun.

Which shows the true power imbalance and the injustice of it all. Piltover might think they’re doing what’s right and acting in the name of justice, but they’re just doing what they’ve always done -

They're putting the Undercity back in its place, back in the ground where they belong, because how dare they think they can attack them. How dare they start a war unprovoked.

The thing is, they're not just fighting evil chembarons or scary chem-tanks; but innocent people as well who have every right to hate and distrust them.

I can imagine there being a scene of someone (Caitlyn being very likely) telling people that Jinx is lying to them and this is all because of her...

But they're not going to reach a single person.

I also doubt Jinx is going to lie or really go out of her way to be anyone’s icon. Most likely she’s just going to be Jinx and look whether or not people should look to her as a savior, is certainly a valid discussion, but not one Piltover gets to have any say in. Because yeah, of course people would look to Jinx; she hurt Piltover.

The trailer is very much in the vein of Piltover and Noxus going against Zaun, taking a stand against them (against tyranny... okay Jan), gathering their forces, and all that...

But this time, it won't be the same.

With the vibes the song is giving, Jinx being this icon of liberation, and just who Jinx is in general – they’re not prepared for Jinx and Zaun. Ambessa is not prepared for Jinx or Zaun. Heimerdinger is not prepared for Jinx.

Caitlyn and Vi might be... but I sense some friction between those two is going to arise from that.

And yeah, the music just gives all of those vibes to me and is invoking so many thoughts.

Plus, music is so integral to Zaun, in a way that it’s not to Piltover. It’s everywhere. All the soundtrack’s songs (lyrics) are focused on Zaun characters or in Zaun scenes. The first scene is Powder singing clearly a folk song of sort, that’s all about asking Piltover for something as small as a penny and now, they're tired of asking.

Jinx didn't start this war. Piltover did.

Excuse my ramblings, I just really liked the song and it was just fitting with what I thought or hoped would happen. I could be completely wrong about all of this, but either way I’m super excited.

#Arcane #Arcane S2 #Arcane Season 2 #Jinx #Arcane Teaser Trailer #Zaun #Piltover

21 notes · View notes

holybibly · 5 hours

Note

hi!! i’m a writer myself and despite having mdni on my blog, i still get a lot of minors trying to with my work. i regularly have to check my followers for ages in their bio and i’ve even had minors come in my inbox telling me that i’m ’overreacting’ for not wanting them to read my writing. it’s gotten to the point where i’ve just turned off anon altogether, partially because of the weird people in my inbox and partially so i know i can be safe and not respond to minors by accident.

i guess what i’m trying to get at here is even though you have mdni on your blog, how can you be sure that the people in your inbox aren’t minors. there’s nothing physically stopping them from coming on your blog and sending sexual asks and you seem to facilitate these asks by responding in an equally sexual manner. i hope i’m not coming across as rude, but i just don’t see how you can be sure that you’re not engaging with minors when you respond to anons in a flirtatious and sexual way. if you somehow do check their ages, great! but since they’re anon, i don’t really see how that’s possible…

So, hello. Well, the wording of the question is rather crude to begin with, don't you think? And frankly, I'd prefer to take such questions to DM posts, but if you want to talk, you're welcome.

First of all, don't you think it's a bit unfair? Accusing anonymous people and then asking a question anonymously? I don't think it's very nice, or do you think I'm going to declare a witch hunt and go on a bashing spree? That's so stupid. Or do you just not like me? Because that's what it sounds like. In general, I don't mind you having an opinion, but by sending a message like that, you knew I'd respond to it.

Secondly, I know this is going to sound awful and you can totally throw a bunch of shitty comments and posts at me, but let's be honest, even if we check the age of our subscribers and readers every time they subscribe to us, when they ask us questions, comment, reblog, etc., where is the 100% guarantee that those people didn't lie about their age when they created their blog on Tumblr?

Go to any porn site; age verification is just a tick in the box. These are the horrible realities we face every day. The internet is a place where it is very difficult to verify anything, and unfortunately, there are consequences.

I am in no way supporting the sexualization of minors, and I am certainly not engaging in depravity, although you make it sound that way.

But I do know that there are many people who can't talk openly about their desires, sexual or otherwise; people who doubt their sexuality and self-acceptance; people who are judged for being different; people who are shamed for being too feminine or masculine; for having problems with daddy or mommy; or simply for being too quiet and shy. Not all of us are going to come out for manifestos and parades.

And in this case, the only option for them is anonymity. I repeat, I do not support the sexualization of minors in any way, and if you want to accuse me of encouraging such things, I suggest you look at some of the profiles of authors on AO3 who openly use sex scenes with minors and even children in the text of their work.

I don't know your social circle as a writer, and since you're asking this anonymously, I can't even check your work, but I think the problem is not whether I answer anonymous questions or not, but whether I talk to my bunnies at all. Every time I get messages like this, I think about it. You call me weird, angry, triggering, and now a lecher. Not directly, but the context is clear.

I've never written messages like that to anyone; you know, it's not nice. I've never intended to offend or hurt anyone with my replies or FFs. But apparently everyone around me, for some strange reason, thinks I'm some source of universal evil while trying to retrain me and change my character and disposition.

I really hope you are happy with what you are doing.

Bunnies, I'm sorry. There will be no updates for a while.

#bunny questions #sugar and sin

20 notes · View notes

firinnie · 3 days

Text

So Charlie says that Lucifer only calls her when he wants something… and then she calls her when she wants something from him, after a few years. Of course, she is angry with him when he insists on that sinners are evil, but she does not try to understand him at all in this case. These sinners are his punishment, he is a fallen angel and Charlie is pushing for his contact with Heaven. Did I mean that Charlie is evil? Absolutely not! But her big flaw is too much optimism and not looking at herself. This transfers to Lucifer even worse, as if she didn't understand him at all, while at the same time thinking that he didn't understand her. There's a bit of hypocrisy here, but you have to remember that she probably doesn't know about her father's depression and thinks that he cut himself off from her of his own free will (when it was suggested to us that Lilith had a hand in it, but we can't be sure of that) and she thinks her father doesn't have a good opinion of her. It's strange because from the end of their singing duet it appears that Lucifer spent a lot of time with little Charlie and she remembers his dream stories… hasn't she ever wondered why it stopped? Their time together and her father's dreams? My point is that Charlie is very impulsive towards Lucifer, and I generally think that if there is even a small misunderstanding, it could turn into big argument where the key was "you just suddenly showed up and-" depends on the context. But I think overprotectiveness towards Charlie or dislike towards Alastor would fit here. Anyway, I think that if Alastor wanted to pit Lucifer and his daughter against him, it wouldn't be hard for him to pull the strings. Charlie can swallow it and Lucifer will probably leave so as not to cause her any more grief. I think it may end like this when it comes to light that she made a deal with a demon, which was the biggest ban from Lucifer, right?

This is something I am very afraid of in the next season, because on the one hand, their relationship is very fragile and needs a lot of repair, but will there be time for it on Charlie's part? I'm devastated because this sounds like something out of Charlie's character and out of her character at the same time. Do you think Alastor will go first if the cards are arranged correctly?

#firinnie #hazbin hotel #my thoughts #alastor hazbin hotel #lucifer morningstar #lucifer hazbin hotel #charlie morningstar #charlie hazbin hotel

24 notes · View notes

quillyfied · 2 years

Text

Oh, also, because I haven’t seen a warning on my dash yet so imma make one:

If you have an iPhone or another Apple product that has apps that have location tracking enabled, GO CHECK THEIR SETTINGS AND TURN OFF “USE PRECISE LOCATION.” Apparently this new nifty little number that recent iOS updates have quietly rolled out is able to identify your exact location rather than the general area. Which is not great for a variety of privacy reasons.

Any app—ANY app—that uses location, check it in settings. Instagram. Facebook. Pokémon GO. Starbucks. Target. If you don’t want your precise location known by your phone and any entity that might have access to it, turn the feature off NOW.

#apple iphone #iOS #ios 15 #at least that’s what I’m up to #anyway PSA this might be old or useless but sounding the alarm anyway #saw stuff about it on Instagram earlier today and did my own digging #and found out it went so far beyond Instagram #ugh. precise location. whose bright idea was that #I’m mad bc I can see why this could be a useful and even life saving tool #but generally no it’s going to be used for evil

9 notes · View notes

cuddlytogas · 3 months

Text

So I accidentally almost got into an argument on Twitter, and now I'm thinking about bad historical costuming tropes. Specifically, Action Hero Leather Pants.

See, I was light-heartedly pointing out the inaccuracies of the costumes in Black Sails, and someone came out of the woodwork to defend the show. The misunderstanding was that they thought I was dismissing the show just for its costumes, which I wasn't - I was simply pointing out that it can't entirely care about material history (meaning specifically physical objects/culture) if it treats its clothes like that.

But this person was slightly offended on behalf of their show - especially, quote, "And from a fan of OFMD, no less!" Which got me thinking - it's true! I can abide a lot more historical costuming inaccuracy from Our Flag than I can Black Sails or Vikings. And I don't think it's just because one has my blorbos in it. But really, when it comes down to it...

What is the difference between this and this?

Here's the thing. Leather pants in period dramas isn't new. You've got your Vikings, Tudors, Outlander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time, Will, The Musketeers, even Shakespeare in Love - they love to shove people in leather and call it a day. But where does this come from?

Obviously we have the modern connotations. Modern leather clothes developed in a few subcultures: cowboys drew on Native American clothing. (Allegedly. This is a little beyond my purview, I haven't seen any solid evidence, and it sounds like the kind of fact that people repeat a lot but is based on an assumption. I wouldn't know, though.) Leather was used in some WWI and II uniforms.

But the big boom came in the mid-C20th in motorcycle, punk/goth, and gay subcultures, all intertwined with each other and the above. Motorcyclists wear leather as practical protective gear, and it gets picked up by rock and punk artists as a symbol of counterculture, and transferred to movie designs. It gets wrapped up in gay and kink communities, with even more countercultural and taboo meanings. By the late C20th, leather has entered mainstream fashion, but it still carries those references to goths, punks, BDSM, and motorbike gangs, to James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Mick Jagger. This is whence we get our Spikes and Dave Listers in 1980s/90s media, bad boys and working-class punks.

And some of the above "historical" design choices clearly build on these meanings. William Shakespeare is dressed in a black leather doublet to evoke the swaggering bad boy artist heartthrob, probably down on his luck. So is Kit Marlowe.

But the associations get a little fuzzier after that. Hook, with his eyeliner and jewellery, sure. King Henry, yeah, I see it. It's hideously ahistorical, but sure. But what about Jamie and Will and Ragnar, in their browns and shabby, battle-ready chic? Well, here we get the other strain of Bad Period Drama Leather.

See, designers like to point to history, but it's just not true. Leather armour, especially in the western/European world, is very, very rare, and not just because it decays faster than metal. (Yes, even in ancient Greece/Rome, despite many articles claiming that as the start of the leather armour trend!) It simply wasn't used a lot, because it's frankly useless at defending the body compared to metal. Leather was used as a backing for some splint armour pieces, and for belts, sheathes, and buckles, but it simply wasn't worn like the costumes above. It's heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to repair - it's simply not practical for a garment when you have perfectly comfortable, insulating, and widely available linen, wool, and cotton!

As far as I can see, the real influence on leather in period dramas is fantasy. Fantasy media has proliferated the idea of leather armour as the lightweight choice for rangers, elves, and rogues, a natural, quiet, flexible material, less flashy or restrictive than metal. And it is cheaper for a costume department to make, and easier for an actor to wear on set. It's in Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Runescape, and World of Warcraft.

And I think this is how we get to characters like Ragnar and Vane. This idea of leather as practical gear and light armour, it's fantasy, but it has this lineage, behind which sits cowboy chaps and bomber/flight jackets. It's usually brown compared to the punk bad boy's black, less shiny, and more often piecemeal or decorated. In fact, there's a great distinction between the two Period Leather Modes within the same piece of media: Robin Hood (2006)! Compare the brooding, fascist-coded villain Guy of Gisborne with the shabby, bow-wielding, forest-dwelling Robin:

So, back to the original question: What's the difference between Charles Vane in Black Sails, and Edward Teach in Our Flag Means Death?

Simply put, it's intention. There is nothing intentional about Vane's leather in Black Sails. It's not the only leather in the show, and it only says what all shabby period leather says, relying on the same tropes as fantasy armour: he's a bad boy and a fighter in workaday leather, poor, flexible, and practical. None of these connotations are based in reality or history, and they've been done countless times before. It's boring design, neither historically accurate nor particularly creative, but much the same as all the other shabby chic fighters on our screens. He has a broad lineage in Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean and such, but that's it.

In Our Flag, however, the lineage is much, much more intentional. Ed is a direct homage to Mad Max, the costuming in which is both practical (Max is an ex-cop and road warrior), and draws on punk and kink designs to evoke a counterculture gone mad to the point of social breakdown, exploiting the thrill of the taboo to frighten and titillate the audience.

In particular, Ed is styled after Max in the second movie, having lost his family, been badly injured, and watched the world turn into an apocalypse. He's a broken man, withdrawn, violent, and deliberately cutting himself off from others to avoid getting hurt again. The plot of Mad Max 2 is him learning to open up and help others, making himself vulnerable to more loss, but more human in the process.

This ties directly into the themes of Our Flag - it's a deliberate intertext. Ed's emotional journey is also one from isolation and pain to vulnerability, community, and love. Mad Max (intentionally and unintentionally) explores themes of masculinity, violence, and power, while Max has become simplified in the popular imagination as a stoic, badass action hero rather than the more complex character he is, struggling with loss and humanity. Similarly, Our Flag explores masculinity, both textually (Stede is trying to build a less abusive pirate culture) and metatextually (the show champions complex, banal, and tender masculinities, especially when we're used to only seeing pirates in either gritty action movies or childish comedies).

Our Flag also draws on the specific countercultures of motorcycles, rockers, and gay/BDSM culture in its design and themes. Naturally, in such a queer show, one can't help but make the connection between leather pirates and leather daddies, and the design certainly nods at this, with its vests and studs. I always think about this guy, with his flat cap so reminiscient of gay leather fashions.

More overtly, though, Blackbeard and his crew are styled as both violent gangsters and countercultural rockstars. They rove the seas like a bikie gang, free and violent, and are seen as icons, bad boys and celebrities. Other pirates revere Blackbeard and wish they could be on his crew, while civilians are awed by his reputation, desperate for juicy, gory details.

This isn't all of why I like the costuming in Our Flag Means Death (especially season 1). Stede's outfits are by no means accurate, but they're a lot more accurate than most pirate media, and they're bright and colourful, with accurate and delightful silks, lace, velvets, and brocades, and lovely, puffy skirts on his jackets. Many of the Revenge crew wear recognisable sailor's trousers, and practical but bright, varied gear that easily conveys personality and flair. There is a surprising dedication to little details, like changing Ed's trousers to fall-fronts for a historical feel, Izzy's puffy sleeves, the handmade fringe on Lucius's red jacket, or the increasing absurdity of navy uniform cuffs between Nigel and Chauncey.

A really big one is the fact that they don't shy away from historical footwear! In almost every example above, we see the period drama's obsession with putting men in skinny jeans and bucket-top boots, but not only does Stede wear his little red-heeled shoes with stockings, but most of his crew, and the ordinary people of Barbados, wear low boots or pumps, and even rough, masculine characters like Pete wear knee breeches and bright colours. It's inaccurate, but at least it's a new kind of inaccuracy, that builds much more on actual historical fashions, and eschews the shortcuts of other, grittier period dramas in favour of colour and personality.

But also. At least it fucking says something with its leather.

#everyone say 'thank you togas' for not including a long tangent about evil rimmer in red dwarf 5x05 #Our Flag Means Death #Togas does meta #and yes these principles DO fall apart slightly in s2 and i DON'T like those costumes as much #don't get me wrong they're fun and gorgeous - but generally a bit less deep and more inaccurate. so. :(#I'm not sure this really says anything new about Our Flag but I just needed to get my thoughts out #i hate hate hate Gritty Period Drama costumes they're so boring and so ugly and so wrong #god bless OFMD for using more than 3 muted colours and actually putting men in heels (and not as a shorthand for rich/foppish villainy) <3 #looking at that Tudors still is insane like they really will go to any lengths to not make men feel like they've got bare legs XD #image descriptions in alt text #and yes i DID just sink about two hours into those so you'd better appreciate them

1K notes · View notes