#i just realized how contradictory story 2 and 3 are

[windslar]

Love Day has been the busiest day of the bakery thus far

#i just realized how contradictory story 2 and 3 are #but we'll pretend we don't see it 🙈 #all you need to know is mads will bake a cake for ANYONE'S wedding or commitment ceremony 🌈 #the sims 4 #ts4 #ts4 legacy #the joy of life challenge #the joy of life legacy #JOL gen 1 #maxis match #ts4 gameplay #sim: madeleine sevilla #tjolc #tjol challenge #tjolc gen 1

[physalian]

10 Character Dynamics the World Needs More of

Me handing out character dynamics like free samples at the Mall Food Court: “Take one! Or two! You’ll love it!”

I don’t care how many times these tropes have been done – write more of them. Write all of them. Fill out your author bingo card one by one.

1. “No one gets to kill you but me, Old Friend”

This. Right here. Primo rival content that I *live* for. All the juicy history between two old frenemies, the character drama, the backstory, the titillating unknown of what drove these two to rival status, bitter enemies that respect the heck out of each other, to the point that hell hath no fury should one get knocked down without the other’s consent.

And, of course, the moment where it seems all bets are off, when the rival comes to save their ass only to hand it back to them at a later date. The angst! The shipping fodder! Need I say more?

2. A bigger, badder villain, and their minion

You, reader, spend countless hours hating the guts of the big bad villain. They’re evil, they’re vile, they’re sadistic, heartless, irredeemable bastards. They killed your favorite character for shock value. The big bad moustache-twirling antagonist… is actually not the biggest fish in the story.

Either they’re coerced into doing evil as a puppet of the Bigger Bad, a tragic villain in their own right, or they have some reservation, some line even they won’t cross, someone else’s boots they have to kiss, someone who features in their nightmares, as they feature in the heroes. They end their stories dispatched without a thought by the Bigger Bad, or redeem themselves in death by taking out their masters. It never gets old.

3. A leader and their lancer: besties

You know what’s better than leaders and lancers who have zero faith in each other and are constantly bickering about who should be in charge? Leaders and their right-hands who adore each other (platonically). They have each other’s backs, they know each other’s greatest strengths and weaknesses and are each other’s perfect covers.

They can communicate with looks and vague gestures alone, they compliment each other’s flaws and misgivings, build up the rest of the team when they’re down on their luck, and should misfortune strike either, they pull out all the stops and show off exactly why they’re not to be trifled with, so that even the villain is afraid.

4. “I don’t even know who you are”

Oh, but you will. This one twists the knife, robbing the avenging hero of the importance in this world they’re desperate to maintain. They are their own hero, the sun revolves around them… but not to this one asshat that ruined their life and doesn’t even remember doing it.

An entire identity built upon the finding, fighting, and overcoming of this wrongdoer, every other goal in life cast aside for this one impossibility. Either the villain toys with the hero to make them irate, or gets suckerpunched by some pissant fueled by vengeance and spite and divine purpose to dole justice where justice is due.

6. The jaded badass and their naive ward

If the last 8 years of media is anything to go by, we still love this trope, whether it’s in a galaxy far, far away or a fungi-zombie post-apocalypse, or in the twilight hours of an era of legendary mutants. The best part of this trope? You get two often contradictory character types in one body. The pessimist, PTSD-ridden master of old with no living friends left and at least one dead love interest *and* beneath all that, still lies an atrophied heart of gold just waiting to be nurtured and revived.

The naive ward gets a hard lesson in how crappy the world can be, but also in how there’s still some goodness left, if their guardian cares about them. The jaded badass in turn, learns how good the world can be, that there’s something still worth fighting for beyond the next bottom of a bottle.

6. The enemy of my enemy (is my friend)

Similar to the “old friends”, this trope is often a result of the minioned Big Bad realizing they don’t want to be evil anymore. Or, bitter old rivals, sides of a war that have been fighting for generations, ideological polar opposites, fundamental polar opposites all come together when: Some evil schmuck managed to scare them both.

Doesn’t matter on what shaky ground this temporary alliance is built, or how long it lasts, equally-competent badasses on both sides finally work together and compliment each other’s strengths, and compensate for their weaknesses, in a way their teammates never could.

7. The irredeemable villain’s only wholesome connection

Not so irredeemable anymore, now are they? This trope messes with your head, taking a character you know has done heinous acts of terror, but who cares unflinchingly, unabashedly, about one thing – either their lover, their pet, their relative, or their kid.

This exists independently of the heroes and is not the same as an “oops I guess I’m your father” reveal. I’m talking this character who everyone is convinced cares about nothing and no one but themselves and their ambition still has a place in their soul for something they want to protect, they want to be loved by, or that they must spare from their atrocities.

8. Platonic Heterosexual Friendships

These two have seen each other at their most vulnerable. They’ve shared fears, dreams, desires, know each other’s deepest, darkest secrets. They’ve seen each other exhausted, frazzled, dressed up, dressed down, bloodied and broken and like a raw, open nerve. These two would die for each other, they would live for each other, and yet.

They’re not in love with each other. They’re wholly comfortable in each other’s spaces without lust and desire mucking up the atmosphere. Neither is the one, neither wants to be the one. They remain together not for the bonds of romance, but for the bonds of friendship, and nothing could be stronger.

10. The Ace and their best friend, the Self-Proclaimed Slut

These two respect the f*ck out of each other. One never mocks the other for lacking desire and in return, they’re never mocked for their promiscuity. They’ll never walk in each other’s shoes, but they don’t need to, to understand that’s just how some people are. They’re each other’s safest spaces when the world doesn’t take either of them seriously.

They’re each other’s biggest defenders against the bullies, presumers, the holier-than-thous who think they have it all figured out. They’re the perfect compliment to give advice on everything from relationships to the best outfits for an outing because there’s *zero sexual tension* between them. Or, maybe, if the stars align, they’re something more.

10. The redeeming villain, and their staunchest skeptic

This villain has lost everything – their home, the respect of their people, their worth, their evil ambition, their identity, and has begun working their way up from rock bottom doing everything in their power to show the heroes that they’re serious. They make amends, they break their bones proving themselves, they’ve swayed everyone they’ve wronged in the hero camp.

Except one. The one character that was probably their first defender, and got burned for it. The character that was naive enough to think this villain could be saved, and was wrong. The character that won’t be duped again without some serious drama and soul-bearing between them.

Now tell me which ones I missed!

#writing advice #character design #character development #character dynamics #tropes #archetypes

[fernsnailz]

OH ALSO. ik you said something abt how some aspects of your feelings on the shth game have changed - what would you say is different now? (again feel free to ignore this)

oh yeah! overall, most of my feelings about shth2005 have remained the same - that game is a contradictory mess and i adore it. i mostly have a few minor grievances with my big shadow 2005 analysis essay. i'll talk under the cut about some specific moments that i think a little differently on - if you haven't read the big shadow essay, i'd say read it first and then come back to read this post.

grievance #1: The Doom

"being Good or Neutral around Maria makes WAY more sense than taking the Dark path. The game’s morality system breaks so badly in [The Doom] that things start to make sense again."

i still mostly agree with my thoughts on The Doom, and the game's failure in design affecting the morality system is something that i think could prompt further discussion. but a couple of people pointed out that the hero mission is still an interesting indicator to shadow's emotional state on the darker paths, and i don't want to completely discredit that concept because i like it a lot.

The Doom's hero mission is grueling. 60 gun soldiers to defeat in a maze level is not something most players would be willing to do. but it may be something that shadow is willing to do on a darker path - rage leading him to hunt and eliminate every single human he can find is harrowing, and it's a malevolence that the darker paths of this game fail to really show. so as much as i dislike the morality missions in this game, i do think they're an interesting measurement of the lengths shadow is willing to go to if it means defeating his enemy. the guy just doesn't stop.

grievance #2: boy what on earth is that take about the hero cast

"They want Shadow to work for them because of a desire to prove their side of the cycle is the right one."

i'll be real with you i think there was a bit too much analysis going on here lol. the heroes want shadow's help because there's a literal alien invasion threatening to wipe out all life on earth. are they manipulative towards shadow? i mean sometimes, but i don't think most of them do it out of malice or intentionally, and i definitely don't think they really care about proving their side of the moral compass right during the Fucking Alien Armageddon.

the only hero character that i think would be deliberately manipulative (minus eggman) is sonic, and i don't think he would consciously realize it. best example i have of sonic's occasional manipulative attitude towards shadow is the whole "if he can't be forgiven, can you?" bit from the mr tinker arc in IDW. and this is really only something he does to shadow - sometimes he just wants to get under shadow's skin without realizing what he's actually saying. sometimes sonic's just an asshole! and i like that, it's an interesting aspect to sonic that i wish was explored a little more in shth2005, the game about his rival. idk that's all i have to say here

grievance #3: who is shadow even?

"to him, doing what’s “right” means giving as many people as possible that same chance at life. It’s not a justification of morals or a desire to be heroic that leads Shadow down this path - it’s just what he wants to do."

i've circled around my final opinions in my shadow 2005 essay a lot because honestly. i don't really know where i stand on these thoughts currently lol. shadow is inconsistent enough that i struggle to really pin down what exactly he deems as "right" or what he even wants to do most of the time - it's especially difficult to pin these things down when trying to cover shadow as a whole across the entire franchise, which is what i was trying to do here. because man, does this guy feel all over the place when you look at everything.

i think there's truth in the idea that shadow doesn't really care about protecting the people of sonic's world (this sonic channel story explores that concept a bit). at the same time, i think it's also entirely possible that this "i don't care what happens to others" attitude is a bit of a front he puts up (especially around sonic). and as silly and non-canon as i think the sonic twitter takeovers are, i do think they were kinda cooking something when they made shadow work at a soup kitchen. these are all somewhat different ideas and interpretations of shadow, but i think they're all plausible for this character. personally, i'd rather embrace the inconsistency then try to limit him to one worldview.

the only solid "truth" i can formulate about shadow's motivations right now is this: whatever he deems right, or whatever he wants to do, he decides for himself because it's his life. he doesn't do these things for maria, or for gerald, or for the rest of the world. his choices and actions are his own - maybe inspired by others, but not for them. and the things he decides to do are often inconsistent because he's an immortal, traumatized, teenage hedgehog - a paradoxical creation that's still learning how to live. he might be the ultimate life form, but it's more important to me that he's just shadow.

#fernasks #sonic loreposting #FINALLY i can get these very specific critiques i have of that post off my chest lmao

[lunanoc]

are you surprised that I'm asking you to do Wu Xie for the blorbo bingo ?

(alternative offers if you want to do them: Li Cu, since you're finishing sha hai and/or Huo Xiuxiu)

i’m very late in replying to this sorryyy

absolutely not surprised but i appreciate the window of opportunity to let me *unintelligible noises* about wu xie <3

(for disclaimer purposes as always these are all just my personal opinions and aren’t pretending to be objective facts)

i’m totally normal about wu xie my beloved (who absolutely has pretty boy privilege that he definitely uses to his advantage whether he fully realizes he does or not, also this man is vain af in the most human way possible), he’s the ultimate blorbo and i’d be writing essays about him if i actually fully got into why i love him. wu xie is incredibly complex and goes through one of the most realistic and in-depth developments i’ve seen in a fictional character honestly. it says something that usually first person narration isn’t really my thing, but wu xie’s pov is so enjoyable and compelling you can’t put the books down. because of that unique perspective, we get wu xie in all that he is as he changes (though not quite as much as he himself thinks he does) throughout his experiences, the good and the ugly both, and while he’s deeply flawed, it’s because he’s deeply flawed and contradictory and so painfully human as a result that he’s as interesting and endearing as he is, i love him a very normal amount :))

the one maybe controversial opinion i have is that while not most because that would be exaggerating, i still find a number of popular fandom takes on wu xie, on the western side of the fandom specifically, are off just enough they bother me. it’s hard to narrow it down to a single reason because it’s a mix of different things that aren’t always objective (as in some things are just my preference vs someone else’s), but i would say one of the bigger ones is the sometimes gross misunderstanding of cultural backdrop and framework that have made him into who he is. you can easily extend this to pretty much all the characters, it’s just more noticeable in the portrayals of the main ones, but dmbj is a story deeply informed by its cultural framework, both in terms of narrative and in terms of the characters, how they act, their thought processes, and how all this impacts their interactions with others. so it’s not hard to understand that disregarding that would skew the characters on a fundamental level, which is something i find happens to wu xie more than it should. but that’s just me

next! li cu

i don’t have anything crazy to say about li cu really outside the fact i find him a little more compelling in the book than in the drama, mostly because you get his thought process a little more in-depth in the book, and he’s interesting as a contrast to how wu xie works. he’s clearly way in over his head and trying his best to cope with increasing trauma that just keeps heaping itself on top of itself without letting him really process it so yes he needs to stop being in situations (even if arguably being in situations is what ultimately saves his life). he’s also a teenage boy which just makes me want to fix him. just a little bit. i swear he can be better it’s not his fault teenage boys are a little dumb in the head! he does show up more in later canon post-ten years later, so it’s not like he completely disappears, but him and the desert triangle squad aren’t uninteresting characters so it’s interesting enough to keep up with them even if his strained relationship with wu xie hurts me for both of them (li cu using wu xie as a convenient party to pin the blame on for all his misfortunes vs wu xie perceiving li cu as the consequences of his necessary evils made flesh ouchouchouch)

aaaand huo xiuxiu

huo xiuxiu my beloved, best girl hands down, none can compare <3

when i say the writers dropped the ball on her, i mostly mean the dramas, although tbh more specifically lost tomb 2 and 2.5 that. yeah that’s not xiuxiu that’s all i’ll say. i find the closest to book version of her is in ultimate note, that still for introducing characters earlier than they should have been reasons couldn’t give her some of her coolest scenes. she’s intelligent, she’s skilled and cunning and pretty, yet in the beginning she also has that gap of practical inexperience that make her human. she’s the whole deal really. interestingly enough when they meet in the books, wu xie often finds he and xiuxiu are similar in terms of the way they think and react, which i find is interesting and pretty accurate. she’s also not in the story enough, so i’m happy that in current canon she’s been upgraded to one of the main squad and is down in dangerous tombs with the iron triangle and heihua. she’s also as unhinged as they all are i love her <3

#ask meme #dmbj #wu xie #li cu #huo xiuxiu

[rmorde]

Love your blog a lot. Thank you for all the Kokichi love! 🥰

Thanks! 😍

Also, YES! Kokichi deserves so much love. He is one of the most underappreciated characters imo.

His time in the manga was short but he shined a lot in it and made a waves. He is cool but dorky - very grim and gritty on the surface but just a sweet softie underneath.

I could talk a lot about him and here is just my list of the main reasons I love him:

MAGITECH I love the concept of magitech - technology powered by magic. They sound contradictory because magic and technology are often presented as opposites of each other in folklore to popular stories. So when a work of fiction harmonize them together, it just feel special imo. Kokichi's entire aesthetic is magitech. His CT is puppet manipulation not robot/tech manipulation. However, he was influenced by, likely, a mecha anime so much that he designed all his puppets to be like robots. His character would not look out-of-place in a sci-fi, cyberpunk, or mecha series.

HE IS A DORK Kokichi named Mechamaru as Mechamaru because of an anime he watched. He made his puppets look like robots, again, because of an anime he liked! He roleplays hard the "cool robot" personality when he is with his friends as Mechamaru. He has cheesy names for all his moves! He named an attack "Pigeon Viola"! OMFG! Had he been blessed with a normal body, Kokichi would be a hardcore cosplayer of robots or mech pilots. He is a fucking theater kid who would believe method acting is the best form of acting! Heavenly Restriction saved Utahime from premature white hairs because I 100% believe Kokichi would have driven her crazy with his antics. He is a closet gremlin menace! *It's so funny to realize that Kokichi is voiced by Kirito's VA. It's fucking perfect.

HE IS A SWEET HEART We all saw the Jujutsu Stroll! He cannot say no to his friends especially Miwa. Some might think he is a pushover for it. But I think it's because he is genuinely nice. His Mechamarus are so detailed?!? If that isn't a labor of love, I don't know what is. Above all else, one of his main motivations in gaining a healthy body is to physically be with his friends - to just have the simple joy of walking side by side with them. HE IS A FUCKING SWEETHEART AND HE DESERVES A LOT OF HUGS!

HE IS A FIGHTER Kokichi took hold of his own fate. He made his own choices and dealt with the consequences accordingly. He went down fighting and giving all he's got despite the odds.

HE IS COMPLEX Kokichi shows rage which is refreshing. Most of the time, ill characters in a story often come in three flavors only: 1) They are gentle and quiet in their acceptance. 2) They are depressed and miserable in silent suffering. 3) They are so ragey that they turned into irredeemable villains. Kokichi was all of that and yet not! 1) He is gentle and quiet with his friends but he is not accepting his shitty fate! 2) He is depressed and miserable but he is vocal about his shitty fate with people (who he didn't want to trouble so much like his friends). 3) He is ragey and a traitor but he knows how to direct his fury properly and he isn't delusional about the consequences of his choices. He was ready for all the baggage that came with his betrayal. ALSO, he didn't become a full blown villain. HE WAS A DOUBLE AGENT... without a handler... or without anyone knowing about it really. It was a self-appointed role okay.

SMALL ROLE, BIG IMPACT Kokichi's choice led to a seismic shift in the world of JJK because it led to the Shibuya Incident.

COOL DESIGN He has a total of three looks. All of which are interesting! 1. PROXY BODY: Mechamaru has a steampunk aesthetic. It has old robot anime vibes that reminds me of Metropolis. 2. ILL BODY: The bandages all over him reminds me of Shishio (Rurouni Kenshin). This design is interesting too because his environment is a vital element as well. It gives him an aura of cold danger and mystery. 3. HEALTHY BODY: Kokichi looks like a young samurai with his hair up in a high pony tail and scar. He looks badass. His facial expressions being in full rage-y displays also how far he is from cold. He is as hot-tempered as any classic shonen MC.

COOL POWERS & SKILLS Puppet manipulation. That's cool. Enough said. His engineering skills? Now that is mindblowing! He had to build all of his puppets! All of them have full range of motion, well balanced, and equipped with weapons. Plus, he had to follow his mecha aesthetics. Accomplishing all of that every time he creates his puppets is amazing! Kokichi is versatile with his CT and combined with his engineering skills and creativity, he is a badass.

MIWAKICHI / KOKISUMI / MECHAMIWA Their relationship is so sweet and tragic. It's so fucking unfair!!! I like how Miwa drew out the best and the worst from Kokichi.

HE IS A REBEL Probably because of how short his time was in the series, many missed the fact that he is just as much of a rebel against jujutsu system as Yuki, Gojo, and Geto were. Yuki - She refused her original role in jujutsu society and forged her own path in ending curses. She rejected the system. Geto - He fought back by becoming a curse user to pursue his own way of eradicating curses. He did not let the brand of a traitor deter him from his path. He left the system. Gojo - He fought back by staying in the system and being a giant nuisance about it by encouraging a new generation to go against the tradition. He chained himself to the system but he is destroying them from within through nurturing of the youth. Kokichi was like Yuki. He rejected the fate the bestowed on him. He refused to die alone in a pool of his own blood. Kokichi was like Geto. He sought another way to achieve his goals and took an opportunity despite being branded as traitor/curse user. Had fate been kinder, I think Kokichi would have ended up following Gojo's path - working in the system and changing it in his own way that would protect the vulnerable. He'd be joining the likes of Yuta and Yuji.

#muta kokichi #mechamaru #asks #meefy #i tried avoiding spoilers as much as i can #so some parts are short #but i'll elaborate more maybe when shibuya arc is done

[fanstuffrantings]

I started thinking about rwby/the white fang and how terrible they handled the plotline again so ranting under the cut (if you like rwby and don't want negativity about it do not read. I was one of the watchers from when the red trailer dropped.)

I used to be a massive rwby fan, I'm talking forcing people to watch the show with me, rewatching every season, pulling up individual fight scenes and watching them on repeat. I had the lore locked into my mind and convinced my friends to jump on call with me and watch season 2 episode 1 when it aired. I was locked in, front and center every week when episodes dropped through the end of season 3. Now I didn't watch season 4 when it was airing due to complex feelings about what supposedly happened behind the scenes in between 2 and 3 but in taking a step back from the adoration it also meant I could start seeing the flaws in the show.

Specifically the white fang. It's already been stated how badly this was handled, a group of white men writing racism without considering the nuances and simply wanting to push a "violence is wrong" narrative even though they themselves admit in the text that violence was the only thing getting results. As a younger teenage white girl I couldn't immediately spot the issues of the writing, especially not when I adored the series too much to think critically on it.

But with each passing season every time the faunus plot got brought up it was just handled worse and worse. When I tried watching season 4, Blake consistently had my least favorite scenes because so much of her story felt retconned and contradictory to what we'd already learned about the faunus and the white fang. Her parents themselves added a whole arc that just felt like it was almost retconned in.

Weiss going from a clear racist to someone who actually isn't racist with no on screen development because the writers seemed to realize that was actually something incredibly dislikable some fans wouldn't forgive. (And honestly if fans still don't like her for it I don't blame them.)

The thing is despite the issues I could've seen myself pressing on in the show because I genuinely enjoyed so much about it. But the most glaring problem was Adam. Now I'm a fan of one piece so I'm not stranger to the idea of writing in a violent extremist who would kill their own people just to push their hatred and conflict. And maybe if they'd taken the Hody route of having Adam not actually be someone with personal experience with humans who simply hated them on principle and refused the idea of peace I could've handled them killing him off.

But to make him one of the only characters with a physical reminder of human brutality through fucking BRANDING, and then to kill him. That is the one part of rwby that always keeps me from catching up. Because I genuinely get so angry every time I think about it. He got the schnee dust company branded onto his face, no wonder he hates humans and wants them all to burn. It makes complete sense. And if the writers were taking that angle and opt to use someone being branded, why would you choose to have it be a character you were only ever going to villainize?

In general the faunus plotline has been mishandled, but that was the moment that just made it impossible for me to enjoy rwby like I used to.

#rwde #rwby critical #molten rambles

[lightandfellowship]

Examining Vor's motivations

(Major KHDR spoilers)

So if you’ve experienced KHDR's story, then you’re probably aware of how...confusing and seemingly contradictory Vor’s motivations are, at least on an initial viewing. Because of this lack of clarity surrounding her circumstances and inner thoughts, it can be a little difficult to get a solid grasp on her character. However, I think her motivations, feelings, and choices start to make a lot more sense once you analyze her cutscenes closely. The key to understanding her, I think, is realizing how human her emotions are. And human emotions are oftentimes a complex web of contradictory ideas that can't always be easily defined, explained, or reconciled.

In light of this, I decided to engage in some character analysis where I examine her story more in-depth, going over some scenes from the game and trying to break down her motivations into something a bit more easily understood. (Also be forewarned that this post is fairly long and image heavy, so you might want to open it in a new tab or something.)

So, Episodes 1-2 aren’t very useful for analyzing Vor’s character, one because not much happens in those episodes, and two because those episodes utilize the “pick your party member” system where the characters are sometimes interchangable without many significant alterations of dialog (sometimes no alterations at all.) Technically Episode 3 uses the same system, but at least here the dialog changes are substantial enough to make a bit of a difference. So let’s just start with the end of Episode 2 and go from there.

(FYI, I wanted to use even more images in this post, but I was running into some issues, so I decided to reduce the number of them. I apologize if the lack of an image in certain places creates any confusion.)

Episode 2/3

The end of Episode 2 has Vor noticing that Xehanort and Eraqus are scheming a plan together, and she's suspicious/curious enough to (rather forcefully) insert herself into the group so that she can get all the juicy details. That is if you choose to take her with you as your third party member, which...why wouldn’t you? It’s clearly what the story wants you to do.

But just for the sake of thoroughness, know that if you don't pick her, she'll dramatically pout with a "Aww..." and look really sad while everyone else smiles. It's played for laughs but she honestly looks pretty upset about it.

Anyway, when you give in to her request, she’s very pleased. She jumps up and down excitedly and says that Xehanort and Eraqus won’t regret bringing her along (even though Eraqus looks pretty unhappy about it). Even as early as this moment you can see that Vor likes being included in things and getting the opportunity to prove her usefulness/worth to her friends. As the episode goes on it becomes even more clear:

She gets upset when Eraqus still refuses to let her in on the plan despite allowing her to tag along, throwing a tantrum and smacking him repeatedly.

"Don't look so surprised. You made it pretty obvious." She reveals that she's way more observant than they give her credit for, correctly guessing that their plan involves the Queen of Hearts and her darkness.

"...so you were going to leave me to do your own research!"

She gets upset again when she finally learns the details of their plan and questions why they were leaving her out of it/refusing to let her help them.

And finally when Xehanort and Eraqus explain that they didn’t want to involve anyone else for fear of their classmates getting hurt, Vor ignores their concerns and confidently declares that they should go visit the queen together. Xehanort and Eraqus are, in a way, trying to exclude her from their plans with the excuse that she might come to harm, but she won't let them leave her behind.

Again, just to reiterate: it’s clear that she loves her friends a lot, wants to be included in everything they do, wants to feel like a useful, strong, reliable member of the team, and something that will be stated more directly later: she wants to feel like she belongs somewhere.

Episode 4

Where all the important stuff actually happens, but mostly at the end.

But some details of minor relevance before we get to that: Vor is the first one to rush off to help the seven dwarves when Xehanort, Eraqus, and Vor overhear that a cave-in happened in a mine. Makes sense; she’s naturally curious and likes to be helpful.

After they help the dwarves reunite, Vor makes a comment about how the seven dwarves remind her of her and her six classmates. Her friends and her place among them is fresh on her mind, for reasons that aren't known to the player yet but get revealed soon afterwards.

She also looks pretty pleased with herself to have a solution to Xehanort and Eraqus’ problem, when they say that tracking down Darkness isn't going to be easy. Vor corrects them, and reveals that she discovered an all-knowing Mirror that could potentially solve all of their problems. Again, this ties in to her desire to be a helpful member of the team.

But anyway, on to the actual meat of this whole thing.

Xehanort, Eraqus, and Vor go to speak to the Magic Mirror. The Queen interrupts their discussion, throws a potion at the mirror, and the group fights it. After it's defeated Vidar shows up, and compels Vor to reveal A Secret.

Here we learn through a flashback that when Vor first discovered the mirror, she discretely asked it a question of her own without telling her friends that she did this. She asked it if she would ever become a Keyblade Master.

A single sentence question, but it implies a lot about Vor. The fact that she’s asking this at all means that she isn’t confident in her abilities or her future. Even the use of the word "ever" suggests a level of desperation to her query.

So here's the thing: when Eraqus approaches the mirror, his first instinct is to ask a silly question like “How can I beat Xehanort at chess?”, and Xehanort makes no attempt to ask the mirror a personal question at all (though knowing him he would probably ask about his dream friends like MX does later in life). I imagine even if Hermod, Urd, and Bragi had the opportunity to ask the mirror a question, it wouldn’t be about the possibility of them failing to become a Keyblade Master, it would be about something else that bothers them. So I think this anxiety about failure might be unique to Vor specifically.

But what makes her think that she might not become a Keyblade Master? Some possibilities: maybe she feels like she’s falling behind on her studies compared to her friends. Maybe she feels like she’s become complacent in her comfort. Or maybe she feels like people underestimate her abilities because of her appearance and stature (Xehanort and Eraqus were shocked at her picking up that boulder, after all.) Vor is very observant and has a good intuition (even her name comes from a Norse goddess with this exact reputation) so if people were looking down on her, I think she would notice quickly. And this might be why she’s so eager/persistent to be included in activities and allowed to be useful. She feels like she has to prove herself constantly in order to be on the same level as her friends.

Anyway. The mirror gives its answer but it wasn’t the reassurance she was hoping for. “With friends thy heart doth lie, content and free of woe / In comfort stagnant calm, forward thou fail to go.” Let’s break this down line by line before we get into her reaction.

“With friends thy heart doth lie”. She spends a lot of time with her friends, yes, but also the focus of her heart, the focus of her affections, is directed at her friends (wouldn’t surprise me if they’re the most important people in the world to her).

“Content and free of woe”. She has a pretty good life with her friends, for the most part. “Content” doesn’t necessarily equate to an overabundance of happiness though, the connotation of it is like...satisfactory enough. Right? “I’m content with something” vs. “I’m overjoyed with something”. Things could...probably be better? Maybe underneath the surface Vor can tell that something is wrong, but since things are Good Enough, she doesn’t try to think about it too hard, y’know? Don’t fix what isn’t broken. This Is Fine. If I try to improve things I might accidentally make things worse instead.

“In comfort stagnant calm”. Comfort. Something that eases the pain. Friends who make you forget about the pain. Stagnant. Unchanging, unmoving, lifeless or unable to support life effectively (like stagnant water), unable to progress or develop or improve. Your friends are moving forward and bursting with potential and you are not. Calm. Stillness. Peace. But it’s unexciting, unrewarding, you’re not being challenged by anything or anyone and it isn’t conducive to improvement or learning.

“Forward thou fail to go.” Pretty open-ended wording, but since Vor was specifically asking about becoming a Keyblade Master, that must be the subject matter the mirror was answering about. For whatever reason being with her friends is going to prevent her from becoming a master. I kinda have a theory that the mirror was basically saying (in his usual cryptic unhelpful way) “if you stay with your friends you won’t become a Keyblade Master because you will DIE” but who knows.

Vor takes this. Not well. In fact, she’s very angry. She runs up to the mirror, gets right up in its face and yells at it, and then raises both of her arms up into the air like she wants to break it. We've seen this before where she’ll smack Eraqus over and over again (despite her official bio saying she shies away from battle, she’s surprisingly prone to some mild violence) but it almost seems like she’s ready to kill this thing, lmao.

She does say something interesting though. First she yells “That’s not true!” and then clarifies “I want to become a Keyblade Master as much as everyone else!”

Is that true? Is she just as motivated as everyone else? Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll get to that.

But the Mirror’s matter-of-fact statement about being literally incapable of lying makes her calm down real quick with a quiet "Oh."

We flashfoward back to the present. Vor explains her feelings in more detail.

She says that recently, she started to realize how she really feels. I think the moment she’s referring to is actually shown in the game: it’s the flashback that plays at the end of this scene where the lower classmen discuss their reasons for wanting to become Keyblade Masters. So let’s go out of order a little bit and talk about that.

Vor asks all her friends why they want to become Keyblade Masters. It’s hard to say exactly why she brings this up, whether she had a specific reason or if it was just idle chatter. Everyone gives their reasons and at the end Eraqus returns the question to Vor. Why do you want to become a Keyblade Master, Vor? And wow Vor practically goes through the five stages of grief within the span of five seconds when asked this.

First she’s a little taken aback, like she didn’t have an answer prepared (because she didn’t). Then she looks confused, like she’s NEVER BEFORE asked herself this question and is suddenly realizing that her brain can’t find motivation dot exe. Then she looks HORRIFIED, the true implications of what this means dawning on her. And then realizing that she needs to put back on her cheerful mask before her friends start to suspect something, she pulls herself together enough to come up with an excuse for why she can’t answer. She makes a joke about how wishes won’t come true if you say them out loud so HAH I tricked all of you! Now NONE of you will become Keyblade Masters!

So. Okay. That was a lot of emotions she just went through in a short period of time. But what does it all mean? I think it means that she never once stopped to consider why she wanted to become a Keyblade Master, because she was just following in her friends’ footsteps. She wants to go wherever her friends go, that’s all. Like a baby duck following a bunch of other baby ducks. Oh, all of my friends are joining the Keyblade wielder program? That’s gonna take up a lot of their time and I won’t get to spend as much time with them as a result...wait, what if I join too? Then I get to hang out with them during school and outside of school, and we get to go to class together and do activites together and go to lunch together and I get to belong somewhere and and and! Oh, why would I want to become a Keyblade Master? Shhhh don’t ask me that la la la la I can’t hear you!!!

What’s interesting though is that despite seemingly coming to realize that she might not actually have her own personal motivations for becoming a Keyblade Master, she still asks the mirror if she'll ever become one as if she still wants to. Maybe it’s not a matter of needing to find a different path in life, maybe she just needs to find a better reason for wanting to become a Keyblade Master? Or maybe she just wants to prove herself capable and strong enough to accomplish this feat? Or maybe she was in denial? I guess denial would make the most sense actually since she reacted pretty strongly to the mirror's implication that she wasn’t as motivated as her friends, even though she’s probably already realized this about herself at this point.

Her lack of a definite reason isn’t the only thing she realizes, though. She also realizes that even if she finds her true motivation, even if she successfully becomes a Keyblade Master, one of her other desires will inevitably escape from her grasp: her desire to be with her friends. Because for whatever reason, the path of the Keyblade Master requires them to go on their own separate paths. And even in the scenario where Vor fails to become a Master, she has no reason to believe that her friends will fail alongside her, meaning that they would all eventually leave her to go do their own thing anyway.

So, you can see where all the contradictory feelings start to converge. She wants to become a Keyblade Master. She doesn’t want to become a Keyblade Master. Actually, maybe she does want to become a Keyblade Master? But in the very least she wants to do it for a better reason than “because her friends are doing it”. But wait, if she and her friends become Keyblade Masters, then they’ll go their separate ways and they won’t be together anymore. Vor doesn’t think she can handle that. But what could she possibly do to prevent that? She can’t ask her friends to give up on their dreams just to make her happy. So is separation inevitable, then? In that case, how can she reduce the pain of that separation? The longer she stays with her friends, the more she’ll grow to love them, and the harder the separation will be. But what if she left now? Wouldn’t that be easier in the long run? Plus, the mirror said that staying with her friends will prevent her from growing, so isn't leaving undeniably a good thing?

And so she leaves.

It seems that Vor’s departure from the group kills two birds with one stone: leaving her comfortable bubble allows her to escape the stagnation that’s been plaguing her development, and it also allows her to preemptively nip in the bud the pain that’s only going to grow more and more unbearable over time. She’s essentially ripping the bandaid off in one fell swoop rather than peeling it back slowly and painfully.

As for Vidar...at least initially, Vor’s decison to help him probably had nothing to do with wanting to help him and everything to do with just needing a good excuse to finally bite the bullet. He gave her an out and she took it. After all, Vidar gave her NO EXPLANATION whatsoever on what his plans were. How could she possibly judge whether or not he was worth helping with zero information to go off of? However, once she finds out that Vidar is trying to do something “noble” and “good” (defeat darkness) I imagine it wasn’t too hard to get her on board. Though I’d be curious to know what she thought about the whole “purging the world” thing. Unless he just kept that part under wraps and was vague about what “defeating darkness” actually entailed.

The next time we see Vor after her departure is in the lamp room in Agrabah. She doesn’t say much in this scene other than reiterating that she wants to help Vidar. However, there are two moments during this scene where I think we can get a glimpse at what she's really thinking. The first:

Here we see Hermod angrily denouncing Vidar's plan, saying that what they're doing is wrong. And Vor looks pretty startled and upset about that. She's probably not too comfortable knowing that her friends don't approve of what she's doing.

Second, is when Vidar says this:

And now look at how her expression changes with each line of dialog.

She starts off sad/worried, then becomes a little more despondent, and then gets really upset (eyes shut tight).

Vidar talks about losing sight of what's truly important, and when Xehanort asks what that important thing is, Vidar basically says "my friends, and us fighting by each other's side."

Interesting thing to say in front of someone who you helped convince to leave her friends, and therefore is no longer fighting by their side...

You could argue that Vor is only making these faces because she's sad/upset about what happened to the upperclassmen, but it's so much more interesting to me to think that in this moment, she's starting to seriously doubt her decision to leave.

One other thing. At the end of this scene when she’s about to leave, there’s a pretty sad moment between her and Eraqus. Vor looks at Eraqus, who is GLARING DAGGERS at her. She's upset about it for a split second before her expression becomes determined instead (sucking it up, trying to harden her resolve). She walks through the portal and leaves, and Eraqus, perhaps realizing that his anger isn’t actually making him feel any better, drops his glare and goes back to being sad instead. But here's the thing: she never sees him drop his anger. She leaves thinking that Eraqus hates her right now. Why is that important? Because it’s the last interaction they have before they meet up again during Vor’s death scene. Oh. Great. :’)

Speaking of her death scene. Yeah that’s the next time we see her. Or, we see her talking to Baldr a couple of times before this, but her death scene is the next relevant topic.

Vor apologies, saying she messed up big time. Eraqus incorrectly assumes she's talking about...her death? Not being able to stop Baldr? Something like that. But she clarifies she's not talking about now, she's talking about her decision to leave her friends behind. Leaving them was a mistake. A mistake that, in her eyes, was her fault. Since she's dying she doesn't really delve into why it was a mistake or how she came to that realization. Instead she simply states "This is where I belong."

Whatever happened on her journey with Vidar, she must have concluded that leaving her friends early on in order to minimize her pain later wasn't the right call. Why? Because her true place of belonging was with them, regardless of the inevitable pain that may result from that.

Perhaps she thinks that leaving them was a moment of weakness, that she should have been stronger, strong enough to endure the pain. Perhaps she thinks that her friends deserved better, didn't deserve to be "selfishly" abandoned by her. Perhaps she realized that Vidar's plan was wrong and she shouldn't have left her friends to join him. Or perhaps she simply realized that being separated from them actually caused her more pain in the long run, which would kinda defeat the point of her decision to leave them in the first place. Either way, she ultimately changes her mind about leaving her friends, seemingly re-finding her purpose in a life she already had before but now has tragically lost.

Without further information about Vor's journey, it's hard to say if she ever got closure to...anything. Does she still want to be a Keyblade Master, or no? Is she still afraid of change/not changing? What does her decision to return to her friends mean for her character? Because like, it's entirely possible that her choice to return was a form of character regression, where she realized that she couldn't handle being disconnected from comfort and familiarity. Or maybe it wasn't! Maybe she realized that she could fight against her stagnation and her tendency to follow others without having to abandon everyone in her life to accomplish that, and we just don't get to see that because she died prematurely. With so little information to go off of, I think it ultimately comes down to personal interpretation. What flavor of tragedy do you want her death to be? What kind of resolution do you want for her character arc (positive or negative)? Is the tragedy of her death that she crawled back to her bubble and remained stagnant? Or is it that she died right as she achieved enlightenment about her true desires and her place in the world, meaning she didn't get to reap the benefits of her character development?

Anyway, that's about everything I have to say about Vor for now. If you have any thoughts or feedback, feel free to send them my way in the form of tags, reblogs, replies, or asks. I'd be curious to hear other people's interpretations of Vor's character and story. Especially if I missed any important details that you think are essential to understanding her.

Thanks for reading!

#khdr #kingdom hearts dark road #kingdom hearts #kh dark road #kh vor #vor kh #rambling about kh #rambling about dim path #ch tag: vo #ch tag: era #ch tag: vid #ch tag: xeh #khdr spoilers #long post

[qandnoablog]

Dance (Marvel Imagine)

Title: Secrets

Pairing: Loki x TVA!Reader

Warnings: This is a spin-off based on my previous work Discovered (Marvel Imagine) and the TV series - Loki Please be sure to read my previous work (link below) as well as watch the show before continuing to both understand the story and not be spoiled!

Discovered (Marvel Imagine) - Part: [18], [17], [16], [15], [14], [13], [12], [11], [10], [9], [8], [7], [6], [5], [4], [3], [2], [1] Short story: [3], [2], [1]

Part: 11, [10], [9], [8], [7], [6], [5], [4], [3], [2], [1]

Key: Y/N - Your Name Y/A - Your (TVA) Alias

Word Count: - 2,963

Summary: [Y/N], who has centered her whole life around the TVA, now encounters a man who proclaims himself to be a god. Her whole life as she knows it crumbles after meeting Loki. How is he so different from all the others the TVA had succeeded in erasing? And why? Why did [Y/N]’s heart stir every time he looked at her, as if peering into her very soul?

Note From Author: Hope you all like this part! I loved making it <3

Part 11 - Dance

Perhaps he was thinking about this too much.

Loki glanced at the growing pile of empty glasses that were slowly being cleared by the servers. It barely affected him at first, but now there was a faint buzz he felt in his system. Not enough to be drunk, but enough to feel the weight ease off his shoulders just a slight bit. He needed something to soothe the dull ache that wouldn’t go away in the deepest reaches of his heart.

He had left the table when he noticed that Sylvie had drifted off to sleep. No matter how much she fought it, she couldn’t win against her exhaustion. And maybe he shouldn’t have fought against it either. But… No matter how much he tried to escape his own thoughts, they still resurfaced like a pestering bug. Constantly feeding him things from his “future,” that he never seemed able to escape from since the moment he watched it.

“My name,” a voice almost dripping in honey said in the back of his mind the second he let his guard down. “What? You don’t remember it?”

Reaching for another proffered glass, he gulped down all its contents in one fell swoop. Still, it did little to silence the voice.

“[Y/N],” it resolutely reminded him. “My name is [Y/N] [Y/L/N].”

Then, the same voice said something contradictory. It was the exact same voice, but the tone and presence was different.

“Not [Y/N],” she countered, an image of her now emerging in his mind, no longer just her voice. “I already told you. My name is [Y/A].”

He frowned and motioned for another drink.

“I told you,” her voice was still very sweet, but it was now dripping in venom. “I’m. Not. [Y/N]!”

“Then who are you?!” He demanded as his fist hit the bar counter top, startling the bartender.

Realizing his mistake, Loki apologized sheepishly to her before quickly taking the new drink and downing it again in one go. He held his head as the alcohol was taking painfully long to kick in. It wasn’t giving him a pleasant buzz, but instead helping his suppressed memories of [Y/N] resurface.

Loki couldn’t quite wrap his head around what to do when it came to her. He once wanted nothing more than to meet her again. Especially after all that he witnessed, he wanted to sit down with her. Have a proper conversation with her. Forget about his worries or life and just ask about her.

How long had she been stuck on Saakar before the two had met? What made her cry that day she was looking out the window on that planet? How did she meet the Avengers? Was she an Avenger? How did she meet Thor? Did she really not have any feelings towards his brother? And what happened to her hands? Did it hurt? And, most of all… Was she happy? Even… Even without him by her side?

But all these questions were meaningless to the [Y/N] he was with now.

This [Y/N] had no memories of the [Y/N] he had witnessed in the lobby of Stark Tower. She even viewed herself as an entirely different person, being offended at being compared to the other. She insisted on being called a different name, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. If he did, it was like admitting that this truly wasn’t the [Y/N] he desperately wanted to get to know. If he did, what of his feelings then? Was what he was feeling a lie?

But he knew he felt something towards this [Y/N], even if she insisted he was mistaken. He knew, because deep down he wanted to know everything there was to know about her. Regardless of her time with the TVA, or her training, he wanted to know about her as a person.

Did she know Mobius? Were they friends? Which office did she work in? Has she ever met any incarnations of himself, like now? How did she feel after meeting them? Did she try to protect them like she tried to protect him?

Now that question made his eyebrow twitch and he quickly had to move on before lingering on that thought.

Has she ever been to Asgard? Had she seen how beautiful it was when the sun hit the castle just right? Has she ever experienced the parties they would throw after a grand victory? The music that would play? The never-ending dance that everyone would join into? And had she met his mo… The queen? If not, would she like to one day?

His mind wandered so far, that his grip over his illusionary uniform faded. But no one really noticed. They were all paying attention to themselves, not to anyone else. And neither did he. He was so lost in thought, pondering all these questions, that he didn’t have time to notice. But someone did. Someone realized it the moment it wore off, and suffice to say they were not pleased.

~

[Y/N] couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing.

When the illusion cast around her was dispelled, she quickly turned back the way she came. Thank goodness she wasn’t around other people, because she would not be able to explain what was going on. She was expecting all sorts of things that might’ve resulted in the illusion failing. Perhaps Loki and Sylvie couldn’t take it anymore and were fighting again. Or maybe they blew their cover and were going against the guards. Or perhaps they were discovered by the TVA and were already captured.

So many possibilities… But nothing could’ve prepared her for this.

There, at the same booth she left the two, Sylvie lay fast asleep. And Loki? He was nowhere to be found. She knew he was still on the train, given that they needed the Ark to charge the TemPad, but she felt a migraine forming as she thought of how she would look for him while not drawing attention to herself.

That’s when something else gave her a surprise.

“Back already?” A smooth voice whispered into her ear.

She whirled around, her instincts kicking in, and grabbed the collar of the person who stood right behind her, nearly tackling him to the ground. That’s when she saw who it was. Who had the nerve to sneak up on her during this situation.

“Loki,” she grumbled, still holding him by the collar, “what do you think you’re doing?”

He held his hands up in a teasing display of defeat, but hidden behind that suave smile of his was shock.

Loki hadn’t expected [Y/N] to be back so soon, but when he saw her rush through those doors, adorned in her TVA uniform, he realized what had happened. Looking down at himself, he confirmed that his magic was no longer at work. It wouldn’t have really mattered to him too much, if he didn’t see the panic that was evident on [Y/N]’s face.

A guilty pang stabbed lightly at his already aching heart. But then another thought surfaced, burying that feeling with another. Curiosity.

He recalled the thing his “future” self loved to do. And he, too, wanted to revel in it first-hand. He wanted to see how [Y/N] would react if he, just like his “future” counterpart, whispered in her ear. Would she be startled and jump up? Would her face take on a slight hint of pink from embarrassment? Would he love it just as much as “future” him did?

But reality was truly different.

How was he to know just how long [Y/N] was trained to do field work for the TVA? How was he to know that the “future” [Y/N] he had seen in the “Sacred Timeline,” never had any formal training? And how was he to know that if he snuck up on [Y/N] who had military-esche practices ingrained into her for who-knows-how-long, she would choose fight over flight?

What really made him stunned, though, was how he took that difference. A part of him worried that this might happen. That she would be different from the [Y/N] he had only the briefest encounters with. That he would inevitably be disappointed. But… There was no disappointment to be found. Only… Relief?

While Loki pondered this unforeseen emotion, [Y/N] was impatiently waiting for an answer. And seeing how he had gotten lost in thought, as well as a nearly emptied glass in his hand, she put two-and-two together.

“Are you drunk?” [Y/N] questioned, finally letting him go, with a look of utter disbelief spread across her face.

Now that got his attention.

“You’re drinking on the job?”

She couldn’t believe her eyes. [Y/N] knew the consequences of alcohol, as it was a rule that they were not even supposed to touch such drinks while on a mission, but to think that this man would-

Wait… [Y/N] took a moment to readjust her thoughts. Can Frost Giants get drunk? Asgardians have a high alcohol tolerance, but… What was it about Frost Giants again?

“How many did you two have?” [Y/N] asked as she glanced at the booth that Sylvie slept on.

Not a trace of alcohol could be seen.

Loki could see the disappointment evident on her face. Truth be told, he did have a lot. It was indeed much more than any of the passengers could handle. But it wasn’t enough to cloud his thoughts. Only give him a nice buzz. However, that didn’t change the fact that [Y/N]’s already low opinion of him was drastically getting lower.

But what could he do? What could he say? The glass in his hand, the smell of his breath. Everything screamed that he had indeed been drinking. How was he supposed to know that [Y/N] would disapprove? Did his “future” self know this? Was he not paying enough attention during their “future” moments on Saakar? Did she drink during the Grand Master’s parties?

The more he thought, the more jumbled his mind became. And the more distracted he was, the more [Y/N] contributed this to the alcohol. She couldn’t even look at him anymore. Not with the situation being so serious.

Noticing her turning away from him, and with alcohol still very much in his system, Loki panicked.

“Dance with me.”

[Y/N]’s head whirled to face him so fast that he was worried she’d get whiplash.

“What?”

She couldn’t believe her ears. And deep down, she really did hope she heard him wrong. Maybe he said something else, and she failed to register it with the bustling of the other passengers. So she gave him the benefit of the doubt, with more confusion written on her face than the anger bubbling underneath.

Loki, on the other hand, couldn’t believe his own words. Where had that come from? Was it because just earlier he was thinking about if she had ever been to Asgard? Experienced their celebrations? Danced with the other warriors? What was he doing?

“What did you just say?” She repeated, hoping that she really did hear incorrectly.

But Loki was already too lost in his own thoughts now. They were no longer thinking at the same wavelength. He, now, registered her question with a memory from his first experience at the TVA. Recalling a different agent he had only had the pleasure of meeting twice during his whole time there. The one who had lived his whole life behind a desk. Casey.

“Dance,” Loki repeated, motioning his hand towards the band to get them to play a tune. “You do know what dancing is, right?”

He really hoped she did, but also hoped that it wasn’t because she had danced with someone else. Maybe he didn’t want her to know what it was after all. Just the thought of her in the arms of another, regardless of man or woman, annoyed him to no end. But if she hadn’t… Would she allow him to teach her?

“You’re confused,” [Y/N] sighed, snapping him from his delusions. “You’re confused about the situation you’re in. We are not here to have fun. We are not here for games. We are here to escape, remember? To survive. This isn’t the time-”

“One song,” Loki interrupted as he grabbed her hand and pulled her in closer. “One dance.”

Before she could resist, he called for everyone to join.

The other passengers were already intrigued with this strange pair, and with the lively music that swung into play, the room quickly came alive. [Y/N] had missed her chance to escape his clutches, as she realized that the more people watched them, the more attention they would draw if she fought back.

And so, [Y/N] was stuck in one of the worst traps possible. The trap of societal convention. She had to begrudgingly accept her fate as Loki swung her to-and-fro. Her body twisted and turned alongside him, his expertise in navigating the crowd slightly getting her attention. Her eyes trailed down to her feet, unable to focus on anything else as she tried to not trip over anything and make a complete embarrassment of herself.

“I guess that’s one question answered,” he quietly murmured as he brought her ever closer.

“What?” She asked, not looking up from the ground.

“You’ve definitely never danced before,” he chuckled, the sound rumbling to her own body.

She should’ve felt offended, but when she looked up at him to counter, she noticed his expression. The way he looked at her… It seemed like he needed this. As if one worry had lessened on his mind. Her irritation vanished almost instantly, so she decided to let the matter drop. And besides, it was the truth. Where in the world would she have even taken the time to dance? Definitely not back at the TVA.

“It’d be my pleasure to teach you, if you’d allow me.”

“Hmmm,” she mused, pretending to think about the offer.

Strangely, it was tempting. She didn’t know why she would even want to learn to dance. It wasn’t practical. There would never be a need to use it while on a mission. But when he offered, a part of her begged to accept. Still, she was more rational and silenced the voice.

“I’ll take a rain check on that.”

With that, it should’ve been a smooth transition to leave the dance floor. To edge away from all the attention. The music had certainly slowed down enough for her to leave. But, her dance partner had other thoughts in mind.

The room spun as she was pulled back into his arms. Suddenly, at a speed she couldn’t quite comprehend, he held her gently as she was dipped with her back facing the floor. During the movement, her arms instinctively wrapped around his shoulders and his arms held her around her waist. It wasn’t to the point where her back was strained, as he supported most of her weight, but she could barely process what just happened in this brief second.

“One dance,” Loki reminded her, with a soft smile and a look that pulled at her heart. “One song.”

Unable to refuse, as if in a daze, she danced with him once more. This time, she didn’t resist. She followed his lead, and soon she began to pick up the rhythm. Although this was her first time dancing, her body was well-trained to adapt. Soon, she swayed to the beat and was expertly moving along with his steps, no longer looking only at the ground. She began to predict where his feet would go, and she in turn moved along.

Her mind no longer focused on how to move, but instead on her partner. On how he was so poised and balanced, even while intoxicated. On how his breathing was smooth, even when they were moving so much. So her frustrations quickly turned to curiosity. And curiosity eventually lead the way to mischief.

“My turn,” she warned, an evil glint in her eye, as she caught Loki by surprise.

Her foot moved just a bit faster than the music, so subtle that only a trained eye would be able to capture the change, and she took that moment to forcefully step right where she predicted his foot would go. Unfortunately, she smiled in triumph too soon. What she didn’t take into account was that Loki was also well trained. Perhaps for longer than she was trained in the TVA.

Loki expertly dodged her attempts, but she wasn’t deterred by the failure. The two went back and forth, [Y/N] always on the offensive and Loki always defensive. Whenever a chance arose, she would extend her foot and he would move out of the way. They were almost waltzing together, in a chaotic yet synchronized way.

She couldn’t deny it. [Y/N] was beginning to genuinely enjoy this. Although she couldn’t say the same thing for any dance, this one in particular was… It was the most fun she had in a long, long time. Perhaps the first, if she could remember that far.

It was almost like they were the only ones in the room. Like everyone else was gone and only the music could be heard. Like they were the only ones that existed in this space.

A laugh escaped [Y/N] when Loki twirled her once more. She had forgotten the mission and even her small acts of revenge. Now, she was just enjoying this moment of peace. And Loki… He was enraptured by her smile. For once, he was not overlapping her with “[Y/N].” No, right now, all he could see was her. And only her.

[Previous] | [Next]

Author’s Side Note: Honestly, the inspiration for this part came from this YouTube clip of Tom Hiddleston’s waltz scene from another movie: [link]. It’s not a perfect description of the scene, but I hope you liked it!

#marvel imagine #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #loki #loki tv #loki disney+ #loki x reader #loki x tva!reader #tva #time variance authority #discovered #variant #variant loki #loki laufeyson #sylvie #sylvie laufeydottir #casey #tva casey #mobius #mobius m mobius #dance #lamentis #the train #the ark #fanfics #myfanfic #secrets #part 11

[pointparadox]

My Issues With Blind (In No Particular Order)

Now I am not above admitting I was wrong so if these questions are answered in the drama and I just missed it then please do tell but so far here are all my qualms: 

1. How did Yoon-Jae and Sung-Hoon actually get Sung-Joon to believe he was Yoon-Jae? 

I understand the whole story about Yoon-Jae pushing Sung-Joon off of the playground set and everything, but `1) amnesia would definitely not happen from such a minor fall like that, especially when he did not fall headfirst and 2) How did they get Sung-Joon to remember the fact that he is Yoon-Jae from the Hope Center but not the fact that the information is coming from Sung-Joon? It just seemed like tacky plot armor. I literally rolled my eyes when Sung-Joon conveniently remembered that after Yoon-Jae pushed him down a flight of stairs (another thing that would not cause someone to regain memory). I know Yoon-Jae made some off-hand comment about “the shock therapy working” but there is no way in hell that LITTLE BOY got his hands on a torture device. 

2. Why did the parents adopt Sung-Hoon? 

I don’t understand what part of the story explained the reasoning for this. Sung-Hoon delivers the personal account of the atrocities of the Hope Center, Judge Ryu ignores them, and then somehow time skips to the judge adopting him? Like it would be one thing if they adopted him out of shame for what happened at the center but it seemed like he didn't care when he dismissed Sung-Hoon’s petition so what really changed? 

3. Why did Sung-Hoon admit he was an accomplice -- better yet, how did he even get sentenced? 

This one irks me the most because, unlike Yoon-Jae, all of the evidence against Sung-Hoon was circumstantial. Yes, Sung-Hoon saw him leave the wedding banquet but the cameras did not--even if Yoon-Jae testified against him there was not a single time in which it was implied that there was anything that connected him so why the hell did he confess? It makes me feel like there must have been some scenes that I was missing because one second he is fighting with Sung-Joon out in the rain and the other he is in jail; I don’t think we even saw anyone read him his rights. 

4. How were the police so inefficient? 

Now I understand that they were working under a corrupt chief but it is not like anyone listened to that dude--they were essentially working on their own. How does the police not have software that can show them what Yoon-Jae would realistically look like 20 years later--I know it’s a thing that exists also faces do not really change *that* much so upon seeing Yoon-Jae and Sung-Hoon the police chief and Crazy Dog should have realized it was them way sooner. 

5. What is the point of making Yoon-Jae and Crazy Dog fight to the death? 

I guess there's no technical issue with this It just seemed like such a big fuck you to victims of abuse that might have resonated with the character kind of. Like did he really have to lose his life just to avenge the other children? I am in no way saying Yoon-Jae is a saint (though I firmly believe he is also not a psychopath) but c'mon why couldn’t he get this one win against someone who was a lot worse than him

6. What is the random switch-up between Sung-Hoon, Sung-Joon, and Yoon-Jae? 

I saved my biggest issue for last but I feel like these characters all acted in such a contradictory way to how they have been written since the beginning of the drama. To start with Sung-Hoon; I think his switching up on Sung-Joon out of nowhere in the last few episodes and completely dropping the facade is so tacky. It’s not like Sung-Hoon was ever an emotional character, to begin with so I feel like they didn’t have to try and make him comically evil with the whole “Ooo guess what I'm going to do next Sung-Joon ooo I never liked you I just wanted to use you Sung-Joon oooo I don’t care about you at all Yoon-Jae” bullshit. I find it hard to believe he didn’t care about Yoon-Jae at all, and while I think it’s fair for him to say that maybe he never thought of Sung-Joon as a brother (since it’s probably hard to think of the man who raped your sister and his wife as parents) I don’t think it’s fair to say that he never cared about Sung-Joon. I wish they dug into that concept of Sung-Hoon maybe not feeling any brotherly connection to Sung-Joon but still looking out for him because he feels bad for him. We know Sung-Hoon can feel emotions towards people: he felt genuine hurt and rage when Yu-Na was killed so I find it hard to believe that he didn’t have any sort of connection to Sung-Joon (especially when he also told Yoon-Jae to spare Eun-Ki and made sure her only punishment would be finding out about who her father really was) since he is essentially the same as Eun-Ki in the sense of being born to people who did bad things. 

On the topic of brotherly connection, I also find it unrealistic that Sung-Joon can switch to hating his brother so quickly. I don’t expect him to condone Sung-Hoon’s action’s in any way, but the scene where Sung-Hoon tried to take his life and then Sung-Joon came and called him a coward and said that he hoped he would live in pain for the rest of his life or whatever was so random? I was expecting an emotional outburst, yes, but I feel like something that would be more in character for him would be the continuation of the whole “How could you do this to me when I did all this for you” thing they have going on (which is how the interaction did start but alas). I just thought it was weird. 

Finally, for Yoon-Jae, why did they make him so comically evil after the reveal? Every interrogation scene made me roll my eyes because they just made him act like the Joker in all of them and it was just so overdone. Sung-Joon calling him a “psycho who is obsessed with murder” was annoying too because it’s like--you’re missing the whole point he’s not doing this cause he enjoys killing people he’s doing this cause he was backed into a corner by his abusers. It’s one thing to not condone his actions but to completely ignore what got him to that point just seemed foolish (which is also what I have to say about Eun-Ki). 

I personally think that the show should have gone more into the brotherly relationship between Yoon-Jae and Sung-Hoon because it’s like yeah we see that Yoon-Jae feels betrayed by Sung-Hoon but why should he be? They did no development on that and honestly hindsight 20/20 the whole “Sung-Joon on the run” arc should have been a lot shorter to allow more time to develop this relationship. 

7. Why is everyone except Sung-Hoon allowed to be corrupt?

The whole basis of this show is how corrupt bad people can be (the police chief, the guy trying to bribe Sung-Hoon in episode 1, the producer, the taxi driver, Crazy Dog) so I don’t see why Sung-Hoon, Yoon-Jae, and Charles couldn’t have gotten off under the same basis of corruption. Like you cannot tell me this man is gonna work his ass off and become a judge, orchestrate a whole string of murders with literally nothing technically connecting him to them, and then go to jail because of his OWN CONFESSION when he could have just used his status as a well-known judge (and one that refuses to do anything that isn't by the books) to just deny (hell, he wouldn't even look guilty so he doesn't even need to do that) and then stack the jury so Yoon-Jae could get a not guilty charge. Call it tacky, but them doing that would make so much more sense than them just putting their hands in the air and going to jail/committing suicide. 

That’s all I got for now but if I think of anything I guess I’ll add it. The ending of this show just seems so drab and dull; I don’t really understand what the theme or point is supposed to be. Sung-Joon’s monologue about “oh if they had someone like Eun-Ki things would have probably been different...what a shame :/” like no shit sherlock if Eun-Ki was there they probably also wouldn’t be used for slave labor like...it was just so random. The acting was great, but the writing and plotting just took a nosedive I am afraid. 

Also. the bury your gays (or idk homosexual leaning) thing that happened with Charles and Yoon-Jae was so tacky I’m sorry. 

#blind kdrama #tvN blind #kdrama blind #blind 2022 #blind tvn #Ryu Sung Joon #Ryu Sung Hoon #jung yoon jae #ehhh it was a 5/10 i guess #it had some interesting concepts but i dont like how they built upon it #murder is bad yeah we know its kinda more than that though isnt it

[hazel-of-sodor]

Day 21-Stranger:Stranger in my own body

Day 21-Stanger

Other Stories

Stranger in my body

October 1974

She came to with a start, breathing heavily. That was a weird nightmare.

"Calm yourself Clarke, it was just a....nightmare?"

Her eyes darted around the strange shed. She was in a brick built shed with strange engines on either side of her. The doors in front of her were bolted shut and her driver and fireman were no were to be seen. Worst of all, her body felt wrong. The shapes and curves were all wrong.

She felt the walls closing in on her, her vision blurred, and she couldn't breathe. 

"....arke, can you hear me Clarke? There's a good engine. Just focus on my voice, you're safe here. No-one here wants you hurt. It's alright, just listen to my voice."

Clarke focused on the voice, forcing everything else out. 

"That's it, focus on breathing slowly, I count, just focus on following my count. 1...2...3...4...5..."

She slowly calmed and her vision cleared, her breathing settled into a slow pattern. A blue sidetank was the one talking to her, counting slowly to ten, again and again.

Once she felt she was back in control of herself she took a shaky breath. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Clarke"

"Where am I? Who are these engines? and..."

"How do I know you?"

"Yeah."

The sidetank looked sad but unsurprised. "You're in the FFarquhar sheds, on the branch line of the same name. Welcome to the North Western Railway. The tram beside you is Toby, our number seven. He manages the trains to the FFarquhar quarries. I'm Thomas, the number one, and I'm in charge of our branchline. As for how I know you...this isn't the first time we've met."

"But I don't remember you!" She said in distress.

"You wouldn't" the tank engine sounded grieved. He sighed, "It's best if I start from the beginning. Years ago our railway bought a new pilot for our main station. We were in desperate need of a pilot, so our controller was forced to go to a workshop of ill-repute to find an engine. He found a new smart four wheeled saddle tank and named him Percy. The engine quickly proved himself and was given the number six. He was a hard worker and at first everything seemed fine. He could be forgetful at times, but with a good crew that was barely an issue. Eventually the work grew too heavy for him, and he was transferred to help with the goods work on our branch."

The engine paused thoughtfully. "It was honestly no-one's fault that, up to that point, no one had realized something was wrong with Percy. Physically he was sound, and the mainline engines spent the day running across the island. They honesty weren't around him enough to notice that the problem was more than forgetfulness. We changed crews around a lot during this time, so they never had a chance to notice either. But it was different on the branchline. We tried to get to know him, but he rarely spoke about his time before the North Western, and what he did tell us was often contradictory. It took a few years, but finally one night he admitted what we had begun to suspect. He hadn't told us, because He didn't know."

Clarke had a sinking feeling in her boiler.

"He wasn't a new engine, far from it, but a rebuilt one. Something had gone wrong during his rebuild at the workshop, and it messed up his memories. He never remembered much, and almost never the same things. Number seven and I promised to remember for him. Everytime he remembered something, he would tell us, and we slowly pieced his past together. But there was a problem, we couldn't find records of any engine that fit his memories." Thomas paused and looked at the grounds.

"It was then I began to have suspicions. Suspicions I never told anyone, even when they were proven one night when Percy didn't wake up from a nightmare."

"I did." The words were like lead on her tongue.

There was a terrible kindness in the blue engine's eyes. "Yes. Percy can't access his memories because..."

"They're not his." a tear slipped down her cheek no, Percy's cheek.

"Percy was new, in that he hadn't existed until the rebuild. Parts from at least eight engines went into his construction.

"How many of us have woken up?"

"Including you? Three. From what I can tell, his frames are yours."

"And the cylinders..." She could feel them. They weren't in the right place, but they were hers. 

"How many times have we had this conversation?" 

"Since the night we first met? This is the sixth time. You never remember them."

Tears ran freely down her face. "So I'm stuck, a stranger in my own body."

"No."

She looked up at the vehemence in Thomas's tone. "I will not leave an engine to such a fate. You say the frames and cylinders are yours?"

She focused. "The siderods are familiar, but not the same as I had."

The tank engine nodded, "They were probably modified to fit." He looked at her seriously. "There is enough of you left that, even in an occupied body, you still shine through. If your parts were used on an unsteamed engine..."

"I might have my body back!"

"It wouldn't be your old body," he cautioned, "we can't risk modifying your parts. It's already a risky attempt. Plus we don't know what you were originally. It would be our best guess, but you would have to wait for overhaul to have any chances to be made."

"I was built by Hudson and Clarke and my tanks were more squared off than his...beyond that I don't remember. It never seemed important."

"That's more than I knew before," he looked thoughtful," everytime you wake up you remember more. It bodes well for you being rebuilt."

"And Percy...he won't object? These have been his parts for years."

"If anything, he'll be pushing to be overhauled early. He is a good engine , one of the best." The words were spoken with a soft pride in his friend.

"The only reason I haven't told him yet is we agreed to let you wake up one more time, to be sure we got all your parts."

"The others that woke up?" She asked. "What will happen to them?"

"They seem to grow weaker each time. Either your parts being removed will make them stronger...or they will be at rest."

Clarke was growing tired. Thomas noticed, "Don't worry. We'll have this fixed before the next time you wake up. I swear it." Comforted by his promise, she let herself drift off to sleep.

--------

Percy awoke, he was oddly tired despite having slept all night. As he blinked awake, he noticed Thomas, no Caomhnóir, waiting outside his berth. "We need to talk."

#ttte #ttte fanfic #RWS #rws fanfic #ttte thomas #ttte percy #Prompt:Stranger #hazel is evil #Hazel gives her beta trauma #Caomhnóir #traintober #traintober22 #traintober2022 #traintober 2022

[jeniffercheck]

interested in ALL your thoughts on the Sexualization of Shiv Roy™️ if you have any to share

So many & it's kind of conflicting at times so I really hope this all makes sense!!! I have been caught in 4k before saying that I adore how the character of Shiv Roy was handled within the writing of the show, I do really think they hit the nail on the head of how a woman like her, in that specific position, would be treated from every angle, even including and bleeding out into to how the audience is supposed to receive and perceive her (very very expectedly polarizing!!!).

So for context for all of this: one of the main things I appreciate about Shiv is how fully realized she is in comparison to her male counterparts (as in, she is just as realized as the rest of them are). Obviously a lot of people who watch the show like to pretend that she's one dimensional (and think the writers missed the mark in some aspects which I can understand those points of view even if I don't always agree, but there is always room for improvement in writing female characters 100% although Shiv is not a standard female character -- she is in many ways, acting and appealing to men), but I honestly do feel like it's safe to say (in that there is evidence to back it up) that we see so much of Shiv's personal character that is wholeheartedly NOT defined by the men on the show (her career ambitions, her sexuality(!!!), her complex thoughts about motherhood, her liberal values, the morally corrupt things she does despite those values, how mean and selfish she is, how she obviously just wants so badly to be loved, etc.) BUT (huge but), at the same time, Shiv's role on the show and her story arcs are so heavily centered around the male characters that most of her character motives & drive ARE defined by the men. Every single thing she does in that show is to win over the support of a giant group of men (starting in s2, but i will get into this)!!

[This is not always in a bad way to me, I think characters like Shiv, Gerri, & Karolina are purposefully portrayed how many women feel in real life, which is that they always have to try harder than their male counterparts to get a fraction of the credit, and there's always a risk of being undermined or overlooked (Roman betraying Gerri --more to that obviously as well-- & Hugo aiming to get Karolina fired -- more to that as well but u get the picture). We see this with Shiv most often; as hard as she tries, Roman and especially Kendall will always land higher on the rung than her (final lesson is her sitting in that car with tom).]

This is where the sexualization of Shiv Roy gets a little contradictory for me, because at certain points in the show I do have difficulty placing her motives and other times I do think it’s a really important part of her character! For added context, Roman’s sexualization is very important to me here because I think it's good to remember that from the very start of the show Shiv wasn't the ONLY character being sexualized; obviously a lot of Roman's motives are centered around his difficulties having traditional sex, and we even get some early suggestive sex from Kendall and Rava although I think that scene is pretty gratuitous (the staircase scene????? I mean I guess we know why rava fell for him<33 and the hospital boner<3) BUT I think for me, Season 1 is the only time where I think Shiv's sexuality is MAINLY (not only, but mainly) gratuitous. I think ShivNate on its own was a very good set up and introduction to Shiv's promiscuity and her inclination towards cheating/non-monogamy, but a lot of her motives and plot in that season went specifically towards all of the cheating, and by extension, sex, with Nate and the growing festering smothering feeling of being with Tom, and it is a time in the show where I felt like she seemed more like a sex object than a true competitor in the 'succession.'

Season 2, I take a lot differently. I think once she's inserted into the game completely, the playing field kind of evens out in a sense. They also stop with the suggestive scenes for the most part, and while I do believe that is in part due to the tonal shift, I think it's also uniquely fitting for Shiv's character coming into a new season. A season where she arrives with a new husband, a second season big chop (VERY professional haircut compared to s1), an updated wardrobe, and receives a brand new role in the family structure, I do play with the idea that they obviously could have kept in a lot of the same suggestive scenes that had in Season 1, yet chose not to, which in part I think has to do with Shiv becoming a 'serious person.'

One of the most interesting parts about this aspect, is that the sexualization of Shiv Roy from OTHER CHARACTERS does not end!!! The filmmakers themselves lay off on the blatant stuff (save for s2 ass shot you'll always be famous) -- Season 2 is Shiv's big season and they really start to tell her nuances and her wants and we learn so much more about her than we had in s1, yet the characters within the show, the people she's surrounded by, still don't treat her any differently!! She's a slut, she's a cheater, she's cucking Tom, she's giving a speech so let's blast 'rape me', we're caught in a sex scandal so let's use her!!! Shiv Roy is still an object!! She is a woman she is an object!!

That, is what I find most brilliant about the writing. All of Season 1 was spent showing Shiv as all of the things men fear in a woman; abrasiveness, confident, sexy, smart, willing to cheat, and many many viewers bought into this. These viewers took s1 Shiv and placed her into a box and that's all she ever was from s1 to the very last second of s4, which is exactlyyyyy how the characters in the show treated her. Her tonal shift in s2 did not matter to them, she was never fit for anything she tried for. Never. They could not fit Shiv inside their heads, which like....,,,,,,,,,,,,,,she says it to you !! She says it to everyone, the characters, to the viewers,,,,,,,,,,,,,like........amazing and why I am so enamored with her and with the writing. She is so real and so many women feel this way. She knows she's sexy too, and couldn't even use with someone like her husband who just saw her as a vending machine for an heir (gee Tom why do you think she strayed....was it the period tracking???). now i'm just going to rant so i'll stop<3333

#SORRY THIS IS SO LONG #there are so many things i wanted to include but i dont know how to fit them in #shiv is so interesting #i love the way she was written so much #i hope this one makes sense as well #jesus christ #answered #shiv roy

[alpacaparkaseok]

Hello hello B!!

Popping in to ask 1. How are you?! and 2. To pick your brain about How to Sell Sunshine. A TikTok has inspired me to MAYBE write a mafia fic about SKZ (because I am seeing them on Sunday and the brain rot is real), and now I have questions on how you wrote your masterpiece.

1. How did you decide who mc would end up with?

2. How in the world did you figure out all the mafia stuff AND keep it sfw? I am simply baffled and overwhelmed 😂

3. Did you plot out everything generally or chapter by chapter (member by member)?

I stand in awe of your genius, that is all.

Delacy!! I'm doing great! Just enjoying seeing the sun again and the snow finally starting to melt!

How are you?? Hope you're doing wonderful!

YESSSSSSSSSS

Ok I saw that "maybe" thrown in there but I'm just ignoring that while I celebrate because I'd read the crap out of a SKZ mafia fic and ALSO that sounds like you're going to have the best weekend ever seeing them!!! Send them my loveeeee 😭

Ok ok ok I'm gonna try to answer these as coherently as possible because I'm a total pantser when it comes to this kinda stuff lol

I had a top three I think going into it, but it was easier for me to decide who wasn't going to be endgame. Like, Joon was automatically off the table due to his history that I really liked and wanted to develop. Having him form a romantic relationship with mc seemed contradictory. (although this didn't stop me from playing around with their dynamic lol)

As the story progressed, I looked at their character development and how I wanted that character to be by the end of the series. it was actually really difficult, because there were a couple of good options, but I also think that's nice because then it isn't this blatant choice. It really comes down to mc and who she feels like understands her the best.

Just adding this: I feel like it's ok if mc makes a decision that also maybe goes against the grain a bit (not saying that HTSS mc did, but just in general...although maybe she did a bit haha), as long as she has a legitimate reason for making that choice. It doesn't have to make perfect sense to the other suitors, but it has to feel right to her. Just like it real life lol. Sometimes we make decisions that make other people look at us funny, but we know why we're doing it.

2. HA this is actually a great questions, because it's hard. There's a lot of other mafia fics out there both in the fanfic world and in other mediums, and not very many of them are sfw. Mainly it was just a personal choice that I made long before, but I also put more weight on the plot than the other stuff. Sure, we deal with blood and gore but we can't find the point of it all if it's off camera drowning in blood. Also, I have no issue throwing in a spicy scene here or there, but the art of implication is powerful and something I respect. None of my characters got far enough to sleep with each other or anything, because I'm a big fan of slow burn. But I'm also a big fan of sexual tension exploding with a single caress and whispered confession. I'd hate for that to go out of style lol

3. The plot! Going into this, I knew everybody's "role", as in, Hobi is a hitman and Tae's a getaway driver, etc. From there I built up their character's a bit more, and honestly those first chapters where we're meeting them one by one, that was just me trying to figure crap out. It wasn't until I was coming up on the Gala chapter and people were getting shot (keeping it vague in case someone reads this that hasn't gotten to that point haha) that I realized I wasn't ready to have this crew say goodbye just yet. They had a higher, more criminal purpose to fulfill. 😂

Once I got to chapter 6, I mapped out a bit more of the overarching plot. But it was fairly vague and really just came to light as I wrote the chapters. I knew how I wanted it to end, but getting there was all on mc & friends. I just had them figure it out lol

I can lightly plot, but I really depend on the characters/members. Getting to know them through character sheets or just writing blurbs that never see the light are usually how that works for me. So it was super general as far as plot goes, and it uncovered itself bit by bit until I knew the ending and how long I needed to get there.

I hope that this makes any semblance of sense! Really truly just had fun with it. And fell in love with this particular cast of characters along the way.

Happy writing! And I can't wait to see what you come up with if you end up writing it! Have sososososo much fun with SKZ!!

tell lee know i'd probably do something illegal for him if he wanted

#delacy #htss #mafia aus are really a different breed #but they're so ridiculously fun #addicting i think

[bee-snail]

11, 7, 24 for the tts ask game (if any of these were answered ignore this lol)

7. "Do you have any post series headcanons?"

I've actually answered this question before, but I'm happy to reply again! :] !!

I don't have many of them, though I do headcanon that there would be a lot of tension in the Dark Kingdom post-series. Edmund, Adira and Hector hurt eachother a lot (well, Adira and Edmund committed most of the "hurting" if I'm being fully honest here) and now that the 3 of them are stuck together rebuilding the whole place by themselves, they oughta work out those issues if they want to be productive again!

11. "What is a major change (rewrite) that you would make to the canon?"

I've answered this question before as well, but since you asked again I'll take this chance to tell a different change: make someone else take the Moonstone. Someone like Hector, for example, who has extremely good reasons for doing so: he wants to stop anyone else from grabbing the Moonstone. What better way to do that than by holding onto it himself?

Plus, he could potentially use the stone to rebuild or at least repair his kingdom.

And of course: being the new holder of the Moonstone, he's sure to attract Zhan Tiri. That would've been so fun to see, considering he already has a connection to her since he freed her power from the Great Tree!

This is actually a concept I'm exploring myself in my fic, because it's just that interesting to me. Although, my Moon!Hector is a lot more defensive than another one may be, so while mine may focus more on rebuilding the DK and defending from intruders, another could focus on destroying Corona and ensuring that no one will ever try to take the stone from him. The latter option seems very interesting, especially when you realize that the reason he's doing all of that is to make sure no one tries to grab the Moonstone to do "evil", but he himself is doing evil, by trying to destroy the home of dozens, if not hundreds of people.

It's just one little change that makes a hurricane of a difference! :]

24. "The Salt Question: what were you disappointed by?"

The FINALE. my god you have absolutely no idea how freaking sad I was to see Zhan Tiri, my absolute FAVORITE CHARACTER, get defeated by a fucking frying pan. I swear. I cried so freaking much in that scene. What an anti-climatic ending.

Everything that happened in the finale battle was disappointing, and everything that happened afterwards was just rubbing piles of salt in the wound.

And that's not even talking about the whole finale, pretty much ALL of the 2 parts of Plus Ent En Vous were disappointing somehow:

- Varian and Quirin didn't have a heart-to-heart (it was their very last chance to do so since it didn't happen in the rest of the season)

- Mindtrapped!Quirin didn't fight Varian. That was unexpected, considering how many cruel things Cass has done so far, but alas.

- the monkey scene. that in itself is a disappointment.

- The fact we didn't get any concrete insight on Zhan Tiri and Demanitus' backstory past the very contradictory flashback. We could've gotten an entire flashback sequence of their story (at least in Demanitus' POV) if the mains had found entries in his journal regarding his past with Zhan Tiri. That would've been infinetely cooler than the fucking monkey scene. Yet, here we are.

- The Lost Realm. I had expected a void, or literal hell, not Buddy Song-level drug world. It's neat, but still disappointing.

- Zhan Tiri. I love her, but my girl was completely useless the entire fight. She showed up just to pretend she was gonna be an epic villain, only to die to a fucking frying pan about five minutes later. Sure, she killed everybody with the Decay Incantation, but what good was that if they just got revived 3 minutes later?

- Cassandra! Her "redemption" was, forgive the wording, fucking ridiculous. She basically cried and moaned about being useless, once again making herself the victim, then said one "I'm sorry" to Rapunzel and poof! Suddenly, hero again! I honestly could've accepted that if Cass had gotten any kind of punishment afterwards, but nope. She got a cleaner record than Varian's, probably, all because she died for less than one minute and was Rapunzel's favorite. Admittedly it could even make sense that Cass was forgiven in Corona, since Rapunzel is a princess and therefore does have the authority to forgive Cass of all of her crimes there, but there's absolutely NO reason why she wasn't punished by the DK.

By all means she should've been executed or at the very least arrested by the Dark Kingdom and the Brotherhood (who, may I remind you, HAVE BEEN ROBBED OF THEIR CONSCIOUSNESS FOR WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN MONTHS, in Adira and Hector's case, and in Quirin's and Edmund's—were forced to fight their own sons). The worst part is that Cassandra didn't have to do that, she chose to. You can't even pin that on Zhan Tiri because like- she told Cassandra what the Mindtrap was and what it did, not that she absolutely HAD TO use it or else she was gonna die or lose everything or something. This was Cassandra's doing. This was Cassandra's choice. Something this unforgivable couldn't have been let off just because pretty little angel Rapunzel asked.

- finally: the Mindtrap not being adressed by any Brotherhood member, at least on screen. They got Hector's and Adira's VA's in the finale only for them to say one or two lines each and that's it. Truly a waste.

#sigh. oh well #tangled the series #tts #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled #ask #ty for your ask !!!

[youalreadyhavefullresults]

hello, my name is t aka 🥹 anon. i have a lot to me and my story, if you want like to know about it, lmk. but im not here to talk about the old story, but how to change from it? i suffer from borderline personality disorder. you can do your research, but to summarize i have really high highs (manic episodes) and really low lows (depressive episodes). so i am extremely prone to spirals and etc. ive been in a toxic manifestation cycle where ive found a new method, failed at it and haven’t gotten results, then i would over-consume and attempt self concept then end up spiralling when i saw people with what i had and realized that my deadline is getting closer and closer (2 weeks) and then search for a new method again. it is so easy to just wallow in your sadness, especially when the media glorifies sadness and makes you jealous of others. ive been in this cycle for 3 years. ive tried to restart my journey by taking breaks and doing things that “i love”, but if you struggle with mental health or know anyone who does, you know it’s not easy to think a certain way or feel a certain way because of your mental illness. i want to restart my journey. not the ways i did before, not by taking a break then noticing that i haven’t manifested my desires and forcing myself to work on self concept or try a new method. i want to unlearn everything and learn what i need and actually do it correctly this time. but i don’t know how to make manifestation not feel like a chore and find a way to do that suits me. here’s the thing, i know basically any answer to any question you could ask me about manifestation and i know how to act on it. but people have different ways they can manifest and what’s subjective to them and i need help finding my way to manifest that isn’t toxic and causes me to spiral and look for a new method. preferably we could dm and you could help me, but replying to my anonymous message is just as efficient. but it gets confusing when you’ve fed yourself so much information from so many different sources, id prefer if you could also recommend a few loa blogs to look at too, so i don’t scroll through 10 million. it sounds contradictory when you’ve consumed so much, but it’s really only because everyone believes and thinks differently. i just want to actually manifest what i want this time and before my deadline. i want to get what i want and not be hindered by my mental health or hinder it even more as a result of failed attempts from every method known to man. how do i reconstruct my mindset and find a routine / way to manifest that fits me even with my mental illness (my parents don’t believe in therapy, so i can’t get treated for it)? especially something to help when i spiral and self sabotage

Hey 🥹 anon,

You mentioned that you didn’t want to take another break and start over, and from what I just read, yeah, taking a break doesn’t seem to be the thing that you need. Instead, let’s direct our attention to this statement.

"ive been in a toxic manifestation cycle where ive found a new method, failed at it and haven’t gotten results, then i would over-consume and attempt self concept then end up spiralling when i saw people with what i had and realized that my deadline is getting closer and closer (2 weeks) and then search for a new method again."

The main reason why this cycle seems to continue is because you're not persisting. And hold on just a sec, I don't mean to say you're not persisting and then just shut the question down. Just read a bit further and you'll see where I'm going lol.

You assumed that the method failed and therefore it did. Why did you do that? How you do know that it actually failed and that there wasn't movement happening already? because you focused on other people's journeys rather than yours. You mentioned that the main reason you spiralled was because you saw other people getting all of their desires and felt bad that you couldn't do the same. However, if "people have different ways they can manifest and what’s subjective to them"(quote taken directly from this ask), then what's to say that doesn't apply to the manifesting time as well?

Everyone is at different stages of their journey, and of course, that impacts the amount of time it might take for them to manifest something as well. You seem to understand this to some extent, so why should you compare yourself to others?

I understand that seeing others succeeding can be off-putting, especially when you can't seem to pull those same results. However, if this is the main cause of you not persisting? That's a huge issue. You could have been so close to your manifestation, but would have had no idea since you stopped persisting.

You definitely do need a break, but not from manifesting. You need a break from loa media. You know how to manifest, you know exactly what needs to be done to get your desires. So take a break from loa media for a while, and get it together lol. Personally, when I go on loa media breaks, I usually screenshot a few loa posts to motivate myself, but other than that, I completely stay away from anything else regarding it for a while. You'll see soon, that you honestly don't need anything more from outside sources, and just manifest away.

One last thing, you mentioned that you wanted me to recommend some blogs for you to read through. However, I'm not going to do that. Why? I really don't think you need to be sent down another loa rabbit hole rn lol. The best way to stop overconsuming, is to stop immediately. If you can, get off this app asap after reading this. You already know what needs to be done. Just affirm + persist. Write out 1 - 3 affs you like and just loop them in your head. That's all you need really. I think it's best for you to just take a break from all loa media until your self-concept and in general manifestation improves.

Oh yeah one last thing, you said that you were struggling with deadlines as well. Instead of using deadlines, I suggest you affirm that you manifest extremely fast instead. That'll take some of the pressure off to get it by a certain date.

Sorry this got really long but I hope it helped, i'm rooting for you <33

#ask #🥹 anon #law of assumption #loa #overconsumption #manifesting #self concept #manifestation

[cleostoohot]

hello, my name is t. i have a lot to me and my story, if you want like to know about it, lmk. but im not here to talk about the old story, but how to change from it? i suffer from borderline personality disorder. you can do your research, but to summarize i have really high highs (manic episodes) and really low lows (depressive episodes). so i am extremely prone to spirals and etc. ive been in a toxic manifestation cycle where ive found a new method, failed at it and haven’t gotten results, then i would over-consume and attempt self concept then end up spiralling when i saw people with what i had and realized that my deadline is getting closer and closer (2 weeks) and then search for a new method again. it is so easy to just wallow in your sadness, especially when the media glorifies sadness and makes you jealous of others. ive been in this cycle for 3 years. ive tried to restart my journey by taking breaks and doing things that “i love”, but if you struggle with mental health or know anyone who does, you know it’s not easy to think a certain way or feel a certain way because of your mental illness. i want to restart my journey. not the ways i did before, not by taking a break then noticing that i haven’t manifested my desires and forcing myself to work on self concept or try a new method. i want to unlearn everything and learn what i need and actually do it correctly this time. but i don’t know how to make manifestation not feel like a chore and find a way to do that suits me. here’s the thing, i know basically any answer to any question you could ask me about manifestation and i know how to act on it. but people have different ways they can manifest and what’s subjective to them and i need help finding my way to manifest that isn’t toxic and causes me to spiral and look for a new method. preferably we could dm and you could help me, but replying to my anonymous message is just as efficient. but it gets confusing when you’ve fed yourself so much information from so many different sources, id prefer if you could also recommend a few loa blogs to look at too, so i don’t scroll through 10 million. it sounds contradictory when you’ve consumed so much, but it’s really only because everyone believes and thinks differently. i just want to actually manifest what i want this time and before my deadline. i want to get what i want and not be hindered by my mental health or hinder it even more as a result of failed attempts from every method known to man. how do i reconstruct my mindset and find a routine / way to manifest that fits me even with my mental illness (my parents don’t believe in therapy, so i can’t get treated for it)? especially something to help when i spiral and self sabotage (please let me know if you would like to dm and talk one on one)

you have a very bad victim mentality. at the end of the day you are human just like everybody else luv. you are allowing your manifestation journey to be hard and using your mental illness as an excuse (i hope that doesn’t sound insensitive omg). nothing can stop you BUT U. i highly suggest you use my ROE technique. because regardless off your mental illness, spiraling, etc, you will get your manifestations. also don’t give yourself a deadline if your not even confident that you can manifest in the first place. the whole deadline thing was supposed to be to release resistance. not because you’re eager and want it now. if you want to dm me you can (ik i didn’t answer everything you probably wanted me to)🫶🏽

[diorbabe66]

hello, my name is t. i have a lot to me and my story, if you want like to know about it, lmk. but im not here to talk about the old story, but how to change from it? i suffer from borderline personality disorder. you can do your research, but to summarize i have really high highs (manic episodes) and really low lows (depressive episodes). so i am extremely prone to spirals and etc. ive been in a toxic manifestation cycle where ive found a new method, failed at it and haven’t gotten results, then i would over-consume and attempt self concept then end up spiralling when i saw people with what i had and realized that my deadline is getting closer and closer (2 weeks) and then search for a new method again. it is so easy to just wallow in your sadness, especially when the media glorifies sadness and makes you jealous of others. ive been in this cycle for 3 years. ive tried to restart my journey by taking breaks and doing things that “i love”, but if you struggle with mental health or know anyone who does, you know it’s not easy to think a certain way or feel a certain way because of your mental illness. i want to restart my journey. not the ways i did before, not by taking a break then noticing that i haven’t manifested my desires and forcing myself to work on self concept or try a new method. i want to unlearn everything and learn what i need and actually do it correctly this time. but i don’t know how to make manifestation not feel like a chore and find a way to do that suits me. here’s the thing, i know basically any answer to any question you could ask me about manifestation and i know how to act on it. but people have different ways they can manifest and what’s subjective to them and i need help finding my way to manifest that isn’t toxic and causes me to spiral and look for a new method. preferably we could dm and you could help me, but replying to my anonymous message is just as efficient. but it gets confusing when you’ve fed yourself so much information from so many different sources, id prefer if you could also recommend a few loa blogs to look at too, so i don’t scroll through 10 million. it sounds contradictory when you’ve consumed so much, but it’s really only because everyone believes and thinks differently. i just want to actually manifest what i want this time and before my deadline. i want to get what i want and not be hindered by my mental health or hinder it even more as a result of failed attempts from every method known to man. how do i reconstruct my mindset and find a routine / way to manifest that fits me even with my mental illness (my parents don’t believe in therapy, so i can’t get treated for it)? especially something to help when i spiral and self sabotage (please let me know if you would like to dm and talk one on one)

dm me babes!!