#i just want everyone to be baffled that an army of the dead showed up while they were gone and just made sure everything stayed cool

[persephoneggsy]

For the meme: 18 and 48 for Fiora/Alistair, 7 and 8 for Marian/Sebastian!

Fiora/Alistair

18. How do they care for each other when one of them is wounded/sick?

For all her confidence and bluster, Fiora is a big crybaby when she's hurt (in her defense, she's an archer and thus usually, you know, far away). Doesn't help that she was raised a nobleman's daughter, and the worst injuries she ever got were during training exercises in the courtyard. She gets, like, stabbed for the first time ever at the Tower of Ishal at Ostagar.

Lucky for her, Alistair has more experience with on-the-field injuries (not a lot more than her, but still more), so he keeps her calm while he (or Wynne if she's around) patches her up. If Alistair is the one injured, she mostly frets and does what the more experienced healers tell her to do (a rare instance of her taking orders from someone else). When he is patched up, he gets a big ol' kiss from her because she's relieved he's okay.

Same applies for when they're sick. Fiora is whiny and pouty - luckily Alistair finds it adorable - and Alistair probably insists he's fine but secretly relishes being taken care of.

48. Do they talk about their future together? Why or why not?

I think, in those early days, Fiora was trying really hard to not think about the future. Her family was dead, and she barely knew what being a Grey Warden meant. She was just trying to survive the Blight, and at first, Alistair was a distraction meant to take her mind off darker things.

But then as they start building their army and it looks like they might actually win this thing, she does start to wonder. She's found out Alistair might be king by this point - if a Grey Warden can be put on the throne... why not two? Why can't she live happily ever after with the man she's grown to love, Warden or not?

In my headcanon, Fiora doesn't spring her marriage proposal on Alistair at the Landsmeet. She actually asks him about it while they're still at Arl Eamon's estate in Denerim. She says she thinks he'll be a great king, and she learned diplomacy and state business from her parents, so she could help him... if he wanted her to.

It takes Alistair a good ten minutes before he realizes she's basically asking him to marry her. And then he's all in.

Marian/Sebastian

7. How often do they say “I love you”?

Sebastian says it practically all the time - when they wake up, before they go to sleep, if they have to part ways for an extended period of time, etc.

Marian's a little more reserved with her "I love you's". It's harder for her to vocalize any feelings that aren't anger, sarcasm, or lust. So whenever she does say it, it's usually because she's so overwhelmed by how much she loves him that it just slips out. Then she gets all blushy and flustered and tries to quickly move on.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) for her, Sebastian is always delighted when she says it and repeats it back to her with a beaming grin.

8. What do they love most about the other? Why?

Marian loves his unrelenting kindness. At first she was baffled by it, thought he was a bit of a pushover... But as she came to know him, she realized it took tremendous strength to endure what he has and still try to be kind to everyone. He's not naïve about it, if someone's an unrepentant asshole then fine, but he can still show basic courtesy and dignity to someone even if he doesn't like him.

Sebastian loves her determination - even if she's reluctant to start something, once she's in, she dedicates herself 110%. She never leaves things unfinished or things unsaid, she's determined to see things through. He finds that really brave, and he admires it. That said, it's a hundred times better to see her get excited over she's passionate about. That fiery determination burns ever brighter, and he just can't look away.

#ask #breadedsinner #ask meme #sebhawke #fiora/alistair #fiora and alistair are the ship of my himbo/girlboss dreams

[swbumblebee]

What if Qui-Gon Jinn was not particularly special in his post-mortem abilities?

AKA “Old Ben” and his many Force parents.

They had all watched, their collective Force aura swamped in sadness, grief and longing, as Qui-Gon finally introduced himself to Obi-Wan.

They’d never call him ‘Old Ben’. The fact that he was only 40 years old notwithstanding, this was the boy they’d raised, grown up with, idolised. They remembered him toddling about the gardens, fascinated by the brightly coloured flowers; Getting shy around pretty people and developing awkward crushes. They remembered him standing alone at the head of an army, quietly confident and immeasurably capable. They had vivid memories of him carrying them back to the creche, so steady and strong; of his measured wisdom, and the confidence that Obi-Wan Kenobi would always triumph.

They remembered the mullet.

Nobody named “Old Ben” ever had a mullet.

The man they now, as they always had really, looked to for a light when everything else went dark.

They didn’t catch the murmured words. They were Jedi after all, (even if they were now technically one big Jedi rather than a temple full of Jedi) and eavesdropping was rude. Nobody listened to the sulky mutterings of the presence that was Quinlan Vos.

Their boy was nodding, sitting quietly on the floor whilst he finally, finally after weeks of careful and gentle persuasion, of them all keeping a tight rein on the order’s maverick (“Do not, we repeat do not, come out of the water tank. You’ll give him a cardiac arrest or something”) believed in the presence he saw before him.

They watched once more, pleased, as their missing piece allowed himself to be bullied to his feet, and guided over to the pile of blankets he called a bed.

They could feel Qui-Gon’s bitter relief as he perched next to his former student, his longing to pull the blankets up around his boy and smooth back his hair.

But words were all they had.

Still, as Obi-Wan Kenobi had shown the Galaxy; you could do a lot with words.

---

They’d argued (as much as an incorporeal fusion of spirits could argue) at length over who got to go next.

“I knew him longest, he’ll trust me!”

“He needs someone calm, measured. I will go”

“No offence Master Plo but you’ll make him cry. He needs cheering up, I’ll go!”

“Vos so help me Force-“

“I was the Master of the Order, I should do it”

“Master, we’re dead. I’m not sure seniority applies.”

In the end it was narrowed down to two options; Bant Erin, Obi-Wan’s oldest friend. Sweet natured and kind, she would be the perfect choice.

And Mace Windu.

It turns out seniority does still apply beyond the grave.

---

A small part of Obi-Wan’s subconscious was telling him that it was starting to get a bit awkward.

The transparent blue form of Mace Windu was looking down at him, the welcoming smile quickly turning into a grimace.

“…Obi-Wan?”

No. no no no this was not happening. He didn’t have time to go round the bend he had a child to protect!

He wasn’t sure if it was reasonable to measure sanity on the volume of dead loved ones he was hallucinating, but somehow one seemed saner than two.

Though it turns out he’s insane, and so not a good barometer of these things.

He knew his stare was starting to get very unnerving as his hysterical inner-ramblings reached a fever pitch.

“…Obi-Wan, are you alright?” Imaginary Mace Windu asked, concern and a tiny bit of nervousness showing on his face.

“I’m fine, how are you?” Obi-Wan asked, remembering a solid piece of advice from his formative years; Always fall back upon good manners when in unfamiliar territory Padawan mine.

Well, this was about as unfamiliar as it got.

Imaginary Mace looked at him, utterly baffled for a moment.

“Well…I’m dead, I suppose, is how I am” he answered awkwardly.

“Right. Obviously.” Obi-Wan nodded politely. “My condolences”

There was another awkward silence.

Imaginary Mace tilted his head for a moment, listening for something.

“Well…here I am” he said, spreading his arms a little.

“…yes.”

The other Jedi frowned at Obi-Wan’s strained reply and his act of scrubbing his hands down his face as if to wipe away the image in front of him.

“Qui-Gon didn’t…didn’t mention we were coming?” he asked tentatively.

Obi-Wan shook his head, wordlessly.

The frown on Imaginary Mace turned into a complete scowl as the pieces seemed to fall into place.

“JINN” he bellowed, and Obi-Wan felt it echo in the Force like nothing before.

“He can’t hear you, he’s with Yoda”

Another figure popped into existence next to Mace, and Obi-Wan rubbed his eyes once again as Depa Billaba bowed to him.

“Obi-Wan” she greeted with a grin.

“…hi” He took a deep breath, mentally cursing his absent-minded Master.

“Are you alright?” Depa didn’t stop for a reply as she looked down with him and gestured at him, gently instructing him to get up from the floor. “Oh look you’ve scraped your knee there! Master I knew you’d startle him!” she scolded her former Master.

It felt like he was having an out of body experience as Depa ushered him into a chair (the only chair in the hut), Mace looking on anxiously.

“There we go” Depa soothed as she got him settled “I wish we could make you some tea my friend.” She said disappointedly.

Obi-Wan cleared his throat.

“You ah…you can’t?” he asked, something permeating the haze. Of this whole situation, that seemed by far the most unfair thing.

Mace smiled encouragingly, seemingly happier to be on more binary ground.

“I’m afraid not, we are beings of the Force, like your Master.” He explained, before scowling again. “Who, I would kill if he weren’t already dead,” he growled.

“I’m so sorry Obi-Wan” Depa said, dismayed “We all wanted to come and be with you, but we though Qui-Gon might be best to start with, so as not to overwhelm you”

“Sorry about that” Mace said apologetically.

They sat in silence a moment, Depa and Mace watching him process.

For the first time ever, Obi-Wan had exactly zero thoughts in his head.

He was starting to feel the pressure.

“All?” he tried.

Depa and Mace looked at each other.

“You ah…you said ‘all wanted to come’” he clarified.

Depa nodded happily.

“Yes yes, we’re all there Obi-Wan” she smiled at him

“Any Jedi slain by a Sith, or the machinations of the Sith, is there” Mace explained.

Obi-Wan was having the slightest bit of trouble taking deep breaths. Neither of his companions seemed to have noticed.

“Where?” he asked, only mildly aware that his voice was getting just a little pitchy.

“In the Force, we’re all one in the Force” Depa started again, and then paused a little lost for words.

“We’re all together and we kind of…share our presences” Mace picked up, with difficulty “Everyone who was killed by Palpatine’s evil, everyone from us right down to the littlest initiate, we share one consciousness in the Force.”

Obi-Wan was none the wiser.

Mace waved a hand frustratedly.

“Sorry, Plo explains it better”

“Plo?” Obi-Wan loved Master Plo. He loved all of them. And they were gone.

“Hello Obi-Wan”

“Well, if Plo and Depa get to see him I’m bloody well here too!”

“Hi Obi”

“Obes!”

He could only watch, speechless, as the faces of old friends, comrades, mentors and carers crammed into his hut, all looking at him with unadulterated, unfiltered pleasure and love was the last thing he saw before his scrambled brain decided it’d had enough, and he knew nothing but darkness.

---

It turns out, living with the forms of all your dead teachers, carers and friends was actually rather trying, after a while.

“Oh thank goodness you’re not still drinking that awful caff”

“I like caff – Master Plo please don’t try and lift that”

“Relax Obi dear, we’re incorporeal”

“Can still see things though”

“Vos get out of my fresher!”

“What does this do?”

“Never you mind. No don’t – Ugh. Why don’t some nice, well behaved padawans ever come to see me?”

“They’re not allowed, only those who knew you personally can visit. We thought it might get a bit stressful otherwise.”

“…I can’t imagine.”

Aside from having to adapt his busy routine to accommodate half a dozen fidgety and curious…ghosts (?) poking around his small hut at any one time, another unexpected addition to his (attempted) isolation on Tatooine was the nagging. And Force could they nag! The concentrated worry of many, many, beings with nowhere else to direct their extra energies was powerful.

“Obi-Wan you haven’t drank enough today. Go and check the vaporators”

“Padawan aren’t you going to eat?”

“Listen, that plie of cloth can’t be good for your spine”

“Force! Get some sun block Kenobi or you’re going to look like an old shoe in three months”

“No right, I saw a sunhat he can buy at the market”

It was…weird. He’d always been very self-sufficient, not to mention being the centre of everyone’s attention was difficult, to say the least. But as the months went on, he found himself transitioning from awkward acquiescence to see-sawing between mulishness and good-natured obedience. The stubbornness rising usually when the despair did. But those days were few and far between.

And now, when they did occur (for one can only avoid one’s demons for so long) and he felt like he was drowning in the weight of existence, he could rely on his friends for encouragement, care, and the motivation to carry on.

“If you join us before your time I will KILL you Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now kriffing well eat something!”

---

Of course, when their brother, friend, son, comrade, teacher and last hope did at last join them, there was no nagging or disappointment (or violence). The ultimate Jedi was back in the fold and they were once again complete.

#And they're fussing #Obi-Wan Kenobi #mace windu #I See Dead Jedi #depa billaba #jedi order #fluff? #snippet of nothing

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 22 part one

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Not Quite Like Old Times

We ended the previous episode in daylight, with Lan Wangji putting Wei Wuxian and swordpoint and declaring his undying love lecturing him about his lack of sword skills.

We start this episode in full night, with the two of them sitting on a roof together. Presumably they spent the missing scenes getting dinner in the mess hall, doing some laundry, and definitely not making out. Fic writers, do your thing.

Finally, FINALLY, Lan Wangji has chilled out enough to actually sit and listen to Wei Wuxian, instead of yelling at and/or physically attacking him. The Zoloft is really helping!

Wei Wuxian is indulging in romantic recollections of their first rooftop encounter. Lan Wangji, who has loved him since he first laid eyes on him and who wrote a whole song with an entire music video about their love, featuring that very same rooftop encounter, shuts him down so completely he might as well have whipped out Bichen again.

First he corrects his description of events by pointing out they were fighting, not talking, back then. Then when Wei Wuxian continues in his charming, smiley reminiscing vein, Lan Wangji says "things change, how could they stay the same" with a deep, sad, weariness.

He seems like an old man in this moment, and I feel for him, really, I do. But he's not the one who's carrying the actual essence of death around inside him. Wei Wuxian is being much more generous in this interaction than Lan Wangji is.

Wei Wuxian thanks him for not narkng to Jiang Yanli about the whole talisman/forced suicide/ghost hummer/ghost flaying thing he did back in Yiling. Like there is any way Lan Wangji would ever tell Jiang Yanli, of all people, something like that about Wei Wuxian.  He's lying to his own brother to cover for Wei Wuxian, and Wei Wuxian totally doesn't get it.

(more after the cut)

Unfortunately, there's no reason Wei Wuxian SHOULD get it, at this point; Lan Wangji has not communicated anything but disapproval to him since his return, and Wei Wuxian, despite their (apparently temporary) mental linkup in the Turtle cave, is not a mind reader.

Lan Wangji is so hurt here, and Wei Wuxian appears to ignore that, continuing to smile and laugh; he’s still sunny, still happy. Seriously, they are so tonally out of step with each other in this conversation, it's excruciating.

Lan Wangji: I’m feeling good about my tear-holding-back ability Wei Wuxian: do I look more fuckable sitting up? Or leaning back?  

But every one of these smiles is an absolute lie. This is Wei Wuxian appeasing an authority figure; baffling with bullshit and skating by on charm. This is not a young man confiding in his soulmate.

Even when the conversation shifts, and they talk seriously about what is going on with him, Wei Wuxian is barely confiding anything. He briefly acknowledges that he was in the Burial Mounds for three months, and shudders at the memory, but Lan Wangji doesn't respond to that other than to look away from his face.

This is almost the last thing Wei Wuxian will ever say to anyone about that experience.  He only alludes to it again when Jiang Cheng visits the settlement and talks smack about their corpse turnips. Lan Wangji says he wants to know why Wei Wuxian’s cultivation changed, but he really doesn’t; he just wants to convince him to change it back.

Wei Wuxian explains about using Lan clan techniques to protect his temperament, as well as the flute and talismans, to control the resentful energy. This is a good reminder that Wei Wuxian was never a bad student. He was an outstanding cultivator within the Jiang Clan, and he learned a hell of a lot during his time in Gusu, despite getting expelled for fighting.

His original golden core was stronger than Jiang Cheng's, even though he apparently started cultivating later. Yes, he fell asleep during meditation that one time in Episode 43, but that's not because he's bad at meditating, it's because he was tired from getting railed all night by his boyfriend stabbed in the gut by his nephew.

Lan Wangji eventually manages to ask him a question like an interested fellow human being sharing knowledge, instead of like an authoritarian dick calling him to account.  

Side note: I still am flopping around trying to find good-sounding English terms for Chinese philosophical concepts. I kind of like "ghost path" vs "sword path" for the two styles of cultivation - I don't know where I saw that, apologies to the translator. I like "necromancy" for the part where the dead are reanimated and controlled, because we definitely have that in English. But there are many layers of nuance in these conversations that English is not equipped to render in a natural-sounding way.

Lan Wangji tells him, again, that it's dangerous, but this time he does it in a gentler and more poetic way, saying it's like taking grain from a burning fire, and says he's in danger of becoming the novel version of Wei Wuxian a demonic cultivator.  Wei Wuxian, also gently and seriously, says he knows.

Then he immediately goes back to his lightest tone and promises, with his three-fingers gesture, that he will not fall into demonic cultivation. This gesture is basically the Wei Wuxian "I am totally fucking lying" salute.

He is totally fucking lying, and he MUST know it. He's baking the Yin tiger amulet every day during his meditation, getting ready to use it against Wen Ruohan, getting ready to take over his army of the dead.

He has the audacity to ask Lan Wangji, "do you believe me?" and Lan Wangji, also totally fucking lying, nods.  Their relationship is just as broken right now as it was before their courtyard sparring session.

You can tell it's broken, because after they've reached this apparent place of peace, Wei Wuxian just hops down off the roof and LEAVES Lan Wangji sitting by himself. When has Wei Wuxian ever been like "gotta go!" with Lan Wangji? The last time they were here, he spent the night sleeping on the roof tiles just so he could be near him.

As he leaves, Lan Wanji stands up and says "let me help you." Wei Wuxian is not a fan of that idea, at all, if his expression is any guide.

He agrees, though, and leaves smiling, apparently for real, but maybe just practicing for all the fake smiles in his future.

Hooray for War

In the morning, Nie Mingjue makes an angry speech to the 2 dozen cultivators who apparently make up the army. Extras are expensive, y'all.

The senior cultivators are standing to the right or left of him, with the Lan brothers bracketing the Yunmeng sibs. Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng are both staking their claim to Wei Wuxian, while Lan Xichen is standing in the spot closest to Nie Mingjue; Nie Huaisang is on the opposite side with the Jins.

All of the random cultivators yell a war chant in response to Nie Mingjue's speech, while the senior cultivators are like, we don't have to do that yelling stuff, thank goodness.

Nie Mingjue's war outfit includes metal (ish) epaulets on his shoulders and a totally not-kinky belt featuring multiple rings with nothing attached to them (yet) and an angry demon face right above his junk.

Nie Mingjue says we're going to storm into Nightless city and I'm going to chop off Wen Ruohan's head! By which he means, I'm going to get captured and get my ass beat, and then my murder-babie ex-boyfriend who had this belt specially made for me is going to stab Wen Ruohan in the back while he's distracted. They do say no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Side note: Baxia makes a loud metallic "shnk" noise when NMJ takes it off his back during this speech, even though Baxia does not have a scabbard. You do you, Baxia.

All the senior cultivators file out down the center while everyone else parts to let them pass. Then everybody does the Electric Slide.

Jiang Cheng tells Wei Wuxian they should go ahead of the main force to get some killing in early, but Wei Wuxian just pulls a face and looks down, staying with Lan Wangji. 

Jiang Cheng is disappointed, and no doubt takes this as a sign of WWX choosing LWJ over him. But actually, WWX can't fight side-by-side with Jiang Cheng without showing his weakness.

LWJ and WWX exchange one of their unspoken "let's go" eye touches and get ready to ride out together with the main force. 

Lan Wangji is still super, super sad. Wei Wuxian is still fake. But something is starting to knit together between them, and once they can hit a battlefield together, it will get a lot stronger.

On A Horse With No Name

Everyone rides out on horses, which will presumably get eaten somewhere along the way, because they appear to travel on foot after this. While Wei Wuxian practices his horseback-flute-twirling, Lan Wangji asks why Wei Wuxian didn't go with the forward force to fight.

Wei Wuxian says that he has a case of the don'wannas, and Lan Wangji snarkily points out that he used to like fighting. Wei Wuxian reacts, just as he did at the end of their sword fight, with embarrassment, and doesn't answer.

Lan Wangji, sweetie. You are really not helping. 

At this point, despite their ongoing fighting, Wangxian are clearly together again. Lan Wangji isn't riding with his brother; he's RIGHT next to Wei Wuxian, and will stay close to him through the rest of the campaign.

Nie Huaisang hollers "Wei-Xiong" from the top of the battlements and tells him to take care. Wei-Xiong lifts his flute in acknowledgement while Nie Huaisang looks worried. He doesn't tell Nie Mingjue or Lan Wangji to take care, just Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian is his particular friend, more than Lan Wangji is, but he may also be concerned because he can tell that Wei Wuxian isn't well.

Nie Huaisang hasn't yet developed the deep cynicism that he calls upon in his quest to avenge his brother, but he has always been a voracious collector of information, and he is keenly observant.

Side note: what the fuck is going on with this sculpture? Kudos to the artist. This has beautiful forms, and is weird and disturbing. The main head is wearing a horned skull on its forehead, small ungulates that I hesitate to call “deer” chilling on its horns, and...snakes? biting its ears? 

Boring Wen Interlude

Wen Ruohan is waving his hands around. Sigh. This is one of the more boring villain performances ever, and it's not the actor’s fault. They could have given him a sidekick to yell at or something, so we could get more than just hand waving. I’ve given up screen capping any of this; there are more interesting things to look at. 

Battle Moves

Jin Zixuan and Jiang Cheng and their forces have an extended fight scene with a bunch of puppet dudes and stuntmen in harnesses. 

It's pretty fun to watch. (Fanvid with more over here)

The gist of the fighting scenes is that Wen Ruohan is getting stronger, and Klingons are hard to beat.

Battle Planning

Finally we see a sidekick with Wen Ruohan, although he's blurry so it's hard to tell that he is totally Meng Yao.

The Sunshotters have set up a Battle Camp Playset. It's got chunks of gates and walls that don't connect to anything, like a Duplo set. It's just randomly open for most of the back area so that anyone can walk in. 

They've got a cage of hilarious definitely-not-zombies set up, and the rest of the wounded cultivators are lying on the ground. 

The main battle trio go chill in Nie Mingjue's incredibly fancy tent. They talk it over and say it's impossible to kill unkillable enemies, "even when we have millions of troops." And by “millions” they mean “dozens.”  

Nie Mingjue decides the way to handle it is to kill the leader and everyone else will collapse, because he has watched vampire movies and the last season of Game of Thrones and that's how it works. Watching the last season of Game of Thrones is why he is so angry all the time  He says he's going to sneak into Nightless City and assassinate Wen Ruohan.

Okay, first of all, Nie Mingjue can sneak? I don't believe it.  Second of all, if that was possible, why didn't he do it as soon as Wen Ruohan attacked his clan?

Nie Mingjue wants to take the biggest risk because he's the commander in chief, which is not how commanding is supposed to work, but okay.

He says if he dies, Zewu Jun will take over. Jiang Cheng starts to protest but Zewu Jun appears as if conjured, and shows them a map that will...dear GOD his hands are beautiful.

It's a helpful map, painted in multiple colors with careful writing on it, so if anyone were to show it to Nie Huaisang he would probably go "oh cool Meng Yao painted that" because anyone who could paint that well probably spent a fair amount of time at it on a regular basis. But, Nie Huaisang isn't here so, nope.

It’s always nice to see Jiang Cheng smile.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Waniji examine some of the puppets to see what's up. It's transmitted by touch, and Lan Wangji says that curing one dude takes three months of spiritual power. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Writing Prompt: Missing scene! How did they get from the fight in the courtyard to the talk on the roof? 

Soundtrack: 1. Shine on You Crazy Diamond, by Pink Floyd 2. Electric Boogie, by Marcia Griffiths

#the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #the untamed meta #canary3d-original #my gifs #wordcount 2379 #restless rewatch the untamed

[itsclydebitches]

V8’s loss is so baffling to me. V3’s loss was disheartening because the heroes did all that they could, but the atmosphere spoke that this wasn’t going to end well. V8 had “Everything is going great!” then Salem and Cinder won…just because!

Pairing these two asks up!

Okay, so we all understand on a plot level why the group lost: Cinder arrived unexpectedly, Neo "kills" Yang, Penny takes a critical hit, the lost Staff obliterates the walkways, etc. There are a ton of reasons why the execution of that plot is stupid imo–How did the group just forget about two of their longest running enemies? How did Neo's single sword hit break Yang's aura and knock her across the walkway and put her into a semi-unconscious state so she couldn't save herself? Why is Jaune, the healer, so easily swayed into killing Penny?–but if we're willing to just go with it, fine. Makes sense. The final two episodes do, in some ways, reflect the tone of Volume 3. Both started on incredibly hopeful notes, only to end in failure. "It's the Vytal festival! We've always fought and come out on top, we can do this! ... omg wait, Pyrrha is dead, Beacon is gone, and Yang has lost an arm." From "We have a plan now! We're implementing it! We always manage to save people in the end! ... omg wait, Team RWBY is dead, Jaune is dead, Penny is dead, two Relics are gone, and our civilians are getting picked off by desert grimm." If we're willing to be very generous in regards to that execution... I buy it. The group nearly succeeded in keeping everyone safe, but the villains screwed things up. We've seen it happen before.

What doesn't work for me–where I think the real problem lies–is in why the heroes were fighting this fight in the first place. I don't mean that in the grand scheme of things (like, why fight Salem) but in the literal, immediate battle that they wound up losing. This isn't a Volume 3 situation where the villains attacked the heroes, they defended themselves, they lost. This situation came about because the heroes were trying to transport an entire Kingdom's worth of people across a deadly walkway. So why were they doing that?

...and that's where we run into the snags.

See, none of the motivations across Volume 8 add up. Yeah, we've discussed Ironwood to death, but it's the same with everyone else too. Ruby initially told Yang that she wanted to use Amity not just to warn other people about Salem, but to call for help. She reiterates this during the staircase talk: I'm childish and I wasted everyone's time because I thought people would come and then they didn't (which, frankly, is not what Ruby should be criticizing about her own leadership, but I digress). So my question is, what was Ruby planning to do with that help? Let's say the other Kingdoms broke all internal logic and did manage to get there to help Atlas. What in the world does "help" mean in this instance? What was her plan once they got there? Ruby acts as if she's just very, very broadly planning to fight Salem with this desired assistance, but then she doesn't fight her. Not just in terms of staying inside when Salem's army attacks, but also in terms of remembering that she has access to a Relic that can create anything... but then using that to run, not try and face Salem down.

Ruby's entire stance isn't just that Ironwood is evil for leaving others behind, but that he's wrong to run at all. She emphasizes that Atlas is just Salem's first target, implying that it's foolish to Kingdom hop when she'll just turn around and attack them somewhere else instead. There were a number of compelling reasons for why they should have left when Ironwood suggested it. We can continue to debate the ethics of that until the end of time. But for the purposes of this conversation, the important takeaway is that by the time Ruby decides to leave, there are even more compelling reasons not to go. By this point they have learned that Salem isn't interested in Mantle at all, only the Relics/Maiden housed in Atlas. By this point they have destroyed her whale, cutting her off from a huge portion of her army. By this point they have turned two of her subordinates against her, as well as obliterating her for a time. By this point they know that Oscar still has some amount of energy left in the cane, giving them another weapon to use against her. By this point everyone has been evacuated to the crater, meaning the heat is no longer a threat. By this point the Hound is dead. By this point they're about a half hour away from capturing Ironwood and saving Penny.

To top it all off, yeah, they don't juDst move everyone from the Kingdom of Atlas, they d is anywhere nearby... the threat is gone. It makes absolutely no sense to me why, at this point in time, after everything else they've succeeded in, after Ruby was waiting on an army of her own, after she reminded everyone that nowhere is safe, they would just up and move an entire Kingdom's worth of people. What's the point of this goal? Based on what we see–based on what the characters know–everyone in Mantle would be safer at home with some hacking assistance to get the heat back on. The people of Atlas would be safer provided the group takes those magical Relics, their Maiden, their Silver Eyes and skedaddles. Why the group decided to move the entire Kingdom when they could have just gone to Vacuo themselves, taking everything Salem wants with them, makes no sense to me. It could have very easily made sense if they'd evacuated at the beginning of Volume 8, or if we established something like Salem's intention to murder everyone if the heroes run... but we didn't get anything like that. So we just have the heroes putting civilians through increasingly dangerous situations (deadly walkway, Cinder's attack, dangerous desert, overpopulation in a hostile city) for seemingly no reason. All while bringing the Staff with them so it can get captured too. The group's decisions of who/what should be where all come across as backwards to me.

To top it all off, yeah, they don't jut move everyone from the Kingdom of Atlas to Vacuo, they sacrifice the Kingdom in order to move them. I've said before that I stand by Robyn's observation that the people are more important than the place, but as established, the point is that this sacrifice never needed to happen. We desperately needed the show to establish not just why the group feels like evacuation is still the best option after so much has changed, but why that reasoning is powerful enough to justify the entire Kingdom's destruction. Because–finally getting around to your point, Anon #2–it's not just about losing a place you're used to living in. It's about the loss of everything Atlas provided for the world: the Dust, the tech, and yes, even the army. It's easy to reduce Atlas to that racist Kindgom wooo glad it's gone... but canonically we have so many characters with positive connections to it. The disability angle is just one, particularly disheartening example. I have no doubt that the show will ignore the logical consequence of the Kingdom's destruction... just like it ignored Yang receiving the arm as a gift, just like Maria's eyes were turned into a joke, just like Penny had to be given a flesh body in order to understand how nice hugs are. Yes, the people and their knowledge live on (if Pietro survived), but they no longer have the resources to provide that work. If helping the rest of the world even makes their top ten priority list when trying to survive homelessness.

The point isn't that the group can't go through with that act, the point is to justify the act for us through their perspectives and have them grapple with what a huge, world-changing decision it is. The fact that no one, but especially Weiss, so much as blinked at this decision, especially when the decision comes across as in many respects unnecessary, is crazy to me. I'd be so much more on board with this choice (even with the "Why are we still evacuating?" question) if the group had a solid plan in place to finish before Atlas touched down on Mantle, they were shown ensuring everyone actually had a portal to use, they demonstrated basic intelligence in remembering the two villains they fought in the last 48 hours (Penny fought Cinder, all of JNOR fought Neo), and were allowed to fight with their canonical strength and skill. Then it really would be a case of the group doing everything right... but still losing, simply because the villains were better. AKA, a Volume 3. As it stands, their reasons for doing this are shaky, thus they don't justify this incredible sacrifice, the group comes across as incompetent for much of the battle, and their total disinterest in what this will do to the rest of Remnant doesn't come across as particularly heroic. That kind of sacrifice needs to be attached to a "We had no other choice" situation. Problem is, they bypassed that moment at the end of Volume 7. By the end of 8, they absolutely had other choices.

Disability has no meaning in RWBY anymore. I think it did–back in Volume 4, Volume 6 when Maria was first introduced–but now the story has reduced disability to something "extra," something to fix, or something to outright ignore. Yeah, we can think about the long-term consequences for disability across Remnant, but at the end of the day, the story entirely forgot about the blind and paraplegic characters trapped on a broken tower. These problems, sadly, run a whole lot deeper than RWBY potentially not capitalizing on the impact of destroying 1/5th of the world.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Top 5 Character Deaths That Made Me Side-Eye the Writers

There are a lot of character deaths in TWDG... obviously. It a series about the literal dead walkin’ around and eating people, so as you’re playing, one of your favorite characters is bound to meet such a fate. To give this series credit, it does have quite a few well-executed deaths that, while I hate them, they have a purpose in the story that works. 

The best example of this is Lee’s death-- we all hate that Lee dies, but it’s well-done. It serves its purpose, it acted as both a shock and a slow-burn for the player, and left us all an emotional mess. 

However, we’re not talking about the “good” deaths today. No, we’re talking about the character deaths that are poorly executed, cheap, lazy, and just plain dumb... they’re the deaths that make me side-eye the writing team and wonder what the fuck happened there. 

By the way, it was reeeeeeal fun narrowing it down to only five deaths, because it seems like for every great death, there’s at least two bad ones.

5. Mariana and her death that ruined ANF’s potential story

I’ve talked at length about Mariana’s death and how much I hate it. Like, I get it TWDG... you love your sudden deaths and you’re so edgy for killing off a child character because you’ve never done that before... but maybe consider things a little further before pulling the trigger?

Yeah, killing off Mariana the way they did got a reaction outta people when it happened, and we got the burial scene if you stayed with Clementine... but you didn’t consider the future of this storyline? You pretend you did by name dropping Mari when it’s convenient, but then throw it out the window when it comes to characters like David or Gabe.

Listen, I know that ANF is a mess and what’s the point in telling the mess that it’s a mess? Well, I’m still annoyed at the writers for wasting the biggest opportunity for this game’s story, something that could’ve saved it from being a mess.

And I get it, you gotta make a death quota, so instead of killing Mariana off... why not kill Kate off instead? Oh no? We don’t get the stupid love triangle that no one actually enjoys or is engaged in?

Instead of this dumb story about Javi falling in love with his sister-in-law but oh no David’s back.... we could’ve had a story about Javi losing Kate and being left to care for two children by himself. Mariana and Gabe are all he has left, and he going to do whatever he can to keep them safe all while the three of them are mourning Kate.

Then David comes back, and he immediately takes these kids away from Javi.

There is no stupid storyline with Kate, but an actual conflict between two brothers who were never on the same page and two kids caught in the middle.

Plus, Mariana herself as a character really could’ve brought something to the table. She could’ve brought out a lot in David’s character since she seems to be more like Javi.

Her death is just... annoying. It’s frustrating when you know they could’ve told a better story with her alive, something ANF desperately needed.

My side-eye is one of disappointment and annoyance.

4.Luke and his easily preventable drowning

Ugh.... where to even begin? 

Luke really just gets butchered as a character throughout the second half of S2, and the writers end up demolishing the set up they placed at the beginning of the season for a Luke vs Kenny thing. 

Why? Well, Luke vs Kenny was the initial ending they were gonna go with, but because this season went through all kinds of bullshit, they scrapped that and replaced Luke with Jane... and it’s so dumb.

Hell, it kind of ruins a lot. Not only did it ruin Luke, a character that many players loved, but it forces the new character of Jane, who we only get two episodes to get to know, so they can fade Luke out. 

But that’s not all. 

His death is so... ugh. It’s stupid, okay? Stupid and easily preventable, but noooo... we gotta kill Luke off for reasons because all we know is that S1 killed off a lot of characters and we’re gonna do that again but worse because we failed to understand what made those deaths impactful in the first place. 

Lots of character death and despair = good game. 

Yep, uh-huh. Okay. 

So we all know that Luke’s leg is hurt, yeah? Great, so you’d think that the group that has an injured man and a new born baby would be extra cautious and go around the frozen lake. Yeah, Arvo says that it’s safe but let’s not take any chances. 

But no. We gotta go across like a group of dingdongs and whattya know-- the ice begins to crack beneath Luke’s feet. Now, even here, we coulda got him outta there safely... if Bonnie wasn’t a dingus. 

Think about it. If we shot the walkers who were coming towards Luke with all their weight, he could’ve slowly scooted away, even if he’s already fallen through. BUT NO. Bonnie either guilts Clementine into going towards him, adding more weight to the already fragile ice as Luke tells her to stop, or Bonnie will go over there herself... and she’s a full grown woman soooo her weight breaks the ice. 

Good job, you dipsticks. 

When you have to make your characters into morons in order to move the plot along and kill off characters....maybe do some rethinking, yeah? 

 3. Mitch and his shock-value death

This death is so dumb... so incredibly, dumb. Even now, I can’t help but give full side-eye to the writers every time one of them tries to justify this death. 

I’m sorry, but this death didn’t have the impact you wanted it to have. And because there’s always someone who says, “Mitch didn’t die for shock value, you just can’t tell the difference between a good and bad death” lemme tell you a thing. 

What was the point of killing of Mitch? Well, according to those who worked on TFS, it was to show that Lilly and the delta are serious. This is when shit gets real, and when Lilly is established as a bad bitch who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. We should be scared of her now. 

Except no. 

This scene doesn’t tell me that Lilly is a bad bitch. It tells me that she has good reflexes, and going off her reaction after killing Mitch.... I’m not fucking scared of this dumbass. If anything, this scene says more about Mitch than it does Lilly. It says that Mitch is also a dumbass for running at her like he did. 

Y’know what would’ve been more impactful? If Mitch didn’t immediately get stabbed in the throat, but instead, actually got her on the ground and struggled with Lilly. Then, Lilly gets the upper hand and when you think she’s about to send Mitch to the cart, she fucking murders him in front of everyone to prove a point. 

There’s no remorse, it’s slow enough for Lilly to actually process what’s happening and show that she does know what she’s doing. That would scare me. That would show me that these people aren’t fucking around and they’re willing to kill some of them if that means getting the rest for their army. 

You still get your shock value death but it actually does something other than kill a character off. 

I’m really supposed to believe this is the same Lilly who can order to have Louis’ tongue cut off? 

But it doesn’t end there. No, no... there’s another part to Mitch’s death that annoys me, and it’s how insistent everyone was that his death is going to have a greater impact on the second half of the story. It had a purpose within the story, we did it for a reason.

...I mean, it has an impact on Willy and his arc for the second half. 

But that’s it. 

Oh... oh, what’s that? Oh, you were referring to those throwaway lines about Tenn? “He was screwing up again, just like when he got Mitch killed.”

OOOOOH.... I see, that’s what Mitch’s death was really amounting to... some lines dealing with whether or not AJ shot Tenn. Well, I guess I was wrong. Mitch’s death wasn’t just shock value. It really had a big purpose. In fact, Mitch’s death has the biggest impact on the series. Fuck Marlon and Brody’s deaths, and Lilly and James, and hell, fuck Tenn’s death, too. They’re meaningless compared to Mitch’s death. You did it, guys. You really did it. 

....Okay, I’m done. I’m just... salty, I fully admit. 

Being serious again, Mitch’s death is probably the worst in TFS as far as unpreventable deaths go and the real reason I side-eye the writers is because they tried to tell us it was going to have this huge impact in the future and it just... didn’t. 

2. Nick and his offscreen death.

I’m sorry, but what the fuck happened here? Why- what are you- how the hell did this happen??

I’m actually baffled. 

Someone wrote this. 

They set up at the end of ep3 that Nick is shot.... then ep4 comes and we find him like this. I just... did someone on the writing staff not wanna do their job that day? Someone was working on the story and at the last minute forgot Nick was a character, so they were like “Eh, he’s not important anyway, and it adds to the shittiness of everything so we’ll pretend this was 100% intentional.” 

Nick was one of your more interesting characters and you really thought killing him off like this was the way to go, huh? 

Like, his first death is shitty, but in the very least it kind of makes sense. 

But this? 

This is horrible. If I wrote this, I’d be embarrassed. 

I just... I’m so tired of S2 right now. 

This is at #2 because it’s just lazy, bad writing. At least with Luke, Mitch, and Mariana, we got to see their deaths and they had some, even if just a little, impact on the story afterward. 

But Nick? 

Nothin’.

Even Luke, who is the closest person to Nick, name drops him maybe twice? It’s just.... nothing. 

And yeah, you can come at me with the “oh well not every death has to have meaning!” 

This is a story, okay? This is a story crafted with characters who have arcs by people who wanted it to be a success, and usually that means having satisfying conclusions.... or, intentionally unsatisfying if that acts as a natural conclusion to their story or is a reoccurring theme. 

Nick’s death is just the writers falling flat on their faces and hoping no one would notice. 

1. Sarah and both of her shitty deaths. 

Ugh. UGH.

Okay. 

I’m not even side-eyeing anymore-- I’m fully glaring.

I don’t have to tell you how shitty both of Sarah’s deaths are. We all played S2, we all know that no matter what you do, Sarah dies in ep4. You can try to save her, she lives a little bit longer, and then falls to her death... and both deaths have her being devoured alive by walkers. 

Now, this is enough to annoy me. First off, I guess my choices don’t really matter. Sure, you can justify this as one of those “sometimes you can’t save someone, no matter how hard you try” ...and fine. Sure, if they had bothered to execute that point well, then great. 

But I disagree that the writers had that in mind when they were killing Sarah off. 

In fact, I know what what going on in their brains-- “God, can’t wait to kill Sarah off! Give us any reason to do it! She’s so damn annoying!”

The writers have openly admitted that a lot of the team were just waiting to kill Sarah off, waiting for any reason, so when the major part of the community who take everything at surface level because why think? kept complaining about Sarah, they jumped on the opportunity to kill her off.... but the deaths are dumb.

Listen, this isn’t like when the writers planned on killing Lee off. You can plan a death and even be excited about it because you’re excited about the story and execution of it all. You can be excited to see the heartbreaking end of this character’s story that you crafted because you know you put everything you had into it.

These deaths were lazy and the product of a team who didn’t care about the character. Sarah dies and no one cares. 

Sure, you leave her to die the first time and Jane does her thing about how you can’t save everyone, she talks about Jaime, and then Luke exposes himself as the fake Luke by agreeing that leaving Sarah behind was probably the right thing. Like what?

Now as much as I hate that first one, the second one is even worse. 

For some reason, Sarah is standing in the corner while they’re trying to fight off the walkers instead of being inside with Rebecca... y’know, where she would be if this was logical. 

Then the deck breaks and Sarah falls, trapped under a pile of wood. Jane, despite being the one who sees Sarah as a liability, goes down there to try and help her after Clementine begs her to. 

But because the writers don’t know what they’re doing, Jane gets hit by a random piece of wood and can’t get Sarah out in time, leaving her to be eaten alive by walkers. 

Then AJ is born and no one cares about Sarah ever again. 

I just.... 

Could’ve had an interesting story arc with a character who just lost her father in such a gruesome way, a character that already deals with anxiety and other problems that you never bothered to explain other than “she isn’t like Clementine” and you could’ve had her grow. 

But I guess that would’ve taken effort.... and screen time away from Kenny, and god forbid we ever do that. 

---

Honorable Mentions

-Ava falling to her death in the most comedic way possible, made even more hilarious by David’s two seconds of mourning. -Omid.... because hope is dead. Do you get it? Hope? is dead? Because Omid means hope? Do you get it?? -Honestly you could put most of S2′s deaths on this list because oh my god. -Ben because I’m still a salty bitch.  -I also wanna add Louis and Violet’s deaths on the bridge mostly because they die, Clem is sad for two seconds, Tenn says sorry, and then no one cares. Yeah, yeah, they mourned off screen and I call that lazy bullshit. -Hell, throw Tenn’s death on here, too, for similar reasons-- no one but Louis/Violet and AJ seem to care. Even Clementine is like “whatever” after it happens. 

---

Y’know, picking this one seemed like a good idea at the time, but by now I’m just annoyed by all these dumb deaths. So, what are your thoughts? Are there any deaths that make you question the writers that didn’t end up on the list? Do you agree or disagree with my list? Lemme know, we can have a friendly discussion about it. 

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

---

Next week’s T5F Top 5 Favorite Louis Moments

#twdg t5f #twdg clementine #twdg javier #twdg kate #twdg mariana #twdg gabe #twdg david #twdg luke #twdg jane #twdg kenny #twdg nick #twdg sarah #twdg mitch #twdg willy #twdg louis #twdg violet #twdg tenn #after this i need to talk about muh boy #louis content coming next friday

[sosei]

My extended thoughts on WoT on Prime Episode 8, where all the show's problems come home to roost.

I am about to get rather negative about the show, so I want to preface this with something important: I genuinely believe that a lot of the problems I am about to highlight are things that were outside of the showrunners' control and that they tried their best to deal with them. But the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, and those efforts were not enough.

I am going to do my best to avoid pointing at the books for my thoughts. As I don't think that is going to be very helpful unless the scene itself is a direct adaptation of something handled better in the books.

If you gave me a summary of the events of episode 8, I think there is very little I'd point to and call wrong with it. There are a lot of ideas in here that could work really well in theory, but fall apart in the execution. The battle at Tarwin's Gap and the subsequent siege of Sheinar being first and foremost among them.

I am not someone with an understanding of war and tactics, so I can't get into a detailed account of what was wrong beyond the fact that this did not feel like the overwhelming horde of Shadowspawn it was hyped up to be. What I can say is that while the Tower trained Amalisa burning herself and the other non-main character channellers out in destroying the approaching army is fairly good as setup for a number of important details about the One Power and its use. Namely that channellers can link together to combine their power and that handling large quantities of it is very dangerous. It is addicting, and drawing too much of it can be fatal to yourself and those around you. Particularly if you are working far above your normal capacity. Lady Amalisa not having the discipline to avoid drawing enough Power to kill herself and almost everyone linked to her is a mark of why she was put out of the Tower.

The problem lies in how they use this to fake out Nynaeve's death with Egwene miraculously heal her. Not only should the roles have been swapped here, Nynaeve is orders of magnitude more powerful than Egwene and her whole deal is healing what cannot be healed, but the damage caused by burning out is something that is established as irreversible. But even without extended lore knowledge, the fake out and the plot contrivance made to "fix" it just removes all the stakes from the situation.

Moving on from "good ideas executed poorly" to "poor idea born from circumstance" we have Perrin's confrontation with Fain.

It is painfully clear to me that this was supposed to be a Mat scene that was hastily rewritten after Barney left. Not just because Mat and Fain have an established relationship, while Perrin and Fain don't. But because Perrin is not the type of person who is capable of just standing there as someone hurts his friends, even if there are 2 Fades with them, even if that is the smarter choice. I am not going to begrudge the showrunners this though as this was very much something out of their control that would've been difficult to resolve short of delaying shooting until Mat had been recast.

What I will begrudge them for is including Lan's "I will hate the man you choose because he is not me, and love him if he makes you smile" speech from the book to Nynaeve, because it does not fit the events of the show at all. Not only did Lan just introduce her to the closest thing he has to parents and then sleep with her the previous night (neither of which happen in the book), making the line Quite Odd and unearned in context. But they left out the most important part:

"No woman deserves the sure knowledge of widow’s black as her brideprice, you least of all."

In the books this is a rejection of Nynaeve's affection because he is resigned to his death in his impossible quest to avenge his dead nation. A quest that has not been established in the show. Making this line fail on so many levels I am baffled it was kept. It is unearned, inappropriate and drops the most important part of it.

Unearned, that's a word we can use for a lot of this episode. The biggest problem of this series as a whole lies in how it is clear that a mix of Amazon oversight and Covid regulations lead to a Lot of character establishing content being cut in favor of worldbuilding. The emotional moments cannot hit as hard as they clearly want them to because the characters haven't really had time to establish themselves and their dynamics very well.

It's sad to see a season finale this weak from a show I had very much enjoyed and agreed with a lot of the adaptational choices of up until episode 6. I can only hope things are better in season 2.

#sosei watches wot on prime #wot on prime spoilers #wot on prime criticism #wot on prime #wheel of time #i decided not to include the sa'angreal bit because ultimately it is incredibly nitpicky #but i will in the tags because even just angreal are priceless artifacts #sa'angreal are orders of magnitude moreso #in total i can count the number of sa'angreal from the books on one hand #the tower would have killed her sooner than let her just leave with it in exile #even if it only worked for men #even with her relationship to the amyrlin #insult to injury its clearly based on an angreal from later books #as a whole the problems overshadow what i think is done well #but if ppl are interested in hearing me yell about the good of ep 8 let me know

[voidsentprinces]

Sorry to bang on about this again, but Stormblood is fucking weird.

We go to Ala Mhigo to liberate it but the Resistance has scarce resources and man power. Despite that we get a victory to push back a Garlean Patrol. And like...immediately despite the Skull reports in the Peaks. Raubahn thinks its best we push for the Bridge despite Rhalgr’s Reach’s flank being clearly open.

After a massacre lead by Zenos puts a pin on the whole Ala Mhigan revolution. Our plan becomes: go to Doma and release it from Garlean rule. Which takes the form of the Pirates of the Ruby Sea pushing the Garleans back into Yanxia. Yanxia is like one village and an underground spy network against a well entrenched Garlean Force. But because this time Zenos is super bored and has part of his helm broken. He just abandons the insurrection and leaves it to Yotsuyu. A woman who he abuses physically and mentally for the fun of it and who has been set on a war path due to the wrongs Doman society has inflicted against her as well as her family and because Zenos wanted to see what she’d do with power. Despite having all the time in the world to nip the Namai insurrection in the bud, she sends her Roe bodyguard who isn’t exactly the Garlean Caesar to push into unfamiliar territory with a sizeable but not overwhelming Garlean Force. To hunt the Warrior of Light and hope that the natives don’t take offense to an army just willy nilly waltzing into its territory.

Speaking of the Azim Steppe, Hien meets us, goes hunting with us, and then decides to use us as a bargaining chip along with his friendship with the Mol. To force himself into a sacred culturally significant battle of the clans to crown head leader of the Steppe. While doing this, Gosetsu of all people becomes super narrow minded. In a world of giant fly metal ships, spirits, mythlogical and demonic beings, and the fucking Warrior of Light. Gosetsu draws the line in his belief at a singular, diminished clan of Au Ra who believe in direct reincarnation. Which he openly besmirches in front of them all and...truth be told I don’t think he ever makes amends or wraps his head around by the time we do leave the Steppe.

The Garlean force is destroyed and pushed back but like I said, while it was a sizeable force it was by no means their entire fucking force. There was nothing stopping them from just sending a bigger force against the Namai village and drawing out the House of the Fierce forces nearby. But no I guess just tying a bunch of explosives to the Doman Castle on the off chance you could kill Hien was just the best possible option. So the battle of Doma Castle goes down and we leave Hien to rebuild a castle and retake any outlying Castrums, by himself.

Get back to Ala Mhigo, who have not really gained any new resources or man power. But at least Thancred is here now and the Scions have pitched in. The Scions being...a very small rag tag group of people. Who were outsmarted like four times by a very arrogant man, his obviously on a pay roll Lalafell commander, and a dude who couldn’t even be trusted to handle Garlean shipments let alone be considered a good candidate for Crystal Braves. But because Zenos has become lethargic and even though he has a Scion hostage. He just sits back as we take a bridge, the entirety of the the Peaks, push the entirety of forces back to the Lochs and practically snuff or capture them there. Handing control over to Fordola. Who he’s seen is socially and mentally abused and made a pariah in the Garlean and Ala Mhigan ranks before...also giving her power to see what the fuck would happen....fucking christ.

We accomplish this all without the help of the Domans who we went to liberate for the purpose of having their man power to help take back Ala Mhigo. In fact, we get 3.9/4 way through the recapture before they show up to help us with. *checks notes* Taking care of a small force of Lupin Beastmen...and some flying Garlean Machinery. With no guarantee that we would even be able to best Zenos. Who diminishes his own power by fusing with a Primal which we are practically masters at fighting at this point. Only for Zenos to cope out at the last moment securing victory for Ala Mhigo. Because we gave Zenos mouth bleed.

After successfully taking out Garlemald in Doma and Ala Mhigo. Alphinaud takes a victory lap by going with Arenvald on a treasure adventure. Which funds the reconstruction of Ala Mhigo. We then decide to take an already Pariah Fordola and put an explosive on her neck if she even thinks of betraying us. Before throwing her at some Primals. Cause she goes a sharingan now, giving her the Echo which is...Hydaelyn Tempering for all intents and purposes. Sending her to fight Gods. During this down time we also secure a Salt trade deal between Ala Mhigo and Ul’dah. Allowing for the transfer of leadership between Raubahn stepping down as the Flame General to leave to his people. A situation which you would of thought the Monetarists would of taken advantage of. But, I guess because we consulted Godbert and Lolorito. I guess they ain’t gonna do nothin.

We do however do something useful in helping teach Meffrid’s friend how to defeat the Loch’s marauding creatures. Before going back to learn off screen two of the worst people in the world, who also were responsible for the Crystal Braves betrayal and the sacrifice of hundreds on Baelsar’s Wall. Have now been side line to being arrested off screen and thus far are never seen or heard from ever again.

We then invite Tempered Beastmen to a peace meeting and act surprised when they summon Lakshmi to summon everyone. Lyse then runs to get Fordola to help on a gambit and gets there and back to the Throne Room faster than we can fly to the Ala Mhigan Quarter and back. We then run off to Doma because Gosetsu might be alive, Alphinaud racks up a huge bill with the Scions by buying a sword. We then fight off an invading force of Garleans before ferrying an amnesiac Yotsuyu and crippled Gosetsu across the Ruby Price. Whose pirates are nice enough not to fucking charge us for damages rendered. We then don’t force one of Yotsuyu’s past abusers to stand trial because he was kind of useful to the Doman Spy Network erasing all wrong doings. I fucking guess.

We are then visited by Asahi who might as well of shown up mustache twirling. Because after learning from one of her past abusers that Yotsuyu was sold to a brothel by her parents. How the fuck would you ever even begin to consider talking with her brother? But fine, I guess you needed the Doman people taken to Garlemald. Which, Asahi does eventually bring. Only to find out, he brought a bunch of crystals with him to turn his sister into a Primal.

After both are dead. Alphinaud, despite knowing that the Ascian possessed Zenos has just sent Asahi to kill them. Decides to go back with the unpopular Popularis to try to be diplomatic with ASCIAN POSSESSED ZENOS in the fucking court. Alphinaud also clearly forgetting how peace-forward the Emperor was when we both ran into him back in the Sea of Clouds.

...this story...is fucking baffling.

I might be forgetting a few details...maybe I am missing something that makes some part of this make sense.

#{ long post }

[crystal-moon-101]

My redesigns for this popular trio!

The Secret Generator 10 (Or Celebrity Trio but that doesn’t really work for me because of Zak...) I’ve been meaning to get around to doing this, since I am really fond of these three boys. With Zak and Rex both being part of my top two shows of all time. Sorry Ben....

-Zak Saturday-

He was the most fun working with. His warm colour palette isn’t something I work with often, but I think I did alright. He also as some small details you might notice, like the fangs, eyes and scales.

Notes:

14 Years Old

5′5 (Will only grow to be 5′8. Which confuses him since both sides of his family have very tall genes. Ulraj pokes fun at him, saying all that height is going towards his ‘Kur Form’)

Dead on the inside.

Aggressively Pansexual

His human side has been growing reptilian features. Noticeable fangs, scales growing around his lower neck, around his chest and upper back/shoulders, pure orange eyes with pupils that can become thin slits and a slight forked tongue. 

Even also displays some reptile behaviour. E.g, soaking up sunlight on a rock, alert nature, able to stand still as a statue. (He’s done these things since he was young. His parents just thought it was something he picked up from Komodo.)

The light that forms around his eyes when using his powers have darkened the skin around his eyes. (Suggested by my friend)

He is oddly thin and lanky, but it’s often hard to see because of the baggy clothes he wears.

That being said, he’s a lot stronger than you think he is. Can easily lift people twice his size.

Constantly has to get new hair ties. They keep breaking because 1. Every time his powers cause all of his hair to flow, the tie snaps. 2. Working out in the wild, it keeps getting snagged by tree branches or slipping off when he tumbles downhills.

While quiet and casual outside of battles, he will become a lot like his mother on the field.

Has freckles from his maternal side. His mother doesn’t have them, but Doyle does.

Will casually mention his ridiculously and scary adventures like they’re nothing, not because he’s bragging, but because he truly doesn’t understand what normal really is.

So use to being grabbed by the scruff of his shirt that he will always go limp when you grab him like that, much like a baby animal. 

While he can act very eerie and strange, he’s a very sweet and understanding guy. 

That being said, he can be hella scary when he wants to be.

Don’t mess with his family or he will send an army of Grootslangs to your house.

Still trying to figure out his placement in life and what Kur was really meant to be.

After being taught by his family and uncle, he went to Tsul 'Kalu to be his new mentor.

-Rex Salazar-

I think I changed him the least, but I added extra details and made his shirt, pants and shoes into a one-piece suit. It always baffles me how he can pull off this colour scheme so well.

And while I didn’t draw it here. I would definitely make his pure EVO form a lot smaller. Make him come across more like a monstrous zombie robot thing. The reason why is because those EVO forms he had just felt like they belonged to different shows, like transformers. A more creature design would fit better, I feel.

Notes:

16 Years Old

6′1 (Will grow to be 6′5. Yeeeeeee, he’s a big guy.)

Lady killer~

Best wingman and even offers pretend dates to help you.

Can always hear and feel the technology around him. Strange to everyone else, but he’s learnt to live with it. Even comes in handy when trying to find a good wifi connection.

Knows when to cut the bullcrap.

He does have a bit of a science brain, but he uses it differently than his family had.

Constantly jumping between worlds. Sometimes even tossed by someone.

Talks in his sleep, mostly reciting nanite binary coding.

Lonely lad and child solider, great mix, right?...

Goes all out with holidays. He once, somehow, got real snow in Providence. No one knows how to this day.

Hates lightening.

Has nearly called Holiday and Six mum and dad multiple times.

Has a lot more abilities he has yet to discover. (Including turning people EVO.)

Never asked for any of this, but, eh, what ya gonna do

Is always overexcited when doing normal things. (Werids out Noah a lottt.)

You’re endangered if he decided to use his full raw power. (Key signs to look out for is a large amount of circuit patterns covering him, glowing eyes, tips of his hair glowing too, sharp metal growths and technology around you flashing like crazy.)

Loves Imagine Dragon.

Sharp eyelashes.

Just wants hugs, give him hugs!

Always frustrated when someone from his past tries talking to him about the past. Sometimes he wonders if people forget.

Skilled drawer and smooth singer.

Has an EVO pet (Her name is Siri, Btw)

Some have compared him to being a living, breathing nanite. 

Eager to have family game nights! “Poker doesn’t count, Bobo...”

Once had a malfunction, his whole body was out of wack. (Noah laughs about it and even has some recordings, much to Rex’s dismay.)

Has a civilian outfit that Noah put together. (He refuses to take off his goggles, however.) 

-Ben Tennyson-

Now, I already made a redesign for him, along with Gwen, Julie and Kevin (Both for teen and kid versions). I used the same look, just adjusted some details and colours.

Notes:

15 Years Old

5′9 (And he stays that height. He peaked in height very young, but stop growing quickly. This does annoy him.)

Dumbass with bad impulse control.

Even he’s confused by how he keeps attracting women.

Had a rather lonely childhood with many bullies. (It’s why he often seeks attention, he’s afraid of being alone and forgotten again.)

It’s also what made him jealous of Gwen when they were young. Most treated her like the better of the two.

Pretty crap at sharing his feelings. He would rather play it off as a jerk, then go and drown himself in smoothies...

A secret momma’s boy. “Benny Bear” As his mother likes to call him.

Has an interesting dynamic with Azmuth. Despite their arguments, they balance each other well. Others have even seen them taking care of each other (Almost like father and son), but the pair will always deny this and say it’s ‘strictly’ professional.

 Surprisingly great with kids. (This was truly noticed when seen around his 14 baby chills.)

In the future, he will have a nasty wound on the battlefield, which will result in the Omnitrix becoming his new arm and merging with him.

When he takes thing seriously, you know shits going down!

Has a german shepherd name Boston.

 Likes to call Vilgax ‘Calamari’.

Has grown to be close to most Tennyson members. (E.G Camille, who was actually his babysitter after she joined the family.)

He doesn’t like peacocks after...an incident at the zoo. His mother still apologizes to this day.

Decent singer and very skilled at the guitar. 

Has picked up combat moves from Tetrax.

Has always felt like he’s nothing without the watch. Others have said otherwise.

He knows how to speak certain alien languages, Galvan being one of them.

His schedule is a nightmare, because something is always popping up that involves him. This means he sometimes forgets to eat, sleep or even wash. It’s why he’s often caught napping.

Sometimes wonders if he’s human or alien at this point, maybe something else entirely. 

Very soft poofy hair.

Is hated by almost all his villains. He just loves pissing them off.

#ben 10 #the secret saturdays #generator rex #zak saturday #the secret saturdays zak #the secret saturdays zak saturday #Ben Tennyson #ben 10 alien force #ben 10 ultimate alien #ben 10 original series #ben 10 omniverse #Benjamin Tennyson #rex salazar #GR #Generator Rex Rex Salazar #Ben 10 Ben tennyson #Generator Rex Ben 10 Secret Saturdays #Crossover #cartoon network #redesign #Redraw #TSS #My Art

[cxptain-rex]

immmm baaack. prompt 1 with Wolffe x an army volunteer reader who has amnesia after a head injury? before she was injured she was one of few who treated him like any other human/alien species (😂) and he wants to return the favor by taking care of her. and she slowly gets her memories back?

Thanks @catchmewiththelosers for this request! I hope that you like it and that everyone else enjoys it! Jajaj I laughed at the human and alien species thing

***

summary: wolffe helps with the memory loss of someone very important to him.

pairings: wolffe x reader

prompt: Please don’t leave me. I’m a work in progress but I’m trying.

warning: uh none lil but of angst nothing much muajaja

***

(Requests are open for the clones! Send some prompts!)

***

“Who are you?”

Clone Commander Wolffe remembers that question clearly when you said it. He could not believe it, how could you be in this situation?

The explanation is quite...simple. You see, you volunteered to work with the GAR. You became a data analyst for the 104th battalion when you got accepted.

The Wolfpack had been extremely pleased with their data analyst; always saving you from danger and making you feel welcomed. You could say that they were your home. Until one day, you got caught in the mists of a battle.

“I must tell them” you said lowly as you rewatched the footage on your datapad. The Wolfpack has been sent straight into a trap and you found out about it. They left you behind on the transport, to keep you safe just how they put it.

You exit the transport and began hiking towards the pack. “Commander? Boost? Comet?” You called into your comm trying to reach the clones but no avail. The noise of blasters being shot alarmed you.

You ran through the muddy field until you caught the clone troopers. The droids managed to get to them first, unleashing a fight amongst the peaceful planet which you were visiting. It was supposed to be a simple supply relief mission yet it turned out to be the opposite.

***

Everything happened way too fast for you to comprehend, a commando droid advanced towards Wolffe who was crouched checking on a young child caught in this battle.

You couldn’t stand and let it happen. So you ran for it, getting in between the trooper and the commander. The droid stopped and looked at you, chucking you like a rag doll. You landed a couple of feet away from Wolffe.

A noise like static filled your eardrums, you did not feel anything. Although from the static you could hear Wolffe barking orders to the men. Something about getting help and finishing off the droids. You can’t quite pin point what is going on, one minute you were defending Wolffe and the other you couldn’t move for your life.

You felt yourself being cradled by someone, you lost focused. As you fell into darkness, Wolffe panicked. He stood up quickly, “call an evac!” He barked at Boost who hurried off to do what his commander ordered.

Wolffe walked back to the transport with you in his arms, he held you closed. “This wasn’t supposed to happen, cy’are” he mumbled only for him to hear. As the LAAT/I begins its journey back to the cruiser, Wolffe stares at your unconscious form wishing for you to wake up and reassure him that everything will be fine.

***

When the Wolfpack arrived to the Resolute instantly you were taken from Wolffe’s arms and onto a gurney. Kix made sure you were rushed into the medbay. “What happened?” He questioned checking you on the hangar. “Commando droid got to her” mumbles Comet looking down dejected. Kix stared at your unconscious form and took you away to the medbay. The pack watched as the nurses took their favorite data analyst away.

“She’s a fighter” assured Boost laying a hand on Wolffe’s shoulder plate. He could not shrug the fear in his bones. Just by seeing the droid throw you away and you on the floor unmoving, his world crumbled. You did that for him, to safe him and you did safe him but at what cost. He just hoped that for your sake and his own, you woke up.

***

It has been five days since you had been taken down to the medbay. Kix has been making every single thing to wake you up. Nothing worked and the poor clone medic was going to lose it. Wolffe on the other hand already lost it, he came by every day and today was no different.

He did not understood how he still managed to keep himself composed, after all, most of his brothers knew for your love story yet it was hard to believe. The big bad wolf of the 104th with a data analyst, what a scandal.

Wolffe enters the medbay and Kix is the first to greet him rather frantic. “She’s awake” he announces walking towards your room with Wolffe on tow.

“Is she ok?” asks the Commander rather anxiously as he fiddled with his gloved hands. Way out of character for him yet he couldn’t help it.

Wolffe suddenly remembers the first time that he met you, before entering the room to see you.

***

You seemed lost. It was your first day as the 104th battalion’s data analyst and you were already late to meet the General and the Commander. As you panicked, a clone in blue and white armor assured you.

“May I help you?” He asked and you nodded rather quick.

“Yes! I have to get to General Plo and Commander Wolffe” you announced looking around the hangar. “Let me escort you to the deck” the trooper replied leading the way.

“Thank you” you smiled softly at the clone who nodded back at you. “I’m Kix, ma’am” he spoke falling in step with you. “I’m Y/N, please no formalities, Kix” you replied at the clone.

Kix led you to the bridge where Commander Wolffe awaited your arrival. “General, are we sure we can trust this analyst?” He questioned looking at the holotable which held new intel for you to decode.

He expected a shiny or a damned droid yet he did not expected a young civvie volunteer. You entered with Kix, giggling at something that he said. The Commander locked his gaze with you, his glare pierced your soul.

“This is it, thats Commander Wolffe right there and General Plo” Kix pointed at the duo standing around the table.

“I am sorry that I am late, General Plo, I got lost and Kix here helped me get here” you explained embarrassed already on your first day with the GAR.

“It is quite alright, Miss Y/N, right?” The Jedi spoke smoothly almost with a calming tone which narrowed down your anxiety. You nodded shaking his hand, you turned towards the Commander and shook his hand as well. “Pleasure to meet you, sir” you spoke staring at Wolffe, he stood baffled. Your kind tone threw him off guard.

Since that first day, Wolffe managed to welcome you into the Wolfpack. Everyone loved you, they always put you first. Keeping you out of harms way.

The Commander fell for you, you were the only person who treated him like a human being aside from General Plo. Your kindness and sweet nature drew him in and since then he knew that his heart belonged only to you. You managed to win his love over anything in the galaxy.

***

The Commander blinked a couple of times as Kix motioned him to enter. You sat up rather quickly when Kix entered. The clone medic smiled at you softly as he checked his datapad. Kix started talking to you, checking your vitals and finally to ask you some standard questions.

“What’s your name?”

“Y/N Y/L/N”

“Do you remember how you got here?”

“Um...no?”

“Ok...” frowned Kix as he checked the brain scans in his datapad. Everything appears to be normal leading him to a dead end as to why you did not seem to remember.

“Y/N, could you tell me what’s my name?”

“I-I don’t know you sir, I’m sorry” you answered sincerely wringing your hands.

“What about him?” Kix asks pointing towards Wolffe who stood at the end of your bed.

You stared at the man, the first thing that you notice is his cybernetic eye and his honey colored eye. You thought hard yet you could not put a name to his face. “Who are you?” you spoke rather defeated.

Kix gulps nervously at the scene, Wolffe could only close his eyes and breathe. A cold wave embalmed him as the hairs rose on the back of his neck and his mouth ran dry. You can’t remember him at all. This was not supposed to happen, he says to himself.

“Give us a moment” Kix mutters motioning for Wolffe to follow him.

“I need you to calm down” he says and Wolffe grunts looking at the floor. “She has amnesia” the medic says in a somber tone. “She doesn’t remember anything from here” Kix presses staring at Wolffe.

“Is there any procedure you can do?” Wolffe asks searching on Kix’s gaze. The medic looks away defeated, he knew that amnesia could only be solved with patience and helping the patient and if not, they would not remember.

“No, She can be discharged today. You must help her. Take her to the hangar, show her around, anything that may trigger her memories” Kix says giving Wolffe the instructions in order to gain his best friend’s memory.

***

You have been discharged for an entire week and nothing has prevailed. You still were blank as new datapad with nothing to remember, just your name and where you came from. You learned that the man aside from your medic is Wolffe. He is your commander and you work as a volunteer in the GAR.

You also met the rest of the Wolfpack once again, their hearts broke when they saw their analyst all lost and confused. Nevertheless they searched for ways to help you get better. Although, Wolffe slowly lost hope that week. You could not pin point anything correctly and he was running out of patience.

Wolffe stood right in front of your door, like every day since you have been discharged. He knocks, you greet him with that damn smile that managed to capture his heart.

“Good morning Commander” you chirp exiting your room completely and standing fully beside Wolffe. He nods briefly and takes off, today it’s not a good day for him. He needed you to remember, he could not bring himself to stand every day without kissing you or holding you like he usually does before this whole mess.

After going into the mess hall and grabbing food portions, clones greeted you, even the Jedi greeted you yet nothing seemed to triggered your memories.

Wolffe stopped abruptly causing you to clash against his back. Clumsy as always, Wolffe thinks as he turns around to meet your confused gaze.

“What’s the matter?” you questioned searching for an explanation.

“Who am I?” He says slowly and you looked him quizzically.

“Commander Wolffe” you answer since that is what you had learned the past week.

“No Y/N! Who am I to you?” He questions again narrowing his gaze right at you. “I’m sorry...” you croak and your voice cracked at the realization that you do not remember him at all.

Wolffe takes a deep breathe and let it out.

“Y/N we are a couple, we have been for over a year now. I first met you onboard of the Resolute when you came in late with Kix because you got kriffing lost on your way to the command center. You were the first person aside from General Plo to treat me like a real human being. Please, I know you’re in there” Wolffe says dejected looking at you, he’s never felt more scared than now. Just by the fact that you might not remember everything you have gone through with him.

He leans down as you take in all the information, thinking of just one thing. He searches your eyes for permission and you grant it. Then your lips match with his, they mold as if they were made for each other.

Suddenly wisps of memories begin to flood your mind. You and Kix laughing at some of the 501st boys. Boost and Comet helping you prank Wolffe. Going to General Plo for consulting personal matters. Most of all Wolffe and his undying love for you.

A sharp intake escapes your lips, you pull away from Wolffe as you stared at him. He crosses his fingers mentally.

“Y/N?” He waka cradling your face on the middle of the cruiser’s hallway.

“Wolffe? Please don’t leave me. I’m a work in progress but I’m trying.” You cry latching onto the man you just remembered. As you sob he shushes you, hugging you tightly.

“I won’t leave you cy’are, I love you” he answers loud enough for you to hear. Wolffe holds you for a huge amount of time basking in the glory that his small burst out actually helped you.

The man would go through anything for you and he showed it by staying by your side and accepting your even with your memory gone at the beginning.

***

I had fun writing this! If you wish for any request send some prompts and I will work on them! Please, reblog this for more content!

I will thank you so much! I work hard, hours each time I get prompt to make it perfect for you guys! Thank you for everything! Xx - Adri

#commander wolffe imagine #commander wolffe x reader #104th attack battalion #clone wars #tcw imagine #clone trooper boost #clone trooper comet #clone trooper sinker #clone trooper warthog #clone trooper wildfire #general plo koon #x reader #reader insert #star wars #cxptain rex #adri answers #send prompts #star wars imagine

[of-wrens-and-whirlwinds-blog]

To meet your dreams

Commission for the marvelous @starcrossedcherik ! Cherik with an Old Guard taste! I, uh, super deviated from the original idea, I hope you like this anyway!

If you would like to commission me, please head over to my About page!

CW: Islamophobia, antisemitism, (both of which are questioned), and heatstroke

~

It was rather hard to agree with the Church about the blasphemy of Muslims when their homeland was so… familiar.

Charles had abandoned the army because they weren’t traveling fast enough for him; the man in his dreams was near, and Charles needed to find him quickly. But… the closer he got to the city of Jerusalem, the more he saw, the more he learned—the more he didn’t understand.

The pope had called his dreams prophecies, and told Charles that they meant he had to kill the man. Charles had taken his word for it, because he had never had reason not to. Father had raised him to trust the Church absolutely, and so he did.

And yet, this arid landscape was so much more than just tiny villages of primitive huts and ugly, evil-looking people. Not at all what the priests and travelers had described. There were towns, cities, ingenious farming techniques, and kind-looking people smiled and greeted him instead of attacking or cowering from the power of Christ that should be visible to evil.

Which meant they weren’t evil at all.

Huh.

It was the tenth day away from the army. Charles laid down under a date tree as the evening heat grew, and closed his eyes. Almost immediately, the dream came. The man was in it.

The man was tall, and broad. His mouth had a grim set to it, his brown face stern. His hair was silver-white, despite the fact that he looked barely thirty. And his eyes were beautiful, shifting between blue and green and grey with the angle of the light. In the dream, he did normal things: walking through a colorful market, greeting people, buying food; sitting in a library, translating a Greek text into the beautiful but baffling language of this place, Arabic; practicing swordsmanship with men who laughed and spoke to him warmly. This part had always confused Charles; why would God want to show him the softness, the normalcy of this man’s life?

The dream shifted. Now the man was making things with iron—but without tools. He simply held his hands out to a broken pipe, and a sheet of metal rose and melded with said pipe. No seams. No hammering, or welding, or replacing. Charles found this part of the man fascinating, and wanted to know more.

But he was Jewish, from the star around his neck. And the pope would say that it was deviltry. Charles’ gift was a blessing from God; the man’s power was obviously earned from the devil. But truly, if this strange talent was from evil, then wasn’t Charles’ as well? Or if his was a blessing, why wasn’t the man’s?

His training shut that thought down sternly. Jews and Muslims were bad. The Church said so, and the Church was always right. He must kill the man—if not because of Divine Will, than because it would get him out of Charles’ dreams.

~

On the fifteenth day away from the army, Charles was too cursed hot. He took off everything—tunic, shield, armor, padding—buckled his belt and sword back on over his shirt, and continued walking. He was so thirsty, and so hungry, and the weight of his sweat-soaked armor had been unbelievable.

He passed a man filling a water trough for goats. Charles’ body was aching, and he was ready to collapse; he rubbed his temple with his fingertips, and “copied” the man’s language into his own mind, and the sense of what those words meant. Then he approached, and when the man looked up, Charles asked, “May I have some water?”

“Of course!” the fellow said, looking startled, and finished pouring the water into the trough. “Come in, come in. You’ve been in the sun too long, sir.”

Charles nodded, and followed the man into the small house.

The shade was an immediate relief, and he swayed a little in the cooler air. The man was talking to a woman, who nodded and went to get water. The man motioned for Charles to come with him, and sat him down on a large pillow in an area carpeted with sturdy rugs and other large pillows.

“My name is Ahmad,” the man said, watching Charles with a startlingly concerned gaze. “May I know yours?”

“Yes,” Charles said. “My name is Charles. It is wonderful to meet you, Ahmad.”

Ahmad stroked his beard and nodded. “My apologies, sir, but are you not used to the sun?”

“It is… too fierce for me, here,” Charles admitted, beginning to feel woozy. “I come from the North. The sun is not nearly so bright there.”

Ahmad stopped stroking his beard, and peered at Charles again, lips pursed. “Where in the North?” he asked.

Charles hesitated, then sighed, shoulders slumping. It was really no use hiding his background. The worst they could do was drive him out to die in the desert. And the desert could not kill him. “West,” he said dully. “Italy, to be precise.”

“I do not know where Italy is, but I know what comes out of the West. What business have you here?”

Charles stared at the table, so dizzy he couldn’t think straight. His skin hurt, burning and tight. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “I don’t know anymore.”

~

He was allowed to sleep in this small home, after Ahmad’s wife, Maryam, spread something thick and cool and healing on his face. He mumbled his thanks and smiled a little, and laid down when she told him to. He was asleep long before his hosts.

At dawn, Charles got up with his hosts, thanked them sincerely, and asked how to repay them. Ahmad frowned, then shook his head and said, “Ask for water and shelter on your way to the city. Don’t waste our hospitality.”

Maryam smiled at her husband and said to Charles, “Take care of yourself. And if you would like to stop in again sometime, bring us some baklava.”

Charles smiled too, confused but glad. “Thank you,” he said again. “I will do my best.”

~

The dreams became clearer and clearer as he walked on. Sometimes he woke up confused, because he expected to be standing beside the man, not lying on the ground under a tree or boulder. Sometimes he dreamed that the man was unhappy, concerned, even, but hid it from everyone.

Charles knew without a doubt that he was getting closer.

He passed many temples—but also churches. With crosses and everything. If he was tired, he would sometimes approach a church and ask if the priest knew a place where he could rest and eat. They usually did.

Once, the place he was pointed to was run by Jewish people. Charles wanted to bolt. He did not have the mental strength to fight his own learned hatred, and he might deeply insult these people. But… he read their minds quickly, and discovered that these people had no motives beyond feeding the hungry. Baffled, off-balance, exhausted, he bought some tea and a salad and sat in a corner to eat.

It was like that all the way to Jerusalem. People being kind, and inquisitive, and so incredibly human. Charles was dizzy from it. How could he justify “cleansing” this place when it was so like his home? Yes, the population tended to have darker skin and hair over all, but surely that was no reason to hate them. And their religions, and personal beliefs, and honor. The majority of them were just as complicated as the people back home.

Charles felt smaller and more scared and more despairing the closer he got. He clung to his dreams, now; dreams that never changed, dreams about the man he had to kill. He clung so fiercely that he forgot his hesitation about the inevitable murder. Everything was falling apart except that he must meet this man, and kill him.

When he reached Jerusalem, the guards at the gate questioned him; he barely had the sanity left to tell them he was fine and he wouldn’t make trouble—he just had to meet someone. He was clinging so hard to his task that he wasn’t sure the rest of the world was real.

It was not hard to find the man. Charles knew from the dreams where the man lived. It was getting dark. Charles kept his hand on his sword hilt, though he trembled all over.

The lights were on in the windows of the man’s home. Charles stood before his door, chewing his lip. Was he strong enough? Could he keep his balance long enough to kill? What would happen when he was done? Obviously, he couldn’t kill himself—that had never worked before. But was there a way to get out of this life? Was there a way to obliterate himself completely, so that he need not think of this crime?

Why did he think this was a crime? A mere year ago, he thought this would be divine justice. No. He was just insane from heat, and confusion, and fear. It was his duty to kill the man.

He drew his sword, stepped forward, and knocked on the door.

It was a long moment before he heard the lock sliding back. Charles steadied himself, breathing harshly.

The door opened.

The man stood there.

For one single second, Charles wanted to kiss him.

But his task was clear. So he lunged.

The man dodged, and Charles fell inside, landing on his belly on the floor, smacking his chin on the hard stone and what was left of his thoughts scattering like dead leaves.

He started crying, and couldn’t stop.

“What in God’s name...” the man whispered, and his voice was so beautiful that Charles cried harder. He’d failed. He’d failed to kill him. He’d failed God’s test. But if the man tried to kill him, he wouldn’t be able to, and then Charles would have to find a way to escape into the desert and die because he couldn’t take the disappointment and punishments of the priests and pope. He couldn’t do this. He just couldn’t.

The man touched Charles’ shoulder.

Something… charged shuddered through Charles at that touch. His tears turned off with a gasp, and the man sucked in a breath through his teeth. For a long moment, they were both still, the only sound in the house their breathing.

“Oy,” the man breathed. Charles pushed himself up on to his side to stare up at the man, who stared back, but not angrily, as he had every right to. No, it was surprised, and welcoming, and tender, which looked… extremely handsome on his stern face.

“I’m sorry,” Charles said. The dizziness was fading. He hurt all over. “I’m sorry, I thought… I thought I knew what...”

The man helped him sit up, and they just stared at each other for a long moment. Charles found himself trying to memorize the man’s face. He was so intriguing. And the dreams didn’t do him justice. He was the most handsome man Charles had ever seen. And his hands were so gentle.

The man leaned forward and kissed Charles.

Again, that spark, that shock of warmth, and Charles forgot that this was a sin, that he had failed God’s mission for him, and instead leaned into the kiss with a breathy sigh, not fighting back in the least when the man pulled him closer and kissed him deeper. This was good. This was a better end than killing. This was what was meant to happen.

~

It took a long time to figure out what was happening between them.

The man—Eliram, he was interested in Charles. Charles felt extremely shy and baffled.

“Why aren’t you angry?” he asked Eliram helplessly, holding a cup of cool water in his shaking hands. “I tried to kill you. Why aren’t you angry at me?”

Eliram smiled crookedly and ran his fingers through Charles’ hair. “Because you didn’t know,” he said softly. “You said so yourself. You didn’t know what it meant, our connection.”

“But—I was sent to kill—in a war—” Charles’ eyes filled again. “Why are you being kind? My people would have beheaded me for this.”

“Shh. Not tonight.” Eliram wrapped his arm around Charles and held him close. “We’ll talk in the morning.”

Charles nodded, drank his water, and fell asleep in his love’s arms.

The next morning was horrible, actually. Eliram made him take a cool bath, and then dressed Charles in Eliram’s own clothes, and then went out to an apothecary to get something for his burns. Charles drank more water, ate a pear, and laid down on the cushions in the living room to sleep some more.

He did not have the dream.

In a way, then, he had been right. Coming here made the dreams go away. But they were one more piece of familiarity, one more portion of sure knowledge, that had been stripped from him. Now he was alone in a strange place with his delirium and doubt and fear.

No. Not alone.

Eliram came back and gave him medicine, and then they sat together and talked softly. Charles admitted his horrible thoughts; Eliram admitted that he had been extremely worried, when his dreams of Charles showed that he was growing weaker and more delirious by the day. He hadn’t thought Charles would recognize him.

Charles snorted and said, “I’ll always recognize you. No matter what. I’ve been dreaming about you for two years, I’ve memorized your face.”

Eliram smiled. “Good. My face is probably better than any of your unnaturally pale brethren,” he said smugly.

Charles laughed. It was the first time he’d laughed in four years.

#Cherik #X-Men #commission #commissions open #writing

[theoppositeofprofound]

Trying to figure out the Untamed timeline, especially in the messy bit during/after Wei Wuxian’s big breakdown This is the First Siege of the Burial Grounds that the showrunners seem to have been a little hazy about adapting so the timeline goes murky. Nevertheless, I’ve cobbled it together. 

So Wei Wuxian goes home, having murdered his brother-in-law and started a big ruckus. This is not how he wanted to shake up Lanling. He cries, screams a bit at Wen Ning, because that’s a soft target right there, and then get paralyzed. The Wen siblings are going to solve this through aggressive self sacrifice. 

“I’m the only one in this haunted corpse hill allowed to be martyrish!” Wei Wuxian shouts until he passes out. Then Wen Qing and Wen Ning go to meet their doom and all the rest of the Wens go with them... for some reason?? This is simply a choice I cannot comprehend. Maybe they were just tired of waiting to get murdered and wanted to proactively seek amnesty. Maybe they were there as moral support and genuinely thought the Jins would stick by their “just those two scapegoats” promise. 

They leave A-Yuan, because he is a toddler and no matter how optimistic/boldly self-sacrificial you’re being you don’t walk the toddler with you to the den of the aggrieved lion. Presumably they leave him with some food, and the cold, unmoving body of his favorite uncle, and tell him to sit tight and not wander into any open graves. Again, it’s a really baffling caretaking choice but they are really in it politically and emotionally speaking so who am I to judge. 

When Wei Wuxian wakes up, A-Yuan is nowhere to be found because he is a toddler. He has already panicked and hidden somewhere. And Wei Wuxian has no reason to know he’s still there because everyone has disappeared! It’s a tragedy of miscommunication. Wei Wuxian doesn’t stay around long enough to look either because he’s already off to get his flute-murder on, in an extended breakdown that will lead to his death. 

A-Yuan is still hiding in a corner, getting increasingly wound up. 

Then Lan Wangji shows up. He’s looking for Wei Wuxian, sensing that something is about to go horribly wrong. Unfortunately, though he doesn’t find the Wei Wuxian he does find the child Wei Wuxian failed to spot. “Ah, I’ll bring him back to Gusu, find Wei Ying, and then..” and somewhere along this line of though Lan Wangji’s thoughts devolve into formless hopes and nostalgic sensations. Still, he takes the child home, gets him settled with the doctors, and is late for the showdown at the Nightless City as a result. 

 Of course things go horribly wrong and close-lipped as Lan Wangji is he doesn’t even have a chance to mention that A-Yuan is very alive and sleeping off a fever in the Cloud Recesses. He adds that to his very long list of regrets.

Once Wei Wuxian is dead, everyone immediately wants to go search his house for treasure and the secrets to his power. Lan Wangji, newly widowed and on the verge of cracking, physically bars the way and makes some threats he’s very prepared to follow through on. Everyone leaves, because no one wants to mess with whatever is going on there. Unfortunately Lan Qiren is on his way and he isn’t as easily dissuaded by a furious nephew.

Lan Qiren and his crew show up. There is a row. Lan Wangji most likely gets into a physical altercation with some members of his own sect. Lan Qiren has an ace up his sleeve, however, in the form of the mystery child you brought home, Wangji. Forced to concede that yes, he does have a responsibility to his new ward, and that caring for him requires returning to Cloud Recesses and facing punishment, Lan Wangji gives up on his tepid dream of dying on the slopes of the Burial Mounds and joining the endless ghosts of the hills. The siege is over. The only person anyone fought was Lan Wangji but they still refer to it as a siege because a) it makes it sound more impressive and b) he is a bit of a one man army. 

There is a new child at the Cloud Recesses and only one (1) person in the world knows where he came from, though a lot of people have suspicions. 

#the untamed

[moonlightreal]

Fate ep 3, first half

They should’ve just changed everybody’s names.  I like Terra but she’s nothing like Flora... but Aisha and Musa are nothing like themselves either and Stella is the polar opposite.  Bloom is the only one with anything like her own personality and that’s ‘cause “destiny-ridden protagonist” is a pretty universal personality.

But let’s dive back into the show we do have!

When we left our heroine, Bloom had gone all white-eyed!  Looks like she’s having a vision of her own birth!  Hospital monitors and whatnot, then an old lady leans into view and says, “When the time comes, find me.”  Well that was proof you’re a destiny-ridden protagonist if ever I saw it!

So it’s still evening of day 3.  Counting days is important.

Aisha asks Bloom what happened and Bloom says, ‘I think I just saw the fairy that left me in the human world.”

Opening sequence!

On the way to class, with backpacks and books.  Aisha is wearing a very acceptable teal snakeskin-print outfit.  Bloom’s in a red shirt. Bloom stops to look at the alumni photos on the walls, trying to recognize the fairy from her vision.  Aisha is unimpressed with this plan, which I think is pretty sensible.  The most powerful fairies come through Alfea and this fairy was powerful enough to easter-egg a memory in Bloom’s head for sixteen years.  Bloom of course hopes this fairy can lead her to her birth parents.  Aisha just doesn’t want Bloom to get her hopes up.  Clearly aisha does not recognize the signs of protagonistness.

Outside it’s cloudy and all the specialists are doing their martial arts stuff.  Silva’s looking remarkably healthy for someone who was extremely poisoned yesterday!  He corrects some students, and Sky and Riven put on a great show.  Props to the actors and choreography people!  Riven fights with two swords, and he dumps Sky on the mat at the end.

...nope, it’s been a week since the attack.  It is now day ten and the boys are worried about their teacher.  And so am I, if Burned One poison is always deadly how is Silva still up and about?  And after the way he described his father dying of it he seems the type to totally take his own way out.  I wonder if he’ll survive to the final battle in episode 6 and heroically sacrifice himself, that’d fit.

There’s Stella wearing pastel pink and a skirt the real Stella might almost put on.  And a sweater and scarf.  I wonder how much of the costume choices are just because it’s quite possibly really dang COLD in Ireland and they don’t want the cast to suffer.  They also could be trying for an otherworldly feel by having the clothes be unfashionable but that’s a very strange choice.

Stella has given no thought to poor Silva and thinks he’s fine, only “Are you training later or are we hanging out before the party?”  Sky also infodrops that Burned Ones are like vampires and if they kill the one that tagged him Silva will survive.

So either there’s two Burned Ones or Aisha didn’t kill the one she pinned to the tree.  I guess they didn’t mention to Dowling that they went out and pinned a Burned One to a tree.

Anyway Stella kisses Sky, who barely notices ‘cause he’s worried for his mentor’s life, and goes to class.  Riven starts guessing why Sky took up with Stella again and assumes it’s ‘cause Stella does kinky stuff.  Riven giggles like a twelve year old at the thought and Sky pushes him off the bench.  Then in a more mature moment Riven pretty much says ‘I'm there for you’ on the whole Silva thing.

I have this suspicion that we’re gonna find out Sky and Stella aren’t having sex, that Sky is trying to help Stella with her magic behind closed doors.  Sky’s vibe is so unseduced.

Classroom scene!  Potions, I’d guess by the flasks on the desks.  16 students at 8 desks in a very skinny room with Dowling at her desk at the end. The teaching is specific to each student though.  Terra blooms a dandelion.  Musa’s instruction is to focus on one thought.  Bloom has a little pile of twigs and is instructed to light one and keep the fire from spreading to the rest.  She says it’s impossible, but then manages.  Beatrix just has a little fizz of lightning.  She snarks Dowling a little and Bloom and Beatrix share a look.  Aisha lifts a sphere of water but when Dowling instructs her to separate drops, the whole thing falls splashing Aisha and Bloom.  It seems like she should be able to just un-wet them but I guess not.  Class over, Aisha heads off for a swim.  Beatrix senses weakness and smirks.

In the greenhouse Silva is getting treatment.  Poor guy’s got a great rotting crater in his back with black veins spreading from it.  Ouch!

Harvey goes out to get something and Terra’s outside waiting to ask how Silva’s doing.  Harvey lies and says he’s fine, and praises terra again for the brave rescue.  Terra catches on, ‘You can tell me. I’m not a little kid anymore.” but her dad doesn’t tell her, just kisses her hair and heads off on his errand.  T

Terra’s left looking at her reflection in the greenhouse glass.

Beatrix and Callan plot.  No luck getting through the barrier in Dowling’s secret passage.  They have this chat while walking in the gallery above the cafeteria in public.  Callan says they shouldn’t be seen together and Beatrix goes with, “everyone’ll just think you’re perving on me.” and calls Callan a pedo.  She shoves him off and twirls right to Riven, who in a charming-slash-weird display, chomps an apple then leans down so Beatrix can bite the apple still in his mouth.

Terra is as baffled by this as I am.  Dane describes Beatrix as a huge nerd who can recite the entire history of the Otherworld in between bong hits.  So bongs exist in fairyland, and also dowling does a really bad job at keeping her students off drugs.  Maybe she needs more than 3 staff members.

Anyway Riven invited Dane to the party and Terra is shocked and clearly territorial/protective over Dane.  

At their table Musa and Bloom are talking about Aisha’s failure in class.  Turns out Bloom’s parents call her at two in the morning because that’s a sensible hour Switzerland time and it wakes the whole dorm up!

Terra comes over to incoherently ask why Beatrix the history nerd is getting action while she can’t keep Dane’s attention away from a jerk like Riven.  She doesn’t say that with words but that’s the real question.  

Off in the background Sam catches Musa’s eye and holds up snacks, inviting her to come share.  Musa picks cute boy over awkward conversation.

Terra deflates.  “I know why really.  ‘Cause she drinks and smokes and looks like her and I’m… sorry.  How are you?” and Terra turns the conversation to Bloom’s search for the old lady in her memory. Which leads to yearbooks to how Silva is to if Sky’s ok to Terra basically saying, “Sky is a great guy but Stella will straight up murder you if you look at him.” to Stella staring at them from another table.  Bloom says she’s just worried about Sky and Terra says, “Ok.” realizing Bloom does not grasp the gravity of the Stella murder situation.

Sky arrives in the greenhouse where Silva is putting his shirt on after another treatment.  They talk, Sky offers to take over some teaching so Silva can rest.  The army is tracking the Burned One but Silva is running out of time.  He starts the ‘my final wishes’ thing but Sky is more interested in how to fix things.  But for soldiers, final wishes are as fixed as things can get.  Sky says, “I already lost one father.” so Andreas is indeed dead.

Cut to Stella hangin’ with the minor fairies!  they’re gossiping about the soldiers!  “hot Marco” is leading them, they’ll get that Burned One no problem.  Stella looks relieved.  She’s not actually heartless.  

Cut to a sign that says “18 Winx Suite’ there it is, the word.

Bloom looks through yearbooks.  Aisha tries to waterbend with no luck.  So little luck that she asks Bloom how the search is going.

We see a page of yearbook with names including “Ranger Colly” “Sparta West ‘Red’”  “Devon Waller”  Maybe the one nicknamed ‘Red’ is Bloom’s mom?  Also a little sad that they didn’t stick in the names of a few of the minor fairies, it would’ve been such a tiny thing so few fans would’ve caught it, but it would have cost them nothing.

Bloom has an idea!  She had the vision after using lots of magic, so maybe if she goes to the stone circle and draws on lots of magic again she’ll get back in touch!  

Aisha knows a bad idea when she hears one.

They are interrupted by Terra calling from the bathroom, she tried to do a cat eye and failed in floods of eyeliner.  Bloom and Aisha rescue her and Musa comes into this strange scene as Terra tells them, “I need full suite support, we’re gonna go show everyone we’re cool and fun...” the girls crowd in front of the mirror and smile.

This is exactly the kind of scene where the real Stella could have shone, sweeping in to make Terra look amazing... but the Stella we have is in Sky and Riven’s room doing her makeup because sharing the mirror with firsties is a nightmare, as Riven pours booze into his flask in preparation for the same bullying he pulled on Dane at the last party.

Wait, a party every ten days?  That is the most Winx Club thing about this show!  Hah!

Also the “there’s not enough staff to keep the students from abusing substances” is gonna be the new “the Winx band needs security guards” innit.  Sigh.

Riven brings the truth bomb: “If everyone around you is a nightmare, it’s not them.”

Stella wants a sip, but Sky isn’t drinking.  Stella thinks she knows why, she turns to reassure him, “Marco is on the Burned One.  As in, badass Marco?  Strongest fairy in a decade?”  But Sky’s still not drinking.  I get such a vibe that Sky is getting his life straight, growing beyond Stella while she remains a bundle of needs and fears.  Of course Bloom is ALSO a bundle of needs and fears so I’m not sure how that’ll work out.

We go to Badass Marco himself, out on rolling green fields.  He and his team are reporting in by radio: they’ve tracked the Burned one up to a river, which may stop it.  Burned Ones have difficulties with large bodies of water.  They should have killed it by morning.  Back at Alfea Dowling says they may not have ‘til morning.  She and Silva, whose eyes are white-ing over but still seems himself, are tracking progress on a map.  Marco and his team move out.  I want to know more about this battalion, Marco’s second is a woman with sort hair who seems to be named Laura, Harvey says her name as he comes to join the other two.  They’re in the cafeteria under the arches. Harvey pours shots all ‘round.  They wish they could be out in the action, not babysitting while their former students face danger. Marco and Laura are the best of the best but have never faced a Burned One.

Then Harvey mentions “the specialists’ annual debauched kegger.”

Silva: “I imagine they think we don’t know.”

Dowling: “I imagine they think you didn’t start it.”

Ok, I adore these three. Mixed feelings about the teenagers with familiar names but all three of the adults seem such solid characters.

...and with that revelation, I need a break from reviewing.  Got a sewing experiment to take apart and put back together, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see if Badass Marco and his team survive or if the first-year students have to take over!

#fate the winx saga

[thorne93]

Unforeseen Chasm (Part 56)

Prompt: Two sisters fall for men that are absolute enemies. The love they have could tear all of them apart, or it could bring them together.

Word Count:1991

Warnings: Language, infinity war plot continues, Note: This is by far the longest thing I’ve ever written (including my novels). It’s a collaboration with the amazing @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo​. It started as a funny “What if…?” and it evolved and got huge. This took two years to write. We are both proud and happy and we hope you enjoy it. It follows from Thor 1 to Endgame in the MCU. Some of the timelines may be off in order to fit certain people, and some characters may show up earlier or in different ways than they have in the movie. But for the most part, it follows the MCU. It also has a bit of crossover with some other Marvel characters throughout the story.

Masterlist for Unforeseen Chasm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Do you have a plan?” Loki asked, as if he felt you already had one. The two of you stood in your apartment. It was eerily quiet and calm. Part of you wanted to stay in there where it was seemingly safe. You just wanted to grab Loki, wrap your arms around him, and pretend like none of this awfulness was happening. But you knew that was wrong. The universe needed you, both of you. Vision needed you. 

“No. I don’t,” you answered shakily. 

“Then what are we do--”

“I don’t know, okay? They can help Strange with the time stone. We need to get to Vision and warn him.” It was hard to keep the absolute panic out of your voice. Thanos… you’d escaped him once, but that was just barely. You knew it wouldn’t happen again, not now that he had two stones. He was about to complete his mission. 

“And then what?”

“Then we fight. We protect Vision, and the rest of the stones at all costs. Loki, he can not get those stones, you know as well as I do life will cease to exist,” you pleaded. 

“I know. Call Steve,” he said and you frowned ever so slightly. Loki had never, ever called him by any of his names. It was either Captain, or The Patriot. 

But he knew this was serious. It was no time to beat around the bush or be clever. 

Finally, the spell broke on you of the horror that snaked through both of you and you called him. 

“Hello?” His voice sounded wary.

“Steve? Steve, it’s Y/N. Do you know where Vision is?” 

“I may have an idea, why? What’s going on?” 

“Thanos, the guy that took Loki and me? Brainwashed us. He’s coming to Earth. He may already be here. He’s sending his minions to find the infinity stones. One of them is already in New York, with Strange. Tony, Shannon, and Wong are helping protect it. Vision has the other one. Thanos already has two. He can’t get these other ones, Steve. He just can’t. He will end life as we know it.” 

“Alright. What do you need me to do?” 

“Get to Vision. Tell me where he is. I can help protect him.” 

“He’s in Scotland. Glasgow. They’re staying at a hotel in downtown. Hang on… Grand Central Hotel.” 

“Okay. Meet you there. Hurry. Call him if you can.” 

“Will do.” 

With that, you hung up and turned to Loki. 

“We need to get to Scotland. Fast.”

----------------------

You were able to take one of Tony’s jets and use its near supersonic speed to get you to Scotland in a matter of a few hours. You found the hotel but Vision, and you were assuming Wanda, weren’t there. You began walking the streets, hoping to find them, or Steve, when you suddenly you heard a scream. 

Shit.

You and Loki took off running toward the sound. Only to find Wanda get catapulted into a store window and Corvus Glaive slam a scepter down onto Vision’s head, trying to draw out the stone. 

“Hey, fuck bag!” you yelled, your dark energy flowing out of you, hitting him and knocking him off of Vision. Proxima raised her spear and chucked it at you but Loki caught it just before it hit you and he hurled it back at her, knocking her to the ground. 

“Go!” you screamed to Wanda and Vision. She nodded, grabbing Vision with her power and going over the tops of buildings. “You gotta go through me, Corvus,” you said with a smirk. 

“Too easy,” he said as he charged at you but you raised your hands and electrified him but he raised his spear and shot a spark of power at you knocking you off your feet. Loki tried to keep Proxima busy but at one point, they got away from both of you, fighting Wanda and Vision all over the city, on rooftops. By the time you flew up to the rooftop though, they were already fighting towards a glass ceiling, several feet away from you.

They crashed into a train station where you finally caught up to them, only to find Vision badly hurt, Wanda trying to protect him, and Steve across the tracks. You smiled at him and he stepped forward. 

Natasha and Sam suddenly burst onto the scene, where Natasha stabbed Corvus in the stomach and you wanted to applaud her, but now was not the time. The three of them worked to fight Proxima and Corvus until Corvus lied on the ground and he couldn’t stand. 

“We don’t want to kill you, but we will,” Natasha said as you approached them. 

“You’ll never get the chance again,” she promised, which lit a fire inside you. 

A beam of light came down and retrieved them, making you turn to Nat angrily. “You should’ve killed them.” 

“What good would it have done?” she challenged. 

“You have no idea what’s coming,” you said with accusation. “If we have any flicker of hope against Thanos, we can’t let his army get back to him.”

“I killed one of them, what more do you want?” 

“I want every one who is in alliance with Thanos dead,” you deadpanned as you got close to her. 

“Alright, alright, take it easy,” Steve ordered gently before getting between you and Natasha.

“I can’t, Steve. The fate of the universe depends on us stopping him. We can’t let any of them go.”

“Well, I didn’t see you taking any fatal shots,” he remarked. The comment made you stiffen and sigh. He was right, and that destroyed you. This was your fault they were alive too. “Alright. Now we need to get back to base.”

------------------------------

Steve, you, Nat, Vision, Wanda, and Loki walked into the Avengers Compound. Rhodey had been talking to Secretary Ross, the same man who sent most of your friends to jail. 

You immediately found Shannon. She was standing at a table, mumbling to herself. You didn’t see Tony and your heart skipped a beat. You approached her, bracing for whatever she was about to tell you.

“Look who's back!” She rushed to you and the others. “Are you guys alright?” She pulled back from hugging you and looked to see who needed healing. “Come here Wanda, let me get rid of that cut.” She got closer and cleared the cut leaving a little irritation.

You shook your head. “Shan, where’s Tony? Stephen?” Your heart was pounding, waiting for an answer, fearing the absolute worse.

She looked over to you and she held her chest and her eyes began to water. “Ton-Tony’s up in space and I lost signal,” she wiped her tears. “He went after Peter to get him off the ship and figure out what their plan was.”

You stood there baffled. “Wait. Shan,” you started, feeling a panic attack coming on. “Back up. How the hell did Tony wind up on that ship? And Peter? Parker? The fucking kid? He’s on the ship? And Stephen…” You choked down a sob. “Tell me they’re not all lost in space with that fucking Squidward asshole… What happened?” 

“One moment the three of us are fighting Maw and keeping Bruce safe, the next Peter swings in out of nowhere and is helping. Tony had him go after Maw because he took Strange and the time stone,” she was shaking really hard as she spoke. “Tony rushed after the two of them and had to enter the ship to get to them and I lost the signal once they were too far away.”

It felt as if all the blood had drained from you. “Stephen… is in the hands of Maw? With Tony and Peter and we can’t get ahold of them?” You started to really break down until Loki ran over and wrapped his arms around you, shushing you. He stroked your hair and kissed your head before pushing you slightly away from him. 

“Love, I know you're scared, but we have a problem. We need to address it, now,” he reminded softly, but sternly.

“You’re right,” you agreed, swallowing your tears. “Shannon,” you said before wrapping her in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry. We’ll find Tony, alright? We need to find Thanos first. He’s our main objective. Those three can handle that idiot Maw, okay?” You rubbed her arm, trying to keep her calm and refocus her, just as Loki had done for you.

“I know Y/N, there goes Tony again doing something crazy.” she tried to laugh but it made her cry more. “You’re right we need to focus.” In that instant she focused up and was in mission mode. “Alright this is what we know so far…” she went off to explain what she knew and let Steve continue.

“Alright, Y/N, Loki, you two spent the most time with Thanos out of everyone here, what does he want? What are we looking at?” Steve demanded once all the troops were rounded up. Bruce went to get cleaned up and Pietro had to be retrieved from his place in hiding.

“The biggest army in the universe,” you said without hesitation. “The only reason we didn’t win in New York is because subconsciously we didn’t want to. I’m not saying that to start a pissing contest. I’m stating it as a fact. With Thanos army alone, a monkey could win, but we didn’t want to.”

“Could’ve fooled us,” Rhodey remarked and you made a face of chagrin.

“So what’s his mission? What does he want?” 

“Annihilation. He wants to gather all six infinity stones and with the snap of his fingers, he can wipe out half of all life across the universe.” After Charles had removed your brainwashing a long time ago, he’d also somehow restored the memories of Thanos’s plans that you’d overheard time and time again on Sanctuary. Thanos probably removed them to make sure you didn’t betray him in any way. Now though, that knowledge was extremely useful and caused you no pain to remember it. You told the Avengers everything you could to help them. He had to be stopped at any and all costs.

“And he already has two,” Steve realized.

“Which is more than anyone has ever had, except for Loki and myself when we had the Tesseract and the scepter, but even then, they were in vessels. Now, the mind stone is on Vision’s head and Thanos crushed the tesseract to get the space stone,” you explained. 

“But back in New York we didn’t have Wanda or Vision,” Nat started. “Plus you and Loki are on our side now, right?” 

“Of course,” you said as if it was obvious. “You’ll have me, Shannon, and the rest of you. We have a chance, a better chance… but if we are facing Thanos himself… he’s like a rabid dog when it comes to these stones. He won’t stop until he has them all even Vision’s,” you solemnly told them as you peered at Wanda and Vision. 

They looked back at you with a look like they didn’t want to believe you but they knew that you were telling the truth.

“Then we have to protect it,” Natasha responded.

“No, we have to destroy it. I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps… its molecular integrity could fail,” Vision suddenly said, aiming it at Wanda.

“And you, with it. We're not having this conversation,” she remarked.

The next few minutes were spent debating on whether or not Vision’s stone had to be destroyed. You didn’t weigh in on the matter. This was Vision and Wanda’s choice. 

Finally, Bruce concluded that perhaps Wakanda would have the resources they needed to extract the stone, so that’s where everyone headed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag List: @essie1876​ @magpiegirl80​ @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked​ @iamwarrenspeace​ @marvel-imagines-yes-please​

@superwholocked527 @missinstantgratification @thejemersoninferno @rda1989 @munlis @thefridgeismybestie @bubblyanarocks3 @igiveupicantthinkofausername @kaliforniacoastalteens @feelmyroarrrr @kaelingoat-blog @friendlyneighbourhoodweirdo @damalseer @heyitscam99 @yknott81 @sorryimacrapwriter @glitterquadricorn @xxqueenofisolationxx @little-dis-kaalista-pythonissama @bittersweetunicorm @alyssaj23 @sea040561 @princess76179 @thisismysecrethappyplace @sarahp879 @malfoysqueen14 @ellallheart @breezy1415 @marvelmayo @random-fluffy-pink-unicorn @cocosierra94 @hardcollectionworldtrash @capsmuscles @marvelloushamilton @paintballkid711

Loki: @lostinspace33 @ultrarebelheart @lenawiinchester @esoltis280 @tngrayson @wangdeasang @harrymewmew @jayfantasyatyourservice

UC: @lokis-high-priestess

#unforeseen chasm #loki fic #loki x reader #Loki Laufeyson #tony stark #tony stark fic #tony stark x ofc #bruce banner #mentions of peter parker #rhodey #natasha #wanda #vision #mentions of pietro #mentions of dr strange #steve rogers #mentions of thanos

[bettsfic]

THE RAINNNNNNN ! just randomly remembered how much I'm looking forward to your thoughts, on the latest season, in the middle of my shift.

just finished watching it! 

first of all, i’m really (not actually) surprised how hard it was to find on netflix. the algorithm should have shoved it front and center on my homepage, but i scrolled around for a long time looking for it and it was nowhere. then, when i went to Search, i had to type in the ENTIRE TITLE. netflix really didn’t want me to see that this show had a new season.

for a while i was baffled, and then i realized it’s a show about an apocalypse brought on by a virus that’s transmitted through water droplets. 

spoilers under the cut!

i was actually pretty disappointed in this season. i thought the pacing was slow and not enough happened. i didn’t buy simone and rasmus’ motivations at all, and when they went to kill each other i just couldn’t get on board. they’ve spent two seasons working together and protecting each other, and then they have a disagreement of ideals that doesn’t even make sense and suddenly rasmus is marching to kill simone. i know it’s like the virus talking or whatever, but i still don’t buy it. 

the ending was too easy and not at all satisfying to me. i knew martin was going to die and so i was prepared for it, but it still pissed me off. it just felt very unnecessary and like the writers were just looking for a way to hurt us because there were no other stakes to keep us invested.

so many threads were dropped from previous seasons that it didn’t feel like a final or culminating season at all. what happened to the capsules? the strangers? rescuing the survivors? and then in episode 3.1, simone finally gets out only to find the entire world is basically dead? after spending 2 seasons trying to get out of the zone? what a fucking bummer. and then simone spends the rest of the season trying to “save the world” but there’s nothing to save!! it’s all gone!! why bother!!

anyway. here’s what i did like:

queerplatonic fie and patrick raising a baby together!!

daniel just being a solidly good-aligned character like simone + terrible fashion sense

jean being set up to be an antagonistic force but he’s actually just sad and has no purpose in the plot whatsoever, and also doesn’t die

the two super romantic scenes we get with martin and simone, even if it wasn’t enough. even though i didn’t like the ending, that relationship remains one of my favorite canon romances of all time

the performances!! specifically lucas lynggaard tonnesen (there are some letters in his name that my keyboard doesn’t have but he’s the guy who plays rasmus) who just really stepped up to being a commanding badass in a convincing way, given how little the writing supported it 

i continue to love that at the foundation of this premise lies the belief that people are ultimately kind and compassionate but flawed and when put in bad situations, sometimes have self-serving interests

what this season did particularly well was show that it just takes one guy to build an army. i love how even though all the virus-takers were kind of hive-minded together, they still showed hesitance to hurt anyone. it really skewed the perception of good vs. evil and kept everyone very human

especially the scene in the locker room where olivia is supposed to kill daniel, kira, and jean, and she just doesn’t want to/can’t. and it ends up being a teenager who shoots her with a flaming arrow, because that’s the only life that kid knows

in the first few episodes, i loved seeing martin just be an unstoppable badass in pursuit of simone. god what a dynamic. 

the fic fodder! martin being connected to rasmus via the virus. the badwrong possibilities there are endless. 

i went back and read the fic i had started writing, which was an alternate ending where everyone escaped the zone and it was 5 years later, and martin was going back in to retrieve the survivors before burning it all down. i only had 2k written with no notes on how to end it, so i’m not sure i’ll pick it up again, but i hope eventually to use their dynamic as inspiration for something.

#the rain #Anonymous

[badbookreviewclub]

Empress Theresa, Chapters 21-28. IT’S FINALLY OVER.

Disclaimer: If you haven’t read the previous review, you can find it here (chapters 11-20). This will contain spoilers. 

Well, the ending is finally here and holy fuck this book went off the rails. I only have one reaction to the ending of it and that’s just what the fuck. Just… What The Fuck Norman whatever the fuck you were on when you wrote the end of this book must have been some powerful shit because holy fuck. Let’s just get started and maybe you’ll see what I mean. These chapters are also completely nonsensical in how they’re put together and just so much information is shoved into them that it can get confusing. I’ll do my best to keep it clear. Chapter 21 The boat that was driven into the Exxon Maria was deemed as a terrorist attack because “the world know that this had been a terrorist bombing” (pg 321). They know this because a bunch of explosives had been smuggled onto the boat beforehand by Middle Eastern terrorists (because Norman is convinced there are no other kind of terrorists) and they drove it straight into the Exxon Maria to try and get back at Theresa for her oil mining operation. So how does Theresa retaliate? She drops the price of oil down to ten dollars a barrel. Thinking that OPEC (which I guess Norman still thinks is a terrorist organization. It’s not) is going to retaliate, Theresa has her parents moved to a safe place (West Point), and tells Prime Minister Scherzer that they have to evacuate the Israeli people now. He tells her that it will take 36 hours to start the evacuation. To remind Saudi Arabia of their deal (because there was a deal apparently in Theresa’s mind, even though there was absolutely no deals made, just an offer put on the table) Theresa raises a mountain in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert. 

When the Israeli people start to cross evacuate via the landbridge to Crete because as it turns out, no, the island isn’t ready yet, Theresa parts the fucking sea to make giant water walls that terrorists and missiles can’t get through. Moses parting the Red Sea moment, anyone? Because of this, Prime Minister Scherzer calls Theresa the ‘Right Hand of God’. Theresa also decides that it’s time for her to head home, so the Ambassador of the United States to England asks if she would ride home on the Ronald Reagan (the same ship that led took her to the plane she was supposed to be blown up on) to give the ship her honor back. Theresa disagrees, but Steve says that Theresa should play (American) football with the navy of the Ronald Reagan against the Army (I think Norman means foot soldiers specifically). Theresa does agree eventually. 

Someone attempts to do the same drop that Theresa did when she was almost blown up and of course, rather than dissuading them, Theresa gives him tips on how he might survive. Unsurprisingly, he fucking dies. All Theresa does is say “oh whoopsy-doopsy, he fell into still water, not wavy water like I did. Must be why. Sorry that you’re dead bro. Nobody should do that again.” Chapter 22 

Theresa heads back to the United States, but in the process, HAL puts everyone in the plane into a deep sleep, including the piolets and every electronic. Somehow though, the Autopilot still works, so that’s lucky for Theresa I guess. Bitch learns how to fly a plane in under four hours. She lands it after causing millions of dollars worth of damages to the windows of buildings after flying just a little too low to them and as such that causes a lot of injuries, but she doesn’t get in trouble for that because she’s just too sweet and innocent for that. 

Chapter 23 

Am I moving really fast through this? I feel like I am. Though I will say, it’s definitely because I want to be done with this book as fast as I possibly can it’s so fucking dumb. I hate this book so much. I have never met a book that has baffled me as much as this one but absolutely fueled my anger to no end. Anyways… Theresa arrives at West Point (where her parents are) and going to the ranch house that was built specifically for her and her family. The football game takes place, and surprisingly, Theresa and the Navy lose to the Army. 48-36. I don’t know American football very well, despite living in the United States, so if anyone could tell me how good this is I would really appreciate it. 

We learn that her island is producing 3 million barrels of oil a day and by the next year is predicted to be producing 15 million barrels a day, so Theresa is rich as fuck and is going to have a monopoly on oil (what a wonderful capitalist she is). Because all the oil tycoons are worried she’s going to monopolize (she is) and then raise the price drastically, they put her into a two-year deal (bc that’s long enough) saying that the price can’t go above ten dollars a barrel. Theresa agrees without hesitation. 

It’s suggested to Theresa that she should monopolize the manufacturing industry as well, but she turns that down because it could “start a global trade war” (pg 370). 

Theresa, while being a jerk and ignoring everybody when she goes out into public because how could she possibly be expected to meet or even wave or smile at people, finally gives in and talks to 10 North Korean men (via a translator) who have brought her a PBS Documentary to show her the conditions of North Korea. Theresa watches it and is so moved that she comes down and tells the men that she’ll save their families. So essentially, this one PBS Documentary has convinced Theresa to declare war on North Korea’s government. 

Because the North Korean’s wouldn’t listen to her because she holds no power, Theresa joins the army (not really because she never ever ever ever sees combat, but she gets the titles that come with it). 

Chapter 25

Theresa gets her uniform. She specifically requests to have the male uniform because the female one doesn’t look powerful enough. She also gets men’s shoes instead of women’s shoes because the women’s would look stupid with the men’s uniform, I guess. Theresa also insists on wearing her hair down because nobody is going to say jack shit to her about it. Because Theresa got the uniform we learn that Steve has a uniform kink. “Steve thought I looked awful cute in my little uniform.  “‘Hon, you never looked better. It turns me on’” (pg 389). 

Now Norman, I thought this book didn’t have sexual content? Yet here we are, learning about Steve’s fetishes. I’m not going to fetish shame anyone, and more power to you Steve for being open with your sexuality, though I just wanted to point out that Norman specifically said this wouldn’t happen (just like the swearing). 

Anyways, Theresa goes to a meeting at the White House where she immediately becomes a five-star general, the first person after Omar Bradley died. Now I may be wrong, but Omar Bradley was a World War II veteran (a senior officer) and was Chairman of the Joint Cheifs of Staff and oversaw policymaking during the Korean War. The only thing Theresa has (realistically) done up until this point is kill off most of the population, if not all of the population. 

Theresa came up with the idea earlier on that the only way to liberate North Korea is to destroy their weaponry in a certain mile radius and then take over as their dictator for the time being until things could get set up. In a really complicated matter, Theresa sets up a plan wherein ten-miles around Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, all weapons, planes, bombs, missiles, and helicopters will be destroyed. She works with the South Korean government in order to achieve this with HAL and so they can invade safely. 

But, duN DUN DUN! because all the weapons are destroyed, the government orders unarmed citizens and soldiers and other personnel to attack as soon as they see Theresa and the army. Because there’s 5 million of them, the South Korean army knows that they’ll be easily overwhelmed. Theresa’s solution? Take a Japanese island and move it a bit closer to North and South Korea, and then break North and South Korea away from China and move it closer to the Japanese Island. This way the Japanese Island can build a bridge over and then teach North Korea about a new government. And it fucking works. 

They invade Pyongyang after doing this and the South Korean army basically liters the city with pictures of Theresa’s face and a promise that she’s going to save and liberate them all. They drop all these pictures and promises with an airplane to hopefully quell the people’s worries. There’s a big crowd of North Koreans who are basically lining a gigantic boulevard and the South Korean’s are surrounding the tanks and Theresa, prepared to shoot anyone who gets rowdy or gets too close. Theresa tells them their leaders have left them on a complete fucking bluff, and the South Korean general who has been working with her confirms that they fled to China. Theresa is so relieved by this she almost starts crying, and then the North Korean’s start cheering and wailing and are basically so so so so so happy that Theresa is their new leader. 

And Theresa’s big speech as the new leader? She reads the first couple of paragraphs from the Declaration of Independence. And it’s a smash hit and her greatest success ever. She gives it to a translator so that the North Korean people can understand and just… “Nobody could translate such elegant language on the fly and maintain its beauty. I anticipated that. I’d given the translator the English text the day before and she worked all night at it. When I finished speaking she read what I’d said in Korean with all the emotions and nuances only a Korea could express. My speech or rather the translator’s rendition of it was a spectacular success. The crowd cheered their hearts out. Witnesses said President Stinson cried when I gave the speech. This event, broadcast to the whole world, was called by greatest achievement” (pg 418). And yes, I meant to write ‘a Korea’. That’s how it’s written in the fucking book. But the Declaration of Independence wasn’t written by Theresa and yet somehow it’s ‘her’ speech. And it’s a smashing success because fuck you. Chapter 26

Theresa sets up the South Korean government in North Korea because she can’t be fucked to actually lead it, but comes back when she needs to. In this chapter, Theresa gets really into biology and teaching HAL about biology. She also gets really into archaeology and discovers a bunch of really old Jewish scrolls but nobody can have them. They can look but only she can have them. She also finds Joan of the Arc’s remains because why the fuck not. 

Theresa also makes a mountain in the middle of Lake Michigan without consequence. This is all so they can have the Winter Olympics because I guess Mountain = Snow despite the fact that it’s summer the entire year.

Oh yeah, and Theresa recognizes that she could have thousands of lives with teaching HAL biology and learning how to do surgeries that could save lives that couldn’t otherwise be done. But she decides this is a terrible idea because she’ll end up in court if something goes wrong. 

“‘I can immobilize them like this [basically just holding their body together in a temporarily immortalized, unaging, undying stated] while the surgeon operates and saves thousands of lives.’ (Theresa) “‘And get yourself thousands of lawsuits when things go wrong. Hell the families will hope something goes wrong so they can go after your money’ (Steve) “‘You’re right. I’d spend the rest of my life in courtrooms. It’s a shame. Greed keeps me from saving lives’”  (pg 423).

The only greed keeping you from saving lives is your own. How fucking selfish of you to believe that people want their loved ones to die just so they can get some money. There are horrible people out there in the world like that, there’s no denying it, but the majority of people aren’t. You recognize you could save lives, but you chose not to because you don’t want to go to court if something goes wrong. You’re a fucking villain, Theresa. 

Because of this, I really don’t feel bad when Theresa gets hit by a car, breaks her back, and loses the ability to walk. Getting hit by the car was apparently a terrorist attack that was carefully planned because they wanted to hit Theresa. Because everything just has to be a fucking terrorist attack. But this is why Norman had Theresa suddenly pick up an interest in biology that was never ever even hinted at before. It’s so Theresa can start working on a plan to fix her back so she can walk again. And so she can figure out a way to be immortal. You’re supposed to feel bad for Theresa, but I honestly don’t.

Chapter 27 

More HAL’s show up because when Theresa was about to be blown up and she jumped from the plane, HAL divided itself into 420 other HAL’s. Now all these HAL’s are merging with people. Because Theresa doesn’t want to not be special anymore, she puts the entire world into a deep sleep under the pretense that all of these people could be another Adolf Hitler and she needs to take care of it and stop that before it happens. You know, so the logical explanation, because she can’t just put on HAL into a deep sleep, is to put the entire world into a deep sleep regardless of the consequences. Doesn’t matter if you’re in the middle of surgery or you’re in the ICU. It doesn’t matter if you’re about to die or something is happening. We’re just going to put everyone into a deep sleep because Theresa can’t be fucked to figure out a solution right now.

Chapter 28

600 years have passed and everyone starts to wake up. Everyone thinks Theresa is dead but she shows up with Steve and 420 (nice) children. All these children are geniuses and specialize in something and have the equivalent of like 10 college degrees. So in the past 600 years (where nobody aged, not even Theresa and Steve) the world has advanced massively because of the children and Steve and Theresa. 

Theresa also kept the children as 10-year-olds rather than letting them age. “I’d kept them in a pre-puberty state so they wouldn’t fool around with each other” (pg 464). It’s not like they’re siblings and look like mini replicas of you and your husband. It’s not like you should discourage incest among them because incest isn’t a good thing and can mess with someone’s psyche because it’s damaging a familial relationship by intertwining it with a sexual relationship. Not at all.

But these children, as it would turn out, don’t have a HAL. Theresa and Steve just had like 420 (nice) children I guess. No, Theresa just absorbed all of the other HAL’s and will absorb any other HAL that shows up on earth. And that’s the end of the fucking book. This shit show of a book is finally over. I hated it so much and I’m glad to finally be done with it. 

-8/10 stars. Get fucked Norman Boutin. Your book is stupid as shit and I hate it. 

#Empress Theresa #bad books review #bad book #review #reviewblr #bookblr #the end #it's over #I can finally sleep easy #no more empress theresa #this book was hell #Theresa is still a monster #fuck you theresa #this book is shit #finale

[bayern-moni]

True or dare : admit your feelings to someone you like or kill them.

Gin: Slightly drastic, Anon, aren't you? You would certainly get along with Aizen-taicho.

Aizen: What are you trying to imply, Gin?

Gin: Nothing, taicho, nothing you'd understand anyway.

Aizen: However, Gin, weren't you the one who bragged about having no heart nor feelings? This Anon here suggests otherwise. Were you lying to me?

Gin: I have absolutely nothing like that! I refuse to be thought of otherwise!

Aizen, smirking at the uncharacteristic irritation showed by his subordinate: As you say, Gin, but the ask speaks clearly. You have to admit your feelings, implied you must also admit you have them in the first place, or just killing your special person like the cold-hearted snake you claim to be. Are you sure you could get that far? I guess Hakufuku would be against the rules, this time. Now that I'm reminded of it, it's time you'd finally confess your undying love bla bla bla to that Matsumoto, isn't it? This is as good as a chance as any.

Gin: Were you ever told you're a massive son of a bitch, captain?

Aizen, looking unfazed and smirking: More or less since the day we met.

Gin: I assure you, you totally deserve the title.

Aizen: So do you, Gin. So do you.

He sipped his tea.

*

Gin's choice: Admit it or kill

Gin was at loss. Completely and utterly at loss of what to do. He had to admit his feelings to Rangiku. He knew he couldn't kill her, he could never bring himself to harm her, let alone kill her (he didn't even want to think about such things). Physically, at least, because hurting her emotionally seemed to be something he had always been good at. So he had to confess. He wasn't given any other choice. But ... was it really so necessary now? He had already waited for 109 years, a few more years or decades to collect some ideas on how to do it couldn't hurt much, could they? There weren't even guarantees that she wouldn't slap him to death as soon as he just appeared to start talking after all the shit he put her though. Or worse, she could accept. Though, she did cry when he died so maybe he hadn't literally all the odds against him in this endeavor. He didn't understand how, because in his vocabulary one that became a metaphorically human-eating monster didn't exactly had the needed curriculum to be still loved like that, but if she wanted to go on doing it he certainly wouldn't complain. So, how does he do it? He could ask for some advice, given he was totally blank in the matter. Izuru? Nah, scratch that, the boy couldn't say something like that without blushing to death to save his life. Rangiku was obviously out of question. Aizen? He'd rather die (again). Tosen? Absolutely not.

Shit.

"What are you doing here, Gin?" asked the red haired woman, spotting him standing in front of her door with a so dumbfounded look to be almost endearing. Almost.

Shit.

"Rangiku! Long time no see!" he tried to buy some time while his mental gears tried to put together something that wasn't outright idiotic or suicidal. Rangiku raised an eyebrow, skeptical. She looked too much like Aizen when she did that, Gin thought.

"I'm here to confess" managed to say at the end.

"Search for a priest, then"

"No, not that kind of a confession!" he was horrified just at the thought. Wrong start.

"Oh, you finally resigned to admit your feelings for me?" There was a mischievous spark in Rangiku's eyes that forebode nothing good for him. But she looked too happy for him to back down now.

"That's right" he still looked uncomfortable and she had every intention of getting back at him by prolonging this status of his as long as possible. They had the same nature at their core.

"You do know this is the least romantic confession in the history of love confession, right?" Now she was truly amused. He cringed. He loved her, he truly did, but this thing of feelings expression just wasn't for him at all. He couldn't do anything to help it, he was born like that. And she knew it.

"Yes, but you still love me, Rangiku"

Fuck you, Hisagi.

"Of course I do" she smiled, a curve so radiant enlightening her face that her warmth spread around his icy heart as well. "But I'm still waiting for my love confession, dear" another amused smile "Otherwise, I'll tell Unohana-taicho it was you that stole all her medical gauze that time to make poor Kira-kun look like a mummy" He gulped.

"If I did that, she'll probably neuter you or something equally gruesome, nobody was so suicidal to actually defy her ire; so we can only guess how it's ending up on her bad side. Then, do you want to go on? Ah, I always wished for a day like this, I'm so happy, Gin!" Nevermind she had just threatened him if he didn't say anything.

He had truly never had a choice, then. But in the end, it wasn't so bad like his always too paranoid mind was dreading. She did love him, after all.

He smiled. Genuinely for once. And then he went down on his knee.

Gin had every intention of making this the most dramatic and tooth-rotting love confession Rangiku had ever heard. He wanted to be so sappy that Rangiku'd be laughing on the floor by the time he was finished.

So much he'd putting all those rubbish romantic comedies she so loved to shame.

*

Aizen: It went better than I expected. And here I thought you were going to confess to me.

Gin: If I didn't know better I'd say you are jealous, taicho. Just a few lines before, you actually sounded bitter like you thought of yourself like a nosy third-wheel between me and my lovely Ran-chan.

Aizen: I'm not, of course.

Gin: Sure you are. Nosy and third-wheel, I mean.

Aizen: Mind your words, Gin. Remember that I can decide to make you scrub every toilet in Las Noches anytime and you can't refuse. I even bought a new set of toothbrushes for you to use.

Gin: Are you aware that I did blow a hole in your chest and had Shinso poison you to death?

Aizen: I didn't die, though. It must mean something.

Gin: That you're more difficult to kill than an army of cockroachs? Seriously, taicho, how on earth did you think I was going to admit my supposed feelings to you of all people? We abundantly satisfied the second part of the ask by now.

Aizen: Love and hate are just different sides of the same coin. Merely preconceptions created by humans that didn't get to have their way. So it was entirely possible in a theoretical way.

Gin: ... Sure. And what about you killing me? It'd surely kill the mood, other than, well, me.

Aizen: I just wanted to show you how it's properly done. And in my defense, at the time I felt deeply betrayed.

Gin: Ooh, the understatement of the century. Should I also thank you now, taicho?

Aizen: Gin, you're being overdramatic. We're straying from the topic at hand.

Gin: That is you trying to guilt trip me into confessing to you?

Aizen: Exactly

Gin: You're wasting your time, captain. I'm already taken. Moreover, in your case I'd pick "or kill them" anyday.

Aizen: Where I'm from, It is called denial, Gin.

*

Aizen's choice: Admit it or kill

It was a night like no-one had ever seen in Hueco Mundo, the eternal darkness softly embraced by the light of brighter moon. The palace of Las Noches was uncharacteristically quiet and only a perturbed voice from the innermost hall of the court could be heard. This voice was smooth and full of emotion, a particular tone that belied its bearer's strangeness with such sincerity. The flow of words like a musical stream of sweetness.

"You are the only one that matter to me, your frame is so lovely that even gods invy you, your existence like a balm for my exhausted nerves. The way eternal shades reflect on the soft lines of your perfection warms my once dead heart like nothing else. You are my whole, you're the existence I couldn't live without. I adore you"

"Taicho, why are you talking to the mirror?" asked Gin and cleared his throat to hide his baffled expression.

"Wasn't the Anon the one who asked for us to admit our feelings to someone we like?" replied Aizen like nothing was wrong.

"And are you talking with the mirror?"

"Yes, I am"

"... Nevermind. I don't want to know"

`

`

Part of the Truth or Dare Challenge featuring Gin and Aizen I started yesterday. For the Anon that requested it, I really hope you like it or that at least it made you laugh. Bye bye, everyone!

#bleach #gin ichimaru #gin x rangiku #gin #aizen sousuke #aizen #bleach aizen #aizen x ? #rangiku matsumoto #rangiku #unohana #inappropriate use of tea cup and mirror #Aizen's fault #character meme #ask #anonymous #anon ask #truth or dare challenge #headcanon