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gimme-mor · 3 years

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ACOTAR THINK PIECE: ELAIN ARCHERON, UNTOUCHABLE

*DISCLAIMER*

This will be a long post.

Please take the time to read this post in its entirety and truly reflect on the message I am trying to send before commenting. My goal is to use my background in Gender and Women’s Studies to deconstruct the comments I have seen on Tumblr and Twitter and bring awareness to the ACOTAR fandom.

The reason I am tagging “Elriel” in this post is to call attention to the arguments in the Elriel fandom that: weaponize Elain’s femalehood to shame real life people for their opinions about Elain’s character and her relationship with Lucien; victimize Elain’s character in fandom discussions; and coddle Elain’s character, which limits fandom discussions about her narrative development and prevents the ACOTAR fandom from holding Elain accountable for her actions and inactions in the same way that the fandom holds other characters accountable for their actions and inactions. It is for these reasons that I WILL NOT remove the “Elriel” tag from this post because all of the above points contribute to the toxic discourse surrounding Elain’s character.

I urge those who use these arguments to understand their implications, why they are problematic, regardless of intent, and reexamine their contributions to the ACOTAR fandom. I WILL NOT tolerate anyone who tries to twist my words and say I am attacking people and their personal shipping preferences. In fact, I AM CRITIQUING THE ARGUMENTS THEMSELVES NOT THE PEOPLE USING THE ARGUMENTS.

Also, I highly encourage the Elriel fandom to read this post because it addresses how the concept of choice as an argument enables arguments to exploit social justice and feminist languge in order to vilify Elucien shippers, among other problematic things.

Elain Archeron is one of the most polarizing characters in the ACOTAR fandom. Though opinions about Elain vary, arguments in the Elriel fandom cite society’s perception of traditional female characters in comparison to non-traditional female characters as the reason behind the hate, and this belief is used to provide an explanation as to why other characters in the series are favored over her. In the series, Elain is portrayed in a wholly positive light and this image carries over into the Elriel fandom, painting her character as a good and kind female who has been unfairly wronged and a victim of circumstances that were out of her control. When arguments in the Elriel fandom oppose other viewpoints in the fandom, they fall into one of three categories:

Category 1: Weaponize Elain’s femalehood to shame real life people for their opinions

Maybe people who hate Elain are just jealous of her in a weird way similar to when someone hates the pretty, nice, and charming girl in school just because she is too perfect

Disliking Elain is misogynistic

What happened to feminism? What happened to women supporting women? What happened to she can say no? All of that disappears the second you force Elain to be with Lucien

Elain antis are misogynistic

All Eluciens are Elain antis

Antis claiming they’re feminists when in reality they hate on Elain and Feyre but love Nesta

Elain antis are such sore losers. Y’all were that bunch of people who could not get over being rejected from hanging out with the cool kids so y’all are projecting your hatred towards pretty people now to get validation

I don’t get how Elain’s love for gardening equals boring for some people. I’m sorry your misogyny finds traditionally feminine activities boring

Why are you attacking a female? What did Elain do? Where are your feminist voices?

The fandom is misogynistic towards Elain

If people loved Elain they would ship Elriel

If you hate Elain it says a lot about your feelings toward women

If you hate Elain because she has no “development” then you must hate Azriel because otherwise you’re misogynistic

Eluciens are turned off by the idea of a woman that has the autonomy to reject a man for the simple reason that it is her choice

Eluciens are all about feminism and “it’s HER choice” until it comes down to females not wanting a male

Eluciens don’t respect Elain’s feelings when they ship her with someone that was part of her trauma and makes her feel uncomfortable

The way some Elucien shippers completely disregard how uncomfortable Elain is around Lucien is so hilariously not funny. Prioritizing being mates over Elain’s feelings is just regressive

It’s hard as a fan of Elain to see someone ship her with a person who makes her physically uncomfortable to be around. Wouldn’t you want both characters to be happy to be around each other

Imagine if SJM saw all the awful things her “stans” had to say about Elain

It’s true that we know comparatively little about her, but is she really boring or do you just not value stereotypically feminine traits?

So y’all are just gonna tell me you prefer Elucien over Elriel? Even though Lucien treats Elain as if she’s something that belongs to him? The only reason he wants to be with her is because she’s his mate, he doesn’t respect her, doesn’t treat her as his equal, even though that’s what mates should be? He doesn’t bother to look past what’s on the outside to see her for who she is. And Elain is obviously repulsed by the idea that she should belong to anyone or have no choice in who she can be with. Azriel is her friend and the only person who sees her quiet strength. He has so much faith in her, in her abilities; he’s the one who kept her company when no one else did, he’s the only one who bothered to see her for more than her brokenness. You’re going to tell me you still prefer Elucien over Elriel?

The more I see Gwynriels that ship Elucien out of their hate for Elain, the less I can understand Elain stans that ship Elucien. Pls Elain has made it very clear that she doesn’t want Lucien, why would you ship her with him? Do you hate her too? Smh

The real question would be, if you care and understand Elain why would you ship her with Lucien (where she canonically shrinks when he is near)?

People crying over Helion and Lucien’s mom not getting to be with each other and her being forced into a relationship she didn’t want, but also ship Elucien? Just say you hate Elain

When Elain’s book is out, Gwyn stans will look like clowns and I will laugh because they set her up by shipping her with Azriel just because they hate Elain. Watch them play the victims now because Elriels are clapping back the hate they’ve sent towards Elain

As romantic as wanting girl who is visibly uncomfortable around a guy who caused her trauma to end up with the said guy. Guess their standards for romance are in hell

Category 2: Victimize Elain’s character

Gwynriels only want Gwyn with Azriel because they despise Elain

Gwyn stans and Gwynriels are Elain antis

No one in the books dislike Elain, so why are there so many people who do?

Elain hasn’t done anything wrong or questionable to warrant the hate she gets

Not having Elain’s POV makes it easy for people to be swayed a certain way about her character if you already don’t relate to her in some way

It’s been years since this series came out and we haven’t gotten a lick of an Elain POV, but people still hate her for what? We don’t know her thoughts, dreams, or aspirations

We haven’t even had Elain’s perspective yet and people are passing these judgments off on her

Elain antis who say she’s boring are just cruel when she has obvious symptoms of PTSD like Feyre and Nesta

Gwyn is one of the most overhyped characters and that’s only because most people hate Elain and they couldn’t wait to find a random girl to ship Azriel with

Nesta was abusive to her sisters but Elain (who has only ever been kind) is painted as the villain

From the text we know that Elain is the epitome of feminine stereotypes (gentle, gardening, baking, non confrontational for the most part). Yet people still call her boring or deny that she has any interesting character traits?

You can’t love Nesta and hate Elain

People hate Elain because of internalized misogyny and lack of taste. All the girl does is tend to her garden and mind her business and they treat her worse than Tamlin

Does Gwyn deserve all this support? Of course yes! She is amazing! But where’s that support when Elain was in the same situation as she? Where’s that support for her right now? Why do they idolize Gwyn for her interactions with Azriel and hate Elain for having any interaction with him?

It’s not even a ship war anymore, they just hate Elain

People hate Elain for no reason

Some of y’all don’t like feminine traits and it shows

We know less about Eris and Helion but people don’t call them boring. Why would rejecting femininity make Elain more interesting?

Elain has had a lot forced upon her

The main reason I believe most people love Gwyn so much is to get Azriel away from Elain. It’s not a secret that Elain has been a widely hated character for years so suddenly we get a new female who has a minimal amount of interactions with Azriel and BOOM. New ship that once again doesn’t make sense (just like Azriel x Emerie after ACOFAS)

Elain hasn’t done something so terrible for her to get this hate. At this point some of you are just being misogynistic and you don’t want to accept it. Don’t call yourselves feminists and then say bs like this, it’s embarrassing. She’s pretty and everyone agreed to hate on her

Just a personal feeling, but I feel like a lot of the Elain hate stems from internalized misogyny. That to be a strong female lead, you need to pick up a sword and fight. That to be strong, you need to adapt traditionally masculine traits

Elain is feminine. She is beautiful. She loves to bake and garden. She is docile, quiet, observant, and a people-pleaser. All traditionally feminine traits. Yet for some reason, she’s like the worst in these people’s eyes?

I think also maybe a lot of people can’t relate to her femininity? That her being so beautiful and quiet doesn’t allow for the people who dislike her not to self-insert? Most of the hate stems from people not wanting Elain to be with Azriel. It’s mean, but maybe the people who hate Elain literally just can’t self-insert if they have a story and that’s why they’re vehemently against it?

Poor Elain. The Cauldron dealt her a bad deal. Upon emerging as Fae, she is immediately declared by Lucien as his mate, never mind that she was already engaged to a prick. Her love life is not good

It blows my mind how they really think that they can compare all the shit that Elain gets with some dumb jokes about Gwyn on Twitter (and yes, the “hate” towards her started mostly because Elriels are clapping back, it was bound to happen)

I would think of it as anti-feminist with Elain and Lucien because she has consistently stated that she does not want him so if she was forced to embrace the bond that would be taking away her right to have a choice but with Az she feels comfortable around so if they were mates then Elain would be happy and feel safe which again should be the priority for women to feel safe in their relationships with anything and to not be forced into any type of situation aka the mating bond in this

Category 3: Coddle Elain’s character

Elain has value the way she is, in all her domestic girly glory. Not every character has to be badass

We don’t speak of Elain’s flaws frequently because everyone else already speaks badly of her, mainly in an unfair way

There is definitely something deeper going on with Elain but by no means will she ever be evil or any less feminine. That goes against everything we already know about her

It’s ok to critique Elain because she needs growth but y’all keep forgetting the shit her and her sisters went through

The last “bad” thing Elain did in ACOTAR was not help Feyre when they were impoverished and I’m tired of people acting like she’s a terrible character when it was their father’s responsibility. It happened 4 books ago and Feyre has forgiven both Nesta and Elain

Elain’s character and the evil Elain theory are a great example of the trend where people only consider female characters interesting if they reject femininity

We don’t know enough to hate Elain

Many people want Elain to turn evil (which in my opinion seems to come from a place of internalized misogyny)

However we don’t tend to talk about her faults, at least not publicly, as that has been, and still is, done to death, and I--personally, at least--find it much more fun to theorise about potentially interesting aspects of the overall plot, than dwell on negatives

And ultimately, I would be shocked if Elain has a more karmically-charged story than Nesta, considering that Elain’s “wrongs” are so much less severe and bad than Nesta’s, and Elain has already apologized for them (or paid the price in other ways, like through what Graysen did)

I guess I also think Elain has suffered and been punished enough. I hope her story is about finding hope in terrible situations, and learning to love her new life, and choosing her own path after everything that has been done to her. I don’t think she needs to be punished anymore or face any additional trauma

Also, why is she being judged on her decisions as a human at all? Fae are monsters to humans! They enslaved them for thousands of years, and the Wall was erected to keep them out

Like I’m sorry, but think Elain would want to leave her ONLY FAMILY AND FRIENDS for the Spring Court where she has no one because--oh look, lots of flowers!--is the craziest thing I have ever heard

Her sisters are in the Night Court. Her nephew is in the Night Court. Her closest friends (Nuala and Cerridwen) are in the Night Court. Her love interest is in the Night Court. Her extended family is in the Night Court. Her home is in the Night Court

SJM isn’t going to keep two sisters together and split up the third. Especially not keep Feyre and Nesta together and separate Elain. They were either all going to end up in separate places, or together. Not 2 here and 1 there

Compared to the other female characters in the series, Elain is the only character whose femalehood is at the center of conversations; this is because arguments in the Elriel fandom fixate on it when discussing her character. While Elain, Feyre, Nesta, and Mor are all representations of white womanhood and white beauty, Elain epitomizes the most fragile version of white womanhood. It’s easy to blame society’s perception of traditional female characters in comparison to non-traditional female characters when it comes to the discourse surrounding Elain’s character because it: falls in line with the fixation on Elain’s femalehood to silence opposing viewpoints; is a simplistic explanation that fails to tackle the underlying issues with Elain as a character, the same issues that are downplayed in-universe; absolves Elain of her wrongdoings; prevents the ACOTAR fandom from holding Elain accountable for her actions and inactions within the series; and diminishes the impact Elain’s actions and inactions have on those around her. It’s not that Elain is hated in the fandom because she’s a traditional female character; it’s the fact that arguments in the Elriel fandom deflect a critical analysis of Elain’s character because she’s a traditional female character who embodies the ideal white woman in need of protection. White fans and white-aligned fans of color, especially white women, have a tendency to vehemently defend, gatekeep, and coddle white female characters in fandom; this makes it difficult for other fans to engage in critical discussions about these white female characters because they’re viewed as flawless and all around perfect characters despite evidence to the contrary. Since Elain is viewed positively by the other characters in the series, it has rendered her character untouchable to any perceived slight or criticism in fandom discussions because those negative opinions challenge what has been said about her character thus far. And as a result, her character has been placed on a pedestal and implicitly hailed as the epitome of white womanhood; and when she’s criticized, it’s seen as a direct attack against white womanhood. Arguments in the Elriel fandom: exploit feminist language and perpetuate white feminist tactics under the guise of defending Elain’s character; center Elain in conversations about female oppression in the ACOTAR world and uphold white feminist ideologies in their critique of ACOTAR’s patriarchal society; and use the fragile white woman narrative to victimize Elain in Lucien’s presence, playing into racial biases that are associated with white supremacy’s defense of white womanhood.

Feminism is a social movement that seeks to promote equality and equity to all genders, and feminists work toward eradicating gender disparities on a macro-level, in addition to challenging gender biases on a micro-level. As feminism became more mainstream, a flat and oversimplified version of feminism emerged: mainstream feminism. The mainstream feminist movement is meant to represent all women, but rarely does it center conversations around issues that concern most women. The problem with mainstream feminism is that it’s just a popularized version of white feminism. White feminism has relied extensively on an individualized understanding of women’s oppression, exclusively from the lens of privileged white women. White feminism only focuses on the oppression experienced by white, able-bodied, affluent, educated, cishet women; and it views gender as the key mode of privileged white women’s oppression, isolated from the privileges granted by their other social identities. White women can be and are oppressed under the patriarchy but only because they are women; their identity as women does not exempt them from the privileges granted by their whiteness. The term white feminist does not mean any feminist who is white, but refers to feminists who prioritize the concerns of privileged white women as though they are representative of all women. However, the term is not exclusive to white people. Because white feminism is so pervasive, people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds often buy into white feminism, believing that if they work hard enough, they may be able to reap its rewards.

Just like white feminism, mainstream feminism only recognizes the identity of being a woman, assumes that all women share common experiences of gender oppression, fails to address other social identities in relation to overlapping systems of oppression, and disregards privilege in relation to various social identities. Just like white feminism, mainstream feminism is palatable because it doesn’t seek to challenge the systems in place, instead its goal is to succeed within them. Essentially, mainstream feminism and white feminism are extensions of performative feminism. Performative feminism is a type of performative activism that’s used to describe feminist views that are surface level and solely for the benefit of one type of person. It’s a pretense which often has nothing to do with genuine activism. Arguments in the Elriel fandom normalize and promote performative feminism because the topic of feminism is only referenced when discussing Elain. This indicates that these arguments are engaging in disingenuous discourse to push a personal agenda within the ACOTAR fandom, and it becomes more apparent when they use white feminist tactics to shut down opposing viewpoints:

White feminists weaponize and exploit feminist language to silence the opinions of other women, especially when they’re called out for their problematic behaviors

White feminists use the phrase “Women supporting women” to defend other white feminists who exhibit problematic behaviors instead of holding them accountable

White feminists weaponize phrases like “Women supporting women” and “You just hate women” to attack other women who disagree with them on any given topic

White feminists use phrases like “All women face challenges” and “Stop pitting women against each other” to sidestep conversations about privilege

White feminists divert conversations away from privilege and towards the Trauma Olympics to equate their struggles to the oppression of marginalized people

White feminists skirt around the realities of other forms of oppression and discrimination, downplaying the experiences of marginalized people

White feminists diminish or ignore the ways in which gender oppression affects other marginalized people

White feminists paint those they harmed as aggressive, mean, or divisive when confronted with the ways they have harmed a marginalized group

White feminists deflect criticism by focusing on the anger or emotions being expressed rather than the issue that is being discussed, invalidating the concerns of marginalized people

White feminists speak over marginalized voices in an attempt to sound “woke”

White feminists get defensive and insist there’s no way they could be a part of the problem because of what they’ve done to help marginalized groups already

White feminists say they don’t see color in an attempt to obscure racial issues that need to be addressed

White feminists center and victimize themselves in conversations about racism, which derails necessary conversations from taking place

White feminists who are white weaponize the intersectionality of their race and gender to avoid accountability

Feminism is not meant to be approached from an individualistic perspective nor is it only about addressing the experiences of privileged white women, it involves addressing the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, (dis)ability, and other social identities as well; and it involves addressing how these social identities relate to privilege. Moreover, feminism is not about women upholding complete loyalty to other women because of a shared gender identity, and to claim that it does implies that women should be held to different emotional standards than men. If men are able to dislike and criticize other individual men, real or fictional, without their characters being compromised, why aren’t women granted that same privilege?

It’s clear that SJM set up the ACOTAR world to mirror a patriarchal society, and that the imbalance of power between males and females stems from sexism. Arguments in the Elriel fandom analyze the ACOTAR world through a feminist lens to show how ACOTAR’s patriarchal society, to which the mating bond is innately tied, contributes to female oppression and limits their agency. When choice and free will are emphasized as part of Elain’s arc, they imply that Elain, through the mating bond, experiences female oppression under ACOTAR’s patriarchal society because of her identity as a female with that identity being the focal point of her oppression in the world. Elain is one of the most privileged characters in the ACOTAR world: she’s High Fae; she’s the sister of the High Lord and High Lady of the Night Court, which gives her access to wealth and political influence because of that connection; she’s able-bodied; she was magically blessed by the Cauldron; and she lives in Velaris, a place that grants females autonomy and power because of the beliefs of Rhysand and Feyre. Arguments in the Elriel fandom trivialize female oppression in the ACOTAR world because they disregard the fact that Elain’s privileges prevent her from experiencing female oppression in the same way that other marginalized females in the world do. The mating bond being one such example because those around Elain are not forcing the bond on her, instead they’re allowing Elain to reach a decision about the bond for herself; a privilege that other marginalized females in the world probably wouldn’t have. Just because Elain has endured hardships in her life and is a female in a patriarchal society, they do not erase the privileges she holds within the ACOTAR world. The failure to include Elain’s privileges in discussions about Elain being a female in a patriarchal society feeds into white feminist ideologies because white feminism operates from a very narrow perspective; it doesn’t take other intersecting identities into account when it examines gender oppression, leaving no room for discussions about privilege (or lack thereof) in relation to those intersecting identities. When discussing oppression in hierarchical societies, it’s imperative that privilege is also included in the conversation because privilege and oppression are not mutually exclusive; they equally affect the ways in which people navigate those societies through their social identities.

Rather than attributing Elain’s uncomfortability to her new life as a Fae female or the mating bond itself and her trauma to the Cauldron, the King of Hybern, or Ianthe, they’re placed on Lucien to cast his character in a negative light. Moreover, fandom discussions portray Lucien as a possessive character to further emphasize Elain’s discomfort despite the inaccuracy of this characterization in canon. Arguments in the Elriel fandom play into racial biases when it comes to Lucien (a male character of color) because they mischaracterize his character in order to victimize Elain (a white female character), placing her character in the role of the white damsel in distress. In Western society, the concept of womanhood has been conceptualized from a Eurocentric perspective with femininity and feminine attributes favoring white women. It’s the idea that a certain type of femininity is only inherent to white women as they are seen as the embodiment of an ideal womanhood. White womanhood has been a symbol of innocence and purity, and white women have been viewed as fragile beings in need of protection. The reason white womanhood functions within white supremacy is because it’s the same idea that has motivated white men to kill and beat black and brown men. The so-called protection of white women has been used as a justification for the horrific violence committed by white men because black and brown men were stereotyped as aggressive and seen as a threat to the virtue of white women. The white damsel in distress trope considered white women as worthy of protection because of their perceived innocence and purity; women of color were not granted that same treatment because they did not fit into the ideal image of womanhood. Over the years, this trope became a means for white women to exercise limited power in a patriarchal society with white women weaponizing their status as the damsel much to the detriment of black and brown men. It’s through the white damsel in distress trope that white supremacy sustains its dominance in Western society. The misrepresentation of characters of color in fandom, the dismissal of their importance to the overall story, and using them as tools in arguments centered around white characters are the foundation of fandom racism; they’re examples of how racism moves silently in fandom spaces. Instead of examining their behavior and taking constructive criticism from fans of color, white fans will often double down on their bigotry and center their uncomfortability in the conversation when confronted with their complicity in fandom racism. White fans expect fans of color to swallow fandom racism in its many forms in order to not ruin the experience of fandom, dismissing the fact that racism is prevalent in nearly every aspect of society. This mentality ensures that no one is held accountable for the harm they caused and alienates fans of color in fandom spaces.

To reiterate what I mentioned in my first think piece: terms like “oppression”, “the right to choose”, “feminist”, “feminism”, “anti-feminist”, “anti-feminism”, “internalized misogyny”, “misogyny”, “misogynist”, “sexist”, “sexism”, “racist”, “racism”, “classist”, “classism”, “discrimination”, and “patriarchy” are all used in specific ways to draw attention to the plight of marginalized people and challenge those who deny the existence of systems of oppression. Yet these words and their meanings can be twisted to attack, exclude, and invalidate people with differing opinions on any given topic. When social justice and feminist terms are thrown around antagonistically and carelessly to push a personal agenda, it becomes clear that these terms are being used to engage in disingenuous discourse and pursue personal validation rather than being used out of any deep-seated conviction to dismantle systemic oppression. Being an ally, activist, or feminist is not an identity, it’s a practice. It requires: ongoing self-reflection; holding ourselves accountable; listening to marginalized people; educating ourselves; dismantling implicit biases; challenging those around us who are exhibiting problematic behaviors; and action behind our words.

It’s important to be aware of the language that is used within the fandom when defending or critiquing characters and ships. It’s also important to question how an argument is framed and why it’s framed the way that it is to critically examine the intent behind that argument: is it used as a tool to push a personal agenda that reinforces problematic behaviors, or is it used as an opportunity to share, learn, enlighten, and educate?

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Tagging: @spell-cleavers @bookofmirth @m0bulidae @ilya-boltagon

#elain archeron #elriel #acotar fandom #acotar: fandom critical

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emtornado · 3 years

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Miraculous but make it Squid Games

Inspired by https://www.instagram.com/p/CUm02T7BCGr/?utm_medium=copy_link

Do I know why I keep making Miraculous posts? Nope. But here we go with another one~

(Also this takes place in Korea cuz I don't know any French children's games and didn't wanna complicate my own life so just roll with it)

Let’s introduce our characters first.

Marinette Dupain Cheng— A French student studying fashion in Korea who has lost all her money and is in severe debt.

Adrien Agreste— Marinette’s friend from France, and a former model who left his father and his company behind to travel the world ending up in Korea where he gets a very interesting offer.

So let’s start with the fact that there are obviously no miraculouses here. Both were two normal students who used to be friends but drifted apart, not even knowing that the other was in the same country, years later.

Marinette, who used to study in Sungkyunkwan University, is completely broke and the only reason she could afford school is because of her parents. Now, with a degree and no jobs (Korea is hard to foreigners, and even after years, that’s what she is to everyone), she's lost all motivation in life. Her sketchbooks, once full of life, now lie empty.

At her lowest moment, Marinette sits at a subway and contemplates what to do with life when a dude comes and offers her money, and all she has to do is play a Korean game. Ending with a stinging cheek and 40,000 won in her hands, the man offers her a card and tells her to think. She gets a lot of money, and all she has to do is play some games.

On the other side, we have Adrien. Adrien, who is more like Chat— confident, witty and VERY flirty. He left his father’s house when he was 18 and has been travelling ever since. He and Nino went to the states, travelled Europe by car, went to India (cuz yes) and currently makes a stop in Korea, where he is approached by a man. This man asks them if they’re up for a job, where they gets a decent amount of money and all he has to do is follow the rules and keep his mouth shut.

Adrien has experienced many things in his life so far, and his money supply is depleting. Thinking of this as some drug shit, he agrees and signs the contract (fucking idiot. After staying with his father and being a model for so long he should’ve known to at least read things properly smh). Seeing him, Nino does too.

Fast forward to the very first game. Adrien has been training for almost a month now and has a little idea of what he’s working for here.

He knows not to ask any questions, to only take the head mask off when he’s in his room and do whatever the man in the black mask tells him to.

He doesn’t ask a single question cuz he’s seen what happens to those who do. What happened to Nino, as his best friend’s brains splattered all across his mask. (sorry, but like. People had to die.)

When the participants play their first game, he doesn’t even flinch at the absolute massacre happening on his screen. He thinks about how nothing can faze him anymore when he catches sight of two pigtails on the screen. Two pigtails that look almost blue under the sun’s glare.

And that is when his stomach DROPS.

Let's yeet back to Marinette. Our sis is dying inside but she WILL NOT die outside. She came here for the money and now she has a greater motivation to survive— her life.

She is the last person in the game— number 467, and all that goes on in her head as three people beside her are shot due to the creepy doll’s eyes is the fact that she will remain the last one standing. It’s not about the money anymore, it’s about survival.

After the first game, when given the option, she presses her hand on the cross without a second’s hesitation.

As she makes her way home, she is relieved, that the torture is over.

And then she meets Adrien.

Back to Adrien. When all the participants head back, he uses two of his precious leave days from this fucked up organisation to track Marinette and meet her. When they do, they fucking collide cuz he saw her almost die and she almost died. They have reason to cling onto one another shush.

And then Adrien tells her. He tells her everything. He tells her what is happening, how many people have died, how Nino had died, and how he needs her help to shut all this down.

Marinette runs away. She doesn’t wanna be there. And then she starts looking at all the chats and pictures of her and Nino. How he was one of her very first friends. And so she goes back to the same cafe and meets Adrien again.

They make a plan. They will make sure she survives, for which she will need allies in the game (not outside the games, cuz she will always have him there).

And so armed with knowledge, Marinette goes back into the game and meets a naïve Korean man who teams up with everyone, a bitch who will survive somehow (and will kill anyone to do so— yes I mean Lila) and a young man who seems so fucking familiar.

And so the games go on and Marinette keeps surviving. And as that happens, she starts to spend her nights in a secluded area with Adrien, where they talk, they reminisce and they find a reason to live in each other.

And then the marble game happens. She partners with the boy, Luka, who turns out to be another face from back home. She partners with him because she trusts him and she is afraid nobody else will partner with him because of the growing bloody wound on his head courtesy of the thugs trying to kill him.

Adrien is the guard assigned to her and Luka, and he watches as Luka slowly and steadily grows more and more out of it and Marinette starts full-on sobbing. Right when the time is about to end, Luka gives his marbles to Marinette and begs her to survive this game and live, and go back to Paris and tell Juleka about all this, as his final goodbye. He looks her in the eyes with a smile until the very last second when Adrien shoots him.

That night, the VIPs arrive and both Mari and Adrien know that they need to move on with their plan, but they spend the whole night by diving tanks they know won’t be used anymore, cuz the Black Mask Man made an example out of everyone who tried to betray him. Marinette is curled into Adrien and in the silence, she vows to end them. That morning (night?) when they are sneaking back, they come into contact with one of the black-masked dudes who would serve the VIPs and Adrien knocks him out and switches outfits.

He kisses Marinette before making his way to the VIP chamber.

Imagine his surprise when after almost half a decade he hears his father’s voice behind the mask of a man wearing an elaborate gold butterfly headset.

He watches in rapt attention as Marinette thankfully chooses number 15, with Lila right in front of her. Now we don’t like Lila (here specifically) because after Tug of War she started to turn people against Marinette, because of whose strategy their team won the game. Marinette was almost killed by many of the thugs in the nighttime because of Lila, and when there’s 30 seconds left and one step left to be determined, Marinette pushes Lila off one and scores victory for her and number 16, Alya Cesaire. (Who is in Korea for journalism internships or some shit and got roped into this because of lack of money, and became Marinette’s greatest ally)

They both know that one of them will die at the end, and so Marinette tells Alya of hers and Adrien’s plan to end this thing once and for all, and so they go and play the final Squid Game, where at the end, Alya very convincingly stabs herself, making Marinette the winner.

On the other side of the glass, Adrien, who has gotten the interest of a disgusting old VIP, puts an idea into his head about how the VIPs should really go and really be in the scene and see what has happened, and that old man, fascinated by the idea of being in the zone, convinces his 'friends' that they should go.

And so they all go, surrounding a blood-soaked and sobbing Marinette and start laughing and congratulating her. (cue Gabriel recognising her and being condescending as fuck. Imagine dialogues like "you had so much potential and now are just reduced to this", which cements the fact that he really is Gabriel Agreste).

That is when Adrien, who was escorting them along with the Black Mask, pulls his gun on them, Alya pulls the knife “out” of her and takes the old fat man who liked Adrien hostage and Marinette pulls out her own knife to Gabriel.

They try to make a deal, and when Gabriel almost gets the better of them (cue seggsy fight scene which I don’t have the words to describe rn) Marinette stabs him in the neck.

After threatening the VIPs and getting all of their identities, as well as the black mask dude’s identity, they go to the nearest police station and give all of their gathered evidence.

Due to the physical and psychological trauma and torture faced by Alya and Marinette, as well as part of a settlement plea from the VIPs, they both get all the money.

The two girls plus Adrien fly out to France and reconcile with their families. Adrien and Marinette visit Nino’s family, Juleka and Rose and as many of the people as they can.

The two of them get a small apartment together, unlike the huge mansion that Adrien was left after Gabriel’s death (which he sells and uses the money to be given to all the victim's families)

He also becomes the owner of Gabriel, and with Marinette turns it over into a completely different company (cuz Gabriel was one corrupt bastard)

And so they live happily with weekly therapy sessions and a traumatic, but happy ending.

Gods I need help, I wrote almost 2000 words for this lol. Maybe I'll write this properly someday hahaha.

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percabeth4life · 3 years

Note

Did anyone send in Percy/Prometheus? If not, I’m sending it in for the relationship analysis thingy

I was hoping no one would notice :(

Percy/Prometheus

Physical Age

Percy is 16

Prometheus is, like all titans, 20ish

Imbalance in Prometheus’ favor

Mental Maturity

Percy was of course forced to grow up a lot over the period of the war and while he’s not fully mature, he is a kid still and still deals with things in an inexperienced manner, he has a lot of knowledge and an unfortunate amount of understanding of the world. He was abused as a child and of course has the trauma of the war so he’s cynical and a bit bitter but is fiercely loyal and knows how to stand up for his ideals.

Prometheus is very old, very very old, but as he’s an immortal we get to apply immortal rules! Yay! He’s very smart, kinda responsible for the current generation of humanity (arguably), and knows a shit ton. He’s always been on humanities side (until PJO :)) and alas, we don’t get to see much of him. What we do know is he picks the side he expects to win and wants humanity to be alright. He does not have much open trauma besides the whole get his liver eaten thing.

Imbalance in Prometheus’ favor

Emotional Maturity

Percy has been forced to grow up far too much emotionally and also has a shit ton of trauma to work through so we should probably get him therapy at some point. He’s unfortunately very mature emotionally because of… or despite the trauma he has had time to talk to friends and family and work through things inbetween his life and death experiences. He doesn’t have much control of his anger though, and he isn’t good at understanding other’s emotions but that’s fair emotions are hard. He has the maturity to understand his emotions at least, and deal with them in a healthy manner, but stars someone get the kid some therapy.

We don’t know much about Prometheus’ emotional state, but he is very good at reading emotions and controlling himself. He’s manipulative as he needs to be and cares for humanity. He definitely has an unfair advantage in being able to read people.

Imbalance in Prometheus’ favor

Power Imbalance

I would say there’s one but Percy isn’t about to bow to Zeus or Kronos, much less Prometheus, so they’re fine lol.

No real Imbalance

Overall,

It’s the same as all Titan asks smh. You guys don’t actually care about the imbalance, you just want the imbalance for the drama and cool feels. Can’t really blame you, it’s very dramatic in fics.

Send me an ask with a relationship

#THE FINAL ONE #YESSSS #percy/titans #Percy/prometheus #pjo prometheus #relationship asks

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gwyns · 3 years

Note

I would like to say that I am blaming you for shipping Jassa strongly at this point.

I had to re-read some parts of the book to add them to the Vassa Wiki page (which by the way is very biased and out of context about V+L) and now I am so down for them.

Like, Vassa was suspicious of him at first, then she was sold and in the war she saw that he was helping the human lands and after that she called him to live with her and I keep wondering what went on in her head.

hehehe i am glad i could be of service ;)

can i also just say i appreciate you trying to make the wiki less biased?? it's so annoying going on there and seeing things that are just so obviously untrue. idc who you ship, just keep it away from the wiki.

but YES????? vassa saw through him and we all know a big thing for sjm ships is that they see one another. also can we discuss just how much trauma jurian must have?? like this dude was in the war 500 years prior, was slowly tortured and killed by amarantha (while i can understand her reason for this i don't really feel bad for her sister and don't blame jurian for his actions either lmao), his soul trapped in her jewelry for hundreds of years and he was aware the whole time and THEN he's resurrected by the cauldron just to be thrown into another war..... my boy needs a break. and some therapy.

as for vassa she was betrayed by people i'm assuming she at least some what trusted??? and has had her body violated all bc of their greed and she's heated about it (pun intended ha). she's ready to fuck some queens up and tbh? jurian would be right there on the sidelines cheering her on.

i really hope we get some more jassa crumbs in the future bc the "they're at each other's throats, as they like to be" quote implies SO MUCH with such little effort and i just know that their relationship started as vassa not really trusting him bc hello but her knowing she needs someone like him to help her retake her lands and him (probably) feeling some guilt over her situation bc he contributed to it in a way but wanting to do whatever he can to try and make amends and all of this manifests in them bickering and picking at each other and then finally...... FINALLY. they just fuck, and poor lucien probably heard it all night smh. and i've said this before but jurian is absolutely touch starved after being jewelry so he touches vassa every chance he gets, even if it's just slightly brushing up against her.

and it gets to a point that them touching is so normal that nobody even bats an eye? like yeah jurian just randomly starts running his fingers through vassa's hair and braiding it back so it doesn't get in her eyes. or vassa would just reach up and brush away something that's on jurian's face, that's just what she does. basically, they're a couple without officially being a couple. i need more. i crave more.

*slides a crisp $20 bill towards sjm* you know what to do.

#idk where i was going with this but lmfao we need more jassa content #ps its totally being shown that jurian cares very much for the humans and would make a good leader ;))#acotar #jurian #vassa #jurian x vassa #jassa #vurian #asks #anonymous

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violentshine · 2 years

Text

new thing for the scattered sparks au

when tigerclan (shadow & river) starts forming & Tigerstar starts integrating Shadowclan cats into Riverclan's camp, he starts putting cats in what he's called "confinement" which is just his way of saying imprisonment without saying imprisonment

One of the cats that he puts into confinement is Shellshine (Luna) because she doesn't "treat him with respect" & refuses to acknowledge his leadership of Tigerclan, so he puts her in a separate den. Leopardstar only learns of this after it's happened. Which she of course has an issue with since that's her daughter-not daughter and Tigerstar tells her she would be too soft on Shellshine anyway since they're close and it's important that he's respected ("as much as she is")

A handful of other cats get put into confinement as well, one of those cats being Fangflare (not only does Shellshine have to share a clan with her "head empty only battle" annoying brother but a jail cell too? ugh). Fangflare has no idea why Tigerstar put him in there since he's been nothing but loyal to him (even helped him gain his position...smh). Tigerstar says his reason is due to Fangflare (& Shellshine) having kin in other clans that may put his plan at risk because they may say something and he doesn't want that. It's not a very. Good reason. Probably due to it not being totally the case and Tigerstar may have put confined Fangflare there because 1) He's kin to Fireheart specifically and it's very clear the two don't get along 2)Fangflare is another big personality in the clan and might jeopardize the plan since he can be overly hostile and always looking for fights 3) Tigerstar thinks he's annoying

Fangflare is desperate to prove his loyalty to Tigerstar and when a certain group starts forming to achieve a certain goal...Fangflare finds it to be the best opportunity.

Stonefur is very much against this whole "Tigerclan" thing and knows others agree with him. He starts first with the cats in confinement, brainstorming ways they can get rid of Tigerclan and Tigerstar.

Even though Stonefur has avoided him for this reason, Fangflare caught wind of their conversations and told Tigerstar. Except Fangflare heard a different cat talking about it and told Tigerstar that cat was in charge of the rebellion. So when Tigerstar called a meeting and accused said cat for "wanting war instead of peace" Stonefur cleared their name and came clean about it.

Tigerstar is obviously furious and calls for some cat to kill him; claiming that the clan needs to be taught a lesson. He's "forming all the clans as one as to get rid of the bloodshed and battle, but if cats are so against living peacefully with one another and would prefer a life of violence, they can have it"

Stonefur is killed, Fangflare really wanted to do it, idk if he takes Darkstripe's place in failing to kill Stonefur* or if he was ordered to sit down.

*him failing actually makes sense since he's been in confinement and would have a restricted amount of prey & exercise. Stonefur also wouldn't want to kill him (or yk die, so he's playing a mean defense) but i feel like if i do this it would give later, matured, Fangflare a lot more trauma then what i have in mind which is a lot already...thinking

#scattered sparks au #i always start these aus with ''hmm i guess stone'fur can live'' and he ends up dying anyway #reason for it is Tiger'star my fanon isn't like canon so no half-clan hatred thing so Stone'fur wouldn't have a target on his back #if that makes sense #idk if any of this makes sense it's almost 6 am & i just thought this up #haven't slept of course too busy thinking about battle cats

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chaotic-trav · 3 years

Note

Tell me about your story

U mean the novel I'm writing or my life story? Cuz I think I should probably stop myself from talking about my life story, sorry. However my novel on the other hand is smh that I will happily talk about.😌

Haha, tbf with you I haven't completely figured that shit out. But I have a good idea of what I want it to be. All the MC's are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community 😌. No one is straight...except for a few people. Otherwise everyone is gay.

For the main characters you got, Livia, Melissa, Eduard, Alexade also goes by Jamie, Rigel and Corlac the twins, Scott, Jacy, Nora...should I count Marsina? I'm counting her.

So basically, there's this magical world, where everyone with magic and powers live. However people with non magical parents do exist, and it's some people's job to find them and get them there. Some people are magical, but there can be a bit of issue finding them, so sometimes they find you when your at like your adulthood. Two of the MC's get found at twelve and have magical parents and the other two at fourteen and have non magical ones. There's a bunch of powers in this world. Like kheimokinesis which is basically winter powers, Argokinises which is firepowers, Aquakinises which is water powers, Mentokinises which means that u can literally control the whole brain, Aestakinises which is summer powers and so many more. There's also magic, which is different from powers. Magic is just the normal stuff like moving things and spells. They could do the same thing with people as powers but it would take more concentration and effort on their part then someone who can do it instinctively. In a way it's the same way for everyone, because it's harder to use some other powers than your own. Especially if it's the opposite of your own. Oh and everyone needs to know spells, to do magic, in the beginning. Overtime their magic gets stronger and they can just easily with concentration do it.

Some people just have magic and no powers. Some people have two powers and are known to be extremely powerful. Some have powers, but it's like the opposite of themselves, which is a disease. Your powers are supposed to symbolise who you are as a person, they're supposed to symbolise certain aspects of your personality. For some people they don't, they are the complete opposite of who they are. It can be just a little bit harder for them to control their powers. Just a little tho.

There are also levels for magic, up to twenty. Level one is the second highest and level twenty is the lowest. The highest is level Virvanda, and people of that level only appear once a century. Of u get lucky they come twice. There are also cursed Virvandas. Virvandas throughout history have been someone who put the greater good above everything, who were ready to do whatever that needed to be done and were supposed to not care for mercy and be a bringer of justice. Cursed Virvandas are basically people, who cared more about the people than they love than the greater good, who were merciful and always ready to give a second chance. People would have loved them if somehow they didn't end up causing the demise of so many things, and themselves. So basically people hate cursed Virvandas, because in their eyes they are a bringer of doom....more will be told in the story on why that kept happening.

There's a war going on. But it's not like this side is wrong and evil and that one is right and good war. Because dammit I'm tired of seeing those. It's basically just that. A war. Neither side is fully right and neither is fully wrong. Not gonna elaborate anymore on that.

There's this prophecy, but it's like a dark prophecy. All of the MCs in the prophecy's words are supposed to be evil. But yeah the prophecy might or might not be defied😌. Well not all of the MCs. Livia who is also Virvanda level is supposed to bring them peace but she's also cursed and loves all of the other MCs alot so she'll probably give her best into defying the prophecy.

I'm going to now go on a ramble about Livia who's most definitely not the most main and most beloved for me. ( I am so sorry about all my rambling)

She's an atheist who grew up in a toxic and mildly abusive household, she is also bi but will discover this later on. She's like I said cursed Virvanda. she's going to hate being called that and just be like fuck u I'm Livia erelans, that's my name, call me by that. she also has anxiety and will get depressed as the story goes on. Loads of trauma for her. She wants to be an author. She loves reading and is in so many fandoms. Loves cats. Always there to help out. Does not work well under pressure. Got anger issues. She's also someone who's like always trying to hide their problems. Can be a indecisive. Badass and nice as hell. Won't hesitate to call you out on your shit. Chaotic mom friend. Can sometimes do things without thinking. She is kheimokinesis. Feminist. Insecure. Self deprecating. Cares more about others than herself. Will stand up for any cause that she thinks us right. Creative as hell. Gotta learn to love herself. Just so tired and done with everything but will still get excited about stupid things. She keeps fighting for what she believes in even after going through so much trauma and gives so many second chances. Loves to daydream and the colour sky blue and the sky itself. She also loves to stragaze and listening to music. Bad at maths and drawing. I absolutely love her and she is def my favourite character to write.

Basically that's my MC for u. A beautiful human being that I love....if I ever finish that book and if u already don't hate my guts after reading all this, then you can read that and find out about the others yourself....if u feel like reading the bullshit that I will write. If u don't that's okay too. Thank u for this ask tho, it made me extremely happy🥺🥺.

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airanahhbvhh · 3 years

Text

An old google doc of my first impressions of animorphs books 1-27 :)

Rating all the Animorphs books (because i am secretly the biggest loser on the planet) *

1 - 7/10 - good start, I don't remember this one honestly

2 - 5/10 - this is the one where Rachel sneaks into Chapman’s house as a cat and we get that cool Melissa Chapman moment

3 - 8/10 - Tobias grapples with losing his humanity and comes out the other end of it deciding that he is neither entirely bird or boy (made me lowkey ship tobias and rachel) good first kinda deep resonant theme in the story

4 - 6/10 - Don’t really remember this one that well but they find Ax who is super fucking rad

5 - 6/10 - Does the entire cast deal with nightmares? The Kids get dismembered and traumatized as ants in pursuit of getting a spaceship for Ax. They get captured until internal politicking between Visser 1 and 3 get them out of it. Marco discovers his mom’s Visser 1 which sets up his character development for later, which is cool

6 - 7/10 - This one’s more about Jake handling Tom’s yeerk stuff, he gets a yeerk stuck in his head which was pretty cool, really liked seeing the actual psychology of the yeerks and how the one in his head slowly lost hope (You also think wow Tom is probably really miserable in his current situation, really puts it into perspective)

7 - 5/10 - big worldbuilding stuff, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the book; the Elemist offers them the opportunity to escape to a new planet and shows them the future, Rachel’s divorced parents drama, boring

8 - 10/10 - On an Animorphs scale immaculate and perfect in every way. Due to Andalite law, Ax doesn’t share everything with the Animorphs and this causes CHARACTER CONFLICT, my favorite thing, there's also a confrontation where everyone’s like Ax you need to tell us more, you get scenes of Ax learning about the human world which I love and it’s just the best (also a cool meeting with other andalites and he tells them about Seerow’s Kindness) (There's also an emotional throughline where Ax struggles with his responsibilities to his species and coming to terms with the way his culture contributes/ed to suffering with their inaction) (so incredibly pog)

9 - 6.5/10 - Cassie kills a termite queen which gives her an identity crisis, and she and Jake talk about the circle of life and whether or not they should abide by it (For some reason I can’t remember the Cassie books that well)

10 - 9/10 - Holy shit the cover to this one is so fucking funny, And actually a really good story Erek had to kill people and live with the memory forever because he’s a robot (and Marco’s all like “I was already forgetting as I went to sleep”) (smh flexing his human short term memory) Really fucking good

11 - 3.5/10 - Garbage, my least favorite so far, this is the time traveling rain forest one (good things never happen when you invoke time travel), boring tbh {in hindsight it wasnt that bad}

12 - 4/10 - Pretty boring, Rachel just has to do stuff with that Justin Bieber guy while dealing with what's the equivalent of genetic hiccups (his name is Jeremy Jason McCole)

13 - 7/10 - Not bad at all, this is the one where they save a pair of Hork Bajir and the Elemist kinda fucks with Tobias (Tobias gets the chance to actually have a normal life and doesn’t take it) (I wonder what Marco would do?) (Also not surprising he didn’t, Tobias has a crappy homelife and for some reason is willing to sacrifice a lot)

14 - 4/10 - Now this is boring, the area 61 one, totally skippable

15 - 8/10 - Marco is really struggling with being afraid of being a shark, feels ashamed of being scared. The one with the mentally enhanced hammerheads (Really cool how he and Rachel had that moment together where she told him she saw a submarine so that he wouldn’t think his mom died) (Also why can’t people pity him?, i don’t understand) Overall pretty good (Also I think something might come up in regards to him being suceptible to his transformations, cause he seems like more so than the other animorphs)

16 - 9/10 - The first Jake book that I really liked, good character conflict between him and Cassie (she kinda a hypocrite doe for asking him to end Fenestre’s life) (Yo did Jake burn down his house?) (At what point are human lives worth less than making small amounts of progress in the war?) (they’re actually a pretty good couple) It is pretty intense to see him grapple with making the wrong choice as the leader :0

17 - 8/10 - Very insensitive to the mentally ill, like egregiously so (wtf rachel?) Rachel brushing up against always feeling like she has to be the tough one (Marco’s great for copping to the fact and proudly admitting that he’s afraid) The one with the addictive oatmeal in the Kandrona (ok kinda based lesson at the end about respecting the mentally ill and homeless but still kinda soured by the way they talk about the mentally ill) (Jake is also a hypocrite he’ll do the oatmeal things for other people but he won't do it to his brother)

18 - 9/10 - Once again incredibly pog, Ax is struggling with his identity as a friend of the humans and an Andalite. He trusts the Andalite group when he shouldn’t and his friends get mad at him for casting them out (btw this book starts with Ax raiding a Cinnabon which is just so charming) They go and do space war on the Leeran planet which sounds pretty (There is again a meetup where everyone gets mad at Ax for siding with the Andalites [ which I love btw]) More character development for Ax yay

19 - 10/10 - Best Cassie book. Holy shit, so great I loved her discussions with the yeerk and then it went in her head and all her friends mourned like holy shit this was so good. The conflict in the story was way more interesting than the Average animorph story too. (Cassie is like super wrong about whether or not she should leave the team, but like the story made me have an opinion, like what?) (Super nice part about the value of those who arent like mindlessly logical and the necessity of people who arent entirely utilitarian for creating a better world after the war is over) Like Cassie needs to continue to fight in order to maintain her morally righteous position) but there's something to be said about the loss of humanity and kindness that this war takes away from these actual children. I don’t fault Cassie at all for wanting to leave. Also the Yeerks have an ideology. Kinda? Also I love the Karen Yeerk, her redemption was actually really well paced and actually didn’t come out of nowhere (unlike other pieces of media). (Seriously amazing, this book made me like Cassie)

20-22 - 10/10 - rated individually I might give the first two books 8’s and the third a 10 but I'm doing them all together cause they're a three part series. David is such a prick oh my god. I think though the best part of the story was what happened with Rachel realizing what this war is doing to her mentally and not entirely being ok with it. And oh my god that ending, it feels like it shouldn't have to be that way (fucking hell David) but there really wasn't another way out of it, David's just too much of a liability. And Rachel STAYING AND WATCHING as his life is destroyed is honestly so dark. (Cassie has really strong emotional intelligence, I guess, to create that plan) The ending and Rachel's growth really make these books for me.

23 - 7/10 - pretty good. This is the one where Visser 3 tries to impersonate Aria and reveals Tobias’ dad to him. I guess that's why he felt connected to Elfangor. In this one Tobias is still struggling with the duality of being both human and hawk. He vows to kill and regret.

24 - 6/10 - The Helmacron one. Found it pretty boring but the Hemacrons kinda made up for it. Liked their unquenchable thirst for conquest and suicidal bravery (kinda aspirational how delusional they were) (Also kinda funny how Visser 3 was put off by being shrunk down)

25 - 7/10 -The Arctic Adventures one. Also the one where Marco gets a date. They were pretty miserable there with the constant old and endless running. They also had to eat a seal corpse. (Marco said something like he felt he deserved the scratches of the baby seals for eating their mom, really sad) Marco’s conclusion was kinda just put the traumatizing mission out of your head, and also Marian doesn’t want to date you anymore. Not the greatest book for Marco.

26 - 6/10 - The Howler-Iskoort one. Pretty good, I liked the Howlers collective consciousness and how they were all children who didn’t know about what they were doing to others. Jake has more trauma now yaaaay…. (Cassie and jake kiss in this one) (not sure how they transferred those memories but that's my fault ig)

27 - 7/10 - I am so incredibly concerned for Rachel. **

* (honestly maybe not that secretly)

**This is the one where the Drode sees Rachel’s penchant for violence and offers her the opportunity to betray Jake. She does not tell him about it. Almost attacked Cassie in squid form. Also still really reckless. Still loves fighting. Seriously, I'm concerned.

#animorphs #writing #cassie #why am i like this

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staliasjeronica · 3 years

Text

Riverdale S5 Ep1 Thoughts *Spoilers*

AHHH MY INFAMOUS LIVE THOUGHTS POST IS BACK I’M SO ASDFGHJKL; Under the cut are my thoughts <3

- Charles be like “my crazy brother wrote a murder……?”

- “BV as in Betty… Veronica?” Lol Beronica crumbs <3

- Veronica’s so beautiful ughhhh. She’s such a great girlfriend too like she does so much and knowing she’s gonna be hurting makes me so sad…. but I can blame BH’s ugly boring fanservice for keeping them from exploring Barchie a while ago and not needing a cheating plot. But whatever, I’m manifesting Jeronica helping each other <3

- Veronica asking Archie to play Betty’s song lmao but it’s so sweet of her to be so excited for him to get back into music. But music is associated with Betty bc she’s his muse

- Forgetting all of what Hiram’s done this scene was kinda sweet.

- So he beats the fuck out of people lol okay… also NOW Veronica makes sure her dad’s not lying??

- Betty’s voice automatically set me on edge it’s so annoying…

- Oh this scene… I don’t like Cheryl being so rude to Kevin/Fangs it’s so rude for NO REASON.

- DID TONI JUST SAY “AGAIN”? When tf was she Serpent Queen??? And why didn’t she STAY that way?

- KO looks like he’s gonna fuck Archie up lol

- who is war baby again…? Also I can’t stop thinking about how Sean Depner admitted that he thought of his scenes with Jughead as romantic

- I can’t wait for this boxing shit to be over with… but low-key I’m kinda into it rn????

- “heavyweight heartbreaker”

- BH once again bringing Cheryl in to do their dirty work and giving her more trauma

- Why did it not occur to me that this was why they were dressed like this… but it’s better than what I thought so

- OH THIS IS WHHEN SHE SINGS CARRY THE TORCH AHHH THE EMBARRASSMENT AND ANGST

- Jughead being enraptured by Veronica <3

- Betty looking over at Archie YESSSS “that’s MY song!!”

- “when my boyfriend beats up your boyfriend.” VERONICA. “I love you!” STOPPPPPPPP I’M SO 🥺🥺🥺

- THE CHONI TALK </3

- Ahhhhhh the “I love Ronnie but I’m not IN LOVE with Ronnie” vibe from Archie :((( It’s weird that they’re making VA the only one who’s sad and angsty like… why does Archie always have to take tether fall

- “You had me at snuff film” I’m sorry what??

- Oh I thought Betty was gonna bring out the Jason video she shouldn’t have. Okay Betty gained a few points for being brave enough to bring that wow… II wasn’t expecting that.

- Yay… boxing…

- I still hate that everyone is always split up but Betty looks so good rn with that jacket ugghhhh probably bc it’s not a serpent jacket <3

- You’d think Betty’d be able to notice the guy in the mask that she waked past if she’s such a “great detective” asdfgjkl;

- The sound effects PLSSS hadjshkfsafj

- lmao what- how convenient that people crowd in tether hallway the second they’re tryring to get to the guy

- JELLYBEAN??!??! She’s not dumb why would she ever be here.

- Veronica being such a great girlfriend that she’s willing to skip PROM she deserves so much better pls

- CHERYL LOOKS SO GOOD PLSSSSS. TONI 🥺🥺 these pictures are so cute pls

- Hiram leave Archie alone challenge!!

- Veronica 💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞 imagine cheating on her couldn’t ever be me

- “Smile and say endgame” MARY……….

- Betty eating Jughead up in that dress she’s so beautiful and has to be next to Jughead who can’t even put a beanie away for a night…

- THE VARCHIE BETTY PICTUERE JFASKDHALFSLS

- Not Reggie spiking the punch…

- JUGHEAD’S HANDS AROUND VERONICA’S WAIST YES BITCH

- Veronica staying behind from college for Archie…. girl??? OH MY GOD HE TOLD HER STRAIGHT UP FDSIAFHSAKFLD VERONICA’S FACE NO NO SHE’S SO BABIE AND SAD I’M SO-

- But it’s good that he told her…. but at prom :(

- Choni prom queens as they deserve it makes no sense for anyone else to be royal

- FIRST OPENLY GAY PROM QUEENS. Now why she add Varchie BH into it…?

- Toni’s crown fell off in the background

- Well this is totally not creepy….

- OMG PEACHES?? hey girl!

- Not Choni breaking up over some random quickly put together “angst” but BH is gonna be fine for at least until the time jump smh

- V you know B doesn’t tell anyone anything unless she’s forced to.

- NO NEED TO BLOW THEM UP TOO?? V BH SHOULD HAVE BROKEN UP AFTER S1. Poor Veronica my baby girl.

- Why can’t Veronica ever have an angry moment like she always has to be the civil adult it’s t fair :(

- PARALLEL TO WHEN VERONICA CRIED IN HER MOM’S LAP IN S1!!

- HIRAM WAS LITERALLY NOT THERE A SECOND AGO.

- Cheryl sobbing to Nana Rose I HATE THIS SHOW. Everyone but who actually should be breaking up is breaking up UGHH

- literally stop giving Archie so much trauma!!!

- ARCHIE ANGST NEXT WEEK!? AN EP JUST ABOUT HIM!??! YESS FINALLY! but again Hiram stop trying to kill Archie Jesus imagine how tired we are smh

#Riverdale #Thoughts #Spoilers

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daydream-ideas · 3 years

Text

The Shadows

I’m not sure if this an actual real life concept, as yet again, I have not done any research, but I saw it in a few manhwa’s and stole it for my paracosm hahaha.

The Emperor’s Shadows.

People who are tasked with following and protecting the emperor in secret, away from the eyes of anyone who might be watching, even the emperor’s own knights and average guards. They’re useful for protection when the emperor has to go somewhere discreetly and the addition of knights would give away too much, plus, they can be sent on errands to gather intel as spies.

Lyr gathers up all the assassins who previously worked for the king of Misian (though the king said that he ‘owned’ them) who Lyr usurped the throne from and makes them into his Shadows, having them be spies rather than assassins as they previously were, since the skillset is rather similar (having to be stealthy, etc.) but I still just refer to them as assassins anyway.

—

warnings for: torture, conditioning, assassins (wow shocker), war mention, human experimentation, drugs, addiction, slavery, forced labor

Silas – the first assassin

He was the best of the five, and the one sent to kill Lyr when he first claimed the throne of his home kingdom, Avimier. Lyr defeated him (which honestly was just kind of luck and Lyr’s paranoia since he’d just gone through a coup at the hands of his knights, so he was really on edge, but Silas is super good at fighting) and had him sent to the dungeons, where he pretty much forgot about him for the next couple of years lol. When he sentences Silas to be imprisoned, he tells his guards to “find out who sent him” which, given the history of Avimier’s past monarchs who were typically cruel, the guards interpreted the order as “torture the assassin until he reveals who sent him” which Lyr does not consider at all (he’s new to this and doesn’t yet know how things work) and that’s how Lyr accidentally had a man tortured 😬

He later releases Silas when he discovers what’s been done to him in the dungeons, but this isn’t until after the war with the Sylnera’ti kingdom which occurs much later in the timeline (it’s the third kingdom he conquers) and the king who sent Silas (the Misian king) is already dead.

The Misian king (he doesn’t deserve a name) tortured all his assassins so he could condition them to follow him as living weapons and nothing else, and as a result, Silas had shut off any part of himself that could feel emotion as a way to survive, long before he ever even met Lyr. Due to his past conditioning, him hearing Lyr’s name during the vicious torture he endured in the dungeons, it rewired his brain to be absolutely loyal to Lyr as his king, rather than as a target.

This is something that brings great discomfort to Lyr when he finds out because it’s not like this is something he wanted to have happen, even if it does technically benefit him. It’s also not something I was planning on sharing here? because it is super fucked up and Lyr is still my precious bean even if he did something like this, but yeah, there’s that.

Silas has long white / silver hair and grey eyes that hold no emotion. He’s the most anti-social para of the whole cosm and prefers to skulk in the library rather than interact with anyone. People also don’t like being around him as even his presence unnerves them — they don’t even know he’s an assassin, it’s just that monotone, expressionless way about him that creeps them out. He likes to nap in odd places that aren’t meant for sleeping.

—

Casimir – the second assassin

Given a less dramatic backstory than Silas, as the remaining assassins all dispersed from the Misian castle after Lyr usurped the throne, going their separate ways to try and hide out while making a life for themselves — not that it was really much of a life.

Casimir had it the best out of all the assassins being that he was remarkably average. He was still tortured by the Misian king just as the rest of them were, but didn’t garner any unwanted attention for being the best or worst.

After leaving the castle, he joined a band of mercenaries and used his skills to complete jobs and earn a little bit of money, and for once feeling a semblance of freedom, though he was still bound by the anger and bitterness of his past.

He was the easiest to find when Lyr went looking, as he wasn’t really being inconspicuous, though he was not happy to see another royal. Lyr, being a supreme idiot who wanted to gain Casimir’s trust so that the assassin would come back to the castle with him, allowed Casimir to take out his anger on him without fighting back (well, it’s the trust thing and also a bit of Lyr’s guilt complex but we’re not gonna get into that) and so this just, did not go very well with Alex, Lyr’s personal guard. The two still don’t get along.

Casimir did end up joining Lyr, but is also now filled with guilt about how he treated Lyr because Lyr is nice to him unlike the Misian king, though Casimir would never admit to any of this and just takes to deliberately annoying Lyr to cover up how much he wants to apologize for what happened. (me: smh, why are you like this.)

He develops a taste for the finer things in life after going back to the castle with Lyr, as Lyr starts giving him a stipend for his work (which the Misian king never did) as well as actually decent meals (which he also never got) and so Casimir is overwhelmed with guilt, kindness, and nice fancy things he has no idea what to do with.

—

Ghislaine – the third assassin

contrary to Casimir, this one had it the worst out of all the assassins. He was the worst at being an assassin, and the most rebellious during the ‘conditioning’ stage, and generally disliked by the Misian king the most, which lead to a whole variety of unpleasantness.

He was tortured even more than all the other assassins, which left him with hundreds of tiny, meticulously cut scars all across his hands, arms, face, and chest. The Misian king also decided to try and ‘enhance’ Ghislaine’s abilities by experimenting on him to try and make him a SUPER ASSASSIN which notably, didn’t work out so well.

Because of the experiments, Ghislaine now survives on this custom-made drug which damages him and keeps him alive in equal measure — he needs to take it or else he’ll die, but it’s also getting him addicted and giving him terrible side-effects that cause him great pain. He takes as much of the serum as he can when he escapes the castle when Lyr usurps the throne, but he still runs out of it some months later and has to break into the castle to try and get more. This is when he meets Lyr, as he’s captured while trying to steal the serum. It’s early winter, just before the big snows but at the point when things are starting to frost, and Lyr can see how withered Ghislaine has become.

He’s been living on the streets as no one will take him in—whether at an inn or for a job, because no one wants to look at him because of his scars. They’re very apparent and impossible to hide, so they make it hard for him to go anywhere without being chased off, so he ends up on the streets.

Lyr makes him a deal that he’ll let Ghislaine have the serum and will have his potions man try and engineer something that doesn’t cause as much damage to his body, if Ghislaine will stay and serve him. Ghislaine doesn’t want to serve another royal after what happened to him at the hands of the last one, but he also knows he can’t stay out on the streets during winter, and needs that serum to survive.

He’s also my favorite of the five ❤

—

Devere – fourth assassin

This one I know the least about since I haven’t really daydreamed with him too much, but he’s a good boi. He leaves the castle and goes to the coast to work on a ship, even though he’s really not suited for it or good at it. He’s constantly harassed, teased, mocked, bullied, and beaten by the other sailors and shipworkers, but he prefers that to everything he went through in the castle. His soul is slowly dying like this, but he pushes away the feeling because he knows it could be so much worse.

He’s the most reticent of all the assassins when Lyr comes to try and retrieve him, so it takes a lot of negotiation in order to get him to go back to the castle. He doesn’t try to harm Lyr like Casimir did, taking out his anger and bitterness on a figurehead, rather, he just shuts down and tries to ignore them like he’s trying to ignore his own trauma.

—

Zev – fifth assassin

He’s the last acquired assassin due to being the hardest to get to. He’s not even in the empire, but in the kingdom of Inscitus, which is ruled by a king who’s not actively at war with Lyr, but the two still don’t have a good relationship because of reasons.

Zev was sent away to the salt mines of Inscitus by the Misian king, before Lyr usurped the throne, where he was imprisoned and forced to mine as basically a slave for several years. He’s gaunt and thin and sickly when Lyr finds him, and since Emperor!Lyr can’t just go and ask another kingdom for a prisoner without raising suspicions or endangering relations, it’s time for Servant!Lyr to do a prison break with a very willful assassin.

Lyr, Alex, and Silas rescue Zev from the mines and escape the kingdom, having to travel back to the castle on a small wagon through the forest with an angry, sick man who didn’t even make it to death’s doorstep, he passed out on death’s front lawn.

Probs my second favorite of the five right now

—

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charmspoint · 3 years

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37 for the fic writer questions!

Ask meme here

37. Talk about your current wips

This is great I was thinking of listing out everything im working on these days anyway n now i get an excuse. For quite a few of these I cant talk about them actually cuz they are event stuff but imma list em anyway.

(This got long so im putting it under keep reading)

Lets! Categorize!

A) Ready to post!

Here we have my ShinKami bb fic: No Escape (coming out tomorrow) and my DabiHawks bb fic: Red string of death (coming out sunday) - obvs cant say much until they are posted, lets just say that for shinkami we are gettin some horror and dabihawks gets double banger of soulmate au x reincarnation au but like angsty

B) Currently in editing

Pieces for: DabiHawks metamorphos zine, LOV found family zine and villain/vigilante deku zine - since they are zines i feel like its a big no no to talk about them so we goin down

C) Currently writing

A secret santa piece and a piece for todobaku bb - one of these is actually cute couple things and the other is be dumping magic and horror on to a shipping fic again i obviously have a thing for that the more i think about these

D) Currently planing

Shinsou bigbang! (Do NOT judge me for how many events im in) anyway im super looking forward to this i feel like i have such a great idea n mmm we arent even to partnering up yet so i zip

DabiHawks secret admierer au - something i can talk about :0. This was one of my pitches for the metamorphos au n i got attached. The basic premise is: no powers high school au, local bad boy band member Touya is pining hard after straight A good boy Keigo and in atempt to confess his feelings he leaves a love song in his locker. The problem? Dabi is super fucking edgy and so is his song and upon reading it Keigo is 100% Dabi wants him dead. Shennaniganse ensue. LOV is there giving Dabi increasingly bad love advice, Rumi is there mostly to laugh her ass of and then do dramatic reading of the song, im gonna write actual songs for it!!! Anyway just lil slice of life school comedy, im not always about horror and angst belive it or not. Im looking forward to this one it should be fun!

All the beautiful things we are (All the dangerous things we will become) - another chuuya gen fic!! This one featuring Kouyou (n maaaaaybe Kyouka) in some good ol sibling bonding. Set earlier then The suffocating quality of your dying breaths, its basically kouyou taking chuuya under her wing and some good sibling bonding that will probably feature some good ol exploration of gender expression and just kouyou wrestling a brat into a suit. I just want some good chuuya n kouyou n some decent chuuya experimenting with dressing up n darn it ill make it myself

There are a few more that are in my notes as possible ideas but these are the ones im sure ill write so i dont wanna promise anything i wont do

E) On hiatus

TodoBaku murder mystery - my original idea for the todobaku bb, i wanted to challenge myself n write something i never did before but then college slapped me n ye i went back into the comfort zone. I still wanna do this one someday, probably over summer. Basic concept: normal life au, Enji Todoroki is found dead in his bed and detective! Bakugo is on the scene trying to determin did any of the family members, gathered that night to celebrate their mother returning from a hospital, have anything to do with it while trying super hard not to fall for the one Todoroki that keeps sticking his nose where it doesnt belong. Featuring: literally everyone having a motive and Bakugo being done with the family drama, Dabi being in a gang and acting like he owns the place, and ice skater Shouto both too dumb and too smart for his own good. We will see does anything come of it.

Season of rain - omegaverse light fic where i, an asexual, look at a trope purely made for kink and go 'what if for me tho?'. I call it light cuz i wont be writing any sex but u know me its heavy on angst. Featuring: Deku squad as a ship, omega sho n izu, alpha uraraka n beta iida n tsuyu. Dealing with such topics as: postpartum depression, sexisam, fear of alphas, arranged marriges, pack dynamics, betas having an actual role and importance, maneging poly reletionships, me harping on about how ideal number of parents is actually more than two and that if there were three genders standard reletionships would be expected to be a x b x o not just a x o. Aka me putting way too much worldbuilding into a kink trope. Basic premise: seeing as shouto turned out to be an omega, instead of training him to be a hero enji signs him of to enter a quirk marrige when he gets older just like rei. Years later shouto has just gotten out of a divorce and with a whole baby in tow is taken in by dekusquad. Hurt comfort ensues as they slowly work shouto into their dynamic and make him feel safe and loved again. Honestly i just want to give this one more time n attention that i have rn so its waiting for summer

Ashes to ashes - a dabihawks (maybe) post war au fic that was supposed to focus on Dabi facing what he has done and who he has become and the almost imposible process of changing yourself for the better when you spent all your life chasing one thing, on one side and on the other; Hawks recovering fron trauma caused by almost being killed, dealing with his newly growing wings causing him pain and being afraid he'll never fly quite the same again and trying to find connections among other heroes just cuz i say he needs friends. Both of them are dealing with very mixed emotions about each other and they work through them seperatly and together, trying to set everything that happend into a perspective and figure out where to go from there. I havent decided do they actually get back together or not by the end of it all. I was planing this and then hori dumped dabis crazy ass on me n now im mostly waiting to see what he does with him so i know what to do with him in the end, smh hori making my life hard :/

#anon #lucy rants #LUCY RANTS A LOT #gjfggf sorry

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gccdnews · 3 years

Text

Did you see JESSICA DREW from MARVEL walking around Limbo? The CISFEMALE looks like ALICIA VIKANDER, and is NINETY SEVEN years old. I’ve heard she can be VIRTUOUS & WITTY but also COCKSURE & REACTIVE. When I think of them I think of HELPING THE INNOCENT BY HOSPITALIZING THE GUILTY, RAISING SPIDER-BABY, THE GREATEST QUIPS OF ALL TIME BITCHCAKES. They’ve been here WITHOUT their memories as an PI & FIGHTER at BAKER STREET INVESTIGATIONS & UNDERGROUND FIGHT CLUB for SIX MONTHS. I heard they’re seeking a sanctum.

// whew. jess has a history™. it's long af and spans nearly a century so im not gonna go into crazy detail, but it's still lengthy. and i'm also gonna modify just a bit to fit in with the mcu for plotting reasons and stuff. if you don’t really care about her full history then there’s some bullet points toward the bottom.

she was born in england in 1924 and brought as a small child to the transia (it's a small, fictional slavic country) where her father was conducting research. unfortunately due to her being a small child, she contracted uranium poisoning from her father's work and had to be placed in a cryogenic chamber and treated with radiation and a highly experimental serum derived from the blood/genes of various species of spider.

she spent decades in stasis, educated subliminally with special tapes. when she was finally awakened she had only aged into her early teens, but she'd developed superhuman abilities.

grew up, moved away, met a dude, fell in love, then accidentally killed him with her powers. so yeah that kinda torments her still to this day. well, when she still remembered it anyway.

got recruited into hydra who she was led to believe were the good guys, had her memories suppressed, was told the high evolutionary basically a "god" figure, idek evolved her from a spider into a human woman, had an agent pretend to fall in love with her, etc etc. basically got gaslit and brainwashed into becoming a high ranking member until she was put out on a field assignment and told to assassinate nick fury. during the mission he told her what hydra really was and she dropped their asses.

got her memories back from mordred the mystic, then lived in a shitty apartment in london for a while. ended up breaking into a convenience store across the street at one point to get some food, but got noticed by shield agent jerry hunt who pretty much hounded her until she dyed her hair and created a secret identity to hide from him

did the hero thing for a while, moved to l.a., dated jerry, became a bounty hunter, moved to san francisco, became a p.i., superhero'd some more, met carol danvers 😍

went on a mission to finally take down longtime archenemy morgan le fay, and did so, but not before some morgan did some magic shit and separated her soul from her body ?? so she goes to the sorcerer magnus and has him cast a spell to make everyone who ever met her forget she existed.

not long later she was found and revived by two hero pals, breaking the spell, but she was left comatose. dr strange gets involved, abra cadabra, jess ain't a cadava'. but she is however, powerless.

continued working as a p.i. until an encounter with the new spider-woman mattie franklin somehow restored her powers, which came back slowly and were very unstable. meets jessica jones, accidentally zaps tf out of her, then works with her to save the new spider-woman.

eventually struck a deal with hydra to spy within shield so she could get her powers back but the skrull queen veranke was behind it and manipulating her so she could learn to perfectly impersonate jessica. jess ended up held captive for two years aboard a skrull spaceship while veranke took her place.

she and the rest of the captives got saved but because of the havoc veranke wreaked, she didn't exactly receive a warm welcome back.

spent some time rebuilding her reputation until she was invited to join the avengers (for avengers 1 in the mcu, let's say). they did some good work and she eventually fell for clint/hawkeye. they dated a while but things went sideways when he cheated on her (but obvs that's subject to change depending on who picks him up, just leaving that in for now bc it seems kinda noteworthy).

skipping comic spider-verse stuff bc how does that work with the rp, idek.

left the avengers after that and mostly stayed out of their business so she wasn't around for ultron or civil war and instead got back to her roots with some good ol fashioned p.i. work. may have crossed paths with the defenders and other street level heroes during this period.

then of course, came the snap. jess was one of the ones that vanished. using this instead of her death during secret wars in the comics. when everyone came back she joined all the others to fight thanos and damn right she was part of that moment with all the female heroes like she should have fucking been irl.

when things settled down after y'know, dying, she realized that she wanted to be a mother and raise a child, and almost never got that chance. instead of waiting, she got herself artificially inseminated. which was good too tbh because like, look at her luck with men and imagine getting stuck in one of those relationships she'd been in so far. way better off doing it on her own smh

got invited to an alpha flight maternity ward by her captain marvel but when she went there it ended up getting overrun by skrulls and being super fucking pregnant she called carol for help, but the maternity ward was apparently in a black hole?? bc ofc it was lol. so jess protected all the women there, had an emergency c-section to give birth to her son gerry, then popped right off the table to finish kicking skrull ass. carol got there just in time for jess to collapse into her arms after the fight. headcanon — there was always a crush there but this was the moment jess fell hard.

had a liiittle teensy falling out with carol tho so she ended up kissing roger gocking/porcupine right in front of her during a battle that ended up repairing their friendship. then she went on to have a party announcing she and roger were dating but lbr she did most of this sub/consciously hoping to get a rise out of carol. but her spider-baby ended up crawling out a window and roger was the one to find and save him and there were some actual feelings there too, so. complicated. she kind of distanced herself from everything else to focus on p.i. work and raising her son.

not much later, jess realized her radiation immunity was gone and her powers were killing her, so she had roger take gerry to an upstate farm in case her condition could potentially harm her son, then set out on the search for a cure. that search of course, leading her to limbo city, nevada.

upon her arrival however, her memories quickly started to fade and by the time she woke up the next morning she had no specific recollection of memories. just innate and instinctive knowledge like her emotions toward people she was familiar with, emotional trauma that manifests mostly in her dreams, maternal instincts/yearning, her abilities both physical and learned, her interests and likes/dislikes, etc. things that come naturally to her, for the most part.

interestingly though, the town’s magic seems to have cured her??

gonna say she speaks english, romanian, german, hungarian, symkarian, russian, bulgarian, polish and spanish fluently, and knows a bit about a number of other languages.

incredibly intelligent, she is after all the daughter of a genius, raised among scientists conducting research, and her knowledge/intelligence was only maximized by her stasis education tapes.

exudes a high concentration of pheromones that can attract or repulse people, to put it simply. and ignore the original heteronormative connotations bc women aren't typically the ones she wants to repulse, and men arent always the ones she wants to attract. it's difficult to control but she learned over the years. even now without her memories she has innate control over it, but if she manages to work up a sweat (which isn't all that easy for her tbh) or misses a shower or two, well… it's gonna kick in.

she probably can't do it anymore in limbo because she can't remember how, but with her pheromones she learned to control them so well she was able to elicit fear, anxiety, attraction, hatred, pleasure, etc. and even used them to convince the hulk to make her a sandwich once.

fucking loves butter. she's been known to eat the stuff straight up. and a lot of it. lucky thing she has a spider-metabolism.

hc: she loves making puns, especially spider related ones. she also likes to annoy her spider-friends by spider-throwing the word spider in front of everything though it's obviously a joke, unlike in her cartoon where im pretty sure she was dead serious lol

hates rats. so much. she will tear down a whole skrull army but if one shapeshifts into a rat it's over okay, she already lost.

allergic to flerkens. which is great for visiting her bestie/crush, and her pet flerken chewie.

still has her suit but hasn’t worn it yet in limbo. she found it under her bed a couple days after “waking up” in limbo but put it right back because she figured it was probably some weird sex thing and maybe wasn’t even hers so, gross, yknow?

#jessica drew.#limbchq: intro #jessica drew ( intro ).#death tw #gaslighting tw #captivity tw #pregnancy tw #i've come to love her so much in a short time

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alewyren · 4 years

Text

tumblr is dead but I’m gonna post my thoughts on Inuyasha here too for archiving purposes. cw for (non-detailed) discussion of sexual assault and suicide wrt kikyo

OKAY. SO. MY THOUGHTS ON INUYASHA. warning for some INCREDIBLY hot takes.

it. sure was a journey. I am not sure if I liked the series overall or not. It had some legit good/touching moments, but it dragged SO LONG and there were a lot of things I thought could've been handled better. But it was fun liveblogging it for sure. And I got NarKik out of it, which snapped me out of my year-long creative dry spell, so it was at least a net positive time investment LMFAO.

I liked... mmmmost of the characters? sango, sesshoumaru, kagura, kanna, naraku, kohaku, K I K Y O, and even kagome were all Good. On the flipside, Inuyasha himself is FUCKING TERRIBLE and he sucks and I hate him. Emotional immaturity ain't cute, he gets everything handed to him on a silver platter, rarely apologizes for being a selfish prick, and the other characters are WAY too forgiving of his bullshit. I got tired of the tsundere het romance cliches between him and Kagome pretty fast, as well as how often he was jealous of her. Like, Kagome's insecurities over Kikyo I can legit understand (despite being #1 Kikyo Fucker). But whenever she's so much as civil with Kouga and Inuyasha's all HANDS OFF MY WOMAN I'm like... dude shut up you two-timing hypocrite. If You Like It Then You Should’ve Put A Ring On It. Credit where credit is due tho, they did chill out over time and some of their moments together towards the end of the series were legit sweet. I'm pretty meh on Inukag overall, and iffy on the resolution of her moving to his era permanently, but that last panel of him greeting her as she came out of the well gave me a Feel.

(Actually, on that note, it... would have been legit kind of hella if the series had ended with Inuyasha himself permanently moving to the modern era? Aside from their friends he had far fewer attachments in his world than she did hers, and there's so much more potential with him having to adapt to the modern era, lol. ALTERNATIVELY, kikyo lives and she switches places with kagome and makes a new life for herself in the modern era. thus letting her truly live as a normal girl. But I'll Get To Kikyo Later. smh)

The premise of the series is actually pretty strong, though of course you can poke holes in it. To my knowledge it was the first isekai anime that really took off, and the driving plot of collecting the Shikon fragments is excellent monster of the week material (though I'm not really a monster of the week fan myself). Also, youkai are awesome. Focusing the series on real-world mythology makes my Shin Megami Tensei heart very excited.

I know the series runs on emotion rather than logic, but I REALLY have some questions here. The fact that the well is explicitly stated to take Kagome back in time rather than to another world makes no sense at all. First of all, where are all the youkai in the present day? Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru are at least a couple hundred years old, right? What happened to them in that 500 year timespan? Surely some creature or another from the series would have naturally survived that long. So what happened? Was there a mass-youkai extinction somewhere along the line? Shouldn't this be cause for concern? Also, do Kagome's time-traveling actions create a stable time loop or a branching timeline? If Naraku won in the past, how would that affect the present? The two eras are just completely isolated from each other and I really don't get it. That kind of stuff. Yeah yeah I know MST3K mantra and all but MAN this bothers me.

Which brings me to Exhibit A of stuff I think should have gone differently: Kagome should have stayed the protagonist, and the modern era should have gotten more focus. Not as in her day-to-day school shenanigans, but stuff touching on the questions listed above. There's just a lot of untapped potential regarding How This Shit Works, rather than confining the story pretty much entirely to the Sengoku Jidai With Youkai. Also there could be plenty of shenanigans with characters OTHER than Kagome and Inuyasha hanging out in the present. LIKE KIKYO. okay yeah my kikyo bias is showing but it would be the perfect opportunity to 1. hide her from naraku (unless he found a way into the present, but that just ties into my previous point), 2. develop her friendship with Kagome. Which would have done both of them wonders. BUT I'LL GET TO KIKYO LATER. (I'm dying imagining Kagome introducing Kikyo to her schoolmates as her cousin and taking her shopping though..... teaching her how to ordinary human... like..... HHH.)

Anyway, Kagome as the protagonist. She was very much the protagonist at the start of the series--she took a more active role in a lot of the monster of the week conflicts, and just had a lot more focus and screentime in general. Then Inuyasha got his sword upgrades and her role in conflicts became reduced to sensing Shikon fragments and occasional use of arrows. It took until the last hundred chapters for her to get ANY sort of substantial power-up, and it felt... unearned? I had been looking forward to her developing her miko powers alongside Inuyasha's youkai powers, and getting bow upgrades to match his Tessaiga upgrades, but it just... didn't happen. Her miko powers having been sealed all along felt like an ass pull, and I wasn't really a fan of the test of character she had to go through in order to get the fancy bow upgrade being solely focused on overcoming her feelings of jealousy towards Kikyo... again... like it's valid for her to feel that way but we've been here already! Surely there's more to her character than this! I think it would've been awesome if she actually got some fights of her own too, and maybe Kaede and eventually Kikyo mentoring her growth as a miko? But as far as canon went, it just felt like she got shallower and less interesting over time as Inuyasha slowly took over the protagonist role and that was a damn shame. Let Kagome be the plucky isekai protagonist she was always meant to be! This, of course, ties in with my assertion that the modern era should have gotten more focus too.

okay, so. it's time. kikyo. Kikyo. I fucking LOVE kikyo, absolutely my fave chara, I was not expecting to love Kikyo this much lmao. All that ship war propaganda was a big fat lie. She has an ASTONISHINGLY mature narrative about the effect of tragedy and trauma on people and relationships, but it was SO under-utilized and shafted in favor of the Love Triangle and Inuyasha's Manpain and I'm FUCKING UPSET. Kikyo was (or at least had the makings to be) the best character in Inuyasha but she was not done justice at all, in this essay I

Like, sit down and think about it. Here we have a woman who lost her parents at a young age, taking on the responsibilities of her household, and training to be a miko on top of it--which in the world of Inuyasha is a very emotionally demanding position that requires her to basically devote her entire life to her duties, ESPECIALLY once she's entrusted with the Shikon Jewel. All while being required to live a life of asceticism and suppressing worldly desires. In short, she basically never had a chance to actually, like. Live. Keep in mind that she was a child/teenager throughout all this (she was 17/18 when she died). That's a LOT of pressure on someone that young.

At this point, she's understandably lonely and depressed, and then along comes Inuyasha. She falls in love with him, gets a taste of a life that would truly make her happy, and has it ripped away. Like, there's some really fucking dark subtext to the whole Onigumo plot. She shows kindness to a random stranger, who proceeds to make a deal with the devil to LITERALLY RAPE HER, and her life is ruined as a result. No, Kikyo wasn't literally raped in canon, because even though Onigumo wanted to rape her Naraku's intentions towards her were... more complicated if still incredibly fucked up, but good lord the subtext is THERE. And as a result of the ensuing incident, believing Inuyasha betrayed her, she straight up KILLS HERSELF. Yes, it was partly to protect the Shikon Jewel, but she did not want to come back to life. Let that sink in. Kikyo was driven to suicide by an incident incited by a man who took advantage of her kindness in order to rape her. (nostalgia critic voice) FAMILY PICTURE!

I'm not gonna pretend Kikyo was the only victim here, though. Inuyasha has pretty clear PTSD from the event too, even after learning Kikyo is innocent. But through his relationship with Kagome, he begins to heal and move on. Then Kikyo gets brought back as a clay zombie, fucks up his whole grieving process, kickstarts the love triangle, you know the story. Kikyo's perspective is actually really interesting to dig into though. She didn't want to be brought back. She's PISSED. Even when the dust settles and she learns that Inuyasha is innocent, the anger and trauma have changed her. She's got a good ol' dose of PTSD herself. She's colder, harsher, engages in risky/self-destructive behavior, and distances herself from her loved ones. Like, think about it. Was there any logical reason she had to separate from Inuyasha and his group to fight Naraku on her own? To keep them in the dark about why she surrendered the Shikon Jewel to Naraku? No. That's a character flaw on HER part. And all this puts real strain on her relationship with Inuyasha. They still love each other, but their mutual trauma has completely changed their dynamic. Their love is based on their past relationship rather than their present chemistry. They don't make each other happy anymore. Neither of them are at fault for that. That's REAL AS FUCK. That's what trauma DOES to people and relationships.

So, yes, I'm a hardcore Kikyo stan who supports InuKag over InuKik. We exist. InuKik does not work as a relationship in the present because they've both changed due to trauma and that's the GODDAMN POINT. It's not a story about true love, it's a story about moving on from first love. The problem is that Kikyo's character is largely confined to her role as a love rival to Kagome. Inuyasha's side of the InuKik narrative, of letting go of the past and healing, is resolved. Kikyo's is not. And boy, I was ABSOLUTELY FUCKING LIVID that the love triangle was resolved through Kikyo's death rather than Inuyasha just... fucking, PICKING KAGOME OVER KIKYO BEFOREHAND RATHER THAN HER NEEDING TO DIE. She can still die after that! I swear, I'm not just salty because my fave died. At least 70% of my favorite charas are dead. I literally don't care anymore. I'm mad that she was killed off in a way that reduced her to being Inuyasha's Woman rather than getting a chance to heal and grow apart from him, as he did from her. And this in turn cheapens the narrative around why InuKik doesn't work as a present relationship to begin with, because he never actually picks present love over past love! He just keeps committing emotional infidelity until Kikyo gets killed off to wrap things up in a neat little bow with no character growth on his part! This shit is why I hate Inuyasha (the character).

Kagome's kindness towards Kikyo also plays a part in why she softens up by the end, yes, but that kindness is entirely depicted as "I want to save her because she's important to Inuyasha and I love Inuyasha." Kagome's character growth in these moments hinges on her picking love over jealousy, NOT through actually bonding with Kikyo. On top of that, Kikyo saving Kohaku over defeating Naraku struck me as out of character (have to show she's not a bad person after all? which she isn't, but still). It definitely made her death feel even more pointless. How come Kohaku gets to live and not her!!! Seriously, the fact that Kohaku gets to live and Kikyo doesn't REALLY rubs me the wrong way. She barely even knew Kohaku! He was willing to die to defeat Naraku! NOT killing Kohaku to defeat Naraku almost cost MORE lives! It could've been a poignant resolution to her character arc, but there wasn't enough buildup for it to be a convincing decision for her to make.

And oh my god, there's SO much wasted potential here. Kikyo's resentment towards Kagome is super understandable, and it's never really explored. Kagome replaced her. Kagome is filling the role she should have filled. What's even left for her except her hatred of Naraku? She asserts that Inuyasha cannot forget her (her being lowkey possessive of him is *chef kiss* my wife is a bitch and I like her so much), and he doesn't, but she still straight up tries to kill Kagome lmao. Like I said they do reconcile, but it's kinda half-assed. Kikyo's feelings are never explored in-depth. She's never truly given a chance to heal and realize that she does have a place in the world beyond her decaying relationship with Inuyasha and hatred for Naraku. That her scarred, flawed existence is still just as fucking valid as Kohaku or Rin or Jaken being able to live after being brought back from the dead. Like lemme stress again that the girl experienced INTENSE trauma and COMMITTED SUICIDE. The notion that she's the only one who needs to die in order to restore the natural order, that her death is beautiful and tragic but necessary, is..... gross, tbh. :U

Like, she can still die, lmao. IMO it'd be legitimately more interesting if she lived, if she had an opportunity to carve a place for herself outside of Kagome like Kagome did Kikyo, but it IS possible for her to die without it making ME want to die. Just resolve the love triangle shit first, flesh out some of her relationships outside of Inuyasha himself (ESPECIALLY Kagome), show her healing and softening, and then she can die protecting everyone or some shit. That would've been fine. But No. She just gets killed off for the service of Inuyasha's character, so he can hook up with Kagome guilt-free, with NONE of this addressed. Because it's more palatable for a woman to be dead than broken up with, I guess? I Hate It Here, You Guys.

her (near) last words being "I've finally become an ordinary woman" rubbed me the wrong way too... it like, tried to wrap her character arc up in a neat little bow while ALSO entirely confining its resolution to being Inuyasha's Woman and discarding the narrative of trauma driving them apart. I love the narrative of the girl forced to be inhuman who just wants to be normal. This just felt like... a really cheap way to go about doing that, at the disservice of her character being about OLD love, for a forced (and false) sense of closure. Didn't like it. God fucking damn, typing it all out just made me even MORE pissed off.

tl;dr: kikyo had the makings of an amazing trauma survivor narrative but it got shafted. she deserved everything. thank you for coming to my TED talk.

SIGH. okay. there are other characters I wanna touch on too. Uhhh I actually thought Naraku was pretty cool, though he became way less interesting after Mt Hakurei (for the most part--he was cool again during the direct lead-up to Kikyo's death as well as the final battle). His identity crisis was pretty neat, as was the way he specifically targeted other people's emotions and relationships as a way to compensate for his own utter lack of a sense of self. Not to mention the cold, detached way he regards his own emotions ("my pp stands up whenever i look at kikyo, wish it wouldn't do that :/") and how this leads him to succumb to the influence of the Shikon Jewel, in contrast to Inuyasha and Kagome breaking the cycle. His lack of motivation is actually kind of the point, and I think it's neat as hell! Things got boring once The Baby entered the picture, and I got the sense Rumiko wasn't really sure what to do with Naraku for a while. His style of villainy got a lot more distant and "just as keikaku," when it was the way he got up in everyone's business and pushed their buttons for his own shallow amusement that made me like him in the first place. His fragments aside from Kagura and eventually Kanna were way less interesting, and I think it would've been neat to go more into his role as basically being an abusive dad, but it's fine. The Baby was a fucking boring and atrocious villain though, jfc. The /idea/ of Naraku's own heart rebelling against him was cool enough, but it means jack shit when The Baby is just a bland-ass villain who doesn't remotely represent the character traits that make up Naraku's "heart" in the first place, even aside from Kikyo.

Speaking of which, his fixation on Kikyo is a LOT of fun. Their interactions (which he was apparently secretly into), how he rejected his own humanity and destroyed both himself and the object of his desires, etc. Which is another reason he got less fun after Mt. Hakurei tbh. I fucking hate the way Kikyo's death was handled overall but I liked that he had to reclaim his human heart in order to overwhelm and kill her. That was neat. Something something toxic desire destroying both yourself and the person it's directed at. Then at the very end he realized that his entire existence was completely pointless and empty and his complicated feelings towards Kikyo were the only thing that ever made him actually, like, give a shit. Pour one out for this absolute dumbass. He's a relatable villain because I too would go to absolutely insane lengths to get over a girl I never even dated.

Uhh who else. Sango and Miroku. Sango was my favorite character in the main party. She's the most level-headed of the bunch, has a super cute design, and her story with Kohaku was responsible for a lot of the emotional moments in the series that really landed for me. Her friendship with Kagome was actually super cute and heartfelt. That scene early on where she broke down crying in Kagome's lap because she was scared of being alone again HURT. Also, Kirara is fucking precious. Miroku I've got mixed feelings about, since on the one hand he's a legitimately interesting character and some of his scenes with Sango did hit fairly hard, but DEAR GOD I hate the quirky pervert trope with a burning passion. If it were played seriously, I'd stan him to hell and back a la Adachi. But it isn't, so it's not. I've got mixed feelings about MirSan too. Their resolution was really sweet, but I was kinda like "wha" when Kagome said Sango had a thing for Miroku in the first place. Like, sure okay, but I think more time should've been spent showing her falling for him in the first place lol. Also the butt-grabbing joke got old fast. And when he proposed to her and basically refused to stop flirting with other women I facepalmed so hard. Can't have character growth when you have unfunny running gags! To his credit, he did chill out for the most part, but still kept making jokes about flirting/scoring that clearly made Sango unhappy and I'm like. Why. Then the bit with Hirai-Kotsu needing to be fixed. I liked their mutual resolve to protect each other, but I thought Sango's comment about how she couldn't live without him was..... a bit much. Like what about Kohaku??? But anyway I'm just glad Sango got a happy ending even if I'm still super *SQUINTS* at Miroku.

Sesshoumaru was pretty neat, I get why he's popular, though wasn't really My Type. Sure he's cool, but his /personality/ was a bit lacking and I think we should have gotten some more insight into his relationship with his father for how much focus his quest for the Best Sword got. His development was pretty good, but I've kind of got an issue with how Rin was more of a plot device than a character. Like, okay, one of the reasons I decided to start reading Inuyasha was because the announcement of Yashahime sparked a wave of Sessh/Rin discourse and I wanted to form my own take on it. And, yeah okay I don't like Sessh/Rin either and I say this as a certified Nasty, lmao. Less because it's problematic (though I find it kind of offputting myself, even aged-up) and more because it's bland. Rin has no character whatsoever outside of being a vehicle for his development and I'm REALLY not a fan of girls being objects for male charas' development. Still, I'm not gonna boycott Yashahime if Sessh/Rin is canon or anything. I prefer him with Kagura or even Kikyo but they're dead, so. If Rin has to be his cum dumpster to make this happen, then that's how it's gotta be.

Thats about it I think. I'd put it a rung or two above Naruto in terms of overall quality, but BOY am I still mad abt Kikyo. 6/10 probably wouldn't recommend, but it WAS fun.

#musings

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