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#'watches his father get exiled and is forced to become a spy for the one who exiled him'
one-strugling-bean · 2 years
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Okay so I just got to Clingy Duo's big argument before Tommy is exiled and I gotta say, c!Tommy is pissing me off so much.... It's great, I love it
So, even though it's been way too long since this arc happened and I am merely throwing words at a wall, I need to write down my personal opinion on this whole mess
So uh, on the affirmations that Tommy was 1) not acting selfishly, and 2) the only one to have compromised something for L'Manburg up until now, and the affirmation that Tubbo is getting closer to becoming the tyrant Schlatt was... (i read so many comments on the videos i watched about their argument claiming this):
(just warning that bellow are my unfiltered, biased opinions on this whole thing, so if you're very fond of Tommy, you might not agree very much with what i wrote)
((also, no, I don't hate Tommy, he just really annoyed me during his fight with Tubbo))
(((also also, don't take this too seriously, I literally just needed to write these thoughts down somewhere)))
-> Tommy is being super freaking selfish and Tubbo is definitely in the right here
Everyone has sacrificed things for L'Manburg already. It's like viewers are so fixated on the idea that Tommy is "the hero", that he's Theseus like Techno predicted, they forget everyone else has been fighting this whole time too.
Just during Schlatt's reign:
-Fundy sacrificed his relationship with his father and friends to become a spy
-Quackity sacrificed his power as vice-president (and if we go back to those days, Quackity did appreciate his position a lot, he used to be pretty power hungry too)
-Willbur sacrificed his goddamn sanity and consequently, his life
-Tubbo sacrificed months of himself as a person, working as a double spy for Pogtopia, putting his safety on the line /every single day/ just so he could give Willbur and Tommy the aid and info they wanted
-Literally every single other L'Manburg citizen? Who fought in the wars, laying down their lives for the country
If sacrificing something for the greater good is what makes someone a hero, then every single one of these people are heroes. Tommy is just one of many
The only things that separate Tommy from the others is Dream's ridiculous obssession with him and Tommy's own childish, reckless, irresponsible attitude
Everyone else is still doing their best rebuilding L'Manburg and trying to protect it, continuing on devoting themselves to the land they've fought so hard to keep. But Tommy has completely shed his "hero" skin already, and is back to being a reckless kid who doesn't think before acting and is ready to throw himself into a fire, causing trouble for petty reasons and playing with forces that are far beyond his reach, uncaring if that means he'll drag his friends down with him too.
Everyone is compromising. Everyone is giving up personal things for the greater good of the country. Even Dream is, to some extent. But Tommy is arguing - claiming he deserves a chance to "put himself first for a change" - as if he were the one single hero, the only one who's had to put aside personal things.
So yeah I'm sorry but no, Tubbo is not becoming corrupted - he is maturing, and growing into the best leader we have seen on this server yet, someone who cares about his people and is able to be level headed when problems arise. And he's still as loyal as ever too! It would be much safer for L'Manburg to exile Tommy from the start. But he still fought for Tommy's freedom. Only when it became the only viable option, did Tubbo truly consider the exile option.
Meanwhile, Tommy is indeed acting selfish. He is only thinking of his own self-interest, ignoring everyone else's needs (heck, ignoring their lives, who are at stake because of him!), disrespecting Tubbo not only as a superior but as a friend and a fellow comrade in battle, acting as if he were the only one who had to give something up, who had to endure things he didn't want to, as if he fought all those goddamn battles alone!
Tommy handing Dream the disks in favor of L'Manburg's independence all those months ago was supposed to be the turning point for him, where Tommy realised that no ammount of material objects, as emotionally attached to them as one could be, could ever compare to a human life (and loved lives at that).
But apparently he hasn't learnt that lesson yet.
And let's be honest, how many times has Tommy even listened to those discs anyway?? They are nothing but pieces of plastic, easily replaceable by others exactly the same, that, ever since Tommy has gotten them, have been collecting dust in someone else's Ender Chest. Tommy has no freaking use for those things, as sentimental items as they might be. They are useless and yet have been the cause of dozens of deaths and are the root of Dream's power over Tommy.
Can Tommy sacrificing his comrades, his whole country, for a couple of dusty discs that he doesn't use really be called anything but pure, petty selfishness? Sorry, but for me the answer is an easy no.
On another, less mad, note, daaaaamn everyone's acting was so good! Dream played off his part as the Big Bad Villain so goddamn well, I am amazed
And Tubbo too, his acting was phenomenal the whole stream! You could feel the hurt in his voice, the barely concealed anxiety over all that's happening, his anger at Tommy mixed with tons of worry for him, his fear of Dream, fear for L'Manburg, Tubbo forcing himself to stay strong and unbiased - like, jesus christ, it's so obvious this is the last thing he wants
Tommy was also great as usual but that I'm already used to - his face is really expressive too, it just adds even more emotion to each scene. He just knows how to entertain his audience
Anywayyy
In conclusion: this season has been super interesting so far and I can't wait to see how Timmy's exile will go, it will probably be chaotic as heck
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b3k1720 · 3 years
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Analysis of Jacob’s, Evie’s and Henry’s trauma before Syndicate
TW: Suicide warning!! Death!! Sickness!!
Throughout Syndicate we don’t get much information on Jacob and Evie’s lives apart from the data entries/diary entries from Rebecca and Evie. But even then we don’t even know much about Henry either as he is outshined by his father Abaaz who was a legendary assassin.
But by reading underworld by Oliver Bowden we get a clearer picture of the trauma Evie, Jacob and Henry have faced from early childhood up until the events of syndicate.
Spoilers ahead, I highly suggest reading the book!
First off the book is mainly based in Henry’s point of view we do however gets a some chapters from Evie’s perspective as well, from a young age Henry was trained by Ethan ( after the death of cecily ) to be an assassin, but after six years went back to England to raise Evie and Jacob. Skipping forward we have Henry failing to kill a target on his first mission therefore being imprisoned even though Ethan did warn his father that he wasn’t fit to kill, he didn’t have what it takes to take a life.
Henry would have been executed by the order if it weren’t for Ethan Frye stepping in and offering exile/banishment as his second option, to come work for him as an undercover agent in London.
When Henry arrives in London Ethan gives him the important task of getting a job as a digger to build London’s first underground railway and spying on Templars who are overseeing the construction ( while looking for a piece of eden ). Within those months of the book Henry Is forced in to life or death situations becoming “the ghost” while also essentially being homeless and doing his best to help the homeless while living in the sewers of London.
Many times he had to go against his nature and personal morals to survive and gather intel for Ethan, even at one point being admitted in to the Templar order!!
Now for Evie’s perspective we get to see the twins as teenagers at age fifteen, six years before the events of Syndicate.
From what information we receive in the brief chapters mentioning Evie and Jacob you can see they live pretty well off in a large house but with no servants as Ethan believes it is against the creed to have them, ergo having a position of power over another person in a way they rely on you and you can manipulate them.
From what I have seen from the conversations between Henry and Ethan, Jacob is very much like his old man! Before reading Underworld I used to have a fixed idea on who Ethan was ( a strict disciplinarian who abandoned his children and was abusive towards his son ) but after reading underworld I now know this just wasn’t the case. Ethan was a charming charismatic man who could definitely joke about but more importantly he was a kind and caring mentor and father who wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable ( he doesn’t show it much ) and stand up for others. As much as Jacob would probably hate to admit it he’s also got these traits from Ethan.
Towards the end of the book a man comes to the house and leaves a message with Evie pertaining a code and saying an apology “ajay said he is sorry and will see him in the next life”
I won’t go in to what the message was or why he left it ( the man was an retired assassin from India who Ethan knew well ) but quickly Evie notifies her father who in turn has both her and Jacob run out of the house with their weapons to go after the man, they chase him, Ethan and the man fight, Ethan gains the upper hand and asks why the man attacked him.
Without answering the question apologised and took his own blade to his throat.
Jacob and Evie witnessed what happened, being only fifteen years old they watched a man kill himself out of shame, this most likely being the first person they’ve ever seen die and definitely not their last, later George jokes about this by saying,
“I suppose on the bright side, it prepares the twins for their blooding”
( aka their first confirmed assassin kill )
At the very end of book we have a time skip to five and a half years after the events of underworld so both Jacob and Evie are in their early twenties.
This part of the book especially broke my heart as we learn the circumstances of Ethans death in great detail.
First becoming sick with the flu then being diagnosed with pleurisy.
Ethan knew he was running out of time… and so did the twins as they watched their father waste away, wishing his suffering to end.
One night after talking both men fell asleep, Ethan in his bed and his friend George in the chair beside him. Mr Westhouse wakes up to find Ethan had passed away in his sleep without his children by his side.
The twins were downstairs awake in the kitchen and they just knew their father died…
It was only a few weeks after he passed away, probably still grieving the Frye twins headed off for London.
Evie, Jacob and Henry have gone through so much trauma in their lives, it’s unfathomable to me how their mental states are during the game, it gives a totally new and heartbreaking perspective to their characters and stories.
I love these characters so much, if we claim to love them without truly knowing their hardships then we are completely ignoring a crucial part of them.
- Thank you
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allthingskenobi · 3 years
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Obi-Wan in Exile – Owen Lars
(Originally published on AllThingsKenobi.com January 10, 2021)
Welcome to the second in a series of looks into Obi-Wan Kenobi’s time in exile on Tatooine between Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. We’ve tried to mine as much Legends and canon material as possible to help guide you through some of the period’s most common and repetitive themes so that when the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series airs, you’ll be ready.
Not everything he ever did in the entire 19 years will be explored here, but as we said, we’ve tried our best to pick out the most prominent and impactful moments to give everyone a better understanding of exactly what one hermit had to endure out there all alone in the sandy deserts of Tatooine.
There’s no way around it: Owen Lars hated Obi-Wan Kenobi. But why? A young Luke Skywalker could have benefited greatly from the two men working together, but it was not to be so. Here we will look at just a few of the many times the Jedi was rejected by the hardened moisture farmer in an attempt to understand just how fraught with tension their relationship really was.
“That wizard’s just a crazy old man.”
STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE C
Owen Lars was the very first person to ever paint a picture for us of the now-illustrious Obi-Wan Kenobi, and this is what he had to say about him. Though we, alongside Luke, quickly recognize Owen’s words for the untruths they are, we were left to wonder exactly where the animosity, and possible bad blood, between the two men began. Especially since well up until Attack of the Clones was released, Owen was Obi-Wan’s biological brother (as confirmed in original drafts of Return of the Jedi), which made the exchange all the more tragic.
“But what if this Obi-Wan comes looking for him?”
“He won’t, I don’t think he exists any more. He died about the same time as your father.”
STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE C
Owen continues to try and deter Luke by point-blank telling him that Obi-Wan is dead. It’s another clear falsehood that, at the time, carried little to no weight until twenty-eight years later when we witnessed the “deaths” of both Anakin and Obi-Wan on the slopes of Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith. But that’s a story for another time…
“He makes his terms abundantly clear: “We’ll take him in, but you’ll play no part in his upbringing. If you have to stay on Tatooine, you keep your distance, do you hear? You neither see the boy nor speak to him. He must know nothing about his father.”
“TIME OF DEATH” – FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW C
“Obi-Wan was glad and relieved that Beru and Owen agreed to raise Luke, but his mission did not end there, as it was also his duty to watch over the boy. He had thought that his ongoing presence would be some comfort to Owen and Beru. He soon learned that he was mistaken.”
LIFE AND LEGEND OF OBI-WAN KENOBI L
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Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
From the moment Obi-Wan arrived on Tatooine with a newborn Luke Skywalker, Owen made it abundantly clear that the Jedi would have nothing to do with the child. It was an unfair set of terms that Obi-Wan, while doing his best to adhere to, would breach with regular frequency, often pushing his already contentious relationship with the farmer to its breaking point.
Over the years, not only would Obi-Wan often be forced into interceding on the family’s behalf as protection (much to Owen’s chagrin), but he would also willingly cross the line to try and form a relationship with Luke from afar. Whether it was a simple gift of parts for Luke’s skyhopper (1) or a handmade wooden toy (2), the attempts would be vehemently denied and Obi-Wan would find himself right back where he started.
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Star Wars 15 C
Was Owen right to be concerned that trouble would follow Obi-Wan back to Luke and their homestead? Of course. Obi-Wan understands and even acknowledges that his watchful gaze could attract attention (3), so he backs off, moving farther out into the Jundland Wastes until the time comes when he is needed. (3)(4) But Owen took his concerns above and beyond, twisting reason into a deep-seated personal hatred of the other man.
“The hut was approximately 136 kilometers from the Lars homestead—farther than Obi-Wan would have preferred, but probably still too close to satisfy Owen Lars.”
LIFE AND LEGEND OF OBI-WAN KENOBI L
“I managed to steer clear of Owen Lars this time. The man doesn’t like me at all.”
KENOBI L
“I’d always believed – always hoped – that Owen’s anger would cool toward me, that one day I would be allowed to train young Luke in the ways of the Force.”
“TIME OF DEATH” – FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW C
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“Old Wounds” – Star Wars Visionaries L
Why? Why did Owen Lars hate Obi-Wan Kenobi so much? First and foremost, he placed the blame of Anakin’s downfall solely on Obi-Wan, going so far as to accuse Obi-Wan of “murder.” (1) It’s interesting to say the least that Owen would have such strong opinions about a man he’d only met once (5), but it seems to become more clear when you take into consideration that Owen adored his step-mother, Shmi. But while Shmi no doubt loved her adoptive family, she often spent her time looking to the horizon waiting for the day when Anakin would return. (6) So for Obi-Wan to have lost Shmi’s beloved son might have been too much for Owen to bear.
We’ll discuss this more in depth later, but Owen even removed Shmi’s headstone, along with the stones of other family members, so that Obi-Wan could no longer visit the site. (7) Consequently, it also ensured that Luke would never know about his grandmother. At least not while he lived at the homestead.
“If killing me would have brought [Anakin’s] mother back to life, I know he would have killed me then and there. I could see it in his eyes.”
LIFE AND LEGEND OF OBI-WAN KENOBI L
At some point, Owen also seemed to have distrusted the Jedi as a whole. It was a prejudice formed the day he watched an angry and unrepentant Anakin Skywalker return from slaughtering a village of Sand People. (2) That being his only interaction with a Jedi before Obi-Wan came along, Owen didn’t want Luke to have anything to do with what he saw in Anakin that day.
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“Everyone was stunned when Owen abruptly told Ben to leave and not to come back. The experience had left Luke baffled. Even now, some ten years after the incident, he still did not know why Owen had been so angry with Ben. From what little he knew, he assumed that Ben’s purpose on Tatooine had been to discreetly watch over him while Owen and Beru raised him as if he were an ordinary child, not the son of a Jedi-turned-Sith Lord. But if both Ben and Owen had been responsible for protecting Luke, why hadn’t they gotten along? Luke could only imagine why Owen had so aggressively objected to Ben’s presence. Luke remembered listening to conversations between his uncle and aunt, practically spying on them, hoping to hear any small detail about his father or Ben Kenobi. Owen and Beru never revealed much but merely reinforced that they preferred not to discuss either man.”
LIFE AND LEGEND OF OBI-WAN KENOBI L
Luke cheers, running full pelt toward me, arms as wide as his smile. There is a crunch behind me and I turn, Owen’s fist burying itself in my nose. I slam down hard on the ground, the lightsaber skittering from my hand. All my training, all my experience, and a humble moisture farmer has achieved what neither battle droid nor Sith has achieved, knocking me flat on my back.
“Uncle Owen!” Luke cries in confusion as his uncle manhandles the boy toward his aunt before turning to glower at me.
“Go,” he all but spits, an accusatory finger punctuating the furious decree. “Get away from here. Haven’t you people done enough to this family?”
“TIME OF DEATH” – FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW C
Lastly, and most unfortunately, Owen never minded expressing his distaste for Obi-Wan in front of Luke, going so far as to strike Obi-Wan and send him away while the boy watched. Would Owen’s treatment of the strange desert hermit help one day drive a wedge between the boy and his uncle? Maybe. Maybe not. All we do know is that Luke, like his father before him, was already inextricably linked to Obi-Wan Kenobi. And there was nothing Owen Lars could do about it.
Citations:
Star Wars 15 by Jason Aaron C
“Time of Death” – From a Certain Point of View by Cavan Scott C
Kenobi by John Jackson Miller L
Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi by Ryder Windham L
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones C
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Novelization by R. A. Salvatore L
A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker by Ryder Windham L
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justarandomsideblog · 3 years
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This is thrown together on the page with zero editing so there's probably many glaring mistakes but I wanted to get it out there so here ya go
oOo
Fundy falls in love with the piano when he is very young and L’Manburg is nothing more than a van, and it’s just a small keyboard he can play with on the floor while his father makes war plans but it’s how it begins. He plays it in the months it takes him to grow up, maturing faster than it takes for Tommy and Tubbo to reach adulthood.
He plays it until he’s old enough for his father to replace the keyboard in his hands with a sword.
He’s seven months yet thirteen years old when he’s allowed into the war room, fidgeting hands folded tightly in his lap. There is no time to play keyboard anymore, and it’s left forgotten in his nest of blankets and pillows when the whole thing goes up in a devastating blast.
The war ends and he plays again on a makeshift piano, given to him by his uncles who teach him to play more complex melodies in the quiet moments when they’re not working. Yet those moments become few and far between in the months it takes Fundy to age to sixteen, the same age his young uncles had turned before Fundy was even born barely ten months before.
He cherishes the moments before everything falls apart once more. Yet another war begins and he sets aside the keyboard again to fight. His fingers are calloused in ways soft paw pads like his should never be, raw and bleeding from the sword he holds the second time he watches his home go up in smoke.
Eret gifts him a piano one year after he was born, when he turns seventeen and his aging has finally begun to slow. They help him set it up in his home, way too large for the orphaned teenage hybrid, and it gleams beautifully in the flickering torchlight. His passion, lost with his father, flares up once more and he plays for Eret and Phil, a moment of peace. Finally peace. Finally, he thinks, the swords will be hung up on the wall and peace will reign at last- swords have no place in peace, as art has no place in war.
The moment shatters; Eret, having never received Fundy’s message, doesn’t make it to the adoption, and Phil leaves- the Butcher Army, Fundy and Tubbo’s subsequent disownment and Tommy’s exile leaving the angel nothing to stay in L’Manburg for. So now he plays for the silence, not even the music filling the emptiness he has always relied on, and there he realizes the truth that will always weigh heavily in his gut.
There will always be another war.
Doomsday carries with it the weight of this realization, and he grins painfully through the tears pouring down his face as his house is blown away, piano keys withering into nothingness, and he says to no one in particular, “There’s no place for art in war.”
And so, even though L’Manburg is gone, even though everything is over and done with, Fundy knows it’s not. He knows the next war is waiting around the corner, and so he quietly stays prepared- his sword always on his hip, a bow strapped to his back, armour settled into his holding bag ready to be pulled on at a moment’s notice.
He doesn’t own a piano anymore.
Phil doesn’t speak to him for a long time, except when Fundy forces him to. He forgives Tubbo- tentatively so, with a lack of trust- long before he’s even willing to acknowledge him and Fundy are related, and even when they’re speaking again- awkward, stilted, not natural like before- Phil doesn’t ask about the scars on Fundy’s hands. He doesn’t ask if Fundy is eighteen or twenty now, though Fundy no longer knows himself.
His grandfather asks only once if Fundy has learned any new songs.
“I don’t play the piano anymore,” Fundy answers, short and more broken than he sounds. Phil doesn’t press for more, and Fundy goes home to silence once more.
Then the nightmares start, and the silence is even worse than before- because now he wakes up and never knows if he’s awake, the song in his soul having died out long ago. He remembers bits and pieces, forgets others, and he tries to run away. He pulls the TNT he has ready for the next inevitable war and rigs his home- big and empty and echoing loneliness- with as much as he can fit up the stairs, in the walls, on and under the floor. He takes only what he needs most and puts it into a wagon, pulls out an arrow and sets it alight-
His grandfather messages him. Wants to meet up. Fundy is in no state to walk on eggshells but he goes anyway, because he wants his family back, and learns his father is alive. They search for him but by the end Fundy is ready to give everything up. He leaves Phil, mind made up, and waits until he knows Phil is through the portal.
This time when he watches his home go up, it’s by his own hand.
He leaves and speaks to no one for months, but the nightmares stay. He finds a kit. He takes the kit in, considering briefly calling Phil to let him know he’s now a great grandfather, but he decides not to- Phil hasn’t reached out at all, no one has, even though his home is no more than a crater in the ground... again.
So he says nothing and focuses on being a father, now. His kit doesn’t like being indoors, running out to play in the woods whenever he wants, and Fundy learns to keep up and keep him safe. He builds a nest on the porch, under the awning, a nice, dry and warm place where his kit likes to curl up and sleep at night, white fur standing out against the reds and oranges of Fundy’s once-favourite blankets.
He names the kit Yogurt, after arguing with the foxes that like to hang around.
Between the nightmares and the crippling loneliness, with no one but a child too young to understand speech and a rowdy skulk of foxes who come and go as they please, Fundy finds himself.
He doesn’t remember much of the nightmares but he does remember one big, important thing.
Quackity can’t be trusted.
Quackity appears to him just as he had in the nightmare, and Fundy already knows their conversation as it happens. Knows every little thing as they walk across the remains of L’Manburg. He knows what the next war will be.
This time, Fundy decides, he will pull the strings. Early the next day, while his skulk is out who knows where and Yogurt is bundled up, safe at home, Fundy dons his armour and grabs his sword and axe, and he makes his way to the place he knows Las Nevadas to be.
He arrives and stands on the hill overlooking the beautiful, daunting city, and he watches Quackity disappear into the casino while below him a totem god looks around.
In those few seconds, when Fundy sees the harsh gleam in Foolish’s eyes, a new plan forms.
They speak briefly, over the dune and out of sight of the casino, and they come to an agreement. With no witnesses, they shake hands and Fundy goes back home, and Foolish does not tell Quackity of his visit.
Later, when Fundy finally joins Las Nevadas with his skulk a few steps behind, he mixes truth in with the lies and hopes the skulk will not out him.
To gain the trust of one who doesn’t trust, it takes someone who also doesn’t trust.
Yet Fundy, who at his heart and soul is a fox- a trickster- a spy- knows how to play the part of one who does. One who doesn’t know that he will always be left alone.
When Quackity asks him about his war experience, he answers truthfully- “I have been in every army and every war.”
He is a soldier to Quackity, first and foremost, and so when Quackity presents to him the piano inside the casino polished to perfection, he looks on it with silent discontent.
“I don’t play piano anymore.”
There is no place for art in war.
-
“Your hands are made to create, not destroy.”
Fundy looks up from the dagger he is playing with, seeing Foolish standing in front of him. Purpled is off to the side, on guard for Quackity and pretending he isn’t listening.
It isn’t the first time they’re meeting like this and it won’t be the last. Plans have to be made. Escape routes planned. Snowchester and Las Nevadas will tear each other- and themselves- apart long before Fundy and Foolish could ever put their plan into action. Playing nice and trying to keep everything from blowing up too early is getting exhausting, but it has to be done. After all, Fundy’s family is in the crossfire now- he silently curses Tubbo and Ranboo for building the mountain outpost, and he outwardly curses Tommy and Wilbur for making their ‘country’ right across the river.
“A lot of things are made to do what they’re not supposed to,” Fundy says to the god, putting the knife down. Tonight he has messaged Phil, pleading with him to stay away from Las Nevadas- but it has remained unread, and similar messages sent to Niki and Tommy and Ranboo are all the same. “What are you even talking about, anyway?”
“Tubbo said you used to play piano,” Foolish says, gaze drifting past Fundy to the piano left, abandoned, against the wall. “He asked me to put one in the mansion big enough so you guys could play together.”
“I haven’t played piano in a long fucking time,” Fundy scoffs, drumming his fingers anxiously against his legs. As much as he wants to... “But I guess Tubbo wouldn’t know that. We haven’t had a proper conversation since L’Manburg.”
Tubbo isn’t much like his uncle anymore. Tommy, neither. They don’t come around or check on him, they haven’t since long before L’Manburg fell. Tubbo feels more like... that neighbor kid you play with because there’s no other neighbor kids your age. They mess around and talk and joke when Quackity sends Fundy to investigate the outpost but it’s only because they don’t want to fight anymore. They don’t want to be on opposite sides, anymore.
Fundy can’t even tell him that they aren’t on opposite sides.
Ranboo says to choose people, and they all play the part easily enough, him and Tubbo and Fundy, but Fundy has always chosen people. He chose his family in the past, every time, regardless of what side they were on, until suddenly the family was split. What did sides matter, when it came to love, to friends, to family, to acceptance? How do you choose between the uncle who raised you and the grandfather who was there when you needed him?
Well, it no longer really matters.
This time he chooses Foolish and Purpled, the two who care about and accept him without question, whether he needs them or not.
Purpled, who respects that he doesn’t want salmon to be eaten even when he isn’t here. Purpled, who knows how it feels to be forgotten, who knows how it feels to have nothing to his name.
Foolish, who understands his need for symmetry. Foolish, who knows how it feels to want to leave the past behind, who knows how hard it is to feel worthy of forgiveness and redemption.
No, Fundy still loves his legal-and-blood family very much, but he supposes Foolish and Purpled have become the family he had always wanted to have.
Laughing and talking with them never feels forced, or awkward, or like walking on eggshells. He never feels like he is one misstep from being banished.
It’s nice.
“There’s no place for art in war,” Fundy finally says, filling the space growing between the trio they’ve formed.
They fall into silence, none of them trying to protest- none of them saying what they are in now is not a war. Maybe in another life this beautiful city that they’ve poured themselves into building up in order to build trust with the president could have been home, but in this life it was one thing alone-
The way to end the war, to stop Quackity in his tracks.
“After the war is over, will you play for us?” Purpled asks now.
And he will, though Fundy doesn’t know it yet. Once the war is over and the nuke has been dismantled, torn to pieces by its own creator’s hands, and Quackity and Fundy have both been reduced to one last life each, Fundy will sit at a piano at Foolish’s Summer Home, with the friends and family he has left- with Foolish and Purpled, Tubbo and Tommy and even Wilbur, with Techno and Phil and Niki and Ranboo, with Slime and Yogurt, every person he has ever loved and cared about and will one day save- and he will play a melody Tubbo taught him when he was a kit, still playing on a clumsy piano thrown together from scrapwood and busted strings in the living room of a house long since rotted and burned away.
For now, though, not knowing what the future has in store, Fundy only smiles and says, “There will always be another war.”
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bigfan-fanfic · 3 years
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Kost Aban as a Companion
(Face Claim: Brant Daugherty) Kost Aban, Road Dad of the Inner Circle and Magesmith for the Inquisition. He’s charming and sweet, and he’ll handle requisitions so you never have to worry about that Requisition Officer ever again. Also he makes travel snacks as well as serves as a portable weapon and armor crafting station. Did I mention he’s romanceable?
Companion Name: Kost Aban (lit. “Peaceful Ocean” in Qunlat) Race, Class, and Specialization: Qunari Mage (Rift Mage) Varric’s Nickname for Him: Shiny (for his horn ornaments) Default Tarot Card: Page of Wands
How He Is Recruited: His adopted human son, Roland, a young man of about 22, will rush out into the plaza in Val Royeaux on the first visit and request the Inquisitor come meet his father. Kost will immediately offer his services as a magesmith to the Inquisition, as well as his son’s skills as an apprentice. If the Inquisitor is a Qunari, he will also mention that sometimes it helps to have a friendly face around that one doesn’t have to look down to see. Where He Is In Skyhold: With his son, Dagna (and conditionally) Harritt in the Undercroft. He can generally be found talking smithing techniques or occasionally insisting Roland and Dagna go get refreshments and sunlight because they’ve been working too long. If he is recruited, he will also set up a cozy-looking sitting area/lounge in the Undercroft. Things He Generally Approves of: Upgrading Skyhold, completing Dagna’s sidequests, not siding with the Qunari, showing mercy Things He Generally Disapproves of: Siding with the Qunari, executing prisoners, siding with the Templars Mages, Templars, Other? As a mage himself and a former Saarebas, Kost definitely approves of siding with the mages and giving them freedom.
Romanceable? Yes, by any gender or race.  Friends in the Inquisition: Blackwall, Sera, and Cole. He befriends Sera through Dagna, Blackwall because of their shared enjoyment of crafting, and Cole because Kost can’t help but adopt the kid. He becomes friends with Iron Bull if the Chargers are saved. Small Side mission: Collect 10 dawnstone and 10 bloodstone. Kost will Greatly Approve and unlock schematics for Magewrought Weapons
Companion Quest: Kost is happy to have his son working with him but wonders whether Roland might prefer a different career or perhaps to attend the University of Orlais. He once caught Roland studying magic books and worries that he’s pressuring him into apprenticeship. He asks the Inquisitor to speak to Roland instead. When confronted, Roland admits that he’s been studying magic books so that he can tinker and improve his prosthetic arm, but he didn’t want to offend his dad, who spent years working on the magical formulae. He asks the Inquisitor not to tell.
Option 1: Tell Kost - This will net Great Approval from Kost and Cole, and Kost will talk to Roland and say that he couldn’t be offended that Roland is so interested and asks for them to proceed together with the tinkering. Father and son embrace and thank the Inquisitor
Option 2: Cover for Roland - The Inquisitor has the choice of telling Kost that Roland was merely curious about the process of magic or lie and say the magic books were hiding naughty material. Either way Kost will agree to let the matter drop.
Cole’s Reflection on His Thoughts: “The mask is gone and the bonds broken, burnt away and banished. My voice shall never more lie lost and leashed, locked away behind bars of word and deed.” Comments on Mages: “I know what it is like to be born different, and I once knew nothing more than imprisonment and shame for what I was. I have nothing but sadness to know that even here, others share my fate.” Comments on Templars: “If your protector is also your jailer, I think you have somewhat of a conflict of interest.” When looking for something: “Listen... there is something...” When finding a campsite: “Allow me to whip up a little something from these field rations.” When he is low on health: “I will not make my son an orphan again!” When he sees a dragon: “Not that I’m saying we should fight it, but... I could make some seriously good stuff out of dragon bone and hide.” Default saying: “Do you think Roland’s doing alright?”
Travel Banter:
Vivienne: So, Ser Aban. I have heard much of your magesmithing techniques. The Formari believe you are usurping their dominance over the market. Kost: I’m afraid, Madam, the Formari are mistaken. I happen to make useful items, not decoration. Vivienne (amused): Indeed? Then you must prize function over form in your pieces. Kost: Of course. I want to keep people alive, even at the cost of fashion. Vivienne: Some costs are worth dying for, darling.
Kost: I didn’t get the chance to thank you, Blackwall. Blackwall: What for? Kost: The extra firewood. My forge requires more than a normal smithy to stay working, and you provided. Blackwall: Wasn’t for you specially. I... I like chopping wood. Kost: And teaching my son how to swing an axe played no role? Blackwall: Oh. Kost: Too many people treat him as though he’s useless. I saw how happy he was with you. So as I said. Thank you... for the firewood. Blackwall: ...you’re welcome. Kost: There’s a magewrought sword with your name on it when we return to Skyhold.
(If Cole was made more human) Kost: You don’t have to handle everything, you know. You changed, right down to the core. Cole: I am fine. Kost: Sure, sure. Just as long as you know you don’t have to be. We’ve got you, Cole. Starting with rest. I got you a spare blanket - I’ve seen you shivering in your sleep. Cole: But I don’t- Kost: I’ve seen what you do for people. You’re not invisible anymore, you know. So it’s time you let someone else help you. Do you mind it if it’s me? Cole: I... th-thank you.
Iron Bull: You don’t like me much, do you? Kost (sarcastically): I didn’t know you were going for universal popularity. Iron Bull: Ha. You talk like one of these Orlesian bigwigs. Too important to waste time on mercs? (If the Inquisitor is a Qunari) And what about being “a friendly face,” huh? Kost: You won’t get a reaction out of me, Ben-Hassrath. Iron Bull: Even a lack of reaction is a reaction. Kost: Fuck you. How’s that for a reaction?
Friendship: “Ah! Come here for a shield or a cup of tea and some chat? Either way, I’m at your service.”
The Fade
How he reacts: “Oh, I’m not enjoying this at all.” Their Tombstone: Bereavement What the Fears look like: Himself in the mask and chains of a Saarebas What the Nightmare says: “The so-called peaceful ocean. I’ve been watching you for years now. The eyes of the Qun are everywhere and now, there’s nothing you can do to deflect their gaze.” Their reflection about the Fade: “Never again. Never.” Hawke or Warden: Depends on Hawke’s actions. If Hawke sided with the Chantry in DA2, Kost will suggest that they are responsible for the Qunari improving their foothold and force and believe they should atone in the Fade. If not, Kost suggests the Qun’s respect for Hawke is one of the only things keeping the Qunari from invading and believes they should escape the Fade.
The Wardens
Their feelings: Believes the Wardens make hard choices to save the world from the Blight. Exile or Allies?: Allies
The Ball
How they feel: “It isn’t my first ball, but I’m surprised at how many people I know, here. Babette de Launcet just tried to poach me from the Inquisition!” Where they linger: The garden balcony, near the bard singing in Orlesian Are they good at the Game?: He’s not great at being fake, but he is good at schmoozing, especially since his smithing skills are an avid topic of discussion. What people say about them: “Did you see the Magesmith walking by? So tall and dashing...””You do realize he is a Qunari, don’t you?” “My dear, that’s all part of the appeal. Imagine those burly muscles sweating at a forge...” Gaspard, Briala, or Celene?: Briala, or Celene with Briala - he fears Gaspard in power most of all, and he’d hate if war broke out between Orlais and Ferelden with the Qunari lurking at the borders.
Temple of Mythal
Rituals or Hole?: Rituals Agree with the Elves’ bargain?: Agree. Morrigan or Inquisitor for the Well?: The Inquisitor
Comments on Canon Romance
Cassandra: “The Seeker? A worthy choice. Though... I can’t help but wonder whether she’d choose love over duty should the time come.” Dorian: “Dorian? That must be fun - I hope he doesn’t criticize the patterns of your britches!” Sera: “Roland likes Sera - I think you two will get up to all sorts of mischief together.” Iron Bull: “Bull? Well... you do remember he was a Qunari spy, right? Never mind, I’m sure you know what you’re doing.” Josephine: “Don’t you hurt her, Inquisitor. She’s a wonderful person and a light in this world.” Cullen: “You know, I can craft certain soft lamps for the night. I’ve seen the look of a man who doesn’t sleep much on his face. Perhaps it will help.” Blackwall: “Tell me, I’m curious. Is the beard scratchy?” Solas: “D’you know, he hates tea? Suspicious, if you ask me.”
Sexual/Racial preference:  Any race or gender. Nickname for PC: Little One Romance only mission: (Can only be completed after Kost’s love confession) A cutscene featuring Kost and the Inquisitor in bed plays, involving a pillow talk discussion where Kost says “I love you.” The Inquisitor can choose to say it back or not, and ask about his past. The conversation finishes with Kost suggesting marriage would be more than acceptable to him, although he wouldn’t pressure the Inquisitor into it. The quest involves speaking to Kost’s son Roland to get his blessing to propose to Kost. The Inquisitor must perform a War Table mission to get Roland some parts to aid in the proposal, which will affect the next cutscene. If Cullen is chosen, Roland will be given some explosives and dyes and he will shoot fireworks during the proposal. If Leliana is selected, smoke pellets will be given and Roland will make a clockwork smoke machine to give a mystical air to the proposal. If Josephine is chosen, Roland will meet with some bards and make a music box to play while the Inquisitor proposes. The Inquisitor will then meet with Kost in the Skyhold garden at night and propose, choosing dialogue options that are sweet, nervous, or humorous, all resulting in Kost accepting the proposal and promising to marry the Inquisitor and love them forever - once Corypheus has been dealt with.
Dialog to being asked for a kiss: “Did you come down here just for this? How romantic... I must make it worth your while, little one.”
Halamshiral dialog: “Of all the magnificence in this palace... I can say without exaggeration that nothing compares to you.”
Being asked to dance during mission: “Josephine would kill me if I kept you from some diplomat or duke. But I shall gladly sacrifice myself once you have made your rounds.”
Asking to dance post-mission: “I- I warn you, little one, I’m not very good. But I’d do anything for you.”
What Cole says about companion to PC: “There was always darkness behind the mask, both of the masks he’s worn. But now it is safe and soft. Now there is you.”
Who is concerned about the relationship?: Vivienne. Josephine (for political reasons)
Who supports the relationship?: Blackwall, Dorian, Cullen
Who had a bet running on it?: Cassandra, Sera
Banter(between NPCs):
Vivienne: (after the romance only mission) I understand I am to offer you and the Inquisitor congratulations? Kost: We are engaged, yes. Vivienne: I do hope you understand what you are doing. Kost: I understand that I am in love. I understand that I am loved in return. And I understand that political considerations do not matter to me when I am with the Inquisitor. Does that satisfy you, Madam? Vivienne: Satisfy? No. Please me? Quite. I wish you every happiness.
Blackwall: You’ve... been around a while, haven’t you? Kost: Er... yeah? Blackwall: And the Inquisitor doesn’t mind? Not that it’s a problem, not that I think it’s a problem or anything, just- Kost: Ser Blackwall, do you have your eye on someone younger than you? Blackwall: What? I- where would you think tha- no. Kost (teasing): Fascinating. You blush right through your beard! Blackwall (groaning playfully): Oh, piss off!
Sera: You and the big man, eh? Hehe, because- Kost: Sera. You’re not subtle. Vivienne (if present): My dear, your lack of tact is simply appalling. Sera: Rolly likes you too, yeah? You better not hurt his dad or you know what? Kost: It’s arrows, isn’t it? Sera: Arrows!
Flirt options: Upon reaching Skyhold and unlocking the Undercroft, Kost will be ecstatic at the sight of the new smithing area and the Inquisitor can say he looks adorable when excited. This opens up a dialogue option later to begin romancing him.
If PC breaks it off: “Ah. I- uh. Of course. I hope I haven’t done anything to offend you. I shall continue to help the Inquisition as best I can.”
Love confession: Kost will ask to take a walk with the Inquisitor and they will end up on the battlements. Kost will talk about his life as a smith and as a father and say that he never seemed to end up with anyone to love and romance... until the Inquisitor. He says he hopes he didn’t read the situation wrong, but that he has fallen hopelessly for them.
Romanced tarot card: King of Pentacles
End game dialog: “Isn’t that something? No matter how hard I tried, I could never forge something as beautiful as a sunrise. I could never capture that kind of beauty. And yet... it is nothing compared to your face. The sun rises and sets each day without fail, but I promise to be even more constant for you - I am with you.”
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merthurglompfest · 4 years
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Merthur Glompfest 2020 Masterlist
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Thank you to everyone who participated in Merthur Glompfest 2020! It’s been a bit of a ride, with all of us having to deal with extremely unexpected circumstances compared to when the fest launched, but we hope that everyone is safe and well, and that all our Glompee’s enjoy their gifts!  Please check out the masterlist below for all our fantastic entries and we look forward to seeing you all next year!
fifty_fifty & schweet_heart
Gift for mega_mathi | Better with You | by Leandra [ Explicit | 15344 ] Summary:  Arthur is having a terrible day full of bad news, misfortune and a mouthy and irritating manservant. Strangely enough, it’s a rather surprising altercation with said irritating manservant that turns the day around and soon, Arthur is convinced that having Merlin in his bed is the remedy to cure all his horrible days… Gift for broken_fannibal | Breaking Points | by elirwen [ Teen & Up | 2595 ] Summary: His magic bound, their captors ruthless in their torture, Merlin needs to find a way to get both Arthur and himself to freedom. Gift for KimliPan | Broken Days, A Guide and How To Manual | by arsenicandsunshine [ Teen & Up | 20652 ] Summary: In which if Merlin has to see the cracked gray of his bedroom ceiling one more time, he’s gonna scream. Or punch someone. Maybe the wall. Definitely Arthur, who can’t seem to find the words to say what he wants to, but after the morning Merlin’s had, whatever it was can’t possible help. Gift for silklace | The Coming of the Golden Age | by fifty_fifty [ Explicit | 49526 ] Summary:  With King Uther dead, the moment Merlin has been waiting for is finally here: Arthur is king. But his and Arthur's relationship isn't the only thing that's heating up, and with the threat of war on one side and social unrest on the other, some big changes are in store for Camelot – whether they like it or not. Gift for nekoii | The confident king and his nervous mage. | by digthewriter [ Gen | Art ] Summary: Arthur and Merlin on their wedding day. Gift for mega_mathi | A convenient marriage | by Lyss2011 [ Teen & Up | 13786 ] Summary: Love, Merlin thought, caressing the word and signature with his thumb. Arthur was courting someone whom he loved. And who he loved was Mithian. What else could the M stand for? In which Merlin and Arthur have a marriage of convenience, Merlin falls in love with Arthur, and Arthur courts someone who couldn't possibly be Merlin. Gift for actuallyitscaptain | A Crown of Smoke | by CandiceWright [ Explicit | 5421 ] Summary: The execution of a sorceress leaves Camelot on edge and triggers a magical threat that Merlin can only fight by revealing himself. Then Arthur is presented with a choice: to follow his father's footsteps or to let Merlin live, all while battling his feelings for the servant. In the end, it wasn't much of a choice, was it? Gift for jasminum_draconis | Daughters and Fathers and Sons, oh my! | by archaeologist_d [ Mature | 3608 ] Summary:  Morgana was just trying to help keep Arthur and Merlin’s liaison a secret. Little did she know that there was more than one secret in the castle. Gift for afreezingnote | Deadly Games | by keeperofstories [ Teen & Up | 31281 ] Summary: Merlin, Arthur, and the knights of the Round Table get caught in a trap. The trap wasn't meant for them but they have to suffer through the consequences anyway. Secrets are revealed and relationships are threatened. Gift for Cupidity11 | The Diamond Sea | by Excaliburstark [ Gen | 11123 ] Summary: Merlin comes to court, driven by curiosity and desire after he saved a golden haired man during a storm. A Mer!Prince Merlin and Royal Arthur au Gift for Aranei | Don't Let it Be Forgot, That Once There Was a Spot, for One Brief Shining Moment, That Was Known As Camelot | by Emrys MK (mk_malfoy) [ Teen & Up | 8617 ] Summary: An emotionally constipated Prince Arthur thinks he’s being clever in his endeavour to push his new manservant, Merlin, away, but his plan has a major flaw and unexpected consequences. How far will he go to get what he’s lost back? Gift for Merlioske | down the rabbit hole | by TheDragon [ Mature | 4899 ] Summary:  In which Arthur discovers Merlin is sleeping with Gwaine and promptly flies into a jealous rage. Gift for actuallyitscaptain | The Eternal Silence of These Infinite Spaces | by aoigensou [ Teen & Up | 26069 ] Summary: After a spat with Arthur, Merlin retreats for some quiet in the Darkling Woods. What happens there takes away his voice, and forces Merlin to figure out how to exist in a world where communication doesn't come easily. Gift for blueskysunnyday | Feint | by Camelittle [ Explicit | 14440 ] Summary: Three insufferable brothers visit Camelot, making life intolerable for Arthur. Luckily, he has a cunning plan for escaping into the forest with Merlin. A totally solid, sound and foolproof plan, which he certainly is not making up as he goes along. Gift for Jayfire | The Hat is Never Wrong | by MapleBreeze [ Gen | 2504 ] Summary:  When Arthur gets sorted into Hufflepuff upon arriving to Hogwarts, he is shocked and devastated, fearing his father's reaction. But the hat is never wrong and Arthur becomes determined to show just how great Hufflepuff can be.   Gift for KimliPan | Heart of the Woods | by Nympha_Alba [ Gen | 4801 ] Summary:  When one of Merlin's spells misfires, Arthur is left without a memory of who he is and why he's there. Thinking Arthur will have no recollection of any of this when his memory returns, Merlin makes the risky decision to show him how beautiful magic can be. Gift for actuallyitscaptain | Hold On To Your Heart (Hold It High Above Flood Waters) | by tehfanglyfish [ Teen & Up | 10437 ] Summary: After accidentally causing Uther's death, Morgana entered self-imposed exile. The loneliness took a heavy toll until the Great Dragon swooped into her life to recruit her for babysitting duty. Now Morgana spends her days caring for Aithusa, while using her magic to spy on Camelot. As she discovers the secrets that Arthur and Merlin have been keeping from each other, what choice does she have but to give them a much-needed shove? Gift for KasumiAFKGod |  It's the Distance We Don't Need | by tabbytabbytabby [ Teen & Up | 6245 ] Summary:  Merlin can't stand Arthur, and he's more than sure Arthur feels the same way. It's been that way for as long as Merlin can remember. There's no reason for that to change. He's fine with the way things are. It's not as if he likes him or anything. No, the person he likes is Al, one of his best friends that he talks to about everything. The only problem is they met online and despite knowing they go to the same school, Merlin has no idea who Al really is. Things grow more complicated when Merlin and Arthur are forced to work together on a project and Merlin starts to realize that maybe Arthur isn't as bad as he thought. Gift for Merlioske AND pukajen | Light the way Home | by actuallyitscaptain [ Gen | 1097 ] Summary: Freya lives, and Merlin runs off with her, sure that his feelings for Arthur will never be reciprocated. Arthur is stuck at the castle trying not to panic because Merlin LEFT HIM! To top it off, his connection with his soulmate is flaring up. Since soulmates are worse than magic in his father's eyes, he and Gaius are left trying to dodge bullets. Gift for Aranei | Lucky Charm | by Aeris444 [ Gen | 1087 ] Summary: The Knights think Merlin bring them luck. But who will be lucky in the end? Gift for Merlioske | Meddling and Other Sins. | by Michaelssw0rd [ Teen & Up | 5541 ] Summary: Gwaine is just about Done™ watching Arthur and Merlin dance around each other. It's been going on for too long. Any more of it will give Gwaine brain disease-- if he hasn't already contracted one from the two idiots. So really, doing something to get those two together is almost as much for his own sanity, as it is for them. Gift for SeverusBarbosa | Merlin, Morgana, and the Merry Men | by Elizabeth [ Mature | 13645 ] Summary: Merlin and Gwaine return from the Crusades to find Prince Agravaine and the Sheriff of Nottingham terrorizing the local peasants. Arthur and Gwen never wanted to be a part of a corrupt ruling class, but it's the card fate has dealt them. Merlin, though, isn't one to sit back and let it happen, so he and Morgana make a plan: steal from the rich and give to the poor. Together with their merry men, they're the stuff of legends.But being Robin Hood becomes more complicated when one falls for Arthur and the other falls for Gwen. Gift for Kais767 | Not so Silent a Night | by archaeologist_d [ Explicit | 7134 ] Summary: Merlin and Arthur are returning from their final quest for the year when a blizzard blocks the road back to Camelot. The closest village just happens to be Ealdor. But with Arthur an insensitive prat, and Merlin resenting having to be a servant in his own home and at Christmas time no less, things get a little heated. Gift for deathcomeswithakiss | only honest when it rains | by somethingaboutwriting [ Teen & Up | 11081 ] Summary: Merlin is sneaking off to see a girl. Arthur's handling it very well. That is, apart from these weird flowers he keeps coughing up. Gift for Krysania | The Portrait | by arthurandhisswordbros [ Teen & Up | 20917 ] Summary: Arthur must have his portrait made. It is customary that the man servant is depicted as well with his master. Arthur makes the most of the occasion by secretly ordering the painter to produce a small portrait of Merlin smiling. He keeps it preciously in a locket around his neck. Merlin is going crazy with curiosity. Gift for Jayfire | Of Clotpoles and Idiots | by sdewan6 [ Teen & Up | 1592 ] Summary: “You know, Merlin,” Arthur says, once it’s done, “For such an idiot, you’re not that bad.”Merlin beams back at him, unconsciously reaching to tug at his neckerchief. “For such a prat,” he replies, “you don’t always completely suck.” Four times Arthur called Merlin an idiot and the one time Merlin called him a clotpole. Gift for El_tuco | Operation: Picnic Basket | by DevonShea [ Gen | 3562 ] Summary:  Arthur wants to get Gwen and Lancelot together. He needs Merlin's help, of course. Could it lead to something more? Gift for nekoii | Rain Over Me with the Colours of Love | by sdewan6 [ Teen & Up | 2494 ] Summary: Arthur tries to return his focus back to the speech, but Merlin is the only thing on his mind, for some reason. Not that he likes him or anything, obviously. Nothing about his idiotic smile or his dumb gorgeous blue eyes or stupid neckerchief that suits him so much makes Arthur want to kiss him. Absolutely not. He’s the prince! He’s not going to fall in love with his manservant. Except he already kind of has. In which Arthur really loves Merlin and Merlin really loves Arthur Gift for BlazingPenicls | Tripping in the Flowers | by actuallyitscaptain [ Gen | 1378 ] Summary:  Arthur tries (and mostly succeeds) at being romantic. Really, what more can you expect from two idiots in love? Gift for broken_fannibal | Trying to Hide | by fictionalinfinity [ Gen | 1761 ] Summary: When Merlin fails to show up to work, Arthur is furious, but that all changed when he finds Merlin in tears. Gift for afreezingnote | Whatever You Want to Be | by Impala_Chick [ Teen & Up | 5329 ] Summary: Arthur, and those that were hiding out with him in the caves, are captured by scouts and dragged back to Camelot. Morgana sets Arthur's public execution into motion to solidify her rule. But her plans are thwarted when Merlin reveals his magic. After the dust settles, Arthur can't deny that his feelings about magic, and about Merlin, have changed. Gift for deathcomeswithakiss |  You've Got Your Reasons | by FervidAsAFlame (with art by CandiceWright) [ Teen & Up | 11678 & art ] Summary:  Arthur is the perfect flatmate — he pays his rent on time, works so much that he’s not even home half the time, and is totally okay with Merlin’s magic. Best of all, Merlin is pretty sure that Arthur has a crush on him — that is, until he stumbles across a list of things that Arthur hates about him. Merlin is upset of course, but he pushes aside his feelings to focus on being a better roommate so that Arthur will renew their lease for another year. Most of the things on the list aren’t that hard to correct … so how come Arthur seems to get more and more annoyed as Merlin improves his behaviour?
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otp-armada · 3 years
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Right before I woke up this morning, for a moment, my mind dreamt of a scene of Clarke on the Ring. She makes it to the rocket on time. It's her and Bellamy standing at the observation window, watching Earth burn. It's the two of them looking to the future, their people's and their own, together. 4x13 ends with a flash-forward of six years, but one of Spacekru as a family. As we see the eight of them laughing together at a dinner table, the camera pans to a weighted, happy glance shared between Clarke and Bellamy, him lifting their joined hands to his lips, two matching, thin rings of gold metal on their fingers. And that's how the audience comes to know they have coupled up. Boom. Out.
My ears are ringing from the collective shrieking we would have done.
My waking hours are here, and I'd like to play this scenario out to my specifications.
The first half of 5x01 is Spacekru flashbacks, showing us how they bonded to become a family and how Bellarke got together.
In the long, quiet comfort of the Ring, our heroes give voice to their past traumas and heal old grievances.
Clarke tells Bellamy about her father, Bellamy shares stories about his mother. She tells him about her father's kindness and gentle nature, his limitless heart. Jake's teases about Clarke drawing on every plain surface she could find, a habit that began with her childhood. Passionate as she was for sketching, she was in the midst of early medical training. Her exposure to the Council and the Chancellor is what gave Clarke her political acumen. Clarke recounts the games they used to watch with the Jahas. Before long, she's explaining the rules of soccer to a confused but amused Bellamy. Bellamy tells her what little he remembers about his parents before his father died. Aurora's smile. Her sacrifices for her children. Her tenacity. Her love of mythic stories she passed onto him. The overwhelming sense of responsibility she instilled in him from too early an age. Bellamy talks about the challenges of a life spent hiding a little girl under the floorboards from the Ark. Bellamy shares the rewards of being the only pair of siblings to have existed in nearly a hundred years. Unbidden by the role of big brother in Clarke's company, he gives voice to the constraints placed on his life. The hardships of living in Factory Station, while Clarke shrinks in guilt over her bountiful upbringing in Alpha. They both recall the pain of watching their parents get floated. There, in front of their eyes one second, gone forever in the blink of an eye. Clarke discloses that, while privileged, she was a lonely child. Were it not for Wells, she would have had no friends. She talks about him, what Bellamy never got to know about Wells Jaha.
The atmosphere shifts, and their conversations progress to contemporary times.
They discuss their respective tendencies to want to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. It takes time, but Clarke finally divulges why she felt compelled to leave Camp Jaha. How bereft she felt. Her nightmares and loneliness in self-imposed exile. Wandering around the freezing cold of the woods. Bellamy can't rein in the pain as he reminds Clarke that she didn't bear it all on her own. She couldn't have, not when he was the one left behind to pick up the pieces Mount Weather shredded. He was the one seeing their faces every day. She asked him to come back with her, to their people, once before, and he did. But when he asked her to do the same, she left. They both know it's not apologies he's looking for. It's a promise, a reigniting of an old promise made between two lost souls needing the other when the world threatened to drown them. They readily give in.
Their conversation takes an unexpected turn when Clarke explains why she gave in to Bellamy's plan to go undercover in Mt. Weather. For her to be strong enough to save her people, she couldn't let love hold her back, make her weak. From the second Bellamy left her sight, she regretted it. They both recognize it as the confession she didn't intend to say. Shock settles in. With newfound confidence, it triggers an admission of Bellamy's own feelings. Cue canon Bellarke.
Once the air between them is clear, it was only fair that the effects of Mt. Weather be a topic Clarke and Bellamy discuss with the third member of the room that fateful day. It leads them to the complicated subject of Jasper, the three of them breaking down in tears over their fallen friend.
Six years of peacetime spent in Clarke's company shapes perspective on the girl herself. She's not Clarke Griffin, the fierce and stoic Skaikru leader, equipped with all the answers. She's not Wanheda, the great legend. She's just a girl, with vulnerabilities, insecurities, fears, and demons, just the same as any of them. She becomes a person to them. Real flesh and blood. A human being who does indeed break. And no one is more startled by this revelation than Raven. It's another contentious relationship of Clarke's requiring time to mend. Although sharing feelings doesn't come easily to Raven, the two eventually crack their sibling-like rivalry where Abby and Finn are concerned.
It's the presence of a fellow cockroach well-versed in the glamourous lifestyle of isolation that gets Murphy out of his self-destructive streak. In their own ways, they have both been the outsiders. They make an uncanny pair of confidantes, so says the rest of the kru. But somehow, it works. Trust doesn't come easy for Murphy, and he and Clarke have their fair share of issues. Close quarters force the two of them and Emori to work it out. For all that Clarke excels at contrition, deserved and undeserved, she's also never been one to beat around the bush, no matter Murphy's preference to lash out in his signature style of sharp sarcasm at moments of his choosing. As it is for Bellamy, Clarke's belief in Murphy as a good man is an overwhelming force, one he is not sure he's worthy of, but privately welcomed nevertheless. In time, there arrives a sense of respect and loyalty between them no one foresaw.
Clarke's penchant for extending her hand to the outsiders doesn't end with Murphy and Emori. Clarke was the first to bring Echo on board and, she is the first to treat their errant Azgeda former spy as family. Post-season 4 to the series' end, Echo's character development is at the forefront of her story arc, never filtered through a subpar pairing needed to fuel an insipid love triangle where her leg of it is marked for eventual demolition.
Since I am bound by limitless imagination, let us pretend this was a 2-hour season premiere.
The flashbacks take us through the six years to the present. Spacekru's happiness is juxtaposed, as we transition to below the ground, by the hellscape Wonkru is trapped in. The second half of 5x01 is Wonkru flashbacks, a la 5x02.
5x02 takes us back to Eligius IV, to the passing of Order 11 (is that what it was called?). A young pilot named Shaw chooses to defy his captain's orders, releasing their prisoners. They proceed to take over the ship, killing Shaw's crewmates and captain, Charmaine Diyoza assuming command. She corrals Paxton McCreary and his men to her side. With their mutiny a success, Diyoza tells Shaw to plot a course for Earth. All the while, we see Shaw wrestling with the bloody aftermath of his decisions. They reach Earth's orbit, ready to go home, unknowingly under the watch of 8 survivors in space.
The Eligius prisoners touch ground on the last arable patch of land on Earth and quickly find themselves ensnared in a series of traps by an unknown number of assailants. Their assailant turns out to be a solitary preteen. They capture her, interrogate her. She speaks a language they've never heard. I'm making it a point to emphasize those infernal shock collars do not exist in my little world.
5x03 plays out similarly onboard the Eligius mothership. Our kru arrives, not to borrow a cup of sugar, but to steal the hydrazine for their journey home. Clarke, Bellamy, and kru debates the morality of killing 300 strangers in their sleep before deciding to use them as leverage. Raven and Murphy stay behind. Six Spacekru members fall to Earth and are captured by Eligius. They are taken to Diyoza, where they find a little girl dressed in Grounder garb. Bellamy and Clarke use their trump card to free themselves, Madi, and use their resources to locate Wonkru, with an additional promise to share the land and their knowledge of life on Earth.
5x04 plays out the same, more or less, without the awkward tension of a Bellarke trying to reacclimate themselves to each other's presence again. Diyoza brings Madi, Bellamy, and Clarke to Polis, where Bellarke negotiates for Wonkru's release. They meet Blodreina and her cult of warriors. Fandom squeals seeing Octavia greet her sister-in-law. Wonkru (and Blodreina) comes to realize that they have found a surviving Nightblood. Diyoza betrays the accord, taking Abby and Kane to Shallow Valley and leaving Bellarke and Madi at odds with Octavia.
5x05 sees Bellarke continuing to act in concert as a team, eager to reunite with their lost people while keeping a protective eye on Madi. Tensions brew between them and Blodreina. Marper and Echo return and they all turn back to Polis.
Blodreina refuses to grant pardon to Echo. Spacekru fights on her behalf, while Echo is willfully recruited for Octavia's mission. Madi meets Gaia under Clarke's watchful eye. When Madi is introduced to the Flame, Clarke tries to persuade her not to be swayed by the Flamekeeper's influence. Because this is my fantasy and I can do what I wish, it turns out that Clarke and Bellamy are expecting their first child. Clarke, believing the Flame to be a curse for its bearer, wants to spare Madi a bloody fate. She wants to abolish this aspect of Grounder culture, fearing the chances her child may become the next natural-born Nightblood. She dreads the possibility of her child as the next participant in the Conclave or the next Commander.
Another sidenote I am interjecting. Here, toxic motherhood isn't a defining characteristic of Clarke's, to aid in her isolation and subsequent, continual emotional decline. In my world, she gets to be a protective mother, a loving wife, a compassionate friend, and a caring daughter, all rolled in one little blonde package. She gives love freely, as she does in canon, but receives it in kind. She doesn't sink to rock bottom, nor must she, to be the heroine she is. She draws on the good and the bad experiences she's had to teach others. She imparts her lessons to those in need. Love is a commodity her life isn’t devoid of.
Clarke and Bellamy argue over what to do about Blodreina. Neither wants her to be harmed, but Bellamy maintains that she is, above all, his sister. He needs to believe Octavia is still within reach. He cannot abandon her now that they're together again. Clarke petitions Bellamy to take their family to Shallow Valley before it's too late. They compromise, agreeing to remove Octavia from the board long enough for Indra to take Diyoza's proffered deal. Their plans fail, as per 5x08, and Octavia arrests Clarke, an execution set for after the baby’s birth. We retain the glorious Blake scene of 5x08. It breaks Bellamy's heart to hurt Octavia, but she forced his hand. He has to protect his wife and their baby.
Tensions come to a head between husband and wife, courtesy of 5x09. Bellamy, having exhausted all other options, decides Madi must ascend to Commander to accomplish their goals. It is the only way to protect them all and save the valley. I am once again interrupting my spiel to remark that Clarke knows, unequivocally, she is included on the shortlist of family Bellamy is most ardently trying to protect. Forget "included," she's at the top. Clarke, ever the protective mother, disagrees, citing endangerment to Madi from Octavia and her patriots. Clarke argues that, of Diyoza and Octavia, Diyoza is the lesser evil to their family. As long as they remain within Diyoza's rules, they have nothing to fear from her. Bellamy, seeing Clarke's deep-rooted fear, agrees.
They are delayed by Marper, who wish to stay within the bunker, living off the revitalized algae farm. Bellamy and Clarke don't want to leave them behind until Monty points out that they, for once, deserve the chance to choose their fate, as all of the people of Earth. Octavia recuperates in time to arrest Bellamy, sending him to the fighting pit. Clarke fights to defend him but is detained. Clarke wants to fight alongside him, but they both know she has to live to raise their baby. They are permitted a final goodbye, and they have an emotional last exchange, a.k.a. Kabby parallel. Like Kane before him, Indra is forced to separate another family.
Octavia assures Bellamy that the baby will be under her protection. By now, Bellamy has reached the end of his rope with his baby sister. He loves her, but he can't distinguish her from the monster she's become, and it's about to cost him a life with his family. Disgusted, Bellamy scoffs at her overtures. He reminds her that his child deserves to have its parents. Clarke's earlier words come back as he tells her that she is his family's worst enemy. It wasn't enough for Aurora to leave him responsible for raising his sister at six years old. For the first time, his life is right, and she's the one who's about to take it away. He reminds her what it was like to lose her mother at 17, to never know her father. She knows how devastating it feels. Yet, left up to her, his child would be an orphan. He finishes with a devastating blow: it'll be those he holds as his family who will take care of his wife and child.
Clarke breaks free of her restraints, making plans to cause disruption to the bunker and getting Bellamy out in the ensuing chaos. She is stopped by Monty, who wants to use the opportunity to give Wonkru a better choice. Clarke tells him she isn't gambling Bellamy's life. Monty breaks again, pointing out that the last time he helped her and Bellamy, they split blood, and their plans still failed. Clarke reluctantly relents out of guilt, knowing how Mount Weather continues to haunt Monty. She does, after all, trust him with her life.
Bellamy fights Indra in the pits until the proceedings are interrupted by an intervening Monty, brandishing a pure, white flower in a sea of blood and darkness. Just as he begins to sway Wonkru to his non-volatile solution to the impending war, Blodreina forces compliance by burning the algae farm.
As Wonkru mobilizes for war, the fractured Spacekru and Madi take the rover to the valley to find their friends. They destroy the worms in transit.
They save an incapacitated Abby, who later recounts the Dark Year. Bellamy can't stop the horror he feels at the ordeal his sister has lived through. He feels a pang of guilt he knows is irrational while wrestling with the knowledge that she is still responsible for her choices now.
They reunite with the rest of Spacekru and are surprised to learn McCreary has taken control of the camp. With Diyoza and Kane's assistance, the eye in the sky is reinstalled, giving Eligius the advantage. As much as they want to prevent this war, they cannot leave Wonkru to die in the gorge. The group breaks off. One team is sent to disable the eye in the sky. The other team uses Madi's knowledge of the valley's layout to head off to fight alongside Wonkru in the gorge.
By the time they arrive safely, only Octavia, Indra, and Gaia are left alive. Bellamy convinces Octavia to retreat instead of sacrificing herself. He tells her she has to live with what she's done instead of taking the easy way out. For the most part, I'm picturing the scenes play out as they did in canon. At base camp, Wonkru is in disarray. Too many bodies are left littered from this war, with Blodreina at fault. To stop the in-fighting, Madi attempts to assume control by invoking her natural right to lead as a Nightblood. Some dissent, claiming she is not yet Commander. With support from Gaia, Octavia, and Bellamy (who makes sure this is what she wants), they sway Wonkru to Madi's side. Freshly invigorated, Wonkru prepares for a second assault.
Back on the Eligius ship, Clarke, Raven, and Shaw release an imprisoned Diyoza. They allow themselves to be captured and taken to the ship's central control. While McCreary attempts to force Raven to pilot their ship, she and Clarke regain control. Meanwhile, Bellamy convinces Madi to let the prisoners live.
From here, may I present two alternatives:
Scenario 1: Clarke kills McCreary before he can launch the missile from the mothership. With Spacekru controlling the ship's weaponry and Wonkru overtaking the prisoners, Eligius capitulates. After much deliberation, a new accord is reached, allowing for all survivors to live in peace as a singular society. Spacekru gets their 80 acres. The last of the 10(2) become parents to the next generation. It takes time, but Bellamy and Octavia's relationship heals. Eventually, she earns back her place in his life as his sister. She becomes one of many to welcome Bellarke's little one to the world, ecstatic to be a loving aunt. Generations later, the Earth recovers.
Scenario #2: The missile is launched. Earth's survivors must escape to space to survive. Marper opts out of cryosleep and has a son. It takes Monty ten years to realize Earth may never recover from its last doomsday. He wakes Spacekru+ to determine options. Between him, Raven, and Shaw, the three configure a self-running algorithm to decode the Eligius III mission files. They wire the pods to awaken its occupants every decade to check the algorithm's progress. The McIntyre-Greens go into cryosleep with some gentle persuasion from Bellarke. They won't leave their people behind. Thirty years later, Earth remains dormant. The files reveal the existence of a planet that could support human life, lightyears away, in the binary star system in the Goldilocks zone. They plot a course.
No, it's not as thrilling as the original ending. But if our heroes are going to traipse across the universe, only to return to their home planet, then Marper will not be sacrificed for nada. They will live out their days, a little older, a little wiser, but surrounded by their friends. They will not say farewell to their son at his ripe old age of 26.
There isn't much I would change about season 6, not where its major storylines are concerned. Clarke meets Cillian for his insight on Abby and Kane's deteriorating conditions. I would alter Madi's arc to where she takes the Flame in Sanctum and uses the time while the grounders are in cryosleep to train under Gaia's tutelage. Madi becomes attached to Bellarke, and it leaves her susceptible to Sheidheda's influence when her newfound familial figures find themselves at risk from the Primes. She'd see Sheidheda as a necessary evil to save her people, not unlike Clarke submitting to Lxa's clout. I would have Sheidheda preying on Madi's fears that she'd be alone again as she was during Praimfaya if she doesn't respond with vigor.
Season 7 gets a similar, substantial overhaul I've been thinking about for months but haven't yet written down.
The end.
(When am I going to stop with these sidenotes? After this last point, I promise.) Jason ran too tight a ship to let his post-apocalypse masterpiece become overtaken by frivolous romance. Without this pitfall, what stopped him from coupling Bellarke up before the end? Nothing. He could have a Bellarke that remained symbolic of the show's themes and mythos. A show that thrives on chaos would never run out of conflict to stir the pot. Falling apart and weaving themselves back together has been the model of their relationship since season one. Why couldn't they do this and be a couple? Why couldn't they have the Memori Model? They could have, but Jason chose the path of the slowburn. There's no fault in this. There is a fault in choosing to rescind the previously established story when it comes time for the threads to finally tie together. And I will never forgive him for it.
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prettygalsread · 4 years
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🤍📖 Prettygalsread presents: 5 Anticipated reads for 2021! 🤍📖
2020 has been a stressful, and chaotic year. One thing has kept my spirits up are the amount of fanstic books that were released and some amazing reveals for books that will be released in 2021! I’ve decided to pick 5 (even though there are wayyyy more than that haha) books that I am really excited for that will be released in 2021.
🤍🔥A Court of Silver Flames - Sarah J Maas: It’s no secret that I am a huge Sarah J Maas fan. A Court of Thorns and Roses is my all time favorite series. I won’t spoil anything for the people who haven’t read the series yet, but I will say I have been waiting for Nesta and Cassian’s book for years! I can’t begin to describe how excited I was when Sarah released a title and official release date back in June. Now we just wait for a cover reveal *squeals* A Court of Silver Flames will be released on January 26, 2021 and is now available for preorder. Below I have added the official synopsis from Bloomsbury.
“Nesta Archeron has always been prickly – proud, swift to anger and slow to forgive. And since the war – since being made High Fae against her will – she's struggled to forget the horrors she endured and find a place for herself within the strange and deadly Night Court. The person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred, winged warrior who is there at Nesta's every turn. But her temper isn't the only thing Cassian ignites. And when they are forced to train in battle together, sparks become flame.As the threat of war casts its shadow over them once again, Nesta and Cassian must fight monsters from within and without if they are to stand a chance of halting the enemies of their court. But the ultimate risk will be searching for acceptance – and healing – in each other's arms.”
Read my Reviews for the A Court of Thorns and Roses series below.
ACOTAR
ACOMAF
ACOWAR
ACOFAS
💙🎪 When Night Breaks - Janella Angeles: Back I’m January I was approved for an Advanced Readers Copy of Where Dreams Descend. I adore books about carnivals, circuses, etc. The world setting, the romance and the mystery of certain events sucked me in and I finished the book in one day! I was immediately ready for the next book. Recently Janella revealed the cover and title of book two and I was estatic! When Night Breaks will be released on June 8, 2021! Below I have added the official synopsis from Wednesday Books.
“The competition has come to a disastrous end, and Daron Demarco’s fall from grace is now front page news. But little matters to him beyond Kallia, the contestant he fell for who is now lost to this world and in the hands of a dangerous magician. Daron is willing to do whatever it takes to find her. Even if it means embarking on a dark and treacherous journey, risking more than just his life, with no promise of return. After awaking in darkness, Kallia has never felt more lost. Especially with Jack by her side, the magician with who has the answers but cannot be trusted. Together, they must navigate a dazzling world where mirrors show memories and illusions shadow every corner, one ruled by a powerful game master who could all too easily destroy the world she left behind -- and the boy she can’t seem to forget. With time running out, Kallia must embrace her role in a darker destiny, or lose everyone she loves, forever.”
Read my review for Where Dreams Descend HERE
🧡🐺 Rule of Wolves - Leigh Bardugo: The Grishaverse is one of the most creative and uniquely written book worlds I’ve read. The Six of Crows duology and King of Scars both have a special place in my heart. A few weeks ago, I attended Leigh’s virtual book tour where she announced the the release date, title and cover reveal for book 2 of King of Scars. Rule of Wolves will be released March 30, 2021! Below I’ve added the official synopsis from Goodreads.
“The Demon King. As Fjerda’s massive army prepares to invade, Nikolai Lantsov will summon every bit of his ingenuity and charm—and even the monster within—to win this fight. But a dark threat looms that cannot be defeated by a young king’s gift for the impossible. The Stormwitch. Zoya Nazyalensky has lost too much to war. She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury another friend. Now duty demands she embrace her powers to become the weapon her country needs. No matter the cost. The Queen of Mourning. Deep undercover, Nina Zenik risks discovery and death as she wages war on Fjerda from inside its capital. But her desire for revenge may cost her country its chance at freedom and Nina the chance to heal her grieving heart.King. General. Spy. Together they must find a way to forge a future in the darkness. Or watch a nation fall.”
Read my review King of Scars HERE
❤️⛵️Namesake - Adrienne Young: In March I received an ARC of Fable and I fell in love with it. I had never read anything by this author before and I totally questioned myself as to why that was once I was done with the book! Book 2 already has a released date and book cover and I’m hoping to read it very soon! This book will have you feeling as mf joker actually on the sea. Namesake will be released on March 16, 2021! Below I’ve added the official synopsis from Barnes and Noble.
“Trader. Fighter. Survivor. With the Marigold ship free of her father, Fable and its crew were set to start over. That freedom is short-lived when she becomes a pawn in a notorious thug’s scheme. In order to get to her intended destination she must help him to secure a partnership with Holland, a powerful gem trader who is more than she seems. As Fable descends deeper into a world of betrayal and deception she learns that her mother was keeping secrets, and those secrets are now putting the people Fable cares about in danger. If Fable is going to save them then she must risk everything, including the boy she loves and the home she has finally found.”
Read my review of Fable HERE
🤎🧝🏽‍♀️Witches Steeped in Gold - Ciannon Smart: Ok, I am sooo ready to have this book in my hands. A book about Jamaican Witches? YES PLEASE! Not only is the cover beautiful but the synopsis sounds amazing and I have no doubt this will be one of my favorites series. Witches Steeped in Gold will be released on April 20, 2021! I have added the official synopsis from Google books below.
“Trust no witch . . . Iraya Adair has spent her life in a cell. Heir of an overthrown and magically-gifted dynasty, she was exiled from her home on the island nation of Aiyca when she was just a child. But every day brings her closer to freedom - and vengeance. Jazmyne Cariot grew up dressed in gold, with stolen magic at her fingertips. Daughter of the self-crowned doyenne, her existence is a threat to her mother's rule. But unlike her sister, Jazmyne has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother's power. Sworn enemies, the two witches enter a deadly alliance to take down the woman who threatens both their worlds. But revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain - except the lengths Iraya and Jazmyne will go to win this game. Two witches. One motive. And a very untrustworthy alliance.”
—————
There are soooo many more books I’m highly anticipating and I’ll probably do more of these posts in the upcoming weeks! My waiting for release and TBR (to be read) lists are overflowing but I can’t complain haha. What book releases are you guys most excited for? @highqueenofelfhame
-Prettygalsread 💜
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wayward-wren · 3 years
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Alright I’m losing my mind how do u feel about infodumping this new thing you’re watching bc ily and want to know what you’re talking about XD
Oh boy oh boy anon, have you opened the flood gates. *cracks knuckles* I’m always down to info dump. (gets kind long so i’m putting a cut in)
The Dream SMP is a Minecraft multiplayer server owned by Dream, and most of the stuff happens over on live streams on twitch. Some content creators post highlight videos on their youtube channels, which was how I started, but it doesn’t quite fully catch the whole story and nuances (that being said I’d recommend TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot or Technoblade as a good place to get started, they all have youtube playlists on their channels)
The server starts off like a normal survival server, but then TommyInnit joins and starts stirring up trouble. This sparks off the disc war (fighting over Tommy’s most prized possessions on the server (keep that in mind) a couple of discs he’s managed to get (Cat and Mellohi most importantly)) and the pet war (Between Tommy and Sapnap, involving a lot of animal deaths, including Tommy’s cow Henry). I’m a little unclear on the early days of the server, cos I’ve only seen a few youtube highlights, but that’s the gist of it. 
Then Wilbur Soot joins the server. With Tommy, Tommy’s friend Tubbo, Eret and Fundy (who is Wilbur’s son and also a fox in lore), they create a new country of L’manburg, declaring independence from the rest of the server.  Dream, the owner of the server, doesn’t like this idea and it sparks the first war - the battle for independence. After fighting, a betrayal which still hangs over the heads of everyone even now, and a whole lot of tnt, Tommy challenges Dream to a 1v1 duel for independence. He loses, but sacrifices both his prized discs to Dream, securing L’manberg’s independence. 
There’s a time of peace, other characters like Niki join L’manburg and then Wilbur announces an election because he wasn’t democratically elected and wanted to secure that power. They tell Quackity - another member of the SMP who isn’t allowed in L’manburg because he’s not European and L’manberg is for Europeans only - and he decides he’s running as well. 
A last-minute entry from JSchlatt and a party alliance between Quackity and Schlatt meant that Schlatt barely won the election. Schatt’s first decree is to exile Tommy and Wilbur, and they’re chased out of L’manburg by a rain of arrows. The walls are torn down, the flag burned by Fundy and a new flag erected and L’manberg is renamed Manberg. 
Tommy and Wilbur find shelter in an underground canyon they name Pogtopia, Tubbo is left behind and recruited to be a mole/spy for them and they call in the help of an old friend - Technoblade. 
(An aside here, Techno, Tommy, Wilbur and another Minecraft youtube - Philza - have a group dynamic called the Sleepy Boys Incorporated. Lots of people headcanon them as a family, with Phil being the father and the others being brothers, but I like Phil being Wilbur’s father, Tommy being adopted/just showing up and they can’t get rid of him, and Techno being an old friend of Phil’s who’s about Wilbur’s age)
Schlatt announces a Festival. Tubbo is in charge of decorations for it and is also giving a speech. On the way back after spying on the announcement, Wilbur turns to Tommy and asks if they’re being the bad guys. He then announces “let’s be the badguys” and despite Tommy’s protests, gets a Whole Lotta TnT of Dream. 
The day of the festival arrives - Wilbur has rigged the entirety of Manburg with tnt. Wilbur and Tommy spy on the festivals while Techno who was invited joins in. Then, after Tubbo’s speech - which is going to be the cue to explode it all - things start to go wrong. Schlatt and Quackity trap Tubbo in a box, and Techno is called up to execute him because Schlatt figured out he was a mole. 
Techno does because of mild peer pressure, Wilbur goes to find the button but can’t, Techno goes on a rampage and murders a whole bunch of people, and Tommy is Upset. Back at Pogtopia he challenges Techno to a 1v1 fist fight which he loses (dude has not won a single 1v1)
Tubbo is now with Pogtopia, having lost the second of his three canon lives (as have Tommy and Wilbur at different points). Fundy reveals himself to be a spy for Pogtopia (though Wilbur still calls him his ‘traitor son’ and ‘look my son who I despise”), and Dream announces that there’s a traitor in their midst. A date is set for the final war. 
The day arrives. There are 11 and a half stacks of tnt under Manberg. Techno shows the team his underground bunker and they all gear up. After a battle, Dream announces that they want to surrender, and shows them Schlatt, who dies to a very anticlimatic heart attack. 
Wilbur appoints Tommy president, who declines and Tubbo becomes president instead. Then Wilbur slips off to the button room, saying that the thing he built the country for no longer exists (turns out he’s the traitor). 
Then Philza, who had previously not been whitelisted, joins the server directly behind Wilbur and at the same moment, Techno shoots Tubbo, announcing that despite constantly saying he was fighting against government he’d been betrayed by them setting up a government right in front of him. Everyone starts fighting while Phil tries to talk Wilbur down. Wilbur doesn’t listen, hits the button, blows up Manberg and then asks Phil to kill him. Phil does, (somewhat reluctantly “you’re my son!”) and then rushes down to help the others fight the two withers that Techno just spawned. 
In the aftermath, New L’manberg rises with Tubbo as president. Techno goes into retirement and Wilbur comes back as Ghostbur - who is extremely wholesome and has a bad memory, cos he’s not able to remember anything bad. There’s a stretch of peace, in which Ranboo joins the server, Ghostbur, Fundy and Phil have some family bonding, Ghostbur hands out blue which apparently sucks up sadness, and some side plots happen. 
Then Tommy and Ranboo burn down the house of the current king of the smp and Dream takes his chance. Through various manipulations, threats, and forcing people into situations they don’t want to be from Dream, Tubbo exiles Tommy.  
Tommy has a Hard Time in exile with Dream heavily manipulating him, to the point where he’s staring longingly at lava in the nether and being a shell of himself. Ghostbur hangs out with him for a bit (giving him and tubbo both compasses that point to each other) but just vanishes one day, leaving tommy completely alone with Dream. (it’s later revealed that Dream sent him off to wander in the snow - and turns out snow and rain melts him. He also finds a blue sheep who he calls Friend)
 New L’manberg is rotting from the inside, Tubbo bowing more and more to the pressures of his new role and becoming more corrupt. He and his cabinet (Fundy and Quackity and Ranboo is there as well) put Phil under house arrest while trying to track down Techno to kill him. 
Dream pushes a little too hard with Tommy, and Tommy towers high into the sky, realizes Dream was never his friend and leaves, finding shelter under Techno’s house. 
The butcher army (Tubbo, Fundy, Quackity and Ranboo’s there too) capture Techno by holding his horse hostage and try to execute him, but he escapes with the help of Dream (which will come back because Techno now owes him a favour) and goes back home to find a feral Tommy living like a raccoon in his basement. Tubbo then goes to visit Tommy, only to find a creator where Dream blew everything up, and a tower reaching into the sky, with no sign of Tommy. He assumes Tommy is dead. 
Techno and Tommy have been hanging out together, Tommy wanting to get his discs back (Tubbo having one he gave him as a symbol of trust and Dream having the other, but Techno wants to destroy L’manberg and the government) Tommy is slowly building up his confidence and sneaking back into L’manberg. Techno rescued Phil from his house arrest. Tubbo has been burying himself in projects and being mostly ooc which I translate to ‘my best friend just died and it’s partly my fault so I'm gonna go make a guardian farm and Not Think About That.’ Ranboo is the only one with any sense and can see that Dream is holding all the streams and that people shouldn’t be fighting, but working together to defeat him. He’s technically part of L’manberg, but he’s been hanging out with Techno and Tommy a fair bit. 
And Dream commissioned a prison that is going to be completely inescapable. Like, completely. Like, the creator of the prison died and respawned inside it at one point and said it’d take him an hour to get out and he knows how it works and had to be teleported out. Like, this thing will send texts to the guards’ phones if a block is broken. We have no idea what it’s for and we are afraid. 
In today’s stream, Tommy and Techno hold someone hostage in an effort to get Techno’s weapons back, Tommy and Tubbo properly see each other for the first time and get into a bit of a fight, Techno starts to slowly turn Tommy against Tubbo/the government and Tommy faces off with Dream, gaining enough confidence to cuss him out. 
And that’s basically where we’re at now. This is a very rough outline of what happens, and I’ve left out most of the more cursed lore (Wilbur has fun) and a lot of the side plots (like the Crimson egg that’s been spreading, and El Rapids). If you wanna know more i’m down to info dump more and can provide you with links. 
Also, real quick, check out the animatics! SAD-ist has some amazing ones, as does Late-August, The Channel Without a Name and a WHOLE lot of other’s whose names I forget. Honestly just search ‘dream smp animatic’ and spend a couple hours looking through them they’re AMAZING. I can provide you with links of those as well!
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covrtofnightmares · 4 years
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&&. cauldron above, ( laurent morningstar ) was just spotted in the fae lands — word has it ( he ) is affiliated with ( the day court ). ( he ) is a ( 450 / appears 34 ) year old ( half wild hunt / half high fae ). it’s been said that ( he ) resembles ( charles michael davis ). ( he ) has been said to be ( charismatic & seductive ) but also quite ( cunning & cruel ). ( he ) is currently serving as ( the day court spymaster ).
— ❝ fine. make me your villain.❞
name: laurent wolfgang morningstar
birthday: october 31 | scorpio
scent: white ginger, basil flower, bergamot, cedar, violet leaves, haiti vetiver, coconut, and hibiscus + ( SIGNATURE COLOGNE: l’homme - yves saint laurent )
appearance:  standing at 6′2″, laurent is known for his large, fit frame; with broad shoulders and a body honed from countless centuries of fighting and preserving himself, laurent is well aware not just of his preserving his body, but of how attractive he is to others. an alpha in the broadest sense of the word, laurent is noticeable for his cheshire grin and sharp, inquisitive gaze. he may look like a sweet, suave high faerie from legends of yore, but he’s a ruthless ancient who doesn’t mind tearing others down if they stand in his way. his physical appearance often serves as a lure for unsuspecting fae and humans who become ensnared in his web. he tends to keep short, groomed facial hair and a shaved head more often than note.
personality:  ( + ) charismatic, seductive, intelligent, intuitive ( - ) cunning, cruel, untrustworthy, proud
current familial / relationship status: laurent has one younger half-brother, with whom he has a horrible relationship with. his estranged relationship with lucien is the only true blood relation he has left, and while laurent knows he should care more about preserving it, there’s just something about watching the wolf king burn that thrills the day court’s spymaster.
biography: laurent morningstar was the product of a passionate love affair between the daughter of the wild hunt and one of the day court’s most prestigious, influential tradesmen. laurent’s patriarchal lineage dated back centuries prior to the summer court, but the morningstars have been a part of the day court so long it is an integral part of both their blood and magical affinities. laurent considers himself a day court high fae above all else; it’s the cultural upbringing he was most exposed to and the one his father has instilled into him for years. 
though laurent’s parents loved each other, they had a very volatile relationship--political affairs kept them apart above all else, so when laurent’s father, killian, received pressure from his own parents to devote himself fully to the day court and laurent’s mother, jade, began to take her role in the wild hunt as an heiress more seriously, there was a great rift in his small family. though laurent could shapeshift, the same as any graced member of the wild hunt, his wings and most of his magical attributes hailed from his father, and so laurent was sent to live primarily with killian morningstar in the day court. it was a pivotal moment in young laurent’s life: one that shaped the rest of his immortality...and the fate of his relationship with his family, as well.
laurent shuffled back and forth between his parents, living primarily with his father, but never felt wholly connected to the pack of the wild hunt. laurent became accustomed to his life, but a part of him always believed--or foolishly hoped, perhaps--that his parents would be able to reconcile their differences and marry. so when jade nightborne mated with the wild hunt’s leading general and bore his child, laurent was devastated. he had little to no reason to resent his mother’s new husband or his half-brother, but laurent couldn’t help the resentment he felt. killian remained unmarried, and laurent constantly worried that news of jade’s marriage to a man her family and the wild hunt approved of would shatter his father’s self-esteem. and as jade raised lucien in the night court, laurent withdrew emotionally from his mother and drew closer to his father. he was a young adult, by immortal standards, but he couldn’t shake the sense that something was wrong.
he belonged to both the wild hunt and the day court--so why did it feel like he only fit in with one? why did it feel like he would never connect with his mother’s family and court--not truly?
the role of a crown prince--or a wolf king, as the wild hunt called it--didn’t particularly appeal to laurent. he felt that his strengths did not lie in leading a country diplomatically, but in other manners. as his younger half-brother, lucien, grew up, the two proved to be opposites in almost every single manner. their mannerisms and behaviors were vastly different from one another; where lucien was all fire, laurent was ice. where lucien had the strength and determination of a stone cold warrior and leader, laurent was a silver-tongued serpent who got what he wanted by taking it, by whatever means necessary. as the morningstar and nightborne brothers grew older, their estranged relationship with one another only solidified. their mother, jade, wished desperately that her two sons would have the close relationship she had always envisioned for them. lucien, to his credit, attempted to get along with laurent; but in the end, the brothers were too different.
there were too many unspoken things that settled between them, creating tension thick enough to cut with a knife. they grew into two entirely different men--while lucien went off to learn the duties of a ruler, laurent worked his way up the ranks of the day court, earning the trust of the royal families and inner court. working as a spy for the day court, laurent often seduced, sweet-talked, and bribed his way into the beds, hearts, and minds of others. he cared little for the feelings of others--they were but stepping stones along the path of success, and laurent held no qualms about destroying anyone who held him from what he wanted. naturally charismatic and silver-tongued, laurent was a persuasive high faerie, often utilizing his looks and speech in order to wrench what he wanted from his targets. and if they failed to supply him with information of their own accord, then, well, that was what his hallucinations and illusion-based magic was for, wasn’t it? eventually, laurent’s skill and prowess gained him the coveted position of the spymaster within the day court. it was a position laurent didn’t take lightly; his loyalty to the day court was already much stronger, in his own mind, than the link he had to the wild hunt as an heir to the throne.
things came to blows, finally, between laurent and lucien when the wolf king discovered that his elder brother was spying on the wild hunt. laurent seduced his brother’s favorite lover, using his charm to will information out of her, and sat back and watched as the woman, poisoned by laurent morningstar’s words, turned her back not just on lucien nightborne, but the entirety of the wild hunt, and sought a world outside of the walls of the garden and the wild hunt. she defected to the day court for a short period of time, where laurent had little use of his brother’s discarded plaything, and eventually sent her packing. he was a cold, callous, manipulative creature--one who, evidently, held little regard for the kingdom which was rightfully his by blood. but no, the wild hunt had chosen lucien--a warrior bred purposefully for the throne.
if jealousy and rage burned within laurent, it was nothing compared to his brother. lucien’s rage was an eternal flame, burning brighter with each betrayal, and the two brothers came to physical blows worse than the wild hunt had ever known. their fight was catastrophic, leaving behind singed trees and craters in the earth from where their bodies had slammed into the ground during combat. it was a raw and brutal fight, one that left both brothers scarred, and resulted in lucien exiling laurent from the wild hunt. and so laurent morningstar became the lost prince, exiled from his kingdom and forced to watch his brother wear a crown that had never been offered to laurent in the first place.
laurent still serves the day court faithfully, and his relationship with lucien is estranged at best. with the new alliances blossoming over the horizon, laurent is more curious than ever to see how the tides of war will work in his favor. and should they choose not to cooperate, well, he will simply will them to. the fight is just beginning, and the eldest heir of the wild hunt has no intentions of backing down.
after all, you should see me in a crown.
affinity: shapeshifter with ties to the earth and nature; illusion-based / hallucination magic
wings: laurent’s wings are a shimmering gold, reflective of the day court’s coveted golden city; reflective of the strength of the day court. as his wings have always been closely linked to the day court, he often stands out among those in the wild hunt. to laurent, his wings are just another symbol of the path in life he has chosen.
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aion-rsa · 3 years
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In 2020, The Deutschland Series is As Relevant As Ever
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
The final season of the Deutschland spy series begins with an ending. In the opening episode of Deutschland 89, the Berlin Wall falls, giving East German citizens free movement to West Germany and beyond for the first time in decades. What follows in the eight-episode final season is a social study in how different people react when their reality is suddenly and fundamentally altered. In the year 2020, as the world continues to reel from the seismic changes COVID-19 has wrought, it’s an unexpectedly relatable experience.
“Deutschland 89 is really about how people have to reinvent themselves during a crisis,” says Deutschland series co-creator Joerg Winger. “So I think, in that way, it does reflect today, but that was not intentional.”
From the beginning, the Deutschland series—which launched in 2015 with Deutschland 83, continued in 2018 with Deutschland 86, and just concluded with Deutschland 89—has used history as a metaphor for contemporary politics. Because of this and because, as Faulkner famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past,” it has never been hard to find topical parallels in the Deutschland story, especially when the world skews unfortunately closer to the historic tensions depicted.
“I still remember when Joerg and I first started working on Deutschland 83, thinking, ‘Maybe we’ll have to remind people of the Cold War. Maybe they won’t remember any of this,’” says co-creator Anna Winger (who also co-created Netflix’s 2020 German-American drama Unorthodox). “And then the tension with Russia began again, and there was this sort of egocentric writer moment where you’re like, ‘Did I write it and make it happen? Why is this happening again?’ … Certainly, we couldn’t have predicted tension with Russia coming back, but I think that the polarization definitely, the idea that you’re on one side or you’re on the other side, and that there is this kind of way in which the world has become divided, we were definitely exploring that.” 
Deutschland 83 follows East German kid Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay) as he is forced by his HVA agent aunt Lenora (Maria Schrader) and his estranged father Walter (Sylvester Groth) to become a spy in West Germany. Using the real-life Able Archer incident (which some historians believe is the closest we’ve come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis) as setting, the first season is a fast-paced yet complex cautionary tale of what can happen when we lose track of the bigger picture in favor of political allegiances. 
On a more character-driven level, Deutschland 83 is the story of a young man caught between a desperation to stay alive so he can return home to his ill mother and pregnant girlfriend and a desire to keep the world from erupting into nuclear disaster. Because of this, much of the success of that first season and moving forward relied on the casting of the overwhelmed yet capable Martin. When Nay read the script for the Deutschland 83 pilot, he knew he wanted the part.
“I think that the first episode of the whole series is a masterpiece in throwing you directly into something,” says Nay. “I think, dramaturgy-wise, it’s really brilliant. For me, as a reader, I was so addicted. I immediately wanted to know where it went and I so deeply wanted to play that part of Martin.”
Later, Nay would find out that Anna Winger had his picture on the wall during the writing process, imagining him as Martin, but Nay didn’t know that when he went for the part.
“I hadn’t played something of that genre, or anything comparable to that before,” says Nay. “So I don’t really know where she had the impression from that this could be a part for me, actually. The things I shot before were more like society drama, feature films. It was really, really, really different.”
Joerg Winger says that Nay was always their first choice.
“There was a discussion we had at a later point with the directors in 83, who were thinking, maybe we need someone who’s more of a conventional hero, like a young James Bond kind of actor,” says Joerg Winger. “But I think, for us, it was really important that he has something vulnerable since one of the tweaks of the spy genre in Deutschland 83 is that it’s a spy show combined with a coming-of-age drama, and Jonas has the vulnerability and almost the boyishness and innocence. He’s a very good, solid person. And that translates also, I think, into his performance.” 
The initial idea for the series came from Joerg Winger’s own military service experience during the 80s as a conscripted Bundeswehr soldier in West Germany, intercepting messages from Russian troops in the German Democratic Republic. But, for many people watching the series who were born after 89, a divided Germany may be hard to imagine.
“With young people, it’s almost like what you learn in school ends with World War II, and then you never really got to the Cold War,” says Anna Winger. “So, for a lot of young people, at least in Germany, they would say to us, ‘This is like science fiction.’ It’s like, ‘Imagine a world, and there’s a wall that goes down the middle of Berlin, and West Berlin is cut off from supplies, and you can’t get across it.’ And you know, if you were to describe all that to anyone who was born in Berlin since 1989, it would sound absurd. It’s like, ‘And the dinosaurs roamed the earth.’ It’s very crazy to them. So, in a funny way, I’ve always thought the show is a little bit like the past as science fiction.”
Nay, who was born in 1990, days before the reunification of Germany, is one of those people.
“I think there’s actually a lot that changed my awareness of close German history, in particular the 80s, of course,” says Nay. “I remember that when I read the first series, the first question that came to my mind was: ‘Were we really so close to a nuclear war? Would anybody have told me if it was so close? Isn’t that crazy that nobody told me before? Is it real or is it just made up, to increase attention?’ I was like, ‘OK, it seems a little odd to me that we were close before to a nuclear war and I never heard that before.’ I’m really curious now what is going on behind closed walls, what I don’t know about nowadays.”
While all three seasons of the Deutschland series explores many of the same themes, the three-year time jump built into the fabric of the show means each season gets a soft narrative reset for its characters and setting. When asked about the choice to have three-year time jumps, Joerg Winger said it was somewhat incidental. Because of Able Archer and some of the Neue Deutsche Welle music circa 1983, the Wingers knew they wanted to start their story in 1983. They also knew that they wanted to do a trilogy and that it should end in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Because of this, of the three settings, 1986 is the most random.
“I think it’s a little bit like the Buddhist wisdom: wherever you dig, if you dig for long enough, you’ll find something,” says Joerg Winger of the 1986 setting. “We were a little bit nervous about the 86 question. When we started 86, we were like, ‘OK, so what are we going to find in ’86?’ But then there’s just so much.”
When we catch back up with Martin in Deutschland 86, he has been exiled from East Germany for three years, living in Angola where he teaches English at an orphanage. While the other two seasons in the story keep their focus relatively tight on East and West Germany, Deutschland 86 expands its Cold War scope to visit places like Libya and Paris, where geopolitical tensions are manifesting in different ways but are still part of the same global story.
“We started writing 86 the day after the Trump election,” says Anna Winger, “and I remember feeling really focused on looking at capitalism, because the story of 86 is kind of about the capitalist core of the engine that kept the communist regime going. And you see all these guys who are holding on to what they’ve managed to build at all costs, even though it’s all really coming apart.”
The Deutschland storyline comes to fruition in Deutschland 89. Three years following the events of Deutschland 86, the East German government is in even more dire straits. They are out of money, and the people are protesting. The final season is set against the backdrop of the collapse of the East German government.
“People didn’t know what was going to happen for a few months, and that is a very unusual situation,” says Anna Winger of the time period. “And also, for all these spies, they were really good spies, and suddenly, they had no country, the goals were completely unclear, and they were in the same place. The crazy thing about people in Berlin who live on the East side is they haven’t gone anywhere, but everything else has changed. It’s as if their country completely changed, and they’re still living on the same piece of earth, and that’s wild.”
The Deutschland series may explore East German life in the 1980s at different stages of Communist collapse, but the parallels to the experience of living in today’s crumbling capitalism are striking.
“I think as we came towards the end of the arc of the trilogy, certainly we got deeper and deeper into exploring late-stage capitalism and how that’s the patriarchy holding onto power in any sort of regime,” says Anna Winger. “We’re writing a show about late-stage communism or socialism, but it still has a lot of parallels to late-stage capitalism.”
In the midst of it all, is Martin Rauch, an audience surrogate for an everyday person just trying to live a good life with the people he loves amidst political and social turmoil. By Deutschland 89, Martin is understandably much more jaded than his 83-era self, but he has also somehow held onto his humanity.
“What Anna and Joerg always told me was that when they created Martin and how they wanted him to succeed, he should always have this moral compass that he’s following,” says Nay. “In a big contrast to all the people around him, like [his aunt] Lenora or [his father] Schweppenstette, that they are following rules given from somebody else or they’re following their idealism, their socialist idea. Martin had the chance of getting a pretty uncolored picture of East and West, of both the states and both the sides. He had to find his own [way].”
Martin’s ability to hold onto his humanity, to maintain some kind of admirable moral compass despite all of the things he has been through, is where much of the optimism in the Deutschland series ultimately lies. 
“I always saw it like Martin being in the middle and people from left and right trying to pull him in directions and he’s always trying to see or weigh out which is best for him and also for people around him,” says Nay. “He’s like, yeah, it’s a hero thing I guess. I don’t know. Yeah, Joerg and Anna wanted Martin to keep that. So it was kind of a challenge to, of course, let Martin grow up and let him harden and let him be very, very suspicious, more and more, not trusting anybody because what he learns is that, if he trusts somebody, he’s going to be betrayed so he has to keep it in himself. That is the development that he goes through through all the seasons. Then, given this little lovable touch of hero-ness and moral compass, not losing that. It was kind of a balance act I would say. I gave my very best.”
Ultimately, the Deutschland series ends as it told its story: thoughtfully, and with a fundamental empathy that doesn’t guarantee a happy ending but rather something better. The possibility of holding onto one’s humanity through pain and suffering and amongst forces so much larger than any one person. In 2020, that may be the flavor of happy ending we need most of all.
“In 89, the shit’s hit the fan, and it’s really over, and people are scrambling to redefine themselves,” says Anna Winger. “But I suppose, if there’s a message to the whole thing, it’s that there are possibilities in chaos. And this is truly something I think we can learn from Germany: is that maybe there’s the possibility of reinvention that is positive, that there’s hope in reinvention, and that maybe when things come apart, there’s a chance for something good to come out of it.”
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The entirety of the Deutschland series is now available to watch on Hulu.
The post In 2020, The Deutschland Series is As Relevant As Ever appeared first on Den of Geek.
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toomztoom · 5 years
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She looked of archaic magic
Hooves kicked up the soft surface of the white snow, leaving shallow holes in the ground. Four horses ran in the cold night, the rhythmic sounds of metal from the saddles following the powerful beasts. The lead horse carried the king himself on his dark, muscular shoulders. The other three carried trusted guards on their haunches. They galloped out of the castle walls and out into the unprotected land, the horses' heavy breathing echoing in the darkness. The moon illuminated the night sky and shined down on the horses flanks. The king and guards pushed their horses a little past their limit. Time was precious now, and they couldn't afford losing it. They needed to reach the cottage.
The woods could be seen in the distance, encouraging the men to move their horses faster. One of the guard's horses nearly tripped as the guard kicked the horse's hips. The king's strong horse sent snow and dirt flying with it's powerful hooves, it's black coat shining in the moon. It was by far the most beautiful out of all the horses, but not only did it have beauty, it had strength and courage, making it the best war horse out of them all. As they reached the forest, they slowed to a halt, the king observing the twisted trees.
"We need to be back by sunrise!" The king bellowed, his breath puffing into clouds.
The guard's replied with a quick, "Yes, your majesty."
They let their horses catch their breath for a minute.
"Your majesty?" Requested Odin, one of the guards.
The king looked over his shoulder at the guard in the back of the group.
"What shall we do if she doesn't agree, sire?"
There was a hesitant pause.
"Odin," the king said at last, "let's pray she does."
They yelled and kicked their horses back into action, although none of them were eager to enter the dark woods. The witch in the forest gave everyone shivers. No one dared speak her name, let alone mention her.
Thick evergreens stood tall and hid the skyline. Snow covered every branch of every tree, just waiting to collapse to the ground. The snow covered the ground like a white blanket. Everything looked dead.
As they made their way deeper into the woods, the lush evergreens were soon replaced with plants that resembled burnt sticks. The snow was now bare, showing the dead and shriveled plants on the forest floor. One of the horses whinnied.
The air shifted, and if possible, became even colder than before. The wind batted and scratched the guards' faces, doing no justice to the horses, either. In the corner of the king's eyes, he could spy shadows running along with them, but he knew not to pay them any mind. Laughs could be heard in the distance. Screams and scratches filled the frosty air, even though there was nothing alive here.
No one dared step foot near her.
The men hopped off their horses and tied them to a hopefully sturdy tree branch, checking to see if their weapons were somewhere they could reach.
"She's close by." The king warned. "Whatever you do, do not provoke her."
The men took the rest of their journey by foot, all becoming uneasy as they spotted the cottage. The king knew what would happen if she were to be provoked, making his heart race with dread. But he had no other choice.
They breached the tree line and entered the clearing.
The cottage was old and run down, with weak wood as support beams and pests as guards. A pang of guilt shot through him. 'She's been living like this this whole time...' He winced. Two giant trees stood tall and proud on either side of the cottage. They were the only trees with leaves and strong branches, while the others in the forest were rotted away and lifeless.
They got closer to the cottage, keeping note that the clouds began to grow dark and swirl above their heads. The king glanced at the sky just in time to see lightning strike the two trees. The men jumped in surprise and took a few steps back, expecting the trees to catch on fire. However, nothing happened.
Confused, they stood there, watching them and glancing over at the others nervously. The king took a step forward, before retreating again as the trees began to groan and creak, writhing and shaking in their place. Their roots began to protrude out of the ground, slithering like snakes on the forest floor. Some of their leaves fell to the ground as one of the trees used it's roots to stand up. The other soon followed, shaking dirt off itself and standing tall.
There was a pause. No one dared move as the living trees stood still. The king held his breath.
The tree on the left swung its branches like fists at the group, flinging dirt up in the air as it crashed into the earth. The men were lucky enough to be able to throw themselves out of the way before impact. The other tree grew its branches out of its trunk like spikes and spun, sending up a dust storm. The dust got in the men's eyes, temporarily blinding them. A thud and a scream of agony came from one of the guards.
"Simone!" Yelled Roth, watching his friend get flung into the air and thrown into the woods. The guard ran after him, avoiding the spikes of the tree as it unleashed them in different directions.
The king ducked and watched the spikes fly overhead, knowing he shouldn't have brought himself into this situation. He shouldn't have brought anyone into this situation. He rubbed the painful dust out of his eyes and stood before the trees, shaking with fear. "Hey!"
The trees turned to him, rearing back in preparation of attack.
"Wait! We mean your mother no harm!"
They froze.
"Please, we need her help! She knows who I am! She's the only one who can help... I'm begging you, let us pass!"
The trees hesitated, before relaxing, turning to each other as if they were speaking through a language no mortal could comprehend.
"Kaal, Shoc! That's enough, my lovelies. Go back to sleep." Said a soft voice behind the trees.
Roth came back supporting an injured Simone, who was dripping crimson from his right leg and arm. The men watched the trees go back to their spots in the ground, their roots digging into the ground once more. They shook as they got into position, becoming dormant once more.
The king turned his attention to the lady in front of him, his heart dropping as he gazed at the women he had known long ago.  
The only parts of her body that were showing was her head, feet and hands, all covered in unnatural tattoos that glowed and moved and changed colors on her skin. If the women were to take off her ripped, worn dress, the tattoos would be there too, swirling and shifting in magnificent ways that were almost hypnotizing to watch. Her curly red hair was tangled and matted, and her rosey cheeks had turned to gray. Her eyes were dark--oh so dark and stormy. Anguish and hate filled those beautiful gray eyes... It wasn't fair.
Archaic magic coursed through her veins as bright as day. A magic that has been long forgotten, for it was a dangerous art that no one wanted to try, let alone master. It was so dangerous, in fact, that many ignorant people believe it to be a curse... One of the reasons why the king banished her in the first place. He was blinded by fear and his own selfishness when he exiled her, believing that she would attempt to overthrow him. He knew she would win that battle, so he threw her into the woods, decreeing that if she were to step foot in the castle walls, she would be beheaded.
However she dared not lay a finger on him. She had loved him oh so long ago, and though he was cruel to her, she still did. She loved him with all her black heart. She never wanted anything more than his love. She didn't care to rule, or to be wealthy, or even wear a single jewel from the castle's treasury. The women just wanted to be by his side.
Before he was crowned king, and when his father ruled, Gerald had known and loved a beautiful healer who lived in her own quarters of the castle. Levana was her name. Known throughout the whole kingdom for her kind yet witty heart and her amazing gift. She was the only healer, so she lived in the castle, where she was needed most. There, Gerald and the healer's friendship started when she moved in.
Right after she got settled, the prince fell ill with a horrible flu and was bedridden for days. Levana was ordered to heal him, or the king would personally kill her. Of course she didn't care about his threats. She knew she would be able to take anything he threw at her.
Levana knocked on the mahogany doors to the prince's room, waiting for them to open from the other side.
A maid answered the door, her thick, graying hair secured in a tight bun and her eyes tired with worry. "Are you the healer?"
"Who else would it be?" Levana pushed the maid aside, walking to the prince's bedside. She looked about the room and scoffed, thinking it absurd to have such a large room. 'What a waste of space...' A lavish bed sat in the middle of the room, big enough for a family of ten to sleep in. There the prince laid, looking nearly dead with his hollow eyes, pale skin, and shallow, ragged breaths. Levana pulled up a chair and got comfortable, before holding the prince's weak hand.
The maid choked on her saliva, petrified. "Y-You're not allowed to touch the prince!"
"If the king wants him alive, then I must." She spat with a glare.
The maid flinched, holding her hand to her heart, before cowering into a far corner.
"That's what I thought."
She held his hand with both of hers, the veins under her skin beginning to give off an eerie, golden glow. The color spread like wildfire, and soon she was brighter than a bonfire, her eyes clouded and smokey white.
Sweat began to drip off her forehead, but she paid it no mind. Healing someone took an extreme amount of energy, and it wasn't uncommon for a healer to die during the process. She could feel her life force getting sucked out of her, and she began to gasp for air. The prince's temperature began to lower, and his appearance became healthier. His eyes fluttered open, and the healer yanked away, drenched in sweat as her heart pounded like a war drum. The fog clouding her eyes cleared, and her veins returned to their original state.
"The... The prince..." Levana panted, "is... is healed... The king may see... see his son, now..."
The maid scurried away.
Gerald groaned, catching the healer's attention. He lolled his head to look at her, his eyes half lidded tiredly. The prince examined her for a minute, before a tired smile formed on his lips. "Thank you..."
She smiled back. "My pleasure..."
"Levana," king Gerald whispered in a hoarse voice as his eyes began to tear up, "what... what has happened to you?"
"What did you expect would happen when you exiled me? I'd live in a magnificent castle?" She snorted, grinning in disbelief.
He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again, before repeating the same action again and again. Finally, he said, "You shouldn't have used black magic."
She snarled. "It wasn't black magic! It was *archaic* magic. Very old and almost extinct."
"Never mind. Levana, the reason I came here is for your help. Not to fight."
She laughed maniacally, throwing her head back. "Help you?!Why would I help you? You threw me out of my home because you were stupid enough to think I'd overthrow you! I didn't even care about a throne, I cared about you! I loved you, Gerald!... But what did you do? Exile me because you were too cowardly to do anything else."
He took a step back, ashamed in himself. "Please, Levana, the kingdom is under great threat. The Giants claimed war; we stand no chance!" He got on his knees and grasped her hand, looking into her eyes pleadingly. "Thousands of lives will be lost! I know you don't want that to happen. Please, I'll give you anything, just help!"
She stared down at him, cocking her head to the side in thought. "Anything, you say?"
"Yes, anything!"
A grin spread on her face, and the king's eyes widened as he gulped in fear. She knelt on one knee to meet his eyes, smirking as she patted his hand. "I heard that you finally have an heir. An only son among many daughters."
His hand began to shake under hers.
"I've been thinking about having an apprentice for some time, now." She continued. "I will help you... If you let him live with me so I can teach him magic, and once he is thirteen, we shall both move into the castle, and he shall be crowned king. Do we have a deal?"
The guards looked at the king. Surely he wasn't selfish enough to give away his only son for a war and to continue being king... Could he?
"... How have you become so heartless? Taking my only son away from me!" He began to sob.
"You took my life, home, freedom, and love and threw me in these dark woods alone! This is merely  delayed justice."
Pain was written all over his face as he looked down, his thoughts reeling.
"May I remind you, your majesty, that the giants are merciless and will easily wipe out your kingdom. As well as that, there are no other beings that will willing help you, seeing that half of the races on this world are against you. The only way you'll survive," she put a finger under his chin and lifted his head, forcing him to meet her eyes, "is if I step in and stop all this."
He avoided her gaze, contemplating. 'If I agree we could stop the war... I could have another son in the future...' he greedily thought. He looked back up at her, tight lipped. "I agree."
She hummed and kissed his forehead, standing up. "Very well. Send him tomorrow, and I will give you all the help you need."
thank you @character-prompts for the inspiring prompts 
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trueneutralrants · 4 years
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She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and How it Handled Shadow Weaver
I want to talk about She-ra. 
She-ra and the Princesses of Power is a 5 season Netflix cartoon that premiered in November of 2018, and finished it’s 5th and final season barely a year and a half later in May of this year. The final season was extremely well received, due to its strong emotional theme, well-explained complex topics, and the resolution and redemption of one of it’s strongest characters, Catra.
But the show did not hit only home runs, especially in regard to the strong narative of abuse that had been built up in previous seasons, and that's what I'm here to talk about today.
Let's talk about how to write abusive characters in fiction, and more specifically, how She-ra failed in regard to some of those characters.
Now before I get father into this, I want to just say that the final season of She-ra was, in my opinion, a fantastic end to a wonderful series. The amount of good that show did far outweighed any gripes I have with the show itself, and I honestly think it's a wonderful piece of media, albeit one with some missed opportunities.
Anyways, back to the topic at hand.
She-ra is a very personal, character-driven show, with a strong emphasis on the cycle of abuse, and breaking free of said cycle. This is most strongly presented with the character of Shadow Weaver, the mother figure to the 2 main characters, Adora and Catra. Shadow Weaver is emotionally abusive to the both of them, but obviously hold Adora in higher regard than Catra, and gaslights and manipulates Adora significantly more, keeping Catra in check through physical and emotional abuse, while manipulating Adora into believing it is her duty to carry the responsibility for the both of them. If Catra is abused, it is Adora’s fault for not being better.
That’s the set up for the characters, and shapes both Catra and Adora’s actions throughout the series.
In the first season, we see Adora break free from the Horde after realizing that she is on the wrong side of the war, finding friends who she can depend on. She’s even shown an example of a healthy, non-abusive relationship in Glimmer and Angella. On the other side of the war, Catra stays with her abuser, Shadow Weaver. This shapes the conflict between Adora and Catra, as well as Catra’s motivations to take over the Horde., being that since Shadow Weaver has always lusted after power, Catra sees taking power as her only way to ‘best’ her, while still craving Shadow Weaver’s affection. This leads to Catra verbally and emotionally abusing others, most notably Scorpia.
So many of the most toxic behaviors in both Adora and Catra were learned from Shadow Weaver’s upbringing, and throughout the series, we see them struggle to undo what Shadow Weaver ingrained in them. 
But what is Shadow Weaver’s motivations for her actions, her abuse? Is she pure evil? Is it a misplaced sense of responsibility? Part of a scheme?
We know a few things about Shadow Weaver. First, she has always lusted over power. Second, she was once a magician at Mystacor, then fled to the horde when her lust of power led to her exile. Third, she has very little sense of loyalty, going wherever she feels she will be safest or in the highest position of power. She fled to the Horde after Mystacor because she knew she could gain power and influence there as Hordak’s second-in-command. She fled to Bright Moon after the Horde threatened to send her to Beast Island because she knew she could gain a foothold there manipulating Adora, and later, Glimmer. Fourth, she holds the emotions of others in very little regard unless it directly benefits her. 
So hypothetically, someone who has always put herself first, has always lusted after power and has no problem manipulating and abusing people, including children, for her own benefit is put in a situation where the side she is on is at an extreme disadvantage, as it looks near hopeless. Like, say, fighting a galactic emperor with millions of soldier clones. 
How do you redeem a character when the obvious course of action for that character is to jump ship and save herself?
Before I go into how, I should warn any of the 6 people who’ve watched both She-ra and The Promised Neverland that this next section will include spoilers for the first season of the anime.
Meet Mama Isabella. A selfish, abusive mother figure who manipulates and gaslights all the children under her care, essentially selling the children under her care to demons who kill and eat them. She emotionally abuses Ray, her biological son and the one child who discovers the plot, using him as a spy under constant threat of being ‘shipped out’ or killed and served to the demons. Ray grows up watching the other kids live peacefully, knowing that his own mother has been sending her adopted children to die, and one day it will be his turn. When some of the other children discover her plot, she breaks one of the children’s left leg, verbally taunts the other kids present, and ships out one of the children the next day as a threat to the other’s planning to escape. Her abuse was so damaging to Ray that he tried, at the age of 12 years old, to commit suicide by setting himself and the childhood home on fire as a distraction, so the other kids can escape. Overall, she is Shadow Weaver to an extreme, abusive both physically and mentally.
And her redemption is the best written redemption of any abusive parent i’ve ever read.
Reading that, you’re probably thinking I’m a psycho, but no. Here’s the thing about Isabella that makes her such a fantastic villain. She used to be one of the kids at the farm. She used to be like Ray and all the other children. The way the farms work, some of the older female children who get shipped out are allowed to survive, and are put in training to become “moms” or caretakers and enforcers at the farms. They essentially raise children to be slaughtered, as they themselves were raised. It’s horrific, and it’s the only surefire way to survive into adulthood. But the mom’s are replaceable. Isabella is under as much threat of death as anyone else, including the kids. She has what is essentially a taser implanted in her chest, that’ll stop her heart if she escapes or rebels. Ray’s very existence as someone who knows the secret of the farms puts Isabella's life at risk. One mistake, one slip up, and her life is forfeit. Essentially, it’s the kids lives or hers. 
So she justifies shipping the kids off by telling herself she can take such good care of them for their 6-12 years of living that it doesn’t even matter that they died. She is such an inherently selfish person, but she’s understandable. We understand exactly why she’s doing everything she’s doing. 
And then the kids escape, and we realize Isabella is happy for them. We realize in the last few scenes of the first season, that she’s given up hope on living after they escape. The kids, whether they realized it or not, just traded their mother’s life for their own. They outsmarted her, and thus, Isabella must die at the hand of the farm. Isabella has to accept there are no other options before doing one final act of good to help the children, untying the ropes that show where the children escaped from to throw off the demons, essentially buying the children time. 
And by this point, from the point of view of the audience, Isabella is redeemed, even though she didn’t make any heroic sacrifice, or jump in front of a gun for our heroes. She is redeemed through the small, subtle step of untying the ropes. Though that, we are shown that Isabella isn’t resentful or malicious. She doesn’t want the children to be caught. She doesn’t harbor any hope of them capturing the children and bringing them back to the farm. She doesn’t harbor any hope of living, seeing the children’s escape and her eventual death as penance for being complicit in so many deaths over the years. 
 One of the last things we hear her say in the last chapter of the escape arc is this: “I wish I could have just loved them normally.”
And by that point, we understand exactly the kind of person Isabella was, a person who deeply wanted to love, but wanted to survive more, someone who both justified and regretted the things she had done. And that regret, in itself, was her redemption.
Now going back to Shadow Weaver, we notice many of the same traits that made Isabella a good villain are present in Shadow Weaver. Someone who has always put herself first, has always lusted after power and has no problem manipulating and abusing people, including children, for her own benefit. But unlike Isabella, we never understand why Shadow Weaver is doing what she’s doing, except a general sense that she’s doing it for power. If power is truly her only motivation, she should not sacrifice herself for others, and if there is truly love for others inside her heart, there needs to be a more present way to explore it. 
We can tell she hasn’t really changed in season five due to her forcing Adora to carry the burden of the failsafe, despite the fact it could kill her. Unlike Isabella, we never feel that Shadow Weaver is being forced to do bad deeds or manipulate from an outside force or even her own bad habits. She has the freedom to be both a redeemed hero or a full-on villain, but she does.. neither. 
Up until her sacrifice.
I don’t like Shadow Weaver’s sacrifice. If you wanted her out of the picture, you could’ve had her 1. try and join Horde Prime and have him kill her, 2. Have he chipped and forced Adora and Catra to contemplate whether to save her or not or 3. Just kill her without a sacrifice to show the horror of Prime. All three would feel in character and fit well within the story, because if there is one thing Shadow Weaver isn’t presented as at any point in the story, it's a selfless person.
But instead we get... her sacrifice. First of all, it's confusing. The audience doesn’t know whether we’re supposed to feel that Shadow Weaver was redeemed or not. There is a decidedly mixed feeling in her sacrifice, where the show seems to want to be able to pull on our heartstrings, but still knows half the people watching hate this character and another quarter don’t care about her. 
And Adora and Catra also seem conflicted. The one good thing in the scene, at least for me, is that both Shadow Weaver and Catra seem to acknowledge that the sacrifice, it itself, is not selfless. Shadow Weaver is taking the easy way out, going out with a blaze of glory instead of trying to improve herself and atone for her crimes.
I honestly think in previous seasons, or even just in season 5, if Shadow Weaver were to spend more time trying to apologize and made amends to Adora and Catra, or we got some inner monologue or scenes showing how she cares for the children she abused, and feels she made mistakes, then the sacrifice would’ve worked, at least for me. But Shadow Weaver always felt like an antagonistic force, even in the final season when she was squarely a ‘good guy’. There was no point where it felt like she was sorry for her actions, and nothing that justified them.
I honestly think Shadow Weaver shouldn’t have been redeemed. And that’s what it was, redemption through death. It doesn’t work with her characterization in previous seasons, or even season 5, and it felt, for lack of a better word, cheap.
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masterge77 · 4 years
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A brief list of atrocities committed by China in recent years
You hear about the Hong Kong Protests, you’ve most likely heard of the Tienanmen Square massacre, and you probably know of the Uyghur genocide, but it goes FAR beyond just that: This was taken from a comment made by Ender12123 on this YouTube video, credit to him for compiling this list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ebMI2xDtn4
Hundreds of human rights lawyers (not even dissidents, just the LAWYERS who defended people) were snatched by gestapo all over China in what is known as the 709 Crackdown [1].
One of those lawyers, Wang Quanzhang was sentenced to 4.5 years for "subversion of state power" [2]. But that's not enough. China actually went after Wang's 6-year-old son, forcing him out of his school and banning any other school from taking him in [3].
A dissident, known as Wang Bingzhang was kidnapped by Chinese agents in Vietnam and sentenced to life in prison after a closed trial that lasted 1 day. [4]
A man wore a t-shirt with the word "Xitler" on it and was disappeared [5]. Eventually he was tried for "subversion of state power" while barred from meeting with lawyers. [6]
Another man, Wang Meiyu hold up a placard calling for Xi’s resignation & democracy. He was arrested for "picking quarrels”. He ended up dead in custody. [7]
A woman live-streamed herself splashing ink on a Xi poster. She was disappeared [8]. Her last social media update: "Right now there are a group of people wearing uniforms outside my door. I’ll go out after I change my clothes. I did not commit a crime. The people and groups that hurt me are the ones who are guilty" [9]. Later on, there was report of her being sent to a psychiatric hospital [10]. After the ink-splash woman's disappearance her father made a series of broadcast to call attention to her plight. He ended up getting taken away by the police in the middle of a live stream. [11]
5 people associated with a Hong Kong bookstore that sold titles such as "Xi Jinping and His Six Women" were disappeared. Only one managed to escape back to HK. He held a press briefing to tell the world about his kidnapping by China. He's now in exile in Taiwan. The other 4 are still somewhere in China. [12]
And, of course 1.5 million - 3 millions Uyghurs rounded up in concentration camps [13], including leaked footage of a large number of blindfolded Uyghurs shackled together. [14]
A Canadian journalist wanted to debunk reports of Chinese anti-Muslim repression so he went on a stage-managed show tour put on by China. That means he only saw a fake Potemkin village that China actually thought was acceptable by Western standard. But the brutality of even this fake Potemkin village stunned him. Now imagine what's really happening in the real concentration camps where millions of Uyghurs are being held. Imagine how bad the true situation is. [15]
Using minorities & political prisoners as free organ farms [16]. A doctor's eye witness account: 'The prisoner was brought in, tied hand and foot, but very much alive. The army doctor in charge sliced him open from chest to belly button and exposed his two kidneys. Then the doctor ordered Zheng to remove the man’s eyeballs. Hearing that, the dying prisoner gave him a look of sheer terror, and Zheng froze. “I can’t do it,” he told the doctor, who then quickly scooped out the man’s eyeballs himself.' [17]
Call for retraction of 400 Chinese scientific papers amid fears organs came from Chinese prisoners. [18]
15 Chinese studies retracted due to fears they used Chinese prisoners' organs Cultural genocide (and organ harvests, of course). [19]
A uyghur's testimony: "First, children were stopped from learning about the Quran, then from going to mosques. It was followed by bans on ramadan, growing beards, giving Islamic names to your baby, etc. Then our language was attacked – we didn’t get jobs if we didn’t know Mandarin. Our passports were collected, we were told to spy on each other, innocent Uyghur prisoners were killed for organ harvesting" [20]
And now China is moving beyond Uyghur and cracking down on its model minority Hui Muslim. 'Afraid We Will Become The Next Xinjiang': China's Hui Muslims Face Crackdown: "The same restrictions that preceded the Xinjiang crackdown on Uighur Muslims are now appearing in Hui-dominated regions. Hui mosques have been forcibly renovated or shuttered, schools demolished, and religious community leaders imprisoned. Hui who have traveled internationally are increasingly detained or sent to reeducation facilities in Xinjiang." [21]
Along with the Uyghur and Hui Muslims, Christian churches are being closed down throughout the country, with some churches being forced to replace the Ten Commandments with quotes by Xi Jinping, and portraits of Mao Zedong as a means of forcing people to adhere to the party at all times. [22]
One church had it’s cross torn down [23], and throughout the country, Christians have been being hunted down [24].
Just like the Nazis, the Chinese are now burning books that don’t comply with the party’s stringent and intolerant ideology, most especially religious texts. [5]
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What is occurring in China is horrible and appaling, and big corporations continue to prop up this inhumane government, and nobody's doing anything about it, the corporations are blinded by greed that they don't see the atrocities in China.
Sources: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/709_crackdown 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/28/wang-quanzhang-china-sentences-human-rights-lawyer-to-four-years-in-prison 
https://chinachange.org/2019/09/06/imprisoned-lawyer-wang-quanzhangs-six-year-old-son-once-again-forced-out-of-school/ 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Bingzhang_(dissident) 
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/11/03/young-chinese-activist-missing-after-sharing-plan-to-wear-xitler-t-shirt-on-cpc-anniversary-report/ 
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/02/15/chinese-xitler-activist-trial-subversion-lawyers-barred-seeing/ 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/27/death-of-chinese-activist-in-police-custody-prompts-calls-for-investigation-into-torture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9sF34fJwh0 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-woman-dong-yaoqiong-disappears-spraying-ink-xi-jinping-a8455166.html 
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/07/23/chinese-protester-splashed-ink-xi-jinping-poster-sent-psychiatric-hospital-report/ 
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/07/14/police-interrupt-youtube-live-stream-father-missing-chinese-woman-splashed-ink-xi-jinping-photo/ 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causeway_Bay_Books_disappearances 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/04/us-accuses-china-of-using-concentration-camps-uighur-muslim-minority
 https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/d722aw/chinas_detention_of_uighurs_video_of_blindfolded/ 
https://nationalpost.com/news/canadian-went-to-china-to-debunk-reports-of-anti-muslim-repression-but-was-shocked-by-treatment-of-uyghurs 
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/c1my5j/china_is_harvesting_organs_from_detainees_uk/
https://nypost.com/2019/06/01/chinese-dissidents-are-being-executed-for-their-organs-former-hospital-worker-says/ 
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/feb/06/call-for-retraction-of-400-scientific-papers-amid-fears-organs-came-from-chinese-prisoners 
https://www.newscientist.com/article/15-15-studies-retracted-due-to-fears-they-used-chinese-prisoners-organs/ 
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/china-uyghur-muslim-rules-laws-treatment-chinese-human-rights-religion-a8534161.html 
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/26/763356996/afraid-we-will-become-the-next-xinjiang-chinas-hui-muslims-face-crackdown
https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/china-ten-commandments-church-crackdown
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1031890/christian-persecution-christianity-china-news
https://www.ibtimes.sg/video-after-uyghur-muslims-christians-are-being-hunted-china-bible-banned-36046
https://www.ibtimes.sg/china-just-like-nazi-germany-1930s-burning-books-35711
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thecomicsnexus · 5 years
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JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #231-232 OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1984 BY KURT BUSIEK, ALAN KUPPERBERG, RICH BUCKLER AND GENE D’ANGELO
SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)
While the nine Justice League members who fought in the Earth-Mars War transport to Earth, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Supergirl meet the Flash in the satellite just in time to encounter three people who immediately transport the quartet to Earth-Two. 
On that world, Dr. Fate, Starman, Green Lantern, and Dr. Mid-Nite are battling winged monkeys somehow connected to the trio who have brought the Justice League there. The combined forces fight off the monkeys, which disappear, finally allowing the civilians time to explain why this is happening. 
When Dr. Joshua Champion, a research scientist, disappeared from his lab one day, and nobody could tell his daughter Victoria or his son Ian where he was, they contacted their aunt Meredith to stay with them. They were about to give up hope when Champion's image appeared to them, boasting of the tremendous power he now had. 
Before he disappeared he showed signs that he was fighting the feelings he had just shown, and they suddenly knew that they could get help from someone simply by willing themselves to be transported to those they sought. Thus, they enlisted the Justice League. Somehow tuned into their father's presence, the children lead teams of super-heroes to potential meeting points. 
Victoria, Meredith, Superman, Flash, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Starman head into an alien dimension and a planet with a constantly changing surface, while Ian, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Dr. Fate battle winged mythological creatures at the Pentagon. 
The team in the alien world finds a domed city with a workforce creating a deafening din. To escape, they enter an empty building, which houses the brain center of the force inhabiting Joshua Champion. Immediately, they are blinded by a beam which sends them into revelry; their fondest desires come true, except for Dr. Mid-Nite, who blacks out the beam and seems to free them. 
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They find the unconscious Champion, and with Dr. Fate and Starman taking care of the city's teeming hordes, the Champions transport everyone back to Earth, with everyone except Dr. Mid-Nite now under the control of the brain which controls Joshua Champion.
Dr. Fate buries the eldritch energy of the remains of the Commander's armies under the Pentagon by a mystic spell, while the Monitor and Lyla observe the Commander, who senses them watching. 
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When Superman, Starman, and Flash arrive on Earth-Two with Dr. Mid-Nite and Joshua Champion, they immediately attack Supergirl, Dr. Fate, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern. Dr. Mid-Nite explains why, and the unaffected heroes can see their teammates struggling mentally with the dominating forces even as they fight them. 
The Commander re-inhabits Champion's body while the JSA and JLA passively resist their friends, until Wonder Woman encircles them with her lasso, and commands them to stop. Ian, Victoria, and Meredith Champion join together to try to force the enemy from Joshua's body, and with the help of the wills of the heroes as well he is freed—only to combine with the buried eldritch energies, and become even more powerful. 
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The Commander then reveals his past and his intentions. He had been the ruler of his entire universe, and now wields the psychic energy of every creature in that dimension. He had run out of challenges until Champion had appeared and revealed the presence of parallel universes to him. He has vowed to conquer this one and then move on to the others. 
Their battle seems futile until Champion determines that sending him back to his home dimension would defeat him, and using the teleportation powers of the family and Dr. Fate's magic, a door to it is opened. 
The heroes are not able to force the enemy through until the Monitor unintentionally distracts him. The resulting force from the Commander's exile sends the heroes careening through parallel universes; they finally stop where the Crime Syndicate had been imprisoned years before. While the heroes return to their own Earths, the Champions leave on a dimension-hopping vacation to rekindle their family spirit. Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash have no idea of the changes to the Justice League during their absences from Earth-One.
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REVIEW
I think this is the last JLA/JSA team-up before the Crisis, and it is very forgettable. The one thing that kind of redeems this story is the way the Monitor accidentally helps the team get rid of the Commander. It’s not a Deus Ex Machina because it was introduced earlier that Commander was aware the Monitor was spying on him. But it does feel like a cheap ending.
In the end, this story is more like a filler, to allow the regular team to do the Annual and the new Justice League story.
I give this story a score of 5
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kaylichun · 5 years
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Inspiration/ King Arthur Legends, Moon Princess, legend of Zelda, Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms, Black Butler
The True Goddess- The Fallen Goddess.
Kay grants wishes and luck within the world, while Kai contains the darkest in wishes. Kept the hidden from the light of the world’s hope. But there’s always the middle grounds, Father of Gods themselves Quinn. He is the balance of the middle grounds of realm, wise in watching over with his godly children. He had fallen in love with a mortal women by the name of Meryl and died with her by heartbreak. His depression of his fawned love. He separated and passed onto the world his life near the grave of his only wife. The descendants of his 5 children became the beacons of what became gifts of many traits of men and magic. One over will and might, one over animals to be able to tame or become authentic animal/ shifter within, powers of nature the overgrowth of plants and trees through healing, knowledge by the books; elemental sorts of magic, and last the dark arts symbolism of death.
Kay and Kai, along their vital follower, Sōseki. The servant blessed by her to watch alongside her and keep her company. The day saw misery of the two couples, so she fell off and mortalized into another life a human birth with an infertile mother, who saw it as a blessing. Named the vessel Kay, after the said goddess. Her blessed form prefaced within the mortal, as it attracted the many eyes. She was the first blessing of the true Oracle. Foretold many fates tied and needed in the future. She settled off to seek them.
There was the calico cat who followed close to the Oracle. Small and speckled in brown and yellow eyes. He was insistent in following her, so she has taken care of the creature. She needed to find her reason being entrapped in this form. She had searched for the man she needed to complete the prophesied. Fukuzawa Yukichi will be king of the Full Moon. The Moon was a Lunar symbol to the Goddess. He denied any interaction with the Oracle, as spoke the future of the home of his. Corrupted by the calamity that will befall upon them, as their King is Dying and the Kingdom of the sun will take the chance to seize dictatorship over them. In which, he agreed after realizing the prophecy is an unwilling risk he’ll take.
On their journey to the kingdom of the sun, Mori Ogai a healer and talents of the dark arts. The dark arts were frowned upon, the man begged to be set along the journey to prove his worth. Their Party grew, Yosano Akiko a child gifted with life, but blinded by death, and Ranpo Edogawa blessed by Life. Illusioned his luck and intelligence to be a Seer himself. Their bonds grew, even if Yukichi wanted nothing do with it. He fell for their Oracle, as Mori matched his moves.
After the war had ended, so did the oracle’s journey. She died within the eyes of the king Wolf and his fellow allies. Mourning the lost of the voice, her body set to the lake within the forest, who then became the deity of Tranquility. Kouyou The Mother of Tranquility.
Mother had stayed within the forest, as she was seen by a child enraptured by the God of Calamity. The child however was bitter after his exile from his birth, he was a child bawling his eyes, the young youth had seen no purpose in his life. A whole village decimated by the monster within himself. An elven child had lost all rights to heaven. Only to feel warmth of Mother. Mother had a pacifying effect over the hatred. He stayed by mother and mother let him in her arms.
Mother had chose to protect the location of the Summoning temple, in which she must give her freedom to the cult. The Cult of the man who had been mourned with his daughter the closest thing to the women he loved. He had kept part of her before her body was set to sink into the lake. That created his obsession of “their” daughter Elise. The man would not let go. It was unfair to him, as he slain the mad king of the country of Portima, The Crescent Crest.
Chuuya Nakahara was the village’s small cult by few worshipper of the god of calamity, Arabahaki. They live for centuries while maintaining their youthful appearance, dark elves with their feature of long sharp ears. They are the storytellers of endless times, the archives of history. Segregated by their nature of rumors as dark elves; fictional creatures. During the reign of the sun dictator’s reign, asked for their offering of their alignance by marrying one of their women to cultivate the ultimate heir. A rebellious orphan, he was seen and only one to escape with the tragedy befallen him. Given at least one day to finalize their thoughts, they went to work to their God in hopes to save themselves. They had to give up a child to leave behind; Chuuya Nakahara. Invested him to take in as the host for their god to disappear once again. Leaving him alone again.
The outside country had fooled the young child and left him within the barrier of their mage setted up. A sacrifice of an sick and scrawny, they did it in return if retribution to the goddess. Atsushi was forced to be appointed the counter guardian by the Goddess, as his appointed role of the goddess temple protecting the resting place of hers. As it was made under her name and she blessed it. However pitted the young child and gave it a holy form. What the mortals irresponsible actions did not speak for the goddess. So she accompanied him within his slumber. Her warmth has protected him, till his forgotten centuries and one day he is needed.
Kyoka Izumi, was the Heir of the imperial princess of snow and the warlord sun. Her mother was intended to be arranged to keep the two allied. The man was a feared by many who crossed his path, instilling his power over her and her mother. She lived to fear her ancestors who follow binded by spirit to protect her. In fact the grandmother; the imperial mother. Each generation must bond with an ancestral spirit, her abilities alongside summoning.
Saint Oda Sakunosuke was gifted sight as a Seer. An Oracle is both equal to 2 seers. If he were a Seer someone else must have the same gift as he did. One thing he cannot see is how he truly ends, but only prevent minimum events. He saughted out children during the wreckage, housing them within his own church. In which he was promised protection if he did them favors. Predictions and small travel trading. He had befriended a spy Ango Sakaguchi and a man who called himself Merlin. Who trusted him with his true name Osamu Dazai. He knew to be weary around Ango, but his emotions got the best of him as he died by the other Seer. But within sacrificing of the seers was for the cause between the CULTure of Portima and the Government of the Rising Sun. Mori true purpose was to get an Oracle after two Seers dying in the same temple. Oda, his children were with him, his Goddess let him live happily with them, after
Dazai Osamu, did not trust many, after his mother left him alone after a night with a mortal mage. His Father died after that night, he was left to wear his father’s place.His mother was a beautiful succubus, who had charmed and left her son to pass on for eternity. He wouldn’t even die if anything tries, as her son taken suicidal tendencies after the father who purposely summoned his mother. Maybe it was because he aligns to light magic, purification or nullification . To die with a beautiful woman any day. Joined the cult, after being welcomed by Mori for the heck of it, felt more comfortable with Saint Odasaku. Only to be more driven to death after his human emotions affecting him deeper into depression and granting a wish/promise of the Seer. Leaving the cult to journey to the kingdom of Portima.
Ango Sakaguchi, was the double knot spy in the ranks of the government and the mafia during the dragonhead.
Tanizaki Junichirou was fated to be king of his own kingdom, that was when his Sister Naomi first prophesied his fate. They were born from the sun district, after the warlord of sun was overthrown by the villagers of the oppression.
The Central city of the rising Sun was not trusted, in which the King of Ardect; Fukuzawa Yukichi had once knew the first Oracle. He knew the Importance of the Oracle second coming, seeing that the past 2 seers set against each other. He had high suspicions of what Mori had done, in which he swiftly taken them hidden into arms of his court. He truly did become king, as Fate predicted. His shoulders weighed by the royal cloak of the past king’s spirit by his throne. He was truly lucky to have Kunikida as his scholar and his second in command. Yosano who lead battle and saved many before death. Their Wise tactician blessed by the god themselves, Ranpo Edogawa. Kenji was the representation of the friendship of the villagers of a small village, blessed highly for their youthism and strength. Junichirou was a King and Knight in training. Their purpose in hidden objective to protect both the blessing and eyes of the gods; Ranpo and Naomi.
Naomi Tanizaki was the Village Girl who danced for her passion. She was dedicated to her king; both Fukuzawa and Junichirou. Her own personification of a clingy sister to derail many to expect her to be holy Oracle. Her truth is how serious she becomes, she is wise as how she learns to change how she acts around people. She defined as a childish, bold and bright. But really, she guilty even if her brother shakes off her reasonable actions. It was the only way to not be suspected as one. After all Mori's cultivated obsession to the gods.
Kyūsaku Yumeno the prince who destroyed his own kingdom by the curse borned Q crippled his name. A prince hated by his small country. Why his mother died because of his birth prematurely. But he shared the face the king loved from his wife. He could not help decide how he felt about his only son and heir to the throne. Whether he hated him for what he was out of his control of the past or loved him for the current result of the love between his wife. He remained ignorant to the abuse and hatred of people even the staff. The boy however broken out of his broken shell to lose sense of mind. Tormented back every person with his curse, paying back what they did to him dying in pain. The last one to die was his father, he did not do anything to stop or tried to prevent the whole event to ever exist. Here all he had to do was hurt him to die for his penitence of his ignorance. He teared up, his curse did not kill his father. His father had died from a broken heart because he loved him. Leaving the prince to cry in the place of his own father “Why didn't you hit me, hurt me, yell at me and bruise me?! Why did you make me hurt in such a way!?!” Portima picked him up, grew the territory of their land.
The Akutugawa Siblings. Loving family and children blessed with a noble family. The oldest son Ryuusuke, loved his sister Gin. Gin was named after an adoptive peasant mother who was well loved for the father who was the orphan taken in by her. Ryuusuke was born sick, His lungs struggling with asthma, his respiratory failure thankfully for His father being able to get a doctor to help. Only to be prescribed doses of medication 2 times a day. Which made Gin the first to the name to the company, yet they're both able to share the title. Ryuunosuke will always be the spare to Gin. Yet happiness still born in their hearts. His father owns his success and struggle rising to his name. He saw where he stood and stranded with wealth, a childhood for his children. Jealousy ensued by other noble who saw nothing but filthy peasant with money. Waiting for their maid to give Ryuusuke his dose of medication before they both went to sleep. Their family dog Russell barking at the door, until a man in black swung at with force. You could insinuate the dog's skull was cracked from such brute force. Snatched Ryuusuke, they knew well that he couldn't go against him and struggle. His illness was his weakness, he tire easily from exercise. Which was why he relied on his magic orb tied at his hip when he needed things. Gin was the stronger and healthier one tries to take him away from the man. Only to be knocked out and over by the column of the bed. She was taken as well. So that night, the scent of ash and warm of the fire burning the manor. Ryuusuke watched as their parents burned down with the manor. He had seen dead eyes of children, their life sucked from their own leaving him with no one to even speak to him. He felt the cold prick of human contact of magic snapping him from consciousness. He found himself chained to an alter, fear bulging from eyes from the crowd of strange dark cloaks and masks. Their pupils dilating with insanity, you couldn't count how many sacrificial knives. Polished and the gleam from the candle lights from the dimming candelabra. They were speaking Latin, strange proverbs of words. The leader rose his knife over their heads with both hands and roughly jabbed into his heart. He SCREAMED! The first time he screamed, his lungs never gave out, as his air was fear and pain. Blood, Blood, BLOOD!
A demon did come to His table, he made his contract before the selfish did stole away his life. His monstrous power was called Rashōmon.
Gin was not there where Ryuusuke woken to become a corruption of a vessel to a demon dog. Who ate and swallowed him whole from his heart and soul. He made a deal to seek revenge, power and find his sister. Gin was shipped into slavery, she could have become a slave if a pirate hadn't raided the ship she was on and took away their merchandise.The Black Lizards; Ryūrō Hirotsu the captain of the ship. He had taken in the child, taught her how to live and become how she will become. A commander and assassin for the black lizard.
Higuchi Ichiyou. A spoiled brat, compared to her reliable younger sister who was closer to being chosen for her coronation instead of her. Selfish as she may be and a father who knew what was best. As their father chose to be peaceful and small nation. During the true mad king of Portima demanded the decimation and won. They had no choice but to join the Portima. Higuchi finally stood up to be responsible older sister. She cut her beloved hair and took up archery. She may have fallen for Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
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