#AND i think if we could get away from the matter of retelling stories and the flattening of this with stylistic quality wrt fanfic | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fishofthewoods · 8 days

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I see a lot of people clowning on the people of Pelican Town for not repairing the community center themselves or clowning on Lewis for embezzling and. like. Those criticisms aren't entirely unfair. But I think instead of coming at it from a perspective of "why can't the townspeople do this" we should be asking "why and how can the farmer do this?"

Like. Think about it. The farmer arrives in Stardew Valley on the first day of spring. By the first day they're obviously different. By day five the spirits of the forest who haven't been seen by the townsfolk in years or generations are speaking to them. By the second week they've developed a rapport with the wizard that lives outside town.

In the spring they go foraging and find more than even Linus, who's spent so many years learning the ways of the valley. Maybe he knows, when he sees them walking back home. Maybe he looks at them and understands that they're different, chosen somehow.

In the summer they fish in the lakes and the ocean for hours on end, catching fish that even Willy's only ever heard of, fish that he thought were the stuff of legend. They pull up giants from the deep and mutated monstrosities from the sewers.

In the fall, their crops grow incredibly immense; pumpkins twice as tall as a person, big enough that someone could live inside. The farmer cuts it down with an axe without even batting an eye. Does Lewis wonder, when he checks the collection bin that night and finds it full to the brim with pumpkin flesh? What does he think? Does he even leave the money? Does he have the funds to pay the farmer millions of dollars for the massive amounts of wine they sell? Or is it someone--something--else entirely?

In the winter, the farmer delves into the mines. No one in Pelican Town has been down there in decades. No one in living memory has been to the bottom. The farmer gets there within the season. They return to the surface with stories of dwarven ruins and shadow people, stories they only tell to Vincent and Jas, whose retellings will be dismissed by the adults as flights of fancy. People walking by the entrance to the mines sometimes hear the farmer in there, speaking in a language no one can understand. Something speaks back.

The farmer speaks to the the wizard. They speak to the spirit of a bear inside a centuries-old stone. They speak to the shadow people and the dwarves, ancient enemies, and they try to mend the rift. They speak to the Junimos, ancient spirits of the forest and the river and the mountain. They taste the nectar of the stardrops and speak to the valley itself. They change Pelican Town, and they change the valley. Things are waking up.

And what does Evelyn think? She's the oldest person in the valley; she was here when the farmer's grandfather was young. (How old *is* she, anyway? She never seems to age. She doesn't remember the year she was born.) Does she see the farmer and think of their grandfather? Does she try to remember if he was like this too, strange and wild and given the gifts of the forest?

And does their grandfather haunt the valley? He haunts the farm, still there even after his death; his body died somewhere else, but his spirit could never stay away for long. Does Abigail, using her ouija board on a stormy night, almost drop the planchette when she realizes it's moving on its own? Does Shane, walking to work long before anyone else leaves their house, catch glimpses of a wispy figure floating through the town? Does the farmer know their grandfather came back to the place they both love so much?

Mr. Qi takes interest in the farmer. He's different, too; in a different way, maybe, but the principles are the same. They're both exceptional, and no matter what Qi says about it being hard work and dedication, they both know the truth: the world bends around the both of them, changing to fit their needs. Most people aren't visited by fairies or witches. Most people don't have meteorites crash in their yard. Most people couldn't chop down trees all day without a break or speak to bears and mice and frogs.

The farmer is different. The rules of the world don't work for them the way they work for everyone else. The farmer goes fishing and finds the stuff of fairy tales. The farmer goes mining and fights shadow beasts and flying snakes. The farmer looks at paths the townspeople walk every day and finds buried in the dirt relics of lost civilizations.

The farmer is a violent, irrepressible miracle, chosen by the valley and destined to return to it someday. Even if they'd never received the letter, they would've come home.

They always come home eventually.

#lich says shit #stardew valley #sorry for the stardew valley meta i'm just so obsessed with how FREAKY the farmer is. Like it's so fun #gonna write another long ass post about the farmer's bloodline specifically and. like.#why did their grandpa leave the valley?? why did their parents never go back??#stardew valley farmer #sdv

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luveline · 10 months

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𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 | 𝐚𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐫

when internet trolls poke fun at your appearance while working on a case, hotch is there to make you feel better. fem!reader, 3k

tw cyberbullying, poor eating habits, criminal minds typical violence

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

You're not a media liaison or anything close, but with JJ off for maternity leave and Penelope in Quantico, there's a face needed for the press announcement on TV, and you offer to step in.

You aren't particularly eager to do it, but Hotch doesn't have the time or wherewithal and such a high intensity case, not while Spencer is at half-mast, migraines rendering him ineffective and stubborn. You're trying to keep the ship sailing smoothly, doing your part of the profiling while juggling media and supporting the police sergeant that's heading the tip line.

You're not expecting to become a joke. After a red-eye, three sleepless nights trying to find a missing woman in Oklahoma —the domestic violence capital— and a full day without something to eat, you're aware you don't look your best, but you aren't sure what that has to do with your missing person.

The FBI — fugly bitches International. #FindDanaLangley

Damn, are they not letting those agents sleep or what? She looks terrible !

she should be less worried about Dana Langley and more concerned with the dead woman in the mirror, ew

hope theu find her just so they stop putting this creature on TV #FindDanaLangley

"Well," you murmur, wondering if it would be inappropriate to burst into tears, "these aren't especially helpful."

Derek looks at you, his gaze measured, and you know he's not sure how to react to you or what's happening. He settles on his usual loving encouragement, because he's a very good friend.

"Don't listen to all that," he says, throwing his arm around your shoulder, "those trolls wouldn't know beautiful if it hit them in the face. But we could always try it?"

You sink into his hold, needing the reassurance even if you wish you didn't. "No hitting," you say, covering your mouth to hide a large and possibly fugly yawn. Your head is racing with regurgitated insults. "It doesn't matter, Derek. Promise. We have bigger stuff to deal with."

The door opens and Hotch and Emily step inside, Rossi just behind them. You're thinking Hotch is going to agree with your sentiment, no time for comfort when a woman's life is at stake, so you move away from Morgan to sit in front of your laptop again.

"Is something wrong?" Hotch asks.

You meet his eyes just long enough to smile at him. "Nothing. What did Amandla have to say?"

Emily retells the alibi of Dana's ex-girlfriend and is clearly suspicious but without proof, you're forced as a team to move on to the next lead. Spencer returns shortly afterward and you try to brainstorm your next step.

It's Penelope that pulls through. "You asked me to cross reference the neighbours at Dana's previous address with people crossing state lines, right, after that one guy ended up being kinda icky? Well I did that, and nothing came up, which was–"

"Garcia," Hotch interrupts.

"Right. Long story short, one of the neighbours recently had an extreme falling out with Icky Guy after a years long friendship, his name is Justin Mantova, he has extreme PTSD with documented episodes of confused aggression, and he's been seen coming in and out of a storage unit in Paseo Storage Solutions for the past four days."

"Address?" Hotch asks.

"Already sent to your phones."

"Thank you, Pen," you say.

"Just go catch the bad guy, pretty girl," she says.

Ah, so she's seen the tweets too. You frown rather than smile, reminded again of what's been said and wishing you could be anywhere else.

You get your wish and forget all about personal grievances for a while, concerned with the safe location and extraction of Dana Langley. The operation is clean, and she's hurt but has a great chance at a full recovery. It's quick, it's professional.

You're falling asleep in the SUV on the way back. Hotch at the wheel, Spencer in the backseat, you rub your eyes from the passenger side and try not to look suspiciously morose, but it's impossible. Hotch is too good at his job.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" he asks. With Spencer's window open and the wind whipping, it's hard to hear him.

"Hm?"

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm just tired." You don't look at him. It's rude of you, but if what they've said is true —you'd seen the photographs, and you looked tired, sure, but you still looked like you. "Just tired," you say again. You snap your mouth closed when your voice wobbles.

Hotch is regularly too sweet on you. Most of the team say it's a crush. Emily calls it 'character development. Whatever it is, he's nice to you. He warmed up to you near immediately when you first joined the team, and he's been as welcoming months later as he was in your first week.

Maybe he feels sorry for me, you think, submerging yourself inch by inch into self pity.

The three of you regroup with the others at the police station to pen immediate recounts of what happened before you can forget, tying up loose ends.

Finally you're able to go back to the hotel. Another half an hour and you're in the lobby.

"We'll go home in the morning. Nine AM flight, meet in the lobby at eight thirty," Hotch says. "Get some rest."

You disband. They've squeezed you in all over the place, and you're lucky enough to be next to the elevator on the second floor. Hotch is the third floor, and everyone else the sixth, so you say goodbye to your colleagues and exit the elevator, stepping onto the second floor with a parting smile.

You can't know it, but Hotch notices the way your smile falls before the doors have well and truly closed. Your shoulders slump in defeat.

You trudge into your room and don't bother turning on the lights. The door closes behind you and the mask you'd been holding up starts to crack. You put your laptop in the closet despite temptation to boot it up, knowing no good can come of looking at the tip hashtag again.

You head into the bathroom to pee, and you're confronted with your appearance as you wash your hands.

You stare at yourself.

You look tired.

Tears well as you look at yourself. You're not those things those people said. You're pretty, and when you smile everyone knows it. There's nothing so beautiful as a smile. You can't summon one, but you know it's the truth.

Or, it should be.

A single tear falls down your cheek, quickly followed by a second, and a third from the other eye. You ignore them, tracing the line of your bottom lip, the texture of your skin on your cheeks, the slight sunken effect of your under eyes.

A knock makes you flinch. "Fuck," you say, wiping your cheek with the back of a hand, twisting on the spot like looking into your room might reveal whoever it is at the door. Probably one of your team. "Hello?" you call.

"It's me. It's Hotch. I know it's after hours, but I wanted to speak with you."

Whatever reassurance he has to give might actually make this all much worse. You don't want any pity from anybody, you just want today to be over. Still, you wiggle your toes into the plush hotel carpeting, debating only for a moment about the pros and cons of pretending to be asleep.

"Hey," you say, opening the door. You wipe your eyes and hope he takes it for a tired gesture rather than a method of hiding the glassy sheen at your waterline. "Hi, Hotch, how are you feeling?"

"Fine. Tired. Thank you for asking."

"Do you want to come in?" you ask.

"Please."

Hotch follows you into your room. There's an armchair across from the bed next to a desk and an old TV sitting atop it. Your suitcase is still open on your bed, your pyjamas crumpled in the shell. You close it before Hotch can see. That's another thing to add to your list: being a slob.

"It's very clean in here," he says.

You startle. "What?"

"It's clean, considering how long we've been here. Have you ever seen Spencer's room at the end of a case?" he asks.

"No, is it bad?"

"It's like a paper hurricane."

You look down at your knees, hyper aware of his gaze on your face, tired of feeling uneasy in your skin.

"I wanted to say thank you for doing the press release yesterday. You did an amazing job. It's something to be proud of."

Of course he's talking about the press release, the one thing you need to not think about.

"Did Derek tell you?" you ask.

"Tell me what?" he asks, voice sharpening.

You look up. Hotch is a picture of concern, professionalism slightly off centre.

"Nothing."

"Something's been bothering you. Something Derek should've told me, I'm guessing."

You chew over your words. "Uh. Hotch, it's really nothing, it's a hiccup. The press release, I…" You really don't want to have to say it. The words get stuck at the back of your throat.

He leans forward. "What?"

"I looked sick. On TV. I looked really unwell, and it– it actually–" Why are you stammering? What's wrong with you? You laugh and it's not your laugh but it's better than your nonsense stuttering. "Sorry. On the press release, I didn't look my best, and it was a hot topic. That's what I thought Derek told you about. But I don't need anyone feeling sorry for me, Hotch."

"I don't feel sorry for you."

You wince, "No, of course not."

"Two seconds," he says, putting his hand forward in the air between you. "A hot topic? I don't understand." He looks genuinely apologetic.

"The tip line got clogged up with comments about my appearance," you say. You phrase it as a professional error rather than the embarrassing event it represents in your personal life.

His lips curl downward. "Saying you looked tired."

"Saying I looked unagreeable."

"As a friend," he says, tone softening, "could you tell me what they said?"

Heat blooms in your cheeks and behind your eyes, your throat aching as you scratch at a nonexistent itch in the crook of your elbow. "Um. Well, there was a lot of them, and they weren't all about me, but the ones I saw, they seemed to think I needed more sleep. That I–"

Hitch rarely interrupts, but something in your voice must impel him. "What did they say?" he asks again.

"That I looked like a creature. That they hoped Miss Langley would be found, so that they didn't have to see my face on TV again. Hotch," you say, your throat sounding as tight as it feels, "it was pretty bad, but it really doesn't matter."

"I think it matters if it's upset you," he says.

He has the warmest voice when he wants it to be, so dulcet, almost melodic. You'd think it was a practised phrase, but he speaks freely.

"It didn't," you lie.

Pointless in your line of work and automatic anyways. Hotch doesn't deny you the safety of your untruth, but he doesn't entertain it, either.

"You're beautiful when you're tired," he says.

You don't mean to, but you hold your breath. The silence that follows his remark is deafening.

"You're beautiful," he says, again, as though you could've missed it the first time. "Regrettably, you're very tired, but you don't look any less pretty. Don't think what was sent in to the tip line has any merit."

"Are you saying that as my friend or my boss?" you ask. It's meant to be a joke that lightens the mood.

"Neither," Hotch says.

You gawp, and then falter. "Why…"

Hotch is close enough to offer a hand, and you're feeling stupid enough to take it. He squeezes tenderly, looking you straight in the eye. "I'm sorry about what's being said. I had no idea. We can pull the video, and the tipline should stop now Dana's been found, but it doesn't erase what's already happened. I'm so sorry. It's not right, and it's not fair."

"It's a hard job, right?" you ask.

His hand is so so big, and not as soft as you'd pictured. It doesn't make a difference, not when he's touching you like you might shatter.

"That's not the job," he says.

"It's silly to care, though. About what other people think."

"I hope you care about what I think. The merit of an opinion comes from the person, and the relationship you have with them. Anyone who knew you would know that you're beautiful."

"Inside that counts," you say, not fully comforted, but trying to give him an out.

"You're beautiful on the outside," he says, giving your hand a small shake. "You're an amazing woman, of course. But I, for one, enjoyed seeing your face on TV."

You try not to smile too hard, directing your gaze at your joined hands lest he get a read on you.

Hotch must know how you feel about him. He'd be an awful profiler if he didn't. You fawn when you're around him even now, months down the line from your very first meeting when you were sure your heart would ricochet from your chest, the intensity of your instant crush like nothing you'd felt, not even as a schoolgirl. He'd been tall, striking, classically handsome and completely unaware of the fact. Now he's sitting across from you and he doesn't seem so tall, nor so striking. His caring side shines like a gem. It's blinding, and it really does make you feel better.

"I cried in the bathroom," you confess, rubbing your thumb against his in minute, near imperceptible circles. "I wish it didn't matter to me, how I looked. I know I was doing something important, and there wasn't time to freshen up. Maybe I should've just asked somebody else."

"You did it perfectly. You were perfect. No one else could have delivered the profile to the public that professionally, and that astutely."

Hotch stands up, and you don't know what to do. You decide to look up at him just as he takes your face into his hands.

"No crying in bathrooms, okay? It would… it breaks my heart thinking about it. You come to me."

Such a dramatic statement, yet Hoch lays it out like it's an unquestionable truth. No bravado, only a sincerity that makes your throat hurt. His frown slides back into place as his palms warm your cheeks.

"You're so busy, I could never," you say, shaking your head.

"Time and place, sure, but. I will always try to make time for you. I hope you know that by now."

You nod dazedly. Hotch's hands drag with a pressure down to your neck, your shoulders, leaving tingling skin in their wake. He looks at you and time stretches, a few seconds pulled out of order. It's his closeness, and his affectionate, empathetic smile.

You nod again.

He relaxes.

"Try and get some rest, okay? You need to take care of yourself. I know it's hard to ignore how you feel, I know today was hard, but you're one of the strongest people I've ever met. I have faith in you." He gives your shoulder a final squeeze. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," you say. It comes out much more quietly than intended.

"Rest, honey. Call me if you're upset again. I mean it."

He smooths your cheek with the back of his forefinger and you wonder if this is some weird fantasy. Hotch makes for the door, and you know for sure it's real when he says, "And no more caffeine tonight."

"No more caffeine," you agree.

He doesn't realise he's twice as bad as a coffee. Your heart races all by itself, his phantom touch on your cheek.

—

"Hi, beautiful," Derek says.

"There's the girl of the hour," Rossi says.

You roll your arm in a bow, eyes stinging from the bright lobby lights but otherwise quite happy. Hotch called you beautiful last night. Hotch called you honey. People on the Internet who have nothing better to do thought you looked gross, but Hotch thinks you're pretty. It's hard to focus on the negative with a positive that good.

"Good morning, my favourite boys," you say sweetly.

Spencer looks up from his book. "Hey."

"You didn't say hello," you say, "you excluded yourself."

Spencer frowns and goes back to his book. You offer him a mini cookie from your pocket and he perks up, better when you whisper, "You know you're my favourite, Reid."

"We all know that's a lie," Emily says, rolling her small suitcase to your left and nearly trampling your foot.

"Unfortunately so," Rossi agrees.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hotch looks chipper this morning, doesn't he?" Derek asks, nodding. You follow his nod too quickly and give yourself away, earning a scattered round of laughter from your tired team. "Got you."

"Laugh it up," you say. You're on a high that can't be killed, even with their collective teasing.

"Why are we laughing?" Hotch asks from behind you.

You jump half out of your skin.

"We were laughing at Y/N's swift observational skills, but we spoke too soon," Emily says.

Hotch takes a moment to smile at you. "Hey, you look a little more rested. Feeling better?"

A flush rises to your cheeks. "Much," you say, sounding foreign to your own ears.

Hotch gives a pleased nod and clasps your shoulder gently before manoeuvring around you. "Let me go see where JJ is."

He walks around the lobby corner and into the hotel restaurant. You have your face in your hands before he's gone, harassed by quiet whistles and giggling.

"She's so embarrassed!" Rossi cheers, like a proud dad. "How hopeless, young love."

"Someone please shut him up," you beg, rubbing your aching eyes. It's an excuse to hide your smile a moment longer.

"Are you still tired?" Spencer asks. "You look tired."

"She does not," Derek says severely.

You raise your head with a smile. Tired or not, Hotch thinks you're beautiful. He liked seeing you on TV. You lavish the memory.

"I'm genuinely exhausted," you say eventually, a smile stretching from cheek to cheek as you stand tall again.

"I want whatever kind of tired you're feeling," JJ says as she arrives, Hotch a step behind her.

You meet his eyes. You think he might not acknowledge what's been said between you —it wasn't strictly professional to have held your face in his hands like that, after all— and the beginnings of disappointment creep in, until he stands at your side, his fingertips brushing yours. It cannot be accidental.

"She wears it well, doesn't she?" he asks the group. He gives no time for an answer. "Everyone ready?"

You practically vibrate your way to the SUV. Not a bad case, as they go.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

thank you for reading, so much! I hope you enjoyed! if you did and you have the time, please consider reblogging cos it makes me happy <3

#aaron hotchner x fem!reader #aaron hotchner fluff #aaron hotchner x female reader #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner fanfic #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotchner fic #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotchner x y/n #aaron hotchner imagine #aaron hotchner one shot #aaron hotchner drabble #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds #aaron hotch hotchner

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writing-for-life · 3 months

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Michael Zulli: Death, Dream and Hob

Now, I know fandom bends over backwards to make this about Dreamling and often slots its meaning in during/after The Wake (or at least hinting at it because of the meeting with Death), but I honestly can’t see it?

I personally believe we need to step back a bit here and consider that this was painted long before the TV show, and Dreamling wasn’t really a thing (at least not in these epic proportions, plus it was always fanon, not canon), hence we can’t really do art analysis through that lens.

If you just put the 1689 meeting (also drawn by Zulli) right next to it, it becomes, at least to me, so blatantly obvious that it is set in the same timeframe. Hob wears nearly identical clothes, so does Dream (also, some of the original comics have been recoloured).

The woman at the table next to them holding the mask? Hm, there’s a famous artwork by Colleen Doran in which Death holds a mask, and she definitely seems to be listening in here. Which she might, considering the conversation Dream and Hob had in 1689. Could obviously also just be a random person covering up smallpox scars 🤣

In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think it matters so much whether Hob already met Death or not and would recognise her, it’s the symbolism of talking to her at this point more than anything.

So would it be totally outlandish to think the missing glass is also for Eleanor? Hence the red roses as well, because Zulli hardly ever uses red roses for Dream apart from one exception (he does so for Daniel though)—they tend to be blue and always hold connotations to grief, I wrote about this before. Or better: Symbolic for all those who aren’t at the table with him? And that’s why Death is there? Both for those she has taken, but also because this is very obviously the point where Hob is at his lowest and might rethink.

I think we really have to think about where Hob is in his life here and not erase Eleanor and his kids again. “To absent friends AND lost loves”, right?

And I can’t look at that angel holding the table and not get references to pregnancy/childbirth (Eleanor and the second baby died during childbirth).

As for the raven looking away/pointing away from the table: Foreboding? Because apart from being Dream’s ravens, ravens were also associated with Apollo, who was also the god of prophecy and an oracle himself. That’s why Apollo himself eventually released Orpheus from his existence as one—long story (plus, Aristeas, who was also Dream’s raven, was Apollo’s raven in Greek mythology. Plus Apollo was also Orpheus’ father in some retellings. It’s all interwoven, but I feel the foreboding is a significant thing here for exactly that reason).

And foreboding-foreboding, of course Death and Hob meet again, and by that time, Morpheus will be gone, and the missing glass is also for himself.

I wrote about Zulli and his symbolism a few times, it’s all linked in my pinned post, but the ruins are one of the less subtle references:

#the sandman #sandman #dream of the endless #hob gadling #neil gaiman #michael zulli #morpheus #death of the endless #men of good fortune #1689 #sandman meta #sandman x art #sandman art analysis #queue crew

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devildomsoup · 10 months

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Hi hi! I love you writing! Keep up the amazing work! 💕💕

If it’s okay to request, could you write a scenario in which MC is talking to the brothers/side characters, whoever is easier for you, about to wit interest or retelling an event that happened that day but slowly go quiet because MC thinks they’re being ignored or annoying the brothers/side characters

But the brothers/side characters notice this immediately and tell MC to keep talking because they love listening MC talk

Conversations Cut Short

Genre: Hurt/comfort

Characters: Simeon, Solomon, Barbatos and Diavolo

MC: gender neutral they/them

Type: Scenario

A/N: I thought I had posted this already turns out it has been sitting in my drafts for weeks oopsie.

Do you ever get that awful feeling that you annoy someone by talking to them?

That was the exact feeling that was brewing inside MC. That uncomfortable jab to the heart when you share something with people only to realize that nobody is listening. It hurts, doesn’t it?

It makes you feel alone.

It can even make you feel worthless.

𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧

“So then we went to the cafeteria to find out what in the world was going on. But it turned out it was just Beel’s stomach growling. It’s honestly kinda impressive that his stomach can be so loud and… oh,” MC trailed off.

Suddenly it did not matter how excited they were to tell Simeon about their cafeteria adventures. Because it seems like he was not really interested at all. Was he just asking what had happened to be polite?

Then why even bother asking at all?

It left a bitter taste in MC's mouth. They would have preferred if he did not ask at all instead of ignoring them. It just feels like a kick to the stomach.

The room was no silent science MC had now stopped talking. The silence only made them feel worse. Because it just highlighted how little Simeon had been participating in the conversation. There had not even been an uninterested “Mhm” or an “I see” from him. He was just sitting there with his eyes closed and head turned away from MC.

“You know you could have just told me if you didn’t want to hear about it,” Mc whispered.

They were tightly gripping the edge of their shirt as they looked at their feet. They honestly didn’t know how to feel right now. Sure people had ignored the before they just never expected Simeon to do it. For some reason, it felt even worse when he did it.

“But I do want to hear what you have to say,” Simeon said, making MC look at him.

“Oh,” Was all that left MC’s lips.

“What made you think I didn't want to hear what you have to say?”

“I don’t know… I guess it just kind of felt like you were ignoring me. So I just assumed you didn’t want to talk,” MC responded.

Simeon just gently shook his head before answering.

“I would love to hear how your cafeteria adventure went. I should have probably told you that I tend to close my eyes when people tell longer stories. Luke has even reminded me to do so several times.”

“He has?” MC asked.

“Yeah, he has. He kept telling me to do so because it looks like I’m ignoring people. He really did have a point, didn’t he? But I do enjoy listening to you talk,” Simeon said resting a hand on MC’s shoulder.

“Well then I guess I should tell you how things ended,” MC said with a small smile.

“Please do.”

𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐧

And he is not listening… Great. MC stopped mid-sentence when that all too familiar feeling started to bubble inside their chest. MC shook their head in hopes of getting rid of it but it just would not go away. They tried to convince themself that they were just overthinking and that Solomon was not ignoring them. But no matter how hard they tried, the feeling did not stop.

Biting the inside of their cheek MC tried to look as normal as possible, hoping Solomon would not notice.

But he did notice

“Why did you stop talking?” Solomon asked.

“Oh uhm, no reason.”

Hopefully, Solomon would just assume MC forgot what they were going to say. But luck was not on their side today. Instead of just moving on to another topic Solomon just quietly looked at MC waiting for them to say something.

After a few moments of silence, Solomon decided to take matters into his own hands.

“No, there definitely was a reason. You can tell me you know”

“Don’t worry about it was nothing important,” Mc said with a strained smile.

The smile was sadly not very convincing and Solomon continued to push MC for an answer.

“It felt like you were ignoring me,” MC said quietly, finally answering Solomon’s question.

Solomon went quiet for a moment before reaching out both of his hands to hold MC’s. He gently stroked MC’s hands with his thumbs and looked them in the eyes in the most gentle way possible.

“You should have told me right away.”

“I guess I should have done that. I don’t know why I didn’t do it. Guess I’m just being silly,” MC responded with yet another strained smile.

“It’s okay." Sometimes you just can’t get yourself to those things. But I promise you I wasn't ignoring you. Why don’t you finish telling me about your day?”

“Are you sure?” MC asked.

“Absolutely sure, I love the sound of your voice.”

𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐬

Something did not feel right about this. Were they annoying? This was Barbatos’ break, yet the two were discussing MC’s interest. Sure Barbatos was the one who asked about it in the first place but that still did not help the feeling gnawing at MC’s heart.

Mc could not get themself to continue talking. It just did not feel right.

Barbatos tilted his head to the side at MC’s sudden silence.

The silence continued. Not a single word left MC’s mouth.

A few moments went by and there was still only silence.

“MC?”

“Yes?”

“Why did you stop?”

“Oh, no particular reason.”

Barbatos’ narrowed his eyes and looked at MC. He did not believe them at all.

“Are you perhaps thinking I’m annoyed by the topic?”

“Ah… Well I mean you are not wrong.”

MC looked at the ground not knowing what to do. It was true what Barbatos said. But now that he had said it mc was at a loss for words. After another few moments of silence Mc finally spoke.

“It’s just that this is your break but we are talking about my interests. It feels sort of wrong. it feels like I’m just kind of bothering you instead of letting you enjoy your break.”

“You are not annoying me. I was the one who asked you to talk about it. I quite enjoy listening to you talk about your interests.”

“Is it really okay?” Mc asked, still unsure.

They were afraid he might just have said it out of politeness. MC did not want Barbatos to feel like he was forced to listen to them ramble on and on about their interests. Barbatos gently grabbed Mc by the hand and gave them a small smile.

“I can assure you that I want to actually hear what you have to say. I’m not just doing this to be polite.”

“Wait, how did you know that?” MC asked, a bit surprised Barbatos knew what they were thinking.

“Let's just say I had a hunch. Now why don’t you continue our previous conversion? I promise you that I do want to hear what you have to say,” Barbatos responded.

𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐨

They did it again. They became too enthusiastic while talking about one of their interests. MC’s smile started to falter. The happiness they had been feeling moments ago was slowly being replaced by an all too familiar sadness. Why did they have to do it again? MC knew that people got annoyed by the intensity so why did not turn it down?

A million questions of why flooded MC’s mind. All they wanted to do was share their interest. Why did it always end this way? MC really did try to not get too enthusiastic. Which only made the whole thing worse.

“Is everything alright MC?” Dovolo asked, concerned by their sudden silence.

“Yeah everything is fine don’t worry,” MC responded with a strained smile.

they hoped that Diavole would be fooled by it but it is hard to fool someone who can read you like a book.

“MC what’s wrong?”

What were they supposed to say? They did not want Diavolo to worry but he would also know immediately that they were lying.

“I’m sorry if I got a bit annoying. I will try to tone it down.”

Diavolo was confused by MC’s answer. He was enjoying the conversation. MC’s enthusiasm showed that they were talking about something they hold dear and he was happy that they wanted to share it with him.

“You are not annoying. what would make you say that?”

MC looked away from Diavolo before answering.

“People tend to be annoyed by my ramblings and you got very quiet all of a sudden so I just kind of assumed you were annoyed by me too. Sorry”

Diavolo tilted his head slightly and smiled at MC.

“You don’t have to apologize. I got quiet because I was fascinated by what you were saying. You will never be annoying to me.”

Mc smiled back at Diavolo, reassured by his words.

"Thank you. That makes me really happy.”

#obey me shall we date #obey me #obey me mc #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #obey me barbatos #obey me diavolo #obey me gender neutral mc #obey me gn!mc #obey me writing #obey me scenarios

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mythicalartistx · 4 months

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KH3 Worlds ACTUALLY Matter and show Major Parallels and Foreshadowing through Sacrifice and Separation

The worlds in KH3 are often seen as just retelling of the Fairytales but with added Sora and his friends or Organization members. Because of this they're often disliked especially when there are some sections that are scene for scene and Sora and the others might not be present for this.

However, if you get passed the fact it's a retelling of the movie and get into how it connects with Kingdom Hearts story, they actually play a major role.

Olympus: Sacrifice

Olympus shows themes of sacrifice and love. It shows that Hercules didn't think and all he knew was that Meg was in trouble and threw himself in harm's way to save her. He sacrificed himself by doing that but also sacrificing his godhood to be with Meg. He would have to be separated from Meg and that's not the kind of life he would want to live.

Later on Riku ends up doing the exact same thing. When Sora feels powerless and all alone he sacrifices his being and life for Sora. And I could also argue he does it out of love because when he does this he doesn't necessarily think of his actions but does it to his devotion to Sora and protecting him like he always promised Terra.

Corona: Sacrifice

In the Tangled world, Rapunzel is willing to sacrifice her freedom to save Flynn's life and become separated from the outside world she's grown to love forever.

However, Flynn decides that her freedom is more important and sacrifices himself by cutting her hair which could make her lose the power to heal.

Rapunzel is also compared to Riku because they both so desperately felt trapped. Riku felt trapped at the island and wished to leave and explore other worlds with Sora and Kairi to point where if the raft didn't work out, he would open the door to darkness. I'll also like to include they both felt that someone they were close to left them for others.

Toy Box: Separation

In Toy Box, we learn of how Woody and Buzz among a few other had separated from half of their group. However, they are later seen that the world was split in half and are separated from their beloved friends. They realize at the end their friends who they've been separated from that they are always connected through their hearts.

And this goes back to how Sora will soon be separated from everyone and become stuck at the Quadratum. It also shows that he is always connected to them through his hearts and that's how he uses/and abuses the power of waking through that connection.

Arrendale: Sacrifice

When Elsa is about to get slashed by Hans' sword, Anna who is in the brink of death rushes in and saves her by taking the hit instead. She freezes at the same time and makes it so the sword shatter from her entire body becoming ice. She sacrifice her life for her. Elsa manages to thaw her and the cold weather by the act of love.

Which Riku then does the act of love when he sacrifices his life for Sora. Riku is also compared to Elsa on how they both pushed the people they loved/ cared about away to protect them.

Monstropolis: Separation

In this world, Sullie goes through separation of being away from Boo. They have to separate so Boo will be safe.

This also refers to how Sora ends up in the Quadratum from bringing back Kairi and abusing the power of awakening by using it too many times.

100 Acre Woods: Separation

In this world, Pooh talks to hope they're growing apart and that he misses Sora. Sora feels sad that they're not as close. The eventual outcome is that he'll always be in his heart no matter what.

I feel like this refers to him and Kairi not being as close as they were before. Ever since KH1 things changed between them and she changed. She's no longer the Kairi he knew and they are slowly growing apart. (Which is honestly sad). It also shows that even if he's by himself in the Quadratum he'll have everyone in his heart no matter how far away they are.

Fransankyoto: Separation + Sacrifice

Unlike the others I decided to say this world shows both. In the past, Hiro's brother separated from him when he sacrificed himself to try to find and save the teacher. This is also reflected in the past when beymax also stays behind to sacrifice himself so Hiro can then leave.

It helps shows the connections that no matter how far they are away, the people you love and care for will be in his heart. This shows that to help save everyone he used his connection to his friends to bring them that. It furthers that he won't be alone in the Quadratum and that Riku was able to go to him in MOM because of this.

PoTC: Separation

Finally in the pirates world, we show separation. After Will gets stabbed and he is made Captain of the Flying Dutchman, he faces separation from the one he loves Elizabeth. Only every 10 years are they able to see each other.

This foreshadows both being separated from the ones Sora loves and bringing back all his friends' hearts when Will's life almost gets taken when he gets stabbed. Being apart for 10 years also could lead to how it will take at least a year to find Sora in the Quadratum.

#kingdom hearts #soriku #riku #sora #kh analysis #kingdom Hearts 3 #kh3 #discussion post #analysis #kh parallels #kh foreshadowing #kh worlds #there is so much foreshadowing towards their separation #and the parallels between the other games #showing that riku sacrifices himself because he wasn't thinking and he just knew he loves Sora #as Hercules said #sacrifice foreshadowing #yeah Disney worlds matter #they are important and show various parallels and foreshadowing

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makethosenarratorsfight · 10 months

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UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; SIDE C

*NOTE; Due to the length of Harrowhark's propaganda, it is out of order and below Kuzco's propaganda

Kuzco Propaganda:

The movie starts with them doing the voiceover, telling us how he'll show us that evil people ruined his life for no reason at all, before proceeding to show him fire a loyal advisor, announce to a guy he'll chase him and his whole village away from the homes they've been living in for generations, just to build a summer villa with pool for himself, have a guy thrown off a window for being on his way when he was freedancing, etc., etc. Then as his life is ruined and we get back to the point at the beginning from which he had started the flash back which took half the movie, he's like "see? for no reason!"

Harrowhark Propaganda:

She gave herself a lobotomy and gives completely incorrect flashbacks to the previous book. Things that straight up did not happen. Gaslight gatekeep girlboss.

She’s schizophrenic (confirmed by the author) and also lives in a world with necromancy and ghostly revenants. She’s not just an unreliable narrator for readers, she’s an unreliable narrator of her own internal experience. She knows this and has to work with people around her to compensate for it. Descent into spoilerville below. Seriously Do Not Read if you want to read these books. There’s also the little matter about how she is *not actually the narrator* of a huge chunk of the story that we are initially led to believe is being told from her perspective.

(Spoilers) Holy shit she is THE most unreliable narrator. This gremlin gave herself a lobotomy so that she could forget about Gideon Nav, the most important person in her life (for magic soul-preserving reasons) so half of the second book in the series is spent gaslighting the reader about a book they just read. She comes up with an entire alternate version of the events of the first book in the series to carefully exclude any mentions of Gideon, and any time someone says ‘Gideon’ in front of her she LITERALLY has a stroke and/or an intercranial hemorrhage as her brain overwrites the word with someone else’s name. God occasionally intentionally triggers her memory revision to get out of difficult conversations. She also hallucinates ALL the time (unrelated to the lobotomy). She shows up at her frenemy’s room in the middle of the night (think little kid stumbling to their parents’ room and saying “I frew up”) to ask her to come check underneath her bed for the corpse that’s been wandering the space station. When frenemy checks underneath the bed, frenemy claims not to see anything, and Harrow is such an unbelievably unreliable narrator that it’s an open question in the fandom as to whether frenemy genuinely didn’t see the corpse or if frenemy was just yanking Harrow’s chain. Harrow is also haunted by a literal ghost that fucks up her already fucked up alternate history. Girlie will pick up a piece of paper and read from it the most violent and haunting piece of prose ever composed, when in reality all that’s written on the paper is the elementary school Superman S*. I am NOT joking that is a real goddamn scene. Harrow was created to win this poll. TLDR; she has brain damage and memory loss, she hallucinates, and is also haunted. * https://twitter.com/vestenet/status/1301012651145859072

Girl is so unreliable, she unreliably tells me events I was there for!!! She's retelling the previous book and I'm like "girlie, this is absolutely not how it happened". Also, she gave herself a DIY lobotomy, it has to impact your memory center I guess

She literally had a lobotomy, how can she be reliable

Rest of Propaganda under cut!

Harrowhark is simply the unreliable narrator of all time. Can’t remember shit because of a lifetime of trauma? Check. Maybe lying to yourself and those around you a bit? Most definitely. Being gaslit by the survivors you depend on to orient you to reality? For sure. How about a little bit of canon schizophrenia? She’s got it all. Ghosts? Or something? Spirits that are attached in some way to your body and are not perceivable by others? Sure, sure! But how about spirits that are attached in some way to your body and are gonna use you to hijack others’ bodies and maybe kill God, too? Absolutely. Wee bit of DIY brain surgery? If it would make you an unreliable narrator, friends, then Harrowhark Nonagesimus has been there, been subjected to that!

Okay I don't know that much about this series since I haven't convinced myself to read all of the first book, but this is my blorbo in law so I'd feel bad not spreading propaganda (all of what I'm saying is something I've read, as to prevent myself from straight up submitting misinformation). So all of Harrow's unreliable narration takes place in the second book, Harrow the Ninth. Basically, without her even seemingto acknowledge it, Harrow's brain is very fucked up during this book, to the point where even she's not sure how reliable her narrative is. There's many questions left unclear as a result of her fucked up little brain, like what's real, what's fake, whether we can trust her judgement, whether even she can trust her own judgement, whether her original cavalier is dead or not (Harrow is convinced she is), etc. Let me tell you, I adore unreliable narrators who aren't even that sure if they're reliable. I have yet to eat that trope up here in this circumstance, but this poll might not run again by the time I do, so for now, here's my messed up blorbo in law.

OKAY SO REMEMBER MY GIDEON SUBMISSION? HARROW DOESN’T! SPOILERS AHEAD BECAUSE SHE LOBOTOMIZED HERSELF TO FORGET GIDEON BECAUSE THAT’S A HEALTHY WAY TO GRIEVE AND THEN IN THE ONLY PARTS OF HER BOOK THAT SHE NARRATES (THE REVISED CANAAN HOUSE PARTS) IT’S LITERALLY A ROOM FULL OF GHOSTS HER BRAIN SUMMONED TO DEAL WITH THE FACT THAT SHE CUT HER BRAIN IN HALF TO FORGET GIDEON. she also is a) haunted and b) psychotic, experiencing hallucinations her entire life of both the ghosts haunting her and less supernatural hallucinations- bells tolling, bones rattling, her parents (some of the only dead people NOT haunting her), etc! in the revised history of canaan house that her brainghosts invent, she brings along someone who knows about her psychosis to help reality check her when she tells him go! her caregiver as a child and support when she got older, crux, is a horrible man- but at one point, when someone other than harrow is in harrow’s body and tells him “i am not harrowhark, i am sorry,” his response is simply “aye, you’ve said that before too. who are you then, if not my lady harrowhark?” showing his familiarity with her psychosis and his love for the child he wouldn’t dare see as a daughter. but enough about that lets talk about her unreliable narration! she lies about her feelings of course but she also simply hides the truth from everyone, all the time, compulsively. also literally the entire section of her book that she narrates is a lie she’s telling US about a lie she’s telling HERSELF and no one understands even a little bit of the truth until like the last act of the book. queen.

#kuzco #disney kuzco #emperor's new groove #harrowhark #harrowhark nonagesimus #the locked tomb #harrow the ninth #unreliable narrator battle #unreliable narrators #polls #side c

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balanceoflightanddark · 1 month

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Avatar the Last Airbender Netflix Episode 1- "Aang"

Well...the time has come.

My biggest question going into this series is asking why it needs to exist. I mean, from a business standpoint it makes sense. ATLA exploded in popularity overnight during the pandemic and Netflix wanted to cash in while the iron was still hot. Moreover, it's one of those "safe bet" projects. The name recognition alone is going to attract some viewers, even if just to compare it to the original. Doesn't matter if you don't like it, you still saw it. And if it boosts their numbers, it'll be a success regardless of critical reception.

No, my question stems from a creative standpoint: what are they going to do in order to make this remake seem like a necessary thing? What was so important that they needed to retell the story over again?

That's my thoughts going into the first episode. My first complaint is the structuring. It would not be a stretch to say that this episode had THREE introductions (arguably five if you count Aang and the water siblings being introduced): one by Kyoshi that gave an overview of the setting, one that set up that the Fire Nation was going to attack the Southern Air Temple during Sozin's Comet, and yet another by Gran Gran where she basically recited the original series opening. It just feels clunky, that we're being told the same information over and over again with exposition dumps.

And yeah, there's quite a few of them. Sure, some exposition is necessary to quickly relay the state of the world. But then we have stuff like Katara explaining that the Earth Kingdom is holding out in Ba Sing Se even though that's not exactly relevant to the current story? Stuff like that seems too much to throw at the viewer in too short a span of time. I'd hate to compare it to the original series where stuff like this was introduced more organically within the context of the story (Ba Sing Se was first mentioned in Iroh's siege of it, right?).

Last thing is that the acting was...hit or miss. Which to be fair I think was more direction and writing than any fault on the actors. Katara was...she was just kind of there for the most part I felt, not having any of the pent up anger of the original. And Gran Gran...yeah, her acting was bad. Really bad. Again, I'm blaming more on the writing since she felt stiff and didn't have any of the loving qualities despite her weariness of the original (didn't get a scene of her saying goodbye to Katara and Sokka for example).

Now, stuff I liked, and there was quite a few that I did like. I liked the actor who played Aang, he was a great choice. Really nailed down the balance between goofball and needing to take things more seriously. Some of the comedy beats were pretty good, like the one Southern Water Tribe member saying "He looks dead" about Aang, Sokka screaming his head off while riding on Appa, or one of the Fire Nation sailors grumbling about Zuko dragging their asses all over the place (first swear in the franchise and Zuko caused it).

There are two things I want to address here. The first change of Aang being more duty-oriented and wanting to clear his head instead of running away. I get the backlash...but I also think it's addressed here. In the original, Aang learned out in the worst way possible with nobody there to ease him into it. Which resulted in him running away. Here, Monk Gyatso broke it to him as gently as he could. It was still a bad situation, but I think a father figure being there to sort of steer him in the right path would've toned down his reaction in the original if that was allowed to happen. Plus it would've given Aang more incentive to take his duties seriously if Gyatso guided and vouched for him. Like he's doing it for his old mentor. I'd be interested to see where this goes.

Last thing: the scene between Aang and Iroh. It's simple, but effective. Aang asks why Iroh why the Fire Nation is waging the war, and the old man just gives off what sounds like Fire Nation propaganda. Aang shuts him down and Iroh...silently nods and agrees with him. It's actually pretty powerful. Aside from him realizing the implications that he just advocated the imperialistic rhetoric to a survivor of said rhetoric, it also sort of humanizes the Fire Nation a bit where an old veteran like Iroh admits that no, sometimes he and his people weren't always in the right. It's just he can't do much about it.

There. I complimented an Iroh scene and admitted he got one of the best scenes in the episode. Happy now?

All in all, it was...a solid start. I think I'm a bit more forgiving in terms of Aang's changed character since...well, I wasn't asking for a one-to-one remake of the original. There were a few things that bothered me, but I'm willing to hold the benefit of the doubt until they start becoming bigger problems down the line.

At the start of my watch, I asked whether or not a remake like this was necessary. What I got from this episode was..."maybe?" It's clear they want to do something different in terms of character, which is fine. It's just how clunky some of the dialogue and structuring choices were that holds it down a little. A shaky start, but there's room for potential.

#avatar: the last airbender #netflix avatar #atla netflix #aang #avatar aang #iroh #general iroh #atla #live action atla #avatar live action #live action avatar #monk gyatso #atla gyatso

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sketching-shark · 1 year

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Bangs head on my desk. Its sooooo fucking hard I have literally most of the LMK fandom blocked and I still can’t fucking escape that mid ass pairing I want to explode. Honest to god it sucks because I actually like analyzing LEMH and Sun wukong’s dynamic when it comes to the original story and like the idea of a character trying so hard to be this other person they just fundamentally erase any aspect of who they could be. That shit is interesting (especially if you interpret the two as actual family bc there’s a level of. Tragedy there) but NOOO mfs wanna focus on shipping clones/siblings together instead and painfully writing both characters ooc instead of just making an oc good fucking god. ( that being said I really like the art you draw of LEMH. It’s really cool. Keep up the good work 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾)

fregarewargtfds I once saw someone describe the LEMH & SWK ship as jttw retellings's reylo and. hm. yeah.

BUT YEAH YEAH YEAH to this day one of the things I find most baffling about the western monkie kid & jttw fandom is this widespread refusal to even recognize LEMH's actions in the og classic. Because it's like: here we have what could very well be one of literature's first instances of the "evil twin" trope and it's being done SPECIFICALLY in a way to create the maximum amount of conflict and uncertainty for SWK!

Because on one hand the false monkey of the true and false monkey king arc is essentially the very embodiment of everything that SWK ever wanted; LEMH, in copying SWK so completely, does it in such a way where he gets to be both a yaoguai warlord with a loving family AND a holy pilgrim bound for glory at the exact same time, whereas SWK is constantly being forced to choose between the two! But LEMH's also doing it in the worst way possible! He beats Tang Sanzang into unconsciousness, steals their stuff for his own use, and in so doing drives a serious rift between SWK and the pilgrims!

He clearly doesn't give af about the Mt. Huaguoshan monkeys outside of how they can serve as his personal tools to fulfill his own aims! He just wants them to use their own powers of transformation so that they can serve as his own obedient group of pilgrims! He even eats one of them as part of a merry feast he throws for himself after a violent encounter with Sha Wujing, and immediately has that monkey replaced with another! And he's doing ALL of this wearing SWK's face and adapting SWK's mannerisms! EVERYONE thinks that it's SWK doing these things! It's like LEMH's very existence is throwing it in SWK's face how this horrible version of himself is closer to achieving ALL of SWK's desires than SWK ever was, and that no matter how much SWK tries to change for the better even the two sides of his beloved family automatically think even this version which would inflict such violence on them is the "true" him! No wonder SWK hated him so much!

And AUGH the possibility of LEMH either being a manifestation of SWK's worst impulses or of being his brother just ramps the tragedy and horror of this situation even more! Like if it was part of SWK inflicting all this pain on the people SWK loves most, well there is truly something messed up about this situation where even if it's not technically "you" going along with your worst impulses they will still hurt people! Could you ever trust yourself again? Should you? How much of the blame for this situation lies with you? And can it be enough to fully acknowledge you have violent impulses but don't act on them?

And yes @the-bitter-ocean even in interpretations where LEMH is some random yaoguai who decides to commit identity fraud the story from his point of view of him throwing away his identity so completely that there's basically nothing left of him is just...goddamn. In his ambition he literally reduced himself to one part of SWK's story, just one more obstacle for the Monkey King to overcome.

And SCREAM if LEMH was SWK's brother? Imagine this situation where for SWK he's confronted by what is essentially the culmination of his failures to protect his family, where his beloved brother (I'm saying beloved because SWK loved all members of his monkey family very much) ended up despising SWK so much that he has essentially destroyed everything that he was or could have been in his bid to be the "real" monkey king and bring glory back to that name, but does so in the worst way possible to the point where SWK feels he has to take down LEMH himself. And then for LEMH, you can see how love and admiration for his brother would be twisted into resentment, envy, obsession, and hatred due to the series of atrocities the Mt. Huaguoshan simians faced in large part as a consequence of SWK's challenge to the heavens and his own sense of entitlement, so that eventually he convinced himself he would be a more "true" monkey king than the monkey king himself, and thus completely discarded his own identity to take on that of his brother, and in doing so basically tossed his own morals given how his "version" of the monkey king cares for no one but himself.

Sorry for the rant! But all the pieces for a whole series of interesting tragedies are! Already! Right! There!!!!! Why are we all so hellbent on ignoring/rewriting them!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

#ask answered #xiyouji #jttw #journey to the west #monkie kid #sun wukong #six eared macaque #btw does anyone know when/if those animations about SWK & LEMH that came out a few years ago will ever appear in the west?

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voltstone · 5 days

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scav·eng·er | TWDG Retelling | 1

"But we don't eat monsters." "Yeah, but if we could, we probably would..."

At least, that's what Clementine tells him. Because AJ doesn't need to know how warm the fresh ones are on the tongue, nor how decayed flesh claws on the way down.

[The times she scavenged, the times her secret was caught, and the one bite that started it all.]

— — —

Basically I took my creative liberties and ran with them. Head-first. Into…whatever this is. (Based off of the most out of pocket dialogue prompt, which this post is about.) I will blast through all the seasons, so. A full retelling! :D With cannibalism! And gore! And Clementine is not a-okay!! >:D

However, I did decide that I will have to break it apart for pacing, and stuff. But I will post the story in-full as well if people want to read it that way when I'm 100% done. This is the first part of…I dunno yet. But each part will effectively go through each season, or however I think to do it.

Now this is mature, and I did tag it dead dove. Because. Cannibalism, technically. And like. Violence. And stuff. But genuinely though, it is written to be unhinged. Lol.

Anyway. Hope you enjoy!

AO3 | FF | Wattpad

THE BITE

she did not ask for this. it hurts.

[2,721] [Apr.25.2024] — — —

"The first thing that changes, sweetie, is the smell of them."

"It will only take a couple hours. They'll all … start smelling sweet, more like a citrus."

Clementine whimpers. She holds her hand tightly around her arm, up towards her shoulder where he wrangled the dress. Her throat's raw. She's swirling over the conversations Lee had with her, after her hair was grabbed, and he had to explain why the St. John brother horrified her the way he did. The other one. With shadows around his eyes, and a smile that always twitched around her.

Amongst that, Lee admitted why he killed him the way he did—pitchfork at hand.

He horrified him too.

She decides though, as she scrambles away from this man, that it isn't the same.

The man is good with his words, for one, and there's a…sincerity to him. A genuine one, but there's something to his face that Clementine never could've seen through the radio.

He's tall. Gangly.

And in his face, there's something not quite right. It's not the blood—her blood—he wipes from his mouth by a gentle hand. It lies beneath that.

Insanity.

"It hurts, I know. That's what my daughter said too. And that's what I felt when Tess bit me."

This is insanity.

It doesn't matter how well he preens it, this is insanity, and he just… He just—

He. Bit. Clementine.

Didn't look happy about it, and he still doesn't. But he just. He bit her, and hard, like he meant it anyway. He continues look at her like he means it, right with all the ramblings about his family, and how nice they are, and how she'd fit right in. At least, after he gets a proper brush for her. Her hair's quite a bit different from his daughter's.

. "I don't really understand what it is either, or what does it. "I just know…, biting you, you can be a part of my family this way."

"You've already met my wife… You can join my daughter in the backseat. You just have to keep quiet, and she won't do anything to you."

She doesn't really listen to what he says. There's too much of the day's horror racing through her body.

It's the bafflement, however, that strikes her mute.

Because this man bit her, and it isn't something Clementine can just wrest from herself. It spins and twirls until she feels an unease build, and she's about to vomit, her heart's thrashing beneath her palm…

She can't. She's barely eaten enough to force the urge.

It's dark in the bathroom. He's tall. Looming over her.

And.

And Clementine's been bit. He stares at her as though it means the same as every other bite, yet it doesn't, because he's not dead.

She knows how long his teeth are.

They sank far too deep for any genuine, sincere man in his right mind.

"She won't do anything."

Clementine hides in the bathtub for the longest while. Ducks right into it, the moment he shuts the door, and she hears him string the handle, then tie it to the closet across from her.

Every now and then, she dozes. Not because she wants to. She's desperate to stay awake. Yet Clementine is small, and she's tired, and there's no fighting this. It's an exhaustion she never could have fathomed. There's strange nightmares she can't quite place, and they rattle her back where her eyes fly open, the ceramic's cold, she doesn't want to sleep. There is nothing to see in them, those nightmares. Just a desolation, and a twisted ache down her throat. She smells gore in them. Can almost feel the blood and bone bathe down her skin, then crack in her hands.

The meat… There's meat.

In her mouth.

And she chews. And Clementine swallows.

She doesn't understand.

There is one nightmare she sees. It knocks her head into the ceramic tub by the time she wakes again.

A farm. Dairy. Except there's only slaughter. There's butcher across tile. The barn's locker rots.

Clementine never ate there. Never the meat. Not a bite.

Lee saved her back then. He did.

Lee saved her. He'll save her.

Again, and again.

He begins to be what she stirs to.

Her sweat's cold. The world blurs when the tears come.

Before Clementine is lost to nightmare for another time.

Then...

She snaps upright. Finds herself clambering from the bathtub and to the door. Her head is a smog, but she… Clementine can hear them both. Her voice rattles from her. She doesn't quite hear what she says— All she knows is Lee. At least, she thinks. Hopes so.

A citrus bleeds from the door, and to her nose.

It's likely the man's. He is bit, and his eyes are not quite as…human as he tells himself.

He's just…not dead, exactly.

Not truly alive either. His gaunt complexion tells her so, and the weary treble in his voice. Or he's always just been like that. Sickly looking, if not just plain unnerving.

Clementine can't really tell. It's hard to piece together a person like him, amidst the self-hatred. A loathing, if anything.

Because she fell for it. Fell for his words, the promise for her family. Even though…, Clementine knew, in the back of her mind, it's too good to be true. A random voice on the radio, how could he have known her and her parents? And Savannah? And Lee, and Macon, and everything between?

Simply put…

That random voice knows, because she told him herself.

Told him everything.

The fight for the world's clarity stands no better with her at the door. She sags against the wall. Her arm pangs. The bathroom is…cold, beneath her feet.

Frigid, even, the more the stupid girl's remorse blisters her.

This is what desperation has brought. It opened its mouth for her. His long teeth. And she stared. Looked at this gifted horse in the mouth; discovered a reason to run.

"Yeah. I'm not some cannibal, Lee."

Lee… So he has come to save her.

She knew he would. Clementine just knew he would.

It's enough to spark urgency. She stands.

"Some killer out in the woods. Some v-villain…"

That man is a liar, though. Lee is here, but the man is a liar.

Unless…, what he's done really wasn't murder, nor a kidnapping.

"I'm just a … dad."

Perhaps. Maybe that is right.

Still however. Clementine decides then and there to creep from the bathroom.

She makes sure to keep her sleeve down, and her dress over her shoulder. Because she isn't bitten. Not really.

The same way that man didn't murder.

"Have you ever hurt somebody you care about?" "My wife."

Clementine tries the handle first. It twists, yet the string holds it firm.

She almost weeps. Or she does, and her head is too numb to know.

The bathroom is all the more darker, and her exhaustion grows all the more heavy.

"I hurt her a long time ago. "In a lot of ways…"

Lee sounds… He sounds weaker than he did last night.

Exhaustion slinks from his mouth. It worms the same in her ears—the same as her own. There's a wavering, and then a husk. Like there's not enough life to draw from. And it says something—says a lot, actually—how much stronger the man with his treble is in his words. He's steady. He carries an unruly intention.

And Lee…, he sounds tired. And bleak. Mostly bleak. Doesn't talk much.

Clementine doesn't want to believe the strained breaths cleaving the room is him.

"I hurt her so bad."

The man's wife has her head in his bowling bag.

She rolls in it. Smudges the tearstreaks left behind.

"I hurt her so bad."

Clementine flares the last of her strength. She swallows down the last of the dairy farm as it twitches for another nightmare.

She clasps the handle. Twists it, and tests the string. She doesn't want to get caught. Noise is her bane, and she knows the man has an ear for her.

"Do I look like a monster to you?"

She has to bide her time. It's daunting.

However, Clementine listens for the moment where he's engrossed, and the man is sunk back into his writhing sanity. He likes to ramble. Did it a lot that day, and he even did it routinely on the radio. On and on and on about his wife, and his kids.

Family.

It's always family with him. Family, and being a father, a husband, and having his nice daughter.

"She's already a part of my family now… "There's no reason for you to have come, Lee."

"I smell it on you. You're not going to last."

There he goes again.

Clementine pulls the door just enough for the string to strain, and for her to untangle its knot. It snaps back for the open closet.

The man talks to his wife again. He stares into his bowling bag, and she knows the wife's head to roll again.

She meets Lee by his eyes. He's… He's missing an arm, and he looks ghastly. Drained too. Yet, he has enough strength to nod for the side-dresser, and when her eyes follow, there glints a cleaver.

"Hey, honey. I think this is all going to work out."

It's tight in her hand.

The dairy farm ravages to the blood she ignores down its blade. Clementine hears the groaning instead. The wife. Can almost make out the nonsense the man pulls a few words from.

"I'm glad too. "I wish you wouldn't have had to get this bad, but it's all over hon. Isn't it?"

"I hate seeing you like this. I just miss your smile, honey."

Her strides to him are careful. Clementine keeps herself far from his eye, his peripheral. Lee tenses, though in his face, there's a quiet resolution. His eyes dart between the man, then her.

Clementine raises the cleaver. Moonlight darts along the wall when she does. Her hands tremble; the moonlight does too. She can't help it.

"I miss you so much, Tess. You're gonna like Clementine a lot, though. She's not Lizzy, but she's sweet. "She wouldn't hurt a fly."

Clementine sinks the cleaver deep. Thinks of it as a bite for a bite.

The man lunges away from her, and he reaches for the blade plunged into his shoulder.

Lee hurls his weight across the table, and knocks into the man. The fight is blurring. Clementine strafes, feels her heart soar when Lee buckles him into the wall.

Before he curls. The fight is too much for him. The man is strong in his intentions.

His hands are around Lee's neck. The gun is heavy in her hands. She trembles again. Aims. The world is whirling, except for Lee, and for the man, and the bullet she punctures through his crown.

She—

Clementine just shot him.

Just shot the man.

He's dead.

Bafflement finds her again. Locks her there, in place. Trembling. Air doesn't come easy. Her heart does well to scald her, and it's restless.

It names itself shock, however. She's not inclined to argue.

There's a look in Lee's eyes. Gratitude, but the shock as well. It rattles them both.

She cries. He consoles. But air doesn't come easy, nor do the words to her mind.

When he dawns her back her Dad's hat, however… The world doesn't cage her anymore.

It's not as cold.

It's still a desolate shade of moonlight.

A walker stands at the door. The citrus is pungent in the room. There were traces before.

With the dead looming in the doorway, however, it swamps her now.

And the gore Lee lathers down her clothes makes it worse. A thousand times worse. Because the citrus is like… It's like the oranges she plucked from at a fieldtrip's orchard. It's sweet. She can't tell if she's about to vomit or not. She sweats. It's cold again. Lee mistakes both for terror. Or, it's that she's the one mistaken, and this isn't anything beyond a break in sanity.

Her parents are dead.

They have been.

She sees them, when Lee guides her into the dead's orchard.

"The first thing that changes, sweetie, is the smell of them."

"The second thing…"

The second thing… There's a second thing. It rattles somewhere. She can only see the red jacket he held for her. The same she refused before.

The same that… The same that Lee—

Lee's falling.

His voice trails after him. He stumbles too, the more she whimpers and pulls at his shoulder. He isn't limp. He is not awake.

But he does move. Her arm throbs, Clementine trips over herself, and Lee is staggering after her. With a haze in his eyes. He shoulders into anything and everything.

The dead don't mind. Not really.

They don't mind him. Nor her.

Clementine's left to pull him into a store. She finds a string. Reaches for it.

The gate it guides slams to the floor once gravity has its say.

They are alone, her and Lee. Secure. There is no leaving… Which frightens him. More than the St. John brother ever did.

Clementine knows he's bit before he says it.

It's the sweet citrus.

The same that washes off the walkers, it leaks from Lee in steady waves.

It just breaks her heart, knowing that… That he really is a-about to— To die.

There's no time to tell him about her bite. She wouldn't have had the heart to regardless, nor the mind.

So she clings to his words. Nods to Lee, when he tells her to keep moving.

Lee doesn't have to tell her what to do next. Clementine knows.

So when he runs out of energy, and time, and mind…

She just knows.

"I'll miss you."

The gun is the heaviest when she raises it to his head.

. . .

SOMETHING WAS VERY WRONG

. . .

There is no fever. She doesn't understand, because it is not a fever, it's this brisk chill across her body, beneath the morning sun.

Maybe it's from lingering beside Lee's body for longer than she should have. Or, it's from stalking in the shadows where the walkers couldn't quite reach.

Yet, no. Those were the quiet lies she told herself, before reality wormed its way the moment she found them. Or, when they found her—none of them can decide. The more they hug her, the more Omid squeezes her shoulder and Christa holds her from her from the weary ground, the more Clementine realizes this for what it is:

The bite.

And it's rough against cotton. Cold too, like the deep inhale before something really, really bad happens, and now her body teems of it, and her head swims to every sharp clap of gunfire. Her eyes too, because the world warbles whenever Clementine passes wherever the sun is strongest.

This is the same cold which agonized her body in the Marsh House. In the bath, then in the room—with Lee's rattled breaths, and the walker splayed beside them both. It's the cold she fought against. Fell asleep to. Would awake to.

It feels like her body has been disturbed. As though…she herself, to her core, hasn't grasped what hit her.

Except that it has a name, and its name is dread.

It takes months for the hunger to set in.

[Next] AO3 | FF | Wattpad

— — —

As much as I enjoy writing stories for the sake of catharsis, I do enjoy being unhinged and writing this kind of thing too. Cuz it can be fun. Once you get past the concerning things. Again, I am breaking it up for pacing's sake, so shorter chapters. My little writer gut tells me shorter chapters good, actually. For this. So the TBC will have a link to the next post once I'm done.

Hope you enjoyed so far! :)

#volt's library #twdg #twdg fanfiction #twdg 1 #twdg clementine #twdg christa #twdg lee #twdg omid #the stranger #fanfiction #cannibalism #gore #violence #horror #body horror #psychological horror #“survival” horror #kind of not really but whatever

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marinsawakening · 2 months

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I'm overall pretty meh on the Link's Awakening manga but I think it did two things really well: the boat scene, and the ending.

The boat scene happens about halfway through the second and last volume of the manga, not long after Link has found out the truth about Koholint. The manga, like most game retellings, changes the story of the game slightly so that it works better in manga format. So rather than Link going straight to another dungeon after finding out the truth, he lashes out, believing that waking the Wind Fish will doom everyone and that the people who told him to do so lied to him. He rejects his destiny (the manga goes way harder on destiny than the game, one of the things I don't particularly like about it) and resolves to let the Wind Fish sleep forever. Instead, he goes to make a raft, intent on escaping the island, and asks Marin to come with him. She agrees to do so.

Everyone gathers on the shore to say a tearful farewell to Marin, who promises she'll return someday, and she and Link set out. At first, everything seems wonderful; Marin and Link are in high spirits, watching some dolphins play, riding the waves, etc. But soon it becomes apparent that... well...

[Image: panel from the Link's Awakening manga showing Marin and Link's raft out on sea, with Koholint looming in the distance. Marin says: "We shouldn't be able to see the island anymore, but there it is..." End description.]

They cannot get away from the island. No matter how hard Link rows, Koholint never gets any further away. They cannot leave.

Eventually, Marin asks a now-exhausted Link to go back to shore. Link is devastated, but Marin remains in a seemingly high spirits. They have a talk, and Link asks Marin why she wanted to leave Koholint. Marin reveals that ever since she was little, she's had the same dream every night: she's in a town she's never seen before, surrounded by smiling faces. It's a nice dream, so she thought that by leaving, she could dream without ever having to wake up. However, she concludes that, no matter how nice a dream is, you'll have to wake up eventually.

Marin leaves after this, but Link remains. The Owl arrives, and they have a talk about destiny and the nature of Koholint. Finally, the owl says this:

[Image: page from the Link's Awakening manga. Panels show the shoreline, the sky and the Owl. The Owl says: "...Dream... The people who you see are actually just like a mirror... The various things that you see... Like this island... Thoughts take on form and begin existence." The Owl continues: "The heart that doesn't want to wake up... and the heart that does want to wake up." For the first part of that sentence, the monsters are shown; for the second part, Marin. End description.]

The Owl asks Link what he'll do. Link begins, saying that when the Wind Fish wakes, everyone and everything will be gone, but then rejects it. He stands up and states:

[Image: page from Link's Awakening. Link stands up and grasps his sword, powering it up. In the last panel, he is crying. He says: "The time that I've spent on this island, I won't forget it. In my heart it will remain for a lifetime! It may vanish everywhere else, but not for me! So... From inside the "Wind Fish"s dream and into my heart... It won't end, it will just change locations..." End description.]

Which is clear set-up for the ending.

At last, after defeating the Nightmares, the Wind Fish appears to Link, the story drawing to a close. As they move to the end, the Wind Fish states:

[Image: two panels from the LInk's Awakening manga, showing the Wind Fish doing a voice over, a panel collecting various moments from the manga. He says: "Yes. But the memories of this island will always remain in your heart. You will always remember this island. This memory will make the world of dreams real." End description.]

Which is ultimately the central thesis of the ending.

The Wind Fish invites Link to play the Song of Awakening with him, and as Link does, it pans over to Koholint and its people, leading to a two-page spread and my favourite panel of the manga:

[Image: two-page spread showing Link playing the ocarina against a bird's eye view of Koholint, with the animals, Tarin, Lady MeowMeow and Bowwow, Felicia (a manga-only fairy character) and Marin singing along. Link thinks: "Ah... Look... Everybody... Sing... Sing the Wind Fish's song... Marin..." End description.]

In which, as the final song of awakening plays and the island disappears, everyone joins in to sing along.

In my mind, both the boat scene and the final ending stand out because they show a keen understanding of Koholint and the game's themes.

The boat scene is a fascinating addition to the Link's Awakening story, in my opinion a very smart move, as it provides a very natural avenue for the manga to explore the nature of Koholint. It delves more directly into the fridge horror of Koholint's existence than most of the game does, to great effect: the initial reveal that you cannot go beyond the horizon, that it is impossible to escape the island, is done to great effect and contrasted effectively with the more light-hearted tone of only a page earlier. Link's desperation to escape anyway, contrasted with Marin's calmer acceptance of the reality of the situation, does a great job highlighting Link's state of mind during this portion of the story, and also does a great job showing he's wrong without directly stating so. Because Marin has already realized the truth Link is still unwilling to admit: that no matter how nice a dream is, you need to wake up eventually. It's sad, but she's ultimately at peace with it, in a way Link still needs to learn.

The follow-up scene at the beach with Marin and the Owl of course addresses and states this more directly, having Link realize the fundamental flaw in his thinking, and moreover stating the lynchpin of the story's ending: that Koholint will not die as long as Link remembers it. After this moment, the story states multiple times that a new Koholint is being built in Link's heart, to be completed after the dream ends. Ending the dream is integral to building it up again, in another's memory.

The ending is, in my opinion, the highlight of the manga. Link is sad, but at peace with waking up, having loved this island and treasuring this memory. Having everyone join in on the final song of awakening was an absolute stroke of genius, highlighting that the waking of the Wind Fish is not Koholint's doom, but in fact, its wish. In the end, it's not just Link and the Wind Fish waking up: it's everyone alongside them, joining in the chorus as the dream ends.

And finally, at the very end, the second-to-last page:

[Image: page from the Link's Awakening manga. Link sits on a piece of driftwood, staring at the sky, saying: "...That such a place... such a place..." He presses his hands against his heart, the edge of his face just barely visible, tears dripping down it, saying: "It... It was real...!" The then wipes his tears, picks up a different piece of driftwood to paddle with, and smiles as he looks up. End description.]

Link cries as he remembers Koholint, but ultimately, the joy of having known it, and the realization that it will always live on in his heart wins out, and he smiles as he paddles into the horizon.

As stated, I'm not this manga's biggest fan; for the most part, I think it falls into a lot of the same tropes and pitfalls of other video game adaptation manga, and in addition I don't like its heavy focus on destiny and believe Marin is a far more interesting character in the game. But it does a fantastic job with Koholint, showing a keen understanding and interesting interpretation of its nature, successfully adapting the game's themes regarding the nature of the dream and its fate into a different type of storytelling. The boat scene, which plays into Koholint's fridge horror and highlights its unearthly nature, and the ending sequence, with its triumphant tone yet unavoidable sadness, are the highlights for me.

And particular, the idea to have everyone on the island join in the final song of awakening was a stroke of genius and is going to live in my head rent free forever.

You can find a large collection of Zelda game manga on historyofhyrule.com, including both volumes of the Link's Awakening manga in both their original Japanese and translated into English; it is where I read it and where I got the panels and pages used in this post from.

#my posts #loz #link's awakening #genuinely. i'll admit to having had my hackles up initially when reading the manga #bc the strong focus on destiny combined with some smaller stuff made me really really worried about how it'd handle the game's themes #but it stuck the landing so incredibly well #genuinely the image of everyone singing along to the song of awakening lives rent free in my head and is canon now as far as i'm concerned #long post

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literallyjusttoa · 2 years

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Personal Entry #2

I met with Artemis today, and it was great. The first thing is she asked me to meet her! Usually I’m the one randomly dropping in on her hunts for some quality twin bonding time, so this was quite the change of pace. Plus, we met up in the Daintree Rainforest, and that place is absolutely gorgeous. So already, we’re off to a great start.

Then, Artemis actually asked me to recite some poetry! I never thought I'd see the day. I haven’t written anything in a while (sue me, I’m detoxing after the trials) so I just stuck to my haikus from my time as a mortal. I don’t think she really appreciated the poems, but she sat through my retellings, which is more than I ever usually get from her, or anyone else in the family for that matter.

And then, and then, she asks me how the music industry is doing. At this point, she’s becoming a bit suspicious. I don’t think Artemis has shown this much interest in my arts since we were very small children. But never let it be said that I am not always willing to gossip about the newest songwriter scandal. There’s a reason the Muses and I can spend hours speaking in the Olympian gardens. So I got going about the newest hit single that totally wasn’t about the singer’s last ex, and didn’t even realize I was falling into my sister’s sneaky trap. You’d think after 4,000 years of having a twin I would recognize the scheming, but I guess my time away as a mortal has dulled my perception.

So about fifteen minutes into my tirade (I know, I know, I talk a lot, but I get carried away with music drama alright! The stories are so interesting!) Artemis interrupts and starts to steer the conversation somewhere else. Did all of this happen while you were mortal? She wonders. You would’ve been in Camp Jupiter around then, right? She mentions. Are you adjusting well back in Olympus? She straight up asks, apparently sick of me dodging and weaving around her attempts at subtlety.

And listen, I know my sister. I know she doesn’t like to just ask people what’s wrong, and I know she knows I would never answer that question anyways. Artemis and I differ in many ways, but we both have a strong aversion to that kind of vulnerability. So I know when she asks “Are you adjusting well” she means I’m worried about you. And I appreciate that, I really do! But I can’t deal with someone worrying about me right now.

My sister’s worry feels like someone peeking over my shoulder while I'm trying to complete a brain surgery (I’ve done this before, BAD IDEA) . She means well, but it’s just extra pressure. It makes part of me want to flee like a startled deer. And that’s what I ended up doing. I blurted out some lame response about being perfectly fine in Olympus and OMG I actually forgot I have a meeting with the Muses I need to get to so sorry about that bye! It was honestly embarrassing, and I know Artemis knows that I was being a big fat liar. I can never fool Artemis, she’s known me for far too long. The people who talk about the mortifying ordeal of being known all definitely have twins.

It was a mess. I’m a mess, and I hate the idea of my sister seeing that. She deserves better than my melodrama.

You know what, I’ll deal with it later. I need to talk to the Muses so that I’ll have at least a semi-believable alibi for Artemis. And maybe I can set up something to keep her away for a bit longer.

I know what you’re thinking, non-existent readers: Apollo how could you! She’s your twin! And I know, I know okay! But I just need some time to get myself together. Hopefully next time we speak, I can tell Artemis everything’s fine on Olympus and actually mean it.

#trials of apollo #toa apollo #lester papadopoulos #sunny speaks #dark!apollo au #au #personal entries #tbh this is probably the happiest entry we're gonna get #whoops #also they're getting longer!!! I have more inspiration as things are picking up in my brain #i'm excited :D

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liameowlia · 9 months

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i discovered tumblr messed up and this post was not in fact posted lmao, thank god i saved the draft before hand.

warning: i tried my best to leave this as most spoiler-free as i could, but if you really don't want to know anything about the plot at all (not even vague things about it) just jump to my tldr.

i don't really have the brain-functioning hability to put into words everything i'm feeling about the miraculous movie right now, but i just wanna say i loved the movie.

i think it was GREAT, it made me extremely emotional and i'm really sorry that apparently not everyone feels the same way (and i super understand why they may differ from me), because i genuinely will hold this movie dear to heart, as a comforting piece of media to watch when feeling sad or needing a pick-me-up.

i know it seems like a joke, but this movie genuinely feels like a fix-it fic ksdksdkjk i feel like they really tried hearing the fans while producing this and it made me happy! i understand that some people are kinda mad that they did all these big changes in the movie and not in the show, and i agree that many of the aspects of the movie would be super satisfying in the show, but unfortunately it's all we got :(.

at this point i feel like the series is like a train on fire that the crew are trying to keep on track lmao. i say it as a joke, but i really do think that they've noticed how many flaws there are in so many aspects of the series and are trying to (maybe) fix them in a way that makes sense, while simutaniously going foward with the plot, but that's hard to do and will aways leave some unsatisfying things behind, and that's another reason as to why i liked the movie so much.

i know i'll unfortunately never get to have the "perfect" development or writing or plot or characterization or finale for the show, because of so many (big or small, objetive or personal) flaws there are inbedded in the show and how it has been biult up until now, but i can get pretty close to that with the movie. no, i'm not trying to say the movie is perfect, it's far from that, but watching the movie from the perspective of someone who's been watching the show since it frist aired, it made me really happy! i got to see a new version of the story, a new retelling, with most of the things i love being rearrenged, plus some new improvements, and best of all! it's canon! it's not in the same universe as the series, obviously, but still canon.

i feel like the movie made canon (parts of) a version of the story that i've always wanted for miraculous, it made it possible and true, not just frustated and sour daydream. it's canon, guys. i know that for many people that doesn't mean a lot, but for me it weirdly does. and i'm really happy about it.

i loved the songs, i love musicals, so sorry if you weren't pleased by that. i loved the designs, even though i did find adrien's art different from the series, so it took me a while to get used to (not bad, just different!). i did miss my marichat or adrien <3 marinette action, but it's fine bc it's a movie and they can't fit everything in there. i liked the pacing, but idk if that's bc i already know the basis of the plot, so idk if it'll seem rushed to someone that never watched the show. i have some other critiques and things i personaly would've changed/improved, but i mostly liked pretty much everything.

tldr, i guess (?): i loved the new miraculous movie, even though i undertand why some may not like it and have my own critiques about it. my rating is like 8/10, maybe even 9/10 depending on which aspect i'm talking about, from the perspective of a fan. i'd give it a solid 7/10 for those who have never watched miraculous before (maybe i'm being too generous bc i literally just watched it). i would definetly recommend you to watch it, even if you haven't watched the series before, no matter how old you are. hope you guys like it just as much as i did.

thank you for coming to my tedtalk and have a nice day, evening or night. bug out!

#sorry abt my grammar #sorry for my english #ml movie spoilers #miraculous spoilers #miraculous movie spoilers #miraculous: ladybug & cat noir #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug movie #miraculous movie

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euvenly-jester · 3 months

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Spicy Chicken Soup

Summary: Euven tells Astarion about a traumatic, but pivotal moment in his life that lead to where he is now. Astarion relates the story to his own history, and takes Euven's feelings very seriously when trying to provide comfort.

WARNING: The first half of this story is a retelling of Euven's childhood trauma. Details of survivor's guilt - along with physical, mental, and implied sexual abuse of a minor follow. If you want to skip the flashback, you can skip to the second half marked by periods and dashes.

It was the eighth day of Mirtul. I was 12 years old. I can recall that much, but not the reason why my mother was so angry that day. Her temper got the best of her so often, the memories blend together a bit. I remember that she called me and my brother, Jostef into the kitchen, and she was yelling about something small. That's how she always made me feel; small and helpless. Jostef was always right there with me, but we knew better than to play hero for each other. Despite the two of us sharing a bedroom, I always felt alone when it really mattered. At any rate, 14 year old Jostef and I stood in the kitchen before our belligerent mother yelling about gods know what, and then she reached for my arm. Without a second thought, or even a first thought if I'm to be honest, I turned on my heel and raced for the door. But I wasn't fast enough. I felt her strong grip on my right horn and yanking me backwards, introducing the back of my skull to our kitchen table's unforgiving corner, then the cold floor that was still wet from being cleaned just minutes before.

I stared at the ceiling for a few moments as the world blurred in my eyes. Jostef looked shocked, even scared for me, but he kept silent, just like I would have done. Mum crouched down to hug and comfort me, a feeling that made me wish my skin would melt away. No matter how loving it seemed, her touch singed like a hot iron. I never knew if she was truly being affectionate, or if she was building up to something more sinister. As I focused all of my attention to how much I wanted to be away from her, she continued apologising and prattling about what a bad mother I must have thought her. And as always, her spiel was followed with "You know, things would be different if your dad were here. You should be blaming him for all of this," as if I'd even opened my mouth once in this debacle. I knew better than that, just like I knew better than to run from her. She probably was just going to jerk me around by the arm to emphasize her words, but I made her pull me back like that. I could have just stood there and faced whatever she had planned, but instead I was on the floor, crying in pain with a head injury.

The memory gets a bit hazy from there, but I remember waking in my bedroom with a bandage wrapped around my head. I might have passed out, but I don't remember. Jostef looked at me with pity in his eyes from his own bed. I sat up and firmly repeated what I'd been saying for years, "I'm really going this time. Are you coming with me?"

"Not this time, Euven."

"There's not going to be a next time. She's busy cooking now, and I don't think I'll have the courage tomorrow. I'm going to be out of here before she calls for dinner."

He didn't say anything, I don't think he believed me. That or he was having second thoughts again, just like the last time. And the time before that. But I couldn't let my fear win again, I had to get out. I left him there with his silence and crept into my mother's bedroom after making sure she was still busy cooking. I found a backpack in her wardrobe, and emptied it before retreating to safety. After the door was securely shut, I filled the bag with an extra set of clothes, some food I kept hidden in my pillowcase, a metal cup, and my lyre. I gave Jostef one last chance to join me before giving him a long, tearful hug, and climbing out the window. I never saw him again after that day.

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My vision is overtaken by a wall of tears and I can't tell what Astarion's expression is now, but he pulls me into a tight embrace. I try to forms words to assure him that I'm alright, but he places his hand on the back of my head, muffling my face into his chest. Suddenly, all at once, the dam breaks and I'm back in the shoes of a sniveling little boy that's spent his whole life begging deaf ears for help. There's only one word that keeps repeating in my head: "Why". My voice cracks under the weight of the small, simple word, but can't stop repeating it like a spell that will somehow change the past. "Why, why, why?!" my hands curl into fists and collide with my temples.

"Why did this happen to me? Why was she so angry? Why didn't Jostef come with me? Why did I just leave him there?" My voice becomes more unstable with each word. "I can't believe I left him... What kind of brother could do that? He endured every bit as much as I did, and undoubtedly more after I left. I let him continue to endure- continue to have fear, and to pray every chance he got that somebody would save him. But I can promise you that nobody did, and the gods only know where he's ended up because of it."

Astarion grips my hands tightly in his. They feel soft, and cool to the touch. "Your older brother was not your responsibility," his words almost sound angry, but not with me. I know that his sharpness is pointed to what I've endured, and the fact that my past still haunts me in a way that he can surely relate to. I didn't mean for him to worry like this, it makes me feel guilty. I could be so much worse off- and if anyone has a right to a pity party, it should be Jostef. But I know in my heart that Astarion doesn't feel that way, so I let him continue to comfort me the way he thinks I deserve. "I know that you think I'm being cold when I say that, but I'm saying it with every ounce of sympathy that I can hold. You were a child. It's absolutely vile what happened to you both, truly. Nobody could have expected you to have continued living that way just because your brother couldn't bring himself to venture out with you. He abandoned you every bit as much as you did him, just think of all the hardships you faced alone on the road. I'm sure that 'mother issues' aren't the only thing that led you to falling for a man that tried to kill you upon introduction, but we won't dwell on that now."

My lips crack into a little smile, accompanied by a breathy chuckle at how bluntly he ended his thought. Astarion rolls his eyes and hugs me again, "Well it's true, darling. I'm rather experienced with a blade, but I've never had a mark give me that look while I had it against their throat; at least not without discussing it first". His tone may be light and playful, but he's not wrong. Maybe Jostef doesn't hold my leaving against me. He could see us as 'even', so to speak. I consider his words carefully as I fiddle with the lace of his shirt.

"Are you alright, my dear?" he asks gently, bringing to my attention that I haven't spoken in a few minutes.

"Oh, yes, I- uhm..." I stutter, it's always so difficult for me to speak after letting out so much emotion. He hears my struggle, and softly hushes me in response while he pets the back of my head. I feel his cold fingers graze over the small scar that stays covered by my hair: a souvenir of the day I left home, and a reminder to never return. He stops moving when he realizes what's hidden beneath the short black layers of hair, then resumes as if he doesn't want me to notice. Astarion knows all too well the feeling of not wanting your scars to be made a spectacle of, so he simply pretends it's not there out of respect.

"How about I go and tell Gale to get dinner started, hm? I'm sure he could be coerced into cooking with chime pepper if I tell him you're in need of something special. That wizard may not be able to handle spicy food, but I think he'll make an exception for his good friend."

I nod with a subtle smile, Astarion knows me so well. And he's right, Gale has been such a good friend to me over these months of travelling together. My love stands up from the bed and tucks the duvet around me tightly, planting a loving kiss on the top of my head before sauntering across the room and flinging the door open. He holds onto the door frame with one hand as he leans into the hallway to call downstairs, "Oh, Gale of Waterdeep! We have a special dinner request!" He turns back and gives me a wink before fully leaving the room, on his way to fill Gale in on the details. As I lie in bed, I can't help but feel warm inside, in spite of the painful memories that claw at my heart. I hate the way that I got here, but I'm so happy to have made it.

#astarion acunin #euven greylock #bg3 tav #astarion fanfic #sfw fanfic #mine #astarion x male tav #astarion x tav

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that-1-url · 3 months

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my thoughts on the pjo tv show (spoilers for episode 8) pt 2

6. speaking of VFX, why. They took the time to animate Grover's legs (something mostly unnecessary due to the fact that he wears jeans, fake feet and a hat to hide his goat-ness) in favor of other small things such as Ares' eyes, or Zeus' "flashy" exit from the throne room, or the throne room in general, or the size of the gods (something that could be done with practical effects). 7. Percy's ADHD. It just simply wasn't there. I don't have the authority to speak on the dyslexia side of things, but it felt like they replaced Percy's ADHD with some sort of hallucination-like thing that everyone around him gaslit him into thinking he had. It felt very odd and jarring at times, and while similar events happen in the books, all of the adults around him seemed very determined to like, hospitalize him or something. (This is no hate towards anyone who has visual hallucinations, it just felt like a very weird and slightly ableist (?) approach to the matter that really didn't do either ADHD nor hallucinations any real justice in terms of how it was) [i can't word this correctly i'm sorry] 8. The timeline. They had Grover throw Percy under the bus (for literally no reason) and then immediately whisk him off to montauk in the middle of the school year. (in the books it feels more natural because its at the end of the school term. which apparently it's the summer in the show? but the whole thing is really confusing). It was even more confusing when they show Sally returning because first he goes to montauk in his dream and then she's suddenly there when he wakes up and it begins at the end of the summer i guess?? Not to mention the whole weird portal thing with Luke. He didn't even mention his quest or why he felt personally betrayed by the gods. Just that he hated them because he hated feeling weak? Also Hermes and Hephaestus' appearances didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I feel like the way they escape the casino didn't need to be changed, and in changing it they took away some of Percy's insecurity because in the book he's like "wow I'm having fun with annabeth and grover to find-? who? my mom! how could i forget my mom? something's up". Another quick thing I'm taking on the end is Annabeth getting left behind in the Fields of Asphodel didn't make any sense to me. 9. Annabeth and Grover randomly giving Percy their stuff? It didn't make a lot of sense and was never explained. 10. Percy's main focus at CHB being less of "I want my mom back and I want my dad to pay child support" and more of "so if i do something cool my dad will notice? hmm" felt very odd and out of character. 11. This is less of a critique and more of just a whiny complaint but the series could've been set in 2005 and wasn't. 12. I understand that the show was never going to be a shot-by-shot retelling of the books and i never expected that, but the way they cut out/added scenes felt very erratic and was heavily dependent on the audience already being familiar with the material that I guess we were supposed to fill in the gaps ourselves? and a lot of people have been like "Rick's improving on the story!" and while there were some add-ins I enjoyed, I feel like they cut or changed too many important scenes to really keep the main idea of both the plot and characters. Time for stuff I liked! 1. Dionysus tricking Percy so he would get him a drink was fucking hilarious. 2. Luke's voiceover before Percy fighting Ares being a parallel with Percy's "Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood"? Poetic cinema. 3. Percy pushing Grover and Annabeth through the door at the Arch. Excessive personal loyalty anyone?

4. Grover and Annabeth dunking Percy in the fountain to heal his shoulder was really funny. Truely teenage dumbassery at its finest 5. I didn't like how there wasn't the lightning bolt that threw them off the road at the beginning, but I will give the scene points for looking scarily similar to how I pictured it in my head. 6. The raw quote from Poseidon in the throne room "Obedience does not come naturally to you, does it?" "No...sir." 7. AGE ACCURATE CASTING! This is something we all have been saying from the beginning, but I like acknowledging it again. :) 8. The layout of CHB. You can see just about everything from Half-Blood hill in the books and in the show it's all nice and spread out (as opposed to the Peter Johnson movies where you couldn't even see the next cabin over).

There's more things I have on both sides that I might think of and post about later, but for now that's all I've got. I really did try to approach the TV series with an open mind, but as a show altogether I didn't like it that much, and I really don't think it did The Lightning Thief justice. It's hard to adapt books to TV, but it is possible. I believe that if they had more than eight episodes it could've played out more smoothly, but there were just too many things that changed that didn't have to, and there was too many holes that were left because they cut out the wrong scenes. Kudos to everyone who worked hard on the show and I'm glad that other people enjoyed it. But please respect my opinion and if you have any point of discussion I'd be happy to talk about them with you in a polite, constructive way. Welcome new fans and hello again to old ones, go out and enjoy Percy Jackson and The Olympians, it's a great series (books and TV alike, even if i personally don't like the show)

#percy jackson #percy jackson tv series #pjo tv show #textpost #long post

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capybaraonabicycle · 10 months

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I'll send it in as an ask bc replying in tags is too much of a hassle now, bit basically it was one of the best doctor/rose fics i've ever read, and i failed to save it and now i can't find it anywhere no matter how hard i try. Worst thing is, i can't even remember if o read it in English or in Russian, i was so invested in the story and the writing was so organic the language kind of melted away, it was projected directly into my brain. It had a motiff with stargazing and images you see on the Moon, so i think it was rpobably called something like Moon Rabbit, but there's nothing on ao3 with that title.

It starts with Rose and Ten golfing (i think) somewhere in space, and it's early days for Ten so Rose didn't have time to adjust to the change so she's a bit apprehensive and keeps trying to see Nine in him and it was all tied up into the Moon imagery somehow? Suddenly she gets a call from Mickey telling her to come home asap and not tell the Doctor, so she does, and there's Nine (!) alive and well. They meet up in secret from Ten and he tells her that "no Rose wtf i didn't just transform into another dude, i was beamed away from the TARDIS and this one's an imposter (basically confirming all of her fears from just after the regeneration) and he's civil with Mickey? couldn't be me" (ok this part i might've imagined afterwards lmao, but it's basically right, he convinces Rose by perfecrly matching Nine's character, which, for Rose, is more Doctor-y than Ten ever was so the latter has to be the fake one right?)

There's this whole angsty thing about how she missed him and how hard it was for her to adjust to the regeneration, and the matter of trust was explored really well bc she doesn't really know who to trust like 70% of the fic, and then there's the Doctor (Ten, who's the real one obv) who is hurt by the fact that she would just go against him like that but he understands why she would do that, the dynamics and emotions were just *chef's kiss*

Turns out that "Nine" is a unique model of a TARDIS from the Time War so it can shapeshift and pretend better than other TARDIS's apparently and also read minds (that's how it's able to trick Rose). Also turns out that TARDIS's could be male or female (i wasn't with the author on this one) and this new TARDIS was male and our TARDIS was female, so when the dude learned that most of the TARDIS's were gone after the war he came to the conclusion that he had to breed to make new TARDIS babies? (i'm even less with the author here, but when i'm describing it it sounds even worse than i remember, it was much more elegant and i guess reasonable in the original text) Of course our TARDIS doesn't want that bc the process kinda sucks, i guess it was dangerous for her? i don't remember. But yeah, once the Doctor and Rose sort their thing out they have to hunt the dude TARDIS down and get rid of him. At the end he passes through time i guess and an early human glimpses him in the sky like a fallen star and comes up with a fictional story about a warrior and a maiden this warrior was chasing or something, and that's how humanity started making stories.

This fic is SO GOOD despite the weird bits, and i will forever be sad that i didn't think to bookmark it or something. I'll leave this here, firstly bc i think it answers some of the questions you might have and retelling is better than nothing, and secondly because maybe someone will see this post and recognise the fic - unlikely but i can't pass up this chance of finding it

Oh wow that sounds amazing! Mostly the trust part! It would be SO easy to make a companion doubt that the other is the Doctor when you can perfectly pose as an incarnation they know better. Because they're human and us humans, we like to cling to what we know. That concept is just - Idk I feel like it's slightly blowing my mind and now I really want to read this fic.

I agree on the TARDIS thing. In my mind it is uncommon for a TARDIS to have a gender at all. I believe 'our' TARDIS does have a gender but she just ran with it and picked one because the human strays kept going on about it. So her gender's basically 'she/her' - pronouns plus the colour blue with some mischief sprinkled in - or something; you know what I mean.

Plus, I am a tentative fan of the loom thing so if timelords already don't get 'born' I do not believe TARDIS-s would mate for reproduction at all. I would rather assume a TARDIS gets made when there's an imbalance in the space-time-continuum on the quantic level that gets augmented by randomly appearing resonance and then the moment the TARDIS appears it has always been existing since the dawn of time. Or something along those lines. Probably the process can be fabricated some way and timelords have perfected exploiting it. Like they do.

Not like I have been thinking much about TARDIS genders OR reproduction, tbh. In my mind they just are 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, apart from those points that fic sounds absolutely amazing and I think I would also love those moon metaphors. So if someone knows it and could send it to us, that would be great? <3

I also totally get the 'I have no idea what language this was in' feeling, I have that all the time. Not with dw fic though because so far I have read 1 work in German and 1 work in translated Russian and half a work in French and all the other times I strictly stick to English. It just works better in that language for me and there is an abundance of fic in English anyway :) We are so blessed to be in a huge fandom. Although a tiny one WOULD make finding your fic a lot easier.

#marvellouspinecone #Thank you so much for enlightening me!#Although now I am sad I cannot read that fic 😔#But maybe someone will find it for us?#Btw using Rose as a bait to get to the TARDIS is an absolutely evil move #But like the whole predatory thing of stalking the TARDIS that way sounds super creepy #I bet it's a thrilling read but it also sounds like I would need a thick skin to cope #I hate when it's the TARDIS who gets attacked. Flux was already so painful to watch #But I can't deny it raises the stakes beautifully

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