#And then also stole a portion of his power because he believed himself to be blessed by a god

[radiance1]

Vlad has been asleep for a few centuries now, in a goddamn coffin that he specifically made just for that like the weird rich person he is. He was also, the phoenix king.

Or at the very least, one of them.

Honestly, Danny couldn't give less of a flying cheerio how long Vlad would sleep for if it wasn't an inconvenience to it.

But it was.

You see, he's the ghost prince, prince of the infinity realms, dragon of infinity, son of war and ward of time, etc, etc.

And somehow, he has bloody paperwork.

Even though the Infinite Realms fell into Anarchy eons ago.

So he honestly doesn't know why he has paperwork, and it's so much that Danny has been spending centuries doing it and he's so tired of it and then he remembered, hey? Who likes can do mountains of paperwork without breaking a sweat and could finish this way better than Danny could?

Vlad Masters.

Hasn't seen the guy after his mother died, don't know where exactly he is, but he isn't in his lair (yes Danny managed to get in, don't ask how) and Danny is going to find this man by the Ancients because he cannot deal with those anymore.

He barely even made a dent!

Anyways, so Danny goes over to Earth because he hasn't been there for a hot minute, and that's probably where Vlad is and uh, woah there is this really Earth cause it's lookin mighty different to how he saw it last time-

Why was the Earth currently covered in flames? Black flames that look mighty familiar to someone else's that he knows actually. You know, someone who should have been sleeping the centuries away instead of, oh he doesn't know.

Taking over the mortal world?

It even seems that Vlad got himself a goddamn cult too! How neat! How much time did it take you to assemble all these people Vlad? You even gave out pieces of your power when you could've been, oh, he doesn't know.

Helping him with paperwork?

So, he's kinda mad about this, pissed, actually. So, he goes to find where exactly Vlad is in this reign of madness, finds a literal crack in reality and just heads on through because he couldn't care less about that actually.

What he finds is not what he expected.

Cause you know Vlad? Phoenix king who is probably trying to take over the mortal world instead of helping him with paperwork and was supposed to be sleeping inside a coffin?

Yea scratch that. Because that isn't a coffin.

When the hell was Vlad sleeping inside a magical barrier-

And who the heck was that spamming Vlad's signature black flames while laughing manically, and who in the infinite realms were those guys who were currently fighting said spammer.

"What exactly, in the Infinite Realms, happened while I was doing paperwork?"

===

So, the Justice League is now combating a new world ending threat. Some cult who wants to cleanse the world in the name of their deity so they could hand it to him once he reawakens.

Which, apparently, might've been around for centuries, slowly preparing for this day which, dedicated, but not the good kind of dedication really.

So, back to the fight, they're fighting this possible immortal who's been taking over the bodies of each new head of the cult for centuries and, well, he genuinely had power to back him and his cult up.

Not really a shock there, to be fair, since he claimed his powers to originate from the sleeping deity who blessed him with a portion of his power.

Vlad didn't, bro just stole a portion of his power and claimed it as a blessing lawl. Not that the cult knew that-

So the Justice League managed to break their way into the place holding said sleeping deity that also acted as the base for the cult leader and, well. Yea he truly does have the power to back himself up and, if the magic users had anything to say about, a very magically powerful deity he follows too.

So they're kinda screwed if said Deity wakes up, they don't even know when he will actually, neither did the cult leader. He just will 'eventually' which isn't as descriptive as some (read: Batman) would like.

First things first, beat up and disband the cult, figure out a way to prevent the sleeping deity's awakening later.

So they were fighting a battle (shocker I know) with their forces spread between their world and the pocket dimension and things weren't looking quite as good as they hoped. Lots of causalities, both civilians, heroes and even villains alike, a whole lot of magic and powers being thrown about and the monologuing of the cult leader who was floating above said sleeping god.

You could even think it to be symbolic in some way, that he thinks himself above a god.

So, safe to say, in all of this chaos they weren't exactly expecting a new voice to join the fray.

"What exactly, in the Infinite Realms, happened while I was doing paperwork?"

And the owner of said voice, to be a goddamn dragon.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #dpxdc #dp x dc crossover #dcxdp #dc x dp crossover #Danny “I don't wanna do this paperwork no more” Phantom #Vlad “Sleeping for centuries cause the woman I loved and the Man I hate died and I don't care about nothing no more” Masters #Except that Vlad got found by some weird ass cult leader who was obsessed with his power and made a cult without his say so #And then also stole a portion of his power because he believed himself to be blessed by a god #A god who was and still is currently sleeping and probably doesn't even know who he is #He's also been splitting off even tinier pieces of Vlad's power to give to the followers #So yea #That's a thing #This all came about because I was imagining Dragon Danny slamming his tail into whatever Vlad is sleeping and telling him to wake up #Why? Originally no reason #but now it was for paperwork lmao

[hadescrow333]

As this is my first post, I find it appropriate to start off withe the beginning of creation (accourding to Greek mythology of course)

This portion of the myth will not be dedicated to the gods singular, those will be later posts where each god/titan/etc gets their own post

There are many different stories contradicting eachother, so I’ll try my best to either explain each one or just go withe the one that’s most popular

In the beginning of creation there was only khaos, whom was a great void of nothingness (so very chaotic right?). Then suddenly pop came Gaia, who’s basically Mother Nature earth peep, Tartarus, the deepest pits of the underworld (I love this word TaRtArUs), Eros (but honestly I think it means the personification of love instead of EROS EROS because most versions state Eros is Aphrodite’s child), then Erebus, Darkness (and an amazing name to name a cat), and Nyx, the night (another great cat name) (also the only peep Zeus fears, which I think is pretty cool)

So Gaia (without the help of male productivity) then gave birth to Uranus, who is the sky and I will call Ouranos because that is what I was taught when learning Greek mythology (books my peeps)

Though some accounts state that Gaia and Ouranos were both made from Chaos instead of Gaia birthing him.

Oh and cool little fact, the sky was thought to be a brass dome by the Greeks, and Ouranos was the personification to that brass dome. Brass you may ask? Why brass? Why so specific? That’s the same question I thought to myself, and therefore searched for the answer and actually there was a reason for this. The Greeks did not think of colour in colour, but in scales of brightness. And I guess the Greek thought the sky was shiny, like brass. (Think of that one piece of work where the ocean was deemed wine dark)

Oh I also should probably add that the family history includes Erebus overthrowing Chaos, and then Erebus being overthrown by his children, but that’s a long story I’ll dedicate to another post)

Gaia and Ouranos then became a thAng, and I could go all poetic about how oh the sky and the earth were bound for loneliness so against the odds given to them they became one together, but no I’m not going to because I’m such a good poet. I digress.

Oh and my dude Ouranos decided it would be cool to decree himself supreme deity, cool cool my(😬) dude.

Anyways, Gaia and Ouranos hit it off and had some premeditated children. (Yes. This wording is purposeful. No. I will not explain.)

Now to go into the kids of Ouranos, yay..

(There is no foreshadowing here folks!)

So Ouranos sired children withe Gaia, the first set being six sons. Three Cyclops (one eyed peeps), there names being Brontes, Arges, aand Steropes. And three (insert me staring at the google search of how to spell this) Hecatonchires, named Briares, Cottus, and Gyges. They were dubbed the One Hundred Handed Ones(I’m pretty sure if you’ve read Percy Jackson Briares is in a part of it(?))

Well, Ouranos was awfully concerned about how powerful these giants are, so he locked them away. There is some debate about where he locked them up, but it’s widely believed he locked them in the deepest pits of Tartarus.

Gaias, as most mothers would, did not quite agree withe this, and wasn’t all too happy withe him. This is fine, nothing is bound to happen right? (…)

Oh little fun fact about myself, while doing this I had my big ole mythology book that I love and have no recollection of getting (I just found out I stole it from my father, and he’s never getting it back), but do know it is a good flower press. And very informative (which is good because it’s huge and has a very decient portion that is deticated to Greek myths yay) My delicate dried flowers are falling (I mean, sorta, I would never actually let them fall but they are taking damage and potential destruction so it COUNTS) as I type this out, know I have sacrificed greatly to bid thee information I already know and honestly only need the book for spelling (yes I am proud of my useless knowledge of Greek myths) I DIGRESS.

So as this is happening (or maybe after, it doesn’t directly state, only specifically states that the giants were first created before the titans) Gaia also birthed the 12 Titans. Who are Oceanus, Tethys, Hyperion, Theia, Coeus, Phoebe, Kronos, Rhea, krios, Japetus, Themis, and Mnemosyne.

So Oceanus was the titan god of the great oceanic river that forever circles the world. (I. WILL. EXPLAIN. In another post this is getting long and I’m not even halfway done) His wife is his sister Tethys (if you don’t like it go away because you definitely won’t like Greek mythology, oh and they practically don’t have the same DNA or morals as us sooo)

Hyperion was the first sun god, and his sister Theia was his wife.

(You do not know how hard it is to not digress and spill facts and stories BECAUSE THERES SO MUCH THAT ISNT SAID ON HERE the only thing saving me is that I have other posts I can rant about them on)

Coeus, who isn’t very important other then his offsprings tales, wived his sister Phoebe.

Kronos, the youngest of the bunch, married to Rhea, who was the titan of motherhood, and other foreshadowing things.

Ok this is getting long the rest of them are Krios, Japetus, Themis (goddess of justice), and Mnemosyne (goddess of memory)

So let’s get back to Gaia, as I said before she was livid at Ouranos for ya know yeeting her giant children to the great pits of Tartarus, and then imprisoning her titan children in her womb, so she took her titan children and was all like “oh my dear lovelys please go kill your father for me?” And then committed one of the most famous divorces in all of mythology.

Gaia created flint to make a sickle, then once done making it she told one of her titan children to murder their father withe it. I like to guess all of them looked at her in bafflement, for none of them took the sickle from her offered hand, except for one. (Insert mic drop)

Kronos, youngest and seemingly weakest decided he was worthy and took the sickle.

Then they conspired a plan, the plan being several versions. The main version being; for Kronos to strike once Ouranos and Gaia are settled down to lay, and the some of the other titans holding him down (another post my friends another post). So this is what Kronos did.

Once Ouranos was laying down withe Gaia, Kronos went boo, and castrated Ouranos withe the sickle. He then threw the genitals into the ocean (where Aphrodite was created by the sea foam where the genitals fell, later on but that’s a story for another post) From his blood giants popped up, as well as the Erinyes, furies who tormented the criminal minds later on when humans were a thing, and ash tree nymphs.

It’s not stated clear what exactly happened to Ouranos, some versions state that he died, that he withdrew from the earth, or that he exiled himself to Italy. (Yes. Italy. Very specific right? And there. Is. No. Elaboration.) All that’s known is that as he deported he said the Kronos “you shall be punished” (very original)

Yup ok that’s all I’ll do the gods and that age later byeee

#greek mythology #kronos #ouranos #greek gods #greek posts #myths #factsdaily #interesting facts #fun (fun..?) facts #story #greek titans #cronos #other helpful tags #and some that aren’t all that helpful #greek myth retellings

[jumpols-nostrils]

I'm gonna say this and I mean it unironically:

But that Uncle Kit got too much screen time and too many lines.

He makes himself look more ridiculous and annoying rather than frightening, and also shows too much of the character's weaknesses when it comes to writing.

Some of it might be intentional, but I think a large portion of it isn't, especially the parts that make me feel more bored than anything else. Where I'm just sitting there like. Yeah. He's a powerful adult and being violent and awful. Later he will regret that. Great. What's the point here? Why are we still going on in this pacing? I feel like this whole episode didn't bring us anywhere except making me annoyed at the villain.

Only good thing was Chopper trying to stop his dad. Literally stole the episode, in my opinion. But then his dad talked too much again. Yes, what he said is awful, the whole situation is. And it's frustrating. But it was even more frustrating because we already knew that? This episode felt a lot like walking in circles.

Then uncle Kit is just setting up traps for people by making them believe they are helping someone important to them, and in the end succeeds because everytime everyone steps in his traps. Even tho he keeps doing the same stupid thing.

Also, the more the uncle does, the more obvious it becomes that the crime scene part wasn't really thought through. The less said, the more believable it becomes. The more is said, the more room for mistakes that will destroy the illusion of realism.

We can just build illegal casinos in our hotels. I will make a deal with the police who are the end all force in every law system. And of course, that will solve it. Also, I kinda kill one person per week on average without much sacrifice on my end. After all, Uncle Kit is a very big.... Co-owner of a hotel chain. Lol

The general treatment of Palm, Nueng and Chopper borders on torture porn. Actually weird. I don't think I've seen it to that degree in gmmtv shows so far.

And it's not like I mind the suffering at a higher risk. Tho, one; maybe do these experiments with characters that are at least out of their teens. And secondly, make me believe that that is a reasonable outcome of the situation

I really would have bought it more easily if half the cast was dead by now instead of living in constant dread.

I'm sorry. I don't mean to shit on the show. It did a lot of really cool stuff for the most part. I liked the characters. But somewhere it derailed for me and by now I'm mostly interested in Chopper since I don't think there will be too much happening with the rest anymore. And I think this stop could have been avoided.

#never let me go #never let me go the series #rambling on my own #nlmg #negativity #wait. I'm not saying I want the characters dead or whatever #I just think it would have been more realistic considering how the show seems to work #obviously that would have cut the show short lol

[qu-film-history-to-1968]

The Mummy: the fear of the "other" (Franco Morgante)

“The Mummy and The Wolf Man, have themselves become indexical signifiers of monstrosity, foreignness and the ‘Other” (Smith). While this fear of the “other” can be applied to many different horror films, I believe The Mummy is a film that best exemplifies this idea. The Mummy is about a group of archeologists that find an ancient Egyptian scroll that brings to life a mummy. This mummy named Imhotep then attempts to use a woman to revive his long-lost love. A common theme in this film is the cost of using powers that you can’t understand. The archaeologists inadvertently awoke the mummy because they didn’t understand the power that scroll held. Which led to the deaths of two people. And Imhotep tried to use the scroll of Thoth to try and revive his lover, but he didn’t consider the consequences from both the Gods and the pharaoh. It shows how the lesson of the story could be described as don’t try and meddle with things you don’t understand. 

When compared to Frankenstein this film has higher production values than it. There are way more crafted sets and props that give this film a very distinct identity. With the highlights being the flashback scenes of Imhotep in Ancient Egypt. The costumes, set design, and props look much better than the previous universal films and it gives the film a greater set variety. Something that also makes this film distinct from Frankenstein is that this film has more music tracks during the film. Frankenstein did have music tracks but only in the opening and closing credits. While The Mummy still has a limited soundtrack, it still uses dramatic music to heighten intense moments, like when Imhotep kills people with his ancient powers. The costume designs of the film is also a step up from Frankenstein, all of the characters from the “current” era have very formal and fancy clothing and interestingly Imhotep is only wrapped in bandages at the beginning of the film. And for the rest of the film, he is in a robe and fez. I find this interesting as the posters always showed Imhotep wrapped in bandages, but that image was only in a small portion of the film. This film also had more special effects than Frankenstein as seen with Imhotep’s death, and when he uses the magic pool. This is probably due to the success of the previous Universal monster film, so this film probably got more money to produce more impressive effects. Overall, I would say that the production values of this film are a step up from Frankenstein.

Also, like Frankenstein, the main antagonist was portrayed by Universal’s Boris Karloff. And his performance is obviously different from his previous film. He portrays Imhotep as a lonely man who will do whatever he can to get back his lost love. It does give the character a sympathetic angle, but it is overshadowed when he starts to kill people. And especially when it is revealed that he stole the scroll of Thoth himself. Karlof’s makeup also makes him look like an undead man as his face looks very shriveled and dry. I’d say he probably looks more undead than he did in Frankenstein. However, I think I prefer his performance in Frankenstein as he had to convey all of his emotions physically which I think made his performance more compelling. Plus, I feel like the sympathetic angle of the monster is better in that film as it was clear that he didn’t understand the harm some of his actions caused. I think it's pretty telling how Karloff's version of Frankenstein’s Monster has become so iconic that it is seen as the default image of the character. Yet, Imhotep has had a wider range of interpretations and designs. Overall, I still think Boris Karloff did a good performance in this film, but I just prefer his performance in Frankenstein. To conclude, The Mummy is still a classic film that has reached legendary status amongst the horror genre and is still entertaining today.

  Source:

Smith, Andy W. Gothic Film: An Edinburgh Companion on JSTOR, 2020, www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctv10kmdxf.

#submission

[suite43]

hey is rodimus a prime in mtmte

so the short answer is no, but its complicated.

here's the long answer

part one: no, he's not. rodimus is only ever called "rodimus prime" by like, as far as i remember, one person. that person was swindle in the 2009 ongoing, and he didn't even have the matrix at this point. swindle was buttering him up by saying that because optimus surrendered to the humans (dw about it 09s plot is bad), hot rod might as WELL be the next prime, and that he should be. thats kind of what planted the aspiration in rodimus' mind, but he's never officially declared a prime by, really, anyone of authority except himself. optimus is the final prime, the 13th, the arisen, ect.

part two: what even is a prime, then? well, its complicated. for the most part, primes are the bearers of the matrix, they bond with it, they get special power, and are generally given good authority. however, its revealed in the shadowplay portion of mtmte (issues 9-11 iirc) that a lot of cybertron's primes had a fake matrix, or never had it to begin with, which turns prime into more of a leadership title, kind of the way kings were believed to be descendants of god. so its generally kind of iffy on what makes someone a prime, but its generally either a)being an authority figure, especially of government or religion and b)having a magic rock. as of mtmte, rodimus checks like, half of those boxes, which totals out to one check, but nobody really respects his authority or thinks of him as responsible, and his half of the matrix is generally regarded as like, a battery, before he goes and breaks it.

part 3: matrix-bearing well, he did have the matrix for a little while. he steals it from the decepticons who stole it from prime in spotlight: megatron while giving a little internal monologue about his destiny. then he gets pretty much murdered by megatron and floats through space a lot. wakes up on an alien planet with some dudes (remember that green weirdo alien and wheelie in dark cybertron? its them), and hte matrix glued to his chest. he's also got a new look at this point which is kind of a combination of g1 rodimus, tfa rodimus, and phase 1 hot rod, and its probably my favourite roddy frame of all time. (insert image here) he holds onto it for a bit, and indistinct amount of time thats generally considered to be a few weeks iirc, before going back to cybertron, discovering galvatrons army, rescuing some dudes, and heading back to earth to give the matrix back to its "proper" holder, optimus prime. this is regarded by the weird ass narration as rodimus' true coming-of-age moment, recognizing that this isnt a responsibility he's ready to handle right now. so, so far, it's still a no on the prime front.

part 4: succession. so basically, up until this kind of era in 2011-2012 transformers, hot rod was just some asshole, and a lot of what he did was argue with optimus and bumblebee, and all authority figures basically. but around this time is when stuff like the primacy trilogy starts dropping, and roddy is changing his name, and the general narrative starts to shift to show rodimus and optimus as having a more intimate relationship in a sort of mentor-esque fashion, and we are kind of teased that rodimus might end up being a true successor to optimus after all. primacy gives them a few parallels, and the end of the 09 ongoing gives them a few really interesting conversations, including this one about bonding with the matrix. optimus asks rodimus what it felt like, when he really connected with the matrix for the first time, and rodimus describes it as a warm, comforting feeling. it feels right. optimus agrees in the moment, but later admits that his bonding with the matrix was painful. horrible, even. it felt terrifying, like it wanted to remind him of what responsibility and legacy he would be holding. hm. weird.

part 5: optimus. the legitimacy of primacy, and optimus' leadership specifically, is a huge point of contention in phase 2. the true meaning or power of the matrix is debated, and optimus' status as a hero, as the 13th prime, is also debated. and i think that conversation about bonding with the matrix tells us something pretty interesting about this - optimus is the arisen because he was dying, the matrix appeared to him, and then he, well, arose, right? so hes the arisen. hes optimus prime. but, well, if he's meant to be prime, why would the matrix be so resistant to him. how could he go all that time with it and still only see it as a rock, a prop.

part 6: rodimus. rodimus described the matrix as feeling warm, and comforting, and like it was something that he was meant to do. rodimus sought out the matrix, he truly really wanted it. he wanted to be worthy, he felt, at the time, worthy, and it responded to that. and then he gives it up, because he realizes, maybe hes not worthy, maybe he cant handle the responsibility. but it still responds to him. rodimus has matrix dreams. rodimus draws the matrix map. rodimus uses himself as a conduit to use the matrix to save everyone. he proves himself worthy in giving it up, over and over, from the first time he picks it up to giving it back to optimus to stopping tyrest, and it still chooses him. its also worth pointing out that rodimus also was killed by megatron, and saved by the matrix. its also worth pointing out that rodimus had outlier powers(?) from the beginning, and that rodimus felt strongly compelled by ideas of destiny while optimus is resistant to them. theres an argument to be made that actually, rodimus is the thirteenth prime, the true arisen, and optimus just happened to be in the right place and the right time to be there when he was needed. so, yeah, maybe he is a prime.

part 7: what the hell is the matrix. its... unclear, but our best investigation into what it truly is comes from mtmte. a reccouring theme of mtmte is guilt, and the idea of goodness, and the idea of doing good vs feeling good vs being good. we see several times the reccourance of cybertronian technology which evaluates goodness based on ones own self image - they're guilty because they feel guilty and worthy if they feel worthy. based on the ending of lost light, its very strongly implied if not explicitly stated that this is what the matrix is. nothing about these people changed over the course of rodimus' speech to them, but he was able to help them believe that they deserved to pass the morality lock, and megatron wasnt able to, because as we saw in his trial, he still felt like a monster. he didnt feel worthy. so, if the matrix is about feeling worthy, can it really be a test to say that rodimus felt good about bonding with it where optimus didnt? it's made pretty clear that optimus didnt really want leadership, he was built for it and pushed into it by everyone around him. he didnt want to be fighting, and he makes it painfully obvious that he doesnt believe in the matrix or in god as sacred or holy things, of course it wouldnt feel good for him. he doesnt want it, and probably didnt believe he could take it. its also worth pointing out that optimus was intimately aware of the corruption of his predecessors - even if they didnt hold the matrix they used the title, and calling himself prime would take on that legacy, in the same way calling himself an autobot takes on the legacy of the senate. optimus was heavily burdened at his ascension, while rodimus was gleeful. he was about to achieve his destiny, every sacrifice he'd ever made had lead to this. and of course he felt that way, we'd see in the primacy trilogy that optimus had been telling him that his sacrifices and his losses were for the greater good, and here was the greatest good of them all. and he tells us himself in dark cybertron that he sees the legacy of the primes as a cool thing, especially after optimus' influence. he may have disagreed with optimus, but he couldnt deny that he was an inspiration and had dedicated himself to cleaning up that legacy. rodimus basically worshipped optimus, as a lot of characters did, and that affects the way rodimus wouldve seen primacy as opposed to how optimus did. if its really a question of mindset over morals, its hard to say if rodimus actually deserved it more or if he just thought he did.

part 8: giving up the title. rodimus, post-tyrest, is left with no matrix, no best friend, very little if any pride, and a real chance at losing his only position of authority he's ever held. he's far from a prime, and he knows it. he stops arguing with people about being prime one day, he doesnt want to be optimus' successor, hes disillusioned and tired of trying to be a hero in this superficial way, and hes tired of doing the "leadership" thing of making horrible choices and excusing them as for the greater good. he doesnt want to be like optimus, or prowl, or starscream, or megatron, all these leaders in his life telling him that being a leader neccessitates being awful, and all four of them are a master class on avoiding responsibility to assuage their own guilt. rodimus doesnt want to be like that, he wants to, as he says, actually do better. self-sacrifice is cheap, and so is primacy. he cant be optimus prime at his best, and he doesnt want to be optimus prime at his worst. so no, he's not a prime.

part 9: in conclusion i dont think theres a clear, concrete answer in yes or no, i think it depends on personal readings and interpretations and your personal belief on the truth of cybertronian religion, which, changes pretty severely based on if youre reading mtmte, where its all treated as like, 90% fact, or if youre reading exrid, which pretty much says its bullshit with little if any basis in reality. i dont think he's a prime, really, and i personally just call him a matrix-bearer. i think theres more i couldve said especially wrt to getaway and rods late-ll characterization and what that says about worthiness and the matrix again but i think, honestly, the easiest way to sum it up is. he didnt take credit for opening the last matrix and saving the universe, because it didnt matter to him anymore. the title, the magic rock, it didnt mean anything. he didnt need it to tell him he was valuable, and he didnt need it to tell him he was worthy, and he didnt need it to be loved. he doesnt need primacy, especially in the way optimus does. hes not a prime, not because he doesnt deserve it, but because he doesnt need it.

#rodimus #more than meets the eye #red.reply #uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm hi #i thinks abt him a lot can u tell #long post #red.doc

[early2000smovieimagines]

Meeting and Dating Kahmunrah

(My gif)(Requested by @arianatheangelworld​ )

(I changed the movie plot a bit to fit the meeting portion of this but I doubt that that will upset you. And the meeting story is a bit long but that’s because there’s dialogue in it, sorry!)

- You were working at the Museum of natural history as an archivist when your old friend Larry came along and convinced you to accompany him to Washington.

- Though it took a bit of convincing, you ended up agreeing and soon found yourself standing next to the old night guard as Kahmunrah and his guards awakened.

- Contrary to your companion, you at least pretended to be intrigued by the Ancient Egyptians awakening …which drew his attention to you. He continued to glance over at you as he spoke, up until Larry stole his attention away with his defiant behavior and Rubik’s cube scheme.

- Speaking of the Rubik’s cube, it didn’t necessarily go as …perfectly as Larry had initially hoped. When the octopus went about snatching up and swiping people away, you were left in its grasp as Larry managed to escape with the tablet.

- So, you were taken prisoner by the bloodthirsty Egyptian …though he wasn’t exactly ...good at it.

- Initially, he tries to act like the typical seductive yet evil villain but his voice, paired with him messing up his words and the stumble that occurred as he tried to attractively lean on something near you, made his attempts quite unsuccessful.

- As you defy him more and more, he pulls the whole “you are so lucky that I don’t kill you” act; though he isn’t particularly convincing. You know very well that he was once a ruthless killer, and that he could still very well be one, but it’s obvious that he can’t bring himself to even hurt you, let alone kill you.

- To test your theory, you attempt to provoke him, and what does he do? Gives you more threats, more warnings, more scoffs. It’s honestly somewhat ...cute; watching him act all tough. Endearing in a way.

- That being said: you aren’t completely cruel, so you give it up and let him believe he’s won. Once you stop that, it only takes a few minutes for you to grow bored; you are just sitting there tied up, so you let out a quiet huff and turn to him.

“You know …I know a lot about your brother; it’s kind of my job, but I don’t think he has nearly as interesting of a story as you must have. I mean, sure he was pharaoh for a few years but it was so short lived. And getting everything he wanted …what's so interesting about that?” You apologized to Ahkmenrah in your head as you spoke.

“I mean there’s no trials or tribulations, no drama, no nothing. Just perfection in the most shallow degree.... I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’d like to hear more about you.” You prompted and he eyed you somewhat suspiciously.

“You would?” He asked a bit guarded and you nodded. “About what exactly?”

“Ohh about anything,” you replied. “You must have been quite the fighter. You look like you were.”

- There it is. He sent you a pleased, prideful smile as he launched into tales of his combat achievements. After he was finished with that, he moved from subject to subject eagerly. It was then that it dawned on you that you were probably the first person to genuinely show interest in him and you found yourself feeling somewhat sympathetic.

“It’s a shame we’re in this situation. I would have liked to get to know you more.” You’d said somewhat offhandedly as he finished telling one of his stories.

- He froze for a moment, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he managed an attempt at speaking. “Well I …I mean. Well who says we couldn’t? I’ll be ruler of the world after all.” He went off on a bit of a tangent related to said idea before he looked over at you. "Wouldn’t you say?”

- Before you could respond, in came Jedidiah and soon enough Larry arrived too, instigating the whole hour glass situation and leaving you at a bit of a crossroads as to how you truly felt about the bloodthirsty Kahmunrah.

“The world isn’t as great as you think it is,��� you blurted out as you waited for Larry to find the code to the tablet. “Really, I mean sure it can be pretty and power is alluring but …it’s also polluted and it’s violent and there’s the whole heat death of the universe or the nuclear warfare thing.”

“It’s not like the world you lived in. I mean it’s home for me but, with all due respect, I don’t think you really know what you’re asking for. Plus, you’re gonna be frozen again in a few hours and then you’ll be transported to my museum in a few weeks.” Shit. Shit. You probably weren’t supposed to mention that or at least shouldn’t have. Larry didn’t even know, hardly anyone really knew about the renovations.

“What did you say?”

“What?”

“What did you say just then.”

“About the heat death of the universe?! Yeah there’s this whole, we’re-” He interrupted you.

“No, not that! You said I was being transported to your museum!” He exclaimed and you sighed.

- With no other choice, you began to explain everything that you knew. He went silent for a moment, sitting in his “throne” and thinking about what you’d said.

“Would you like me to be there... at your museum?” He asked finally, attempting to appear nonchalant.

“...yes. I think I’d like that very much.” You answered and he tried his best to hide his pleasure in your reply.

- Before you knew it, he’d called his men to retrieve Larry, and soon enough, he was explaining to the man that it had “come to his attention” that they’d be seeing a lot more of each other in the near future and that he had “changed his mind about things”. Larry eyed him; and you, suspiciously before accepting his words, standing there awkwardly as the Egyptian smiled and clasped his hands pleasantly.

- So yeah, soon enough Kahmunrah was at your museum and since he’d; you know, tried to take over the world and apparently may or may not have killed his younger brother, he wasn’t too popular. And though you’d initially played up your intrigue for the man, you couldn’t deny that you did; in fact, like him and found him particularly attractive.

- Due to your interest in and acceptance of him, he spent most of his waking hours with you.

- It isn’t long before the two of you get together, he’s quite fond of you and is used to taking; or at least getting, what he wants at the exact moment he wants it. So, he tries his hand at a bit of flirting before finally making his first move.

- You’re in your office with him when it happens. He looks over at you and just blurts out that he’d like for you to be his queen, effectively stopping your hand as you were writing.

- Obviously, you were a bit taken aback so you looked up at him with wide eyes, watching as he tried his best to hide his nervousness; though the glancing away from you and clearing of his throat gave it away.

- You replied that you’d “like that”, causing him to look over at you with a smile. Before you knew it, he’d leaned forward, taking your face in his hands and pressing a soft, chaste kiss on your lips.

“Wonderful!”

- And thus, you officially made the bloodthirsty Pharaoh fall in love with you.

- I’m convinced that Kahmunrah desperately wanted  to find a wife in his day, thinking that it would give him everything that his parents never did: love, affection, favoritism, etc. So, now that he has you, he yearns for your touch and attention more than anything else in the world. 

- He’s constantly trying to hold and keep his hands on you. He lives to be affectionate with you and show everyone that you’re his. 

- He likes to keep his hand on the small of your back, holding you at his side and leading you as you walk. 

- Hugs from behind and/or his hands on your upper arms, pulling you back to press against his chest.  

- Whenever you’re with him, he wants to have your full attention and dedicates himself to obtaining it when he doesn't. He likes when you come to see him on your own accord, rather than him calling for or visiting you himself. 

- Top of the head and temple kisses.

- Somewhat rough, passionate kisses. He tries to convey all the emotion that he has inside of him into said kiss and you can most certainly feel it whenever he does. 

- Domineering kisses. He likes holding the back of your head or pulling you into his body abruptly, his lips searing against your own. 

- Soft pecks and kisses when he’s in a softer, happier mood, or when he’s dejected and you’re trying to cheer him up. 

- Lot’s of pet names; they show everyone in your general vicinity just how much he cares for you. He’ll call you things like “my queen”, “my jewel”, darling, honey, etc. Larry wasn’t sure how to respond when he first heard one. 

- He likes when you cuddle into him, usually wrapping your arms around his middle and nuzzling into his chest while he wraps his arms around you. That being said: he secretly likes being the one to cuddle into you. 

- Bridal carrying. 

- Sitting on his lap or standing by his side, holding his hand as he gazes up at you lovingly while the two of you speak. 

- He’s definitely attempted to seduce you in that smoldering “striking a pose in front of a roaring fire” type of way but all it managed to do was make you laugh before you tried to assure him that “No, no, you are sexy. It’s just cliché. Please Kah, I’m sorry, really”. 

- He enjoys telling you stories though you try to steer away from his family life and focus on superstition or his more happier memories; knowing that you’ll just send him into a mood if his brother comes up in conversation. 

- Him trying to impress you, whether it be with tales of his achievements or his efforts to “be good”. He lives off of your praise and craves it like nothing else; particularly because he didn’t receive much of it in his life. 

- Not many people give him the time of day or attempt to be nice and; at least, pretend to be somewhat amused/amazed by him; Larry in particular, so he appreciates that you do; even if he knows you’re at least somewhat faking it. 

- Speaking of him trying to impress you: there was this one time; possibly before you even started dating, that he just so happened to notice you looking at his arms and a lightbulb went off in his head as he realize that oh, that’s something that I can get her with.  

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“ You’re staring at my arms. Why,” he gasps and grins. “You like them!”

“ What are you talking about?” You reply a bit nervously.

“Youuu’re attracted to them!” He accuses confidently and you scoff; though a moment later you’re glancing back as he crosses them in front of his chest. “You are! Look, you’re looking again!” 

- He wants to spoil you so badly. He may just find a way to do so....

- Occasionally, he tries to be harsh with you but he just can’t follow through. You’re like the only person who’s nice to him so he wants to see you happy; even if he’s sort of mean at first. He always ends up doing what you asked in the end, usually pretending like he doesn’t know what you’re talking about while enjoying the kiss on the forehead that you give him for it. 

- He thinks you’re adorable and he expresses it quite a lot. He may or may not baby you every now and again for this exact reason. 

- Watching him fondly as he fiddles with things and acts like a goof. 

- If you haven’t noticed it yet, he’s quite dorky and cute when it really comes down to it. It’s fun to sit and watch him gush about something or just be himself. 

- Sneaking him out of the museum for a little while. He convinced you to go to the opera with him at least once. 

- He thinks your apartment is adorable; a bit unintentionally condescending in retrospect but he did live in palace, and he likes to snoop around your stuff.  

- He likes your gifts to him. In comparison to his upbringing, they’re quite quaint but the intention behind them makes him far happier to receive said gifts rather than a box of diamonds. 

- Always having his guards at hand no matter where the two of you go. 

- Letting him rant about his brother. You think Ahkmenrah is a darling but you hold your tongue and seek to understand where he’s coming from. 

- Trying to bridge the gap between the two siblings. According to an earlier version of the script, Kahmunrah was the one who killed his brother, though regardless of this, there is going to be some tension between them that must be resolved. 

- Telling him about the new world, he’s both greatly knowledgeable yet clueless at the same time. 

- Letting him talk to you about all that he’d hoped to achieve: the power he’d wanted, the throne, the statues, …you after the minute he saw you. 

- Getting a rather exaggerated introduction to people. He makes you sound far more important than you really are. 

- Getting looked at for backup in situations like the “tunic incident”. 

- Calming him down when someone or something angers him.

- He wants what he wants at the exact moment he wants it so he’s arguably a bit impatient; even with you at times. 

- Letting him “whine” to you and comforting him when things don’t go as planned.

- Assuring him that he is, in fact, big and scary and powerful. 

- He’s a little miffed that he can’t speak to your parents when they call. He wants to introduce himself, make a good first impression and make it known that you’d found yourself a wonderful and impressive future husband! They can get used to the fact that he’s a dead Pharaoh, can’t they?

- He’s an incredibly jealous individual though I’m sure you were able to gather that for yourself. He isn’t even subtle about it, immediately calling you away from the person or scaring them off himself. He’ll at least attempt to deny that it was because he was jealous but you’re both fully aware that that isn’t true.

- You’re his “precious jewel” and he’s going to do all that he can to ensure your safety. He’ll threaten death on all who upset you and kill all who hurt you. He isn’t risking losing you, he just isn’t.

- The two of you bicker more than you genuinely fight, sending each other little glares before one of you finally concedes. Other times, he’ll raise his voice and make threats though he isn’t frightening and fails miserably at being harsh with you. 

- He thinks you’re cute when you’re angry most of the time, which probably causes you to give him the silent treatment. He’ll apologize quickly if you’re really upset with him or fondly yet reluctantly on occasion; if you look particularly adorable with your brows all furrowed. 

- He tells you that he loves you quite often; especially if you’re alone. Its very important to him that you know he does, considering how often he felt unloved as a child. 

- Quite obviously, your future is a bit difficult to anticipate but he isn’t going to let you go without a fight. 

#Kahmunrah imagine #kahmunrah headcanon #kahmunrah imagines #kahmunrah headcanons #night at the museum imagine #night at the museum headcanon #night at the museum imagines #night at the museum headcanons #battle at the smithsonian imagines #battle at the smithsonian imagine #battle at the smithsonian headcanons #battle at the smithsonian headcanon

[cruelfeline]

Anyone who hangs about Twitter potentially saw an unfortunate Hordak take cross their timelines today. 

As is custom on this blog, I’ll be taking it apart for my own personal amusement (and for the amusement of any of y’all who like to watch me do so). I doubt the poster will see this, as they’re on Twitter and not apparently on here, but in case they do: this is for my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of followers; it absolutely does not need to be responded to if that’s not your cup of tea. 

So, that little disclaimer in place, let’s see what we can make of this! Because this is on Medium, I’ll be using screenshots as quotes; just a heads-up.

So... this first bit isn’t really anything Hordak-related. It’s more... fandom drama, I suppose? Not really something I can pick apart. I can, however, give my own personal opinion on this sort of thing, for what it’s worth.

It’s true that people can and should be able to feel whichever way they wish about a character. And to talk about that character. 

However: it is also true that people who dislike Hordak can be very unpleasant in making that known to those of us who enjoy him. Including descending into personal insults for no discernible reason. Add to that the fact that his character means a great deal to some fans for intensely personal reasons, and it is not difficult to see why some fans aren’t keen to see anti-Hordak content on their timelines, in their mentions, etc.

Censoring character hate isn’t a requirement, but in some circumstances, it can simply be a polite thing to do. It doesn’t take great effort, and it prevents people from experiencing just another bit of unpleasantness on their social media. And if you don’t want to do it? Well, that’s your right; but don’t be shocked when people voice their displeasure by replying to your words. Because that is their right.

And that’s all I really have to say about that. 

Odd way to phrase things, really. These aren’t “reasons to forgive.” The first two scenes involve Catra’s asphyxiations and are things that would need to be forgiven, not things to forgive.

Though, y’know, I really only apply that to the first scene, where he assaults her without her necessarily doing anything wrong. Mind you, I believe he does it out of a combination of needing to maintain a hierarchy for safety purposes (this is a man who needs people to be afraid of him to maintain his own safety) and poor leadership skills mimicked from a narcissist, but it’s still a terrible thing.

However! The second time? After he asks her about Shadow Weaver? This isn’t torture-fun-times. This is Hordak neutralizing a threat to the entire Horde. Because that is what Catra is in this moment: a threat to the security and wellbeing of him and the entirety of the Fright Zone. She lies about a critical mistake. She proves herself to not only have poor judgment in serious matters, but to be very willing to lie about it in order to guard her own selfish motives. While I can’t condone the method Hordak uses, I do wish people would stop using this second instance of punishment as some sort of proof-of-torture. He does not do this for no reason. He does it because Catra released a dangerous prisoner into the wild and lied about it. And his concerns over it ultimately prove correct.

This entire qualification doesn’t have much to do with whether he deserves forgiveness or not, but it’s a point I want to make because it combats this idea that Hordak did this to an innocent girl “for no reason” or “just to be cruel.” That’s simply not the case; no matter how unpleasant the method, Hordak is a military leader punishing a subordinate for seriously endangering him and everyone else in the organization. Badly. I don’t know what the equivalent would be in modern military, but Catra’s error is massive. It doesn’t make what Hordak does right, but it does give a reason other than a simple “he’s a bad, bad man.” So.

Adding this scene is... actually kind of odd because he doesn’t really do anything to Adora here. And also: this scene is... what’s the word... meaningful-in-hindsight, so to speak. Essentially: in this scene, Adora is claiming that Hordak is responsible for stealing her, for robbing her of a peaceful life with her family. And Hordak is claiming that he neither knows nor cares who she is, and that she does not matter to him. 

The interesting aspect of this scene, and something that OP fails to acknowledge at all, is that both Adora and Hordak are wrong.

let’s see if I can talk about this without crying... nope, already starting to tear up

Hordak never stole Adora; Light Hope did. Hordak did not orchestrate this unfortunate life for her. Rather, Hordak, a lost clone dealing with his own insecurities and fears and problems, found an equally lost infant in a field and gave her the only home he really knew how to create (and one that, for its flaws, was still better than the absolute nightmare he was “raised” in). In all likelihood, given Light Hope’s lack of understanding of infants, he probably saved Adora’s life by doing this: without him, she may well have perished alone in that field.

Hordak likewise does remember her, eventually. And she is not inconsequential to him: by saving her, he ends up saving himself, and all of his brothers. By forging this near-unknown bond with her all those years ago, by choosing to take in an infant rather than letting her die, he plays a key role in deciding the fate of the universe. 

This scene that OP sarcastically claims is a reason Hordak shouldn’t be forgiven has a sibling:

The fact that OP apparently fails to recognize this and realize that these are the only two moments in the series during which Adora and Hordak directly interact, that they’re a pair, means that OP misses the connection between the two and the significance of how they misjudge one another initially. It indicates a lack of understanding of the themes of the show: themes centered around connections with other people, love, and forgiveness. Which, given the contents of this essay, is unsurprising.

Moving on!

Y’know, whether or not one believes, in terms of definition, that Hordak is a colonizer (I personally don’t for pedantic and clone-cult reasons, but that’s not really relevant to this post), it’s interesting that OP notes how Stevenson confirms that he is... but conveniently leaves out the part where she confirms that he did it because he was brainwashed.

That’s... an important piece of information to leave out when discussing whether Hordak should be forgiven or not. A very important piece.

And it doesn’t really matter whether he’s a colonizer or a conqueror; the reason it comes up is because people seem very stuck in the mindset of “if it’s a colonizer, it must die” without acknowledging any sort of nuance. There’s also the question of whether what Hordak did actually caused the same sort of upheaval and lasting damage we see resulting from legitimate colonization, and all of the implications of that, but this isn’t really the place to go into that. Honestly, I don’t really think SPoP as a whole is the place to go into that.

No. Hordak is not the person who taught her all of these things. 

Shadow Weaver is.

Hordak did not personally teach her that Princesses are evil. He did not teach her that wanton cruelty is fine in getting one’s own way. He did not feed her propaganda. 

Actually, as an aside: can we even confirm that Catra ever thought that Princesses where evil? I mean... she works with Scorpia, and she has no apparent morals to speak of. She does as she wishes for her own personal gain, not because she displays any sense of “fighting the evil Princesses.” And in terms of disposing of Entrapta because she was “manipulated” into viewing Princesses as evil: Catra disposes of everyone. She manipulates and uses everyone. That is one of the key aspects of her arc: she uses and abuses people for personal gain. She does this whether they are Princesses or not: just see Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle. Add to this the fact that Catra, from the first season, knows that she and Adora have been lied to, manipulated, and that the Horde is in fact evil, and... this entire line of reasoning falls apart. 

None of this is an attempt to “absolve Hordak of blame.” Hordak just... legitimately had no hand in raising any of the children. That was not his role (and while I know that this was confirmed by Stevenson at some point, I don’t have memory of where; potentially the last podcast?). And Catra did not operate on any sort of propaganda that she actually believed in: she simply used and disposed of people as she saw fit because she cared more about her own rise to power than she did about those around her. This was one of her major character flaws, and really? Trying to pin this on Hordak, or even fully pin it on Shadow Weaver? It absolves Catra of the blame, of the intentional bad choices she made (as emphasized by Adora) and thus weakens her entire arc.

All in all: Hordak may have created a poor environment for the raising of children, but of note is the fact that only Catra turns out this way. The other kids, whatever their problems, are not in the habit of manipulating friends, lying to them, using them, and then tossing them aside. That is a Catra Problem. Part of this can be attributed to Shadow Weaver (who only treated Catra in the poorest way), and part of it is just... Catra being not-the-best.

All right. Now we get to the really disingenuous portion of the essay.

First, as just stated: Hordak is not Catra’s abuser. Shadow Weaver is. Hordak had no hand in raising her. Hordak did not direct Shadow Weaver to abuse her. Hordak did not personally feed Catra anti-Princess propaganda, and even if he had, we know by the first season that Catra sees through whatever propaganda she was exposed to and has no actual moral objections to Princesses. But that’s not the main aspect of this portion that irks me. 

The main aspect that irks me is that this is not the scene Hordak stans mark as abusive. And I cannot imagine that OP does not know this.

But let’s talk about this scene, for a moment, before getting to the actual, legitimate abuse.

OP talks about his scene almost flippantly: “Hordak finds out Catra lied about Entrapta, he becomes angry and attacks her with a clear plan to kill her.”

Yes. Yes, he "becomes angry.” He becomes angry and attacks because as far as he knows, Catra killed Entrapta. This isn’t some annoyed “you lied to me!” moment. He legitimately thinks Entrapta is dead because Catra sent her to Beast Island. OP just blissfully glosses over the fact that Hordak is attacking Catra in rage and grief because Catra, as far as either of them know, killed his only friend and then lied about it for approximately a year. Like... how do you gloss over that in discussing this scene? How do you gloss over the enormity of what Catra did, and the unimaginable pain Hordak experiences when finding out?

So. The writeup of this scene is poor. It misses all of the emotion, all of the reality of what Catra did and what Hordak felt. But! That’s not even the unfortunate part of this portion. Let’s get to the real disingenuity.

This is the abusive scene. This is that stomach-turning moment when Catra removes a disabled man’s ability to move with dignity and without pain solely to force him to escalate a war for her own personal benefit.

Hordak is not a danger to her here. Hordak has not been a danger to her for a while because he has been holed up in his private quarters, trying to deal with the emotional fallout of Entrapta supposedly betraying him. He wants nothing to do with Catra. He wants to lick his wounds and gather himself and somehow heal from this deep personal pain that’s been inflicted upon him.

And that’s a problem for Catra because it stands in the way of her using the war as a way to best Adora.

So Catra identifies Hordak’s physical weakness and exploits it for the purpose of spiting her ex.

The fact that OP completely fails to acknowledge any of this is... well. Disingenuous. Absolutely so.

The next portion of the essay talks about people feeling that Catra was too easily forgiven and isn’t really Hordak-centric; I won’t really go into it here. Moving forward:

Ah, one of the most annoying questions I see asked. Let’s, again, acknowledge and move past the fact that Hordak was not actually Catra’s abuser...

When, pray tell, was Hordak supposed to show this remorse? When? While he was serving on Prime’s ship, trying to forget the pain of losing Entrapta, of failing to prove himself, of losing everything? Should he have done it while screaming in agony in the purification pool? Should he have done so while alone on Prime’s ship, trying to serve quietly while piecing together his memories?

Not only was Hordak simply not in a position, narratively, to go into a whole remorse bit, but he had other problems. Like, life-endangering problems. 

The appropriate time to go into his feelings on Etheria and the Princesses and All of That would have been after Prime’s defeat, upon Hordak’s re-introduction to Etheria... but then the show ended. So.

Agh, vulgar. Taking a brainwashed, conditioned slave and bastardizing his triumph at finally seeing himself as a real person, instead claiming that his intent was to glorify his own misdeeds. No. Just... no.

Again: this is not the time for guilt. And it is a demonstration of why guilt and remorse were not front-and-center in Hordak’s arc during season five: his arc was about finally realizing that he was his own person, a person worthy of identity and love and care and freedom. And this arc culminated in him separating himself from his abuser and declaring his personhood. 

That is what this scene is: not Hordak reveling in his makeshift empire, or in the terrible deeds he’d committed, but in declaring himself his own person. 

I should hope that he is proud of doing that. I’m proud of him for doing that daunting feat, of defeating his abuser and defying his god and recognizing that he is worthy of more than what Prime thought of him. And I recognize Entrapta’s role in it: not as the sole inspiration for his change, but as someone who showed him a foundation of love and acceptance, someone who introduced him to the idea that he was worthy of care and happiness and affection simply because he was a living being, no strings attached.

Trying to shoehorn in some sort of claim that this is about pride in his misdeeds, rather than joy at finally accepting his own sense of self is a massive misinterpretation of this scene, a misunderstanding of Entrapta’s role in Hordak’s arc, and... can I say it’s disingenuous again? Because I’m going to: it’s disingenuous.

All right; we’re at the end. And while the first sentence here is something I absolutely agree with - the decision to forgive Hordak is personal and subjective both for viewers and for in-show characters - the whole conclusion falls apart from there.

It highlights another glaring omission from OP’s arguments: the fact that Hordak is a brainwashed clone slave.

Hordak did not choose to “spend his life trying to prove his worth to Horde Prime.” He did not choose the method of said proving: that Prime would look kindly upon conquering rather than some other task. And he did not choose to have certain concepts and ideas (all beings must suffer to become pure; all creatures, no matter how small, have a place in service of Horde Prime; failure is when something ceases to serve a purpose) conditioned into him.

Hordak was manufactured as a cultist slave. He was “born” with hardware implanted into his body against his will to better control him. He was indoctrinated and brainwashed to the point that he believed that Horde Prime was his literal god - and in a way, Prime was, because he could mentally invade and possess and physically control the clones whenever he wished. 

Hordak was not allowed to have a sense of self. He was not allowed to have a name. He was not allowed to express emotions. He was not allowed to live without that life serving to glorify Horde Prime. Hordak was so absolutely sick with this mentality that he saw himself as a failure due to physical disability and assumed it was his responsibility to fix that. 

The idea that Hordak simply chose to do what he did, that he had the same foundational morality and mindset as any “normal” person might, shows a glaring lack of understanding even the basics of his narrative. 

Yes: Hordak did bad things. But he did them for legitimately tragic, nigh-horrifying reasons that this essay just ignores for the sake of... I don’t know? Trying to justify OP’s distaste for the character? I am uncertain. But it’s a mark of a poor essay, of a poor understanding of the character, and is honestly just disappointing to read when the show itself tries so hard to drive home its wonderful, hopeful themes through Hordak’s story.

Whether one forgives Hordak or not is one’s personal choice, but I certainly hope one makes said choice with better insight into his character than this essay provides.

#discourse #hordak #I wonder if I come off as too sassy in this but honestly this essay was a chore to read #so much was just ignored or misinterpreted #it was like a willful misrepresention of Hordak's character and I did not like it

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 69 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 200 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here.

--

RATE THE EPISODE 193 responses

The anime continues on with it’s hot streak, with episode 69 receiving only 1 vote in the negative direction. The vast majority were very pleased with this episode. 

this time the pacing felt quite weird, specially with how they managed the flashbacks. sorry mappa, but for the first time i feel like this was a 7/10 episode

nice i guess.

Beautifully done

It was great especially the confession part hahah

I love MAPPA's takes on the series so far!

Overall, very good episode. MAPPA is doing a great job. 

i liked it!

A little iffy but still solid.

WHICH MOMENT FROM THE PRESENT TIME WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 194 responses

There were many significant moments in this episode, so we opted to divvy up the options. For favorite moments during the present time, Eren’s harsh tone with Hange garnered the highest amount of votes at 34.5%. Not far behind, 26.3% most enjoyed watching the 104th talk about Eren and what happened in Marley. Behind those two scenes were Hange asking Eren why he was talking to himself in the mirror (12.4%), and getting the small zevi crumbs at the end of the episode (8.2%).

WHICH MOMENT FROM THE KIYOMI FLASHBACK WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 192 responses

For the flashback where the Survey Corps meets Kiyomi, nearly half of the fandom (43.2%) were ecstatic to finally see the scene between Historia and Mikasa animated. 24% most enjoyed Eren’s rejection of Zeke’s plan in Historia’s defense. 14.6% were immersed in Hange’s dismay at considering making Historia continue the cycle of children eating their parents, and 12.5% were thrilled to finally see Mikasa reveal her tattoo to Kiyomi. 

Tfw you think MAPPA cut Kiyomi’s drooling scene due to tv lag and later you find out the scene was changed to something equivalent: O__O 

5head pixis made me laugh

WHICH MOMENT FROM THE RAILROAD FLASHBACK WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 193 responses

Eren’s confession at the end of the railroad flashback took the most attention from fans, with 41.5% enjoying that portion the most. 20.2% enjoyed the 104th all discussing who is most suited to inherit Eren’s titan. 19.2% got a kick out of seeing smol Armin chasing around smol Sasha, and 13% were happy to see Levi (and his annoyance that everyone is taller than him). 

Armin's :o face was just adorable! Had forgotten it from the manga

MIKASA REVEALS THE AZUMABITO CLAN SYMBOL AS A TATTOO ON THE TOP OF HER WRIST. THIS IS A RETCON FROM SEASON 1 WHEN WIT REPLACED THE BRANDING WITH EMBROIDERY INSTEAD. THOUGH THE TATTOO IS WHAT’S FAITHFUL TO THE MANGA (MIKASA’S MANGA COUNTERPART HAS ALWAYS HAD THIS), WAS THIS A GOOD DECISION ON MAPPA’S PART? 192 responses

When it comes to the tattoo retcon, opinions seem to be relatively mixed. 22.9% of respondents felt that the retcon was a good move, because they feel that faithfulness to the source material is the most important thing in an adaptation. 21.9% felt it was a mixed situation, because they appreciate faithfulness to the manga, but also prefer for things to have proper continuity. 20.8% agreed that it was a good move, but mainly because the embroidery was “lame and forgettable” anyway. At smaller percentages, 16.1% felt that it wasn’t really a big deal either way since the family symbol was acknowledged regardless, and 9.4% didn’t care at all.

Mix of 3 and last point

Yes because faithfulness to the source material is important and I don't think the existence of the embroidery means that the branding didn't also exist.

No: continuity issues in the anime, but Yes: the embroidery thing was stupid.

1) we never saw the embroidery being kept by mikasa 2) kiyomi could have thought they just found it and stole it from the shogun's descendants' tombs or something. we as manga readers know mikasa is truly a descendant of the shogun, but anime onlies would have thought it could be possible for kiyomi not to trust them. so a tattoo is the best choice

Yes, MAPPA made a good decision. The anime onlies probably don't even remember the embroidery thing anyway. 

Bruh, if I hadn't read the manga, I would've forgotten the Mikasa mom scene.

Options one and two.

HYPOTHETICALLY, IF ONE OF THE 104TH WERE TO INHERIT EREN’S TITAN POWER, WHO DO YOU THINK WOULD BE THE BEST OPTION? 191 responses

The notable majority of respondents feel that Jean would have been the best candidate to inherit Eren’s titan. At a distant second, people would opt for Armin to inherit Eren’s titans (perhaps because he is already a titan anyway). The rest of the characters were relatively evenly chosen.

WHICH “SHIPPY” MOMENT FROM THE EPISODE WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 193 responses

This piechart turned out to be very colorful. Nearly a quarter of respondents couldn’t choose just one moment, so they voted for “all of them.” Behind that, 14.5% most enjoyed the scene where Eren showed determination to ensure Historia wouldn’t have to be sacrificed, 13.5% swooned over Eren and Mikasa’s blushy glances at each other, and 11.9% most enjoyed Connie and Sasha’s increasingly awkward conversation about who’s the bigger idiot. 

I loved the Erehisu moments 

sasha and connie <3<3<3

Erehisu canon

MAPPA DIDN’T INCLUDE THE PART OF THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN ZEKE AND KIYOMI WHERE ZEKE EXPLAINS HIS PARENTAGE, WHY HE SOLD THEM OUT, AND CLAIMS THAT HE’S THE “TRUE ELDIAN RESTORATIONIST.” THOUGHTS? 192 responses

The conversation between Zeke and Kiyomi got shaved down quite a bit, losing the claim of Zeke being “the true Eldian restorationist.” 30.7% aren’t sweating about it and feel it’s something that will be included in a later episode. 27.6% feel that it’s removal isn’t a big deal. 18.7%, on the other hand, feel that losing that moment watered down Zeke’s characterization and would have preferred its inclusion. 8.9% don’t care. 

I feel it will be brought up next episode

I think leaving it out makes the moment with ksaver telling him to sacrifice his parents more impactful to the anime onlies.  

they may have prepared an anime original scene where this is explained, probably at some point. this chapter was loaded with tons of info

I think everything zeke is going to be saved for his big flashback after losing to levi

Maybe they'll include it at the part where Zeke has his flashbacks when he was injured by Levi.

MAPPA ALSO LEFT OUT THE PART OF THE 104TH’S CONVERSATION WHERE ARMIN THEORIZES THAT EREN WOULD BE IN CONTROL OF THE COORDINATE ONCE HE AND ZEKE MAKE CONTACT. THOUGHTS ABOUT THAT? 185 responses

Another dialogue that was axed this episode was Armin brainstorming about who would be in control of the Founding Titan if Eren and Zeke make contact with each other. 35.7% (a small jump from the previous question) feel that this, again, will be included in a later episode. 28.1% feel that its inclusion wasn’t wholly necessary. 18.4% feel that this fact was already obvious anyway, so it doesn’t matter. 10.4% feel that the anime will get to that point so quickly that the exposition isn’t necessary to begin with. 

Armin's motives don't necessarily change either way so I'm fine with the cut. I do hope it's mentioned later on though.

Every episode is only 25 minutes long, so some parts of dialogues need to be removed. 

I honestly think they're going to retcon this so zeke's reverse uno in chap 120 doesn't seem so wild

I do understand that they need to make cuts (and there's still to many manga chapters to fit in the rest of the season) but that one was really important bc they might not explain it fully later on

If they animate Zeke's backstory, it will be there. It would've been nice to show Armin still using his brain though.

DO YOU THINK EREN SEEMED MORE INTIMIDATING IN THE MANGA OR THE ANIME? 191 responses

Manbun Eren was introduced as being intimidating, cold, and generally mean. His outburst at Hange was the first of many examples of this behavior as he lashed out at them for having no good ideas. 65.4% of respondents felt that MAPPA did a much better job at portraying Eren as a much more intimidating figure than Isayama did.

IN RETROSPECT, DO YOU FEEL THAT EREN WAS TOO HARSH ON HANGE? 190 responses

Almost a total opposite from the previous pie graph, 66.3% of respondents felt that Eren was much too harsh on Hange, given the circumstances and their dwindling options.

DO YOU THINK THAT, EVEN AFTER READING CHAPTER 123, PARADIS COULD HAVE FOUND ANOTHER WAY TO RESOLVE THEIR ISSUES THAN THE PATH THAT EREN TOOK? 191 responses

One of the constant questions in the manga since the timeskip is “could there been another way?” 59.7% think it’s just a solid maybe, and that there’s no longer any way to know that now that Eren has stripped Paradis of all their options. 23.6% feel that the rumbling was the inevitable outcome against a world that would never give them a chance. 14.1% feel the opposite, however, and believe there was always another way, and that Eren didn’t give them enough time to figure it out. 

I wonder what would happen if eren talked about his future memories 

There is always another way than violence. The problem is that no one on Paradis was able to find it.

Maybe we will find out in the last 2 chapters, this might be correlated to a possible "the mist" ending that Isayama originally planned

Who even knows? All I know is that there was too much distrust, secrecy and mystery for anyone to get anything done before shit hit the fan and now here we are. I also think it was a huge mistake to keep Eren so isolated.

There's no good way and never only on path but eren choose one who solve the problem

WE’RE GONNA ASK THIS… WHO IS THE FATHER? 196 responses

The never ending debate of who the father of Historia’s child hasn’t slowed down since the introduction of her pregnancy, though the question has ultimately boiled down to whether the child is Eren’s or not. Only 33.2% of respondents seem to think so. 28.1% presumably feel that it’s not Eren, but are overall tired of this debate in general. 21.4% are firm in their stance that it’s the farmer. 13.8% just wish it had anything to do with Ymir and nothing to do with the other options. 

I’m tired of this whole damn debate... but it's the farmer

LEVI SEEMED MORE VISIBLY IRRITATED ABOUT HOW TALL THE 104TH HAVE GOTTEN IN THE ANIME. THOUGHTS? 192 responses

MAPPA animated this scene with their own take and made Levi more irritable in the anime adaptation than he appeared to be in the manga. Generally, half of respondents felt that both ways were effective and funny. 25.5% seem to enjoy MAPPA’s rendition of it more, while 18.2% prefer the original manga portrayal of Levi’s grievances.

THE TRAIN SCENE WHERE EREN CONFESSES TO HIS FRIENDS IS TREASURED BY MUCH OF THE FANDOM. DID MAPPA DO IT JUSTICE? 193 responses

For fans of the 104th in particular, this scene has felt like it’s taken 84 years to finally be animated. And very few were disappointed, with 56.5% stating that the scene was cute and they are content with it, and another 36.8% showing a little more enthusiasm, feeling that it was more beautifully done than they ever could have imagined. A handful felt it could have been better, but was still good, or just didn’t care. No one agreed that the scene was ruined.

DARK!CONNIE RETURNS! WHO DID HIM BETTER? 190 responses

Another highly anticipated moment… the return of Dark!Connie! MAPPA didn’t quite hit the mark on this one, with Connie’s aura in the manga still being much more preferable to manga readers than the way MAPPA portrayed him in the anime.

WHEN CHAPTER 108 WAS PUBLISHED, READERS WERE ASKED IF EREN STILL PRIORITIZED HIS FRIENDS. AT THAT TIME, THE MAJORITY BELIEVED THAT HE DID, ALTHOUGH THE LARGER HALF OF THAT MAJORITY FELT IT WAS TO A LESSER DEGREE THAN BEFORE THE TIMESKIP. WE’D LIKE TO ASK AGAIN, DO YOU THINK THAT EREN ULTIMATELY TOOK THIS PATH OF DESTRUCTION BECAUSE HE PRIORITIZES HIS FRIENDS? 190 responses

Overall, the majority of the fanbase believe that Eren’s actions are generally in the interest of his friends and their lifespan, though to varying degrees (38.4% feel he prioritizes them wholly above all else, while 34.7% feel that he prioritizes them, but to a lesser degree than he used to). 21.1% still think that Eren’s contradictory actions make it hard to come to a solid conclusion on this front. A handful feel that Eren has abandoned them completely and only cares about himself and his own freedom at this point. 

I want to believe that hes prioritizing his friends, but too many of his actions contradict that, like forcing them into the battle in liberio and sending titans after the alliance 

Eren wasn't able to save his mother and this fact still torments him. I think that his friends matter to him a lot, but there is something darker in him what causes all the mess he is doing. 

He’s selfish and doing whatever he wants.

DO YOU THINK IT’S POSSIBLE THAT EREN PUSHED HIS FRIENDS TO THE FRONT LINES BECAUSE HE ALREADY SAW IN HIS FUTURE MEMORIES THAT THEY WOULD STOP HIM, THUS KNOWING THEY WOULD NOT DIE? 188 responses

When chapter 108 was published, we hadn’t yet learned that Eren saw memories of the future and so we couldn’t speculate on such a thing. Now that we can, we thought we would ask. 42.6% believe that regardless of whether Eren saw his friends in those memories or not, Mikasa is correct in her belief that Eren simply trusted them to survive. 33% feel that he already knew that they would survive, which is the only reason why he dragged them to Liberio in the first place. 18.6% don’t want to say either way, and a small percentage believe Eren had no way of knowing about the fate of his friends. 

He said "I HOPE they will have happy long lives". It means he didn't see much.

WILL WE SEE THE WARRIORS + MAGATH AND COLT NEXT EPISODE? 187 responses

With things shuffled around, we still have yet to see the Warriors recuperating and planning their next move. Half of the fandom feel that MAPPA was waiting to put the focus back on Gabi and Falco before giving us this moment. 32.1% aren’t sure if we will get it in episode 70 or not. 14.4% think it’s something that will come later, and a tiny fraction think it will be cut entirely.

Need my warriors back

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 193 responses

The largest percentage (48.2%) went to the scene with Hange confronting Floch and the Yeagerists, though it is edged out by both of Gabi and Falco’s preview scenes combined (42% for the visit to the Blouse’s, and 9.8% for their scuffle at the river). 

Can't care less about to gabi and falco, it's the final season cut the filler please.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

I miss Sasha

No thoughts, anxiety only. 

Hope to see the cut scenes in the next episode

Maybe I'm the only one, but I'm not so hyped for this season anymore. Sure, I'll still watch all the episodes no matter what, and I don't think Mappa is doing a bad job. But it's just a good adaptation. For the anime-onlys, I'm sure it's great because they're discovering the story we already know, but for me, this season doesn't add much to the manga. I probably had too high expectations for this season... (I'm also watching/reading Jujustsu Kaisen from Mappa and I don't have that feeling at all, so I'm pretty conflicted)

The episode was fine but I had a feeling that it was going a little too fast. However, I'm not complaining because I overally liked it. I could finally see adult Historia. She looks different than her manga counterpart. In the manga she was more mysterious and mature, while in the anime she still has cute baby face. I think that the moment between her and Mikasa was sweet. I feel kinda tired of the whole "who is the father" theories. I think that people waste their energy on fights and debates. If I wasn't part of the fandom, I wouldn't even think of Eren having a child with Historia. They never had romantic relationship and their last conversation was far away from being loving. Eren is an amotional mess. He has never mentioned the child in his POV, he says that his friends and Paradis are the most important, so I will be surprised if all of sudden he turns to be a father.

The lightning around eren when angry at hange was amazing addition (I think it's new) and historias situation feels more real in the anime. (ps: hail ponytail mikasa is bea)

Did a great job imo, but I don't think it's possible to make it anywhere near 122 at this point

Scenes were great as usual. The pacing was a little bit jarring though. I don't know how anime-onlys will take it since we do have different perspectives given our forehand knowledge of the events.

Where's shirtless Reiner??

Good episode, can’t wait for Gabi and Falco’s realization next episode 

I wish everything from the manga could fit into the episode or that the episodes were longer.

There's really no where else I could've put this so I'll just put it here......lol. I feel like it's not as obvious in the anime how much longer Jean's hair has gotten sometimes (specifically during the railroad scene here) and I wish that wasn't the case.

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 180 responses

Thank you to everyone who participated! 

#snk poll #snk polls #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot #snk s4 #snk spoilers

[thenightling]

Does The Frankenstein Monster have a soul?

    I have seen many strange blog posts and articles recently claiming that Mary Shelley’s creature in the Frankenstein novel does not have a soul.  I believe this does a disservice to Mary Shelley and the intention behind her story.       Before we proceed please note that this is written in the literary context of assuming that within the narrative humans definitely do have souls themselves.       First let is begin with the literal and possibly occult aspects of the Frankenstein Story.  Victor studied the works of Agrippa and Parcelsus in the novel.  Agrippa and Parcelsus were a self-proclaimed sorcerer and alchemist.  Victor was not studying hard science as we know it today, despite what you might see in some Frankenstein movies.   Victor was studying metaphysics and he was still a student when he brought his creature to life.  Many consider Frankenstein to be the first science fiction novel but without the actual description of how he brought his creature to life he could easily be the result of alchemy.   

   At no point does any character in the Frankenstein novel ever refer to The Creature as soulless.  Even Victor, who loathed his creation near the end, never described him as being without a soul. The closest thing to it is when he uses the term “mockery of a human soul” which indicates that what soul The Creature has he sees as an inhuman one.      

     An article from “The Conversationalist” argues that because the eyes are the gateway to the soul that this means The Creature is soulless since his eyes are watery and yellow.  But it is not that The Creature lacks eyes at all. It is that his eyes are different from a human’s.  Watery eyes suggests sad, expressive and tragic.   Eyes are usually watery as a result of deep emotion.   I cannot understand why a description of something often used to convey profound emotion would be used to mean “soulless.”   

     A different Google Search result on the subject of “Does the Frankenstein Monster have a soul” is a teacher’s resource site that claims it would be a good exercise for the class to discuss “Ways in which it is portrayed that The Creature in Frankenstein has no soul.”  But this is, again, pure speculation, and not based on anything of the actual novel.   The essay directly under this described “exercise” talks about how The Creature would not have killed Victor’s loved ones if he had a soul and that a creature with a soul would feel remorse for his actions.

     There are two things wrong with this sample essay.  First, many humans have killed other humans and shown no remorse. That does not mean they do not have a soul.  It means there is something wrong with their conscience.   The second thing the matter with this assumption is at the end of the Frankenstein novel The Creature does show remorse.   He laments the pain and suffering he has caused.   His education had consisted of books that glorified revenge as something noble and righteous and justified such as the actions of both God and Lucifer in John Milton’s Paradise Lost.  And he only learned after the fact that revenge only helped to make him feel more isolated from humanity and actually served to bring him no peace or satisfaction and in fact only helped to make him feel worse than what he already felt.      

  Now onto potentially more subjective content.  

     The Creature, who is well-spoken and articulate in the novel, repeatedly talks about his own soul.   He becomes obsessed with the depictions of Adam and Lucifer in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and is actually a surprisingly spiritual figure. He talks about his own soul frequently and does not seem to have any doubt that he has one.  He also seems quite certain of the fact that he will have an afterlife.  The indication here is simple. If humans have immortal souls that can ascend than logically- as he is capable of the full range of human emotion and thought- so does he.  

     Mary Shelley, herself, has been quoted as calling The Creature a “Poor soul” and “wretched soul” or “a romantic soul” and as she is the author I do not think she chose those wordings lightly.   Note:  I cannot precisely source these quotes at this time but most of what I have written here can easily be found in both the 1818 and 1831 editions of the novel Frankenstein.     

      It is also important to consider that if The Creature was indeed “Soulless” this feels like it would diminish Victor’s accountability for abandoning him, and the world’s fault in rejecting him.  It dampens and potentially ruins the entire idea that you ought to pity The Creature and are supposed to sympathize with him despite the horrible things he has done.  To claim he is without a soul overly exonerates those who have wronged him and immediately dehumanizes him, making the portions of the novel where The Creature tells Victor his own sorrows and experiences practically pointless and creates a barrier between the reader and character.  The ability to sympathize with him is dramatically reduced and I feel this would undermine Mary Shelley’s intentions by dehumanizing him further than Victor already did, and almost justifying mistreatment toward him.            

      It’s an odd thing to me, to see so many comments, articles, and blogs talking about him not having a soul.  I think people forget that in 1818 the soul was usually depicted as a person’s spirit, consciousness that could live on after-death, the part of you that thinks and feels.   Your very awareness.  In the nineteenth century if you could feel emotion and think it was considered a given fact that you have a soul because “You are a soul, you have a body.”   

     It seems that the modern “interpretation” of The Frankenstein Monster being soulless mostly comes from not quite understanding what the nineteenth century described the soul as in most literature.  This wasn’t the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer where the soul and conscience are easily confused and interchangeable.  

    It’s peculiar to me that a low budget schlock film like “I, Frankenstein” can explore The Frankenstein Creature’s soul and conscience with more respect for the source material and Mary Shelley than some so-called academics.  Kevin Grevioux is a very underrated writer and his film deserved a better budget and care than what it received.  This is why I like that low budget and cheesy little film.  

     In any event, if you are trying to figure out if The Frankenstein Monster has a soul or not I think it is safe to assume that at least the novel’s author and the character, himself, believed that yes, he does have a soul.   And I hope whoever was trying to figure this out heeds this post before the righteous rantings on the Google results from those whom I suspect might not have actually read the novel or may not have wanted to feel compassion toward The Creature.

___________________

Further note:  Lots of people mistakenly think Frankenstein’s main moral is not to play in God’s domain.  

I do not have patience for those with the assumption that the moral of the novel was "Don't play God." That's the 1931 film, not the novel. The themes of the novel included parental responsibility, the need to forgive, the futility of revenge, and judging by appearance.There are literary professors who have assumed the film was accurate in the novel's moral but thankfully most people who read the book know better. The Creature began benign and gentle and only went evil after several instances of mistreatment.  A third of the novel is there just to tell is this.  If simply creating him was Victor's sin then that diminishes Victor's accountability for how he treated him.  It's also why I don't like film versions where The Creature has an "abnormal brain."  It overly justifies the mistreatment of him and exonerates his creator.   If simply creating him was Victor's sin than we would not have been repeatedly told he would have remained Good if he had not been mistreated. Victor's sin wasn't creating him but how he treated him after he was created.  The "I shouldn't have played God thing"  was the 1931 film, not the novel.  Victor, himself, acts as if merely creating him was his sin but The Creature, and (at times) even Victor admitted that The Creature was once benign and gentle, until the cruelties of others got to him. Finally, "Modern Prometheus." PROMETHEUS! Why do so many people think Prometheus was some sinner who was righteously punished? Does no one know Greek mythology anymore? Prometheus was a Titan and the creator of the human race. In short, he was God. Zeus and the new Gods coveted light. The fire Prometheus stole represented knowledge and the power to invent. He gave humans (his own creatures) this and it pissed off Zeus. He severely punished Prometheus but it was unjust and in later myths he was freed. The great centaur who invented medicine even gave up his immortality as payment to keep Zeus from trying to return Prometheus to his punishment.  Mary Shelley's own husband, Percy Shelley, wrote Prometheus Unbound.

#Kevin Grevioux #Mary Shelley #Frankenstein #Mary Shelley's Frankenstein #I Frankenstein #Does the Frankenstein Monster Have a soul?

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

♫ Surfing on a soundwave, Swinging through the stars, Take a left at your intestine, Take your second right past mars!

On the Magic School smelly space bus! ♫

SPOILERS for Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #2!

This is a comic where, the longer I sit with a particular issue, the more I’m like, ‘yeah. Yeah. YEAH.’

It’s dense in a way that invites the reader to go through it multiple times, and rewards additional readthroughs.

Also, it helps that the art is FREAKING AMAZING.

Seriously. Evely and Lopes should draw and color everything, forever, always.

(I will honestly be shocked if they don’t get an Eisner nom for this book.)

Anyways, all of this to say: Another issue that I enjoyed. It has one of the most genuinely sweet Supergirl moments I’ve seen in the comics in a good long while.

So, if you’re looking for a quick thumbs up/thumbs down rating, thumbs up!

If you’d like some SPECIFICS, though...

THE STORY

King is an evil genius because we don’t pick up where we left off--rather, we start in the midst of the Space Bus journey.

There is technically a Big Action Scene, but I was honestly surprised by how...casually? the story progressed.

Essentially: Kara and Ruthye are forced to travel by bus because 1.) Krem stole Kara’s rocket and 2.) this corner of the universe doesn’t have the right stars, so Kara’s still recovering from being under a red sun for an extended period of time.

The bus makes occasional stops; they encounter a space dragon; Kara takes some Red Kryptonite and saves the day; they eventually arrive on a planet with a yellow sun. 

And again, all of this occurs with a kind of...breezy ease that I was not expecting at all.

I assumed that the space dragon fight would make up the final moments of the issue, after having built up the problem to a point where Kara needed to intervene.

But, noooope. The space dragon happens somewhere in the middle, which helps sell the central idea that this is simply Kara’s life. She’s been there, done that. She’s a badass who takes it all in stride.

But! Important to note! Ruthye still marvels at the sight of Kara taking out the space dragon, as well she should, because:

OH MY GOD. THE aRT.

There’s only so many times I can say, ‘it’s phenomenal, it’s gorgeous, it’s stunning’ before sounding like a broken record.

But it is. It truly is. This is the prettiest monthly book on the stands right now.

(Realizing I’ve been spelling Ruthye wrong this entire time, maybe? IDK. Apologies if I have.)

It’s in the final moments of the book that we learn what transpired after Krem shot Kara and Krypto and fled: Kara managed to get Krypto and Ruthye to a healer, and then passed out for a week. 

Ruthye and Kara recovered, buuuuut...

Krypto is still very near death because the arrow was poisoned.

The healer can’t treat him until he has a sample of the poison.

Which Krem has.

(See where this is going?)

So! Kara regains her powers! Ruthye has a super on her side! KRYPTO’S LIFE HANGS IN THE BALANCE!

Gimme. Issue. 3. STAT.

THE CHARACTERS

Very much enjoyed Ruthye in this issue!

There’s a really tricky balancing act you gotta pull off when writing child characters; you don’t want to just write them as tiny adults, but you also don’t want to be obnoxious or cloying in trying to write ‘true-to-age.’

King gives himself a bit of a cheat, by setting her up as a rock farmer from a...what would you call it. An old-fashioned planet? And thus the kind of character who had to ‘grow up fast’ and behaves more maturely than your typical pre-teen might.

BUT! IMPORTANTLY! This is tempered by placing Ruthye in situations where her (understandable) ignorance is challenged/put to the test. Like, yes, she is mature, and well-spoken, and utterly tenacious, but she’s also out of her depth, and still in need of help and guidance.

(Which is how we get to The Best Scene which I’ll get to in just a sec.)

TL;DR - this issue has really sold me on Ruthye as our POV character and I am officially Invested in the relationship between her and Kara.

Speaking of...

It’s KARA-CTERIZATION TIME!

So, okay. There’s some ‘eh’ stuff in this one, but, BUT!

We got the goods again.

And by ‘goods’ I mean this:

Whatever other nitpicks I have (and I do! Have one! Which I’ll get to!) THIS. This right here! This is Supergirl. This is Kara.

And what a beautiful line to introduce this moment:

“And it began--as most things begin when you’re dealing with Supergirl--with a moment of kindness.”

It’s the same gentle concern we saw in the previous issue, where Kara knelt down to address Ruthye eye-to-eye. 

Here, Kara’s facial expression, and the way she takes Ruthye’s hands and shows her what to do...

It’s just. SO SWEET.

Ahhhhh it’s so good. :D

So good! In fact! That the above scene offsets my one complaint, which is that Kara came off as harsh, IMO, when addressing the bus passengers, looking for Red K. 

Other good stuff from this particular portion of the book: we get Kryptonese (maybe? I think?) And a mention of Kara’s mother being strict about certain things, which is in keeping with the 2000s series version of Alura.

Ruthye also asks if Kara ever tried to avenge the death of her family/culture and she says no; Ruthye says that she heard a lifetime of regret in Kara’s response, which I suppose could be read one of two ways:

1.) That she regrets her choice not to avenge them, or 2.) that she regrets not having the option to avenge them, as there was no one person to punch, no single action that could rectify the destruction of the entire planet.

I personally prefer the second reading.

Which I suppose contradicts the recent-ish “Killers of Krypton” arc, but who knows what is and isn’t canon anymore, honestly. XD

As for the rest of the issue! I found myself thinking of a Grant Morrison interview, actually.

Morrison apparently met a Superman cosplayer at a con and that’s when the character clicked for them: “[The superman cosplayer] was so in the character, but what really got me was the way he was sitting. It was this absolutely relaxed pose with one knee up and the arm bent over, and that’s what broke Superman for me. Suddenly I realized that Superman wouldn’t be a poser, he wouldn’t be a Muscle Beach steroid guy; he’d actually be completely relaxed because nothing could hurt him. He could be so open and friendly to everyone because no one can punch him or hurt him. He can’t get a cold, or be damaged by anything you’re carrying or wearing. For me that was the power of that, whether you want to frame it as magical or not, it actually informed the stories I wanted to write. I felt I understood him in a way I hadn’t until that moment.”

That’s always stuck with me, the idea that Clark would be the most at-ease, chill guy you'd ever talk to.

And THAT, I think, is what we’re seeing here with Kara. That at-ease-ness.

But in a way that is distinct from Clark! In the above quote, it’s clear that Morrison thinks it’s Clark’s powers that are the reason he can be so relaxed and at ease.

But Kara is de-powered here. So why is she so chill?

Because Kara is an alien.

Kara’s in her element, here. She’s used to space travel, she knows the ins-and-outs, she’s not shocked by any of the weird stuff they encounter on their journey. 

Love it. LOVE. IT.

I am SO GLAD that King decided to go with Kara being the wizened mentor, as opposed to the naïve kid learning to be tough. It’s a much more interesting angle, IMO.

Also NO MENTION OF RIVALRY BETWEEN KARA AND CLARK. WOO. LET’S KEEP THIS ROLLIN’.

Alright, last, but certainly not least:

THE GOOD BOY! KRYPTO!

When I tell you I stress-read this entire comic first thing in the morning...XD

And I am STILL stressed. And a little sad that Krypto doesn’t get to go on another space adventure but! This is MIGHTY PREFERABLE to what I *thought* was going to happen, which is that Krypto would die from his injuries, and Kara would likewise be out for revenge. 

Fortunately, that is not the case! 

So like, the stakes?!?! Suddenly sky high. Find that dirtbag Krem and GET THAT POISON BACK TO THE HEALER!!

ART and MISC. STUFF THAT I LOVE

I generally don’t like to post entire pages of a comic, or panels without context, but the...reach? of this blog is extremely limited so. I think we’ll be okay. XD

So, alright! Some moments that I particularly enjoyed!

One of the panels that Mat Lopes shared early on! 

I want this lettered version on a mug.

(Also she looks very ’Grace Kelly-ish’ here.)

Love Kara’s facial expression and her line about space travel being more fun when you can fly.

From the same portion of the book--such a neat detail that Kara keeps her cash in her sleeve!

Another set of panels that I think Tom King shared a few months back.

Love Kara’s little smirk, and the, “I’m wearing a big yellow S on my chest, and a very fashionable red skirt.”

It IS fashionable. WE SUPPORT THE SKIRT, IN THIS HOUSE.

Also the slrrrrrrp. XD

It’s good.

Okay, 1.) VERY COOL SCI-FI DESIGN and 2.) that line is great. “Can you feel it, Ruthye? We’re getting closer. The stars are changing.”

Mmmm, them good cosmic Kara vibes.

Kara’s attitude about the Red K here is fun, like, ‘WELP, sometimes you turn into a monster, sometimes you don’t!’ but again, the line is what gets me.

“Did my hair move?”

“I do not believe so.”

XD

Honestly? I could post the whole comic here. Evely’s vision of ‘public transit, but space’ is just so immediately...not ‘real’, necessarily, because there’s such a fantastical element to it all, but it is fully realized. I think I used the phrase ‘lived-in’ and that’s it--this world feels like it has always existed; every grimy nook and cranny, every rando space bus traveler.

And Mat Lopes’ colors!

There are like, five distinct color palettes at work in this issue, and Lopes handles them all masterfully.

I think my favorite is the...I’ll call it ‘ethereal space aquarium’ lighting in the bus as they view the space dragon.

The glow and the shadows and the blues and pinks...

GGGGGGGGAAAHHHHHHHHHH so goooooooood

So, yeah. :D

I am very much enjoying this weird, wild ride with small, precocious Ruthye and wizened, crusty Kara. XD There’s some stuff that I don’t *love* but my goodness, it could be a lot worse!

Let us end on the beautiful title page:

#long post #supergirl: woman of tomorrow #supergirl: woman of tomorrow spoilers #dc comics #kara zor el #comic thoughts #comic opinions

[merigreenleaf]

Unexpected Inspiration Character Backstory: The Twins’ Past

The crisp snow crunched under Etri's feet in a sickening way reminiscent of the rough gravel floor of the Sanctuary's acolyte quarter. His skin burned every time he sunk into a knee-high drift, the pain a constant reminder of the flames that waited for him should they be caught. His fingers were numb under thin gloves meant for concealment, not warmth, and his robe was nigh-useless outside the cavern city. It had been cold underground-- every day of his life had been spent shivering-- but nothing had prepared him for this overwhelming numbness spreading through his body. If he couldn't find shelter soon, it wouldn't matter that they had escaped. They would die anyway.

-Excerpt from “Stuck With You”

As their lingering accents and pale features can attest, Sol and Etri weren't originally from Concordia. They come from Montglace, a place far to the north where the population lives in a single city deep below the mountainous snow and ice. At one time, long ago, people lived on the surface, but this was so long ago that the rest of the world mostly assumes the population of Montglace died out, if they're reminded of its existence at all. Possibly this would have been for the best, considering what Montglace has become. The twins do not have a happy backstory.

Montglacian culture is dominated by a dual religious order of light and shadow; the twins were born into and raised by the Sanctuary of Shadow. Within the carved stone walls of the temples, there is no concept of family and children never know who their parents or possible siblings are. Being identical twins granted Etri and Sol some insight, although it took years for them to work this out. While Etri was delivering a message for one of the high ranking priestesses, he came across a mirror for the first time in his life. It was then that it made sense why people had always called him by the wrong name-- he looked identical to one of the other boys. Since their language has no word for brother or twin, the closest they could come up with was "person who looks like me," but this was enough for them to realize the other was important. 

[More]

Etri's shadow magic manifested soon after this and he was allowed a small room of his own. This offered a little more security from the dangers of the temple, but it meant that it was harder to sneak around to spend time with Sol. In working out a way to do this safely, Etri discovered that his magic could turn his body into a shadow, much like the elementals the priest/esses controlled. This brought its own kind of danger in keeping it secret, but Etri has always been careful. He made sure that they were never caught together and when Sol began showing signs of light magic, Etri made sure no one else found out. If this was discovered, Sol would have been sent to the Sanctuary of Light and it would have been unlikely the two would see each other again. Sol played dumb, which was easy when the priest/esses never guessed he could have light magic and instead only tested his control over shadow elementals. To this day, shadows still terrify Sol.

Only one other person knew the truth about Sol having magic and he took it to the grave... but I'm getting ahead of myself. Sol fell in love with another boy in the temple and this needed just as much care to avoid detection since any kind of relationship was forbidden. Knowing how important this boy was to Sol, Etri took a risk and befriended him. Etri tried his hardest to keep both of them out of trouble, but this wasn't an easy task. Sol had a tendency to become easily distracted and not notice a threat until too late. Pierre constantly talked back to his superiors and made himself a target all too often, usually as he tried to divert someone's attention long enough for Sol to get away. Pierre always stood his ground, refusing to be quiet and accept life as it was in the temple. He hated the Sanctuary and while he and Etri were able to give Sol happiness as best they could, both hated seeing him scared so much of the time. There had to be a way out, even if leaving was forbidden. So the three made plans for Sol and Pierre to sneak out of the city and out of the mountain. Etri disliked the idea of losing the people he cared about, but he knew they would have a better chance of escaping if he stayed behind to distract or try to stop anyone who followed them. With his ability to shift into a shadow and avoid being seen, he had a level of protection the other two did not.

Their plan almost worked. At the last moment, their escape was discovered, and both were locked up. Etri tried so hard to break them out, but couldn't succeed before Sol and Pierre were dragged out to the surface of the mountain with Etri following close behind in shadow form. With no witnesses around, the three knew the type of punishment the priest/esses had in mind. What was essentially an elemental firefight went down. Etri, doing the best he could with magic that had never been fully trained, blocked the elementals long enough to give Pierre time to summon shadows of his own to use against the light elementals. Sol, absolutely terrified of everything happening, lost control over his magic. He flared hot and bright like a small sun, which took out a portion of the elementals before he fainted. This was a losing battle and the other two knew it. Pierre urged Etri to get away with Sol, then used every ounce of his strength to buy them time. Etri, in turn, threw all he could into wrapping his magic around the other two to try to shadow them to safety, but he wasn't strong enough. He was able to grab his twin-- just barely-- and pull him away before Pierre drained his own magic dry.

The twins got away and made their way south into Galanvoth and eventually into Concordia. It wasn't easy and they struggled at first, both in terms of controlling their magic and with life in general. As Sol grew more confident with his magic, he decided to change his name as a way of claiming his power for himself and also to get rid of the birth name that reminded him too much of his past. He earned what income he could through his skill in fixing and inventing things while Etri stole what else they needed to survive. This, though, is a story for another day. Seven years have passed since they fled Montlgace and both have grown up and found happiness. They now have safety, security, and friends in their carnival troupe. When they meet Blythe and later Adair and Dray, they gain a family they never had in anyone but each other. Forever at the back of both of their minds, though, is guilt and regret that they weren't able to save Pierre, too.

————————–

This is the next (and possibly last, although I might do secondary characters later) in the series of backstory moodboards I’m doing about the dorks. I have one for Blythe here, one for Addy here, two for Dray here and here, and one for Rosalie & Camille here.

This was made for @homesteadchronicles theme of “mountains” although I started it weeks ago for a theme that might have been “desperation”-- it took me that long to iron out their backstory because I realized I’d broken it as I’ve been outlining the trilogy. Also I swear I’m still writing comedic/lighthearted fantasy despite how depressing this post is. The twins most definitely had the hardest childhood, but it improved drastically after this low point as teenagers, I promise! 

(For the moodboard, most pictures are pretty straightforward, but I’ll explain a few. The pictures represent them in this point of their past-- Etri is naturally blond, believe it or not lol. I liked the heart shape of the guy breathing fire because that’s so very Sol. The necklace represents the one Sol made for Pierre; he put some of his magic into it so it served to protect Pierre a little while they were living in the temple. While Pierre was telling Etri to leave, he passed the necklace back because it was the only thing he could give Sol to remember him by. The crescent moon tattoo on Etri’s side represents the branding he was given when his magic manifested; everyone in the Sanctuaries is branded when they develop magic. In case you can’t see the images, like if tumblr isn’t letting you click them bigger, Sol’s quote thing says “Play Dumb! Not That Dumb!” and Etri’s says “Always have an escape plan.”)

Tagging my series tag list. Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the list and please definitely tag me in writing things you share, too!

@homesteadchronicles @ageekyreader @lynnafred @the-gay-hufflepuff @oceanwriter @desperatlytryingtowriteabook @muffindragon227 @theguildedtypewriter @toboldlywrite @wchwriter @dreameronthewind @shadow-maker @pen-for-sword @loopyhoopywrites @emptymanuscript @madmoonink @perringwrites @megan-cutler @elliot-orion @thatwriternamedvolk @indecentpause @writer-on-time @ravenpuffwriter @siarven @musicismymoirail @lady-redshield-writes @bluemartlet @reeseweston @worldbuildingwren @hiddswritingrefs @cay--scribbles @focusdumbass @enasroterfaden @missrobinswritings @joshuaorrizonte @zofiehelen @kainablue @kalis-scribbles @inspirited-goddess 

#death warning #which is the first and probably only time you'll ever see this on a post of mine #writing #writeblr #moodboard #character moodboard #character backstory #character aesthetics #fantasy series #unexpected inspiration series #Unexpected Inspiration aesthetic #UI POV: Etri #UI POV: Sol #this is definitely the most depressing thing I've ever written #someday I'll go back and write a novella about Dray's past #I most definitely will never write one about the twins lol

[tiefling-queer]

For D&D character ask, for any and/or all of your characters;

1, 5, 8, 15, 23, 29, 64, 65, 69(Nice)

i’m gonna answer these for whichever characters have the most interesting answers, skipping some for repeats:

1. why did they choose their class(es)? their subclass(es)?

kip (wizard, school of necromancy): crisis of faith midway through grave cleric training, spurred on by him sucking at the whole cleric thing (9 wisdom babyyy) while also being a nerd (18 int babyyyy)

baylock (shadow sorcerer/rogue): the sorcerer part is a side effect from being born dead during a cataclysmic event that tore portions of the material plane asunder. the rogue part is because he got in with a bad crowd as a kid. he’s been gaining levels in sorcerer as he traverses the freaky magic wasteland, utilizes his magic more, and gets a little closer to death each time someone hits his squishy arcane caster frame too hard

izak (gunslinger, graveslinger): sometimes you’re a jaded teen-equivalent runaway bumming around the river kingdoms and some dude comes up to you and is like ‘im a neutral evil mercenary, but if you take this gun and learn to shoot, i can also be your dad’. and then later you’re a 20-something equivalent who just realized that you don’t actually want to be an evil mercenary so you run away again and this time some dude comes up to you and is like ‘i’m a priest of sarenrae and an exorcist, and if you believe you can be redeemed, i can also be your dad.’ and then you learn how to shoot ghosts so you can be useful while this guy teaches you about being a better person.

5. do they follow a higher power? what are their thoughts on divinity?

izak: (deep lore dump) izak’s family was, at one point, pious people, and it was some ancestor’s warped perception of what piousness is and what was worth sacrificing in the name of good that led to the entire mess that is izak’s face. izak’s a devout worshiper of sarenrae now and hopes to maybe be the assistance someone needs to put themselves on a better path the way brak was for him, but there’s still a part of him that believes that, because he’s a tiefling, he’s never going to really be saved, and that his soul will eventually belong to the asura it was promised to.

8. what are three songs that suit them?

sydel: buckets of blood by rufus rex (tw for self harm, link goes to spotify because i can’t find this track on its own on youtube), thank god that i’m not you by himalayas, and bruises by fox stevenson (full playlist here)

15. do they trust their party? why or why not?

kip: he trusts them with his life, he just doesn’t trust them to understand where he’s coming from. he’s hiding some really heretical opinions that he knows at least maya (the celestial warlock) won’t agree with. he doesn’t like to talk about his family trauma, his past, or anything that he thinks the party can use to cleverly deduce that the notes he’s been scribbling are about raising the dead and theoretical conduits, prices, and replacements for the soul (he’s a little paranoid and might be giving them more credit than they deserve)

baylock: baylock might trust morgran, but he doesn’t trust surina at all, not since she and the (presumed deceased) swashbuckler tried to use him as a scapegoat when they were being interrogated by evil government warlocks. and even then, he only trusts morgran to not leave him for dead. baylock’s a fiercely loyal person by nature, so he’s been trying to keep his party at arms length so he won’t be betrayed again. the closest he came to starting to trust them was right before he found out that they told the evil government warlock that they’d turn him in in exchange for their freedom when they were captured a while back (whether or not they actually intended to do so is irrelevant for baylock - he spent 5 years in prison after being his old thieve’s guild’s fall guy, he’s not about to let it happen again)

23. how do they feel about nicknames, titles, or labels that have been given to them? how do they feel about their name?

kip: kip’s given name is joffric ravenhall. he’s been going by the alias of ‘greenbough’ on the offchance that people have heard of his family or knew his father at some point, since he really doesn’t want to explain why he’s not a priest of the raven queen by now. ‘kip’, however, is what his family and friends call him, so it was a bit of a big deal to him when he told the party to call him kip, since he hadn’t been around anyone he considered family or friend in a few years. kip’s reeling a little bit over suddenly being called an ‘adverturer type’ - to him, he’s still just a transient weirdo who picks up odd jobs.

baylock: baylock craft’s name isn’t actually baylock craft (not yet anyway lol), he stole his late cellmate’s identity to take advantage of the jailbreak that came a few days too late. his name, ekleipsis caldor, isn’t exactly something he identifies with so much as what he was once called. his father never wanted him but got stuck with him when his mother bounced, so ‘caldor’ is more a formality than anything. ‘ekleipsis’ is the greek root of ‘eclipse’, for the eclipse he was born during - but moreso, ‘ekleipsis’ doesn’t mean ‘to be covered’ - it means ‘a disappearance or abandonment’. an event where the sun abandons the sky. baylock is a walking abandonment issue. he hasn’t taken a virtue name because he thinks it’s performative (which is where him officially taking the name ‘baylock craft’ as his name and not the identity of someone he’s pretending to be comes in - it’s the equivalent of naming himself for the virtue of rebellion without naming himself something stupid and embarrassing like ‘rebel’.)

izak: izak just got done being haunted by a ghost wizard who’s obsessed with names, probably because he’s had 4. izak was born dalethiel oakleaf back when he was an elf, but when he ran away after waking up as a tiefling he went by dally. then he was a mercenary for a while and his edgy mercenary name was viper. and then, when asked for his name by the cleric of sarenrae who rescued him in the wilderness, he said he didn’t have one worth giving, so the cleric told him he’d just call him izak then. that’s who izak is now, as far as he’s concerned, or at least who he wants to be. as he told the ghost wizard who tried to torment him with his birth name, that’s not his name anymore. dalethiel oakleaf was a young elf who died on his 50th birthday. izak’s got a perfectly good name, given to him by a kind man, and he doesn’t want to think about the time in his life he went by dally or viper.

karif: karif always introduces himself formally with his full name, in the family-given-familiar name pattern - ‘ixenvari karifgethisk fraurirthos, er, but you can just call me karif.’ this is because karif’s nickname, fraurirthos, the one his childhood friends and family call him, translates from draconic literally to ‘breathes secrets’. his nickname is snitch. he’s a little embarrassed about it. but ‘karifgethisk’ is a bit of a mouthful for those who don’t speak draconic, so shortening it to ‘karif’ suits fine.

29. who would they save? who would they be saved by? 

this has been a tough one, i’m not sure how to answer it for anyone.

64. do they value mercy or justice more?

kip: this honestly depends on his mood and your definitions of both ‘mercy’ and ‘justice’. he’s very easily led away by his emotions - both pity and compassion that could sway him to lean more towards mercy, and rage that tends to harden his heart and clear his head. he’s more than down to torture someone if he deems them evil, and he’ll destroy creatures like aberrations, fiends, and undead without a second thought, but he views life as a very precious thing - even when torturing an evil demon-summoning spellcaster, he still was trying to find ways out that resulted in that spellcaster getting out alive. this has come back to bite the party in the ass, since it was kip’s insistance that the party not kill all the guards on their little anarchy stunt that got them blackmailed to infiltrate the evil army of darkness, which is something he most certainly DOES NOT want to do.

65. what is holding them back?

kip: kip’s hang-ups about the soul and how he was raised are holding him back from becoming a stronger necromancer, while his grief and refusal to accept mortality hold him back from possibly still being some flavor of raven queen follower.

baylock: baylock’s hesitance and confusion over what he wants are holding him back from either fully embracing the rebellion or ditching it to get vengence

izak: izak’s self-loathing and fear of himself hold him back from interacting with people and forming meaningful relationships outside of the handful of people who’ve found out he’s a tiefling.

69 (nice): how would they describe their party members?

kip:

maya is... complicated. kip admires her pragmatism and her faith - it reminds him of his older sister, and he’s been missing that rock in his life. however, he butts heads with her a lot, because he finds her cold duty-bound outlook to be pointlessly cruel.

meera is wicked smart and talented, if a little misguided at times. he’s very big brother protective of her, always trying to offer her his dagger because ‘it’s a nice dagger’ (it’s +1)

amity is a good kid, and smarter than some may give him credit for. he’s fun to be around, and usually a level-headed presence, which makes it even more surprising just how ok he is with killing.

baylock:

morgran is an asshole, but is also probably the only person in the group who believes in this whole rebellion thing, so that counts for something. he’s decent people, can probably be trusted to see a mission through and not do anything completely stupid, but since he’s decent people he’s probably going to insist on staying on this path of lunacy with delusions of ‘taking down the Summit’. also, morgran shouldn’t be allowed to talk to anyone they meet, because he’s an asshole, and doesn’t bother pretending to be personable like baylock does.

surina is insane. she’s deranged, like everyone who tries to live outside the sanctums is. also just racist at times. when their cover gets blown or when they get mixed up with people they should be talking down, she’s gonna be the reason they all get killed.

porthos is was an idiot and a liability and just proved him right by running off and doing something rash and probably getting himself killed and also maybe compromising the whole rebellion which baylock doesn’t care about, so why does he feel like he should have done more to stop Porthos’ demise?

#really excited about these questions! thanks anon! #emo poetry #ask games #Anonymous #sorry this one took longer than the others #ask game from 3 billion years ago

[nanayoungishere]

History Repeats In Mysterious Ways AU

The most self indulgent AU I can think of. 

Basically it’s a universe where Izuku has a twin (who eventually becomes evil but more on that later) who ends up getting One For All. Izuku, meanwhile, accidentally stumbles upon a half-dead All For One in some filthy alleyway and ends up getting All For One’s Quirk foisted upon him before the evil bastard dies. 

You see in this AU, the final battle between All Might and All For One happens super early. As in, several months before the series originally starts. And since it happens so early, All Might still has his quirk and was able to fare much better in the final battle. 

Moreover without the added stress of trying to rescue a kidnapping victim, the rest of the heroes were able to take care of All For One’s forces much better than they did in canon. All For One’s organization gets dismantled, the Nomus are gotten rid of, the Doctor is arrested and his research is destroyed in the struggle, Kurogiri disappears to parts unknown, and Tomura dies in the crossfire. 

Basically All For One is not having a good time in this AU. Everything he worked for, all the preparations he made, were basically made pointless. He has no legacy, no successor, nothing left. And while he was able to drag himself away before getting brutally killed by All Might, he knew he didn’t have much time left. He was fucked and he knew it. 

He only had one thing left in him: the ability to pass his quirk on to someone else. It was something he and the Doctor had been working on for some time now, a way for Tomura to finally succeed him as the Symbol of Fear. Because of All Might’s constant and unrelenting pressure on him, All For One hadn’t gotten around to switching his quirk out for a copy. He made enough adjustments so that he could switch it out, but didn’t get the chance to before All Might busted in and started kicking his ass. 

So when Izuku happens to stumble upon him while he’s bleeding out in an alleyway, he takes the chance to foist his quirk on him as a last ditch effort to keep his legacy alive. After all, all quirks have an imprint of the user hidden within, and All For One’s imprint on his quirk is basically a second him. He figures that, given enough time, his imprint will be able to take over Izuku’s body, giving him a second chance at life and revenge. 

So that’s how Izuku ends up with an absurd quirk, along with an evil voice in his head that tries to take over his body/tempt him into villainy. He also has to deal with all the other voices of the many, many quirks All For One stole over the years, as well as all their conflicting memories and feelings. 

A huge portion of the story is just Izuku struggling to stay sane and in control even as All For One tries to mindfuck him into surrendering his body or becoming evil. There’s also the fact that a lot of All For One’s quirks are too much for his teenage body to handle, so he ends up having to keep himself from ripping his body apart like in canon. There’s also all the suspicion from everyone else, All For One’s old minions showing up and pledging their allegiance to Izuku, villainous rivals challenging Izuku for territory, and much, much more. 

Basically, things aren’t going well for Izuku in this AU. And that’s not even going into his (future evil) twin. 

Izuku’s twin (whom I will be calling Zukin for now) is considered to be much better than Izuku in the eyes of others. He has a telekinetic quirk that allows him to control, manipulate, and enhance fire/heat so long as he has a prior heat/fire source. He’s very outgoing and overtly friendly to others. He’s selfless and makes a point to reiterate his love for heroes and how he wants to be one. He constantly looks out for his quirkless brother, protecting him against bullies and thugs. He’s considered by many to be Bakugou’s rival of sorts, even by the kid himself. He’s athletic, strong, skilled -- pretty much perfect in the eyes of others.

He does, however, have one main flaw: his need for external validation. 

See, a large part of the reason why Zukin wants to be a hero is because he wants to be validated by others. It’s something he’s always felt, ever since he was young: a need for positive attention. He wants it all, all the praise and respect and love from the people around him. It’s not enough that a few people like him; he wants everyone to like him. He has a need for it, a craving that won’t go away. And since everyone treats heroes like living gods/celebrities, he quickly decided that he needed to be one too. 

Which in of itself isn’t too bad. Craving attention from others is something everyone feels, and wanting to go into heroism for your own personal goals isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If anything, it’s normal. 

But Zukin often allows his need for validation to get in the way of doing what’s right. Which is how he managed to get One For All. 

In canon, Izuku managed to get One For All by risking his life to save Bakugou from the Sludge Villain even after All Might himself told him he couldn’t be a hero. In this AU the exact same thing happens -- only Izuku gets mistaken for his brother and Zukin is the one who gets attacked. 

Basically, when Izuku latches onto All Might and asks if someone quirkless can be a hero, he uses very vague terminology and wording that implies that he’s talking about someone else. Part of the reason why is nervousness -- he’s talking to his idol after all and the stress of almost dying ends up making his kinda delirious. 

So All Might gives him the no and Izuku walks off. The Sludge Villain gets away and ends up attacking Zukin while he’s walking home with a friend of his. Zukin, shocked by the sudden arrival of a villain, panics and ends up pushing said friend into the Sludge Villain’s clutches and makes a break for it. The villain snatches him anyway and in his blind panic, he uses his quirk to no avail. It just makes everything worse, just like it did with Bakugou in canon. 

Izuku arrives just as the Sludge Villain is about to suffocate Zukin and his friend. He jumps in, tells his brother to snap out of it, and manages to free the friend just as a crowd and the heroes arrive. 

So the thing about Izuku and Zukin is that they look exactly alike, down to the freckles. Sure Zukin is a bit more buff than Izuku, but you wouldn’t be able to tell at first glance, especially in their school uniforms. So when the heroes arrive and they see one bother bravely saving the other and their friend -- and when they later find out that one of the brothers is quirkless -- they immediately believe that the one with the heroic/powerful quirk was the one who saved the day. 

And Zukin goes along with it. Partly because of the whole external validation things, but mostly because of shame. Shame that he panicked, shame that he pushed a friend towards a villain to escape, shame for his own cowardice. He knows he didn’t act like a hero in that moment, that he acted like a selfish coward and he hates himself for it. And the thought of other people hating him too -- the thought of everyone whispering about how much of a coward he is -- makes him panic. So he takes the credit for the save before he can really think about it. 

And because both Izuku and Zukin’s friend sustained a good amount of brain damage during the struggle, they can’t exactly remember what happened during the fight or even what happened that day. So when Zukin says he saved them, they believe him. 

So everyone heads off to the hospital and that’s when All Might meets up with Zukin. The kid’s awestruck but more than a little confused when All Might makes a casual mention to his and Izuku’s conversation. He quickly realizes that Izuku and All Might must have met before though and -- not wanted to out himself as a coward in front of his idol -- acts as though he was the one he talked to. He talks about his brother, how he’s quirkless, and and says that he just wanted to see if it was possible for him. 

All Might smiles, makes a big speech about how he’ll make a good hero one day before offering to train him. And Zukin, struck by hero worship and a rising sense of glee, immediately agrees. 

He feels bad about it later, when he tells Izuku and realizes that he essentially stole All Might’s training from him. He justifies it by saying that it’s for the best; Izuku is quirkless after all and that sorta training would be wasted on him. Zukin is the one with the best chance of going to US and being a hero. Izuku just needs to face facts: quirkless people can’t be heroes. The sooner he realizes this, the better. 

So Zukin trains with All Might and, eventually, gets offered One For All. Zukin immediately thinks of Izuku and how by taking credit for his actions, he essentially stole a quirk from his own brother. Izuku’s one chance of getting a quirk and Zukin stole it. 

It makes him feel so, so guilty. But not guilty enough to turn down All Might’s offer and admit the truth. Because the thought of his idol realizing how he lied to him -- the looks he’ll probably give him -- makes him swallow back his words. 

He takes One For All and vows to make it up to his brother later, ignoring all the guilt and the voice in the back of his head that calls him a liar. 

So a huge part of Zukin’s story is his decent into selfishness and cowardice, how the residue guilt and paranoia ends up turning him into a monster. Because taking Izuku’s spot as the rightful user of One For All isn’t the only shitty thing he does. Over and over again he does shitty things in order to maintain his image as the perfect hero, to live up to the legacy All Might has given him. Zukin acts like he can handle the pressure, the responsibility, but it becomes increasingly clear that he can’t. And eventually, it turns him into a villain. 

So that’s the main idea of this AU:

One brother given one of the most heroic quirks in existence, surrounded on all sides by heroes and heroic personalities, mentored by one of the greatest heroes in history, and who still ends up becoming a villain due to their own choices. 

Anther brother, spat on by society and the world at large, forced to use a villainous quirk that he never wanted, with an ancient villain whispering within his mind, surrounded by all sides by villains and villainy, and who ends up becoming a great hero despite it all. 

A heroic All For One vs a villainous One For All. The irony of it is delicious. 

#history repeats in mysterious ways au #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #evil twin au #afo!izuku #evil twin #someone else gets one for all

[multiverseforger]

Chris Powell was the teenage son of Mike Powell, a cop, and Grace Powell, a District Attorney. Following his younger twin brothers, Jon and Jason, to the abandoned amusement park across from his home, Chris discovered his father taking a bribe from mob boss Phillipe Bazin.[5][6]

While trying to escape with his brothers from Bazin's henchmen, Chris discovered an amulet that transposed him into the Darkhawk armor. When his father disappeared after Chris saw him, he swore to use the Darkhawk armor as an "edge against crime". Darkhawk's powers included a force blast which emanated from the amulet on his chest, a force shield from the same amulet, a claw cable which could serve as both a Wolverine-like claw, and a grapple cable, glider wings and later flight capability, enhanced vision and strength, and an image underneath the Darkhawk helmet which served to frighten and distract his enemies.[citation needed]

He often teamed up with Spider-Man. As a sometime member of the New Warriors, he befriended Speedball, Nova, and later, Turbo.[citation needed] During his tenure as a crime fighter, he was often trying to rescue his father, mother, or other family members.[citation needed]

He developed quite a roster of enemies: he would fight villains such as Hobgoblin and Tombstone, who were seeking to take his amulet, with the latter succeeding. He was extremely weakened and even dying from having the amulet removed, but still able to use all of his powers except for turning back into human form to heal. Once he retrieved the amulet he was able to put it back in his chest and fully heal. Darkhawk had 2 separate encounters with Venom, who felt that Chris was good natured and held back whereas Darkhawk was greatly opposed to Venom's ideals and way of handling crime, and swore to bring him to justice, despite Venom offering to be his ally. Lodestone: a magnetically-powered villain developed by Bazin, was often pitted against Darkhawk. He also fought against some who would later ally with him, such as Portal, a teleporting mutant who killed another Darkhawk and stole parts of his armor, Savage Steel, which had been created by the secret police cabal that Chris' dad had been a member of, and Damek, a mercenary sent from the future to kill Darkhawk.[citation needed]

Chris learned that his armor was actually an autonomously existing android armor, one of five commissioned by an alien mob lord named Dargin Bokk, being held in a sentient spaceship, Ocsh, in Null Space. When Chris grasped the amulet, it actually caused his body to switch places with that of the Darkhawk body, although his mind remained in control of the 'replacement' body.[citation needed]

After helping them several times, Darkhawk was brought aboard the Avengers West Coast as a reserve member, but saw little action with them after becoming a member, because they were dissolved shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, he did at least start a lasting friendship with Spider-Woman.[citation needed]

Darkhawk 2.0

Later, Chris and Darkhawk actually split into two separate entities, with the armor being updated into the "2.0" form, as it was informally known. This advanced form of armor gave Darkhawk new powers, such as the ability to form a force shield encasing his body, an actual "Hawk" construct (a gigantic force-field shaped like a hawk), and the ability to summon weapons from Osch. Darkhawk 2.0 and Chris re-merged, with the prospect of no longer needing to use the amulet in order to switch bodies.[citation needed]

Loners

Chris joined a self-help group of ex-teenage-super-heroes, the Loners, who admitted to being addicted to their powers. Members included: Turbo, Green Goblin IV (Phil Urich), Ricochet, Lightspeed and later Spider-Woman III (Mattie Franklin). The group was hired by a mysterious benefactor, later revealed to be Rick Jones, to track down the Runaways in Los Angeles.

Powell displayed trouble controlling his anger in his Darkhawk persona, leading to a short skirmish with Turbo. Dismayed with himself, Powell admitted to his teammates that he suffered a nervous breakdown.[7] Powell decided to never turn into Darkhawk again, but this decision did not last long, as shortly thereafter the group battled the notorious Avengers villain, Ultron. Darkhawk delivered the final blow, using a darkforce blast at point blank range to blow Ultron to pieces.[8]

The Loners continued their meetings and Chris was drawn back into heroics by Spider-Woman and made an enemy of MGH manufacturers who had abused Mattie Franklin and the woman running them as well as Nekra, a woman who was getting rich by selling her bodily fluids to them. Chris then got his Darkhawk amulet stolen from him temporarily by an unbalanced Phil Urich but was able to regain it with help from the group.[9]

Secret Invasion

Having registered with the government, Darkhawk was assigned to the position of security chief at Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.. During the Skrull invasion, he worked alongside his old teammate Nova against the Deviant Skrulls.[10]

Fraternity of Raptors

The being known as Talon came to Earth, and offered to teach Chris how to control his amulet. They went to the Negative Zone to fight Annihilus. There, Chris bonded fully with his amulet. This allowed him to learn that the Fraternity of Raptors that Talon represented was evil and that the Fraternity had created the amulets. Evilhawk had been a hallucination caused by his mind, which had been unable to process all the information the Amulet gave him. The Raptor, known as Razor, took over Chris' body and assassinated Lilandra.[citation needed]

Later he fought Gyre another member of the Fraternity of Raptors that had been recruited as a pawn of the Sphinx. Darkhawk, Nova, Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic and Namorita defeated the Sphinx and his pawns. Darkhawk was able to separate Gyre from his Kree host by using the same technique Talon used to separate Chris from Darkhawk and bring back Razor.[citation needed]

Avengers Arena

Arcade kidnapped Chris and fifteen teenage heroes and brought them to Murderworld, a secluded island where no one could find them, and forced them to fight each other to the death, and only the last man standing within thirty days would be allowed to leave.[11] One night, he was attacked and had his amulet removed, leaving his fate unknown.[12] His amulet would get passed around by others locked in Murderworld.[13]

Chris was later shown in a coma-like state in a strange tank along with the deceased heroes, where Arcade appeared to be healing him. Waking up, he located Arcade and knocked him out. He later reclaimed his amulet and was among the survivors of the battle.[14]

Marvel Legacy

Powell eventually resurfaced back in New York, set to marry a new fiancée by the name of Miranda Cruz. With whom he'd shared all of his exploits while piloting the sentient automaton known Darkhawk. Nowadays his Amulet has become inert, not so much as even changing when he focuses his thoughts on becoming his alter ego again; but lately has been suffering from nightmares of the Tree of Shadows every time he slept. Following in his father's footsteps, he eventually became an officer of the law at the NYPD. Taking to the same beat Micheal Powell used to back when he was one of the police, he reminisced about how his father would listen to people and remember their names while trying to keep the peace on the streets.

Trying to be the every bit as big a man and a better cop than he was by holding the values he once thought Mike stood for before, Chris found out his father was a corrupt cop. All the while ruminating on whether the world needed him as Christopher Powell, police officer or as the cybernetic hero he once was. While on patrol, dispatch sent out notice of a disturbance at Wonderland Amusement Park, where he first found the Raptor Amulet.

While investigating the derelict establishment, Powell was approached by two shady cops right near the area where he first became Darkhawk. Officer Hal Fingeroth and Sergeant Harold Conrad came to Powell offering certain opportunities while on the force which Chris quickly denied, when the latter opted to be a bit more forceful in his persuasion; Conrad was quickly eviscerated by members of the Fraternity of Raptors who were after the young officer's depowered amulet. Canorus and Aceptar created the odd circumstances which led to Christopher retracing his origin as a superhero in order to kill him and take what they believed was theirs by right, but the former raptor didn't go without a fight; discovering that these new raptors were in actuality just armored Shi'ar thugs given how easily Aceptar was stunned by a shock baton.

Though Christopher was eventually subdued by Canorus and his gem taken from him. Canorus was able to activate it again with a damaged Razor taking his place, whom nearly beat Powell's other would be assassin to death until Chris got his attention. The badly broken android grabbed hold of Powell and ported him to a portion of the Datasong he called the "Perch," where memories of previous host pilots were stored within a Raptor's own motherboard.

Razor, now calling itself Darkhawk after the recombinant persona imprinted on itself due to their shared escapades as a hero. Chris learned from his other half that a whole new Fraternity has sprung up in the wake of Novas' decimation, eager to bring the universe to heel under their thrall and had been searching for a means of acquiring the Raptor androids from the Null Space void to cement their dominance. Horrified by this development the now empathetic Razor sought to defy this mandate by said cabal of zealot pretenders by escaping his pod and severing his link to the Tree of Shadows, which was the reason why Powell couldn't become Darkhawk anymore. Severing his brethren's connection to their amulets earned Raptor their ire, however. They nearly hunted it down and executed until he was summoned to Earth by Canorus. Seeing the opportunity to heal itself, and hoping to enlist aid in stopping the renegade Raptor sect, Darkhawk sought union with Chris Powell once again in order to recover and grow in power.

Seeing as the whole of the universe was at stake, including his own homeworld in the long run. Chris knew in spite of his misgivings about space travel and the new life he has on Earth, that since his android had grown a conscience since the War of Kings. That he could not just sit by and pretend what effects the galaxy has no consequences for everybody involved, himself included. Donning the name Darkhawk once more, he took to the skies after blasting the other raptor back to his enclave in space before taking off, wondering how Miranda will react to the change of pace.[15]

Infinity Countdown

After learning from Richard Rider that the Fraternity of Raptors were after the Infinity Stones, Chris wanted to find a way to stop them, but he was stuck on Earth. He was later attacked by the bounty hunter Death's Head who was hired by the Raptors to capture Chris and bring him back to them alive. After learning that Death's Head had a spaceship, Chris was able to convince Death's Head to take him to the Raptors. After saying goodbye to Miranda, Chris and Death's Head traveled to where Death's Head was to meet the Raptors, the planet Arcturus IV; however, the Raptors betrayed Death's Head and destroyed his ship. Chris survived the ship's destruction and confronted the Raptors, but he was quickly overwhelmed by their numbers.

Chris' Darkhawk Amulet was removed from his body by the Raptors' leader Gyre and used in a ceremony to transform Richard Rider's brother Robbie Rider into the being called Dark Darkhawk by fusing him with Ratha'kon, a being supposedly more powerful than the Phoenix Force. The Raptors then left a dying Chris where he was set off to destroy Earth. As Chris dragged himself across the ground, he encountered his other half Razor who revealed to him the origins of the Tree of Shadows and of the first Raptor. After some coaxing from Razor, Chris tapped into his hidden strength and emerged with a new Darkhawk body after fully fusing his mind with the armor. Chris then flew after the Raptors to stop them.[16]

Chris battled the Raptors with help from Death's Head and Nova Prime. Nova made it difficult to fight Dark Darkhawk as he preferred to reason with his brother Robbie than fight him. Dark Darkhawk then shockingly turned on Gyre and destroyed him while stating that he would bring order to the universe, not Gyre. The Raptors were eventually stopped when Death's Head rigged the power core of the Kree ship the Raptors stole to explode. Only Dark Starhawk survived the explosion, though stunned, allowing Chris to reclaim his Darkhawk Amulet. Dark Starhawk then disappeared in a flash of light after striking his Nega-Bands together. Grieving over the loss of Robbie, Nova angrily told Chris to stay on Earth or he would have him locked up. After Chris returned to Earth, he decided stay out of space for a while. Later that night, he was met by Sleepwalker while he dreamed, telling him that the influence of the Infinity Stones threatened the Mindscape and that the only way he could protect it was to become a Sleepwalker.[17]

Young Again

Darkhawk attended Thanos' funeral along with prominent cosmic figures where it was revealed that Thanos had transferred his mind into a new body. However, the Black Order came and stole Thanos' corpse, while opening a rip in space in order to trap them.[18] While trapped there, Darkhawk's atoms began to break apart, affecting his link to the suit. After being captured by the Universal Church of Truth from a possible future, Chris found out that his body was merged with the armor and that he had become younger than when he first found the amulet.[19] Under the control of the Church, Darkhawk and the other prisoners attacked the Guardians of the Galaxy, but Rocket Raccoon was able to free them from the Church's control and sent the church back to their timeline.[20]

After the Void was leading the forces of the Cancerverse into invading the Negative Zone, Darkhawk was among the heroes summoned by Mister Fantastic using his Dimensional Anchor in order to defeat the Scourge. Once the Silver Surfer managed to merge Bob Reynolds with Void back, Nova sacrificed himself in order to defeat the Scourge, ending the threat.[21]

Powers and Abilities

Power Grid [24]Intelligence 2Strength4 Speed*5  3Durability4 Energy Projection*6  3Fighting Skills 2* Armor Transformations

Abilities

Skilled Combatant: Chris is skilled in Kendo and an unidentified branch of Karate.[citation needed]

Strength level

25+ Tons.[15]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Darkhawk Amulet:

Consciousness Transfer: Chris can transfer his consciousness into the Darkhawk's alien android while at the same time, switch the robotic body's place with that of his own body wherever he is at any time.[citation needed]

Darkhawk Android: The Darkhawk Armor is advanced Shi'ar technology meshed with magic, allowing the host numerous superhuman capabilities:

Superhuman Strength: The Armor allows Chris to lift in the excess of 25+ tons. Able to knock out Venom.[citation needed]

Superhuman Speed

Superhuman Durability: Darkhawk is superhumanly durable; he is capable of shrugging off physical impacts, energy blasts, and most artillery fire.

Superhuman Agility

Superhuman Reflexes

Armament Conjuration: The Android can summon weapons from the extra-dimensional expanse from whence they came, or manifest desired munitions from its own body at will.[citation needed]

Flight: The retractable glider wings under his arms allow him to glide on air currents. Darkhawk can also fly at speeds that let him fly from New York to California in only a matter of hours. After the Darkhawk armor attained a new form, Chris is able to fly interstellar distances.[22]

Self Repair: Even major injuries to his Darkhawk body can be repaired by switching back to his human form.[citation needed]

Superhuman Vision: Darkhawk has telescopic and infra-red vision. He can see through most camouflage.[citation needed]

Force Field: Chris can utilize a circular wafer-thin force field.[citation needed]

Concussion Blasts: He can fire blasts of destructive dark energy from the amulet on his chest.[citation needed]

Mode Shifting: Talons can morph their bodies into a host of augmentative forms. Becoming transparent, doubling body armor, projecting greater weaponry, etc.[citation needed]

Formerly *Avengers Identicard

Transportation

Formerly Avengers Quinjet

Trivia

Darkhawk's armor and appearance has been a continued source of debate amongst Marvel "True-Believers." After his series was canceled, his new appearances often reverted back to the original Darkhawk armor. As of his Loners appearances, he is in "DH 1.0" form, although he had appeared a few times as DH 2.0 prior to this.[citation needed]

It has been a misunderstanding amongst many readers and fans of Darkhawk that he was aware of his status as a hero within the Marvel 2099 universe, in which he is known as "The Powell," one of the "most powerful, and feared, heroes in the universe." This wasn't Earth-928 (or Marvel 2099), it was a similar cyberpunk dystopia world within Chronopolis. This was resolved by DeFalco himself within the letter columns in one of the final issues of the ongoing series.[citation needed]

Links and References

185 Appearances of Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

15 Minor Appearances of Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Media Christopher Powell (Earth-616) was Mentioned in

123 Images featuring Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

13 Quotations by or about Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Character Gallery: Christopher Powell (Earth-616) 

Christopher Powell (Earth-616) on Wikipedia.org 

Darkhawk Zone: The Ultimate Darkhawk Fansite

Darkhawk @ New Warriors Continuity Conundrum

New Warriors Message Board

Recommended Readings

Darkhawk #1-50 (March 1991, April 1995)

Darkhawk Annual #1-3 (1992, 1994)

New Warriors #14, 22-25, 47-51

New Warriors Annual #3

Avengers West Coast #93-95

Runaways Vol 2 #1-6

Marvel Team-Up #15-18, 25 (2005)

Loners #1-6 (2007)

Nova (vol. 4) #17-#19 (November 2008, January 2009)

War of Kings: Darkhawk #1 and #2 (February 2009 and March 2009)

War of Kings: Ascension #1-4 (April 2009, July 2009)

Discover and Discuss

Search this site for: Christopher Powell (Earth-616)

Footnotes

↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3

↑ 2.02.1 The Loners #1

↑ Avengers Vol 3 #2

↑ Darkhawk Annual #3

↑ Darkhawk #1

↑ Amazing Spider-Man #353

↑ Runaways Vol 2 #1-3

↑ Runaways Vol 2 #6

↑ The Loners Vol 1-6

↑ Nova #17-18

↑ Avengers Arena #1

↑ Avengers Arena #3

↑ Avengers Arena #4

↑ Avengers Arena #18

↑ 15.015.1 Darkhawk #51

↑ Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk #1-3

↑ Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk #4

↑ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 5 #1

↑ Guardians of the Galaxy Annual Vol 3 #1

↑ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 5 #11-12

↑ Annihilation - Scourge Omega #1

↑ Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk #3

↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3

↑ Darkhawk #51, Trading Card Variant

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[livingmybestfictionallife]

Live Wire --The Dirt--

Little something I’ve been working on due to a lack of Douglas Booth!Nikki Sixx fics.

Summary: Wren Ledden, Tommy’s best friend from high school has had a rough life and she intends to keep the nitty gritty details of her suffrage to herself until the day she dies. Only Tommy has gotten her to open up about a small portion of her troubles, and it’s only Tommy who she trusts with her life. That is until her life gets turned around sneaking into a concert one night...the same night Motley Crue is born.

Since westward expansion and the Gold Rush, all anyone in the United States could think about were the promises that seemed to lie buried within the jungled streets of chaos in California. It was where everyone wanted to be—the ocean was beautiful, Hollywood was booming, the mountains up north were to die for, and the music scene was evolving before the world’s eyes. It seemed like the perfect place for anyone with a dream and the will-power to achieve it; however, for Wren Ledden, California was a cage that, since a young age, she promised herself she’d find her way out of.

Wren was smart, driven, and talented, but never seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and as everyone knows, timing is everything. School was all too easy for her and she even managed to complete all of her gen-ed courses for college while she was still a junior in high school. By the time she graduated with her high school diploma, she had her associate’s degree and a ‘the-sky’s-the-limit’ attitude toward the rest of her life. Sure, she didn’t have the money to attend a fancy college and she didn’t know what the hell she even wanted to study, but she knew two things: one, she’d worked her ass off throughout high school, and two, she deserved a break.

“Why the hell do you study so much?” Wren heard her one and only friend from high school grumble as she laid on her back and read from a Rolling Stone magazine.

“Do you even know what the hell I’m reading?” she huffed as she tossed the magazine at the lanky boy’s face.

“Rolling Stone,” he commented with an airy tone as he stole a glance away from his reflection to look at the magazine that rested beside him. “Cool. I just assumed you were being a nerd.” The all too familiar snarky laugh she had heard resonate through her friend’s lungs since middle school echoed against the walls of his room.

“Shut up, asshole.” Wren’s lips curled up into a smirk as she flipped over from her resting position on his bed to sitting cross-legged and watching her friend primp. “I still can’t believe you’re going to this concert with what’s her nuts and not me,” Wren sighed in exuberant frustration as her eyes drifted from her friend to the posters that littered the walls of his room.

“Oh, come on, Wren, give her a chance; I bet you’d like her! She’s really cool,” he whined as he turned around from the mirror and turned down the tape playing over the speakers.

“I bet,” Wren said dryly as her mind drifted from her friend’s new girlfriend to the band he was taking her to go see tonight. “I’m just pissed because I turned you on to London in the first place, Tommy.”

“And I know we always said we’d go together, but I’m trying to get her to give them a chance.”

“So you’re taking someone who may not even like the show over me, your best friend and musical connoisseur?” Wren shot Tommy a pained look and pretended to clutch her heart as she flopped backwards on his bed.

“Look, if it means that much to you, I can cancel tonight and we can go.” Tommy’s big heart was something that had drawn Wren to him in the first place. Throughout high school, she was an outcast; Wren had a different upbringing from many of her classmates, including Tommy, which led to her inability to trust others. Middle school band brought Wren the only friend she’d ever need, someone to share her interests, who was able to break down her walls, and whose family gave her what she lacked in her own familial life. Tommy’s chaotic extroversion saved Wren’s dry-humored introverted time and time again. Tommy had always been fond of Wren and he even found her cynicism humorous, albeit at first he was only interested in dating her, but as they grew closer as friends, both Wren and Tommy realized they were bonded for life.

“Go on your date, Tommy,” Wren sighed as she watched the slightest hint of disappointment cross his eyes.

“Meet me at the diner afterwards?” He asked with big, begging eyes. “I want you to meet her.” Wren considered her options: spend another night crashing in Tommy’s parents’ guest room and annoying his little sister, Athena, or meeting what would probably be another week-long girlfriend he had fallen head-over-heels for.

“Sure,” she sighed only to catch his infectious smile growing onto her lips. “But that’s only if I don’t decide to sneak into the show behind you like we did with that punk band last month.”

“Why the fuck don’t you just come with us?” Tommy asked as he jumped up from where he was sitting on the floor and spun toward where Wren was still perched on his bed.

“I’m not dressed for the strip,” she said as she tossed her arms out to the side and examined her attire. A black leather jacket hung from Wren’s shoulders as a hand-made cropped black shirt dangled around her torso, baring just a portion of her midriff as black leather pants hugged her legs and chunky boots were laced around her feet.

“Yes you are, and if we didn’t already know this,” he said and gestured between the two “would never work, I’d even say you were hot.” Tommy said as he pulled his own black leather jacked over the mustard yellow t-shirt he wore, and then stuffed his drumsticks through the loop of his studded belt.

“These are just my normal clothes; you know the slutty shit girls wear out there,” Wren continued, trying her hardest to keep from becoming a third wheel on Tommy’s day.

“I’ll even pay for you!” her friend continued to beg for her companionship.

“So you’re taking both of us out tonight?” Wren huffed with a cocky and teasing smirk on her face. As Tommy thought through his proposition, he raised his eyebrows and pointed at his best friend with a curious and playful look spreading over his face, however Wren was quick to shut his wandering thoughts down. “Just sneak off for a bit once you get there and come to that janky fucking door in the men’s room to let me in.”

“I can do that!” Tommy said as he opened his bedroom door and ushered for Wren to come with him down the hall and into the kitchen. As she paced through the halls of a home she’d come to know all too familiarly, she tried to avert her eyes from all signs that reminded her she lived there. She hated having to rely on anyone besides herself. Her own ability to provide for herself was all she had ever known. Even when she still lived at home, her parents were too self-indulged and too busy fighting one another to notice their only child. At eighteen, they threw her to the wolves, ready to be rid of her—the thing that in their eyes kept them from having the life they’d wanted—and claimed she would never make anything of herself. Thankfully, upon hearing of her misfortune nearly ten months after the fact, Tommy called bullshit on Wren’s parents and his family opened their home to her. Wren was beyond grateful for their generosity, but overwhelmingly guilty for even finding herself in the position to put someone out in such a damning way.

“You’re not a burden to my folks,” Tommy would always say. “They love you like the daughter they never had; because their real daughter is nice and sweet, and not anywhere near as fucking metal as you.”

Tommy and Wren’s friendship was an odd one—everyone who saw the pair together could see that much. He was a colorful person who expressed everything outwardly, whereas Wren was often described as dark and introspective. At shows, Tommy would be flailing his limbs around, letting the music speak to his body while Wren let the rhythm and lyrics fill her soul. She’d tap her foot and bang her head on occasion, but would never lunge herself into the mosh pit and crowd-surf among other fans as Tommy had on more than one occasion. However unlikely the friendship maybe, it was strong and, on many occasions, too strong for Tommy’s dates to handle. Girls who dated Tommy never understood how he could be so close to Wren without wanting to fuck her, and their suspicion always got the best of them. This always led to an end in the relationship after a huge fight over an ultimatum between Wren or whatever flavor of the week he was tasting.

Regardless of the Bass family’s insistence on Wren’s presence being nothing but welcome, she found herself ridden by guilt each night she ate their food and took up space in their home. Getting out of the house and going to see London with Tommy—even if they wouldn’t be together during the show—could be exactly what Wren needs to get out of the mental funk she’d been finding herself returning to for months now.

Wren was fine with the sneaking around and the ridiculous plots Tommy would find himself cooking up on how to avoid “the Wren issue” with his dates while also making sure he’d have a good time if his date abandoned him at a show. It wasn’t uncommon for many of the girls Tommy brought around to cower away from the rock scene, and as much of a people person as Tommy was, he hated being at shows by himself. Tonight wouldn’t be the first time Wren hung around at a concert waiting for her best friend’s date to bail at the sight of a fight, and she knew it wouldn’t be the last. Overall, she had fun: it was fun to sneak into clubs to watch her favorite bands, it was fun knowing that she was Tommy’s ride or die—the one who he knew would always be there to keep him company—and it was a hell of a lot more fun when the stuck up bitches bailed and she got to break out of her shell a tiny bit and join Tommy in the mosh pit for a song or two. Deep down, in the pit of her stomach, as she held her arms close and tried to ignore the subtly cool breeze floating through the Los Angeles streets, she knew tonight was going to be fun too.

“Fuck, Tommy, where are you?” she grunted. Wren leaned her back against the brick wall and kicked the bathroom door with the heel of her boot, impatient as to why it was taking him so long to come and get her. She accounted for the five-minute drive to his girlfriend’s house, and the five-minute drive back, but after standing in the chilly air for over twenty minutes, she allowed herself to grow impatient at Tommy’s tardiness. She knew in reality he was probably still waiting in the long ass line out front, so she tried to suppress the temper that usually came with her impatience. Tilting her head up and gazing at the sliver of sky between the buildings surrounding her, Wren let the cool air flow over her hot cheeks. Just as she was about to step away from the wall and peer around the corner to see if she could spot Tommy’s leopard printed ass in the sea of people waiting to get in, she heard the rusty creak of the alley door open and poked her head inside.

“Finally,” she sighed as she made the small jump from the ground up through the slightly elevated bathroom floor. “I thought you forgot about me Tomm—you’re not Tommy.” The bar was always dark and dingy, and the bathrooms were even more so than the rest of the establishment, however she was always easily able to distinguish her friend from other men. A tall man, no more than three or four years older than her, stood before her with a cigarette between his lips and a lighter in his left hand as his right hand grasped what appeared to be a glass of either whiskey or bourbon on the rocks. He wore a dark leather jacket with what appeared to be a dark shirt underneath and dark leather pants. His overall demeanor seemed to be in stark contrast of Tommy, and Wren straightened her posture and tone from hunched over joking banter to straight-line intimidation standoff.

“What the fuck are you doing?” the man asked once the alley door closed. He assumed that she wouldn’t want a confrontation and that she’d retreat from the venue out of submission or intimidation, but Wren’s eyebrows quickly stitched into a skeptical glare as she stood her ground. The man before her still had his lighter flicked open and a small flame burned in his hand while his hazel eyes peered down at the young woman. He tried to stand up straighter in order to intimidate her into explaining herself, but he got a sense nothing would make her stand down. She had fierce, cold eyes that seemed to cut right through him and in an instant of impatience, he opened his mouth to repeat himself, only to have her speak over him.

“What does it look like?” she scoffed and folded her arms over her chest. The man’s narrowed eyes, tense jaw, and teased, long black hair was nothing more than an obstacle keeping her from having a good time at a show she’d been dying to see.

“Looks like you’re sneaking in,” the man said with an arrogant smirk as he cocked his head to the left and took in the woman’s appearance.

“Congratu-fucking-lations,” Wren smirked, “you regular Sherlock Holmes.” Dropping her arms to her side, Wren took a long step forward to side-step the man in front of her only for him to take a quick step to his left and puff out his chest. “Come on, man,” she sighed. “You can’t be that much of a dick!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, sweetheart,” he smirked devilishly. He was certain the woman would crack and turn away to save herself the humiliation of continuing to linger in a men’s room, but the self-assured grin that traveled onto her face only caused his eyebrows to furrow in curiosity.

“You may be a dick, but you’re nothing but talk,” Wren stated and placed her hands gently on her hips, allowing herself to be in as vulnerable of a position as she could be in a situation like this in order to show how unafraid she was of the man before her. “I, on the other hand, have the balls to follow through. So, thanks for the, whatever the fuck public decency lecture that was, but I’m going to step around you now and watch what I expect to be a kick ass show that I’m, frankly, too damn broke to afford to see the ‘appropriate’ way,” Wren stated while using air quotes. “I’m also too damn broke to afford a drink, even in a hole like this, so,” without any warning, she slipped her fingers around the glass the man was holding, plucked it from his hand, and sent the burning, icy liquor down her throat in one large gulp, “thanks for the Jack, even if it is a pansy-ass whiskey if you ask me.” With nothing more than a light shoulder check, Wren took a long stride past the man standing in her way, and carried herself high as she paced past the line of men at the urinals watching the scene unfold, before she emerged into the bar.

It only took her about ten minutes to find Tommy in the masses of concert goers, and throughout the night, she managed to keep him in her sights just in case his date bailed; although at the end of the night, she was still pressed against the back of the venue, being forced to squint in order to make out which band was playing, while Miss Blondie hung close to Tommy. Wren had to hand it to the girl, she wasn’t like the other chicks Tommy brought to shows in hopes of turning them on to the rock scene. Even when the bassist of London threw a heavy hitting punch at the band’s lead singer, she didn’t run off like Wren had expected. Sure, she jumped back in awe as the rest of the crowd shouted either obscenities of shock or encouragement, but she didn’t run, and that deserved at least a little respect from Wren.

As bouncers rushed toward the stage to separate the two band members, other employees of the bar acted as ushers to escort the numerous patrons of various stages of intoxication out of the venue and into the streets to have a better chance of breaking up the fight without a brawl. Wren tried to call out for Tommy’s attention, but a slight panic came over her as she noticed a cop picking out another sleazy freeloader who had snuck in through one of the other weak points in security. Wren retreated the way she had come in—through the dank and abysmal restroom, leading into a dingy alley—and then disappeared into the crowd that dispersed along the sidewalk of the Sunset Strip.

Continue Reading: Next Chapter

#douglas booth nikki sixx #douglas booth the dirt #douglas booth!nikki sixx #the dirt douglas booth #the dirt fanfic nikki #the dirt #douglas booth!nikki sixx fic #douglas booth #the dirt fanfic #the dirt fandom #douglas booth fanfic

[antiquecompass]

Ficlet: Found

Wherein Lan Wangji is on a mission to find his law-brother, his nephew, and his soul mate. (Also on Ao3).

Gossip was forbidden in the Cloud Recesses proper, indulged in the greater Winter Court, and required in most of the world to pick apart the threads of truth at the core of all the fantastical stories bred out of rumors. Lan Wangji did not participate in gossip, but he had ears, and he’d always been the most observant of the Winter Court. Many assumed that because he did not speak often, or at length, that he remained aloof to all around him, as if his desire to be left to his own thoughts somehow made him deaf to the words that swirled around him. He never corrected that assumption; it allowed him to do his job and do it well.

He was the Crown Prince of the Winter Court, but more importantly, he was the Winter King’s most trusted weapon. And his brother, absent a portion of his memory, missing half his heart and soul, deprived of the silent power and strength that came from his husband, needed his most trusted weapon, his brother, his confidant, to do his job and do it well.

Escaping to the Other Side was easy. Claiming that it was to find Wei Ying was a partial-truth, and one everyone in the Court would believe. He would find Wei Ying, he had to, to see with his own eyes that he was well, but his ultimate goal was to find his law-brother and bring him home.

Lan Wangji understood the need to run, to protect, to hide, but their family was strongest together and the Winter Court would not lose one of its own again. Not under his watch and not under his brother’s reign. His brother would not become the shell that had once been their father before he faded into nothingness. And while father’s had been a slow death, Xichen’s would be quick, even for the Sidhe.

The one major downfall of true soulmates and love matches.

Even though he knew Jiang Cheng had held back from fully combining their powers, their souls, and their wills, had done it to protect the Winter King should he be harmed or killed, Xichen didn’t know how to love but with everything in him.

Wangji was equally matched with his brother in this, as he was with so much else.

The risk and cost were worth it, for when a Lan gave their heart, they gave it full and true.

Gossip led him to a tavern in a city called Cambridge on the water of a river call Charles. The Temple looked perfectly normal from the outside, like any other building, its glamour strong and holding, its protective shield’s roots deep and strong. For those with a touch of magic in their blood, the oil street lamps outside of it burned with welcoming flames, beckoned them closer. This was a place for Wanderers and Wayfarers alike, but it had been built by Wayfarers and it called them home.

Lan Wangji shifted in the unfamiliar stiff clothing he wore. The denim jeans rough against his skin, the plaid shirt too tight for his liking, but he was to fit in here and the Realm Jumper, Varro, promised him that these clothes would work best. Wangji missed the softness of his robes, the heavy, grounding weight of his hair piece and circlet, the comfort of Bichen by his side. They were all packed up in the pouch now shrunk to what Varro called ‘wallet-sized’ and stuffed in one of his pockets.

Inside he found the typical stink of a bar, added to it the stench of wolves and bears, some demons, wizards, and various other magical folk. A Sprite stood in the corner, a source of calm, light-green energy surrounding him, but all eyes were on the Sidhe standing on top of the bar, drunkenly singing a horribly inappropriate tune.

Absolutely shameless.

Wei Ying would join him, surely, if he were here.

The Sidhe stopped mid-song as Wangji fully crossed the barrier into the establishment, his power sending a series of warning flames to the candles spaced throughout the tavern. His presence was powerful, even masked, and by the Right of Hospitality, he could not hide it stepping into this place of business and home.

The Summer Sidhe at the bar raised his glass.

“All hail the Crown Prince of the Winter Court!” he yelled, golden hair flying about him. “Those ice statue fucks rarely come down from their mountain hall. What brings you to the Other Side, little prince? Ready to finally rid yourself of your maidenhead?”

Wangji didn’t spare him a glance as he walked further into the bar.

“I was speaking to you, Ice Prince,” the Sidhe called after him.

“You are not qualified to speak to me,” Wangji said as he continued on, further into the bar, past the tables full of patrons, to a back corner where a Puck sat.

Bard Nasir had once been the golden jewel of Ville. Like so many Pucks he had been chained there by tradition and law, but it was Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng who helped the Sidhe Queen of Ville’s plan to smuggle him out, the Winter Court that offered a refuge, and it was now that Wangji came to collect on those favors.

Nasir pulled away from the wolf draped across him and immediately stood and bowed.

“Unnecessary,” Wangji said.

Nasir laughed. “Ever the same, Prince Wangji. I take it you are not here with glad tidings?”

He shook his head. “Lotus Pier was fallen. I seek news of Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng.”

“Are they not together?” Nasir asked. A worried look crossed his face, causing the wolf from earlier to stand behind him, a menacing glare thrown Wangji's ways. Mates then. Nasir had found and done the impossible, Curse of the Pucks be damned.

“The Winter King’s husband is missing?” Nasir said, voice shocked.

Wangji stayed silent and still as the news hit Nasir. A streak of curses followed that brought an entire pack of wolves around them.

“Stand down,” Nasir ordered. “He is a friend.”

“He is a Sidhe,” a blonde she-wolf hissed.

“He is of the Winter Court, Saxa,” Nasir explained. “And they offered refuge and care when the Summer Court brought pain and destruction. He brings me news of people I owe my freedom to, and I will gladly help find them, if they are lost.”

“It was the Wens,” Wangji said.

Nasir cursed again. “Were any left standing?”

“All were frozen or burnt to death, at least those who didn’t drown or have lotus blossoms take root and bloom and explode inside them,” he explained.

The mess he’d found at Lotus Pier once his brother returned to the Winter Court had shocked him. The bodies of Jiang Yanli and her husband were still missing. An entire group of Jiang Clan survivors had been found, safe, locked in a protective bubble under the throne room of Lotus Pier. A Yu cousin was leading the survivors now, their own little pocket in the Winter Court, a marriage contract honored even if the Winter King’s husband was gone.

Lan Wangji took a soothing, deep breath. He needed to find Wei Ying. He needed to find Jiang Cheng. And he would, even if he'd have to beg. He would have his family restored.

“I thought Lotus Pier was a warm place,” one of the wolves said, the low light catching on the gleam of his nose-ring. “How does a fire demon freeze to death?”

“The Winter King is far more powerful than people give him credit for,” Nasir explained. “He is kind as a summer, yes, but ruthless when it comes to his family.”

“What does that mean?” the wolf asked.

“It means he called to the water inside of the blood of the attackers and froze them from the inside out,” a ghost, hovering over the wolf’s shoulder, said.

“Holy shit,” the wolf said.

“Indeed,” Wangji agreed. “Have you heard any news? Jiang Cheng would be traveling with a babe, possibly in its pup form.”

And Jiang Cheng, tall, powerful, glowing violet eyes and a frown for miles would stand out with a small child or pup strapped to him. There had to be some gossip out there Wangji could use to find his trail.

“He stole a pup?” one of the wolves roared.

“Peace, Donar,” Nasir said, speaking to a mountain of a wolf. “It is his nephew. Madame Jiang, Wizard Jiang, was mated to a member of the Nie-Jin Pack.” He turned to Wangji. “Would he seek refuge with them? Would they extend it?”

Possibly, but Jiang Cheng had come in through the Southern Seas, at least that’s what he’d heard from the rumors, and that was far removed from the Nie Pack territory. Still, it was a thing to consider.

A commotion at the front door stopped his next words. The entire bar went silent as the warning flames shot up around them, turned black, and then died all at once.

“What the fuck? A Necromancer? Here?”

“Black flames? What do black flames mean?”

“Why does it feel like a Dementor is about to descend?”

“For the last time, Duro, Harry Potter isn’t real.”

“Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan! You’re here!”

Wangji braced himself as Wei Ying barreled through the bar, launching himself into the air and landing in Wangji’s arms.

“I told you my tracking spell and compass would work!” he said, eyes and smile bright.

“That’s a Necromancer?”

“More of a mad scientist,” he heard Nasir explain.

Wangji nearly collapsed with relief at having Wei Ying whole and hale in front of him. There were no wounds he could see, no physical pain he could sense, his eyes glowed briefly, the hidden, powerful red, as his smile relaxed to something softer. He was beautiful and alive and here.

The words were there, on his tongue, words he had yet to say, words his cousins and brother had urged him not to hold back, not anymore.

But those words were selfish now, with the news he had to impart. So he kept them to himself, even as his heart and soul screamed at him to give them voice. Just a little bit longer, he vowed. Just until they found Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling.

“Wei Ying,” he said.

“I know,” Wei Ying said, curling up and resting his head on Wangji’s shoulder. “I know Lotus Pier fell. I was trying to give one last burst of energy, but my magic malfunctioned and dropped me off on Lan Yi’s table. Right on it. Right in the middle of her breakfast. Got syrup in places no one should. My parents found me and told me of the rest.”

“Your brother?” he asked.

Wei Ying lifted his head and frowned. “I’m still searching for him. My compass lit up once, but it was gone in the blink of an eye and his path hidden. He’s always been so good at protection spells, and the water will hide him if he asks it. I’ve been waiting for a reply to come from the Nie Pack, but you know the Alpha Mate can’t stand me.”

Wei Ying had raised an entire pack of dead ancestral Nie Wolves at Rusong’s Naming. It was little wonder Meng Yao wanted Wei Ying far away from his pack, his son, and his home.

“Did you find my sister?” he asked.

“Wei Ying,” Wangji said, sadness in his words.

“She’s not dead,” Wei Ying insisted, his eyes flashing red again, the scent of sulfur briefly in the air. “I would know. My parents would know. She wouldn’t leave us or her son. She’d be a ghost. And she’s not.”

“Her body was not at Lotus Pier. Nor her mate’s,” Wangji said.

“Then Jiang Cheng got them out,” Wei Ying said. “He had to have done it. Sent them off to the Sirens to heal. I know him. He’d do that. He’d sacrifice everything to protect the family.”

He would. He did. He had.

The Sprite approached them, his calming energy soothing the ruffled fur and feathers and feelings of all in the bar.

“Not that we don’t welcome all here who have good hearts and good intentions,” he said.

“Yes, yes, I make people nervous,” Wei Ying said. He slid out of Wangji’s arms and grabbed hold of one of his sleeves. “Lan Zhan, let’s get some food. I’m hungry. And then we can go see our Grand Dames. Can we get some fried dough? It’s so good.”

Wangji nodded to Nasir in acknowledgment as Wei Ying pulled him towards the door. As they passed all the flames came back, the bar started to live and breathe again, the noise returning.

Wangji only had eyes for the Necromancer in front of him, his high ponytail bouncing as he listed all his favorite new foods.

Wangji hadn’t had a reason to smile in many days, but now he allowed himself this one selfish moment of joy.

Wei Ying slung an arm around his shoulder once they were in the streets. “I knew you would find me,” he said. “You always do.”

And all the gods willing, he always would.

#long post #the untamed #verse: journeys #my ridic writing #almost two centuries and he still can't tell his soul mate he's in love with him #wangxian #fandom: the untamed