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floating-mid-air · 3 years

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The Princess Of All Saiyans

Masterlist

Hey guys! Chapter nine is here. And this one is a fun one. As always, I hope you enjoy. And if you have any comments or questions regarding this fic, feel free to let me know.

Also if you've been following this story for a while, then you'd know how inconsistent I am when I post chapters of this story. Sometimes it takes me two weeks to write another chapter, and other times it takes me an entire month. So if you're interested in being notified whenever I post a new chapter, you can join my tag list here.

Chapter 9

Vegeta and Raditz land simultaneously, both Saiyans carefully observing their surroundings. All of the Dragon Balls have remained in place, but that provides very little relief. There isn't a trace of your presence, not a footprint, not even a stray hair. "Y/N!" Raditz shouts at the top of his lungs. This was a severe mistake on his part. For his own sake, Raditz better hope the Ginyu force hasn't heard all of his commotion.

Vegeta paces back and forth, his hands knotted through his hair. "Relax, Vegeta. She couldn't have gotten far." Despite Raditz's calm words, his tone gives him away completely. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that he's just as anxious as Vegeta.

Raditz's advice doesn't seem to calm down the prince even a little. In fact, he only seems to grow more distraught. "Raditz, you don't understand. I never disclosed the location of the Dragon Balls to her."

Raditz furrows his brows at the smaller Saiyan. "What the hell, Vegeta!" Never in his wildest dreams did Raditz ever imagine himself shouting at the prince. He didn't even notice that Gohan and Krillin had joined them. Hopefully, they've picked up bits and pieces of the conversation because neither Saiyan has the patience to deal with their idiocy at the moment. "Just--- What the fuck were you thinking?" Raditz doesn't understand. How can Vegeta go from ordering someone to stay glued to your side at all times to leaving you to fend for yourself on a foreign planet? It's only been a few weeks. How can he have gone through such a drastic change in such a short amount of time?

"If I knew the Ginyu Force was coming, do you think I would've left her alone!" Their bickering is doing nothing to help. In fact, it's probably making the situation worse.

"Alright. How about you both calm down." Krillin decides to jump in and play peacemaker. "Y/N seems more than capable of taking care of herself. We need to focus on the threat. We need to get this over with and summon the dragon before something bad happens."

Both Saiyans turn to the smaller earthling, glaring daggers at him. "Who gives a damn about immortality right now! You don't know the first thing about my sister! So don't stand there all high and mighty and act like you do." Krillin hit a nerve, but it wasn't just in Vegeta.

The earthling wants to revive his friends, but there is something he doesn't understand about Raditz. You've been the faint speck of light in his otherwise shitty world, the only friend the Saiyan has ever had. Even though he stood with his brother, you're still a priority over the resurrection of a handful of puny earthlings.

"Interesting to see where your priorities lie, Geta!" Your legs have been sticking out of your handcrafted shelter the entire time. It's funny to see what details people miss while they're in a state of panic. You lean forward, revealing yourself to the abnormal group. Now your entire body hangs off the mountain.

Four sets of eyes look up at you, all with varying responses present on their features. "Oh, thank god," Vegeta whispers, at an octave low enough only for him to hear. Raditz places a hand on his chest, sighing in relief as Vegeta's features contort in displeasure. "What did I tell you about pulling shit like this? Get your ass down here!"

You jump down, landing in front of the Dragon Balls. This ensures that you maintain a safe distance away from your brother just in case he decides to kill you. "Don't get your panties in a twist."

Vegeta's nostrils flare, complemented with his entire body shaking with rage. "You scared me half to death." You expected a lecture, but he's not even raising his voice. You may have freaked him out more than you originally intended.

Your lips curve upwards. "That sounds like a you problem, big brother." Something is particularly satisfying about throwing his own words in his face.

"I suppose I deserved that." His features soften. "I'm just relieved that you're alright."

Raditz walks over to you, slinging an arm around your shoulders. "Well, what did I do to deserve that scare?"

"Collateral damage Raditz. Call it a happy accident."

"Enough of the chit-chat. Now let's---" Vegeta cuts himself off as you all lookup. You can sense the Ginyu Force, and they're heading straight for you. You grab Raditz, pulling him into the homemade cave. The others were facing the Dragon Balls. There would've been no time for them to get up here as well. Your higher altitude could be used to your advantage since you'll have the element of surprise.

It's a bit cramped, but when you created the cave. You never expected to share the space with a Saiyan of Raditz's size. He takes up more space than you and Vegeta combined. You both watch the Ginyu Force land in front of a trembling Gohan, a frozen Krillin, and an aloof Vegeta. You really hope the Genius Force doesn't do those god-awful poses. You've already been traumatized enough for the week.

You decide to keep a close eye on Captain Ginyu, who is currently exchanging pleasantries with your brother. Well, as pleasant as it can get for two beings who are about to murder each other in cold blood. Followed by murmurings from various members of the Ginyu Force and Recoome's delayed laughter. "Just hand over the Dragon Balls, Vegeta. No need to make this any harder than it has to be." Vegeta's posture remains stiff. It's clear your brother isn't going to budge. Their little group is going to have to pry that orb from his dead body. "Come on, Vegeta, be a sport. We already have five." He gestures to the spheres behind him. That means Frieza will have five. Can you really trust those neanderthals to hold onto their Dragon Balls? No, you were raised to trust no one's capabilities but your own, not even Vegeta's.

Jeice looks around, his green eyes scanning around the area. "Where's that gorgeous sister of yours, Vegeta?"

Vegeta glares at the red man. "Even if my sister was here. I doubt she'd be interested, Jeice. I mean, she never has been." Oh, your brother knows all about your history with the mutant Brench-seijin. He's overly flirty, and you reject him. It was a vicious never-ending cycle. If Vegeta had no self-control, he would've murdered him years ago for even looking in your direction. In his eyes, Jeice is unworthy of a woman of your status.

"Well, with Raditz out of the picture, there's no chance for Saiyan offspring. So I figured I'd shoot my shot." You cringe. You're not sure which idea is more repulsive, a relationship with Jeice or procreating with Raditz.

"Even if you were the last man in the universe. My sister wouldn't so much as glance in your direction." Vegeta and Jeice continue going back and forth as an idea pops in your head. This may be your only opportunity to get your hands on a Dragon Ball. You're only chance to put a fork in Frieza's plans for immortality.

You silently climb out of the cave, dropping to the ground. The others can unmistakably see you, but they make no expressions alerting the Ginyu Force of your presence. You grab the closest orb before promptly flying back to the cave. Call this your insurance policy for when Krillin and Vegeta ultimately screw up. You escaped that entirely undetected. Is the term elite just thrown around loosely in the Frieza Force? Because that's what you're starting to think.

You hand the Dragon Ball to Raditz, directing your gaze back outside. "Those scouters of yours can't detect Dragon Balls, can they?" It was a rhetorical question. Vegeta knows they don't have that type of technology yet. You know how your brother thinks, and this is a faulty plan on his part. "Then you lose!" Vegeta pivots, launching the ball at an alarming speed. It would be a fatal blow to the head if it hit someone.

Burter takes off, chasing after the orb. He flips in the air, catching the ball with ease. You swear, Vegeta can be such a dumbass sometimes. He knows Burter rivals you in speed. He may even be a bit faster than you.

You shake your head, turning to Raditz, lowering your voice to a whisper. "Here's the plan. When I formulate a distraction, you're going to take the Dragon Ball and get the hell out of here. And Raditz, go hide the damn thing, somewhere no one will find it." He grins from ear to ear, causing you to glare at him. You know how this moron thinks by now. "And do not hide it with that Earth woman. That will just get her killed."

"What if that's my intention?"

"I don't think little brother Kakarot would be very pleased with you, but it's your call." You stand in silence for a moment, your piercing gaze lingering on the Saiyan. "Though, I can assure you. If Frieza gets his hands on that Dragon Ball. I'll kill you. In the most graphic and painful way, I can imagine." He gulps nervously, rapidly shaking his head in understanding. To Raditz, you're the only life form that can still sound menacing while whispering.

You revert your vision back to the little gathering outside. And as you assumed, Krillin lost his Dragon Ball as well. Ginyu decides to take Vegeta for himself, which doesn't go over well with his team. They're acting like a bunch of children. It's almost comical. "Fine." The Captain sighs. "I'll take the Dragon Balls back to Lord Frieza. You all can sort this out amongst yourselves." They chant Ginyu's name a few times. They kinda remind you of a cult.

The four lower members of the Ginyu force move to stand in a circle. "So the winner gets Vegeta. And for second place---" Guldo is cut off by Recoome.

"The rest. Make the two runts a set. Together they'll be more equal to Vegeta." Oh, that can't be going over well with your brother. The fact that Recoome would declare that those two are his equals must be sending his blood pressure through the roof.

They begin playing rock paper scissors. This must be how they decide their battles. It's like a game to them. Every single match ends in a draw. At this rate, you could be stuck up here forever.

You doze off until you hear Recoome cheering. The endless match must have finally ceased. "Ya! I get Vegeta!" Fate can be an amusing thing sometimes. Vegeta must be ecstatic, getting to show the moron just how much stronger he is than those pathetic runts.

"Of course, I'm stuck with the runts." Guldo wines. He's the last creature who should be referring to anyone as a runt. You could squash that little freak like a bug.

Ginyu approaches the Dragon Balls, picking them up with his telekinesis. He counts them before snapping his head toward the dumbest member of the Ginyu Force. "Recoome! There's only four here!"

Recoome scratches the back of his neck, that classic confused look on his face. "I'm sorry, Captain Ginyu. I thought I counted five."

Jeice turns to his superior. "I told you we shouldn't have trusted him with counting the Dragon Balls."

The Captain takes a deep breath, attempting to keep his composure. "It doesn't matter. I'll search for the missing Dragon Ball. It's probably with Y/N anyway." He takes off, heading in the direction of Frieza's ship. Well, that takes out your major concern. The others are child's play compared to Ginyu.

You pay minimum attention to Guldo's battle with Krillin and Gohan. You're more focused on finding an opening for a distraction. You begin to notice significant holes in their fight. Guldo will be in one area and then magically appear in another, and he's not teleporting. If he was, you would've been able to track his movements. Could the rumors about that green freak be true? Can he really pause time? They must be. That's the only feasible explanation. So under the assumption that Guldo can stop time, the earthlings don't even stand a chance. No matter what they do, that four-eyed freak will always remain one step ahead of them.

You do, however, pick up on something. Guldo appears to hold his breath before every skip in time. That must be a limitation in his abilities to pause time. So if those two can somehow prevent him from holding his breath, they should be able to best him. You know what, scratch that. Those two probably haven't picked up on his abnormal behaviors.

Though, the earthlings do appear to have the advantage at the moment. And the rest of the Ginyu Force won't let Guldo forget it. They're heckling him so loud that you can hear them clearly from all the way up here. Guldo's kinda like the Raditz of the group, just a lot less respected.

Guldo tosses the pair up into the air as a strange yellow light surrounds them. He's claiming it's a paralysis attack. That doesn't sound good for the earthlings.

Krillin and Gohan struggle almost as if they were trapped in invisible bindings. As far as you can tell, they're immobile. If Guldo felt the need to resort to such dire tactics, he must think that he can't take out the pair any other way. So when the earthling and the half-breed combine their strength, they're mightier than Guldo. That's quite impressive considering how weak they were back on Earth.

"Now I'm gonna show you what happens when you embarrass me in front of the boys." You clench your fists, your nails digging into your palms, as you watch Guldo intently. As much as you hate to admit it, you're going to need those two runts. So if Guldo were to kill them, it would be very unfavorable. He uses another mind trick to pull a tree from the ground, using the bottom end as a makeshift spear. He points the weapon at the pair, taunting them. He's gonna impale them with a fucking stick. What a pathetic way to go.

You do wonder why Vegeta hasn't intervened yet. He's never played by their rules before. So what's stopping him now? Your brother may simply believe that Gohan and Krillin deserve to die. For not adhering to his warning regarding the weakest link of the Ginyu Force. It's not below Vegeta to be that petty. You can't blame him though, those two fools have no sense of self-control.

The slimy green creature's obnoxious cackling invades your ears. Honestly, Guldo's just pissing you off more than he was before.

Amidst the chaos, you jump out of the cave, flying a bit to distance yourself from suspicion. You shoot a purple beam at Guldo, efficiently decapitating him. Raditz seems to have gotten the message since he checked out with the Dragon Ball sometime during the commotion. He better hide that thing somewhere safe because his life depends on it.

"Did you really think I'd let a creature as pathetic as Guldo kill anything with a drop of Saiyan blood!" Your voice booms causing all eyes to land on you. You place a hand on your chest, fixating your gaze on the Ginyu Force. "I'm hurt that you didn't include me in your little game."

"Oh, our apologies Y/N." Jeice's thick accent invades your ears. "We should have assumed. Wherever Vegeta is, you're always somewhere nearby."

You swear you can hear faint grumbling. You just can't quite locate the source. Your eyes scan over the ground until you discover the origin of the sound. Long story short, it was Guldo's severed head. So his species can survive decapitation, good to know. "Defeated by a damn Saiyan. And the weaker one at that." You could run circles around that little freak. If you went head to head, he wouldn't even be considered a challenge. Guldo's giving himself far too much credit.

Vegeta chuckles darkly. "Well, don't worry." He strides over to the talking head. "You won't have to deal with that shame for long." Vegeta finishes the job, eliminating that embarrassment of the group of supposed elite warriors.

The three remaining members complain about Guldo's demise, but it's not for the reason you may think. They're more upset about the impact his absence will have on their ridiculous pose. You wish you could say you were surprised, but you've known those idiots far too long to believe anything else.

The half-breed and earthling walk over to you, identical expressions of gratitude apparent on their faces. "We owe you one, Y/N." You roll your eyes at Krillin. It was a simple business decision. And it was nothing more than that.

Gohan nods in agreement. "Ya, thanks." You cringe at his gratitude. Why are they thanking you? You killed Guldo for your own selfish reasons.

"Your lives had nothing to do with it." Well, at least Krillin's. If Guldo did kill the half-breed, it would've been an embarrassment to your entire race in hell. "I needed a distraction. I saw an opportunity."

"She's right, so pull yourselves together. Your lives are incredibly insignificant to us." Vegeta's lying. Your brother knows you need them. He's just far too prideful to admit it.

Burter turns to Jeice, morphing his hands to prepare for another excruciating match of rock paper scissors. "Alright, Jeice. Winner gets the Princess, and the loser gets stuck with the two runts."

Jeice shakes his head. "No, Y/N's all yours." He turns to you, his green eyes meeting your own. "I could never lay a hand on a lady as fine as the Princess." You suppress a gag, deciding to keep your mouth shut. If you were to respond, there's a good chance you could end up fighting both of them.

Burter furrows his brows at his comrade. "Are you sure?"

"Ya, go crazy, Burter." It's actually a reasonable match-up. You and Burter both have incredible speed. I guess you'll finally find out who's faster.

Now with Guldo out of the picture, it's Recoome's turn to fight Vegeta. He reminds you a bit of Nappa. Since he lacks any form of self-control. His punches at your brother are erratic. He even almost hits you, Krillin, and Gohan several times. If Recoome were to hit Krillin with that kind of force, there's no doubt in your mind that it would be a fatal blow.

"Don't go killin them all yourself!" Jeice is second in command to Ginyu, so his authority over Recoome makes sense. "I get the two runts, and Burter get's the Princess of the monkeys." One minute Jeice is flirting with you. The next, he's demeaning you. Talk about mixed signals.

You watch Recoome and Vegeta trade punches, and it's starting to lack any value of entertainment. Vegeta's covered in blood while Recoome's armor is chipped, and he's now missing tufts of hair.

You begin to grow impatient. This will be the first time you've been challenged in a while. "Yo, Burter! Let's just get this over with now. We'll make this battle a double feature."

"Fine with me." The two of you distance yourselves from Recoome and Vegeta, commencing your battle as well.

Their gazes flicker back and forth between both battles. They were so enthralled in the action that neither Gohan nor Krillin noticed that Raditz had joined them.

Gohan and Krillin stick to the sidelines. They're in no hurry to fight Jeice. Even though he's significantly smaller than Recoome and Burter, Krillin doesn't think Jeice's smaller size will give them any sort of advantage.

"Raditz?" Jeice looks far from pleased. He's always been jealous of the Saiyan. Not for his strength, rather the envy stems from Raditz's luscious mane of hair. It took Jeice several years to grow his hair to an adequate length, while that fool was born with that full head of hair. Raditz meets his gaze, an arrogant smirk overtaking his features. As he waves at the green-eyed man mockingly. "But--- Y/N said you ran off!"

Mid-battle, you turn to Jeice. Without even looking, you still manage to keep up with Burter. "I'm a compulsive liar, Jeice! It's a nasty habit."

Jeice huffs, crossing his arms at the largest Saiyan. "Raditz is mine. I'm throwing him in with the two runts." A chuckle escapes your lips. He's underestimating what the three of them could accomplish together. Jeice is letting his own petty feelings cloud his judgment. How arrogant.

Krillin's brows furrow as his eyes linger on you. There's something that isn't quite adding up. He turns to Raditz and Gohan, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Hey, guys. I've been thinking about something. Remember back on Earth how Vegeta said that Saiyans get stronger after battle. Well, Vegeta's gotten stronger after several fights, but do you see Y/N? She's still able to effortlessly keep up. Even though she's barely lifted a finger. How is that possible?" The earthling's eyes widen as the gears begin to shift in his head. "Unless. Is she stronger---"

Raditz's hand covers Krillin's mouth, lowering his voice to a deadly whisper. "Silence, you earthling. Keep that big mouth of yours shut."

Krillin's teeth sink into his captor's hand, successfully freeing himself from the Saiyan's clutches. Several muffled phrases of obscenity escape Raditz's lips as he rapidly shakes his hand in an attempt to soothe the pain. "She is. Isn't she?" The look on Raditz's face told Krillin all he needed to know. "But you knew that already, and I bet you know why too. I wonder how Vegeta would feel about this?" His last sentence was clearly a passive-aggressive threat toward both you and Raditz. The earthling wouldn't be dumb enough to follow through with that threat, would he?

Raditz scowls at Krillin. How dare this pathetic little weasel attempt to threaten him. "Not a word to Vegeta. If you value your life. I'd stop talking now. Vegeta doesn't know, and it would be very unfavorable if he found out, for all of us." His tone shifts, his eyes flashing with vulnerability. "Something bad happened to us as children, and Vegeta still doesn't know about it." He returns to his menacing demeanor, your shared childhood trauma getting pushed to the back of his mind becoming yet again a distant memory. "So you will stop your absurd thoughts now. Or I can assure you. The second you resurrect your feeble friends, I will single-handedly slaughter them, and then you will follow." Krillin gulps, nodding in fear. He better pray Vegeta heard none of their conversations because he has a feeling Raditz will stick to his word.

Raditz thinks he knows all your secrets, but he's only aware of the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface lies pain and suffering the older Saiyan could never imagine from you. You keep these secrets to protect him, to protect Vegeta, and most importantly, to protect yourself. But if either of them were to find out the truth, your life as you know it would come crashing down. If they were to find out your greatest shame, your pride would be in shambles, and they would know the truth. You're just a weak Saiyan who's an embarrassment to her family name.

You're not exactly sure how much time has passed. You've completely blocked out the entirety of your surroundings, remaining focused on your battle with Burter. You can't joke around as you did back on Earth. There's no room for error today.

The two of you take turns beating the absolute hell out of each other. If you keep this up, there will be no end to this anytime soon. You shriek, spiking up your energy substantially. Burter's eyes bug out as his scouter explodes. Those pieces of junk are really no match to this energy-sensing technique.

Even though you've blocked out your surroundings, you know the two of you have moved a significant distance away from the others. You could even be on the other side of the planet by now. In the back of your mind, you can't help but worry about your brother especially, now that you're so far away. Recoome may be an idiot, but he's a strong one. You have to remain focused. You can't help Vegeta if you don't help yourself first.

You begin to get the edge over Burter. Now he's attempting to block your attacks, but due to his large size, he's failing horribly. A couple more blows, and you'll finally be able to knock him down. You've taken down guys much larger than Burter, creatures who were triple his size.

Over the years, you've learned to use your smaller size to your advantage. Making your opponent's sheer size more of a nuisance than a strength. Burter begins to struggle further. He's now barely able to keep up with you. "I'm the fastest being in the universe! How can one of you monkeys be faster than me?" You scowl at him, finding no humor in his statement as rage boils inside of you.

Unknown to you, you and Burter aren't alone. Goku has been watching your battle in awe for quite some time now. He knows he should've left to find the others, but he just couldn't help it. He can't take his eyes off of you. This is the first time he's seen you fight, and you're much stronger than the Earthbound Saiyan believed.

Your fists clench as your entire body convulses in rage. It's not often you'll lose your temper like this. Goku swears that he saw your irises flash a shade of red. He rubs his eyes, glancing back at you. Your eyes have returned to normal. Maybe Goku is just seeing things. If you knew someone was watching, you would've kept your temper in check.

Burter sends a blast of your energy your way. Which you dodge by teleporting behind him. You use all of your body weight to knock him down to the ground. You won't mock him like you typically do after defeating a foe. You won't take the chance of giving him an opening to strike back. In the palm of your hand, you create an orb of energy, disintegrating his head. Successfully, taking out your second member of the great Ginyu Force.

You fall to your knees, desperately gasping for air, before grabbing your side, wincing in excruciating pain. Damn, Burter must have nicked you good. You look to your side, noticing just how much blood has leaked through your armor. This is gonna be an issue, though you've fought through worse. You stand back up to check your body for any further damage. There seems to be no other physical damage to your form. Your armor is a bit ripped, though.

"Wow! You're really strong." You gasp, moving your fist, aiming it at whoever is in front of you. They swiftly catch your fist, preventing you from attacking. Their grip is secure enough to stop you from escaping, yet at the same time pleasantly gentle.

You move your gaze upwards, finally gathering the courage to look them in the eye. Your brows furrow as Goku's dumb face enters your field of vision. "God, Kakarot! When the hell did you get here?" You shake yourself out of his grasp, taking a few steps back, putting some distance between you two.

"A while ago." He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "I got distracted by your fight." So he was observing you the whole time. Why does that make you feel incredibly self-conscious?

"Of course you did." You sigh, moving several strands of hair out of your face. Goku steps closer to you, bringing his hand to meet your forehead. It's so big that it takes up the entirety of your forehead and even the top of your head. "Kakarot. What the hell are you doing?"

"Just be quiet for a second." It's official. Goku has lost what was left of his mind. "So it is true. You guys are working together. And that Frieza guy is a much bigger deal than I thought." How does he know about all of that? And why is he still touching you?

You slap his arm, convincing him to remove his hand. "And why's that?"

"Because you're afraid of him."

Your face flushes. "I'm not scared of Frieza. I'm not afraid of anything." Your cross your arm, averting his gaze.

"Yes, you are." He pouts. "I saw it." Kakarot saw it? How the hell--- Did Kakarot acquire the ability to read thoughts? Is that even possible?

You decide to divert his mind from his accusations. Knowing Kakaort, that shouldn't be hard at all. "Since when can you read minds?"

He rubs his chin, lost deep in thought. "I don't know--- I just had a feeling."

"Well, let's go. And new rule." You bring your hand up, pointing your index finger at the buffoon. "Stay out of my thoughts!"

He holds up his hands in surrender, nodding. "Are we gonna go find that Captain Ginyu guy?"

"No. We have to go make sure that Recoome and Jeice haven't killed the others first. Don't bite off more than you can chew." Goku has this aura around him. You can tell he's gotten stronger. He just needs to learn how to get his priorities in order.

Okay. All you have to do is pin down someone's energy. There are at least four sources to choose from, so this should be fairly simple. You shut your eyes. This should help you concentrate adequately.

"Ohh, what's that?"

Your head snaps toward Goku. "What?" You swear the man has an attention span equivalent of an insect.

He bends down, observing the ground intently. "It's like a green string."

"A green--- Kakarot! Don't!" But you were too late. He's already yanked the tripwire.

The ground concaves beneath you, causing you to lose your footing as the two of you fall down into the pit. You fall on top of Goku. Unintentionally straddling the Saiyan. And if you thought this situation couldn't get any more awkward, you'd be wrong. Goku's arms are wrapped securely around your waist, holding you in place. Your heart feels like it's beating out of your chest. And your face feels like it's been set aflame. As your eyes lock, your face only turns a deeper shade of crimson. "D-Don't touch me!" You're stuttering. What the hell is happening to you?

His brows furrow. "You're the one who fell on top of me!"

"It's not my fault." His classic pout spreads across his lips. "How was I supposed to know that the ground would collapse?"

"W-Well, you're the reason we're in this mess!" You stand up, wanting to get as far away from Goku as possible. You don't like the way you feel around him. The only time your pulse should be racing like this is during combat.

"Well, it wouldn't be called a trap if you could see it!"

"I don't get why you're so mad. Can't we just fly out?"

You snicker as your lips curve upward. "Give it a shot, Kakarot." You know it won't work, but at least his failures will provide you with some quality entertainment. It would be a pretty pathetic trap if you could simply fly out. Goku flies up, slamming his head on the invisible barrier. You break out into a fit of laughter as he falls back down. Goku jumps back up, rubbing the back of his head. "Ouch. Did you know that would happen?" Your giggling dies down as Goku begins looking around the hole. "How did this place even get here? Is this Frieza's work?"

"No. It's definitely the work of the Namekians. Frieza wouldn't be able to formulate something so elaborate in the amount of time he's had. Besides that dictator never does any of his own dirty work."

"Well, let's just sit back and relax. I'm sure we'll be fine. Someone will have to find us eventually." He has such a laid-back attitude. Maybe another alien baby crash-landed on Earth. Because with every second that passes, you're finding it harder to believe that Goku has Saiyan ancestry.

"Oh, ya, let's just relax." You mock him. "While the others are probably getting chopped up into little pieces by the remnants of the Ginyu Force as we speak!"

"Why are you always so negative?" Is he serious? Do you have to spell out why this is potentially a very dire situation? You'd think he would show more concern for his son.

Your hands meet the sides of your head. You're practically yanking your hair out at this point. To say you're frustrated would be an understatement. "God, why am I constantly getting trapped in enclosed spaces with your idiotic bloodline! First, it was your spawn, then it was your moronic brother, and now I'm stuck with you. And you're somehow the worst of them all!" Goku just stands in front of you like a statue with that goofy smile plastered on his face. "And stop smiling when I yell at you!"

Being stuck down here with Kakarot will be the ultimate test of your willpower----

Will the others make it to Y/N and Goku in time? Or will Y/N kill Goku before they even get the chance? Find out in the next chapter of The Princess of All Saiyans!

#goku #goku x reader #saiyan reader #vegeta #vegeta's sister #dbz fanfiction #dbz x reader #dragon ball x reader #dragon ball z #The Princess of All Sayians

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ckret2 · 3 years

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GVK spoilers below, about conspiracy theories

I’m gonna get around to posting all my GVK reactions but this one got long so I’m putting it in its own post.

The Monsterverse series, in both KOTM and GVK, has some pretty interesting things to say about conspiracy theories and ecofascism; but, unfortunately, it doesn’t REALIZE that it’s saying any of them, so it keeps dropping the ball and missing opportunities to explore them.

Starting with KOTM, “there’s too many humans so we’ve just gotta let some die and that’ll fix pollution 🤷” is like false ecofascist claim #1 but at no point in the movie was it challenged as unfactual, it was just presented as a sad truth that people have to do morally ambiguous things about. Except that it’s just literally mathematically not true!

Emma could be such a GREAT, believable character—especially in this world with, like, frigging QAnon nonsense getting such widespread traction—showing a compelling, realistic tragedy of how this normal, intelligent, well-educated white mom who otherwise is likely left-leaning (pro-environmentalism, pro-nature conservation, got a doctorate and generally more academia correlates with more liberal ideals) got sucked into a far right ecofascist doomsday militia that combines hokey pseudo-environmentalist propaganda with “in balance with nature” semi-religious mysticism, because she was exploited at a time when she was emotionally vulnerable (when her kid had just died) and was lacking healthy emotional support (when her husband turned to alcohol and then ran off).

... Except the movie never says that her “overpopulation” beliefs are WRONG. It says that they’re RIGHT, and she was just forced to choose between two losing scenarios—deliberately kill most of humanity to hopefully save a few, or watch humanity kill itself.

Nobody bothers to mention that the size of the population isn’t the problem, it’s the disproportionate pollution coming out of first world countries. Nobody bothers to mention that when Emma talks about “overpopulation” and shows a screenshot of an overcrowded neighborhood, it ain’t affluent downtown skyscraper condos in Europe or America that she’s highlighting, but large masses of poor people whose neighborhoods look “dirty” to the white woman’s eyes, despite the fact that they’re contributing the least to humanity’s carbon footprint.

Emma’s beliefs are empirically wrong, and if KOTM had ever demonstrated that, it would’ve been brilliant. Instead, it tries to say “she was right, she just went too far,” and in doing so loses an opportunity to make Emma a deeply believable, timely, realistic, well-meaning but wrong villain.

And now we’ve got GVK, which has swerved away from the ecofascism but doubled down on the conspiracy theories. Here, Emma’s daughter, who was raised for five years with what amounts to a survivalist doomsday cult’s beliefs, when faced with the grief of her mother’s death and the struggle of trying to reconnect to her estranged father, turns—again—to conspiracies to make sense of the world around her. Because that’s what Madison’s been raised with, and even though she got disillusioned with the particular “we know something special that the normal people can’t handle” beliefs that she was raised with, that kind of thinking is still what she knows. She’s still doing what her mother raised her to do! She’s still pulling the “hypercompetent highly-trained lone wolf ‘survivor’ saves the world” shtick that Jonah’s gang taught her to do—but it’s never brought up that it was screwed up to raise a child like that and it’s screwed up for her to still be interacting with the world like that.

At least THIS conspiracy theorist isn’t literally advocating for global genocide. Bernie’s focus largely seems to be on “this corporation is trying to screw people over and screw up the environment—” (because in Monsterverse, as in Toho monster movies as a whole, kaiju/titans and the environment are symbolically conflated, so if a corporation is messing with Godzilla then they’re messing with nature as well) “—so I’m gonna find out what they’re up to and be a whistleblower.” Which is great! Solid start! We’ve got a guy taking aim at big business and who says “when the weather Godzilla acts erratic, it’s not random chance, it’s because a big business is doing something it shouldn’t,” so it looks like we’ve got a leftist conspiracy theorist, that’s different, could be interesting to explore.

Except then he starts talking about governments serving a “global elite” and facilities built by “lizard people” and then we’ve swung right back around to the far right by casually dropping in a couple of antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Add that in with the whole “hollow earth” thing and damn, we’re namedropping a lot of antisemitic conspiracy theories, aren’t we? Granted, most conspiracy theories ARE antisemitic—but like, they could have dug around for some that aren’t. Have him talk some more about Roswell. Have him bring up things that we’ve actually got documentation happened and theorize that MKUltra research was used in Apex’s development of their pilot’s psychic mind link to Mechagodzilla. Have him bring up tailor-made-for-the-Monsterverse conspiracy theories that don’t exist here, “Monster Zero is actually the secret weapon of a nearby ‘Planet X’ that’s gonna invade,” whatever. Instead, nah, we went with the antisemitic ones.

Now, do I think the writers behind KOTM and GVK intended antisemitism? Do I think they’re closet alt-right trying to dogwhistle the fascists in the audience? No, I think they think they’re making fun of—or playing around with—what they see as harmless, unbelievable, way-out-there conspiracy theories. I think they know just enough about “hollow earth” and “global elites” and “lizard people” to make references to them, but not in a way that promotes the common antisemitic understanding of those theories as true. (Monsterverse’s hollow earth, a weird underground jungle where King Kong lives, sure doesn’t resemble the usual conspiracy theory.) To me, the way they were used suggests the writers didn’t deeply understand (or at least, didn’t deeply think about) what the theories really mean—nor what they imply about the beliefs of the characters who espouse them. Which is the crux of my issue with how the movies deal with conspiracy theories and ecofascists and so forth (beyond the fact that, hey, I just don’t like seeing likable characters casually referencing antisemitic beliefs): the writers didn’t think about the implications.

Because these things do imply a lot! For example, if, say, Josh, total newb to conspiracy theories, had asked about lizard people, I would have grimaced to hear it but I would have believed that he’s a teen boy that picked up the term at school and doesn’t know anything about what’s behind it. But on the other hand, I can’t believe a guy so deep in the conspiracy theory world that he bathes in bleach doesn’t know exactly what those conspiracies mean—or, even if he does somehow staunchly refuse to believe that “lizard people” is a code for “Jewish people,” that whatever circle of conspiracy theorists he runs with doesn’t use it as a code. Bernie didn’t pick up those beliefs in a void. I really doubt that’s what the writers wanted to imply about the goofy likable underdog with a podcast.

And sure, the “global elite” and “lizard people” references are presented like a “haha look how far out his beliefs are” joke—the same as the fluoride reference, which is basically Hollywood code for “bogus nonsense only complete lunatics believe” thanks to Dr. Strangelove—but at the same time, they’re never really disproven. Nothing he believes is challenged. Nor are any of Madison’s beliefs that she’s picked up from him. Everything they both believe is either a “wow that’s wild” throwaway joke, or else they’re presented as totally right, e.g. about Apex being up to dubious crap that’s irritating Godzilla.

Just like Emma, who was presented as in the wrong not because she was incorrect but because she WAS correct but took the wrong actions. And just like Rick in KOTM, who kept bring up the hollow earth theory like a running joke but then the joke was that he was right.

And that’s at the root of the issues with both movies’ portrayals of conspiracy theories. Aside from the jokes that are never explored (and therefore, never disproven), the movies say that, every time it matters, the conspiracy theorists on the fringe are correct, the heroes that need to be believed. Even though all (excluding Rick) are characters who have suffered deep loss, who have been hurt, who you can imagine as passionate but grieving people who turned to dangerously wrong extremism in their search for meaning... the movies don’t portray them as people who have been led astray by their pain, but enlightened by their pain. Which is what they themselves think they are, sure, but that doesn’t line up with reality.

The movies never forces them to grapple with how far they’ve gone astray from reality—and I think they should. I’d like to see them processing the revelation that their beliefs are wrong. Whether it’s as big as somebody trying to convince Emma that killing half the population doesn’t fix the pollution caused by corporations rich enough to weather a global hurricane, or as small as Bernie looking at Apex’s financial records and realizing the company’s money is going to the CEO’s vacation home rather than a reptile government and deciding to rethink those beliefs after they’ve checked out Hong Kong.

“Conspiracy theorist is right about everything” is already a common enough trope that Monsterverse isn’t breaking any new ground with it. And in a franchise like Godzilla, whose movies are rife with messages both allegorical and literal about environmentalism, corporate exploitation, the futility of military action, international politics, war crimes... letting the conspiracy theorists be wrong and showing that they’re wrong and what that wrongness can lead to would mesh far better with the themes of Godzilla.

Think about Jonah and Emma unleashing Ghidorah (who emerged from a destroyed ice cap and immediately caused devastating hurricanes—a perfect metaphor for climate change), and what that could say about how ecofascists who purportedly joined the movement because they support environmentalism are actually far more in bed with the destructive industries really at the root of environmental damage... if the movie acknowledged them as ecofascists.

Think about how Jonah collected Ghidorah’s head at the end of KOTM and by the time of GVK it was in Apex’s hands, and how this exchange demonstrates that “I want to unleash titans to destroy humanity to save the environment” Jonah the ecoterrorist and “I want to beat the titans to protect humanity” Simmons the billionaire CEO actually have far more similar ideals beneath the surface of their opposed goals—ideals that have less to do with the environment or with humanity and more to do with securing personal power and control... if the movie had explained how this exchange took place.

Think about how Madison’s mother died trying to mitigate just a little of the damage she did under the thrall of a doomsday cult’s skewed beliefs, how even though Madison broke free she found herself embroiled in similarly skewed beliefs just three years later, and how powerful it would have been if she recognized that she herself had walked right back into the kind of fringe beliefs her mother had led her into as a child, and if she had then resolved to learn how this kept happening to her and break this pattern... if the movie had ever let her realize that she was making the same mistakes, or even acknowledged them as mistakes.

There’s so much potential there, so many things you can see happening right beneath the surface... but the movies never touch on them. And so it looks like, in Monsterverse, all fringe beliefs are either right or harmless. And we never get the “disillusioned conspiracy theorist” story that could be so brilliant and that, right now, would be so relevant.

#gvk #godzilla vs kong #gvk spoilers #godzilla vs kong spoilers #godzilla #kotm #meta

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baebeyza · 3 years

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Unpopular Opinion: Optimus Prime isn't a very good person and that he's too glorified. (expect TFA Optimus)

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

What can I say except that there are many, many Optimus'/Convoy's out there and making a general opinion on them just doesn't work.

But I couldn't think of any Optimus I experienced who wasn't deep down a good person - lets make a roll call shall we? (includes all shows except RB and RBA + Bayverse)

G1 Optimus Prime - Good person, good leader, good father figure. Is forgiving towards wrong-doers without being a pushover. Couldn't think of anything he does that is sketchy

Beast Wars Optimus Primal - He has a harsh personality, hits Rattrap on the back of his head when the Rat talks bullshit and can get feral against his own teammates when they are being assholes like Depth Charge - but all in all, he is still a good leader and a good person. He simply has a more down-to-earth personality and a no-bullshit attitude.

He only ever reacts angrily because his team do stupid and jerkass stuff, but he is never unreasonable.

When he gets angry, you know why and you get why.

Also, he gave Dinobot a chance as a Maximal two times, so he too has a forgiving nature. And his dynamic with Depth Charge shows that he isn't petty either. ("I don't like him much either, but he's still a Maximal.")

He also had a nice moment with Blackarachnia in which he assures her they won't do anything about her coding against her will and that she is safe with them.

Beast Wars II Lio Convoy - The only thing you could call him out for is for refusing the father role when he found out he has a son. It took him half the show to actually call Lio Junior his son, but it made for a nice story! Also, he was willing to make peace with Galvatron in the show, showing his forgiving nature.

Beast Wars Neo Big Convoy - The shy and awkward one! He's a treat who learns to become a good teacher and leader with the help of his students, and he had this moment in which he tried to save Magmatron's life from Unicron. He is a hero with a strong sense of justice who needed to learn about proper teamwork and friendship and it's a really simple and sweet story.

Beast Machines Optimus Primal - This dude is such a trainwreck and I cannot in good conscious say he was always on the right side of things, I admit that.

The way the show treated the Vehicons was a little sketchy, because the Maximals technically became hypocrits, especially when it was about Silverbolt.

Forcing the "techno-organic is the real way to be" unto the non-organic characters feels a little weird, because the show never properly showed us why being without an organic side is supposed to be so bad. (And this matters because the good vs evil conflict isn't properly connected to the techno vs organic plot).

So this Oppy you can make the point that he isn't all that good as he pretends to be in his preachy cult leader role.

RiD01 Optimus Prime/Fire Convoy - Listen, this is the most naive and cute Optimus out there. This dude was willing to let Decepticons into their base just because they were like "We are good now :)" without even checking first.

His dynamic with his jerkass twin Magnus supports that - he doesn't want to fight his brother! The dude fucking pushes him off a cliff and he still tries to reason with him and doesn't fight back at all!

Don't you ever dare call this Prime a bad person, he's precious! xD

Armada Optimus Prime/Convoy - This is the dude who goes fucking feral at the end and shows just how much hatred and anger a Prime can store - but really just towards the end! The rest of the show he's your typical leader who doesn't do anything bad.

And when he made mistakes, he corrected them.

The fact that he always had this hatred and rage that he pushed aside all the time is the most interesting thing about this Prime, but even that doesn't make him a secretely bad person, because he still doesn't do anything bad. He's just an angry boi.

Energon Optimus Prime/Grand Convoy - This is technically the same Prime as Armada, and for once that shows - that anger Prime showed at the end of Armada is still present here and shows up a few times, especially when it's about Unicron.

But just like in Armada, he doesn't do anything bad.

He even tries to save Shockblast, the jerkiest jerk of the entire show, from Unicron's influence! And did just that with Galvatron at the end as well with the full intend to sacrifise himself to save everyone, including the Cons.

Cybertron Optimus Prime/Galaxy Convoy - My favourite Prime of them all - this Prime is just a damn Papa Bear! He will be considerate and loving towards his men, but if you bully his kids, you'll catch his hands bro.

He's bit a stoic dude, but shows compassion and kindness when he needs to.

He doesn't do anything sketchy either, and lets the few remaining Cons be part of the Transformers society in the end, despite their misdeeds before.

TFA Optimus Prime - The one you say is the only good Prime? Guess so, he's a good person as well! He makes mistakes (like insulting his team) but learns and grows from them.

But mate - he isn't a better person than any of the other Prime's I just listed. The only difference between TFA Prime and the other Primes so far is that TFA Prime is a narrative underdog who you are supposed to feel pity for.

All the other Prime's are leaders in a leader role, so just from a narrative standpoint, you don't feel the same sympathy for them as you do for TFA Prime.

But being an underdog doesn't translate to being a better person. The Joker in the Joker movie is also an underdog, but no one says he's a good person and that everything he does in this movie is justified.

TFA Prime just goes through more harsh shit that isn't Megatron and that's it. He isn't being a better hero or person for that.

TFP Optimus Prime - Yeah, I saw the opinion that him being too forgiving towards Megatron in the past is a flaw and that he cares more about this one silver shark more than about the safety of the universe - to which I say: WHEN???

This is a thing Ratchet accuses him off! But I couldn't remember a single scene in this show in which Optimus does, in fact, let Megatron go when he had the chance to kill him!

They always fought to the death when they did and Megatron surviving wasn't because Optimus was too nice. He's not Son Goku peeps.

And I have my issues with TFP Prime and how his characters is written, but being a secretely bad person aint it. He isn't a bad person.

If this is also about Starscream - he has every right to not trust Starscream. No one should trust Starscream! Starscream doesn't exist to be trusted by anyone.

You cannot call Prime a bad person because he elects to not trust the notorious backstabber, who, as Prime himself as pointed out, only does things for his own gain.

Also, he did try to make peace with Starscream after Megatron's "Death", and Starscream refused.

Is it about him destroying the Omega Lock? Nothing wrong with that! He chose to save Earth and all its Humanity over restoring a dead planet! Dead planet stays dead, alive planet stays alive. No one died by his decision to destroy the Omega Lock - but a whole ass planet would have died if he hadn't.

Like bro - I am not a big sucker for TFP Prime, but all these points I see floating around to prove that he is actually a bad person are kinda weird and biased.

Why should he have given Starscream a chance? To get backstabbed and used??? Which we know would have happened because this is fucking Starscream we are talking about??? A dude who doesn't care about Earth in the slightest and was happy about it being destroyed? Who only cares about power and winning this war, which is why he goes back to Megatron???

Should have sacrifised Earth? Would that have made him a true hero???

RiD15 Optimus Prime - This TFP Prime, just sterner, weaker and ready to start beef. But ultimately still a good guy.

Bayverse Optimus Prime - Here you got a Prime who kills his enemies! For anyone saying that TFP Prime is bad for not killing Megatron when he could, do you at least like Bayverse Prime for doing just that? Three times???

Even though he kills all his enemies, I never saw that as him being evil. He just doesn't give second chances. And it was refreshing to see a hero who actually does get rid of his enemies before they can do more shit.

He aint the nicest bot in town, but in the end he still did the heroic thing.

Movie 4 even gave him an arc about losing his faith in humanity and not wanting to help them anymore, but in the end he still does because his Barn Husband Cade convinces him to.

Good man I say, good man!

Prime Wars Optimus Prime - He tried to stop Windblade from making a mistake that would end in war with an emphasis on Windblade herself - saying that war is horrible and he doesn't want her to go through the same thing.

He then decides to help her anyway when he learns what the stakes are, is giving Megatron a second chance, keeps being on friendly footing with the dude and dies in an attempt to destroy the bad guy.

All in all, a good boy!

Cyberverse Optimus Prime - He forbids his soldiers from taking Energon from a foreign planet because the local fauna need it to survive - he constantly tries to do peace talks and doesn't give up on them - He dances in front of his crew to cheer them up - he shows remorse about what happened to Wild Wheel and tries to make things right again - he holds the dead Megatron in his arms and calls him his old friend-

Nothing bad about this home boy!

War for Cybertron Optimus Prime - he fucks up the whole damn time, but he has good intentions! He's a flawed individual who realises what his mistakes are!

Making mistakes, even as grand as his, doesn't make him a bad person!

So, no - I don't agree that Optimus is bad person and I also don't agree that TFA Prime is a better person than any other Prime.

Almost all these Prime's do good things, protect life, try to choose peace over conflict at least once and have a forgiving nature (even Bayverse Optimus, as he forgives humanity) - that all good guy qualities for me!

What more do you want from him to be a good person? Be nice to Starscream off all people???

Also, what do you even consider to be "too glorified"??? The newest media like WFC doesn't even depict him as a good leader because he fucks up so bad.

#transformer posting #transformer rant #bey's shit

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bitch-for-a-rainbow · 3 years

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So there's a blanddcheadcanons post that says that "Kara is the mortal avatar of Rao" and I really don't like it, especially in the context of SG 3x04 (The Faithful). At best, as was pointed out to me by a friend with whom I discussed this post, the House of El is likely blessed and somewhat sponsored by Rao, which probably doesn't do much but produce Krypton's greatest heroes, given what the word "El" **means** in Kryptonian. I'm interested in your thoughts on this (pls post your answer).

I reject the headcannon solely because if it were true it would mean Coville was right and I fucking hate that bitch.

In all seriousness, though, this is an idea I've seen a lot and I'm not a huge fan of. I don't know much about Raoism beyond what appears in the show and that which can be inferred off of the show. One thing I would point out though is that El in Kryptonian (while obviously being intended to mean God by the original comic writers) can mean Sun or Stars, and since the Kryptonians in the show are, as far as I can tell, monotheistic, and worshipped only one particular star, the El family is not necessarily named God. It would, however, signify their enormous prestige on Krypton and contribute to the famous El pride (or rather, arrogance). I’m not sure it would necessarily have to mean anything more than that-- that the Els are a respected house who have produced a variety of successful politicians, civil servants, and scientists. And (this time reaching a little bit) that they are perhaps so old and respected that their house name was once a title.

There is a certain allure to the theory, for sure. Kara is a paragon character. She always, always does what she thinks is right, regardless of the cost, personal or global, and regardless of what other people might think of it. She has a very direct moral compass, and there are only a handful of times when she doesn’t follow it, all of which involve saving Lena. Ship who you want, but it is notable that Kara routinely prioritzes Lena’s life over that of others given the rarity of that happening otherwise. She never even considered breaking Rick Thompson’s father out of prison when he kidnapped Alex, and all he’d committed was bank robbery. Kara has lines she does not cross (though murder is clearly not one of them). She is a character that has seen some of the worst that sentient life is capable of, has seen more death and suffering than most people could imagine, and she came out of it with an all-encompassing desire to protect others. She lives to give people hope. Plus, the humor of having Kara-- the one person most offended by the idea of being an Avatar of Rao-- turn out to be an Avatar of Rao is great.

But, I would also say that having Kara want to do good because she is the avatar of a benevolent god is reductive and not particularly true to her character. It is true that helping and protecting people is a large part of the core of who Kara is. But there is a difference between altruism and the self-destructive, bordering of suicidal desperation to save absolutely everyone that Kara practices. And to anyone who doubts the suicidal bit, I direct you to the season 1 finale where Kara literally goes on a goodbye tour because she thinks if she goes out to fight Non she’ll die. She still goes because she has hope, but that hope is that she can at least save Earth with her life. She doesn’t fight because she is certain in the ultimate victory of good and justice. She does it because she more afraid to lose another family than she is to die. Kara doesn’t become Supergirl and risk her own life because she believes in good, she does it because she can’t stand to listen to people suffer-- because she has suffered. To use Alex’s words in 1x13 “You fight everyday to keep people from struggling like you have.” Notably also in 1x13, Kara wakes up from the Black Mercy and her first words are “Who did this to me?” and then she goes after Non in what could arguably be described as a homicidal rage-- a rage that is fueled entirely for personal reasons, not the greater good of Earth (though that comes as an added benefit), which is.... not very befitting the avatar of a benevolent god.

A major part of season 1 is Kara dealing with grief and rage. She nearly breaks a guy's arm in episode 6 because he screamed at her for damaging his car, to hell with the children he'd almost hit with it. In season 3's Midvale flashbacks we see her first put both hands through a lunch table, then attack Jake when she suspects him for Kenny's death. She gets better at controlling it as the seasons progress, but during Crisis she very nearly melts Lex. Also not particularly godly of her.

Then there is the fact that so much of who Kara is is shaped by fear: fear of the government, fear of humanity, fear of abandonment, and fear of herself. In her civilian life, Kara is, for the most part, unnoticeable. She's polite, soft-spoken, doesn't wear a lot of bold colors or styles, and is often a pushover. As shown by her encounter with Red Kryptonite, Kara would not dress or speak the same way to people without the pressure of hiding her identity (though much of her dialogue is purely the loss of her "don't be an asshole" filter, some of it is stuff she had every right to say before and just didn't). I have always found that episode to be very interesting purely for the fact that Kara doesn't actually seem to be seeking harm on others so much as seeking their attention. Her argument with Alex is almost entirely about how much she hates having to hide and pretend to be less than she is. Kara drops Cat off the balcony and then catches her. She attacks the police when they point weapons at her but doesn't kill or even hurt them that badly, instead of destroying the car they're using as shelter. Red-K removed her inhibitions, made her angrier, yes, but if her goal was to actually hurt people, she could have done so-- would have done so, and with great ease. She goes to a public bar and uses super strength to smash bottles by flicking peanuts. Why do that at a crowded bar? Why not just flick potato chips at the windows in her own apartment?

This is Kara at her absolute worst-- but does she seek out the DEO agents who shot her out of the sky? Does she go after Maxwell Lord or Non? No. She tries to make people pay attention to her. Her most shameful and hideous desire is for people to give her respect. (Admittedly, respect gained through fear, but still.). Kara's a nice person-- much, much nicer than average-- but a lot of that "nice" is just her avoiding conflict to avoid attention.

Kara is a good person. Kara inspires people. But that is because Kara gets up every day and chooses to be good and to inspire. It's one of the reasons I enjoy Non as a villain so much-- he and Astra are Kara's narrative foils. They also remember Krypton and grieve its loss. They also were trapped in the Phantom Zone. But where Kara had the Danvers to convince her that some good people existed and would risk themselves just to help others, Non and Astra had Alura sentencing them to eternal suffering rather than helping them save their planet (through the means they thought necessary) and then landed on Earth and found it headed on the same path as the planet they'd just lost. Kara had people to help her grieve. Non and Astra were surrounded by misery. They lost hope. Kara discovered it.

Kara is the Paragon of Hope because she has been hopeless. Because she has suffered so much, seen so much, and because she chooses to believe in a better future. She didn't have hope her first time in the Phantom Zone. She didn't even have hope for a while on earth. From what we can gather, Kara's choice to start actually believing in the future was a gradual shift that occurred sometime after Kenny's death and has lasted her ever since. For Kara, hope is learned. She chose to hope and she won't let it go, and to assign that incredible victory off to her being a God is an insult to her growth and to her character.

Now I personally thought “The Faithful” handled this concept very well. 3x04 is one of my favorite episodes of television in general, let alone in Supergirl. Season 3 is my second favorite season, and that says a lot for its good episodes when the bad of season 3 is so, so very bad (To say nothing of the episode to episode production value, we have the waste of Argo, Mon El’s return as obviously he’s grown he has a beard Mon El, and whatever the hell was going on with Kryptonian genetic engineering eclipse causing witches). To this day I don’t know why Kara had magic dreams. The show did nothing to explain it and I can’t imagine up a reason.

But “The Faithful” works because it highlights the whole paragon part of who Kara is. When you realize that every person in the room of Coville’s cult is a person she has personally saved-- that hits hard. Especially since only a fraction of the people she’s saved would ever set foot inside that building with the totally not-creepy, entirely wholesome way they deliver the invitations. (“Your daughter is special. She has been chosen. As have you.”) It works because it focuses on how the average human must view Kara, the ones who don’t see her argue with her sister over potstickers and crush her phone when she gets mad. It works because of how desperately hard Kara tries to be a human. It works because the writers know that we, the audience, do not see Kara as anything but a regular person with irregular abilities: a kind and remarkably devoted person, but not a god.

#I didnt discuss it above. but Kara gets REALLY mad about Covilles whole deal #I really love watching her reaction to kryptonian artifacts #girl goes suspicion first and anger second #and it highlights her humanity #even as it puts her on a pedastal #Kara saved all these people but she will still tear her holy book from your hands #and scream at you for daring to quote it #Supergirl 3x04 #Supergirl 1x13 #Supergirl 1x20 #Supergirl #Kara Danvers #Supergirl meta #Kara Zor el #Raoism

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slytherinbarnes · 3 years

Text

Sub Rosa [97]

xiii. blood giant

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 8.0k

Warnings: blood, fighting, violence, death, angst, language.

Summary: your return to sanctum coincides with a red sun eclipse, making an already stressful situation worse.

a/n: do words about this chapter even need to be said? the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

The tension in the room is so thick that it’s practically suffocating.

Gabriel, Doucette, Cadogan, Bellamy and Raven remove their helmets, all of them looking around the room as they do, their eyes landing on Russell, who is standing next to the throne of bones. Gabriel steps forward a little, smiling a little at his former friend and current adversary. “Russell. What the hell is this?”

Russell stares at him with an angry glare, countering, “Who the hell are you?”

And though you have no idea what’s going on, you know that the man in the front of the room, standing next to a horrifying throne, his body adorned in Grounder clothes, is not Russell. You step forward a little, drawing Gabriel’s eyes back to you, and earning a warning stare from Cadogan. “That's not Russell.”

Confirming your point, the man between Russell and Indra announces, “This is Malachi kom Sangedakru, and you will kneel before him.”

You hear Raven whisper, “Well, I guess we found Sheidheda's code.”

Sheidheda. Not a threat that you expected to arise in your time away from Sanctum. Civil War between Wonkru, Eligius, and the Sanctumites? Sure, very likely. The Children of Gabriel changing their minds and deciding to kill everyone who left them out to die? It’s possible. But the code of a Dark Commander killed over a hundred years ago now taking over the body of your mother’s killer? Not something you were expecting.

Sheidheda seems to be handling his power well, because he looks over all of you with no fear or worry. “Since my Ascension, the protocol has become rather simple really. Kneel...or die.”

You pull a face and Cadogan bristles, stepping away from you and the others to draw closer to the opposing leader. “Ordinarily, I would relish the opportunity to recruit your forces to the cause. But unfortunately, I have neither the time nor patience to suffer your primitive tribalism.”

He holds out his hands and bows his head, giving a silent signal to the hidden disciples in the room to begin shooting. They take out every person in the room that is holding a gun, killing them all without hesitation, before revealing themselves one by one, deactivating their ghost mode. You are hyper aware of at least one missing disciple, still hidden from view, but your mind is distracted from the information when Raven calls out, “Murphy!”

She and Clarke rush towards him, along with Indra, and you try to step closer to them, only to be stopped in place by Doucette. You turn towards him and glare, wondering if you can use your restraints to choke him out before anyone would notice, but you see Bellamy looking at you from the corner of your eye. When you shift your gaze to him, he’s giving you a look, one that says he knows exactly what’s going through your mind and that you better stop considering it. You roll your eyes and turn away from him, catching bits and pieces of the whispered conversation being held by your friends and twin.

“...ray guns I can accept, but that…”

“...Madi's safe with…”

“...Gaia was with you.”

“...safe for now.”

Their conversation is interrupted by Cadogan, who was also eavesdropping, and who is now turning to give commands to the disciples in the room. “Restrain the soldier with him.”

The disciples move towards Indra and Sheidheda, but Clarke steps in front of Indra, trying to protect her. “No, she's with us.”

They take Indra away anyways, ignoring Clarke, and Cadogan watches them take the warrior over to a pole in the room, preparing to tie her up. “She was standing unrestrained by the throne. The only reason she’s not dead is because she was unarmed.”

Sheidheda lets out a yell and starts to run towards Cadogan, intending to attack the cult leader, but the last unseen disciple stops him in his place, shoving a knife into his side. He lets out a grunt of pain as the disciple turns off ghost mode and then drops him, Sheidheda falling to his knees as he clutches his side. Black blood seeps between his fingers as Cadogan points at the microphone nearby and bends down to Sheidheda’s level. “That wound is deep. I have no interest in removing you from your throne, so here's my proposal. You give me undisturbed passage to get what I came for. That means I see not a single soul on our path, and I leave Dr. Santiago here to treat you. When we're gone, you're free to continue the debasement of our species until you're saved like the rest of humanity by the completion of my quest. Refuse this, and you die.”

Sheidheda just lets out a grunt and Bill nods. “Right then. Make the announcement, I don't want to see anyone in our way.”

Sheidheda nods once and reaches for the microphone, and Cadogan rises to his feet and turns in the direction of the exit. “Onward to the Key.”

He walks past all of you, and Bellamy and Doucette move to pass. When you don't follow, one of the disciples shoves you ahead, behind the group of men. Gabriel stays behind to save the Dark Commander and the two of you exchange a look before you are pushed out the door. Murphy, Raven, and Clarke all move behind you, following you through the palace, and Clarke gets close to you and whispers, “I’m gonna get you out of those cuffs.”

You whisper back, “I’m more concerned with getting rid of Cadogan.”

“I’m working on it.”

“Well, work faster.”

A disciple reaches out to shove you again, moving you apart from Clarke and the others as the group steps out into the cool night air, goosebumps immediately lifting across your skin. Cadogan and the others look out on Sanctum, watching as people scurry into their homes and out of sight, following the instructions of Sheidheda, who is repeating a message on the loudspeakers overhead. The Shepherd turns and glances at the castle, a disgusted look passing over his face as he mutters, “A fire burned castle surrounded by a city of garbage dumpsters.”

You turn and look at the castle, realizing for the first time that half of it is burned away. You turn to look at Clarke, your eyes asking a question, but she just shakes her head in that ‘tell you later’ sort of way. Ahead of you, Cadogan continues his musings. “Everywhere human beings go is worse off for it, but thanks to us, we will transcend. Thanks to us, we will reach the promised land.”

Clarke, tired of the man and his ramblings, scoffs, “Oh, for God's sake.”

She pushes past him and walks ahead, moving down the stairs, and Raven scrambles to follow. Cadogan and Doucette begin walking again, and Bellamy waits until you're at his side to continue moving down the stairs behind the others. Murphy catches up with the two of you, reaching out to grab Bellamy’s arm. “Hey, so what's our play here?”

Bellamy speaks for the first time since arriving on the planet, turning to look at Murphy in confusion. “Our play?”

“Don't get me wrong, you look good. Not as good as me, but I know a thing or two about pretending to be something you're not.”

You glance over at Murphy and let out a short laugh before moving your gaze over to your brainwashed fiance. “Unfortunately, he’s not pretending.”

Murphy looks at you in confusion, “What?”

Bellamy adds, “This isn't an act, Murphy, I'm trying to save us all. I don't expect you to understand, just know that I am your friend, and I'm looking out for you.”

Murphy looks at you with wide eyes, waiting for one of you to say ‘just kidding’, but you just give him a look that says ‘I wish it was bullshit too’. Murphy nods once, quickly understanding your meaning, barely glancing at Bellamy as he answers, “That's very reassuring. I'm just gonna…”

He trails off, motioning towards Clarke and Raven before he scurries after them, leaving you and Bellamy behind. You watch him go, so eager to get away from disciple Bellamy, and something about it makes you let out a quiet snort of laughter. Bellamy glances at you, brows drawn together as he takes in your amused expression. “What?”

“Murphy is speechless. You actually stunned Murphy into silence. No comeback, no biting remark, just a hasty retreat.” You give him a look of appreciation before your eyes lock on the back of Clarke’s head. “It’s impressive, really.”

Bellamy says nothing, but you spare another quick glance at him, and you swear you can see the ghost of a smile on his face. It gives you hope, because maybe he isn't lost to you yet, maybe you can bring him back to the side of reason, just like you did when he followed Pike. And as all of you start to stride through Sanctum, you open your mouth to ask a question, snapping it shut again when something wet lands on your cheek. You look up, watching as big white flakes of snow fall on Sanctum, and you smile at it, the first sign of snow you’ve seen in years. Skyring has a pretty mild climate year round, and you missed the beauty of the snow in winter.

You turn to look at Bellamy, but his eyes are locked on the sky, his expression haunted. You reach out and touch his arm, getting his attention, and he shakes his head a little before looking at you and whispering, “It snowed on Etherea. I never thought it’d stop snowing. I thought we were going to die in that cave.”

You shake your head, the few sentences containing so much information for you to process. “Etherea? You were on Etherea? What cave? Wait, and who is ‘we’?”

“Doucette and I. We were on Etherea together.”

You look at the man meant to replace Anders, suddenly understanding all of the looks he seems to throw Bellamy’s way. You turn back to Bellamy, who is watching you closely. “What cave?”

“The Anomaly Stone was at the top of a mountain. There’s a cave on the way, the Cave of Ascent, and-”

He’s cut off by Cadogan's voice firmly calling out, “Hold.”

Clarke stops and turns to look at the man in frustration. “Look, I'm in a hurry. You have my twin and our friends. I would like them back, then to see my daughter. If you want to see yours, the Flame is this way.”

She turns towards the stairs behind her, already walking away, but Cadogan calls out to her retreating figure, “New plan. You go, we'll stay here.”

Clarke turns around, an annoyed look on her face, and Bellamy moves forward a little, trying to step in before Clarke loses her cool. “Sir, you heard her. As long as our friends are out there, she won't risk their lives.”

Cadogan nods, motioning towards you, Raven, and Murphy. “That's why these three are staying with us. Hurry along, Clarke. I don't want to be on this infernal moon a moment longer than I have to.”

She gives you a long look, clearly not wanting to leave you behind, but you smile a little and nod, letting her know you’ll be okay. She hesitates for a second longer, her hand absentmindedly reaching out to touch the star charms that hang around her wrist, before she finally nods, turning to leave and quickly head down the stairs. As soon as she’s out of sight, Murphy throws up his hands and tries to walk away from the group. “Well, what do you say we wait in the tavern instead?”

He makes it less than three steps before a handful of invisible disciples appear in front of him, deactivating their ghost modes, and Murphy clutches his chest in fear as he yells out, “Oh, what the hell!”

You and Raven let out a laugh, his reaction easing the tension for half a minute as you call out, “You get used to it!”

He turns to look at you, completely unconvinced. “Yeah?”

You nod, still smiling, before Cadogan interrupts, motioning towards the others, “Come.”

Doucette and Bellamy start to walk away, following the man, but you hang back, fully intending to sit with Raven and Murphy instead. Unfortunately for you, Cadogan senses that you’re no longer behind him, and without turning around, he calls out, “You too, Miss Griffin! I still don't trust you!”

You give an annoyed look to Raven and Murphy, watching as they step away and move towards a small fire pit, leaving you to go and trudge behind the men in white. Cadogan walks them to the top of the stairs that lead down to the crops and the edge of the shield, looking around with a satisfied smile. “I like this spot. High ground.”

You sigh and step past them, moving down one step before plopping down, leaning against the stairs, looking out at the fields below. You can hear Murphy and Raven already talking quietly, leaving you with the stiff, boring Shepherd and his disciples, all of them standing quietly just behind you. They stand in complete silence, and you sit repeating the mantra you created after speaking with Anders, trying to translate it into Trigedasleng. Ai laik wor, reij belen ona ai… you’re hung up on the word for skin, racking your brain, trying to find something close, when Cadogan interrupts your thoughts, sounding annoyed. “What's taking her so long?”

“She'll be here.”

Cadogan turns to look at Bellamy, noting his confidence in Clarke is mixed with uncertainty in his expression. “I know how hard this is on you, son, believing in something with all your heart that the people you love don't understand. You remind me of myself when I was young.”

The thought makes you want to gag, not liking the idea that your fiance is anything like the crazed man that stands behind you. You turn to glance back at the men as Cadogan glances at Doucette. “Would you excuse us, please?”

“Of course, my Shepherd.”

Cadogan watches him go before he turns back to Bellamy again, speaking as if you aren't sitting right beneath their feet. “Doucette's a good man. He'll make a fine replacement for Anders, but he's not like us.”

You roll your eyes, turning away from Bellamy and Cadogan to look out at the field, sending silent messages to Clarke in the hopes that she can hear you. But you have a hard time concentrating on anything other than Cadogan’s preachy speech, delivered to Bellamy with earnest. “The disciples are taught our ways from birth, they know nothing else. Makes faith easy. We, on the other hand, know the pull of love between individuals, what it makes us do, the highs and lows of it, how it leads to hatred of the other, tribalism.”

You can feel his eyes on the back of your neck, staring at you, his words about you, and Bellamy’s love for you. You ignore him as he continues preaching, “I've spent generations dedicating my life to something greater.”

“Transcendence.”

“Now you know the weight of that too. The path of the prophet is always hard. Your friends will understand eventually.”

No we won't. You love Bellamy, you believe in him, you trust him, but you feel none of that for Cadogan. You see right through his bullshit, the same way you saw through Jaha’s bullshit and Pike’s bullshit. He is nothing more than an egotistical cult leader, obsessed with the idea of being worshipped and saving the human race. You start to wonder if it’s worth the risk to kill him now, even if it means the disciples will kill you immediately after. You wish you had your Grounder knife, lost to you since your confrontation on Bardo, your hand practically itching to push the blade into Cadogan’s chest.

Bellamy’s soft, conflicted voice cuts through your thoughts as he appeals to Cadogan for advice. “You had a family, how did you manage it? I feel like I'm failing both you and them.”

“You're not failing me, Bellamy. Far from it.”

“You are failing me.” You know the words are mean, and one glance at Bellamy’s face confirms that they hurt him, but you can’t help it. You're frustrated that he’s buying into Cadogan’s lies, and you just want him to wake up and stop playing disciple.

Cadogan cuts his eyes at you, but you ignore it as he attempts to reassure Bellamy. “You're special. You were given a glimpse of what comes next, just as I was.”

“They all think I'm crazy.”

“And so we ignore their judgments and we save them anyway.”

Bellamy whispers, “For all mankind.”

Cadogan takes a breath and smiles, repeating the words back to him. You roll your eyes and mutter under your breath, “Joken koken hedswisha seda.”

Fucking crazy cult leader.

“I’m not a cult leader.”

Your eyes go wide and you stand, spinning around to face Cadogan, who seems to understand the Trigedasleng words you just used to insult him. “What did you just say?”

“I’m not a cult leader. Crazy, maybe, but aren't we all?”

You glance over at Bellamy, wondering if he somehow had the time to teach his Shepherd Trig, but he seems just as surprised as you are. You look back over at Cadogan and the smug look on his face. “How do you know Trig?”

He looks like he’s actually going to answer, until he is interrupted by the loudspeakers of Sanctum powering up and beginning an announcement. “Attention, Sanctum. Red sun toxin has been detected. Make your way to your assigned location for evacuation.”

You look at Bellamy in alarm, remembering what happened the last time all of you were exposed to the toxin. Raven and Murphy walk up to you, Doucette behind them, as Murphy jokes, “Time to play another round of ‘Who Wants to Murder Your Friends?’”

“Sir, we should get you back to Bardo.”

Cadogan shakes his head, ignoring Bellamy’s advice. “I'm not going anywhere without the Flame, and for all we know, this is another one of Clarke's tricks.”

“If it is, then it's a good one.” Behind you, you can hear a soft buzzing sound, and curious, you turn to see what it is. The shield over Sanctum that is usually invisible, is now visible to the naked eye, thanks to the thousands of bugs colliding with it, trying to reach all of you down below. You turn to look at the others; you, Murphy, and Bellamy sharing a knowing look based on your first experience with the eclipse. “Bugs.”

All around you, the people of Sanctum have started to scurry from their homes and into their evacuation locations, the P.A. system repeating the warning on a loop. Murphy glances at them as they run past, before turning back to Bellamy. “We should be going with them to Ryker's Keep, or maybe you'd like to drown me again in the pond.”

And as all of you are standing there, waiting for Cadogan to decide on what to do, Sanctum goes dark, punctuated by a chorus of screams. All of the lights, the quiet machine hum, the shield, they all power down, plunging you into darkness before a series of torches are lit by people around you. As you’re able to see the faces of those around you one by one, Raven’s face pulls into one of realization. “Power's out. That means the shield's down.”

You turn to look at the shield, your eyes locking on a strange movement in the sky, seconds before your brain remembers the bugs. The swarm is lowering themselves to the ground, moving towards Sanctum in a wave, and you watch them in fear for a second before calling out, “Guys. We should run.”

Bellamy backs you up, remembering the swarm of bugs from your first night on Sanctum. “She's right, we should go right now.”

“Not without the Key.”

Doucette moves closer to Cadogan, preparing to protect his Shepherd. “I agree with Bellamy. We should execute the hostages and get you home.”

You all look at Doucette in alarm, Bellamy's message lacking anything about an execution, which Murphy comments on. “Well, Bellamy never said that.”

Worried about your possible death, your mind starts to process through your thoughts quickly, trying to think of anything to save your life, before you remember Clarke’s earlier words about wanting to see her daughter. “Clarke heard the alarm too. She'll go for Madi.”

“Yes, right, good. The reactor.”

You look at Murphy in shock. “The reactor? As in the nuclear reactor?”

Murphy grimaces, unable to explain why your niece is in the reactor before Raven adds, “I'll get the power back on and kill the bugs.”

“Before they kill us. Everyone grab a torch!” Bellamy starts to step away, grabbing a torch as he moves, calling out towards your group, “Sir, stay with me. You too, la lune!”

You give him a look at the nickname, not wanting to hear it from disciple Bellamy. Though some of your earlier anger towards him has started to dissipate, you meant it when you said that it was a nickname meant for family, and that as long as he worships Cadogan, he is not your family. But none of that matters, not right now when thousands of toxin crazed bugs are swarming behind all of you, trying to kill you.

Murphy leads all of you to the machine shop built around the reactor, and when you run into the building, you find that bugs are already inside and have already claimed three victims right outside the door of the reactor. Those with the torches use them to push the bugs out of the room and away from all of you, and Bellamy yells, “Scatter them! Get that door closed and seal the windows! The swarm's still outside.”

As they start to lower the door to the garage, a voice calls from just outside, “Wait, hold the door.”

A wave of relief crashes over you as you watch Clarke run inside, a bag slung across her shoulder and a torch in her hand. She immediately locks eyes with you, looking you over and making sure you’re okay as you smile at her. “Clarke!”

Cadogan looks at her with suspicion. “What's in the bag?”

“Antitoxin from the farmhouse.” She pulls the bag off and passes it to Bellamy, who happens to be standing closest to her.

Cadogan deadpans, “For your daughter and twin.”

“Enough for all of us, but, yes, I was thinking of Madi and la lune before you.”

You smile at her, grateful, not too keen to see the ghosts of your past in this moment, but Cadogan ruins the moment by remarking, “Another lesson in the destructiveness of familial love.”

You turn towards him, tired of his preachy attitude. “Destructiveness? That antitoxin is going to keep you from seeing all your regrets playing out in front of you. Maybe you should just go without.”

“La lune…” Bellamy’s voice is a warning, and you turn towards him with an angry look. “I told you not to call me that. And why are you still defending him? ‘The destructiveness of familial love’? How many times has familial saved your life? Octavia’s life? My life? The lives of our people? You can't honestly tell me that you think love is weakness.”

His eyes frantically dart between you and Cadogan, but his expression is unreadable, making you worried that maybe he is lost to you after all. But you never get to find out, because Cadogan steps up beside you and snaps, “Enough, don't make me gag you too.”

You have to physically bite your tongue to hold back your response, your entire body wanting to fight back and put him in his place. But you can see the warning in Clarke’s eyes, telling you not now, not here, so you step back, accepting the antitoxin that Bellamy throws to you as Cadogan turns to your twin. “Do you have the Flame or not?”

You take your dose of the antitoxin as she responds, “If you open this door, I'll give it to you without a fight.”

“All right. Disciple Kelly, the door.”

The disciple steps up and moves towards the door of the reactor, firing a single shot into it, damaging it. Murphy steps towards it first, muttering to all of you, “Let me go in first, I’m the least likely to get attacked.”

You all nod and watch him step inside, you and Clarke waiting just outside of the door until you can hear the soft sounds of happiness from Murphy’s reunion with Emori. You and Clarke exchange a look before she steps inside, in search of Madi, and you stand just outside the door, wanting to follow her, but unsure if you can. You look towards Cadogan, who is standing resolute, before tuning your pleading eyes to Bellamy, hoping they still have some effect on him.

Luckily for you, they do, and he turns to his leader, his voice soft and insistent. “Sir.”

“Fine, go.”

You smile at Bellamy in thanks before turning and stepping through the door, walking around the corner, your eyes already moving past Murphy and Emori. There, a few steps behind them, is your niece, your bright little sun, and her face lights up as she gets a glimpse of you over Clarke’s shoulder. “Ani!”

Your face breaks into a grin as she pulls away from Clarke and runs towards you, wrapping her arms around you in a tight hug. You slip your restrained hands over her shoulders, hugging her back the best you can, relief flooding through you as you look down at Madi. She pulls back and you lift your hand to her cheeks, her eyes landing on the restraints holding your wrists together, and you see a flash of worry cross her features. “Why are you tied up?”

“It’s not important. Are you okay?”

She nods her head, blowing past your concern to focus on her own. “I’m fine, but you aren't.” She reaches up to touch the bruise around your left eye and cheekbone. “What happened?”

The room falls eerily silent around you and you turn to the door to see why, everyone watching in shock as Cadogan steps inside the room. You push Madi backwards, the two of you moving back towards Clarke as you mutter, “He happened.”

And though Cadogan himself did not give you the injuries, his fanatics did, beating you up in defense of their leader. Which means that though it is technically an exaggeration, it isn't a complete falsity. Cadogan crosses the room, over to Clarke, who stands near you and Madi both. You push Madi behind you, putting yourself in front of her, and Clarke puts herself in front of you both. The Shepherd says nothing as he holds his hand out towards Clarke, waiting for his Key.

She reaches into her jacket and hesitantly pulls out the Flame, sliding back the lid on the container just enough so he can see that it’s inside. He takes it with a look of excitement, holding the damaged AI up in his hand as a grin splits his face. “For all mankind.”

Clarke just looks at him until he puts the Flame back in its container and closes it, stepping across the room to stand near the door, Bellamy and Doucette on either side of him. You, Madi, and Clarke back up towards a set of stairs, the two of them lowering themselves down as you stand beside them. The room is tense, everyone unsure of what’s going on or how to act in Cadogan’s presence. Madi gives you and Clarke the quickest summary that she can manage on how all of them ended up hiding in the reactor, and you feel a flash of regret that you weren't here to protect her or keep her safe. Your mind shifts to your curse, the one that plagued you when you first landed on the ground, long forgotten in the chaos since then. But now, standing near the people you love the most, your brainwashed fiance standing across from you, you're suddenly reminded of it again. The curse that takes the people you love away from you, now working in its own creative way: dangling Bellamy just out of your reach.

Madi watches Cadogan across the room, who is back to admiring the damaged Flame, and her voice is low and serious when she whispers, “I don't think you should have given him that.”

You and Clarke exchange a look before you look at her in confusion. “Why?”

“I remember things.”

Clarke looks at her in alarm. “Your sketchbook?”

You know you must have missed something, because you don't understand the importance of Madi’s sketchbook in this conversation, but based on the expression on both Madi’s and Clarke’s faces, you know whatever is in that sketchbook must be a big deal. Clarke confirms as much when she mutters, “Madi, don't tell anyone that, okay? Ever.”

Madi nods and you watch her for a second before you turn to look across the room, over to Bellamy and Cadogan. Cadogan’s eyes are still locked on the Flame, but Bellamy’s are locked on you, watching you closely. You watch him back, searching for any signs of affection in his face, but just like when he followed Pike, his expression is unreadable to you. You sigh and lean your head back against the wall, your hands hanging in front of you, the bar that holds them apart pressing against your body, and you look down at the restraints, tired of being the only one still tied up. The lights in the room come on, reminding you of your genius mechanic friend, who is more than capable of getting you free. You glance over at Clarke and whisper, “I’m gonna go talk to Raven.”

She nods and you slip away, using Cadogan’s focus on his prize to get away unnoticed. You walk into the next room, looking for Raven, but finding no one. Instead, someone steps out of the secondary containment, a blonde haired woman with braids on one side of her head, an Eligius uniform on her body. She barely glances your way as you walk past, and something about the situation raises alarm bells in your head. Worried, you call out, “Raven?”

A soft sob answers your call, and you feel a wave of panic as you rush towards the secondary containment, anxious about what you're going to find. But instead of finding Raven in a pool of blood, bleeding out from some unknown wound, she is kneeling at the base of a machine, knees pulled up to her chest, crying. The sobs that wrack her body are hard, and you look at her with pity as you cross the room, dropping beside her to whisper, “Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay.”

You have no idea why she’s crying, but it doesn't matter, because she clearly just needs someone by her side. She reaches out for you, wrapping her arms around you, and you hug her back as you settle beside her, beginning to softly hum Clair de lune. She cries in your arms, not stopping when Emori, Murphy, and Clarke run into the room, clearly worried about her. Clarke drops down beside you, Emori moves to Raven’s other side, and Murphy kneels in front of her, all of them reaching out and holding her arm or her hand, offering her their comfort.

You don't know how long the five of you sit together before Bellamy comes into the room and lets you know it’s time to go, but it doesn't feel long enough. You don't want to go back out there and join Cadogan, or watch Bellamy follow him around like a lost puppy, but you know you have no other choice. The others know it too, because you all stand, and Raven quickly wipes away her tears as you walk back into the main part of the reactor.

Clarke grabs Madi, and all of you follow Bill back to the castle, prisoners to the cult leader as you await the return of your friends. When you step inside of the throne room behind Cadogan and two disciples, you find Indra pointing a gun at all of you, surrounded by dead disciples. Sheidheda is leaning against a nearby pole, looking weak and drowsy, Jackson is standing in the corner of the room, surveying the scene, and Gabriel is setting up some machine nearby.

As soon as Indra sees Cadogan, she lifts the gun towards him and snaps, “Where is my daughter?”

“Who the hell is your daughter?”

Bellamy moves from his place behind you, stepping into Indra’s line of sight, holding his hands up in surrender. “Indra, hold on. We didn't know she was missing until today. Nobody did. We're gonna get everyone back, but you have to put down the gun.”

You step forward, nodding at Indra, corroborating Bellamy’s story. “It's okay, Indra. He's gonna help us.”

She lowers the gun, and as soon as it’s clear, Gabriel steps forward. “Does that mean you have the Flame?”

Cadogan nods, “I do.”

“I believe I can restore the damaged code with this.” Gabriel turns and motions towards the nearby machine, and you look at him in disbelief. What is with these men and following Cadogan? “It's used to repair memory drives, stitching together broken strings of code. Code, like the Flame itself, that was created by-”

Cadogan cuts him off, saying her name first, “Becca Franko.” Gabriel nods in confirmation and the cult leader mutters, “Show me.”

He passes the Flame to Gabriel, and all of you watch as he loads the tech into the machine. “If Becca's memories are still in here, this will find them.”

The screen comes to life, showing a loading page, letting all of you know that soon Cadogan will have exactly what he wants. Doucette looks at it with a smile and muses, “Now we can start the Last War.”

“It's working.”

But as everyone watches the percentage bar get closer and closer to the end, your eyes shift to Gabriel, confused as to why he’s helping Cadogan, only to find that his entire demeanor has changed. He now looks conflicted, his eyes locked on an empty spot at Cadogan’s side, and he suddenly whispers, “We are. I’m sorry.”

Everyone looks towards him in confusion, not understanding who he’s talking to given the silence in the room, when he suddenly pulls out a gun from his waistband and aims it at the Flame, pulling the trigger and blowing it to pieces before you can even make sense of his movements. You all look towards him in shock as he turns the gun on Cadogan, aiming it at the shocked man before he yells to the disciples around the room, “Helmets off and weapons down, all of you, right now!”

They comply, worried about the risk of losing their Shepherd, and as they disarm and remove their helmets, Gabriel reaches a hand out towards Jackson. “Antitoxin.”

The pieces slide into place as you realize he must have been seeing Josephine, talking to her, until he remembered that she had never been a good voice of reason. As Gabriel takes the antitoxin, Bellamy steps closer to him, trying to plead with him. “Gabriel, we need him to get our friends back, your friends... Echo and Hope too. Now put down the gun.”

Gabriel doesn't waver, his gun still trained on Cadogan, but out of the corner of your eye, you see Doucette growing antsy, eyes darting between Gabriel and his leader. The man makes a split second decision and yells, “Take him!” as he runs at Gabriel. But he makes it less than three steps before a gunshot rings out and Doucette lets out a cry of pain, blood blooming across his white robes. You turn to look in the direction the shot came from, unsurprised to find your twin holding a gun, clearly the one that took Doucette down.

Gabriel nods at her in thanks as Bellamy lets out a loud cry, running towards Doucette and putting his hand over the man’s chest wound. “No! No!”

You feel a rush of pity for him as he loses his friend, but you feel nothing for Doucette himself, unconcerned with his death. Clarke calls your name, and you turn towards her, catching the gun she tosses your way. You immediately turn it on Cadogan, ready to take him out if you need to. Clarke grabs a second gun for herself before turning to Raven. “Raven, fire up the stone. We need to get to our friends.”

Raven pulls a helmet on her head and pulls up the map, calling out to Cadogan, “Which planet? Where are they?”

He looks at her with a smug smile, “It's offline. Only I know the code.”

“He's telling the truth.” Raven pulls the helmet off her head and turns to look at Clarke. “There's one planet we can't get to.”

Pissed, Clarke lifts her gun and turns it on Cadogan, three guns now trained on him. “Enter the code, and you get to live.”

He only hesitates for a second before he moves over to the stone and begins entering the code. When he’s done, a bright green glow erupts in the room, shining over all of you, and Cadogan motions towards it. “There’s your bridge. Go.”

Clarke shakes her head, “You're coming with us, now move.”

Bellamy stands, moving towards Cadogan and Clarke, clearly prepared to go with all of you, but Clarke turns to glare at Bellamy, her voice angry as she snaps, “Not you! You've made your choice.”

You turn to look at her, already prepared to protest. “Clarke-”

“No, la lune. He chose them. He chose Cadogan.”

You hesitate, turning to look at your fiance, and Murphy calls out, “I really hope this new thing you believe in is worth it.”

Bellamy gives him a resolute nod when he answers, “It is.”

The words hit you like a shot to the chest, because even now, at the threat of being left behind by all of you, he still chooses Cadogan. You turn to Clarke, heartbreak evident on your face, silently asking to say your goodbyes. She nods, keeping her weapon trained on Cadogan, allowing you to lower your own. All around you, your friends walk past you, stepping into the green glow at your back. The green glow that you desperately tried to reach to save the man in front of you. The man that now stands in front of you, still on the other side. And everything feels like it’s crashing down around you as you realize that the man in front of you is no longer the man you love. No longer the man that loves you. He’s nothing more than a stranger, your enemy, and his conflicted feelings won't change that.

He gives you a soft look as you close the space between the two of you, your hand already reaching for the ring on your left hand. As you slide it off your finger, you hold it up to him. “When you gave me this ring, you told me that I meant everything to you. You told me that you want to protect me and love me until your last breath. But the man that said those words to me while we were tied up in that cave is gone. The man that’s in front of me now has been willing to torture his best friend, watch his fiance walk around restrained, and his sister be sent to an unknown planet, all without a word of disagreement.”

You reach out and grab his hand, pressing the ring into his palm. “I wish I knew what you went through on Etherea, and I wish I understood why you seem so determined to follow Cadogan. But Bellamy, even if he’s right, even if Transcendence is real, Cadogan should not be the one to deliver us to it. That man is a monster, and we’ve known it since we were on Earth. None of what he’s done is okay, and by following him, you’re condoning his actions. By following him, you’ve become someone I don’t even recognize.”

It feels like your heart is ripping in half as you say the words to him, and it must hurt Bellamy just as much, because you see tears spring to his eyes. You ignore them, pushing past his hurt and reminding yourself of your own hurt, your own anger, not allowing yourself to be swayed by his tears. “I guess Bellamy Blake really did die the day that grenade went off in the Stone Room, because the man that came through the Anomaly from Etherea is not him, is it, Disciple Blake?”

You practically spit the last two words, ignoring the tears that are now spilling down his face and your own. “So much for this lifetime and the next. So much for forever.”

His expression morphs into one of complete heartbreak, and you abruptly turn away from him, unable to stomach the look on his face. Your eyes fall on Clarke, and she nods, encouraging you, letting you know this is the right thing to do. As you move closer to your twin, she reaches out for you, grabbing your free hand, interlacing her fingers with yours. Indra grabs Cadogan and pushes him towards the Anomaly, you and Clarke right behind them. And when you are mere inches away from stepping inside of the green glow, you turn to get one last look at Bellamy, which stops you in your tracks.

Because he now stands near the bone throne, something held in his hands, flipped open to a random page.

Madi’s sketchbook.

And though you don't quite understand the importance of what’s in the sketchbook, you follow Clarke as she pulls you away from the Anomaly and back into the room, calling out to your former fiance, “Belomi... Kof em op gon ai.”

Bellamy, give it to me. Bellamy looks over at her, as the disciples in the room turn towards you, starting to close in. You and Clarke drop each other’s hands and lift your guns, leaving you to turn slightly to your left, away from Bellamy. When Bellamy doesn't close the sketchbook or pass it over, Clarke’s voice gets harder and she snaps, “Kom nau, o ai na rip emo klin. Yu get klin ha e'na bilaik.”

Now, I'll kill them all. You know I will. Bellamy finally turns away from the book, moving his teary eyed gaze towards the two of you. “Madi isn't in danger, I'll make sure of that. I’ll keep her safe.”

“Du na frag em op na gada in chit bilaik emo gaf in, en yu foshou get em klin. Ai nou na teik em na gon daun.”

They will kill her to get what they want, and you know it. I won't let that happen. Bellamy looks at her, tears welling up in his eyes as he shakes his head, his voice cracking with emotion. “I am trying to save us all, Clarke!”

“I'll kill Cadogan. Is that what you want?” He shakes his head, and she raises her voice, “Kof em op gon ai!”

Give it to me! As soon as the words leave her mouth, one of the disciples near you starts to run your way, clearly intending to take one or both of you out. You pull the trigger before he makes it halfway, his body hitting the floor as you turn to look at Bellamy with anxiety. “Give her the damn book, Bellamy!”

He looks at you, his expression pleading, “This is bigger than any of us!”

You turn towards him slightly, locking eyes with him. “We already made Madi a pawn once when we made her the Commander, and I won’t do that to her again! Not after everything she went through with Sheidheda.”

“I’ll keep her safe, but this is important!”

You cut your eyes at Bellamy, shaking your restraints. “What, like you kept me safe?”

You see a look of hurt pass over his face, but you look away when one of the men to your left starts to shift, inching closer, and you step towards him, aiming your gun right at his chest, daring him to make a move. As you do, you can hear Clarke beside you, teary eyed and pleading, “Don't make me do this.”

“You're not gonna shoot me, Clarke.”

You turn to look at her as he says that, noticing that she has now moved her gun from the disciples around her to the man that you still love. Your voice is a soft warning when you whisper, “Clarke, don’t.”

Bellamy nods to the Anomaly behind you, “The bridge will close, you should go.”

“Not without that book.”

Bellamy starts to cry as he looks between you and Clarke, trying to reason with her. “Look at yourself, what you feel right now, the need to protect someone you love so badly you're willing to kill your closest friend, someone you trust, who's telling you that the fate of the entire human race is at stake. All that suffering can end. Madi's suffering too. I have no choice but to share this.”

You and Clarke are both crying now, though you suspect it’s for different reasons. Your anxiety is sky high, squeezing your body and making it feel like your heart is going to burst from your chest. Clarke stares at Bellamy, her voice shaking when she mutters, “I can't let them hurt her.”

“This is how we do better.” He tries to appeal to her using Monty’s words, but they only make her angrier, if anything. He shifts, reaching out to hand the sketchbook to the disciple closest to him. “This is the only way, I'm sorry.”

“Me too.” And as soon as she says it, you’re diving towards Clarke, the words triggering your fight response. You watch her finger pull the trigger as your hands shove against her arms, trying to stop her, and when the gunshot rings out, you swear you feel it rip through your own heart. You can hear it hit Bellamy’s body, and you turn towards him, the gun dropping from your hand as you watch red blood spread across the chest of his white robes at an alarming pace, his body falling towards the floor. You hear a scream, ungodly loud, broken and wailing, your brain unaware that it’s coming from you.

Three more shots ring out but your brain doesn't process it, too busy trying to tell your feet to move. You move closer to him, ignoring Clarke’s voice that is screaming your name, ignoring the disciple that is running towards you, your only focus on Bellamy, and the blood all over his clothes, his body, on the floor. You feel arms wrap around your waist, and Clarke yells in your ear, pulling you backwards, towards the disappearing Anomaly and away from Bellamy. You fight her hard, kicking and screaming and scratching at her the best you can, but she is resolute, determined to get you off of Sanctum, dragging you back into the Anomaly with every ounce of strength she can muster.

You scream again, repeating Bellamy's name like a mantra, watching as he disappears from view, the Anomaly closing around you. You don't stop fighting the entire time you’re in the green glow, trying to process why Clarke would do that, why Clarke would shoot Bellamy. He may be your enemy, he may be on the wrong side of things, but you love him. You may have given him the ring back, but you didn't mean it, oh god you didn't mean it. You just wanted it to be a wake up call to him, a way for him to see the error of his ways. But now Bellamy is dying, bleeding out on the floor, alone, thinking that you don't love him.

Bellamy Blake is dying alone, thinking that no one loves him.

The thought tears your chest open, cracks your heart into pieces as you cry harder, thinking of the blood, all that blood around him. All over his robes and dripping out of his mouth, filling up his lungs and killing him. No one at his side to put pressure on his wounds, or say the Traveler's Blessing, or to just be there for him.

He thinks his sister on another planet hates him, and his best friend who shot him hates him, and his former fiance who gave him back the ring hates him. All his friends and the people that he calls family, angry and hating him. Leaving him to die alone with no one at his side. You thought it was bad enough to see him die in security footage on Bardo. But to see him shot in front of you, by your own twin, your other half, it’s enough to destroy you.

And as Clarke holds you in her arms, sobbing apologies in your ear, you can only think of her one way. Now, she’s just Wanheda.

The Commander of Death, killing everyone in her way, even the man you love.

next chapter

#the 100 #the 100 rewrite #bellamy blake #bellamy blake x reader #bellamy blake fanfiction

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captain-ross-poldark · 3 years

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Another interesting article from the Irish DM.

THE WOMAN WHO FINALLY TAMED POLDARK

By Maeve Quigley

Heartthrob Aidan Turner has a track record of dating co-stars and it seems like he’s finally found his leading lady as it’s revealed he and Caitlin Fitzgerald have tied the knot

THEY were the pictures that broke the hearts of thousands of fans — the dark-haired actor affectionately smooching his new wife on the romantic streets of Rome, as their wedding rings flashed in the warm Italian dusk. After three years of dating, Aidan Turner tied the knot with fellow thespian Caitlin Fitzgerald in a secret ceremony in the Italian capital last summer, although news of the nuptials has just broken.

The pair met on the set of adventure film The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot and it seems — despite Turner’s previous protestations that he would never date another actress — they couldn’t help falling for each other.

Pictures taken on August 8 show the newlyweds days after tying the knot as they flashed their gold bands while enjoying a romantic al fresco dinner date at Pierluigi’s restaurant in Rome.

In the newly-released images, the loved-up pair seem unable to keep their hands off each other as they sip their drinks, holding on to one another as they gaze into each other’s eyes.

It is believed Fitzgerald also came to Ireland before the pandemic to meet Turner’s extended family — possibly ahead of their big day. Of course, she’s not the first woman with beauty and talent to be seen on the arm of the dashing Dubliner.

But at 37, the man whose shirtless scything in BBC drama Poldark had women everywhere a-quiver is now officially off the market.

Turner was born in Clondalkin, the son of Eileen, an accountant, and Pat, an electrician. He is the youngest of two boys; his brother works for the Revenue.

The family later moved to Walkinstown where growing up he was quite shy so his mum sent him to ballroom dancing classes as she felt it would help him no matter what career he chose. He became quite the champion and could possibly have been headed for an international career before he got bitten by the acting bug when he attended the Gaiety School of Acting, where he dated classmate India Whisker for a short time.

Even then, Turner’s dashing good looks were getting him noticed off stage.

To supplement his acting career, he got a job as a barman in famous Dublin nightclub Lillie’s Bordello, where he proved to be a big hit with the VIP guests

‘Women would come in just to stare at him,’ said former hostess now wellness guru and television presenter Andrea Hayes, who gave the acting student his position behind the bar. ‘I’m not joking.’

His first big acting break came when he landed the part of receptionist Ruairi MacGowan in RTE’s long-running medical drama The Clinic, taking the seat left vacant by another major success story, Chris O’Dowd, who also played a medical administrator on the show.

Around this time he was dating Charlene McKenna. The thenaspiring acting stars were together from 2007 to 2009 and shared a flat together in London before their relationship ended just weeks after McKenna had said in an interview how happy she was.

McKenna has recently got married in secret herself, to actor Adam Rothenburg, with whom she starred in Ripper Street, although she has said she still has a friendship with Turner.

‘He’s flying and I’m so proud of him,’ she said of Turner in a 2016 interview. ‘We still keep in touch and I knew he would do this well for himself. I always told him he would be a movie star.’

While they lived together, Turner landed his breakthrough role as tortured vampire Mitchell in the BBC Three hit Being Human.

Mitchell was torn between his blood lust and doing the right thing and was keen on leather trousers and coats, allowing Turner to smoulder on screen for the first but certainly not the last time.

He managed to gain a cult following from the role — as well as a new girlfriend in the form of his co-star Lenora Critchlow who played a ghost to Turner’s vampire.

When their relationship ended, Turner also chose to quit his role on the show.

But it was Being Human that got him his role in The Hobbit after director Peter Jackson saw him in the show and was struck by his elfin features. He never made it to the elves though, instead playing a dwarf.

And as his star ascended, he began dating another actress, this time Cork-born Sarah Greene. They had been friends for a few years after meeting on the set of Titus Andronicus, directed by Selina Cartmell at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre; but love didn’t blossom until much later.

‘I played Demetrius, her character wasn’t a named character but we met on that,’ Turner said in a magazine interview. ‘It was all very platonic and we never hooked up or anything, but that’s how we got to know each other. Then years later we just met again and it just sort of took off.’

Turner and Greene became the golden couple of the Irish drama scene, both with careers on the rise. They were together when he landed the role of Ross Poldark in the BBC revival of the Cornish drama that became a huge international success.

The fame that came with the role was difficult for both to handle as Turner is not a fan of being seen as a celebrity while Greene hated people taking photographs of her boyfriend while they went about their daily business.

Though then happy in his relationship with Greene, Turner admitted that he had been heartbroken in the past and it was something he was able to channel into his role as the brooding Ross Poldark, a man torn between two women.

‘I don’t know anyone on this planet who hasn’t had their heart broken,’ he told the Radio Times. ‘It’s happened to me. Love is love it’s the purest and rawest thing we have in life.’

As their careers progressed, the couple spent more time apart as Turner was in New Zealand with The Hobbit while Greene was working on projects like Vikings closer to home. But he insisted the distance wasn’t a problem.

‘You meet someone, you fall in love, then you can only see them over Skype or phone calls or texts and emails. And you have this whole other side to your relationship and it’s... it was fun,’ he said in a 2015 interview. He added: ‘We knew we really wanted to be together. And knew if we could do that, we could tackle a lot more. It was never: God, this is hard, bloody hell, we need to review this. This sucks. We never questioned it; it was great. So we had that from the beginning...’

But as the Poldark mania went into overdrive, so did the rumour mill and there were false reports of an engagement and even a secret wedding between himself and Greene. In actual fact the opposite was the case, with the relationship ending in 2015, five years after it started.

Turner then seemed to swear off dating those in the same business, despite his track record. In a press conference for the fourth series of Poldark, he said dating in acting circles meant you could never get away from work, admitting: ‘If you’re in my business and you find somebody who does exactly what you do and you’re living with them, then you’re in the business all the time.

‘You go home, talk about casting directors, you talk about the press, you talk about the next job you’re doing — it can become quite dull and taxing,’ he added.

So instead he was linked to a mystery law graduate, an advertising executive and then the artist Nettie Wakefield, who he dated for around a year before their hectic schedules drove them apart in what was described as an amicable split.

But obviously when he met the stunning blonde Irish-American, Caitlin Fitzgerald, 38, on a film set three years ago, Turner’s new rules went out the window, so bowled over was he by the beauty and talent of his co-star. By the time the film was premiered, the pair already looked smitten, posing on the red carpet together.

Fitzgerald appeared at a concert with Michael Sheen, with whom she starred in Masters of Sex but was seeing Turner at that time and like him, is an intensely private person.

Despite his fame and the stir his bare-chested scything caused, Turner has never been one to chase the celebrity lifestyle — perhaps because of those nights he spent observing celebrities while working behind the bar in Lillie’s.

‘If I allowed myself to let it change my life, it could,’ he has said in the past of his fame. ‘Where there’s celebrity, it’s easy to slip into that — being followed in nightclubs, or dating famous people or getting adverts. I’m just not interested in that stuff.

‘I want to do good work with good actors and filmmakers, read interesting scripts. I didn’t get into this business for celebrity. I did it for my love of film and stories and theatre.’

So although it has now been widely reported that he and Fitzgerald tied the knot in front of his parents Eileen and Pat, neither of them are likely to confirm their nuptials at any stage in the near future.

In fact, the only kissing Turner is likely to talk about is for his role in the film Leonardo, which explores the life and sexuality of Leonardo Da Vinci. In the film we will see Turner as the renaissance artist in a passionate clinch with another man as it explores Da Vinci’s sexuality and his rumoured affair with his apprentice Gian Giacomo Caprotti, better known by his nickname Salai. It is for his art that Turner intends to keep us all guessing as he’d rather we were interested in his roles than his romances.

‘It’s important to me that people don’t know too much about me because I’m trying to play characters,’ he has said in the past

‘Sometimes you see actors who are really good, but you have trouble separating that actor from the celebrity profile.

‘I don’t want to be one of those guys. It helps that people don’t know a lot about me, I guess.’

#aidan turner #leonardo

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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What Sweet Tooth Changes From the Comic

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This article contains spoilers for Sweet Tooth, both the TV series and the comic.

Sweet Tooth, the live-action adaptation of Jeff Lemire’s post-apocalyptic comic, has now arrived on Netflix and it’s a hit! Or at least that’s what producer Robert Downey Jr. ‘s overwhelmingly prevalent promoted tweet claims. I can recite “#SweetTooth is now certified fresh with a perfect 100% critics score. So incredibly proud of the whole @sweettooth team and can’t wait for you to see ‘the show of the summer.’ All episodes are now streaming on Netflix!” more readily than my own name at this point.

Still, it’s easy to see why Sweet Tooth found an audience on Netflix. The story of a gentle deer-boy hybrid named Gus and his quest to find his mother in a virus-ravaged world puts a refreshingly optimistic face on a well-worn post-apocalypse genre. Actor Christian Convery is a real find as Gus a.k.a. Sweet Tooth and the series eight episodes feel like an ‘80s Amblin Entertainment homage done right.

Sweet Tooth is so inherently sweet that audiences might not realize just how much it deviates from its comic inspiration. Lemire’s comic miniseries, published from 2009 through 2013 by DC’s Vertigo imprint, has many fans, including some big pop culture names. Actor Michael Sheen wrote the foreword for the series first collected trade paperback. TV writer Damon Lindelof (Watchmen, Lost) conducted an interview with Lemire for the end of the final book. The comic is also decidedly less sweet than the TV show it inspired.

Arriving in an era before apocalypse fatigue fully set in for pop culture, Sweet Tooth really leans into the Mad Max side of its “Bambi Meets Mad Max” elevator pitch. The book is quite dark and unflinching. That Netflix and series creator Jim Mickle decided to go in a brighter direction for the show is an interesting commentary on entertainment’s priorities at the moment. But what if Sweet Tooth the TV series decided to hew closer to its source material? Read on to see how the comic and the show differ.

Tone

It cannot be overstated just how much darker the Sweet Tooth comic is than the TV series. The show acknowledges that the post-apocalyptic world after “The Sick” would feature some inherent violence. In fact, the whole plot of the show involves hunters trying to kidnap a child and deliver him to the military to be ground up into medicine essentially. That’s obviously dark. But the show still does its best to avoid as much onscreen violence as possible.

When the Big Man or another character rescues Gus from hunters, he does so in a largely bloodless fashion. Even when Big Man takes a bear trap to a poacher’s head, audiences are spared the grisly sights and sounds of it. Readers of the Sweet Tooth comic, however, are spared nothing. The pages of Lemire’s work are positively drenched in blood. Midway through the story, Gus is even forced to beat a fellow hybrid’s brains in with a brick. He says he feels bad about it, but not that bad.

The comic also delves into the realm of sexual violence as many post-apocalyptic stories have felt compelled to do before. Early on in the proceedings Big Man and Gus come across a town where a family captures women and forces them into prostitution. When Big Man rescues two women, they become permanent fixtures of their party. These characters, Lucy and Becky, do not appear in the TV show (though one character does borrow her name from one).

If all the violence didn’t already make it apparent, the Sweet Tooth comic is particularly misanthropic. Nearly all of the human characters in the comic are monsters. Even Gus’s beloved Big Man Jepperd is useful because he’s a monster. Jepperd never loses sight of what makes him useful in this world, which is killing. He only becomes a hero when he applies that skill to those who deserve it. Throughout the series run, the comic continually intimates that perhaps planet Earth would be better off without all these humans anyway.

Characters

Befitting the comic’s darker tone, the characters of Sweet Tooth are also quite a bit darker. While Convery’s depiction of Gus in the show is absolutely pitch perfect for a young Spielbergian hero, the Gus of the comic isn’t quite as self-assured or sophisticated. The education that Gus received from his “pubba” wasn’t necessarily top notch stuff so his vernacular is filled with more slang and abbreviations. He comes across as a true Nebraskan country boy.

Meanwhile, Tommy Jepperds a.k.a Big Man (Nonso Anozie) gets an even bigger makeover for the show. Lemire describes the Jepperds of the comic as being inspired by the concept of an aging Frank Castle. There is absolutely no warmth in the comic’s Big Man. Instead of being an ex-football player, he’s an ex hockey player…and a pretty terrible one at that, only useful as his team’s “enforcer”. Anozie’s Jepperds is quite a bit more personable and open. Though he intends to sell Gus to the Last Men, he never goes through with it. In the comic, Jepperds does exactly that before changing his mind and rescuing the boy.

The pig-girl hybrid Wendy (Naledi Murray) exists in the comic but her mother Aimee (Dania Ramirez) does not. Instead Gus meets Wendy at the Last Men facility after Jepperds sells him off. He meets Wendy’s little buddy Bobby there too.

Gus’s “pubba” is a janitor at a medical facility in both the comic and the show, but as played by Will Forte in the show, he’s a lot more tender and smooth. The show Pubba is the perfect father to young Gus, open, communicative, and knowledgeable. In the comic, however, the character has lost some of his mental faculties in isolation. He is a God-fearing man who entertains and writes down his apocalyptic visions. Gus loves him and he loves Gus but he’s also not operating at full capacity. Also not operating at full capacity is Dr. Adityah Singh (Adeel Akhtar), who becomes inspired by Pubba’s writings and believes that Gus is a new god.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The Animal Army is quite different in the comic. Instead of being a ragtag gang of Neverland-style kids, it’s a disturbing cult of adults in animal masks, led by a deranged man who has five dog-hybrid children. Becky a.k.a Bear (Stefania LaVie Owen) is an invention for the show but she does take her name from a comic character.

General Abbott though? He’s pretty much that villainous in both iterations of the story. Screw that guy.

Story

Though Sweet Tooth’s first season begins and ends in a similar spot to the first “Book” (12 issues) of the comic, the path it takes to get there is wildly different.

Why Sweet Tooth’s Ending is Ultimately Hopeful

By Nicole Hill

Scenes at Aimee’s Preserve and at Dr. Singh’s Stepford-ian community are invented entirely for the show. The Preserve is mentioned in the comic, but it’s never confirmed to exist (and likely does not, given the comic’s relentlessly dark tone). The first time Gus and readers meet Wendy and Dr. Singh is at the Last Men facility where Gus finds himself in the final episode of the season. Also new to the TV series are Gus and Big Man’s side quest through an outdoor sporting goods store, and the entire Animal Army’s arc.

In the comic, Gus, Big Man, and company’s journey stretches from Nebraska to Alaska (hey, that rhymes!). The show elects to shorten that a bit by having Gus venture from Wyoming to Colorado. In addition to introducing new stories, the show also abandons some comic stories entirely, likely in pursuit of its cheerier tone.

Netflix has not announced Sweet Tooth season 2 yet. Based on the show’s apparent success, however, future seasons seem likely. When they arrive, they will undoubtedly have many more changes to make from the source material to ensure an appropriately sweet viewing experience.

Sweet Tooth is available to stream on Netflix now.

The post What Sweet Tooth Changes From the Comic appeared first on Den of Geek.

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seventhstar · 3 years

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anyways "The Heiress" is my least favorite episode of The Mandalorian for the following reasons:

1. the episode has Din meeting other Mandalorians which I really hoped was going to be a positive thing for him! Like last season his entire covert bar one DIED so I was like, "Oh, good, these new ones will give him that sense of community he's been lacking!" They rescue the baby, they fly in from above (in what I thought was a parallel to 1x03), they call him "brother"...I really thought this episode was going to be, like, 'yeah these other mandalorians are different but they agree about what's important and can still relate to each other' but Alas

2. Instead this is another episode of "Din getting fucked while he tries to get a Crumb of information to find his baby a forever home". It is episode 3 of season 2. So far, Din's quest has led him to: a guy who admits to hunting down Mandalorians and killing them for their armor; a guy with Mandalorian armor who only agreed to give it to Din after Din helped him do something incredibly dangerous; a frog lady whose mission got Din's ship nearly destroyed, nearly got him arrested, and nearly consigned them all to a spidery, icy death; and another guy who tried to kill Din for his armor (and also almost killed his baby!).

Din's covert were incredibly loyal to him and since Din literally tells Bo-Katan and Co. "I hoped you would help me by Creed" this is clearly the way he thinks (or hopes) all Mandalorians are. He's specifically wandering the galaxy looking for other Mandalorians because he assumes they won't fuck him over and will in fact actually help him.

3. Instead Bo-Katan refuses to give him the info without him helping her with her mission and then adds insult to injury by changing the terms of the deal midway. And she tells him he's in a cult, which is a pretty bold assumption to make about someone you've literally just met.

I definitely wish we had gotten more Din backstory in this ep because it would have made sense but also, it tracks that Din doesn't try to engage with Bo-Katan after she tells him he's in a cult, because refusing to engage is how Din handles every instance of people being shitty to him about his beliefs.

4. If Bo-Katan actually intends to rule Mandalore and she actually believes that "Mandalorians are stronger together" why doesn't she, I don't know, try to get Din on her side? Why doesn't she engage with him at all about his past or his beliefs or anything? The show kind of frames it like helmet-wearing is the main point of dispute between them but it's not. Bo-Katan also breaks her word to Din--a thing Din repeatedly does not do. Her argument is that she's a Mandalorian by birth and her mission is to retake her rightful place on the throne, neither of which are going to be compelling to someone like Din, who is a foundling and who is understandably uninvested in who might rule what he sees as a dead planet. And Bo-Katan doesn't tell Din her mission is to personally rule Mandalore until it's too late for him to back out--she first says "we'll seat a new Mandalore on the throne". Bo-Katan could appeal to him by going back to the Creed they both ostensibly share, but she doesn't.

5. If Bo-Katan had talked to Din more, he could have given her what he knows about Moff Gideon. Moff Gideon is hunting the baby! Bo-Katan could have used this information to find him!

6. Bo-Katan telling Din "his bravery will not be forgotten" like it was for her benefit is so frustrating like...it wasn't! It was just another day for Din because enduring dangerous nonsense for his baby is his entire life.

7. And you know that if the situation had been reversed Din wouldn't have done that to her! If Din had been just hanging out and three Mandalorians who took off their helmets rolled in and were like "We hoped you'd help us by Creed" Din would have have probably felt obliged to help them, no strings attached. (If Din was just out bounty hunting and three Mandalorians without helmets rolled up with a baby he would have done anything for them.)

#the mandalorian #i don't know any star wars lore i haven't seen a single star wars movie #i only watched this show so i could fit in at work and i fuckin played myself bc i care so much now

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ratnco · 3 years

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How to Kill a Great Film in 2021

Good Films die every day in Hollywood. Contracts are written and thrown away, writers can be hired and fired as fast as old drafts can be thrown away and rewrites can be made days before production. And when that doesn’t stop a project from being a success, Producers can cut funding at the second to final lap around the track, locations can change, or in more recent cases, the entire world can change.

But let’s pretend this pandemic isn’t currently still in effect and fast forward to 2023, when cinemas are open again (sadly not for the Cinerama Dome) and a new movie is released once a week and regardless of how much we enjoy it, we get to talk about it. In this fantasy land, let’s talk about the 5 ways you can kill a good movie before, while, or after Production…

Relationship between Director and Producer

Whenever the release of a certain cut of a film that isn’t what the Director intended on releasing makes its way to Theatres, the thing that comes to most people’s minds is ‘Studio Interference’. If you’re an aspiring filmmaker, writer or just a fan of Cinema in general, you’ve heard all of your favourite Filmmakers talk about how much they hate their Producers, you hear horror stories about the un creative old rich man trying to be creative, forcing their bad ideas onto a project and thinking they have creative control because they’re funding it. And a lot of those stories are true, but is that really all? Are Studios really that mean? Even so, there was still a moment where the Producer sat down with the Director and said ‘I like your project, let’s make it.’ So they can’t be that terrible.

The truth to this problem lies at that meeting. Whatever the problem is that the studio, Director or Crew will find themselves knee deep in down the road, its source will be born on the desk where that meeting takes place. The Producer may have bad, unoriginal ideas and is just out to make bank on your project, and you may be an unknown indie-filmmaker just trying to find an outlet for your talented voice, but as different as these two forces are, they need each other to survive. A Producer needs a film to be successful in every theatre in the country in order to keep their business alive, and the Filmmaker needs to successfully capture their vision onto screen so they can share it with audiences around the globe, and that won’t happen without Studio Funding, and the Film won’t be made without a Filmmaker.

So what happens if you don’t get along, if the Producer changes their mind on the casting for the main character, or the third act of the script? Do you just say ‘Yes’ or ‘Fuck off!’? It’s up to the Filmmaker, but either answer won’t produce a good Film.

Another thing you’ll probably find in common with any Director whose movies have suffered a great deal of box office failure to what they claim is Studio interference, is that they hate producers, they say mean things about them during interviews and they establish bad relationships with Hollywood, and more often than not, their line up of upcoming projects grows thinner and thinner as the years go by.

A Filmmaker shouldn’t be surprised when they have a hard time getting their films made when this is how they treat the people funding them. As attached as you are to the movie you’re making, getting your film properly released involves your key role in a game that must be played, and played extremely well. If you have a disagreement with somebody, is the most wise next step to scream in their face? No. If you’d like somebody to see your point of view, it’s done only by a genuine back and forth dialogue, allowing both parties to level with one another, acknowledging each other’s perspectives and reaching a common goal they can both agree on.

A Filmmaker can still receive these requests and still say no and still have a great relationship with their Producers, it all comes down to the trust you establish with your collaborators, and yes, they are collaborators.

Not Getting Final Cut

Reason number two is exclusively caused by reason number 1; Getting the Final Cut for your film means that you alone have creative control over what the version of the movie you’ll one day be showing to audiences will look like. If you’re passionate about how you're going to eventually show your story to an audience, this is pretty important, as failure to do so will result in a version of your film reaching audiences that you did not play much of a role in.

Nobody wants somebody to take something they’ve made and turn it into something else entirely. If you’d like to see a prime example of this, watch Natural Born Killers. One of the most talked about Tarantino films isn’t even really a Tarantino film. ‘You don’t fuck with my material’, Quentin Tarantino told Oliver Stone when handing over his original script, to which Oliver and his team responded by taking his characters and plot and flipping it on its head, creating a new film that doesn’t even come close to resembling what Tarantino originally wrote, to which Tarantino responded by requesting his name be taken off of the writer’s credits.

How the Director Controls a Set.

When a Film is made, hundreds of people are involved other than the Filmmakers, Producers and their cast, there’s also a massive crew who must be considered. If you’re a Director, all of these people are working for you, which means you’re also responsible for feeding them, managing how fast or how slow they work, and their overall mindsets while making a movie and if you at any point assume that these decisions play a key role in the result of the final product, just walk into any retail store and see what happens when a Staff is treated poorly by its managers.

I’m glad I brought up Quentin Tarantino, because the Writer/Director has a very interesting rule on all of his sets: No Cellphones. At the door of a Tarantino set, a ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ will retrieve your device and give it back to you at the end of the day or in case of emergency. On Top of that, there are speakers planted on set, blasting music, chosen by Tarantino for the cast and crew to listen to while working. What results is a very chatty cast and crew, forced to engage each other in between takes or set ups, rehearsing lines and enjoying and embracing the atmosphere rather than trying to escape it. QT also has another very interesting rule: No Sleeping. But breaking this rule won’t result in death, only something worse… Floating around the internet is a photo of Brad Pitt and other Cast members of past Tarantino Films with a giant purple Dildo held against their sleeping faces on set. Morale is key.

Marketing

When shooting's wrapped, editing is almost complete, and everyone involved is very excited and thrilled that the release of their movie has met and maybe even exceeded expectations, now it’s time to release it. But to make sure that goes smoothly, you’ll need to advertise it so that people will know about it.

Which means it’s time to make your trailer. Making a trailer involves just as much writing as the birth of the Final Draft of your Screenplay.. The Filmmaker has a chance here to control how the future audience of their movie will perceive their story, how they absorb it and how they will use that information to make a decision on whether or not they’ll leave their house to go see it.

Here’s another place where studio interference may come into play. Say you’ve got a 3 hour long Western Drama that you’re trying to advertise, but the studio says that since this is a slightly more niche genre of cinema, and given the runtime it would be more wise to make the trailer feel rather fast paced and action packed, containing loud and fast music and sounds of gunshots and screaming! That way when people at home view it, they’ll feel excited, their hearts are racing because you've tapped into a very common human emotion that everybody on the planet could respond to: excitement.

Sure, this approach may sell a lot of seats on opening night, but what will the rest of opening weekend look like? Chances are, pretty blique. Because your Western Drama may indeed be a beautifully executed masterpiece filled with tension and tear jerkers, but the problem you’ll now face is that all of the people who went to see your movie left their houses because they’re big fans of high octane action films and that’s exactly what they were expecting when they came to see your movie. But that’s not what they got, so now they’re upset.

One thing that a lot of Producers today won’t admit is that a Film may not be for everybody, and that’s okay. Because rather than marketing to a broad selection of people who may or may not like your movie, your Audience will do a better job at championing your Film if you chose to only Market to the people who will want to go see it. Even if these numbers are fewer, if those people really enjoy your movie, they’ll do the rest of the marketing for you, which will get you an even bigger fanbase, which can maybe even turn into a cult following. The long term success of what you release will have a major effect on your ability to control future releases. The battles you fight now will win you the war of your career as a filmmaker.

As frustrating, controlling and sometimes crazy Hollywood can be to its Talent, at the end of the day, it's only an outlet for voices looking to speak out, it’s a malleable mechanism used by all of us, and without us it wouldn’t survive and vise versa, so we coexist. Any Film can be a great Film, but aspiring talent may not like to hear that talent will only put words on a page or a subject in frame, the true impact of what you create comes down to something as simple as knowing how to talk to people who aren’t like you, a method also referred to as ‘empathy.’

By Ezra Crittenden

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canyouhearthelight · 4 years

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The Miys, Ch. 88

Sophia, the day after her conversation with Tyche.

Thank you to @satan-parisienne and @baelpenrose for keeping me going and on an even keel! Sorry the Author’s Note is so short... I didn’t realize until I had about 10 mins before I had to be back at work that I forgot to queue this for today *facepalm*

The next day was an entire education on new places I could be sore. A hot shower and analgesics only took the barest edge off, and I ended up needing a transport to get to my office instead of my routine walk. I did my best to ignore the grin on Conor’s face every time I moved too fast and winced. After the third time I scowled at him, I brought up my datapad and did some research, careful not to tap my legs as I gestured, which had become something of a habit.

“That snot,” I gasped. Conor glanced at me, so I clarified. “Tyche had me doing fencing footwork yesterday…. Intermediate footwork, it turns out. No wonder I’m so sore.”

“Least it wasn’t sparring,” he pointed out cheerfully, gently lifting my chin to get a look at my lip. “You should have let Noah heal that, love.”

I brushed my cheek against his hand. “I want the reminder. May even let her do it again once it heals.”

This time, it was his turn to scowl. “Not funny. That face has been bruised enough for one lifetime.” He gently rubbed my cheek as the transport stopped. “Okay, time to go be the boss. No fighting with the other kids.” Despite the joking tone, his eyes were serious as he leaned in to kiss me before he headed to his shift.

I realized that Alistair not only beat me to work, but could apparently hear me groaning as I tried to walk, because the door opened before I was even within three feet of it. True to form, he gave me an appraising look before his expression settled on my face. “Door get a bit mouthy today? Or did your feet decide you needed to stay home?”

“Tyche punched me, actually.” My tone was light as I inched my way to my desk. “For defending myself. And then she decided I need more ways to defend myself, so now I can hardly move.”

“Solid logic,” he deadpanned as he handed me a cup of coffee. “I feel obliged to point out that the coffee is hot, seeing as you display a disturbing propensity to get hurt.”

“Very funny.”

“You have been warned, et cetera, so on, so forth.” He waved a hand nonchalantly as he turned, bringing up my agenda for the day. “Your first meeting is the one to discuss medical testing ethics, criteria for volunteers, and determination of the necessity of the procedures. Then you have time set aside to review the status of the Galactic Core Curriculum, along with proposals for expanded learning topics and their existing analogues in the education systems of other planets - “ He paused and tilted his head. “I will never cease to be caught off guard when sentences like that exist.”

I restrained the urge to nod - or more accurately, my back twinged with a warning not to even consider it. “Believe me, I understand. Noah and I were talking about other species a few weeks ago. Did you know there is a species of avians out there who essentially live on a planet with no surface atmosphere?”

“The Preeyar, yes,” he sighed wistfully. “Knowing that Fermi was simply impatient has been quite eye-opening, so to speak.”

“Well, he wasn’t wrong,” I conceded. “We were too young for extraterrestrial civilizations, we weren’t listening properly, they apparently weren’t trying to contact us until recently… But they do exist.” A smile crept on my face at the idea that we really hadn’t been alone in the universe.

My office door opened without warning, and a familiar voice chimed in as Alistair turned with clenched fists. “I do argue that we are entirely too dangerous to have been contacted.” Arthur Farro stood leaning against the frame, and Alistair relaxed marginally. “At least we were until relatively recently…. Throwing nuclear ordinance at each other the moment killing each other in the thousands - rather than the millions - stopped scratching that vicious itch. Who does that? We’re like demented eight-year-olds who got bored of burning ants and started setting each other’s hair on fire instead.”

“You really should keep that door secured,” my assistant sniffed as he closed out my agenda, right around the time he caught Arthur squinting at it.

“He has the code,” I admitted.

“Or maybe that was accidental,” our resident history teacher continued, ignoring us. “I’m a big fan of assuming stupidity instead of malice where possible. And, dear lord, does our track record make it plausible.” Finally entering the room, he flicked a finger at my face. “That was not, however.”

Before I could stop him, Alistair took one glance between me and my friend, and strode to the door. “No.”

“Alistair…”

“I’ll clear your calendar. No. Have a good day.”

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Arthur asked as the door closed behind my soon-to-be-ex assistant.

“That he’s a coward,” I muttered.

“You know damned well that’s not what I mean.”

“Tyche already decked me.” I gestured at my split lip and the bruise that bloomed on my chin overnight. “So, yeah, I know - “

“No, you really don’t seem to.”

“Arthur, stop.”

“I will not.” He stepped forward and placed both his hands, palms down, on my desk. He knew I hated that gesture. “Bjornson’s entire narrative hinges on you being more dangerous than anyone realizes, and you putting up a display of false helplessness to make everyone trust you. By decking one of his followers, not only did you show that you do, in fact, have violence in you - meaning that it’s now entirely plausible you’re as Machiavellian as they claim - but you’ve also gone and indicated for whatever reason that Jokull is enough of a threat to drop that premise.” Straightening, he crossed his arms in clear disappointment. “If you wanted to give him more credibility, good job. You succeeded.”

I swallowed every bit of hurt I felt at his words, reminding myself they were nowhere near as barbed as the ones Tyche had given me the day before. Instead, I tilted my head and arched an eyebrow at him. “Are you done? Did you say everything you needed to say?” I paused, giving him a chance to respond. When he didn’t, I poked harder. “Feel better?”

“Not particularly, but big picture? I’m not a terribly gleeful person, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. But yes, it is your turn now.”

“Gracious of you,” I cooed sarcastically. “Tyche made the same points yesterday, after punching me in the face, with the added gravitas of a guilt trip served with that special seasoning of having watched me almost die and thinking I abandoned her as a child. Also three hours with a rapier, whipping my ass. So. Far more impressive, I assure you.”

“Foiled again by the smaller Reid,” he sighed dramatically before catching himself. “Rapier, you say? I was going to say no pun intended, but I’ve decided I did that on purpose. Yep. Totally intentional.”

I rolled my eyes before pulling up my tunic to show the bruises on my midriff. “I’m not very good at it, for the record.”

He waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry, saber’s a better style anyway. And I’m not just saying that because it’s my favorite.”

“Uh huh,” I nodded, not entirely convinced. “As far as Bjornson… seriously. She gave me the scoop. I seriously fubared the entire situation yesterday. Apparently, our suspected cult leader only believes in physical attacks on those who would defend themselves. No honor in beating a beaten foe, et cetera.”

“Mmm hmmm,” he nodded, like I was a student he was letting reach her own conclusion.

“Which means I just made it open season on Sophias,” I groaned.

“Really, saber is much better for brawling tactics,” he hedged.

I laughed bitterly. “Doesn’t matter. My walking privileges are revoked until further notice. Must be accompanied by one of six people, or two out of another ten, and on a transport.” The last word came out like a profanity. It was a known fact I hated using them.

Hence why I was now being forced to, unfortunately.

“If you think there is any possibility that I’m going to argue against Tyche on that decision, I need to talk to her about that head scan,” he told me pointedly. “Then again, you and I have different definitions of the word ‘think’, but I’ll be clear - it’s not happening. Moving target, faster than a walking pace, with a protective attachment? Which roster am I on, again?”

“Very funny. You already know.”

His expression softened slightly when he realized I was actually upset. “There is some good news in all of this.”

I threw up my hands and spun in my chair. “Oh, do tell, great military historian and warlord. What is the shining silver lining to the fact that I just gave a man who thinks I am the only thing standing between him and his New Start a golden ticket to sic his followers on me?”

“Okay, first off, sassy shit, my main career is a school teacher. I only moonlighted as a warlord to pay those apocalypse bills. Not my fault I was good at it.” Suddenly, he got serious. “The good new is, if he was too stupid to realize that your talent for inspiring loyalty meant you were a massive problem for any takeover plan, and a problem he’d have to deal with sooner or later….. Well, he’s probably too stupid to keep his little cult together much longer. Leaders who don’t recognize more than one kind of strength never manage to build a lasting legacy.”

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair…” I said, half to myself.

“Yeah, our guy is no Ramses II,” Arthur replied. “Besides, those who seek power are rarely good at keeping it.”

“I would have given him my seat on the Council if he’d just asked,” I admitted.

“Besides the fact that you literally just proved my point, if he was suited to the Council, he’d be on it. It’s not like you were the only candidate.”

I shrugged. “No idea. I didn’t even know I was on the Council for the first week. I think it was a week.”

When I turned to look at him, I was met with a flat stare. “I know it was explained to you at some point. How does that search function work?” He reached forward like he was going to tap my head before I swatted his hand away. “You were appointed to the Council to replace Simon, you represent a specific population on board the Ark, when we arrive at Von, you will serve an additional two planetary standard years before elections are held, of which you cannot be a candidate….”

Ugh. “I was put forward as a recommendation by Simon. The other Councillors put forward their candidates. The population I represent voted based on my personnel file, since no one even knew any of the candidates at that point. We’d only been on the Ark about six months. Some of us, anyway.” Glaring, I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t know how you figured that out, but I have a feeling I’m going to kill someone.”

He waved a hand at me in a very familiar gesture. “I see other people do it all the time. Jog your memory, and some phrase or word triggers it. Cool to watch, though.” With a shrug, he continued. “Point is, Bjornson wasn’t even a candidate, same as me.”

“How do you know that?” I asked incredulously.

“Fuck, Sophia. You really need to keep track of your constituents.”

“Hey, I didn’t even want to be a - Wait. You are one of my so-called ‘constituents’!?”

“Even voted for you,” he grinned. “Didn’t know it was you-you, but… Communications background, peaceful but intelligent attributes to balance out our resident warhawk, fair enough to offset Huynh, and you seemed like the type to actually listen to Grey, Pranav, and Eino.” He shrugged. “To be fair, I was right.”

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#the miys #humans are weird #aliens #apocalypse #science fiction #original fiction #my writing #earth is space australia #humans are space orcs

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toku-explained · 3 years

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The Invincible Swordsman

Phoenix Swordmsman and Book of Ruin: I've seen nothing about the timeline placement of this, but I've seen known sign of the Knight Forms, but Kento is here and so are the Wonder Combos, so safest bet seems to be right before Jaou Dragon happened. Bacht, wielder of Mumeiken Kyomu and the Eternal Phoenix Wonder Ride Book was sealed in a book in ages last, but is unsealed and creates portals to destroy the world. Seems to have Megiddo working with him but none of the regular villain's are involved. Bacht, Kamen Rider Falchion, apparently aims to reduce the world to nothing, Sword of Logos opposes him. The Brave Dragon joins with two others, the Love Dragon (White) and the Pride Dragon (Black) to for the Emotional Dragon Wonder Ride Book, and Saber uses Emotional Dragon to defeat Falchion. End scene is a brief teaser of our hooded man.

REALxTIME: So we have S, our lead villain, announcing he will end the world with bomb in 60 minutes and remake the world in his image, he has a large cult of followers, apparently he created the bomb using the Thousand Jacker. Among the followers are the 4 generals Bell, Moore, Lugo and Buga. Each of them, as well as the other followers, using either a Slash Abaddoriser or a Shot Abaddoriser, along with a Crowding Hopper Key become Kamen Rider Abaddon, the 4 generals having some small variation from the other followers. Aruto attempts to fight S, Kamen Rider Eden, using Zero-Two but is defeated and winds up in another world, S uses the Zero-Two Progress Key in the Thousand Jacker to create the Hell Rising Hopper Progrise Key, Izu later retrieves the Zero-Two Key and Zero-Two Driver. The Abaddon's are spreading a red gas that sends people to the other world, we get that scene of Jin, Horobi, Amatsu, Yua and Fuwa all fighting together. Aruto learns the woman he's met, Akane, knows S, and returns, attempting to fight Eden again using Metal Cluster Hooper. Apparently most of the enemies are AI controlled nanomachine constructs controlled by a few individuals using ZAIA Spec, these were meant to medical nanomachines but changed after some stuff with Ark towards the end of the series, Nanomachines make up the red mist. Horobi finds and confronts As, who has supplied Eden with the Hiden and others tech he needed, she otherwise isn't present. Is tries to find Aruto using Zea and manages to awaken to original Is somehow and they merge. Eden intends to use the Hell Rising Hopper Key to end the world, Aruto manages to take it off him, can't shut it down and is forced to use it to transform into Hell Rising Hopper. He is in a rage state and defeats S and tries to kill him but Zero-Two stops him, revealing themself as Is, Aruto calms down. Akane was S' wife, she died but her consciousness survived in the nanomachine AI, S wanted to make a world where he could be with her forever, placing his mind in a Humagear. Bell, after learning the real goal, takes the Eden Driver and Eden Key by force and becomes Kamen Rider Lucifer. Then we get Aruto as Zero-One and Is as Zero-Two facing Lucifer together, S shuts down this nanomachine system returning everyone to normal while Lucifer is defeated.

And that's Zero-One, at least until 01hers MetsubouJinrai.net comes out. But with what else was announced this week I wouldn't have counted on it being the end even if that hadn't been announced.

Z: It's important to remember with this first scene that Yuki Mai isn't actually a villain. There have definitely been examples of defence force members who count as villain's, the guy from Ginga S, or the ones from Ultraseven 1999 come to mind, but she is purely acting on the information she has, information that has been given to her by the actual villain, who we know was a trusted figure if authority. Hebikura finally reveals to the rest of STORAGE his identity as Juggler, but a younger Juggler would have just killed her and the 1st SAAG soldiers. As Destrudos rampages in LA, STORAGE prepares their mission, Haruki will pilot King Joe STORAGE Custom, while Hebikura uses Windom. He warns everyone to escape if they have to, GAFJ will almost certainly attack them. Wait Juggler what do you mean you can't grow big on your own anymore? You did last time we saw you before this, what's changed? King Joe and Windom give it their all, but they're outclassed by Destrudos, and when it looks like it's over Bako comes in with Sevengar to assist, the two manage to hold Destrudos long enough for King Joe to blow it open and attempt to pull Yoko out. So like this arm wrestling obviously is happening, but it isn't real or something, it pulls Yoko out of Celebro's control, and Celebro vanishes, leaving the Belial Medal in Yoko's hands. As she's ejected Haruki saves her by being able once more to use Delta Rise Claw, accepting he may die because of the strain, as Z warned. Beliarok returns to fight this new opponent. Destrudos regenerates the D4 cannon and fires, Beliarok absorbing the whole attack and thanks Haruki for the amusement, before destroying D4 and shattering, the feedback reverting Z to his Original State. With the encouragement of STORAGE he stands up, and with a tough battle defeats Destrudos with a Zestium Ray against the D4 Ray. Seems Haruki made it, but Z collapsed leaving. Hebikura catches up to Celebro and is going to kill it when Yuka and Kaburagi turn up and capture it, he leaves them to it. Haruki decides to go with Z to help people out in the universe. Beliarok, having reformed in space, decides to join them.

The Absolute Conspiracy: Moving to right around 1974, almost immediately after the end of Ultraman Taro, while continuing the Second Chapter we now focus on Ultraman Tregear in his Early Style (Existing VA), and some of this content was already relayed to us in the shirt story about Tregear that came out around when the Taiga movie was meant to. Tregear is working as a scientist at the Science Research Bureau under the Institute Director, Hikari (Still Origina VA), where he is working to develop a familiar item to borrow power from various life forms. Tregear looks down on himself for failing to make it into the Inter Galactic Defence Force, but Hikari encourages him to take pride in what he can do. He is reunited with Taro (New VA for his younger self), fresh from his time on earth. The showing here is abridged, but Taro is able to assist with finishing the device, and it is named the Taiga Spark. Some time later Hikari goes missing, and, in a new detail, Tregear goes to planet Arb to find him, where he is depressed after his failure to save Arb from Bogarl, and swears vengeance, for the first time becoming Hunter Knight Tsurugi, he attacks Tregear to stop him from getting in the way if pursuing revenge, leaving Tregear shocked even Hikari could not resist the darkness, and he hears Tartarus' voice. He discusses this with Taro, feeling resigned, and while Taro promises to protect him Tregear for the first time seems resentful of Taro, not just in awe. The pair go to Planet Deastar, where Taro seeks Tregear's help to investigate a strange energy. Suddenly Night Fang appears, brought by Tartarus, while it fights Taro it makes Tregear experience an illusion, where Hikari/Tsurugi draws him to the darkness, which he fears, but when Taro's illusion promises protection he rejects that too, then Tartarus offers him the chance to live as he desires, to fear nothing, and shows him his future, both his absorption of Grimdo and the conclusion of the fight with Taro in the beginning of Taiga, where despite everything Taro begged him to return. Taro uses Ultra Dynamite to destroy Night Fang, saying they'll always stand for the Light, but as Tregear leaves he rejects the idea of Light and Dark, Taro desperately calls after him.

Saber: Saber sees scenes that look like the past rush past him as he follows Caliber, while back at the battle the Megiddo claim only the one who obtains the truth will survive. Caliber tells Saber, and the Megiddo tell the others, that at the end of the gate is the Contents page of the original book, the only page that still remains, with it they would be able to find the other pages and remake the original book and reshape the world in their image. The Swordsmen intend to destroy the remaining pillars, which would prevent Saber returning. As Saber fight Caliber brings up the possibility of the world having already been changed from its original shape, before causing Saber to lose both swords and Touma vanishes into Kurayami's darkness. Mei encourages Rintaro to act, certain Touma will come back, while Touma, briefly despairing, is encouraged by Kento's spirit and manages to return to the swords and face Kamijo once more. Blades starts destroying pillars, while Kamijo explains 15 years ago. Hayato had been his best friend, until the day he betrayed them, when Kamijo confronted him he revealed Luna was a way to connect both worlds. Saber and Caliber fought, Caliber claiming this was to save the world. Luna was lost as Touma saw, and we see the last thing Touma remembered, with Brave Dragon flying into Touma's hand seemingly if it's own accord. When Hayato, enraged, yelled that this was the only way to save the world, Kamijo was forced to cut him down, but concluded the ones responsible for Hayato's corruptions were Sword of Logos, and so he decided to bear their sins even if he had to ally with the Megiddo. He believes obtaining the universal truth will allow him to identify the true enemy within Sword of Logos. Touma won't accept this, given all the people Caliber has sacrificed. As Blades continues destroying pillars, Saber uses Dragon Arthur, Crimson Dragon and Dragonic Knight. There's a Dragonback duel, ending in a Rider Kick struggle, which Saber wins, then uses a finish with both swords to defeat Kamijo, Kurayami, Jaaku Dragon and Jaou Dragon all fall. Kamijo accepts his loss, but beseeches Touma to find who betrayed Sword of Logos, saying he might be able to find Luna. Before he can say more he is stabbed through be Desast, who takes his own book back. Kamijo's last words are to beseech Touma to take Kurayami to help his quest, but suddenly both it and the books vanish. He returns just as the gate closes, greeted by everyone. And here's a reminder of Shindai Reika, going to tell us why you kidnapped Sophia any time soon?

Kenshin Retsuden: And finally for this series we have an episode of Blades, listed as Chapter 15.5. In the aftermath of everything Rintaro is depressed over Kento's death. Mei tries to cheer him up with eclairs and tries at the lottery, but even those won't excite him. We learn from flashback his lottery win was how he got the camera, and how he explained about how Sword of Logos as his family was instilled in him by his master. Rintaro feels weak, a failure, remembering his first fight with Zooous and how he felt, with Mei trying to calm him down after the fight, in the present she reminds him he saved her from Zooous, and protected Kento from Caliber, because he refused to give up. She tells him how Kento had said he wished he was as strong as Rintaro, and shows him Kento had used the camera to make sure there was a photo of himself for Rintaro. Rintaro has tears over the picture of his family, and finds his resolve.

Kiramager: Naturally the Crystalian holiday of Crystals is just a pastiche of Christmas, but the behaviour induced by Crunchula's rap causes the team to seriously hurt the Mashin, but the Mashin are also affected by the curse. Fire does make a point that they might still genuinely feel that way. The whole rap battle is just hilarious, I do like Yodonna's outfit choice. An all mecha roll call is a rare treat, last on I remember was Go-Onger, which also had an all Robo roll call. All the mecha getting a bit of spotlight like this is pretty common around this time of year, I remember Shinkenger doing it. Something is up with Yodonna.

#toku explained #ultraman z #kamen rider saber #mashin sentai kirameiger #kamen rider zero one

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britesparc · 3 years

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Weekend Top Ten #470

Top Ten Films to Watch on Star on Disney+

We’ve been watching a lot of Disney+ lately. This is partly due to the fact that our family movie nights have become, almost accidentally, a quest to watch every bit of Star Wars content on the service; so far, we’ve watched the entire Skywalker Saga and are now moving onto the spin-off movies. The younglings have become addicted: Daughter #1 is getting stuck into The Clone Wars, whilst Daughter #2 is demanding we jump straight into The Mandalorian. As for the Princess to my Scoundrel, well, she and I have been thoroughly enjoying WandaVision, which by the time you read this, will have finished. Sob! Nothing to do but gird our loins until the arrival of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in a couple of weeks! At least this excellent TV programme appears to have whetted my wife’s appetite for watching more of the MCU movies. Maybe soon I can make oblique references to Mary Poppins, y’all, and someone else in the house will actually know what the hell I’m on about.

Well it looks as if there’s going to be even more use out of our Disney+ sub as the months roll inexorably on, what with their new Star channel. This is where they’ve shoehorned all the mucky films they bought from the naughty boys and girls at Fox; sweary adult dramas, sexy bits, and scenes of explicit wrist-slapping abound. So now we have this toybox of grown-up content to savour! What to watch? What not to watch? I’ve already started at the most obvious place by diving into some vintage Arnie with Commando, one of the funniest action movies ever made. It did not disappoint.

So where to next? Re-watching semi-forgotten classics, films I’ve not seen in literally decades? Or checking out things that slipped me by (there’s an entire list to be made of “films I read about in Empire in the ‘90s, got really excited about, but never saw”). Do I watch the crappier Die Hard films, or cheesy action movies (er, like Commando, I guess)? Or dive deep into prestige fair? Or just watch Spy Hard for the Weird Al theme tune, practically the only bit of the film I remember? The options are virtually endless.

So that’s what this week’s list is: ten films I intend to watch on Disney+ very flipping soon. Or, y’know, just play Zelda until Falcon starts.

9 to 5 (1980): there was a lot of talk of Dolly around the New Year, and my wife and I even watched a documentary about her. As a result, I had a scoot around to see if it was possible to buy 9 to 5 as a birthday or Valentine’s gift for my better half; it’s a film neither of us have seen in years if not decades, and we’re both big Grace and Frankie fans too. Alas, it’s a difficult film to get a hold of; there doesn’t appear to be a Blu-ray readily available. Praise be, then, that it’s now on Disney+; a terrific comedy film, with a nice bit of feminist bite. I’m not sure if it’ll feel dated or – post-#MeToo – oddly prescient. But I’m really, really looking forward to watching it again.

Crimson Tide (1995): I do love a good tense thriller, and I seem to remember this as being a particularly great tense thriller. This feels like one of those “they don’t make ‘em like this anymore” candidates; a claustrophobic two-hander with no real action, almost a theatrical chamber piece, but made with huge stars and a big-time director (the late, great Tony Scott). I saw it once, on video, when it came out, so it’ll be great to revisit.

The Color of Money (1986): another minor classic that I’ve not seen for decades, and a film I remember even less well than Crimson Tide. It’s cool to revisit (or discover for the first time!) films by great directors, and this is Scorsese we’re talking about. Cruise as a freshly-minted movie star, still taking risks; Newman as a great elder statesman. I’ve genuinely no idea what it’s like, it’s been so long, but I’d love to see it again. Just wish The Hustler was on D+ too!

Quiz Show (1994): I’d mentioned before that there are loads of films from the ‘90s that I read about as an eager young film fan but never saw; this is one of them. An apparently-great drama about corruption at a hugely popular TV show in ‘50s America, with Ralph Fiennes in a very early Hollywood role. I think I’d enjoy it.

Looking for Richard (1996): another of those ‘90s films…! This fascinated me as a teen, and I’d love to see it: a documentary about Richard III, made by Al Pacino, featuring people talking about Shakespeare (got a lot of time for that) and also scenes of the play performed and filmed. It’s a real curio; also weirdly came out around the same time as McKellen’s Richard III. Maybe something was in the water? We’re due another big Rich in my opinion.

Jennifer’s Body (2009): a follow-up from Juno writer Diablo Cody, a horror centred around high school and female sexuality, this has always seemed like it might be a dark, delicious delight; it wasn’t very well received at the time, but has grown in cult status; as has its star, Megan Fox, who I’d argue has not had the easiest time within Hollywood. Anyway, I really like the look of it, and it’ll be cool to check it out.

Tombstone (1993): I love a good Western, and I seem to remember that this is a very good Western. A story of Wyatt Earp that goes beyond the famous gunfight, my memories of this are very vague; I know that there’s a very good Val Kilmer performance as Doc Holliday, and of course Kurt Russell as Earp himself. I might try out that “watch along” feature and watch this, remotely, with my dad.

Romancing the Stone (1984): I probably haven’t seen this since the eighties so I’ve got no idea if it’s really any good, but I do remember enjoying its Indy-inspired adventurism and – in particular – Danny DeVito’s bad guy. Douglas is always great value as a leading man, although from what I’ve since read this is really Kathleen Turner’s show. It’ll be interesting to see if it holds up, but hopefully it’ll be a good stop-gap until they finally get the Indy films up on the service.

Good Morning, Vietnam (1988): another film that I want to revisit, even if I remember it a little better than others on this list. My memory is that it’s utterly fantastic, a really stark look at the realities of Vietnam during the time of the war, and also a phenomenal, very human performance from Williams. Also I remember it being very funny when he does let off some steam (sorry, bit of Commando creeping in there). And really, it’s Williams I want to see again; that earnest, real, pained but beautiful Williams we get in his very best performances. It’s very likely I’ll cry just watching him on screen. God, I miss him.

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016): I needed some crappy sequel to talk about, and here it is. I can’t overstate how much I loved the first Independence Day in ’96, so the (apparent; I’ve not seen it) terribleness of this sequel hit me like a sledgehammer. It can’t be that bad, can it? Is it not at least so-bad-it’s-good? I mean, the trailer made it look atrocious, and it’s killed off Will Smith – the best character! – off-screen, so odds are not good that it’s a hidden gem. But I’ve got to know.

This was actually a pretty tough list, and I had to knock off some films that I’d love to rewatch (Conan the Barbarian, The War of the Roses), as well as stuff like Idiocracy and Office Space that I’ve never seen. Also Kingsman: The Secret Service, which is a fairly recent release that slipped me by, and I’m not sure why I’ve never gotten round to seeing; I blame the kids! Also, there was going to be some xenomorph or xeno-monkey action on here, but frustratingly all the Alien (and Predator!) movies are missing, and the recent Planet of the Apes trilogy – which I’ve also never seen! – is only served by its middle instalment. Yeah, I can watch the seminal ‘60s original again (and I may!) or the indecipherable and strange Tim Burton version, but what about, y’know, the trilogy that everyone raves about? I assume this is due to pre-existing deals keeping the films elsewhere (elusive…), but the sagas of Alien, Predator, and the complete Die Hard package are – I believe – being kept until most profitable (mark my works: Die Hard at Christmas). Anyway, it’s a bit frustrating, that, as I’ve never seen Covenant or The Predator, and I’d love to watch the whole lot from the start anyway.

I guess I can console myself by also watching the one Die Hard film I’ve never seen, namely the critically-acclaimed A Good Day to Die Hard. I mean, I’m assuming it’s critically acclaimed. I guess I’ll find out.

#top ten #movies #disney+#star #films #fox #dolly

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irikahkrios · 4 years

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okay i wanna yell about this au

SO. first some ground rules re: how these werewolves and vampires work, ie. which bits of "traditional lore" we're keeping and which bits we aren't and which fun things we're adding in Because Aliens:

- lycanthropy is hereditary, but can also be given through bites

- vampirism is given through being made to drink the blood of a vampire, just being bitten/fed on by a vampire doesn't make you one it just means you probably have less blood in your body now lmao

- the existence of supernatural creatures is a secret to everyone except said supernatural creatures.

- all aliens are still aliens and the dextro/levo thing is still very much in effect. turian or quarian vampires can only feed on turians and quarians, and vampires of any of the levo species can only feed on levo species.

- any organic species can become a vampire, but only humans can be werewolves. there have, however, been rumors of other species being able to transform into large variants of native wildlife on their own home planets, but nothing has been confirmed. (but as the author of this au i can, in fact, confirm it.)

- vampire powers include increased strength and speed, supernaturally heightened senses, and a form of hypnosis for subduing their victims. the strength of this last ability varies with the individual. werewolf powers include "can turn into a big goddamn wolf."

- vampire weaknesses include direct sunlight on any planet (near-deadly or deadly, depending on length of exposure), any sort of holy symbols (burns the skin on contact, and even being in general proximity is just uncomfortable), and certain plants (garlic is the best example from earth, but most species have their own traditional equivalents. all of these will work to repel vampires of any species. it doesn't hurt them it just gives them Really Bad Vibes and they'll usually stay away). also, they can only enter a residence if invited in. the main werewolf weakness is silver.

- a werewolf's wolf form looks like an actual large wolf, though some individuals can enter a sort of "in-between" wolfish humanoid form. transformations are usually voluntary, but certain environmental factors, most notably a full moon (on earth or any other planet) can force an involuntary transformation. some werewolves live in environments where this does not happen (and some specifically move away from earth and onto space stations or moonless planets specifically to avoid this problem), and thus involuntary transformations are not a problem for them.

- vampires don't have body heat because they're technically sorta dead, and as such are always room temperature. werewolves run hot.

- vampires do tend to sleep in coffins during the daytime. it's an old tradition, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. they need somewhere dark and enclosed to stay sheltered while sleeping during the day, and a nice, sturdy coffin fits the bill. even vampires of species whose death rites don't traditionally include coffins/burials have adopted the tradition of sleeping in them, because it's just so convenient.

- half-vampires are a thing. they can live on either blood or normal food, can develop painful skin blisters after prolonged exposure to sunlight but aren't severely weakened or killed by it like full vampires (but as a result still prefer to dress super covered up or just mostly come out at night), and age normally for their species until young adulthood and then stay that age forever.

- vampires and half-vampires are immortal. werewolves can choose to be immortal, they can literally just. magically stop and start aging at will.

NOW. FOR THE ACTUAL CHARACTER STUFF.

- thane and irikah met pretty similarly to how they did in canon, but with thane as a vampire instead of an assassin. irikah was walking home one night and heard a struggle in a dark alley, Rushed Headlong Into Danger (as she is prone to doing) and found thane about to feed on somebody, and threw herself between him and his intended victim. he was so shaken up by her anger, her lack of fear, and this act of selflessness that he just ran away without killing either of them.

- later on he tracked her down to apologize and they started a tentative friendship and then a romance, got married and had little half-vampire kolyat, and eventually after a few years thane finally turned irikah into a vampire too and now they get to be together forever.

- (also this is self-indulgent but at one point pre her getting turned i am really into the concept of him needing to feed in a really inconvenient situation and her trusting and loving him enough to let him drink a little bit of her blood because that is a vampire romance trope that i am WEAK FOR. aaaaaa the trust!!! the love!!!! the tenderness!!!!! i love them)

- she was the first one to consider that it might be possible to survive on the blood of animals instead of people, and they started living that way. the three of them are a little family/coven that stay together for centuries, though kolyat sometimes goes off on his own for a few decades so sometimes it's just the two of them.

- emmett was bitten by a werewolf as a young teenager and kicked out by his birth parents after his first transformation. he wandered around in the wilderness for a while and was eventually found and taken in by a werewolf pack consisting of moms hannah and natalie shepard and their four children. he finds a home with his new family and lets himself age in real time until he reaches around the age of 30, and then stops aging.

- after a couple hundred years, after first contact and after humans join the galactic community, he moves to the citadel to just kinda chill. while there he begins to realize what a massive vampire presence there is down in the wards. he's cool with them and they're cool with him, they just kinda nod at each other and go about their business lmao

- garrus is probably the closest to canon in terms of time period and setup. he starts off as a c-sec officer in the 2180s, investigating strange activities and what almost seems like a weird supernatural cult?? basically he goes off the deep end rambling to his superiors about supernatural conspiracies and gets fired from his job, and goes out to try and fight this vampire cult himself. he does manage to find a few vampires but he's no match for them, and instead of killing him they decide it'd be funny to turn him instead. so he wakes up as a vampire and is understandably freaked out. luckily for him a certain werewolf happens to be nearby and takes him under his wing, and introduces him to other, nicer vampires who teach him the ropes. said vampires probably include thane and irikah??

- i'm really tempted to give this an actual plot goddammit this is the pirates au all over again

- anyway the four of them know each other and after a few decades, just like in any universe, things get Cool and Fun and Polyamorous

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robotnik-mun · 4 years

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Also, in regards to your setting, what would be the (abridged) history of Mobius in your vision of things? If you feel like explaining it, I mean.

I can give it a go, but keep in mind that I am constantly revising my ideas, and I tend to vacillate between what I want to keep in and what I don’t. I’m a ditherer, it’s true ID;

I really do need to make a master document of this crap though, even if the most detailed bits and pieces come from specific time periods in Mobius’ recent history. Either way, this is perpetually in Rough Draft mode, so what you see here might not be the same the next time you ask.

Anyway, let’s roll-

The Beginning

-To begin with, Mobius is a unique world in that it undergoes something we’ll call “The Gaia Cycle”, in which life develops on the planet, advances greatly before leaving/self destructing, leading Dark Gaia to emerge in order to wipe the slate clean, which in turn allows Light Gaia to renew the world and re-start life on the planet, so that the cycle begins again. As such, Mobius is indescribably ancient, having gone through the cycle several times over. The only constant is the Master Emerald and the Seven Chaos Emeralds.

-During this cycle, several individuals from the Old World are able to essentially acend to Godhood via the power of the Chaos Emeralds and mastering their energies, and so are able to escape the end of their world as the Gaia Cycle proceeds. As you can guess, these guys are basically to serve as stand-ins for the Ancient Walkers.

-For now we’ll call them the Titans. The Titans take charge of the various primal fundaments of the plane. They also take it upon themselves to oversee and help guide the development of life on the on the Soon To Be Mobius, overseeing the re-birth of the Dinosaurs before guiding the direction of evolution to lead to the creation of intelligent life far ahead of the usual schedule. Their plan is to oversee the development of a utopian society so that when the time comes for the Gaia Cycle to begin anew, more benevolent life will be left and spread from Mobius, all in the hopes of creating a universe of harmony unlike the ones they had survived.

-Naturally, one of them has other plans and believes that they should RULE over creation rather than guiding and guarding it. The most powerful of their number attempts to convince the others of her viewpoint. When that fails she tries to seize control of creation by force, killing several other Titans before she is defeated. Suffering an unhealing wound that saps her of her cosmic power, The Fallen Titan is banished by the others and sealed beneath a mountain for her crimes.

-The surviving Titans though are not unscathed either, their injuries leaving them unable to directly intervene on Mobius as they once did while regulating the energies that comprise their world. Rather than letting the primal forces run unchecked, they fall into the role of distant, observant Gods, only intervening when able and moving in subtle and mysterious ways.

Early Mobius

-Life on Mobius proceeds onward as intended- the myriad new forms of intelligent life on Mobius develop sentience, tools and the like. Life takes on many strange and wondrous forms on Mobius, from your standard humans and Mobians to more fantastical creatures like dragons. Primitive magic is developed by these early prehistoric societies, and through them understanding of the various Higher Powers begins to emerge. In particular, worship of Light Gaia/Dark Gaia becomes widespread. At this stage of things, the various peoples of Mobius stick to their own kind.

Then, one day, something happens- The Fallen Titan escapes from her confinement.

Though greatly weakened and lacking most of her power, The Fallen Titan still retains certain advantages- namely immortality, and the power to manipulate the forces of Chaos. Cast in the shape of a great serpent, the Fallen Titan regains her ‘footing’ and develops a unique power- that of being able to awaken Chaos Powers within others or nullifying similar powers.

The Fallen Titan, through her powers, quickly establishes a cult around herself, and through her powers amasses a great army. She comes to be known by the name of Vokara, and through her army conquers many tribes. Through her a great and terrible city is built, and she establishes the first civilization on Mobius. This comes to be known as the First Great Civilization.

(In case it isn’t obvious, Vokara is pretty much meant to fill-in for Mammoth Mogul. She started out as an attempt to differentiate Lyric, but the sheer differences eventually led me to just go ‘screw it’ and make an OC)

Standing as Goddess-Queen of the First Great Empire, Vokara researches means of bringing the Chaos Emeralds to her, knowing that they are the key to regaining her original might. Eventually the Master Emerald is located and brought to her, and by communing with it she re-discovers the knowledge of how to access the Special Zone. She houses the Master Emerald in a great temple, and through its power mutates a Chao to become its very first Guardian- Chaos.

As you can imagine, it eventually all goes to shit. On the eve of receiving the Seventh Emerald and re-attaining her lost Godhood, a hero arises to challenge Vokara and lead the oppressed peoples of Mobius in a great rebellion against her. This hero becomes the first ‘Super’ on Mobius, and the cataclysmic final battle levels her great city and sends her Chaos Temple crumbling. The Chaos Emeralds themselves do not return to the Special Zone, and are instead spread across Mobius to become objects of

Though the First City is destroyed, the Vokarik Empire’s influence lives on in its former vassal states, many of whom build off the various advances that occurred under the Vokarik regime to advance themselves forward. Trade and exploration begin to flourish. Vokara meanwhile retreats to the shadows, deciding to take advantage of her long life and try for a more long term, subtle approach to regaining her lost Godhood. Across the centuries she begins to form cults, secret societies and conspiracies to serve her ends, taking on multiple names and identities as she does so.

The longest lasting and most enduring of these is The Order of the Black Emerald.

-After this point things get a bit hazy. Two more Great Civilizations come and go, and eventually the Master Emerald winds up in the hands of the Echidna, along with the Seven Chaos Emeralds.

-The Echidna manage to become the keepers of the Master Emerald, which takes up a great place of importance within their mythology. The Echidna develop into multiple clans, but the two most important are the Nakbe Clan, a society of warriors, and the Nocturnus Clan, who focus on science. The Nakbe Clan are the keepers of the Master Emerald and eventually the Chaos Emeralds, which they keep enshrined. Chaos, the First Guardian, is placated by the company of Chao. The Nakbe Clan eschews advanced science in favor of physical might, and learns to channel the power of the Emeralds to make their warriors all the stronger.

-The Nocturnus, focusing on science, developes rapidly and becomes a highly influential and widespread nation in of themselves. They will be known as The Fourth Great Civilization. While initially things are peaceful between the Nocturnus and the Nakbe clans, gradually the Nakbe Clan sets down a path of conquest and imperialism. In response the Nocturnus develop the Gizoids and march down a path of counter-conquest under the leadership of Pir’oth Ix. The two forces battle viciously, but in the end even the Chaos Enhanced warriors of the Nakbe clan prove to be no match for the Nocturnus, and are pushed to the brink of defeat. Then, mysteriously, the capital city of the Nocturnus simply vanishes, drawn away by a mysterious creature known as Argus (that may or may not have been drawn to Mobius by the efforts of the Order of the Black Emerald).

-The victory of the Nakbe clan is short lived. Pushed to the brink by their losses and left vulnerable, the peoples they pillaged in the past gather and begin to seek vengeance against their oppressors. In desperation, Pachachamac raids the Emerald Shrine in the hopes of turning the full might of the Chaos Emeralds against the attackers…. In doing so enraging the guardian Chaos, causing it to absorb the emeralds and subsequently going on a rampage that devastates the Echidna civilizations and many societies around the globe. Only through the sacrifice of Tikal is Chaos sealed away, but not before Mobius essentially undergoes an Apocalypse that sets it back thousands of years.

-In the aftermath of the devastation, the remnants of the Echidna band together. Realizing the dangers of the Master Emerald, one group of Echidna opts to take the Master Emerald to ensure that something like Chaos never happens again, while the other group decides to have nothing to do with the emeralds at all and migrates elsewhere to rebuild. Eventually, in the name of keeping the Master Emerald out of the wrong hands, the keepers of the ME use its power to create a floating island in the sky, which will come to be known as Angel Island.

What becomes of the ground bound remnant is unknown, and eventually the world will believe the Echidna people to be extinct.

-Past Mobius

-In the aftermath of the Deluge, Mobius is set back pretty far as most cities are devastated, and records of the past are hazy. Civilization tries to rebuild as best it can, but it’s on a decidedly uneven tilt. Consequently this is why you have ruins and weird ancient supertech hidden everywhere. It is during this time that the art of sorcery begins to develop and flourish. Mighty sorcerer-kings (and queens) arise from the ashes of technological civilization and establish dominance over the world. This is the Age of Sorcery, and it’s not really a fun time to exist.

-The Sorcerer-Kings rule and wage war against one another for many centuries, and actively suppress technology to keep their subjects in line. Despite this, pockets of civilization are able to resist this- chiefly the human city-state of Soleanna, which maintains scientific advancement even against the scrutiny the Sorcerer Kings of Mobius. The Soleannans spread the word of Solaris to the other peoples of Mobius, and in secret spread their technological knowledge as well. Eventually the Solaric Crusades are started, a mass uprising against the Sorcerer Kings and their magic. In the course of the crusade the Sorcerer Kings are defeated, but over the course of defeating the dark magics used by the Sorcerer Kings, many of Mobius’ more benign magical traditions are also exterminated as part of the Holy War as it turns into a crusade of magic itself.

When it is over, the Solar Empire is established across Mobius, with Soleanna as its capital.

-One consequence of the Solaric Crusades is that many of Mobius’ naturally mystical species (fantasy critters) are driven to flee from Mobius itself, using magic to cross dimensional barriers into the ‘Nameless Zone’ where they may live freely. Only a few choose to remain behind on Mobius, among them the mighty Dragons.

One of the Sorcerer Kings, Lazaar, builds a mighty fortress in a remote and desolate land, seeking to regain and rebuild his power and re-take the world. His dark magical experiments, left unchecked, pollute and corrupt the land around, creating what will one day be known as The Forbidden Zone. Lazaar uses his magic to create a homunculus to serve as his assistant, only for the homunculus to teach itself magic and betray Lazaar, trapping him within his own fortress and siphoning his powers for its own ends.

The Homunculus dubs itself ‘Naugus’, and continues where his master left off, eager to explore the possibilities of magic and its limits, while vowing to never be subject to the will of anyone ever again.

- Meanwhile on Angel Island….

After the devastation the Deluge and the raising of Angel Island, the Echidna remnants were able to advance in peace and isolation from Mobius. Slowly they regained much of their original technological prowess, and through their technology managed to keep any would-be explorers at bay. The Hidden Palace is created, within it the great Emerald Chamber to house the Master Emerald.

-The science of Chaos Physics, the study of Chaos Emeralds, emerges as a scientific discipline. Two scientists, Sayil and Xultun become leaders in their fields, seeking to better know the power of the Chaos Emeralds in the hopes of benefiting all Echidna kind. One of their projects is figuring out how to transfer Chaos Energy directly into a Mobian (in a kind of predecessor to the eventual experiments carried out by Gerald Robotnik). Something however goes horribly wrong, and there is an accident- one that results in Xultun being physically and mentally transformed by the experience.

-Now bitterly misanthropic and nihilistic, Xultun demonstrates the ability to control a strange, corrupted form of Chaos Energy. He eventually escapes confinement and becomes a terrorist against the Echidna nation, with his goal being nothing short of the elimination of all life on Mobius so that it might be ‘purified’. As the death toll mounts, Sayil sets out to take down her former friend and colleague. Uncovering ancient scrolls of the Nakbe Clan’s teachings, she learns a natural means of drawing power from the Master Emerald. From there she sets out to thwart Xultun, time and time again, eventually seeming to kill him. Much of the Angel Island civilization is devastated as a result, even if the rest of Mobius is saved.

-Realizing the dangers of the Master Emerald and its powers, Sayil in the aftermath takes it upon herself to become it’s protector, and as such she becomes the first Guardian of the Master Emerald. While the Echidna rebuild, Sayil uses her powers to locate the other Chaos Emeralds on Mobius, travelling the globe and gathering them so they will not fall into the wrong hands. During this time she clashes with both Vokara and Naugus, thwarting them both as they seek out the emeralds for their own ends. When finished, she returns to Angel Islands and promptly sends the Chaos Emeralds back into the Special Zone, hopefully out of reach of would-be tyrants.

-Sayil establishes the tradition of the Guardian by taking on an apprentice and successor of her choosing, teaching them her skills and literally transferring the power from herself to her student. Thus it follows that each new Guardian is chosen by the last, protector of the Master Emerald and the Echidna people.

-Xultun, wounded but not dead, retreats to a hidden laboratory base deep under the surface of Mobius. There he places himself in a recovery pod to undergo suspended animation while his injuries are healed. Due to an earthquake, the timing mechanism of his pod is damaged, and he remains in stasis for far longer than intended, dreaming dreams of dark destruction.

(In case it isn’t obvious, Xultun is basically an expy for Finitevus- all the pertinent details of him came from Flynn, and so I feel free to plunder them for my own use).

-As is the pattern of things, the Solar Empire reigns strong for many centuries before falling into excess, decadence and stagnation. The Solar Empire, once the heroes of the Age of Magic, gradually slide into tyranny and corruption, eventually becoming the sick man of Mobius as it desperately clings to power. During these declining years, the Solar Empire begins to resort to slave raids in order to replenish its laborers.

-It is at this stage of things that a new player enters the stage of history- Aneiron. Born to the Acorn clan of squirrels in one of the less developed forest regions of Mobius, Aneiron grew up in a time of constant inter-clan conflict between neighbors. Aneiron left home at a young age to become a wanderer, adventurer and mercenary, travelling far and wide across the known world and exposing himself to many different cultures and people. Learning the strengths of other nations, Aneiron became determined to give his own people that strength, as well as realizing the folly of constant warfare between species.

-Returning to his homeland and bringing with him new ideas, Aneiron became leader of his clan and bringing about radical changes. The most radical was the idea of co-operation between the races. Through careful diplomacy (and force of arms, when needed), Aneiron forged alliances with those who had traditionally been his people’s enemies. Under his guidance, the squirrels and their allies built the city of fortress of Mobotropolis- which meant “City For All Of Mobius”, a meeting ground for clan readers and place where different species could co-habit and trade freely, as well as a refuge for travelers.

-Though initially Aneiron’s Alliance is comprised of herbivores, to his shock, carnivores begin to come into the fold as well. This leads to some conflict, both from within and without, but in time ALL the clans of the realm are allied with one another. At this time, the Solar Empire begins to seek new lands to plunder- and the lands of Aneiron fall into their crosshairs. Raiding parties are sent, and colonies are built. Aneiron and his alliance converge, and Aneiron is voted to become Warlord of the Alliance. Under his military leadership, the Solar Empire’s army is driven back, and the colonies claimed for the Alliance- the people already living there are permitted to stay, under the condition of accepting vassalhood from the Acorn clan.

-This move reverberates around the Solar Empire, leading to uprisings that weaken it further, until the empire collapses completely (with generous help from Vokara and the Order of the Black Emerald). Several of the Solar Empire’s more distant city-states manage to avoid the worst of it and band together for mutual protection. This coalition of city states will eventually unify into a single polity, which will one day come to be known as The United Federation.

-Soleanna itself, despite the loss of its wider empire, manages to escape the collapse of the Solar Empire. Owing to its status as the Holy City of the Solaris faith, it is able to retain independence even as the Solar Empire itself breaks apart. It will survive, eventually becoming the Duchy of Soleanna in modern times.

-Generations pass. Clans develop into feudally based kingdoms. Aneiron’s great grandson breaks with all tradition and takes a chipmunk for a bride, permanently allying the two kingdoms to one another. Mobotropolis is expanded upon. A new and more terrible war brews, this time with the rival Kingdom of Duskmount. A mountainous kingdom of meager resources, the various peoples of Duskmount also banded together- not in mutual partnership, but in a stratified, caste-based civilization where breed determines position, with Deers forming the ruling caste. Seeking new resources and viewing the Alliance of the Acorn family as an affront to the Duskmount way of life, King Mordent Duskmount launches a war of conquest against the Alliance. The war lasts many years, but Duskmount is eventually beaten back, starting a bitter rivalry between the two realms.

-In the aftermath of the Duskmount War, the leadership of the Alliance begins to grow closer. The descendants of Aneiron begin to consolidate power by intermarrying fellow ruling families. Eventually, the Acorn family becomes the controlling family of the realm. War breaks out. Those that do not join willingly are soon forcibly brought to heel. The Alliance of the Forest Realm gives way to the official founding of the Kingdom of Acorn, with Mobotropolis as its capital. For the purposes of historic narrative, Aneiron is none the less credited as the founder and first ‘King’ of Acorn, even though in his lifetime he was only ever King of the Squirrels.

-The Kingdom of Acorn becomes a feudal monarchy, one where species is irrelevant but class is everything. It spreads forth, and eventually becomes one of the greatest empires in history.

-Present Mobius

-In the 800 years since its founding, the Kingdom of Acorn expands to become a great and mighty empire, though it never goes by that name. It influences the culture, economy and technology across all of Mobius, and helps to usher in what is known as ‘The Mobian Age’- an age where the various nation states of Mobius begin to discard species based division in favor of simply calling themselves ‘Mobian’. Whatever the crimes and cruelties of the Kingdom of Acorn, it at least done THAT much good. Though some nations continue to define themselves by species first, by the modern era the term ‘Mobian’ is almost default all across the globe.

-During its time the Kingdom of Acorn knows the highs and lows that come with every Empire- periods of prosperity, periods of hardship, civil war and renaissance, but throughout it all manages to hold onto power. By contrast, it’s longterm rival the Kingdom of Duskmount tries and fails continually to outdo Acorn, until eventually its own holdings are drawn back, the kingdom left a pale shadow of its former self by the modern era.

-The United Federation itself continues to soar and to grow, becoming one of if not THE dominant military and economic powers on the planet. It undergoes a period of great rapid technological advancement thanks to the brilliance of one Professor Gerald Robotnik, who is soon tasked with the single greatest feat of engineering- the space colony ARK, a symbol of scientific progress and of the future.

-Gerald Robotnik completes the Space Colony Ark, and is hit with tragic news- his young granddaughter Maria has been diagnosed with NIDS, which will one day kill her. Refusing to allow this, Gerald arranges to have Maria live with him upon the Ark, and he dedicates a portion of the colony’s research to curing her. To placate his backers within GUN’S military-industrial complex, he proposes the Eclipse Canon, and disguises his research for Maria as being done for the creation of an Ultimate Lifeform. This leads to project Shadow, and the creation of Shadow the Hedgehog, who quickly bonds with Maria.

-Unbeknownst to Gerald, GUN is not entirely in control of the situation- a portion of it has been subverted by agents of the Black Emerald, the true backers of the ARK project. Under investigation and in danger of being revealed, Vokara decides to cut her losses when it comes to the ARK- her agents send false information to GUN’s High Command, framing Gerald Robotnik for treasonous actions, while making sure that the ‘right’ officers would be sent to deal with the false problem. Gerald is recalled to the United Federation, and while he is being interrogated the raid is launched. Many people are killed as a result of the sloppily executed operation, including Maria Robotnik, and Shadow is jettisoned out of an escape pod, though he is swiftly reclaimed by GUN.

-The media report of the incident gives falsified information painting Gerald Robotnik as a dangerously unhinged mad scientist conducting unethical experiments on the ARK, leading to the raid, and the deaths that occur are pinned on him directly. Gerald, a broken man by this point, is taken to a GUN Black Site located under Prison Island, told to finish his work on Shadow or that he will die next. Gerald bleakly agrees, continuing to perfect his creation while tampering with Shadow’s mind in a long term plan for revenge. When it becomes clear that Gerald is not co-operating, he is executed. Shadow is placed in cold storage, for later potential use by the Black Emerald.

-The Robotnik family, disgraced by the ‘crimes’ of their patriarch, is forced to flee the United Federation for the Kingdom of Acorn. They take new names in their new home, becoming the ‘Kintobors’, while their eldest son Ivo is given the name of ‘Julian Kintobor’.

-The Kingdom of Acorn is in rotten state at this time. Under the reign of the belligerent and arrogant King Maximus Acorn, social progress grinds to a halt and even regresses in areas while his attempts to make the kingdom ‘strong’ simply bring misery and warfare. The long simmering resentment of the Kingdom’s colonies erupts into open separatist warfare, with Maximus refusing to seek any kind of compromise and instead feeding more and more of the Kingdom’s soldiers into the killing fields rather than show ‘weakness to the lesser’.

((Yeeah, Maximus is my commentary on good ol Maximilian. Before you ask, I envisioned him as a combination of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tzar Nicolas II of Russia. Any resemblance to certain living political figures is entirely and unwantedly coincidental.))

-In fact, after the failure of the ARK, all of Mobius goes through some hard times as the established Old Powers of the planet are seen as slipping, failing and not doing enough to provide for its respective peoples. This leads to the rise of many new nations built upon new forms of government it, leading to the term ‘Neo Nation’ being bandied about. Though at first specifically referring to post Ark nations, it comes to mean ‘Any Country Less Than Two Centuries Old’, and as such includes old-but-still-young countries such as the Empire of New Babylon.

-Duskmount by this time has been in sharp decline for centuries, only to see its fortunes reversed under the direction of its newly crowned king, Vortigern. Under Vortigern’s direction the Kingdom is able to rescue itself from the brink, re-igniting and rejuvenating itself into a major nation after centuries of humiliation at the hands of the Acorn Kingdom. In time, it begins to exert itself militarily as well, re-absorbing old territories and gaining new ones in the process.

-Julian Kintobor grows up in the Kingdom of Acorn. Despised at home by his family due to inheriting his grandfather’s genius intellect and ostracized by his peers for the same, Julian quickly grows up to become mistrustful, bitter and misanthropic. At age 18 he is drafted to fight in the Colony Wars, made possible due to his father’s connections (the Kintobors slowly regaining their old wealth and prestige in their new homes). During his time in the army he meets and befriends fellow genius Charles Hedgehog, the first friend he has ever had. Their year of duty ensures they both see and endure many terrible things before the war finally concludes and they are sent home. The two work together to join the prestigious Royal Science Acadamy, and are both able to attain scholarships. They soar through college, becoming some of the youngest graduates in history, and soon go work for the Science Ministry.

-Vortigern Duskmount completes his re-conquest, and re-christens the Kingdom of Duskmount as the EMPIRE of Duskmount, with himself as first emperor. He enters into alliance with other Neo Nations, and through them proposes a means for all of them to gain more power and influence than ever before- by conquering the Old Powers and dividing up the resources between the Neo Nations. From this, the Neo Nation Alliance is formally announced.

-Years later, Vortigern succeeds in duping King Maximus into launching an attack on Duskmount territory, effectively making the Kingdom of Acorn the aggressor in what will come to be known as the Great War. Rallying his nation, Vortigern launches an attack on the Kingdom of Acorn and thus begins the Great War, while the other Neo Nations pursue their own targets. Maximus dies early on in a doomed, futile effort to personally lead his forces into battle. Within two years, the Kingdom of Acorn is forced to surrender before the military might of Duskmount. The Kingdom of Acorn is thus occupied and absorbed into Duskmount.

-Charles and Julian go underground to avoid the Dusmount Occupation force. They put their minds to building weapons and vehicles in secret, and begin to engage in a two man war against the Duskmount soldiers. Meanwhile, Vortigern orders the destruction of the entire Acorn bloodline so that no legitimate challengers to its throne may ever emerge. Only Maximus’ youngest son, Prince Galen Acorn, is able to escape this fate.

-Two organized resistance movements form in the Occupied Kingdom. Charles and Julian’s efforts draw others to their cause until they are a true resistance movement, and Julian retires from field work to become a full time strategist and leader. Galen meanwhile joins with a resistance movement comprised of the remnants of the Royal Army as well as civilian partisans, led by the surviving Warlord of the Realm. In time the two movements meet and merge to form the Acorn Resistance Army, under Julian’s leadership. During this time, the setbacks the occupation faces causes Vortigern to resort to more and more extreme measures, leading to greater and greater atrocities.

-With the Acorn Resistance Army in open rebellion and receiving aide from the militaries of the other Old Powers (including the United Federation), factories and foundries are captured by the resistance. Julian uses these to put his grand strategy in motion, building a great army of robots to fight against the forces of Duskmount. Soon a great army of Peacebots is marching upon Mobotropolis itself, though for reasons of politics it is Galen who is seen leading and liberating the city rather than Julian (not that Galen WANTED this). While Julian oversees a crucial battle elsewhere, Galen is able to confront and kill Vortigern in armed combat. With that, the Occupation is over.

-With the Kingdom Liberated, Julian swiftly gains control of the remaining major factories. His weapons and robots are created en-masse, and soon all the Neo Nation Alliance is under siege from seemingly endless Peacebot armies. Engaging them in a war of attrition they cannot win, the Neo Nation Alliance surrenders to the Old Powers. The Great War is won, and the world rebuilds after years of global bloodshed and destruction.

-Years pass, and peace is brief. Galen Acorn sets to become a reformer for the people, making moves to weaken the grip of the nobility and do away with the stratification of the Kingdom. The Aristocracy, resenting these attempts to limit their power and prestige and the shaking up of the social order, make things difficult for their king even as he attempts to shift the monarchy towards a more democratic form of government. Likewise, the widespread use of robots to rebuild the Kingdom leads to fears of job loss as paranoia about technology reaches a fever pitch, with riots and protests following. Anti-Colonial terrorism breaks out as well (aided in part by the Black Emerald as part of a plan to de-stabilize the Kingdom).

-Julian, despite his efforts, is stuck in place commanding the robot labor force of the Kingdom, watching as Charles becomes Science Minister and Galen is lauded as a War Hero even as the Kingdom teeters closer and closer to civil anarchy. A means of advancement is given to him with the offer of becoming the realm’s new Warlord. He is eventually caught in a terrorist bombing that claims the lives his wife and daughter, while he himself is on death’s door. To save his life, Charles Hedgehog unearths the Roboticizer, a medical device the two had worked on before the war broke out. Julian is fed through the Roboticizer and becomes a cyborg, saving his life. He accepts the position of warlord, and after months of physical therapy becomes the kingdom’s new Warlord.

-For the next several years Julian works to set a plan in motion- the conquest of Mobius. He ruthlessly deals with the terrorists threatening the Kingdom and puts an end to the protests, expanding the robot army while conspiring with the Battlebirds in secret. He takes on his nephew Snively as an assistant, and as part of his plan the Battlebird Armada emerges to raid distant shipping lanes. To deal with the threat and abate the fears of robots replacing the army wholesale, the remaining organic portion of the royal fleet is sent to deal with the problem.

-While they are away, Julian launches his coup- the robot armies he built to protect the kingdom now become its attackers, striking all across the globe in a sudden, frenzied march of conquest. The Kingdom of Acorn falls within days, and King Acorn himself vanishes without a trace, while his daughter Sally escapes with her friends to the hidden village of Knothole. With new territories secured, Julian spends the next several years overseeing the conquest of Mobius. One by one the armies of Mobius are destroyed before the mechanical onslaught. So is born the Robotnik Empire, and Mobotropolis becomes Robotropolis as millions and millions of its citizens are captured and transformed into Robian slaves.

-Charles and other veterans of the Great War start a domestic guerilla movement against Robotnik, liberating Mobians and striking at factories and other crucial facilities, becoming an irritant to the tyrant. Eventually getting into contact with the remnant of the Royal Fleet sent to deal with the battlebirds, a plan is hatched to re-take Robotropolis. Unfortunately, Robotnik anticipates the attack, destroying the fleet, killing the nascent resistance force, and finally roboticizing Charles in a twisted act of mercy.

-With his only major impediment defeated, Robotnik turns his attention back to Mobius. Nation after nation falls before Robotnik over the years, the inhabitants enslaved and Roboticized, and everywhere in the Robotnik Empire the environment is desecrated as factories dedicated to building more and more machines cover all the land. Even the United Federation falls before Robotnik, reduced to several cities fiercely and implacably defended by GUN, who resort to suppressed technologies and making robots of their own to fight the machine hordes.

-Things go swimmingly for Robotnik, and his victory is all but assured. Then one day, facilities in South Island begin to report unexpected delays in the development of the Scrap Brain Zone, an experimental automated super factor and roboticization facility, due to ‘outside interference’. Realizing that the nephew of Sir Charles, Sonic, is the culprit, Robotnik heads to South Island to personally oversee the destruction of the sneaky pest.

-And thus, do things begin.

Anyway, that’s the gist of things as they currently stand. As I said, I’m constantly changing and thinking and altering things, debating on what to include and what not to include, but this more or less is how things went down I the personal setting. The Abridged version anyway. Hope you enjoy it!

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Worldbuilding #Fan Stuff

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