#I'm already being incredibly selfish by posting this where someone could see it

[flower-boi16]

How The Circus WASTES Potential

So recently I just finished watching all of Season 1 of Helluva Boss. Season 1 was...fine. Not great, but it was enjoyable even if half of the episodes were kinda forgettable (Except for Cherubs, that one just straight-up sucks), but there were some good aspects to Season 1. One of those good aspects was episode 7, Ozzie's AKA the best episode of the entire show. Ozzie's was a legitimately great episode that left a lot of great potential for the show to explore that could have made it great...

...and then The Circus happened. I already didn't like The Circus to begin with but after rewatching Season 1 I can safely say that this episode legitimately pisses me off now with HOW MUCH potential it wastes. In this post, I'm going to explain all the interesting potential Ozzie's left for the show, all the interesting ideas and character arcs that the episode leaves for the show to explore and how The Circus completely ruins all of that

1. Stolas

First let's talk about Stolas. Believe it or not, In Season 1 Stolas was...actually fine. This was because Season 1 didn't repeatedly coddle and woobify Stolas unlike Season 2 where we are supposed to sympathize with him for some reason. There was a lot of potential for Stolas to go through an arc of becoming a better person and realizing his mistakes, Ozzie's shows that.

Ozzie scolds Stolas for "giving it all up for lust", by cheating on Stella with an IMP to satisfy his sexual desires. And after that, Blitz cuts off Stolas due to being upset that their relationship was just about Stolas wanting to fuck Blitz, and after Blitz drives away Stolas just...sits down on the stairs to gaze at the sky.

Ye see, this could make for a very interesting character. A man who cheated on his wife so he could try to satisfy his sexual desires for someone else, but hurt others while doing so, including the person he's abusing. Because of Stolas's selfish need to be...really really really horny, he ended up hurting the people that cared about him, who HE also cared about. He hurt Stella through cheating on her by hurting her feelings, he hurt Octavia by starting this whole mess and paying more attention to Blitz than his own daughter, and he's hurt Blitz because well...he's the guy he's sexually harassing to satisfy his own hornieness.

This could have set up an arc for Stolas where he realizes his own mistakes and goes through a character arc of becoming a better and less toxic person; a redemption arc, if you will. This could have been incredibly interesting to explore...

...and what does The Circus do? Why, it throws away ALL of that. Season 1 Stolas was a man who made many mistakes and was heavily flawed...Season 2 Stolas meanwhile is my least favorite character of all fiction. Instead of beginning a possible character arc for Stolas where he grows as a person and makes amends with the people he hurt just to satisfy his own sexual desires, it decides to erase ALL of his flaws and turn him into an UwU soft boy.

The episode is the beginning of Stolas's woobification; instead of a man who hurt others to satisfy his sexual desires, we are supposed to see Stolas as an UwU soft boy who we are supposed to sympathize with because...he has a mean wife. I'm sorry, but that's not a sympathetic enough quality for us to like a character, especially when you can't even sympathize with Stolas in the first place because he isn't a good person, in fact, while writing this and realizing how much Stolas hurt others to satisfy his sexual desires, I actually loathe Season 2's characterization of him even more.

Instead of having Stolas begin to grow as a person, The Circus tries to make Stolas into an UwU soft boy and we are just supposed to forget all of his wrongdoings as a person AND as a father. It throws away all potential to make Stolas interesting and makes him an UwU soft boy instead.

There was potential to make Stolas an interesting character who grows from his mistakes and becomes a better person, but The Circus throws ALL of that away.

2. Stella

So, this is the most obvious one; Stella. I want to make a post about my own ideas about how Stella could have been a more interesting character, so I'll just say this; like with Stolas, there could have been potential to make Stella interesting. We didn't really see Stella that much in Season 1, the only times where we ever saw her were when she was yelling at Stolas for cheating on her in Loo Loo Land and when she was talking to Striker on the phone in The Harvest Moon.

Aside from that Stella was barely in Season 1. That being said however, there could have been potential to make Stella more interesting. They could have made Stella a good character...

...but they didn't. Instead of making Stella an interesting character, the show instead decided to make her into a one-dimensional abusive asshole. My issue with this isn't that they "ruined" Stella, my issue with this is that they threw away all potential of making her interesting. However, not only that, they not only removed everything that made Stolas a nuanced and interesting character, but they ALSO turned what could have been an interesting and nuanced conflict into a "UwU soft boy gets away from mean woman!!!".

They made Stella SO one-dimensional. Like, that "I like tormenting you" scene was so fucking LAME. They made Stella into a one-dimensional asshole rather than actually making her an interesting character. They could have made her flawed like Stolas and they could have BOTH grown as people here, making this an interesting and nuanced conflict, where they have both made mistakes and are heavily flawed people. But, no, who needs THAT when we could have Stella be a boring asshole and have Stolas be a boring UwU soft boy. It over simplifies BOTH characters and removes everything that could have made them interesting.

There was potential to make Stella a nuanced and interesting character like Stolas, and there was a potential to make Stella and Stolas's conflict more interesting and nuanced by portraying them both as heavily flawed people, but The Circus threw ALL of that away.

3. Stolitz

I already talked about how The Circus ruined Stolitz as a plotline and how the episode began all the issues the relationship has in my Stolitz post so I'll keep this brief; Stolitz in Season 1 was an intentionally toxic relationship where Blitz felt bound to Stolas and where Stolas just wanted to fuck Blitz. It was an interesting, intentionally toxic relationship showing what happens when a relationship is only based on one fucking the other.

The Circus meanwhile tries to forget ALL of that and tries to turn Stolitz into an UwU childhood friendship and ignores all the toxic aspects of the relationship. It removes all the things that made the relationship interesting in Season 1 and tries to make this a relationship for the audience to root for...even though Stolitz is an objectively toxic ship and NO AMOUNT of retconning is going to change that. The episode begins ALL of the problems with Stolitz and after that point, Stolitz turns into the show's worst-written plotline EVER, and it all begins with this episode.

4. Conclusion

The Circus is one of the worst episodes of the show. I dislike this episode even MORE after rewatching Season 1. Helluva Boss's ideas had the potential to be interesting, there were a lot of ways the show could have gone with those ideas in Season 2 and how it could explore them...but instead of that, the show wasted ALL of its potentially interesting ideas in just. one. episode. The Circus is one of the worst episodes of Helluva Boss, it destroys all of the potential the show could have had and is the beginning of its MANY issues.

#helluva boss critical #helluva boss criticism #hazbin hotel critical #vivziepop critical #anti stolas #anti stolitz

[mysticbewitched]

Hi Mystic! Before I explain my situation, I just wanted to say how much I deeply appreciate your blog and how well-written your posts and replies are. I can clearly see you put a lot of great effort into helping us and that you genuinely care. I love you for that so thank you so much 💓💓💓

1) I am in need of some advice however. You see, I'm currently on school holiday and have wasted a lot of time doing nothing and procrastinating working on my self concept and manifesting my dream life. I have four days left and I'm in a serious time crunch. I want to shock everybody when I'm back at school, also considering the fact I hate school and don't fit in at all.

So I want to ask, how do I not give up and succeed in manifesting my desires before I go back to school. I actually want to wake up in the void state to manifest my dream life but I have a shitty void concept and need more than four days to improve it. This situation is troubling me and I need someone's advice. Thank you for reading and I would greatly appreciate a response.

2) And also I feel like absolute shit because I know I'm being incredibly selfish. My dad is a humanitarian and politician for Sierra Leone. The people there are living in extreme, extreme poverty, even the animals don't have enough to eat so you see where this is going. I literally know about the Law of Assumption, the GOLDEN TICKET, and whilst all these innocent people are out there suffering, I'm wasting my time spiralling and being lazy which is making me feel super guilty. I have the power to help the entire world and I feel pressured if you know what I mean. How do I stop feeling this way, manifest my desires before school ends and just finally change the world?

Bonjour, lovely.

Your kind words mean so much more to me than words could ever describe. Thank you so much for your love, support, and noticing all of the passion I pour into my work. I deeply appreciate you, and you have absolutely warmed my heart. Thank you. 🖤

1. So I want to point out a couple of things here. Your priority is focused on the wrong thing. You have spent all this time overconsuming a huge amount of information surrounding manifestation instead of dedicating all of that time into transforming yourself into a confident manifestor.

Secondly, you're worried about the "time" when you should just simply accept the fact that your desire is already fulfilled. Why are you rushing yourself? Take your time and put in the inner work of revamping your mindset.

You can most definitely manifest to wake up in the void state, but don't you want to achieve that manifestation easily? I highly recommend that you start prioritizing your focus on changing your mindset.

Your mindset is all you need to be able to manifest your desires easily and effortlessly.

Manifestation is all about *you.*

Your focus should completely be set on you. Don't rush yourself and take your time with this.

You are the God of your own reality, and manifesting your desires is as simple as accepting them as already fulfilled from the confident manifestor state of mind. It is done.

Accept your desires as done and continue to persist in the inner knowing of their inevitable manifestation.

Change your mindset, and you will easily be able to manifest waking up in the void state or whatever other desires you have. Not to mention, you will also be able to achieve great success with your own manifesting power with or without experiencing the void state.

After all, the void state is only experiencing your true self as awareness. It is not *outside of you.*

All that's needed for you to completely transform your reality and manifest every single one of your desires is a simple change in perception.

Simply change your mindset: This post is the answer to your prayers.

2. You don't have to put yourself or feel selfish. We are each the creators of our own realities, and manifesting a "world change" in your reality would not show up for the rest of us in our own realities. I am in complete control of my own reality, and you are in control of yours. For example, if you manifested for world hunger end in your reality, that worldly change would not be manifested for me in my reality, and I would still be experiencing the same world from my end.

So please, don't beat yourself up or feel guilty about this and realize that you are absolutely entitled to manifesting whatever the hell you want in your own reality. You're the one running the show. Also, show yourself some grace and compassion.

You're in the middle of transitioning from "victim" mentality to the confident manifestor mindset. This is an individual journey that you need to take at your own pace, so take it easy on yourself.

Again, I say, don't rush yourself and take your time in order to turn your mindset around, and you will be able to easily manifest any desire you're after.

I hope I was able to inspire you and provide the advice you needed. I want you to know that I believe in you.

You only need to believe in yourself.

#loassumption #law of assumption #manifestation #manifesting #law of manifestation

[becaexists]

Gonna vent for just a second because I literally have no one to talk to about this so y'know turning to the internet as one does

All over my social medias like Twitter and tiktok (I know they're bad but sometimes they're designed to trap you) everyone is talking about Brianna Ghey, the 16 year old trans girl that was murdered on Saturday. She was a year younger than me, I have friends that are the same age, and all I have seen all day because I've been travelling thus had nothing better to do than to stare at my phone, is so much of the same thing, the same kind of posts, just talking about how this sweet young girl was murdered, potentially out of hate for our community but they're "not sure", and it is really fucking getting to me.

I know it sounds selfish as hell to because it sounds like "oh there was a trans girl murdered and I have to complain about seeing it everywhere" but it's not that, it's the things people put in and under the posts about it. So many of the people trying to spread awareness are trying to be reassuring by saying shit like "to trans youths, we stand by you, this should not be happening" but that doesn't help, because I'm terrified out my fucking mind that if I start trying to be myself, I might get fucking murdered too. What's worse is all of the horrible things transphobic people are saying, like "she's a boy", and "she deserves it" and "example of what should happen to all those trans freaks" because those are actual things I've read today.

And it's not just her case specifically, it's the constant despair I feel as a trans person where my right to exist are constantly being questioned by the only government I've ever known. I open twitter and see stories of how trans rights are being stripped back all over the western world, how people were abandoned by family after coming out as trans, about how being trans is so incredibly awful with little silver linings of "at least you're yourself". So I open tiktok to distract myself, where I see more people talking about the same things, about how the people in government hate us so fucking much. This whole corecore thing is important to highlight the awful shit but when that's the only thing you're seeing with maybe a few cat videos and stupid family guy or movie scenes while someone plays with slime makes to split them up it really makes you feel nothing but despair.

I just wanna get away from it all. I want people to stop talking about it but that's not exactly what I want? I want it to have never happened. I want to live in a world where these things don't happen. I want to live in a world where I can leave the house without being terrified of being hatecrimed or murdered for being who I am. I didn't come out as a trans guy until this year even though I knew for ages I wanted to be a guy, I didn't come out because if I came out in high school, my "all girls" high school where I was already severely bullied for being autistic and queer, I would be fucking dead right now, either from being murdered like she was or from suicide, which I was so so so fucking close to doing after some girl publicly berated me for asking one of my teachers to not call me my deadname (I was going for a fem NB approach to my transness at the time and thought that Bee was the start of something much more fitting for me) because she was right, no one would ever see me as anything other than some pretty but unpopular girl trying to somehow both escape the torture of womanhood and make myself more intriguing

If I could choose anything else, I would. I would not be trans. I would be a regular teenage girl who likes parties and stupid roadmen and skipping lesson to smoke and vape. But I'm not. And my mum, my own mother, has said "if you would choose not to be this, why don't you? Why don't you just go back to being my girl?" And I want to. But I need to be a boy to live. If I don't transition, I might just die from all the self hatred of what I have to pretend to be. I just can't do it.

Sorry this was long, I just have many many emotions and if I said this anywhere else I might just be on the receiving end of some of the same stupid shit people are saying about Brianna. I hope she finds peace somewhere where there isn't so much hatred.

#I just want it all to go away #I want to exist #I've ingrained it into as many things as I can so I don't forget it #I am beca #and I exist #personal vent #trans vent #vent post #again sorry for the long post #nowhere else I can say this #parents don't care #brothers are dickheads as most teenage boys are #my friends are all miles away and asleep #so yeah internet #Idk how to tag these things so if you want me to add a tag just message me or ask me or smth idk #don't worry I'm not gonna kms #gotten pretty good at self regulating this shit so I'll be fine in the morning

[shinydixon]

Hi, not sure how to identify myself so I’m just gonna say I’m the first angry anon you responded to about all this! Thank you for reading my message! Just wanted to say absolutely no disrespect, ill-intent or malice towards your country or the people of your country whatsoever ♥️. I don’t think you took it as such but just in case. I know this could, unfortunately, happen just about anywhere and I think it already has. Also I was unaware it was largely 14-15 year olds doing this. I’m sure there are adults that are just as complicit in this so I’ll just go ahead and say my message is largely for them even though, like you said, I don’t think it’s an excuse. I certainly would’ve never thought this was okay even as a child nor would I have ever used that as an excuse. But if any of those minors, by some odd chance, happen to read that message I really, really hope it sends the message that this behavior is incredibly shameful and disturbing. It’s absolutely no way to treat a person. I hope they learn that and I hope they learn it fast. And if they happen to find this one too please, please just think for one second thing outside of your own selfish existence and understand how this man must be feeling. He’s probably so, so incredibly petrified and exhausted and you’re actively taking part in that. Then bragging about it and acting as if it’s funny. How can you ever expect anyone to see you as even deserving of respect after that? Seriously. Please, I am actually begging, learn to have some empathy. That’s not how you treat a person. Not in the slightest. As for any adults complicit in this or taking part every bit of what I said before still stands. It makes you a fucking loser to treat someone this way, I hope you grow tf up real soon. As sad as it may sound, I hope with every ounce of my being Joseph finds a way to disappear after all this. As much as he can afford to at least. And I hope every single person that took part in any of this never has the chance to interact with him. I hope they never even see him again. He deserves privacy and at least some semblance of anonymity. Something we all as humans deserve. Anyway, sorry again for such a long message but thank you again for reading my message. Sending you all the peace and love in the world! ♥️♥️♥️

Hey! In case you'd like to be recognised without exposing yourself, you can sign your message with an emoji :)

Anyway I'm afraid none of them will learn, and I'm saying this based on their answers on the matter.

The girl who posted the video after saying Joe asked her to not take a picture, still say she did nothing wrong because, in her opinion, taking a video is different than taking a picture.

Then she posted a twit where she wrote "non abbiamo fatto le foto perché era col fratello che rompeva", i don't know how to translate the slang "che rompeva" but it's used when someone does something that annoys you, so she basically says that Joe's brother insisted on not taking pictures and this girl was annoyed by that...wtf

Joe was literally with his brother in a bar and you're annoyed because his brother and Joe kindly told you to not take a picture?

And this girl is 20+ years old, she should know better.

About the 14/15yo, those are the ones that stood outside his hotel forcing him to stay inside.

Some of them answered to people calling them out, with jokes, showing that they didn't care about what they were doing while others suggested to create a new gc because the old one was busted.

Honestly I don't have hope with people that behave like this.

Anyway don't worry, I took no offense about your message, I felt the urge to apologize because these are my fellow citizens, and since they won't ever apologize because they don't understand the gravity of the situation, I'll do that for them...kinda.

#joseph quinn #joe quinn

[corvigae]

Heloooooo your Tav is a cutie (mine’s also a wizard, gotta love the Annoying class)! What’s your party? What’s her favourite person? What’s her background and backstory??? tell me everything

YEEAAAHHH WE LOVE THE NERD ASS CLASS!!

Thank you!! Lately my party's been Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach. At all times it's always Shadowheart and Astarion and then the third spot is more fluid for whoever provides the most utility/story at any given moment, but the way I have Karlach specced she's a fucking beast of a tank so I'm thinking I'm gonna be keeping her around for a solid while, lol.

Her favorite person is almost definitely Shadowheart, they clicked pretty quickly and somehow despite Lunarae being the most nosy bitch in the world and constantly asking her about herself and her past, Shadowheart didn't get annoyed with her prying and just. started opening up to her instead?? So they're absolute besties, and like I've said before, even thought the game only allows you to romance one origin character at a time, as far a I'm concerned they are also girlfriends, despite the fact that she's also romancing Astarion.

Speaking of which I have so many thoughts on Lunarae and Astarion but they're all kinda just swirling around in my head constantly and hard to exactly pin down. But basically when they first met Astarion thought Lunarae was a ridiculously naive, self-righteous idiot who wanted to be a hero and was going to get herself and everyone around her killed while doing so, and really did not like her much at all. Then as they started travelling together he was like "Okay so I guess she can actually handle herself in a fight alright. She's still self-righteous and naive and annoying as fuck, tho." But then as time goes on he sees a bit more past just the "wanting to help people and do The Right Thing all the time" aspect of her, and sees her be a little shit and tease people sometimes, be really level-headed and able to lie or talk her way out of situations, and her being a little goofy with her looting and hoarding compulsions and how incredibly vindicatedly happy she gets when she finds a good item in some random pot or some shit, and he starts to think of her as a whole person that he actually kind of likes and respects, especially after he finds himself on the receiving end of that unrelenting kindess of hers like when she lets him feed on her or when she gave him the Necromancy of Thay book. Not to mention they're both just unabashedly Down Bad for each other, honestly. He's still frequently frustrated with her unwillingness to indulge in the tadpole's power and her insistence on being the hero, though, and for Lunarae's part even though she really likes him and thinks he's interesting and silly and he makes her happy, his constant thirst for power and frustration with her annoys her in turn, and they're still often butting heads on issues of morality. This kind of plays into another aspect of them that I think is interesting though is how they kind of balance each other out? Because let's be real, at least some of Lunarae's approach to Astarion is "I can fix him," and maybe she can slowly coax him into giving at least a little bit of a shit about other people, but the thing about Lunarae is that she's so constantly giving? She never says no to someone who needs her help, she never stops trying to do her best for others, and she never stops giving, to the point where it can be a real detriment, actually. So she could really benefit from somebody who can teach her to be at least a little bit selfish and care about herself and her own needs sometimes, actually.

This is already a long-ass post so I'm gonna put the rest under a readmore, esp since her backstory isn't all that fully fleshed out, so it may be kind of cingey rip

As for her background she's a Sage bc of course her nerd ass is, and I debated on whether I wanted to actually give her a serious DnD Backstory™️ or if I wanted to just have her be the only normal, well-adjusted person in the party and just play that for laughs, but the more I think abt it the more I think the backstory I thought of for her helps make her determination to Do The Right Thing and constantly help people and also be hyper-aware and vigilant of Wizard Hubris make a lot more narrative sense. So her big backstory is basically that she was raised by a single mother who was a very powerful and respected wizard with a very high up and prestigious position in their city. Her mom was always thrilled to nurture Lunarae's innate curiousity and love of learning, and taught her how to study magic fairly young (She never really taught her spells directly though, she still had to learn them herself). Sometimes she had a tendency to treat her more like her apprentice than her daughter, but Lunarae was always eager to learn and didn't mind all too much. The thing about Lunarae's mom though was that she was an incredibly ambitious wizard, and treated power as a sort of commodity that one can hoard and should constantly be striving to obtain, and eventually she came up with a magic ritual that would significantly increase her pwoer and make her one of the most powerful mages in history. She of course excitedly told Lunarae about this ritual, and about all the good she could do in the world once she had all this power at her disposal, and Lunarae agreed to help her pull it off. She was getting ready to go on a trip to visit a friend at the time, though, and her mom agreed to wait until after she got back to attempt it. What Lunarae found when she returned, however, was just carnage and destrution. Her mom had apparently gotten impatient waiting for her to return and had decided to attempt the ritual herself, and whether she had done something wrong or the ritual itself was just too unstable, it had not only failed, but failed in such a catastrophic way that it had leveled her home and about 10 city blocks, with the only thing remaining just rubble and viscera streaked across the smoldering, broken buildings. In picking up her life after that, Lunarae briefly considered turning away from magic entirely, but she knew she couldn't do that - she loved it too much, and it was the only connection she had left to her mother. So she instead resolved to use her magic to help people as often as possible, to be a force for good in the world, and to also be cognizent of that fact that wanton lust for power, even with good intentions, can be deadly.

#personal grumblings #lunarae #robin plays bg3 #my ocs

[aiden-png]

I’m going to be 20 tomorrow..

and I kind of wish my birthday wasn’t happening. I used to really enjoy my birthday up until a few years ago when people started forgetting it. I should be excited, I guess? in the end it’s just another day. I have work to do and meetings to go to, and I won’t be celebrating because I don’t have anyone to celebrate with. I never even know what to ask for because all I ever want is for people to spend time with me, and this year that’s unfortunately not something I can ask for. I didn’t want to tell my friends because they’re all busy and it’s such a guilt trip to ask for their time for my 20th. there’s nothing special about it. even I have more important things to do. I’m going to be so overwhelmed if people wish me happy birthday tomorrow. it’s been a lot of years of bribing people to celebrate with me and,, I mean, even my parents don’t. I already don’t know how to respond to positive attention or praise, and when people show they care about me I’m just shocked. idk what I ever did to deserve such a loving online community, but you all make me really happy and I couldn’t ask for more. I hate that I’m not happy and excited right now, it’s usually not so hard to be upbeat. and of all days of the year, my own birthday should be one to be excited for... I’m going to do what I can to wake up happy tomorrow, and then maybe I’ll have a good day :) it’s hard to believe I deserve anything, but I do think I deserve that at least.

#....don't read this I guess #or do idk #I need to stop being so depressing on here I'm bringing everyone down #I asked my mom to call me since... I really have no one here #she said yes so that's nice at least #I hope I don't break down on the phone #it's my own fault I'm not happy #I keep fucking w my hormones and working and never taking breaks #and I rely too much on others for someone who has so few people #I had a support network in August. and now I have nothing #all I have is sitting in a vc alone with intrusive thoughts looking for a distraction that won't come #at least if I'm in a vc I have to hold it together. and I can trick myself into thinking everything is fine when it's not #writing vent fic doesn't help anymore #nothing does #and I'm not about to burden others with worry over me when they can't help #I'm already being incredibly selfish by posting this where someone could see it #I really am showing my immaturity now that I'm upset bc I'm not celebrating my birthday #but yknow I can't even say that this is why I have no friends irl. bc I have never told a friend irl how I'm actually doing #I value my friendships w ppl above my own health and I always suffer for it but they never see #I value my online friends even more but I keep hurting them by posting stupid vent shit like this where they can see it and I really have to #stop or find a secret place to do this again #I always post stupid cries for help and feel guilty as fuck when they're answered #it's nice when people care but it's really hard not to feel like a burden #I've just had too many people get tired of me for far less and I'm not sure what a healthy friendship is anymore tbh #haha gonna throw myself a pity party for my birthday woooop #I am really sick and tired of myself right now #sorry guys #I need to shut up and stay quiet from now on

[esamastation]

Breath of the Wild snippet

Link is bored. It's a little startling how easy it's to see – how easy he's to read these days. Where before, hundred years ago, he'd been as unreadable as a brick wall, a look of serious determination as though permanently etched to his face, now he's an open book, covers flung wide. The serious frown still makes an appearance, of course, it's his default expression, Link's face simply rests in a way that makes him seem as though he's almost scowling, but now, should an emotion cross his mind… he does nothing to hide it. 

Like now, as his attention strays and his eyes wander and every so often he smothers a sigh or a yawn or a longing look directed at the door. It's in part painfully and in part endearingly clear how little attention he's paying to their meeting, and how much he wishes he could be elsewhere.

Zelda smothers a smile and then realises she's allowed herself to be distracted, and quickly turns her attention back to the meeting taking place in Impa's house.

"... a little difficult to test," Purah is saying. She's sitting cross legged in the middle of the floor, her seat cushion abandoned and papers flung about her – most of them about her anti-aging rune. "I can't even promise the test subject will survive the process, never mind that it will work even fifty percent of the time... so finding people to volunteer has been an issue."

"What, no old folks interested in regaining their misspent youth?" Robbie asks with a slight snort, adjusting his goggles. "I'd happily test it, if my work wasn't too important to risk!"

Purah gives him a look. "Well, duh. Most folk are the same," she says and shakes her head. "And besides, the population and age statistics don't exactly trend towards the elderly these days. The average life expectancy of both Hylians and Sheikah both trend about forty years younger than it used to be pre-Calamity. And the only way for people to reliably grow old these days –"

"Is to have a family or other support network, helping them," Impa muses, rubbing at her chin. "Which means they have things too dear to lose, for an uncertain chance."

"Just so," Purah says and folds her little arms, adorable in her seriousness. "I did post queries around Hateno village, of course, but I only had a couple of takers, and they all turned tail when I explained the risks. And we can't improve the chances without further testing. And we can't do further testing without candidates. And we're not likely to get more candidates with the chances being what they are - it's a vicious circle." 

By the door, Link looks ready to nod off. 

Zelda hums, looking at the papers Purah had brought, conflicted. It's incredible work, just as a concept, and Purah hadn't just left it at theory – and the results certainly speak for themselves! Purah is now, what, hundred and twenty, hundred and thirty years old? And she looks as though she is a girl of six, with all that time ahead of her and not behind. If the technology could be made reliable, it would no doubt change the future in ways Zelda can scarcely imagine… for the better, she hopes, for all the people of Hyrule.

But right now, she has more selfish reasons to make enquiries into the rune.

Zelda looks at Impa, sitting on top of a pile of pillows, her weathered, aged face thoughtful. Their eyes meet and Zelda steels her resolve. "Might there be any potential candidates in Kakariko village, Impa?" she asks.

"Hmm. I doubt it. Young Zain, maybe?" Impa muses. "Well, he's not so young. He's in his seventies, he has bad knees and no surviving relatives to support or be supported by. Bit of a sour grape, that one, though. Sceptic. Hard to convince."

"I'm sure if the Lost Princess and the Hero who stopped Ganon ask for it, anyone would be happy to give it a go!" Robbie says, slapping his folded knees. "Especially if they learn what it's all for!"

Zelda smiles, wincing, and looks down. Using her standing for such a thing… sure she'd done things of that nature before, pleading people to join their cause, ages ago… but never with the risks so high, and potential results so uncertain. She'd never liked asking people to risk their lives, for her or otherwise. Even with a cause so important...

"It would be a somewhat awkward thing to ask, though," she muses and looks down. "It is an awkward thing to ask. I'm… I'm sorry to have to ask it of you."

After all this time, all these years, all the service they'd already put in, to ask for so much more of them… but she had to. No one woman could rebuild a kingdom by herself. She needed help, she needed allies – she needed Impa and Robbie and Purah. With such a foundation, Hyrule might yet rise, better than ever, but for that to ever happen… Impa and Robbie needed to go through what Purah already had, and extend their already prodigiously long lives even further. They all deserved their quiet retirement, after all the effort they'd put in, but for Hyrule, Zelda would make this cruel request.

"Ha!" Robbie says, striking a pose. "Like I wouldn't do this without being asked! As soon as Purah can improve the odds – no, as soon as we can improve the odds –"

"What's that, you old coot, what do you mean by we?" Purah depends, bouncing to her feet. "If you think I will let you ever into my lab, mister, you're sorely mistaken –!"

"If we work together, combine the efforts of Akkala and Hateno tech labs, we're sure to succeed! With Cherry's incredible computing power and your Stone –"

"Your creepy ancient furnace is getting nowhere near my Guidance Stone!"

Link startles awake at the noise they're making and Zelda smothers a giggle while Impa sighs.

"I will ask Paya to check in on Zain, maybe he will be interested," Impa says and shakes her head. "But it's still a small test study, with only two subjects. I'm sorry, Zelda – as much as I wish to do this, I am with Robbie on this. The chances are too low and I have too much to lose, right now. Paya is nowhere near ready to take over for me here. There needs to be more candidate's, first, and I don't know where we can get them. But," she hums and looks away. "There might be someone who does."

Link yawns and then freezes, finding all of them staring at him. Then, clearly baffled, he points at himself quizzically, and Zelda offers him a smile.

Impa chuckles. "You've been all over Hyrule now, Link – you've traveled farther than probably anyone has in a hundred years. Better than anyone, you know the state of her people. Do you think there is anyone out there who might be interested in Purah's study – in regaining their youth, even at a risk?"

Link scratches the back of his neck thoughtfully and then takes out the Sheikah Slate, opening the map with an easy, well practiced wipe of his fingers over the screen. Zelda leans in, once more amazed – and a little jealous – of how far he'd gotten with it, how full of markers the map is. Hundred years ago, she'd estimated that there might be as many as a dozen sites of ancient Sheikah technology all over Hyrule. Link had discovered over a hundred. They now glow on his map, like glittering blue gems, the Towers and Shrines he'd seen and mastered.

Link zooms in on the map and then puts down three other markers. One in Zora's domain, one in Gerudo Town and last in Lurelin Village. Turning the slate around, he shows the map to everyone.

"Of course," Zelda breathes in realisation. "The Guardians never reached so far, so their populations were never so scattered or scarred. In Zora's domain, in Gerudo Town and in Lurelin, people can grow old peacefully, without fear of attack."

Link makes a face and a wobbling gesture with his hand and then shrugs. Zelda smiles, sadly. "Aside from monsters and other disasters and misfortunes, of course," she agrees. "But without fear of attacks by Guardians, they were allowed to prosper."

"Not the Rito, though?" Robbie asks, his goggles whirting and shifting like the eyes of a gecko as he looks between the map, Link and Zelda. "Or the Gorons?"

Link shrugs, rubbing at his neck.

"Gorons age like rocks, Daruk always said," Zelda muses. "And I suppose with Rito it can be difficult to tell their ages. If we send out invitations to the study, we should include them as well – assuming that the treatment by the rune isn't Sheikah exclusive…?"

Purah rocks back and forth on her feet thoughtfully, almost as though she's about to dance. "I… don't know? I calibrated the first version based on my own physiology, so it might be best to stick to Sheikah and Hylians for a start – but I can't see why it couldn't be adjusted. Gerudo are closer in structure to us than Rito and Gorons, or Zora for that matter. Might be best we start there, when we begin making modifications to include everyone."

"So, begin with Lurelin," Robbie says and nods. "How do we do that?"

"We'll make some posters and Link can zip in and out of Lurelin Village to post them," Purah says and strikes a pose. "It's just a snap for the Sheikah Slate."

Impa hums in agreement. "Best we make advertisements for Kakariko and Hateno as well, and perhaps some of the stables," she muses. "You never know who might take us up on it, and getting this technology to work at hundred percent will be a benefit to everyone."

"You're right," Zelda agrees, nodding. "Purah and Robbie, I suppose you two know best what should go on the poster. Can you make it?"

"It'll work much better, with your name under it," Robbie points out.

"We'll write a draft and you can copy it and put your royal touch and seal to it," Purah says and does an excited little dance. "This is so exciting! We'll get so many applicants and my little Guidance Stone will get to do it's thing!"

Zelda offers her a smile, all the while wondering, not for the first time… how much of a royal she even is, at this point. With the castle in ruins and the Kingdom in shambles, with no one to rule it for a hundred years… all that Zelda is now... is a story. The Princess that went to fight Calamity Ganon as the Kingdom fell asunder all around her. Not many even believe it. That might change with this meeting and the following cooperation, especially when they'd begin reaching out further, but right now… 

Princess of nothing indeed.

"So much was lost," Zelda murmurs, carefully resting her hands in her lap to keep herself from wringing them. She shouldn't concentrate on the losses. Not when there's so much to do. "It will be good to build something for a change. To improve things."

"Indeed," Impa says, nodding her head, her heavy hat tilting. "But if Calamity Ganon taught us anything, it is that we should take all due caution."

"Yes. And speaking of which," Zelda says and lifts her eyes to Robbie. "Your research in Akkala – I would very much like to hear more about it. Link showed me the armour and weaponry you made, they're very impressive – how did you manage it?"

Robbie all but launches himself into the story of Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, the research he'd done there, the progress he'd made, enthusiastically recounting the creation of his Ancient Furnace, Cherry. Zelda leans in, allowing herself to be drawn in, and by the door Link settles down with a sigh and begins nodding off again.

-

Hmm hmm. Took me 3 years, but I finally finished botw.

I might continue this one and it might end up a Stargate crossover. Who knows.

#fanfiction #botw #loz #breath of the wild #legend of zelda breath of the wild #spoilers

[astoria00]

Cinder's actions in retrospect

For most of us volume 8 is over already and now we are left with the hiatus and lots of information to process. And if there was one character most debated about it was probably Cinder. Some said the last episode ruined all of her depth the earlier episodes had built. Sounds oddly familiar if you think back on volume 4 and 5 and how most of the fandom reacted there. But I'm not here to talk about people's inability to understand forshadowing and character growth in negative and positive directions.

I am here to talk about Cinder's behavior. Mainly onward from after the hiatus. I already saw plenty of takes calling Cinder cold, unfeeling, selfish, irredeemable and yes, Cinder is a villain, but she is also human. This volume wanted to show us that even more. It is supposed to lay a foundation. For years people claimed Cinder fans were reaching when we called the child abuse and her trauma dictating her quest for power and I don't expect it to change now, but how about we view our dear Fall Maiden's behavior from a different angle.

We know Cinder was chewed out by Watts, had to make good on her deal with Neo to get her on board, had a breakdown beforehand and lied to Salem.

Now let's think about this from the idea that Cinder actually liked Neo more than she liked to admit. They had their own unique and sassy dynamic going on.

Before anything turns south for her, Cinder is sent to get what she wants after being tortured and gently prodded by Salem. Then the Whale blows up and she doesn't get an answer from anybody leaving her with Watts, who starts to rip into her and her deepest fears, making her cry and tells her that her trauma means nothing. And then someone does message her and at first she is relieved, until she sees it's content, Neo has betrayed her, stolen the relic to blackmail her, with her very own life at stake.

So not only was Cinder incredibly stressed, she was emotionally vulnerable at that. Everything seemed to unravel. She was constantly failing, her past began to catch up with her...she was right back at the place where she had been...a scared helpless child yearning for love and freedom and people telling her she would need to be better, smarter, stronger, worthy.

Neo messages her and something inside her cracks. She doesn't know why it bothers her...why it hurts, but it's there.

And yet when they meet, her child theme plays in the background. She acknowledges that maybe...she was at fault here...that she hasn't been a good partner. That she hadn't kept her word....

She apologizes. She means it. This is fixable...she still doesn't know why she cares at all...

and then she finds out Emerald betrayed her as well. Someone she never gave any reason to do that in her mind. Something unexplainable...personal even. She saved Emerald...did what Rhodes didn't do for her...and she was still left for Ruby and her merry band of all people. The person responsible for Cinder's gravest loss in her mind. Everything feels like a lie. Emerald lied. She didn't care about her like she always said she did. Those were just empty words. it hurts even more this time. Cinder doesn't know what it is, but she doesn't like it. It weights on her. Anger would be easier and safer to deal with, but it never worked in her favor. She feels out of control.

If Emerald was able to betray her...then so would Neo...she already proved she could and would. They both didn't care about her at all. Emerald brought her back to the Whale to be tortured and Neo stole the lamp ready to have her killed by it.

So if she couldn't trust any of them, this time she would be one step ahead of them. This time she would betray them first before they would get another chance to hurt her.

She would cut herself free from all those strings that got wrapped around her heart.

She gets Neo to fall into the void and at first it feels good. She can't ponder over her feelings at the moment. She is on a tight schedule here. Cinder feels Salem returning, everything falls into place just like she hoped and wanted. She doesn't get the powers. It stings, but she needs the relics more. She needs Salem. A fact she had tried very hard to drown out, had wanted to grow out of, but this worked better. She was better, stronger, worthy.

She summons Ambrosius and barricades Watts into the control station, locking him into Atlas like the Atleasians Elite he was. The man who thought his own drama outweighted Cinder's. Who called her suffering little. Looking down on her. Ripping away on her until she broke down in tears. Who dared to make her feel vulnerable. Who made her cry.

Cinder is done trying to find herself. She has gone back to being the most competent version of herself. The one that imitates Salem. And extension of her master.

And one day she will realize that this is not what she wants at all.

So those were just my humble thoughts on the matter, seeing as the Cinder tag will be swarmed with hate posts again, I thought I share them. Stay safe Cinder fans.

#rwby #cinder fall #rwby spoilers #rwby8 #rwby8 spoilers #just my thoughts on this

[bookwyrminspiration]

is it still council-hating hours? even if not, this is something that's been bothering me for....so long. and i am going to explode if i don't say it right now. (In fact i actually have a doc titled "council incompetence rant" that is. getting a little long.)

One of the things that annoys me the most in Keeper is how utterly incompetent the Council is. They are shit at their jobs! They don't make sense! And that would be fine if that was something that was explored and talked about in the story, but it's not?

Like, sure, it's brushed on a little, but Keeper never goes in-depth in order to explain just how flawed and corrupt the system is! We have no idea how far the rot goes because we haven't been given a chance to see how far it goes, and despite the earlier books being really great setup for all kinds of plots and discussions surrounding the Council, it feels like Messenger is completely dropping that in favor of..."Neverseen Bad, Council + Black Swan Good". Which I call fucking bullshit on, by the way, because this series has gone to pretty decent lengths before to show that it's not the case! So WHY are we getting to that now?

Well, I think all of this is the symptom of a bigger problem.

Note: I don't want to be mean, and please tell me if I'm being too critical here, but this series has some serious problems actually delivering on what it's saying.

Like, it's trying to tell us that Sophie shouldn't be doing all this because she's a kid, but then it treats her very own existence as a project as background information when that should absolutely be at the forefront (like it was in earlier books)!

It's trying to tell us that discrimination against the Talentless is bad, but then every single member of it's cast has an ability, has a strong ability, and regularly uses their ability! Even Dex, who could have easily been talentless and good with tech, gets to be a Super Good Gadget Person thanks to his ability as opposed to his own creativity and ingenuity.

It's trying to tell us that maybe banishing children is bad, but also tells us that Exillium is now """fixed""" because Oralie gave them...better tents? Food? And never touches on the fact that children are still. getting. banished. It doesn't explore Tam's anger in detail, Linh is only there to be the token asian girl, it does nothing to fully dispel any thought of the Council being alright.

And it's trying to tell us that the Council fucks up, it's showing us that Councillors have no problem being incredibly selfish and violent and so many other terrible things, but that never changes. Nothing in Keeper is changing. It is only maintaining the status quo!

I'm confused as to what Messenger is trying to tell her readers! Are the Council good or bad? Is working with the Council good or bad? Are the Black Swan and Neverseen actually morally grey? Should I be angry at what's happening in these books? Am I meant to look at all the rot and shrug because "that's just how it is"?

And like...I wouldn't be mad if Keeper was just...bad! I mean, I would, but I wouldn't be as distraught! What really grinds my gears is that Keeper has the chance to be good. It has the chance to do great things - and at times it absolutely does! - but it keeps reinforcing belief in a deeply flawed and broken system that is regularly hurting people. And those examples were just off the top of my head!

And again, if this was explored within the series, that would be amazing, but the problem is that it's...not. And that's just...a real fuckin' shame, honestly.

- pyro

(sorry if this was like...too angry? i started and then kinda just...couldn't stop. i should probably get a hobby that's not tearing a middle grade series apart. oops.)

it may have been over a week since you sent this (thank you for being patient with me!!), but fuck yes it is still council hating hours. it is always council hating hours in this household that is not actually a house. (also that incompetence rant sounds intriguing)

yes! you are right! they are so bad at what they're supposed to be doing it's like they're just figures for people to look to and say "yea they'll take care of it" to keep everyone else from acting out! but it's really interesting to see a government so awful and incompetent be such an integral and influential part of the story...without acknowledging that they're actually really bad? I know in Unlocked there's a line where Shannon says something like "Sophie had to figure out who the bad guys were: the black swan? the council? someone else entirely?" but then it's never touched on again that I can remember. Thinking through the series, I honestly can't think of a situation that the council, of their own volition, saw was an issue and corrected in a way that was beneficial to those who needed it. Like yea, Oralie gave money to Exillium, but that was after Sophie chewed her out about it. I think i've said it before but in case not: it feels like they've taken the "for the good of the many over the good of the few" ideology too far in a society that doesn't work for. If someone threatens the majority (and often that's just in appearance only) they get rid of them to preserve the image of the rest. It doesn't care about their people, it cares about the majority of people feeling undisturbed.

considering Sophie is part of a huge organization created literally because their society, led by that system, isn't working for a lot of people, they (the Black Swan) sure do go along with the council a whole lot. I think one of the linked posts in one of my masterposts is specifically about how making the Black Swan work so closely with the council screwed them over and completely undermined everything they were working towards. I'm going to make a very vague comparison here, but the Black Swan feel like "we need to fix the system" while the Neverseen are "the system is broken lets start over" (except the Neverseen added a lot more violence into the mix). It's absolutely infuriating to have them working side by side: one, because the Black Swan aren't accomplishing any of their goals and should cut their losses and go back to being mysterious underground groups with more freedom to move (in my opinion), but two, because it makes the council seem like it's trying to fix things when really it feels like a publicity thing to make the public think they're addressing the rebel issue while they're really just showing up in places and causing problems. And!! that's another thing! it feels like their collaboration with the Black Swan is to address the problem of having rebels, not the problems these rebels have identified and are trying to fix. Unfortunately, it seems the council is getting their way more than the Black Swan, getting them to act more legally and work closer with less room for working outside the system. if that makes sense.

considering it's literally stated in unlocked that there is no "good" and "bad," there does seem to be a lot of focus on associating the Black Swan with being Right, and the Neverseen with being Wrong. I can hope that it's the outward reactions to the Black Swan realizing they've done some fucked up stuff (Sophie) and are now overcompensating and trying to make sure their every move is the correct one. But I do think it will be interesting to see if Sophie makes the connection in canon (as she's already started to) that there isn't always a right option, there's just the best you can do with a situation and the Black Swan's insistence that she was "in the wrong" (a summary) helps her realize her own values and think through their decisions with her own perspective instead of just trusting them

response to your note: you're fine! you bring up a good point that this book sounds like it wanted to be a unique perspective (by having the "good guys" also be questionable and give the "bad guys" reasonable motives) but the execution misses the mark for a lot of us. so you're qualms and observations are entirely valid and I don't think you're being mean at all! I think you're expressing a frustration you have with something, which I support and encourage.

at times it feels like Shannon bit off more than she could chew in terms of all the complicated things she could get into when it comes to this series. not saying she's doing a bad job or a horrible author or anything, just that there are some things she introduced that kind of get left behind or unexplored because there's so much else going on. I think we can see that in the whole being experiment part of Sophie life. we saw sophie was uncomfortable with it in the first few books and would sometimes bring it up, but I personally would've been more satisfied if she'd either taken the time to process it (opposed to her think about that later strategy) or come to the realization that no, she isn't okay with it and she deserves to have her thoughts on the matter heard. she was literally created to serve someone elses purpose, and brought into the fight too early at that. and yet it's treated like an "oopsie, guess we just gotta go with it" thing, like this minor part of her story when I bet her thinking about it for more than a minute at a time would absolutely wreck her. but I'm getting caught up in this, so moving on!

I think we can see it in the talentless too, as it's treated like a "that doesn't affect me" thing for Sophie. because she doesn't have any friends that are talentless right now--the closest she's got is Marella, who I think is still legally considered talentless with her pyrokinesis. it's been acknowledged that she doesn't think the way talentless are treated is right, but it doesn't impact her right now so she's not really doing anything about it. maybe if this was brought back later with someone like Jensi, then that would be a satisfying conclusion to this issue (not a conclusion, but it wouldn't be left hanging, if that makes sense). And I can understand the benefit of leaving things open to go back and explore later from a writers perspective, but at a certain point it becomes more of a hindrance to the story than anything else.

and exillium! I have so many thoughts on Exillium that I actually started talking about it earlier in this post. They're not doing anything unless prompted and what they do is the bare minimum. With the tents and the food, they aren't fixing Exillium, they're making it into what it should've been at the very least were they going to actually go down that route. So I can't praise them for it when it's just basic decency to provide literal children with food and shelter when you force them to be somewhere they don't want to. But all this doesn't fix Exillium, because the problem is that it exists in the first place. The problem is that the council saw children who were struggling, and decided the best thing to do with them was to just get them out of the way for everyone else. Three coaches total for leadership? yeah, there's no way that place was ever supposed to be "alternate learning" or however Oralie phrased it, that was just so you could say you hadn't completely abandoned them in the middle of nowhere.

you're so right about the council fucks up bit--I think the most obvious example of this is with Sophie's ability restrictor. Yea, she's not wearing it anymore, but that's not because the council changed their minds. It's because she broke the law and the didn't punish her for it. this is a great example of how things keep trying to move forward, but the council isn't doing anything to stay up with it. "they are selfish and violent[...] but that never changes." yes!! this!! you put it so well! the council is still the same old council that we saw in book one, concerned with their own interests and their own views, just trying to mitigate the damage Sophie and her friends are capable of doing to their system. Note: the fact that a handful of teenagers who haven't even graduated can do this much damage might be telling of the structural integrity of their system. Bronte and Terik did a little flip, and Alina replaced the Now Crispy Kenric, but aside from that nothing has changed.

I will say, I personally don't want it to be clear who the good guys and bad guys are. (not saying that's what you're asking for! just piggybacking off your comment on the confusion). I'm glad that the characters make me think and I'm grateful there isn't just the "we're good and they're bad" element you see in other stories. not that that's bad, i just think realistically they'd be more complex and their simplicity grows repetitive after a while. But like I said, at times it feels like there's too much going on for there to be a clear message, which in and of itself could be the message. i could be seeing something where there's nothing, though. I think part of it might be Shannon trying to take on all these complex narratives and perspectives with a limited perspective (as in she only has Sophie to tell the story through), while also needing to make it enjoyable and palletable to a young audience.

and I agree with you! I think it's a lot of the potential we see not being used that makes us so infuriated (or me at least). Because there are some stories yo uread where you're like "ah. it's just one of those stories. cool." and you move past it. Because you know it's going to have a set perspective and you know it's going to accomplish what it wants, but Keeper seems to have so many possibilities and Shannon's getting stuck in this rut of good and bad after so long. maybe we'll get out of it in the next book with sophie thinking the Black Swan was in the wrong, but I also wouldn't be surprised if that Didn't Happen.

it's just like what i was saying about Ro! There's all these opportunities for these characters and this world to be really explored and fleshed out and complex, but we've gotten stuck in this romance drama and loosing fights again and again with little progress. All their actions are undoing the Neverseen's actions and counting it a victory because no one is dead. I just think there could be so much more that we're not getting because the story tried to go too broad when it wasn't ready for it.

this response got very long but in essence: I agree with your assessment of the story. is frustrating to see so many of the details and paths we'd like to see explored that often aren't in fiction just pass us by.

there is a special place for keeper in my heart and I will always appreciate it for that, but I also mourn what it could've been.

(also: you are not too angry! you have genuine thoughts about this series and they deserve to be heard! we are allowed to have complaints, even about the things we like. we don't have to appreciate every single aspect and we're allowed to be mad at the things we don't like.)

#we are a week into october and I have several asks from september still #how many can i answer in one day is the question #but back to what you were saying pyro #I don't want to just completely rewrite the entire series myself #but I do think there are things that could've been approached better and the council is one of them #If the Black Swan and Sophie both acknowledge their faults #i don't fully understand why they work so closely together #but that's a whole other thing so I should probably stop #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc character analysis #kotlc council #the black swan #quil's queries #pyrokinetic-loser #long post

[vandijkwrites]

It's been a full year since I made this blog and I'm finally posting a story! (insert round of applause here)

An Android and His Boy | Flash Fiction | 717 Words

As soon as you see his wild hair over the heads on the train platform, you suddenly feel something knitting back together in your chest. It has been six months since you last felt remotely human and you missed the lie of it.

You missed it all—his absurdly large scarf wrapped around his neck too many times; the way his nose is already turning bright red from the chill; how his eyes have never stopped being the eyes of a child even when he left childhood far behind him.

You missed every piece of him.

And when he spots you across the platform and smiles, you swear that the hardware in your chest somehow manages to skip a beat. He weaves through the crowd and grabs your arm, still giving you that smile like a secret.

"I have news," he tells you. You hope you are still the first person he tells his news to. But it's too loud on the platform so he drags you toward the street, never minding that he doesn't know where you parked. You guide him the right way.

As you get in the car, you feel his excited energy radiating off of him while he waits for you to pull away from the curb.

You aren't looking at him when he says it, but you can hear the smile in his words. "I'm getting married," he says.

And suddenly it all breaks—the whole illusion shattering to pieces around you. You were never delusional enough to hope, but there was a certain peace in a door that had not quite closed. You try not to wince as it slams in your face.

You wonder, sometimes, if it would help if you could cry. Maybe the secret to surviving pain is letting it slowly seep out of you into something you can wipe away.

“Congratulations,” you say. It falls incredibly flat so you keep going. “That’s wonderful.”

You know it isn’t convincing and you hate yourself for it as you look over and see his smile fade.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

And all you can do is look ahead and stare at the road because you have never been able to lie to him and you can’t start now. The silence hangs, interrupted only by a rhythmic sound from the engine that demands repair.

“I’m sorry,” you say, because you are. You don’t want to ruin his happiness. You are trying to remember how to be a good friend for him.

He waits for you and, when you do speak again, it’s so softly that you hope he misses it.

“It’s hard to see someone have a happiness I can never have.” It sounds terribly selfish the minute you say it and his eyebrows knit together.

“That’s nonsense,” he tells you with a frown. “There’s no reason you can't find someone.”

You don’t say anything, just making a small non-committal sound in your throat that comes out wrong through your synthetic vocal cords.

You love him because he can't see the lie in what he's said. It also hurts in a way that things aren't meant to hurt you.

Because it is a lie. You aren’t human, which is a significant enough barrier in its own right.

But he thinks you are talking about marriage when all you really mean is him. You cannot find someone who is not lost.

“I mean it,” he tells you. When you don’t look convinced he leans into your shoulder, bumping your side with his elbow. “You can be happy. I want you to be happy.”

He thinks he really means it, but you know that he doesn't. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he doesn’t believe you’re capable of falling in love and you almost say it. You almost say all of it.

If you believed I was capable of falling in love, you would have noticed that I already have.

It is a thought that has endless potential for destruction—to his sapling of happiness and to the last threads tying the two of you together. The weapon sits in your mouth before you swallow it back down, unspoken.

“So, your fiancé,” you say instead. "Tell me about them.”

When he smiles, you smile back, pretending the word didn’t burn coming off of your lips.

#writeblr #flash fiction #flash fic #short story #am writing #my writing #mlm

[babymetaldoll]

Hii gorgeous!❤❤❤❤

(sorry this is going to be long)😬

not me crying when I'm writing this to you, I’m very emotional, I know this isn’t a final goodbye to this story but, you had me so hooked with this story since the first chapter (back in April), and it will be strange not to read it every Wednesday

I'm so over the moon of happiness cos these fools in love are finally together, but I'm also sad cos they won't keep me company on wednesdays, I know I'm being super selfish right now, but i'm so attached to this story and to them, they have a space in my heart❤ forever, I adore them so much (i’m crying again)

When I was reading this chapter, I had to stop many times cos is so full of tenderness, i’m still can not believe that they’re TOGETHER🤯, they can finally say how much they love each other

“She was mine. Just mine. And i wanted to hers for the rest of my life. Was it too soon to say? of course, it was”. -> this is where i died, my heart was and still is melting

thanks for bringing one more time cocky spencer, sorry COCKY BOYFRIEND SPENCER!!!!!! (i love you)

“the officials are staring”, please!!! this was gold comedy, just perfection

And of course Hotch knew they were together, I love him, super grateful to him.

When he called them into his office and spencer was so nervous to admit that he loves his best friend out loud to one of his "father figures", that was so so so cute

I also have to add that Reader in this chapter is radiant, she is blooming, I could feel her happiness and how that turns her into another superior level of baddest bitch, now she has nothing to worry about💅

Rossi being the mastermind behind the hotch plan, I don't know how I didn't see it before

Frank, Mikey and Lu, do I have something else to add?, they are the best, super happy to see them in the last chapter and see their reactions "use some lube, don't wake up too sore!" -> Another golden comedy moment, I almost piss myself laughing with that line

I love that Seaver is barely in this chapter, but all the time I imagined her in a corner with her cup, seeing how everyone was celebrating the love of these two

“Our babies are making babies!!” thank you penelope, you took the words out of my mouth

And it's over, this is the end of how these two got together, what beautiful journey this has been🥺🥺, full of frustrations and love, I think I went through all the emotions reading this story, in a singular way and all mixed at once❤

this is my favorite slow burn series EVER!!!!, you did a wonderful job, you are an incredible writer who deserves all the applause and prestige in the world, so congratulations💐, what you did here is not an easy job, to write the amount of words that you write per chapter and that you post them week after week, without any pause in between, that's a huge achievement and I admire you for that, and i’m so proud of you❤, and for that once again thank you for giving us this amazing story.

I don't know what else to say, (I'm crying yet again) just to finish: I love you, you are the best (yes, you are), thanks for this story, I can't wait to see what the sequel will bring to this story on the future

i love you and this series so much

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

I never wanted to hug someone I haven't met as much as I wanna hug you right now!!!!

Thank you so much!! thank you for your messages, for your feedback, for reading this endless story (I was singing the never-ending story song at a certain point while writing it hahaha)

I am going to miss writing them, that's why I wanna write the sequel (Emily's story can't be left untold with these two just starting a relationship) and I just miss them already!! I wanna know what kind of boyfriend will Spencer be on the field, and how reader will manage Emily's death.

I'm gonna write a few blurbs and one-shots too, so stay tuned!!

I loved Garcia saying: "Our babies are making babies" SO MUCH!! I could practically hear her. And also how Rossi checked on reader in the car, when they were with Hotch, and she said everything was perfect. THEY ALL KNEW!!

But hands down, my fav was Mikey:

“Then are you two finally facing the fact you love each other, and you are getting together, so we can all fucking continue living our lives without the eternal angst produced by the fact neither of you seems to be able to get your shit together?”

YES!!!! he was surely tired of watching his two friends not acting don't their feelings.

Anyway, pretty, there are really no words to express how much your messages helped me finish this very VERY long story. So thank you!!!! Thank you!!! hope to see you around next week for the 1300 celebration I will be hosting! there will be blurbs and surprises.

Love you so much!!!! 💜✨

#DIWK #babymetaldoll is emo as fuck right now #thank you #best follower and reader on earth #I love you!!

[agent-cupcake]

I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE INTO FE3H AAAA For requests how about hcs for yandere dimitri?

Yan! Dimitri  pre-timeskip - White Clouds

Yan! Dimitri post-timeskip - Azure Moon (SPOILERS-ISH!)

~Ah yes, my darling Delusional Prince with yandere feelings lingering around in the madness ridden rage state of his broken mind. It’s the good stuff. I like to imagine it like you had hopes he was alive but also knew he might actually be dead, so seeing this man you cared a lot about and had an intense emotional connection with understandably makes you incredibly happy, but Dimitri’s just (in all sense of the word) mad. 

~Mad that seeing you again would bring up uncomfortably human feelings he thought he had buried, mad that you were still a distraction, mad that you’d have the gall to be excited to see him, even mad at the sort of relief he’d feel because at least now he wouldn’t have to worry about you haunting him, too.

~I guess it sort of follows some of my thoughts in THIS POST, because I don’t think anything particularly interesting would happen with yandere feral Dimitri unless you were an active participant in trying to ~help~ him. Plus, you trying now would be yet another great reason for him to cling to an unhealthy connection later.

~Some of my favorite scenes to imagine here would be with you trying to help Dimitri in some way, trying to get him to eat or drink or engage in some way other than talking about revenge or murder, and him being rude and dismissive towards you. But then you give up and say how you’re gonna go train with the professor or someone and suddenly he feels it’s incredibly important that he trains, too. In service of killing Edelgard, of course. 

~Dimitri ridiculing you while aggressively attacking you for not being strong enough to be useful to him and pointing out all of your weaknesses while berating you for not valuing your life properly is actually a pretty good display of how I think feral yan Dimitri would be overall. Afraid of losing you for reasons he can’t really understand and dealing with that fear using anger and aggression and violent sexual tension. 

~Another nice thought is Dimitri getting extra physical in questioning you about your investment in him and why you’d be trying so hard to help. Which, if he realized your motives and feelings, could easily end up in a… Compromising situation. All that anger and those repressed feelings bubbling up could lead to some fun little scenarios. 

~He mainly hangs out in the cathedral during these chapters too, which makes me wonder to what extent he’d make a point of being beyond salvation or forgiveness, how far he’d go to illustrate the idea that your feelings would make you just as undeserving and incapable of salvation as he was. What’s a little sacrilege to a monster like him?

~While Dimitri wouldn’t actively keep you near him, or even acknowledge that he’d want your company to the point of being rude about you forcing it on him, I can see him being really passive aggressive if you decided to comply with his proclaimed desire for solitude. Like, talking about how weak you were, so you should have been training for the upcoming battle and not wasting your time doing silly and frivolous things with the others. He’d hear you laughing and having a good time? Big mistake. There’s no time for levity, and he’d call you selfish for indulging in it.  

~As with the other post, just imagine everyone’s reaction to this. Some of them pushing you further towards Dimitri in the hopes you’d help remind him of his humanity (maybe it’s terrible but I see Gilbert being the biggest one to do this, considering how little he cares for anything outside of Dimitri) and then you’d have the others who’d be truly afraid for you. And Felix, angry that you’d enable Dimitri in such a way. 

~Then, Gronder Field hits and we get the best voice acting I’ve heard since Mariya Ise’s Killua (Chris Hackney’s performance is like 60% of my love for Dimitri tbh) and Dimitri’s change of heart. Because this is self insert and yandere, we’re just gonna say that it’s you who approaches him before he leaves for Enbarr because the whole emotional thing is the fabric on which his yandere tendencies are embroidered upon. 

~And then, after that, guilt. So much guilt. Even more than in the actual game which is really sad, but oh-so delicious because it creates a situation where he’d feel very fervently about atonement for his behavior towards you specifically. Whatever that means. 

~To sum up how I think Dimitri would feel in this Phase Three Yandere state, I’d point to his Goddess Tower line “The goddess just watches over us from above… That is all. No matter how hard someone begs to be saved, she would never so much as offer her hand. And even if she did, we lack the means to reach out and grasp it.”, because that feels particularly compatible with his line “Your hands are so warm, have they always been?” in the scene in the rain. Reaching out a hand is basically a staple for strong emotional moments with Dimitri, and in that scene he’s quite literally being saved by you. Even playing as Byleth in-game that felt idolizing (honestly, a lot of this is already in-game text in his supports with Byleth, it’s really not that hard to read it as yandere), and Dimitri definitely has a record of putting people he feels strongly about on a pedestal.

~Dimitri would love you. Absolutely. That’d be a pre-existing thing he just never got around to realizing before the war because he’s emotionally clueless and afraid of feelings. However, he’d also see you as a symbol of sorts. Warmth, compassion, someone who, even at his very darkest, was looking out for him. A co-dependent emotional manager, to say it bluntly. Not just love, then, but adoration and need to an unhealthy degree. A worshiping sort of clingyness. 

~The whole fully formed yan relationship wouldn’t happen all at once after the revelation scene. Fighting the battle of becoming king and winning the war and trying to sort out all of the hundreds of fires he’d left unattended while also trying to mend his broken mind, I think Dimitri’s behavior towards you at first would be relatively innocent. Mostly, he’d just find comfort in having you near him and having you there for ~emotional guidance~. 

~Aaaaand we’re just gonna say that at this point you’d be far too emotionally involved and despite any feelings you may have had about his behavior, despite the severity of his feelings, you couldn’t find it within yourself to step back. But, if you tried, Dimitri would do just about anything to convince you to stay with him. Even if he hated himself for it, even if the guilt was overwhelming, the idea of being without you, the idea of you leaving him and his protection, would be even worse. 

~To this end, I can see him not forcing a romantic/physical relationship. That’d be something he’d want, but his need for you would far outweigh anything like that. To Dimitri, keeping you safe and sound and comfortable and as happy as possible would be the only way for him to make up for his behavior. So he could be overbearingly overprotective, incredibly intense, reverent on the side of uncomfortable, too selfish to let you go, but wouldn’t directly force you into anything.

~Of course he would sense that this was wrong, and feel a huge amount of guilt over it and the possibility that you could be happier elsewhere, but then rationalize that this was best. That he was the only one who could possibly ensure your safety and happiness, that could care about you enough to see it through.

~If you did agree to marry Dimitri, all of these things would only get more intense, but I also think it would lessen a lot of his guilt. If you fully agreed to be his wife, that meant that you were choosing him to give you happiness and safety. Besides, holding you and knowing you were real, that you were his, would possibly be one of his greatest joys.

~The whole overprotective thing would be a huge issue, and arguing with him about it would be pointless because he would never concede to your demands for more autonomy, citing that the kingdom wasn’t exactly safe yet and you would have a target on your head as queen and all of the various yandere excuses to skirt around the fact that his fear of losing you would be absolutely debilitating to him. 

~There’d also be the occasional patch of jealousy, although Dimitri would never doubt or question you, but the intentions of others. 

~I think, sometimes, the pedestal he’d put you on would be pretty awful. Lonely, maybe? His adoration could get cloying, although it could also be wonderful. He’d make you feel well and truly loved, more than anything else in the world. 

~Summing it all up, Dimitri would need you. I think the extent to which he’d feel this way would be very ~~love sick~~, but in reality his behavior wouldn’t be way too extreme. It would only arise in little slip-ups, when his mania would get too intense and his passion would suffocate. 

#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #fe dimitri #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd headcanons #fe dimitri headcanons #dimitri headcanons #dimitri #yandere headcanons #yandere #headcanons #FE3H #fire emblem three houses spoilers #fire emblem three houses #i want him to literally kill me just straight up ugh what a beautiful man #so long term i think claude would be the better yan #but dimitri has a lot of wonderful traits that shouldn't be overlooked #but claude would manipulate you #and really what else do you want in a man

[shi-daisy]

New Beginnings

Hello again my fellow shippers! Today's day three of Ulquihime week and I'm not gonna lie, this theme was giving me a bit of trouble, since I had an idea for it but used it last year with another prompt. So instead I just made a sort of sequel to that particular entry. If you don't want to go back and read that one I'll just give you a mini summary here.

Basically this is a canon divergent AU in which Orihime dosen't marry Ichigo and runs away from the wedding when she finds out he's not truly in love with her. After her escape she reunited with Ulquiorra and he helped calm her down. That's where the first prompt ended. So here's what would happen after. Hope you all like!

@ulquihimeweek

Ulquihime Week- Day 3- Reunion/Caught

New Beginnings

"Ulquiorra, you've been glued to that phone for almost three hours now. Please stop before you go blind." Halibel chided him.

"Leave him be Hali, he's still waiting for pet-sama to reply," Nnoitra told her. The comment earned him a cushion to the face, courtesy of Zommari.

"All of you be quiet! I am not waiting for a reply. Orihime answered already."

"Would ya look at that, Ulquiorra's finally getting some!"

Once he silenced Nnoitra with cushions Ulquiorra went back to the chat. It had been almost a month since he last saw Orihime.

After she ran away from her wedding and they met by chance, he had allowed her to spend the night in his house. The next day one of her friends came to pick her up, and the redhead promised to keep in touch with him. He hadn't seen her personally since, but they messaged each other very often. Last week however, the messages had abruptly stoped, and he'd gotten worried.

Today those worries ended, as Orihime not only wrote to him but she asked to meet him in a cafe tomorrow.

"She says she's got a surprise. Should that be concerning?"

Halibel was standing nearby. She chuckled at the question. "Not really. I'm sure she's just happy to finally see you. From what you tell me, the girl needed comfort desperately."

"I'm still enraged at Kurosaki for what he did. A part of me wants to get revenge."

"That's not gonna be possible. Unless you want to get smashed against the wall again." His friend replied sarcastically.

"A small price to pay, but the woman told me not to get in 'trouble' for her sake. So I won't interfere unless she asks."

"Good. It's nice to know someone in this house isn't a reckless moron." The green-eyed blonde glared at Nnoitra, who rolled his eyes.

"I only tried to fight a cop one time!"

Ulquiorra decided to ignore the bickering and concentrate on hid phone. Being a human might've gotten easier, but not dealing with his old comrades.

***

"Now remember, be nice, let her speak but don't stay too quiet, and for the love of all that's good just ask her out properly."

Halibel and Szayel had been helping him get ready for the meeting. Ulquiorra was still nervous, but he hoped for the best.

"You two are going to ruin his chances of scoring. He looks like he came out of a band Tesla likes."

"Says the man who looks like the lovechild of a sewer goblin and Slenderman." Szayel didn't even turn to look at Nnoitra as he finished brushing Ulquiorra's hair'. "Done! Now the princess won't take her eyes off of you."

"Thank you Szayel, thank you Halibel."

"At your service!"

"I'll get going then, I want to be early for our meeting."

"Just make sure that if you bring the cutie home, you put a sock in the door."

Ulquiorra ignored Nnoitra's comment. Letting Szayel deal with him.

"I'm beginning to understand why I am the only one with a boyfriend here," Szayel commented. "You need an intervention, Jirga."

"Me? You're the one dating Starrk!"

As the bickering began Ulquiorra headed for the door and waved goodbye to Halibel.

The cafe was near his house, and from what he could see it was not too busy. Orihime's hadn't arrived yet. He picked a table and was ready to sit down, until he noticed someone skating right towards him.

"Watch out!"

He recognized Orihime's voice, and caught her before she could crash into him.

"Orihime?"

"Hi Ulquiorra! It's been a while. You look great!"

When she smiled Ulquiorra went speechless. He recovered quickly, and let her sit with him.

"I take it you work here?"

"Yes. My friend Riruka is the manager and I've been working here for a week now. That's why it took me a bit to reply, sorry if you were worried."

"Don't apologize. I'm glad you've found a job you like. The uniform suits you as well."

"Really? I didn't think black was my color."

"To be fair, you look good in any clothes."

Orihime blushed from the compliment. "Thank you. So, what have you been up to? Are the others still around?"

He sighed. "Regrettably so, Cyan and Tesla moved out a while ago, and if Starrk proposes to Szayel soon then it's likely they'll move out as well."

Orihime giggled. "I know they drive you mad sometimes but I'd love to live in house that lively."

"Tell me that after you spent a week with Nnoitra as a roommate. Speaking of which, are you still rooming with Arisawa-san?"

"Not exactly, Tatsuki-chan is traveling due to competitions, but she did leave me the apartment. Once I get a place of my own I'll move out, being on Karakura it's a little draining."

He knew what she referred to, it was clear in her voice. Ulquiorra found it hard to hide his rage, still, he managed to calm down.

"You know that if you cannot stand to stay in Karakura any longer, you're more than welcome to stay with me."

"I know, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. But when I finally settle in Naruki, I want it to be on my own. I can't keep depending on others forever. Besides, you dealt with enough of my crying, that night, already."

Yes, that fateful night when they met again. It was supposed to be her wedding that to the man she loved, and instead, all she could do was cry.

And yet, a part of him was happy things turned out the way they did. That he got to see her again, and even establish a friendship. 'But at what cost? This isn't what she wanted and you know it.'

"Ulquiorra? Are you ok?"

Orihime must've noticed his change in mood, so he hid it away yet again. "I'm fine."

"You're thinking about the day we met again, aren't you?"

"My apologies. You probably don't even want to think about that night but I can't seem to let it go.

It's selfish of me to be happy about this when you lost the man you loved."

Orihime put her hand over his. "Ulquiorra, you're not the only one who's happy things turned out this way.

I did love Ichigo, and I was fully ready to marry him, I gave up college and internships to stay in Karakura with him, but he burned that away in just a moment. I refuse to be the one grieving.

He's the one who lost out on a devoted loving wife. Let him carry the grief if he has any at all.

I'm immensely happy to have gotten out when I did. My life's not going to be wasted on a loveless marriage, and I'm happy that you're a part of my new life. So don't be angry on my behalf."

Ulquiorra smiled. "I've always known you were a strong woman, but this is far more than I expected. You've grown a lot Orihime. You should be proud."

"Thank you. It’s nice to know that someone thinks of me as such.” Orihime smiled. “Now, let’s go onto more cheerful matters. I got you a gift! Here!"

She handed him a small dark blue box, Ulquiorra opened it to find a replica of the bracelet he had given her when they were enemies, only this bracelet was made to fit him.

"Do you like it? It's not real silver but it matches the one I have. So we can both wear them at the same time."

In the past six years he'd been a human Ulquiorra never felt moved to cry, until now. "I shall treasure it forever. Thank you." He immediately put it on, the bracelet was a perfect fit. "Now, I'll be the one to spoil you for a while."

***

The evening only had so many hours, but he intended to make good use of them all. After having a nice dinner at the cafe, he took Orihime to the movies. It was about a SciFi story he had yet to read, but seeing how happy Orihime was while watching he knew he made the right choice. After that he let her pick the activity.

"We could go skating. Would you like that?"

"I have no problems with that, but aren't you tired of skating at work?"

"Not really, I love doing it. Besides it's different when you skate carrying food and when you do it with a partner."

"Alright then, let's go to the skate park."

Relief washed over him when the park was almost empty. Truth to be told Ulquiorra wasn't proficient at any sport, including skating.

While Orihime was busy putting on her skates, he went over to nearby post and got a bouquet of hibiscus flowers.

When he got back she was done with her skates and had tied her orange hair into pigtails. He thought she looked even cuter.

"Here. I thought it would be fair to get you a gift as well." Ulquiorra handed her the bouquet.

Orihime was almost gentle when holding the flowers. She took a deep breath, enjoying the secent. "They're gorgeous, thank you. How did you know this was my favorite flower?"

"They're the flower on your headpins."

"True. I like that you always notice things like that. It's one of your best traits."

That made him flustered. It didn't matter how much time they spent together he would never get used to Orihime's cute compliments.

Once the the two were ready they headed for the track and began skating. His balance wasn't the best but thankfully he didn't slip.

"Ulquiorra."

"Yes?"

"Thanks for tonight. It's been the most fun I've had in a while."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek, that almost made him fall. Orihime held on tightly to him.

"Caught ya!" she chuckled. "You don't skate much, do you?"

"Busted. I rarely do anything sporty. Although that's likely to change."

"Really?"

"Yes. If I am going to be spending time with you, I'll learn in no time."

"Are you asking me out?"

"I am. Would you accept this invitation?"

"Yes, absolutely."

#uhweek2019 #Ulquihime #orihime x ulquiorra #orihime inoue #ulquiorra schiffer #Reunion AU

[shiguresxhma]

I just wanted to tell you that reading all of your character analyses has made it a lot easier to adjust to college life because it makes me happy when I'm feeling lonely. I love Fruits Basket so much and it's really nice to read more about the characters from the perspective of someone who has a wonderful grasp of their thoughts and motivations. I want to know everything you have to say about Shigure and Yuki's dynamic, especially around the time Shigure took him in. Keep up the good work!

/ UM ??? HELLO ???? YOU ARE SO KIND !!!! Thank you so much for saying such kind words, and I am elated that my little ramblings could help you through something as trying as adjusting to college life!!! 

Yuki and Gure’s dynamic is one that I’ve talked about a lot and one that is so important to me. I could link some previous posts but at this point, after archiving I cannot tell if the posts are on my Yuki blog or here on Gure .... so I guess I’ll just TL;DR 

A lot of my thoughts and feelings are shared with and better articulated by my dear friend who has been writing a YukiKyo fic with this really great Shigure pov chapter that is a pretty in depth look at this dynamic specifically! (plugplugplug I guess). I have to give credit where credit is due, because her headcanons are 2 good. 

ANYWAY, it was undoubtedly incredibly awkward for the two of them when Yuki first moved in. Yuki and Shigure barely knew each other. Interestingly enough, the three closest people to Shigure, Ayame, Hatori, and Akito all have such distinct relationships with Yuki. The younger brother, a huge source of regret, and of course the God’s favorite little zodiac. Shigure really only would have been able to see Yuki through their eyes until getting to know the rat himself. Yuki likely shared a similar indifference about the dog --- he’s his brother’s and Hatori’s best friend, and he would often see him with Akito. So needless to say, Shigure and Yuki weren’t close. 

By the time Yuki moves in with Gure in canon, Shigure has already been living in his house off the estate and I have the mightiest gut feeling that Haru asking for Yuki to live with him was the greatest opportunity that he could have been granted, because now he could take the rat away from God, too. So like ... I’m not saying that Gure deciding to let Yuki live with him was a completely selfish gesture but I’m just saying ... he got something out of it other than a new, awkward housemate. And, like I said, I think it was a good while before they were comfortable around each other. It’s easy to see Yuki keeping to himself and barely leaving his bedroom, or if he ever did, managing to do so when Shigure was too busy to spot him. 

What broke the ice was most likely the fact that Yuki could live how he wanted to with Shigure. He wasn’t being coddled or treated like some porcelain trophy child, he was staying up late in his trashed bedroom eating junk food. I’ve mentioned before entertaining the concept of an AU where Hatori basically pulls a Shishou and takes Yuki in himself (because I also adore their relationship & that is a separate topic altogether) but in all honesty Shigure was the perfect person for Yuki to live with. Yeah, Shigure is still a zodiac Sohma so it’s not like Yuki was completely out of the cage. But, Shigure was one of the few who doesn't fear Akito. He has such an independence about him when it comes to the zodiac’s relationship to God and Yuki needed that figure in his life. Someone who could revere Akito in a way that wasn’t this big scary monster sitting on a throne of entitlement. So, despite being in another Sohma home, there was an element of disconnect there under Shigure’s roof. Shigure is a very realistic guy who is arguably one of the most grounded characters in Fruits Basket. He wasn’t looking to coddle or smother Yuki as some newfound parental figure, he was just ... living with his housemate respectfully and treating him like an adult. 

I probably could have phrased this better, but yeah. Shigure was the best possible person Yuki could have lived with before meeting Tohru Honda and learning how to spread his wings (or lil rat arms, I guess). 

#& & . ANSWERS. #& & . 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚘 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚍 ⋮ OOC.

[ganymedesclock]

What do you think is the most morally dubious thing Shiro would do, if he believed it was for the greater good and/or he had no choice? I'm writing a fic but I don't know if I'm going *too* far with this one plot point, and you seem to have a really good read on his character.

My first instinct is you have to remember that narratively Shiro is framed as a person of very strict morals. He held that high ground, was remembered by other prisoners as an honorable and trustworthy person, during the missing year when Haggar was personally leveraging a lot of her energy to break him. 

This is one of the underlying virtues Shiro commands as Black Paladin- he has an incredibly potent sense of who he is, and he does not act contrary to his nature. That’s why he’s so scared of the missing year, and the idea he might have. Shiro’s not a “slippery slope” kind of guy- if he lost his footing and skidded a little he’d be deeply upset about that.

The times Shiro’s been most willing to gamble or work behind his team’s back, he sets it up in a way that if this blows up, it blows up on him. He’ll only wager the people willing to make a stand with him and if his plan calls for someone to lay on the wire- I’ve said before, if he can’t do it himself, the only person he’ll call on to do that is someone he perceives as another Black Paladin, someone else who’s accepted that role of being, in Shiro’s eyes, the person who has to be prepared to sacrifice for the team.

We’ve seen Shiro put up a more sinister front before, so I think if your objective is to paint Shiro in a dark light and then explore that- I can see Shiro doing what he did in s1e3 with Matt in a different context, playing up a cold and threatening persona to achieve a quieter objective under the table. He probably wouldn’t do this in a context where he wasn’t desperate, and especially not if he felt like people there were looking to him as the Black Paladin.

As far as lines Shiro would and wouldn’t cross- in s3e5 he really doesn’t feel that bad about smacking around the rebels, his apology is very dry. He tried to talk to them, he tried to negotiate before and that’s what he goes back to once he’s been able to apprehend them, but in that interim he’s just dealing with them. On a strategic level he shifts gears and “these are people trying their best who deserve sympathy” takes a back seat to “I don’t have time for this, my team is in danger, and they have become obstructions.”

So, sorry he hit that guy in the face with his friend’s gun and destroyed their only clamp, but he’s not exactly mortified by it.

It doesn’t mean he stops being sympathetic to them, but Shiro is someone who looks at big plans and if he’s stressed and doesn’t see another way around it, or that they don’t have time to mess with this, he’ll get snappy and pushy. If the situation can really push his buttons, he’ll go as far as he did in s2e10 (you have to remember Slav was somewhat justifiably scared of the guy at one point because Shiro was that close to bodily trying to haul Slav out of the room)

But higher stress levels don’t make Shiro immoral as much as they tend to make him impatient. Even at his worst he’ll acknowledge when he goes too far and he tends to noticeably hesitate when he reads other peoples’ reactions and realizes he’s scared them or upset them, especially if it’s the other paladins. (when he snaps at Slav in front of Lance and Pidge, both of them gape at him, and Shiro immediately falls silent and look away from them- a very similar behavior to how he acts in s5e3 after he yells at Lance and the latter looks at him in surprise and hurt) 

I don’t think Shiro would sign off on a plan that requires by design hurting or scaring civilians, or subjecting enemy soldiers to a particularly vindictive fate. And especially post-s5 with Lotor on the throne there’s going to be more opportunities to potentially negotiate with the various imperial factions they’ve encountered.

I guess what I’d recommend asking yourself is, what are you trying to accomplish with this plot point? Is it important that Shiro makes the choice, or just that it happens? Maybe Shiro angles for something more benign, more acceptable, as the original plan and something happens in the situation to either force his hand or something else goes really horribly wrong and forces the situation to go downhill.

If it’s something like hurting someone not an enemy soldier, I feel like Shiro would normally have super obvious limits for that- but if he feels like that person seriously endangered or got a member of his team hurt on purpose, I could see Shiro losing his patience with them a lot faster and a lot harder than he did, say, with the two rebels in s3e5. 

For an example of that, I’d look at s2e4- while it’s not very obvious given the dimensions of the shot, when Shiro returns Lubos to the Olkari, he practically throws him to the ground as he explains what Lubos was doing. That’s one thing Shiro has very little patience or sympathy for- people who throw others under the bus to save their own hide. And that was a situation when things work out- you can imagine how absolutely furious Shiro would be if someone got one of his team hurt for selfish reasons.

Even if they might have more understandable or sympathetic motivations than Lubos (who was still, seemingly, tortured at some point, considering Branko had footage of it) Shiro’s not going to want to hear those right away- his immediate mindset is going to be a lot more “how dare you” and considering Shiro is a highly athletic fighter with a dense metal arm (even without lighting the thing up, it’s shown in s2e10 to be able to punch through the faceplate of military-grade robots hard enough to kill the thing) and a little bit of lost temper could go a long way.

In that scenario, though, especially if you want to frame the endangering character as sympathetic or at least with understandable motives (which I’d recommend) I think they’d have to be a stranger and it would be more an issue of Shiro losing his temper with them and not thinking about the pressure he might be exerting with his prosthetic- potentially leaving a bruise. I don’t think he’d ever actually turn the laser cutter on someone who isn’t a soldier, or a soldier who’s been disarmed and is no longer a threat.

(that said, a captive enemy commander he’d probably be quicker to lose patience with depending on their attitude)

Even then, I think that’s something he’d... dwell on, very negatively, afterwards. Again, Shiro crossing a line he wouldn’t normally is something he’d be deeply concerned and stressed about, and that I think is the more meaningful thing to play with on Shiro’s characterization, so my thoughts going into it would be to set up the situation so it’s not something Shiro meant to do or set out intentionally for, so he’d internalize it as a failing of self-control. If this is right in s5 and he’s already feeling guilty for blowing up at Lance as he’s shown in canon, it might push him towards thinking of himself as that he’s getting worse as a person.

With the paladins, Shiro has a lot of respect for them, so he’s going to be even more restrained. If Shiro even accidentally injured one of the other paladins, I feel like more than angry he’d have to be really out of it- which, Kuron is there as a convenient patsy but I think his symptoms would have to get a lot worse to achieve that effect- like Shiro having a sleepwalking episode or somehow becoming disoriented enough to not know where he is.

In that case, he could potentially hit another member of the team without realizing who they are, but he’d be too disoriented to be much of an effective fighter- if anything it’d probably be a lucky hit because his teammate wouldn’t be expecting him to attack. And once Shiro realized what happened I imagine he’d absolutely shut down, like, hole up in his room and not talk to anyone for a while.

The idea of Shiro potentially crossing severe lines, to me, is immediately going to one way or another bump up against his sense of self-control and the tendency he has to view himself as a bad or unworthy person if he’s particularly stressed in that manner. He’s most comfortable doing bad things to himself- I’m pretty sure he’d hesitate long and hard before even thinking of using his hand to cauterize somebody else’s wound using his laser hand the way he did to his own leg in s3e5 for example.

Hope that helps, anon!

#voltron legendary defender #vld #Shiro #readmore #Anonymous

[jackofalltrades17]

I know I usually post dumb shit but occasionally a serious thought does float into my head. Tonight we're discussing religion, specifically Christianity because that's what I've grown up with pretty much since I was born. Like serious Christians. Go to church every Sunday and Wednesday night. Pray before every meal. Bring up Jesus in every conversation. If anything remotely good happens say "That's the Lord working through us." or if someone dies "They're up there walking with Jesus now." Alcohol is horrible. No Cursing. Live. Laugh. Love. Don't forget your manners. Respect the elderly.

But I've come to realize that that may be a little wrong. I don't think I believe in *Christian* God anymore. I think there is a good possibility that there is a God. Because all the atoms at the beginning had to come from somewhere. One of the laws of physics is energy can not be created nor destroyed but how did the energy come to be in the first place.

However I don't think it like the involved god that Christianity paints. I think it'd be more equivalent to a person playing a simulation/sandbox game where they start everything off. Make up a few rules put some people in a specific spot and watch it run, making little adjustments along the way. I don't think that god knows exactly what's going to happen. Or it's set in stone. I think everyone's future is constantly changing. Every choice you make changes your's and everyone around you's future. That's why we are able to make choices. Frankly I'm not even sure god is a man. God could just be a cosmic being with no gender or a cosmic being with all genders.

I think the main thing is I don't believe in the Bible. Example: the parameters for Noah's Ark are so exact and it seems so incredible ridiculous that they stayed the same throughout thousands of years. And if this can be false than what else could be. 2nd example: In one particular verse of the Bible in which it says something along the lines of "homosexuality is bad" (obviously that is not a direct quote) but it was previously along the lines of "a man shall not sleep with a child" basically saying "don't be a pedo" but was changed sometime in the last 500 years due to selfish reasons because humanity is the worst. I'm not saying that all miracles were fake. But a few of them can be explained with knowledge that had not been discovered until modern times. The Red Sea parting for instance. Researchers/experts have speculated that they actually crossed the Reed Sea. And there is a special phenomenon involving high-speed winds. Or the water to wine thing. Plexiglass. But seriously there is a thing called the assassin's tea pot where you can pour two different liquids through the same tea pot. It functions differently than what it would take to do a whole barrel of it but it would be possible.

Also not exactly debunking anything for whatever but there is no way that Heaven is a good thing. Heaven according to the Bible is a perfect place without pain. With gold roads and basically everyone gets there own mansion. That's sounds like a hella boring world. No releases of dopamine to relieve stress because there is no stress. You don't get the sweet release of sitting down after a long day because there is no pain. And living becomes dull. You don't see those things in life because they are a natural function. It's reminiscent of the ending of the Good Place.

I also want you to know that I was watching Family Guy while writing this so maybe don't take me too seriously. What do I know I'm only 15. Also take everything I've said with a grain of salt because most of my information I just remember from episodes on Discovery and stuff I somehow remember from Tumblr posts screen shotted and posted to Pinterest back from the days when I was only allowed to be on Pinterest. I also am aware that some people couldn't give a shit about religion and have already discovered this or never believed this.

Sorry for the rant I just really needed to vent to somebody.

#deconstruction #religion #Christian #Christianity #god #Jesus #Heaven #heaven and hell #noah's ark #long post