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leofrith · 1 year

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A Critique of ACV: The Last Chapter (SPOILERS!)

I wanted to hold off on sharing my thoughts about the new content until I’d given The Last Chapter time to breathe, because I was honestly hoping that maybe if I gave it some time, I wouldn’t dislike it so much. But the more I think about it, the more I find things to dislike about it. Which is why what started out as a quick write-up of my thoughts immediately after playing The Last Chapter has now spiraled into this very long critique that got so long I needed to add subheadings to break it up.

Sorryyyyy.

I’m basically spoiling everything from The Last Chapter here, along with Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and parts of its expansions. I also briefly mention a few other Assassin’s Creed games, mainly Odyssey and one of its DLCs. My point being, if you don’t want to know anything then please look away now. Or don’t. But I know I would have appreciated a warning before diving into this mess. 💀

As a disclaimer: this essay is not meant to be an attack, nor is it meant to place blame squarely at the feet of Darby Mcdevitt, or any of the other writers or developers involved with the game. There are so many moving parts in a game as expansive and with as much add-on content as Valhalla, and I can only guess what happened behind the scenes that brought us to this point. I don’t know who wrote what, who made what creative decisions, and I therefore don’t feel comfortable placing blame on anyone in particular. I have never worked for Ubisoft and I can therefore only speculate about their internal culture based on what has been leaked from the company over the years. Furthermore, this is not an invitation to personally attack anyone involved in the development of this game on Twitter or wherever else. This is purely an attempt on my part to articulate why me and so many other fans of Valhalla and of Eivor feel so profoundly emotionally betrayed by this ending, as well as outline some factors that I believe contributed to the way the game was mishandled.

So. I think I had already accepted when the trailer released back in September that something like this was going to happen. I had already done my mourning for the fact that Eivor would never get the send-off she deserved, which is why I think I’m a lot less upset than I would have been otherwise… but that doesn't make this suck any less. The Last Chapter was completely underwhelming, it was emotionally unsatisfying, it completely butchered Eivor's character, it felt incomplete, and rushed, and it felt more like a teaser for Mirage than anything close to the conclusion Eivor’s story deserved.

The (Character) Assassination of Eivor Varinsdottir

When we first meet Eivor as an adult, she is overconfident, brash, and she has just gotten in over her head and gotten both herself and her crew captured by the enemy. She is in the 17th year of a quest for revenge she has been in pursuit of since she was nine years old. She has spent more than half of her life hunting Kjotve, the man who stole her parents, her clan, and her childhood from her, and is fully prepared to die if need be to kill him. She is an orphan who was taken in by the Raven Clan after the slaughter of her own people, and she considers these people to be her new family. Her love for her family and community are central to Eivor’s character right from the beginning. While she learns and grows past some of her flaws throughout the game, her love for her community and her loyalty to them is what sticks with her.

Eivor also starts the game carrying an immense amount of shame for how her father died, laying down his axe in the hope that the rest of his clan would be spared, only for he and most of his people to be slaughtered anyway. Through her time spent acting as a leader to the Raven Clan–first as a warrior and later as their Jarlskona–Eivor finally understands by the end of the game why Varin did what he did, because she realizes that she would make the exact same choice to protect her people. Eivor, too, would choose to die in “dishonor” if it offered even the smallest chance to save her loved ones.

Eivor is the reincarnation of Odin; she carries his memories and his thoughts, unbeknownst to her. She has visions and prophetic dreams and hears his voice in her head, but spends much of the game not understanding the meaning of it all. The part of her that is Odin pushes her toward chasing personal glory, toward the pursuit of knowledge, toward selfishness. But she chooses to abandon all that in favor of the people she loves, even as Odin rages and screams insults into her ear and calls her a coward–the one thing she has always been most fearful of becoming. Odin is a representation of everything she has been told to value in life, and she is (literally) pulled in the opposite direction by Sigurd, Randvi, Hytham, Valka, Gunnar, Soma… everything else.

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Eivor never truly seems to grasp the meaning of her connection to Odin, Sigurd’s connection to Tyr, Basim’s connection to Loki, or anything about the sages or the Isu at all. Not in the base game or in any of the DLCs. She never really acknowledges it explicitly until The Last Chapter.

Put a pin in that.

Family and community are central to Eivor’s character. Loyalty is central to Eivor’s character. Honor is central to Eivor’s character. That’s why it makes absolutely no sense for Eivor to drop everything, seemingly out of nowhere, to go back to Vinland alone and live out the rest of her days learning from Odin, the part of her that she explicitly rejected at the end of the main game. And it certainly doesn’t justify Eivor deciding to leave Ravensthorpe in the middle of the night without a farewell, regardless of who she supposedly said goodbye to offscreen. It doesn’t justify her completely sudden and out of character decision to walk away from her clan, her family without a true goodbye. Eivor spends the entire base game acting as Jarl in Sigurd’s stead in everything but title, because Sigurd has all but completely abandoned the clan in order to chase his own ambitions, only for Eivor to supposedly do the very same thing? No. It’s completely incongruent with her character and actively contradicts facts that were established in the main game.

There are so many other inconsistencies, including the fact that I highly doubt Valka–the same Valka who we saw warn Eivor against digging too deeply in her visions in the intro to The Forgotten Saga–would simply accept Eivor departing for another continent to delve deeper into her visions. But the way they miswrote Eivor’s character was particularly glaring. There could have been a version of the last chapter in which Eivor's motivations actually made sense, but that version needed so much more evidence for it to be believable. Reading between the lines is one thing, but expecting players to accept the conclusions you’re feeding them without planting any seeds beforehand is just lazy writing. [insert “HE WOULDN’T FUCKING SAY THAT” meme]

The RPG structure is the root of all evil (I know just… hear me out on this)

I think applying an RPG structure to Assassin’s Creed was a mistake, and have thought so for a while, but not really for the reason you’re probably thinking of. The “but we’re reliving another person’s memories in the animus, so how can it possibly make sense to allow us to make choices that affect the narrative?” reason. My criticism of the addition of choices is mainly this: I think that by trying to “expand” the story by adding RPG elements and dialogue options, they instead ended up severely limiting themselves. Because the problem with adding dialogue options to Assassin’s Creed is they can never take those choices to their conclusion. They can never truly have consequences.

Trying to tell a linear story with a non-linear structure like this doesn’t work, or at the very least, it hasn’t worked in Assassin’s Creed thus far. Odyssey came closer, I think, because it had multiple distinct outcomes and player choices actually had an affect on the trajectory of the plot (Mostly. Hi, Legacy of the First Blade. I’m coming for you in a minute.). Odyssey's multiple endings present a different problem entirely in the context of Assassin’s Creed because despite the input of choice, there is still a canon version of the story and a canon ending. It leaves those players that arrived at a different outcome feeling alienated, and like their choices were incorrect or simply didn't matter.

But in Valhalla, all roads lead to more or less the same destination and most decisions have no impact on the trajectory of the story. The problem that arises from this is that players will make their choices and expect some sort of payoff, as they should. But they won’t really get it. As per Darby McDevitt, for example, Sigurd always goes back to Norway at some point, regardless of whether a player ends up with the “good” or the “bad” ending. Sigurd returning to Norway is a fixed point and the timeline will always course correct, so to speak, to reach that end.

(Thank you @/vikingnerd793 for the screenshot!)

Everyone gets more or less the same version of The Last Chapter, with the siblings’ interactions only varying slightly after the “bad” ending to reflect the fact that Eivor and Sigurd haven’t seen each other in a while. But even with the tiny variations in dialogue that exist, a few changed lines in a scene that doesn't last any longer than two minutes still fail to make Eivor and Sigurd's supposed off-screen reconciliation feel even remotely earned. Ubisoft wanted to offer “choice” while not following through with emotional payoff for those choices because they only wanted a single ending. Even if a player ends the main game with Sigurd deciding to stay in Norway as a result of Eivor’s “betrayal,” the consequences of that to their relationship are never truly explored.

Having only one ending with no variations in an RPG means that they couldn’t address any of the plot points that could have been affected by player choices. Interpersonal conflicts are watered down or only vaguely referenced. They couldn’t truly address the state of Eivor and Sigurd’s relationship because that would depend on what endgame the player reached. They couldn’t give Randvi an actual goodbye because some people didn’t romance her and therefore it might feel “forced” to those people, despite her being a major character. Vili–despite apparently being Eivor’s best friend–can’t appear because for some people, he’s busy being the Jarl of Snotinghamscire. There is no true emotional follow through for any of the choices made throughout the game. The end result is a goodbye tour consisting of Aelfred, Guthrum, and Harald, three people who Eivor has little to no emotional attachment to, but whose roles in the game are fixed no matter what choices the player makes, which means they’re safe to use. To be clear, Hytham’s role in the narrative is also fixed, but the reason I separate him from the other three is because he is actually emotionally significant to Eivor. His goodbye, unlike the other three, feels earned.

To be clear, I don’t place the blame entirely on the writers for this because, as I’ve said, they were given a franchise that revolves around linear stories, told to put dialogue options into it, and make sure all those choices still lead to the same conclusion. As an extension of that, they brought back people who worked on the base game two years after its release to tie up loose ends that should have been dealt with years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if those same creators have all since moved on from this story and its characters, both creatively and emotionally. It's been two years. Even longer than that since they actually worked on the game. I wouldn't fault them for not having the same enthusiasm they once did. But the end result is a last chapter that feels almost completely devoid of emotion, and ties up absolutely none of the loose ends that most people would expect from a permanent “goodbye.” It fails to reach the emotional highs and lows that a conclusion with two years of build up should have.

Which now brings me to Randvi.

Oh, Randvi, now and forever shackled to her map table.

I know this will be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people, but I always suspected that they would never actually follow through on making Randvi and Eivor's relationship canon despite the fact that it is indisputably the most fleshed out romance in the game. They are hinted at right from the beginning, in the form of Randvi’s clear dissatisfaction with her marriage to Sigurd and in Eivor’s lingering gazes. It is the only romance option in the game that has any effect on one of Eivor’s core internal conflicts: remaining loyal to her brother. “The wind calls [her] back to Randvi” after almost every single regional arc, whether players choose to pursue a romance or not.

But Darby McDevitt Official Headcanon or no, I never thought Ubisoft would "force" another romance after the backlash from Odyssey's Legacy of the First Blade (I told you I’d come back to it). I truly believe the company will and has happily suffered criticism from the Queer community for forcing a relationship on gamers who played Kassandra as a lesbian. Kassandra who, prior to the DLC, also never shows any interest in starting a family, or becoming a mother, or “continuing the family line”, as would become Ubisoft’s flimsy correction to the storyline after the criticisms started rolling in. But I highly doubt they would be okay with alienating the bigots who seem to form the loudest portion of their player base. That would be too much of a risk to their bottom line.

To me, the romance plotline in Legacy of the First Blade was the inevitable result of Ubisoft wanting to tell a linear story with a non-linear structure. I think they did so without thinking through the implications of letting players choose their character's sexuality, only to then backtrack on it later because they needed Kassandra to have a baby. And what they seemed to take away from that was only that all forced romance is bad, without grasping the nuance of why that particular forced romance was so bad. This isn’t to say there should be any forced romance at all but that it should have served as a lesson of why one shouldn’t make a game with so much emphasis on player choice, only to take that choice away and even retroactively nullify those choices when it suits the needs of the plot. But that wasn't Ubisoft's takeaway. So in Valhalla, they pulled back. They made all player choices matter just a little bit less.

Eivor and Randvi’s relationship is inarguably handled with more care than any of the other romances in the game. It is inextricable from the narrative, whether it is a romantic relationship or a friendship. But despite any amount of blatantly obvious subtext that exists, Valhalla is still an RPG and the creators cannot confirm or deny any of the choices as correct or incorrect. And because they have to cater to all possible endings, they cannot address Eivor and Randvi’s relationship in any capacity because it might be misconstrued as being forced. Despite every overt piece of evidence that exists, Valhalla is still technically an RPG and at the end of the day, plenty of people did not choose Randvi. No amount of narrative director headcanons or heavy subtext will change the fact that Randvi is a seemingly meaningless choice in a sea of meaningless choices, and has now remained so permanently.

Ubisoft just really sucks as a company, actually

Everything that I am about to say in this section (and honestly, most of the next one as well) is conjecture because again, I don't know how certain creative decisions were reached behind the scenes. This isn't just about Randvi, or about Eivor's sexuality. It’s also about Ubisoft’s long and storied history of internal misconduct and suppression of marginalized voices. It's about Ubisoft's history of employee abuse in general. It's about the fact that Ubisoft suddenly decided to let players choose their gender, but only once they finally got around to making mainline titles starring women. Syndicate’s Jacob and Evie share the role of protagonist, and would have also shared equal screen time if Evie’s role hadn’t been significantly minimized throughout production in favour of her brother. Aya was originally meant to replace Bayek as the main playable character early on in Origins, but was later reduced to a side character who is only playable in a few missions throughout the game. Aya, the founder of the Hidden Ones. The order that would later evolve into the Assassins. The order that is the namesake of the entire franchise, just to be clear. Odyssey was originally conceived as Kassandra’s game, before the developers were made to allow players the choice to play as Alexios. Every female protagonist in the franchise thus far has been minimized in some way, and Eivor is unfortunately no different.

Assassin's Creed is a huge enough brand at this point that they could have easily released Odyssey with only Kassandra, and Valhalla with only Eivor. But instead of taking a "risk" and doing just that, they added the male options to cater to a small but vocal minority of misogynistic piss babies who don't want women to exist in their video games, period. At least, certainly not as fully realized characters with personalities and thoughts and feelings of their own. That would require acknowledging women as people, rather than as identical playthings that mostly exist as a social stealth mechanic for them to hide behind when they need a cover.

It’s especially funny because it was such a futile effort. That very same group of people was never not going to complain about Assassin’s Creed going “woke” for having female protagonists, even if they were optional. Those people were going to complain no matter what, and they absolutely have as evidenced by the fact that they've been having a conniption on Twitter for the past few months now that Eivor is suddenly getting even half of the attention from the marketing team that Havi has gotten for two years. The comments section on every official social media post featuring Eivor is a sea of people complaining about how “female” Eivor being canon makes no sense, how her voice sucks, how she is just the result of Ubisoft pandering to a “woke” demographic. The “fan” response could not be more blatantly misogynistic. What’s more, Ubisoft bases the trajectory of their games at least partially on fan responses. It’s a toxic feedback loop of them making creative decisions built on sexism and the fans responding in turn.

Ubisoft deciding to implement gender choice as a mechanic didn't happen because they suddenly had a change of heart after happily ignoring their female players for years. It happened because they got busted for the "women don't sell" comments and the company's history of burying sexual assault allegations, and because they finally caught on to the fact that catering to gamers that aren't cishet men might actually be profitable. And it wasn't for lack of trying from the devs within the company because again, Origins was originally conceived as being Aya's game, Evie and Jacob were at the very least supposed to have equal screen time when development on Syndicate was in the early stages, Elise's role in Unity was also reduced... you get the idea.

Letting people choose to play as a woman or letting people choose to play as a Queer person is great. But it's an obvious cop out when your company also has a history of suppressing those very same voices, has done next to nothing to remedy the toxic company culture that encourages that behaviour in the first place, and when you've been dragging your feet as a developer about making your games even just a bit more inclusive for years. It’s an empty gesture when those female characters need to be watered down just enough for their male counterparts to make some amount of sense in the story, and when the marketing for the game hides them away like some kind of shameful secret.

Suddenly making games starring female protagonists because you’ve realized that it might be profitable, while also making it optional anyway, isn’t exactly the win for representation they seem to think it is. Especially when the marketing favours the non-canon, male protagonists so totally that most people would assume Eivor and Kassandra are skins of their male counterparts. Because heaven forbid the poor baby boys have their escapist fantasy shaken if they have to play as a woman who’s better at getting girls than they are. Making your representation optional makes your representation look half-assed and while I absolutely adore Eivor and Kassandra, I mourn what they could have been if their stories were allowed to be fully theirs.

Perhaps I’m being overly harsh and Ubisoft simply decided to implement gender choice in Valhalla in good faith. I honestly wouldn’t care if I thought it had, or if AC games had always allowed players to choose their gender. But considering the company’s history, and considering the game’s marketing, I somehow doubt that. Especially when, in their first game featuring a canon male protagonist since before AC pivoted to RPGs, they are not giving players the option to choose their gender.

Hi Basim.

Now don’t get me wrong. I obviously understand why Mirage doesn’t allow players to choose their gender; Basim is a pre-existing character, and it really wouldn’t make sense. But it is so transparent that they are willing to jump through narrative hoops to explain why Alexios is playable as the Eagle Bearer, but the same thing can’t be done for Basim. I suppose the importance of coming up with convoluted reasons as to why your protagonist’s gender is so easily changeable fades away when you’re not trying to replace a woman.

But what’s this? By God it’s–it’s Mirage with a steel chair!

The final content update for Valhalla feels like a teaser for Mirage. Full stop. If you think I'm being too harsh or unfair, then that's your prerogative. But in The Last Chapter, in the long-awaited conclusion to Eivor’s story, we don't even get to play as Eivor. The entire questline (if it can even be considered that much) consists almost entirely of cutscenes, which we view through Basim's perspective while Eivor is relegated to a side character. It’s a collection of Eivor’s memories that are supposedly filtered by emotional intensity, as Basim puts it. Grief, longing, sadness: all emotions that I fail to see being presented in the memories they gave us, at least for the most part. For the first time in Valhalla, we are voyeurs to Eivor’s memories rather than experiencing her life through her own eyes. The role of the animus user in past Assassin’s Creed games has always been pretty unobtrusive, but The Last Chapter constantly reminds us that Basim is there and watching. "Animus magic," as Basim calls it, was less of a necessity to the plot and felt a lot more like Ubisoft's marketing department gone awry.

I'm thinking about what Basim says at the end of the base game, when he is in the modern day and speaking to Eivor's remains. When he says, "I can take from you anything I want... your memories, your skills, your secrets. They're all mine." It's so ironic because he really stole Eivor's ending right out from under her, and I would have to laugh if it didn’t suck so much. It's all I could think about while I was watching Basim flippantly scrub through some of Eivor's most "emotional" memories which for some reason include… saying goodbye to Guthrum, a character we spend very little time with in the grand scheme of things, and who Eivor has next to no emotional attachment to. I understand the desire to tie up loose ends in terms of the historical events that were happening around this time, and they absolutely should have done all that because Assassin’s Creed has always been, in part, an exploration of history. But it should not have happened at the cost of providing closure for characters who were such significant figures in Eivor’s life.

I thought the Roshan quest was fun and I loved her and Eivor’s dynamic, even if we only got a small glimpse of it. But it was development time that could have been spent on wrapping up Eivor’s narrative instead of making another timeline agnostic add-on stealth mission in a game that has always had notoriously janky stealth mechanics. I look forward to seeing more of Roshan in Mirage and can now rest easy knowing that she is going to survive to the end of that game (although I cannot fathom why they decided to spoil that so early on). But they used what was apparently very limited time to give us a quest, very clearly a nod to Mirage, that does more to promote their next AAA title than serve the narrative of Valhalla.

Using the ending of a game to lead into the next is fine and is to be expected. But that transition should not come at the cost of a resolution for the story you're leaving behind. And really, it seems there was far more thought put into Basim and William Miles' first meeting than how Eivor came to the decision to leave for Vinland.

I think Basim is an incredibly rich, complex character, and it will be interesting to see what direction they take his prequel. But as someone who has actually been really excited for Mirage, the way they've dealt with this transition between games has left me feeling so conflicted, not least of all because of how quickly Ubisoft dropped the ball on Valhalla as soon as Mirage was announced. I’m not sure I’ll be able to look at everything we will be gaining with Basim in the next game without also feeling bitter about everything we lost with Eivor. It’s not terribly surprising, since Ubisoft has never treated Eivor’s character with any amount of respect; not in the marketing, and not in most of the post-launch content that has come out in the past year.

The post-launch that launched absolutely nothing

Darby has now said that The Last Chapter is meant as more of a direct follow up to the epilogue of the main campaign, to be played right after Gunnar's wedding. This is why they didn't feel the need to show a goodbye between Eivor and her people; the wedding functions as a sufficient goodbye to the Raven Clan.

But even if that was even remotely satisfying, it doesn't explain when Eivor came to accept her role as a sage, a role that she has yet to understand by the end of the base game, even if she is perhaps beginning to question it at the very least. It doesn't explain why it was never truly addressed in any of the some 100 plus hours of content that have been released for this game since then. It doesn't explain why Eivor and Randvi might finally pursue a relationship, only for Eivor to suddenly pick up and leave for Vinland, alone and permanently. It doesn’t explain why Eivor would leave for distant shores without saying goodbye to Ljufvina, or Vili, or Stowe and Erke, or Broder, or Oswald and Valdis, or Swanburrow, or any of the many other people whose relationships Eivor cherishes throughout the game.

If anything, The Last Chapter being played immediately after Gunnar's wedding and the rest of the Hamtunscire epilogue makes it even more important for Eivor to say goodbye to her people, because that whole arc only cements Eivor’s devotion to her people, as well as how much her “encounters” with Odin have shaken her faith. Even then, that doesn't even touch on when or why she came to the decision to leave in the first place.

Due to a “play anytime” approach that Ubisoft–for reasons I cannot even begin to fathom–decided to take with all the post-launch content for this game, all DLCs for Valhalla are exactly that: they can be played at any time. They go to great pains to avoid spoiling story points from the base game, they rarely make references to events from the base game and, perhaps most critically here, they don’t build on any of the plotlines of the base game.

Remember that pin we stuck in Odin earlier? Hi. He's back.

None of the DLCs released in post-launch–from Wrath of the Druids to The Siege of Paris, to smaller, free additions such as the River Raids–touch on Eivor’s connection to Odin or her understanding of it, or any of the other potential threads left behind by the base game. Other more mythologically inclined entries like the Mastery Challenges, Dawn of Ragnarok, and The Forgotten Saga scratch the surface of it, but never dig deep enough for Eivor to put two and two together. Even in the Odyssey crossover with Kassandra, who has intimate knowledge of the Isu and their artifacts, Eivor remains completely clueless about her role as a sage despite it being the perfect opportunity for her to learn more.

At no point is Eivor shown to make any wild revelations about her Isu heritage that could justify her decision to leave. There is a gaping hole in the narrative where that development should be, and therefore the jump from “everything else” to “I’m older now, and I want to learn from the god who lives in my head,” is unearned and comes from completely out of nowhere. The DLCs could have remedied this easily by giving us deeper insight into how Eivor interprets her visions, specifically how she interprets her relationship to Odin. They could have dug into how and when she comes to terms with that connection, and the same could be said for how she comes to know about all the other sages, including Harald, who Eivor and Sigurd suddenly seem to know about being the reincarnation of Freyr despite not seeing him in more than a decade and never mentioning it before. But they can’t, because the DLCs are playable at any time, and therefore cannot discuss things the player may not yet understand.

The brevity of this DLC was especially jarring, even as someone who went into this with low expectations. Because after two years worth of updates, including some sizable free ones, I thought that surely Eivor’s conclusion would be considered important enough to receive the time and attention it deserved. After all, Kassandra got her own surprise ending in the form of the Crossover Stories, announced completely out of nowhere two years after the last DLC for Odyssey was released. After all the time and effort and love that clearly went into that crossover, it seemed reasonable enough that the ending for Valhalla, a game that was still being supported, would have the same amount of effort put into it, if not more. Instead we got a barely there wrap-up that lasts maybe 45 minutes at most, if you’re being generous, and fails spectacularly at offering the catharsis that should be a no-brainer in a story where the main character’s death has been a mystery to be unraveled, right from the beginning.

Eivor is dead. She has been dead for centuries, buried across an ocean from everyone and everything she knew in life. The how and why of Eivor’s burial site is a question that follows us through her entire journey and throughout the entire game. One that was never resolved… until now, with some vague notion about leaving everything she has worked for and everyone she holds dear behind in an attempt to find herself, all with the help of an entity with whom her relationship has been tenuous at best. Eivor decides to banish the part of her that is Odin because she doesn’t like that part of herself. That second soul, the part of her that values personal glory above all else. Even in The Last Chapter, she describes Odin’s memories as “malicious.” So why backtrack so completely?

I have no idea.

It’s possible the developers weren’t given enough time to give this final chapter the breathing room it needed to make sense. It’s possible they had lost enthusiasm, and just wanted to rip the band-aid off and get this thing over with. It’s possible Ubisoft wanted to cobble together the scraps of a potentially satisfying ending so they could say they did it, before turning all of their attention to their next title. As it stands, I wish they had just left Valhalla alone, with an open ending, instead of providing a non-answer that feels like an afterthought. An incomplete conclusion to a story and a cast of characters that many of us still care so much about, but Ubisoft seemingly gave up on long ago.

Eivor deserved better.

The Raven Clan deserved better.

Valhalla deserved better.

We, the fans, deserved better.

If you actually read this far then there is a good chance that you also need therapy

This whole affair really reminds me of the last time I felt this profoundly disappointed by a piece of media I loved. It reminds me of how I felt after watching the second season finale of The Mandalorian, when it hit me that the whole season had just been a series of various cameos and fan service moments that only made sense to the plot at a stretch. It hit me that I had just spent the previous eight weeks watching the show runners completely sideline their main characters–Din Djarin and Grogu–and lose the plot in favour of promoting future Star Wars projects. When it seemed like all the good writing in the show previously had been entirely accidental. But the major difference between The Mandalorian and the ending of Valhalla is that I knew there would be another season of The Mandalorian to potentially patch things up and pick up on some of the plot threads that were dropped. For Valhalla, this is it. There is no more content upcoming that will patch this up and, in hindsight, there are plenty of other things added to this game in post launch that I think would have also made me feel the same way I feel right now if I knew they were the last piece of content we’d ever see.

Am I overthinking this? Perhaps. Am I being melodramatic? Probably. But to me, this ending for Eivor feels like yet another perfect example of what happens when corporate interests are allowed to dictate creative decisions.

I say all this as someone who has and will continue to defend a lot of Valhalla’s faults, because if writing this whole thing has done anything, it has served to remind me how good the core narrative of the base game really is. It has depth, it has heart, and I hope that other people who enjoyed it as much as I did–and are as disappointed by The Last Chapter as I am–are able to reconcile the beauty of Eivor’s character arc in the main game with the way it was seemingly undone in The Last Chapter.

I’m trying my very best to not let this ending retroactively take away all the joy I’ve found in this game for the past year. And in spite of how negative this critique has been, writing it has actually really helped me do just that. Because in writing this critique, I was also looking back on Valhalla’s narrative, its highs and lows, its major plot points, and I was re-watching clips. A speed run of Eivor’s greatest hits, if you will.

I was reminded of why I connected so strongly with Eivor in the first place. I was reminded of her strength, her kindheartedness, her love of children, her wit, the poetry of her dialogue, her sense of duty. I was reminded of her rage, her single mindedness, her sense of loyalty that is often to her own detriment when she offers it to those who don’t deserve it. I was reminded of her character arc from someone who spends so much of her life on a single minded quest for revenge, to someone who becomes a beloved leader to her people.

I was reminded of the Valhalla sequence at the end of the game, a sequence that still makes me cry just as much now as it did the first time I played it, if not more. When Eivor, who has spent most of her life feeling nothing but resentment and shame toward her dead father, finally learns to understand why he did what he did. When she understands why he laid down his axe, the very same axe she holds now, in the futile hope that his daughter, his wife, and the rest of his people would be spared, only for most of his people to be slaughtered anyway. When Eivor has finally realized, through years of acting as a leader to her people, why Varin did what he did, even in opposition to everything she has ever been taught to value. When she has grown enough to realize that she too would make the exact same choice her father did, her cowardly father, because she too would die in dishonour if it offered even the slightest chance to save her loved ones. When Eivor, who has spent her life trying to justify her existence by being useful, finally accepts that her parents died because they loved her and not because she didn't do enough. When Eivor is holding the very same axe now that her father held then and the High One himself is offering her wisdom and glory and power and she, like her father before her, drops her axe and turns her back and chooses love instead.

That is the version of Eivor I will remember. Not the hastily cobbled together ghost of her that we saw in The Last Chapter.

#this ending and this review is the reason i start therapy next week #like i mean not actually. but the timing lined up pretty perfectly did it not?#the main problem with assassin's creed is that it has potential to explore some really interesting ideas and concepts #but it's also owned by one of the most shit for brains companies i have ever fucking seen #anyway now that i've purged this from my system i will not be thinking about tlc ever again #unless anyone specifically asks #and for shitposting #and writing fix-it #because as we all know my hubris knows no bounds and my track record for finishing things i start is stellarrrrrr /s #assassin's creed #ac valhalla #eivor varinsdóttir #eivor varinsdottir #eivor wolfkissed #ac spoilers #ky posts text #this is a writing tag #ac.txt

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scribble-tier · 6 months

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Helloooo sliding in towards the end of the day to actually contribute a WIP, who am I?

I've been struggling to get into and stay in Writing Mode lately but we're making it happen! I'm pretty sure I'll hit 3k for my Knight!Baz CORB fic (with @leithillustration !!!) without much issue but it's definitely looking like it'll surpass that. Which is not surprising, knowing myself, lol.

Tags and the rest of the passage will be under the cut! I'm excited for what's going to come, I hope this will make you be too! >.<

* * * When I’m 18, I fight my first dark creature one-on-one. I’d encountered them plenty before, even in attacks, but I usually didn’t have to get involved. I didn’t kill it, but I wounded it and used a spell that caught some of the Ent’s leaves on fire. It was distracted enough that one of the knights struck it with an ax until one of its branches broke off. It groaned, and then the knight spoke a spell from the Holy Bible about the burning bush and it caught aflame. I shot backwards so the fire wouldn’t spark me, and the Ent turned black and trembled to ash. The knight looked down at me and grinned before helping me up.

A chill shot through me that has never left about what could happen if a knight discovered what I was. And at the realization that extermination of dark creatures was part of the job - we had just encroached on their territory, and they were defending themselves. It did not matter that they had done no wrong. This is what it meant to be a hero? To be chivalrous? That was the first time I ever thought, with fear, that maybe I couldn’t handle being a knight, and that I’d made a terrible mistake. I could barely kill for survival, but this. “All right, Lord Pitch?” One of the other knights had asked me. I could feel all their eyes on me. I knew they saw a boy playing knight when they looked at me, a bored and spoiled aristocrat. I swallowed, raised my head, and cocked an eyebrow at them. I resolved then to do whatever I could to get out of any combat or killing. I couldn’t control the way other knights acted, and I couldn’t out myself, but I refused to kill if it wasn’t survival or someone’s life was at stake. “Perfectly fine. What are we waiting for?” I strode off towards the horses, shoving my hands deep in my pockets lest someone see how much they shook.

* * *

@carryon-reverse-bang @rimeswithpurple @iamamythologicalcreature @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @youarenevertooold @alexalexinii @katatsumuli @theimpossibledemon @best--dress

#carry on #simon snow #baz pitch #snowbaz #wip wednesday #carry on reverse bang #The formatting on this is fighting me every step of the way which is part of why I never post these lol

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odessa-castle · 1 month

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Nothing Like the Sun: Questions! Answers! Prompts!

I mentioned this in the endnotes of the last chapter of Nothing Like the Sun, but since tumblr is where I do most of my fannish social media stuff, I figured it was worth an official mention here, as well.

Now that Part One of NLTS is finished, I can finally lift my self-imposed gag order about that part of the story! (The number of times I had to hold myself back from spoiling things in the comments, I swear.) Therefore, because I genuinely do like talking about all of this, let it be known that my askbox is open for the following:

questions about the first half of this fic, either in terms of the story itself (like "what was Cazador planning to use his trading company for?") or in terms of behind-the-scenes planning and process stuff (like "how far ahead did you plan X twist/reveal?") -- or any other kind of question, really! You can ask me things about part two, but my answers will probably be annoyingly cryptic. Sorry!

prompts for fics of about 500 words or less (I will try to hold myself to this >>) set in NLTS's universe. I may or may not get around to all of them, but I haven't taken prompts in like, a million years, and I'd like to try my hand at doing it again! They can be as general (like "I want to see more of Astarion and Wyll hanging out in the Jasmine Garden") or specific (like "if that cloud of mist in Chapter 11 was actually Cazador, what did he think about what he saw?") as you like. SFW and NSFW are both fine.

Here are a few fun tidbits about NLTS to kick things off:

NLTS was always going to lead into (a version of) the canon timeline. For some deeply dumb reason, I thought at first that the story in its entirety would only ("only") run about 60-80k. I sure played myself with that one.

I've talked about Moulin Rouge's influence on NLTS before, but I also self-indulgently packed NLTS full of nods to Shakespeare (including, obviously, the title itself). See how many of them you can spot!

I'm an outliner, but my outline for NLTS underwent some significant changes over the course of me writing the story. For example, did you know that Iskalia, the madam of the Jasmine Garden, was originally Mizora in disguise? This would have been a very cool twist that would have completely fallen apart after, like, three seconds of thinking about it (how tf does Mizora have the time to run a brothel, anyway), so it got axed. The reveal would've been great, though.

Wyll's fighting style during his duel with Lord Andoril is based on destreza, which is basically an early modern Spanish school of fencing. It was a bit of a stretch for me, because my HEMA knowledge is more about armored Germans beating the shit out of each other, but it was ultimately a lot of fun to write.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #wyllstarion #bloodpact #wyll ravengard #astarion #nothing like the sun #is this self indulgent? yes. but hopefully i can indulge other people as well

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oddeyevibes · 8 months

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Ch 8 - What the Dog Doin?

Words: 1818

Summary: Evie showcases something you've NEVER seen before but it's not just Evie.

A/N: Sometimes I surprise myself with how I describe things. I warn this might come off gory but I never know how to gauge that because I was exposed to gory horror movies mad early in life and it kinda desensitized me in some cases so I never know what's too much for some folks and I don't wanna be presumptuous and say "oh its mild" and it's actually not lol. But I feel like it's ok.

Then

You remember how excited you were about being given Evie by your mother. When you overheard the idea being thrown around by your current nanny, you scoffed at it.

Of course, she would try to placate you about her absence with a gift. One time it was a new doll, back when you were ignorant. Another time it was a new bike. Granted, you used it....and it was great but you knew this was practically a "stop whining" gift.

Another time you were given a bedroom makeover and a limited edition of a game you were eying. How she knew you were considering buying that game with your allowance, you didn't know but there was a part of you that wanted to relent.

Now, it was a living thing. A dog.

And knowing her, it was probably some yapping chihuahua. You had so many schoolmates that were given that by their animal hating parents because of how small and "better maintenance" they are. Unlike the "uncouth" bigger dogs. Which is a phrase you ACTUALLY heard one of of their moms spout.

So when you heard your named called, you were ready to put on the performance of a lifetime. Sure, you may come off as a spoiled brat but what else was there to do when your well-off mother only communicated with you through letters like it was the 1800s?

You had stepped out of your bedroom with your arms crossed and a scowl etched on your face. Then when you made it to the top of the steps....you saw her.

At the end of the red leash currently being held by your nanny, was Evie. She was looking away at first but then her eyes landed on you and her tail started wagging like there was no tomorrow.

And you couldn't help it.

You fell in love.

This was your baby now.

You two were bonded.

--------

Now

This was the worst thing that could happen so far. You wish you could blame it on someone but there was no expecting this horrendous set up.

That beast with the pulsating eye had found the three of you. Crashing through the wall and while you and Leon managed to scare it off after several bullets to its eyes, the loud noises had attracted attention.

And the tiny corridor you were in wasn't the best place to be dealing with them. You had to make do. Both you and Leon attacking while Evie was throwing out supportive barks.

Sure, it was a little distracting but what else could she do? You really didn't want her to bite any of these things. You didn't know how it worked fully on dogs, you only knew you saw some dogs turned but had no clue on how.

You had ran out of bullets and were basically left with using the fire axe you nabbed off a corpse. The poor bastard who previously had it apparently didn't make it far from where the axe initially was.

"WOOF!!" Evie barked.

"Evie, get out of here!" You ordered but she only let out a deep growl in response.

In that moment of distraction, one of the monsters pounced, trying to take a huge chunk out of the flesh that sat nicely on your face but luckily, the stem of the axe quickly found its way into the mouth of the creature, preventing it from biting you and instead, desperately trying to knew the metal handle apart to get to you.

A mixture of its drool and the blood from some other poor soul leaving you with a disgusted look on your face. But there was no time to react like you would have on any other day.

Stabbing one of the creatures in the eye and penetrating its brain, Leon quickly glanced over to you to find you in distress. "Y/N!! Hang on!"

"Kind of don't have a choice!" You yelled back. Surprisingly, even now you have a sense of humor.

Leon became distracted when another monster whose kneecaps he shot out, had crawled and grabbed onto his ankle, nearly biting through the fabric of his pants to get to his leg.

All the while, Evie's deep growl stood as the audible backdrop for what seemed like the end of the road for you and Leon.

Until....

"Awooooo!"

The sound of a howling dog echoed throughout the nearby halls and, shockingly, seemingly halted the monsters even if just for a moment. You managed to find the strength to push the monster back off of you, causing it to stumble with no actual reaction, a reminder that it is no longer human.

But before the monster could come back for another attempt. A blur of familiar brown fur came down on the beast. It was Evie and that sent panic throughout your whole being.

"Evie no!" you shouted but she didn't listen.

She gnawed on the rotting flesh of the creature that tried to kill with ferocious growls accompanying the act of violence and then, you heard it.

The sickening crunch followed by the harrowing sound of flesh tearing, something you never thought you would get used to hearing. The victor of this bout: was Evie.

Which she displayed when she ripped the head off of the monster, shaking roughly like it was a chew toy before tossing it aside like it was trash.

"Evie what did you--"

You couldn't even be worried as you witnessed it: Evie's mouth.

The bottom split open like a demonic snake with a shot glass worth of blood and drool leaking from the sharp teeth. You watched as it closed, forming back into a normal dog's mouth. Evie seemed to pay no mind to your shocked expression...neither did Leon.

"What the hell?" You heard him let out.

The blonde looked around at the other monsters staggering from the howling. The howling that...wasn't coming from Evie.

But while you were being shocked, Leon had managed to get himself together long enough to grab your arm and back away from the monsters.

"Awooo!"

There was the howl again. But this time, it was accompanied by the varied barks and growls of the infected police dogs. Probably six in total. But much like before, you were not the target.

Instead, their murderous ire was reserved for the stunned monsters who were slowly regaining themselves. Not in a way that made them human, but in the way that meant they were still VERY hungry.

The dogs slowly stalked towards them before Evie let out a commanding bark and they were set off. Each of them launching themselves onto one of the humanoid monsters. A few repeating the same decapitation move that Evie had done. While the others were content with ripping limbs from them to render them useless.

The monsters didn't let out a single scream. Again, no longer human but the display was still...traumatizing? Maybe that wasn't the right word but it was the only one you could think of in this moment.

"What the hell?" You let out in a breathy tone.

In almost a minute, the threat of the small horde dwindled with the assistance of infected dogs. The ones that didn't attack you. The ones that whenever Leon or Ada was near, stayed away from them.

The initial thought that because you used to visit them before they turned slowly fading away. Remember or not...would their memory cause something like this?

You felt Leon's hand on your shoulder, you glanced at the cop before looking back at the carnage. There was only one zombie left, another crawler curtesy of the dog that yanked it's weakened calf away.

You both watched as it slowly crawled towards you with it's rotting hand. You gripped the fire axe and was ready to slam the head onto the monster's but Evie beat you to the punch, unhinging her jaw once more to, this time, take a chunk out of the creature's head. Destroying the brain and killing it.

In a mixture of both fear and intrigue, you and Leon watched as her mouth closed to its natural state. The other dogs filtered out, almost like they were out of a trance and going to find some poor survivor to terrorizing if there was anyone left.

Meanwhile, Evie trotted over to you with her happy tail wag, expecting rewarding head pats in return for her service and were you gonna deny the dog that unhinged her jaw to rip apart the creatures that were gonna eat you?

The answer is: absolutely not.

You knelt down, running your fingers through her fur. It was a little matted in some areas but still soft in most places.

You let out an exhausted sigh. It seemed that every moment spent in this hellhole revealed something new. Something you would've never experienced or learned without this apocalypse. The question being: did you really want to learn any of this?

"I have so much shit to talk about with my mom." You let out.

"Your mom?"

"She gave me Evie....from her job. Which means whatever....that was...she knows something about it. I swear every new thing I learn in this place makes me wanna strangle her."

Leon really didn't know how to respond to that, so he said nothing.

"She left me behind constantly for her job and I'm learning that....shit like whatever she did to Evie was worth more than me. I sat there praying gods I wasn't sure even existed for her to just come a support in school events and it seems so stupid now because....oh my god. I can't even imagine what horrors she knows and willingly hides."

"Well, we don't know that. Maybe she's--"

"Innocent? I doubt it? She wasn't some Umbrella wage slave. She had a cushy position and apparently it was worth her soul and her conscious because...." You couldn't even think of anything more to say.

"Y/N listen...we have to keep moving. That's the only way we're going to get to the bottom of all of this."

"And then what? Afterwards?"

"If you're mother is involved, we'll help bring her to justice. She can't get away with this and neither can Umbrella." There was a pause as he looked down at Evie. "Look on the bright side..." He started with an adorable smirk. "At least it looks like Evie is on our side, right girl?"

Evie let out a peppy roof as her tail continued wagging.

You couldn't help but smile. Despite....all of what you just witnessed. It was hard to stay scared of her. Being mad at her was out of the question. Whatever Evie was, she was now a valuable asset.

Though you did wish that she displayed this when you were getting shot at by Irons but that's in the past.

Your mother was going to answer for this. Even if it was the last thing you did in life.

#leon kennedy x reader #the dog days #resident evil fic

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waitingforwinterwinds · 1 year

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A Clash of Kings - 37 THEON III (pages 485-493)

Theon oversees the harrying of the coastline, makes some choices that may affect his reputation with the Ironmen, and gets his honorary uncle on board with his plan for Winterfell.

What does it matter? Dead is dead. "Take him, then." "You will come as well. You command here. The offering should come from you." That was more than Theon could stomach. "You are the priest, uncle, I leave the god to you. Do me the same kindness and leave the battles to me."

huh. You know it's odd, from the way Theon boasts about his battle prowess and some of his thoughts, I got the impression he didn't have a problem with killing people, so is the reluctance here because Tallhart is a Northman? Someone he knew? One of Robb's men, and Theon's still clinging in part to that connection to someone who was almost a brother to him? (I say almost because Theon's ward/hostage status and associated issues regarding that.)

But also, oohhhhh, that's a choice. These people already don't like or trust Theon fully, and as shit as killing Tallhart in the sea might be for him, refusing the traditions is only going to further alienate Theon with his uncle and the more religious members of the Iron Island folks. Like I get that he doesn't want to kill him at all if he can avoid it, but I feel like Theon doesn't really understand he's in hostile territory here. The blood in his veins doesn't mean shit to many of these people, the boy is in danger!

Theon thought of seeking the bodies of the two men he'd slain himself to see if they had any jewelry worth taking, but the notion left a bitter taste in his mouth. He could imagine what Eddard Stark would have said. Yet that thought made him angry too. Stark is dead and rotting, and nought to me, he reminded himself.

Sure buddy, you keep telling yourself that, one day you'll even have yourself convinced. You know it's kind of interesting to see, but as far as I'm aware, Theon is really the only character who has this kind of cultural dysphoria going on. Like Dany has a disconnect from what she considers her birth culture, in that she has zero connection to it outside of being born on Dragonstone and her fam lived in Westeros for 300-ish years, but Theon spent as much time in Winterfell as he did in the Iron Islands, and as much as he's likely told himself he's still one of the ironmen, he's not really, he assimilated with the northerners, even if only a little bit, and now he's kind of stuck between the two cultures and the two ethical frameworks of said cultures, not fully one or the other. (But a secret third thing: in need of therapy and a loving home and a large jug of respect women and lower classes juice.)

One of them was in a shoving match with a fat man named Todric, who was reeling among the slain with a horn of ale in one hand and an axe in the other, clad in a cloak of white foxfur only slightly stained by the blood of its previous owner.

Lady Blue! Nooooooo!

... be honest, and raise your hand if you understood that reference.

He drew on the hand that clutched the drinking horn, figuring to give them a shot to talk about, but Todric spoiled it by lurching to one side just as he loosed. The arrow took him through the belly. The looters stopped to gape. Theon lowered his bow. "No drunkards, I said, and no squabbles over plunder." On his kneed, Todric was dying noisily. "Botley, silence him." ... Now they know I mean what I say.

A dangerous, if accidental, play. On the one hand, it does send the message that he means what he says and isn't afraid to kill his own men if they disobey, he's not someone they can take advantage of. On the other hand, he just killed one of his own men when he's already barely accepted on the whole. This does look like it should be a point in his favour, but we'll have to wait and see if there's any resentment over it.

... oh and there's the reminder these folks are pro-rape like the Dothraki. lovely (sarcasm)

"The day is won," Dagmer called down. "And yet you do not smile, boy. The living should smile, for the dead cannot."

Oh that gave me two conflicting thoughts. "We're alive! Let's celebrate by eating something dead!" and: Didn't Bran once describe Theon as 'always smiling' in GoT? That really does bring it home how much stuff Theon is going through emotionally as of late.

"How many men are lost?" "Of ours?" Theon shrugged. "Todric. I killed him for getting drunk and fighting over loot." "Some men are born to be killed."

ah, so more favour than flaw with this lot. Nice.

A lesser man might had been afraid to show a smile as frightening as his, yet Dagmer grinned more often and broadly than Lord balon ever had. Ugly as it was, that smile brought back a hundred memories. (...) He gave me more smiles than my father and Eddard Stark together. (...) "You and I must talk, uncle," Theon said. Dagmer was no true uncle, only a sworn man with perhaps a pinch of Greyjoy blood four or five lives back, and that from the wrong side of the blanket. Yet Theon had always called him uncle nonetheless.

... I don't like how red that flag is. It's looking suspiciously like a death flag. Nothing bad better happen to Theon's emotional support uncle!

The fingers curled around the drinking horn were heavy with rings, gold and silver and bronze, set with pieces of sapphire and garnet and dragonglass.

dragonglass = 🥛

... ngl, Theon's plan is insidiously good. Deception, misdirection, theater! I wonder how much of his desire to take Winterfell specifically is his inner conflict with his two halves, and how much of it is the fact that Winterfell is the biggest prize in the north.

#a clash of kings #a song of ice and fire #theon greyjoy #a chapter a day reading #acok #asoiaf

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peach-tinted · 2 years

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When things get bad, I find myself thinking of the two roads that diverged in a yellow wood. Of pivotal turning points, and defining moments, and the fork at which lies the road not taken. Inevitably, invariably, I will return here, shovel in hand, ready to go grave digging once again.

The earth is soft here in my garden of tombstones. It is almost begging to be disturbed. I take my time in selecting which one should be exhumed today, slowly running my fingers across each weather-worn marker in this sprawling necropolis of my mind. I am spoiled for choice, after all. There is much to pick from in this lovingly curated collection of my grief.

Perhaps I’ll start recent, weave my way through rows of neatly ordered monoliths until I’m standing at the edge of a bittersweet season of 21sts, the denouement of a now-closed chapter of my young adulthood. It is a covetable bildungsroman story of self discovery and friendship and growth. It is filled with an ensemble cast of characters no longer in my life, of whom I only have memories left of.

I sink my spade into the soil and unearth the scent of salt water and candlelit dnms and cheap vodka and expensive coffee with 50 second microwave-warmed milk. Suddenly, I am once again in the din of your 21st party. Transported to a small warehouse space dimly lit with fairy lights and the warmth of your closest one hundred friends.

In our timeline, I had looked around and wondered if you’d even spoken more than three sentences to half of the people in the room. In this one, I am too nervous to form conscious thought. Cheeks warm from a shot for courage and fingers preoccupied with periodically folding and unfolding a sheet of paper from my clutch, I know it’s coming but my heart still leaps into my throat when you draw the crowd’s attention for speeches with a tap on the microphone.

In my memory, they were a sweet, unending slew of sentimentality that I watched bittersweetly from within the heart of the crowd. Here, I am barely able to process the jokes and endearing anecdotes, too focused on silently practicing the well-rehearsed speech ironed into my memory as I wait my turn.

I probably miss my cue when you call me up. Perhaps my closer friends will laugh encouragingly from within the crowd and cheer me on as I walk forwards unsurely to address your guests. I know the words by heart, but nervous habit will have me glancing down to the paper between my hands as I deliver them anyway. It’s a speech undeserving of any award, but it’s genuine and heartfelt. Later, people I barely know will laugh, not unkindly, about my shaking hands and the nervous tremor in my voice.

There are jokes I wanted to include but ultimately axed out of fear of them falling flat and landing in a room of devastating awkward silence. I tell them to you after, though, from the comfort of your bedroom floor, and you’ll laugh and lament that I should have included them anyway. In any case, it was a good speech, you’ll reassure me, even though it was likely mediocre at best. We fall asleep late into the nights with our hearts full and eyelids drooping. I wrap myself tight in borrowed covers and the warmth of your company before being pulled under. A final thought takes form before I sink into slumber: a fleeting recognition that I know I will miss this moment when I look at back at it in the future.

I’m filled with yearning when I wake, crouched above this freshly overturned grave. I exhale the lingering scent of summer from my lungs and shift to systematically rebury its corpse. The motions are smooth, practiced; it is evident that this is not the first time that the dead have been disturbed. To think that it won’t happen again in the future would be naively optimistic. For now, sated, I’ll take my leave. I do not look back as I go for I know that my cemetery of what ifs will be here when I next decide to visit.

in my defence I have none / for digging up the grave another time - the 1, taylor swift

You can also find this piece on my substack :) More to come soon <3

#writeblr #taylor swift #the 1 #robert frost #the road not taken #writersociety #writers on tumblr #literature #i write sometimes #prose #self indulgent as always

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spnae · 2 years

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Chapter 26 Punk Love

Spike pushed Buffy to the ground as a deadly looking sword sparked against the brick wall just behind where her head had been. The demon snarled, reared for a second attempt. Spike held off the second strike with a length of pipe, the clang of it echoing through the alley. Buffy recovered quickly and looked around for the ax she had dropped.

“Any time now, Pet!” he grunted, as Buffy scrambled for her weapon..

“Working on it, Honey!” she said, sarcastically as she spied the handle under the dumpster and dived for it. She rolled up holding a compact ax with a long blade curving down over nearly a quarter of its grip. Spike’s eyes widened as he dropped out of the way of Buffy’s strike, ducking as the demon’s head spun off to the left.

“Bloody hell, woman! A little warning next time!”

“Oh please, I wasn’t even close to hitting you. You big baby,” she teased, “I’m liking this new ax. It’s almost like a travel size version of my scythe.”

Spike pulled himself up and dusted off his jacket as he strode over to the now abandoned motorcycle partially blocking the alleyway. “Sort of the point, thought it’d make travel a little easier for us. Although I imagine you’ll want to taper down that handle for vamps. Up to you.” He kicked the tires as he examined the bike. A beautifully restored vintage Triumph, built for two. A grin spread across his face, “What do you think, Love, fancy a spin? Spoils of war and all?”

Buffy stood up from where she had retrieved the sword the demon had dropped and turned to him, “As long as I get to keep this pretty-shiny. Kinda love this.”

“Pretty sure it goes with the bike, there’s a scabbard attached to it and everything.”

“Yours, mine, and ours.”

“Planning on making an honest man out of me Miss Summers?” he grinned wolfishly.

“What? Are you going to ask my father for my hand too?” she laughed.

He swung a leg over the bike, getting a feel for it and looked up at her, “That wanker who couldn’t even be bothered with you and Dawn after your mum died? Not bloody likely. Don’t need his blessing for so much as a sneeze for all I care.”

Buffy wordlessly handed him the hilt of the sword and he took it to secure it on the bike. He rested his hands on the handlebars and looked back up at her, “Sorry, Love, I know he’s your dad and all...”

“Thing is that you’re right. He hasn’t been there for us since… well a long time before mom died.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re alone. I’d ask Giles if I asked anyone, Pet. Didn’t think you’d hold with such an archaic tradition anyway.”

She snorted lightly as she climbed onto the bike with him, “The sentiment is nice but definitely not necessary.”

Spike looked around and spotted the demon’s helmet with its head still in it, “First chance we get, I’m getting you a helmet, don’t need your pretty brain gettin’ scrambled now.”

Buffy’s eyes fell onto the demon’s headless body and then the head, her face screwed up in disgust, “Think we should do something with it?”

“Not doing ‘A Weekend at Bernie’s’ with that sodding thing. He’ll disintegrate once the sun hits it.”

“Seriously? Aww, I love the no-mess ones.”

“Nice and considerate ain’t they?” He answered as he turned the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life and Spike let out a whoop of glee, “God, I love that sound!”

“So many, many, many, many, many things I could say right now.”

“Say ‘em after you’ve gone for a ride. Make our tour of the city a lot easier. Hold on tight, Love. I’m gonna have some fun with this.”

Buffy wrapped her arms around him tightly and they pulled out into the streets of Edinburgh. It was the second weekend in a row they had spent in the city. Two weeks since Angel had left and things had finally quietened down. He had called a few days after arriving in Rome to let them know that everything seemed fine with Dawn. Although he admitted that he hadn’t really stayed long enough to find out much, because he wanted to get back to his father/son time before heading back to LA. As far as he could tell, they didn’t seem to know each other yet but it was only a matter of time after his visit. Buffy was less than satisfied with that answer but didn’t really know what else she could do at this point. So she just thanked him for his information, called her sister a little more often and proceeded on like everything was business as usual.

She and Spike had spent their first weekend mostly in Mary King’s Close and exploring the underground there. Buffy marveled at the ingenuity and sheer expanse of the Edinburgh Underground, the city under the city. Spike had enjoyed showing Buffy around the demon marketplace. It was really something to see. There were over a hundred demon vendors selling everything from clothing and weapons to spices and charms. Spike had been anxious to get Buffy a meaningful gift ever since she had splurged on his new motorcycle jacket and the MP3 player. It was there in the demon marketplace he had bought her the new ax she used tonight. He was thrilled to see how well it was working for her.

This weekend they had decided to spend their time topside, after visiting a couple of clubs the night before and spending the day curled up together in their hotel room having a different kind of fun. Buffy was feeling more relaxed than she had in years. Not that everything was perfect, life was never perfect, but the past two weeks had been pretty damn close.

She shrugged a shoulder and tightened her grip on Spike, pressing her cheek into the leather of his jacket as they rounded a turn. She eased her hands flat against his chest as they came out of the turn. They drove around for more than an hour and a half taking in the sights. Spike would stop every once in a while to share some tidbit of information before heading off again.

Spike pulled the bike into a club they had talked about going to after patrol. He was getting a bit tired of the endless techno dance stuff most of these places played. They had tried one club in the underground the weekend before, that Spike really enjoyed. It was more like the old dives with a live band he had frequented years ago. Buffy hadn’t cared much for that one but loved seeing him happy so she tolerated it. She suspected tonight would be a similar experience. According to the schedule on a flier they’d seen, tonight’s band was a Punk group and Spike was looking forward to it.

Buffy frowned a little as she looked down at the outfit she had on. They had planned on going back to the hotel before heading out for the club. As it was, she figured the red tank top and black leather pants she had on wouldn’t be completely out of place at a club like this. She shrugged her shoulders and got off the bike making sure that her ax was securely stowed away along with the sword on the bike. Spike was sure to park in the back where hopefully no one would notice a bike with weapons attached to it. He frowned a little, wishing the bike had saddlebags. He’d have to get some.

“Ready for some fun?”

“I could use a drink or three.”

Spike raised one dark eyebrow, “It’s going to be one of those nights is it?”

She rolled her shoulders, “Maybe. I think they call it having a good work/life balance. Chop off a demon’s head and go drinking with a sexy vampire. You know, balance.”

He extended a hand and pulled her to him with a sly grin, “Well let’s go find you a drink.”

Inside the club they sidled up to the bar and ordered drinks. The band playing wasn’t nearly as bad as Buffy had anticipated. They had a little more of an upbeat feel similar to a lot of the songs by The Buzzcocks or the Ramones that Spike had played for her. It could have been a lot worse, she figured.

Spike turned, resting his back and elbows against the bar while Buffy sipped at her vodka and cranberry juice, his attention directed towards the band. She grinned as she watched him. Tomorrow they would be heading back to the castle. It was the Level 4 girls last week. They would be leaving for their new placements after their planned beginning-of-the-month shopping trip in town the following weekend. Which effectively meant this was their last night out for a little while, except for patrolling.

She finished her drink and snaked her arm around Spike’s waist, under his coat. He wrapped one arm around her back as they stood there at the bar. He took a slow sip of his drink.

You made short work of that, Pet. Ready for another? She heard his voice in her head through their link.

She pressed her head to his chest. I think drinks are a ‘good’ tonight. We have to be responsible adults again in less than 24 hours.

Spike shifted, turning towards the bar. He flagged down the bartender, “Can we get another round here, mate?”

Yeah well at these prices I’d rather hit that bottle in our room if you’re really serious about getting the house fixed up.

Buffy pouted a little as she sipped her new drink, One more and I’m cut off.

Spike grinned, Don’t care if you have a few more. I was talking about me. Why waste money on their rotgut when I got a bottle from the Abbey in our room? Don’t have vodka in the room, Pet. You have your fun.

They got their drinks just as the band finished their song. “For some of you bloody nostalgics out there, here’s a couple a old favorites!” The lead singer practically yelled into the microphone as the band started playing Iggy Pop’s ‘The Passenger’. Spike bobbed his head and tapped his hand on Buffy’s back in time to the tambourine while murmuring the words under his breath. Buffy grinned as she watched him totally at ease.

The band started playing, The Buzzcocks’ ‘Love You More’. Spike grinned, and downed his drink, slamming the empty glass on the bar. He took Buffy’s hand, the one not holding her drink, in his leading her to the floor. Buffy laughed. It was ridiculous to think the man in front of her could remember Queen Victoria’s reign, as he pulled her close to him and danced to the music. She swayed with him to the song with her hand resting at the nape of his neck. It didn’t matter if it was the waltz or a punk rock band playing, this was the man she always wanted to dance with. She buried her head in his shoulder. The song ended and Spike yelled his appreciation for the band, his voice rumbled through his chest and made her smile.

She might have to remember this place for his birthday. The thought hit her. It was almost August and she had planned on doing something special for him but didn’t know what exactly that was going to be yet. At least she had until almost the end of the month to figure it out.

The thought left her mind as Spike spun her and pulled her back to him firmly. She laughed and let herself melt into him for a kiss. This was shaping up to be a really good night. Quite possibly the best date ever.

****************

The next morning Buffy checked out of their hotel alone. Spike had left a little before dawn in order to take the bike into the underground for safekeeping until he could come back for it. They had agreed to meet at Steve’s Place, the underground pub, before coming back for the car and heading back to the castle that night. The arrangement gave Buffy a little extra time to have a shower and deal with the hangover and serious lack of sleep from the night before. By the time she had checked out she was feeling a lot better. She dropped her bag in the car along with Spike’s and headed towards the entrance to the underground.

When Buffy finally made it to Steve’s Place, it was starting to fill up with demon clientele. Steve gave Buffy a reluctant little nod and she went over to him. “Hey, Steve. Spike around?”

“In the back.”

“Thanks, appreciate it. He’s not getting in trouble is he?”

“Haven’t heard any ruckus since he brought that bloody bike in,” Steve shook his head, “Pretty sure everybody around here knows not to tangle with either of you by now. Can’t say they understand it, but the regulars know.”

“They don’t need to understand anything, Steve. By the way, you got anything for me?”

“All the buzz I’ve heard has been about you. The thing with the Minch. That had the whole neighborhood talkin’ for a bit, but I’ve already told you that of course. Couple of vamps have been trying to cause trouble though. They keep asking about Slayers, trying to figure out how many there are and where they might be located. Been talking about Spike too. Calling him your pet vamp.”

Buffy crossed her arms and pursed her lips, this sort of thing wasn’t wholly unexpected, “Whatcha tell them Steve?”

“Me? No! You got it all wrong. I didn’t tell them anything. You’re scarier than they are. All I said was that you were the only Slayer I’ve seen. Then they started asking about Spike.” He dropped his voice so low, Buffy had to lean in to hear Steve, “I don’t know what you two got going on. I don’t wanna know. I just know that he’s a vampire with a soul and you two come in here somewhat regularly, sometimes even sharing a glass like you’re a couple of kids at a soda shop. You’ve been seen around an awful lot, always together, looking real close. I didn’t say anything, didn’t need to. I swear.”

“Have you told Spike about this?”

“First thing when he came in. He asked if he could stow the bike and I took him out back myself, told him all about it then.”

“Thanks, Steve,” and with that Buffy made her way into the back where she knew the poker game was in session. She heard Spike’s unmistakable voice calling one of the players out on cheating and Buffy stepped in. A rusty looking demon with what looked like porcupine quills for hair, was standing across from Spike who was sitting back looking as relaxed as could be. The other two demons at the table looked about as concerned as Spike did.

A yellowish demon with large pointed ears to Spike’s right looked mildly annoyed, “Sit down, Ronny, we all know you’ve got a problem with palming cards,” he said with a strong Australian accent. The large demon on Spike’s left remained silent but Buffy recognized him as the big drunk from the day Wendy’s crew took the Minch baby.

Spike looked up with a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips, “Well boys, sorry to take your cash and run but my lady’s here. Mustn’t keep her waiting, you know.” The other demons all turned towards Buffy.

The sulfur-yellow demon’s jaw dropped as he looked back at Spike, “That’s your little Sheila?”

“Buffy, actually,” Spike stooped down to grab something from the floor. He pulled up a pair of black saddle bags.

There went that birthday present idea; Buffy thought idolily.

Spike’s head shot up and their eyes locked. His brow furrowed a little and she knew he had heard her thinking. They had been practicing different things trying to develop the bond between them into a more reliable form of communication that didn’t require physical contact. That mainly meant lots of meditation sessions that quickly devolved into very hot sex. So far they had only managed to develop it as far as touching over clothing. Now they were at least ten feet away from each other. Sure they had experienced little insights into each other’s emotions from a short distance like this before but those had been sporadic at best. This was different. This was a new development and they weren’t even trying.

She blinked and took a few steps inside the room, shaking it off for now, “Ready, Honey?”

Spike scooped his winnings into one of the saddlebags and stood up, “Sure, Love. We were about done anyway, right fellas?”

“Game was over for me three hands ago,” the big guy grumbled, adding a surprisingly cordial nod towards Buffy.

The rusty looking demon turned towards her, “Thought it was just a rumor, but he really is the Slayer’s little lap-vamp ain’t he?”

“Oh, he’s a lot more than that,” she said, shifting her weight, “Care for a demonstration?” She shifted her gaze towards Spike, “Do you want to show him some of the moves you’ve taught me, Sweetheart?” Her tone had an edge to it that said, in no uncertain terms, that they were not to be messed with or underestimated.

Ronny the rusty blanched or at least as much as the orangey-red demon could, “He— he teaches you— the Slayer?”

“Oh sure, I’ve learned lots from him. No better teacher for a Slayer than the Slayer of Slayers himself.”

Spike smirked as Ronny looked back over to him, “The Slayer of— what’s he doing shacking up with one then?”

“Our love life is of none of your concern there Rusty.”

“It’s Ronny. No, I want to know, if you’re the supposed Slayer of Slayers, how come we never heard of you, Spike?”

Buffy interjected, “Honey, are you being modest again?”

“What are you doing, Slayer?” Spike asked needlessly, as he lit up a cigarette.

“Just righting a wrong. Don’t you think your new little friends should know who they’re playing with, William?”

Spike raised an eyebrow, “Didn’t think proper introductions were necessary to play cards, Pet,” he exhaled a puff of smoke.

Rusty Ronny looked between the two of them, “What is this? Who—“

“You’ve been playing cards with ‘William the Bloody’, you’ve heard of him right? Used to run with Angelus; The Whirlwind.”

“That– that was a long time ago. Angelus hasn’t been seen in these parts in well over a hundred years, he’s dead. And you, if you’re ‘William the Bloody’ then what are you doing with a Slayer?”

“Angelus– Pfft, haven’t heard of him in over a hundred years because he’s been stateside going by ‘Angel’, and he was here two weeks ago you git. Shows what you know. Had a grand old time we did,” Spike sneered and was over the table before any of them could blink. He held something deadly looking up to Ronny’s throat and Buffy realized that it was a railroad spike. When did he start carrying that around again? Buffy wondered.

“What do you say mate? Want to know how I earned the name ‘Spike’? Other than the fact it’s a bit shorter,” he laughed menacingly, “I don’t mind demonstrating. Rather like teaching as it turns out. Imparting knowledge… is so… rewarding...” he said in his most dangerous tone as he twisted the spike against the demon’s skin. Ronny shook his head stiffly as Spike held him there, “No? Still want to know why I’m with the Slayer, yeah?”

“Y- You- you know, it’s really none of my business. You make a l-lovely c-couple, I’m sure!” He stammered.

Spike threw him back, “That’s right. You don’t mess with a good thing. What goes on between me and the lady is our business,” he added a threatening jab with the railroad spike before dropping it back into his pocket.

Buffy took several steps towards him and placed one small hand on his chest, “Ready to go, Babe?”

“To the ends of the earth, Love,” he gave her a chaste kiss, then turned around righting the table he’d knocked over and snagged the saddlebags and his winnings, “Ready.”

They walked out together, waving to Steve dismissively.

*************

Once in the underground street, Spike turned towards her, “Not so sure how that little stunt is going to pan out, Love. Might stop some of the more ridiculous rumors.”

“Pretty clear you’re not just my lap-dog— lap-vamp— I mean seriously— ughh. I think it’s a little more clear we have a seriously mutual thing going on here.“

“Really don’t mind being in your lap,” he smirked.

“Dirty.”

“Yeah… but you like it.”

She smiled, shaking her head, “You’re still an idiot.”

He took her hand, “Come on, Buff. There’s something I’ve been waiting to check out,” they headed towards the place Spike had stowed the bike.

“What’s that?”

“Glasgow.”

“Glasgow. Now? We have to be back to the castle tonight. And sleep. Sleep is needed.”

“We’ll take the bike through the tunnels, should be ventilated enough you’ll be alright, only take an hour or so to get there through the tunnels, no traffic.”

She raised an eyebrow, “You’re serious?”

“Been a while since I’ve been there. Last I saw it, the underground there was mostly just a tunnel system; sort of like Sunnydale but with a train system built in. Don’t get me wrong there’s plenty to see. It’s sort of like Edinburgh Underground only in smaller— eh clumps or neighborhoods I guess, it’s a bit different than this. I’m just talking about a drive up and a drive back something to pass the daylight, that’s all. Something to do, Pet.”

“You mean just go for a Sunday drive?”

Sike laughed, “Do people still do that? Yeah, I guess it is a Sunday drive; what do you say?”

“Sure, let's go.”

“That way you can say you’ve been to Glasgow and by the time we get to the city proper we can just spend our nights above ground. Maybe take in the ballet or something.”

Buffy‘s eyebrows shot up “The ballet?” she questioned.

“Well yeah, since you were into that whole figure skating thing when you were young. Ballet isn’t that far off, thought you might like it. Didn’t you tell me you took ballet when you were a kid? Or was that Dawn?”

“Who are you and what have you done with my railroad-spike-welding boyfriend?”

“So is that a ‘No’ to the ballet?” His expression was one of bemused confusion.

“You just surprised me. I never pictured you as the ballet type, like not ever.”

He shrugged, “Not exactly. I mean I can certainly appreciate the physicality of it all. It’s visual poetry. My Mum always enjoyed it, so did Drusilla, hell, even Angel. Used to be a good way to spend an evening. I just thought you might like it too, but look if it’s not—“

She watched him as he struggled to explain himself. She could tell he was trying to downplay the situation he’d put himself in and placed a hand on his arm, “We can check dates when we get back to the castle.”

“We can do anything you like, there are museums, concerts, the theater and lots of great architecture, even the cemeteries are something to see. We don’t have to go to the ballet—“

“Spike, I get it. We can definitely partake of some of the local culture,” she pulled him down for a kiss, “I love that you’re trying so hard, but you don’t have to—“

“I want to, Love. You see so much ugliness everyday, you deserve to see a few things that are as beautiful as you are.”

“Aww, Spike, that’s— wait— how long have you been working on that line?”

He grinned sheepishly, “Been sittin’ on it for a little while. Doesn’t make it any less true.”

****************

When they got back that night, the castle was quiet. All of the Level 4 girls were out on solo patrols and Faith had taken the Level 2 girls out on a training exercise. They had no more than set their bags down when they heard the unmistakable sound of crutches coming towards them from the kitchen.

“Hey Giles, I thought you’d be in bed already,” Buffy said but when she caught sight of his face she grew worried, “What happened?”

“I think we should all have a seat,” he turned back into the kitchen and sat down. Buffy and Spike sat across from him, “I got a call from Sheena’s parents this evening. Her older sister is missing.”

“Oh God.”

“Apparently she had gone out with some friends the other night, she was supposed to come home from University for a visit over the weekend. They thought she had just decided to stay over at a friend's but when she still hadn’t come home and hadn’t called like she usually does, they started calling around. No one has seen her since the night before last. They called here hoping she had come to visit Sheena.”

“Have you told her?”

“Her parents have asked me not to for the moment. They don’t want to worry her and are hoping she will turn up.”

“And what do you think?”

He set his glasses down on the table in front of him, and rubbed his eyes before answering, “I took the liberty of making a few calls of my own. There have been three local reports of bodies with neck trauma within the last few days, Faith took the girls to check them out. I asked her not to mention the missing girl. I was trying to wait up to hear something.”

Buffy nodded, “You should get some rest, we’ll stay up.”

“I’ll stay up, you need some sleep too, Pet.”

“Says the vampire who hasn’t slept since yesterday.”

“Pfft— this is nothing. Sheena’s a good kid.”

“You just like her because she paints your nails,” Buffy teased halfheartedly.

“Or maybe I let her paint my nails because I like her. Kid helps out with the dishes and all that. She also doesn’t treat me like I’m just the help or worse; The bloke shagging her beloved mentor.”

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose again, “Must you say it like that?”

"What, too subtle, Giles? What about screwing? Banging? Getting a leg over? Fu-"

"Yes THANK YOU that's quite enough," Giles held his head in his hands.

“Oh my God, Spike, I think you broke him…” a microscopic smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

“Oh please, like Anya and Xander weren’t infinitely worse. Call it payback for what you did to my blanket Rupert. Or should I say, on it?”

Buffy looked between the two of them, “Giles?”

“Ahh, well I— it was a matter of convenience you see.”

“Convenience? We’ve never done anything more than snog on anything of yours! There you go— couldn’t even wash the thing? Just hung it back up. That’s just uncouth, that is,” he grumbled.

“What are you— Ohh my God I just don’t even want to know— ” Buffy said, exasperated. She pointed sternly at Giles, “You bed, Spike and I will camp out in the living room. I want to know if Faith found anything on Sheena’s sister. Spike, you’re closer to Sheena, has she ever mentioned her sister’s name or given a description of her?”

“Sure, name’s Ruby. Five years older I think. Showed me a picture once, looks like Sheena. Ehh dark, sort of wavy hair. Likes The Clash, trying to get Sheena into ‘em. Can respect that. Sounds like a peach of a girl,” he said, tapping the table irritatedly, “I don’t like this…”

Buffy reached out, taking his hand. On the outside he was cool as could be, but the moment she took his hand she knew better. He was really worried about Ruby and Sheena. Of all of the younger girls, Sheena had been the one Spike had somewhat bonded with. Not that he was particularly close with any of them, but Sheena had helped him with routine jobs around the castle a few times. She was one of the only ones who treated him like just another guy. Not just a teacher or her mentor’s dangerously handsome undead lover. Sheena had treated him almost like a favorite uncle or something. It was a little like his relationship with Dawn, although not as close.

Spike stood up slowly and patted Buffy on the shoulder, “Come on, Pet. The couch awaits.”

“Hummm, cozy boyfriend snuggles and a movie?”

“Sure. I’ll grab some blood and a couple of beers. Want anything, Love?”

“I think there was a bag of gummy worms hidden in the top of the cupboard. Could definitely go for some of those if they haven’t devoured them yet.”

“You got it.”

#fanfic #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy fanfic #buffy x spike #spuffy #bound #spike x buffy

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nataliesnews · 8 months

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the movie good and south africans who change their shirts 5.9.2023

Yesterday I had a picnic and this morning I was sorry that , because of reasons connected with the demonstrations. I had not held it today. I am so glad I did not.

We went to see the London production of Good by C.P Taylor not knowing what to expect and thinking if was another movie about the fascist movement

As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences. David Tennant returns to the West End in a blistering reimagining of one of Britain’s most powerful political plays.

By the time it ended I was in tears. I suddenly found myself crying .You really have to see it. It started off as any other movie about that period. Hard to watch but not more than any other movies of that period. I don't want to spoil it for anyone. So maybe if you are intending to see it, don't read this. But the change started after what was for me, how can I say it, a connection to the Holocaust, to the slow development of an ordinary man to a monster. Which is what happened here.

A man just before Kristallnacht, speaking to his Jewish friend, turning into a fascist animal. A man in ordinary civilian clothing of a university professor, turning as he slowly undresses and then puts on his Nazi uniform...suddenly he is the ARCHETYPE of every Nazi we have seen with the glasses and uniform glaring at the Jews and blaming them for what is happening to them....just as today we blame the Palestinians. Kristallnacht and then the camps with the orchestra.... it all built up. The last part consisted of him going to one of the concentration camps and, as he arrived there, he heard the music of a band. I was so glad that I had held the picnic the previous day as I knew I could not have faced sitting with friends in the forest and each time thinking of some part of the movie.

The reason was I had a memory of years ago. While watching the documentary, I was informed that my oldest nephew, Oscar, was in the hospital. My friend , Ziva, reminded me some years later that I had had a picnic that Saturday and suddenly she saw that I had disappeared and she had found me ,somewhere in the area, sitting and crying. I told her Oscar was in hospital and that I had a terrible feeling. That is what felt today. I just have a bad feeling. Things are going to get much worse before they get better.

And I cried for myself and my lost dream. .

I went to the demonstration in the night. But that night I kept on having a dream that I was walking in a dark tunnel with no light. Eventually I got up and really woke myself up so as to stop the dream.

Before the demonstration Saturday night there was a meeting of the bereaved families, Israelis and Palestinian. Our Minister of education as he calls himself has refused to allow them to speak in the schools. Another way of shutting down voices. Just as one of the most important schools of Herzlia has refused to allow the members of the bereaved families of Israelis and Palestinians to meet in their school. I phoned the school and said I welcomed them as they were joining the fascists of the government. They are one of the most important schools of the area. Frightening that they are so easily frightened into silence.

Two people spoke. One, a woman whose father was killed 40 years after her uncle died in the 1948 war. Her father was murdered by over 40 strokes with an ax by two of his workers and the Palestinian who has also lost more than one member of his family. And yet these people arise and speak in the voice of peace. It makes me wonder about South Africans who are so proud to tell people that they left SA because of the apartheid and have settled in Israel and Australia and yet, suddenly, they have changed their tune.

A South African to whom a friend sent a letter I wrote earlier on last week replied in a very militant tone This was the last line.

All too frequently savage methods are the only language savages understand....

It reminds me of the South Africans here who like to forget that the Palestinians also have rights and are oppressed. As I thought, he is probably very proud to tell people in a righteous tone that he left SA because of apartheid. His morality when it concerned the Africans changes when it comes to the Palestinians and he himself is no longer directly concerned. I despise people like him. He reminds me of the SS officer in this letter Had he been an Afrikaner he would probably have been a member of the Broederbond. One of the most violent setters here in the Hebron area was an Afrikaner who became a Jew and whose children today are as bad as he is.

Please also keep in mind that according to international law all settlements in the occupied areas are illegal.

#the movie good and south africans who change their shirts 5.9.2023

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callistomeadowforge · 10 months

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There were really just three main parts to all her operations. The second part; the hook and the diversion. | Task 010: The Interview

1 / 2 / 3

Once again, put on display. Expected to perform a show. Because it was all this was to them; entertainment. River squinted against the bright lights. Was Perry sitting at the Square, watching her right now? He was. He had to be. The alternative was far too harrowing to contemplate, though contemplated it she had.

She sat down as the applause petered out. Calix beamed at her.

"Ms Mallory--River, welcome. You look exquisite! I have no doubt that this brand of rustic chic will be everyone's fashion inspiration around here for a while, thanks to you."

Of course, it wasn't really her he was complimenting. It was the dozen layers of clown makeup and the tree dress to match.

"But speaking of around here, you have to tell us. How has the city treated you?"

"Oh, you know," she chuckled. Like a fraud. "It's definitely been fun exploring the tower. For one, you have really good coffee here. I mean out-of-this-world good. For two, you have an excellent pool. To be fair, I don't think I was actually allowed in there, but you guys won't tell anyone, right?"

The audience laughed, way too self-satisfied about being brought in on the joke, way too into themselves. It didn't matter. River knew how to play dumb innocence extremely well. She giggled when Calix shot her a conspiratorial wink. This wasn't so difficult, after all.

"And did you do all this exploring on your own or did you make new friends? Will we perhaps be seeing you working together with friends later in the arena?"

In the spirit of coming off personable, there was probably no harm to answer this one truthfully. Or mostly truthfully. "Yes! You all probably know that I know Fitz from home, but I've definitely made new friends, too. The other tributes are great," because she hadn't interacted with the careers save for Smith and Mason "--we've learnt plenty from each other," one way or another "--and you will definitely see me working with some of them."

"That's always heartening to hear. We know, though, that training is not without its challenges, even with the help of friends. Did you come across any difficulty at all?"

"Absolutely." River admitted. "I mean, I'm from Seven. The skills of our people revolve around climbing trees and swinging axes, and look at me, I'm not strong enough to even lift an axe." The crowd bellowed with laughter once again. "So, yeah, I had quite a bit of catching up to do."

Calix nodded, looking a little solemn for a moment, as if he understood how difficult it must have been for her. She had no doubt in her mind that he didn't.

"Well, if axes isn't your thing, you must have other strengths. Care to give us a few hints, at least?"

The nature of her strengths was that they needed to remain hidden in order to work. She clearly couldn't say this, so what should she say? "Oh, no, I can't spoil it!" River giggled. "Maybe I have a few tricks up my sleeves. You'll see. Honestly, though, what I know for sure is just that I'm going to do my best. I want to go home--and I'll do everything I can to do so."

"We love to hear that! We'll definitely be looking out for these tricks. And who will you be going home to?"

Her time was almost up. It had probably been Calix's intention all along to wrap on this note. Her voice faltered a little when she spoke this time, but that should work in her favour. She certainly hoped it did. "My cousin, Perry. It's just the two of us, he practically raised me. He-- he suffered an injury recently. So, yeah, I have to go home, Calix. I have to."

Calix pressed a hand to his heart while the audience cooed with sympathy. River could've gagged at the supposed display of emotion. Did they not realise that Perry's beating had ultimately also been for their entertainment? Did they not realise that she would've been happier never having to leave home?

Another round of applause escorted her off stage. Maybe the same noise would carry her off to her death, too.

#self para;#mtotask #133

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twinhood-2dot0 · 10 months

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the entire history of the dceu, i guess

I wanted to write about the entire history of Batman or The Flash but uh, their histories might take a whole book to write. Then I thought of Batgirl, but uh, as much as I love her, I’m only really familiar with her later Oracle days and her Batgirl days from 2011-2018, whereas in the case of the other two mentioned I’ve read pretty much every consequential issue (am I flexing? maybe). I am gonna try to read every single comic she’s in though :P. Huh, it’s only 61 TPBs. The list is not complete, but if we factor in all those that I’ve already read and those yet to read, I think they level out. There are probably much more complete lists, but I can’t find any as easily scrapable ones.

Man Of Steel (2013)

Budget: $225–258 million

Box Office: $668 million

IMDb: 7.1/10

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 56% Audience:75%

(Note: None of these are actual metrics for how good the movies are, you’ll see why I’m including those.)

In 2008, after WB’s disappointment with the box office of the sixth instalment in the Superman series, they decided to reboot the film series.

The writer for The Dark Knight trilogy, David S. Goyer, expressed his idea for a Superman movie to Christopher Nolan, and impressed, Nolan pitched the idea to the studio, and were both hired to write and produce the movie respectively. A few directors were considered, notably Ben Affleck (Batman, in the future) and Matt Reeves (directed The Batman, in the future), but ultimately Zack Snyder was chosen in 2010. There was an idea to set the movie in the TDK trilogy universe, but it was decided against (thank god for that, please, the movies are perfect as is). Anyways, the movie was a box office success, even while critical responses were not so much. Okay, well, it’s Superman, so it’s not very unexpected. I, for one, am not a huge fan of the movie. As much as I looooove darker stories, come on, it’s Superman, the paragon of hope! It’s not a terrible movie, but as a Superman movie, yeah, no. Anyways, seeing the success of the movie, they went along with their idea for a connected universe.

I’ll write a summary for the plot below every movie’s sections, skip if you don’t want to be spoiled. You know what, just read it through. There’s nothing much very consequential since the axing of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and like every superhero is gonna be recast and rebooted, so it doesn’t matter.

Plot: Basically a Superman origin story. If you don’t remember, you can go back to my shallow dive into the Justice League :) The villain is Zod, who wants to terraform (Kryptoform?) Earth and make it habitable for Kryptonians. And Superman also has uhhh the genetic code to fabricate baby Kryptonians placed in him? Which Zod wants to use to repopulate.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)

Budget: $250–300 million

Box Office: $873.6 million

IMDb: 6.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes: C: 29% A: 63% (Yikes)

In 2013, it was announced that Zack Snyder is going to be returning for a Man Of Steel sequel, and later confirmed by Snyder that Batman and Superman (and Wonder Woman) were going to meet for the first time on the big screen and that it was going to be inspired by Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns comic, which depicts an older, more brutal Batman.

You can see that clearly in the suit.

The movie opened to a whopping $422.5 million and then experienced an 81.2% decline in its second weekend. The movie seems to have been carried by the hype for Batman and Superman, like wow.

The Rotten Tomatoes website's critical consensus reads: "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice smothers a potentially powerful story – and some of America's most iconic superheroes – in a grim whirlwind of effects-driven action." I, too, disliked the movie. I am quite a new DC fan, but even for me, it felt like it butchered the characters of Batman and Superman, although Superman to a lesser extent. Batman kills??? And why exactly does he want to kill Superman??? Also, that plot point would have been made more impactful if Batman didn’t kill freaking goons???

Wow uh, that’s quite a few Golden Raspberries. Yikes, even Catwoman won 4.

Plot: Superman’s fight with Zod created a lot of collateral damage and also destroyed the Wayne Enterprises building, so Batman resents Superman. Lex Luthor manipulates them into hating each other, and he ransoms Superman’s mom to get him to kill Batman. Superman tries to talk to Batman and Batman attacks??? (he got kryptonite). Batman comes to his senses just before he deals the killing blow. Superman confronts Luthor, and Luthor unleashes Doomsday, a monster designed to kill Superman using Kryptonian DNA. Wonder Woman appears. Superman and Doomsday kill each other. Everyone big sad. The End.

Suicide Squad (2016)

Budget: $175 million

Box Office: $747 million

IMDb: 5.9/10

Rotten Tomatoes: C: 26% A: 58%

The film was announced in 2009 and David Ayer signed on to direct in 2014. Ah, where do I begin? The movie was set to have a sombre tone, but with the failure of BvS and the success of Deadpool, the studio worked on a second, lighter cut than Ayer’s and then tried to reach a place of “consensus” between the two. The reshoots cost around $22 million, more than the typical $6-$10 million, and changed the entire third act, and changed Joker and Harley’s relationship to be less abusive??? Thankfully, Birds Of Prey later remedied that, but the emancipation of Harley Quinn would have been much better had it been preserved in Suicide Squad.

The movie was a box office success, but the movie is regarded as possibly the worst DC film made, which is not an easy feat, as much as I hate to admit it.

I have no comments on this movie. Because I have no memory of when I watched this movie, except for Harley Quinn and how badly the movie treated her. Huh. I don’t remember anything except for Harley Quinn. Wow. That is quite a feat considering how much I love the Suicide Squad from the comics and individual characters like Captain Boomerang, Katana, and Killer Croc. Oh yeah, and Amanda Waller. She’s an awesome character in every version, and Viola Davis does a great job.

Plot: Superman dies, so Amanda Waller creates Task Force X, a team made up of supervillains forced to do Waller's bidding because of a bomb injected in their neck that she can detonate at any time. An archaeologist becomes possessed by a witch named Enchantress. Turns the city into monsters, summons brother to destroy mankind, the Suicide Squad beat Enchantress, yada yada, I’ll fall asleep if I’m forced to read this, just read it here

Wonder Woman (2017)

Budget: $120–150 million

Box office: $822.8 million

IMDb: 7.4/10 (wow I thought it would be higher than that)

Rotten Tomatoes: C: 93% A: 83% (You can see why I thought that)

DC’s first gem. Heralded as DCEU’s best film, the film was a hit among critics and the audience.

Plans for a Wonder Woman film date back to 1996. After going through a lot of directors and actresses, Patty Jenkins took up the role of director in 2015 and Gal Gadot was casted by Zack Snyder to appear in BvS in 2013. This movie is also an origin story, set in the 1910s in World War I.

Also, listen to this

I loved this so much. I got into DC in 2018, so this movie was my first exposure to Wonder Woman, and oh boy was it a good one. The acting was awesome, the action scenes were perfect, humour and romance weren’t overbearing and bettered the film.

Plot: Princess Diana is a resident of Themyscira, an island of immortal women and only women. The island is usually shrouded from the outside world, but one day, an American pilot named Steve Trevor crashlands into the island and is followed by German forces who were pursuing him. The Themyscirans fight them off but incur heavy losses. Steve is interrogated using the Lasso Of Truth/Hestia and reveals that there is a war going on in the “land of man”, as the Themyscirans call it, and Diana convinces Hippolyta (oh whoops, I forgot to mention, Themyscirans are Amazons, at least, a sect of them. It’s the same Hippolyta from Greek myth, but modified to fit the story. She’s Diana’s mom. Antiope is also there, but she’s killed off.) to let her go and stop the war, believing that Ares is behind it. And she arms herself with the lasso, a “god-killer” sword, and the armour, and leaves for London. She fights Ares. Steve sacrifices himself, and Wonder Woman beats Ares, WWI is over.

Justice League (2017) and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

Budget: $275 + $25 (reshoots) million

Box Office: $657.9 million

IMDb: 6.1/10

Rotten Tomatoes: C: 39% A: 67%

The biggest disappointment in comic book movie history. After the release of Man Of Steel, Goyer was hired again to write a sequel (BvS) and a Justice League movie. In 2014, it was announced that Zack Snyder would be directing the movie. The production went along and filming wrapped up in Oct 2016. However, in the wake of Snyder’s daughter’s death, he had to step down. They then hired Joss Whedon, the director of Avengers and Avengers: Age Of Ultron, seeing the success of those movies. Under his direction, it went through two months of reshoots costing $25 million. The reshoots coincided with the filming of Mission Impossible: Fallout so Henry Cavill was contractually obligated to keep a moustache for it, so uh… His moustache had to be digitally removed which led to uh…

Justice League - Opening Superman Scene - Mustache Movieclip

Anyways, there were a lot of changes made. There are multiple sources estimating how much was changed. The producer said in an interview that the film was shot originally by eighty to eighty-five percent. I’m too dumb to understand what that means, maybe you’ll be able to. Snyder said around a fourth from what he had been told (he didn’t watch the movie), and the cinematographer said 10%. Whedon’s rewrites were also around 80 pages, so it was mostly his work. The movie was mandated by execs to be under 2 hours, which is the dumbest freaking decision, considering the only superheroes in the movie we’ve met so far are Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

Controversy and Changes

It was later reported that Snyder’s rough cut was deemed unwatchable by studio execs.

Ray Fisher, the actor for Cyborg, and Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman, came out with claims against Joss Whedon, with Fisher saying “Joss Wheadon’s on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.” and Gadot claiming that Whedon threatened her career if she refused to do something.

There’s a controversial scene in AvengersAoU where in the chaos of Ultron’s attack, Bruce Banner (Hulk) falls on Black Widow’s chest. It’s a horrible sexist thing to have in your movie already, but even more egregious is that he does the exact same thing in Justice League with The Flash falling on Wonder Woman’s chest. Gadot refused to do this scene and it had to be filmed with a double. Seriously dude? You didn’t reconsider after the actor said no?

Chris Terrio considered the Whedon cut an act of vandalism and unsuccessfully tried to get his name removed from the movie.

The Whedon cut was significantly lighter in tone and featured much less violence as the studio was not happy with the results of the previous darker movies, and you know, it is directed by the director of Avengers.

Tom “Junkie XL” Holkenberg completely scored the movie, but halfway into post-production, was replaced by Danny Elfman, composer of Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992).

The movie was exactly 2 hours, removing 90 minutes of Snyder footage, but still adhering to the basic outline

Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder (his wife and producer) advised him never to watch the film as it would break his heart. I see what she means, it broke my heart as a huge DC fan, imagine being the creator of a work that you poured blood, sweat and tears into and someone else comes in and completely butchers it.

The underperformance led to the studio deciding to ditch Snyder’s vision for a universe of interconnected films to focus on solo movies.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Budget: $70 million to finish the movie

Box Office: Direct-to-video

IMDb: 8.0/10

Rotten Tomatoes: C: 71% A: 93%

#ReleaseTheSnyderCut

After the release of the “Josstice League”, fans created a petition to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut that gained more than 180,000 signatures. Various members of the cast showed support for the movement.

Ahead of San Diego Comic Con 2019, a crowdfunding campaign was started, with half to be spent on advertising and the other half going to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. They purchased ad space on billboards, two in Times Square and a flying banner ad that passed over WB Studios. The fans raised over $500,000 for the ASFP in donations by Feb 2021.

In March 2019, Snyder confirmed that his original cut existed, but that it was up to the studio to release it. The following month, he posted a photo of boxes with tapes labelled “Z.S.J.L. Director’s Cut” captioned “Is it real? Does it exist? Of course it does.”

The studio approached Snyder proposing to release the cut unfinished as he had left it, but he refused, insisting on finishing it if it was to be released. In Feb 2020, WB decided to move forward. In May 2020, Snyder announced that his cut titled “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” would be released on HBO Max in 2021.

Differences

At least 10 comic characters were cut, including but not limited to, Iris West, The Flash’s wife, Ryan Choi, the not-yet Atom, and Darkseid, the big bad of the Justice League, basically DC’s Thanos (technically, Darkseid came before, but not in live-action media, so :P) and Martian Manhunter, a main member of the Justice League.

A lot of the backstory for the new characters like Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg. Cyborg was supposed to be the “heart” of the story, but he had barely any character in the Whedon cut. The Flash is relegated to just comic relief and has pretty much no role in the climax when he had a huge role. Aquaman’s backstory was also cut, but it’s less egregious because of the existence of the solo movie. Even Batman was affected. He is more indecisive, oafish, and obsessive, while in Snyder’s cut, he’s more optimistic and inspired by Superman’s sacrifice. His dynamic with Wonder Woman was also similarly butchered, and she was very sexually objectified.

This was cut. Do I need to elaborate? Well, there is symbolism, but eh I’m lazy. Also, this is a reference to “The Death Of Superman.” storyline.

Just look at this. He went from a menacing alien monster to man in armour. His character was similarly butchered. I’ll expand on the plot section.

Dumb freaking jokes and quips. Marvel style. Except it doesn’t work at all in this movie. In the MCU the audience is used to that tone. Shoe-horning in jokes in a movie that was meant to be dark doesn’t work at all, especially when they make no sense and are just plain unfunny.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League has 4 hours of runtime. Snyder was given free rein, and he made full use of that. It has a lot of his signature slow-mo scenes, and there are a lot more details too because of that.

Story Differences

The outline of the plot is basically the same, but every character is very fleshed out. We see how Victor Stone turned into the Cyborg, his relationship with his parents, how his powers work, etc, and the same treatment is given to Flash and Aquaman. Cyborg did very little in the theatrical cut, but he’s a decent character in the Snyder cut.

The theatrical version of Steppenwolf was probably the worst villain in comic book movies, but Snyder’s version fleshed him out and has much more of a motivation. In the theatrical cut he wants to destroy Earth for seemingly no reason, and there’s no mention of the Anti-Life equation, which is like Darkseid’s signature weapon. Steppenwolf is on Earth to gain Darkseid’s favour again after betraying him in the past, and he finds out that the Anti-Life Equation is in the Earth’s core.

Oh yeah, the climax. I’ll talk about it when I explain the plot because it’s the biggest change.

Plot:

Blue text is only in Snyder cut, red is only in Josstice League, and white text is in both movies.

Thousands of years ago, Darkseid Steppenwolf came to Earth to destroy it in search of the Anti-Life equation and to build his parademon army. But the Atlanteans, Amazons, and humanity came together to defeat them, and his three Mother Boxes were confiscated, and each tribe stored them away safely. In the present day, sensing Superman, Earth’s protector’s death, the Mother Boxes call out to Steppenwolf, and he arrives in Themyscira, defeats the Amazons, and steals their Mother Box, and Diana is alerted, and she finds out about the war against Darkseid. She and Bruce team up to gather other metahumans to fight an incoming threat that Lex Luthor warned Bruce about in the previous movie and one that the Parademon's presence made obvious. Bruce first goes to Aquaman, but he refuses. Then Diana goes to Cyborg, who also refuses, but he returns home to find his place ransacked and dad missing, and Bruce successfully recruits Barry because… he needed friends. Honestly, mood.

Then, the Atlantean outpost is attacked and Mera and Aquaman fail to protect the Mother Box. Then the team received intel from Jim Gordon, while Cyborg joins them, and they discover Steppenwolf’s hideout under the Gotham Harbor, where he’s interrogating S.T.A.R Labs employees, one of them being Silas Stone, Victor’s dad. They fight Steppenwolf, and in the process, the facility is flooded, when Aquaman arrives and buys them time to escape. The team retrieves the Mother Box Silas used to rebuild Victor’s body after he met with a car accident, and the team realizes they could bring Superman back with it. They exhume Superman’s body and revive him in the Kryptonian ship that he arrived on Earth in. An amnesiac Superman then attacks the team and comes to his senses when Lois Lane arrives at the scene. Steppenwolf arrives at S.T.A.R Labs and tries to take the Mother Box when Silas sacrifices himself to superheat the Mother Box. This allows the team to locate the Mother Box using its heat signature. The team travels to an abandoned Russian city, a renamed Pripyat. I swear, this will be relevant. Aquaman and Wonder Woman fight off Steppenwolf, while Cyborg is separating the Mother Boxes (oops, I forgot, if the Mother Boxes conjoin and create a Unity, the Earth is razed and everyone is turned into parademons.), and Batman and The Flash fights off parademons and later rescues a family of people trying to escape whatever Steppenwolf is doing to the place. Okay, so 1. This is an abandoned town hit with a nuclear meltdown. 2. This messes with continuity. The Flash (2023) and ZSJL establish that he cannot relocate people. In the former, it is explicitly stated, and in the latter, it’s shown to us, when he just helps people along to escape in the Gotham Harbor fight, and he saves Iris with small taps. 3. The Flash barely has a role. I’m not saving people is not a vital thing to do, but like, look at what everyone else is doing! Also, they cut such a badass scene to make… whatever the heck we got. Meanwhile, Barry is circling the area to build up a charge to separate the Mother Boxes. Steppenwolf then overpowers the two of them, stabs Victor and rips him away from the Mother Boxes and then Superman arrives with the cheesiest line.

Steppenwolf: They’re too weak to see the truth.

Superman: Well… I believe in truth. But I’m also a fan of Justice.

And proceeds to curb-stomp Steppenwolf. Yes, I know it’s a reference to “Truth, Justice and The American Way” but eugh, could have been done so much better. Especially when you see what they cut to make that scene.

Superman then leaves to… relocate… a freaking building full of civilians. It’s like the movie forgot that it was supposed to be abandoned. Also, do I need to explain what’s wrong with this?

swings at Victor, when Superman lands in front of him, and says “Not impressed.”, and proceeds to curbstomp Steppenwolf.

Just look at this and tell me which one is badass.

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Victor keeps getting interrupted by Steppenwolf, so Barry is unable to charge it, but by the time Superman arrives and Victor gets back in position, Barry gets shot, and the Mother Boxes form Unity, and the Earth is destroyed… until this happens. I don’t want to describe this scene, it’s that good.

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Whoo, goosebumps. This here is the scene that Whedon cut out to make him save a random family. Instead of the Earth, and quite possibly multiple planets. And provided a payoff to the scene where he turns back time just a little bit earlier in the movie. And set up The Flash movie. And it felt so good to have him finally play a role after being comic relief for the whole movie.

After the fight, a few things happen. 1. Bruce has a Knightmare (get it? Cuz The Dark Knight is having a nightmare? Yeah… not subtle at all.) where Superman has established an authoritarian role and Batman is teamed up with Joker and most everyone else is dead. 2. Martian Manhunter reveals himself to Bruce and offers to help when the time comes. 3. Lex Luthor tells Deathstroke Batman’s identity to help him kill him.

Ooooookkkkkkaaaaayyyyy that was long. Still alive? Good. We are only halfway done.

Aquaman (2018)

Budget: $160–200 million

Box Office: $1.148 billion (Wow.)

IMDb: 6.8/10

Rotten Tomatoes: C:65% A: 72%

Huh did not expect that. DC’s highest grossing movie is Aquaman. Aquaman, the butt of every Justice League joke. Aquaman performed better than Batman v. Superman, a movie with two of the most iconic superheroes ever, and Justice League, the team of the most iconic superheroes. Okay, well, the movies themselves were not very good, but like, Aquaman. Sorry, I just can’t get over that fact. I personally love like (let’s not go that far. Despite being King of Atlantis and my love for the ocean, he’s still not very likeable in the comics. The movies are good though, they do his abrasiveness quite well.) Aquaman (No, it’s not just because of Jason Momoa’s abs, shuddup), but he never struck me as a very popular character.

This movie is a sort of origin story..? This movie takes place after Justice League, where he was man with trident who talked to fish, while in this movie he comes into his role as King of Atlantis.

I loved the movie. Obviously. I loved Jason Momoa’s acting, I love his characterization, his character arc, I love how well the underwater CGI is done, I loved Atlantis, the adaptation of Black Manta, Orm is good enough. Especially after reading the comics.

Plot: Origin story. Not very many additions, but it includes Black Manta’s origins, a son of a pirate that Aquaman refused to save, and now he made his life’s mission hunting him down. Never really liked him, kind of a boring villain writing, just look at Reverse Flash to see how well it can be accomplished.

Shazam! (2019)

Budget: $90–100 million

Box Office: $367.7 million

IMDb: 7/10

Rotten Tomatoes: C: 90% A: 82% (Wow, critics score higher than audience.)

From the supposedly “dark” franchise, we get a comedy film. Okay, well, the main character is a teenage kid, would be dumb to make it dark. Okay, I take that back, Damian Wayne stories are about a pre-teen kid, and do they get dark sometimes. Anyways, it’s a pretty funny movie, not very deep, but enjoyable and a reprieve. I just realized I missed Shazam! in my Justice League shallow dive :P. Well, this will be good enough ig. Also, did you know Shazam! was called Captain Marvel? Well, he still is, sometimes, but they can’t market him as Captain Marvel. It is a little off-topic, but let me take you back to the 1940s. In the 1940s, Captain Marvel was the most popular superhero around, outselling even Superman. This led to DC getting salty, and they decided to sue Fawcett Comics, then owner of the character, for infringing their copyright for Superman. In 1941 DC tried unsuccessfully to stop Fawcett from publishing them and from Republic Films from releasing a serial based on the character. Fawcett won, due to a technicality, but found that he was indeed an illegal copy. Then in 1951, DC appealed the decision, and due to the drop in comic sales, Fawcett decided it was not worth fighting and paid DC for damages and dissolved its comics in the coming years, and in 1967 Marvel trademarked the name in 1972 and that was an issue when DC licensed the rights to all Fawcett characters, and that led to them retitling it to Shazam!. Anyways, sorry for lengthening this already gigantic post.

I liked the movie. It does its job as a comedy superhero film pretty well, and it’s a good adaptation of him. Yeah, nothing much to say here.

Plot: Billy Batson is a kid in the foster system, who keeps running away from foster homes in search of his mother, and he eventually lands in the house of Víctor and Rosa Vásquez with five other children, Mary Bromfield, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, Darla Dudley, and superhero enthusiast Freddy Freeman. He gets selected by a wizard to be his new champion, giving him the ability to turn into an adult man who has the Wisdom of Solomon, the Strength of Hercules, the Stamina of Atlas, the Lightning of Zeus, the Courage of Achilles, and the Speed of Mercury (I do not know why the first is Christian, the next five Greek and the last Roman. Although, I guess Shazah doesn’t have the same ring to it.)

In a flashback at the beginning of the movie, we see Thaddeus Sivana also tested by the wizard but is rejected because of his greed, and he lives the rest of his life consumed by anger due to that.

Sivana deduces his identity, and he takes his foster sibling hostage in exchange for the power, but he shares his powers with them and they team up to beat Sivana.

Birds Of Prey And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020)

Budget: $82-100 million

Box Office: $205.3 million

IMDb: 6.1/10

RT: C: 79% A: 78%

The film adaptation of my personal favourite DC teams. I mean, an all-girls (most of the time) team with Batgirl and Black Canary (most of the time)?

Margot Robbie, the actress for Harley Quinn, pitched the idea for a Harley Quinn spin-off in 2015, before the release of Suicide Squad, as "an R-rated girl gang film including Harley because I was like, 'Harley needs friends.'” She spent 3 years working on it and WB decided to make and it hired Cathy Yan, which makes this one of the few superhero films directed by a woman of colour. Batgirl was excluded from the movie for her standalone film. Huh, I thought it was because she was a problematic character to adapt. In 2018 it was announced that the lineup would include Huntress, Black Canary, and Renee Montoya. I refuse to call her Cassandra Cain. With so many things that the movie did right, Cassandra Cain is not it. She has 0 characteristics of the comic book character and I’m not even being hyperbolic. Seriously, I dare you to find one similarity. I’ll just be calling her uhhh Pickpocket. Yeah, that’s good enough.

I watched the movie again today, and oh my god, it. is. AWESOME! Harley Quinn is awesome, obviously. Huntress, oh my god, she’s my new celeb crush.

She’s soooo badass. She has this arc like, she just got into the role, and is trying so hard to be badass, practising in the mirror, saying stuff like “Do you know who I am?”, and “They call me… The Huntress.” It’s also a running gag that whenever she says “They call me…” the other party replies “The Crossbow Killer” and “Helena Bertinelli!”. But she’s so badass when she’s not trying, true to the comics version.

Renee is also cool, a little older tho, but that’s fine.

Oh, Black Canary was soooo good too. A pretty good adaptation, though not truly comic-accurate.

Cassandra Cain. Just read my Batfamily shallow dive, and read her character here. You’ll see why I refuse to call her Cassandra Cain.

Plot: Years ago, all of the Bertinelli family is gunned down for their fortune, but Helena survives and is taken in and trained as an assassin, and is trying to kill all the people responsible for the massacre of her family (The plot is pretty uhh back-and-forthey, and it keeps switching between flashbacks and the present, so I’m going to try to do this chronologically).

Dinah Lance breaks Roman Sionis’s (Black Mask, played by… Ewan McGregor… Obi-Wan Kenobi. I’m sorry when he commits all these evil deeds I can’t see anyone but Obi-Wan Kenobi. Not his fault, I’m just really bad at not relating it to actors’ past roles.) driver’s legs and is hired by him to be his new driver.

GCPD detective Renee Montoya is investigating the “Crossbow Killer” murders and tries to recruit Dinah as an informant, but she refuses.

Four years after the events of Suicide Squad, Joker and Harley break up, and because no one believed that they were actually broken up, Harley drives a truck into ACE Chemicals, “publicly announcing her relationship status”.

Sionis sends Victor Zsasz and Dinah to retrieve a diamond embedded with the account numbers to the Bertinelli Fortune, but Pickpocket steals it, but she’s caught by the police, so she swallows it.

Harley is kidnapped by Sionis’s men, and she offers to steal the diamond back, and after she’s sent to retrieve it, a bounty is placed on Pickpocket. Harley breaks into the GCPD and rescues Cassandra. They hide out at Harley’s apartment, which is bombed by Sionis’s men. Harley calls Sionis to exchange Pickpocket for his protection, Dinah notifies Montoya, Zsasz tells Sionis about her betrayal, and Sionis dons his eponymous “Black Mask” and decides to go after them at Amusement Mile.

At the park, Montoya confronts Harley, but they fight and Montoya is defenestrated. Zsasz arrives and shoots Harley with a tranq, and holds Dinah at gunpoint when he arrives, but he’s shot by Helena. Montoya returns and tells Helena that Sionis orchestrated the massacre when Sionis arrives with an army of henchmen. They fight, but Pickpocket is caught, and Harley and Huntress try to save her. Pickpocket reveals that she had a grenade in hand, and blows Sionis up, in the only scene that I could think of that gave this movie an R rating, aside from the f words. Montoya quits the GCPD, and Helena, Dinah and Montoya create the crimefighting team of Birds Of Prey.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Budget: $200 million

Box Office: $169.6 million

IMDb: 5.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes: C: 58% A: 73%

Plot: Diana gets a wishing stone, wishes for Steve Trevor back, and he comes back… in another man’s body??? And they have sex while he is in another man’s body??? Yeah, I don’t know how no one saw any issue with that. A woman jealous of Diana’s beauty and popularity wishes to be like her, and turns into a Cheetah, a businessman named Maxwell Lord gets the stone, saves his company, makes everyone in the world wish for anything and chaos unfolds and Diana renounces her wish and Steve is gone, Wonder Woman and Cheetah fight, Max and Diana fight, everyone renounces their wish, the end.

(Yeah, I’m in a rush, and this movie is too terrible for me to put any effort into it. Sorry.)

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Budget: $185 million

Box Office: $168.7 million

IMDb: 7.2/10

Rotten Tomatoes: C: 90% A: 82%

Yeah, confusing name, I know, but it’s more of a relaunch than a direct sequel.

This is the movie I said where the box office will be relevant. For such a critically acclaimed movie, it grossed only $168 million, the lowest of any DCEU film.

In 2018, James Gunn, director of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 1-3, and several other… let’s just say interesting films, and now co-CEO of DC Films. I didn’t really know much about him, until recently, except that he directed an awesome DC movie, and he’s possibly the best person to take DC forward according to other people.

How James Gunn Deradicalizes the Manosphere | A RETROSPECTIVE

Watch this to see why I love him so much now. Oh wait oops um… His movies have some pretty… disturbing imagery, so uh only watch it if you’re up for that…. Which you probably definitely aren’t.

DC first asked him to make a Superman movie, which he said he didn’t know if he wanted to make, so they told him he could adapt any DC property he wanted to, and he chose Suicide Squad.

He also insisted on an R-rating, which I love it for. The movie would not be the same without the gratuitous violence. Yeahhh, I did a full 180 from cringing at amputations to loving gratuitous violence. Wow. Who knew I’d be here? I mean okay, it’s obviously where I’d have been, after reading Attack On Titan and Chainsaw Man and DC Black Label stuff.

He took inspiration from John Ostrander’s 1980s Suicide Squad run, drawn to it because of its loser B-grade supervillains.

The first character he chose was King Shark, who was supposed to be in the first movie but was replaced by Killer Croc, and the others added were Peacemaker, Polka-Dot Man, and a gender-swapped Ratcatcher.

He chose Starro The Conqueror as the villain, who struck him as absurd but terrifying, reflecting what he wanted to do with the film.

I don’t really care much for actors, but there’s one actor I’ve loved for a long time. David Dastmalchian, Polka-Dot Man. Why do I love this guy you haven’t ever heard about? Well, look at his roles.

The Dark Knight (2008) - Thomas Schiff, one of Joker’s deranged henchmen.

Ant-Man (2015), Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018), What If..? Episode 5 (2021), Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania - Kurt, (in the first three ) one of Ant-Man’s friends, and in the latter movie, a being named… Veb?

Gotham (2017) - Dwight Pollard, one of Joker’s followers.

The Flash (2017, 2021) - Abra Kabadra, a Flash villain who’s a technomagician.

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One and Two (2021) - Julian Day (Calendar Man), Oswald Cobblepot (Penguin)

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Yep, he played 8 different roles in superhero movies and 6 in various DC media. If I were an actress, I would want a resume just like that.

David Dastmalchian suffered from bullying due to his vitiligo in his childhood and developed depression and addiction, and comics gave him much-needed escapism and became somewhat of a comic devotee.

He first auditioned for a member of the Joker crew in the famous heist scene from The Dark Knight, but he didn’t get the part and was devastated. Four months later, however, he received a call that he was cast as Thomas Schiff. A small role, but one he credits with changing his life.

That’s why he was perfect for the role of Polka-Dot Man. Gunn wrote the character with Dastmalchian in mind.

Gunn messaged him saying that he wanted him in his film, and he was wrought with anticipation for what role he was going to play.

“I am very familiar with so much of the DC canon, and I know the DC villains so well, and he’s like, ‘I want you to be Abner Krill, Polka-Dot Man,'” Dastmalchian recalled. “I was so embarrassed. And I’m like, ‘James, I’m so sorry. I don’t know anything about him.’ He’s like, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry. I want you to read the script and let me know how you feel.'”

“I was jumping up and down. I was crying. I was yelling,” Dastmalchian said. “I was so moved by what I read, and I was so moved by the thought that he would imagine me getting to bring to life a character that was beautifully created. James told me that when he was writing the character, he just saw me in his place.”

Polka-Dot Man’s abusive mother infected him with an alien virus, to turn him into a superhero, but it left him covered in polka dots and pustules, leading to ridicule and bullying. You can see how he could connect with a character like that.

“I connected with Abner from his first line,” he says. Dastmalchian sees Polka-Dot Man as an avatar for triumph against one’s insecurities.

“I love that Abner came to a point where he not only embraces his strangeness, he turns it into a superpower,” Dastmalchian says. “That’s what we all can do. We have things about ourselves that make us insecure, that make us ashamed. We keep things locked up, and they end up eating us from the inside.”

“We can do the work, get therapy or connect with people that help expel those viruses,” he explains. “We can love ourselves and figure we are meant to be the way we are. We’re fucking superheroes.”

Also, Peacemaker is John Cena.

It’s such a great movie, I was shocked to learn that it was the lowest-grossing DC movie. I guess an R-rating, a pandemic, a terrible prequel and a simultaneous streaming release will do that.

It’s a hilarious, gory, self-aware, ridiculous movie and an awesome adaptation of lesser-known DC supervillains that have been given a new lease on life. And also, Harley Quinn is great, obviously.

Plot: Amanda Waller assembles two Task Force X teams, who are sent to the island nation of Corto Maltese, unaware of each other. The movie goes into quite a bit of effort building character, to unceremoniously annihilate them, but Colonel Rick Flag and Harley Quinn survive. Their massacre provided a distraction for the other team to arrive safely. The team is commanded to find Flag and Harley Quinn, and massacre a soldier base, only to find out it belonged to a rebel group. Harley is captured by the dictator who is in love with Harley. Harley, after her experience with Joker, kills him and in a ridiculously over-the-top, awesome action sequence escapes to find… the others executing a “really good plan” to rescue her. She joins them and finds out that the Project Starfish, whose files they were there to destroy, was funded by the US Government, and the team splits, with one side dedicated to their mission, and the other who wanted to expose the secret. Peacemaker, on the former side, kills Flag but is killed by Bloodsport before he could kill Ratcatcher. Then Starro escapes and starts controlling the cities’ population. Waller orders them to leave, deeming the mission complete, but they revolt, and when Waller was about to detonate the bombs, she is knocked out by a member of the team, and directs them to defeat Starro. In a post-credits scene, the revolters are punished by assigning them to a new mission with Peacemaker, who is revealed to be alive.

Peacemaker (2021)

IMDb: 8.3/10

Rotten Tomatoes: C: 94% A: 89%

A spin-off series set after the events of The Suicide Squad directed by James Gunn.

It follows Peacemaker and Waller’s subordinates punished for insubordination by having to work with Peacemaker. I won’t go into the plot in detail, because it’s an 8 episode series with long ass episodes. The basic premise is, there’s an alien invasion of Butterflies, who take over people's bodies and give them super strength and such, and are trying to take over Earth, and the team has to destroy their food source. It has the same gory and humorous tone, and there’s a subplot of him coming to terms with his abusive Neo-Nazi dad’s terrible acts, oh oh, there’s a great lesbian character too.

Black Adam (2021)

Budget: $190-260 million

Box Office: $393.3 million

IMDb: 6.3/10

RT: C: 38% A: 88% (wow that is some disparity)

Dwayne Johnson was set to play the character in Shazam!, but he urged to give him his own movie. This movie was supposedly supposed to be “the movie that saved DC”. Honestly, feels like a movie just to have Dwayne Johnson attached to the franchise. It just ended up feeling like a cookie-cutter superhero (ahem, antihero) film.

Plot: Kahndaq was once ruled by a dictator, and a young boy received the powers of Shazam and killed the dictator. Present-day Kahndaq is oppressed by a gang, and Adrianna Tomaz is trying to locate the Crown of Sabbac, she finds it, but her colleagues are killed and she reads the incantation and Teth-Adam arrives and kills them all. Amanda Waller calls the Justice Society, consisting of Atom Smasher, Cyclone, Doctor Fate and Hawkman, to apprehend him.

Sidenote, I am so happy that Hawkman finally got a film adaptation. He is such an interesting character in the comics. They stop his killing spree and tell Adrianna that he is not a savior, but an imprisoned killer. Her son Amon hid the crown but they took him hostage. They give him the crown but he betrays her, and Adam gets mad and kills the leader and wounds Amon. Adam reveals to Hawkman that his son was the one who was given the powers but he gave his powers to him to save him and died. He surrenders because he felt unworthy and is imprisoned deep underwater by the JSA.

Ishmael comes back as Sabbac and tries to destroy the city. The JSA fail to stop him when Adam comes back and saves all of them.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (2023)

Plot: After the events of Shazam!, Hespera and Kalypso steal the wizard’s broken staff and force him to fix it. Freddy falls in love with a girl named Anne. Anne is apparently Anthea, and her sisters appear and take Freddy’s powers and he is imprisoned with the Wizard. The Shazam family fight them, but Hespera steals a Golden Apple, a seed for the Tree Of Life. Meanwhile, Anthea helps Freddy and the wizard escape. Hespera and Anthea want to revive their realm with it while Kalypso wants to destroy Earth with it. Kalypso steals the apple and plants it on Earth. Hespera is mortally wounded and Anthea loses her powers, and Shazam gets Hespera’s help to beat Kalypso and in the ensuing fight, Shazam dies and Wonder Woman brings him back to life. Also, for some reason, Wonder Woman appears in this movie and The Flash. I have no idea why. Maybe Gal Gadot had too much time on her hands.

The Flash (2023)

The chronological movie that reboots the DCEU and jumpstarts the DC Universe.

This movie, whoo. Attempts for a Flash movie date back to the 1980s, but let’s not start the story there.

DC had plans for a Flash movie when they created the DCEU, and in 2016, the movie was set to release in 2018.

I became a DC fan in 2018, after reading The Death Of Superman and watching the Zack Snyder movies, and later, a ton of Flash comics, so I have been following the release of this movie well before production began. The movie had been in development hell for a very long time, with so many directors being hired then leaving, until 2019, when Andy Muschietti and Christina Hodson signed on and Ezra Miller, the actor for The Flash finished filming TERF movie, and the movie was scheduled to release July 1st 2022 (I was very sceptical when that news came out, and turns out, I was right to be). The movie was set to adapt the Flashpoint storyline, where Barry goes back in time to prevent his mom’s death, resulting in an alternate timeline where Thomas Wayne is Batman while Bruce Wayne was gunned down, and the Atlanteans and Amazons are in a war that could destroy the Earth, Superman is imprisoned in a government facility, and Barry has no powers, and when Barry corrects the timeline, things have changed, and sets up the New 52, so this can transition into the rebooted DCU slate that James Gunn announced. The movie was again shifted to June 3, 2023, due to the pandemic. Michael Keaton was also hired to reprise his role from the 1989 and 1992 Batman movies, along with Ben Affleck.

Hehe, that’s hilarious

I thought chemistry tests meant like idk CSI stuff and Zoom as in Professor Zoom, Reverse-Flash, or, Zoom, the second Reverse-Flash. I still don’t know what chemistry tests mean, testing the chemistry between actors? I don't know why anyone needed to know that information.

Throughout 2022, a controversy much worse than the development hell it went through hit the movie.

Safe to say, Ezra Miller is a terrible person, but replacing them in the role was pretty much impossible, and the movie couldn’t be cancelled because it was so far ahead in production and had a massive budget. The movie did release, but marketing had to be limited due to this.

Plot: Barry Allen’s dad, Henry Allen is set to appeal for his wrongful imprisonment. He visits his childhood home, and overcome with emotions, he accidentally travels back in time a few hours. He tells Batman about it, and he tells Barry that changing things could have unintended consequences. But he ignores it, and prevents his mother’s death, and on the way back to the present, he is knocked out of the Speed Force by another speedster, arrives in 2013, where his mom is alive and his dad is not imprisoned. He encounters his past self, and realizes that he is currently in the day that Barry got his powers, so he rushes his past self to Central City PD so his past self gets his powers too. But, they both get struck by lightning and 2013-Barry gains powers while Barry loses his. Barry trains 2013-Barry to use his powers when they see a transmission by General Zod on a TV screen, and Barry tries to assemble the Justice League, only to find that Aquaman was never born, Wonder Woman can’t be located, Clark Kent doesn’t seem to exist, and Victor Stone is not Cyborg yet. They then travel to Wayne Manor, where they find an old Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) who retired from crime fighting because Gotham is now a safe place (yeah, right), and he explains to Barry that changing events also affect the past. They use the Batcomputer to locate the Kryptonian pod, which is revealed to have landed in Siberia. They go to the Siberian facility but find an emaciated girl instead, who they rescue, and who is revealed to be Kryptonian and she kills the Siberian soldiers. Then she refuses to help them as she thinks humanity is cruel. She then leaves to find Zod. Barry asks Bruce to help him regain his powers, and he tries twice but fails, but Kara returns, saying that Kryptonians are people of hope, not war, and flies Barry into a thundercloud, which succeeds in giving him his powers. They all go to fight Zod, and he reveals that Kara has the Codex, not Kal-El, and fights and kills her to retrieve the Codex, and Bruce sacrifices himself to unsuccessfully destroy a Kryptonian ship. The two Barrys travel back in time to save them but fail, and they try again but fail again, and Barry realizes that they can’t be saved while 2013-Barry keeps trying again and again, failing each time. The speedster who knocked him out of the Speed Force is revealed to be a future 2013-Barry, who kept trying for years and fights Barry, and 2013-Barry sacrifices himself to wipe the future version out of existence, and Barry goes back to prevent himself from preventing his mom’s death, but apparently, he learned absolutely nothing because he placed the can of tomatoes that his dad picked up on the day of his mother’s death on the top shelf, so the camera could capture his dad’s face, acquitting him. He calls Bruce Wayne to let him know of the good news, and he informs him that he is arriving at the courthouse. And he steps out of the car and we see… George Clooney, from the infamous 1997 Batman and Robin.

Okay, so that was a monstrous post :P. Idk why I did this it was probably hella boring. See ya!

#dceu #dceu movies #dc comics #james gunn #james gunn dcu #dcu #batman #superman #the flash #the entire history of #Spotify #Youtube

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lonely-lost-soul · 3 years

Text

Royal

Request 1: techno x reader fluff? maybe something to do with a castle and warm summer days... I don’t have a full idea but as a vibe know?

Requested by: @theoneandonlyyeti

Simple and Sweet *MUAH* Hope you like it!

Scarred hands clasped onto delicate soft ones, a wedding ring shimmered in the sunlight of a wondrous garden. It was full of vegetation and trees that seemed to stretch far into the heavens, far beyond the castle’s outer walls. Your tea was steaming from where it sat in a porcelain cup, the white cup was decorated with blue flowers spanning the sides. Earl Grey with a hint of honey, your favorite. The hand across from you gave your own a tight squeeze, it snapped you out of your stupor and a smile made its way onto your lips. Your husband was the king of the Antarctic Empire, he had loyal knights and followers worldwide, and he was known for his brute strength and honesty. However, he loved you, treated you like you were some sort of Goddess, spoiling you rotten every moment he was able to. Right now you residing in a neighboring kingdom for the summer, Technoblade has promised you warm summer days filled with flowers and sunshine, and that’s what you were gifted for your anniversary.

“Sorry, I was just thinking,” You spoke tenderly, the warm sun had stained your nose and cheeks a lovely red. Your dress was also a soft pink, the neckline was deep as it dipped past your collarbone. The dress was sleeveless and it seemed to be littered with gold speckles, that part was Technoblades doing. His ears twitched as he leaned back in his chair,

“Can I ask what about? Not having second thoughts are you?”

“About our vacation? Never.” You laughed resting your cheek on your fist, “I’ve forgotten how much I’ve missed the sunshine.” Technoblade let out a little grumble, his white sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

“It’s certainly...hot.” You smiled over at him and snickered, his hair was tied back in a long braid a few stray pieces of hair framed his sculpted face. “I’m certainly missing the cold, and my weaponry.” You gave him a fond eye-roll in response of course he was missing his weapons the man truly didn’t know how to relax.

“Well you know I appreciate you going out of your way for little old me,” You said voice dripping his sarcasm as he sent you a look,

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” He eyed you carefully as you stood up from the little table, your light pink dress trailing behind you as you walked into the garden. You turned around sending him a gentle smile his way, holding out your hand, Technoblade reached out and took your small hand within his own. “Seriously, you know it makes me happy to see you happy.” Technoblade brushed your hair behind your ear, and you kissed his wrist softly.

“I know my love,” You reached up to adjust the crown on top of his head, he smiled softly at you. “I’m just happy to spend the summer with you, with no fighting and no political nonsense. Just the sun on our face and flowers all around,” You giggled pulling him along the cobblestone pathway. He hummed fondly as you pulled him along, flower petals from the nearby trees spilling around the both of you. Technoblade pulled you flush and pressed a tender kiss to your lips,

“Ew gross!” A loud voice called from behind the both of you, Techno growled under his breath and you let out a small laugh. A small figure ran up to you and you scooped him up in your arms,

“Cringe. Don’t know why we had to bring him along,” Technoblade grumbled and you stomped on his foot,

“He’s your son.” You scolded covering Aether’s ears, “Of course we have to bring him along!” Technoblade clicked his tongue as you uncovered Aether’s ears, he huffed a little swatting your hands away from his head. He had pink hair just like his father, it was a curly mess that you desperately attempted to tame but to no avail. A soft speckle of freckles was across his nose and cheeks, and he had your striking (e/c) eyes. A flower crown was on his forehead, he also had two in his hands “How’s it going, my little Prince?”

“It’s so much fun here! I love hanging out with Uncle Tommy and Tubbo!” He gushed bouncing in your arms, “Tommy said he and Uncle Wilbur are going into the town soon to visit Miss Sally and Niki. Can I go with them, please?” He turned to look over at his father as he placed a hand on top of his head to ruffle his hair,

“Sure kid. Just don’t cause your uncles too much trouble alright? Unless it’s Tommy, you have explicit permission to fuck with him.”

“Techno.” You scolded harshly as Technoblade rolled his eyes, “That’s a bad word. Do I need to make a swear jar?”

“Mom no,” Aether whined falling against your shoulder, “Uncle Tommy curses all the time.”

“Uncle Tommy’s a little shit.”

“Seems like your mother needs a swear jar, heh kid?” He nudged Aether with his arm, Aether nodded a smile on his lips. You glared harshly at your husband who had a smirk on his lips.

“Agreed, come on mom. Fifty cents, pay up.”

“Trouble makers the both of you.” You teased kissing the top of Aether’s head, before putting him down on the ground. A smile spread across his lips as he wrapped his arms around Technoblade’s legs,

“Bye papa oh wait!” He held out his flower crowns one for each of you, you bent down and took them gracefully. You placed one on your head and one on your husband’s head as well, he scoffed lightly.

“Stay safe kid, remember what I taught you.”

“Go for the knees!”

“That’s my boy.” Technoblade gave him a stern thumbs up, he gave his father a similar gesture and ran back down the cobblestone pathway. You smiled fondly at the sight and Technoblade wrapped his arms around your waist. “God, I can’t believe kids making me soft, who am I?”

“My beautiful husband who loves his son that I carried for nine months.” You mused looking up at him to press a kiss to his chin. He hummed a smirk on his lips,

“Yeah, I am, and I do.”

“You ruined it, get off me.”

“Ah come on,” Technoblade groaned as you wiggled free from his grasp only to cross your arms in front of your chest, “My lovely queen, please.” You crossed your arms with a little huff of your own, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” You sighed with an eye roll “But you gotta lose that cocky attitude when number two comes along.”

“Yeah right, number two.” He chuckled interlocking your hand within his own, your eyebrow twitched as he pulled you along.

“What’s so funny about that?” You piped up as the both of you walked, your head held high. The flower crown on your head slipped a little as you adjusted it,

“I just don’t know if I can picture it, having two kids.”

“What about a little girl hm?” You tilted your head to the side as he followed alongside you like a puppy.

“A girl?”

You nodded watching two little birds fluttering along in a birdbath, you smiled softly, “Yeah a little girl. Maybe one with bubble gum pink hair and your cute little nose.” You poked his nose sweetly and he smiled softly, “maybe one with your fighting spirit. You could chase off any girls or guys she’s interested in.” He chuckled a little at that one, he would, he’d use his ax too.

“What if she had your hair and eyes though? A stunning little goddess just like her mother.” He mused brushing his fingers against your cheek, you giggled,

“You’ll have to swat the suitors away with a fly swatter.”

“Or an ax.”

“You can’t kill children Tech!”

“Eh says you.”

You shot him a look pressing a nervous touch to your stomach, Technoblade raised an eyebrow. He looked like he was connecting dots, “wait hold on a minute you’re not-” You flushed under his gaze and his jaw dropped, “HEH? You’re not serious! Are you serious? You’re- HEH? Baby!? DAD?! ME?!” He pointed to your stomach as to which you gave a nervous nod.

“It’s not for certain! But, I’ve been having the same symptoms I’ve had with Aether and-” He pressed a kiss to your lips hands hovering over your stomach.

“I’m two for two.”

“TECHNOBLADE! YOU ABSOLUTE BASTARD!” You hissed out hitting him on the top of his head, he let out a roaring laugh taking you in his arms and spinning you around.

“You know I love you, you and Aether and baby number two. I always will until the end of time. King or not, all of you will always come first.”

“Love you too, more than anything.” You responded pressing your forehead to his own, “My king.”

“My Queen.”

“Your dad’s going to pass out. Wilbur’s going to go completely pale and Tommy’s going to scream his head off.”

“You know my family well. I can’t wait.” A bright smile appearing across his face, you laughed fondly pulling him close his flower crown almost falling off his head.

“You just like chaos.”

“You know I do.” He cupped your cheek with his hand and pressed a tender kiss to his lips.

“You’re lucky I do too.” You purred sharing another kiss with your husband, flowers fluttered around both of your bodies. As the King and Queen of the Artic relished this rare peaceful summer day, at his family home.

~~~ Tag List: @theoneandonlyyeti, @iamsuchasimp @victory-is-here

@pastelmoonwitche @gnat1usaquar1us

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qierxing · 2 years

Text

Resuscitation

Word Count: 1363

TW/CW: Decapitation, description of gore and frostbite, dissociation, mind break/manipulation.

[Mediation] - [Melodrama]

Doubt is like frostbite, shivering at the edges of the mind.

You saw the Tsaritsa once, in your whole life.

Ironically, it wasn’t during the time you were recruited into the Fatui. No, it was when you were eight, and you were heckled by your classmates to go to an execution of a traitor.

It was one of the higher politicians, a name you were too young to know but recognized his face on the many propaganda posters that littered the walls of grungy alleyways and rural neighborhood walls. He was grim faced, but even he knew there was no point in screaming for help; the Fatui agents and soldiers lining up in every corner of the platform and within the crowd made sure of that. The crowd was murmuring, some were yelling for his death, some jeering at how pathetic he looks; calling for their goddess to punish him and his sins of betraying the mighty nation of Snezhnaya. Your classmates also join the calls, laughing and throwing fallen snow at the man. His facade doesn’t break, his mien not much different from the nutcrackers that line the shelves of jolly lit toy shops around the corner.

But even he pales at the sight of the cryo Archon.

She is regal, even when she stands before him kneeling at the uneven stone chopping block. The executioner stands uneasily to the side, bowing his head and clutching his axe, but he, too, is too fearful to question why she is there for such a lowly whelp.

It happened in a blink.

The cut was clean. So clean, that there was absolutely no blood splatter at all, and by the time the body is slumping against the ground in its own blood, the head rolling to a stop by the edge of the platform, she’s flicking blood carelessly off her steel white blade. There’s barely any skin clinging onto the bottom of the neck; and bone, pure white as snow, nestled in gooey flesh, glistens in the lantern light. The crowd is instantly silenced, stunned at the sheer power displayed in the second it takes to happen, and grim silence falls.

She turns to face the crowd, icy pupils studying the crowd, and you try to find some kind of emotion, any kind, that implies that she was human, that she too had some sympathy for ending the life of someone who used to be her ally. But there is nothing but cold, cold, white.

“To everyone who is watching, let this be a warning to those who think they can cross me.”

When you received your vision, cold and burning in your palms, you thought your goddess was mocking you.

Now that you stand before the two knights, you now know what it is: a test.

A test to reach inside yourself, and to twist that little protesting voice. How far will you go to see through your goals? How much blood are you willing to spill, so you can stand triumphant at the end?

“[First], if you come back with us, we promise to forget this whole thing.” Ah, Jean, the ever peaceful loving diplomat. More diplomatic than a certain man next to her, scowling with a barely restrained anger that you can feel even at a distance. “I know you’re angry, but we can do better, I promise!”

You call for your vision, and the power hums in your chest like a familiar lullaby and into the old catalyst in your hands.

“Hell no.”

The answer is brief but enough to convey the rage of the days of tapping your feet watching the birds flutter from the window, being bored of endless days with no one to talk to except for your captors, of having to restrain yourself from screaming and throwing the nearest porcelain thing next to you to feel like you had some control in your damn life before it was ripped out of your hands.

You were done. You weren’t going back, not if it meant that you would be coddled and suffocated and restrained like some kind of spoiled pet rather than a human being. Not if it means that you were reminded of how powerless you used to be, before your goddess decided to heed your desperate prayers.

Perhaps it was the twisted love that called to her, you thought. Your goddess always had an affinity for dark, harrowing, twisting relationships that left a bitter taste on the tongue. You suppose when you're an immortal who has lived for centuries, only that kind of love could stir the heart anymore.

Jean and Diluc respond in kind with fire and anemo, the elemental energy licking at their blades and surging forward to meet yours. You take a combative stance, bracing yourself.

The catalyst is old, pages wrinkled and aged with the passage of time, but it channels your anger well: large, sharp icicles circle above you and shoot toward your targets with deadly speed, which they both unfortunately dodge. “Tsk-” You bite your lips and quickly stop Jean’s blade with a wall of ice before sending a sheet of ice below Diluc’s feet making him slip and fall.

Already you’re feeling icy pin pricks in your veins but you don’t care. If this is where you’ll die, you’ll accept it. If you were to die by freezing alive, letting snowflakes and ice form a lacy patchwork over your waxy skin, it would still be better than to be forever scorched and blown about, trapped in an eternal inferno of their sick desires. You barely manage to stop Diluc’s claymore with a counter of your own, hot steam rising between your hand and his blade, your arm trembling with the effort of keeping him back. Your hand is searing with icy numbness, and the painful feeling distracts you long enough to realize that Diluc’s goal was not to aim a blow at you.

You furiously howl as your vision is snatched from your collar and your inflamed hands nearly claw Diluc's eyes out trying to get it back. You’re wrenched back and you snarl as you realize Jean managed to subdue you in a vice grip.

“Give it back! GIVE IT BACK!” You thrash wildly in Jean’s grip, eyes bulging and teeth bared as you kick your legs to do anything, anything to get your vision back in your hands.

Diluc’s eyes narrow, and he tightens his grip on your vision. Spidery cracks thread their way on the glassy surface, and your eyes widen. Your chest tightens and your skin prickles again.

“We love you, [First].” Jean murmurs in your ear, and you open your mouth to scream-

The vision shatters, pieces falling like snowflakes that fell that winter night.

—

You smile absentmindedly at the gentle kiss pressed upon your cheek. “That tickles.” Jean giggles airily, arm snug around your form to bring you closer to her side. She leans more into you, blowing a raspberry into your cheek, and you squeal, trying to lean out of her reach.

“H-Hey! N-no fair, that- that tickles! H-Ha haha, n-no, stop! Diluc, help me!” You try reaching for your other lover, who sighs and rolls his eyes, but comes to your rescue, reaching out to also intertwine a warm arm around your other side to draw you out of tickling range.

“What am I going to do with you two?” His eyes shimmer with unbound fondness, and you grin cheekily, while Jean says nothing, but tightens her grip on the two of you in response.

Something’s wrong.

You pause, not going unnoticed by your lovers, and all of sudden their warm touches turn searing cold, burning into your flesh. Your fingers twitch erratically, and your breath quickens.

“[First]?”

Something’s wrong!

You blink and your hands are waxy and discolored blue, snowflakes lacing intricate patterns across your palms and wrists.

[First]?”

You’re brought back with a sharp breath, and when you blink again, your skin is normal, no ice to be found.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” Jean runs a gentle hand through your hair and you lean against her as Diluc huffs and also rubs your back with perfectly heated hands. You nod weakly, shaking away the cold nightmare.

Nothing’s wrong.

#yandere genshin impact #i did it boys i fucking wrote this once again unhinged at 3 am #actually pretty proud of how this one turned out #why are my sequels always better than the first chapter LMAO #cheers everyone time to go to bed

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nyashykyunnie · 3 years

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Might as well hope on the bandwagon. May I please request a Father Xiao scenarios? Maybe his child can be a half-adeptus like ganyu (Child auto-corrected to Childe when I was typing this xD)

A/N: took me awhile to think of a Xiao hc cuz I was tryna choose between some scenarios AHWHEGW Also SAME, MY PHONE AUTCORRECTS INTO CHILDE ALL THE TIME AHAHAGAGSG AND YES XIAO HAVING A HALF-BLOOD CHILD EEE NGL HE GONNA BE EXTRA PROTECTIVE AHADHJADGS I’m so excited for this ehehh. Also tyvm for the req!!! I hope you enjoy this anon!! Btw this was supposed to be for three charas but I got carried away with xiao so ahah,.... Woops =w=;;

𝙵𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛! 𝕏𝕚𝕒𝕠 x 𝙶𝙽! 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍! ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣

. 　﹢　˖ 　✦ ¸ .　﹢　 ° 　¸. ° ˖ ･ ·̩　　｡　☆　　　ﾟ＊　｡　☆ ✦˖

Having a child, with his own blood running through your veins, you being the spitting image of him- Was the last thing Xiao could ever imagine ever happening to him.

It’s understandable that he was really shocked to know you are his. Xiao is, after all, the Conqueror Of Demons. He is more than used to being in battle, always being on high alert and ready to slash any enemy down since it isone of his duties as the Vigilant Yaksha who protects Liyue.

Xiao was very cautious around you. With your small and fragile body, he feared that even touching you was enough to kill you. The Wangshu Inn keeper had to teach him ‘how’ to hold you because Xiao’s fear of holding you might just make him stay ten feet away from you at all costs.

He watches over you from afar, always ready to strike at whatever dares to bring you harm.

Though, most of the time, the yaksha is always leaving you to Verr Goldet’s care so he can fulfill his duties. It was fine at first- Until Verr had to talk to Xiao about it. He told him that he shouldn’t be too focused on that job.

She told him the possibilities of his constant negligence of you, she told him you might grow “Deprived From Fatherly Affection”. Xiao was shocked of course, he didn’t really know that.

He felt guilty, he was so blinded by not wanting to inflict any form of harm on you, he didnt expect that it’ll inevitably lead you to growing some unwanted mindsets and habits.

Xiao isn’t really one for affection, there’s no need to explain that. Majority of his skills are more on the ‘slaughter’ and ‘exorcise’ expertise.

Regardless, he is not just a protector of Liyue now, he is a ‘father’ now. Specifically your father. This new responsibility isn’t something he will run away from.

Don’t expect much from him though. Xiao is still hesitant to some extent, he’s trying to figure out how he will interact with you.

Unlike him, you’re fragile. More fragile than glass. He’s afraid of exerting accidental force that will lead him to hurting you. You’re just too small- so small can’t even reach pass his knees(Please this yaksha is just overthinking too much)

Baby steps, that’s what he’ll do. Slow and steady so he wont be too overwhelmed.

He starts off by simply talking to you, maybe even playing with you for a bit with enough begging. Xiao slowly got used to handling you as time went by. Verr was even suprised at one point when she saw Xiao handling you during your tantrums.

Xiao made good progress with you. He didnt even know that he was unconciously getting attached to you, he didnt know that he adored your presence. He didn’t realize that he gets a little frustrated when he needs to leave you behind. Xiao developed his ‘father instincts’ to such a level to the point that he sometimes wished his Yaksha responsibilties were less demanding.

When you are trouled with nightmares- Xiao will put some stuff to wardoff evil. Though, he also heard that child mortals are more effectively comfoted if they are sung a lullaby, so he’ll do that. Just... Don’t tell anyone else or that will be your last (maybe)

The immortal sometimes even comes home with new clothes since he knew that children grow and he wouldn’t want to see you struggling with the small fit ofyour clothing. He also makes sure to put some spells on them too to ward off evil.

Xiao unconciously spoils you, his mind always drifting; ‘Maybe they’ll like something like that. Mortal children I’ve seen are fond of those stuff’. Naturally, he’ll make a way to afford that small gift for you. If he cant, then he’ll just learn how to make it himself.

He loves you, he just doesnt know how to convey that. Being an adepti, being raised as a machine for war- Love wasn’t something he is great at. But even if it’s that, he’ll still strive for you secretly. Xiao will no doubt make the most descreet efforts to adore you. He still doubts himself even after all the progress he’s made in becoming close to you.

“Silk Flowers!” You squeel in delight as you spotted a bouquet of it from afar. You dash off from Xiao’s side, making the adepti startled and call out your name.

But still you were a child, of course you just kept running and running until the ground beneath you rumbled at what seems like caused from footsteps. Your feet wobbled and almost knocked you off of your feeting. Then it stopped, a huge shadow looming over your small figure. You look up only to have the color of your face drained.

“D-Daddy!” You cried out in absolute horror, falling down to the ground. You were terrified, how could you not? Monsters were real, and one of those monsters was about to murder you in cold blood. “Daddy! Help!”

Just at the beast was about to swing it’s flaming axe towards you- The wind shifted, as if slicing through the air and knocking back the mitachurl.

“How dare such filthy demon dare to even make their presence in front of my child, let alone even dare to strike!” Xiao growled, his eyes flaming gold from raw fury as he walked with the air dancing violently around him. “ I’ll make you pay”

Xiao’s voice was flooded with resentment, his primodial jade radiated as it felt it’s master’s sudden abundance in power. He spun it as his Yaksha mask formed in his face. At the roar of the enemy, Xiao leapt forward, striking the demon in overwhelming speed. He moved so fast it’s too the point the mitachurl wasn’t given any chance to react. But was it done? No, not even a little bit. That demon frightened you to the point your voice faltered in calling him. He has seen you in tears but never to this extent. Xiao was fuming as he plunged down, his anemo spears stabbing the enemy with no hint of sympathy.

When he finally finished the kill, Xiao’s mask disintegrated and immediately walked to your crying state. He clicked his tounge, feeling a huge pang in his heart as he saw you this disheveled.

“Da-daddy!” You wailed, reaching your arms out for him desperately as your tears clouded your eyes. “Waah!”

He wanted to scold you, he really did. But the sight of you crying like this made the words stuck in his throat. Xiao instead lifted you in his arms, letting you bury your face on the crook of his neck and sob freely. You soaked his shoulder and Xiao didn’t complain, he just rubbed your back to let you know he is there.

“Does anywhere hurt?” His nonlachant voice rung in your ears softly, stealing your attention. “If there is, better tell me now or those wounds will cause further damage in you.”

“[Y-y/n] is bad.” You hicupped. “[Y/N] is so bad daddy is now ou-ouchie. Daddy now hates [Y-Y/N]”

“Hate? You mortals have odd ways of thinking” Xiao sounded a little rough, making you flinch. “Don’t be ridiculous, I would never bear such hostility towards you. Moreover, I’m not hurt. I’ve lived for thousands of years, pain is something minimal for an adepti such as myself.”

He scoffed.

“On the other hand, your life is counted by only one hand. You have yet to experience what life will truly bring you.” Xiao’s voice started to soften bit by bit as he softly squeezes your small body towards him more “However, I am your father. If darkness decides to crawl at your feet and even when you are frigthened of what’s ahead- Call out my name. I’ll always be there.”

“Da-daddy promises?” You look up to stare at his amber orb. “Daddy will make monsters go bye-bye?”

“Yes” He simply answered. “Now stop your noisy crying, we’re going back to eat.”

He appears cold, his way of talking always straight to the point, but still he loves you. Adeptus Xiao, the guardian yaksha, his power will not simply be used in order to slaughter the darkness creeping around Liyue. With his Vision and might as Alatus, the Golden-Winged King,... He will protect you at all costs and raise you no matter how he is troubled regarding his difficulty in making much of emotions.

You are one his greatest gifts, a treasure he will sincerely hold in his heart forevermore. It doesn’t matter if his karmic binds attack him, he will venture out of it for you.

A/N: AIGHHTT AAAA ITS MY FIRST TIME WRITTING FOR XIAO HNNN, Did I do good??? AAAA I DUNNO AHDKSGF. I hope you all liked it hngghhhh ;___; Also I’m sorry for being inactive a lot AAAAA, school is starting to get mre and more demanding. I have more hcs upcoming so dw! I wont end up completely turning into a dead ghost!

#genshin #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin x gender neutral reader #genshin headcanons #genshin scenarios #genshin fic #genshin imagines #genshin xiao #vigilant yaksha #xiao x reader #xiao x gender neutral reader #xiao #adeptus xiao

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