#LONG long post

[sayruq]

[SOURCE]

#yemen #jerusalem #tel aviv #current events #palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza #news on gaza #palestine news #news update #war news #war on gaza #icj hearing #icj #south africa #endisraelsgenocide #gaza genocide #long post #long long post

[rad-batson]

Damian Wayne: Figure Skater

or: Damian Wayne Fluff Because Damian Wayne Deserves Joy and Happiness <3

Damian Wayne prides himself on being good at everything he does. He never half-asses anything.

Damian has tried tons of different skills before. He’s mastered dozens of martial arts, become fluent in over thirty languages, earned several PhDs, and he’s not even a teenager yet. Why? He needs to be the best or it’s not good enough.

But there are only so many skills that give him the same joy as when he started. Studio art is his favorite and has always been a constant for him, but he’s yet to find something else. Something that truly invigorates him.

At 12, Damian watches the Winter Olympics with Dick. It’s his first ever time viewing the Olympics, and he doesn’t really know what he was expecting, but Damian is…kind of underwhelmed.

Everyone talked about how the Olympics are supposed to be this grandiose display of the world’s talents, but most of it’s pretty boring.

Curling is boring. Alpine is slow and monotonous. Bobsledding is repetitive, and sled dog racing seems unethical.

But then figure skating comes on. And Damian is captivated.

Without even realizing, he moved right in front of the television and watched an hour of figure skating uninterrupted. Dick notices and smiles.

“Aren’t they cool?” Dick asks. Damian, with his eyes still glued to the screen, nods. “Wanna go to the local rink with me and try it out? It’s even more fun than it looks.”

That pulls Damian out of his trance, and he closes himself off. “No. I don’t need to.”

He just thought it was cool, okay? And he totally doesn’t want to try it himself. And he totally isn’t worried that he won’t be good at it and fall like an idiot in front of his older brother if he does.

It’s just that…it’s so cool!!

Damian knows agility, okay? He can do flips and tricks with ease, and he knows how to do it with both grace and poise. But these people? They can do it on ice! With blades on their feet!!

OF COURSE DAMIAN WANTS TO DO COOL TRICKS WITH SHARP BLADES STRAPPED TO HIS FEET

Admittedly, he goes through a two-month-long period of pretending he isn’t dying to try it. He almost completely forgets. Then, by complete coincidence, Cass and Duke invite him to an indoor skating rink, and he caves. Maybe it’s not that hard.

Spoiler: Figure Skating is Hard

Within five seconds, he falls flat on his face. How do people do this? Cass and Duke say it’s normal, but he still refuses to leave the wall the whole time out of shame.

Once they’re home, however, Damian realizes how stupid that was. He’s Damian Wayne Al Ghul. He can’t just give up! What would the rest of his family think?! What if they go back one day, and he just falls flat on his face again? There’s no excuse the second time, and he doesn’t want the others to think he can’t do it.

So that night, he sneaks back into the rink after hours and tries again. And again. And again. And again.

On the fifth try, he is able to make it all the way around the rink. He realizes that he’s distributing his weight wrong. (Stupid mistake, of course. He’s essentially balancing on knives.) That makes it a lot easier, but he’s still flapping his arms around like a bird.

He spends two more hours improving his balance, then decides that’s good enough. He did what he came here to do, and he doesn’t need to come back.

Two days later, he comes back. (I mean, who knows? Maybe, he’s gotten better.) He didn’t, obviously. But what harm is there in spending some more time on the ice? Other than the collection of bruises he acquires.

He falls way more than he’d like to admit, but once he teaches himself how to do that safely, it’s actually kind of fun. He circles the rink countless times, figures out to start and stop (though it is admittedly a very ungraceful way of stopping.) He can even kind of control his speed.

So he’s done, right? He did it! He can now ice skate to a degree that isn’t mortifying for a beginner. He doesn’t need to come back.

The Short Program

One week and four visits later, he admits that he is hooked. He wants to see how far he can go with this. But he can’t just improve without proper guidance, so he decides to take Tim’s advice for once and use the internet.

That’s when he really starts improving. Exponentially. He pours over articles and videos and diagrams about gliding, stopping, pivots, crossovers, and finally some simple spins. Just basics, of course.

He also purchases his own pair of skates because the rental ones he’s been “borrowing” suck. And they smell. And he forges a membership card (you know, so there’s no paper trail.)

His original goal is to make it to free skate level, but once he’s there, he can’t stop. It’s just so gratifying to add another skill to his repertoire. If he can do front crossovers, then he can surely master them backward. Closed Mohawks shouldn’t be that bad if the open Mohawks were so easy. Before he knows it, he’s spending hours every week developing his skills.

After a few months, his improvement plateaus because the jumps prove difficult. He doesn’t know how to build up the speed, and his stealth and fighting techniques (which he’s been borrowing from thus far) just make him wipe out. So he works on that for a bit and tries to figure out what he’s doing wrong.

During a JL meeting, The Flash happens to mention a rogue who used to figure skate. Lisa Snart, or the Golden Glider, is a famous figure skater from the 90s, but she was kicked from the Olympic team due to her life of crime. Now, she jumps between both petty crime and vigilantism.

Damian tracks her down and claims to be researching the sport for a school assignment. Yeah, it’s a bit thin of a cover story. If she wanted to see through his lie, she’d only have to break into his school and check his teacher’s assignment book, but once he laments about how every other skater is busy, and he was so surprised to learn that she was no longer skating when she’s clearly so talented, Lisa happily tells him all of the secrets to the sport.

For a few months, he applies her techniques and even asks her to skate for him a few times, recording her from multiple angles. “I value the quality of my education,” he explains. She sees through the lie but doesn’t say anything. (And somehow, he doesn’t particularly care.)

In the coming year, Bruce notices a change in how Robin moves during patrol. If he had to describe it…well, there’s a lot more power behind his movement. He redistributes his momentum with ease, which proves extremely valuable. There’s more height to his jumps and speed in his attacks. On top of it all, he can reorient himself quicker.

Bruce praises Damian once they’re back at the cave and even allows him more freedom during missions. Damian totally doesn’t cry about it in his room.

The Free Skate

Damian refuses to let anyone watch him practice for YEARS to save his pride. I mean, yes, he’s at free skate level 5—thanks, Lisa—but he’s not at level 6 yet! And that won’t take too long, right? Maybe they can know once he’s mastered his quad axel (which is a totally doable goal. He’s not overachieving. He’s Damian Wayne Al Ghul.)

Next, he works on transitions. At first, he copies other skaters’ forms, then he slowly develops his own. It’s sharp in some ways and fluid in others like he’s been on ice his whole life but he’s got places to be.

At about 15 or 16, he invites Jon to come with him one day. He shows him “a few spins” (triple axels) and Jon immediately starts encouraging him to join some kind of showcase or competition.

Damian’s response is “No! I’m not good enough yet. I still can’t land a quad axel. That’s insulting.”

Cue Jon’s family-friendly “bitch please” face. He says, “Okay, but you need to show someone else. I can’t be the only person in the world who knows.” so they get Billy in on it.

He’s obviously good at keeping secrets, considering he hid his age and the fact he was homeless from the JL for five years.

Billy also loses his shit, but he’s more understanding about the “I don’t want to tell anyone else” thing. Thus, Jon and Billy become Damian’s cover for every time he’s caught sneaking out. (He was running out of excuses anyway.)

Bruce hears that Damian is hanging out with Jon and Billy every week, gives him a look, and tells him he’s proud that he’s making friends.

Damian nods along, thanking all the gods in Billy’s head that his secret is safe. If Bruce doesn’t have any reason to snoop, then he won’t. Simple as that. The greatest detective in the world doesn’t need to start snooping.

During the next Winter Olympics, Damian watches every single skating performance from the comfort of his room. (Tim can hear him yelling at his TV through the walls but doesn’t have the energy to question it.)

Jon and Billy are his cheerleaders. They go out for lunch then head to the rink with him and mess around while Damian practices. Sometimes, they spend all day together. Doing homework, gossiping, playing fun little games.

Damian keeps mentioning the quad axel to them until Jon looks it up and says, “Um, hey Dami? Apparently, the quad axel is like…almost physically impossible. You know that, right?“ “If Lisa Snart and Ilia Malinin can do it, so can I.” “Okay, Mr. PhD.” Still, they don’t doubt him for a second.

Damian teaches them some stuff during a public skate in Fawcett City. Jon cheats multiple times by floating a tiny bit to keep his balance. Billy falls a lot.

As much as he likes being with his friends, though, Damian finds himself skating more to clear his head rather than to improve or socialize.

When he has a bad patrol or gets into some trouble he could have avoided, he’ll sneak into the rink alone and skate for hours.

He’ll pour all of his frustration into the music and carve it out into the ice until he’s exhausted and lying down with the cold surface against his back, letting it sink some sense into him.

It’s a good outlet. Kind of like his art, but there are only so many pencils you can snap in anger before your dad cuts your art supply budget. Bruce doesn’t know about this yet.

Six months later, when Damian lands his first quad axel in front of Jon and Billy, they all scream for five consecutive minutes and celebrate with hot chocolate and sorbet.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Tim asks when he’s back home. Damian tries to hide his smile but fails spectacularly. “Oh, nothing.” He’s never had a problem with schooling his emotions before, but anything is possible now. Even a quad fucking axel.

Competition Season

During patrol one day, Dick sees Damian spinning on the roof and says, “Hey, where’d you get those sick ballet moves? Did Black Bat teach you that?” Damian immediately stops and says, “Uh yeah.” Thankfully, Dick doesn’t ask Cass to confirm.

At 17, Jason catches him sneaking out at 10 pm and unknowingly opens an entire can of worms.

Damian, too tired to make a good excuse: “I’m seeing Jon.” Jason: “Like a date?” Damian, dying inside: “…Don’t tell Baba.”

At 18, he’s able to reliably land the quad axel and do it with style. It’s almost more gratifying than punching criminals in the face. (Almost.) That’s when Jon and Billy finally bring up the idea of telling others about it.

Damian is still hesitant, but he thinks about it.

I mean, he’s made a lot of progress in six years, hasn’t he? The only other thing he’s spent so long practicing was his assassin training, then his vigilantism, and his art. But this one is special because it’s just his. (And Jon and Billy. Kinda.) And getting to show off to them is fun, especially when he perfects another element, and they got batshit crazy together over it. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Having a few more people to mess around with in the rink?

He just doesn’t know if it’ll be impressive enough. After all, his entire family is great at stuff. Bruce is the world’s greatest detective—how he hasn’t learned about this yet, Damian doesn’t know. Dick is a beyond incredible acrobat. Jason has one of the highest proficiencies in marksmanship ever. Tim is the best bo staff user on this side of the Atlantic...

...And Damian can do jumps and tricks on the ice. Wow, cool. Good job, Damian.

But then he’s twelve again. And he’s sitting in front of the TV watching Yuzuru Hanyu and Yuna Kim do triple axels, and Dick is inviting him to try it out together. And Cass and Dick are taking him to the rink because they thought it’d be fun. And Lisa is rambling about how she misses skating competitively. And Bruce is telling him he’s proud of the progress Damian’s made both inside and outside of patrol. And Tim is telling him he looks happier than usual.

He is happier.

Yeah. Maybe, they deserve to know.

He agrees to sign up for a free skate competition. But not one in Gotham. And only a small one. He wants to test out the waters first. They find one that’s a month away, and Damian signs up.

When the day comes, Damian is shaking in his skates. He did not account for a “small competition” still having over two hundred people watching. What the fuck was he thinking?

What Jon and Billy don’t tell him is that they snuck Dick into the crowd to watch. Dick has no idea what he’s doing there until he sees Damian skate out to the middle in a red and grey top with black pants and matching skates.

He performs to Beggin’ by Måneskin and starts the performance out with his quad axel.

Everyone loses their shit.

He looks so genuinely excited when he’s skating. He completely ignores the hundreds of people watching, doesn’t count points. He just jams out to the song until he’s breathless, spinning and gliding and jumping and turning to the beat, mostly showing off to Jon and Billy like he always does.

When it’s over, he just hears this massive crowd of people screaming, and then overtop of it, Dick shouts, “THAT’S MY BABY BROTHER!!” and Damian almost falls flat on his face.

Dick uses the Emergency Group Chat to send a video of Damian skating then screams into the phone to Bruce, who immediately drives out to the rink with the rest of the family, and his siblings make Damian do it over once the place is cleared out because they can’t believe they missed it.

Dick: When did you learn to figure skate?! Damian: After we watched the Olympics together. Dick: You’ve been hiding this for SIX YEARS?!?! Damian: …It looked fun.

Of course, Damian is still the son of Bruce Wayne so tabloids eat it up.

“Damian Wayne: Figure Skating Prodigy” “Wayne Prodigy Wins Gold at Regional Figure Skating Competition, Baffling Judges” “Is Damian Wayne fit to represent the US during the next Winter Olympics??”

A swarm of coaches ask Damian if he would like to skate competitively but he declines. He just likes doing it for fun.

Thankfully, the performance was recorded by the competition holders (after a suspicious request from the CEO of Wayne Enterprises last week. Wow, wonder why)

Leave it to Damian to spend his rebellious phase becoming an Olympic-level athlete.

#look at my boy #look at him go #i love him so much #this has been in my drafts for MONTHS oh god #since January I am not kidding #damian wayne #damian wayne headcanon #he's just a little guy #i would die for him #batfam #dc robin #batfamily #dc universe #dc #batman #long post #long long post #bruce wayne #dick grayson #cassandra cain #duke thomas #tim drake #jason todd #jon kent #billy batson #nightwing #black bat #damian al ghul #figure skating #the flash

[waifubuki]

#long long post #long post #kimi no koto ga daidaidaidaidaisuki na 100 nin no kanojo #hyakkano #kimi no koto ga daidaidaidaidaisuki na 100 nin no kanojo cap #this girl

[dizzyduck44]

Time to start unpacking my thoughts following Brazil. Let’s start with Charles.

Seeing Red 🏎

Let me start this by saying since 2020/2021 I have been a firm believer there were 4 World Champions on the grid, Lewis, Seb, Fernando and Kimi and 4 future World Champions in Max, Charles, George and Lando.

I can vividly remember watching Max in those first couple of seasons. Impulsive, reckless, but quick and flashes of the amazing talent that was to come. I can remember telling people Max was a future World Champion in the making and getting laughed at.

Similarly with Charles. That first half of his season was standard rookie fare, accidents, mistakes and almosts. The second half, oh wow! The talent was clear for everyone to see. By summer we were debating which former World Champion was being ousted from Ferrari as there was no way he wasn’t driving for them next season.

As all this was going down George and Lando were around the paddock. Already familiar faces at Mercedes and McLaren. They burst into F1 in 2019 and I still remember the first time Lando caught my attention. Qualifying 8th in his first race in a car I had been likening to a milk float for the last 4 seasons.

All 4 had arrived to their F1 seat with a tide behind them. The whisperings from a young age “this one is special”. They arrived with 4 of the biggest teams in the paddock backing them. This was the future of F1. Bring it on!!

Fast forward to 2023. Max is a three time World Champion. The man looks the finished article.

Lando has slowly but steadily embedding himself into the top 5 drivers of the season year in year out, his faith in McLaren is coming good and he is one of the most exciting drivers to watch of a weekend.

George learnt his trade at Williams, gained the respect of the grid so much they made him GPDA rep and got his much deserved move to Mercedes. It’s not been the easiest time and he has annoyed a lot of fans along the way but he still finds himself towards the front of the grid most weekends in a team of champions. Maybe he overthinks his races, but he never stops trying.

Then there is Charles. I think Charles is the most natural god given talent of the 4. Where the others have had to learn, it seems as natural as breathing to him. In equal machinery, he is the fastest, there is no doubt in my mind. 21 poles say it all. Over one lap, he is a demon.

Yes Charles is all emotion and sometimes his desire to succeed hinders him, sometimes it gives him the edge. He is the driver that I have been least shocked to see him bin it and the one who has gobsmacked me most often with his talent.

That aside, realistically Charles should be knocking on the door of that World Championship by now. As much as I’m loving seeing Lando be Max’s shadow, I can’t be alone in my shock it’s not Charles?

For all his faults, how many points have Ferrari and their incompetence taken from him? I’ve lost track of the awful strategy calls, the bad pit stops, the car taking itself to the shadow realm when we least expect it.

I’m a McLaren girly but I know I’m not alone in the heartbreak of watching Charles hit the barrier on the formation lap. He doesn’t deserve this!

Charles has the talent no question. It’s being wasted at Ferrari, by Ferrari themselves. It’s maddening because I want what’s best for this sport and Charles able to drive to his natural talent and ability is what is best for the sport. This is the first season I’ve questioned is he one of the best 5 drivers on the grid.

The troubling thing for Charles now is the numbers are 3 World Champions on the grid Lewis, Fernando and Max and still 4 World Champions in the making, as hello Oscar 👋. Oscar is showing that same natural talent Charles did in his rookie season. Even more troubling, Lando looks to be the one banging on the door of a Championship. The last 6 races have shown he’s ready but more importantly, so are McLaren.

I’m not sure what will happen if Lando, George or god forbid Oscar get there first. The pain for Charles will be unbearable and too cruel.

It’s that bad already a McLaren fan is writing essays about Charles.

#charles leclerc #long long post #sorry rant over #scuderia ferrari #f1 #formula one #formula 1 #f1blr #max verstappen #lando norris #george russell #oscar piastri

[thebrightestlodge]

I'm currently watching Mandy because I recall you really liked it, and it's so cool to recognize so many details I find in your art and Godcleaver! It makes it even more interesting! If you feel inspired to say some things that you found particularly inspiring, I do want to hear! But you don't have to! I just wanted to thank you for making me discover this movie!

I must warn, it isn't even a "I really like it". It's a "rewired me on a level to the point of it's jsut my world". I'm glad it can be recognized as a huge influence! It's my fav movie so it's very near and dear to me, I have two old art pieces for it I did even (I might recolour the first pic and redraw the second). I'm glad you discovered it! It's really underrated for sure.

As for inspiration? Putting it under a read more because it will be insanely rambling and spoilers but know this is like ...a movie that is so important to me and IS me

There's a lot to the film that really speaks to what you see in my art. Music being it's own breathing heaving beast, a silent participant in the plot. The use of violent visceral colours like I'm staring at a bruise under blacklight that scratches such specific parts of the brain that frames this in an alien way, even if it's "the real world". Characters not being bad got being rightously angry and it drives them to the point of frenzy.

Dead wife/sad man stories are incredibly boring but something about this really spins the framing to the point I wouldn't even say it's one of those movies. Mandy is so fleshed out and important. We know who she is, we know she's had an incredibly horrible life before we met her/she met Red, but even with it, we see the sort of quiet cool person she is. She's someone we want to know. Dead partners in movies are so bland that we really in a way can't figure why we want to avenge them. We FEEL for her, we know who she is so the weight of her dead hits harder than anything. The death scene is incredible too, where it's jsut the throbbing synth, no sounds beyond that. We the the sleeping bag shaking and thrashing and we know what's happening, but nothing is ever exploitative on her part. We view the scene through the spectators and all their winding emotions, from Red's horror, the cultist's glee, the young girl, and Jeremiah's silent anguish and hate.

Mandy's dream sequence and the scene of ehr and Red talking of the starlings, another visit into these characters worlds, says so much without forcing a backstory. Red is almost an interesting foil here. We have just enought to figure what sort of character he is. He maybe was military/para-military and he has a drinking issue (by the scenes of him refusing a beer and him looking in the bathroom for a secret vodka bottle). He's a blank enough slate though that it let's us get to be the ones to experience Mandy. He truly loves and cares for her and we get to feel it because in how he is written and how scenes between them are shot, we ARE Red, with our own issues brought in.

Now to the meat of this situation. Mandy's death really is what makes the movie special because in how it's written and even stated by Panos Cosmatos himself, she IS the film. When Mandy dies, we no longer exist in our world. Mandy has moved into a another plane. She is Galactus and has devoured our world and we live in hers. The movie's sharp grinding as we start to peak into the phantasmagorical horror shifts because Mandy is being affected. When she gets high, everything is warped. When she dies, plots are set in motion.

My aggressive belief is when Red tastes the Biker's swill, Mandy takes him over. Not to say Red wasn't first motivated in revenge! He's the one to seek out his old friend and his weapon, he forges The Beast, he drives out to fight the bikers. We see though in the face of all this, he's jsut so emotional about it. His haunting response after Mandy dies, stumbling into the house and then the howling and chugging in the bathroom. When he's chained up and nailed to the floor in the house the bikers take over, he's jsut sobbing. Even fighting those two bikers, he all mania and emotion tearing them up. The moment he tastes the swill though? Something shifts. When he faces the main biker, there's no emotion, jsut quiet stalking, until the mention of "SHE'S ...STILL ...BURNING!"

Theory continues, we see Mandy in visions from Red, these nightmare shots of her rotting away, her adrift in the lake we see them in in the beginning, and extracting a jewel from an animal's corpse. It's like she speaks from whatever void she has now taken. The book Mandy reads is made for the movie, BUT I managed to track the fake cover. A story of a man stealing the power of witches stolen from a she-wyrm. A lone female warrior trudges to stop him. Fits the theory enough. When Red finds the Chemist, inferred to the the creator of the sludge, the way he speaks to Red is interesting. We don't have enough fo Red's character to know, but we have enough of Mandy's to make this scene interesting.

Chemist: Jovan Warrior, sent forth from the eye of the storm

-Mandy mentions in the beginning of her favourite planet being Jupiter, especially because of the eternal storms. Jove was one of the many names of the Roman god Jupiter.

Chemist: Oh man, they wronged you! Why they gotta be like that? You exude a cosmic darkness ...

-This is definitely inference because, as said, it's not like Red can't experience this, but it's so pointed. Mandy, destroyed by this cult that saw something in her, and the starling story, and the dream of the dead deer fetus. Something in her sits, dark and heavy, like the music tracks.

Red does not speak this whole time, but the Chemist talks as if there's conversation. The Chemist, so shot into another existence, maybe he IS talking with Mandy, on another level we can't comprehend. He sees the folding of worlds

When we go to find the cultists, another interesting thing comes up. The one cultist who never really comes off as feeling purposeful and involved is the young girl. The one who is willing to let Jeremiah blow her head off, the one he calls for after being upset about seeing Mandy. When Red kills Swan, the girl just watches. Mandy did see her there and maybe a kindred spirit of sorts, two people violently affected by events then and now in their lives. Maybe it's because she wasn't as malicious, who knows. Maybe it's Mandy who spares.

And finally, the last confrontation ...

In a way, I think Mandy killed Jeremiah first. His seduction and obsession, trying to impress her. Mandy is sent ROCKETING with how high she is and the scene where he speaks with ehr, their faces constantly melded, some sort of different thing is happening. Sure it's style for the movie and perhaps I can't put into words, but "You're a special one, Mandy" has meaning here. When he finally sheds his coat and is front of her, naked and showing her whatever he thinks passes for the divine, she laughs. It's a chuckle into a laugh into a cackling furious howl, ebcause we're seeing she's knowing she's pissing him off ow. This moment, he's crushed in front of his constant followers. He's embarrassed. In the spirit, I think he dies here, it's the first time someone tells him no and ridicules him.

In our final confrontation, it's the first time since the sludge, we hear him speak. A garbled, laid-over second voice

"The psychotic drowns ...while the mystic swims ...

You're drowning. I'm swimming."

When ahd our last Mandy dream already happen. Mandy taking a jewel from some great beast. This is the final act of revenge, killing the last monster. Jeremiah's desperation to make it up, but there's no emotion facing this, no mania or sadness. Red crushes his head, the garbling speaking

"I am your god now"

The movie ends with Red driving off. We see Mandy next to him in the Camaro and we see a vision. A shot of teh first time they met. And with all we know and all we've seen, this is finally the end. The manic iconic grin of Red looking to her as we driveoff into this alien fantasy landscape. The final bit of the film stating they are reborn into this carnal new world. They become one here finally.

And I mean, you can add your trans narratives in here, or even just state they are trans. Something about the total take of bodies, two sharing in one body, being whatever you choose to headcanon them as. I don't remember the thoughts I had on this, will edit when I remember, but I think it's a very trans film.

We're swallowed into this world of Mandy's. I know Red wears the Tiger shirt but I think Lizzie represents Mandy more. The tiger set loose into the Pacific Northwest is jsut what it is. We're watching her and Red's love become one huge angry beast, their love isn't corrupted. A frenzy and compassion and caring between two broken people that becomes so ravenous after this trauma, it takes chunks out of this world and rebuilds it, sharpens its fangs so it can devour the violators who encroached. A winding grizzled thing that pulses like the beatof the soundtrack. I jsut think it's a cool movie, sorry for any tangents or my being incoherent when talking about it.

Stream this, sound of the summer

#Long long post #ask #my art #my beloved #head trauma

[daenerysoftarth]

imo alicent had a traumatic birth with helaena (in the show at least)

in episode 3, we see her holding aegon and playing with him, and she seems genuinely happy in all these scenes. she obviously loves her son, and he seems like a happy little boy. later in the same episode, on the way to the stag hunting trip, alicent says to rhaenyra that having kids “isn’t that hard” while referring to little aegon ii. this moment was obviously in part used to indicate the extreme class divide in feudalist societies, as the facial expressions of the two silent, nameless nannies betray that this is not an easy task.

(which is troubling in itself wrt her relationship with parenting, because it indicates that the servants are dealing with the primary child rearing tasks (esp the difficult ones) because the mother can not or perhaps doesn’t know how. after all, alicent was—what?—15 when she got pregnant with aegon. at most she would’ve been 16 years old when she gave birth to him, without a mother figure or any sisters, with only her emotionless pimp of a father as close family (she has brothers but presumably they’re in oldtown seeing as we never see them past episode 1) realistically she probably had no clue how to take care of a baby. it doesn’t seem like something noblewomen are educated on at all, or at least it’s not mentioned anywhere in the series)

however, iirc, the next time we see alicent interacting with her kids is in the scene where she is rocking baby helaena while she screams in misery, looking completely disassociated from the moment. the same in the scene after, except this time we also see a nanny waiting anxiously in the wings to help. the nanny seems to be restraining herself from jumping in to soothe helaena. maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I think alicent picked up on the servants’ underlying judgement and perhaps forced herself to be a more ‘involved’ parent who directly cares for her child instead of offloading it to servants.

certainly, she does not seem to be having fun with motherhood anymore (if you can say she ever was truly having fun). in pretty much every scene with baby helaena, she looks utterly miserable and despondent. perhaps the honeymoon period of her marriage and becoming queen was over, and now the true trauma and reality of her life as a child bride was settling in. perhaps helaena’s birth was particularly traumatic, or she simply was a colicky baby which caused an enormous strain. either way, alicent seems to struggle to connect with helaena specifically, who is coded as autistic imho. (side note: colic has been linked to autism in infants, and is thought to be a possible early symptom by some researchers.) the reality of caring for a disabled child plus recovering from a possible traumatic birth would certainly change your outlook on motherhood. no longer is being a parent fun or a part time gig, but rather her duty. this could be the time period when alicent started to become more severe in her beliefs on family and sacrifice, as she struggles under the strain of supporting her children

comparatively, I like to believe that aemond was a comparatively easy birth and weak baby. he was quiet and still and the maesters worried if he would last that first night. and ofc alicent would refuse to let go of him, refuse to give him to anyone else. she prayed to the seven gods to just give him one more day. sobbed and cried and prayed. and little by little, he does get stronger, he does improve. by the end of the month he’s a normal healthy baby if a little on the quiet side. I think this experience is probably what made her so devout to the Seven, as she credits them with saving her son’s life. and as a side effect of aemond getting healthy, she once again finds joy in parenting after a long and dark period of her life when she felt most alone.

after all, alicent discovered her pregnancy with aemond after rhaenyra lied to alicent in the godswood, which alicent viewed as an irreparable rupture of their relationship. in addition to this, she was on her own in King’s Landing and without her father for the first time in her life. she probably felt utterly adrift and alone and was verging on losing all hope when she gave birth. to tell you the truth, she had made her peace with dying during aemond’s birth, and she decided that perhaps living wasn’t worth much anyways. but then when that little baby came out, small as her hand and blue, she was gripped with a terror that wrenched the despair out of her. it’s only after he got healthy that she even noticed it was gone. she credits aemond with saving her life, and as a result he has always been her not-so-secret favorite

#long long post #helaena targaryen #alicent hightower #aegon ii targaryen #aemond targaryen #asoiaf #hotd #my posts #house of the dragon #house targaryen

[thunderingblacksteel]

Leon Cromwell and Guy Crimson's Meeting (3/3)

#That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime #Taiki Kawakami #manga #long long post #long post #Walpurgis Nocht #Walpurgis Nocht Council #Leon Cromwell #Guy Crimson #Veldora Tempest #Velzard #Velzard the Ice Dragon #Ramiris #Rimuru Tempest

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Dark Forest Resident: Cliffprance

Aliases / Nicknames: Cliff, Clifffoot

Gender: tom

Sexuality: grey-pansexual, demiromantic

Family: Pebble (mother), Flail (father), Shellsmoke (mate), Redpoppy, Icykit (daughters), Croakpaw, Junipercloud (sons), Roachfreckle (mate, formerly)

Other Relations: Bluemouse (mentor), Dappledlight (wet nurse)

Clan: ThunderClan (formerly), WindClan (formerly)

Rank: rogue (at death)

Characteristics: curious, easily amused, likes telling stories (formerly), cold, emotionless, prefers silence, likes being left alone (currently), bossy, has constant joint pain

Murder Motive: vengeance

Number of Victims: 23

Number of Murders: 19

Murder Method: leading into wars, tricking into wars, have other cats fight for him

Known Victims: Dappledlight, Galepaw (accidently), Agavepaw, Roachfreckle, Flail (indirectly), unnamed foster sister, unnamed warriors, unnamed kits, unnamed apprentices, unnamed elders

Victim Profile: Clan cats [WindClan, ThunderClan], rogues

Cause of Death: redcough

Cautionary Tale: The kit rejected by the Clan will be the one to burn it down.

Story: 

It is a long told saying, passed from mother to kit, father to brother, or mentor to apprentice. As generations passed, it became unclear of its origins. Did it start with Cliffprance? Or had his story simply been a result of the cats in his life neglecting to heed its warning:

The kit rejected by the Clan will be the one to burn it down.

Anyone who had met the tom when he was just a kit had been horrified to see the monster he had became, and anyone who had suffered in his reign of terror would refuse to believe that even he had once been an innocent, sweet kit.

In fact, many point to his very first murder, committed when he was only six moons old.

Cliffkit and his father, Flail, were welcomed into the Clan after he had just been born. His mother died while kitting, and between being unable to take care of him on his own and the rising aggression in the other loners, Flail had no other choice but to seek help.

The Clan was strongly against outsiders, but turning them away would go against the code. Flail was determined to prove himself and his son, which meant that he spent most of his time out of the camp to hunt, patrol, or gather supplies. Cliffkit, meanwhile, spent most of his time with Dappledlight, the queen that reluctantly and begrudgingly nursed him.

She was not his true mother, blood or adoptive or anything else, and she was keen to make sure he remembered that. She would growl and push him away if she thought that he was drinking too much milk so that her own kits would have enough, and she would make him sleep in another nest because she didn't want his loner-sickness spreading to her litter, only allowing him to sleep beside them when the nights were especially cold, though that was only because she got in trouble for neglecting his health when he caught whitecough.

Cliffkit was able to make friends in spite of this, and, surprisingly, his days in the nursery were the best he would experience in his entire life. Maybe if things had gone differently, if he hadn't made that one mistake that would lead him to a dark and bloody path, everything would have been better.

Perhaps it would have been better if it was his blood that spilled.

Cliffpaw didn't mean to do it. He and Galepaw were best friends! They had been excited to train together....but then Cliffpaw's muscles began to spasm. He knew what was happening, but he couldn't control it. His legged kicked out--

Cliffpaw only had a moment to stare in shock, horror, and dispair before Galepaw's mentor, Harefern, tackled him to the ground, hissing angrily in his face words that Cliffpaw's mind was racing too fast to understand, clawing at his pelt before Cliffpaw's own mentor finally bothered to pull him off.

He was shunned after that.

Cliffpaw's nest was pushed closest to the entrance, far from the others. Bluemouse, his mentor and Dappledlight's mate, hardly allowed him to train with the others following the incident, and on the rare chance that he did train with another apprentice, his once-friends would call him a murderer, and state that they didn't want to be killed as well.

Had they ever loved him?

Was his kithood filled with lies?

They now treated him the same way as the warriors did, if not worse. They spit awful words in his ears and poked fun at his lack of Clan heritage. Cliffpaw couldn't stop himself from wondering if they had always held these thoughts toward him...if they only bothered to be nice because Galepaw was nice to him. Now Galepaw was dead, because of him....

He tried to explain to them, to his mentor, the leader, anyone, that it had been an accident, that his muscles shake sometimes and he couldn't control it. But they pointed out that Bluemouse and Harefern would never had allowed the battle training to continue if that were the case, and neither mentor stepped in to corroborate his story, two worried for their own backs, because yes, of course they would have stopped the fight.

Bluemouse's lessons grew more violent. He had been assigned as Cliffpaw's mentor because of his strong prejudice towards outsiders. Duskstar had said that it was because Bluemouse would push him the hardest. Cliffpaw would later believe that that was just an excuse to allow one of his warriors to beat up the useless loner-blood.

The worst was when Cliffpaw began to spasm again. Whether they lasted seconds or longer, Bluemouse would kick at him with his claws unsheathed, demanding he cut it out.

Cliffpaw would beg Flail several times to leave. Though Flail loved his son and tried to protect him, he said that since they joined the Clan, rogues had entered the territories around the Clan, and that it was safer here than anywhere else.

Shortly after their conversation, Agavepaw offered Cliffpaw extra lessons. Cliffpaw happily agreed, all too eager for a friend. But when the two were alone, Agavepaw accused Cliffpaw of being part of the rogue gang, being sent here as a spy.

Cliffpaw was startled, and nothing he said could reason with her, not when her grief for her father--killed recently by the rogues--blinded her to his innocence. She leaped, bit and clawed--he had no choice. He was only defending himself.

Their words rang in his head.

Murderer!

Rogue scum!

Monster!

Killer!

Were they right? He was a killer...he killed two cats....he was a murderer.

But there was another voice, a burning flame that turned his tears to ashes.

They deserved it.

He dragged the body back to camp, explaining that they were attacked by one of the rogues. More than a few cats were skeptical, but it made enough sense for them to believe his story.

That didn't make things any easier for him. The apprentices hated him now more than ever. They refused to speak to him, to so much as eat near him.

The first was an accident.

The second was in defense.

But the third would be when his murderous deeds became fully and utterly intentional.

Bluemouse took him on a solo border patrol. There was nothing out of the ordinary about that, Bluemouse rarely allowed him to patrol or train with others, stating that he didn't want his foul stench to stain anyone.

They spotted a squirrel in a thin, flimsy tree. Bluemouse ordered Cliffpaw to go after it. Cliffpaw didn't protest--he had learned by now that it only lead to him being cuffed around the ear, or worse. His body weight caused the branches to bend dangerously, and his heart had raced--but when a yowl split the air, he realized he was lucky to be in the leaves.

He watched as three rogues attacked Bluemouse, pulling at him and slicing at his fur. They were clearly having fun as they bit, jumped away to avoid Bluemouse's swinging paw, and jumped back to bite him again.

Cliffpaw's alarm melted into dark pleasure. His heart was still racing, but differently now. It pounded in a way he never wanted to end, the thrill at seeing Bluemouse's pelt be torn to shreds bit by bit, the satisfaction as his angry growls became painful whimpers...Cliffpaw wished the show would never end.

When the rogues were long gone, he left the tree, gazed happily at Bluemouse's corpse, and trotted back to camp. His story this time was that Bluemouse got tired with him and sent him back to camp early. Since that already happened many times in the past moons, no one batted an eye.

Cliffpaw's apprenticeship had already been extended two moons for Galepaw's death, and now with his mentor dead, Duskstar saw no point to letting it go on any further. He named Cliffpaw Clifffoot. Of course he did. Even with Bluemouse gone, Cliffpaw couldn't forget.

The cheers of the crowd were low and half-hearted, all but Flail's, who shouted it to the Stars.

Clifffoot tried not to care. He didn't need them. They were too weak for him. But though the darkness had gripped its ugly claws in his heart, it still ached to belong, to be loved, to just have one friend that wasn't his father.

After his vigil, he spent the day curled alone in his nest and crying into his paws.

Whenever his emotions were especially getting to him, he would send silent prayers to his mother. He had never been able to meet Pebble, but Flail had talked about her often enough for Clifffoot to picture her perfectly in his mind. From there, his imagination built her more and more, as he pretended she was curled around him or watching him play so that he had someone other than his father to talk to.

That day was no different. Alone in the den, his shaking voice called to her, begging for her forgiveness as he cried that he didn't want to be a monster. He begged her to take him from this place, something he had begged of her many times in his kithood, when he pretended that someone was curled around him in the nursery. But like all the times before, there was nothing but silence.

He was dumbfounded when Shellsmoke, a pretty she-cat, confessed her feelings for him. He had thought that everyone in the Clan either hated him or tolerated him, so he met Shellsmoke's words with skepticism.

But the more time they spent together, the more open he became. It took a moon, but finally Clifffoot was able to realize and accept that he loved someone and someone loved him.

Someone loved him!

Curse StarClan for taking that away.

Moments before a rainstorm broke, a patrol returned with her bloodied body, stating that rogues had attacked and killed her.

Dappledlight spoke up first, voicing her doubts of Flail's innocence--who had been on the patrol. After all, everything had been fine until 'those two' arrived, then suddenly cats were dying like flies and rogues were getting bolder.

Her words were quickly joined by her remaining kits, Clifffoot's once-friends who now demanded he be exiled into the unknown.

With so many warriors against them, Duskstar listened and sent the father and son into exile.

Flail was determined to keep his spirits high. He told Clifffoot not to blame the Clan, that they were scared and needed someone to blame. Clifffoot didn't listen, too bitter to. He didn't even get a chance to grieve for his mate before he was kicked out just because of his origin.

Flail began to say something else dull and supposedly encouraging again when the pair were jumped. They hissed and clawed at the rogues, and when they were shoved to the ground, the weights were lifted and they found themselves facing Clan cats. Different Clan cats.

Flail thanked them, and right when he was about to introduce them, Clifffoot stepped in and announced them both as kind loners--Flail and Cliff--looking for shelter from the rogues.

Flail privately questioned him after they were welcomed, but Cliff figured that they wouldn't have as high a chance if they told them the truth. How would they explain why they were exiled, and how could they prove their innocence?

It was only luck that Duskstar decided to keep the loners a secret from the other Clans, and that the rain had washed most of the Clan-scent from their fur.

All was peaceful, at least on the surface.

Cliff's Clanmates were warmer, though still wary due to the rogue attacks. They were still willing to share prey and a den, and when they patrolled with him, they were more than happy to engage in small talk. One of the cats, Roachfreckle, even asked him to be her mate! He agreed, only to keep up the appearance of a trusted Clanmate. One of them.

But he wasn't. He spent too many seasons having that lesson beaten into him.

It could have been a second chance for Cliff to finally live happily.

But it all came too late.

He was denied a mother that loved him.

He was denied a mentor that didn't take every opportunity to beat him.

He was denied littermates, blood or otherwise, that cared for him.

He was denied friends.

Even before he was born, he was denied health.

And when he finally found love, it was struck down from him and he was kicked out of his and his father's home.

Cliff couldn't easily forget.

He couldn't easily forgive.

All his life, he was pushed and pushed and pushed, each shove adding a sliver of ice to his heart. There was no longer warmth, no longer affection, and there was not a single trace of the gentle kit he had once been. It was all frozen, forgotten and buried, and there was nothing left but bitter resentment--resentment for his old Clanmates, resentment for the rogues that first caused their distrust, even resentment for the Clanmates he had now, and for his father that hadn't even noticed how much pain his son had suffered. They were all worthless, and they all deserved to die.

It was the only logical next step, wasn't it? After all, he was already a murderer in seemingly everyone's eyes.

He didn't care if he was killed, and that kept fear at bay. It was why he could take some extra prey from the pile late at night, when he was the only one awake--sitting guard.

With no terror against the rogues and what they could do, he walked through the moors unbothered until he came across a scent trail. He followed it, growing larger and larger until cats sprang out and demanded what he was doing so close to their home.

Cliffprance spat what he carried to the ground and offered them the food.

While they eagerly ate, Cliffprance noticed how skinny they were. Bones with a veil named 'cat.' It was no wonder they were crossing over the borders. They must have been starving!

Cliffprance tried not to show his delight at seeing their suffering. He hated the rogues just as much as the Clan cats.

The leader of the small group introduced himself as Domino, and questioned Cliffprance's reasoning for helping them. Cliffprance told them the truth, part of it at least. He told them that his parents had been starving just as they were, and that he, too, suffered by the Clans' cruelty.

The more they talked, the more he learned.

As far as these rogues--'loners' they called themselves--knew, they only tried to hunt, but anywhere there was plentiful food, there were Clan cats who chased them away. Of course, some of the loners became aggressive. Wouldn't anyone who was desperate to eat? And with more cats becoming aggressive, less Clan cats were tolerant of the remaining loners.

Cliffprance offered them help.

He would be their 'saviour.'

He snuck out food to them once a day, whenever he could sneak out. With that, he gained their trust. More and more cats heard about the generous Clan cat offering meals, and more and more cats trusted him with their lives.

He spent moons feeding them, talking to them like they were buddies, and soon enough, training them to fight. You know, in case those Clan cats give them trouble.

Slowly, he planted the seeds.

First it was just a thought, a joke, a random thing. "I wonder why Clan cats think they're so much better than everyone else. Can't they see others are starving?"

Then it was feeding their resentment. "I can't believe anyone would turn their backs on those that need help! How cruel can they be?"

Then it was hypothetical. "What would you do if you could say something to a Clan cat, other than me?" "What would you do if you could take vengeance?"

Then it became planning.

But while the gears were still turning, voices became doubtful. Domino was the most loud of them all.

Cliffprance had to show them that harming the Clan cats was the only way, while squashing all doubt.

He acted distressed when he returned to them one day with food and they told him that Domino had been killed by the Clan! They had found him with his throat slit, a mouse in his jaws. He only wanted to feed them--there weren't even any signs of a fight! They just jumped him without warning him or chasing him off! They wanted him dead!

Things became incredibly easier after that. Moons of being chased away from good food that they desperately needing, of being torn into for 'trespassing,' and now for being killed, all for being different than a precious Clan cat made all of the loners, rogues, whatever, willing to follow whatever Cliffprance said that they needed to do in order to serve justice.

He didn't want to attack all at once. Instead, he lead the occasional patrol in a certain direction, and would return home panting and distressed that the rogues! The rogues had attacked them!

Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to lead all of the patrols that died. Sometimes, he happened to be out at the same time and told them of this great place for hunting he found the other day.

It was only after two and a half--the final patrol was just two cats--were killed that Featherstar declared that no cat should leave the camp unless accompanied by four of their Clanmates. Cliffprance figured that that was a good enough time to strike.

He lead the rogues under cover of darkness, their scent hidden by the lavender fields they rolled in.

Cliffprance took out the guard before she could raise the alarm, his identity as a fellow Clanmate allowing him to get close enough before she realized something was wrong.

Every den was attacked. The warriors, the elders, the medicine cat, the queens and even their kits were thrown into the fight.

If there was one thing that Cliffprance had convinced the rogues of, it was this:

the Clans had to be culled.

Flail had looked at his son with such horror, begging, asking why he was doing this.

Cliffprance only stared at him coldly, maintaining unblinking eye-contact as Flail was jumped.

Then, when he was satisfied with the damage--he yowled into the air. "ThunderClan! Retreat!"

The trick had worked.

After they had rolled in lavender, the rogues caked themselves completely in mud. Their scent had been disguised and so too their appearance. Cliffprance had given them the names of his old Clanmates to use during the attack. "Duskstar, over here!" one cat would say to another.

WindClan had believed that Cliffprance--and possibly Flail--were traitors all along, sent by ThunderClan to infiltrate them. The irony. That's just what ThunderClan used to think of them.

Cliffprance only had to sit back and watch gleefully as WindClan and ThunderClan tore each other apart.

He returned to the ThunderClan camp one day, while most of the warriors were away in one of the many battles. Any remaining cats that tried to force him away were easily beaten by the five rogues that accompanied him.

Cliffprance followed Dappledlight's scent and found her, amazingly, in the nursery. But she wasn't the one that had had kits. No, the vile she-cat was an elder now and merely visiting her daughter, one of Cliffprance's foster-littermates-turned bully.

Cliffprance didn't do the killing himself just yet. No, he sat back, wanting to watch the carnage as well as the horror on both she-cats faces as the rogues did what had to be done to their kits. Only after bathing in the cries of their anguish did Cliffprance rise to silence them.

Now both Clans knew of Cliffprance's horrid actions. Both knew he was a monster--not the kind they imagined him to be. No, he was much, much worse.

But the battles would continue a while longer before either Clan figured the connection and realized that they had been tricked. Knowing now that they had a common enemy, they joined forced against the rogues.

But by then Cliffprance had already left.

He knew what was going to happen--he had known since the beginning, and he smiled as he walked as yowls rang out in the distant air.

All it took was a little bit of manipulation and he had started a war. Two, in fact, depending on how long the rogues lasted.

It was the fault of those filthy rogues that had ThunderClan distrust Cliffprance so much, and it was ThunderClan that had treated him like filth most of his life.

He only had to be friendly with one before he he got them to kill each other.

He knew that ThunderClan would live on, and so would WindClan--though with much smaller numbers. The rogues were more of a mystery, but he guessed one or two may live.

There was one thing that was certain:

they would not forget him anytime soon.

Additional Information: 

--Cliffprance was a cat collectively created by many of us! Together, we designed him in Clangen and gave him his conditions, and decided via poll the range of his victim number. I decided to specify his story using some ideas from things that happened in Clangen.

These things include his father's name, becoming mates with the two named, and dying as Clifffoot (and me reviving him as Cliffprance and writing it as him being exiled and finding a new name that way).

You can see who did what here

--Base: Full Reference Cat FTU Base by Naxolite on DeviantArt

Yes I realized I messed up his foot placement on the refs.

--It doesn't show too much on these refs but he is a longhair!

--It didn't make it into the story because I couldn't find a spot that flowed right, but Cliffprance lost his paw in a training accident by a twoleg trap. Bluemouse likely left him there.

--I might explain it in a more detailed post, but basically some loners became more aggressive as they became more desperate. One accidently killed a Clan cat, causing many ThunderClan cats to hate them and become more violent when they chased them off, in turn causing the rogues to become more violent against them.

I might also make a thing where the ThunderClan cat was actually murdered and it was pinned on the rogues?

--While ThunderClan did majorly suck in not noticing Cliff's pain and not stepping in, many of them did not hate Cliffprance as much as he believed they did. But who could blame him for thinking what he did?

--Roachfreckle either died in the ambush or in one of the battles against ThunderClan.

#long post #long long post #super long post #cliffprance #wc loners #wc rogues #thunderclan #windclan #abuse tw #abuse mention #othering #child murder #kit death #wc #warriors oc #warrior cats oc #warriors #warrior cats #warriors horror #kinda? #dark forest profile #dark forest resident #dark forest oc #dark forest character #dark forest warrior #place of no stars #place of no stars oc #thunderclan oc #windclan oc #clangen

[jaqobis]

okay, it’s time for me to sort out my thoughts about AMOL and this part of the series.

i’ve gone ahead and tagged this with the warning that there’s going to be negativity about sanderson’s choices in here. if you really enjoyed how he approached the last three books, full respect, but this post probably isn’t for you! skdjfkl i might be warning too much, but as i’ve said before i usually prefer to focus on what i did like for these wot read posts so this is a divergence for me!

in short: a lot of these last three books, especially the things we know sanderson did wholecloth, really didn’t work for me. 

rj had his flaws, for sure. but wow these last three felt like they hated women so much! aes sedai are suddenly weaker without warders for some reason, gawyn’s lecturing egwene on how it’s the WORLD’S business if aes sedai refuse warders and let themselves be ~ vulnerable ~ in that way has the same vibes as bashere asserting that andor DESERVES to know whose babies elayne is carrying! the only time elayne is specifically threatened with (pretty graphic) violence against her as a pregnant woman is by mellor in AMOL. her kidnapping in KoD, in contrast, was written the same way as anything before she got pregnant. cadsuane, who is defined by her inability to be cowed by rand, is now frightened by him multiple times and/or the target of put-downs by rand. which feels a lot like Putting Her In Her Place. 

like i do genuinely like egwene/gawyn but the framing in TOM that he was right and she was wrong about her needing him (as a warder incidentally), together with her conflict with rand (more on that in a moment) is pretty bad actually! i have no problem with her disagreeing with rand — he literally waltzed in, said he’d break the seals, and left — but taking rj’s notes that say “rand and egwene will fight” and basically making it a situation where rand is right and egwene is wrong sure is a choice. her entire death feels nonsensical because as cool as parts of the scene are, it’s premised on the forsaken suddenly not being afraid of using balefire anymore — not even that, on them spamming the weave like there’s no tomorrow, when we have 11 prior books of material that they use it sparingly if at all because of horrors they witnessed in the war of power. don’t get me going on perrin going “it’s just a weave” and being the dream person now while egwene regresses in her TAR abilities for no reason.

i do not care about androl. tbh i ran out of the ability to care about new characters by the time the sea folk arrived on the scene, so this isn’t entirely a problem i have with sanderson. but androl ate up a LOT of screentime in AMOL specifically when i would’ve rather spent that time with established characters and getting some of the reunions that we did...not get. his ability with gateways also breaks all previously established gateways lore, but frankly just about every use of gateways in AMOL does.

one of my BIGGEST problems is a thematic mismatch between the rj and sanderson books; the rj books are heavy on war as horror, violence as terrible, and delving into the psychological fallout of that and other traumatic events on the characters. in the sandersons everyone’s body counts rise dramatically and fantasy war treated as cool, some parts of the violence as justified, and the good guy characters read kinda bloodthirstier. i think it’s really notable that rand spends all of the path of daggers on a military campaign but the battles are almost never onscreen, we most live in the aftermath and the in-between, whereas AMOL is like 80% battles. this isn’t a thing i’m here to moralize about, just that it’s a pretty jarring change after reading 11 books in a series with themes pointing one way, only for them to go another way at the end.

relatedly: i really wanted to like darth rand, before i got there. i was pretty puzzled when i got up to KoD with no sith behavior; i hadn’t realized until then that darth rand is a one-book wonder. still, i was ready! but boy. before i get into this, i’ll admit that i got to the end of AMOL and had a Feeling but not as big of one as i’d expected. then i realized that rand had felt so unrecognizable to me for most of these last three books that i’d felt like he was already gone after KoD. 

it’s terrible that minimal attention is paid to the fact that he lost a hand. it’s terrible that his chronic pain and unhealing wounds become a footnote to his narrative. it’s doubly terrible that both things mostly only come up in rand’s pov chapters when he’s darth rand, and barely post-dragonmount. it’s not only erasure of his disabilities, it’s really nasty framing to associate rand struggling with his mental health and physical unwellness with literally being surrounded by an aura of darkness and No Longer Caring About Others and committing atrocities. it’s really nasty framing when post-dragonmount rand who is literally surrounded by an aura of light and makes flowers bloom with his presence doesn’t have ptsd flashbacks anymore, doesn’t struggle with pain, doesn’t anything. it’s really nasty framing that rand just needed An Epiphany Moment to simply Get Over all of this. in a series that took a lot of care with his mental deterioration and chronic wounds for 11 books, it’s a slap in the face.

i genuinely have a hard time even remembering who died in AMOL aside from gawyn and egwene — which did evoke a lot of feelings — because it mostly goes by so fast. there’s little time dwelt on the losses, on the impact of those losses on the people who are left, on the world going into the fourth age. together with the number of death fakeouts i’m pretty ??? on who’s left or what they’ll be doing with their lives now.

circling back to the approach to violence: bringing back the tuatha’an for a pov in AMOL just to criticize their peaceful existence. we get raen sort of tempted to pick up a weapon. we get contemplation that they should be nicer about people who do choose to fight. we get the suggestion that some of those choosing not to fight are simply being opportunistic cowards. the traveling people are literally in this book solely for this critique. together with the aiel being presented as Only capable of fighting and being locked into another warrior-focused role for the foreseeable future after what a big deal the reveal about their past peaceful ways had been is a whole Message. 

though i could write an entire additional meta about the dragon’s peace and the idea of locking in status quo like that in a series premised on being a time of change and upheaval and the themes of necessary change and positive destruction (see: the creation of the lake at rhuidean, rand changing laws wherever he goes to favor the poor, the wonder girls revolutionizing the white tower, the rediscovery of many lost Talents, etc).

this is really long already so i’ll stop here and say: the tl;dr is that i only enjoyed the last three in bits and pieces and i’ll probably focus future rereads on the first 11.

#wheel of time read #wot book spoilers #sanderson critical #words #this is probably also incoherent sorry guys #long long post

[yaspup9000]

WRITERS NOTE: THIS POST IS A TWO PARTER AND WELL I HAD A LOT TO SAY, SO SORRY FOR THESE TWO LONG POSTS ABOUT A LOST KATAMARI MMO PART 1 Okay so…I have had this in the back of my mind for far too long. Along with not really touching this topic in the past, I’ve made exceptions like small mentions that this thing existed. “What's the topic at hand?” you might ask? It's Katamari Online. AKA, the South Korean exclusive Katamari mmo, Also known as that one Katamari lost media that everyone seems to be on the hunt for after all of these years. Okay, so where do I start with this lost media, well Maybe I should just start off with the basics ie the time frame of the MMO's popularity, how it worked, and how it died out to obscurity. I don't wanna go on and on too much about a lot of things about the MMO itself since there are some things i want to touch on and talk about as well, regarding my thoughts and feelings. If you want to learn more about this game itself, it's in the Katamari Wiki so please check it out. So basically, what I can say about this game is that it’s basically like Club Penguin or Animal Jam, but its Katamari, like an extension to the online hub on Beautiful Katamari (in simplest terms). However, if you want the long story, Katamari Damacy Online was a Korean-exclusive MMO developed by Cyberstep and published by Windysoft/JUNEiNTER. It lasted from 2007 to 2012, which for most, MMOs don’t last too long. There was a lot of stuff that made this game different than most Katamari games. Like for example: There’s a dating feature (put a pin in that—I'm gonna get to that later), you can choose any cousin/cosmic you like (but you can't make your own cosmic person), and then you have the many new and different quests/levels to choose from.

Now, you're probably thinking: “Whoa, that sounds hella neat! Was it available in other countries?" Well no.. it wasn’t... Like I said before, it was South Korea-exclusive, soo… yeah sorry everyone else. This is kind of an odd choice in my opinion, and I could be wrong (please feel free to correct me on this) but like, at the time Katamari was hella niche, even more niche than before. I could understand a Katamari game that's only exclusive in its place of origin, like for example how the Tomodachi Collection for the Nintendo DS was Japanese-exclusive. That’s not odd. However, something like Katamari Damacy Online being exclusive to just South Korea and only South Korea is an odd choice because again, Korea isn't its place of origin. Then again, maybe at that time there were more Katamari fans in Korea than in Japan, so that could be the case.

#katamari #katamari damacy #katamari online #ramblings #long long post #Im so sorry if this post was too long #idk man #lost mmo #lost media

[nukenai]

Something very weird happened on Sunday. Talk of animal death... as usual lately.

It was what felt like the first real day after losing Zero. The past 30 or so hours had been a complete nightmare. I was in bed just scrolling on my phone on facebook.

I saw a post in my local horse group about something. I saw posts about that kind of thing a lot, but this time I just sorta went. Huh.

Then my dad called to check on me again. He had called me a lot in that short time. We were chatting, he just wanted to know how I was hanging in there and if I could do anything.

Then he asked me what I was planning. If I knew if I was going to get another dog. He told me he knows Samoyeds aren't cheap, and even sheepishly said if I wanted to get another one, that he could help me out.

I'd been thinking about it for a while. The conclusion I came to was... well, of course I wanted to get another dog. I'd been preparing my house for a puppy since february. I have a house full of puppy supplies. But, I don't want another Samoyed right now. First of all the cost, which wasn't really something I discussed with the breeder because refunds are just not... usually a thing, you know, and it's a rough topic to bring up because she's very upset too (she spent 9 weeks with those puppies, literally raised them from birth... so yeah). But, I'm not prepared to spend that amount a second time right now. Maybe sometime in the future, maybe after Striker passes, I'll want a Samoyed again. But I think it would maybe cause a bit too much pain to have one so soon.

But not just another dog in general. People get very judgmental about grief... I understand that people want to say, "don't rush into anything" after something happens. But I feel like that makes more sense when you, say, lose an older dog to age or illness. Because maybe getting a brand new dog after spending so much time with your one dog would be very hard on your soul.

But I went through the loss of a puppy. Of course I was attached to Zero, and loved him with all my heart and soul for the just-under-a-week I had him. But it's different. I had spent so much time preparing, and now there's just this terrible void where all my efforts had been.

And, well. I do stupid things in my life. Sometimes things don't work out. But there's always a way to remedy the situation. Say I got a dog but it wound up making everything so much worse. I'd either contact that person I got him from, or find someone else to take him. Whatever. Life will work out. It is literally never the end of the world to like, get a dog when you're slightly underprepared. There would be another home for him.

The post I saw on facebook was for a corgi puppy. Corgis are not really dogs I actively considered. Of course they're cute as fuck, but I kept telling myself, "no more herding breeds" on principle from how difficult Striker has been. But the ad was for ONE corgi puppy. Just one. Not a whole litter.

I thought, at the very least, it couldn't possibly hurt just to reach out and see what's up. See how much he was, that sort of thing.

So I get on the phone with this woman. She sold a litter of puppies for friends of hers with purebred corgis who bred them. The price was... honestly, astonishing, and felt like a red flag, because she only wanted $425 for him. I asked her, politely, why. Her response was: "I'm doing what they told me to. They sell their dogs only as pets, and they think it's ridiculous to charge upwards of $2,000 for a dog that isn't going into a show ring. Doesn't matter if they have show lines, the majority of people just want a companion. So I'm doing what they say."

I found that... admirable, honestly. So I asked why just he was available.

He was supposed to be picked up that morning. A woman had claimed him a couple weeks ago, the whole litter had sold instantly. But that morning, the woman's horse suddenly colicked and died, out of nowhere. She was devastated and said she wanted to hold off on a puppy for now.

I was so shocked. What a weekend of horrible tragedies. I'm not really a superstitious person, but that just felt so odd that this one puppy would become available, and I would see the post right as I'm scrolling facebook, and it was because someone else tragically lost a beloved pet.

He wasn't that far away, a 45 minute drive. So I thought, well, it can't hurt to go see him.

I had told the woman what happened with Zero. She offered such condolences and assured me it was a freak accident. I told her I was worried about judgment if I got another dog. She told me, "You can't worry about other people. You have to do what's right for you."

We exchanged stories about animal tragedies. Her husband's horse dropped dead when they ran out to Tractor Supply for 20 minutes. A friend of hers accidentally kicked their new puppy who was hidden in a dark hallway, because she walked with a limp, and the dog was killed instantly.

Horrible, freak things happen. Sometimes it's our fault, sometimes not, but we didn't MEAN for them to happen. Maybe they could've been prevented. Maybe not. Literally all we can do is keep moving forward in our lives, the way that feels right. Sometimes the universe turns in cruel, awful ways. But it'll keep turning, so it's up to you whether you look backwards or forwards.

This woman also had had corgis, she told me only recently she had to put her old female down due to cancer. She sang their praises.

I know this post is 40,000 words long but. i've been through a lot you have to be fucking nice to me. The culmination of it all is that yeah, I took him home. If he had been much more expensive than that, I wouldn't have.

Sometimes weird shit happens. Maybe it's a "sign", maybe not. But I do know that I went from staring at an empty dog crate full of un-played with toys stuffed into the corner of my office, to watching those toys be played with again, and getting up in the morning to open the crate door to let a dog outside.

The little one doesn't have a name yet, and this is technically the fourth day I've had him. It's pretty hard, but I know I'll get there. There's no rush, he has no idea what's going on right now anyways. I do feel like I made the right decision for myself, and I don't need to listen to any judgment. No one has been anything but kind, loving, and sympathetic to me, so I have no reason to think I'd have people being nasty behind my back. I guess I'm just traumatized from the 2 times people were weird to me about having a horse!

Anyways. Check out this little man. Whatever his name will be...

#long long post #end is very worth it i promise

[knights-tempura]

Senpai to the Rescue (2/2)

#Don't Toy with Me Miss Nagatoro #774 #Nanashi #manga #long post #long long post #mangacap #Nagatoro #Senpai #Shikki #Orihara #Gamo

[atypicalsouda]

🚫If you happen to ship romantically with Fuyuhiko then I’d rather you don’t interact please.🚫

I downloaded literally all (with his eyepatch anyway) of Fuyu’s fullbody sprites today- so I’m gonna gush and rate them cuz I love my hubby 🥰

Part 1 cuz I can only have so many pics lol

insane f/o love below- I also get a lil suggestive so yeah

Sprite 1: Sighs groans hand on hip

He’s dealing with those troublesome jackasses whoever they are. Such a disappointed parent. I love how you can see his eyelashes stillllllll jdndhdjdb my pretty baby ❤️

also since this is the first one- ever notice how his shoes have a slight heel? It makes me feel things. Sad things.

5/10

Sprite 2: Contemplative. Not present thoughts too loud do not disturb

Mans is out here watching paint dry while having an existential crisis. Looking like a kid who got told we have food at home. In such damn cute waybdbbdhbdbdb 😩

5/10

Sprite 3: Wow. WOW. woow. wOw.

Surprised babmboozled smackeldorfed. He can’t look away from me💕~

3/10

Sprite 4: It’s Fuyuhiko. Normal.

Look at that face *sighs* that little thing he’s doing with his lip I love him so much 🥰 you keep on looking tough baby

10/10

Sprite 5: yells fuck five million times lil angry vein pop

‼️Cw/tw for my horny ass‼️

Is it bad that I find this one so hot??? 🥵 When I see this one I can hear him yelling profanities and I just-

-think about him punishing me by-

ANYWAY I mean look at his fist lord it grew two sizes that day

9/10 only cuz it turns me on too much lol

Sprite 6: Baby boy. Bababababyy

I love his posture here if that makes any sense-it probs doesn’t. Ugh but my absolute favorite thing about this one is his lips!! I love that you can clearly see that his upper is a bit bigger 🥺❤️ favorite way his mouth is drawn by a long shot. Might be one of my faves in general too

10/10

Sprite 7: Number six’s twin brother. Almost

I love this expression he’s so concerned. Dealing with idiots again lol. And that mouth the same way as before toooo so cute ☺️ not much else to say tho

8/10

Sprite 8: Cocky bastard vibes I wanna pinch his cheek

Look at that smirkkkkkk and I love when I can see his RINGS it’s so GOOD!! Ugh baby man ❤️

6/10

Sprite 9: oh sweaty. Nerves

Tbh this one is kinda hot too 👀….for obvious reasons out of the game’s context. It’s the one to use as a starting point for a horny edit lmao

The best thing about this one tho is that you can see that blue jewel on the one ring 🥰 I love it I wanna kiss it like the king he is in my eyes

8/10

Sprite 10: BLUSHY HUBBY JYGVHFFA

There are no fucking words to describe how much I love this sprite/man. Or how this one makes me feel. I had it on a pillow that I slept with for most of the time I’ve been with him-before getting my proper body pillow. It means a lot to me tbh. Fave. You go on and adjust that tie. 😭❤️

10/10

#stay tuned for part 2 #fuyu💓 #f/o stuff #danganronpa self ship #f/o gush #long long post #sorry not sorry #tw suggestive #self shipping #I am insane about him #if your f/o has sprites you should do this too lol

[viscerawizard]

Too lazy and too little time to draw the fancomic that I want to so here, have a script below the cut, it's fairly long but hilarious. post timeskip btw so you don't spoil urself

Sanji: So YEAH I went to gay island for two years and came back knowing how to make hormone soup!!

Sanji: What's it to you?

Nami, Usopp, Franky, Robin: ...

Nami, Usopp, Franky, Robin: 600 berry

[Nami, Usopp, and Franky begrudgingly hand stacks of cash to Robin]

Sanji, processing this: wait what

Usopp: Yeah Nami started a betting pool on how long it would take you to become a lesbian

Sanji, completely red in the face and furious: I- I... I AM NOT A-

Luffy, out of nowhere: Hey Sanji what's a Lez Bean? Does it go better with meat or fish?

Nami, Usopp, Franky, and Robin, currently rolling with laughter:

Sanji, horrified and unable to form a complete sentence:

[cut to Nami, Usopp, Franky, Robin, and Zoro, who didn't take part in the bet, all sitting around on the top deck of the Sunny]

Zoro, looking down at himself contemplatively: Hold on

Zoro, pointing a shit-eating grin directly at Sanji: Yeah, my bust size is large enough. Sanji counts as a lesbian.

Sanji, having recovered his sentence abilites but now doubly red and holding his head in his hands: FUCK NO!! NO!! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!! FRANKY, WHY ARE YOU SIDING WITH THEM?

Sanji, storming away, to the thunderous laughter of the crew, now including Brook, except for Luffy, who is still confused about the existence of the Lez Bean: Fuck You!! Fuck You!

[later]

Sanji: Y'know. Zoro, I'm almost curious, you do have a very large che-MPH

Zoro, having palmed Sanji's face directly into his bosom and not quite smirking but definitely amused by Sanji who definitely and unmistakably has a nosebleed:

[a bit later]

Chopper: Sanji's just a he/him butch now, is that right?

Robin: yeah

Usopp: I guess

Nami: yeah

Franky: yeah

Usopp: So, wait, what's up with him still being all "ooooOOO I can't hit a LADY I'm so NICE"

Franky: He's probably super-clinging to his masculinity.

Nami, steering the Sunny and nodding:

Brook: And by the sound of it he's clinging to Zoro's too, yohoho~

Usopp, Franky, and Nami, processing the statement:

Nami: FRANKY PLEASE TELL ME THE SUNNY'S SOUNDPROOFED WE KNOW HOW LOUD THEY GET WHEN THEY FIGHT-

Franky: Yeah. But maybe I should do it again just in case.

Usopp: Aw man, I really miss Kaya...

Franky, Brook, and Nami: AND YOU THINK OF THIS NOW OF ALL TIMES???

Chopper, having JUST processed the previous statement: oh. Oh. Uh oh.

Nami: so are we gonna bet who botto-

Franky, Brook, Robin, and Usopp: yeah

#one piece #zosan #long long post #long post #script #straw hat crew #one piece nami #one piece usopp #one piece zoro #one piece brook #one piece franky #one piece timeskip #one piece sanji #one piece luffy #edited #one piece chopper #edited again because I forgot a joke

[thunderingblacksteel]

Kaneki vs Arima 2 (5/?)

#Tokyo Ghoul: re #Tokyo Ghoul re #Tokyo Ghoul #Sui Ishida #manga #Ken Kaneki #Hide #Hideyoshi Nagachika #double page #fav #fav fav #long post #long long post

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Unpopular Friendship (final) (short story)

First: https://www.tumblr.com/residents-of-the-darkforest/737215289814630400/unpopular-friendship-part-1-short-story?source=share

Previous: https://www.tumblr.com/residents-of-the-darkforest/738115228165980160/unpopular-friendship-part-3-short-story?source=share

==============================

Poppykit’s heart pounded, thrumming through her veins down to her paws, making them beat rhythmically as she hurried silently across the brittle ground. It was not the cold, gut-squeezing heart-pound that would have her wondering if she would get caught. No, it was the thrilled, little bursts of energy as she thought how she’s doing it! She’s sneaking out, and not getting caught!

She had stalked away, then walked, and now was picking up her pace to a run. She knew it was only smart to have their meeting spot so far away from either of their parents and any watchful eyes that could tattle, but before long her legs ached and she had to resist the urge to curl down and rest. When she finally came to the small clearing sheltered by a ring of blackened holly bushes, she collapsed onto her belly with a dramatic sigh.

“Hemlockkiiiiit! Please tell me you’re here…”

“I am!” Hemlockkit announced from the shadows. Poppykit had no time to look around before she was pounced on and rolled onto her back. Hemlockkit smiled down at her, her unusually long fangs glinting in the dim light of the mushrooms that clung to the nearby trees, the only light that was offered. “Hi.”

Poppykit giggled and pushed her off. “Did anyone see you leave?”

Hemlockkit puffed out her chest proudly. “Not one! Well, Spottedtooth, but he promised not to tell a soul if I made it back before my parents wake up!” 

Poppykit nodded. “Shiverkit promised not to tell no matter how long I’m gone! But I’ll probably have to cover for him someday. Anyway, no one saw me! My moms didn’t even twitch!”

Hemlockkit batted playfully at Poppykit’s tail while Poppykit settled onto her side, allowing her legs their much-needed rest. “I wish I had done that,” she replied. “I wonder how long I have…It already took so long getting here.”

Poppykit let out a breath. “You’re telling me!”

“Aw!” Hemlockkit nudged her. “Don’t tell me you’re too tired to play!”

“Am not! Just sore’s all.”

“Aww, did the long walk hurt your little toes?” Hemlockkit teased. If it were from anyone else, Poppykit’s hair would have stood in anger, but from her best friend, she smiled a challenging grin, moving into the position of a crouch, ready to jump. 

“I’ll show you hurt toes!”

“I have an idea.” Hemlockkit proposed before Poppykit could leap at her.

“What?”

Hemlockkit gestured toward the massive karri tree five tail-lengths behind the bushes. Poppykit’s jaw dropped as she saw the massive tree for the first time. She hadn’t even noticed it in the black shadows! “Bet I can climb higher than you,” she challenged.

“But it’s huge!” Poppykit’s eyes were wide, still on the huge tree.

“Are you backing down?”

Poppykit glared at her. “Never!”

“Then come on!” Hemlockkit bounced excitedly on her paws. “We’re bound to learn this when we start our training, right? Wouldn’t it be cool to have a head start and surprise our mentors?’

“Yeah!” Poppykit agreed. The bursts of energy were returning to her. 

“Then it’s on!”

Poppykit was, if nothing else, a very confident kit. She pushed herself up the bark, digging her claws in deep as inch by inch, she scooted up the slim trunk. Her eyes were fixed on the branch high above her. She just needed to reach that, and then she could take a break…but it was so high!

Beside her, Hemlockkit took in long breaths, struggling too as she moved upward.

Poppykit was a very confident kit, a great strength and a great flaw. When she turned her head and looked back to the ground, seeing how high from the safety of the grass she came, she let out a squeak and pressed as close to the bark as she could. Her confidence was slipping like her claws might start to–!

“Hurry up, slow-poke!” 

Poppykit looked back up, and saw that Hemlockkit had gained distance. While Poppykit debated following or just going back, Hemlockkit was nearing the branch. Don’t be such a kit, she told herself. Hemlockkit was right, they were bound to do this training anyway, right? So it can’t be that bad…and when Hawkjay saw how skilled she was, she surely wouldn’t worry so much anymore! 

Gritting her teeth, Poppykit pushed on. Closer…closer…she was almost there! 

Hemlockkit had already made it to the branch and now sat on it, claws unsheathed for grip, watching and waiting for Poppykit to join her. 

Poppykit’s breath left her in a long sigh of relief as she finally, finally clambered onto the branch. It took everything in her not to just let her muscles melt away and sink into the wood. She still had to hold on.

“Who do you think your mentor will be?” Hemlockkit asked.

“Are we talking up here?”

“If you want a distraction.”

“Good. Yeah. Uhm…maybe Scorchbeetle?” They were cousins, and Poppykit highly doubted that either of her mothers would be comfortable with non-kin watching over their kits. “Oh! Maybe Crowsage! She’s so cool, she lets me get away with everything!” 

“Yeah, Hawkjay will love that.”

“Uh, right…Well, who do you think your mentor will be?”

Silence.

“Hemlockkit? Helloo?”

Poppykit blinked at her friend, and saw that she was busy staring down at the ground. “Hemlockkit? Hey, you’re not scared, are you?” Poppykit tried to make her voice sound teasing, but anxiety was swirling uncomfortably in her chest. If Hemlockkit was scared, too, then….

“Do you think it’s too high? If the branch breaks, or we slip–”

“Don’t say that!”

“What will happen to us when we land?”

“I don’t know.” Poppykit shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant, and not like her heart was pounding painfully. 

“Me neither. I think I need to see.”

“See? See how?” Before Poppykit could realize what was happening, she felt a pressure on her side, and the solid branch beneath her was suddenly gone. The wind was cold as ice, pulling violently at her fur while reaching deep into her bones. She yowled in terror, her legs swinging blindly through the air as she plummeted lower and lower. “Mommy!” 

—-

No one knew of Hemlockkit’s deed. 

She would climb down to safety and return to the warm belly of her mother, and start the next day as she would any other.

Hawkjay and Lilacheart were never quite the same after that. They never found out where their daughter went or why she had left. With each passing day, the idea that she was dead became an obvious reality, but the questions would always haunt them. What had happened to her? Did she suffer? Did someone hurt her, and if so, who? Any cat they met could have been their daughter’s killer.

Shiverkit hated himself for not telling them sooner, for letting his sister leave the safety of their den and walk into the darkness alone. He never told them that he knew. He swore on his life that he wouldn’t, and the deep fear that he, too, would disappear into nothingness kept him silent. As he grew into a warrior, that fear shrank, but still he kept his silence. Telling them now would only cause them to hate him. Maybe he deserved it. Maybe he was selfish. They needed closure, but would they turn their backs on him?

He had asked Hemlockkit, but she seemed just as concerned and confused, claiming that Poppykit had never made it to their spot. He followed her to where they were supposed to meet, but there was no sign that either kit had ever been there.

You may be wondering: but why?

Why would Hemlockkit murder her best friend? Was she planning it all along? Was it an accident?

Maybe, and no.

Many cats kill those they hate, or those they don’t know at all. To kill a friend, someone one actually likes and cares for for no other reason than ‘why not?’, is ludicrous!

For Hemlockpine it isn’t. Hemlockpine kills equally, friends and foes, simply because she feels like it. Hemlockkit truly did like Poppykit. She saw the ginger-and-black kit as her best friend, and loved the time they had together. Maybe the thought to push her was a spur-of-the-moment thing, maybe she was planning it the moment she challenged Poppykit to climb, or before. 

In either case, her reasoning is the same: because she could. 

=======================

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE! YOU THOUGHT!

ME WRITING A NICE STORY? THINK AGAIN! IT WAS A VICTIMS TALE ALL ALONG FUCKERS!

--No one ever finds out about what Hemlock did.

--Hemlockpine kills anyone--but not kin. Kin is off limits, that's the family rule.

@starfalcon555

#dark tales #long post #long long post #dark forest tales #poppykit story #hemlockkit story #hemlockpine story #shiverkit #hawkjay #lilacheart #spottedtooth #eye-out family #eye-out #eye-out story #eye-out family story #eye-out tales #victim tales #dark forest oc #warriors oc #dark kits #wc dark kits #df dark kits