#That she imparted that part of herself into this character

[heyimdove]

More on why Persuasion is the real Jane Austen parallel to Aziracrow, and why Pride and Prejudice is not, because I can’t stop dwelling.

There’s a lot here so I’ll try to structure this in a way that makes sense. Wish me luck.

I’ve seen so many people equate Aziraphale to Lizzie and Crowley to Darcy, but these comparisons don’t make sense. Character-wise, they are far more like Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth, respectively.

We’ll start with Elizabeth Bennet, who I love with all my heart and is one of those characters I feel like I know (I’m delusional, it’s fine). Elizabeth is wonderfully intelligent, but she isn’t “accomplished” and isn’t a perfect specimen of Regency womanhood. Instead she’s sharp and headstrong. She wants to live how she wants and with someone she loves for a partner. She rejects a match that is, on paper, perfect and would solve all her family’s problems, because she won’t settle for unhappiness. You know who that doesn’t sound like?

Aziraphale, were he a Regency Era woman, would be considered very accomplished for the time; well-read, polite, even a music tutor. But he’s more unlike Elizabeth because he desires to “do what’s best for the family”. In other words, if Elizabeth Bennet was more like Aziraphale, she’d be married to Mr. Collins. She would’ve considered it her duty to marry him because it would protect her loved ones (see Aziraphale accepting the Metatron). For Aziraphale, his duty to protect trumps his personal desire.

So does that make Crowley our Lizzie? No, that doesn’t fit either, and not only because Aziraphale makes a terrible Darcy. Sure, Aziraphale’s status as an angel might be considered comparable to Darcy’s elevated status as a rich person, but Crowley has never hated Aziraphale, never even considered it, and wouldn’t hate him even after the rejection. Lizzie’s hatred is what spurs Darcy to grow. Darcy needed to be completely despised by her to decide to put in the work to be worthy of her.

Okay, so then is Crowley Darcy? Perhaps we could shoehorn that in somewhere because Darcy doesn’t seem good but actually is, or is considered grouchy, but it’s such a loose connection, it barely works-

-Especially when you consider how much better the two fit as the protagonists of Persuasion.

(And yes, shut up, I liked the Dakota Johnson one and I will be using the gifs.)

Where Pride and Prejudice is about two different people gradually seeing the value in the other, Persuasion is the story of two different people seeing the value in the other right from the start, but who then repeatedly make mistakes that keep them separate and in agony.

Aziraphale is *so* much like Anne. First, Anne is the only reasonable (read: likable) member of her high-born family, who believe people in other societal castes to not only be inferior, but disgusting.

Anne sees this is not true, and falls madly in love with the low-born Wentworth- only to be persuaded by outside input not to marry him. Station and familial duty play a part in this decision, and she regrets it for years. She is completely unable to move on.

Like Aziraphale, Anne is certainly more accomplished, for one thing, and she plays by the rules of women of her time and status. BUT her sense of mortality breaks often from that of her family. When she tries to impart her good morals upon them, they are dismissive and insulting, reacting as if Anne is the one who “doesn’t get it”.

She spends eight years with a family she barely belongs to, wondering why she ever thought the company of people like this was worth the loss of Wentworth.

For all of Anne’s kindness, she is a pushover. She’s rarely confident in herself. When she needs to speak up, or just have a direct conversation with Wentworth, she doesn’t. She can’t. She repeatedly makes Wentworth come to her.

Wentworth, meanwhile, is a far better match for Crowley than Darcy is. Wentworth will never be an aristocrat like the Elliots, but he carves out a life he considers valuable using new rules. Sound familiar?

Are Wentworth’s and Crowley’s morals obviously a bit different? Yes, of course. Crowley is a DEMON, after all. But Crowley conducts himself in such a way that he’s literally cast out of Heaven and removed from Hell- in other words, he’s twice been given “the rules” for how to act and has twice decided, nah, that’s not for me. Wentworth was given the rules for what he could have as a low-born man and became a wealthy, high-ranking naval officer. And Wentworth didn’t do that for love, either. He found the consideration of one’s wealth in determining whether they should be loved abhorrent. Wentworth did it for himself initially (bitterly too, maybe), just like Crowley saves the goats and the kids for himself.

And, of course, Crowley’s confession parallels Wentworth’s position in relation to Anne far more than Darcy’s position to Lizzie. Crowley says “if they (two apparent opposites) can do it, so can we,” because he knows he and Aziraphale love each other. At the start of Persuasion, Wentworth asks Anne to be his wife despite their differing societal rank because he knows they love each other. At the end of Persuasion, he asks again because he knows they have both been in agony, that they both love each other as much as they ever did.

Darcy, meanwhile, does not know if Lizzie loves him, but arrogantly believes she will accept on the basis that what he can offer her monetarily is better than what anyone else can, not knowing what she actually values. She demolishes him.

On that note, that’s really the only parallel between Aziracrow and Darcy/Lizzie, only Aziraphale is Darcy. Aziraphale believed Crowley would accept his offer because he believed Crowley would want to be an angel again. Crowley believed Aziraphale would accept his offer because he knew they loved each other.

These are all very different characters, but ultimately, I think we were gunning for Pride and Prejudice and wound up with Persuasion; the slowest, most agonizing burn with the most beautiful reunion. So we didn’t get “you have bewitched me, body and soul,” in S2. We got the events leading up to Persuasion, and will have S3 to watch them play out. Neil knows that Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship is the most compelling part of the story, so I doubt they’ll be separated for long. But everything is so messy, isn’t it? So it makes sense to keep them, like Anne and Wentworth, in close proximity, in mutual, bitter, unspoken pining, but still not together. It will be absolutely delicious to watch. Isn’t that what we loved the most from S1?

Because we know they love each other. And whatever catalyzing event forces them to say it out loud will be all the better if every moment they don’t say it hurts. I don’t want a “you have bewitched me” moment, I want “I’m half agony, half hope.”

#good omens #jane austen #meta #ineffable divorce #crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow #pride and prejudice #persuasion #im in pain #im in so much pain

[sticks-and-souls]

Anakin & Letting Go

I always found it to be a little skeptical that Anakin could become a force ghost after it took Yoda, Qui Gon, and Obi-Wan learning and training how to do it, and I always thought “really? Anakin? Finding that level of peace and letting go?” But after this episode, seeing the care and lesson that he imparts upon Ahsoka that he learned so painfully, I understand it from him so much better. Vader was so stuck in his complete self-hatred that he allowed nobody who had known him before as Anakin to reach him (most notably Obi-Wan and Ahsoka) because of the overwhelming extent of his shame. It took his son, who had never known him and yet who still stood before him and believed in him, loved him, sacrificed himself for him, to call Anakin back from the depths of Vader. And this Anakin, let everything go to save his son and to allow his son to save him.

And it felt so impactful to get to see this mature post-Vader Anakin reaching out to Ahsoka to teach her this very hard-earned lesson that he took the very hard road to get. Because she has Vader in her. She is everything Anakin taught her, and we saw the behaviors that led Anakin to becoming Vader—the fear of losing his most cherished relationships—reaching out of Anakin very early in the clone wars (and before) and the two of them are both very aware that he imparted those lessons on her. And then we've seen across this season—and overtly in her clone wars flashbacks—that she believes she is inextricable from these traits.

I’ve always loved Anakin as a fictional character, getting to see his earnestness, his flawedness, and his intensity (to borrow Huyang’s very accurate adjective), but this episode brought a level of humanity to him that has moved me so deeply. Life is HARD, loss gets forced on all of us no matter what, and the lessons that we learn through mistakes that we made can be extremely painful because acknowledging and taking responsibility for hurting people is actually really painful for humans (not owning up to our actions is the emotionally easier choice and George Lucas has stated time and again that the Dark Side is about taking the short-term easier choices). But it ultimately means that learning from your mistakes is an actual choice you have to MAKE. And this is the core of Anakin’s lesson. He is teaching Ahsoka that she has to choose which lessons he has taught her that she will live by, but more than that, that she is empowered to be able to choose. Yes, she has everything that he taught her—the good and the bad—but she is not condemned to live out all of the lessons. 

And the beauty of it isn't just the lesson, but that Anakin gets to be the one to teach it to her. The betrayal that she experienced in discovering his fall, the taintedness that she has been portraying that she feels about herself, gets specifically addressed because if he figured it out, then she definitely can too. If he is more than just Vader, then she is too. And THAT is what the "Is that what this is about?" line is actually about. It's so so important that we get to see pre-Vader, Vader, and post-Vader across her vision because the point is that yes, Vader is a part of him, and that brilliant shot of the two of them glaring Sith eyes across the blade at each other did it's job in conveying that Ahsoka is capable of that darkness too, but you are not only the darkness. You get to choose. ("You're more than [death and destruction] because I'm more than that"). And more to the point, you have to choose. Because if you don't specifically choose to fight the dark, then you're ultimately choosing to fall into it. "Fight or die."

So for Anakin to be able to reach out to her one more time, to be able to love her the way he, as Vader, had refused to the last time when they met on Malachor, and to open with “you’re never too old to learn”, because god if he didn’t learn that the hard way too. And to be able to pass on to Ahsoka how to actually let go because he himself had only just finally been able to learn it as well, feels so powerful and poignant.

And that look of pride and wistful sadness that he gives her at the end? That both she and Luke were able to learn so quickly what took him so long? And that maybe, he may have helped save her from the worst traits that he imbued upon her? That’s him having let go of his own shame. He feels grief, he feels guilt—we can see it on his face—but what has happened has happened and he has accepted that, and finally learned that letting go doesn't mean it didn't happen, it means it doesn't have to define your actions going forward.

And finally, it’s also him letting go of ahsoka. By teaching her that she will choose her destiny, he has to accept that he cannot control it either. And he has. “There’s hope for you yet.” 

So yeah, Anakin learned to let go, and getting to see him here, in this headspace of acceptance and peace, practicing and understanding what it means to be a Jedi, was so unexpectedly cathartic and revelatory for me as viewer. 

#listen this lesson IS HIS APOLOGY. he didn’t get it then but he gets it now so please ahsoka #here are the tools to break the cycle of fear and violence #i love you snips i love you snips i love you snips #i love anakin as a character but I never thought I would feel as proud of him as I do now #say what you will about filoni but to me this episode proved he actually gets the ethos at the core of star wars #I also finally feel like the show has earned the emotional sucker punch of an end credits score that kevin kiner gifted us with #ahsoka series #ahsoka meta #ahsoka show #ahsoka spoilers #anakin skywalker #snips and skyguy #ahsoka tano #darth vader #dave filoni #kevin kiner #my meta #ahsoka shadow warrior #man this was so much longer than i expected. let me tell you im a victim of parental abuse without telling you im a victim of parental abus #writing this out had me SOBBING y'all #ahsoka gets the reparation we all deserve

[mdhwrites]

TOH: The Problem With Waffles

So someone who has lost someone close to them takes palistrom wood and starts carving. They make them in the image of that which they have lost, imparting upon them a desire for them to be what they once were. Alongside this, their new form allows them to also act as their will made manifest upon the world as both lackey, partner, family and pet. Their life is only meaningful until thrown away, abandoned or ended by that which made them.

Am I talking about Hunter being made by Belos or Hunter making Waffles?

Waffles and Hunter actually have a lot in common, such as how as an orphan Philip likely saw his brother as the man who gave him a chance at life after his parents died, just like Flapjack explicitly did for Hunter when Hunter was going to die. A core element of the problem though is actually with how lame the Grimmwalkers are and the lack of magical materials in the Isles. Rather than a complex set of reagents for witch's brew, we get maybe a handful of items and the big two are Titan's Blood... And Palistrom.

Because of this, it's kind of easy to look at Grimmwalkers as advanced Palismen. Hell, it's actually weird that Hunter CAN'T use magic. Palismen have innate magic just by being made by Palistrom wood. Luz proves that they can do magic on their own since she uses Owlbert to activate glyphs from far away, something she cannot do herself. It's implied as part of why witches are commonly stronger with their staffs than without (not that that ever comes into play at any time). Meanwhile, Hunter has multiple magical components, at least one of which is INCREDIBLY powerful and far rarer than Palistrom wood which would make one assume they're stronger because one of the only ingredients we know of for Grimmwalkers is a Galdorstone. So... Why can't he cast magic? Because he doesn't have a bile sac? Does that mean every Palisman actually gets split in half during carving so you can carve out its tiny organs before sealing it back together without any sign of this crack? Because I REALLY doubt it.

Add to that the fact that Palismen are regularly abandoned by their witches for SOME FUCKING REASON (I think the Bat Queen in S1 should have claimed that witches "...No longer are able to care for them" to imply they died because otherwise, what the fuck?) and most seem perfectly without a Palisman and they don't seem all that different from how Belos treats Hunter. Narratively and functionally the two are just treated the same. One simply takes on a more human form since Palismen are PLENTY sentient and able to talk with others.

It makes how Hunter's arc ends, as a clone of Caleb by how many people read it, including myself, suck even harder. He's not just taking cues from the man he was made to look like after all. By chasing a lost loved one like this instead of letting go and looking to the future, he also copies Belos.

And that is the exact opposite of ANYTHING his arc should imply.

======+++++======

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#hunter toh #palisman #Grimmwalker #the owl house criticism #toh critical

[paragonrobits]

so i was reading some complaints about how Marceline is only really present in Fionna And Cake in a brief snippet and then only in AUs, and then it occured to me: Marceline not being around in an active way is necessary for the plot to happen.

Essentially, the plot of Fionna And Cake might be summarized as 'longing the magical life, Fionna and Cake flee from a Lawful Neutral cosmic killjoy and enlist the help of Simon Petrikov who agrees to become Ice King again, but is explicitly not telling them about what this is going to do to him'. The story is essentially about Simon WANTING to become Ice King while at the same time really not wanting to do that at all, pressuring himself into losing himself once more because he thinks its the only way for him to be needed by anyone anymore.

If Marceline is around, this doesn't happen. She is Simon's biggest reason for staying; she's the happiest part of his life, the most fulfilling and rewarding part of his life. It comes up, time and time again, that in the end becoming Ice King was the best thing to happen to Simon despite all its misery, suffering and tragedy because he otherwise would never have met her; he wouldn't have survived the great mushroom war, or the horrors following it, and would have died long before ever meeting her.

And the show details how INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT Simon raising her really was. The Marceline we know was shaped, by a massive degree, by Simon; his example of self-sacrifice, him letting his mind disintegrate by inches, him going out of his way to help a complete stranger and a monstrous child horrifying by the standards of the setting, all implciitly RIGHT after Marceline's mother died and Marceline had resigned herself to being a scary monster that drives everyone away. And then here came a stranger out of the blue, and spent the next few years telling her that yes, she DID matter, she was a person, and that he cared about her so much he destroyed himself so she wouldn't get hurt... or perhaps because her only means of defending herself, ripping out the souls of others, hurts who she is.

It's not a nice kind of comfort. But it still shaped her into someone willing to be a hero in her own way.

And this goes both ways; we can see that the proverbial straw for Simon is him calling Marceline and concluding that she doesn't need him anymore. It's only after this he starts trying to contact Golbetty, with the potential doom that may befall him. If Marceline doesn't need him, he seems to think, he doesn't matter. The need to be needed runs deep in Simon's character; its what draws him to help Fionna and Cake, and the worlds they visit seem to impart a lesson to him on how he matters more than he thinks he does, both by the things he's done and what he means to others; that he's not as bad a person as he thinks he is, or that Marceline would be fine without him.

So. If Marceline talks more to Simon, ESPECIALLY after he resolves to throw his progress away and let his mind be lost all over again just so he doesn't have to hurt anymore... well, his character arc in this series is about accepting that he's actually ok, the way he is, and to gain perspective on his feelings that he doesn't belong anywhere (and the answer is that he DOES, more than he knows). Marceline doesn't inhibit that, but she WOULD make it harder for it to happen, arguably at the cost of sidelining Simon's character arc here. He would pretend that okay he doesnt want to be Ice King even if he DOES still intend to go through with it, and not in the same way as when he comes to the conclusion that he ultimately does.

If Marceline is there, he doesn't think those thoughts, and he won't come to the same conclusion.

And at the same time, despite not being there, Marceline's presence hangs over the entire show in Simon's character arc. She is the best thing in his life; his greatest success, the most purely positive and happy part of his life. It can't be understated how significant Marceline is; as miserable as Ice King was, she was someone he cared about even if he didn't understand why anymore. Ice King shows a remarkable amount of restraint in context, but it becomes a lot more obvious whenever she's involved, or in danger; a care so deep and ingrained that when Ice King was often pretty callous, whenever she was upset you could see flickers on his face, genuine distress rising up from some forgotten memory or part of who he is.

Marceline pervades Simon's character and the impact he had on the world; the idea of him being able to pull through this and come back to Ooo for her feels very evident, and the impact Simon has in her in other worlds remains extremely important in all of them, sub-textually or otherwise. Sometimes, its a hint that the Winter King is far more morally ambiguous or even malicious than he lets on (the only Marceline present being an eternal child that, from context, is just a simulcrum for him to play pretend parent with) or evidence that without Simon, Marceline grows up into the monster she always feared she was (Vampire World).

She's a presence, hanging over Simon in a good way and reminding us that not only does he have somewhere to go back to, he must understand that he does belong there. And furthermore that the world of Ooo, whimsical and ultimately a better one than most of the places he visits in the miniseries, can only exist because of him.

In Winter King, we see what he could become, without his moral choices. In Vampire World, we see what happens without Simon Petrikov. And in Marceline herself, we see the surest evidence of how important he really is, even if he can't or won't acknowledge it. In his loved ones, in the family he made, even if its not the family he thought he was supposed to have.

#adventure time #simon petrikov #marceline #analysis #fionna and cake

[nilsavatar]

DAY 17 - BEGGING

Parings: Jake x Fem!human

PART 2 of DAY 4 - CHOKING/SPANKING

Genre/Warnings: NSFW/MDNI +18, no use of Y/N, SMUT in the end, alien sex, size difference, blowjob, restrains (wrists blocked with a belt), fingering, spanking, P in V, begging, use of pet names (babygirl, little girl, girlie, brat), dom Jake, age gap, difference in power, degradation, cheating, semi-public, mention of Lo'ak x oc. All characters are AGED-UP.

Summary: After a night of passion in the old shack, Jake shuts down any kind of interaction with Aubree (reader), who, unable to get the man out of her head, begins to waver about her goal to become Omatikaya. But just when she seems to have made up her mind to give up, the very man she wanted to escape from makes his entrance. He cannot stop thinking about her as well and, more furious than ever, imparts her a new punishment.

Inside you will find a hint of Lo'ak x OC. Let me know if you would like a version with him as well.

Word Count: 5,4k

Masterlist - Avatober - Request a fic

As soon as she re-emerged, the first thing she experienced was the uncomfortable sunlight flooding the room. She turned away to seek shelter from the day, stifling a grunt in her pillow. The second thing that stung her was the fresh smell of fabric softener permeating the sheets. She opened one eye, struggling to make out the contours of the room; a grey lacquered wardrobe, a bedside table, the photograph of her family. The noises beyond the door jolted her awake. She pulled herself up, rubbing one eye, and yawned. Memories of many nights before surfaced. As she regained lucidity, she bowed her head to look at her frame as if she did not recognize herself in the skin that had been her shell since birth. She was wearing the khaki shirt she had taken from the avatar assortment, which essentially served as her dress. She had put it on after jumping into the shower, hoping to shake off the chills Jake’s fingers had left as they ran all over her body.

The body of her avatar.

She ran a hand over where the man had spanked her, expecting to find a bruise or at least feel the sore area, but nothing.

The level of connection between the avatar and the human piloting it was astonishing, almost destabilizing. Experiencing every little thing through a puppet, which gave her back an exact replica of the ones it came into contact with; its sensory response to the environment, its impulses, and emotions. The information passed from one brain to the other, making it difficult to distinguish between which was generated by the real Aubree and which by the avatar. Dream and reality mixed together and there were times — always — when she felt more alive when her consciousness slipped into the artificial skeleton than when she was confined to her actual skin. All her senses were amplified during the link. Colors were brighter, her vision more receptive and with a wider range. Her senses sharper, her smell stronger. 

God, how good Jake’s scent was, so warm and sensual; the spicy notes blending with the woody ones like an embrace. 

No! Just forget about him.

When she returned to her limited human envelope, she found herself unfailingly myopic, deaf, anosmic, and... starving. The only thing to remind her that, yes, that was her reality and that organism also needed nourishment. And for a while, she could put aside the mess she had gotten herself into. She could stop pretending that everything was fine, that she didn’t feel used and thrown away after Lo’ak was assigned as her mentor once again (apparently no others were available, or maybe no one wanted him as a karyu).  As the weeks passed, more escapades like that followed, and a mounting guilt began to gnaw at her conscience, stronger with each one. Then nothing more. Jake must have grown tired of her.

Asshole. Like father, like son.

She tied her hair up with the elastic she always wore on her wrist and threw her legs off the bed, intent on getting up. After getting ready to start another day’s work, she slipped her badge into her pocket and went out. She walked down the corridor leading to the canteen, following the hustle and bustle that morning with her eyes and chewed on her lip, ignoring the slight anxiety that she might run into Jake. She still didn’t feel up to facing him. It was an entirely new situation for her, having wild sex on a couch with a married man of a good twenty years her senior. Promiscuity wasn’t unusual for the Na’vi, but heck he had a mate — and not just any clan woman — alongside a prominent position in the clan. He wasn’t exactly someone who could afford an exposure of this caliber, considering his alien origins. What had happened between them was something with the potential to split the tribe in two, as well as his family. It was like shoving in everyone’s face that he was missing his humanity, that the Na’vi ways were a tight fit for him.

She walked into the room and saw Lo’ak in front of the sink drinking a cup of coffee; she faced his back and stared at the muscular curve of his bare shoulders. It always amazed her to discover that Earth foods were edible for natives as well.

Did I really have sex with this guy’s father?

He was wearing clothing she had never seen him in before; leg guards covered his shins to above the knee, a warrior’s waistband, and his usual armbands. The moment her eyes lingered on his butt, Aubree cleared her throat and exclaimed a smiling, “Good morning!”  He turned, lowered his arm, and stared at her: he looked tired. He didn’t seem to have just woken up, yet he took her breath away all the same. Lo'ak was remarkably handsome. Tall, athletic, with a killer smile and warm, cunning eyes. The traits he inherited from his father were marked enough to make him somewhat familiar to her species, but recalled her all too well of the olo’eyktan. And honestly, after what they shared, the last thing she needed was the constant reminder of their little adventure and the coldness that followed.

“About time.” “Did I oversleep?” she asked in a chuckle, approaching and pointing at one of the chairs arranged around the table.  “Nah, it’s not even noon yet,” he retorted sarcastically, showing her his cup. “Time to finish this so I would come drag you out of bed.” “Seriously, how do you Na’vi always get up so early?” she rolled her eyes. “Rhythms of the village, there is no time to waste. Coffee?” he asked her and started fiddling with the machine. Was he in a sour mood? “Thanks.”  For a while, the only sound was the hum of coffee being brewed. Aubree drummed her fingers on the table, unsure of what to say.“Sorry, I was in desperate need of some rest. The extended bond with the avatar is really debilitating.” “Once you transfer your consciousness, this will all stop,” he grumbled, and she refused to acknowledge him.

Consciousness transfer. To admit that it terrified her was an understatement. She felt dizzy just thinking about it; the procedure posed a significant danger. What if Eywa had refused the passage through her eye if she had not considered her suitable? What If she would never have been able to separate herself from her human nature?

“No need to stress your pretty little head about it. You've still got a long way to go before you can be reborn in your new body. Let’s concentrate on overcoming the rituals so you can be part of the People. You don't wanna croak during the Iknimaya, right?” he said in that smooth, biting way that angered her. She was about to answer him harshly, but she froze and took a deep breath before his eyes. “I'm not up for arguing before breakfast.” “This is new.” He handed her a white cup and she grabbed it, thanking him. He looked at her, suddenly frowning. He was really in a bad mood, but she had no idea why. The woman brought her cup to her lips and blew on it, following his figure intent on wiping a cloth on the kitchen countertop. “No breakfast for you?” “I already had it, like, six hours ago,” he replied, not even glancing at her, and huffed. “Have a drink, at least. It's not a good idea to wait too long between meals. Snacks are crucial.” He turned and raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so nosy about my diet?” “I’m just tryna get along with you. I can't keep changing tutors every other day,” she explained. “Says the crybaby who went whining to my dad because she didn’t fit in with my methods. Yet here you are.”

Touché.

“By the way. What happened with him? He never backed down from an assignment. He didn't quit, not even with me.” “Huh, nothing really. I guess I was one commitment too many in his busy schedule,” she lied, but Lo’ak wasn’t buying it. Anyhow, he shrugged and leaned against the counter, arms folded and legs crossed. “Ready to go?” “Are you trying to make me die of hunger in the pod?” she bounced him and he chuckled at last. She much preferred the sassy Lo’ak, rather than the testy one, not even having the confidence to investigate the reason.  “Anyway, our training today is called off.” “What?” “My research is way behind and I can't keep ignoring it.”

A lively flash of rage crossed the bottom of his eyes; his expression hard and his lips tight. “You have done nothing for weeks except work in the lab, or vegetate in your room.” Aubree sighed and rested her chin on her palm. “It was like ten days, tops.” “That’s not the point!” The beginnings of a roar vibrated in his chest. “You haven't made any headway since I started training you again. Wanna become Omatikaya, yes or no?” The realization hit her like a brick wall — she was speechless, not knowing what to say. Before she was so sure, she would have answered that question without hesitation, but now her conviction painfully falters. Working is all she did. She was doing what she knew, what kept her grounded, what she did best. Aubree was being a Ph.D. student; she was being… human. Shutting herself off from the world within those four walls.

Her voice faded to nothing, and she lowered her gaze: she must have sounded so pathetic. Lo'ak's tongue flapped parched against his palate. “Forget it. It was already too late to do anything today,” he scoffed, making an annoyed face, his tone laced with irritation. “Fine. But let's make it clear, no more beating around the bush. Starting tomorrow, it’s back to business, princess,” he snarled, shaking his head, and setting her back on her feet, giving her a resounding spank on her rear. “Now get your ass in the damn lab and keep your eyes glued to the microscope.” Aubree blinked, taken aback.

Beads of sweat soaked her hair. Sinking her nails into the back of the couch, she savored every second it took for his palm to collide with her now purple, sensitive skin, full of anticipation for that throbbing pain that triggered tremors of annihilating pleasure. Electric shocks surged down her spine, pooling in her lower abdomen, synchronized to an invisible rhythm that resonated solely within him. But the most beautiful thing was his quickened breathing and the snorting of laughter that followed her whimpers.

The woman clutched at the doorframe with trembling fingers, her chest heaving up and down with slight breathlessness. “What’s up with you?” He muttered, “Did I hurt you?” He wetted a hand under the jet of the sink and ran it over her heated forehead and then over her neck. She emitted a hiss at that contact, and the frown that had formed on his forehead distracted her from the flash of moments before. “You're all flushed. That’s all it took to turn you on?” he questioned, almost amused, and gave her a sidelong glance. “I forgot that you nerds are a bundle of kinks. Like brats with hormones raging.”

Well, that’s rich!

“I thought you were going back to the village,” she grunted, glaring at him. Lo’ak raised his arms in surrender before she could bark at him. “OK, OK! But these are the consequences of staying holed up in here. Do yourself a favor and get some fresh air from time to time. You're as white as a ghost.” She stared at him in silence before retorting sarcastically, “Thank you.” He raised an eyebrow and finally stretched his lips into a sly smirk.

“OK, let’s recap. Since Lo’ak was being a dick, the olo’eyktan offered to teach you. You guys were all flirty, and then he brought you to the abandoned lab. You had a fling and haven't seen each other since.” We had more than one, actually. “We weren’t exactly flirting,” she retorted crossly, and Liv shot her a sardonic grin.  “You’re totally screwed, if all you heard of the entire sentence was ‘flirty’.” Aubree rolled her eyes and settled herself better on the sofa. She checked the wall clock in the break room: another quarter-hour and she’d be back on her job. Liv understood exactly what she was thinking and turned serious. “Do you feel like talking about what’s bothering you? Besides the guilt, I mean.” She shrugged and bit her lip. “I don’t know. It’s a lot of stuff. I feel kinda crappy about Neytiri, but at the same time, I tell myself I shouldn’t because it’s no biggie for Na’vi to get physical outside of marriage; it doesn’t take away from their bond, and I might not be the only one. But then I’m like, whether he wants it, he is still somewhat human, and in our culture, that's cheating. Let's not even get started on the age, status, and Lo'ak situation. Oh, and this whole deal of becoming Omatikaya.” “Isn’t that what you want?” “... I have no idea anymore. Is it really that important? The consciousness transfer. My avatar being Omatikaya isn't enough? Honestly, what good could I do for the clan? I’m a researcher.” “I believe this is the heart of the matter. Do you hesitate because you think you are inadequate, or is it just his rejection making you hesitate?”

“You good to go back to HQ on your own?”

Anger surged through her gut at the thought of how he had dismissed her. Not even the decency to take her back. Perhaps she had to admit that a small part of her was disappointed, even though she already knew he was an inaccessible man for so many reasons. A man who should have remained in her fantasies.

Lo’ak is right. I’m still a teen in the throes of hormones.

“I anticipated it would happen with Lo’ak, to be perfectly honest.” Liv thought it better to rub it in her face. Aubree extended a leg, striking her thigh with her foot. “You better not say that again.” “Why? He's clearly into you. He would be a better choice than his father, don't you agree?” In response, the scientist sipped her tea very serenely. “Mm, nothing to say? Just a heads up, no insults or threats?” Didn't you tell me to stay away from him? “I’m going to be superior and won’t validate you.” “Oh. Oooooh, you fancy him as well, don’t you? Naughty girl.”

“Who are we talking about?” exclaimed a voice behind them. Out of surprise, they practically spilled the contents of their cups on the floor. “Mind announcing yourself when you walk into a room? You're so stealthy, you're gonna give me a heart attack, eventually.” “Rather, what do you have there?” Liv asked to throw Spider off the previous conversation. Something they adamantly did not want anyone to know, least of all the olo’eyktan’s son’s best friend. “Wasabi fries.” “Wasabi?! How do you get some of that here? Mind to share?” “Didn't you complain about gaining two kilos just a few days ago?”

“Excuse you?!” “What’d you say?!”

Spider looked at their menacing faces in disbelief before rolling his eyes and reaching for the bag. “I have yet to learn to shut up when you’re together.” Aubree held back a satisfied smirk, picking up a handful and heading for the door, already with a few in her mouth. "I'm gonna head back to my computer," she mumbled with her mouth full, trying to cut it short before the guy pushed her to speak. That would have been awkward. “Already?” “Lo’ak gave me an ultimatum, remember?” At the mere thought of having to return to the lab, with no other distraction from her predicament, that slimy feeling came up again, heavy as a rock.

Although her senses were limited as a human, she sensed the trail of his scent even before the sound of his footsteps reached her ears, as if she had registered it somewhere inside her; rapidly felt a start of breathlessness. Like a dog that drools at the sound of the bell, that has been associated with its meal. She looked up from the monitor and met Jake’s intense gaze. She forced herself to smile at him despite the loud voices in her head fighting for the upper hand. One was insulting him and admonishing her to get away from him, the other begging her to pounce on him. “What's the meaning of this?” His eyes hadn’t let go of her for a second and burned into her, although she couldn’t quite understand what they were hiding. I mean, it had been at least ten days since their last encounter and they hadn’t spoken since then, nor had they seen each other. Aubree had been careful not to be around him. Of course, she didn’t want to look like some doting student with a schoolgirl crush.  Too late.

Just as she was about to speak, Jake once again took the floor. “What the hell are you doing here, girlie?” The nickname was a real low blow. “I’m working,” she replied lightning-fast, trying to hide the slight concern that was rising as she focused on that paradoxical context. She tried not to make any shrill sounds as the man indignantly rotated the swivel chair she was sitting on and planted his face in front of her, dangerously close. “I was falling behind on my research.” Aubree almost huffed, ignoring the sinister glint the yellow of his eyes was painted with. What did he expect after his treatment? “What about your training?” He hissed then. “I took a few days,” she chimed in, wanting to bring that conversation to a close. “Lo'ak and I have decided that we'll be back to full strength tomorrow. Now if you don’t mind...” She walked towards the cooler with the samples to be analyzed, with every intention of making him take the hint. She was not pleased to see him.

Liar.

“I’ve been trying to talk to you for days.” Really? She squeaked internally. “Sorry for making you waste your precious time. As you can see, I’ve been busy,” she said with a hint of sourness. She felt him follow her with his gaze as she placed the slide under the lens and bent over the microscope. “I noticed,” his tone was ice-cold. “I take it you don’t give a damn about becoming one with the clan.” “Convenient, right? One less ketuwong (alien) to deal with,” she exclaimed, furrowing her brow. “What brings you here at this hour anyway, olo’eyktan? Your mate must be wondering where you are.”

She waited with her back to him for an answer that didn’t come, but when she turned to meet his eyes, she wished she hadn’t; wished she hadn’t opened her big mouth at all. Jake approached slowly, coming so close as to pin her against the table frame, she felt his breath on her face. This was cheating. Her mental capacity when he was this close was equal to zero. “I suggest you move your equipment out of the way,” he whispered, as piercing as a bullet whizzing through the air could be. “Why?” she asked stupidly, already out of breath. His magnetic gaze slid under her eyes and she licked her lips reflexively. “‘Cause when I’ll shush you, I won’t give a shit if I break something.” Her throat went dry, and a series of conflicting thoughts and questions crowded into her head. She did as he recommended. The bluish light of the monitors barely illuminated him, and that semi-darkness reminded her of the first night when he had taken her to the old shack. When he had spanked her like a naughty little girl. She took a good glance at him. He looked exhausted, with his tense shoulders and those deep circles under his eyes.

Aubree sighed: no, she couldn’t pretend. She couldn’t kick him out.

He moved away to give her room to move. “On the table,” he said without changing his expression. He sounded like he told her he wanted a glass of water, yet she shivered anyway and obeyed. He moved a few steps towards her and Aubree held her breath as he imprisoned her in his arms, his palms resting each on one side of her thighs. “Pull up your skirt.” Everything happened quickly, he stood between her legs and she could do nothing but stare at him from below, too astonished to produce any thoughts: he undid his waistband with deliberate slowness, completely at odds with the furious expression he apparently no longer held back. “You just love pissing me off, baby girl.” He almost seemed to snarl at her and something slimy crawled around her stomach as she watched him towering over her. Jake was right. There was something in the animalistic light that had shone on him that attracted her dangerously. He pulled his tewng down to his ankles. “Open your mouth.”

All the air eluded her lungs in a puff as soon as she absorbed that order. It didn’t take her more than a millisecond to realize what he wanted. A strange electricity coursed through her back and she straightened up on the table almost unconsciously until she was in line with his belly; at the right height. She inhaled and exhaled imperceptibly, before taking courage and looking up at him in defiance of shame. In defiance of him. Jake watched her from above and her frenzy probably increased as he gave himself a few shakes; Aubree licked her lips expectantly, discovering herself hungry. Feeling their hands join, Jake raised an eyebrow and the corners of his mouth lifted. She took him in her hand, hesitating just enough that the man sank a hand into her hair and pulled her forward: a sweet rush clutched her intestines.

“What if someone walked in?” “They’d enjoy the show.” “What if your son or wife came in?”  “Neytiri never comes here,” he tugged her. Aubree parted her lips and let him slide on her tongue, sighing as she felt his strong taste. She let him guide her movements, wanting to understand what he liked and how; meanwhile, the rough way he was thrusting all the way in, his grip tight behind the nape of her neck, his breathing getting heavier and coarser, everything was driving her crazy. She went toward him until she felt the tip against her throat and tears slipping down her cheeks and had to rest her hands on his thighs.

“Shit.”

A powerful gasp caused her to glance up at him once more, as he stared down at her with a wild, languid look. His lips agape and his breathing broken. She couldn’t hold back a sigh, feeling him contract on her tongue in reflex. She felt herself plummet into another world and increased the rhythm, sucking hard. In a flash, he pushed her away, and Aubree didn’t even have time to catch her breath as he smothered her with an ardent kiss. She grabbed his shoulders, trying to drag him off her, but he resisted and had little hope against his strength. He pulled away, pulling her lower lip with his teeth, and then moved to her jaw and left ear, leaving a trail of goosebumps where his lips passed. Aubree’s thoughts were clouded and her heart was racing.

“Strip,” he whispered overbearingly to her before pulling himself up. Another order that upset her tummy. She was out of breath, her panties soaked and shivering on her skin without even being touched. No one had ever done that to her; she had never enjoyed giving pleasure to another, much less obeying them. Aubree stood up, despite her now jelly muscles, and stared at him, fully reciprocating the intensity of his gaze as she curled her fingers around the hem of her blouse and pulled it up to slip it off. Jake hissed as soon as she was totally uncovered, perhaps because she hadn’t worn a bra once again and her locks fell free over her shoulders. With no shame, she flashed him a smirk under her lust-darkened eyes; she couldn’t be embarrassed if he stared at her like that. Her pencil skirt slid down her legs along with her thong, leaving them on the floor. Jake bridged the distance between them and grabbed her face, but being very careful not to kiss her. Again the no kiss rule of last time. He seemed irritated by the way she stared at him defiantly, waiting for his moves.

“You’re pissing me off, baby girl.” She almost purred as soon as that obnoxious nickname caressed her ears. God, how she loved it. “Why don’t you do something about it, then?” she taunted him anew. She couldn’t help it. Something inside her was tempted to stand up to him. The woman furrowed her brows and her breath caught as he casually slipped the belt out of the loops of her skirt. He tugged at her wrists, wrapping the surrounding belt, and fastened the buckle in the tightest possible hole. Next, he turned her back with a snap. Aubree gasped, remembering the spanking from the previous time when she felt him bend over, just before he grabbed her hair, pulling her head back. She couldn’t even resist as he vehemently slid something silky between her lips and let out a surprised moan. Her panties. “That'll do for now,” he growled, letting go of her grip on her hair to incline her over the table, joining his fingers to her bottom. She breathed through her nose faster and faster, feeling exposed, helpless, and mortified. The student perceived only his body and his voice. Everything else in the world had disappeared. Someone could have walked in for real, but she wouldn’t have noticed, so absorbed in their own little bubble. Just when she was trying to relax, his palm slapped her buttock, and she cried out, her voice muffled by the fabric of her underwear. She hated how this treatment eager her to no end: it was completely irrational. He spanked her again. Aubree lost count of how many times he did it. She could only realize the burning pain on her skin fused with an electric sensation that made her toes curl and her back arch. Finally, at last, his fingers trailed down her flushed cheeks and brushed the folds of her intimacy. He stroked her clit, but it was a fleeting, light contact as if he was mocking her. And so he probably was. Aubree stifled the sound of protest that was about to escape her, but the amused snort he blew into the back of her head made her understand her efforts were futile; he could pick up even the slightest reaction of her body. He was in complete control of her.

The other hand ran down her back until it tightened its grip on her neck. He withdrew it up in a fluid movement, and then slid it down to her mouth to take the fabric from her teeth. The woman gasped loudly as she grabbed her breath, just in time for his index and middle fingers to work their way between her lips. One finger alone had, to say the least, the same circumference as two human male fingers. She opened her mouth and felt his giant fingertips caressed her tongue at exactly the same time as he penetrated her with his digits and bowed her back in reflex, moaning shamefully aloud. “You pathetic little girl.” Jake blew almost amusedly into her ear as he picked up a cadenced rhythm, and she bent her head back. Into the darkness, seeking more contact against a body three times the size of hers, shuddering even more at the inability to move, he twirled his fingers inside her, stimulating a point that took her whiff away and made every muscle tense. As if he read her mind, the man increased his speed, making sure to touch that spot with such precision that she felt her orgasm rise like a wave. It was at that moment that he stopped; his hands slipping away. She felt so, so empty. 

“Jake...!” You asshole.

Frustrated, she tried to free her wrists, but he pushed her forward on the desk, her cheek pressed against the icy surface, completely at his mercy. She was about to give up any form of pride and beg him to untie her, but was interrupted by her own cry as he penetrated her, slamming their hips together and stooping to clamp a hand around her throat. The burning that flooded her at that sudden stretching, so extensive that, for a split second, it seemed to rip through the flesh, went straight to her head. Jake moved in that rough way of his and Aubree realized how much she had missed him. Consumed with the desire to enclose him with her legs and arms, to scratch his back and watch at his face. That was yet another punishment, taking her from behind without giving her the opportunity to steal his most forbidden expressions. To steal his kisses and moans. As he pushed deep inside her, surprising himself that he could fit in such a tiny body, everything dissolved and became undefined. Aubree was a weeping mass of saliva and whines beneath him. Suddenly, she felt his breath against her ear.

“Apologise,” he growled, and his hand descended to cup one breast and then go over and start jerking her off as if she wasn’t already at her limit. She sobbed in response, opening her lips and trying to articulate something rational. “...S-sorry,” came out simply before a mighty thrust made her inarcate. She felt the orgasm building anew in her belly and she closed her eyes, desperately praying that he would let her come. “Please, forgive me.” “Say you’ll never skip training again.” “Yes.” “Yes, what?” “I’ll never skip a day of training again!”

He bit her neck and welcomed his sudden increase in furious speed: it was the last straw. The knot in her abdomen melted, and she was overwhelmed by a wave of liquid glee that spread through every single nerve ending. She writhed against the desk, tense, before collapsing immediately afterwards without any energy left. Jake came soon after her and rested for several seconds his forehead on her sweaty back, catching his breath. She blinked her damp eyelashes and stared exhaustedly at the door, immersed in a contented bubble of bamboozlement that couldn’t quite shield her fear of being detected anymore. She then sensed his hands reach for her wrists, on which she was leaning clumsily, and help her up to undo her belt buckle.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked in a murmur, running his thumb over the slight red mark that was surfacing on her skin. Aubree turned her head towards the warmth of his chest behind her back: his face was so close, his scent everywhere. “I’m fine,” she answered in an almost hoarse voice. How much had she shouted? A vague embarrassment washed over her as she brought about the last forty minutes. But she was far too exhausted and tired to give it the importance it deserved. He was about to let go of her hands when she clasped her fingers to his; Jake looked at her circumspectly and with a glimmer of hesitation, because she was begging him with her eyes to stay. “You know I can’t. Do you need me to walk you to your room?”  “That would be way too sketchy.” He nodded, once, dressed, and headed for the door, but before he crossed the threshold, he said something that shocked her.

“Lo'ak deeply cares for you. If you wish to pick him as your mate after Unitaron, you have our approval.” And he left.

#avatar the way of water #avatar fanfiction #avatar 2 #lunaskinktober2023 #atwow #avatar twow #avatar 2022 #avatar #avatar smut #avatar fic #jake sully smut #jake sully x oc #jake sully x female oc #jake sully #avatar oc #avatar fandom #avatar jake sully #lo'ak sully #lo'ak te suli tsyeyk'itan #lo'ak avatar #jake sully x reader smut #jake sully x reader #jake sully x female reader smut #jake sully avatar #jake sully x human!reader #jake sully x human reader #jake sully x human oc #lo'ak x reader #lo’ak x fem!reader #lo’ak x human reader

[oohbuggypie]

super long discussion abt my headcanons for Don's tattoo, as well as Carmen's and Bull's !

WARNING!! these r very headcanon heavy and probably reach-y ideas so if u prefer to stick to canon / r scared of mischaracterization maybe dont read 🩷 also this is SUPER long so im gonna go ahead and put all of this beneath a cut bcuz i don't wanna flood + this is centered around ship talk and i know some ppl don't care 4 that ✝️ pairs discussed are CarDon and BullDon, but emphasis on Carmen and Don bcuz they're mentioned more than once!!

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kay so i always talk abt Don having a tattoo but ive never clarified WHAT the tattoo is of / what it says . im usually stuck between not knowing what it would be;; a religious image or a religious quote ? a cross felt too basic, but an entire passage of text would just be way too much for Don in my opinion,, i don't think he'd ever want such a huge, obvious amount of black ink on his body forever. i came up with the idea that Don's tat in the Monster Hunter would be COLOSSIANS 3:2, and it felt very fitting ; it's small and fairly easy to hide, but it reflects a great amount of his world perception and his ideologies . and i think that the exact same style of tattoo would fit his regular universe character very well too !

so after some consideration and many MANY dumb questions, i have concluded: i think Don's tattoo would be JOHN 15:9 .

John 15:9 reads: "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love."

so why that quote ??

Don is a very romantic man :: he holds a very deep love for Carmen and he expresses that in his actions , seeming to dedicate his fights to her and celebrating his victories in her name . not only that, but i think his loving attitude is expressed through his non-romantic actions as well; he shows a considerable amount of respect to his opponents, and he recognizes his own mistakes! he's romantic , respectful , and to an extent - humble . i think that that verse fits him so well because it connects to his romantic personality and religious upbringing. along with being raised religiously, i think Don's parents took extra time to truly teach Don the lesson that love is one of life's most valuable and prominent factors. not only did they teach him to show kindness and respect to his peers, but i think they integrated the idea of finding romance very early in his life. they wanted their son to fall in love with the "right person", and they wanted him to treat his lover with deep devotion and respect. so i think that those two factors ended up melding together as Don grew up; religion reflected love, and his love would reflect his religion. so upon the two merging, i think Don made the decision to get that specific quote as a tattoo as means to reflect his two deepest values, and as a promise to himself that he'd find his true partner one day. so when Don truly did fall in love, he felt an even deeper connection to the tattoo.

Don's canonical partner being Carmen is adorable to me, and this is where the second portion of my headcanon comes in: i think that throughout the course of their relationship, Carmen would recognize the true sentiment that religion holds in Don's life and get a similar tattoo as devotion to her lover ! much like Don, to me, she wouldn't want an obnoxious or obvious tattoo simply because it doesn't fit the way she presents herself. so as a way to match her partner, i think she'd get the exact same kind of tattoo but with a different passage.

i think Carmen would choose ROMANS 1:11 - 12, and the placement would be beneath her right breast.

Romans 1:11 - 12 reads: "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong - that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith."

i think the first part of the text ("I long to see you...") reflects the majority of Don's life where he waited to find his true partner, and how he and Carmen were bound to be together; she just hadn't met him yet. the second part of the quote ("...to make you strong...") is super fitting in the context of the idea that Carmen is Don's main motivation that drive his passions, like bullfighting and boxing. and the final part of the quote solidifies their love for each other - by sharing a tattoo, they share the love behind it and they serve as one another's guide of sorts.

-

as for Don being in a relationship with Bull, i think Bull would have conflicted feelings about getting a tattoo. Don, by no means, thinks that Bull NEEDS to get a tattoo to encapsulate their love ,, it was never a "required" or expected action to be reciprocated and Don understands that very well! both of them have already given each other deeply valuable gifts as ways to express their devotion. however, if Bull were to get a tattoo, i think he'd prioritize it being very small and very private.

to me, Bull's tattoo would be of the Virgin Mary in colored ink, placed on his inner, left thigh.

this is solely my opinion and i def don't expect anyone to agree, but that one is soo special to me . i think Don would have a very strong admiration of the Virgin Mary as an entire concept, and Bull took note of that love. he decided to represent it by choosing an intimate place that practically nobody else would ever see. neither of them see it constantly, but when they do they're reminded of just how deep their love runs . 🥹

OKAY I THINK IM DONE OMGG . this could be worded so much better but it's past midnight and this was literally ripping my brain to shreds all day so i HAD to get it out immediately 😭✝️ thanks 2 anybody that read all this omg i didn't think i was gonna talk THAT much .. srry but Don and religion r just sooooo good paired i HAD to share 🩷 okay goodniiiiiight

#punch out!! wii #punch out wii #punch out #don flamenco #carmen punch out #bald bull #bulldon #headcanonz #dewdlebug #holy hell this is so much longer than it was intended to be umm #enjoy the poor wording and probably jumbled up out of order ideas.. my brain moves quicker than i can type so everything gets all silly oop #pls remember that these are all MY headcanons and even then these are all supee loose and i dont even 100% stick to them #u don't have 2 agree or anything i just feel the need 2 share because if i dont my brain will literally implode

[swan-of-sunrise]

Hawkeye (Part II)

Summary: Clint reaches out to (Y/N) for help and after a visit with the physically and mentally taxed archer, she takes it upon herself to meet Hawkeye’s #1 fan and impart a little wisdom onto Clint’s young partner.

Pairing: Steve Rogers X Fem!Reader

Word Count: 4.1k

Warnings/Disclaimers: None

A/N: This week's chapter is a little longer because (a) I'm not sure I'll have Part III finished by next Thursday and (b) You guys deserve it!! There's a surprise character that'll pop up in the second half of this chapter and if you've seen Spider-Man: No Way Home, then I think you'll know who it is lol thank you for reading, I hope you all enjoy!

Hawkeye (Part II) December 21st, 2024 Apartment of Moira Brandon, East Village (Previous Chapter)

Out of all the Avengers she’d been introduced to during that fateful party at the Avengers Tower so many years ago, (Y/N) always had a secret soft spot for Clint Barton; he was equal parts kind and sarcastic, quickly noting the anxiety she’d been desperately trying to mask from the moment she arrived and taking the time to get to know her while simultaneously directing playful jabs at his fellow teammates. Their first meeting and team-up in the subsequent conflict with Ultron coupled with Natasha’s endless stories from their days of working together at S.H.I.E.L.D. cemented (Y/N)’s unbreakable trust in the archer, and it was that trust that led her to an average-looking East Village apartment building only four days before Christmas with a priceless and top-secret piece of S.W.O.R.D. technology tucked away in her messenger bag.

“Thanks for coming on such short notice, (Y/L/N),” Clint smiled as he ushered her into the temporary safe house, checking up and down the hall before locking the door and leading her into the cozy living room. “See any of those idiot Tracksuits tailing you?”

(Y/N) shrugged her winter coat off and draped it over the back of the couch with a humorless chuckle. “Nope, but I almost wish I had; I could’ve used a good laugh or two after that horrendous traffic jam on the Brooklyn Bridge.” She folded her pink scarf in half and tossed it on top of her coat, meeting Clint’s eyes with a sardonic smirk beginning to spread across her face. “Wouldn’t you know, some dumb-ass archer decided to impale a Pym Particle-infused arrow into the Manhattan Bridge and create commute hell for anyone traveling in or out of Brooklyn?”

Rolling his eyes, Clint flopped down onto the well-worn couch and sighed in exasperation; he looked exhausted, with darkened circles under his eyes and a noticeable cut on his forehead. “Still a smart-ass, I see. For your information, I shot a Pym Particle-infused arrow at a regular arrow and then it impaled itself into the bridge.”

“Well, either way, I thought you’d like to know that Scott got his ass chewed out by Hank for that little stunt,” She replied in amusement and sat herself down on the couch beside him, taking a moment to adjust her sweater over her small baby bump before rummaging through her messenger bag. “Apparently, Hank’s not too fond of his life’s work being used for – and I quote – ‘stupid shit you see on the eleven o’clock news.’”

The archer scoffed at that. “I once saw the guy use Pym Particles to enlarge a goddamn chicken sandwich, but whatever.”

(Y/N) laughed as she withdrew a small metal case and handed it over to Clint. “Back-up hearing aid, as requested; my coworker said that this is one of the best on the market, so you should be well-covered if yours ends up breaking again.” He nodded in thanks and slipped the case into his pocket. Her former teammate’s recent hearing loss as a result of years of work as a S.H.I.E.L.D. spy, Avenger and vigilante inspired her to seek out Brooklyn College’s underfunded but resilient disability resource center; she studied ASL and learned enough to not only begin teaching Steve and Carina, but to also pre-film her lectures for any hard of hearing student who decided to enroll in her Introduction to American Popular Culture course. “And I looked into that socialite guy for you…” Activating the transparent S.W.O.R.D. tablet – a parting gift from Nick Fury before he traveled up to the organization’s newly-built space station – (Y/N) allowed it to scan her handprint and read off the information she’d collected. “Jack Duquesne, born into the obscenely-wealthy Duquesne family that’s apparently descended from European aristocracy. Since he’s seemingly never worked a day in his life, he’s had enough free time to become an expert swordsman and accrue a pretty impressive sword collection; is that what he was doing at that black market auction the other night?”

Clint nodded as he studied the images on the tablet’s screen. “He wanted to add the Ronin’s sword to his collection; according to Kate, he ran off with it after the Tracksuits crashed the auction, and then he almost took my head off with it when we broke into her mom’s penthouse this morning.” When (Y/N) thoughtfully tilted her head to the side, his frown deepened. “What?”

“When I did a little more digging, I found out that Duquesne is listed as the CEO of Sloan Limited. It’s a shell company, one that launders money for none other than-”

“The Tracksuit Mafia…” The archer exhaled and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and rubbing a hand over his forehead. “Kate thinks that Jack Duquesne killed his uncle Armand. At first, I thought the idea of him becoming her stepfather someday was clouding her judgement but it’s looking like her instincts might’ve been right.”

Taking note of the stiffness in his movements and the weary tone of his voice, (Y/N) tucked the tablet back into her messenger bag as she gave him a sympathetic smile. “None of what I found out really helped you, did it?”

“It helped, (Y/L/N), it really did…” Clint hastily reassured her. “But I’m no closer to being able to go home for Christmas. I’ve got the suit and the sword, but Maya Lopez and the Tracksuits still have me and Kate connected to the Ronin and there’s a good chance that they’ve got Laura’s Rolex; I can’t leave until I track it down and figure out a way to stop the Tracksuits from targeting Kate, and I’ve gotta do all that before Kingpin gets involved.” He sat back and offered her a small smile. “The Barton Family Christmas hit a little speed-bump, as you can tell, so how’s the Rogers-(Y/L/N) Family Christmas going so far?”

“Well, Carina helped us decorate cookies and gingerbread houses for the vets down at the VA hospital yesterday, and then she decided that our living room wall could use a thick coat of frosting as well.” Clint burst into laughter and (Y/N) couldn’t help but join him. “Steve’s convinced that she’s got the makings of an artist, but I just think she likes to keep us on our toes. And this little gumball…” Beaming, she rubbed a hand across her bump. “Moved for the first time this morning.”

“That’s amazing! Boy or girl?”

“We don’t know yet, but we’re gonna open the envelope my doctor sealed for us together on Christmas Day and find out.” Memories of her first pregnancy and the overwhelming loneliness she struggled with unwittingly came to the forefront of her mind, but she forced herself to ignore them as she continued. “I’ve never really been one for big gender reveals, but after Carina’s…shall we say, unconventional birth and everything we’ve been through since, I just wanted this pregnancy to be special for us.”

A look of understanding crossed Clint’s bruised face, as he was one of the few Avengers who could empathize with desiring balance between a normal family life and the superhero life they’d been thrust into, but he merely smirked and jokingly replied, “Well, if you’re still thinking of baby names, I’ve always thought that Clint Rogers-(Y/L/N) had a nice ring to it.”

(Y/N) snorted in amusement. “Oh, really? You know, I’ve heard the same exact thing about Sam Rogers-(Y/L/N), James Bucky Rogers-(Y/L/N), Bruce Rogers-(Y/L/N), Thor Rogers-(Y/L/N), Korg Rogers-(Y/L/N) and Rocket Rogers-(Y/L/N).”

“I’m not usually one to judge, but I’ll totally judge you if you name your kid after a talking raccoon or a big pile of rocks.” When his chuckles died down, the archer’s blue-grey eyes softened as they looked between her face and the bump she was unconsciously cradling. “I’m really happy for you guys, and I know…I know that Nat and Tony would be, too.”

After flashing him a thankful smile, (Y/N) leaned her elbow on the back of the couch and rested her temple against the palm of her hand. “So, what’s this Kate Bishop like?”

“A pain in my ass,” Clint bluntly replied and when she lightly scoffed at his answer, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m serious! That kid’s cocky, reckless and she talks way too much…but I can’t deny that she’s a damn good archer and her instincts are sharp.” His brow arched as a thoughtful expression crossed his injured features. “You know, she reminds me a little of you, actually; she put that suit on to protect innocent people from the Tracksuits without a single thought for her own safety, just like how you volunteered to help an Air Force vet and a couple of wanted Avengers save the world from Hydra without a single thought for your own safety.”

(Y/N), detecting a hint of concern in her friend’s tone of voice, nodded in understanding. “You’re worried about her.”

Clint nodded. “Damn right I am. You were twenty-seven when you helped Steve, Nat and Sam stop Project Insight, and Kate’s only twenty-two; you understood the risks of getting involved in this sort of life, but Kate…she’s got blinders on. I tried to make her understand that I’m not a role model, that I’m not someone that people should look up to and that this life I’ve led for the past twenty years isn’t a game but like I already told you, she’s cocky and reckless.”

“She doesn’t know about the Ronin, does she?” When Clint shook his head, (Y/N) bit her lip and carefully contemplated her next words before speaking. “Maybe the reason you can’t get through to her is because you haven’t shown her the real you and she can sense that you’re hiding something from her; if you open up to her now, then you might be able to stop her from getting too deep into all this.” He shrugged his shoulder, but she could see that she hadn’t convinced him to confide in his reluctant partner; she glanced down at her wristwatch and hummed to herself. “Well, I should probably head out now if I want to beat the commute traffic to Brooklyn…”

“Yeah, and I should give Laura and the kids a call before I pass out from exhaustion.” Clint helped her to her feet and gave her a fond smile as she pulled her coat and scarf back on. “It’s been good seeing you, (Y/L/N), and I really appreciate your help. Tell Steve that I said hi and that he should totally name his second-born after one of his oldest and coolest friends, okay?”

“Sure thing, Hawkeye,” (Y/N) chuckled, slinging the strap of her messenger bag over her shoulder as they walked over to the apartment’s front door and giving her friend a hug, careful of his bruised and battle-worn limbs as she did. “Good luck, Clint. You’re going to fix this and you’re going to make it home for your Barton Family Christmas and on Christmas Day, we’ll give you guys a call to let you know if it’s a boy or a girl.”

“Aye aye, Captain.” With a smile and a teasing salute, Clint opened the door and watched her head towards the building’s elevator before retreating into the temporary safe house.

(Y/N) stepped into the elevator and after the door slid closed, the uneasy feeling that had begun to form when the topic of Kate Bishop came up only seemed to deepen as the elevator descended. It was foolish to further embroil herself in Clint’s struggle against the Tracksuits; not only was she entering her pregnancy’s second trimester but if a powerful man like Kingpin caught wind that she was involved, it could put Steve’s secret life in jeopardy and their family’s safety at risk. But it was Clint’s comparison of Kate to (Y/N) that compelled her to pull the S.W.O.R.D. tablet out of her messenger bag and research the young archer’s cell phone number.

“I sure hope that I’m doing the right thing, Nat,” She murmured under her breath as she worked. “For Kate and for Clint’s sakes…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, (Y/N) was seated at one of the rickety metal tables outside Greenwich Village’s own Joe’s Pizza, patiently waiting for the twenty-two-year-old to work through her star-struck awe while she enjoyed a slice of pizza and scratched the young archer’s rescue Golden Retriever behind his ear.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe I’ve met two Avengers in less than a week! Is this, like, some sort of a superhero test? Or a trial period or somethin’? I mean, I’ve only been in four-ish fights so far…or wait, was it five? I don’t know, I can’t really remember ‘cause I’m pretty much running on caffeine and adrenaline at this point,” Kate nervously chuckled, a little out of breath as she finally stopped rambling and attempted to rearrange her excited features into a nonchalant smile. “…So, um, what can I do for you, Ms. (Y/L/N)?”

“Please, just call me (Y/N).” Smiling, (Y/N) took another bite of her pizza slice and used it to point at Kate. “I’ve heard a lot about you from our mutual friend, so I wanted to meet you for myself.”

The young archer’s brows raised almost comically. “R-Really? Wow, that’s really…was it all good things you heard?”

“Mm-hmm, and I also saw the video of you rescuing this good boy on the news.” The one-eyed Golden Retriever nuzzled his face against her lap and perked up when she tore her slice of pizza in half, wolfing it down in record time once she offered it to him. “He’s lucky that someone as skilled as you came along when you did.” After watching the dog enjoy his chunk of pizza, she looked back up at Kate and sobered as her eyes fixated on the steri-strips that closed the lacerations that were scattered across her youthful face. “Actually, I asked you to meet me here because I wanted to talk to you about this case you’re working with Clint.”

Kate slumped in her seat, a dejected frown beginning to form on her injured face while she took a halfhearted bite of her pepperoni pizza slice. “You think I should stay home and let Clint handle it, don’t you? That’s what my mom thinks, too; she didn’t say anything about it to me, but I know she thinks I’m crazy for doing this. I mean, I’m just a civilian and Clint’s a freaking Avenger, so I guess I see why it’s nuts that I’m helping him out, but I…I can’t just sit back when I know that I can help.”

Smiling a little to herself, (Y/N) dabbed at her lips with a napkin and shook her head. “Kate, I’m the last person on the planet who’d ever tell you to stay home and ignore the instinct to help. I was just a civilian when I helped Steve, Nat and Sam take down Hydra – an unpublished historical-fiction novelist with a part-time job at the V.A., who just so happened to be one of only two people in D.C. that a couple of wanted Avengers could trust. They tried their hardest to make me stay home and out of danger but I refused, because I knew that I could help them. I had to help, no matter what, and nothing they’d say could change my mind.”

“So, you understand why I’m still helping Clint?” The young archer’s expression brightened and she sat up in her seat. “That’s great!” When (Y/N) didn’t immediately answer, her head tilted to the side in confusion. “…Isn’t it?”

“You and I are a lot alike and because I see so much of myself in you, I wanted to tell you what I wish someone had told me ten years ago, when I took my first steps into the life of an Avenger.” (Y/N)’s fingers caressed the content Golden Retriever’s fur, taking small comfort in his calming presence as she continued. “When you choose to spend your life trying to help people, there’s going to be consequences you’ll have to face. Some of the consequences won’t come as a surprise – the fights and battles have taken a physical and mental toll on me, for example, and I’ll have to live with their effects on my body and on my mind for the rest of my life – but others will. From the moment it began, my entire career’s been called into question; you see, people assume that my success is due to my long-time association with the Avengers and not the writing skills I’ve worked my ass off developing and perfecting. I lost any chance at anonymity or a private life when I announced my engagement to Steve Rogers. I became estranged from my family, because they didn’t approve of my relationship or my association with the Avengers. I went through the joy of befriending some of the kindest and most misunderstood people in the world, and then I was forced to mourn them in a way that no one but my fellow Avengers could ever understand; the world lost Iron Man, Black Widow, Black Panther and the Vision, but I lost Tony, Nat, T’Challa and Vis.”

Kate bowed her head and stared down at the discarded pizza crust on her plate. “And you lost Steve, too.”

(Y/N) nodded mutely, careful to keep up the ruse that Steve Rogers died in the Battle of Earth and wasn’t currently wrapping Christmas gifts with their fifteen-month old daughter in their Brooklyn home. “When you face the threats that Clint and I have faced, you have to accept that there’s going to be things that you lose along the way. I don’t tell you any of this to dissuade you, Kate, far from it; I’ve always believed that if you feel that you can help, then it’s your moral obligation to do so.” She reached across the table and rested a comforting hand atop Kate’s, giving her a small smile when her eyes finally met hers. “But it’s important that you know that this life isn’t easy, and it’s only fair that you hear it from one of the only Avengers who stumbled into this life the way you have. Do you understand?”

Kate nodded, and the brief silence that filled the air as (Y/N) finished her slice of pizza was broken by a timid question. “Do you know who the Ronin is?”

“…I know who they used to be,” (Y/N) carefully replied. “But if you want to know more about the Ronin, then you’ll have to ask Clint.”

“Urgh, I knew you’d say something cryptic like that. Hey, what’re Clint’s favorite Christmas movies and does he have any strong opinions about ugly Christmas sweaters?”

After (Y/N) helped Kate plan out the perfect mini-Christmas party for a homesick Clint, she bid the young archer and her energetic Golden Retriever goodbye and watched them both stroll down the sidewalk with a fond smile on her face. It was clear to her that Kate’s heart was in the right place, and that perhaps she was the perfect person to help Clint move on from the Ronin as well as resolve the ongoing conflict with the Tracksuits. I just hope they’ll both stay safe, she thought as she anxiously bit her lower lip and stroked her small baby bump, her mind preoccupied with a myriad of the worst possible outcomes to the archers’ partnership.

“Here you go, Ms. (Y/L/N): one large chicken and olive pizza to go,” The young worker’s sudden appearance shook (Y/N) out of her heavy thoughts and after setting the pizza box down, he started to bus the table with a small smile on his face. “Need any packets of Parmesan cheese or red pepper flakes?”

“No, thank you, I-” (Y/N) cut herself off when her eyes caught sight of a familiar well-worn paperback sticking out of the teenager’s back pocket and she felt herself begin to grin. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a copy of For Queen and Country with its original cover art. How’re you enjoying it?”

He nodded enthusiastically. “It’s one of my favorite books!” The young worker’s gaze briefly met hers as a light blush dusted his cheeks; there was a brief flash of grief in his brown eyes – a deep sort of grief that looked entirely out of place in the eyes of a teenager – but it soon vanished when a bashful expression graced his features. “I’ve been a fan for a pretty long time, Ms. (Y/L/N), and I was actually workin’ up the courage to come out here and ask you for your autograph. I don’t wanna bug you or overstep-”

“Of course I’ll autograph your copy!” (Y/N)’s smile widened as he stammered out a brief thanks and scrambled to hand her the paperback and his server’s pen. “Who should I make it out to?”

“Peter, Peter Parker.” Again, (Y/N) was struck by the strange emotion that flashed across his face, but what gave her pause was the sudden familiarity that his name brought her; she couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about the teenager’s name tugged at the far reaches of her mind. Doing her best to shrug the unsettled feeling off, she jotted down a brief greeting and signed her name before blowing on the drying ink and handing the book and pen back with a smile. “Thanks a lot, Ms. (Y/L/N)! It was good seein’ you agai-um, sorry, I think my manager’s callin’ me, happy holidays!”

Peter Parker, who’d abruptly turned as white as a sheet, shoved his book and pen into his pocket and scooped up the dirty dishes before practically sprinting back inside. (Y/N)’s brow arched at his odd shift in behavior, but gathered up her pizza box and strode down the sidewalk to where she’d been lucky enough to park her yellow Volkswagen Bug. After securing the pizza in the car’s front trunk (or ‘frunk,’ as Sam liked to jokingly call it), she carefully climbed into the driver’s seat and waited a moment for the baby to settle down before dialing Steve’s cell phone number.

“Hey, sunshine! How was your visit with Clint?”

“Productive, for the most part; he has an idea of who the middle-man between Kingpin and the Tracksuits is, but he’s still not sure how to stop them from targeting him and his new friend Kate or uncovering Laura’s past. I also had a quick chat with Kate over lunch, which is why I’m bringing home a chicken and olive pizza from Joe’s; you should also know that your offspring conned me into buying it.”

Steve chuckled. “Oh, they did, huh?”

“Mm-hmm, and you should count yourself lucky that it was only pizza; at four months pregnant with Cari, I was craving Flamin’ Hot Cheetos dipped in vanilla ice cream,” (Y/N) snickered as her husband made a sound of disgust on the other end of the call. “Oh, and the strangest thing happened as I was leaving! Do we know a Peter Parker from anywhere?”

“…I don’t think so, but the name sounds awfully familiar.”

“Right? There’s something strange about it but I can’t put my finger on-” A recognizable babbling in the background of the call caused her to stifle a giggle. “Someone’s feeling chatty today, aren’t they?”

“I think that last episode of Sesame Street might’ve riled her up a bit; you know how much she loves when the Count makes an appearance,” Her husband remarked before calling out, “Cari, did you wanna talk to Mama? Mama’s on the phone right now.”

The gibberish grew louder as the infant toddled over and happily exclaimed into the phone. “Mama!”

“Hi, lemon drop! I’ll be home really soon, okay? Mama loves you!” (Y/N) smiled to herself, listening to their daughter’s incoherent mumbling grow faint as Steve regained control of the cell phone. “I should be home in a half an hour or so, depending on how backed up the bridge is.”

“Fingers crossed that all the city’s archers decide to leave the Brooklyn Bridge un-impaled for the afternoon commute.” Steve joked. “You can tell me all about Clint and his new partner over pizza and my famous green smoothies. I love you, sunshine.”

She gave her phone an exaggerated air-kiss that made Steve huff out a quiet laugh. “I love you too, sweetheart, and I’ll see you soon.”

After hanging up the call and tucking her cell phone into her messenger bag, (Y/N) started the car’s engine and turned up the radio, the local station’s Christmas playlist already playing through the speakers. “Okay, gumball, your daddy promised to make us a smoothie, so let’s get this show on the road.”

Pulling away from the curb, (Y/N) hummed along to the upbeat Elton John track in the hopes that the music would distract from the unsettling feeling beginning to take form in the pit of her stomach, but the tune wasn’t enough to make her shake the suspicion that someone was watching her from afar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Who do you guys think was watching (Y/N)?? You'll have to stay tuned to find out! Thank you all so much for reading and commenting! I’ve created a Spotify playlist inspired by this series, and I’ll be updating it every time I upload a new chapter. Enjoy!

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ziGMhEsAw833GQ9eV44nR?si=6dfead09c76848d5 

Hawkeye (Part III)

Stumblin’ In Book VII: “Superhero Snapshots” Masterlist 

Tagging:  @mrs-obrien​​​​​ @lahoete​​​​​ @awkward117 @cminr @natdrunk​​​​ @momc95​​​​​ @savedbystyle​​​​​ @miraculouscloud @awkwardnesshabitat​​​​​ @marinettepotterandplagg​​​​​ @mangosandmimosas @supersouthy @benakenalove​​​​​ @brooke0297​​​​​ @hufflepeople​​​​​ @becausewelie​​​​​ @outoftheregular​​​​​​ @junipermurdock​​​​​ @ladydmalfoy @mads-weasley​​​​​ @username23345@crist1216​​​​​ @capswife​​​​​ @lilmschild​​​​​ @avngrsinitiative @crowleysqueenofhell​​​​​ @y-napotat​​​ @mary1raven​​​​​ @groovyqueer​​​​​ @ljej95​​​​​ @innersublimefury​​​ @prettysbliss​​​​​​  

#superhero snapshots #stumblin' in #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x f!reader #post serum steve rogers x f!reader #post serum steve rogers x reader #steve rogers #clint barton #hawkeye #kate bishop #lucky the pizza dog #scott lang #ant man #hank pym #peter parker #spiderman #wilson fisk #kingpin #nick fury #natasha romanoff #black widow #tony stark #iron man #marvel cinematic universe

[nanomooselet]

Little but Fierce IV

Of course, you can't talk about Meryl without talking about Roberto. He's only there because of her. He's easy to dismiss - oh, drunk old dude who condescends to his female protégé - but he shouldn't be, no more than than Meryl herself should be dismissed.

Roberto is a teacher. He's there to impart lessons. He's also a journalist, so he's there to tell stories. Put them together, and you have the local critical thinker, as well as a good excuse for Meryl to back out if she decides it's too dangerous. He exists to give her choices and to shield her from the consequences of her mistakes, until she's firm enough on her feet to have learned.

And boy howdy, does she need to learn. Meryl got a lot of raw confidence, but it's punctured when she encounters situations she doesn't know how to navigate, mostly the trappings of adulthood - planning ahead, economic hardship, encounters with the law. But also partnership and teamwork.

I pointed it out before but Meryl doesn't have a poker face. Everything she feels or thinks tends to show clear as day. Roberto's more controlled - especially considering he doesn't like or trust the MPs. He uses the slight authority he has to get some information out of these guys, and then Meryl misdirects them. Without ever really discussing it, they form a partnership to protect Vash, and they had to do it together. Roberto wanted to leave him tied up, Meryl was too startled over his identity to talk. And Vash is happy to see it! It's stuff like this that he loves most about humans. (Though he's also playing up the gosh-I'm-just-a-silly-little-guy bit.)

Also, consider the other definition of adult you might know. Check this out.

Meryl goes from marching in like the sheriff to peeking over the edge of the counter like a kitten. Why? Well, apart from the place falling silent and someone yelling that this isn't a place for kids, what did she see?

Sex work probably hasn't played a big part in her life so far. Every character up until these two has worn quite modest clothes, and look at the way these women look back at Meryl. They're not ashamed, they're almost... endeared. They think she's sweet. Girl's just a wee bit intimidated. And Rosa's disinterested hostility probably isn't making it easier.

Meryl's prone to raising her voice and going on lectures, but Rosa tells her to speak up, and that's when Vash and Roberto find her. Specifically, Vash suspected she'd head to the diner and guided Roberto to it, and Roberto sighs that Meryl's a lot of trouble/needs a shorter leash - they formed a partnership to protect Meryl.

(I wonder if these ladies will appear again.)

Roberto's purpose is threefold. 1) Protect Meryl 2) help her achieve what she wants 3) teach by information and by example. He almost never acts outside of those parameters.

I could probably write a whole other series of meta posts about the English dub (and don't think I'm not tempted, but also trapped in meta factory somebody help) but for now, here's one of my favourite exchanges in the first episode. Never mind the exposition.

Meryl: Any day now I'll get my big scoop! Roberto: Any minute now, I'm sure. Meryl: I'll be running the entire bureau before you know it! Roberto: Then could you give me a raise, boss? Meryl: I'm being serious! Roberto: So am I.

What's he being serious about? Money? Nope. (Or only a little.)

He agrees. Meryl's the boss.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII

Part IX

#trigun stampede #tristampparty #trigun meta #meta: little but fierce #meryl stryfe #roberto de niro #he's also got some of the funniest lines in the dub #hundreds spoons #magnificent

[besiegedhunter]

The Secrets of Ancients: Ho'olheyak and Projekt Red.

I'm highly amused by the idea of this but a bit of a lore analysis, brainstorming and typical Red brainrot now that Lone Trail has come to global. Delving into Ho'olheyak's story within the event and how a certain story could follow up on it.

To begin, I find Ho'olheyak's story quite different from a lot of the other stories present in Lone Trail. She's not concerned with Maylander's reputation or any other organization. She's not interested in the progression of technology or information. And while Kristen left a profound affect on her, it's not with her action of breaking through the skypod but rather what she learnt prior to the event and what she's said about Ho'olheyak's goal.

When everyone else is charging to the sky, she goes in search of an ancient being located underground and her goals only affect her and she doesn't affect other characters, only is affected by others.

And the lore that her story provides does not go to reveal anything about the Ancient Civilization, Columbia, the scientific community or technological level of Terra, space of the like.

It's about the origins of Ancients, which nothing else in the event desires to explore. Telling it's own lore while not exposing everything there is about the subject in question. Just- she herself is looking for the answers to questions that her and a few other things in other parts of the story have asked.

Like this moment:

Mephisto goes inside the sarcophagus that the Doctor woke up inside within Chernobog and the Liberi turns into an actual bird.

It was the first concrete thing I came across suggesting that Ancients were once actual animals once upon a time and Ho'olheyak's goals is to find and use a Sarcophagus to do what Mephisto did and become a Kukulkan.

But something she adds is that her ancestors were once Kukulkans ten thousand years ago. A very important detail as for four hundred and fifty years her family have been obsessed with achieving this goal and imparting this mission onto each newborn child, her first words being Kukulkan.

This is pretty important in and of itself, with her files drawing a connection to other Elder races such as Pegasus like the Nearls or Hippogryphs like Hellagur who themselves would've been creatures presumably at the same time as Kukulkans.

But Lone Trail goes a step further to add to this mystery as during the climax of Ho'olheyak's story, when she meets the Preserver, a vastly knowledgeable ancient entity who made the impossible real during this event, this is what it says:

The Preserver doesn't recognize what an Ancient is, something compounded by earlier as even before it's memories were being deleted it refers to Kristen as an animal:

Now, Friston shows several times an odd amount of knowledge in what's happening on Terra as at times he is shown to not know how things have developed. But in the least he, as the Preserver, saw the very end of the Ancient Civilization and should know whether Ancients existed at that point.

It's one thing that even when his memories were being deleted he should know as moments earlier he could remember what his mission was and appears to remember when he was a child as he mentions not liking bunkers. (Which has it's own implications.)

And so one reveal is that Ancients do come from creatures, having become humanoid at some point in history.

And another being that this transformation was likely not the doing of the Ancient Civilization (it's possible that the Preserver only has memory pertaining to his bunker and preservation project as there are other bunkers and likely other projects they did.)

And these both only introduce this mystery to us as we don't know what caused the transformation or whether there's any connection with entities like the Beast Lords or the Feranmut.

Ho'olheyak introduces this mystery and then because Lone Trail has it's own story and lore and it's not about the mysteries of Ancients, it doesn't expand upon it any further.

But there is another storyline that has already delved a bit into the nature of Ancients and their roots in the wilderness. One that has introduced it's own mysteries about Ancients and certainly has further reveals for us.

That story of course being Siracusa's and specifically the Signore dei Lupi's.

Now, Siracusa has had a heavy emphasis on Civilization, the Wilderness and the relationship of Ancients. Specifically they do this through the mafia and Lupos which have their origins in the foundation of Siracusa:

The mafia families come from the Tribes of the She-Wolf's children and it's a story specific to Lupos.

Likely it set the precedent for how heavily Lupos feature in the culture of Siracusa, as not only does this story specifically pertain to them but things like Signora's military force the Bocca al Lupo are named after them, the symbol of Siracusa is a Wolf and a lot of it's culture revolves around them also.

But Il Siracusano makes a point of Siracusa's struggle to stray from the wilderness an embrace civilization. That the mafias keep it steeped in the old violence of the wilderness. That Signora Sicily's made it her life goal to make Siracusa more civilized by restricting the mafias. How the Texas family brought technology from Columbia in particular that allowed Siracusa to progress and how the entire story is Siracusa taking a step towards a mafia and more civilized future.

Ben literally embodies this theme as he constantly comments on how civilization dresses up it's wilderness. How it's not separated itself from it. How it's fighting to. How some characters remind others that it's possible to fight against it or how some characters yearn for the wilderness.

Il Siracusano having a large emphasis on the civilization side of the coin in it's story.

But then there is the Signore dei Lupi. Beast Lords that are manifestations of the wilderness themselves, taking the form of wolves and only training Lupos to be their Fangs.

And Projekt Red who is one such Fang and who inexplicably induces fear in any Lupos who's in proximity to her.

And this moment from Zaaro, one of the Signore dei Lupi:

He's able to induce fear in Lupos just like Red (a connection the event makes obvious when Red appears later and it's also described as a 'chill') and it's specifically described as being kindship and entangled with the blood in their veins which is emphasized even further.

The connection between Ancients and Beast Lords are made perfectly clear and now with the knowledge from Ho'olheyak and Ancients were once animals it makes it extremely curious.

One such curiosity is that Agnese, another Signore dei Lupi, teaches her Fang Lunacub to command actual Wolves, perhaps implying some connection between Beast Lords and normal animals. The She-Wolf only adding to whatever these connections are.

But an event is set up to delve into Projekt Red who is at the forefront of the Signore dei Lupi story and these questions and her story is entangled with Crownslayer whose story is in turn entangled with...

The sarcophagus, as she's connected to the very first one we see in the story.

I swear it writes itself but with a country so focused on the wilderness, with an origin story that so closely ties civilization to the wilderness and animals, a group of animals with a fixation on their ancient counterpart, a character with an inexplicable connection to her kin and another with a connection to the sarcophagus.

It would be perfect to delve into the origins of Ancients especially when there's no way that Red's story wouldn't focus on their mysteries.

#arknights #ho'olheyak #projekt red #written at three in the morning #so apologies if it's not the greatest #but do find it interesting the origins of ancients here #and like #kal'tsit is another point #she likely wasn't always an ancient #so her becoming one is in turn a mystery that can be explored #because she's connected to red and crownslayer #I've connected the dots #I swear

[imsevenn]

across my memory, once upon a winter: svarog × architect!reader ★ major character death!! pre-jarilo apocalypse

&. the entire fic is but a product of the writer's imagination. this is not canon, and this is also not proofread. please excuse the errors that you might find.

Sparks of metal fabrication ensued as the last bolt completed the ensemble. It takes patience and years of trial and error to successfully accomplish the masterpiece she longed to create. Being the odd one out of all the architects, she wished to mold a mechanical being that can empathize with humanity. A robot with a mind of its own, a mech that can make rational decisions for the sake of the greater good. And most importantly, a companion whom she could impart the knowledge of this world, a work of art who can immortalize the beauty of all creations. 

“Wake up, Svarog.” She whispered softly, like an order, like a calling. 

The mechanical creation that sits listlessly started to move. From its hands to its feet, the static sound that it produced made the architect’s eyes gleam. However, the happiness she felt was incomparable when her sole creation finally opened his eyes. His cyclopean eye gave her a sense of warmth that she never felt for a long period of time.

Svarog: Bio heat reaction detected — Identifying bio information...

Svarog: Identification result: Creator (Architect) — Hostility level: None.

The architect gasped. The apotheosis of her intelligence, the proof of her imagination has finally breathed life! 

“That’s right, ‘tis I, your creator, your fleeting companion!” She exclaimed with passion as she jumped towards the mech with delight who instinctively caught her arms to keep her balance.

Although she is aware that Svarog’s sequence of actions was due to the program she installed inside him, she still can’t help but be in awe at the gentlemanly attitude of her creation. If all men are like her Svarog, then maybe the world would be a lot easier for her to live in. 

Svarog: Understood. Recalculating — Result Creator’s relationship is identical to previous seventy-five calculated results. Existing data will temporarily not be altered. The relationship between creator and the machine is best defined as that of a master and servant.  Existing data will temporarily not be altered.

The architect smiled radiantly, “If that’s what you think, then certainly it must be accurate.” She said in agreement whilst opening the doors of the workshop that she secluded herself in. 

“Svarog, come. Let us see the world you will come to love!” 

-

Her mundane days of tinkering with machineries has become a little bit more bearable with a companion by her side. Svarog was also a big help when it comes to moving things in her abandoned workshop where the only living resident is she until she managed to create a company for herself. Architects tend to abandon their laboratories when their project fails and move on to another. She was the only one who choose to remain and complete a humanoid mech that can move and speak like as if they are one of the living. Although, she failed to give Svarog a face and a skin similar to men, she considers him a success still. She only has a single worry. While Svarog may live for an extended amount of eternity, he would still need modifications and upgrades from time to time. She already tried making him a little bit more sociable but as it appears, he only tolerates other living being. Aside from his own master, Svarog doesn’t seem to consider other mortals as important. If she were to die or disappear, who will Svarog allow to take good care of his parts? She already tried to rewrite his memory bank of her and his initial views but to no avail. Svarog doesn’t allow her to reset the data stored in his core. He considers her existence important and has placed protection from anything that concerns her identity to him. Even if she were to place an order of deletion, Svarog’s independent functioning system overrides her authority. 

“Svar, do you know what family is?” If she cannot remove herself from his memory, then she must create a new data that will allow other people to come near him and possibly help him in the future that she will no longer be part of. 

Svarog:  Processing Master’s inquiry... Recalculating — Result:  A family is a group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together; all such related persons are considered as members of one family.

The architect giggled at Svarog’s answer. His answer sounded something completely out of dictionary. The mech’s eye then flickered at her reaction. The sudden spike of her hear rate, arched eyebrows and an involuntary dilation of her pupils, accompanied by a pleasant sound coming from her lightly parted lips indicates that she is happy. Svarog then concluded, his answer was sufficient.

“While what you have said was the general meaning of it, a family can also be someone you’re completely unrelated to. As long you both care for each other and you want them to live a comfortable happy life, they can already be considered as family, Svar. Do you understand?” 

It took a few seconds before Svarog responded. He must be processing this new information and is probably debating whether what she said was credible. 

Svarog: After multiple calculations, master’s definition of family is akin to forty-nine existing meaning of  "family." according to Belobogian traditions. 

Svarog: Reaffirming...

Svarog: Alternating existing data...

Svarog:  Update completed.

The architect smiled happily. If she cannot rewrite her role in Svarog’s memory bank, she must at least give him a new variable that will aid him in the near future. 

“Well, all is well, now that you understand. We should go grocery shopping and...” 

Before she could even finish her words, Svarog has already tackled her to the ground, completely shielding her from the falling debris of the laboratory. She was encased in his embrace for hours while his hands covered her ears in an attempt to shield her from the sound of sudden bombing that came out of nowhere. However, Svarog’s abled body is starting to tremble. Even his eye is starting to lose its light. The sound of static mumbling was clearer than the onslaught of bombs that go off around them. At this rate, the masterpiece that she built, her sole companion who gave her days of pure bliss, the one she cares for most in this world will be ruined and will disappear. 

“Get off, Svar... I need to fix you, right now!” she shouted, while pushing the mech away from her futilely. 

Svarog:  Proc...sing....Ma..t...er...ord...r

Svarog:  Fai..l.. System...fail...

Svarog’s eye blinked wildly as he struggled to deliver a decent response. She can already see a slab of metal stick out of her creation’s body. Svarog has been impaled by one of the debris that he’s trying to shield her from. It didn’t take a while before Svarog completely shut down, unable to respond to any of her callings, to any of her orders. 

With much struggle, she managed to slip out of Svarog’s protection. She doesn’t know how many hours has passed but during the time he protected her, Belobog was under attack. The city had turned into a sea of flames and beings which are not known to her crawled Jarilo-Vi. But that is the least of her concern. Svarog needs fixing and she also needs to pull him out of that rubble. The invaders don’t matter but the state of her creation does. 

Digging Svarog’s huge body from the rubble, the architect searched for surviving materials silently to avoid attracting the attention of the beasts that lay waste upon Belobog’s majestic city. It was easy enough to find the bolts and screws. But the machine that she needs to fix him was the tricky one for not only does it produce a loud noise, she also needs to pull it out from the debris. But it matters not. The dangers that lies from attracting the attention of the monsters is a small price to pay if it means that Svarog’s existence will continue to persist. Bracing herself for the worst, walls of ice raised from the ground as she created a temporary refuse. Her elemental power is not strong but it should be able to buy her time to fix Svarog. 

Picking up the welding rod, she started to replace the broken parts of her creation. Anxiety brews inside her as the monsters started to scratch and tear on the wall that she built. Securing his data bank and core, the architect hastily sealed and added protective frames to preserve Svarog’s lifeline. However, it seems that the damage he incurred was greater than she imagined. The system activation was taking too long. And unfortunately, the walls that shielded them both has already crumbled. 

Monsters surged from all sides. But they must not reach her beloved creation, the light of her seemingly boorish life. The activation must not be interrupted. If she needs to stand her ground against these invaders and put her life on the line, then it must be what fate begs her to do.

-

The sun rose from the other side of the horizon. The calamity is yet to be quelled but somehow, the monster had backed off once the sun had shown itself. Jarilo-Vi’s luscious terrain was no more. The biting winter had come earlier than summer and as it appears, it will be a long, long, long time before they can escape this bitter cold. 

Breathing a sigh of relief, the architect brushed the snow that is starting to build around Svarog’s body. She never had any fighting experience but she managed to stand her ground against those monsters and now, Svarog’s activation has finally reached its finale. 

Weakly, she sat beside the awakening robot. The architect leaned on Svarog’s shoulder, her breathing controlled and labored as her vision blurs a little more. 

“Svar... are you awake now?” her question came off as a quiet whisper. She can no longer hear his voice nor can she see if he’s truly awoken from his deep slumber. Her impending death is starting to rob her of her senses. Thankfully, she can still feel his frigid touches as he lifted her body from the cold sensation of snow. 

Breathing languidly, she raised her trembling hand in an attempt to search and reach Svarog’s face but her hands were clasped by a pair of cold metals. He must be trying to fend off the cold given by how he’s rubbing her skin to his. It was pretty touching to witness her creation’s humanity during her final moment. 

The architect had never feared death. After all, she thinks that it is but a process of human life. She was brought to this world with a purpose to cease and to exist. The cessation of her life is but a stage that she must tread like everyone else. But she never expected nor did she dream to have such a fulfilling death. 

“Nothing in this world could ease my heart more than to be held in your icy metallic embrace, my most beloved creation, my magnum opus, dearest, Svarog." She said quietly as her eyes drifted off to an eternal sleep and maybe another journey that pales in comparison to the one she’s had with him. Either way, her life became a little bit happier with him by her side. She can only hope that he finds himself a light of his own, just as she did in him during her protracted period of seclusion throughout her darkest night.

#svarog #svarog x reader #fluff with angst #honkai star rail #I have no knowledge when it comes to robot creation. My brain stopped at welding lol. #pre-destruction of jarilo vi

[vazkii]

I got asked by an anon on advisor what I think about summer magus, so I'll just copy paste what I said to a friend on discord here. This is basically just unfiltered yapping so open at your own discretion.

go read magus' kit

they tease us normal magus in the event, set the precedent in the previous banner that they're dropping characters to help elements struggling in faa0 with sandalphon, and then drop a character that does legitimately everything dark is complaining about the element being bad at

like how do you design back to back a kit tailor made to save an element in the raid and then right after a kit that does exactly everything people are saying the element has issues with

dark right now is struggling with sustain and omen breaking potential, and our dps is also low because of all the concessions we have to make for those issues; the element is SO BAD at the raid that many players will actively ASK you to leech instead of trying to play because of the chance you'll die

so with magus, naturally we get a character that kills herself, provides zero sustain, has no way to handle the raid mechanics, and deals damage at end of turn, thus contributing to no omens; this by itself isnt that big of a deal, she's a fine FA bot and I'm sure will see some use, but she's not what we need, and after being teased several times in a row we're getting what we need, I can't help but feel disappointed and somewhat angry that the one element I like to play remains in a state where it's so bad players will ask you not to play

the fact her kit is actually the exact thing we're complaining about is insulting

I know it's not on purpose and they just wanted to make something for a different part of the game

but FUCK man

also fenie's weapon is fucking insane

its an indirect nerf to dark because it makes fire even stronger in the place it was already strongest at

where it competes with dark

you know whats even more annoying

is that she's a FA character that ppl who got her and tested already say can out DPS lich

which means all the rank 160 experts currently at the peak of the dunning-kruger curve are going to harrass any dark mains saying she sucks by saying shes a 10/10 (cuz lich is 10/10 in gw tier list since it hasnt been updated in ages, and she deals more dmg)

but like, even in FA ppl have been cutting lich for ages now because she really doesnt deal THAT much dmg

but midgame players use fediel lich since it's a very accessible core

so the notion that it falls off at late/endgame is completely lost on them, and and the fact that fenie's staff is an indirect dark nerf is also entirely impossible to understand because they don't go to bhl so you'll just hear "yeah but eresh is op so shut up your element is op and you're entitled" 2980348x every time you dare vent about it

but its ok dark players deserve to suck because looks at notes we were op in 2016

the mid to lategame discrepancy in dark is actually insane

dark absolutely trivializes all midgame content between eresh destroying all free quests and sandbox and fediel lich just making it so you full auto everything safely

]but then it falls off so insanely hard at late/endgame

but ppl dont get to that point

so they can only extrapolate from what they know which is "dark op"

gbf also has a problem of 6+ year veterans who play like two raids a day and think they're The Shit imparting their knowledge upon other people like a divine gift from the heavens

so we're eating shit from cygames not giving us ANYTHING and at the same time the community hates us for being entitled when "our element is already so op!!!!!!"

when faa0 dropped and dark was awful ppl were legit celebrating and telling dark players they deserved it

for reference, Belial came out in 2021, and dark was the worst element in that raid, then SUBHL also 2021, attempting to enter that raid as dark would immediately get you kicked from the room, then Hexa 2023 where dark was mandatory so ppl just begrudgingly put up with it but its (and still is) widely accepted to be bottom 2 eles alongside light

but 99% of the playerbase never gets to that point

they just see eresh op and fediel lich op and think thats it and will chastise anyone who dares to tell them that's not true

I havent even logged in to anything and I'm already anticipating ppl mansplaining to me about how magus is op and dark is the best element when I have the world second dark faa0 kill

and you know what'll happen if I bring that up? I'm gonna get demolished by populism on "we hate the elitist endgame players!!!!!!!!"

that's the thing right like I'm annoyed and kinda pissed at the element sucking ingame and them baiting us like that but whatever the pendulum swings we'll get something good eventually

its just a game

but it's hard to be "it's just a game" when venting about the things you aren't liking about the game you're invested in results in a bunch of termites coming out of the woodwork to chew on you because they think their two FAs of horus a day is more relevant than your world 2nd clear

[curiousechoo]

It took me to notice I haven’t uploaded Echō’s allspark almanac yet, as well as share more info on her. So I might as well rn! Feel free to give questions or anything else! ^^

rrra (credits for tea with the into: she’s a big help :>)

I’m planning to make more along with another character I’m developing on, but for now have my blurbo! I can’t wait to work more with her in the future!

Small description:

Echō was originally an ai intelligence made by a robotic scientist who was once her work partner. However, due to certain recent events, less mentioned as the 'incident,' she was compelled to abandon her former life and explore the world outside. She found companionship in Kris, a human, and Dot, a demon, who they both generously imparted knowledge about life and teach her about the outside world.

One day, while Echō was taking an evening stroll, she suddenly stumbled upon an allspark fragment. Her insatiable curiosity led her to study it closely. Unexpectedly, the allspark merged with her, triggering a profound transformation into what she is now, an authentic Audobot.

Echō's Audobot form is equipped with formidable arm-mounted cannons and possesses the unique capability of roller-skating on her feet. While she is still getting used to her form and being.. taller than humans, she has been proactive in forging connections with other Audobots on Earth, as well as discover Cybertron. This has allowed her to delve into learning more about cybertronians, including insights into the enigmatic Cybertronians, their language, and various aspects of their way of life.

Notably, Echō has found two particularly amicable companions, Jetfire and Jetstorm, who share her enthusiasm and interest. Their similar appearances and keen curiosity have drawn them closer to Echō as not just friends, but also like a pair of siblings.

Echō's current aspiration is to secure a position within the elite guard. As she embarks on this endeavor, she begins to face.. challenges… that will (eventually) test her newfound identity and abilities.

Her abilities:

While Echō has her armed cannons and rollerskate features, her most exceptional ability is the control of electricity. Currently, she rarely uses this power, unless if she activates her cannon. but when it comes to using all her energy, she exhibits a level of power that no one, human or bot, has witnessed before.

Her proficiency in controlling electricity traces back to her past life and an event referred to as the 'incident’ (which I’ll explain for another part) that made her receive this power. In her current state, she struggles to harness this power unless she is overwhelmed by intense emotions.

Other info dumps:

- Echō is a big Hastune Miku stan. She absolutely adores her, and especially listens to her songs on a daily basis as she finds her taste to be in her best interest, and also her being the reason for her to keep going. Echō herself wants to become a singer just like her, that is her passion being outside of chasing her dream as an Elite Guard.

- She is aromatic, which means she finds little or no attraction when it comes to love. While she is a robot, she’s not familiar with romance or relationships since she’s still learning about herself and her emotions along the way, and also being in guidance by her friends and other bots. In the meantime, she’s learning how to love. She does in fact has a partner, Nightracer (one ofTea’s lovely ocs), he’s a charmer to its finest and Echō quite enjoys being with him in general, such as they both find similarities in music and enjoy singing and dancing. Someone that can relate to Echō makes her really happy!

And now with a few art stuff to finish it off ee ✨

#character art #character design #transformers animated #tfa #SHE SO THE MOST BRO #UHRURHRURUURRURU #:3 #tfa echo

[its-a-branwen-thing]

Just the Way You Are

This volume of RWBY isn't one that I've felt like writing a ton about. It's existed as a bit of background noise to my weekends, a must watch but in passing. It was a wonderful journey, but not as impactful as I thought it should be to me. It hit all the right marks. Well-written, well-animated, great music. It wasn't until the finale, where I was reminded, again, of why I loved this show in the first place.

I've been seeing an outpouring of love for V9 that seemed to spur a re-examination of it as a series, in both what RWBY means to fans and what Ruby means to the audience. This whole volume she's been a proxy facing the show's vocally decried imperfections: for what the could have beens and should have beens keep saying. In Ruby's own personal doubt, we see the seeds of the show's very own history of grappling with fan expectations, critical analysis, commercial success, and the complicated legacy of the tragic passing of the show's creator.

But CRWBY's love for this volume is so evident it seemed to drown out any bad faith arguments: this is RWBY as it was always meant to be.

In finishing this volume, I see once more that fiction can help us suture the parts of us that seep. That its creators are people we may never know but whose ideas we stitch into the membranes of our core. RWBY doesn't have to be a masterpiece emerging fully formed from the minds of its writers and animators. It is a vision expanded upon, a messy beginning built up, a work of surfeit love, flawed and lovely in the mess.

As a perfectionist I tend to chase that critical clout, to draw from external sources the meaning of my own art, to wonder if the interpretations are good enough, if the writing and characters are done with enough mastery that I can succeed in other's eyes. But RWBY will never be a success to some, and in that we see that even the most collectively beloved things are criticized by their detractors. We will never create a bulletproof thing.

Life is exposure. Love is vulnerability and art in service to that love - of self, of others, of vision - exacts the same toll of knowing. Even against the diatribes on Youtube that have stated otherwise, RWBY's heart is worn on its sleeve. It is a show fully sure of its sincerity. This volume seems meant to present that to us and to Ruby, as a character. She has always been the heart of the show. Pursuant of hope in the face of insurmountable odds, always picking up the pieces of others, always with the weight of the world on her shoulders. But, at her core, she has always been a simple, more honest soul.

RWBY and Ruby have faced failure after perceived failure. Ruby always tried hard but never quite got it and now, in the sea of her doubt and the under the current of others' expectations, she sees herself as less than. As incapable of serving the people she loves most. Ruby's fear of failure does not come from her need to be beloved, it doesn't come from a selfish interest in public opinion, but rather from a stalwart need to do what she believes in.

RWBY has long been the scruffy underdog of the animation world, an easy little show to poke fun at. This isn't to say that critiquing is inherently bad faith, or that there's no place for it. There is, and there always will be things that irk or bother us to some degree with every piece of media we consume. But, much like the people we love in our lives, those imperfections are part of them, and we can either take them as is and have faith enough that they'll grow just as we do, that their center is good and worth it, or we can simply let them go.

Choose for yourself one who can leave your burdens behind, or chose one who can be enough to bare them.

There's something to be said about the moral simplicity of a show like RWBY, in which things don't always work out, but in which the characters have enough faith in themselves, and the world, to still seek to save it. This is a fairytale, but it is one that hopes to impart on reality a little bit of that kindness.

It is wholly intentional that RWBY is thus stylized as a children's fairytale. It lacks the tonal shift of grit and anger that adulthood seems to impart on innocence, and posits that: no, you don't need to be anything else, even if others decry that self as naive or emotional or exposed. There is a beauty to RWBY's vulnerability and it's always been there, baked into the show itself.

V9 feels like a love letter to RWBY as a whole. It has always been a show set on positivity, on pursing that goodness at all costs. RWBY does not partake in the labor of being something else more gritty or mature or indifferent. It is what it's always been.

A simple, more honest show.

#rwby #this was a long one #im old and clutching my cane but i love this show with a lot of me #ruby to little/somewhat voice: im so glad we got to meet you #rwby v9 #ruby rose #is V10 greenlit yet?

[noxiatoxia]

HEY so I know its been a minute since I've sent an ask, but I saw some of your posts about danganronpa, specifically regarding another episode, udg, and I was agasp because I was literally in the middle of playing it for the first time lmao. So after finishing the game last night I really wanted to ask, if you want to ofc, your in depth thoughts on the game and why you like it so much, or even thoughts on the gameplay and mechanics since its so different than the danganronpa staple. I quite liked it personally because of Komaru and Toko's relationship, them becoming two of my fav characters in the franchise so far, and because I became very endeared to the kids by the end of the story. I have some qualms with how Kotoko was handled in chapter 3 at... that part... but she's also my favorite of the kids at the same time lol.

Anyways yeah no pressure at all, I just was really curious because I liked the game a lot and found it so funny that you posted stuff about it as I was playing it. Also because I really enjoy your ouran opinions. But again I get if not, the game has some senstive subjects for sure. Thanks!

THIS IS LIKE THE BEST ASK EVER FOR ME TO RECEIVE. I AM SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS GAME AND HAVE BEEN FOR NEARLY A DECADE AT THIS POINT.

Okay....where to even START....

(I will be referring to UDG as DR:AE or just AE in this. SPOILERS FOR ALL OF DR:AE.)

Firstly, the environment. Unlike the main series, DR:AE does not take place in a secluded area away from the real world. It does the opposite; you are in such a vast area, you are not caged, yet you are still trapped. Even if Komaru didn't have that wristband on her, where would she go? The game is great at highlighting what the world outside of what we are told in the mainline games is actually like, how caged things are even outside, all while expanding upon existing characters' backgrounds by introducing family members, or little pieces of dialogue that serve to flesh out the world.

The gameplay itself, personally, I find VERY fun. I'm not a shooter game person, but DR:AE was a game I could play many times over. I love the different types of ammo, the puzzles, the possibilities with how to destroy the monokumas. Just a fun game all around. It's by far the most replayable Danganronpa game, as the main series games are all about the story. Once you know the story, there's really no reason to replay them. In fact, they are quite slow and boring without the intrigue of the mystery.

But the highlight, obviously, is the characters. As is Danganronpa's specialty.

While I still maintain Hajime is the most interesting protagonist of the series, Komaru serves as a great subversion of the expectations set up by Makoto's actions in the first game. Makoto is someone who preserved no matter what, changed those around him with his hope. He was your quintessential paragon protagonist. While Komaru displays this a little in some scenes (namely rallying the adults under Haiji's protection) this is only the result of speaking from her own wants and experiences. That is to say, unlike Makoto who always tried to help others even if it cost his own life, Komaru is much more realistic. She cares, first and foremost, about her safety. Her helping others to stand up for themselves comes from her own desire to keep fighting so she can live, and so she imparts that onto the people around her. Fight so you can live. She says it herself: she is not like Makoto. She is selfish, she is not endlessly optimistic. She's more like Hajime in this way, but unlike Hajime who find his own brand of philosophy, Komaru really doesn't. Rather, while Hajime's character serves to show you don't have to choose a predetermined path (hope or despair) and rather your path can simply be believing in yourself, Komaru's character shows that sometimes, and maybe even most of the time, believing in yourself or a specific ideal is not feasible. Komaru believes in the people around her - namely Toko. She believes in her friend, and believes with her friend that things can keep going. This in my opinion is an excellent twist on Makoto, who was, by all means, that friend that people believed in, not the one doing the believing.

And, as an aside, Toko and Komaru have the best development of any pair of characters in the series. Yes, even moreso than Hajime and Komaeda (who I maintain never really had "development" between each other than just a very, very good dynamic from the get-go that was influenced at points by outside plot forces on Komaeda's end. Think Light and L from Death Note in this manner).

Now, let me talk about the real meat of the game, and my favorite characters to date in the whole series: The Warriors of Hope.

I won't lie that I'm biased. I'm very biased for these guys. But I think a lot of people don't give these guys the credit they deserve considering this is a Japanese game. In Japan, child abuse is a bit of a taboo topic (that thankfully has been resolving over time). Due to the nature of Japan's politeness system and "family above all else" attitude, many child abuse cases not only go unreported, but are flat out ignored. The epidemic of babies dying in coin-operated lockers being an especially egregious example of rampant child abuse that occurred. Despite being prevalent since 1971, it took till 1993 to be socially addressed.

This is just one example, but I think it serves my point: child abuse is/was an issue in Japan when it comes to socially speaking of it. ( In fact, in the game itself, Nagisa and Kotoko both directly say they tried to reach out and get help, but were ignored by adults). This is why art regarding child abuse is so important. And that's why a huge series like Danganronpa centering a game about child abuse is such a huge deal. It sparks discussion and promotes visibility of the topic. Not to say media before hadn't talked about it - in fact, there is a lot of Japanese media about child abuse for this very reason - but that does not undermine the importance of Danganronpa deciding to portray it so openly. It is even more important, to me, that they do not stop at physical or sexual abuse. Rather, abuse focused on verbal harm and emotional neglect are portrayed as being just as damaging, which is one of the most overlooked and underplayed forms of abuse in general.

Their portray of abuse also is rather accurate. I will make a confession: I was definitely a bit too young to play danganronpa when I did. Definitely not 18 yet. But I was a teen, and very aware of different types of abuse, sexual abuse included. But despite all the PSAs, books I had read on my own or even ones assigned to me for classes, I had never seen a sexual assault victim be portrayed as hypersexual before. In fact, I didn't even know such a thing was possible. Yes, it is very, very likely I just got Komaeda levels of unlucky to not encounter that in any of my reading or research material at the time, but I think it's common, nonetheless, that people to this day still have the misconception that sexual abuse victims are all afraid of sex or anything sexual. While that is true for some, many people are now becoming more aware that sexual abuse survivors can often display hypersexual tendencies. In this way, I DID learn a lot about the effects of sexual abuse based on how Kotoko acted, and was able to do my own research from there to learn more. Furthermore, the game is good at portraying things like specific triggers in the form of words, smells, items, or specific phrases. Again, I feel it's mostly stereotyped that most triggers are objects that "make sense" like cigarettes or alcohol (much like with what Masaru was afflicted with). But the game made sure to include ones that were "non conventional" like specific words ("gentle" in Kotoko's case) and portrayed both triggers, no matter how common or uncommon, as equally severe. The game also shows negative effects child abuse can have on those around the children. After all, the WoH would not be doing the things they were doing if it weren't for how they were treated in the first place.

(Aside: This is particularly WHY I get so mad when people hate on DR:AE for being "icky". If you are personally uncomfortable with topics of child abuse, that is wholly reasonable and you do not have to play or even like a game that centers on that. You are in your full right and perfectly valid to say "I think this is gross and uncomfortable, therefore I do not like it" or "I don't like this game because I felt personally overlooked/triggered by it" or "I don't like this game because I felt it was not fun or well written". But to say it is objectively "problematic" or "disgusting" to have a game like this exist? That is just spitting in the face of people trying to advocate for visibility of child abuse. You are doing nothing but making people like myself who felt vindicated, seen, or educated by this game like bad guys. Sincerely, please do not call a game that does not shy away from the uncomfortable realities of child abuse "problematic" based on that alone.)

(Aside aside: there are "problematic" elements in the game and things to criticize as is true of all media. The Kotoko minigame I would say is the biggest "why is this in here" moment and is definitely just a fan service scene. I don't like it either. This does not mean the game itself and as a whole is valueless or bad.)

That leads into my next point: I love how morally gray the "good" and "bad" guys are. The WoH aren't doing what they're doing (save Monaca) because they want to hurt people for the lolz (though they have fun with it, as kids would). They think what they're doing is genuinely good. It's a good way to rival Junko, who knew she was evil and batshit crazy, but didn't care. These kids think they are helping children and keeping them safe. And they're kids - young kids can't really think in very complex manners. If you were treated horribly by most adults in your life, and your peers were as well and shared the same sentiments as you, you would be 100% convinced your convictions were righteous then. Hell, I've met adults that think this way (pretty much all extremists who think anyone part of x group, race, gender, religion, etc is evil). A kid thinking this way is very realistic. They are also all different levels of "morally gray". Nagisa, for example, ends up helping Komaru because he feels that a paradise for children is more important than the sole idea of killing all adults. Meanwhile, Monaca, perhaps because of the abuse she suffered all her life, has become a person that we can assume will just enact similar abusive tactics on everyone around her till the day she dies. While it's a misconception that people who suffer abuse often turn into abusers themselves (they simply just have a higher chance to commit crimes, anything from petty crimes to violent ones) there are undoubtedly cases where this does happen. A real life example is Douglas Spinx (HUGE TW; CSA & BESTIALITY). My point is: the portrayal of abuse victims in many different lights from people who can inflict harm unintentionally but with help and intervention can make recoveries to those who, in the rarest and saddest of cases, will turn to a full life of inflicting harm on others intentionally, is important - for someone like me, at least. Without the proper care or attention, horrible things like these can happen. I find this a very important thing to be open about.

Then we have Haiji. Haiji is supposed to be a "good guy". He's cowardly, yes, but he does fight to help the adults being killed. He attempts to bolster moral. But...despite having good intentions and even doing some good things, he's kind of horrible. After all, he's the one who contributed to Monaca's abuse and made her the way she is now. He's just like the kids except reversed; he thinks all children are evil because they're the ones killing everyone. And in his position, I do think most people would feel that way. I mean, if literally every kid in your area was wearing a helmet that turned them fuckin murderous and were killing all your friends and family would you, after enduring months of this, still bother to be like "not all kids though!". Likely not. Even though it is wrong, it is still a realistic way these things would pan out, much like how it did for the WoH. I mean, for a real life example, one need not look further than one of those extremist radical feminist blogs here on Tumblr that believes every single person born male is a brute. Most of those people believe that way because they have personally been hurt by one or several males in their lives, and y'know, fear and pain leads to hate and all of that.

Speaking of, I like the brainwashing in this game far more than in DR3 the anime (spoilers for that later on but tbqh DR3 is not worth anyone's time). I never liked brainwashing as a trope - I feel it is lazy. However, in DR:AE and DR1 they're utilized pretty well. In DR1 it's literally glossed over as "does it really matter? The outcome is more important than the means" which considering DR1, moreso than any other game in the series, is a satire and is supposed to focus on absurdity, I think having the brainwashing LITERALLY be hand-waved as "eh, it just happened" makes a lot of sense thematically with the goofy writing. But as you know, as DR went on, it became more and more serious with itself (for...better and worse...) in DR:AE, I like how the brainwashing affects only the nameless children. DR3's anime was lazy by having all the main characters get brainwashed by a funny little video, both in future&despair arc. In AE, it's a helmet. I think this makes much more sense as theoretically the helmet could be attached to the actual brains of these people. Plus, as said in the game, they blow up when the controller is destroyed, giving credence to that theory. The brainwashing in AE is not a vehicle to explain why main characters act the way they do. Rather, it's just a device used to create background conflict/build up the main villains, leaving the main characters to be affected by persuasion and manipulation (the objectively better version of "brainwashing").

Circling back to the WoH, outside of their thorough portrayals of abuse and standings as "villains who think they are doing the right thing", they're just fun. Like, legit, I just think they're fun. Outside of their trauma, they aren't very complex, but that's the point. The game is a commentary about abuse and how it affects you, the people around you, and the world. The WoH are not the characters meant to be developed and complex entities who undergo deep changes - that is left to our protagonists. As most series with static characters do, they assign each member a core personality. Every Warrior of Hope has a number of traits influenced by this personality (the "sporty" one, the "smart" one, etc) that make them vastly different from each other, making them not only distinct but just fun to watch their personalities clash. After all, if they were not bonded by their trauma, they probably wouldn't be friends at all. it's honestly like a Teen Titans situation in that way, and I've always loved stuff like that. Of course, their personalities are also heavily influenced by their trauma, again a realistic depiction of how trauma can and will change who you are as a person and present itself in many facets of your actions.

I THINK that's all my MAIN points. Suffice to say, DR:AE is my favorite game in the series. I think it's the most fun, has the best character developments and dynamics, I think its story is the most emotional and deep-cutting, and it really spoke to me during a time that I needed something like this to reach me. I won't say it's the best DR game in terms of overall narrative (that honor goes to SDR2) but it comes close. And I know not everyone will feel the same way about this game that I do. Thanks for this ask; yet another reminder I need to do my bi-yearly replay of this game.

(Footnote so I don't get "so you hate waffles"'d: my bringing real-life examples into this is not to say those instances are exactly like what happens in the video game nor to say they are on the same level of importance. Obviously real life is far more important and complex than anything that could happen in a game. I only bring them up to support my points about certain aspects being realistic by using, well, real life examples.)

#;noxiatalks2ya #danganronpa #danganronpa another episode #ultra despair girls #dr:ae #dr udg

[wordsmith30]

The more that I think about it, the more I realize that Ava’s character arc as the Warrior Nun actually regressed in season two.

Ultimately, Beatrice hits the nail on the head in their fight at the very beginning: Ava does whatever she wants, jumps headfirst into danger without thinking about the consequences, leads with her heart and emotions instead of her head.

Because of the intense pressure Ava puts on herself to be the Warrior Nun, she becomes dangerously self-sacrificing. In her desperation to not let the team down, she throws herself at every threat that appears (whether she needs to or not) and the team gets smoked with her. Afraid to lose her friends, she takes on the whole weight of the mission alone. In the end, she abandons them for a solo mission that nearly gets her killed.

One of the key lessons Beatrice tried to impart to her in season one was to trust her team. The Warrior Nun is not supposed to go at it alone or exist in isolation. She is a symbol, a representative of a collective unit. If only the Warrior Nun was needed, there would be no OCS. There would be no team.

Though the Warrior Nun is supposed to be their designated leader, that doesn’t necessarily mean that she is. In season one, Ava was a complete newbie with no background knowledge, experience, or training whatsoever. Despite her special status, her role was limited to one specific thing and it was the team’s job to protect her so that she could fulfill it. Everyone had their own part to play.

But Ava chafed against this system. She didn’t like the idea of other people fighting for her and wanted to do something, even though she wasn’t properly equipped. Beatrice and the others consistently had to tell her, “No. That’s not your job. You’re going to get yourself killed. Your responsibility is this and that’s all you need to worry about.”

Somewhere along the way, Ava forgets that. She gets roped in with Michael and Reya’s plan (a horrible, stupid plan that doesn’t even work!). She blames herself for everything that goes wrong and believes it’s her sole responsibility to protect the team – that she needs to take the biggest risks and make the ultimate sacrifice.

But the biggest difference between her and the OCS? They chose this. They signed up for this. They have trained for this. They’re prepared to lay down their lives for this, they know what’s at stake. And you need them!

Two seconds after Ava and Michael defect for their own plan, Michael is killed on the spot. Ava is left outnumbered and alone with no way to call for backup.

Meanwhile, one-woman-army Beatrice is slicing through every last one of Adriel’s men to find her. That’s the girl you left behind?

Enough with all this “I’m doing this to save you”. You need her to save you!

Every time Ava was in trouble this season, my reaction was either: “Yaas! Beatrice has arrived” or: “Shoot. Beatrice! Beatrice, help her!”

Beatrice has saved her a thousand times over and when the two of them are fighting side by side – protecting each other, leaning on each other, trusting each other, working together – they’re unstoppable.

After Ava falls fifty feet from a building, she tells Beatrice that “they can’t beat us [...] Not together.”

So why did you leave her? 😭

#yes I'm late to the party but I just finished Warrior Nun and now I'm sad #Avatrice #Warrior Nun 2x08 #Warrior Nun 2x02 #Warrior Nun 2x05 #Warrior Nun 2x06 #Warrior Nun 1x09 #Ava Silva #Sister Beatrice #Ava x Beatrice #save warrior nun #Michael Salvius #Reya #Adriel #self-sacrifice #I just want Avatrice together and happy #Ava deserved to live

[thecleverqueer]

Pure speculation and likely a lot of head canon, but this is how I think everything likely happened between Ahsoka and Sabine…

(While I think the Master/ Padawan relationship was the best complex relationship to explore with Ahsoka since a romance or her own child would be super lame and out of character, it is odd that Filoni chose Sabine. But, part of me thinks that it all either clicked in his head and he assumed we all knew what happened, or he wrongfully thought Fandom could fill in the blanks)

Anyway, here goes:

In my mind, and likely right after the Battle of Lothal, Ahsoka showed up there looking for Ezra as promised to find a broken Sabine trying to hold it together after losing 1/3 of her Ghost Family to death/ disappearance and the other 2/3 to the larger Rebellion. Sabine had made a promise to watch over Lothal, and that was what she was primarily committed to doing. Ahsoka and Sabine likely trauma bonded pretty quickly, and began going on adventures together in Ahsoka’s T-6 shuttle with Huyang (who I think likely joined up with Ahsoka early on in the Rebellion. It is my theory that he was the one that inevitably rescued her from Malachor).

One of their first adventures was likely a failed attempt to find Ezra (this is what I think they were probably doing during a New Hope).

After being unable to find their long lost friend, Ahsoka and Sabine likely helped the Rebellion when necessary, but were probably more likely just helping people or pockets of resistance than fighting the Empire directly. Anakin’s betrayal shattered Ahsoka in many ways, and the politics behind it all likely twisted her stomachs (yeah, togs have two of those). Sabine probably liked this better as well because it reminded her of a simpler time with the Ghost Crew.

They likely met Luke Skywalker for the first time during this time. Hera likely kept in close contact with Sabine, and she told her about the destruction of the first Death Star. And while Ahsoka was likely incredibly reluctant to disclose any details about her fallen Master, Sabine knew his name and Luke’s existence intrigued Ahsoka (albeit probably also weirded her out a bit where she was unwilling to stay around for too long).

All the while, Sabine likely needled Ahsoka to train her as a Jedi. She probably mentioned it often, and dropped it into conversations frequently. Sabine would want to cling to something that reminded her of Kanan and Ezra, having been raised by the former and grown up alongside the latter. Ahsoka probably saw something within Sabine, possibly a force spark. There were teases in Rebels that Sabine had very slight sensitivities to the force (rewatch “The Trials of the Dark Saber” arc and the “Wolves and the Door” / “World between Worlds” arc as reference, and REALLY squint). A reluctant Ahsoka probably thought to herself, “What the hell, right? She’s not THAT force sensitive! It’s not as if her power will damn the galaxy to fall into a sinking hole of darkness if the worst aspects of my dumpster fire of a lineage seep into her by my teachings.”

Ahsoka likely began to impart her wisdom on Sabine, but was not fully committed to it herself. Ahsoka looked at her legacy and saw a wake of death and destruction that shook her to her core. She thought of her time fighting in the Clone Wars being trained more as a warrior than a Jedi (likely the source of her “I’m no Jedi” sentiments; questions and concerns more than a lack of commitment to the ideology or code). She remembered encountering her older self in the cave on Mortis, warning her that the seeds of darkness were planted inside her by her master. It scared her. Also knowing exactly what happened to her master at that point (with the knowledge of Luke’s existence), she likely became even more cold, stoic and detached; fearful that her own attachments to people could make her vulnerable to the temptation of the darkness.

Their adventures continued… but then, the destruction of Mandalore happened.

As soon as Sabine caught wind of this, she flew furiously off of the rails as Sabine does. Sabine was always impulsive and emotional. She wanted to take the Empire on, full-frontal once again. Ahsoka likely contacted Bo-Katan to assess the situation, and to see if there was anything that they could do to help. Bo-Katan told Ahsoka that it was a lost cause, and to protect Sabine at all costs (Ursa’s dying request for maximum pain), one of the few remaining Mandalorians and the last remaining member of Clan Wren. Sabine and Ahsoka fought hard, loudly and contemptuously about this. Ahsoka tried to reason with Sabine, but she wanted to go scorched-Earth. Sabine’s rage panicked Ahsoka. Ahsoka stayed to keep Sabine in check on Lothal until the dust settled, and then Ahsoka left without a word. Sabine thought that it meant that Ahsoka didn’t trust her to do the right thing, or to fight for the right causes. Ahsoka thought if Sabine had any capacity to use the force, this deep-seated anger and her inability to let go could become problematic.

Sabine remained on Lothal to keep her promise to Ezra, broken and downtrodden. With Ahsoka and her family gone, and with Hera, Zeb, and Chopper busy with the New Republic, she felt incredibly alone and refocused her energy on finding her long-lost friend …even though that felt hopeless too.

Ahsoka, also broken and downtrodden, continued to travel alone with Huyang to protect the people in the galaxy; quietly working towards peace and justice, following the Jedi ideology and code, but never truly feeling worthy of the title. When she ran into Din requesting her to take on Grogu as a padawan, not only did it frighten her further, it stung.

Din said, “A Mandalorian and a Jedi? They’ll never see it coming.”

Ahsoka smiled fondly, a deep regret inside her formed as her failure with Sabine marinated, missing Sabine dearly, and she thought, “If you only knew the half of it…”

#star wars #ahsoka tano #sabine wren #ahsoka and sabine #ahsoka series #bo katan kryze #mandalore #huyang #lothal #the untold adventures of ahsoka and sabine #i think i know where filoni is headed #the ghost crew #hera syndulla #ezra bridger #din djarin #grogu