#and i said it here!!! befriending them is going to be very important for our contestants

[rainymoodlet]

Kiss Me in Komorebi 🌹 pre-show

An Exclusive Interview with the Bachelor! (part four) including a never-before-seen picture of Daniel Taylor's family!

pictured from left to right, birth order in brackets. Thomas (5), Matthew (7), Alan (3), Sofia, Rachel (2), Jordan (6), and Cheatham (4)

prev. | beg. | next.

more about the family below the cut! 🌸

Dan's family has been incredibly off-the-radar until now. He kept them almost entirely a secret during his earlier career, and only Jordan (a rising Simstagram model) has been exposed to the public eye and featured in his SimToks. He's not supposed to have favorites but his baby siblings, Jordan and Matthew, are definitely his favorites.

Daniel's father, Lt. Daniel Taylor I was an intensely abusive man, rigidly militaristic and a drunk to boot. Dan was the firstborn, and his namesake. Every sibling that was born after him was automatically under his protection, and he values each and every one of them above himself.

If you'd like to read more of Dan's history, you'll find his entire history written here, on his old profile. His history is not public knowledge: I just love writing and was too impatient to reveal it slowly!

Sofia Taylor (nee Perales) || Dan's mother. She can do no wrong in his eyes, and is literally the most important woman on Earth to him. Getting along with and being respectful to her will be very important. She suffered immense abuse at the hands of Dan's father and put up with it for years for the safety and advancement of her children. Dan never blamed her for anything, and the minute he got enough money from his show, he bought her a cottage in the rolling Henford countryside. Dan pays for everything, and she wants for nothing - which is, as he says, how she should live out the rest of her days forever.

Rachel Howard (nee Taylor) || The second-born. She is shrewd and sharp-witted, and very much a product of her father's stern household. Though she has a warm smile and a soft touch, the scar on her lip and the hard steel in her eyes belies the kind advice she's wan to give at any given moment. Rachel stepped in to take care of her siblings alongside Alan when Dan was shipped off to military school, and the three eldest siblings have a very close (if incredibly easy-to-aggravate-one-another) bond. Has two twins, a boy and a girl. Was so eager to shed her last name that she legally changed it once her boyfriend proposed.

Alan Taylor || The third-born. Alan has all of Dan's taciturn stoicism, but he's been softened by years of fatherhood and a quiet life lived in peace with his husband and children. Alan admired his eldest brother immensely, and was the one who felt the most abandoned when Dan left (seeing as he became the next Oldest Boy in the household). It took a long time for the two to reconcile after Dan's small rise to fame, but the two would say they're even closer now than they were before Dan left. Literally the most dad of all dads - if Dan never wanted to give his own children a chance to face the cruelties of the world, than Alan wanted his own children to be able to experience nothing but love and kindness that the world has to offer. Has three kids, two girls and one boy.

Cheatham Taylor || The fourth-born. An absolute rascal, Cheatham is the Uncle Bumi of the family. Largely ignored by their father for his weakness of health in youth, Cheatheam began acting out and rebelling at an early age to garner any sort of attention from the Lieutenant. He and Dan were at odds for the majority of his youth, and it wasn't until Dan was forced from the house that Cheatham was forced to confront their reality. Cheatham spent a few years on the road with Daniel before taking over the family ranch (and turning it into a weed farm, just to spite the old man) He's a spitfire and has the best laugh in the world, and though they are polar opposites, Dan finds him to be the easiest to confide in. He is happily married and has two children, both boys.

Thomas Taylor || The fifth-born. The Clark Kent of the family, Thomas was the Lieutenant's "second attempt" at a Proper Son. Thomas was a sweetheart from the moment he was born, and though his father taught him all the things he'd taught Dan, bullied him and beat him like he'd bullied and beat Dan, he never lost that innate sweetness and goodness that kept him Thomas. Sweet, simple Thomas. He was young when Dan was sent away, but insisted on sending him letters every chance he got - and Dan saved every one. He owns a garage in Starlight Shores, and he and Dan have beers and watch football together on the weekends.

Jordan Perales || The sixth-born, Matthew's twin. An aspiring Simstagram model and the baby sister of the family, Jordan was very young when Daniel was sent away, but she remembered him incredibly fondly. Daniel was even more protective of his younger siblings in his father's later years, as the man seemed to get impossibly worse as time went on, and both Jordan and Matthew were constantly at his side. The two of them view Daniel as their father figure, and he and Jordan are particularly close: she's the one who convinced him to go on Jupiter York's bachelorette, and she's the one who convinced him to try The Bachelor Challenge for himself. You'll want to bond with all of his siblings, sure, but Jordan is the one you'll want to be friends with the most. She changed her name the second she turned eighteen.

Matthew Taylor || The seventh-born, Jordan's twin. Matthew is the youngest and final Taylor, a surprise baby hiding behind his sister in the ultrasounds. Matthew struggled the most as a child in the Taylor household, which is saying something: but to put it in perspective, Daniel took more punches, beatings, and bloodied noses for Matthew than any other child in the house. Daniel holds the world in his palms for Matthew, and the two are incredibly close. Matthew is trans, and he knew from a very young age - which, as you can imagine, didn't exactly sit well with the Lieutenant. As Daniel will have the public know, Matthew is a boy, was always a boy, and if his deadname or the traumatic history of his transition was ever made public, Daniel would personally John Wick whoever was responsible.

#ts4 #ts4 edit #ts4 bachelor challenge #ts4 screenshots #ts4 simblr #ts4 challenge #kiss me in komorebi #;kmik #oh my god this took me too long dsfkff i'm a mess #but seriously this was too fun!!! i tried to make his siblings look diverse but god #my sims are so same-facey sometimes sldkfsdlkf #and yeS that is a MOTHER AND SON i have no poses for adults kdfhjsd #i love them all i had so much fun piecing together their faces and personalities #they are all very important to daniel and there's nothing he wouldn't do for them #and i said it here!!! befriending them is going to be very important for our contestants #the first impressions made by all of these personalities WILL have be shared with dan #whether or not they influence his decisions... we have yet to know #anyway!!! i hope you guys are excited!!! #its my birthday and we are so close to fruition on this bc!!! i am so hype!!! #also yes omg the amount of headcanons and shit i could give you about these guys AH #but i will repeat: jordan's the one you wanna win over!!! #also yes daniel is mixed 🥹 selvadoradan and WHITEST WHITE ASS WONDERBREAD (his dad)

[anneapocalypse]

Why Anders and Fenris can't be friends (in the game)

Recently I made a short post that was supposed to stay that way, but instead it took over my brain for several days so I'm going to expand on it. In that post, I said:

"Why can't Fenris and Anders get along? Why can't they see what they have in common?" Because it's a story about how people can be practically and philosophically correct about a specific thing, and also get so mired in their own pain and trauma that they can't relate to people whose pain and trauma comes from a different source and who are right about something else, especially if trying to reconcile those two things would threaten their sense of self. And that is, imo, both more interesting and more true to the human experience than if they simply looked past all that without any difficulty.

So, with that as our starting point, why don't Anders and Fenris find common ground by the end of the game? Wouldn't that be a strong character arc for both of them, and aren't both characters lesser for not getting there? Is this an oversight, rushed development, bad writing?

I think the answer to these questions lies in the journeys that Anders and Fenris are each on over the course of the game, and in this post I'm going to explore both of their arcs a bit, where they’re both going and why their paths are divergent in the game. Specifically I mean to argue here that they cannot find common ground during the game because Fenris spends the game finding safety, while Anders spends the game becoming progressively less safe.

Disclaimer time! This post is not meant as a refutation of anyone’s ships or headcanons! You do you. What I hope to explore here is why things go the way they do in the game itself.

I’m also aware that this game has been out for over a decade, that there is nothing new under the sun, that both of these characters provoke strong feelings in a lot of us, and that some fans are just tired of hearing about them in general. If the latter is you, please feel free to scroll right on by; no need to inform me.

This analysis will necessarily involve discussing both characters’ flaws as well as their strengths (as well as those of some other characters), but it’s coming from a place of love and appreciation for these characters as complex and multi-faceted. Please refrain from expressing character hate on this post.

Content warnings: discussion of slavery, the Chantry explosion, abuse and trauma generally.

Anders' Journey

It has been said that Anders' character arc in DA2 is a downward spiral while Fenris is on a slow road to recovery. And I basically agree with that, but I don't think of it as a downward spiral in terms of negative character growth, precisely. While I do think there are ways in which Anders becomes less able and willing to empathize with others over the course of the game, I consider that more of a side effect of what's happening to him than a sign of him being on some kind of moral downturn.

To me, the downward spiral is that Anders spends the entire game losing hope.

As an apostate in Kirkwall (and a possessed one at that), I think it is important to recognize that Anders is never truly safe. It seems likely to me that the only reason he remains free for so long is because he happens to befriend some very powerful and influential people in Kirkwall—most notably, Varric Tethras, who is known to pay people off to keep his friends safe from the city's various criminal organizations, and I don't think it's unlikely that he's payed off templars as well.

Even in his closest circle of friends, Anders isn't completely safe. And it isn't Fenris who poses the greatest danger to him! The one character who actively suggests they turn in Anders (and Merrill) to the templars is Sebastian in Act III—and it's Fenris who brushes him off, telling him to "work it out with Hawke." I don't think Fenris would lose any sleep if it happened, but he actively declines to be a part of it. While Fenris is not above turning in mages generally (he will rat out Emile de Launcet to the Knight-Commander if brought along for “On the Loose”), there's no evidence that Fenris has ever made an active attempt to turn Hawke's mage companions over to the templars; if nothing else, he has too much respect for Hawke.

There's another companion who we know has turned mages in. Aveline and Anders get off to a pretty sour start right in Act I when Aveline asks if she can "consult" with him, and Anders guesses (rightly, it seems) that she just wants information on how to fight and kill mages. Needless to say, he is not forthcoming with help. Their Act II banter begins with Anders pointing out that she isn't a particularly mage-friendly Captain of the Guard, where Aveline counters that she’s only turned “a handful” over to the templars. Between Act II and Act III, there is a mounting tension between the two of them, with Anders in the final act doing his best to nudge Aveline away from defending the templars. Not even ideologically—he knows that's a losing battle with Aveline—but by bringing up Meredith's overreach and the fact that even Donnic doesn't agree with the Knight-Commander. When explaining to Hawke why he hasn't included them in the Mage Underground, Anders cites Hawke's connections to the nobility and to the Guard. It's no mystery who he's talking about.

There are people among Hawke's companions who pose an actual danger to Anders—and Fenris is not at the top of that list, no matter how much they may despise each other. And I think Anders' interactions with Fenris are especially vitriolic, not in spite of that fact, but because of it. I'd say similar of Merrill, the other companion Anders arguably has the most acrimony with. Neither Fenris nor Merrill poses any true threat to Anders. They are both elves who do not benefit from drawing attention to themselves; Merrill is a blood mage and Fenris an escaped former slave. While both of them hold views that make them philosophically or potentially dangerous, neither has ever actually acted against Anders.

Now, Anders does argue with Aveline and Sebastian. Repeatedly. He's not shy about stating his opinions and questioning theirs. But notice how the way he argues differs with each character. With Aveline, he appeals to her sense of order and propriety. With Sebastian, he appeals to his sense of righteousness. We see this particularly in Act III, once things have gotten especially dire. And he does start out similarly with Fenris, trying to draw a comparison between mages in the Circles and slaves in Tevinter—a tactic which utterly fails to move Fenris, and Anders drops it pretty quickly.

I think Anders' dialogue with Fenris gets especially nasty a) because Fenris is a rival against whom Anders can afford to vent his anger with less restraint, and b) because Fenris's existence makes Anders feel threatened in an entirely different way than Aveline and Sebastian. Anders knows that the Captain of the Guard and the noble-turned-Chantry-brother are not on his side, and it is in his best interest to be persuasive toward them, but also philosophically they're opposed to him in a way that he finds easy to refute. He is very firm in his convictions that the Circles are unjust and that they are a corruption of what Andraste taught and fought for. He may have little chance of actually persuading Aveline and Sebastian, but he's also in no danger of being persuaded by them. In other words, they may threaten his physical safety and that of other mages, but they do not challenge his core beliefs, his sense of self.

But Fenris does.

Anders has spent most of his life locked up for being a mage, running away and being caught, and subject to profound abuses. Since his final escape and joining with Justice, he has found purpose and hope in fighting for the cause of mage freedom. If his cause is just, then it is worth living for and fighting for, what he has lost he can endure, and what he’s had to do for that cause is justified. If he admits to himself that magic is itself a power that can be abused, that magic has anything to do with the atrocities Tevinter, that calls his purpose into question. If the unchecked use of magic has the potential to create a society just as unjust as the one he knows, that unravels his present idea of justice, which is quite literally part of his identity!

And maybe if this were a different story, Anders' arc would be about confronting those challenges and deciding how to move forward with them. But this isn't that story, because this is a story set in Kirkwall, where the templars' abuses of power over mages are happening right now, right in front of him, and every effort he makes to change that is systematically crushed.

This is really critical to Anders' arc! He is not a character who has spent the whole game achieving his goals and then escalating those goals. Almost everything he has tried to do has failed. And it's really not due to any strategic failing on his part; the Circle is just too powerful. His attempt to save Karl introduces this theme right at the beginning. Anders does his best; he does everything he can. But he is up against forces he cannot stop. Karl is doomed by the narrative so that we can understand what Anders is facing.

And it does not get any better! There's another tumblr post out there about how every companion quest for Anders is basically you go to see how he's doing, and he's doing bad. And it's true! Because things just keep getting worse. His Act II quest "Dissent" gives us a firsthand glimpse of the abuses taking place inside the Circle. "Dissent" is sometimes read as an example of Anders' paranoia, because both the Knight-Commander and the Grand Cleric had rejected Ser Alrik's plan to make all mages tranquil. I don't fully agree with that reading. Anders knows that such a proposal has been drawn up, and he is absolutely correct about that. He just doesn't know it’s been rejected, and frankly from where he’s standing, he has every reason to worry it might not be. Furthermore, Anders tells Hawke that there are templars within the Circle, most notoriously Ser Alrik, who are misusing the Rite of Tranquility even by Circle standards and who enjoy torturing and abusing mages—and then we see exactly that firsthand with Alrik and Ella, so Anders was entirely correct in that case.

By Act III, the Mage Underground has been completely dismantled, the Knight-Commander has openly seized control of Kirkwall, and half of Anders' own social group will still barely admit there's a problem. His ambient dialogue as early as the end of Act II is "I can't go on like this." It's hard not to feel the sheer despair radiating off Anders by the third Act.

His attack on the Chantry is not something he was always planning and working toward. It's a last resort he undertakes because every other avenue has failed. In seven years, he has helped to free individual mages, but he has made no progress toward dismantling or frankly even improving the Circle as a whole; in fact, it's only gotten worse. Now the lives of every mage in the Circle are threatened as Meredith seeks the Right of Annulment for little more than suspicions of blood magic. Individual rescues are not a solution. His written appeals to the public have had little practical effect. If he wants to save Kirkwall's mages, he has very few options left.

And if you listen to the way Anders speaks—if you look at his face after the explosion as he waits for Hawke's response—he is not happy about this. He is not dancing on the ashes. In fact, he looks heartbroken. There is collateral damage from the Chantry explosion and Anders knows there will be and he does not take that lightly. This is foreshadowed very well in a piece of banter with Isabela:

Anders: There is justice in the world. Isabela: Is there? You want to free the mages. Let's say you do, but to get there, you kill a bunch of innocent people. Isabela: What about them? Don't they then deserve justice? Anders: Yes.

Anders accepts this justice. He leaves Hawke out of his plans regardless of whether Hawke would have supported him because he means to accept the consequences for himself. He accepts whatever sentence he is given without resistance.

Regardless of how you feel about Anders' attack on the Chantry (and I'd prefer not to fight with anyone about that here), I recount all of this to make the point that his arc in the game is a long slide into despair and desperation, and for what I think are very understandable reasons. And over these seven years, it's pretty clear that Anders feels increasingly alone in his efforts. He feels like everyone is against him. There are things he feels he cannot tell even Hawke, no matter how supportive Hawke may be, because of Hawke's connections.

These are basically the worst possible conditions for a person to be able to extend patience and empathy to someone of very different experience with whom they are ideologically at odds.

Anders straight up doesn't have any energy, or emotional bandwidth, or whatever you want to call it, left for that. When he says, "I am the cause of mages. There is nothing else inside me," he means it. He is drained—emotionally, spiritually, probably physically, in all possible ways. He is particularly caustic in the back half of the game, and at times says some truly mean and petty things to and about other characters and I will not defend those things, but it is so understandable to me why he gets like this, stretched absolutely to the breaking point and ready to snap.

Anders' journey in Dragon Age II is a tragedy. Depending on the choices Hawke makes, it may not be the end of his story; there is still the possibility that he lives to see a changing world in which he himself can begin, after all these years, to breathe easier, to heal. I think that's going to be a long process, but it is absolutely possible.

Within the timeframe of the game itself, I don't think it is possible for Anders to go on the journey he's on and also figure out how to get along with Fenris. In fact I think those two things are antithetical to each other. Post-game, the world is wide with possibility. But not in the game itself. "Learn how to play well with others" (especially others who are diametrically opposed to everything he believes in) is so emphatically not the story being told with Anders in this game, and the entire climax of the game is built on top of the story it's been telling us with Anders. Because of that, I cannot see "Anders and Fenris become friends" as what could have been or what should have been. It's not just an add-on in this case; it's a change that rewrites the whole story.

Fenris's Journey

Upon arriving in Kirkwall, Fenris's history does at first glance share a lot of commonalities with Anders: he is an escapee who's managed to evade his captors for a few years now, and in Kirkwall he finds reason to settle down, though he is not out of danger yet.

But their paths start to diverge pretty much immediately.

First, let's just acknowledge that Kirkwall is, objectively, a safer city for Fenris than it is for Anders. That's not to say it is truly safe; Danarius is still hunting for Fenris and has connections in Kirkwall, and no human city is particularly safe for elves. Fenris finds himself pursued at some point in every act, culminating with Danarius himself in Act III.

Fenris is, however, much more able to defend himself against hired mobs of slavers operating illegally in the south than a lone apostate is able to defend him against an army of templars who have the backing of the city guard should they decide to actually come for him. Fenris's pursuers do not rule Kirkwall, and they don't have the guard on their side; they do not have a base of operations just a short boat ride away, and they are not sending troops to daily patrol the streets and look for a person of his description.

Had Fenris stayed in Tevinter, that would be exactly his situation, and if Anders had fled north, the templars tracking him would likely have faced more difficulty apprehending him. But this story doesn't take place in Tevinter, it takes place in Kirkwall, and Fenris has some advantage here just by nature of have escaped to the south.

Is Fenris truly safe in Kirkwall? No, and that's the setup for his whole character arc. The critical difference is that Fenris's arc is toward finding safety, while Anders' is not.

Let us note also that there is no one in Hawke's immediate friend group actively threatening to sell Fenris back into slavery. The Captain of the Guard, while she needles him about squatting in Hightown, also does not take the side of slavers. Even the pirate is against the trafficking of people. The only one in that group who has the potential to do such a thing to Fenris is Hawke, and only if Hawke decides to recruit Fenris, pretend to be his friend for seven years (even rivalries are still fundamentally friendships, just more challenging and complicated ones), before selling him out for, at most, a sum that should frankly be an insult to Hawke at that point in their career.

Hawke’s mage companions feel like threats to Fenris, yes, because his life experience has led him to conclude that no mage is truly safe. Anders and Merrill in particular represent the additional dangers of abominations and blood mages, respectively. But Anders’ core convictions pose a particular challenge not only to Fenris’ worldview, but to the very sense of safety he has only just begun to have.

Fenris spent most of his life enslaved and subjected to profound abuses. Since his escape to the south, he has found a sense of safety in the black-and-white concept that mages are dangerous and only non-mages can be trusted. If this is true, it means that in a world where mages are locked up, he can be safe. If what happened to him is, even in a broad sense, not unique to a land ruled by mages, then it could happen anywhere. (And unfortunately, that’s true. The slave trade is alive and well in the south, illegal though it may be, as we see in our many encounters with slavers.) If he admits to himself that many mages are just like him–subject to profound abuse and deserving of freedom—that sense of safety he is building for himself as a free man in the south is shattered. While he is still on the run, actively evading capture, this is not a possibility he is emotionally able to entertain.

It may be said that Fenris’s arc is about learning to let go of his anger; I disagree with that reading, or at least I think it is a very incomplete one. For one thing, it misses the very important point that the person his anger is for is still alive and actively pursuing him for most of the game. It’s easy to take Flemeth’s remark to Fenris, “The chains are broken, but are are you truly free?” as like, a philosophical statement, but no! He literally is not truly free so long as he still has to live as a fugitive, always looking over his shoulder, always waiting for the inevitable. He tells this to Hawke right in Act I: he will never truly be free until Danarius is dead, and if Danarius doesn’t show up eventually, Fenris will go hunt him down himself.

He is angry about this. He carries a deep rage not only for what has been done to him, what has been stolen from him, but also that even now Danarius is still taking from him and fucking up his life. Listen to the fury with which he says, “I was a fool to think I was free,” during “A Bitter Pill” in Act II.

And he needs that anger. Right now, that anger is still protecting him. It gives him the courage, as he says, to “turn and face the tiger.” His hatred of Hadriana compels him to seek her out and kill her rather than running again. And killing Hadriana is absolutely the right decision! There is nothing to be gained from leaving her alive, she certainly doesn’t deserve his mercy, and taking her out of the picture eliminates one more tool Danarius can use against him.

Where this scene shows Fenris’s need for growth is when he then lashes out at Hawke, regardless of their response. His anger isn’t the problem; his anger is valid and necessary. The problem is that it sometimes targets the wrong people: mages generally and his own friends in specific. But until Danarius is dead, Fenris cannot let go of that anger because it is necessary for his survival.

If you’re a Fenris fan, you know that moment in Act III in the Hanged Man, when he’s come to meet Varania and he sees Danarius. The expression on his face when the camera zooms in is nothing like the way he looks at Hadriana, with unfettered rage. The look when he sees Danarius is pure horror. He’s been waiting for this confrontation for ten years, but I think in that moment we realize he has also been terrified of it. He remembers what happened the last time he had a taste of freedom and Danarius came for him, and though he knows he has grown since then, those emotions are still there—the horror of having turned on the people who sheltered him, the shame of realizing how deep his conditioning was, the revulsion at what Danarius had made him. Anger has kept those feelings at a distance, but now, with Danarius before him at last, he must confront them all over again. Only this time, with friends at his back, he will fight.

With Danarius dead, it’s finally over. And whether Fenris chose to kill or spare his sister, he is now forced to confront the person he’s had to be to survive until this point.

The point of Fenris’s restlessness and dissatisfaction following his victory isn’t that killing Danarius was wrong or pointless. On the contrary: we have seen throughout the entire game that there was no other way for him to truly find freedom. At the risk of getting too clinical here, trauma (which includes long periods of unrelenting high stress) tends to leave people with emotions and coping mechanisms that were necessary for their survival at the time but become maladaptive once they are away from their trauma stressors. We have already seen this with Fenris, in the way his anger sometimes targets the wrong people, and Fenris himself is aware of this, at least in his interpersonal relationships: on his own initiative he seeks Hawke out to apologize after lashing out at them. In Act II, I think we even see the early stages of Fenris beginning to extend his circle of empathy after “Dissent,” when instead of calling Anders a monster, he suggests that Anders realize his limitations, adding that it was a suggestion, not a condemnation. I think it helps in that moment that Anders seems to take responsibility for what he did, or almost did, to Ella, even if he understandably does not react well to Fenris’s “suggestion.”

And now that Danarius is dead, Fenris is beginning to realize that while his fight for freedom is over, his path to healing has really just begun. There’s a reason he isn’t ready for a romantic relationship with Hawke until Act III, and it isn’t just that intimacy was triggering or the brief recovery of his memories upsetting. Until Danarius is dead, Fenris’s emotional growth really can only go so far, because he is still at least partly stuck in survival mode, and the anger and the blanket concept of “mages dangerous” are coping mechanisms he has developed in order to survive.

With Danarius dead, now Fenris can begin to let go. Now he can go further in examining who deserves his anger and who does not. Now he can begin to truly heal. And can he learn to sympathize with mages one day and stop seeing magic as the ultimate evil? I actually do think the answer is yes. But that’s at least a five-step plan, and his arc in the game is mainly concerned with accomplishing step 2. Step 1 was “Get out of Tevinter.” Step 2 was “make Danarius dead.” The next few steps are a lot less cut and dry, involving a lot of difficult emotional work. He has begun that process, but it’s a work in progress.

With friends to support his journey, I do think Fenris can still come a long way. I just don’t think he could possibly have gotten there before Act III.

Conclusions

Fenris and Anders are on very different journeys over the course of Dragon Age II. They cannot be friends or sympathize with one another in the timeframe of the game, not because they have nothing in common, but because neither of them are in a position to let their guard down in the ways they would have to in order to connect with each other. Neither of them have reached the level of healing they would need in order to do that, and it’s not possible for either of them to reach that point in the journeys they’re on during the game, with the stories the game is telling.

That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s not possible for them to reach that point in the future. Under the right circumstances, both of them may have the rest of their lives to heal and to grow.

#fenris #anders #dragon age meta #dragon age 2 #blunders of thedas

[hinaypod]

A Hi Nay Podcast Year - 2023

At the beginning of 2023, I got a planner that said it'll be a "Great" Year. I had to cover it up - because the last time I had a planner claiming the year would be great... it was 2020. So I covered it with one of our stickers, making it read "It'll Be A Hi Nay Podcast Year". And it was!

Here were some Highlights for what was an absolutely jam-packed HI NAY YEAR!

The Hi Nay Fundraiser

Though we didn't get to our full goal, we did get to our initial goal to keep the show going! We also got absolutely unbelievable support that we still don't know if we deserve, but we're grateful for nonetheless. Because of this fundraiser, we were able to provide honoraria to our performers and editors, as well as get to work on Act 3 of Hi Nay, which has grown much bigger than anticipated. Special thanks to Jesse Goodsell and Malaya, our top donors!

We also wanna thank our amazing P atreon supporters, who ensure we keep this show going until its planned ending!

Interviews

We were able to chat with so many amazing people this year! Here's some of the shows that had Motzie on to chat about Hi Nay, horror, Filipino stories, and podcasting.

Radio Drama Revival

IndieAF Special: International Women’s Day

Ep. 387 - Motzie Dapul — Spooked!

The Skull Sessions - Hi Nay (Hello From The Hallowoods)

Conventions!

Because of the wonderful people over at the Canadian Podcast Awards, we were able to briefly table at TORONTO COMICON and FAN EXPO, and were able to have our very first live show at Fan Expo, all without paying a dime! Huge shoutout to the Canadian Podcast Awards for giving us indies the opportunity to do something so amazing!

The Podcast Awards!

We got nominated in two categories: Fiction and Best Asian Hosted, and it was amazing! Fiction was tough since there were so many amazing titles, but in Best Asian Hosted we were just happy to lose to one of our favourite people in the audio/video medium - Sapphire Sandalo.

How is this list not done yet OH RIGHT

The Rusty Quill Network!

It was truly life-changing to join RQ, given that the Magnus Archives is the reason Hi Nay exists, though we like to think our story has formed its own unique identity beyond our inspiration. Still, we're genuinely grateful and excited to do more with RQ and the other absolutely amazing shows in the network in 2024! Even before this, Motzie got to interview the Rusty Quill folks for Storytelling Podcast Week and befriended the wonderful Helen Gould. And most recently, the fantastic Alasdair Stuart agreed to voice one of our most beloved new characters - Detective Dooley - for our Pride Episode. Alasdair is a gem, and we're happy and grateful to have him on.

There's so much more to cover and we can't put it all in one post, but we'd like to reiterate:

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT! We truly want Hi Nay to grow as a podcast without losing what makes it special, and it's all thanks to you listeners that we're able to do that.

-

Before we go, we'd like to mention the following:

CareForGaza is a non-profit charity in aid of helping the needy families of Palestine. If you're able to help them and their cause, it would make a huge difference! Gaza eSims is a campaign to help people in Gaza to get connected to family as well as facilitate important communication for medical aid, etc. Since Tumblr hides posts with l inks, you can google them and find more information.

And as always - thank you, we love you, and Manigong Bagong Taon. Happy 2024 everyone.

#hinaypod #hi nay podcast #horror podcast #hi nay #audio drama #filipino podcast #queer podcast #horror audio drama #rusty quill #rusty quill network #2023 roundup #happy new year!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for name dropping some of my friends’ connections?

i (20X) have multiple friends that have connections to pretty famous internet celebrities, creators, etc. i wouldn’t call them household names, because a lot of them are pretty contained to solely online presences, but definitely names most twitter/tumblr users would recognize. i won’t go into too much detail for privacy reasons, but essentially, i’m two degrees of separation from a LOT of popular internet creators.

this isn’t something i talk about often, if really at all. i’ll mention these people to my irl friends all the time, because they’re also my friends, but never about their connections (unless it’s relevant at the time). i met almost all of them naturally, some without even knowing about their connections, either having common interests, or being in the same discord, fanproject, etc. i didn’t befriend them in an attempt to get closer to whatever celebrity they know is what i’m trying to say. at least two of them even made said connection after we’d become acquaintances.

college recently started again, and me and my roommates were invited to a party hosted by some of the girls that live on our floor to get to know everyone better. we ended up playing two truths, one lie to break the ice and get more comfortable with each other. me and my roommates all have a bit of a flair for the dramatic, and stories to back it up, so when it got to their turns (all of them went before me), they went all out. for example, one of them brought up how her moms met david bowie or something because they happened to be bowling in the same alley and ended up talking and getting drinks together. i forget who it actually was, but still. very out there, absurd stories that sound unbelievable/fake, but very much happened.

this is where i may be the asshole. when it got to my turn, i ended up name-dropping some of my connections. i said something along the lines of “i have fairly close connections to x, y, and z.” writing it like that doesn’t have the same impact, but you get my point. everyone in the room knew who they were is the important part. the room guessed what the lie was wrong, and promptly began to ask how i knew the people i’d named. i explained i had a few internet friends that had/have worked closely with them, and that i either knew certain things the general public doesn’t, or that i’ve had the privilege of contributing to projects/suggesting ideas because of it. it’s important to mention that i didn’t lead with having insider knowledge/positions, because i know i’d be the asshole if i had. they asked, i answered as much as i could, which wasn’t much more than i stayed here. i didn’t say any specific projects or ideas for what i think are fairly obvious reasons. they hadn’t reacted very much to any of my roommates’ insane bullshit, so i hadn’t expected such a response and thought my truth was fairly tame in comparison, honestly. (another example: one of them has nearly drowned 7 times, with 5 of those times all happening on a tuesday. they’ve told me all 7 of those stories and i think they’re super interesting, a lot more than me just having connections to people i don’t even personally know.)

anyways. the conversation moved on, the same continued, all seems good. that was a week ago, for reference. i find out a few of the people there are in my classes, which is great! i get to talking to most of them, and they’re all as friendly as they were when we met, except for one, who i’ll call holly (not her real name). holly acts cordial when she has to (group discussion, that sort of stuff) but whenever i try to talk or interact with her outside of that, she outright ignores me. she fully walked past me once despite us not only making eye contact, but me waving and calling her name. i didn’t get why she was acting like that all of a sudden, because she didn’t have any problems with me during the party. i didn’t think i’d done anything to wrong her, but just in case, i reached out to one of her roommates to ask if holly had told them anything about it, or if they remembered me doing something to make her react that way that i just forgot or didn’t realize i’d done.

one of them got back to me today that holly had apparently gone on a tirade about how disgusting i was, how i was clearly just “using” my friends because of their connections, that i only used them for clout and popularity, etc. which, as i said, is FULLY not true. what bothers me most is that she reached that conclusion with absolutely no evidence other than one conversation, one that me and all my roommates were clearly using to highlight the more silly/out-there aspects of our lives. most of the time i spent explaining things consisted of me gushing over how cool and hard-working my friends are for having those opportunities and how much i look up to them. i don’t know if she wasn’t paying attention or thought i was lying or what, but now i’m worried i may have actually come off that way. like that maybe i actually WAS just using them in that instance, whether i intended to or not, and that i came off as super assholeish and manipulative. so, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[odetoviscera]

Baldur's Gate 3: The Evil Experience

on the recommendation of @leupagus: My Very Special Evil Boy, Vexation. don't worry about the blood, it's a fashion choice.

if you've been wondering how evil you can be in baldur's gate 3, wonder no more-- So Evil.

so beginning at the beginning, i of course chose the Dark Urge (obvious serial killer) origin, who is conveniently customizable, so i also made him Drow and a Lolth Worshipper and a Warlock (all of which has made him only marginally more evil, tbh, mostly the related dialogue options make him a smug bastard, although OCCASIONALLY this will give him a "hmm what if i enslaved you" option which people do indeed react to as if he's an evil maniac and they should flee and/or try to kill him. this goes great for them considering i'm the protagonist.)

i wake up on an illithid ship with no memories, as one does. i befriend a walking talking brain, by which i mean i lobotomize it so that i can more easily control and manipulate it, as one does. i may not know who i am, but i definitely know that i am powerful, mean, and more important than everyone here. also i have a great old one in my brain giving me eldritch blast, so the tadpole wriggling around in there seems normal. i crash the ship sort of accidentally and am set loose on my merry way to wrack the Sword Coast with terrible mayhem. probably. as soon as i figure out if i'm about to turn into a mindflayer.

the first sign of my uncontrollable evil mania was when i tried to talk to a squirrel in act one (actually, i tell a lie, the FIRST sign was when i was tempted to hack Gale's hand off instead of dragging him out of the portal he got stuck in, but i decided i needed a wizard more than a dismembered hand) and the narrator informed me i had been Gripped By A Compulsion and promptly dropkicked the squirrel into a tree. it died, obviously. i was given the option to decide if i cared about this and decided that my opinion was a frankly inappropriate level of malicious glee considering the heights from which i, clearly child of murder, have obviously fallen to get amnesia and get tadpoled and fall out of the sky on a dying illithid spaceship. anyway this set me up for Being Maximally Deranged, however there is No Karma Meter or any equivalent system to MEASURE your evil or limit your dialogue options-- i have free reign at all times, i COULD decide that suddenly i'm going to be a Repentant Murderer, i can do Nice Things if i want the reward or the exp or i am exercising my single scintilla of compassion accidentally inculcated by my eventual three simultaneous romances (one of which is with the mindflayer who lives in my brain/an artifact stopping ME from becoming a mindflayer. this game is so horny, very classic dnd "i roll to romance the villain". except i am also the villain.) at this point i have no romances, though-- at this point my companions watch me kick a squirrel to death and their collective response is "well… that seemed… excessive."

i also have the option to tell every single one of them individually that i am driven by a blood mania to murder and destruction. opinions of this range from "well admitting you have a problem is the first step!" to "that's nice, just point it at the enemy instead of ME". no one seems appropriately concerned about this. they'll learn.

anyway the next sign of my uncontrollable evil mania is that when i decided to be nice to a bard for no reason and she showed up at our next long rest to Join The Party (oh we do get a bard companion, that's nice, i said, like a fool.) i promptly murdered her in the night. as in i woke up covered in blood with her corpse ritually slaughtered at my feet and said "hm. probably shouldn't let anyone else find out i did this" and then sulked when no one gave me proper respect and rewards for murdering her. fortunately the next day my Evil Butler materialized to do just that, and proved he wasn't a figment of my imagination by giving me an Evil Cloak that lets me turn invisible everytime i murder someone. i spend the next half an act or so convinced i'm going to slowly kill off my party, but fortunately i develop the ability to control myself. now i only murder when I WANT to murder.

the rest of act one i am SORT OF a good boy-- i do deliberately get a child killed but i don't PERSONALLY kill her, i get a druid's snake to do it, so does it really count against MY soul? yes but only me and daddy bhaal know it so i am able to continue playing Goody Two Shoes for the rest of the act. (i don't know he's my daddy yet, but like… i know it. i, the player, know it. in my soul. i've played these games before.) delightful fallout, my child murder gets the druid killed after i Helpfully Save The Tieflings by telling the opposing force i'll totally help them break in and kill them all, then betraying them at the last minute. i kill so so so many goblins. i get an inspiration point for how many goblins i kill. goblins are still sentient. It's Still Murder.

act two, however, empowered by all my Blood And Chaos, i turn over a new leaf. sure sure being lauded by the tieflings was fun and all, but i do somewhat regret not killing EVERYONE. i'll do better this time. this shadow-cursed hellscape is really vibing with me. it's also trying to eat me every time i'm not carrying a magic lamp but you can't win 'em all. i pretend that i'm with the antagonists (can you call them villains when I'M the villain?) so i can get their lamp. it's carried by a drider who does not appreciate my sincere compliments about how beautifully fucked up he is. his loss, i'm down to fuck anyone. i'm already fucking a githyanki and a vampire spawn.

when i get to the Big Bad Tower where supposedly they'll know about my tadpole, i discover they know something WAY MORE IMPORTANT: who the fuck i am. everyone here recognizes me. no one will tell me anything. several of them are appropriately terrified. this is infuriating but also promising. the Big Bad is a smug dick and i want to eat his heart raw. i daydream about this.

my butler arrives to tell me if i murder a Special Girl i'll get a treat. i like treats and i LOVE murder so i go looking for her. she's maintaining a Magic Selenite Moon Shield over the single not-shadow-cursed place here, which i hate on principle-- also it's a harper outpost and i hate them too, they'd probably disapprove of murder. some rando minion with wings drops in to tell me the Big Bad of the region wants to kidnap her (ALIVE, he specifies) so obviously i now double want to kill her. i kill her in one round. the magic shield collapses. EVERYONE dies (including the tieflings i saved in act one! full circle.) and then i kill their shadow-cursed undead corpses again, for good measure.

my treat is getting to turn into the slayer. i KNEW i was a bhaalspawn.

behold my true glorious visage. (with blep.) my only complaint is that i can only become this hulking death machine once per long rest. it is, however, not a turn-limited form, i can stay in it Forever if no one kills me as long as i'm willing to Just Murder No Talking. also it has a spectacular ladder-climbing animation, this bitch goes down ladders face-down like a lizard, i love him.)

anyway i don't go back to the Big Bad Tower bc presumably they'll be mad about the dead girl (i'm guessing she's Big Bad's dead daughter miraculously resurrected. i'm totally right by the way.) but the last time i was there i got a quest to find the Big Bad's Relic, which is obviously his phylactery or something since he's got a whole death aesthetic-- after a whole Temple of Shar sequence it turns out his phylactery is a captive aasimar actually. my companion wants to murder her for shar-related reasons, so i give her the go-ahead since i don't have any SPECIAL reason to kill her myself. my companions should get to be evil occasionally too.

with his phylactery dead, it's pretty easy to mow through the Big Bad Tower, especially since i can now turn into the Death Machine. i don't have to talk to anyone here. i can Just Murder.

nearly kill the Big Bad but he flees to his basement, where it turns out there's an mindflayer colony, big deal, we've all got tadpoles in our brains (i've been eating other tadpoles for extra power along the way, because of course i have) okay fine it's a slightly big deal bc there's an elder brain here that my Special Mindflayer Friend is shielding us from whatever. it's under the control of the Big Bad who's death aesthetic turns out to be that he's the Chosen of Myrkul, and also here are reps of the other Dead Three, Bane and My Daddy. i hate bhaal's chosen on sight, as is traditional for a bhaalspawn. i will murder her someday. i will murder her SO GOOD.

unfortunately she and the baneite fuck off with their elder brain to lay siege to baldur's gate while i'm daydreaming about it, so for now all i get to murder is Big Bad Myrkul Edition. moderately satisfying. he turns in an Avatar of Myrkul in the second half but i destroy him so quickly he doesn't even get to regenerate with the hojillion corpses in the area. nobody murders like vexation.

off to baldur's gate to save the city/get bigger hunting grounds!

i do cure the shadow curse on my way out though, because i'm never coming back and i've left the place a blighted wasteland, why not, it gets me a pet druid.

there's also some drama with githyanki and vlaakith, as usual, turns out the Rebel Prince Orpheus is actually how my particular mindflayer (who is finally revealing that he's a mindflayer, a thing i have suspected all along because of all the psychic shit he does) is doing the shielding, etc. etc. also i let my mindflayer boyfriend turn me in a half-illithid, which means i get no tentacles but a BUNCH of new mindflayer powers to make me an even better murderer. can't wait to see who wins in the tug-of-war for my mind, body, and soul--the illithids, my great old one beyond the stars, a devil who keeps trying to get my attention, my vampire boyfriend who wants to ascend to vampire god, or Murder Daddy. my bet is murder daddy.

anyway we get to baldur's gate, where i break in bc i don't want any guards to know i'm here-- just jumped and flew my way up the side of the bridge past the checkpoint. easy peasy now that i have illithid flight powers on command no cooldowns just Psychically Levitate wherever i want to go. also i can turn into a displacer beast. that's right, i now have to option to become TWO DIFFERENT terrifying horror beasts and rip through mobs like papier-mache. my patron really needs to keep up, warlock powers are falling behind. (no they aren't, i've hit level 10 and can now eldritch blast three times in one round and every hit knocks enemies back and terrifies them. i'm gonna chew this city up and swallow it one bite.)

however, first thing when i get into the citadel: the baneite is being coronated Archduke, bc of course he is. so i head up to see if there's a chance to murder him and a room full of peers, BUT. for the first time EVER-- this little shit is willing to tell me Who I Am. Assassin of Bhaal, former high priest of His Temple, and ONE OF THE INVENTORS OF THIS CONQUEST PLAN. that little bhaalite chosen is my bhaalspawn sister (obviously) who fucking tadpoled me, gave me amnesia, and discarded me before making sure my corpse was cold. this will be a mistake! FOR HER.

in the meantime the baneite wants me to know that he is a big fan of mine, would i like to murder my sister since i already murdered the myrkulite, and then he and i can rule this city together with an iron grip and a blood knife, since he's sure he'll have a lot of use for an assassin as a tyrant. mind-reading and my brain-illithid agree that he is actually on the level about this, at least for the moment, so of course i agree. i will rule this city. and then i will murder him. and then i will murder EVERYONE. in THE WORLD.

so now i'm hunting the current chosen of bhaal so i can kill her and steal her place-- my butler is sending me divine visions of it, SHE can't turn into the slayer, i am evil daddy's favourite. she's also kidnapped one of my companions and is threatening to kill her if i show up but i care about that less.

and that's where i am so far! will report on Future Evils.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 spoilers #bg3 oc #baldur's gate evil edition #truly sorry i don't have more screenshots #i'll try to remember to take more for the rest of act three lol

[like-sands-of-time]

All right heres the thing that's been bugging me since I watched season four.

I love morgana in season one. I find her introduction absolutely fascinating. She feels like a very important character, but we don't know how yet. I love that we see her picking fights with Uther from the first, for it to all culminate in her attempting to kill him by the first season finale, all in a way that is so believable and sympathetic to me (and Merlin) that I was honestly hoping Merlin would just, slip on one of those hills and watch her kill him, because we now know three characters who wouldnt mourn the loss of the king. Who are angry at him for the unforgivable things he's done even recently. At that point arthur is most willing to work with magic and common men, and morgana (with Merlin) have had a clear impact on his growth as a man. I love that.

I... Don't see the rest of the shows arc (s3 and on) as believable for who she was then. I'm sorry but either she was caring about the citizens of Camelot and their suffering, or it was all a lie, that doesn't go away just because you're angry at one guy. I'll leave that alone, it's for another time. BUT. even if they wanted to show that dragons have free will and could befriend who they wished, regardless of dragon blood, I still don't think the entirety of that season makes any sense.

Why would Merlin have hatched the egg right then if he wasn't willing or able to raise the hatchling? They said multiple times the egg would last. And if Kilgharrah wasn't willing to raise the egg why did he convince Merlin to do it. It what world would the characters of Kilgharrah and Merlin as we know them at this point just leave an infant dragon to do it's own thing anyway? Let alone go work with a sorceress they believe to be evil consumed. That.... Doesn't make sense. Not even in a tragic but realistic way, it just simply doesn't make sense to me. Merlin could have safely put the egg where Kilgharrah used to be imprisoned if no one visits there, or Kilgharrah could have found another cave or safe place to keep it. Those make sense. Hatching it only to both leave and forget about the child doesn't really make sense for either of them?

The writers wanted morgana to have a dragon ally, be an equal to Merlin visually in their ultimate fight, and I get it....... but make Aithusa choosing morgana make sense. Develop their relationship in any way..? And while we're at it make morgana trying repeatedly to kill Arthur make any sense because it the show I watched I never saw any reason for her to want anything other than 1) uther dead and 2) magic free in Camelot once more. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. You can't have characters just Do Things because you want them to happen lmao that's not how people work.

This show loves to tell me instead of showing me. I know what they want me to think because they make it glaringly freaking obvious but I'm sorry .. you have to actually develop character arcs or relationships (whether it's between a dragon and the main villain, or Arthur and Guinevere, because sunbursts and cute music isn't doing anything for me lol. They didn't even develop lance either. She had two love interests shown to us and we just have to use our imagination I guess.

Idk, write morgana to be the darkest, cruellest, most insane bitch you want that's fine with me. It's all medieval fanfiction but ... It has to be plausible. Give me any reason at all why bbc morgana hated Arthur or Camelot or Gwen or anything. Do tragic, do.. "she was always meant to be against him" if you must, but also? It's all fanfiction so have morgana being Arthurs sorceress .. powerful just like Merlin but in her own way and they're both loyal to Arthur.

#bbc merlin #idk i love morgana but her being insane and a badguy didnt make any sort of sense it just felt like #they gave up on her character and took the easiest route and still didnt do a good job #you cant just erase the entire first season of a show and redo it 😭 #you probably should have planned out what you wanted BEFORE acting things out in case you decided to change stuff #morgana pendragon

[iguessitsjustme]

This is gonna be a lot because I have many thoughts and they are not coherent in my own brain so who knows what they’re gonna be like when written out. But I was thinking about Only Friends and the friend group and the queerness of it all and something unlocked in my brain. Not entirely sure what unlocked but let’s find out together, shall we? Buckle up children, we’re going on a ride.

I will be the first to admit, I am not the biggest fan of the people in this friend group, particularly Mew and Cheum, BUT my personal feelings on these characters do not matter. If I were in college with them, I would probably have befriended them. I’m about to make a whole lot of assumptions but I feel comfortable making these assumptions. What are the odds that there’s another queer friend group at that school? Maybe April has queer friends? Maybe April is THE queer friend. So, assuming that there are not a whole lot of our queer people at that school, it makes sense that Mew, Cheum, Ray, and Boston stick together. Whether or not they remain friends after college doesn’t matter. What matters is they found each other during school and they stick together.

Even when they’re angry at each other, they don’t abandon each other. Have they helped Ray like they should? I’d argue no, but they also didn’t leave him friendless (how they treat him is another post). Have they judged Boston for sleeping around? Yep! But they also still count him as their friend even after he slept with Top. Do any of them leave Mew because he has more rules and boundaries regarding sex and relationships than them? No. Do they leave Cheum even though she’s in a committed relationship and her experience as a lesbian is different than their experience as gay men? No. They do not leave each other (again whether or not they’re good friends is not the point here).

I went to college in a small, conservative town. And you’ll never guess what happened. They queer people found each other. My friend group was made up of queer people (and some straight people but mostly queer) and we found each other. Even before some of us were out. Before some of us even knew we were queer. The friend group we found offered us something we would struggle to get elsewhere. It offered us safety and security. Especially because my friend and I could also offer our families who warmly welcomed anyone regardless of sexuality or gender. And there is a lot to be said for having not only friends, but the support and security of a family when you’re queer in a less-than-friendly space.

So the Only Friends group offers each other something so important that they can’t get from a straight friend group, even a group full of allies: they get people who are safe to be themselves around. They get people who understand. They might not understand how each different person expresses their sexuality, but they understand what it means to be queer at that point and time in their lives. Being Mew’s friend gives them, particularly Ray and Boston, a family that will support them. We don’t know how much their father’s know about their queerness, but we do know that both of them feel a certain pressure from their fathers. Having a friend like Mew, that comes from a supportive family, that is willing to extend that support, is huge. And not only a supportive family, but a queer one.

This is a lot to say that regardless of anyone’s feelings towards a specific character, queer people stick together. Not every queer person is going to get along with every other queer person, but being queer gives us all a unique experience that binds us and makes us family. The Only Friends group is a family. I don’t think they like each other very much but they love each other and they do their best to protect each other. Families don’t always get everything right, but what’s important is that at the end of the day, they all have a safe place to fall back into. As they go out into the world, they might remain friends or they might grow apart, but what they will always know is they gave each other a safe place when they were younger and what could ever matter more than that?

#only friends #only friends the series #only friends series #ofts #I wrote this on my lunch break at work #so please bear with me and my incoherent thoughts

[star-glass-coffee]

Hey There! Can I please request a one shot (or whatever you prefer) with Zuko, where reader is part of his ship crew from season one, and during one of those parties they made sometimes Zuko and reader befriend? Thank you!!

Being in the formation wasn’t easy, especially when your father was close to the royal family, he was an important war soldier and was one of irohs students... it made growing up hard, always having to show respect and to always look at the way you act, since your childhood was mostly filled within the fire lords home

though you never got to meet the royal children, just rare incounter, sometimes you would see the elder prince give you looks, but general iroh was always sweet

And you barely got to see them once you grew up, iroh let you meet zuko on his 16 birthday, you didn’t know why but the prince was very shy at you, trying to act tough as Azula just stared at you

But that was a long time ago, after the sudden death of the fire lord and irohs son you stopped going over there, your father was gone more often as well. But he refused to bring you over there after Ozai took the crown

the rest of your childhood was with your family, staying inside your home, the horrors of ozai known to your family alone, your father wants you all too flee to the earth kingdom since he’s friends with the emperor, but your mother refused to leave at this time, it would be a sign of betrayal

but once you all heard of OzaI requesting all of the noblemen to the castle you had no choice, he requested everyone and there first born there, so your father faked a smile and went

He was to afraid of banishment, but iroh said that will never happen to him as long as he still has some power, you all gathered up inside a room, for a first time in a while you saw Zuko, the boy immediately saw you with his uncle as he gulped

you can only look away in fear, following your father to his place, they where right next to iroh, front row seats to the first borns banishment

After that your father joined the prince on the journey to the avatar, being forced by the hand of Osai as the leader made sure no one stepped in his way

you accompanied your father for parties they’ve thrown, all being set up by iroh as the prince was never seen.. until today

The avatar has been found and will be located in the southern water tribe. Sneaking away to train.. but the fire nation decided to take armies there after the celebration

that’s what you’ve heard from iroh as you sit alone on the ship, twirling the sleeve of your dress as you think about the consequences of the fire nation…

“What are you doing up here?”

Your spine shivers in fear as you look bedside you, prince zuko standing next to you staring at your soul, Ty our eyes immediately going to the ground as you hold your hand tight

“I wanted to get away from the noise..” you say not knowing what to do with this.. zuko seems to think the same thing before he sighs, sitting down next to you as you look on surprised

“My uncle always sets these up to loud.. I barely get any sleep because of his stupidity” zuko says holding his army shoulder pad, it being damaged by water as you don’t respond

zuko seems to notice this as he chuckles sourly “Your afraid of me.”

“I’m sorry… I never meet you before..” you answer truthfully as you look at him with a fearful look, zuko looking at you surprise before he pulls a small yet noticeable smile

“Yes you have. We’ve meet on my birthday, you where young but you could have remembered.. we’ve meet plenty of times without you knowing.”

you look at him confused at this, zuko smiling at you before he rest his head on his leg, his pony tail hair down as you notice he’s in his bed clothes

“I’ve seen you around the palace. Always next to my uncle or your father. You looked like a lost turtle duck when they left you alone”

“I didn’t realize you where there. Iroh always told me you where training with oza- fire lord Ozai…” you correct yourself as zuko notices, his smile gone as he seems to scoff at the name

“Not like you where smart enough to. Father always said you where just a afraid little girl. To afraid to even meet the royal children anymore.”

His eyes roll at you as you look down embarrassed, both of you going silent as you sigh looking at the moon

”Can you blame me… you and Azula weren’t very welcoming.. I couldn’t even look your father in the eyes let alone you..”

Zuko looks at you with a unreadable look before he reaches his hand out, you look at is confused as he finally speak

“How about a no over then. I’m prince zuko.”

He seems to be slightly embarrassed from your lack of voice before you smile at him happily

“I’m y/n”

after that night he requested you on his ship at all times, iroh was scared at first but then he saw how happy zuko was with you, a true friend at his side… Someone that he can trust more than himself

that was the first night where you and zuko befriended..the first page of the long life you would have with the prince..

#legend of korra #zuko x reader #zuko fanfic #avatar the last airbender #avatar #cuteness #one shot #aang #atla katara

[ectokelpeigh]

No One Knows AU is so great for so many reasons but I have this one scenario bouncing around in my head and given today's DannyMay theme it seems like a good time to slosh it into the hellsite blender:

Phantom and Danny Fenton hate each other.

We're going with my favorite flavor: Sam and Tucker don't really know Danny Fenton and befriend Phantom separately/first. (Maybe the Fentons are new in town or something. Not important) Also @artistfingers's Undercover Phantom AU lives rent free in my head so if any of this looks familiar... yea

-Once Danny befriends Sam and Tucker as Phantom, he avoids them as much as he can when he's human. Less opportunity for them to make the connection, especially since knows he has the finesse of a baby giraffe in roller skates. Because Sam and Tucker are Good Guys I'd love to assert that "of course they'd see Danny sitting alone at lunch and invite him over!" or something. And I think they might! But it's not a given IMO.

-Anyway as Sam and Tucker bond with Phantom, it becomes more evident that there's some kind of connection between Phantom and Danny. Maybe something makes them suspicious of Danny. For example the Fentons come up in conversation and

Phantom: I'd steer clear of that family if I were you

Sam & Tucker: ok yeah if we were you we'd avoid the parents too, but the kids seem harmless? their son is actually in our grade and we can't tell if he's lonely or just tired

Phantom (because I love Danny but can be stoopid): No! Especially avoid their son!

Danny was trying to cover his own ass and they interpret it as Phantom being afraid of Danny and assume there's unsavory history.

-Sam and Tucker happen to ask their good buddy Phantom why he and the rest of the ghosts suddenly showed up in Amity Park one day when Danny happens to be in a terrible mood. Just had one of those days. His life is falling to shit because he's living two lives and even his two new friends can't support all of him, you know?

In canon he has a strong sense of duty to protect AP but IIRC they never make the connection to him triggering the ghost influx and any consequential guilt/blame. I think not having Sam and Tucker as a support system from the start would push this over the edge.

-So he's feeling down on himself. Inadequate. But he can't say exactly why he's requesting an 'F' in the chat for respeccs because it's all very human drama and he's not a great liar, so he just rants about his human self in the third person.

It's cathartic. Too cathartic. He gets a liiiiiiiiiittle carried away. He gets to admit to (perceived) responsibility without the pitying looks and cold comfort. Most people's automatic response to "I messed up" is "no you didn't!!", and sometimes that's not what you want/need to hear, you know?

-...remember how I said he gets "a little carried away"? By that I mean he reveals (as Phantom) that Danny Fenton turned on the ghost portal and let all the ghosts loose in Amity Park, and now he (Phantom) has been cleaning up his mess all by himself while Danny has done nothing.

-Of course the subtext here is that Danny feels like he's only useful as Phantom. He never felt particularly remarkable before the accident. Since then he's been struggling with grades more than ever, his family is worried because he's been distant, etc. And of course he finally makes friends but they don't like the real him.

We all know Phantom is also the real him, but to Danny the "him" that goes to school, lives with his family, has actual connections to society did not make these friends. And as you recall in this scenario Danny was actively avoiding Sam and Tucker once they became friends with Phantom. But. Y'know. Brains aren't always logical

-Back to the scene: Phantom barely lets Sam and Tucker get a word in through his rant, and then a ghost attacks and he has to fly off. That was... confusing, to say the least, and that's the last they see/hear of Phantom that day.

-So the next day at school Sam and Tucker sit at Danny's usual lunch table and Sam pokes him awake from his daily nap. They try to broach the subject with a smidgen of tact but of course Danny has a lot more context than they know.

-Danny's not sure how to deal with the situation he created for himself besides digging in his heels + it felt so good ranting the day before that he hardly hesitates before he (as Fenton) launches into a rant about Phantom.

-Even though he's technically dissing their buddy, Sam and Tucker actually walk away with some sympathy for the kid. They come to three conclusions: 1. Turning on the portal was an accident and 2. Danny's beef with Phantom is personal. He doesn't have his parents' animosity towards all ghosts and 3. He's... weirdly easy to talk to? It's like they already know him wow crazy ha ha ha hA hAH AHAH aha. (haha)

-Unfortunately this outburst happened in the cafeteria of a high school and people overheard this extremely juicy development wherein the local loner child of two mad scientists has a personal feud with the controversial town hero/menace. Word does not take long to spread because students and faculty agree that even in a town overrun with ghosts this is the most insane thing they've heard. And everyone has a theory. People spot Phantom patrolling the night sky and shout to him, asking if he'd like to comment on the latest rumor from/about Danny Fenton. Danny routinely forgets he can ignore them, fly away, turn invisible, anything other than dig himself deeper. But hey, it helps him keep his cover at least?

-Fun fact: Jazz knows they're the same person but Danny doesn't know she knows and she's freaking the fuck out over all this apparent self hatred but even she doesn't know where to start to break it down

-All the while Sam and Tucker have been making more of an effort to hang out with Fenton. Danny is... confused by this, to say the least. Figures they're taking pity on the kid since they triggered the blowup that made him look like even more of a freak, and/or they're mining him for more Phantom secrets. A small part of him is also petrified he'll slip and they'll find out he's been lying to them. But he likes them and self restraint has never been his strong suit. Even if they can't really like Danny (Fenton) that much they're nice to him and he has fun with them, and even if he has to keep track of which memories/info he should have access to as his human or ghost self it's nice to always have friends.

-If you want some extra layers of irony: Sam and Tucker keep it a secret from Phantom that they've been hanging out with Fenton, and they hide their friendship with Phantom from Fenton. But Danny can't call them out on it without revealing that he's been lying to them about being Fenton and Phantom. It's the Mexican standoff from the Ghost Zone hell.

-I'll let you all decide just how far the miscommunications go. Maybe Tucker lets it slip to Phantom that he and Sam are friends with Fenton now and instead of taking this prime opportunity to come clean himself, Danny panics and reacts hurt or outraged (and really sells it, even if the real fuel behind his distress is guilt). Orrrrrrr Danny loses track of the half-truths and references something Sam told Phantom as Fenton. Etc.

-Don't worry guys I'm all about the wholesome endings: One day Phantom is going off about Danny Fenton, and Sam and Tucker do their best to validate Phantom's frustrations, but Danny is totally blown away when they finally stick up for Fenton. To his face. They say that's it, they've heard enough, those two obviously have a complicated history but some of the things Phantom says about Danny are just unfair. As the only two people to know Danny and Phantom both personally, Sam and Tucker have concluded that they have the authority to declare neither are menaces, or useless, or have "stupid hair", thanks. ("Both your senses of style, on the other hand..." "Hey!") Opening the portal was an accident. Fenton doesn't need to be useful, he's a kid. A kid in a tough situation doing his best just like themselves, like Phantom, like anyone else. Sam and Tucker don't have powers, are they useless? No. And Danny and Phantom might even get along if they can just cool down (LOL) and talk it out. But he has to stop. Danny Fenton is their friend.

-Phantom's standing there with his jaw on the floor. They said everything he needed to hear, having no way of knowing it's what he wanted to hear. Quite the opposite, actually. His feet touch down on the floor, his voice has lost most of its haunting echo when he says, "I'm your friend?"

This confuses Tucker and Sam: yeah?? but that's not the point?? We're saying DANNY is also— OH FUCK

(Phantom just turned into Fenton)

#you could definitely make this work in canon with Danny ranting to literally anyone besides Sam Tucker and eventually Jazz #but no one knows is FUN #and we see Sam and Tucker going up to bat for Danny against.... Danny #danny phantom #danny phantom headcanons #danny phantom au #dp au #dp #no one knows #no one knows au #this is just slightly less wholesome #I have a lot more hc's for this au (this is a threat) #klo #this has a happy ending under the cut #promise!!

[itssoinevitable]

Hiii 👋 I just wanted to say I’ve been a fan of your blog since the good ole Downton Days and I’m so chuffed you’re a ACGAS fan too! Tbf right now the fandom is super down in the dumps (me included). How are you remaining so positive since Audrey x Gerald development in the Christmas Special?

Hi Anon! Thanks for your message, and happy holidays! So nice to hear from our old Downton Abbey crew again, I think a lot of us migrated here.

To be honest, there are a few reasons I’m not worried. (Sorry, it’s long).

1) Because I honestly love Siegfried and Audrey as friends and surrogate family. Their bond is special and beautiful, whether or not it ever becomes romantic. (Although I hope it does). They are life partners, involved in all the most important parts of each other’s lives. They have coparented Tristan (and James and Jess), they’re each other’s confidant and source of comfort. That’s special in and of itself.

2) Because I actually think they’re playing the (really, really) long game with them. I could be wrong, but that seems to be what the writers are doing. It seems quite intentional. 3 years on screen together may seem a while for some, and I suppose she’s been his housekeeper for around 7 years so it feels like ages. But imo, the best slow burns imo are the ones where you’re never quite sure if they will or won’t. It’s the little crumbs they leave scattered here and there, it’s the longing looks and angsty build up that makes it so delicious tbh. I just hope they get renewed for enough seasons to see it through. (Plus I am a Carson & Mrs Hughes fan, so 3 seasons doesn’t feel that long! Lol)

3) And lastly, because I don’t actually think they’re ready to be together yet. They’re still in the process of getting there.

Siegfried has probably had to longest way to go, in terms of being emotionally ready to realise, admit and accept that he has feelings for his housekeeper. In Season 1, he opened himself up to intimacy and the possibility of love again. He did that with Dorothy and then Diana, (although who knows why she’s been such a non-entity this last season. Maybe the actress wasn’t available?) And now, at the end of S3, he literally just resolved one of his biggest character arcs - his complex relationship and feelings for Tristan (and even then, only with a lot of encouragement and support from Audrey). He’s emotionally levelled up.

Now, I think it’s Audrey’s turn. Gerald befriending her/ pursuing her has allowed her to imagine she could be with someone again, after leaving her husband. It helps her relationship with Edward is also on the mend, since that’s been a source of so much guilt and pain for her. As for her feelings toward Gerald, they do seem to have deepened somewhat suddenly. I know some people said it felt very out of blue considering she had friendzoned him. But maybe she liked him all along and simply didn’t feel she could be more than friends, much as she wanted to. Or maybe it was brought on by the war, and him moving away. Either way, I think he’s a good man, simple and uncomplicated, which is just what she needs as she’s testing the waters of romance again. I think he’s also serving as a catalyst for Siegfried to realise the depth of his feelings for Audrey, which is v exciting imo.

Siegfried is also a good man, but things with him are as ever, more complicated. Their status as employer and employee, and long time friends also raises the stakes a lot more. Considering she’s a lot more self-aware, I think Mrs Hall knows she might have certain feelings for Siegfried (seemed a bit disapproving / jealous of his relationships) but I don’t think she has considered it could go anywhere. I feel that this budding relationship with Gerald will be pivotal in a shift between them. It might motivate her to get her divorce from Mr Hall, and resolve that source of pain from her past, too.

TL;DR All that said, I think they’re getting where to need to be, and I think we should enjoy the journey. It’ll be all the more sweet if and when it happens.

#acgas meta #anon #ask #siegfried farnon #audrey hall #siegfried x audrey #acgas s3 spoilers #acgas spoilers #all creatures great and small 2020 #tq Anon for letting me ramble

[radioactivewatson]

The dragon's heart

Chapter 1

Pairing: Jacaerys Velaryon x OC Targaryen x Aemond Targaryen

Warnings: strong-ish language, talk of arranged marriage.

Summary: Rhaenyra realices there's only one way of making peace.

A/N: I am writing this as a way of going back to the writing game, as such I can't guarantee that every chapter will be very long or have a very exciting plot. I hope you enjoy my writing nonetheless and I'll see you next time. Lots of love ♥️♥️

The pale woman looked out of her bedroom’s window as she sighted at her husband's words.

“Rhaenyra…”

“I’ve had enough of it, Daemon!”

The prince pursed his lips as he exhaled through his nose in an attempt to calm himself, he knew it would do no good to his cause if he snapped back at his wife.

“You’re asking me to go back to the very place where my son almost lost an eye to that cunt’s madness”.

“I’m asking you to visit your father, my brother, Rhaenyra” countered Daemon.

Rhaenyra turned to face her husband. They both held the other’s stare until the princess spoke again with resolve.

“I refuse to let us be easy prey for Alicent to pounce on again”.

“She is a Highttower, Rhaenyra, it is what they all do, they pounce and they hunt and they tear but that has nothing to do with my brother and you know it. What will you have us do, hide here until that snake has no more venom to spit, until there’s nothing she can accuse you of? Hide if you wish to, rinitsos (little girl), but if you command me to follow you I will not respond” said the prince bluntly.

…………..

“Nyke emagon vettan nykea decision, issajorraelagon” (I have made a decision, my love).

The rogue prince looked at his wife with a raised eyebrow and kept quiet; he had stated his stance on the matter and would not change his mind. The arrangements to leave for the Red Keep had already been made and a raven had been sent, it was up to Rhaenyra to decide if he would be made to leave by himself or accompanied.

“Yzaldrizes aoha iderennon sir, abrazyrys” (speak your choice now, wife).

“I wish to make an alliance with the greens”.

“You do not need my consent, my lady wife” Daemon said simply, not yet giving his opinion on the matter.

“That I am aware of, husband, however given our previous… discussion I find it important to know your thoughts".

Daemon exhaled slowly and closed his eyes. An allegiance to the greens could no doubt be something favourable for them. Despite the possibility of a positive outcome, the prince was also aware that the Highttowers were like no other family. Broken and small as it was, they were sick and twisted and Otto Highttower had such an unquenchable thirst for power he hadn't hesitated to place it before the happiness of his own remaining child . Daemon held no more sympathy for the man than he would for common murderer or thief. He, however, was also aware of what the bad blood between both families would eventually bring. From the moment Viserys married Otto's child the link that was born between both families became a sword whose sharp point always seemed to be pointing towards the Targaryens. But now, now they had the chance of changing that. There was only one issue remaining, an issue whose solution Daemon was already aware of. The prince finally opened his eyes and let them fall on his wife.

“An alliance with the greens will not be an easy matter to resolve, if we are to sign it off we must give them something valuable, something they can use against us if need be” he answered at last.

“I’m afraid this is where our views distort, husband…”

“What, where you just going to step foot on the Red Keep and offer to restore your friendship with that cunt for the good of the realm?” interrupted Daemon mockingly.

“Just what other thing could I offer her? I already put Jacaerys forward for the princess Helaena and she refused. Alicent has already expressed her wishes to befriend me again more than once”.

“If that is your wish, go through with it, but a pact simply based on the power of love will not last a fortnight. Helaena was already betrothed to Aegon, but the eldest daughter has not yet been married off to anybody”.

Rhaenyra looked at the rogue prince as if he had just grown a second head. She picked her fingernails nervously as she paced. She knew she would one day have to make the decision of wedding her children but she had expected to avoid it for as long as possible. She herself had suffered from an unfulfilling marriage once, and did not wish for her sweet boys to go through the same ordeal nor the same rumours spread about her to be about them, they already had enough with their own at the moment. She stopped her pacing as she heard Daemon’s steps near her. The princess felt her husband's arms circle her waist and his chin rest on her head. She turned to look at him and he took a hold of her hands, effectively stopping her nervous nail-picking habit.

“If you want an alliance with the greens there’s only one choice,” he whispered gently “so make it”.

“He barely knows her” Rhaenyra whispered as she sighed and rested her head on the man’s chest.

“Rhaenyra…” he chided.

“For all we know she could be as cruel as her brother Aegon”

“Aegon is a drunkard and a cunt, and he is seen as such by the whole realm, if she was as much of a monster as you worry she is, the same whispers would carry her name through the keep” reasoned the prince.

The princess lifted her head from the prince’s chest and finally looked at him. Still unsure, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“I will do it. I will wed my son to Viserra Targaryen”.

Taglist

@stargaryenx

If you wish to be added to my tagglist let me know :)

#rhaenyra targaryen #queen rhaenyra #daemon x rhaenyra #daemon targaryen #daemon au #fanfic #fanfiction #daemyra #daemon prince #the rogue prince #jace targaryen #jacaerys x oc #hotd jacaerys #jacaerys imagine #prince jacaerys #prince aemond #jacaerys velaryon #jacaerys targaryen #jacaerys velaryon x pregnant oc #aemond the kinslayer #aemond targaryen #aemond fanfiction #aemond fic #aemond one eye #aemond x oc #aemond x oc Targaryen #hotd alicent #king viserys #otto hightower #lucerys velaryon

[wolfstarslittlebug]

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

The Weasley Twins X GN!Reader

Summary: the reader gets detention, only to result in the befriending of to the infamous Weasley Twins.

Warnings: Gender Neutral Reader, Wolfstar/Sirius's child reader, Slytherin reader. mentions of Draco getting punched in the face

Word count: 700+

A/N: oh how i want to be besties with the twins...

“What did you do this time?” Daphne looked at me, slightly disappointed. My recent incident of self-defence, may or may have not cost me detention and the cancellation of Angela and I’s trip to Hogsmeade. 

“I may have punched someone in the face…” I looked down at my shoes innocently.

“You’re not supposed to hit people out of nowhere!” 

“In my defence, he insulted Hermione Granger and called her the m-word. He deserved it.” I crossed my arms, still with pride floating around my head. One of the many lessons my father Sirius Black taught me was that if I was going to get into a fight, make sure I win; and so I did. 

“I still can’t believe you did that, especially to someone of our own house! You’re very strange sometimes Y/n.” Daphne poked. I simply shrugged and gave her a grin. Daphne sighed, “I guess I’ll see you later then. Oh, the things you do for justice.”

“Just making my father proud! See ya!” I waved to Daphne and we went our separate ways. I made my way to Professor Mcgonagall’s classroom only to find two redheaded twins sitting next to each other, the infamous Weasley twins. There was no surprise there, the two for known getting in trouble. I do admire it. 

“Oh, I’m sorry I must’ve walked into the wrong class,” I apologized.

The two twins snickered, then one of them spoke “No, you’re in the right class.”

“Oh, alright then.” I made my way through the class, passing by the twins, and sitting in the front row. I could hear the two boys behind me, whispering to each other. Annoyed, I turned around to glare at them, “Can I help you?”

“Yes actually, my brother and I were wondering what your name is.” One of them said, then the other one began to talk.

“There must be a pretty damn good reason why you’re in here, especially if you’re stuck here with us.” I looked at them oddly, shifting my body to face them. He then spoke proudly, “This is detention for the no-good doers!” 

“If you must know, I punched someone in the face,” I told them. The two redheads raised their eyebrows, shocked.

“Who?” They both asked.

“Draco Malfoy, he called Hermione Granger a slur.”

The two boys looked at me in shock, impressed, “That was you?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“We’re on the Gryffindor team, beaters. We saw you punch that git, Malfoy, the other day.” Of course, they were the two boys standing behind me and sniggering.

“Right.” I turned back to the front, trying to mind my own business. I could still hear their whispers and feel their stares. I heard the sound of one of their voices again. 

“It was quite impressive, I hadn’t seen anyone stand up to that little git Malfoy since he arrived, especially a Slytherin.” I ignored them, not wanting to cause another scene. I heard the other one speak, “Well don’t be rude, come over here, we want to talk to you.”

I finally turned around again, looking at the Weasley twins as if they were crazy. A Gryffindor talking to a Slytherin is already bizarre let alone two Gryffindors. 

“Don’t worry, McGonagall won’t be here tonight, she’s too busy dealing with something more important.” They bribed. I looked towards the door, unable to hear anything from the hallway. I looked back at the twins who sat eagerly in their seats. 

I sighed, picked up my bag, dragging my feet to the desk in front of the two redheads. I shifted, turning my body so I was facing the two twins. I examined the two twins' faces, tilting my head to spot the differences between them. I then said,  “So, if you two are so interested in me, I need to learn your names.”

Two smirks formed on their faces, it was a look of wickedness, rebellion.  

“Well, he could be Fred.” 

“He could be George.”

A grin crept onto my face, and I followed their little game, “And I could be Y/n Lupin-Black.”

They both smirked at each other and back at me, impressed by how fast I caught onto their game. Little did we know that this was just the beginning of a beautiful friendship. 

#weasley twins #fred weasley #george weasley #reader being besties with the weasley twins #gn!reader #slytherin reader #harry potter fanfiction

[roppongi-division]

Zakari's Thoughts on Aichi Division

Shouta Takeda

"When I visit Aichi, which, unfortunately, isn't very often, I always stop by to see how Takeda-san is doing. I met him by chance when he was being hassled by some young punks who had nothing better to do than hassle than homeless. He looked he had it taken care of, but I helped him out, regardless. I hate people who bully or make fun of others who aren't as fortunate as others."

"He thanked me for helping him out and he showed me some neat tricks on how to make graffiti. In return, I showed him some tricks on how to win at poker. I hope he's making use of it."

Issey Nishizawa

"Issey is a good buddy of mine. Unlike me, he's rarely in class (not that I blame him for cutting, though). I think, like Jiro-kun, he likes to see me perform dares to see if I'll chicken out or not. He's always amazed to see just how far I'll go. It makes me laugh seeing the expression on his face after I've completed one of his dares!"

"I also know he's a big fan of my dad and his radio show. He didn't believe me at first when I said that the legendary 'DJ Veenyle' was my dad. To prove it to him, I called my dad's show and asked him some questions that only he and I could answer. Issey's mouth hit the floor, afterward! My dad got into me for holding up the line, but I didn't care. Seeing Issey's expression was worth it!"

Eiji Mizoguchi

"Eiji is another pal, but I don't hang out with him as much as Issey. When we do hang out, I get the feeling that he feels like a 'third wheel', which I don't want to make him feel, so I always try to include him in our convos. Like Issey, he was shocked to hear that my dad was actually 'DJ Veenyle'. I know my dad was happy to know that there was another African-American in the D.R.B. ...I have to admit, Eiji's not the first one I've seen or met, but the first one I've actually befriended. And it was all thanks to my dad. ...Huh. I know there's a lesson or something here, but I don't know what..."

Cloud 9

"I'm glad the division of Aichi finally has a team to represent them. You may not know this, but Aichi is a place of historical importance. It's where the Japanese warlord, Oda Nobunaga, made his stand against Imagawa Yoshimoto at the Battle of Okehazama. I've actually been to the place where the battle took place! It's a park now, but still!"

"As far as the team members go, I like all of them, especially Issey and Eiji! I'm looking forward to competing against them if we ever battle against each other!"

#hypmic #hypmic oc #hypnosis mic #hypnosis mic oc #hypnosis microphone #private party #roppongi division #zakari hiroya #aichi division #cloud 9 #shouta takeda #issey nishizawa #eiji mizoguchi

[avalon-of-babylon]

Some people just want to hate

So the other day I was in a live stream when Cyberpunk 2077 came up and the streamer said something odd "I've been told by trans people that it's transphobic and I'm going to listen to them"

Now I was confused by this because the only trans related controversy I knew of was the soda ad. However, it'd been a while since I did Claire's so I decided to look into it and my god some people just want to fucking complain.

ChroManticore

From all I've read this is the only one with any merit.

On the off chance you the reader don't know what happened here's the gist of it. ChroManticore is a soda company in the game with 16 flavors and before the games release an in game ad was released showing a (presumably) trans women in a skin-tight leotard that showed off her massive glowing cock along with the slogan "mix it up"

This was rightfully criticized for fetishistic and othering, and the CDPR apology was subpar to say the least. Anyone who felt or feels that way is valid and deserves have their criticism heard. Any harassment critics have received over this is unacceptable full stop.

Now that being said there is some context for the larger world that is important to keep in mind.

In the world of cyberpunk everyone and everything is a commodity, your life and even your rights are dependent on how much value you have to a corporation. To the corporation in game that made that ad they were not a person but a commodity and numbers on a spreadsheet.

It's also important to remember that this is a world 50 years in the future where if you have the money you can hot swap your genitals on a whim, you can befriend a vending machine, everyone is under threat of living programs, and the ethics of immortality for the rich through essentials putting their brain on a USB, popping it into someone else's brain and stealing their body is a very real and pressing thing. This is a world beyond our own with a culture that's in many ways left ours behind.

Could the ad have been handled more responsibly? Yes however I personally think it's unfair to call the game transphobic because of it.

"Cyberpunk 2077's Character Creation is Transphobic"

"At first, many trans players were happy with the idea that gender would not be determined by the character's genitals. However, that possible excitement turned to disbelief when gamers realized their character's gender and pronouns are not determined by genitals, but rather by voice. Only deep-voiced characters can be identified as male, while higher-pitched characters are identified as female, which purports the harmful idea that people's genders can be identified by certain traits." - CPR.com article How Cyberpunk 2077 Perpetuates Transphobia & Why Gamers Are Calling It an Act of Violence

While yes, pronouns should be an independent choice that CDPR will hopefully add in a future update, this is tantamount to saying any game with character creation but no pronouns option is transphobic. You can use the female voice with a masc body and literally no genitals if you want anyone saying this just wants something to complain about.

Honestly from the bottom of my heart go fuck yourself.

There's no queer characters (yes there are)

"There are occasional appearances of trans flags and a few characters who may or may not be LGBTQ, but the majority of the characters appear to be cisgender and heterosexual" - "It's possible players will uncover more trans characters over the course of the game, but it seems odd that reviewers who have played anywhere from 40 to 60 hours have yet to encounter any meaningful trans NPCs." CPR.com article How Cyberpunk 2077 Perpetuates Transphobia & Why Gamers Are Calling It an Act of Violence

I don't even know what to say to that. Sorry you spent the entire time running around not engaging with the game you were playing??? That's on you buddy, literal skill issue. Maybe help Claire (a trans woman) avenge her dead husband or spend even a minute with Kerry?

And that's pretty much it. There's also claims of ostracization without any evidence or even elaboration, a tweet from 2018 and it's subpar apology, and a defense of Keanu. What little substance there is isn't substantial to call the game transphobic and the rest is just utter horse shit by people who just want something to hate.

#cyberpunk #cyberpunk 2077 #cd projekt red #cdprcp2077 #cp2077 #cp77 #cpunk #cdpr #why are people like this

[tokiro07]

Cipher Academy ch.56 thoughts

[Continue...?]

(Contents: Speculation - anxiety/predictions, thematic analysis - Friendship)

I STILL CAN'T TELL IF IT'S BEEN CANCELED!!!

Hrngh...on the one hand, this was such a quick resolution to this storyline, it really feels like Nisio is outright trying to wrap it up as fast as possible...on the other, revisiting the introductory crossword specifically in the battle with Toshusai to determine which of them is the leader of the academy is the perfect bookend to this section of the story since she won't have any reason to be antagonistic to Iroha going forward, and there isn't really a way to drag out sharing crosswords into multiple chapters that wouldn't feel awkward

The presence of loose ends like Kogoe's machinations, Hakanage and Zakuroguchi's plans, how the Morgue will be used, Iroha's dad, locating Amvicious, etc. all indicate that there's plenty of story left to tell, but it's very possible that we're going to get an "our journey continues" ending, so that doesn't tell us anything

As I've said before, Nisio frequently ends arcs with quick resolutions, like how Medaka vs. Kumagawa or Hitoyoshi vs. Iihiko were only one chapter each, so this feels very like him, but that could just lend well to wrapping up the story when the editors say it's time to stop

It's so frustrating!!! I don't want to hold out hope only for it to be dashed, but Nisio's track record tells me there isn't reason to accept defeat yet, either!!!

Hmph!!!

Anyway, this is a fantastic end to what I've been calling the Friendship arc, as not only has Toshusai acknowledged Iroha as her friend, it was Iroha's belief that she felt that way that convinced her to concede defeat to him. The goal of Q.123 was to demonstrate how well they understood each other by effectively putting words in each other's mouths, and wrong answers would be a demerit - not only did Iroha demonstrate perfectly that he understood Toshusai, but that even though they were on opposing sides, he wholeheartedly believed that she viewed him as a friend

There was also the bit about "answering a code with a code," which I believe is meant to harken back to the idea that Iroha's way of thinking is so outside of the box compared to everyone else's, as seen when he brought in a third member to what was supposed to be a three-person cell, but honestly I think that was more how Nohime rationalized it rather than how Toshusai did. It's an important skill that only Iroha has shown, so it is a quality that Toshusai believes that a leader should have, but more than that, the idea that wars can be ended with friendship rather than violence has been a key ideal of the story as a whole, so it makes sense for that to be the final lynchpin in her decision to allow Iroha to take command

Kogoe walking away because she considered both options to be winners is an interesting callback to the CLP election, as she said the same thing when Iroha fought Anonymity, so I think if the story is to continue, she's undoubtedly going to be the cause of the next inciting incident. If the story gets to continue on, Iroha's friendship with Kogoe is certain to be a major contributing factor to the resolution of whatever her plot is, though likely in a slightly different way than we've seen here. Like I said, I think that our next storyline is going to be the Victory arc, so rather than "wars can be won through Friendship", it's more going to be "wars can be Won through friendship." It's a subtle distinction that I don't envision most people will understand at the moment, but if we ever get there, I'll be sure to go into more detail on it

Kogoe established in chapter 1 that she believes wars can be won without fighting, so using her as the focal point for the Victory arc, a story about finding alternate forms of victory, would be just as fitting of a bookend as Iroha befriending Toshusai. I still feel there would need to be one more arc after that to tie together all three arc's lessons, but ending it on Iroha proving Kogoe's hypothesis correct could well be the perfect conclusion

Here's hoping we get to see it!

Until next time

#cipher academy #fouryearsandananime #4y1a reviews

[mrsfrecklesmarauders]

Making a new friend. Part 1:

This is a little story of how Barty and Regulus became friends in my headcanon. A muggle AU. So enjoy this cute little story.

Barty's P.O.V:

Barty knew he was a problematic kid. He only caused trouble. His father had made sure to let him know that. Nobody liked Barty. Not even his parents. Barty was sure of that. His parents cared about everything else except for him. 

 When Barty got to Hogwarts, he didn't like any of the pretentious kids that talked about their parents as if they were gods. The kids that bragged about their money and their happy lives and where they traveled to that summer. He decided he didn't want friends. Hogwarts had been the best time for his father. He made lots of friends there. So Barty didn't want anything to do with this school. Barty was planning on getting out as soon as possible. 

Barty had a plan. He needed to cause as much trouble as he could. He didn't study. He didn't make any effort. Barty wondered how much it would take the authorities to call his father. And what would Bartemius Crouch say? 

 But nothing ever happened. It was the end of November. Barty couldn't resist any more. What was worse was that Mr. Binns, the History teacher, had given them an oral presentation. Barty hated talking in public. He wasn't his father. 

 "And this assignment will be in pairs. So pick up your partner quickly"

 Barty panicked. He didn't have any friends. He would have to work on his own. So he didn't move from his seat. 

 "Very well..." The professor said after a while, looking around through his glasses "Almost everyone is paired up. Except for you two" he pointed at Barty and someone else.... Regulus Black. 

 Regulus was one of Barty's roommates. He knew exactly who this kid was. Barty’s father wanted Barty to befriend the "best kids", children of the most important families. Like the Blacks, for example. So Barty had been avoiding him at all costs. 

"Why don't you work together?" The professor added. 

 "I rather work on my own!" Barty responded immediately. He felt his cheeks on fire. He didn't know why. 

 "I... Me too..." Regulus said.

 Barty gave him a quick glance. Regulus was blinking to the floor. 

 "I am sorry, gentlemen. But this particular assignment needs to be in pairs.  It would be a lot of work for one person... Why don't you make an effort, eh?" 

 Mr. Binns gave them a soft smile. Which was odd. That man was more dead than alive. 

"I am sure you can become great friends"

 Barty sighed. He dared to look at Regulus. And he discovered the boy had his gray eyes on him. So Barty looked away immediately. Regulus did the same. They both blushed. 

 "Come on!" Mr. Binns continued "You have the resting fifteen minutes to begin working..." as the class broke into a loud chaos, he added "In silence, please"

 Barty was not going towards Regulus. So he crossed his arms. Regulus sighed before picking up his things and walking towards Barty. He sat down next to him. 

 Regulus wasn't like the idiots that bragged about their families and money. Actually, Regulus never spoke. He was a weird kid that lived mostly in his world. Barty thought he would be different, for what he had heard about The Blacks. He had seen Sirius around. He was loud and open. Regulus was the contrary.

 Barty decided to play with his pen between his fingers. Regulus began playing with his sweater sleeves. Barty noticed his uniform was perfect and brand new. 

"So..." Regulus began nervously, looking down "How are we gonna divide the work?"

Barty shrugged. 

 "However you want"

 Regulus blinked.

 “Should we start reading on our own?” he asked, opening his book. 

Barthy shrugged again.

 “Whatever”

 Regulus looked at him. 

 "Do you actually care about homework?"

 Barty shook his head "No. I won't be here long, Regulus"

 "Well... Where are you going? Because we need to work on the assignment..."

 Barty almost laughed.

 "No! I mean I will leave Hogwarts soon"

 "Why?"

 "I don't like being here"

 Regulus sighed "Me neither. It is not as cool as Sirius said. Hogwarts is just a regular school"

 Barty was silent. He really didn’t want to have a conversation with this kid.

 “I cannot make friends…” he continued anyway “Sirius said it would be easy”

 Barty realized he had been observing Regulus only when the latter noticed. Regulus looked away, perhaps embarrassed about what he just said. Barty looked away as well. 

“People here are stupid, Regulus. Maybe you are better off without friends. Trust me”

Regulus searched for Barty’s eyes for some reason. Barty tried his best not to look at him.

“That’s why you don’t have friends either?”

“I do have friends!” Barty replied immediately.

Regulus looked at him upside down.

“I haven’t seen you with anyone”

“I…” Barty didn’t know what to say. He wished Regulus would stop talking. “I prefer to be on my own” he crossed his arms as he finished.

“Okay…” Regulus finally shrugged, now ignoring Barty. He began reading. 

Barty was intrigued about this kid. He was supposed to brag, be cocky and be annoying. He was part of one of the most rich and important families in the UK. But Regulus was quiet. Regulus was responsible. Regulus obeyed. Regulus was invisible. 

Barty felt intrigued about this matter. Regulus was like a tired old man in a kid’s body. 

“I thought you hung out with those kids…” Barty didn’t know why he was speaking “The second-years… Your brother and his friends”

Regulus shrugged but continued reading. Barty thought he would never answer but then Regulus said:

“Those are Sirius’ friends not mine. They let me hang out with them out of pity”

Regulus had his chin buried in his arms. He looked like a lost puppy. 

“Maybe… Maybe you should do like me and get out of here”

Regulus’ mouth twisted. It looked like a smile. 

Barty sighed and opened his book. He was only doing it so that Regulus would stop being sad. It was painful to watch. 

“So, Regulus…” Barty began, clearing his throat “Can you explain all of this to me?” he asked “Because I have no bloody idea of what we’ve been studying in this class”

That made Regulus giggle. Barty tried not to smile.

“Of course” Regulus said, grabbing Barty’s book “But it would take us a lot of time”

 

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

Barty would obviously deny this. But he didn’t end up irritated with Regulus. Actually the kid agreed with everything he said. Except when Barty wanted to break the rules. It was kind of comforting to be with him. 

 Barty actually didn’t mind about the assignment, because Regulus’ explanation made it look so easy. So they ended up working in silence for the rest of the class. And they met up at the Slytherin Common Room to finish the rest. 

 Regulus didn’t ask Barty any questions, they just focused on doing the assignment. 

 When they were done, Barty had the sensation that he needed to say something. Maybe thank him. Maybe shake hands. Maybe say “Good night” or something. But it was odd because they shared a dorm. So Barty didn’t do anything. 

 “I… I am gonna go and sleep, Bartemius” Regulus said instead, standing up and picking his things.

 “It’s Barty!” 

 Barty hated to have the same name as his father. Was he so self centered that he couldn’t pick another name? Besides, Barty didn’t like his father. He never spoke to him, only to scold him about something. He wasn’t like the fathers Barty had seen in the T.V., loving and caring. 

 Regulus looked at him.

 “Oh… okay”

 Barty swallowed “Should I call you Regulus or do you have another nickname?”

 Regulus seemed a bit surprised about this question. To be fair, Barty was surprised as well. 

 Regulus shrugged “Everyone calls me Regulus. Except for Sirius that calls me Reggie. But I’ve told him I don’t like it” he shook his head to emphasize it.

 Barty played with his hands as he said this:

 “What about Reg?”

 Regulus moved his eyes as if he was overthinking the question. 

 “That doesn’t sound like I am a baby”

 “No” Barty nodded “It actually sounds sophisticated, yeah?”

 Regulus smiled embarrassed.

 “Sounds cool!” Regulus picked up his things and waved “Bye Barty”

 “Bye Reg” Barty answered “I’ll see you in a bit. We actually sleep in the same room”

 Regulus giggled as he blushed. 

 “Right” he said, walking away “See you in a bit then”

 Barty realized he was smiling after Regulus crossed the dormitory door. And he hated that. So he stopped. 

 

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

  The morning of the oral presentation, Barty was very nervous. For the first time in his Hogwarts life, he cared about an assignment. He had prepared himself, and he knew about the subject. 

 Maybe it was the fact that History wasn’t that bad, only Professor Binns made it utterly boring. Or perhaps it had to do with the fact that Barty liked Regulus. And Regulus cared about doing well in school. And Regulus liked History. But Barty was never gonna admit it. 

 It was just that… Regulus wasn’t annoying like the rest. It wasn’t Regulus’ fault that this school sucked. It wasn’t Regulus' fault that the rest of the kids were stupid. It wasn’t Regulus’ fault that Barty wanted to bother his father at all costs and ruin his career. None of this was Regulus’ fault. Perhaps he was a victim. Just like Barty was. 

 But he couldn’t like Regulus. He couldn’t be his friend. Barty was leaving this school soon. So what was the point?

 That morning, Barty discovered that Regulus wasn’t in his bed when he woke up. Barty almost reached the Great Hall, expecting to see Regulus there. Perhaps he wouldn’t eat by himself this time. But he stopped before he entered as he heard something. 

“Regulus is such a petty baby… He is kind of weird, right? Not like the rest of The Blacks”

 Barty stopped on his tracks. He reckoned the group of boys speaking were fourth-years or something. Actually he had no idea who they were. But they sounded mean. And why were they talking about Regulus?

 “It’s just that I’ve heard so many stories about The Black Family, that when I heard a new generation was coming… I expected something better…”

 The boy’s friends laughed at his words. But they caused something different in Barty: fury. 

 “When I was a first-year, The Black Sisters weren’t not only very pretty, but they were popular and imposing. But now…” he shook his head “Sirius is a beast that doesn’t know his place, hangs out with the wrong people…”

 Barty didn’t know Sirius well. But he didn’t seem like a bad guy. Besides, he was Regulus’ brother. And Regulus spoke about him every two minutes. So he must’ve liked him. Barty didn’t know, he didn’t have any siblings. 

 “And Regulus…” Barty’s ear listened carefully “Regulus is so weird and shy… Not proper for a Black… He doesn’t seem to be from that family…I’ve heard something… Something about his brain…” he giggled  “That he is retarded or something” and the others laughed. 

 That was enough for Barty. He was a little reckless and raw. Sometimes he didn’t think before doing something. His parents never taught him to be delicate. So he walked up to these boys and kicked the one that was speaking on the crotch. 

 The boy bent down and groaned in pain. Barty was going to run away but the boy’s friends grabbed him. Barty struggled to get away, he wanted to yell but someone was covering his mouth. 

 “Now now, little boy,” the boy in pain said, “I don’t know who you are but you are gonna learn who I am… And you’re gonna learn that nobody messes up with me… Do you understand?

#marauders #marauders era #marauders headcanon #muggle au #barty crouch jr #regulus black #barty and regulus #sirius black #autistic regulus black