#and it’s a true one. I actually love his existential crisis and the moment where he’s forced to be his own person (doll) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theminecraftbee · 1 year

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yo a persona au? I want to know more <- persona my beloved

gonna take this as a free space to talk about what I want so. let’s talk about impulse’s hanged man social link, who as it turns out is also his foil/the hidden bad guy, and person I was rotating in my head a lot in the car going to pick up dinner earlier: bdubs.

so, I think bdubs joins the party deceptively early—like, he’s not the last guy, or very obviously suspicious early on. in fact, he’s very happy with impulse! unfortunately. okay so like. impulse’s central arc in this is sort of that his tendency towards being a people-pleaser leads to him trying to be everything for everyone and also his existential crisis over being the one guy aware of like, the game mechanics of confidants and stuff, leading to “oh god are any of my emotions here actually real”.

bdubs… has always been singularly devoted to one guy. and bdubs got his special little guy well before impulse got here, and that special little guy happens to be our story’s big bad. (or at least, the human one.) it is because of bdubs’s singular devotion to this person—and difficulty being devoted for real to other people outside of his use for them—that lead him to realize that, with the help of his own abilities as a persona user, unlocked before the start of the story, he could find people’s negative selves and drag them into the negative world, taking out people that our story’s big bad wanted removed and accelerating the terrible end the world was going towards.

(side note: possibly making the big bad here like, a religious organization or something. idk if that works well enough thematically but I do sort of like the idea of “evil god that wants to send everyone into a deep sleep/eventual death, possibly because it has decided humanity’s impulse of creation only creates evil things, and therefore humanity’s will to create must be destroyed”. and the idea of it having a church associated with it and that church having bdubs be deeply devoted to it, even secretly, is fun.)

over time suspicious things pile up about bdubs, especially as the link between victims, the big bad, and bdubs also pile up. however, impulse is loyal to all of his social links—the least he can do is trust them if he’s busy using this social connection for his own gain, right? the least he can actually try to help them, even if it’s not for altruistic reasons, right?

so I think, first, that either bdubs’s social link is suspiciously automatic or you have to get it to like, rank five to get the true ending. (note that to actual impulse he wouldn’t notice it’s automatic but you know suspiciously to the player.) then after a certain point you’re locked in and at like, rank 6, impulse goes to confront bdubs, and maybe also warn him, and like. they’re friends they’ve bonded bdubs is… part of the team so he’s also under the fool… he keeps on saying how much he loves impulse… right?

and the confrontation is basically. yeah, but that wasn’t a real connection. we were useful to each other, right? and bdubs talks about the big bad and his actual goals and tells impulse to tell no one. and I think we have a clock moment except now impulse also has “I gave you everything like I gave it to everyone else, oh god what if this is also all for nothing.”

INSERT VERY DESTABILIZING SOCIAL LINK RANK UP WHERE IMPULSE BASICALLY RANKS UP WITH BDUBS FOR BDUBS BETRAYING HIM.

…yeah so remember how I wanted to do a thing an actual persona game probably wouldn’t and have impulse have a bit of a breakdown over being everything for everyone all the time? right now like, throw in the horrible realization that bad things can cause social link rank ups. and I think that’s the final straw here; this idea that he’s pouring so much into these relationships that he’s not even sure are “real” because he’s doing them for bullshit magic reasons and that the bullshit magic will sometimes say “the path to win directly involves hurting you and people you care about”.

and impulse just sorta… shuts down a little bit? he’s horrified and upset. and he badly scrambles to try to warn the others but he wasn’t prepared for any of this.

which gives bdubs the opening he needs to drag impulse’s own negative self into the negative world, because this is the point that impulse hits such high degree of burnout that, despite being a persona user, despite arguably being THE persona user… the negative world can technically infect anyone if they’re upset and burnt out enough.

and then in the most self-indulgent but fun twist for me in the world, the next day, the news impulse was found in his apartment, having contracted sleeping sickness, gets conveyed to the party. we, the player, know bdubs is a traitor, but the party does not. and impulse’s social links and the party decide that, that’s impulse. they’re going to save him.

and THEN we get to have the sappy but also sad “this is what makes our leader despair” maze as like, the penultimate maze, which is also the one you fight bdubs in. undecided on whether bdubs can actually be saved as well. also gameplay-wise it’s a very difficult dungeon and the ultimate fight is very hard, but if you’ve raised your social links, it gets easier, both because you’ll have a better equipped party and because the people who have bonded with impulse want to try to help him, and that energy makes the enemies weaker the better you’ve done bonding with everyone.

…but there’s my idea for that.

#answered #theoretical persona au #for various reasons this would be kind of a hard move to pull in an actual persona game #even as the final (initial) payoff for your social links #because. you know. you rely on your protag a LOT #but you can’t deny it would be fun #also I think bdubs cares about impulse and the party WAY more than he acts like he does #he’s mister hanged man after all. a bit of a naive fool towards this obligation he’s tied to.#he comes across as a dick here but he’s not fully like he is a little bit but you know #-gestures vaguely at the trope this idea came from- YOU KNOW.

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nostalgia-tblr · 1 year

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Okay I am actually going to Discourse now, about that bit in that Thor film. I went to IMDB for the exact quotes!

"You know, it all makes sense now, why you favored Thor all these years, because no matter how much you claim to love me, you could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!"

SO. According to fandom, all of this can be taken as The Facts. As is the one about Loki being "no more than another stolen relic, locked up here until you might have use of me." The one about being a monster we all recognise as being the worst-case worries of someone who's just had his origin story suddenly and unexpectedly replaced with a new one and he's scared and upset and feels betrayed by his loved ones and all-in-all he's just having a shitty day. It is also assumed that every attempt Odin makes to dispute these Facts is him trying to cover for his own crimes. And then Odin falls asleep because ???? and so that means he's DEFINITELY lying.

But.

BUT!

What makes these things true? Can't the rest of it be based on fear rather than actual facts? Wouldn't that, y'know, fit perfectly with the emotions of the scene? And in plot terms if Odin does manage to reassure his anxious son then there's no rest of the film, is there? What a useful coincidence then that Odin has just fainted and is unable to talk Loki out of assuming the worst about everything!

Odin (and Frigga!!) doesn't have to have ACTUALLY favoured Thor but if there was ever a moment where wee growing-up Loki thought he did (which is pretty much a given, surely?) then it's going to suddenly come back to him now and OH LOOK there's a reason for Thor to have been the favourite so that means it must be true! It makes sense that he would be, so he must be! Right?? And apparently Odin has told Loki that he loves him, maybe even often. It might have been a lie but he did say it, he showed that kid some form of affection but now the kid is grown up and in existential turmoil and at this exact moment of course he doesn't believe it.

What I mean here, obvs, is that it's a bit odd for everyone to have just gone along with this rant and taken the angst-ridden fears of someone in the middle of an emotional crisis as being Objectively True Facts. And so Odin must be lying now and then and forever. He's a bad person, his son said so while crying his eyes out and refusing to accept any comfort from him! PROOF!!!

tl;dr - If I have to say "it's a mistake to assume that Loki can and should always be taken at his word" one more time...

#he's not even lying in this scene he's just fucked in the head!#what like you've never indulged your worst fears about someone when you were worrying that they didn't care about you?#by the normal rules of drama there's at least a 32% (i counted obviously) chance that Loki is Wrong in this scene #and yet???#mcu tag i guess #a character tag for not-an-alligator loki? surely you JEST?#thor movies

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adultswim2021 · 10 months

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The Venture Bros. #30: “The Doctor Is Sin” | June 8, 2008 - 11:30PM | S03E02

I love The Venture Bros, but I always dread writing about it. This season, which is very plotty and dense, especially feels like a slog. I might even have to expend MORE EFFORT on this blog in order to deliver more economical blog posts about this show. Hmm (NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: I did not accomplish this for this episode). A rough cut of the first act of this episode originally debuted during Adult Swim’s April Fool’s stunt. And, boy, it would be nice if I had written up that first act back then and only had to write-up the last half of the episode.

This one feels like a TRUE season premiere, even though it leaves the Monarch/Dr. Girlfriend stuff from last season hanging. We join the Venture family waiting for a visit from General Manhowers hoping to cinch a lucrative military contract. He engages in a Sherwood-Schwartz-esque ruse, asking the Orpheus family and others to dress up as multiple characters to give the Venture compound the impression that it’s still the bustling center of innovation it was during his father’s reign.

The plan fails, even though he creepily writes a scene in which he kisses the teenaged Triana Orpheus, his son’s crush. This part of their script is thankfully never performed because Manhowers is utterly unimpressed with Venture’s affairs and cuts the meeting short. The meeting is also boned by the presence of supervillains who keep showing up to arch Dr. Venture, because the Monarch has supposedly quit in favor of playing ball with the Guild of Calamitous Intent.

Not wanting to beg his do-gooder brother Jonas Jr. for cash, Dr. Venture takes help from Dr. Killinger, whose making a return appearance from one of my favorite episodes from season two. Dr. Killinger’s guidance winds up being very effective. He even outfits the compound with “Venchmen” (get it?). He also evicts Orpheus, the only person who seemingly understands that Killinger is a consort of evil. Orpheus, the Alchemist (who lets Orpheus crash at his place) and Brock (now being charged rent and bored with his diminished role as bodyguard) decide to storm Venture compound and take back what’s rightfully theirs.

This dramatic clash was not meant to be; when the moment of truth arrives, they find the organization has simply dissolved. That’s because Venture realizes that Killinger has been grooming him to become a villain, and he wants him to arch his brother Jonas. Venture has a bit of an existential crisis; probably because he is a legitimately crappy person. But, COULD HE BE ACTUALLY EVIL?

There’s a great scene where Killinger takes Rusty on a trip into his own psyche, where he flashes back to his youth. His father walks into the kitchen in nothing but his boxers, after having an adult "sleepover". His dong flops out, intimidating Rusty. Killinger tells Rusty that this is the moment his feelings of inadequacy first took hold. This is the moment that his father became his tormentor and rival.

If you’re watching the blu-ray, the dong is uncensored (as are all the swears). On HBOMax, the dong is boxed out. There’s one advantage to the censorship box; when Venture Sr’s penis morphs into Dr. Killinger, the box actually morphs and it’s a fun transition. On the blu-ray, we simply cut to Killinger, already having taken the form of Jonas’ package. I appreciate the uncensored version, but the censored version is a little more fun, animation-wise.

According to the audio commentary, that scene was meant to have an extra element to it: the woman Jonas was meant to have been rogering was a beautiful actress that Rusty had a crush on. She’s in the middle of making a movie called “Follow That Bikini!” about a woman who turns invisible while wearing a bikini, so she was going to be covered in blue paint for blue-screen effects. It sounds like this scene was cut during the script stage. Years later, we actually see snippets of this movie playing on a TV.

There were plans to have Rusty run into her in the present day, now in her 50s, and attempt to smash. I read somewhere that she was supposed to be Hank and Dean's mother [source?]. Since this wasn’t technically in the episode; it’s still very much in character for Jonas to have done such a thing, and for Rusty to feel as resentful as he does. It would’ve been poetic to have the parallel between him having that done to him as a boy and repeating the same exact mistreatment between him and Dean, with Triana and the creepy kissing scene he writes for them earlier in the episode.

This one feels more like a classic Venture Bros. episode in that it has a story that’s somewhat self-contained. It still feels like we’re doing a lot of table-setting for the season, though. This episode mostly functions to remind us that Venture is looking for a new arch, who eventually will show up.

There’s also a lot of fan-service when Doc calls his brother Jonas Jr. In the background we see him working with Hector and Swifty, the pirate, and Sally Impossible. The pirate I vaguely remember being established as working for Jonas. We also see Hadji from Jonny Quest overseeing some other division of Jonas’ arm of Venture Industries. Action Jonny is with him. Nearly all of these guys are people who Rusty cruelly cast aside for his own narcissism. The intent here to make longtime fans feel a little warm and fuzzy seeing them find success and thrive with Jonas Jr.

My criticism of this season still holds true, but I do think this is a big improvement over the previous episode. The commentary track sorta backs up my feelings; Jackson and Doc refer to these episodes as “feverishly getting stuff out of our system”. They also mention that these first two episodes of season three were originally part of the same episode and they realized the Monarch stuff was a much more complicated story than they realized. I still think they should’ve combined both episodes into an hour-long special to kick off the season with. If anyone makes a fan-edit of these two episodes doing that, then... I'd, uh, watch it. I don't know. Probably wouldn't work out; we need something connecting the two episodes.

The post-credits scene is Venture opening up a package from the Monarch with a venomous cobra inside. It crumbles into dust because the package was sent in 2003 and not opened until now. This replaced a deleted scene (which is on the blu-ray) of Sgt. Hatred getting a letter that he’s to be Venture’s new arch, a teaser for what’s to come. He’s a very divisive character; and I will probably be forced to write a pretentious paragraph or two about that. Or, like Brock Sampson putting on brownface, I can simply gloss over that. Brock Sampson puts on brownface in this, everyone.

MAIL BAG

Hey! Sorry for the late reply about the season 3 premiere (I only check this blog like once a week), but I do have an interesting tidbit to share about the "Monarch, I'm..." bit. As revealed in the venture bros art book, the original plan was for her to answer "Monarch, I'm pregnant", but Doc HATED that twist. Felt that it went against the show, went against what he wanted to write, she's a strong character and the last thing they need is for her to be a mom.

Doc thought it would be Out of Character for her to be a negligent parent, and if she was a GOOD parent, there goes her independence as a character entirely. Jackson ended up cutting it out and later admits that doc was right in hindsight, though he still feels that never answering the "Monarch, I'm..." question directly was one of the biggest failures of the show, he felt like he was just blowing the fans off (though doc thinks it's funny that the answer's "who fucking cares?").

I never did read that art book; I've taken it out from the library and leafed through it a couple times, though. That's interesting! I don't think they really go over that in the commentary. I feel like they could've dragged out the pregnancy and came up with a weird twist. Or they could've made a joke out of it and had the first episode just been them walking out of an abortion clinic.

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #the venture bros.

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beboped1 · 2 years

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Lords and Ladies

Took me a little longer to finish this one, due to some real life interruptions.

Lords and Ladies

First Read: Grad School

Verdict Then: An enjoyable entry that nicely wraps up Magrat's story, and I do like the evil elves.

Verdict Now: Bouncing back from Witches Abroad, this is a very fun adventure story with great character moments that isn't trying to be more than that.

I take back what I said in my Witches Abroad review about Granny Weatherwax being a bad protagonist. Pratchett just wasn't a good enough writer yet to balance the mystique and internal view of the character. But by Lords and Ladies, he definitely is.

Lords and Ladies is a substantial change of pace from Small Gods, and I appreciate it. Not every book should aim to give the reader an existential crisis, sometimes we just want characters bouncing off each other, a slowly building crisis, and a simple through line theme. Lords and Ladies is in many ways a classic adventure tale, and really without the direct deconstruction or parody that characterized the previous adventure-y Discworld novels.

It does feel like Pratchett has turned a corner in his writing after Witches Abroad. Rather than engaging with classic narrative arcs in a parodic or explicitly deconstructing way, he's starting to lean into them, using them as tools. Compare Lords and Ladies to, say, Guards, Guards. In Guards, Guards, Vimes gets a classic character arc but Carrot doesn't - rather, Carrot is a deconstruction/reversal of the "innocent destined hero" trope, and deconstruction like that is baked into the heart of the book. In Lords and Ladies, Magrat gets a coming of age story, Granny Weatherwax has a crisis of faith, and Nanny Ogg gets to show off the strength of her pro-social witching. But all of those arcs are played basically straight - there's no wink-nod or other deflation. There is still a kind of "fractured fairy tale" feel here - Pratchett is still himself - but it's more aesthetic than structural.

This is a great choice for this book in particular, because it really lets the witch characters play around and off each other. Nanny Ogg in particular has some amazing moments, showing off how she complements Weatherwax perfectly. Magrat finally gets a real character arc - learning to let go of some of her insecurity and how to decide for herself how she will fill the role she's given. On the other side, the Elves do feel a bit blah as villains. They're almost more a force of nature than a true villain - there's intentionally no humanity to them, to better reflect how each of the witches' approach to life is essentially human. And maybe this happened in the 30 years between when it was written and now, but "elves/fairies are actually evil buggers" is at this point such an extremely well worn trope that it doesn't even scan as parody any more.

Side characters are great - Pratchett really flexes his "economical character establishment" muscles here with Mr Brooks, Hodgesaargh, Shawn Ogg, and the Morris Men. I have to love Casanunda, who tries so hard and finally gets his night with Nanny Ogg. It's also refreshing to see such a female character focused book after Small Gods, which may not have a single named female character, and certainly doesn't have any of importance. He's made some huge leaps in writing women too, moving past many of the "man in your MFA class" tropes that had hindered much of his previous work.

Theme wise, there's definitely a "keeping people ignorant of the truth is harmful, mostly" thread, but it's pretty light and doesn't really hit that hard. I don't know where in my final list Lords and Ladies will place, but it's exactly the kind of functional, fun, and light work that would make a great airplane read, and it's not trying to be anything else. Not every book should be a transcendent treatise on human nature - sometimes, all you want is a story.

#gnu terry pratchett #terry pratchett #book review #books #discworld #fantasy books #long post #Lords and Ladies

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comickhan · 9 months

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Clash for the Castle Series

Book: Beginning of the Beginning

Chapter 1: The Spark Part 1: Give’em A Spectacle

Written by Farrakhan Khaliq

Commentator 1: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to tonight’s electrifying matchup in the ring! We’ve got Alex Storm, a real heavyweight with a track record that—well, let’s just say, he’s used to being on the other side of this equation.

Commentator 2: That’s right, and squaring off against Storm is none other than Jim Thompson, our lovable underdog who’s about to take on a challenge that even he must be surprised by.

Commentator 1: Storm starts with his usual fervor, charging at Thompson like a bull in a china shop. But hey, maybe he’s just trying to give our friend Jim a little bit of a workout, you know?

Commentator 2: Ah, yes, the “Alex Storm Fitness Regimen,” coming soon to a gym near you. But hold on, Thompson’s showing some impressive resilience here. It’s like watching a squirrel trying to outsmart a grizzly bear.

Commentator 1: I mean, I wouldn’t call Jim the “grizzly bear” of wrestling, but I see where you’re going with that. Storm tries to land a haymaker, but Thompson’s dancing around like a kid avoiding vegetables at dinner time.

Commentator 2: You’ve got to hand it to Thompson, he’s certainly adding a touch of unpredictability to this match. And here we were thinking he was just another piece of meat for Storm to toss around.

Commentator 1: Storm’s taking him to the ropes now, perhaps to show Thompson the best spot to catch his breath. Gotta love that generosity, right?

Commentator 2: Oh, definitely. And look at that reversal! Thompson’s giving Storm a lesson in physics, sending him flying with that dropkick!

Commentator 1: It’s like watching a David and Goliath story, but with a twist. More like David having a really lucky day against a grumpy Goliath.

Commentator 2: Well, luck or not, Thompson’s got Storm down on the mat now, and he’s ascending the turnbuckle. He’s like a squirrel discovering a hidden stash of acorns!

Commentator 1: Ha, yes! The “Acorn Aerial Assault!” And he connects with that flying crossbody! I don’t think anyone saw that coming, least of all Storm!

Commentator 2: The ref’s counting: “One... Two...”

Commentator 1: I don’t know about you, but I can’t look away. Like I’m watching a car crash in slow motion, but with a jobber on top!

Commentator 2: Storm kicks out! He’s alive and kicking—quite literally. I can almost hear his internal monologue: “I can’t believe I’m actually losing to this guy.”

Commentator 1: Thompson’s holding his own here, and Storm’s probably questioning his life choices right now. A true existential crisis, brought to you by our lovable underdog.

Commentator 2: And Thompson goes for that finishing move! He’s giving Storm the chance to practice his floor routine. If only Storm could stick the landing.

Commentator 1: The ref’s going for the count: “One... Two... Three!”

Commentator 2: Unbelievable! Thompson did it! He’s just defeated Alex Storm with a three-count!

Commentator 1: Well, there you have it, folks. A match that’s the equivalent of discovering a unicorn in your backyard. Jim Thompson, the unexpected unicorn of the wrestling world!

Commentator 2: I couldn’t have put it better myself. Thompson wins, Storm loses, and we’re all witnesses to an unfortunately fascinating moment in wrestling history.

*****

In the blink of an eye, the initial seed for what would eventually sprout into a new era was planted. It’s intriguing how an unassuming match, like any other, managed to hold the key to a monumental turning point within the vast tapestry of the wrestling world.

Within a reality where the cheers of the crowd were orchestrated and the victories in the ring were meticulously scripted, the dominant force of the Pro Wrestling Empire (PWE) remained unchallenged. Guiding this empire was Victor Reigns, a figure whose blend of charisma and craftiness allowed him to assert an iron-clad dominion over the wrestling landscape, orchestrating every move with precision and authority.

Yet, within this spectacle’s grandeur, disillusionment brewed. Wrestling’s authenticity had surrendered to profit and sensationalism. Forced cheers and lackluster storylines prevailed. Factions rose and fell like passing days. Titles changed hands casually, devoid of meaning. Wrestlers who once aspired to glory now stood as pawns, manipulated within Reigns’ game.

Amid this manufactured grandeur, a tempest brewed - one that threatened to shatter the illusion. At its core was Alex Storm, a wrestler weary of scripted victories and shallow narratives. Known as “The Rabble Rouser,” he aimed to rekindle wrestling’s essence.

*****

A collective roar erupts as the referee’s hand slaps the mat.

Referee: “One... Two... Three!”

With that final count, the match comes to a close.

As the arena fades into the background, Alex Storm’s face contorts with rage. “Unbelievable!”

Without hesitation, he delivers a powerful kick to the locker, the impact resonating through the room.

“Did you see that? I give my all out there, and they pull this garbage?”

The sound of his fist pounding against the locker punctuates his frustration.

“I’m sick of this rigged nonsense! I train, I fight, and for what? To be treated like a pawn in their stupid game?”

He delivers a forceful punch, his knuckles meeting the locker’s surface with a resounding thud.

Alex Storm shouting: “No more! I won’t let them control my fate any longer.”

Alex vents as his fellow wrestling peers watch from various corners of the locker room.

Wrestler 1 (calling out): “Hey, Storm, calm down! You’re gonna wreck the whole room!”

Wrestler 2 (stepping forward): “Take it easy, man. We all get screwed sometimes.”

Amid the commotion, the locker room door opens, and Marcus Knight, the current GM and now known as “The Legacy,” enters. He strides purposefully, his gaze locking onto Alex’s outburst.

The Legacy (firmly, but calmly): “Alex, let’s get a grip here.”

The other wrestlers collectively nod, their voices blending into a chorus of concern.

Wrestler 3 (trying to reason): “We’re all in this together, man. Losing it won’t change anything.”

Wrestler 4 (with empathy): “I get the frustration, Alex. We all do.”

Alex’s fists slowly unclench as the words of his peers sink in, mingling with Marcus’s calming presence.

The Legacy (softly): “Take a deep breath. Let’s talk.”

Alex hesitates, his emotions still raw, but at least he’s no longer alone in this.

Alex Storm (reluctantly): “Fine.”

The Legacy steps closer, his expression empathetic.

The Legacy: “We’re not just a bunch of wrestlers, Alex. We’re a team, and we’re with you on this.”

Alex Storm (laced with sarcasm): “Oh, ‘we,’ huh? Last time I checked, you’re the general manager! That means you work for the system! You were a great wrestler, now you’re just a suit!”

With a smirk of disgust, Alex chuckles bitterly before continuing.

Alex Storm (still sarcastically): “We? Don’t make me laugh.”

He spits at the ground, his frustration undeterred as he turns to make his way to the showers.

Filled with apprehension and unease, Jim Thompson cautiously enters the locker room. The room’s atmosphere immediately shifts to a hushed silence as Alex’s gaze locks onto Thompson. Trembling with fear, Thompson’s voice quivers as he tries to speak.

Jim Thompson (nervously): “Look, man, I...”

Before Thompson can finish his sentence, Alex delivers a harsh slap across his face. Thompson stumbles back, colliding with a locker and instinctively shielding his face. The locker room is enveloped in a heavy silence. Marcus Knight, known as The Legacy, addresses Alex.

The Legacy (sharply): “Alex! What the hell?”

Taking a deep breath, Alex turns to face Legacy before shifting his attention back to Jim Thompson. With a pained expression, Thompson flinches in response. Alex takes a step closer, extending his hand towards Thompson.

Alex, with his hand still extended, locks eyes with Thompson. Thompson hesitantly reaches out, and their hands meet in an uneasy handshake. Alex uses the gesture to help Thompson back to his feet.

Alex Storm (reassuringly): “It’s not your fault, kid. With that said, welcome to the PWE.”

Alex scans the room, addressing everyone present with his determined gaze.

Alex Storm (with resolve): “They want a spectacle? Fine. I’ll give them a spectacle they’ll never forget. The Rebellion starts now.”

He clenches his fists. His determination unwavering as he envisions a new path ahead, a path that promises to challenge the status quo and rewrite the rules of the wrestling world.

#wrestling #wrestling stories #action #drama

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writer59january13 · 10 months

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Malevolent maverick mailer-daemon...

wrought maximum monetary mayhem within mein kampf

Incomprehensible inhumane inquisitorial imp incarnate injudiciously, ineffably, indescribably inflicted inxs inexorable insidious injury. Snake charmer also known in the underworld as Harvey Specter subliminally slithered, and deftly insinuated himself into body electric of yours truly forever remotely controlling every waking and sleeping moment comprising ability to function. Ever since I got gouged senseless attributed to spellbound dime a dozen crooked fiendish idiotic limey oaf, who expunged loot lickety split courtesy flagrant ingrate latched outsize razor-sharp wickedness yours truly held captive impossible mission to recognize trickery and deceit tumbled into abysmal chasm, when the floor fell below my feet. Nothing but blackness seen ad-hoc as I spun to and fro, hither and yon with a monetary bedrock timelessness prevailed, and anyway present circumstances meant nothing more superfluous than clock, nevertheless precious elapsing seconds, minutes, hours, et cetera did nothing to lessen deadlock, which gripped me noggin running around like a madman then unwittingly grabbing hold of frock donned by a trumpeting cross dresser, who subsequently threatened me with his glock and quickly proceeded to wield powerful arms to restrain yours truly with asphyxiating headlock. Alas and alack mood of mine stormy and black existential nihilism nemesis Harvey Specter mein kampf, he did carjack creature dwelleth within soundgarden sibilate doth issue signaling trademark diamondback. After the scam artist made off like a bandit the scoundrel hit paydirt then did exit leaving me monetarily hemorrhaging a gaping hole,

where I feel horrible trying to muster true grit cuz he (aforementioned swindler - actually blimey crook

donned name incognito) and did squarely land a hit

me with a devastating sucker punch draining every last red cent thus yours truly pleading emergency crisis lest one victim

(me) seriously contemplates his existence to quit (perhaps experimenting overdosing prescription medication) furious at myself being such a dimwit; being oblivious to obvious "red flags" such as being told to withdraw cash

practically threatening, ordering, kickstarting, heckling me to dash off to Citizens Bank ignoring feeling tension while teeth

did tightly gnash cock and bull story, I embellished as if strung out high on hash witnessing webbed wide world of mine left bereft without kash and now I recoil as if being beaten with a lash. Yours truly then not in his right mind hence funding donations would be ever so kind lest yours truly would be inclined to take his (my) scrawny hind most quarters to ten thousand cannibals after these lovely bones licked clean red skeleton of miine enshrined.

#mad as a hatter

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years

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IOTA Reviews: Wishmaker

Goddamn it...

It's bad enough Astruc tastelessly axed Lukanette, but now he just had to show up to give a sarcastic eulogy at the funeral.

Let's get into the fourteenth (chronologically the eighteenth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Wishmaker

Right out of the gate, we get a “Chloe bad” joke with her insulting Marinette for being poor or whatever as she hands out flyers for an upcoming career fair. Chloe doesn't have much of a role in the episode, but she will be important towards the end, trust me. We also get a funny “Marinette stares lovingly at Adrien” joke while she sees him, so it's good the writers are at least trying to get their strange habits out of their systems now instead of later.

While reading over the flyer in his room, Adrien ponders a possible career as he doesn't want to keep being a model.

(The episode came out in English first, so I'm just going to be using quotes instead of screenshots of subbed scenes for this review)

Plagg: Don't you wanna continue to model?

Adrien: I don't think so, Plagg. I'm doing it now because my father asked me to. But now I realize I don't know what I'd want to do. I've never asked myself that question.

This is a really interesting dilemma for Adrien. Unlike other episodes that just have him feel sad for entirely superfluous reasons like Ladybug turning him down or generally moping about his mom, it feels like something you can really understand. He genuinely isn't sure what he wants to do with his life because he's had everything chosen for him before. I also like the use of the English dub saying Adrien modeled because his father asked him to, as if he couldn't actually say no. I also like how Adrien is still starting to lose faith in Ladybug for giving out Miraculous to everyone, which makes even more sense after his view of her was shaken in the previous episode chronologically, “Rocketear”. I also like how Plagg suggests ideas for a career for Adrien, like the two of them opening up a cheese shop together, which shows how Plagg cares for Adrien and wants what's best for him, ultimately highlighting how healthy their relationship is. He's almost like a big brother who gives advice to Adrien, even if it isn't the most sound advice at times.

On the other hand, Marinette already knows what she wants to do with her life, but the Kwamis start to argue over what she actually means by it by saying they know what she wants to do, a painfully accurate metaphor for the writers dictating Marinette's actions no matter how inconsistent they are.

Pollen: What's a career, dear Guardian?

Marinette: Oh. Well, it's... your job! Something really important that you do and gives meaning to your life!

Roaar: Oh! So, your job is being the Guardian of the Miraculous!

Mullo: Of course not! It's being a student!

Xuppu: Not at all! It's making presents for Adrien!

Marinette:Well...

Longg: She said “something important”, like when she crafted the big doll house to hide the Miracle Box!

Wayzz: Or when she designed the alarm for this room! What a masterpiece!

Marinette: Sure, I love crafting but—

Ziggy: You guys don't get it! What gives meaning to her life is to be in love with Adrien, or Luka, that's her job!

Fluff: Luka's the one with the guitar, right?

Kaalki: Her real career is being Ladybug and carve her name in history by her glorious deeds, of course!

Of course, their bickering somehow makes Marinette realize she isn't sure what she wants to do in the future after all.

We then cut to a reality show hosted by TV personality, Alec Cataldi. He's generally an asshole to the people on the shows he hosts and takes pleasure in humiliating or just being a dick to them, making you wonder how he still gets work with that attitude. Basically, he's the Alec Baldwin of the Miraculous Ladybug universe. The current show he's hosting is one where he roasts people for their jobs, making Andre a target by pointing how counterproductive his “business” is.

Alec: Here's a perfect example: Andre, the Ice Cream Maker, the ice cream man that is never around! Let me remind you how this goes: Andre doesn't have a shop, no one knows where he is, it takes forever to find him, and he gets to pick a flavor of your ice cream! You've gotta be kidding, Andre! Give me one reason why I should bother to chase after you when I could get my choice of ice cream in any corner supermarket!

Andre: Well, people don't just come for ice cream when they find me. They come to share their love and experience of magical moments! A supermarket cannot do what I do! I am a creator of magical moments!

Alec: “Creator of magical moments?” You've gotta be kidding!

I'm pretty sure that's what a lot of people thought of Andre when they first saw “Glaciator”. The idea behind Andre is that he chooses ice cream for you representing something about yourself, so he gives Alec a scoop of lime to represent his sour exterior and chocolate cinnamon to represent the dreams he still has within. Alec flinches a little at the ice cream, presumably because of how terrible of a combination that is, and decides to go to commercial to think.

Marinette talks to Andre about what he does, and he explains he used to be an office worker, with the only highlight of his days being making ice cream for himself after work. It eventually inspired him to quit his job and start making ice cream for everyone. It's a nice backstory, and I think a lot of people watching who are struggling to think about their future can relate to this like with the earlier scene with Adrien. It's also a nice touch for the flashbacks to reveal Andre has served ice cream to some of France's most famous couples.

(Jean Coutau and Jean Marais)

(Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin)

(Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet)

Granted, I'm wondering how old Andre is to have even met some of these people given Jean Cocteau died in 1963, but seeing how Master Fu is 186, I'm guessing the Miraculous Ladybug universe just has really good healthcare. Either that, or the people in this universe take Jay Kordich's diet very seriously.

Andre gives some ice cream to Marinette, who is soon joined by her ex-boyfriend who she never loved according to the writers. Actually, judging from her face when Luka talks about the very first guitar he made, the writers made another 180 regarding Marinette's feelings for Luka.

Of course, because the show wants to remind the audience Alec still exists, he makes fun of Luka for taking two years to perfect the delicate craftsmanship it takes to sculpt any instrument when you can just download an app on your phone. Your inner boomer is showing, writers, even if you were born after the time period for that generation. Luka retorts with some vague philosophical line he's known for that's one of the reasons why people are so mixed on him as a character

Luka: Musical instruments fill the space and space fills the instruments. No phone in the world will ever be able to do that.

Despite it being incredibly confusing, it gets to Alec, causing him to run off in tears. Luka and Marinette continue to talk, but it turns out that's Adrien decided to sit down nearby because of course he did. Though, like the last scene, it's a pretty interesting one as the three discuss what they want to do with their lives. There's also a really nice visual of a blimp with an ad Adrien was in passing by while Adrien talks about his father dictating his life, a really nice symbol. Of course, the scene is somewhat ruined by Luka suddenly deciding to be an Adrienette shipper.

Luka: You two will eventually find what's already in front of you, but you can't hear it clearly. Just let the melody flow.

He's referring to their uncertainty of their futures, but earlier on, Luka wanted to help Marinette be honest with her feelings about Adrien, and even before that, Andre was saying that Marinette and Luka didn't have to be in love to enjoy his magic ice cream. It's here when I realized this episode is subtly trying to end any chances of Lukanette still happening with so many little details. Right when the two spend time together, that's when they decided to help Adrien who showed up for no reason, preventing them from potentially coming to terms with their feelings for each other or at the very least discuss how hard it is to be friends with their history. And things only get more frustrating towards the end, where you'd swear someone decided to smother Lukanette with a pillow in its sleep.

Back to Alec, he's roasting a wig salesman (does he even have permission to film any of these people?) for his job, but as soon as the salesman puts a wig on him, Alec immediately gives us his life story.

Alec: When I was a kid, I used to have long hair, but everyone made fun of me. That's why I shaved it all off. I've been making the wrong choices my whole life. My TV shows are nothing personal. I make fun of people when they make fun of me when I was a kid. (Starts to tear up) I should've been the person I always wanted to be, trying to change the world instead of mocking it! (Falls on his knees) I've wasted my life!

I didn't paraphrase this at all. This is seriously what happened. He goes from mocking everyone he meets, to slightly doubting himself after seeing an ice cream vendor and a young musician, and then he starts having an existential crisis about his tragic backstory. It's not a bad idea, but if there was some more buildup in previous episodes, I'd understand. But this goes from confusing to straight out insulting towards the end. I'll get to that later on.

Shadowmoth notices Alec's emotions and akumatizes him into Wishmaker through his microphone.

Wishmaker has a pretty cool design. The grey skin color coupled with the mostly black outfit really highlights Alec's broken heart, and he looks pretty sinister. His powers... leave a lot to be desired. Like the name states, Wishmaker has the power to make everyone's childhood dreams come true, like this one guy's dream is to be Santa Claus, so he transforms into Saint Nick without any hitch. Wouldn't it make more sense if Wishmaker twisted the dreams of his victims like a genie and made them miserable while they ironically lived out their fantasies by twisting around their words? Instead, all of his “victims” seem pretty happy, which doesn't really do much to make him a threat in my opinion.

So the aforementioned Santa starts dropping presents like bombs near Marinette, Adrien, and Luka, and they're separated by a giant robot. Marinette quickly transforms into Ladybug, and gets Luka to safety, though as soon as she leaves, Luka goes to check on where he told Marinette to stay for safety, and doesn't see her there. Instead, he sees his deadbeat father (transformed into a crocodile) drowning and goes to save him.

Ladybug meets up with Cat Noir (who transformed off-screen) and the two easily incapacitate the robot before engaging Wishmaker, avoiding his blasts. Apparently, they'll get their secret identities revealed if they get hit, so Ladybug goes to get Luka to help out as Viperion while Cat Noir holds off Wishmaker. Ladybug goes to get Luka, leading to the funniest joke in the episode.

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She gives Luka the Snake Miraculous and he transforms into Viperion, immediately activating his Second Chance. For newcomers, Second Chance allows the user to set a point in time when activating it and if something goes wrong, they can go back to that checkpoint in up to five minutes. Ladybug also summons her Lucky Charm, a stuffed dinosaur toy.

Back with Cat Noir, as he engages Wishmaker, the Akuma starts to tempt him with the idea of living out his childhood dream, because he genuinely doesn't remember his. As Shadowmoth orders Wishmaker to use his powers on Cat Noir, Ladybug and Viperion show up, but in the chaos of the fight, Ladybug gets hit by Wishmaker, revealing her childhood dream as the “Knitting Fairy”, and exposes her identity to Viperion, who uses Second Chance to undo the timeline.

In the new timeline, Cat Noir's vulnerability gets to him, so he willingly lets himself get his by Wishmaker, not only exposing his identity as Adrien, but tragically reveals his childhood dream, to be whatever his parents wanted him to be. I feel like this works a lot better than some of the other moments where Cat Noir defied orders or screwed around on the battlefield because it's clearly framed as a moment of weakness on his part, and it was naturally built up over the course of the episode. The reveal of Adrien's childhood dream is a real gut punch too, as it shows just how much Adrien's life has been controlled by his family.

In the third timeline, Viperon deflects Wishmaker's blast meant for Cat Noir and redirects it toward a man whose childhood dream was to become a giant stuffed dinosaur. The stuffed dinosaur in question goes to give Wishmaker a hug, restraining him long enough for Ladybug to steal for Cat Noir to cataclysm (It's a microphone, how hard is it to break???) before she de-evilizes the Akuma. Ladybug uses Miraculous Ladybug to force everyone to stop living out their childhood dreams, she gives Alec a Magical Charm, and Luka decides not to tell Ladybug he knows both her and Cat Noir's secret identities. Why did Ladybug expect Luka not to know her identity when the whole reason she recruited him was to make sure nobody else found out her identity?

Now, while it isn't outright said, it's hinted at that now that Luka knows Marinette is Ladybug and Adrien is Cat Noir, judging from his dejected look after finding out the latter, he may be giving up on all attempts at the idea of getting back together with Marinette, and may or may not start shipping the Love Square now, just like how Kagami decided to ship Adrienette in “Mr. Pigeon 72”. I'm not saying the idea of Luka knowing someone's identity is bad, but it feels like this only happened specifically to stop him from having feelings for Marinette because now he knows Adrien loves her alter ego, and vice versa. Maybe it'll be touched upon in a later episode, but this was just a dick move by the writers in terms of ending all chances of Lukanette like this in order to ensure the Love Square has absolutely no competition.

So the episode ends with Marinette and Adrien deciding to focus on their futures while Alec starts a new show where he helps people live out their childhood dreams, albeit dressed like Style Queen for some reason.

Eh, he still picked a pretty cool Akuma to dress up as in my opinion. A lot of people have viewed this ending as evidence Alec is a drag queen with how he dressed up, coupled with the fact that he said something that was very similar to famous drag queen RuPaul.

Alec: And now, we're gonna love one another, starting with everyone loving themselves! Because how are you gonna love other people if you don't love yourself?

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Though Astruc, being Astruc, once again decided to be vague when asked about the subject on Twitter, though at least the subtext is better than when he said he didn't make Juleka and Rose girlfriends because of censors while making it seem like a noble act.

Overall, this was a really good episode, though there were some underlying issues that really kept me from actually liking it. For the most part, it had some good drama with the main character, a rare scene where Marinette didn't stammer around Adrien, a creative (albeit flawed) Akuma with some good action, and an interesting idea with Luka knowing everything about the Love Square now.

There are just two big problems that really got to me about this episode. Let's get the obvious one out of the way, Luka. Honestly, he really didn't need to be in the episode. Sure, he gave some sound advice to Marinette and Adrien about their careers, but it felt kind of strange to see someone their age talking to them about their future when Andre, someone who actually had experience struggling to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, was pushed to the side. And like I said earlier, I think the only reason Luka found out about Marinette and Adrien's identities was to discourage him from thinking about getting back together with Marinette. After all, now that he realizes how “made for each other” they are, he can't stand in the way of the Love Square.

The problem is that in the context of the episode, we don't really see what made him see things that way. At least in “Mr. Pigeon 72”, Kagami consistently viewed Marinette's attempts to get her and Adrien back together as a subconscious desire to be with Adrien. It was dumb with how she decided to go to Team Adrienette at the end of the episode, but it was something. I'm glad the episode didn't force in too many Love Square shenanigans, but I think more should have been done to contextualize Luka's feelings towards the reveal. I get the writers wanted to make sure Lukanette had no chance of coming back, but this just feels rushed.

And then there's Alec's redemption arc. While it's not a bad idea in concept, the problem is that it flies in the fact of a recurring theme this season, that being redemption. Because, here's the funny thing: Alec blatantly said he became an asshole TV personality because of his history of bullying, and decided to retaliate as a result, but he eventually saw the error of his ways and turned over a new leaf. For long time readers of this blog, I apologize for bringing this up yet again, but what exactly makes this different from everything Astruc said about Chloe? You know, when he said that you make your formative choices when you're fourteen? Just like how Alec decided to become a reality TV host making fun of people after a troubling experience from when he was a kid?

Let's say that I agree with Astruc's views about Chloe. How is Alec different from what Astruc's said about Chloe for almost two years at this point? What makes Chloe, someone who was the victim of a troubled childhood who never got help, an irredeemable monster while Alec, someone who also had a troubled childhood and had even more time to get help while never getting any, capable of change? I thought he Alec made a formative choice when he was young and stuck with it, just like how Chloe started to fully develop at the age of fourteen. I mean, Astruc, you yourself said that Chloe's troubled childhood “was no excuse to treat people like shit”, according to you.

I'm just saying, dude, if Chloe can't be redeemed because of the stuff you yourself said, then that shouldn't apply to Alec either. When you really think about it, it's almost like Astruc either made up a bunch of excuses to not redeem Chloe, or he's a massive hypocrite for going back on his word. You can't really justify this kind of hypocrisy relating to Alec's redemption when you remember just how much of a hardass Astruc was when explaining why redemption was impossible for Chloe.

This coupled with the treatment of Luka really drags this episode from really good to blatantly insulting to certain viewers. Then again, these two choices just got to me personally. I feel like if those two things weren't there, things could have made this episode a lot better for me personally. I can see why a lot of people in the fandom still like this episode, but I'm honestly not a fan of it.

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 3 years

Note

What do you think would happen if one of the Cullens realized they might also be "in love" with Bella during Twilight along side Ed. Mates be damned (not like their marriages are gonna last anyway), and everyone's on the table (just 1 love rival, not at the same time buuuuut could you imagine the chaos? *cough*). The usual Bella eaten/killed by Eddy boi is def on the table obvie, but like do you think there's a chance he might concede to one of his family (or just any other alternatives)? -Sw

Oh boy.

Why I Don’t Think This Is a Possibility

That said, I have to caveat that I don’t think this is a very likely path (sorry, I cannot resist).

It’s true I don’t think any of the Cullen relationships will last in the long term, but I also don’t think they’re inclined to cheat on one another or fall apart at a moment’s notice. They’ve made it this long, several decades, but more, none of them realizes anything is lacking from their respective relationship.

Carlisle and Esme are very devoted to one another and don’t realize they have fundamentally conflicting values. Jasper and Alice think they fulfil each other’s needs and don’t realize that they share nothing in common. Rosalie and Emmett’s is the healthiest relationship in the house but don’t see their major issues (Emmett doesn’t really support or understand Rosalie and Rosalie loves Emmett mostly for his love of her).

My point being, none of them are going to realize it’s not working out anytime soon. They’re going to need a catalyst, and per the end of Twilight, one is coming. Either a confrontation with the Volturi occurs, Renesmee decides to leave, the Cullen lifestyle changes, or things with Bella go awry. It can be any number of things, and it will happen given time, but at the start of Twilight we haven’t hit that point yet.

There’s also the fact that of the Cullens, only Edward would do this nonsense, and even for him it takes Bella’s delicious blood to grab his attention. When she was an ordinary human, he was not interested in the slightest, not even in her gift.

Each of the Cullens (Sans Alice and Esme) is completely baffled by Edward’s emotional whiplash and attachment to this human girl he doesn’t even know. Bella only becomes a vague concept to them when she enters as a serious fixture in Edward’s life, but even then, they really don’t know what to think.

No one in the family will do what Edward did in Twilight. Look at this girl they don’t even know and say “Ah, yes, I’m in love.”

Now, that out of the way, let’s play ball.

Alice

This actually will work out shockingly well if only because I suspect Alice will come up with the pragmatic solution of “sharing”.

First, Alice is by far the closest Cullen member to Edward. He holds her in high esteem, feels a strong sense of kinship with her, actually confides in her, and sees her as a very close friend. Edward looks up to Carlisle and adores Esme, but it’s not the same.

If Alice sees herself as getting together with Bella I don’t think she’d see this as mutually exclusive to Edward having Bella. Alice cares deeply for Edward’s happiness, far more than she does Bella’s general existence, and I think the idea of entering a joint marriage with Edward and Bella would be very appealing to her.

She’d have to ease Edward into it, of course, as he’d balk at the very idea of it, but I think he’d see it as a strengthening of his and Alice’s relationship as well as having the wonderful Bella. Better yet, Alice can be physical with Bella while Edward can go compose music about their love.

As it is this... This is kind of what happens in canon.

Alice tells Edward that not only is he in love with Bella, but that Bella is going to be her best friend, so he better not muck it up. She has to ease him into the idea of being in love with Bella throughout the first part of Twilight. Then, when the relationship is solidified, Alice is right there introducing herself as Bella’s new BFF. Bella’s friendship with Alice throughout the series is extremely homoerotic and I imagine it remains so after Breaking Dawn.

Edward is very pleased that Bella counts Alice as her best friend, Alice being far and away his favorite sibling and the one he approves of Bella spending time with (generally, when she’s not foiling his schemes).

I don’t think Alice and Bella will ever have sex, per se, but I imagine they remain quite physical with each other and Edward looks on with approval thinking to himself that this is how all female friendships should be.

And if Jasper has the nagging suspicion his wife is cheating on him then he’s not functioning quite well enough to put it into words just yet.

Carlisle

Edward would lose his mind.

First, Edward is very into Carlisle, and for all he insists his feelings are filial they sound remarkably romantic. I’d drop a quote, but it’s pretty much every time Edward thinks of Carlisle in Midnight Sun. More than that, Carlisle is the man Edward aspires to be, someone he sees as profoundly more good than he could ever hope to be.

Edward projects a very similar personality onto Bella herself.

So, I imagine if Carlisle sits Edward down and says, “Actually, Edward, I have fallen in love with this Bella” Edward feels very conflicting things all at once.

On the one hand, this means Esme/Carlisle is collapsing. Edward personally brought those two together and adores the idea of their relationship. Their relationship is what he hopes his and Bella’s will look like and is to him the married ideal of a perfect Mother and a perfect Father.

Carlisle/Esme alone falling apart would give him a complete existential crisis. That’s not allowed to happen.

And then that Carlisle wants Bella Swan for himself?! Edward would be faced with the immediate,horrifying, thought that for all Carlisle is a vampire he would be the perfect man for saint like Bella. Carlisle and Bella deserve one another, would be perfect together, and Edward should not begrudge them that.

On the other hand, Edward himself is in love with Bella, and while he thought he could nobly leave her, now he has to nobly stand to the side and watch as Carlsile and her marry. It’d be a very romantic and tragic thing to do, but there’s leaving Bella to her human life, and then watching her up front for the rest of eternity while bitterly hiding his feelings.

More, Carlisle will turn her. If Bella is his true love, then there’s no question of that. Edward’s seen where this goes with Emmett. He will destroy Bella Swan to be with her forever, and Edward will have to live with the shell of Bella Swan staring back at him, fucking his father, forever.

I imagine Edward desperately pretends to concede to Carlisle, to be happy for the pair of them, but as things progress and Bella’s permanent position in the family looks more and more likely, he loses his mind. He’ll snap and there is no telling what he might do.

My money’s on him mercy killing Bella while she’s still human behind Carlisle’s back. He’s sobbing while he does it, but he just can’t let Bella be tarnished by vampirism, and now he will carry this tragic, terrible, secret for the rest of time.

Whether Carlisle was going to turn her or not is up to debate. Given he turned none after Emmett, I think he learned his lesson from Rosalie and would be more than willing to let Bella go, even if he loves her, should it mean he would not force something she does not want and does not understand upon her.

That said, I think he’d never tell Edward his feelings for Bella, as that would ruin Edward’s fledgling relationship with the girl. This is Edward’s first brush with love and seems to be the only romantic love he’ll ever have. Edward has been so miserable for so long that Carlisle would easily give up his own happiness for Edward.

So, more likely, Twilight would happen anyway and Carlisle would spend the entire time being utterly miserable and pretending he’s perfectly fine. LOOK HOW HAPPY HE IS, ESME.

Emmett

Edward tattles to Rosalie immediately.

He loves Emmett, but he knows Emmett can’t possibly be serious about this, and more, fundamentally doesn’t understand how wonderful and amazing Bella is. He wants to turn her into a vampire, clearly, Emmett doesn’t know what’s best for the girl.

More, a man who would so easily break his marriage vows (even to Rosalie), does not deserve Bella Swan.

Edward watches Rosalie and Emmett’s marriage utterly disintegrate with a juice box filled with mountain lion blood and swoops in on Bella while Emmett is thoroughly distracted. Edward then gaslights Bella into believing Emmett is dangerous and despises her, making Emmett the new and improved Jasper.

Esme

Esme would never tell Edward or likely even realize her feelings for Bella herself. If she did though, she would give up the possibility of a future with Bella Swan in a heartbeat for Edward’s happiness, which means everything to her.

Esme will have no regrets, won’t even smile sadly at Bella, because she has Carlsile as her consolation prize and she gets to see the joy in both Bell and Edward’s faces which is far more important than having Bella to herself.

Esme would live vicariously through Bella and Edward’s relationship as well as the very existence of Renesmee.

Like Alice, this is one of those things that’s pretty much canon. I won’t say anything for Esme’s feelings, it’s more that Esme ships Bella with Edward (and mostly because Edward himself comes to obsess over her), but she does seem to vicariously get her joy through their nuclear family within the Cullen family.

Esme is a very strange person.

Jasper

Edward would attempt to murder Jasper or at least severely injure him. Jasper would be the ultimate threat to Bella, not even a man unworthy of her but not a man at all, and exactly what Edward needs to protect Bella against.

Alice tries to stop the fight, to no avail, and Edward will ultimately lose (despite all his confidence). I imagine Jasper doesn’t kill him, but tears apart his limbs, and uses Edward’s lack of mobility to kidnap and then turn Bella.

Bella has no idea what’s happening and the next thing she knows she’s a vampire and Jasper is telling her they have to leave the area (as he must now leave the coven).

Edward tries to track them down for the rest of eternity. He will get vengeance upon Jasper and save Bella this terrible demonic existence forced upon her. Of course, he ends up lost in Rio.

Rosalie

Edward would tell her that her feelings cannot possibly be real. Bella is a woman. More, Rosalie is unworthy of Bella in every possible regard, even more so than Edward himself.

Basically, Edward would lay into Rosalie in a way that he never has before with all of his venom. He will do everything he can to sabotage Bella’s opinion of Rosalie before Rosalie can even get a word in edgewise. He is successful at it due to Bella’s perilously low self esteem (much the reason he was successful with this endeavor in canon).

Rosalie and Edward get in a vicious fight and I imagine Rosalie eventually confronts Bella, making an opportunity to do so, and both warns her away from Edward, tells her everything, and offers to turn her despite Rosalie’s own mixed experiences.

Rosalie and Edward probably then fight and it quickly turns into something that’s very serious. If Edward wins, he murders Rosalie in the heat of the moment, and then leaves the coven in horror over what Carlisle must think of him now. If Rosalie wins... I don’t think she will, she cares for Edward far too much and would never truly be able to aim to kill or maim.

Edward disappears, drowning in his self hatred, and returns to find Bella Swan at some later date unable to resist the call of her scent. Depending where she is in her life, he likely murders her human husband if she has one and dvours her, as Alice prophesied so long ago.

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clanwarrior-tumbly · 3 years

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Family member anon, here I go.

S/o visiting with Ron and they friend bob for chaotic day, only some peoples have a ability to break the fourth wall including Ron and bob but Ron s/o have the ability to escape this game to visit irl. During totality not stealing bob and bossip place during Ron talking about want to escape this “game” Ron s/o felt bad and didn’t know Ron feels, after Ron song is over s/o decided to bring Ron with them. Before Ron hit by a car ron s/o teleport with Ron to escape this “game” and saved Ron from a random car, Ron is happy with s/o and finally in peace until returning the “game” to invite bob for a relaxed time

Ohh I love this! Ik Ron's dialogue at that part is all jokes but I can make angst out of that :)

..........

"So lemme get this straight-"

"I'm totally straight, haha."

"Would you be serious for ONCE in your life?!!"

"Bob, be nice."

"...fine. Anyways, you got fourth-wall powers like us?"

"Yeah, and then some." You shrugged at the white blob, smiling.

It was true. You were among the few individuals who were self-aware of the fact they're in a popular rhythm game called Friday Night Funkin', especially the mod universe. But you hailed from the outside world, where it was only seen as a game and nothing more.

Despite this barrier you've made a lot of friendships, and found love in the folderhead, of all people.

When you realized him and Bob infiltrated a mod called "VS Bob and Bosip" and turned it into a "Bob's Takeover" update, you decided to visit them.

You've met the stars of the original mod before the update, learning they were also self-aware as they tried getting to The End of Minecraft and ended up in this game instead.

After mentioning them, Bob had a plan to rap battle the pair, joking about wanting to earn the rightful title of "Bob". And he wanted Ron to accompany him for unknown reasons, but you didn't mind. You figured they moved past their rivalry from Bob's own mod.

So you hung out at a different section of the park, finding some other people to sing with.

One of those ended up being Keith and Cherry, but you still referred to them as "Boyfriend" and "Girlfriend" often. They didn't possess the level of self-awareness that you did, but Keith wanted to challenge you and you happily obliged.

It was an easy battle for the most part, but the moment you finished, Cherry noticed two figures rapidly approaching:

Bob but in a yellow shirt with the word "Gloopie" on it and a blue wig, and Ron wearing attire similar to Bosip's, a spiky yellow wig included.

As they recognized who you were with, they began acting unusually out-of-character, with Bob spewing violent threats to Keith and forcing him into another rap battle. Ron looked traumatized, as though he didn't get a choice to put on this outfit.

You wondered what was wrong until he finally broke down when Bob finished singing.

"You know me, right? I'm Ron. I was featured in the mod "Literally Every FNF Mod Ever"...VS Bob? You gotta remember that, right?!" His hands shook as he stared at the blue-haired singer, who seemed clueless.

"Ron?" You were worried, assuming he was having some sort of existential crisis. "You okay?"

"I was murdered..and stabbed. My body was used for satisfaction by Bob..and....I-I was tortured for years on end." He stammered over his words as he turned to you with tears in his eyes.

Unfortunately your suspicion was correct. According to Ron, he truly did die in that mod, only to be revived by real-world forces and used as a "puppet" for likes and fame. The fact he couldn't live a normal life with you and was trapped in this stupid game felt like an eternal punishment for him.

You had no idea he felt this way all along, or how he came to be self-aware on such an extreme level.

Had you known sooner....you felt so guilty.

"I can't do this..I CAN'T!! GET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING TORTURE!!" Ron pulled at his wig, which to stuck to him like real hair. "[Y/n]..I-I can't take this..GET ME OUT OF HERE!!" He grabbed your shoulders, panicking and sobbing. "I CAN'T KEEP LIVING LIKE THIS!!"

"Ron, Ron...it'll be okay." You hugged him closely. "I overheard Bob and Bosip say they had to sing to get out of this game. How about we try that, hm?"

Sniffling, he nodded and muttered an "okay", perking up as he spun around to face Keith. He seemed wildly concerned about both Ron's odd speech and sudden mood swings, but forced a smile upon seeing that he was about to be challenged.

"Rap battle?"

"Okay."

As bizarre as Ron's song was, it was quite catchy and amusing to say the least. Though even with all his craziness, he remained no match for Keith.

"Unfair! I didn't have a 4th-wall break meltdown for nothing!" Ron threw his microphone to the ground in defeat as the music stopped.

"You did your best, though." You tried staying optimistic, but Bob just snickered and Keith just rolled his eyes and left with his girlfriend.

A few moments later Ron stormed out into the middle of the street in a fit of anger, and your eyes widened as you saw a car speeding down the road.

"LOOK OUT!!"

"Huh?"

You decided to use your powers and take his hand, teleporting you both out of the game seconds before the car could hit either of you, leaving a Bob-disguised Bob all alone.

"..where the fuck did they-"

...........

"Oof..where are we?"

"Uh...my room." Helping Ron stand up, you smiled and pointed to your computer. "See? Your icon on the mod's main menu is blank. You're outta there finally."

He stared at the screen for a second, perplexed by what just happened. But then he looked all around your room as the realization finally hit him.

He was in your world. Actual reality.

Finally free.

"FREEDOM AT LAST!!!" He spun around and embraced you, his smile stretching to the edges of his head. "This is so pog, oh my god oh my god."

You chuckled and hugged him as well, relieved that you were able to save his life and bring him to your world. After hearing what he's been through, you knew he needed this.

"So now that we're outta there..can I ask what's with the whole Bosip getup?"

"Oh..right." He blushed as he stepped back and looked towards a nearby mirror. "I thought it would make me look cool and distract me from the agony of my own self-awareness. Sorry if I scared ya back there."

"Don't worry, I understand. You look cool in any outfit." You chuckled, before another thought occured to you. "By the way, Ron?"

"Ye?"

"After Bob calms down maybe we can...go back in the game and fetch him so he can get a taste of the real world, too."

"..........."

"....you can do that?? We should probably find Little Man, while we're at it."

"I don't think he's as self-aware as his dad yet-"

"Oh don't worry. He's 27 so he knows."

".......wait he's almost THIRTY?!!"

#clanask #family member anon #fnf x reader #friday night funkin x reader #fnf ron x reader #ron x reader

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eirikaanemo · 3 years

Note

I was wondering is I could get a scenario where reader is actually a descendant of decarabian and is out to get revenge on barbatos and take back mondstat and barbatos’s gnosis so they can become the anemo archon. They are a spy in mondstat trying to gather information before they put their plan into full affect but end up falling in love with venti in the process and don’t know if they want to get revenge anymore so they tell venti everything.

Of course, I would be happy to! Thank you for being my first request! This is a little long, but I hope you like it!

Child of the Storm

Warnings: Some angst in the middle

Venti x GN!Reader

2.8k Words

Decarabian had many children. These children are known as storm sprites. Quite a few exist, though their numbers are greatly diminished now that he has fallen and Barbatos became the Anemo Archon. They’re mostly peaceful, but not all of them. Not you.

No, you want revenge. Barbatos took what was rightfully your father’s, the anemo gnosis and position as Archon. Decarabian had only been doing what he felt was right. He was protecting the people from the harsh and cruel colds of the outside world. And this was how he was rewarded?

It’s not like Barbatos is a good Archon anyway. He goes missing for centuries at a time, sleeping his time away. He doesn’t actively protect and guide his people. He is lazy and irresponsible. He does not deserve what is rightfully your father’s. And so, since your father cannot take the gnosis and rise to his rightful station, you will.

This is not something that is easily done. Even though he is the weakest of the Archons, Barbatos is still an Archon. There is an inherent power and ability that comes from simply holding a gnosis. So you must prepare.

To do so, you become a spy in Mondstadt. It takes a lot of power to create a human form. But using the remnants of your father’s power and what power you have in reserve, you manage it. You integrate yourself in the city by becoming a knight of favonius and making many friends. Kaeya in particular is rather fond of you.

Why a knight? You may as well protect your people in the meantime. Hypocrisy is not a good look on you. And having many friends will help you get more information and have a better cover. So your plan begins. You do not actively speak against Barbatos, but you do not speak or act in his favor either. Your friends come to know you as a sort of neutral party on religion.

It baffled you how everyone in the city seemed to love Barbatos. How could they love an absent Archon? How could they love someone who abandoned them and hate one who was always there for them? Nothing about it made sense.

Your plan works perfectly. It was slow at first, but you’ve started to get more and more information on the going ons of the city. Most of it is trustworthy, but don't sources, like gossiping with Kaeya, tend to have mixed results. Sometimes his information is factual and completely true. Sometimes it is something he seems to have made up off the top of his head.

One evening you were waiting for Kaeya to meet you at Angel’s Share for another one of your information sharing (read: gossiping) sessions. As you wait you take a moment to enjoy the music played by one of the many bards that play at the tavern. The music tonight is particularly good and played by a bard in green.

His teal tipped braids, dark hair, and flower in his cap compliment his fair complexion. The tips of his braids seem to almost glow in the dark. His slim fingers seem to dance across the strings of his lyre. It’s an enchanting sight and you may have just fallen a little in love. Just a little.

Vengeance is your whole purpose, you cannot allow something like a little infatuation to distract you from that. And yet you can’t help but return to the bar over and over just to see him play. You start to tip him anonymously with apples and wine. It’s not your fault, he’s just too good at what he does. This is just you giving him the reward he deserves.

He eventually catches on and finds out who’s leaving the tips, because Charles is a dirty traitor. But it would be easier to be mad if Venti wasn’t so grateful and happy to have figured out it’s you who’s leaving the tips. The two of you formally introduce yourselves to each other and strike up a good conversation. You end up spending a lot of time together with him after his performances. He seems to enjoy those nights as much as you do. And sometimes you catch him staring at you with a dreamy look out of the corner of your eye.

But you start noticing a couple odd things. He has an absolutely ridiculous alcohol tolerance with no sign of debilitating hangovers. While singing, he doesn’t seem to stop as often to breath as much as other bards. It could be passed off as him just being better a better bard, except for the fact that it’s by a superhuman margin.

When you spot him turning into a wind sprite to sleep in a small shelter in an alleyway, it explains a lot of things. However, some of your questions go unanswered until one night when you’re playing around as a storm sprite. You notice him sitting on the hands of the statue of Barbatos and get curious. He seems to be speaking, so you hide behind the statue and listen carefully to what he is saying.

“Oh, Himmel,” he sighs. “Am I doing the right thing? Everyone seems happy, but would they be happier if I was a better and more active Archon?” Your world stops. How is this possible? Why him? Why did it have to be him? Could you even do this anymore? What in the world would you do with yourself if not this? If you’re honest with yourself you have to admit that you have come to love him.

This is your life purpose! But you love him! How can you fulfill your purpose if it requires you to harm the one you have come to love? What would your father think? Nevermind, you know what your father would think. He would call you a weakling for not following through. But he’s dead. So does what he would say even matter anymore?

Your existential crisis lasts for a solid week. Venti notices how distant you’ve become and does ask about it, but leaves it be once he sees that you’re not ready to talk about it. One day it becomes too much. He deserves to know, you decide. It may be hard and may drive him away from you entirely.

But you can’t keep this from him. Doing so wouldn’t be right and he should know the truth before the two of you even consider having more of a relationship than you already have. So no matter how much it scares you and tears you up inside, you choose to tell him.

“Venti, could you meet me at Starsnatch cliff tomorrow?” You ask him, nervously. “I have something I need to tell you.” He seems surprised, but is agreeable to the idea. “Sure,” he replies. “I’ll see you then!” The smile he sends you kills you a little more inside.

“I need to go,” you tell him as you hurriedly got up, paid your bill, and left. “Was it something I said?” Venti wondered behind you. Shrugging, he takes another sip of his drink. “Well, I guess I can ask them tomorrow.”

Tomorrow comes too soon, after a sleepless night of tossing and turning in your bed. There is nothing you want to do less than go to Starsnatch cliff, but you promised. So you go. You take your time getting there before sitting down with your feet dangling off the edge of the cliff. The day is beautiful. Much too beautiful for a day that may just ruin your life forever.

Taking a deep breath, you notice some footsteps coming up behind you. “Hey there,” Venti says. “It took me a while to find you. Be a bit more specific next time, won’t you?” You nod absentmindedly and pat the ground next to you. After he sits down, you start.

“Once upon a time there was a storm sprite, a child of Decarabian. They were created near the end of his reign, too young to join in the effort to protect him and his cause: protecting the people of Mondstadt from the cold blizzards of the outside. This was before the snows were blown away, and blizzards were abundant. Decarabian had created a barrier to protect his people from almost certain death.

“Yet his people did not appreciate his protection. They rebelled against him and he fell before them. If Barbatos had not risen to power, the people would have faced almost certain death to the harsh winds of Boreas.

“But, in any case, there was only one storm sprite left in the area to hear his dying wish. He wished for vengeance, retribution for the injustice he received for fulfilling his duty to protect. And it became that storm sprite’s purpose for existence. Or so they thought.

“They spent many, many centuries plotting the downfall of Barbatos, growing in power slowly. Eventually they were able to create a human form and walk among the people of Mondstadt. And walk among the people they did, collecting information and preparing for the date they would finally find Barbatos and take back what was rightfully their father’s.”

You stop a moment for a chance to breathe and glance at him to see how he was taking the story. He looked thoughtful and he gazed out towards the horizon. So you take courage and continue.

“But then, something happened- something completely unplanned. The storm sprite fell in love. At first it was just infatuation but it grew and grew until it became something stronger and more pure. They truly loved, for the first time since their father had died. And there were signs that the one they loved might even feel the same.

“Then something happened. Something that made their whole world fall apart. They found out that the one they had grown to love was Lord Barbatos himself.” There was a moment of silence. You don’t dare look at him. You are absolutely terrified. After you take a deep breath to steady yourself, you keep talking.

“They didn’t know what to do. Their purpose was to destroy the man and everything he stood for. But their heart would never let them do it. Eventually they made a very difficult decision. They would tell him.

“This is my story, Venti. This is my life and my past. It’s not pretty and it’s not kind. You have every right to hate me, despise me. If you no longer want anything to do with me, I would understand. I just… like I said, I just felt that you deserve to know.”

There’s another moment of silence, slightly longer, heavier, and more awkward than the ones before. When you turned to look at him, drawing your knees up to your chest, you saw him looking at you, pensive. What did he see? You wonder. Does he see a monster who was plotting his demise? Does he see someone unforgivable and unwanted? Will he send me away from Mondstadt forever?

As you looked down at your shoes, a thousand more thoughts running through your mind, he finally spoke. “Well, I’ll admit that this is not what I thought you’d wanted to talk about today. I was expecting something more along the lines of a confession, honestly. And I suppose you did admit that you love me as part of your story, but part of me wishes that you had stopped there.”

If possible, your head drops lower as you press your forehead to your knees. “But,” he carried on. “I’m grateful that you told me this. It really would have messed things up more if you waited until we were in a relationship to tell me. For now, I’d say you should keep going on as you are. Live your life the best you can. I would really prefer if you found a new purpose, one that doesn’t end in my utter destruction, but you’re free to make that decision.

“I won’t chase you out, if that’s something you’re worried about. You’ve proven that you love Mondstadt and cherish it’s people. But I will ask for some space. It’s going to take some time for me to process all of this. I’m going to go now. I’ll approach you when I’m ready, please leave me be until then.”

“Okay,” you whisper loud enough for him to hear. Then he gets up and walks off. You cry until you can’t cry any more. You’re not sure why, you deserve this and were expecting this after all. But it still hurts. The close relationship the two of you had was gone. And you miss it already.

After some time you pull yourself together, clean yourself up best you can, and head back to Mondstadt. You follow his advice and keep going with your life. Your new purpose, you decide, is to serve and protect Mondstadt and all its people. Kaeya and your other friends notice something’s different and ask about it in concern.

Most lay off after you say you’re not ready to talk about it. But Kaeya, being the persuasive and stubborn guy he is, didn’t give up until you admitted that you’d done something that messed up your relationship with Venti. He knew how much Venti meant to you and made time to be with you more while Venti took his time deciding what he’d do about it.

Then Dvalin started attacking, a traveler came to visit, and fatui were more abundant. You would have loved to take action against all of these, but Venti was so closely entwined with all of these issues that you didn’t dare. Things seemed to be working out okay without you anyway.

But then you felt a disturbance. A fatui was approaching the cathedral. That was odd because while the fatui aren’t exactly subtle about not respecting Lord Barbatos, they were never as bold as to go near his cathedral. Something was wrong and you were determined to find out what.

You arrived just as La Signora tore his gnosis out. While you froze in shock for a moment, you burst into motion the minute she stopped for a moment to look at it. With the speed of a burst of lightning, you snatched the gnosis from her hand and disappeared. You only stopped when you reached Old Mondstadt, but you could still hear her scream of rage.

You stash the gnosis away, hidden in a satchel that you usually carry with you. As you’re heading home you run across Kaeya. After talking with him for a moment, you get an idea. “Kaeya, could you deliver a message to Venti for me?” You ask. “Sure,” he said, smirking a little. “Are you going to try and make it up to him?”

“In a way,” you respond. “Just tell him to meet me where we last spoke, okay?” After a moment of fake consideration and stroking his non-existent beard, he agreed and the two of you parted ways. He went on to Mondstadt and you headed to Starsnatch Cliff.

You didn’t wait long, a four pair of footsteps came quickly. From their pace you could tell that they’d run all the way there. Once they came to a stop you turn to greet them. They were guarded and wary, which was understandable, but it still hurt.

When you pull the gnosis out of your bag, you see looks of shock. “What?” You question. “Did you think I would claim it myself or something?” The traveler nodded, Diluc shrugged, Jean wobbled her head back and forth, while Venti looked a little ashamed of himself. You smile ruefully. “I guess I deserve that. But here,” you hand the gnosis over to Venti. “I believe this is yours.”

He looks at the gnosis, then at you, then the gnosis, and repeats the pattern a couple times, his eyes wide. Eventually his eyes settle on you as he absorbs the gnosis. When the shine of his transformation was still wearing off, you feel a pair of arms wrap around you and hug you to a chest.

“Thank you,” Venti murmurs in your ear. “I think you’ve more than proven yourself to me. I forgive you. How could I ever thank you for this?” You smile and hug him back. “Maybe you could consider joining me for lunch tomorrow?” You smile even wider when you feel him kiss your cheek. “I think I can do that,” he agrees.

When the two of you part, he un-transforms, and you both turn to look his companions. Diluc has one eyebrow raised. Jean seems to have gone into shock. Traveler’s face is bright red and Paimon is covering their eyes and glaring at you. You both laugh, making Paimon glare harder. Diluc actually cracks a smile. And Jean snaps out of her shock and laughs a little with you.

Your date the next day goes wonderfully, and neither of you can wait for the next one.

#eirika writes #genshin venti #venti #venti x reader #genshin headcanons

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softfishsadist · 3 years

Text

Yoh Asakura dating HCs

A/N: ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴏɴʟʏ ғɪɴɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴇᴛғʟɪx ʀᴇʙᴏᴏᴛ ᴏғ sʜᴀᴍᴀɴ ᴋɪɴɢ sᴏ ɪ ᴍᴏsᴛ ʟɪᴋᴇʟʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴍɪssᴇᴅ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢ ɪᴛ sᴏᴏɴ ғᴏʀ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ɪɴғᴏ. Rᴇɢᴀʀᴅʟᴇss ᴛʜᴇsᴇ HCs ᴀʀᴇ ᴍʏ ғᴀɴᴏɴ ᴅᴇᴘɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏʀ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀɪᴢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ Yᴏʜ sᴏ ɪғ ʜᴇ sᴇᴇᴍs ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ OOC ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ᴏɴ ᴍᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴏɴʟʏ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ɪ'ᴍ ᴀ ʜᴏᴘᴇʟᴇss ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴛɪᴄ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ sᴜᴄᴋᴇʀ ғᴏʀ ʟᴏᴠᴇʏ ᴅᴏᴠᴇʏ sᴛᴜғғ. Bᴇᴀʀ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ sɪɴᴄᴇ ɪ'ᴍ ᴠᴇʀʏ ɴᴇᴡ ʜᴇʀᴇ :"ᴅᴅ

- Yoh's a chill laidback guy who cherishes his loved ones and has a compassionate heart, with a great ambition to be the shaman king to have an easy life and help make his friends' dreams come true. With that, he's the kind of boyfriend that relishes the little things with you: hand holding, strolls, cuddles that'll inevitably end up with y'all falling asleep on each other just about anywhere, the likes. The quiet days are his favorite usually, but he also doesn't mind you being loud and all if you are.

- That said, he doesn't mind some PDA as mentioned above, but he prefers it lowkey. He likes to keep special things private, like kisses and the like. (He strikes me as the kind of guy that can or even prefer secret dating, at least with Anna's consent. He'll talk things out with her and "work it out" as his philosophy says)

- But even with his relaxed composure he couldn't help but be a 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 shy towards you. He blushes a little more often in your vicinity, and you catch his gaze lingering a little longer as you talked. Sweet baby <3

- Although, he's not exactly the type to initiate a lot in the relationship. Cuz 1) he's a little lazy, 2) he wants it to go at your pace (slowly). He doesn't start stuff as to not burst your comfort bubble, and only when you do try new things with him will he also try it with you too. So you're mostly the one setting up dates, giving affections etc.

- But even though you do most of the work, Yoh does try some too. Every now and then he'd gently interlock his hand in yours. Slow enough to prolong the contact between your skin and tingles often crawl up your arm as his warmth envelopes your palm. It's even worse with that lazy smile of his, but that glint of amusement made it clear he was teasing you (to your heart's health's dismay). His airy voice has a lilt of playfulness in them as he took you out for a stroll, smiling ahead

- Pillows are a must; no not the actual cushion, you're more fitting

- There isn't a day where he wasn't touching, especially ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 you. Not to the point of excessive PDA, but like once to thrice everyday, and you were usually alone together in intimate moments like these. You could be in all sorts of positions: His head on your lap, cuddles (both of you can be big and small spoons), legs tangled together as you were pressed against him, hugging behind you, vice versa; as long as he has you in his arms he's content and happy

- That said he's a big hugger for you, and 𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑠 cuddles. Sometimes he'd even share his music with you and stare at you in a haze as you immerse yourself into music, just like he does <3

- But even though he wants to initiate the hugs himself, he likes being small spoon; he is a baby wanting to be spoiled by your love. And being wrapped around your entirety gives him peace and sends him afloat along the stars. It was a wonderful feeling he relished as he snuggles closer to your chest, a content smile on his face

- Another favorite is him using your lap as his pillow. They're quite comfy for him and gives him a clear view of your face, you're so pretty and emit so much love and peace he couldn't help but fall asleep at the sight. Play with his hair, and his smile would widen and snuggle into your palm. Absolute baby ❤️❤️❤️

- He's affectionate himself, yes, but kisses almost, 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 send him right at afterlife's doors

- I wasn't kidding about him being a shy baby. Hugs are like a thing he loves but kisses are another thing. The first time you gave it to him he had to process it for more than a minute, and then he combusted; he was bright as an apple, steaming like a boiling kettle and he immediately turned away. You even thought he was taking deep breaths to calm down; no one besides his mom had given him a kiss, not even Anna. So the mere contact of your lips had his brain malfunction for a moment, and he was off to music land--

- How to make Yoh freeze like a deer in head lights 101

- It's a thing he'll need to get used to, he keeps jumping or freezing every time you do and you couldn't help but laugh how his expression looked like he was having an existential crisis. But soon enough when he does get used to it he'll mostly mellow down warm smiles again, and pink cheeks, and it'll stay that way for a while after your little gesture

- But just as he relishes you, means you are 100% should be protected at all costs. Yoh has a big heart and he loves his friends and you especially. And if anything happened to you he won't forgive himself. He wouldn't think clearly, clouded in his rage to take down his foe who've hurt you. And worse of all, not only is he beating himself up for letting this happen but he pushes you away from him. He couldn't bear to see you get hurt being involved with him. But did that work? Absolutely not. And later, he was thankful for that, but still felt worse. Nonetheless he's still careful whenever danger is around and makes sure you're safe, even if you can fight back or not

- He apologizes by extended cuddles, and a smol shy kiss

- In conclusion: a very loving sweet boyfriend <33

#Yoh Asakura #Yoh Asakura x Reader #xreader #Yoh #Asakura #Hao #Hao Asakura #Shaman king #Asakura Yoh #Asakura Hao #YohBmbls #Virawrites

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createandconstruct · 3 years

Note

can i ask about amarant coral? the monk in red himself~

Can you ask about Amarant Coral? *cracks fingers* Oh I insist that you do. Welcome to my Amarant Appreciation Post:

favorite thing about them: First off best thing about Amarant? His theme. The percussion and the guitar. It’s great and it captures him so well. People out here like “take Amarant out of the game he adds nothing.” EXCUSE ME? You remove the Amarant you remove the Amarant Theme my friend and that is something I do NOT vibe with.

least favorite thing about them: I wanna know more about him. Now Amarant doesn’t need a backstory or history in the game. In a sense, he already has one that connects him to Zidane and explains his motives and actions and eventual arc. But my issue is, Square never gave him anything else. If you look at Ultimania there’s additional lore about other characters, like Steiner for instance. You learn Steiner was a war orphan who was saved by the Pluto Knights - explaining his devotion to them. Amarant though? Square was like “uh... yeah he was born....? And then he uh got famous...? Idk then he met Zidane. You figure it out.” Square. I hate you. 18 years from his birth until he became “well known”. WHAT WAS HE DOING. WHY’D HE BECOME A SECURITY GUARD. WHAT WAS ON HIS RESUME. TELL MEEEE. Like, okay, what the actual in-game canon gives us on Amarant is sort of enough. He’s a purposely written mysterious “cool-guy” character so we’re given scraps to make him unknown but come on. In the published after-game canon, like Ultimania, we could have been given a bit more. He says he doesn’t remember anything about his origins or parents, but why. Was he another victim of Gaia’s wars? Probably. Was he born on a battlefield? Fighting for his life, living without comrades, taking scraps whenever he could? Was he betrayed when he was young? Is he a supposed to be a version of Zidane had he not been adopted into Tantalus by Baku??? These are questions I deserve answers to, Square.

favorite line: “’I can't just walk away. It goes against my nature...’ You're a real simpleton. Forget it, guys. There's no stopping this fool." I love this. Amarant figures Zidane out pretty quickly after Ipsen’s Castle. Zidane is hardheaded and also an actor. He acts cool and pretends his reasons for doing things are loose but when he’s decided something it’s always for a reason. You don’t need a reason to help people, but Zidane has his reasons for helping Kuja and while Amarant doesn’t give two shits what they are he knows Zidane won’t be stopped because, despite everything, Zidane saved a loser like him. Also this line “Tell me! Why didn't you kill me!?" Because I quote it all the time and it makes myself laugh. Amarant is such a drama queen and Zidane knows it. Zidane’s like “dude... what is your damage, it’s 5 pm on Tuesday in Madain Sari. I ain’t getting blood on my gloves cause you’re having a temper tantrum.” And then Amarant runs away to have an existential crisis. He’s 26 but compared to Zidane, he’s the real teenager with angst.

brOTP: I could talk about Zidane or Freya with Amarant but instead I’m gonna say the underrated dynamic of Amarant and Eiko (and also Vivi). Amarant with the kids is truly the greatest gift given by his presence in the game. Amarant has never known true suffering until he became a designated legal guardian of a group of minors. It also kills me how he’s the one to volunteer to carry Eiko and Vivi up the Iifa tree. He looks at Zidane and is like “you have seriously been the ‘adult’ of this group???”

OTP: Gotta say the Freya and Amarant dynamic. I really enjoyed their unlikely friendship in the game but then the content. The fan content. The Freya x Amarant fans out there, you win. Ya got me. You captured me and I am now imprisoned by their banter and begruntled allies to lovers story. Even if they’re not romantic I love them together and really wish the game gave us more of them. But even Lani and Amarant together are valid, though I prefer them as butting head bros. Not much content for my girl Lani out there either, she deserves more.

nOTP: Nothing I can think of. I tend to like platonic pairings for Amarant. The dude needs friends because he can barely define the word friendship.

random headcanon: Before Zidane returns at the end of the game Amarant wanders around a bit, unsure of what to do. He doesn’t feel any place with the others in Alexandria, Burmecia, or Lindblum. I imagine he goes off on his own for a bit like before but this time he’s not after Zidane or a fight. Instead he’s got no particular destination. Yet he somehow always finds himself running into people just like him - or the old him - friendless lonely people who are looking for a fight. He doesn’t go out his way to find these folks he simply runs into them and decides he might as well knock some sense into them. He does however make it his business to go after any murmur of people hatching any ideas of going after the far off little village on the Lost Continent. The home of the genomes and black mages. They were so helpless, so weak that anyone who’d want to mess with them is pathetic in Amarant’s book. Until Zidane returns, no one has the chance to even look at the Black Mage Village the wrong way because in the shadows Amarant lurks, making damn well sure of that.

unpopular opinion: I kinda love that he’s just there for most of the game? While I agree he gets the short end of the stick in the same way as Freya, not receiving additional individual character spotlight (which could have very well been supplied through discoverable lore in the world/npcs or through sidequests) I never considered his “standing off to the side” as a detriment to his character.

Many would probably agree that Amarant always felt like a bit of a parody of the loner character, or at least the stereotype of the loner character. Amarant is so easily paralleled with Squall and Cloud’s surface-level attitudes because his dialogue always felt like something to poke fun at. As the player we’re supposed to align with Zidane’s way of thinking and how he views Amarant. When Amarant loses to Zidane and pretty much grits his teeth and goes “KILL ME,” along with Zidane we’re supposed to kinda raise our brow at him and go “...really, dude?”

Amarant’s a character introduced as an antagonist who has more in common with the power hungry villains of the game. Like many of the characters in FFIX, Amarant is in search of purpose in life, which he has never found, because he was always looking in the wrong places - in places of violence and power. Very toxic-masculinity of him. Amarant is “cool” on an aesthetic level but in reality he’s the polar opposite of cool in terms of what FFIX states about the need for others to be intertwined in your experiences so that you can live a full life.

I sort of love that he’s like a grumpy pitball following a 16 year old and his friends around. Then he sits in the corner when they all meet up and discuss current events acting like he doesn’t care (not to mention he casually walks as everyone is running as fast as they can to escape Terra - made me laugh cry on my first playthrough) He is “just there” but that’s because he has no where else to be, no where else to go, he’s a man without a home. And until Zidane offers his hand, at the point where Amarant is most willing to take it at Ipsen’s Castle, he’s not truly a party member. He IS an outsider for almost the entire game but at Ipsen Castle he joins the party, becomes a comrade, and decides he’ll allow himself to change paths and start a life where he has friends and lives, as well as fights for them. Which is why after that moment, Amarant finally has a victory pose.

song i associate with them: I was scratching my head for so long trying to think of a song or track that had Amarant vibes until it hit me. Outskirt Stand by Tsukasa Tawada (from Pokemon Colosseum). Amarant is so chill, he’s not a bombastic guy, so he needs a theme that drops me in the rocky open desert of the Lost Continent like I’m just lumbering around looking for a monkey-tailed menace. Some other Amarant tunes: Pyrite Town, The Under, Snagem Hideout tracks from Pokemon Colosseum. This post is just an elaborate call to action for everyone to listen to the Pokemon Colosseum soundtrack. Tsukasa Tawada is so great and he has a YouTube. Check him out.

favorite picture of them:

Yoshitaka Amano’s Salamander Coral. I love him. He had too much power.

Also everything drawn by @crispy-ghee. Everything. I will think of this Comic forever until I die. Tattoo it on my flesh. The banter, the dynamics, the post-game content, the Zidane prince-consort outfit, the new Amarant outfit, the stuck-in-the-same-place relationship him and Freya have. Perfect. Go read it and consume Crisipy’s stuff. And also check them and their current art out, they just consistently get better and better. Here’s a first panel preview of my fav comic. Read it.

@hannahlady‘s Amarant art and their Freya/Amarant art is just ugh. *Chef’s Kiss* Here is another preview because you should go look at it.

Here’s a piece that deserves so much more love by @snackage. I LOVE how they drew Amarant. Here’s a little preview. It’s SO GOOD

Anyway TL;DR: Amarant is love and life and you’ll have to pull him from my little gremlin hands.

#asks #scriberat #amarant coral #ffix #final fantasy ix #amarant #final fantasy 9 #freya #amarant x freya #lani #zidane tribal #eiko carol

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