Even without his Vision, Kaeya is not wholly helpless.
If there was one thing he could appreciate about his father, it’s that the man raised him with full knowledge of self-defense as a child. He needed to be able to handle himself should they ever be separated, after all. Especially when it came to any Abyssal creatures they might face, or otherwise any hostile people they may encounter.
He knew all the best places to drive in a knife, what tendons to cut, how to best blind an opponent, and creatively so at that. He knew how to set traps and buy himself a precious few seconds more, how to use those said seconds in a fraction of that time. He knew how to use an opponent’s physical strength against them, how to counter someone with a Vision/elemental energy usage as best he could. To not let himself get caught so off guard no matter what, bc the moment that control was wrenched away from him, his disadvantages would be nigh insurmountable.
The man taught him to harness Abyssal energy, using a small fraction of it—no more than that, his father made him promise; never more than the necessary—to make swift little jumps through space, even to facilitate escape or victory, whichever he’d choose. In time, he would have taught him to use the elements through it too, as many Abyssal beings had done, as a particular last resort, but having been left to the Ragnvindrs’ care, he never got the chance.
Though it didn’t stop Kaeya from trying. Not wanting to be left behind after Diluc had gotten his Vision and wanting to be useful to him as his right hand, he tried his best at figuring it all out. Felt it tug at something deep inside him like a tether each time he tried, failing just as many, only managing the all too familiar wisps of Abyssal energy he was more familiar with. It was through encountering an Abyss Mage and coming in contact with the ice it conjured that he finally got a better grasp at what to do.
Only for him to realize each conjure of Abyssal energy-infused ice was nothing short of painful each time, the energy within him thrumming so much amid the curse he already bore as a Khaenri’ahn, so much so, it would frighten and dissuade him from using those abilities anyway. For a short time, at least, until he realized how well it helped in a pinch. Still, he became far more wary. Even with his desperation to try and catch up to Diluc, his father’s warning against abusing the Abyssal energy coursing within him burning brighter in mind with every use. Especially when a Pyro Abyss mage lingering about a domain tried to call his attention after he’d been pushed to use that power.
Nothing good would come out of using such an ability, he’d decided then—keeping to the bare minimum, like his father wanted would be best. He wouldn’t want to be so marked by the Abyss otherwise. Wouldn’t want to increase the risk of his attempts and powers being found out, certainly not by the family that had taken him in.
Is it any wonder he was so horrified to find it was a Cryo Vision that had come to him that fateful night?
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btw i never made a formal post abt it but i've now updated my desktop theme a bit and added links that are more easily accessible ! screencaps below the cut for those who'd wanna see what the theme looks like but are on mobile
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Do u think aegon is alicent fav child?
hmmm. i think probably from the show aemond is her favourite? and from the books helaena is her favourite? before she dies, she singles out helaena by name and calls her "her sweet girl"
anyway i think you could write entire essays on alicent's relationship with each of her children, she genuinely loves all of them. perhaps the question is better rephrased as "who is the child she has the least amount of conflict with / has the easiest relationship with"
aegon receives the most amount of scolding, aemond a little for putting himself in a dangerous situation (but is also promptly comforted) & helaena receives no scolding but alicent struggles to connect to her (though she tries)
i think that on screen aemond has been the child she put herself out for the most, so to speak. she immediately goes to viserys to complain about the bullying, lectures aegon about it, complains to criston about viserys showing favoritism towards the strong boys because rhaenyra can do no wrong in his eyes. criston listens to her rant and then decides to take matters into his own hands by goading harwin into a reaction. all of this is only tangentially related, but the trigger was aemond being bullied, which prompted alicent to have that conversation with viserys in the first place.
then there's the eye-gouging, ofc.
all of this can also be plot-related, because they are incidents that literally push the plot forward, whereas something like alicent going out of her way to buy specific creepy-crawlies for helaena wouldn't. therefore, it wasn't elaborated on screen.
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I broadly think the majority of content you find in "X critical" tags tends to be a bit. Uh. Garbage in terms of legit media criticism, but I cannot overstate their importance in terms of being easily filterable for people who actually like X, and idk if it's the recent migrations from other social media platforms or (more likely) if I'm just having an off week and reading into things too much but like. Can we keep it going/bring it back??? If I have to see one more post about how ppl hate a certain thing in that certain things tag (where fans congregate to find content of the thing), with no filterable critical tag. I might actually kill ppl
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I revisited Werther recently and it's insane how well it holds up & how it remains one of the very rare examples of a love triangle actually being executed WELL. The fact that Lotte is decidedly not miserable with Albert paired with the deep friendship between Werther and Albert makes the whole thing sooo much more tragic because Werther can never say "Lotte should be with me because Albert makes her unhappy!" with full conviction because he loves Albert and he knows that Lotte does, too. The digital adaption Werther.Live that was popular a while ago turns the Albert/Lotte relationship into a "he doesn't really get me but I stay with him because it's comfortable" situation and completely takes out the friendship between the two men and the fact that the adaption sucks (imo) really shows how vital the nuance in the relationship(s) is to the impact of the story. It's really all about the "Einer von uns dreien muss fort". Maybe Polyamory would have fixed things (but Werther is a lil too possessive I fear). Anyway, I love you blogging about Werther because it's such a great classic <3 keep it up!!!
Hi!! So great to get Werther messages in the year of our lord 2022! I like my own echo chamber but I like it even more when somebody joins me in it for 5 minutes :D
It's been a long time since I completely read Werther because I only read it when I was about 15 and then again in my first year of uni. I also saw a stage adaptation as a teen that had five (5) separate Werthers who eventually stripped on stage and transformed a whole theatre of hormonal teens into pandemonium. It was one of The Best Theatre Nights of my life sdskdskldjs. So slowly working my way through it for Werther Rewritten is a good experience because I'm finally Werther's age now and understand him now on a more personal level. Like, him going on about work etc., mood. I also like how the love triangle can be read & executed from multiple angles because Werther chooses the unusual angle of epistolary writing by only including his own letters and not Wilhelm's, so he can be in fact an unreliable narrator, and remakes can take him completely at face value and write a Lotte that is engaged for purely practical reasons, or a Lotte that is wholly grounded and in love with Albert and notices that Werther's love for her is more about himself than it is for her. The truth can fall anywhere in the middle of these two readings.
I don't consider any of those readings as inferior, because Lotte's charm for me consists in her character and not necessarily in which man truly has her heart. Maybe both of them do, maybe none of them do. Werther is about a lot of things and gender roles don't fall too short either. Again, it's been a long time since I completely read it, but her character feels very warm and human and alive to me, and I can't wait until it's her time to shine, and Albert's too, whose character completely faded into the background for me. I will think about a polyamorous spin if the text allows for it. Also I will stay away from that presumably shitty adaptation then, thanks for the headsup!
It's great of you to send me this ask because I completely forgot about the love triangle being so good until you reminded me of it :) "Einer von uns dreien muss fort" ..... ✈️✈️✈️✈️
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i’m gonna be ambitious and try nanowrimo again this year!! i wanted to do it last year but i gave up pretty quick, i’ll try to take it seriously this time lmao
i’ll be working on “queen’s echo” (i’ve actually just been calling it “echo” recently) which used to be a lighthearted fantasy romance but has now become darker and horror-ish? idk if it’ll be that scary and i’m not really committed to the genre yet but there will be some horror elements i think. i want to just write it out and see what happens! basically the previous idea was like fun celebrity wedding planning shenanigans in a hotel that’s possessed (in a fun quirky way) but now the wedding happens in the beginning and the bride and groom die bc the spirit possessing the hotel actually possesses one of them and kills the other that way. so yea. the main cast of characters (who all work at the hotel) is pretty much the same the plot is just more unhinged
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