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factorialsotherfandoms · 3 months

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QSMP x XCOM(2) playlist!

It is subject to change and I will try update it when I add new music. And someday it'll get cover art. For now, though, the track listing as is. It's kinda in 2 sections (songs providing fic titles and then vibe songs). You will note that who I associate things with and who gets the lyrics as their titles don't often match, and I am extremely biased towards my faves, and even more biased to characters I've actually written in this au.

Also of course music is subjective and my analysis is not the only analysis a commenter on ao3 just asked me when I showed them the playlist so I thought I'd share it with everyone.

Each title in the whys also has a link to a youtube version for people without spotify <3

Oh Darling - Plug In Stereo ft. Cady Groves Title music for 'Til Hell Starts To Freeze. Tonally it's massively off track for most of the series, but it's cute and it's fun and I love it.

So just take a chance, try to hold my hand I swear I’d never let go Just let me know if you’d be my man

2. The Call - 2WEI, League of Legends, and Louis Leibfried From the Regret Arc animatic. You know the one. It provides the title to 'Hold The Last Burning Ember', and just generally has very vibes. This is particularly true of any and all of the characters who were involved with the initial invasion. Due to the association with the Regret Arc, I do associate it a little more heavily with the Brazilians, though it's also very appropriate for Philza, BBH, Mariana and, weirdly enough now I think, Spreen.

For the beat and the broken For the lost and forsaken Let us never surrender May we rise unto the call

3. This Will End - The Oh Hellos Title provider for 'The Kind of Love of Which I Speak'. In different places it has the vibes of various different characters - notably Pac and Roier, also kinda Fit but the vibes are all off for him. It's a song which discusses being afraid of being alive, of giving love and never getting it back, of being passively suicidal and welcoming death if it comes but still praying for an ending where you love and are loved in return. There's many ways to read any song and I'm getting more into this one than the others for some reason, but to me it's a song about choosing to keep going when it hurts, to keep loving when you're empty, to see a world with nothing beautiful left and to still believe beauty can be attained. It goes pain-hope-confusion-pain-hope, and idk I just like their music and this one vibes a lot with the whole thing where for a lot of the main characters in this au (and a lot of me writing it) it's not so much about defeating the aliens and winning the war as it is allowing severely hurting people to heal, and those who never had a chance to discover what love is, and to build their families for themselves. A good one just for the vibes of the sort of angst I write.

I can hope how this will end With every line, a comedy That we can learn to love without demand With unreserved honesty

4. Sing Me To Sleep - Alan Walker One of a handful of songs I associate with XCOM2 over before anything else. Lyrics from this song are used mostly-consistently for the entire Mike being kidnapped arc - everything except the bit I wrote way back when with Philza and Fit - from capture to rescue. I am reasonably sure it's about someone dying but eeeeeeh only MCD are people who perma-die in canon! And some of them even get to escape! Because of how I used it I heavily associate this one specifically with Tazercraft, but it does have vibes for a fair few of the more tragic or co-dependent groupings. Romantic or otherwise. Really it should be the memory egg's song, but it isn't. There's also some... darker reads with one of the characters, and how the story ends.

Remember me now, time cannot erase I can hear your whispers in my mind I've become what you cannot embrace Our memory will be my lullaby

5. Duerme Pequeño - Coro San Agustin Again not a super appropriate one atm, but was used for the fic with Trump. It's a Spanish lullaby. I cannot give you a lyrics snip for this one because my Spanish is non-existent and I can neither work out how to find them nor type them by ear. But like. Lullabies are just generally good once the kids are involved in the story.

6. The Only Hope For Me Is You - My Chemical Romance A classic, really. The entire Danger Days album is not inappropriate to this au, and picking out just a few pieces was extremely hard. This was one - specifically it is the song I associate with Cellbit and Felps, though many other groups could use it too. Though, more generally, it's Cellbit about any of the characters he considers friends, doubly so for family, and even himself as he tries to be better in a world that doesn't want to let him. Provides title for 'People Die In Purifying Flame' and also 'Because You're The Only Hope For Me'. Some of the lyrics are a little graphic in context, but the first verse really is hard on the whole everyone dead thing. And just generally Cellbit not doing... great when on his own. But also striving for a better future for the people he loves even if it means destroying himself to save them.

And its partly that last line that makes it Felps not anyone else.

If that's the best that I could be? Than I'd be another memory Can I be the only hope for you? Because you're the only hope for me And if we can't find where we belong We'll have to make it on our own Face all the pain and take it on Because the only hope for me is you alone

7. Anything For You - Ludo Generic title I know, but this is the song I was thinking of when I titled 'Anything For You'. Or rather, the one stuck in my head on a loop. Vibes are very bouncy compared to the rest of this playlist, and it really is any of the combos who are friends or partners or other in this au. It's not... suuuuper fitting but I like it and I used it so it's here. Far better for Happy Ending AU, but frankly both of the aus are heavy on the community as saving the world and only combined are we strong and the best reward is to grow old with your loved ones.

Anything for you All of this is true But the best story that I could ever tell Is the one where I am growing old with you

8. Things We Lost In The Fire - Bastille Is it really a playlist without some Bastille? Look this is literally any group who knew each other pre-invasion - Favela 5, Mystery Twins (though theirs dates back longer), Philza & Fit, BBH & Foolish & Maxo, The French... Provides the title for 'The Future's In Our Hands And We Will Never Be The Same Again', a fic with Mike and Cellbit. And I think it's especially fitting for them, at least out of their combo of 5, because sparks do fly a bit when they interact, no matter the care. I also think it's really good for Bagi in this au? Especially the little bit I've picked out here.

I read them all one day When loneliness came and you were away Oh they told me nothing new But I love to read the words you used

9. The Sound Of Silence - Disturbed Another XCOM2 over QSMP song, largely thanks to the fanmade trailer below (er, violence, explosions, gunsfire, yk)

youtube

Some of the footage in it is XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the game to which XCOM2 is a sequel. But, yeah, song I very associate just with the game and the whole thing. If I haaaaad to attach this to a character it would probably be Philza for... reasons I don't think I've talked about anywhere? Him or Foolish for very different reasons.

Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence

10. Nemo - Nightwish TBH, I just like it. If I had to pin something down, one answer is Cellbit and another is the three demons. I think I'd specifically pick out Tina for this one. She's not really someone I'd associate with this sort of music, but she's certainly the one who has buried herself the furthest. She would like redemption and she'd like it yesterday, please. Unfortunately, she's also a demonic assassin so... Good luck to her. Really it is just a very cool song, though.

My flower, withered between The pages two and three The once and forever bloom gone with my sins

11. Battle Scars - Paradise Fears (Acoustic Version) Honestly the whole song is great. It's really not anyone specific, but it has very heavy vibes for the whole group. Literally everyone hits beats here. Everyone's fucked up and a fuck up, and they're still gonna try and save their world and drag everyone else along with them gdi.

I'll carry you home No, you're not, alone Keep marching on This. Is. Worth. fighting for You know we've, all got battle scars

12. Plant Life - Owl City My brainworm of the year so far. I'm not really sure what to say about this other than it gives me an extremely specific image and I thiiiiink it's Slimecicle

I've been longing for daisies to push through the floor And I wish plant life would grow all around me So, I won't feel dead anymore So, I won't feel dead anymore

13. Defeated - Bad Suns Again, another song which really could be anyone. And I don't really... have a lot to pick apart on it. So, just enjoy!

I don't wanna be all alone and defeated Who can I be besides me? 'Cause I hate it I don't wanna be left alone, uncompleted, no I don't wanna be all alone and defeated, no

14. Keep You Safe - JJ Heller A lullaby! For all the little eggies I haven't written yet, and their fiercely protective parents. And the gently protective parents. And all the tios and tias who look after them, too. For the 'younger' eggies it's needed, for the 'older' ones maybe it's just good to have someone chase away the awful for you. Either way, their parents will keep the monsters away now. There's nothing to fear in their dreams (except that the monsters who haunt them and want to steal them are very, very real...)

My love is a light Driving away all of your fear So don’t be afraid Remember I made a promise to keep you safe

15. Saints An' Sinners - Whitesnake IDK this again just has vibes. There's something here with Tina once again, but also it really is kinda. There's a whole mess of people in the Order, many of them having done terrible things, many of them having done wonderful things. There's something about the irreverent reverence the song gives to higher powers that just. IDK there's something of the vibes of the group in the tone of the song. A combination of saints and sinners - many of them being both depending who you ask - in a defiance against the order. Given a lot of this song about being thankful sounds sarcastic to my ear oops lol

Saints an' sinners Priests an' thieves Saints an' sinners Priests an' thieves For what we are about to receive May the Lord make us truly thankful

16. Glitter & Gold - Barns Courtney Not sure what to say here. It is just a good song about like... 'I am flesh and I am bone - arise, ting ting, like glitter and gold. I've got fire in my soul, rise up, ting ting, like glitter'. It's a call of life to life, demanding humanity wake up and come forth. Marching song of the order, perhaps, with flesh on their bones and fire in their souls and demanding an answer and demanding the world goes on.

Do you walk in the valley of kings? Do you walk in the shadow of men Who sold their lives to a dream? Do you ponder the manner of things In the dark? The dark, the dark, the dark

17. Enough To Go By - Vienna Teng I am just... this song. Separation and rejoining and its love love love but love might not be enough to save anyone, but you're trying anyway. It's just... Every relationship in this series that hurts. It's Felps and his family, it's Tazercraft, it's Wilbur and Philza, it's Fit and basically anyone, it's Foolish and BBH and Maxo, it's Maxo and Dan, it's Spreen and Missa and Roier in any combination, Aypierre and Maxo, Aypierre and Antoine... The list goes on and on and on of characters who by one definition or another love each other to the world and back and it's never enough. It's coming back after seperation and asking am I good enough yet? I changed have you? I cannot force you to live but please, please, survive. This song is like. The song form of the gentler angst I write.

Would it be enough to go by If we could sail on the wind in the dark Cut those chains in the middle of the night That had you pulled apart Would it be enough to go by If there's moonlight pulling the tide Would it be enough to live on If my love couldn't keep you alive

18. The Fighter - Paradise Fears Again not really sure here, it's just... It's here. It just is. I have nothing clever to say this time. There's a lot of songs some are like that.

Now I do it for the Kids, people said never had a shot Never really caring if tomorrows gonna come or not We're all just a life that fates taking a chance on But this ain't our last dance, so baby dance on

19. Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back - My Chemical Romance Not everyone believes they can actually succeed. TBH, most of them don't believe there's a chance of victory, but everyone in the Order is still ready and willing and wanting to raise hell. Raise hell, try change the world, and more than anything else grab their friends' hands and run away together. It's especially true of some of the more... reckless sorts - Roier, Baghera, Foolish, Fit, Etoiles, backstory Philza, etc

I'll tell you well how the story ends Where the good guys die and the bad guys win (who cares?) This ain't about all the friends you made But the graffiti they write on your grave

20. Lady of Worlds - Miracle of Sound Look I haven't played the game this is a song about, but I still very much appreciate it. It's not the vibes for Jaiden, but it's not-not her vibes, you know? Same for Bagi. It's definitely something, though. Maybe you could argue Mouse? You could probably argue mouse.

Time and space on the frailest veil Frozen cold in the static Bloody blades under hatred's sails Tearing out through the fabric

21. Until The End - Breaking Benjamin Confession time - this song I know from Naruto AMVs in my childhood. It really could be any of the characters, but because they are my boys we're handing it to Tazercraft. Yes, both of them. Mostly backstory but frankly neither of them is great. As I said it could quite honestly be any of the characters at times, but I think they are the two who fit it most consistently. Something about there's nothing and you have nothing but you keep going anyway because you refuse to let them win even if you kind of want to die.

Why give up, why give in? It's not enough, it never is So I will go on until the end We've become desolate It's not enough, it never is But I will go on until the end

22. Go Get Your Gun - The Dear Hunter Something something violence something something. I don't think this one needs a whole lot of analysis to explain? The violence has been going on for so long of course it's treated with a combination of exasperation and irreverence.

Go get your gun, get your gun And lets find out what it does Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot We haven't won, and if we win And if the morning light sets in We've cheated fate again

23. Until The Day Is Done - R.E.M. It is known to be a song about the state of America (in 2008...), but it's also a very good song for just. The weary hopelessness of the situation the characters find themselves in.

As we've written our stories to entertain These notions of glory and bull market gain The teleprompt flutters, the power surge brings An easy speed message falls into routine

24. Laughter Lines - Bastille There's a good number of characters who knew each other and were separated by circumstances, to whom this can apply. But it also can apply to many others, the promise of the chance to grow old, and to do it together. Maybe not in the same place, but circling around and around each other. And like... a lot of them need that a lot of the time. Just pick yourself a ship - romantic or otherwise - and give it a go.

"I'll see you in the future when we're older And we are full of stories to be told Crossin' my heart and hope to die I'll see you with your laughter lines"

25. Working - I Fight Dragons I'll confess, I just wanted something from this album. A couple could have worked, but I liked this one best. It's disillusionment in the current system, whether that be irl or in the au series. It's not really a specific character, but more just the vibe of those who turn away from the Federation not for a specific moment of violence but a simple desire of something more, for something greater. While she's learnt more horrors since Jaiden somewhat falls into this catagory. She didn't leave because of horrors she discovered, she left her cushy admin job because it was just never quite... right. At first it was just a quiet 'this is wrong', and then she saw the horrors once she found other people and it was all peeled back...

Lie to me 'cause honestly I don't believe that you believe The lies you tried to feed to me Like keep your head down Happy isn't free

26. Barricade - Stars If you've done my music rambles before, you know that this is my Fit & Philza song. However in this AU where they've known each other for a very long time - on and off - it somehow is stronger. Apply the hate to hating the system they fight, and the love to them having been a couple in all but name back before the wasteland was sealed and they were forcibly separated, and there we go. It's so good here where they used to fight together, but Philza hung up his sword when the trauma got too much - even now he's support - while Fit went in deeper and harder and more violent. They're still very close, of course, but... Well... It's not what it was before. Ask me to ramble about them. I've written very little but god these two.

In Bermondsey in Burberry, you held me at the barricade, the pigs arrived with tear gas And I wept at the mistakes we made We stalked the streets like animals And danced as windows shattered For our island, for the thrill of it, for everything that mattered

27. Back To The Start - Michael Schulte I don't think it takes a genius to work out why some - many - of the characters would like to reset the timeline and go back to something simpler. I can't decide who this works best for, but probably for someone who was genuinely happy before things got complicated - Maxo, the Quackities, Bagi (even if before was a very long time ago for her)... I think especially, especially Bagi. She's not as stuck as she is in canon, but... She'd still give anything to be ten again and be playing in the woods with her brother.

If I could go, go into my heart And search for all the places I left the spark To find a way, way back to the olden days Before it started falling apart

28. To Them These Streets Belong - Rise Against Again, another how can I not band. I don't have much amazing reasoning here (and might add more from the album some time), just... go listen and you'll probably get it. This song is angry and they are too.

Head hung from shame we bear a weight That brings me to a crawl These years of longing tell decades Of unanswered calls For a change, 'cause everyday we slip and fall Kicked while we're down, our fists clench into ball

29. No Sound But The Wind - Editors And back onto the sad stuff. I don't mean that to be disparaging, but it's true. Very heavy vibes for before they got the airship together. The group was much smaller then, constantly on the move and on foot about it too. Even then, it's a quiet reflection on the state of everything. There aren't many parent-child groups prior to the Eggs, and the Eggs don't remember the before, but... yeeeeah... Sad vibes of the world, sung to someone you want to but cannot protect.

We walk through the ash And the charred remains of our country Keep an eye on my back I'll keep an eye on the road

30. The Beginning After The End - Stars This is mostly a music piece, so you get all the lyrics. Please enjoy it. The sound like a heartbeat building up into music, slowly growing and growing and growing and growing as more things are added, as more joins in. Dropping with a low beat, following through into something a little angrier before gaining back the dance, now merged, less bright but still continuing on. Life in the face of disaster, hope at the end of it all, there will be a morning to doubt what you've done, there will be an end and the music will only get there together. You'll fight and you'll fail and you'll get up and keep going and in the end... Will it be worth it? Well, you just have to get there to answer that, don't you?

Oh, the blood and the treasure And then losing it all The time that we wasted And the place where we fall Will we wake in the morning and know what it was all for? Up in our bedroom After the war

31. Oh, What A Life - American Authors God I don't know what to say here, just every lyric. The talk of burying your soul, forgetting who you are, fields of bodies and a longing for the past, and yet no matter how long it's been or how lost you feel you laugh and you cry and you sing, because you're human, no matter how burnt out you are, no matter the sins you've done, no matter the trauma and the trauma and the trauma and the fear you are still only human and perhaps it's with hysteria that you laugh, with reckless abandon that you dance, but you're laughing and dancing all the same. Maybe you don't accept it, not yet, but perhaps the first step to believing it'll be okay is to say it's fucking shit right now.

But I tried so hard, and we tried so hard And it's a long long road, that you told me so Yeah I tried so hard, to forget where we are And all we do is laugh and we sing

32. Angel With A Shotgun - The Cab It could be many things. This song could be so many things, it could be innocence lost because you're needed, it could be a meditation on holiness and unholiness and the meaninglessness of the distinction in times of crisis, it could just be that sometimes to survive you fuck shit up. But's it's literally called angel with a shotgun and Philza is right fucking there with, you guessed it, a motherfucking shotgun.

Get out your guns, battles begun Are you a saint, or a sinner? If loves a fight, than I shall die With my heart on a trigger

33. Lucky Ones - Lana Del Ray It is, technically, true that the characters in the Order are the lucky ones. They survived the invasion, dodged the kidnappings, escaped the cities and the aliens don't even pretend it's a paradise anymore because people are just used to it. Doesn't mean it feels like it, though. It's a love song, so take your pick of couples, and maybe it's actually sad about love being hard or rare but maybe you can turn it to all the deaths and the horror and the violence and maybe, just maybe, this time they'll get out alive.

Let's get out of this town, baby, we're on fire Everyone around here seems to be going down, down, down If you stick with me, I can take you higher and higher It feels like all of our friends are lost Nobody's found, found, found

34. Polaroid Picture - Frank Turner This was added to the list with the thought of Forever's office and the photographs on the wall, and the clinging to the memories of his friends who have been torn away from him.. If you'd rather not think about him... Well, there's plenty of other characters with close relationships who would do anything to hold onto little memories. And there's plenty of chances that those memories will be all they have left, soon enough...

Let go of the little distractions Hold close to the ones that you love Because we won't all be here this time next year So while you can take a picture of us

35. The Sun Is Also A Warrior - Leslie Fish The Federation does offer global peace, this is true. Under the single government no war continues, via methodology of harshly suppressing life and freedom. And, just as the man in the song learns, perhaps, perhaps, it is not worth it.

"Go rebuild now," the old god said "Feed the living and bury the dead And remember this when you speak of war And think upon what is worth fighting for"

36. That's Okay - The Hush Sound I could say this is about the handful of dead characters, or about the Eggs who have been created and mistreated and abused and just want each other and to be safe, but no. When I listen I don't think of anyone who is actually unloved, I don't think of anyone who will be forgotten - I think of Tazercraft and their inability to believe anyone but each other could ever love them. This was originally the last song on the list, I've just been adding a few more since. I should probably put it back to last but eh.

And when you're gone, will they say your name? And when you're gone, will they love you the same? If not, that's okay.

37. Way Down We Go - KAELO Not a song I know well, but I got it on shuffle and thought the vibes fit. There's nothing clever here, that's it. I've listened to it maybe twice I don't have strong thoughts.

Oh, 'cause they will run you down, down 'til the dark Yes and they will run you down, down 'til you fall And they will run you down, down 'til you go Yeah, so you can't crawl no more

38. Happier - Marshmello, Bastille Again, not one I know well, just vibes. Lyrics wise it could easily be Fit and Spreen, but just listen and vibe and enjoy.

Then only for a minute I want to change my mind 'Cause this just don't feel right to me I wanna raise your spirits I want to see you smile but Know that means I'll have to leave

39. Afraid Of The Dark - Chef'Special Recommended by rabbit-harpist! This song gives me different character vibes in different places, but largely Baghera, Pac, Mike, and Missa. Of all combos. The idea of trying to face your fear and make friends with it is very Missa thing to do, I feel. But the Pac and Mike is the bit about doing better and the utter wreck of either and both of them's mental health, even compared to everyone else. It's still mostly Missa to me. He's doing his best and his best is worth doing and he might be doing it scared and he might want the comfort but gdi he's trying. And Baghera... Poor Baghera, you'll see eventually.

I am still afraid of the dark Even though there's a sky full of stars I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on the run Can you leave a little light on?

40. The London Air Raids - Vian Izak Once again recommended by rabbit-harpist. There's so many pairings - friends and romantic - this one could be. I know Rabbit thinks of Phil/Missa and yes that's a very good one here! I have also deemed this one Felps vibes. With, quite frankly, any of his friends. Frankly it's anything soft but angsty. And, frankly, there's a lot of that in this au. It's like. The vibe. Ripping out splinters and all that.

But I know that I'm safe here with you 'Cause we made it through everything, the old and the new Just wake me up when all this is over Wake me up and tell me it's not true

Honourable Mention: How Far We've Come - Matchbox Twenty Recommended by guestcom2 over on ao3 and they are correct in that this song should, by all rights, be on the playlist. It is nearly perfect. It is however too ingrained in my own mind as associated with a LARP I used to play in for me ever to be able to project anything else onto it. Sorry. >.<

Well I, believe, it all, is coming to an end Oh well, I guess, we're gonna pretend, Let's see how far we've come Let's see how far we've come

#qsmp x xcom #song recs #qsmp au #forever mention #it's very short but it's there so just in case #god this took me so long to write #yes there's a lot of character bias I have my favourites and it's also easier to song for character I've written #or bits of story I'm chewing over #I do have a maybe on some more characters for songs but I need to think them over some more #I am so busy this week so very slow but enjoy the music!

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patrocles · 2 years

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rickon stark - political hostage?

So if you’ve been following me for any length of time, you’ll know that I have a weird interest in the island of Skagos. It’s partly waiting-for-Winds-brainrot, and partly because I just think it’s weird and interesting. It’s an island no one in the present story has been to, that’s got weird history with the North and the Starks, and the setting where a geriatric with missing fingers has to go find a toddler who some other guy wants to make a lord... what’s not to love!

A while ago, I made a joke about how people on Skagos are so isolated, that they probably don’t have any idea of the happenings of Westeros and the Starks lost the North. I did a chortle and then I realized... wait... that’s entirely plausible.

Before we even get into the hairy armpits of my batshit ramblings, Bran and Rickon still don’t know that Robb and Catelyn are dead. (Bran dreams of Grey Wind being dead, but definitely doesn’t know about Cat). There’s a possibility that Rickon may know, as he’s also had dreams like with Ned’s death, but no one there to confirm it for either of them.

So for Davos to show up and want to take him back, and if he explains why (that Rickon is presumed to be the last living male heir of House Stark), this puts the Skagosi in a jackpot of a political situation. I know we love the idea of Rickon showing up with his Skagosi army to save the day, but really? Given everything we know about Skagos, there’s no incentive for them to 1. Send Rickon back, 2. Help restore House Stark, 3. Not just kill him or use him for ransom.

Does this sound kind of outlandish and maybe ridiculous considering how little we know about the island? Maybe! But here’s why I think it bears looking into:

House Stark got its start as a conqueror house. Removing what we know about the last several generations of Starks as the cold, noble and just house that defends the North, Ancient Starks are a whole other story. A third of all of Westeros has been under their control for thousands of years and that doesn’t just happen by accident. Most of the Houses that exist in the North at present were former petty kingdoms and while the Starks have had amical relationships with them over the millennia (save for the Boltons), such has not been the case for the Skagosi. (There was a misconception that a Skagosi woman recently married in, but I think people are thinking of Arya Flint)

All throughout Northern history there’s been rebellions and invasions from the Skagosi going back thousands of years and as recent as the reign of Daeron II Targaryen (184-209AC). A king Brandon IX apparently “broke their power” by destroying their ships and forbidding them from sailing, save for around their islands. It sounds a bit harsh considering the ironborn never got that treatment and they’ve been raiding Westeros for centuries.

It seems like the Skagosi are the one group of people that the Starks have never bothered to bring into the North; alliances with marriage, using the Skagosi as a naval power that the North has never really had. They’ve had animosity with the Boltons for as much long time as them and Starks (well up until presently), have managed to keep a somewhat cordial relationship. And it feels weird that they couldn’t considering the sheer size of Skagos (comparatively, they’ve got more landmass than the Iron Islands combined)- and they’re in an incredible position for trading since they know how to navigate the seas around them when few others do. And god only knows what ore and mineral resources they have in their mountains (Maybe it’s intentionally kept a secret to keep the North and others off Skagos? But that’s another conspiracy theory for another time).

What we know about the Skagosi is soaked in fear propaganda and weird eurgenics-y writings from Maesters, but nothing from anyone that’s been to Skagosi themselves or Skagosi at all. (And bear in mind that what’s written in TWOW is from the point of view of biased sources, not everything is fact). And if we know anything about what GRRM, he’s sung this tune before about ethnic groups that are first thought of as terrifying and monstrous but are actually just people trying to survive. Like sure Roose Bolton is going to be my trusted source of cultural ethics and morality, okay.

But I digress, even if the Skagosi aren’t these terrifying cannibal people as we’ve been told who’ve had nothing else to disprove that except generational boogyman stories, it doesn’t mean they have any reason to help Rickon Stark, or Wyman Manderly restore the very house that has left them isolated and disconnected from the rest of the world. Of course we know that Rickon is just a little boy and his remaining family is just a bunch of traumatized kids who just want to go home. But Rickon represents ancient grudge. As disconnected as they are from the rest of the North, they likely hold onto those grudges longer and worse.

The North Remembers is not just some misused slogan HBO tacked on everything while they forgot Robb Stark’s name in the later seasons of game of thrones. It’s the ethics of the North. Just like like the current lords won’t forget who orchestrated the mass murder of their families at the Red Wedding, the Skagosi won’t forget the family that they’ve been enemies of since forever.

So where do we go from here? What does this mean for Rickon? Well, if I were an economically depressed island stuck in the stone ages because of a family that done goof’d and got themselves kicked out of their house and country and I have the very golden ticket to their restoration, and also I’m dangerously close to where the undead army is, would I not want to leverage that for something that could be beneficial to me?

Maybe I consider levelling up my proposition by not only helping Rickon win his war with men and supplies, but knowing that this would indebt the other houses to me for years (say resettlement in the North?). Maybe I make an even swap- a naval fleet which Wyman Manderly just happened to complete which would make me extremely powerful, for a 5 year old wolf child who might not make it to the end of the war anyways.

There’s options!

Though one interesting thing to consider which might influence what the lords of Skagos want to do with Rickon, is that Rickon is not just some random kid. He’s a Stark and a remnant of their ancient enemy yes. BUT he’s a warg, a skinchanger, and has greensight. This is a lot for a toddler. But in this, Rickon represents a the Old Ancient Magic associated with the North-- the Old Ancient North that’s never left Skagos or been influenced by outside forces or Andal culture. These are true First Men. If they still practice archaic things like ritualistic sacrifice at the weirwood trees, there’s no doubt that they wouldn’t consider Rickon damn near godlike. Sure he’s only a child now, but what about when he’s an adult? One could say that they might revere him as a gift from the Old Gods. Who’s to say that they would even want to give him back? And what for- to be made their enemy again, a more powerful one than previous Stark kings and lords?

They may be a bit behind in the times, but I’d not be so quick to call them stupid. Especially since Davos is very likely about to blow Rickon and Osha’s cover even if SOMEHOW no one on Skagos knew who they were and why some random Stormlander has sailed all the way here to take them back? (as if the wolf wasn’t a dead giveaway). But I think regardless, Davos is on the diplomatic mission of his life and it’s gonna be way more complex than Rickon and the Cannibal Army

So yeah... that’s what I think is going on up there.

#a song of ice and fire #rickon stark #skagos #why do i care so much we know literally nothing #long thots

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werewolfetone · 1 year

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goin on anon bc i am Nervous but what would you say is like,,, your personal opinion of where to start learning about english or irish history? not with recourses specifically but, with which side to start on for someone with the barest knowledge of both ig? sorry if this is bad phrasing or overall like, a really simple question that could be figured out by myself but Eack

To answer for the period that I focus on, I honestly think that with studying just that period of English history in general, not focusing on any specific piece of it, the best place to start is with the politics. That shaped so much of the way that people thought & behaved etc etc at the time, because that plus the various wars that went on in the 18th - early 19th centuries were kind of completely inescapable. And in terms of studying politics during the period I study you would probably be best off starting with William Pitt the Younger, who was the Prime Minister for a lot of it.

In terms of Irish history, if you know absolutely nothing about it and you aren't Irish my #1 piece of advice is to go with the most recent scholarship available. The various bouts of colonisation-induced instability in Ireland made a lot of the stuff that was written pre-1920s and then post-1969 extremely polarised and biased, even more so than normal historical writing, so until you get to the point where you can quickly spot loyalist vs nationalist bias in writing you're going to want to try to read stuff that was written in the 90s at the earliest. And as to where you should start with actually reading about things, I'd advise looking into the 1600s at least a wee bit to start off, to get an idea of the Cromwellian invasions and then the Penal Laws, before going into the Jacobites and then people like the Whiteboys and United Irishmen. Also this is absolutely crucial, make sure that you're familiar with different groups of sects of Christianity present in Ireland and generally what they thought of each other and what privileges they had under the law at the time that you're looking at (e.g. look into the Penal Laws of course but also the Test & Corporation Acts, TCD's original stance on Dissenters, Anglican vs Protestant Ascendancy, etc).

For both of them, though, no matter where you start, when you begin studying history that you know nothing about you're going to have a period of being kind of in the dark in terms of a lot of it. It's okay, it's going to happen, but because of that you kind of just have to pick a place to dive in and do your best until you get to the point where you have something to stand on. Best of luck with your research!

#irish history #english history #asks #anon #jory.txt

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brazenautomaton · 1 year

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As a foreigner who was not that well versed on US politics and only looking at events from the outside, I certainly assumed at the time that the Iraq war was a case of "trading blood for oil", but in retrospective, it certainly couldn't have been that. But the US genuinely believing they were going to be regarded as liberators is chilling and reminds me of the rhetoric that Putin is using to justify the invasion of Ukraine.

I think it is deeply different because there is ample evidence that Putin does not believe what he is saying, but Bush did both of them had other reasons to want to invade (Saddam tried to kill Bush Senior and Bush Junior was not a fan) but that pales in comparison to repeatedly saying Ukraine is not a country and has always been a part of Russia and also the Soviet Union was abolished illegally (???).

And the slogan to oppose the war once it started was "Bush Lied, <Iraqis / Children / Soldiers/ Etc.> Died." And it's true, he did lie, and that's bad, that is some dirty, shady shit. The administration lied with all the talk of Saddam having WMDs and "we can't let the smoking gun come in the form of a mushroom cloud." And the people they were lying to were themselves, and then repeating the lies to us. They didn't manufacture a false-flag attack from Saddam that would have given us a clear casus belli to invade. They held up an aluminum tube and said "See? See? This is a nuclear aluminum tube! Oh God, can't you see how dangerous he is?"

the Bush administration was making justifications and rationalizations for the thing they wanted to do anyway, which was "liberate Iraq and make it a democracy and make everything great forever and prove neoconservatism is the best." Putin is making justifications and rationalizations for what he wanted to do anyway, which is "conquer Ukraine."

And while the US lied to us and lied to itself about justifications for getting into the war, very importantly it did not lie about what it was doing. That's super important and how we know they sincerely wanted to make Iraq a stable democracy and not just loot it -- they were constantly talking about how they were going to do that, and constantly making excuses for why they failed, and constantly trying it again and again! We knew there was a campaign to "win hearts and minds!" We saw them doing it! It didn't work, but they tried! They actually cared about the result of their actions.

We know Putin doesn't care about the results of his actions or the stated goal he has because he is lying about everything he does. The Bush administration did not stage fake elections where they said 99% of the Iraqi populace voted that our invasion was cool and good. The Bush administration didn't lie about where it was getting soldiers from and it didn't lie about what its military had accomplished. They didn't install a military junta. They didn't create some kind of vassal state. They actually tried to the best of their very limited ability to let Iraq make an independent Westernized democracy. Putin is lying about everything. He's not exaggerating, he's not spinning, he's not biased, the things he says about the campaign in Ukraine do not intersect reality in any meaningful way. His army isn't capable of doing what he says it's doing, they do not hold the territory he says they hold, they have not accomplished the goals he says they have, and if you ask to check his statements he arrests or kills you.

That's really the biggest factor. Bush and company were sincere about their motives because they were willing to show everyone what they were doing to carry out those goals. They did not think they needed to hide the process of democratizing Iraq and "winning hearts and minds!" Putin is hiding everything because he knows his words have nothing to do with his actions and doesn't care.

The Iraq invasion wasn't good. It wasn't even defensible. It was a horrible horrible horrible fucking idea that was obviously going to lead to death and ruin and instability on a huge scale and I was one of the people back then saying so, although not that loudly or usefully because I was in high school. But it's not the same thing as the invasion of Ukraine and you can't blame the invasion of Ukraine on the Iraq war, because Putin has done none of the things that let the Bush administration get away with the Iraq war. Putin did this because he thought he could do it fast enough to get away with it. The thing he learned from was the annexation of Crimea, not the Iraq war, and he didn't learn how to do that from the Iraq war either.

None of the assumptions he had going into this war were things he could have learned from the Iraq war, fuck, he was counting on his forces securing all of Ukraine in way less time than it took the vastly superior US military to secure all of Iraq, he was completely unprepared for the concept of any resistance once he was there, he did not appear to have paid attention to the Iraq war at all!

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spark-gem · 2 years

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who are your favorite top ten black clover characters & ships (platonic or romantic)? talk about them!

Anon, I owe you my life!

I did this based on characters since I don’t particularly have ships.

Now, in a somewhat(because I am garbage at ranking things I love) particular order let us begin.

Top 10 Black Clover Character Appreciation

Fuegoleon Vermillion

Who's surprised that this man ranks #1? I'm not since I'm a biased simp. Its really funny though that the first time I watched Black Clover, I didn't have a thought about Fuegoleon to me he was just there. That is until me and my friend started to pick characters we would date if real and I choose him. Like 'yeah he seems like a nice guy' but as I got to know more about him from the franchise I started falling for his character more and ultimately he holds the position as my favorite character in this anime. Fuegoleon Vermillion is the whole package: confident yet can be vulnerable, a strong heart, attractive, socially awkward, family man, caring, and just absolutely wonderful.

Mereleona Vermillion

She was intense from Day 1 to me and she still is...and I love it. There's something truly therapeutic about watching her beat the shit out of everyone and everything. Every time she has a fight scene I stop what I'm doing to watch. She's strong and she knows it. Sometimes I forget myself the she keeps her more softer side under wraps and only lets a few people see it. I wish we could've gotten something like her training with Acier or straight up only kidnapping Noelle to train her. Also I love that no nonsense way she talks to people, its great.

Leopold Vermillion

Leo's journey is something I've enjoyed from the sidelines. Most of the time he's introduced as a sibling of the Fire Vermillions but that's not all to his identity. He's a strong and capable Magic Knight who gives it his all in battle and always looking for a way to get better. Seeing the fruits of his labor during the Heart invasion was incredible because...holy shit. Also, I don't see many people making the connection that Leo was the first Clover citizen to unknowingly tap into Mana Method back in the Volcano dungeon. He fucking did it!

Gordon Agrippa

Literally my first thought seeing him was....panda. I guess he still kinda is. I always feel bad when the Bulls accidently forget him at base or don't even know he's gone. He just want's some friends to talk too. Honey, I will sit with you and you can teach me how to make dolls and as a fellow person who burns in the sun after 5 seconds, I'll sit with you in beach episodes. He's my buddy.

Charmy Pappitson

While she is mainly provided as a comic relief character, there's no denying that Charmy is her own strength and source of positivity that I highly admire. As someone, who is trying to fix their relationship with food, Charmy is a bit of a comfort character in that she eats whatever she likes from all food groups to channel her energy into power for herself. Even when people in show make a comment about her weight, she's quick to clap back with a comment like 'admiring my beautiful curves?' or 'now there's more of me to love!'. I can't wait to see more Charmy content.

Mimosa Vermillion

In the Royal Knight's Exam, I quite enjoyed learning more about her through the character interactions with her brother (fuck you Kirsh). It was also nice to see her beginning to see her developing more offensive spells to use in battle as to not rely on her team mates for protection. She took charge of her team when they were off topic and carried her weight all the way to the Spade Arc. And she won't take crap from her brother either, she manages to throw his own critiques back at him! You go girl!

Henry Legolant

He's so cute! He's a walking bird cage lol! Also I loved the Lego reference in his name. Another boy I would like to befriend. Henry is a kind soul who will quite literally use the power of friendship to beat his enemies.

Magna Swing

Ngl Magna first drew me in by his design alone. And boy was I not disappointed. If you're currently caught up in the manga then you know what I mean. His rivalry with Luck is also something entertaining to watch in itself and when push comes to shove he's definitely the man for any job. Plus he's always looking to get stronger for himself.

Asta

Asta comes in with the gall, audacity, and determination that I am here for! While most people would be in a situation and just let things happen, Asta really does enter the room and essentially go 'why are are you so bitter? why are you such a stupid and mean person? why are you being unreasonable?' The directness is something I love and then when he shatters people's way of thinking of the world...a masterpiece.

Charlotte Roselei

I honestly haven't thought that hard about why I like Charlotte. I think it's the persona she puts up. Being seen as this independent woman leader when she really is an awkward woman who doesn't know how to ask for a date is kinda nice. Regardless I also like to see the progress of how Charlotte uses her Blue Rose magic. Especially if you consider it to be a more weakened version of her original Red Rose magic. Imagine the kind of power she can unleash without the curse.

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many-gay-magpies · 2 years

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enha for the ask game 🕺🕺🕺

🕺🕺🕺🕺

first bias:

sunghoon!

current bias(es):

sunoo <33 (and also jungwon 🐈)

album/era ranking:

title track only ranking: blessed-cursed -> drunk-dazed -> given-taken -> tamed-dashed -> future perfect (pass the mic)

full album/era ranking:

DIMENSION : ANSWER (+ DILEMMA) | tamed-dashed definitely isn't my favorite enha title ever, but blessed-cursed definitely is (or its one of them anyway), and since these albums both have some of my favorite ever enha b-sides (and enha songs in general) with answer being a repackage, i figured i could just join them! attention, please and go big or go home are two of my top songs off any enha album ever, and THEN answer added polaroid love, my top ever soft enha song, into the mix-- so yes, answer is definitely favorite album material! (i would have felt a little guilty putting dilemma lower JUST because of t-d when several of my favorite tracks would not exist without it KSGDJFH). the actual song aside, though, the CONCEPT of tamed-dashed and all the promotions, teasers, concept photos and etc before it were absolutely stunning (and i do still like tamed-dashed a lot-- it just ranks fairly low among the other enha titles)

BORDER : CARNIVAL | ABSOLUTE queen. not only does this album have drunk-dazed (my other top enha tt) as a title track, it has fever, not for sale, mixed up, AND one of the sickest enha concepts to date (that mv??? PLEASE.). this is a particularly potent one for me as it's when i really got into enhypen-- when i was really active in the community, when everyone was coming up with so many crazy theories about the lore and writing out equally-crazy "what-ifs".

BORDER : DAY ONE | honestly just a really gorgeous debut. i loved given-taken, and i loved let me in, 10 months, and flicker just as much. i feel like this era has gotten king of forgotten/overshadowed with everything enhypen has come out since then (which. valid), but it was such a nice intro to enhypen's whole deal (spoken affectionately)!

MANIFESTO : DAY 1 | still a fairly new era, so i might feel a bit different after letting it marinate a bit. this is, similar to something i mentioned in a previous ask for this ask game, yet another instance of me adoring literally every track in an album except for the title track. kpop. why. LDHFJFB i didnt hate future perfect or anything, but it felt significantly less... enhypen-y than usual. the b-sides, however? NOT SO. tfw and shout out very quickly climbed their way into my list of favorite ever enhypen songs along with foreshadow, and paradoxxx invasion, while less dramatically alternating to my life and mindset, was absolutely a bop. points deducted for not having shout out as the promoted bside tho (/j)

how i got into them:

i was on tumblr when, somehow, i followed one person who was in the "eggie family" (people watching i-land; called ourselves eggies because that entrance dome thing was shaped like an egg LMAO) and suddenly i was friends with like all of them. i wanted to be in on the i-land fun and i thought sunghoon was incredibly pretty so i downloaded viki and started watching it HDJFHFJ (altho i never got passed episode 8 because my phone died </3). i watched them debut as enhypen with given-taken, which slapped, then stuck around kind of casually until border: carnival came around, at which point i did the engene equivalent of falling into the ocean and drowning when previously id sort of just been sitting on the peer with my feet in the water. i fell irreversibly in love with sunoo and have been stuck here ever since!

who would be my best friend:

sunoo probably, or maybe jungwon (i chose my biases in this group according to how friend-shaped they were apparently). jay and/or jake also seem like pretty good bestie material!

things i associate with them:

vampires (and also just supernatural stuff in general) because of their lore, for sure. theres also a good number of songs i associate with their lore counterparts due to the abundance of theorizing and writing that happened circa border: carnival HSJFHFJ

#asks #ask games #lucyepiccrash

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mainsretail · 2 years

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Trump alien invasion

Trump alien invasion how to#

Trump alien invasion series#

NEWSFLASH: what the aliens from the Galactic Federation look like: #aliens #GalacticFederation /Pak6Z5e75t Men In Black forgot to erase memory of #HaimEshed #Aliens /57VRENckXf Alien invasion memes have been having a moment and the internet is ever so ready to accept our extraterrestrial overlords.Īliens getting ready for their december 2020 debut #Aliens /Xt0uwOdjZm And while we don't have definitive scientific backing at the moment, what we do know is that we aren't over 2020 alien memes yet. Well, there is no telling whether this information is true but Eshed has a stellar academic record with decades of work and awards to show for it. Eshed has highlighted the subject in detail in a book titled 'The Universe Beyond the Horizon'. He also added that he has been keeping the information to himself to avoid “panic” and getting “hospitalised”. There is allegedly, an underground base on Mars where American and alien representatives operate from. And no, he isn't referencing Star Trek.Īs per reports on The Jerusalem Post, Eshed who was the head of Israel's space security program told Yediot Aharonot that the US President Donald Trump knows about aliens and almost revealed the information but the Galactic Federation apparently stopped him. Haim Eshed says that his country and the US have been dealing with aliens from a "Galactic Federation" for a while now. To top off internet theories, our newfound obsession with monoliths and the general opinion that 2020 is the year for aliens, a former Israeli space security chief has put forth a claim that aliens exist. Web.We might not be ready for aliens but the kind of year we’re having has driven us to a point where nobody would be surprised if they were to arrive. Retired Reference Librarian, Sharon Mikesell “The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You” by Eli Pariser. “Virtual Unreality: Just Because the Internet Told You, How Do You Know It’s True?” by Charles Seife “Broadcast hysteria : Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News” by Brad Schwartz Look for these books at the library that will also help you decide whether fake or fact:

Trump alien invasion how to#

(We also have many resources available through our databases and will be happy to show you how to do more research at the Third Floor Reference Desk.): Here are some tips to help you figure out what to believe and what not to believe. The ability to tell accurate news from fake news is an important skill. Remember how you were looking for shoes on Amazon yesterday and today your Facebook ads are all about shoe companies? The new buzzword for this phenomenon is the information bubble”. Our news items reflect the types of stories we are researching and the biases that we all have. Did someone call you and tell you that all liberals hate science? Did you read that the Pope endorsed Donald Trump? Did your Facebook feed pop up a story about the new miracle drug that takes away wrinkles? These are all different stories but they are connected by one thread: they’re not true.Īs we live our lives more and more on the web, remember that the online world is all connected. There has been a lot of talk lately about fake news. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds (1898). Directed and narrated by Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H.

Trump alien invasion series#

It was performed as a Halloween episode of the War of the World series aired over the CBS radio network. There was only one problem: it wasn’t true. One woman ran into an Indianapolis church where evening services were being held and yelled, “New York has been destroyed! It’s the end of the world! Go home and prepare to die!” People begged police for gas masks to save them from the toxic gas and asked electric companies to turn off the power so that the Martians wouldn’t see their lights. In New Jersey, terrified civilians jammed highways, hoping to escape the alien marauders. People listened intently to their radios on Sunday, October 30, 1938-nearly 1 million listeners believed that a real, honest-to-goodness Martian invasion was underway.

Early Literacy Center (Birth – 5 Years).

#Trump alien invasion

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thecityonthemoon · 2 years

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In honor of my queue posting the Venomized Maximus cover, let me rant about this crossover possibility because I love it (there is also a Venomized Black Bolt and Medusa cover, but Maximus is the most fitting if I try to think of a story that goes beyond a generic symbiote invasion)

Alright, so here’s the thing

Carnage was shown once to be able to “infect” people with little pieces of themself so they (and their host, who is a regular non super powered human) could control those people’s mind. They controlled an entire small town this way

Carnage isn’t an average symbiote, sure, but if this ability is a general symbiote ability then Maximus working with a symbiote could use this to enhance his mind control powers

Now, as I said in the tags, if he wanted to use these abilities to conquer Attilan, he would still need to be very careful with Black Bolt, as sound is one of the big vulnerabilities of symbiotes. Buuut, the symbiote’s own mind control abilities could work to override BB’s semi immunity to Maximus’ powers. And also, symbiote’s can copy their host’s powers to themselves, so maybe this one could learn how to be unaffected by their own vulnerability by copying Maximus’ semi immunity to Black Bolt’s powers

Actually! Since the symbiote can copy super powers, and Attilan is full of super powered people, they could secretly attach to as many people as they could, in order to give Maximus multiple powers to pick from!

(No one tell this to show!Maximus)

But a very important thing in (good) stories involving symbiotes is the relationship between symbiote and host. Like in any relationship, in general both parts have chances to be abusive and dominate the other, suppressing their free will, but there’s also the chance of a balanced relationship in which both work together for a common goal. Maximus seems like he would quickly realize how to take over and control the symbiote, but I think he is more likely to do a good old manipulation. That is, if the symbiote is hostile. I can also easily see them finding common ground and working together. Specially since this plan would benefit both

Ultimately, I think if the two get distracted enough and Black Bolt manages to free himself, then it’s over for them. He wouldn’t kill Maximus, I’m not sure he would extend the same kindness to the symbiote (few characters recognize the symbiotes as people, which is endlessly frustrating). Also it would be a very Maximus move to claim the symbiote was controlling him, so it was all the symbiote’s fault. Not sure if BB would buy it, but he wouldn’t kill Max anyway.

If the symbiote managed to survive this, they would end up a very overpowered symbiote. They could possibly keep both BB’s and Maximus’ powers along with their semi immunities to each other, so if they were to return to Attilan seeking revenge on both, that would give them a hard time

In short, they should give Maximus a symbiote, just for fun. Their powers would work well together, they could have an interesting relationship before they inevitably turning against each other, and the symbiote could remain a fun antagonist. I’m not biased. Not at all.

#silence or death #the crossover nobody asked for

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wisteria-alovesxxcide · 2 years

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My two ideas:

Idea 1: taking the concepts and some of the themes and planting them in a different place/time

Specifically thinking of a stereotypical 1950s America, the kind that didn't exist in reality. It's an artificially created children's paradise gone very very wrong. There are several adults but they are at best lenient and unobservant, and at worst, abusive in as many ways as you can think. They are oblivious to the world the children make, or dismiss it as harmless fun.

Possible southern gothic themes, with it being specifically placed somewhere in the southern part of America. This brings up some uncomfortable possibilities, because you can't exactly pretend racism wasn't a thing, but I'm willing to face it. The children won't be any better than the adults on the subject, I'll say that much.

On that note, religious themes. The 50s were a time where everyone clung to Christianity as a way of being better than the USSR, and not being Christian, not going to church, was unthinkable to most people. Perhaps the adults don't really care about what the children do so long as they put on the right facade and go to church. Troublemakers of any stripe are punished for the sake of their souls, but the children teach each other how to fool the adults so they can go back to what's really important.

'Visual' aesthetics are 50s children's entertainment and the stereotypical 50s. America, but also biblical things - rainbows and arks, whales, crosses and donkeys, etc

Idea 2: Set in London during WW2

The protagonist is a runaway, and stumbles upon the children's society by accident.

I feel the subway is important somehow.

An older man is involved. He may be a ghost, he may be Death, he may be just a man. He at least seems to be a friend to the protagonist but I'm not sure of the motive. But I think if there is a 'prince/ss', this man is the king.

I'm biased. I want the protagonist to be crossdressing as a boy. Even before I knew I was trans I liked it and I think it would be nice to go back to. For some reason the name Robin comes to mind?

Victory gardens. Roses traded for carrots and tomatoes. Dirty kids with stained clothing pulling weeds and watering plants. Treated with pride, a chore they despise, or a punishment?

Fear of going outside, to the point it's taboo. What happens when things aren't fully explained to children?

A fantasy world made by creative young minds. Fairy tales, Robin Hood, the knights of the round table, folk tales and music, etc.

Are the children homeless? Where are the adults? What have they been told? What are they allowed to know? What do they want to know?

A few other things:

I'm currently working my way through a playthrough of the game because it's been a while, things will change as I go through it and think about things

I'm leaning to the second but I might write them both eventually

If the protagonist has an animal companion, it'll be a cat, because I'm biased.

Wisteria was a personal choice on my end, because it's a plant I grew up with. While the symbolism it has in the Asian countries it comes from is positive, anywhere else in the world it can be considered an invasive plant, suffocating and strangling other, native plants with its vines. The flowers are sweetly scented, though, and it can live for hundreds of years if everything goes right.

Written on my phone, forgive any weird typos. I'll put this under a cut when I get on my laptop. Feel free to message me somehow if you wanna discuss this!

#wip info

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the-everqueen · 2 years

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the third time is...maybe a sign that i need to find another career

(i did not get the fellowship i’d interviewed for)

#i do indeed feel heartwrenchingly disappointed and angry #my cohort-mate got it #(1 of like 12 ppl)#and while i'm really glad for her and proud of her #i'm also like...insanely envious #partly because she got to have a really chill conversation with her interviewers #about her research and her course design #and didn't feel like they were grilling her #and didn't get any tricky questions about what she's doing to promote equity as a fucking TA #and like. she's white. of course.#she's white and she writes about the middle east and that's FINE.#but i'm a brown person writing about brown ppl and apparently i'm not good enough #i got three yt ppl and interview q's i was never told to expect #because they were kind of invasive and also just kind of biased!#also bc of this i'm probably going to have to go back to VA for the next year #so like........god.#i almost regret coming home for this year #it got my hopes up and that's just stupid #if anyone responds to this with ''oh well it wasn't reflective of your work''#i will block and report you #i'm fucking tired of not being good enough

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buffintruder · 4 years

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my white professor of japanese language in society is not the worst person but sometimes she says things. and just. do you ever think about the implications of what you are saying

#also she the way she speaks often comes off a little condescending tone wise but i don't think she means it in a bad way and also i'm biased #but like she basically implied that a japanese person hating an american was the same as hating foreigners in general #i do not think a store in japan with a sign of 'no americans allowed' is great but there is a history there #the store owner could be a xenophobic nationalist bigot #but it's not the same as saying 'no koreans' or 'no foreigners' or whatever else #america did significant harm to japan not even a life time ago and the power dynamics are so completely different #also 'women in japan flock to white men' is so messed up do i have to explain it to you #i do not care if statistics back that up or not #just saying that contributes to the sexualization (and presumably assult though i don't know statistics) of asian women #in asia as well as america #you have a daughter who is half japanese and there is a fair chance that she's going to have to directly face those sentiments #also making all the people in the class who grew up with some amount of bilingualism share their experiences to monolingual people is iffy #like i love talking about myself but i also love having the ability to say #'no i do not wish to share deeply personal experiences and thoughts in a one sided discussion to a stranger'#like some of the questions she put up to give us a direction in the conversation included #something that ended in me talking about whether or not i hold any resentment toward my parents for not being raised fully bilingually #the answer i did not give to that was 'sort of but not really because actually deep down i blame myself and feel like a fake'#also 'do you want to raise your kids bilingually.' i know i won't have kids and this question still keeps me up at night #the people i talked with were super chill like 'sorry we're asking you these kind of invasive questions' and i didn't mind sharing but still #also sometimes the way she talks about interacting with asians in america gives off vaguely white savior-y vibes #i don't want to give off the impression that i'm suffering in class everyday #mostly it's fine and the topics in class are interesting and the people are cool #but also there is a lingering discomfort and sometimes i just want to scream #wow writing down all my frustrations and putting it somewhere other people can see it really does feel nice #personal post

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bay-did-nothing-wrong · 3 years

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Question and request😂

Could you do a one-shot f the nickname origins? Like, why do the turtles call Reader those nicknames?

Hmmm... I smell a challenge... Game on then, Nonie! Enjoy!

Synopsis: How you got your nickname from each of the boys.

Genre: Fluffier than my dog, some lols too, light read

Word count: 1920

Notes: I am clearly biased, leave me alone

Mood-setters: Leo) Tenno - Journey

Raph) Blue Wednesday - New Shoes

Don) Dyrean - This Won’t Last

Leonardo

Everyone knew that your man loves his bonsai trees. They're his life. Well, right after his family, you, and protecting the city, but still a pretty high priority.

And ever since his father had taught him the art of skillfully making a bonsai tree in their home, he'd dedicated his life to his little ones. He liked to think of them as his children since he was pretty much resigned that he would never truly have any real ones of his own.

He tended to them daily, snipping off smaller branches, changing their pots if they needed be and once Mikey had actually made him some custom ones for his birthday, he did everything for those miniature trees.

Until, that is, the Kraang invasion.

As much as it should have been the last thing in his head at that very moment, he was still worried about his bonsai. That and, he saw the way you were pacing, nearly hyperventilating at the thought of them jumping a plane to Brazil,he was happy he never told you most of the details of that trip.

So before they all left, he entrusted his bonsai to you - mostly so you would have something to keep you occupied.

Once the shop was out of Earth's atmosphere, the Police ceremony had passed and the dust had settled, the turtles returned home for some much, much needed respite.

And what Leo found when he walked into his room made his heart swell.

His beloved tiny trees, perfectly green and lively, and cared-for, and on top of that, blooming. He hadn't in all his years of caring for them seen them bloom, he knew it was possible but he'd never seen it in person.

Since then he referred to you as "petal" or "blossom" as you brought the same kind of simple pure joy to him as his beloved bonsai, and "yoshi" because you were his lucky charm, though you had taken it as him calling you a dinosaur, so he used that more as a joke.

Raphael

Well, I mean, very obviously, you were shorter than him. But at first he wasn't comfortable calling you anything.

They don't get many people down in the Lair, he wasn't just gonna mess it up for his brothers too.

So for a month or two, he sticked exclusively to your name.

Until... That one time when his brothers (mostly Mikey but Leo and Don were complicit) decided to mess with you while preparing dinner.

"Hey, babe, can you fetch me the red and black pepper?"

"Where are they?"

"That shelf over there." at which point he'd direct you to some shelf or cupboard you could never reach without a ladder.

Raph just watched on from the kitchen table, also finding it funny how you'd reach for the shelf on your tiptoes, use the counter to levy yourself up slightly, jumped up a couple of times, and still barely got near the bottom of it.

Sure, it was funny, he thought but it was also unfair. You'd rarely meet someone of their height anywhere, so it was fair that you couldn't reach the top shelf, but not very many could. Even Casey struggled with some if the higher ones and he had at least a good 2-3 inches in you.

"Here." while you were trying to reach the shelf, Raphael had walked up behind you, and pulled the spices out of the cabinet and handed them to you.

Mikey, seeing that the game had changed, now decided to test Raph's patience.

"Oh, and the oregano and the basil, please." Leo would be proud of how this boy was keeping his composure.

You in turn, looked up at Raph pleading, you wanted to be included SO MUCH, that he just didn't have the heart to deny you. That and he had a massive crush on you, at the time, and could not bear having you mad at him.

So he reached for that shelf too, taking those small (to him) shakers, which Mikey had diligently name-labeled and organized, and put them in your waiting hands.

He could hear his brothers, snorting, trying not to giggle at his predicament, but it seemed his pride came second to you.

"Oh, and I'm gonna need some parsley, and fennel seeds."

Where the hell did Mikey even get all this stuff? Is that what that large unmarked bad April brought him was?

And then he looked down at you, seeing your pleading eyes, and just snapped.

"Shorty, I can't be here all day, handing you stuff!" it was just mainly exasperation, he never dared raise his voice at you back then, not even as a joke.

"Well, you can give me a boost then, and I'll get them myself."

The thought of lifting you onto his shoulder, having your ass so close to his face, had him blushing and sweating.

He just reached in, gave you two shakers and sat back onto his ass now in deep thought.

The nickname had come so naturally that you'd both barely noticed. That was sometimes replace with "short-stack" and "tiny".

Donatello

Donnie loved the stars, that's one of the passions you two shared. Unfortunately though, he couldn't just walk up to a planetarium in working hours, and even more unfortunately, while yes, technically he could climb the tallest building in the city and get an unobstructed view, the city that never sleeps produced so much light pollution that stars were virtually invisible from anywhere withing 5 miles of the city.

But he wasn't one to give up. Oh, no, no.

Because C/2014 Q2 was going to pass through the night sky very soon, and you were anxious to see it, but also resigned that you wouldn't be able to.

And this man and his massive crush on you could not bear the disappointment in your eyes. It took him a while to devise his super villain plan but it was so worth it.

"Donnie?" your voice echoed through the Lair like bells through a church, making his heart swell in his chest, hands getting clammy, but he was ready.

"In here!" he called back as he fiddled with some of the wires on the floor, maybe he should have taped them down for safety.

Your quiet steps could be heard resonating around the concrete walls, slowly getting closer.

"Hey, where is everybody?"

"On patrol." he recalled having begged Leonardo to let him stay in just this one time, because it was a very special night, and once he finally explained why, Leo sighed, resolved, and said yes.

"Oh, my God!" in his distracted state he hadn't heard you walk up to the lab door, and once he looked up he saw utter shock on your face. The reflection of Alpha Centauri did look spectacular on you.

"Do you like it?" characteristically nervous and anxious about your response, he failed to see the soft expression of wander and joy in your eyes, a hand still covering your mouth from the initial shock.

"Do I!" he'd take that as a yes.

"I know you really wanted to see C/2014 Q2, so..." he pointed behind him.

It was a massive 360 projector, a much larger version of the ones he used for his and April's watches, illuminated the room like the night sky.

"How?" you still seemed in disbelief of his technical prowess and he would be a liar of he said it didn't boost his ego.

"Well, I installed a camera with an amplifier on the Chrysler Building, so we would see everything clearly but I had to shield the lens from reading any of the light below and that took a lot of fine tuning." he stopped himself from going into detail, so as to not bore you, but he had a vague idea, you might ask later.

And then he remembered there was a time constraint too.

"Now, hurry, C/2014 Q2 is supposed to enter New York radius ant minute now."

He could still hardly look away from the bewilderment in your eyes.

He made the few strides it took to the middle of the room, where a soft blanket was laid out next to some snacks and drinks.

Your initial stupor seemed to have passed as you finally made the steps to join him where he sat.

He'd never seen you so shocked, stunned into silence, ever, and once more a surge of pride hit him at the thought that he was the one that caused it.

When you finally - reluctantly - sat down by him, you were still so focused on the night sky projected onto the walls, that it seemed to escape you just how close to him you sat. Closer than you had before. You sat with your arms next to you for balance, one of them so close to his that he could feel your soft warm hoodie stroking his bare skin. He should have pulled away, he thought, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do so.

Beep beep! Beep beep!

“Oh, it’s nearly here, it should pass us in about a minute.”

You didn’t respond to that, and at first he wondered if there was something wrong, and if something was missing but then a soft sight of content fell onto his shoulder and his nerves suddenly calmed.

You were the moon to his tides.

You seemed so peaceful just then. Illuminated by the night sky, like you belonged to it, but somehow brighter still, with your hair down shining as the lights twinkled around you, a small smile on your face as if nothing was wrong in the world - untroubled and calm - and for a second, he believed it. The city was quiet for just a moment in time.

Suddenly, a new colorful gleam appeared on your face and your eyes brightened with it.

“Donnie, there she is.” your arm lifted to point at the bright expanse of light passing through your view, unable too look away.

There she is, indeed.

And just as it’d come, it was gone.

“You missed it.” you seemed saddened by that as you finally looked up at him, you far smaller size forcing you to strain your neck to meet his eyes.

Did he? He could see it again some day, but the look on your face as it’d happened was not something to look away from.

When had you gravitated towards him like that? it seemed like a slow gradual process, the way you’d put your knees under you, much like the way you’d stolen your way into his heart and into ever second of his waking consciousness.

Soft, warm, tiny hands cupped the sides of his jaw as you finally closed the distance between your lips, and he wasn’t sure if his heart had stopped or if it was beating so fast he could no longer hear it.

And then you pulled back, and the moment was over, but this one he will never forget.

“I have my comet.”

The brightest star in his sky would forever be you. And he made sure to tell you so.

tagsgsgsg:

@turtle-babe83 @shadow-ninjas @exovapor @tmntspidergirl @mikeyshulagirl @angelicdavinci @mysticboombox @remmushound @aurora-the-kunoichi

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elia-de-silentio · 3 years

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The overarching themes of Vanitas no Carte: Identity

The Case Study of Vanitas is a very good, too little known manga (I hope the anime changes something), with some central themes than are exposed in different ways through different characters. In this meta, I want to explore one that was brought to my attention pretty recently: here a little examination on the various ways to face one's own identity in The Case Study of Vanitas.

The Stable Identity( Noè)

Let's start off with the positives, shall we? Noè has probably the most secure personal identity of all the bunch.

And this is pretty amazing, considering everything he went through. He has no memory of his birth family, but gets adopted by some nice people - who die shortly afterwards. Right at their graves, he is kidnapped by slaves, in an accident that left him injured. Then he is bought by someone who actually treats him nicely and is a good mentor for him, he finds many friends his age - and then one of them, the one he was closest to, turns out to be a cursebearer, kills all of the others and then tries to kill him; he is saved by the mentor, who beheads the friend right in front of him. The most immediate emotion is relief for being alive, and he will always feel terrible for that. Then, he has to witness his surviving friend try to cope very badly with her mourning by repressing her identity and try to substitute it with that of her dead twin. That's a lot.

And Noé reacted to all of this by becoming a confident person, kind and attentive to others, but not to the point of being a pushover. I'm not saying he walked away unscathed from the events of his childhood: he regrets the way he handled things with Louis, the way he didn't understand him, and has developed quite the savior complex as a result.

What I'm saying is that he is probably one of the very few well-adjusted people in the psychiatric ward that is Vanitas no Carte. He is still questioning himself, but in a normal way for a nineteen-years-old that has just left a sheltered environment for the big wide world. He is aware of some of his strenghts (his naivete) and is realizing others (putting unfair expectations on other people, underestimating other people due to racial biases); but most importantly, when he realizes these mistakes, he doesn't run away from them or obsess over them believing they make him a horrible person: he recognizes them, apologizes to the wronged person if necessary, and works on improving them.

This isn't to say he's completely happy-go-lucky with no regrets; he feels guilty about being relieved that he lived while Louis died, and he has a lot of uncertainties regarding his identity as an Archiviste and the impact his powers can have on other people. But he managed not to tie his entire identity to that guilt; and as for the second point, Teacher helped him rationalise that and figure out a conduit that didn't undermine him and at the same time showed respect for others. Noè went through several traumas, but received one thing most of the cast didn't: guidance and support from his environment. Whatever Teacher's actual motives are, he shaped a well-balanced person.

The Group Identity (The dhamps, appearently 99% of vampirekind)

"Us dhams are only loyal to each other!" This is what Dante says in one of the first chapters, giving us the first clues to their status as outcasts.

The war between humans and vampires ended up with each deciding to keep to themselves, but dhampires are the living exception to that silent agreement. So, both societies decide to reject them, and they can't find a place in the world unless they stick to others of their own kind. This common history of traumatic experiences of abandonment and subsequent resentment of both human and vampire society for it goes on to create a very strong group identity: the only ones they give a damn about are those like them, everyone else is a potential enemy and is only good to be exploited.

Then, we have the vampire culture. I mean ... it might be because insofar we have met almost exclusively aristocrats obsessed with their respectability ... but they have a lot of prejudices.

You're born under a uncommon moon? You're a pariah. You're mixed race? You're a pariah. Your parents committed a crime? You're a pariah, and are used as a tool. You're born as part of a set of twins? Either you or your sibling are killed at birth, because of something that is SAID, not even a certified element of vampire biology. You're stuck with a curse? You're executed, no attempts to heal you.

Their society seems to run on an ideal model of person which depends on factors outside the individual's control, and whoever doesn't fit this description and deviates from the group in any shape or form gets ridiculously fierce punishment. They make the freaking Church look good by comparison, at least their repressive and racist side is composed of extremists instead of everymen.

The Clan Identity (Chloé, and partially Noé again)

Chloé identifies with a group of people too; but it's not a race, it's a family. The D'Apchier family, the nobles who are responsible for Gevaudan. Her father made sure she had this idea in her right from the start, and she interiorized it.

And this had mixed results: while on the one hand she was chained to self-loathing by the guilt of having accidentally caused the massacre of the family and was only saved by Jeanne and Jean-Jacques reclaiming her as part of theirs, on the other she was able to resist to Naenia because of the love and responsibility she felt towards the people of Gevaudan. Chloé is, at this point, the only curse-bearer who managed to trick and attempted to fight directly against Charlatan.

Then there is Noé in relation to his Archiviste identity. He seems to think of it mainly in negative terms, very conscious of the living invasion of privacy it turns him into ... and nothing else. We have never seen him wonder about who his birth parents were, ask himself why he doesn't remember anything, why was the clan exterminated, or how he feels about being a survivor, one of the only ones if not outright the only. He sees his heritage as a burden,and hasn't thought of it in any different term. I wonder how a change in perspective could impact the above 'stable identity'.

The Someone Else's Identity (Vanitas, Dominique)

I already dedicated a whole post to this trait they share, so I'll be short: both Vanitas and Dominique hate themselves and try to become something worthy by taking elements of people they admire: Louis for Dominique, a combination of his birth father and Luna for Vanitas.

The Object Identity (Jeanne)

The very first thing Jeanne was said in her whole life was that she was an object. A vessel for something (or someone?) else, who mustn't have feelings or desires of her own. Encouraging, isn't it?

Luckily, this wasn't all she got in life. Soon afterwards, she was adopted by Eric and Louise, who loved her a lot, received kindness by Ruthven, met Chloé who became an older sister to her. Unluckily, all of this was taken away from her in the most cruel way possible.

She couldn't make any sense of her parents's betrayal and death, and the way her life suddenly changed; she rationalised it by telling herself that it was her fault, if she had been just the good object everyone told her to be nothing would have happened. So she accepts the Object Identity: she is a tool, so she doesn't feel, she exists only to obey orders, and as long as she is nobody else will ever suffer. It gets even worse after she fails to kill Chloè: she couldn't fulfill her duties, and both her and her big sis suffered for it. This mindset traps her in a world of pain, but also prevents her from facing the fact that she is subject to a senseless injustice, one she has no control over.

Vanitas managed to help her with that. He validated her feelings, and showed her that nobody had to die if she had them, solving the situation with Chloé and Jean-Jacques. This gave her a nice confidence boost, returning her to the cheerful attitude she had as a young girl; the consequences of this change remain to be seen.

The Unknown Identity (Luna)

This one is interesting because Luna themselves is pretty explicit about it. They see themselves as something 'other', who is outside commonly used categorization; starting with 'male or female' (and here I am left wondering if they had specific sexual characteristics but didn't feel like they 'fit', or were intersex and nonbinary, or had an entirely different biology from both vampires and humans).

Luna doesn't like this condition: they said they tried to figure out what they were, to understand themselves, and they regret doing so now. Why? Maybe they didn't find any answer and were left perpetually unsatisfied, or they found an answer, and they found it to be awful?

Still, this indicates Luna has never been particularly happy with themselves, and this found no resolution. And then they died. Nice, uh?

Well, I think this was all. There are other characters I would like to know more about in regard to this, like Ruthven, Marquis Machina, and Mikhail, but there is still time.

All in all, I'd say Vanitas no Carte explores the theme of identity pretty throughly; many character arcs are still in progress, and I'm interested about how things will develope especially for Vanitas, Dominique and Jeanne.

Thanks to anyone who bothered to read my ramblings!

#vnc #vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #vnc meta #vnc analysis #vnc noe #vnc chloé #vnc vanitas #vnc dominique #vnc jeanne #vnc luna #elia's recaps

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moxfirefly · 3 years

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I!! Have an request!! If you want, thats up to you! But how about the turtles have a friend (the reader) and no matter what they see hints of or how it seems she just doesnt seem to be in a relationship ever and then leo starts acting "odd" (in love) and one day michelangelo of all people catches leo and the reader in a romantic (or heated) moment! What do you think would happen? How would they handle their older brother in love? 😂 i just thought itd be a funny one-shot

Ok I’ve been wanting to tackle this for a while now and ima do my best for you friend, also I hope this reaches cause I know it’s been tough so I send you lots of love💕

Blue boi all in lovey dovey

Rated Mature (Romance but will a little sprinkle of smut) 18+ Only

Raphael squinted his eyes.

For the past twenty-two minutes he’d been wondering what was wrong with this picture. His breakfast was getting cold and he’d even neglected to smack Mikey’s hand away when he stole a piece of bacon off his place.

Raphael took pride in his observation skills, often he noticed plenty of things in his environment but while Donatello ran commentary on it he usually kept the information to himself. He shared a room with his youngest brother so he knew any odd shift when it came to Mikey. He is very close with Donnie, spending a few sleepless nights by his side while the genius tinkered away at projects, even lending a hand here and there.

Leonardo for all of his hard headed ways and their personality clashes, he felt he knew him well enough too. The leader though, was much more guarded in his emotions which made for some difficult moments to completely gage his older brother.

You on the other hand were an open book, plenty of times he’d spent time with you, getting to know plenty of your ticks and thoughts. Raph considered you a close friend, a confidant he could turn to.

But as you all sat together for a late breakfast. Mikey inhaling his while Donnie’s overworked eyes looked into his coffee cup as if lifes answers laid there, Leo and you were just sitting there, suspiciously.

You were still in your sleep wear, Leo’s groggy movements mechanical as he ate on autopilot. You yawned reaching for a coffee refill and without command or hesitation Leo had pushed the creamer and sugar towards you, going so far to place the exact amount of both in your mug. You had given him a sweet smile, reaching a hand to thumb a crumb away from the corner of his mouth.

Raphael raised a brow ridge, well naturally that could translate to common kindness. You all knew each other, often April had in some form or shape probably done something similar. He poked a few pieces of eggs into his mouth, now he was intrigued.

He picked up a few more instances where his curiosities got the better of him.

For instance one afternoon while you were over he had decided to gather info. Raphael had kitchen duty and you had stuck around to help him out. “What’s up with you?” A common not so invasive question, you shrugged. “Same old, same old” You gathered plates to set the table. Raphael kept his gaze at the task at hand, cutting tomatoes for the sauce he was preparing. “Yeah but have you done anything? Gone out with friends? Maybe found your future husband?” He chuckled even more so when you nudged him with an elbow. “A forget you have a sense humor under all that angst” Raph smiled, the two of you often bickered Iike this.

Truth be told you had never mentioned a boyfriend or a girlfriend, the subject was never really breached. With the amount of time you spent in the sewers with them it never came up if you had some partner or if you even were dating. Raphael added the tomatoes into a pot, you joined his side ready to help with more cutting of condiments.

Then Leo arrived and he felt the air shift, he peaked a glance at you, a small smile playing on your lips. Leo in turn greeting the two of you before he made his way towards the fridge to retrieve something to drink. “Want something?” He asked from the fridge and honest to God Raph was very sure he wasn’t asking him. You nodded extending a hand for the soda he gave you, he leaned against the fridge and chatted you up as nonchalant as ever.

Nothing in the small chat raised any flags, Raph’s sauce almost burning from how intently he was concentrating of quite literally eavesdropping on you two. You laughed at something he mentioned, that was bizarre because Leo was seriously not even funny but he could be biased on that end.

“Your hair looks pretty that way” Leo spoke, a tad bit shyly. Raph stirred the sauce, brow ridges shooting up, ‘real smooth big bro’ he couldn’t help but think. Then again he had probably at some point told April the same thing, well they all had commented on April being pretty in all manners of ways.

But this felt just the taddest bit different?

He excused himself having to get back to whatever he was doing. Raph squatted to get something from the bottom cupboards, he didn’t miss the blush on your cheeks.

“Yer hair does look nice like that” He tested, you beamed brightly at him. “Thank you, you’re very sweet when you put your heart into it” She teased smacking a hand towel at him.

Inconclusive results.

For now.

This stupid notion continued to bother Raphael, curiosity would kill the turtle in this case. He wanted to know if truly something was amiss there and you both being friends he wondered why you just hadn’t flat out told him what was up. Nevertheless he couldn’t drop the bomb on you, you could be motorfide or maybe deny it to high hell. Asking Leonardo was out of the question, he sure as hell wouldn’t say a thing.

So Raphael kept his gaze glued as you parted ways for the night. You gave a hug and kiss to everybody, quite normal for your loving nature. He got his hug and kiss, so did Donnie, April and Mikey. Once you landed on Leo you did the same.

He could’ve sworn you lingered a little more, going so far as to whisper something to him because Leo gave a little huff of a laughter and smiled. He definitely slid his hand away from your lower back quite slowly.

Maybe, just maybe...

One patrol night he got stuck with Leo while Mikey and Donnie were doing rounds on the truck. They were scouting out a bank that was rumored to be hit soon by a group of robbers. Raph didn’t mention you, in fact he patiently waited for these robbers to possibly show up.

Something vibrated and his gaze landed on Leo who was reaching a hand into his pocket to pull out his phone. His concentrated and serious featured softening with whatever he read on the screen. He typed back something quick, shaking his head from whatever image or words or whatever had been provoked out of him. “Everything good?” Raphael asked, Leo nodded as if back to ‘normal’ and that absolutely was suspicious in his book.

That night didn’t yield any resolution and honestly it’s around this time that Raph regrets this little task that had occupied his time. He had originally decided to leave it as inconclusive, at some point You two dummies had to say or do something. He had been rummaging his room for his hand wraps, more than ready to get his nightly workout in order. When he had come up empty handed he exited towards Leo’s room, he always had them which annoyed the red banded brute.

His first mistake was not knocking or making his incoming presence known. A rookie mistake considering he lived with three young adult brothers.

His second mistake was just barging in like he owned the place. An annoyed “Jesus Leo quick taking my shit” spewing out of him.

If mistakes One and Two had been adverted he wouldn’t be standing here, wide eyed and frozen.

Because he really didn’t need to see his brother stark ass naked on top of his best friend who he basically considered a little sister, equally naked to boot. There was a solid fifteen seconds where Raphael didn’t know if he running out was the best option, mumbling a ‘shit my bad’ was better or if covering his eyes and screaming at his brother that he better be a gentlemen to you cause you’re a great gal.

Leonardo’s hands cupped your exposed breast for modesty sake, the need for the ground to dramatically open up and swallow him whole heavy in his mind. You had squeaked when Raph barged in, hands super glued to Leo’s rear and god why couldn’t you scream and let go and scream some more.

Raphael finally turned around, an embarrassed heat breaking over his body as he groaned in disgust. “Shit fuck, sorry sorry! I didn’t see shit!” Oh but he did and oh did he crave bleach. “Raph get out! This is why you knock!” Leo chucked a pillow at his brothers shell. You had finally let go of Leo’s rear, covering your face in mortification. “Hang a sock or something outside then!! I can’t read minds!” Raph bellowed.

Mistake number 3 happened because Raphael was a drama Queen through and through and the shouting only helped to alert his brothers towards the room.

“Can you two not fight for five whole minu-OH GOD SORRY!” Donatalleo had exited as quickly as he had approached the room. Mikey thankfully barely saw anything since Raph and Donnie yanked him out which Leo was thankful, he knew Mikey would never let this situation go.

A very quiet hour passed by.

Nobody wanting to say anything. Mikey had left for the tunnels to skateboard for a while. Donnie had thrown himself into truck repairs not even wanting to discuss what his eyes had briefly seen.

And Raphael had sat on the couch, every few minutes making a face whenever his brain decided to bring back the nights events. He heard movement from Leo’s room, the small pitter patter that belonged to your feet. Raph kept his gaze down, whatever playing on the tv long forgotten, he saw your feet when they tentatively approached the couch.

“Um Raph” Your tone was hushed.

“Didn’t see anything, matter of fact nothing happened” Raph grabbed the remote, you sat down and sighed. “Listen you weren’t the one with your tits out here” You crossed your arms grumbling, Raph almost chortled but then he remembered Leo and simply made a face.

“Why didn’t you tell me you and him were a thing? We’re friends, I mean you can do better but you know” He smiled when he felt your elbow smack his arm. “He’s really nice don’t be so mean” You sat back on the corner, Raph looked at you, you were wearing an oversized shirt clearly spending the night.

“Sorry for ah, not knocking” Raph spoke softly.

“Sorry for no telling you I had it bad for your brother” You smirked, enjoying Raph’s disgruntled expression.

You scooted close and hugged his massive arm, Raph smiled. “He better be good to ya... and well, don’t break his heart, he’s an ass but he’s my big brother” You nodded against his arm.

You had stayed for a little before returning back to Leo’s room, the leader was reading on his bed but quickly looked up when you came in. “Everything alright?” He asked tentatively. You nodded climbing into bed and in between his legs to lay on him. “We could’ve so gone a better way telling everybody, at least it’s out and we can just be ourselves” You rested against him, Leo’s chin a top your head.

He wrapped his arms tightly around you and smiled. “I’m never living this down but I’m happy we can just be ourselves” He poked your sides earning an earnest squeal from you.

Outside Raphael could hear the quiet giggling and laughter. He was happy for the two of you, it made sense.

Mikey walked in, board in hand and sweaty from skating for hours.

“So Leo loses his V card first, huh brah?”

Raphael groaned.

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