#he's never BEEN in a final showdown before hes never even been in a fight

[vashtijoy]

"let's make a deal", with and without Akechi's confidant

So the final showdown in the engine room differs in P5R, based on whether or not you max out Akechi's confidant. Let's take a look.

At this point, Akechi has raised the bulkhead door and is trapped on the wrong side of it, seriously wounded, with a furious Cognitive Akechi and a small mountain of shadows. Things do not look good for our deuteragonist:

Akechi: The real fools... are you guys. You should have just abandoned me here a long time ago. Akechi: You would have all perished... if you had tried to face these with me weighing you down.

[Phantom Thieves all go !]

Makoto [stepping forward]: Akechi-kun! Akechi: Let's make a deal, okay? You won't say no, will you? Yusuke [stepping forward]: Why, at a time like this!? Akechi: Change Shido's heart... in my stead... End his crimes... Akechi: Please!

Now here's our first divergence. You are offered different options, depending on whether or not you have the confidant:

without Akechi's confidant at stage 9

Joker can say either "I promise", or "Leave it to me". Aww, he's a good guy at heart, is our Akiren. This guy tried to shoot him and everything.

And what's Akechi's response? He opens his eyes, nods and smiles.

Aww. But note that he ALWAYS sacrifices himself, and for the same reasons. The difference the confidant makes is not to do with that—it's to do with something quite different, which we'll explore below....

with akechi's confidant at level 9

Now here are the options we all know and angst over:

A stage 9 confidant Joker, who has that bond with Akechi, who had the stage 8 showdown with him in Mementos and got the glove, gets "You better deliver your promise" and "I'll hold on to your glove".

And when you pick your option, what does Akechi do? Well, for a start, he has an emotional response:

... remember we talked about how the "empty" icon, from the interrogation room, doubles as the "feeling some unnameable emotion" face? Well, here it is again; you can see the model doing the same thing behind the sprite. If you don't max his confidant, you never see this. Only an Akechi who has connected with Joker over the year gets this shocked response when Joker challenges him for the last time. And, to be honest, it's not all that unnameable an emotion. This Akechi, in his final moments, knows what he's doing, and why, and can admit it—at least to himself.

Akechi ハッ、この期に及んでそれを言う?全く君ってヤツは、本当に⋯ ha! kono ki ni oyonde sore o iu? mattaku kimi tte yatsu wa, hontou ni... Heh... After all this, that's what you have to say? Seriously, you really are... Heh. That's what you say, at a time like this? I can't believe—you really are....

And it's only then that he trails off into the tiny smile.

Akechi never finishes that last sentence; he leaves something unsaid. Could be anything. Could be "ridiculous", could be "stupid"; could be any of Akechi's pet insults. But there's another possibility, that Akechi has been applying to Joker all along. He's called him it in this scene, before the fight. He called him it throughout his confidant. He's meant it more and more as the year has progressed.

That word is 面白い omoshiroi—"interesting, fun; fascinating". Yeah. "You'd better come through for me", Joker tells Akechi, who's about to die. "I swear to God," Akechi tells him in disbelief, "you never cease to amaze me."

At least, that's how I imagine it. And in my truther head, that's the difference between Akechi surviving and not. This Akechi, who couldn't care even when Cognitive Akechi had a gun to his head, gets something to live for at the last second; the one in the no-confidant engine room, who never appears in the post-credit sequence, did not.

Here's the excerpt:

Baww.

the end of the scene

Cognitive Akechi: You bastard... Akechi [struggling to his feet]: So, my final enemy is a puppet version of myself...

... and immediately fork for the second time.

Akechi [without confidant]: Not bad. Akechi [with confidant]: I...!

"I"?? "I", Akechi??? WHAT WERE YOU GOING TO SAY?

Non-confidant Akechi has settled for the irony of taking out "the puppet [he] was" (ningyo datta ore jishin, localised as "a puppet version of myself"); he considers this "not bad". This is also the line you get in vanilla P5, where the confidant was automatic.

But confidant Akechi's sentence is unfinished. He has left something undone. He has something left to say, something left to do. Something to live for.

I wonder what it is, at that moment, that he's regretting, or determined to do, or undo, or redo. What it is that gives him the strength to survive. Because we're all friends here; we all know he makes it, somehow.

The only hint in the original is that his line is not just ore, but ore wa—Akechi is comparing himself to others. So the sense is perhaps that Cognitive Akechi is "the puppet he was", but Akechi himself is no longer a puppet. It's good. But non-confidant Akechi would share that same sentiment. Something more is going on here.

With that, we move on to the end of the scene:

Haru [running forward]: Akechi-kun! Ann [stepping forward]: Isn't there some way to get this open, Mona?

[two gunshots are heard, about a second apart—and yes, they are identical in both routes and both language tracks]

Futaba: His signal is... gone... Futaba: I'm only getting... the weaklings... Ann: No... Morgana: Come on, you guys! Morgana: We can't let a rotten criminal like Shido do what he wants any longer! Morgana: We can't... no matter what!

Two things here. First, the second's delay on the gunshots seems... odd; I'd expect the shots to be either simultaneous or for there to be only one shot. Maybe someone who's ever seen a gun can clarify this. Though the fact that the shots are always identical suggests that this is not significant.

Second, Futaba always has both of her lines. I've seen it said that these are different depending on your confidant track, but no. She always says she can't detect a signal, and she always says she only detects the "weaklings".

I do find it interesting that, like the true ending cutscene, these tracks are so much more different than I realised depending on your Akechi choices. One of these paths is also clearly much more interesting than the other—the Akechi confidant track is the "true ending", the true plot; the other is there for the weirdos who just hate murder and treachery and pancakes, idk. Which is why the no-confidant 2/2 scene, where Akechi never shows up and is revived because Maruki thinks all the PTs want him back, doesn't make so much sense.

#persona 5 #p5 meta #japanese language #engine room #goro akechi

[mapoeggplant]

skip to loafer chapter 56 analyze + brief shima study // spoilers

summer vacation is over, which means we’re all coming back to tokyo. for some, it’s time to bask in the memories they created, however for others, the harsh reality comes creeping in again.

one thing that i absolutely love about takamatsu’s way of constructing a chapter is how she easily mixes the youth of the characters (the girls talking about crushes) with the obscure subplot she has been creating up to now (shima’s backstory). the change between subjects isn’t harsh or out of place: everything happens in a simple flow, ending in a calm scene to tie it all together.

so, let’s start from the youth: it’s amazing to see how mitsumi was the step that the other three girls needed to finally be free enough to be a teenage girl, something they prevented themselves from being before. she’s the one who manages to ease their worries and let them be free to talk about things teenage girls should be talking about — and they decided to choose one of the cutest subjects ever: crushes!! makoto being the one to bring this subject up just shows how she grew and how much she trusts the girls, since she was always apprehensive to touch on certain subjects. and this talk was the perfect opportunity for mitsumi to get a little more courage to talk about her relationship with shima with the girls, and choosing to do that in tokyo shows how much she cares about shima, since she doesn’t want the girls to think badly about him at any point.

ok, now let’s jump to the subplot, the one that i love to analyze so much. well, we all know that i had a gut feeling that shima didn’t say anything about the trip to his mother — first because we saw nao-chan talking to all the parents, minus shima’s, and second because, by the little we know about shima’s mom, it’s easy to say that she would never allow shima to go there empty handed. so i can’t say that i was surprised by the outcome of the confrontation. 

i think first i have to focus a lot on shima's reaction towards his mother. the scene opens with shima entering his room and noticing that things were not the way that he left before the trip, showing from the beginning a breach of trust. even if his mother had the best of intentions (like, for example, keeping her son's room tidy), it is difficult for shima to understand this act as something affectionate and not as a way of showing that she doesn't trust him.

after that, we have the big showdown. there is no way to defend shima in anyway with the way he acted and what he did. he traveled miles from his mother, without her having any idea about it. this is extremely dangerous, any parent would be desperate to receive news like this after days. i don't blame her, on the contrary: i think she’s more than correct in confronting him about this.

but for shima, this concern doesn't come from a loving side, from a worried mother. shima still sees his mother as that manipulative and controlling person he grew up with and had so many conflicts with, so hearing all of this only a desperate need to get out of this situation as fast as possible. she already broke her son's trust as soon as he entered the house, so it's very easy for him to assume that this is another one of her controlling attitudes.

but there is an interesting point in all this. after the fight, shima begins to reflect on her mother's changes and asks a very important question: am i still mad at her or am i just being stubborn, like a child who expects something in return?

this shows a maturity in his character, as it is the first time he stops to analyze what all this means inside his chest. would it be rebellion? love? distrust? a cry for help?

shima's relationship with his mother is still something that requires a lot of growth and development for it to make a significant change. in my opinion, it won't happen now or in 5 chapters, but much later, something like an ending to shima's arc, a way to embrace all of his growth. it’s as if she represents the beginning and end of his journey.

aside from his mother, now we have two new pieces to this puzzle: the unknown man and a very new image of shima (the image of him walking with other boys, on the panel where he thinks about his feelings towards his mother). what we have left is to have an idea of how many pieces we still need to assemble the final image. what happened? who was responsible? is this the man who ruined it all? or he was just another victim of the circumstances?

(something that is not related to these questions but that made me think was the fact that ririka sent him the photo. could this be a form of provocation or just a way of finding comfort?).

crabs are no longer shima's only concern at the moment. his harsh and difficult reality came back to the surface with full force. and i, who thought we were close to the climax of his arc, am shocked to realize that we are nowhere near halfway there.

to finish: mitsumi's speech about how tokyo is finally being a new home for her. this is something that makes me so happy, that brings me so much peace, especially with nao-chan's happy and relaxed face next to her. tokyo is finally mitsumi's second home, and she's happy to be able to return to it.

another month and another amazing chapter, another reason to be so excited for what's to come. this is takamatsu-sensei's power. thank you for reading me rambling and for all the nice messages you guys have been sending me 💛 it means the world!!

#chapter analyze #skip to loafer #skip and loafer #skip to loafer chapter 56 #chapter 56 analyze #mitsumi iwakura #sousuke shima #feels like I keep getting more unhinged with my analyzes #like you don't have to write all of this girl #calm down #anyways I can't #I love them too much #no one gets shima like me sorry (by voices in my head) #and I'm still stuck in sensei's basement #duckmetas

[open-hearth-rpg]

Coming Back: Fallen Campaigns & Rebirths

From Age of Ravens

CAN CAMPAIGNS AGE WELL?

This first part of the year sees me coming back to two longer online series I’ve run before. The first is the third and what I plan to be the final arc of our Godbound campaign. This is after a long break, with the second arc happening in mid-2022. At this point they have hit the higher levels there and I want to close out some of those stories. It’s been a great couple dozen sessions and I love these characters, but I want to get that some resolution. 

The other is Fearful Symmetries, a Trail of Cthulhu campaign set in 1930s England, with the characters as magicians fighting a secret war. We finished the first story in March of last year. We took advantage of the real world time gap to give the characters a gap as well. Session one was a “getting the band back together” episode. In it we got to see how each investigator had dealt with the fallout from their arcane showdown. It provided a solid baseline the characters have been able to play off of. 

Last year I also returned to a Hearts of Wulin mystery series with two new cases. We managed to reconnect with the big picture threats and story, even though it’d been over a year since we’d played last. We plan on coming back to that for another mystery later this year. Likewise we’re planning on coming back to our Girl by Moonlight game– three months wasn’t enough so we’re going to add another two months to wrap the story. 

Here’s the thing: I have never, ever been able to do this with a face to face game. Every single hiatus or break for a campaign has resulted in that campaign dying out. And it wasn’t just me, I saw this happen to other GMs in the area. My late friend Barry was notorious for this– starting amazing high concept campaigns with energy, but then “taking a short break” which meant we’d never play again. 

Another one, Rob, had something of the opposite problem. He would run long, multi-year campaigns. Then at some point he would take a break for burnout or to recharge his batteries. Inevitably he never returned to these campaigns, leaving them so close to the finish line the players could see it. He would tease folks with the possibility of going back and finishing their stories, but never would. 

And I’m not innocent of this. But it has been a while since I “paused” a game as a way of ducking out. Now if it isn’t working I say that and call it or tell everyone and then steer into some kind of finale. That, like Barry and Rob above, comes from me as a GM not feeling it. 

MORTAL BELOVED

But then we have those games that I wanted to return to. The ones which never got finished because circumstances worked against them. Or the inertia of things pulled us away. Or the people changed in the intervening period. These I really mourn.

I ran a dynamite short Star Wars series which was intended to be the first movie,in a “new trilogy” (before the new trilogy actually came out). This Episode VII  absolutely clicked and I planned to do Episode VIII after a short break for another game. But by the time it was possible, that gaming group had reorganized. Other GMs’ new games took up the nights and players available. We never went back. 

We had a great Exalted Dragon-Blooded game that we had to hold off from because two of the players went through a divorce. We tried coming back to it, but the one member of the couple who returned clearly wasn’t feeling it. So we ended up dropping it. A similar thing happening with a wuxia game, using Storyteller, I ran with a great trio of players. When one of them unexpectedly decided to stop playing because he and his wife had issues, we had to close that down. Because he never actually told us, we never got to do a finale session. 

And, of course, COVID has killed a couple of my games. We had a long-running Sunday group, going on twenty years, but we ended that. Another campaign had been running for almost four years. I asked about transitioning to online, but one of the players (ironically the one who had kibosh’ed the wuxia game) refused to play online. So we went on hold, but I knew we would never come back. The other two f2f campaigns which we transitioned to online survived. One, 13th Age, eventually shifted back to in-person after a year and a half. The other remains online. 

But online games, somehow, have managed to survive these breaks. We’ve gone back and picked them up without missing a beat. I had a long-running Mutants & Masterminds campaign online where we broke up each arc with a different game. And it worked– each time we came back folks knew the world and were excited to play again, even if it’d been many months. 

BREAKING POINTS

So why?

I have theories. First, having an accessible, shared body of material really helps. Character keepers remain– people don’t can’t file away their characters sheets and lose them. They don’t feel like artifacts of something lost. You can review your own character and remind yourself who everyone else played. Keepers offer a strong, complete snapshot of where the game ended. That’s especially true if someone kept a running log of notes. An NPC tab with pictures goes a long way to reorienting people to the setting and situation.

Second, it is easy. You set a schedule and share links. It’s all there, ready and waiting for you. If someone can’t return you can hide their character in the keeper. Maybe they will come back eventually. It's easy to slot in new players to these kinds of ongoing campaigns. 

Third, you can return exactly to the space you left. You return to an online call– a timeless zone. Things may have changed, but generally you can fall back to a sense of familiarity. That goes a long way to establishing continuity. 

Fourth, it overcomes a certain inertia which applies to all online games. I’m a generally shy person; when I have to go somewhere physically, I don’t dig it. My brain looks for excuses not to go out into public. Online play clears away some of that. 

Fifth, online play– at least in our community— is built on a certain social contract. Players sign up for games– something which asks for a modest commitment to play on their part. That’s combined with a waiting list which means that if folks can’t show up, other people can be slotted in. That combines to create a pressure to actually show up or at least to work to make sure other people have access to those slots. Ironically I think that makes people more likely to show up. The act of just having a system makes it more likely folks will consider their attendance and participation.  

LAST EPISODES

Are there lessons we can take from those for non-online games going on breaks or hiatus? Maybe? I suspect having a shared folder– maybe of scanned documents and materials– would make it easy to come back. Likewise keeping a copy of everyone’s character sheet. NPC image collections can help as well– maybe with Pinterest sub-boards. Starting again online and then moving back to f2f might be a good way to gauge if everyone’s still on board. It might also be good, even if the game was more casual before, to set up a calendar and some kind of sign ups. That helps support and remind community members.

I have a handful of games I really want to go back to. In the past I would have considered those dead and buried, but know I’m not go sure. 

#ttrpg #rpg

[ecargmura]

Bucchigiri?! Episode 12 Review + Final Thoughts - The Final Showdown Between The Genies

I’m not sure if Bucchigiri’s ending is either good or bad. It’s not bad because everything ends happily, but it’s not good because there are still a lot of unanswered questions despite the rather joyful ending.

The battle between Ichiya and Senya was actually really good in terms of animation. I feel like MAPPA was going all out with the sakuga for the finale, but Ichiya’s reasons for wanting to fight Senya felt a little asinine. He contracted a disease and wanted Senya to kill him before it could kill him. Ichiya, why didn’t you say this before you died? Maybe you didn’t have to fight to the death for this; maybe Senya could’ve found a way to cure you? All this sudden lore about these genies feels shoehorned in because for a story that revolved around these two genies, so little is known about them. Even towards the end of the story, the stuff about the war, why they became genies and how their story and the Honki people legend becoming a thing in Arajin’s hometown never gets explored and I feel like it’s a waste; all of this could’ve been explored earlier, but no, we had to focus on the fighting and Arajin.

I can’t believe it took 12 episodes for Arajin to get an awesome fight sequence that doesn’t revolve around him punching someone really hard once. That’s crazy. While it’s nice that he finally wants to help Matakara, his word choices make it seem like he’s not doing it out of true concern and he’s just doing it because he had no other choice. The fact that what pulls him out of his funk towards the middle of the fight, the part where he thinks he’s dying, is the the power to lose his virginity with a chibi Mahoro fairy. That seems a little stupid because he did call out Matakara for projecting onto him, but not once has anyone called him out for doing the same thing with Mahoro. Also, his concern for Senya doesn’t seem too genuine to me as he did spent the entirety of the show not wanting him around and tolerating him at best and suddenly, he misses him. I feel like I’m side-eyeing the writers hard for this.

I do wonder what the deal with the black shadow thing is because it did take over Ichiya, causing Matakara to be the sudden final boss of the story. While it is stated that it’s Matakara’s fears of being alone, it does feel like a cop out moment. Like, when could you do this? How is this possible? The fact that Ichiya seems to be okay after this ordeal to makes this thing feel like it’s not worth it in the end.

The side characters’ antics were interesting. Arajin’s mom was hilarious as always as she believes Arajin is sleeping over at a friend’s house and becoming a man; while the context of her words means intercourse, the actual meaning is different in the context of the current situation. The part with Mahoro trying to wake her brother up was funny because she chained Kenichiro to his hospital bed. Girl, was that necessary? The Zabu and Komao parts were sweet because they were looking for Matakara even though Zabu was injured and cannot move well, so Komao spent most of his time being his horse. The other Siguma Squad members felt like they were just there because they needed to be; by the way, Jabashiri’s first name is Nagare, so why is Hagure calling him Ryu-chan? The part with Arajin’s homeroom teacher stealing Jasmine was funny; we all knew Jasmine was a cat. It sucks that she essentially became a stray afterwards. Also, I called Mitsukuni being alive! I knew he was alive from the moment his dead body and funeral weren’t shown on-screen. Utsumi won’t kill off characters at all unless it’s Banana Fish. Look at Senya; he came back!

The little epilogue was cute, but a little irritating on Arajin’s part because he’s still simping over Mahoro who’s still not giving him a millisecond of her time. Good. The fact that he wanted to mimic Marito in hopes of winning her heart is also sort of weird because Mahoro would actually despise him if he did that. While Matakara didn’t get punishment for his actions, at least he, Zabu and Komao became friends again. The part where Minato Kai and Siguma go to the Tomoshibi restaurant and Arajin’s mom becomes a Marito fangirl was funny; the fact that Mahoro got jealous was even more hilarious; she officially hates the Tomoshibi family now.

Overall, I find the finale a bit flat? Like there were good stuff and Arajin did show some growth, but the epilogue sort of backtracks it with his thing with Mahoro but at least he isn’t avoiding Matakara anymore. I wanted more lore on the genies and for the other characters too, honestly. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.

FINAL THOUGHTS

With how much I enjoyed Utsumi’s other works, I did tune in to Bucchigiri, hoping for the same excitement I felt watching her previous works, but even Utsumi has her off days. Bucchigiri is that off day. Out of all of her works so far, I can honestly say that this is her weakest work so far. I’m actually amazed because the combination of Hiroko Utsumi, the director of known shows like Free!, Banana Fish and SK8 The Infinity and Taku Kishimoto, the screenwriter of the Fruits Basket remake, Haikyuu, Blue Lock and Millionaire Detective, should result in something good, right? WRONG! A positive and a positive actually came out as a negative for once. The math you learned in school had been a lie all along.

Bucchigiri is a work where the other characters shine more than the protagonist Arajin. Arajin starts off a bit interesting but as the weeks pass by, the more insufferable he becomes without any redeeming qualities until the finale. Imagine writing a story where the protagonist only experiences bad qualities and only grows at the end. What kind of story is that? The side characters certainly shined more than Arajin, but that’s just my bias. It sucks that some of them have to be one-dimensional in order for Arajin to shine, but Arajin doesn’t really deserve it. I feel like this show would’ve been better had Matakara or Marito been the protagonists.

It’s a unique spin on the delinquent story as it’s mixed with genies, giving it a more supernatural flair. Unfortunately, the genie aspect is underutilized as the story likes to focus on the fights more. The fights aren’t bad—they’re good, but if you’re going for a story about genies, maybe try to use them and not be plot device for the inactive protagonist or as a sudden surprise villain. With Ichiya, we don’t even know how he got to be with Akutaro and why they haven’t fused. In fact, the genie lore itself was heavily undermined because I don’t know anything about these genies. They had a past together but where did they live? Why was there a war? How did they become genies? I still need my answers!

The music was surprisingly good. The opening and ending songs were really addicting and it sucks that they had to be used for an anime like this. The animation was amazing, courtesy of MAPPA. Despite MAPPA being overworked, they did a great job producing quality sakuga scenes for the fight scenes.

The voice acting was really good too. Utsumi knows how to cast quality voice actors. I love that she likes to use a mix of lesser known names with veterans. The only role I knew of Genki Okawa before Bucchigiri was from Yugioh Zexal, where he voiced Mizael. Despite Arajin not being a great character, Okawa did a great job voicing him. Matakara’s voice actor Yusuke Hoshino is a relatively new face, but he did a great job voicing Matakara from the cute and sweet side to the colder side. Masafumi Kobatake has been a name I’ve been seeing recently as he was in Frieren as Dunste and here as Senya. He was hilarious. I love the gap in his deep voice with his higher pitched gremlin voice for the chibi form. The side characters are all known names mixed with rather new faces, but they all did a great job. My favorites were Nozomu Sasaki as Marito and Chihiro Suzuki as Akutaro. They both did a great job doing the crazy sides of these two characters.

In all honesty, I wanted to like this show. Maybe if I wasn’t an anime reviewer, I would’ve had higher praises for this show, but as an anime reviewer, I can’t help but to be critical. It’s not a bad thing to be critical—to me, that is. I feel like I’m at the point in my life where I need to be more expressive and be more honest about my likes and dislikes. I dislike this anime. There, I said it. I just feel like it wasn’t the delinquent, hand-to-hand combat show I was expecting. I don’t recommend this show, honestly. If you want to watch a better Utsumi show, you’re better off watching SK8. I’ll be here watching Wind Breaker for my seasonal dosage of delinquent anime now. What are your thoughts on this anime as a whole?

#bucchigiri?! #Arajin tomoshibi #senya #Matakara asamine #ichiya #review #anime #anime review #final thoughts #ecargmura #arum journal

[papermint-airplane]

Everyone: *shocked gasps, surprised whispers, and one loudly panicking alien man*

'The Watcher': Happy now, Rose? I'm here.

Aiden: Aoife?! Aoife Ee?! Is that you?!

Aoife: Hiiiii, Aiden! Nice to see you face-to-face again. Been a long time, huh?

Aiden: Not long enough if you ask me.

Aoife: Still holding a grudge, I see. Maybe this will remind you of happier times.

Aiden: Mmmph!

Aiden: Get off of me! Are you crazy?! I mean, yes, obviously you are extremely crazy, but are you even crazier now than the last time I saw you?! When you had your goons hunting me down like a gnarleep from the Fr'ge'xl forest?!

Aoife: Hey, come on now, that's all zholxtroth slime under the bridge!

Aiden: I will be the one who decides where the zholxtroth slime is, thank you very much! And it is absolutely not under the bridge!

Aoife: You can't blame me for what I did! You'd have done the same if you were in my position!

Aiden: No, I wouldn't have! Nobody else on Sixam would have done even half of what you did!

Viridia: HEY, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE AND WHY ARE YOU TONGUING MY MAN?!

Aoife: Your man?! You're forgetting I was watching your date. He could barely stand to be near you.

Viridia: THAT IS NOT HOW I REMEMBER THINGS.

Aiden: Yeah, I had a really nice time, actually.

Viridia: IF ANYONE HERE IS GOING TO FORCEFULLY KISS AIDEN, IT'S GOING TO BE ME.

Aoife: Oh is that so? What are you going to do about it? Fight me?

Viridia: HELL YEAH, SQUARE UP, BITCH!

Aoife: Have it your way!

Viridia: YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!

Rose: Hey, did we all forget whose showdown this was supposed to be?! 😫

Angela: Do you know what's going on?

Bailey: I never know what's going on.

Angel: My whole world view is a lie. Everything I know is crumbling into dust right in front of me.

Aoife: She's right, Viridia, this is between me and her. So if you'll kindly fuck right off...

Viridia: I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU MAKE ME.

Aoife: *psychic effort noises*

Viridia: WHAT THE--

Viridia: ZZZ...

Aoife: Hush now, the adults are talking.

Eleanor: Was that some sort of psionic wave? Can you do that?

Aiden: Yeah, it's not that impressive. Every Sixamite in their first stage of development learns how to do that before they can even crawl.

Aoife: Now where were we? Oh, that's right! You were being a ginormous pain in my ass!

Rose: I did what you asked me to do! Why won't you honor your word? 😣

Aoife: Because I was lying, idiot. I wasn't going to actually follow through on naming you the winner. I wasn't going to name anyone the winner. I was going to eliminate all of you, one by one, until Aiden realized that there's nobody in this galaxy or any other that loves him as much as I do and he'd have no choice but to fall into my arms and I could finally CRUSH HIS HEART INTO A FINE POWDER AND BLOW IT BACK INTO HIS FACE, THE SAME WAY HE DID TO MINE!!!!!!!!!!!

Angela: Holy shit, she really is crazy...

Aoife: But I guess all of that is ruined now, thanks to you.

Rose: What are you going to do now? 🤔

Aoife: The only thing I can do.

Aoife: I'm going back to my control room.

Rose: H-hey! 😨

Aoife: Oh. Just one more thing, though.

Aoife: Even if I had no intention of keeping my word, you still deserve an extra-special reward for your performance.

Aoife: Enjoy.

Rose: Huh?! 😱

Rose: Gkkk! AAAAGHHHH!

Rose: You! You bitch!

Aoife: It's what you deserve, Rose.

Rose: A-Angela...I'm s-sorry...control room...wormhole...generator...go...home...

[electricity crackles]

Aoife: Congratulations, Rose. You won.

[Beginning] [Previous] [Next]

#sims 3 #ts3 #sims 3 gameplay #mine #non canon just because i feel like it bachelor challenge #ncjbiflibc #sim: aoife ee #sim: aiden ayy #sim: viridia nn'ox #sim: rose schaeffer #sim: angela hirano #sim: bailey swain #sim: angel angel #sim: eleanor tinley

[rgbyshipper101]

I got one more in me! Little thing I wrote in an hour.

DP Side Hoes Week 2024

Dani Phantom

Self-Defense

Warning: angst and mentions of character death

Danielle stared at the moon over the hill she stood on. A gentle breeze blew through her ragged clothes, offering some relief from the humidity. June was quite warm and it being nighttime didn’t stop that. The rickety sign of Amity Park’s graveyard creaked ominously as it was disturbed, the only sound made since she touched the grass in front of the tree she was facing.

Dani had regrets in her short life. Like the fact that she had to steal food so she could eat. She was too young for a job. Not that she’d want one, anyway. She hated how she had to manipulate people’s kindness in a way so it’d benefited her. It reminded her of how she was when living with Vlad.

Dani grimaced. The name of that man left a bitter taste in her mouth.

There was a time she used to regret not being a better daughter. Not finishing duties on time or failing her training got on his nerves and upset her greatly. The day she got to say she progressed to that point took a while to come to fruition as a result.

But her biggest regret was that she had to help kill her brothers.

Yes, kill. She knew what she was doing. Danny didn’t realize until their showdown in Vlad’s cabin. Her brothers willingly attacked them on “Master’s” orders, but they were mindless. They didn’t understand.

Not like her. Dani never forgot their final expressions as they melted. She helped Danny with her muscular brother and invisibly watched as he took down her skeletal brother. Her tiny brother was so horrified as he melted. And he just got turned into an actual copy of Danny, too…

And her little brother. The one not even out of his chamber had to be forcefully smacked into reality and immediately died as a result.

Danny assured her that that was not her fault, that it was his, but it still happened. Even if that death was caused by self-defense, it doesn't feel that way.

The tree’s branches swayed lightly as another breeze hit it. The bark was peeling lightly and a piece fell on the ground in the middle four mounds. Dani bent down and gently wiped the bark away, smoothing the dirt in the process.

Dani had taken part of each of their remains and buried them here. They all have a little grave that their sister and cousin can come and remember them by. Maybe their souls will rest easier.

Dani clenched her fists as she stood up, eyes hardening. There was one thing she never regretted, though. Attacking and leaving her creator.

Not father. Creator.

He never wanted her. He never wanted any of them. They weren’t perfect. Maybe her little brother would’ve been, but she still would love him just as much as she does her other brothers.

Even if she never showed it. There was no animosity or anything with the siblings, just neutrality. They were all there just to serve a purpose. Her one actual job which made her despise working. The only kind thing she has done for the boys was make their graves. Too late for anything else.

She’s more like Vlad than she thought. And she hates it.

So when she was able to attack him at the Rockies and in his lab in Amity, she let loose and gave him everything she had.

He attacked her first, after all. It was right.

After that, she has tried to better herself to not be like him anymore. To own up to her regrets even if she has no choice in some of them. She’ll never go after anyone else unless they do first.

Dani gave one last remorseful expression at the graves before taking off, disturbing the grass again.

Tears blew behind her as she flew. Danny was wrong. She had a choice to stop what happened, to not fight, to hurt Danny and all of them. Danny didn’t. Danny had to defend himself, including from her. He’s just too nice to keep mentioning it.

Maybe one day she can make it up to them. But for now, flowers will do.

#danny phantom #dp side hoes week 2024 #danielle phantom #self-defense #clones #angst

[k1ll1ngy0us0ftly]

Imagine Carlos Oliveira x Reader in the midst of everything, falling in love and the reader tragically dying. Here's something for you to read today ❤. (Not very detailed but its somethin.)

In the midst of chaos and despair, a city gripped by the horrors of a virus outbreak, Carlos Oliveira was a man who held onto hope with an unyielding grip. As he navigated the treacherous streets of Raccoon City, he crossed paths with YN, a survivor with determination burning in her eyes. Their fates intertwined as they fought side by side against the relentless tide of undead creatures.

"Are you okay?" Carlos called out to YN as they ducked into a dilapidated building, seeking refuge from the rain of destruction outside.

YN nodded, her chest heaving from exertion. "Yeah, just another close call. Thanks for having my back, Carlos."

A weary smile touched his lips. "That's what we do, right? Look out for each other."

As days turned into nights, and the horrors around them intensified, their bond grew stronger. The world had plunged into darkness, but in each other's company, they found a glimmer of light. Amidst the chaos, they stole moments of laughter, sharing stories of their lives before the nightmare began.

One evening, as they huddled around a makeshift campfire, YN turned to Carlos, her eyes filled with a mix of gratitude and something more. "Carlos, you've become my rock in all this. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Carlos met her gaze, a soft smile playing on his lips. "We're in this together, YN. I've got your back, no matter what."

As they battled the infected and evaded danger, their closeness turned into something deeper. Late nights spent guarding their hideout led to heart-to-heart conversations that bared their souls. Amidst the harsh reality they faced, their connection blossomed into love, a fragile yet powerful force that kept them going.

One day, as they watched the sunset paint the sky in hues of orange and pink, Carlos took YN's hand in his. "We've been through hell, YN. But you've shown me that even in the darkest times, there's something worth fighting for."

YN leaned in, their lips meeting in a gentle kiss that conveyed all the emotions they couldn't put into words. "You've given me hope, Carlos. Hope that we can survive this nightmare together."

But the world they knew was unrelenting, and as their love deepened, so did the dangers they faced. A final showdown with a formidable creature tested their limits, and in the midst of the battle, tragedy struck. YN was fatally wounded, her strength waning as Carlos fought desperately to save her.

"No, YN, stay with me!" Carlos's voice cracked as he held her in his arms, his heart shattering at the sight of her fading life.

Weakly, YN reached up to cup his cheek, her voice barely a whisper. "Carlos, remember what we had. Keep fighting, for both of us."

Tears streamed down Carlos's face as he pressed a desperate kiss to her forehead. "I love you, YN. I'll never forget you."

YN's gaze held a mixture of love and acceptance as she took her final breath, leaving Carlos broken and alone in a world that had taken everything from him. He held her lifeless form, the weight of their love and the tragedy of her loss crashing over him like a tidal wave.

In the aftermath of devastation, Carlos carried YN's memory with him, her words of hope and love driving him forward. He fought on, not just for survival, but to honor the love they had shared and the promise he had made to her.

And so, amidst the ruins of Raccoon City, Carlos Oliveira became a beacon of hope, a living testament to the love that had burned bright in the midst of darkness. The ache of loss remained, but YN's memory lived on, a guiding light in his heart as he faced the challenges of a world forever changed.

I hope that's good cause I really don't know if it is 🥲

#carlos oliveira #carlos oliveria x reader #resident evil #resident evil carlos #carlos x reader #imagine

[amooks-arc]

Honestly no matter how many times I watch the flashback scene of the fight between Vander and Silco I will always get upset.

I think they always wrestled with each other. They grew up together they were brothers, brothers fight. So Vander and Silco go down to the beach to talk in private away from Benzo and the others. They’ve been arguing, both drawing lines and crossing them. A lifetimes worth of resentment behind every barb.

Always quick to anger, especially in his youth Vander punches first. Silco pushes him back and they fall wrestling into the waves shouting and hurling insults at each other. It isn’t until they are waist deep in the water that Silco realizes Vander isn’t hitting just to hurt anymore.

And then the panic sets in.

Silco tries to flee but the water slows him down and Vander yanks him back.

Vander rakes his nails down Silco’s face tearing his skin. His eye is burning and bleeding blinding him. His brothers fingers tighten around Silco’s neck squeezing as he plunges him under. Silco fights to breathe desperately struggling to pry off Vander’s grip. He tastes the filth and salt of the river. He finds that peace before death. His vision is blurring, through the clouds of his blood he sees his brother.

Vander towers over his struggling brother holding him underwater as one might drown a clawing cat. His teeth are barred adrenaline and rage pumping through his veins.

Then Silco’s fingers find purchase on Vanders knife and he slices him on the arm. If he had not brought that knife out into the water that day, Silco would have died. Vander would have been victorious. Able to spin the story of their final showdown into one where he is still the hero. Maybe he would have come to believe the lie himself.

But as Vander roars in pain, Silco bursts to the surface. Panic propelling him forward Silco escapes from the water half blind and bleeding.

Vanders scar will mottle and darken just as Silco’s face did. Vander hid his scar behind a leather cuff that he never took off. Not even around Vi or the other kids. Unable to look at the physical reminder of his betrayal. He’ll stew in his shame till the day he dies.

But Silco grows and becomes something harder. Something better. More… himself.

The animators did such a good job at portraying his desperation in that moment underwater. He must have been so scared and confused.

Vander is not the hero so much of the fandom makes him out to be. He is morally gray just like everyone else. And there are plenty of criticisms to be made about his parenting style and how he ran the Uncercity.

Say what you want about Silco but he was never a bootlicker.

#arcane #silco #text post #vander #silco arcane #idk what this even is I just wanted to write down these thoughts somewhere #also episode three is my favorite if you couldn’t tell

[deludedfantasy]

Trimax Vol 12 Ch 1-4

This volume is extra long so figuring out how to divide this up is tricky. Hopefully, this post isn't too long because I have many, many thoughts about the showdown between Knives and Vash.

Ch 1

Chronica and Domina and honestly the entire Earth fleet present some really fascinating questions about Plants and how things work on Earth. I mean, the implications of something like this having happened before, and being so destructive and unpredictable that Chronica tells Domina not to rely on the data from previous encounters.

Also, the language they use around the data. “We already share all our data.” It’s a very sciencey way of referring to what is basically telepathy, I think. We haven’t had language for how any of this works before and that’s part of where the terror and uncertainty comes from. When Vash accidentally went all rogue angel and anyone touching him got a front row seat to his memories, that was probably “sharing data.” But that kind of clinical description sure as hell wasn’t what it felt like for anyone involved. Then, it felt more akin to the supernatural, to cosmic horror, because it was so unknown and out there. But for these Independents, it’s just sharing data, it’s just what they are and how they work. There’s a split between the level of mysticism that Plants have acquired on No Man’s Land (due to the lack of resources and how heavily they rely on them) and the more (seemingly) scientifically oriented Earth fleet. 

This entire sequence where Vash looks back at his past, everyone he’s helped and fought for, all the enemies he’s faced, is so gorgeous and hard-hitting. He’s steeling himself for the final battle and reminding himself what matters, what he’s fighting for. It’s so telling that the last images are of Rem and Wolfwood. But it’s also telling that we don’t see Wolfwood’s face. Is it because the grief is too fresh? Is it because Vash feels guilty? I’m not sure. But the juxtaposition of a solitary cross among a sea of faces is hard to beat. It’s a punch in the gut. 

And another thing! Razlo and Livio are included when he considers the Gung Ho Guns even though he never fought them directly. But Vash doesn’t place Wolfwood there though he also was very much so one of them. He doesn’t see him as one, Wolfwood has become so much more to him and he’s refusing to acknowledge some of Wolfwood’s last words, that all he is is a monster. 

There’s something about this page that reads to me like a prayer. Vash’s pose, his lowered head, his hand and gun centered, it’s his own form of prayer. To who or what, I can’t say. He’s not asking for anything except strength to reach the end, to protect those tough and tender days he loved so much. 

It hurts me that he doesn’t expect to make it to the end. Tellingly, his hair is almost entirely black here. He’s used up most of his life force. In some ways, I imagine he’s performing some kind of final ritual for himself. He’s reminding himself what he’s fighting for because the person that gave him hope again when he thought all was lost is gone. 

Is the Earth fleet planning on dropping a nuclear bomb on Knives to stop him? Because that’s really what it sounds like. I get that he’s dangerous, but wasn’t the whole point of coming here to help the people on this planet, not kill them? Seems like the Earth fleet aren’t quite the good guys we were hoping they would be. 

But then Knives just disappears! That’s not terrifying at all or anything.

Ch 2

Knives just teleported, a power apparently completely unknown for even fused Independents to have. That’s wild. But also not. He’s probably fused to more Plants than other Independent has before, to the point that his own body is losing shape and he seems to be becoming one of them. It’s weird to say that he’s becoming less human, since he’s always been so focused on not being human, but at least in form he was. Not anymore, and it’s signaling a dangerous change in his power levels. 

Domina experiences a Knives jumpscare, which doesn’t bode well for her. It’s never a good thing when Knives suddenly appears in your mind. 

Panic and fear for your life can make people do insane things, but truly shooting guns into the air at a massive airship that is far above the city is such an incredibly useless and stupid thing to do. 

Knives did say he had enough power to reach past the boundaries of the planet. But man, that’s horrifying. He took complete control of another Independent. He fused with her like he was originally thinking of doing with Vash. He spoke in her voice and everything, even convinced Chronica that it was Domina for a moment. That’s…really scary. Can you imagine if he had done that to Vash? 

Knives straight up doesn’t have anything resembling a body anymore. He’s getting into biblically accurate territory here. The body horror is real. 

Also, I’m not surprised that he calls Chronica and Domina slaves of humans. He’s always looked down at Vash for helping them and living among them. Of course he’d say even worse things for the ones actively working with humans in their military. Though I’m still curious how much actual choice Chronica or Domina had in taking this assignment and becoming part of this crew.  

Ch 3

Sometimes I forget Trigun is actually scifi. But now we have a spaceship battle! Though I’d actually argue Trigun is sci-fantasy but that’s another discussion entirely. 

I’m still not over the fact that Knives fused with another Independent and is using her like a puppet. Like, that’s a terrifying capability for Independent Plants to have. Imagine what else he could do like that. Imagine if he had Vash’s power behind him. Imagine if Vash had decided to do something like that. Truly, I can’t put into words how horrifying that is. I’m not surprised anymore that humans would find a way to alter Independents so they can’t do that. 

Shooting straight into the air when there’s nothing to hit up there really isn’t a smart move. But people are scared and aren’t known for thinking straight in those circumstances. 

I have to agree with Luida here. I don’t like how quiet the military is considering how adamant they were about fighting back earlier. That doesn’t bode well at all. 

Vash fired his angel bullets at Knives! They kinda look like a black hole in the form of a bullet.

His power and accuracy remain unmatched. He’s way too far away from Knives for his gun on its own to have the power to reach him. That means he’s using his Plant powers to gain more speed and distance. 

It also looks like he severed the threads connecting Knives to Domina. Or disrupted them? It’s hard to tell, but either way, he’s showing his hand and letting Knives know he’s here, and he’s not going to let him get away with his plan.

Ch 4

It strikes me that we’ve never seen Vash openly use his powers like this before. He might move inhumanly fast and dodge attacks that would kill most people but he hasn’t actively created gates and used them against people. His powers don’t work with his version of pacifism. Add to that his fear of them and what they’re capable of, and it’s no wonder he never used them.

Things have changed now. He’s throwing that aside now. He’s not on the defensive anymore. He’s not scared of himself either. He’s got nothing left to lose and he’s going to throw everything he has at Knives because he has to protect humanity (and everything Wolfwood fought to protect). 

But also, his face here. It’s empty, slightly unhinged. He chooses this moment to put his glasses on. Is he hiding? Putting up a shield? Or is he actively turning himself into diablo, the angry avenger he keeps inside himself? Either way, there’s just something cold and entirely unlike the Vash we know in these panels. Including the very antagonistic way he’s talking to Knives, which is also quite a change. He’s done trying to reason with him. He’s finally realized there’s nothing he can say that will stop him. All they can do is fight until there’s only one man left standing. 

Knives has also decided he’s done with Vash. If he’s so willing to attack him, Knives is done trying to protect him. But even as he says that, Knives covers his face. Like he can’t stand to see his brother’s death. He knows he has to do this for his mission to succeed, but deep down, he hates it. Now I’m wondering if that’s why Vash put his glasses on too. To give himself that barrier between himself and the death of his brother. Because I maintain that no matter how much Vash said he was out to kill him for revenge, until this moment, his actions said that he didn’t truly mean it. 

“I’m disappointed. I don’t even want to see your corpse.” Knives, that’s—that’s a lot. He wants to destroy Vash so utterly, there’s nothing left of him. But he’s lying to himself again, because I don’t think it’s about how Vash still fights like a human, so he’s disgusting and beneath Knives and deserves a destructive death. It’s about not wanting to see the dead body of the brother he would’ve done literally anything to protect. 

Vash’s hair is getting blacker and blacker by the page and it’s hurting me deeply. He doesn’t care about surviving at all. There’s just Knives and him. 

Interestingly, when Knives realizes that Vash has fashioned his powers into bullets, he becomes complimentary again. He’s basically thinking, “Well, at least you finally put your powers to good use.”

But Vash says no. He’s accepted who and what he is, he’s accepted his power, but at the end of the day, he’s still just a gunman. He’s a simple man fighting to protect what he loves. He is not “other” like Knives. He’s part of this world and he’s fighting to protect it. Vash reaffirms his beliefs and who he is before Knives and that’s really, really powerful.

#trigunbookclub #trigun

[jeffersonhairpie]

Spoilers up to chap 336 of Jujutsu Kaisen

-

Sorry gotta get this out of my system

A slightly unhinged list of reasons that I'm Not A Fan of this Gojo death that I sincereley hope will make me look like an overreactive weirdo in a few weeks time:

He died offscreen. I know we see the body but we don't actually see the finishing blow. Bizzare for a character of his prowess and significance at this point in the story

Gojo in the 'afterlife' immediately talking about how much stronger Sukuna was than him hits really strange for a character defined by his casual arrogance. Gojo is fast as fuck so it's pretty clear that Sukuna could only get him with the Mahoraga-aided slashes if he caught Gojo off guard. Nothing we have seen in the Gojo vs Sukuna fight indicates that Sukuna is all that much stronger than Gojo and they're mostly pretty evenly matched. Nothing about this ending for Gojo looks to me like 'dying without regrets'.

Sticking Gojo in a box for 3 years real time (19 days in universe time) and freeing him just so the rest of the story can screech to a halt while all the other characters watch him die is fucking stupid. It's bad storytelling.

There are a few different things you could view as Gojo's character arc - whether it be the question he's asked of whether he's the strongest because he's himself or himself because he's the strongest, whether it's laying Geto to rest, whether it's learning that being the strongest is not all there is to being a complete person, whether its shedding his loneliness by learning that Geto is not the only person who he could be emotionally close to. Whatever you see it as, his arc has not reached its conclusion. Gojo is incomplete and him dying now makes his whole character feel like a waste. He didn't even really learn to value the people left alive bc how is he in the afterlife all smiling and happy knowing that Sukuna is about to rampage through the lot of them?

Gojo dying has always been so damn obvious. This is entirely personal preference, but I would have sooooo much rather seen him have his powers neutered so he was forced to understand tha value of an individual life than just wiped off the board. Also I think the universe could benefit from the notion that getting stronger and dying are not the only two things that can happen to a sorcerer.

I know they're not even on the same scale of plot significance, but I can't help comparing how Nanami's death was painful but felt well foreshadowed and entirely justified in the story to this death which very much doesn't (my thoughts on Nobara's death are more complicated). Nanami's death hurt because it felt true to the character, but Gojo's death has just annoyed me.

I never expected the final fight to be Gojo vs Kenjaku and I knew that something was going to have to happen to him in order to justify him not being part of the final showdown. Yuji as the MC and as Kenjaku's kid in this story about how the sins of the past shape the present is 100% the right choice for the story. Much as I thought it was taking the easy route, I hadn't discounted the possibility that Gojo would die, I had just expected him to, ya know, learn something and complete his character arc before he did.

This death just feels really cheap to me, in a way that I don't think even makes for a good fakeout. Maybe the fact that characters have already come back from the dead means that there was no way to have a fakeout feel entirely shocking, but I don't think I should be left thinking 'was that REALLY it?' after the fakout death.

BUT maybe hope doesn't have to be lost

Things I am holding on to hoping that this will be some kind of fakeout (copium is real and I am huffing it):

Gojo wasn't hit in the head, and in his fight with Toji he is able to come back from basically being dead because his head was undamaged

There is still one of the ten shadows that we haven't seen and given that it can't possibly be a stronger combatant than Mahoraga I'm betting on it having a healing ability, which would presumably be incredibly strong given that it's the last to be unveiled. The same healing could save Gojo and Nobara

When Yuji was presumed dead by his classmates and training with Gojo, Gojo comments that Yuji's body will eventually be scarred by Sukuna's cursed technique and he'll be able to use it as his own. Sukuna has the ability to bring people back from the dead so if Yuji can access those powers he can save Gojo (and probably Nobara).

Maki and Mai have something of an 'afterlife' conversation that is real but it doesn't stop Maki from returning to the land of the living.

Depending on exactly how you want to count 'coming back from the dead' several characters have done it at this point lol

In the afterlife Nanami has that random ass line about how curses and sorcerers can bring people back from the dead that doesn't seem to fit in with everything else being said. This could be foreshadowing.

Speaking of foreshadowing, maybe Gojo's line about not wanting to have two death anniversaries was an indication that he intended this to happen and has some sort of pre-established plan for how to win.

Shoko reveresed technique bass boosted by Utahime can heal anything #IBelieve

#jjk #jjk spoilers #jjk manga spoilers #manga spoilers #manga leaks #gojo satoru #shitty text post #jjk 236

[davekat-sucks]

I'm a bit new to the homestuck fandom, so what is murderstuck?

Murderstuck refers to the event on the meteor in Act 5 (Act 2) where Vriska, Eridan, and Gamzee, had killed their friends. First one we see is Vriska murdering Tavros in [S] Wake because he was trying to stop her from trying to go after Jack. The second we see is Eridan killing Feferi, destroying the Matriorb, and Kanaya after he finishes his duel with Sollux in [S] Kanaya: Return to Core. Finally, we have Gamzee going crazy after learning the truth about his beliefs. He killed both Equius and Nepeta. It has been dubbed as Murderstuck because of how dark these parts were and characters were being killed off. Gamzee and Eridan are also considered the villains of the Homestuck series. Probably doesn't help that in before Tavros' death, we see Jack Noir/Bec Noir, killing everyone's Dream Selves before Vriska really took someone's life. People thought that these three would battle in the [S] 3x SHOWDOWN COMBO. Three atrocious murderers. Each have their own justification. Some better, some worse. Unfortunately, since Andrew Hussie hates fight scenes and more attention was given to [S] Cascade (which is understandable, Cascade is the peak of Homestuck), Kanaya had to be revived as a rainbow drinker (the troll equivalent to vampires, Twilight vampires specifically since they glow/sparkle just like them) and stop all three of them with ease. She only killed Eridan with Terezi killing Vriska and Gamzee only being pacified temporarily thanks to Karkat and asking Kanaya to spare his life. Karkat had thought of him to be his best friend and became moirails when he pacified him. But sadly, it's said by Karkat that they broke that relationship OFFSCREEN because Gamzee was not doing his part to be his moirail. Gamzee would continue on to do more horrible things because of Lil Cal's influence and fulfill his destiny to raise and serve Lord English. It is also an event that is suppose to happen, according to Skaia and Paradox, in order to continue with this timeline. So these trolls HAD to all this do not make it a doomed timeline. Which makes it all the more nihilistic that none of these three can be better people or more if it means their universe is doomed either way. Can't even say Post Retcon after Murderstuck is any better. The only one to truly died after it was Eridan. But Vriska gets to live and apparently solve everything that Kanaya, Dave, Rose, and Terezi couldn't do when they were the only ones around. Vriska is even the one to stop Gamzee by MIND CONTROLLING HIM. His free will gets taken again not from Lil Cal, but Vriska. He still lives and gets sealed in a fridge, not being able to speak to anyone ever again. His and Karkat's friendship never gets brought up after that. Most assume that Karkat forgets about Gamzee and the murders easily after being Dave's boytoy. Same with Terezi being fine that Vriska killed her friend Tavros and being lesbians with her. And that's not even bringing up what happens to Gamzee later on in Epilogues.

#Vriska Serket #Eridan Ampora #Gamzee Makara #Homestuck #Murderstuck

[peregrinvs]

(The below is a show-only question.)

Iroh during Sozin's Comet said that he couldn't fight Ozai in part because the world would see it as brothers fighting for the throne, instead of the restoration of peace. But then he says that Zuko needs to confront Azula so that when Ozai falls, he can take the throne.

I can see the argument that Iroh thought that Zuko would secretly enter the Fire Nation Royal Palace and capture Azula with Katara before then holding her hostage until Aang arrived. But it seems more likely that he intended Zuko to fight Azula and her forces together with Katara.

So how do you think people in-universe saw the Agni Kai, and how do you think Iroh/the White Lotus justified his seemingly contradictory statements/actions? Also, do you think Zuko or the other members of the Gaang caught onto the contradictory, and if so, did they ever talk to Iroh and/or the White Lotus about it? Or if you think Ursa ever returned, did she confront Iroh about it?

Thanks for the ask!

The "Iroh v. Ozai final fight" question is kind of a mess. The showrunners didn't flesh out their relationship at all, to the point you can barely believe they're related. They made Ifoh a powerful firebender and a morally good person, whcih combined to his parentage puts him in position to stand up against Ozai.

And yet they absolutely needed for the final showdown to be Aang v. Ozai, which was needed thematically. They kinda painted themselves into a corner making Iroh the Designated Good Moral Upstanding Mentor Figure (tm) so they needed to find a good justification why this amazing man couldn't get rid of evil himself. Iroh needed an excuse that still made him look good so that's what they came up with.

Iroh's doalogue could have been better written to reflect that either he feels he lacks legitimacy to challenge Ozai, or to simply state that he doesn't want to kill his own brother, but with the way itwas handled on the show, we're left to speculate about his motives.

If you ask me, Iroh's real motive is that he's unlikely so win against Ozai and he knows it, so all he can do is hope the Avatar is OP enough to do it. However, he has such a high idea of Zuko that he's sure the kid can beat Azula in a duel, especially with Katara's help.

Thre's also the question of legitimacy: Iroh has previously accepted Ozai as Fire Lord and didn't object to being passed over when Ozai took the throne. It's a bit complicated for him to do a 180 now that Ozai has been reigning uncontested for years. On the other hand, Zuko has a valid claim to the throne because he is older than Azula, and he is in the right timeframe to challenge her before her coronation.

Finally, Iroh is a character who doesn't act much, even when faced with hard choices. That's because he's written as an older mentor figure, but it has the result of having him be passive and tend to let others fight his battles. He has never tried to stop Ozai, he was content playing shop while the war raged outside Ba Sing se. It's in character for him to just offload the hard work on the kids with some vague advice about destiny.

I very much doubt he intended for Zuko to peacefully capture Azula - he never expresses concern for her, and he clearly just sees her as a hindrance that stands in the way of Zuko's Destiny(tm). He probably doesn't intend for her to die, bur i doubt he cares how Zuko defeats her, as long as the kid ends up Fire Lord.

I don't see why the Gaang or the White Lotus would have any issues with that, since having Zuko as Fire Lord is beneficial to them.

Ultimately it's hard to give a convincing explanation because i'm sure the writers intended for him to have a good reason, but as is often the case woth Iroh, his actions and reasoning are at odds with how moral he's supposed to be.

NB: i have not watched the new live action version, this answer is based on the original animated show canon.

#anti iroh #iroh critical #anti order of the white lotus #avatar meta

[savagebisand]

The girls are fighting but who brawled first and Who Makes Mew 180 Next Ep? From disgust and disbelief at Rays accusations to Confronting Top...

Seen a couple theories posited that the SandRay fight is actually before the RayMew fight and at first I was like there is no way buuttt now I'm thinking about it more I can see a scenario playing out

Imagine Ray is riled up by that point and hellbent on telling Mew what he discussed with Boston earlier, they argue about Rays choice to tell Mew what he knows about Top and Ton because Sand just seems the person to go that's only gonna make it worse, Ray is refusing to listen and Sand snaps with "can't you focus on me instead" and Ray who is now Decidedly Pissed Treble because Sand is not listening and agreeing, everyone is lying to his best friend and wants him to play along aNd Sand wants to ask him to pick right now to focus on their issues instead. This is quite frankly far too much for Rays smooth pretty rich brain to problem solve at once. He tells Sand he has no business in it and what even are they to each other anyway and when Sand can't really answer the question bc isn't that Rays choice, enough is enough. Sand is in his way and he's on a mission, so an already desperate and exhausted Ray shoves Sand aside. Literally. Goes in all guns blazing to tell Mew a truth he thinks Mew deserves because how can this possibly go wrong? Ray is being good. He is looking after the person he said he would save back.

Mew, on the other hand, does not want and is not ready for this truth especially not from a rowdy Ray who has always had an issue with Top and kissed him just last week anyway. This is jealousy talking right? What else should Mew think when Ray just told Mew he hasn't moved on from him in years and still loves him. Oh the tragedy. But oh the glee. Because if this is the case and Sand follows Ray back in to battle because FFS he's infuriating but he cant leave Ray in that state and seemingly picks Ray up from his mortal kombat style finish him blow from Mew (again literally and metaphorically). There is ample room for Sand taking a hurt and shell shocked Ray home and providing that oh so sweet hurt/comfort. Perhaps we will get SandRay patching bruises up together, finally. Perhaps they can finally have that communication they blocked off last ep. That is, ya know, before Ray realises without Mew as a bluff he might actually be allowed to love Sand and that's impossible, time to push Sand away with five times the force.

Sidenote: It is very interesting to observe that Nick is there as well. Now Sand did not shock me after all he's the bar singer and that is the bar, he may not be there for Mew but this is where we find Sand anyway when Ray isn't with him. But Nick? Nick has never entered that bar space before, in a way it hasn't tainted him the way it has all the others. It's another thing he hasn't been exposed to that sets him apart. But suddenly Nick is there in this world with the core four once again seeing different sides of them. Arguably, he has no business being there, he's not friends with them really and Boston has never made a point of showing him off before unless it benefits Ton to do so (e.g. the pool party where Nick was in charge of a specific job). He could be there for Sand which, again, is interesting.

Even more intriguingly, we can see Title's character in the background of the RayMew fight scene. Evidently, this character is significant somehow, enough to be in the opening credits. I'm very much side eyeing what his role is here and now of all moments. I do think there's a strong chance after Nick witnesses RayMews showdown, he takes it upon himself to confirm what Ray claims to Mew. I don't see Mew believing anyone else but someone seemingly inconsequential, with no reason to lie other than Nick. And we do have the TopMew fight in this ep as well so evidently Mew starts believing Rays talk at some point.

The only other possibility I could see right now is feral protective Sand trying to back Ray up, pissed as hell that Rays pretty face looks so beat up and devastated, by throwing an off hand comment out that makes Mew double take and realise Ray is telling the truth because again he approves of Sand, thinks Sand is lovely and doesn't see why he'd lie. Sand knows as much as Nick does so either of them have the potential to be candidates Mew would rather hear the hard truth from.

Then again, sometimes this show blindsides us into thinking there will be more drama than there really is. It's quite possible Mew only starts to believe what Ray claims because one of Tops ex flings crops up and gives mew some sort of vague warning that seems to corroborate things mew had already noticed and ignored and what Ray was accusing Top of. I'd rather it be Nick personally cause I love that crazy gone girl. But I do agree with others who have pointed out Mew and Ton have another confrontation later which is more likely to be about the cheating, in which case it makes sense for Nick to bite his tongue for now esp since Boston is currently where Nick wants and being more "coupley" toward him and if Mew and Top have relationship drama, it may only push Ton toward Top more again.

That does lead me to wonder if Sand being the one to back Ray up in this RayMew showdown and make Mew doubt Top where Ray couldn't is what prompts Nick and Sands fight where Nick claims Sand has embarrassed him and hurt his feelings and Sand argues why should you care, he's an asshole. I could see why Nick would be hurt and annoyed if Sand telling Mew causes issues for Nick and Ton because ya know Boston's in a pissy since Mew is off with him, Tops giving him shit since clearly Boston gave shit away and perhaps Sand even lets something slip like "just ask Nick" which is why HE personally is embarrassed cause now Ton is also onto him. Also Sand stands with the most to gain. It pushes Ray into his arms more to be there for him when everyone else is dismissing him, esp Mew and Sand doesn't like Top in the first place and knows Top has a habit of carelessly fucking other people and putting his feelings first.

But this is only friends, maybe in reality the argument RayMew have isn't even about Top anymore by the end of it, maybe what Ray tells Boston he knows which clearly makes Boston nervous has nothing to do with BostonTop at all. From the small snippets we have we truly have barely any context but these are some scenarios I'd like for the timeline of things.

#only friends #only friends the series #sandray #bostonnick #bostontop #mew only friends #raymew #this is literally me just waffling about ways the fights next ep could play out but it was fun djjd #i just think its intriguing mew suddenly has a change of stance and starts confronting top #in the same ep as he literally unleashes hells wrath in his fist on ray for slagging top off #like something or someone with more validity than ray to mew has to trigger the 180

[space-mermaid-writing]

The witchling and the god [Loki x Witch!Reader] Chapter 30

Summary: The Avengers were looking for someone to help Loki fit in with the team. To become socially acceptable, so to speak. He had been given the choice of sitting in a cell in Asgard or serving some sort of community service probation on Midgard. The Avengers and Shield both felt that as long as Loki was on Earth, he should be under supervision. This is now your job. Why? Because you’re a witch. You’re not sure why this qualifies you, but here you are, giving it a shot. What could possibly go wrong?

Tags: Witch!Reader, Magic, Witches, slow burn, everybody lives in the tower, character development, Loki‘s redemption, Stephen Strange is a friend, Loki and Stephen are frenemies, Tony Stark is a good bro, kids love Loki, Tony has stupid nicknames for everybody, eventual smut

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Read it on AO3 | Previous | Next

Chapter’s Note: It’s the final showdown! Dudu du dududu du *kazoo solo* | I produced fan art |Beta by @zaria-04

Chapter 30: Someone on my mind

You are standing in a part of the Sanctum that is unknown to you. Magic has led you here, you were drawn to it. No, not you were. You're just sitting in the backseat of a car with no choice of where to go or what music to listen to. All you can do is to look out of the window and be terrified. Because the car is your body and you lost all control over it. Someone else is sitting in the driver seat.

You hear Stephen's voice as he steps through a portal to you. On the one hand you are relieved, the Sorcerer Supreme can help you, right? On the other hand, you want to scream, to warn him so he doesn't mistake you for yourself.

"Who am I talking to?" he asks you, taking a step closer.

"A witch." A smirk appears on your lips.

"Try again."

"Nah." With a flick of your hand, in which you hold the gemstone of the sword, you shoot a raw blast of energy at him. If only Stephen had shown up sooner, he might have been able to stop you from taking the gem.

In the fight that breaks out now, you can only watch. You try to fight back, to take the wheel again, but you didn't even notice that someone put you in the backseat and buckled your seat belt – not until it was way too late.

Stephen summons one of his spells in the form of a golden mandala and sends it out to you. But you counter it without any problems and dodge it.

It's a weird feeling to wield magic, that is not your own. Your fingers move in unfamiliar ways and you mutter spells you never heard. The gem in your hand amplifies your own magical power and multiplies each of your spells, so you have no trouble keeping up with the Sorcerer Supreme.

"Where is Wong?" Stephen growls questioningly, for the Sanctum is never without supervision. Either he's here himself, or, when summoned, Wong fills in for him.

Your mind is searched for a memory, and a brief encounter between you and Wong flickers in your mind's eye, dating back some time.

"Ah, your friend," your voice says. "Well, let's just say he's sleeping. Funny guy."

You know he's one floor down, lying unconscious in the hallway. You couldn't help it. You'll apologize to him for that later. If there is a later for you.

Stephen is furious. "I've got no time to deal with you right now."

That's right, you remember him saying something about a demon in New York before he left you unsupervised in one of the most important, magical buildings in this world. Man, he really trusted you. You guess that's over now.

You laugh. No, Daegal laughs and he twists your lips into a smug grin. "I don't want to keep you from your business. Go. I promise I'll wait."

That’s a lie. You stand near the door to leave at the earliest opportunity. Daegal has what he came for.

The next attack hits you right in the chest and you double over in pain. Just because you have no control over your body doesn't mean you're immune to pain. You see everything, hear everything, feel everything. And that right there was a nasty spell.

Blindly you reach for the door handle behind you, but the door is already open. Suddenly, something is wrapped around your throat and tightens its grip. The next moment you feel incredibly weak, as if something sucks any energy from you. You turn around and stand face to face with someone else.

You feel as if someone has opened the window next to you. "Loki," you whisper, and it's your own word you hear this time. Your gaze travels down you and you see that the Asgardian has put a necklace on you. It looks like an amulet, large and golden. An intricately crafted piece that once belonged to a princess.

"The others need you." Loki's eyes meet Stephens'. "Go. I will take care of this."

The sorcerer looks at him appraisingly, but the Asgardian is right. Time is short. Stephen opens a portal and jumps through.

Daegal had time to gather your strength. It feels like your powers are slipping through your fingers, like something is absorbing them from you. But Daegal still has enough to fight. The window is closed again and you roar against soundproof glass.

Your throat feels tight, like something is pressing uncomfortably against it. The necklace doesn't constrict you, but you feel the magic emanating from it. Or rather, flowing into it.

"Help me," Daegal whines, sounding afraid. He takes a step forward and wraps his arms around Loki. "Please. It's in my head."

It's a convincing performance. You probably would have acted exactly the same way, used the same words. And for a brief moment, you fear Loki will fall for it.

But Loki is the god of lies. And even if the words are technically true, Daegal doesn't mean them. It's a fine line, one that Loki walked for centuries. His hands light up green with magic and rest against your temples.

The car skids, and for a moment it feels as if Loki is sitting next to you in the back seat. He sees you and he sees Daegal. Then he's gone again, because Daegal has rammed the gem in Loki’s stomach. It's not devastating, because the necklace drains you of as much magical power as the gem gives you. But it's enough to make Loki stumble back a few steps into the hallway.

He glares at you grimly. "You're that wicked witch from the west coast."

"Don't stand in my way. I just take back what's mine," Daegal growls, glaring grimly at Loki. He starts losing control over you, clinging desperately to the wheel of the lurching car.

"You broke into my refugium, took my stuff and then you fucking obliviate me! It took me a while but we have security cameras, you know. It wasn't hard to find you, you have been all over the news. And your little witch girl was an easy target. You shouldn't have made her cry with your harsh words. She was so busy with her own worries that she didn't even notice me in her head."

He reaches for the necklace around your neck and tries to pull it off, but it doesn't work. Instead, you feel the familiar tightness around your neck that always appears just before panic sets in. You are prepared for it, you know your weak point. Daegal doesn't, the feeling makes him uncomfortable and he doesn't seem to know if it's coming from you or Loki.

The Asgardian walks right into your space and Daegal backs away.

"We should have killed you when we had the chance," Loki spats. "But she wanted to spare your life."

"What a noble action of a burglar. I'm so fucking thankful!" Daegal words drip with sarcasm as he prepares his next spell. However, due to the necklace and the part of the artifact that is incorporated into it, it is only a faint imitation of what he had wanted to do.

Angrily, he stares at your hands.

"Knock me out," you shout to Loki, your voice no more than a whisper. "He can't do anything if he can't breathe." You move a hand Daegal is looking at toward your neck.

Punches to the back of the head always look handy in movies, but they can damage the brain. And they kinda hurt – though you're desperate enough to take that, too. But if Loki cuts off your air, your body would go limp and the witch would have no control over it.

Loki understands what you're trying to tell him and shakes his head vehemently. "Absolutely not." Under no circumstances would he do that. There are other methods. But he wouldn't risk triggering you by cutting off your air. He notices you trying to fight your uninvited guest.

"The gem is mine!" Daegal spits furiously. He needs to leave before things get out of hand.

"You've gone mad, witch." Loki creates an illusion in his place and steps behind you. His hands glow green with magic.

"Oh, you think you're clever, don't you?" Daegal snickers. "But I know your secret, god of lies. When you told her, you told me and I-…" He falls silent as Loki puts his hands to your head. It's not difficult for him to enter your mind. You're his Witchling, you are familiar to him. You're home. Daegal has neglected the wards in your head after he broke them down and that makes it easy to bypass them.

You hear steps on the roof of the car. Loki's head appears upside down at the driver's window and looking inside. Daegal gasps and for the first time something like panic sneaks on his face. Loki yanks open the door and grabs the witch to pull him out.

Daegal stubbornly holds on to the wheel and the car starts to lurch. You feel dizzy, motion sick, but you also feel yourself getting more control. You move your leg and kick Daegal out of the car. Now driverless, the car trundles along and slowly comes to a stop.

You climb to the front. Daegal and Loki are no longer visible through the rear-view mirrors, as if they had suddenly vanished into thin air. You close the door and lock it, for good measure. Then you try to start the car, but immediately stall.

"Come on," you curse softly. "Please, don't let me hanging."

You try again, and again.

On the fourth try, it starts - still a little bumpy, but you're back on track. Alone.

You open your eyes. You're still dizzy and feel like you've suffered whiplash. For some reason, you're sitting on the floor, Loki’s arm around you. He looks at you with concern. At some point in the last few minutes, you must have fainted briefly.

When he notices that you're awake, he breathes a sigh of relief. "Are you alright, love?" he asks gently. Gone is his previous aggressiveness.

"I will be." He helps you stand up and you move slowly as a wave of nausea washes over you. It may also be due to the necklace still scratching your throat, draining magic from you. "Just give me a minute," you mumble. And, "Thank you." You have a headache, but you finally feel alone in your mind again. You notice how long you haven't been.

"I’m afraid, we don't have that time." Loki presses a quick kiss to your temple, then turns to the shelf. "Blackheart, the prince of hell, is in the city, and as long as he has been mesmerizing people and absorbing their strength, I doubt Stephen is able to send him back to hell without help."

You try to process the flood of information. Your brain still seems to be running a little slow. Whether it's from your magic being absorbed or you need to get used to using the full capacity of your brain all by yourself again, is hard to say.

"Oh," is all you manage to say, because you have no idea what to do about a demon prince. At least Loki seems to have a plan, because he picks up one of the three boxes in which the parts of Bloodweeper are stored and opens it with a spell. The hilt disappears into his pocket dimension.

Then he turns back to you. "I need the necklace, Witchling."

You take a step back, because you realize what Loki is up to. And that worries you. He notices your uncertainty and takes your hands in his. "He is no longer in your head. I promise. You are safe to remove the necklace. I won't let him take you again."

His words move you, but it's not the actual cause of your objection. "Loki, you must not put the sword together. It's too dangerous."

The Asgardian's expression changes, becomes harder. "I understand your concern, but this is not up for discussion, love. I'll do what is necessary to ban Blackheart from this world. Whether you approve of it or not. So please don't fight me."

You've never seen him like this. He is determined, ready to do whatever it takes to save the city. You know he wouldn't hurt you, he knows other ways to take you out if necessary. You won't stand in his way. You can't. So you nod. "Okay. I trust you."

He offers you a hand and you take it. His face doesn't change, because what he's about to do is a difficult task. Impossible if he were on his own. But there's a team waiting.

You briefly kiss his lips.

The next moment you two are gone from the Sanctum.

~~

There's chaos in the streets of Greenwich Village.

A hole in the size of Blackheart is in the wall of the abandoned building, Stephen had been fighting the prince of hell earlier - the Avengers do their best to hold him off. But their weapons are virtually ineffective. Each wound they inflict on the demon bleeds for a second or two before closing. It doesn't seem to cause him any pain or even so much as discomfort.

Blackheart lunges at Sam. Stephen creates a magical chain and ropes it around the demon's arm. Planting his feet in the ground, he tries to hold him back. This buys Sam time to fly out of reach, but Stephen is pulled forward, his boots skidding across the asphalt.

A spider web catches the other arm of the demon and Peter pops up next to the sorcerer, mimicking his moves. He manages to bring Blackheart to a halt. It's a testament to the boy's immense strength.

"I can hold him," Peter assures the sorcerer, breathlessly.

Stephen doesn't argue, drops his chain and takes a step to the side, to have space for his spell. With his fingers, he paints golden runes in the air, forming an intricate mandala.

With his now free hand, Blackheart grabs the web and hurls Peter through the air. Tony rushes after him as an arrow shoots toward the demon. He catches it before it hits him. A soft ticking sound is heard, then the tip explodes.

Blackheart stands there as if nothing happened. Part of his skin is burned - ironic since he is used to the burning flames of hell. A second passes, two seconds, then the skin heals from the edges of the injury. There’s almost no blood.

Stephen knits his brows together in concentration. The spell is almost completed. He just needs to add a few more runes.

Blackheart is bombarded by various blasts from the team, all of which serve to distract him. Unfortunately, he is not stupid. Searching, he turns and runs with a few steps to the unprotected Sorcerer Supreme. He grabs him around the waist, arms pressed close to his body. The mandala vanishes instantly, the spell lost, unfinished.

"Stephen Strange, you're quite insufferable," it echoes in his head.

"I've been told." Stephen can't move his arms. He flicks his wrists for spells and tries everything to get free. To no avail.

Steve’s vibranium shield hits Blackheart's back, dealing the smallest of scratches, which disappear right away. The demon moves the fingers of his other hand to Stephen's eyes.

"The soul of a Sorcerer Supreme will be an interesting addition to my collection."

Stephen tries to think of a spell that will help him, any spell. He hears the shouts of the team, but doesn't listen to them. Without magical weapons, they can't do anything for him.

But then, surprisingly, Loki appears, jumping on Blackheart's shoulders from behind, in his hands a sword with a bright blue blade, like cold flames. There's no witty remark, no cool one liner. He simply rams the sword between the shoulder and the neck of the demon.

Blackheart hisses and it echoes in the heads of everyone nearby. For the first time it's a truly effective attack. But Loki doesn’t stop at that. He pulls the sword back out and jumps down from the demon.

The wound on Blackheart’s neck bleeds. One second, two seconds, three seconds... more and more black blood seeps out. Slowly, thickly, as if it's not used to leaving the body.

Blackheart doesn't even notice at first, far too busy reaching for Loki. But the Asgardian deftly dodges the tall figure. He cuts into his arm. Not enough to sever it, but it's enough for Stephen to get free. His cloak immediately puts him at a distance and the sorcerer doesn't hesitate to start the binding spell a second time. He assembles the golden glowing mandala while Loki continues to fight Blackheart.

It's insane and genius and very, very brave.

The rest of the team helps to draw the demon's attention away from Stephen.

Blackheart finally notices the blood running down his body and screeches. He isn’t used to this, maybe it’s the first time ever he is bleeding, and there’s a touch of insecurity in his moves. Along with a large amount of anger.

"How dare you?!" It sounds threatening in Loki's head, attacking him like pin needles.

The Asgardian does not respond. He lashes out at the prince of hell without mercy, adding more and more cuts onto his skin.

Stephen completes his spell with a last rune. "Stand back!" he shouts to the others, for all who stand too close to the demon will be dragged into hell with him.

Loki takes a step back, but Blackheart reaches for him. Loki dodges with a roll and stabs him in the flank. He has no chance to get away. The demon’s focus is on him and he seems determined to kill the Asgardian.

Holding the spell with one hand, Stephen reaches back with his other to pull the cloak of levitation from his shoulders and throw it in Loki's direction. At the same time, he hurls the glowing spell at Blackheart.

The mandala wraps around the demon, binding him. At the last moment Loki is pulled back by red fabric. Sword firmly in hand, he hovers in the air, ready to attack again if necessary.

The mandala spins, Blackheart screeches. His red glowing eyes are directed angrily at Stephen. With a motion of the sorcerer's hand the demon is sucked into the earth.

Then he is gone and all that remains is a black scorch mark on the asphalt.

Everyone stares at the spot and breathes a sigh of relief.

The cloak brings Loki safely to the ground and then leaves his shoulders. The Asgardian thanks it with a silent nod before the cloak floats back to its owner.

You rush to the men. Loki had dropped you off in the security of the sidelines before he threw himself into the battle. You're not delusional enough to think you could do anything against an immortal demon of hell, and you had watched with bated breath, glad it ended rather smoothly.

You cup Loki's face and look at him in concern. "Are you alright?" you ask as you look at his bruises and cuts.

He nods, placing his hand on yours. Loki’s gaze falls on Stephen, who has spotted you, and his expression darkens in response. Stephen makes a gesture in front of his forehead, opens his astral eye and steps to the both of you, looking straight at you.

Loki steps in front of you, the buzzing sword still in his hand. "Don't touch her," he growls.

The sorcerer actually seems offended at this innuendo, but before he can say anything, you step around the Asgardian. His protection is appreciated, but you know you have to stand accountable and apologize.

"I'm sorry for what I did."

"It wasn't you," Loki throws in as if that were an acceptable excuse. He wouldn't even be on Midgard if it were.

Stephen's third eye scans you. "I can no longer sense that second magic presence within you," he mutters, blinking as he closes his astral eye. "I should have known what it was the first time I noticed it."

He has been speaking more to himself, but it still draws your attention. "What do you mean ‘the first time’?" you ask, frowning.

"Back when we met in the tower and talked about the necklace, I sensed another presence in you. I was wondering why Loki hadn't noticed it. But I didn't think someone was invading your mind… I thought," his eyes are briefly darting to the Asgardian, "you were pregnant."

A cough that could be a hidden laugh comes out of your mouth. "You thought I had a magical gifted baby with Loki?" you ask incredulously. And because Loki looks actually offended by your tone, you add, "I think I'd notice if I were pregnant."

Stephen's weird statements in your recent conversations with him suddenly make so much more sense. It'd be funnier if it hadn't resulted in a fight with your friend just earlier.

While you were talking the other Avengers approached you.

"Okay, anyone else got the feeling they missed an important part of a subplot?" Tony asks before eyeing the sword. "Is that…?"

"Yes," Loki answers Tony's question without looking at him. The fight against the demon and also the fight against the witch in your head, have cost him strength. Especially Blackheart's claws, because they have left their marks on him.

"Looks less haunted than I anticipated."

"It just helped us to defeat the prince of hell." It is Stephen who answers.

"Will he die?" Steve asks.

"No, he's still immortal. But the open wounds will keep him busy for a while." Stephen's gaze moves to Loki. "So, you stole the last piece of the artifact." It's a mere statement.

"Next time I may just wait for your order to finish the negotiation."

"Let's clean up and go home. If we're done here?" Steve interrupts the discussion, but looks questioningly at Stephen. The sorcerer nods. Yes, they are done here.

"Loki, I need the sword back."

"Of course." The Asgardian grins broadly before he asks, "But don't you want to know how I got my hands on the necklace?"

Stephen's face drops while he is having a deja-vu. Must be his personal circle of hell. "Look, it's been a long day and I-…"

Loki interrupts him at this point, as funny as he finds the situation the two always seem to find themselves in.

"You know, if you had listened to me the last time, you might have connected the dots to the Witchling's mind invasion."

"Alright, tell me your story then." Sighing, Stephen concedes defeat.

Loki's grin is very wide and pleased. "If you insist." He puts his arm around Stephen's shoulder and leads him a bit away while starting his story. You watch them with amusement, but then turn your attention to the Avengers, some of whom are cleaning up the destruction.

Fortunately, there are only slightly injured on your side. You heal a few minor wounds with magic before everyone agrees to head home.

Stephen heads back to the Sanctum to check on Wong.

"You have three days to sort your shit out," he says, turning to Loki, before disappearing through a sparkling portal.

"What does he mean?" you ask the Asgardian.

The corners of Loki's mouth twitch upward. "He's not happy I stole the necklace from the museum."

While that is true you sense that is not the full answer to your question. Still, you drop the subject for now.

"Wanna order food? I'm starving."

The Asgardian has no objection to that, and some time later you're both sitting in the compound with empty pizza boxes in front of you and full stomachs.

Loki kept throwing you weird looks during the meal, as if he was thinking about something. You've given him the space and waited for him to speak on his own.

"How are you feeling?" he finally asks you innocuously.

"It's good to be alone in my head again. I still feel like I'm not fully back online." It will probably take a few days to come back to normal after this long time with another person taking the shots. You think back to the strange dream you had. That was weeks ago. You feel sick when you think about how long Daegal was in your head.

"I'm sorry," Loki apologizes, and you look up in wonder, because he has no reason to.

"Huh?"

"Stephen was right," the Asgardian murmurs as if he himself can't believe he’s saying that. "I should have sensed the presence in your mind."

You push your food aside and take Loki's hand. "It's not your fault. I heard his voice in my head and it didn't occur to me that something was wrong with that. He's a master of manipulation. He slipped through my defenses like nothing. And we had a lot going on that distracted both of us."

"But not anymore. It's just you and me now, love."

"Yeah." You return Loki's smile. "We should celebrate. You just saved the city."

______________________

Suuuurprise, she's not preggers :D

Remember Daegal from Club Enchant and the mission in LA? Well, I did and I made it to y’alls problem...

And yes, I compared mind control with driving a car.

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[firstagent]

Digimon Ghost Game #67 Review

When you’re piecing together what the ideal Ghost Game ending would look like, there’s quite a bit to cover. More than can fit into one episode for sure. The finale solves this in two ways. One is limiting the climactic battle to only its key spots, throwing out bombastic traditions like super-final evolutions that look amazing but cover ground that can be accomplished more efficiently. The second is to speedrun through all the explanations as fast as possible to conserve time for the good stuff. That part of it is as rushed and confusing and absolutely wild as you would expect, especially since there’s way more to everything than we could have anticipated. But when the result of these time-saving measures is a first act with so much heart and a second act featuring Hiro finally acting on the dream he’d been idealizing all series, why let a little thing like a surprise alien conspiracy ruin our fun?

After the Siriusmon vs. Regulusmon showdown last episode, it was appropriate to do a reset and make the fight what it really has been all along: a psychological conflict for control. Gammamon’s trying to preserve his world, Regulusmon is destroying it, and Hiro jumps in to lead his little brother to the light. This has been a mind game between Gammamon and GulusGammamon the entire time, and rather than escalate the physical conflict, treating it as a fight within their headspaces works. Even when Gammamon frees himself and we’re back to duking it out, it’s he and Hiro winning through all of his forms rather than some massive power. GulusGammamon is allowed to live—the show’s just pacifist like that—and Gammamon passing along Hiro’s rule-setting is a lovely payoff.

Fast forwarding through all the alien doomsday prophecies and weak closure on the dark Digimon surrounding Gulus (this is why some shows just don’t bother explaining things) and we end up with string-puller Quantumon declaring that research on human-Digimon interactions (courtesy BlackTailmon) shows that the two mingling is hopelessly toxic, fated for disaster, and the two worlds must be severed immediately. Hiro and friends do what they’ve been doing all season: they use words and reason. Rather than live in fear of a far-off disaster, they want to spend time with their Digimon and work to create a world where the two can co-exist peacefully. Of all the things repeated through the show that needed to pay off here, none was more important than Hiro pondering what such a world would look like. And as annoying as it was that he never worked towards that before, he and the others defiantly demand it here. Then they follow through by actively putting in the work, making noise, and turning this into everyone’s problem. Without saying as much, this world is what every major character had been striving for this entire time, and embracing the immense challenge of creating it is as well suited an ending as Ghost Game could have received.

Initial Grade: A-

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#digimon #digimon ghost game #quick reaction

[justatalkingface]

I will say, now that we’re (hopefully) nearing the end of this manga, hori really can’t handle all of these characters. I’m not saying MHA would magically be the greatest thing in the world, things wouldn’t feel nearly as muggy and lame as they do right now if we just cut a lot of people. This is supposed to be the final battle, the ultimate showdown, and every three seconds we need to get a quick backstory because there are so many people in this story that they have never been given time to properly be developed. A good example to me is Shoji. He’s a super neat dude with a cool quirk who faces discrimination and was the victim of a horrible hate crime. He seems incredibly sweet and affectionate, and he seems to have some strong (badly written, but still strong) beliefs about hero society. And we get to hear about all those things……in a single chapter during the final arc before we are thrown into a different fight because we have a hamlets worth of characters and we gotta finally use them before it all ends. All of the characters in mha have a unique premise, but most have the depth of the puddle at best, and I feel you could cut a lot of people and very little would be lost. Allow the characters with the most potential to use all that time to actually develop instead of having to ration it out. Its just, ugh. Hori will get these ideas and staple them into a story without thinking if they’re actually necessary or if they’re being used properly.

Yeah. There's a bunch of layers to the character disconnection happening, a lot of which probably could have been avoided if he had an editor willing to make him cut content... but that probably requires too much time on a Jump schedule, and if he had that much time maybe it would have been better anyways.

*shrug*

Hori has been almost compulsively making and ditching characters throughout the entire story, which means there are both a lot of characters around that need to be dealt with, one way or another. Because he keeps forgetting them, or ignoring them, that means their... entire ass story is still sitting out there in the wind, and there's one last major story arc to try and patch them up.

Because he hasn't developed Shoji, and his racism arc, or that wind guy with the attitude problem who was easily strong enough to be in this last battle(s), when they drop them in for a few chapters for 'resolution', even the best effort would seem kind of empty, because it's still going from A to, like, F, all at once.

And... this isn't the best work, clearly, which make it even worse.

To some extent, the fact that it's coming to us week by week makes the whole thing hard to keep track of, when the situation is this big and spread out, and I think if you just read through it in a few sittings, the final arc would make more sense... but all the fundamental problems are not going to be solve by reading it in a better format.

Like... if I was in the position Hori was in? Lots of characters, big end arc coming, need to amp the drama? I just... wouldn't have put them all in? I think just not resolving them would go over better than a bad resolution.

Alternatively, raise the stacks eight-fold, and have SFO hit UA or something, and just kill a lot of people. Makes SFO/AFO seem like a bigger threat, get rid of the surplus characters, help motivate the characters and helps make it clear that the shit is real, now, and help make it seem like things changed after this is all over, because I bet after all of this the status quo will be god once more, even if you think a civil war bringing a country to the edge of implosion would have changed... something.

#ask #bnha critical #mha critical