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randomsnakesimp · 3 years

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Okay. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna take the leap and say: Phobos is the victim (sorta).

Quick disclaimer: I am going to abuse plot holes and cartoon logic for my cause in a very nitpicky way. If you dislike that, I can completely understand, and I hope this warning will save you a lot of reading.

Also, this won't go into just headcanon territory, I'll put those in a separate post. Everything here I'll try to keep based on actual information from the comics and what I made of them.

That said...

Let's take a look at this scene:

(for a quick translation of the important part, the mother says: "No, Phobos, Meridian is meant for your sister. That's the law. The crown is hers.)

What we can see here are a few very important things:

1. Phobos is at most 5 years older than Elyon.

2. The name "Phobos" is not an edgy nickname he gave himself. Five-year-olds don't go around calling themselves Phobos. So his parents, for some reason, gave him that name.

3. His mother is very adamant about him not even touching the crown and reminding him of his sisters' birthright.

So, after establishing what I would call more or less facts, what else can, relatively savely, be deduced here?

- Since Elyon never noticed anything weird about herself, she can't have aged slower than earth children. So neither can Phobos. This would mean that, as she was kidnapped after her mothers death as a baby, he would have been five. So, he either tried his best to rule at age five, or the council we see as Elyon rules stepped in for him for a while

- this would then mean two things: we need an explanation as to why Miriadel, Alborn and Galgheita fled explicitly from Phobos (I'll give my explanation a bit further down) and second, Phobos' reign of terror wasn't even thirteen years, and a lot of that time he was a child/teen and could not even have been mature enough to rule.

- This also means that Kandrakar pulled up the veil when Phobos was at most five, likely younger, and that the so called "Seal of Phobos" also existed at that time, as both the veil and the seal are seen in the flashback depicting Elyons abduction. For Kandrakar, this, too, I will try to explain soon, but as for the seal, I find it most plausible that the theory @ror-witch used in their fanfiction, of the seal being a royal heirloom and named after each ruler, is true.

- His and his mother's relationship was neither as bad as some assumptions go, but neither was it that good, probably, or at least it wasn't in his perception. See how his memory is of her cradling the baby the entire time and talking more about his sisters birthright than about what he has/can do? Yes, it's only a short memory, but I think it's clear that it's a summary of what he remembers of his mother.

- Phobos desire to rule Meridian does not stem from something deeply sinister, but rather from a childish spite. Five year old Phobos probably just wanted the crown cause it looked nice and shiny, and he was fabulous even back then, but after his mothers words, he sulked and decided to show her. That's his motivation.

So, now let's go a bit further and look at some other things we can deduce from the rest of the comics:

- Phobos has a huge dungeon, a wall of roses that turn people into more roses if they touch it and his plan for the annihilation of Meridian is "Well, Cedric and I hide in the castle and...we'll see". He hates the people of Meridian, but he doesn't seem to have it in him to directly attack anyone until Elyon is there and even here, when he has her knocked out in their duel or locked up as Endarno, he isn't unnecessarily cruel. He's not evil in nature, he's more of a very dangerous child throwing tantrums. ( Cedric is kinda similar, and they both start losing it toward the coronation, but I sincerely believe that before that, there would have been a chance for them to come around )

- The only person he ever tortures or even hurts directly is Cedric. Because one, he likes Cedric and so gets more extreme emotions around him, and two, Cedric never says anything, and just plays it of afterwards, so I don't know if he even fully realizes what he's doing, like a child hitting someone. If Cedric ever just said "Stop it, you're hurting me", Phobos would probably need an entire week to process that input.

- Phobos is VERY reclusive, and he doesn't want anyone to have even pictures of him, and while that could be a God complex, I get some highly insecure vibes out of it, in a vulnerable narcissist kinda way, in that he is massively overcompensating. I gotta admit, though, that I cannot put my finger on why, so maybe take this with a grain of salt and decide for yourself if you agree.

- Kandrakar never orders the guardians to help Meridian in any way, just to make sure nothing oozes out. They likely pulled up the veil for their own protection, so Phobos wouldn't be able to spread far enough to become a real danger, rather than to protect innocent people, as clearly the Meridian people mean shit to them

- while the guards are widely feared in Meridian, Cedric seems to be viewed as... not very frightening or important, as some random merchant feels comfortable clinging to his cape (and rightfully so, apparently, as Cedric just tells him to piss off and doesn't care any further). This further leads me to believe that Cedric is rather unhealthy devoted to Phobos and his tantrums while their shitty ass reign leaves a lot of free space for unsuited people to become guards and tyranize the people.

- the King and Queen seem to have died in rapid succession, and shortly after the scene shown above, yet she looks perfectly healthy in that scene.

Now, what do I make of all this?

I believe the line of events to be as follows:

I don't think Phobos traveling back in time is a viable theory for mainly two reasons: I think his mother would be less chill around him if she saw/heard about his reign herself, and I believe that it would have been mentioned somewhere along the way if that were the case. Instead, what I believe happened is that the oracle had a vague vision of Phobos nearly taking over Kandrakar. Deciding in their random mood swings that today was a day of action, they had the people of Meridian informed that the next male born to a queen would become a dangerous tyrant, pulled up a veil and set their guardians to make sure nothing oozed out.

The veil, of course, made the people of Meridian feel trapped and a horror of the unborn prince who would ruin their lives spread.

So, when Weira gave birth to that prince, a full blown panic spread, so much so that she, in a fit of hysterical emotion, named him after that boust of panic. Of course, people tried to kill the prince basically from the moment he was born, and he was met with barely concealed resentment.

Soon after, Weira and her husband died - whether they were killed, or fell ill, or died in an accident, I have no idea, but I wouldn't completely rule out an assassination either aimed at Phobos and accidentally hitting them or the strain making at least one of them fall terminally ill.

Either the people rioted and Phobos' magic panic reaction or the leftover loyal guard was enough to fight them back, or the people succumbed to their fate at this point, slumping into the state of despair seen throughout the comics. But in the end, five year old Phobos had to be handed the throne. I assume the council still had some say at this point, but he did manage to get all pictures of him destroyed - this order was likely due to the fact that they were mostly caricatures.

So he grew up with the very volatile combination of a shitton of power and no one able to tell him if he was being stupid on one hand, and feeling unloved and unwanted on the other. He withdrew, likely also due to countless assassination attempts or things he perceived as such, and went into a negative feedback loop of being unable to mature and take responsibility, therefore being a shit ruler, therefore being hated, therefore having no one to help him, therefore being unable to face and grow from his mistakes, rinse and repeat.

So, Meridian was plunged into chaos, yet he seemed fine more or less just sitting in the new playroom he made for himself in the gardens, sporadically giving out an order or two and having generally no idea about anything that didn't directly concern him.

Enter Elyon. Now, she send him of the rails, as she was a danger to his lifestyle AND a reminder of all the sentiments he'd be drowning in alcohol if he wasn't too much of a recluse and education denier to know of that option. He doesn't even try. He just lets Cedric, the one person he trusts, handle her, like everything else, and somewhat plays along sometimes, when he feels like it. This is where he passes the point of no return and starts actually trying to kill people, culminating in him creating an army to wipe out Meridian. I still believe that even at this point, in his head, what he's doing is just throwing a nice toy out the window just so his sister won't have it.

#w.i.t.c.h. comics #w.i.t.c.h.#w.i.t.c.h. theory #prince phobos #Kandrakar is a shitshow

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ifeveristoday · 3 years

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I got out my DVDs for this rewatch (that’s not actually a big deal. I only have season 3 on DVD. 😂) so let’s get to it.

I forgot they did a cold open for this episode!

I know it’s for ambiance but man does Angel have a lot of candles displayed. Probably too ‘mainstream’ for his taste but the thought of Angel furtively going to a Bath and Bodyworks in the mall during their semi-annual sale and just buying out their whole candle selection gives me the purest joy. Let’s be real though, Angel would shop at some boutique/hole in the wall owned by a wizened old character with a twinkle in their eye and everything marked up 20%. Or it would be a steel and glass monstrosity with a collection labeled Candles for Men. That’s the range.

Back to the enormous fire hazard that this scene is -

Wait. Does fire burn on stone?

Shout out to the stunt doubles.

I think that Angel getting food for Buffy for a sort of alfresco picnic while training is really sweet, actually. Also, can't miss the opportunity for both carbs and phallic symbolism ala bread.

Everyone is so embarrassingly horny in this moment. I'd say get a room except they're in a whole giant mansion.

Always remember the bread! What did Angel do with the food after Buffy fled? Fed the no-doubt cursed pigeons that live in Sunnydale.

Thanks for the workout (insert stereotypical dirty laugh).

Oh yes, the awkward 'let's talk about your birthday without mentioning the last birthday you had at all because it's horrifying' chitchat. God, the anxiety Angel is radiating here and Buffy trying to smooth it over. You can't unfrost that trauma cake!

Angel, you utter dork. You're lucky Buffy finds you pretty. Very powerful himbo energy here. And it's nice to see some light-hearted flirting/banter between them.

How do you know when someone's aura's dirty? Buffy is only asking the reasonable questions everyone has.

Do you hear yourself, Giles. "I'm aware of your distaste in studying vibratory stones..." I can't imagine what that section of the Slayer handbook looks like. Are there pull-out charts?

Faith being conveniently gone for this episode. Boo, hiss.

That workout really did a number on Buffy. I see what you're doing with those crystals.

One of the sad parts of rewatching Buffy is that you just don't have the first time discovery feels of watching it - that magic is gone, but even though I know why Buffy's wobbling in her fight, the reveal is still upsetting. Thinking about how in Season 5, when she does get staked, just as she's questioning her powers - and here, where she's losing them.

Also, obvious observation is obvious - the sexual violence imagery is really, really blatant here - with the vampire crouched over her with the stake aimed toward her heart, just as she playfully staked Angel earlier in a more romantically set scene.

AND THEN THE THEME KICKS IN. Like, damn! Three minutes and you can pretty much tell what the plot is going to be - Buffy and Angel's UST is getting out of hand, Buffy's lone Rangering it, and something is wrong with her. And it's her birthday.

And Buffy's resourcefulness saves the day.

Perhaps you shouldn't be throwing knives in the library, Buffy.

Did they do a geography lesson on Cuernavaca? It's also just fun to say. Like La Cienega. Brief moment to ponder yet again about a show set in Southern California, actually shot in Southern California, with the huge Latine population we have and the Spanish-influenced names and culture and - getting sidetracked by all this casual 90s racism.

"We do it every year for my birthday," except your seventeenth, presumably because of the murderous ex-boyfriend stalking the town you live in and all your loved ones. [Or, he did take her and it was not shown on screen!] Sometimes I wonder if the continuity editors just go, you know, I'm going to let this one go for the 'emotion' and not just so years later, a Virgo with a deep-seated need to obsess over throwaway details will go into a thought spiral to make it make sense.

I think this is also the last time Hank Summers was spoken of with any real affection because then he was Deadbeat Dad for the remainder of the show. Oh, look. The Scoobies are surprised about the traditional birthday ice show that I'm going to nitpick about forever.

Oz is so supportive, and then the clunker of a 'deep' line of ice being cool because it's water then it's not. I do like the Whedonesque school of dialogue, but sometimes you gotta reel it back. I remember the dialogue on Dawson's Creek was getting pinged for the teenagers talking like grad students.

Quiet reflection. Oh you poor girl, you have no idea.

Quarterly projections - is a convincing filler phrase for when you don't need to know what the job is, because it's boring but sounds vaguely official. What does Hank actually do? Who cares! He's an asshole.

Sunnydale Arms, because of course, Sunnydale has a broken down abandoned murder hotel.

Quentin Travers. Boo. Hiss.

The scary music is very scary. Also one of the Council flunkies looks like a very young Vincent D'Onofrio.

This scene with them in the library is so bittersweet because Buffy is fishing for Giles's attention as a father figure substitute ("very sophisticated people go!" breaks my heart) and he pointedly is rejecting this for training talk.

Look for the flaw at its center. THE FLAW IS YOU GILES. YOU YOU YOU.

it's just so terrible, this scene because of how methodical and clinical it plays out. And Buffy is just not there, and then Giles smiles like nothing has happened.

Buffy makes it through another night - next day (another reason why this trial is so horrifying is that it takes place over several days - it's not on Buffy's birthday but leading up to it, so the idea of her getting weaker and weaker and unable to fight to make it to 18 in the first place) and it's time for the Cordelia has had enough of toxic masculinity scene!

Also, Willow blithely ignoring a person's feelings and treating Amy as just a rat is played for laughs and cuteness, but yeah...you can't treat people like puppets or rats [law and order sound]

I love Cordelia's coat. And also, while it does suck that she stood him up, he's not entitled to her time or attention and certainly not to threaten her. Go, Cordy! Fight like a girl! Yes! Pummel him into the hallway.

I also love Willow's outfit here because I think the colors are so complementary and warm and it's a cute outfit. Okay, the knit wooly hat is a bit too Blossom-esque, but whatever.

Buffy is tiny, we all know this, but I do think they purposefully dressed her in larger than her size coats in this episode to make her look even more tiny and vulnerable.

Giles is TOO BLASE for this scene also shut your mouth about throwing knives like a girl

"It's an archaic exercise in cruelty." SO WHY DID YOU GO ALONG WITH IT, BRAIN TRUST. (I am going to be very mean to Giles this whole rewatch, deal with it.)

"But I'm the one in the thick of it." No, you're not. You are going to be adjacent to it, at best.

Hey it's that guy!

Okay, in better lighting, flunkie does not look like Vincent D'Onofrio.

It's impossible to pin down one type of Vampire in the Whedonverse, except for the delineation between Grunt Bait Vampires, and Special Guest Star/Master vampires, but Kralik is the only other example of a vampire with mental illness besides Drusilla, yet he's medicated. Makes me wonder how exactly they got Kralik...he was a monster before he was a vampire, but who vamped him? I don't put it past the Watchers to have vampires created for this purpose.

Curse against lawyers!

Xander and Oz bonding over comic books is so fun. I regret they didn't really get closer until after Xander and Willow cheated because Oz was the one male friend Xander had.

They mentioned her birthday! Thinking about Buffy's love of poetry later on, this is a nice little detail, and it *is* a thoughtful, sweet gift. Also those poems: horny. Oh yes, maybe in a restrained way, but Elizabeth Barrett Browning knew what was up.

The Buffy and Angel relationship in season three is full of these starts and stops that I can see why and agree with others about how it's frustrating on a number of levels. They know why they can't be together, but they still try to find a common ground because they want to need the other one. They still have their identities to figure out - Buffy as the slayer and a young adult, Angel as a person, separate from Buffy and being Buffy's ex sort of maybe.

But this conversation in Helpless is genuinely sweet and a glimpse at what a normal couple at the crossroads would talk about - I think I'm also being soft on this because the other Important Male Figure in Buffy's life in this episode lets her down so spectacularly bad, that Angel being supportive and kind in his awkward way is a nice respite. It's good to be away from the angst and the horror that their relationship has had.

And the self-aware puncturing of the Moment between them is something Buffy does very well. "Taken literally, incredibly gross - I was just thinking that too". Look, it's cute and soft and I will allow it.

The horror of this episode (and there are so many) is that we have to watch Buffy become the helpless blonde in a slasher flick who is being chased by the monsters and she can't do anything about it - that she has to be rescued or die. That the real world with men catcalling and bystanders who ignore women's cries of distress is far scarier than the literal demons that inhabit the town - and Buffy brokenly saying she can't just be a person, she can't be helpless like that [like women are, still, today] is a gut punch. It's uncomfortable and unhappy because Buffy is supposed to be the hero, the [sigh] strong female lead who can kick ass and take names, and this episode is all about finding who Buffy is, separate from her super powers. Also an exercise in emotional torture, but must be Tuesday.

The physicality - the weakness that both Buffy and Giles display in this scene is so, so good. The way Buffy's hand trembles toward the needle in the case and the dawning realization of what Giles has done, has chosen to do - and he bloodlessly tells her what the Cruciamentum is.

Her tiny little "Liar."

GOD WHY DIDN'T SHE GET AN EMMY (rhetorical we all know genre tv only matters if it was Game of Rapey Thrones)

"You will be safe now, I promise you." LIAR.

Another puncturing a heavy moment - Cordelia as cavalry - I love it. Cordelia taking the most obvious approach to the situation - 'oh Buffy might have lost her memory, well he's Giles,'

I can't believe they robbed us of a conversation in the car scene with Cordy and Buffy.

Kralik had to have found a polaroid camera and a metallic sharpie for this whole scenario -- OH I KNOW WHO HE REMINDS ME OF. The Night Stalker and any number of serial killers that terrorized SoCal. Is the show being self-aware of the problem with mothers and parents in general?

Probably a glib accident.

I don't have much to say about the part where Buffy hunts Kralik because it's so masterfully done with the atmosphere and music.

Nice of Giles's backbone to enter the chat now.

This is not business. Ooo.

Buffy's "I thought I killed a man" emo overalls!

Like it's shadowy, but there's still enough light to see facial expressions. Lighting guy, I salute you.

Little red riding hood metaphor. Oh, that's so her stunt double.

CREEPY SEXUAL VIOLENCE REARS ITS DEFORMED HEAD AGAIN

Jump stair scare. I remember the first time I saw it, I jolted in the living room.

Serial Killer Shit. Why are vampires such drama queens?

THAT'S RIGHT, BUFFY DID THAT

The ending scene in the library is cathartic in that Buffy gets to stand up for herself finally, and recognizes what Giles gives up by helping her, delayed as it was, also there's the feeling of hate punching Quentin Travers via your eyes.

Still don't think she should have forgiven Giles so easily, but we don't get to see a lot of aftercare for Buffy when she gets hurt, and it is a very tender scene.

The Scoobies are being way too upbeat if they knew about the fact that Giles poisoned Buffy, which is why I'm assuming she told a very abbreviated version of events ending with Buffy killed the bad guy and Giles got fired, oops.

Xander's big strong man comment and then looking immediately to Willow to open the jar and not Oz...

I could watch this episode again with episode commentary from David Fury, but another day.

#a bit later #but here it is #saff rewatches buffy

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precuredaily · 3 years

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Precure Day 204

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 06 - “King Donuts Awakens!” Date watched: 8 January 2021 Original air date: 9 March 2008 Screenshots Transformation Gallery Project info and master list of posts

mood

The character re-introduction arc reaches its epic conclusion and shows us where Rin has wound up after her moment of self-realization in the Y5 finale. It turns out, she wound up constantly tired. Relatable. Let’s dig in!

The Plot

Nozomi and Rin are on their way to Natts House to prepare for the grand re-opening. Rin is visibly very tired and confesses that she was up late the previous night.

images with sleepy auras

As they arrive at the store, they run into Syrup.... or more accurately, he runs into them, carrying an urgent letter from Milk. (Remember this, because Syrup sure doesn’t) However, just then, a brilliant light erupts from inside of Natts House, so they all rush in to see what’s happening. They find everyone gathered around a table with the Rose Pact in the middle, glowing, and then it opens up and King Donuts emerges, fully awake. Then he yells at everyone to stop staring at him.

blinded by the light...... how does that song go again?

After the opening, the gang tries to introduce themselves to King Donuts, but he assumes it’s another Eternal trap until Coco and Nuts reveal themselves. Instead of being relieved, however, he just pivots his anger onto them for being incompetent and letting him get attacked by Eternal. So yeah, not off to a great start here. While they watch the goings-on, Rin yawns, and this further annoys the already irate king. Growing frustrated, he tries to leave, but finds that there’s a barrier around the Rose Pact that’s trapping him until he fully recovers. As you may imagine, this does wonders for his good mood.

I’m not yawning because I’m bored, I’m yawning because I’m bored AND tired.

Cut to Eternal’s headquarters and a very fatigued Scorp drops a huge report on Anacondy’s desk, mentioning he hasn’t slept for six days while writing it. However, she dings him on numerous minor errors, deeming it unusable, and tells him to combine it with the previous report and redo it. Exhausted and holding a stack of paper half his height, Scorp collapses and the pages fly everywhere. I have to say, Koyasu acting tired is a fun change of pace for him.

these are the eyes of a man who has lost all hope

Back at Natts House, everyone is still trying to appease King Donuts. He insists he’s fine already but in attempting to demonstrate this, he wears himself out quickly. Karen offers him the apple she snapped a few episodes ago, but he refuses to eat it because he doesn’t trust them. The girls give up on him for now, because they need to get to work opening up the store, but they notice Rin has fallen asleep.

Nozomi advises them to just leave her be, trying to get Syrup to help them pass out fliers instead. He refuses and wants to know why they don’t wake Rin. Nozomi explains that Rin was busy all day with sports clubs, tending to the family shop, and watching her siblings, so she stayed up all night designing accessories because it was the only free time she had. (I am very familiar with this concept.) She also admits that Rin didn’t tell her this, she deduced it because she knows Rin and how she works.

With that settled, the remaining girls, as well as Coco and Nuts, get to work handing out fliers. Syrup, however, stays behind to look over Rin, because he refused to help any other way. He muses over his situation.

At that moment, Rin wakes up, and Syrup asks if she really was up all night designing jewelry. She realizes her old friend Nozomi has read her like a book. She admits to feeling guilty that she not only stayed up late working, but she couldn’t come up with any ideas, and now she’s missed out on handing out fliers as well. She feels useless (big oof) and contrasts herself with Syrup, who she says is working hard to get to the Cure Rose Garden. Syrup disagrees and insists she works way harder than him. At this point, King Donuts, who has been listening in, interjects and commends Rin for being critical and analytical of herself, saying it’s the key to self growth. I feel like there’s a missing line in here about not slipping too far into self-doubt, but regardless, Rin remembers she’s supposed to be at futsal practice and runs off before the end of the King’s speech.

“Gah!” - Natsuki Rin, 2008

After she’s gone, the king and Syrup discuss how hardworking she is, along with the other girls. Also there’s a gag where King Donuts didn’t recognize Syrup until he turned back into his fairy form which further establishes that Syrup has a bit of a negative reputation far and wide.

Meanwhile, at the practice field, Rin isn’t doing a whole lot better at futsal than she was at jewelry design. As a result of staying up late, she’s still tired, so she’s missing passes or overshooting goals. She even accidentally kicks the ball over the fence and into the woods, so she goes to retrieve it while yawning some more.

It’s here that she is confronted by an equally sleepy Scorp, who asks her to hand over the Rose Pact so he won’t have to write up his report, and he can sleep. It’s kind of pathetic, kind of comical.

Scorp turns the futsal ball into a hoshiina, so Rin transforms as well. Syrup swoops in to save her from Scorp but drops the Rose Pact, so King Donuts tries to talk down the villain. However, Scorp is undeterred and even sees more value in having one of the monarchs inside the Rose Pact. The other girls show up and transform, temporarily distracting Scorp (as well as the king, who is surprised that they’re the legendary warriors) but he then continues his advance until Rouge punches him away. Then she hears Lemonade screaming as the Hoshiina tries to fling her off, so Rouge rushes in to kick it and rescue her friend. Scorp once again tries to capture the Rose Pact, so Rouge separates from the team again to protect the fairies, but Scorp captures her instead and taunts her about trying too hard to do too much by herself and says she’ll only ever be halfway finished. This hits Rin at her core and she is unable to resist an attack from the Hoshiina, but at the last moment her teammates jump in front of her to defend her. They remind her that she’s not alone, they’re there to help her, and then Dream gives an inspiring speech about how Rin always challenges her situation and works harder than others, so they’ll always support her. Scorp is unimpressed, but Dream rushes him with a Shooting Star. Feeling newly motivated, Rin also performs her new finisher on the Hoshiina: Fire Strike! She summons a fireball at her feet and then kicks it into the monster, which of course dissolves back into a normal futsal ball. Scorp flees, muttering about how he’ll have to include this in his report as well.

As the dust settles, King Donuts admires the Precures, and then has a seemingly random realization about the Rose Pact and the Red and Blue roses, or rather, the lack of blue rose. In case you had forgotten that plot point.

the answer will surprise you

Back at Natts House, King Donuts opens up a bit more to the girls and they chat back. However, he quickly reiterates that he doesn’t acknowledge Coco and Nuts as rulers yet. When they ask Syrup to help them with the shop, he reminds them that he’s only here to deliver a letter from Milk, and he finally hands it over to Coco. (took him long enough) It turns out the letter says there’s an emergency in Palmier Kingdom and everyone needs to come there quickly! They want to go but aren’t certain how.... until they remember Syrup has the convenient ability to travel between worlds. He initially refuses, but King Donuts cleverly appeals to both his pride and his kind-heartedness, causing him to think about the conviction all the girls have shown in their solo outings thus far, and he agrees to take them. So just as quickly as it opened, Natts House is closed again and the gang boards Syrup to fly to the Palmier Kingdom. As they rise into the air, they soar forwards into a watercolor warphole, surrounded by floating lights. They fade to white and the credits start.

The Analysis

Something I truly appreciate about this episode is that it picks up from the first series finale, and shows that Rin hasn’t magically become a top tier accessory designer, she still has moments of artist’s block, and she really struggles with just finding time to create, which impacts her social responsibilities. (sounds familiar) Rin’s struggle is a recurring theme, and I'm always glad that unlike certain later shows, they don’t glamorize her sacrificing sleep, they just portray it as something people sometimes do even if it’s not in their best interests. Contrast with that episode of Go Princess, you know the one. It’s a straightforward cause and effect: Rin stays up late designing, so she’s tired the next day, and that influences her interactions.

It has some positive responses, such as getting King Donuts to recognize how hardworking she is and swaying his opinion on the girls; and some negative impacts, like kicking the futsal ball too hard and over the fence. With all that said, I must once again remind you all not to sacrifice your well-being for your goals, even if I’m bad at following my own advice.

King Donuts (or Doughnuts if you prefer) is an interesting character. At first he’s paranoid that he’s in another Nightmare trap, but as he grows to accept his circumstances he warms up a bit, especially when he hears about how hard Rin is working. He remains critical of Coco and Nuts, understandably so, since their negligence led to him being attacked previously. However, he doesn’t dislike them, he is sharp-tongued because he wants to make them better kings. Physically he resembles a diminutive dragon. It’s not the most apparent visual but when all four Rulers are together the pattern begins to become obvious. More on that ~eventually~.

although they’re all in the OP so, ya know, clues

A secondary theme throughout this arc has been to show Syrup starting to acclimate to the girls and begin appreciating their hard work and way of doing things. He’s still stubborn and wants to do his own thing, but it takes less arm twisting to get him to go along with the girls’ requests. Usually. As he admits to King Donuts, he respects their work ethic and their devotion to the causes they love. He entered the picture as a loner delivery boy who just wanted to do his job, but getting roped in with the Precures’ misadventures has opened his eyes somewhat. He’s going to be fun to watch as the show continues. However, he has a reputation, as we’ve seen. We don’t know exactly what the details are but several characters seem to have a low opinion of him, and we’ll find out more about that in coming episodes.

The fight in this episode is interesting in how..... not interesting it is. It kind of fools you into thinking more is happening than actually is. There’s a lot of talking and not as much action as you would expect. The Cures and Scorp or the Hoshiina will exchange a few blows and get thrown around, then one of them starts lecturing the other side about their beliefs. Sure, all Precure shows have elements of this, I can remember a few other fights that were more talk than combat, but it seems particularly egregious this episode. I do like how Scorp’s mocking has an effect on Rouge though. She’s already feeling really unaccomplished and then he goes and tells her she’s useless without her friends. It starts to weigh on her heart, but her friends quickly step in and say hey, we love Rin, she has us to support her, it’s okay if she can’t do it all by herself. As a result of this quick pep talk, she unleashes Fire Strike, her new finisher, and boy does THAT shine. It’s the first soccer-themed Precure attack in the series, and more will follow in subsequent years.

Compared to some of the other finishers, Fire Strike is more straightforward. Rouge creates a ball of fire and kicks it directly into the Hoshiina. It’s less over the top than her teammates attacks (flying into the enemy, twin whips, flying discs, or an arrow made of water) but the animators manage to punch it up a bit with some suitably dramatic effects that sell how fast, hard, and powerful this kick is. Also I have to say, the shot of Rouge bringing her leg all the way back to ready the kick is really cool.

Her leg is cocked and extends past her head. If you’ve ever tried this you know it’s hard, so even if you can make a drawing do anything, it still looks impressive, and the next shot where she’s kicked it is gorgeous. The flame walls, the way she’s lifted slightly off the ground, the way the ball is warped, all convey a sense of power and motion. Yeah, she’s just kicking it straight ahead, but you get the sense she could kick it through a brick wall.

I do have to say, on the negative side, the framing device of the episode feels a little forced. If this letter from Milk was so important, Syrup probably should have pushed it on the girls a little sooner. Maybe just dropped it off with Nozomi when he first met her in the morning. They still could have seen King Donuts awakening but they would have made moves to go straight to the Palmier Kingdom instead of doing all that work advertising and opening the shop only to have to close it again right away, and skipping Rin’s moral quandary. Since those are at the root of the episode, it might be hard to cut them, so alternatively, to keep them, the episode could have been written such that Syrup could have received the letter at the end, so he wasn’t holding onto such an important and urgent letter all episode long. It’s the little things. And on that topic, I find the third act (fourth act?) after the fight to be a little too goofy. Syrup finally hands over the letter, then they all hem and haw about how they’re going to get to Palmier Kingdom and they beg and plead Syrup to do it until he finally agrees. The only truly funny part to me is Nuts lamenting that he has to close Natts House after he just opened it.

Also there’s this ending sequence.

vimeo

This is the single worst thing I have ever made in the name of this project.

It’s overall a well-thought out episode and it smartly moves between story elements, smoothly concluding the character reintroductions and setting up the Blue Rose arc that follows. I appreciate how seemingly unconnected events flow into each other and they lead to the King seeing that the girls are legitimately good people. It’s probably the most cohesive episode of this arc, although I still think the character reintroductions peaked with Urara’s. The others have been good in different ways, but there’s a deeper bit of heartfelt emotion that episodes 2, 3, 5, and 6 just haven’t been able to match.

Next time, Milk’s emergency turns out to be largely imagined, and we meet a new villain. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 kettei!

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Yes! Precure 5 Go Go!#YPC5GG06 #PCD204

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incomingalbatross · 4 years

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Okay, it’s been a day and now I have mostly-coherent thoughts on Let’s Get Dangerous, so I am writing them out. Spoilers under the cut!

There were things I like and things I didn’t like, honestly. I’m gonna start with the negatives.

...I’m just gonna say it: I don’t love New Gos as much as Gos Classic. Which, to be fair, I kinda expected, because that’s a really high bar!! New Gos is a good kid, just... not quite what I expected. She’s clearly older, for one thing, and more... toned-down?

In general, I would say she’s a little less baby than Gos Classic, and a little more YA Punk Heroine. Which is valid. It just doesn’t make for an instant bond, for me.

I am... also genuinely disappointed by the final offer of “wanna be my crimefighting partner?” I mean, it makes perfect sense for where they’re at, as opposed to their original counterparts--not only are they planning to find her Grampa, but we already got the “You’re not my family!!” and I guarantee you Reboot Drake has internalized that one. He’s trying to look out for her without overstepping! He’s doing his best!

...BUT. But having them end as “partners” and not actual family just feels wrong. (And there’s also added dissonance because I can’t help thinking how much Drake Classic would blow his top at the idea of inviting Gosalyn to fight crime??? Are you crazy??? She’s a KID!!!!)

(...That said: if Reboot Gosalyn is anyone other than Quiverwing Quack next time we see her, I’m suing. But she will be QQ--she’s already been shown with a crossbow and everything! Nice work there, to be fair.)

Related: are we allergic to the word “dad”?? I know it made more sense to say “family” some of the time, since Gos has probably never had parents in her life, but... after a while it felt like there was some Writer Mandate that that was the only usable word. Or maybe that’s a DuckTales thing in general, actually? Not sure. I just feel like “You’re not my dad!” would be a slightly more likely line in context (or “You’re not my Grampa!”) and have packed more of a punch.

Those...were really my only negatives, I think.

On to the positives!

I love Reboot Drake. So much. He’s earnest and endearing and still just ridiculous enough to still be Darkwing... and his Dad Energy was off the charts here, which is the TRUE mark of a Drake Mallard.

Also his voice actor does such a good Darkwing. You can tell he’s put serious study into this.

Okay. OKAY. Taurus Bulba...

TAURUS BULBA IS LANCE. LANCE FROM TANGLED.

I had to pause and then IMMEDIATELY text my sister when I found that out. Like... really??? Congrats, Disney! I wouldnt have said it was possible, but you created a Taurus Bulba I’m unable to hate!!

Also... Dewey. If ever you’ve used your theater kid powers for good, do it now. ...Get us a Musical Episode with Taurus Bulba in it. I need him to have a Villain Song.

Drake being literally the only person ever to NOT know Fenton is Gizmoduck is honestly an EXCELLENT twist on their dynamic. And given their reboot personalities, of course they get along outside of the suit--I mean, they should, but the identity thing means we still get some fun secret-identity conflicts.

No one told me there were this many The Good Place actors here. First Steelbeak turns out to be Derek, then the buzzard is Shawn (EXACTLY the same role too, honestly) and the computer/Ganrda Dee is Tahani?? I JUST watched S4 of TGP, guys. You have to stop hitting me with actors I actually recognize! It’s weird!!

(And then I have to consider things like “Abed and the Tenth Doctor and Lance are all in the same scene. Oh, there’s Shawn from the Bad Place. Oh look--” CONSTANTLY.)

Okay, I’ll admit it: Dewey seeing himself in Gos’s need to find her grampa and deciding to "be her Webby” was really sweet. Good kid.

I enjoyed the name-dropping of DWD villains and actual episode names (although... “Just Us Justice Duck” was underrated? By whom?? It’s a CLASSIC!)

Thing I REALLY appreciate: So 2017 DuckTales is, like, five notches less Cartoony than Darkwing Duck. HOWEVER, in both DW eps so far Drake’s personal physics have seemed to be two or three notches more cartoony than everyone else’s (see: the piano bit in the first ep, and the filing cabinet in this one). This delights me.

They gave us two hummed lines of “Little Girl Blue”and it was still enough to make me go “yoU CAN’T JUST DO THAT”

Miscellany:

The multiverse stuff is has Big Implications and ties in really well to established Darkwing canon, meaning they could really easily meet their original counterparts. It also seems to echo a plot from the comics, if I’m remembering rightly, where a different member of the Family Darkwing got lost between dimensions.

However... this is meta?? Because it means their in-universe Darkwing show is apparently also another reality. Which is WEIRD, because... that one (at least to the point covered in the meta-show) didn’t have a Gosalyn. Or a Launchpad. How can you have a real Darkwing without them?? What is that reality like?? Is the meta-show an accurate representation?? I have QUESTIONS

Also I really really want Gos Classic’s adult self to fall through a portal and hang out with this gang for a while. And her dad too. (Drake Classic would yell at his younger self for letting Gos fight crime, but then he would adopt him. The Dad Instincts are strong... and Reboot Drake could use a non-crazy older Darkwing in his corner!)

#i feel like i had more to say #but this is already very long #so let's go with this #it is late and i should be in bed #but The Meta #darkwing duck #let's get dangerous #let's get dangerous spoilers #ducktales

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kim-lexie · 4 years

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extra-ordinary you.

extra-ordinary you, also known as haru found by chance, is seriously a drama in a league all its own. it follows eun danoh, as our lead; however, she comes to find that she isn’t the lead in the story that she is living in but rather an extra character in the comic ‘secret’. it follows her desiring her own story and the ability to make her own fate which leads her to haru, the boy that can change her day. it has romance, easy-going-light-hearted scenes, as well as heartfelt moments that alter the course of our characters. there were lots and lots of tears, and dynamic character development.

also i must say do not be deterred by the fact that it takes place in a high school, this is no high school drama (thank you lee jae-wook, my original reason for watching this drama). rather it acknowledges the cringe and nonsense that happens in the typical teenage-high-school drama plot. i would 100 out of 10 recommend.

*now on to potential spoilers so beware*

the premise. the idea itself is something i have never watched or read before, i seriously loved it. it is nice watching a drama and being able to fall in love with the main storyline as something I’ve seen many times before and then seeing the slight deviations. however, with this drama i never knew what was going to happen. the life in the comic for sure, knowing that nonsense was going to happen such as namjoo’s mother going to be crazy and try to wreck jooda. obvious. but our extra’s storyline was never written, and i liked that aspect staying true to the unknown of an extra’s character.

our characters. in general i loved how all the characters evolved even the ones that were not self aware of the universe they were in. eun danoh our girl, with the terminal heart condition. she was precious, and incredibly heartwarming character. looking at all her scenes and even behind the scenes cuts she literally embodies her character. the little nuances and slight hand gestures and facial expressions fit her to a T (thank you kim hyeyoon for bringing eun danoh to life). as she becomes self aware her self determination and drive to change her fate increases, and i enjoyed seeing her create her own tomorrow. as different obstacles presented themselves she had her cry and picked herself back up which i love to see in a female lead. sometimes it’s so easy to just be like where is her boo to come help her out, she determined her own future and relied on herself and her friends to get her through. the freaking writer for some reason wanted to kill off this cute extra and i just don’t understand what it would have done for the storyline, so eun danoh had to fight for her life for the majority of the drama which was sad. and heartbreaking because you can see how badly she wants to live even if it is a broken record playing the stage for someone else.

baek-hyeong my boo. his character seriously embodied second male lead syndrome throughout the majority of the drama, except for those few episodes where he was completely and utterly lost. i.e. when he was figuring out his feelings and when he deceived eun danoh at the end. but literally he loved her on the stage and off. he was angsty and the typically member of a trio of boys who rule the school. it was his assigned role and he played it well. i seriously loved the moment that eun danoh came to forgive baekhyeong because it is truly what he needed to hear to be able to be at peace with all that had happened.

“although, i am merely a character made by the writer. however, before everything I’m eun danoh and you’re baek-hyeong. therefore, the eun danoh from “secret” is thankful for you. as for the eun danoh from “chinese trumpet vine”, she forgives you. that’s because it was the writers created baek hyeong to be. thank you. i really hope that you can be more of yourself. just like how i was able to find the true me”

literally weeped the whole freaking scene. they had grown up together in his world, when his character in their past killed her. the writer was so twisted. they just wanted to find themselves and grow into the people they truly wanted to become.

haru (freaking rowoon) seriously swoon. dreamy haru caught our danoh’s attention and together they developed first a friendship then something more. and turns out their fates met long before ‘secret’ but rather in ‘chinese trumpet vine’.

loved all of their scenes and lines *insert instant gems*

“eun dan oh is my only beginning. so I’m okay if my role ends with her. “

“dan oh…every moment of mine is you”

“since my beginning and ending was you”

“call my name.”

haru is the definition of a precious bean at the start and i love how he gains himself and becomes more vocal with his opinions later on, but still has his moments of cuteness, like when he made them matching necklaces ). his previous life in ‘chinese trumpet vine’ then and now in ‘secret’ guided his every moment. she was literally the center of his world, and i loved his desire to help her and be able to be there for her. some notable moments that led to me weeping were: when he gave her the beautiful night sky in the art room, when he left her the journal after he disappeared of drawings of their moments together. there were too many but those are my two favorites. when eun danoh was in the hospital and they were unable to meet at their tree together was awful and heart-wrenching. their relationship was precious and i loved how it developed and grew. i also appreciated the friendship between dohwa, haru, and danoh because they were the three musketeers and they were adorable.

the side stories were well done. sometimes i feel like we neglect our extras but i appreciated how we saw the majority of them through. dohwa and jooda, our poor second male lead who almost became first male lead off stage which i would have 11 out of 10 been behind, and still don’t quite understand her reasoning because namjoo would have been just fine okay. i also appreciated soochul and saemi’s (eun danoh’s friends) storyline and how it continued on into the next comic.

an odd part of this drama was that the main antagonist was an aloof omnipotent writer, who drew out each storyline and was never actually physically present. it was interesting concept to try and wrap my head around. so many insane moments and tragedy that occurred was with the writer just going about the daily and wrecking it for our characters. the writer was seriously twisted, having danoh meant to be paired with baek-hyeong who ended her in the last comic. making haru, baek-hyeong’s side kick once again after their tragedy in the last. seriously twisted. it was interesting how when they were able to change certain aspects everything still fell in line but with other characters in place. i cannot even imagine how our characters felt because it was seriously ridiculous at times, and disappointing to be back at square one so many times. no matter how much time dedication and energy they kept having to go back to try and rewrite the story.

the ending was unsatisfactory, it had me in a puddle of tears, when everyone started disappearing from the scenes. however i don’t know how it could have ended any other way. we all knew the comic had to end, just as dramas end. it could have ended mid sentence which could have happened knowing how cruel this writer was (serious bone to pick with this one, seriously twisted and they need therapy). but the start of a new drama with them both as extras gives them more freedom than their designated stories gave them previously. however, where was baek-hyeong in the ending or dohwa? that was so sad not seeing them in this world. it is fortunate thought that danoh and haru are self aware because that would have been another mountain to overcome and go through the process all over again. but now i have the opportunity to just hope they can live happily as extras in their later dramas.

i would love to say, ‘yes please have a spin off in this drama to follow them as free extras, and their adventures’. but no way would i sign up for this torturous world again. my heart would not be able to take it. i was setting myself up for a scarlet heart ryeo ending with how the majority of this drama went with nothing going my way.

side note the music was so great. i loved so many of the ost songs, and just recently have i been able to listen to a few because there were too many sad emotions held with them. my top tracks:

my beauty by verivery

첫사랑 by sondia

끝나지 않을 이야기 by Stray Kids (mainly the song i couldn’t listen to for two weeks afterward)

now i know for sure that i am missing some of my thoughts, and i wish i kept a log after each episode, but you never know what dramas are really going to kick you in the gut until you know. i will probably rewatch this eventually once I’ve recovered a little more. maybe watch a few more rowoon dramas, and then i’ll make a log because literally every episode had something and left you with an imprint, and I'm sure i missed a lot the first watch.

i just really loved this drama and needed to process a fraction of my thoughts and feelings. it was just really good and i loved each episode. and i freaking love haru. once again 100 out of 10 recommend.

#drama #review #2019 #haru found by chance #extraordinary you #extra-ordinary you #eun dan oh #haru #baekhyeong #kim hye yoon #ro woon #lee jae wook

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captain-azoren · 5 years

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I’m Getting Married! & Why I Write

First off, thanks to anyone who’s ever liked or reblogged any of the content I’ve made in the past month or so dedicated to this absurd little crossover ship. Every little bit motivates me. I realize I don’t exactly have a big following, but nonetheless I wanted to get this out there and now I feel confident enough to talk about it.

In a little while, I’ll be traveling to literally the other side of the planet to marry my fiancee, a woman I’ve been in a long distance relationship for over a decade now. She means the world to me, and finally getting to spend the rest of my life with her is a dream come true.

That we stayed faithful to each other for so long despite the distance and all the hardships makes me feel like, as sappy as this sounds, that we really are soulmates and this was destined. As the date kept drawing nearer, I thought more and more about this, and I wanted to find a way to express how I felt about this to others. That’s where my story White Knight, Red Queen comes in, a love story about two people who find each other despite coming from two whole different universes. Why I chose Azula and Soren in particular...

First, just to be clear, my fiancee and I are not like Azula and Soren. I am a lot smarter and much more reserved in person than Soren, and my fiancee is very sweet and has none of Azula’s smug attitude. I will say though that Soren is one of my favorite archetypes and I wish I was more extroverted, and I think my fiancee is the most beautiful, smartest, perfect girl in the world who doesn’t settle for less than what she deserves and I love her for it.

Now, I chose these two characters from these two series for multiple reasons that go way back. My fiancee and I actually met through an Avatar the Last Airbender fansite, so we have a special connection to it, even if we aren’t as big of fans as we used to be. As for Dragon Prince, the two of us got to go to our first San Diego Comic Con last year, where we got to attend the Avatar Legacy Panel and then The Dragon Prince premiere panel that came right after. Now TDP is a little special to me as well because of that.

Why Azula and Soren specifically; honestly, I just happened to be really into these two at the time. Weird thing is, I used to dislike both of these characters while simultaneously wanting to like them; when I first watched Book 2, I thought Azula was too much of a smug jerk for me to like despite how cool she could be. She seemed too invincible and too mean to Zuko, whom I heavily identified with at the time due to a lot of issues I was going through (I was trying too hard to impress people who didn’t deserve my admiration. Glad I met my fiancee when I did). I thought Soren was too much of a dumb jock after I initially thought he’d be my favorite.

Things changed though. Azula’s scenes in The Beach and then her breakdown finally made me feel sympathy for her, but it really wasn’t until this year when I started reading analyses of her character did I really come to understand Azula, and Ehasz saying he wanted to give her a redemption arc got my mind going. With my new perspective on Azula, in some ways I can identify with how she felt. As for Soren, his crisis at the end of s2 won me over, and I came to appreciate the goofiness and humor he brought, letting me re-contextualize his character in a way I could enjoy.

Because I just happened to be digging into these two at the same time, it got me thinking and I decided to create this blog as a little joke. I actually really enjoy crossover ships, having once participated in a big crossover RP with my fiancee where that was a thing. The more I thought about it though, the more I started to like the idea of Azula/Soren, and from there it got me thinking about doing a story.

ATLA and TDP share quite a few talent and staff, so a crossover between the two feels particularly natural, having similar writing and art style and even voice actors on top of Ehasz being a major creative force. Blending the two worlds together was not too much of a stretch. On top of that, doing this story actually lets me use a bunch of stuff I’ve wanted to write about for a long time, but could never craft a good plot for, namely a knight teaming up with a magic wielding princess, who are from two different worlds/cultures.

Being from two different worlds is where the inspiration from my own love life comes in. I wanted to write about how two different people, through a series of random events leading to a chance encounter, meet each other. They form a bond, one that never breaks no matter how far apart they’re pulled from each other, one that is everlasting. That is why it’s important that my story is a crossover, because Azula and Soren come from not just different places within the same fictional universe, but from two completely different universes altogether. They couldn’t be together.

In my most recent chapter of White Knight, Red Queen I wrote a dream sequence where one character (Soren) sees another character (it’s Azula) crying, but he’s unable to reach her; he’s blocked by a glass barrier, and can only watch and listen as she weeps. I wrote this to reflect my own feelings of being so distant from my fiancee for so long, and feeling so miserable and helpless whenever I was unable to comfort her properly when she was sad or upset. All I could do was look at her and try to use my words; being unable to just pull her close to me and hug her, unable to make her feel better, that’s torture, and I’m glad that barrier will be gone.

Themes of abandonment and undying loyalty are what I really want to examine with my story, as they’re what I’m familiar with, and with Azula and Soren I’ve found a way to do that, as they deal with these themes in different ways. For a while I thought I was going to live the rest of my life alone and unloved, but I took a chance to tell my future fiancee how I felt despite how scared I was of being hurt. She was one of the few friends I had left, and I was so afraid that I would drive her away like I did to others, but she stuck by me, she gave me a chance, and she gave me hope. I’m never letting that go, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life giving my heart to her for saving me.

And if all that sounds really sappy, and it does, well, we also both find each other really hot, and Azula and Soren are both attractive, so there you go lol. My fiancee is my dream girl and this silly little blog and fanfic are just one big love letter to her. Besides, writing feels way more fun and productive than getting angry at video games.

#REAL TALK #MARRIAGE #White Knight Red Queen #analysis #soren #azula #tdp soren #tdp #atla #the dragon prince #avatar #avatar the last airbender #If you're reading this I love you #you are my everything

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sunshinetrappedinourhearts · 5 years

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Nathmarc month day 22: Rainbow

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16491026/chapters/39181753 Man, this one is weird. I had no idea what to write for this prompt, and then this thing suddenly rolled out. xD I honestly don’t know. I hope it’s enjoyable, though! :3 @nathmarcnovember

It was grey outside, and the November rain was cold against his cheeks, so Nathaniel buried his face deeper underneath his scarf. Autumn automatically made him less motivated to go outside to face another school day, but today’s weather made it even worse.

He sighed, trying to walk as fast as he could, until finally, the school building loomed in front of him.

Inside, the warmth hit him in the face and he frowned. They exaggerated a bit with the temperature. That would only make it worse when you were forced to go outside again.

He hurried to the art room, he was already quite late, and his final product before graduating was still a disaster.

He was drawing a comic book about a fictional superhero called Ladybug, but since about a week, he had hit writersblock and was unable to come up with the brilliant plot lines that were so apparent in the earlier chapters. He didn’t understand.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been so headstrong about doing the project on his own; he was an artist after all, not a writer. And he could really need an actual one right now to help him.

But it was too late to sulk about his mistakes- he had to finish it.

So he grabbed a pencil and started.

An hour or two later, he groaned, putting it down.

It was garbage, absolutely bad.

‘Hey, what’s up, Nate?’ Alix leaned over his shoulder to look. ‘Oh, man, you know that line is super cheesy and cliché, right?’ She looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed, more worried than upset.

‘I know! That’s the problem…’ he sighed, shoving the page away violently. ‘I can’t write!’

‘But the previous chapters were just fine!’

‘I… I know… I have no clue what happened… Ugh.’

‘Writersblock, I guess? Maybe you need a break, wanna take a small walk, get some coffee?’

Alix’s invitation sounded tempting, but-

‘I really don’t have time for that…’

The girl punched his shoulder. ‘Aw, come on, if you’re going to write shit like that, you’re more productive taking a break.’ She grinned and Nathaniel couldn’t suppress a small smile.

He loved how direct his best friend was. Sometimes, he didn’t know what he’d do without her. She was always there to help him keep his head cool and pushing him on the right path.

‘Alright, then…’

So he got up, grabbing some necessities and leaving the rest of his belonging in the art room, following Alix outside.

As he walked the school corridors, he felt the familiar sensation of someone watching him. Another strange thing that had been happening to him lately. A few times, he swore he had seen some figure quickly moving away when he looked back. He remembered a red hoodie, pushed over the head, and a pair of deep, green eyes. Every time he saw the shape, those were the two things he could remember.

He tried shaking the feeling away, but as always, an uncomfortable gut feeling lingered.

Outside, the rain was still falling, but the clouds seemed a little less angry than in the morning. They were a softer, light-grey instead of almost as dark as black.

But still, the cold enveloped them and Nathaniel shivered a little.

‘It’s a good thing that take-away coffee spot is so close, right?’ Alix said.

‘Definitely… It’s been crazy cold this week.’

‘Yeah, today is the worst, though. Do you think that’s what’s effecting you…?’ She eyed him carefully, and Nathaniel shrugged, because he honestly did not know.

‘Maybe… I don’t know… The strange thing is… I can’t remember working on my art project, like, longer than a week ago. Everything is blurry.’

‘Well, you’ve been working too hard,’ his best friend grinned.

Nathaniel wasn’t so sure, because his memory had always been quite good, and the events that happened longer than a week ago… there just seemed to be a big hazy hole in them.

‘You should really find a writer to partner up with, you know,’ Alix then said. ‘It’s a weak point of yours. Find someone who can help you!’

There it was again. The strange gut feeling. That something was terribly, terribly wrong. But Nathaniel didn’t know. He didn’t remember. His heart felt… so empty.

‘Yeah, that’s a good idea, I should do that,’ he forced a smile, because he knew Alix meant well. She always did.

His friend grinned back and entered the café first, walking to the bar to order. Nathaniel was about to follow her but-

Shivers ran down his spine and he quickly turned his head around, only to see a figure wearing a red hoodie disappear behind a building.

Am I… going crazy…?

‘Something wrong, Nate?’

He looked up, and Alix was staring at him from a distance, her eyes worried.

He shook his head, and entered the café.

They ordered the usual, and warmed their hands against the paper cups as they walked back.

‘Hey, Nate, look over there!’

Nathaniel followed Alix’s reached out finger with his gaze and there-

A rainbow-

The sun had broken through the grey clouds, but persistent as the November rain was, the drops hadn’t ceased yet.

And during the fight between light and water, they had created the most beautiful rainbow Nathaniel had ever seen.

A-

A rain-

Rainbow-

He couldn’t see anymore.

His vision completely white.

And then-

Flashes-

A red hoodie-

A rainbow V-neck shirt-

Deep, green eyes-

Cast downwards slightly whenever shy-

Lighting up whenever doing something he loved-

Working together-

Drawing, writing-

The perfect art, the perfect comic-

He-

Pink blushes on his cheeks-

Soft lips-

On his-

Nathaniel gasped.

The cup of coffee had slipped through his fingers, creating a dark warm puddle just in front of his feet.

Marc

Oh, god, Marc.

‘Nate…? What… Are you… alright?’ Alix moved her hand, almost on his shoulder, but he was already gone, running back to wherever he thought he’d remember seeing that figure wearing the red hoodie.

What the hell-

What the hell happened?!

A thousand of thoughts swam through the ocean of his mind, but the only clear ones he could grasp were screaming at him to find him.

Now-

Because nothing else mattered more than that.

He didn’t notice running so fast until he stopped and his throat burned, and he felt warm tears roll down his cheeks.

He breathed-

‘MARC! WHERE ARE YOU!?’

It didn’t take even a second.

‘Here.’

Nathaniel turned around and there-

There he was-

He looked so small, so fragile, so lost-

Nathaniel didn’t remember moving, but suddenly he was in front of him, wrapping his arms around him and pulling his body against his tightly.

And he cried.

***

A few hours later, Ladybug and Cat Noir had successfully defeated the “Eraser”, an akuma that had been active for at least a weak, stealing memories from the whole world about specific people, including the two superheroes, and Marc.

Luckily, the human counterparts of Ladybug and Cat Noir had still protected their miraculouses, out of pure instinct, even if they didn’t remember being superheroes.

Still, it had been Hawk Moth’s most dangerous akuma so far.

So Ladybug went to personally thank Nathaniel.

Apparently, by remembering Marc, he had broken the entire spell of the Eraser.

Later, Marc asked him how Nathaniel had remembered.

Nathaniel squeezed his hand a little, while scratching his head awkwardly with the other. Then he stared at the horizon, and nodded.

‘Well, you can see it right there…’

Marc looked.

An enchanting rainbow was coloring the sky, even more beautiful than the one that had helped Nathaniel remember.

Or maybe that was just because his most important person was right beside him as he watched.

#nathmarc november #rainbow tomato #nathmarc #nathaniel kurtzberg #marc anciel #miraculous ladybug #marchnath #nathaniel x marc #marc x nathan #my stuff #fanfiction

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thebibliomancer · 5 years

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50 More Days of Comics! 28/50: Avengers #37 (2001)

I almost feel like I’m cheating, covering this. My Avengers liveblog is so hiatus’d and here I am skipping ahead to the good stuff just because a box told me so.

But the box is as the box does and the box placed this issue in my path so here it be.

Look at that cover!

Shame its symbolical and not- nobody actually crucifies Captain America to a giant sword and swings him around. Its like they saw the opportunity and then didn’t go for it.

And for a change, I actually know the surrounding context of a random issue that I pull out of a box! Because I’ve read this run!

Half of the plot takes place in Slorenia, which got devastated during the Ultron Unlimited story. And by devastated I mean he killed the entire population and then went ‘oh hey uninhabited country, dibs, I call dibs on it!’

And then the Avengers showed up and killed him. Again. For like the fifth time. This time was the time when Thor would have words with Ultron so it was notable for that if nothing else.

The other half of the plot takes place adjacent to Avengers mansion and deals with the Avengers ongoing shadow war with the Triune Understanding. The not-at-all scientology not-at-all cult has a hate-on for the Avengers for reasons I don’t really remember so they’ve been stirring up public sentiment against the Avenger by, among other things, pointing out that they’re awfully white.

The idea that maybe the Avengers should reflect American diversity in some way caused Thor to ragequit the team.

It also allowed the Triune Understanding to suggest that hey their personal superhero Triathlon should join the Avengers.

I like Triathlon. I do not like the affirmative action plot because its retreading a plotline already done when the Falcon was forced to be part of the Avengers, whether he liked it or not, because the big bad government was forcing the Avengers to be diverse.

And I don’t like it because its taking something that should be good, diversity in the general but also in the specific sense of on a superhero team, and putting it in the mouths of people considered bad or antagonistic to make it seem like an imposition on the Avengers.

You’re on the wrong side of history Thor, the Avengers, and Kurt Busiek when you decided to rehash this plot from the SEVENTIES.

Although we’re in the part of the plot where Triathlon has decided after a talk with the Wasp that he’ll get out of the Avengers what he puts in so he has stopped being rightfully peeved that the Avengers initially didn’t want him and hate his religion.

Another part of the Triune Understanding thing is that the cult leader of the Triune Understanding can summon supervillains called Pagan and Lord Templar which he has been sending out to make the Avengers look like fool chumps.

That’s the long version. The short version is that Slorenia was destroyed by Ultrons before he was taken down by the Avengers. And the Avengers somehow pissed off a cult which has been waging a media war against them as well as sending out two jerks called Pagan and Lord Templar. And while Triathlon is a member of the Triune Understanding, his thetans are either too low or too high to be in on the schemes and just honestly sees the Understanding as a self-helpful group that helped him turn his life around and gave him superpowers.

Anyway, Slorenia. Pretty much the inspiration for Ultron ultroning Sokovia in the movies. But this is after the Ultroning so whats up now?

A giant weird looking swordsguy called Bloodwraith is marching through the land yelling about how everything is the Avenger’s fault.

Bloodwraith used to be shorter and used to be Sean Dolan. Somehow he ended up with the Black Knight’s cursed Ebony Blade and joined the UN and SHIELD organized humanitarian effort to clean Slorenia up, bury all the piles of corpses, get it habitable again. In case anybody wants to live someplace where a robot attack wiped out the population?

Anyway, the Ebony Sword ended up absorbing the millions of quite restless and entirely pissed off dead turning Sean Dolan into the Bloodwraith.

Who turns the skies dark and then starts rampaging, killing hundreds of the assorted volunteers, SHIELD agents, and UN people. That’s when Cap, who isn’t an active member at this time due to quitting since he was too old to want to fight a PR war, called in the Avengers.

Bloodwraith: “LEAVE ME BE, AVENGERS. HAVE YOU NOT ALREADY DONE ENOUGH IN THIS LAND? THIS LAND IS YOUR LEGACY, AVENGERS -- THE LEGACY OF YOUR FAILURE TO SAVE IT, OR ITS PEOPLE. MY PAIN IS BORN OF YOUR FAILURE. I WILL SHARE MY PAIN WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD. AND IF YOU TRY TO PREVENT ME -- YOU WILL DIE.”

And which Avengers? Why, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, and Photon!

Iron Man even designed a special toaster looking gun specifically to mess up Bloodwraith!

Captain America: “Will this work, Iron Man?”

Iron Man: “Well, Cap – considering I had to design it on the Quinjet over, build it out of spare parts, and haven’t been able to test it at all – yeah it should work. If that creature’s made out of any energy known to science – this should mess him up pretty good.”

-FAILURE-

Iron Man: (Okay… so the Bloodwraith’s not made of any energy known to science. Shows what I know.)

Cap sends Monica Photon Rambeau and Wonder Man to try to contain Bloodwraith. Photon runs the gamut of the electromagnetic spectrum but nothing seems to affect the giant guy.

But when Bloodwraith takes a swing at her, his giant Ebony Blade passes through her energy form intangibly but the cool she feels afterward knocks her down and Wonder Man also gets slapped out of the air just a panel later.

Scarlet Witch wonders what Bloodwraith is even doing here prompting Captain America to explain all that Sean Dolan stuff. But I’ve already covered that.

Cap berates himself and the Avengers for the whole situation. Sean Dolan apparently had a run-in with the Avengers before, not sure when. But the Avengers decided to let him leave with the Ebony Blade because they believed him when he said that he would break the curse. He wasn’t an immediate threat so they let him be. (Movie Cap might have words for you, Cap)

And now the guy that the Avengers let go is using the cursed sword of a once Avenger fueled by millions of restless souls killed by a robot created by an Avenger. This is an Avenger problem which created more deaths for the Avengers to avenge.

That’s where Cap is at right now.

Since science has failed, Cap says they have to rely on Scarlet Witch’s magic.

Scarlet Witch: “Uh, I’ve been studying, Cap – learning to better control the chaos-magic that fuels my hex-power and I’ve been making strides – but I’m not sure I can do that -- !”

Captain America: “Try.”

So while Scarlet Witch starts to meditate and touch the spirits of the Slorenia dead and ask them to rest in peace, Iron Man, Photon, and Wonder Man try to slow Bloodwraith’s march out of Slorenia.

And with Wonder Man’s strength (he punches with the force of Thor’s hammer! As he never gets tired of saying) and Iron Man’s repulsors, they’re actually slowing Bloodwraith down. Slowing. But not stopping.

Bloodwraith: “SLOW ME, PERHAPS – BUT YOU CANNOT STOP ME! THE WORLD WILL JOIN SLORENIA – JOIN IN HER PAIN! JOIN IN HER DEATH!”

And I guess Photon is flying around not contributing anything worth expositing, huh, Iron Man?

But when Scarlet Witch does make contact with the dead, Bloodwraith notices and turns around to march back toward Scarlet Witch. So now Wonder Man and Iron Man have to try to slow him down again except from the other direction.

And they lose Photon. Because they get a call from the B-plot saying that they need specifically her. So off she goes at the speed of light in atmosphere.

With Bloodwraith approaching, Cap tells Scarlet Witch that whatever she can do, to do it now.

So she does an energy thing and while Bloodwraith howls NOOOOOOOOOO! like some manner of Darth Vader, Scarlet Witch tells Cap that they’ve got to get everyone over the border fastlike.

She couldn’t break Bloodwraith’s link to the Slorenian dead. They were just too angry and too restless. Since her magic training was kind of an over a weekend deal, much of what she does is based on instinct and guesswork. Maybe Dr. Strange could have done it but if you wanted Dr. Strange maybe you should have invited him to join the Avengers a couple years down the line like you’re going to do.

So instead, Scarlet Witch strengthened the Bloodwraith’s link to the dead and to Slorenia itself. Bloodwraith is now trapped inside of Slorenia, unable to threaten the outside world. But it leaves Slorenia as a country of the dead barred from the living by a giant angry man with a cursed sword.

But under the circumstances, it was the best she could do.

Captain America: “I know. I’m not blaming you…” -sounding very much like he’s blaming her-

But what of the other half of the plot?

In the other half of the plot, the Avengers (Wasp, Warbird (Carol Danvers pre Captaining), Jack of Hearts, Vision, and Triathlon) are dealing with Pagan and Lord Templar smashing up Avengers Mansion.

Warbird and Jack of Hearts emerge from the river in a punchup with Pagan, apparently having battled through the mansion and then down the tunnel that led to the Avengers’ submarine pen that they totally have.

In the collapsed subbasement of the mansion, Triathlon (with three times the strength, speed, and stamina of a normal person fairly fit person?) holds the collapsed ceiling on his back to keep shrunken Wasp from being squashed like a bug.

Of course, Lord Templar picks this moment to show up and glare menacingly from the shadows talking about how the Avengers will make fine soldiers for him once properly conditioned.

And then Vision pops up from behind and shoves a fist through Lord Templar because if there’s one thing that Vision does really well, its that.

The distraction allows Triathlon and Wasp to regroup at Central Park so further property damage will happen in a public park and not in a building that has already been fairly smashed. I was actually being snide for the first half of that, about how the Avengers are ok with the damage not occurring on their own property but then halfway through I realized it probably does make sense not to fight in a building that has already partially collapsed.

Sometimes single sentences are journeys.

But as they relocate toward Central Park, Wasp wonders where her ex-husband Hank Pym has gotten to. He must have gotten the alarm. And I think there was a recent subplot where Hank got split into Goliath and Yellowjacket personas and the Goliath persona kidnapped Yellowjacket to a tiny lab in a tree in the Avengers’ yard unbeknownst to them. Its Kulan Gath related nonsense.

In the park, while Pagan plants Warbird and Jack of Hearts like dumbass trees, Lord Templar releases the Avatars of Templars, which are six Lord Templar looking guys that have a maximized attribute. Like Strength or Speed or Agility. Although I’m not sure what difference is being drawn between the last two.

When some of the peanut gallery of lookie loos and media wonder aloud what Lord Templar is doing, the guy, no joke, the guy literally bishie sparkles and proceeds to give an interview.

Lord Templar, sparkling: “I, mortal? I bring you the blessings of peace – and of universal law. A new order – indeed, a true order—for all to benefit from.”

The press: “holy pete, he’s giving an interview!”

Lord Templar, still sparkling: “The Avengers are a threat – champions of chaos, and outmoded individualism. But rest easy, my flock – their pernicious influence over you will stand no more!”

And while Pagan knocks around Warbird and Vision like its going out of style, Triune Understanding leader Tremont watches the battle on the news and gloats how perfect this is. The Avengers are being made to look like fool chumps. Granted, Triathlon is in the mix with everyone else and he’s the Triune Understanding’s best-known follower, but Tremont is confident that Triathlon comes off as struggling quite heroically.

It’s a complicated PR game, he plays. Making the Avengers look like doofuses when one of his one people is on the team.

But as things look bad suddenly Goliath pops up behind Pagan, grabs him by the scruff of the neck and hurls him into the sky like Team Rocket.

Because sometimes you just want a problem to temporarily not be a problem.

Plus, he has a really good idea.

And that’s when he calls Cap to ask to borrow Photon and she light speeds across the ocean and THROUGH Pagan.

Having a woman shaped bolt of energy pass through his chest gives Pagan pause and in that pause, Jack of Hearts focuses his zero-fluid granted energy powers into his fist and socks Pagan in the gut.

And Pagan collapses to the ground to the jubilation of the peanut gallery.

Lord Templar decides that leaving is the better part of valor and attempts to skeedaddle but Triathlon doesn’t like the thought that after all this noise Templar gets to just duck out.

He runs the gauntlet of the Avatars of Templar using his three-times speed and agility to make his way through and kicks Lord Templar in his dumb face, knocking the pain in the ass on his ass unconscious.

The peanut gallery loves it and hoists Triathlon and Jack of Hearts on their shoulders to do a hip hip hooray thing, not noticing that the unconscious bodies of Pagan and Lord Templar faded away without a trace.

Goliath briefly considers mentioning it but nah, they can have their moment. They earned it.

And then he offers gum to everyone because he did bring enough for the class.

Later after both plots have wrapped up, the Avengers convene or gather or I’m sure there’s another word. Memetic and alliterative. Ah well.

Anyway, the Avengers discuss what had just happened and Wasp mentions that SHIELD is arranging a cordon around Slorenia ot keep it quarantined until Bloodwraith can be dealt with. I guess nobody has bothered to call Dr Strange yet.

Cap has opinions.

Captain America: -muttering to himself- “Sure. Lock that barn door, boys, lock it tight…”

Wasp: “Cap…?”

Cap: “THIS SHOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED! The Bloodwraith, Slorenia, Templar – they were all Avengers cases. But they got away, or we turned our back on them, and got surprised. We should have been prepared. We should have handled them earlier. Now look what’s happened. The Bloodwraith has killed scores of volunteers – good men and women trying to better the world. We lost a country. Templar and Pagan escaped again. And we’re still playing catch-up – always playing catch-up. Always two steps behind!”

Wasp: “You’re right, Cap.”

Cap: “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take it out on you. But there must be a better way. There must be something that can be done.”

Wasp: “Maybe there is.”

Cap: “Hm?”

Wasp: “Maybe it’s time for Captain America to return to the Avengers. And time for us to make some changes…”

DUN DUN DUN!

Leading to the Avengers actually getting organized! Which only lasts until the end of the Busiek run. Afterward, they return to being dumbasses. And then they explode. And then they’re the New Avengers and then they’re really dumbasses.

I’m predisposed and also biased towards this comic but what a good comic that I already liked! Thank you, box!

But there’s a lot of little details in the writing that can be dismissed as cheesy silver age type writing that I think makes things more coherent.

Like early on after Iron Man has gotten his ass kicked by Bloodwraith he thinks to himself that as dangerous as the situation in Slorenia is, he can’t help but wonder how things are going back in New York.

SCENE TRANSITION.

And there’s always a comment or a caption that signals that the scene is shifting.

Another one, while the Avengers are getting their asses kicked by Pagan has a news reporter ask her cameraman if he’s getting this and he confirms that its going out live.

CUT TO TREMONT WATCHING THE FIGHT ON TV.

It’s a small thing but it really adds coherence. Just like people narrating their actions in that goofy Silver Age way makes sense of sometimes confusing art.

Next time: Some questing elves

#Avengers #kurt busiek #50 More Days of Comics!

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segadores-y-soldados · 6 years

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@pastels-bunnies-guts:

I love your theories btw, Many of the details you show I would have never noticed on my own! Anyway on to my question, so do we have any what Reapers 'condition' is? How much of his abilities come from Moira's experiments and how much come from himself? Did they start from birth or in the SEP? I'm actually not asking you to answer some of these questions because that's a lot, I just wanted to give you them to think about. Personally, I think maybe Reyes had some form of cancer? I'm out of words

---

(I’m answering this as a full post because I hate the limited functionality in the Ask format)

TL;DR: Basically, Gabriel’s condition is on-going and changes over time. It is caused by three main things: SEP’s modifications to his genes and phenotypic expressions; Moira’s “experiments” on him (and possibly her search for a cure - legitimate or not); and the Swiss Base explosion. His “symptoms” are his lifedraining ability, his wraith abilities, and his inability to age correctly.

Super long answer is here: “Long Reasons Not to Trust Moira in Retribution”

Summary is below:

(There IS a “read more” link)

There are two twitter answers from Michael Chu which act as our baseline for this discussion:

The first one:

User: You missed an important one there - What about Reaper? Can he even still be considered alive in his state? Michael Chu: That’s a good question. ;)

(Source)

And the second one:

(Source)

The second one is specifically talking about the wording on Reaper’s Hero Profile which says:

The twitter conversation is talking about this line: “[Reaper] has fought in many armed conflicts in the last decades, showing no loyalty to any cause or organization.”

Michael’s response shows that the wording about “decades” is deliberate. This means that parts of Gabriel’s “condition” are at least 20+ years old.

However, Reaper’s Hero Profile also says:

“It is possible that he is a byproduct of failed genetic alteration which forces his cells to simultaneously decay and regenerate at a hyper-accelerated rate.”

So basically, we need to look at the factors which can influence his abilities on genetic, transgenic, and epigenetic levels.

When Moira was released, everyone immediately assumed that she was the biggest factor in “creating Gabriel’s Reaper condition”, which is exactly what her Origin video was tailored to make the audience believe:

However, at the Moira reveal panel, Michael Chu said something that implied a very different story:

Moira Blizzcon 2017 Panel: transcript

> Quote: “She was recruited by Gabriel Reyes to be a member of Blackwatch. And uh, during that time she had relationships with the Blackwatch crew - McCree, Genji - they all have their own sort of likes and dislikes for each other. Reyes wanted someone could help advise him on, uh, some matters of genetics that he was, uh, interested in, shall we say.” - Michael Chu

When the Oasis map was updated that day, one of the things found in Moira’s Genetics lab was this:

This implied that some parts of Gabriel’s condition had been caused by the Soldier Enhancement Program:

(Source: Soldier: 76 Hero Profile)

When “Retribution” came around, this was also semi-confirmed by two things:

Gabriel’s “Soldier: 24″ skin, which showed a number of tubes injecting things into his arms (and possibly his chest).

Two:

That even through the comic and the playable event of Retribution - no one was surprised by Gabriel wraithing around.

Not McCree, not Genji, not Moira -

And honestly? Not Jack, Ana, or Gérard either.

It is also important that characters like Moira and the Talon Snipers are able to use “Wraith” and/or Lifedrain without any known side effects. This means that whatever controls the abilities at the core genetic and transgenic level can be reproduced artificially.

This all points to SEP.

The hypothesis: SEP injected Gabriel with trangenic modifications that allowed him to “steal life” from other beings (lifedrain/The Reapening) and “dematerialize and rematerialize at will” (Wraith/Shadow Step). These abilities made him extremely hard to kill, and allowed him to fight on-par with Bastions, OR14s, and other Omnic units.

However, no one knew what the “long term” effects of these abilities would be.

And by the time of Moira’s recruitment, it has become clear that these abilities are somehow impacting Gabriel’s life.

For example, here’s Reinhardt.

Here’s Ana.

And here’s Gabriel.

This brings us back to the first tweet by Michael: was Gabriel aging properly? Is he even medically “alive” anymore?

I don’t know. And I don’t know if Blizzard will ever 100% define what his “condition” is, but it does seem that parts of Gabriel’s health were aging and/or deteriorating, while other parts where actually improving. His outward appearance ages significantly less than Rein, Torb, Ana, or Jack.

But “internally”, we have no idea exactly what was going on with him.

But here’s what we know:

SEP modified Gabriel on a genetic level, which then manifested/activated on a phenotypic level. These abilities likely included lifedrain and dematerializing/rematerializing. While these abilities are superhuman, the original Strike Team gets used to them, as do select members of Blackwatch.

By the time Gabriel is 50 (Retribution) he has enlisted the help of an unethical geneticist to help “cure” the deteriorating parts of his SEP condition.

How do we know Gabriel wanted Moira to cure him?

First off, the easy part:

Her paper is literally called “Repairing Degenerative Genetic Structures.”

Next, we know from Nesskain - the artist of Moira’s Origin Video - that Gabriel was “scared” during Moira’s trials on him:

(Source)

This implies that Gabriel was afraid of what was happening to him - he did not recruit Moira to make him “Reaper.”

He recruited Moira to “unmake him” Reaper.

However, we know Moira had her own ambitions and plans for Gabriel - and for Blackwatch:

We also know that whatever Moira was doing to him, she expected it to have an impact on Gabriel’s SEP condition:

Moira: How are you feeling, Commander? Gabriel: Fine, no ill effects so far. Moira: Let me know if that changes.

---

Gabriel: Am I the only one who feels hungry? Moira: That could be an unforeseen side effect… Gabriel: …I was making a joke.

(source)

So in Retribution, Gabriel’s condition can be summarized as: “SEP abilities + Moira’s experiments”.

But that’s still not quite enough to make him “full” Reaper.

Personally, I think Gabriel is lying to Ana in these panels. He’s not telling her the truth.

However, what’s important here is that Ana has no idea what made this man:

become this:

Which means that between Ana’s “death” and Recall, there is at least one additional thing that happens to Gabriel.

And the only real “event” between Ana’s “death” and Recall that Ana specifically missed was:

The explosion of the Swiss Base.

When Reaper respawns, one of his potential lines is: “This is my curse.”

It implies that he is unable to die.

So: SEP condition = “hard to kill” but able to be wounded.

But SEP condition + Moira’s experiments + explosion = effectively immortal

Reaper is able to fight one on one with Winston and avoid both dying and being captured, which is not something even Doomfist can do. Reaper can also 1v1 a new Volskaya mech and still walk away from the fight unharmed.

It’s interesting, because Reaper consistently calls himself “Death”, and while this is probably just for show, it seems very likely that Gabriel has somehow become elevated past death, mortality, and human life expectancies.

This aligns with why Moira is so interested in his condition:

“We stand on the brink of a breakthrough in human evolution. I have dedicated my life to unraveling its secrets. I take risks that others would consider to be ‘unwise,’ for I do not share their caution.”

- Moira (source)

I don’t necessarily think Moira wants to become immortal herself - I think she just really likes the challenge of “defying death” and elevating humanity into a new stage of existence. This also aligns with Doomfist, and his belief that conflict makes humanity stronger. Both Moira and Doomfist want the same thing - to see humanity “reach its true potential” - but they use slightly different methods to get there, and the two methods are not mutually exclusive. Moira wants to use unethical, unchecked scientific experiments to get there, and Doomfist wants to use a war.

Interestingly, another character might be very close to achieving Reaper’s “elevated” status:

Post: “The Immortal Soldier?”

If Reaper’s “equation” for possible immortality is: SEP + Moira + explosion

Soldier: 76 is actually very close to that:

Jack has been through SEP, and he has also been through the explosion.

The part that Jack is missing is:

On a more personal note:

I wouldn’t...hold out hope for Blizzard to “confirm” anything more concrete than this. They’ve already effectively implied what they have wanted to imply, and while I know people aren’t satisfied with this answer, the truth is that “SEP + Moira + explosion” pretty neatly ties up all the major “factors” that make Reaper “Reaper”. The theory accounts for his Hero Profile, Michael Chu’s statements, Moira’s role in Blackwatch and her betrayal, and the explosion. It gives Gabriel an “easy” way to start working with Talon (thought personally I think he also wants to bring Talon down), and it also gives him a very human, very empthatic motivation (aside from the revenge part): he simply wants to “get better” from the condition that has plagued him his entire life. His condition makes him more emotionally complex, and moves his plot from “Why did Gabriel join Talon when he hates them?” to:

“What is more important to Gabriel: finding a cure for his condition, or stopping Talon?”

#long post #reaper #gabriel reyes #moira #moira o'deorain #soldier: 76 #jack morrison #overwatch #overwatch lore #overwatch theory #replies #reply #answer

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whitehairedwhitegirl-blog · 6 years

Text

Star Spangled Daughter- Chapter One

A/N: This is a request from the lovely @inlovewithmiddleagedcelebs and as soon as she asked me to write it, I was in love with this idea!! It’s definitely going to be a bit of a confusing chapter since I had to set up an entirely different plot and world, with original characters, but if you stick it out, I promise, it’s gonna be good!

Also P.S: I know that “Autograph Seeker” in TFA is technically the same actress as Starlord’s mom, but we’re ignoring that and just making her a character. Too complicated. WAAAY too complicated.

Words: 2,220

Steve finished signing a little boy's comic, fighting his way down the stairs through the throng of people. The sound of voices mixing filled the air, clouding his brain with noise and distractions, until she walked up. Her blonde curls bounced, and her smile brightened the air around him as she held out her book for him to sign.

The air around him seemed to still as he looked, really looked at her face. Her blue eyes met his own, and almost as if somebody else (probably Bucky) possessed his body, he found himself asking her out. Dancing, specifically. That night, at a bar downtown. She accepted with a blush and wrote down the address and time to meet, before she disappeared into the crowd with a timid wave.

Steve had to fight, really fight, against Brandt to convince him to let him leave that night. He used some lame excuse, like "Captain America needs to be seen by the public" or something of the sort. Once again, he had to fight through the crowds to find that mystery girl.

Once he reached the lit up bar with festive music coming from inside, he scanned the people millilng around outside, looking for that shiny blonde hair he couldn't take his mind off of. Then, he felt a small tap on his arm and he, once again, found himself staring into those blue eyes.

She smiled at him. He smiled back. "So. You clearly know who I am, but I don't know who you are. Care to tell me a little about yourself?" She laughed, a soft, happy sound and replied.

"My name's Judith, but my friends call me Judy. And I know you're technically 'Captain America' but that seems a little bit too formal for a night of dancing." A joke shone in her eyes and Steve relaxed, just a tad. "You can call me Steve."

The night flew by in a blur of dancing, talking, laughing, and drinking. Judith's eyes sparkled when she walked home with him, stopping in front of a small apartment building and shyly twisting her hair around her finger as she stood on her tiptoes to give him a goodnight kiss on the cheek before turning on her heel and opening the door.

Steve recovered from the shock of that kiss and found his voice. "Maybe we could-uh, maybe we could do this again sometime." Judy smiled. "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."

Her face danced in his dreams that night, replaying her smile over and over. Steve's thoughts were reeling. I could get used to this.

One month and three days. That's all the time Steve had with Judy – because after those days and weeks passed, he was on the move. Senator Brandt had wanted to stay longer once he saw how much happier Steve was in this particular area. He went out more, smiled more, and always had his eyes on a single, fixed spot in the crowd.

Before they left, Steve and Judith had their final goodbye – at least until the war ended and Steve could come back. Judy had given him a... special gift before he left, one that was on his mind for a fairly long time. Steve's last thought before hitting the water was of her. It was always of her.

"Come on, push! You can do it, baby, you just gotta give a few more good pushes!" Judy screamed as the nurse repeated the same words she had been shouting for a good few hours. Finally, the pressure released and she heard a beautiful sound – her child, Steve's child, crying.

"Congratulations, mama. She's precious." Tears streamed down Judy's face as she held her new baby, wishing Steve could be here with her. "Your daddy would have loved you so much, sweetheart. He would be here if he could, I just know it."

The next few weeks were the hardest ones Judy had ever been through. She had yet to tell her parents that she was even pregnant, given the fact that she wasn't married and that the father, the love of her life, was dead. She had a certain sense of pride, though – her daughter, Stella, would grow up knowing that her dad saved the world.

Three weeks after Stella was born, their little world was torn apart. HYDRA had found out about Steve's little love affair with Judith and checked hospital records, discovering that Captain America had a daughter.

Judith was awakened by a shrill scream coming from Stella's little room across the hall and she shot out of bed, wrapping her robe around her as she darted towards the door. She stopped short when she saw a short man wearing round glasses, sporting a lab coat, hovering over her baby's crib. His accent filled her ears. She barely registered his words as he began to speak, lifting her daughter's writhing body out of the bed.

"We cannot risk losing any trace of the serum. Perhaps your baby could be of use to our experimentations. I am so terribly sorry about this, but luckily, you will be too dead to remember ever seeing us."

Judith screamed as he handed Stella to a strange man holding a gun, but it was cut short as a gunshot rang out through the apartment.

Years passed. HYDRA assigned a low-ranking female scientist to raise Stella. As soon as she was able to walk and talk, they killed her caretaker and started the experiments and procedures.

She was too little to understand what was going on, and why it hurt so bad, but she did know that these people did not love her. They acted like they did, but the things they did didn't show that.

Experiment after experiment failed, until Zola decided that he wanted to try the serum on her. Since she was Captain America's daughter, it was already in her blood, so they knew it was compatible with her system. So, they tried it. Small doses at first, until she was up to the same dosage that Steve had received. She almost died, but her genetics saved her. She became super-humanly strong, but they didn't stop there.

More and more experiments were undertaken inside her. Zola knew that it wasn't enough to just have another super-soldier. He wanted somebody enhanced. Finally, he knew they had succeeded when she reached her hands out to ask them to stop and instead, flames burst out of her hands and engulfed the room. When the smoke cleared, she was completely unharmed, but her hands this time were covered in ice.

After tests, studies, and more experiments, they discovered that she could manipulate extreme heat or cold and create fire and ice without straining a single muscle. She was trained, taught to fight like the Winter Soldier, and when she had control over her powers, Zola decided what to do with her.

His first decision? Wipe her memories. "She cannot remember what we did to her in order to make her the way she is. Turn her into a compliant Asset."

His next decision was a scarier one. She was to be put into cryofreeze. One brave scientist spoke up. "But, sir, she's barely 15. Her body might not be able to handle it-" He was interrupted by Zola. "Dear sir, the serum will protect her." He clears his throat, caressing the face of the now unconscious and drugged girl.

"Someday, we may need her. She will be a great help to HYDRA's true, final plan." Zola laughed, and on her cryochamber, inscribed the name "Ignatia."

"Hey Steve, we got signs of life coming from...the warehouse, I think?" Tony's voice crackled over the comms. Steve's reply came through, only slightly interrupted by the sound of someone getting a giant metal frisbee thrown into their sternum.

"Buck, you and Wanda go check that out. Nat and I will clear out the rest of the floors."

Bucky lifts his gun, slowly walking down the hall to the set of doors leading to the storage warehouse of HYDRA's last known facility. Red tendrils floated out from Wanda's hands, crushing the locking mechanism. Bucky meets her eyes, and she nods. He counts down from three, kicks the door open, and is greeted with a mostly empty warehouse full of boxes and shelves.

"Stark, you said there were signs of life in here. Where were they radiating from? There's nobody here." Tony cursed and the sound of his repulsors firing filled everybody's earpieces before he shouted his response. "Back left corner, pinned in between two shelves, it looks like."

Bucky jerks his head at Wanda and she takes the lead, followed closely by Bucky holding his rifle in front of the both of them. He stops her with a hand on her shoulder and steps in front of her, throwing the shelf to the side.

His heart drops into his stomach when he sees what was hiding back here. A cryochamber.

Once they manage to get the cryochamber onto the Quinjet, the team gathered around it. Somebody had wiped the frost away and they were all shocked into silence when they were greeted with the sleeping face of a teenager, no more than 16 or so years old. Tony was the first to speak. "Who would do this to a kid?" Steve simply nodded, stunned and unable to speak. He felt drawn to this girl- she reminded him of...Judith. "Oh- oh my gosh, Tony, she looks exactly like..." He couldn't finish the sentence, but Natasha finished it for him.

"She looks exactly like you, Steve."

The ride back to the compound was dead silent. Steve stayed firmly by the chamber, a hand on the glass, constantly watching over this strange girl. Bucky was next to him, worried and waiting for a reaction of some sort. The rest of the team just sat quietly, staring at Steve and wondering who this could possibly be.

As soon as the jet landed, everybody helped push the chamber into the compound. "Take it to my lab, I bet we can figure out a way to safely defrost her there," Tony piped up from the back. "FRIDAY, any idea how we can get her out of this thing?" FRIDAY responded and they had a rapid-fire conversation before they reached Tony's lab.

It was a long procedure, but once she was defrosted, they moved her to the medbay, strapping her down in a bed and waiting for her to wake up.

The night passed with Steve by her bedside the whole time, anxiously staring at her, waiting for Tony to come back with the DNA test results he'd sent for when he took a blood sample. The team rotated in and out, hoping that she would wake up simply confused instead of being a HYDRA murder machine.

Steve almost missed it when her head shifted and a soft groan left her lips. "Tony, Tony get in here!" He stood up quickly, almost knocking his chair over as he did so. Tony and the rest of the team burst through the door. "Um, Steve, you're gonna want to see this- er, I guess hear this." Tony's worried voice cuts through the chatter in the air. He grabs Steve's arm and yanks him out of the room. "I don't really know how to tell you this..." He throws his arms in the air.

"Congratulations, Captain America. It's a girl!"

Steve's head spun. How in the name of all that is holy did Judith not tell me that she was pregnant? I have a kid? A daughter? Here? He couldn't breathe. His chest felt like it was collapsing. Tony's voice echoed through his ears. "Cap, her name's Stella. Stella Sloane. Stella Sloane-Rogers, if you will. Steve? Are you okay?"

Inside the room, Wanda and Natasha were quietly asking the girl questions. "How are you feeling, sweetie? Do you know where you are?" Her voice was shaky and quiet, but she replied all the same. "I don't know. I don't know. Who are you people?"

Steve finally got the nerve up to walk into the room. "Hey, kiddo. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Everyone in the room exchanged looks and slowly backed out. Steve sat on the edge of her bed, gently unstrapping the bands around her wrists. She looked at him strangely, but thanked him all the same. He dismissed it with a nod, wringing his hands together. "I don't know how to tell you everything I need to, but here's the first thing you should know. Your name is Stella Sloane."

Her blue eyes met his as she repeated it. "Stella. I like that." He laughed bitterly, blinking away sudden tears. She looked so much like Judy, so much like her. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't feel the small hand on his own. "Are you okay?" He exhaled. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Stella, I have to tell you a few things and hearing them is going to come as a shock. Are you ready?" Her unsure smile met his and she nodded.

"First of all, you have been asleep for a very long time. Since 1958. It's- it's been 60 years, sweetheart. It's 2018." Her breath caught in her throat, and then he delivered the real kicker.

"Stella, I'm your dad. My name's Steve Rogers."

TAGLIST: (message me if you want to be added)

@inlovewithmiddleagedcelebs @yknott81 @andreatriesherbest @nicholasbich

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neonstatic · 6 years

Text

Everything wrong with 13RW

Firstly, the premise of the source book is distasteful and it should've never become a full show with 13 episodes of 1 hour each season.

The creators contacting health professionals to get advice on how to handle the themes in the show and ignoring ALL of the advice shows the little care given for “spreading a message” or “starting a conversation” (more like starting a controversy).

Now onto the points in which the show failed to convey a positive message in both season 1 & season 2.

I recommend watching this video for short indications on why the show does more bad than good.

And before anyone says anything, I am mentally ill and I study psychology so jot that down.

SEASON 1

Sensationalism of suicide

As a vehicle for vengeance (thru tapes)

As a tool to gain attention

The tapes are treated as words of truth and justice

If the tapes are ever criticized, it is done by characters featured on the tapes, which serves to delegitimize such opinions since they're the "bad guys" of the story

Act of committing suicide blamed on others (esp bad when the 11 persons’ wrongdoings cannot be equated in most cases)

Most people didn't deserve a tape:

Jessica cut ties with her over a misunderstanding

Zach emptied her encouragement mailbox (and quickly stopped after being called out) and she thought he threw away a personal letter she wrote him (this tape is extremely unwarranted)

Courtney claimed Hannah came onto her because she was afraid to be outed as lesbian but in the end, the photos and rumours affected them both anyway

Ryan published a poem of hers without her consent; disrespectful but not ill-intended

Clay walked away after she insisted for him to leave her alone (this tape is extremely unwarranted)

Sheri knocked down a sign and left Hannah out on the street because she didn’t want to call 911, which “caused” the death of a student (this tape is extremely unwarranted)

Those who deserved a tape (debatable in some cases):

Justin, for making up lies about her and spreading a revealing picture of her

Alex, for cutting ties, objectifying/publicly humiliating and submitting her to harassment in school

Bryce, for spreading a revealing picture of her and raping her

Marcus, for misleading, harassing and humiliating her in public

Tyler, for stalking and spreading pictures of [Courtney and] her

Mr Porter, for his very poor handling of her obvious distress

Hannah's story is no fair representation of real life

Technically, she’s a victim of social bullying (damaging someone's social reputation & lying and spreading rumours) but...

She's esp a victim of circumstances made by the creator - she's a fictional character whose purpose is to be a martyr in her story; in the real world, things would have played out much differently

Hannah tries to reach out once then gives up and justifies this bc the school counsellor didn't come running after her when she stormed out (again assuming ppl are mind readers)

Graphic rape scenes with the potential to trigger viewers - even those who aren’t survivors (replayed numerous times throughout the show as flashbacks)

Graphic and extended suicide scene (goes directly against professionals’ guidelines but screw vulnerable viewers I guess?)

Finality of suicide forgotten by the structure of narration = Hannah’s omnipresent even though she's literally dead, which grossly undermines the consequences of suicide

Adults portrayed as clueless and unable to help (not a good idea to put in teenagers’ head)

SEASON 2

Vague mention of mental illness

Implying anxiety runs in Hannah's maternal side but not diving into it

Sky being diagnosed with bipolar although there was no extensive portrayal of her symptoms (since she wasn’t onscreen for long) and immediately disappearing from the show while she’s the only character going through professional therapy and recovery (smth they would have rly benefited from showing)

Trivializing mental illness for plot use

Clay hallucinating Hannah - acknowledged but not addressed for being a serious psychotic symptom

Minors in sexual situations (too many times!)

Graphic scene of a brutal sexual battery (entirely for shock value, it didn’t have to be shown this way and you can't tell me otherwise)

Conflicting message regarding drug use

Severity of addiction (Justin getting clean then relapsing)

Recreational use (minors doing molly for fun... instead of marijuana which is less risky in comparison)

Trivializing school shooting

Advertisement tool (last episode of S1 heavily hinting at it)

Teased several times throughout the season

Blatant reference to Columbine

Not going through with it - worse move ever…

Irresponsible guide on how to approach an impulsive armed person

From a storytelling POV

Hannah the martyr

Hard to sympathize with when the tapes serve to exact vengeance more than it serves to explain how she felt and why she did what she did, making her manipulative at best

The fact that she was a bully herself in the past

(Plus being “shown” how Hannah was would've been better than being “told” how she was by other characters)

Overall terrible attempt at creating a suicide victim / mentally ill person ppl should sympathize with, the last thing the mentally ill needs is to be related to a character that is so easy to dislike

Clay as a main character

Lost his value since the story's progress doesn't rly depend on him (even tho we're forced to follow him)

Character development: he gets real snappy and no one calls him out? Increasingly unlikable

(Not that he was that likeable by the end of S1… spreading a naked picture of Tyler? #WelcomeToYourTape)

Tyler and his arc

Attempt at explaining the possible cause of school shooting? Failed.

Most school shooters aren’t victims of bullying, in fact many (if not all) are associated with hate groups like white supremacist, misogynists, etc.

Had plenty of reasons to commit suicide over mass shooting (and I don’t mean it in a ‘suicide can be justified’ sense but tbh besides his interest in guns, he’s never depicted as aggressively angry or remotely prone to violence)

Could've brought attention to male depression and male suicide far better than Alex’s story

Technical POV

Very lacking warnings. There should be hotlines at the end of every episode not at the beginning. Self-righteousness and superficial philosophy in both dialogue and narration show the shallowness and pretentiousness of the directors.

The show is presented as an objective representation instead of a media to consume and dissect and judge for oneself = in other words, the morale is laid out for you. Putting up content so shocking most of your target audience cannot watch for fear of being triggered is irresponsible. Trigger warnings don't solve that. Shooting implicit scenes and not explicit scenes is what protects viewers and still conveys the message.

Message

The show is depressing; there's barely any positive outcome. Every character is helpless to their situation. It would benefit greatly of some comic relief.

“We should be careful what we say to people.” Only when it comes to Hannah, everyone else we can be harsh to, apparently. “We should care more for people.” (True, but you can’t love depression away.) “We have power over nothing.” "We can't change anything.” “Adults don't understand us.” “We can't confide to anyone.” “We can't trust anyone.”

Seriously it's a fkg downer. This show highlights all the problems but gives no solution. You expect your audience of teenagers to figure it out for themselves? You expect your audience of teenagers to go out of their way to "start a conversation" with their parents over some sensationalist teen drama show? You must be kidding me. (Do you know how a conversation about 13RW goes? “I loved the show!” “I didn’t.” The end.)

Final note

The directors should have inserted a segment after each episode (or every couple) with the actors themselves discussing what happened to/between the characters and how it could have been handled better. If you want to act like your show is a PSA, treat it as such.

#13rw #13rw spoilers #13 reasons why #13rw s2 #13rw season 2 #tw #ray says

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shewhowantsmouseears · 6 years

Text

The Son Of Scheherazade, 14

Notes: As always, big thanks to my amazing editors Drucilla and BlueShifted!

Originally I planned to have the priest and the enemies of this chapter played by Mickey-world villains, but, after being unable to think of them, decided to have some fun with short-lived hits Wander Over Yonder and The 7D. Hope I got them right, or as right as they would be in the roles they need to play.

This chapter's ridiculous plot was thought of years in advance because I am so easily influenced by gag-romance tropes in manga and I have a silly sense of humor. "Madeline" Mouse is the name of Mickey's cousin in a comic from long ago.

When I was younger I was told my name means Honeybee in Greek, or something. IDK if that's true, but there you have it.

Summary: In order to get the first piece of the map, Mickey and his friends must enter a contest... but not win? Can they survive Daisy's tricks, or will a darker force steal more than just a victory?

It took several days to reach the borders of Rumansy, and their arrival was a great relief to everyone. No matter how hard Mickey and the others begged and pleaded to Daisy for further information about the task before them, she refused to speak of it “too early”, because what fun would that be? On this particular day, full of bright sunshine and hot winds, Mickey was standing in the crow's nest, the area littered with maps and pens. Ever since Daisy had revealed the truth behind his parents' kidnapping, he had devoted all of his free time to studying every inch of every map the ship had. If they couldn't find the fourth piece of the mysterious map they were searching for, they had an entire world to look through but not enough time to do so. Often he stayed up late at night to study, trying to memorize layouts of towns and deciding which maps filled in the holes the others were missing.

During those nights, Minnie would stay in her lamp, hearing nothing but the gentle scratching of pen against paper. It was soothing and frustrating at the same time – she couldn't help him at all. Or rather the only way she could help him, her wishes, he refused to use.. It made her question her place on the ship, since everyone had their own roles. Mickey had done so much for her and for everyone he met, and no doubt he would continue to put the needs of others before his own. The night before they arrived at the city's edge, Minnie heard a quiet “thunk” outside of her lamp, and poofed out to see what it was.

Mickey had been bent over his work table, studying long into the night until exhaustion finally took over, and he passed out. His head lay on the table, snoring loudly and drooling slightly. Pluto, who had been sleeping around his master's chair, jerked his head up at the noise, and whined to see what had happened. Minnie sighed, and began to tug the blanket from his bed. She knew if she tried to move him to the bed, he would wake up and insist on resuming his work. As she draped the blanket over his shoulders, she silently made a vow – she would find a way to help him in Rumansy, no matter what it took or what indignities she suffered. She would be useful in one form or another, to him and to the others. She would help him sleep peacefully again.

Now in the day's light, she had those same thoughts as she stood on deck, gazing up at the crow's nest where Mickey was standing. Minnie would not let him work alone and suffer for her sake. It was her turn to work for his freedom and happiness. Though he was very high up, she could make out his features, and watched him as if he was the most fascinating subject the world had ever created. What kind of life did he have to make him this way? So kind and caring and smart and clever and handsome and -

“If you start singing a mushy song, I am gunna hurl.”

Minnie felt she jumped a foot up in the air when she heard Daisy's mocking voice behind her. “Why can't you ever do anything normally?!” To her growing mortification, the rest of the crew was with Daisy, wall of them now looking in different directions, whistling, pretending they hadn't noticed Minnie's lovesick staring.

Daisy waved the question away. “It's time to start planning for the next part of the quest. But I'm going to need his help, and yours, and Donald's!”

“Me?” Donald asked, confused but happy to participate.

Minnie wanted to be happy about this, but given Daisy's nature, she was wary about what this would entail. Mickey, for his part, noticed the crowd below and began to climb down as fast as he could. “I can see the city!” he called out as he raced downwards. “Daisy, will you finally tell us how to get the first part of the map? Where is it in Rumansy?”

Once Mickey was on solid ground, Daisy flipped her hair and twirled her pipe, ready to go into another storytelling spiel. Her snake rested comfortably on her head, hissing out a hello. “The city of Rumansy began as a small town without anything to really notice about it. As a result, they were poor as dirt and lacked any tourists. But one day, a runaway couple entered the city, begging for help. They were from warring tribes, yet they were desperately in love and refused to part. The town was touched by their passion and allowed them to stay. The story became so famous that the town suddenly became known as a romantic destination for honeymooners!”

“I've got a bad feeling about this,” Horace groaned.

“In honor of this couple, the elders of Rumansy decided they would make their city the most romantic in all the land! And the best way to do it was to hold a contest every year to choose the most romantic couple in all the land! The prizes change each time, and people come from across the globe to prove they are the best couple to have ever...coupled! And one of those prizes is a piece of the map! They have no idea about its real origins. They just figure it's a collector's item.” She then held her pipe like a conductor's baton, getting into the final segments of the plan. “But we have to be precise! That prize only goes to the Runner-Up! Third place is a thousand gold pieces, second place is a paid vacation to the land of your choice, and first place is to star in a romance novel written by famed author Honeybee!”

Goofy raised his hand. “Who?”

“Eh, some hack author. Her editors do all the work, honestly. Bless them.”

Mickey was getting Horace's bad intuition. “Wait a minute...can't we just ask them for the piece of the map? You're not actually saying we have to enter this ridiculous contest?”

“They take this contest very seriously!” Daisy wagged a finger. “They won't hand it over just because you say 'pretty please'. No, the only way to get it is to enter and win! That's why you, Minnie, Donald and I are going to sign up and pretend to be couples.”

“What?” said Donald.

“What?” said Minnie.

“WHAT?!” said Mickey.

“Told you,” Horace added.

Clarabelle pushed her husband aside to get up front. “Now hold on a minute! Doesn't it make much more sense for me and Horace to enter? We're actually married!”

“Noooooooo, you and the others should stay behind in case we need help. Besides, the way you two argue so much, I doubt they'd even know you were a real couple in the first place.” But anyone looking at Daisy's face could see she was lying through her teeth. No doubt the real answer was, “This is much funnier.”

“Well, I guess we do kind of argue a lot,” Horace began to agree.

“Horace! We do NOT argue a lot!” Clarabelle disagreed very loudly.

“Yes we do, woman, why won't you listen to me?!”

“I'M TELLING YOU WE NEVER ARGUE!”

“Daisy!” Mickey barked, interrupting Clarabelle and Horace, already losing his patience. “This is nuts! We're not going to lie to these people and pretend to be something we're not! There has to be another way to get the map!”

Minnie crossed her arms, sticking her nose up. “I concur with my Master, I won't do it.”

Donald nervously tugged at his collar. “I gotta say, if we're pirates, why don't we just steal the thing?”

Daisy evenly looked at her three pawns, seeing all the resistance, and then dramatically exhaled, pressing the back of her head to her forehead and turning away. “I see how it is...Well, if that's how you really feel about it, I guess it can't be helped. What was I thinking? I mean, I can see how dreadfully uncomfortable it would be for you guys to be together...Having to cuddle and coo, whisper sweet nothings, exchange long, passionate, really deep kisses...”

If one person could be played like a fiddle, Daisy played the trio like an orchestra.

“HANG ON,” Mickey interjected loudly and abruptly, his cheeks burning as he thought about the possibility of cuddling Minnie in his arms like a loving husband, “I mean, if it's for the sake of my parents, we should pull out the stops, r-right?”

“I AGREE,” Minnie added on just as loudly, blushing as she thought about the idea of having tender words whispered into Mickey's ear, “That is, if it's what my Master wishes, I have to go along with it, d-don't I?”

“I WANNA DO IT,” Donald finished, determined not to faint this time if Daisy kissed him again and again and again and again. “All for one and one for all! AHAHAHA!”

The rest of the crew stared at Daisy in awe at how easily she wrapped the others around her figure – well, not so much awe as it was fear. Yikes.

“Aw, I'm so glad we're all in agreement!” Daisy chirped, clasping her hands together. “Once we lay anchor, I'll go on ahead and sign us up while you three pack! The contest takes about three days, so make sure to get everything you need! Remember, we have to be good, but not too good.”

“You are a devil woman,” Clarabelle muttered under her breath.

“Gotta go pack!” Mickey repeated, practically skipping with glee at this plan which was to absolutely to save his parents and had nothing to do with the fact that he could hold Minnie's hands and not feel guilty about it. Minnie flounced after him, pleased that she could be of use to the crew and not that she could be in Mickey's arms without any repercussions. Donald, still lost in kissing thoughts, had to be dragged away by Panchito and Jose since he couldn't find the strength in his feet.

Goofy glanced down at Daisy, scratching his noggin under his bandanna. “Daisy...you're not planning something this time, are you? We really do need that piece of the map.”

Daisy put one hand over her heart and raised the other. “I give you my word, I plan for the four of us to pretend to be two couples. Nothing more, nothing less. Why, if we didn't win the map, I'd stop having fun.”

“That is exactly the opposite of reassuring,” Horace rolled his eyes. “We'll stick around town and learn what we can about this contest...but you gotta keep an eye on them! Keep Donald's powers under check, and don't let anyone find out what Minnie really is and who Mickey really is! The less headaches we get, the better!”

Daisy just smiled, working her pipe into her ponytail. “Fiddle-de-dee, such faith you have in me.”

Horace, Clarabelle, and Goofy had no choice but to go along with whatever Daisy was cooking, laying the anchor down so she could climb off and sign the foursome up. Clarabelle insisted with her husband they should still try to enter to watch over the young ones, but of course Horace argued against this, and they continued fighting over it well long after the chosen ones had left. Goofy, at least, tried to be optimistic about the whole thing. On its surface, the plan was relatively simple – given the way Mickey and Minnie felt about each other, “pretending” to be a couple would be amazingly easy. So how could Daisy possibly use that as a trick for her own entertainment?

~*~

An hour later, Mickey, Minnie, and Donald walked into the city of Rumansy with their heads held high and songs in their hearts. Their excitement was diminished a smidgen when they realized how overboard the city went with its theme – the buildings were heart shaped, guitars were being played at every corner, and the streets had carvings of very sappy poetry. Everyone wore shades of reds and pinks, with men carrying bouquets and women spraying perfume from the windows.

“Everyone here needs to seriously take it down a notch,” Donald stated when the trio had to wait to cross a street due to several couples tango-ing at once.

“Daisy wasn't kidding about the romance deal,” Mickey mused, scratching his cheek. Here was an entire city that was just as embarrassing as his parents. “I mean, I don't really know much about it myself...”

“Same here,” Donald admitted. “Shoot, what with the way Uncle...” he winced, still in the habit of calling the cruel old man his relative, “...Flintheart raised me, I never thought any woman would want me. So I never bothered learning how to get a girl. But maybe if we just act natural, we should be okay?”

“Donald is right,” Minnie said, walking closer to Mickey than normal. “We can't think too hard about this, or it'll be obvious we're faking. We should just do... whatever...feels right.” She met Mickey's eyes, and the two held the gaze for a second before shyly breaking away.

“I don't think you two have much to worry about.” Donald held back a snicker. For him, he wasn't sure what his feelings about Daisy were – the woman could be graceful and intelligent one moment, devious and underhanded the next. But he was in this to help his friend – more importantly, he was in this to get another amazing kiss. Homina homina homina.

The trio found Daisy on the steps of a church so massive it could rival many a royal palace. It was covered in white lace, but instead of hideous gargoyles it was adorned with smooching couples and winged cherubs, the stained glass windows depicting previous winners of the contest. On the steps of the church, Daisy was talking to a short man who was covered in orange hair from head to foot – although he did it keep it smooth and trim. He was nodding along to whatever Daisy was saying, occasionally wiping a tear from his eye and adjusting the long green hat on his head. It was an easy guess that this man worked for the contest.

Mickey stopped, feeling his heart racing. He swallowed, and made himself look at Minnie. “B-Before we do this, I... um... well... I don't want to do... anything you're not... you know... comfortable with...” He began to fidget, the pack on his shoulders shifting back and forth – Donald had packed light, with Minnie not packing anything, as her magic kept her clothes springtime fresh, but Mickey wanted to continue his studies, so his pack was bursting with maps. “That is... you can always tell me to stop, or... The map is important, but, you, you're important too, and I want you to, to, to remember what I said about... being unable to tell what's real, and what you're doing because of what you are...”

With each stammer and stutter, Mickey accidentally wormed his way further into Minnie's heart. She smiled without realizing it, playing with the rings on her fingers. “I know, I remember. But, perhaps... I might be more... comfortable... with some things than you might realize...”

“There he is!” Daisy suddenly called out, jarring their attention. “My beloved husband, my one and only! I can't believe we were apart for so long!” Donald's face flushed, and he could feel Mickey lightly nudging his chest with an elbow. Daisy began to run down the stairs, arms out. “My sweetie, my darling, my...”

But instead of jumping into Donald's open arms, she latched onto Mickey. “Myyy Mortimer~!”

Donald froze where he was, arms still out, trying to comprehend what just happened. Minnie's jaw dropped, her body shaking like a thousand rattle-snake tails. Mickey slowly, rigidly, dug his fingers into Daisy's shoulders and pulled her off. “What... Did... You... Do?”

“I signed us up, hubby-wubby-boo~!” Daisy bopped Mickey on the nose, enjoying each dose of horror she got from her so-called friends. “I told Father Wander here all about us! And when he heard our story, he knew we would be surefire winners!”

“Of course I know it!” The orange-colored man felt ready to sob all over again. “To think that a pair of forbidden couples would show up at our door... It's like destiny!” It was a good thing he began to pantomime the story himself, so he could miss the murderous glares being bestowed upon Daisy, and the delighted raspberry she blew back. “You, Mortimer, were arranged to be married but on the day of the wedding, you fell for the bride's sister, Donna! And not only that, but your servants, Madeline and Gladstone, also fell for each other! How amazing is that?”

Donald wasn't sure which he found more offensive – being called a servant or being given such a stupid name. That's when the actual point of the story hit him, and he shakily pointed to Minnie. “So... me and her...?” He liked Minnie, yes, but as a sister! Minnie was equally distraught, but could not summon words, only gaping in dread as Daisy continued to snuggle up to Mickey.

Father Wander clapped. “You guys are all shoe-ins, and as our last entrants, we can finally begin the opening ceremony! Come on in!” He threw open the doors, revealing that within loud operatic music was being played, and headed inside.

Mickey spoke hotly through gritted teeth. “Daisy...Did you plan this from the start?”

“I said we'd be couples, I never said who'd be with who.” Daisy waggled her eyebrows, never losing the appearance of a venomous snake. “Why... is there someone you guys would rather be with?” She looked at them all, grinning.

Minnie made a choked noise in her throat, but that was all the answer Daisy would get. Mickey and Minnie were still way too emotionally compromised to actually admit what they felt, especially in front of the object of their desire, and Donald could feel his mortification rising at the thought of saying out loud, “Yes, I wanted you to kiss me again!” As such, no one said a word. “That's what I thought.” Daisy giggled, walking up the stairs with Mickey. “Cheer up, Mortimer! We're all happily in love!”

Mickey could feel his head throbbing. “And why, out of all names-”

“Oh, relax, the guy's still on the run from all those magical thefts, he's not going in public anytime soon. No way we'll get get any kind of mix-up.” It was difficult to tell if she knew this for a fact, given her All Seeing Eyes, or she was making an excuse for poking a hornet's nest. “Smiles, everyone!”

The only way Mickey could manage something close to a smile was imagining tying Daisy up and leaving her in the city while the crew made a getaway. As a result his smile was more demonic than charming. “I love you so much,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “I don't think I've ever loved someone as much as I love you right now.” It was obvious what actual emotion Mickey was emphasizing.

With a sad exhale, Donald offered his hand to Minnie, unable to look at her for the moment due to embarrassment, which she did not find offensive. She weakly held his hand and followed their friends into the chapel, trying to put on struggling happy faces.

The interior of the entrance was filled to the brim with couples of all kinds. Some couldn't keep their hands off of each other, others were bickering loudly, and it occurred to Mickey then that perhaps some others would also be faking their romance. A thousand coins or a paid vacation were tempting prizes, after all. The inside of the church contained more silly statues of smooching and banners full of hearts. Father Wander's servants were prancing about, offering flower necklaces and singing poetry about each of the contestants. Mickey was finding it more difficult to keep on his smile, his anger still throbbing, and now growing into frustration. He had sworn to Minnie that he'd put his affections for her on hold until she was free, and he was going to keep his word. It had been the right thing to do, but also incredibly difficult – he wanted to treat her like a lover should be treated, to give life to the words in his head, to make her happy for every sad say she'd ever experienced. But now being in this place was like a belittling reminder of the lines he swore he wouldn't cross, no matter how much he wanted to.

Yet as he looked around at all the kissy faces and hearing silly pet names – this seemed almost to be more a mockery of romance than an actual celebration. As if these people knew what people in love were supposed to “look like”, but never bothered to try anything else. Mickey's parents were mushy, yes, but they didn't spend every waking moment babbling about each other. Sometimes their love could be felt with a simple smile when their spouse was having a bad day, or asking the chef to prepare their favorite food when one of them was ill.

Mickey's mind began to reel, somewhat cooling his anger without getting rid of it entirely – did he really know anything about love? He was certain about his feelings towards Minnie, but he'd been proven wrong about his instincts before. What a fine time to have doubts! Maybe if he hadn't been so busy daydreaming before he came to the chapel, he could've asked an actual expert on the subject, like Goofy or Horace. But in the end, did any of it matter?

Father Wander began clapping his hands, which stopped his servants so he could be heard. “Welcome, one and all, to the Annual Rumansy Romance Contest! It is such an honor to be here among so many loving people! Now that our last minute contestants have been signed up, we can finally get things rolling!” he then gestured to the foursome at the door, applauding wildly. “Give 'em a hand, everyone! Two pairs of forbidden lovers for the price of one! Aren't they just adorable?”

Daisy squeezed Mickey tightly, giggling like a shy schoolgirl. “Aw, honey, aren't they saying the nicest things about us?”

Mickey awkwardly patted Daisy on the head, trying to keep the real goal in mind. “Uh, yeah. Thanks.” He swallowed, feeling everyone's eyes on him. He could feel his insides trying to physically force down his anger, and ignore his worries, although both were proving to be difficult. Donald and Minnie were wearing a matching pair of nervous smiles, awkwardly waving. “I, uh... well! It's nice to meet all of you, sorta.” There was no reason to bad sport to his fellow contestants. Maybe some of them had been duped as well. “I hope we can all get along, and may the best couple win.”

“AND THAT WILL BE US!”

One of the small, wooden pews was knocked over, allowing the shouting enemies to use it as a makeshift pedestal for their greatness. A pair of humans stood side by side, copying each other's pose of a hand to their face. “There is simply no couple who love each other more than I, Hildy Gloom, and my fantastic husband, Grimwold Gloom, love each other!” She cackled and flipped her short, purple and pink hair around. The long-frilled dress around her neck and legs made her seem taller than she really was, like a violet lizard standing on its haunches.

“So the rest of you would be better off giving up and leaving here and now!” Her husband's laugh was no less devilish, though his contained a few extra honks, given his very large nose. His bright blue hair was nearly blinding, save for the white streak like a lightning bolt. He also dressed a bit more conservatively choosing a simple trench-coat with a pattern of stars in the corner. “We not only deserve first place, but second, third, and runner-up! You might as well save us all some time and hand them over now!”

The various couples uneasily looked at each other, unsure if they wanted to fight against a pair that was so downright rude. Father Wander held up his hands, chuckling nervously. “Now, now, let's not get ahead of ourselves...There's three days to prove who's the best, starting now! We have two assigned chambers, one for the men, and one for the women, so if you could all just-”

“Why should I have to share my room with a bunch of losers?” Hildy marched forward, leaning over Father Wander and making him back up. “I'll have all of these pathetic wanna-bes dropped out before you can say 'boo'! So hand over those prizes! I want them, I want them, I want them!”

Daisy whispered behind her hand, “See, there are people more annoying than I am.” This did not reassure Mickey about anything.

The murmur didn't go unnoticed, as Grimwold stomped his foot down. “You got something to say to us?” He then advanced toward Mickey and Daisy, sneering down at them. “You two think you could be more in love than we are? Get lost! The only ones winning are me and my Hildy-honey!”

Mickey's temper was reaching its limits for the day, fighting off the lid he'd so carefully placed on it minutes ago. “Look, we don't want any trouble. We all deserve a fair shot at winning the prizes, and it's not fair for you to push Father Wander around! We're not going anywhere, and you can't make us!”

“Who says I can't, pipsqueak?” Grim grabbed Mickey by the collar – Mickey felt a strange little pinch. “Do you even know who we are?”

“You literally just told us,” Daisy said under her breath, making no movement to help Mickey. But she didn't have to – a sudden, hard bolt of lightning struck the outside of the chapel, causing everyone to jump. After all, it'd been clear and sunny, so where did the lightning come from? Mickey glanced behind him, and saw Donald give a sheepish smile. He hadn't meant to summon it, but seeing his friend needlessly bullied had set him off. Minnie squeezed his hand in gratitude.

Grateful for the distraction, Father Wander tried to pick things up again. “As I was saying...we have rooms for men and women, so you can unpack and get yourselves psyched for the first part of the contest! Anyone who fails any part of the contest will kindly be asked to leave.” The “kindly” part was up to debate, seeing how his servants were holding up chains behind his back. If Mickey had to guess, the losers would be dragged away in them, which seemed extremely excessive. “We'll continue eliminating couples until we have our winners on day three! On that day, we have a super secret and super amazing way to tell who is the best couple in the whole wide world! Hurray for love!” He applauded, and this time everyone joined in, save for the sneering Glooms.

The frolicking servants began to lead the men and women away into separate, long red hallways. With the intense drama now over, Mickey put a hand to his chest, taking deep breaths. Now he could calm down, and get rid of that vicious temper. In, out, in, out, there was no reason to lose his cool. They would just play the game and try their best. As each pair began to be separated, Mickey shook Donald's hand. “Thanks for the save, pal.”

“You got it, Mickey,” he whispered, happy to have helped. “We're all in this together, all four of us. And don't you worry, Minnie and I have got this covered. We'll help you and each other.”

Minnie bowed her head respectfully. “I'll be in your hands, Donald, so I know I will be all right.”

“But right now, she's in my hands!” Daisy yanked Minnie away by the wrist, happy to ruin the tender moment. “See you boys later! You better prepare the sappiest lines you can imagine! I want to see maple syrup pouring out of your mouths!” With a harpy-like little laugh, she flounced away with a very reluctant Minnie.

“I'm afraid to say it can't get worse.” Mickey shook his head, following Donald to the men's chambers. He wondered what the first stage of the contest was, and how hard it would be to pass it. But until then, he could always study his maps.

The last couple to be separated were the Glooms, who had now taken to a corner and were watching their enemies disperse. Before they parted, Hildy held out her hand to her husband, smirking. “Did you get it, Grimmy-goo?”

“Easy as pie, Hildy-hoo.” He slipped it into her hand – a single black hair taken from Mickey's fur. “If what the Phantom Prince told us is right, this is our ticket to easy street. Work your magic. Literally.”

“Can do, babe.” She slid the hair into her neckline, hiding it underneath her clothes. “I'll need a day to perfect it, but before this contest is over, we'll know if he's the one we've been looking for. Then not only will we win, but we'll obtain ultimate power!”

“You are so pretty when you're evil.”

“You say the nicest things, sweetie!”

They exchanged a happy kiss before leaving their separate ways, determined to win in every sense of the word. No one suspected that this sappy yet bothersome pair was there for far more than coins and prizes. The Phantom Prince hadn't stopped with Pete in his search for suitable pawns. They wouldn't be the last obstacles in Mickey's way, but they were going to show him that there were things he could never hide no matter how hard he tried.

Grimwold stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked on with the rest of the men, his eyes staying on Mickey's back. He hadn't exactly been given all the details of the big plot at hand, but felt he didn't need them. What he had was enough. He was going to get his hands on the Son Of Scheherazade.

Or, as others called him, those who felt his mother was no hero and that his father was a monster... The Child Born Of Blood.

#disney #fanfic #the son of scheherazade #mickey mouse #minnie mouse #donald duck #daisy duck #horace horsecollar #clarabelle cow

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shinneth · 5 years

Text

Gem Ascension Tropes (Peridot-specific: P - Q)

Reference:

Primary Peri Post ▼ Primary General Post ▼ Full Article

Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: Justified, as Peridot and Steven are 13 and 14 respectively (until It’s a Birthday, Yes It Is; then they’re 14 and 15) and haven’t been an Official Couple for very long. However, Steven’s hormones (fully in effect since his Plot-Relevant Age-Up) and Peridot’s devotion to him make them both self-aware that they’re moving along faster than they should and really can’t help themselves. This is addressed as early on as Chapter 5 of Act III, but that brings up another factor that the Dawn of a New Era brought about by the events of GA are forcing them both to grow up too fast with crushing levels of responsibility hanging over them both. Just under a week removed from GA confirms the pair have gone as far as second base and are eager to go past that in This is Who I Am. Then it completely goes off the rails in It’s a Birthday, Yes It Is (3-4 months removed from GA) where they’re not only well into third base, but are desperate to go all the way. They ultimately succumb to that in Chapter 2… sort of.

Pensieve Flashback: Chapter 1 of Act III features three flashbacks of Peridot’s Homeworld days – all of which she is forced to watch by White Diamond, who surrounds all sides of her with screens of these memories that were ripped directly from her mind. Present-day Peridot has to discuss her past with White Diamond as she watches these moments against her will.

Photographic Memory: An ability Peridot gains post-ascension. Often paired with her Mental Picture Projector power to provide exposition.

Phrase Catcher: Although it’s technically not a catchphrase (and technically Lapis is the one who came up with the term originally), Peridot often refers to Steven as her “center of gravity” as a Term of Endearment across the GA continuity. Once Peridot adopts the term, she’s the only one who uses it… until Chapter 5 of Act III, when Steven refers to her as this for him. This moves Peridot so much that she actually needs alone time with him despite already having some not that long ago. Much later, in Plans Change, Garnet also uses the term to reference the importance of Steven in Peridot’s life even in regards to her leadership abilities, though this only serves to embarrass both Steven and Peridot. The latter insists that the term just sounds awful coming out of anyone other than Steven or herself.

Physical, Mystical, Technological: The Technological to Lapis’ Mystical and Bismuth’s Physical.

Platonic Life-Partners: With Amethyst, and formerly Lapis.

Please Wake Up: The moments leading up to, and the actual moment Pumpkin dies in Chapter 8 of Act III have Peridot invoking this trope, though she almost entirely loses her ability to speak coherently once Pumpkin dies. She speaks incomplete and fragmented statements while she’s internally processing the reality of what just happened. Following that is an Angst Nuke.

Plucky Comic Relief: Per canon, she’s still this. Granted, it’s notably downplayed given the circumstances, as Peridot pretty much has to become more serious and professional as an authoritative figure (the central theme of this story is Peridot starting as this trope and transitioning to Hero Protagonist, after all). However, she still has a good number of moments, and her pluckiness serves to get her team motivated and optimistic in a mission they can very easily screw up and fail.

Poisonous Friend: After her actions in Chapter 6 of Act III that ended up getting Steven willingly involved in a very violent, sadistic method of In-Universe Catharsis (aka hack at White Diamond’s neck in hopes of snapping it clean off her body), Peridot not only sees herself as this to Steven after coming to her senses, but White Diamond blatantly accuses her of being this as well. This plays into White’s goal of crushing Peridot’s ego to make her submissive again so she can be more easily coerced into fusion. Later in Chapter 8, Steven (as Pink Diamond 2.0) adamantly tells Peridot (as Chartreuse Diamond) that she isn’t a toxic influence on him at all, and that his actions are his own.

Power Crystal: Emerged with the components of one that was made whole by White Diamond’s manipulation. A broken splinter of Yellow Diamond combined with White Diamond’s diamond dust embedded in Peridot’s gemstone forms a brand new diamond. In full bloom, it merges with said gemstone and rests directly in the middle of it; this is a permanent change and marks Peridot’s ascension from a low-caste worker gem to a Diamond. Peridot effectively becomes two gems simultaneously and gains a great deal of power (though capped unless she shifts into Chartreuse Diamond) while doubling as being her lifeline just as much as her mundane gemstone.

Power Floats: Can do this post-ascension, though Peridot still prefers to use a metal platform when she takes to the sky.

Power Incontinence: By far the biggest case of this for Peridot was her inability to fuse, even with Steven. It’s heavily implied that despite her ascension, Peridot wouldn’t be able to fuse with anyone else due to being an Era 2 gem – as well as a kind of gem that logically should never have any reason to fuse, given that Peridots are not meant for combat of any kind (and fusion on Homeworld was solely done for combat purposes). While she was finally able to fuse as Chartreuse Diamond in Chapter 8 of Act III, there was a lingering concern she would only be able to fuse in that form. However, Steven’s Epiphany Therapy proved to work on Peridot just as it did for Chartreuse; once Peridot was able to forgive herself for her many past crimes and accept that she did deserve to experience fusion, she and Steven finally fused successfully and became Sphalerite in the final scene of Act III.

Power Limiter: A natural variant in Peridot’s limitations of her base form. While she is vastly more powerful and versatile compared to her abilities pre-ascension, and Peridot might be able to share most of the same abilities as Chartreuse, the range of effectiveness is greatly limited while performing as Peridot… simply because she’s in a form that can’t channel the kind of power a Diamond can. If Peridot pushes herself too hard, she can risk harming herself in the process.

The Power of Love: This is what kept Peridot from falling apart on Day 1 of the rescue mission. Her boundless love for Steven kept pushing her to follow through on her vows, even when she wanted to give up and go home. It’s pointed out several times In-Universe how Peridot made something that’s usually a point of vulnerability into a power source. That is, until White Diamond finds a way to make it a weakness in Act III. Still, Peridot’s love for Steven shines through and helps way more often than it hurts. Somewhat subverted as Peridot and Steven have trouble fusing – love alone isn’t enough to make them compatible. Steven had to dig deeper to get to the root of Peridot’s problems to make Iridescent Diamond a reality, but love is still in play as Steven’s efforts just further prove to Peridot how he’s a beacon of light in her life and can only make sense of things she doesn’t understand with him around. When Steven helps Peridot finally move on from the guilt of the past weighing her down, she can’t help but fall even further in love with him.

The second point happens early in Chapter 8 after Pumpkin dies. It’s mixed in with the Heroic BSoD, but this trope is largely what fuels the Angst Nuke.

Power Perversion Potential: Peridot has an idea to use just a small bit of willpower to make Steven unable to ejaculate for a while with the intent of building towards a stronger orgasm in the long run, which Steven consents to. And… it definitely had the intended result when Peridot dispelled him.

Pragmatic Hero: Contrasts with Steven’s All-Loving Hero; while Peridot has changed so much to the point that who she is now is a vast departure from her Pre-Earth Manipulative Bastard persona, she still remains an objectivist who knows better than to love everything and everyone unconditionally. Most times she attempts to adopt this attitude ends up blowing up in her face (see also: Lapis). Since she is fiercely protective of the ones she loves, Peridot has no qualms whatsoever about doing immoral things if it’s literally the only way she can assure the safety of others. She has more than once butted heads with Steven over this, and while those were ultimately minor spats, This is Who I Am Chapter 5 proves there is a part of Peridot that has more than some lingering contempt for Steven for making light of not only her embodiment of this trope, but others who share her ideology…

5XG: “You hate murderers. Anyone who takes the life of another, you hate on principle. The cause or circumstance is of no concern to you and never has been.

The Bismuth told me how events played out when you first met her. After knowing by this point how the Diamond Authority were responsible for committing multiple acts of global genocide, how this very planet was on that list, and were prone to shattering members of their own court on a misdemeanor or even on a whim. You were aware of all of this.

Yet you admonished the Bismuth for daring to create weapons made for wiping out an enemy with lethal force; legitimate ways to justifiably defend yourself against an enemy you know would not hesitate to take your life if they had an opening. You stood there, and you actually labeled her as one who is completely indistinguishable from White, Blue, or Yellow Diamond. A loyal ally of your maternal unit whose focus was always on doing her best to defend her friends and loved ones, who only fought when forced to by the Homeworld gems… to her face, you belittled her convictions and you said there was no difference between her and the maniacal, genocidal dictators that you yourself were defending against along with your loved ones – just as the Bismuth herself.

I honestly don’t blame her for trying to kill you that day. You should have died.”

Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: Shown in Chapter 1 of It’s a Birthday, Yes It Is when Peridot’s exhaustion (both mentally and physically) makes her unable to concentrate her willpower, even for a simple task like cleaning a minor mess. To a lesser extent, it was also present in This is Who I Am Chapter 2 when she Forgot About Her Powers from the shock of getting ambushed by an alligator. During the previous chapter of the aforementioned story, Steven heavily implies this trope was why Peridot was unable to fuse with him during the main GA series until she learned to forgive herself towards the end of Act III.

Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: The slew of derogatory words Peridot has for Steven after first reuniting with him are delivered like this, with a weak punch to his shoulder after every name she calls him.

Punctuated Pounding: The moment Steven and Peridot reunite in Chapter 5 of Act I, Peridot unleashes this on Steven while crying into his chest; punctuating every name she calls him with a punch. However, being that she’s severely injured at this point, Peridot’s blows don’t hurt Steven in the least, and he just takes it in stride.

Quiet Cry for Help: The narrative in Chapter 4 of Act I notes there is a brief, vulnerable look in Peridot’s eyes as she turns to face Bismuth and Lapis, who just screamed at her to not shatter the helpless poofed gems in her workstation, which Peridot was “teasing” and looked ready to follow through with it until her friends intervened. She’s described as looking lost, confused, on the verge of breaking down, and silently crying for help. That expression only lasts a moment before Peridot slips back into Heroic Safe Mode and mocks her friends for thinking she was really going to do it.

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raevanmun · 7 years

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why were you drawn to each one of your characters?

Apparently you and @symmarilshatterunwra are both sadists.I have to preface this response with a little literarydrivel. I am a huge, HUGE fan of transgressive fiction. In my writing I have done my best to adhere tothe basic elements of the genre, though my writing style is often more floridthan is typical. So, all of my characters tend to have deviant pasts, secretsand proclivities that are both a source of relief from lives that are eitherbanal and meaningless or are broken by trauma and sometimes a mixture of thetwo.Usually, a narrative emerges either from some music, a pieceof art, or just musing in general and sometimes through the combined creativeeffort of myself and a writing partner. A few of these characters have beenconceived of with and for partners I have or have had.Raerys (Rosewood) Songbrook - Raerys’ isa compilation of feelings and narratives that I spliced together from writingdone with @symmarilshatterunwra and a deep interest in actual cults that I have. I havespent several hundred hours watching various documentaries about religiouscults. Raerys family were involved in a very fringe cult of Sun WorshipingQuel’dorei. In it there is love of power for power’s sake, the corruption thatcomes from that and the fanatical drive to create a “pure” blood line thatwould create the greatest minds in the pursuit of the Arcane. That pursuit of apure bloodline and the use of both religious doctrine and sexual coercion aremain themes in her life, start to finish.Her journey is one of cleansing and redemption, a move towardwholeness and healing after a life of privileged trauma.The next I have to take in Tandem - because their stories areintertwined.Kaereah andPhaedrei Bitterdawn - The Bitterdawn sisters are opposite ends of theemotional and social spectrum. This is due to some really shitty stuff thathappened when they were growing up. They are in truth, half sisters. Phaedreiis the elder of them. Kaereah is the baby of the family and the result ofan “Oooops” their mother had after having been widowed. Phaedrei is responsible to a fault, is taciturn, cruel and fairly ACE. Headcannon says she's never been with anyone, romantically or otherwise. She's toofocused on her work, on her magic, on herself and the compartments of her life.She is deeply sad, a dank sort of depression eats at her and keeps her at arm'slength from anyone. Kaereah is the opposite side of the same coin. She is gregarious, friendly, andgenerally "open" to people she meets, but then, she's also aprostitute and has been for many years. She is not really open, any more sothan her sister, though she has been in love once. Was hurt terribly, and sincehas walled off her emotions and used sex as a way of life and a weapon since. They are in equal parts the unfortunate reaction to a childhood in which theironly role model found validation in relationships, not in herself or herchildren. Determined not to follow in their mother's footsteps they respondedvery differently, only to arrive at essentially the same emotional place. Theyhate one another, because both judge the other as maladjusted, without seeingthe irony of their situations and having any empathy for the other and all thatthey have suffered.Nolah Blackfyre - Nolah is a amalgamof rogue tropes, which are usually played out by men. I was drawn to her as acharacter because she is a SHE. She is devil may care, full of swagger andpomp, but she's also wears that like a mask, hiding behind it is a ruthlesskiller who no one would ever imagine is capable of the things she is. She isalso, an incurable romantic, seeking for that perfect lover who to quote TheEagles, "won't blow my cover, but they're so hard to find." As I posted ages ago on her tumblr, she is made of cigarettes and song lyrics.She is a poet, a ponderous creature who writes secret poetry and who is tragicin all the ways that rogues usually are.

Kordelaine Sunbriar - Kordelaine ismy idea of a "millennial belf." She likes techno, house and trancemusic. She is into her gadgets, thinks the world is all fucked up but feelspretty powerless to fix it. It sounds strange I know, but she's in no smallpart inspired by both of my sons, one who has had some issues with drugaddiction and depression and the other who is a quiet and very nerdy kid. I was drawn to her as a way to sort of tap into what I enjoy most about millennials.What makes them interesting to me as a GenX'r. Their music, their sardonic viewof the world, their desire for community and connection in a world that isincreasingly small and yet isolated by technology.

Tzilli Bloodsky - I am drawn toTzilli because who doesn't want to play a comic book villain? She's a completeasshole. She's a narcissistic, overly intellectual anarchist who is really justa nihilist. She is in her mind, "Self Made" in the same way that mostAyn Rand female characters are... whichis also fun to mock and play with. She's really just Ra's al Ghul with tits anda cute face.Selkara Blackvale - Selkarah and herTwin Selakiir are Castor and Pollux. Or were... until something terriblehappened. She was always the darker half, the dangerous one, the thinker ofdeep and dark thoughts. He was the kind one, the sweet one, the good one... andthen the Void. I am drawn to Selkara because she has been utterly undone withher brother's corruption. Thrust from the role of the corruptor into the role of the caretaker has lefther unbalanced, freewheeling and frightened. She now struggles with theknowledge of her brother's slowly creeping madness, to feel him mentally,spiritually and emotionally within her, but unable to affect what is theeventual outcome of his state. The struggle to change horses midstream and become a hero in her own life iswhat is interesting about Selkara, that and her adoration and love for Rey. Reyhas helped to soften her, to support her transformation from shadowy bitch intosomething deeper, more and closer to wholeness. Rila Greenleaf - Rila is the Fool ofthe Tarot, but in female form. She is the child in William Blake's Songs of Innocenceand Songs of Experience. She is moving from utter ignorance through temptation,corruption and with luck, out the other side. I am drawn to Rila's arc in thesame way that anyone who's read De Sade's "Justine" is drawn to thecharacter and the conclusion of her story. How does the madness of absolutelibertinism end if it is born by one of a completely pure soul?

Jonadori Winterborne - Jona has beenbashed around in some pretty unfortunate rp arcs. She's not broken but she'sbeen reworked a bunch and at present I am not sure I am utterly in touch withher. So, I am not sure what to say about her in this respect.

Aembrose/Ambrose Longroad - Aembrose is a side character inRaerys' larger story. I originally made him just to play a part in herprogression, but there has been some interest in maintaining him as acharacter. I just haven't found found his voice yet. I am working on it.

Joaquin Brightquiver - He is a new character, very wetbehind the ears yet, but I am drawn to him because of his romantic and artisticsensibilities. He's a loner, been kicked around a good deal by life, but heloves to pain, he's consumed by his art, wine and women. He could be great, agreat and well-respected painter, but his addictions to alcohol and women whoare trouble keep him from being able to really move forward as an artist. I amdrawn to him, for the voice he offers.I don't usually play men, but when I write him, or plot for him, I feel such astrength of narrative that I feel sort of compelled to see the guy out. We'llsee if I really get under him and into his pov, it is still emerging, but whatI have done with him, I have really enjoyed.

Bryonny Larkspur - Bryonny is not yet entirelyfleshed out, that said... I find that character creation requires interaction,at least to firm up details. However, she's interesting to me from a conceptualpoint of view. Unlike Nolah who is despite her vocation a pretty easy to getalong with lady, Bryonny is far more "muy macho" and I have nicknamedher "The Shootist," in order to make the connection between her andold school male western tropes. She's a female in a man's world, she's mean andruthless. I haven't written a characterlike her in a long time, and perhaps it is the opportunity to write one again,re-working the idea and refining it that makes her interesting to me.Violet Dal'vir - Violet is theoldest character I have here. She's an Apostate Blood Knight who for manyreasons rejects "current" Sin'dorei culture and wallows in her angstand resentment. She has little use for others, little use for friends orcompanions. The only people she's known for some time who care for her or caredfor her, eventually left her behind because she could not and would not bebudged from her bigotry and her dogmatic and uncompromising dedication to aregime and a world that no longer exists.I like her, because she's kind of my "Uncle Rukus" character. She issocial commentary turned inside out and upside down. If I bring Violet aroundto interact with your characters, you can expect it is because either I thinkyour character is too fluffy, or too edgy. She likes to shave the plumes offone and knock the corners off the other. This is why, in many ways, I equateher with trolling. Greneda Brightmorn - Greneda is thenewest of my characters and I won't lie, I've pretty much fallen in love withher. She is a taste of all my favorite old time movie vixens, mashed up with agood dose of Lucile Ball and Carol Burnett. She feminine exaggerated, she's gota dirty mind, a warm laugh and she loves people, all sorts of people. She likesto use politeness like a weapon, relies heavily on her "Blanche" likemanner when social situations get difficult or taxing, and when she'scomfortable with people or her context, she's a delightful companion. I am deeply drawn to her, because I lovepeople like her in real life.

Thank you @ouroandarGreat if somewhat difficult question to answer.

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