#i was actually going to judge him but he's literally immortal so there's no point

[the-final-sif]

I need to hop back into my transformers bullshit for just a moment because I don't think they've had much interaction in canon, but I think it'd be really really funny if Tarn was actually terrified of Starscream.

Like, I dunno if MTMTE/IDW canon has confirmed Starscream's immortal spark for that particular series, but I'm going to assume it carries over. If so, it'd make Tarn's power basically useless against him.

In my ideal headcanon, Tarn got sick of Starscream's shit at some point and went against Megatron to try to murder him. He tried to do this subtly using his voice only for it to 100% not work even a little bit. He would've had this whole build up where he got Starscream alone and was attempting to be a dramatic bitch about the whole thing and build up to the murder and then-

And then it just doesn't work and there's a really awkward pause where Starscream is looking around kind of expecting something to happen when literally nothing does. Tarn is trying to keep a normal conversation going now while also attempting the murder again and again just for it to literally do nothing. Eventually Starscream gets sick of him being weird and walks out judging the guy.

It'd be so fucking funny particularly because Starscream having an immortal spark is generally totally unknown, so Tarn would have to assume that Starscream had found some way to render his ability useless, which is terrifying. Tarn is now extremely worried that Starscream somehow had a spy and found out what he was planning to do ahead of time. He might've even been able to get something into Tarn's head somehow to know his plan this well. Clearly that level of genius must be part of why Megatron keeps him around. Tarn was a fool for having attempted to disobey, and Starscream was clearly not a problem he could solve like this. What if Starscream reports this clear disobedience to Megatron? Tarn just tried and failed to kill the second in command! Starscream would have every right to demand his execution if he so desired, or save this as blackmail!

Tarn is just out of his mind spinning conspiracy theories and getting super high levels of paranoia about Starscream. Just doing whatever he can to not have to be in the same place as the guy. He runs under the assumption he's being blackmailed by Starscream for his attempt and does what he can to not cross the seeker.

Meanwhile from Starscream's perspective, Tarn showed up and had a very weird conversation where he kept raising his voice at random times and then nothing happened. Then the guy freaked out and got even more weird about it. He has no idea why this happened. He has no idea that Tarn is hiding from him. He thought it was weird and stopped thinking about it after a few days. Starscream's minding his own business and mostly forgot about this entire thing after two weeks meanwhile Tarn is having a mental breakdown about it for years.

#tarn idw #tarn #starscream #starscream idw #tarn mtmte #tf mtmte #transformers #crack #sif speaks #everyone who follows me for other stuff can ignore this #we were just talking about transformers in the drblr discord the other day #and it got me thinking about how funny this would be #also I know it was more fitting for megatron to kill tarn and everything #but it would've been really really funny in this au #if starscream showed up at the necroplanet for some reason #and tarn just fucking booked it out of there #literally NOBODY knows why he's so scared of starscream #meanwhile starscream was entirely there to be a bitch about something #and he's equally confused #idk I just think it'd be really really funny

[carlyraejepsans]

you just mentioned in the tags ''toriel stopping sans from [cutting the humans' journey short] by killing them'' ive always wondered, do you think sans would actually have killed the human if he hadnt made the promise to toriel? i think you mentioned once that the ''youd be dead where you stand'' moment is another one of sans fumbling attempts to seem threatening but despite that, do you think he wouldve actually done it ? if hed seen them kill monsters or during a pacifist run? or do you think it wouldve played out similarly to canon in the genocide route or that he wouldve been just less involved with the human during their journey in a pacifist run?

(ok i found this in my drafts and I don't remember where i was going with this, but i kinda went off so have this as it is lol)

i keep 5 versions of sans that are Ever So Slightly Different According to How I Interpret Different Details simultaneously rotating in my brain at all times. so uhhhhh yes and no.

jokes aside, I'm starting to gravitate more towards the interpretation that like... the threat he made at the restaurant? full on jackassery. shithead extraordinaire. he WAS messing with us.

but would he have tried to kill a human if toriel hadn't made him promise otherwise?

...yeah i think so. let me elaborate

here's the thing though: i think people put way too much weight on that! i mean it's a fighting RPG, every single other character—bar toriel—fights you to either capture and have you sent to the capital or to kill you themselves. either way they want your SOUL. papyrus... is his own neutral case here with his refusal to kill you.

my point being: every monster you meet wants to fight you. it's through that fight (or what happens afterwards) that you actively challenge their point of view and befriend them.

you don't go through this with sans. he never fights you, so you never need to change his mind because that belief was challenged before we even got to the underground, through toriel's words alone. that's... kind of admirable?

but it does frame his actions in a very creepy way from our point of view in-game. not to forget his dumbass scary pranks. because we go from someone a bit mysterious though ultimately friendly and goofy whom we thought we could trust, to someone who openly tells us he could've been a threat for us... and then never delivers. at least, not in any playthrough where we hear that line of dialogue.

so much of sans' character and appearance stems from tonal dissonance. he's shamelessly comfortable in the game's tone and vibes, but still stands out as an outsider. he plainly doesn't play by the same rules as everyone else, so we don't judge him by the same standards, either.

even more, if he actually kept his promise the way toriel meant it, that would've meant playing the entire game like a tutorial. sure, you can enjoy the story, but did you enjoy playing the section in the RUINs when she's with us? it's basically handholding the entire time. it's BORING for us, and ultimately, Undertale is a game! so it should be enjoyable to its player. which brings me to our next point:

ultimately... yeah maybe he would've tried to kill us. and yes it is kinda shitty that he only kept his promise by not doing that. in a sans characteristic troll way, i mean. but acting like the "sans was happy to watch a baby get beat up and killed" jokes are, well, anything other than jokes is just a plain bad reading. forget about post pacifist. during a gameplay, frisk IS the Human IS us IS the PLAYER. which means capable of RESET and SAVE. which means essentially immortal, at the end of the day. it's the "special power" sans tells us about in his judgement. you can't treat us with the same moral lenses as an NPC. the power we hold over their world in the game is lovecraftian. we can literally destroy it entirely, an outcome that was scientifically predicted by some characters in the game...

...sans being one of them. every interaction with you, every joke and every hand extended in friendship and eye closed to your shenanigans. all of it, the good and the not-so-good. it's all colored with the knowledge that the "human" in front of him could end the world. whether you actually do that or not.

this is one of my favorite moments in the canon. one time. one second where the mask slips and we see through the cracks in the façade of laid back confidence. and what we see is a mirror, held up to our face.

and it's fucking terrifying.

"waaaa sans is bad because he lets us die" boo-FUCKING-hoo brother! cry me a river then throw ice cubes in it. mans goes through all of this on the daily and still gives us a chance, you should be thanking him.

i have a few other opinions on this topic that i feel are relevant, but I don't feel like putting them into a coherent argument so I'll just list them instead:

there are some collateral factors that i think would've prevented him from killing us outside of toriel's promise. mainly the fact that papyrus was feeling down and meeting a real human would've cheered him up. then he would've befriended us because of course he would, and of course sans wasn't going to kill his brother's new bestie.

so would he have fought us in a pacifist or papyrus-friendly netral run? maybe not! but he WOULD'VE whooped ass sooner if things got out of hand.

it's kind of a given that sans figures out you can manipulate time very early into the game. he works for/with asgore, who knows from first-hand child-murder experiences that it's an ability humans have, he's a scientist who studied the space-time continuum of their world and he's a friend of alphys', the royal scientist who studied human souls and determination (and let's not even get into his connections to gaster). he's a bright lad. he put two and two together.

while he COULD have seen taking a humans' soul as a necessary evil for monsterkind's freedom (promise to toriel aside) he openly sympathized with the anomaly. he's not there to be a time cop. he just wants to avoid the literal annihilation of the universe.

[...? yeah i never continued this. still stands tho.]

#answered asks #undertale #sans #entry log

[audhd-nightwing]

batboys au

i don’t have an official title for this au yet so for now i’m calling it “tim and his immortal zombie brothers”

backstory

dick is taken by the court of owls after his parents die. he helps batman when bruce destroys the court, and afterwards he disappears. bruce looks but can’t find him.

dick sets base in an abandoned building and basically decides to watch over crime alley like batman does with the rest of gotham. he hunts for food (mostly bugs, rodents and birds) cuz he can’t get sick, but needs to eat a lot.

he spends most days in the library reading and learning stuff (new languages, science, history, etc). he meets jason while investigating Ma Gunn’s and they work together to take her down. jason decides to stay with dick instead of go with bruce but forces dick to get an actual apartment (he does).

jason convinces dick to train him, though he already has some experience and his own skills. dick adopts the name Robin and jason goes by Shrike. they become legit vigilantes of crime alley.

jason finds out dick is a talon a bit after he starts out as Shrike. they are in the middle of a fight and dick is fatally shot- jason loses it and almost beats the shooter to death (it’s just one guy left at this point). dick gets up and pulls jason off, hugs him, and promises to explain when they get home. afterwards, jason punches dick for not telling him until he literally had no other choice.

jason’s death

the joker escapes arkham and kidnaps jason (14) while he’s on solo patrol (they split the area to cover more ground). joker beats jason with a crowbar when dick (16) realizes he’s missing and races to find him. he arrives just in time to see the warehouse explode. dick brings jason’s body back to their apartment and then goes out and kills the joker (bruce is on a JL mission when all this happens, so he isn’t there to stop him).

jason comes back to life (superboy prime alternate dimension stuff idk), but is not fully healed and goes temporarily comatose.

dick knows about the LoA from the court and info he’s gathered over the years, and is able to contact talia. she agrees to let jason use the lazarus pit in exchange for a favor from dick, and they go meet her in nanda parbat. dick stays there with him during his recovery, so there are no drastic changes in his personality (aside from the trauma of fucking dying). they train together there for about 6 months before returning to gotham.

(his favor to talia is, later on, taking damian from her father and bringing him to bruce)

introducing tim

once they return to gotham, they appear to gain a stalker. they decide to leave the kid alone at first, but eventually get concerned because a kid really should not be out at night alone in crime alley.

dick (17) and jason (15) finally confront their stalker when they save him from getting mugged. the kid introduces himself as tim (12) and explains that he was curious about the young vigilantes in crime alley and decided to follow and photograph them. also he figured out Robin’s real name- dick grayson (who tim had theorized wasn’t dead despite the boy having been missing for years).

the boys are actually really impressed, but they try to dissuade tim from following them (which obviously fails). they then decide to teach him basic self defense and make sure he’s always within shouting distance/view of one of them while out at night.

tim, being the genius he is, figures out they aren’t fully human anymore. he doesn’t judge them for it, but he brings it up to them because he’s curious, so they explain talons and the lazarus pit.

once tim gets older they start to actually train him, and he becomes another vigilante (Magpie). also, because his parents leave him home alone for months at a time, he pretty much lives with dick and jason (but sometimes, when it’s really cold/hot or heavily raining/snowing, they all stay at drake manor instead of the apartment).

damian

a bit after dick turns 18, talia contacts him and tells him it’s time to uphold his part of their deal. leaving jason in charge of the Alley, he goes to nanda parbat, steals baby damian (he’s four), gets him to gotham and brings him to bruce.

basically, instead of adopting dick & jason, bruce just gets damian way earlier.

(p.s. dick knows bruce wayne is batman because of the Court, but jason and tim don’t know. when he explains the situation jason is like ‘how tf did bruce wayne meet talia and have a kid with her’ and dick is like ‘oh yeah, he’s batman’ and jason & tim explode)

bruce’s kids

bruce is about 30 when damian (quite literally) drops into his life. a year or two later, he finds cassandra and subsequently adopts her.

steph (spoiler, 15) has been working alongside him for about a year or so already, and babs (batgirl, 20) has been working with him for four-ish years. both forced him to let them work alongside him and he gave up trying to stop them

i have a lot more stuff but this is the basic storyline

#my au #batboys #batman #dc comics #dc au #dc comics au #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #talon dick grayson #talia al ghul #damian al ghul #batbros #dick grayson and jason todd #dick grayson and tim drake #the brothers ever #batboys trio #dcu #au #alternate universe #lazarus pit #bruce wayne #batman comics #batfam #tim’s immortal zombie brothers au #crime alley #gotham

[crimsonvelvet]

Meanings of names. Batim/Batdr edition!

Hello there! I'm back with another name meanings list! This time it's the Bendy verse, because it was immortalized (Hehe heh get it) yet again, and I couldn't be more excited.

So! I will be doing the primary characters for both games, BUT not all of them. I’ll be doing all the folks from Batim, since there aren’t as many as in Batdr, which added a TON of new characters and I for the live of me can't do them all. It would take me an eternity, so there... So, I won’t do those who had like one tape or memo. Sorry. I also will not be including characters from the comics or the books. Yeah. (but I can do a part 2 if you guys want ehehehehe)

Let's go!

Toons (not doing the corrupted versions, they’re technically the same)

Bendy. I'm pretty sure that Meatly made it up from the name of some editing program. Something something Bender, not sure.

Boris. From a Bulgar Turkic name, also recorded as Bogoris, perhaps meaning "short" or "wolf" or "snow leopard". Hey! Literally a wolf!

Alice. From the Old French name Aalis, a short form of Adelais, itself a short form of the Germanic name Adalheidis, which means "noble type". Hmm, I like it! Fits her. I’m obviously also counting Twisted Alice and Allison Angel. They all have the same name.

Charley (one of my favourite characters hehehehe). Diminutive form of Charles, which means  "man". Literally. Just man. MAN. That’s it. I guess that fits... Charley is, after all, A MALE. Yeah.

Barley. Means “grower of barley”. Lmao. Just like that.

Edgar.  Derived from the Old English elements ead "wealth, fortune" and gar "spear". I mean... I guess? He has nothing to do with spears, but he’s got fangs. They’re sharp. Spears are sharp.

Humans (from here on going in alphabet order)

Allison Pendle. Norman French diminutive of Aalis, so basically the same as Alice. Cool! She’s very sweet, so it fits for her as well!

Audrey Drew (putting her here because I don’t really count her as an ink entity). Medieval diminutive of Æðelþryð, which is derived from the Old English elements æðel "noble" and þryð "strength". Oh, she sure is strong! 

Bertrum Piedmont. Means "bright raven", derived from the Germanic element beraht "bright" combined with hramn "raven". Uhhmm. Ooook then. Not sure where the raven comes from.

Daniel ”Buddy” Lewek. From the Hebrew name דָּנִיֵּאל (Daniyyel), meaning "God is my judge". Nuuuu, Buddy:(      I still feel very bad for him... Man, poor guy.

Grant Cohen. From an English and Scottish surname that was derived from Norman French grand meaning "great, large". Well, his boss had GRANT plans for the studio (please don’t hurt me, I know the pun is bad).

Henry Stein (the man!). From the Germanic name Heimirich meaning "home ruler", composed of the elements heim "home" and ric "ruler". OOOOHH, i love it! Considering he is the actual creator of Bendy, he technically is the ruler!

Jack Fain. Derived from Jackin (earlier Jankin), a medieval diminutive of John, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan) meaning "Yahweh is gracious". Maybe Jack is jewish? It’s unlikely, but I literally don’t know what to say here.

Joey Dr(ew). Diminutive of Joseph, which was from the Hebrew name יוֹסֵף (Yosef), meaning "he will add". Endless torment, that’s what he’ll add. Ugh, poor Henry.

Lacie Benton. Variant of Lacy. From a surname that was derived from Lassy, the name of a town in Normandy. I couldn’t really find anything else, so...I guess?

Nathan Arch Sr. From the Hebrew name נָתָן (Natan) meaning "he gave". Wha-  what’d he give? A new chance for Bendy to be relevant again? Idk, really.

Nathan ”Wilson” Arch Jr (please don’t hurt me, but I kinda like him as a villain... Like, yeah, he’s creepy as all heck, but isn’t that kinda the point? So there, I said it). I will be doing his moniker, since duh. The name comes from an English surname meaning "son of William". Eeeehhhh, almost fits, just replace William with Nathan.

Norman Polk (eeeeyyyy it’s ma dude!). From an old Germanic byname meaning "northman", referring to a viking. Now that’s interesting. I can’t tell English accents apart very well, but I saw someone say he’s got a southern accent. And then there’s NORTHman. Hmmmm.

Sammy Lawrence. Diminutive of Samuel, coming from the Hebrew name שְׁמוּאֵל (Shemu'el), which could mean either "name of God" or "God has heard". Lmao, I guess his god really did hear him. And decided to fucking murder him.

Shawn Flynn.  Anglicized form of Seán, which on itself is the Irish form of John, so basically the same as Jack.

Susie Campbell. Diminutive of Susan. This was derived from the Hebrew word שׁוֹשָׁן (shoshan) meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose"), perhaps ultimately from Egyptian sšn "lotus". Oh, maybe those are her favourite flowers!

Thomas Connor. Greek form of the Aramaic name תָּאוֹמָא (Ta'oma') meaning "twin". OH he and Buddy are technically twins! Or, well, clones.

Wally Franks. Diminutive of Walter, which comes from a Germanic name meaning "ruler of the army", composed of the elements wald "rule" and hari "army". Pffft, he’s the ruler of the army that got OUTTA THE STUDIO, yeah ok it fits.

Ink entities (not doing Sammy, Jack and Norman for obvious reasons)

Betty. Diminutive of Elizabeth. From Ἐλισάβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name אֱלִישֶׁבַע ('Elisheva') meaning "my God is an oath". The heck- did she turn into Sammy?

Big Steve. Short form of Steven, which derives from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown, wreath". Uhh, I guess? Is there something that we have yet to discover?

Heidi. German diminutive of Adelheid, which means "noble type", from the French form of the Germanic name Adalheidis. Damn, what’s with all the nobles? Unrelated, but I love her bowtie.

Porter. From an occupational English surname meaning "doorkeeper". Oooohh, ok then, he technically is one.

And that’s it! Whew, took me quite some time. Please do tell me if you want a part two with the other folks! I’m not sure, when (and if) I’ll make it, we’l have to see.

#bendy and the dark revival #bendy and the ink machine #bendy #boris the wolf #alice angel #the butcher gang #batim charley #batim barley #batim edgar #allison pendle #audrey drew #bertrum piedmont #buddy lewek #grant cohen #henry stein #jack fain #joey drew #lacie benton #nathan arch #wilson arch #norman polk #sammy lawrence #shawn flynn #susie campbell #thomas connor #wally franks #batdr betty #big steve #batdr heidi #batdr porter

[radiance1]

Hey ya'll! Another au I thought up lol.

So this is gonna be another Half King au with immortal Danny and Vlad lol.

Danny got the Crown of Fire, which changed to more icey blue cool flames than green and Vlad got the Ring of Rage.

ANYWHO.

Danny and Vlad split the zone into two part (not literally), with Danny ruling over one half and Vlad the other. Because they have equal power, they can also make decisions regarding the others territory but they have an agreement to not mess with each other's shit unless its actually important.

Then Vlad gets summoned to a different dimension for whatever who summoned him wanted, to which he then decides to stay because what the summoner wanted would take a few years.

To which he then decided to take a vacation and tell no one about it.

So Danny, after a couple hundred years of Vlad's mysterious disappearance. He's told by Clockwork that now he has to go find him, to which Danny asked why since he didn't need to go looking hundreds of years earlier.

To which Clockwork smiles, points him in the direction, and tells him to go looking.

Danny grumbles, but he goes.

But for whatever reason he himself cannot enter the portal, he doesn't know why, but something is blocking him from entering.

The ghosts are a different matter.

So, using the far back knowledge from when he stilled visited earth, he came up with a plan to bypass whatever is blocking him and walk the planet on the other side.

What better than a cult?

So he sends a few ghosts through to discreetly plant some 'tomes' about the Ghost King, specifically the one who wears the crown, and now he just has to wait.

Meanwhile, Vlad:

Honestly, he's been enjoying his vacation a whole lot, he left the world he was originally summoned too after he was done and kinda floated aimlessly around in space before coming upon earth and decided why not.

So now here he is 450 years later, firmly cemented in the business world with a company with 450 years of rich history past down to each heir of the family who, funnily enough, were each named a variation of Vlad.

Vladmir, Vladicus, Vladalia, etc.

Obviously just him in different looks but eh no one knows.

Anywho, now he's attending a Gala held by one Lex Luthor and honestly, he was just pretty bored.

He doesn't need to really attend, and he has his money bet on Luthor not wanting him to attend, but he does get a kick outta annoying the hell out of that baldie any day of the week.

Meanwhile Danny, a few months earlier:

So his planned worked, because of course it would. TV tropes always work.

There he was, clothed in his kingly garments, his crown made sure to be the very cool and powerful looking version of his ice flames and his face stony and cold.

He did all of this expecting that he had to set a powerful image for the cultists so they would actually listen to him properly and not question him when he got to the other side.

Only to be met with a ridiculous sight.

What he thinks were the cultists getting their asses handed to them by.... very brightly dressed individuals in spandex and...

Is that a British guy smoking while flinging about magic?

Now, he doesn't judge, especially when he's already lived for more than a hundred years.

But what the absolute ever loving fruitloop.

He may or not may not have stood there with his arms crossed under his chest, his cold expression turned deadpan while he watched the people he was going to give an introduction to get their asses beat for a good few minutes.

A pity, he worked on that introduction in case he ever got summoned too.

When what were obviously superheroes finished up and turned to greet him, he maaaaay have floated up to have the height advantage on them.

Look, its not his fault he has the body of a teenager and honestly they should really shorten themselves down and stop being so tall already.

So he asked them if they've seen another ghost king, you know. Blue skin, red eyes, vampiric teeth?

By the reaction he would have to say no.

He already knows that Vlad is somewhere on this planet so he just, leaves, and goes to find him.

It was only until a few days later did he think that it might've helped if he gave a name instead of Fruitloop.

Meanwhile at the gala in present time:

Vlad was having a grand old time, as always Luthor really knew what food and which drinks would be best for his parties and honestly, that's just a bonus.

What he's really here for is the subtle reactions Lex Luthor gives him when he's trying to hold himself together.

It's always fun when that happens.

He met with Brucie Wayne (who he surprisingly never met yet.), had a good laugh, maybe made a new friend. Said hi to that reporter that's at Luthor's events like half the time- Clark Kent if he remembered correctly.

Met a woman named Diana Prince, had a good conversation with her, and mingled with a few other people.

He also saw a British guy that smoked like no tomorrow, not that he judged. May or may not have sneaked him some another pack.

Isn't he just so nice today?

So there he was, enjoying his time as he usually did. Until he felt the familiar cold presence that he hasn't felt for a good while.

Damn. Guess that means his vacation is up now.

Got some pretty strong whiskey, poured himself a glass, idly drank it and waited for the show to begin.

And just as he thought, there Phantom appeared, floating over everyone as he looked down on them as if they were barely worth his attention.

They then locked eyes.

"Found you." Danny said, ignoring the confused people underneath him. To which Vlad gulped down his drink in one go, poured himself another glass, took a sip and smiled.

"Hello to you too, little badger."

#dc x dp #dp x dc crossover #Half king Danny and Half king Vlad hc #Sue me I like it #ANYWAYS #Vlad left for a vacation and told no one #Then it became Danny's problem #the JL when they go to a gala to scout if Luthor has any new plans #Only to find the Ghost King they were already looking into #And then seeing him greet Vlad Masters #and find he's the other Ghost King the other one spoke about. #They think he possessed/haunted the Master bloodline for years lol

[nalyra-dreaming]

A criticism I see of TVC is that Lestat's too 'easily forgiven' through the series. What are your thoughts? IMO most of the vamps get forgiven quite easily for their shit, but maybe it's more notable with Lestat, plus his screw-ups can be so spectacular? I think Anne was aware of this trend tho - in TotBT when David forgave Lestat at the end, it felt like Lestat barely wanted him to? As if he was almost disappointed by the lack of consequences for his actions? I found that pretty interesting.

Hmmm, forgiven.... By whom?

Who is supposed to forgive him/them?

You bring David on here as an example, and yes, Lestat's reaction is interesting, but... what was David supposed to do? Lock himself away for years, evading Lestat, especially in the phase where he needed his maker and by extension Louis the most? David is too clever for that, and that is one of the things why I say that I like their dynamic in the later books, because... there is resentment, anger, and a sharpness there, with the force feeding (from both!) for example, which echoes that bringing over, and which colors their relationship.

But, I mean, even generally... who is supposed to forgive them...?

They cannot - and I would argue do not - forgive themselves (at least for long stretches of those books). They just, at some point, learn to live with themselves, and accept themselves. But forgiveness?

Lestat literally tries to kill himself, tries to be mortal again, and then has a run in with the Devil and God on his quest to find that forgiveness. He gets tortured by Angels in what can easily be called purgatory imho, and imprisoned and shackled by Maharet kept in that church for years...

And then... then he roams again, most of the time alone, still on the quest to forgive himself. Claudia and her ghost is an ever present presence, too.

I have seen that take before and it always left me a bit bewildered, because, again, in-universe... who is supposed to forgive him/them?

The other immortals? The other killers? Their victims? God?

Or the reader.

But the Vampire Chronicles are not seeking redemption from the reader, they are very clearly not apologizing like that. Lestat is an anti hero, they all are. They are killers, and none of them are the "good guys".

So yes, they "get forgiven" by the others, and in-story, because, let's face it - all the others there are killers, too, how exactly are they to judge another, and also... a lot of the books are written by Lestat?

Anne was "aware" of that trend, because it is an ever-evolving overall arc over the books. Even "Blood Canticle", flawed as it was, has Lestat wishing to be something he is not. It continues on, and "Blood Communion" is actually a try to allow these vampires the forgiveness they seek by allowing them their own rites, their own... church. In the adapted, almost literal version of the catholic one: "My body, my blood."

These vampires (and Lestat) are actually not forgiven easily, imho, because they cannot be forgiven by anyone... the only thing that begs their respective forgiveness is based in the relationship they have with each other.

These relationships go through a lot of ups and downs because of that. But ultimately even then... you cannot really hold out against someone forever (especially with the knowledge of the later books I'd argue), because they are the only ones you can hold onto? Their world is very limited, and they are eternal. Most of them know very well that they would hurt themselves worst if they burnt the bridges behind them completely.

And so there's grudges, little jealousies, a bit pettiness, but ultimately, they all know they cannot live without the other(s).

And so forgiveness has to happen, in a way, especially since they all know that they are... just as bad.

So for me... there's always the question of what is behind that statement of "Lestat's being too 'easily forgiven' through the series." as you put it here (not directed directly at you): What did the readers who think Lestat got off easily expect to happen, in-universe? What did they expect to read from the one telling the story? What did they expect from vampires, who kill for fun and hunger?

What is forgiveness here? What was expected? What did they think would have needed to happen? (And, I mean, we have suicide, purgatory, and redemption arc and finally communion, what exactly is expected??)

I'd love to hear your thoughts, if you like to, but to me... this isn't about "me" forgiving Lestat.

And I think... in-universe only he can do that.

#Anonymous #asks #iwtv #lestat de lioncourt #the brat prince #iwtv lestat #iwtv meta #the vampire chronicles #vc #vampire chronicles #forgiveness #blood communion #blood canticle #vc meta #ask nalyra

[positivelybeastly]

I'm curious as to how much flack Percy gets in regards to his x-force and wolverine run.

This cap doesn't have anything to do with anything, I just find it funny.

So, in regards to Percy's writing of X-Force and Wolverine, I'm going mostly based off of Reddit and Tumblr for these general impressions, because these are the social networks I spend the most time on - minus Twitter, but Twitter is frankly always a cesspool, and people don't actually talk that much about X-Force or Wolverine on there, they talk primarily about X-Ladies.

Reddit actually just wrapped up a poll asking people to rank their least favourite Krakoa era books, and the results were. Interesting.

So, Immortal X-Men was voted the best, with Hellions and X-Men Red trailing in second and third place - well deserved, frankly, those are all really quite excellent books. But we're not here to talk about excellent books, we're here to talk about Ben Percy!

Both of Ben Percy's comics were ranked as being in the bottom third of all Krakoa era comics (not including mini series). That's. Not great, honestly. That's usually what you'd call an indicator of a not well loved comic book.

Now, that's not to say that these runs don't have their appreciators - for one thing, they are objectively drawn pretty much consistently gorgeously. For all the flack I personally give Percy, he is competent at creating interesting body horror situations. There's a firm fanbase that's quite invested in Omega Red's redemption arc.

But I don't think there are many people who actually love these comics.

For one thing, the pacing is glacial. They are the single longest running ongoings of the Krakoan era, bar none, both of them looking to hit #50 in an era where other series are getting cancelled or cut short at #10 or #18 - and they have only just started to wrap up their major plot points. Beast was established to be pure evil back in issue #9, and it took until Wolverine #35 for him to be acted upon in a meaningful manner. Colossus was established to be under mind control years ago, also, and that has only JUST NOW been resolved.

A common response to this criticism was that Ben Percy is a novelist, and therefore used to writing his stories in a certain format - to which I say, cool, but you're writing for comic books, motherfucker. Adapt your style. I don't turn up to a watercolour painting class with a can of spray paint.

Another point people like to bring up is that Percy got 'screwed' by the higher ups extending the Krakoan story arc due to Hickman leaving and the other X-writers deciding to stick around in this stage of the story for longer. The theory goes that he has a set end point, and he's had to stretch the story out to make it work.

To which I say, if he's had even more time than he was meant to have, why do we know less psychologically about Beast now than we did at the beginning of the series? Why are Sage and Omega Red and Domino all begging for table scraps of story? What the fuck was even the point of the Kraven arc? A good writer who is interested in their characters and what they can say about them relishes more time to have them talk, not less, especially if you're getting paid to write it.

How in the goddamn hell did we have a company wide crossover event featuring a godlike being that forced characters to be judged for their actions, motivations and philosophies, and we didn't hear a single thing about Beast or Omega Red?

You could also just? End the story? Would the world really be that much of a poorer place without the adamantium surfboard and the evil space Nazi prison that literally mattered so little that Beast got arrested for it, then turned up again next issue like nothing had happened?

Which leads me to my next point - Beast's descent into villainy, whether or not you think it makes sense with how the character has been treated this last decade, does not make a fucking lick of sense. Everyone on the goddamn island of Krakoa is a fucking moron because X-Force is happening and no-one is watching what obviously evil Bond villain Beast is doing.

Jean Grey is staring Beast in the face, telling him that she believes that she thinks there's still good in him, while he's mentally thinking about what dead animal carcass to throw to Wolverine to break his mind and spirit. SHE IS A FUCKING TELEPATH.

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

Nightcrawler says Beast is utterly unethical and he doesn't trust him. Won't talk to him, though. Or check in on him. Or act against him. Beast was running an evil space Nazi prison in orbit, got caught, got taken away in handcuffs, and just. Walks. Away. Scot free.

From the Quiet Council.

How. The FUCK. Did that meeting go?

I don't know, but we'll never see it!

And every time you bring these things up, even the X-Force defenders just kinda have to shrug their shoulders and go, look, dude, I'm just here for the rad art and to watch how far Beast is gonna go this issue. Every other run during this era makes a grand effort to be connected, for Krakoa to feel like a breathing, living island . . . except for X-Force and Wolverine. They all just kinda. Exist in their own little universe.

It's called the Percyverse, incidentally. Legitimately. There's a full on term for it, this effect is so well documented and has been an issue for so long.

So, on Reddit at least, there's a pretty common derision for these runs. Some defenders, but no-one is ever gonna say that they're their favourites of the era. Most people are just kinda like, ehh, it's fun pulp, don't think too hard about it.

On Tumblr . . . yeah, this is something I actually have some personal experience with. You see a lot of X-Force panels posted from major comic book blogs because they catch attention and get a lot of notes, especially if it's a 'Beast does something evil' panel because you inevitably get a flood of people in the comments going HEY WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, but you wanna know what I pretty much never see?

Fan art.

Idk, maybe I'm looking in the wrong place for it, but there's no fanart, for X-Force. I've seen exactly one piece of fan art for war criminal Beast. Exactly one. I've seen more explicit porn depicting the PS5 and Nintendo Switch fucking in weird robot form than I have fanart of X-Force. Fanfics, also, are very thin on the ground - I've seen maybe five, six, maybe seven?

I actually have one of the higher rated (in terms of views and kudos) X-Force related fanfics on AO3 by virtue of the Irredeemable Beast following on from that plotline, and even then, most of my comments are from people saying, oh hey, it's nice to see Beast back to his proper characterisation again (which is really nice to see, I love that!). I've had one or two people say that they think Beast is still evil, in the context of my story, but . . . honestly, that's an audience I want to cultivate and challenge, so I don't mind that. But still.

That's. Not a lot of fan engagement.

Hell, to go back to the Reddit point - there was a thread a month or two back asking what everyone's favourite X-Force incarnation was, and most people picked Uncanny X-Force (Remender's) or the original 90s run. A few people picked the Utopia era run.

Pretty much no-one I saw picked the Krakoan era book. And I was checking. I was craving that validation. And oh boy I got validated.

There's just. Not a lot going on in these books that's going to foster a dying love in a fan for them, honestly. There's not a lot of in depth characterisation, there's no grander point to the story other than 'CIA bad (but if it were run by these good guy field operatives who understand the necessary evils rather than the stupid bureaucrats, it would be better'). It's just. A pulpy comic book with a lot of violence and a one-note villain.

Who's going to go to bat for that?

In terms of more official flack, well, it's bad form to bad mouth your co-workers, so you're not gonna see a lot of people directly telling Ben Percy he sucks, BUT.

You've seen these panels before, right?

. . . Guys, is this a joke?

And I don't mean, is this a badly produced panel that makes no sense, I don't mean, is this an insult to comic books, I don't mean, are you serious.

I . . . seriously kinda think that this panel is a joke.

Poking fun at X-Force.

Because X-Force Beast is the kind of boring psychopath who can only convey his argument through a PowerPoint. Like, that's a fucking meme. That's straight up a meme. That's the equivalent of, in this essay I will --

Now, this one is also pretty funny, but also . . .

If you were a comic book writer, and you were in charge of a comic book that was getting some fairly intense criticism about the fact that a 60 year old legacy character is being written as the worst villain this side of Charles Manson, and LITERALLY EVERYONE on the internet is screaming that this HAS to be Dark Beast because it literally just doesn't make sense . . . what would you ask editorial to do?

Would you, perhaps, ask that Dark Beast be shown on panel in a different writer's book, acknowledging Beast's evil? That would give you some legitimacy, wouldn't it? Although, that's - a pretty desperate move, isn't it . . .

Especially considering the writer of that book (Kieron Gillen) fucking loves writing Beast. Like, legitimately loves him. You can tell.

This is not dialogue you give to a character you dislike. This is dialogue you relish getting to write because it's fucking fun. This is you getting free licence to get as esoteric and as wild with your dialogue as you want because you're getting to write Beast today.

Beast is fun to write. The writers of the 90s animated show literally said he was their favourite character to give dialogue to because he's so goofy and weird and intellectual.

Not convinced?

This is the same writer, Kieron Gillen, from years and years later (S.W.OR.D was 2009, this book is from 2015).

This is why I think Kieron Gillen was digging at Percy there. Because he clearly loves this character, clearly really is invested in Beast and Abigail's relationship - they were BROKEN UP in normal comics by this point, and yet he went OUT OF HIS WAY to do this. To express a tenderness of feeling and a love and an affection for these characters that scans as genuine.

Hell, look at this.

Is . . . Gillen poking fun at the fact that this fairly important relationship was ended on a whim eight years ago and no-one knows why? Because that's kinda what this reads as to me?

When I met Kieron Gillen at a comics convention a few years ago, I got him to sign my copy of S.W.OR.D. He said, and I quote, that he was fairly certain he'd signed every copy of it ever made. We both kinda laughed, because yeah, that story sold like shit, but also . . . everyone who read it got it signed, huh? And you remember this little 5 issue mini-series that got cancelled well enough to make a joke about it not selling well, with a distinct vibe of, everyone who actually read it loved it, sigh.

Interesting.

It's also worth noting that Jed McKay, currently writing the Avengers, has said that he wished he could have Beast on the roster, but he couldn't. He went out of his way to say that in an official interview.

Interesting.

It's ALSO worth noting that both Grant Morrison and Jonathan Hickman, when asked about Beast at an anniversary livestream, said they didn't see Hank as the kind of character who should be a villain, but merely someone who got into bad situations and reacted like a human to it. Which is. Not something you'd say about X-Force Beast, is it.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

#vinial453 #outofmuffins

[bestworstcase]

question: do you think Salem's immortality having an end condition is true? that is, when she was made immortal, it was so that she would 'understand the balance of life and death.' some people are treating it like a typical fairy tale virtue curse- i.e, she will die when she fulfills the condition of "understanding the balance of life and death." i personally believe that it's bullshit. she's just going to be alive, forever, and that's that. your interpretation of things seems to lend itself to this conclusion, cuz I'm pretty sure you've said something about how the gods made her immortal in a way they couldn't take back. as always, sending this just to hear your thoughts! (p.s - do you think she's capable of Ascension? I think she might be, but whether she would do it or not is another question entirely)

yeah i don’t think it’s really a curse in the typical sense. light threw her into the fountain of creation, she drowned, the water’s power revived her and bound to her forever. and then he got sanctimonious about how she needed to learn a lesson.

these two things are connected emotionally but not, i think, mechanically; if light ever intended to make her mortal again i’m certain that the end condition he has in mind was “salem learns her lesson and comes to him to grovel for forgiveness so he can judge whether she deserves to finally die.” look at the way he sets up the ultimatum for humankind! light very much sees himself as an adjudicator. he wants his judgment to be sought and obeyed.

likewise i don’t think “as long as this world turns, you shall walk its face” is a literally true statement (in the sense that salem cannot leave remnant)—first because if this were a truly literal curse then she wouldn’t be able to fly, and second because the verbiage is repeated later when light says that humankind will rise to “walk [the world’s] face” once more, so narratively this is tying salem to the resurrection of humanity itself and tying the ultimatum to salem because it’s ultimately about punishing her continued defiance. “as long as this world turns, you shall walk its face” is a poetic description meant to emphasize the weight of “you cannot die.”

it’s “you will outlive this planet and there is nothing you can do to escape that fate.”

and yeah i have major doubts that the brothers can take it back. like i said, it’s not a curse per se—the fountain of life and creation transformed her just as the pool of grimm did—and the god of light does it to her in a fit of pique. the god of darkness vaporizes her along with everyone else in the end and she just reconstitutes. at this point the god of light is either inventing whole new levels of sunk cost fallacy (it has been MILLIONS OF YEARS and she’s sworn to her defiance!) or he just can’t remove this thorn from his side.

pre-v9 my only real reservation about this line of thinking was that i’m quite sure that part of the narrative resolution will involve salem becoming mortal again, and if not the brothers then…? but as v9 delivered a cosmic force of change deeper and older than the brothers, the brothers being unable to undo it no longer poses a mechanical problem whatsoever.

which is to say that yes, i think if salem found the tree she would be just as capable of ascension as anyone else, and the more salient question is if she would choose to change and how.

as long as the ultimatum is in place, salem has a pressing reason to STAY IMMORTAL, because her immortality is what prevents ozma from immanentizing the eschaton (in which the best case scenario for her realistically is “everybody else is dead and the gods leave again”) and being immortal is the best—really, the only—weapon she has against the brothers. ozma projects his own suicidality onto her; whether salem actually IS suicidal is an open question.

though tbh i think, given the option of ascending, the real dilemma for salem would turn on her isolation and exile rather than her immortality. i’ve touched on this before but one of the main reasons i think she isn’t going to (and shouldn’t) be ‘purified’ as part of her villain -> hero arc is it’s been established pretty overtly that being grimm isn’t what made her evil, rejection and isolation made her desperate enough to embrace being the evil witch in the wilderness. so she needs to be treated like a person before she can be good, and if she has to be ‘purified’ before she can be treated like a person then it means her humanity is contingent on her looking a certain way.

(there’s uhm. a reason the story keeps using the grimm as a symbol for faunus persecution!)

and salem is old enough—and undoubtedly experienced enough persecution when she lived on the fringes of civilization—to grasp that as long as she looks grimm, people are going to see her as a grimm no matter what she does, and if she wants to be treated like a person she’s going to have to bend over backwards to prove her humanity and even that might not be enough. ozma—OZMA, who knew her and loved her before any of this nightmare began, who came back for her and chose to be with her and had children with her—even ozma would not see her as a person; he lied to her and manipulated her throughout their entire marriage and has since decided to pin the blame for all the evils in the world solely on her. is it any wonder that she’s given up?

but, like, the tree could fix that. the tree could take that away. she could be only human again. wouldn’t that be so much easier? to look like a person so she can be treated like one.

only that also really, really sucks for her, because if the only way to get even the possibility of being treated like a person is to ascend, then salem—who she is now, what she is now—fundamentally never had a chance at all and the best she can hope for is that the essence of her will find a new form that other people will judge to be deserving of kindness.

like this is what sets salem (& to an only slightly lesser extent, cinder) apart from most of the villainous cast; to a certain extent her monstrosity is socially enforced by the way other people perceive her, reinforced by thousands of years of ozma’s shadow campaign against her very existence. it’s not that she won’t change—it’s that she can’t change. she can’t make people believe that she’s a person. she can’t make them listen to her. she can’t make anyone care about her. and when she tried she was manipulated into serving the god who did this to her.

it’s blake’s “you could just be a human, or just a cat” trial with the volume dialed up to eleven. it’s “maybe you could be accepted as a person if you shed who you are now to become someone else.” is that an idea salem would ever accept? that she needs to sacrifice who she is in order to mold herself into something other people wouldn’t hate and fear on sight?

(and is that really an idea the tree, universally and unconditionally kind as it is, would let her accept?)

#i’m kind of hoping the heroes will like #try to offer ascension to her #from the mindset that grimm is the problem #bc either she goes OFF #or she does it but pulls a ruby and comes back as herself #( and then goes off ) #and i think both options are very fun

[gabessquishytum]

HELLO IT'S ME the pregnant anon. not like Actually pregnant but like that little. fucking hob pregnant right. yeah that anon

anyway. abo has always been my favorite trope for this kind of thing because unless they do something like what happened to lyta and her husband or unity and desire, although something like that will likely Never happen, abo is so...

whether it's intersex omega hob or Butthole womb hob it's all so... good. somewhere along the line of knowing each other, hob naturally tells dream that he's an omega and how awful it is now that he has to deal with his heat for centuries. but, he should have expected this when he was made immortal. tells dream about the lovely beta he met (eleanor) and the baby they're expecting. then the next century his scent turned into a sad and sour thing and at this point, even dream can tell! hob goes on and on about how eleanor died and his heat have become irregular.

blah blah, dream making himself an alpha so he can judge hob's mood based on his scent, never tells hob about it though. he knows every time hob's scent has turned sour or has grown stronger and sometimes, he can even tell when hob was at the end of his heat or just starting it. and man, does he have a wonderful scent around that time.

naturally in modern times they have medicine for this kind of stuff that hob happily takes, so dream is a little sad when he can't smell him as strongly anymore. but, still. he gets to smell hob more often, now that their meetings were moved to every month, then every week. when hob doesn't show up for one, dream goes to find him.

cue hob whining and begging for someone, not noticing dream just yet. and dream realizes this is what heat is like. hob's scent is ten times stronger than it usually ever is, and fuck. does he love it. soon hob starts begging for him and dream decides to just, do it. invites himself into hob's bed and kisses his tears, eases out whatever toy hob was using and eases himself in.

hob begging for a knot, knowing dream probably doesn't even have one but, oh fuck. he does. there's the all-too-familiar pressure of it against his hole and through the haze of his heat, he realizes dream is growling. something quiet, he could barely hear it over their own sounds, but it's definitely there. dream, somehow, was an alpha. could his kind even do that? but it doesn't matter!! dream is going on and on about how good of an omega hob is, how he's going to give him his knot and fuck him over and over until he's full with dream's pups. and somehow, this is exactly what hob was needing. being treated like a breeding bitch and all.

anyway. got a little overwhelmed there. showing my appreciation for abo as well ❤

-pregnant anon

I’m literally soooo happy reading this bc all of these are my favourite things!!! Scents changing with a person’s circumstances and mood!! Is so good!! Honestly the whole scent thing is one of my favourite things with abo because there’s something SO intimate about it. Like,,, Dream being able to tell the moment Hob is pregnant with their pup bc his scent has changed in just one subtle way….. yeah. Yeah. I am Feral. I’m so glad I’m not the only weirdo out here, it’s so comforting <3

#pregnant anon #dreamling #nsft #the sandman #cw omegaverse #cw pregnancy

[kat-lamp]

Today I went through my google docs and found many beginnings of sw fan fictions I attempted to write and never finished. Some I remember, and others were just like “wtf is that”

Imprisoned (Abandoned 3.01.21)

I actually posted on here about this Maulsoka fic and wrote roughly 2 chapters of before stopping. The premise was post twilight of the apprentice, Vader knows Ahsoka and Maul are alive and puts out a bounty to capture them alive. Maul and Ahsoka would bond in their imprisonment. Eventually them and Vader would team up to kill Palps because he put them all through suffering. My writing stopped after they were captured by Vader for reference. What would happen after they killed Palp? Who knows, not me.

Broken Promises (Abandoned 7.20.21)

This one I had planned and wrote, once again, 2 chapters of before moving on lol. It was set as if Padme reached out to Ahsoka after Anakin was deployed post the wrong Jedi, keeping an eye on her in the underbelly of Coruscant. Ahsoka is one of the few who knows of their marriage, so she becomes a confidant to Padme. Eventually learning of the pregnancy. Padme confesses her worries over Anakin, the war, and the pregnancy. She asks Ahsoka to promise her if anything were to happen to her and Anakin, that she would raise the twins. Spoiler alert, she breaks her promise and doesn’t get to raise them, but she helps Leia with her shielding without knowing who she is. It then jumps to the battle of yavin, in which Ahsoka rejoins the rebellion after deserting post malachor. She reunited with Rex and never got to meet the twins in the first draft smh. Pretty sure the plan was that she would train them I think, and go on to help them both confront Vader and defeat the empire.

5 Times Ahsoka dies + 1 time Maul does (Abandoned 4.17.21)

Who knows I may actually finish this oneshot one day. Basically it follows my Mortis theory that Ahsoka is immortal and can only die by the sword that killed the mortis gods. It tells the tale of each time she dies, then she becomes aware of what’s happening after being shot in the chest during order 66. I only wrote the first 3 times she died, but I’m pretty sure Vader was gonna be number 5 during Malachor. I think this was meant to be Maulsoka as well, judging by the title. I assume since he hadn’t appeared yet, except a brief mention in death 3, that their relationship would develop ‘off screen’ post order 66. In the +1, Ahsoka would feel Maul be killed by Obi Wan and come to accept that her immortality will cause her to be alone forever, something angsty like that.

Unnamed one page (Abandoned 7.20.21)

I think this was a crack fic. I hope it was. Basically Ahsoka and Rex reunited after Endor and have a huge screaming match about why she abandoned him, until they’re interrupted by Luke and Leia. What happens after they’re interrupted? Only me (checks version history) A YEAR AGO TODAY KNOWS. Okay that’s a weird coincidence. Really weird.

Unnamed Fencing/HS Au (Abandoned 6.13.21)

The only fic I properly planned out, only to give up after planning and never write a chapter. I was really digging modern AUs last June, what can I say? Anyway, good High School vs Evil High School had competitive fencing teams and debate teams. Forbidden love because Obi and Maul have beef Maulsoka with all the cliches and a surprise betrayal from Barriss and everyone lives happily except for her!!! Rereading the random plot points made me laugh because it’s just so… For example, Palps was the principle at the good school and Sidious was at the bad school. Did he split his time 50/50? I literally wrote the words “Honda is the campus dealer” like wtfffff. I think I need a whole post dedicated to deciphering that story.

I don’t love any of these plots anymore so if I ever get around to posting a full fic, it won’t be one of these. But it’s nice to look back and reflect and see how my writing has gotten better.

#maulsoka #maulsoka fanfiction #abandoned fic

[sailoms]

thing is!! A-xu isn't even mad about his "evil" plan bc it's "evil" (tho wkx interprets it that way! 😭) He's mad bc A. He's not about that life anymore (not in a moral judgement way but in a IM RETIRED!! I WANT TO SETTLE DOWN and SLEEP way) and B. He doesn't want wkx to be hurt by the consequences. This is a parallel to caoxiang, how cao weining tells a-xiang he isn't judging her for killing, he fears for how it might effect her if she took innocent lives. This is a similar moment where wenzhou are just not on the same page. But it's not that zzs disapproves of revenge, he actually fully supports wkx in this, he just wants to make sure he's not making a mistake that's only going to hurt him in the end. I love them 🥺

anonie, i dont even know where and how to start my answer cus THERE ARE TOO MUCH STUFFS RUNNING IN MY HEAD WHEN I READ UR ASK BUT OK if this turns into an essay, forgive me 😭

1) the first, like, three sentences u said. i tried to summarize it for that wkx gif when he looked shooketh at ah xu's reaction BUT I WAS STRESSED OUT BY TOPAZ LAB and i was upset cus this gifset took too long for me to do despite my love for this project. additionally, the explanations gon be too long to put into the gif. thus, i didnt deliver it well cus i just chose the easiest word to describe that look but I ACTUALLY MEANT WHAT U ELABORATED ABOVE THANK U FOR REACHING OUT TO ME ABOUT IT 💖

the point is ah xu had the same experience of taking the wrong decision and the consequence that came after it -> he saw the same pattern in lao wen -> he got reminded of his past and the effect that took toll on him physically and mentally -> he got angry out of anxiety and worry cus that lao wen's gonna taste his own meds too and he wouldnt be able to bear the sight of him suffering.

2) he emphasized it too in the later ep after wkx spat blood due to shen shens confrontation. he didnt want more sin on lao wen's hand, he would help him take revenge on zhao jing and would stay as his advocate/consultant, whatever; who to be taken care of and who shouldnt. as long as all those choices wouldnt hurt lao wen in the future.

most "break up" moments between wenzhou were actually just both of em being not in the same page but the root of all his behavior was mainly

3) ah xu's motherly sense. what wkx said about him being soft-hearted, to me, later got translated as, like, a motherly love??? wkx is a literal child, both in his human wen mode and chief of ghost mode. he is a child in a 30 yo body, ngl as i rewatched the drama three times, i couldnt stop thinking about what my psychologist friend told me.

wen kexing is an overpowered baby with an adult tantrum, thats why he went around the town killing whoevers standing in his way.

and that makes sense cus he spent his childhood without parents and grew up in an environment thats not so child-friendly obviously. hes not used to expressing his emotions too (cus even before his parents died, he had to help his mom take care of his injured dad like he dont have time for tANtRum), thats why he blew up here and there cus he didnt know exactly how to vent?? plus, hes fighting the effect of the lethe water to his mind so, he was mentally exhausted.

and then appeared ah xu, who took care of him so patiently and always came back to him to stay and fix his mistake, to remind him of the consequence every time he went ballistic, and to stand with him against whoever that's against him, even ye baiyi the immortal.

i thought, ah xu became like a mother figure too who didnt want to see his "child" went astray and suffered after that. it's just his protectiveness that took the control and rationality. he cared so much about lao wen to the point of jumping into death to try to save him and he didnt even hesitate to fight a powerful immortal. he's so ready to fight fate fr. didnt say fathers cant be like this but in my experience, its more eminent in mothers. ah xu was so calm that hearing his name already eased lao wen's frantic mind.

(BET IF WEN KEXING LOST HIS HAIRPIN OR SHIT HED JUST GO "ah xu do u see my hairpin?" "its on the table" "no, i already looked there. theres nothing" then ah xu sighed and walked toward the said table and held up the hairpin like "tHerES nOtHinG -_-")

#ask inc. #from: anonie #wenzhou #ANONIE IM SORRY THIS TURNS INTO AN ESSAY FR

[moemoemammon]

I just need to ask what's your opinion on all the Dateables, and Luke?

I've been waiting for this question lmao. Warning for potential spoilers!

Diavolo

I like the way his character is built. I adore the 'character with world ending power that just uses it to dick around' trope like there's no tomorrow. But I also like that he more or less has good intentions when he uses his powers, though not realizing it's more of an inconvenience than anything. His antics are extra as hell and I like the way his brain works. Oh, you want some downtime? Here's your own private island. And then when he shows his rare moments of maturity and actual wisdom? Chef kiss 👌 Also doesn't like pickles.

Barbatos

Mixed feelings about this man. Not because of his personality, but because I know very little and I haven't found anything to tether me into reading up on him. I do like how he also has world ending powers, but he's been assigned eternal babysitter to the universe's buffest toddler and he couldn't be happier. I used to think he was more like a tired grandpa, so it's funny to know that he simps for the prince. This man goes out of his way to purchase Diavolo merch despite literally living with him. And even though he's always cool and collected, it's not cliched? It makes sense that he's like that, being a fuckin time lord who can peek into infinite multiverses. And it's funny when he just teases the people around him I'm 👌👌👌 Oh yeah his rat fear is funny too

Solomon

Another man I am not familiar with. I know very little about his personality, other than the fact that he can't cook but likes to. He chooses magic and potions as his go-to for the most minor of inconveniences, accidentally granted himself immortality, and somehow has a whole legion of demons at his disposal. But I've seen so little about this guy that I don't know?? What to think about him?? He talks in a careful way and seems like he's got good intentions, but I know he's capable of some underhanded things. Kinda shady, likes opera.

Simeon

Hmmmmmmmmm okay so before you judge me, hear me out. Simeon is a good guy, and fits what I imagine is the stereotypical image of a humanized angel. He's endlessly kind and compassionate, cares deeply for the people around him, and he can be a little airheaded. I like how he's terrible with technology and I fully believe he's attempted to physically go to the App Store at some point. I know there's more depth to his character with the whole celestial war thing and fighting alongside the brothers, but I'm not far enough in the story to see that. From what I know, he's just a good guy mom friend. I'd like him as a person irl, but as a character, I'm still on the fence.

Luke

Sweet little boy. Love him, but also hmmm. His personality is that of a generic tsundere sometimes, but I do like how he lightens up more often than not. His relationship with Barbatos is a good one too, since it seems like they wouldn't be compatible if you didn't know the context. Noisy boy, but what can you expect from a kid. Also cute how he's a tryhard.

#obey me #obey me! #obey me shall we date #obey me! shall we date? #shall we date? obey me! #shall we date obey me #obey me dateables #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me solomon #obey me simeon #obey me luke

[kill-your-authors]

Another Van Scene Take

The thing about the van scene that gets me is...I really don’t think Joe goes off like that on a regular basis. Like, I’ve seen so many posts about how Joe gives that speech every time someone says something homophobic, or I’ve seen posts about how Joe just waxes poetic all day long to Nicky about his love for him and like...believe me I Dig That Too. It’s both funny and very sweet to think about. 

But my personal impression was that the van scene was actually a special occasion. For starters, because of the most obvious: They’ve been captured. Regardless of how dangerous their job is on a regular basis, regardless of how often they’re injured or killed, I don’t think it’s every day or even every once in a while that members of the Guard get captured. It’s my guess that this is the first time anyone’s captured them, only hours after Nicky explained to Nile that being captured is pretty much their worst fear because it could potentially mean centuries of imprisonment or torture. 

One theory someone else had on this site (unfortunately I can’t find the post just now) was that Joe allowed himself to be captured because Nicky had already been killed and captured, so even though Joe had the opportunity to kill a few of the guards or try to escape, he didn’t because he wouldn’t permit himself to be separated from Nicky, nor permit himself to die, therefore leaving Nicky to wake up alone in the van or next to Joe’s captured dead body. It would be horrifying. Traumatic. The scariest moment of Nicky’s life undoubtedly. 

And so, they’re in the van, Joe is alive and trying to make sure Nicky comes back to life. Nicky comes to, realizing they’re captured and surrounded by armed guards. They’re speaking Italian so as to not be understood by the guards. It’s apparent, that in this moment, regardless of how scared they are, they’ve got it under control. They’re pros, after all. But nonetheless, this had to be the scariest God damn moment of both of their lives. 

And then, the guard makes that fucking comment. “What is he, your boyfriend?” 

And Nicky makes that exasperated face. 

I see a lot of people theorizing that that face is Nicky’s “Oh here we go again” face, the face he wears the moment he realizes Joe is about to go off, reciting poetry in the name of his love for Nicky on the spot. I like that theory. It’s funny. But I really don’t think that’s what’s happening. 

I think that’s the exasperated face of someone who has been the victim of others’ ignorance for centuries now, taking different forms based on time and place, but nonetheless, the discrimination these two must have witnessed over the years...All after Nicky himself, personally overcame his own bigotry to be with Joe. Nicky was literally ONE of these men back in the crusades. Sure, it wasn’t over sexuality but it was nonetheless rooted in ignorance as he himself describes Joe as one of the people he’d been taught to hate. And imagine how fucking infuriating it would be, to witness people mindlessly HATE just because they’d been taught to, for centuries. It would be fucking soul-crushing. It would be the kind of thing that makes you lose faith in humanity. For fuck’s sake, sometimes I lose faith in humanity because of this and I’m 26! Let alone 900 some years old. Plus we all know from watching Andy how critical it is to what they do and to enduring being immortal (and especially to Nicky who states more than once that he does what he does because it is the right thing to do), to believe in humanity. 

And I think in that moment Joe saw Nicky’s face, and he saw how hopeless Nicky felt, and knew how scared he was, and realized that Nicky, who is the type of man to look Merrick in the eyes and tell him his time is coming and look the doctor in the eyes and tell her she’s immoral, essentially, Nicky, who is the type to tell someone exactly what he thinks of them, Nicky, who is usually the one to give the speeches to the latest homophobe or bigot or just fucking asshole in their presence - not even have the energy or motivation to acknowledge this guard let alone look into his soul and say something that will echo in his ears until he dies. That look on Nicky’s face breaks Joe’s heart. 

So what does Joe do? He does it for Nicky because Nicky can’t. He goes off tenfold. He tells them not only that they’re ignorant but goes way above and beyond to show those men how little the implication that A) they’re dating and B) that that is worth mocking in their opinion, matters to him. He makes it a point that he’s only offended by the guard, not because he implied that Joe is gay, but that he would reduce their love to something as inadequate as boyfriend. 

And you can see how this effects Nicky right on his face. How touched he is. How inspired he is. He’s reminded of all that really matters - Joe. 

Not only that, but following this Nicky’s attitude pretty much does a 180. They kill the guards (I imagine they would have anyway. I really don’t think they killed the guards FOR being homophobic, even if that was the icing on top. I think they’d have killed any men who are in the business of kidnapping people for the profit of a corrupt CEO, particularly ones putting their own safety in immediate harm’s way) and as soon as the armored van doors are open Joe and Nicky are both, as a team, mocking Copley and the rest of his team of guards. Nicky nonchalantly asks about removing their restraints - as if he doesn’t know that isn’t going to happen. Nicky’s once again able to look someone in the face and tell them exactly what he thinks of them - this time it’s Copley he tells that they’re usually a better judge of character. 

Joe joins in, complimenting the plane, and the two trade back and forth. Nicky mentioning the TV and Joe asking about Champagne. 

This behavior, while first and foremost is just fucking hilarious, I think serves a greater purpose in the characterization of Joe and Nicky and their relationship. By the time they’re on the plane they’re back to their old selves. They’ve gotten their bearings enough to externally appear calm and unworried in the faces of their capturers, for one. But also, I think just about everything they say to each other, almost everything they do throughout the movie, but especially from the van scene on, is a purposeful attempt to always be comforting each other. To always be strong for the other. Mocking their capturers on the plane. Bumping heads after Joe has been stabbed. Talking about Joe’s bedhead. Bringing up Malta. Everything they do until they’re free, is a purposeful attempt to be strong for the other.

It’s really...so fucking well written, you guys. The portrayal of Nicky and Joe in this movie, and especially the van scene, is one of the most realized fictional relationships I’ve ever seen. 

#the old guard #joe x nicky #immortal husbands #yusuf x nicolo #meta #long post

[hakasims]

Shitty Luca Movie Recap, Episode 6

Ok, so I’m not sure how many of you will even be interested in this post because this movie is obscure and not a lot of people have seen it, but here goes nothing. Today’s episode of SLMR is about

The Old Guard

Guys, where do I even start with this one? First of all, it’s based on a comic book... that claims it isn’t a superhero story. Who does that? And yet it’s about this group of people who are immortal. See, they pretend it’s not a superhero comic but these guys literally never die and can heal any wound. Show me a character who can heal but isn’t a superhero. You literally can’t because they don’t exist.

What’s extra weird about The Old Guard is that it has, like, faces you might recognize. Besides Luca’s, of course. Though that dude who looked like Putin in The Danish Girl I actually didn’t recognize because he doesn’t look like Putin in this movie. The Hot Jafar from the Aladdin remake also looks different here. Still hot, though.

I didn’t bother with the character names for this one because they’re mostly pretty generic, so I picked very accurate nicknames for everybody:

Sadgirl

Mood

Cinnamon Roll

Luca

Luca’s Hot Husband (Hot Hubby for short)

COPley (I know he’s a spy not a cop but I don’t care and also sorry his name isn’t James Spyder or whatever it’s called subtlety look it up)

Drugley (’cause he’s Dudley but also a pharma dude, get it?)

Manmeat

Dr. Evil

So what’s the story? Well, these immortals are all warriors from different time periods. You can tell because they use old-school weapons: Sadgirl has her lesbian axe, and The Hubbies are sword bros. In more ways than one if you know what I’m saying ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Oh, and Mood is from the time period after gunpowder was invented, so he just uses modern firearms. They all use modern firearms, but those three are also gays, so blades, drama, aesthetics - you get it. And they use their weapons and superpowers to fight the good fight. What is the good fight? Whatever they decide it is.

Sadgirl is sad because she thinks they’re wasting their efforts, and also her wifey was drowned by the Inquisition. (Whatever, it’s not like that plot point is coming back.) Sadgirl is so sad she even loses her immortality at some point, but by the end of the movie she starts to believe again! And while she’s having her character arc, Mood is just being mood:

Another plotline is about Cinnamon Roll learning she’s immortal after getting killed and coming back to life. The immortals can all see each other in a dream, which is convenient because it allows Sadgirl to go fetch Cinnamon Roll and add her to the team.

Meanwhile, Drugley learns about The Squad’s immortality from COPley, who’s like a history buff and a fanboy, apparently, and orders him and his boyfriend Manmeat to get him The Squad because he wants Dr. Evil to extract immortality from them so he could sell it or whatever.

None of that is important. What’s important is Luca and his Hot Hubby. They’re so cute, you guys. Like, disgustingly cute. They spoon:

They touch:

They kiss:

They kill homophobes together:

They headbutt:

They have this annoying eye contact:

Their only role in the movie is to be #RelationshipGoals and get kidnapped by Drugley’s Manmeat while Sadgirl and Cinnamon Roll are out. Mood is left behind though because Manmeat’s people decide he’ll be too much of a bummer on the way back. Poor bastards, they didn’t know he would have been the least of their problems.

So anyway, The Hubbies kill everyone in the van, give COPley a stinkeye and finally get to meet Drugley, who decides to show off his sick Shakespeare knowledge unaware that soliloquies are Hot Hubby’s thing:

This hurts Drugley’s feelings, so he orders Dr. Evil to torture The Hubbies, which she does. But that’s okay, you might think, the rest of The Squad are gonna burst in and save them, right? Think again.

Did I mention Mood was the one who ratted them out to COPley? It’s true. And he confesses, what a sucker! He’s now in deep shit.

Don’t worry about Mood, though. He’s saved by the plot.

Seriously, how did they survive before without Cinnamon Roll? Oh, right, they can’t die. Though clearly not for the lack of trying. Thankfully, she’s here to save everybody.

Cinnamon Roll? More like What Would You Do Without Me-nnamon Roll. Nailed it.

So she strolls into Drugley’s lair, stirs some shit, gets everyone out, and Kite’s Drugley off this plane of existence. She’s now officially part of The Squad, but here’s a problem: because The Squad has consisted of four people for so long, all their safehouses only have three beds (The Hubbies share one, obviously), and also, like, five people with all that bulky weapon in the same sedan... so uncomfortable. Ask any sword lover, it’s like a whole thing. Long story short, they kick Mood out. He was too much of a bummer anyway and also yeah, he’s a traitor. Hot Hubby will never stop judging:

So that’s The Old Guard. Do I recommend it? I don’t know, guys, I guess? It’s definitely not as bad as the other movies I’ve reviewed, though it should have been a lot gayer. That’s my main complaint. But sure, check it out if you have two hours to kill.

And let me know which movie I should do next!

#luca marinelli #the old guard #sh*tty luca movie recap #slmr #april fools' i guess

[acetrainermags]

Pokémon Adventures Chapter 10-14: The One With The Scene

Chapter 10 finds Red in Vermillion City, where he encounters the Pokémon Fan Club. They’re… an eccentric bunch, to say the least. The club chairman thrusts a copy of their newsletter into Red’s hands, and we’re given this cursed panel:

Red’s expression really says it all: I don’t think I actually want any more context for these headlines.

Upon finding out that Pokémon have been going missing in town, Red decides to investigate. He sneaks aboard the ship docked in the city, where he meets Lt. Surge.

(Side note, I'm absolutely losing my mind of the henchmen's faces in the background)

Surge is a fascinating character, even outside the manga. His name and appearance make it clear that he was a soldier at some point in his past, though as far as I can remember, this isn’t directly mentioned in Pokémon Adventures. In the main series games, he’s explicitly stated to be a U.S. soldier (his title was literally “The Lightning American” until recently), and he fought in a war.

I know that there’s a popular fan theory around the games that there was major war somewhat recently, but I’m not sure it applies here. In any case, I wish we got a little more clarity on Surge’s character in the manga, especially given his relevance in later volumes. Or maybe the man just likes the camo aesthetic. Who am I to judge?

Surge deals with Red by knocking him out with electricity and tossing him into the ocean… or so he thinks. Sensing Red’s distress, Poliwhirl evolves into Poliwrath and brings Red back to the surface. Poliwrath defeats Surge and his Electabuzz with a Seismic Toss, and the stolen Pokémon are safely returned to their owners.

Next thing we know, Red is participating in a Pokémon bike race to try and earn some quick cash. He tries to take a shortcut through a forest, which works at first, until…

“Blorg”

Also, I noticed that money bags have the symbol for Yen on them. Pokémon has its own currency, simply known as Pokémon Dollars, but I’m guessing that wasn’t commonly used when this was written. I’ll have to watch in later volumes to see if it gets referenced again.

Following the bike race, Red arrives in Lavender Town, everyone’s favorite haunted village. There’s a lot to talk about in these last few chapters of this volume.

The people of Lavender Town aren’t very friendly, but Red eventually meets Mr. Fuji, who is paying his respects to his dearly departed Pokémon, Doduo.

A couple things here: I’ve always been unnerved by the idea that Pokémon can actually die. Logically it makes sense – they’re biological creatures after all, they’re not immortal. But there’s just something unsettling about it that I can’t quite put my finger on. But this comes up in the manga rather often, so I’m sure I’ll write about it more in the future.

On another note, it’s fascinating to look back and see how willing the “old” Pokémon media was to reference real-world religions, like the cross that marks Doduo’s grave here. It reminds me of Pokémon anime episode where Ash and company were lost at sea, and Brock referenced the Biblical story of Noah. As a child, I remember watching that episode with an acquaintance and he asked, “Is this show Christian?” I wasn’t sure how to answer.

Anyway, Red finds out that Blue was in Lavender Town recently. Blue went to go investigate the rumors of ghosts in the Pokémon Tower, and he hasn’t been seen since. In what is either a concern for Blue’s safety or a need to prove he’s just as brave as his rival (or probably both), Red runs to the Pokémon Tower to make his own investigation.

The Pokémon Tower is full of nightmare fuel, in case anyone was wondering. I don’t consider myself squeamish, but, uh… no thanks.

Red finally finds Blue and together, they face down the person responsible for the ghosts, none other than Koga of Team Rocket. Shout out to Red for not being intimidated in the slightest.

This is also the first time we see Blue and Koga interact. Keep that in mind for the future.

And it would be impossible to write about the first volume of Pokémon Adventures without discussing The Scene. You know which one I’m talking about.

And objectively, it’s a GOOD SCENE. We get to see Blue’s ingenuity and how he’s able to outsmart one of Team Rocket’s elite, and Red gains some newfound respect for his rival’s ability. Plus, it gives Koga a reason to desire revenge later on. It’s great writing!

But this scene has been ruined by the internet, as the internet often does. It gets paired with clickbait headlines like “The DARK Pokémon Series!!” which is… disappointing to say the least. Actually, I can’t stand it. It’s exhausting to keep seeing online edgelords try and make themselves sound cool because they read the “mature Pokémon” manga.

Like, these are from well-known gaming/geek websites. You can do better than this, Polygon. I know it.

Pokémon Adventures has so much more to offer than just extra violence. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: What makes this manga so good is its commitment to telling good stories.

Pokémon as a whole is about wonder and exploration – it presents us with a colorful, unfamiliar world and invites us to discover its secrets. Pokémon Adventures doesn’t appeal to an older audience because it’s “dark and gritty,” but because it takes that childlike wonder and expands on it with endearing characters and engaging plotlines. Boiling it down to just “edgy Pokémon” is a disservice to the manga itself and the fans who enjoy it.

We've seen so many amazing things just in the first volume! That's what makes Pokémon Adventures so good - the adventure.

Whew. That was a lot.

Vol. 1 ends with Red saying farewell to Mr. Fuji and continuing on his journey. I’ll be writing a wrap-up post about this volume soon, then it’s on to vol. 2!

#forgive me for talking about the Arbok Scene #it had to be done #Pokemon #Pokemon Adventures #Pokespe #Pokemon Special #Pokemon Manga #Pokespe Red #Pokespe Blue #Blue Oak #trainer red #trainer blue #Pokespe RGB Arc #Pokespe vol 1 #Dexholders

[favoniuscodex]

the art of modernity [ chapter two ]

chapter two - instant oatmeal pairing: xiao x gn!reader warnings: canon-typical violence mention, nothing that hasn't already been done in this series. words: ~2.6k words fic masterlist [ prev ] - [ next (tba) ] chapter summary: under yanfei's watchful eye, you sign a contract with xiao for him to stay with you. he's not very pleasant, but you realize you know exactly how to change that. a/n: which means next chapter kicks off the fluff. let's gooo this is our last hard exposition chapter. thank u to everyone's interest so far!

you wake with a jolt.

empty bed? check. still alive? check. no adeptus hovering over you like edward from twilight? check. aches and bruises from yesterday? ... unfortunately, check.

as you sit up, your muscles scream at you to lay back down, yet your mind tells you to go, go, go and find the adeptus before he can kill you. it takes a moment of regulated breathing to actually remember what happened yesterday after the group of five-turned-six of you left jueyun karst.

one: xiao accompanied you back. with only five seats in the car, yanfei ended up sitting smushed between kaeya and xiao. she hadn't complained and the uncomfortable trip back for her served as a minor revenge for her not revealing her (partial) adepti ancestry. you had been slotted in the front passenger seat, next to keqing, who gripped the steering wheel so hard that you feared she would rip it off. the drive back was in silence. childe made a joke at one point. kaeya had laughed, then remembered where the two of them were. nobody laughed after that.

two: yanfei and xiao had dragged you to your apartment. keqing, kaeya, and childe were far too enthusiastic to let the three of you go, yet you couldn't blame them. yanfei had a bounce in her step, while xiao looked as if he was being walked to a morgue, all while looking vaguely nauseous. you had wondered if that was his first time ever in a car.

three: yanfei drafted a contract. thousands of years of experience practicing law (a fact you had learned unwillingly and uncomfortably as yanfei rambled on to fill the awkward silence between the three of you) led to yanfei taking less than an hour to draft an entire forty page document on an agreement of a "truce" between you and xiao, along with adding details of how she would pay you for xiao to stay with you in your apartment and how xiao would be forced to cooperate with any potential mythological studies you might enact.

four: you deeply offended the adepti... or something. you weren't really quite sure what you said wrong, but apparently "yanfei, this contract means nothing if i wake up with a blade in my throat because xiao decides he doesn't like the 'vibes' i quite literally cannot control." was not an appropriate thing to say. yanfei had giggled, yet xiao had looked as if you had slapped him across the face. he muttered something under his breath about how mortals could never truly comprehend the importance of the work of the god of contracts (who had died over a thousand years ago, might you add). yet, he signed his portion of the contract nonetheless and you followed suit.

five: yanfei had left you alone in the apartment with xiao. xiao introduced himself, as if you hadn't been the one to accidentally summon him in the first place and as if he hadn't been the one to threaten to kill you. his words were forced, awkward, and gruff, as if he wasn't quite sure how to address you. in order to spare the two of you from the ugly bonds of small talk, xiao had retired to the cramped small bedroom you had been trying to rent out to someone for months.

six: you went into your bedroom. you went to sleep.

which, inconveniently, leads to now. the yaksha upheld his end of the bargain. he slept..? do adepti sleep? you aren't quite sure and old scholars aren't exactly the type to describe sleeping patterns of the supposed-mythological adepti in detail, yet you figure that you'll find out soon enough one of these days, now that one is living with you.

archons. that fact had yet to fully sink in too. maybe one day, you would finally feel ecstatic over proving a myth to be real and having it choose to dwell in your apartment for some reason. maybe you would also be overjoyed that you were a descendant of a god, even if many generations separated your bloodline that has long since been diluted by humanity. but for today, you could not worry about such things. the adventurer in you had been humbled yesterday. now, you just have to face the music.

if only yanfei had revealed she was half-adeptus sooner, maybe you wouldn't have to worry about xiao deciding he's had enough of the weird energies you inadvertently give off and attacking you. but for now, you check your phone for the time and any notifications, then stumble out of bed and into the kitchen.

in the kitchen, a broad open concept with the living room, you spot xiao sitting at the counter of the island. his brow is furrowed and he noticeably perks up at your entrance, as if he was almost excited to see you. before you can get your hopes up, your stomach growls and you figure xiao is likely in the same boat.

"your home is filled with... strange contraptions," xiao says. "it appears you mortals have progressed at an unexpected rate."

this adeptus is far too chatty for what the microwave says is 8:32 a.m. on a saturday morning. yet, it does not appear to come easily from him. his words are slow and you have no doubt that he is weary of you and your intentions.

"yeah, it's called technology. we can heat up food without lighting a fire, store food in portable cold temperatures, and blow wind around using automated fans. yet, it's all powered by electricity," you explain sleepily, not sure if your words make sense. the small huff of acknowledgement that the adeptus lets out is more than enough to know that your words at least make some sense. either that or he's trying to appease you, but based off what little you know of xiao, he doesn't quite seem like the type.

"you mortals appear to focus on convenience rather than necessity," xiao grumbles after some thought. was he always going to be this... haughty? sure, adepti are immortals in comparison to humanity, but that doesn't make them superior. their time of rule has long since passed, so why does xiao still hold a guarded sense of righteousness over you? whatever. if you are part-god like yanfei says, it's not like he has any reason to be gloating over you anyways... right? despite your research into liyuean mythology, there's not quite much to go off of on partial-adeptus and partial-god relations in comparison to full deities.

but either way, this was the modern day and the adepti sat in their abodes rather than helping humanity, so out of spite, you grab a packet of oatmeal from the cabinet before sliding it his way.

"make the oatmeal yourself, then," you say evenly, trying to leave snippiness out of your tone. it doesn't work well, judging on the way xiao's brow furrows in irritation. nonetheless, xiao pinches the paper packet between two fingers as he reads the label.

"i am not a fan of oatmeal," he decides after a few seconds, dropping the packet back onto the island countertop. even in your tired state, you can still call his bluff. oatmeal didn't just come around yesterday. it's not like you're throwing a processed big mac at his face and expecting him to come to terms with it.

"what food do you like, then?" you ask, curiosity genuinely piqued. even if you thought he was bluffing, this was a way to learn about the appetites of the adepti and how they differed from humans. this was information that had yet to be recorded and it was information from a primary source. dietary information could be used to better understand offerings placed upon adepti alters by ancient liyueans and-

"almond tofu," xiao states plainly. "and mint jelly."

you stare at him. you blink. you blink once more. despite your silence as you mull over his confession, you cannot bring yourself to actually think about your words before you say them. therefore, you ask xiao a question.

"wait, do adepti prefer soft foods due to their teeth or digestive system or something? does taking on a human-esque form not provide you with the same eating capabilities as humanity? because-" you trail off on seeing his slightly irritated expression. oh.

"you truly consider adepti not being able to able to consume mortal foods a possibility? do you have no respect for the adepti?" xiao seethes, amber eyes narrowing as he glares at you.

oh. right. respect. hm. xiao being born in a time where respect towards members of a higher social hierarchy has altered how he views the two of your interactions, yet increasing interconnectedness amongst humans through technology and the collapse of social divisions has led to current-day humans viewing all as equals and addressing them as such, besides the given familial hierarchies. but xiao is not family to you. he is no greater than a stranger in your eyes, yet there is a stark contrast in how he views himself compared to you.

in this moment, you realize you have made an error. you view xiao as a potential friend, while xiao views you as no more than a subject of the long-since-dead rex lapis. he is one of rex lapis' closest comrades, while you likely never would have set eyes on the god apart from the rite of descension if you had lived in the same time period as him.

yet, you're not really sure how to address xiao with the level of respect he desires. after all, you're rather... unrefined. sure, you could use what little formalities the language provides such as sir or o holy adeptus xiao, of which thine hast protected liyue for many millennia, yet neither seem too appealing. he's your roommate, it's not like you're approaching the altar to worship him. you're approaching your kitchen. your name is on the lease after all.

so, you take a step back, fold your arms over your chest, and lean your back against the cool metal of your refrigerator. you were in no mood to pick a fight, but if asking the adeptus basic questions would get him this riled up, you would seek to terminate your living situation as soon as possible. he at least had to attempt to be pleasant, even if you had a tendency to overstep the supposed boundaries of him that absolutely perplexed you.

"adeptus xiao," you begin. your tone is even and xiao looks almost curious at your sudden, cool tone. "do you view yourself as above me?"

"the adepti are far stronger than mortals, thus it is a part of our duties under our contracts signed with rex lapis to help protect humanity," xiao says. his tone is slightly harsh and yet his evasive words are enough to give you your answer.

"as an adeptus once under rex lapis, you are thus beholden to any contract you sign? as like a... duty thing of sorts," you ask and xiao nods in agreement. you let out a slight sigh as you collect your thoughts.

it is time to channel your inner yanfei. you blink and plaster a polite, small smile on your face. that's what yanfei does in the court room, right? in her delivery of information, she must seem firm but pleasant enough to want to listen to, in order to convince the jury. but you are no yanfei and you have no jury. instead, you just have a several-thousand-year-old partial deity sitting in your kitchen with a packet of instant oatmeal in front of him. yet, for your own sanity, you must try.

"i am... unsure as to why you wanted to live with me. you do not seem like the city type nor the type to want to associate with humans, but we all have our secrets, i guess. nonetheless, you agreed to sign the contract, which means you are thereby subject to its terms, right?" you ask and xiao gives a rough nod in return.

"the contract does not say that i cannot admonish your... impudent questions," xiao states and you feel like a snezhnayan ice fisher who has just gotten a bite on their line. you bite back a giddy smile at luring xiao directly into your trap.

"correct, but you are subject to participating in my studies of the adepti, provided that they do not bring you psychological or bodily harm," you say and xiao suddenly looks wary at whatever this conversation might be leading to.

"i suppose," xiao says, revealing his uncertainty. "that the contract does enlist those terms."

"well then, adeptus xiao. i have decided upon our newest study," you say and, despite how hard you try to hold it back, a grin spreads across your face. the adeptus sits up a bit straighter at your words, yet remains silent as he waits for you to continue.

"our first study of the adepti will consist of only you. i do not need for you to request of the assistance of anyone else, unless if you need it. but, i'll be trying to figure out one thing!" you say and xiao looks annoyed as to how you keep dragging this out, so you decide to cut it short before he can snap at you once more. "for our first study, we'll be focusing on what it will be like for an adepti to live amongst mortality and live a typical mortal life."

xiao stares at you. if he's furious, he hides it behind his expressionless face. for once, his typical scowl isn't there, yet you feel almost reassured at his seething reaction. sure, he might be angry, but he respects his previous master too much to defy the bounds of the contract this early, right? your suspicions are confirmed as he exhales sharply, followed by a tight nod.

"you wish for me to live as a human?" xiao questions and you nod enthusiastically, taking a step forward and resting your hands on the opposite side of the kitchen island from him. you careen forward and stare directly into the amber eyes belonging to the adeptus that nearly killed you yesterday. adrenaline rushes through your blood as you realize exactly what xiao signed himself up for.

xiao has inadvertently wrapped himself around your finger and you're determined to make his stay an enjoyable one, even if he loathes the idea at the moment.

"exactly! you don't have to take a mortal form or anything, i'm just interested in seeing as to how you would adjust through going through the typical mortal routine. as for me, i'll be your tour guide through all of this, so don't worry!" you say. your words provide him little relief and xiao stares at you cooly.

"fine. i will participate in your... research," xiao confirms reluctantly after a few moments of silence and you have to bite back an excited squeal. getting to show an adeptus everything humanity has to offer? the excitement nearly overwhelms you, but you have to squash your excitement to focus on the situation at hand.

"alright then. for our first task, i'll show you how to make instant oatmeal! but, there's more than just that flavor," you state, gliding over to the cabinets and pulling out the box. you hastily slap it on the table and push it gently over to him. "take your pick!"

xiao eyes the box uneasily.

yeah, this is good enough revenge for nearly killing me, right?

taglist:

@somemothgoingferal @miicachii @hq149 @albedostar @the-astrumnauta @falconcoast @dilucsz @transactionalrelationship @koko-cherry @dumpling-gif @shulkerdotjar @popdrop @seokflwr @solarpearl @tsubaki3192 @marifujioka @astronomeh @daichiri @cryspyjk @svnflowery @anseoo @rintaoreo @fuhuashandholder @squashbee @qiqiscocogoatmilk @rry0ko @kaaaeya @koi-chairowo @fandoms-on-main @mikatsukki @notendoplasm @mrdash-dine

please send in an ask (not submission or dm!) to be placed on the taglist! if your name is in italics that means i am unable to tag you!

#xiao x reader #genshin impact x reader #xiao #genshin impact #//taom #axia's writing