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lets-try-some-writing · 2 months

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Getting more information on what the femmes do was very exciting (idk if that's the right word) but if it's not a spoiler I would love to hear more about the process when a femme finishes the preparations

(And it makes sense, find someone insignificant and reuse them to make someone new, someone potentially more useful)

The Grim Dark Archives: Statement #007 Cold Forged

[Statement taken from [Redacted] on [Redacted: Sensitive data] regarding femmes and what they do to their chosen subjects. Concerns have been rising after [Redacted] made it clear that Arcee can latch onto humans just as easily as she can another Cybertronian. Personnel working at the Autobot base have begun attempting to go on strike in an effort to escape.

I can't say I blame them, but [Redacted] was called to explain the process that femmes put their targets through to hopefully give us some answers. I suspect the higher ups just want enough information to weave a half baked like for the staff, but the information is vital nonetheless. The more we know, the better a chance we have of fighting back if need be.

Statement begins.]

══════════════════

Femmes... yeah, I've known a few over the course of my life. Elita was one real piece of work. She wanted Orion when she was still Ariel, and she threw a fit when the Archives got him before she could. She wanted Optimus as well once she found out he had been Orion at some point. She nearly got him too. I think the only reason Optimus managed to get out of her clutches was because of his rather murderous tendencies. I don't know if he meant to or not, but he allowed Elita to try and claim him and then watched on as her abilities backfired.

There is a reason femmes only target the weak. If their will cannot overcome the will of the target, their abilities will kill them instead... and in a rather brutal fashion.

It was a shame. Elita, when she wasn't enthralled with her targets, was a good femme. She treated her cold forged well and was a brilliant tactician. She actually kept Optimus in line for a long time. She ensured he couldn't do anything nearly as extreme as what he does now. That's the good thing about femmes. They are good and kind to their targets. They fill the void in the bot's life that no other could have ever hoped to fill. It is a peaceful end for a mech that would otherwise be cast away by society. Elita was the companion Optimus needed, a level helmed and gentle being who served as his equalizer when his plans demanded more pain than required. I appreciated her for that, especially when I served as as a special agent-

Ignore that remark. No. Ignore it.

Do you understand me Witwicky? You will ignore that remark.

[Note: [Redacted] expressed a severe violent reaction the moment I made it clear that I had no intention of adhering to his wishes. He only calmed when he watched me scratch it from the records. Of course I added back the redacted information following the conversation, but [Redacted] has things he wants to hide it seems.]

Good.

As I was saying, Elita was a fantastic person. Femmes are more than capable of being normal members of society when they are tended to. In fact, they are even worshipped in some circles and given the lowly members of society so that they may be remade. But Elita aimed too high, she went beyond the bounds set by the rules of femmes. She tried to go after a mech who was too strong, and for that reason, she fell.

Femmes are of the line of Solus Prime, the first femme created by Primus. At least that's what the Primacy will tell you. I'm not all that sure on the theological stuff, but there are records pointing to the fact that Solus existed. Because of that, I am willing to pin the femmes existence back to her. I don't know all the details about the first femme. That's the kind of thing you'd need to ask Orion about. He always loved talking about the theological details of history. He always got so passionate about it...

Sometimes... I forget Orion isn't here to answer anymore. I mean, he is, but he also isn't. But that's beside the point. This isn't my forte. Sorry, its just seeing Optimus so often after so many millennia, it can bring back old memories yanno? I will get back on topic.

No one knows what makes a newspark become a femme. In fact, there are no signs at all until the newspark sheds their second armor set. They behave just like every other Cybertronian, and then sometime in their early adolescence, they start following a specific individual around. Usually their first target is someone very old or very young, the weak of society or those without enough knowledge to fight back. Once the femme has picked, that's when the Council steps in and slaps a sticker on them to denote what they are. The poor target is cut off from everyone and left to the femme. Why? Because the first target is always the one who suffers the most.

Femmes are highly territorial. They will never aid one another unless both their targets are in danger and cooperating is in their best interest. So every young femme is on her own, left to figure things out as she ages. For young femmes, they will pick their victims apart. There is no peace to be found as they sink their connectors into their target to try and tear apart their CNA and remake it. The process kills the target without fail. A more experienced femme knows that she must follow a ritual, a process of sorts. She must know her target, she must care for her target, and only once her target is open to her... only then can she dig her claws in and remake them.

Yes, yes I am getting to the actual process now. Calm down. I swear you fleshies are just as impatient as Cyberfelines sometimes.

First she will get to know her target and release a chemical, a pheromone as your kind call it. This chemical causes the target to become calm, more trusting, and it also weakens their immune system. It has some benefits, such as increased processor function and heightened senses, but all this comes at the cost of increasing weakness. Not to mention the increase in processor activity is largely so that the femme may attract her target's attention and push them into seeing her in a light that best fits what role she is aiming to fulfill until the time for harvest arrives.

Around a vorn into her work, the femme will start to introduce her coils, her touches if you will. She will start to touch her target as often as she can, and it is through this that small injectors in her digits will begin to input a specially made protomatter into her target. The target will feel no pain since the injections are so small. But over months, years, vorns... slowly her target will start to think less, feel less, until at last they start to collapse.

Femmes are not needlessly cruel in their efforts. She will be very gentle with her target in their dying cycles. When they begin to forget, she will remind them of the things they lost. She will help them fuel, she will take them places they enjoy, and she will allow them ample time to deal with their lingering affairs. Any living relatives will not be compensated, but that is because she sees her work as the greatest compensation any being could possibly receive. She is remolding the worthless into something greater, and for that reason she is both compelled to her work just as much as she heralds it as something sacred. It is her nature to be gentle in this stage, for by that point, her target will be carrying the beginnings of her cold forged, her perfect creation.

There is no set time for it, but at some point in this final stage, the femme will continue her injections of protomatter and her quiet indoctrination until finally, her target shatters. This can take various forms, usually some type of explosion or contortion of the frame, but the end result is always the same. The target dies, and from their corpse, a new being emerges. Much like a newspark, it emerges without armor, but unlike the newsparks from the Well, it will come forth with memory and a mission.

We call these things the Cold Forged. They are beings that completely lack emotion. Or perhaps the ability to empathize. It is hard to tell with them. They all seem to take sick glee in watching others squirm. But anyway, the Cold Forged have a purpose that their femme gave them, and most often, they do not care to reveal it. Those that have felt like giving up data have often been given a mission that amounts to a concept, a thought or ideal. The most common mission these beings receive is by far the most terrifying.

Perfection.

They are given one concept, and they live out their entire lives embodying and striving to reach it. The Cold Forged are Cybertronian by every single stretch of the word, but they are not... like us. Does that make sense? My kind do not really do the empathy thing. But they have SOMETHING. The Cold Forged don't even have that. They are true machines.

You know what's so funny about this whole thing?

The femmes don't even care about their Cold Forged. They make them, and then they move along to the next target. The Cold Forged are the closest any Cybertronian has to actually having a biological creation, and the femmes don't care!

[Note: [Redacted] laughed for a rather long time following this statement. He seemed to be... unstable while speaking on this matter.]

Sorry about that.

It's just, it feels so clinical to me even millennia after learning about the process. These femmes go through so much effort just to make a creature that they then throw away. Elita was a rare exception in this regard. She liked to keep tabs on her Cold Forged, and I think one of hers even ended up with the Elite Guard. Her missions to her Cold Forged were always super specialized too.

Yeah. Femmes. Cold Forged. It's a hot mess I tell you.

Jack will be fine. Arcee will care for him as best she knows how until his dying day. That much you can be sure of.

══════════════════

[Statement end.

I am unsure how to feel about all this. Every detail I gather about these aliens tells me that there is something deeply wrong with them. I have my theories, but considering [Redacted]'s disposition and what info we have on everyone else, I think I can say that this race has been altered somehow. If [Redacted] is able to comprehend empathy, there must be others.

They are capable of feeling and being reasonable, but there is some factor that changes things for them. I shouldn't get involved...

But I want to know. I want to figure this mess out. I am just one man, but if I can put some pieces together, then perhaps there is something we can do to fix this. If nothing else, I want to understand these aliens. I want to know why.

Why start a war? Why do all this? And why in God's name would they shatter in such a way culturally? There must be an answer, and I have a sinking feeling that the only ones who can give me answers are going to be very dangerous.

Agent Witwicky signing off.

Recording ends.]

#transformers #maccadam #transformers prime #optimus prime #alternate universe #the grim dark archives au #elita one #ariel #orion pax #pre war cybertron #[redacted]#agent witwicky #statement recording #cybertronian culture #cybertronian biology #cybertronian worldbuilding

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em-writes-stuff-sometimes · 7 months

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My One-Year Anniversary

One year ago today, I wrote my very first piece of House of the Dragon fanfiction.

My journey in fanfiction has been a long one. I started reading fan works all the way back in 2009 at the age of 12. I even remember the site: Harry Potter Fanfiction Archive. Wow. Wild! Of course, I naturally gravitated toward Dramione works—because that’s what you did, right? Since then, my tastes have diversified; evolved, even. Thank god.

Until I hopped onto Tumblr and started writing, I wasn’t an active member of any fan community. I was a passive lurker, hiding my enjoyment of fan works from everyone and everything. One of my favourite fandoms to read for was Game of Thrones; I particularly enjoyed the Jonsa works and any work where Daenerys claimed the Iron Throne (#JusticeForDany!). I will say that, as much as I enjoyed it, there were no characters who truly ignited my interest.

Then, House of the Dragon hit. Matt Smith’s portrayal of Daemon is just… electric. I suppose my very first thank-you is to him for bringing the character to our screens. Holy shit. Toxic, passionate, magnetic… everything I want in a fictional man! Daemon Targaryen definitely awoke something in me. I spent about a month trawling the Tumblr and AO3 feeds for Daemon x OC/ Reader works, seeking to satisfy my thirst. Daemyra is such a charismatic pairing in canon, but I could never really see myself in Rhaenyra’s shoes; she’s so forward in a way I’m not. So many of the works at that time were centred on badass powerful OCs, and I just… couldn’t relate. Thus,I officially opened my AO3 account and started a side-blog on Tumblr, posting my first work.

It was a smut piece between Daemon and a Reader-insert niece, and one of my first genuine attempts at writing smut - what is now today the second chapter of dōnus riñus (sweet girl) - and was surprised to receive positive feedback from it, given the um, dodgy themes. It spurred me to go back and write a chapter leading up to it, and then write another three chapters post-chapter 2. Then, people wanted to know how Reader and Daemon got together; I wrote gevivys (beauty) from his perspective in an absolute flurry of insanity, pushing out like a chapter a day. It all blew up - I never expected it to, and it is still incredibly surprising to me that people are wanting to read a protracted series about the shit I make these characters do! From there, ilībītsos (little slut) was underway, which was such a fun exercise in dirtybadwrong that I thoroughly enjoyed! Pretty much straight away, I continued on with ñuhus prumȳs (my heart), which I might say is my favourite instalment of the bunch due to the sheer amount of research I put into it. I'm particularly proud of that one, I must say!

Of course, this makes it sound quick. It wasn't - I have quite a busy personal life with my work, so I've not been the quickest at updating. I'm eternally fucking grateful to have an audience that completely doesn't care how often I update, so long as I'm proud of what I'm putting out at the end; I know how rare that is, and I'm absolutely boggled by you all. My squishies. I love you!

Reader has become Babey now - she has her own, like, following? IDK. It's insane to me. She doesn't even have a name, and yet there are so many people who have reached out to me to thirst over her or to talk about her or to share what she means to them. A lot of people have really resonated with the way she struggles with powerlessness and how, in some ways, she's learned to find strength for herself in a world that gives her so little opportunity to do so. I'm so incredibly glad she is a character that people can relate to. She's like my baby, my first genuine creation, and it is a privilege and honour to get to talk about her on here. I still cannot believe there are people out there willing to make art or edits or just send in asks about her. It's completely wild!

I have endless gratitude for so many people throughout the creation of this series, but we must all begin (and end) somewhere. I’d like to start by thanking my first ‘regular’, Wilma, for her enthusiasm and engagement with me as I first started on this journey. She definitely encouraged me to keep on writing. It was thrilling to wake up to another comment or ask from her about the series! If not for Wilma, I don’t think the series would’ve gotten off the ground as it has.

Thank you to my very first friend in fandom. I’ve only ever known this person as ‘Lemon’—they reached out to me when I was well and truly established during the writing of ilībītsos (little slut), helping me to conceptualise the idea for the third chapter of that instalment. They then jumped aboard as a writer, and so much of my earlier drive to write was inspired by them. If not for their messages and their companionship, I wouldn’t have begun to build the community I have now. They are still one of my fandom besties, and I love them dearly.

There are several important people I’d like to thank for being absolute superstars, and whose passion for fandom has impacted mine so greatly. Aubrey, Pancake, AQ—I’ve adored each and every comment you’ve left me, and it’s been such an incredible experience to get to know you all as people. Mage, Hannah—y’all are amazing writers and amazing human beings, and I’m so grateful to have gotten to know you. Bel, Fae, Mars, Mel, Rach—you’re groovy, and hanging out with you in Discord is the bomb-dot-com. If I'm leaving people out, my bad!

I would be remiss, of course, if I didn’t mention one particular person. We connected through a mutual friend (at the time), and eventually bonded over our love of being incredibly nasty, feral and disgusting over our love of these Targ boys. Pretty sure we speak at least every single day, and I can’t say how many times I’ve relied on her for input on a chapter or a specific plot point I’m planning. Her approval means everything to me, and so I can’t possibly go without crediting her as a major influence on this story. Ange—Angela—thank you. You’ve become one of my best friends, fandom and IRL. I absolutely love you to bits.

And, lastly, I want to thank everyone who has read my works along the way. It is still insane to me that there are people who think my writing is interesting enough to keep reading, let alone offer the outpouring of support I’ve received. It is one of the greatest parts of my day to be able to connect with others over a universe I’ve crafted, and the fact that people genuinely want to know these things just stuns me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Your encouragement means everything to me.

So, it's been one year. I'm still going, ahahaha! Here's to (hopefully) more years to come! I love you guys!

#em writes's one year anniversary

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back2bluesidex · 6 months

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Broken heart over whiskey glass - KSJ

Part of my Milestone Drabble Request Game. Find the request here. I am still taking requests, by the way.

Pairing: Seokjin X Reader

Theme: Angst, Unrequited love au

Wordcount: 900

Summary: Your heart breaks again, this time over whiskey glass.

Warnings: unrequited feelings, Seokjin is already engaged, mentions of drinking, hints of family drama and abusive parents.

Minors are not allowed in this blog!!

A/N: Idk how this turned out @phenomenalgirl9. so please forgive me if it's not what you had in mind. Thanks to you for sending in the request. Love ya!!

Kim Seokjin is a lot of things.

He is twinkling eyes, cherry smiles, summer warmth, blossom pink and a comforting scent.

He is also dad jokes, broad shoulders, obnoxious-ear-shuttering laugh, long legs and annoyingly himself.

But most importantly….

He is the man you are in love with. Also, the man who loves someone that isn’t you, will never be you.

The realization, the acceptance, the constant reminder.. Everything is bitter. Far more bitter than the whiskey on the tip of your tongue. This brown liquid does nothing to numb your pain but you don’t complain, not when it has been your sole companion for most of the night of your company party.

Even though your eyes are trained on your glass, you don’t miss the long steps that Seokjin takes to reach where you are sitting currently.

Why does he always find you? Why does he go an extra mile to be nice to you? Why does he do all those things and make your heart flutter and make you fall more and more only to leave you stranded with your wants and desires because he is meant for someone else?

You don’t have any answers.

“She has been following me for the better part of the night!” Seokjin whisper-yells in your ear as he lowers himself down to sit beside you on a bar stool. You divert your eyes from the glass and look at him.. only to find his brown orbs boring into yours. But not the way you’d like. Not the way you want.

He moves his eyeballs in a manner of gesturing the ‘she’ he just mentioned.

It’s a new recruit.

Her name must be Dan-ri or Dan-mi, you can’t quite recall. But what you can recall is that she has her eyes set on Seokjin from her very first day.

You suppose, she doesn't know yet that Seokjin is taken. Wait till he drops the bomb and breaks another heart alongside yours.

Your ears perk at the sound of her red heels clicking on the marble floor, a perfect set of white teeth flashing at the man for the umpteenth time in the evening.

Annoying. You take a sip from your glass.

"Mr. Kim, I thought you're gonna come back with your drink and we would have a dance!" Dan-ri or Dan-mi whines at her high pitched voice.

You roll your eyes staring at another direction.

"Ah- I would love to but I haven't gotten to spend time with my favourite colleague yet." Seokjin says, pointing at you.

You smile at the girl, a fake one obviously.

"Oh?" Her eyes widen when Seokjin winds a hand around your shoulder, pulling you a little closer to his body.

You want to run away far and far from this man. You want to put an end to this suffering but you can't help relaxing at his warmth. You melt in his embrace, putting your heart at ease, telling yourself 'just this once. I will distance myself afterwards.' again and again like chanting a mantra.

"Am I interrupting something?" The girl is more determined than you expected her to be. She doesn't leave, rather settles herself down on the barstool right next to Seokjin's.

Seokjin chuckles at her question, "It's not what you think, Dan-mi. Y/N is my favorite colleague cum one of my most favorite human beings. And I am engaged."

The words pierce through your ears, hit your heart and break it into a thousand pieces all over again. Tears start prickling your eyes, so you shut them as tightly as possible.

And suddenly you're in a flashback of your life.

After suffering from verbally and borderline physically abusive parents, a broken home, multiple failed relationships, failed attempts of being in love and being loved… you finally found yourself falling for a man who was already betrothed to someone else, who can't be yours no matter how many lifetimes you wait.

Seokjin's embrace now feels too constricted, too hot to be comfortable anymore. So you break free.

Jerking out of Seokjin's arms, you sit straight. But your actions (or disappointments) seemingly have no impact on him.

He continues, "my fiancé and I have been in a relationship for 10 years now. Highschool sweethearts you know?" A sweet smile takes over his face, probably upon painting an image of his lover in imagination, "we're soon to be married."

As soon as he finishes off, you stand up from your place, take your purse and utter a small bye to the man.

This is too much and you can’t suffer any longer. Having your heart broken everyday with the reminder is one thing but him, sitting right beside you, gushing about his fiancé, while knowing nothing about your feelings towards him, hurts ten thousand times more.

"Y/N! Wait! Let's go together. I'll drop you." You find Seokjin shouting as the distance between you two increases bit by bit.

You turn back for one last time, facing him, you part your lips and say, "not this time, Jin. It's better if I move on."

You know he hasn't heard you, the music is on full blast and there's at least 5 hands of distance between you two.

But the words are for you to hear… more than anyone else.

So, you take your steps forward and leave him behind for his good and mostly for yours.

#bts angst #jin angst #seokjin angst #bts x reader #seokjin x reader #jin x reader #bts x you #bts x y/n #jin x you #seokjin x you #seokjin fanfic #kim seokjin #bts seokjin #nika's 2k milestone drabble

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poraphia · 7 months

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hello! Idk if you’re still doing siren requests but could you do a siren x reader where reader is a hero but a more captain puffy type hero than dream team hero and they were best friends at school, but completely oblivious to each others’ identities? I’m not sure, this is a more vague one. But just an idea, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want :)

"Just A Hero and a Villain Catching Up"

pairing • siren x hero!reader 1967 words • 9.25.23 containing • reader and wilbur are long term besties, reader doesn't really like being a hero, tommy teasing wilbs and reader my masterlist ~! ღ mrs. mania ღ on Tumblr

"You're my best friend, but I've been keeping a secret from you. Little did I know, you've been keeping a secret from me."

♡♡♡

“Alright, team, I think we did amazing work here!” Dream exclaimed as he held the once stolen artifact in his hand with pride. I breathed a sigh of exhaustion as the other heroes cheered. Dream looked at me, held tilted with his beady stare through his mask. As the other heroes congratulated and supported one another, he approached me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“We’re doing a good thing here, Nymph. We protected an ancient piece of art, and we should be proud of the work we did.” He reassured, rubbing my shoulder. I let out a small grumble as I fiddled with my sleeves.

“Yeah, but didn’t Eastside’s museum get robbed too last week? Only two heroes showed up, and that was including me who volunteered to go.” I questioned. I looked up at him, staring at his smiling mask. He returned the gaze blankly without saying a word.

Dream broke the silence before letting a loud sigh that sounded almost annoyed. My eyebrows furrowed under my mask. “We both know that the headquarters aren’t exactly on our side sometimes,” He said. “but that isn’t necessarily in our control.” I didn’t say anything in response. Instead I brushed his hand off of my shoulder and checked my watch.

“Oh, shit,” I mumbled. Dream tilted his head curiously. I turned to him, pointing at my watch. “I have to go, but I’ll check in at HQ before midnight. See you, Dream.” Before I could hear or see his farewell goodbye, I formed a cloud so that I could fly away from the scene. As I glided through the city from West End to Eastside, I stared at the sky, thinking to myself.

I feel like I haven’t been the best friend to Wil.

And it’s not because we’ve been barely seeing each other, or we don’t joke around like how we used to when we were in high school, but it’s because I’ve been keeping this huge secret.

It’s not something I can just confess and get over with. No, no. I trust and love Wil with all my heart, but if he ever figured out my identity, that would put him in grave danger. I could never live with myself if I knew something happened to him all because I couldn’t keep one little detail about me.

So I kept my mouth shut.

It’s been months since we sat down and talked to each other because of how busy we were. The moment I’m free is the moment he has to go to an important meeting. The moment he’s free I’m searching through the whole city looking for runaway villains. But after months of planning in advance, we were finally able to schedule a whole afternoon to ourselves at the local cafe in Eastside.

I go to the Cloudy Cafe every so often to catch up with my past mentor, Puffy. She taught me in her final years of being a hero before retiring. My cloud slowly evaporated away as I landed safely behind the cafe building. Using a spare key she gave me, I unlocked the door and retrieved my backpack that was hidden into some storage shelves. I changed into some casual fitted clothes before stuffing my mask and costume into my bag , leaving the backroom, and locking the door behind me. Before I turned the corner, I noticed a familiar bright yellow sweater and mess of brown hair running into the cafe, followed by a blonde boy wearing a red and white shirt. With a raised eyebrow, I let them run into the cafe first before following in a minute later.

I was welcomed to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and baked goods. The blonde boy I saw run in earlier was talking to Puffy, who was sat at a circular table in the corner of the cafe. Deciding that I’ll just talk to her later, I scanned the cafe, finally finding Wilbur sitting at a two person table with his laptop out. He was panting with his face a little red from exhaustion. Pushing my curiousity aside, I walked up to his table while smiling.

“Wilbur!” I exclaimed. Immediately his head perked up and a huge smile formed on his face.

“(y/n)!” He beamed. Wilbur stumbled up. His tall figure nearly towered over mine as he engulfed me in his long, lengthy limbs. Giggling, I wrapped my arms around his torso and buried myself into his chest. after a moment of us snuggled into each other’s warmth, I pulled away, looking at his face.

“I haven’t seen your face in literally so long! Did you get handsomer?” I joked. Wilbur flushed, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

“Eh, you could say that.” He said bashfully. We both took our seats at our table. Wil closed his laptop and placed it in his bag. I placed my backpack under the table to leave us with more room on the table. He sat across from me with his hands folded onto the surface. “Seriously, how have you been, (y/n)? Has work been treating you well?” He asked.

I bit my tongue from letting out a tired huff. A bit of me wanted to unravel all my stress onto him, raving about how tiring this workforce is and how I feel as if this system isn’t as innocent as we’re made to believe. But instead, I just shook my head.

“It’s… Alright.” I managed out. Instantly, Wil saw right through me.

“Oh? I know that tone, y’know. C’mon, spit it out.” He teased. His hand trailed around to where my hands were sprawled out. I sighed, a little annoyed that he still knows how to decipher pieces of me.

“It’s just… It’s not exactly what I signed up for, y’know? I thought it would be about doing good for the world, but if anything, I think we’re doing worse.” I ranted, using my hands a little to convey my words. He sat and stared at me; eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated. “I don’t know. Sometimes I want to leave, but the other times I feel like I could make a change. Lately, it’s been feeling hopeless though, y’know?”

My fingers quickly pressed against my lips, realizing that I was probably saying too much. Wil, in turn, nodded, as if understanding my words. “Yeah, I know what you’re talking about. Where did you say you work at again?” He asked.

“I— Uh— Just some human services organization that helps aid people and things like that.” I said, waving my hand off. I watched his expression soften, as if he was relieved to hear my words. I smiled reassuringly at him.

“Order for Wilby and his lovely, oh so loved partner!” The blonde barista called out from behind the counter. With an audible groan, Wilbur got up from his seat and trotted over to the counter. He quietly lectured the blonde boy as he just smiled cheekily. Once he was finished, he returned to our table with one iced coffee and one hot coffee.

“Sorry about that,” he chuckled. He slid the ice coffee order to me, in which I happily took a sip from. He took his seat in front of me, placing his cup on the table. “That’s my brother, Tom. He’s an odd one honestly.” I titled my head curiously.

“You have another brother? I thought it was just you, Techno, and Phil.” I noted.

“Ah, well,” he took a sip of his coffee before speaking again. “He was a new addition only like a couple months ago. It’s been a crazy year honestly.” He laughed. “Speaking of family, you should come by our house sometime soon to say hi.”

“Oh, absolutely!” I grinned. “I would love to spar with Techno again, or even just hearing stories from Phil.”

“Great!” He replied. “Oh, you just came from West End, right?”

I hummed in response, curious as to where this was going. “Yeah, why?” I asked.

He hesitated a bit, his lips briefly thinning before speaking. “I was wondering if you caught a glimpse of the fight near the museum. I heard it was kinda big.”

Oh, you mean the fight I was just in fifteen minutes ago that nearly led to some building collapsing and dozens of people injured?

“Oh, yeah!” I fiddled with the ends of my sleeve. “I saw a glimpse of it, but not much. If anything it was just the cause of my traffic.” I chuckled. My leg rapidly shook from under the table. Wilbur I beg, please be oblivious just this once.

Wil smiled before looking out the window. “Yeah, I caught a little bit of it too as we were headed here. Nymph really was causing a huge storm! Nearly scared the crap out of me from all that thunder.” My heart stopped at the mere mention of my superhero name. The identity I didn’t want him knowing.

“Ah, yeah, it was a giant.” I smiled. “I heard she was causing such a storm to muffle out Siren’s commands.” I commented, which wasn’t a lie. Siren was about to unleash a load of commands to brainwash all of the heroes fighting, so in an act of quick thinking, I summoned a huge storm with thunder so that no one could hear his voice.

“Well, Siren is pretty cool like that,” Wil laughed. Though something about it seemed… Fake in a way. His shoulders were tensed up and he refused to make eye contact. But maybe I was just looking too into it. “What do you think of the Syndicate? If you don’t mind me asking.” He turned to me now with his head resting in his palm. I leaned back in my chair, thinking about what to say.

“I think the Syndicate gets more exaggerated than they really are on media.” I said blankly. Wil raised an eyebrow, as if asking me to continue on. I took a sip from my drink before speaking again. My eyes glued onto my hands as I rubbed my own knuckles. “Well, nobody really stops and interviews the Syndicate about why they do their crimes, now do they? Maybe it’s just the little conspiracy theorist in me, but I feel like media hides the truth behind the rivalry of the Syndicate and Heroes Society.” I shrugged. When I looked up, Wil had the expression of a sweet puppy tilting his head out of curiosity. If I didn’t have any self-control, I would’ve expressed my admiration for such an adorable sight. Instead, I returned the tilted head gesture.

“Pff, what?” I chuckled as my hair cascaded down my shoulder. Wil hummed before returning his head posture back to normal.

“Nothing. It’s just you don’t really hear about people trying to understand the Syndicate. It’s really interesting.” He smiled. He has this glossy look in his eyes that almost sparkled.

“Ah, well,” I reached over the table, shaking my near empty drink. “it looks like my coffee is almost done. Let’s say we get out of here and walk along the pier or something?” I suggested.

Wil looked at me before turning his gaze to the blonde boy behind the counter. In the least subtle way possible, the barista was pointing at the back of his throat while making gagging noises. He scoffed at the sight before returning that beautiful gaze of his to me.

“I would love to, but first, let me go beat up Tom over there.

♡♡♡

a / n ~ sleepy mania over here. hope you guys enjoyed. thank you sososo much for the support! sorry i havent updated my masterlists though. trying to get more organized. reblogs, replies, even likes are super duper appreciated!

#wilbur soot #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur soot fanfiction #wilbur soot oneshots #wilbur soot x y/n #wilbur soot x you #wilbur x reader #will gold #poraphiafanfics #siren wilbur soot #siren x reader #siren my beloved #wilbursoot #clinic!wilbur x reader #clinic!wilbur

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sunflowerxthoughts · 8 months

Note

Okay hear me out but like the line “and I remember that fight 2:30 am when everything was slipping right out of our hands I ran out crying and you followed me out in to the street brace my self for the goodbye because that’s all i’ve ever known and you took me by surprise and said i’ll never leave you alone” with Eddie. Idk why but I just can like picture it with him.

I have a long ass list of Taylor songs that are Eddie coded but!!!! This has been on my inbox for a while now and ugh this is A CONCEPT!!!!

Eddie who is used to running away when things get bad because he is a fighter but he’d rather run away than get hurt yet again. He has issues okay it is canon that his dad was a piece of shit.

So when you have your first fight Eddie thinks it is over. Two months of bliss gone to absolute nothingness. I can absolutely see that the fight could be about him not letting you in, and as much as you want to help him and give him space, it takes a toll. You feel like a stranger sometimes.

So when Eddie goes back to the trailer after being put for a couple of hours and you are still there his eyes water all over again.

“You’re here? I thought we broke up?”

“What? Eddie no, everyone fights. This doesn’t mean we are breaking up, it just means we have to talk through it and fix things.”

“So you won’t leave?” You can’t hear the tremble of his voice over the sound of your heart breaking at the hopeless boy in front of him.

“Oh honey, I could never leave you. I love you Eddie. And that’s not going to change as long as we both put in the work to make this work, okay?” You take his face in your hands so he’ll focus only on you. “I know you don’t want to let me in because you think I’m going to leave. But don’t deprive yourself of being understood for something we can’t control, Eds. I don’t want to leave, I want to help you. I want to hold you when you are sad and laugh with you when you are happy. We just have to put in the work, and talk to each other, okay?”

“I’m sorry. I- I get scared because I want to be with you forever and forever it’s never been for me. The only constant thing for me has been Wayne. And I really want you to be it. It’s not and excuse and I know it. But I’ll be better for you.”

“It’s not about being better Eddie. I’m happy as long as we give it as much as we can. I want you to get better. Not be. You already are great as you are.”

“Even when I snore?”

“When you snore, when you are grumpy and when you are so tired you can’t even open your eyes. I’m in it for all of it.”

“I love you too.”

“I know you do, because one of the great things about you, Eddie Munson, is that you show your love through everything you do, in the little things and also in the grand gestures. You are the best thing that’s ever been mine.”

#sorry this took me so long #eddie munson #i love taylor so much #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson angst #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson hurt/comfort

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voidcat · 1 year

Text

— a mutual intoxication

characters: dazai osamu, you

notes: implied toxic unlabeled past relationship, idk what this is beyond that, ive been doing some p stupid shit lately i needed dazai to shake me out of it. also my e key has issues so there may b missing lettrs

song: Los Borrachos (I Don't Have Any Hope Left But The Weather Is Nice) by Car Seat Headrest i think?? im notsure

Turning your phone off with a sigh, you close your eyes, sensing that presence hovering over your shoulder a little too late.

You have grown rusty, it seems, for he stands like that, too close for comfort, close enough for you to feel his breath and his eyes glued on the black screen of your phone.

“Look who’s here!”

Dazai Osamu exclaims giddily as he makes a turn around and slides right next to you. As if its some mere coincidence the two of you ran into one another and not something he foresaw before you even decided to drop by this cafe.

And so Dazai settles down, makes himself comfortable, easing in and blending into your side, to the environment.

A quick look shot his way, at your phone and the people idling in the cafe, you wait and wait, swallow down each second thats been passing.

And he catches it no matter how quick.

Of course he would, this is Dazai after all. Nothing gets past his senses, his wicked perception, his inituition.

Dazai's presence right here, right now means only one thing: That he has won.

Or so, he thinks. And once he does, it is the truth and absolute truth, even despite the circumstances preventing it, he will make sure to eradicate.

So far his voice falls deaf on your ears, as often was the case in your past, just a background noise to fill the air and nothing else–

"Someone has been busy, hm?" his coo leaves you on the edge, and you have half a mind to not jolt up or shoot another glance by your phone.

You know this.

You know Dazai, he is just doing what he does best, you are better than this: giving him what he seeks.

"So, what are they like? Have they been helping you with that itch on your brain that needs a good scratch?"

It shouldn't sting when you have grown used to it, but it does, just a little.

Not because he is right– he is, that's another issue, but because you're still doing that after all that time.

A little attention never killed anyone, that part of your brain reasons but another is quick to remind you of all those myths and tragedies of Greece.

It is nowhere as satisfactory as the real thing obviously, but even messages of sweet words and praises gets you going– though you hate to admit it, that you like this, you relish on this, the high of it.

Bonus points when the compliments are not the typical ones you can see everywhere, when the terms of endearment and what follows them sound to be thought over.

Lips pulled tight, you only stare at Dazai without a word.

"Not deserving of your voice? Not even the scoldings?" he tilts his head to the side with a smirk.

Bandaged hand over the table moves on its own.

They seem fresh, you cannot help but make a note of. Perhaps he came across a discount recently. There is no way in hell he would pay for these. Not when he has the agency's stash to raid, or you to buy and apply a fresh set.

His weird unique way of showing vulnerability, in his own way. But how can you blame the man?

He was already a mess when the two of you met.

Finger swiped over the screen, he taps the passcode, only to be left alone with the lockscreen.

Head turned to face you, another smirk that says "I'm impressed."

thanks no thanks, i don't need your compliments, you want to say.

you are not worried per se, you do not owe your piece of shit of an ex any explanation.

how things will turn out however, has you wondering. You know Dazai, but there are times when even you're at a loss of predicting his mind.

Friend of a friend– you doubt he knows that friend in th first place. Maybe their social media profiles at most but that's not much to go by.

The phone comes to life then– of course it had to be th fingerprint you had forgotten about.

Yet Dazai only seems pleasant at th turn of events. From your expression, he can tell this was not intentional but where's the fun if he doesn't go around claiming you were always waiting for him to return to your loving embrace.

"Not good enough apparently."

you whip your head at his voice, confusion clear on your face.

"Since you're sitting here alone all by yourself, not even on a call or texting." he shrugs as if he is explaining something simple, some truth of life to a kid.

"And do pray tell, Dazai, how am i supposed to text or talk when you have my phone?" you don't realize your teeth grithing.

To your reaction he only offers a grin, aware you know the answer as well as him.

even now, him going through your phone is old news. He did that before, and so did you– returning the favor.

If you wanted all his attention on himself, he demanded the same in return, give and take, until you suffocate.

and yet, even now that air stinging and filling your lungs does not hurt. the unbreathable toxic air is welcome in your lungs, an old friend you cannot shake off your life.

dull eyes ignore your question as they quickly go over chat histories, a little sneak at your photo roll without a doubt and side private accounts you keep limited to few people in your life.

with a sigh, he turns the device off and tosses it back on the table, leaning on his back, relaxing entirely. "My, my– and here I was worried you had forgotten all about me."

You had, as a matter of fact, yet you doubt he'd take your word for it, not when he has something brewing in his head to prove. Whaatever it may be, you know it won't end up in your favor.

"Now I just feel bad," that indifferent tone of his rings loud and clear.

hah! as if he is in any position to feel bad for your sake, what an awful attempt at a joke.

"Darling, you deserve better than that." "And that 'better' is supposed to be you?" you retort without missing a beat, annoyance clear in your voice.

"Well," he drags the word with a tilt of his head, gaze locked on the ceiling as if it's the wide blue sky instead, "Not saying I'm the best you've had, surely there are plenty of fish in the sea,"

a lie, you are aware, what he truly says is 'your words, not mine'.

"You deserve someone to match your wits." he concludes.

When you turn to look at his face, you see him sliding down slightly, head thrown back and resting.

even when complimenting, he makes sure to cast the hook where he wants it, all he has to do is sit and wait.

and hate yourself just as much, you know it has worked, that he is right. As exhasuting as it was to be ...something with Dazai Osamu, it was exciting, keeping the adrenaline rushing constantly, the ups and downs, highs and lows, the clashing and the sudden unision in the face of anything else.

"Not some sorry excuse of a person who cannot even pick up on one third of the things and teasings you say."

this, you're unsure if it is the living and breathing Dazai that says it, or the little one nestling in the back of your hand, always making sure to remind you he will never leave you alone.

Th who of it does not matter though.

Bcause all the ticks and kcks of your relationship with him, it was the unspoken understanding you enjoyed more than anything.

A look is all it takes, a gesture is all he needs, no words spoken, no thoughts admitted out loud verbally.

With a mind as sharp and bright as Dazai's, he understood you more than anyone else.

But being understood is not the entirety of it.

that's where communication plays in after all.

and as bright as he may be, Dazai took this to his advantage, his vague tactics to keep you around.

Sweetness but not too much, attention just long enough to keep you waiting for more, at the ready with big eyes–

letting your shoulders drop and realizing the tension you had on this whole time, you lean back as well, mirroring the man next to you and letting your body fall toward his direction a little.

Who are you to judge Dazai Osamu when you haven't been any better?

maybe this is what you wanted this whole time, letting this 'break up' last longer than the prvious ghosting phases, ignoring him on purpose and seeking out a new source to keep you up.

you can feel an arm draping over you, not bothering to open your eyes. this, too, has become something you've grown all too familiar with– one of the dolce ones, even when th grip becomes tight– keeping the other locked in.

because for any chain Dazai has on you, he possesses a matching one.

He might be the human with the highest perception skills for all you care– you know him, and that speaks for itself.

back and forth, it's a never ending dance of teasing, stepping on toes on purpose, pretending to have gotten bored in the middle only to surprise the second party with a sudden spin and bending of the waist– leaning in, nose to nose, until your visions blur into nothing but each other, and the mess you have left in your trail.

#didnt end this exactly in th way i wanted but i think this one is better #u can pretend he says mst lik 'ill makeu forget abt thm in no time' and ur inner monologue smt abt how thres no need for this already #uh anyays #bungou stray dogs #dazai osamu #felizai #menthol ellness<3 #dazai x reader #dazai x you #bsd x you #bsd x reader #bungou stray dogs x you #bungou stray dogs x reader #dazai osamu x you #dazai osamu x reader #gender neutral reader

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ironmandeficiency · 10 months

Text

love at first fight

pairing: bofur / reader

word count: 1269

summary: after a tavern visit, you seriously consider getting your eyes checked when you mistake an unassuming dwarf for your best friend’s ex

a/n: another hella late year of idiots submission (but since i started it in may it still counts as the may entry lol). the reader’s race & gender are left ambiguous. pihla means “rowan tree” in finnish

tags: @yearofcreation2023 @oonajaeadira & my darling beta @loopyloo2610 (idk why you can’t be tagged 🤷🏻‍♀️) who helped me organize my thoughts with this piece

“you’re absolutely belligerent, you know that right?” pihla harrumphed as you brushed her hair, a grumpy pout on her face.

you tugged a little harder than necessary and ignored the slight wince. “oh i know,” a slight chuckle accompanied the next stroke of the brush through ginger locks.

your best friend has sequestered herself in her home, refusing to leave and avoiding anyone who could carry false sympathies with their groceries. after the way elias broke her heart not even a week ago, it made sense for her to avoid the laketown gossips and stay home for a while.

however, it doesn’t mean you’ll allow it.

pihla sounds a lot more put out than she truly is as she continues lamenting, “i can’t believe you’re forcing me to go out.”

she releases a put-off sigh while she rummages through her wardrobe. “after everything i’ve been through the past several days,” one dress is tossed over her shoulder as another piques her interest. “absolutely shameful, i think.”

watching your friend smile again, you refastened your bootstraps and straightened your tunic. tonight wasn’t about you primping and feeling pretty, it was for pihla to remind herself just how amazing she is and feel happy again. so you stuck with your regular attire of a simple tunic and breeches, letting your closest friend take the popular tavern by storm.

with winks and grins sent to each other, you were off to drink your woes away.

years before that mustached scum broke pihla’s heart, you made a promise (at her behest) to never let her despair in a breakup for more than a week. it’s why you were now downing the cheapest mead you’ve ever tasted (bought for you by a slimy looking fellow across the bar) without a second thought.

in truth, you’re just upholding your end of the friendship. a rather valiant endeavor if you do say so yourself.

the requests you gave to the performers were songs you knew pihla enjoyed dancing to, every drink you sent to your friend just right for her palate. she seemed genuinely happy once again, twirling and laughing like nothing ever occurred.

then your eyes catch the faintest glimpse of a familiar-looking man lingering in the corner of the bar and you’re suddenly jolted back into sobriety.

if that bastard turns out to be here on the night pihla is supposed to be healing, you were going to do more than bash his skull in. but then you see his face fully and nearly all the fight leaves your veins; it’s not him, and pihla’s night is still safe. but now you’re hyper aware of your surroundings. now burdened with the worry of ‘what if he shows up and she sees him?’ you abstain from getting another drink for the moment.

your eyes follow your friend from where you perched at the bar, letting her have her fun but staying vigilant just in case your newly found fear turns into reality.

a merry tune floated through the tavern, a drinking song you recognized that became an instant hit after the reclamation of erebor. the words were absurd and silly but annoyingly catchy and you found yourself humming along to the tune.

there’s an inn, there’s an inn,

there’s a merry old inn

beneath an old gray hill,

and there they brew a beer so brown

that the man in the moon himself came down

one night to drink his fill

you stay on the lookout, not trusting yourself to fully relax again but letting loose just enough to enjoy the song. the entire bar joined their voices in jovial inebriation and you finally gave in and got another drink. the drunkenness of every singer paired with absurdity of the lyrics made you chuckle around your tankard.

as the song continued, you finally began to sing along. pihla was flitting around the tables, arm in arm with all sorts of people as they danced and skipped and sang. two more mugs were refilled and you downed them both with a bacchan grin.

so the cat on his fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle, a jig that would wake the dead

he squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune,

while the landlord shook the man in the noon:

"It's after three!" he said

it was only a matter of time until the bad feeling from earlier returned, muted only by your previous drinks. thrice since the song began, you’ve caught glances of people you think are elias. everything came to a head when you met the eyes of a man dancing on a table halfway across the room.

there you are, bastard.

“you!”

with righteous fury you shot out of your seat. headed directly for the troll dung that was elias, you mustered up every vile thought you had about the fate he deserved. this was no time to be meek, you were ready to brawl.

“elias, you pile of troll dung!” a few heads turned towards you as each step thundered against the floor, quickly backing away to avoid your wrath being sent unto them. they were mercifully spared when both your hands were suddenly full of a man’s lapels.

instead of flailing around like you predicted he would, the filth just stared at you vacantly. in your fury, you weren’t sure which was worse but it would garner consequences regardless.

your victim was dragged off the table he was dancing on with no other warning. “you’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face here! after what you did to pihla, you should be fed to the pigs!” with that, you swung a clenched fist directly into his jaw. his head moved with the impact and at least half of the bar’s patrons winced at the sight.

the man’s head tilted back up. his rich, brown eyes met yours with a smile wider than the long lake was deep. “you’re absolutely magnificent, lass.”

for a moment, you balked at the notion of elias coming on to you before you commenced in beating his ass. the absolute gall! then your brain processed the style of his facial hair, the obnoxious hat he wore (that was now lopsided on his head from your jostling), and the height difference being less substantial than normal.

the man you had captive wasn’t a sleazy man at all; he was a dwarf.

this realization sobered you up alarmingly quick.

by the gods, you grabbed the wrong person! and yelled in his face and punched him! oh you would never be able to show your face in this tavern again, and neither would your children that won’t ever exist because no man would want to associate themselves with you after this debacle!

“oh i am so sorry, i thought you were someone else! i cannot believe i’ve done this! let me buy you a drink as an apology, it’s the least i can do!” you were stuttering through apologies and self-scoldings, not even paying attention to the smile he was still wearing despite the color starting to blossom on his cheek.

why was his smile so charming? it really shouldn’t have been given the situation. “if that’s how ye hit the wrong man, i would not wanna be the one ye were truly aimin’ for!” a bright laugh followed his words. how could he be so jovial after getting decked by a foolish drunk?

callused hands gripped yours gently, the pads of his thumb massaging your hands to rid them of the tension that came with being ready to fight. “now come along, such a fierce warrior deserves a drink to celebrate her victory.”

#the hobbit imagine #the hobbit fanfic #bofur x reader #bofur imagine #bofur #the hobbit #the hobbit reader insert #the hobbit fanfiction #bofur reader insert #bofur fanfic

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snek-panini · 7 months

Text

It's been a few weeks since I had new books to share, but I finally got photos taken of the newest ones so today's the day. Here, have a book:

This is Across Tides and Currents, a Good Omens siren AU by Sodium_Azide and @doorwaytoparadise (hi. I hope I tagged you right). My favorite thing about this AU is that, at its heart, it's about learning to communicate with someone who is so different from you that you can't even physically speak each other's language, and yet you've still got so much common ground that you find a way. It's way lighter and more fun than that description makes it sound, though, so go read it if that's your thing.

The cover on this is Lineco book cloth, scrapbook paper printed to look like leather, and blue foil htv. The foil was actually a nightmare to do. The first time I applied it, it wouldn't stick no matter what I did, and the bits that did stick peeled off as soon as I touched them. I had to peel them up very carefully, cut a new image, and try again. Thankfully it worked the second time but I don't know that I'll be using the foil type again unless there's no other way to get the color I want. The non-foil metallic was so much easier to work with.

More book photos under the cut!

I went with a coptic bind for this one for a few reasons. The first was that I wanted to try one on a quarto-size book to see if I could. I also wanted to try the mitered corners thing I did when I bound Strange Moons, and see if I could have the same effect on the interior. (That bit didn't work out so well; the front is fine but I mismeasured the inside and the lines didn't match up, so I trimmed some pieces of cardstock to cover that up. I really like the layered look though, so that's fine. It's quirky.) The third reason is that not long before I decided to bind this one, the authors published a new chapter after two years of no updates. That's the best possible reason to have to change plans, and the glueless bind means that if they ever do that again I can just redo the stitching to add more pages. Win-win.

Getting whimsical with title pages here. This took way longer than I thought it would, probably because I don't like graphic design and I did it in Word where I do the rest of my typesetting. Usually what I do is grab an image and put text around it or on top of it and then just play with fonts and sizes, but this time I drew the lines and then made the text follow them. This is the first time I've used the word art feature since...probably 2009? I'd forgotten how. I have no doubt there are better ways to do this but if I'd had to learn a new program at that point I'd have quit. And I do think it was worth it--it's cute and fun and looks about how I imagined it.

Couple of photos of the inside. Sorry the first one's blurry, I had someone trying to get my attention when I took these. The section break image came from rawpixel, I just made it gray instead of black so it's more subtle. The fic has very nice illustrations that I specifically got the artist's permission to print and then I failed to get any photos of them when I did my little photo shoot. They look very nice, though. I swear.

The last image is something I've started including in my latest books. I'm calling them "A Note from the Bookbinder" and it's basically just me talking about why I chose that story, the experience of reading it for the first time, stuff that's going on in the fandom, stuff about the process like the new chapter coming out as I was preparing to print. It's kind of...like marginalia? Part of fanbinding is preservation and that's linked to archival work, and something I know archivists love is marginalia and diaries. I don't like writing in my books and I've never found any fun in journaling, but sometimes that kind of context is important so I'm trying to add it. Someday, decades from now, I may not remember all the details, so I'm trying to preserve them. IDK, this got philosophical on me. Go read about mermaids now. Promise it's a good time.

#bookbinding #fanbinding #snek makes books #good omens #fic rec #i wanted to do this as a mermay project #that did not happen #i finished it in october #happy mertober

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noctivague · 5 months

Text

Revamping my altar - Part 01🙃

Let's ingnore the fact that I ghosted my blog for the most part of this year and jump right in as if nothing happened....

Starting point

I'm a very aesthetically driven person and I'm bored with my current altar, which has been remained the same for a long time. (I thought I had a picture but I don't and it's gone now so oops...)

I want to create something that puts me in an inspired mood just by looking at it. That looks inviting and beautiful and brings me delight and motivation. A little sanctuary nook kinda.

I want to revitalize things and symbolize the new era i'm in, due to the fact that i recently moved into a new flat, got a new job, and overall my life is very different than it was last year.

So here is the journey of making my new altar :) At the moment it's far from done but here is the first part of the process!

Part 02 will follow once I've received the things I ordered, probably at the end of November or early December.

Inspirations

So i went on a quest to find inspirations on pinterest that would sort of align with what i wanted to make.

ngl I dislike most of what I see because I find them too cluttered for my personal taste. The main issue is that i'm clumsy and i hate the idea of my hand having to slither through a forest of objects to be able to grab what i want lol

Still managed to find a few cool examples, here they are:

I love the rough, folk-esque, natural aspects of them, the blend of stone, marble and wood. The branches, the sculptures, the iconic symbols and the fact that there is a variety of heights of things, if that makes sense. I also like having a strong art piece in the middle, which i prefer over having a mirror like many examples i found. Idk i just find the idea of having to stare at myself at my altar a bit uncomfortable lol

But it's still different from what would be authentic for me and also i gotta do with what i have or what i can buy.

The thing is that my altar is not dedicated to a single deity so i can't go with one strong themed vibe but i have to put them all together. Currently, Apollo, Artemis, Hekate, Dionysos, Hermes and Demeter share the same space.

Furniture

Thankfully the new book shelf I got is quite wide and has three levels, which is plenty enough space to give everyone their own space and even host my incense, tarot cards and spiritual books.

I almost sold a kidney to get an antique cabinet, which looked really cool but was not going to fit in with the interior style of my living room, where my altar is located.

So I went in with a more modern yet slightly organic-shaped one:

Not 100% what I was looking for but at least the space is there. Love the curves an the contrast of the two colors, but I wish the wood was darker. I could sand and re-varnish but who's got time for that.

Current state of the sculptures

I've been collecting sculptures and hand painting them for a while now (you can check out my pinned post for pictures of some of them), and although I love what I made, I really want to get some new ones that are higher and I'm even wondering if I should just keep them white and gold instead of colorful.

Also, for the life of me, I can't find a sculpture of Hekate that I like. They either look too bland or too new-agey for my taste. At the moment, I have the classic three women holding torches and stuff that I hand painted in blue, yellow and silver, but idk it's not what I have in mind and I think I'm just going to resort to do clay modelling myself. I'll probably do a separate post for the process!

Btw I'll do a free giveaway in the future to re-home my old sculptures so stay tuned for that!

What I have in mind

Sooo I'm not sure of the exact height and width of the things that I have coming in, and I'm still looking for a strong art piece or relief to go at the center back so I'm not sure if my disgusting mouse-drawn photoshop sketch is going to be accurate at all lol

The more I stare at it the more I think it makes no sense 🙃

So basically, from left to right; Apollo (new statue incoming); Artemis (old statue at the moment but need to upgrade); Hekate in the center (need to craft that); Dionysos (new bust incoming); Hermes (new bust incoming); and on the lower lever Demeter (still love the statue as I think it's my best one so it will stay this way).

Still missing:

one or two candles i use during worship, preferably gold

art piece in the center, either a plaster relief or canva print of something

plant with long falling ''arms'' (idk the word in english)

dried branches to go in the left vase

a way to fix the antlers to the wall

an old key for hekate (need to go to a thrift store)

maybeee a bigger box to store my incense and ritualistic plates and glasses

I don't think I want a table cloth simply because I had one in the past and it was always a mess to clean. Having the bare table is much easier, especially considering that I will burn incense and candles and that gets messy.

---------------------------------

Okay that's it for this long ass post, see ya in a few weeks for part 02!!!

#altar #hellenic polythiest #hellenism #helpol #altar for the gods #greek gods #paganism #pagan altar #hellenic altar

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

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RWBY Recaps: "Rude, Red, and Royal"

Hello, everyone! Thank you all for your patience in waiting for this <3.

Time’s ‘a wastin’, so let’s dive right in. We open on the girls being escorted by the royal guards up to the palace which, as I said in my last recap, is in no way dependent on Ruby giving up Penny’s sword. They could have simply been ‘captured’ for the crime of denying His Highness a new birthday present and then, as Ruby does in a few minutes, weasel out a game by asking to cheer him up in recompense. The sword is superfluous to the plot, it doesn’t track that it exists in the Ever After, is only shakily compelling in its emotional impact on Ruby and, very soon, will literally be discarded. Though we had some genuinely good emotion last episode, what this could have been - should have been - is still far out of reach.

So they’re marching along and we get a shot of the palace as well as the... pieces? Monuments? Decorations? Embedded in the earth around them. I like the subtle nod towards a potential battle having taken place and the red stains against the white look - whether intentionally or not - like blood. It begs the question of what exactly occurred when Alyx visited.

Yang: “Are we sure we should do this?”

Ruby: “Well, the Red King helped Alyx”

Weiss: “We’re not Alyx”

Real talk: I'm sick of team conversations consisting of the girls vaguely disagreeing with Ruby and then immediately bowing to her whim. This is, structurally, the same exchange we got in Volume 7 when Ruby decided to lie to Ironwood. Yang and Oscar go, ‘I'm not really happy with this :/’ Ruby reiterates her position, and then that’s it, everyone drops the subject. Why? Because Ruby is their leader? That doesn’t hold water anymore since Volume 8 gave us a Yang who’s upset with Ruby’s decisions and actively challenges her role as leader... at least until she’s suddenly, randomly worried about Blake instead. Now, we’re back to where we were in Volume 7 with Yang (and the others) only making token disagreements for Ruby to ignore. Why is everyone moving backwards in this show?

Never-mind that I actually agree with Ruby here. The girls have been shown plenty of evidence that they’re broadly repeating Alyx’s story, the fairy tale next depicts a King helping human girls lost in this world, and Weiss already tried - and failed - to just bypass all that and walk her way to the tree. Plus, it’s not like any of these guards pose a threat to the girls. You’re telling me they can beat the Ace Ops immediately after a major grimm battle, but we’re simultaneously supposed to believe that a bunch of foolish goons made of wood could take them out? So I legitimately don’t understand what Weiss and Yang’s hesitation is when all signs point to needing to do this, those signs imply a good outcome, they’ve failed to do anything else, and they are not - for them - in any real danger.

It honestly feels like RT is continually tossing in ‘disagreements’ so that they can claim the team still has diverse and rich relationships, but that only works if you ignore the realities of the situation and the fact that nothing ever comes of this division.

As they make their way the camera shows a bright blue butterfly following them. Given that this isn’t the last time we’ll see them, I can’t help but assume that the butterfly is another character (Alyx? Lewis?), or else is foreshadowing for someone with an association with butterflies. You know, like how we saw a crow a bunch of times when Qrow first showed up to fight Winter. Originally, I thought the butterfly was our Cat, but then the Cat just chases butterflies and tends to disappear rather than transform... so idk. We’ll see.

They arrive at the entrance to the palace and the guards start a big ta-do for His Majesty’s arrival. I'm not sure why the girls are freaking out? They’re supposedly oh so knowledgeable about fairy tales, this one in particular, they're going to see the King, but they don't realize that this is how the King is introduced? I can only assume this is an excuse to give us more absurd Weiss animations.

His Majesty arrives and, to the girls’ shock, he’s definitely not a King. He’s the Red Prince and the best thing I can say about him is that I really like the sound design. As a puppet, he clinks with every step and that consistency helps sell that this isn’t a human child. Other than that though?

Oh my god he’s annoying. Like, he’s obviously supposed to be, but he’s annoying to the point where he’s not enjoyable to watch. I saw someone else compare him to Cordovin - an antagonist whose position and beliefs are immediately undermined because the narrative doesn't treat them seriously - but at least Cordovin was capable of holding a conversation without shrieking. Also, note that once again the girls’ conflict boils down to a joke. Why present them with a legitimately intimidating Prince they have to outwit when you can just give them a temper-tantruming child for the audience to laugh at, complete with snot bubbles?

The Prince doesn’t take kindly to them thinking he’s the King. “Well, I never! Coming to someone’s castle without even know who they are - and on my birthday!”

Eh, he’s kinda got a point lol.

As the Prince goes through his repertoire of screaming and jumping around, one of the guards angrily points out that “if it hadn’t been for your kind the King would still be here!” and everyone quickly shushes him.

Okay wait, so the girls are clearly recognizable as human then, right? I ask because that’s going to come as a huge shock to the Prince later in the episode, but here it’s treated as an obvious fact. How dare you be questioning the King’s disappearance when “your kind” are the ones who did away with him in the first place. So what are we supposed to take away from this? That this one guard is the only one to realize what the girls are and none of his buddies pick up on what he’s implied because they’re too busy keeping talk of the King quiet? That all these very obedient, desperate-to-please guards realize the girls are human and didn’t bother mentioning that to their Prince?

That RT forgot this was supposed to be a Big Secret until the end of the episode and gave us a minor plot hole?

Regardless, Ruby curtseys to introduce herself and it’s cute enough to distract me. That's a nice shot.

The Prince continues to be annoying, to the point where I want to fast-forward through this scene, and Weiss whispers to Blake: “Ew. Did I use to be this unbearably pompous?” Weiss, I wish you were still unbearably pompous instead of unbearably ridiculous. Give me the Ice Queen over this goofy idiot any day. Still, I’m glad that she’s at least acknowledging her bad attitude from years ago, especially to Blake. It’s something... but not much. Again, this is primarily functioning as a moment of humor for the audience. We’re supposed to laugh at the Prince’s antics and Weiss’ unfounded worry - she was never that bad! Plus, the story doesn’t provide the time for an actual conversation. Like, say, Blake responding that no, you weren’t this annoying... you were just horrifically racist, which is worse.

I want everyone to remember that Weiss lost her inheritance and then deliberately escaped her abusive father. She returned to her Kingdom and was active in its destruction, leaving her without a home, without a title, and (to my ever-lasting frustration), no idea what happened to her own former ‘King,’ Jacques. She’s a princess without a throne, without a Kingdom, having spent years struggling with whether she’ll try to lead from that position of power and if so, how. What does it mean to rehabilitate the Schnee name? How does being a huntress and rejecting the 'crown' offered by her father (AKA being head of the company) accomplish that? Now she comes face-to-face with another entitled, bratty ruler who, on some level reminds her of her younger self...

... and we get a single, joke-y line about it.

If this Volume is meant to develop the characters, then actually let them develop. Next episode the girls will go through a literal seconds-long 'journey' that makes me go, "What was the point?" Each of these areas should have something that clearly ties into one of the girls' lifelong goals, acting as a sub-plot to Ruby's Volume-long depression. Visiting a palace with an annoying, abusive Prince is the PERFECT opportunity to let Weiss reflect on her own choices. Yet RWBY, as expected, has squandered it for more humor.

The guards take credit for finding Penny’s sword, despite Weiss’ protest, and present it to the eager, greedy Prince. However, he immediately kicks it away into the hedges because it’s green, not red.

Okay, two things. One, as mentioned at the start of the recap I think this is a terrible way to (presumably) end Ruby’s journey with the sword - with the reminder that her 'journey' happened at the tail end of last episode and into the first five minutes of this one. To reiterate: what was the point of any of that? To show us that Ruby is sad about Penny? Yeah, we know that already. It’s bad enough that the story is trying to give her a grieving arc that should have happened at the end of Volume 3, but the best the story can do is tossing in a sword that shouldn't exist anymore, have Ruby immediately give it up to her enemies, and then leave it behind in the hedges somewhere, forever lost? I’m not saying the sword won’t show back up - I obviously have no idea what will occur throughout the rest of this Volume - but for now that’s a real bummer of an ending. Ruby runs to try and grab the sword and the guards block her way, so all she does is whisper, “How could you?” I don’t know, Ruby, maybe he did that because he’s a bratty, literal toy who has no idea why that hunk of aura is emotionally significant to you? The audience knows though, so how about you use that semblance of yours to fly around the guards and grab the sword? Or stay behind to snag it? Or endanger everyone by refusing to leave the palace grounds until you’ve found it because fuck everything that's a part of your friend!! Give us something to show that this last piece of Penny means something to you and that you’re willing to fight for it.

I mean, if I had lost a dear friend - twice! - and their weapon was the last reminder I had of them, and the only tether I currently had to my home, and the only means by which I had to defend myself with my scythe missing, I’d try a little harder to hold onto it. RIP to Ruby but I’m built different.

I actually really like that the Prince kicked the sword away because yeah, why would he want something green? And as established, he's a brat. But Ruby failed to do anything with that action and that remains oh so disappointing.

Also, second, why isn’t Ruby’s presence helping their cause? After all, Ruby is Little RED Riding Hood. The Prince might be mad that the sword is green, but shouldn’t he be pleased that one of the girls delivering it is dressed all in red? Take a look at this shot and how perfectly Ruby fits into the aesthetic of his Kingdom:

I kept expecting Ruby’s polite attitude and her overall look to be their key into securing a game. Or, more interestingly, for the Prince to decide that she will be his present instead: the sweet, young, ruby red girl who can play games with him forever and ever (maybe even with a Ruby who'd be tempted to stay because yes, that would be so much simpler...). Yet her coloring - a staple of RWBY's advertising, an in-world symbol of peace - has no influence whatsoever. It’s moments like that really undermine the arguments that such-and-such had to happen because this is the character’s inspiration. It clearly doesn’t have an impact the other 99% of the time, so why is that suddenly relevant? These girls are in a fairy tale, yet their own fairy tales have no bearing on how they navigate it.

For the crime of trying to present him with a green present, the two guards are taken out into the hedges and beheaded by their fellow soldiers. Now, at this point in the story it's unclear whether they've been killed (because they're clearly sentient beings), or if they're just, uh... disabled? (Because they're wooden toys that can probably lose their heads without actually dying.) Though now that I've written it like that, Option #2 doesn't sound much better, especially in a story that's supposedly exploring disability through one of our main characters. Regardless, the point is that even though the second half of our episode will clarify the guards' fate a bit - more on that later - for now the girls have a reaction like they've been killed. Or at least, they recognize that something truly awful has occurred.

So my question is this: why aren't they doing anything about it? Look, I realize that's a loaded question in the fandom given how often people want to run to the girls' defense - they're too tired, it's too dangerous, you can't possibly expect them to fix the whole world, etc. - but the fact remains that we are watching a story about heroes. So how can they just stand by and watch that happen? Or at least, given that they may not have been able to stop it, why aren't they trying to do something after the fact? Try to make a change? Ruby is grappling with the death of a friend and her own feelings of inadequacy. Weiss is, supposedly, worried about her own position as the heir to an abusive hierarchy. Yet neither of them is interested in doing something about the Prince, only playing nice so that he will help get them home. Is that the standard now? Our heroes will ignore the injustices they come across provided that this ignorance benefits them? That sounds a whole lot like Ironwood overlooking Mantle for his own greater good, something the girls went, 'We condemn wholeheartedly!' about. Toss in the fact that both Weiss and Yang just admitted that they didn't want to ask the Prince for help and you've got a recipe for them working to leave the Ever After in a better place than they arrived, rather than just playing by the harmful rules of Alyx's story in order to get what they want/need.

Yes, you can make that 'greater good' claim given that they're trying to get back to fight Salem (and I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't weigh that given my own understanding of Ironwood's actions), but then at the very least give us a conversation where the girls debate the merits of risking a later/nonexistent return to help this world vs. ignoring injustice to help theirs. As it stands, I'm continually underwhelmed - if not outright appalled - by how the girls are depicted. What have they done since Volume 5 to actually help people? The most we've gotten is them trying to clean up messes they'd already made. Toss in the fact that there's no sense of urgency for them to get home - they're just meandering along, taking it slow, dodging the question of what they'll do about Salem when they get there, having cute romance moments on the side - and I simply can't buy that they're ignoring helping others out of a greater good necessity.

'Huntresses are heroes who help people who can't help themselves!' Blake will declare next episode and I'm like, okay, agreed... but when was the last time you helped someone? Was it when you ignored the Prince's horrible domain? Sat drinking tea while Atlas was besieged by grimm? Started a fight until you drew a Leviathan to an unsuspecting city? You've gotta put your actions behind those words, Blake.

And yeah, I get it. This is a small moment. It, like the vast majority of this Volume so far, is not meant to 100% be taken seriously. There's implied humor in the way the guards dig their nails into the path and beg for the Prince to reconsider. But at the end of the day, the story has given us a group of girls who, for the most part, already hate this Prince, watch him 'kill' two subjects due to a subpar birthday present, have a teammate who wants to be better than the caricature in front of her, and then... they do nothing with this.

Hey, if Yang is going to be angry all the time, how about she be angry about this? Where's the fire they had back during the Mountain Glenn arc to fix the broken pieces of the world and help those who were most vulnerable? Where's the realization that this is a job and what they want - or even need - will always have to come second to the people they exist to protect?

Given some of the nice beats last episode, I was really hoping that I'd have more to praise in this one.

So Ruby watches this guy kick Penny's precious sword away and 'kill' two subjects. How does she react to that? By politely asking if they can cheer him up, of course. As said, I think Ruby is right that following in Alyx's footsteps is the best chance they've got of getting out of here (according to the information they currently have), but the writing really should have bypassed Yang and Weiss disagreeing if they wanted readers to ignore the moral implications of this. I mean, the Prince outright responds that "Beheading people does cheer me up" and Ruby's got this expression going as she suggests they play a game:

We once again see the blue butterfly as it travels down through a tall tower of horns, straight into the chamber where the Prince's game is held. Oh, and we saw it before when the guard is distracted by it flying by and forgets to wish the Prince a happy birthday.

The Prince asks what Ruby will demand of him if she manages to win his game. "There's always a catch," he says. Actually, that's not true. Later the Prince will say, "If you win I will help you with what you ask," but initially his question is, "What exactly do you desire from me in exchange for playing my game?" As someone who loves fairy tales and constantly hopes RWBY is going to be more smartly written than it actually is, I jumped on that with an, "Ah ha! Rookie move, Prince! It doesn't matter now if you cheat to win the game, your original offer was to gift the girls something simply for playing, regardless of who comes out on top." Of course, RT didn't realize they'd written that loophole, this isn't even a cool world where loopholes matter, so absolutely nothing comes of this.

Still playing at the polite little subject, Ruby curtsey's again and tries a compliment: "Your Majesty, you are as wise as you are..." and then she stumbles, unsure of how to praise someone who's such an asshole. Little comes to the rescue - sort of - by whispering in Ruby's ear. She blurts "small" before she can think better of it.

To everyone's shock it goes over well with the Prince. I'm unsure if this is meant to imply that Little actually knew what the Prince would like to hear, or if they just chose a descriptor they were familiar with and ran with it. The latter seems a lot more likely to me, given the ongoing joke that Little is far less useful than they continually claim they are and the fact that, by their own admission, they’re an incredibly young mouse who has never traveled past their own acre. How in the world would they know about royal customs?

Now in a better mood, the Prince agrees to take the girls to the tree if they win the game (not merely play with him). Ruby settles in and asks how they play, which sets off over-the-top laughter from the Prince and guards alike. I suppose this is just supposed to be off-putting or something? There’s no comment along the lines of, “You don’t know how to play [insert fantasy game here]? Everyone knows it! I play it with every subject who passes my way!” The Prince just starts explaining the rules, easy as you please. I can only chalk this moment up to the writers trying to get a, “They’re so weird and vaguely scary” reaction from the audience.

The actual rules are, frankly, unimportant. To the story, I mean. They have absolutely no bearing on who wins. Not just because the Prince is cheating from the get-go, but because the function of the game is to send all your pieces forward during the same turn and whichever piece wins their battle against the opposing side get to stay there. You could finish the game in two turns, tops--which is precisely what happens. Fool that I was, I had hoped that RT would put more thought into the game-battle that takes up the majority of the episode. You know, maybe hampering the girls’ combat abilities through a set of difficult rules they’re forced to follow, necessitating that Ruby step up as the team’s strategist for the first time in years and find a way to win through means other than brute force, even if the end result is still a technical loss due to cheating. I thought this might amount to something other than throwing 3/4ths of the team onto a battlefield with weak goons and letting them go to town, the trappings of rules and a game board and a puppet(tier) existing as more than just a distracting backdrop. Functionally, this is no different from the Prince angrily sending all his guards against Team RWBY, hoping to behead them for the crime of bringing him a green birthday present. We could have gotten this exact battle outside of the game, which makes the game itself superfluous. Which, you know, sucks when the girls are traversing a Wonderland-esque world where their ignorance should be their biggest weakness. But it turns out they’ve always been familiar with this fairy tale, Blake’s worry that they’re repeating Alxy’s mistakes is dismissed, and the girls don’t actually have to play the games they’re forced into. They can just punch things!

Am I glad that we actually got some combat in the combat show this week? Absolutely. However, this has been one of the problems with Ever After from the start: designing a world governed by fairy tale logic, knowledge of stories, nonsense rules, contradictions... and then dropping a group of protagonists there who, as Yang herself says, would prefer to just solve everything with a punch. Suddenly, a core expectation of the series - that the girls will fight stuff - undermines the expectations of this specific Volume, made worse by the post-Volume 3 message that the war they fight isn’t winnable by brute force, yet, six years in, that’s all the girls have tried. As I believe I mentioned elsewhere, I think there’s a simple solution here in divvying up those expectations: force the girls to solve Ever After problems with Ever After tools, let them fight the Jabberwalker and Neo, and let them finally start the conversation about what they can do with Salem other than fight her head on... but unfortunately, none of this has occurred. Blake will later shut down Ruby’s Salem thoughts before they can begin, there’s no adherence to what Ever After is asking of them, and the girls won’t encounter the Jabberwalker again for another two episodes.

So we’re left with... this. Yang, Blake, and Weiss getting shrunk down when, narratively, that’s entirely unnecessary and the journey to get them unshrunk will take a fifth of the Volume’s entire runtime. I know we’ve already acknowledged that this Volume is filler, but given how much important stuff actually resides within that filler - discussing what happened in Volume 8, figuring out Salem, helping Ruby recover, mourning Penny, finding Crescent Rose, finding Jaune, dealing with Neo, etc. - it seems like a waste to be taking these detours when they’re so thematically unsatisfactory. Obviously in a story it’s about the journey, not the destination... but if the journey is badly written, how about we at least stop wandering from the main path so often?

Alright, enough of all that. I will say that I’m was quite pleased when the Prince revealed his ability to shrink the girls, displaying some pretty formidable magic. My first thought during the beheading scene was why the guards were obeying the Prince when, to all appearances at the time, he was just a bratty child with no way of enforcing his authority. I was afraid that this was just a case of, “They’re loyal because they’re guards and that’s just the way things are!” or that RT really hadn’t given this any thought; why hundreds of men-like beings with weapons were obeying a vulnerable child when, clearly, that wasn’t working out so well for them. Here though we see that the Prince is not vulnerable, he’s quite powerful, and that really helps to sell the fear we see permeating his Kingdom.

Ruby is obviously concerned when her teammates are shrunk down to Little’s size, but honestly I can’t take her, “No one’s going to get hurt... right?” very seriously. Ruby is WAY past this kind of naive innocence. Girl, your friends are positioned alongside a bunch of beat-up warriors, facing a Prince who just beheaded two of his subjects. What do you think is going to happen here? More importantly, why are you worried? I’ve seen a couple of fans praise this moment because it highlights Ruby’s perspective post-Penny’s death: none of her friends are safe, anyone could die at any moment, etc. But Penny was facing off against a freaking Maiden, not a bunch of itty-bitty chess pieces with toothpick swords. (Here I point out their relative size because even if they’re now equal to WBY, Ruby is still large and could just flatten them all with one good stomp.) The point is that I’m continually unconvinced by this “So horror, much danger” characterization of the Ever After when we’ve spent the last three Volumes emphasizing how powerful, brilliant, strategic, and all-around perfect the girls supposedly are. We’re really supposed to believe that these literal pawns are worrisome to Ruby after they’ve faced down the likes of the Hound, the Ace Ops, Ironwood, Neo, Cinder, and their like? Imagine if Ruby saw a couple of Beowulfs 2/3rds of her team was about to fight, which to her were the size of mice, and she was all, “You won’t get hurt, right?” Ruby, those are literal MONSTERS out to EAT them, but that doesn’t matter because you’ve been taking out this kind of monster fodder since you were TWELVE. The show continually has it backwards, making the characters smug against legitimately powerful enemies and biting their nails over stuff they could squash in their sleep.

Which, you know, is precisely what happens. The girls have absolutely no difficulty taking out the chess pieces, further undermining Ruby’s worry.

Before that though she asks - very politely - for one of the pawns to move ahead a space, facing down the bigger, badder, meaner looking piece across from him. At first it looks like they’re pretty well-matched, but with a pointed look from the Prince, Ruby’s piece pretends to succumb to his wounds, collapsing until a magical stretcher appears to carry him away. He kicks back with a yawn, happy to be off the battlefield and, presumably, off His Majesty’s shit list.

Three other pieces meet the same end until Ruby gets to Weiss.

Ruby: “Weiss, do you think you could take that space?”

Weiss: “Have some faith!”

Again, I feel like the Volume is going for a total decimation of Ruby’s confidence, to the point where she’s entirely disengaged from reality (AKA, obviously Weiss can take out these talent-less pieces). Ruby can no longer summon up enough hope to fill a jar, she’s oh so worried that her elite team will fall to these grunts... but she’s also constantly telling people that yeah, they can handle this, and of course they’ll get back, and look now she’s acting like she always does with smiles and jokes - a part of the endless gags. There’s also no relief when Weiss does win her fight. I think Ruby’s smile is super cute there

but it doesn’t piggyback off of that worry at all. There’s no sigh and maybe a comment whispered to bring herself back to reality, “Come on, Ruby, of course Weiss was gonna win” - something to alert the viewer that Ruby is actually struggling with this kind of irrational anxiety and attempting to fight against it. As it stands, we keep seeing Ruby’s depression introduced and then it slips away again, unacknowledged until it randomly pops back up. “Have some faith!” Weiss says, which is clearly a callback to Ruby’s lack of it last episode, but nothing that happens either confirms or denies Ruby’s struggle. That shot of her smiling, while adorable, could have been taken from any moment where Weiss is being a badass. It’s entirely disconnected from the extreme of, “Omg can a full-fledged Huntress take out a toy in a fight what if another one of my teammates DIE?” Ruby has two completely separate personalities going this Volume and they don’t mesh at all.

The pawns are also super impressed with Weiss’ victory, same with Yang’s, and that feels... wrong to me? I mean, I’ve got nothing against a team that’s been beaten for who knows how long re-discovering faith (like Ruby) and rising to the occasion. (C'mon. I’m a Ted Lasso fan. I eat that shit up.) However, that’s not the conflict here. The conflict the white pieces are facing is not that they think they can’t win, it’s that they’re being told they can’t win. By the Prince. That was the entire point of the Look™ the white piece bowed to: Either you pretend to fall and deliberately lose this game, or I’ll ensure you suffer something so much worse.

Why then would the pieces suddenly rise to the occasion and try to help Team RWBY win? What have the girls done that convinces them to go against the Prince, risking who knows what - beheading, probably - in the process? Now, if I were writing Volume 9 I’d have had the girls trying and failing to save the guards, or at least arguing forcefully about whether they can risk losing a route to the tree in order to help others. Then, during the game, let Ruby realize not only that her pieces are deliberately losing, but that they’re doing so out of fear. Weiss and Yang’s success can be used as a rallying cry and a promise of safety. You help us win this game, securing our necessary prize, and we’ll use our incredible power to protect you from the Prince. The game dissolves into an actual battle, Team RWBY wins, the Cat arrives with an escape route, Ruby gathers up all the pieces using her semblance, and she sets them free once they escape the castle. Maybe they return at the end of the Volume to help in some final battle.

The point of this is not to do an actual re-write in 30 seconds, but rather to acknowledge that there’s no development here. We know the pieces’ initial motivation, but not what makes them change their minds. Really, this micro plot is representative of the entire show, with characters just suddenly doing things that make the audience go, “Wait, what? Where did that come from?”

“Hey, hey, what about us?” The white chess pieces cry, suddenly eager to try and beat the Prince. “What do you want us to do?” This question shouldn’t even be on the table because you all are clearly terrified of what will happen if you fight for real and Team RWBY has done nothing to persuade you to their side. Indeed, once it’s revealed that the girls are human the red and white pieces start attacking them, the entire board eager to defend their Prince. This feels like a round robin Volume where every episode - every scene - has different characterizations.

As said though, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all take out their pieces easy-peasy and that produces some super cute interactions between the girls. My fluff-obsessed ass if kicking my feet and twirling my hair at those screenshots. At the time of this writing, I’m a couple episodes behind in Recaps (RIP I tried), which means that I’ve already experienced the less than stellar support Ruby receives in "The Parfait Predicament.” So I was pleased to return here and see strong moments of companionship - and romance. Yang works the crowd while Blake politely claps for her. In return, Yang cheers exuberantly while Blake blushes beet red. Putting aside that this is our bumblebee moment for the episode, I legitimately love that they’re supporting each other in this way, even during - perhaps especially during - such a comparatively easy fight. Combined with Weiss’ bow, it feels like they’re actually friends in this moment, playfully showing off for one another and providing unconditional support. This feels like old school RWBY, back when Ruby would cheer for Weiss during class, or Yang would bask in the Vacuo crowd. It was nice to see this dynamic again.

The Prince gets more and more frustrated as his pieces fall while simultaneously becoming suspicious of Ruby. Wanting to get to the tree is weird enough - especially to creatures who, as far as we’ve seen, never leave the safety of their own acres. Little who does not yet possess a purpose is the exception - so when Ruby reveals that they know someone who also used the tree to leave this world, the Prince really starts to lose it. He leaves the game table and... well...

Opinions about his character aside, are non-RWDE folks starting to see why we labeled Volume 8 Ironwood a “cartoon villain”? No, he doesn’t strike such an overblown pose like the Prince, but that kind of spotlight is (usually) used to showcase a drama worthy of ridicule - as we’re seeing here. RT obviously recognizes this, so the fact that Ironwood is given a similar spotlight to reveal his totally rational plan of bombing civilians heavily implies that the writers wanted him to look ridiculous; exaggerated to the point of dismissive humor. By the end of Volume 8 Ironwood was not a complex, fallen hero whose journey showcases RT’s writing chops, he was very close to another Prince: nonsensical, over-the-top, unworthy of respect not because of his actions, but because the environment is going out of its way to say, “Look how ridiculous this guy is.”

So in the grand scheme of RWBY the spotlight is a #choice. Within just this scene it’s fine, simply another way to show us how spoiled the Prince is and, potentially, that this world doesn’t follow the rules of Remnant (though it is harder to argue that the spotlight is real-real in a Volume making use of markers like sweatdrops, angry speech bubbles, etc.) The Prince finally asks the right question: “What type of creatures did you say you are again?”

Now, I get why some fans are upset with Ruby differentiating among humans, mice, and faunus. The line leaves a sour taste in my mouth too, if only because it severely undermines the allegory Blake represents in a Volume where she will (so far) compare herself to a literal cat three times. The point of giving the faunus animal traits and having others discriminate against them on the basis of that is to mirror the Civil Rights movement and, to a lesser extent, other minorities with visible differences. They’re all “human” in the sense of being bipedal primates with intelligence - emotional and logical - equal to others around them... they just happen to have an extra set of ears, or a tail, or the ability to change colors. It’s obvious why RT meant to equate that with the real life social issue of, “They’re human, they just happen to have dark skin,” or were born without a leg (disability), or can curl their tongue (a biological “talent” that not everyone shares). The point is that the faunus have been going, “We are your equals! We’re not a different, lesser species just because we have minor, biological and cultural differences!” the same way social justice movements have said the same about skin color. There’s such a variety within the definition of “humanity” as to make separate categories not just horrifically dangerous, but ultimately meaningless too.

However... RT doesn’t know how to write a racial allegory, which means that the faunus have been treated as a separate species from the get-go, in direct opposition to what their story is meant to represent. They’ve always been separated verbally like Ruby is doing now - “Humans and faunus” - and if you’ve engaged with RWBY’s supplemental content at all you’ll know that the faunus have a separate origin story, though one that does include humanity as a common ancestor.

It’s a mess of contradictions, but that means that Ruby canonically does have the wiggle room to make such statements. According to the rules of her world - generously helped along by being sci-fi fantasy - she is not in the wrong to describe Blake as a separate “creature” from the rest of her team... but that doesn’t erase the discomfort for the viewer as we go, ‘Wait? What happened to Blake being treated as an equal, not a literal animal and all that represents within her allegory?’

Of course, all this culminates in Ruby ignorantly admitting that the rest of them are human. I LOVE the first shot of the Cat’s eyes. They’re just like, ‘Oh, girl... you didn’t smh.’

Legit, there are so many fantastic shots this episode. The animators are working so hard, god bless.

As I mentioned earlier though, it’s weird to me that this moment is treated as a huge revelation for the Prince, especially since his entire guard seems to realize that they’re human from the get-go. Given what we learn later about Ascension, it makes sense that the Prince wouldn’t remember what humans look like, but none of his super loyal subjects were going to bring him up to date? Especially after what happened when Alyx visited?

So much of RWBY just feels unnecessarily contrived. Characters don’t react to the information they have, or work under their motivations, or remain consistent in their personalities. Things just #happen to move the plot along, regardless of how that sits within the story as a whole. At least it's all pretty this season.

But that’s hardly news to anyone reading this. Regardless, the revelation shocks the Prince and in his fury his face literally cracks down the middle. Frankly, I would have liked if this moment heralded a turn in the Prince’s attitude, moving from bratty and mostly harmless to terrifyingly cold... but that’s just me. I like characters that appear embarrassingly incompetent on the surface, only to reveal how dangerous they truly are when push comes to shove.

Weiss remembers that she can use her glyphs to steady herself - yay! - and a jazz-y soundtrack starts up that I really dig. All in all, I think this fight is solid. Nothing to write home about, but not a failure by any means, either. Though I fully expect the combat to get backloaded to the end of the Volume, it is notable that this is our only true battle so far. There’s a brief skirmish against the Jabberwalker in “The Parfait Predicament,” but to my mind it’s so short and easily won as to not really “count” - not in a combat-focused show, anyway. So this is the highlight battle of the first half of this Volume and though, as said, it’s by no means bad... it’s not exactly carrying the weight of those expectations either.

First, I stand by what I said earlier that it’s downright weird how Team RWBY treats these toys as a legitimate threat, especially after they just demonstrated how easily they are to beat. And again, Ruby could say screw the rules and help out by flattening them with her comparatively giant size. Blake gets thrown into the side of the game board and Ruby acts like she’s been stabbed--“You’re going to hurt them!” Ruby... honey... they have aura. You literally slammed your friends against a wall for FUNSIES during a food fight. The show (and the fandom) has always been weirdly unclear about which attacks are emotionally significant and which are not. These little nobodies shoving Blake is cause for great concern, but everyone should shrug off Qrow punching Oscar because duh, any huntsmen can take a hit. (Never mind that he wasn’t a huntsmen.) Yang losing her arm is a multi-Volume tragedy, but Weiss nearly dying from a stab wound isn’t worth a second mention. I feel like every scene I’m trying to find my bearings again - is this supposed to be a moment when the girls are legitimately scared? Confidently smug in their skills? Why is there not an obvious difference between when we get one over the other?

I’m not buying into the stakes here, is my point, which means that Ruby’s moment of doubt really fails to land. Yeah, I get that she lacks hope right now and is likely working under a very warped perception of their strength post-Fall of Atlas, but why not have her briefly crumble against something that truly tests her, either in skills or via trauma: the Prince’s magic, the Jabberwalker, Neo? A mere three episodes into the Volume, against a collection of low level grunts, does not feel like the time to put Ruby in this state:

Plus, it doesn’t last. Volume 9 continually proves to be very good at introducing Ruby’s hopelessness, but not doing anything with it. What’s the point if, literal seconds after she’s given up, she rediscovers her faith - WITHOUT EXTERNAL HELP! - and yells that they’re going to “Kick their wooden butts!!” Ruby doesn’t lack the hope to fill a jar, her hope supply is just fluctuating radically, depending on when the show is sick of her being a downer. This doesn’t feel like Ruby on an arc, it feels like Ruby continually edging into one and them immediately getting yanked backwards.

That aside, there are definitely some high points to the fight. It has a good flow to it, especially in the second half. It makes complete sense that the whole board would turn against the girls once they learn that they’re human, red teaming up with white, and I suppose that helps sell the danger a little more. I enjoyed how happy Yang was at the start, using Blake’s ribbon to plough through the crowd like one of the old-school team fights, even if she’s unexpectedly angry just a second later.

I’ve come across a lot of criticism of Weiss’ wing shot and... yeah, I can see where that’s coming from. It’s in pretty bad taste to keep giving the racist billionaire’s daughter angel imagery, especially during a Volume when she’s supposedly grappling with the guilt of destroying a Kingdom. RWBY has never been any good at picking up on the implications of its “cool” style. That being said, it is an awesome shot and I love the Yang was able to make use of the Knight’s sword. I mean, it would have been even cooler if we had scenes devoted to the girls’ training/character development and they’d discovered that this was even possible before enacting it with full confidence during a fight... but again, still cool. It’s another nice not provided you don’t think about it too much.

Also, I had to laugh at that epic image transitioning to Ruby, showing us just how tiny Yang actually is...

Yeah, that undermines the awesomeness a bit lol.

We’re given the shot from our trailer as the Prince looses his temper and does what I wanted Ruby to do the moment she was supposedly frantic over the safety of her team: upset the game board. Blake, Weiss, and Yang are thrown across the room and Ruby activates her semblance, catching them right before they go over the ledge.

...

.......

OH, SO YOU CAN INSTANTLY KICK-START THAT ABILITY AND SNAG SOMEONE MOMENTS BEFORE THEY PLUNGE TO THEIR DEATH. FUNNY, THAT.

Okay, obviously there are differences between Yang’s fall and this one, including that a) Little helps Ruby out and b) on the bridge Ruby would have been trying to snag a fully grown woman. But I’m not here to debate the details. I’m not here to quibble over whether Ruby would have been able to save Yang. I only care that she (and the others) didn’t try. The fandom has bent over backwards to explain that moment, how all these fighters with various forms of flight and well-honed instincts just stood there, leaving only Blake to make the attempt. Fans are so desperate to praise RWBY that they’re consistently overlooking the simple explanation of bad writing: RT made the characters stupid so that Yang could “die” and there could be a bees moment as a result. That’s it. Now that there’s nothing attached to the outcome, Ruby is free to remember that she has super-speed and grabs her friends like she always should have.

Man, what a detail to include just a few episodes later...

The Curious Cat finally reveals themselves, distracting the Prince with some ambiguously authentic sympathy. It’s just so sad that he’s failing to do “the one thing you were put on this acre to do.” AKA, win games. They warn the Prince that beheading Team RWBY would be a far more permanent consequence than taking the heads of his soldiers - implying that the guards are “fine” but, again, Team RWBY couldn’t have known that when they were being “killed” - and they slip a little bit of themselves into the Prince’s chest, helping him to calm down.

The Prince dissolves into crying instead of screaming and... weeps jeweled tears? I don’t understand how that fits his aesthetic - what does that have to do with being a wooden toy? - but far more importantly, Yukina did it better:

Ruby takes the Cat’s advice and high-tails it out of there, getting chased by the guards all the while. The castle is a bit labyrinth-like, so she has no choice but to trust the Cat’s directions - which turn out to be sound. That’s potentially an important thing to keep in mind as the Volume continues and we learn more about the Cat’s personality and motivations.

“I don’t know how that went so wrong,” Ruby says when they finally have a moment to breathe. Really? You met a temper-tanruming toy that beheaded his guards and threw Penny’s sword away without a second thought, but you’re surprised that he wasn’t eager to help you after you beat him at this own game? I get that they’re going for a ‘Ruby is vulnerable and tentative in her depression’ vibe, but these moments read so strangely after her hubris of Volumes 6-8, to say nothing of her experience in the wider, morally gray world. Ruby doesn’t trust established allies, but is surprised when an asshole who owes her nothing doesn’t come through? Consistency, consistency, my kingdom for some consistency.

I do like that Ruby thanks the Cat for their assistance though. This episode is the most polite we’ve seen Ruby in years, even if part of it is a manipulation tactic to get on the Prince’s good side, and honestly I’m digging it. This feels like a kindhearted huntress who understands the importance of unifying to succeed. Not, you know, the Ruby we saw with Cordovin, Qrow, Ozpin, Ironwood, and the Ace Ops.

As a minor point, I’d like to note that throughout this whole escape Little has been completely quiet about the Cat’s appearance. They were awake to help catch the girls and the Cat showed up just seconds later. They then flee through the castle and have a conversation in the hallways, yet not once does Little react to a Cat getting up in their face.

This is notable only because at the very end of the episode we’re going to get another, “Cat? What cat??” joke, because heaven forbid we let Ruby sit with their failure for a moment without interrupting it with a bit of humor that doesn’t even track.

Finally outside, the girls realize that getting a Prince instead of a King and his lack of help means that they’re not really following Alyx’s story. Weiss complains that they’re in the “stupid sequel” instead. Despite this revelation, the next thing Blake notes is that Alyx met the Curious Cat... so they should get their help!

So which is it? Are you following the story or not? I’ve got nothing against the girls still heading for the tree because that’s the only lead they’ve got, but we just established that an assumed ally is actually quite dangerous, so why would the Cat be any different? Again, not saying they shouldn't ask for their help given that the only other option is wandering aimlessly towards the tree (and that's if the world let's them go any farther), but maybe at least acknowledge the problem here?

I'd chalk it up to a "Wonderland-esque worlds are inherently contradictory" vibe if I actually thought RT was deliberately going for that.

We end this episode with the return of the Jabberwalker. It runs across an ~evil~ looking acre--kinda similar to Salem's continent, actually. Will we establish a historical tether between Remnant and Ever After?--and it leaves a trail of blood on a group of razor-sharp leaves, which is a cool detail. It comes across Neo, presumably having just arrived, cycling through various illusions in her fury. As the Jabberwalker closes in Neo's semblance...

*Sigh*

It evolves.

Look, outside of RWBY's larger context having Neo power up post-Fall of Atlas is a good choice. She's certainly at her lowest here, not just lost in a new world, but having just been betrayed by Cinder (again). Plus, it raises the stakes for when our heroes next meet her. No, my issue is that RWBY's semblance upgrades as a whole are fairly random and we've long lost the ability to distinguish a true evolution from incremental change due to growth. Harriet simply announced in Volume 7 that Ruby's semblance has hidden depths, but is splitting into three red blurs the upgrade? Is Nora handling that level of charge meant to be indicative of a change, or did she simply push herself to an already known limit? On the surface it seems obvious that an evolution is when the actual function of the semblance changes - Ren can now mask emotions and track them - but we've still got wrinkles like Weiss' semblance where, apparently, learning to summon instead of just producing glyphs isn't a distinct, evolved ability, it's just the standard end-goal. (And don't get me started on how she remains the only one with an inherited semblance, but no one seems interested in that.) Are we supposed to understand that Qrow's semblance changed on the airship when the bomb didn't drop? How do we measure Blake's abilities when she's stopped using them? I can't help but continually compare RWBY to other shows with power ups, ones where the characters have to work hard to unlock them, train anew to control them, deal with significant downsides that come with this power, or go through horrific emotional arcs in order to unlock them. RWBY- with the small exception of Neo for the last one- has none of this. Evolution simply happens, unprompted, the character can immediately use this new skill perfectly, and unfortunately it's rarely a strong reflection of their growth.

Ren can magically track his friend smack dab in the arc where he's supposedly being the worst friend ever? Right.

So Neo's semblance evolves, make of that what you will. Rather than simply changing herself or something she's touched with illusions, she can now create a large number of copies with (as we'll see later) their own morphing abilities. Wow, wow, wow, that's super op!!! I can't wait to see Neo fall to some generic Team RWBY attack.

I'm kidding. Actually I'm not, but I do hope I'm wrong 🤦‍♀️

For now though there's only the Jabberwalker in her way. Neo's clones close in as the Jabberwalker screams "No!" in true fear. Kudos to the voice acting there. This creature remains one of the few things I'm legitimately interested in this Volume.

And thus ends episode three! In lieu of flowers, please send prayers that I can eventually catch up on this project :3

#rwde #rwby #RWBY Recaps #mymetas

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