#in which villains care and it's debatable whether they deserve to be happy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sylverstorms · 2 years

Text

Miranda x Abigail ----The Song of the Crow Ch. 12

[Miranda]

Wesker. The name echoes on repeat in the back of her head since the moment she heard it.

And she should have known. The signs were all there, the dots right in front of her eyes if she ever took a moment to connect them. But she didn't.

So the shock is all hers to deal with, now.

“You never told me.” she says once they are at the privacy of her stronghold, her tone harsh, a spear, an accusation.

“I didn't hide it from you, either.” Abigail huffs, as though this conversation is the last thing she wants to be involved in, right now.

“I thought your full name was Abigail Ayers?” Miranda narrows her eyes, the look not as effective against the brunette as it is on the rest of the world.

“It is.”

“Do not mess with me.”

Abigail blatantly ignores the warning. “Poetic justice, isn’t it? To find out the person closest to you isn’t exactly who you thought them to be for years.”

Well, insistent on adding gasoline to the fire, isn’t she. Miranda takes a deep, calming breath before she erupts and brings the whole structure down on their heads with a thought. For a few precious seconds, there is soothing silence.

“Look.” Abigail sighs again. Her shoulders lose some of their tension. “I know how highly you value control, but I don’t know what you expect me to have said. Wesker or Ayers, it doesn’t really change anything.” she says.

There is a sliver of truth to her words, that it shouldn’t change anything. But it does –it does— and it’s not as simple as she makes it seem. Because Miranda and Oswell Spencer used to be close, once, a lifetime ago. He had been a bright man with a mind sharp enough to challenge her own, he was her protege and partner and perhaps even a friend, despite their less-than-ideal parting.

There is not much in the world that can remotely affect Miranda anymore, a fact she takes pride in. However... even for a superhuman immortal like herself, there's no easy way around the thought that she’s intimate with her former friend's daughter.

“And besides…” Abigail adds quietly. “If you cared to know, you would have.”

Loathe as Miranda is to admit it… she’s right.

If she looked a little closer, she would have noticed certain incriminating details. The way Abigail came to the village that few in the outside world should know about, her thirst for revenge against the Redfields, the name Alex on top of it all. If she cared to ask, even.

And if she hadn’t been so self-absorbed in general, maybe…

“Is that why?” Miranda asks after a while. “Why you disliked me so much when you came here?” Thinking back, that was more than just Abigail thinking ill of her ways. It was personal.

“I guess it’s part of the reason.” comes the honest reply.

The brunette lets her weight gently fall against the arm of the sofa behind her. The distance between them is barely a few meters, but it feels longer than that. Miranda’s jaw works as she debates asking everything that’s on her mind. On one hand, the questions hint at something she doesn’t want to acknowledge herself, about Abigail and her. On the other…

To hell with it. Let’s see what you really think about me.

“Do you think I’m responsible for what your step-father did? For the viruses he developed?”

Abigail looks up, meeting her eyes. “Aren’t you?” A little shrug. “He used to talk about you all the time, you know? His ‘guiding light’. His ‘mentor’. Umbrella was built as a tribute to you. All his ideas about ‘transcending human limitations’, who else did he get them from?”

Back to the age-old question then; is the one who makes the bomb as much to blame as the one who uses it to kill?

Oswell absorbed all the information he needed and one day ran away with their research to pursue his dreams. Granted, she did not care enough to stop his use of it…

“Do I blame you for the suffering of thousands at his madness, though? No.” Abigail shakes her head. “At first I may have wanted to, but. He was a maniac and a monster all on his own, with or without your aid.”

Miranda does not miss the way her fingers dig into her biceps as she crosses them.

“Sounds strange, then, that you would work for someone so very similar to him.” So much worse. Miranda states, omitting the part where they do more than simply work together.

She harbors no illusions about what she has made herself, in order to bring her daughter back. In any and all ways, the nightmare seeped in sin and blood that she is –past the platinum hair and stark blue eyes that paint a very misleading picture— renders Spencer a pleasant dream in comparison.

Indeed, Miranda knows well of her thoroughly corrupt nature… yet at the same time, part of her recoils at the thought Abigail’s eyes have, all along, seen that same truth upon peering at her.

The seconds it takes the brunette to reply feel too long.

“To me, you are nothing like Spencer.” Abigail says it so simply. “He did not care about a single thing other than himself. He did not have the capacity to love anything.”

Several arguments to that can be made about herself, Miranda muses, but she doesn’t care for them, only what Abigail thinks.

“You, on the other hand… the love you have for your daughter tramples everything. All that money and power and influence, eternity itself, you wouldn’t think twice about giving it all up for one minute of having Eva with you again.” Abigail states. “It is… important, especially for someone like me, seeing that kind of love.”

“…someone like you?”

“Yes. A Wesker child. Knowing exactly what I was worth to my own mother;” Abigail pauses. “Five million dollars.”

Miranda is stunned into silence and into inaction.

Miranda is surprised at how it stings to know that she's been through so much, only to end up with her, seeped in lies and plots, used for power and pleasure. It cuts like a damn blade, that she didn’t learn of this sooner due to her being much too busy—

It’s one of the scarce times that she’s completely lost on what to say because nothing seems adequate for this.

Sold, experimented on and running straight into war to escape the abuse, only to end up a fugitive in her village… Staring at the wreckage that has been Abigail's life cracks something in her, something she doesn’t have a name for, didn't know she even had.

Mistreating her.

“Bottom line is, new information or not, don’t doubt my loyalty now.” Abigail speaks. “I stand with you, until the end, whatever end that may be for either of us. And if everyone else should turn against you, I will shield you from them, as promised.”

Those are the lastwords Miranda should be hearing from her.

“I… want to see you happy.” is added afterwards, in a quiet little confession.

There is the sensation of something crumbling in Miranda’s chest, akin to a dam breaking. Pressure builds in her chest and behind her closed eyelids—

She has flashed forward and pulled her girl into a tight hug –tight enough that nothing in the world could wrench her away if it was hell-bent on it— before the first trail makes its way down her cheek. The sensation is off, unsettling, a burn against the coolness of her cheek that she ponders on, until she realizes…

Tears…?

It is too human a reaction; certainly not one befitting of her status, yet it is also strangely cleansing, in a way. It’s fine as long as Abigail cannot see it, cannot hear it in her voice when she whispers by her ear;

“I have put you through too much, my darling.”

Long, clawed fingers lovingly comb through silken strands of brown hair, while her other hand remains flat on Abigail’s back, keeping her pressed against her. The woman gradually relaxes in her hold, until her head is completely nestled in the crook of Miranda’s neck.

“I promise you, should we both survive the ceremony, all of that will change. Eva, you and I will travel the world, enjoying the finest of things, as you both deserve. I will never allow anything to hurt either of you again.”

Eva will love Abigail, Miranda knows that she will. Noble, protective and dependent as she is, there is nobody else she would want co-raising her daughter. Closing her eyes, that is all she sees, the three of them together in a beautiful place –a beach house, perhaps— happy and unburdened by the past.

She is so close to the vision, she can almost taste it.

So very close…

Just one final step is left. One measly, tiny step and the whole world will be theirs.

The ceremony.

All they have to do is get through the ceremony.

#mother miranda x oc #resident evil village #resident evil 8 #fanfiction #creative writing #mother miranda x abigail #lady dimitrescu #karl heisenberg #donna beneviento #and that one fishdude #in which villains care and it's debatable whether they deserve to be happy #also...'my darling'

80 notes · View notes

blondehairstripe · 3 years

Photo

So I think that as of S3, Varian is crushing hard on Rapunzel. And in this case, it goes deeper than mere infatuation, given the nature of their relationship and everything that’s transpired between them within the series.

Read on for in-series analysis with screencaps and some bonus post-series fanon speculation!

IN-SERIES ANALYSIS

Before he went villain, I’d say that Varian’s feelings toward Rapunzel were more hero-worship, so he likely thought she was pretty, but undoubtedly out of his league and already taken to boot. No signs of crushing yet—he instead becomes infatuated with the only unattached person who came to visit him: Cassandra.

In my humble opinion, Varian didn’t have a romantic attraction to Rapunzel until it hit him like a bolt of lightning when she told him “It’s your mess, but it’s my kingdom” in Rapunzel’s Return.

Though he was oddly flirty with her while she was in that dungeon cell...

There is also the distinct possibility that the cell was where the first stirrings of a crush began to form during their reconnection. The basis for this theory comes from the absolutely adoring look he gave her when she said “we need him” and how he looked pretty well smitten as she pulled him along.

By the end of the episode Rapunzel frees Quirin, and hoo boy, is that the final nail in Varian’s coffin of feelings. She’d forgiven him his atrocities, kept her word, freed his father—honestly, it’d be weirder if he didn’t fall for her if you ask me.

Then Be Very Afraid rolls along, and we learn that Varian considers Rapunzel “wondrous and magical,” something Rapunzel notes rather slyly and Pascal seems to think is sweet. The look on Varian’s face when she takes his hand and pulls him along again says it all. Boi is smitten.

Additionally...just look at this dork when Rapunzel catches him being a nerd about metals and drinking hot cocoa in Cassandra’s Revenge. This is the reaction of a teenager who just got caught doing something embarrassing by his crush. He zeroes in on Rapunzel specifically and doesn’t seem to care that any of the others caught him.

But through all of these new feelings for Rapunzel, Varian loves Eugene too (90% platonically in this case), so my take is that he’s resolved to not interfere in their relationship. And after everything that’s happened, he likely feels that Eugene is a better match for her and that they truly deserve each other. Though after his stint as a villain where Varian completely lost his respect for the ruling class, the whole “she’s a princess I’m a peasant” thing would likely not be a factor for him anymore. Also, he’s clearly never given a crap about age gaps, and the 4 year gap between him and Rapunzel is even smaller than his canonical S1 crush on Cassandra with an 8 year gap.

Now that we’ve covered the analysis of canonical events, we can delve into pure fanon speculation territory.

POST SERIES SPECULATION

While Varian has indeed resolved to not do a single stupid thing to mess up Rapunzel and Eugene’s relationship, he can’t keep himself from wanting to be close to Rapunzel and craving her affection. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) Rapunzel is a very affectionate person, so she’ll hug Varian, hold his hand, even cuddle him because he’s her precious friend. Also, she’s a pro at giving him the verbal validation that seems to fuel him (aka his love language: words of affirmation).

This results in Varian coming up with excuses and ways to stay close to Rapunzel, and at times when he ends up being sandwich-snuggled between Eugene and Rapunzel (because let’s face it, we’ve seen that Eugene is huggy) he sometimes catches himself trying to pretend Eugene isn’t there, which he instantly feels super guilty about.

Side note: Ruddiger is completely aware of how he feels because Varian is an open book when he’s alone with his little raccoon buddy, and the devious little critter sometimes manipulates situations to try to get Varian alone with Rapunzel or to set them up for what he believes is a romantic encounter (what do you mean being trapped inside a dumpster together isn’t romantic? Intimate dark setting, and all the garbage you can eat!). These setups only work about half the time, and so while Varian appreciates the sentiment, he’d prefer Ruddiger to stay out of it because the failures tend to end with Varian being horribly embarrassed.

And if Rapunzel ever gives him what she views as chaste kisses on the cheek or forehead, Varian’s over the freaking moon and always blushes so hard he almost passes out. Rapunzel finds it cute while Eugene thinks it’s the funniest thing ever and teases Varian he’s gonna have to get over that habit if he ever wants a girlfriend/boyfriend of his own. Whether he’s aware of Varian’s crush or not is up for debate, but he for sure has no idea how deep it runs and thus considers it harmless if he’s aware of it.

Varian probably also frequently gives Rapunzel gifts in order to get her attention and favor in the form of inventions/discoveries he thinks she’ll like. He might even bake her things since we’ve seen he has a knack for it. His favorite thing is if he can get Rapunzel to come work on a project with him, giving him the one-on-one time he craves while doing something he loves.

Also, I think that if anyone were to insult Rapunzel in Varian’s presence, they might find their shoes sticky bombed to the floor. Looking at you, Uncle Monty. Varian might become the second person in Corona to not like him.

Of course, he’s not so obsessed with Rapunzel that he has no life outside of her, since he very much enjoys one-on-one time with both his dad and Eugene (Lance is kind of a 50/50 shot for him, and the girls are like little sisters to him). And of course he spends most of his time in his lab doing alchemy. But he lights up every time Rapunzel enters the room and gravitates towards her, and would do pretty much anything for her.

And for a while, Varian convinces himself that this is fine, and that he doesn’t need Rapunzel to love him back the same way he loves her. Though he feels small flares of jealousy whenever she and Eugene kiss or indulge in other romantic gestures that Varian would never hope or dare to try, but he stomps the jealousy down for the greater good of everyone involved.

The wedding would be super bittersweet for him, since he’d be so happy that his friends have found happiness together, even while knowing that Rapunzel is unquestionably out of his reach now. But that doesn't stop him from continuing to love her. His dad says he’ll get over her one day (his only human confidant, the dude is legendary at keeping secrets), but Varian isn’t so sure.

And from this point, the fanon possibilities are pretty much endless, some of them running the gambit from Varian continuing to respectfully pine for Rapunzel in secret, to him getting over her and finding his own happiness with someone else, to him gradually descending into madness and going just a touch yandere. Depends on what flavor of Varian you’re in the mood for: pining Varian, happy Varian, or villainous Varian. And of course, you can get real fancy and combine different Varian flavors to make something unique!

@varipunzel

#Varipunzel Appreciation Week #varipunzel #varian #rapunzel #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tts #rta #tangled #analysis

82 notes · View notes

limeadelizard · 3 years

Text

Plec putting Bonnie with Enzo is a funny case because it’s exactly what she said she didn’t want for Bonnie while also being exactly what she wanted for Bonnie.

If people were asking for BE back in season five or six, I’m confident that he would be another murderous vampire that Bonnie would have too much integrity to get with. At first, he had more of a relationship with Caroline. But she was wrapped up in another ship Plec cared more about, and as the show went on it became clear the writers were struggling with his storyline.

By all logic, Bonnie should have no reason to be interested in Enzo. He had hurt her and her friends, and now he’s siding with the people Bonnie wanted to protect herself from and pining after the woman she holds responsible for never being able to see Elena again. On top of that, Bonnie had just came out of a traumatic arc with another antagonist that lead to her wanting to put herself first. You would think he’d be the last guy she’d give a damn about.

But as loyal and good and moral as she may be, Bonnie’s true purpose in the show is to be the helper, to fix other people’s problems. And Enzo needed help.

Enzo wasn’t worse than other antagonists on the show and had moments of both evil and sympathy. He also had little backstory and relevance, which made him easy to basically rewrite after his epic make Stefan miserable plot failed, and our resident plot device just happened to be in need of a love interest after the departure of Jeremy and the rise of Bamon and Bonkai shippers. Given all this, it’s not hard to see why a pairing between these two characters would be convenient despite making little sense.

And BE could’ve been written decently, even if it was conceived to pair the spares. Enzo didn’t care about the MF gang, which could’ve been an interesting aspect to explore. Hell, Bonnie’s mistreatment by her friends is basically a key component in almost every Bonnie x villain ship story. But pairing her with him didn’t free her from them in the long run. It only kept her isolated, because Enzo was also isolated. Despite telling her she deserved better, he wasn’t able to help Bonnie truly grow as a character. Being with him didn’t give Bonnie a career, any hobbies (interestingly enough, we see her participate in his hobby but not the other way around), any more friends or connections, and she didn’t even have any magic (interestingly enough again, thanks to him). She still got stuck with the same “I’m dying but it’s okay I’m just happy to be with my bf” story.

Bonnie and Enzo aren’t the first enemies-to-lovers, redemptive romance on the show. However, compared to ships like DE and KC and even SE, there is a darkness, for lack of a better word, that I don’t see with BE. Now whether those ships were handled well or are really dark at all is debatable, but that side is there. Fans had long been waiting to see Bonnie date a vampire, and Enzo is a vampire. But despite the fact that witches and vampires are supposed to be enemies, the only times his vampirism is brought up is when she turns into the huntress and wants to kill vampires, which is something she has no control over, and when he suggests she turn so they can be together forever. In both cases it’s portrayed as something not significant, just like any other normal difference any couple would have to work out. In other ships, the male character’s wickedness does strain his relationship with his love interest, who he’s allowed to obsess over while still being murderous. But in Enzo’s case he’s just portrayed as a lonely misguided woobie who needs to be loved, and when he gets that from Bonnie his character development ends.

Then there’s the development of the relationship. Not only is Enzo in love with another woman first, but the writers have Bonnie giving him advice and telling him he deserves better and trying to understand him. They have had no substantial relationship, so she doesn’t even really know him much less have a reason to care, but she does it anyway. She’s the one who has to reach out first, and only after he is left with no one else and realizes how loyal she is to Damon (who abandoned both of them) does he reciprocate.

There’s no reason why their relationship had to be written this way unless it was being written with hatred for Bonnie, as if the writers wanted to say “we’ll give Bonnie what she deserves, but we’ll make her work for it and then we’ll take it away!” If Enzo had to be in love with Lily at all, they could’ve had him choose Bonnie over her, but instead they had to make it clear she didn’t want him and killed her off. They didn’t have to have Enzo make comments like “lovelorn witch” and say she’s never been fought over, unless they knew what they were doing. They have Bonnie be interested in finding a man, but we don’t see her going on any dates or any guys flirting with her or anything. She matches up with Matt on a dating site, and I guess it’s supposed to be funny because lol she’s having so much trouble she gets matched up with her friend (who gets his own new love interest), what a failure, right? Oh, but we know she’s going to get with Enzo so it’s okay, teehee, see what we’re doing here? :) Funny enough, we’ve seen Enzo flirt with and pursue people, and we’ve even seen Bonnie be flirted with, but when it comes to making a relationship between the two happen, he can’t be into her from the start? And if Bonnie had to spend another season helping people as she always does, why couldn’t Enzo be the one exception? Her relationship with him is really no different from her platonic ones.

All Bonnie and Enzo really have in common is being loyal to people who don’t care about them. That’s literally the basis for the ship, and at the end of the series, really all their characters amount to individually. Bonnie’s so beautiful and strong and has so much love to give, but it’s apparently unfathomable that anyone would see that without her having to see her prove herself first.

Say what you want about BD or BK, but at least those ships had some history. They were relationships that were playing out at the time, and fans were interested in how they would develop. There was material for people to speculate on and analyze. Contrast to BE, who only had a few scenes in season five and one at the end of season six. They had no real relationship, so while fans may have been open to it, this wasn’t something people were already passionate about.

Putting them together was a way of trying to curtail that excitement over other pairings that weren’t wanted by Plec and shift it to something that she had control over, and the flash forward was the perfect format for this. Their first moment is meant to make you go “whaaaat?” so you’ll have to keep watching to wait and see what happens. And of course it’s not until almost the end of the season that we see them actually become a couple... and it’s in a flashback.

BE might not make sense for the Bonnie who is too good for evil vampires, but it makes perfect sense for the Bonnie who is undesirable, who has to always put others first, and has to earn the tiniest amount of happiness for herself, and is fine with all of that.

#bonnie bennett #anti bonenzo #anti tvd #anti julie plec #this was just supposed to be some thoughts about Julie's hypocrisy re: Bonnie ships #but it got a little long

74 notes · View notes

that-house · 3 years

Text

Viego Rant (villainy and character design and tragedy and all that jazz)

Introduction The more I think about Viego, League of Legends’ newest character, the more enamored I am with him as a villain (unrelated to his general sexiness, though that does tie in with what makes him such a good villain).

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about his design. The Ruined King, one of the greatest threats in Runeterra, the progenitor of the Shadow Isles, the lord of the undead, is finally released as a playable champion and he looks like this:

People were expecting another Mordekaiser (who is similarly an undead king with a ghost army), a lich-tyrant clad in iron, decayed flesh peeling from an aged face. What we got was an angsty anime prettyboy, and it was infinitely better than the alternatives.

Lore Viego isn’t a conquering king. While his combat abilities are indeed badass, his personality is far from it. He’s a whiny brat and that’s incredible. He isn’t bent on world domination. His character arc revolves around just how human, how fallible he really is. For those unfamiliar with his lore, I’ll paraphrase it here:

Viego was the second son of a great king. Overshadowed by his brother and with no expectations upon him and near-limitless wealth, he wandered around being an idiot fuckboy for the vast majority of his formative years. Disaster struck when his brother died in an accident, and Viego took the throne with no training, no experience, and no desire to be king. He was a shitty king. The worst king. Just all-around apathetic. Gave zero shits. Can you blame him? It’s a lot of responsibility to be thrust upon someone who isn’t much more than a child, and with no preparation. He didn’t care about anything, that is, until he met Isolde. She was a poor seamstress, but he fell in love with her upon their first meeting. Together they ruled the country but it was really just them staring longingly into each others’ eyes. His allies were kinda fucking pissed about that, and one day an assassin came from Viego. The assassin fucked up and stabbed Isolde instead, and the poison on the blade made her fall gravely ill. As she lay in her bed, slowly dying, Viego went mad seeking a cure. He ravaged the land seeking any knowledge that might help, pouring all of his money into finding an antidote. He failed. As a last resort, he brought Isolde’s body to the Blessed Isles, a place rumored to be able to resurrect the dead. It worked, to an extent. Isolde’s wraith, confused, afraid, and angry at being ripped from the peace of death, unthinkingly stabbed Viego in the chest with his own magic sword, creating basically a magic nuke that turned the Blessed Isles into the domain of the undead. Viego resurrected as the king of the Shadow Isles some time later, having totally forgotten that Isolde killed him. He controls a big-ass ghost army, could probably beat up any living thing in a fight, and has evil ghost magic. Now this stupid simp wants his wife back and if he has to kill every living thing on Runeterra, well, anything for his queen. He’s even a tier 3 sub to her Twitch.

Music His musical theme isn’t some heavy metal anthem or intense cinematic piece (unlike the Pentakill song named after his sword, Blade of the Ruined King). It’s mostly sad and slow, almost sinister, with a piano and a music box. It has its loud moments featuring violins and choral bits like any villainous music, but the song is mostly subtle. It is a banger though.

youtube

In the comments section of this video, someone pointed out that the music reflects his story from beginning to end:

Everything about this champion is so well done. Riot Games really outdid themselves on this one. Bravo, encore please.

Motivation While the Mordekaiser circlejerkers on r/LeagueofLegends won’t shut the fuck up about how powerful Mordekaiser is, Viego is the better villain. Mordekaiser may be a bigger threat to all life on Runeterra, but Viego is a better character. (There’s a guy on my League discord server who won’t shut up about Mordekaiser so forgive me for being pissed at Morde stans).

Mordekaiser is motivated by a desire for control, to rule the world. Viego is motivated by obsession and misplaced love. There aren’t a lot of Mordekaisers on Earth. Supervillains are rare in real life. But Viego’s motivations are a lot closer to home. People in positions of power that they don’t deserve can do a lot of harm (for example: Trump).

He’s a grieving husband who was never prepared to deal with anything more difficult than choosing what wine to drink with dinner, who is trying to get his wife back because the world had always complied to his every whim. He’s a funky mix between a truly hopeless romantic and a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum.

Obsession is scary. It’s a real-world emotional state that’s been the cause of a lot of murders over mankind’s history. In contrast, Mordekaiser’s cartoonish Genghis Khan XXL schtick isn’t something that we encounter often. Of course a superpowered ultradictator would be worse for the world, but if you give ultimate power to a random person, you’re more likely to get someone like Tighten from Megamind. Or, more relevantly, Viego.

Design His design is sexy and stupid, just like him. He wears an open shirt into battle and wields his sword like an idiot (I’ve seen all the rants about how that’s not how that sword is meant to be used) because he was never really a warrior. Even at his most violent, right before the end of his mortal life, he didn’t do much combat himself, leaving his military endeavors to his underlings. Even now that he’s essentially a god, he still has a colossal wraith army that causes far more devastation than he ever could personally.

Despite his slim build (by League of Legends standards), he easily wields his colossal sword because of the strength of his state of undeath. Like his political power when he was alive, his posthumous magical and physical powers were never something he sought out, they were just given to him by circumstance.

The big cool-ass triangle hole in his chest where Isolde stabbed him is the source of the Black Mist, which is evil ghost mist that ebbs and flows from the Shadow Isles, bringing with it hordes of the undead. The sadder Viego is, the more Mist he creates. Poetically, his invasion of the world is inspired by his sorrow at his wife’s death and enabled by his wife’s reluctance to return to him. His story is perfectly reflected by his design.

Isolde Isolde’s spirit took up residence inside a young Senna (who’s another League champion, not particularly important here). This led to some Black Mist-related shenanigans and at least for the time being, Senna uses Isolde’s power to fight off the servants of Viego which threaten all life on Runeterra.

It seems pretty clear that whatever love Isolde felt for Viego is gone by now. Whether or not she ever loved him or was just unable to say no to the king is up for debate, but I’d like to believe there was something there. In my opinion, Viego’s story hits harder if they really were a great couple at first, torn apart by circumstance and obsession.

Much like the Maiden of the Woods in that one comic that circulates around here, to whom the knight gave his heart and she was like “yo what the fuck i literally never asked you to do this,” Viego went a little too far in trying to save her. They may have once been happy, but the Ruined King ruined his own life, too.

Unless Isolde is a lot less morally decent than we’ve been led to believe, I doubt she can forgive all the massacring that her husband’s been doing lately. In the recent cinematic, she was shown to be pretty anti-Viego. Maybe she’ll get a bastardization arc, but it certainly seems unlikely.

All of Season 2021 is based around Viego, Isolde, and the Shadow Isles, so we’ll just have to see what comes next. It’s possible that we’ll get Isolde as a playable champion, which should clear a lot of things up.

Final Thoughts Unlike so many villains, he’s not fueled by rage or hatred, but rather by sorrow. He’s stuck in his past, unable to move on. He regrets the actions of his life but is set on his course now. The sunk-cost fallacy comes into play here; he’s put so much time and effort and blood into bringing back Isolde, that turning away from it would feel to him like an insult, not only to her but to the innocent lives he’s taken in her name.

His tale is a tragedy, a love story gone horrifically wrong. Viego has suffered throughout his thousand-year life. Despite this, he’s undoubtedly the villain. His permanent death would be a net positive for the world. In has rage and grief he’s destroyed multiple civilizations, and will burn down the world to get Isolde back.

His heart may be in the wrong place, but it’s in a very human place. I don’t think he’ll get the ending he’s looking for, but I hope he finds some closure in the end.

#League of Legends #viego #i swear no one's gonna read this #even if you dont care about League i tried to make this interesting #even if you don't like League as a game the lore is pretty fucking solid

92 notes · View notes

kiribakuhappiness · 3 years

Note

How do you deal with the hate comments you get?? (Not that I think the last ask was particularly hate or anything) but I never see hate stuff on your blog or in your comment sections either. I feel like I see tend to get them a lot abd sometimes I don't know how to handle them :( love your work!!! Sorry if this is rude to ask...

Not rude at all - but there's a lot to unpack here, so I’m really sorry if I ramble or go off on a few tangents in my answer!

The short answer is: I don't deal with hate comments.

The medium answer is: It depends on the type of 'hate' that I’m receiving.

The longer answer is this:

I have been really lucky (I think) to have been able to grow a little community on this blog of similar, like-minded people who enjoy the same things that I do (Tsundere characters, characters that can help show more representation in the Alphabet Mafia community, dumb boys who deserve to just be dumb boys, etc). I've rarely received any hate comments since my time here on Tumblr, and I think there's a lot of reasons for this.

1.) If someone comes rearing into my Ask box just LOOKING for a fight (ie, random death threats from Anons, homophobic comments, an obvious attempt to bait me into some kind of long-winded debate, etc) I simply just do not deal with it. Those people (especially Anons) are just looking for a reaction out of you. They want you to get upset, to post some long rambling defense, to be snarky and rude back to them, that's what they want.

But at the end of the day, I don't owe any of them a response. Hell, I don't owe anyone a response if I don't want to answer something.

But I answer Asks because I like talking with people, and getting all amped up and excited over the same things, that's part of the fun of creating and sharing that creative work online and being an active part of the fandom. I LOVE hearing from the people that follow this blog (even if I don't always get the chance to respond to all of them) because I know that they're happy or excited enough to hit that Ask button and send me a message, and that makes me feel good to know that I was able to get them so pumped up!

But those Anons aren't looking for that kind of connection. Most of the time, they’re not even looking to have a mature discussion, even if that’s how they come across at first. They're looking to hurt. To ridicule and make fun of, to make me and my followers feel bad or low. And, most of the time, the people who are sending that hate are young. So young. Like... way younger than what you might be picturing in your head right now.

So when I get the really bad hate - the hate that makes your skin feel hot, the hate that spikes your blood pressure, the hate that makes you start typing in a blind rage because you want to hurt them just as much as they've just hurt you - then they've already won. And I'll be damned if I let myself be led by the hand right into a losing battle.

So I simply do not engage. I don't reply with some snarky comment thinking I'm oh-so clever, I don’t reply in a holier-than-thou manner because I think I’m just so much better than them, and I don't reply with a long rambling post about why they're wrong and why they're childish and why they're hateful because that in itself is a hateful act, and I have far more important things to be spending my time and my energy on than fighting with a random on the internet and fueling that (quite frankly, pointless) hatred.

When I don't respond, the anon grows bored. Why send hateful things into someone's Asks if they aren’t even going to showcase it to all of their loyal followers? The reason you don't see hate on this blog is because I simply do not allow them to sink their roots into this soil. I pull them out like weeds and refuse to let them grow here.

I also don't respond because, while I may be able to take a death threat or a homophobic slur with gritted teeth and a roll of the eyes and keep on going about my day, some of my followers may not be mentally or psychologically equipped to see such rude backlash. They range from pre-teens to adults, and when they choose to follow me and my blog, I see it as a responsibility on my end to shield them from that unnecessary hatred. There's no need for them to see such toxicity, and so I act as a stubborn guard blocking the front gates. This temple is for relaxation, for laughter and excitement and love, and I'll protect it until the day that I decide to send that last post and go off to do something else with my life.

2.) Another reason that I believe that I don’t get much hate on this blog is because I don’t cross-platform my content. Does this lower the visibility of my work? Sure. I don’t have a Twitter, or a Youtube, or a TikTok, or an Instagram. This blog is just that - this blog on Tumblr, with a link to my AO3 for my writing. And while that limits my audience and perhaps bottlenecks my views, the safeguard it brings from distancing from toxic mindsets that tend to leak into the more problematic social media sites is well worth it, in my opinion.

I don’t write these stories for kudos and hits. I don’t write these stories to push out as much content as possible, to gain a following as quickly as I can, to reach the entirety of the fandom. I don’t want that. I want to write stories to get better at writing, I want to write about the boys because I crave more gay representation and quite frankly I am obsessed with Bakugou as a character and how much fun it is to write from a Tsundere mindset.

If other people happen to find my work and they like it too, then that’s so awesome! But the extent of my dedication to this blog is just that, my own dedication to something I love and something that brings me joy.

3.) The final reason that I think why I don’t get a lot of hate comments or hurtful asks is because I put a lot of pride and effort into my fics. When I write a piece of work that contains heavy levels of smut, I work really hard to make them realistic, to make the characters motives and emotions clear and concise, to showcase a healthy depiction of what it means to be sexually attracted to and/or engage in sexual activity with someone that a person cares very deeply about.

I see a lot of smut centered around the bnha fandom, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with that, in my opinion, but sometimes I do see things that I personally feel are a little tactless. They’re not handled well, or they promote toxic behaviors, or it really is incredibly self-indulgent and sometimes grossly ignorant.

However, just like with the hate that I sporadically receive in my Asks, it’s of my own personal belief that if I see something I don’t like or don’t agree with on the internet, then I simply do not engage with it. I don’t give it the attention that it so desperately wants to get out of people, I don’t give it a platform to grow on, I refuse to allow it to think that it has the upper hand anywhere in the situation.

I am entirely in control of the things that I promote on this blog, and I take that responsibility very seriously. It’s why I refuse to reblog art if it’s so obviously not being posted by the original artist (there are SEVERAL kiribaku blogs I have seen gaining popularity recently that simply post art from other artists without any credits or any permission). I have even seen several of my own mutuals reblogging art from those particular blogs, and so I find it incredibly important to be diligent in which accounts I reblog art from.

That being said - I’m not perfect. I’m a human being behind this account, a singular entity the runs the entirety of this blog, ever growing and learning and working every day to be better than I was the day before, and sometimes I make mistakes.

Sometimes I reblog stolen art, and need a follower to nudge me in my inbox and let me know that it’s stolen and where to find the original art, so that I can take the responsibility of deleting the stolen post and reblogging the original content to show support for the original artist. Sometimes I write something in a fic that (to me, from my own experiences) I might not consider to be harmful or inappropriate, but that might be damaging in a way that I may have never considered before because I had grown so used to receiving that kind of treatment myself that I fail to see its toxicity on my own, and so when people come to me with genuinely helpful constructive criticism, I feel it is my duty as a writer to be level-headed and humble enough to admit that perhaps what I have grown so accustomed to is just that - behavior I’ve simply grown accustomed to - and to then take a good hard look at that example and make a decision about whether I want to change it or not.

The important thing to remember is that we’re all entitled to our own opinions and feelings, but that we’re also individually responsible for the way that we react to these types of circumstances.

Becoming defensive, becoming enraged, becoming aggressive, becoming jaded - these things don’t do anything but make a situation worse.

That’s why I love Bakugou so. fucking. much. He IS all of those things. Defensive. Easy to anger. Inherently aggressive. And Horikoshi is teaching him through many trials and errors why those types of behaviors will be his inevitable downfall, why falling into the pit of ‘you hurt me, so I must hurt you back’ leads only to repeated failure and internal anguish, why you will forever be forced to run in place and can never continue to grow and move forward if you’re so busy ignoring the reality that we are all humans, that we are all flawed, that we all experience the same emotions, even if we don’t agree with them or think that they’re justified.

The reason I love Bakugou’s character so much is because he is so deeply flawed, he is told time and time again that he is the epitome of a villain, and yet he refuses to accept that. He refuses to believe that he is anything other than the greatest hero-to-be, and he’ll push his bruised ego and damaged pride aside time and time again to relearn what has already been so solidly ingrained into his being, to continuously be watching and listening and learning while still whole-heartedly remaining unabashedly true to himself, to know that he came to this amazing hero school and is being taught by these incredible heroes “not to learn what he can do, but to learn what he can’t do.”

So, to wrap up this entirely incoherent rambling mess of a response that you no doubt didn’t care to read about, I deal with hate the same way that I deal with everything else; circumstantially, and with as much empathy as I can possibly muster.

If it’s random hate just looking for attention and wanting to hurt, I refuse to give them a stable platform to stand on or an audience to be subjected to. I force them to go somewhere else, cause it’s no fun to hit someone over and over again who refuses to ever hit back. If it’s in regards to my fics, I think I work really hard to provide healthy representation work for this fandom, to showcase the characters in not only challenging situations but also how they can realistically overcome them, and to create an environment where love can be seen as just that, love.

Whether it’s with Bakugou and Kirishima learning how to recognize their own weaknesses and become better people because of them, or whether it’s with Bakugou and Hikaru discovering that experiencing love and relenting in trust doesn’t make them weak but in fact makes them infinitely stronger than they will ever consciously realize, the end result is always the same. I just want to share stories, hopefully ones with positive messages, that make people feel things and maybe might teach them a lesson or two along the way.

I hope this somewhat answered your question anon! Sorry it’s so long and jumbled but is anyone really surprised anymore? When you ask me a question like this, just know I am always going to go off on a long tangent :,D

If you’re ever experiencing a situation where you feel harassed or unsafe or you want advice on how to properly handle a situation, please feel free to reach out to me, and we can work together to try and come up with a mature, responsible solution!

Happy reading!! xx

#dealing with hate #there I go rambling again oops sorry ahaha #personal #asks

25 notes · View notes

writingwiththeghosts · 3 years

Text

“I need you two to get along, just for the evening”, Heros sister Sarah pleaded. Hero narrowed her eyes, staring at Villain sitting on the opposite of the table. He looked way to relaxed for Heros liking.

“Look”, he said, grinning lazily. “I already promised not to intimidate or hurt anyone. If that includes Hero, fine.”

“As if you could intimidate me”, Hero scoffed. Villain raised his eyebrow and turned his attention to Hero, seizing her with his eyes. He did not straighten up though.

“If you are not intimidated by me, why does it bother you that I’m here?”

“Are you even listening to yourself?” Hero looked accusingly at Sarah. “Why are you friends with that?”

Although this was supposed to be an incredibly happy day for Sarah, she seemed rather exhausted by the conversation. “This is my birthday dinner and it is really important to me. What has happened between you two that makes you want to get at each other’s throat every two seconds?”

Villain stood up, deflecting the question. “Since I know how to behave myself, I am going to leave now. Have fun figuring this out!“ And just like that, he was gone.

Sarah and Hero continued their staring contest. Hero was silently contemplating what to tell Sarah. For an outsider, hers and Villains fight must have seemed rather ridiculous and out of the blue. However, if they were really such close friends, telling Sarah that Villain was a gang member might not be the best way not to let this dinner escalate. It was the first time Sarahs parents met her girlfriend.

Sarah sighed. „Is this about the… you know… gang thing?“, she asked quietly. If Hero hadn’t already known she would not have understood the words.

„YOU KNOW?“

„Well“, Sarah said sheepishly. „It’s how we met. You remember the voluntary social work I did about 7 years ago with children in need.“

Hero did indeed remember. She said nothing.

Her silence seemed to make Sarah nervous. „I worked a case with one kid that he took special interest in.“

„Probably to groom it for his gang“, Hero grumbled. She couldn’t believe this. Villain and Sarah sounded so close!

Sarah gave her a look. „It was his little cousin. He was seventeen at the time as well, so he couldn’t take care of him legally and-“

Hero groaned and covered her ears. „I do not want to hear his sad backstory. He’s in a gang.“

„It’s not illegal to be in a gang! You’re a detective. You should know that“, Sarah protested.

„It’s illegal to kill people!“

„He doesn’t do that… much… I think… Do you know?“

„Well, I haven’t been able to catch him.“

„So you don’t know.“

„Oh I know.“

„You have killed people.“

„Which is something entirely different! He has… tattoos!“

„I have a tattoo!“

„Which is something I judge you for as well. It’s ugly.“

Sarah seemed to have grown tired of their debate and said softly: „Look, I can imagine the differences your jobs“ - Hero scoffed at that - ”bring with them. But you’re my family and he is one of my closest friends. We don’t hang out all the time, but he has always been there for me. So please, just today, can you make an effort for me?“

Hero was convinced that Villain must have brainwashed her. That was insane. But for her sister she would put on a friendly facade, so she smiled and nodded.

Sarah seemed glad, as she hugged her deeply. When she pulled away her eyes were gleaming excitedly again and she said: „I can’t believe I have a girlfriend and I am letting her meet our parents. And by that I mean, I can’t believe I am in a stable relationship before you. Overachiever.“

Hero showed her the tongue as they left the room, but she was already searching for Villain as Sarah went towards the main table.

„Your sister certainly likes a show.“

Hero turned around swiftly. Apparently Villain had been eager as well to talk to her. „What do you want?“

„The only reason Sarah would let you out of that room is if you lied and said you would leave me in peace for the night, or am I wrong?“ Hero squinted. Of course he was right, but that was the last thing she wanted to admit, so she just said: „Whatever. I’m not doing it anyway. I don’t trust you.“

He didn’t look bothered at all, instead he had the audacity to laugh. Hero noticed Sarah giving them a worried look from across the room.

„What’s so funny?“

„Nothing, it’s just…“ He looked around at the various people close to Sarah spread across the room talking and drinking. It seemed like a truly sophisticated place, everyone sipping out of identical champagne glasses. Then again, Sarah loved glamorous settings, which made her friendship to a criminal even more unbelievable to Hero. „I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection sooner.“

Hero cocked her eyebrows.

„Sarah’s always talking about you. Her good little sister, always trying to solve every mystery, ever so determined…“ Hero didn’t know where he was going with that, so she just took a champagne herself, trying to keep herself occupied and seem relaxed at the same time. „She truly loves you. Would have been a shame if my bullets had actually hit you.“

Hero tried not to freeze and keep her movements smooth at the confession. „Shame that mine didn’t hit you“, she replied. „Sarah would be better off without you. She deserves a lot better than you for a friend.“ Or me for family, she thought, comparing the two of them and not being able to give herself enough high marks.

They both watched Sarah give her girlfriend a kiss on the cheek.

He laughed again, this time quieter and almost friendly. „You really should be careful. And maybe a little more watchful.“

„Excuse me?“, Hero felt that anger rise inside her throat again. „Are you threatening me?“

Villains eyes flickered across the room, as if to see if they were really alone, before he said: „Your sister is a dear friend of mine and she truly loves you. But you ought to think how she managed to go from a social worker to being surrounded by all these exceptional people and this much money. The road to success often is a hard one.“

Hero watched the tattoos on his neck move as he spoke, the words ringing in her ear.

„What are you saying?“

He sighed in a condescending way, as if Hero was an over curious child he had to explain the same thing over and over again. „You should stop investigating my case. I stand by everything I’ve ever done. Not sure your sister is able to say the same.“

They stared at each other for a few seconds.

Hero broke the eye contact first to look over the crowd, just as he had done before. „For all the time we spent chasing each other, you really don’t know me very well. I would protect my sister with all I have got. But I will make sure you go down.“

When she looked back at him, Villain smiled at her with a wistful look. „Oh, I expected as much. But what will you say when you realize that maybe, just maybe, I am not the Villain of this story?“

Then he turned around, leaving her, having the last word after all. „Take care“, he called after her, and Hero wasn’t sure whether it was a threat or a kindness.

#hero x villain #family #writeblr #writingwiththeghosts writes #sisters #protagonist x antagonist #prompt #?#shady

35 notes · View notes

thewritingstar · 4 years

Text

Bite my Tongue

Pairing: Blossom x Butch (blossutch)

Fandom: PowerPuff Girls

Words: 6027

So I had this idea a while ago and suddenly i was struck with inspiration. This is probably the longest one shot ive done and im actually really proud of this so please be nice and show some love! Im sorry to everyone not in the fandom and just waiting for me to get off the ppg high but ahahhahah no. Anyways i hope you enjoy.

----

Blossom was never one to shout out her opinions. She always thought them through before letting others know what she had to say. She took into consideration every perspective and point of view and if it was a question relying heavily on morals, she had already decided the right answer in her head. She was bold but never brash, unlike Buttercup who would jump straight into anything and figure out the ending later. Even Bubbles’s heavy heart could cloud her judgement at times, Blossom tried to be the one to even out the score.

She could hold her tongue if she didn't agree because it was too much of a headache to correct every single person, she wanted to, but she knew her limits. She was an extremely educated woman. She taught herself how to read and do basic math days after she was “born”. She graduated top of her class in every school, preschool, elementary, middle and high school where she had to unfortunately share the top spot with Brick who had the same exact GPA as her down to the 11th decimal point. Yes, they checked that far.

She went to an elite college and worked her way into a PHD for Organic Chemistry, Marine Biology and even Law. No one knew more than her, except maybe Brick, but that was still up for debate because she graduated one week before him. They had a conjoined party and they spent most of the night debating. Most people thought they hated each other but they had a really close bound like siblings.

The moral of her life is that she knew best. She knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it and if she didn’t she would find a way. It’s what made her such a determined and born leader. No matter the situation being a group project for English class or a monster fight, the calculations in her head were ready and thought through before leaving her mouth.

And if she ever did yell or scream without thinking, it would only be a millisecond before she had facts to prove her point.

However she didn’t know how much of a loose cannon she would be when it came to her boyfriend. The notorious ex villain RowdyRuff Boy Butch. Aka the most unsuitable man for Blossom Utonium according to every single person's unhelpful opinion.

She remembers when the feelings arose during high school. For some reason he had come to her for help on his mid terms. Of course she was more than happy to help and she wondered if it was because he liked to tease her or to get under his brother's skin. Whatever the case, she happily agreed.

“I love doing charity work.” She said smugly and the dark green eyes looked at her before making her blush from the stare.

“Damn Pink, no need to be harsh.” His voice was light and she was thankful he didn’t see it as a threat. She liked that she could joke with him because if she had said that to Brick, let’s just say another argument would break out.

Weeks passed by as she would spend lunch and after school time with him studying. She didn’t know when he looked so peaceful when doing his homework or how much she truly enjoyed his company. They would go to small cafes or sit in the park with their worksheets spread around them.

There was this small feeling deep within her heart that she hadn’t quite known. She thought she was getting sick or light headed but the pressure built up as she heard him laugh. She left that day and spent the rest of the night quietly staring at the ceiling, her mind for once empty as she didn’t know what to say or do.

It was one of the first moments that she didn’t think through. It was a sudden loose thought and she ran with it. Her heart screamed at her after he came running up to her after fall break to show her that he had gotten high scores on his exams. His smile was breathtaking and she spun her around, flying them into the air before setting them back down. Those few seconds in the sky as he held her close and genuinely laughed made her have a heartfelt thought.

Her feet landed on the ground and she was thankful that they were alone because while he was rambling on and on about how she helped him, she wrapped her fingers around the strings of his hoodie and pulled him close before crashing her lips against his.

He wasted no time kissing her back. His lips were unbelievably soft and she had kissed others before but for some reason, this felt right. Her clouded judgement of whether she should have done this or not washed away when they pulled apart and he stared at her with wide eyes and an even wide smirk.

“I’m proud of you Butch.” Her fingers were still around his hoodie but he made no intention to move out of her grasp. “In fact you can thank me by taking me out on Saturday.”

To say they were both surprised was an understatement. His smirk somehow got bigger and she swore that she picked up on the blush on his cheeks and there was no doubt that her face was matching his.

He said nothing but continued to stare and she suddenly felt like she read all the signs wrong. Maybe the shoulder touches and the knees touches weren’t what she thought. Maybe the light flirting and the teasing was just that, a joke. Maybe, oh her head was now racing. She knew better than to run all the options and pros and cons of each situation.

She had a hand on her waist before she was pulled closed. Her hands now flat against his chest, she didn’t even know she had looked away from him.

“You’re cute when you think too much.” So he saw those gears always turning in her head. The concentration on her face was mostly present throughout the day, the inner superhero in her. “Saturday it is Pink.” He whispered and she closed her eyes as his lips fell on hers again. Her mind now at ease.

The moment the world heard about their dating, which started in high school mind you, the news exploded. Time after time they asked why she didn’t date her counterpart and time and time again she would say “Because I don’t want to”. Which was true. There was no spark between them like that. Brick had taken eyes for the joy and the laughter sister while Boomer was busy swooning over the toughest fighter, she was happy for them. Everyone was happy for those pairs.

But Butch and Blossom received the most criticism. They understood the dynamic between the scary bad boy and the sweetest girl to walk the earth and the relationship between the best damn sports girl and the best damn musician. The dynamic of the perfectionist and the far from perfect was not everyone's cup of tea.

At first she was annoyed. She would shoot reporters cold glares and say that her personal life was her business only. She never let Butch know how much it hurt her when people would talk down about them together. She would always be chipper around him and make sure that he always felt loved by her, she would hate to make him feel bad because of what stupid reporters would say.

Luckily for Butch he genuinely couldn’t care less what the press thought. He spent his entire life being hounded down for his behavior and has taught himself to let things just roll off his shoulders, he had super powers, what did they have? Nothing.

And although he could let things slide, he saw it in her eyes one day when they were hanging out. The nice summer's day was interrupted by an attack from a brutal monster. The girls saved the day as usual and as she landed and went to talk to the police, an interview got in her way. The man said something about her being better than her boyfriend and how she could allow herself to date someone who was a villain. It wasn’t even the worst comment she had received, but her body ached and all she wanted to do was curl up into her bed and cry.

Without thinking she turned and used her ice breath, freezing his camera and making it shatter to the ground.

“I think they are the cutest.” Bubbles said behind her and she was thankful that her sisters supported her. They were all in the same boat after all.

Buttercup passed the guy too and shot a glare. “That’s my counterpart so saying shit like that is insulting to me buddy.” The man began shaking as the threat came from her. Buttercup never liked to use the ‘counterpart term’ but she would if it meant defending her sister and her best friend.

Her sisters saw that strong exterior crumble. They have had their fair share of comments but watching Blossom slightly shake and bite her quivering lip as she flew home made them both sad. Bubbles wrapped her arms around her and Buttercup kissed the top of her head while texting the green eyed boy to call his girl.

She almost didn’t pick up the phone when he called. But eventually he got her to sit on the edge of an abandoned building's roof, one of their many secret spots. He sat next to her, arm over her shoulder as he held her. Her tears came as a surprise and he let her use his shirt to soak up her pain.

“It isn’t fair.” She whispered as she held his hand.

“I know.” he kissed her head.

“It's okay if you’re done.” She cried. “I understand.” She began to move away from him. Ashamed that she had let all these people say these terrible things about him. It wasn’t fair and he deserved better. They had only been dating for about two months, she would be okay.

It's happened before. All her past relationships had left because they couldn’t take the heat and she would try to tell them that it wouldn’t matter, because it didn’t. But for this one, it hurt. She wanted to be able to say that she wasn’t affected by the press, she wasn’t before so why now? She had become numb to paparazzi in the past but every since they practically hounded Butch every chance they got, she was afraid.

She was frightened to acknowledge that it was all wrong. Before accepting any of her other boyfriends, she had a day or two to think about it. How would they act? What would dates be? All those things played over and over in that massive mind space but this was completely blind. She had stopped thinking around him, not literally but in the means that she didn’t have to and she liked that.

But she was now looking at the consequence of it all. Butch, who has done so much to clean up his reputation with his brothers and become civilized as much as possible, he still would fight with BC constantly but there was nothing she could do about that. He deserves someone better. Someone who wasn’t stuck up and held their head too high for anyone to touch her crown, not that she believed she did that but that's what the rumors said. Bossy Blossy as they say.

It wasn’t fair to make him suffer. Not when his brothers got off easy. Brick was somehow adored by the press when he did something so little as smile at Bubbles and Boomer was the golden boy as he opened doors for Buttercup. But Butch, no. When the cameras captured them together, Blossom was always laughing and yet, they still said he was no match.

So when he grabbed her arm gently and pulled her to his chest. She was surprised when she felt the tears drip onto her shoulders. She looked into those green eyes she grew so fond of, they were a great color, and saw them brimming with matching tears.

That was something she adored about him. He was naturally so tough and rough and felt the most confident with dirt caked on his face and blood dripping from the scraps. And then there was this side. The delicate and softness that no one thought he could have. The way he touched her and talked, he was always so sweet with her.

“Blossom.” He rarely used her name. It was always pet names and endearments but when he did use her name it was for the sake of love and pain, almost like he had to save it for a special occasion. “You may not believe me but I do not give a single fuck about what those nobody's say.”

She sniffed as his thumb caught one of her tears. “Really?” Her voice was trying to regain its strength.

“Yes. Why would I? They say I don’t deserve you and sure I felt that way too, but then I remembered something.” He laughed a little which made her smile.

“What?” She sniffled.

“I remembered that I was dating Blossom Utonium. The girl who thinks everything through before diving in. She never once goes back on her promises and is so incredibly smart that she could do anything she sets her mind too. That's why I don’t worry because if you decided that I am worthy of dating you, then why would those people mean anything? You are already enough and every time I get to kiss you, for fucks sake Pink, it all washes away. So let them say shit because I have all the proof I need.”

“You always know what you want Butch. That's what I admire about you.”

“So do you. Maybe sometimes you just need to stop and smell the roses.”

“How sweet.” She kissed his cheek which was now fully dried of tears.

“Only for you Pink.”

As years passed Blossom learned how to bite her tongue more. He taught her to not give, as he said, a single fuck and no one dared to talk about them unless it was with praise. Blossom really did try but a Reds ' patience could only go so far. Whenever someone insulted Bubbles, her husband would not hesitate to snap on them, she understood completely. Maybe that's why having a boyfriend who was cool and calm and just went with the flow was perfect. She could get fired up and he would simply cool her down.

On the flip side, once you made a green mad, it was over and she knew better than to try and stop him. She may have enjoyed watching her boyfriend and sister beat the shit outta nasty reporters a little too much.

She could only take so much and today was proving it.

She was a lawyer and even though her office was filled with highly educated people, she was stuck in the back corner with three other girls who were only there as personal assistants. Then again she was only here temporarily due to her private office being constructed upstairs. Yes, she was that good.

She couldn’t wait to have her own space. It would be nice to have a quiet place to work and if there was an emergency involving robots or monsters, her office had the perfect balcony to fly from so that she wouldn’t disturb her coworkers. But she hated being in that corner.

In the last hour as she was finishing filing all of her neatly done paperwork, the conversation went from lip injections, the new outlet shops, the hottest men in really expensive underwear and now the topic of the ever so light gender bias was upon these ladies.

“Did you see what happened with the actress from the giant squid film?” Haley said. “She got engaged and she was the one to propose to him.” The other two girls gasped as they fixed their nails.

“I just don’t think that women should be allowed to ask her boyfriend to marry her. A man should propose.” The uptight blonde, Peggy said.

“Absolutely not.” Gertrude said. “What do you think Blossom?” All eyes were now on her and she rolled her own before turning in her chair. She felt a headache coming on.

“I don’t see the problem.” She simply stated as she filed another paper neatly. “Good for them.”

“You don’t think it's wrong?”

“Nope.” She didn’t have time for this; she was trying to find her stapler.

All eyes turned to her as the other women who shared the space scoffed. “I highly doubt that your boyfriend would let you.” Gertrude said. Where was it?

Blossom’s left eye twitched and now she turned in her chair to see their faces. “My boyfriend?” She asked with a scolding tone. Fuck the stapler.

“Butch?” Haley scoffed. “Oh he is too prideful to let even Blossom propose. I mean face it Blossom, you are this big successful woman who saves the world and is crazy smart. All he does is listen to your commands. You already wear the pants in the relationship so you should agree that he should be able to make at least this decision.”

The sound of Blossom slamming her filing cabinet echoed through the office. If her man taught her one thing, it was to let the comments slide, but this, this was unacceptable. She had been through the tabloids, the paparazzi and her own “friends” questioning the integrity and well being of Butch. If he could see her rage boiling, he would have told them to “fuck off” and wrap his arm around her shoulder before they went and got smoothies.

But he wasn’t here. She didn’t need him here to defend herself. She let that lid that was secured on her anger to screw loose and fly off. These women could criticize her all they wanted, but not her boyfriend, she wouldn’t allow it.

“My boyfriend is a successful teacher. So he may not have the same degrees as me but he loves teaching his students and also fights to save this city and your sorry asses.”

She turned to them before grabbing her purse. Her stare was as ice cold as the power that trembled in her blood. She never used her power as intimidation against people around her but the way her palms sparked with a hot pink temper, made the ladies shut their lips.

“Before you dare say anything about him, just know one thing. He has done more things in his life than you will ever. He may not be passionate about the same things as me but that does not make him any less of a man or any worthy of dating me. If you are going to slander his name, do it when I am not here because if you saw how much he cares about me, you would be begging to be the one dating him. He is capable of doing whatever he pleases and unlike your failed excuse of a boyfriend Gertrude, his masculinity wouldn’t crumble if I were to ask him to marry me.”

The women were speechless as she turned and watched her walk away.

Blossom could bite her tongue. She could be professional. She could be the perfect everything nice and fake a smile if needed. But she would and always be Butch’s biggest cheerleader. She was proud of him beyond belief when he got his bachelors in forensics science. He went on to help police officers in the labs and two years later got his teaching credentials and taught students about the mess of a murder scene. He loved it. And she loved how happy he was.

So yes, Blossom could bite her tongue, but she could smack a bitch too. Princess Morbucks knew that first hand and had stopped commenting on her relationship.

He heard the door slam with a loud shut and was thankful that he had installed those heavy duty door frames. The amount of heat literally sparking from her body was almost threatening to say the least as she set her bag on the table and he threw one of the glass figures they had on the coffee table into the air and she blasted it with a powerful force from her palm.

He grabbed the small vacuum cleaner and grabbed the glass to make sure it didn’t stay there long. It was a nice routine they had. Get angry, break a glass figure and then drink wine. It worked to say the least.

“Rough day babe?” He asked before setting the vacuum down and walking to their wine cabinet and pulling out two glasses.

She was pacing in the kitchen. That was his sign of knowing that she was about to say something he was going to disagree with or love. He was hoping it was love because watching her all fired up made him slightly tingly and there was nothing better than seeing his lady in control.

She didn’t look at the wine glass placed in front of her. Instead she kept pacing back and forth and he sat on the bar stool and watched. He knew better than to interfere with her thoughts. If she couldn’t think it through, then there was no point. The only time she didn’t run through things is when she kissed him that high school day, he loved that day.

“Blossy?” He asked a minute later and she stopped and looked at him.

Her eyebrows were knit together and she held this look of uncertainty in her eyes, a rare scene. Those vibrant pink iris sparkled as the sunset came through the window. He wanted to say something coy but he also knew when to bite his tongue, she taught him that.

“Would you be threatened if a woman proposed?” She asked.

He was taken back from the question. His shoulders now tensed up but he dropped them quickly as he thought about it. He took a swig of his wine glass and shrugged. “I thought a man was supposed to do that?”

She bit her lip before sighing and grabbing her glass. He thought again for a moment before talking again. “But then again, what's the big deal? I mean if you love them, then it shouldn’t matter who asks.”

She nodded. “I agree.” Her shoulders visibly untensed and she leaned her elbows on the counter before rubbing her head.

“Is that what's bothering you?” He asked before filling her empty glass.

“It's just-” She took a sip. “The stupid women at the office. They said that a man should never allow a woman to be in control of that. That made me angry but then they said you would never let that happen. That I am always in control of you and you should be allowed to make at least that decision.” She felt a chill go through her body as she avoided his gaze. “You don’t think I am controlling, right?”

He made a combination of a snort scoff thing and just rolled his eyes at the statement. “No, you are a leader, Brick is controlling.” She rolled her eyes. “That's a fact.” He pointed out.

“It's just sometimes-” He saw that look in her eyes and interrupted her.

“No, no, no. Don’t do that.” He stood. “Don’t let those nasty hoes have that power over you. So you might have more degrees than me, big whoop. But I’m not some helpless guy who clings onto the success of his girlfriend, that's Boomer’s job.” She ignored the jab at his brother.

“But do you-”

“Blossom.” He came around and lifted her chin up to meet his eyes. “I am so incredibly happy so please don’t worry. Plus.” He stepped closer to her and pulled her close. “When have I ever been one to complain about being controlled by you?” His eyes narrowed and she blushed. “I think it’s hot.” She slapped his arm playfully and buried her face in his chest.

“Those women are dumb.” Her voice was muffled by his shirt.

“Yeah they are. Now have some wine, I’ll be right back.” He left her as he walked into their shared bedroom.

She took a seat at the high counter and grabbed her glass. She popped open the cork and tried to calm down. It wasn’t fair. Neither of them had the upper hand in the relationship. It was never about sizing up the other one, it was equal. Maybe in certain cases she got her way and he got his and maybe, just maybe, she knew how to persuade him. It wasn’t hard considering she could grab his attention with just the removal of her shirt, but that's besides the point.

She grabbed her glass again and chugged. What did those women know anyways? Nothing, that's what.

He came back a few minutes later and sat next to her. Their knees touched as he grabbed his own glass.

“Do you remember what I told you when we first started dating?” He asked.

She raised her brow. “That you wanted to see what was under my skirt?”

His face flushed red as he almost choked on his wine. “No-no.”

“Really because when I asked you out you said and I quote.” She puffed out her chest. “Damn Pinky, I’d be more than happy to be your man because I’ve been dying to see those legs and what's under that skirt.” She said in a deep mocking voice.

“That wasn’t what I said the day you asked me out though”

She giggled. “Maybe, but you said that on our first date.”

“And you let me see.” He said in a cocky tone and she pursed her lips and looked to the side.

“Touche”

He let out a laugh. “But that's not what I meant.” She looked at him and crocked her head to the side.

“Then what?”

“I told you that if you decided that you loved me, that was all the proof I ever needed.”

That small laugh that bubbled from her lips made him smile. She looked at him before nodding her head.

“And not to care what anyone thinks.” she finished and he nodded before leaning over and kissing her forehead.

“Exactly.” He smirked before plopping something down on the counter. She looked towards it with confusion before he pushed it her way. “Go on, open it.”

She took the item in her hands. A soft plush box with a simple golden latch. She knew what it was instantly. Sure they had talked about marriage, they have been together for so long that some people just assumed they had secretly gotten married. They once spent a weekend in Vegas and drunk Blossom said that the 24 hour chapel was just across the street.

She’s thankful that slightly less drunk Butch carried her to the hotel room instead. Marriage has been talked about in serious times and not so serious but at the end of the day, it was something they both wanted.

The top opened and she stared at the giant diamond ring. It’s sharp fragments sparkled in the light and she felt a tug in her throat. “Butch.”

“You care so much what people think, don’t give me that look. I’m right and you know it.” He stated and she continued to look at the precious stone set on a silver band. “But I also know that you love proving people wrong and challenging the odds.”

“I don’t understand.”

The box was set down and her hands were now in his. “When you are ready, I want you to ask me to marry you.” He said simply.

Tears came from her eyes as she looked between him and the ring. “But-”

“But what? It doesn’t matter who asks who. I love you so fucking much that I would be an honor to be asked by you. Imagine turning down the hottest, smartest and bravest woman in the universe. I could never.” he winked.

Her head turned towards the ring and he could see the gears in her head turning. He waited for her answer and was curious about how she would react. He loved that about her. She was constantly full of surprises even when planning it all out.

He grabbed the box and held it to her. “Or if you would like, I would love to ask you to marry me.”

She took the box from him hesitantly. It was a rare sight to see her so unsure of herself. She placed it onto the counter before sliding into his lap and hugging him. “Thank you.” She whispered and his arms came around and tightened around her. “I love you too.”

“Of course Bloss.” He kissed her softly. He stood after they pulled apart and lifted her up with ease. “Now I’m going to show you who's in control.” He whispered into her ear as she let out a giggle.

——

It was a few months later before it happened. She suggested a day trip to anywhere he wanted and she remembered how excited he was about the new beach opening. The warm sun of their skins as they walked down the boardwalk and enjoyed the simple company of each other. It was perfect.

They sat on the beach, the wild crowds had fizzled out leaving them in a quiet bliss as the sunset that was a mix of pinks and oranges sat on the horizon.

She turned towards him and smiled at him. She reached into her bag and he laughed a little.

“Proposal on a beach with a magical sunset? Little cliche even for you.” She only rolled her eyes with a smile.

“Perhaps.” She moved until she was kneeling next to him and placed a box in his hand. She ushered him to open it and it was the same diamond ring set on a silver band, the one he gave her.

“Or maybe it’s a rejection.” He forced out a laugh as her eyes widened in horror.

“No!” She quickly made him get rid of the thought. Instead she held out her own matching box.

The latch popped open and inside was a silver wedding band.

“You told me that you would love for me to ask you, but I’ve always wanted you to ask me. And I thought about it for a long time and instead of it being one of us.” She grabbed his hand. “Why not both of us?”

“So we both propose?” He looked at the pair of rings and back up to her. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”

“Alright then.” She bit her lip. Why was she so nervous? It was Butch after all, they had been together for over seven years. She wanted it to be perfect. This moment to be captured just like the movies.

She felt a hand go on her leg and she was pulled out of her trace of thinking. He sat smiling at her and she felt a little embarrassed at how she always got lost in her head.

“Why don’t I start?” He said and she nodded. “Well my love. I spent most of my life thinking no one would ever give a damn about me and when i met you, well it was true since i did try to kill you.” He laughed and she only shook her head with a giggle. “I'm not good with words and you know that so bare with me babe.”

“Anyways when I grew up and got my act together, there was always this blinding light around you. My attention was your the moment I saw you again in middle school. I was always you but I couldn't approach you. I wasn’t worthy of loving you until I became someone I wanted to be. I was so nervous asking you for help that day. Brick told me not to bother but your smile, that damn smile Pink, you were so kind and I just wanted to kiss you right then and there.” He smiled.

“But you know all that.” He huffed. “Ya know people always asked me what my favorite thing about you was. I mean how do you answer that? How do you tell them that everything from her selflessness and bold personality, down to her eyes and her freckles that only show during summer. You can’t. Blossom, you believed in me when no one else did, not even myself and that what i love about you. You never give up and you make people feel safe and cherish. Plus you are so incredibly hot that I could just take you here right now and-you aren't stopping me? You usually stop me when I’m about to say something nasty.”

“It's a special occasion.” She shrugged. “But yeah tell me later.” She winked and he took her hand.

“What I'm trying to say, Blossom, is that I love you. Every up and down is going to have me next to you without hesitation. So Dr.Blossom Utonium.” She smirked at the use of her title. “Would you give me the chance to become the hottest wife the world has seen and allow me to love you for as long as I breath?”

He watched as tears formed in her eyes. “The hottest wife in the world?” She cried-laughed and he wiggled the ring.

“The hottest.”

“Yes, I’ll marry you.” She kissed him and he placed the ring on her finger.

She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes, trying not to ruin her makeup. “Okay my turn.” She grabbed the ring.

“I always know what to do or say but when it comes to you, im left speechless every time. Sometimes I feel like I never know the answer or I'm somehow wrong but if there is one thing I am certain about every single time it's you. My heart guides me without fail and it has always ended up in your hands. Time after time as my sisters were talking about marriage as kids, mostly Bubbles of course.”

“Of course.” He chimed in.

“I wouldn’t add much to the conversation. To be honest, I never thought I would get married, or that anyone would love me. Because no matter who I dated, I was always Blossom. Leader of the Powerpuff Girls and the stuck up smarty pants.” She stopped before taking his hand. “And then I remember when you asked me to tutor you. Those feelings I thought I would never experience happened. You never saw me as the leader, maybe in theory but I was an equal to you and I think that's why it hurt so much when people talked bad about you.” She frowned before sniffing and looking up towards the sky.

“I was already so in love with you as a teen and I didn’t know how people wouldn't adore you that it made me mad. All I ever wanted was for someone to see me as me, and you do.” Her eyes came back down and he was crying. “So Butch Jojo. Will you marry me?” She smiled.

There was no hiding the tears as he held her hand and was practically shaking. “I love you so much Blossom, I can’t even tell you.” He hugged her tightly before kissing her breathlessly. Her own eyes shutting as tears fell and she threw her arms around him and her fingers threaded through his hair. “Yes of course I’ll marry you.” The words were lost on her lips.

The sunset behind them stared at each other and basked in the bliss of being in love. Anyone could say what they want, but there was no denying that the pair loved each other beyond belief.

Blossom could bite her tongue, but she would never stop herself from telling Butch how much she loved him. That was something she could count on.

I hope you enjoyed it!!

#ppg x rrb #powerpuff girls #blossutch #blossom x butch #ppg fanfic #thewritingstar #idk how to tag #ppg #rrb

28 notes · View notes

gra-sonas · 4 years

Note

Hiiii! What are you thoughts about RNM finale! How do you feel about it? I'm glad Alex was happy and I kind of understand why Micha walked out in the middle of the song even though I know some people didn't like it... Anyways! Hope you have a great day! 😁

Hi nonnie!

Am I having a great day, running on roughly 2 hours of sleep and sheer force of will? Debatable. :P

I’ve been listening to Tyler’s song all day tho, that has definitely improved my mood significantly. I’ll never be over the beauty that is this Malex song. WE GOT A MALEX SONG, Y’ALL!!!! And Tyler’s voice... yeah, the absolute best thing ever. I’m at peace just listening to him. 🥰

WOULD YOU COME HOME is without a doubt the best thing of this episode, the best thing of the season tbh. With that being said, I wrote down some more things.

Putting this incoherent mess behind a cut tho (I’m LJ years old, it’s a cut, not a Read More :P), fingers cross Tumblr doesn’t botch the damn thing.

Hmmmm, I’ll admit that last night (I watched live at 3am, which probably was NOT the best idea, but then I’m an adult, what else am I supposed to do other than make TERRIBLE LIFE CHOICES...), I really hated it.

Nothing made sense, too many questions were left unanswered, Malex were robbed of saying “I love you” to each other first, they were also robbed of an opportunity to talk (dear god, when will they finally TALK, it’s literally all I want), Michael was made to leave IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LOVE LETTER ALEX WAS SINGING TO HIM IN PUBLIC (omfg, I’m still so fucking PISSED about that, I’m FUMING) by the writers just to keep the ~drama going, Malex were robbed of a first public kiss, in one moment at the bar it looks like Michael took the handkerchief off, but there’s no way of telling whether they simply forgot to put it on him, or if it was deliberate and he actually took it off and we were robbed of that very significant moment.

Also ngl, Jesse’s death? Underwhelming. I mean, I’m glad he’s finally gone, but his whole storyline this season was underwhelming and so was his death. Oh well, underwhelming is my rating of S2 overall, guess it makes sense for this super villain to go out with a meh instead of a bang.

Blah, I'm still not super happy about the finale, and I especially wanted Michael to hear the WHOLE song, mainly the final two lines

You were the best of me You are the best of me

but since we can’t have nice things it’s not surprising that I’m not a huge fan. At least it wasn’t as devastating as 1x13, or as gross and triggering in 2x06, small mercies, I guess :P

Ngl, the Forlex kiss didn’t spark joy for me personally. I’m a mono shipper, and just like I hated seeing Michael kiss someone else, I hated seeing Alex do the same. But I understand why he did it. Michael left halfway through the song, and Alex was so relieved and proud of himself that he sang it, and Forrest was right there (wearing his Deep Sky ring 👀).

And hey, Alex asked and Forrest gave enthusiastic consent, I appreciate that very much!

I also really liked that Alex and Michael got to destroy the damn shed. I absolutely ADORE that Gregory was there when Alex sang, alive and looking like the proudest big brother ever (like you don’t even know HOW MUCH I love him!!! ). Tanner’s such an amazing addition to the cast and I hope we’ll get to see him more often next season!

I’m glad that neither Alex or Michael were burdened with Jesse’s death, I hate that Gregory is carrying that burden now, but he seems to be better equipped for it, and I think he’ll be okay living with it.

Also a glimmer of hope for my baby Flint and a possible redemption arc? I like it (mainly bc I adore Kiowa, I just want him back).

The Echo breakup was long overdue, IDK, I haven’t cared that much about them as a couple for a long time, they’ve been lying to each other throughout most of the season, insofar it makes perfect sense that they go their separate ways now.

Rrrrosaaaaaa!!! My girl, I’m so damn PROUD of her!!!! She’s doing absolutely amazing, and I hope they’ll bring Iris back for her in S3 as a real friend. She deserves to spend time with people other than the “alien circle” at large.

M/M breakup... let’s just say I’m glad that particular nightmare is finally OVER. Time for Michael to work on himself. He didn’t get much opportunity to do that all season.

I’m a bit worried that due to the larger time jump between S2 and 3 we’ll either not get to see much of his development, or - even worse - he hasn’t worked on himself when we meet him again. That’s why I really rather hate S2 for him as a character. Oh well, that’s something to worry about in a year, I guess.

KYLE. I was happy about the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Kylex moment, but overall S2′s done him dirty. Constantly sidelined, stuck in a relationship I still don’t care about even a little bit. And now Liz even played “god” and saved Steph (which in itself is a good thing, but Liz has been doing this all season, and no one’s stopped her, and I find that worrisome.) I guess with Steph being saved she’s also going to be in S3? Meh, I couldn’t care less, but also something to worry about next year.

Isobel didn’t get to do all that much this episode, but I love her, she’s had an amazing journey this season, and I feel she’s in a really good place right now. GOOD FOR HER!

SANDERS! Not in this episode, but damn, I love him, and I’m SO glad that MICHAEL’S DAD HAS BEEN INTRODUCED TO US THIS SEASON!

Jenna & Charlie AAAAAAHHHHHHHH, I’m so happy for them! And I’m excited to hopefully see both of them again next season! They are amazing, and as a duo a force to be reckoned with! Excited for Riley’s show Hightown to be renewed, still hope she’ll find time to travel to Santa Fe to be in several episodes of RNM.

Max... Ngl, I’m not a fan of the character. Never have been. And while Max 2.0 was nicer than Max 1.0, I never really warmed up to him. Let’s see how things with “Mr. Jones” and Max will go next season.

Maria... Let’s see how things with her go next season. Maybe she’ll finally be allowed to have a storyline that doesn’t revolve around other people.

Circling back to Alex. I love him, I love him the most. He’s on par with my other favorite character of all time (Derek Hale, in case that wasn’t clear). He’s so important to me, and Tyler did the most exquisite job playing him. S2′s been a difficult season for him and I hated that for him.

The writers held him back at almost every turn, he wasn’t allowed to move on, instead Michael got to “dump” Alex every second episode. Man, it got old real fast. But Alex’s resilience finally hammered it home to Michael, that Alex is not leaving again. He’s right there, and he’ll even show up when Michael calls him. New experience for him, I’m sure.

IDK, this whole season was such a mess, so many things that weren’t resolved in the end, the lack of a main plot kept bothering me, and I hated that some of my favorite S1 friendships were completely sidelined.

I hate that an entire season was wasted on Malex being apart, especially wasted for Michael who had a lot of shit on his plate I hoped he’d get a chance at working through (at least in part) in S2, but that didn’t happen. He had some lightbulb moments, but overall he’s still pretty much in the same spot he was at the beginning of the season.

And while I agree that he’s not ready to be with Alex atm, I hate that he did not communicate that to Alex properly, and instead left halfway through Alex’s song.

IDK, I just feel like pretty much every fanfic writer in our fandom would’ve done a better job at writing them this season, they would’ve been allowed to move forward separately, but still towards a common goal.

I know, they are endgame, there’s no doubt about that, but I’m TIRED of them not talking. And especially after Alex’s performance.

Either way, I don’t think any of this makes much sense, coherent thoughts, I don’t have them atm. I’ll need more time to think things through, and maybe my overall negative opinion of this season won’t be quite so negative anymore. Who knows.

I’ve always wondered whether I’d feel like finally watching S2 once I know how it ends, and right now I can answer that question with a firm NO. Canon exhausts me. I’m looking forward to fandom getting time to take a deep breath and process this season.

I’m excited that we get to take care of the characters for the next year. It’s time for some good development, for tons of fics where Malex actually talk to each other, where Gregory is an awesome brother, Sanders adopts Michael and a million other things.

If there’s one thing I’m grateful for is, that the finale didn’t ruin Malex entirely. I’d been really worried about that.

THEY ARE OURS AGAIN, FOLKS! \0/

#rnm 2x13 #rnm spoilers #rnm speculation #malex are endgame pass it on #tyler's music #is healing my soul #rnm review #nonnie asks

18 notes · View notes

loafingdragon · 4 years

Note

who are your favorite top ten black clover characters & ships? talk about them!

A question? For me? 🤭 Let’s see if I can collect my thoughts long enough to answer! I’ll put things in no real order under the cut~

Kaiser Granvorka, captain of the Purple Orcas (sing that title. You will not regret it.)

Sometimes less is more. I love his design. I love his chill. I love his love of his wife. I love how he stepped up to clean up his trash squad.

Reve

I LOVE the elves and I really wish that they would get some recognition. Did you know that Phantom Knights just calls Reve and Charla “Dorothy (reincarnated)” and “Charlotte (reincarnated)”? They’re different people!! They have NAMES. Why wouldn’t they use their names?? The elves have so much lost potential!

Anyway, Reve is also very chill. A sleepy queen. I have a LOT of headcanons about her. I also have an au where the elves stay after reincarnation and share their bodies with their hosts, and she and Dorothy are best friends and girlfriends and hang out in glamour world together and I love them.

Nebra and Nozel Silva

Listen,,, she’s so pretty,,, I’m gay,,,

But in all seriousness, she’s my favorite Silva. She’s just sort of a mean, sexy lamp in the manga/anime, but she gets slightly more character development in Phantom Knights, where you see that she’s at least an honorable knight who really cares about getting things done right and even goes above and beyond the call of duty; she’s a lot more mature than Solid, and it even seems that she’s more concerned about capabilities than status at some points (much to Solid’s surprise.) That doesn’t mean she won’t go out of her way to make trouble, which is fun. The wiki also suggests she has confidence issues which is super interesting to me. I’d like to see her grow as a character or get like... even a little bit of attention at all besides backing up Nozel and Solid and getting stabbed. I also think her magic is really cool... would love to see her actually use it sometime.

-coughcough also since she gets so little screen time i can write her how i want in my fics and as far as we know it’s canon coughcough-

There’s more to her than her pretty, pretty face!! She’s probably my #1 favorite.

1) I love powerful fictional royals in general. 2) I love to write fics where he is embarrassed and vulnerable. Silvas deserve a healthy dose of humility whenever you can give it. He is an easy target with his uptight nature and silly hair. I’d also like him to grow as a character.

hehe look at Nebra peeking out of the corner of this pic lol

Fuegoleon, Mereoleona, and Leopold Vermillion

I am still a simp for powerful fictional royalty, okay? Everyone love the Vermillions. There is nothing I could say here that has not already been said, except that I love writing fics where Fuegoleon gets to be embarrassing and oblivious.

Dorothy Unsworth

She’s so cute and the coolest witch. Love her chaotic energy. Love how she knows things she probably shouldn’t. Always shaking it up. Another sleepy queen. I wish I could sleep all the time and still get my work done. Also since I made her my icon on discord, I have been cheerier.

Charla

I’m so deep in headcanons for this one but see my earlier elf complaint with Reve before continuing. Okay, understand? Charlotte is awesome, but the sheer hilarity of Charla and Charlotte sharing a body is what make Charla so, so good. The LAST thing Charla did before going away forever is SNITCH on Charlotte to her crush. This elf loves drama. She would help Charlotte so, so much, but also make her life a living hell. We stan a queen who can’t mind her own business.

Alecdora Sandler

This man is hilarious. He’s a full grown man ready to throw hands with a 15 year old because William gives him attention. He fell in a hole and had to be saved. Yuno let him declare all his love for William and then obliterated him. It’s so funny. It’s what this asshole deserves. A perfect, satisfying character arc and a hilariously embarrassing personality wins him his place among my faves. I love to hate him so much. I’d like to put a picture of his stupid face in a locket to look at and give me strength in any situation. “At least I’m not this man child,” I would say. A smile would tug at my lips as a single tear ran down my face. “Thank you, Alecdora,” I would whisper, holding his image close to my heart.

---

My favorites tend to change around with my moods, so maybe on any other given day, you would find Charlotte Roselei, Paplo Espuma, or Kirsch Vermillion (post royal knights exam humbling) on this list. Charlotte is badass, Paplo cute, and Kirsch is funny with cool magic. Also working with Charlotte on my blog, @lawstaverse makes me fond of her, and I have some fun party boy headcanons for Kirsch and the Coral Peacocks. Mimosa Vermillion is also super duper cute. Honestly, Jien Du could even be on here for being accused of being evil and then going “let me clear things up” and then just doing the super villain laugh- also for having rainbow lights flashing around him when he fights. I can hear carameldansen playing in the distance whenever he’s doing stuff.

Now for my favorite couples!

Fuegoleon Vermillion x Nozel Silva

This one is probably #1! They obviously care for and respect each other and a lot of Nozel’s dialogue gets... debatably romantic. I just really enjoy writing them in sort of ‘boys will be boys’ situations, where they can let their guard down around each other and their friends and be stupid and silly. I also love the idea of Fuegoleon being oblivious about how flirty he comes off. Nozel is pining but more in an annoyed way than a sad way. “No homo, bro,” says Fuegoleon, as he kisses Nozel on the lips and gives him a ring after they eat together and wrestle in the woods. Nozel rolls his eyes into the next solar system and admires his new wedding ring. Currently working on a 150k+ word slowburn bisexual disaster Fuegoleon fic with @thespiralgrimoire that involves this ship and the third on this list, along with tiny snippets of others.

Leopold Vermillion x Asta

Leo saw Asta do something cool and said “I’m done being classist. Actually I’m in love with you,” and never looked back. Every single Royal in Asta’s age group being obsessed with him is very very funny. I picture their relationship is much like Nozel and Fuegoleon’s as described above, but they’re BOTH extremely oblivious bros being romantic bros.

Fuegoleon Vermillion x Nebra Silva

Less my fave but still on here bc it’s fun. Nebra is fun, she can push Fuego out of his comfort zone, and also feel comfortable and confident with him. It’s nice. Ngl, anything that gives Nebra a chance to develop her character, whether it be in a friendly or romantic setting, is good.

Nebra is sexy. Fuegoleon is sexy. Together they are super sexy.

Reve x Dorothy Unsworth

I mentioned this briefly earlier, but they finally get someone who can share their world with them! Dorothy was so happy to have Reve in her head, and didn’t even regret being possessed at all. Also, Reve’s chill personality can balance out Dorothy’s excitable and unpredictable one! I think that them both being in dream world, with the magic power to look into each other’s minds(even more than other elf/human cohabitants) means that they can pretty easily become super duper close. They also have a space where they can physically meet. It’s kind of the best of both worlds.

Zara Ideale x Ina’s Father (did he really not get a name???)

There is no way you can convince me that Ina is not Zara and that man’s child. Look at their eyebrows. Rewatch episode 138. You’re lying to me if you tell me you don’t see it.

Nebra Silva x Zora Ideale

🤷🏽‍♀️ Punk and Prep is a fun combo, I like pitch romance, and the more info we get for Nebra, the more likely I see her willing to go vigilante and have a good time working with/ playing around with Zora. They both like to mess with people, Nebra appreciates a job well done, and Zora likes seeing people improve themselves. Nebra would def need to develop a bit for this to work, but I like to believe that would happen.

#Anonymous #black clover #ask #thank you anon #<3

11 notes · View notes

fdd700 · 5 years

Text

Accepting Deceit Part. 3

@ab-artist

WARNING; Sympathetic deceit, a brief mention of blood

Logan liked to think of himself as impartial, not caring about which direction Thomas chose to follow as long as he obeyed the rules and his choices made sense. He thought himself easy to please as well. He wasn’t like Roman, who needed to be rewarded for his actions, or Patton who needed to know everyone was happy with his decision, or Virgil, who just seemed to need constant validation that he wasn’t messing up. He just needed self-gratification and that was enough.

However, he had recently been forced to accept that maybe - maybe - he was a bit headstrong when it came to making decisions that he may be - a slight chance - that he tended to ignore the others. And maybe thats why Deceit left him out. Or maybe it was because Deceit was just afraid of logic because he was literally the exact opposite of what Logan stood for-

But that couldn’t be proven so he wouldn’t keep himself awake at night.

But he was surprised when Virgil approached the three of them about giving Deceit a chance. He had some logical arguments and he was even more surprised when Roman - yes, Roman - was suddenly in Deceit’s corner. Logan wasn’t mad, per se, but he wasn’t happy. Patton was always too forgiving and easily trusting so Logan couldn’t count on him to have a logical and thoughtful debate on th subject.

So, naturally, he turned to Virgil.

“But I’m just confused, you are -were more than hostile towards him at the start and frequently told him that you didn’t want him around. What’s changed?”

“I never really realised what I was doing. In a way, I responded to the aggression he gave me, and us in general. The only difference was, my aggression came from spite and meanness, he came from his vulnerability,” Virgil explained. “Plus, I treated him as you all treated me at the start. I thought to ice him out would make it easier but it just brings down a lot of feelings onto him that he doesn’t deserve.”

“But thats the thing, he has also been mean to us, and you can argue that it was out of vulnerability but that still doesn’t exclude his actions and he has to be held responsible,” Logan said.

“But does it excuse our actions?” Virgil asked. Logan blinked at him. “Uh, I’m awful with words. uh,, does him being mean to allow us to be mean back? Like, if someone pushes us, are we allowed push back? Because, if he has to be held responsible, then so do we.” Logan didn’t have a response to this.

“I suppose you make a valid point.”

“Wait, I just shocked Logan into silence? Logan ‘I-always-have-something-to-say’ Sanders got shocked into silence,” Virgil teased before he heard someone calling his name. “Probably princy. He has run out of villains.”

Logan was somewhat clearer on the situation. But he still wanted to talk to Deceit. He seemed to be targetting Logan - excluding him, not allowing him to voice his opinion. He wanted to understand why, seeing as Roman, who actively tried to fight Deceit many a time, had turned around and was now on his side. He would consider talking to Roman, but he seemed to be busy recently. He would go to Patton, but he as so blinded by his emotions. The thought made him shudder.

So he decided the best person to understand the actions of Deceit was, well Deceit. So, that’s where he headed.

-x-

Logan had been down at the dark side’s rooms once before, and it was purely accidental. If you were to consider where the sides lived as a corridor, then Roman, Patton and himself were at the opposite end, Virgil was somewhat in the middle (both metaphorically and physically. Though his room had previously been in the dark sides corner, but as Thomas’ view of him moved, his room did as well, hence as to why he was in the middle) and then the dark sides were at the end. Of course, it wasn’t just one long corridor, but for the sake of simplicity, that would be the best way to describe it.

He continued on his route, thinking over what he would say to the other side. He knew it was important to not get (A) Physically, (B) Emotional or (C) Defensive. Upon reach the side’s room indicated but their emblem carved onto their door, he went to knock but found the door open. He was about to knock anyway, he understood how rude it was to enter a room unannounced even if the door was unlocked, but was stopped by the sound of cries. Through the crack in the door, he noticed deceit sitting with his back to a dark wall, his knees to his chest and tears running down his face. Upon further inspection, he noticed the walls were covered in sentences. The sentences themselves were horrible things, insults, jeers, backhanded compliments, the list went on. Logan, upon realising that even if he did enter the room to help that he would be unsuccessful in calmer the other down, slowly retreated. He had no idea what these phrases meant. Had Deceit written them on the wall? It seemed like a very depressive thing to do, and they clearly had been bothering Deceit, so he couldn’t have done them. Logan figured he has to ask one of the few people who might know. Virgil.

“Well, they’re, uh,” Virgil said, thinking through his words. “They’re things that have been said about that side. It only seems to appear in the dark sides area though. Like, for example, when I was still the villain to you guys, all the mean things you said to me came up on the wall.” Logan nodded, signalling he understood. “So, those things, well they’re things we’ve said and thought about Deceit, whether it's to him, or behind his back, they’ll appear.”

“But only the negative ones?” Virgil nodded. “So when we talked about you-”

“Yeah,” Virgil said, awkwardly shifting in his chair.

“All of them?”

“All of them.”

-x-

“Family meeting?” Patton asked, looking at Roman who shrugged.

“Thats was glas- sorry, Logan said.” Patton just smiled.

“Alright, Kiddo, thats for letting me know. Have you told Virgil?” Roman nodded. “Well, then let's get going!” As all four of them were seated Logan stood.

“So I’ve called this meeting talk about Deceit.” A tense cloud seemed to sweep over the room. “As I’m the only undecided party-”

“Bu Patton-”

“-doesn’t hate anyone and will openly accept all of us.” Patton smiled and nodded. “So, I’m what I’m trying to say is that I agree with all you. I think we need to do something, and soon.”

“Yes but what?”

“We need to begin to help Thomas change his viewpoint of Deceit and the dark sides in general.” There was a decline in the tenseness of the room. “But we need to do something now, and I have an idea.”

-x-

The rapid knocking on Deceit door made two thing flash through his mind

1) Someone was here to kill him

2) Someone was here to annoy him.

Turned out to be a mix of both, as he opened the door to see Patton, who waved at him cheerily, Virgil, who gave him a half-smirk, Roman, who gave him an awkward smile filled with love, and Logan who had his usual unreadable expression but soft eyes.

“What-”

“You’re moving.” Logan cut him off. “Roman, you help him pick out clothes, Virgil, you grab the duvet and pillows and Patton-”

“Hug deceit?”

“No-” But Logan noticed that Patton was already hugging the side. Deceit blinked, looking like the group packed up his stuff.

“W-why?”

“Your wall. I can’t stand you just looking at it and thinking its true. So, we’re taking you out of here for now. Virgil’s got the biggest room space, so you’re gonna stay with him.”

“But the others-”

“We’re working on that.” There was silence as tears slipped down Deceit’s good eye.

“Why are you doing all of this?” There was a stop in movements as they looked at each other.

“Because we’re a family, Kiddo,” Patton said after moments of silence. “And we don’t leave anyone behind.” With that, the work resumed. Patton left deceit to help pack any knickknacks the side wanted. Logan made him over to the side, handing him a tissue. They both stood in silence, as Deceit regained control over his emotions and Logan looked at the trio packing up his things.

“You’re not a monster.” Deceit’s head whipped to the logical side. “You did bad things, yes. But so as Virgil, and he’s not a monster. I’ve done things I’m not proud of, all of us has. And I’m not saying it'll be easy, but we have to try.” Deceit nodded and Logan, never one for physical contact took Deceit hands and squeezed it for a moment before letting go as if to say ‘you’re not alone anymore’. But Deceit smiled and nodded in reply. ‘I know. Thank you’

Original post / one / two / three / four / five

#sympathetic deceit #deceit sanders #logan sanders #sanders sides #tw sympathetic deceit #ts deceit #ts virgil #ts sanders sides #ts remus #ts roman #ts loceit #virgil sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #thomas sanders #ts dlamp #dlamp #accepting deceit

44 notes · View notes

firebirdsdaughter · 4 years

Text

Hmmm…

… I wonder if Yua was supposed to just have AIMS scrap Horobi and didn’t, for some reason… Interestingly, Over-Time translated Isamu’s line as ‘you were poking at him’ while Genm Corp translated it as ‘we [AIMS itself, presumably, rather than him] were fiddling around w/ it’… Presumably he’s referring to repairs, and it’s not a huge difference whether it was Yua or just generally AIMS that did so, but… Curious. I guess they were maybe trying to find out what made him go homicidal and hoped repairs would give them access or something, but maybe that failed.

All in all, I don’t think Yua was ‘supposed’ to just leave him w/ AIMS, in particular Isamu. I don’t think that Gai necessarily cared to specifically order her to see Horobi destroyed, but he may have intended for her to do that. Though I do hope him deliberately pausing to step on Horobi’s chest indicates a past w/ them, I think he considers Horobi to have served his purpose and no longer cares what happens (which could come back to bite him, and I hope it will). This, I guess could be Yua’s way of trying to give Isamu some closure after everything that happened—which makes her being smacked w/ Gai’s reveal that he was the root cause of Daybreak all the more rough, bc she knows very well how that effected Isamu, and I think was hoping he’d find some sort of peace from it now…

Meanwhile, Isamu’s starting to question his outlook. Obviously, he’s not going to just flip a one eighty, but… He’s actually looking at the state Horobi is in and taking the time to think. I think he was building up MetsubouJinrai and esp Horobi as some sort of… I dunno, big, dramatic… Thing, in his mind, and now… For all, in a way, I think he recognises them more than even Aruto does, Ismau’s not quite the level of thinking of HumaGear as ‘people,’ which is why I think he was saying a ‘pile of scrap metal,’ but… He finally comes face to face w/ what he believes to have been the architect of his trauma, finally apparently overcomes it, and… It’s just not right. I feel like Isamu’s getting the sense that there’s something wrong here. Bc this ‘big enemy’ that he’s built up, this threat is… Now just a broken, shutdown robot. It’s not quite pity, but… But he’s shifting. I think he’s starting to wonder just how this happened.

I still think Isamu’s a better person to interact w/ Horobi bc, well, we all know how Horobi and Aruto piss each other off, but also… I dunno. I have a strong suspicion that, if anyone can understand Horobi’s mindset, it’s Isamu, the one who has also spent all those years consumed by hate and anger. And I also still think Isamu will be better able to accept/understand a certain aspect of singularity that I think Aruto doesn’t quite get, which is that it’s merely about AI evolving beyond human understanding, in the same way that the details of the human mind are. I think, as I’ve said before, that Isamu is better able to accept the concept of self-aware HumaGears still having the capacity to change and grow, that they have an equal capacity for good and bad, and that what their predominant mindset is upon awakening is about what drove them to wake up, but that it’s not the be all and end all. All Aruto did when learning about how Jin was only fighting bc it was all he knew, was how he was raised, was lament ‘why couldn’t you have been different’ and then destroyed him. Isamu, going by the ep 17 preview, is actually going to be confronting and debating and arguing w/ Horobi, which I think is a key difference. It’s not that Isamu likes HumaGear, he doesn’t, but… I think esp w/ Horobi, there’s a weird respect/recognition there. Isamu holds Horobi accountable for his actions, shouts and tries to argue w/ him, like he has w/ every other HumaGear, w/ only Raiden fighting back. I still think Aruto’s sympathies and definition of ‘good’ in HumaGear are still very rooted on whether they benefit humans, and he still doesn’t quite understand the potential he talks about. I think he could have talked Jin down if he’d questioned further, if he’d shown respect and recognition for the fact that Jin had become self aware, and still had the potential to change. Jin was already incredibly advanced at processing and acting and responding. Like I said in a previous salt post, imagine if Aruto had kept pressing, if he’d eventually discovered the cause of Jin’s grief, offered to help fix Horobi and find a way to work together. But he didn’t. He couldn’t seem to grasp that HumaGear don’t stop evolving and learning. If anything, he taught Jin that even if a human espouses wanting peace w/ HumaGear, they’ll still just destroy one that goes against their perceptions for any reason, that they still don’t see HumaGear as thinking equals. Aruto probably could have reasoned w/ Jin—maybe it would have taken a while, but he could have. But… It’s like, he talks about seeing them as people, but in the end didn’t treat Jin like one. Isamu, on the other hand, hates and fears HumaGear, but… He tries to fight w/ them, he tries to engage. When he has Horobi, who, as far as he knows, caused all his trauma, right in front of him, his first thought isn’t ‘if only you’d been different’ it’s ‘this is who you are right now and this is who I’m going to engage w/.’ He doesn’t think ‘we should reset/remake you and ‘correct your learning’ (ugh, that wording pisses me off),’ he thinks ‘I am going to fight and debate with you as who you are.’ He wants to argue, to hold Horobi accountable. I don’t think he’s thinking ‘I can change your views,’ but he’s giving more validity to Horobi’s mind and ability to think than Aruto gave to Jin’s. More respect.

It’s part of why I think it’d be stronger to have Isamu be the human who get through to Horobi. They’re foils. Isamu treats Horobi more like an equal, imo, than Aruto treated Jin. Like an equal he hates and wants revenge on, but more of an equal. He doesn’t expect HumaGear to be naturally kind and benevolent, and never has. He’s more ready to accept them having darker sides and thoughts and feelings etc. I can’t deny that I also get a smug little feeling about the possibility of such a feat kind of throwing in Aruto’s face that he didn’t need to destroy Jin, by proving that HumaGear aren’t bound to what they learn upon their first singularity. Maybe even something where Horobi can look at him and ask why Isamu, who was traumatised by HumaGear during Daybreak, who hated Horobi above all, can look at him [Horobi] and consider things, can actually recognise him and confront him and spare him long enough to actually talk to him—but Aruto, w/ all his speeches and love for HumaGear, concluded so quickly to just kill Jin, who he had just learned was a child raised into this conflict, all while going on about wanting HumaGear and humans to ‘smile’ together. Why did Aruto, the supposed sympathiser, conclude that Jin, a child just following someone else’s wishes, deserved to die while Isamu, who hates HumaGear, could conclude that Horobi, who was giving the orders and possibly the most willing villain, should have at least a chance to live?

It’s weird, and hard to explain, and this turned into salt w/out meaning to. I may post the top part again w/out all this stuff, so people who don’t want to deal w/ all this rambling don’t have to. It’s just… I feel like it’s an interesting comparison. Aruto loves and sympathises w/ and supports HumaGear, but can’t seem to accept that they might develop thoughts other than exclusive benevolence to humanity. Doesn’t… Quite understand that ‘self-awareness’ isn’t just some ‘final true nature’ if that makes sense, but something that means they’ve evolved beyond human understanding in the same way that the actual subtleties of the human nature are beyond understanding. Like… Like he can’t accept HumaGear who vary from his ‘ideal’ of what they are to the point that he can’t understand that, just like humans, self-aware HumaGear are still changing. Isamu, meanwhile, hates and fears HumaGear and is trigger happy up the wazoo, but… He… He ‘sees’ them better, if that makes sense? He doesn’t expect them to be unquestioningly benevolent towards humans all the time, bc he never thought they were. He treats them the same way he treats other humans he doesn’t like. I wouldn’t say he quite considers them people or anything (he is shifting in his views and it was partially Aruto who prompted that), but he gives more respect to their capacity as people for both good and bad than Aruto seems to. Aruto’s sympathy is rooted in how they benefit humans. Isamu never thought they were a benefit, but while he’s not sympathetic… He almost recognises them as people more than Aruto does.

None of this makes sense, I know. I’m sorry.

#Firebird Salt #I'm sorry it's hard to explain #I know the cultural implications #like how it's about being part of the society #but what's bugging me is that I think they COULD have reached Jin and brought him back into society #Jin was so special as a HumaGear made by another HumaGear #not made to serve humans #yes he was made to destroy humans #but he wasn't programmed like that he was RAISED #imagine if he had been human #I bet Aruto would've pressed more there'd've been trying to talk him down #a self-aware HumaGear should be clarified as being the same as a human #still constantly learning and changing #I'm really kinda hoping Horobi gets to confront Aruto and be like 'you talk about wanting us to live in harmony but you destroyed my son'#'who was not responsible for this and just doing what I and the ark told him'#'how is that sympathising w/ us and respecting our singularities?'

7 notes · View notes

selfdestructivecat · 5 years

Text

I just finished playing Ace Attorney Investigations 2. And HOLY SHIT.

This game has been absolutely incredible and I feel the overwhelming urge to rant about how incredible it is. So SPOILER WARNING because I will be spoiling the crap out of this game.

Where to begin? I loved the intricate cases, and how they all built upon each other, forming one large mystery that we much uncover. Each case, while all being so different and distinct, each possessed their own charm.

The first case, even though it was a tutorial, reintroduced our favorite prosecutor/detective/Great Thief trio in an interesting introduction that was challenging while also simplistic enough to gain our bearing, in addition to laying the foundation for the rest of the cases and introducing many key figures.

The second case, instead of being the first of the filler cases usually introduced in an AA game, surprised me by having the culprit in the first case turn out to be the new victim. This case also introduced some AWESOME characters, such as Justine, Sebastion (my beautiful boy), and Dogen, who is SUCH A BADASS! Honestly, I love everything about this man and I will be sure to rant about him later on. And come on, who doesn’t like a good prison escape? The scene of the crime was probably one of my favorites in the game, and the inclusion of the animals added charm to the environment and many of the otherwise dull prisoners. The case itself was also lots of fun. It was so satisfying to refute all of DeBeste’s smug and completely illogical theories and to bring Roland to justice.

The third case, while being my least favorite of the five, was also lots of fun and had so many good moments. I LOVED playing as Gregory Edgeworth! He was so similar to Miles, and yet possessed a gentler and quieter nature that contrasted nicely to Edgeworth’s sharper personality. In every remark he made, he showed how good of a person he was, addressing everyone politely and patiently guiding Ray. AND HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT HIS SON! You can tell how much he cares about Miles though him constantly thinking about him and worrying about him. He thinks about introducing the show the suspect stars in to his son, debates gathering treats for his son’s Christmas present, and overall demonstrates how much he loved him. HE DESERVED BETTER, GODDAMMIT VON KARMA! The case was also fun to play, and battling against the Stature of Limmitations (which has come up in many past AA cases) was a nice challenge. Overall, really enjoyed this case, although many of the new characters introduced in this case lacked the charm other characters showed, at least in my opinion.

Sadly, the case of Kay’s amnesia was spoiled to me when I accidentally read about it in a gorgeous fancomic on tumblr (which was entirely my fault, I just wanted more Edgeworth content and ignored the risks. I thought I learned my lesson with Merlin, but I guess I’ll never change XD). However, I was still shocked and immensely saddened when I saw the state she was in. And when Miles gave away his badge (how he did it with no hesitation! I believe, in his words, he said “it was nothing compared to the life of a dear friend”) GOD MY HEART! I didn’t think I could love him any more than I already did, but I was so so wrong. And Gumshoe wanting to stick with Edgeworth even when he wasn’t a prosecutor anymore! The mystery surrounding the smuggling ring was super interesting and a lot of fun to learn about, and the connections that were beginning to form between this case and all the previous cases definitely created some jaw-dropping moments. And of course, bringing Blaise DeBeste to justice was oh so sweet (although it hurt so much to see Sebastian in so much pain). This case was such a tear-jerker in the many emotions it created, both happy and sad, and I wish I could forget all about it so I could play it again.

Finally, the last case. BOY was this case a ride. The longest of all the cases, I thought it ended twice before it did, every time going “wait, there’s MORE!?” as another cutscene played. And I loved every second of it. First of all, another lovable character is introduced in John. John also gives us another reason to love Justine, who is actually John’s doting adoptive mother. Aside from that, the case itself was deliciously complex and intricate, introducing twist after twist to create an exciting story, while also tying up loose ends created by all the previous cases. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what those monster footprints could have been! And the reveal with Knightly and Simon being the two lost sons!? This realization left me speechless. However, my favorite part of this case was Sebastian’s triumph over his father. Seeing tied up and in tears following his kidnappjng, questioning everything he’s ever believed in, was heartbreaking. However, his helplessness made his redemption so much sweeter. I am honestly so proud of him.

And now, the characters! God, does Capcom know how to make characters! I loved the return of old, familiar faces like Penny Nikohl (I definitely butchered that last name), Regina Berry, and the mysterious and oh so badass Shelly de Killer (although I could have done without a few... looking at you Lotta!). And the new characters were also very cool! I could go on and on about Sirhan Dogen and Anubis. Even while behind bars and making absolutely no threats whatsoever, he still holds a intimidating presence with his piercing white eyes, the hulking figure of a huge black dog over his shoulder, and the soft, menacing music playing in the background, accompanied by the quiet ringing of bells. I just... I can’t get enough of this man. And his controntatuon with de Killer was awesome!!! I honestly just can’t get enough of him. Raymond was also a really fun character. I liked how he interacted with Edgeworth and Kay, as well as his sense of humor. However, despite his goofy personality, there were many touching moments involving him, such as the two photos he took (one with him and Gregory, the other with him and Miles). Such a beautifully complex character. Other characters like John and Simon were also very cool and interesting (I especially liked the twist with the latter. Seriously, I did NOT see that coming!) However, there were also a few characters I simply disliked. Many of the characters in the third case were either a bit too extra, such as Master, Hall, and Delicia, or had much less personality compared to the other characters, such as Gustavia. This made them not as fun to interact with as others. Another character I didn’t particularly like was Patricia Roland. Even before we descovered her to be the villain (which I TOTALLY CALLED), her manurisms and personality made me very uncomfortable, and I kinda dreaded interacting with her. Of course, these opinions of these characters are entirely my own, and if you like any of these characters, I think that’s awesome and respect your opinion.

In terms of gameplay, I think I liked the first Investigations slightly better. Some parts were drawn on a lot longer than I think they had to, and while the majority of the twists landed and were extremely effective, some were way too obvious or didn’t land at all, although that could be attributed to my own stupidity. However, I still enjoyed uncovering the truth just as much as any other AA game, and the new Logic Chess minigame was tons of fun (although it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that I was supposed to watch their facial expressions and decide based on them whether to wait or press). I kinda wish there was actually more of this minigame, but it didn’t detract in the least from the rest of the game.

Overall, amazing story, super fun gameplay, and both new and old lovable characters join together in the masterpiece that is Investigations 2. I’m sure I’m forgetting tons of things I want to discuss regarding this game, and I may add on to it later, but I just wanted to get my thoughts down while I’m still riding the high from completing it. Thanks for listening to my rambles, and if you wanna discuss this game, leave a comment or PM me! I’d love to talk about it!

#ace attorney #ace attorney investigations #ace attorney investigations 2 #spoilers #ace attorney investigations 2 spoilers #rant #miles edgeworth investigations #miles edgeworth investigations 2 #this game has taken over my life

29 notes · View notes

sunsetcurve · 4 years

Text

Family Danger Chapter 6

It’s just that the chapter has some Thunderbolt in it… even though it’s the end of them in that way for the story. I intend to skip right on past the Dark Max segment of the story for you. If there’s some cute post-Dark Max things, I’ll send those as well.

Getting Away

Piper watched in awe as the guys put down multiple burgers at Happy Fun Burger, and playfully elbowed Charlotte, “How’d you manage to stay sane in a room full of this at work everyday for five years?”

“Oh, you know… Ingenuity, and earbuds,” Charlotte tried to joke around. She was obsessed with checking the Souldates app every few minutes, in between apology and begging texts from Max. She ignored him up until the point of: Your visit luggage is in my hotel room. “Oh, shoot!” She debated on whether she should make him bring it to Happy Fun Burger to drop it off, but knew that Max wasn’t above following her to where she was gonna be sleeping tonight. She could have him bring it to the hotel and have to face her while all of her friends were there giving him the stink eye. He didn’t particularly care what people thought about him, though. Can you bring it to the hotel that my guests are at? He started a phone call, instead of answering her text and she got up from the table and went to take the call.

“Does anybody care that Charlotte is most likely gonna get back with a guy who is sort of turning out to be kind of a creep?” Piper wondered.

“They haven’t broken up, so, I’m counting on a make up, personally,” Jasper said. “Charlotte’s got a lot of patience in her for certain people.”

“Not us,” Ray said and Henry and Jasper laughed about it. “No, definitely.” “Absolutely not.”

Henry reminded his sister, “What happened to he’s so hot and they kiss all of the time?”

“I saw Charlotte cry tonight. I didn’t even know that was something that Charlotte could do!” Piper yelled.

“Clearly, you’ve never seen Charlotte mess up a science project,” Jasper said.

“Charlotte’s never messed up a science project,” Henry quickly interjected, but added, to Piper, “But, her work is an area that she might shed tears about. I don’t think her crying was over the guy. I think it was over what he did to her work.”

“She’s married to her work,” Jasper said.

“Well,” Henry tilted his head, then nodded, “Yeah, she’s definitely Mrs. Charlotte Work…” She came back to the table and sat back down, and finished eating, not saying much.

…

The group rented two suites - one for Ray and Schwoz, and the other for Jasper and Henry, but since Piper had tagged along for the trip and Charlotte had left the event with them, Ray let the kids have both of those (begrudgingly) and he and Schwoz rented another.

Charlotte was in Jasper and Henry’s suite and all three were having themselves a spa night while Piper used her dad’s card for her own space, because she had enough of all of these guys. Jasper noticed Charlotte texting a lot and figured that she and Max were still hashing things out. Henry chose to try to ignore it and move on. “Yo… So, is it too soon for me to ask about Phoebe?”

“She’s not interested, Henry,” Charlotte said, rolling her eyes. Jasper was applying a gel skin mask onto Henry’s face. Charlotte already had a clay mask on hers and was “relaxing” in the hot tub, in her undies, because her things were still with Max. Somebody knocked and she quickly got out, Henry looked in the opposite direction to avoid seeing her body exposed, Jasper absentmindedly turned his head to do the opposite. “Dude!” Henry scolded.

“We’re like family, Henry. Grow up,” Jasper said, returning to the mask while Henry now couldn’t help but to sneak a peek himself.

She grabbed a bathrobe, slipped into complimentary slippers and went to the door to open it for Max.

Henry couldn’t see him, but heard his snivelling voice. “Hey, I brought your stuff… Can we please talk to each other? I want to make this right.”

“You can’t undo past actions, Max.” She was trying to keep her voice quiet so that her boys couldn’t hear.

“I know that I can’t, but am I not allowed to make a mistake, sometimes? Is this really about what I did earlier, or is it, like all of our problems, actually about your feelings for Henry?” She jumped with a start, grabbed his arm, glanced towards her two friends, and shoved Max outside of the door to talk to him in the hallway.

Henry and Jasper glanced at each other, then made a run for it, to eavesdrop. “We shouldn’t,” Jasper gave the compulsory warning, but they did, anyway.

Charlotte complained in a low voice, “I’ve already told you that Henry and I are friends. We’ve been friends a long time.”

“Right, but you still wear his pajamas that you stole on Thanksgiving, even though they don’t fit you.”

“They’re comfortable! I gave him back four pairs that I intended to score on Christmas to avoid having to keep coming back to the pajama argument with you, and here we are again.”

Max was frustrated, even though he knew that this was petty, he strongly felt it was significant, “It’s an example, not an argument. Some of the stuff that you’ve complained to me about Henry, I wouldn’t even dream of doing to you and he gets to keep you as a best friend, but I do one thing wrong and you don’t even want to see my face, now?”

Charlotte now raised her voice, “I believed in this, you jerk! You altered my launch. You spent months supporting me and making me feel secure and confident in my work and this relationship, only to hijack the controls when it became official and set forth a motion that we can’t undo. Whatever complaints that I’ve had about Henry, he’s never in all of the years that I have known him, plotted behind my back, on my behalf or otherwise without telling me, (well, except for the time he got Bish arrested)… But, he’s NEVER purposefully interfered in my work or the success of it. He’d never have the mind to do that to me. He might hate listening to me speak about my extracurricular plans and science ideas but, I’m snappy at him at times, too. We reciprocate annoyance and we reciprocate friendship. This was something else. I was giving you my full trust, as my man. You told me I could fly, then you clipped my wings, and pulled me onto your back to fly for me. I just can't forgive this, Max. And, Henry had nothing to do with it. This time, our problem is all on you.”

Max stared at the ground and took a few deep breaths. “I’m sorry. I’ll never forgive myself for it. I thought if we threw in some villains, gave supers a reason to check it out, they’d come for the initial curiosity and stay for everything that you’ve made available to them. It was really more like a massive text, but I should have spoken to you about it. I thought that if I made a big move, I could finally actually win you over, from him.”

“Oooh, he’s in trouble now,” Henry whispered to himself, shaking his head and smiling.

“Win me over?” Charlotte repeated. “Max, if Henry had me - that would be my choice. Series of decisions and actions from myself would be necessary for that possibility. I’m not a trophy that someone brought out to present because of your performance at an event!”

Max dropped to his knees and lowered his head, “You want me to beg? I’ll do anything. I’ll say anything. Whatever I need to do to make it right, Charls.” Henry scoffed at that nickname. Other guests walked by and saw a damp woman in a bathrobe, wearing a clay face mask and a satin scarf wrapped around her head and a guy in front of her, on his knees.

“Let’s go talk inside,” she told him. Henry and Jasper rushed from the door. Henry picked up a menu that he reviewed while standing in the middle of the room, and Jasper fell into the hottub, fully dressed. Charlotte paused, stared at them, knowing that they had been eavesdropping, but didn’t respond. “My room’s this way,” she told Max. He telekinetically lifted her bags and followed her, without saying a word.

Jasper got out of the hottub, casually waved at them, and put his hands on his hips. “She’s gonna forgive him.”

“She loves him,” Henry said and shrugged his shoulders. Char deserved to be able to explore her feelings and she hadn’t had chances when they were younger. He just had to accept that as her friend, he’d see her relationships, good or bad, and had to dedicate himself to being there for her when they didn’t work out, as he was sure that eventually this wouldn’t.

…

The next morning, Charlotte walked Max out, trying to part ways before anybody else woke up, but Jasper was already up, setting up the table for breakfast and he’d woken Henry up, too. “Morning, Lovebirds,” Henry said, yawning.

Max rolled his eyes and headed out. “Later, Max!” Jasper cheered. Max forced a single hand wave. He paused at the door, stared at Charlotte, reached out to touch her chin, to which she awkwardly smiled and casually leaned away, shut the door behind him and joined her friends at the table.

“The makeup sleepover sounded lively.”

“Shut up, Hen.”

Jasper had roses on the table as he served heart shaped pancakes, “Happy Valentines Day.”

“Can you believe all of that happened in one day?” Charlotte asked out loud. They started breakfast and talked. “So, Max and I will proceed with our plans for this weekend, as usual. Everything’s already paid for, but we’re going to be rethinking some things, I’m sure.”

“Rethinking last night’s makeup encounter?” Jasper genuinely asked, “Or the breakup fodder from the launch?”

“We didn’t makeup. We decided not to continue dating, but to try to remain friends.”

“No wonder he was in such a crappy mood. You let him stay over, grown up sleepover, and still broke up with him!” Henry laughed, “Savage.”

Charlotte waved her hands in front of her and shook her head, “No, no, no. It was mutual. Everything was mutual.”

“Whatever you have to tell yourself. He was shattered when he left here.” Henry knew what a shattered dude looked like.

“He was just tired. We talked all night.”

Henry smirked, “Talked? That’s what we’re calling it now?”

“Look, a lot of talking happened, in between the other stuff, okay? Maybe we had some grownup moments of weakness throughout the course of the talking. Ultimately, we realized that if we let ourselves, we could keep doing this likely unhealthy dance for a long time, and decided that last night would be the last night for such weakness, and that we’d still be friends, if possible, and science bros, whenever needed.”

“That’s very mature of you, Charlotte,” Jasper said and passed around the strawberries.

“How did the two of you even meet?” Henry finally wondered.

Charlotte didn’t mind telling this story, “My first weekend in my new town, I wanted to explore the science community in the area, before school started, so that I could make my rounds and show my face before the first week of class stress settled in. I went to a few places, saw some exhibits and went to a few lectures. I saw him and I recognized him right away, at this inventions convention, and I tried to dodge him, but he wound up sitting by me for a panel, and the place was way too full for me to try to find another seat…”

Max stared at her for a moment while she casually, conspicuously tried to hide in her stars and moons hoodie. He waved a hand and telekinetically removed the hoodie from her head. “I thought that was you.”

“We… have never met,” she lied, poorly.

“I forget faces. I forget names. But, I don’t forget scandals. I met you when my sister worked on some errand with Captain Man, and I recognized you then, because you made a teleportation machine that was ultimately destroyed by Captain Man, but… You were working with Captain Man…”

She sighed, “I made a much less significant gizmo and the team thought they’d help me by bringing something else. They didn’t realize how popular that teleportatiob machine might be.”

“Are they complete idiots?”

“Yes. All of them. Even the genius,” she laughed. “Look… I’m just here to check out the science scene before my classes start at the science institution next week. So, I won’t start any trouble, if you don’t.”

“Why would I start trouble?”

“Maybe you forgot the scandal of the last time I saw you?”

“Oh! That. Yeah, I’m good, now.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s been a while, actually. Nothing to worry about from me, except for maybe me trying to buy you dinner.”

“I love dinner. Why would that be a worry? You know a place and I expect you to pay for it, since you invited me.”

“Yeah, You’d really let me take you? With like, no proof that I’ve changed?” Max wasn’t used to that. He had to prove himself to everyone, even his own twin.

“Well, I’ve never seen you in the news, so you can’t be a dangerous maniac. If you haven’t changed, I don’t see how me turning down a free dinner would benefit anybody.” Now, he laughed.

“You’re funny. Obviously smart, if you’re here and going to the institute and super cute. You’re either not single and don’t realize that I was asking you on date, or you’re inexplicably single and I can’t help but be curious about why.”

Charlotte looked shocked. She hadn't thought that she was being asked on a date, but now that she knew, she felt pretty exposed. She hadn’t even tried to be cute today. “Oh! Um, very single, didn’t catch on that dinner equaled to date, and I don’t know if I can. I mean I can- because my parents will allow it now that I’ve graduated, but I kinda like the thought of being friends and knowing people before I ever took the drastic date step.”

“That’s fair. Dinner as friends, then?”

“Potential friends, but still your treat.”

“A woman who knows what she wants.” “Most women know what they want. Some are just conditioned to answer the world a certain way…”

“He bought me dinner after the convention, he took me for coffee the next day, treated me to milkshakes the weekend after my classes started. He started bringing me takeout whenever I was getting bogged down with my work and forgot that I’m no longer working right next to an auto snacker. Then, when I wanted to go out for the internship, I needed a lab to work on my entry project and from there, we really started getting close…” She stared out into space.

“Wow, Char. You blew it. That dude sounds gooood,” Henry teased.

“He is good. Too good to wait around in a relationship with me that I’m not all in. I told you, I’ve got goals, plans, and a lot of accomplishments before I have a window of time to do… more serious relationship stuff.”

Jasper wondered, “So, are you two going to be friends who…” he cleared his throat, “talk?" Charlotte didn’t dignify that question with a response, and Henry laughed out loud But, mentally… Charlotte knew probably. Probably until one of them moved on or they had a bigger falling out. As long as she kept her focus on her goals and didn’t use him in the meantime. (And, being truthful, she wasn't going to forgive him for that launch stunt, no matter how many free meals she got). She just hoped that she wouldn’t forget this backbone when they spent the rest of the weekend together.

…

"How does a community full of superheros and friendlies get so toxic?” She wondered, having to remove certain reported posts and content flagged from the site. For a change, Henry was at her place. He had come early to snatch her up for their first spring break out of high school and he was going to be taking a vacation, finally from the Danger.

“Superheroes aren’t what you see in TV shows and movies, Charlotte. Those guys are real jerks,” Henry said. He shrugged his shoulders, “You never told me what you and bae did for Valentines’ Day after we left Metroburg. I mean, I know that you don’t care about the day, but you did have a huge release and you did unofficially take him back after his massive mess up.”

“What’d we do for what?” she asked, hardly paying attention to the question, as she was focused on removing SO MANY photos of superdudes’ junk. Didn’t know who wore the masks, but here she was seeing those things.

“Valentines’ Day. When people do the whole candy and cards bit? Romance? Love? You and Max went ahead and spent your time together and you never muttered a word about it.”

She looked like it just dawned on her what he was talking about, “I worked on the website I’d just launched and I think he cooked. He did flowers and steaks and had music playing and commented that everyone told him he needed to do something like that. He never actually said, "I was too caught up in my work to pay it attention. I had to try to fix some of the stuff his little plot affected, even made an announcement that it was a publicity stunt that the site creator wasn’t aware of, in case it comes back to bite me. Anyway, we weren’t back together. We just finished out the weekend as planned. We left our statuses unchanged for political purposes. I didn’t want people to put together that he was the publicity stunt person. It could hurt his hero rep, and he’s worked hard to shake off that villain stuff. Plus, I feel like breaking up in front of everyone right after launching a dating site could have been catastrophic for business.”

“Your relationship is a business ploy? How… Has this dude not dumped you yet?”

“Do you really want to know the answer?” She asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Does it have to do with your grownup sleepovers?”

“You know it does.”

“No, thank you. I heard how that goes from across the suite. Nuff said.” He couldn’t help but be curious, though. Her love interest was a recovered villain, born superpowered, official superhero, who was smart enough to be an evil genius, but apparently down enough to cook for her and try to romance her… Oh, God. Charlotte has been speaking and now, she’s looking at you because you are supposed to be responding to something…

“You didn’t hear a thing I said, did ya?”

“Well… You didn’t realize that dude was trying to seduce you for the special day. Probably trying to undo your alleged mutual break up.”

“I was definitely seduced…”

“Let’s NOT!” Henry shoved his fingers into his ears. “Just, repeat whatever I missed when I zoned out!”

“I was saying that I might have to pull the plug on the site. It’s doing very little actual love connections.”

“That’s because supers don’t want love. You know what they want? To have someplace to be after a hard fight. Some soft arms around them, but not so much conversation and… Basically… They want…”

She held out her hands for him to release whatever he was trying to say and took a shot at guessing, “Booty calls?”

“So crass.”

“Superhero booty calls? That’s what my site is for?”

“To be fair, most social media has a high volume of digital get down.” She let out a frustrated grunt at that news. That was not what this was for. This was for Hen to find love, for people like Hen to find connections. Not superpowered body parts and arrangements to put them places.

“Is that what you do with your space?” Charlotte wondered.

He blushed and scoffed, “I mean… It’s more ethical than hooking up with damsels who were just rescued, like so many of us used to do!” She closed her laptop and got ready to go. “So, what’s your feaux beau science bro doing for his Spring Break?”

“Well,”- she went behind her clothesline curtain to change, “He’s on a mission, currently, so he’s probably gonna be working for the whole thing. But, I mean - he’s old enough to drink, so his Spring Breaks are probably you know - party truth.”

“Does he drink? Gross habit.”

“No, but he’s one of those snooty people that will watch everyone else drink and judge their lives in a comical manner,” she came from behind the curtain in a peach colored bikini, with a sheer cream cover up blouse over it, and a short pair of floral shorts. She went into her beauty wardrobe for cocoa butter and Henry forgot what they were even talking about upon seeing her. “Should we take any selfies before we go, or you think that Jasper will feel bad?” She asked while, rubbing her legs down to moisturize and protect.

“I think he might, but I also think we gotta. Look at how good we look.” She looked him over. She knew how good she looked. She looked good on purpose. But, Henry was just waking up looking fine, these days. He did have to do his hair, but he took good care of himself and his hair wasn’t a ton of work to maintain, so within a few minutes, he could be a total babe.

“We do,” she said, taking out her phone. After several very close selfies that she tagged him and hashtagged them as besties, despite the fact that his skin touching hers was doing something to her lately.

“Hey, Char - will you put the sunscreen on my back for me? I might need you to commit to it all week.” He smiled, anxiously, hoping she wouldn’t shoot him down and be offended that he asked.

“Most definitely. Gotta protect that glorious skin…” She felt her face grow hot. Henry did too. He blushed and nodded his head, grabbing her bags for her. “Oh, thanks.”

“We take care of each other,” he said, with a shrug. When did his shoulders get this broad? She sighed. This was about to be a long week.

#my heart is so torn between loving the chenry and being sad about thunderbolt rn omg #but the tidbit about them meeting was so cute!!!!#i love the idea of people bringing each other food when they're working hard...that's so cute #also also though the little thoughts char has about henry ahh...#like those subtle moments make me Soft #henry danger #the thundermans #submissions #submission

5 notes · View notes

bardofv0id · 5 years

Text

Meat vs. Candy: Meat

Here’s the thing.

I’m hearing two main arguments online... a lot of people saying the epilogues are Terrible, for various reasons, and a few people saying they're Good, with a smaller but vocal subset of those people arguing that if you don’t like them then you’re obviously just expecting to be spoon-fed a fluff ending in which the Character You Like gets a wish-fulfillment storybook epilogue.

There are probably some people who are mad about not getting that. However, I think misrepresenting the range of anger various parts of the fandom are experiencing as being purely some kind of childish knee-jerk tantrum at not getting the toy they wanted is disingenuous, at best, and parallels some of the mistakes of the epilogues themselves. Note that this in no way excuses or justifies people sending the writers or anyone else death-threats or whatever the hell else has been going on.

Honestly... the Meat ending was pretty good writing, in my opinion. It wasn’t comfortable or happy or flattering in any way to a number of characters who I recognize people care deeply about, but it was nothing really worse than I expected from Earth C, based on the fundamental narrative of Lord English’s giant closed-loop system. The loop had to close, in order for Homestuck proper to occur at all. That means that Earth C is where Calliope and Caliborn hatch and grow up, far, far in the future. And that means that universe, like the others, will be destroyed by a SBURB session one day. Sorry, folks. It was never meant to be a 'happy ending'.

Meat was deeply metatextual. It was gristly and greasy and discomfiting. It raised questions about what it means to have a narrator, and whose biases are implicitly included--and I think those are very interesting questions to raise, whether or not they are particularly satisfying to someone who is also reading for the characters.

Spoilers beyond the read-more, for obvious reasons.

That said, there were elements that did surprise me. The removal of the other kids from different points in different doomed timelines, to fight with John against LE, rather than being his teammates from Earth C--but from John’s perspective, it doesn’t seem like there’s much difference. Either way, they’re not fully ‘real’ to him (and barely feel real to us, as quickly as they appear and then die). He’s from the Game Over timeline, he’s battling depression, and nobody in the retcon timeline is really quite authentic to him, either--just as to many fans, they didn’t feel quite authentic, when the retcon happened and we had to suddenly let go of the characters we'd watched grow and change, replaced by funhouse mirror reflections and could-have-beens.

I’ve also seen some reasonably interesting arguments that a lot of Dirk’s narration, in the Meat route, either sounds eerily like Vriska talking or flips back and forth between Vriska-mode and Dirk-mode, well before alt!Calliope ever gets involved. I’m prepared to believe some Serket element (whether that is potentially Vriska, or the Aranea who was abruptly displaced from her attempt at wresting control of the narrative by John) was involved there, and Dirk was not acting entirely of his own accord. I’m also prepared to shrug and say “okay, maybe it was just a narrative parallel--Homestuck does that a lot”. Some narration, especially when Terezi is involved, doesn't sound at all how I would expect a Serket-influenced narrator to sound with regards to her, in particular. It doesn’t particularly grind my gears to think some version of Dirk, in the right environment, might make a series of choices that leads him to behaving like this, entirely on his own. I recognize that it’s upsetting to DirkJake fans in particular to see their favorite pairing written like this, but it doesn’t feel wholly out of character to me for either of them to develop in these directions, given the right (or wrong) pressures and external situations. This Dirk is the culmination of a very wide multiplicity of Dirks, including at least one if not more who ended up directly subsumed in Lord English and/or under his explicit influence.

I’ve heard that some people were attacking the Meat route on the grounds of transphobia, which... I think is a rather weak argument, given that it’s recognized in the text itself, as pronoun changes are handled respectfully by one narrator-character and inconsistently by a second, who is being set up as the villain of the story. That seems like a pretty solid metatextual rejection of the action, no? Like, if a villain does a bad thing, in a story, while the hero is fighting them, do you argue that the story itself advocates for that thing? There has to be some kind of distinction between ‘character does X’ and ‘author of story advocates X is Morally Correct’, or we would never have any villains at all. Dirk's dismissiveness toward Roxy's agency grows, the further toward 'villain' he slides.

Were there some things I liked, in Meat? I guess. From a sociopolitical and cultural standpoint, the shitty repercussions of the way the retcon gang set up a planet, dumped a bunch of chess people and clone grubs, then left them to do all the work of creating its society and waiting for their eventual 'godly' return... were pretty logical. I'm actually happy that it was acknowledged, instead of just brushed off as inconsequential. It was interesting, too, to see some of the kids playing with notions of gender identity as they grew, and how their companions adjusted. It was telling (in terms of Dirk's character development) how he thought of Roxy and Calliope's gender explorations as something he could choose to 'allow' or not. Also, with how truncated most of the gang's personal development (and plot development) was in Homestuck proper ('thanks', retcon!Vriska), I think it kinda made sense how stunted and incapable of like... dealing with regular life in a functional way a lot of them seemed. Jumping straight to teenage 'godhood' didn't make them experienced or smart. It's sad that all of them just kind of... stagnate there, but Earth C has always felt incredibly stagnant to me.

Retcon!Vriska getting swallowed by the black hole was at least thematically fitting, though I'm wondering why she is using such Seer-themed language, suddenly. I also like that the wallet is finally back in play. Rose and Dirk's philosophical debate about individuation and free will is delightfully creepy, given the themes of the story. There are moments, within the story, that the turns of phrase and the humor just hit me full in the teeth and remind me this is Homestuck, and I do love those moments. And of course, my xenobiological worldbuilding interests enjoyed that apparently, earth onions are quite toxic to trolls.

Were there things I didn’t like in Meat? Yeah, of course. I don't particularly like that John, an Heir of Breath--one who is innately positioned to awaken Breath, freedom and motivation in the people around him--callously shoves an unresisting teenager he's barely met into a refrigerator and just leaves him there, apparently convinced he deserves it.

Did some of the things I disliked relate to the storytelling itself, rather than just how characters were characterized, or what actions they took? Yeah. Why are we still out here queer-baiting with Dave and Karkat? Years have passed. They have spent literal years sitting 1.5 feet apart so it's 'not gay'? I sincerely don't think this pairing is actually healthy or beneficial to either of them, the way it developed in canon, but come on. Then, they still balk and drag their feet unless it's being narratively pushed on them by someone else. It's just painful to watch.

I also take a certain level of personal offense as a Tavros fan when the narrative goes out of its way to repeatedly harp on Tavros being useless and no one giving a shit what he's doing. Ghost Tavros was awesome, okay, and was personally responsible for gathering the ghost army, so fuck you, Vriska-coded narrator. You have bad judgment. But that is not a crime of writing, if it is an intentionally biased perspective and not just writers taking cheap shots at a character they don't happen to like. I'm just incredibly tired of it being done habitually and collectively, as a fandom, to that character in particular. Furthermore, I'm really discomfited by the way Tavros's development (am I the only one who remembers him dancing and telling Vriska to suck it?) is completely ignored and de-legitimized by having him immediately fawning on her, trailing around after her, hiding against her shoulder, etc. Tavros was a victim of emotional and physical abuse, at Vriska's hands. Can we just agree to stop narratively forcing victims back into contact with their abusers, period? It's not a good look.

Moreover, there's the whole misogyny angle. When does a story about misogynistic characters (and narrators) doing misogynistic things while misogynistic shit narratively happens start being a critique of misogynistic tropes rather than a tired old rehash? Every step Jane (allegedly a strong, independent woman, though also stepping into her dictatorial role as 'Heiress') takes is either dictated by Dirk, sent into a complete tailspin that upends her confidence by Jake, or verbally decried as factually wrong and/or stupid by Dave and/or Karkat. Rose and Kanaya both have their agency overwritten and end up separated from each other through the actions of Dirk, and Rose becomes an extension of Dirk, losing her very selfhood. Jade is treated as an accessory to the DaveKat trainwreck, simultaneously discounted as actually emotionally relevant and blamed for its ludicrous problems. She, of course, also ends up having her agency overwritten as she's plunged into a coma and possessed, prevented from actually having reactions to the things that are going on, or taking action for herself. Borrowed!Rose and Jade are KO'd almost instantly in the fight against Lord English, and become either literally erased, or dead weight for a male character to drag around until it's no longer convenient. Terezi admits to wasting a huge amount of time trailing around after Vriska--who was an emotionally abusive gaslighter to her, on the retcon!meteor. (And we're back to victims being constantly evaluated according to their proximity to their abusers again.) Then, she's on to redirecting herself into some quest on John's behalf, instead. She's still not living for herself. Finally, you show me an Aradia who would ever, ever be concerned about 'saying more embarrassing stuff' around Dave, or thinking of him as an ‘outrageously cool dude’, and I'll show you a bridge I'd like to sell you. That ain't any Aradia I've ever seen. So who’s narrating there, Dirk again? A third party?

Other weird things: apparently Jane's kidnapping in the snapchats just... never gets explained or referenced again? I went back to reread those, and they connected to Meat even more than I realized at first. I guess Jane grew up to be... exactly what she was raised/groomed to be, which is *uncomfortable* but not particularly shocking. I feel bad for people who were hoping for happier endings for the human kids, but I don't think I ever really expected Homestuck to serve up happy endings. I don't buy that things in the snapchat were just thrown in at random, though. Those elements were there for a reason, and arguing that everything in the snapchats were connected to the epilogues EXCEPT that one major extended plotline doesn't make sense. Especially when it visually and narratively seems to be a direct link to the events of the Meat storyline.

Also, where the fuck are the sprites? We never see or hear from Jasprosesprite, Gcatavrosprite, or the Nannasprite(s?) again. I’m not sure anyone cares, but. Uh. Yeah.

I have other thoughts regarding the classpect-coded language that crops up pretty frequently in the epilogues, but I think I will devote a separate post to that, if I get around to it, given that this *is* at heart a classpecting blog.

So anyway, Meat ends, it's depressing and futile and grim, I get it. I don't like every element, but it hangs together as a story with a narrative, overall.

Then we get to Candy.

Hoo boy.

I’ll tackle that one next, but as it was considerably more upsetting for me to read, rereading it for fact-checks and commentary is going to be a lot harder for me. I’ll get through it here sooner or later, though.

#homestuck #upd8 #upd8 spoilers #homestuck epilogue #epilogue spoilers #spoilers #tw: abuse #tw: misogyny

25 notes · View notes

kg2hub · 5 years

Text

oh these are a lot of headcanon questions omg,,,

Tagged by: @kindcrgartcncxup

Tagging: anyone who sees this and wants to do it!!! :D

001. When is their birthday? - may 31 002. Do they do anything to celebrate their birthday? - he... celebrates felix’s birthday 003. Does your character like coffee better, or tea? - out of the two choices, he’d pick tea at the moment. he’d probably develop more of a taste for coffee as he gets older though 004. Do they prefer being alone or with others? - he desperately wants to be with others, but also finds himself alone a lot so it’s like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 005. Are they in good health? - mmh physically, yes. mentally? debatable. 006. What sense do they most rely on? - touch ig? 007. Is your character an optimist or a pessimist? - optimist :’)c 008. What is their favorite fairy tale? - cinderella 009. Do they believe in happy endings? - yep! 010. Do they believe in love at first sight? - yeah but he hasn’t experienced it

011. How would your character court the person of their dreams? - he’d shower them in affection and also thoughtful gifts 012. What makes your character embarrassed? - being wrong, which is often around felix 013. Have they ever been bullied or teased? - oh yeah definitely 014. Detail one secret shame your character feels. - he has thoughts of. sort of. ‘rebelling’ against his family. he’d never go through with it, and he’s ashamed of thinking of it because family’s supposed to stick together, right? no matter how bad it gets. no matter if they’re the ones making it that bad. 015. Are they most likely to fight with their fists or their tongue? - tongue 016. What is their choice of weapon? - anything he can use to his advantage 017. When does your character think that violence is justified or deserved? - if it stops more people from getting hurt if the other person can and will continue to hurt others. also, in self defense. 018. Your character wakes up to find that war has been declared. What do they do? -he’d. freak out and hide in bed 019. If they could have a superpower, what would they choose? - healing powers, mostly to use for other people,, 020. What are their hobbies? - singing, playing the uke, reading, doing whatever his brother is doing 021. How do they display affection? - physically and verbally. he’ll hug anyone, brush his hand against theirs, hold hands, etc. and constantly says ‘i love you’ and compliments people a lot! 022. What is the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen? - the,, sunrise once when he was having a bad night and ended up being unable to sleep so he snuck out. he looked up for a moment where he was hiding, and being away from the house and most of the light pollution, made the colours of the sky that much more pretty 023. What do they consider beautiful in others physically? - smiles! 024. What do they consider ugly in others physically? - nothing 025. What do they consider beautiful in others personality-wise? - compassion, sympathy, patience, confidence 026. What do they consider ugly in others personality-wise? - apathy, cruelty, aggression, remorselessness, shallowness 027. What is their idea of perfect happiness? - being loved by the people he loves 028. What makes them laugh out loud? - stuff,,, that makes him laugh out loud if it’s funny enough i guess,,,,,,, 029. What sort of sense of humor does your character have? - usually light stuff, probably internet memes and vines, but also self deprecating stuff 030. Do they believe in the afterlife? - yeah a little 031. Are they superstitious about anything? - no 032. Does your character believe in ghosts? - yeah kinda 033. Do they keep their promises? - yes!! 034. What’s their view of lying? - it’s. useful when you absolutely have to. if it’s to help someone, or allows someone to avoid getting harmed especially if it’s for yourself. lying for no reason, or doing that to hurt people is a big no no though 035. What is the most important rule your character lives by? - stay kind despite everything 036. How honorable is your character? - he’s typically pretty honorable i guess?? 037. If your character saw someone drop a large sum of money and knew that they could probably take it without anyone noticing, what would they do? - return it to the person,, he’s already loaded he doesn’t need More, and also it’s mean to just steal it 038. What bad habits do they have? - tends to internally beat himself up every time he does one little thing wrong. apologizes for literally everything. 039. What do they think is the worst thing that can be done to a person? - being manipulated and have their emotions played with 040. What is their obsession? - music! 041. Are they comfortable with technology? - yeah ofc,, he grew up surrounded by technology, especially since his father owns a company that deals with technology 042. What is their greatest achievement? - he tried writing a little song on the uke once, and he kinda proud of that,, his greatest achievement would be something that made his family proud of him, but that probably hasn’t happened yet 043. What will they stand up for? - his brother, parents, and friends 044. What disgusts them? - really rude people, people who are spoiled, mean things, also being handed chewed up gum is Gross 045. Does your character have any chronic medical conditions? - not really? 046. How do they handle getting sick? - he just Deals With It and tries to get better as fast as possible so he can stop being so useless 047. What was the last medical problem your character had? - probably just a common cold 048. Do they have any allergies? - no 049. How does your character feel about growing old? - hopeful. maybe things will get better when he and felix get older. 050. How does your character feel about their own mortality? - s. scared,, 051. If they knew they would die tomorrow, what would they do today? - probably cry for a while and cling to felix and tell him he loves him,, same @ his parents and also his classmates even if he doesn’t know them all too well 052. What is your character’s worst flaw? - his passiveness 053. What is your character’s greatest strength? - his resilience 054. Does your character want power or authority of any kind? - lol definitely not 055. Is your character an introvert or an extrovert? - i,,, feel he’s an extrovert forced into introverted situations?? 056. Has your character ever struck someone in anger? - nope 057. Has your character ever killed anyone? - indirectly, only in other timelines 058. What is your character’s idea of a perfect day? - just one day where he’s happy and he’s with his family without any hostility or coldness between them. no yelling, no comparing, no scolding, just love. 059. List several phrases your character is fond of uttering. Where did they pick them up? - there’s,, not really anything specific he’s fond of saying? he does tend to say stuff like “yes, felix.” after being told to do something and “sorry, felix!” a lot. mostly after being berated by felix, obvi 060. What is your character’s attitude toward education and learning? - he enjoys it! it’s fun learning stuff, whether he does well with it or not 061. Does your character prefer adventure or safety and security? - he... lowkey wants adventure but he’s much too scared to step out of line from what his parents want so he remains safe and secure, being the obedient boy he always is. though, he does sneak out Occasionally, and that’s a bit of his rebellion coming to the surface 062. What sort of legacy does your character wish to leave behind? - he doesn’t really want to leave behind anything. he just wants to be known as a good, kind person. and he just wants his family to care about him and be proud of him; he doesn’t care much about what Other people think when he’s gone 063. How well does your character handle difficult people? - he endures them,,,,, 064. In what ways does your character annoy others? - by being himself. by screwing up. by apologizing too much, and never disagreeing with his brother. 065. Is your character better at leading or following? Which do they prefer? - following, to a fault. he prefers it more than being a leader, but something about his situation makes him feel Pretty Bad despite that,, 066. Does your character prefer city life or being out in nature? - nature 067. Does your character believe in fate or destiny? - kind of, but not too much 068. How strong is your character’s sense of responsibility? What kinds of things trigger it? - it’s pretty strong. he feels like he has to own up to his name, being heir to applesoft, and has to make his family proud of him. being told how useless and stupid he is can Sometimes trigger him to Try Even Harder 069. What about your character is heroic? - his sense of morals, and ability to keep going despite lack of support most of the time 070. What about your character is cowardly? - the fact that he’d follow anything his brother says. he’s much too passive, and his morals can be swayed just to prove a point. he allows things to happen even when it’s bad; he’s a bystander to himself 071. How kind is your character? - he tries to be kind whenever he can! being mean makes him feel awful,, 072. In a Dungeons & Dragons game, which class would your character be? (wizard, fighter, bard, priest, ranger, etc.) - bard or paladin 073. In a novel, what plot role would your character fill? (hero, anti-hero, sidekick, villain, etc.) - sidekick probably. either that or literally a tertiary/background character, is what he thinks he’d be 074. What is your character’s favorite game? - ,,,anything that’s felix’s favourite game 075. Is your character ticklish? - yeah lmao 076. How do they express anger? - being standoffish, heavy sarcasm, calm and collected on the outside while he’s seething on the inside 077. How often do they cry? Over what? - he cries a lot,, over a lot of things, mostly about seeing himself as a failure and disappointment. also when felix berates him he’ll usually cry after that 078. How emotionally stable is your character? - hmm he’s,,, getting worse,,,,,, 079. How easy is it for them to read the emotions of others? - pretty easy honestly! 080. How easy is it for others to read your character’s emotions? - it can vary; some days he’ll be pretty good at hiding his feelings and appear perfectly fine, others he Just Can’t Do It 081. Is your character religious? - nope 082. What are your character’s sleeping preferences? - sleeps on his side, curled up, with Many pillows and a heavy blanket,, he probably has a stuffed animal (or many?) and hugs All of them 083. What is the first thing they say and/or do when they wake up? - he just gets up, gets ready, does whatever felix wants him to, etc 084. Describe your character in one word. - trapped 085. Describe your character in three words. - full of potential 086. How would your character describe themself in one word? - disappointment 087. How would your character describe themself in three words? - kind, trying, loving 088. Is your character quiet or loud? - quiet 089. How vocally expressive is your character? - he’d be more expressive if he wasn’t silenced all the time by felix. that being said, not very 090. How bodily expressive is your character? - not very 091. What type of music does your character like? - pop, indie, acoustic music, anything else if it Sounds Good 092. What emotion does your character evoke in others? - i mean. a lotta muses i’ve been rping with feel sorry for him so-- 093. What is your character’s goal in life? - to do something that will make his brother and parents proud of him,, 094. Name three things most would not expect your character to be able to know. - how to avoid all the security situated in his house?? he, sometimes, literally breaks out of his own house without anyone knowing - how to read, how to do smart kid stuff mostly because he’s always painted as the “dumb twin” - the secrets of applesoft? i guess? why tf does he and felix just carry around the chemical used to make applegate’s pills lmao,,,,,, anyway bottom line, ted knows that chemical was used to make the pills. he probably knows more things than he lets on too.

095. Name three things most would not expect your character to be able to do. - he’s capable of sarcasm - planning the demise of one of his classmates - can play the ukulele Pretty Well for his age

096. How do they move and carry themselves? What energy do they project? - passive, unsure, meek, unconfident. he Tries not to slouch, but he doesn’t quite stand up straight enough either. constantly seems to subconsciously make himself small, always stands a little too off to the side, usually comes off as nervous and anxious. moves quickly to try to not waste time. 097. How well do they adapt to change? - not too well, but he doesn’t let that show 098. Does your character like animals? - yeah! 099. Do they talk to inanimate objects? - sometimes, mostly just his stuffed animals. or apologizes to stuff he bumps into. 100. Does your character dream? If so, what do they dream about? - yeah, usually random things. sometimes it’s happy, and a good escape from his actual life. sometimes it’s nightmares. sometimes he doesn’t remember.

#oh boy finally finished this sdfghgfd #|| Some Dumb College Kid || OOC.#|| Like An Open Book || Meme Answers.#|| Stuff That Isn’t Worth Saying Out Loud || Headcanons.#tw; abuse mention #tw; mental health #tw

5 notes · View notes