Tumgik
#of course there is one immortal who absolutely resents not being able to die
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
“It’s like destiny.” “More like misery loves company.”
1K notes · View notes
So I was being a basic bitch the other day and listening to my true crime podcasts when it occurred to me just how suspicious Nile’s “death” would look to everyone not in the Guard, leading me to a train of thought that, 2200 words later, absolutely got away from me but I can’t let go so I’m inflicting it on all of you!
To set the stage, we know the movie takes place over approximately a week. Here’s what happens to Nile from the military’s point of view:
She dies is very seriously injured
She heals without a scratch
Just before she’s supposed to be shipped out to Germany, she vanishes, leaving two men concussed (and presumably reporting being knocked out by a woman with short hair wearing civilian clothes)
She goes AWOL for several days
They get word from the CIA that she is to be reported killed in action (details unclear)
So, at the beginning of this very weird week, the USMC has to tell Nile’s family of her death critical injury. What her family was told depends on how long she was dead – a Google search tells me that family will be notified in person within 8 hours of a soldier’s death, but we don’t know how long her first death lasted. For an injury, however, they’d get a phone call to notify them and the unit would arrange for them to visit as soon as the soldier is transferred out of a combat zone. Like I remember when I was in high school, a guy from my church who was a Marine was really seriously injured in a helicopter crash in Iraq and from what I could tell, his parents were told immediately and were flown out to Germany to see him, so it stands to reason that Nile’s family would have been informed relatively quickly after her throat was slashed, one way or another.
And then, she goes AWOL. Her family would be notified while the USMC tried to figure out where she went, not least because the military would want to know if she’s contacted them. (And it’s possible that her family may have been on the way to Germany to see her since we know that’s where she was supposed to go!) So for several days:
Nile’s mom and brother have no idea where she is
They know she was seriously injured and most certainly should not have been moving around on her own
They can’t get a hold of her
The military can’t tell them anything
And the next thing they know for sure is that she was “killed in action.” After being injured and vanishing into thin air. And they presumably cannot produce her body or any concrete evidence of her death. In any case, something sketchy is going on, so they’re like. SMELLS LIKE A MILITARY COVERUP.
In a surprise to probably no one, there is a well-documented legacy of mysterious US military deaths, particularly of women of color (TW for sexual assault in these links). The cases of LaVena Johnson and Vanessa Guillenin particular have made national news because of their families’ persistence in seeking justice. Likewise, Nile is a Black woman, and her mom and brother are most certainly hypercognizant of (a) state violence against Black people and (b) these high-profile cases of suspicious military deaths. So her family are seriously side-eyeing the situation, knowing that (a) the military has a serious incentive (and a documented history) of covering up things that make them look bad and (b) nothing about Nile’s disappearance and supposed death are adding up.
And Andy’s right. Nile does come from warriors. And you know who else does? Her brother.
Don’t get me wrong. Nile’s mom would absolutely not back down. She’d know something was up and want to get to the bottom of it. But based on what I know about Gen X parents (mine), they’re not the most technologically savvy. Like they can use the internet, but they didn’t grow up with it the way we young millennials and Gen Z did. So Nile’s brother takes the lead. And what do zillennials do best?
Social media.
Nile’s brother starts going hard on any site he can, trying to get the word out to see if anyone knows what happened to his sister. He starts a Reddit thread. He starts a Facebook group. He reaches out to the media and true crime bloggers and podcasters à la Sarah Turney, getting loud and being a general nuisance in hopes of getting some answers. He gets his friends and Nile’s friends involved. Maybe eventually Dizzy, Jay, and others from Nile’s unit hear about it and reach out, telling him what they saw and how weird it all was. He’s drumming up interest, and soon “Nile Freeman” becomes a household name (at least among the true crime fans).
Copley is, of course, trying his best, but at this point there is just so much that it’s impossible for him to scrub everything. Sure, he can erase new footage of Nile and the Guard, but what can he do about Reddit threads and podcast episodes that are speculating something weird has happened? Maybe he could hack the sites and shut those things down, but honestly, that’s the last thing he’d want to do, because that only adds weight to the theory that Nile’s disappearance is a military coverup. So eventually he has to tell Andy what’s going on.
Andy, obviously, does not take the news well. However, she is also completely computer illiterate, because that’s Booker’s job and he’s the only one who ever bothered to learn what the internet is in any meaningful way. (She probably calls Booker for advice, and for the record, I think Booker would have no qualms about shutting down conspiracy threads, tinhats be damned, but Copley is too concerned about the consequences. He’s ex-CIA for crying out loud, he knows how it’ll look if they scrub every mention of Nile’s name from the internet.) Maybe she confers with Joe and Nicky but, let’s be honest, they’d be equally unhelpful. So at this point, she knows they have to bring in Nile.
But the thing about Nile is that she, too, knows how to use the internet (duh). Aside from her being a young millennial/digital native, we know from the cave scene where she’s giving Booker suggestions on how to track Copley that she clearly is even more computer savvy than the average person. And for that reason she almost definitely took over the day-to-day tech stuff after Booker’s exile. So I think it would be foolish to expect her to be unaware of what’s happening. She’s not contacting her family or posting on the message boards or anything, but she knows what’s up. So Copley and the team probably sit her down to “break the news,” but we know the girl does not have a poker face (see: literally shooting herself in the foot and not being able to play it cool whatsoever) and cracks immediately, telling them she’s seen everything about her case – she’s not interacting with any of it, she certainly didn’t instigate anything, but she knows. (And she is so goddamn proud of her brother.)
At this point, I’d like to pause and consider Nile’s role in the overall narrative of this movie. She’s set up as a foil to Andy, obviously, but she’s also a foil to Booker. Booker, who, like Andy, is a serious pessimist, but who, unlike Andy, still has very fresh memories and trauma associated with being the new kid, which have destroyed him. In his mind (and Andy’s), if Nile communicates with her family, she’ll become just like him in a century or two – bitter, alone, and stuck with her grief and memories of watching her family die and knowing they died resenting her. It’s a small sample size, but this is the only experience they have to go off of.
But it doesn’t have to be like that.
There’s been a lot of discussion of TOG being a fundamentally queer movie – a group of people brought together because of something inherent about themselves that is different, that must be hidden, that causes others to hate, fear, and reject them. Booker’s backstory is the archetypal traumatic “coming out” story – his family learns who he is, hate him for it, and attempt to cast him out of their lives. He’s stuck with his trauma, his pain, his loss, and it consumes him.
But what if Nile’s family would be the opposite? What if her “coming out” to them as immortal is met with acceptance, love, celebration? What if her family is just overjoyed to have her back, and they don’t care what the circumstances are? I'm reminded of this incredible post from @shitty-old-guard-deaths a while back, where Nile’s mother hits Booker with a frying pan because “my baby let me believe she was dead for FIVE YEARS based on your bad advice???” (which may or may not have inspired this whole tangent). Nile takes the advice of someone who did the same thing she wants to do because she doesn’t want to risk her family’s rejection. She wants the good memories with her family and is afraid that showing them her true self will bring her unbearable pain, forever replacing those memories. But, with high risk comes high reward.
Anyway. Nile and the team are trying to come up with a plan for how to handle this whole thing, but she’s not really participating because she’s too afraid to hope. Until finally, quickly, so she doesn’t lose her nerve, she suggests she reach out to them, knowing that, realistically, that’s the only solution before things snowball even further out of control. The team is shocked, but realize that she has a point. They decide that Copley should actually be the first point of contact, posing as a US government official to talk with them and test the waters.
So Copley goes to Nile’s family’s house to talk with her mom and brother. They’re probably distrustful and apprehensive, but nonetheless secretly ecstatic that their work has paid off. They talk and review all of the information that they’ve collected, including testimonials from the people on Nile’s base and recent sightings (along with photos) of Nile (with the same three people) over the last few years that people have sent them but they haven’t posted publicly. At this point, Copley’s like, yeah this is about to blow up, we gotta put our cards on the table. He convinces them to come with him to some safe house/black site/whatever he can get that is technologically impenetrable (I’m picturing them in like, an interrogation room at a police station kind of deal), takes their phones, locks the doors, and brings in Nile.
What follows is the most delightful reunion scene of all time, bringing Joe, Nicky, and even Andy to tears as they watch and listen from outside the room. With Copley’s help, Nile tells her mom and brother about her immortality and what’s been going on since she died (within reason, of course), and they are thrilled. They don’t understand why (because no one does) but they don’t question it and they see it as a gift from God – she’s been resurrected, she will live, and she has a purpose. Her mother and brother are so happy to see her again and are willing to agree with pretty much anything to stay in her life as long as they can.
So. They set up some complicated agreement (they bring in the other three for support/intimidation as needed) setting the terms of their relationship. They swear Nile’s family to secrecy, maybe bringing up the lab to show how high the stakes are, and they readily agree. They come up with some cover story for Nile’s brother to share on the message boards (maybe that the government has opened an investigation but because it’s an open case he has to shut it all down? Tells people to direct their tips somewhere else? Something to that effect). There’s still speculation, of course, but without Nile’s brother at the helm providing the energy, the hype dies down as news stories are wont to do without any movement. And Nile’s family goes to work for the team. The experience has taught them that Copley can’t possibly do everything himself, especially when it comes to social media, so Nile’s brother takes the lead on the day-to-day tracking/social media while Copley and her mom focus on finding jobs and scrubbing their traces afterward.
So there you have it: Nile gets to integrate her biological family into her found family and spend the rest of their lives with them as it should be, Copley gets some badly needed help managing the reality of social media, the team finally has a positive narrative surrounding outsiders Knowing About Them AND about interacting with people from their previous life, and the audience gets the happy ending to this very lovely and very queer story to counteract the pain associated with Booker’s family.
Plus, you know, I’m a sucker for both a good government conspiracy theory and for Nile getting every good thing she deserves.
3K notes · View notes
stellocchia · 3 years
Text
Idea for a protégé AU I'm thinking of writing something for:
Instead of staying at Techno's, after Tommy is found around his house and they had their argument where Techno told him he couldn't get his discs back without Techno's help Tommy leaves. It just sounded way too similar to something Dream would say and Tommy was still dealing with some serious wounds and the effects of hypothermia and he wasn't lucid enough to think anything aside from the fact that he had to get away from Dream somehow.
Venturing in the snow in his state though wasn't the smartest thing. If staying in Techno's basement at least kept the wind at bay and gave him a place to dry up the same could not be said about the outside. Tommy dies is what I'm getting at here.
The message *Tommy died of hypothermia* appears in chat and most people can't believe it.
Techno's the one to retrieve his body and belongings being the one that knew which direction he went in. There's no funeral, but Tommy does get 2 graves, one near the Arctic and one in L'Manburg. The one in the Arctic is the one with the body since Techno is firm on the fact that the others don't deserve anything after exiling him and leaving him to die (he ignores the guilt he feels for letting him walk away himself, reasoning that he couldn't have done anything more anyway).
Here's where things start, because of course Dream isn't just letting Tommy go like this. He's absolutely pissed that something other than him took Tommy's life, so he is determined to bring him back and ensuring that nothing like that will happen again. So he digs up the body and brings it with him to the attachment vault. He builds an actual base there behind a few layers of blackstone where he's fully intending on keeping Tommy forever, since it suddenly feels like the prison is not private enough. Sam has some level of control there and Dream never intends to relent any of that ever again.
After quite a few days of working Dream revives Tommy. Dream is ecstatic about the revival working on humans and he even tells Tommy that they're gonna become immortals together. Tommy is just as disoriented and scared as you'd expect. He tries to refuse, but Dream makes it clear that the decision is not up to him since "leaving him some freedom clearly didn't work out well for him before" and Tommy is inclined to agree with that one.
That said, Tommy is still dealing with all the health related problems he had before dying and Dream isn't about to have a repeat of his last death, so he makes sure to get him to eat and gives him one of his green hoodies for warmth. That's also why he starts training Tommy: he wanted to build some of his strength back. It was nothing more than that at first, just keeping him healthy because of his desire for control. Turns out Tommy has quite a lot of potential when someone takes the time to actually teach him and Dream is a little short on allies at the moment.
It was a vague idea at first, nothing that Dream actually intended to go through with. He liked the idea of flaunting his control over Tommy and he knew that Tommy by now was dependent enough on him to not even think about switching sides (after all Dream was the reason why Tommy was alive again, he was the reason why he was getting a bit of pep in his steps back, the reason why he had a safe place to sleep again, the reason he lost all of that in the first place).
And then the Green Festival comes along and Dream makes a miscalculation and almost loses his first life. It really downs on him how alone he truly is. He does have allies, but no one that is actually loyal to him... well... almost no one.
Tommy's feelings in all of this are complicated. He feels grateful to Dream for not being dead anymore, but he also hates what revival has done to him because it often feels like his body isn't his anymore. Everything feels weird and wrong and too much all the time. He's also terrified of Dream, but at the same time he feels safe with him. It's confusing and he tries not to think too much about it. Especially because he gets angry at himself more than anything for being so scared of his friend, he never hurt him after all, did he?
His thoughts regarding everyone else aren't any easier. He still dislikes Techno and he resents everyone else for leaving him, but not as much as he hates himself for making them leave. He misses them, but Dream says he shouldn't, that they don't want him anyway, that they didn't even mourn him and it just makes his head go all staticky to think about, so he doesn't.
A few headcanons for this AU under the cut
Tommy's mask is actually one of Dream's because the green man actually wants to make it cristal clear who he belongs to and the ugly green hoodie wasn't enough for that apparently
The name Tommy chooses for himself when others are around is Chirp in reference to the exile disc, because it just feels really fitting to me and I've never seen anyone use it
Dream still calls him Tommy any time the two are alone though, because he totally revels in being the only one with the knowledge of his true identity
Techno and Phil both fully blame L'Manburg for Tommy's death and that's actually one of the reasons they have to help Dream destroy it (even though neither of them were actually close with him, they just think his death is one more proof of the government's corruption)
The New L'Manburg's cabinet actually intended to have a funeral for Tommy but they decided that getting justice for him would be better. Justice was killing Dream because they actually blame him for Tommy's death (they aren't wrong)
Tubbo also blames himself for his friend's death though, and hasn't been able to look at his broken compass since
When Dream finds out that Tommy can sew he makes him stitch a green smiley face on the hoodie Tommy wears and the chirp disc on his, because this man really decided that the mask an hoodie weren't enough. He really is THAT excessive in this AU
Henry has actually been revived and he's kept in the vault. Dream uses him as a sort of "reward/punishment" thing for Tommy. He lets Tommy cuddle or play with him when Tommy's obedient enough and kills him in front of him when he isn't
Phantommy did actually exist in this AU, but he appeared in the vault with Dream and spent his whole existence trembling terrified out of his mind. Tommy doesn't really remember anything from him afterwards. After all, the sense of dread any time he saw Dream had been there since long before the ghost ever appeared
Dream kinda dropped a lot of the physical abuse after the revival in this AU, not because he regrets anything, but mostly because he's well aware of Tommy's mortality now and he isn't willing to risk the next death to be a permanent one. Everything else got much worse though. Tommy's not the only one being dependent on the other after all and that makes a lot of the green man actions more extreme
Dream also wants the "your Tommy" compass (is anyone surprised at this point?) So he's trying to find out where Tubbo keeps it. That's the thing he wants to obtain before blowing L'Manburg to bedrock in this AU instead of the disc (he doesn't need the disc anymore anyway)
294 notes · View notes
coffintownkids · 3 years
Text
Ch. 26 is done!
And it is a treasure trove for anyone looking for details on novel!NHS and his characterizations, as well as info on the Niè Sect’s cultivation in general. Here’s some choice bits for you. Long post ahead!
“When these Sect Leaders were alive, they would still be able to suppress the restlessness of the sabers they carried. But after the Sect Leaders died and there was no one to control them, they become weapons bent on murder.”
Wèi Wúxiàn raised his eyebrows, “That sounds close to Corrupt Cultivation.”
Niè Huáisāng rushed to say, “It’s not the same! Corrupt Cultivation is corrupt because it demands human lives. But our House’s sabers don’t require human lives. Instead they need resentful ghosts, spirits, or any of the evil creatures. They spend a lifetime beheading those things and if they’re not given those things to eliminate, they seek out trouble themselves and disturb our House’s peace. A Saber Spirit will only recognize one master and cannot serve anyone else. Us descendants are also unable to melt the sabers down. First, it would be disrespectful to our ancestors. Second, we’re not sure that melting them would even solve the problem.”
Wèi Wúxiàn’s evaluation was, “How arrogant.”
Niè Huáisāng said, “Absolutely. We followed the path trailblazed by our ancestors and sought to obtain immortality through the saber. Of course it’s arrogant.”
What I’ve translated as Corrupt Cultivation is written as 邪魔歪道. So let’s break this down a bit. We have 邪 (evil) 魔 (demon) 歪 (something twisted or that deviates) 道 (path/way). So basically something that goes against what’s considered the conventional or “healthy” way of doing things. Cultivation is supposed to improve the mind/body/spirit on the quest to immortality. So WWX is (understandably!) a bit taken aback, given his own history. This phrase is similar to the more common phrase 邪门歪道 that is used to convey dishonest practices/crooked tactics/etc. But, as NHS clarifies, this method isn’t meant to harm humans the way, say, WWX’s own demonic cultivation uses human spirits to resurrect human corpses.
Of course, NHS goes on to say his Sect’s solution was to bury the sabers with dead human bodies...
“Hánguāng-Jūn, let me explain! These corpses weren’t killed by our House! It took a great deal of effort to scrounge them up from all over the place and bring them there! It cost quite a bit of money to buy them. The sixth-generation Sect Leader said the Saber Spirits wanted to battle against evil beings, so they should be given an endless supply of evil beings to fight against. Corpses on the verge of turning got buried together in coffins with the sabers just as if they were the Saber Spirits’ funerary objects. The Saber Spirits would keep the corpses from transforming. Meanwhile, the corpses would help alleviate the violent impulses of the Saber Spirits. It maintained the status quo and they kept each other in check. Relying on this method brought peace to the generations that followed up until now.”
The interesting take away for me is we’re repeatedly told the Niè are in decline. Yet they’re apparently still pretty wealthy if they’re still using the corpse-buying scheme. Would love to know where the money comes from!
Otherwise, the Niè Sect of Qīnghé of today was basically on its last legs. If any more of their affairs got out, Niè Huáisāng would be condemned for all of history and would be unable to face his ancestors in the afterlife. It wasn’t surprising that he would rather be the personal laughing stock of the other Houses. He was also unwilling to work hard at cultivating and, moreover, it was too late for him to dare start on his journey of carrying the saber. If he had any success at cultivating, his temperament would become increasingly volatile and he would ultimately go mad and die violently like his brother and all his previous ancestors. After he died, his saber would still be haunting the world and leaving his entire House without a moment’s peace. Instead, it was better for him to just be a complete failure.
And so there was no solution. Since the first ancestor founded the House of Niè, this is how it has been until now. Should the descendants deny the path that their ancestors laid the foundation for? Each of the cultivation Houses had its own strengths. Just as the Lán Sect of Gūsū was skilled with music, the Niè Sect of Qīnghé had the ferocious and lethal strength of their Saber Spirits and that was the exact reason they were so remarkable. If they abandoned the teachings of their ancestors and started over from scratch by seeking a new way, they couldn’t know how many years that could take or if they would even succeed. So Niè Huáisāng didn’t dare go against the House of Niè by changing their way of cultivation. Therefore, the only thing he could do was be a good-for-nothing waste of a person.
If he wasn’t the Head of his House, he would spend his entire life just as he had when he had been in Cloud Recesses. All day long he would go swim in lakes and paint fans. He would catch fish with his hands and play with birds. It had certainly been more comfortable than what he was doing now. But since has old brother had already passed away, and despite not being as strong as he would like, all he could do was shoulder his clan’s burdens and limp his way forward.
Yikes. So yeah. Unlike The Untamed/CQL where NHS is nominally seen carrying a weapon around (despite never really using it), it seems like he actually never really learned to use the saber at all in the book. I know Fatal Journey hinted at that with the 刀 vs 心 choice, but it’s a neat distinction. And of course we’re all like “NHS always be knowing!” but it really hit me like a ton of bricks for some reason to read this. He knew the entire world was going to think poorly of him. His choices were “be a failure” or “go crazy and kill everyone and yourself” which still wouldn’t solve any of his family’s problems. And he’s really not mincing words when saying “good-for-nothing waste of a person.” It’s written as 脓包废物. 脓包 literally means a pustule or pus bag (*pukes*) and is used to describe someone that’s just totally worthless. 废物 means someone/something that a waste/complete rubbish.
I think, in the end, this may be part of why even getting rid of JGY ends up ringing hollow. (Though I’ll have to double-check when I get to that part of the novel to be sure.) At the end of the day, his family’s legacy still remains and isn’t actually solved at all. Funnily enough, I’m personally trying to work on a quasi post-canon fic and one of the storylines will be about NHS trying to find a workaround (but in true NHS fashion, no one actually knows this.) Said fic is over 70k in notes/outlines/half-written scenes but zero coherence so who knows if it will ever see the light of day!
96 notes · View notes
oranges8hands · 3 years
Text
It's Not Your Life to Give: Booker Edition
I'm assuming somewhere out there is already meta for why the exile wasn’t wrong, but fuck if you can find shit on tumblr anymore, so here's mine:
I'm not denying Booker needs help; he's suicidal, he's depressed, he's tangled in his own grief and loneliness, he’s got survivor’s guilt, he's likely got complex-ptsd along with his alcoholism and probably some other stuff. I admit, the shorthand of "fuck Booker" is not nuanced to that. That said, I am really not a fan of this fandom narrative that his depression, grief, etc, is a good reason for his actions [1], that his victims owe him enough immediate forgiveness to continue to help him in the aftermath of his actions, that he is the only hurting person in this situation, or that his (self)-destruction - obviously a common symptom - didn't blow up a very basic foundation between him and the others that doesn't just get waived away by an apology. (Which... he never actually offers?  Fandom posits he apologizes and feels bad for what he does in the aftermath, but that's one interpretation, and canon can just as easily be read that he gets a little bit of a rude awakening when Andy is mortal, but frankly he comes across as someone who is sorry it didn't work out and he ended up in a worse place, not for what he did.) 
  Plus, I think a lot of fandom mindset works under what happened [2] and not on what he either planned or did not see the obvious pathway was going to happen [3], as well as ignoring some of the context he put into the situation (his resentment of Joe and Nicky didn't just magically disappear after they escaped), and are looking at his end result (even less familial support than before, in the apartment getting drunk - and shit knows loneliness/isolation is an esp hot button for people right now) and not on the fact he just sold out his family to experience their worst nightmares (a fact he's reminded of again in the middle of his betrayal) and that they can't trust him.
THEY CAN'T TRUST HIM. They had no way to see this coming because it would never have occurred to them, but that barn door is open now. What keeps him from calling in their new safe house? maybe finding a different kind of partner, leading them to another trap on a job? hell, maybe contact Kozak again [4] and see if she made any progress. share their secrets with someone new. do they have to hope Andy's mortality (which is the only thing that made him pause) will reach him enough when apparently their love and affection didn't before? what happens when she dies? what sign are they supposed to somehow intuit if he tips from bad mental health to making actionable decisions to try to die and dragging everyone else into it with him again? if someone picks up this trail of breadcrumbs Copley and Merrick left, is he going to help clean up or go with it? Basically, what stops him from doing this to them again?  Like, I can arguably make a list for reasons I don't think they should have 100 year exiled him (though again, time works on a different scale for them [5]), but at this point I am definitely pushing back on the dominant fandom idea that the exile in and of itself was wrong [6], or that it was only a punishment.     They are going to feel guilty for what they did/didn't do to help him, for not seeing how bad it got [7], (in Andy's case esp) for helping him lean into the bad coping mechanisms, and yeah some of that does need to be owned, but they should not feel guilty for him betraying them or needing time away to deal with that betrayal.  It's funny, cause my immediate response after seeing the movie was that the betrayal story line did not work for me, but it's canon and the response that they should put aside their reaction to help him definitely feels like it ignores the severity of what he actually did to them and how long it could take to (emotionally, mentally) recover from it. That they owe Booker to put it aside to help him. That the others are wrong for the choice they made because of a situation he put them in. [8]  He didn't mind them being tortured, being separated, or being dead; if they want a 100 years to figure out how to continue to love and welcome someone who would do that to them, how to trust someone like that again, they get a 100 years.  And at the end of the day, even Booker understood that.
____________ [1] mental illness does not cause you to try to murder someone (and it is very clear that even if he thinks Andy wanted to die, he knows Joe and Nicky do not, not to mention Nile), and that's frankly a very harmful myth used to dismiss larger violent patterns irl
[2] 2 days of medical experiments, Andy being (luckily!) non-lethally shot, I'd add Nile's general mental well-being but lbr that doesn't tend to factor into it for fandom
[3] Joe, Nicky, Andy, and later Nile be taken and medically experimented on/tortured until... well, forever, cause honestly it's a big assumption they'd let them go or kill them even if they discovered the secret to their death; earlier on, Nile either being left alone - yanno, the thing he said was his reason for doing this (even if it's obviously just a part of the tangled reaction for why he did it) with no answers and forever dreaming about their torture and/or more specifically Nile being left at the mercy of the us military/govt with no answers and forever dreaming about their torture while experiencing her own. 
[4] them not killing Kozak or destroying the lab was hollywood-sloppy - even though I totally love the hc that either a) their spilled body parts disintegrate after a bit or b) there is absolutely nothing in their system that shows their immortality - but it does mean there's a little more clean-up needed than Copley erasing some tapes. 
[5] which is not an excuse to infantilize him? he's a grown man. he may be young compared to the others, but he's not actually a "teenager" and he's esp not too young to realize the ramifications of his actions (aka that his family won’t react well to him selling them out)
[6] maybe not the smartest choice in terms of safety since they'd have even less ability to see if he betrays them or himself again, and being split up makes them more vulnerable, but also not wrong; it's basically a load of shitty choices and that's the one they picked. cause like he said, what else can they do? frankly, now or in a 100 years, Booker is the one that needs to rebuild trust, but at least 100 years gives the rest of them some time to deal with their own trauma before having to deal with him either trying (or not) to fix what he broke, leaves them possibly more open and receptive to changes he’s made.
[7] though as someone whose been on both sides of it, the idea you should be able to just tell how bad it actually is for someone (or even tell that it is bad) is frankly not actually that realistic or fair; people are very often good at hiding and/or downgrading how bad it is 
[8] and specifically that Joe is wrong for the choice they made. like the fact Andy and Nicky both want to get him out the building or that Nicky isn't vocal in his reaction means they didn't reach this decision together, that Joe is the only angry one, that Joe is the only one to aggressively pursue this course of action. like, come on, the pattern of this definitely comes from fandom's racism
34 notes · View notes
prrplwtch · 4 years
Note
headcanons for all the demon brothers on what their thoughts are about dating a human, considering humans age quickly and die. they barely have a century, if that. and if they do last a century they'll be old. idk... if mc asked them if they truly meant to date them when they are 70 years old, what would they say?
Ahh, nonnie thank you for this request - this is just the kind of angst I’ve been craving lately 💜I’m kinda assuming here that the whole entire “die, turn back into angel, and then live happily ever after with MC in celestial realm” things that’s briefly mentioned in the game isn’t really an option for the boys, since I don’t really understand it. 
Anyways, after I wrote this, it appears Lucifer, Satan, Asmo and Belphie would break off relationship on account of MC’s mortality, and Mammon, Levi and Beel would stay. 
Lucifer
Lucifer starts thinking about it as soon as he finds himself falling for MC. 
He knows that the human life is quite short, and he’d lost so much of what he loved before - but for the first time in his life he’s this scared.
It seems MC will be taken away from him in a blink of an eye. 
Lucifer is not the type to give up without a fight, however, so he’ll likely try and find a way to increase human life span. He knows, of course, that it’s not possible to make humans immortal, but he will do his best to find a way to get more time for the two of them. 
Diavolo might find out about his efforts, and may offer to make MC a demon, but Lucifer will decline. That’s not to say he’s not tempted to accept - after all, that way they’ll be forever by his side, but he knows all too well the cost of a deal with Diavolo. 
If he finds something that may help lengthen human life, he’ll approach MC about it. If they accept, he’ll be delighted, but if they reject, he would fall into despair.  
Assuming that MC rejected the “longer-lifespan” solution and question Lucifer on whether he would stop loving them if they aged and died like a normal human, Lucifer would become very sad - picturing himself still “young” and full of strength when MC is old and frail is quite jarring to him. 
Will likely begin to pull away from the relationship in that case and might actually break it off - he is not ready to spend decades in fear, waiting for MC to become old and die. 
Alternative option is that he’ll apply the “long life” treatment to MC anyways (since often he thinks he knows better) but this would likely blow up in his face, since MC probably won’t be too happy about it, and for a good reason. 
Mammon
Mammon does not think about it at first - after all, he kind of lives in the present moment. 
However, one day, one of his brothers (maybe Lucifer or Satan) will definitely being up the fact that he’s dating a mortal and that their time together is quite limited. 
That would scare Mammon very much - MC is the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and he absolutely cannot lose them. 
He likely won’t talk to MC about it right away, but will ask around about the ways in which a human’s life span can be lengthened. He’s not big on doing research, so he’ll likely turn to Satan or might go to the witches and ask if they know of something. 
MC will definitely figure out that something is bothering Mammon - the boy is as transparent as they come, even though he tries to hide his true feelings. 
When confronted will tell MC about his worries and will mention whatever ways he had found of increasing the human life span, then will ask MC is they’d agree to those. 
If MC agrees, like Lucifer, he would be elated. If MC does not agree, and instead asks him if he’d still love them when they were old and frail, Mammon would feel really guilty. 
It would take him some time to figure out what he truly feels about this situation - after all, this is all so new and he’d never had to encounter such problems before. 
In the end, he’ll decide that he’ll stay with MC who refused the “lifespan lengthening” treatment - the man is the avatar of greed after all, and there is no way he’ll give up the most precious thing in his life, even if it’s inevitable that it’ll be eventually taken away. 
Leviathan
Like Mammon Levi does not really think about it, until one day he he ends up watching an anime with a similar premise - an immortal girl meets a mortal girl and they fall in love, and the anime follows their life together. 
He thinks a lot about himself and MC when he watches it. He’s worried at first, but the story is a beautiful one and very peaceful, all the way through the end, and that definitely gives him solace. 
“Even though our time is short, we can still live a happy life,” he thinks to himself. 
Unlike his other brothers, will likely bring this up to MC unprompted, but asking MC whether they had thought about the future with him. MC will likely wonder why he’s asking, prompting Levi to explain about the anime. 
“So then you’ll still love me when I’m 70 and old and frail?” MC will ask him with a smile, and Levi will assure MC that of course he would. After all, theirs is a true love, just like that of the two characters from his anime, so how could he ever walk away from his one true?
Still though, Levi would like to get as much time with MC as is possible - he loves them very much after all - so he will ask if they are interested in looking into ways to increase the human lifespan. 
If MC agrees, Levi would be very happy - the more years he has with them the better, after all. But if MC declines, though sad, Levi would respect their decision. 
Satan (you can pry tolkien-fan satan out of my cold dead hands lmao)
Satan definitely thinks about the fact that he and MC would not have much time together as soon as he finds himself falling for them. 
After all, how could he not when some books he enjoyed reading had discussed at length the griefs that would befall the mortal and immortals who decided to spend their lives together. 
It worries him, of course - he knows that human youth is painfully fleeting and soon enough MC would age. Compared to millennia that he had lived, it seems as though MC will turn old and frail in a blink of an eye. 
He thinks he’d like to stay by their side, but one thing worries him - how will they feel when old age came upon them, and he’s still as “young” as the day they met. 
Satan would likely talk to MC about his concerns, trying to see what they think about the issue. 
When MC asks him if he would still love them when they are seventy, the question will likely put fear into Satan’s heart. It would seem to him that MC resents the fact that they will age, if they are asking things like this.
Satan knows a lot about magic, so he, like his brothers, might try to find away to make sure that MC lives longer, and will be glad if they accept. 
However, if they do not, like Lucifer, Satan might withdraw from the relationship. It would be unintentional at first, but the more time passes, the more he’d think about how MC would feel in the end - when they are old and he is still young. 
He knows he would not be able to hide his pity for them when that day comes- and he knows he does not want to shame them like that. So it is possible that Satan would break off the relationship to prevent more hurt further down the road. 
Asmodeus
Asmo, like Mammon, doesn’t really think about the future the whole lot, until someone points out to him that his time with MC is limited. Well, “doesn’t think about it,” is not completely fair - he did for a moment, but then quickly pushed the thought to the very back of his mind. After all, how can he be his fabulous self if he’s sulking? 
Still, now that someone else had pointed this out, Asmo cannot avoid the topic any longer. It causes him great anguish - he loves MC, and imagining them old and grey and weak is not something he wants to think about at all. 
MC would likely pick up on Asmo being more sad/reserved that usual, and when they ask him about it, he’ll likely be pretty open about his feelings. 
“Not to worry though,” he’ll tell MC, “I know this one witch - and she looks not a day over twenty five, when, in fact, she’s about five hundred years old. I’m sure if I’ll ask her nicely, she’ll share the secret of how to lengthen human life span.”
He’ll be delighted if MC agrees and would proceed right to calling the witch. However, if MC declines and asks him instead if what he said means he would not love them once they turned old, Asmo would be conflicted. 
On one hand, he would, of course - after all they’d still be them, but on the other hand, he could hardly bear to picture them old and frail. He’ll try to convince them to change their mind, of course. 
If he does not succeed, Asmo might find himself pulling away from the relationship. He loves MC a lot yet, but he does not want to get hurt - and he knows their death would absolutely destroy him. 
He might find it easier to break off the relationship completely rather than suffer for decades in wait of MC’s death.
Beelzebub
Beel, like some of his brothers, is not really the type to ponder subjects like this, so it’s most likely that he hasn’t thought about how the relationship between him and MC would inevitably come to an end with their death. 
That is, until one of his brothers points it out. 
The thought makes Beel very sad - he loves MC so very much and he never wants to be separated from them. Still, he understands that that’s the reality of life - humans are mortal and one day MC will be taken away from him. 
Knowing that they only have a little time together (well, obviously decades are not quite “little time,” but to someone who’s lived for millennia it probably is) he’d want to spend all the time he can with MC. 
He’d likely stay in MC’s room as much as he can, go with them everywhere, spend all the free time that he can by their side and be really sad when he cannot be next to them. 
MC would likely notice the change in his behavior - it’s not like he did not spend a lot of time with them before, but now he’s spending considerably more time with them - and ask him about it to which Beel would likely tell them the truth, that he’s scared that one day he’ll lose them. 
When MC asks if that means he’d still be by their side when they are old, Beel will be taken aback by the question. How can MC possibly think otherwise - of course he’d never leave them?
Unlike his brothers, he probably won’t look into the lengthening of the human lifespan - after all, MC does not seem interested in it, and he’s already grateful for all the time that they got together. 
Belphegor
Unlike his twin, Belphie definitely thinks about the fact that humans are mortal and that there is so little time for him to be with MC, as soon as he finds himself falling for them. 
Belphie’s terrified of losing any more of the people that he loves, so MC’s mortality is causing him great anguish. Unlike some of his brothers, however, he’s pretty good at concealing his true emotions, so it’s likely won’t be as easy for MC to read him as it is to read some of his brothers. 
Still, eventually the silence will become too much to bear, and Belphie would tell MC that their mortality scares him. 
When the conversation occurs, he likely hasn’t looked into the ways of making humans live longer just yet, but he’s certain that that’s possible, so he brings it up as a possibility to MC. 
If MC accepts, that makes Belphie happy - the more time he has with his beloved the better. If MC rejects, he feels really sad and a little angry - he wonders if MC doesn’t love him enough that they are refusing to do this for him. 
When MC asks him if he’d still love them when they are seventy years old, Belphie’s taken aback by the question. On one hand, MC would still be themselves, but on the other hand, loving someone who is on the death’s door, who is bound to die so soon. The very thought hurts.
Belphie thinks he’d suffered enough hurt in his life, and he does not want to go through several more decades waiting to get hurt again, so he’ll likely end the relationship to prevent pain down the road. 
307 notes · View notes
vicisse · 5 years
Text
on the darkling
listen. i totally understand the mixed opinions on this guy. i’ve pretty much resigned myself the fact that my opinion is and should be mixed. the darkling is the kind of character that is equal parts despicable and almost relatable—relatable and not redeemable. 
the man is a walking contradiction, and so is my opinion of him: i love to hate him, and i hate to love him. 
this post is meant to take a crack at the utter enigma that is the darkling and really break down his character. 
“The Darkling is a manipulative person, so why do so many people like him?”
i can’t speak on behalf of the whole fandom, but for me personality, i like TD in the sense that he is a complex character. does that mean i excuse the atrocious things he did? absolutely not. he is still an abject and detestable character. but i can still analyze and delve into the intricacies and reasoning behind his actions and find it interesting. 
(and besides, from a purely leisure-based perspective, TD is an entertaining character! i mean, he’s awful, but he’s also awfully petty. for a supposedly intelligent character with a vast amount of experience, he sure gets tripped up on the words and actions of a mousy teenage girl.)
some people, though, like to reduce TD to the bad boy/asshole who goes “soft” after meeting the girl of his dreams. not only does that trope grate on my nerves, it is also a far cry from the actual dynamics at work. 
not only has leigh commented on how she wanted to subvert the trope that a female love interest can make a bad man better (in regards to the relationship between alina and TD, at least), but she has also made it clear that TD would not change for alina. 
for all the times he reveals a little bit of truth to alina... well? it’s just that. a little bit of truth. it’s really another manipulative tactic: lies mixed with a little bit of truth, a classic TD move. he knows that alina is lonely and preys on that loneliness, talking on and on about how she isn’t like her friends, how none of them will ever understand her the way he can. 
“I’ve seen what you truly are,” said the Darkling, “and I’ve never turned away. I never will. Can he say the same?”
another reason why TD is fascinating to me is because he is so good at what he does that he manages to manipulate readers, too. they think he’s good for alina, or that alina will change him, that she was stupid for turning down a chance to step into power. 
(i beg to differ, though that is a whole other meta—on alina. this is about TD.)
TD is a compelling character because his very existence elicits so many questions: 
Why is he so obsessed with Alina? Does he actually feel anything for her? If he wants her so badly, why doesn’t he stop his quest for world domination and have a little more compassion for humanity?
Why did he make the Fold?
Why is he—well—Like That?
let’s go backwards, starting with Why is he Like That? well, the answer is easily: Baghra. 
her parenting is questionable, to say the least. i don’t doubt that she loves her son and genuinely wants the best for him, but “the best” gets warped with the times. in the early years, “the best” meant heeding her lessons, accumulating fear and power so no one could hurt them—hurt him. 
it isn’t until after the whole shadow fold debacle that baghra’s all “maybe the best is seeing my son come home,” because the monster who was peeling away strips of his humanity year after year is no longer her son. i mean, TD spent a good part of his formative years learning at her knee, truly heeding her words:
“I taught him that he had no equal, that he was destined to bow before no man. I wanted him to be hard, to be strong. I taught him the lesson my mother and father taught me: to rely on no one. That love—fragile and fickle and raw—was nothing compared to power.”
at the time, the latter certainly holds true. TD scarcely made friends, as baghra also warned him to be wary of touch (they’re amplifiers, after all), which is a pretty big part of socializing and human interaction. what does he need love for?
in order to make a difference, make the impact he desired, TD would have to climb a lot of rungs to step into a position powerful enough to commit to reality the dream he’s carried: to make a safe haven for grisha. 
but now his dreams have since been warped by time. 
it’s hard to fathom just how long TD has lived because we don’t know how long he’s been around. still, factoring time into the equation is helpful when it comes to understanding TD’s motivation. 
anger is certainly a huge motivator, and something that only festers on and grows with time, twining itself with resentment and bitterness and underneath it all: loneliness. anger, directed at a world that spurned him and people like him. anger, at a world that always, always took from him—because he must have loved someone at some point. he tells alina, 
“I have lived a long life, rich in grief. My tears are long since spent. If I still felt as you do, if I ached as you do, I could not have borne this eternity.”
and the loneliness, the burden of immortality, the curse of it. to watch the people you love taken by a world that spurned grisha, or worse: to watch them live long enough to die of old age while you remained unblemished by time, to repeat that cycle over and over again and bear the brunt of loneliness each and every time. 
“But wait,” you might be thinking, “doesn’t he have his mom?”
well, yeah. there is baghra, but... you have to understand: she’s the one who taught him to be that way. she was the one who taught him to rely on nothing and no one but himself. and also? who would want to spend eternity with a cold and distant mother? 
“Boo hoo, poor immortal character is stuck being lonely. Is that supposed to excuse the horrors he committed? I get lonely, too, but you don’t see me annihilating a whole town.”
no, not at all! this is just providing a reason behind it, not excusing it. understanding does not equal tolerance. TD is despicable, true, but i’m just pointing out:
a life in isolation + immortal life + grand ambition to change the world = disaster
it isn’t enough just to be grisha; TD is also an amplifier, so he was hunted by other grisha. that isolating existence combined with the long stretch of time he can live is already enough to strip you of what little humanity you have. add on the fact that TD once dreamed of changing the world, to make a safe haven for people like him, grisha, and the fact that baghra essentially raised him to rely on power and believe that the world is his birthright... yeah. disaster. 
of course, the real disaster here is TD, but apparently, disaster spur more disasters because he also made the shadow fold. so, Why did he make the Fold? honestly, it confuses me, too. 
see, when alina asks that, baghra tells her that the fold is no accident, which leads me, the reader, to believe that TD planned on splitting ravka in two in order to sanction fold crossings, which would get the king to rely on his second army, his grisha. buuut, leigh has also said in a couple Q&As that the fold was merzost gone wrong... to be honest, it’s probably both?
like yes, TD tried his hand at merzost and failed on a scale of epic proportions, but leave it to him to figure out a way around his mess. like sure, he wasn’t able to make his own amplifier (though why he would need more amplifiers when he is himself is an amplifier is beyond me), but he probably figures, hey, i can use this, and does. which brings me to the last stretch of questions:
Why is he so obsessed with Alina? Does he actually feel anything for her? If he wants her so badly, why doesn’t he stop his quest for world domination and have a little more compassion for humanity?
he’s obsessed with alina because she’s literally his answer. to everything. 
if he wants to cross the fold? alina. if he takes over ravka for many centuries and the people start to protest? alina, the revered sun saint, will subdue them.
so what if alina isn’t as powerful as he is, won’t live as long as he does? he supposes now is as good a time as any to whip out old grandpa ilya’s journals to get his set of amplifiers on her. 
she’s the amalgamation of everything he has ever searched for, ever wanted. and maybe that’s why a lot of people conflate those strong feelings for love, but the thing is... TD? loving someone? feeling anything? i have to laugh. 
that’s another thing about TD. when it comes to emotions, he’s not as emotionally stunted as some people make him out to be. 
he strikes me as a very introspective character. it doesn’t make sense to me that someone who’s lived so long is so out of touch with their emotions. he is, in a way, but i also think he is aware and merely chooses to ignore, push down, or disguise it as something else entirely. he’s not emotionally stunted, he just thinks some emotions are inconvenient. unpleasant. annoying, even.
the thing is, TD has lived a really loooong life. he doesn’t feel loneliness the same way any of the other non-immortal characters do. no, his kind of loneliness manifests itself without feeling, numb from the centuries of having nothing and no one to depend on but himself. 
i’m not saying that TD doesn’t love alina—though honestly, i could never imagine a world where he acknowledges he does. besides, it doesn’t look like what is the ideal definition of love as we see it, but it’s as close as he’s gonna get.
love is a tricky, flexible thing; and it isn’t always good or bad. ideally, love should be good, but. it’s like a friend pointed out to me: a controlling mother can tell her child, “i love you, so you have to do what i say,” but she isn’t necessarily lying. she does love her child, but she uses it as leverage to manipulate—another classic TD move. 
now, i never quite answered why, then, if he wants alina so badly, doesn’t he stop his quest for world domination and have a little more compassion for humanity? short answer is: it’s impossible. 
i’ve answered an ask before, on TD and the possibility of a redemption arc, but again: it’s impossible. i mean, imagine holding onto a grudge for years. years. at some point, it’s not just a grudge, it’s just you, holding onto your anger, some kind of injustice you feel but can no longer identify. 
it’s like that with TD, but x100000000000000000000. i might even be missing a few more zeroes, to be honest. 
TD is many things. stubborn, selfish, arrogant. arrogance plays a big role, because his ego is, frankly, the size of the shadow fold. someone who’s as self-righteous as TD isn’t going to readily admit he was wrong this whole time. 
the fold is one thing—but that mistake he could rectify, work around. if he were to admit that he was wrong for doing all this grand planning, plans he spent centuries building up to and waiting for, it would all go to waste. it would all be for nothing. at the very least, he has to see some follow through. 
and another thing: he’s not about to give up a centuries’ long ambition for one (1) mousy girl who is too stubborn to acknowledge her own potential. forget it! 
he might love alina, but he will always love power more.
52 notes · View notes
calliecat93 · 4 years
Text
Tumblr media
Happy 2020 everyone! Hope that everyone had a great holiday! I did, but man the week break for the show left such a void. But we’re back on track now! SO last time we got Schnee drama, Weiss getting the clue to bury her father, and Watts dooming the city of Mantle to die in the cold. With all of that and us nearing the climax of the volume, what will CRWBY serve us this time? Well, let's find out!
Overview
Tumblr media
The people of Mantle and understandably confused and upset about the heating going off. They think that Atlas did it, wondering if they still have heating and if they really would just turn it off. Pietro and Maria are also there, clearly concerned. Back at the Dinner Party as the Council continues their questioning of Ironwood’s actions, one of Jaques’ staff informs him of the recent developments and that it happened under his authorization. Jaques is shocked, but of course, he doesn’t tell the rest of the council this. Asshole. The Council is done… but Robyn isn’t. She wants to know what kind of secret Ironwood is hiding that he won’t share with even the Council. She suggests settling things then and now, offering her hand to Ironwood to use her lie detector Semblance.
Before Ironwood can do anything, Weiss bursts in. She reveals that she knows who the true criminal is… and that her father worked with him. She shows WIllow’s Scroll, revealing Watts much to everyone’s shock. The footage is played and reveals everything. Watts wanting revenge for being disgraced despite all the work he did for Ironwood. How he offered to rig the election if Jaques caused chaos for Mantle. How Jaques full-heartedly agreed to it, even laughing at it. Jaques has been exposed, and he has no way to defend himself. He tries to run for it, only to be blocked by Weiss’ Knight. The same Knight that he used on her when she tried to earn her right into Beacon. The same armor used by Nicholas Schnee, the man that Jaques essentially robbed the company from. Jaques has nowhere to run nor hide, and Weiss places him under arrest.
Tumblr media
As things worsen in Mantle, the people using Fire Dust to create a giant bonfire and another riot breaking out, Ironwood and the Council question Jaques on his crimes. They’ve pieced together that Watts, along with Tyrian, were the ones responsible for the murders at Robyn’s rally and he has access to both Mantle and Atlas’ systems. The latter all thanks to Jaques giving him the access one he got his Council seat. Jaques is charged with Treason and Accessory to Murder as the asshole denies his involvement in all of it, claiming that he had no idea of Watts’ plans. This may be true, but he still allowed it to happen, so the blood is very much on his hands. Watts has access due to him and given time, he’ll be able to do what he wants, placing the Kingdom is grave danger.
It’s at this point that the Council is alerted to the growing crisis. Jaques immediately tries to again to defend himself, but Winter shuts him up and orders him to get the heat back on. But… he can’t. Watts used Jaques authorization and proceeded to lock everyone out. Ruby questions how bad this is as Ironwood tracks down Watts’ activity, specifically Amity. So far, Watts hasn’t unlocked the secrets there, but if he finds out then… yeah. With no way to trace him and hm already locking out more people, it looks bad. At this point, Robyn is even more curious about what the heck is going on and questions Ironwood about the Communications Tower. Something that Ironwood is shocked to find out that she knows of. In Mantle, the citizens have lost it as they attack the Atlesian robots, and with all this negativity, the Grimm are coming in. Saybers, and even worse, Goliaths, attack and all with the giant gaping hole in Mantle’s walls. Ho boy…
Tumblr media
Back up above, Robyn reasons with Ironwood, having realized that whatever is going on is much bigger than the Kingdom or even Remnant. She knows that Ironwood is scared, but he needs to talk to her and the others. However, Clover and Oscar barge in, telling Ironwood of the Grimm attacks. Hearing this and with everything else, Ironwood is upset and unsure of what to do. Oscar goes to him, encouraging him to tell the truth and to work with everyone with Ruby saying that he isn’t alone. Ironwood gets into General mode, telling Oscar to go back to the Academy as RWBYJNRQ and Ace-Ops go down to Mantle to save the people. As they head out, Ruby and Oscar talk and agree that it’s time to reveal the truth. Oscar agrees to do so, allowing Ruby to go and do her duty.
Everyone heads out, Clover stressing that their duty is to get the people out, not fight the Grimm. Ironwood has revealed the truth to the Council and Robyn, all clearly stunned especially the latter. But Oscar has now told Ironwood the truth about Salem’s immortality, and he is stunned. He questions why Oz would hide this, with Oscar guessing so that they wouldn’t lose hope. But he says that Oz would be proud of Ironwood and that he’s fulfilling Atlas’ intent of being a  place to inspire hope. Ironwood starts to point out that Oscar talks like he was there, but he gets informed that the transports have arrived so for now they have to save it. Needless to say, Ironwood’s not exactly up for any more surprises.
Tumblr media
The gang’s transport is attacked by a pterodactyl Grimm, one that Harriet can’t shake off. As such, they’re forced to jump for it as it takes a wing. Meanwhile, Jaques is carted off by the military as Willow and Whitley watch. Whitley is quiet, sitting on the stairs, before running off. But there’s someone else also there… a black-haired, green-eyed waitress who skips away. She enters some room where there’s a full view of Atlas Academy. She is greeted by… CInder. Yep, after hearing nothing of her since the end of V6, she’s back folks. And the girl? You guessed it, Neo in disguise. Cinder asks if Neo found what they were looking for, and the girl gives a devilish smirk as the chapter ends.
Review
So… this chapter is… okay. It’s not good. It’s not bad. It’s only okay. And that is all due to the execution. It was… pretty flimsy, unfortunately. I’m not gonna say bad because there are still four chapters to go, so anything can happen. But from how things are shaping up… I have concerns, to say the least,
Tumblr media
Let’s talk about the good parts, FIrst, Weiss arresting Jaques. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. We have been waiting for this day for a long, long time. It never even crossed my mind that once she got hard evidence, Weiss would go straight to the council to expose her father then and there. Admittedly it feels… kinda easy? Like Jaques only just got elected, and he’s been de-powered this soon? But really? Jaques is a minor antagonist compared to Watts and Tyrian and is just a pawn in their game. He served his purpose and after his atrocities in this volume alone, he got what he deserved. It was also so great to see Weiss be the one to bring him down, showing that she has broken free of her father once and the girl that he tried to imprison send him to live out that fate.
So is this the end for Jaques? Maybe. Again, a lot depends on how the end of Volume 7 goes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes back into the future if we stay in Atlas. After all, the SDC has lost its leader, and this is going to cause problems. They can improve themselves, or become so much worse. IDK if Whitley will by default become the new Head or if he has to wait until he’s of age, but if he does… that is bad. Not just because he’s still a kid with no experience, but chances are Jaques still has power over him. He likely has ways to manipulate even behind bars, and Whitley was clearly not happy to see his dad be carted off. Whitley still has hope, and maybe this will help him cut the line, but I doubt that’s going to happen for a while. But for now, Jaques is where he belongs and hopefully, he stays there until he dies.
Tumblr media
So let’s get into the iffier bits. So all of the truth is out now. Ironwood reveals Salem and the Amity plans to the Council and Robyn. Okay, good. Oscar, with permission from Ruby, reveals Salem’s immortality to Ironwood. Okay, good. We see Ren and Nora getting along at least for now as they go into battle. Okay, good. Robyn accepts that Ironwood isn’t a bad person and that Atlas isn’t to blame for Mantle. Okay, good. Everyone is acting overall mature with Ironwood taking the truth overall well. This is… a problem for me. A BIG problem.
Don’t get me wrong I’m glad that everyone is acting mature right now, especially with the current crisis. That is more important. But… do you seriously expect me to believe that it was this easy to resolve all of this? That Ironwood, after how his paranoia and shoving away his humanity was built up, was able to be briefly distressed and then accept the truth like that? That Robyn could look past Ironwood endangering and mistreating Mantle and a Grimm attack now underway because he refused the proper resources without any resentment? That the Council is going to trust Ironwood’s horrible decisions after this? That Ruby just suddenly decided that it was time and suffer no consequences or allow us to see her thought process regarding it? Really guys? REALLY?
Tumblr media
No. This was too clear cut. Too easy. RWBY is an idealistic show, but you cannot build all of this up and just drop it because of a few revelations. Ironwood still caused most of the Mantle problems even before the framing. He still left Mantle vulnerable and unable to repair the wall, which leaves them open to the Grimm. He was still a borderline tyrant and no matter the intention, that is inexcusable. Same with the heroes. There was so much fracturing/built-up between them. Ren and Nora’s vastly different viewpoints coming in between them. Blake and Yang making decisions outside the rest of the group. Which great that they suffered no consequences for that even though it should have been discussed at least. We don’t see the gang talk about these things. We have Yang question Ruby once, and nothing after from anyone else. We don’t see Ruby struggle with her decision aside from being uncertain, and she is again not allowed to talk about her feelings outside a one minute talk with Qrow about it. I thought that we got over this ‘don’t show Ruby’s development’ issue in V6. I’m just… disappointed because it feels like all of this build-up, all of this struggle between right and wrong got a slap on the wrist and now it’s okay with NO ONE suffering ANY consequences!
Now again, the volume is not over. Something could go very, very wrong. And if we stay in Atlas at the end, we have Volume 8 where these choices can come back to haunt them. But judging this on it’s own with the rest of the volume, it’s really flimsy. Again, I am glad because there is a crisis going on. This isn't the time to argue amongst themselves. But why not have the show acknowledge that while still showing that these issues aren’t being dropped? V6 did it in just the first chapter. If the remainder of the chapters proves me wrong, I’ll re-asess for the Full Volume Review. But for now, it is the weakest chapter of the volume with only Weiss’ scenes and a few bits I’ll get into in a second saving it. This was far too contrived.
Tumblr media
Okay, let’s talk about the other stuff. The Mantle scenes were brutal. But the people’s actions make perfect sense. Their anger and hatred for Ironwood and Atlas ave been built-up all Volume and now that they’ve been practically sentenced to death? Yeah, I’d snap in rage too. It’s gonna be brutal, and not just due to the Grimm. Are the people even going to accept the heroes' help? As far as they know, the Ace-Ops are Ironwood’s personal attack dogs and Penny is still a murderer. They’re not gonna believe any word to the contrary now. So not only do the heroes have to deal with the Grimm, but they have to try and save citizens that don’t want their help and are likely gonna fight back. Needless to say, Mantle is in big, BIG trouble. Upside, maybe we’ll FINALLY get the Robyn and Qrow vs Tyrian fight!
There’s also Oscar. Oh golly, Oscar. The merger is for sure happening. He’s talking, as Ironwood said, like he was there in the past. He’s giving advice that goes beyond his years. He clearly has Oz’s wisdom, but still his own viewpoint. Like he said, Oz would have likely kept the secret but Oscar goes the opposite route. It shows that he’s getting the memories and experience, but he’s still him. Will it stay that way? IDK. But it’s good to see more of the signs being there. Oh and the Rose Garden tease... I don’t care. Moving on.
Tumblr media
We now come to the ending. Not gonna lie, they got me. I was NOT expecting Cinder and Neo until maybe the tailend of the volume. Like… right before the credits or even the stinger tailend. This… is bad. Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see them. Unlike many others, I love CInder as a villain. I hate her as a human being, but she’s a good villain. Neo… I’m indifferent over, but she’s getting to show more of her stuff now and I’m always open to that. If I really had to guess… Cinder is likely gonna attack the Academy. Why? To get at Oscar. She doesn't know where the Maiden Powers are, so she might as well get the Relic that she failed to get last time. IDK if Neo will follow or go at Ruby, but either way things just got a lot more complicated. Pray for our heroes guys, they’re in for a world of trouble…
Chapter Ten Predictions
Tumblr media
Honestly? I have zero idea. I assume that we’re gonna get some Grimm fights… and if I‘m right citizen fights. Also kinda scared that if he’s able, this will be the point where Watts hacks into Penny to turn her against the heroes. Hey, he’s already copying CInder’s plan, might as well go the ‘take over the robots’ part. Then we have Oscar at the Academy, and if I’m right about Cinder… well… hopefully, someone like Winter is there also. If she’s not busy getting the Maiden Powers, in which case keep her far away from Cinder please. Either way, it’s gonna be brutal I think.
Episode Stats
Tumblr media
Favorite Character: Weiss Schnee and Oscar Pine Favorite Scene: Weiss exposing/arresting Jaques Least Favorite Scene: All scenes involving the secrets because again, way too easy and contrived. Favorite Voice Actor: Aaron Dismuke (Oscar Pine) Favorite Animation: Grimm vs Airplane Rating: 7/10
Final Thoughts
I complained quite a bit here… well okay, a lot. But at the end of the day, what matters is if in spite of the flaws, I am still able to enjoy the final product. And when I look back… I did so. Are the contrivances distracting? Sure. But at least I can see what they’re doing and can follow along. Things are still moving forward, and I remained excited about the next episode. Scenes like Weiss arresting Jaques, CInder and Neo’s return, and the Mantle scenes were very well done and left an impact on me as a viewer. So yeah, I’m not 100% happy with the chapter. But I was still able to enjoy myself and it addressed what it needed to. So I’ll call this chapter okay. Not the best, not the worse, just okay. 
Tumblr media
8 notes · View notes
mihanada · 6 years
Text
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
(back to masterpost)
This chapter was almost the end of me, ok. We have established that I need to get Wei Wuxian to turn me into a fierce corpse to survive the rest of the story.
Chapter 57: Poisons (Part 2)
“All of a sudden, Lan WangJi’s tear-streaked face, reflecting the firelight, flashed within his mind.”
;-;
that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
“We’ve got so many sects. Can’t we join together and…”
Just you wait! It’ll happen! Man, all this foreshadowing...A nice move, actually, because this would be foreshadowing if we had a linear narrative. Too much foreshadowing as you go along the story has a tendency to make the plot look too forced and everything contrived, but in this case it it’s not really foreshadowing since we have known the outcome for ages already.
“Shixiong!!! You’re alive now!!!”
“Wei WuXian, “What do you mean I’m alive now? I’ve never died to begin with!”
This reminds me of that one meme. That “Stop talking about me like I’m dead!” one.
ah, kids. it’s like ‘lol don’t go killing me off!’
The shooting kites day in and day out part gives off a ‘trapped in limbo’ feeling really well I have to say.
“If I went out, Madam Yu’s gonna whip a whole layer of skin off me.”
You’re too good at foreshadowing, Wei Wuxian. Too good.
On the other hand, we can totally see yet again that everyone in this world exaggerates corporeal punishment but you can never be too sure of when they’re actually serious!! how nice.
Ah, more martial problems...please get these two some marriage counseling. and family therapy for the whole group.
“What a shame that our swords don’t have that much spiritual energy yet. If they could sheath themselves, then nobody would be able to use them.”
“Jiang Cheng, “If you cultivate for another eighty years, then maybe it’d be possible.”
UH. THIS IS INTERESTING.
Suibian apparently does this after Wei Wuxian dies which is how Jin Guangyao outs him to everyone. According to Jiang Cheng, this shouldn’t be possible unless you cultivate to a very high level, so it must not be very common.
Wei Wuxian’s sword actually manages to do this though!
“Don’t let them hear anything we say that could be used to hold against us.”
Funny to hear these words coming from you, Wei Wuxian. See, he can be serious! When he was younger, he was especially more impulsive and carefree with his words.
“Wang LingJiao, “Of course. I didn’t have the time to come have a seat inside the last time I came to give out orders. Please.”
I kind of want to know what becomes of this woman. But I also want the satisfaction of reading her death for the first time, if the story tells us outright. Hey, at least we know who survives this conflict or not right?
I don’t know if I could survive a straight through narrative not knowing which of the secondary characters would live and which would die horrible deaths (and which villains made it out or not).
“last time I came to give out orders” though. like, damn. ultra level of disrespect.
“Sure, then, why don’t you go inside?”
I love Madam Yu’s responses. We may not have many ladies in this story, but at least we have badass ones like Madam Yu to make up for it!
“JinZhu and YinZhu stood behind her, both wearing light smirks on their faces.
YinZhu replied, “There is no tea. Get it yourself if you want any.”
And her maids! Awesome battle maids who apparently always wear armor.
I guess there really are no servants in the Jiang clan’s immediate household to serve tea lol. Jinzhu and Yinzhu sure as hell aren’t going to do it, and neither is Wei Wuxian xD that’s all they’ve got. (i’m sure they have others we don’t see. I wonder if this is a thing or they’re just saying this to spite Wang Lingjiao)
“As the person saying this, you’re a servant as well, aren’t you?”
I’m glad we get Wei Wuxian’s commentary still even though he isn’t running his mouth.
“Madam Yu, however, seemed to deeply understand the phrase ‘servants should be what servants ought to be’. Glancing at Wei WuXian, she happened to concur, responding loftily, “That’s right.”
She really does not like him. xD
“Shooting down such a kite is actually implying ‘shooting down the sun’! He wants to shoot down the sun!”
Youngest shidi, you will be immortalized and your sacrifice will not be forgotten!
remember! The war against the Wen sect is called the ‘campaign to shoot down the sun’ aka “Sunshot Campaign”. And the game that the kids in normal villages play is the same shooting down the kite game with the symbol of the sun on the kite, imitating the Sunshot Campaign.
on a more serious note, I know people who draw these wild, conspiracy-theory level conclusions from something very innocuous and it’s actually quite scary. They can’t be reasoned with, either. Just gotta roll with it unfortunately.
“Seeing that such a woman dared to make up stories of Jiang FengMian right in front of them, flames bursted from within Wei WuXian, “You…”
I actually don’t have many reactions to this part because I was just screaming silently at this part and it continues throughout to the end lol.
Ahhh, Wei Wuxian was going to defend him, but then he gets hit.
“Zidian had turned into its whip form, sizzling between her hands of cold jade.”
Remember how just using Zidian around Wei Wuxian’s leg caused a burn in the early chapters? Apparently this damn whip is nothing to scoff at and a really powerful weapon, and he gets hit so many times with it, too!
you understand why she’s doing it. At the same time, you can feel that she’s not 100% reluctant to do it either and it’s kinda scary.
then you also really feel the kids’ panic. Jiang Cheng who can’t do anything to stop it, but also of course really really wants his mom to stop whipping Wei Wuxian! and Wei Wuxian who urges him to get away and not get involved so nothing happens to him, too.
it’s just a really messed up scene and ARGH
“In the past, although Madam Yu had always come at him with harsh words, she had never truly been cruel to him. The most that he’d been through were two or three strikes and being grounded.”
This little bit is important!
But it also doesn’t give a clear answer, which really gives these characters some realism.
Madam Yu, for all her yelling at him, never hurt him badly (this is exactly where Jiang Cheng gets his parenting skills from I’m dead bye). But Wei Wuxian doesn’t have negative or resentful feelings towards her even though she has never accepted him for as long as he has been there, so he is an unreliable narrator.
Then we get this scene where it seems like she has no hesitation in whipping the skin off his back with a really powerful weapon ok. What you can’t tell (since this is from Wei Wuxian’s pov) is the degree to which she means it. She could be a good actress, at the same time she could have been lenient before because of Jiang Fengmian (who always came to let Wei Wuxian out of punishment early). Or she could have been like Jiang Cheng to Jin Ling later and scream about beating him without ever actually meaning it (lol though Jiang Cheng has never hit Jin Ling, still, can you not threaten to break his leg).
We do know that she isn’t cruel enough to enjoy it, though, and there is a limit to what she deems acceptable (cutting off hands is obviously not acceptable)
“Young Master Wen is kind. He wouldn’t do something as cruel as chop off both of his legs. If only his right hand is chopped off, then he wouldn’t ever care about this again.”
see, like, this is why I’m glad we already know the outcome of these events broadly. xD
if you think about it from the characters’ perspectives, this is really fucking scary!
What! Cut off his hand? And if you don’t...? they’ll probably try to wipe out the whole sect or burn it to the ground like the Cloud Recesses!
“Jiang Cheng fought out of the arms of JinZhu and YinZhu. He crashed to his knees, hovering over Wei WuXian, “Mom, Mom, please don’t…”
oh, Jiang Cheng...I have feelings about this guy omg. no wonder he gains an inferiority complex and then as sect leader becomes a ball of Extra and anger issues who won’t stop until he catches Wei Wuxian!
He’s always second best, feels like his father doesn’t love him because of Wei Wuxian yet it’s not like he hates Wei Wuxian either. Then, through neither of their faults, Wei Wuxian is the brave one and Jiang Cheng gets to do the leg work. And when things turn serious, there is nothing he can do at all to save Wei Wuxian who he does obviously care about. for all the ‘you’re going to be the next sect leader, act like one!’ stuff, when it comes down to it there wasn’t anything he could do.
“Fabricking? What’s fabricking? And he suddenly realized, It’s abricating!”
this was nice to lighten the mood a little. only a little though.
“JinZhu, YinZhu, quick, go close the doors. Don’t let the others see the blood.”
see what I mean by ‘you can’t tell if she really means it?’ and the glory of a limited third person narrative done right: based off the description of her actions, it’s difficult to tell.
If it means saving the sect, I think she would absolutely cut off his hand, but only with a greater threat hanging over their heads. Well, this is because she sees him as a servant, of course she would never so readily, no hesitation or lack of composure, do the same to her son.
“Wei WuXian felt fear arise, Don’t tell me that she really is gonna chop off one my my hands?”
One of the times he does show fear!
However, this is where his sacrificial side which is really damn worrying comes in.
“Let it be, then! If it’s in exchange for the peace of the sect… a hand is just a hand. Fuck, if worst comes to worst I’ll just practice the left-handed sword from now on!!!”
It’s probably part of his personality somewhat to be self-sacrificing, or at least be willing to put himself in harm’s way to do good or the right thing. But it’s also highly tied to his upbringing/view of himself. As he states in the last chapter, he doesn’t see himself as Jiang Cheng’s equal. On this, he agrees with Madam Yu: he sees himself as their servant. A servant who is very close to them, yes, and super casual borderline rude, but he doesn’t see himself as Jiang Cheng’s brother.
On a subconscious level, this can really mess with you. He values his life and wellbeing, of course, as most people do. But it also allows his sacrificial nature to rear its head and for him to rationalize that it’s okay to allow himself to get hurt but not others.
Of the things that seem to get Madam Yu to stop/snap, mentioning Jiang Fengmian is one (It was all fine until he had mentioned Jiang FengMian.)
The supervision office is another.
And this is the final straw: “But seeing how obediently you followed my orders and how your personality suits my taste, I’ve still decided to give this great honor to…”
Madam Yu is a lady with a lot of pride. She endured it up to this point, kept swallowing her words, but finally she just snaps. It’s an accumulation of all the stuff that happened, not one thing in particular.
“You look at its owner before you hit a dog! You barged into my sect, and you want to punish my person in front of my face?”
Here’s the last part reveals something more about her true feelings here.
So, here we see her pride, which extends to her servants and not just the two that have been with her since she was young. She doesn’t like Wei Wuxian, she always thinks he should be disciplined more (or at least she says she does), but in the end of the day he is her servant and what right do others (especially another servant) have to punish people of her sect?
“Then let me teach you what superiority and inferiority means! I am the superior, you are the inferior!”
but, man, at the end of the day 57 chapters was worth the wait to finally get such a strong female character like Madam Yu.
This damn chapter was such an emotional rollercoaster omg.
(quotes from ExR’s translations)
← back・onward →
18 notes · View notes
jainarepellista · 7 years
Text
Tower of God S2ch242 Rough Translations
If you have any comments / questions / complaints regarding the translation, please contact me. Also, please link this blog if sharing to others. Thanks!
"Mortals" like you-!! / can't defeat me!!
Showing off from the very beginning?
Die!!
They've started..
You should've let me handle the entrance.
You're a spearbearer, Sanchez.
Spearbearers should stay far away like a spearbearer should. / There's no guarantee that the intruders can only go up to the entrance.
What intruders? We don't die anyway.
Don't let your guard down.. Hm?!
Something's coming!!
!?
43F Hell Train - Floor of Death - 11
?! / ??? What's that?!
Rose vines..!?
They're going up the castle!!
My vines can only grow as long as this. / Is this alright?
Yep! It's enough
Looks like Sachi has started.
When she ignites them- / we'll enter the castle via BongBong.
1 hour ago-
Alright. Let's go to the castle now.
Gallstone Village
Princess Yuri!!
I've already promised, you know? / And we have to find Baam quickly.
But there's something I need to know before I go.
What is it?
From what you said, they have immortal bodies / How are we going to get rid of them then?
As you know, I couldn't even kill a single stag beetle.
No matter how strong I am, I won't be able to defeat those guys.
...That's right. / Actually, there's a reason I'm asking this favor from you instead of other rankers from FUG.
.........?
Their immortality is different from the 10 Families because it's an imperfect (alt. incomplete) immortality. / The 10 Families' immortality came from a Floor Guardian contract, but theirs came from a spell that uses their souls as a medium.
You could say that their immortality is merely the result of a spell. / So if you have a weapon that could break that spell, you could kill them.
For example-
The 13 Month weapons that you have.
!!
The 13 Month.. weapons can kill them?
Yes. / You may not know about magic because Zahard's side regards it as taboo but
Magic is inherently a mystical power from the very beginning. / That power has a few laws.
One. The rules of magic that have been decided upon must not be broken. / Two. You must ask a powerful medium or an absolute divine being for help. / Three. The superiority of the magic is determined by the power of the being or of the medium.
That's why a magic can be destroyed or invalidated by a more superior magic.
In that sense, the 13 Months can be seen as the "strongest magical items".
The spell imbued in the 13 Months is a very powerful magic that not even the Floor Guardians can break. / If you ignite your 13 Months, you'll be able to break their magic and kill them.
They think they're immortal so if people who could actually kill them suddenly appeared-
Those guarding the castle will be thrown into disarray.
We'll use that opening to break through Hell Joe's defenses / and free Grand D'sa who is locked up in the castle.
Let's go!
Yep~!
Sanchez!! The intruders are coming!!
If I appear in front of the castle and ignite the 13 Months to kill the enemies / they'll be scared our of their wits and guard the castle poorly-
The kids will use that opening to release the former ruler, Grand D'sa, and attack Hell Joe together-
But even if I say that..
I actually..
have never even once successfully ignited the 13 Months..!!
What are you doing, princess!! / The regulars are coming!!
Quickly ignite the 13 Months..!!
You have to ignite them to attract their attention, princess!!
Y-yeah..
Evan..
Come to think of it, that guy.. he thinks that I've successfully ignited the 13 Months?
You're just some kiddo who can't even ignite her weapon. / Dumbass.
S-shut up!! I already did it not long ago!!
What?!
Big sis kept on teasing me that I'm just a kid that wasn't accepted by my 13 Month.. / So I lied..
That guy accidentally heard it
(Princess has finally succeeded in igniting!!)
(Please give me a bonus!!)
(No way.)
(She did?!)
(Urk..!!)
and spread rumors around the castle that I've been successful in igniting the 13 Month..
Arrgh!! I'm screwed!!!! / My lie gave birth to bigger lies-!!
I couldn't even say "Sorry.. Actually, I couldn't ignite them.." earlier!! / Since all of them see me as this super badass high ranker princess!!
Hmph!! Look at you running away after coming in so dashingly!!
If it's like that, then I won't drag this on any longer-!!
I'll deal with you with my "real form"!!
!!
Ack!!
Princess!!
Shit!! / I don't care anymore!!
This is better than doing nothing..
?!
..What are those weapons...?
Please-!!
Ignite!!
Wake up, at least one of you two!!
!!
I've had a feeling that something was nearby..
Smoke?
What, so she's got you too?
Black March!! Green April?!
That person..
Aha.. Hello!
So she's the princess this time..
(She looks silly..)
(Hey!! Don't say hello while waving me around!!)
..There seems to be two more aside from us?
Yeah.
(Nice to meet you!! Long time no see, Black March!!)
(Hey guys!! Can you help me out!?)
Those two must be the ones owned by Garam.. / Don't tell me..
(I need a li~ttle bit of your power right now!!)
"that day" is approaching?
....?
But we have to play more.
That's right, our role is to make you hate and fight each other
?!
It's a curse from "that man".
Until "that day" when our true master appears / and unites us as one-
But we'll make an exception and help you this once.
What?!
As courtesy for collecting two of the 13 Months. / But under one condition.
You can borrow the power of only one of us two. / If you ignite two of the 13 Months at a time, you will be put under a curse and go crazy.
So you have to choose between the two of us.
Then- / Whose power will you ask for help?
Of course... / I...
want "both"?
..........
Hey!! Weren't you listening to what we were telling you?! / That you can't use both of us at the same time?
Someone not chosen will go crazy if they use the 13 Months at the same time!!
Hmm... / But isn't it cooler to use two?
You can't!!
...Just stop. It's useless. (She's really stupid.)
Just this once? / I'm confident.
And if I use two, doesn't that mean I'm better than my sisters?
Isn't it fine? To let her try become crazy at least once? / This should teach her a lesson.
You want to witness another Yuram Zahard?
(That's just like you to give up on her..)
Are you looking down on me now and staying still after taking out your weapons?!
?!
Aaaaaaaaack!!
What are you doing, princess..?
Frog Fisher Desire for Destruction
!!
You damn dwarf-!!
They really don't die..
What the heck are you doing, princess!!
Hurry up and "ignite" them-!!
Princess-!!
What the..?! She can't hear me?
Something wrong must've happened..!!
Then- We'll give you another chance.
Pick one of us. / And we'll help you.
Don't wanna-
I want both!!
Argh this idiot..
Forget it. She's so stubborn and won't change her mind. / She's been like that ever since I first met her.
What now?
Let's do it.
What?!
Like I said, this should teach her a lesson.
Besides, if she dies because of her stubbornness, we could just go missing here, you know?
........
But we'll immediately stop if it feels like it'll be dangerous.
I don't want to see you go crazy
Okay!!
(I told you not to wave me around!!)
Then shall we start-?
Let's go-
Come at me-!!
We, the 13 pieces of the key, created under oath / that until that day when our true master appears
we promise to carry on our bloody and cursed fates-
This is our cursed power. / We shall dance sorrowfully as we await that day.
The lush green of April-
!!
The resplendent black of March-
Dance, gorgeously.
This feels dangerous..!!
A great deal of power is pouring out!!
!?
Ignite!!
Princess?!
?!
Kya-!!
That's..
The ignition of a 13 month...!!
Oooh-
...What the? That person?!
You'll have to go all the way inside D'za's castle.
I hope you pass D'za's test.
If it's you, you can do it.
Yes..!
Ah and-
I'll give you this pocket. / I don't need it anymore.
...!
But this is your precious..
It's alright. / This should've belonged to you in the first place.
Thank you. / If not for you, I wouldn't know all of this..
No. I should be the one thanking you-
If not for you, I wouldn't have known all of that.
Well then, goodbye.
..........
(Ugh- it's so cold)
(Put on some clothes, Mata.)
In the end, I couldn't tell him about that "story"..
That boy might resent me later on.. / But this test is more important now.
D'za hasn't been normal ever since D'sa was locked away..
But if that boy really is "the one" in Arlen's prophecy-
He'll definitely make a miracle.
9 notes · View notes
divanquotes · 4 years
Text
Alfio Grassi, Charte Turque v2, 1825
Page 2: Explanation of what is done at the death of each emperor. The Kislar-aga, chief of the black eunuchs, in the presence of all the members composing the Divan, draws up an inventory of all the sums which are in the particular box of the Sultan, and which have been saved and amassed by him during his life. He makes the inventory of all the jewels acquired by the prince and which do not belong to the state. 
Page 3: There are two accountings of all that is precious; gold, silver, jewels and one of these is placed in an iron chest which is carried to the chamber of treasures of the deceased sultans called Kasné-hadassi; and after having closed and sealed these coffers in the presence of the grand vizier, mufti, caimacan, all the members of the divan and the great officers of the seraglio, these are placed beside that of the predecessor Sultan: a silver plaque or plate covers it on the outside: upon which is engraved the name of the deceased prince, and the quantity of silver and jewels it contains is also recorded; then the port of Kasné is closed, sealed in five places, and should not be opened until after the death of the new Sultan. On this door is engraved in Turkish language and in gold letters the following inscription: “This is the treasure of the sultans.” 
Page 4: The administration, good or bad, of the Sultan, determines the inscription of praise or blame which must be placed on his tomb; this is decreed by the divan: he is judge according to his actions, according to the economy of his finances, and according to the value of the treasure which he leaves when he dies. 
Page 7: That of the prince is composed of the silver from the particular domains of the grand seignior (sultan), and confiscations of the goods or metallic values of the pashas, beglier-beys, viziers, or others, sentenced to death by decree of the Divan, for their extortions or their injustices; then, the successions of those who die without children, or who, having only relatives in the lateral line, must leave a part of the inheritance to the Sultan; and, finally, the surplus of the sums which at the end of the year are found in the coffers of the public treasury and in those of the mosques, after all the necessary expenses have been satisfied. 
Page 11: The minister of the public treasury (or finances), the testerdar-effendi, receives the orders of the grand seignior (sultan) and grand vizier; he returns to them, as well as to the Divan, every month an exact account, in writing, of his administration, and of the funds paid, by charge or in cash in the course of each month; the expenses of the public treasury are the payment of the troops of soldiers, the magistrates, the employees, and other expenses of the state.]
Page 93: During the installation of a new emperor, a ceremony which consists in the mufti girding him with the Ottoman sword, this prince, before leaving for the mosque where the ceremony is being prepared, makes the ablutions in the presence of the mufti. and all the members composing the Divan.]
Page 104: Hands in this organism that are important to distinguish, in addition to the express laws of the Koran, are certain elementary laws, all in his mind and according to the bases he had originally set. These laws were established from the foundation of the empire, or soon after, by the first Ottoman emperors or the Divan, and became the fundamental laws of the state, as inviolable as those emanated from the Koran; for the Ottomans, following the example of Mahomet their prophet, were able to impress upon their institutions a kind of immortality.
Among these regulations is the wise institution of the Divan, of this supreme and truly national council, composed of members raised in the same principles, in the same enthusiasm for the laws of the state, of this council where one cannot diverge of opinion, as to the inviolability of the social pact, in which one discusses and pronounces according to one's conscience and conviction, where all the high interests of the state are discussed with independence, and where one rages against the members themselves if they are guilty; this supreme council, which is the first column of the empire, forms and directs all the moral force.
Page 105: We see such stability, such respect for the decisions made by the Divan and the first sultans, because these are considered as the basic and regulatory laws of the state; they are those who defend the legitimate marriage of the Ottoman emperors, and limit their choices to a designated number of slaves. 
Page 196: The sultan, who felt the knowledge and esteem of his minister, consulted the Divan, who decided to send Nasuf's letter back to Murad, who was weary of his lieutenant's absolute master; until then it had been equally for the grand vizier or the mazul, to have this person strangled. 
Page 201: Gumir and Becri, favorites and ministers of Amurat, witnesses of the expediting of this fatal order, and thinking well that he would repent of it, and that such an arbitrary act done without the sanction of the Divan would revolt not only Christians, but the Ottomans themselves; that the execution of such an atrocious order would compromise the honor of the prince, of his ministers, and of the nation, took upon themselves, at the risk of his resentment, to intercept this fatal order. 
Page 202: Let it be allowed to observe that this treatment of history gives proof of some of the assertions of this work: it is that although the Sultan's orders are considered sacred, and that they cannot be infringed without incurring the penalty of death, the ministers and favorites of these princes prevent their execution when they are purely arbitrary, contrary to justice, and especially when they have not previously received the sanction of the Divan; and that, far from being favored by their favorites to the excesses of despotism, they arrest them and seek to have all matters, even those which are strange, subject to the knowledge and wisdom of the Divan. 
Page 221: This impostor Jew had made sectaries and disciples by calling himself the Messiah. Arrested by the order of Mahomet he appeared in his presence, and in front of the Divan he was interrogated in the Turkish idiom or language about his alleged mission; he had to declare that he heard and spoke this language too little to be able to explain himself, and that he needed an interpreter. Mahomet smiled that the son of God agreed that he did not have the gift of tongues, and made the Divan reflect on that. An interpreter was called in. 
Page 224: Ottoman history, which is endowed with extraordinary features, which are only read in its pages, presents the unique phenomenon of an absolute government which has established a republic; of a minister Pasha in a despotic state, who conceived the thought, and who, having communicated it to the chief of this state and to his Divan, was approved in the idea, the plan, and the organic laws of that Republic. 
Page 225: Sinan (nicknamed Barberousse), conqueror of Tunis, declared himself Pasha, for Selim, his master; but, like all the inhabitants of the coasts of Africa, who love their liberty, and because it was in his interest to please this people, who for a short time had shaken off the yoke of different masters, Sinan wished to found a republic in Tunis. that would be governed by himself under the eyes of a Pasha and under the protection of the Emperor; he established a Divan of the officers, whose power and exercise were to last only for a limited time, of the franchises and rights which the people perceived through his agent, and he paid to the Emperor the amount of the sums fixed; a seasoned, numerous, permanent garrison, in order to protect this republic from other hands. A slave minister, who had aged under the rule of despotism, conceived republican ideas, and executed them; and what is more extraordinary still, these laws were adopted by the Sultan and the Divan of Constantinople, and they govern today in the state of Tunis with some variations that revolutions have brought there. 
Page 233: But this power had concluded with Austria a truce of twenty years, and consequently no just motive permitted it to accept the offer of the Hungarians, however advantageous they might be. This was the opinion of Cara Ibrahim, first vizier of the bench, whose integrity did not yield to any consideration of interest; but the grand vizier Cara Mustapha was of the opinion of acquiescing to the offers of the Hungarians, and of embracing their defense. The voice of the  historian Mignot attributes the cause of this revolt, and as he explains the different opinions of the Divan in this regard, and following his decisions: 
Page 237: This power had, as we have seen, concluded in 1665, with the house of Austria, a truce of twenty years, four of which had not yet expired. It seemed to be of the dignity of the great lord (sultan) to render himself the arbiter between a friendly prince friend and his revolted subjects, who might be right to be so. When the grand vizier advocated in the full Divan to send troops to the Count of Tekli, he made a general complaint. Cara Ibrahim, the first pasha of the bench, whom Cara Mustapha feared most, represented that the faith of the treaties still bound the two empires; that the honor of the Ottoman name did not wish to attack an ally who had not failed in its engagements, against which the war could become fatal, as had already been experienced several times. The opinion of Cara Ibrahim was that of the valid sultana, who always retained much credit over the mind of her son, and that of the whole Divan, in which several pashas had began to have the assurance or confidence of speaking against the views of great vizier; that of the mufti, who declared that treaties were sacred in all times and to all peoples. Cara Mustapha replied to all his opponents, that a Moslem prince was obliged to extend Muhammad's faith whenever the opportunity arose; that Hungary seemed to ask for the yoke of the East; that Austria was so exhausted by the wars against France and Sweden, that she offered the Porte a vast field to conquer; that the Ottoman Empire must strive without ceasing to recover all that had formerly composed the Roman empire; that the good condition of the finances, the bravery of the troops, invited to the war a prince whose politics and religion were to conquer; that there were always sufficient reasons to fight infidels, when one could hope for victory.]
Page 238: Finally, after many discussions, many sessions of the Divan, and many solicitations from the Hungarians, the opinion of the grand vizier, who was that of the Sultan, carried the day, although the most just and most learned of them were from a contrary opinion, and pretexts were found to declare war on Austria; but this war did not have the consent of the Ottoman nation, because it violated the treaty of the truce.
Page 240: Thus this war, which had only been undertaken with great effort on the part of the grand vizier on the Divan, and against which the wisest members of this assembly declared themselves, was neither favorable to the empire nor to the 'emperor; later on this prince and his grand vizier were blamed for the reverses of this war; they were reproached for the arbitrary acts to which it gave rise, and these various grievances contributed greatly to the deposition of this sultan. 
Page 253: But the destinies of Ottoman would be fulfilled. His reply exalted the minds; the revolution broke out, it was terrible. This prince shut himself up in the seraglio, whose doors he closed; but the cannon broke the barriers which arose between the prince and the malcontents. He was arrested; and, according to a judgment of the Divan, he was taken to the prison of the Seven Towers. Sultan Mustafa, his uncle, was proclaimed, and the Ottoman was strangled the day after this sad disaster, in October, 1622. 
Page 254: This sultan had made himself an enemy of the muphti Regel, whose daughter he had taken away; he was alienated the divan by the intention that he had had as a contractor a legal marriage with this young Turk. All these charges brought against him brought a general revolt. The ulema, the people, and the troops first elected a vizier (Mirad-Aga) to oppose him who had drawn general hatred, and whose punishment was being demanded. To this end, they sent to the Sultan thirty deputies with the new grand vizier at their head, to complain of the concussions, the injustices of his minister Mechmet, and to demand revenge. Ibrahim, instead of listening to them, took the vizier whom the people had elected by the beard, and struck him with redoubled blows. The deputies tore Murad from his hands, and withdrew with those who waited for him in the vestibule of the seraglio.
Ibrahim's violence was not enough to bring back the spirits; it was a thing unheard of until a Turkish emperor had descended to such excesses; the story was told to the people and to the couch.
The following day, at daybreak, Grand-Vixir Mechmet's head was exposed in the racecourse; he had been executed in the night by the order of the new grand vizier, after the decision of the divan. 
Page 255: On the same day, the authorities attached to the ulema went to the mosque of St. Sophia to hold a Divan; the mufti Regel presented to the assembly a striking picture of the misfortunes of the empire, the vices of his chief, his violence and his depredations; he said that at his accession to the throne the empire was in the most flourishing state, and that in less than ten years the provinces had been ruined, the public treasury exhausted, the army discouraged, the navy nearly annihilated; that during this time the Christians had taken possession of a part of Dalmatia, that the Venetian fleet was following the straits of the Dardanelles, that a large army, sent to the island of Candia, was almost reduced to nothing; that all this was the fault of only one man, who manifested power only by injustice, and who, by managing the state, showed only his profound incapacity; he spoke of the unworthy treatment when the emperor had made the city wipe out the new grand vizier appointed by the people, and concluded that it was impossible without crime to neglect the means of saving the state. Then the Divan decided to enjoin the prince to appear before the assembly; the festwa was signed and sent to the sultan, who tore it up and threatened to kill the mufti; but the aga replied that it was rather the life of his highness that was endangered, and that he should be striving to obtain that he be allowed to end his days in prison. 
Page 256: At these words, Ibrahim's fury turned to fright, and turning towards the officers of the seraglio who surrounded him, he exclaimed: "Are there none of you, whom I have satisfied with so many blessings, who has the courage to expose himself for his master?” Their silence taught him in vain that a tyrant relies on his courtiers. A first judgment of the Divan made him descend from the throne; a second condemned him to be strangled, which was executed on August 17, 1648. 
Page 257: In spite of these public reproaches, the Sultan having not reformed his conduct and having threatened the days of Soliman again, he was condemned by the Divan to be deposed. This decision taken, they assembled to put it into execution, and two effendis were charged with serving it on the Sultan. 
Page 258: The bostangi-bachi and the chief of the white eunuchs, conforming to the decision of the Divan, immediately conducted the two effendis to the flat in which Soliman was kept. This prince, then forty-six years old, was constantly meditating on the Koran and the Sunnah, and had taken no part in the intrigues or revolutions which had several times threatened his life. He had some difficulty in accepting the empire, claiming that the habit of a forty-year-old retreat had allowed him to take no other knowledge than that of the Koran and the Sunnah. 
Page 259: They dressed him, almost in spite of himself, in a robe lined with sable fur; the three egrets of diamonds, a symbol of his power in the three parts of the world, and marks of sovereignty, were put on his turban. He was taken to the room of the Divan, where the grand vizier, the pashas of the bench, the body of the ulema, and finally all the chiefs of the military corps, janissaries, spahis and others, were in attendance and waiting to install him, to kiss him the hem of his imperial robe, and to proclaim him emperor. 
Page 264: The war with Persia had just broken again. Buete was very angry when he was told to oppose armies to the formidable Tamas Kulikan, or when he was told what he had to do to preserve the provinces of Georgia; he dared to impose a new tax on goods, a very dangerous thing to do among the Turks, who were great enemies of taxation, out of those established by their charter; and, although he had put this new tax according to a decision of the divan, and on the pretext of supporting the war against Persia, which had just declared itself again, the whole nation was none the less revolted. 
Page 277: Finally, in a last effort to preserve the power, he tried to reach the Divan, and had it assembled while the insurgents pointed the cannon against all the doors of the seraglio. All the pashas entered the hall and placed themselves there; the Sultan appeared with a air of consternation, but nevertheless noble and mposing. He was going to try to captivate the suffrages of the assembly, when the isman Zadi-Effendi, who was united to the party of Patrona, addressed the Sultan in these words: "Lord, your reign is over, the revolted subjects do not want you any more for their sovereign; they all loudly ask for your nephew Mahmoud.“ 
Page 278: At once he went with all this procession to the apartment which served as prison to Mahmoud, and taking this prince by the hand he said to him: "The wheel has turned for you as for me; I give you the throne that Mustafa, my brother, resigned me on a very similar occasion.” He then led him to the Divan room; and when he had made him sit on the throne, he spoke these words to him. 
Page 282: But let us observe that the Patrona revolution, and some others, prove that even though the ministers and the members of the Divan would all be sold to the Sultan, and that they would thus become passive agents of his arbitrariness, the princes would not be sheltered from the effects of public indignation, because, in this case, the body of the ulema, which is the party of the opposition, supported by the troops, had appointed other ministers and another Divan, which he assembled to pronounce on the fate of the sultan's favorite ministers, and on the prince himself, as he has done on the testimony of Achmet III. 
Page 283: This is the only case cited in Ottoman history in which the ministry and the Divan were sold to the priest; the six viziers or pashas of the bench, who were against the arbitrary acts put at that time on the agenda, must be excepted. ...... Then he had to prove to the partisans of the constitutional system that the Turks themselves really have a charter which opposes arbitrary acts, and that in their Divanh they have a sort of national representation; that, moreover, the inhabitants of these eastern countries are not so barbarous as is generally supposed, and that the inhabitants of civilized countries have not the advantage of being more virtuous or more fortunate.]
Page 362: These hostile dispositions would not have displayed the character of an unmotivated and treacherous aggression, since Russia had had reason to be offended in the person of her ambassador to the Porte, who had to go away to claim for his own safety the protection of the ambassador of England. Their dignity, moreover, must have suffered from the little consideration of the Divan for the ultimatums and the diplomatic communications which were addressed to him. Besides, Russia, being a party, as well as Austria, of the states of Christendom, both could loyally embrace the cause of the Greeks, the story of the massacre of Christian populations, and the excess of so many evils.]
0 notes
overthinkingdandd · 6 years
Text
Deluxe Resurrection!
Or: a handful of wizards conquer the world with the power of economics.
You thought 50,000gp for resurrection (plus that damn diamond) was bad? Hold on to your seats!
If you don’t feel like waiting around to die, wizards have a solution for you. Even better, they’re not busy spending their spell slots on resurrections! a 15th or higher level wizard can cast Clone. To top it off, your new body will wait around for you to die, can be whatever age you want and absolutely does protect from death by natural causes. If you’ve got the coin, you’re going to live forever.
The total carrying capacity of a service that is in demand by absolutely everyone is 8-10 per day. You need 3,000 gp worth of stuff, a safe place to store the body and 120 days to grow it. With good planning, you could cover 4-5% of the daily deaths by having a clone in place. That already places it strictly in the hands of the super-wealthy and the wizards themselves. 
If you’re rich enough for one, why take the risk? Get two! Now you have a backup copy. Based on the previous numbers for resurrection, a wizard wouldn’t be out of his mind to charge ten times as much for something 1/10 as rare. He’d probably even throw in the materials for free at this point because, even at 1,000,000 gp per pair of clones, people will pay! You’d need taxes from 7,000 farming families or the equivalent in import duties, conquest plunder or whatever to do it but that’s still very reasonable. 
The total tax revenue would cover 7,000 people per year. Half that for the cut various lesser nobles take and half it again for lifestyle costs and you get 1,250.  You could set all of them up in about a year and only have to replace one every 20 days for an extra cool 9 million gold.  Sure, our 7-8 wizards could lower their prices until they hit 25,000 people able to afford it. At this point, though, they’re splitting 1.25 billion gold pieces. It comes out to 156,250,000 per spell slot per year, so double that for the 1-2 highest level wizards. At that point, you might as well retire. Medieval economies are not designed to handle this scale of coin!
But we almost forgot about life insurance! A million gold is the annual rate for 20 years! At that cost, you get two clones up front (after getting to the top of the wait list plus 120 days to grow them) plus one and only one replacement per 20 years. You need more? An extra spare will run you a cool 10 mil or double your rate for 10 years. The Clone Club is now netting an insane 1.25 billion gp per year without expanding their client base. That’s 12,500 tons of gold. Hopefully they take platinum, wheat (worth 6 sp per bushel) and gems but they definitely don’t take copper.
Meanwhile, an entire cottage industry would grow up around making the urn, coffin etc to hold the clone (at a Titan mandated 2,000gp per unit) and secure warehousing to store them. These would be some of the most secure dungeons in the world, since they’ve got hundreds of millions in gold being put into their construction. Assassination is nearly impossible, requiring a party made up of the very best adventurers in the entire world. Preventing someone’s soul from reaching their clone requires spells only available to people of comparable level to those offering resurrection. No one with clone service would attack anyone else’s tanks, even their worst enemy, for fear of being denied service in the future and pissing off the most powerful wizards in the world.
Of course, even at these prices, there would be a bidding war. People will do absolutely anything for this! Laying waste to entire nations to get in the million gp immortality club is a small price to pay!
Now, let’s get weird(er) with it! 
The first wizards to learn the clone spell made bank. They recruited every other wizard who reached that level of power, expanding their client base and taking a cut. Who would turn it down? After the initial establishing, there’s only one replacement per 20 days or so. They have all the money they could ever want for their own project. 
Of course, each wizard has at least two clones of themselves in separate, secure locations. For every generation this scheme has been around, there are an additional 8 epic level wizards up to whatever number Clone Club is comfortable with. Chances are that number is low and wizards of high enough level to research Clone on their own are hunted. Can’t have competition and a million gp bounty is an entirely workable solution. For a less evil solution, they could work on anti-necromany propaganda campaigns, buy off anyone who discovers the spell on their own etc. 
Clerics might not go for immortality since they want to rejoin their gods but bards probably would. They can pay their yearly fee in a month of resurrections, so add 8 bards and let’s say 4 clerics per generation. There’s no reason to limit these since they can’t threaten the clone monopoly. We’ll assume that any clone-adventurer from a previous generation tops out at Level 20. 
After enough time, the math explodes. Each generation adds 36 resurrections per day. If Clone Club is willing to float 60 clones on top of their normal load as charity cases, four generations and you’re back to the farmer being able to afford resurrection insurance. They might have to fund this out of pocket as a bone to the commoners since class resentment between mortals and immortals will quickly become a thing.
0 notes
ciderrainbow · 7 years
Text
Tumblr media
[too cheap for the cainhurst set.png]
name: raymond dubois
nickname(s): ray
age: thirties - looks younger
gender: nonbinary girl (she/her or they/them)
sexuality: pansexual
height/build: approximately 5’10”, and slenderly built, with stronger legs than upper body.
personality description: an honorable vileblood with a love for fashion and gossip. never the type to kick someone when they’re down, even as she may love to toy with people, no one could ever say a loss to her in battle was unfair. before joining the vilebloods, she lived in a depressive slump, but has since gotten a much better worldview. loves conversing with others, and is largely extroverted, but in her extroversion often forgets about other people’s personal space. she despises hats and will only wear her helm before queen annalise in a form of reverence and respect.
physical description: five-foot-ten, with shoulder-length wavy brown hair that is very thin and tends to get frizzy in any sort of humidity. her skin is relatively pale (100% white) and her eyes are a light hazel, sometimes appearing blue or green depending on her surroundings. she has a few scars across her back and shoulders, and a nick down the center of her chin that seems to be a severe injury that never healed properly.
backstory.
introduce your hunter and their backstory.
raymond dubois - the middle child of a foreign family, coming to yharnam to find a purpose for herself. at the age of nineteen she arrived in yharnam, and ended up entangled in the healing church, and eventually, a vileblood.
which class/origin did you choose for your hunter? does this tie into their backstory?
professional -  mostly just ties into the stats i wanted for her, haha. although she perhaps had worked with a gun before coming to yharnam, she was relatively spoiled!
where is your hunter from? what brought them to yharnam?
french origin, from a relatively noble family - she came to yharnam when it was beginning to become a prosperous city, as the healing church was just beginning to spread the idea of the power of the blood(?). the idea allured her - the idea of power, and seizing her own identity.
did your hunter know any of the characters from the game before they entered the hunter’s dream?
she did not, and does not dream.
had they fought beasts before entering the dream, or is this their first experience as a hunter?
this is her first experience!
character details.
how do they react to first waking up in the hunter’s dream? do they remember anything about their life before the dream?
n/a, doesn’t dream.
do they align themselves with any covenants or other factions (the healing church, the choir, the old hunters, the unseen village, etc)?
vileblood knight with an extreme reverence for queen annalise.
do they befriend any npcs in particular? make enemies of any npcs?
serves queen annalise - would probably be quite the enemy to alfred, for her charismatic vileblood nature.
are they in a relationship? if so, with whom?
debatable, but she’s got her eyes on a couple of fellow vilebloods…..
how does your hunter feel about the healing church? about blood ministration?
pretty neutral towards the healing church - is the type to have a ‘people are people’ attitude, regardless of if they’re enemies or friends. pretty pro-blood ministration!
do they fear the scourge? are they afraid of turning into a beast? afraid of becoming blood-addled? of the unknown cosmos? what are they afraid of?
the ultimate fear of hers, while quite typical, is death - becoming a vileblood has thus helped counter that, in a way.
does your hunter relish in the hunt or revile their bloody work?
n/a, mostly? but she doesn’t take pleasure in killing those who oppose the vilebloods or are unfortunate enough to end up in the path of those from cainhurst.
what is your hunter’s attitude towards gehrman? do they resent being trapped in the hunter’s dream?
n/a.
does your hunter sympathize and associate with fellow hunters, or are they more of a loner who avoids other hunters? do they leave notes for other hunters?
loves friends, trusting to an extreme fault! she’s tried to convince everyone she’s had to fight to simply join the vilebloods instead of opposing her.
does your hunter worship the great ones? do they worship blood? or do they have a different belief system? if they’re not devout, what do they value or prioritize in life?
devoted to annalise and reconstructing the vilebloods - nothing more, and nothing less.
do they have a special place where they feel safe or “at home”? is there a place they’re afraid of or that they avoid?
cainhurst castle has been her home for many years - she’s wary of yharnam, both central and old, for reasons she will never word.
are there any particular items your hunter holds onto for sentimental reasons, or items that serve to comfort them?
she has two hairclips always pinned in her hair, and wears a jeweled brooch under her cainhurst armor.
do any of the discoveries in the game (about the old blood, the healing church, the great ones, etc) shock them? how do they react to these revelations?
n/a…? she doesn’t really go through the hunter plot of the game, after all.
does your hunter want to discover the secrets of the healing church and the origins of the scourge, or do they just want to kill some beasts and escape the dream? what motivates them?
n/a, once again.
how does your hunter feel about being effectively immortal? how do the unending deaths affect them over the course of their time in the dream?
well, again, she doesn’t dream. but in terms of a vileblood lifespan? she loves it.
combat and stats.
which primary stat does your hunter most rely on (strength, skill, bloodtinge, arcane)? do they prioritize vitality or endurance?
bloodtinge/skill - endurance!
what are your hunter’s trick weapon and firearm of choice? why?
reiterpallasch&&evelyn, for those good bloodtinge vilebloods out there.
do they make use of any hunter tools?
not especially, except perhaps bone marrow ash and the old hunter’s bone.
what type of armor do they wear? Why?
the cainhurst set, sans helmet, for she is a vileblood.
describe their fighting style.
agile, and one who prioritizes not being hit over being able to take many hits. expect a flurry of bullets coming from unpredictable angles when dealing with her, and many surprise parries.
which caryll runes does your hunter keep equipped?
[note - i don’t have her runes properly spec’d yet, so this is just planning.]
formless odeon (+5), anti-clockwise metamorphosis (+20%), blood rapture (+300) and corruption.
how much insight does your hunter have? how does this affect them?
umm...low insight? in terms of story, it wouldn’t matter much.
does your hunter take advantage of beasthood to fuel their attacks? how does it affect them?
n/a. she doesn’t at all.
is there a beast or type of enemy your hunter likes to fight? an enemy they avoid?
typically only battles humans, and avoids fighting beasts. she does still view them as people, after all.
do they often summon the old hunters or hunters from other worlds to aid them?
nope!
plot decisions
does your hunter’s story deviate from the central plot of bloodborne? in what ways?
haha. there we go. she doesn’t dream, and her story isn’t in the same time frame as the main hunter’s story. she is a permanent cainhurst resident, and doesn’t meet any of the npcs in the game save for perhaps alfred, and of course, annalise.
does your hunter try to rescue any of the civilians of yharnam? are they successful?
she doesn’t try - doesn’t meet them.
does your hunter kill the impostor iosefka or let her continue her work?
n/a.
do they fight djura or befriend him? what about eileen the crow?
n/a.
do they choose to side with alfred or queen annalise?
annalise, but not necessarily as the story of bloodborne writes it.
does your hunter enter the chalice dungeons?
absolutely - she would, at least.
does your hunter enter the hunter’s nightmare? do they defeat the orphan of kos?
n/a.
what is your hunter’s final choice at the end of the game?
n/a.
if they accept gehrman’s offer, what does your hunter do once they’re free of the hunter’s dream?
n/a.
if applicable, how does your hunter die?
i don’t wanna think about my GIRL dying.
bonus - art of her&a link to her playlist
did you miss me?
Tumblr media
0 notes