#so i want to explain why it worked as just magic and plot armor but

[obae-me]

The Reunion We Deserved

I said I would do it and so I did, all in one night, one sitting, fueled by nothing but determination, random inspiration, and spite. I re-wrote and created my version of what I would've liked to see at the end of Nightbringer Season 2. Is this a bit dramatic? Yes? Is this the kind of thing I wanted anyway? Yes. I want sobbing, I want people being pathetic, I want emotion, I want it all. So, if that's what you were hoping to see for lesson 40, I hope this can ease some of that anger we had.

Spoilers ahead for Nightbringer since this is quite literally my "remaking" of the ending, which includes in-game references to later lessons!

TW: Blood mention, injury, angst.

Word Count: 4,391

Tears pricked your eyes as you looked upon the several smiling faces of the demons you had come to care for. At the beginning, all you could think of was returning to your home, your time-line, your brothers. You had coped thus far by constantly reminding yourself that these were not the same people you had come to know. But now… after delving into their souls, reforging the pacts, fleeing down the different circles of hell to save one only to nearly lose them all… they’d found their way into your heart once more. How could you? How could you leave them so easily? And tell them to their faces that you’d meet again soon when you knew it was a lie. It might be soon for you, but it would be nearly an eternity for them. Not to mention that the way Solomon and Barbatos described it, this was almost like another universe… Would another version of you show up for them? Or would you leave these particular brothers for good?…

Feet frozen in sorrow and anxiousness, you could only look at them and cry. What were you feeling in this very second, now that you were on the cusp of what you had worked so hard for? The way back home was right above you, the air and magic inches away from sucking you up into it’s mystical vacuum. Your precious family, your home was one step away. So why did it also feel like your heart was being torn from you? “I—“ Your words choked up in your throat. You were tempted to tell them everything right there and then, spill the burden you had been carrying on your shoulder this entire time.

“It’ll be alright,” Lucifer spoke up, seeing your worry, but exuding nothing but confidence himself. “I gave you my blessing after all.”

“Plus, with the Great Mammon’s pact, you’re hella lucky! You’ll get home with no problems, I’d bet on it! S-So you better not make me lose, got it? Get home safe…and happy.”

Levi shook his head a little. “You’d bet on anything wouldn’t you…” But then he turned his head back towards you, nearly just as bold as Lucifer in this one moment. “If someone like me can have courage, you can too. Don’t worry! You’re just like a Main Character! You have indestructible plot armor!”

“Did everyone already forget the white dragon I helped summon?” Satan scoffed. “Their safety and success is guaranteed. So don’t give us that face,” he addressed you.

“Besides!” Asmo perked up. “If anything happened we’d all come rushing to save you! Just like we did for Lucifer. If we can do that, we can do anything! Oo, I just said something real dashing just now! You better take that to heart, hun!”

Beel nodded several times. “You have Luke’s wish egg too. I also made wishes over my eggs at breakfast this morning. I wished for you to always feel healthy and full and loved. And that we’d get to see each other again soon.”

“Those eggs might’ve tasted magical Beel, but they weren’t really…” Belphie looked up his twin as he shook his head, but then he shrugged, coming to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth explaining. “Hey,” he stared at you. “Don’t waste your energy crying now. You’ll need all your strength for your journey. I won’t forgive you if you leave too sad.”

All their words ended up making you laugh, the smile across your face twitching as you worked to force out trembling words. “You all better be kind to one another.” Someone behind you was tugging on your arm. “And make sure you don’t tease Luke too hard.”

“Come on,” Solomon whispered softly to you, tugging you a little harder, making you take a few steps back. The rift in space-time started to roar, attempting to drown out your voice as you struggled for these last few seconds.

“And make sure you all remember to eat and sleep properly. A-and, tell the others at the ceremony that I love them. I… love you all so much.”

“We have to go…” Solomon’s voice sounded tense, like he was nearly ready to cry himself, only keeping himself strong for you. Wrapping an arm around your waist, he nearly hoisted you back himself. Before you left, you reached into the pocket of your pants, fishing out the letter that you had written alone in your old room, what seemed like forever ago now, the one still stained with old tears. You tossed it to the ground in front of you, hoping they would read it, hoping it would help…them live without you.

The last thing you heard was a chorus of cracking voices, getting cut off before they could tell you they loved you too…

And then you were gone. A harsh and forceful wind seemed to suck all the air from your breath. It was almost as if you were being plunged underwater, several forces of pressure from the thousands of years you were swirling past was threatening to crush you. The only sensation you were aware of was Solomon’s. His arms were holding onto you tightly, continuing to mutter spells over and over and over again to keep you safe, expending all of his waining power to push you both through the folds of reality and out on the other side.

Gravity. Disorientation. Falling. A heavy weight slammed against your chest so hard, you wondered if your ribs cracked. The back of your head hit something firm. Everything went black for a while.

After who knows how long, your eyes opened again, staring straight up into the Devildom sky, the shifted stars more familiar to you. Your head was splitting with pain, your breath a wheeze as you glanced down to see Solomon’s limp body keeping you pinned against the ground.

“S-Solomon?” It took a short while for the panic to settle in. “Solomon!” After a moment of struggling, you managed to get him off of you, setting him on his back in the grassy plane you had been spat back out onto. His face looked drained. A chant left the base of your throat, using the last scrap of magic you had to give him a spell to reinvigorate his body. His eyes shot open, coughing as he rolled over onto his side, pushing himself up onto his arms before he fell down again. “Take it easy!” Together, using each other as support, you both got back up to your feet.

“I’m sorry…I had meant to deliver us right in front of the House of Lamentation, but…”

“You did alright,” you assured him, rubbing his back to keep his dizzy mind conscious. “A bit of a rough landing, but we’re alive…” But then, the better question was… “Are we—“

“There you are.” A calm voice manifested itself as a demon in front of you. Barbatos stepped out of a portal, his expression nearly as neutral as ever, except there was something in his eyes that was shining, a strange tremor to his hand that was completely unnatural for someone as him. Then he frowned as he took in the state of both of you, his nostrils flaring as he took the both of you with him, each with one gloved hand. You were pulled into a much less chaotic rift this time. Although the jolt was still enough to nearly cause both you and the sorcerer to fall back to your knees. Before that could happen though, you were shoved into a bed.

The guest rooms of the castle appeared the same as always, but something in particular felt nostalgic, like you’d just returned to a childhood home. Solomon appeared to be ushered into a bed right by your side, both your minds too rattled to resist, as the butler threw open the guest room door from the inside and summoned nearly every Little D in the entire building. “I need human medication, bandages, two sets of pajamas, the herbal tea I set aside in the kitchen. I need the oven preheated, the counter prepared, two trays set, and need them all done within the next two minutes.” There was a very subtle raise to his voice, the seriousness of his tone sending a chill down your spine and sending every Little D scattering for their lives. Barbatos spent one second observing them flee before he dissipated once more, getting wisked away through another portal of his own making.

This all felt…so surreal. Perhaps it was the pain that you were in that was making it feel like a dream. Like you’d wake up in Cocytus Hall and be right back at square one. And yet, something in you was missing that place… that house that you had just started to get used to. The furniture and things both you and Solomon had bought to make it your shared home. But your real home was here. Well, hopefully here.

You wouldn’t get your hopes up over anything yet. Not until you got to see them.

Barbatos returned before you could even begin to ask Solomon about any of this. A whirl of varying shades of green caused your vision to do somersaults as you were quickly fretted over. Salves and bandages were wrapped around your torso and a damp cloth gently touched the back of your head. That splitting pain resurfaced, joining forces with an added stinging. Maybe it was your body going into shock, but you could’ve sworn you heard a shaky shush coming from your current caretaker as you were cleaned and patched up quickly. Luckily, it wasn’t too much longer after that till the aches went mostly away, your head clearing up again as a set of your own pajamas were settled at the foot of the bed, a silver tray stretched over your lap and propped up on two stands. A small plate with a single pastry sat in front of you, along with a bitter smelling dark-green tea that you could tell you’d rather avoid imbibing.

Swiveling your head to the side, you saw Solomon leaning back against the headrest and a few pillows, a bit more vibrancy in his eyes, although those intense dark circles were hard to miss. He was okay. Thank…everything.

“Eat. Drink. Both of you.” The butler stood between the beds, realizing he’d spoken quite against his normal demeanor, he cleared his throat, his palm pressed between his collarbones. “Phoenix’s Breath Tea. You’ll both need it to recover. I apologize for making you both consume something so distasteful, but I’ve found it goes down a bit smoother paired with something sweet.”

A single whiff of the hot beverage in your hand was enough to make you cough, some sense burning in your nose. You settled the cup back down, taking a deep breath, trying to get your head on straight. “Barbatos… Are we…?”

The butler’s eyelids fluttered slowly. “You are,” he stated, his voice quiet, almost in awe. “You’re home. Back in the world you belong.��

A lump immediately formed in your throat, pushing the tray forward and turning to get out of bed. “I need to go. I need to see them, I—“ Before you could get one foot touching the ground, you were wrangled back into bed.

“I’ll fetch them. I swear you won’t have to wait too much longer. But you must drink the tea and you must take a moment to recover. If the others were to know the state you both were in right now, the castle would be torn—“

A banging sound ripped through the room like a gunshot. The guest room door was busted completely off it’s hinges, the wood of the frame splintering, the door soaring across to the left and fully embedding itself into the wall like a dart stuck in a board. If it weren’t for Barbatos’ inhuman skills, you’ve spilled the tea and dessert all over yourself. The royal attendant audibly sighed, sweeping himself to his feet and holding his arms out, his demon form manifesting, wrestling back a writhing and screaming black mass.

Your eyes went wide.

The mass stopped fighting, going rigid, stepping back to form seven different individuals. Three more non-hostile forms stood back in the wrecked doorway, two white, one red.

The bottom of your lip trembled as an overwhelming surge of joy and despair and relief and guilt all flooded out of you in tears. Your fears were pushed away. Your soul seemed to click back into place, like you’d been the last puzzle piece just waiting to finish the picture. “I’m home…”

Chaos erupted in the castle guest room. A few cracking wails nearly burst your eardrums. Asmo’s arms were the first to wrap around you, mascara running down his cheeks in large inky trails, but he didn’t seemed concerned in the least. Kisses lined your face with each sharp intake of breath, too shaken to even speak, he could only address you in his cries as he clutched onto you, trembling. His hand stroked your head, his breathing stopping for a moment when he saw the damage the landing had caused. This only caused him to whimper and cry harder, his thumb running over the outline of your features, running the back of his fingernails over your cheeks.

Levi was stuttering incomprehensibly. As he fell to his knees, he clutched at his head, going through an entire panic attack. He clawed at his chest, tearing gashes into the front of his clothes, looking up at you behind large welling tears as his tail wrapped around his entire torso. Mist filled the entire room as he continued to shake and cry so fervently he couldn’t even stand.

Luke was quite a ways away, holding onto Simeon’s clothing as he screeched out painful genuine child-like cries. The Angel curled over him, shushing him, getting to his own knees to hold the fledgling to his chest, assuring both the little angel and himself that you were okay. You were alright. Miracles had brought you together again. They didn’t have to worry any longer. The sleepless nights, the endless nightmares, the never-ending cold grip of sorrow could go away. He spoke this mantra- this prayer- over and over again, taking deep breaths between the words, blinking rapidly as he had to sway him and his charge back and forth to keep themselves both at ease. The older angel took the occasional glance over Luke’s shoulder, muttering a thankful blessing on repeat every-time he locked with your eyes.

Satan was thrashing around the room, screaming wildly, out of control, ready to beat Barbatos and Solomon for making you arrive in this condition, for not bringing you sooner, for not telling them sooner, for— Eventually, after getting thrown around the room a little, he ran out of things to be angry for. All it took was one look at your face to calm him down. He approached carefully, angry at himself, angry at whoever it was that took you away, but trying to keep himself together. Satan gingerly pulled Asmo off of you, turning Lust over to Solomon. Clearly, he’d been worried about his other pact-mate, hugging the sorcerer and crying a little more softly into his shoulder. Meanwhile, Satan reached a hand out hesitantly, like you were a feral cat he was trying to pet, worried you’d run away. His hand brushed through your hair and settled at the side of your face. Once he realized you weren’t going anywhere, his arms pulled you to him, pressing your face against his shoulder. “You’re here. You’re here again. You’re—“ His voice went hoarse, like he was losing it, like he’d been doing nothing but screaming for the entirely of your absence. Soon his words were nothing but faded squeaks, trying to portray his words but unable to. He simply held you instead. Then he tore himself away from you, heading over to the back wall and punching holes into the structure till his knuckles turned bloody.

Someone crawled onto the bed. Belphegor peered at you with an almost blank expression. His hand reached out, touching your knee, flinching as soon as he made contact, like the very act of him doing so would hurt you further. You could tell that maybe he felt like some of this was his fault, like he’d deserved the pain of having you be sent away from him, like if he did anything wrong again, you’d vanish for real this time, How many times could you come back from the dead? How close was he to losing you entirely? For good? As soon as his warmth mixed with yours, he collapsed on the mattress, curling up at your feet. He gathered the blanket towards his face, the end of his tail twitching erratically. His sobs were silent but violent, the entire bed shifting and bouncing as his body convulsed, his chest pounding as he broke down. Every once and a while, he would become extremely frightened, needing to gasp and look up to ensure you were real. You weren’t a dream. He pinched himself, shook his head, even almost bit at his hands to snap him out of this vision. But you were really here. He would curl back up and continue to cry.

White hair bobbed in front of your vision, two hands going to your shoulders and shaking you, pinning you against the headboard, fingernails careful not to dig themselves into your skin as they gripped your body. “What the hell is wrong with you?! Huh? Huh?! Do you have any idea what you put us through?! What you put me through?!” Mammon growls and screams shocked you.

“Mammon.” Lucifer’s voice settled as a stern warning, but something about it seemed weaker than usual.

Greed ignored him, continuing his rant. “You were just gone. Gone! You know that?!” He shook you again, careful not to rattle you too much. “And what am I supposed to do about that, huh?! What did I say?! I said—“ His voice cracked, trails of moisture streaming from his eyes and over his lips. “I said,” he repeated, “if you’re ever in trouble, you have to let me save you. What part of that didn’t you understand?! How dare you get taken somewhere where I can’t reach you?! How dare you?! How dare you?!” His voice continued to raise in pitch, sounding more and more unstable with each accusing question. Then he slumped, his forehead pressing against your chest as his hands held onto your shoulders tighter, almost bruising them, fearful of letting you go. He began shaking you a few times more, each shake meeker than the last. “How dare you. How dare you… How… W- What was I supposed to do if you didn’t come back?… The world is nothin’… I’m nothin’…”

Beel came over and helped his older brother to his feet, allowing him to sit on the side of your bed as Mammon furiously used the back of his wrist to rub at his cheeks. Gluttony stood over you, looking down with a wide close-lipped smile. “Welcome back.” He leaned down, pressing his cheek against yours as his large arms wrapped around the back of your neck. He took in the scent of you, burying his face into the crook of your neck for a moment. His body didn’t shutter, didn’t make noise, but you felt a few warm tears of his drip onto your skin. He silently and secretly teared up for just a few moments before he stood back up straight, gesturing to the tray with your items on it. “Eat, please. It’ll make you feel better.” The sixth-born took a few steps back to let you breathe, and as he moved back, someone else moved forward.

Lucifer stood at your bedside for quite some time in silence, looking down on you with a rather unreadable expression. He had a frown, eyes squinting like he was upset at you. He scanned you over, his brows furrowing, his jaw clenching. He refused to move, refused to say anything, refused to look you directly in the eyes. You moved forward a little, grabbing his hand, holding it in yours. All the sudden, the tension released. His eyes widened before his eyelids lowered, glancing at you past the vulnerable shimmer past his irises. Wrinkles of stress deepened in his forehead as his whole face contorted in agony. He held your hand tightly, bringing the back of it up to his lips. After that, he pulled you against him, his forehead pressed up against yours, his wings in his demon form acting as some sort of visual blocker, as if he couldn’t stand to have the rest of the room see how he was acting right now. He rubbed his face against yours back and forth, one small touch away from cooing, his hands caressing the sides of your neck, feeling your pulse, hearing your breath, taking in every detail and confirming to himself that you were indeed in his arms again, alive and mostly well. “You’ve come back to us,” he whispered, the end of his nose touching yours as one of his hands cradled the back of your neck. “Back to me.” His breath was hot as he panted for a moment, taking a deep breath and speaking in a hushed tone. “I had nearly begun to entertain the thought that…”

You pulled him closer to you, letting his head rest on your chest as you reached around to his back, grasping the cloth of his clothes in your hands. “You know I would fight through all the layers of hell to get to you.”

That seemed to resonate with him, but you weren’t quite sure he remembered that you were speaking quite literally. All those adventures…the things you’d all learned. How lost were they?…

However, Lucifer simply smiled, laughing a little, squeezing you before laughing again. “Yes, if anyone would do such a thing, it would be you. I shouldn’t have doubted you.” He straighted, fixed his clothing, lowered his wings, and moved further back into the room, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger as he paced towards a back corner.

Levi had finally soothed himself enough to move, walking on his knees towards the bed. His hands were fidgeting with every part of his outfit. Eyes puffy from crying, throat raw from his collapse earlier, he kept himself from speaking. You managed to smile down at him and wipe away the last few of his tears. His lips shook again before he lowered his head into your lap. Face-down in the fabric of the blanket, he kept shaking his head. He didn’t stop until your fingers ran through his hair. With a forced gulp, he eventually vocalized words. “I missed you… I was- was- was so scared I would…”

“Lose you.” Belphie sat up in bed, ignoring the fact that his face was now a mess. He scooted closer towards your side on the bed. “We thought we lost you.”

The youngest was able to say what none of the others could. Full silence washed over the room as the reality of the situation fully seemed to hit them, their shock slowly starting to fade.

Diavolo strode in, everyone moving out of the way to allow him to have his own time with you. The corners of his eyes crunched in happiness. His tight and broad shoulders sagged. Both of his large hands scooped up one of yours, bringing your touch to the side of his face. He closed his eyes, almost appearing as if he might purr any second. As he opened his sight back at you, a fire of positivity and excitement lit within him. “A party! We must throw a party! A welcome home celebration! This is…this is… a joyous day.”

At first, the others seemed confused. Then, one-by-one, small determined smiles spread across their faces. The sorrow melted and gave way to pure uncontrollable elation. People hugged each other, danced around the room, cheered, bounced, came back to kiss you, came back to hug you, nearly passing you around the room till Barbatos barged back in and took your hand, bringing you back to bed.

For a while, you assumed he would shut the idea down entirely. But then, the butler grinned. “I figured you would all say as much. Some preparations are already being made. In the meantime, we should let these two rest. They’ve had all too much excitement today.” Barbatos pulled the blanket back over your legs, readjusting the tray and giving you a biting glare that told you you wouldn’t be able to get out of drinking that god-forsaken tea. “But after that, we will celebrate. We will take every day and night to cherish you, and make up for the time we lost.”

Most of the brothers tried clinging to you, demanding they get to stay, but Diavolo, Barbatos, Lucifer, and Simeon managed to corral the desperate demons and one small angel out of the room.

But before they all left, you shouted. “Wait!” They all turned, worried that something was wrong. However, you smiled, happy tears running down your face this time. “I love you all. So very much.”

“I cherish you with every fibre of my being.”

“There ain’t nothing more priceless than you.”

“E-Everything is so much more fun with you here with m-m- us…”

“I…don’t want to even try to imagine a world without you in it.”

“Nothing, and I mean nothing, hun, is as charming as you.”

“Our family isn’t complete without you in it.”

“You belong with us. End of story.”

“You are one of the most precious beings the three realms has ever known.”

“I find myself discovering new things to enjoy every moment I spend with you.”

“Listen, you are a shining beacon in the night. Know how special you are.”

“You teach me so much! If it weren’t for you, I might still be scare— I mean, dislike demons!”

“My dear apprentice… We couldn’t have gotten home without you. You deserve the world. I will stick by you no matter where you go. And you deserve to know—“

“How much we love you too.”

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me headcanons #obey me imagines #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me levi #obey me satan #obey me asmo #obey me beel #obey me belphie #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #obey me luke #obey me nightbringer #nightbringer spoilers

[synergysilhouette]

My frustration with Asha's writing

A lot of people liked "Wish," and a lot of people didn't, and a particular concern for the latter was the main protagonist. Since I'm in the camp of "I'm frustrated with 'Wish,'" I'll discuss a little bit about why Asha feels like such a letdown.

She's an archetype, but not an individualized character. She screams "Disney heroine," but she doesn't have anything about her that makes her character stand out (positively) among other Disey female leads. She has no flaws that hinder her, and her positive traits are vague at best. "I care too much," is the most generic thing I've ever heard a main character say. In fact, it becomes almost meaningless when a character (who genuinely means it) says it about themselves; caring too much is a statement that works best when talking about someone else. In fact...

2. She has significant plot armor. She gets far in the process of being considered to be Magnifico's apprentice, but it's never said WHY. Considering her friend (or friends? I'm not sure) works in the castle, Dahlia putting in a good word for Asha would make sense to why Magnifico would consider her, and even him asking around town for their opinion of her would make more sense. But it feels like she gets so far in the process simply because she's the main character, despite Magnifico knowing next to nothing about her. And Magnifico has several magical powers at his disposal, but he's still defeated by her (mainly because he only uses his staff against her).

3. She has a lot of influence, but again, it's not really said how or why. During the reprise of "This Wish," the people of Rosas side with her against Magnifico--but this is likely because she's the only one who dared to stand up against him. We only see Asha interact with the people of Rosas during the opening song with her as a tour guide (how did she get THAT job?), and it feels very professional, very timed. It doesn't feel intimate or personal, like Asha has built up a good rapport with the other citizens.

4. Her family is poorly defined. Sabino's wish is to create a song that inspires the next generation, but as Magnifico himself mentions, that's a vague wish--plus imo, it's cheating; rather than working hard and creating a legacy for yourself, you want to wish to give something for people to remember you by. And Sabino is obviously older than Magnifico, but his life--and how he lived it without the kingdom of wishes--is never explored. Perhaps if it was explained that he experienced great hardship and his spirit was broken, it'd explain why he was so fixated on getting a wish. And Sakina's wish is never explained. She's probably the worst-characterized parent in a 21st century Disney movie, since she's pretty much just there. And Asha's father inspired her, but he isn't shown much. I'd have enjoyed it if the plot revolved around her trying to revive her father and it proves Magnifico's point that some wishes can't/shouldn't be granted.

5. She learns NOTHING. Her whole song is about "I've lived a lie" when that's not entirely true; she takes a very black and white view on the situation without ever trying to evolve her viewpoint via Magnifico's perspective, and the people of Rosas never stop to think "we shouldn't be codependent"; they just think "we shouldn't have let Magnifico lie to us." It's a giant avoidance of guilt on everyone's behalf, and since Magnifico is a villain, no one really cares that he has some semblance of a point. When you look at protagonists like Pocahontas, Judy Hopps, and Anna, you see how they learned a new way of looking at things, that they've suffered hardships (either through their own making or otherwise) and that they've grown from it.

6. She's "relateable." Disney's adorkable thing hasn't been too much of an issue for me up to this point; it was unique when Anna did it, and it never feels super cringey with Mirabel and Moana (though if Mirabel is cringey, it fits into the narrative). But now it's tired. I'd enjoy more mature leads like Raya, Tiana, and Elsa, rather than Disney trying to make a protagonist that tries--and fails--to be quirky. And I never really saw Rapunzel as adorkable as her later leading ladies. But Asha tries too hard; honestly that should've been one of her flaws in the film. Her desperation to meet everyone's approval would've been something neat (albeit familiar if we compare her to Mirabel) to explore in the film.

#disney #disney animation #wish #asha #disney princess

[chaifootsteps]

sarcastic productions did a vid recently about this thing called Tone Armor and it explains something I've had issues with in HB but struggled to articulate

so Tone Armor is, to simplify it (but I do recommend the vid) what the audience understands the stakes of the show to be. I.e. in a Loony Tunes short no one expects a character to be seriously hurt falling off a cliff, getting shot in the face, getting a piano dropped on them, etc. It's kind of part of suspension of disbelief - some shows exploit tone armor by having an early twist that goes against the conventions of the genre. The twist in Madoka Magica ep3 works entirely off this - if you've seen a lot of magical girl shows like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptors you're used to their stakes and you don't expect anyone to really die. In ep3, someone really dies.

And that's a big problem I have with HB - it can't keep its stakes or tone consistent to save its life. In Harvest Moon, Stella hiring Striker to kill Stolas is played like a dark comedy joke. We're supposed to take it like a dramatic beat but also a kind of wacky demon thing. But then The Circus drastically shifts the tone and expects us to treat Stolas and Stella as a straight example of domestic violence - which they do by having her try to slap him, something which is much less violent than the hit she's already ordered on him episodes before. They've already had Stella escalate to the end point most abusers get to, played it as a joke, and they want to turn around and demand the audience instead take it seriously instead of treating it like just a thing demons do? It was already shaky ground in ep5 whether we should judge Stella for ordering a hit given that the premise of the show used to be about imps running an assasination business, and their targets used to be in Hell!

The show also can't make up its mind whether the audience should be worried about the characters being in real danger at any moment in time. Western Energy is the absolute nadir for this - one minute Stolas is dodging holy bullets like he knows he's in danger, the next he's calling Blitzo and speaking with no more urgency than he did when he hired him as a bodyguard in Loo Loo Land (and the episode seems to expect us to blame Blitzo for not dropping everything to help him? Why wasn't Stolas screaming in terror on the phone then???). Worse, when he gets cut off Stolas says out loud 'am I in danger right now?' like he wasn't just tied up on the back of a horse bound with blessed rope. What in gods name happened to his intelligence in this episode?

Then it's right back to wacky hijinks right as the tone was starting to shift with the Striker song from the imp trio and Stolas is still making jokes ('how does one get their own theme song?') until the episode then decides it's going to be serious and act like the audience should be worried Stolas could die. Besides the fact Viv was never going to kill her Creator's Pet, it is way too late to demand an audience buy into this plot line on a dramatic level. To make it worse half the fight scene is scored with a bubblegum pop song on the radio and it keeps cutting to the much lower stakes Blitzo trying to get Loona to take her shot, like it makes any sense at all to cross cut between the two! That episode is absolute garbage imo and I have no idea why it ended up the way it did outside of Viv probably insisting there needed to be a plot device that would render Stolas helpless (which begs the question how Striker hasn't managed to finish off half of Hell's nobles by now if he has blessed rope or at least Stolas, given he's also dumb enough not to bother using his eye powers or his demonic form earlier - the power levels in this show are also massively inconsistent)

And then to put the cherry on a very bad cake Blitzo asks 'he can get hurt?' like he didn't already know blessed weapons exist and he didn't already fight Striker for trying to kill Stolas with one of them (which he should have let him do to spare us all the badness of this never-ending plotline)

Extremely good point.

Tone armor is definitely a thing, and Viv's problem is that she wants it to be both ways. She wants this show to be Looney Tunes and Madoka, and she wants to alternate back and forth between the two whenever she pleases, and when her audience inevitably complains or is confused, to blame them.

And that's not how this works.

#Anonymous #viv stuff #helluva boss critical #actual blog post

[itsclydebitches]

I want someone to explain to me how the heck Blake ended up dropped nearby Weiss when she fell with Ruby?? Shouldn't, logically, she be closer to her? Or do we just say "it's fake wonderland, logic no longer exists". Also how did they all find each other but not find Jaune. Not complaining, exactly, that he's not made an appearance just... confused by it. (Would be hilarious if the writers somehow forgot they even dropped him to begin with.)

I think the explanation for that is in the Volume 9 sneak peek we saw a... year ago? A while, anyway. The one where we get the events of the finale from Ruby's PoV. When she falls Blake sorta disappears after Ruby looks away for a moment, then she winds up in the in-between place with the floating orange orbs (which are a strange detail ngl), Neo shows up, they fight, Ruby throws her off, and then Neo just kinda hovers there menacingly until she too fades away. Ruby then wakes up on the beach alone.

So yeah, it's an "explanation" in the sense that the story seems to have gone, "Magical voids mean we can just have everyone wake up wherever we please, rather than tackling the more challenging structure of keeping those who fell together." Honestly, I'd much rather Ruby wake up and forge an actual relationship with Blake + deal with Neo without the rest of her team than, uh, meeting a mouse.

As for Jaune, who knows. More convenient plotting where the team stumble across each other quickly--as in, the first episode or two given the theory that our trailer isn't showing much beyond that--but for inexplicable reasons he remains lost? Does it have to do with the fact that maybe they aren't looking for him if Weiss assumes/hopes he made it to the portal? Or the reigning theory: Jaune is an antagonist of the Volume, changed by Wonderland, and thus is actively avoiding the girls?

Personally, I'm not persuaded by that though, for a couple of reasons. 1. It would require a Wonderland where both space (falling in different places) and time are seriously wonky, given that Jaune fell last, but is presumably warped by Wonderland long before the girls even wake up. I mean, it's possible, especially given our inspiration, but it's way more confusing/messy. 2. If Jaune were the antagonist I would honestly expect them to hint at that in the trailer. Given his popularity across much of the fandom and the writers' own interest in his character, that seems the perfect way to hook a lot of fans after the long hiatus. And 3. The theory revolves around Jaune being the knight which yeah, tracks in an aesthetic sense (sword and shield) but the narration of our presumed antagonist is a woman and the shot from the back that the trailer gave us 100% looks like a woman (as RT would design one)/not like Jaune/I'm pretty sure that's her long hair up in a bun. The theory was more plausible back when the knight/armorer/whoever she is was only wearing a helmet.

Really, I'm not sure what to make of Jaune's lack of screentime in the trailer. Again, it could simply be that they only picked scenes from the first 1-2 episodes, but it feels like we're already struggling with the problem I pointed out all the way back in Volume 8: by having Jaune kill Penny and then fall into the void, RT created a situation where he has to be at the center of the next Volume's emotional journey--you can't just ignore what he did + his presence in Wonderland--but simultaneously, Jaune shouldn't be the focus when this is otherwise a Volume about our title team working through their own doubts. Now, we're seeing that precise push-and-pull in the fandom. Some fans are horrified that he didn't show up. How can you possibly ignore Jaune right now?? Meanwhile, some are relieved that he didn't show up. Good, this wasn't supposed to be your Volume anyway. RT really backed themselves into a corner with this one, imo, because if Jaune's journey gets a lot of focus we'll be right back to, Why is he Mr. Character Development when all four girls are RIGHT THERE, but if they don't do enough we've got more, Love that you introduced these HUGE plot points and then did so little with them. If Volume 9 centers the emotional journey around finding Jaune and comforting him over Penny's death, we've got a problem. If they mostly ignore his actions and focus on the girls, we've got a problem. It's not that RWDE folk are refusing to be happy about what's put up on screen (as I often see the more protective fans claiming), but rather we recognize the mistakes made in the past that are now leading to more issues.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

[peaterookie]

Iron Launcher's Pokemon Infopost

it's Iron Launcher's turn!!

if you haven't seen my previous post about Elongated Emperor, please check it out, it explains a couple things about my creations for those who don't have the full context. -> [Elongated Emperor's Infopost]

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if it isn't super obvious already, its design is based on rockets and airplanes. they're shaped much like longkii, very very longe

it was a bit difficult to figure out how to make a rocket hi-tech and super cool, so i had to look at some references, and i found that reshiram's tail and rings quite fits the futuristic feel i wanted. (floating rings are cool

other than that, there's not much i can say about this design? longkii's shoes are essentially works as the engine IL uses to propel itself, the crown is just a smaller ring around its body, and the ++ eyes are inspired by chinchou's eyes, to kinda give it that silly lil happy guy energy that i will explain a bit later.

there wasnt much thought put into the design sadly cuz i have a biiit of a bias for the past paradoxes, so i struggled a bit in putting my all for the future version like displaying their personality and such. fortunately, i have tried to make up for this by expanding more on its personality in its learnset and game data!

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Game Data

obviously, IL would be more on the speedy side, and i've made it be primarily a mixed attacker with weaker defenses. i'm not sure if this is a good spread? if possible i would like to improve this.

i also wanted to built this guy to be a bit of a glass cannon, so i made this custom ability !

this ability, plot armor, was me trying to expand on its personality as a rather rash and reckless type of pokemon, but is stubborn enough to never back down against an opponent, much like a heroic protagonist !!

this is also why i named the ability plot armor LOL i just imagine those types of shonen protags where the more the villain beats them up, they magically get stronger or they get a power up out of nowhere

anyways, its an ability thats like a double-edged sword, its frail but it can get super powerful very fast if you dont kill it immediately!!

i sadly don't have a lot to say about this, its also just me trying to expand on its personality, they're very silly and hyper!! and they love to be super active and beat each other up !1!!!!!!!1!!!11!

they also have a built-in instinct to befriend as much people and has a savior complex kinda, you gotta love em'

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Learnsets

lastly, here's IL's learnset! I try to incorporate a lot of moves that involves a lot of it headbutting and charging to showcase its reckless personality

status moves like lock on is there to compensate for the couple of inaccurate moves, because as you know, 90% is basically 50% accurate. follow me can be used in double battles, to encourage the opponents to attack it to give it that plot armor boost.

they also learn a couple moves that do recoil later on, which does activate its ability ! they also know a couple of electric moves due to their pokedex entry explained above.

their signature move, Gigaton Bullet, is also made by my friend Gold, and here is the description for it! (i really dig this move ngl

Gigaton Bullet - Iron Launcher charges up for 1 turn, and launches full speed towards the target. It goes out of control and flies in different directions, and can attack the target 3-6 times. After the move ends, it takes 10% HP recoil damage.

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anyways, that's all i got for Iron Launcher! here's the moveset i would have for the lil guy... thank you for listening to my ramble :)

Item: Focus Sash

Gigaton Bullet | Wild Charge | Ice Beam | Aura Sphere

link to the spreadsheet again ^

#pokemon #fakemon #waddle dee #crown waddle dee #peaterookie art #peater rambles

[fluffypotatey]

can i ask for all of the 10?

alrighty *cracks knuckles* imma try my best

warning: lots of rambling under the cut

Merlin Interrupted ok so i explained this wip in another ask but the short version is my OC, Nessa, has entered the playing field (Camelot/Albion) and shakes up the show's plot so much that now we got an early magic reveal, more intel on Morgana's descent, and a new antagonist

Things Dr. Geyer Notices as i'm sure you've noted, i've been sort of venting about this fic bc i was originally intending (i swear, truly) for this fic to be a cute one-shot where over the span of season 4-6, David Geyer (Liam's stepdad) would begin to pick up on the crazy supernatural shit going on. HOW-EVER, i am 3 chapters deep (6.5k words) and only halfway through with this story. *sighs* i am enjoying the fic tho. am i taking creative liberties by inventing my own love story/dynamic with David and Jenna? absolutely! and you would too for the sake of giving Liam the best parents ever. tbh i have more of the 2nd half of this fic imagined than the 1st half (which was why i assumed it would be shorter lol who'da thought?). very excited for when i get to the Wild Hunt 😈

The Heirloom ok, uh, this one is my niche little Lockwood & Co x Teen Wolf (sort of but not really) x OC wip. essentially, Lockwood & Co, a ghost hunting agency run by teens (and teens only. it makes sense in universe i promise) are hired by Nick Bennet (an OC i have for #9 and as you'll notice, i tend to recycle him and another OC for other wips) to find the source of his father-in-law's ghost so that the house/flat that belonged to his late wife. it takes place some time in book 3 of Lockwood & Co because I wanted Holly included but also the drama of Lucy Carlyle's Talent issues (sixth sense thing only children and teens gain to see/hear ghosts). AND, i have Theo there who was adopted by Nick (this will make more sense after i explain #10) who shares the same Talent as Lucy (Hearing) and helps out our lovely band of ruffians. however, as the gang continue to explore the house and its history, they find there's more that meets the eye. news articles are inconsistent about the life the late Lucy Bennet once lived and the relationship her had with her father. both Nick and Theo are partial to this necklace that once belonged to her, but they deny it having any connection to the house and its hauntings.

The Witch & the Knight so this one is an og wip! what i've got so far is a alternate historical fantasy taking place in medieval France. premise is there's this celestial war (angels vs demons, a classic) headed by a Grim Reaper with their trusty gang that consists of a knight in shining armor and 2 witch sisters (one eager to fight the fight and the other trying to pull said eager sister away from the fight). this wip is heavy in its themes, historical research, mythological research, worldbuilding....just, a very ambitious story. i am using it for my final project in my english course bc it gives me the excuse to work on it, and flesh out more of my ideas and concepts. (the big one i'm currently fleshing out is the doomed romance subplot) i have no intention of having this story be 1 novel. it's a series. i can feel it. the war itself in story will be 10 years and the slow burn both for platonic and romantic relationships is super fucking slow. i've written a couple snippets for this wip, but mostly, i'm still in the plotting and planning stage.

A Lucky Network tis me batfam wip! it's a epistolary fic and jumps between outsider pov to simple 3rd pov and 2nd pov. it's got mystery, unreliable narrators, and all that jazz. i've got like 80% if this thing finished just the finale part is all i have left. You have the fic's plot focus on 2 people, Nick and Lucy. Nick is our main pov guy (after Dick) who sort of is in the know about something involving Lucy, but we don't know why. Lucy is our center for all of this chaos. she's why Dick began this investigation into her actions. in the fic, she was taken in by Bruce about 3 or so years after Dick, lived through his angsty teen years, lived with baby jason, had to live with his death, and then have her own angsty arc. there is like 1 batfam ship in the fic, so if that's not your cup of tea, totally fine! but i have lowkey forgotten to update it on ao3 consistently lol. i'll be sure to get back on that.

Basically Mob Boss Lucy this is an og wip but taking a similar premise with #5, recycling my main 2 OCs from there (Nick & Lucy bc they're a packaged deal and married), and placing them in a Mob Boss setting. Lucy in this wip is not adopted by a kind and compassionate but is also emotionally constipated man; rather she gets taken in by some douche who saw her on the street and thought "this would get me so much charity points with the media!" anyway, her life in this story is a lot different with #5 (for one, she's a lot colder and harsher when it comes to treating others that aren't in her inner circle and she's much more sadistic) but i love writing this wip bc i'm getting tired of redemption arcs. i wanna see a girl go batshit and fall into her corruption arc.

The Emrys Shrine greatly inspired by this ask here ok, listen: i know the fic i have for this says complete, but i do have a continuation in the works!!! it's in percival's pov and it's basically just him going "hmmmmm Merlin's acting pretty suspicious......"

Witch Boy OK LISTEN: i know this one also complete when you go to Ao3, but that's just because the 3rd part is being fucking slOW, so i said "fuck it ends nice at ch2 anyway," but i do want to add more. but yeah, to summarize: fic was inspired by a Halloween fanart i saw and i just ran with it.

A BBC Merlin Military AU Nobody Asked For so i also already explained this one in another ask but basically it's semi-modern au with bbc merlin cast in the military. which military??? idk it's not important. what's important is that there's pining and hurt/comfort

Lucky's Timeline in Beacon Hills this one....yeah, this is super self indulgent. literally recycling Nick and Lucy (Lucky is their ship name bc i do do that with my OCs and there's is super cute) and throwing them into the Teen Wolf universe, and seeing how they'd fare in that world. what i've got it like 5 different storylines i could take with this wip, but the main consensus is: Lucy adopts Theo, Nick sort of adopts the Puppy Pack bc he decided a coach was the safest job he could apply for and the school didn't ask him a lot of questions (he definitely raised his brows at that) for this wip, Nick and Lucy originally came from my Lucky Network-verse (but like slightly to the left, meaning she wasn't adopted by Bruce in this verse, meaning i get to play with her being a tad more sadistic) and ended up in Beacon Hills bc teleportation magic run to its extreme can teleport you across dimensions!! who'da known!

but yeah, those are my 10! they are my babies, and i love them dearly. if you have anymore questions are just want to hear me ramble more, you (and anyone else interested) are free to shoot me an ask!

thank you babe for allowing me to just gush about them <3

#ask game #wip ask game #wip game #asks #my wips #my wip #my fics #long post #y'all are absolutely welcome to ask me for more details about this stuff #if given the chance i will not shut up about any of these #i restrain myself bc 1) breathing is a thing and 2) i would be even more annoying #thanks so the ask boo <3 #bbc merlin #teen wolf #lockwood & co #original work

[yubellia]

Miraculous Ladybug Theory about Superpowers

Hi and welcome back. I already talked about Lila in my last post and I also said, that I have a theory. So, here it is. I hope i can do a good job explaining everything.

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I have this idea, that in the universe of Miraculous Ladybug, people can have superpowers, without a kwami and Lila will play a part in that.

I am not sure which episode it was but master Fu was still the guardian. In that episode, they talked about kwamis but also about things like genie's. You know like when Adrien wondered if Plagg was a genie. This tells me, that other magical creatures must be present in this universe. It would not be too weird either. After all, we talk about a world with technology beyond what we can hope for right now, humans that are made by magic and other stuff. It would be just another thing to be added to our list.

While we are talking about this, what are kwamis anyway? If you want to explain it in an easy way, it would go something like this.

A kwami is a concept (like creation and destruction), that manifests in the form of an animal and is sentient. It possesses cosmic power, can share this power with it's wielder (resulting in Ladybug and others) and they are tied to a piece of jewelry. That last point was done by a wizard it seems. Every time a new emotion or a new concept, an idea shows up in the universe, a new kwami follows and shows up.

ok.... easy enough right? But what do we learn by this? One, magic is a thing in miraculous Ladybug. We know that. However, it is said that this wizard created the miraculous. If he did this alone, it would mean that humans can use magic without the kwami's. It is said, that before the miraculous, humans could not interact with the kwamis or even see them. So he must have done this on his own.

Now, back to Lila. Of course we could say, things always turn out good for her and everyone believes her, because the writing is bad. (and yes it is sometimes but that isn't fun). I mean she opens her mouth and almost everyone falls for her lies. I would like to quote Lila herself here. When Marinette confronted her, she claims that she herself does not know how it works. She just tells people, what they want to hear.

(Like it or not but she does have a point. Is it her fault and problem when they are to stupid to check the facts? Alya? When they just run after her? I don't think so to be honest.)

But back to the topic. It seems like Lila has something on her, that makes people want to believe her. Like yeah, of course she knows prince Ali! Sure! Even when she slips up and changes her story, like suddenly having trouble with the other ear, no one questions it. Why? Well this is where my idea comes back.

When Marinette and Sabrina trick Lila and Chloe, when we learn about Lila's other name Cerise, there was a scene that did not make it into the final episode. Alya gives Marinette an apology, asking how she could be so stupid to fall for that. Marinette hugs her back and says "Lying is also some kind of superpower." Or something really close to that. Now, why did this scene not make it into the final product? Anyone wanna try explain this to me? And Lila is not alone with this. Luka for example has his ability to read peoples emotions and turn them into music. Not nearly as powerful as lying but still.

With that kind of off the table, we have to talk about Marinette here too. Why did she not fall for Lila's lies? The easy answer is "plot armor" Lila was supposed to be her rival so she had to see through her. However, there are other reasons too.

Reason one: she did not really like Lila from the beginning, because she flirted with Adrien. Remember, here we are talking about early Marinette. The 'i stalk Adrien and have everything about him memorised' Marinette. So of course she this could not end well.

Reason two: Marinette is Ladybug. Lila lying about the fox miraculous and how it is more powerful than the ladybug miraculous was a blow to her ego. But than, Lila said she is a hero and friends with ladybug. Not only did Marinette knew this was not true, she also must have known that this neclace was fake and that the real one was with master Fu (at least i think so? Not sure to be honest).

(Not a reason but a possibility): The miraculous protected her from Lila's lie. If something magical is going on, than maybe having a miraculous protected her. But that is only a possibility.

Now why didn't Adrien see through her back than? Well i think Plagg could have warned him later even without Ladybug exposing her. Telling him that he could not sense Trixx or whatever. However, Lila was extra nice to Adrien and we saw that she is doing her research support her stories at least a little.

Also this is still Adrien. Back than in the earlier seasons, he was too nice for his own good and too naive. I mean this is the boy that claimed "It's enough if we know the truth right?"

Now, if we ignore the (sometimes bad) writing and pretend that there is no plot armor for Lila, than there is one character, who's behavior can't be explained unles something magical is going on. I think you know who I am talking about.

Alya.

This girl, who wants to be a reporter in the future and searches for the truth is suddenly unable to check facts as soon as Lila is involved. How? Claiming that she is Ladybugs best friend? Source: Trust me sis! And not just that. Even after Marinette confesses to Alya that she is Ladybug, she is not trusting her, when she attacks Lila for her lying. She can't even trust Adrien when he finally starts to back her up. She is trusting the girl, who claimed that Marinette pushed her down the stairs!

It took a confession to finally break that "spell" and make everyone see the truth.

I believe, that in the world of miraculous, humans can have power. And they don't need a kwami. Of course after all we know, Lila, or now Cerise could easily be an adult woman and not even a kid. She is acting like a secret agent in her little lair.

But if there is something magical going on, i think that Lila has the power to be extra trustworthy. Or at least she seems to be for others. After all, she said it herself. They WANT to believe her lies. Whatever it is she said, it seems totally logical and possible for whoever hears it. unless she confesses herself or you absolutely know the real truth, (or you already don't like her), you can't break her spell.

So yeah.... that pretty much my theory to all of this. Many things can be explained with bad writing but not everything. We all joke about her 3 mothers and how stupid it is (because it is) but if you stretch it, you can explain it. Her first mother, Mrs. Rossi, is a busy woman. So busy, that she can't even have dinner with her 'daughter'. No woder she has no idea what Lila is doing. The second one seems to be just as busy. I am talking about the one working for that magazine. The last one has to be the easiest. She is deaf and talks with sign language. I am not saying, that this makes her stupid of course, but she has a problem. In her case, even IF Lila slips up and confesses in front of her, she would not know.

While we are talking about that, why is she doing that anyway? I mean, we all should be able to tell how much work it is to have 3 mothers at once, not slip up (too much) with your stories and let's not forget that this entire time she was a student at a different school as Cerise.

At least this last point can be explained. All Mothers seem to be well off. I mean Mrs. Rossi has an important job and Lilas other bedroom with her deaf mother is amazing WITH an amazing view. So i guess it is power. But why? What does she want this power for? Is there a bigger goal? I hope so. Gabriel at least had a reason for what he was doing. We have to wait and see with her.

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So. This is it. We are done here. I think i managed to talk about everything i wanted to talk about here. If not, i just post again. I hope you liked it.

Since i noticed that many people don't seem to understand the end of season 5, you know what i am talking about, I will write about what i think happened there next. See ya!

#lila rossi #miraculous ladybug #miraculous theory #Lila Rossi theory

[nagirambles]

is there anything you ever wish we learned more about celestial magic? or at least anyway you’d want to change it considering how it work now, because it had so much potential but as you’ve stated it now basically works as celestial spirt take over (which honestly if take literally could be even cooler like lucy and her sprits merging sure as hell is a concept)

Oh dear here I go. I love this topic.

I definitely wish we learned more about the spirits themselves, their powers, and their dynamics between each other and people around them.

We explored this in the Angel fight, but that's really the most we ever get. I liked when we sawCapricorn's loyalty in Tenrou (and how Loke knew it), but again, we just never get anything like it ever again. I was looking forward to Libra the whole show (because it's my sign) and she ended up being a plot device to show off how cool Kagura is.

I genuinely believe that spirits should never be undermined in their own main magic, because they're just pointless then. At least make them equal like Juvia vs Aquarius, geez. Horologium is one of the most useful spirits Lucy has, and he's irreplaceable, unlike her fighting spirits. No other spirit can do ultimate defense like him, (eg Loke can be interchanged with Virgo or Taurus, because if you just want raw power, they can all do it similarly).

This ramble got really long so here's a read more.

Most of them are now just convenient weapons to be summoned when the author realizes they've lacked screen time recently. Gemini, one of the better-handled ones, are just the cool trick Lucy has for jokes or fake-outs/deceit, and she summons them to use Urano Metria I guess. And no, I'm not saying that's bad, that's really good actually, but that's the thing-- Gemini is just a cool power. We never explore Gemini's viewpoints or Aries' former mistreatment ever again, even though it's apparently a prevailing problem among CSM. Lucy being a mage that actually loves her spirits is the whole crux of Lucy's magic, and yet it's like everyone's forgotten it was ever an issue in the world.

Understandably, it's because we have zero points of comparison. It would have been cool if we found another CSM like Karen again, just to see how the spirits react due to Lucy's influence on them.

I truly believe this problem exists because Lucy got too many keys too quickly. It just got too difficult to balance screentime, and so they just stopped showing up altogether for any meaningful reason than battle. I know it's necessary for the plot and it's sparsely explained away in Key of Starry Heavens and the Eclipse gate yada yada, but it just doesn't make sense that there are only two Celestial Spirit mages in the entire damn world when gold keys are so rare. It's never explained why this is like this except for us to think 'oh, she's the main character, of course'. I really think the series could have benefited from more one-off characters that are CSM, like-- god forbid I say this, Everlue.

Heck, we should have had some mages that just specialize in Silver Keys. You're not telling me such a versatile old magic isn't researched to hell and back with a cult following and some die-hard collectors. Money and rarity isn't really a valid concern, Shiny hunters exist in the Pokemon fandom. if people want something, they will do anything legal and illegal to get it.

I feel it's a shame that we have to continue enforcing the 'ohh, I'm using your magic by being here, I gotta go and let you fight by yourself' thing, since there's so much potential in tag teaming.

I want to see them fight together, rather than Lucy just taking their powers and using them like Digimon fusion. Actually that's a terrible comparison, Digimon fusions are better because the Digimon is still there conjoined like armor, speaking to each other, and they're actually fighting together with their Tamers as one. Okay now I like this idea better. I want something like that for Lucy if she's going to be a magical girl, not the Requip: Celestial Spirit Powers that we got. Yeah what we got is cool but I like the spirits as characters too, not just as one of Lucy's many power varieties.

I do like that Virgo gave Lucy a whip in Edolas. We hardly see her use it effectively and at some point it's just gone, but I feel that's a great start in going from summoning spirits to fighting with their powers. We should have expanded on that before the Star Dresses, honestly. Maybe Taurus gives her a lesser version of his axe or gauntlets that grant her some super strength, Loke gives her a ring that can use a holder-type Regulus, Aquarius gives her a water jug and Lucy can use some Water Magic as long as she's using the water from it. Imagine if she only got these weapons after a while of bonding with them, like a statement of trust and love from spirit to owner.

Sure she'll find weapons she's ill-fitted for, but isn't that the point? Imagine Lucy asking for advice from the rest of her teammates or even her spirits themselves, because one of them gave her a rapier and she needs to learn a bit of how to use it? The training arc before GMG would have been perfect for these things.

I'd also like if they continued a Holder-type theming with those, because Lucy's the only Holder-type in Team Natsu and I wish she stayed like that so she continued to remain unique. We literally have-- so many magical-girl type female mages, form Requip to Takeover to Star Dresses. Mashima uses all of them as an excuse for fanservice, and he's so blatant about it ugh. Couldn't he at least make the designs look good?

Alright! That's about it I have for now. I have a tag called 'the menace celestials' if anyone ever wants to read all the rambles I've had about Celestial Spirit magic. Thank you for the ask!

#it's an ask #fairy tail #the menace celestials #it's a headcanon

[thesleepykuma]

I am in the middle of trying to write a Magical girl raising project fanfiction. I'll spare you any details of the story to avoid getting your hopes up because I'm notorious for starting creative projects and not finishing them, but it lead me to think about some problems with the story that I'd want to fix in a retelling.

As a caveat, I did like the show. It's not as good as Madoka or Utena but it's structured better than Yuki Yuna (Yuki Yuna was unfortunately plauged with some adaptation issues that MGRP lacks) and is miles above a lot of the other trash that is often published in the 'dark magical girl' genre. I also haven't read the light novels but I'm aware of their existence and some of the things that happen in them.

Problem #1: Most of the characters are flat.

This is an unfortunate consequence of the ratio of number of characters to length of source material; the main source material for the anime is a light novel with is quite short and a few short stories that were published later. The vast majority of characters get one main personality trait and a backstory which can range from insightful to vauge to nonexistent. This means that the amount of emotional investment you are able to put into a character before their death is variable and often minimal. This is an unfortunate problem with a lot of death game stories and can be solved by decreasing the number of characters, making the story longer, or both, which allows for more opportunities for character development.

Problem #2: Power balance

In the show, each magical girl has either a magical weapon or a magical power of some kind. Some exceptions to this such as the Peaky angels who in addition to their transformation powers get flight and Cranberry who gets super hearing in addition to her main sound based powers. The powers are not incredibly well balanced, which I'll explain by comparing the powers of a few different characters. Hardgore Alice's power gives her the ability to regerate unless her entire body is destroyed. This makes her nigh invulnerable and if she had paired this ability with any non-magical offensive weapon she would have been a top contender the winner from raw ability alone. Compare this with Magicaloid 44's power of a random futuristic item a day, which is extremely luck based, Sister Nana's ability bless someone to make them stronger which relies on having a living ally to use it on, and Ruler's mind control power which has too many restrictions to make the most of. In my opinion the best death games are balanced so that anyone has a change of winning or at least surviving. Emotional investment in a given character drops when you can accurately predict that they won't last long.

Problem 3# Snow white

Snow white is the main character of the arc. Her Schtick as a stereotypical magical girl is a good contrast to what the story ends up being, but her main problem is that she has little agency in the plot. Her power has an offensive capability that is used in later light novels but she doesn't have the foresight in the first arc to use it, and she spends most of the plot hiding behind other characters or cowering in a corner. She has one moment where she chooses to do something significant towards the end of the show and even then the payoff relies on multiple other characters actions and not on anything that she did. She makes it to the end of the story because of plot armor.

I don't want to be completely unfair to Snow White. The idea that her simple, childish, innocent desire to spend her days spreading kindness and joy to other people was so moving to the other characters that they decided to help her in spite of what the world turned out to be is emotionally poignant in its own way. I think she works best as a foil to Ripple as Ripple slowly softens throughout the story and Snow white becomes more jaded. She just isn't entertaining to watch most of the time, however, and I suspect that's why Magical girl raising project doesn't have as large of a fanbase as other similar shows.

#magical girl raising project #discourse #mahou shoujo ikusei keikaku

[redtutel]

Spider-Man No Way Home

“Objectvity” goes out the window for this movie. This is my favorite MCU movie. But will it beat Spider-Man 2?

This movie’s existance is a Miricle. Sony was going to back out of the MCU, but not only did they come back, they shared some amazing characters (and Electro).

And we see Spider-Man and MJ running from the public after the reveal. It’s a great scene

I’m so glad we got this cliffhanger resolved after all the craziness behinds the scenes

Of all the times for Aunt May to meet MJ

The news on TV displaying what’s just outside. A really disturbing moment for the characters

The Department of Damage Controls. They’re so hatable

Love the representation that innocent people need lawyers too

And we get the “Watson name.” fun bit of fan service

The police are so manipulative. They probably got away with it by using a fictional branch of law enforcement, but it’s still rings true

And Charlie Cox’s Daredevil is offically canon! Awesome!

And the retrun Dum-E

Forshadowing of the Statue of Liberty reovaton

Love the phone call scene. And the movie’s theme of uncertainity about the future

MJ finding out was the one week Peter’s life felt normal since being bitten by the Spider. Such a sweet moment that hilights how cruel fate can be

And we get our last moments with the high school side cast. I’ll miss them

“Do a flip” guy is back

Seeing the price of fame is rough. Love him or hate him, all this attention is a toxic experience

Last apperice of those teachers. I’ll miss ‘em

Love the roof scene. And how it sets up moments for later

“We’ll all be together.” I’m heartbroken

Acceptance of rejection. I do not miss those days

And Spider-Man ruins Peter and his friends’ lives

“You guys didn’t get in?” “Yeah, because we’re actually friends with Spider-Man” Love that line

And Peter gets the idea from a Haloween decoraction that looks like Dr. Strange. I find it just silly enough

I love how selfeless Peter is. He doesn’t care about his sitatuions. He just wants to make sure his friends can have the futures they deserve

America Chavez was supposed to be in this scene. It would’ve been nice to see her again. Someday I guess

“Hasn’t he been though enough?” That’s Spider-Man summed up

The MCU would be a lot shorter is people listened to Wong

Spider-Man is always torn between selfishness and selflesness. He does not want to have to re-tell people he’s Spider-Man, so he messes up the spell

I do think Peter and Stephen should’ve made a definitive list before starting the spell. But then they’d be no movie. Plus, Peter and Stephen are not the best decision makers

Dr. Strange is a jerk. I have mixed feelings about him as a character

Trying to live two different lives causes Spider-Man’s problems

I didn’t know you could challange college rejections until I saw this movie

Stark Industries is falling apart for reasons I assume will be explained in Armor Wars or Ironheart. So Peter has one less tool to work with. I like how it raises the tension

Love how the Spider-Sense hints that a villian is coming

I admit, seeing Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus fight again fills me with childish glee

And the Doc Ock theme plays too! Love musical callbacks!

I think I’ll count it a as quip

Another exmpale of Spider-Man hanging cars on a bridge

Doc Ock has some solid quips too

Love Doctor Octopus stealing the nano tech. And how it leads to his own undoing

For plot reasons I understand why this is the only Spider-Man and Doc Ock fight, but I still wish we got more

“You’re a hero.” Love seeing Spider-Man prove the haters wrong

Pupkin Bomb. Love to see it

Apparently there was a Spider-Man and Goblin round 1 fight that got cut. I think the movie works well enough without it though

“You altered the spell six times” Love the easter egg

I wish Peter caught Lizard on screen though

Forshadowing Ned using Magic. Solid way to write out America Chavez

“Scooby Doo this” that lines gets too much hate. I’ve seen worse groaners in this marathon

Love MJ’s sass toward Strange

Peter acted on impusle, and now it’ll be a long time before he’ll be able to do things right again

I don’t get the hate for the trio laughing at Otto Octavius’s name. They’re snarky teenagers. I do think it was a miss oppounity for a more direct callback “A guy named Otto Octavius got 8 arms? What are the odds?”

Love Otto’s acting when talking about the dead coming back to life

New stealth suit. I’m apathetic about it

Love seeing Jamie Foxx as a much better Electro. And the return of the Electro theme

I like how the multiverse energy thing justifies the new look. And I love the redegin. A much better modern Electro look

I guess they couldn’t get Sandman’s actor in person (makes sense consiering Covid). So we get the CGI. I wonder the the different universe is part of the reason

Poor Sandman. He’s just some guy caught up in this weird situation and he just wants to go home and see his daughter

Love seeing the reaction to the Lizard talking

It’s fun seeing his love of turining people into Lizards

It’s amazing seeing all this villians interacting

The Sinister 6: Green Goblin, Doctor Octupus, Sandman, The Lizard, Electro, Tree!

Love the Goblin scene. Norman talking to his mask and destorying it, in a parallel to Spider-Man No More

And Peter and May meet Norman. Harmless and Confused. He’s so symathetic in this scene. 

It’s a great showcase that Norman is just as much a victum of the Goblin as anyone else

These villians were victims. Just like real life criminals. They don’t deserve death, they deserve help

I love the message and saving people means saving your enemies too

And the villians find out about their fated deaths. Love this scene

I love the meta call out on how many of these villians didn’t deserve to die. Electro especially

Love seeing Spider-Man willing to help anyone, even these villians. He can’t let people die. We saw that as early as the first movie with the Vulture

Spider-Man vs Doctor Strange. Never thought I’d see the day

I guess the Spider-Sense worked even without Peter’s Soul

Always love seeing the Mirror Dimension

Spider-Man wins with his brains and a delightfully corny one liner

“I’m sorry sir, but I have to try” Great character moment

“I’m somthing of a scientist myself” Love when a meme works

“When you try to fix people there are always consequences.” Very omonius forshadowing

Love the refences to the fact Electro is a nerd

Peter has a mad habit of keeping his loved ones away to keep them from danger, even when they want to help

Did the Goblin tell Lizard his plan? I think that’s the implication. The Lizard’s underrated and I wish he got more screen time

Love Electro’s obsession with Arc Reactor technology

And the return of the fabricator from the last movie

Norman and Peter make a great team. It’s so heartbreaking what happens next

Sandman and Electo. A Raimi villian hanging out with a Webb villian. Amazing. And they’re talking about their backstorys too. It’s fun

It’s amazing to see Otto cured after all this time.

“It’s so quite. Those voices inside my head.” I’ve seen people get medication for the first time who describe it like that. I don’t know if it’s intentional. It might be

And Otto gives the naomachines back. It’s a cool redesgin that helps keep out Peter standing out

And The Goblin sabotauged the formula. I hate him so much

Electro doesn’t want to give up his power

Love seeing the Spider-Sense go crazy. Spider-Man is about to meet his greatest foe. It highlights just how dangarous the Goblin is

I’ve noticed these Spider-Man series all end with the Green Goblin. It’s fitting

Green Goblin is all about using your power for completely selfish reasons. He’s beenl ike that since the original movie. And he convinces Electro to see things the same way

Electo steals the Arc Reactor, and Sandman nopes out of these

And we get our firts Spider-Man and Green Goblin fight. It is brutal. It hackets back to the more paractical effects heavy days.

And how he smiles when taking hits, it’s crazy and I love it

They’s tearing though apartment floors. It’s so brutal

Weird Al is right, He’s scarier without it on

Aunt May is where Peter got his sense of heroics from. It’s so heartbreaking

Love the Green Goblin Hood

And May still insists that Peter needs to save them.

“And with great power, there must also come great responability.” The first movie to say that line

Aunt May’s death is so effective. I still can’t beliave it’s real. Peter’s so young! He doesn’t deserve to be orphened like thatI loved this Aunt May! It’s so heartbreaking to see her go!

And Happy tries to help but gets arrested! It’s so devestating!

He’s griving and he gets shot at. This is so brutal

Peter mourning in from of the giant J Jonah Jamason screen. “Everything Spider-Man touchs turns to ruin.” It’s so beaufiul and heartbreaking

MJ and Ned have to find Peter again, to comfert their friend and plan their next move

And the portal stars to open up, as we transition from dispair to hope

We get the return of Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man. Even with the leaks and spoilers, I could never truly belvie it until I saw it for my own eyes. It’s amazing!

Love seeing him mumble and think a mile an minute again

This scenes so funny. I adore it

I saw the movie a bit late. When Adrew appeared, there was a golf clap. When Tobey came, they went wild!

“It’s just a random guy.” Love it, and how it represents the appeal of Tobey’s Spider-Man

The other Spider-Men are in this movie a perfect amont. Enough to satisfy the nostalgic, but they don’t take away that this is Tom Holland’s Spider-Man’s story

Seeing the trio reunit is so effective. No words. Just a hug. It’s exactly when he needs right now

And the Spider-Men are united for the first time!

“It’s not my problem.” The other Spider-Men know how dangarous those words are, and are even to prevent their consequences.

The three Spider-Man share their grief and trauma. It’s so effective

Peter wants to kill the Globlin, but knows what May would want.

And the three Spider-Men put their heads together to finish the cures.

They don’t have Stark Tech anymore, but they’re smart enough to work with what they have

“Gotta Cure all of them.” This movie takes the idea of helping your enemy and pushes it to its absolute limit

Ned learning how the other Peter’s best friends betrayed them and/or died and his reaction to it is great. I hope he doesn’t become the Hobgoblin. He probably won’t

Getting a hint at the other Peters’ love lives is great. And Peter and MJ did eventually get their happy ending

I’m so curious what Andrew was up to between Amazing 2 and this movie

I’m not counting Andrew’s quips. I’ve already proven he’s a jokester

Love the reaction to the organic web

And MJ is openly hopeful. Love it.

Love how they use the Daily Bugel to summon the villians

This is a really satisfying Sinister 6 (minus 1) movie

I wish Jamason said somthing like “Sider-Man’s Sinister’s six are going to destory another national landmark”

Love seeing the Peters’ talk before the final battle. Their chemestry is amazing

“I’ve always wanted brothers” Andrew’s so wholesome

Love the talk about aliens. And Andrew only has a Russian guy in a Rhino mech

“You’re Amazing” Love that line

Electo has the mask for a little bit. Amazing

Ned’s still a rookie with Magic rasing the stakes

Love the huddle scene. And the Avengers gag

Tom’s the leader because he knows how to work in a team. I love that

“I love you guys.” Andrew’s so wholesome

Triple sing. Pure art.

And the Lizard punch the launched the conspiracy theories

After all this time, Flint is human again. It’s so sweet to see, espcially with the Danny Elfman music

The Lizard notices, breining MJ and Ned into the battlefield

It looks like Doc Ock’s cure was fried, but it turns out, he’s on Spider-Man’s side!

And Curt Conners is cured one again

Strange realizes that Peter had a point

Electro and Peter 3 finally get the reconsilation they deserved

“I always though you were Black” Love that line.

Love the Miles Morales refrence

And Otto finally gets the technology of his dreams

Love seeing Peter 2 and Otto reunited after so long. And more Danny Elfman

And The Green Goblin makes his move. This time threatening the multiverse

Andrew manages to save the girl this time. It’s a very sweet moment

I apparciate how they wrote out Dr. Strange. He has to keep the multiverse from falling apart

Peter wanted to wait until they cured Norman, but after seeing him again and almost losing for friends to the Goblin, He’s ready to kill

The final Spider-Man vs Green Goblin fight is awesome! Love the choreography and emotion behind it. And William Defoe and Tom Holland did their own stunts

And Tobey stopps Tom from letting Norman get implaied again. It’s such an effective moment

Seeing Tobey getting stabbed is so shocking!

And Peter cures Norman in the end. He’s resentful about it, but he still did the right thing

The mechanics of the magic makes no sense, but it’s still so heartbreaking to see him sacrifice every relationship he has left to save the world

And the Spider-Man say their goodbyes. I hope we’ll see them together again someday

Seeing the trio say their goodbyes is so heartbreaking. They’ve been though so much together. I hope they can reunite again someday

MJ swears to figure it out again. I hope she can. 

I hope Peter can say “I love you back” again someday

And their final kiss. It breaks my heart

I wonder what became of the cured villians. Did it effect our Tobey and Andrew, or different ones. I hope the show “What If?” can get the rights to explore these possabilities

And we get a dramatic version of the MCU’s Spider-Man theme. Amazing

MJ still has the neckless and feels like somthing is missing.

Peter decides to keep his friend’s lives safe but not reunited with them. I hope circumstances will bring them together again somehow

Happy and Peter and May’s grave is another amazing scene. Happy doesn’t know it anymore, but both Tony and May’s legacy will live on with Peter

And we end with a more traditional Spider-Man satus quo. Peter’s an adult, he’s broke, lives in a tiny apartment and deals with J. Jonah Jamason. I liked seeing how diffrent this Spider-Man was, but I’m looking foward to seeing Tom in this new old status quo

Love the shot with the coffee cup and the Lego, representing MJ and Ned. A part of them will stay with him

He has no more stark tech, but he’s got his own suit and his own tech

Love the new Spider-Man suit. Disney already did stuff with it before this movie came out. It’s an amazing design. And one again, Peter can make his own Hollywood level suit by himself for some reason

Love seeing part two of the Carnage post credits. Seeing Eddie and Venom react to the MCU is great. And they get sent home before they get to fight Spider-Man.

But as funny as this scene was, we get some serious post credits with a little bit of the symbiot staying in the MCU. Will it return in Secret Wars?

Logic be damned, this is my favorite MCU movie. On top off all the nostalgia and heartbreak, there’s a great story about what it means to save everyone, even your enemies. It’s enough to make me love it more then Spider-Man 2, but it’s not enough to top the sheer artistry of Spider-Verse

My marathon is done. I finally have a definiitve ranking. But I love 7 of these movies, and even the bottom two have a lot to like. I love Spider-Man, and I’m always looking forward to what people will do with the character next

Final Ranking

9. The Amazing Spider-Man 2

8. Spider-Man 3

7. The Amazing Spider-Man

6.Spider-Man Far From Home

5. Spider-Man

4. Spider-Man Homecoming

3. Spider-Man 2

2. Spider-Man No Way Home

1. Into the Spider-Verse

Quip Rankings

8. Spider-Man No Way Home (0)

7. Spider-Man 2 (1)

6. Spider-Man 3 (4)

5. Spider-Man (5)

4. Spider-Man No Way Home (6)

3. Spider-Man Homecoming (12) /Into the Spider-Verse

2. The Amazing Spider-Man (14)

1. Amazing Spider-Man 2 (16)

#spider-man #mcu #marvel

[book-of-fallen-stars]

Sleep

So it was that upon that day when the princess was laid to bed, she did not sleep. 

She closed her eyes to the world and began to pretend. 

Pretend to not hear the whispers of the maids putting away the last of her jewels. 

Pretend to ignore her mother’s soft hands gliding through her hair. 

Pretend to ignore her father’s prayers at her bedside. 

She resisted the urge to eat, stand up, or even call out. She pretended to sleep until she truly passed into Morpheus’ embrace and when she awoke once more she kept her eyes closed until she passed back and forth between these two states for years to come.

This was how the tale of the sleeping beauty came to be.

For by some mystical means she did not age, nor wither away as long as she remained in her bed. 

And once you put on a show long enough the show begins to become real. 

The mask becomes flesh. And the lie becomes truth.

So her sleep which began as a mysticism to give the people hope became truth, and the sleeping beauty awaited the one who would awaken her to bring a new age upon the kingdom.

(But in all honesty when the prince arrived to wake her up he was quite the fool. Mind filled with grand adventures and desire to see the world the princess let him go and leave, rather than stay and fall in love. Instead, the princess took up the reigns of the throne herself and through her competency brought the kingdom to its Golden Age.)

#the princess #the princess who must sleep #sleepy time #part 3 #the end...or is it? #so i want to explain why it worked as just magic and plot armor but #i actually do have a legit explanation #might post it later as a continuation or prequel thing #we stan a qween #like no joke an actual queen #hehe #i really want to see this fleshed out but I don't know what comes next #her story with me is done i think

[obae-me]

Upside Down- CH 10

Author's Notes: I know I try to exchange and do one chapter of Tainted Reflections and Upside Down at a time, but I have brainrot for this plot right now. I couldn't even wait till tomorrow to post it. I hope you guys enjoy!

Warnings: Violence, Death, Cussing, Weapons. As Always, Read Safely!

Word Count: 7409

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Breaking Old Ideals

--

A wave washed over you all, one of anger and hatred and Envy. The time was now. You had minutes to get ready, if even that. You looked back at the sleeping humans, watching their faces remain peaceful despite all they had been through. Levi had tossed and turned a little throughout his sleep, almost slipping out of bed, but you kept him from falling to the floor, tucking the blanket in around his side. With a sigh, you shook your head. You desperately wanted to do this on your own. What a blow to the gut to know you needed these two for the plan to work, the insane plan you’d come up with in the last few hours. Who knew if it was going to even work? And was it worth putting the two humans at risk?... 

You tugged the blanket off the both of them, shaking the both of them harshly till they woke up. “Wha…what is it?” Mammon groaned, blinking at the light and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 

“Lifia is coming, we have to go.” You glanced over at Levi who, against all odds, was still trying to curl up and go back to sleep. You picked him up easily and set him in a chair instead. “We don’t have much time!” With a shove and a bit of in-game magic, you handed Levi his metal armor and equipped Mammon fully. “Let’s go over the plan.”

“Since- Since when did we have a plan? Why is she coming for us anyway?! We’re not leveled for that!” Levi shouted, the last bit of grogginess leaving his voice with his panic. 

You helped Levi put on his chestplate, rushing to go grab his shoes. Why were humans so slow?! “For one, I wasn’t exactly encouraged to escape. And I might’ve…possibly blown up part of her castle.” One of the humans opened their mouth to retort to that, but you didn’t give them the chance. “Secondly, she sent that whole army to kill Mammon, and not only are you still alive,” you glanced up at your pact-mate…well, the one being mentioned, “but we destroyed her army. Not to mention, I just made a pact with you!” You took Levi by the shoulders and jostled him a little, trying to snap him out of his weird little gaze as you dressed him. “Need I remind you that she’s obsessed with you? The moment she finds out we have a pact together, it’s over. Game over. Life over!” Levi suddenly seemed to almost regret his decision, not that you blamed him. You tugged him up out of his seat, grabbed Mammon’s hand, and booked it out of the house. A little light glowed between your fingers as you summoned the whistle. With a brisk blow, a high pitched melody echoed through the streets. A few seconds later, your white horse galloped in your direction. Knowing what you wanted without asking, Mammon climbed up easily. Levi struggled a bit with the weight of his armor. You pushed him up there and settled him in the saddle. You pointed towards the northwest, the general location of somewhere you had passed during your escape. “Start heading in that direction. Don’t slow down. Mammon, use your stealth. Levi, use your new pact ability to mimic Mammon, if it works like I assume it does, you'll be able to copy Mammon’s powers. You’ll both be cloaked for a while.” 

“Wait, wait, wait, you’re going too fast and explaining nothin’ to us! What happened to telling us about the plan?!” Mammon held onto the reins, but kept the mount from moving. “And why’re you talking like we’re leavin’ you behind?!” 

“Because you are. Only for a little bit. For the plan to work, we need to be as high of a level as we can get. We’re all still too low. Once I’m done I’ll grab another horse and meet you two out there. Just remember to go straight towards the smoke, okay?” You reached up, guiding Levi’s arms to hold onto his brother, making sure Mammon’s boots were firm inside the stirrups. “We’ll get you guys home, I just need you focused.” Both their eyes hovered over you nervously, confused. Before either of them could speak further, you commanded the horse to move forward, both humans speeding down along the path towards the outside of the city. This would work…it had to work. 

A little bit of you felt strangely bad for sending them off alone, but you didn’t want them to see this. You didn’t need them to participate. This was better off left to the demons. Even if this town was completely fake, you were worried the two humans might still harbor some sense of morality. So you’d do the dirty work for them. No NPC was safe, no items locked tightly enough away. You stole, destroyed, obliterated these non-human images without a second thought. Anything that could give you an ounce of XP you went for. You wouldn’t be satisfied till you went over every inch of this place, leveling up as close to Lifia as you could. 

The citizens were too easy. The soldiers were a bit harder to deal with. It seemed the further you went on a rampage, the harder the enemies got. Just like regular humans, more and more determined to strike you down. If only they would’ve just worked together and sent everything they had at once at you, then you might’ve slowed down, but no, they always had some hubris, waiting till the very end to give it all they had. Mages fired down arrows of pure magic, soldiers carrying immensely large shields and spears tried attacking you from a safe distance. Even in the shadows, it seemed assassins were ready to strike you down. But you wouldn’t be taken so easily. Not here. Not now. 

It wasn’t until dust rolled over your shoe, complete silence filling the town till you looked up at your level now. Ninety-one. Using every item available in your inventory, you used whatever would give you more points. You burnt through old weapons, used up amulets, broke level gems. Ninety-three. Still seven whole levels below the Demon Lord. It would have to do. You dashed back to the town’s stables, snatching a horse covered in a dark-brown coat, tugging it out of its pen. With a graceful twist, you landed on its back. You heard a rumble off in the distance. A giant black cloud was making its way towards the town. That was Lifia, surely. Time to catch up to the humans. 

You snapped at the reins, your new mount sprinting through the desolate city, through a hole that had been punctured through the high stone wall. A little tug sent the horse in the right direction, towards a little pillar of black spiraling through the sky, towards the craggy outline etched into the horizon, towards the volcano. It was a rushed plan sure, a risky one, but it was all you could think of. What do you do when you have an enemy you can’t out-strength? You use your surroundings. You find something stronger. Of course, there was no way of knowing if this would even work. But it was worth a try. 

You spotted the little white dot that was your horse sitting at the base of the volcano. Your new mount was pushed to its physical limits, sprinting forward as fast as it could manage. As soon as you were close enough, instead of waiting around for the horse to slow down, you jumped off, hitting the ground running, stumbling a little, but still moving. “Mammon, Levi, are you here?” You shouted. 

Two shapes rippled before the humans unveiled themselves for you, looking nervous, unable to miss the large angry mass that was approaching you all in the sky. You took their arms and began dragging them up the volcano, the air around you all going heavy with heat. “What’re we doing here?” Mammon asked, and while he was the more agile of the two, even he seemed to struggle to keep up with your pace. 

You went to talk, but Levi spoke for you. “It’s- It’s like a final showdown! The last epic battle, taking place above a raging blaze! Definitely final boss material!” 

“I’m hoping we won’t have to do much fighting…It’s a last resort.” You admitted. With a little tug, you brought them up to the rim of the volcano, listening to the churning of lava beneath you all. The smoke was thick, the heat was immense. It was all the three of you could do to simply breathe. Although, even as the volcano rumbled beneath you all, you could still hear the roar that was vastly approaching. You didn’t have long left at all. So, with the last few minutes you had, you explained the plan. The looks they were giving you were clearly uncertain. “Levi…this is dangerous…but are you willing to do it? You can back out if you wish.” 

He was crucial for this plan to work. You were hoping he would be on board, but you didn’t blame him if he changed his mind. He looked around him, like he was taking in everything all at once, like this world had just sunk in. These humans…were ready for it to go wrong, and either they were naively hopeful, or they had made their peace with the potential end. “No. I want to do this. I trust you.” Then he looked over his shoulder at his brother. “And…while I hate to admit it, I trust you too, Mammon. I’m- I’m- I’m trusting you with my life, okay? And…if we don’t make it out of here, I want you to know that…you weren’t a bad older brother.” 

Mammon appeared a bit stunned at those words, and instead of being proud, he looked a bit sad. “Shuddup! I don’t want to hear it! Don’t say stuff like that! We’ll get out of here, all of us!” He came over to punch Levi in the arm before walking off, disappearing into shadow. 

Now you were alone with Levi. You strode over to a little outcropping of rock that jutted out further than the rest of them, almost like it was a little platform. It allowed you to stand right over the pit of lava, like it was intentionally made, and who knew, perhaps it was. It suited your purposes just fine anyway. “Are you afraid?” You asked him as he came to stand right beside you, trying not to watch the way disturbed pebbles and chunks of rock plummeted towards the sea of death below. 

“O- Of course,” he muttered. “I’m so terrified, I can’t think straight. But…I feel…like I can move forward anyway.” 

“You humans are always so contradictory and ridiculously determined…” You shook your head at him but found it in you to smile a little bit. It was weird, smiling again at a human. You’d done it with Mammon before, and now you were doing it to Levi. How strange. “I–” 

Words of support didn’t come in time though. It wasn’t long before the light got snuffed out by rolling black clouds. Sparks of red lightning struck the air around it. Everything above and below you seemed to surround you in a dangerous wrath. As if this pit of lava wasn’t intimidating and dramatic enough… Lifia seemed to fall from the sky, landing in front of you with nothing but pure murderous rage in her eyes. There was a bit of silence as you stared at each other, tension straining between you two. Although, the scowl on her face, the mess of her hair, the frustration in her features, it had you grinning. She knew she had underestimated you. She should’ve destroyed you while she had the chance. The silence didn’t last forever, she pulled out her weapon, lunging straight for you. “You pathetic, little–” She gasped so hard, the air caught in her throat. 

Levi was struggling over the lava pit, eyes frantic, sweat dripping down the side of his face. He was in your grasp. As he dangled in the air from your hands, he gripped at your body. You stared Lifia down, finally glad to see her scrambling. “Hurt me and he drops,” you threatened. 

The ‘Demon Lord’ crumbled. This high and mighty persona that she tried to present herself to be was nothing more than a character she put on for Levi. You knew what she was. It doesn’t take too much for a demon of Envy to break. She dropped her weapon, her hands tugging at the hair atop her head. “It’s not fair!” The howl she screamed sent your ears ringing. Red lightning from above you rumbled and flashed, striking parts of the volcano, making the entire mountain rumble. Large chunks of stone were cut from their place, falling into the lava. Suddenly the rock you were in didn’t appear as stable as you thought it would be… “Everything I did…everything I built…everything I gave…it was for Levi. He’s mine! I deserve him!” 

Your heart pounded heavily in your chest. This was your plan, it was all following your expectations…yet…what happened to your resolve? It suddenly…was gone. You looked over at Levi, your human which you were holding over an assured death. You…couldn’t… Levi glanced at you, and then at Lifia. All the sudden, this human had more courage than you did, which was saying something. “Hey, Demon Lord!” He shouted, catching her attention. She seemed to glow when he addressed her. “If you want me… Save me!” In a swift action, he pulled out his sword, jabbing the hilt into the back of your hand. Reflixily, your fingers loosened. You let him go. 

“Levi!” Lifia shrieked, running over to the edge. She went to cast a spell, but before she could, you pushed her. Now they both were falling, towards the lava, towards death. Her cast still went off though. A gnarled black vine twisted around Levi’s arm and connected to her. All she wanted to do now was pull him into her arms, it seemed, have him for a moment at last. 

A flash manifested itself by Levi. Mammon grabbed his brother, pulled out a knife to cut the vine away, and then blinked away, taking Levi with him. They reappeared on the other side of the chasm, standing on a very small ledge of rock. You were right…Mammon could only blink forward, not up. They both were still far too close to the pool for you to feel comfortable. You were trying to figure out what spell would work best, but Mammon beat you to the punch. He pulled something out of his inventory, it appeared to be a scroll. He locked eyes with you from his position, showing you the item and then pointing at the sky. He sure did have a lot of faith in you to expect you to understand and react in such a short amount of time. He threw the scroll as high as he could in the air. With a gust of your wind, the paper rocketed to the sky, reaching all the way up past the edge of the crater. The scroll lit up with magic. Mammon grabbed his brother’s arm before they both teleported to where the scroll had been. With another blink, Mammon and Levi hovered over safe ground before crashing down. 

Now the only one that was falling was– 

Something wrapped around your leg, a weight pulling you to the floor. You had just one second to claw against the ground, to grasp at the platform’s edge. There weren’t easy places to fit your hands, you were relying on pure grip strength, which in this world, wasn’t the best. You heard your name being called by the humans. They were running around the edge to make it over to you. “Hold on! We’re coming!” They were screaming. 

Beneath you, dragging you down by a thorny corrupted vine, was Lifia, who was practically brushing against the lava, her health ticking down in small sections. Rather than attempting to crawl back up, she seemed more intent at pulling you down with her. “If I can’t have him, you can’t either!” She snarled, her dying act bent on revenge. Just a little longer…you just had to hold on… Another vine tugged at one of your wrists. You dug into the stone with one hand as hard as you could, your fingers feeling like breaking, and then, you were lightweight as you slipped. The two humans reached the end of the platform just too late. They watched you plummet. 

There are many things that happen right before you know you’re about to die. You mostly think about your regrets, which you had plenty of. But…as you were recalling everything you wished you would’ve changed, you were surprised to discover that meeting these two humans wasn't among them. Funny, wasn’t it? You felt a bit guilty. I’m sorry, my love, you thought to yourself. Seems my promise to only care about you has been broken. You wondered…if once you were gone…if you’d be able to see them again. 

A third vine snaked around you all the sudden, tugging at your other arm. You snapped out of your daze, focusing on Levi, who was digging his feet into the ground, tugging you back up despite being steadily pulled back towards the volcano’s edge. Mammon wrapped his arms around his brother’s waist. They were both pulling you up. Below you, Lifia gasped, her hold on you going slack. “A…pact…ability? L- Levi?...Why?...” Her HP bar was almost fully depleted as she sunk into the fire. A choked sob gurgled in her throat. “Why…couldn’t…with…me? I just…wanted…” But she never got to say that last word as her body suddenly was consumed in a pillar of fire, all her sins, all her envy shooting out of her as she took her last breath. Everything was blinding. Everything seemed to go white. Everything went numb. 

Your eyes opened. For a moment, you had a hard time comprehending the fact that you were even still alive, able to take in the scenery in the first place. Your body ached as you attempted to sit up, your hand coming up to your face as you groaned. Then a huge weight crashed down upon you. “You made it! You’re alive! We’re alive! We’re back home!” The two humans seemed to grapple for you until they let you go. After that, the two humans slapped each other’s palms in another high-five. Mammon was beaming, somehow radiating energy despite all that had just happened. He looked at his brother and pulled him in, giving Levi a little squeeze before pulling his head under his arm, ruffling his hair. “And it’s all thanks to this guy!” 

Levi took the affection for a second with an embarrassed flush, although it was clear he appreciated it in some way. “Stop, stop it, Mammon!” He slipped out of his brother’s grasp, bouncing his body weight between his feet. “I didn’t do much, I just used the pact ability.” 

“Still!” Mammon punched Levi a little in the arm. “Sharp thinking!” Levi tried to debate back, but Mammon wouldn’t let him. It was strange how an argument could be so…wholesome. At least they weren’t at each other’s throats. 

However, you looked around yourself, raising a little eyebrow. When you all had disappeared, it had been night. The other two demons had been part of Lifia’s plan, but now it seemed as if they were nowhere. The three of you spawned in a small room, the smell of grime and must clinging to the papery carpet. There was one bed against the center of one of the walls in between two nightstands each with a matching lamp. “Where are we?” You asked. 

The two humans suddenly stopped talking, taking their own moments to observe the room. Mammon walked over to one of the nightstands and picked up what looked to be a little flier. “From the looks of things, seems like some cheap motel. Think the demons brought us here?” 

“I-If that’s the case, we should make a break for it while they’re gone, right?!” Levi raised his voice just to lower his question into a whisper at the end, eyes darting around like the other two demons might pop out of any corner. 

Mammon shrugged, stepping over to where you still sat on the floor. “You’re right. Let’s get the hell out of here!” He held his hand out to you where you simply settled in silence for a moment, frowning at his palms before taking his help. He assisted in pulling you to your feet. Your mind swayed. As much as you hated to admit it, the two were right. Running now was the best option. It seems your little time in the video game world didn’t solve your exhaustion from earlier. In fact, you felt worse. If you ran into those demons again, any demons in fact, there would be little you could do to stop them. If you used much more magic, you’d collapse. You were almost in the same defenseless boat as your two companions now. 

“Hold on,” you muttered just as Mammon made a dash for the door. You walked over to the bed where the magical device was laying square in the middle right over the covers. You took the thing in your hands before throwing it to the ground, your heel stomping down on the screen right after. It cracked and fizzled, sparked and gurgled before dying down completely. There. Now Lifia was gone for good, and so was the realm she had worked so hard to build. You could pity her on that one aspect. The both of you just strived to remain in your individualized ideal worlds. Yours contained no one but yourself, and Lifia’s was just her and Levi. Both your worlds were essentially broken now, shattered at your feet. However, as you were snapped out of your little daze by Mammon’s voice, you had to wonder what your ideal world was now. Once these humans were gone, once you had finished your task and were free from looking after them, would you revert back to your old habits? Was this just a temporary distraction? You bent over and scooped up the remaining pieces of the broken game, placing it in one of your pockets. You had a feeling some evidence would be crucial for explaining the situation to the prince. Mammon opened the door and waved you out. You could ask heavy life questions later. 

The ‘motel’ as Mammon called it, was fairly quiet. The sun seemed to be on its path to set, although there was plenty of daylight around. You all stood on a little second floor balcony path, more doors to more rooms off to your left and right. Mammon took point here. Seems his many greedy escapades trained him for days like these. He led you both over to a set of stairs that led down to the parking lot. The human of greed looked around at the few unmoving cars, running up to the side of one. That’s when Levi started to hiss. “What’re you doing?!” 

“What’s it look like I’m doin’? Be quiet!” 

“Are you trying to steal–” 

“Shuddup!” Now they were back to their regular bickering. However, as they growled at each other in frantic whispers, you sensed something in the back of your mind. A demon wasn’t too far away. If it was one of the two you had met earlier, you could not tell. They were too far away, which was a positive for now. There was a second presence as well, and you would assume it was the second demon, but it wasn’t…the same. It was powerful, sure, but… With a shake of your head, you grabbed Levi and Mammon by the crook of their elbows, tugging them away from the car, away from where you could sense the two auras. The humans seemed to want to say something, but after everything that had happened, they gave into your better judgements. 

You let go of them after a while, taking the lead with the both of them at your sides. It wasn’t too long before you came upon a road, turning left down the sidewalk, heading nowhere in particular. “Man, I don’t recognize where we are at all…” Mammon started walking backwards, trying to look down the other side of the street. Eventually he shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets before gasping. Both you and Levi flinched, stopping in place. “Our phones!” Mammon then shouted, pulling his device out of his pocket. 

Levi’s eyes widened and shimmered, fishing around for his own phone before almost tearing up. “Sweet sweet technology!” He tapped the screen a few times before his face ran through several emotions. “Mammon, do…” 

“Do I have as many missed calls from Lucifer as you do? Yeah…I don’t know if I should feel touched or terrified.” It seemed they both were leaning towards terrified. Mammon’s face turned shocked for a moment. “Hold on a minute! You mean to tell me we’ve only been gone for…for a day?!” He turned his phone screen over to Levi so his brother could take a look. 

“Not even a day…like, sixteen hours it seems. Which means–” A high pitched voice began singing from Levi’s speakers, making him jolt and almost drop his precious device. He then began to panic. “Oh god, it’s Lucifer! What do we do?! Do we answer it?! Do we ignore it?! What do we say?!” 

Mammon sighed, shaking his head. “We’re in hot water no matter what we say…” A more serious and somber expression painted his features. “Here, lemme handle it.” He reached his hand out, taking Levi’s phone before his brother could answer. He hit a green button on the screen and brought the phone up to his ear. You could still feel the very faint presence of a demon, so with a gentle hand on their shoulders, you guided them back into walking. “Yo,” Mammon spoke as he answered the call. 

A very loud, very angry voice answered on the other end, speaking so loud you figured even a human like Levi could hear. “...Yo? Yo?!” Mammon pulled the phone a little away from his ear. “You disappear in the middle of the night, are gone for hours on end, especially after being put on house arrest, and all you have to say for yourself is yo?!” Lucifer started to rant very loudly about the state of the streets in the neighborhood, of the broken fences and crushed cars, rubble and broken concrete causing a mess. No one had figured out the cause, most assumed it was a problem with the pipes under streets, but either Lucifer had a magical sense of intuition, or he just instinctively blamed any issue no matter how ridiculous on his brothers. “What have you done this time? What ridiculous scheme have you dragged your brother into?!” 

Mammon clearly was shaken, but somehow he still had a little smile on his face. He glanced over at his brother and then back over his shoulder at you. He seemed to try to convey something to you through his eyes. ‘Trust me’ it seemed to say. “You deserve to know the truth.” The words made something in your stomach drop but…you’d let him handle this… “It’s my fault,” Mammon suddenly said, making the voice on the other end go silent. “I fucked up, Lucifer. Real bad this time. Pissed off the wrong people. I never meant for anyone else to get involved, I swear. I was gonna handle it myself, but Levi tried to stop me. I’ll take whatever punishment you give me, but right now we all just want to be safe at home.” The emotions in Mammon’s voice were real, not a lie. Although you knew he was using the situation about Cash from earlier to be his excuse for what happened now. Technically a lie in its own right, but it seemed to work. 

Lucifer was so quiet, you wondered if the phone call ended, but finally, you heard him speak, although just hardly audible now. “Where are you?” 

“I don’t know,” Mammon answered truthfully. 

“...Are you all okay?” 

“A bit shaken up but I think we’re all fine. Can…Can you come get us?” 

A little pause was on the other end, and for a moment it seemed as if the answer was going to be no. At least, that’s the sort of answer you’d expect from him. But then a noise rang through the phone speakers. It sounded like a car door closing. “Share your location with me now. Keep running till you feel like you’re in a safe place– a safe public space, then wait for me. If you can, find a bus stop and get to the next city over. I’m on my way.” Then the phone call ended abruptly. 

Mammon sighed, but seemed to be working on what his brother asked. With a sharp breath, he clutched at his head. “Jesus, we’re ages away from home! It’s gonna take Lucifer a good few hours to catch up with us. We better try to find a bus or somethin’.” 

“Hours?! What if we get found by those demons again by then?” Levi rubbed at his palms nervously. 

Right before you spoke, a jolt ran down your spine. The demon’s presence that you had felt before just suddenly…was gone. Something cold settled in your stomach. Getting out of here as quickly as possible was ideal. “Lucifer’s plan is…” You couldn’t believe you were about to say this but, “right. I don’t think the demons know we’ve escaped yet. The further away we get, the harder we will be to find. Let us find this…” You paused, looking over at Mammon. 

He blinked at you for a second and then beamed. “Oh, a bus? It’s like a really long car! With lots of seats inside for multiple people. They follow routes and schedules to drop people off at certain places.” Mammon seemed all too pleased to share another human fact with you, although his pride suddenly fell flat. “Sh…I don’t have money for the fare though. Do you, Levi?” 

The third-born shook his head. “I- I don’t remember having my wallet with me.” He rummaged through his pockets and confirmed his suspicions with a sigh. They both looked at you. 

“Why would I have human money?” 

Levi looked suddenly like he was about to collapse. “I just want to be home…” 

“Come on, we gotta keep movin’!” Mammon started jogging down the sidewalk. “The Great Mammon’s got a plan!” 

“Ta da!” Mammon pulled a bag out from behind his back as you and Levi sat in the shade. You’d been sitting here for a while. After the three of you walked for what seemed like an hour or two, Mammon pointed to a little bench that was under some sort of canopy. A bus stop, apparently. Mammon had left you and Levi alone to go on his own little adventure, which you were loath to allow him to do, but you were beaten down. It was so hard to keep your more human form together. It was all you could focus on. No one else needed to know about your identity today. Besides, Mammon seemed adamant on going alone. Said he ‘worked better alone’, which could only mean that he was up to no good. “I got us all something to munch on while we wait! Plus enough for a ticket for each of us! Go ahead, tell me I did good!” 

Levi put his phone down and grimaced. “You stole that, didn’t you?” 

Mammon scoffed loudly. “If you’re gonna have such an attitude about it, you don’t get any snacks and you can walk home!” 

“That’s not fair!” 

“Then admit you need me!” 

They already seemed to be adjusting back to their life here. The serious way they had looked at each other in the game was gone now. Although that was fine, for some reason, you almost preferred them like this, even if they did give you a headache. Mammon handed Levi a drink and some snacks before sitting on the other side of you, forcing you between them. A bag was suddenly settled in your lap. “What is this?” You picked it up in your hands. It was light and crinky. 

“Huh…you don’t even have chips in your world?” Mammon raised an eyebrow at you. “It’s a snack.” He leaned next to you, his shoulder almost bumping into yours. He took hold of the bag and pulled it open. There were little flat shapes inside. “You eat ‘em!” 

You handed the bag back to Mammon. “You share it with Levi, I don’t need to eat.” 

“Yeah…I remember you sayin’ something like that before. You really don’t need to eat at all?” He reached a hand in the bag and ate one of the chips, passing the back over to Levi. 

You shook your head. “I do not. I will not die like humans if I do not eat. Demons only eat to regain their energy, to increase their magical power. However, human food does not seem to provide as much sustenance as my world does. Eating these would not benefit me.” 

“You don’t even get hungry?” Levi asked. 

“I stopped feeling hunger a long time ago.” As well as many other things…

Suddenly, a cold sensation spread through your forehead. Mammon held a can up against your skin, waiting till you took it from his hands. “Have something to drink at least. Even if you don’t need to, it might feel nice.”

You rolled the can around in your hands. Maybe you would oblige him on this one. Your throat was feeling a little dry. Although…how did one…? Levi was the one to help this time, moving so fast you thought he flinched. Seems he was trying to beat his brother to the punch. He placed his fingertip against a metal tab and pulled at it till the can snapped and hissed at you. You almost jumped, making the two humans laugh at you. You frowned at both of them. Bringing the can up to your face, you smelled it before you drank it. It smelled and tasted sweet. Almost too sweet, but a tingling, almost popping sensation filled your mouth and ran down your throat. “I’ve never had anything like this before,” you admitted. 

There was light-hearted conversation as the two humans explained more things to you, describing the snacks they had, their favorite drinks, candies. They both often started debates over which flavors were better, although the whole concept seemed to go over your head. You sipped on your drink as you listened to them and waited. The conversation died down soon. Perhaps the recollection of the day’s events finally came back to them, wearing them down a little. You looked between the two of them, mostly at Levi. He was staring down at his phone, so he wasn’t aware of your eyes on him. You tilted your head a bit, slipping your hand down the back of his shirt. He made a noise that seemed to be a mix of a squeak and a choke. You could feel your pact mark on him, it was still there, between his shoulder-blades. 

You brought your hand back to your lap, sighing heavily. “Thank you, Levi.” 

“H-Huh?” 

“For saving me. It’s not every day a demon gets saved by a human…” You squinted up at the brightness of the human sky before turning back towards him. 

His eyes wavered away from yours. “I’m just…glad I could do something this time…” 

Mammon frowned, apparently disliking the new mood. “Aw, quit looking like that, both of ya! Weren’t we all so cool? We tricked the Demon Lord so easily! We did something people only ever do in movies! Sure, it was rough, and we were in there for forever, but we made it back again, and we’re all stronger because of it!” 

Levi watched his brother speak, clearly trying not to smile. The youngest of the two suddenly groaned. “Only you would have such a stupidly positive view on it, Mammon. That experience was awful!” 

“Hey! You liked parts of it!” 

A very quiet and small chuckle rumbled in your chest at the two of them. Was it a brotherly thing for them to always disagree, or were these two just like that? These humans… The sun was almost fully set by the point the bus finally arrived, the sky the last few bold colors of oranges and yellows. Mammon picked up the trash and threw it away before leading you all onto the bus. He paid a man seated in the front of the vehicle and brought you all to the back where you could all sit together in peace. The other seats were almost completely empty. You all wouldn’t be bothered at least. 

“This is great,” Mammon smiled. “We’ll almost be able to meet Lucifer halfway.” He started talking about where to get off, about how you all needed to remember the story. Debts, blah blah blah, kidnapping, blah blah blah. You didn’t mean to ignore him, but somewhere along the line, you tuned him out completely. You tuned everything out. You’d fallen asleep without releasing it, and by the time you were shaken awake, it was dark outside. The bus had stopped. The humans were ready to get off. As you stood, you almost felt your legs falter. Your body ached. As strange as it was…you were…looking forward to returning to the Morningstar home. It would be nice to have a private room and somewhere to sleep in at least. Somewhere to regain your strength. 

You trailed behind the two humans, stepping out of the vehicle. You turned to watch its doors groan shut before the long bus drove off. “Lucifer!” Levi suddenly shouted, startling you. Glancing off to your left, you watched the eldest Morningstar fold his arms. He was standing by a sleek black car, one you recognized from the garage. He looked irritated, as he usually did, but his eyebrows were bent in a different way. Almost like he was…glad. Levi ran forward a bit, hesitating in front of his big brother before pulling him into a tight hug. Lucifer looked genuinely shocked, which was a unique expression from him. He almost tried tugging his brother off before realizing it was a futile effort, his arms lowering over his brother. Mammon headed over too, clearly wanting a hug, but feeling like he shouldn’t. You watched Lucifer roll his eyes before pulling Mammon’s head against his shoulder. The three humans embraced, saying words you didn’t bother to listen to. You could only tell that Lucifer was harshly chewing them out while somehow managing to sound concerned at the same time. He lifted both their chins and ensured they were in good health. He did smack the back of Mammon’s head though, ruining the gentle gesture. Then both Levi and Mammon crawled into the vehicle while you still stood far off down the sidewalk. 

Lucifer finally seemed to address you, although it was just to shake his head at you as he opened one of the front doors. “Were you intending to walk home? For god’s sake, get in the car.” You managed to refrain from scowling at him out of a twinge of fear that he would actually leave you behind. Walking around to the other side, you opened the other front seat and sat in the chair. You looked over your shoulders at the two humans in the backseat. Dead asleep, the both of them. Traitors. Now you were left alone with…him. The oldest Morningstar looked in the rearview mirror and sighed. “Honestly…” 

“They’ve been through a lot today,” you said flatly, almost like you were defending them from judgment. 

The car rumbled to a soft start. It seemed much quieter than Mammon’s cars. “You almost sound as if it didn’t affect you.” The car pulled away from its parked spot and down the street. The city lights during the night weren’t a terrible sight. They almost looked like stars. 

“It didn’t,” you tried to proclaim. 

An infuriating noise came from his mouth, one that sounded like a conceded hum. “Oh? Then why would you explain why you look like you’re about to collapse at any second?” You gave him a murderous glare from the corner of your eye, but he seemed unaffected. “Sleep if you must.” 

“No thanks,” you replied bluntly. No way were you falling asleep so close to him. 

“Suit yourself.” He didn’t seem to particularly care one way or another. He touched a button on a little screen in his car. Soft classical music filled the space, quiet enough not to stir his sleeping brothers. At least it was something to fill the silence. You weren’t sure how long it had been since a word had been said, but eventually, for some odd reason, Lucifer spoke to you again. “Thank you, for helping my brothers.” 

He was thanking you? Really? It felt so unnatural, you thought it almost was a joke. “What do you mean?” 

“Mammon has the power to completely lose all natural sense, and Levi is such an anxious mess, I know neither of them would’ve gotten out of a situation like that unharmed. Which naturally leads me to believe you had a hand in protecting them. So, I thought I’d thank you.” 

There were plenty of responses you wanted to say. Most of them were rude, which would’ve been satisfying, but eventually you just sighed. “They both deserve much more credit than you give them. Mammon might be impulsive, he might not know how to plan for the future, but he is loyal, strong-willed. Levi, he might be anxious, but his worries for how things will turn out force him to plan ahead, thinking through the steps. Because of the two of them, I got to keep my life.” 

He hardly reacted to that other than suddenly gripping the steering-wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. “I don’t need you to speak to me like you know my brothers better than I do.” An undertone of anger was in his voice. 

You swear, trying to talk to this human was mostly useless, but regardless… “Just try to go easy on them. They deserve to feel safe right now.” 

“Everything I do is to keep them safe.” His statement came suddenly, almost as if he didn’t intend on saying it himself. “I’m harsh on them because they all need it. If I look away, if I let them run free, then they go off and almost get themselves killed!” His voice raised, his hand pounding the steering wheel before he stopped himself. He looked at the mirror again to glance at his brothers, and then you caught him peeking at you through the corner of his eyes. You might’ve read him wrong, but he seemed almost embarrassed at expressing so much to you in this moment. He looked towards the road, eyes squinting, tired. “Your suggestion is noted, but not needed. I’m their brother. I know what it is they need.” 

Is it what they need, you thought to yourself, making sure not to voice your opinions, or what you need? There was more to Lucifer than met the eye. But did you have the patience to discover it? You shrugged a bit, trying to get comfortable in the seat. Before you could fully do so, something buzzed in your pocket. You pulled out your phone, looking at a new message. It was from Simeon…

We will have a meeting in the morning. We have much to discuss. Bring Mammon and the other one with you. 

You tried hard not to groan, tucking the phone back in your pocket. ‘The other one’ clearly meant Levi. The prince knew. How he knew you had no idea, but he always seemed aware of what was going on, which made the need for reports useless! You had no idea how he would react to this, and the fact that he specifically requested both humans made you a bit queasy. Out of one problem and right into another…Who knew if you’d be able to sleep tonight…

Tag-List

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#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me headcanons #obey me imagines #obey me fanfic #obey me mammon #obey me levi #obey me lucifer #tw violence #tw death #tw cussing #tw weapon

[fantastic-nonsense]

I genuinely think the most of the differences between the Pevensies in the books vs. the movies can be explained by one simple fact: the Movie!Pevensies are fully cognizant of and emotionally attached to their experiences in Narnia after returning to England, while the Book!Pevensies have a notable emotional distance to their memories of Narnia

It's an explicit plot point in the books that the longer you stay in one world, the easier it becomes to forget about the other one (or think of it as a dream). Additionally, while the Pevensies do remember what happened and are permanently changed by their experiences in Narnia, they seemingly forget a lot of their Narnian-learnt knowledge and skills. This gets briefly mentioned in Prince Caspian, when Lucy talks about swimming:

When they had drunk from the well and splashed their faces, they all went down the stream again to the shore and stared at the channel which divided them from the mainland. “We’ll have to swim,” said Edmund.

“It would be all right for Su,” said Peter (Susan had won prizes for swimming at school). “But I don’t know about the rest of us.” By “the rest of us” he really meant Edmund, who couldn’t yet do two lengths at the school baths, and Lucy, who could hardly swim at all.

“Anyway,” said Susan, “there may be currents. Father says it’s never wise to bathe in a place you don’t know.”

“But, Peter,” said Lucy, “look here. I know I can’t swim for nuts at home—in England, I mean. But couldn’t we all swim long ago—if it was long ago—when we were Kings and Queens in Narnia? We could ride then too, and do all sorts of things. Don’t you think—”

“Ah, but we were sort of grown-up then,” said Peter. “We reigned for years and years and learned to do things. Aren’t we just back at our proper ages again now?” -PC, Chapter 3

So she learned how to swim while growing up in Narnia, but forgot it again when she returned to her own world and was back at her proper age. But the longer the Pevensies stayed in Narnia, the more those previously-learned skills came back to them:

This was real broad-sword fighting. The great thing is to slash at your enemy’s legs and feet because they are the part that have no armor. And when he slashes at yours you jump with both feet off the ground so that his blow goes under them. This gave the Dwarf an advantage because Edmund, being much taller, had to be always stooping.

I don’t think Edmund would have had a chance if he had fought Trumpkin twenty-four hours earlier. But the air of Narnia had been working upon him ever since they arrived on the island, and all his old battles came back to him, and his arms and fingers remembered their old skill. He was King Edmund once more. -PC, Chapter 8

The same general principle appears to apply to their memories and the emotions attached to them (which I think is one of the main reasons why Book!Susan is so easily able to dismiss Narnia as a "silly children's game" when she gets older). Narnia's magic protects visitors from feeling the pain and suffering associated with being de-aged/losing their home/etc when they leave Narnia by forcing a mental and emotional distance from their experiences, and they're only able to re-forge those connections once they return.

By contrast, the Movie!Pevensies are acutely and painfully aware of what they've lost by returning to England, and it dramatically alters the equation for everyone involved.

It turns the level-headed, loving, tired Books!Peter into the angst-ridden, hotheaded Movie!Peter who's constantly trying to prove himself. It turns Susan's story inside out, because it gives her entirely different reasons and motivations for possibly wanting to forget about Narnia and dismiss it as a "silly game." It gives Edmund a narrative reason to retain the massive character growth he'd experienced in LWW, act as the steadying rock in the siblings' lives, and feel like he has something to prove in VDT without Peter around.

And while I think Lucy remains the least changed between the books and movies, there are several added dimensions to her fully remembering her first fifteen years in Narnia that really start to peek their heads out by the time we get to VDT (particularly her desire to feel grown up and desired by the men around her; if she's truly feeling her age, I think there's an additional nuance to that plot that goes beyond the vanity and "she wants to be like Susan" dimensions from the book).

Do I think this accounts for all of the characterization differences? No. But I think it's a massively understated difference that doesn't get talked about enough as being a major driver of how differently the Pevensies act and react to things in the later books vs. how they act and react in the movies.

#brb having narnia feels out of NOWHERE #chronicles of narnia #narnia #brotp: kings and queens of old #peter pevensie #edmund pevensie #susan pevensie #lucy pevensie #narnia meta #long post

[septembercfawkes]

How Each of the 5 Major Plot Points Turn a Story

I recently had an epiphany on structure that I wanted to share. When I first realized this, it felt pretty significant (at least to me), but as more time has gone on, I've realized, in some sense, it's actually kind of obvious--I just hadn't seen it from this perspective before 😆 I'm willing to bet a lot of others haven't either, so it's definitely something I want to share. But where to start? I think I'll start with a problem I ran into: midpoints.

Midpoints happen in the middle of the story (usually around the 50% mark, give or take). It's a moment when new, significant information--or at least a shift in context--enters and turns the story in a different direction. To put more simply (or in some ways, vaguely), it's when the protagonist gets a sense of what's "really going on" in the plot.

For example, in the movie Interstellar, the midpoint happens when the characters learn that there is no Plan A--everyone on Earth is destined to die.

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the midpoint happens when Harry overhears the professors in the Three Broomsticks and learns Sirius Black is the reason his parents are dead.

The midpoint moves the protagonist from reaction to action. It enables them to go on the attack--at least a more informed, aggressive attack than before.

This is what I was first taught midpoints were, and I was introduced to them in Story Engineering by Larry Brooks.

But as time went on, I ran into a different definition.

In Blake Snyder's Save the Cat!, he says that midpoints are events--a "false win" or a "false lose."

It's near the middle, and it's when the protagonist seems to win or lose what he or she wants.

For example, in Mulan, the midpoint happens when Mulan retrieves the arrow on the post, proving herself worthy of staying in the army with the men (a seeming victory).

In Stranger Things Season One, the midpoint is recovering Will's body (a seeming defeat).

So which is it? Is a midpoint new information? Or is it an event?

Personally, the more time goes on, the more I think both definitions are right. So these days, I prefer to combine them together:

The midpoint is a significant event and/or revelation that is either a seeming victory or a seeming defeat for the protagonist. It often provides a broader understanding of what's actually happening in the plot, enabling the protagonist to become more proactive in their goals.

The midpoint almost always happens right in the middle of the story.

And it pivots the story into the second half.

(Of course, this is not to say some rules can't be broken.)

Okay, now I'm going to talk about something else, and come back to this.

I've talked about the next section a few times, so if you are already familiar with it, feel free to skim the next few paragraphs.

In a well-structured story, nearly everything makes this shape--whether it's a scene, sequence, act, or whole story. And it can even fit, in smaller pieces, inside a scene. It's essentially like a nesting doll or a fractal.

The climactic moment is sometimes called a turning point because it "turns" the direction of the story.

This moment can only be one of two things (well, or both of them): a revelation, or an action.

Why? Because these are the only ways to turn a story!

This is most obvious in the overall plot level because that is what we are most familiar with. THEE climactic moment will either be a revelation or an action and often it's both.

Whatever it is, and in whatever it is (scene, sequence, act, or whole plot), that's the turning point.

I do want to add one thing: it doesn't necessarily have to be the protagonist who has the revelation or takes the action to create a turning point. It just needs to be someone significant, so that it turns the story. For example, a turning point may be the audience or an important side character having a revelation. Or it may be someone else (likely the antagonist) taking an action.

In the structure of a whole story, there are usually several major turning points:

1. The Inciting Incident (sometimes called the "Catalyst" or "Call to Adventure")

This is when something new enters the story and disrupts the established normal. The inciting incident will either be a problem or an opportunity. In The Hunger Games, Prim having her name drawn out at the reaping is the inciting incident--it's what turns the story in a new direction, leading us into the main conflict. Without that problem, the books wouldn't exist. In Harry Potter, the inciting incident is Hagrid telling Harry, "Yer a wizard" and inviting him to Hogwarts. Without that opportunity, the books wouldn't exist.

2. Plot Point 1 (sometimes called "Break into Two" or "Crossing the Threshold")

I hesitate to use the term "Plot Point 1" because I've found it to be rather ambiguous, as some people consider it to be (or at least include) the inciting incident, while others consider it to be the moment the protagonist chooses to move forward irrevocably, to address the new problem or opportunity. This is usually a transitional segment that takes us from the beginning of the story to the middle of the story. (Today, this is what I mean by "Plot Point 1.")

In Interstellar, this is when Cooper blasts off into space. That can't be undone, and it takes us into the main conflict of the story, the middle.

In Mulan, Mulan cuts her hair, takes the armor and horse, and goes to the camp in her father's place. Once she arrives as "Ping," her decision can't be undone (at least not without big ramifications, such as dishonoring her whole family). This takes us to the main conflict, the middle of the story.

The inciting incident and Plot Point 1 put the protagonist into a reactionary state. They are reacting to new obstacles.

3. Midpoint

I already talked a lot about midpoints, but just to keep things even, I'll repeat.

The midpoint is a significant event and/or revelation that is either a seeming victory or a seeming defeat for the protagonist. It often provides a broader understanding of what's actually happening in the plot, enabling the protagonist to become more proactive in their goals.

The midpoint almost always happens right in the middle of the story.

And it pivots the story into the second half.

You can see examples above.

4. Plot Point 2

At the end of the middle, a few things usually happen:

The protagonist faces the antagonistic force and experiences a defeat. This leads to what's called an "all is lost" moment--where it feels like (as you probably guessed) everything is lost, like there is no way the protagonist can succeed.

Soon after this, though, the protagonist gains something empowering that allows them to move forward toward the climax.

Some writers call the "all is lost" moment Plot Point 2, while others call the moment of empowerment Plot Point 2. What matters is that you understand that these things happen. This can get a little more complicated (for example, instead of experiencing a defeat, the protagonist may get what he wants and experience a hollow victory), but I'm gonna stop here for today.

Like Plot Point 1, this is a transitional segment that turns the story toward the climax--it moves us from the middle of the story to the end of the story.

In Mulan, Mulan is discovered to be a woman and dishonored. She thinks of going home, when she learns that the Huns are still alive. This propels her to the climax.

In Spider-verse, Miles watches his uncle die and gets tied up. After his dad visits, he gains a clear understanding of perseverance and faith, busts free, and heads to the climax.

5. Climax

The climax is the biggest, most pivotal turning point. It will either hinge on a revelation or an action and often it's both.

It might be a revelation that leads to an action. Or it might be an action that leads to a revelation.

For example, the protagonist may have an epiphany (a revelation, and often a thematic one) that informs him how to defeat the antagonist, so the protagonist takes that action. Alternatively, the protagonist takes an action to defeat the antagonist, and the result leads to a realization. If the latter happens, often the revelation will be further explained after the danger has passed.

For example, in Interstellar, Cooper realizes that love is indeed part of a higher dimension, and through it, he can communicate to his daughter Murph. He then takes the required action to reach her across spacetime and save the human race (and therefore defeat the antagonistic force).

In Harry Potter, Harry takes action against Quirrel. This leads to a revelation: Quirrel can't touch him. Later, Dumbledore explains Lily's sacrifice left Harry a magical protection: love.

(Love doesn't have to be the realization, of course, I just happened to pick two examples that share that in common 😆)

Now, this is all generally speaking, and it will be different if you are working with negative character arcs, but talking about all the variations is beyond the scope of this article, today.

Let's start tying these topics together:

So, generally, there have been two different definitions of the midpoint. Significant information. Or significant event.

Well:

Information = Revelation

Event = Action

Revelation is just another word for "new information," while "event" is just another word for action. Right?

Guess what? The midpoint and the climax are similar in this way. They turn on revelation or action or even both.

What about the other major turning points?

Every story structure I've looked at, emphasizes that at Plot Point 1 (or "Crossing the Threshold" or "Break into Two"), the protagonist chooses to move forward--that means taking action. The protagonist doesn't just want to move forward, he has to do something. So Plot Point 1 turns on action.

Let's look at Plot Point 2. After the "all is lost" lull, the protagonist almost always learns ("gains") something. This may be plot-focused--such as Mulan learning the Huns are still alive. Or it may be thematic, such as Miles Morales now understanding and embracing perseverance and faith. But it's essentially new information, a new understanding. So Plot Point 2 turns on revelation.

Okay, I know what some of you are thinking. You're thinking of stories that maybe don't fit this. You are thinking of stories where Plot Point 1 hinges on revelation and Plot Point 2 hinges on action. Like many writing subjects, this can become a chicken vs. egg conundrum. After all, when we act, we learn new things. And when we learn new things, we act.

A protagonist may learn something new that leads him to take action for Plot Point 1.

And the "all is lost" moment usually follows a big event (read: action), so we may have an action that comes before the revelation of Plot Point 2.

It's also not impossible to have two actions in a row, or two revelations in a row.

But Plot Point 1 and Plot Point 2 are transitional segments. They turn us to the middle and to the end, respectively. And that turn is usually an action and a revelation, respectively.

Of course, I'm not going to go as far as saying that no stories exist that break these rules. But most stories turn in these ways.

It's also worth noting that sometimes you have moments that blur the lines a little--for example, a character may take a big action that reveals something significant simultaneously.

Recall how earlier I said not all turning points are focused on the protagonist. For example, a turning point in a scene, may be an antagonist taking an action. A revelation may be a side character learning something. In a well-structured story, there will be lots of turning points of action and revelation. And of course, you can slice and dice stories in different ways (which is why learning structure can be so confusing sometimes).

But when it comes to these four major turning points, they usually focus on the protagonist.

At Plot Point 1, the protagonist takes a forward action.

At the midpoint, the protagonist takes a significant action or learns something significant.

At Plot Point 2, the protagonist gains valuable information.

At the climax, the protagonist has a realization and/or takes an action that thwarts the antagonistic force.

Now we have the inciting incident. The inciting incident is a little different than the other major turning points because it's what kicks off the story. It's the first turn that starts the story--it's disrupting an established normal, not changing up the main conflict.

Unlike the other four major turning points, the inciting incident sort of . . . How do I want to say this? It sort of comes from outside the protagonist more? In the other major turning points, it's the protagonist who is acting and gaining information on the journey.

The inciting incident hinges more on an outside source. I mean, it has to, because it disrupts the protagonist's life. The protagonist hasn't hit the main conflict yet.

For example, Effie in The Hunger Games and Gandalf in The Hobbit, are the ones bringing the inciting incidents to Katniss and Bilbo, respectively. In Legally Blonde, Warner is the one breaking up with Elle.

This isn't a perfect concept, but it is a generality. Perhaps the idea I'm trying to convey is that the inciting incident is something that happens to the protagonist. (Usually, there are exceptions.)

Notice that the inciting incident can also hinge on an action or a revelation.

Peter Parker getting bit by a radioactive spider is an action. It's the spider's action--an outsider's action--against Peter.

Harry being told he's a wizard from Hagrid is a revelation. It's information that Harry didn't even know to consider--completely unexpected.

So let's map out the five major turns:

Inciting Incident: Disrupting Action or Revelation

Plot Point 1: Primarily Turns on Action

Midpoint: Turns on Action and/or Revelation

Plot Point 2: Primarily Turns on Revelation

Climax: Turns on Action and/or Revelation

Now you will have a clearer understanding of how to handle the five major turning points in your own stories.

And should you have a protagonist who does not want to take action at Plot Point 1, as is sometimes the case--well, I have something to help with that.

That pretty much sums up my epiphany . . . or should I say, revelation? 😉

#writing tips #writing tips and tricks #writing reference #turning points #plot turns #writeblr #story structure

[flowerflamestars]

i remember that you once said something about privateer nesta could you elaborate? please? *shrek cat eyes*

WHO TOLD YOU I AM COMPLETELY VULNERABLE TO THE CAT EYES??

okay, so admittedly I don't remember the context in which I said this?? But I still SUPER super love the idea

and it matches with what we'll call the Dream ACOTAR Extended Universe Plot, almost canon.

We begin with the final battle against Hybern. Tamlin dies, closing the loop of his tragic, misspent life. Amren stays dead, a magical being on to the next adventure.

Rhysand stays dead.

He functionally (magically) threw himself on a bomb, and took the whole blast. He's not the Cauldron- and no one man could repair what it once was, but he could contain the fatal, drastic implosion of an object that was meant to endure forever, fractured into more and more peices.

Why is this important?

Because it leaves a world where Feyre Archeron- twenty-ish, romantic hero, prop, prisoner- becomes High Lady in her own, true right.

(I don't think she's necessarily good at this job, because why would she be? It's not even her fault- Feyre has no idea about how faery politics work, no real tangible knowledge of her own inherited kingdom.)

But both the men who stole her and defined her and loved her and hurt her are dead.

And it not only sets her on a journey to become, on her own, an actual character in her own life, but it galvanizes the Archeron sisters.

Feyre's basically fucking comatose after the battle. Elain has been a mess this entire time, but after that last fight with Grayson, walking into the war and stabbing a king in the throat- she is as vital and herself as Nesta has seen her in years.

Nesta just watched her father die and felt nothing- and she hates herself for it. She and Elain had taken the head of the man who stole everything from them- and she doesn't have a single regret.

Feyre screamed until she could no longer- there's so much magic seething out her it hurts to look at-

There's a dark well inside herself that could rise. But why should Nesta let it? So what, if she doesn't mourn her father? He'd never cared about her and Elain- not when they were young, too busy and important to even speak to his own children. Not when they lost everything, and he'd tried one last time to sell them both into marriages to recoup the family loss. Not after, in the starving cold, no matter what she'd tried to force him into action.

Nesta had been mourning all along a human girls human life- what is an absent, neglectful, shitty in the most ordinary of ways human parent if not a part of that lost future?

Their sister owns a fucking country- their sister is, at this minute so hemmed in by her followers no one can see her, much less comfort her- there's a war camp falling apart around them- there's Nesta, Elain, and Azriel, unhurt, upright, alive.

(she does not let herself think that an hour before she'd been ready to die and thought it right, the ending the meant to be conclusion of her story. she does not think about how she'd wished Cassian healed beneath her hands and that he had healed, that she'd wept to learn she could do more than destroy.

that she'd still been weeping, her mouth bright with his blood, when he'd pulled away, dragged himself to Morrigan's waiting arms)

Nesta Archeron is alive. Her sisters are alive. They're free, and she'll be fucking damned if this all falls apart before Feyre can heal.

Nesta turns to Azriel and asks if he can take control of the legions.

She has no time for his blank, angry eyes- she knows he's hurt, he's mourning, he's lost- but she needs him. Cassian's...down. Rhys is dead. Feyre and Morrigan are not coming out of that tent.

And he just listens. Thoughtfully. Asks what Nesta intends to do.

And Nesta looks at Elain- soft, kind, gentle Elain who'd never once wavered now when life was on the line. Who hadn't cried a tear for their father, or for the man who'd kidnapped and then married their baby sister.

The danger wasn't over- and neither had the steel faded from Elain's spine.

Nesta tells Azriel she's going to find Keir.

Nesta isn't blind- she's walked the Hewn City, spoken to the eldest darkness. She was also at the joke of a Summit- Autumn wants new territory, Keir wants to rule Night. And here Night is, weakened, a lamb to slaughter.

Nesta's not going to lose again- she's not going to give these ancient, cruel lords another chance.

Elain grabbed her hand and squeezed- the one person, always, who Nesta never need explain herself to.

Aren't the High Fae technically Morrigan's Elain asked, a bare whisper as they walked through the camp.

It went without saying yes, but Nesta had never seen any indication they respected her enough to listen to her. She made a face, and Elain made one right back, rueful. She had eyes too, after all.

They're not going to listen to us in these clothes, Elain also told her.

She was right, of course. They were High Fae, and that mattered to those vile pricks, but they'd been outfitted for flight. She would do almost anything, actually, to be free of leather pants.

Which Elain, a gleam in her eye that Nesta was learning meant magic, dreamy and happy- led her precisely to a gold topped tent, stepped inside, bowed, and asked without a trace of hesitation if Helion Spellcleaver, Lord of Day, would perhaps do them the favor of loaning them some garments.

Solid gold eyes gleaming against blood and smoke tinged dark skin, beautiful, glorious Helion, smiled.

Day-white against Night- but also, Nesta knew, taking care with her crown of a braid, the splatter of blood left on her throat, her mouth, her cheeks like fine paint- white was the color of death.

Elain covered herself completely- shawl wrapped over her hair, tucked around her neck, breathing easier now, in human modesty- but hung from a golden belt that Helion, with the clear air of someone who knew something about seers, had found, metal hammered with stars and flames, was Truthteller, the long blade without a sheathe, black metal swallowing up light.

Keir was easy to find, and in fine form, surrounded by Darkbringers, who looped back behind the sisters the second they were close.

Nesta was not afraid- she'd thrown power into the sky and it had hurt. Not in depth, but because she was still holding on- it wanted out-it wanted to devour-

Elain dipped a flagrantly rude, swallow bob of a curtsey. Nesta didn't even bother- just let Keir hail them, royal family that they were. He liked the sound of his own voice, but he was also clever- they'd come here of their own volition and now they were trapped.

She could smell the reinforcements, the utter Autumn reek.

Nesta interrupted, and asked Keir to come and swear fealty to her sister.

It was never going to get the right answer, but it had to be said. It had to be heard.

She'd been right- they'd been right- Keir enjoyed the cruelty of getting close to Nesta, denying straight to her Archeron face that no, Rhysand's bloodline was ended. It was time, it was right, for the House of Truth to once more hold their throne.

He spoke his treason aloud, looming over Nesta- close enough to touch.

So Nesta did.

She'd willed Cassian alive and whole. It was so, so much easier to remember fire, death, drowning, to push and want the revolting man's destruction.

And when he fell, silvered fire that had filled his lungs spilling from his throat, Nesta did not flinch. She looked to the next lieutenant, a frankly indistinguishable golden haired pale-eyed blandly handsome man in black armor, and asked, if he, as the new commander of the Darkbringers, would like to give a different answer.

He did.

Azriel met them halfway back to Feyre, grim mouth flickering for a second at the sight of Elain, before looking, stone-faced, at Nesta beside her, leading a crowd of the highest ranked Night Court faeries she could find.

Keir? He asked.

Dead, Elain answered, and that was that.

The Shadowsinger fell in step with the Seer, a threatening shadow to two pale beacons.

It was Azriel who actually went inside the tent. Who said what needed to said, what made Morrigan splutter loudly enough to be heard outside, before she burst out the tent in a whorl of hair, before blanching.

Nesta had just enough control not to roll her eyes. They come to swear fealty.

And Morrigan, chewing her lip with all the dignity of a child- Elain and Nesta had been trained out of such gestures at eight, what did she think was happening here? - shook her head. She's not well, it can wait.

No, Azriel said, from behind her, it can't.

He was supporting what looked like the entirety of Feyre's weight. Dead-white, blue eyes a blaze, Feyre looked blearily out at all of them like she recognized no one.

Elain, treasure that she was, came forward to take her sister's other hand, whispering both condolence and explanation.

And so the High Houses of Night knelt in battlefield mud, and swore eternal loyalty to the youngest Archeron.

It was only after they were gone that Nesta hugged her sister- hard enough Feyre protested, a fresh batch of tears soaking Nesta's shoulder even before Elain joined them.

It's Azriel, voice a little less like a phantom, who tells Feyre they're handling things. That if she wants to rest more, that's fine.

She was so clearly shattered- Nesta half wondered how much of that Azriel can literally feel/hear with his shadow...things.

Feyre protests that there's things to do- Feyre makes it halfway through a sentence about plans before she says Rhysand's name like he's still alive and collapses in on herself like a wave crashing.

Nesta and Elain tuck Feyre back into the blanket pile. Nesta manages to kiss her forehead before Morrigan is there, hugging Feyre putting herself bodily between the sisters.

They leave, and outside, Azriel is waiting.

To hand Nesta a gaudy, enormous platinum ring. The seal of the Night Court- Nesta recognizes it from shipping manifests, but she'd never actually seen it as an adult. Here, as a faery.

Her thoughts on Azriel's powers hold true, as he answers the dismay: Rhys only used it when he had to. It had passed between the whole Court of Dreams hands, there had not been a vizier, a lord of stars, since the time of Rhysand's father.

Nesta puts on the hideous ring, barely flinching at the brush of magic, it resizing to her hand.

Elain grasps her other, squeezing, and asks Azriel who is next.

They work ceaselessly, pausing only to sleep. Azriel, Nesta is quite sure, isn't sleeping at all- until she goes looking for him with a question and finds him finally, finally out cold, face tucked in Lucien Vanserra's neck.

In silence and gestures, they come to something of an agreement- and when the Night Court comes to the table to talk peace, it's with Lucien. Jurian, who Nesta immediately liked.

By the time they return to the North, there is not a Lord one who does not know the names and nightmarish qualities of all three Archeron sisters.

Feyre mourns, and learns to govern slow. Cassian goes back to Illyria and does not return for a long, long time. Morrigan becomes Feyre's second- Nesta laughs, not altogether kind, when Lucien tells her this. No one has been able to answer her as to why, if Morrigan is so powerful, why did she not fight? what does she actually do?

What answers to her questions she does find are appalling. Why does Winter block our every turn? oh, Rhysand killed more than a dozen children. Why is Summer refusing our trade? Well, Rhysand stole their ancestral pride. Why is the Hewn City so wrathful at even the slightest form of intervention? Because Rhysand had left Keir to rule alone.

Nesta doesn't want to rule the fucking court. She thinks she could leave all of these politicians to rot- but she won't let Feyre misstep her way to death, shouldering a burden of her dead mate.

There's nothing they can give Winter but apology and so that's what Nesta does. On her knees, in a gilded palace of ice, stars caught in her hair and the seal on her. Kallias, bright and young, seems to know something about inherited problems- he does not ever forget, but he forgives, at least, the Archerons.

Summer is more complicated- but Nesta does what she can. Gives them every melted, ruined piece of the Book. Offers reparations for the next millennia. Ends up paying for what she is appalled and embarrassed to learn is a two hundred year old debt for a building the head of the Night Court's armed forces- Cassian, fucking Cassian the ghost haunting Nesta- had destroyed. During a brawl. At a solstice party.

She deals only with Cressieda, and they come to understand each other very well.

Nesta was not raised for politics and bullshit- her mother wanted her to marry a crown, but Nesta wanted the family empire. Trade. The Archeron legacy, denied to a girl. She likes Summer more than any place in Prythian, and she doesn't hide that. She relearns old lessons of tide and routes in secret, before Cressieda reveals that of course, she knows who the Archerons were.

It goes well, until Morrigan finds out what she's been doing, and tells Feyre.

The youngest Archeron had been doing better. Morrigan has been right by her side, through everything. Cassian is in Illyria, and Feyre understands why, writing him letters. She writes letters to Rhys too, if only to have a way to direct the words.

Azriel, spectral and busy she sees the least of, but Feyre never doubts his presence, keeping her safe. Elain comes, drags her out into sunlight, brings Lucien and it makes Feyre happy to see them together. Nesta comes too, with them both and alone, with papers from Feyre to sign, with affection sharp-edged but true.

Feyre knows she owes them all more than can be said- she's not stupid, she knows they're keeping Night together. That slowly those responsibilities will fall to her, when she's ready.

She does not think about how much of those responsibilities is cleaning up the tangled mess of betrayal Rhysand left behind. In her head, there is only Rhys- beloved and shadowed, kind and tortured.

Until Morrigan tells her that it's been acknowledged, in public, by Night, that Rhysand was a thief, and a murder of children.

Feyre loses her shit.

Rhysand had done what he had to. Who was Nesta, to say such things? She'd always hated Rhys. Rhys had always hated her, maybe he was right- the children. Rhys had mourned them in screaming nightmares, but he hadn't hurt them-

(Feyre does not stop to think it strange, that Rhys could have nightmares of memories not his own. That he might have fractured just a bit, under Amarantha. That the Red Lady had no daemati- that was why she'd kept Rhys all along.)

The fight is as ugly as can be imagined. And what proceeds is of course, worse. Feyre says terrible things she will ultimately regret and apologize for, but what becomes clear is that Morrigan thinks that Nesta means to hold power forever.

That she's taken advantage.

And Cassian, called home by rage, believes her.

That is, more than her ungrateful sister, more than the ongoing weight of cleaning up after a man she despised for good reason, the end of Nesta Archeron's Night Court career.

She'd thought she loved him- she'd been willing to die with him- but they'd lived. This was the life, the next life, and what did he think of her? That Nesta was a power hungry snob. That she was paying too much heed to politics.

That Nesta belonged quietly at home. That she should have learned to fight somewhere along that way- a point so convoluted it made Lucien laugh- that she hadn't learned anything that mattered.

That she had no right to kill Keir, because it had hurt Morrigan.

Had he ever, Nesta would wonder later, even liked her? Enjoyed anything about her but for that magical tether, telling him he was blessed with something special?

Nesta was something special, and she knew it.

And so she returned the ring to Azriel, packed up her possessions, and left.

First to Day, where Elain had bought a house. Fury and tears both met the explanation of what happened- fury and tears that turned to getting inadvisably drunk in sunlight, when Lucien and Azriel snuck away to join them.

For the first time in Nesta's adult life, she had no obligations. Magic, money, freedom- the whole world was out there.

She stopped wearing black. Learned pants where actually lovely, when they fit correctly and weren't made of leather. Learned Azriel could laugh, and Lucien was as clever as she'd always thought.

She read books, she ate fruit, she took Helion up on several of his more lascivious offers.

She thought of Cassian, and it ached, but not enough to go backward.

Elain's house was by the sea, right on the water. The scent of salt reminded Nesta of Summer- but also of her oldest, most secret dreams. The warehouses of goods, like mysteries to solve. The account books she stole, learning by candlelight the trade in her blood.

Ten years after the war, Nesta bought a ship.

She set out to be a merchant, use what she knew, but what happened was this: Nesta Archeron did not care anymore for rules. And so when she came upon Hybernian remnants-for they were an island kingdom, even more one with the water than Prythian- pillaging a Summer town, she destroyed them.

She stole their treasure, gave much of it back to the people.

Found, unexpected, that she had much more of a taste for marauding than she would have expected. There was still trade of course- proft made and shared- but Summer needed someone willing to do some destroying out on the sea.

Twelve years after the war, Nesta Archeron became a privateer under the Summer flag, pearls in her hair and a true smile on her lips.

Things grew, as all things do. Feyre wrestled herself the reins of government, stymied by the councils Nesta and Azriel set up as much as she often was by Azriel himself out of truly petulant action. Morrigan remained second, golden blades bright as her gowns within reach. Cassian became a sort of seneschal, reigning over Illyria in Feyre's name cold and alone as the wind through the mountains.

(Feyre thought he might never get over the war, but Azriel knew the truth.)

Elain took herself wherever the future led, a sort of mediator and councilor, walking in all Courts- but always back to home, that isolated green, green cove, where Nesta would land.

When war came again, there was no great Lordly alliance, no cut-throat summit. There was a fleet of ships whose sails where edged in purple, whose announcement across the water was silver fire, whose accompaniment were monsters of old.

Violence did not touch Prythians human shore, because Nesta Archeron did not let it.

She was death on the tide, and she remembered what shores had borne her.

She had a home in Summer, a place in Day, her family across the continent- she had her ships, full of faeries from every walk of life, who wanted as she did the freedom as much as the profit, the endless, endless blue, where sea meets sky.

It was eternity, and the Archeron sisters, free, had made it their own.

#i'm sorry this is literally a novel #but!!! #this is my dream plot actually #all about legacy and complicated feelings #the total failure of cassian as a partner #of rhys as a ruler #of feyre as a sister!! #there's so much love in the end but its not easy love #and they do have to fight for it #Nesta Archeron has always been exactly who she is and that shouldn't have to change #Elain has never GOTTEN to be who she is and that should change #Feyre standing alone is all i want yall #a true overturning of the patriarchy actually #yes this a luzreil universe #Elain...mhmm.... definitely just has a string a very romantic love affairs #marriage as a prospect caused her so much pain #she's done #I feel like Mor comes off almost too badly in this #but like #she would?? #she's SO possessive of her people #and totally weird about Feyre's sister's from the start #Nesta having power? #Nesta having Azriel's backing? #NESTA BEING CASSIAN'S MATE? #its never going to go well

[juiceboxman]

Advice for New DMs

I’ve been lucky enough to have DM’d a weekly game for over a year now and I’ve had conversation with people irl and online about how they think about DMing but aren’t necessarily too confident in their own ability or don’t even know where to start. So here’s some things I would suggest to get started, things to keep in mind and advice about general stuff. Here we go;

1) Familiarise Yourself with the Rules. You can read the DMs Manual or the Player’s Manual for rules. You can find rules explained everywhere online from Roll 20 to DND Beyond. But if you don’t like reading, and I get that cause the thought of reading a 200+ page instruction manual on how to play a game does sound daunting, I would suggest watching or listening to Actual Play Shows. If you watch like a few episodes of Critical Role or Dimension 20, you kind of get the basics of DnD. That’s really all you need to start DMing, just the basics like “what which Dice do”.

2) Know your Players. DnD is a collaborative game and all good collaboration necessitates some base understanding of who you’re collaborating with. You don’t necessarily need to know the people you’re playing with very well, but just enough to get where you can decide whether these people are chill to play with. So say if you’re gonna be playing a horror/scary campaign and you know one of the people in mind for playing isn’t too into horror- maybe don’t have them play cause it will make them uncomfortable. That example is perfectly fine but it delves into extremes when you’re dealing with people who are just difficult. You can look up online and find tons of stories relating to bad dnd experiences with just rude, shitty people. I would like to clarify that by saying that these experiences aren’t a DnD problem- it’s a social group problem. If you hang out wih a shitty person they will inevitably do shitty things, and honestly its better that a shitty outburst occurs at a controlled environment such as a DnD Game than say a house party where all sorts of shit could happen. So know your players. If they’re cool people, they’ll make cool players. If they’re kind of shit heads, they’re going to cause a lot of issues and not the fun kind. Know the difference between “shenanigans” and “open disrespect” because you as the DM put a lot of work into the game, if the players don’t respect that- maybe don’t play with them. No dnd is better than bad dnd 

3) Know Your Game. This rule helps a lot if you are familiar with lots of DnD shows, which gives you a frame of reference for the type of campaign you wanna run. If you wanna go big dramatic epics with a lot of strict survivalist rules, Critical Role is a good place to reference. If you wanna go for balls to the wall humour with a lot of heart and emotional moments, NADDPOD is a good place to reference. You want a proper scary campaign, watch Sophomore Year from Dimension 20- it is primarily a comedy show but when they do drama they do DRAMA. Knowing your players allows you to know the game better. It took me quite a while in my own campaign t realise “Oh I’m not running a CR game, I’m running a NADDPOD game” and ater I realised that I was able to play it better. Know the game, know the genre, know what you and your players like and enjoy and try to maximise that fun.

4) Preparation. DMs do a lot of preparation whenever they intend to run a game. I would argue that the amount of preparation you want to do should be equal to the amount of time you’re willing to spend. Sad fact of life is that DnD, and other activities with friends, are all dependant on IRL scheduling. A campaign can fizzle and die out at a moments notice, not all stories get finished and if you wanna start any creative process that’s a reality you have to accept. I’m a creative person, I do quite a lot of writing and stuff on the side so when I do prep for DnD I don’t want to spend too much of my creative juice on a project that only six people at a table will know about compared to one that would feature a larger audience. Also if you have a busy schedule you might not have time to worldbuild, so short cuts help. So in those respects I don’t see anything wrong with being lazy. There are plenty of websites online where you can randomly generate maps, towns, characters- you name it. You don’t need to spend hours on end developing streets of a city that no one will walk down or lore behind businesses no one will ask about. You just need to be familiar enough with the history or your world, its vibe and tone in which you can effectively improv the rest. I’ve been DMing a game now for well over a year, I spend less than an hour a week doing prep. I write a few bullet points for stuff to bring up in the session, I make a brief map for encounters, I’ll look up monster stats, maybe draw up some homebrew and heroforge pictures of the NPCs- that’s it

5) Improv. I think 90% of DMing is pure improv. Depending how well you know your players and their characters, you can predict certain behaviours. So if you have an NPC say or do something that you know will gaina certain reaction from a player, that’s something you are certain about. Everything else however can be improv based. Players will surprise you. They’ll do weird dumb shit and they will do really cool game breaking shit. You have an NPC who was supposed to be a big villain? Well the PCs all teamed up and with an effective strategy, that NPC is now dead. It’s the lay of the land. The goal with prep is to have enough prepared that you can effectively pull stuff out of your ass with no issue. Improv isn’t necessarly difficult, all you really need is to listen. When a player responds to something and you feel its worth rolling for, have them roll for it. If tey roll well, tell them they did the thing. If not, tell them they didn’t. If the thing they asked for is impossible, tell them it’s impossible. You can come up with all sorts on the fly

6) DND isn’t like TV/BOOKS/MOVIES. DND is a weird medium of entertainment. Its a collaberative game where you all make a narrative, but a lot of strange stuff happens in between. Like if youre watching a movie or a show or reading a book you might think to yourself “why is this character spending twenty minutes talking to this waiter that genuinely isn’t that interesting?” or something like “why did the main villain die five pages in?” DND doesn’t follow a beat structure or format. Plot armor doesn’t fit here, it’s all decisions and luck- that’s it. Don’t be dissapointed in your work in regards to storytelling. Don’t worry about plot holes or inconsistencies, just focus on player engagement. If the players are having fun, then you’re playing the game right. You as the DM have to make sure that everyone is playing fairly and having fun. Treat your players equally, don’t be a dick, don’t be a pushover. You have to know what your players want, but also know what they don’t want. If your players like a weird NPC, have that NPC show up more cause they enjoy it. If your players discover an ability ot a magic object that left untouched will alter game play (e.g. one of my PCs recently gained an ability in which they gained the breath weapon of an ancient red dragon) that if used effectively could elminate all threat from any boss fight ever- don’t be afraid to NERF that. You need to be considerate about your enjoyment and the players enjoyment, its all in the balance.

That’s the main six points I have so far. If I have anymre I’ll be sure to add them. If anyone has any advice, feel free to add below. Hope this helps! Also; Brennan Lee Mulligan has a good podcast giving DM advice called Adverturing Academy. Has a lot of cool guests. The episode featuring Carlos Luna from Roll 20 is actually good career advice and gets me motivated just thinking about it. Definitely worth checking out!

#dimension 20 #critical role #naddpod #adventure zone #dunegons and dragons #dnd #d&d