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#the colors the IMPLICATION OF NEVER QUITE SEEING EACH OTHER
leighsartworks216 · 4 months
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Brown Eyes
Astarion x gn!Tav/Reader
Wrote this really quick. Idk if I'm happy with the ending but I wanted to write something before I go do work until probably midnight
Based on this post by @lumar014ad
Warnings: swearing, slight sexual implications??
Word Count: 670
Main Masterlist
First Baldur's Gate 3 Masterlist - Second Baldur's Gate 3 Masterlist
AO3
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You gently trace under his eye, trailing your finger down his cheek until he catches it in his hand. He lifts your knuckles to his lips, feather light and meaningful. It was perhaps his favorite way of showing affection.
You hum. “You have such nice eyes, Star.” It was a delicate subject, and certainly not one you enjoyed broaching, but the thought was implanted in your mind since you caught a glance at yourself this morning. Your hair, wild and untamed. Your cheeks, flush from exertion. And your eyes. “It’s like looking into a barrel of wine. Deep and rich.”
Astarion grinned, but it was tempered. He didn’t like focusing on his vampiric traits. “Not half as lovely as yours, love.” You couldn’t stop your scoff; it had been entirely unintentional. You flushed as he raised a brow at you.
“They’re just brown. They’re not that special.”
He frowns, pulling your hand from his lips. He looks almost pained to think you would ever thing any part of your person, no matter how small, was anything but unique and wonderful. “Don’t be silly, darling,” he chastises lightly. “They’re not just brown.”
You hum, unconvinced. “You’re right. They’re shit brown.” You chuckle, but he frowns deeper. Uh oh.
One moment, you lay beside each other in bed, close as you could be. The next, he rolled you over onto your back and straddled your hips, hands cupping your cheeks. He could feel the warmth beneath his fingers as he tilted your head so the candle light caught them just so.
“They’re so much more than brown, my dear.” He leans down and presses a kiss just below your eye. “When the sun catches them, they’re golden; a warm and hardy ale. Sweet and soft like melted caramel, especially when you look at me.”
You don’t miss the smirk that paints his lips as he teases you. You can hardly be embarrassed when you know it’s true. Besides, he did the same with you. How many times now had you caught him watching you with such fondness, so much that it overflowed from his eyes into a tender smile and relaxed shoulders?
He kisses his way across the bridge of your nose. He doesn’t take his eyes from yours. The prolonged eye contact only flusters you further. “The color of deep, rich soil after summer rain. Oh, don’t even get me started on how they look at night, when every star reflects in your eyes.”
His lips brush yours for just a moment. His hands holding your face keep you still, so you can’t chase after them. Your hands slide up his thighs to his waist and grab onto the bottom of his sleep shirt.
“Even now, dove, you look at me with shimmering jewels. Amber and topaz and jasper.” He catches your mouth again. A restrained passion keeps him contained, as though he simply couldn’t resist kissing you again when you looked at him like that. He sighs longingly as he pulls away, remaining close enough that his nose brushes yours. “A million things - but never shit.”
You squeeze his hips playfully, but your eyes are half-lidded as you stare up at him. “This was meant to be flattery,” you repeat his own words back at him, “not poetry.”
He smirks. You feel it rather than see it; he’s so close. “How can I resist with you, my love? Now, where was I?”
You look away bashfully. “I think you’ve made your point, dear. You can stop now.”
“Not yet, darling. I don’t think I’ve fully captured each aspect of your lovely eyes. I haven’t even told you how they look when you’ve had too much wine, or the way the firelight catches to make them burn. In fact…” He sits up, catching your eye again as the movement attracts your attention. He looks quite self-satisfied, like the cat that got the cream. “I think we’re going to be busy all night; until you realize just how gorgeous your eyes are.”
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Tag List:
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themisimagines · 7 months
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i could sleep inside the cold of you
inspired by: the 'aimed at your heart' vyn ssr card content: heavily draws upon catherynne m. valente's deathless, 2.5k of seduction & smut so buckle up characters: vyn, fem!reader optional background music: house of cards by bts; take me to church by hozier; religion by lana del rey; the anna karenina (2012) soundtrack
“A marriage is a private thing. It has its own wild laws, and secret histories, and savage acts, and what passes between married people is incomprehensible to outsiders. We look terrible to you, and severe, and you see our blood flying, but what we carry between us is hard-won, and we made it just as we wished it to be, just the color, just the shape.” - Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless
The long table is laid with a feast fit for a king. Platters heaped high with glistening honeyed confits, crisp crackling meat, steaming vegetables delicately braised, deep tureens of stew rich in marrow, an excess of riches, accompanied by what you believe are entire truffles, a sharp knife laid beside them for you to shave your desired portion onto your meal, black salt glistening darkly under the chandelier, in addition to a dish of black sturgeon eggs, like so many pearls gathered in a heap for your amusement. 
Entering the dining room on Vyn’s arm, you are shocked by the abundance, the sheer extravagance of it all. You are dressed in a floor length black gown painstakingly embroidered with gold thread, produced seemingly out of thin air by one of the maids, saying that Vyn has requested that you wear it this evening. The material is silky against your skin, making you shiver with every move. The emerald bracelet Vyn won at the Umir Festival is the perfect accompaniment. Vyn, is of course, impeccable in his smoking jacket and tailored trousers. 
‘Are we expecting guests?’ You ask Vyn incredulously, staring at the food. ‘Surely Mr. Wechsler was confused.’ 
‘Not at all. But I believe I once made you a promise that you would never go hungry.’ 
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Vyn, we’ll hardly be able to finish this on our own.’ 
‘My beloved, whatever we cannot finish, I promise that I will allow you to take down to the soup kitchen to feed the hungry populace. Such a role is fitting for the lady of this house, after all.’ 
‘I’m hardly the lady of the house yet,’ you mutter, flushing red at the implication. 
‘Before you launch into another complaint about how you don’t deserve such wonderful treatment, may I propose something, my lady?’ Vyn stops at the door and looks quite seriously down at you from the gold rims of his glasses. You turn your face upwards, marvelling in how beautifully his silver hair frames his face, the way his gaze seems to strip you completely bare. 
‘I’ll allow it,’ you say. ‘What do you propose?’ 
‘Do you trust me?’ Vyn asks. 
Your mind flashes back to earlier in the day, during the hunt. Your bodies pressed up against each other, drawing the bow and nocking the arrow. His quiet instructions in your ear, your breath, held for so long you almost grew dizzy, and then, the blur of victory after, shattering the intimate moment. 
‘Yes,’ you say at length. ‘I do trust you.’ 
‘Then I propose that we play a little game. There is no need for you to speak tonight. Whatever you eat will be fed from my hand. Give yourself to me completely, and trust me to take care of you. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, you can say our safe word.’ 
You stare into his eyes, and he stares back, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. You nod once, slowly. An assent to his conditions. The game has begun. 
‘Excellent. Your decisiveness is one of the things I most admire about you. And just once, could you say our safe word, before we embark on this little journey together?’ 
‘Pomegranate,’ you say, lips parting to let it slide out in a whisper. 
‘Very good, my beloved.’ Vyn guides you to where the food awaits, seating you on his right hand side, while he takes the seat at the head of the table. ‘I remember peeking at the suppers my grandmother used to host here. My grandfather would sit at the head of the table, here, while my grandmother sat all the way down there, at the end of the table, both of them as far apart from each other as they could get. The length of the table being a gesture of power, to be sure, but hardly conducive for marital harmony. I believe they even ate like that when they didn’t have guests, or took meals apart. So much nicer to sit together like this, no?’ 
You almost open your mouth to say something or ask a question, but Vyn silences you with a finger on your lips. 
‘I would not be asking you to do this if it was easy, my love, I know it is difficult for you. But we are nurturing this fledgling trust you have placed in me, and the game has just started.’ 
You watch Vyn’s slow, careful movements as he tears a hunk of golden bread and dips it in olive oil and black salt, the crumb flecked with herbs. He feeds you the morsel gently, telling you about the special wheat used in making the bread and the fields in Svart where it grows. You listen with rapt attention as his voice carries on, moving from dish to dish. As he promises, he feeds you every first bite with his own fingers, their tips gently grazing against the corners of your mouth, leaving your skin tingling and yearning for more. 
Your mouth is filled with rich flavours of cream and wild fowl, preserves and pickles, salt and fat, acid and heat. Vyn keeps up the one-sided conversation, reading your mind to say your answers for you, his low tones sending a shiver up your spine. The wine makes your head light and airy. As the meal comes to a close, Vyn feeds you a last mouthful of dessert, his long index finger swiping away a trail of honey from the corner of your mouth. A burst of words comes from you as you impulsively grab his wrist and then place a kiss directly in the palm that has been feeding you all evening. 
‘I love you, Vyn,’ you barely whisper, voice hoarse. 
Vyn extracts his hand and gives a loud sigh, standing up from the table. ‘You were doing so well, my darling. Like Orpheus, who turned back just at the very last minute and lost Eurydice, so have you lost our little game.’ 
His eyes are dark, but with a distinct sense of amusement and mischief behind them. ‘Had you won, your prize would have been a fairytale ending, where I swept you off your feet and carried you to the fireplace in the hall, where a magical bower of furs and pillows have been prepared, and you would have sweet love made to you all night—’
‘I don’t care about fairytale endings,’ you interrupt Vyn, standing and moving toward him, a defiance in your tone calculated to push him off the edge, to turn his beautifully crafted game on its head. 
Vyn growls and then pounces on you, lips seeking yours harshly, in an attempt to punish you. You kiss him back just as fiercely, biting his lip and drawing blood, smearing it over both your bottom lips, the taste of iron and salt with the sweet still lingering on your tongues. He pushes you both back onto the table, until your legs are wrapped against it and your spine is bent backwards, dress sliding upwards until your thighs are visible. 
When he pulls away, it is to admire how rumpled he has left you, how wanting. Your hair is loosened from its carefully piled topknot, lying curled and ragged around your face, which still bears a slight trace of his blood. Your chest, heaving, the tops of your breasts exposed. Legs slightly spread to accommodate his waist, his face looming over yours as if he is about to devour you. 
‘Since you seem to be evading my best attempts at seduction, I cannot promise I will be gentle,’ he warns with a smirk. 
‘Maybe that was my intention all along,’ you make an effort to retort, although you are aware of how vulnerable a position you are in. 
Vyn pushes the dishes off the table, everything landing in a loud clatter on the floor. 
‘Vyn!’ You exclaim, turning to look at the food, but he lifts you up onto the table, then pushes your dress upwards around your hips, ripping aside your flimsy underwear. You are about to say something in protest, but then his mouth is on you, trailing heated kisses along your inner thighs, hot breath making you squirm even as he keeps a vice-like grip on your hips. When he licks a hot, wet stripe up the length of your cunt, you cry out in pleasure, spine curving upwards to get more of it. 
‘Hm, you seem to be enjoying yourself,’ Vyn pauses to comment. ‘Should I continue?’ 
‘I will never forgive you if you stop now,’ you pant, and then reach down to encourage his head back between your legs. 
He laughs, then applies himself fully to the task, tongue endlessly swirling, and then thrusting inside, all while your hands are twined in his hair, tugging so hard that you are briefly afraid that you have hurt him. He doesn’t show any sign of discomfort, diligently licking and sucking until you are so close to coming, your body a tightly wound mass of nerves. You catch his eyes flicking up to watch your reactions, and just as you are about to come, he pulls away, wiping his mouth away on his sleeve and grinning viciously. You cry out at the sudden loss of heat, writhing in distress. 
‘Don’t you think you deserve some punishment for ruining our evening? You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?’ He hisses, then pulls you toward him, forcing you to turn around. Disoriented from the disrupted orgasm and sudden movement, you flail for a moment, then hear the clink of Vyn removing his belt behind you. He grabs your hands and holds them together, using his belt to wrap your wrists snugly, but not too tight. Before anything else happens, he leans forward to where your face is, brushes your hair gently aside to whisper in your ear, ‘Pomegranate?’ 
You shake your head desperately. ‘Good girl,’ he tells you, stroking your hair. 
Then the brief moment of tenderness quickly passes as Vyn grabs your hips, your face sliding across the polished wood of the table and ass sticking up in the air, your cunt completely exposed, only your legs holding you up. Unable to see what’s going on behind you, you can only tremble in anticipation, the feel of Vyn’s hands roughly positioning you so he can enter you. 
His first thrust is not at all gentle, burying him to the hilt in your hot, slick cunt. You both cry out from the fullness, at how ready your cunt is for him. 
‘Look at you clenching around me, such a needy, desperate little slut,’ Vyn purrs, painfully dragging out his first few thrusts so that despite your limited range of movement, you are squirming and begging for more. 
‘More,’ You beg. ‘Please, Vyn, I need more.’ 
‘You will get more when I decide you deserve more,’ Vyn warns, slowing his hips even more, the promise of more friction hanging just out of reach. ‘It’s my turn to enjoy myself.’ 
You cry out in frustration, and are met with a ringing slap on your ass, the pain tingling deliciously. 
‘Can’t be helped,’ he sighs, pretending that you have forced him to this point, when you can tell that it is taking all of his own self-control not to just thrust into you with wild abandon. ‘You’re forcing me to play my hand, you naughty little thing. Do you want to see me lose control?’ 
He punctuates the last sentence with a vicious thrust, going deeper than before and making you squeal. The sound makes him stop, and he reaches beside you for a napkin. 
‘I think we need to work on your silence,’ Vyn says, hips still moving gently while his hands have left your hips and are doing something else. He leans down, pressing his weight against you and hand coming toward your face with the folded napkin. 
‘Open your mouth,’ he tells you, then puts the napkin delicately between your teeth. ‘Now, bite down. If you let the napkin fall, I can only assume it is because you intend on using our safe word, and in any event, that would mean our little game is over. If you want to continue, your only choice is to behave yourself.’ 
You bite down on the cloth napkin, and Vyn cocks his head sideways to look at your trapped face, giving you a wink before returning to his position behind you. He starts off with slow thrusts again, searching for the right angle, hips snapping leisurely into your ass, the sound of skin on skin turning you on more, if that was even possible. Your soft moans are muffled by the napkin, which is slowly soaking with saliva. 
‘Such a good girl,’ Vyn cooes as he thrusts deeply and you give a low, dull moan, trying to stifle your noises. ‘Let’s see how you do under more difficult conditions.’ 
He reaches down to grasp a handful of your hair, pulling your head upwards so that your spine is arched like a bow, and begins moving faster, each thrust of his cock a blinding shaft of light in equal parts pain and pleasure. If anyone were to walk in on you both right now, or even listen in on what was happening, they would hear a symphony of moaning, Vyn growling to tell you what a good girl you are, how well you are taking his cock, as if you were made for him. Your hands behind your back, back impossibly arched as he grips onto your hair, subject to the pleasure that is invading every part of your body. 
Vyn’s thrusts grow harder and more needy, and your cunt has begun to spasm, craving sweet release. 
‘I want to see your face when I make you cum,’ He rasps, and then pulls out, flipping you effortlessly onto your back, hair spilling out in all directions. Your arms are crushed behind your back, but the pain of your stretching shoulder joints is welcome, only adding to your pleasure. He is stretched out on top of you, mouth hungry, diving for your breasts, teasing your nipple with his tongue, hand reaching down to rub your clit in agonising circles, then slipping back inside you and groaning at the sensation. You cling on to the napkin for dear life, terrified that if you drop it, he might really stop, and leave you empty and wanting, just like that. 
But Vyn doesn’t stop. His eyes locked onto your face, he rubs your clit ceaselessly as he pounds into you, again and again in a vicious, desperate pace. 
‘Come for me, my love,’ he whispers, and like that, you are undone, waves of pleasure crashing through your body as your cunt clenches, legs shaking from the effort. A few more hard thrusts and Vyn joins you, thrusting deeply inside you one last time and then collapsing, his cock still throbbing as it fills you with cum. 
He only allows himself a few moments before quickly sitting you up to undo the restraints around your wrist, examining them for chafing, pressing a light kiss to each one when he finds you perfectly well and unharmed. 
‘Was I too rough?’ Vyn asks, hurrying to hand you his jacket. You shake your head, a mischievous grin on your face as you refuse to drop the napkin between your teeth. He blushes and removes it. You stretch your jaw a few times, which is slightly sore from clenching so hard, but will be fine in a few moments. 
‘Please, Vyn, I would have used the safe word if I was being hurt.’ You reassure him. ‘The only thing I regret is that I’m probably too tired to go through all that again.’ 
‘Too tired?’ Vyn’s smirk returns. ‘I hope not. There’s still a fireplace and a floor full of furs waiting for us.’ 
In the blink of an eye, you are swept up in his arms, and he is carrying you to the door, like a bride over the threshold of her new home. He hasn’t even bothered to put on any clothes, trousers long forgotten, and his dress shirt hanging loose. 
‘Vyn,’ you say, an idea suddenly coming into your mind. ‘You knew I wouldn’t be able to keep quiet, didn’t you?’ 
‘I will neither confirm nor deny my initial hypothesis,’ Vyn says. ‘But let’s just say, the outcome was above and beyond what I expected.’ 
As he carries you to the hall and the fireplace, two of his fingers have secretly slipped into your cunt once again, and you sneak a glance at him, grinning. 
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tiny-banana-time · 10 months
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Jay's Terrible Day
I got to commission the incredible @daggertongue for a little bit of fresh ME2 existential dread, and he fuckin killed it. Thank you, Levi, for bringing this idea to life better then I ever imagined it. Ya left me an incoherent mess for a good day or two 😂
It's taken me a few days to post it, but that's because it inspired the most writing I've done in a couple months. Including a snippet below 👀
It's not until he can breathe through his nose again that he chances loosening his grip, not until he's reasonably sure he can raise his hand to examine the skin without finding himself mirrorless in the end that he touches his cheek. Fingertips join his gaze in tracing the fissures around an eye, disappearing down his sideburn to emerge over the length of his jaw. Each literal crack in his careful facade stings with direct contact, but it's strangely comforting in how uncomfortable it is – confirmation that he can feel it as he'd expected.
A small victory.
He turns his head to examine the other side closely and locks on to a jagged glowing line through a familiar place in his brow. Just like Kasumi had said. Cracks jut out over his cheekbone, down this side of his jaw, and a shaking sigh is released once he's finished the fucked-up little game of connect-the-dots. 
The sigh floats out from between his lips, and fuck, but he knows he's not seeing things.
There's a glow coming from inside, too.
One consistency, even if the nerve damage and scarring aren't quite the same, is the slight shake of his left hand as he opens his mouth wide for a finger to pull his lip up and away. The light is dull but the color distinct, and he lifts his tongue to find another bright rift in the flesh below. Eyes widen and he loses track of blinking while he stares it down. The implications of all the faults he could find if he looked closely enough hitting him then.
One small mercy comes from looking himself in the eye, finding that the little rings of red-orange outlining his usual brown – the last things he'd noticed weeks ago before the mirror splintered through his reflection – were gone.
He'll never doubt Chakwas again.
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hamofjustice · 9 months
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I don't want to just painstakingly copypaste my triple-layered self-QRT thread about it on Twitter and any other ones floating around but
I am very emotionally invested in seeing Penny, Arven, and (personally) especially Nemona again in the Scarlet/Violet DLC, after GF followed up the best 3 hours of Pokemon game story ever by having to abruptly cut it off the second these lonely kids finish opening up to you and say you can hang out with them anytime. Which you never do. It was some pretty painful whiplash, and I was sure the main point of the DLC was to relieve that, especially when their arcs don't seem quite complete yet. Very clever, evil marketing! But uh... well... about that...
It is very worrying that aside from a little "the story so far" montage, they have not been seen or mentioned in promotional material/footage whatsoever. Y'know, DLC for the game that's about how the real treasure was the friends you found along the way (literally, in Nemona's case), and even if your family and support systems fail you, you still have each other? Written from the heart by someone who said Arven's story is inspired by their own life? With the sappy Ed Sheeran song about reaching out for connection with others, that also seems to be named after Team Star? The game where one of the features the devs seemed most proud of was going on adventures and into boss fights with 3 of your friends? The game that ended with a fully functional and quite immersive bonding adventure with these characters you'd gotten to know and care about, that basically everyone thought was the best part of the game by a mile, and were left wishing the whole game was like that?
Yeah, I (and everyone else) have been driving around alone in that game for 8 months ever since finishing that story. 8 months of minor updates with a ton of the beloved characters functionally or literally gone, while we go around doing online stuff with nothing else to do in the world, with a single player postgame more barren than we had on Game Boy Color (thank god for mints and bottle caps though). I'm left just... wanting to go back to the way things were before I beat the game. Not to be overly dramatic, but this world I supposedly saved feels like one I failed to save. And I'm getting really frustrated. (The framerate hasn't gotten any better, either, but this isn't about that.)
It's like Game Freak (or whoever forced this thing out a year early, or both) never expected you to boot the game up again once you got bored of the Ace Academy Tournament, which the game acts like is the entire total of what you could want from being friends and "rivals for life" with your squad (I mean I'm the sicko that loves Tera Raids, so I'm not that bored, but still). It makes a bunch of implications that your adventure is just beginning, and then it totally just... isn't. Why is the E4 building closed? Why do you only rematch the gyms once? And most of all, for me personally: Why did we get access to our friends' rooms if there's nothing to do or talk about there? (Besides look for character study clues, which they have lots of)
All they could come up with when asked to write a newsletter email about what you can still do in S/V and why you should still be playing it was Raids. That was it. Remember when you had an endless challenge in the Tower/Maison that you could optionally take on with a bunch of story characters as your partners instead of alone, that motivated you to keep getting stronger bit by bit? Remember rematching gym leaders multiple times and watching their teams grow and evolve each time? Yeah, there's none of that here, because that would take more than a week to implement. If you want friends and you want battles, you'll have to do it yourself online now. They're not allocating any budget for that.
Your rival for life, who's so excited you're on her level now, who seems to have the passion and skill to be the your Battle Tower gameplay loop by herself if she wanted to, who battles you for hours offscreen with multiple teams, whose whole character arc is that she finally has someone she can do this with... is fully static, with one kinda mediocre team that never grows or changes. She can't keep up with you and doesn't know what items or EVs are. You have to get lucky to even see her at all. She is no more your rival than your Home Ec teacher is (no offense Saguaro, you're cool too). I think it's really, really sad.
I'm left nostalgic and pining to go back, having to cope through fanfic because my character can't spend the day with - or even so much as take a new trainer card photo with - the girl who said they might be her greatest treasure, without resetting my save, because she and the others are standing somewhere that the camera and internet features are both disabled.
Like, legitimately, I want to keep being friends with these kids the way we were before, and have the ability to do post-game stuff with them, like being able to go out and adventure together whenever in some basic, non-story capacity, or just, I don't know, maybe give them more than one line of dialogue in their rooms? I don't want a new region or new characters. Not yet, anyway.
I thought I was preordering the continuation of their story and rewarding the company for making me care about Pokemon so much again.
But, uh... I'm really worried that the people who own these characters do not care. And as I said on the trailer's comments before they turned them off (lol), I'll be pissed enough to not buy any more games if I'm right, and we're forced to abandon these poor kids. At the very least, it's some pretty garbage marketing to leave the possibility of that up in the air. If nothing else, that is a frustration that I'm going to keep talking about for a while, even if it ends up being fine.
I thought it was impossible, and I was being silly. Why not have our friends in cute new outfits as promo art when the DLC was first announced, and all they had was promo art? Seems like an easy slam dunk. Oh, they didn't yet? Well, I'm sure it'll happen eventually.
And then they weren't in the trailer either, months later. Are they trying to sell us on it or not?
The whole reason I want the DLCs. Still not a single word acknowledging them, just that little opening montage. Still no hints of how the DLCs have anything to do with Area Zero's ongoing story, either. How is a sea turtle linked with a landlocked crater?
So like... At this point I have to assume both DLCs start with you making your friends cry as they're left alone again, arbitrarily excluded from events they're more than qualified to be invited to, to make room for some new dweebs we don't need, who won't be given nearly enough time to be as compelling as Nemona, Arven, and Penny were, because that makes the trailer look more like a new game, and that's the only way they know how to advertise. More. New. Buy. Consume. Throw away. Buy. Consume. Throw away. I should assume this so that whatever we get can't be worse.
But they're probably not (self-aware enough / allowed / both) to write that. Your lonely / orphaned / anime-binging friends might just cheer you on for getting to go do something cool like being forced to train a new legendary because the story said so, then go back to being statues with as much relevance to your life as an NPC in a third story apartment that tells you what a hold item is.
Can't I just live in Paldea with my friends, in the version of the game we would have gotten if it was finished, instead of being pulled into these adventures for the sake of looking good in a trailer? (which it doesn't btw lol) It's not an unrealistic thing to want when that's what it briefly was, and I was so excited that it would keep being that I've been thinking about it this entire time.
...
I hope I'm wrong about all this, and next year I can look back on this post, happy that the DLC did actually allow us to continue to take care of these characters, conclude Area Zero's mysteries in a satisfying way, fix up some technical issues, let us relive some things that are currently once-only (including letting us see that photo album our character made but we had to screenshot ourselves), and make it fun to keep playing for years afterward, and let that be the model for games going forward, but uh...
They really are not showing me anything I care about in the game I desperately want to care about, that I saw - and wanted to defend - the heart in, despite the circumstances it was produced under, and that really worries and frustrates me. The surprisingly many great things about this game got my hopes up for an awesome postgame full of warm fuzzy feelings and cool things to do 8 months ago that just didn't deliver, and now, I'm not sure if they'll even let me pay for one, at this rate, because they're not advertising one.
Just throw us a scrap. If whoever's in charge here stops caring about this story, I won't care about the next one.
Anyone else feeling this?
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runwayrunway · 5 months
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I was recently surprised to see this livery while boarding, and snapped a pic. Apparently enough people asked the crew questions to the effect of "Why is the plane yellow?" as we were boarding that the captain explained it during his take off announcements. Turns out we were on 'New Mexico One' (N8655D).
Maybe they were worried they accidentally got on a Spirit flight. Happens to the best of us. (Also, knowing pilots I think there's a legitimate chance he was excited about it himself and would have brought it up no matter what.)
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This is your girl! This is actually New Mexico 1.2.0 - the New Mexico One livery is the fifth Southwest state livery, and one of the first special liveries they had full stop.
Southwest Airlines has had a lot of special liveries. The documentation is incomplete, but they have a timeline for them up to 2013 publicly available. It turns out there were at least three Shamu jets (unfortunately I cannot find the purported pictures of Herb Kelleher in a penguin suit), and that my guess was right - their first state-themed livery was a Texas one to commemorate their origin as an intrastate carrier.
Since then, they've released quite a few more in honor of some of their more-served or milestone states. The states with special liveries are Arizona; California; Colorado; Florida; Hawai'i; Illinois; Louisiana; Maryland; Missouri; Nevada; New Mexico; Tennessee; and of course Texas. These really vary in level of detail and inspiration, and I definitely have no desire or plans to do a massive joint post on them all. That is thirteen liveries. But there's one or two that have been hanging out on the distant fringes of my interest and one (Colorado One) has already been requested, so if anyone particularly wants to see any of them covered just know I am treating them as full, separate, self-contained liveries even though they're technically sort of a set. It just doesn't make any sense to do it any other way.
(I never want to see a Massachusetts One. The concept is actively repellant to me.)
Most of Southwest's special liveries have 'one' at the end, like Air Force One, you know, it's the famous plane, Air Force One, they made a film about it with Harrison Ford in. I do think hypothetically the implication of 'New Mexico One' would be a plane transporting the governor of New Mexico, but, well, that's their name scheme.
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image: Southwest Airlines
This is the original New Mexico One, N781WN. Thanks to the information Southwest provides on its website for once I know the exact date a livery was debuted - 18th September, 2000. I'm not sure how to feel about the fact that this picture is younger than me, because it looks incredibly crunchy and vintage, like it couldn't have been taken later than 1985. I have a Polaroid SX-70 that was kept in working condition by a relative and it takes cleaner-looking pictures. It must have been taken very early on in the livery's lifetime because when Canyon Blue was introduced the tailfin was updated to match. As with all Southwest's special liveries - the tailfins remain untouched from the default.
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image: Eddie Maloney
The initial iteration with the mustard-yellow and red tail looks very nice, seamless with the main body. Although the placement of the name on the fin is quite subdued and against the ethos of the low-cost carrier it is in the case of special liveries useful, making the interaction of the wordmark with the main design a non-issue. Part of me really wishes that they'd kept the old colors for longer or maybe even done custom schemes for the stripes on each of their special liveries, because the blue looks pretty out-of-place on the New Mexico livery. I'll be completely honest, I also think the older, more angular shape of the stripes suits the similarly geometric bulk of the design while the modern incarnation - the haphazardly placed little wordmark with no natural home on the tail, the fin which looks like it was removed from a wholly different plane - is just sort of generally worse than the original state. The use of a minimally-altered tailfin with a crammed-on wordmark does seem to be something about which Southwest is unwilling to negotiate, though, and I guess that's what I'm going to have to live with.
(...generally, I do have to live with all the liveries I discuss here, until the magical day that someone at a massive company decides that the opinions of a blog with under 1,000 followers are something they want to capitulate to.)
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The basis of the livery is extremely straightforward. It's...the flag of New Mexico. This is a fantastic starting point. The New Mexico flag is my favorite of the US states' - though, to be fair, that's damning by faint praise in the extreme. Just based on the sorts of people I've met I feel like at least a few followers of this blog will have particularly vivid opinions about vexillology, but it doesn't take someone with the level of investment I have in liveries to know that most US state flags are just absurdly poorly designed. New Mexico's flag is not just acceptable but good.
Yellow and red aren't uncommon colors in flags, but the complete absence of very popular choices like blue and white definitely is striking. Unlike many US state flags, which are morasses of complex and jumbled iconography, it contains only one image - the sun symbol of the indigenous Zia (Tsi’ya) Pueblo group. Unfortunately, not only was the design not suggested by Zia individuals but it was used without the group's knowledge or consent, and there has been an ongoing discussion about this being properly acknowledged by the state - a good summary, albeit from 2012, is this El Palacio article written by the Zia Pueblo administrator.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Southwest actually did consult the Zia, including administrator and author of the above article Peter Pino. A contemporary news release from Southwest even discusses Zia children performing a Crow Dance as part of the ceremony. I was able to find a photograph of this in a blog post by a Southwest employee.
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So safe to say people were pretty excited about this livery! Southwest's state liveries tend to be pretty beloved by the people from said state, as far as I can tell.
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N781WN was retired earlier this year and sometime in the late summer the livery was repainted onto N8655D. The livery is largely unchanged except for the fact that it's on a longer plane now.
Anyway, I like New Mexico One. Not terribly much happens here in the way of detail so there's not much to say about it but I like the way it's placed at a sort of angle instead of just smacked in the middle of the plane directly above the wings or something. The fact that there's some yellow and red in the tail prevents it from looking as bad as it could (and definitely does on other state liveries) even though I kind of really genuinely dislike the wordmark placement like a lot. I'm not sure how they could have done it better. I just think if you're making it that small and out-of-the-way you could honestly just go without. Not like there's even one other plane flying around with this livery.
Why is the inside of the winglets totally bare? I can't be the only one that thinks that's strange, can I?
I'll give her a C+. I think there's a pretty low ceiling on how good a livery that's just the flag of New Mexico can be, and Southwest did a job I would call 'correct' - they didn't really mess anything up and they didn't have some sort of brain explosion that let them create a design more captivating than putting a good flag onto an airplane but leaving the tail Southwest colors. This is a good special livery and it seems like a nice little tribute to New Mexico, and it's always nice to see a beloved old livery be preserved on a new airframe. Congratulations to the people of New Mexico, particularly the Zia, on a pretty neat commemorative livery.
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joonie-berry · 3 months
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Pomefiore
Fairest One and the Poison Palace
Intro | Rose Maze | Lion's Den | Witch’s Lake-house | Desert Manor | Death’s Mansion | Dragon’s Castle | Alternate Dialog and scenes
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This and the next chapter, book, level whatever you wanna call ‘em. Can only start when Yuu has a specific relationship rank with previous characters. So like this one, Kalim and Jamil are needed since Ace and Deuce’s relationship rank is pretty automatic. Kalim is pretty easy as you gained points with him during The Desert Manor plot line. It’s Jamil that Yuu has to work with and even then rest of the points can only be gained during this story.
Yuu and Grim have been staying over in the Rose Maze, with Ace and Deuce after Leona decided he didn’t wanna see them for a while. During their stay they see the effects of their actions (I’m writing the good/spare all ending first) Riddle has calmed down and taken a step back on the whole rules are queen and the law is the correct way to live approach, (Every now and then he relapses). Yuu also notices that Riddle is stressed about something but refuses to tell anyone. Yuu starts to worry that he’ll go full tyrant again, eventually Riddle seeks some help and advice.
Riddle goes on to talk about how the Leaders of each territory must meet with each other for an event that’s to happen, (It’s to talk about the “missing” prisoner) but with everything that been happening, in the Rose Maze, Lion’s Den, Witch’s Lakehouse, and the Desert Manor, he fears that their home will be eradicated but the last three main territories. Yuu offers to investigate The Poison Palace as they wanted to see if the palace had anything to help their situation.
Riddle demands that Yuu takes two of his card Soldiers, which end up being Ace and Deuce. As they arrive in the Poison Palace they soon realize that it’s practically new looking despite it being a really old territory. This is where Yuu gets their first glimpse of one of the staff members.
A man with bi-color split hair. Black and white. Wore a pelt of similar colors to his hair, and he was speaking to an equally beautiful man. If Yuu didn’t know any better they would have fell head or heels for them and maybe would have ruin their chances of survival.
Sadly Ace, Deuce, Yuu, and Grim’s hiding spot was found out, and they were “Captured” by a very…strange blonde man. He was oddly cheerful yet had the eyes of a predator and he had a French accent. He went on about how he’s been watching Yuu, and understood why the elders (Staff members) need such a beautiful soul to achieve godhood. He snatched Yuu up, and nearly killed Grim when he attacked. He glared grim down and basically challenged him. Grim didn’t like the implication of the threat because he also hated the fact that Rook held Yuu far too tight to the hunter’s chest.
Rook actually is the most dangerous in this, for his set of skills. He’s quite fast, he seems to always know where Yuu or others are, and he’s quite skilled with a bow. I’d advise you to never run into Rook.
Epel is the only safe haven in the Poison Palace. Yuu and the gang meet Epel while they are running from Rook. He allowed them to hide in his room. This was the start of a new friendship. Like I said before Epel serves as a safe haven, and a saving point.
Vil becomes an obstacle when he finally realizes that Yuu and the rest of the gang are there. He only realizes that they are there when he is monologuing to a fair skin boy with the pretty raven hair, and Ace made a very stupid comment that Vil overheard. This caused the group to be separated during the chase. Yuu, and Grim managed to avoid being caught by Vil, while Ace, Deuce, and Epel, were further chased by Vil. Yuu and Grim investigated the cell with the fair skinned boy with the pretty raven hair. Yuu helped him escape the glass coffin. He introduced himself as Neige. Yuu explained their situation to Neige and in return Neige explained his.
Neige told Yuu about why he was locked away in the glass cage. Vil obsessed with perfection, and hated the fact that he was getting popular in their district, so Vil kidnapped and was preparing to torture him, until Yuu and her gang showed up.
After that, Yuu, Grim, and Neige met up with Ace, Deuce, and Epel which led Rook to them. Rook ended up shooting and injuring Grim, and Ace. Yuu in fear had Neige take Grim and had Epel and Deuce hold onto Ace. They left, leaving Yuu alone with Rook which could be one of those battles that you're forced to lose (But it’s not impossible to win). Either way Jamil and Kalim showed up when the Rookie squad didn’t report back to any of them. They help defeat and convince Rook that this wasn’t the right thing for beauty.
Vil heard of the betrayal of not only Epel, but of his right hand man, Rook which infuriated him and caused him to start a battle with Yuu, Kalim and Jamil. After the battle, Yuu spoke and hugged Vil, telling him that he was perfect the way he was. Which obviously made him quite emotional but he didn’t want to show it. Which allowed Yuu to gain his charm some Poison Apple Earrings.
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gatogore · 9 months
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I know that 'the garroth betrayal sucks' is not like, a hot take or anything but I haven't really seen anyone touch on what I personally find just so fcking frustrating about it. by that I mean is that the narrative (and the fandom tbh) tend to treat it as an exclusively interpersonal conflict instead of a huge, world-changing political one, and one that really weirdly colors Garroth's relationship not just with Aphmau, or Laurance, not even the entirety of Phoenix Drop but the whole goddamn continent of Ru'aun.
Like... people bring up that Garroth faced zero consequences for the whole Irene dimension fiasco, and the reason that's the case is that no one was really *that* effected by the whole thing, tbh. At least not in practice. Half of the people who went to Irene Dimension actively don't care/had nothing to lose. Laurance comes back and is in no rush to see his family again, and has a stupid unsatisfying reunion with Cadenza (god i hate it so much. but that's another post.) They pay lip service to the idea that Aphmau's relationship with her son's has been affected by the time skip but... not really? Like there's no major conflict that arises from this. They're cool with each other, they're still pretty familiar with each other, etc etc etc... The world has not been satisfyingly effected by this, imho.
But at the very least, the groundwork is there. Characters talk about how hard it's been, at the very least, even if I think it's kinda lame the way it was executed. No, what really infuriates me is that the very idea of Garroth siding with Zane as it stands has such mind-blowingly egregious implications that I'm astounded it ever came to fruition, despite the overall clunkiness of the writing. It's just on a whole other level.
Like, let's recap Zane's laundry list of crimes against humanity real quick, okay? Murder. Mass Murder. Wiping out entire villages/tribes for the hell of it. Forcibly impregnating a woman with magical fuckery. Turning a literal infant into a murderous demon. Causing entire wars. Working directly under his imperialist father in service of said imperialism. And that's just the shit we see happen on screen.
And Garroth knows this. He was, in fact, a direct witness to half of it. He is aware of what Zane's goals and motives are, is aware of all the terrible things he's done and very clearly intends to keep on doing. And for this plot to happen he kinda just has to be... okay with it. And that's what's so terrible about it, because even if we are to assume that his jealousy over Laur & Aph would destroy his relationship with them, the idea that it would literally ever bring him to side with Zane-- which inherently sides him with O'khasis and his father-- when his main character motivation for 90 fucking episodes prior is how violently, catastrophically *not* okay he is with that is mind boggling. And it's treated like it's nothing! Like, the moral implications of that are reallyyyyy bad and it's never mentioned that Garroth Ro'meave, literal white-knight who's whole Thing is how he chooses to uphold goodness at all costs in direct contrast to his past, is not actually *that* put off by the cartoony evilness of his brother and is in fact willing to explicitly participate in it. Are you fr.
And a lot of people harp on the whole 'Lillian manipulated him!' thing, not necessarily to justify his betrayal but to at least make his actions seem less glaringly out of character/understandable. And I... am unimpressed, quite frankly. Sorry but I just genuinely do not believe that there is anything short of literal mind control that Lillian could have said/done to him in the less than a week she was with him that would make Garroth, as he'd been characterized up to that point, be willing to betray everyone like that. I just don't. The idea hinges on Garroth apparently being the most suggestible schmuck ever, all of a sudden. Garroth is a generally normal, of-sound-mind grown man and I kind of don't care how much he was supposedly manipulated, I do not even remotely accept this disturbing willingness to throw away every principle he's ever expressed because he got his feelings hurt. I don't understand how you get from 'my crush kissed another man' to 'i should become complicit in the militaristic colonialism of the society I've been rejecting for 5+ years'. It's just badly written, rushed, and painfully oversimplified, full stop.
And I love Garroth. And I love this plot point IN THEORY. The idea of Garroth, the one who's been there from the very beginning being the one to betray Phoenix Drop is at the very last thematically interesting. The idea of him so irreparably destroying his relationships with everyone around him through this is so juicy. I love Jury!Garroth-- there's so much you can do with that but it's just... not good at all. I don't really have an actual 'rewrite' because I'm at least okay with most of plots in this series and their executions, but this is the one thing I have such glaring objections to I've actually put effort into reimagining it. There's so many ways you could have gotten him from point A to Point B and they somehow landed on the worst one. It's so annoying I just.... ghhhhhhhh....
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streaminn · 10 months
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Enid really wished she'd just stayed home with her newly appointed mothers, but this was their "make-up" date, and she couldn't miss that! Not after everything that happened.
("If she breaks your heart I'll eat hers!" Yoko called out as she saw Enid off.
"YOKO!"
"That's mom to you, Enid!")
She's happy for this date, it's just...
Wednesday isn't good with mortals?
She is, quite frankly, awful at planning mortal things like courtship.
"I swear on my name, Enid, this will be an exquisite date."
"I don't doubt that, Willa." Enid kicks a rock into a ditch as they walk across a fallen log. Wednesday is leading them to a area she'd found.
"I'm just mildly worried you're gonna end up feeding me undercooked chicken and killing me, is all." She follows behind Wednesday, ducking under tree branches and a particularly plump crow that flies overhead. She's certain Wednesday somehow made it go after her.
Wednesday huff, "I'll have you know: I've been taking cooking lessons from Divina. She's an excellent cook, no?" She turns suddenly, "Besides, she helped me make this," she lifts up a container, "specifically so I wouldn't poison you."
"Y'know what? Fair."
Wednesday turns another corner, then another, and then another. All to the right.
"Weds, we're gonna go in a circle at this rate. Are you sure you know where we're goin'?" Enid does smack headfirst into a thick branch this time. "Ow!" She rubs her head, checking her hand for blood.
"You deserved that."
"I—" Enid blinks and sees that Wednesday is far ahead of her. "—Hey! Wait for me!"
When she manages to catch up, she's panting. "You're fast for someone with such small legs—" she's stop when Wednesday firmly places her arm in front of Enid, hitting her in the stomach. "Ow! First a tree, now my lover. I just keep getting hit!"
"I didn't hit you, firstly," Wednesday says, turning another corner, to the left this time. "And secondly, we're here." Enid blinks.
"Why are the trees dead?" She whispers, leaning down to grip Wednesday's shoulders in fear. "Why is the sky black?"
"Calm down, Dear." Wednesday takes her hands, turns around and presses a kiss to her lips. She almost falls with how relaxed her muscles get. "We're in my realm."
She gives a dopey grin. "Okay." She whispers.
She looks around at the black sky and black, dead trees and black stone and rivers of black water.
"Awful lot of black. Did'ya make that happen, or is it a form-follows-function kinda deal? All the rotting... bodies? Made your sky black?"
Wednesday clicks her tongue in reprimand, "that isn't at all how that works, Enid." She leads Enid up a hill.
"Well! I'm dumb, okay?! What do you want from me?" She leads the werewolf through a brush of trees and into a cave.
"Love?" She asks. Enid blinks. Then squeals.
"Sure! All the love! But, uh... I feel like you could use some red. A lil' green?" Wednesday scoffs.
"Never again request me to infect my realm with—" she shudders "—color." Enid gasps.
"Infect? Oh! Shame! Shame on you for the very implication of it being unwanted!" She turns the corner past a bend of rock.
"Such a big word for someone with a vocabulary as robust as a plank of wood." Enid can see light peaking past the wall.
"That's..." she stops and stares at the light's source. It's beautiful.
"What... is this?" She looks at the bright flowers and lush forest just past an odd, air-wrapping barrier. She lifts her hand and walks towards it.
Wednesday grabs her hand. "Don't." She lowers the other woman's hand. "Don't touch that; you'll be transported through to Life's realm."
Enid stares at Wednesday like she's trying to communicate telepathically with her.
"Is that bad?" Wednesday's shoulders stiffen and her wings puff out.
"Life and I, we... don't like each other." Enid nods.
"Okay, that makes sense. I just don't really understand why I can't take a little trip. A little... adventure to their realm? Could be fun!" Wednesday shakes her head.
"Life and I are enemies, almost. The only reason I haven't killed her is because the order is needed or things would get very bad." Enid pouts.
"I don't understand, though!" Wednesday sighs.
"If she found you, there's a high percent chance that she'd take you prisoner. As a revenge, of sorts." Enid huffs, stares at the ground.
"Okay..." she says dejected.
"Hey," Wednesday tugs on her wrists and pulls her down, kissing her cheek, "it's alright. I have a much better date planned than she ever could." Enid gains a shit-eating grin.
"You're jealous!"
"Am not." Wednesday lies. She takes her container and opens it. Enid's stomach growls.
"It... smells very good." Enid laughs uncomfortably. She's shaking.
Wednesday lets out a short 'ha!' and sits on the cave's sun warmed floor. "I take it you're hungry?"
Enid drops to the floor so hard a thud rings out.
"Gimme some of that chicken right now or I'll eat you."
Wednesday rolls her eyes and takes a large chunk of the delicious looking chicken, feeding Enid.
Enid quickly snaps her jaw around the chicken.
Wednesday grunts quietly. She pulls back a bloody hand.
"OH FUCK!" Enid yelps and grabs the force of nature's hand, inspecting the blue blood that comes out. "WHY'S IT BLUE?!"
Wednesday scoffs, taking her hand back. Enid watches transfixed as the wound knits itself closed.
"What the fuck?" She whispers.
"I'm hurt that you'd be more concerned with my ichor being blue than me being hurt." Wednesday takes a blueberry and eats it, looking Enid directly in the eyes.
"What the fuck is ichor?" She whipsers.
Wednesday blinks, then sigh in exasperation.
"I need to get you a book on divine physiology. Or a dozen. And a dictionary." Enid grabs her hand hesitantly, running her thumb over where the wound had been.
"Are you okay? I really didn't mean to hurt you." She kisses the no-longer-wounded hand on the spot she bit. "I'm sorry, Willa."
Wednesday lets a soft aw before kissing Enid's hand, reaching up as Enid leans down and scratching the back of her ears. When fluffy wolf ears pop up at the top of her heads, she scratches them instead.
"You didn't hurt me, Tesoro. I healed right up." She places a hand on Enid's. Her hands are dwarfed. "I'm okay. I promise."
"Still not good. Just 'cause you're not hurt doesn't mean it's okay."
"I know. But it was an accident, and I forgive you." She pulls Enid down and kisses her cheek. "I mean it when I say I love you."
"I know," she takes the smaller hand and interlocks their fingers. "I just want to make sure you know that you deserve good things."
Wednesday blushes and takes a pomegranate seed. She feeds it to Enid.
She presses a kiss to Enid's lips.
"Idiot."
-Writer Anon.
Imma kms, theyre so
CUTE FUCKAKCJSKSN
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I love them so much writer anon, you have no idea. They're adorable, I'm so happy for them
They're dynamic,, Wednesday willing to give Enid the education she deserves, learning how to cook for her,,
Enid learning to be braver and softer for wednesday,,,
God these women are so in love, good for them
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waitmyturtles · 10 months
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Okay, so color me surprised. I thought Double Savage was going down an incomprehensible and overdramatic road (New Siwaj side-eyes) -- in the words of the lovely @shortpplfedup, shit do still be happening -- but with this episode, especially the ending, Rung’s trajectory, and the preview to the last episode, I’m actually finding myself quite moved and devastated. Episode 9 thoughts, here we go (only one episode this week -- episode 10, the finale, is next week). 
So what trauma trajectories have we seen in this series? From Dad Beng casting out Korn and willingly subjecting his unwilling family to psychological abuse; to Korn choosing a life of crime to survive, because that’s all he literally thinks he deserves; to us seeing Win rise and fail at his career, because he’s never processed that he was set up to be the golden boy, and hasn’t faced real adversity in his life; to Rung, naturally reckless and impulsive, getting caught in Korn’s and Mek’s webs and trajectories, and processing it as recklessly and impulsively as ever. 
The metaphor here is the drop of rain that splashes in the ocean, causing the start of the pulse of energy that creates a wave. To me, this show has taken a turn towards 10 Years Ticket, and has begun really coalescing the community trauma aspect of Dad Beng’s history of violence against Korn. (And I’ll DEFINITELY count in this Li’s and Ah’s clear attraction here, because -- we now know, from the last episode, that Li doesn’t work, she may not have even gone to college, and who else is in her external community that she engages with? We don’t see it. So who else WOULD she be attracted to, but the people that her family engages with? It’s actually, incredibly, a very common and natural way to meet partners in traditional Asian societies like the Thai-Chinese society that this whole show is rooted in. And it’s not surprising to me that it’s happening. And Korn’s “yo, I’m out” reaction when he was seeing it was hilarious to me, but anyway.)
But I’m now realizing that Rung’s own independent streak -- her recklessness -- was another drop of rain in this ocean, one that absolutely matched the energy of the trauma that Korn’s family was emanating. I get why Rung wants revenge on Korn and his family -- I get that taking the fall for that drug run in the truck was devastating to her -- but I really happen to like this metaphor of multiple “good” people in the show not taking ACCOUNTABILITY for their actions (Dad Beng, Rung, Win), and that the “bad” people who ARE taking or HAVE taken accountability (Korn, Ah, Mek) are the ones who originally had to turn to crime to escape their realities with the so-called “good people” in the first place. And then Mek paid for it -- he paid for Rung’s recklessness, just as Korn has, too. 
It’s another scenario of how-the-world-should-work getting twisted and turned over, as the police captain was ultimately implicated in the middle of a drug war. Who knows if Rung could have lived a straight-arrow life -- maybe not, considering how impulsive she is.
In any case, while I think this show could be interpreted as messy, I actually, again surprisingly, think it came together in a heartbreaking way. I think the last scene -- seeing Win confirm that he WILL go against his morality and try to set Rung free -- is exactly what we could have expected of him, and exactly where we know Rung wants to take him. And it’s messed up and heartbreaking to me. Mek’s death and Korn and Rung’s reactions were wonderfully acted.
And I think the last thing that’s gutted me about this episode is that in the preview for the finale, we see that damn mother FINALLY confronting Dad Beng and saying the thing that’s long needed to be said -- “your kids hate each other now. Are you happy?” It might seem overdramatic to some, but I think it got my Asian heart in a weird place. 
Because that Asian silent mother thing is very real. Families and siblings are left to burn on their own so very often, without structure from a sensible, mature parent or a stable family infrastructure. Middle children like Korn -- darker-skinned, maybe clumsy, maybe struggling at school -- are left to flap in the wind, while praise is heaped on the golden children. I’ve seen this paradigm fail in the adult lives of children time and time again, and to be honest -- this show nails how that paradigm is just always set up to fail, and it got me good for this episode. 
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shitpostingkats · 2 years
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Crack Theory: Jaden Yuki is (at least partially) Atlantian
As usual, this is 100% my own connection making brain going crazy, I doubt this is what the writers intended, if they thought about it at all. Also, this essay is not free of infodumping or absurdity. 
So, Atlantis has always been... kinda weird, in yugioh. Other than just the absolute wildness of it just. Canonically existing. The Waking the Dragons arc has some of the most far reaching lore implications for the franchise as a whole, introducing ideas like the spirit world, duel monsters appearing in history (outside of egypt lol), and some major afterlife magic. Things that yugioh will expand on in following series, and things that were, I reiterate, introduced in a throwaway filler arc of the anime because they had run out of manga to adapt. 
But one character in particular not just builds on the concepts introduced in DM’s Atlantis season, but shares some interesting similarities with the main villain of that season, Dartz.
Jaden Yuki.
The first thing that caught my attention was the eyes. While yugioh has an almost ridiculous number of characters with magical eyeballs, heterochromia with one turquoise, one orange/yellow? Incredibly specific. I can’t think of a single yugioh character whose weird eye horror even passingly resembles anothers, yet here Jaden and Dartz are. Even further, both of them spend time serving as a “king” with pure gold eyes, before coming into contact with a foreign entity and developing the bilateral asymmetry. 
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But Jaden’s eyes are based on Yubels, and more thematically, the colors of the polymerization card art. And Dartz’s seem to be just a random anime villain power up. 
Let’s put a pin in this for now.
The next weird link between the two is in the strange flashback we see at the very end of GX season 3. Jaden sees one of his past lives, when Yubel pledged themselves to be his guardian. In this era, Jaden is the young prince of a vague and never named kingdom. When was this? Where? We don’t know.
But the few characters we see share some interesting design elements with the people of Atlantis.
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The primary front skirt panel being this narrow rectangle ending in a point at the end. The gold crown featuring a solid band with a diamond shaped piece right over the forehead embedded with a bright red gem. These capes and the big round brooch thingies. Jaden’s father’s belt has this segmented gold design that looks quite a bit like the necklace of the Atlantian king. (His granddaughter, Kris, has a similar one, I was just running out of space for references.) In fact, both Jaden’s father and the Atlantian king use red gems as their primary design element.
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And finally, the biggest detail I want to point out is this little gemstone on human!Yubel’s forehead. Crowns are a pretty universal thing, but a delicate little jewel right on the forehead? That’s an iconic piece of jewelry worn by one Dartz Yugioh. It’s also worth noting, Jaden supreme king armor has the same blue diamond on its forehead. 
Now, before I tie this all together, let me take a quick aside to reassure that yes, I am aware, this sounds like the furthest reach I could possibly make. Sure, the two kingdoms might share some design elements, if you squint. Yeah, Jaden and Yubel might each have one weird feature that Dartz also flaunts. But really, is that enough to posit a connection between the two?
I mean, absolutely, I’ve built fan theories on far less and I WILL DO IT AGAIN
But no. Here’s the plot twist of this post: 
I’m not trying to prove that past!Jaden was the prince of Atlantis.  
Past!Jaden was the prince of New Atlantis.
All right buckle up kids it’s time for me to pull out the thumbtacks and red string also yes this essay is only 50% crack theory and 50% me wanting to infodump about mythology and historical dress. 
Now, ygo Atlantis is based on the “real” Atlantis described by Plato in a trio of his allegorical dialogues, wherein he invents a fictitious evil island nation and then recounts how the ancient Athenians singlehandedly stopped them from invading the known world. And ygo Atlantis actually references parts of the texts and uses some neat Atlantis details that I never see anyone else get right. For one, the three dragons, Timaeus, Critias, and Hermos, are named after the three chapters of the dialogue. Though Hermos is shortened from Hermocrates, but it means someone on the writing team gave at least a passing glance to the source material. Secondly, the layout of the city uses the concentric ring design laid out by Plato.
“-dwelt into a palace and enclosed it with three circular moats of increasing width, varying from one to three stadia and separated by rings of land proportional in size. The Atlanteans then built bridges northward from the mountain, making a route to the rest of the island. They dug a great canal to the sea, and alongside the bridges carved tunnels into the rings of rock so that ships could pass into the city around the mountain”
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 Thirdly, (and this is my favorite) Atlantis itself does not resemble grecian architecture. It is SO easy for writers using Atlantis as a cool fantasy location to just slap some marble pillars on it and call it a day. But while we are getting the dialogue from Plato, and the text states that they encountered hellenistic Greeks, doesn’t automatically make them one in the same. In fact, in the text itself, we are assured that all of the proper nouns are being translated from their original records. And where did these fictitious records come from, you might ask?
Egypt!
So yeah, props to the ygo writers for actually using a fantasy civilization that has legitimate ties to Egypt in their dm filler arc. And it would in fact make sense for Dartz to be in Egypt 5-3,000 years ago, since he would be the one of the only survivors of his kingdom and as such any records that survived would have to have come from him.
I’m getting distracted. Back to Jaden.
While Jaden’s kingdom shares some similarities with the Atlantians, there’s a much stronger historical inspiration at play here.
Greeks.
Specifically, some of the modern perceptions of Spartans. 
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The Atlantian long robe retains the shape of the front panel, but it’s been cut short at the knee to form a sort of pteruges (that armored skirt made from strips of leather). They maintain the shape of the Atlantian cap sleeves, but instead of cloth they have been made into bronze pauldrons. The capes, in particular, have now taken on the form of a chalamys, the iconic cloak of ancient Greek military attire. 
We even see some ancient Greeks in capsule monsters, further cementing that Jaden’s people are very much similar, but not quite. They’ve still got some Atlantian flourishes that set them apart. 
And see those capes I can’t shut up about? 
The Atlantians fastened theirs with two big round gemstones, one on each shoulder.
Historically, and in yugioh, Greek military fastened theirs at the right shoulder, using what archeologists like to call a fibula brooch.
And Jaden’s people fasten their cloaks on the left, using that ancient Atlantian gem. 
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Do we have enough evidence to even begin to guess what happened to the citizens after Atlantis sank into the ocean? No. But here’s my theory.
Atlantis, an enormous empire, crumbles. Its people were decimated by war and tragedy. A surviving group slowly migrates to Greece, either willingly or through the Athenian conquest. They take refuge with another famous enemy of the Athenians, the Spartans. They slowly assimilate with the city state, blending the two cultures together, but the Atlantian citizens still delineate themselves in small ways through fashion and political influence. These people know of duel monsters, but are hesitant to share that knowledge, fresh on the heels of the spirit war. Orichalcos is rare, coveted, and nowhere near as pure as the stones once used all throughout their city. But it still exists. And some learned few still know how to use it.
Remember Dartz’s forehead jewel? It’s not just a fashion statement, it’s actually a chunk of orichalcos. And remember who else I said had one?
I mean, we’ve seen from flashbacks what overexposure to this stone when paired with the right magicks can do, right? It turns people into monsters.
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And it’s not like we have a magic artifact that is literally called the eye of orichalcum. Or even that both these stories strongly feature a mysterious red rock falling from the sky and heralding the forthcoming evil.
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Huh. 
This leads to my final piece of evidence:
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Anyways, yugioh fanworks should use that fact that Atlantis 100% existed in the ygo world, as well as has been apparently rebuilt/succeeded into a major city, more often. Also, from now on I will be headcanoning Jaden as half Atlantian. Because I can. <3
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sacredpit · 5 months
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↳               “   Get  out  of my  way .   ” From Jotaro !
     sender :   @vialaviolenza​     /     source :   prompted     /     status :   open .
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         slender hands loosen around the flimsy paper of the map in their grasp ——— thin as gossamer, a whisper of a crinkle sighing through the air as the neat folds go limp without enough force to keep them erect . then , sharp violets flit from the color - coded diagram of the world around them , shifting focus from the golden star declaring ' you are here !! ' , to catch the sour image of jotaro in their increasingly narrow gaze . the issue of diminishing the unfortunate obscurity of the location mr. joestar had so hastily designated for their debriefing session evaporates in the intensifying heat of kakyoin's irritation ; admittedly , were he dealing with polnareff , he would have snapped in the vein of a popsicle stick in the hands of an overactive child . but he manages to maintain his composure for now , enough to cognize the underlying implications of jotaro's acid tongue .
he usually doesn't talk to me like that . concerning what he knows of him , jotaro had never been anything of a friendly or approachable person ——— sometimes ( oftentimes , even ) , he's unambiguously callous and rude , which should make him unlikeable & a thorn in kakyoin's side , considering he never handled the presence of people who exhibited similar behaviors with any extent of patience . however , the truth is that he's never met anyone quite like kujo jotaro ; though he's certainly encountered his fair share of mannerless bastards & faux - edgy scumfucks deep in the abyss of teen angst , kakyoin cannot rightfully view them in the same light as his friend . for all his flaws , jotaro has a pure heart ( i saw it that day he saved me , i haven't lost sight of it since ) , and though it doesn't excuse his crass tendencies , it allows kakyoin to be more understanding of them , to see through them as if he peers through the polished lens of a microscope bearing the true content of jotaro's core .
some people may feel so inclined to call that bias . given that he hadn't a single friend ( one that wasn't an extension of his own conscience , at least ) before they met , kakyoin really wouldn't concern himself with anyone else's single - sided opinion .
all of this considered , kakyoin knows the difference between standard jotaro shit - talking and something is actually wrong with him . the premier member of their coterie that tends to receive the worst of jotaro's discourtesy is his own grandfather , with whom they are currently attempting to reconnect , & at times polnareff , whose pea - sized brain could render even a saint ready to wrap their hands around his neck . figuratively or otherwise .
" oh , " kakyoin starts , mouth slanting with indignance while his arms cross over his chest , crumpling the map against his immaculately buttoned gakuran , " i see . you're so graciously telling me to move instead of just shoving me out of the way , right ?? you must be in a good mood . "
even if he can be understanding of jotaro's disposition , that doesn't equate with a willingness to put up with it .
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" sorry , jojo , but i don't honor any requests made by someone who's not talking to me like a normal person , " he says , hip protruding at the perfect angle for a hand to perch upon it . " so i'll be staying right here . but if you're so eager to storm off & get lost in the middle of a foreign country , you're welcome to go ahead of me . i wish you an ounce of luck . "
a huff billows past his nares like smoke . he doesn't like this . & he knows jotaro isn't dumb enough to go off on his own when all they have for god knows how many kilometers is each other . despite himself , the pearl - handled knives of kakyoin's eyes soften into something less severe , just subtly enough to perhaps be a trick of the desert sun . " or you could stay here and tell me what's bothering you so i can try to help . it's your call , jotaro . "
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braintapes · 1 year
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Each of the three new staff have made it a significant point in their narration to explain how they “see the Hotel differently” than the guests do. Differently than even the staff do, which brings on a whole host of very interesting implications.
I want to bring up the idea of contrasting ‘light’ and ‘dark,’ since that comes up a lot in relation to the Hotel herself. She is, herself, darkness. The natural state of the universe. Not quite nothingness, but the specific, cold, absence of life. The Hotel, from lobby to elevators to stairs and hallways to rooms, is death. Those inside the Hotel are lights, stars glimmering in Her vast darkness.
(On an unrelated note, it’s my personal view that when the Staff describe Madam Hotel as having eyes like starlight, it’s them catching glimpses of her full form. Condensed infinity of hotel.)
We know from the finale of Season 2 that the Hotel herself tried to “put out” those “three lights of [her] own making” and couldn’t do so without nearly unraveling herself. She also refers to the guests as lights, both in that episode and later on when we get narration from her, such as in 4.8:
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Now aside from me losing my mind now at how much you could parallel the three guests of that episode to the first three staff and not realizing this before...
We also know that the early staff don’t see the Hotel the same way the guests do. Often, they’ll comment on the guests seeing or reacting to things that aren’t within the staff’s perception. Things that can cause them to react and behave as if they were in a regular hotel up until the very end. The staff are aware that both their own, and the guests, perception can be shaped and warped by the Hotel’s whims. But still, the Hotel appears as a hotel to the first three staff.
The new gang has a decidedly different perspective. The Bellhop sees the Hotel as a massive amalgamation of meat and guts ( :-] ). The Concierge paints a picture of the Hotel’s structure as this....paper mache formality, as something that hides the true cosmic colors and shapes that underpin every part of the place. And the Auditor in the new ep introducing her refers constantly to darkness. The darkness from which they all come from, and which they will all return to.
The new staff are perceiving the Hotel as....herself, essentially.
That’s curious, because this set of staff is, at least as I understand it currently, fresh outta the oven. Created by Her as the result of the lead up and events of the Curtain arc.
This new set starts out with this...reverence towards the Hotel. This admiration and awe and wonder of Her. I wonder if this is because of their perception, or if it’s because they’re new. 
There’s clear character development with our first set of staff, mostly because...Well, obviously. There’s no avoiding that. Admittedly, while I adore S1 very much, I don’t know how ‘canon’ their early characterization actually is since it seems to be around S2 that the series settles into itself.
But purely in-universe, I wonder if the reason the Hotel is bringing on these fresh employees now is because she’s noticed that the first three staff are becoming more human. More...like the guests. They first perceived themselves as part of a company structure (at least, the Owner did.) after all. Much less cosmic wonder, more powers that be in the sense of your vague, far away corporate overlord, y’know? And they grew to care for each other, to form bonds with one another despite starting out as infinite copies of a basic idea. Somehow, they found a way to persist. To become and individuate, not unlike the guests.
Buuuut, welllllll....What does that say, when the staff are just like the guests? How professional is that? We’ve got an operation to run here! And all this in-fighting and protectiveness and blah blah blah is getting. in. the. WAY! (Never mind that Madam Hotel was getting, in the way of them)
So, what to do? Can’t, er...fire them. Or rather, extinguish them. They may be more like the guests now, but they’re also her in a way. So integral that ridding herself of them would be unspooling herself. Her brute force punishments of S2 and the Curtain arc have only strengthened the old three’s resolve. The whole of S3 was both, I believe the staff’s origin and also end? and also another attempt from the Hotel Herself to get them to understand her. to understand their world. That worked....temporarily.
Maybe they need some encouragement! Some positive role models! Some good influences to rub off on them and get eeeeverybody on the right track again! And this time, let’s fix some of the old model’s problems while we’re at it. These three will get to see, from the start, what and how and why she is.
The only question remains, how will these new staff members change over time? What will happen if she loses control of them in the long run, too?
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not-a-bot-just-shy · 9 months
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Tasha Intro
CW: murder, implications of gore
Tasha is a little taller than Mehri at around 5’7.5” inches or 232 cm. She’s also big-boned and curvy, so that even might make her seem a little taller than she actually is. She has pale grey/blue eyes, cool-toned pale skin, and straight greyish-blonde hair cut in a short bob. Her nose is aquiline like her gf Varsha’s. She’s also got some sparse, extremely faint freckles, moles, and birth-marks.
Tasha’s style is the same between her interior design work and personal wardrobe— minimalistic. Much of her wardrobe consists of clean lines, straight cuts, and small or classic patterns, although she is also drawn to some small frills and more feminine details as well. Most of her clothes are black, white, and grey, although khaki and some softer, muted colors can be found too. Not quite pastels, but almost there.
As stated in the whole pack’s intro, she’s hyper-organized, health-conscious, loves routines, and is actually a pretty sociable person. Being so neat and opposed to any form of mess or chaos, Tasha gets stressed out by some of the other cats’ antics, but can always go to her own room or even Mehri’s room for a little while to relax. None of the others, even Memphis, will mess with the stuff in her room so it never gets disorganized. She wouldn’t get angry if they did, they just don’t want to make her cry.
Tasha genuinely enjoys cleaning and organizing things— her collections, the kitchen cabinets, or her closet. She has a fairly sizable knife collection. Tasha’s also a real sports girlie; she loves running, doing yoga, and playing softball herself, as well as watching Tai play basketball, and watching pretty much any sport on t.v. with Tai. They probably have a great time preparing football watch parties together 🥰
Tasha and Mehri can often spend time together by practicing yoga together, as well as just cuddling, napping, and watching Mehri’s fish swim in their tanks.
Tasha and Varsha were childhood friends, who became high school sweethearts, and then grew into real lovers. Varsha can bring Tasha out of her comfort zone like no other, and they have a way of playfully teasing each other without crossing boundaries and going too far.
Tasha was the most skeptical of Memphis at the start, but all his greasy little ass had to do was lay sleepily against her chest while purring and wrapping his hands around her back to make biscuits on her back rolls and she was just as suckered as the other three 😭. His penchant for chaos still stresses her out a little, though, so they might not hang out as much as some of the other potential duos in the pack.
Tasha is really only interested in cat toys, laser pointers, and roughhousing when she’s had catnip; you can practically see the blue of her eyes being swallowed by her pupils as she prepares to pounce at whoever she thinks will play with her at that point (usually Memphis, sometimes Varsha or Tai, maybe you~?). Other than that, one of her more cat-like traits is a fascination with just watching fish swim, something she can share with Mehri. Other than catnip-induced zoomies, she’s not the most stereotypically cat-like out of the group, although if you startle her you might catch a bit of a hiss— before she’s blushing and covering her mouth, coughing to cover up the noise.
Tasha is very protective and caring for their Darling, almost smothering in the amount of attention she wants to give. She becomes incredibly touchy and cuddly, and most definitely wants to feed you by hand and pamper you however else she can think to.
Tasha may actually be one of the most protective werecats towards their shared Darling. Tasha may not be as quick to jealousy and anger as Memphis, but when that jealousy reaches a breaking point, she is just as vicious as him, if not more so. Tasha’s rages can lead to black-out, brutal attacks on anyone who threatens to harm you or take you away from the pack.
Tasha typically plays as a Cleric, as she enjoys the support role and ✨aesthetic✨ of it all. Tasha also has the unfortunate and impossible urge to reign in the rest of the party’s chaos and try to “keep them on track.” Obviously a losing battle, but she’s a pretty good sport about it honestly 😂😭
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crescentblossom66 · 2 years
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Dead Bird Metro: The Tale of two Girls Chapter 1
TW: Blood, Minor Character Death
She listened for the familiar sound of the quiet screeching noise the trains made on the tracks, waiting on the now empty overpass for her target. She checked the nicely glowing watch that she had received as a birthday gift three years ago, 01:42am, she sighed. She understood why her boss was really fed up with the owls, they couldn't even be on schedule. Why did he want her to be out here anyway? Couldn't the others do something as easy as getting rid of a traitor?
Finally she heard the train approach, it was time to start the mission. She waited for the train to pass under the platform and jumped on without even a hint of fear. Now all the brunette had to do was go to the roof of the caboose and open the hatch. She sped up a bit after remembering that there was a tunnel up ahead, she had to make it before then, or she would be in trouble. The wind whizzed by her, blowing her side-bangs across her face which made it a bit hard for her to find the device and type in the code for the lock on the latch. What was it again? Hattie tapped her chin in thought. He changed the password every week, he had told her two days ago what it was, but she hadn't paid much attention, because he had been on one of his tangents before. Oh yeah, 9630! After jumping into the wagon, she cringed a little at the fact that just a moment later the scenery behind the windows turned dark, close shave!
There were no passengers in the caboose, as it was tightly locked. Crates of varying sizes were piled on top of each other. She face palmed after seeing the sign on one crate read “This side up”...it was turned upside down, and putting a crate labeled “Fragile” on the bottom of a stack of four crates was just asking for the items inside to get crushed. Sometimes she really questioned the intellect of the Metro Owls. On one hand they were competent enough when it got serious, on the other hand...this. She put down the crates that were on top of the fragile one and flipped the upside down box to face the correct way. One angry shouting session avoided.
She had the keys to the locks, being one of the select few he trusted, so getting into the next compartment was easy enough. The passengers' eyes were fixated on her, as she closed and locked the door behind her again.
“What are you looking at, peck necks?! Never seen a girl close door before?!” Immediately their eyes drifted back to looking out the window, or reading the newspapers they had been reading before she had entered. As she walked by, some of the passengers ducked in fear, others simply tried to ignore her presence. The two Metro Owls in the wagon nodded after seeing her, she nodded back with a stern expression.
One of them whispered to her as she walked by, “Out on a mission, Hattie?” She slowed down a bit, but didn't look at them.
“Have you seen Oscar by chance?” She mumbled, the other owl fidgeted around a bit before giving an answer.
“I've seen him somewhere near the front a couple of minutes ago. Is something wrong?” He got a one word answer to his question.
“Business.” They froze, the intonation giving away the dire situation their comrade had found himself in, he must have angered the boss.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the two owls had cast their eyes to the ground, they knew the implication of her answer. She truly hated to do this, the Metro Owls were her family, some of which she had known all her life, however she would do anything to protect that family, that included taking action against those that wronged the Leowles.
Most passengers on the train were tense as she walked by, knowing to which gang she belonged. Her black varsity jacket with neon red hem and sleeve cuffs of the same color, and the red headband with two long yellow feathers made it quite obvious. Hattie ignored them and only focused on finding Oscar, scanning wagon after wagon. It wasn't unusual for the commuters to find members of the Leowle gang, every single metro train and the shops near the stations were under the command of the leader of the Leowles, the Conductor.
In the second to last train near the front she finally spotted the elusive owl, who recoiled in fear after seeing her approach. Thanks to him, quite a few owls lost their lives, after he lured them into an ambush initiated by the Penguiads. She had only heard about it from Enrique, who was the only one that escaped. Their rival gang had assaulted them somewhere around the central plaza of the metro. Of course the Conductor had been furious and had sent her to track him down and show him what happened to those that betrayed him.
The traitorous owl scrambled to the door to the front of the train, tripping and slamming the door behind him, while Hattie slowly approached. The owl leaned against the door, panting heavily, until he heard three loud knocks on the door.
“Knock knock!” Suddenly the door simply swung open, crushing Oscar behind the door and the wall. “Well, I warned you, you should have moved.” The inhumane strength of girl sent shivers across the commuters, who only watched as the girl grabbed the now unconscious owl by the collar and dragged him to the door. As the vehicle stopped, she could see birds in uniforms on the other side. Most of the police force of the metro were pretty much blackmailed or bribed into cooperation, however one particular new corps was giving them trouble lately, and to her dismay, those officers belonged to that corps.
“Peck!” She cursed, as she quickly moved to the door on the other side and pressed the button on that door three times quickly. What were those idiots doing her at this hour? Good thing that the owls, who operated these trains were on the same pay roll as her, and that this signal was well known by the gang. Normally these doors wouldn't open, as the station platform was on the other side, but the operators knew that the code meant that there was trouble, and that a gang member needed to escape through the unused door.
The door leading away form the station opened just a few seconds before the other, allowing her to slide herself and the incapacitated bird into the narrow space between the wall and the vehicle. She bent down a bit and grabbed the bird by the collar of his jacket, shoving him forward in a mostly upright position, as the gap was only around half a meter(1,5 feet) wide. She had to get away from the station and down the hatch into the sewer tunnels. Good thing that that was where she needed to go to get rid of the owl anyway.
She carefully peeked around the corner toward the station, making sure that the annoying officers wouldn't spot her. After making sure that they hadn't seen her, she hid in the tunnel and walked further in, until she found another entrance to the sewer system. She literally dropped Oscar down the manhole after removing the cover, his limb body hitting the ground with a loud thud. A few broken bones wouldn't matter, soon he would meet an even grimmer fate. She was repulsed by what she had to do next, for a moment she wondered if she was supposed to hear him out, but decided that would, A; be a lot of effort, and B; Make it worse for him. Oscar had been in the gang for at least two years, he had always been quite unstable and she figured that it would only be a matter of time until he would inevitably crack under the pressure.
She put on the gloves that she had grabbed in their headquarters earlier, she hated wearing them, they numbed the feeling in her fingers too much, then she brandished the knife hidden in an extra big inner pocket in her jacket.
In her mind this had all been a lot easier, all she had to do was plunge the blade into his chest, remove it, and clean it with his clothes and then throw it away into the sewers or something. As long as no one could link it back to her, it would be fine. She knew that she had to do something like this eventually, but this was truly difficult. She turned and pointed the sharp object at different parts of his body, trying to find the right angle in futility. The girl let out a big sigh, lowering her knife. When she looked back at the owl, she noticed that he was beginning to stir. She turned to him, weapon raised.
“Where am-” He couldn't even finish his sentence before Hattie interrupted him.
“Why?! Why did you lead them into a trap, Oscar?!” The owl tried to move, but only winced in pain, after realizing that his spine hurt horribly. Hattie tightened her grip on the knife, pointing it at him, “Answer me!”
Seeing the knife the owl's eyes widened in fear.
“I-I didn't want to do it! They forced me into cooperating, t-they said they'd break all my bones if I didn't comply!”
“Lies! They'd have killed you on the spot, if you resisted! They bribed you, didn't they?!” The owl tried to get up again, bur only seemed to cause himself more pain that way.
“No, of course not I would never-” She pointed the blade directly at his throat, a mere five centimeters(2 inches) away.
“Why did they die, then?! You led them to their doom, Oscar!-” She blinked away a few tears, “-I know what happened!”
“They had to die so that I could live, okay! I would be out of this hell hole already if I could, and they offered me all that I needed to make my dream a reality!-” She couldn't believe her ears, so he had killed them just so that he could live, how cowardly. “-This is a cut-throat world, Hattie, sooner or later y-.” His words turned into unintelligible gurgling noises, Hattie had her eyes squinted shut, she had plunged the blade right into his throat. She took off the bloodied gloves and tossed them away into the water, not turning around to see her former comrade slowly go still.
She had done it, however she felt miserable. Now a cold chill overcame her and the world grew strangely distant, like she didn't register anything anymore, the world had become eerily silent, even though another loud train passed by on the surface. She climbed the ladder and came out at a back alley. Hattie apathetically made her way through the streets, as if she were on auto-pilot.
The distraught girl slowly pushed the door of the central station building open, on the inside and outside a normal building where passengers could wait for their train and buy tickets. It had a couple of extra floors up as well as down, the ones to the underground were hidden behind a panel in the back labeled maintenance, she, however pressed the button for the highest floor.
She still felt nothing as the elevator made his way upward, she only stared at the floor, hoping that this disgusting feeling would leave her soon. This was not how she imagined it would feel like, she wasn't feeling happy for avenging her fallen comrades, no great feeling of having delivered justice on those that hurt the family.
The yellow bird lit up his cigar, that he had in the pocket of his suit jacket, before he turned his gaze out the large window. Yet another thing he'd have to worry about, he already had enough on his plate with the Penguiads and that peckin' new special police corps, scrutinizing every thing around the stations closely, making it quite difficult for him to smuggle his wares in, especially that nasty surprise he had for his arch nemesis. He had to split up the pieces and had them shipped on different times to various locations, so even if they searched his shipment they wouldn't find anything.
A sinister smile crossed his beak. The moment this little 'present' was ready and could be deployed, he'd wish he had never crossed him. It would teach that penguin not to mess with him.
His smile vanished again and his expression hardened when he thought about this new threat that quickly became a pain in his backside. That new gang that appeared roughly two years ago was rising to power fast, they were persistently trying to gain control over his stores in the shopping district. So far they were annoying at best, but it was beginning to turn into a problem that had to be dealt with. The Penguiads were the real issue though, he had to deal with them first.
That bloody mess they caused last time was still boiling his blood, he knew that there would always be traitors, but for one of his owl to be so honorless and disloyal was frankly maddening. That small, worthless, brown owl had chosen death and he would oblige by having his wretched existence ended.
Hattie was always reliable, she had always done exactly what he ordered her. His deep frown turned into a small smile. He had raised her like one of his own, he honestly had no idea just how she ended up in a dirty back alley. Whoever left a little infant in a place like that was even worse than him. The people whose lives he had ruined or flat out ended might say differently, but he wasn't heartless.
His head snapped toward the door, and the girl in question entered his office, her head hung low. For a moment he wondered if she had failed, but that assumption was quickly disproven.
She looked at him and could tell from his demeanor that he wanted to know if she had been successful. “I-I killed the traitor.” The owl nodded and slowly walked over to the distraught child. He wondered if something was bothering her, the last time he had seen her like this is when she got informed of what happened to the owls that were with the dirty, little son of a peck neck.
“Good job, lassie, I knew that ye could do it.” She looked up at him, and he noticed that she had been crying, her eyes were red and puffy. If it would have been anyone else he would have yelled at them for showing such weakness, and to get over it, this line of work wasn't for crying hatchlings. The girl wasn't like them though, he knew that that the little lass had potential.
“Does it always feel so...horrible, when you have to kill someone, I mean?” She wiped her eyes waiting for an answer from. He placed a wing on her shoulder, that seemed to calm her down somewhat.
“This has been your first kill, hasn't it?-” His expression softened, “-I know that it's hard, lassie, and I know that it may sound cruel...-” He hesitated, “-But you'll grow numb to it eventually. Just remember that you do all that you do for the family, and that I appreciate your efforts.” She gave him a tired but genuine smile.
“Yeah, I did it for the family. I will protect all of us.-” She looked down at the ground, “-Do you think the owls that Oscar killed are happy now that I avenged them?”
He had forgotten for a moment that she was still a child, she normally acted so mature that he honestly forgot that fact sometimes. He didn't have the heart to tell her that they were dead, and that was all there was to it, he had sent her out to punish a despicable, filthy turn coat, nothing more nothing less. With time she would learn that lesson herself.
“Aye, I'm sure that they can rest easy now, knowing that ye got rid of that scumbag fer 'em.” He froze stiff and his feathers rose, Hattie had taken the opportunity to hug him. She was aware that he hated it, but was exceedingly happy that he decided to hug her back.
“Thank you, grams!” A jolt ran through him, she knew it would fluster him.
“I ain't yer grandpa, lassie!” She let go off him, and smirked mischievously before turning around to go back to her room.
“To me you are!” He got up and watched her leave, shacking his head at her antics.
“That wee rascal.”He mumbled softly under his breath, good thing that she couldn't see that her words had actually cheered him up a bit.
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martianbugsbunny · 1 year
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OUAT Thoughts Pt.34--Episodes 4-5
I have watched through S4E5; spoilers DNI. Also, spoiler warning for anyone further behind than I am.
—How can anybody keep a straight face about that funky lil hat? If Rumple ever actually wears it I will no longer be able to take him seriously.
—The Sorcerer’s Apprentice got turned into a mouse I CANT EVEN
—Are we never actually going to see the Sorcerer? If he could create a hat this powerful, he must be something else.
—I love that Rumple enchanted a broom to do the thing! Sorcerer’s Apprentice is hands-down one of my favorite Disney cartoons, so any reference to its iconic bits delight me.
—How can nobody see the Snow Queen’s castle? It’s an ice palace! IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST! And a thing like that has got to generate some kind of supercool temperatures around it, so it should be pretty obvious when anybody gets close to it.
—The Snow Queen’s weird obsession with mirrors is an interesting nod back to the original Snow Queen story. Which, in itself, has some pretty solid themes.
—That backstory stuff with Emma and her buddy Lilith is fruity as heck.
—So the Snow Queen was Emma’s foster mom? Oh, the intrigue! The question still remains: did she know who Emma was at the time? It seems almost impossible for it to be that big of a coincidence.
—I enjoy a bit of leg as much as the next person, but Elsa needs some new clothes. Her dress simply isn’t practical in Storybrooke. But she could keep the sparkly purple cape, I wouldn’t mind.
—On the other hand, it kinda makes me sad that Hook is out of his pirate clothes. Those are mostly practical, and they’re quite dashing.
—I can’t believe Will Scarlett is actually of some narrative significance. I’ve watched the Disney Robin Hood where they’re all animals, and I’m not sure he was even in that one; I’ve also watched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, in which he happens to be one of the main draws for me. His part in the story seems to be largely variable. The Wonderland stuff has some potential; the drawing he tore out of the book was, I think, of the Red Queen? Which might have cool implications if he’s actually from Wonderland, given his last name.
—If Hook ever risks his relationship with Emma to take Rumple down, I’m gonna mad. Mostly because I am now ride-or-die for CaptainSwan, but also because if Rumple’s marriage falls apart I will cry.
—Emma’s date-night dress was gorgeous. I love Elsa being confused about how little of it there was, compared to Arendellian fashion—but then again, has she looked in a mirror lately?
—Snow and Charming mother-henning about Emma’s date with Hook was adorable. I love when the Charmings get to have normal domestic moments like that.
—We’ve seen how much Hook cares for Emma—he traded the Jolly Roger to help her, for Pete’s sake! (Which is peak romance if you happen to be dating a pirate captain.) Having Emma show him some of her childhood keepsakes was a good way to balance out their relationship and show that she trusts him and cares for him too.
—It’s not such a big deal that Will escaped and got pardoned, considering he was in jail for a pretty minor offense and was apparently being kept there for longer than he should have been.
—I kinda wish the other Snow Queen had a hair color other than blonde. It’s a classic, but it might’ve been more interesting to give her dark or ginger hair. Heck, maybe even just straight white would’ve been cool. Or pale blue. Or light purple. Her dress is pretty, though.
—Regina and Emma being grudging frenemies is amusing. I love how salty they are around each other.
—I’m not sure how I feel about the turn Henry’s taken. Snooping around Rumple’s store is one thing; using the ‘connection to Baelfire’ card to manipulate his way into a job there is another. He’s definitely Regina’s kid.
—Elsa’s story kills me, especially in Frozen 2 (I cry at Show Yourself every frickin time) but this version hits a bit harder. Her parents actively searched for something to change her so she would be “normal.” It’s kinda the next logical step for them, seeing as they were pretty crappy parents in Frozen to begin with, but it’s so much worse. Good golly.
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distopea · 2 years
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@nezumivc103221
The sea lapped at their feet as they walked along the beach; hand in hand despite the lingering heat of the day. Even at sunset, the air was heavy and humid, making the shirt stick to Nezumi's back.
"—Wanna go for a swim?" Nezumi suggested, tugging at Mads' arm. He glanced around the beach, seeing a group of friends in the back. Some people from the circus and a few from the village. His eyes returned to Mads, mischievous gleam in them as he said: "There's a smaller beach just around the corner; more privacy~"
The implication shouldn't be lost, and just in case the heat had gone into Mads' brain, Nezumi wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled himself into a kiss. He stumbled in the sand, bare feet seeking support in the waves.
The sea crashed around Nezumi's ankles, and his heart thundered in his chest like it did every time he kissed Mads. He pulled himself flush against the man's chest, uncaring of sweat or grains of sand that somehow got into his clothes.
With each press of his lips, he confessed again and again, urgently, just how much he had missed them.
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It was such an unreal moment… Crafted by destiny, or whatever had worked during their time apart. His hand holding Nezumi’s, Mads was mapping each single piece of his skin, the flaws, the hidden scars, the softness of his flesh… Their reunion had happened a few weeks ago, but it still felt like a dream. He still was afraid that fate would give them just a slight moment of peace before bringing more wars and pain, as always, scared that he didn’t deserve this blissful emotion. Yet, he had another sensation blooming in the back of his mind, so powerful that it was also invading his heart. He slowly caressed Nezumi’s fingers, while he looked back at him. Somehow… He knew deeply that a time of peace was coming ahead. 
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He evaluated the gentle waves of the sea, the water quite warm during this season. Never had he thought that it could be possible to jump in the ocean back in Scotland, but as Nezumi had just suggested, the idea felt more than appealing. “Yes… It sounds like a good plan.” He nodded, the seagulls still high in the sky and heading to their nests, the sun dying above their heads as the world was colored with orange and pink shades. Nezumi had already anticipated the only concern Mads could have – intimacy.
Even though he was not the same man as the first day he had met him, rain falling down the sky, the police following their tracks. He was more at ease with his own nature, accepting his existence and preferences without any shame anymore. He didn’t flinch when Nezumi came closer, a soft smile curling the corner of his lips. Whoever might see them, he wouldn’t care anymore, he had begged the odds and gods to have him back by his side, and now that his wish was granted, he couldn’t pretend he was not entirely bewitched by the man standing in front of him.
To guarantee his balance, he rolled his arm around his waist, gust of wind blowing his black hair, eyes like the sea surrounding them focused on his features. He didn’t hesitate – he met him halfway, a long and passionate kiss dropped on his lips. He closed his eyes, the scent of the sea mixed with the delicate fragrance of Nezumi, making his heart race within his chest. Oh… He had missed him so much. It felt like he hadn’t been alive for a long time.
“Come.” Mads invited, intertwining his fingers with Nezumi while he led him to the other beach, a bit further away, where the curious eyes wouldn’t be able to see him. Once more, with clumsy steps, he circled his face and kissed him again, slowly going catching the edge of his shirt so he could remove it. “You said privacy… So I won’t let you keep your clothes on.” He whispered once more as he guided Nezumi’s hand upon his own body. 
“Let’s swim together and sleep under the stars.”
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