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dreamingofthewild · 3 months

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I was thinking about the ways in which Astarion & Gale are mirrors to each other.

They both rely on the protagonist. Gale needs help feeding magic to the orb whilst Astarion needs to feed on blood. Both conditions can potentially cause harm to the player character.

Speaking of the protagonist, they are both desperate to gain the trust of the player character and use their respective skills to do so. Whereas Gale tries to make himself useful by using his intelligence and being of service, Astarion attempts to seduce you. Because to the both of them that's the only way they know how.

They are both the only characters who approve of using the tadpoles power.

They are on opposing ends of the morality spectrum but have the potential for change. Gale's desperation to live can cause him to be manipulated into following an evil character. Whereas Astarion can be pushed towards the path of redemption by the way of a good player character who respects his boundaries, autonomy, and doesn't play into doing everything Act 1 Astarion approves of.

They both have scars which are directly related to their abuse.

Both hide their true selves at first. Gale masks his desperation, self-loathing, and past mistakes with polite charm. Astarion uses arrogance and wit to hide his fear and past trauma.

They are both witty and capable of blunt, even cruel, honesty when needed. Gale's is demonstrated more in an evil playthrough. I see it that he always acts as the voice of reason in most cases.

Gale worships a Goddess whereas Astarion was abandoned by all the gods.

Both of their abuse involves coitus in some way. Astarion being forced to use his body to lure victims. Gale, although it is not explicitly stated in the game, intimately worshipped Mystra.

Despite their outward appearances of confidence, both Gale and Astarion harbour deep-seated insecurities and vulnerabilities. They both think that they are not worthy of being loved.

Astarion does not know how to love and Gale only loves deeply.

Gale finds beauty in everything. He is an emotional, highly empathetic, and self-sacrificing person. In contrast to Astarion, who has learnt that empathy and kindness only bring more pain. Who has learnt to give up on kindness and hero's. He thinks the world is a cruel, dark, and unforgiving place. Whereas Gale thinks the world is full of magic.

Gale's unending empathy and moral compass could serve as a stabilizing influence on Astarion's more selfish and morally ambiguous tendencies. Conversely, Astarion's pragmatism and survival instincts could help ground Gale's idealism and prevent him from being too naive or trusting. Their contrasting strengths and weaknesses could complement each other, allowing them to support and uplift one another.

I think they can understand each other and see each other in a way that the other companions can't. Even if they do not end up in a relationship, they are best friends at best.

In a romantic relationship, Gale is a slow burn. He does not care for lying, and I think he sees right through Astarion's theatrics in Act 1 because deep down, they are not unalike. This is why he does not fall for Astarion's attempts to flirt twice. Due to the fact that he was unable to successfully seduce Gale, Astarion acts slightly antagonistically towards him because he sees Gale as a potential threat. I couldn't seduce him. Therefore, why would he want to protect me?

However, Gale continues to protect Astarion anyway. From the Gur, from Araj, from their enemies. Not because he was seduced by Astarion, but because he is fundamentally a good person. Through Gale, he learns that there are truly good people out there.

Astarion is against Gale using the orb in Act 2. Through his brutal honesty, he would be the one to break all the holes in Gale's warped worship of Mystra. He would be the one to catch on and make him see their relationship for what it is and that the god's do not care for mortals. Chosen included. A romanced Astarion would not let Gale ascend to Godhood, especially after being denied ascension himself. And Gale is against Astarion ascending. I think Astarion would also be the only one to recognise it if Gale dissociates during a depressive episode. They both know what it is like to be isolated and condemned to death.

Gale, who would marry his love interest as a Mind Flayer, looks past Astarion's vampirism. He breaks down the walls that Astarion built around himself and gets through to the genuine Astarion. The tiny sliver that is still there desperately seeking redemption and tells him that he is worthy of being loved. He is worthy of a better future.

They do have the potential to draw into each others negative traits and make each other worse. Astarion could push Gale to abandon his carefully maintained moral front, while Gale might try to drag Astarion towards a more empathetic path. And this all depends on the player choices.

The main difference is that Gale's conflicting motivations offer a more nuanced moral struggle for Astarion. While Wyll represents a clear oppositional force (good vs. evil), which can result in redemption or death, Gale straddles the line. His desperation and potential for greater darkness mirror Astarion's own complexities.

Gale and Wyll would be healing for each other and possibly better for each other than Astarion. However, it is the least popular of the three potential pairings.

Both of them are very compelling ships. Enemies to lovers, opposites attract, monster vs. monster hunter is a very popular tropes in fanfiction. The potential for one to act as a catalyst of change for the other, or to potentially destroy them (either in death or corruption) is more interesting to write about than a balanced couple who mirror how most relationships are in real life. Some of the most popular romances have drama (Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, etc).

Astarion and Gale can be redemptive or corruptive. They can transform each other or be each others catalyst's for character development.

They compliment each other in other ways. Astarion needs to reacquaint himself with his body, which involves not having coitus in a while, whereas Gale sees the act as the combining of the body and soul, not just a means of release. Gale falls for what is inside a person, not what is on the outside. But at the same time, he is not the heroic type which Astarion has come to hate. Gale is also not like any of Astarion's victims.

I have read many fanfictions where they both, in character, make each other better. Their intense need for love, validation, and belonging working well together. They can be content with each other. Gale devoting everything to his lover and Astarion who never had anyone care about him before.

They are mirrors of each other, and this is why I like Bloodweave. It is not out of character for either one of them to fall in love with the other one. But it would take time. They are a slow burn. They're not perfect, but life is not all sunshine and roses. We communicate, we learn, and we get better.

To understand the ship, one has to believe that Astarion can be redeemed, albeit only through a good person. Gale is a very complex and forgiving person who chooses to see the good in everyone. Who holds other people tl standards, which he does not himself. They don't hate each other. But they understand each other.

This, to me, is why the ship is popular. Karlach & Wyll and Lae'zel & Shadowheart are also thematic parallels who are shipped together. The nature of fandom is to ship characters who have compelling romances, different dynamics, or maybe just because they like both characters. Each one is valid. However, in BG3, any pairing can be shipped together by nature of the fact that you can play as an origin character and romance another.

Ultimately, when you play the game you are in control of the narrative and how the romance between the character you are playing and your chosen romance partner goes. The companions are complex, flawed, broken, beaten, beautiful people and who are we to say that a character would not react in a certain way in a given situation.

I realise that I am rambling and have strayed off of the topic of Bloodweave specifically and on to ships in general. But I just wanted to explain why I like Bloodweave. I am a Galemancer, and I am not particularly attracted to Astarion, yet I ship him with Gale due to the aforementioned dynamics.

I also ship Gale with Wyll, Shadowheart, and Lae'zel. I think Astarion with Wyll or Karlach is also nice. And I like other ships in the fandom. But it is the sheer complexity and naunce of Bloodweave, which attracts me to it above all else.

#bg3 #bloodweave #This is just my opinion you are allowed to disagree with me #this post is positive please don’t take it the wrong way #I am for multi shipping #You are allowed to ship them or not ship them #bg3 astarion #astarion ancunin #astarion #bg3 gale #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #gale bg3 #astarion bg3 #dotw original #Ship: bloodweave #bg3 analysis #Bloodweave discussion

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lemmeurs · 3 months

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okay. here is my 1600+ words essay on raphael. if anyone would like to adress anything from it, please do but keep it civil! i am so damn invested in this topic, i wanna hear everyone's thoughts

raphael rant

(DISCLAIMER: this essay was not written in order to justify Raphael as a character or any of his actions or intentions. i am completely skipping any point of morality, whether my own or just in general, i simply wanted to somehow try and write my feelings and thoughts down while looking at the whole thing from an objective point of view, analyzing the design of the game, the plotline and his whole persona and just.. idk i wanted to see whether anyone else felt the way i do because i have been going INSANE over this for the past few days)

hi. i have come here today to express my thoughts and feelings on Raphael the cambion and "his final act". this is being randomly and spontaneously written in my notes app so please excuse the absolute chaos that this essay will be (no i won't be rereading it, fuck it we ball) (CONTAINS BG3 ACT III SPOILERS!!)

first of all — i am so beyond devastated that he gets killed. and not just by anyone, he gets killed BY US. THE PLAYER. WE AS THE PLAYER DELIVER THE FINAL BLOW THAT ENDS HIS EXISTENCE. not only is that very upsetting (because come on, hot devil man, obviously i don't wanna kill him??) but it also makes me feel so.. awful. like, everything about this is wrong and i hate the fact that there is no other option.

because let's review the course of the story in the house of hope:

- we barge into his house unannounced, uninvited, while he is absent

- we invade his privacy by entering what's his own personal space (yes, i know he stole it from Hope in the first place but that is not the point here — whatever his devil business is, it's still HIS, you know?? like he is a devil, this is the kinda stuff they do and honestly? i didn't want to stick my nose into it. but obviously i did because tHe sToRy etc etc. but still, it was his own thing that basically doesn't affect the player in any way so TECHNICALLY you dont have to free Hope. you can, if your character's moral compass advises so, but it doesn't affect the main plot.)

- we then proceed to walk around his house freely, lie to his archivist in order to look at the stuff we're already planning to steal

- we meet his personal incubus whom then we have the chance to either use or kill (i fought Haarlep so that's the point of view i'm looking from at this here, in which case i also robbed their corpse) and we rob his safe. and his whole bedroom actually. we read his journals. we use his bath.

- then obviously we go and rob his entire archive which includes all of his most precious possessions

- upon stealing, we slaughter every single creature in his house, fighting our way through to get to Hope's prison

- we then kill the two spectators he has guarding her (they were probably super hard to obtain??) and we just. free his prisoner. because yeah, that is the right thing to do, IM NOT SAYING THAT'S WRONG, but let's say we skip morality for a second, let's just focus on the fact that we have no ulterior motives in freeing Hope. we just wanna mess with HIS business because why not since we're already ruining all of his plans.

- and then we have the audacity to try to leave before he comes back and act like we were never there while his entire house is turned to shit.

now let's look at this list again but this time keep in mind the fact that at that point, he hasn't done A SINGLE THING to us. like, he has never harmed us, he treated us with (let's call it) "respect" and politeness, he was fine with our hesitation towards his deal and was willing to give us time. he was never aggressive towards us, he was never "the enemy".

and now you can say - okay wtf is wrong with you, that man literally admitted his intention of conquering the worlds, enslaving all mortals and basically becoming the tyrant of all while also most likely stealing everyone's souls for his own pleasure.

yes, he did, and yes, that's bad. but just because those were his intentions does not give us the right to do all that shit to him AND THEN KILL HIM. AS IF WE HAD THE RIGHT TO SERVE JUSTICE HERE?? YEAH HIS PLANS ARE EVIL BUT IT IS NOT UP TO US TO DICTATE HIS CONSEQUENCES. HIS PLANS WOULD ONLY SUCCEED IF WE GAVE HIM THE CROWN IN THE END, SO JUST- DON'T?? LIKE DO YOU GET WHAT I MEAN. IM NOT TRYING TO JUSTIFY HIS ACTIONS OR INTENTIONS, BY ALL MEANS. i'm just trying to express how weird this all made me feel because not everyone decides to play as the selfless, lawfully good hero of all, protecting the world from all evil, ever! this is roleplay, afterall!

and them obviously he comes home. he is furious, as he should be. but mostly he's betrayed because, as weird as it may be, he trusted us. he admitted to growing "quite fond of us, in his own way". he thought we were some weird sort of.. acquaintances? friends maybe? (again, i know most of our relationship with him is mostly just him manipulating us but still, it's quite clear he wasn't expecting this betrayal) and we just barged in there and disrespected him in the worst way possible. so obviously he wants to kill us now and obviously we can kill him since he's just a boss in a game. and that's what we do. and then.. that's it. we're the good guys. we ruined a man's whole career because we needed one of his toys, murdered him in his own house and just left. and we're supposed to be the good guys.

i think the source of my problem is that Raphael is never introduced as evil. we don't meet him as the big bad villain that we know we'll have to kill at some point. i swear to god, at the beginning of act 3 i trusted that man way more than i trusted the Emperor and i was so close to agreeing to his deal just because i felt like i could trust him and he would keep me safe (for some reason, let's blame it on those wonderful eyes of his).

we meet him so early on in the game and he follows through all 3 acts, making it feel like he's gonna be some key character that will matter in the end - turns out, no! we were just supposed to rob and kill him. and that's literally it. talk about wasted potential.

when i first met him i got the "unofficial narrator" vibes from him, as if he was only supposed to seem intimidating and "evil" but you could sense there was so much more to him and i was dying to see how his story would unwrap. i was so ready for a redemption act, a plot twist, anything. man was i disappointed. because how cool would it be if he turned out to be a part of the "gather your allies" quest?? imagine having him as an ally and an ACTUAL friend in the end??

and don't even GET ME STARTED on what the orb in Helsik's shop shows you after you kill him. the fact that he's not even dead yet but ABOUT TO BE DEVOURED BY MEPHISTOPHELES. ABOUT TO BE DEVOURED. BY HIS FATHER. HE. WHAT. THATS THE ENDING HE GETS. and we are the ones that served it to him when he got RIGHTFULLY pissed at us for doing all that shit to him. and im supposed to just be fine with it?? i'm supposed to feel like this was the ending he deserved and i did the right thing??

god what i would give for a different way. idk. striking a new deal with him. saving him from Mephistopheles afterwards. REDEMPTION ARC?? ANYTHING?? NO? THATS IT THEN?

now i know that you dont HAVE to kill him, you can either agree to his deal or just ignore him and the house of hope altogether. but that just defeats the whole purpose of this character?? agreeing to his deal and giving him the crown at the end results in a pretty bad ending and ignoring him means that yeah, you don't have to kill him but you also don't get anything else from him anymore. like he has no other endings, just either death or his big evil plans. and for a game with so many choices and so much branching, it just feels almost weird that that's all he is there for. then why do we meet him in act 1? why does he follow through to act 2? (yeah, astarion, i know, but i cant help but feel like they could have put a completely different way to read his runes there if they didnt want Raphael specifically to help us) WHY ARE WE ALREADY SO USED TO HIM BY THE TIME HE PRESENTS HIS DEAL? if the whole hammer business is the only thing he's in the game for, then we may have as well been introduced to him only in act 3 during the whole Voss quest. but we knew him already and he felt like some sort of a.. friend lets call it? idk. this just does not make sense to me and makes me genuinely so sad.

as i'm writing this, it's the third day after ive completed the house of hope and i literally can not think about anything else. like my mind is just going on and on about this and i cant get over it!! im actually GRIEVING a fictional devil and i dont know what to do with all these.. thoughts.

so now i actually genuinely MISS THAT MF. I MISS HIM. GIVE HIM BACK. I WASN'T DONE AND NEITHER WAS HE. PLEASE PLEASE LARIAN I CAN FIX HIM—

okay i think thats it for now. idk i wrote this so chaotically i already forgot what i said and didnt say. im just. im feeling so many things. im so fucking sad and mad that this is how it ends. rest in peace hot devil man i will never forget you.

#bg3 act 3 spoilers #bg3 raphael #bg3 spoilers #raphael the cambion #raphael #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 act 3 #larian studios #bg3 essay #baldur's gate iii #bg3 discussion

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artoatsblog · 2 months

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Half-Life/portal/tf2 crossover but it's a 2000's cartoon au

Gordon Freeman is our blank slate protagonist, he's 11 and just moved to town, He's bullied and doesn't have any friends until he finds out he has superpowers and it's his job to save his new town.

Chell is a goth girl who acts as (essentially) Gordon's moral compass.

Wheatley is a Mr crocker type teacher who hates Gordon and helps Caroline take over the town.

Caroline is the principal whose alternate supervillain form (named GLaDOS) main power is summoning "the all powerful nine".

They may or may not be based on the Mercs from tf2

Speeding sound (scout) is a black and white cartoon character put into the modern day, he dresses like a baseball player and in the first episode he appears in the main way of defeating him is not giving him any attention.

Powerful patriot (Soldier) is the most """Noble""" of the nine he has a skewed sense of justice and looks like a 6 ft raccoon wearing teared up army clothes he found in the dumpster probably.

Innocent inferno (Pyro) just wants to make everyone happy, granted this happiness comes from being hypnotized, but it's the thought that counts, he's/she's/they're a unicorn that looks like they're being taken over by dragon DNA, although only the unicorn parts can be seen when they're pals (victims) hypnotized to have a more "friendly" look.

Almighty alpha (demo) is a beach bum because that's the closest I can get to a PG alcoholic, He's also a wolf because... I needed another word that started with a, instead of being just connected to wizards he is one, he mostly uses his powers to hypnotize people to like him because he is very lonely and sad.

Dreaded dyr (Heavy) rarely comes to earth himself because he finds conquering humans child's Play, closest thing to a leader the nine have and looks like whatever a fat/jacked skeletor would look like.

Boastin' bronco (engineer) thinks that all humans are inferior to him, acts "real nice" to them but secretly hates every single one, he's a robot cowboy because why would you expect him to be anything else.

Medical malpractice (medic) is no angel despite his looks, similar to bronco he finds humans weak however unlike bronco he wants to improve humans by taking his favorite parts of the animal kingdom and forcing humans to be just a bit more like them, he has a human body but dove like wings, a eyeball for a head and a doctor's coat design to look like an angel's robe.

Sharp shooter (sniper) is a croc from the down under(world) doesn't talk to people and mainly stays up high to avoid being touched, He's literally just sniper but a crocodile in terms of appearance.

And finally, Shimmering shadow (spy) has the ability to possess anyone with the only downside being that the right arm is all under control of the original person he possessed, he is a pure black shadow in 2D.

#half life #portal 2 #team fortress 2 #portal 2 chell #portal 2 glados #portal 2 wheatley #tf2 #tf2 soldier #tf2 medic #tf2 scout #tf2 engineer #tf2 pyro #tf2 spy #tf2 sniper #tf2 heavy #tf2 demoman

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mixedupmojo · 1 year

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Dating monkey king JCA

This guy is seriously underrated. Which is a pity as he is such a fun character (at least in my opinion) So I have decided to rectify that. Here are some head canons for what it would be like to date the monkey king from Jackie Chan adventures.

(I feel like this is one of those pieces of writing that borderline both good and bad. Any way enjoy)

• The moment he sets his sights his sight on you it's all over. The boy is totally love-struck, we're talking heart eyes, floating cartoon hearts, shot with cupids arrow, the works, he is gone. • And your life will forever be a lot more chaotic as he has made it his mission to woo you (as well as enact a long list of pranks but that can be put aside for late first ROMANCE!) • Get ready from now on your life will be filled with over-the-top, cheesy, grand romantic gestures and wacky shenanigans. • He will do anything to win your affection. Some of these instances include: -flooding part of your city/town so he can take you on a romantic gondola ride -coming home after a long day only to open your door and be swamped with a tidal wave of flowers. And after finally managing to dig yourself out, only to find that your entire home is bucay upon bucay full of them -flirts with you constantly. This sometimes develops into a whole skit. Referencing some type of Romanic pop culture the best example is the Romeo and Juliet speech. -popping up out of nowhere so he can talk and hang out with you. Which slowly devolves into him trying to show off and impress you. Will also randomly kidnap you every now and then to take you on spontaneous dates - during a romantic dinner he is pulling some bugs bunny level stunts one moment he's your date next he's acting as the waiter, then he's the chief, then a violin player, etc....etc..... Just switching between all of these different roles all the while still holding a conversation with you. it's honestly quite funny especially when he gets in an argument with himself over the fact that the waiter is flirting with you despite it literally being himself -giving you interesting/expensive pieces of jewellery. And you later find out via the news that he took them from a museum or some fancy jewellery store. And subsequently having to find a way to sneakily return it so you don't get in trouble (or keep it I don't know your moral compass ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) • Eventually, if you agree to be his s/o he will be over the moon and you will have gained yourself one over-the-top but very dedicated lover • Has made it his personal mission to make you laugh as he loves the sound of your laughter, especially a full blown belly laugh. the first time he got you to laugh like that made him so soft he practically melted into a puddle of goo. but whatever you do, do not fake laugh! at any one of his jokes, I'm serious. as he will get extremely upset with you and it will devolve into a full blown fight. That will require a lot of apologising and making up on your part to get him to forgive you. • Expect a lot of cheesy pet names from honey bunch, snookums, schmoopsie woopsie boobear slowly getting more and more ridiculous/sickly sweet the further he goes on. Stop him before he goes too far and you throw up from the sweetness. • On a side note, he will call you his queen • Very physically affectionate. He is always touching you somehow, whether it be slinging an arm around your shoulders, holding your hand as he drags you off on your next adventure or having his tail wrapped around your waist • He's a nuzzler. So watch out because that beard of his tickles and he will use it against you • He has done the whole kiss up your arm thing while calling you sweet pet names or just generally praising you • He knows how to keep you on your toes there is never a dull moment when you're with him • I don't know why but I think he would be a bit of a movie buff, based on all of the pop culture references he makes in the show. as such he love's watching films together with you, however, he cannot sit still for the life of him. Not to mention he would talk throughout the duration of the film. I can guarantee at the end of the movie there will be popcorn everywhere. • On a side note, another thing you end up doing a lot together is performing. He absolutely loves to be at the centre of attention and craves the spotlight. And with you being his partner he will want you there with him. And often drag you along to join in on his act, whether it be acting, magic, stand-up comedy, dancing, or karaoke. he just wants to include you in something that he enjoys and overall for the both of you to have fun together (on a side note he does not care if you're not good at any of it or if you both look silly he just wants to have fun with you). However, if you’re the type of person who very much enjoys staying out of the spotlight he will respect that but expects you to be a part of the audience cheering him on. • loves it when you play with his hair and will pretty much let you do anything with it. Which means you can braid it to your heart's content. • Will include you with his wacky costume changes often giving you an outfit to match his • Playing pranks on various people, and just because you’re his significant other don’t think that you're safe, as he will prank you too. Usually, it's just some ploy to trick you into kissing him, however, some of them are purely at your expense. if he ever takes things too far though and makes you upset or "gasp" the unthinkable makes you cry. He will make it up to you with a huge grand gesture and once things calm down, offer you a soft heartfelt apology • If you have a similar sense of humour as him he would love it if you were his partner in crime • Pitching in on prank planning becomes part of your quality time together • Helping him out whenever he gets stuck in doll form be it by finding someone he can swap places with or through some other magical means. And for whatever reason, if there is ever a scenario where you're the one to swap places with him and become a doll, he will stop at nothing to find a way you turn you back all the while taking care of you while you're in your doll form. • He is still salty over what Jackie and jade did to him and is still looking for revenge against the two. Personally, You have nothing against the two and actually get along with them whenever the monkey king is not around. (there have been multiple occasions where you have ended up having tea with uncle, getting food with Tohru or jade, having in-depth conversations with Jackie or getting into mischief with jade) However now and then you may end up getting roped into whatever crazy scheme he concocted to get back at them. But most of the time you're just observing from the sidelines. • When the Chans first met you they first thought you were being mind controlled or manipulated in some way and subsequently ended up kidnapping you only to find out on you worn't and you just really loved this goofy monkey. Needless to say, the monkey king was not at all pleased to find out you had been kidnapped, and by his enemies no less. Which results in him coming to rescue you (not kidding he actually road in on a horse dressed as a knight in shining armour to come and get you) this result in a series of hijinks that get weirder and weirder as. one monkey king is trying to protect you. babying you all the while, after all, you have just gone through a traumatic experience being kidnapped and all (even though they were very nice kidnappers). Two, him trying to get some well-deserved payback ( at least in his eyes) against those who kidnapped you aka the Chans. and three, you trying to stop him from committing a felony while simultaneously trying to show that you're ok. it finally ends with half of the city in chaos, Jackie and the fam a little worst wears, section 13 freaking out over the damage and with you now officially on their radar and with you completely exhausted and very much in need of a nap with a clingy monkey at your side.

• The monkey king doing something ridiculous in the background Jade: What do you see in him y/n: he makes me laugh

• Stopping him when his pranks take a more harmful or lethal turn. As seen in the show this boys humour can get pretty dark • He gets jealous really easily, and can't stand not being the centre of your attention. And as such this does cause problems within your relationship but after sitting him down and telling him how much this is damaging your relationship. He will back off and try to be a bit better for your sake with only the occasional relapse here and there. • At the end of the day, he really does love you and would do anything for you

#monkey king x reader #the monkey king #jca #jackie chan adventures #headcanon #My writing #jackie chan #jade chan #uncle #tohru

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sorcerous-caress · 7 months

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Honestly your blog is the only BG3 blog I check daily. (Dam you- for having me check tumblr everyday now)

Now for an ask. What do you think Selunite!Shadowheart- Were!shadowheart, Minthara and Gale (bonus Karlach) would react to a Dark Urge Tav who has apparently an insane questionable and despicable past (regarding the in game apparent sexual relation to Orin and necrophelia unfortunately, which mind blown from a player perspective)

- undecided anon

This actually means a lot to me that you're interested enough in my thoughts and writing to check it out every day <3 as much as it feals like I'm yelling into the void sometimes, it's nice to remember there are actual people on the other end in the void who are silently listening.

Thank you for telling me this, words genuinely fail me when it comes to describing how these small comments make me happy.

Now, mention of dark topics below cut

Including Necrophilia, Incest, Exhibition, Gore, Murder, Torture, Body fluids, Animal abuse, and Vivisections

Durge is genuinely unhinged. Through all the flashbacks and hints we see of their past through the game, one is more horrible than the last.

They dunked their butler's head into the open bladder of the guy they were preforming a vivisection on and choked him in their piss because he made a mistake. Source from the noblestalk flashback.

The sexual implications of their relationship with Gortash, a tyrant who killed and enslaved endless people. I don't recall the Orin implications but taking your words on it, it would kind of be considered incest since she is also a bhaalspawn. She is even a product of incest herself.

They have a long history of animal abuse and mistreatment, too. They aren't below preying on souls weaker than them. The cat on the rooftop in moonrise towers who mentions how Durge kicked her a lot, also the squirrel in act 1.

What they did to Alfira too.

Shadowheart, Minthara, and maybe arguably Karlach have a dark past. All of them have murdered and tortured people in the past.

Minthara

Minthara is the most extreme out of them. Not only did she participate in the cruel nature of drow culture, but also the fact she doesn't exactly see anything wrong with it. Yes, her crimes, her own crimes, not the ones she was brainwashed to commit, pale in comparison to Durge, but it still would make any sane good person turn away from her.

She doesn't react much to Durge's cruelty through the game. If anything, she encourages it and at times turned on by it. I don't think she would encourage Necrophilia and incest but those might be her only hard no. The rest like gore and turtore is not a deal breaker to her.

Minthara is the companion that Durge could be the most free with when it comes to following their dark urges. As long as they don't hold the knife to her own throat. She does think it is freaky and weird of Durge but she is used to freaky and weird from drow culture.

Her moral compass does exist. It's mostly evil. Her only deal breakers are when you betray her own trust, if you hurt other people she doesn't care.

She used to be in love with Orin, even worshipping her. Ingame. But Orin betrayed her trust so Minthara loathed her from that day on.

Although I have a feeling that she condems needless cruelty, sure, sate your appetite, but don't let it consume you. If you can't seize control over your own urges when it matters, then how are you any different from a frenzied mutt? Control yourself and prove to her you are a sane person and she will stay with you.

Shadowheart

Back in her Sharran days, she admits to torturing and breaking prople. She lied and manipulated do many people to get her way and to serve Shar.

It would be hypocritical of her to judge you on your past, no matter how much darker it is than hers in comparison. Especially a Selunite Shadowheart who would feel like she owes her life to you interference back at the nightsong confrontation.

But a Selunite Shadowheart wouldn't indulge your dark urges, she will only forgive your past. If you still seek bloodlust then either let her help you through it, or both of you can go your separate ways.

That's only after the ending tho, during your travel days, she will turn a blind eye to your gorey displays and chalk it up to the cruel road you've faced. She will give you the benfit of the doubt until the city is saved.

Her parents still had hope in her seeing the truth one day and waking up, so she tries to extend the same courtesy to you for as much as she can.

A Werewolf Shadowheart would fall into the same category if she had ended up a Selunite. Although being a werewolf and all, she will relate to your struggle more than normal Shadowheart ever could. She also has urges that steer her to darker thoughts and desires that she battles everyday, the two of you can get through this together.

Karlach

Now her case is...very speical. Technically, she committed no sins or crimes on her own because she was enslaved during her time fighting in the demon wars. Yet still she killed many, she has never developed an appetite for blood because of it.

She doesn't shy away from killing tho, it's an average everyday thing for her now. She will kill and fight if she had to in order to survive.

But, because she has lived among demons, even got almost close to befriending one, she has seen much worse than anything Durge could've ever done.

Incest and Necrophilia barely scratch the surface of what devils get down to. Let alone the humiliation and truely sickening things they force upon their victims. Karlach bared witness to all of that.

She wants Durge to change, not to end up like these devils. She reassures them that they are better than this, that they have the strength to change and not go down this disgusting road.

She isn't phased by it like Minthara, but unlike Minthara, she never endorsed or participated in the cruelty around her.

I think she'll have a heart to heart with Durge about it. Try to get them to see people as real people with souls and emotions, not just cattle for slaughter.

A single life is very precious, especially to someone like her who was robbed of their own life. She will never forgive Durge for robbing an innocent person out of their life.

But she would definitely freak out over the Gortash relationship thing, because more of personal reasons. You fell in love with that monster as he is? The same man who robbed her of her own heart and betrayed her trust? She would genuinely break down.

Gale

He is a very very speical case.

Gale is naive in a way. Not to infantilise him, but he tends to view the world through rose colored lenses. Part to being human, another part to having lived in the lap of luxury and privilege.

Gale saw the best of what the world had to offer, Gale fell in love with a zealous benevolent goddess who's good alligned, Gale was isolated in one of the richest cities in Faerun with rich scholars for friends.

Gale thought Minthara was just misunderstood when he met her.

He is aware of good and evil, he just has such a distorted view of evil that he never recognises it when it's face to face with him. He forgets that evil people can be charming, beautiful and funny and they might just be his own friends.

In his world view, he is good, therefore anything and everything he interacts with willingly must be good.

He is delusional.

And it doesn't help that life and sheer luck only encouraged his delusions, only soldified his views that bad people can be quelled by ordering everyone a shot at the tavren and that no one truly would wish to harm someone else given the chance right?

He will make endless excuses for Durge's past. So many far-fetched justifications to fit you into the box of good people he keeps in his orbit.

That is, if Durge never confronts him with their present urges to still participate in bloodshed.

Otherwise he will just downplay your confessions of guilt and brush off your unsettling comments. Always going the extra mile to give you all the benfits to the doubt.

Unless you make him face the cold truth reality in the form of a slaughtered grove of innocent people.

Even then, while he particpated, his delusions still make excuses for you, telling him there must be a reason for all of this, he just has to have faith in you.

Ans in the aftermath when it's just him and you, kneedeep in gore at camp. He revolts at the sight of you, sneers and glares into your face. Fully blaming everything on YOU. That YOU must be corrupting him, fully driving his agenda that he is good and will always be good! It's you who is responsible for his own actions.

It's also these delusions of him being a good person that inflate his ego enough to let him persure the crown of Karsus, that makes him think he is beyond the corruption of greed while simultaneously blaming any and all of his actions that he doesn't like onto Durge and saying they must've corrupted him.

He isn't just ignorant, he is choosing to remain ignorant.

Durge can manipulate a power hungry Gale into staying with them even while they openly bathe in the remains of corpses. If they feed into his delusions.

#♡dark content #♡Gale #♡karlach #♡Minthara #♡Shart #♡wereshart #♡selunite shart #♡character study #♡undecided anon

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queenbananly · 3 months

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Nina Fire Emblem Essay

It's long and I'm putting it under the cut. It's projection time baby. My credentials are I have one of the largest collections of Nina merch (mostly fan made, but I do have all official merch as well) and have been collecting it for at least the last six years.

Fire Emblem’s success in its iconic characters is in large part due to the artistry in not finishing a majority of the characters. By giving each character one or two ‘tropes’ or traditional story lines, and then adding in two to five smaller characteristic decisions or facts, it is a skeleton on which fans can theorize missing backstory pieces, the threads that connect different parts of the character together, what a fully developed version of the character may look like, and most importantly: give plenty of room for head canons or projection.

We start here because it is important to be up front in this character essay that while I will be citing quotes and scripts of the game, a lot of the connecting threads are my personal projections and interpretations on Nina from Fire Emblem: Fates. I aim to focus on what exists in canon to fully capture everything I see in her, but a Fire Emblem character becomes very little without a personal interpretation.

The two tropes that cover Nina’s character are very different, but fit together in some unfortunate ways. The first is a strong moral compass that has her chasing after the ideals of a Robinhood. Ideals that lead to learning how to steal, spy, and memorize information. Which when connected with her second characteristic, creates a lot of uncomfortable feelings in fans. Nina is a teenager who has fujoshi tendencies, that the game tends to focus on to keep a light hearted and comedic air about itself. If those jokes sour the taste of a player, and some of them are pretty bland or tasteless, it’s easy to miss the other snippets of personality present.

Loneliness reaches around Nina’s character deeply, in a way that can only really be discussed by pointing out a lot of support conversations and threading them together with generally accepted human reactions, projections, and assumptions. She clings to others relationships and stories but often ruins her own or becomes afraid of connecting deeply with others. Her childhood in the Deeprealms made her resent her father, and though she mostly talks about hating him, anyone who’s been a teen or knows teens can see those comments as a surface level veil to hide pain. In that way Nina is someone who talks about the pain of the Deeprealms the most, while also talking about her own personal feelings on the matter the least.

In her paralogue, when she calls her father a villain and tells him to ‘do what he must’, she’s playing a part. Honestly, despite her insistence on assuming her father’s stance, a majority of her paralogue is spent with her head in idealistic clouds, like she’s inside of a story or play. It could be argued that this is because it’s her first big heist, considering she tells Niles:

Nina: I've dreamed about this, Father. Draining the coffers of the wealthy! Vindicating the poor! We're getting what we need, and then getting out.

That said, it wasn’t all delusion and play when she assumes her father will punish her severely. She says multiple times he’s only visited her a few times, that she feels she doesn't know him. When he asks why she would throw her life away, why she acts like he has never cared for her, she shouts back:

Nina: Because I wasn't worth your time!

A thought that is very clearly felt by a lot of the second generation kids in Fates- but Nina is one of the few to say it loudly and directly into her parents face especially repeatedly. He argues that his world is unsafe and he wouldn’t survive if something had happened to her. So as punishment, she must now join the war effort. The game pushes to convince us that this is the answer- because how else will she become playable? If Niles can keep an eye on his daughter, plus the second parent the player chose for her, and all the other characters in this game, well… that’s safer than her wandering the countryside as a thief. Which she really is! Her paralogue takes place in a part of Nohr we do not visit at any other point in the game. The closest map point to it is the Dragon’s Gate (aka the portal to your DLC). So it seems reasonable to say that in her efforts to steal she knew what she was doing- she’d been avoiding the war effort. If this game took her efforts more seriously it’d be worth digging into the fact that the paralogue’s plot revolves around the Lord she’s stealing from calling in a favor and this army main force coming in to help, despite being so out of their way. (Link to Serenes Forest’s map of Fates in my citations for easy viewing).

Once she’s joined the army it’s time for her to largely be a gag character, talking mostly about men and their potential relationships. However, it’s still hard to break away from the fact that at her core, Nina is a very basic teenage girl. She has a short fuse and thinks she understands the world but struggles to actually say what she means often. Instead of facing that struggle she’d rather focus on daydreaming about relationships- rarely her own though, because that would be too personal and uncomfortable. From my personal interpretation and reaching, that loneliness is part of the reason her Robin Hood beliefs don’t come up very often post-recruitment.

Being open about something you believe in so strongly is hard, especially when it’s with people you feel you don’t belong with. Nina actively struggles especially in her friendships with men, and in large part that’s due to her hobby of ‘people watching’, or shipping people who surround her. Her supports with Percy and Ignatius are the clearest examples of her struggles to communicate, where in one she fumbles to apologize after lashing out defensively and in the other she gets caught in her fantasies and is constantly scrambling to cover herself. In the Ignatius A Support he even calls her out on exactly that, leading to this exchange:

Ignatius: I think I understand you better now. I was wondering why you were always so rude to me. But it's starting to make sense. You're just really, really bad at talking to people, aren't you?

Nina: Er, ah, well, maaaybe with SOME people... Like...men people, mostly.

If her struggles stem from her hobbies, which evidence suggests they do since that’s when she gets the most upset and lashes out, then it makes sense men are especially a problem for her. When you spend all day sexualizing a body type with the gusto of puberty, anyone with said body type will immediately be harder to deal with. In her Mother support she will even link these two together herself:

Nina: Well, I suppose things can't get any worse... I...I have a hard time talking to guys. But I think about them all the time! I feel like such a freak. Like they know that I'm thinking about them... And I just clam up and turn red. It's so awful!

Considering that, it does make sense she’s never comfortable with Shiro, Siegbert, or anyone like them when it comes to discussing her morals and values and how they relate to thievery. In her Siegbert support she spends most of her time playing a very passive role, humoring Siegbert and letting him stumble his way through misunderstanding her intentions because she feels unable to intervene or get a word in quickly enough. It’s a support where she is on all accounts fully successful at hiding her hobby from the other person. Meanwhile with Shiro, her hobby comes out into the open from the start due to his stubbornness at being left out of a good time (seeing a play in the town plaza). By catching her fully in her element he sees her at what she considers her worst, and because of that their support remains very far away from their roles as a prince and a thief. She even calls him “Mr. Loud-Snorting- Hooting-Guffaw-Man” before turning tail and running at the first sign of him taking her interests seriously. She struggles to believe there’s anything of value in her perspective of the story, but the support ends with one of those friendships that you as a player can actually believe lasts beyond the support line. Honestly the difference between these two crown prince supports stems from the biggest issue Shiro has- he just found out he was a prince upon recruitment and thus doesn’t expect anyone else to treat him like one or really want that.

That’s enough about men who are not Nina though. To turn to her two supports that most heavily talk about her morals instead, we find two very different characters. Her father, Niles, and tiny baby bean Kana. The first part of her Niles support unlocks with her recruitment, meaning it is what most players will read first and it can be assumed that this support is meant to be the stepping stones into what to expect from her characterization. They fight almost the entire support line, starting with Nina pointing out again to him his hypocrisy in telling her not to steal when his class is also a Thief and matches his backstory, and how it feels like he only cares about what she does now that it's convenient for him. How she hates that now that she’s close he bothers to tease her with “I love you’s” and innuendo’s, and comment on her stealing. Though not said aloud, there’s an implied question in her accusation that asks if this is all so important to you, if I’m important to you, why couldn’t you visit more? Why did I have to suffer in my loneliness? To which ends the B support, suggesting Niles needs at least the timespan of two support conversations to wrap his head around his next words to her. When he finally approaches, serious this time, he opens up about his actual backstory. Yes his class is thief, and he’s good at what he does, but wants better for her. As he puts it:

Niles: You say you only steal for the greater good—that you're doing the right thing. But whatever your reasons, I don't want you doing the things I had to. Rather than the dark road I was set down... I want your path to be clear and bright. That's all any parent wants for their child.

Nina struggles with this and takes it in, biting down her tongue on fighting about the why’s. Really, she gets what she needs from this support- her father apologizing to her, recognizing how poorly he messed up, and agreeing to treat her like an adult from henceforth. In subtext they’ve agreed to leave the moral debates to the side and try to act a bit more like a father and daughter.

Which is great! For a girl who’s loneliness can be seen a mile away, she needs this. It’s sad in the realm of exploring her stealing though. Niles is a retainer for a Prince, so he probably has better articulated arguments against what she’s doing than the game allows due to story and mood constraints. However she does get another support to talk about it with a bit more of a level head, less on the defensive overall. In her support with a non-sibling Kana, he asks about her stealing and she encourages him to not copy her behavior when he asks why she steals if his parents say it’s bad to do. Some of the thoughts she presents are a bit too big for the small boy, but give the player insight to what she might be thinking on a more day-to-day clear headed basis:

Nina: No, no, it's OK. You're right—stealing is wrong. But the world's a complex place. Some things are less wrong than others. Sometimes just doing things that look right will make the world worse. You know?

She emphasizes this again and again in this support- the idea that doing nothing is sometimes the wrong answer. Even then she’s always encouraging Kana to stick up for what he believes in and to listen to his parents. The support eventually shifts away to talking about her and her dads relationship- but not without first hitting on a beat of her loneliness oh so briefly. Kana asks her about the pile of letters she’s holding, and this is one of the only times we ever learn that she gets letters with updates from people she’s personally helped. While earlier I suggested her paralogue was her first big heist, it’s plainly clear that she’s been following this path for awhile. The connections she’s made from helping people and the care she shows in wanting to make sure they’re still well speaks of her character and her ability to be kind and thoughtful. Which makes sense- because her morals align with thinking of others. While she’s thinking of others, she’s also looking at this small child that is Kana and telling him to never copy what she does. It is kind, but it builds a lonely path for her alone.

That loneliness is exactly what enables Kana to so bluntly call her out in the A support- because while I can argue that Nina struggles intensely with loneliness, Kana’s whole character is built on loneliness. The only difference between them is Nina is older and has already built up systems she feels protects her, while he’s younger and just an incredibly anxious child. This is when we move more into talking about Nina and her dad. Having come up previously, Kana confronts her and says he’s sad she doesn’t have a good relationship with him. They seem to have a lot in common even if they don’t see eye to eye. He even suggests to her his hypothesis- that she wasn’t born a thief, she became one to be more like her dad. That she respects him and wants his approval, and that’s the core of her arguments with him. After being presented with this all Nina can do is sigh and call him perceptive.

Kana is the only one who can see this. Not even Niles can. That’s because Kana himself feels the need to be perceptive. Anxious about being left alone, he needs to know how others might be feeling. Not only for his own needs, but because Kana truly does not want any of his friends to feel alone either. Though I’ve largely been skimming S-Supports for convenience- because only one can exist in each universe and some feel more of a stretch than others- it’s important for me to point out in the S-Support with Kana, Nina finally let’s herself share some of her anxieties with him. She admits to thinking about him growing up, and wonders out loud if they’ll be friends forever or if he’ll change. With that, Kana makes a very serious Kana-promise that even if he does change their friendship will remain.

The feeling of loneliness continues to permeate looking into her other conversations and looking at how badly she reacts when her guy friends are forced to witness what she considers the worst part of herself. With this I turn our direction to her support with Forrest, where it’s easy to argue she shows her worst self. Part of this I will blame on the writing staff- because a lot of people are their worst selves to him specifically. However, instead of always blaming the writing staff for it, it’s also more productive to do character analysis to see what can be pulled from the support. Finding herself far more comfortable talking to Forrest than the average guy, she doesn’t hold herself to any of her usual barriers and lets herself over fantasize in front of him. She’s so deep in her dreams that she ignores that the C Support ends with him gently calling her out, and saying she’s being creepy. Instead she continues on her march, singing about him aloud and when confronted, giving a half shrug of an explanation. Normally she’d be hyper defensive, but here her excuse is so uncreative Forrest finds himself saying “Really. Really?” at her nonsense.

In the A Support we reach the height of her fantasies, and she directly asks him about his taste in men. She struggles to say things bluntly when it comes to asking if he’s gay but has no problem she sees him more as a ‘girl friend’ than a guy friend. When Forrest apologizes that he’s not and doesn’t seem to be who Nina wants him to be, she immediately breaks. Realizing she’s been not present for most of this support line, dancing in her own head of fantasies, her reaction is to start sobbing. To be honest the support itself is emotional whiplash, to which I give credit again to the writers as an A Support is supposed to end on a good note to prepare for the S Support so despite sobbing and having this breaking moment they end up better friends within the span of 10 dialogue lines. Anywhere else this might’ve been more drawn out or a longer conversation. Her sobbing speaks to many aspects of her- her kindness, her loneliness, and her anxiety. She truly cares for Forrest and considers him a friend, but she’s also incredibly scared of her interests and hobbies being the reason someone wouldn’t want to be her friend. Realizing that she’s had the situation wrong this entire time, she shatters at the horror that she’s let herself go this far. Even when Forrest forgives her she starts to fantasize again immediately- but this time she’s more present and aware, and snaps herself out of it.

Nina’s character tropes might be a robin hood and a fujoshi, but the deeprealms colors the rest of her in with the loneliness and trauma. As a character she is filled with passion that she doesn’t know what to do with, and kindness that extends past each robbery she commits. However, outside the game it should be noted that the WAY she engages with the fujoshi trope is uncomfortable to many, and that it is especially uncomfortable as a character born only when one of the two canon bisexual characters in the game marries a woman. This essay can express my love but it cannot undo real harm gay men have gone through in being sexualized by people in their life. Nor should it ever undo harm. If you leave this essay seeing the other aspects of Nina’s character, yet unable to disconnect yourself from the discomfort of how she acts around men in her actual life and the way she seems obsessed with them, that’s completely understandable.

If one might lend me their ear one last time. I’d argue that when I look at all of these characteristics of her and pull them together, she’s not just a cisgender straight girl looking at men who she’d secretly rather have interested in her than each other. Earlier, I mentioned that by focusing on the relationship between two men she can deflect from herself and her own relationships and feelings because she is not a man herself. However, I’d push that line further and say she has no sexual or romantic interest in men herself. Even if she does not realize it, even if she fights with Soleil about if women are attractive, what I see in her is someone who wants so badly to be normal in at least one aspect of her life. Being straight is seen as normal, and oversexualizing a man’s body to a comedic aspect (at least to an outsider's perspective) often be a coping habit to someone who has yet to realize they don’t actually like men. The overperformance often comes only from observations and not reality. By which I mean, if advertisements and books and casual chatter suggest to you a man is most handsome when his muscles are bulking and sweaty you may just take that notion and run with it. Force yourself to like it in an attempt to be normal. By doing this, but at the same time turning away from heterosexual relationships in her fantasies, she’s able to do multiple things subconsciously. Force herself into liking these aspects of a man, and play out scenarios of gay love constantly. The way she hunts for clandestine romances speaks to me personally of a subconscious anxiety that lays next to her anxiety stemming from loneliness. If she were to be gay, does she see it as something that must be kept secret for her to still be accepted? This part is one that may change depending on my readers' views on Nohr and Hoshido. While the game gives us a bisexual option from each country, it’s not heavily talked about anywhere if it’s readily accepted. In fact it’s easy to take Forrest’s paralogue, where Leo gets a Bad Dad award, as a sign that maybe the answer is no.

Nina could feel incredibly lonely in a world where maybe it would not be accepted for her to be gay. Alternatively she may feel like she doesn’t deserve that kind of love and happiness. As much as I’m adding my own perspective by bringing both points up it’s hard to ignore that when writing the game they seemed to heavily side step the issue that gay marriage is still a very political issue and just did not speak on it. I personally lean towards her residing in a homophobic culture, or at least one where she can’t imagine herself being accepted for being gay.

I end the essay here on the part where I push my own life onto Nina because while I could pick apart each support, this is already 6 pages of Google Docs. Perhaps in the future I can come back and write more- like her support with Caeldori or Asugi- but to leave people with what I’ve come with today is enough for me. Whether her being a lesbian (although seemingly in denial) is something you the reader can see or whether you think it’s over projection, I hope you can recognize the merit in the rest as a means to pick at her character beyond the surface level gag.

This Isn’t How Citations Work But This Is A Fire Emblem Essay Fuck You

Note: All supports can be found at https://wiki.serenesforest.net/index.php/Fates_Supports/Nina and the script for her paralogue can be found at https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/Abrupt_Clash/Script

Map of Fates shown here. Nina’s Paralogue is the location listed as “Fancy Estate”: https://serenesforest.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/fates-map-revelation.jpg

#fe14 #nina fire emblem #eli essay #adding that so i can find this fucker in the future as needed

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theanonymousclown · 2 years

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You guys really like my Randomized Talentswap so here’s the entirety of the THH cast! For those of you who don’t know, the basic gist is that literally everything is randomized- victims, Blackeneds, murder methods, motives, talents, and even roles in the story.

Click to view because tumblr fucking??? Nuked my quality???

Other posts in this AU are here, here, and here (The first two links have technical spoilers!) while the talents, personalities and roles are down below!

Edit: New post over here

Mondo Owada, the Ultimate Child Caretaker Assassin, the Main Character. He acts all aloof and mean but it’s hard to do when Chihiro and Makoto follow him around like ducklings.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the Ultimate Supreme Leader and Rival. His grandfather didn’t lose his position, and he and his father are next in line for his position. He keeps his rule-keeper personality.

Chihiro Fujisaki, the Ultimate Tennis Player. They wanted to be able to defend themself and picked up a sport, which was coincidentally the one with the cutest uniform.

Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Butler. He’s pretty anxious about his talent, and he’s not sure he’s fit for the position, even though he tries to be the best he can. This is slightly exemplified by his clumsiness, which makes his job a lot harder.

Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Swimmer. She’s always wearing the cutest swimsuits so she looks cute once she wins and gets victory photos.

Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Magician. She does a lot of slight of hand tricks, but she’s also pretty good with weapons and animals.

Sakura Ogami, the Ultimate Fanfic Writer. She’s super strong, but she’s really into writing long, well written fanfictions in her free time- when she’s not writing soft, fluffy oneshots.

Aoi Asahina, the Ultimate Yakusa and Traitor. She’s kind hearted but firm, and when push comes to shove she will stand her ground. Like Sukura in canon, she’s only the traitor through blackmail.

Yasuhiro Hagakure, the Ultimate ???/Detective. He acts dumb, but he’s actually curious and intelligent. He’s good at what he does, but before he remembers his talent he sorta does it all on autopilot.

Byakuya Togami, the Ultimate Animal Breeder. He breeds high class cats with proper breeding (read: Persians), but also has a really hard time staying unattached to the cats so they can be adopted.

Toko Fukawa, the Ultimate Entomologist and Helper Character. She’s pretty anxious around other people and prefers bugs. She has a terrarium as a backpack which contains only her beloved stinkbug, Kameko, but bugs really like her.

Kyoko Kirigiri, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy and Mastermind. She’s pretty quiet when it comes to talking to people, but she’s intelligent and has bizarre (and even concerning) information from looking it up for… writing.

Sayaka Maizono, the Ultimate Moral Compass. She’s pretty sweet, but she fights to get what she wants and doesn’t care who she hurts to keep the people she loves safe.

Hifumi Yamada, the Ultimate Photographer. He takes photos of street fashion (and cosplayers). He’s pretty nice, and is constantly talking to people about how interesting their fashion choices are and, if he receives permission, taking photos.

Celestia Ludenberg, the Ultimate Lucky Student and Helper Character. She has Komeada’s luck cycle. She doesn’t pretend she’s high class when she’s not, she’s actually admits to being pretty ordinary, but her luck has left her in possession of a large sum of money and she therefore dresses as she pleases.

Leon Kuwata, the Ultimate Makeup Artist. He was supposed to be the Ultimate Imposter, but I couldn’t find a way to make it work so he’s a Makeup Artist instead! He does punk makeup looks almost exclusively, but he’s pretty good at prosthetics and stage makeup.

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wherestarsarestillasleep · 7 months

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sigma could have been such an interesting character if theyd more delved into his role making the ambidex project and the conviction mindset needed for that and and how his young -> old -> young iterations of himself feel about facing each other

sigma displays some of the most compassion of any ze character over the course of vlr and he's the guy who set it up but there's like little room for him to dwell on that with the pacing of the ending of vlr and the back to back reveals and ztd just like. there Isn't conflict and he's.. he acts different than vlr but in a way that he's just like. calmer and more serious more or less imo

when akane offscreen and in implication must deal with the horror of discovering she is the mastermind thats been tormenting the players of 999 she reckons with the fact that is a person she will grow into of her own volition. she will end up holding that conviction herself she Is zero, zero is her future. she'll end up a person who decided to do all of that herself

sigma isnt the same because sigma really is not zero. its just a title for him its still akane with all the driving will and planning, he is just executing her plans. sigmas role is to do what someone else told him. and she tells him to do something thats theoretically fundamentally against his rather strong sense of morality, to an end that does align with it. but it still must have had to shift significantly. it is not a plan on his own conviction and it is not an even plan between equals because akane always has her own agenda and she lies to him about it. but apparently she does it convincingly enough that sigma keeps a conviction that wasn't his own, one to follow instructions for a goal he's been given and accepted without much of his own thought in the moment we see him agree to it, for Forty Five Years

#peneleope scott moonsickness sigma thoughts.#(and in your blood you know whats right. and in your bones you know whats wrong. and in your throat you know youre lying to kids)#(and there is not a single choice left to make.)#fuckin there was so much in vlr to work with #and im aware like... how much is the game really not giving as much information and implication about sigma to chew on as there is abt akan #and how much is just me having thought Significantly more about akane lol #wgatever. hi #junpei you hearing this shit!?#Σ🌕Σ

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thelightfluxtastic · 2 years

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Paladiary Day 22: Order of the Stick

Yes, I'm still going this, dang it.

As mentioned before, by paladin identity was influenced (even awakened, one could say) by playing a paladin in a D&D game. So it's influenced by D&D-specific lore (though not limited to it alone). And before I ever played a game myself, my knowledge of D&D was basically learned through reading the Order of the Stick webcomic.

OOTS is an excellent webcomic. It plays with fantasy tropes and expectations of a standard D&D setting. And like any very good satire, it ends up questioning and deconstructing and reconstructing the very fundamental ideas of the world. I find it legitimately tragic that some of the best writing I've ever read will be dismissed out of hand by someone because it happens to be a stick figure webcomic. It has foreshadowing and call backs spanning hundreds of pages and literal years. It has a deep-hitting deconstruction of assigned villainy and 'always chaotic evil' races. And of course, it has paladins.

There are multiple paladin characters in OOTS. And given the satirical nature of the comic, each of them is tackling a different aspect of what a paladin is and what that means.

There's Miko Miyazaki. She's meant as an example of a certain stereotype of paladin players in D&D. She's lawful to the point of self-brutality. She imposes her will, often violently, on others and refuses to see any flexibility or shades of grey. She's holier-than-thou and refuses to accept that she might make mistakes or ever be in the wrong. One of the best moments with her character is when another Lawful Good character calls her out for using the Law as a weapon to use against others, and not caring about the actual worth and dignity of other sentient beings. Miko is a warning, a what-not-to be.

There's O-Chul. O-Chiul is, perhaps, the idealistic example. He's not the paladin I relate to most, but he's the one I look up to. He is wise and humble. He acts carefully, willing to wait for the right moment, but never being ruled by sheer pragmatism, and always looking for the time to act. In many ways everything Miko isn't, O-chul is the one that teaches a monster to care for it's heart and mind, and attend to it's own moral compass. His prominent character trait is persistence (one saving throw at a time).

There's Hinjo. Hinjo is a character study in balance. He is the heir to the city's ruler (who was, himself, not a paladin). And as the events of the story progress, finds himself regularly questioning his role and oaths as a paladin, and his duties as a civic leader. He often does have to take the pragmatic view of things, choose the big picture of his populace over more personal drives (like vengeance) and more high-minded ideals. He acts in accordance with honor and duty but what is honorable or what his duty is changes with the circumstances. Also he has a cool wolf.

There's Lien. She (alongside Hinjo) is perhaps the paladin in OOTS I find most personally relatable. She's not an extremist like Miko or a wise elder like O-Chul or a monarch like Hinjo. Her family are fishermen. But when her city was in need and lives were in danger, she picked up a spear and stood her ground. She's brave and resourceful and has a sense of humor.

And that's not even getting into the non-paladin characters that end up presenting important questions on the nature of lawfulness and goodness and right. I could probably pull pages and pages of quotes from OOTS that exemplify my thoughts and ideals and philosophies in this sense.

#oots #order of the stick #30 day archetropy quest #paladiary #paladin #archetrope

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punkrockbuttrfly · 11 months

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Can I have 8, 12, and 22 for the fandom asks (for Gallifrey)?

8) common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

season 5 is good. Listen, I've heard all the arguments about how it's boring and how nothing is achieved by the end and how it spins its wheels and is just padding until season 6, and maybe it felt that way when it was first coming out, but I love season 5.

It is such a good insight into the characters we love, because it's about Romana and Narvin on one side and Leela on the other, all sticking so hard to their principles while feeling like the other side has betrayed theirs and betrayed them in turn. Romana and Narvin relying so hard on each other in this universe where it's normal and expected for upper level politicians to turn on each other constantly and challenging the norms of the society they feel stuck in, while Leela tries so hard to get back to her own roots and help the people who were so screwed over by the people she feels Romana and Narvin are now defending, all of them doing exactly what's right but having differing methods on how to do it and ending up struggling to actually do good against the real monsters of this society.

It's so good, and the way they do come together at the end is such a wonderful conclusion and lead in to series 6. Season 5 is good and I will hear no arguments against that.

12) the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

I don't know if there are any unpopular characters in Gallifrey. I'll admit that sometimes Ace feels like the writers didn't want her there given how little she actually does in the series, but everyone else loves her.

Seriously, I really wish Ace got more to do, she brings so much of that rebellious energy that exasperates everyone around her but also makes them question themselves, because even if she's definitely naive and very loud, she's got probably the strongest (or, at least, the least battered and worn down) moral compass, so if she disagrees with them, they're probably in the wrong.

I'm choosing to defend Ace in this because it feels like she was only there as a mandate to the writers, given that she spent most of Intervention Earth under mind control, most of Enemy Lines dead, and then got written out halfway through Time War 1, and she deserved better.

22) your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

the fact that Braxiatel legitimately cares about the rest of the cast. He manipulates everyone, and that's what I see most people talking about with him, he's the master chess player who sees everyone else as a piece on the board, and, like, maybe, but he does legit love these people.

He makes a joke about how many times he's rescued Narvin "by accident" but every time he does it because he's helping Romana, and he's perfectly willing to help out someone he (ostensibly) hates just for Romana's sake, and he is never anything but curteous and lovely to Leela.

Like, his loyalty to Romana is talked about, but I often see people talk about how he's only loyal to the President, ignoring the fact that he murdered an earlier President the second he gave him an order he didn't like and covered it up by acting as his own investigator. He could get away with messing these people over easily, and he would probably be better off doing so and fucking off back to his Collection to spend the rest of eternity doing his own thing.

But he doesn't. Because he cares about them, whether he admits it to his enemies or himself or not.

#thanks for the ask! This was fun!#tbh I don't engage in fandom spaces much #so all the opinions I complained about might be incredibly niche and mocked opinions #but they're takes that I've seen and I wanted to explain how these people are valid but wrong /j

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fireemblems24 · 2 years

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This is more of a random though since you like Dimitri, but I do actually believe that he had tortured someone before, mainly in how he describes violence (Randolph and Gronder Field 2 when you put him against Edelgard), and while it doesn't put him in a good light, character wise I do think it makes sense for him given is mentality of "making your enemies taste their own medicine", what do you think?

Is it weird the Randolph scene is actually one of my favorites? 😅

In my opinion, it makes Dimitri a far better character, but less good of a person (during that time at least). I think Dimitri's arc would've flatlined if he hadn't done anything actually bad. Without it, he becomes one of those annoying characters who act like they've got some dark, evil past and it turns out they stole $5 from grandma once.

I don't ever like or dislike characters based on my personal set of morals (with some exceptions that's too much to get into here). I like them based on how interesting I find their actions and/or how artfully the writer used them as a tool in the story. Seeing a character who starts out seeming like a boy scout end up threatening to torture someone because he's been driven so mad by his over compassionate nature at the brutality of war and what he personally suffered IS interesting. Seeing compassion get turned against a character is REALLY interesting. Dimitri's less of a character without it.

I also do find it very interesting how Dimitri always threatens violence that he himself has been subjected to in some form or another. I think it's actually a quite powerful message about using violence to achieve things, and how it ends up being cyclical until someone's strong enough to withdraw and choose peace instead (as Dimitri does by the end), but without ham-fisting it down your throat that "violence bad" in a cheap, uninteresting, lip service only way.

It's also one of my favorite scenes from a meta level. This game weirdly tries to be "morally grey" and "no one's right or wrong," but at the same time is deathly allergic to not sucking up to the player and hand-waving away anything remotely grey about the situation you picked, with some routes being MUCH worse than others (we all know what I mean lamo). This scene here, with Dimitri, is one of the very few times the game brakes away from shoving player worship at you to tell a good story instead, even if it risks making the player feel negative about things temporarily. To be honest, it's scenes like that that are the core reason I ended up liking AM and Dimitri so much. Without it, you just have CF again.

#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #azure moon #fire emblem three houses

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class1akids · 2 years

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I also wonder what's left for Hawks. He was a really fun character from Pro Hero to Liberation War, but ever since he acted as a vehicle to foil Toya/Dabi, he hasn't really had anything to do. He decided to give Endeavor another chance, out of respect for Hawks' childhood idol more than for the real man, and he's here since the No 2 kinda has to be against AfO, but I wonder what resolution would feel satisfying for him since he was such a big player in the Todoroki plot but has nothing to do 3/3

I feel like Hawks is still part of the Todoroki plot thematically - and the whole dilemma of "heroes who sacrifice their family to save strangers".

Endeavor built his family around his hero identity - they were all tools to his ambitions. But Hawks in a way is even more extreme - in order to become a hero, his entire identity was erased and he was raised by the core of the hero system, the HPSC.

So when Hawks comes to Endeavor's help after the war, he props up Endeavor as the No. 1. and I think reinforces in Endeavor that he has to put his hero duties first. Notice, Endeavor is not the only one ghosting Shouto, Hawks also ghosts Tokoyami.

And from everything we've been shown, it is Hawks who makes the decision to put Endeavor in the AFO battlefield - because he approaches this from the perspective of the greater good and overall rationality. The unease we see on Endeavor's face and Shouto's face about this decision, despite they both tell themselves, it's for the best, makes me feel like it's framed as one of those occasions when the heart should overrule rationality.

So Hawks overall role is to keep pulling Endeavor into the direction of the "hero identity" and frame the stake for the greater good - while Touya is there to pull him to his family and the need to correct past sins. Shouto is the center - someone who found a way to balance himself and be the hero for the family while also for the world. Stopping and saving his brother before he goes on to other things.

Hawks mirrors Twice in the sense that he wants to be useful to his friends - but that usefulness can be dangerous without a moral compass, because it may end up pushing them into a direction they should be moving away from.

Hawks enabling Endeavor's hero identity, and finding reasons and justifications not to face Touya - I think he's doing it because he truly believes that this is "for the best". But can he make this decision when in fact a part of his own core is missing because he himself never faced his own family and he left his identity behind?

In the end of course, this is not very satisfying and I personally would have preferred if Hawks became an independent character from Endeavor, with his own focus, an arc about the HPSC and digging into the rotten heart of hero society. Basically something like Nagant, but with actually making sense. I feel like that's what was planned for Hawks, but then got dropped - maybe for fear of the likeability of the character or to cut that arc to speed up the story.

So the endgame I see is not much more, than Hawks experiencing true usefulness (Sad Girls Parade), family bonds (Todoroki reunion) and what saving a villain truly means as opposed to going through the motions he did.

I feel like he'll get maybe some closure with Tokoyami too, though for me, there does not seem to be a lot else to do in terms of character beyond returning Tokoyami's care for him.

#c1a asks #bnha manga spoilers #hawks #unfortunately i feel like Hawks arc flatlined #it had the most amazing potential after the war #and now it's just going to be something safe and boring #and i don't expect great things #but i hope HK will surprise me #because i love hawks #and i love his interactions with all of the todorokis

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sopxhiea · 3 years

Text

Invitation

Alfie Solomons X Reader

Drabble

She leans against the doorframe, hair resting on her shoulders as she plays with her dress. Fuck, she’s proper lovely. Her smile follows the lines of her delicate features and he swears he sucks in a breath while waiting for the lad to get his papers in hand.

“You can come in for a bite, you know?”

Oh, he’d like to.

Her voice is soft, playful almost and Alfie images her writhing underneath him like he’s done a dozen times before but reminds himself that there are rules, invisible ones that are formed by the moral compass of the person.

He doesn’t have one.

She plays with the ends of her hair as he looks down at her small form, she gets lovelier by the day, he swears. A soft smile finds his lips and he shakes his head, making a curious noise leave her lips at the act. His eyes meet hers once more and he considers, fucking thinks about going in his employee’s house to have dinner with his housemate.

“‘m good, lass.” he speaks, choking out the words when she starts walking towards him.

Her movements are slow, clearly calculated as she strides towards him. He sucks in a breath and his eyes don’t leave hers. She has her smile on the entire time. She knows the affect she has on the baker all too well, as he’s not the most subtle of admirers but she decides she’ll give him a chance, she wants to after all.

“Have you had dinner, Mr. Solomons?” she whispers and he loses it for a second, mouth agape for a solid second before he gathers himself to look at the devilish eyes of the lass before her.

She says his name in a way that makes him swear there are gods, good ones too. They have given him the gift of her, or more so the gift of getting to ogle her every morning he has the chance to come by. His employee lives with her, a bloke named Ishmael and he makes the lad swear that he’ll take care of the girl.

Although he’d much rather do it himself.

“Nah, I haven’t.” he mutters, no energy left to curse in his system with her so close by.

He sees her face closer this way, even more gorgeous than he’d thought before. He takes his time, too. Eyes her eyelashes under the evening light as she stares up at him, marvels at his bulky form while he eye-fucks the girl. She doesn’t mind it, enjoys it if anything.

“Come on, then.” she says and he can’t find in himself to say no, he can’t even shake his head but to follow the lass.

He shakes his head while walking inside the house, following her like her tail and she smiles at the act. Alfie doesn’t seem like the rough type to her, although she’s sure he’d love to act like it. She doesn’t know enough about him to make conclusions but the more things she hears, the more curious she is about the nature of the gangster.

She sits him down then, on the large table in the dining room with no one but her and him. He figures Ishmael is inside the apartment somewhere still looking for the papers Alfie had asked for and he prays to his gods that the lad can’t find them. The lass pours Alfie a cup of water before filling his plate with warm food.

Fuck, it had been a long time since he’d had warm food at the table.

At any table, he reminds himself and catches the eyes of the lass he’s so fond of. She fills her plate as well, leaves Ishmael’s place empty and sits in front of Alfie before eating. Alfie watches her for a while, a slurty look in her eyes as she takes small bites from her filled spoon.

He then digs in, swearing under his breath as he realizes that this was just what he needed. “Fuck.”

She smiles at the word, also because just a small plate of warm food was enough to untie the knots he’s keen on carrying. She watches him devour the food before him, the papers he came around for long forgotten as he casts her a peculiar glance every other minute. She eats slower, watches him under a curious gaze and settles that she likes him.

“Another one?” she asks, sweet this time once he’s done but he shakes his head. He’s full and hungry for something else now that his belly was full.

“Nah, pet. Good fuckin’ food it ‘s, though, yeah.” he says, appreciating home cooked foods more than ever now that she’s made some for him.

Ishmael finds the papers in the meantime, realizes his boss is having a meal with the girl he lives with and settles that it’ll be best to just wait in the car. He knows that the boss is fond of the lass, although he doesn’t know her well and he’s interested to say the least so he steers clear, away from the dining room.

“Well....that’s kind.” she speaks after his last words and he realizes he wants something else.

“It’s the fuckin’ truth, innit.” he speaks under heavy eyes. Not because he’s sleepy but because he wants her.

“Tell me something else that’s true.” she says, elbows on the table once she’s finished. He smirks at her, laughs almost at the request.

“Where’s the lad?” he asks, knowing he’s playing with fire now and tries to steer clear from fucking a lass a decade younger than him.

But she doesn’t seem to mind. It seems like it’s quite the opposite, actually. She wants it, he can see but she’s not the one to beg for it. He just thinks she’s not properly worked up yet, once she has her panting it’s over. But he knows the blurry lines formed by what’s proper and what’s not.

The way she’s looking at him is definitely not.

“I told him to stay away.” she says, as a matter of fact about the time she’d warned him off about keeping clear if they were ever to be in the same room.

“And he fuckin’ listened?” he asks, chuckling while muttering out the sentence. His own lad who doesn’t always listen to him is whipped by a young thing like her.

He doesn’t blame him. He’d do anything she says without questions, too.

“What do you think?” she whispers, voice breathy and she smiles when he gulps.

He’s in the wolf’s cave as a lone bear.

She can’t tear him up, not yet but she has the capacity. He knows she does from the way she walked towards him outside. She plays with her knife, putting the sharp part against her tongue and he inhales sharply. She’s done this before, he can see but he wonders who was the other player, the unlucky bastard.

“Why haven’t you come inside the house before?” she asks, curious eyes lingering on his lips before landing on his eyes.

“Didn’t have a good enough fuckin’ reason, did I?” he speaks but it’s a lie, they both know it.

“Is me waiting for you not good enough?” she counters the words with another questions and he loses his breath for a second before sucking in a sharp breath of air.

And he knows she’d been waiting but not how.

She’d been waiting with a smile on her face, hands exploring her inner thighs with the visions of him. She was impatient, that was easy to see and he’d die to see her chest heaving the way it had a couple days ago with the thought of his head between her legs. He sees the want, the need in her eyes, mirrored fiercely in his.

“I know you have places to be..” she starts speaking and he knows he’s fucked, she doesn’t need to finish the sentence. “...I’d be willing to keep you company, if you’d like that is.” she speaks and he knows it to be true.

“How old are ya’, lass?” he asks and she retreats for a second. He sees her hesitate, not because she cares about the age difference but because she doesn’t.

She doesn’t give a single damn about how he’s much older than she is or that he’s got blood in her hands. This is mostly due to the many lads she’d been around who were seemingly appropriate, some would even say a catch, for her but they were boring chaps who just wanted a kiss from a pretty girl.

She needs a man, and reckons he’s exactly that.

“I think you already know the answer.” she bites back this time, almost aggressive and he revels at that, marvels at her angry orbs for a second before he realizes he’s been staring at her like his last meal.

“Ya’ know how old I fuckin’ am, hm?” he asks and she chuckles, smiles at his act. She’s lovely, he catches himself thinking as he watches her and she nods.

She fucking nods.

And then she speaks, but with more poise and anger this time. She’s managing her rage well, he can see because he has the exact same one swimming in his very own orbs. He watches her entire demeanor change and she talks without breaking eye-contact, making him shift in his pants.

“I know age doesn’t matter to you....nor me being Ishmael’s housemate. You either want this..” she gestures to herself before putting her elbows on the surface, eyes stern. “...or you don’t. There’s plenty of fish in the sea and I have no problem with hunting some down.” she finishes and he needs an entire moment to gather himself.

He watches her chest heave, a million visions fills his head before he has to shake them out. His pants are tight now, too tight as he groans while adjusting the fabric. She sees the frustration, months of him wanting to make her his and now she’s presenting him with the opportunity but it’s not like what he’s imagined.

Oh, it’s much better.

“What if I, yeah, do fuckin’ want it? What happens then, hm?” he asks, hand tugging at his beard as he watches her delve from confusion to confidence all in a second. She smiles at him, and he swears he’s about to fuck her on the dining table but she speaks before he can do that.

“Do you always ask questions that you know the answers to? Or is it only with me?” she says and he raises his eyebrows at that.

He does know what this entails.

Sleepless nights in his office, him fucking her against the desk and her getting bruises for it. He knows she’ll spend the weekends if he asks but he also sees the other side of the coin, the one with no fucking and a whole lot of blood. He sees the danger and a flick in his heart tells him to keep the angel before him out of it but he’s selfish.

“Do ya’ know the answer then?” Alfie asks and this is a warning of sorts, telling her that once she’s in, there’s no way out.

She nods, not bothered or threatened but simply knowing. He watches her smile, a wide grin on her pretty lips as she speaks.

“I’m not scared of a little blood, if that’s what you’re asking.” she speaks and he knows she’s not a woman to be toyed with. Sure, she’s young. Much younger than anyone he’s ever been with but he sees the fire in her eyes, the same he’s had since he became a young man. He knows she’s been through less than he, he can see it in her delicate hands compared to his calloused ones but he finds that he doesn’t care.

“‘m a dangerous fuckin’ man, luv.” he says and the pet name makes her smile in a way that makes him lose his breath. It’s so easy for her, he thinks and she knows, she drags the smile because of it.

“A dangerous man wouldn’t warn me off.” she says with a wicked smile.

And he’s sold.

He can’t argue with that logic, he thinks and it brings a low chuckle to his lips. She’s right, in some sick and twisted way and it makes him smile. He wants to take her home, kiss her real good and then explore every inch of her soft skin she’s graciously exposing to him. He wants to mark her and for people to see it. It’s primitive, but primitive can be good.

“When do ya’ have to be fuckin’ home?” he asks, like she’s a school girl or if her parents will check the bedroom in case of a missing daughter at night case.

So she chuckles at the words, shakes her head and offers the gangster the kindest smile she can muster. He wants her to ruin him, to make him beg on his knees and he’s willing to do so, every step of the way if he needs to but she’s taking a step back each time he tries to catch her in his strong arms. It’s frustrating but he’s close, too close to pass up the opportunity.

“Whenever we’re done.” she says, almost in a whisper this time and it makes Alfie get up almost abruptly.

He feels like a young man inside, how he felt before the war as he walks out of the dining room but not before stopping in front of the lass to mutter some words.

“Go on, then.” he says, against her face and she can feel the goosebumps on her skin. It makes her excited, that she finally has the chance to have a go at the scary man and Alfie watches her get her coat and offer her hand.

He takes it.

Her hand is much smaller, softer too and not roughened by the world’s many troubles. He plans to keep them that way, to make sure there’s not a scratch on her in his time of being around promises himself that it will be the case as long as she keeps him around.

Just before she’s about to hop into the car, holding onto his hand, she plants a kiss on the side of his mouth.

And he’s gone.

Because it’s soft, far too good for a criminal like him but he can’t bring himself to say that she should be wary of him. He wants her, like a little kid wants candy and he cannot keep denying himself, he knows this. He also knows she may come out of a bit more mature so sees it as a gain and gain situation.

Then he barks at the driver to take them to his place and feels her hand clasp his. A low fuck leaves his lips and he knows he’s in for trouble.

---

Tagging: @clairecrive @parkbearum @sourirez @vetseras @mollybegger-blog @babylooneytoonz @peakascum

A/n: This happened and i hope you liked it? Let me knowww and also if you’d like to be tagged.

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shirubae · 2 years

Text

Silvaze ‘06: Part 3 - A Life or The World

Previously: Silver and Blaze arrived in the past, though separated.

Silver continues his mission with Amy. They finally stumble upon Sonic with Elise in Soleanna Castle Town. Silver ambushes him for the sake of the future.

Vs. Sonic

You know Sonic’s infamously unfair (“It’s no use!”) boss fight with Silver? Well in Silver Episode it’s still a curbstomp, only now the player gets to say the line. Realistically, there’s no way for Sonic to overpower Silver when he’s so bloodthirsty. His psychokinesis is just too much for the blue blur.

Interestingly, in Sonic’s story he manages to briefly beat Silver. The way Silver gets up and strikes back is very reminiscent of a move that Mephiles pulls on Shadow after their fight in the future. Parallels, babey! You’re working for a villain, Silver!

Silver is confused by how easily he can defeat Sonic, having assumed he was just as monstrous as Iblis. How could such a fool doom the world? He also allows Dr. Eggman to kidnap Elise, ironically further endangering his future.

Sonic turns his back to pursue Elise, infuriating Silver; he can’t see why Sonic cares so much about that girl with the fate of the world at stake. If Silver can’t afford to look aside for his friend, then neither should Sonic.

This is where we see just how obsessed Silver is with his mission, and how his impulsive immaturity makes him so dangerous. This is what happens when Silver “runs wild” as Blaze put it. He does not hesitate to kill someone he’s never met at the mere notion that it could solve his problems. He welcomes it as “[his] mission”, taking pride in being a time-traveling assassin. He wants the death of Sonic the Hedgehog to define him.

Then Amy steps in. Silver may be a freak, but he's not so violent that he'd turn on an ally so quickly. She checks his insane moral compass and hits him with the big line: “Even if that was true, if I had to choose between the world and Sonic, I would choose Sonic!”

This shakes Silver’s blind obedience to Mephiles. He begins to actually consider what it means to trade a life to save the world. More importantly, Silver is amazed by the faith and trust that Amy puts in Sonic; even when faced with such a dark prophecy, she sticks to what she knows. To quote resident Sonamy extraordinaire, @molinaskies :

"[Amy]’s choosing Sonic because she knows that, even if Sonic’s actions are devastating (which, remember, she outright doubts), his actions are for the greater good because objectively, Sonic has a good heart and is always on the right path.” - MolinaSkies

As the camera flies over the despondent Silver, we hear the first few notes of “You Are My Companion”, a song that represents Silver and Blaze’s devotion to each other. Silver compares Amy’s faith in Sonic to his own faith in Blaze. He accepts that he’s been neglecting her, and chooses to stay in one place instead of running off and making things worse. He chooses to wait for her.

Reunion with Blaze

And she shows up! Blaze tells Silver she’s been looking for him (too bad he hasn’t been looking for you). He’s so ashamed he doesn’t even respond, merely glancing her way. But he does request her advice again, asking her opinion on taking one life to save the world.

Blaze calls him naive (or 青い "blue" if you will) for his latest unanswerable question. Instead, she reasons that there is no way to determine the consequences for one’s actions and that we can only act on our beliefs and hope for the best. It gives Silver a simple creed that he can hold onto for now. But it’s now clear that Blaze never believed Mephiles the way Silver does - rather, she’s so desperate she’s risking it all for a chance at peace. Blaze is no paragon of optimism, but at least her realistic perspective helps ground Silver in this mess he’s gotten himself into. (Note: the music for this reunion, “Is It Right”, uses the melody from “You’re My Companion”!)

Silver is the one who proposes their next move to investigate Eggman’s White Acropolis. Now he’s seeking context, rather than simply biting at the Iblis Trigger’s heels. It also shows that he did have a plan of action in mind, but he chose to wait for Blaze this time. They’re still misguided, but at least Silver’s letting Blaze help.

Next up: finding a Chaos Emerald and continuing the manhunt!

[Back to the masterpost]

#silver the hedgehog #blaze the cat #silvaze #analysis #sonic 06 #sonic the hedgehog 2006 #sonic the hedgehog #sonic #amy rose #princess elise #analysis: silvaze 06

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