do you ever think about how when we see their backstory, di feisheng and jiao liqiao are both victims? jiao liqiao physically restrained and surrounded by jeering, threatening men about to assault her; di feisheng restrained by mind control and jeered at, threatened, until he has no choice but to fight? both of them trapped, her knowing that she can't even hope for the escape of death, him knowing that if he dies here, he'll never be free?
and jiao liqiao takes that terror and violation and sees how it could be a tool she could wield.
and di feisheng takes that terror and violation and sees how it is an unendurable moral injury that has to be eliminated.
do you every think about how they were both so focused, both so driven, both so fully fixated on the single person who was their goal, their reason for everything?
and jiao liqiao let her obsession with di feisheng turn her into someone who would destroy the world, would destroy di feisheng himself, as long as it meant he would be hers.
and di feisheng let his obsession turn him into someone who would save a world he doesn't care about, would give up everything he's worked for, if it meant that li xiangyi would live.
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Interviewer: Avatar Aang, why did you run away from home?
Aang: I was told I was the Avatar at like 12, and the pressure got to me so I childishly ran away. :( Ironically that ended up being the right choice, but that's a diff story.
Interviewer: Fascinating. Did you take anyone with you?
Aang: Of course! My best buddy, ol' pal Appa! :D
Appa: Moo
Interviewer: Avatar Korra, why did you run away from home?
Korra: Well the first time- I don't want to talk about the second time- it was because those jerks wouldn't let me BE THE AVATAR! So I ran away to do my duties!
Interviewer: Fascinating. Did you take anyone with you?
Korra: Of course! Only the best girl ever, Naga!
Naga: Woof
Interviewer: Avatar Kyoshi, why did you run away from home?
Kyoshi: After witnessing the death of two of my loved ones. I swore to escape my sifu's control and to get revenge by any means necessary.
Interviewer: Fascinating. Did you take anyone with you?
Kyoshi: Of course! I took my totally 100%, platonic bestie Rangi! Mmmhmmm just friends, totally, ONLY friends. Haha. No secret longing feelings here, no siree.
Rangi: Platonic???? Not by the end of this trip, not if I have anything to say about it!
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whats your take on marcille and pattadols post canon friendship? they seem to hang out occasionally in a couple of post canon shorts and i was wondering if your beautiful mind has anything more to add? youre amazing 💖
☺️ aha thank you so much!!! Pattadol and Marcille are sooo interesting to me because like. I think Pattadol is who Marcille would have become if her parents had both been long-lived, and she never had a reason to question elven authority. The hardworking attitude, insistence on sticking to a very rigid set of principles, a little bit of vanity in wanting to be recognized for her efforts... the slightly ridiculous uptightness and neurotic attitude at times, though at heart they're both kind people who want the best for everyone in their own ways.
In the post-canon, I'm assuming that Pattadol has her own ambassador's quarters in either the castle or the inner city, and the two of them grab tea at the castle drawing room/garden/whatever. I think they talk shop, soundboard ideas off each other, and gossip/complain a little about incompetent colleagues/problems... I think they're each others' dream work friends, honestly. Polite, competent, friendly but never getting overly personal, fun and pleasant to talk to. The fact that Pattadol's 82 and a fairly young woman by elven standards also plays into it, I think -- Marcille hasn't had another elf friend along the same maturity range and professional level of experience, so this is probably nice for her!
What I would like to see is them eventually developing a closer relationship. I think a lot about the way Pattadol reassured Marcille that, because of her accomplishments, she'd have a pretty comfortable sentence as a Canary. About the way, while there was tension because of what was happening at the time, they were both immediately very polite to each other upon meeting and kind of?? got along/clicked immediately in some ways?? It feels like they have the same kind of standards for themselves and others (as well as general inexperience and slight insecurity about their own competency, which probably makes them feel at more or less an equal level with each other).
And I think that'd be good for both of them -- having someone else that they admire, who also admires them in return and recognizes their talents and hard work. There's a very unique kind of rapport you build with someone that you hold as an intellectual peer and can trust to give you feedback that's actually reliable and up to par. While they might both be too professional to really become super close friends who can always be open with each other, there's a very real and deep kind of companionship that forms from this kind of trust, and I hope that's the direction they're heading in.
It's also extra delicious if you add in the tension of Pattadol inherently being a foreign agent from a country that isn't necessarily friendly, but they end up with that strange trust anyway... not to mention the thought that she might find herself actually admiring how Melini is growing and trying to defend it when reporting back to the queen.
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vash truly is one of the most characters ever. like. he's a normal guy. he's a gunslinger. he barely uses his gun. he's lame. he's a dork. he's the most badass character ever. there are two (2) different instances of him barking in the anime. he has an evil brother. he's cain and also abel. he's an angel. also an alien. he's good with kids. he's a staunch pacifist. he's naive. but also he's aware of how inconvenient his views can be. he's a staunch pacifist. and he's killed before. and he's everything to me <3
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In terms of Inquisitor stories I'm hoping that we potentially get someday, I'm looking forward to seeing how the Seventh Sister and Fifth Brother's dynamic got established. While we don't know much about them as a duo before rebels, it's been established that if they're in the same room, they're near each other (be it fighting or just in each other's presence), and they also hate the other's guts. We also know, based on their sparring together in Vader (2017) and their appearance in Rise of the Red Blade (also sparring together and/or Seventh heckling Fifth while around Iskat) that they've been at it since 19BBY and kept it up until 3BBY, which, especially considering the backstabby nature of the inquisitorius, is a long time!
I do ship them, so clearly my questions about/view of them has a bit of a romantic and/or sexual tinge to it, but even completely in the context of a platonic relationship, the question of why those two gravitate to each other fascinates me, given everything else we know about them as characters and how they interact with the other inquisitors.
There's quite a bit of evidence for this on Fifth's end—he doesn't take shit from Reva or Iskat, and the only inquisitor he shows true fealty/respect to is the Grand Inquisitor. Seventh, whether or not you take stock in the numerical rank system, doesn't outrank him, and she'll also openly confront him, so there are similarities among her, Reva, and Iskat in that none of the three of them are doormats. Notably, one could also assume Fifth's attitude skews a bit misogynistic, as he doesn't seem to have the same issues with Eighth or Tualon based on what little we get of those dynamics, but that's a different post.
We've gotten less of Seventh's dynamic with a variety of inquisitors given her comparative lack of content compared to him (not that I'm bitter), but she's clearly headstrong, smart, cruel, and isn't afraid to push others under the bus in order to gain the upper hand in a situation for revenge. Given all this, it's notable that despite their arguing, she consistently works with Fifth and spars with him (which, even Iskat notes that sparring with Seventh is sort of terrifying). Clearly, Seventh's willing to put up with him as much as he's willing to put up with her. Since she isn't that different from Reva and Iskat, all things considered, what was The Thing that did makes Seventh and Fifth tolerate, and even gravitate toward, each other?
Obviously, I have my own ideas for why (up to and including "they want to jump each other's bones about it"), but in terms of guessing what canon may do? I'd estimate that when the two first meet (and they're probably among the earliest to do so/the earlier initiates), Seventh takes Fifth's surliness less personally than the other inquisitors and makes it more into banter, keeps pushing him back. This pisses him off, but the fact that she doesn't back down draws him in, both as a rival and otherwise. Given the fact that he's dyed-in-the-wool committed to the inquisitor cause and less fazed about evildoing, her propensity for cruel and unusual violence may not bother him as much as it would the others. The two of them coming as a set may be process of elimination as much as it is being drawn to the other, honestly.
This bit also didn't really fit anywhere else, but what cements their dynamic as different to me is something I noticed while watching Rebels, where despite the fact that Seventh almost always takes point on missions (and in notable contrast to owk, he usually lets her), the two have what seems to be an unspoken agreement that Fifth is the one interacting with imperial leadership and Vader. By the end, they clearly know each other, even through pointed barbs.
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I may be an O-mancer at heart but as someone who also loves playing fast and loose with both O and Seven dynamics I am both sustained and gain damage when people inevitably draw contrasts/comparison between the two
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max saying "it's like [vecna] only sees the darkness in us" because vecna brings up their worst moments and thoughts and reduces them to just that without ever giving them a chance to be more, heal, or see otherwise, essentially snuffing out all the light in their lives until they're weak and isolated enough that they have no choice but to succumb to the dark
vs
mike showing will his darkness (expressing his insecurities, worries, and being vulnerable in front of him) and will shining a light on all of the things he loves about him (you're not some random nerd; you're the heart; you're our leader that guides and inspires us), reminding him of the good that he's done (that was you guys that saved me) and the good he can still do (whatever you didn't say, you can say it to her then), essentially dispelling mike's darkness by reminding him of his own light
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