#words of admiration and alliances yadda yadda

[iedistis]

It's a shame they changed the Franc letters so much tone-wise because they gave Gortash a lot more nuance in his methods than what's going on in the patched version. Sure, those may be more banite but I always liked how in the original, the tyranny was not in the relationship between both characters but rather their acts committed together.

I enjoy Gortash as a character so much because he subverted the expectation of what a Chosen of Bane would be. His approach is deeply Machiavellian. The idea of him working his way up through the ranks of aristocracy by both cultural impact that is unignorable thanks to his machinery and a force of personality that disarms his targets emotionally and turns them favourable towards him on an interpersonal level instead of forcing them into submission via fear and threats(as one would expect) made it compelling. It made way for tyranny harder to uproot than one built on aggression because it would not just subjugate people, but change them. A person who fears you is closer to betrayal than one who loves instead. It is an alternative way of subjugation and I like to think that's what may have differentiated him from other Banites so much it made him a Chosen.

And those letters showed how that could've played out. They were deeply manipulative. Threats, if there were any, were in the beginning and faded into the background with the overpowering charm that continued on. The newer version falls flat in comparison. They start and end with thinly veiled threats and that's just not as powerful.

It sucks because I considered them a potential window into how the past relationship of Gortash/Durge could've started out too (regardless of how you interpret the nature of it). I don't think they could've gotten so close as to prompt something like the prayer of forgiveness like this simply because I can't see a Dark Urge responding to threats, fearless avatar of murder and all that. But the first version? Shallow flattery to get the foot into the door and appealing to their wants (like some good old torture racks) to ultimately foster an emotional attachment so severe it borders on heresy for at least one of them? That's awful. I like it.

In the patched letters he's just…evil. A more open and diplomatic (and perhaps more in line with bane) version of it, but also one a lot more predictive. Shame.

#this is mainly an art blog #but i have thoughts.... #i am very aware half of this is only the perception of gortash that lives in my head #but those letters made a huge impact on how i perceive him #and i prefer the version in my head over the one those new letters would paint #these letters were just so in line with how he approaches you as player character too #compliments #words of admiration and alliances yadda yadda #it painted a cohesive pictures #but this is already too long #txt #enver gortash #gortash #The new letters are fine #But they don't hit like the old ones

[willardswritindump]

Untiled Halo Fic

Chapter 1

The year is 2525. Humanity has just discovered that we are not alone in this universe. An alien alliance known simply as "The Covenant" has begun to seek out human worlds and outer colonies, kickstarting what would be the darkest, bloodiest conflict in human history. Luckily, the UNSC, or United Nations Space Command, have been preparing humanities galactic military strength due to the rise or the Insurrectionists, or Rebels, in the outer colonies who disagree with the treatment the colonies receive, and political and financial influences.

 The UNSC, now needing bodies to man the massive space railguns they call ships, have constructed several dozen training academies and military schools for humanities brightest and bravest souls. One such facility would be the Corbulo Academy of Military Science, or CAMS. Corbulo is specifically an officer training Academy, housing only the most promising and talented future Officers of the UNSC

The shuttles' thrusters burn as it enters orbit, Lowering itself from the sky to the clouds. Heavy rain bashes against the reinforced hull of the Heron, as new recruits are mentally preparing to be rushed out of the bay upon landing. Some of the finest are among these rookies, such as Viper Mcfairle, the son of a high-ranking Navy Admiral and Julia Lebrette, a somewhat distant relative of a Catherine Halsey, (with a skill in advanced technologies to show-).  The only noise being drawn from the turbulence of the D20 lowering altitude. There's a sense of nervous anticipation that all of the rookies feel, but don't mention. It's crowded and underlit, save for a small piece of space in the back-left corner of the Heron, who's only resident was a seemingly unimpressive, slightly short girl with brunette lengthy hair, and piercing brown eyes. She seemed to emit a sense of hatred for everything around her, which was probably why she was alone, scribbling in a paper journal. Which, to more preppy individuals, is seen as a poor, dirty thing. Dressed unlike the rest, in grey and crimson maroon, with a light brown bandoleer crossing her torso.

 "February 23, 2525. The recent attack on Harvest is still shocking everyone across the galaxy. Not like I've been saying aliens are fucking real all my life. Still, it's scary. News feed of Civilian Evacuation and Military engagements on Harvest are on every media platform. It's all most can talk about, and all anyone thinks about. I still can't stand how the UNS--"

A sudden bang of turbulence disrupts her thought and sends the lead-tipped writing utensil leaping across the floor, gathering the attention of few.

"Fucking hell."

She thought to herself in pissed, but she eventually stops giving a shit, puts the tatty stained notebook away, and continues to project an aura of misery.

As the shuttle lands, someone who looks something like a sergeant stands up in the center or the rows of seats, and begins speaking aloud

"Alright, all of you, listen up! I want all of your electronics and biotics off and away, if I see it at all, that's it, you're done..."

He went on for about a minute on basic instructions, what to do, all that yadda yadda. Everyone did what they were supposed to, anyways.

Everyone knew what to do, though. It wasn't any of their first rodeos, (as most had either transferred from other academies, or were from well-known military families. Something odd happens about this time, though. The entire power grid goes dark, now the only lights being the dark red overheads from the shuttle. The Sergeant stops, orders everyone to siddown and shut up, and goes to have a chat with the pilot, probably for the radio communicator in the cockpit. The recruits, if you can call them that, do well on their end to shut the hell up, save for maybe one nosy individual...

The blonde cadet that sat across from the girl and who had been asleep for the vast majority of the transport ride was suddenly jolted awake as the turbulence rattled the shuttle, his pale blue eyes alert as he waited for the inevitable.                                                    

“Son of a bitch.”

He quietly muttered to himself as they descended onto the planet. As soon as the Sergeant began his speech, he could help but zone out, he was already far used to the icy military treatment from his family, at least this sergeant didn’t give birth to him.

He couldn’t help but wonder how much of the tirade was practiced beforehand by the sergeant. As he stared dead ahead of him the cadet couldn’t help but take survey of the girl in front of him. Not that he found her particularly interesting, although the found her a little cute it wasn’t enough to truly distract him, just enough to occupy his mind for the few minutes they would be stuck staring through each other. He knew something was off by the strange uniform she wore; it wasn’t the same white and grey dress uniform the rest wore but he couldn’t put a finger on why it was notable. Still it was enough to occupy his “recon mind” as his brothers put it and he made a mental note to keep an eye on her. Something about the air of rage that she gave off made him think that was probably a good idea. It made her seem dangerous, something that both fascinated and somewhat, well scared was probably to strong a word, he knew to approach with caution.

The brunette girl takes notice of the other cadet, who to her, almost can't take his eyes off her. She gives a quick half-assed glance and continues to stare out of the shuttle’s porthole-shaped window. A few brief moments pass, and the girl gives off a slight sigh of remorse, and with something of an agitated, intimidating, slightly monotone voice, basically demands the question,

"The hell do you want, pretty boy."

Her deep brown eyes now focus directly on the blonde, unflinching, unnerving. Whoever she was, whatever planet she called home, it was clear now that the most she had in common with any of the other cadets is height. She didn't give off any sort of formal military sense, but something about her told the boy that she had experience, and she knew what she was doing.

“Shut the fuck up back there!” The Sergeant yelled, how he even managed to hear the girl was beyond the boy. Soon enough the entire group was being rushed through a haze of noise and chaos. The only relief being the mean that they had 30 minutes to eat. Through coincidence the boy wound up at the same table as the strange girl.

The mess hall was brightly lit, thanks to the overhead fluorescent lights illuminating the tables and benches. The giant room seemed to particularly favor the color white, as everything from the counters, to the ceiling and shiny marble-like floor, was coated in whites and light grays. Cadets grabbed their grub, sat down wherever, and tried to keep the volume to a minimum as to not piss off the already annoying Sergeants and Officers around.

 In the third isle, on the end next to a window overlooking the courtyard, sat the very same girl from earlier on the shuttle. Now in her titanium white cadet fatigues, "Oliver" sat only a few seats away from anybody else, as if she'd rather observe them than interact. She notices pretty boy approach with who appears to be a friend of his. From the sound of it, they were in a conversation about Harvest

"... And contact was lost right before it got hit! See the resemblance, man? The Aliens are helping the god damned Innies!... Uh, who's this?"

Hoffman, the slightly taller cadet with short, frizzy black hair, gestured to Oliver. Her full attention was now on them whether she liked it or not

The “pretty boy” took a seat across from Oliver, the neutral look on his face from the transport in hadn’t faltered despite Hoffman’s topic of conversation not exactly being one that he was fond of. “I don’t know, try reading. Not like our names are on the uniform.” The “pretty boy” said as before taking a bite of his food. “Also, I’m thinking our problems just got a little bit bigger than the insurrectionists, and that’s all I’m saying on the subject.” Pretty Boy said, a slight sense of sadness in his voice as he talked about Harvest, like something about it affected him more than just the loss of a colony. His eyes were distant as he continued to eat across from Oliver. Upon closer inspection the “pretty boys” name was Daniels.

"I dunno, man. All I know is when we get out of here, I'm getting payback on those gas-sucking freaks, right after those dirty fuckin' Rebels."

Hoffman sat next to Daniels, diagonally across from Oliver. She gave him something of a suspicious look, and turned back to the other cadet

"So what's your deal."

She directs towards Daniels, curious as to why he chose to sit there out of anywhere else in the Hall with much more bright, optimistic rookies. Well, in comparison to her, anyways.

The seat was open.” Daniel said calmly as he continued to eat his food. Truth be told he chose in an attempt to shut Hoffman up and to gather more information on Oliver. He couldn’t explain it but something about her interested him. “What’s your deal?” He asked her before going back to the synthetic vegetables on one side of his plate

"I'm not a fan of company, and three's a crowd."

Although she was being more honest and less rude, there was still some harshness in her words.  Her accent seemed to differ from most of the other cadets as well, who talked either as if they were from fast, bustling cities, or rather slow, more laid back colonies. Oliver, however, had a much more foreign drawl. Daniels had a hard time putting his hand on it, it was almost a cross between Ancient Russian and some European country. Maybe she's from Eposz? She took a swig of bottled water, and then continued what one would guess to be meatloaf. It didn't kill her, so she didn't care.

"Oh, great, another extremely extroverted ray of sunshine! Don't worry, Oliver, we don't bite. Unless you get on Daniels fun side here... rrwwwrrrr~"

Hoffman tiger purred at his fellow cadet, messing with him and trying to lighten the somewhat dim mood

A moment quickly passed before Daniels turned to Hoffman and raised an eyebrow in a “what the fuck” look. “Okay first, don’t you ever that again, and second, don’t you ever do that again.” He said in a calm monotone, raising one finger on first and a second on “second”, pointing both at Hoffman. Truth be told as much as he liked the guy he kind of hoped the icy girl would scare him off, that clearly wasn’t the case. “As much as I appreciate your suave attempt at being a wingman I don’t think you’re helping..... that means fuck off Dustin.” Daniels said before going back to his so-called meatloaf.

"Alright, alright Odie, you win. Besides, you know I'm just fucking with you. Not so sure about that one from Eridnus II, though-"

Oliver almost smirked. She didn't really give a damn for what either of them had to say, but Daniels' response was somewhat humorous to her.

"You two are idiots."

She went back to her almost real meatloaf, acting uninterested and observing the outside courtyard below.

“What part of fuck off didn’t you understand.” Daniels said before taking another bite of the meatloaf and a swig of water. “Honestly, that’s a fair point.” He said in response to Oliver’s verbal jab at both him and Hoffman, truth be told he knew Hoffman wasn’t exactly the brightest and didn’t exactly know how to shut up but Daniels knew that without a doubt Hoffman would have his back in a fight. He couldn’t count the amount of they’d bailed each other out back on Reach.

"Ah, don't worry about him. He's just been grumpy lately. Guess we all have since... Uh, yeah.."

A moment or two flies by, before Oliver piped up and asked

"... So where are you two from."

If you could call it asking. She had something of a demanding tone, as if she didn't show empathy towards being courteous. Still, her, asking this, is friendly, for Oliver.

“Reach.” Daniels calmly replied, interested at getting anything more than an insult out of the curious fellow cadet. “And I thought we both agreed NOT, to bring that up.” He said to Hoffman, an agitated tone in his voice. The topic of harvest still seeming to be a bad one with him.

Hey, I didn't say anything, just throwing vauge...ness out there."

 "Oh. I see."

Not much had been said, but things never had to be too obvious for her to pick up the pieces. From her guess, at least one of them lost something important on Harvest.

"Tough shit."

Oliver mumbled to herself.

"So what the hell are you doing here? In this gunkhole?"

“What does it matter?”

Daniels still seemed sore from all the talk of harvest. He soon swallowed down the last of his water and poked at what was left of the synthetic meatloaf and between pushing his few so called vegetables around his plate, his appetite clearly squashed.

“Why the fuck are you here?”

"I came here because I want to learn and get experience. I was tired of sitting around and listening to all the assholes back home, so I came here for a change."

"I came here to fight."

She had finished most of her meal by now, and pushed her tray and water aside.

"So, why are you here."

“I’m here to kill.”

Was all Daniels responded with, a dark look spreading across his face.

“I wanna see the pink or whatever the fuck color mist that those hinge heads make.”

He went on before taking an aggressive bite of the rest of his meatloaf and quickly swallowing.

"Hm."

Oliver didn't say too much after that. She didn't need to. Hatred like that resonated with her, in a way. It was probably the only emotion she would outright show empathy to. That is, if silence is empathetic.

 "Sarah."

 It had looked like Odie was going to open his mouth as if to say something (presumably an introduction), but she cut him off.

 "You're Odie, and this is Dustin."

"Tolerable to make your acquaintance.

“Oliver, my name is Oliver.”

Daniels said before gulping down the rest of his water and getting up. With that he vanished into the sea of white and grey.

 Some hours later after a long night of being yelled at, group punishments and being pushed through more supply lines than anyone thought possible the cadets were finally placed in their rooms. And who did Daniels wind up with for a roommate but the Ice Queen herself, the name Oliver, Sarah was placed right above the bed across from him. He sighed as he began to unpack his newly issued gear and few personal items.

Sarah had almost finished unpacking and organizing her gear, save for an ivory colored trinket with string wrapped around it. She unfolded what appeared to be an amulet, put it on, and stuffed it under her collar before Odie could make out the object, if he was even paying attention.

 "Guess we're stuck together, pretty boy."

Sarah fell back onto the bunk and crossed her arms behind her head, in a somewhat relaxed, "Zero fucks given" pose.

"That's alright. Maybe you'll take a stray round for me at the firing range."

Luckily, there was a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Oliver went about arranging what little he had from home. A chess board with pieces composed of standard UNSC shell casings, a few books, and a framed picture of a group of about 11 boys all varying ages and shades of blond hair, and their eyes all the same piercing shade of blue. After staring at the picture for a few moments Oliver grabbed one of the books and took a seat on his bed.

 “If only it were that easy.”

Oliver said as he flipped through the pages of his book.

“Alright, cut the bullshit. Why are you really here?”

He paused for a moment as he turned the page.

“All the others are obvious. Either their mommies and daddies are military and they have no choice in the matter or they actually want to serve but mommy and daddy don’t want to loose their precious little darling to the insurrectionist, or.... whatever the fuck those things are.” An ever so tiny sliver of pain came through Oliver’s voice as the subject of the covenant cane up but he quickly composed himself.

“So they sent them here hoping they wind up some high ranking POG just like the ones who’s asses they kissed to get them here.”

 Odie paused again.

“You’re neither.”

The girl sat up straight, and went silent for a moment. Sarah had a serious yet vacant expression on her face, as if she had been lost in a sad, dark memory.

 "Mommy and daddy are the reason I'm here."

 "And that's all I'm saying about that."

 There was impatience in her tone, for sure, but something about the way she said it made it seem... Regretful.

Without even looking up Oliver could sense that he had struck a nerve even deeper than when Harvest was mentioned around him. He slowly closed the book before just staring at the ceiling.

“I’m sorry.”

"It's fine, shit happens. Lotta people don't make it through this fucking war. After a while you get used to it."

 Sarah spoke with more agitation in her voice than sadness, and was trying to give off her usual "I don't give a damn" tone. She almost got away with it.

 She cracked her neck left then right, then moved to sit on the edge of the bed. She paused for a moment, then looked over to Odie.

 "What do you know about the Innies."

Oliver paused for a moment before turning to face Sarah.

 “Do you want to know what I know or what I think, because that’s an important distinction to make.”

 Oliver sat in silence as he surveyed Sarah and her reactions.

"And what might that be?"

Sarah leaned to her left, using her elbow as a stand and resting her cheek on her knuckles. She was expecting something along the lines of "Well sometimes they have good intention but sometimes they're too extreme". It was the most common thing she'd heard, but in her mind, drastic times sometimes call for drastic measures.

“Well, if I’m to tell the truth...”

Oliver paused to try and find the best way to phrase what he was going to say.

 “I find the insurrectionists tactics to be somewhat sloppy, and that’s part of what makes them dangerous. Overall however I think the universe just got a little bigger than petty human squabbles over territories and politics.”

Oliver’s deadpan making it sound less like a personal opinion and more like he was reading from a briefing.

"Yeah, galactic civil war, aliens, what next? A big fucking gun that kills everything in the universe?"

Putting the "lighthearted" humor aside, she had a point.

 "You think we should join up with the Rebels against them? If only temporarily."

“I think we’re going to need everyone we can get if we want to keep....”

Oliver paused, a little pain in his voice.

“If we want to keep the rest of us from ending up like Harvest.”

Her tone dropped serious and she looked Odie dead in the eye

"Things just go south from here on out. Harvest won't be the last. You know that."

“Yeah, but we have to do fucking something. Besides, if those things really do wanna kill us all then I’d rather die fighting than on my knees.”

Odie returned the look with one of his own, one that said he was going follow through with those words.

It may just come to that, if you let that gung-ho attitude of yours get to your head."

She flipped her bangs to the left and out of her face

"We'll get 'em back. They have to have a home world or base of operations somewhere."

"We'll blow it the fuck up."

“I’m not saying I’d complain about that. Not like dying in the line of duty isn’t part of my family history.”

Upon hearing that something clicked, Oliver was one of those Daniels.

Sarah felt an immediate jolt of emotions even she found hard to describe run down her spine. Her fists clenched up, and she had to act like she didn't just hear the fifth shittiest news of her life.

 "Daniels. Son of Sergeant Major Henry Daniels, Company Commander of 106th ODST Special Forces."

 "You're his son

“Technically, yes.”

Oliver paused as he tried his best to phrase what he was going to say next.

“Bastard never did anything to exactly qualify him as a father except sticking his dick my mom.”

He paused once more.

“I didn’t know him, he ain’t got shit to do with me.”

Sarah went silent. She didn't know how to react. How the fuck does somebody react to that kind of news? She tried to hide the anger and hatred she had for one of the most prominent military families this side of Eridanus. It almost worked.

 "What. The Fuck-"

She felt her heartrate skyrocket, pounding in her chest. Almost every bone in her Venezian body wanted to break her fists on his face and vice versa. She couldn't, though. Not yet. It wasn't the time.

"Don't fucking talk to me."

Sarah moved away from the edge, and began making her bed, ignoring Odie entirely.

“Shut the fuck up in there you two or I swear you two will be running to Reach and back! Lights fucking out!” Their platoon sergeant yelled out before the main lights of the room sharply shut off and the only dim lights above the bed were able to barely illuminate Sarah’s work and gave Odie enough to read. He figured going back to his book was probably the best course of action after Sarah’s less than favorable reaction to his family heritage. Although he couldn’t completely understand, all that bastard of a man had done was beat him for being in his words a “useless runt” and make the homestead reek of alcohol until he got pulled back into some mission. “Yeah, real dad of the year material”, Oliver thought before marking his place and slipping the book under his pillow.

Sarah couldn't sleep that night. Not anything unusual for her, but this time was different. That assholes dad was responsible for her mothers death, one way or another. She'd get her revenge. In time.

 Days turned to weeks, and most of the time all Odie would get from his battle buddy was quick, harsh glances and puffs of aggravation. The only time they shared conversation was in situations when they were required to. She was intent on following through with her words.

Chapter 2

#work in progress

[forcedapotheosis-blog]

In response to ..

@sanjiafsincedayone ‘s post “Regarding Sanji and Pudding” [read here].

Sorry that I’m going the long way, but I’m not a man of few words, I’m a lazy piece of shit of few deeds though.

Note: I’m gonna give you my honest opinion on SanjixViola and SanjixPuddin within this piece of garbage post, and that is my opinion alone. If you’re shipping one of those pairings, please go on. We’re all here for the fun of it and nothing could be further from the truth than me trying to suck the fun out of it for you (also, remind yourself that I’m just a random stranger on the internet and the impact of my opinion on your life is non-existant and should be handled as such).

So, as probably everyone involved I have my opinion on the matter. Two opinions, actually, which I will highlight as such.

1. With the shipping-goggles

Surprisingly enough, this one is going to be the shorter one. I actually went through the hassle of quickly re-reading the interactions between both Viola and Sanji and Pudding and Sanji to provide you with a more based view (which still doesn’t mean that I’m interpreting it right, mind you). So, first of all let me get this one out of my system: I personally think that an unknown amount of people only ship either Viola or Pudding with Sanji because .. well, it’d ‘free’ Nami. 

To quickly elaborate this, most people actually don’t want to be jerks, but still have an opinion that differs from yours. Regarding shipping (let’s call it AxB) that would mean that while you ship AxB, they’d rather ship CxB and might even outright state that they don’t like AxB. But then person D gets introduced and has some kind of interaction with A. Some persons now, those that ship CxB, might want to say that AxD is a great ship, because of whatever. That way, they can support their own ship (CxB) while non-jerkishly taking away from AxB.

Alright, that got a little more confusing than I hoped it would, but I guess that you get the point anyway. Moving on.

As I already wrote, I re-read the interactions between Sanji/Viola and Sanji/Pudding and in my personal opinion, they’re .. nothing really special. Some people might say that there’s chemistry between either of those pairings (and they might be right and I’m the one unable to see because of my personal bias), but I honestly can’t see it. Imagine any (really, any) other beautiful female in Viola’s position when she asked Sanji to protect her and kill somebody for her. Would he have done it? I mean, it’s Sanji, so I’m betting my ass on it. The same goes for the moment with Pudding in which he sees her third eye for the first time. Now, let me get this straight: In my mind, one of the most wonderful things abut Sanji’s character is his utter, egalitarian admiration/love of female beauty, egalitarian regarding that he’s not following one standard for human female beauteousness, but that he simply loves women.

Want an example? We’ve got a few of them, too. Mermaids, for starters. I mean, yes, most of them have human proportions and half their body is actually human, but what about Shirahoshi? She’s about ten times the size of a normal human, it still doesn’t stop Sanji. Another example? The minks, of course. 

So, Sanji could get the hots for giant half-fishes and furries, but a third eye is a no-go-area? Please. If it’s female and beautiful, this man will be all over it, bless his soul.

Alright, this part is getting way too long and I’m going to cut it here, hoping that I somewhat made my unimportant point.

2. Without the shipping-goggles (more of a writing-perspective)

First off, this might still come across as if I’d want to make a point from the shipping-perspective, but I’m giving my best not to do it. Cut me some slack, plox :D

Alright, so: From the end of chapter 824, in which Sanji first sees Pudding, he is portrayed with his usual, lecherous persona, so nothing new here. See, the thing I’m trying to get to is that, while he asked her to marry him, it would come somewhat out of the blue within the story if their pairing would become canon. Yes, he called her his ‘Ray of Hope’, but I think one might be overinterpreting it a little. Sanji’s situation is dire, he’s at his lowest of lows and, at this point, he is sure to never see his nakama again and be a thrall of BM. Add to that that the reunion with his family didn’t really went well and that they’ve threatened the safety of Zeff and the other cooks. One, at least myself, could say that this is a terrible situation to find yourself in.

Enter Pudding! She’s beautiful and seems kind, in that situation that’s probably better than the best Sanji could have hoped for, a small light at the end of the tunnel and, yes, a ray of hope in his darkest hour (hell, even I’d be a lot more optimistic about things if that happened to me). But from this perspective, is it somewhat feasible that he actually fell in love with her? Again, in my personal opinion, no. Infatuated? Hell yeah, sure. But that’s a part of his character, but in love? I’d doubt it (and might be totally wrong, again). Oda even undermines her importance when he’s going to bring her food (and flowers), remember that this, of course, was before she revealed her true colours. He brought the favourite food(s) of his nakama. She then proceeds to reveal her (and BM’s) true intentions and the chapter ends with something along the lines of “not a single ray of hope left in this world”. 

We all know what happens after that, poor Sanji is shattered because the shittyness of his situation just went through the roof, he was betrayed and .. well, he might even be a little heart-broken, but I wasn’t able to find a definite clue for that (so there might be some). Yadda-yadda, he talks with Reiju and fills her in this situation, then moves on to reunite with Luffy, the alliance with Bege is forged and now shit’s already hitting the fan. 

What I want to say with this part is that, at least in my humble opinion, it would be kind of out of the blue, even from Oda’s (current) perspective, to let them end up together. First off, I’m of the opinion that Oda is actually a pretty good writer and relationships need time to develop. Time that these two didn’t really have, and what little they had left was pretty much overshadowed by her betrayal, and I’m not even talking about the fact that Luffy and Nami might have died without her even so much as giving a shit about them. Now, One Piece is, first and foremost, about friendship. And even though Sanji will gladly mock and beat, for example, Zoro, if a woman is involved, I’m fairly certain that he’d still take even his side when push comes to shove (not by beating up said woman, of course, but within the boundaries of his character).

Yes, Pudding might be redeemed and I’m somewhat certain that it’ll happen within the next chapters, and she, most likely, will be forgiven. But with forgiveness, it’s the same thing as in real life. Stuff can be forgiven but not forgotten.

Another thing, going back to the point that Oda is a good writer, is that it would, at least in my eyes, incredibly devalue Pudding’s character if she only sits back to wait for Sanji. Some more pretty pivotal topics of One Piece are, besides friendship, growth and adventure (and those sometimes/oftentimes go hand in hand with growth). Growth can take many forms within the manga, sometimes it happens within a fight (Luffy vs. Lucci, for example), other times it happens over a pretty long time (I think that Nami and Usopp are the most outstanding examples for that). So yes, Pudding can be redeemed by siding with the Straw Hats, no questions asked, but in my humble opinion, this would only be the first step towards actual growth. Simply because of the fact that one act of kindness, even if it’s a rather huge one, can’t spirit away a lifetime of being a psycho. And when it comes to Pudding, just pulling this out of my ass, her personal redemption arc / or hero’s journey if we talk Joseph Campbell, would probably consist of her travelling the world and actually learn to love herself for what she is and experience true kindness from other people, those that will accept her for the person she is, not for being the daughter of a Yonkou. But that’s just my opinion and if Oda decides to let the two of them become a canon-pairing, I’ll just live with it. I mean, there’s nothing I could do about it, writing a billion posts about why I think that’s not good will not even reach him :D

Oh well, this has become longer than I wanted it to be. Sorry for wasting your time with my babble.

#I'm not even going to tag this with shipping stuff #One Piece #Sanji #Pudding #Viola #personal opinion #Don't hate #If you hate anyway #come tussle with me big boy style #writing

[triumphant-ted]

lmao here’s a draft of my short story for english

I Saw an Angel Chug a 5-Hour-Energy Behind a Denny’s at 3am

April

They ride the thermals, barely even flapping their wings. Piper grins up at her friend and ex-figure skater, Wren, who smiles back. She barely has a care in the world, she’s used to the ground being so far below her.

“Are you ready to go down?” Wren shouts. The wind really is loud up here.

“Go ahead. I think I’ll stay up for a few more minutes!” The sun is warm on her back, the blue sky overtaking her field of vision. It really was crazy how she got here.

“There is an art, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

It was 11 pm, a week or two ago. Piper slumped over her history book, like several other depressed, stressed-to-burst college students around her in the library. She stared at the page, but none of the words made sense to her anymore. The textbook said something about the Industrial Revolution, how it wasn’t that great for the working class, yadda yadda yadda. A tear fell onto the page, smudging the ink and disappearing into the thick textbook. Shoot. Piper wiped her eye and tried to unsmudge the words, but she stopped. For just a moment, she could have sworn that there was something growing from the page. She blinked again.

“Wha-?” Piper rubbed her eyes, but the flower, so it seemed, was still there. “Oh my god. I have to get to sleep, I’ve been working on this for three hours! And now I’m seeing things? Stop it,” she whisper-shouted to herself. The tears started falling again, faster this time. She watched through blurry eyes as the flowers kept appearing on her textbook. She pulled one of them off the page, examining it through the tears. The petals didn’t quite look like ordinary flower petals. With a sniffle, she dried her eyes and plucked one of the petals off the flower.

It wasn’t a petal at all. It was a feather. Okay, you’ve done enough, just put the book down and go to sleep. Piper pulled the rest of the feather-flowers off the page, closed her book, shut down her laptop, and started shoving them into her backpack. She paused. She was so tired. She needed to sleep, but she needed to work. She put her head in her hands. But I can’t get behind on this, I won’t have any idea what’s going on in class tomorrow, I’ll fail the test, it’ll bring my GPA down, and I won’t get my degree! I don’t even know what jobs I’ll get once I get out, I wish I could just fly away or something!”

“The first part is easy. All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it's going to hurt. Clearly, it is the second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties.”

Piper looked down at her desk, at the puddle of tears that had accumulated. From the puddle sprouted not a flower, but a pair of wings. Big wings. Bigger than any bird alive. They fluttered gently as if they were alive. Piper hefted them into her arms, making sure nobody else saw. She couldn’t help but think they were for her. She ran out of the library, to the main quad. Piper grabbed a pair of scissors, sliding them through the back of her jacket to create two slits. Carefully, she maneuvered her wings through the slits and felt them stick into her back. She stumbled a bit, unaccustomed to the new weight attached to her back. Huh. She stared at the other zombie-like students, heard the distant bass of a frat party. Should I? Piper smiled to herself.

“Nobody will even notice I’m gone.” Leaving a note in her dorm for her roommate to find, Piper finally felt powerful, free, for the first time since her first day at this godforsaken school. Wallet, keys, phone, charger, earbuds, change of clothes, granola bar. A messenger bag slung over her shoulder.

Piper rounds an invisible corner, tucks in her wings, and goes in for a dive. A solitary hawk decides to join her, prompting Piper to pull out of the dive and start to follow it around.

The spring night was cool, but not unbearably so. Piper stood in the quad, shaking out her hands, rolling her neck. “Okay, you can do this. Nobody will notice, nobody will care.” Her feet hit the sidewalk, running hard and fast, at her top speed. An unseen rock tripped her up, and Piper’s freckled face was hurtling towards the ground.

“One problem is that you have to miss the ground accidentally. It's no good deliberately intending to miss the ground because you won't. You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by something else when you're halfway there, so that you are no longer thinking about falling, or about the ground, or about how much it's going to hurt if you fail to miss it.”

“What are you doing?” Martin, that kid from Physics 101, shouted. Piper’s hazel eyes diverted from the imminent broken nose getting closer.

“If, however, you are lucky enough to have your attention momentarily distracted at the crucial moment by, say, a gorgeous pair of legs, or a bomb going off in your vicinity, then in your astonishment you will miss the ground completely and remain bobbing just a few inches above it in what might seem to be a slightly foolish manner. “

And that’s just what Piper was doing.

“Uh, I guess I’m flying.”Piper levitated about 6 inches off the ground, then took off into the night sky with a few flaps of her wings. She didn’t worry about Martin, he was wasted and about to pass out. He would wake up the next morning and have no idea what happened the last night.

Piper remembers how anxious she felt that first time flying. She still gets that exhilaration when taking off, freedom rather than fear. She remembers her first flight to Denny’s for a cup of coffee and a waffle and the first time she met her friends. She flies back towards the ground.

She felt the eyes on her as soon as she walked into the 24-hour breakfast restaurant. Piper should’ve known that Denny’s would be the busiest at 1 am. A waiter gave her a menu and a booth, but didn’t acknowledge, or even notice, the wings. She looked around, making sure nobody was trying to call the cops on her. Why would they do that? Something caught her eye. A girl with blonde hair and the light tan wings of a barn owl sitting across from an older man with jet black hair and matching magpie-like wings. She couldn’t help but stare.

“Ignore your own weight, simply let yourself waft higher. Do not listen to what anybody says to you at this point because they are unlikely to say anything helpful. They are most likely to say something along the lines of ‘Good God, you can't possibly be flying!’ It is vitally important not to believe them or they will suddenly be right.”

The waiter filled up her coffee cup, and it took Piper a second to register that he was asking her what she was ordering. “Yeah, sorry, I’ll have a waffle with, uh, whipped cream, thanks.” He took her menu and walked away. She looked back at the table where the two winged people were eating, but they were gone.

“Hey!” Piper whipped around to the sight of that blonde girl. “I’m Wren!”

The guy was standing right behind her, and gave a little wave. “Hi, I’m Jay”.  

“What do you want?” Piper mumbled. They sat down in the booth across from her.

“How’d you get your wings?” Jay asked, right as Piper’s waffle arrived.

And so she told them the whole story. She found out that Wren was competing in Olympic tryouts, but slipped and tore her ACL. She couldn’t ever compete again, and she got her wings that night. Jay was going through a tough divorce with his high school sweetheart, and found his wings at the bottom of a bottle.

“Since that night, I haven’t taken a single drink,” he said, admiring the shine of his black feathers. “They saved me.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“We’re the only people with wings. It couldn’t hurt to make an alliance.” Wren said, and Piper accepts.

She struggles to control her descent and trips on the grass when she lands. Jay helps her up, handing her a bottle of water. Piper nods her thanks. Wren is lounging in the sun on a beach towel in a pair of stupid sunglasses. She makes a face at Piper, and she laughs. It’s the first time Piper’s felt truly happy in a long time. And then it happens. Piper’s wings start to suck back into her body, and she looks at Jay, terrified. His beautiful wings are gone. But he smiles at her, and Piper smiles back. She starts to laugh.

“What’s going on?” Wren jogs up to them, also wingless, and Piper pulls both of them into a bear hug.

“I don’t need wings to be free. I have my freedom right here.” She starts to cry. Joyful tears this time. The tear falls onto the grass and produces a single feather.

#my writing