#y'know teaming up with the guy who attempted to kill his son

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar’s Sacrifice For His Rose

Guys, I’ve been thinking. And y’know what happens when this squiggle meister muses about something; especially if it’s related to RWBY.

For most of V8’s promotion, the showrunners and the CRWBY kept hinting at how much “darker” this new season to be. And as daunting as that may sound to me as an audience member, the obvious question I ask from this is:

 “…Exactly how dark are we talking?”

After all, RWBY has done dark before. I mean look at V3 and the events of the Fall of Beacon. V3 is still considered to be RWBY’s darkest season to date. Beacon fell leaving Vale Kingdom broken and vulnerable without the protection of its main huntsmen academy and a handful of important lead characters from that arc---heroes and villains alike---died. So keeping that in mind, how really dark can V8 be compared to that? What can the showrunners do for this season that they didn’t already do season prior? And here in lies, my hunch.

Well…not real a hunch. Just a thought. An idea. For me, V8 being darker wouldn’t just represent the Fall of Atlas and the death of lead characters important to this volume arc such as General Ironwood or Winter Schnee or even another member of Team JNPR like Ren or Nora.

Nah son. To me, that’d be way too simple for my taste since, as I mentioned earlier, it’s already been done before so fans are already going to expect that, right? For V8 to be dark for me, the showrunners would have to do something incredibly ballsy. Something that’ll really catch their viewers off guard.

I’m not talking about Ruby Rose losing an eye. As much as I’m not really a fan of that popular fan theory, even that seems too light. Not to mention that Ruby’s development as a Silver Eyed Warrior has been quite inconsistent over the past few seasons and is the aspect of her character that’s been the least challenged.

So I’m going to just toss this one out there because it’s been on my mind since I saw this particular shot from V8 opening visuals. It’s the shot of RWBY falling into an abyss of darkness with Ruby reaching out to grasp what appears to be the Relic of Creation while Grimm hands---the same ones conjured by Salem back in V6 to apprehend Hazel as punishment for his failures---restrain her to drag her further and further away from the light.

Imagine if…Ruby dies?

And I’m not just talking teasing her death like how they did it with Weiss back in V5 with Cinder Fall or with Blake in V3 and V6 with Adam or even Yang back in V3 with Adam.

I’m talking, straight up having Ruby Rose be killed instantly by Salem and her corpse is just left behind for her allies to find her dead. An unquantifiable spark snuffed out after the villains had won yet again. And on this grim tone, V8 just ends like THAT.

Mantle Kingdom is no more; just another graveyard for the Grimm like the former Beacon Academy.

The People of Mantle are all dead; tragic victims of a failed attempt at saving them.

Atlas Kingdom has fallen with its own people about to meet the same horrible end as their former Mantlese brethren.

Salem has succeeded in claiming the Relic of Creation and relishes in her triumph by the restored communications to broadcast a cryptic message to the rest of the world. A message unveiling the Fall of the formerly powerful Kingdom of Atlas at the mercy of her Grimm army; letting the leaders of Vale and Vacuo---the last two remaining kingdoms standing in her way of claiming all the Relics; know that they were next in her conquest.

Our heroes have sustained yet another heavy loss. And what’s worse this time is that now no longer had the guidance of their leader. Ruby Rose is dead. Made to be the martyr this time. And on that note, the volume just fades to black on the echoing cries of our heroes and the victims of Atlas as everything falls to ruin.

It’ll be just like the opening foreshadowed. Happy? Never Again…because the simple soul who was meant to be our hero in the end to rise above everything else and vanquish the forces of evil was now gone. Died another failure to a cause like so many others who died in vain throughout Remnant’s history; just as Roman Torchwick predicted that she would.  And such a tragedy this is since this girl. This single rose---this true rose--- was meant to be unique. She was supposed to change everything, right? But alas, her fate was no different than the ones that came before her.

I’m bringing this up because I have this rather farfetched idea involving the Rosegarden pair that I really wanted to share. It’s not exactly a theory per say. It’s definitely not something I expect the canon to do. Shoot, I highly doubt the showrunners would actually pack the chops to kill off their main protagonist.

However the RWBY V8 opening really got me thinking.

“…We said goodbye to all the things we loved. Gave up our lives just to find that it was not enough…”

In a discussion regarding the ending of the Little Prince story, an anon-ninja informed me about there being an alternative interpretation of the conclusion to the prince’s story wherein, instead of perishing from the snake’s venomous snake bite, the prince succeeded in returning home to his beloved rose on their planet...only to discover that his rose had died in his absence with his care and love.

Putting that together with the V8 opening visuals, it made recall a show I used to watch on Lifetime called Witches of East End. I quite liked it. It's a shame it got cancelled after only two seasons though.

Anyways, why I remember this series in particular is that; spoilers but…at some point during the show’s main PLOT, it did the unexpected and had a series villain kill two of our three main characters. And what made the visual even more horrifying to the audience was that the corpses of these characters were left on display for the surviving third main character to find. It doesn’t help that the two characters were also the beloved children of our third lead who she has watched die countless of times since the head witch---Johanna (I believe her name was) was cursed by her father so that each time her daughters died---she would be forced to give birth to them again and watch their life and death happen again and again. And it doesn’t matter what she did or how hard she tried---even when she attempted to hide her family’s identity as witches from her girls---her daughters STILL never lived past the age of 30.

They always died somehow and it didn’t matter if only one of the daughters died either. When either died, the other one would surely follow. So Johanna would give birth. Raise her two girls into fine young women and…watch them die. Living the same vicious cycle.

This is why the V8 opening visuals  made me think of the prospect of Ruby dying. That shot that I showed of Ruby being dragged down into the dark abyss by the Grimm far away from the light made me wonder.

At first I figured this was a sign that we going to see some mental machinations at the hands of Salem. Basically Salem trapping Ruby and her friends in this cryptic illusion where she tortures them with surreal images of their worst fears incarnated in order to break our heroes down both emotionally and psychologically. So that’s one idea.

But then I thought, …what if…instead that moment is meant to be symbolic. Like the Staff of Creation symbolised life while the Grimm and the void represented death and at some point, Ruby will straddle the fine line between the two for this season.

So with all that in mind, this is what I thought. This is the scenario I concocted from this interpretation.

Let's say...

It is the inevitable Fall of Atlas and Salem kills Ruby Rose.

Instead of the wicked witch being dead, it’s our little red rose and because of this, our heroes are left distraught (Yang in particular, not just because Ruby was her baby sister but also given her doubts over her sister’s judgement and all that jazz). However our remaining heroes aren’t given time to really process Ruby's death. All they could do is take her corpse and attempt to flee since Atlas was falling and our remaining hero team needed to leave if they were going to make it out alive.

Since the show hinted at this bit back in V6, my assumption is that at some point, Vacuo Kingdom will answer the call and come to aid the People of Atlas. While they're unable to salvage the kingdom, the least their forces are able to do with the aid they could provide was evacuate the Atlesians to safety in Vacuo.

So ultimately our heroes are rescued by their allies from Vacuo and reunite with teams CFVY and SSSN respectively. However there is no real time to celebrate their reunion since...well...Ruby is dead. Salem is on her way to Vacuo to claim the Sword of Destruction next and, the group are at a loss on what to do next. Not to mention that certain characters---like WBY (mainly Yang) and Oscar---aren’t taking Ruby’s death too well.

Since the usual gimmick for when a main character dies is for their allies to somehow figure out a way to bring them back from the dead, in respect to Ruby,  I had this idea of...perhaps…while staying in Vacuo at Shade Academy, Oscar discovers a way for him to somehow bring Ruby back from the dead?

Let’s say…it has something to do with his semblance or magic. The thought process I had behind this was that considering that Ozma is technically the only living soul to have ever traversed the line between life and death as an immortal being, imagine if...this somehow made Oscar some kind of human life line or spiritual anchor---A being who is connected to the Realm of Life and Death via his rather unique predicament as a member of Ozma's lineage. 

And thus, using magic (or his semblance or whatever---I dunno) Oscar is easily able to travel the Realm Between Life and Death. Y'know sorta like the Avatar. Maybe?

Basically the notion I had was that

Oscar would go to the Realm Between Realms.

Y’know the same white void where we originally saw Ozma meet the God of Light for the first time in the Lost Fable.

Picture it, Oscar mirroring his predecessor in the Lost Fable, awakening in the Realm Between Realms. In this vacant world, let's say…we get another call-back to the Lost Fable where for the first time since his lifetime as Ozma, a Wizard of Light is reunited with a God.

Imagine if...as a nice parallel, Oscar encounters the God of Darkness in the Realm Between Realms. Much like Light to Ozma, Darkness chose to appear before Oscar since the all-knowing God was already fully aware of what the little prince’s intentions were daring to come to such a world. He knew he was coming to find his rose. 

Let's say...to entertain his own amusement, Darkness agrees to give Oscar a helping hand with his quest for Ruby. The God informs that Ruby’s soul was located in the After Life and even takes Oscar to her so that he may reunite with her. However being the cunning God that he was, what Darkness failed to inform Oscar of was that even if he succeeded in finding Ruby amongst the sea of souls in the After, that didn’t necessarily mean that the boy would be permitted to just bring Ruby just like that.

And since Darkness had dominion over Death (as Light had Life), even with his title as his brother’s cherry picked “champion of humanity”, Darkness wasn’t going to give Oscar that respect in the slightest. For in Darkness’ eyes, this foolish boy lost that mercy the instant he dared to defy the order of the world he and his brother fashioned together to step foot into what he described as his domain.  

After all, there are rules to this game; naturally. Life and death go hand in hand---always in perfect balance.

In a nutshell, to Oscar's detriment, Darkness informs the little prince that the only way that he would be allowed to revive Ruby is if he gave up something equivalent in exchange for her salvation.

An eye for an eye. A soul for a soul. So this presents Oscar with a predicament where in order to save Ruby, he had to sacrifice himself in the process. There was no other way. Ruby will be allowed to return to the Realm of the Living to reunite with their friends waiting for her but this also meant that Oscar would be forced to part ways with everything he and everyone he had grown to love.

This included Ruby despite defying the odds just to find her. He wouldn't even be able to be with Ruby as they once were. Not as teammates. Not as friends or anything more. His life would be gone…and Darkness informs the young boy of all of this; expecting him to fold.

But despite the God's warnings, Oscar agrees to the terms. Without question. Out of his devotion to his rose, the little prince was willing to make this great sacrifice for her. And even when questioned by Darkness of why Oscar would dare to commit himself to such a foolish feat especially for a single girl when there were probably a thousand more exactly like her back on Remnant, it is here where we can get the Fox’s lesson to the Prince, in Oscar’s own words.

Yes Ruby was no different from any other rose. Just as Oz once told him, Ruby had her faults and her quirks just like any other person. She’s remarkable yes. Strong. Brave and Kind. But she’s not perfect. Oscar had experienced the consequences of her flaws and learnt that lesson for himself.

But this wasn’t what truly mattered. What made Ruby important to Oscar was that…she was his. His teammate. His friend. His rose. The girl he…loves. The love and respect that Oscar had for this one girl due to the bond they shared together was enough to make Ruby more special to Oscar than any other girl in Remnant.

His love for her was what made her unique to him. A proclamation which genuinely stunned Darkness as he recounted a time when another poor unfortunate soul, blinded by love just as Oscar was now, came before him for the same reasons as Oscar was doing for Ruby.

Only this other helpless soul didn't make the same bold choice as Oscar did. Unlike Oscar, this soul didn’t understand the value of the life they claimed to love. Essentially a comparison between Salem and Oscar. 

So for the meat and potatoes of this post, Oscar sacrifices his soul to restore Ruby to the Land of Living, bolding choosing to take her place in the Afterlife. As Ruby's soul returns home safe, Oscar's descends slowly into the Void of Death.

But despite this, the little prince bears no remorse. No regrets. He wears nothing but a smile on his fate; perfectly content with his sacrifice as he reached a hand to the light to bid one last tearful goodbye to his rose.

His one true love as he slowly closed his eyes and awaited death's embrace.

And…that’s it. That’s the idea. Obviously me being me, there is definitely more to this concept that I had in mind however this post is already getting a bit too lengthy so I’ll just stop right here. (If anyone is curious about the rest of this headcanon, feel free to ask me in my inbox if you’d like).

But for now, yeah, this is the idea I had. Now as I said, this is only a thought. A mere musing. As I’ll repeat again, I don’t actually expect the show to really kill off Ruby for V8. In another different story, this could’ve happened but I’m not expecting this at all from RWBY even it would’ve made for a very interesting twist.

Regardless, I do still love the concept of Oscar Pine---as our titular little prince, declaring his love for his rose by giving his life to bring her back from the dead should she perish in battle. It feels like such a poetic thing to do. But like I said. It’s just another idea I wanted to toss out to the Rosegardening Pinehead and Rosegarden community.

Take it as you will and maybe you all might like it. Who knows? X3

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

#rwby #oscar pine #ruby rose #oscar and ruby #rwby rosegarden #rwby volume 8 theories #rwby volume 8 spoilers #squiggles pinehead headcanons #pinehead headcanons

[thebibliomancer]

Dark Crystal Age of Resistance Tactics liveblog pt 13

Okay! Time to check out the Sifa!

Y'know, I think that the Sifa get the least exploration in the show. You've got several Vapra main characters, several Stonewood main or focus characters, couple Drenchen, a very main Grottan character, best boy Kylan the Spriton, whole bit of the show with the Dousan. And the Sifa have... I think... that time Brea visited them?

Probably why Alyadon was made a Sifa, so they have some presence.

Mission: Deep Trouble - Hidden Grotto

"A curious, young Sifa is under attack by darkened creatures. Save him from a grisly fate."

Ah, darkened creatures. The gift that keeps giving. So we don't have to always be fighting other Gelfling or Arathim.

Hey, wait a minute. Why DID I fight Arathim in the Vapra missions? You don't unlock those without going through the Grottan missions where the Arathim become your good pals. Dangit, the game!

Wow, five party members. Also Ivo, the Gelfling.

Party: Alyadon, Kylan, Boggi, Breg, and Hup. For being the lowest leveled. That's kind of over doing it on menders but Mender is a required step on a lot of characters' personal journeys so I have too many of them.

The level starts with Ivo corned by a nurloc and a windsifter. If he dies, I lose. If everyone else but him dies, that's fine.

He's also a lvl 25 tracker, which makes him the highest leveled person on my team.

Oh, the tide rises. None of my peeps were anywhere close to it but it apparently will just straight up kill a Gelfling because they're too dumb to move out of the water when its not their turn.

Ivo was apparently researching ancient symbols or something. He weirdly has non text box text explaining this so I missed the first thing he said.

Ok Ivo is definitely going to die. He's corned and a nurloc is attacking him.

He asked me to get him higher because the tide is rising but Ivo, my pal, you're on the highest part of the island...

AH THE TIDE ROSE AND HUP IS IN THE WATER GET OUT OF THE WATER HUP

Wow that tide rising thing is no joke. I think Alyadon just vanished underwater. Eesh. I wish there were tide lines showing you where its going to happen. Or when.

And my non dead units are mostly all trapped on the other side of the island and can't cross the now deep water. Not loving this new mechanic but it is a new mechanic.

BUT BOGGI SAVED THE DAY GOOD DOG BEST FRIEND

With his rolling, he was able to get across the map before the tide rose and with his healing he was able to heal Ivo until Ivo could save himself by knifing the nurloc a lot.

And he was looking for ancient symbols that may go back a thousand trine hidden across the coast.

So final count was Kylan and Alyadon horribly drowned but also leveled. Everyone else leveled and learned. Boggi learned Insistent Bark (revive an ally by barking insistently! Good dog!), Breg learned Borrow Time 2 (slow enemy for two turns, self haste for two turns), and Hup learned Well Done (hit a spiced enemy but really hard).

That's also the last ability Boggi can learn. From now on he is but as you see him. No more, no less.

---

Mission: Against the Tide - Sinking Isles

"Ivo's search for ancient symbols is met with some resistance."

I don't love how the island is going to sink.

I get five people and Ivo again. Hi Ivo! There are two glowy spots that I assume I have to get him to. Also I assume he can't die.

A Gelfling elder has shown up to tsk because this area is forbidden.

Ivo: "Bu-but, my research was approved by Elder Cadia himself!"

Elder: 'Its been revoked!'

Ha. But no.

Elder: "That fool lost his memory to nulroot. He knows not what he is doing. Guards, seize them!"

Oh, right. Brea wiped his mind. He'll approve any research project now. Geez, Ivo.

Yup, Ivo has to investigate the symbols. And bad news but one is in the water.

Oh, the tide fell instead of rising. And I only just noticed that the tide is in the turn order. Duh.

Oops Ivo drowned. I thought about going up the back instead of back the way I came and then an enemy unit blocked it and by the time I decided it was a bad idea, well, he didn't have enough turns to get back to dry land.

So second attempt is going better now that I have a better idea of how the tide works. The level is fairly open but there's a lot of chokepoints which makes it nerve wracking until you realize that the water doesn't reach the upper elevations of the map.

Also Wukki died =(

But I got Ivo to all the ancient symbols and they've revealed a stunning secret! The next level!

Seriously: "These carvings tell of a secret location: a cave hidden among the rocks on the coast"

If Ivo is one of the two remaining characters I have yet to unlock, I'm going to lose my mind.

BUT: levels up! Wukki leveled up but didn't learn anything. Like Boggi, he may have learned all he can. You can't teach a lvl 24 dog new tricks. (Checking, he apparently keeps learning up until lvl 28). Hup learns Cauldron, which lets him place a healing cauldron on the map. Its a summon so its either that or the worm. Alyadon learned Soothe 2, cooler than Soothe 1. Naia learned Edged Slice 2, cooler than etc. And Kylan learned Awaken but also unlocks Bramble Sage and Adept, meaning he's on his way to Song-Teller!

--

Mission: Sunken Treasure - Coastal Caves

"A submerged sea cave holds the knowledge Ivo has been looking for."

Oh god most of this cave is flooded. The shiny square is way on the other end under a lot of water. I hope the water just goes down and not up.

Bringing Rian, Deet, Brea and Gurjin. Also Ivo is here.

Gelfling Mage: "Ivo this is your final warning. These etchings have been forbidden by Skeksis law."

That just makes me want to see them more! I WAS wondering whether any of this was relevant.

Ivo: "Why would the skeksis make our own history forbidden? They must be hiding something!"

Follow that train of thought, Ivo!

Yup, the tide is falling, revealing more of the cave. This is a neat mechanic which gives me anxiety.

AAAAAH TWO GUYS SPAWNED RIGHT BEHIND ME! Not cool, the game!

Ok this isn't going well. I'm down to Gurjin at very low health and Ivo at very low health. Thankfully, I just need to get Ivo to the shiny. As long as nobody spawns near his end of the cave, I'm golden.

A darkened hollerbat just spawned on his side of the cave.

But I ran like heckle to the last symbol and made it before any of the hollerbats could even take a turn. Phew.

Despite everything, everyone got level ups. Brea learned Geyser 2, Gurjin learned Bandage 2, Deet learned Cascade, Rian unlocked the Adept/Bramble Sage jobs meaning he's another step towards Strategist!

Son of a gun, I unlocked Ivo as a character! Not what I was expecting when I started this quest chain and not entirely what I wanted! I also got the Driftwood Cane!

So whats the scoop, Ivo. What do the symbols mean? WHY ITS THE GREAT CONJUNCTION!

There's actually a little cutscene.

Wait, did the Gelflings not know about the Great Conjunction? It only happens every thousand trine but still? Then again, the Skeksis were trying to suppress knowledge of it for some reason.

Geez, Ivo has ten levels in Scout, ten in Mender, and ten in Tracker. I have no idea what I'm going to do with him. I'll keep him in Tracker. And give him a spear. And some clothes.

I'll give the Driftwood Cane to Alyadon. It is the Sifa Clan staff.

---

Mission: Washed Up - Littered Shores

"A pair of shipwrecked Sifan sailors have washed up on shore. Help them deal with a pack of pursuing pirates."

I'm belatedly realizing that each Gelfling area has its own gimmick. The Sifa missions have the rising and falling tides, of course. The Vapra have the random power ups scattered in the levels. The Caves of Grot have the random buff squares. The Drenchen lands have the poison swamp water. And the Dousan have the sandstorms. Wonder what the Spriton will be when I get there. And I guess the Stonewood didn't have a gimmick?

Ok so I have to protect shipwrecked sailors Van and Jilly. They will probably not end up in my party. I'm still reeling over Ivo being unlocked but it makes sense to give you a Sifa party member that isn't Alyadon. Probably hence why Ivo, despite being a researcher, is very swashbuckly. Compared to Alyadon who is a huge nerd.

The level looks like a rising tide horror show. Most of the level is low lying except for a ridge that the enemy units are all already perched on.

Party: Boggi, Deet, Kylan. They need some love. And levels.

APPARENTLY, Maudra Seethi asked us to save the sailors. Which puts me in mind that the resistance showed up and was like 'hey maybe join us in opposing the Skeksis' and instead of going 'how dare, the Skeksis are beautiful angels' the Maudra went 'huh? That's nice. Go find some sailors'

And the level starts with Jilly and Van bickering over whose fault the shipwreck was. Jilly is mad that Van steered them into some rocks and Van is mad that JILLY STOLE A BUNCH OF TREASURE FROM PIRATES AND THATS WHY THEY WERE IN A HURRY

These two are fun.

I assume this is what happens when a paladin and a thief are friends because Jilly is a thief and Van is a paladin.

Rian tries to interupt but Van is like AND YOU GOT THESE NICE BYSTANDERS STUCK IN OUR DRAMA GEEZ JILLY

THEY KILLED MY DOGGO

The pirates did I mean. I don't think Jilly or Van would.

Aside from the poor, sweet, innocent doggo, the level went pretty smoothly. The only problem is that one of the enemies cast Guardian's blessing and rather than kill a person twice, I decided to wait it out for some reason.

And then he died of poison and respawned anyway.

I'm good at tactics.

Its fine, he ded now.

At the end of the level, Deet is like ok so can we take you home now and Jilly is like NOT SO FAST THE PIRATES WILL KEEP PURSUING US UNTIL THEY GET THEIR TREASURE BACK.

Jilly: "Our village won't last another trine without it! The Skeksis took everything during the Tithing Ceremony!"

It was kind of lost when the Skeksis went full supervillain and started drinking people, but yeah, lets not forget the multiple ways that the Skeksis were exploiting the Gelfling and the whole dang world. They're drainers in many senses. I love a ridiculous fantasy metaphor that works on multiple levels.

And I'm pretty sure it was intended to be that way since the movie. I remember the novelization being like 'yeah this used to be a nice place and then the Skeksis drained the life out of the planet' or something.

If I'm overfocusing on this its because its only as an adult that I realize how timely Dark Crystal has stayed all this... uh, time.

Anyway Deet is like sure we'll help you beat up the pirates. Its cool.

Deet leveled and learned nothing. Kylan leveled and learned Purge Rot.

---

Mission: Sneak Attack - Tidal Wall

"The heroes follow the quarreling sailors back to the pirate's den, but encounter resistance along the way."

Is this going to be a real sneaking mission or what, game?

The gimmick for this mission chain is that Jilly and Van are tagging along so you only get to bring three peeps. Because I only get to bring three peeps. Luckily, I have three peeps that are all lvl 23 instead of lvl higher than that.

Oh, this is cool. This is a pirate fortress so there's a wall that we have to fight our way into. Except its less of a wall and more of steps but its wall like. It feels like we're breaking in, anyway.

Look, as I've said, FFTA is my main other experience for trpg games and it was way lazier with its levels.

Party: Boggi, Breg, Alyadon. Boggi wants to redeem himself. I assume. He started yelling but that may have been because of general fizzgig anxiety.

Enemy: "You've walked right into our trap-"

Jilly and Van: -immediately start bickering and interrupt the pirate-

I like that the lack of many Sifa characters from the show means they had to create some for this set of missions. The writing is entertaining enough that I wish there had been more of this for the other clan mission sets.

Nothing to really report about this one, it went swimmingly. Nobody even drowned!

Jilly and Van are decently powerful so I don't regret having them instead of two of my peeps in terms of their efficacy in battle.

I was worried about getting to higher ground with the rising tide but the battle went so quickly that I wasn't ever in real danger of that.

Jilly: -after beating up several pirates- "Well, we've clearly lost the element of surprise."

My favorite part of this is that this does and doesn't have anything to do with having the Sifa join the resistance. I'm pretty sure that we sealed the deal when we saved these two chuckleheads to begin with.

We're going to come back to Maudra Seethi and be like 'we saved Jilly and Van' and she's going to be like 'Ah, well done! The Sifa will be glad to join-' and then we'll be like 'also we beat up a pirate fortress and redistributed the wealth to a destitute village' and she'll be like 'oh.'

Holy crap, Boggi leveled twice! Good dog! I mean, he did a pretty good job. Doggo redeemed. Breg and Alyadon also leveled but learned nothing.

I should check at what point jobs stop paying out in terms of abilities.

I got seven more levels for Breg and six for Alyadon before they've learned all they can.

---

The pirate fortress is actually a ways away from the Tidal Wall. I guess maybe it was a pirate outpost. Pirate watch station? Anyway.

Mission: Finders, Keepers - Flooded Ruins

"The heroes confront the pirate leader."

Ok this map looks a lot less like a pirate fortress than the last one did. I know that they've got to keep the tide gimmick so the levels have to look a way - with a low part and a higher part - but this is a random sandbar with some rocky bits. The other place had a wall! Why you hanging out here, the pirate king?

Party: Brea, Wukki, Rek'yr.

The pirate leader is this random Sifa caster. They coulda given him a name.

The pirate leader caster says no one gets to steal from him and live

Van: "Hey! I'm the only one that gets to threaten her! We're taking you down!"

Jilly: "Yeah, you don't scare us! Together we're unstoppable!"

Heh, these quest characters are alright.

... ok Brea gets killed without ever taking a move because the enemy placement can just up and kill her turn 1. That's... great.

Ok, Jilly died. Good thing Jilly and Van need to survive isn't a condition on this level. And Wukki died =(

Ok, it was a bloodbath like some of the end missions of mission chains are for some reason. Everyone died except Rek'yr and Van. Then again, whats to be expected of a mission where one of my units died first turn because of enemy placement.

Still, the pirates are defeated and their treasure will save an overly taxed village. Hooray!

Van: "We will tell Maudra Seethi of the good you've done this day."

Ok, alright, yes, so thats how the Sifa join the resistance.

Brea levels and learns nothing! Rek'yr levels and learns Edged Slice! I should check to see where he is vis a vis able to go into Grave Dancer (two more levels)! I get the Seafarer's Harpoon! Spears are really common as important clan weapons, I've noticed! This is probably going right on Ivo!

Except the Unite the Clans meter doesn't go up. Which means that you only have to do one of the mission chains to actually get the clan on your side and it doesn't matter which. I thought it was a weird coincidence that I kept doing the one that got you clan allegiance first but nah. In my heart though, it was helping Jilly and Van that did it.

That just leaves the Stonewood and Spriton, I think. Weird that I don't already have the Stonewood on my side but then again, they were all kidnapped by spiders.

#dark crystal #the dark crystal #dark crystal age of resistance #dark crystal age of resistance tactics #THE GAME #liveblog #fighting some pirates and doing some archeology #both involve hitting people

[thewillowbends]

Thoughts on Lucifer (TV) Season 4

So I've spot-rewatched parts of season 4, and I've more or less got a sense for what did and did not work for me.  Lucifer is the kind of trash television I reluctantly love because I enjoy the characters so much, even as they are stuck in a painful mishmash of bad writing with the occasional moment of brilliance carried along by dedicated and talented actors.

SEASON 4 SPOILERS AHEAD OBVS

Let's get what I didn't like out of the way first -

Stuff That Makes Me Cringe

1.)  Up first is my completely shallow dislike for the new devil makeup.  The wings were really well done, but the face/body is kind of meh to me.  It's not badly designed, per se, but it's definitely narm territory in some places.  (While I do like the whole "king of hell" scene at the end and what it portends in terms of Lucifer's final decision, it is hilariously campy, too.)  In my opinion, season two and three still feature the best up-close devil look, particularly in the reveal scene to Linda.  It's disturbing in an uncanny valley sort of way that gets lost with the heavier makeup, and also...the wet blood is a really nice, creepy touch that I'm sad got dumped after the first try!

Also shallow opinion - Tom Ellis is fine as hell, don't get me wrong, and I appreciate that he worked out like crazy for this season, but I actually kind of miss his slightly less muscular look from the earlier seasons.  I feel like he's a guy who looks better with shoulders that are a tad less broadly defined, yeah?  It felt like it made more sense for Lucifer to be well built but not hyper muscular, since he wasn't a warrior in the way, say, Amenadiel or Michael were.  Samael was the tempter - he's built for beauty and desire, with kind of a sly appeal to him.

2.)  Eve.  I really like Eve as a character over all, but I do wish her motivations were explored more explicitly.  I do really like the vaguely feminist undertones of her story, that she's a woman whose entire life has been dictated to her by God and husband, and her decision to leave Heaven is a rebellion against that, a desire to pursue what she wants for herself even as she struggles to break free of old patterns.  While the story does seem to suggest this is her true motivation, I do wish it was given a little more individual reflection.  The thing I find the most poorly handled about her character is the punishment fascination.  I get that it's part of her tendency to try and mold herself into what she thinks the men in her life want, good or bad, but I would've liked more clarity on whether it held any personal appeal to her - i.e. she discusses her son, Cain, but there's little attention given to what it must have been like for her to watch him walk the Earth cursed, much less losing her son Abel to Hell.  Does she resent God?  Is she angry that human life is so short yet the recompense for a life well or poorly lived is so permanent?  Does she feel like her life was stolen for her in a way that other human's choices weren't?

She's already a foil for Lucifer in that she's daring to go against God's plan to explore her own freedom of choice, with the major caveat being that she left Heaven willingly in contrast to his exile.  So while I do feel she was a relatively well rounded character (as far as she could be with what they wanted to do with her), a little more exploration of those motivations was in order, but I absolutely would love for her to come back in a potential season five.  She has a lot of opportunities for growth and a lot of directions they could take her.

3.)  Mazikeen.  I'm actually not completely unhappy with the direction of her story.  It feels like a natural continuation of her struggles in season 3, learning how to "human" and find her place in the world, but the problem is she isn't being given much to do outside of that.  I like that her relationship with Linda is emotionally complicated (it's honestly one of the best female friendships on the show) with elements of platonic, erotic, and maternal love woven into it, but that the story is making it clear she still needs to learn how to develop herself independently.  In season 2, Lucifer states that Maze is like a "baby bird  that imprints on anything near."  Now that we know demons are naturally inclined to want leadership and direction, that actually provides a literal context for why she's clinging to Linda for purpose afterwards.  We just need to move that into a more strongly defined character arc.  Since we know have the Lilim introduced as a legitimate threat, I feel like that's a no-brainer for what should happen if season five occurs with her.  Let's see a storyline with Maze dealing with her family history (the Lilith), having to confront the fact that Hell is no longer her home, while grappling with a life on Earth minus the companion she's had for nearly all of her existence (Lucifer).  Let her evolve into a fully fleshed out character.

4.)  Cain.  I'm not sad to see him go out with a whimper since they clearly had no idea what to do with his character in season 3, but the fallout gets completely brushed over way too easily.  There's no way a federally investigated criminal revealed to be chief of the LA police wouldn't lead to absolute chaos in the precinct for quite a bit afterwards, and God knows, Chloe certainly would've been under the microscope for her role in what went down.  It would've made more sense to have a throwaway line about how she was suspended for a month and kept away LA proper for a few weeks until they made certain the danger was clear and the drama had settled down media-wise.

5.)  Chloe.  I'll be up front that I actually don't mind her more dramatic response to Lucifer's face.  For how easy it is to want to imagine she would handle it better, we've seen pretty much everybody freak the hell out when they see it, so she really shouldn't have been different.  The context also matters significantly here - she encountered it at a violent crime scene shortly after he killed a person.  HUGE difference from how a lot of the other characters were introduced to the truth.  So I don't find her characterization completely OOC there, but what I wouldn't give for just one more episode this season exploring her feelings during that period, what drove her to Europe, what destabilized her sense of who and what Lucifer is.  What I do like is that we got to see her make mistakes and have to answer for them - up until this point, it's been about Lucifer improving who he was to be somebody worth pursuing, but here we finally get to see Chloe's flaws, her struggles to be the better person she wants to be, to get told 'you f*cked up' and have to accept that she's possibly missed her chance.  I felt like her relationship with Eve was well done, that they didn't go the easy route of them being catty with each other all season, but that each provided a different but ultimately legitimate perspective on Lucifer's complicated character.  She could easily be set up as a primary protagonist of season five now with all the changes she's going through.

6.)  The Father Kinley plot.  I actually have no real problem with it for the most part - it provides a central antagonist that is far more threatening than Cain ever was, but I do wish they'd rethought the story of his introduction to Chloe.  It seems to me it would've made more sense for him to seek her out in America.  As a writer, I would've kept Chloe relatively local and had her confessing her fears and secrets to a local church pastor - who could have contacted the Vatican and brought Kinely to her in L.A.  That would've conveyed a sense of Kinley's operation being part of a vast network of religious authorities "in the know" and provided a possible set up for later conflicts if there were others out there like him.  Kinley actively seeking her out would've also reinforced her sense of how dangerous Lucifer is knowing that authorities had been tracking him for years, which could have undermined her own beliefs about who he is.

7.)  The Caleb plot.  I get what they were trying to do, and I appreciate that the show attempted to go there even as it is didn't fully succeed in treating the subject matter as well as it should have.  I get that it's meant to show us that life can be unfair, and that embracing the right to free will comes with the potential cost of suffering, that we must accept the risks of loving and caring for each other.  However, at the end of the day, you have a male POC killed off for a plot that ultimately leads nowhere, and that's...not great.  I mean, I'd rather them try and stumble then completely ignore such things, but it's definitely not the season's shining moment.

8.)  Other thing this season didn't shine on - the pacing.  I get why it happened, since these writers are used to having more leeway to work with time-wise, and ten episodes is not a whole lot to pack in all of the emotional and story conflicts, but the first four episodes in particularly really feel strained.  Even the humor feels slightly off kilter, like they were struggling to find the right tone.  It's better than season three's tendency to sacrifice pathos for humor, but to date, season two remains their best work in terms of the over all pacing and tone.

9.)  Dan.  His backsliding and self-destructive behavior makes sense in light of his depression and sense of powerlessness, but it does feel redundant in light of Lucifer's own backsliding in season 3 and even here.  Frankly, Dan has a legitimate point about how their tendency to write off Lucifer's worse behavior doesn't help him in the long run, but he's, y'know, one to talk.  I honestly think the best direction for his character in season five is to leave the police force.  In particular, I would not be unhappy to see him team up with Mazikeen to fight some supernatural demon crime, actually.  I feel like their relationship has a lot of potential.

10.)  Dan/Ella.  I don't hate it, per se, but I'm just very neutral on it.  The age difference is a little off-putting (he's fortyish, divorced with a kid, yo, and she's clearly a twenty-something), but I don't mind it being a hook up that occurred when they were both in a low place.  I'm uncertain if I want to see it go beyond that.

11.)  Remiel is a lot of fun, but I vacillate over whether her presence is particularly significant in light of Amenadiel's ultimate decision to stay on Earth.  I highly suspect she's being introduced now as a placeholder for further events down the road if the show gets renewed.  She's clearly there to generate conflict in Amenadiel rather than be the conflict itself, but I wonder if they plan on making Charlie's existence more of an issue if the series progresses.

12.)  As always, I appreciate that the series' maintains an unflagging dedication to diversity.  They cast an Israeli Jewish women as Eve.  All of Lucifer's siblings have been POC.  The show has probably MORE bisexual members in the cast than any other mainstream series that I've seen.  It's not perfectly handled, it it definitely has its stumbles where race and LGBT+ content is concerned, but it's trying.  That's more than I can say for most series.

The Stuff That Gives Me Life:

1.)  Tom Ellis acting the shit out of that script, no matter how ridiculous the scenes they gave him were.  I really appreciate that he's so gung-ho for giving his all to the character even when the material fails to rise to the occasion.  Respect, too, for what I assume was basically him living in a gym for the past year.  If Leslie Ann Brandt had to squeeze herself into leather pants two months after giving birth, I appreciate that he rose to the occasion for getting naked all over the place and providing an ass tight enough to bounce a quarter off it.

2.)  Lucifer's character development was on point for me across the entire season.  I feel like everything we saw building up from previous seasons - the anger, the grief, the self-inflicted wounds he refused to let heal - finally came together here.  That moment at the end of episode eight is the perfect culmination of his character development, the painful realization he has about who really is responsible for everything that's happened to him.  And now he can start making the real journey to being a better person.  What happens at the end of the season is exactly what was bound to happen, no matter what story came before, because he needed to recognize the importance of punishment as a LESSON about the consequences of our actions.  Responsibility sometimes means sacrificing what we want to protect what we care about.  That's actually a rather clever nod to the comic version of the character who ultimately had to give up his individual existence to achieve total freedom - this version chooses submission out of recognition that to love and be loved, to be good is to be fettered to our responsibility to others.

(Which makes me really wonder if they are going to eventually push a story where Lucifer becomes a true king of Hell - not only a tyrant who deals punishment and controls the demonic masses but one who begins to show mercy and help some of those souls find release and forgiveness.  Ah well, don't worry friends, if they don't write it in show, I'm already writing it in a fanfic.)

3.)  Deckerstar 4 lyfe.  I didn't expect them to wind up together because they weren't there yet, but it ended on such a pitch perfect note.  Something this show has done remarkably well is avoid the idea of Chloe as the sole source of motivation for Lucifer to improve himself.  It's emphasized over and over again that he has to want it, that he's the one who had to desire the good in himself.  The worthiness comes with the recognition that you want to be worthy of love - and that you are.  Lucifer had to come much farther than she did, but it was nice to see the dynamic switched up a bit with Chloe having to grow, mature, and reconcile herself to her mistakes.

4.)  Eve was MUCH better as a character than I'd thought.  I'm a little smug about predicting so much about her, but that's not an entirely terrible thing.  While her storyline isn't perfect, I did like that it's a deconstruction of an idea of the "perfect woman/partner."  Eve is in love with the idea of Lucifer and the idea of who she can be with him, not so much the reality of who they are.  It makes me a little sad because I do think if they'd met at a point where she was further along in her character development, or he wasn't already in love with Chloe and so far ahead of her in growth, they could have actually worked and fallen in love with each other.  And that's fine!  Part of the point it's making with her character is how important our individual journeys are.  At the end, Eve recognizes she needs to figure out who she is outside of God's plan or what she THINKS is what she wants.  That honesty toward the end, that she really left Heaven for *herself* and not for Lucifer, is a huge revelatory character point that can go a lot of places next season.

5.)  The demons.  Just...everything with Dromos is gold to me.  From his initial excitement at seeing Lucifer to his frustrated attempts to reason with him...to being much craftier and scarier than anybody possibly expected.  Regardless of how we look at it, he played the endgame to the benefit of his stated purpose - loyalty to the infernal throne.  Hell has a king again, one way or another.  And now we have an established threat to keep Lucifer in line over the next couple of seasons, as well as tying up the arc that was begun all the way back in season 1.

6.)  Pulling in the Vatican and a secret society of "in the know" sects was wise.  While I wish the introduction had been slightly different, it leaves open opportunities for later.

7.)  MY GIRL LINDA.  Rachel Harris is such an underrated part on the show.  She has such great chemistry with Ellis in the therapy scenes, and her becoming a mother feels like a natural extension of the underlying maternal element she provides the show.  I like that we get to see her outside of the office now, engaging in a story of her own, which allows her to stay in the cast without losing significance of no longer being Lucifer's therapist.

8.)  AMENADIEL.  He's probably had the strongest and most well directed character development out of any secondary cast member on the show.  Having him forfeit his power to stay on Earth with the humans he loved is such a nice touch, but I like that it was a decision he had to wrestle with.  The idea of human life necessarily being complicated, messy, even unfair and unkind fits well with the theme of responsibility for our choices.  If he stays on Earth, he has to accept that his son will not have a perfectly Heavenly life, that to be human is to accept all that comes with it.  DB Woodside has great chemistry with the cast, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll do with him in future seasons.

9.)  Lucifer holding baby Charlie for two seconds, awkwardly cooing at him, then immediately passing him off like a hot potato.  That's real character development, guys.

10.)  Amenadiel saying goodbye forever to Lucifer in the baby ward, for what is ultimately and tragically not the reason he expects it to be the last time he gets to say it.  Woodside and Ellis have such great chemistry.

11.)  Ella's loss of faith is handled pretty well.  I appreciate that she had to reclaim it herself and not because she got to see the divine is real.  Fits nicely with the theme that we have to actualize our own beliefs and realities.

12.)  LGBT+ representation was better this season.  It's too late for Lucifer's pansexuality to have any real meaning at this point, but I appreciate him stroking the guy's face while using his eye voodoo in episode 1.  Little touches like that make the "Bi the way" aspect of his character seem less tacked on.  Mazikeen, on the other hand, is where things got much better - she's actually seen dating both men and women, having difficulty parsing her complex emotional relationship with Linda, being openly attracted to and pursuing Eve (also openly bisexual).  Please don't disrupt this improvement next season by giving her a male love interest, Netflix, I'm begging you.  Give us at least SOMETHING here.  She's got the most open-ended story for a relationship, and her development is clearly suggesting she wants family to call hers outside of what she has with the rest of the cast.  (I know I was saying I low key ship her with Dan, BUT I TAKE IT BACK.)

13.)  The dragon wings are admittedly very cool looking.  I prefer the more streamlined devil makeup otherwise from seasons 2 and 3, but the wings can stay.  I imagine the amount of fic tagged "wing kink" on Ao3 is going to increase several fold now.  (Yes, that is an actual thing.)

14.) Lauren German showing up to play this season!  She finally gets to do more than just be the straight man.  All of her dramatic moments with Ellis were well done.  No complaints.  I have way more faith now seeing her move into a primary protagonist role in season 5 if we get it.

15.)  LESLIE ANN BRANDT CAN SING!!!  What a sweet moment and what it says about Mazikeen's development as a character (even if it is ruined by Eve's obtuse logic afterwards).  How much do we want to bet that Lucifer's reaction to that is what made him decide to leave her behind on Earth?

16.)  AJKLSJD;FLSAFDAS THANK YOU FOR FINALLY BRINGING IN MORE SUPERNATURAL STUFF.  We finally get to see the throne!!!  There are prophecies!!!  WINGS!!!  (How cool are Remiel's??)  Demons can possess people canonically!  The Lilim are a well established thing!  Lucifer is back in Hell!  So many place this can go now.

Anyway, I have good feelings for the most part.  It’s still a heavily flawed series, but it’s not so bad that I’m going to dive out of it ala Hemlock Grove, which I’m fairly certain gave me brain damage by mid-season 2.

#lucifer #lucifer tv show #lucifer spoilers

[teamiplier-prefrences]

Parents au

♤Ethan would be the type of dad who:

¤"Dad, I can’t go to school, I fractured my motivation.“ He laughs to hard and doesn’t bring you to school, writing a note that says how you woke up vomiting that morning.

¤finds out you cried yourself to sleep multiple nights in a row over a math project that’s supposed to be for people in the tenth grade, not for people in the sixth. Proceeds to go to twitter to rant about your school while actively brings the school to court to teach them a lesson on forcing advanced stuff on kids who should be learning the basics of multiplying decimals.

¤Conversations usually go like:

Ethan, while reading the newspaper: So, have any crushes?

Son/Daughter, embarrassed: daD!

Ethan: Do you? I saw this cute cashier when I went to the store and they’re roughly the same age as you, and has a 4.0 gpa, so I gave them your number

Son/Daughter: You can’t just give away my number to people who you think should be my s/o!

Ethan: But they have a 4.0 gpa!

¤Has one of those family member car stickers, and they’re little birds because you’re absolutely fascinated with birds.

¤"Y'know, I just realized I never gave you the talk. Let me go to the store real quick, and then I’ll tell you all about it.” He comes back with a box of condoms, a cucumber, and a doughnut and proceeds to scar the fuck out of you.

♡Amy would be the type of mom who:

¤reads alien conspiracy theories to you as a bedtime story.

¤somehow managed to convince you that she’s an alien, which by default, means you’re an alien too.

¤"Uh, Miss. Nelson? Can you please tell your child that they’re not an alien, and to please stop trying to ‘probe,’ the other students?“

¤teaches you how to do your makeup while also helping you with homework.

¤"To get the perfect wing is art, darling. But, learning how to divide 300AB^2 by 9008AB^3 is downright torture when you’re in the seventh grade. I didn’t learn that until ninth grade, at least.”

¤¤"Mom? I’m being bullied at school.“

¤¤”*sliding a pen and paper across the table to you* Write down their first and last names and what class period you have them in, and they won’t be a problem ever again.“

¤Has a 'My Band Student Child Can Kick Your Football Team Child’s Ass Any Day.’ Bumper sticker.

¤You’re a first chair trumpet, and once you told your dad, he never felt more proud of you in his in entire life.

♢Kathy would be the type of mom who:

¤"Hey darlin, your teacher called and said you had broke down crying during a test and wouldn’t tell her why. I bought pizza for dinner and we can talk about it as we watch Moana.”

¤Doesn’t matter if it’ll take seven hours to get it done, she will sit down with you at the table to help you with your homework with thirty minute breaks every ten questions.

¤Has a 'My kid isn’t an honors student, but they can kick your honor student kid’s weak ass any day of the week.’ Bumper sticker.

¤You still crawl into her bed on days where your adhd makes your mind wander dangerously when you hear noises coming from somewhere in the house.

¤¤You still crawl into her bed when there’s bad weather because you’re absolutely terrified of it.

¤¤¤To the point where you had a panic attack one night when she asked Ethan to babysit you because the thunder was too loud and the lightening was too close and the rain was hitting the house too hard, and your mom wasn’t there to protect you from the loud noises.

¤cuddles are The Best™ because she’s not a little woman, so there’s so much of her to cuddle and she’s so soft and wow your mom is the best.

♧Mark would be the type of dad who:

¤Has set rules, but they’re totally weird, and not normal rules.

¤¤"If you come home and you’re not practicing your instrument for at least ten minutes, then I’ll help you practice.“

¤¤"No macaroni on Tuesdays and Fridays.”

¤¤"Spaghetti is forbidden unless you say 'Knees Weak, Arms Heavy, Mom’s Spaghetti.’ at least once before and after you make it.“

¤¤"Dabbing is banned in this household. If I see you or any of your friends dabbing in or around this house, you’re on dish duty for a week.”

¤¤"You must pet Chica at least once a day. If you don’t, she gets sad.“

¤Made a twitter account dedicated to posting pictures of you as you grow up.

¤"Ethan, your child may have a higher gpa than mine, but at least mine can actually appreciate the art that is memes.”

¤Has a silly rivalry going between him and Ethan on who’s child is the best.

¤¤Little do either of them know, you both are dating and love each other dearly.

¤"What do you mean the bananas at school went up to a dollar? Last week they were fifty cents per banana!“

¤once you’re old enough to understand your dad makes youtube videos as a job, you decide you want to follow in his footsteps and be like him.

¤¤Cue to him holding you in his lap as you make a trial video for his channel to see how you’d do, and you playing it with him giving you tips on what to do.

¤¤¤It goes well, a lot of positive feedback and the video reached almost 100k views in less than three hours. Mark decides to let you start your own channel once you turn sixteen, so until then, you appear in some of his videos and play games with him.

¤Has a 'My Kid Can Beat Your Kid In Mario Cart # Any Day Of The Week.’ Bumper sticker

☆Tyler would be the type of dad who:

¤Let’s you have a mental health day twice a month (unless there’s a week long break in that month, like spring break, or thanksgiving).

¤Is proud of you, even when you have a ’D,’ on your report card.

¤(tw: suicidal thoughts) School made you so stressed that you literally used to spend hours on end contemplating whether or not killing yourself would make everything so much better.

¤¤(tw: suicide attempt) You actually did try to commit suicide. You regretted it because not only did you make your dad an absolute mess, you created three stacks of missed homework from school that made you wish your attempt was successful.

¤"Look, sweetheart. School’s hard, I know. I’ve been looking into online school’s and I found this one where all you have to do is go to the site for two hours for just once a week, and then you’d have to do at least three hours of work at home for the rest of the week. I want you to think over this, and as soon as your discharged, I want your full decision.”

¤Cuddles with him are The Bestest™ because he’s just so soft and warm. You always go to your dad for cuddles when you’re having a particularly rough day (which is usually when you’re sitting on your bed, looking at the closet you tried hanging yourself in.)

¤He’s even more proud of you when you start doing better in school now that you’re doing online school.

¤"Guys! The lowest grade she has on her report card is a 'B,’ and it’s in English! I’m so proud of her!“

¤Is extremely proud of you. Will make happy indirects on twitter and they’re usually like:

•"When you think of the past, you realize how far you’ve come from, and how better you’re doing.”

•"Anything you can create is and always will be deemed 'Fridge Worthy™.’ No matter if it’s a stick figure drawing, or the next Picasso painting. It’s fridge worthy.“

¤Has a 'My Kid Might Be Depressed, Anxiety-Ridden, and Stressed Out, But They Can Still Fight Your Kid In A Denny’s Parking Lot At 2 AM and Win.’ Bumper sticker.

#parent au #youtube imagines #iceddarkroast #amy nelson #averytiredkat #kathryn #markiplier #mark fischbach #apocalypto_12 #tyler scheid #tw: suicide mentioned #tw: suicide attempt #tw: suicidal thoughts #i don't think you can tell but i really hate school #like all the things mentioned about school is a mixture of my hatred towards it and bits of my life #plus some #eth #cranki boi

[malcortez]

TV Tropes for Malcolm Cortez

I gathered up some TV Tropes that I think fit Malcolm, both his general canon self and what I've expanded on with my version. For some reason, I can't find a trope centered around idolization/idealization of one's father, or of carrying on his legacy, but I feel like those definitely ARE tropes, and ones that most certainly apply to him!

Accuser of the Brethren/ Reformed But Rejected: Will not accept the zombies even when they have overcome their hunger

Bad Future/After the End: His world is several decades ahead of 616, and is the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse.

Berserk Button: When the zombies think that they can just live with the New Wakandans now that they have "overcome" their hunger, it sets Malcolm into a vengeful frenzy. Understandable when one considers not only what they did to Earth and the rest of the universe, but that he had just witnessed one of his friends being devoured.

But What About the Astronauts?: The Acolytes (plus Forge and Black Panther, the latter who Fabian rescued from Earth) survived the zombie apocalypse by hiding out in space on Asteroid M, which the zombies didn't know about

Bullying A Dragon/Too Dumb To Live: Is very open about hating the zombies to their faces, demanding they pay for their crimes, wanting to take them all on in a fight on the spot, etc, despite the fact it's all of them against him and they include the likes of Wolverine, Dark Phoenix, and Giant Man...who also have the power cosmic from eating Galactacus. It's amazing he lives through this; in fact, he probably wouldn't have if not for the fact that's when Zombie Hulk burst in and they all had to team up against him.

Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Has Black Panther's son killed. Tries to have Black Panther Killed. Lures the "good" zombies, including Black Panther, into the room with a machine which takes them to another dimension, getting rid of them forever. And beats Forge (possibly to death) when Forge discovers this and wants to bring them back.

Disappeared Dad/Missing Mom: Neither of his parents ever appears. Fabian is implied to be dead (he is referred to only in the past tense) and his mother is never mentioned at all.

Disaster Scavenger: The village of New Wakanda is built on the outskirts of what was once NYC, and I headcanon they take a lot of items from what they now only call "the city"

Enemy Mine/Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Forge knows Malcolm is the one who tried to kill T'challa and doesn't like him for it. And Malcolm REALLY doesn't like the zombies, even the "tame" ones. But in the face of the very much NOT tamed zombie Hulk, they all agree to work together for the sake of saving New Wakanda.

Expendable Alternate Universe: Malcolm used a machine to send the zombies to another dimension with the statement "they're somebody else's problem now" and clearly didn't have any concerns about them wiping out any inhabitants there the same way they did his world. I likewise play him as unconcerned about the welfare of other worlds he visits and the people therein; only HIS dimension and HIS people matter to him.

Everyone Is A Super: Since 11 of the 12 original survivors were mutants, I headcanon that most of their children and grandchildren would be as well, making New Wakanda a mutant-majority population

Evil Redhead: Exactly what it says

Evil Is Bigger: Like his father, Malcolm is 6'5 and extremely beefy/muscular in build

Even Evil has Loved Ones: Idolizes his father and is sincerely invested in protecting his people

Even Evil Has Standards/Wouldn't Hurt A Child: He states that he won't kill T'challa's grandson until the boy is older. Since there's no reason for him to wait (and in fact, it would be more beneficial to him to do it sooner rather than later) I can only conclude that Malcolm has something against killing children. He likewise had plans to hurt Forge, even though Forge openly opposed his reign and said to Malcolm's face that he knew he was responsible for the assassination attempt on T'challa. The only reason he ended up opening a can of whoop-ass on the old man was when Forge discovered he'd sent the zombies to another dimension and wanted to bring them back. So even though Forge was a threat to Malcolm's leadership, Malcolm was apparently going to spare him...until Forge became (in Malcolm's eyes) a threat to New Wakanda by wanting to bring back the zombies. Also, he's outraged beyond belief at the zombie's crimes.

Is It Something You Eat?: Probably has this reaction at least a few times to things he's unfamiliar with in worlds besides his own

Hypocrite: He's outraged that the zombies wiped out almost all life in the universe, and demands they pay for their crimes. However, Malcolm is a murderer too, and he didn't do it out of compulsive hunger like the zombies did, but by choice because he wanted to be king. Malcolm, of course, sees it differently In his eyes, there's no comparison, because his crimes were (comparatively) small and done for a reason, whereas the zombies pointlessly committed mass murder on a literally universal scale.

Generation Xerox/Overlord Jr/In the Blood/Lineage Comes From the Father: An unusual example in that while he is much like Fabian Cortez, it's the villainous 616 Fabian that he's similiar to (minus the sexism and with some additional bravery/genuine care for his people) rather than the Fabian of his own universe who actually fathered him (who was a much better man)

Fantastic Racism: What little fandom knows of him tends to treat his hatred of zombies as a form of bigotry, rather than, y'know, COMMON SENSE

Fish Out of Water/Trapped In Another World: He comes from the Marvel Zombies universe, in which all of humanity except 12 survivors were wiped out by the titular zombies, and thus grew up in a very different world...and I write him as having come to whatever universe my partner is in (616, XMCU, etc.) by use of a machine shown in his canon story that was capable of transporting people between dimensions. Obviously, he's in for a bit of a culture shock.

Fish Out of Temporal Water: Sort of. While his Earth is several decades ahead of 616, their technology level is now much more primitive (aside from scraps of extremely advanced technology taken from the Stark and Reed labs, as well as their Asteroid M base) making him function in a "normal" world much like someone from the distant past would in terms of being unfamiliar with things like electric lights, indoor plumbing, etc. On the flip side, he's extremely adept with futuristic technology even though he can't figure out a cell phone.

Gadgeteer Genius: Shown to be able to figure out extremely complicated, futuristic machines left behind by the likes of Reed Richards, namely the interdimensional transporter.

Karma Houdini: Despite being the villain of the story, he not only never gets an comeuppance, he wins. And with no loss to himself at that!

Jerkass Has A Point/Hypocrite Has a Point/Villain Has A Point: His reasons for not liking or trusting the zombies are completely rational ones

Large And In Charge: As mentioned in Evil is Bigger, Malcolm is a HUGE dude. He's also the leader of rebel "Acolytes" in New Wakanda, and, at the end, all of New Wakanda

Living Is More Than Surviving - Said more or less exactly this in his speech to his followers

Limited Wardrobe: Spends the entire story just wearing his father's old Acolytes uniform. I headcanon him as having more clothes though.

Men Are The Expendable Gender: For functional/biological reasons than cultural sexism, I headcanon Malcolm is a "women and children first" kind of guy. 1 male and 10 females can produce 10 times the offspring, after all, so it's more conducive to the survival of their very small and fragile society to protect women over men if it comes down to that. That said, he still Would Hit A Girl in a fight or if otherwise given reason.

Only Sane Man: He's the only character shown to make any objection to the zombies being allowed to live with the New Wakandans now that they have overcome their hunger, despite the fact that it only takes one bite of flesh for it to reawaken and that it'd be pretty much impossible to stop them from devouring everyone if they relapsed.

Reduced to Ratburgers: Well, there's no more livestock, and the village is built next to New York City...

Rebel Leader: Sees himself as this

Revenge Before Reason: Averted, he's willing to put his hatred for the zombies, and animosity with Forge, aside for as long as it takes to ensure the safety of New Wakanda

Ruins of the Modern Age: The village of New Wakanda is in the wilderness surrounding the outskirts of New York City, which has fallen into disrepair from 45 years of abandonment.

The Usurper: Attempted to be this to Black Panther, and ultimately succeeds at the end

The Bad Guy Wins: The story ends with Malcolm triumphing and achieving all his goals without any loss to himself; he gets rid of the zombies and Black Panther in one go, leaving him able to take over New Wakanda for himself, and probably to an even more welcoming populace than before since he's now likely a hero for helping fight the zombies.

The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: Malcolm isn't an example of this, but Fabian possibly is. This universe's Fabian proves to be a much better person than every other version has been, but it's impossible to say if this is just how he was to begin with in this universe or it's a result of this trope.

Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: A redhead with green eyes who is a major character in his story of appearance

Species Loyalty: Understandable, when your species in limited to a single village and the only other species is the cannibalistic undead who reduced them to such a tiny number in the first place. However, his Species Loyalty is not to the point that he practices Ape Shall Never Kill Ape, as shown by his having T'challa and T'challa's son both murdered, and his plans to do the same to T'challa's grandson.

Sociopathic Hero: He's framed as the villain of the story, but I think it could be argued he's ultimately one of these instead. His methods are villainous, but ultimately done to ensure the safety of New Wakanda, which he succeeds in, getting rid of the zombies once and for all. Honestly, if not for the whole 'tried to kill Black Panther so *he* could become leader' I'd straight-up say he was definitely the hero, not just arguably.

The Resenter: I get the impression that part of his reason for wanting to overthrow Black Panther is his belief that Fabian should have ruled instead of him in the first place

Rabble Rouser: He's first shown in canon inciting his followers against Black Panther with a speech, resulting in one of them trying (and technically succeeding) in assassinating him on Malcolm's orders

Uncanny Valley: Canonically, he finds it very unnerving when one of his own murder victims is walking around and talking. In my headcanon, people from "normal" worlds (616, XMCU, etc.) also look kinda weird to him because we're all just too clean, what with our access to things like daily showers and laundry machines.

Unintentionally Sympathetic: He's meant to be the despicable bad guy of the story, and when it comes to what he did to T'challa and his son, I agree full stop. But I can't get behind the idea he's totally wrong in his objections to not wanting the zombies who tried to devour his village just hours ago now being allowed to live there just because they figured out a way to not be hungry anymore...especially when it's known that a relapse is possible. I can't tell if the story/writers mean for him to be totally unsympathetic, but I've found that what fans do know of him consider him totally awful for this, to the point he's been compared to a virulent racist in some reviews.

Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Malcolm and his crew see themselves as dismantling a useless and outdated regime for the betterment of everyone, whereas King T'challa and his confidants see them as dangerous fools and misguided children who are a threat to the very society they claim to want to improve.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: Wants what's best for his people. Believes the Black Panther is no longer an adequate ruler. Solution? Assassinate Black Panther.

Who Needs Enemies?: Malcolm, who allies with T'challa, Forge, and the "good" zombies, only to betray them all as soon as he has the chance and the greater threat of the "bad" zombies has been vanquished. Same for the "good" zombies, whose hunger is only overcome so long as they never have another bite of human flesh...lest they instantly and violently relapse into their hunger. Clearly, neither are folks you really want at your side unless there's no other choice.

Zero Percent Approval Rating: Forge thinks this is the case with Malcolm, claiming he doubts anyone would follow him for more than a couple of months if he actually did become leader of the village. That said, it's only Forge's opinion, and he's clearly loyal to King T'challa while disliking Malcolm, so he's hardly unbiased. We also see that Malcolm has a considerable number of supporters among his peers, including ones ready to kill King T'challa for him.

Zombie Apocalypse: I don't need to explain this one, right?

#marvel zombies 2 #marvel zombies #malcolm cortez #tv tropes

[dylan-hague]

Chapter 8

April 13th, 2017. 4:57 PM.

As the elevator door opened, the five teenagers inside were surprised to find the hallway where they’d left their unconscious friend to be completely empty. Frustrated, Damian tightened his grip on the hilt of his sheathed katana. Raven placed a gentle hand on his back, feeling the anger in him rise.

“What were we thinking… of COURSE he was going to wake up. We just left him here in the middle of the hall like it was no big deal. Now where could he be?” Damian slammed his fist into the wall, the thud echoing through the empty corridor. “I should have known better… I should have already restrained him!”

“Damian, you’ve got to calm yourself,” Raven’s hushed voice slid into Damian’s ear as she whispered, being cautious not to alert Garfield to their presence. “Getting angry right now is only going to make things worse. Clear your mind…”

“… Find your peace. I know…” Damian shut his eyes for a moment, taking in several cleansing breaths. “I’m trying to do better.”

“I know you are,” Raven’s hand lighted onto Damian’s chest, and his heart rate immediately slowed. “Give it time, you’re already improving. But for now, we need to focus on finding Beast Boy. Tara, any luck contacting Jaime?”

“Nah, nothing yet,” Terra replied, still fiddling with her communicator. “Y'know, this would probably be easier if we just all gave each other our phone numbers.”

“Well, not all of us have phones,” Jonathan said quietly as he floated past Tara. “I still have to borrow Ms. Kori’s tablet every time I wanna call my dad.”

“Focus, Titans,” Damian growled. “The sooner we find Gar, the better. Let’s split up and start searching the Tower. Raven, you and Tara start at the foyer and work your way up. Superboy and I will go to the top and try to find Starfire. Be careful.”

“Stay safe, you two,” Raven replied, squeezing Damian’s hand. Their eyes locked for a moment before Raven and Tara took to the second elevator.

“You said your brother was on his way, right?” Jonathan asked as the elevator door closed before him and Damian. “Do you think that’ll be enough? I mean… don’t get me wrong, your brother is tough and all, but…”

“I know what you mean. And no, Grayson is definitely not enough,” Damian answered grimly. “If he were coming alone, he’d probably get himself killed. That’s why I had him bring his fiancée, and why I had him contact your father.”

“Wait, what??” Jonathan’s eyes widened at this information. “You had him call my dad!? Geez, Dame, do you really think this is that big of a deal??”

“The first time I fought one of these demons, the host body had no powers,” Damian began to explain, turning to face his teammate. “By the end of it, I had to blow up the Batwing on them to take them out. These things are dangerous… and now one has control of a metahuman capable of taking on the form of any animal he’s ever encountered. Who knows what he’ll be capable of?”

“Yeesh… I guess I hadn’t thoughta that…” Jonathan rubbed his neck nervously. “… Man, I hope Gar is gonna be alright…”

The elevator doors opened to the roof, where a figure stood in the doorway. Damian, not one to take chances, leapt into action immediately, cracking his foot into the face of the shadow before them.

Damian landed just in time to see Dick Grayson crumple to the floor.

“Agh!! Christ, Damian…!” Dick shouted, rubbing his jaw. “It’s just us!” Barbara rushed to Dick’s side, and she and Damian helped him to his feet.

“Sorry, Richard,” Robin apologized quickly as Dick stumbled finding his footing. “We’re all pretty on-edge right now, as you can imagine…” As the boy explained himself, a mighty wind blew across the rooftop, and a blur of red and blue swooped overhead, revealing a familiar red-and-blue clad man floating above the four heroes.

“DAD!!” Jon shouted as he rocketed up to meet his father in the sky. Superman quickly wrapped his arms around the boy, holding him tight. “Dad, it’s gotten crazy here!! Beast Boy turned into a werewolf, and there are demons, and we had to split up, and–”

“Jon! Jon, it’s alright now, take a deep breath! I’m right here, pal,” Clark spoke in a calm, reassuring tone as he stroked his son’s hair. “Everything’s gonna be okay, buddy. But we need you to be ready to fight. I know Garfield is your friend, but you have to be ready to give it all you got. Can ya do that?”

Jon shook his head, and looked into his father’s eyes, his brow furrowed. “Yes, sir.”

“So what’s up with you and Robin?”

Raven stopped dead in her tracks, turning to look at Tara with a very confused look.

“Tara… is now really the time to be asking this?”

“Well come on,” Markov continued, “you two are always hanging around each other, you’re always the first to make sure he’s okay, HE’s always the first to make sure YOU’re okay, and you read together. You READ together. Nobody does that!!”

“Damian and I have similar past experiences, so we just sort of… wait. What do you mean, ‘nobody does that’??”

“I mean, nobody does that. How do you do the… the pacing???”

Raven shook her head. “We literally read it together. It’s a mental thing. We read different characters, and we take turns with the narrative… I’ve done it with everyone on the team.”

Tara crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Well, clearly not EVERYONE.”

Raven let out a quiet giggle. “Well, once all this is over, you and I should sit down together and–”

That moment, there came a loud crash from within the walls, and all the lights went out. The power to the whole Tower had been cut. Tara instinctively clutched tightly to Raven’s cloak in the pitch black of the corridor.

“… and we can read something together. What do you like to read?”

“Uhh…” Tara thought hard for a moment. “… I like Lewis. Like, Narnia? That guy? He’s good.”

“Oh, yeah! He’s a wonderful writer!” Raven replied excitedly. “Have you ever read The Screwtape Letters?”

“No, but I do have a copy,” Tara replied. “I’ve been meaning to check it out. But like, who even taught you to read like that?”

As if on cue, a bright flash of green broke through the black that surrounded the girls. When they turned to look to the source, they both smiled.

“Actually, I did that,” Starfire said calmly. “On Tamaran, it is customary to share your favorite tales with your children or younger comrades as such.”

“Kori!” Raven let out a sigh of relief as she walked over to her teacher’s side. “Thank Azar you’re here! I’m not sure we can handle this on our own…”

“Don’t worry, little sister,” Kori put her free hand on Raven’s shoulder and smiled. “We’re going to make sure Garfield is okay. Damian’s brother Dick is here, and even Jon’s father Superman came along. We’re gonna take care of everything.”

As Jaime walked through the Hall of Justice, he kept his eyes to the floor. Never had he been this nervous in his life; sure, it was scary facing down all those creeps that came after Raven, but this was the Justice League. THE Justice League. They’re like the superhero Hall of Fame, that’s pretty intimidating for a kid.

Victor kept his hand on Jaime’s shoulder, and guided him through the building, until they came to an elevator in the very back, which took them deep down into what appeared to be some kind of sub-level laboratory. As the two stepped out of the elevator, Jaime froze. There, standing before the enormous computer display, was the Batman.

“Hey, Bats,” Vic called, “I got somebody here who wants to talk to you. He’s got… questions.”

The constant clicking of keys on the keyboard stopped, and the imposing figure turned to face the two. He looked first to Victor, then down to Jaime. He let out a low hmph in acknowledgment, then turned and pressed a few more keys, and the display went dim.

Victor placed a few pats on Jaime’s shoulder. “Just relax. As long as you don’t piss him off, you got nothin’ to worry about.” Jaime nodded as Vic left the room.

“So…” Batman said, his voice a low growl in his chest. “Jaime Reyes. That’s your name right?”

“Uh, y-yes,” Jaime stuttered, standing up straighter. This was actually happening right now. He was talking to Batman. Batman.

The caped figure crossed his arms and leaned up against the computer console. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Damian… he says you’re a valuable teammate. Which is impressive, considering he’s never even said that about me.”

Jaime couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows. “R… really? He said that? Uh, th-umm, thank you.”

The two stood in silence for a moment. Then, the Batman reached up, and slowly pulled the cowl off of his head. Jaime stood blinking at his face for a few seconds. Wow… Damian looks just like him.

“So… he’s really your kid, huh? That’s…”

The man smiled. “It’s big. I know,” he said, walking forward and placing a hand on Jaime’s shoulder. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”

“Yeah, I do. I mean…” Jaime rubbed his eyes and shook his head. He had so many questions, where on earth was he supposed to begin. So, after searching his whole brain, he came up with “… who was his mom?”

Bruce cocked a brow as he let out a small chuckle. “Well! Straight to the point, aren’t you?” Jaime rubbed his neck nervously, turning a bright shade of red. Bruce crossed his arms and sighed. “It… it happened about fourteen years ago. Her name was Talia…”

Damian’s flashlight illuminated the livingroom of Titans Tower just enough for the five in his group to navigate around the furniture without bumping into anything. He was certain that the power outage was Garfield’s doing (or rather, whatever the demon was inhabiting Garfield’s body), attempting to gain the upper hand and kill them all. It wouldn’t be expecting all five of them, but then… the one who took control of Mark Mardon a year ago was able to stand up to Superman… but then again, this wasn’t the same Superman. This Superman seemed older… more experienced. Perhaps he would be strong enough to handle Mardon, but Garfield is probably far stronger.

Then again, Damian thought, even I was able to land a solid hit on Logan. Perhaps he’s not quite as strong as I’ve been assuming…?

As this thought went through his mind, a flash of green caught the corner of his eye. On instinct, he reached for his sword and launched himself towards it… but before he had a chance to strike, he found himself enveloped in a familiar dark energy, suspended in the air.

“It’s alright, Damian,” Raven whispered, her hands raised to focus her magic around the boy. “It’s just us.”

Damian released his grip on his hilt as Raven lowered him to the ground. “I’m glad you’re okay. Have you three found anything yet?”

“You mean aside from claw marks up and down the halls?” Tara chimed in from beside Kori. “No. Guess he’s a little ahead of us.”

“Hold on. That doesn’t make any sense…” Dick scratched his head as he spoke, trying to make sense of their situation. “We started from the top and checked every single room. You guys did the same from the bottom, so…”

Everyone froze as the realization dawned on them. Slowly, Damian turned his eyes upward and shone his flashlight at the ceiling to spot an enormous mass of green flesh and fur.

Right now, Beast Boy was a brutal, mindless beast, controlled by an actual demon from actual Hell, capable of rending them all limb from limb. And at this very moment, he had the high ground.

“Titans…” Damian said through grit teeth, his focus locking onto the Changeling, “… Ready.”

Garfield roared out like thunder as he dropped to the ground, crushing the living room table beneath his weight. Starfire made the first move against him, her body whirling like a top as landed several consecutive blows to Beast Boy’s face. But after a moment, Gar managed to brace in anticipation of her move, and brought her to a halt with her leg pressed against his face. With a growl followed by one swift motion, he batted Kori across the room, and immediately launched himself towards Tara.

Markov had regained her composure, however, and quickly pulled a sizable rock through the nearby window, clocking the wolf-beast in the side of his head with it as they were all showered in broken glass. Garfield stumbled back as Tara swung her stone into his head again and again, her arms swinging wildly as she struggled to attack faster. As she brought her fists down, intent on rendering the Changeling unconscious, Garfield took hold of the stone, crushing it in his hand. Tara stumbled back, tripping over what remained of the table, and Garfield pulled his lips back over his teeth in a sneer.

Just as he raised his claw to strike, Jonathan made his move, delivering a punch into Garfield’s chest with such force that the air seemed to crack at the point of impact. Gar flew upwards, smashing into the ceiling before dropping back to the ground, dazed and clutching at his chest. Jonathan’s eyes began to glow red.

“C'mon, BB,” Jon pleaded, “it’s us! Fight it, man, you’ve got to–”

Before Jon could finish, Gar delivered a swift crack with his head to Jonathan’s nose. The young Superboy stumbled back, hands on his face before the wolf-man flipped around, smacking him away with his tail.

“Y'know, I think Fido’s had enough fun for one day,” Dick quipped as he, Barbara and Damian pulled out their ropes. “Let’s kennel this puppy.”

The three leapt into the air in an almost synchronized fashion, their lines soaring behind them like some bizarre ribbon show. They whirled all about Garfield, wrapping him up tightly before landing in front of him and pulling with all of their might, bringing the creature down to its knees and unable to move. Raven quickly moved into position, casting her magic on the monster and glowing with a brilliant purple aura.

“By the will of Azar, I command you,” the mage girl called out with authority, “leave quietly this flesh you have taken, servant of the Fallen Serpent! You are ban–”

Before Raven could complete her incantation, somehow the possessed Changeling found the strength to tear through the sturdy Bat-ropes, and with one swipe sent the girl crashing through the wall.

“RAVEN!!” Robin’s panicked voice tore through the room as he bolted in the direction which his friend had been sent flying, leaving his friends to continue combating the creature. There, on the other side of a large hole in the wall, Raven lay unconscious, covered in pieces of broken wall and piping, blood running down a sizable gash in her forehead.

As Damian cradled his best friend in his arms, he felt his eyes begin to sting. This was on him; he should have known not to leave Garfield unattended in the hall before. He should have investigated his condition sooner. If he had just done what needed to be done… if he had just protected her like he should have…

Damian gently set Raven down on the floor, and grasped his katana. He knew the source of the tears on his cheeks was not just from guilt. This was the rage he’d been suppressing since his little clash with Reyes. For the past fourteen years, he’d been taught to control his emotions. The only emotion he was ever permitted to express in any sense was his anger. But upon joining the Titans, he found himself pushing his anger down just like all the rest of his emotions. And he was sick of holding it back.

In an instant, Damian rocketed towards the beast, making one broad stroke before crashing right into Garfield’s chest in a shoulder-tackle.

The green wolf-beast went one direction. But his right arm, from the elbow down, went another. Between them was a spray of red liquid that covered Damian’s face. As the young Robin pulled himself off the floor, he heard Beast Boy screeching in agony, as a bright red light shot out of Superman’s eyes into the stump where his arm should have been. What have I done…? 

April 17th, 2017. 1:34 PM.

“Damian…?”

Damian’s eyes slowly crept open as the familiar voice slid into his ears. He lifted his head up off of his crossed arms to see that Raven was finally coming to. Her eyes were weary and her hair was unkempt, but Damian didn’t care. He just silently thanked any god that was listening that she was still alive. He stood up quickly, and rushed to her side.

“It’s alright, Raven,” he began to reassure her as he took hold of her hand. “You’ve been out for four days. But everything has been taken care of.”

Raven smiled at her closest friend for a moment, taking the time to find comfort in his presence. But quickly she felt a new pain in the back of his mind.

“Damian…” Raven whispered, “… what’s wrong?”

Robin’s heart dropped. He was afraid of what was about to happen, but… he swore he would never lie to her.

“Garfield… was injured in the fight,” he stammered, trying to find the strength to own up to what he’d done. “… I… I cut his arm off.”

Raven’s eyes widened for a moment. This was… this was serious. She almost let out an exasperated “you did WHAT??”, but she could feel the tear in Damian’s heart grow as he told her what happened.

“It’s my fault…” Damian’s eyes stayed glued to the hand he held, as tears began to well up behind them. “I just… I lost control. I saw how bad you’d been hurt, and I…” with this, Damian had to squeeze his shut. “Oh God, I thought you were gone. I thought… I thought he…”

Raven placed her other hand onto the boy’s face. “Damian… I know. It’s going to get better.” She pulled the boy into her arms, and ran her fingers through his hair. “The pain won’t go away… but I promise you, it will get better.”

Damian tried to hold himself together. Fourteen years, he’d been taught to control his emotions. The only emotion he was ever permitted to express in any sense was his anger. Even when his father and butler insisted that he open up, he kept his heart shut tight. Even when his mother turned her back to him, he stayed strong. But now, after everything, he broke down. He just fell all to pieces in Raven’s arms; his walls of strength and resilience gave way, and he cried weakly, like the broken child he’d denied all these years. For the first time in his short life, Damian knew how it felt to truly need someone. He needed these Titans. He needed his father. But above all else, in this moment, he needed Raven. He needed her like the earth needed the rain. And as they sat there in the infirmary of Titans Tower, they silently made a promise to one another: no matter what the cost, they would do everything in their power to be there for the other. Because Raven knew, after everything that had happened, that she needed Damian just the same. She wept there with him, holding the boy as tight as her weary arms possibly could. Damian saved her from her past; now she needed to do the same for him.

#justice league vs teen titans #jlvtt #jonathan samuel kent #dick grayson #nightwing #barbara gordon #batgirl #beast boy #batman #garfield logan #bruce wayne #damian wayne #raven x damian #damian x raven #damirae #demonbirds #raven #raven roth #robrae #robin #jaime reyes #blue beetle #victor stone #cyborg #dcamu #dc #dc comics #koriand'r #starfire #superboy

[the-lady-bryan]

HP AU Idea: “The Wizarding World” game simulation.

Inspired by the Red Dwarf episode "Back to Reality". (If you haven't watched the show - holy mother of Cloister you are MISSING OUT ON A SMEGGING FABULOUS SHOW! If you're in the US, it is totally worth the $6.99/mo for Britbox. Also, it's got Classic Doctor Who on there, too so, y'know, that's also worth it. Moving on....)

Note: For anyone familiar with the episode - Totes not going to bother with the fascism world because I honestly have no interest in it. But the Red Dwarf simulation game machines? Fucking genius. The tech that ran them? Dude played Wormtail so of my brain ran off in a weird direction after remembering that.

Now on with the idea....

Modern world (like, our world) but a bit more advanced. And no, I haven’t spellchecked any of this garbage.

M-Corp, the leading game developer in the world, has unveiled the next greatest thing! Move over common Virtual Reality/Altered Reality and make room for Fully Simulated Living! Want to be a pirate? You and all your friends can sign up and play the Pirates of the Caribbean Experience! Want to go on an epic quest to stop evil and bring about the dawn of a new age? Well get eight of your best friends together for the fully immersive War of the Ring! Fight monsters, save elven maidens, and build a kingdom! Or be a tiny little thief and a band of dwarves. Whatever your heart desires. Or are you more of a spacefaring espionage kind of guy? Well in that case you'll want to sign up for the Red Dwarf Experience and play as Arnold J. Rimmer (just be careful not to end up playing the prat version all the way through like the beta tester did...)

"You haven't truly lived until you've died! But don't worry, you can always play another game!"

There is one game though.... one game that hasn't left the beta testing. And no one at M-Corp thinks it ever will. It was the first game they tried to make with the new tech, before all the bugs had been worked out and the safeguards had been put into place. They had stopped sending people into the game ten years ago when some of the beta testers hearts just... stopped. Coroners couldn't figure out what happened or why. Aside from mild dehydration the programmers who had volunteered to help test the game they had made just... died. James Potter and Lillian Evans were the last casualties of M-Corp's biggest failure to date... and they couldn't just unplug people either. The last person they did that to... Well... To this day he still believes he's a wizard who rebelled against the Dark Lord, the villain of the game and insists he needs to destroy some enchanted locket. Beta Tester Reginald Blackmoor was never the same after experiencing "The Wizarding World" game.

And so they have to wait for the testers characters to die in the game and hope that whatever had happened to Potter, Evans, and a handful of others, doesn't happen again.

Seventeen years ago a team of hackers made it known that they had a theory, but couldn't test it out unless they were plugged into what the underground and pirating circles called "The Lost Game". A game so deadly it literally killed people who played it. So of course, adrenaline junkie and all around smart ass known only as "Son of Prongs" and his right and left hand, "Bookworm" and "Garbage Disposal" had to do everything they could to get into this impossible game.

It was crazy. It was unethical and honestly not in the company's best interest... but when the offer was made it was M-Corp's desperation that drove them to accept.

It's been 16 years since the three hackers were plugged in immediately following the download of data from one of their hardrives directly into the game. During that time they lost quite a lot of testers, especially in the last three years. The first of the mysterious deaths had been beta tester Cedric Edwards. The next was Bartholemew Tenant. Unlike most of the mysterious deaths, he seemed to have died of absolute fright while in the machine. The deaths afterwards were rather... steady. Then, one day, there was a mass system failure and they lost half the tester and programmer team. Some they were able to pull out before the cascading feedback could turn them to vegitables. As this was happening, many of those unaffected would give pained grunts or twitch in their stations. One young man spontaneously combusted right in his seat. Thankfully they were able to put him out before it spread to others, but the man did not survive.

Of those who had been brought out of the game during the system failure and survive, it was... unsettling to watch them in the recovery rooms. Many kept freaking out and demanding to know "where is my wand!" while others kept shouting at them about being something called a "mudblood" or somesuch.

One man, part of the original team with James Potter and Lillian Evans sat in silence. Periodically he would reach up to his throat and then look at his forearm in disbelief. When he finally did speak, while staring down at a name badge with a picture of himself on it, only 20 or so years younger, his voice was quiet and slightly uncertain. "My name. It is... Steven Prince?" "Yes, Mr. Prince." "And I... have been inside of an illusion-" "A simulation." "A simulation. For twenty years." "Yes." "And all this time, my family did not wonder where I was?" "You signed a NDA and a waiver. M-Corp is not responsible for-" "There is no Dark Lord." "No. There is not. Magic is not real. You cannot break the laws of physics by saying a few words here and there." "What... Lily. Was Lily real? Is she here, too?" "Your fiance.... died, Mr. Prince. Sixteen years ago. We do not know how or why it happened. She and design specialist James Pot-" "I believe I understand, thank you." And he has not said anything since.

It's a full year after the event the survivors of the system failure call "The Battle of Hogwats" before the game is finally, finally shut down and those still plugged in are able to be removed. Most of those removed during the "Battle of Hogwarts" have regained their memories and attempted to assymilate back into the real world. Many still have trouble and some, such as Remmy Wulfric, are in and out of institutions. One man, the lead project developer who had been able to leave the game before most of them, Brian Dumbledore, never recovered and is a permanent resident in the same wing as Reginald Blackmoor. This was after he was found robbing corner stores dressed in outrageous wizard costumes from the halloween stores, and demanding they hand over all the lemon sherberts "for the greater good". It was all over the news. And clips from security cams made it to youtube, where he further made it to fame on "World's Dumbest" styled funny clip shows.

The last three to emerge from the game are "Son of Prongs" "The Bookworm" and "Garbage Disposal". The three of them have no idea where they are or how they got there. According to one of them, he was just about to get married to the love of his life, Ginny Weasley.

And that's when the three of them are handed each a suitcase and the original hard drive with written instructions and are escorted to a recovery facility.

It doesn't help that one of the first people they saw was the Care Tech, Peter Paddington, who went around to make sure everyone's nutrition sacks were refilled and their fluid lines still clear and running correctly. And, when the need arose, dealing with "waste disposal". It wasn't Peter's fault that his best mate James decided to sneak in a cameo into the game for him since his mind couldn't handle the load of the simulation. Otherwise he would have been in there with him and their other best friends.

Anyway, in recovery the three hackers open their suitcases to find clothes and notebooks and a disk each with the words "watch me alone". Once the three of them have gotten their memories back, or rather, convinced others they have gotten their memories back and are released, they follow the directions written in one of their journals in a code that they recognize as having been used during the "horcrux hunt" - which they now know never happened. They find a storage locker and after doing some snooping they learn that it's been paid up every month automatically from a bank account bearing the name "Sybil Trelawney". It was a code name, according to Bookworm's notebook, that they used when talking amongst themselves about their theories about The Lost Game.

They find computers inside, and it's Bookworm who has to operate them because neither Son of Prongs or Garbage Disposal remember how. When she loads the first one from her own suitcase, it's got all three of them in the shot. And they're all in the storage locker. They seem to be having some sort of argument between them. "No, I'm telling you, that game changes people! Look! Reginald Blackmoor came out honestly believing he was some... some wizard named Regulus Black!" "so it made him insane. Honestly Ronny anything that messes with the human psyche and perception-" "Then explain how he managed to kill the pub owner by just pointing a stick at him!" "The pub owner was old and his medical records showed-" "Yeah?! What about the strange deaths, huh?! For fuck's sake, Henry's mom died because of that game! Don't you two want to know how or why?!" "Of course I want to know! The fuckers covered it up and said it was something else but I KNOW it was that stupid game!" "Then what are we waiting for? We've tested the program over and over. We know it works. If we can just get it and ourselves in there-" "We've tested it in a controlled environment, Ronny. That's not the same as uploading our patch to the M-Corp servers. There's every chance that it would be corrupted the moment we're plugged in. We may even lose ourselves like Blackmoor did." "Fuck off, Jane. It's Henry's project, so it's Henry's decision."

The second disk, from apparently Ronny's suitcase is the three of them again. This time laying out the plan. "If we can just get to your mom's fiance... he has an editic memory. We can use that." "The day Steven Prince willingly helps me is the day hell freezes over. He hates me, and you know it." "Why though?" "Fuck if I know." "Maybe he's just pissed that you're proof someone else got to your mom first." "dude." "What? I knew a guy like that. Right bastard he was. Made his girlfriend give her kid to her ex, even though the dude was a fuckin meth dealer." "That's horrible!" "Steve isn't THAT bad. Besides, she didn't even know who my dad was. Do you know how many dudes were at that frat party? Now enough about my dead mom's sex life and back to the plan..."

The last disk, from "Henry's" suitcase is Henry looking frantic and addressing the camera. He looks like he's in the offices of M-Corp. Behind him on cots are Jane/Hermione/Bookworm and Ronny/Ron/Garbage Disposal. Henry/Harry/Son of Prongs keeps running a hand through his hair and green eyes keep darting to a screen off camera. "Something's wrong. We plugged in Trelawney to upload the patch and... it looked normal. But... we're twenty minutes till plug in time and the data's corrupted already. I've tried to edit the code but whatever is in this game is vicious and intelligent. It's got tendrils everywhere. It's rewriting code at a rate I can't keep up with. I'm trying to write up a new function. If it works, then whatever this thing is... we'll be able to trap it on the hardrive, and then destroy it. We promised to anylize the code after we shut down the game from the inside but... that won't be possible without infecting other systems. But... there's more. I hacked into the personel files. I needed to see what... how my mom really died. Nothing. But when I looked through old surveilence footage I found something. Just before she died she was... glowing. Her and that James Potter bloke. So I dug through more files. It's strange. Everyone that died had something weird happen to them or near them just before they kicked it. I can't explain it... Just in case we don't make it, or somehow our minds are lost or, god forbid we end up like that Blackmoor bloke, whatever you do, don't hook that harddrive up to anything. Destroy it. And if possible, destroy the game, too. I think one of the original programmers did this but I can't be sure until we get inside."

Voldemort, it turns out, is a self-replicating virus (hence horcruxes and the problem of never actually being able to get rid of Voldemort completely) created by disgruntled computer programer Thomas Marvin Riddle who was fired from the project by Brian Dumbledore after he threatened to destroy a co-worker's career if she didn't lie and give him credit for her work.

Life goes on. The entire Wizarding World game is covered up and the equipment broken down. But there's a problem still... small groups of former beta testers and programmers who lived through the experience start meeting up in "support groups". None of them can really get over what happened to them. Especially when some of them start noticing they have had strange things happen around them... almost like bouts of accidental magic.

Henry, Jane, and Ronny run a message board under the names Potter, Granger, and Weasley. Their memories of their lives before the game never returned. They destroyed the harddrive without looking at it. Unfortunately for everyone involved, it did change them physically... and made them all real witches and wizards.

And unfortunately.... disgruntled programmer Thomas Marvin Riddle had a pirated game station hidden in the basement of his home and the harddrive wasn't able to catch quite everything linked to the Voldemort Virus...

#Harry Potter AU #Harry Potter #fanfic idea #idea #fanfic