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eclectic-feathers · 3 years

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Hello! Here’s my submission for @50yearsofqueen’s event. Posted nearing midnight for the drama. It’s a Doctor Who crossover that doesn’t really have much to do with the franchise other than in concept. It’s a very complex show, but canon’s already constantly challenged so I might as well challenge it even more. Thanks to my partner @bananavarina who made the art for this chapter and other chapters to come. Special thanks to @anne-white-star for helping me with the concept. Hope y’all enjoy!

———————————————

Humans succumb rather easily to trickery. After all, an unfortunate amount of them lead such jaded lives to the point they gradually lose the ability of thinking outside the box. This particular box is all these humans have ever known, yet, still, it serves as a case study in the development of claustrophobia. It’s stuck moving at a steady pace in a singular direction: forward. No turning back, no jumping ahead. Worst of all, the box never takes you anywhere. You need gasoline for that and gasoline, as you may well know, is expensive.

And if you don’t prefer a cheaper alternative for transportation, you’re either very well off or there’s something terribly wrong with you.

Thus, when presented with a different box, a time-traveling, space-hopping one which happens to accommodate much bigger dimensions on the inside, humans are easily fooled into stepping right in, putting aside all reasonable caution.

It’s for this reason that The Doctor recruits folks aboard his TARDIS with relative ease. It’s an art form he has nearly mastered, effectively trapping starry-eyed wanderers under the guise of adventure into a lifetime’s worth of the terror they least expect upon boarding. This terror had plagued dozens of Earthlings whose narrow understanding of space and time rendered them rather clueless as to how they might defeat it. This entity was, as brave Jamie McCrimmon ever so rudely proclaimed, a threat less comprehensible than Cybermen. This threat was unwanted exposition.

(Which is more commonly referred to as rambling.)

Countless humans have fondly (and exasperatedly, as certified human, Tegan Jovanka may attest) listened to The Doctor ramble for hours on end. It was a familiar dynamic, one The Doctor found comfort in. Perhaps, most of his companions never truly understood what he would be rambling on about, but it was, and still is, part of their exchange. The Doctor finds joy in showing such excitement, such beauty and wonder, to his friends. In return, his friends put the fun in his travels and gawk, accordingly, to all that they witness.

The Doctor always expected his companions to marvel in the sights and let him ramble on and on from topic to topic. What he didn’t expect was for them to stop marveling and start rambling back.

“Your mama loved scarves. They were all she had managed to pack from home when she was taken here.”

Brian slipped on his rubber footwear, his feet secured by tiny pieces of braided cloth cut from a scarf threaded through unevenly punctured holes. Haru had called them flip flops although he wasn’t quite sure whether it was a name he’d invented to cheer him up when he was little (like when he used to call lightbulbs fireflies) or if it happened to be the effect of inherent human silliness, thus making it the correct term.

“This is your papa’s favorite pair of pants. Your mama doodled stars and planets on it for his birthday. He loved them as he loved her...you love them too, don’t you?”

He pulled the pants up and fastened it with a belt. It was rather long and baggy for a ten-year-old. Still, Brian tried to make it work, bunching up the cloth and standing as tall as he could. He wondered if his father was out there, unaware of the existence of a son, finally home among the stars drawn daintily across his trousers.

“We all had to wear long sleeved shirts back in the metropolis. I wore green. He wore white.”

Brian put one on accordingly. The sleeves flopped and swallowed his arms as the shirt engulfed his skinny frame.

“Your mama had sewn him a vest. He wasn’t particularly fond of vests but he was very fond of your mama.”

He put on the black vest

Little Brian stared at the mirror in front of him, unsure what to feel. He felt tears prickling at the corners of his eyes, yet he wasn’t quite sure if it were right to mourn for something he’d never known.

“Bri?”

Brian looked up to find Haru standing at the doorway. His face was blank, yet a storm seemed to brew in his eyes. Perhaps, he was upset that the child he’d loved and raised as if he were his own was wearing the painful reminder of his friends long gone. Or, perhaps, he was disheartened that said child wasn’t satisfied enough with his care to stop yearning for his parents’ presence. Perhaps, he was neither of those. Perhaps, he was angry.

Brian hoped he was angry.

A moment of silence passed between them. Then another. Brian had read about moments like this in fictional Earthling books. He was steeling himself for those angry outbursts he always read about. Haru rarely got upset, yet Ian had never messed up this terribly before. So he braced himself…

Only to be engulfed in a bone crushing hug.

Brian quickly hugged Haru back as the latter trembled. He felt the pitter patter of tears falling on his shoulder and for the first time in his life, he felt the crushing weight of loss.

“You deserve to know your father,” Haru croaked as he regained his composure. Brian merely buried his face in his shoulder as he finally let his own tears flow.

“I already do, Dad.”

—————————-

“Doctor, your library’s collection of medical books is incomplete,” proclaimed Brian, a young man clad in white, signifying his status as an esteemed astronaut of Planet Rhye.

The Doctor gasped theatrically, startling Deacy, a man from 21st century Leicester, younger and less knowledgeable than Brian, yet seemingly much wiser. He’d been tinkering with a malfunctioning lever for about an hour now.

The Doctor merely smiled in apology to which Deacy responded with a fond shake of his head.

“Oh the TARDIS hasn’t been fixed yet?,” Brian inquired as he sank into a lavish red sofa situated in the console room.

“Not to my knowledge, no,” Deacy replied.

The Doctor laughed.

“Cheeky now, aren’t we?”

“Well, I deserve to be cheeky. After all it wasn’t me who busted the wiring in the butterfly room for a photoshoot.”

The Doctor scoffed as Brian let out a snort of his own.

“I’ll have you know, darling, that we’re perfectly safe and untarnished. I managed to avert the crisis by rearranging the wires before anyone could get hurt.”

“Did you, now?,” Deacy asked, his confusion evident.

“Of course I did!”

“Then how come the wires here are all mismatched and tangled up?”

A sudden silence swept across the room.

“Oh! You managed to rearrange them well enough for the TARDIS not to combust but they still weren’t in the correct order because based on the times we were on Itakam and the time we went to Roman occupied Greece, you’re no good at technical repairs,” Brian piped up, rather satisfied with himself. Deacy chuckled as The Doctor gaped at his lack of tact.

“Brian...do tell me about the library,” The Doctor muttered, as Deacy amusedly returned to his work.

“I’ve searched high and low in every single shelf of your library and found references to every single medical lung condition I’ve read of back home. They were all there...except for one.”

“Well, that’s silly, darling! The book dealer had been very sincere. I couldn’t have been tricked!”

“Perhaps, you’d simply been gullible?,” Roger suggested as he entered the room. He was exceptionally beautiful with no trace of wrinkles, pores, or even a philtrum. His skin was smooth as silk save for a pair of gills which rested on either side of his neck. He sat next to Brian and plopped his feet on the former’s lap. It was no secret that this Doctor, unlike the last two of his incarnations, was reserved around strangers. That being said, soaked up every last trace of physical affection from his friends like a sponge. Yet, even he chuckled at the display of such disregard for human manners.

Brian was human. However he’d been raised far from Earth, isolated from society with no one but Dad for company. Etiquette was unimportant in his little world and Dad hadn’t known enough about human custom to teach him anything of substance. Brian hadn’t known touch for years and he embraced, quite literally, its sudden return in the form of team cuddles. It seems rather funny, doesn’t it? That there are things you never realize you lost until you find it and cherish it once more? Ian seemed to believe so.

Roger was a fish.

“That’s impossible, for how all that pretentiousness my sixth face had, he simply wasn’t one to be tricked.”

“I beg to differ,” Roger countered. “I’ve met him. You’re absolutely rubbish at spaceship maintenance, I give you that. But you’re actually quite clever...very creative even. He was witty and creative too, but he wasn’t clever. He was mostly a bumbling fool.”

The Doctor didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted.

“What medical condition were you looking for anyway?,” Deacy inquired as he rolled up the sleeves of his turtleneck and took off his spliced button up.

“Hanahaki disease.”

At this, Roger quickly turned away from Brian, trying to hold in his laughter. The Doctor buried his smiling face in Deacy’s shoulder as the latter forcibly schooled his expression into one of nonchalance. He was well aware that Hanahaki disease was fictional, after all, his girlfriend, Ronnie used to write fiction in her spare time and he’d be the beta reader. He nodded politely, as Brian happily hummed a little tune, oblivious to his friends’ antics.

You know you’ve got a terrible grasp on human custom when even a fish is more culturally aware than you.

“Well, either way,” Brian piped up, still blissfully unaware, “your collection’s incomplete. Maybe we should go look for the missing volume after Deacy repairs the console?”

“I reckon we need another adventure,” Roger agreed as he set his legs on the floor and yanked The Doctor towards the couch. Brian scooted closer, letting his head rest on Roger’s shoulder as The Doctor climbed in and rested his upper body on his companions’ laps.

“I’m afraid we’ll be stranded here for a little while,” Deacy remarked.

“Then what are you waiting for?,” Brian asked as he beckoned Deacy over to the couch. The latter smiled as he joined in what he believed to be the best part of traveling with The Doctor: cuddle piles.

—————————————-

“Are we gonna tell him…?”

“No!”

“How dare you?! I invited you onboard expecting a starry-eyed audience to gawk at everything I do but instead I got someone who seems to know my TARDIS better than me!”

“There’s no point in complaining about free maintenance.”

“You’re one to talk, fishman. There’s no point in bringing you along with me to witness the universe if you’ve already seen it all!”

“Yet you still keep us around.”

“...I suppose I do. Now wipe those smug looks off your faces. We’re going to 2012. Just to appease him.”

#queen #50yearsofqueen #doctor who #roger taylor #brian may #john deacon #Freddie Mercury

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leopardos · 3 years

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a character's disposition.

similar (maybe even a synonymous to) temperament, a disposition refers to the baseline approachability of a character. it is a quick way to reference their most frequent/common affect, which is useful for interactions.

* a reserved disposition refers to a character who is mainly quiet when approached. they lean toward serious, or cold personalities. they don't easily give anything away. they can be friendly, but they usually keep it distant, and likewise their hostility has a distant angle as well. they are simply neutral-minded and hard to crack, and generally not very emotional.

reserved people are typically phlegmatic or melancholic types. some can be choleric.

example: marena is reserved because she is an old goddess. also, as an embodiment of the primordial tenet of death, she is a figure that moves best through silence; charles is reserved because, although he is surprisingly honest about his thoughts and experiences, he is very emotionally distant from everything regarding them.

* a guarded disposition might similar to a reserved one, but there's a key difference: an emphasized distrust overlaid over their interactions. a reserved character keeps to themselves out of general introversion, whereas a guarded character is keeping to themselves as a protective measure, and they can be extroverted or introverted. they are closer their feelings, but they feel a need to control them.

guarded people are most typically melancholic or choleric types.

examples: red is guarded due to experience, he keeps his emotions in check and gives little away because his lifestyle demands a certain degree of paranoia.

* an amiable disposition is best represented by characters who are nice, as a rule, but not necesarily go out of their way to be friendly towards others, either because they're timid/shy or because they don't find it in themselves to be so. so in a way, they're similar to a guarded type, except they're generally more approachable because they want to be. they're quicker to smile, quicker to make jokes, they strive toward harmony, but they won't go out of their way to reach out to you meaningfully, unless they happen to really like you.

they're typically phlegmatic or melancholic types. some of them are sanguine.

examples: 1. for generally benevolent types: flor is nice but shy, so she's generally kind to people, but anxiety often won't let her go farther than that; mikhail comes across as very affable and charming, but also as a quite secretive person; olivia is kind but wraps a certain layer of distance around herself and others; 2. on the other side of the spectrum we've got samuel, who is quite cordial as a rule, but who is not necessarily a good or friendly individual; and renaud, who usually opts to be courteous or nice, but he's also quite evil. 3. for neutral types: janus and joaquín, who are deities and usually have motives that lie beyond the good-evil dichotomy, but that are also generally safe to approach and very pleasant.

* a friendly disposition is that of someone who goes out of his way to connect with others, and it always goes beyond pleantries. they are very generous with their time and usually quite helpful. they love to spend time with others, so they're mostly extroverts, but not strictly. morally speaking, they are almost all benevolent.

they tend to have sanguine or phlegmatic temperaments.

examples: marcelo (specifically, canon marcelo), who is super sweet, and eager to make friends and call people a friend, and who is in turn super loyal to those he loves; abel, who is an angel tasked with helping humanity, and who usually wears his heart on his sleeve; and thor, who is widely regarded as friend and protector of mankind, is quick to be friendly toward humans.

* a sociable disposition might seem the same as a friendly one, at a glance, and while they're linked in sense, it doesn't necesarily mean they are interchangeable. while a friendly type is almost always sociable, a sociable type is not always friendly. they are extroverts, which means they usually lack gripes when it comes to interpersonal exchanges, but they might not even be nice. they can be, but they can just as easily be assholes, and they usually lack a filter keeping them from being so.

they tend to have choleric and sanguine temperaments.

examples: saul pretty much embodies the archetype i'm constructing, since he's a talkative guy but also quick to be mean and boisterous in a way that can be either completely unlikable or really charming, depending on how you see it. ysmael, who is also quite talkative and silver-tongued, but can turn his tone frightening on a dime; and jerome, who will talk to anyone about anyone and is usually quite friendly, but won't easily let you into his inner circle.

* an aggressive disposition should be pretty self-explanatory, all in all, but there's a few specific things that ought to be mentioned. aggression should not always be taken to mean "physical" aggression, though it comes with the package. these types are usually extroverted, and usually bold and very blunt in approach, and so aggressive actually refers to the general way they conduct themselves. and indeed, they're usually not very nice or friendly. even their friendliness comes off very jagged and crass. they might or might not be aggressive in an offensive manner, but they are always so in a defensive manner.

they are almost always choleric in temperament.

examples: fenrir for sure, who normally doesn't attempt to hide his distaste for most other people; ludo, who turns violent on a dime, simply because he felt like it, and has little patience for complex conversations; logan, who is generally scrappy and obnoxious, and quick to turn aggressive if he feels threatened, even if he generally prefers to keep things from going physical.

these archetypes are not strict rules, etched in stone. that's why rather than being neatly differentiated, these archetypes overlap and share things in common. that's because rather than personalities, which are multilayered and complex, a disposition is just that -- what you're most likely to be greeted by when you interact with one person. a baseline. so a guarded type can be friendly, with the right person; and a friendly type can be aggressive, if his personality is conductive towards that, and under the right circumstances.

#u take away a man's internet for a day he comes back with 500 iq level thoughts #explaining something no one asked him to #anyway this is just a way to categorize characters which as a jungian psychology fiend i'm always down for #i also just made it all up #meta.#hc.

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onewingedxngel · 3 years

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Sooooo, pre!, post!, and redeemeed!Seph's reactions once meeting Lucrecia? (On one hand, I feel like she'd be relieved he's alive. But on the other, that would mean her visions were true 😔)

Ello Anon, thanks for this.

May I just start off by saying that I was so pissed off when Vincent told Lucrecia that Sephiroth was dead. I get that it would’ve been painful for her to know the truth, but JESUS CHRIST, JUST TELL HER THE TRUTH!! I mean, she’d be in great pain, but a) I want her reaction, b) she’s part of the reason that he exists in the first place, and c) I feel like, after all the explosion of emotion she’d go through, she’d want to find him, and...

... well, yeah, I’d love to see an interaction between the two. Hopefully the Remake will give us something like that; especially if it wants to tie up all the loose ends.

Pre-Nibel Seph

This will highly depend on context.

I won’t go into what would happen if she raised him alongside Hojo and Gast, since that’s a WHOOOOOLE other question, and trust me, this is already going to be a very long answer.

WELL. If she somehow met him just before the Nibelheim Incident, maybe when he’d entered the Library, hmm... I wouldn’t say he’d be super aggressive, but he’d be angry for sure. This is the moment where he realises his life is a lie, the moment which pushes him to the realisation that he is, ultimately, nothing. Although her presence may decrease the chances of him going on his rampage, they do not entirely negate them either. I must note that I believe that Sephiroth was going to destroy the town, with or without JENOVA’s temporary influence (I refrain from saying it’s a headcanon because I do have evidence to support this idea in an upcoming post).

He’d be angry. He’s ask questions. There’s a chance he may reject her in his anger. But there’s also a chance that she may manage to... well, not calm him, but do enough to prevent the deaths of Nibelheim villagers. Though, well, certain other deaths may still be on the table. His emotions are so powerful, and he knows so little on how to handle them, that this can’t ever really go over very smoothly. Especially when you consider the fact that he was raised a weapon. Hmm... maybe a few tears may or may not be shed if she encouraged him to be more open with his emotions, somehow (difficult but not impossible)

If he’d met her beforehand, he’d obviously be very curious and excited to find out about his mother. But the moment he finds out the truth would be the moment everything falls apart (especially if she keeps it a secret from him). He’d feel so betrayed.

The best way for it to occur would be for her to get him out of Shinra, essentially setting him free from the company, and be honest from the get-go. Again, it wouldn’t be easy, but the betrayal wouldn’t be as bad as the previous scenario, and he wouldn’t be trapped alone in a basement for days on end with thoughts of rage.

Post-Nibel Seph

Death, in 90% of cases I’d say. I mean, Sephiroth is faced with one of the three main players in his creation (other two being Gast and Hojo). However, even if I think he’d most likely kill her... I don’t think she’d go instantaneously, like with President Shinra in the Remake.

The thing is, this is his biological mother. The person from which he was born. The only person in the project who seemed to oppose it because they felt a personal connection to him. He’d want to know more.

Psychological torture is a given, because when hasn’t he done that? He’d venture through every part of her thought process, force her to confront all the guilt, force her back into all the terrible memories. But what would make this interesting is that this would be a very revealing moment for Sephiroth too, because he’d be exploring one of the things that make him so vulnerable: his creation.

One may see more raw emotions from him. While he makes her face the horrors of her past, he’d be forced to face the horrors of his creation. And then, maybe, the questions, memories, and emotions he confronts her with may take a more explicitly personal turn. This is the very thing which pushed Sephiroth to do what he does, after all.

The main reason why I say the death rate isn’t 100% is because Lucrecia is, in my opinion, the only canonical character that would love Sephiroth unconditionally. Even if she’d be completely horrified by his actions, she still wouldn’t stop loving him, and would believe that it’s all her fault (which isn’t entirely incorrect).

I could see Sephiroth getting second thoughts in the deepest depths of his subconsious mind about killing her, but then stuffing them away. He might kill her without remorse, he might kill her precisely because of these uncertain thoughts, or, in the least likely scenario, he may spare her for the time being. He’d certainly deny it, but in at least some situations, her unconditional love may come to emotionally affect him in some manner.

But don’t get me wrong, if I’m incorrect and her love is not unconditional, then he’s definitely going to kill her (I’d elaborate but this has already gone on so long).

Redeemed!Seph

Well, since Redeemed!Sephiroth, you know... actually wants redemption, and as I explained in my post here (which also has a paragraph on Redeemed!Seph’s potential responses to Hojo): he is not inclined to kill. I go into detail about exceptions and special cases there, but in the overwhelming majority of cases, he will do what he can to avoid taking the life of both man and beast (which is easy, since his superior strength means he can take care of conflict without outright killing). This means that, unlike Post-Nibel Seph, he’s not going to approach Lucrecia with plans to kill her.

He’d feel a lot of emotions, all mixing together to the point where he’d be uncertain on how to describe how he feels. He wouldn’t be super warm to her, because even if she feels remorse over what she did, he still came into existence. And, as I’ve said a lot by now (don’t blame me, I love this concept): he would NOT EXIST if it hadn’t been for the experiment. Lucrecia didn’t randomly get pregnant and decide to experiment on her own child, no, as far as I can tell, THIS WAS PLANNED BEFORE CONCEPTION. Even if this was not the case, a Sephiroth without JENOVA cells literally would not be Sephiroth, but rather, a completely different person (I’d explain this more but I want to stay focused on the initial question).

Lucrecia felt bad because it was her child, not because of the ethical implications of creating a sentient being for the sake of exploitation/weaponisation, so I don’t think Seph would be super stoked about that.

Ultimately, though... I dunno, if she had a breakdown, he wouldn’t just leave her in such a state. He’d definitely want to talk to her, ask her questions, and I can’t see him rejecting her or the maternal warmth she throws at him (though he’d be quite awkward about it). But... he’d still very much feel bitterness over the nature of his existence and challenge her over her decisions. Hell, maybe go off to find Hojo alongside her too, for the sake of closure.

Since he’s nomadic, and would still be inclined to continue his travels (kinda relevant to the whole ~redemption~ thing), he wouldn’t stop for too long to spend time with her: but if she wished to join him (and I’m sure she would), he wouldn’t stop her unless he’s doing something particularly dangerous.

#Anonymous #ramblings #ask #//Sephiroth #//Lucrecia #headcanon #I... have created a monster #how tf did this get so long??????#anyway thank you SO MUCH for the question #I loved it #essay #anyhow soz for keeping this in my drafts for approximately 3986326895 years

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arrtemisia · 3 years

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Hey so... If you could redo cannon Makoto what would you do? How would she change? I'm curious cause out of the main cast she was the only one that I just couldn't get a solid interest in (aside from Ann but that's just cause the idea of her being a fashion model confuses me more than anything I think)

God. So much stuff.

There's a couple big things about her that bug me, and none of them really change at all in her canon vs fanon portrayal, which means it's hard for me to enjoy her even in fanworks. In my opinion, I think her biggest flaw is that she's simply miscast, and her character would have worked much better as a confidant instead of a thief, which would've given her a place of her own to shine and avoid the weird dissonance between different aspects of her character (and this was actually their original plan, so Hifumi would have taken her place which. She would've fit in much better imo bc she's actually suffered under another's will like every single one of the others and she's an actual strategist instead of just """smart,""' but that's a topic for another post), but since we're talking about how I'd personally fix Makoto in the role she currently fills, I'm going to list some of the issues I take with her and potential solutions.

First of all, just to get it out of the way, she needs an actual reason to be here. She doesn't have one, full stop.

The big thing tying the thieves together is that they're all victims of abuse and oppression who rebel against their tormentors and want to prevent anyone else from suffering like they did. I'm not saying Makoto has never struggled, because she has, but it's really, really not the same type of struggle.

This leads to weird moments where everything about Makoto's personality and characterization, such as being a stickler for the rules, idolizing the police, etc mean that she has no in-character reason to stick with the thieves after kaneshiro is dealt with and should maybe even be opposing the thieves' way of doing things, but the plot drags her along anyway because the game really wants her to be a party member. And really, what's up with her awakening? She gets threatened once and then bang-boom-kapow she has a persona? It's weak.

Also before anyone says "well all those things about her personality change when she awakens and she sheds her good girl personality and yada yada," no she doesn't, actually, and I'm getting there I promise

The easiest solution here is also the most drastic. Swap when Makoto and Akechi join. This kills two birds with one stone; Makoto gets an actual reason to awaken through Sae, and Akechi's betrayal hits harder because he's pretending to be with you for longer (although admittedly this is much less needed on Akechi's part ever since royal).

Not only does this give Makoto a much stronger reason to awaken and join in the first place (Sae starts twisting into something horrible and Makoto wants to help both stop and save her), but it also gives her an internally consistent reason to stick around. Before, unlike the others (who all at least have "I want to stop others from feeling like I did," or in Futaba's case, "I wanna find the ppl who killed my mom."), once Kaneshiro is done with, Makoto has no real big personal reason to stick around other than "I'm a thief now and the plot says so ig." Now, of COURSE she'd want to go after Shido because he's the one that was manipulating her sister, and after that of COURSE she'd want to help take down mr divine sippy cup in order to get Shido tried and jailed.

However, if we're not going to shuffle around the order of party members bc that'd nuke the canon plot a little, then we need to rework the entire Kaneshiro arc and/or Makoto's backstory and values as a whole. Yeah this is why the first solution was the easy one.

I'm going to go in-depth about how I feel Makoto's personality and values should be reworked later I'M GETTING THERE, so I'll talk about that then. As for reworking Kaneshiro, I... don't have a whole lot of ideas. The palace itself is fine, it has one of the coolest atmospheres in the game (c'mon, there's got to be a fun bank heist in a game like this), but Makoto's connection with him is very weak. Maybe have it be that he was extorting her for years in secret and she never said anything? Maybe have him be the one that ordered the hit on her father? I'm not sure what would be strong enough to match to the other palace leaders, without feeling forced. I'll have to come up with more ideas for this one.

The second big issue I have with her is less of one specific thing and more of a collection of smaller problems that all come from the same source. She waltzes in, takes over, and starts acting like she's the boss of things. She then names herself the "strategist" and yet only ever states the obvious and, to use a word I hate, mansplains things to you that you already learned two palaces ago. She's constantly condescending and passive agressive to the other team members, especially Ann and Ryuji, berates everyone for not being as naturally book smart as her when all the other characters are smart in their own ways and just not good at academia, all the while everyone around her, even characters that normally wouldn't take that (ryuji, ann) or are too prideful to admit to anyone bring better (mona), are constantly like "You're so cool, Makoto!"

It's a classic case of show don't tell, and rhe game is obsessed with telling you that Makoto is "smart" and "cool." Once she joins the team, all the characters that were originally shown to be smart in their own ways are never allowed to say anything meaningful ever again bc Makoto is the "smart" one. She never does anything particularly different compared to the other party members, but the game is constantly insisting she's special.

I'm very hesitant to call her a mary sue, because I don't think she is one, and also I disagree with the use of that term at all as these days it's just meant to devalue powerful characters that happen to be girls, but I definitely think she's emblematic of a common writing flaw that can lead to mary sues. The problem with making a character the "smart" one as a personality trait instead of something that just comes naturally is that you have to dumb down everyone else's characterization to make them look smarter or cooler by comparison. It means that the character you're trying to prop up bends everyone else around them, making them act in ways they normally wouldn't in order to make the one character you're trying to look cool seem better by comparison.

This has an easy solution: cut that shit out. Have her slowly find her place on the team naturally instead of forcing her way in as a pseudo-leader. Don't give every single "well, duh" line to her, and cut the scenes where she stands around explaining obvious things you already know in a condescending manner so she looks smarter. Let the other characters actually act like themselves when they're in the same room as her instead of bending around her to prop her up. Have her treat those characters with respect in turn, bc for all intents and purposes when it comes to thief stuff they are her senpai, instead of just having her act like she's better than them, or boss them around, or be passive agressive about the fact that their grades are bad. Show that other characters are smart in other ways instead of acting like Makoto's book smarts are the end-all be-all. And for fuck's sake, stop acting like "smart" and "punches stuff real good" are personality traits, which leads me into my last big point.

Makoto and Queen don't really feel like the same character. Okay, so to explain this, let's walk through her awakening again.

Makoto is a good girl who's a stickler for the rules, sucks up to authority, idolizes the police, is obsessed with her grades and academic performance, and looks down on others who don't do the same. A couple people call her useless and then she gets threatened by a mob boss, after which she decides to live her life for herself and completely shed her good girl lifestyle and rebel against everyone pressuring her.

That is, except for the teensy tiny detail where she doesn't.

Nothing significant about her personality changes all post her awakening and joining the thieves, aside from the part where she sucks up to authority maybe a little less. She's still uptight, her grades (and the grades of those on her team) are still her top priority, she still idolizes the law and those enforcing it.

Y'see, persona has a bit of a common problem with saying one thing about a character, be it making a reveal or saying they're gonna change in some big way, but not fully committing to it. You can see it most in p4 (party members saying they're gonna quit/stop/do whatever and then backtracking in the last two ranks of their social link), but it's rarely so severe that it completely ruins their personality and character arc as a whole. Makoto, I feel, is the main exception.

The writers want Makoto to become this tough, rebellious biker queen who oozes badassery in every move and will never follow anyone's wishes for her ever again, but they also want to keep her old personality of the uptight naive rule-following law-abiding academic. So, instead of altering one to better fit the other, they try to do both... badly.

Instead of integrating the two parts of her personality, it just feels like she swaps between them whenever the plot calls for it which is really, really jarring. She'll be stuttering about following the rules and getting to know her generation one second, and then the next she'll be yelling about mowing down shadows with her motorcyle the next. It feels like Queen and Makoto are two separate uninteresting half-characters, with only a couple personality traits each, instead of one whole well-rounded character.

Either rework Makoto's thief aesthetic to better suit her personality as a whole and give her something other than "I'm totally not a good girl anymore" to make her compelling, or actually commit to Makoto shedding her past life everyone around her had forced on her and change her personality. Have her grades start to slip, have her talk back to Sae, change the way she dresses so it's rougher and less perfect, hell, maybe even have her quit student council. Just, anything to make her more well-rounded as a character.

I have some other nitpicks with her here and there, like the fact that her confidant is actually just Eiko's confidant and doesn't give Makoto herself any development, or the way the game keeps trying to set her up as Joker's waifu or whatever, but those are just that; nitpicks. The three big things I mentioned earlier - her not having a compelling personal reason to be a part of the thieves, the way the writers shove her into the spotlight by putting down everyone around her, and the fact that her characterization is just one badass half and one smart half that don't mesh and have little else in between - are the problems I feel are what's actually holding her character back.

Again, I do think that all of this stems from the fact that she's miscast, but it's too late to fix that now. While I personally really dislike Makoto, I do kind of understand her appeal for others when she's written well, and she's a totally valid character to like. I just wish she was portrayed better.

(Also, if anyone wants to reblog this, feel free I ask that you please don't put this in Makoto's main character tag. I know how much it sucks to get a bunch of negativity in a character's main tags as I am an Edelgard fe3h fan)

#mod answers stuff #long post #really really long post #defiant-firefly #yeah so i know u were probably wanting just. a quick sum up #but i might have just. written an essay. whoops #sorry lol #there's just so much abt her that drives me up the wall

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luasworkshop · 3 years

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Magical Skills: Prior to their death, Lua had a certain amount of… overconfidence. Everything they did came easily, and if it didn’t – they didn’t spend time on it. This meant that while they were (and are) quite gifted in many arenas, they didn’t necessarily hone their skills into something masterful. Death, both tempering their courage and heightening their focus, seems to have caused them to settle more on what they are best at. Lua excels primarily at two things – shape-shifting themselves (a skill they have had throughout their life), and imbuing mechanical objects with spells and other cleverness (something they have been interested in a long time, but that they are more recent at trying to perfect). They also have a natural affinity for the ocean. In contrast to canon, even before they have their memory back, Lua does not refer to themselves as Asra’s apprentice (their memory may be dodgy but it’s still a weird power imbalance. Aleis is the same.)

Shape-Shifting: After their skills fully return and develop following their reincarnation (sometime after the main events of the story), Lua is able to take on the shape of just about anything. They are capable of taking on any animal form, appear as other individuals, make themselves appear as inanimate objects, and so on. In the form of animals, they have all of their natural skills and abilities – flight, speed, gills, etc. and are able to use them to their full extent. The upper and lower limits of their size seemed to be determined by life living on the planet (as their upper limit seems to be about that of a blue whale, and lower limit being about a bacteria). In order to facilitate this change, their mass is either borrowed or lent to some arcane realm, specifically designed for this physical change. Lua finds shape-shifting innate and easy, so the exact mechanisms of this are not totally clear, but they are always attempting to better understand them. It does seem that changes in excess of approximately 200lbs are quite taxing physically and magically (and can only be maintained a short while – and usually require significant time to recover from). Unlike Aelis, they are unable to split their consciousness into multiple forms or become semi or fully incorporeal. They also tend to fully shift into things (even if it’s something fantastic) rather than just giving themselves piecemeal aspects (although they can, they find it easier to just go all-out – there are some exceptions to this). Lua also uses their shape shifting to better understand various animals, their biology, environment, and how the world around them works. Despite Lua’s overthinking (perhaps because of that awareness) they always have a clear sense of their own self which assures they are not lost in shape-shifting. They are able to return to their comfortable human form no matter what shape they take, as they are confident in their own body in this regard.

Other Shape-Shifting Ephemera:

- Lua’s shifts are very quick, generally less than a second. There’s body horror and uncanny valley stuff in there but it’s usually too quick for the human eye to catch. Usually. Lua can deliberately slow the process if desired but it may prove uncomfortable.

- Allowing themselves to breathe underwater is so innate to them they don’t even slightly think about it anymore.

- They use shape shifting to keep from getting drunk if they don’t want to (this requires conscious effort and they don’t always do it in a timely manner). They can use it to other metabolic effect as well.

- They can embrace the abilities and instincts of other creatures without loosing their own mind. (This would be much harder if not.)

- They don’t necessarily tend to have a ‘set’ form of any given animal – they can be whatever they’d like. They tend to be a specific species example when animal shaped (being, for example, Epicrates cenchria the ‘rainbow boa’ rather than just ‘a snake’ or ‘a boa’), and if they’re not feeling obtuse or deliberately trying to blend in they’ll be a color morph that feels recognizable as them (earthy toned or blue-black furred with some white flecks, medium/large sized, somewhat lank, gold eyes, etc.)

- They have a rather encyclopedic knowledge of animals, furthered by curiosity, travel, and study.

- They are not particularly able to use shape-shifing to heal themselves – they can use it to prevent injury in the first place if they can catch or react to something in the first place (shifting around blunt force or strengthening the area where the blow might be) – but the amount of energy needed to use this ability to rapidly heal makes it a moot point. Wounds shift with shifting, scaling appropriately. More injury makes it harder to shift (owing to pain and exhaustion).

- Getting sick is similar – if they catch a cold early enough they might be able to forestall it by running it through a different immune system, but if they’re in the midst of the flu they can’t really shift much anyway, it’s too taxing and hard with a gooey head.

- They generally can’t take their clothes with them, needing to remove them so they’re not damaged if they’re going to get a lot larger. (There’s an internal pocket based workaround but they can do but don’t like to use it as it’s distracting). There’s probably a way to shunt clothes off to another arcane realm and summon them back in a tidy fashion but they’ve not yet figured that out.

- They can mimic clothes and other trappings with their own body but it takes focus. It also leaves them vulnerable to cold and sun. This is great for espionage, party tricks, and not much else.

- They tend to keep their earrings in in casual situations if it works with the form (short of it being too small it usually does).

- They don’t shape-shift in their sleep, which would be on par with very dramatic cases of somnambulism. They might have little rivulets of color, fur, feathers, scales, etc. move across parts of their skin now and again if they’re having a really dramatically weird dream (much more akin to sleep-talking).

- Their shape-shifting is kindof ‘sticky’, if they fall asleep as something they’ll tend to stay that way until they wake up and consciously change back (although another magician could force them out of it, depending on the situation).

As mentioned – their mass relates to an arcane/magical relationship. This is the same for their ‘library’ of forms. Lua is well traveled and very knowledgeable, but they are still able to shape shift into animals (and other things) they are not immediately familiar with (with enough description or information) by accessing through an internal, magical connection, an inter-dimensional arcane library of information. This is, again, not well understood and comes naturally to them – but relates to how they (and Aleis, and other shifters) are able to take on various forms without breaking themselves or reality. This is not a ‘curated’ or human-created thing – more of a 4th dimensional log of information that is accessed through magical means at blisteringly fast speed. Lua’s ability to access and reference this information is so internalized they themselves would not be able to explain it well (it would likely take some magical scholar who understands very high end physics).

Artifacts: Lua has a mind for clockwork and other mechanical contrivances and skill at imbuing these with spells and other magical effects. The work they produce stands on its own as fully functioning once it’s complete, and has fascinating abilities because of it’s magical nature. If one were to consider Lua in the modern era – they would be respected as some sort of robotics engineer. As it is, they create work which tends to be beautiful, esoteric, and serve some sort of strange function. Lua’s primary income stream is from private commissions on this work – it is complex and time consuming to produce and their rates are high (Nadia is a repeat customer these days). The practical work they produce include things like astrolabes that can project an entire moving star map, lockpicks that reveal what is happening inside the lock, automota which can serve as two-way communication devices, and so on. The more artistic work they produce can be more delightfully frivolous – a hand organ that that plays in colors, jewelry that can turn into a little creature and run around, music boxes that change their melody based on mood, and on. Combining their skills with their spouse’s skills with miniatures has made for some decidedly fascinating and weird results. Because of all of this – Lua is an impeccable draftsman, and is generally seen with a shoulder bag full of drawings and drawing equipment (they do not usually bring their pieces to work on when traveling/visiting unless they know they will have a works space where they set things up and leave them undisturbed, however they will gladly plan out future projects and refine ideas wherever they can set down a piece of paper – and draw silly or entertaining things at times).

Lua is also adept at repairing non-magical clocks, music boxes, and other automata only using magic as a means to assist (rather than permanently repair) the object (such as magnification, steadying their hand, creating light, etc.) They tend to take on fewer of these projects as they prefer to imbue or work with items which are magical in nature. They are not an all-purpose expert (as some automata, even non-magical, are incredibly involved), but they can certainly get a pocket watch going again with no trouble.

Their work never really mimics modern technology – these are esoteric, magical items, not ‘fantasy cell phones.’ They do sometimes demonstrate what may seem like anachronisms (precise knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, physics, etc.) but these are things based on Lua’s studies, travels, and personal experience and a dash of magic.

Combat Magic: Weapon-wise, when pushed, Lua favors what is functionally a compound bow, which is more sympathetic to their magic than a recurve, when dealing with long-distance armed combat or hunting. (This is highly anachronistic but so is the piano that Nadia plays.) Lua is not adept at hand-to-hand combat (they are not particularly trained at this apart from very basic blocks and holds from Aelis) and they prefer to use their shape-shifting to fight. They are incredibly clever and dangerous when it comes to fighting this way, able to shift quickly, and utilize the abilities of various creatures to their advantage (speed, strength, armor, venom, etc). A shape-shifter battle is very exciting to watch. They have a similar approach to hunting, as for them much easier to be a predatory fish or bird than hook up a line and reel (though they don’t care to eat their catch raw unless it is particularly delicious to the human palate).

Divination: Lua is passable at divination, but doesn't generally like to do it. They rather fundamentally object to asking others what is ahead of them (as they prefer to take charge of themselves), and when it comes to reading for others their heart generally isn’t in it. They don’t object to the arcana themselves – they find them fascinating and an incredible resource, but so far as Lua is concerned they have better things to do with their time than deal with fussy mortals. Aleis and Lua have turned to it as an income stream in tough times, but it only has made Lua more resentful of it – that’s Asra’s business (they don’t really mind him doing it, he has a much better personality for it, both for chatting with the arcana and for dealing with customers). Aleis excels more at the ‘headology’ part of divination – giving people what they want to hear to feel better than Lua does, but Lua isn’t bad at it when pushed. Lua prefers wood/bone burning rather than tarot reading.

Other Magic: Lua and Aleis are still powerful magical generalists, and while mastery takes time and effort, basic functions tend to come easily. Still, magic that is sympathetic to their personality is the easiest to work with, and Lua tends to take to conjuration, summoning, and other ‘creation’ magic (whether it’s elemental lore, otherworldly entities, or simply starting a fire). If there are written instructions or known spells Lua can usually parse through them pretty quickly for at least passable results (not masterful or clever or elegant ones mind you – just workable). Antithetical to Lua’s nature is magic that involves control of other people - illusions, manipulation, teleportation, and similar effects are very difficult for them to get their head around. The same goes for magic meant to control or manipulate natural phenomena. This is why it takes Aleis’ help for them to help shape-shift other people. Fortunately Aleis and Lua’s magic compliments each other nicely, and where Lua struggles Aleis thrives and vice versa. Together their magic is incredibly strong and they are used to letting the flow of raw magic power go between each other to compliment their work.

Familiar: Lua is extremely obtuse when the matter is mentioned. Most people are not sure if they do or do not have one (in fact Julian and Lucio have an ongoing game of trying to figure out what it might be and bringing various animals to Lua to see if they ‘stick’ or ‘click’. Fortunately Lua likes animals. When it doesn’t work they get them off to wherever they belong – the sanctuary, a farm, back home, etc).

Retreat: Like Asra and Aleis, Lua has their own retreat. Their cozy log cabin is on a rather lush, generally uninhabited, crescent-shaped island off the cost of a northern rain forest, full of tall pine trees, sandy beaches, rocky outcroppings, and dramatic winter storms. They built this prior to their death, and have been happy to return to it – giving them peace away from other people (although they occasionally bring friends with them, the rule for all the magician’s retreats is that unless you are invited you should not show up unexpectedly). With a small footprint, their cabin is the only indication of habitation on the island. It has enough room for a bed, work table, fireplace, small kitchen, and a detached Japanese-style bath Lua has set up with magically running hot water. While there is suitable game on the island (and certainly a bounty in the sea) Lua generally prefers to stock up their larder with groceries whenever they visit.

Gate: Lua and Aleis share their magical gate. It is a beautiful but lonely, rocky island in a storm-tossed sea. It’s high basalt cliffs protect an inner forest sanctuary, who’s lakes and streams, bubbling up from deep underground, flow out through underground caverns and give secret access to and from the sea. There are creatures in the woods, some familiar and many not, they watch strangers with attentive glowing eyes. Despite the apparently small size of the island, it seems as though the woods go on without limit, unless they want to allow you to access the steep rock and precarious climbs of the protective rocky coast, or onward to wherever it is you are going.

#Lua #Lua the Shifter #Character Bio #Lua Bio #The Arcana #The Arcana Game #MC #OC #Magician #My Writing

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gascon-en-exil · 4 years

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I'm genuinely curious about your "Black Eagles most to least favourite" list.

Here you are.

#1: Hubert

Could there be any other? I remember back when there was a promo introducing the house retainers (well, Lorenz for the Deer) and everyone was saying that Hubert looked so obviously evil that there had to be some deeper explanation, that someone who took design cues from a two-dimensional villain like Fates’s Iago couldn’t possibly be Edelgard’s retainer. Then the game came out, and we all realized that Hubert was exactly as advertised and then some: a cold and calculating murderer and war criminal with his fingerprints all over almost every terrible thing that happens over the course of the story, as comfortable with chloroform and a razor as dark magic and down to perform unspeakable experiments on innocent civilians to turn them into war machines and then backstab his co-conspirators because he will suffer no rivals for his title of the Most Evil Man in Fòdlan. And yep, he looks like Dracula and Severus Snape had a one-night stand and their mpreg love child went to an anime convention...but when Ferdinand looks at Hubert he sees Mr. Darcy and the Phantom of the Opera and Edward Cullen/Christian Grey, and soon enough that snake in Hubert’s breeches will be singing quite the aria indeed. You do you, Ferdinand.

Ok, I’ve already rambled at length on Hubert’s bisexuality and the interesting things it reveals about both him and his two primary love interests, but I do also have to admire the sheer audacity both of Hubert as an incel/Nice Guy-flavored romantic false lead for Edelgard who never had a serious chance because of the self-insert fantasy and of the decision to follow that up with a trope-laden queer romance that perfectly counterbalances Hubert’s attraction to Edelgard and puts Ferdinand firmly in the place he was destined to occupy by choosing to side with the Empire. It’s nearly as outrageous as just how casually evil Hubert gets to be, as well as the immense potential for dark humor that lies with that. You have to bend over backwards to say that Hubert isn’t unapologetically, irredeemably evil, and if you try there will be significantly more fans just waiting to tell you that you’re wrong - myself included. He’s the Manfroy to Edelgard’s Arvis but so much than that, and I look forward to the point in the CF postgame where he effectively takes over the Empire in true evil chancellor fashion and unleashes the full extent of his horrors upon Fòdlan. He somehow got even better in the DLC too despite being absent from CS and getting no new supports, because the Abyssians in CF just can’t stop talking about his nefarious antics down there. I just can’t get enough of how good this guy is at being bad, and I love that FE gave us exactly what was advertised here.

#2: Ferdinand

Now here’s a case of the opposite, where what’s on the packaging didn’t prepare me for what was to come. If I remarked on Ferdinand at all during pre-release it was only to think that he might be part of a Christmas knight duo with Sylvain since the game looked like it wouldn’t have one of those. Early on there wasn’t much else to be said about Ferdinand; he was like Claude in that his popularity ran off a meme (except just the one rather than several), and in appearance and personality he was basically Lorenz with less ridiculous hair. But then came his supports, and his post-timeskip look, and suddenly Ferdinand blossomed into the subtext-laden fem with very bizarre taste in men - see above - that he could have only dreamed of being if he’d stuck to such well-trod ground as the Christmas knight archetype. We learn of his love for opera, his complicated relationship with his father, his worship of the hot mess diva Manuela and how he learned swordplay specifically to imitate her roles on the stage, and - yes - how some backhanded compliments and expensive gifts of tea turn him into a blushing Regency heroine. It all casts his unusually rote romances with women in a performative light (as opposed to Lorenz who is similarly performative but seems genuinely interested in the marriage market), to say nothing of his one-sided rivalry with Edelgard that brushes against jealousy over Hubert’s devotion to her more often than against romantic attraction to her, and that toys around with gendered behavior in a manner complementary to Edelgard’s own bucking of the gender status quo.

And while not to the same extent as Felix, I do appreciate that Ferdinand has two distinct arcs depending on the route - and unlike some who feel that one or the other detracts from his character as a whole I personally find that they complement each other well. In SS and if recruited to AM and VW he makes the hard choice to oppose his homeland, spending the timeskip waging a solitary battle against the Empire with his private militia and then joining back up with Byleth’s army at Garreg Mach because he knows Edelgard is in the wrong even as it pains him to depose the Adrestian emperor and leave his own status uncertain...not to mention fight Hubert, which merits a curious boss conversation as well as some extra lines in SS (plus the infamous Huge Hole™ remark that I will never stop referencing because it is hilarious) that, while not elevating Ferdibert anywhere near the level of Dimidue in terms of cross-route canon endorsement, nonetheless are suggestive of something deeper between them that exists even if they find themselves on opposite sides of a war. In CF by contrast Ferdinand gives into his craving for the title and holdings that Edelgard has just stripped from his father and embraces nationalism and his long-held ideal of what the office of the prime minister should to do as a means of justifying the Empire’s conquests. Of course in the process he also succumbs to Hubert’s, er, charms(?) and becomes the charismatic bureaucrat who is presumably saddled with the task of putting a positive spin on the Empire’s dystopian atrocities while Edelgard and Hubert do all the actual work...and Hubert does all the actual actual work, which includes a lot of murder and kidnapping and all manner of other things that he doesn’t share with his pretty lover and about which Ferdinand quickly learns not to ask. Two Jewels of the Empire, indeed.

#3-4: Edelgard and Dorothea

I go back and forth on these so I’m not going to bother putting them in a definitive order, particularly because I like them for very different reasons that are difficult to compare. For Edelgard, it would be most accurate to say that I enjoy her potential much more than her execution; she gets some meaty material to work with as a lord and as the driving antagonist of the whole game outside of CF, and while I still prefer Micaiah for female lords there’s something darkly satisfying about her need for control and domination and her utter refusal to compromise or remain stagnant...except where Byleth is concerned, and Edeleth drags her down so badly that it would be painful if I cared more about that type of strong female character. Had the game axed the self-insert obsession (even if that meant axing her bisexuality along with it) and focused on her experiences during the Insurrection as the source of her worldview and motivations I’d be inclined to like the final product far more, because that’s a hell of a lot more in line with what she actually does and conveniently also maps to the life of a real world ruler with whom I’m relatively familiar and whom history regards in appropriately ambivalent terms.

Dorothea on the other hand is someone I can relate to on a more personal level, mostly as a sex worker. She’s similar to Primrose from Octopath Traveler, both of them prostitutes and playing coy with the implications of the RPG dancer class archetype, although Primrose hits a few more of my buttons for being former nobility and being motivated by revenge. Then again, I fully understand Dorothea’s anxieties about growing old without a man to take care of her, even if she loses me (and Yuri picks up from where she leaves off) when she dips into lesbianism as an alternative option. She’s got her ups and downs for me - I love that she brings up incest kink with Caspar as opposed to this series’s usual outright incest, while I love less her strange Ferdinand supports that are suspended oddly between friendship and romance and...something else undefinable - and I don’t have much to say on her life as an opera diva except that it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that she’s been turning tricks on the side and even got a sugar daddy to pay her way into the academy. Theatre and sex work have always gone hand-in-hand like that.

#5-7: Linhardt, Caspar, and Petra

This is why I couldn’t make up a list like this for the Lions or Deer, because most of their students would be in big clumps like this. I have no strong opinions on any of these characters; they each have their moments, but not enough to elevate them to where I actively like them or drop them down into real dislike. I suppose you could say I’m disappointed by how Caspar and Linhardt are visual allusions to Ike/Soren who do absolutely nothing else with that similarity except eloping in their paired ending...which is preceded by virtually nothing in the way of real chemistry. If I enjoy them for anything in particular it’s Linhardt’s wit and Caspar’s occasional bouts of emotional vulnerability, like his mini-arc in AM where he has to deal with his feelings surrounding Randolph’s death and then later gets an apology from Dimitri for it.

Petra is awkward all around as the game dances around her delicate political situation, and I also happen to agree with the VA who (if I recall) thought the character should have some sort of accent but wasn’t allowed to do one. (If anyone is wondering, based on her last name and Brigid being an island nation I headcanon it as a Celtic-derived culture, but as with my personal reading of Dedue and Duscur I know that doesn’t play well to the fandom at large). All in all Petra feels like a more self-aware rendition of the exotic swordswoman archetype begun by Ayra in Jugdral, but there’s clearly still some work to be done on that front.

#8: Bernadetta

Ugh. With apologies to @capriciouscorvid for explaining how even unintentional disability representation can be taken as a positive, I just don’t see how Bernadetta’s character could possibly be considered a good thing when she’s so grating in almost all of her supports and most of her story and exploration presence outside of CF. All the screaming and high-pitched pronouncements of impending death get very old very quickly, and the part where she’s meant to be romantically appealing in her neediness and isolation is as lost on me as it would have been had it stemmed instead from a massive rack. Her supposedly sympathetic backstory doesn’t help much either, as it leaves me mostly with the thought that her father is an idiot because his methods obviously did not make her suitable to be a good wife. I also don’t care for how she’s one of several characters used to soften Jeritza (and that the way she does so is I think rather insulting to people with social anxiety, to liken it to a compulsion to commit murder), or even worse that people point to her Hubert support to try and say that he’s not such a bad guy and they’d be total besties just like Ferdinand and Dorothea (another pairing that doesn’t exactly scream BFFs). I mean, really....

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses #Black Eagles

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amadgirltm · 4 years

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V.8: Tangled Verses

V.8A ( collecting stars and dreams );

Pre-Queen for a Day

Lady Allison Jones. It’s a name that not many people would think twice about. Which was exactly the point of her name. The name ‘Jones’ has been passed through her family for generations, as well as her status as a Lady. After all, who would think someone named ‘Jones’ was actually a descendant of Lord Demanitus?

Scrolls and notebooks all written in code, passed down through her father’s line until they eventually ended up in her arms. Alice has been given a rather important task: mean nothing to the world, be polite, give no one reason to look at her strangely.

For someone else? That might be easy. For Alice? It’s a bit harder. After all, she fell through, what she thought was a rabbit hole, and spent a bit too long in a strange place of nonsense, where she happened to met a woman with seemingly intense powers. While Alice was too young to truly understand it all, and while it’s a bit hard for her to remember it all, you can often find her still talking about ‘wonderland’, the ‘queen’ who wanted nothing more but to ‘cut off her head’, and she always says to never trust a Cheshire grin. Strange, isn’t it?

V.8B ( shine brighter than the sun );

Stardrop Verse

Here’s the Link to the OG post! Nothing has really changed except that Alice’s family history now follows 8A.

V.8C ( woke up into a nightmare );

Post Canon-Adult

Follows Verse 8A, unless tagged with 8B. Alice is now an adult, and yet it feels like nothing has changed. She’s still struggling with her home life, and her mother is still as terrible as always. While Alice is being perused by a young man named Daniel (whom she despises), Alice is preparing for her own final test to prove she herself is worth being a guard.

V.8D ( they’ll pay if it happens again );

Saporia’s Role

Everything happens the same until Queen for a Day: Varian ends up trying to get Rapunzel’s help with the Amber, however, She doesn’t help him (Just as in canon). He goes back & Ends up trying to free his dad himself but instead gets himself trapped in the Amber. Cue Alice finding him, and trying to get Rapunzel to help, again She doesn’t. She has to put the whole of the kingdom first. Alice does not fight Rapunzel, instead, she starts planning things, and then Rapunzel leaves on her journey to find her Destiny. Alice spends this time working, and studying up on Alchemy, and trying to figure out what exactly Varian used.

Alice ends up in jail a few months later due to stealing stuff from the castle, more specifically she finds her way in and steals the flower. She ends up in the same cell as Andrew. She’s already figuring out how to escape, but they end up talking. He offers his assistance in freeing Varian and Quirin since none of her attempts have worked, He also promises a chance to get back at Rapunzel & co. Alice accepts, saying that she’s in charge though. And Proves her point by using her vorpal blade to get them out of their prison cell. (It’s magical, of course she still has it).

They end up taking over the kingdom, Alice leading and planning things out the whole time. Unlike Varian, Alice actually is in charge due to her sword, her skills, and her lack of obvious remorse over hurting people.

>Verse will change depending on if Rapunzel returns, and if Rapunzel is willing to help Alice >Possible variant of verse: Rapunzel frees Varian and his father before stopping the Saporians, meaning that Alice is still in charge of the kingdom >Can take place during any point within this timeline

V.8E ( pull your knife out of my back );

Season Two / Early Season three

Alice had been turned away from the guards every time she attempted to see Varian, leaving her feeling lost and a bit hurt. However, she didn’t give up on him. Not until he was suddenly taking over the kingdom, and working with the Saporians. Alice attempted to talk to him, only to be taken away by a few saporians (ordered by Andrew) to the mines, where she was forced to work for three days without breaks or food. (Varian did not know about this).

After the first episode of season three, Alice no longer trusts Varian, and believes it was him who forced her out of his life, and believes that he betrayed HER trust. She is very upset, and is not willing to talk things out, she’s angry, and depressed and feels alone. She’s not willing to trust ANYONE again (besides Feldspar). However, she still believes there’s good in him, and wishes she could trust him again. It will not take much to befriend her again, but a sincere apology and perhaps a bit of bribery by sweet treats may sway her back to his side. (How can she ever deny being such a sweet boy’s friend?)

V.8F ( i will guard you with my life );

Adopted Verse

Rumors circulated Old Corona, that Helen Kingsleigh was hurting her daughter. Quirin, being in charge, ended up looking into the manner, and found the rumors to be true, although he couldn’t prove it. The daughter was easily given up, with Helen claiming she couldn’t take care of all three children. Taking the young girl home, he found himself unsure what to do. He already a three year old son, and had recently lost his wife- he couldn’t take care of another child. He called upon the Captain of the Guard, who came and met the four year old Alice, deciding to take her in himself.

Alice grew up alongside Cassandra ( @moonstonetm ), whom she looked up and admired greatly. However, Alice also finds herself constantly comparing herself to her sister, and finds herself increasingly jealous of Cass. Her love for her sister is never a question, but she tends to act out in order to try and get attention in any way she can from her sister (typically at Cass’ expense). These dark feelings have come from the voice in her head has been telling her to not trust her for a VERY long time. While Alice tries to ignore the voice, it constantly seems to want her to distrust her sister. These has caused a small rift in their relationship, which might only get worse with time.

In this AU, Alice is being trained to be a guard as well, and while she is excellent, and even exceeding, at swordsmanship, she does not have the temperament or attention span to be a guard. However, Alice is still often assigned duties and jobs just as Cassandra is. She is never given an official position, instead she often sneaks out of the castle grounds and into the town, and even to Old Corona sometimes (often getting both her and Cassandra in trouble).

V.8G ( there’s hell to pay );

Role Reversal

Alice is a brilliant young inventor and alchemist, living with her father in Old Corona. Her favorite pastime is decoding the notebooks and scrolls kept in the safe in their basement, and she adores attempting to rebuild the blueprints she finds. Sure, her father tells her it’s best to not do so, but he also can’t stop her from engaging in such an old family pastime.

She’s not the only alchemist or inventor either! Nearby, lives the genius Varian, whom she often shares ideas and supplies with. Together, they’ve earned quite the reputation, labeled as a wizard and witch, who deal with dangerous and rare magic. However, they often work at Alice’s house more than his, due to her father being much more accepting of their unique hobby. While Varian often overlooks things, Alice tends to be much more particular in what they do, and will often stop Varian before his projects get out of hand. Together, they’re a real force to be reckoned with.

Then, Rapunzel showed up on their doorstep, asking for answers for her hair. Unlike in the series, it wasn’t one of Varian’s projects that caused them to receive no answers: no, it was a miscalculation, that neither caught, that ended up labeling her hair as a rock instead. Varian also has no need during the expo to look for a partner, as he already as has Alice willing to work with him.

However, the events of Queen for a Day play out VERY Differently, as Varian and Alice are both working diligently on trying to fix the rock issue. and Alice’s father comes to check on them, letting them explain what they were doing, before testing a new serum. As far as they know, it doesn’t do anything, and Alice’s father sends Varian home, also Sending Alice upstairs to eat something. This is when the Amber encased him.

Alice proceeds down Varian’s route within the show, slowly descending into her own madness and using manipulation, alchemy, Dinah, and her inventions to fight and try to find a way to free her father. Unlike Varian, Alice also uses her skills in both alchemy and magic to run away at the end, and get away from the Corona guard before she can be arrested. She’s currently holed up in Demanitus’ tomb, sifting through his blueprints and notes.

Whether or not Varian helps her, decides to leave her, or fight against her is up to who ever interacts with this verse

V.8H ( practically perfectly replaceable );

Rapunzel Replacement

Helen never wanted the blonde girl, and it didn’t take much to convince the local ‘mayor’ of sorts to take her. After all, a baby is so much work, and what use for it does she have?

That’s how Quirin ended up swaddling the baby, only a few days old, in the Throne room of the Corona Castle. Unsure what to do with the child, given that he had his own to take care of. The King and Queen took one look at the child, and felt their hearts stop. She looked so similar to the lost princess, until she opened her eyes, and bright blue stared at them instead of green. Sure, she was a few years too young, but she was still, practically perfect. Like a gift sent to them from the heavens.

The kingdom was growing worse every day, yes they prospered, but without the princess, and without security of knowing what would happen if something happened to the king and queen? Well, things were tense to say the least.

So, they decided to take the young blonde, Alice, they were told her name was. But that would be the most well kept secret King Fredrick had, along with who she really was. After all, the next day, it was announced that the Lost Princess had been found, by Quirin, along with the witch who had stolen her, and had kept her young. They displayed the long blonde locks, and the small baby that looked just like she had when she had been stolen. The Kingdom rejoiced. Finally, Rapunzel was home.

Growing up in the castle, trained in protocol, and royal duties, Rapunzel was practically a perfect princess. The only thing was that she always kept her eyes down, and out of sight at all times.

Plus there was the growing issue of that VOICE in her head.

Imagine EVERYONE’S surprise when Flynn Rider shows up with a woman named Rapunzel, with short brown hair and green eyes, whom he claims is the real princess. And the younger, fake Princess Rapunzel’s whole world is twisted, and suddenly she’s now the lost princess, just metaphorically.

V.8I ( Swear to the Moon );

Brotherhood Adopted

Alice was born, and instantly forgotten. She was found as a child by Hector. She was trained by him to be a warrior, a fighter, a killer. At age ten she was sworn into the brotherhood, pledging herself and her life to the moonstone, and to the dark kingdom.

Hector, having to stay to protect the Great tree, has given Alice the task of locating any other members of the dark kingdom. Not to make them return, but to be sure that they’re alive.

Alice has no knowledge of Corona, nor the people within it. She has no prior emotions for anyone. And is likely to treat others with hostility, and violence, have a lack of manners, as well as speak in a bit of strange ways. She also has a pet Bearcat, whom she rides, and who she calls “Teddy.” Her family history has no place within her, except for the ever growing threat of the voice in her head.

V.8J ( WAKE UP ALICE );

Nightmare Trapped

Alice wakes up being told that it is her Wedding day. When she looks in the mirror, it not her sixteen year old face that looks back at her, instead it’s some woman. One that she wouldn’t recognize without that typical blue ribbon in her hair.

No one in Corona sees anything wrong with this, In fact, everyone is acting as if the missing four years had happened. Apparently, somewhere down the line Rapunzel and Cassandra had made up? Alice had gotten engaged? Eugene was prince now? Alice didn’t live with her mother.

Honestly, it didn’t sound TOO bad. Actually, it was a dream come true. Which was Alice’s issue with everything. No one just FORGETS four years of their life, and when Alice shows up on time somewhere?

Well, she realizes, it’s time to wake up. And to figure out who-or WHAT- is trying to keep her here.

Who ever wants to interact with this verse can either:

A.) also be ‘awake’ and be aware that something is wrong

B.) try to convince Alice that everything is fine and okay.

V.8K ( i’d give anything for you );

Late Season Three

Soon after the events of “Be Very Afraid”, Alice will have changed quite a bit. Realizing her own fears, and who she was actually afraid of, Alice will force herself to face it.

In doing so, she has begun to stick up for herself much more. By this I mean, Alice has officially stopped living with her mother and family. She now lives in the Castle as a squire.

The guard she is currently working under is quite strict during the week days, but is also quite caring and understanding and much more relaxed than other guards. This means she has weekends off, once she has finished doing her work, allowing her to walk around Corona, and do what she pleases.

While most squires are typically teenage boys, due to Alice’s skills with her swordplay, she was given a pass and allowed to study, and to one day become a full fledged Corona Guard.

She has also taken up extra time studying with the now retired Captain, allowing him to decide when and where it will take place. As well as constant running between the Castle and Xavier’s for training in blacksmithing.

While Alice has not forgiven Varian, fully, she is much more willing to work with him, talk to him, and so on. However, this is mainly due to her need to be willing, and listen to orders. She does still wish though to fully make up with him eventually.

V.8L ( these voices these strange noises );

Post Canon

Life in Corona has seemingly gone back to normal. Cassandra is gone, and everything seems okay.

That is until the small voice in Alice’s head begins talking. Random black outs, and actions unlike herself (or perhaps too close to herself?). Alice is struggling with the long lasting effects from her time spent in, what she now knows is called, the lost realm. She’s trying to become a guard, a knight if she gets that far, but the way things seem to be going, it appears her madness is taking it’s toll. Who knows if Corona will ever truly be normal again?

And worst of all for her, it seems she might have to put her trust in the very person she wishes to keep at a distance.

#spoilers;#tts spoilers #Verse Bio Tag;#V.8A ( collecting stars and dreams );#V.8B ( shine brighter than the sun );#V.8C ( woke up into a nightmare );#V.8D ( they’ll pay if it happens again );#V.8E ( pull your knife out of my back );#V.8F ( i will guard you with my life );#V.8G ( there’s hell to pay );#V.8H ( practically perfectly replaceable );#V.8I ( Swear to the Moon );#V.8J ( WAKE UP ALICE );#V.8K ( i’d give anything for you );#V.8L ( these voices these strange noises );

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donnie-triton-blog · 7 years

Note

look.. im not saying i want a matt/delilah kid but.. i want a matt/delilah kid

Meet LORAND BIESTE, a SIXTEEN year old who resembles URIAH SHELTON. He hails from VILLENEUVE FRANCE, where he lives with his parents, MATTHIEU BIESTE & DELILAH DUNCAN.

And, meet MADELINE BIESTE, an EIGHT year old who resembles BAILEE MADISON. She hails from VILLENEUVE FRANCE, where she lives with her parents, MATTHIEU BIESTE & DELILAH DUNCAN.

Name: Lorand Lavelle Bieste

Gender: Male

General Appearance: Lorand is the spitting image of his father in his youth, except taller and more gangly. His thick, brown hair is often a mess in the morning, and throughout the day due to lack of effort. Even his eyes are blue, like his father’s. Delilah knew Matt when he was younger, due to her visiting the castle to hang out with his sister, Jolie, and is reminded of those days each and every time she sees Lorand.

Personality:

+ loyal – He developed this trait out of principle more than anything else. He shows unwavering loyalty to his friends and family, and would never do anything to hurt them intentionally. In fact, he goes out of his way often to show just how much they mean to him, and often develops a close and strong bond with people.

+ audacious – This he definitely got from Delilah. An experiment that failed to work on Matt, Delilah decided to sculpt Lorand into a bit more of a risk-taker than his father. He loves to do things that might not necessarily be the safest route, but pay off in the long run, whether it be enjoyment, education, or spending.

+ mannered – Of course a prince must develop the mannerisms of royalty, and he has mastered this skill at the young age of sixteen. When in front of people that deserve respect, or merely people of note including those in the kingdom, Lorand speaks in the most proper and well-learned manner that he knows how, and never offends a soul. That being said, when in front of family and close friends, he can kick back and relax on occasion, as well.

- independent – Although this might sound like a good thing, it just means that Lorand isn’t easily influenced, and often does not feel like he needs others to thrive. He believes that he can make informed decisions himself without outside influence, and that he knows what’s best for everyone and everything. It would take a lot to get Lorand to understand that he really needs someone when he falls, and that he can not only pick himself up every single time.

- cocky – This goes with his independence and stubbornness. Growing up in a position where it seems that no matter what choices you make, you will never fall to a low point has made Lorand overly-cocky. He doesn’t believe that anything too bad could really happen to him, no matter what mistakes he made (if he even makes any. Besides, he can make decisions all by himself, remember?)

- pretentious – Pretty self-explanatory. He uses his stature, manner, and education to preen himself before others. He knows that he is an important person, and, unlike his father who tended to keep the fact that he was a prince quiet (Matt hadn’t even told Delilah when they first met), Lorand likes to flaunt the fact.

Special Talents: Lorand has the power of magic. This power no doubt came from his mother, who’s magical abilities were so beautiful and ingrained within her soul that it was inevitable, after carrying Lorand for nine months, that they would be passed on to him.

Who they like better: Julian probably likes the royal side of the family more, merely because he loves feeling important and dutiful. His father is the king, for crying out loud. He especially loves listening to stories from Matthieu, Adam, and Belle.

Who they take after more: As much as he’d like to think otherwise, he takes after Delilah a lot more in personality. Matt was nowhere near as outspoken, highly poised, and confident as Lorand. Delilah, on the other hand, loved being a free-spirit and independent agent, and so did her son.

Personal Head canon:

The royal family spoiled Lorand from day one. When he broke a vase, they promised that it was completely okay, an accident, and was not his fault whatsoever. Nothing, really, was ever Lorand’s fault in the palace. Everything was catered to him, and this is what caused him to realize just how important he was.

Lorand actually loves to read, like his father, but keeps the passion secret, for fear that people might see him as a nerd rather than a powerful prince.

This is the first generation in which the werebeast curse has not manifested itself, and likely never will.

Face Claim: Uriah Shelton

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Madeline L’ange Bieste

Gender: Female

General Appearance: Madeline has long brown hair which stretches down past her shoulders, with chocolate brown eyes and a cute little stout nose. There is no doubt that this girl, running about the castle, is descended from the king and queen. She loves wearing dresses, and lets her mother pick out the perfect ones, at times even ordering personal designs.

Personality:

+ energetic – Madeline loves playing outside. She reminds Belle of Matthieu when he was much much younger. Her imagination runs wild, and she loves playing pretend, acting out different scenarios, playing doctor, fighting dragons. The world is her stage, and there are no limitations to what she can come up with when she’s bouncing around the palace grounds.

+ caring – Madeline loves animals and friends, and would never do anything to upset either of these groups. She loves playing with others, and is extremely nice when she does so. If one of her friends is feeling down, she always makes it a priority to cheer him or her up, before going about other business.

+ diplomatic – She makes a good mediator between two parties. Where one person might want one thing, and another person might want another, Madeline is very adept at coming to compromise, making both people not only satisfied, but actually happy in the process. She has high-level reasoning skills, and can practically sell anything to sound good.

- immature – Madeline is, after all, just a kid. She doesn’t quite understand the complexities of grown-up relations and topics quite yet, and finds conversation with people older than her to be a bit mundane. She much prefers the company of kids her age, and enjoys playing and doing other activities rather than merely sitting around talking.

- short-tempered – As nice as Madeline can be, she can also be easily upset. She would never say a mean word, or hurt a soul, but when she gets made she storms off, or gives the silent treatment until amends are made.

- reckless – Madeline often doesn’t know how much is too much, where boundaries are, or what decisions could possibly get her in trouble. Wandering into the forest alone isn’t seen as something that could potentially be dangerous. Going into town and getting lost isn’t scary, because everyone seems to know her, and therefore she’s not really lost. Playing too close to the lake, even though she can’t swim, doesn’t seem too dangerous, because there’s not that big of a chance that she will fall in. She doesn’t see the consequences of risky actions, and can’t imagine any situation that is too scary to delve into.

Special Talents: Madeline has the power of magic, like Lorand and Delilah. Hers, however, is not as strong as the other two, because she has an additional power which has developed, and nobody knows how or where it came from. Madeline also has the ability to communicate with animals. Nobody really knows if she talks to them in the animal language, or if the animals can understand her english, or if they merely respond to her emotions. Somehow, though, Madeline is constantly able to ride on the backs of deer.

Who they like better: Madeline, of course, likes both of her parents just as much. She could never choose between them. Matt is her strong, smart, loving, and protective father that wraps her into his arms and lifts her high into the air. Delilah is her funny, entertaining, loving, and adventurous mother who showers her in clothes and kisses.

Who they take after more: Like Lorand, she takes after Delilah more. Although she displays the same youthful bliss and imaginative power as Matt, her recklessness and taste for fun matches her mother’s. This might be because Matt isn’t around much to influence her, since he’s a busy man. It might also just be that she is a kid, and her personality has yet to completely manifest. Whatever the case, she enjoys spending time with her mom, and their interests seem to align.

Personal Head canon:

Madeline likes riding deer, a lot. Countless times have the palace staff seen her on the grounds on the back of a doe, and not known how to remove her safely.

Madeline loves to sing. She gets this from her grandmother, Belle, and learns bedtime songs from her, often singing them in the fields to herself privately.

When Matt sees Maddy playing, he is always stricken with a woeful nostalgia, longing for those days where he had fewer worries, and more time to live and love life.

Face Claim: Bailee Madison

#rylie-barton #* delilah #* matt #ANSGlns/lkanfsf #I LOVe htem #give me them

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kuriquinn · 7 years

Text

Why Sasuke Uchiha Will Never Drink Again [One-Shot]

Masterlist & Disclaimer

Summary: One of Konoha’s best kept secrets is no longer a secret.

Disclaimer: This story utilises characters, situations and premises that are copyright Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Shonen Jump and Viz media. No infringement on their respective copyrights pertaining to episodes, novelisations, comics or short stories is intended by KuriQuinn in any way, shape or form. This fan-oriented story is written solely for the author's own amusement and the entertainment of the readers. It is not for profit. Any resemblance to real organizations, institutions, products or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All plot and Original Characters except for those introduced in the canon books, manga, video games, novelizations and anime, are the sole creation of KuriQuinn. (© KuriQuinn 2016- )

Rating: T

Warning: Mild OOC? They’re characters that grew up differently than the canon, so a little bit of change in personality. Mentions of OCs (Manako Inuzuka)

Canon/Fanon Compliance: AU ‘verse. Sasuke left Konoha, but he came back right away or right after training or something. Team 7 went on to become ANBU

"This," Sasuke says, "is ridiculous."

"No, this is genius," Naruto retorts. "And long overdue. You're back for the first time in two years—with a secret baby you didn't tell anyone about—"

"Because you wouldn't have overreacted about it at all," Sai interjects.

"—and I finally have a night off from learning all the most boring Hokage crap—"

"Ahem," Kakashi cough as he carefully pours several shot glasses full of the strongest nihonshu that Tsunade ever hid in the Hokage's office. He still keeps it around for days when his choices are between getting blind drunk or committing homicide.

Usually because of the three other men in the room with him and their female teammate.

"—and our lovely wives are catching Sakura up on two years of gossip—"

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "It wasn't two years, idiot."

"—so we are going to spend the night doing manly bonding stuff," Naruto concludes.

"Which apparently involves copious amounts of alcohol."

"Damn straight."

"Why am I here?" Sai asks. "I'm secure enough in my masculinity that I don't need 'manly bonding stuff'."

Kakashi raises an eyebrow at him. "Did you just use air quotes?"

"Did I not do it properly?"

"No, you did. It's just…weird."

"Noted."

"I'm going home," Sasuke sighs and heads toward the door. "Kakashi, I'll be back to give you my report tomorrow, when you're not surrounded by morons."

"Hm, it appears what Sakura told Ino was true," Sai remarks innocently.

"Huh. Looks like," Naruto agrees, also affecting a casual tone of voice.

"I never would have believed it," Kakashi concludes, and Sasuke can practically hear him shaking his head.

He stops, mid-step, and his eyes drift closed in resignation. Every brain cell he was ever given tells him to ignore it. People have goaded him with worse in the past and he has learned not to rise to the bait.

However—

It's Naruto. And an insinuation by Naruto does not go unanswered, for any reason.

"What has my wife been saying?" Sasuke asks, not turning around and trying to keep his tone carefully measured.

"Only that your alcohol tolerance is worse than Lee's," his oldest friend concludes happily. "And here I was going to give you a chance to prove that was just a lie…"

Sasuke's jaw clenches, hearing the challenge in Naruto's voice, and he really should just keep going.

Of course, that's not what he does.

Whirling around he marches towards the filled shot glasses and reaches for one, intending to throw it down his throat just to prove he isn't worried about it.

Naruto stops him.

"Hey-hey, hold on, you're not just gonna chug them!" he protests. "Where's the fun in that?"

"Ah, is this where the 'manly bonding stuff' comes in?" Sai inquires. "I assume you have some kind of drinking game in mind, then?"

"Not happening," Sasuke declares, although he doesn't return on his path to the door.

"Kiba showed it to me," Naruto says cheerfully. "It's called ‘Never Have I Ever’."

"Oh, this is going to go well," Kakashi gives a resigned sigh.

"The rules are easy! Someone confesses something they have never done, and the other people who have done that thing all have to take a shot," Naruto explains.

"And the point of this is…?" Sasuke asks.

"To see who passes out drunk first," Sai says.

"And manly bonding," Naruto adds.

"I'm going home," Sasuke says.

"I can assign you cat retrieval missions from now until Sarada enters the Academy," Kakashi points out innocently.

Sasuke glares and takes a seat in front of the desk where several shot glasses are just waiting to be consumed.

"Very well, I will go first," Sai declares, considering for a moment. Then he beams. "I have never sung karaoke."

Naruto throws back a shot, and Kakashi sighs before doing the same.

"Really?" Sai asks.

"It was one of Gai's tamer challenges," Kakashi says, which explains it all. He side-eyes his former students. "Never have I ever snuck into a movie."

Naruto and Sasuke exchange glances and down their drinks.

"Why would you bother doing that?" Sai wants to know.

"We were thirteen," Naruto explains. "And technically we paid. But sitting on the ceiling wasn't exactly allowed, so we had to sneak in."

"But…why?"

"Training," Sasuke answers shortly, and then smirks at Naruto. He nods at one of the shots in front of him. "I have never accidentally set myself on fire."

Naruto glares, but reaches for the drink nonetheless. "That was once."

"It still happened."

"Yeah, well I never set someone on fire on purpose."

Sasuke snorts but reaches for his drink without outward complaint. Kakashi takes a drink as well.

Through that damned mask, as usual. I guess it's a good thing you're not supposed to taste the alcohol anyhow…

Sasuke's eye twitches as the liquor burns its way down his throat, and he wonders if it's possible to learn to speed up one's metabolism in a matter of minutes. He knows kunoichi are taught that trick in the Academy and makes a mental note to ask Sakura about it later.

As for now, he is going to have to play this ridiculous game in a manner that gets his friends inebriated before he hits his limit.

Sakura is going to pay for mentioning this…

"Never have I ever…" Sai begins, and then says brightly, "urinated in the shower."

Kakashi groans in disgust and Sasuke casually tells him, "There is something deeply wrong with you." When Naruto turns red and takes a shot, he adds, "And in your case, that goes without saying."

"I blame dealing with your bullshit," Naruto shoots back.

"Now, now, let's think of happier things," Kakashi lectures in a mocking tone. "For example, the fact that I have never been beaten up by an ostrich."

Sai sniggers as Naruto and Sasuke adopt identical beleaguered expressions and throw back their respective shots.

"Why are you guys picking on me?" Naruto complains, wiping his mouth.

"It's not our fault you've done pretty much every idiotic thing under the sun," Sasuke retorts, having to concentrate on enunciating his words. His cheeks feel a little warmer than usual, too. "Unlike you, I've never graffitied public property."

Naruto reaches for the next shot and sneers at Sasuke, "Yeah, but at least I've never been to prison. That's pretty idiotic."

Sasuke chooses not to reply to that, mostly because he still retains enough of his (ever-lessening) judgement to know that picking a fight while under the influence of alcohol would be a bad idea.

Also, he's pretty sure that Sakura would kill him. And Hinata would give him that disappointed look, the one that always makes him feel like he's kicked a puppy.

In deference of a wife with super-strength and not facing any kicked-puppy expressions from the mouse of a woman that could conceivably kill him with two fingers if she felt the inclination, Sasuke lets it go.

This time.

"My turn," Sai pipes up. "I have never streaked naked through the village."

Sasuke glances at Naruto, half-expecting him to take a drink, but the blond man simply looks amused at the idea. To everyone's surprise, Kakashi takes a drink.

Naruto guffaws and Sasuke raises an eyebrow at him. "Another of Gai's contests?"

"Yes."

"Clearly Naruto isn't the only one with tendencies toward poor judgement," Sai determines.

"Oh, I wouldn't call it poor," Kakashi muses, "it was actually quite liberating. You'd be surprised how good it feels to have a breeze between your—"

"Nope! Uh-uh, don’t want to know! Stop talking!" Naruto yells, while Sasuke's eye begins to twitch again. "It's your turn anyhow, Kakashi-sensei."

The white-haired man sighs. "Are you guys ever going to stop calling me sensei? I haven't been your squad leader since you were kids."

"If it helps, I never called you sensei," Sasuke points out. Then he frowns, because that was a little more candid than usual. His head is beginning to feel like it's being buoyed up by cotton. Why did he think this was a good idea again?

Kakashi regards him with an amused look in his eyes, and shakes his head. Then he juts his neck toward Sai, "Never have I have crossed-dressed.

Sai blinks. "How did you know about that?"

"Manako saw you. She says you're surprisingly adept at walking in high heels."

"Ino makes me practice," Sai shrugs, throwing his drink down his throat.

"Why?" Naruto demands, looking scandalised.

Sai smirks. "Now, that would be telling, wouldn't it?"

"At least he's finally had something to drink," Sasuke mutters.

"Why, are you worried you'll be the only one inebriated here, Coward?"

Sasuke narrows his eyes. "Never have I ever been part of a secret black ops organization."

Sai frowns and takes a shot; Kakashi does as well.

"Can we perhaps stay away from the darker topics?" he suggests.

"Good idea," Naruto says. He pauses to think, and frowns as if he can't think up anything good. In the end he settles on, "I have never sung in the shower."

Kakashi and Sai both drink.

"Did you even know what a shower was before marrying Hinata?" Sasuke challenges.

"At least I knew what a naked woman looked like before I got married."

"Oh, have we moved on to nudity then?" Sai speaks up, interrupting Sasuke's inner argument about whether to throw a fireball at his friend or electrocute him. "I have never engaged in naked pursuits with a woman that is not my wife."

"'Naked pursuits'?" Naruto asks.

"Sex, you moron," Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"Oh. Oh."

Kakashi reaches for a shot. When he notices Naruto and Sasuke's somewhat judgemental expressions he snorts.

"I wasn't a monk before I met you guys, you know. Not all of us can have some great, epic love story that spans years and continents, or ruins lives and sheds blood. Sometimes a good relationship starts out just as sex," he takes a drink, and then looks around as if he hasn't just imparted some oddly deep philosophy. "My turn, right? Alright—my first kiss wasn't with a man."

Naruto and Sasuke make identical noises of choked outrage and grudgingly down their shots.

"I heard about that," Sai sniggers. "Ino says it nearly caused a riot and that Naruto is lucky to have lived through puberty."

"Damn right he is," Sasuke mutters.

"Your turn, my adorable student," Kakashi points out.

"I'm thinking…"

"Oh, wow, only five shots and you already have to think?" Naruto jeers.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't counting drinks invalidate things somehow?" Sai wonders. "Or does that just mean you haven't had enough?"

"Shut up. I have one," Sasuke interrupts, an idea coming to him before he can think too clearly about what his former teacher just said. "I have never read porn."

"There's a difference between porn and erotica," Kakashi grumbles, although he takes a shot; Naruto and Sai do as well.

"Semantics. It's still something closet perverts like you three do."

"That was research—and it paid off!" Naruto points out. "Remember the time my Reverse Harem Jutsu almost saved the world?"

"And how many naked men did you have to look at to get that one right?" Sai wonders. "At least when I've watched porn, it's been women."

"Your wife lets you watch porn?" Sasuke asks, squinting at the other man. For some reason that doesn't jive with what he knows of Ino.

"Hey! I've got the next one!" Naruto shouts as he refills their shot glasses. "Never have I ever watched porn with someone else!"

Sasuke shudders at the idea of that brand of awkwardness, and to his utter lack of surprise, both Kakashi and Sai drink.

"It was for educational purposes," Sai says unabashedly, while Kakashi shrugs, "It's really not a big deal."

"Please tell me this was with your wives and not some random dude you decided to watch porn with," Naruto groans.

"No," Sasuke interrupts. "Don't. Don't tell us anything. Ever. Just…take your damn turn and move on."

I'm going home. As soon as my feet don't feel like bubbles, I am leaving…

"I have never had sex with more than one person at a time," Sai declares.

Sasuke groans inwardly; he should have known they weren't going to leave the topic of sex alone once it had been broached.

This is about to take a turn for the awkward.

Again, Kakashi takes a drink.

"Really?" Naruto looks scandalised and fascinated. "Was it with two girls, or a guy and a girl?"

"Gentlemen don't kiss and tell," Kakashi says mysteriously.

"Gentlemen don't play stupid drinking games," Sasuke points out.

Kakashi raises an eyebrow at this, and then says innocently, "I've never had sex outdoors.”

Sasuke rolls his eyes.

The other two watch him in expectation, as if waiting for him to outright lie. It occurs to Sasuke that playing this game with a bunch of shinobi wasn't a good idea. Even if he wanted to lie about something, they'd be able to tell.

Aware of the warmth in his cheeks, he reaches for his drink, pointing out as he does, "That's common knowledge."

"It still counts."

"Fine. I've never had my child walk in during."

Mostly because Sarada is a long time away from walking, but it's something he figures must have happened to his sensei at some point. He's got three kids past the toddling age.

As expected, Kakashi has to take a drink, and Sasuke basks in a momentary sense of victory.

Until Naruto laughingly shouts, "Oh, hey, I got one! I got one! Never have I ever…done butt stuff during sex!"

And Sasuke promptly chokes on his own spit.

Because no, no, no, that is not something he ever expected to be brought up here.

Naruto is smirking a challenge at Kakashi, like he figures learning one or two perverted things about his former teacher have given him total insight into how to get his sensei drunk.

Kakashi takes a drink, and then crosses his arms (his attempt to look unbothered is tempered by his pink cheeks). "I'm not ashamed. My sex life is amazing."

Naruto gapes. "No way! That was totally a joke, I didn't think—" He is interrupted as Sai cheerfully takes a shot as well. "Ehhhh?! You too?"

"Don't knock it until you try it," Sai says. "It's actually an interesting sensation when experienced in conjunction with—"

And that's my cue—

Sasuke wobbles to his feet. "I don't need to know any of this. I'm leaving."

"After all that ridiculousness, this is your limit?" Kakashi challenges, a knowing tone in his voice. Sasuke continues making a dogged beeline to the door. "Huh. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're trying to avoid another shot, Sasuke."

"Hahaha!" Naruto sniggers. "No way."

Just a few more steps…

"Sasuke would never be into that sort of thing, he's way too boring," Naruto continues. "Remember, we had to practically tell him what sex was before he got married…"

Almost there…

"As I recall, he had a very interesting reaction to certain topics that night," Sai points out. "Particularly when we asked him the sort of things he had done with Sakura already. His neck used to get very red. A bit like what's happening right now."

Just reach out and grab the door –

"No way," Naruto murmurs blandly. "No fucking way."

"I did not see that coming," Kakashi says, sounding too surprised to be teasing.

"You mean Sasuke Uchiha took it up the ass?!" Naruto shouts.

Sasuke turns around, glaring daggers at this friend. "Shout it a little louder, you utter moron!"

There is silence.

Naruto's jaw drops, and the other two are blinking in surprise. The tableau would be funny if it weren't for the fact that Sasuke has realised his usual perfect control over his emotions have just caused him to confirm the one thing he did not want to confirm.

Shit.

"But wait…if you've never been with anyone you weren't married to, that would mean…" Sai begins.

"Don't finish that sentence," Sasuke warns.

"Sakura," Sai concludes.

"So she used a…?" Kakashi makes a lewd gesture.

"I did not need to know that about Sakura," Naruto murmurs, shuddering. "Oh, gods, I just got a mental image—oh my god, somebody scramble my brains, please!"

"That can be arranged," Sasuke growls, feeling electricity beginning to crackle in his palm.

"Aaaaand I'm calling an executive order to end tonight," Kakashi says, staggering to his feet. "By order of the Hokage, blah blah blah, you are all to go home and sober up. And no murders while in the Konoha environs."

"Seriously?!" Naruto squeaks at Sasuke, still apparently struggling with the concept.

"If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'm taking off an arm," Sasuke hisses, taking a menacing step forward. "Or a leg. Probably a leg. Think how ridiculous you'll look, hopping around on one leg. Then you'll never be Hokage."

"And that's how we know Sasuke is drunk, gentlemen," Kakashi says. "Rambling death threats. I think we can call tonight a success, don't you?"

"We should do it again some time," Sai agrees.

"I'm leaving," Sasuke grumbles. "I'm taking a mission to the middle of fucking nowhere and never coming back. And I'm telling my wife it's your fault, and she's going to kill you all for me. I won't even have to get my hands dirty."

Kakashi chuckles. "I suppose I should make sure you get home alright and don't end up walking into a tree."

"Tch."

He stalks off, wobbling and angry and wondering if it's worth the headache to use a portal to get home.

"So, is this butt-sex thing something I'm missing out on?" he hears Naruto asks Sai, and then he sees red.

With a snarl of rage, Sasuke whirls around and makes a dive for Naruto's neck.

終わり

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome, but if you feel like keeping me caffeinated out of the goodness of your heart, it certainly would be appreciated! I’m also starting to post original works to my patreon.

I’m only able to keep writing as I do thanks to the support of readers like you, so every bit helps!

栗

#i don't even know #crack fic #naruto fanfiction #guy's night in #sasuke uchiha #naruto uzumaki #sai yamanaka #kakashi hatake #sorry i'm missing the IOG update

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ikkinthekitsune · 7 years

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One of the strangest and most fascinating things about the Old Testament, to me, is that it’s perfectly happy to offer the spotlight to opposing viewpoints, often in adjacent or near-adjacent books.

Take the seven books considered to be part of the wisdom literature genre, for instance -- Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Wisdom, and Sirach.

To start with, they don’t even agree about what it means to be wisdom literature. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Sirach all offer what’s probably best described as worldly wisdom, offering suggestions as to how to get ahead in life that are so pragmatic and rooted in the culture of their time that some of them (particularly with regards to women and the discipline of children) are repugnant to modern sensibilities. Ecclesiastes in particular is incredibly cynical, almost to the point of nihilism. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” isn’t just its most well-known phrase -- it’s perfectly representative of a worldview in which we’re all going to the same place, and while you might be able to live longer if you’re righteous, you can’t even count on that much.

Job addresses the problem of evil as well, but its structure and content are entirely different. It’s an incredibly poetic take on an argument between a man who suffers unjustly and his “friends” who insist that he must be guilty of some hidden wrongdoing because they refuse to believe that the righteous would be allowed to suffer. And, in the end, it doesn’t pretend that it can offer a satisfying answer to the problem of evil (God’s response is to ask questions of Job that no human being could answer), other than that a good person should acknowledge that there is a problem instead of accusing those who suffer of having done something to deserve their suffering in order to let God off the hook.

Interestingly enough, Job himself kind of seems to have been looking for something rather New Testament-like -- he notes that God “is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both” and says that, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another." There also seems to be something of an implication that the nature of God, as it was understood at the time, was so far removed from the nature of man that no meaningful answer to the problem of evil could be provided within the contemporary framework. God’s answer addresses the question only tangentially, taking full responsibility for nature red in tooth and claw while justifying nothing. (Incidentally, the position taken by God in the Book of Job is probably one of the most effective arguments against the idea that Darwinian evolution is contrary to the revealed character of God that I can think of.)

And then there’s Wisdom, which starts with what almost seems like a deliberate shot over the bow at the worldview presented in Ecclesiastes (”For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, ‘Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end, and no one has been known to return from Hades. For we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been, for the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts; when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.Our name will be forgotten in time, and no one will remember our works; our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud, and be scattered like mist that is chased by the rays of the sun and overcome by its heat. For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and there is no return from our death, because it is sealed up and no one turns back.’”).

Even more intriguingly, the Book of Wisdom has very little interest in offering worldly wisdom of its own. Instead, it does three rather extraordinary things for a book written in the 1st century BC:

It claims that a cynically anti-resurrection worldview inevitably leads to what sounds an awful lot like the death of Jesus -- ”Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”)

It presents wisdom as what might be most appropriately described as a Rule 63 version of Jesus and offers a prototype for the doctrine of the Trinity. No, seriously: “The beginning of wisdom is the most sincere desire for instruction, and concern for instruction is love of her, and love of her is the keeping of her laws, and giving heed to her laws is assurance of immortality, and immortality brings one near to God; so the desire for wisdom leads to a kingdom.” “There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety, all-powerful, overseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle. For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets; for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.” “With you is wisdom, she who knows your works and was present when you made the world; she understands what is pleasing in your sight and what is right according to your commandments.” “For she knows and understands all things, and she will guide me wisely in my actions and guard me with her glory.” “Who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus the paths of those on earth were set right, and people were taught what pleases you, and were saved by wisdom.” To wit, that’s omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, serving as both an image of God and a guarantee of immortality, and existence prior to the world’s creation -- the only way to posit such a figure in the Judeo-Christian framework without falling into polytheism is the Trinitarian solution. And, depending on how one interprets “unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high,” it might have actually spoken of three divine persons.

It associates wisdom with a swiftly-approaching judgment on heathen idols, “because, though part of what God created, they became an abomination, snares for human souls and a trap for the feet of the foolish,” which is quite prophetic if one holds to a Girardian interpretation of the Crucifixion (namely, that by taking upon himself the role of victim but refusing to be silenced, Jesus undercut the mechanism by which all sacrificial religions and other such idolatrous social dynamics operated). There’s even a line introducing this prophecy of judgment that could be passed off as a direct reference to the Crucifixion -- “For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.” And, once you add the concept of the scapegoat mechanism into the mix, claiming that “the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil“ changes from something naive and anachronistic to an insightful and lasting truth about humanity, and claiming that “though living in great strife due to ignorance, [idolators] call such great evils peace“ makes perfect sense (peace gained through the sacrifice of scapegoats is obviously a great evil).

To make the Biblical canon of wisdom literature even more complicated, Psalms and the Song of Solomon often seem not to have anything to do with wisdom at all. Psalms is a collection of lyrics for songs used at worship services (many of which are, like, 3,000 years old and still entirely relevant, which is kind of amazing in and of itself), so it’s to be expected that its content varies significantly, but I’m not sure how the Song of Solomon was assumed to deal with wisdom except insofar as King Solomon himself was famously wise -- it’s an incredibly sensual piece of love poetry.

But, yeah. For seven books in the same genre included in the same canon, it’s hard to imagine a more disparate set.

#Christianity #The Bible #The Book of Job #The Book of Wisdom

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deborahdeshoftim5779 · 7 years

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The Marvel of Trelsi (Part III)

Because this image NEVER gets old. It also epitomizes the relationship between Troy and Kelsi as complete equals, quite unlike a certain other relationship.

In this instalment, I want to discuss the introduction to Trelsi, which will include scene analysis, comparative analysis, musings and headcanons. I love this scene primarily for what it says about Troy Bolton as a character, as well as for how radiant and confident Kelsi becomes throughout the rest of the canonical movie series. I will demonstrate the superior importance of this scene in establishing relationships thus far, particularly in comparison to Troy’s introduction to Gabriella, and how this scene represents everything the movie was supposed to support.

Now, first of all, I must start by noting the unrealistic spectacle of every other candidate being laughably inept at performing except for Sharpay/Ryan and later, Troy/Gabriella. I must presume that this is all in aid of plot-related reasons. In real life, although it is more believable that Sharpay still would have reigned as Queen of the Drama Department (with Ryan as her Page Boy), there would have been plenty of decent candidates for this role. After all, there is a Drama Club and I refuse to believe that this is populated by incompetents. Nonetheless, Kelsi’s patience throughout, playing whilst people mess up her song, is both hilarious and endearing.

As I write this analysis with the film playing, I often have to fast-forward or rewind to see which parts are visible to Troy throughout this to explain why he decides to reach out to Kelsi. Remember, he appears not to know who Kelsi is prior to this moment, as she is not shown in his homeroom class. (This begs the question of how Kelsi came to be there during HSM II and HSM III). After being denied the opportunity to rehearse, Troy would have had no choice other than to leave and return to his other lessons. Instead, he stands there in disappointment for a moment until distracted by Kelsi tripping over in an ironically dramatic fashion. So if we rewind and view the Auditions scene from Troy’s viewpoint, is there any reason to speculate that Troy might have intended to make friends with Kelsi? Personally, I don’t know. Obviously, I am biased and like to think this was the case, but it may well have been a spur of the moment decision. However, there is room, in my view, to speculate otherwise.

So, how much does Troy see prior to this grand introduction? (I say “grand”, because Trelsi :D). As we recall, he has performed an elaborate ninja routine in order to get to said auditions, which involves throwing Chad off his back, cutting through a D & T room, dashing downstairs, confusing his dad by doing a Houdini and hiding behind a mop once he reaches the Drama stage.

It is very important to note that Troy did this himself, as much later, in HSM III, Troy will make a grand speech in which he falsely claims that: “Problem is, East High changed when you got there. Now it’s changed again because you left.” As you can see here, the decision to check out the auditions was of Troy’s own making. Gabriella had even told him prior that she had no intention of signing up for anything, and just wanted to get to know the school first. This forward-thinking on Troy’s part explains his decisions much later on in the movie, not least his decision to make friends with Kelsi.

Obviously, Troy sees Kelsi introduced by Ms Darbus, but I don’t think he makes anything of it. He sees the slew of embarrassing performances throughout. It is interesting to note that, despite the glaring incompetence of many in East High, Troy is STILL nervous about trying out for the auditions. Having sung with Gabriella in karaoke over the holidays, it is clear that his confidence soars when performing, but in East High, it’s almost nonexistent. This is most likely due to Chad shooting him down earlier*, basically implying that Troy won’t make it as a top basketball player if he spends (wastes) time doing School Musicals. (“You ever think LeBron James or Shaquille O’Neill auditioned for their school musicals?”) It is also because Troy is scared of being sent off in disgrace by Ms Darbus and laughed at by everyone else. (“Ms Darbus is a little… harsh.”). After this, a thoroughly exasperated, but now somewhat hopeful Ms Darbus introduces Sharpay and Ryan who will “give us a sense of why we gather in this hallowed hall”. Given that Troy reluctantly agreed to watch Sharpay in the musical earlier, I assume that he is not looking forward to this performance. His expression throughout is priceless. But he doesn’t appear aware of how much dismay is caused to Kelsi by this performance, at least not until afterwards.

I had to rewind this a lot to make sure, but Troy does see Sharpay’s mean and condescending jabs at Kelsi afterwards. During this scene, Sharpay belittles Kelsi for being a heretofore unknown composer who has no right to question someone as seasoned as Sharpay, even though Kelsi wrote the music. “And you should be glad that me and Ryan are here to lift your music out of its current obscurity! Are we clear?”/”Yes, Ma’am! I mean, Sharpay!” Dismayed and subdued, Kelsi is knocked back onto the piano stool and accepts Sharpay’s Reign of Terror without question. However, as I discussed yesterday, it surely is significant that Kelsi overcame her shyness for one short moment of resistance by telling Sharpay that she hadn’t captured the meaning of the song. Hence why Sharpay was so insulted: “IF we do the part?” Anyhow, because Troy is such a decent and fair guy, he would clearly object to Kelsi being pushed around like this. However, as I asked earlier, did Troy have any intent in reaching out to her just then? Not long afterwards, he tells Gabriella that they should leave, presumably before Ms Darbus discovers them peeking round the corner like spies. So I suppose not, and the ensuing meeting was probably by chance.

I criticize Gabriella regularly, but I think she displayed real initiative by conquering her stage fright to audition. So now we need to zoom out of Troy’s perspective and into Kelsi’s perspective for this scene, as she spends the entire time at the piano, probably despondent as she arranges her scores. But she is within earshot when Troy, quite commendably, puts himself forward as Gabriella’s singing partner. We are not given Kelsi’s reaction to this, which would have been very interesting. Troy Bolton, King of East High, agreeing to audition for a part? Stop the world! It would have been more effective if Kelsi had turned around at this point in astonishment, before getting up to leave and then tripping over. But that’s just my viewpoint. She definitely hears the ensuing exchange, as Ms Darbus makes no secret of her astonishment when Troy shows up from behind the corner. Had Kelsi shown some engagement with this scene, it would have made her tripping over seem a lot less contrived for the purposes of introducing her to Troy. Again, my opinion. But what the hell? My analysis, too. :D We can only speculate as to her reaction, which I believe would be of astonishment. I exclude Gabriella from this part, given that Kelsi does not know her name, presumably not until Ms Darbus gives the two a callback audition.

Kelsi’s trip is marvellous! Gasp of surprise, papers flung everywhere… Really well done! :D

And Troy’s first instinct is to run over and help her, even though he is a considerable distance from the stage. Now, if you watch this carefully, look at Gabriella’s reaction. Troy does not hesitate to rush over and help, but Gabriella actually hesitates. In fact, I see unwillingness in her expression for a moment, before she runs over after Troy. I may be wrong in this, but if you get the time, please look over that scene and tell me what you think. In any case, Troy reaches the stage before Gabriella does. It’s almost as though Gabriella is either a mixture of unwilling/exasperated and yet resigned before deciding to help Kelsi. I usually rewind minute by minute to be accurate, and that is what I see. It therefore seems to me that were Troy not present, Gabriella would either have hesitated to help Kelsi, or not done so at all. That may seem a harsh assumption, but at the very least, it does provide more proof as to why Gabriella is not in ANY WAY responsible for Kelsi’s character development. She’s friends with Kelsi because Troy is. That’s it, really.

You’ve got to love Kelsi’s stunned disbelief when Troy fricking Bolton comes and helps her pick up her manuscripts. Remember, Kelsi is limited by the status quo: cool guys don’t come within throwing distance of nerds like herself. You may see, by pausing at selected moments, that Troy catches her staring and smiles in a friendly manner, which makes me SQUEE! But again, if someone stares at you like you’re the Loch Ness Monster, some people might be pretty annoyed or self-conscious. I think this is Troy trying to break the ice, once again demonstrating that he sees Kelsi as a complete equal, and not some specimen from a different social class.

“So you’re a composer?”

Kelsi’s mute nods are cute. She cannot believe this moment is happening.

“You wrote the song Ryan and Sharpay just sang? [*nod*] And the entire show? [*nod] Well, that’s really cool. I uh-- [*holds out hand for her to shake*] I can’t wait to hear the rest of the show!”

I can’t get over the SWEETNESS here. Yet more evidence that Troy is nowhere near the arrogant and entitled jerk some “fans” allege him to be. Remember, Kelsi has just been put in her place by Sharpay, is despondent that two people who have ruined her song will most likely get the leads and has probably been discouraged from offering any suggestions in future, since Sharpay has made it clear that Kelsi would be nothing without her. After having had her musical ideas rejected time and time again by the Drama Department, this doesn’t feel like much of a reward, hence the resigned way in which Kelsi cleared her manuscripts from the piano earlier. So for Troy to tell her that what she does is “really cool”, and to express genuine admiration for her ability to write “the entire show” is everything. It is completely superficial to assume that Kelsi’s stunned disbelief is due to her having a massive crush on Troy. Whether this may or may not be true is besides the point; we don’t have any information about that. What is far more important, is the obvious fact that prior to now, very few, if any people, have ever spoken to Kelsi like this. With respect, admiration and friendly encouragement. We know this, because Kelsi is too astonished to respond. She must have felt like a complete idiot, just nodding instead of speaking, but Troy does not try and goad her into conversation. He just takes her as she is without judgement. It’s almost as though he understands her shyness and will let her speak when she’s ready. This is one of the first signs that Troy and Kelsi are attuned to each other on such an instinctive level that is impossible to ignore.

Furthermore, Troy tells her that he “can’t wait” to hear the rest of the show. Think carefully about this. Not long beforehand, Sharpay said “I hope you can watch me in the musical”, and made Troy promise to do so. He only nodded, clearly unable to bring himself to say anything. He nodded to get her off his back. His discomfort around Sharpay is self-evident. Now here he is, telling Kelsi, a girl with whom he has NEVER spoken before, that he is excited to hear the rest of her compositions. Up until now, he has only heard a few measures of ONE song. For all he knows, the rest might be mediocre or terrible. (I doubt it, but that’s always a possibility). Her compositions have never been selected before. There’s no discomfort here for Troy at all. He comes across as completely genuine in his interest and willingness to support Kelsi. So we can infer that Troy must like the little he has heard and thinks she has untapped potential. And prior to now, has Troy ever watched a musical? I tend to assume not, given his complete unfamiliarity with the Drama stage, and his lack of knowledge about Broadway: “Who’s Michael Crawford?” For heaven’s sake, he spent the entire audition hiding behind a mop! He has never seen the preparation it takes to write a musical, and I assume he has never been to one of the school productions, given how reluctant he was to watch Sharpay perform. Add to that his supreme status as East High’s Primo Boy, the significance of his offer is HUGE.

All of this underscores how accepting Troy is of everyone around him. He accepts Gabriella, who is extremely intelligent and always comes top of her class. He accepts Zeke’s interest in baking. He presumably accepts Martha’s love of hip hop, and the skater dude who likes the cello… All in all, Troy never expects anyone to change who they are for anyone. Troy never judges people, unlike Chad. He is always happy to extend the hand of friendship (quite literally in Kelsi’s case, and later in Ryan’s case), irrespective of the alleged social divides. Troy doesn’t think that anyone should be limited just because of who they are: “[Chad] You ever think LeBron James or Shaquille O’Neill auditioned for their school musicals?”/ [Troy] “MAYBE.” (Capital emphasis my own). And later on: “Look, I just did it! [auditioned for the musical] Who cares?” Furthermore, Troy always takes an interest in other people’s lives and admires their achievements, even if he knows nothing about what they do. We are not told whether Troy plays any musical instruments, but I assume not. We are not told whether he reads music, although I have to assume from his excellent, and sometimes unrealistically good sight-reading skills, he must have had availed himself of school music lessons. Either way, I wouldn’t call him an insider in the music profession. Yet he immediately takes an interest based on very little information other than a couple bars of Kelsi’s song.

I reiterate again: this is significant.

I love the hand-shake, as Troy helps her to stand again. The metaphorical significance of this is beautiful; he is raising her self-esteem, pulling her up, lifting her mood, making her feel like an accomplished young lady, instead of a nobody. The friendly smile remains even though Kelsi seems unable to detach her hand from his-- again, I think the reason for this is stunned disbelief first and foremost. Clearly, she is unused to such friendliness from anyone, let alone Troy Bolton. And remember, he’s just told her that he wants to hear her other compositions.

At this point, having helped Kelsi pick up her manuscripts, Troy could have left. After all, free period is now over. He should be getting back to class. Instead, he has something else to say, which fuelled my earlier query about whether he had intended to speak to her beforehand. And remember, Kelsi has not said a word thus far, so he might have concluded she was too shy and gone back to class. Yet he is still keen to engage with her, whether she might answer or not.

“So… why’re you so afraid of Ryan** and Sharpay? I mean, it is your show.”

I love Troy telling Kelsi, in effect, that she doesn’t have to be afraid of the Evans twins. He’s offering her a way out. He’s offering her options she had never previously considered. He’s reminding her that these are her songs and she is therefore a lot more than a Sideshow Bob.

“It is?”

The fact that Kelsi questions something that is so OBVIOUSLY true shows how little self-esteem she has up until this point.

“Isn’t the composer of a show kinda like the Playmaker in basketball?”

“Playmaker…?”

“You know, the one who makes everyone else look good. I mean without you, there is no show. You’re the Playmaker here, Kelsi.”

First of all, just look at the effect these words have on Kelsi:

For the first time since being introduced into the movie, she looks delighted. Given her crippling shyness and introverted nature, I feel fairly certain that she has probably rarely, if ever, been made to feel like this. Empowered, confident and worth something. The utter delight on her face, the way she completely lights up, shows her unfamiliarity with such praise. It further highlights that very few, if any people, have taken an interest in her music, or have given her the chance she craves to be heard and understood, as I explained yesterday. Compare this to her intimidation, disappointment and dismay when Sharpay belittled her earlier. THIS is the moment that the deal is sealed: she takes to Troy in an instant. Her excitement is brimming beneath the surface. And make no mistake, this is entirely directed towards Troy. Gabriella, up until now, has not said a word, and neither is she the recipient of this delighted expression.

The most important thing to note here is “the one who makes everyone else look good,” as the inimitable teamwork between Troy and Kelsi throughout all three shows in movie canon is a living demonstration of this. Again, I must reiterate that Troy has barely heard any of Kelsi’s music, and is saying that her compositional skills make everyone else look good. Ms Darbus, whom I presume had previously rejected many of Kelsi’s ideas and now selected these ones, is never shown to have given Kelsi such high praise, despite having considered these songs on their artistic merit to her play. (Correction from last post: Ms Darbus wrote the plays. Credit to BoltonEvans). And because Troy doesn’t treat sports like a religion (unlike a certain Mr. Danforth), he doesn’t judge her for being ignorant about sporting terminology, either, which is a small but once again noteworthy point.

This scene basically launches the term “Playmaker”. Let’s discuss this. Troy is not only giving Kelsi a nickname (something he hasn’t done for Gabriella or indeed anyone else), but it is the very same name that others in his team use to refer to him. More importantly, it is a term with which he has a love-hate relationship. We know this because later on, Troy’s father tells him, “but you’re Playmaker. Not a singer.” Troy’s reaction to this is one of rising frustration; in other words, he appears tired of hearing about his Playmaker/Basketball Guy status ALL the time. A lot of viewers seem to, in their haste to judge/belittle Troy for his mistakes, ignore the effect of constantly being praised and touted as the Top Gun for the team. He is, around this time, between 16 and 17 years old. Adolescence is a time of self-doubt and learning to figure yourself out. Coming of age. The pressure that Troy’s father and his team-mates put on his shoulders by such honorary titles must be immense and counter-productive.

So I feel it is very important to note that the term “Playmaker” does not necessarily have very positive connotations for Troy, as it reminds him of the pedestal upon which he is placed, and how much is expected of him by everyone else. In which case, it is somewhat unusual that Troy deems this nickname appropriate for a composer, let alone a girl he has only just met properly. But he chooses “Playmaker”, for several key reasons: 1)- he sees the value of Kelsi’s work, 2)- he believes she deserves it more, 3)- he senses that she needs it. Troy himself suffocates under all these honorary terms and wishes he could “just be a guy”. Like I said yesterday, Troy is running away from his pre-destined status and longing to be ordinary as well as try something new. Kelsi, on the other hand, thinks her path as a composer is predestined and is longing to be extraordinary. The title “Playmaker” and its special significance gives her precisely that. ALL of this is communicated from Troy to Kelsi with precious little dialogue. Troy just instinctively understands what she needs right then and can encapsulate all of this with the nickname “Playmaker”. This seals the deal, folks. It makes their bond esoteric, rather than transparent-- later on, when Troy calls her Playmaker in front of a cheering crowd, only he, Kelsi (and Gabriella) know what he means. Again, Kelsi’s delight here says it all. It underlines all their later scenes together and is the centrepiece of their friendship. They are both Playmakers in their own respective fields. So Troy demonstrates his ability to take something with difficult implications for himself and turn it into a positive for someone who would otherwise be unheard. This is a special moment in the movie, and definitely the most significant up until Troy revealing his love for performing later on.

The movie makes a great deal of hullabaloo about Troy meeting Gabriella, using twinkling lights, night skies and romantic music. We’re meant to believe that this is a once in a lifetime meeting, when in fact it is a fateful night that starts Troy on the path of self-destruction. This is supposed to be the centrepiece of the movie: boy meets girl. But I assert that this is NOWHERE NEAR as relevant, inspiring and special as when Troy meets Kelsi. There is barely any significance in Troy meeting Gabriella, other than the plot. He could have sang that karaoke with any other girl. There is no evidence that Troy would not have had chemistry with any other of the many girls standing there. But Troy meeting Kelsi is relevant, because this is how Troy is introduced to her music and how he gets to practice the musical. It’s inspiring, because it involves the hero at his very best, reaching out to make friends with an outcast, and showing that he values everyone based on their merits and not based on transient constructs like social hierarchies. It’s special because they forge a bond together near instantly that to me, is far more poignant and deeper than that between Troy and Gabriella. Their bond leads to a solid music partnership, but even more importantly, a strong friendship, UNFAILING loyalty and support for each other throughout the entire movie series. Troy and Gabriella’s meeting leads to a solid music partnership, but not a friendship, and definitely not unfailing loyalty or support, with Gabriella more than happy to abandon Troy when things aren’t going her way. We will discuss more of this in later instalments. But bear that in mind. Furthermore, Troy and Gabriella do not have an esoteric bond. There is nothing between them that only they can understand, except for the fact that they’re together! :D On the contrary, we see Troy and Kelsi totally attuned to each other when performing in ways that are not demonstrated with anyone else. That’s why Troy always looks to her for a boost/confidence. It might just be me, but I don’t see this with Gabriella at all.

All this does is just demonstrate how the screenwriters accidentally did with Troy and Kelsi what they should have done with Troy and Gabriella.

“You’re the Playmaker here, Kelsi.”

[*beaming*] “I am? Do you want to hear how the duet’s supposed to sound?”

So they’ve clicked instantly. Kelsi now decides to trust Troy, a complete stranger, with her music. She is definitely speaking to Troy directly here, even though Gabriella is the first to move towards the piano. She wants to prove herself to him, now that he has given her the confidence to believe in herself, her talent and her music. More importantly, she has decided, in just a few moments, that Troy is the one. Don’t assume I mean this in a romantic way. Sure, it has romantic potential, as I will discuss later. But what I mean is that she just knows-- instinctively-- that Troy is the one who can interpret her songs as she envisions them. He has proven that he gets her, understands her vision and thinks she has potential. Therefore, she sheds the shyness and excitedly offers to play her song, finally getting a chance to show someone what she can do. Please note that Kelsi is not shown to have done this with anyone else. This is why, like I said in the introduction, she only has to NOD at Troy to begin singing a song with which he is relatively unfamiliar. (He certainly hasn’t read the score before). That’s just a silent way of stating that she trusts him to take the music and roll with it. And Troy is surprised by this, as well as her offer to play her song, but notably NOT hesitant. Compare this with when Gabriella found him hiding behind a mop. His expression is wary, awkward and shamefaced, even though they are just spying on the auditions. But when confronted with Kelsi’s song, he gives it a go without thinking, and clearly gets it right, because Kelsi is smiling throughout. I don’t like to speculate, but it appears her smile at the end may be directed more towards Troy than Gabriella.

The fact that she barely needs to prompt Troy to begin also explains why, in HSM II, she felt confident enough to teach him a new song on the very night of the Talent Show at Lava Springs. Previous to that, she had written “You Are The Music In Me”, with the expectation that Troy would participate-- again, I emphasise Troy given her pleading expression is directed at him. In HSM III, she is so comfortable with his style of performing that she lets him incorporate her into his dance routine, which I think is just genius and the mark of a true performer, such as Troy is. I’m sure that Troy needed coaching practicing to sing (vocal runs etc), but their rapport is demonstrated in HSM I when Troy is energetic and riveting whilst PRACTICING the song; so much so that Kelsi feeds off his energy and is standing up, dancing/miming along. Given that Troy does appear more nervous about performing than Gabriella, it would perhaps seem likely that the scene where Kelsi is rehearsing with Gabriella, during which Kelsi shows Gabriella how to breathe properly when singing the chorus, would better apply to him. Maybe it’s just me. I’m making assumptions, but I wonder about these things.

At the end of the duet between Troy and Gabriella, the latter is pleased by the song and how well it went, even though she hasn’t received a chance to audition. Troy, as I have said before, is moved. “Wow… That’s nice.” I have to make this point: THIS is the point at which Troy discovers his love of performing. He did NOT react this way after singing karaoke with Gabriella-- sure, he was surprised, but here he seems stunned, as though he has just released a part of himself. I think this is due to the very emotional and personal nature of the song, and Kelsi’s undeniable talent in expression an emotion into words and music. This is when he realizes that he’s good at this singing thing, and that he can express himself in a totally new way. Remember, performing becomes a part of Troy’s identity, because it’s his method of projecting his true self, his therapy, his way of releasing pent-up frustration and anxiety. And if you think about it, the lyrics have some significance to Troy’s situation himself, but not in the way that the screenwriters want you to think. We’re told to believe that because Troy and Gabriella keep looking at each other throughout, that they are what they have been looking for. But actually, given how powerfully Troy reacts to the song, what he has been looking for is the ability to express this strong talent that he has. In other words, it’s hard for HIM to believe that he had this strong and natural ability to express himself in song: it was there the whole time (when he was singing in the shower!), but he never noticed it. This seems a better interpretation than the unrealistic spectacle of him falling in love with a girl he just met. Therefore, I argue that Kelsi is the reason that he discovers his love of performing, and this seems realistic to me, given their intense chemistry when performing. And taking into consideration how Troy not only takes to Kelsi’s songs in an instant throughout the film series, but makes them uniquely his, I feel certain in stating that Troy’s development is possible without Gabriella, but impossible without Kelsi, who understands him instinctively.

“Bolton! Montez! You have a callback. Kelsi, give them the duet from the second act. Work on it with them.”

How far did Ms Darbus get before hearing them sing? She either has VERY good hearing, or decided to stick around for some reason.

Kelsi excitedly rattles off a list of places where Troy and Gabriella can come and rehearse including her house. Now, there are several other roles available for this musical, meaning several other people auditioning. Kelsi must surely have time with other people on the show, and the natural question is, has she ever invited anyone else to her house for breakfast and rehearsal? It appears that her excitement and openness is entirely down to how Troy has liberated her, given her a chance to prove herself and raised her self-esteem to its highest. Of course, Troy is too bewildered by his sudden opportunity to sing to hear half of what she says, including her “basketball class” comment (it’s basketball practice!), but it remains relevant nonetheless. This sets the precedent for Kelsi’s endearing excitement about all her musical ideas from here on out.

In short, this AMAZING scene is vital for plot and character arc progression, and is therefore the most significant meeting in the movie. Some of the points here are relevant for upcoming instalments, particularly when I discuss the friendship potential and romance potential for Trelsi.

TO BE CONTINUED

(*FOOTNOTE-- Of course, Chad mocking show tunes in musicals is amusing, as later on, he tells Troy that his mother has seen Michael Crawford in “Phantom of the Opera” 27 times. How could Chad have come by this information, unless he too, had been either watching or counting the times his mother watched? I don’t believe a word he says, given that he arrogantly claims that he doesn’t dance, after having danced when school finished for the summer!)

(**FOOTNOTE-- (”So why’re you so afraid of Ryan and Sharpay?”) We can ignore the inclusion of Ryan here, as throughout this movie, he is just Sharpay’s unwilling accomplice. That being said, Kelsi was visibly timid when she asked him “What key?” and didn’t even question him when he told her that HIS rehearsal pianist had done a new arrangement-- a.k.a completely changed KELSI’S song without her prior approval at his and Sharpay’s behest, and chose to just randomly reveal this information to her at the audition. We know this because, Kelsi wanted to know whether they had a particular preferred key. This leads to Kelsi’s surprise and disappointment (she doesn’t even question him on this creative decision with her own intellectual property), making her look useless and unwanted throughout. So actually, I suppose it is fair that Ryan is included here, but I would place Sharpay’s name first, given that, despite Ryan’s complicity in the ruining of Kelsi’s song, his intentions are never malicious or even mean. He simply wants to win the role of Arnold and thinks Sharpay knows best. Later on, when Troy and Gabriella win the roles, he is good-natured about it and doesn’t question the decision.)

#Trelsi OTP #TroyBolton #KelsiNielsen #HSM1 #Playmakers #IFrickingLoveTheseTwo #Deb'sAnalysis #ThisSceneisSOImportant #ToBeContinued #WhatI'veBeenLookingFor #TwinkleTownMusical #MsDarbus

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Windsor hunk who survived bombing before winning army of society girls

Almost exactly a year to the day that Prince Harry married Meghan Markle, Windsor is gearing up for another royal wedding. Once again the ceremony will be held in St George’s Chapel, and the Queen will be among the smiling guests.

But that is where the similarity ends.

This time, there will be no horse-drawn carriage ride, no official range of commemorative china and no flag-waving members of the public straining to catch a glimpse of the bride and groom.

The wedding of Lady Gabriella Windsor, daughter of Princess Michael of Kent, to banker Tom Kingston has no constitutional implications — she is, after all, 51st in line to the throne — and Ella, as she is known to friends, is not a working member of the Royal Family and performs no public duties.

Banker Tom Kingston, 40, is due to marry Lady Gabriella Windsor, daughter of Princess Michael of Kent, in May this year

Gabriella, the 51st in line to the throne, is picturing with her parents the Princess and Prince Michael of Kent

Yet somehow after the glitz and glamour of Hollywood that descended on Windsor for former actress Meghan’s nuptials, the newest recruit to royal ranks will bring not just charm and good looks, but a whiff of derring-do. Fifteen years ago, Ella’s fiancé was working in Baghdad in the dangerous world of hostage negotiation, helping to free captives from the bloodthirsty militias spawned in the wake of the ill-fated war in Iraq.

He had countless narrow escapes in three action-packed years in the Iraqi capital, where he served in the diplomatic missions unit of the Foreign Office, including escaping a suicide-bombing that claimed 22 lives.

No one knew him better in those perilous times than the Reverend Canon Andrew White, who for more than ten years presided over the only Anglican church in Iraq, a role that led to him being dubbed the Vicar of Baghdad.

Yesterday, he recalled Kingston as ‘an exceptional young man’ who ‘makes things happen’. His great strength, he said, was to ‘see beyond the impossible’.

Like the priest with whom he shared a strong faith, Kingston was also an ‘adrenaline junkie’. He helped with his ministry, which built up a following of 6,500 worshippers.

The couple announced their engagement a few days before Christmas, four years after first going out. He proposed on Sark in the Channel Islands, where his parents Martin and Jill have a holiday home

Canon White added: ‘Tom is one of the most remarkable people I have ever worked with and I would have him back at my side tomorrow, if he would come.’

Godliness, however, was not his only quality.

For Kingston, who will be 41 in June, is someone who has always flitted discreetly in and around royal circles, a man about whom friends like to tell tales of amorous adventures.

Women are drawn to his languid confidence, while men have envied his effortless success with the opposite sex.

Indeed, he has attracted some of the prettiest young women around the Prince William and Prince Harry sets.

Among them were Pippa Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge’s sister, now married to hedge fund executive James Matthews — although he denied they were romantically linked — financier Louisa Strutt and Natalie Hicks-Lobbecke, an old flame of Prince William whom he dated while working in Iraq.

He and ‘Nats’, who is now married to baronet’s son Ed Milbank, met when both were at Bristol University.

As one close friend said admiringly: ‘Tom’s great achievement is that none of his old girlfriends have anything but nice things to say about him. Even when it’s all over, they still like him.

‘In old-fashioned terms, he is a gentleman, just the kind of guy you want to introduce to your mother.’

A male friend adds this: ‘He’s one of those guys who can be quite enigmatic and doesn’t tell you what he is thinking. He’s careful. Perhaps it’s a legacy from the work he was doing in Iraq.’

Pointedly, his stag dinner at White’s, the St James’s club, was said to be ‘quiet’.

Kingston has attracted some of the prettiest young women around the Prince William and Prince Harry sets. Among them were Pippa Middleton (pictured), the Duchess of Cambridge’s sister, now married to hedge fund executive James Matthews

All in all, these could be valuable qualities as he contemplates life as Princess Michael of Kent’s son-in-law. She is said to like him enormously and has remarked on his perfect manners.

In an observation many might think typical of the princess, she has also noted that Tom is ‘a bit short’. But then the lofty former secretary Marie Christine von Reibnitz speaks from a position of authority, having introduced height into the House of Windsor.

While friends say the princess may once have had hopes that her only daughter would be betrothed to a duke or, better still, European nobility — it’s said Ella studied Spanish at exclusive Downe House school because of her mother’s dreams that she might marry into Spain’s aristocracy — she is happy about the union.

(Ella went on to graduate from Ivy League Brown University in the U.S. and Oxford, with degrees in comparative literature and social anthropology, and is now a director at Knightsbridge-based Branding Latin America, which promotes that continent in Europe.)

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent leave St Mary’s Hospital in London with their new baby, Lady Gabriella, and son Lord Frederick in April 1981

One thing is certain: with Tom Kingston there is no question of Princess Michael experiencing again the touch of the vapours that followed an extraordinary article in the magazine Vanity Fair which raised the issue of racism and the royals last year.

The article was written by a former boyfriend of Lady Gabriella, Aatish Taseer, a young man with a Sikh mother and Muslim father who, a few years back, some thought might become the Michaels’ son-in-law.

He dated Ella, 38 next month, for three years between 2003 and 2006 and he is now married to a man.

In the article, he flippantly declared that ‘royals and Nazis go together like blini and caviar’ and claimed that Princess Michael owned two black sheep at her former country home, where he often stayed, which she named Venus and Serena after the African-American Williams tennis sisters.

Piquantly, he wrote that the princess, although ‘generally free of British colonial prejudices’, was nonetheless ‘of the firm belief that it was a bad idea for royalty to marry commoners’.

While Princess Michael was understandably deeply hurt by the betrayal, it was nothing compared with the great embarrassment Taseer dealt ex-girlfriend Ella.

For he boasted that they had swum naked in the Queen’s swimming pool at Buckingham Palace and, more worryingly, that they had taken the drug MDMA — Ecstasy — while guests at Windsor Castle.

At the time, a friend of Ella was reported as describing the allegation as ‘fiction’. ‘Aatish is a novelist. He has an active imagination,’ they said.

The Prince and Princess Michael Of Kent are pictured with their children Lady Gabriella Windsor and Lord Frederick Windsor at Eton School

All the same, the revelations left courtiers stunned, not least because Ella, who has never put a foot wrong, has always been a favourite of the Queen. Happily, there was no lasting damage.

‘Her Majesty agreed to attend her wedding at once,’ I am told. Interestingly, the Queen was not at the Hampton Court ceremony of Ella’s brother, Lord Frederick Windsor, to actress Sophie Winkleman in 2009. As a young man, Freddie found himself in a number of colourful scrapes when he was dubbed London’s ‘most louche lord’.

For Ella, the Taseer episode brought her and Kingston closer. They announced their engagement a few days before Christmas, four years after first going out.

He proposed on Sark in the Channel Islands, where his parents Martin and Jill have a holiday home.

Following other recent newcomers to the Royal Family — Kate Middleton, great-granddaughter of a coalminer, and Meghan Markle, descended from American cotton slaves — Kingston also solidly fits the new egalitarianism of the Windsors.

Kingston also dated (alongside Pippa Middleton, pictured) financier Louisa Strutt and Natalie Hicks-Lobbecke, an old flame of Prince William whom he dated while working in Iraq

His family’s background includes a former ambassador to Denmark and a great-grandfather who was thrice mayor of Walsall in the West Midlands. Tom, who has two sisters, was born in Evesham, Worcestershire. His QC father, a self-made man educated at a secondary modern school, has been a hugely successful barrister specialising in planning law.

Today, the family home is a Grade II-listed manor house in Kemble, Gloucestershire, close to Prince Charles’s Highgrove.

It is from his parents that he has drawn his strong faith — in 2015, his father was elected to the General Synod of the Church of England and his mother is a trustee of a Christian healing centre in Cirencester.

Unlike many young men drawn to Iraq for the business opportunities that followed the 2003 Gulf War, Kingston was on a different mission.

Sent to Baghdad, he was seconded as a project manager for the International Centre for Reconciliation, which is based at Coventry Cathedral, to mediate in disputes between political, religious and tribal leaders and to negotiate the release of hostages.

Baghdad was where Canon White and Tom met. ‘Tom is an individual with a very strong faith,’ recalls the Canon. ‘It was that faith and commitment which led to us working together in Iraq, where we survived some close scrapes. They were a daily occurrence.

‘Tom has a fierce determination to make things succeed and great insight into what makes humans tick, both good and bad. He uses those to see beyond the impossible and get through to the other side.’

His work with Canon White, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, helped maintain the Anglican Church in Baghdad, which was established in 1990. ‘We built up a huge following, hundreds of whom I baptised as children and who have relocated to Jordan. Tom helped me.’

The church was in a former palace of Saddam Hussein’s and the pulpit one of his thrones. ‘Those were good times,’ recalled the clergyman. ‘I think Tom would agree and we have stayed in touch by phone and email since.’

No one knew Kingston better while he was in Iraw than the Reverend Canon Andrew White (pictured), who for more than ten years presided over the only Anglican church in Iraq, a role that led to him being dubbed the Vicar of Baghdad

Both men were in the church when it was targeted in a suicide-bomb attack in 2004.

They had walked in just before the blast, which killed two of the congregation and 20 others.

Intriguingly, Kingston was also at the time working with Prince Michael of Kent, his future father-in-law, even though he had not at that stage met his daughter, Ella.

‘Prince Michael has a relative who is buried on the Mount of Olives. While we were working there, we located the grave for him and ensured it was properly tended,’ added Canon White.

Next week, the two friends are due to meet in London to talk through arrangements for Tom’s wedding in May. It will also be the first time Canon White meets Lady Gabriella.

‘I’m very excited — about seeing them both and about the marriage. I think both her cousins, William and Harry, who are very loyal, will be there with Kate and Meghan.’

Kingston left Baghdad to join Schroders, the private bank. He is currently a director of Devonport Capital, which helps find investment for ‘frontier’ economies and those undergoing postwar reconstruction.

Meanwhile, the couple have a wedding to plan. The ceremony will be followed by a reception for around 400 at Frogmore House, where Harry and Meghan had their evening party. It is being organised by the Queen’s party planner, Lady Elizabeth Anson. That evening, there will be a lively second party for the couple’s friends in London.

And Princess Michael? ‘She will be enormously proud,’ says a friend. ‘She’s been talking about being mother of the bride for more than ten years.’

Additional reporting: Simon Trump

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