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docholligay · 3 months

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The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

THIS IS ALL SPOILERY AND ALL OF IT IS JUST GUSHING AND RAMBLING AND VIBES. NO ACTUAL REVIEW WE DIE LIKE MEN.

I love this book. We all know I love this book. I have read this book at least a dozen time sand we all know I'm going to read it again. I'm never sure whether I like this or Tipping the Velvet more, but I think as a piece of literature, this is the better book. (But Tipping the Velvet is the one I often recommend to people. Sarah Waters can be hard for some people to hang with and Tipping is her fluffiest.)

Kay Langrish, what a fucking piece of work this bitch is. She's so pathetic, and I do sort of resent her for it, but also I love her. I want to beat the shit out of her. She's Poor Little Rich Butch who literally shuts herself the fuck away and gazes out the window all day. She's one of those people for whom the war was the best thing that ever happened to her, and people like this do exist! Some people are great in a crisis, and some people are ONLY good in a crisis. Is it about her being butch and that being easier in wartime? Sure, but Mickey has it even worse and seems to manage being a member of society. (Mickey is the best person in this novel and perhaps of all time. I love her so much, she takes it all in so much stride in her shitty little houseboat, and then she offers it to Kay. Mickey will be played by Lena Oxton in the blorbo adpatation in my head and Kay will be played by Haruka Tenoh) I think Kay is just a fucking rich loser, and I love that for her.

Viv! What a moron. My wife read this book and her takeaway was the the book was about "Gay losers and a token sad straight woman" and she is not wrong. I love how much Viv hates her life in the present day and how pathetic she feels it all is, but she can't get away from it, because! Yes!! I always privately hope that the book will be different this time and there's an afterword where Viv goes and finds Kay and they get together, because I think Viv could be perfectly happy being Kay's wife and being doted on. She wants that! And Reggie will never ever give it to her (blah blah not being into women whatever it's my fantasy afterword and I can do what I want with it)

Speaking of morons let's talk about Helen. I hate Helen and I LOVE her storyline. I love her absolute dedication to ruining her own life. I'm not saying she has to love Kay, I would love to be doted on by Kay but it's not for everyone, and I'm not entirely convinced they didn't get together for any reason other than Helen felt grateful to her. BUT, what about with Julia? What about her insane reactions, the way she barely allows Julia to have friends, the way every time they go a party Helen acts like everyone is trying to fuck Julia? She basically manifests an affair into happening by her constant assumption that it is. IF Julia is sleeping around, of course that's her bad behavior, but let's not pretend like Helen's ridiculous suspicion and quarreling over nothing, her low-key resentment of Julia's success, isn't doing anything.

And Duncan, man, talk about your easily led, whatever's happening is what may as well happen, type. His thing with the junk that he considers 'antique' is so sad. He lives in a little boy's room and is kept like a little boy as a sexual pet and it would be disturbing if it wasn't so much just what Duncan had decided was the logical next step just like killing himself along with Alec. He was happier in fucking prison, it almost seems because there at least everything was just...decided for him.

I wonder if Waters isn't making a commentary about the idea that London and the UK more broadly was "never better than in the Blitz" and all that Blitz spirit stuff which i confess I can be real prone to as well, but I don't live there and am allowed to engage in a bit of romance over a situation that in no way involves me. Is Waters saying, "If we think that we, as a country, city, community, were never better than when we were actively being firebombed, it might just be that we have decided that, and have decided not to make ourselves better than that moment. Anytime, we could decide to be a better London & UK, but we aren't doing that. We're staring at the rubble and wishing we were there." I don't know! I have literally never thought this before it just came to me while writing this, it might be bullshit.

Basically the summary of this novel could be "Four people ruin their own lives because they aren't sure they deserve anything better" and I wouldn't argue with that. I love this book so fucking much.

#doc reads

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athenaholmesartistsguild · 3 months

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I've only just started chapter 3 of Gaiden but I am absolutely obsessed with the theme of powerlessness and how it's conveyed within the game.

I can't help but notice how often Kiryu says he 'doesn't have a choice' when doing pretty much anything. Even if it's in super banal, low-stakes interactions like doing something for Akame, he's constantly stating that he feels as if he has no agency in his current situation.

In the previous Kiryu Saga games, Kiryu is painfully aware of the consequences of his actions, but he still regards them as choices that he made; not something he was forced into.

His status as a Daidoji agent has basically beaten him into submission. He'll occasionally try to fight against this absolute control over him, but he's eventually returned to his position as a pawn in this huge, shadowy organization. The Daidoji are the first organization/power structure that managed to get control over Kiryu's tendency to burn shit to the ground and good god do they take advantage of that.

But then Kiryu's also painfully aware that this is the reality he asked for. Not only does he outright say this multiple times, but he's telling others that 'they started this' when they're confronting him and it's so obvious that he's talking to himself.

He's constantly bouncing between feeling miserable and powerless and then resenting these feelings and berating himself for having them in the first place. He's grasping at any sliver of control he can still have over his life, not to find meaning in his new existence, but to further punish and abuse himself.

I can't remember the exact post, but I saw someone describe Gaiden as a love letter to the Kiryu Saga and that's the best way to describe it, I think.

Kiryu's arc in his games is an incredibly slow car crash where we witness in painful detail how incapable he is of permanently leaving his life as yakuza to protect his family.

He has this almost codependent relationship with the Tojo Clan and feels a compulsive urge to get involved in the constant crises happening.

Of course, there were outside factors that were trying to pull him into these conflicts. Everyone believes that he's the only one who can fix everything. Kiryu's name carries power. Isn't it disgustingly selfish to refuse to get involved when he was the one who chose the clan's chairmen?

How could he refuse to deliver a single letter after the 5th chairman was shot right in front of him?

How could he ignore the people threatening to take his orphanage away from him and his kids?

How could he tell his daughter that she can't become an idol because of his past?

How could he justify staying alive when it did nothing but bring harm to his family?

What choice did he have?

But remember, you chose this, Kiryu.

#Ughhhhh Gaiden's so fucking good you guys.#I'm both super excited for Infinite Wealth and absolutely terrified of what's gonna happen.#I can just tell it's gonna fuck me up.#Guess we'll see how much damage Gaiden does first :')#I also find it interesting how Kashiwagi seems to be more of a parental figure in Kiryu's life than Kazama.#I'll probably write something more detailed later but Kiryu has a line at the end of the ChatGPT quest where he mentions Kashiwagi #and I thought it was interesting that he was more concerned with making Kashiwagi mad than Kazama.#Almost as if Kazama wasn't around as much as Kashiwagi.#yakuza analysis #kiryu kazuma #like a dragon gaiden spoilers #yakuza 6 spoilers #tagging is kinda weird since the Yakuza series got rebranded lol. Obviously 'Like a Dragon' fits better than 'Yakuza'#since all our protags leave the Yakuza like. Immediately.#But I feel like in a few years there's gonna be a divide between people who are new to the series and the pre-rebrand fans tagging-wise.#all us moldy oldies are gonna be using the 'Yakuza' tag while the other half of the fandom is tagging everything with 'LAD'#But it's always fun to watch fandoms evolve and change so I guess we'll see!

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sapphire-weapon · 8 months

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How do you imagine Leon as a dad?

depends on how he becomes a dad tbh

like I see a lot of fandom headcanoning Leon as such a devoted and hands-on dad, but Sherry Birkin would like to have a fucking word with you about that LMAO

if a condom broke during a one-night stand, Leon would absolutely be a dad basically only in name. maybe the woman gives their kid his last name, maybe she doesn't. but Leon is just a monthly check that comes in and also that guy who shows up on birthdays and maybe holidays when the kid is younger. like, don't get me wrong, it's a big check, and his kid never wants for anything and is fully taken care of, but the kid just doesn't have a real, actual dad in their life. and then Leon pretty much gives up come middle school when it's clear his kid wants nothing to do with him.

I think he would want to do more and be more, but his job and his life literally do not allow for him to do that. not only does it not give him the time to spare or the predictability to be dependable, but he's also staunchly unwilling to rope some chick and their innocent child into the nightmare hellscape that is his life. he'd rather have his kid know next to nothing about him and resent him for it than expose his kid to the horrors of bioterrorism.

if Leon was to accidentally impregnate a girlfriend, he'd be a bit more hands-on -- because it's not like any girlfriend would be completely oblivious to what he actually does for a living. but he'd be a constant source of frustration and disappointment in a family setting. in some ways, this is worse than the one-night stand kid, because there's no pretense or broken promises with the one-night stand kid. one-night stand kid knows that their dad isn't going to be around, doesn't expect him to be around, and never asks him for anything as a result.

an accidental kid with a girlfriend is constantly going to get flaked on -- and not on purpose, but just due to the reality that is Leon's life. Leon's going to do his best to try to be an active part of this kid's life, and it's going to blow up in everyone's faces. he'll have to break promises and go back on his word constantly, which will piss off his babymama because he'll always be pushing shit back onto her to pick up the pieces when he can't follow through with his responsibilities.

because, like. he still wouldn't live with them. he'd still be at a distance from them. he'd still view his family as just a part of his life and not something that exists at the centerpoint of it, which sucks and makes everything harder.

if Leon was somehow in a position to deliberately plan to have a child, that's a completely different ballgame. all of the bullshit about his life would be hashed out ahead of time with his girlfriend/wife, and contingency plans would be made in case he suddenly got called away for xyz reason. this kid would be programmed from a very early age to see their dad's erratic schedule as normal and expect him to disappear for stretches at a time because he has a Very Important Job.

and because there's a baseline of expectation already set and plans in place for backup, I see this going so much more smoothly. everything exists within reason and expectation, and this is the version of dad Leon who actually has a good relationship with his kid. he may not be around all the time, but when he is around, he's genuinely invested in his kid's life and achievements and wants to hear about their day and gets involved with their interests and shit. he knows who his kid's friends are -- maybe not well, but knows them decently enough.

in fact, Leon planning out having a kid and then actually going through with it might just be the best thing for his mental health. it gives him something to come home to and something to keep fighting for. that kid would be a constant source of hope for him to draw on at any point, no matter where he's at or what he's doing.

#resident evil #leon kennedy

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allthelittlecreepycrawlies · 1 year

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Nie-Centric Ideas, Part One

Nie Huaisang becomes immortal by unknown means to see his brother's soul safely back into reincarnation. Though he hasn't forgiven Jin Guangyao he figures karma can take over from here and releases him too.

The world is changing. The number of ghosts and monsters to be fought is declining, and the sects are becoming less needed. Everyone he knows has either passed back into the cycle or gone to explore.

He has other plans. He knows that if he doesn't stop himself, he will search endlessly for his brother's reincarnations, and Da-ge deserves better than to be saddled with him ever again in any fashion. Moreover, with fewer ghosts and criminals to feed on, the sabers in the tombs are getting restless.

Since his ascension has only amplified the resentment within him, it's easy to kill two birds with one stone. Sealed away in the tomb by his own doing, he sleeps, and the sabers sleep with him, their spirits quietly fading away one by one from the effects of the arrays he painstakingly painted on stone and cloth and flesh.

After hundreds of years, he and Baxia are the only ones left, still sleeping hidden away from a world that has entirely forgotten they ever existed.

Until someone breaks the seal.

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One of the basics of comic books is that time travel usually doesn't work because it doesn't fix the timeline you came from, it just splits off a new one. Imagine Nie Huaisang having this realization after several failed attempts and having a massive breakdown at the knowledge that he inadvertently created and condemned multiple versions of the brother he wanted to save.

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Imagine that after the bonfire incident, Nie Mingjue knows he went too far, but he can't just say it. He can't let himself be that vulnerable when it already feels like everything's crashing in on him. The thought of replacing what was destroyed comes to him, but then he remembers Jin Guangyao making the same offer and he's angry all over again.

But he can't just let this go, he hurt the most important person in the whole world to him.

And then three days after the funeral, a package arrives addressed to Nie Huaisang. It’s a full set of expensive pigments and the most beautifully made brushes he's ever seen.

Swamped in grief and his own guilt, he can't bring himself to use them.

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Imagining post-canon in which Nie Huaisang is trapped in a Black Mercy-style spell that gives someone a dream of the life they'd always wanted in exchange for feeding off them. Just as the others (nebulous handwave as to who's there) are getting ready to try and break it, the spell shatters, overcome from the inside.

Someone, maybe Zizhen because none of the grownups want to talk about it, gently prodding a recovering Nie Huaisang as to how he got out on his own so easily.

He shrugs. "The spell was too outlandish. I figured out everything was fake almost immediately."

"Because... Chifeng-zun was alive?"

"Hm... no. No... that was at least plausible, if things had gone differently. No, it went too far by having me be married."

"To whom?"

"Doesn't matter. Even in an ideal world, it would have never been an option," he mutters dismissively, then has a servant escort Zizhen out.

Of course, Zizhen isn't just gonna let that go. Now he has a mystery to solve!

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Imagine that when Nie Mingjue is having really shitty near-deviation days, he has to seek out, not damaging, but just weird stimuli just to be sure his senses are still working. Like putting honey on a pork bun then dipping the whole thing in vinegar, just to see if he can still taste it.

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So many sad Nie Huaisang ideas involve him giving away or selling his birds...

...what about a horror variant where he's found eating them?

And he has no idea. Completely checked out from reality.

Trauma? Possession? No longer entirely human? So many options.

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Nie Mingjue stress eats, Nie Huaisang stress cooks, but their idea of stress food is diametrically opposed so Nie Huaisang ends up having to give away all his hard effort (not that their friends mind at ALL) because Da-ge won't eat anything but raw veggies! The nerve!

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Happy ending Orpheus and Eurydice-style story where after several reincarnations, Nie Mingjue starts getting his memories back and realizes that, since the more impact a person has on your life, the more likely you are to meet them again, and yet he has never seen his brother since that first life, Nie Huaisang must not be reincarnating. So he decides that either through magical means or just straight taking his own life, he's going to find his brother and pull him back into the reincarnation cycle.

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In a timeline where Jin Guangyao kills Nie Huaisang either because he caught on to the revenge plan or for some other political reason, it proves to be a huge mistake.

Because their mutual hatred of him caused the Nies' souls to be tethered in death and vengeful ghost!Nie Huaisang was able to find his da-ge's pieces much quicker than he ever would have been able to while living.

Now Jin Guangyao has two monsters out for his blood.

#mdzs #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #nie brothers #ouyang zizhen #jin guangyao #ideas #long post

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theminecraftbox · 1 year

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This ask is really for you and angela both - what would’ve happened if nettle was conceived much earlier in the timeline, say during the basement era? How does having a biological kid together change the family dynamics, if at all? Does it make everything ten times worse or does it speedrun them into the contract era earlier? How does having a sibling alter briar’s experience of growing up? and most importantly are the kids able to unionize

oh what a lovely scenario. This would inflict such psychic damage on everyone involved.

There’s another question implicit here, which is, do they keep it. Sam, despite the various and sundry violations to Dream’s autonomy he commits on a daily basis, would not force Dream to terminate the pregnancy, nor to keep it if Dream insisted he didn’t want it. He’s pro-choice, he’s a liberal, #Trust. No matter what, though, they’re both torn. Sam loves the idea of this child of his already, even though he truly can’t handle the idea that it’s also Dream’s. Dream doesn’t, but he does like the idea of something to hold over Sam: nine months of good treatment, for a start, and possibly future concessions to be extracted. He’s also afraid of giving Sam even more leverage. And of course, this would mean the cat’s out of the bag to Briar. Absolutely no one wants that!

Mostly, though, neither Sam nor Dream is anywhere NEAR ready to face the Ramifications of their, erm, “relationship” being anything other than an extension of prison sex—it’s a dirty secret, something that only exists after dark and without acknowledgment. Sam thinks of it as a shameful indulgence. Dream thinks of it as a twisted way to exercise power. They both think of it as a grimy concession to the reality of two lonely people stuck with only each other.

But let’s say Dream keeps it, and Dream has Nettle, when Briar is ten or eleven or so. The basic components are similar. Sam loves Nettle, Dream loves her as his child and also kind of hates her as Sam’s. Sam loves Nettle and he loves Briar, and his love for them both is an acceptable form of loving Dream.

Sam would try to keep Nettle away from Dream as much as possible, minimizing his corrupting influence, and then realize that raising a newborn AND raising an extremely hostile eleven year old AND keeping a guy in your basement is very difficult as a single dad. He’d be sort of forced to give Dream more privileges… but he’d resent the hell out of Dream for it. Things are on a permanent knife’s edge. Briar’s resentment and sleep deprivation don’t help.

Briar would be very, VERY upset at both Dream and Sam. He’d feel supplanted and replaced and unable to understand why and how this has happened. Why is his mom sleeping with the enemy? When Dream sat him down to try to explain things, he said Sam didn’t force him into anything, but that’s so stupid when Dream isn’t even allowed to eat without Sam’s say-so! The lines of what Briar is supposed to hate Sam for and what he isn’t get so confusing so fast. He’s too young for this mess.

I think the kids don’t even have time to unionize because I think things fall apart rather quickly in this scenario. The helplessness of a newborn means that there’s more urgency from everybody. Sam wants to get her away from Dream; Dream wants to get her away from Sam; Briar wants to be anywhere but here. This is not a system at equilibrium. It’s radioactive, and it’s going to fly to pieces fast.

#au: coparent #tw abortion #tw dubcon #c!awesamdream #abuse.#this is like. chaos scenario

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agonycrossbow · 2 months

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"How do you imagine Leon as a dad?"

depends on how he becomes a dad tbh

like I see a lot of fandom headcanoning Leon as such a devoted and hands-on dad, but Sherry Birkin would like to have a fucking word with you about that LMAO

#resident evil headcanons #leon headcanons

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your--isgayrights · 2 years

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I dont know jackshit about naruto but I will admit I may be a Little obsessed w that yoohankim dynamic despite understanding literally nothing you just said

Le sigh Anon if I were cis I would probably be trying to explain naruto to you right now but fortunately for both of us my coming out as transgender meant that I had to go through therapy in highschool and one of the skills I gained is understanding that we don't need to sit here all day hearing my theses about how themes in Naruto relate to the post-imperial economic development of Japan especially in relation to consumption by US markets <3.

YHK <3. I think that HSY being this late game player wouldn't necessarily be a detriment to her involvement in the dynamic because I imagine that IF SOMEONE INSANE ACTUALLY WROTE SOMETHING ABOUT THIS then a sort of Masked version of HSY would appear early on as The Big Bad and we sort of only understand her motivations later on... Like, to make an analogy you have no hope of understanding Anon dearest <3, she's sort of our Tobi of the Akatsuki and maybe she has a part in manipulating YJH away from the village in the first place but she seems like a background villain until everyone realizes how fucking OP she is she can just like Create new ninjutsus and mass weapons of distruction she's basically like a fucking god on earth... but she only really cares about maintaining the time stream in a way that just like... lets KDJ live longer? Like she's actually manipulating all these things to benefit him and make him learn lessons she thinks he needs like how she creates the world of WoS in the original sort of shaped to what she wants to tell young dokja... but KDJ still Resents her in this verse because obviously one of those things is that she sort of keeps him seperate from YJH because she like KNOWS that YJH wants to kill him and extract his powers so she's actually trying to kill YJH before he can do that but then obvi KDJ gets on her with that "if he goes I go" bs and she's like UGH.

I think there also comes a time when the two HSYs merge and KDJ like feels like he lost the "real" hsy because she got subsumed by the big bad HSY but like just after seeing everything big bad HSY saw "real" hsy just... came to the same conclusions. Although now all powerful HSY is sort of tempered by the fact that she now has all these memories of KDJ living the peaceful life he lead because of her... She also begins to understand the amount of suffering that being separate from YJH has caused and is kind of like... UGH. FINE. I'll, like, not kill him I guess. Fuck you. This makes world peace like a bajillion times harder. and KDJ is like fuck you more... So they'd be working on the same side but still hate each other...

Ok I admit I'm neglecting YJH here... I guess he'll form pacheonmaeng kind of like Sasuke forms the Taka (again anon you don't know what that means im sorry that's sasuke's gang of gays and girlies that Naruto thinks are a bad influence but actually sasuke's a bad influence on them okay) and then he's doing a bunch of things to dismantle world governments like a good unemployed terrorist <3. The big conflict between him and KDJ comes up when KDJ is trying to leverage political power by making allies to establish peace and then YJH is just trying to burn everything down and thinks that every power involved in war just needs to be taken the fuck out (ala Pain, wait you don't know who that is, sorry.) to end everything he's just going to take them all down. And KDJ is dealing with him basically like yjh of 1863 in the endgame you know he's like YJH i understand you and your suffering but I just want you to know there's a better way... I want a happy ending for you... Which is obviously a big obstacle for his political maneuvering, which is why HSY wants to get rid of YJH so KDJ can live up to his potential of ending the ninja wars BUT KDJ has no motivation to end the wars if YJH doesn't still exist...

Ok I've decided that HSY's shadow clone can't travel forward in time, only backward. Whenever she travels back in time she has to like. Wait it out. Which is fine because her shadow clone self is like functionally immortal; which I like because that gives her an equivalent of the sort of 50 years she had to spend alone in the Kaixnex arc (i still don't know how that's spelled). Which is why she goes through KDJ's life backwards like that and then goes all the way back to create ... She thinks that KDJ is like, The One who is going to end the ninja war and establish peace among the shinobi nations, because she remembers that he managed to do so much in the present that she hadn't been able to do in the eternity she spent in the past... She probably also only had like some limitted abilities on how she could interfere with the past (like she did in the epilogue) otherwise I think she woulda just killed KDJ's dad and baby-snatched him lmao.

Then I think that the final battle is actually something kind of trippy and thematic where some version of KDJ from some kind of time stream continuum (OD equivalent) maintains the state of the world in conflict because... conflict is what he was born into, and the state of eternity that he longs for is with his two friends at ninja school training to be child soldiers... So like the big theme in Naruto is reaching back for the past, holding onto precious memories, and believing that a bond exists and keeps existing no matter what... I think in the end of this crossover I'd want to challenge that by having HSY, KDJ, and YJH have to like take down that version of KDJ that is longing for the past and instead all work together to make a new future together by combining their different ideals and strengths.... Although KDJ would DEFINITELY want to do it like Ungently, like he would be like "I've been what's holding you both back from being happy all this time..." and they're like KDJ shut the FUCK up we should have just been Good Friends and sat on the fucking swingset With You lets all just Chill Out.

#ask #anonymous #do i need to make a tag for this idk #personal #orvuto au

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isdalinarhot · 2 years

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okay i can feel marginally more settled dalinar au starting to take up brainspace so ive a question. do Everyones Guys adolin & renarin exist here. like theres interesting things to be done with the plot if they dont and theres also interesting things to be done if they exist but theyre like. someone elses kids? anyways im interested in the thoughts

THEY DEFFO EXIST I just haven’t figured out Exactly how they’re different though because it would involve ocs…. Basically Evi still went to the Kholin highprince for a political marriage of protection it’s just that the Kholin highprince was a completely different guy. So Adolin and Renarin still have a similar upbringing and stuff but Evi doesn’t get fucking killed to death. Ideas:

-Kaves has somehow used a Ponzi scheme to take over the throne and she marries Kaves and they are confused by each other but delighted with each other (funniest option by far but also very implausible 😔)

-but if not that:

-I think it would be really neat if Unnamed Highprince were also autistic but managed to pull it off because he’s still physically healthy and his special interest is like. shardblades. so everyone is like look at this knowledgeable pinnacle of Vorin masculinity. Autism be damned my boy can murder.

-I think Evi would still sort of have the “Alethkar is such a violent place and I feel so out of place :(“ feels but like Unnamed Highprince also feels out of place just for different reasons so they bond with each other about that. I think they both have a Shared List ™ of Alethi social norms that make No Fucking Sense

-I think Adolin and Renarin grow up as a couple of kids who nobody really thinks about because like people look at the Kholin highprincedom as like oh these guys have no fucking idea what they’re doing -_-

-and I think Adolin specifically really resents that. Like he figures out pretty quickly that people do Not respect his immediate family and that everyone talks about how secretly Navani has got to be running everything and that makes him so frustrated like he’s a nice guy but by god he is going to throw rocks at sooooo many people. Like I think that’s the main difference between him and canon Adolin is that this Adolin has even more Righteous Hate in his heart than canon Adolin. Like >:) i think he’s mysteriously murdered a handful of other people in addition to Sadeas in his life but nobody can prove anything

-Adolin specifically would be like. You know how the fandom at large tends to reduce Adolin to friendly sunshine airhead even though he also has chomp and bite killing violence sorts of moments? I think gunkverse Adolin would have the opposite thing going on where people would be like oh he’s edgy he’s killing some guys he’s brooding he’s emo completely overlooking that he gives great hugs and likes to make friends more than enemies if he can help it

-Renarin is having the time of his goddamn life being supported and loved :)

-I think that not only would the shardblades-are-deadeyes thing get discovered a lot sooner, I think Adolin and his dad would have matching sword besties bonds

-there are probably more thoughts to have but I am not good at thinking them right now

#hey look an ask #gunkverse

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the-lone-witch-and-secret-room · 3 years

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The Blight twins, codependency and fatal communication failure

Recently I talked about “the Blight children and toxic behaviors”, specifically about the tough love fallacy and how their parents get them to target each other rather than backing each other up.

In that post I mentioned wanting to make one specifically on the relationship of the Blight twins, and, well, here we are.

When we think of The Owl House and unhealthy/toxic platonic relationships, we think of the one Amity has with the twins in the earlier episodes, or Eda and Lilith, or the one the Blight kids have with their parents. I’m pretty sure very few people would look at these words and think of Edric and Emira… but it’s true nonetheless. The twins are raised in a very toxic environment that teaches them a lot of unhealthy mechanisms. The heavily codependent relationship the two siblings share is incredibly unhealthy for both of them.

Let’s get into why.

More under cut because hell this got long.

Who am I without you?

The Blight Twins always show up as a unit. They’re a set of two, who share the same track and are involved in the same shenanigans.

We never see them separate from each other in the show. Not a single time.

Their mother picks their matching outfits, according to Dana, because she likes her kids to be “color-coordinated.” They’re supposed to always look similar.

To Amity, they’re a united front—we don’t get to see her relationship to them separate from each other, we only get her relationship with “the twins.”

As far as I’m aware we’ve never gotten art from Dana featuring just one of them. They’re also often treated as a pair by the fandom (outside of their respective ships, that is), showing up together and showcasing very similar behaviors in fics, showing up together in fanart, etc.

We don’t have much content of just one of them with Amity (or anyone else that’s not their romantic partner).

You also don’t generally see them disagreeing a lot in fan content, which is interesting. Despite being two separate characters, they don’t get to actually be separate from each other a ton.

The main difference you see in their portrayal is in Emira being treated as the more responsible older sister, while Edric gets treated as more goofy (and a bit of an idiot), both in the show and fanon content. But that’s essentially it.

The twins are the twins. There’s no “just Edric” or “just Emira”. They don’t seem to exist without each other.

Their united front is both their greatest strength and their weakest link. They likely experienced a similar abuse as the one Amity went through, but they always had each other to lean on instead of enduring it alone. And while it definitely helps them a ton that they have each other, it also results in an unhealthy amount of codependency. Edric and Emira ONLY ever had each other. Their relationship with Amity is pretty bad and outside of that almost nonexistent up until Lost In Language, mostly used to hurt each other. Edric is always with Emira and Emira is always with Edric and there is no one else they can fall back on. Their most important relationship, the one with each other, is simultaneously the only one they have, one that they desperately clung to for a very long time. They don’t have any friends that we’re aware of.

Both Emira’s and Edric’s worst fear is born out of this. Despite being completely opposite fears, they stem from the same basic issue. In Enchanting Grom Fright, when they talk about their worst fears, Edric says “Being alone forever.” while Emira says “Being stuck with you forever.”

There is so much characterization in those two little sentences.

Edric has a fear of being alone because he’s always around Emira. He doesn’t know what it’s like to be alone, and he doesn’t want to find out. He doesn’t know who he is without Emira. This is somewhat subtle in the show, but she’s shown to be the more responsible of the two, preventing her brother from eating snow and being bitten by a bat. Edric looks to Emira for guidance, and his fear of being alone might stem from him not thinking himself capable of taking care of himself. Emira is smart and knows what she’s doing, and so Edric always runs after her. Even just entertaining the thought of being without her, without anyone to guide him, scares him so much that he proclaims it his worst fear. He likely leans on Emira a ton.

His desire to to lean on other people because he thinks himself incapable of handling issues himself comes with the possibility of him opening up easier, to the extent of oversharing, doing it so much that it becomes overbearing for Emira. But even if he can open up about some of the fears he has related to not meeting their parents expectations, he can’t really communicate the issues he has that involve Emira, because open communication about their issues is something they generally struggle with (see the point about lack of communication further below). Edric is under the impression that he needs someone else because he’s never been without Emira and doesn’t know what it’s like to exist without her. And as long as he has someone to lean on, he never has to find out if he’s truly as incapable as he thinks himself to be. His refusal to let go of her fuels his fear further—the tighter he holds on, the scarier the thought of letting go becomes.

Emira doesn’t know who she is without Edric either, and that’s exactly the reason she wants to break out of that dynamic so desperately. She doesn’t want to be nothing but someone’s twin for the rest of her life. She wants to just be herself, not have all her interests linked to her brother, for people to stop mentioning her only in the same sentence as Edric. She’s had enough of the matching. What Emira really wants is independence—from her brother, and, to a larger extent, her parents and their control.

Edric leaning on her as much as he does makes Emira feel responsible for him, and she struggles to let go of that because she doesn’t want to hurt him—but the tighter he holds on because he believes he needs her, the more overwhelmed Emira feels by her brother and the responsibility she holds for both of them.

Emira loves Edric, but she’s his sister, and can’t provide him with emotional support 24/7. Spending all day handling someone else’s issues can be pretty draining, especially when you struggle to share the ones you yourself have.

With Emira’s longing for independence comes a refusal to lean on anyone, especially on Edric, because she can’t at the same time let herself be vulnerable and need his support while also wanting to break out of their current dynamic. So Emira doesn’t talk about her issues, she doesn’t cry, she doesn’t lean on anyone. Emira is independent and strong and she doesn’t need anyone, especially not Edric.

It likely started out as them leaning on each other, but where Edric started to become too dependent on Emira always being there, Emira started growing increasingly overwhelmed and pulling back, catching them in a vicious circle of him trying to hold on tighter in order not to lose her, which causes her to draw back further.

To be clear:

a) Emira is not a terrible person for wanting to be away from Edric. What she said hurt him and came across as callous, but what he said harmed her too, even if the “why” that I just explained isn’t as blatantly obvious in the show. Edric isn’t a terrible person for relying on Emira so much, either. Neither of them are inherently malicious in any way, even if they do hurt each other. That they have to deal with these issues in the first place is rooted in the abuse they experienced, specifically in their parents treating them as a two-part set rather than two separate people their whole life.

b) I think it should be clear now why Edric’s behavior is toxic, but I want to address that Emira’s behavior is also an issue. While her desire for independence in itself is normal and healthy, she’s striving for a toxic kind of independence where she doesn’t need anyone anymore, which wouldn’t be good for her either.

Everyone needs to rely on other people sometimes, and if she doesn’t allow herself to, it’s going to cause some serious damaged in the long run. The most reliable relationship she had, the only support system she has, falls victim to her desire to be away from Edric… and only after she is she’s going to realize just how much she needed him, needed anyone to be there, too.

I think it’s very interesting that Edric’s and Emira’s issues are essentially inverted—they have the same root, but their problems are the exact opposite.

Edric is Emira’s mirror image.

This is also shown visually. With the matching clothes and identical dominant features (eye and hair color), they look extremely similar. Their beauty marks are what makes them into a mirror image rather than just looking identical, because they’re on opposite sides of their face. Emira’s is on her right cheek, Edric’s on his left. If they face each other, the marks mirror each other perfectly.

They had the same thing in the concept art I’ve seen of them too, but it was with identical earrings on opposite sides rather than beauty marks.

Caged Freedom

I couldn’t find a way to somehow smoothly fit this into the overlaying topic, but it’s an important part of the reason for their communication issues I go into below, and also just something that I wanted to go into, so take it or leave it.

The twins appear extremely confident, seem like they always get what they want (Amity even resents them for “getting away with everything”), but they really, really doesn’t. Sneaking out of school is the only way they can have the slightest bit of normalcy and freedom and control over their life, and Edric and Emira cannot be caught or it will come back to bite them—the reason they wanted to punish Amity in the first place is that she told on them for skipping, getting them in trouble.

Even within their “rebellion” against their parents, there’s a set system Emira and Edric have to operate within—matching clothes, perfect scores, not doing anything that could get back to their parents or harm the family reputation. Despite skipping school, they both maintain excellent grades. It’s said in Adventures in the Elements, Amity is even trying to beat their best score on an exam.

It’s a careful, calculated kind of resistance, not one that includes them openly opposing their parents. They do things their parents wouldn’t like, they tread lines, but they’re being smart about it, in hopes it will never get back to their parents. Even their limited freedom is caged in that way.

Despite seeming as confident as they do, they’re too scared to talk back to their parents. They cause exactly the kind of trouble that they know is possible to get away with without putting themselves in harm’s way. Going further, openly calling their parents out for how they’re being treated, would be dangerous, and so they don’t. They operate within the system and follow it as much as they have to in order to be able to push the boundaries even slightly.

Their endless confidence, their apparent fearlessness, is just another illusion of theirs.

They wouldn’t need to get back at Amity for telling on them if their behavior was just a huge “fuck you” to their parents. But they do, because their parents aren’t supposed to know. They’re scared, even if they’d never admit that.

Emira and Edric target Amity as a way to cope with the treatment they receive from their parents, which they to an extent blame on Amity (I’ve gone over this more in-depth in the toxic behaviors post I linked above).

Hurting Amity in hopes she won’t tell on them again seems safe in a way that actively calling out their parents behavior could never be.

Lack of Communication

Edric and Emira both have trouble communicating their feelings in a healthy way, and instead of open communication and talking things through they revert to backhand comments and punishment.

They grown up believing that severe punishments are necessary, “tough love” used to help someone improve as shown (and literally quoted) in Lost In Language in regards to Amity. That’s also something I go into my other Blight sibs post.

Regarding the backhand comments, let’s look at their worst fears in Enchanting Grom Fright again. As explained above, Emira’s “being stuck with you forever”-fear is a shitty attempt at trying to get across that she’s unhappy with never getting to be apart from Edric to just be herself. Edric’s “being alone forever” brings up a huge fear of his, especially of being abandoned by Em, which, regarding her worst fear, is justified.

Both of these fears are extremely understandable, and they don’t necessarily have to be at odds with each other—Emira just wants to not feel overwhelmed by Edric, and figure out who she is, and she doesn’t have to completely abandon him to achieve that, even if it’s something she might think she wants now. Edric has to find a way to be able to rely on himself more because Emira can’t always be around him, but he can still maintain a close, positive relationship with her, and would absolutely be able to make other friends that could support him.

What them voicing these fears is, for both of them, is a desperate cry for help, for change. Edric wouldn’t be bringing this up if there wasn’t a part of him that desperately wants to talk to Emira about this, and in the same way Emira wouldn’t have said her fear if she wouldn’t want it too. But the issue is that the twins don’t actually communicate. They put these huge things out there, validating the other’s worst fear with what they say. And then they don’t talk it out. These sentences just hang in the air between them, and then they move on like nothing happened, both anxious and hurt.

And this is because the Blight family in general doesn’t communicate. As mentioned before, the twins don’t dare to talk back to their parents, they do things behind their backs and hope they won’t get caught. They don’t communicate with Amity, and despite Edric and Emira being the closest person the other has, they don’t really communicate the issues in their relationship with each other either, because they don’t know how. This is not a skill they were ever taught, because talking things through like that requires them to be extremely vulnerable. To acknowledge what their worst fears are and why, that they might have gone too far or might have been wrong about some of the things they said, and therefore admit to not being perfect.

But Blights are required to be perfect, and Blights aren’t wrong—if others don’t see things your way, you make them. If others don’t act the way you want them to, you punish them. Tough love to help them grow and “encourage” them to make the “right” decision.

There’s no room for open communication in an environment that sees vulnerability as a shortcoming, and admitting mistakes as a weakness. If neither party is willing to take the first step, communication withers and dies, and the issues go ignored as they grow. Admitting there’s an issue in the first place, and that it might partially be your fault, is considered backing down. And Blights don’t back down. They can’t.

If you back down in business, let others convince you into a bad contact, you’ll never be successful. Worst case: it might be the end. And so you don’t back down. You never do. Blights don’t lose an argument. The other person has to break and back down first.

But that can’t work when both people involved were raised with that mindset. So Emira doesn’t make the first step, and neither does Edric, and aside from their backhand comments that never lead anywhere, they just suffer silently as their relationship disintegrates without as much as their acknowledgement of it.

For Edric, there’s also the issue that bringing up his fear might possibly drive Emira further away, knowing her fear. He doesn’t want to make her angry, and doesn’t want to fight with her, because it might lead to him losing her, which is exactly what he so desperately wants to prevent.

I can’t remember which post brought it up, but one post I read a while back also addresses how despite admitting that her behavior was wrong, we never hear Amity say “sorry” to Willow. Because if there’s one thing the Blight family does even less than admitting mistakes in the first place, it’s apologizing for them. Open communication is weak. Apologizing is weaker.

In summary: There needs to be a balance between depending on yourself and still being able to ask others for support when you need it, and Emira and Edric are currently sitting on opposite ends of the same issue. Both of them need to move more towards the middle. What one of them so desperately wants is what the other needs to recognize.

Emira realizes that she needs space from Edric, and because Edric doesn’t recognize it, he’s the one that needs space from Emira more. He desperately needs to realize that clinging to each other the way they currently are isn’t healthy.

Edric realizes that he needs support from other people, and that’s something Emira denies for herself that she really needs to realize.

They both have half of the solution to their shared problem, but their difficulties communicating the issues within their relationship properly prevent them from finding a healthy solution together.

For everyone that’s incredibly sad now (myself included): I cover these topics in several of my fics.

Most prominently, Locked Out, where I’m currently beginning to explore the Blight twins and their different mindsets further.

Most recently, Sleight of Hand, a collab fic I did with my friend @lexa-alycia, where, among other things, the twins have a long overdue conversation regarding the things said in Enchanting Grom Fright.

But also 6/8 of my currently posted Owl House fics (not counting another additional two that also do and are done but haven’t been posted yet) give focus to at least one of the Blight twins if not both, so yeah I have plenty of twins content on my profile for anyone that wants XD

Next up, probably (because I just do not want to be done with this apparently): a post regarding Vinem and Jerbric and why these relationships would work and be extremely beneficial for everyone involved.

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plan-d-to-i · 2 years

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I see posts and twits (even from the people who don't like JC) about how JGY and XY are evil but JC is not, and I just don't understand?? like, if he was just a basic bitch, jealous and resentful and bitter, I would understand, but the guy planed and lead a siege to kill his 'brother' and people he knew where not a threat, knowing there was a toddler there! and then he spent the next 13 years (openly) being a serial killer who tortured and brutally murdered people routinely just because he could and knew he would get away with it, with no regrets, no empathy, not even a hint he had doubts about his actions. He used his power to target people who didn't have any chance against him, who were vulnerable; he trained his sect into being experts in abducting his victims, he tried to teach it to his kid nephew! How could that not be evil? Even if we ignore everything else he did, how can a serial killer be anything but evil?

I understand that the author said he is not, and maybe it's just me projecting, but she seemed to say it to avoid his fans? like she was reluctant to speak much about him at all? for me, the fact that she compared him to XY says more than anything that yes, he is evil.

sorry for the rant, I guess I'm just trying to understand. If you share this viewpoint about him, would you mind explaining why? (not that you need to explain anything, I'm just genuinely confused and don't know who else to ask. I trust your opinions, they are always clear and intelligent, so I decided to chance it.)

byw, I understand that he was a minor villain or an antagonist, whatever. He was boring and dumb. I just don't think it exempts him from being evil.

complex villain mastermind? no, he is too dumb and boring. But that doesn't exempt him from being evil.

If you happen to think he isn't evil would you mind explaining why? not that you need to justify your feelings and thoughts, but I'm genuinely confused about it. i know the author said he wasn't evil, but I always had the impression she was reluctant abt speaking of him at all, bc of his fans. That she compared him to XY says a lot, I think.

Ahah it's funny, I also felt from the interview that she didn't want to come right out and say something negative about jc and provoke his fans.

"In my mind, Jiang Cheng does have some fans, and these fans are really vocal about him in the comment section. So, I think there’s a lot of people who like him. They don’t treat him as the bad guy." (x)

lol Because the interviewer asked her several times if she doesn't think he's bad lol. But naturally that's just a vibe. She did something similar in the novel postscript:

Everyone should know what Jiang Cheng’s keyword is without me saying it. In the beginning, I thought with with XY’s existence, Jiang Cheng’s negative energy would definitely seem skimpy.

I'm like, no no tells us the keyword lol! But in the end it's really just negative energy. She thought XY would make his seems skimpy but it wasn't the case lmao! Another comparison to XY.

Male Host: So what do you think was Xue Yang as a person? Just as you have described Jiang Cheng?

MXTX: A person with a distroted world view. An unhappy childhood, someone who …deserves to be beaten by the protagonist. (x)

lol & that's the thing, "evil" is a pretty subjective word- like "love". What's "evil" to me or you may not be "evil" in the eyes of someone else. For example I don't think jc is capable of love, because he's too self involved to feel empathy for anyone else. Similarly, I suppose I wouldn't call jc purposefully malevolent. I think he's bad in the way particularly shitty people are bad when they have the power and privilege to give their faults free rein without fear of consequences. Because of his social position, wealth and strong cultivation the deep flaws in his character are enabled to do extensive, permanent damage unchecked. It's after all something that his father worried about and tried to instruct him against. That's why I think words like "evil" are ultimately useless to classify things. jc is not purposely setting out to do evil on a grand scale but he's deeply damaging nonetheless. Instead of helping his people jc is busy trying to still track down and kill WWX after he already caused his death and the death of everyone he was protecting. His own people are too terrified to seek his help. He demands things from others but doesn't repay his own debts. He only talks about what he's owed. He doesn't take responsibly for anything but only blames others. He's filled with envy and resentment for those who are better than him instead of striving to be a better person himself. His parenting not only did a number on his nephew emotionally but pushed him to repeatedly put himself in life threatening situations. He's so incredibly self absorbed, his concerns revolve only around himself. In that way, more than being evil, I just think his existence is damaging to others and I'd see zero drawbacks to humanity in having less people like him walking around.

#mdzs #answers #jiang cheng

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thesoulspulse · 2 years

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Regarding Owen Ravenwood (Revenant or Living Ghost)

Honestly at this point I’m just elaborating on important story elements that aren’t going to change much once I begin working on a new updated version of Owen’s story but I hope you’re enjoying learning more about him anyway! Now then, I mentioned the anime Kyo Kara Maoh I used to be super into in high-school, right? So the main character is named Yuri Shibuya, a normal Japanese high-school student who finds out he’s the demon king of another world that was reincarnated on Earth for his own protection. A lot of my early stories involve some sort of reincarnation theme since I like the idea of past versions of themselves helping the current one fulfill some sort of grand destiny...

The same goes for Owen, but the biggest advantage here is this gave me a way to realistically have him born with his ‘ghost’ powers so to speak instead of getting them some other way since his parents are perfectly normal compared to Danny’s ghost hunting parents. That’s what makes him a Revenant which means “a person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.” And I thought adding the other meaning of being a ‘Living Ghost’ was cool too because technically Owen has died many times, he’s just always reincarnated almost immediately after for reasons I’ll get into later. Let’s just say he’s a special case even among Necromancers and not being able to move onto his paradise is because he has a huge task ahead of him and this lifetime as Owen is when he needs to put an end to the threat of Lilith and her demons/wraiths since those are especially dangerous to ghosts who tend to have darker pasts and bitterness that makes them more susceptible to corruption and being turned into one themselves and having their souls stolen.

Anyways, unlike other Necromancers Owen has his own special necromancer form to manifest the power of his soul which becomes active when he basically fully possesses his own body which is how I explained it. In that form, he can do almost everything a ghost can do with the added bonus of the natural protection he has against demonic corruption and ghostly possession from anyone else. Everyone has their limits though and what makes Necromancers so valuable and yet dangerous is that they can control ghosts to some extent because ghosts are naturally drawn to them in order to get the help they need if they want it move onto their true afterlife in the Evermore, aka the opposite of the Unworld idea Butch called the Elsewhereness which to be frank just sounds like Elsweyr from Skyrim but they can also enhance ghost powers...

In extreme cases, Necromancers can also destroy a ghost’s core but they prefer to banish them back to the Ghost Zone unless they have no other choice. This skill is mainly used to destroy demons/wraiths because those are the embodiment of evil that revel in their cruel ways and exist to capture souls to send to Lilith and create more of their kind to serve her. They’re basically like Heartless from the Kingdom Hearts series but scarier because they are actively cruel and will do anything to corrupt the souls of humans and ghosts alike, although as I said the latter are much more vulnerable due to most of their tragic pasts or lingering resentment.

And finally, on another note the reason Owen was born with partially white hair and red eyes is because it’s a sign that this is the lifetime he needs to confront Lilith in plus he has partial albinism which means there’s no color pigment in most of his hair and the red in his eyes are just the blood vessels. When he changes form though, his blood glows blue just like a normal ghost’s blood glows green. Like I said before though, this blood is harmful to anyone with ill intentions so only the most greedy and dangerous ghosts will risk going toe to toe with a Necromancer. Obviously normal Necromancers can’t fly without using some sort of spell, but Owen can since he’s technically been as close as you can get to a ghost before being reborn.

That brings us to the most complicated part of Owen’s past that still haunts him to this day, Azrael. I might change the name since I plan to change his appearance since the old design needs some work, but this guy, oh man does he have issues. Azrael knew Owen in one of his past lives and was devoted to his family to such an extent that he wished they could be real brothers so they did a ritual to become blood-kin/brothers without understanding the implications. So when the person Owen was died unexpectedly during a battle, Azrael did as well and become the first Necromancer to ever become an actual ghost since they automatically end up in either the Evermore or Nevermore depending on their actions in life. He became bound to Owen and knew what he was destined to become so he did his best to guide Owen, but, that devotion soon became obsession and slowly began corrupting him too...

But, it’s also thanks to Azrael that a certain Vlad Masters came across Owen’s family Grimoire and the boy himself just in the nick of time when his powers started to manifest more and more as his 16th birthday drew near. Owen’s parents were long gone and even if they were still around, neither of them would have been able to help him perform his coming of age Rite. As a half-ghost though and the richest man in the world, Vlad was in the unique position of not only being an expert on ghosts, but he also had the power and resources to protect Owen from something evil that is a huge threat to even ghosts. And in the process, Vlad learns how to love again and what it means to be a father when he meets someone who actually DOES need him and is willing to see the good and the bad in him and accept Vlad for who he is despite his flaws.

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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 21, second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Flute Solo

For some reason Wei Wuxian has decided to take a walk outside of the fortress, or behind the fortress, or something? Can people just take a stroll outside during wartime? Seems unwise.

There are guards and these extra-bossy crows herding some Wen prisoners along, and Wei Wuxian stands up above and gets totally overwhelmed by resentful energy.

He falls to one knee while clutching his chest, in the spot where all cultivators seem to stow a bag of holding. I guess this is the Xuanwu sword? Or maybe it's his surgical incision; those things can take a while to finish healing. I think the golden core is further down in the abdomen, though; this is right over his heart.

Wen Qing, Granny, and Fourth Uncle are in the group, but Wen Qing has her hood up so Wei Wuxian can't see her, and he's unlikely to remember the other two, since he only saw them that one time at the shrine, and he doesn't remember people he's literally had dinner with.

The guards decide to be assholes and beat the shit out of a prisoner because he fell down, which inspires some extra aggressive crows to swoop in and attack the not-dead guy on the ground. That is...not how carrion-eaters behave, generally. They're pretty good about waiting for you to stop moving.

Wei Wuxian continues to struggle, obviously having an orgasm in a lot of pain, and starting to leak resentful energy.

(more after the cut)

He brings his flute up and starts playing it, which causes the wind to rise, rocks to fall from a nearby cliff, and the whole group of people on the ground under him to start having Yin Iron lines crawling up their faces.

Would Wen Qing be a beautiful fierce corpse? She would.

Eventually Wei Wuxian stops torturing everybody, having gotten it out of his system for a bit, and stands up. The group gets up, skin clearing up, and starts moving along again, a little shook. Wen Qing looks up and sees Wei Wuxian and hides her face in anguish.

She was there in the dungeon, listening to the same flute music, when he was resentfully slaughtering everyone around her in Yiling. Does she understand what she’s seeing, what he’s become?

Her hood is off and it seems that he sees her, or at least that he is trying to figure out what he's seeing. But Jiang Yanli arrives before he can do more than look puzzled and cast his eyes around.

Jiang Yanli asks him what just happened and he laughs and says it was the strong wind, in an extremely transparent lie that Yanli nearly chokes trying to swallow. She drags him back to the meeting while he continues to look troubled.

War Council

Meanwhile, the war council is meeting. This is mostly a boring rehash of stuff we already know, but someone has drawn a nice big map that's been installed in a custom frame. Because apparently the table with the mountains on it is not a good enough representation of "and then we will walk from our house to Wen Ruohan's house," which is basically their plan. The gist of this scene is that Wen Ruohan having the Yin Iron gives him an advantage, in case we needed to be reminded of that.

The doors fly open and Wei Wuxian and his fabulous ass literally blow into the room.

Everyone reacts in a comically extreme way.

He casts his eyes malevolently and/or sexily over to Lan Wangji, who is still grumpy with him, while Jiang Cheng comes up and stands almost as close to him as Lan Wangji used to.

He tells everybody that he might have something to counteract the yin iron.

Everybody: Really? Do tell!

Wei Wuxian: Happy to!

Wei Wuxian: *theatrical side-eye at judgy ex boyfriend*

Wei Wuxian: Actually, nope.

He says "we'll see in about a month" while fondling whatever is hidden next to his ribcage.

This behavior, while ridiculous, isn't quite as absurd as it seems from a corporate-meeting standpoint. Part of what cultivators do is invent and refine spiritual tools. So when Wei Wuxian makes this speech, the people in the meeting are going to infer that he is creating a spiritual tool to counter the Yin Iron.

Now it's Lan Xichen's turn to ask everybody’s favorite question. Lan Xichen wasn’t at the party when everyone else asked him, and we're apparently supposed to believe these gossips haven't been talking about the not-sword-carrying 24x7.

Wei Wuxian says he's just not in the mood, and we get to see Lan Xichen's impressive ability to hold his face completely still while he represses his desire to slap someone.

Jin Zixun complains about Wei Wuxian after he leaves, but for once his bitching is on point; he correctly surmises that the counter to yin iron is...yin iron.

Now, to be fair, the yin tiger amulet is different from the yin iron because it exists in the novel Wei Wuxian specially refines it to be more manageable than the sword it started from. And maybe it’s gel coated to be easier on the stomach. But it's basically the same shit.

Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue exchange intense gazes, just to prove that the young people aren’t the only ones who know how to eye fuck.

Lying Is Forbidden

Lan Xichen talks to Lan Wangji, and we discover that Lan Wangji is perfectly capable of lying. He manages to maintain a reputation for not lying but I think the trick is that he just avoids talking in general, so when, for example, people in later years say "who's your masked boyfriend" he just doesn't answer, which isn't really lying. (How many times did Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen ask “where did you get this kid?” and just not get an answer, I wonder.)

At other times he actually directly lies, as when he claims he is “just passing through” Yiling on a night hunt. The current conversation with Lan Xichen definitely involves actual lying.

Let's play multiple choice answers with the Lan brothers!

Q: Why is WWX so confident we can have Yin Iron against WRH in a month?

a.) Because he's been walking around with that Xuanwu sword for months, and it is obviously made of Yin iron b.) because he used a fucking ghost flute to flay Wen Chao more or less in front of me, so he is clearly down with some dark magics c.) I don’t know

Q: Was the death of people in the Yiling supervisory office really related to yin iron?

a.) obviously b.) maybe he was using some other source of overwhelming necromantic power c.) no, he’s not like that

Q. When you approached Yiling, was there anything unusual?

a.) yes, the talismans had been altered to draw in evil spirits b.) yes, everyone except his particular friend Wen Qing had killed themselves in horrifying, outlandish ways c.) are there rules already set for everything in the world?

Xichen, bless him, actually lets Lan Wangji change the subject like that and answers his question honestly.

Xichen: Actually, rules are pretty much shit Wangji: fucking hell, you're telling me this NOW? What have I been doing for the past 18 years then?

They both look just ridiculously beautiful in this conversation. Lan Wangji’s affect with his brother is so interesting. He’s trusting, emotionally open, willing to be seen...but only because he knows Lan Xichen won’t push past his barriers, won’t force him to speak the truth of what’s on his mind.

Awkwardness

The Yunmeng bros roll up, and awkwardness ensues.

Wangji is frowning hard. His frowns are of the micro variety just like his smiles, but boy they are consistent and Wei Wuxian and Xichen both know how to read them.

Wei Wuxian gives Lan Xichen a small, sunny smile--it seems genuine, not like the fake ones he's trotting out on demand for his family.

Then he gives Lan Wangji a pointed gaze of yearning and reproachfulness, which Lan Wangji returns, switching from frowning to a softer expression that seems about equal parts hurt, apology, and thirst.

Wei Wuxian reacts to that by bowing again and leaving, with Jiang Cheng quickly following, wondering what the fuck just happened.

Lans Xichen and Wangji pivot gracefully to watch them go, which Lan Wangji should know is not correct post-breakup behavior; you're supposed to act disinterested, my dude.

And then Lan Xichen asks Lan Wangji what the fuck is going on. Lan Wangji gets one more lie in, saying he's not worried about Wei Wuxian, before reapplying his frown and walking away from the conversation.

Macroexpression Brothers

OP was wrong about Wei Wuxian not hugging Jiang Cheng any more--here he is hanging on him just like the old days, and Jiang Cheng is shoving him off, just like the old days. However, it emerges that this is mostly an act that WWX is putting on to seem normal.

Jiang Cheng wants to know what's wrong between him and Lan Wangji, and asks why they broke up. Wei Wuxian points out that Jiang Cheng didn't like him dating Lan Wangji before, so why is he pushing him to get back together with him now, and Jiang Cheng says that now they're allies in a war, so Wei Wuxian needs to do his duty and help keep Lan Wangji in fighting trim, nudge nudge.

Then he starts lecturing Wei Wuxian about sword cultivation and generally good behavior, and Wei Wuxian theatrically nods and give him appraising looks, telling him he really seems like a clan leader now.

Jiang Cheng headshakes this away. Wei Wuxian actually giving Jiang Cheng a sincere compliment here, disguised as teasing, and he's not wrong. Jiang Cheng has matured and is becoming a strong leader. Not strong enough to ignore peer pressure, but that’s true of most clan leaders in this environment. They’re not supposed to ignore peer pressure.

Wei Wuxian is pointing it out for his own reasons - he doesn't want to be having this conversation - but it's nice to see him giving his clan leader his due.

Jiang Cheng walks away as Wei Wuxian smiles after him; as soon as he's out of sight the smile falls off of Wei Wuxian's face as fast as fast as gravity can take it. It's like someone snuffed a candle.

No one bites back as hard On their anger None of my pain and woe Can show through

But my dreams, they aren't as empty As my conscience seems to be I have hours, only lonely My love is vengeance that's never free

More Awkwardness

Lan Wangji and his ambivalence come looking for Wei Wuxian, standing outside his door and raising a hand to knock before changing his mind and fleeing.

Lan Wangji is on the back foot for the first time in his relationship with Wei Wuxian; this boy who pursued and pursued and PURSUED him is now a man who won't speak to him. This boy who hung on every one of his words, and saw through all of his minute facial expressions, has become a man who won't listen to him. Lan Wangji is in the position of pursuer, now, and it's not a role he's well equipped for.

Yanli stops him as he's bailing. He looks so relieved to see her, but he tries to escape immediately after greeting her. She stops him so she can ask what the fuck is going on.

Unfortunately, Wei Wuxian rolls up while Lan Wangji is in the middle of talking to her. He's telling her about the heterodox cultivation, and Wei Wuxian busts him. Wei Wuxian steps up and asks what he was telling her, and Lan Wangji says "Wei Ying," but doesn't get much further than that.

Nunya

Wei Wuxian reminds him that he told him to stay out of Jiang Clan business. Now, here I want to mention that "private" and "not your bidness" are culturally specific concepts. OP, for example, grew up in version of Irish-American culture so secretive that the problems of a person's life and (often) the cause of their death are things only discovered by whoever inherits their papers. [OP inherited 3 generations of letters a few years ago, and HOO BOY]

In the version of Chinese culture which we see in this drama, your choices, thoughts & troubles belong to the family and clan, not just to you. Wei Wuxian, in shutting his elder sister out of his struggles, is not family-ing correctly. Jiang Yanli is right to try to get around that by asking his friend. His friend is also right to give her--in sanitized form--the information she is asking for.

Wei Wuxian has zero trust in Lan Wangji at this point, unfortunately. He doesn’t know that Lan Wangji has been lying to cover for him; he just knows he’s being a grumpy aggressive holy roller. Now, when Lan Wangji has just been given permission to disregard all 3000 rules and look at a person’s heart, that person’s heart has been hardened against him.

Yanli is used to dealing with Wei Wuxian's moods at this point -- after all, a lifetime of Jiang Cheng has got her used to volatile little brothers, and Wei Wuxian is clearly a new, not-improved man since his return.

She tries to get him to chill out while Lan Wangji gives him a death glare -- not a return to the earlier generalized frown, more of a specific "I can't believe how full of shit you are" frown.

Wei Wuxian calls him Lan Er Gongzi, like a dick. Lan Wangji started this but at this point Wei Wuxian is kind of in the lead for who is being The Worst. Lan Wangji executes a beautiful 180 and walks away at top speed.

Wei Wuxian asks Yanli if he talked about Yiling and when she says he didn't, he realizes he fucked up.

He goes running after him and calls him Lan Zhan and says "listen to me" but Lan Wangji is no longer in a listening mood.

Eat A Dick Sword

Lan Wangji is so far in his feelings at this point that he just hauls out his sword and goes after Wei Wuxian, taking complete control of the interaction and forcing Wei Wuxian to concede the fight. Aww, he’s so angry! I love him.

This is a rough moment for Wei Wuxian. He really genuinely can't hold his own against Lan Wangji, unless he's going to directly use necromancy against him the way he does later in their final confrontation.

When they first met he was able to defend himself on the rooftop without drawing his sword, but he's weaker now; Chenqing is an adequate hand weapon against most cultivators and puppets, but it's not a match for Lan Wangji's full attack.

Wei Wuxian is not enjoying this fight, and can’t win in, so he just throws in the towel, exposing his throat and trusting Lan Wangji's control.

On the surface, this fight appears to re-establish their former rapport, but it puts them on such an uneven footing it might actually drive a larger wedge between them. I think that Lan Wangji has made a strategic error in doing this.

Lan Wangji seems to want to prove to Wei Wuxian that his new style of cultivation is inadequate, that he would do better with a sword. Swordplay was the beginning of their relationship; their matched power was the source of their mutual attraction. Lan Wangji can't accept that Wei Wuxian has given it up; he doesn't (yet) respect his agency enough to assume that he has a good reason.

This fight functions as yet another punishment that Lan Wangji doles out to Wei Wuxian; not a physical one, this time, but a psychological one, and their relationship pays the price.

By attacking Wei Wuxian and forcing him to concede, Lan Wangji is showing that they're unequal. By criticizing Wei Wuxian's lack of progress and asking him the same goddamn question everybody else is asking him -- where is your sword? -- Lan Wangji is humiliating him.

This encounter does not re-establish Wei Wuxian’s trust in him; it just forces him to accept Lan Wangji’s authority, for now. Which is not what either of them really wants.

Soundtrack: Behind Blue Eyes, by The Who

Writing Prompt: What would Wei Wuxian have said if Lan Wangji had listened to him instead of drawing his sword?

#the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #the untamed meta #cql #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs #2810 word count

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c-is-for-circinate · 3 years

Text

Ok, Hades gameplay reaction time!

(Because I have been terrible this quarantine year about posting thoughts about stories I've been invested in, and I'm really enjoying this game, and I'm playing basically blind and I have theories, and what is tumblr for if not recording those things to look back on later.)

I love this specific kind of fantasy/speculative fiction, that straddles the line between 'allegory clearly designed to explore a real-world issue' and 'the themes of this reflect real-world issues but also everything is times one million for drama and setting's sake'. I love it so much. Because, look, this is a story about a teenager/young adult trying to gather up the skills and resources and help he needs to escape his controlling, possessive, emotionally abusive father's house. That's it. Strip away all of the trappings, and that's what the story is about. By comparison, I think about Star Wars. (I love Star Wars too.) That's also a story about a dysfunctional fucked-up family dynamic. But that family is fucked up because dad went on a magic-corruption-induced killing spree, and his twin children were separated at birth to be raised in seclusion with the intention of someday taking him down, and look, that's cool, but it's definitely not how people actually are. All of the dysfunction in that family is an outgrowth of the fantastical setting, which means it is fantastical dysfunction. It can occasionally mirror or remind us of real-life interactions, but it's a fantasy. Which is great and fun to watch and very comforting and so on, but I don't necessarily want that in every story, and I love Hades because it is not that, at all. When you extend out the basic 'kid trying to escape his toxic home environment', Hades is the story of Zagreus trying to get out with the help of his dad's estranged, complicated, wealthy and powerful family, who are absolutely part of the reason why dad is Like That in the first place, and may not be any more reliable in the long run but who he needs right now. And his stepmom and teacher, who love him enough to help him leave, unconditionally and supportively (ask me how many feelings I have about 'look, Hades can't hurt me for helping you, don't worry about me, I am going to take care of you and that means helping you get out of this house' coming from an adult authority figure, ask me). And his dad's employees, who like him but also have to fear the old man's wrath, and walk that line in different places the best they can. And stepmom's long-estranged parent, because this is a story about families and how they split apart and come back together. And all of that is so real, so grounded in actual, concrete, this-is-how-humans-work family dynamics. But it's also individual. The story works so well because Hades isn't just a silhouette of the controlling asshole father; he is clearly The Way He Is for reasons, complicated ones, good and bad alike. The Way He Is has details, particularities, paperwork, a dog he pretends not to love and rely on. He is specific. Nyx and Achilles are specific, not just generic kind stepmom here to be a trope inversion and cardboard cutout teacher. Nyx has backstory and personality of her own, Achilles has a complex history, opinions, a missing lover, and they BOTH have very particular relationships with Hades that aren't just boilerplate script. Yes, there's abstraction there, you meet these characters in brief visual novel-esque three-line conversations over the course of dozens of escape runs, of course there's abstraction--but there's the very real sense that all of these people have nuance, have good and bad days, that they've made choices to be who they are, even if we don't know what those choices are yet. And, like Star Wars, some of the ways in which this story is so specific rely entirely on the fact of the otherworldly setting! I've seen stories that go the other way, that try to use their setting entirely as window dressing, and they end up feeling so flat I can't even remember them right now because they don't let the environment lend complexity and nuance to their characters at all. The environment these characters live in matters. The absolute control Hades exerts over his surroundings is a divine power. The fact that everyone Zag runs into, for or against him, is either immortal or immortally dead, changes how the react to

one another and to the situation at hand. The shape of his attempted escapes (gauntlet combat with a variety of legendary weapons) might be an allegorical construct of the genre, true, but it doesn't work in any sort of real-world setting where there exists the possibility of authority figures above or aside from Hades and his extended fucked-up family. That's part of why the family is so fucked-up in the first place. But these changes still fit well within the realm of, 'yeah, if you took this extremely real-life dynamic and added these factors to it, I can envision people doing this thing'. I can envision these specific people doing this thing. They add to the specificity of these characters. Letting them be influenced by their unreal surroundings makes them more real. So hell yes for good storytelling!!!!

I'm still relatively early in the game (by which I mean I'm like thirty runs in but only just got past Meg for the third time, because I am not good at this game, although in my defense it's only the seventh video game and second button-mashing game I have ever played in my life so there's that), but I'm starting to develop suspicions about Persephone. Because, look, outside of Persephone's absence from the underworld, this story knows its Greek mythology, uses it, revels in it. And there is some kind of mystery still shrouding Persephone leaving in the first place. She left a goodbye to Cerberus in her letter but not to her own son. Nyx has warned Zagreus multiple times not to let the Olympians know she's his mother. He literally never even knew she existed. That's complicated! Add to that, Persephone left--the exact thing we are trying and failing to do again and again and again. She left with one note, which means either she managed a one-shot speedrun out of the entire realm or she had some other way to leave, because if she'd washed up in the Styx pool to plod back to her room and try again, she wouldn't've needed to leave the note in the first place. And, you know, she's Persephone. Really quite famous for leaving the Underworld! Also quite famous for being forced back. So. I'm wondering if Zagreus, so conspicuously absent from her goodbye, has something to do with it after all. Six pomegranate seeds condemned Persephone to six months, half a year, half her life. I wonder if a child that's half of her her constitutes a fitting trade instead. Which, of course Hades would be even more resentful and dismissive and cruel to the kid he got in place of the wife he loved (who he chased away by being cold in the first place). Of course Persephone would have difficulty saying goodbye to her son in those circumstances. It would make sense. The tricky thing here is how the Olympians fit into it, because I also suspect the rift between Hades and Zeus sprang from Persephone's departure. And yet, if the Olympians never knew Zagreus existed, let alone that he's Persephone's son--how can he count as payment into the deal in their eyes? So in that case, what does Zeus think is the justification for Persephone leaving, after the pomegranate thing? Or are we just not doing the pomegranate thing at all? It would be a shame to lose it entirely, out of a story that really seems to enjoy the myths it's playing with. And there should be something complex here, something more than simply 'mom fucked off and left because dad sucked and now I'm following her because same'. It feels more complex than that. 'Mom and dad had a baby to try and save their marriage, it didn't work, but when mom left she had to leave me behind because otherwise dad would have gotten the cops and her extended family involved' feels more right, while still just as grounded in reality as the story has been so far.

I sort of want to write some meta about how each of the six legendary weapons corresponds to their original divine wielder, but I haven't unlocked all of their codex entries yet (look I am very bad with ranged weapons in this game ok, I am working on it), and I still need to think about the details. Aside from, of course, fuck yes of course Hestia's the one with the railgun. Leave drama and elegance and traditional weaponry to her brothers and sister (Demeter, who knows how to get her hands dirty, gets a pass). Hestia is out here to get shit done. With a grenade launcher.

#hades #hades game #zagreus #hades spoilers #I do not know this fandom are there tags I should be using?#C plays stuff #long post #driveby meta attack

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phantasmagoriaoriginals · 3 years

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Here There be Monsters: Mage Basic Intros (Part 1)

Hyousa

She/her, Red Mage.

Her history is fairly normal. While her mother died in Hyousa’s early childhood, she was close with her father and lived happily enough even after the loss. She joined the Organization willingly for the sake of making a difference in the world, even mostly unaware of how difficult that would be. Cream was given to her as a Familiar a couple years in.

Cheerful, energetic, and persistently optimistic, Hyousa is the kind of person who aggressively sees the best in the world and everyone in it. While some people consider her hopelessly naive, her determination can’t be beat. Hyousa is actively, willingly kind to everyone who crosses her path, whether they deserve it or not. She chooses to see the best.

Her magic is the typical Red— pure power made of her own magical energy. It’s completely suited for physical combat, but somehow, Hyousa manages not to make it violent. She fights to help people!

5′5, 19. Thin, girlish build which nonetheless carries quite a bit of lean muscle. Short, cinnamon brown hair worn mostly slicked back and out of her face, with only a few strands escaping to fall on her forehead. Wide, bright brown eyes, fair skin. She constantly fidgets around.

Sinclair

She/her, Purple Mage.

After growing up at an orphanage following the death of her parents in an unfortunate accident, Sinclair willingly joined the Organization as a way of making use of her magic. She’d mostly taught it to herself as a way of looking after the orphanage’s children, and once she had access to a real way to improve it, she wanted to learn how to use it properly.

Sinclair’s personality is best defined as motherly. She’s an incredibly kind, soft person who others feel innately comfortable around. However, she’s also strict on those who do wrong and wants to see people improve, not be coddled. Caretaking is in her nature. She looks after those around her and does her best to keep everyone happy and well.

Her magic primarily operates around charms imbued with curses and blessings. While she generally prefers to use the blessings to help her allies, when she sets her mind to a curse, it’s deadly.

5′6, early 30′s. Fat, with a pear-shaped, soft build. Wide through the hips and all-around soft. Black, frizzy hair worn around shoulder-length, with shorter-cut bangs. Black eyes, round glasses, and soft, sweet features. Moderately dark brown skin.

Livva

She/her, Yellow Mage.

Born with an innate magic known as the “human sealing container”, Livva was highly valued even from childhood. She spent her early years being passed between “homes” and different people who owned her— usually to use her for her magic or to own an expensive prize—, until the Organization took possession of her instead.

Serious, cold, and disinterested in the world, Livva is the kind of person who rarely shows fondness for anything. She’s seen some of the most selfish sides of humanity, so her worldview is quite corrupted. The things she does are only because she’s forced to, and she has no real attachment or loyalty to anyone or anything. She just exists.

Her magic, as mentioned above, is sealing-based. A seal on her tongue allowed her to hold “objects” inside of her body and release them at will. These things range from artifacts to spells, to even offensive energy.

5′10, mid 20′s. Tall, slightly pear-shaped build with notable curves. White, fluffy hair that falls to her shoulders and has considerably more volume towards the ends. Dark brown, somewhat lifeless eyes, fair skin. Posture is always stiff and near-perfect.

Madeleine

She/her, Orange Mage.

An amnesiac, she lacks any memories from what she assumes to be almost twenty years of life. She only remembers her time with the Organization, and is currently in the process of trying to discover more about her past— including a large, mysterious scar across her chest. However, she doesn’t necessarily want to look too deeply.

Madeleine is friendly, open, and upbeat. Despite her internal issues, she tries to make life better for herself and the people around her. She’s close friends with Sinclair, likes to use her magic for other people’s enjoyment, and is generally a very kind-hearted sort. However, when it comes to missions, she has a serious, brutal side that comes out.

Her magic is similar to Sinclair’s but involves food (specifically sweets) instead of handmade charms. Her desserts have a variety of effects and are more useful in a conflict situation than you’d expect.

5′9, early 30′s. Tall, athletic, curveless build with wide shoulders and strong legs. Dark brown, thigh-length hair worn in thick box braids and a high ponytail. Dark, warm-undertoned skin and sparkling brown eyes. Large, diagonal scar across her chest from collarbone to navel.

Aurora

She/her, Green Mage.

Born without her left leg from the knee down. It took a while to find her a suitable prosthetic, but after getting a highly functional one and practicing plenty, she’s completely adjusted to it. She’s always lived in the shadow of her older sister, Rosaria, who she both adores and resents thanks to a feeling of having to live up to her success.

Strict, intense, and serious, Aurora is the picture of ambition and hard work. She’s always felt a need to compensate for her self-perceived weaknesses and feeling of being “second best”. However, her cold exterior hides a warm heart and burning passion. She’s the type to never give up on anyone or anything when she sets her mind to them.

Aurora’s magic, as Green magic always is, is derived from the world around her. The main way she uses it is to increase her speed, agility, and mobility through absorbed energy from other moving objects.

5′7, early 20′s. Slim, straight build with long legs and a narrow shape. Long, hip-length, white hair worn loose and straight with bangs and shoulder-length sidelocks. Intense gray eyes with pale lashes. Black and silver, high-tech prosthetic from below the knee down on her left leg.

Ranisha

She/they, Blue Mage.

The oldest of many siblings, Ranisha had to grow up fast and take on a lot of responsibility. Developing excessive maturity so early gave her a jaded, logical outlook on the world, where she prioritizes what needs to be done instead of what she wants. She joined the Organization for money as well as something to do with herself that felt like success.

Ranisha is most notably aloof, cold, and efficient. She takes her work very seriously, places her job before any personal desires, and doesn’t make friends easily or well. Seemingly uninterested in anything but what’s assigned to her, many people feel intimidated by her strict nature and harsh standards. She butts heads with Vash quite a bit.

Her magic turns written symbols into weapons manifested solely from her energy. Ranisha favors guns over bladed weapons, can use anything from small pistols to larger rifles, and her accuracy is near-unmatched.

5′8, early-mid 20′s. Fairly average build with slight curves. Somehow petite despite her height. Black, thick hair styled in a short, natural faux hawk with close-cropped sides. Black eyes, dark, cool-toned skin, and pleasant features that are always set in a stern, neutral expression.

Katz

He/him, Brown Mage.

While he grew up as a relatively normal Mage, Katz considers getting involved with the Organization to be the worst mistake he ever made. The job is stable and suits his skills well, but the people he has to deal with drive him absolutely insane. He developed a stress-related drinking habit from a young age, which did nothing to help his nasty attitude.

Katz is the kind of person who’s hit his breaking point. He’s an angry, bitter man who’s perpetually exhausted, short-tempered with everyone around him, and a raging alcoholic on top of all of that. While he’s very good at what he does, Katz is the type who most want to stay far away from. His dead-eyed glare is incredibly intimidating.

His magic focuses on sealing. Specifically, sealing the powers of others. Katz creates items that, when placed on someone’s body, restrain some or all of their magic to whatever extent he crafted them to.

5′11, mid 30′s. Thicker build that’s on the stockier side of muscular. Reddish taupe-colored hair worn in a short style that falls about to his ears and is often slicked back. Fair skin, dark eyes, and a good amount of stubble on his upper lip, cheeks, and chin. Perpetual scowl.

Emilio

He/they, Purple Mage.

A lot of Emilio’s life has been spent wishing he was something other than himself. He grew up relatively average, but underwent a fair amount of bullying for being shy and reclusive. When he learned magic, his main goal was to change himself— and he did that completely. He’s always trying to hide from the person he used to be.

Emilio is best described as a charismatic jokester. Despite being very much a “class clown” type, he exudes so much pleasant, cheerful energy that people can’t help but be drawn to him. However, underneath his sunny disposition is a serious, capable man who wants to give his best to the people close to him... as well as something of a dark side.

The magic he uses revolves around shapeshifting. Emilio can change his own appearance at will and is known to constantly be doing so. No one is sure what his original appearance is, and Emilio isn’t telling.

Mid 20′s. Everything about Emilio’s appearance varies. He can change his height, hair color, eye color, features, build, and more with a simple spell, and he does that frequently. He seems to favor taller, more handsome looks, though, and usually retains bright hair and eye colors.

Vash

He/him, Orange Mage.

Trained in magic from a young age, Vash made it his mission to be as good at it as possible— and gather all the admiration and respect he can. He’s never experienced much in the means of personal hardship, but the standards he’s placed on himself do plenty of damage. He’s been in the organization since he was fifteen, thanks to his family’s choices.

Short-tempered, viciously ambitious, and high-strung to a fault, the main things in life that drive Vash are gaining the approval of everyone around him and making himself look as impressive as possible. He’s a hot-blooded teenager in every sense of the word, and painfully unaware of his own inexperience and how dangerously reckless he can be.

Vash’s magic is typical for the Orange kind. He uses elemental powers; in his case, fire. Despite being made of magic, this fire burns just like the real thing and is every bit as destructive and hard to control.

19, 5′8. Skinny, lanky build with less muscle than you’d expect. Straight, chin-length, black hair usually worn covering one eye. Pale skin, orange eyes, and numerous silver piercings all over his body. Extensive burn scars covering him from his magic going haywire.

Alexander

He/him, Brown Mage.

Born to a prestigious and high-class Mage family, Alexander grew up in the lap of luxury. He was spoiled to a fair extent, but the consequences are fortunately mild. Told from a young age that he’s destined for great things and incredibly capable, Alexander has always felt like he doesn’t have to do much of anything to be successful and loved.

Alexander is friendly, sociable, polite, and generally pleasant to be around. He’s the kind of charismatic person who draws others to him whether he tries to or not. However, he also has an unfortunate tendency of viewing people as lesser than him and expects things that he shouldn’t more often than not. He’s also worryingly naive.

The magic he uses relates to forcefields. Alexander can generate and manipulate forcefields out of his magical energy, and uses them for defense as well as offense. Their purposes are quite varied.

6′1, early 20′s. Tall, broad-shouldered, elegant build. Dark red, wavy hair worn in a short-ish cut and sometimes styled with a low ponytail or pins holding the side back. Dark hazel eyes, handsome features, and fair skin. A perpetually welcoming smile and the posture of a trained nobleman.

#Here There Be Monsters #Hyousa #Sinclair #Livva #Madeleine #Aurora #Ranisha #Katz #Emilio #Vash #Alexander #Character Info

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brawltogethernow · 4 years

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So, I don't think I've ever asked you this... what IS the whole point of the Spider-Sense? It really seems like something that only exists for writers to ignore or work around when they want to inject Legit Tension into a story.

I’ve thought about this power so much, but never with an eye to defend its right to exist, so I needed to think about this. The results could be more concise.

Ironically, given the question, I have to say its main purpose is to ramp up tension. But it’s also a highly variable multitool that a skilled creative team can use for...pretty much anything. It does everything the writer wants it to, while for its wielder always falls just short of doing enough.

I went looking through my photos for a really generic, classic-looking example to use as an image to head this topic, but then I ran into the time Peter absolutely did not reimburse this man for his stolen McDonald’s, so have that instead.

A Scare Chord, But You Can Draw It

That one post that says the spider-sense is just super-anxiety isn’t, like, wrong. It’s a very anxious, dramatic storytelling tool originally designed for a very anxious, dramatic protagonist. I find it speaks to the overall tone of the franchise that some characters are functionally psychics, but with a psychic ability that only points out problems.

Spidey sense pinging? There’s danger, be stressed! Broken? Now the lead won’t even KNOW when there’s a problem, scary! Single character is immune to it? That’s an invisible knife in the dark oh my god what the fuck what the fU--

Like its counterpart in garden variety anxiety, the only time the spider-sense reduces tension is in the middle of a crisis. But in the wish fulfillmenty way that you want in an adventure story to justify exaggerated action sequences, the same way enhanced strength or durability does. Also like those, it would theoretically make someone much safer to have it, but it exists in the story to let your character navigate into and weather more dangerous situations.

For its basic role in a story, a danger sense is a snappy way to rile up both the reader and the protagonist that doesn’t offer much information beyond that it’s time to sit smart because shit is about to go down.

Spidey comic canon is all over the board in quality and genre, and it started needing to subvert its formulas before the creators got a handle on what those formulas even were, and basically no one has read anything approaching most of it at this point, so for consistent examples of a really bare bones use of this power in storytelling, I’d point to the property that’s done the best job yet of boiling down the mechanics of Spider-Man to their absolute most basic essentials for adaptation to a compelling monster of the week TV series.

Or as you probably know it, Danny Phantom. DON’T BOO, I’M RIGHT.

DP is Spider-Man with about 2/3 of the serial numbers filed off and no death (ironically), and Danny’s ghost sense is the most proof in the formula example of what the spidey sense is for: It’s a big sign held up for the viewer that says, “Something is wrong! Pay attention!” Effectively a visual scare chord. It’s about That Drama. And it works, which won it a consistent place in the show’s formula. We’re talking several times an episode here.

So why does it work?

It’s a little counterintuitive, but it’s strong storytelling to tell your audience that something bad is going to happen before it does. A vague, punchy spoiler transforms the ignorant calm before a conflict into a tense moment of anticipation. ...And it makes sure people don’t fail to absorb the beginning of said conflict because they weren’t prepared to shift gears when the scene did. Shock is a valuable tool, too, but treating it like a staple is how you burn out your audience instead of keeping them engaged. Not to go after an easy target, but you need to know how to manage your audience’s alarm if you don’t want to end up like Game of Thrones.

The limits of the spider-sense also keep you on your toes when handled by a smart writer. It tells Peter (everyone’s is a little different, so I’m going to cite the og) about threats to his person, but it doesn’t elaborate with any details when it’s not already obvious why, what kind, and from what. And it doesn’t warn him about anything else-- Which is a pretty critical gap when you zoom out and look at his hero career’s successes and failures and conclude that it’s definitely why he’s lived as long as he has acting the way he does, but was useless as he failed to save a string of people he’d have much rather had live on than him.

(Any long-running superhero mythos has these incidents, but with Peter they’re important to the core themes.)

And since this power is by plot for plot (or because it’s roughly agreed it only really blares about threats that check at least two boxes of being major, immediate, or physical), it always kicks in enough to register when the danger is bearing down...when it’s too late to actually do anything about it if “anything” is a more complex action than “dodge”.

Really? Not until the elevator doors started to open?

That Distinctive, Crunchy Spider Flavor

The spider-sense and its little pen squiggles go hand in hand with wallcrawling (and its unique and instantly identifiable associated body language) to make the Spider-Person powerset enduringly iconic and elevate characters with it from being generic mid-level super-bricks. Visually, but also in how it shapes the story.

I said it can share a narrative role with super strength. But when you end a fight and go home, super strength continues to make your character feel powerful, probably safer than they’d be otherwise, maybe dangerous.

The spider-sense just keeps blaring, “Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong! God, why aren’t you doing something about this!?”

Pretty morose thing to live with, for a safety net! Kind of a double edged sword you have there! Could be constantly being hyperattuned to problems would prime you for a negative outlook on life. Kind of seems like a power that would make it impossible for a moral person to take a day off, leading them into a beleaguered and resentful yet dutiful attitude about the whole superhero gig! Might build up to some of the core traits of this mythos, maybe! Might lead to a lot of fifteen minute retirement stories, or something. Might even be a built in ‘great responsibility’ alarm that gets you a main character who as a rule is not going to stop fighting until he physically cannot fight anymore.

Certainly not apropos of anything, just throwing this short lived barely-a-joke tagline up for fun.

One of my personal favorite things about stories with superpowers is keeping in mind how they cause the people who have them to act in unusual ways outside of fights, so when you tell me that these people have an entire extra sense that tells them when the gas in their house is leaking through a barely useful hot/cold warning system that never turns off, I’m like, eyes emojis, popcorn out, notebook open, listening intently, spectacles on, the whole deal.

It also contributes to Peter Parker’s personality in a way I really enjoy: It allows him to act like an irrational maniac. When you know exactly when a situation becomes dangerous and how much, normal levels of caution go out the window and absolutely nothing you do makes sense from an exterior standpoint anymore. That’s the good shit. I would like to see more exploration of how the non-Parker characters experiencing the world in this incredibly altered way bounce in response.

It’s also one of many tools in this franchise hauling the reader into relating more closely with the main character. The backbone of classic Spidey is probably being in on secrets only Peter and the reader know which completely reframe how one views the situation on the page. It’s just a big irony mine for the whole first decade. A convenient way to inform the reader and the lead that something is bad news that’s not perceivable to any other characters is youth-with-a-big-exciting-secret catnip.

Another point for tension, there, in that being aware of danger is not synonymous with being able to act on it. If there’s no visible reason for you to be acting strange, well...you’re just going to have to sit tight and sweat, aren’t you? Some gratuitous head wiggles never hurt when setting up that type of conflict.

Have I mentioned that they look cool? Simultaneously punchy and distinctive, with a respectable amount of leeway for artists to get creative with and still coming up with something easily recognizable? And pretty easy to intuit the meaning of even without the long-winded explanations common in the days when people wrote comics with the intent that someone could come in cold on any random issue and follow along okay, I think, although the mechanic has been deeply ingrained in popular culture for so long that I can’t really say for sure.

It was also useful back in the day when no artists drew the eyes on the Spider-Man mask as emoting and were conveying the lead’s expressions entirely through body language and panel composition. If you wiggle enough squiggles, you don’t need eyebrows.

Take This Handwave and Never Ask Me a Logistical Question Again

This ability patches plot holes faster than people can pick them open AND it can act as an excuse to get any plot rolling you can think of if paired with one meddling protagonist who doesn’t know how to mind their own business. Buy it now for only $19.99 (in four installments; that’s four installments of $19.99).

Why can a teenager win a six on one fight against other superhumans? Well, the spider-sense is the ultimate edge in combat, duh.

Why can Peter websling? Why doesn’t everyone websling? Well, the spider-sense is keeping him from eating flagpole when he violently flings himself across New York in a way neither man nor spider was ever meant to move.

How are we supposed to get him involved with the plot this week???? Well, that crate FELT dangerous, so he’s going to investigate it. Oh, dip, it was full of guns and radioactive snakes! Probably shouldn’t have opened that!

Yeah, okay, but why isn’t it fixing everything, then? Isn’t it supposed to be why Peter has never accidentally unmasked in front of somebody? ('Nother entry for this section, take a shot.) That’s crazy sensitive! How does he still have any problems!? Is everything bad that’s ever happened to characters with this powerset bad writing!? --Listen, I think as people with uncanny senses that can tell us whether we are in danger with accuracy that varies from incredible to approximate (I am talking about the five senses that most people have), we should all know better than to underestimate our ability to tune them out or interpret them wrong and fuck ourselves up anyway. I honestly find this part completely realistic.

*SLAPS ROOF OF SPIDER-SENSE* YOU CAN FIT SO MANY STORIES IN THIS THING

The spider-sense is a clean branch into...whatever. There is the exact right balance of structure and wishy-washiness to build off of. A sample selection of whatevers that have been built:

It’s sci-fi and spy gadgets when Peter builds technology that can interface with it.

It’s quasi-mystical when Kaine and Annie-May get stronger versions of it that give them literal psychic visions, or when you want to get mythological and start talking about all the spider-characters being part of a grand web of fate.

Kaine loses his and it becomes symbolic of a future newly unbound by constraints, entangled thematically with the improved physical health he picked up at the same time -- a loss presented as a gain.

Peter loses his and almost dies 782 times in one afternoon because that didn’t make the people he provoked when he had it stop trying to kill him, and also because he isn’t about to start “””taking the subway’’””’ “‘’“”to work”””’’” like some kind of loser who doesn’t get a heads up when he’s about to hit a pigeon at 50mph.

Peter’s starts tuning into his wife’s anxiety and it’s a tool in a relationship study.

It starts pinging whenever Peter’s near his boss who’s secretly been replaced by a shapeshifter and he IGNORES IT because his boss is enough of an asshole that that doesn’t strike him as weird; now it’s a comedy/irony tool.

Into the Spider-Verse made it this beautiful poetic thing connecting all the spider-heroes in the multiverse and stacked up a story on it about instant connection, loss, and incredibly unlikely strangers becoming a found family. It was also aesthetic as FUCK. Remember the scene where Miles just hears barely intelligible whispering that’s all lines people say later in the film and then his own voice very clearly says “look out” and then the room explodes?? Fuck!!!!

Venom becomes immune to it after hitchhiking to Earth in Peter’s bone juice and it makes him a unique threat while telling a more-homoerotic-than-I-assume-was-originally-intended story about violation and how close relationships can be dangerous when they go sour.

It doesn’t work on people you trust for maximum soap opera energy. Love the innate tragedy of this feature coming up.

IN CONCLUSION I don’t have much patience for writers who don’t take advantage of it, never mind feel they need to write around it.

#spiderman #peter parker #spiderverse #spidey #marvel #danny phantom #one day you'll see what i'm doing with it in the project i'm collabing on w/ my brother and then you'll all be sorry and hopefully impresse #mirrorfalls #asks answered #essays

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