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queer-disabled-activist · 3 years

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Masterlist sex mentions/references in Journey's/Steve Perry and Neal Schon's songs

This is something I've been thinking about doing for a while now, and now I've finally did it! Journey songs comes on shuffle as they do and I discovered a lot of songs that refrenced sex somehow and I thought to myself "how many of these do they have??" because it just felt like they kept coming.

This list will focus on Steve Perry's time with the band from Infinity to Trial By Fire, his solo work and Neal Schon's first solo album. You will notice that Frontiers isn't on this list, well that is because there's no sex references on Frontiers whatsoever. The list will go in cronologial order and I will mention some key lyrics to why these songs are naughty. Steve Perry will get hoe points for the songs he has written all by himself without input. As you will notice "Departure" is the sluttiest album of them all. Also here’s a playlist of all the songs available on spotify (X) For the songs that aren’t available on spotify I’ve added a youtube link in the title. Hope you'll enjoy!

Infinity

- “Feeling That Way” - This is kinda semi, but it still goes. Key lyrics:

“A new road's waiting

You touched my life, whoa

Soft and warm on a summer's night

You're the only one, I told you

The only one I love

The lovely one (lovely one)

I'm thinking of”

- "Anytime" This is also kinda semi, but this list will get naugthier as we go along. Key lyrics:

“Ooh, ooh anytime that you want me Ooh, ooh anytime that you want me Ooh, ooh anytime that you want me to Ooh, ooh anytime that you need me"

- "La Do Da" - Key lyrics

"Whey you touch me sweet so fine I feel it, I feel it When your body's close to mine"

Evolution

- "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" Steve Perry wrote this alone so he's getting his 1st hoe point. This is probably the most obvious track you can think of when it comes to sex references. Key lyrics:

“When I'm alone all by myself You're out with someone else Lovin', touchin', squeezin' each other"

- "When You're Alone (It ain't easy) This song mostly hint at teasing, but teasing is also somewhat of a sex reference. - Key lyrics:

“When you're alone it ain't easy, You're like a dog that roams. Ain't got no girl to tease me, Ain't got nobody home."

- "Lovin' You is Easy" Key lyrics:

"Come on girl, give me that good lovin', oh baby Come on girl, keep the motor hummin, oh, woh, baby".

- "Just The Same Way" Key lyrics:

“Oh, no, you should be holdin' on to him girl. Oh, yeah just like, just like you want to do. Oh, no, just love and squeeze him girl. Oh, yeah just love and squeeze him yeah."

Departure

- "Any Way You Want It" - This is also kind of an obvious one, it's basically in the title. Key lyrics:

"Ooh, all night, all night Oh, every night So hold tight, hold tight Ooh baby, hold tight"

- "Walks Like A Lady" - Steve Perry wrote this song all by himself and is now up to his 2nd hoe points. Key lyrics:

“She moves like a lady When I'm in her arms She loves like a lady Lovin' all night long"

- "Where Were You" - This is the most lyrical graphic one of some sorts and honestly the theme makes me a bit uncomfortable. It's describing the girl he's dating as a hoe and that if she was about to leave him he can just hook up with her sister anyway. The whole song is basically a key lyric, but I'll go with the second verse. Key lyric:

"I know where, baby You been running around loose on the side Cause I know where, little lady You been running around with something to hide I don't mind, darling, if you're feeling fancy and free, yeah I don't mind, little baby Because your sister's looking real good to me"

- "Line Of Fire" - This is just a semi sexual reference, very mild, but I decided to keep it in. Key lyric:

“He said, "Now Suzi, don't you lie. Did Stevie, did he catch you with another guy?""

- "Stay Awhile" Steve Perry gets a hope point for this one, now he has 3. Key lyric:

"I'd go anywhere to touch you. I'd do anything you want me to,"

- "Homemade Love" - This song is a song full of sexual references packed into cooking. This is one of the few songs were Smitty/Steve and Neal all has writing credits, Smitty is not really known for his writing credits, so that is cool. Key lyrics:

"I need a jelly roll sweetie. Now, spread it oh spread it on me, babe. Feels so good, on the top."

Captured

- "Dixie Highway" - This is also a song filled with sexual references that they've packed in to be about a highway. A fun fact, this is the second song were Steve Perry has namedropped himself, the first is "Line Of Fire". Stevie is obviously him. Key Lyrics:

“I want to hold on you, come with you, love with you all the night"

"Escape"

From Jon Cain's entering the sex refrences instantly went down, on Escape there is only one.

- "Stone In Love" - Key lyrics:

"She pulled me down, ooh, and in clover We'd go around, yeah In the heat with a blue jean girl"

"Raised On Radio"

- "Positive Touch" - Key lyrics:

"She (she's) has got the positive touch (touch) She's bringing love back to me, yeah, back to me. I said-- She, (she's) to me means so much (much) She's saving it all for me, yeah"

- "Suzanne" - This is a semi reference, but since the list really dries up bc of Jon Cain I left it in anyway. Key lyrics:

"You're making love on the silver screen I want you more than you will ever know Temptation...Infatuation"

"Trial By Fire"

- "Baby I'm Leaving You" - This is very, very semi. Key lyric:

“Tell me girl it ain't true The rumors that I hear about you About all the boys you knew before Who come and go right out your door"

- "I Can See It In Your Eyes" - The only song where Journey has mentioned the word sexy ever. Key lyric:

“No you..Make me mad...The way you cat around With your lips, your legs And all your sexy ways Do you got another lover now"

"Street Talk" - Steve Perry

"I Believe" - key lyric

"You want it too - Oh you want it You'll know the way - Know the way."

"Go Away" - a hoe reference. Key lyrics:

"I'm cruisin' many So are you That's the way we both should do"

"Strung Out" - I find this song uncomfortable. I have mentioned that Steve Perry has a lot of solo songs where he refrences women as something that should belong to him, I don't like it at all. This is a semi sex reference packed in in lovin'. Key lyrics:

"They're sayin' that he's never been good to you And he's always hurt and let you down, If what you need is good lovin', I'll be around"

"Harmony" - Steve Perry wrote this all on his one and is now up to 4 hoe points. This is very semi. Key lyric: "Ooh yeah special kind of love Ooh yeah la la la la"

- “My My My” - This is a bonus track on Street Talk and isn’t available on streaming services, so I simply forgot it. This is a demo from Steve’s Alien Project days and it’s yes you probably guessed it; it’s a sex song. Key lyrics:

“M-m-m-m, my, my yeah

M-m-m-m, my, my yeah

I've got somethin' for you, yeah

You've got somethin' for me, oh

Let's put 'em together, oh yeah, oh

Ooh, I want you to squeeze me

Come on and hold me

Oh, baby, love me!

M-m-m-m, my, my yeah

M-m-m-m, my, my yeah”

- “Makes No Difference” Another bonus track from Street Talk that isn’t available on streaming services. This is another demo from his Alien Project days and it’s yet another sex song of course. This man here he is very naughty indeed. Key lyrics:

“Theres a sweep right to the bone

And I love to feel you baby

I I I get excited, oo to be with you

C'mon baby, whoaa oo oh oh oh”

"For The Love Of Strange Medicine" - Steve Perry

Before going in to this I thought that FTLOSM would be an album full of sexual refrences because it has a lot of sexy melodies, and well that one song you know, but as it turns out it doesn't have a lot. It's like Steve Perry decided to put all the sexual references in one single song. There are som other semi ones though.

- "Donna Please" - Another song where he sings about women that should belong to him, no. Key lyric: "Wanting you Touching you" and "If he wants you tonight Will you tell him no"

"Listen To Your Heart" - This is also a bit semi, but it needs to be here. Key lyric: "I was lovin' you baby You were lovin' me Every word I said Every word is true I was on the inside But he was lovin' you" and "You felt so good"

- "Can't Stop" - The song we all knew would be here. This entire song is a sex song and it's no going around it. In all honesty the entire song is a key lyric, but lets go with this part:

"(Can't stop) Your magical potion (Can't stop) The feel of your ocean (Whoa, whoa) Yes, I'm in shadows Talk real nice (nice) You know, just a little bit of that, uh Sugar and spice Some cutchie-coo, ooh"

"Greatest Hits + 5 Unreleased" - Steve Perry

- "Against The Wall" -Steve Perry is in a relationship, but he really wants to cheat like the hoe he is. Key lyric: (updated)

“Believe me I want you, I'd like to

More than I show

But I belong to somebody else, baby, please

“Walk out that door, yeah, oh

Before it's too late, listen

In the middle of your touch

In the middle where your heat starts rising

Oh, girl, I want you so bad”

- Once In A Lifetime, Girl" - This is also somewhat of a semi reference. Key lyric: "Baby, so come on Let's do it again More than a lover You're more than a friend"

"Traces" - Steve Perry

"No Erasin'" He wrote this himself and is now up to 5 hoe points. Maybe this is a surprising choice, but I found something here. Key lyrics:

“You laughed with me and sheltered me and Turned me on"

"Call On Me" - very semi, but it still goes. 6 hoe points. Key lyric: "If you want loving And you're alone Stay, you no lonely Pick up the phone

- "Could We Be Something Again" - 7 hoe points, that is Steve Perry's score for songs with sexual references he has written alone. Key lyric: "Oh, do you wanna, do you wanna? Yah-yah Do you want a little? Yah-yah, yah-yah Do you wanna love again, baby?"

- "Late Nite" - Neal Schon

- "Rain's Comin' Down" When you listen to this song it is very obvious what it is about. Key lyric: "When the rain's comin' down, I wanna make love When the rain's comin' down, gonna make you feel good now"

- "Softly" This is mostly a pure love song, but we need some pure love as well and it is very sweet, I adore this song. Key lyric: "When I hold you in my arms (Softly) When I hear you call my name (Softly) The tears fall, the tears fall like gentle rain (Softly) Softly in the morning (Softly) You touch me and I feel so right"

#journey band #steve perry #neal schon #gregg rolie #aynsley dunbar #steve smith #ross valory #jonathan cain #masterlist #tw sex mention #tw sex #ask to tw

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alterofnaught · 3 years

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What do you think of Kokichi's lies? Do you think he's a compulsive liar or that he just lies for fun/to get what he wants?

Apologies for being extremely long winded about this answer but I have a BS in psych so I love psychoanalyzing characters and my thoughts are kind of complicated on it. Mostly just because I think just calling it compulsive lying often causes people to ignore the purpose and intent behind Kokichi’s actions (which a lot of people do and act like you can’t discern any of his motivations because he’s a “liar” which I disagree with). And I think it also insinuates he only lies because of that and ignore the many reasons he does tell lies. But I do think there's an element of both to it if that makes sense.

While it's pretty much impossible to tell completely in just the main game canon if his lying is an actual psychological issue solely because there is a genuine reason for lying (like abuse victims and cheaters are not compulsive liars they just end up telling lots of lies because of the situation and you could say that is the case in a killing game as well). But bonus modes pretty much confirm that lying is absolutely part of his personality even without the pressure of the killing game. But the fact he both lies for fun and lies for a reason are what make it hard to pin down. Nor is it something that is readily agreed on as a term at all since it's not in the DSM-V and there are varying definitions for what qualifies as compulsive lying at all. Compulsive lying is also a trait of lots of other disorders but those you literally could not diagnose him with based on how little we get in my opinion (for example ADHD which is a popular headcanon and I think it makes the most sense out of any major diagnosis associated with lying but still not canon in anyway just a pretty good headcanon) .

Lots of the lies he tells are for a reason which some psychologists say compulsive liars don’t usually have. Compulsive liars lie out of habit. Which he probably does to an extent but there is purpose to most of them. Especially since a majority of his lies are about his talent and organization or the game itself. Which have definite purpose to them. Like the conversation he has during introductions with Shuichi always makes me laugh actually because like… it’s a secret organization of course no one else should know about it and why on earth would a leader of it just tell you about it. Lying about a secret organization just makes sense, that’s kind of the whole point of it being a secret. And while he does tell more outright lies, he isn’t the only one who plays up their talent or lies during his introduction. Being grandiose in a situation where you are with 15 other Ultimates that are also larger than life and have a talent that is supposed to be so incredible the country searched you out for it… really doesn’t necessarily mean he’s trying to play himself up for no reason. It’s a pretty impressive sounding Ultimate Talent for what he really is so it makes sense to lie about honestly. And his exaggerations about his organization seem to reflect more on his childish personality more than some need to sound self-important (since he never seems to be seriously insulted at all when he gets questioned on the matter) as well as him just keeping DICE a secret since it's supposed to be one. Even in UTDP him lying about his organization makes complete sense to me (and some of his Salmon Mode preferred answers actually make it seem like he thinks his lies about DICE are ridiculous/stupid which is why I think he makes it sounds over the top and evil so people just write it off and ignore it which is a solid strategy tbh).

His lies in trials are usually setups to get others to slip up or drag the discussion to where he wants it to be. It’s excessive but just seems to be more of a comfort zone where he knows how to navigate things like that and at the same time can hide himself as someone who knows too much. Which again there is definite purpose and intent in those lies.

Purely compulsive liars are not necessarily known for being manipulative or cunning and Kokichi can be both of those things. He does lie for gain and to fulfill his plans which makes it seem to be a bit more than just a compulsive habit. Manipulative behavior is more associated with what some categorize as pathological liars (or no difference but again this isn’t a set standard across psychiatry at all). Pathological liars lie for gain but often have very little empathy. That doesn’t fit Kokichi to me because despite his flaws he is incredibly empathetic. Which is something I’ve definitely seen people not understand about him because people confuse kindness for empathy. Kokichi can be a massive asshole which people equate to not caring about others feelings. Which is sometimes true. But empathy is more about being able to understand other people's feelings which Kokichi actually has a very strong talent for. He recognizes the feelings in his classmates quite well even if he doesn’t approach them kindly. He can tell how Kaede feels, he recognizes Kirumi’s desperation, calls out Himiko, and in that conversation with Miu he fully understands her feelings of wanting to escape. It’s part of what allows him to have Gonta and Kaito go along with his plans, he understands their emotions and can easily tell the way they will act based on them. He isn’t mean because he doesn’t care about others emotions as much as he is mean to get certain emotional reactions (that typically benefit him but also sometimes others or the group as a whole).

Pathological liars also tend to hate the truth and hate being called out on their lies or just straight up believe their own lies. He also does not seem to hate the truth more just recognizes the truth is not always a good thing. There is no denying he respects the truth since in every trial he absolutely cares they get the right answer (minus the 5th of course). He also uses the truth as a weapon just as much as his lies at times. Like when he pointed out Kaede pushing the group too far or Himiko’s attitude to Tenko. Saying the harsh truths that other people are afraid of saying are just as much part of his arsenal as lies. The comic anthology isn’t canon necessarily but like I did find it interesting that when they were all trying to trick the Monokubs that they had to try and physically stop Kokichi from telling Monotaro (I think) that he was lying. So that definitely makes his lying a bit unique in that he seems to have no problem in calling himself out on lies. Which he does almost constantly in canon and Salmon Mode as well. He is incredibly nonchalant about being called out on lying from others as well. I also don’t think he fully believes his own lies even the one about enjoying himself in the killing game.

In the bonus modes he lies for fun and because it gets him reactions he wants (it’s not really for personal gain or manipulation in Salmon Mode or UTDP). It still seems very purposeful to me and something he enjoys doing (the line about how he likes lying more when hanging with Shuichi for example or how his conversation with Celestia in UTDP makes it pretty clear he sees lying as a fun game). He hates being bored and loves outwitting people and just playing around to see peoples reactions in general and lies are the perfect tool for that.

But there are some things I think point to it being a psychological issue still. His line to Kaito before he died about how he had to lie to make it through the game really makes me feel like there is more to it than just him messing around. It's definitely not just a tool for him to use others but one he uses as a coping mechanism for himself. And Keebo’s conversation with him in UTDP about how his lies keep people at a distance adds credence to the idea that he does use his lies to shield himself from other people in any kind of situation. So I also think it isn’t just for fun or to get what he wants but for his own benefit as well. But it’s not something he feels he needs to change as we can see in his Harmonious Heart answers or even his spiel about lying in the Ch4 trial- he sees it as a part of him.

While he doesn’t ever get much of a detailed backstory in canon. He does have that line to Kaito about how they have very different backgrounds which I feel heavily implies that whatever his background was was lying made it easier. I don’t necessarily think he had a “sad traumatic backstory that explains away his shitty behavior” I do think it's at least implied he grew up in an environment where lying was beneficial. And Danganronpa making such a deliberate reference to a TV show about orphans with a clown motif with DICE makes it seem like him being an orphan is hardly a large leap. He also jokes that he wouldn’t be missed a few times which again is nothing definitive but hints that he doesn’t necessarily have a background of super normal/healthy relationships (DICE is also insinuated to be essentially a found family for him which isn’t a typical situation for most people).

So I guess part of the reason I’m reluctant to just call it compulsive is because that insinuates it's uncontrollable and I don’t know if there is evidence that he simply cannot handle things any other way. His harmonious heart says he could but doesn’t want to. But there is definitely enough there I think to say that it absolutely is a defense/coping mechanism that he uses to his advantage in addition to just enjoying lying because it's a fun game to him. But also he says he hates liars and lies so often it makes me feel like he recognizes lying can absolutely be a bad thing and that he is self-aware.

So my TLDR answer is kind of both? Like he definitely lies a lot of the time for his own gain and childish enjoyment of it but also uses them to hide his true self and intentions as well as shelter his own emotions. And it’s not necessarily the healthiest thing for him or people around him so I don’t think it should be written off as a non-issue at all. But the term compulsive liar and how it's typically defined doesn’t really cover his super complicated relationship with lies for me. Because in the end he was written to be “the embodiment of a lie” so it makes sense his lies have multiple and complicated reasonings behind them. I mostly shy away from calling it compulsive because of the insinuations that it is “out-of control” and I don’t necessarily think that's the case. Compulsive lying is just too loaded of a term without a clear agreed upon definition for me to like using (even though I don’t necessarily think its wrong to say it could be classified as such). I personally feel like calling it a coping strategy that can be maladaptive fits better. I don’t think his lying is always inherently a bad thing but there is no denying its not the best thing either. He does it because he both wants to and needs to and feels justified in it as well which is why I wouldn’t categorize it as something he has no control over. (End of excessive rambling because I could go on about how blurry the line is between a behavoir like lying being “normal” and harmful because that is a whole other thing I could go on about)

#lamekit #kokichi ouma #this is insanely long but it is something i have thought about a lot honestly #mythoughts!

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officialinuyasha · 4 years

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Yashahime Trailer Analysis - Full Breakdown + Theories

Video -

https://youtu.be/ebFV15yPO6U

The Yashahime - Princess Half-Demon Official Trailer came out August 7th Japan Time like Kaoru Wada had teased for us on the Otakon Livestream. Here we will read off of what was posted on the VIZ Media Official Website "The anime’s been announced, but now you can sink your canines into some more juicy tidbits about the show. The anime stars Towa and Setsuna, the twin daughters of Sesshomaru who get separated in a forest fire. Towa ends up in modern times and is raised by Sota Higurashi, Kagome’s little brother. Ten years later, they are reunited, but Setsuna is a demon slayer with no memories of her sister. Joined by Moroha, Inuyasha and Kagome’s daughter, they set off on an adventure to regain their missing past." https://www.viz.com/blog/posts/yashahime-princess-half-demon-arrives-in-october You guys will be able to watch Yashahime on VIZ Media's Website and AnimeLab.com when it's released.

First Impressions - @officialkagome : “I can tell the Rumiko has a lot of influence in the writing because key points and moments are conveyed just as they were in the Final Act. I believe it's going to be condensed like in the Final Act, but maybe only at first. Focusing on the girls but still including that bonus chapter. I definitely appreciate the animation, it's very aesthetically pleasing.”

Yes, the animation is being directed by the same person who did The Final Act, Sachiya. They also were the same person that did the Adult SessRin artwork that sold it on a calender. Which I actually own. I'm glad for them to return and do the animation. As it makes sense in the continuity. The animation in fact looks even improved further than what we had since the Final Act! Definitely one of my favorite animation directors next to Kumiko.

As I mentioned in my previous video, I talked about the extra chapter "Since Then" that took place after The Final Act. It was made because of the Tsunami that happened in Japan many years ago. A long time ago, I also wrote a post saying if we continued to show our support for the official streams on VIZ Media's website and still showed interest in the series that they would make this into an episode. Back in 2018 Anime Boston it was hinted about the staff wanting to have Rumiko allowed them to make more anime if we continued to show interest. When we got ahold of the scans for the AniMage and AniMedia magazine scans we could confirm that they have been talking about a sequel since the ending of The Final Act.

In the InuYasha Special Chapter 559 "Since Then" Kagome was living in the feudal era with InuYasha for six months. We have a half year time skip. Life in the Feudal Era so far had been peaceful. InuYasha and Miroku were tracking minor youkai that was released from a seal by a landslide, and discover that the demon actually was originally sealed away by Kikyou shortly before she met InuYasha. So we can say over atleast 53 years ago. The youkai is called Ne no Kubi or Root Head in the official VIZ Media subtitles for the trailer - and it was seeking the Shikon no Tama, not realizing it is already destroyed due to being sealed away for so long. Ne no Kubi attacks Kagome, because she clearly looks like Kikyou, but she wounds its head with a sacred arrow and InuYasha kills it with Tessaiga. During it Sesshoumaru appears to protect the village because Rin is there. We can see shots during the trailer that all take place here from this chapter.

For all those Westerners out their that use the term "canon", yes Yashahime is in Fact "canon" to the original timeline continuity. Rumiko Takahashi has been confirmed to have written the foundation story for Yashahime, and has been working closely over the scripts with Sumisawa. It is officially licensed and in no where near being a fanfiction. Remember, canon was a term that was invented by Westeners because of Christianity. Regardless, this sequel is happening. I have so much to talk about this new trailer that it feels like even after I'm done with this video, more ideas are still going to keep popping up in my head.

Towa is seen fighting another school student. She's known for her martial arts. She kicks this guy in the head. She says "You know, you should take my advice and let me go." Talking about her possible abduction. "Things won't be so hot when my friends get here." I think she's talking to the man in the Feudal Era from the first trailer. That's when Moroha and Setsuna break into save Towa. Then it's talking about Root Head from Chapter 559. However says "Root Head was a demon slain by InuYasha and his friends." I don't know if she's talking after it was slain. But Root Head was in fact originally sealed by Kikyou before she met InuYasha. A possible change or retcon from the Manga considering Rumiko's involvement in this. Sesshoumaru is then saying the same lines that he says from the manga "Root head... A worthless piece of vermin. Except..." If we reference the manga he's actually supposed to say Except, and then "It's too persistent."

Root Head gained the powers of the Tree of Ages (Goshinboku). This is the same Goshiboku that InuYasha was sealed on, seeing the arrow mark. If we slow down this footage you can tell that Roothead is growing in the roots of the Goshinboku. It created a passage from the Feudal Era to present day. Sucked through that passage, Towa was torn from her twin sister, Setsuna, and thrown into the present day.

But I think that is talking about AFTER Root head was slain again from it reawakening after the landslide. My guess is that IF everything does continue on the manga like normal from Chapter 559. But during the time it was reawakened it had already made a portal through a tree tunnel like it describes as in Towa's translated description that a fire happens, and everyone scatters. Even during the livestream from Otakon Kaoru Wada mentioned the fire. Towa goes to escape from the fire and finds that specific portal that sends her to the modern era. Unless they want to push the time skip further than 6 months allowing them time to have the kids. Towa is in Reiwa period, that means it's either 2019 or further making it overall a 20 year time skip since chapter 559. I expect that they have kids in a six year time skip that would make sense since they are all 14. The Tree tunnel is described in Towa's description, that means that we pretty much have a second Well. Considering the well was already made from the same type of wood as the Goshinboku was as it was talked about in the first movie. Now imagine if we had three different eras or even that certain events had changed because of this.

Here we see an Adult Souta and 4 year old Towa when he found her in the Modern Era. They're talking in front of the Sacred Tree. Towa's robe pattern is clearly based on Sesshoumaru's belt.

It looks like Souta wanted to pat Towa on the head, but Towa was scared - Then we see Towa brushing her teeth and Souta's daughter. Who looks strikingly similiar to Hitomi. I hope he married her.

Ten years have passed since the Higurashi family took Towa in. It shows Towa talking to Souta's Daughter in front of the tree. In the next shot, she's wiping the blade from her sword. In the narration Towa says "Don't worry! I can handle this." It shows Towa looking up from the original Trailer, where she's abducted. Wearing that patterned robe and the hint of the Lily flowers in the background. She says "Your big sister's pretty strong!" I think she's talking to Souta's daughter as if referencing herself. She picks up her History book and winks. Now it shows Setsuna and Moroha fighting by a waterfall. This is definitely reminding me of some InuYasha VS Sesshoumaru scenes from the past. "My name is Setsuna. I have nothing more to tell you..." "And the reason you die here." Setsuna's eye glows similar to InuYasha's when they found out he had the black pearl inside his right eye that lead to the Inu no Taishou's grave. Everyone has been trying to figure out if there is a special thing showing in her eye. I'm not so sure but I gave it a try as well. I looked at a few pictures of the gravesite and this one seemed to be the best one.

Though I am skeptical of this. Hosenki's son explained it would take roughly 100 years for him to master the process of making one. When InuYasha had returned to his father's grave for the second time, the pearl was somehow able to give him visions of his troubled past as a way to warn him that he wasn't supposed to be there a second time. Now if we think about it, remember how Setsuna has problems with her memories? Maybe in this moment it is a black pearl, and it's showing her flashbacks helping her remember or perhaps she was given an imperfect black pearl that is causing her memory loss.

Moroha is seen sitting down picking her ear. "With this rouge, I become Beniyasha, Destroyer of Lands!" Moroha has her bow, a good nod to her mother Kagome. "Tremble before the bloodthirstydawn!" Now the rouge doesn't always have to mean lipstick, it depends on the context on which it's taken. The rouge could also mean red, the red clothing that she's wearing. If she is going to be wearing lipstick, it would be cool if they somehow were able to magically bring back the lipstick that was once Izayoi's that was given to Kikyou. I know it was destroyed, but you never know. I like the idea of her having InuYasha and Kagome's locket too from the second movie. In the past I always had the idea of their child having that locket. Maybe she's heard about InuYasha as a story or legend, and is calling him "Beniyasha". So she's pretending to be him in a way, along with the bow on her head representing ears like him.

It shows Towa in the modern era, fighting some guys. She's wearing something on trapped onto her back. Could it be her sword, or something else? My wife mentioned that in Japan, open carry of swords is legal. So I went to double check.

Yes, this is definitely got to be her sword and that she is wearing a sword bag. It has yellow tassels.

I also noticed that there is a symbol at the bottom of her sword bag. It looks like it could be a pinwheel or the Kagome symbol. There are two different versions of the Kagome symbol. 6 pointed and 8 pointed.

"A new wind blows into the Feudal Era." We can see the Dragon symbol on Moroha's sword even more closely. The Dragon is wrapped around an arrow. During the Otakon Live stream Kaoru Wada stated that all three of the girls are the half-demon princesses. Meaning that Moroha would still be called a half-demon regardless of having less demon blood percentage especially during that era. "The Half Demon Princesses are here!" Moroha is fighting a Mistress Centipede. Is this the same Mistress Centipede from the beginning of InuYasha, that corpse was already in the well? If we remember, Sango has fought Centipede demons before but they weren't a Mistress Centipede. She would be killed for the third time. The Mistress Centipede shown in the trailer has three eyes, while the original one has two.

It shows Hisui, Sango and Miroku's son in his demon slayer armor while riding Kirara. Throwing Hiraikotsu! One thing that stood out to me was the prayer beads around his left arm.

I don't think he has Wind Tunnel but it seems to be a reference to his father Miroku. Considering Miroku has given Kagome prayer beads to wear before. Maybe even Hisui has spiritual powers as well. It also appears that he has Sango's sword as well!

Kohaku, all grown up and he's exactly how I imagined him. It seems like he has a scar on his nose. Maybe it's from wearing his demon slayer mask or from getting cut in a battle. He has the weapon he gets from Toutousai in the last episode of the Final Act. Moroha and Setsuna are battling. Could this be the same waterfall that Kikyou bathed at?

Moroha and Setsuna running off, Towa watching them. A guy knocked out in the background, Spider Lily pattern on the backwall, and a knocked out guy next to where the wall was bashed in. Just like how it was in the first trailer we were shown on the Otakon Live Stream.

Finally, Moroha is using her bow and yes she indeed has priestess spiritual powers like Kagome does! It looks like she's still fighting Mistress Centipede as you can see in the background. The attack is called "Heavenly Arrow Barrage". Similar name to InuYasha's Adamant Barrage.

It shows Setsuna using her Naginata. The Naginata is the weapon that can control wind as stated in her profile when her colors were announced! Much like InuYasha's Bakuryuha, or Kouga's Cyclone. It also reminds me of Sesshoumaru when he was fighting InuYasha inside the Black Pearl at the Inu No Taishou's Grave.

Feudal Fairytale - Yashahime Princess Half-Demon Towa takes out her sword and charges while saying "Setsuna! I'll save you!" Yashahime - Coming this October. October 3rd 2020

When we look at the image that came with the announcement. A few things caught my eye, Kagome and Rin are not seen in the picture. Sesshoumaru and InuYasha are both by the Sacred Tree. Speculating that maybe they're trapped in another dimension, or between times since Root Head was able to take the Goshinboku's power. I wonder if something like this happens, could this give Kagome the ability to not age? I'm still for my theory that she shouldn't age because she wasn't born yet, the same way her items were unaffected by Kaguya in the second movie when she froze time. People think InuYasha is holding something, no that is his forelocks and the shading on the tree. No, there is no secret image in Towa's blue sword attack. But hey we get a better look at Hisui's prayer beads on his arm.

There is a new character, everyone speculates to be Shippou and unsure of the character's gender. Looking at the HD picture.

The character has green eyes, dark red hair and purple eyeshadow. It sort of reminds me of Shippou or Ayame's possible child with Kouga. I would have said it was Takechiyo in a human form since Raccoons and Foxes are known to shape shift. But Takechiyo has blue eyes. It's not Jinenji, has blue eyes - Though I think it could be a new character. Could be boy or girl. Determining their gender is something I'm on the fence about atleast by the physical sight of it. Their body seems flat and rugged with torn sleeves, but wearing makeup. There's alot of males who wear makeup in InuYasha. Their attire also seems to be the kind that is most commonly worn by males. But Towa also is another character that dresses male. This character clearly has a weapon. More than likely a sword. Something that's interesting about this picture is that Towa's sword is shaped like Tessaiga in the picture when she's doing her special attack. It zig zags upward like a staircase into the sky - as if representing time passed. You notice it when you realize the other characters are actually not standing on something.

Seems like we are all looking forward to October 3rd for the airing of Yashahime. If you want to see more posts about Official InuYasha News, Artworks, Merchandise, my own personal views and analysis on the series - Be sure to subscribe.

#inuyasha #yashahime #anime #manga #hanyou no yashahime #yashahime princess half demon

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clarste · 4 years

Note

Sorry if you've been asked this explicitly before, but what are your thoughts on Penguin Logistics, specifically in comparison to the other organisations/factions in Arknights? I recently started and managed to grab everyone within a few pulls, except Sora (and I guess Mostima, unfortunately.) and I think they're easily my favourites. Would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers.

No one's ever asked me that, but they probably should have since I've gone all-in on Penguin Logistics ever since I pulled Exusiai and Croissant early on. I then proceeded to never pull any of the others, forcing me to buy Texas and Sora in the shop and much later dump all of my accumulated gacha currency getting Mostima. Anyway, my goal in life is to use the entire team and also max them all out. PL4life!

Anyway, my initial impression of them was that they were the cast of a 90s anime like Cowboy Bebop or Bubblegum Crisis (...Tokyo 2040). Like, they're an eclectic band of hyper-competent misfits working for a small company operating at the edge of the law. “Penguin Logistics” itself sounds like a euphemism for being, like, smugglers or something. "We'll get your package where it needs to go, no questions asked." Then Code of Brawl came out and I was totally right except they are also very dumb in a funny way. Like, they accidentally got into a turf war with the mafia, but apparently that's just business as usual.

Anyway I want to talk about each of them individually now so apologies if this starts rambling.

Texas is pretty clearly the main character of Penguin Logistics, and you can tell because she's the hub of their whole relationship wheel on the in-game chart.

She's also kinda Spike from Cowboy Bebop, although less laid-back I guess. She's a former mafia assassin on the run from her past, but her past won't leave her alone. Incidentally, "mafia" in this case refers to the various wolf families from the fantasy Italy equivalent in this setting, although they make some interesting comparisons to wolf packs in the profiles. However, Texas's family is dead, which should make her a "lone wolf" that will supposedly never have another place to belong. Except PL itself is proof that that's wrong.

Theoretically she’s just the team’s driver, but because PL is always getting into ridiculous anime fights she’s also good at that part too, using dozens of little... lightsabers(?) that she throws around willy nilly. It would probably look super-cool to see in action, except this is not that kind of game so we’ll just have to wait for the anime or whatever. It’s noted in her profile that her fighting style shows that she unconsciously sees as the only purpose of a weapon as being to kill, and heck, she’s right.

She's cool-headed, adaptable, and the serious one you can always count on, but she's not above getting into friendly(?) brawls just to take out her frustrations out.

Her name comes from the extinct subspecies of Texas Wolf.

Next up is Exusiai, the angel who loves nothing more than guns, god, rock and roll, and apple pie. In that order. In other words, a stereotypical American. Even though she's from the fantasy-Vatican. Basically she's a cheerful, friendly, laid-back person who never really fit in back home where people are expected to be more serious and orderly. Not enough to be, like, shunned or anything but she's always been a weirdo. All angels have guns though, that’s like standard issue. She wishes she could have more though.

She's also super religious, but interestingly never brings it upon her own. I feel like she probably realizes how uncomfortable it can make people who don't share that religion to suddenly bring up Jesus all the time in casual conversation. Like, she's not ashamed of it or anything, but she won't shove it in your face either. Personally, I find that a pretty cool characterization for a fictional religious person.

Which is also sort of a hint that beneath her goofy exterior she's a thoughtful, deliberate person who doesn’t let anyone in by accident. Texas notes that they're exact opposites in this respect. She also has an extremely interesting relationship with the next person.

Her name comes from the Greek word for the order of angels in Christianity often translated as "Powers."

Mostima... where to start...? I guess first of all she’s a fallen angel, apparently because she pointed her gun at her own kind under MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. Probably related to the whole war in Kazdel thing, where many of the other MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES in this game took place. Long story short, stuff happened in the war, she pointed her gun at another angel, Exusiai’s sister is dead under mysterious circumstances, and Mostima gave up her gun and now wanders the world delivering long-distance packages for PL. But that’s mostly an excuse for to be alone as much as humanly possible. She can also use time magic because I dunno why not. MYSTERIOUS.

She’s friendly enough, talkative even, and has a hobby of visiting new places and trying out the local food, etc, but her real defining trait is that she just doesn’t need other people. She’s explicitly aromantic, saying she has no interest in love, but she also has no need for friends or family or apparently coworkers either. Because of the way the world is, she spends most of her time driving through the endless wastelands between cities, with nothing but a truck, some packages, and her thoughts. There’s something... romantic about that (in the other sense of the word), but even she admits that the romance of watching the sun set in a desert with no one else around for hundreds of kilometers gets old after a while.

I feel like I should note that she has a very “best friend of her big sister” relationship with Exusiai, by which I mean she’s known Exusiai since Exusiai was a kid and to her Exusiai will always be that kid. Also Exusiai only joined PL in the first place to hunt her down and get answers about her sister’s death, but Mostima just laughs it off and leaves town for another year or five.

Her name is probably a corruption of Mastema, a rather infamous fallen angel in mythology.

Croissant is... well, to be honest everyone past this point is more of a minor character. Which is actually a weird thing to say since none of these people are actually major characters in Arknights, but I guess these are less important people even within the group?

Croissant’s gimmick is that she’s always trying to make money by selling stuff. I guess she’s a merchant? But not, like, a formal one who runs a shop, she just gets her hands on stuff through her connections and sells it. But in like, a friendly down-to-earth way, it’s even said that she lives paycheck to paycheck. She’s a girl trying to get by with a second job, I guess is what I’m saying.

Team-wise, she’s the muscle of the group, being a minotaur and all. She lifts the heavy packages and also smashes things with her MAGNETIC HAMMER which I don’t know why I find that name so amusing. Gameplay-wise her special move can knock all the enemies around her halfway across the map and I smile every time she does it.

Her profile notes that she’s really just living her best life as a normal-ish person, and that helps make everyone around her feel normal, and that’s important in a setting where half the people around you are dying of magical cancer (no one in PL is Infected though).

Her name comes from the French word for Crescent and also a type of Pastry. Leaning more towards Pastries in my opinion.

Sora is an idol singer. Because, to be perfectly honest, what ragtag band of misfits is complete without an idol singer? She can’t really fight, but I guess Texas must have saved her life at some point or something because she bullied both her agency and PL into letting her work there part time. And also she is obsessed with Texas. I guess saying it like that makes her sound kind of annoying, but she really isn’t, she’s just an earnest girl chasing her dreams.

There’s also this interesting thing where a lot of her basic information is censored by her agency in order to protect her privacy (”do not dox the idol”). Even including her race. She presents as a wolf, but her promoted E2 art has her as a rabbit, which raises some interesting questions that don’t really get answered.

Her name comes from the Japanese word for Sky.

Lappland is not really part of PL, but she’s PL-adjacent enough to be worth mentioning here. Basically she’s an old acquaintance of Texas from back in their mafia days, and she’s obsessed with hunting her down and... fighting her? Killing her? But in, like, a sexual way? She’s kind of a crazy psychopathic killer. Maybe. She can also be very calm and polite when she wants to be, although with a taste for gallows humor. That just makes her scarier because you don’t know when/if she’ll snap.

There are two kind-of explanations for her being like that: A) her family is dead and she has no “pack”. As a wolf, the stress of living without a pack is supposed to be maddening. B) She’s infected with Oripathy (magic cancer) and there are crystals growing in her nervous system. Which... can’t be good. The answer is probably a combination of both.

But the most important thing about Lappland is her base skill and how it interacts with Texas. Basically, in your base there are various jobs you can assign people to and different characters get different bonuses for them. Most people in Penguin Logistics get bonuses for working the Trading Depot, for obvious reasons. Lappland gets a “bonus” where if she’s in the depot at the same time as Texas, she loses morale slower but doesn’t actually get any bonus to productivity. Meanwhile, Texas gets a bonus to productivity when Lappland is around, but loses morale way faster. In other words, Lappland is slacking off and making Texas so uncomfortable that she works twice as hard just to get the job over with so she can leave. This is their relationship as defined by game mechanics.

Texas also has another bonus where she loses morale slower if Exusiai is there, which completely cancels out the penalty she gets from Lappland. In other worlds, Exusiai being there too calms her nerves enough that she doesn’t feel the need to immediately escape.

Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about Emperor, who’s the owner of Penguin Logistics. He’s a world-famous rapper wearing a Tupac shirt and also literally immortal.

#not touhou #arknights #penguin logistics

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burlesque-articulation · 4 years

Text

Alright, I pulled out my corkboard and red string again, this time in hopes of dissecting the MAG timeline to see if there is anything there to support my fan theory of:

~Could Jurgen Leitner be Martin’s Dad~

And so far, signs point to a solid "it could be possible”. So in lieu of this, I will be presenting all my evidence with exceptional bias so it better illustrates my desired outcome. Okay? Okay! Let’s get into it.

Let’s begin with 1985, when Jurgen Leitner supposedly begins renting an office in Pall Mall, central London. Presumably this is just where he sets up an office, and not the actual location of the Library, which isn’t something we get-- anyways, getting sidetracked, uhhh.

Right, we know, vaguely, that Martin was born in 1987, two years after Leitner would have set up shop in Central London; and interestingly enough, in that same year of Martin’s birth, Leitner attempted to hire some people to dig a big ol’ hole in the floor of his office to lead into the tunnels built beneath the building. And this could just be wishful thinking, but I believe it is implied that these tunnels connect to the other tunnels of Millbank Prison. Interconnected, and with many exits leading to various parts of the city. Basically, a needlessly intricate means of escape (I guess balconies and back doors just didn’t exist yet, you know) should shit get real. Anyways, the point I’m trying to make, is that it would make sense for Leitner to suddenly be very interested in having direct access to these tunnels from his main office after receiving news that he’s a father, or whatever. Or maybe it’s just because he’s always been a loser that loves vibing in tunnels.

[Obligatory readmore, because this shit gets long, and even more ramble-y. Also I’m not sorry, because y’all are more than welcome to continue scrolling past this mess]

Alright, now fast-forward to 1994, the destruction of the Library. At this point in time, Martin would have been 7. Now hold up! According to the Magnus Archives Wiki, Martin’s father abandoned the family when he was 8 or 9; so isn’t that a whole in the theory right there? No. It’s not. Because the only thing that is implied about Leitner around 1994, is that he went into hiding after the destruction of the Library. At no point is it implied that he even left the country (or even London, but like, I refuse to believe he’s that stupid; even if that alternative is hilarious). To set up my point, I’m going to shift the focus onto Martin now, and what his life might have been like when he was younger.

So, by present events (present actually referring to like, pre-season 4, actually), Martin’s mother is in a care home in Devon. Could be because care homes are cheaper there, or something, I have no idea. Honestly people in my family don’t live long enough to ever even consider this option, so I don’t know how assisted living works at all lmao. But let’s say, for simplicities sake, that Martin actually just grew up around Devon; and I’m throwing a dart at a map and declaring Plymouth as the city he grew up in. Anyways, why does this matter? Because I do in fact believe that Leitner is stupid enough to think that changing which county he lives in counts as being in hiding. And he gets maybe one (1) good summer with his family before the weight of his sins bare down on him, and he realizes that staying in one place really isn’t an option. So maybe he tries travelling around a bit; but inevitably he always ends up coming back to Plymouth. It takes him a year, maybe two, to finally realize that this won’t work forever. His habits are too predictable, and what’s this? The mother of his child is getting sick; and her condition only seems to worsen over time (you know, like how it usually works when someone is taken ill.); and Leitner gets it into his head that he could be the cause of it; so what is the safest course of action, but to completely abandon his family? Surely things will turn out for the better for them all if he were to just... disappear. To cut ties entirely, so as to make sure no one ever comes after them in an attempt to get to him.

And that worked out fucking great, didn’t it.

Bunch of unimportant stuff happens, and eventually Martin ends up dropping out of school, presumably only a year early from graduation (weird but fine); and it’s safe to assume he eventually ends up traveling to London in hopes of better job opportunities. Plus, if he’s gonna be lying on his CV, probably better to head out of county to some place where no one knows him from anywhere to begin with, right? That makes sense, and none of you can say otherwise.

And where does he find himself sliding into a new job position? Oh, that’s right; at the Magnus Institute. In the Library. I’m just saying. I am just saying, that’s a little interesting. I mean, he lied about having a degree in parapsychology on his CV; so if Bouchard really wanted to play along like he thought the CV was entirely legit, it actually would’ve made more sense to put him in Research, or even in Artefact Storage with a degree like that. But nope, Bouchard put him in the Library. Though, I guess we don’t know exactly what all might’ve been on Martin’s faked CV. But I swear to god, if we get bonus content that’s just Martin’s faked CV and it even hints at him working at a “family library/bookshop” I will spontaneously combust.

Regardless, in 2009, supposedly (according to the wiki), Martin began working at the Institute. Personally, I always thought he started working there in 2010, but that doesn’t matter. I actually like 2009 better, because then a year later, Leitner apparently begins working with Gertrude Robinson. Which I find interesting. I mean, really there’s no reason for them not to work together, I just find the timing of it interesting. Of course, Leitner (in MAG80) alludes to the fact that Gertrude was likely only working with him because there was a lack of anyone else around. But that really only explains Gertrude’s interest in Leitner. What attracted Leitner to the Magnus Institute in the first place, I wonder? Aside from the fact that it’s essentially the Library of Alexandria of research on the Entities.

But Leitner had managed to stay out of public eye for about 16 years, why would he chose right around then to start playing peekaboo with the Beholding? Rhetorical question, of course. Y’all should already know exactly where I’m going with this line of questioning. Martin. Martin is what lead Leitner to the Institute, and to Gertrude. Dude just wanted to check up on his son, and now he’s just as trapped as everyone who works for the damn Institute because of all these weird rituals and shit. Plus maybe there was another reason why Leitner went through so much effort to help Gertrude, even putting himself on the line for it; and I think we can all agree that Leitner is a pretty selfish dude who’s only real character trait is being like a fucking cockroach. Straight up, the only way to kill a cockroach is to beat those suckers until they pop like a fucking pimple-- sorry, I’m actually getting ahead of myself, I don’t want to talk about that yet, um.

Leitner’s biggest character trait, and on some level, character flaw, is his Self-Preservation instinct. When the going gets tough, his own health and safety comes first. But maybe he gets a bit sentimental in his old age, and maybe he struck a deal with Gertrude; if he helps her stop the Unknowing, (or actually I think it would’ve been the Dark’s ritual first), she will bring his son down to the tunnels so Leitner can see how he’s grown, and maybe even talk to him. I just think that would be interesting character motivation; because at the end of the day, it’s still a pretty selfish motivation. But at this point, Gertrude’s only other option for help is a teenaged Shadow the Hedgehog wannabe; so she’d likely agree to just about anything for the extra pair of hands. And given what later happens in regards to the Dark’s ritual, which then results in Gertrude’s death; Leitner gets scared back into his hole in the ground.

But hey, I guess things actually kind of worked out for ol’ Jurgen. Because like a year later, his son* (*allegedly, according to apparently no one but me) starts living in the Archives. It’s like he’s living in his son’s basement, he can just pop up for tea and say hi whenever. Maybe complain about all the bugs that keep crawling around. Or not, because Jürgen Leitner is a coward. But I 100% would not put it past him to shuffle his old bones up into the Archives to stand creepily at the edge of wherever Martin was sleeping and angst quietly at the sight of his son. It’s creepy, funny, and sad. Basically a peak TMA scenario right there.

Then Leitner gets brutally piped by Bouchard. Actually, can I say it like that? “Piped” isn’t some kind of... new-age slang for something, is it? God, I hope not. Anyways; Leitner isn’t just beat upside the head with a length of pipe, but literally pulped by Bouchard (or at the very least implied so), in a way that makes identifying the guy difficult enough that he remains a John Doe straight up until Elias confesses to the murder. Now, obviously there are plenty of reasons for this; given that both Daisy and Basira are familiar with the name Leitner, so presumably other sectioned officers would be as well; so there was at least a slim chance that whatever officer got sent to the Institute upon the discovery of the body might just recognize Leitner immediately. But, and sorry to sidetrack here, but there was just one thing that really stood out to me about Martin. One thing that always stuck with me, that for some reason was the main thing that made me thing Leitner could’ve been his dad.

Martin looks like his father, whoever that may or may not be. It is explicitly canon, that Martin looks like whoever his dad is. So wouldn’t it be better safe than sorry for Bouchard to beat Leitner to a pulp wherein no one could easily discern any major features of him once he was found. After all, it would make things rather messy and a bit too complicated if everyone who saw the body was like, “wow! That looks just like you, Martin.” So really, it’s for the best that not only did Bouchard kill Leitner, but he thoroughly did so.

And so, I will end this already way to long of a ramble with the one thing that solidified me on this theory, and Spoilers for Season 5 of MAG, but... In MAG181 Salesa says, “Now you mention it, you actually remind me of Jurgen a bit. In his younger days of course.” to Martin. Of course, Martin did just shoot out a snappy one-liner about books, but... it’s the clarification of Jurgen “in his younger days”, that gets me. Mikaele could just have easily said something about Martin just “sounding” like Leitner. But the way this reads, and how it’s spoken, even, it seems more like someone that might’ve been looking at Martin for awhile, squinting at him as if he’s seen that face somewhere before, and then right when Martin mentions books, it finally clicks. After all, it would’ve been almost 20 years, or possibly more, since Salesa would have left Leitner’s employ.

So yeah, I admit this theory has a much weaker backbone then my Banks/Folger post, but... I just think it’s neat. And it’s another one of those things that actually doesn’t have any affect on the major plot whatsoever. I dunno, maybe it was meant to be some sort of subplot early on that got ditched or something? Point is, that’s all for now, and with any luck, I will never post another crack theory again, and the TMA tag can be safe from my ramblings once more.

#burl posts #the magnus archives #tma spoilers #tma fan theory #martin blackwood #jurgen leitner #no editing; we post rough drafts like idiots #also i didn't actually write this with nearly as much bias as I intended too #i'm too facts-based; and the moment i try saying something that isn't absolutely factual #i'm too quick to add a ''this is only alleged we have no canon proof''#did the same thing with my last redstring theory #i actually think i might start calling my tma theories ''pink-string nonsense'' because it's less #red string means; IT HAS TO BE TRUE IT DEFINITELY MAKES SENSE #whereas pink string is more; IT COULD BE TRUE BUT REALLY I THINK IT WOULD JUST BE NICE/COOL

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lokigodofaces · 3 years

Text

thoughts on loki ep 3: lamentis

under cut for your convenience

my first thought when i saw C-20 at the beginning was the Framework...i might be a bit too obsessed with an aos/Loki crossover...

C-20 was sorta able to find out something was wrong. from what Sylvie said, that's pretty impressive.

i wonder if Sylvie uses magic similar to Wanda's. like if Wanda just uses it on a bigger scale. the mind illusions thing checks out. and i saw on youtube that another patron looks like Evan Peters, so maybe they're connected? but most likely they just hired a dude that happens to look like Evan Peters.

going back to that, the glitch in C-20's illusion was like the glitches in WandaVision

if this really is similar to Wanda in canon, that means Sylvie and other Lokis might be nexus beings (y'know, the very thing i shout about in tags because i want)

Okay, so Sylvie tried to enchant a minuteman, which means she must have assumed the TVA operates on the same physics as the timeline. So neither Lokis thought magic could possibly be impeded.

good action sequence with Sylvie and minutemen and Sylvie and Loki

dudes...Renslayer can't fight. she literally did a horrible job.

Sylvie really thought the TVA valued Loki and that they really wanted/needed him to stop her. so she threatened to kill him, just for Renslayer to give the go ahead. shows how little the TVA cares and it echoes Odin.

Lamentis 1 sounded cool because that is a very sci-fi-ey name. It means the star the planet orbits is called Lamentis and the planet is the closest planet. That's how we name lots of planets outside the solar system. so i appreciated that.

okay, lamentis is literally just the bi flag. but still lots of purple so i will claim it as ace as well.

teleportation! and actual magic! yay!

okay, are they setting up a Loki/Sylvie romance? the way they framed the two when Sylvie tried to enchant Loki was how it's often done with kisses

Sylvie said with strong minds she has to do what she did to C-20 to enchant them, but she couldn't even do that with Loki. Which shows how powerful Loki is and how powerful the mind stone is.

i will die for more of Loki and Sylvie being chaotic together

Sylvie she said is an alias. Does this mean she is genderfluid but is female more often than male? i'm told some genderfluids are one gender more than the other, and i've considered Hiddleston's Loki to be predominantly male. Could Sylvie be the other way around? & born Loki but haven't changed her name? or have different names for different genders? and doesn't want to be called Loki when she's female because that's not her name as a woman?

literally i can't tell if they're setting up romance or sibling stuff.

i never thought i'd hear the word "savvy" from Loki. but, hey, if Jack Sparrow can say it, i'll allow it.

the effects for the gun that woman used look similar to Daisy Johnson's quakes. for a second i hoped for an aos crossover, but then i remembered that marvel hates it's non-Disney+ series.

i like the differences between Loki and Sylvie. Loki is less confrontational and more likely to mischief his way when Sylvie is more likely to rip the bandaid off and get it over with, if that makes sense. i think that Sylvie might just be so tired from living on the run, only going to apocalypses that she just wants to get it over with.

love is a serious theme throughout this episode. again, are they setting up a Loki/Sylvie romance? or will it be platonic or familial or something else?

Loki is very clearly not okay with the fact that so many people are being left to die, and i'm here for it

so the whole thing to get on the train i think is setting those two up to be a good duo. between illusions and enchantments, they can do a lot. and Loki was able to get them part of the way, and Sylvie the rest. i think it could be foreshadowing both of them needing to use their skills to work together.

never have your back to a door, i guess

Sylvie's reaction to Loki saying he wasn't told he was adopted. man, she was worried. she knows that that is messed up and i think she feels bad for Loki. she's probably imagining how her life would be different if she didn't know she was adopted.

sounds like Odin and Frigga weren't the adopters of Sylvie. Maybe the Lushtons? i don't know anything about them, just that Lushton is Sylvie's last name in the comics. so, yay for her for not having trash parents. unless they were, then sorry for Sylvie. at least they told her she was adopted. but if the Lushtons adopted her, how did they fall across a frost giant? especially the daughter of Laufey?

i've seen suggestions that the post man Sylvie is with could be Stan Lee since a couple cameos were of him as a post man. Maybe a younger post man, but he has less of a lifespan (if he is actually human in universe. i still like to think of him as the One Above All who just really likes to see the drama of things) than Sylvie, so she could be with him for a long time. maybe that's why Stan is always cameoing. he's just trying different things to try to find his love. and maybe he has a longer lifespan (he was in First Avenger) but not as long as Sylvie's so she still was there for most his life but he's dying soon. I actually like this headcanon a lot, i think it's sweet.

YAS BISEXUAL LOKI YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY I AM! but i'm also scared my parents will find out. they're anti-queer. my siblings saw it, & they aren't supportive either but they operate on an "ignore it" policy, so they don't really care as long as it isn't a big deal.

also it is heavily hinted Sylvie is bi as well.

yes, i will continue to headcanon Loki as greyromantic and asexual. deal with it. i will change my language from panromantic to biromantic since the director specifically said he was bi.

also, it sounded like the director might be bi as well. good for her, taking a character she saw as bi and literally making it canon.

i knew Tom could sing, he was on Broadway. but i had never heard him sing i don't think. he has a good voice. petition to make a musical with Loki. watch the episode "Duet" of The Flash. i want something similar to that. can Sophia sing? throw her in too if she can!

translation of the norwegian suggests romance between Loki and Sylvie

was i expecting an "ANOTHER" reference? no. am i glad we got it? yeah, that was a nice touch.

turns out "full" means drunk in Norwegian according to a youtuber? but don't quote that. Loki says he's full, not drunk at one point.

what were they serving on that train? Thor couldn't get drunk on Earth. heck, Steve couldn't. so it must've been a heck of a drink they were serving

ok, the dagger metaphor i actually really liked. could be a shakespeare reference?

the fireworks thing with Frigga was cute

okay, i don't like Frigga much, but this has confirmed that Frigga was, maybe possibly, better than Odin. Frigga at least believed in Loki. but then her betrayal was so much worse.

wait, i just realized. Loki gets a fight scene on a train. a superhero genre staple is a fight on a moving vehicle (bonus if it's a train). yay! Loki hasn't had this trope yet in any of his appearances. off screen before Infinity War, and i don't count his attempt to murder Thanos on the Statesman. but we can add that to his list of superhero tropes.

i feel like the TVA needs to make stronger tempads...

okay, Loki threw the dagger horribly because he was drunk, right?they aren't saying he has horrible aim, are they?

falling out of a moving vehicle is also a superhero trope...at least it went better for them than it did Bucky

i relate to Sylvie screaming in the middle of nowhere

Loki being gentle with Sylvie and letting her talk to him. gosh. i love it. was not expecting to see Loki from my fics make an appearance.

Sylvie explained the enchantment to Loki, which i think was a poor decision for her.

she said C-20's mind was hard to navigate to her original memories. maybe the TVA does something to the TVA agents that join them. maybe if Loki proved useful, they'd do it to Loki.

or maybe variants lose memory over time. Sylvie says something about her memory being like blips of a dream, but I don't remember the context. maybe over time variants lose their memories and only retain a few things. Sylvie is well down that process, Loki has had hardly any change, and those working for the TVA only have a few things to remind them.

Mobius absolutely was a jet ski enthusiast in the '90's when he was arrested, and he loved Josta.

Casey liked Boku juice, a sign he was from the '90's.

whoever makes the uniforms is from whatever period that style of suit was popular ('80's?).

if anyone isn't a variant, it's Renslayer. she knows more than she should, i'm sure of it.

C-20 likes margaritas now, i'm sure of it.

Mobius has an interesting relationship with Renslayer. I wasn't sure if it was romantic or what. Maybe Renslayer looks like his lover from the '90's so he is flirty with her because of the faint memories he has.

Loki immediately catches on to the TVA agents not knowing they're variants. they think the Time Keepers created them. he knows that, Sylvie didn't. this immediately tells Loki that the Time Keepers are messed up.

possible redemptions for Mobius? B-15? C-20? when they find out they're variants?

so does C-20 know now? she kept saying "it was real" when Mobius found her in Roxxcart. maybe she had dreams of her life before, and Sylvie showed her that they were real?

the whole scene in the city was wild. so much color, lights, people, action, it was wild

Loki being protective of Sylvie, helping her up and wrapping his arm around her, i'm here for it.

loved the bit where Loki used telekinesis to stop the tower from falling on them.

there was a bit where Loki and Sylvie fought & their moves mirrored each other and gosh that was a nice touch.

Loki's reaction to the Ark's destruction. standing there in defeat while Sylvie walks away. wow. Tom. you are amazing.

and what the heck why did the episode end there?

can't wait for the next episode

more of TVA being evil being shown, loving it.

really, is Loki/Sylvie a thing? i have a hard time seeing romance some times, so let me know.

can we please get a Kang tease?

great lighting & cinematography. beautiful. lovely. also good action. shout out to the stunt doubles since they don't get enough credit.

okay let Loki & Sylvie be friends (or lovers, i'm fine with that) and let them burn the TVA down together.

aaaaaaaaaaa how are we half way through?

also, have the TVA fixed all the messed up timelines yet?

oh wait i gotta talk about this. the minutemen don't remember their names. i doubt Mobius's name was Mobius Mobius Mobius. Casey is probably not his real name. The Clone Wars fan in me was already screaming, but now it is even more.

#loki (2021)#loki (2021) spoilers #loki (2021) review #loki laufeyson #tva loki #sylvie laufeysdottir #mobius m mobius #ravonna renslayer #hunter c-20 #hunter b 15

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encyclopika · 4 years

Note

18 & 20 For the ask game!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH KAT!!! <3 God this is long.

From this writer’s ask game...feel free to send me some asks!!! :D

Gonna link the stories here for reference and for anyone interested in reading!

The Missing Series // Fire and Brimstone

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

Yes, ma’am! First I’m going to say that most do not, but the Missing series, particularly all that concerning Asuka and Ai, does in a big way...particularly the completely altered timeline that follows them if she doesn’t go away. You’ve seen the comic, where Ai doesn’t lose her nerve that snowy day and makes it obvious to him she also has stock in a deeper relationship. Yeah, that one. I’m currently working on more short comics from that timeline. Not necessarily a whole story, but snippets from that fluffier timeline. But that also means a few things happen differently - for one, Krow doesn’t join the Ryukyu offices, mostly because, in that timeline, he’s allowed to fulfill his own heroic story faster than he can in Missing. He’s not actually a rescue hero, but he doesn’t have Ai around in the main series to come into that as quickly.

I also almost went harder on Ochako’s duality in Missing, almost making Uravity a separate entity that was starting to hate Ochako’s bullshit. I honestly hated that and clearly didn’t do that. Instead, the duality is more “in her head” than anything. This idea kinda comes out in Krow and Asuka instead.

Additionally, there was, once upon a time, an alternative “Missing”, in which Deku chooses not to return to Tokyo for the Pyromancer case, and Ochako faces him alone. It gets obnoxiously dark and gritty, to the point where I’ve taken that OnO fuel and split it between Escape Artists and my little-known horror project Downpour I’ve been working on in not-secret. But, yeah, that’s definitely an abandoned plotline...*shudders*.

There are small details here and there that I changed in both Missing and Missing Out that created alts, mostly concerning Deku and how he fights baddies/figures things out, name changes for OCs, The Ring’s and Pyromancer’s whole identities changed, and Irina’s characterization has really gone through the ringer (from being another lovable asshole bird like Krow that simply gets on his nerves, to being a dangerous, but important antagonist). I also had Deku introduce the idea that people’s quirks can kill them in Missing because I intended to explore it more, and I’m not sure if that’s totally abandoned...

Thanks for asking this one. <3

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Yes.

All of that. I don’t wanna toot my own horn, but I live for hidden messages, references, callbacks, foreshadowing and symbolism. The Missing series (and to a lesser extent, Fire and Brimstone) is simply overflowing with these things...there’s so much that even with all of the people who have read it, there are still gems and Easter Eggs left to be discovered. And, before I get into it and make this post obscenely long, my reasoning for doing this is simple - I want you to read my fics again...I want to have reread value.

I’m going to put it under a cut in case anyone wants to discover them for themselves and also general spoils. Here are the ones I’m MOST proud of or that make me laugh or, dare I say it, make me feel smart. This is not an exhaustive list, and of course, I’m not pointing out any future Missing series meta for sake of spoilers.

Titling

Titles, titles, titles, girl you know I love titles. I’m a title SNOB. And I do A LOT of fun things with titles, such as:

1. Using the title of the fic as a buzz word and callback to the theme.

I get real obnoxious with this in the Missing series. The overarching theme of Missing is, well, missing people, particularly in the vain of heartache, loss, and longing. And I put it everywhere:

From Missed Chance:

Despite keeping steadfast to her goals and to her future, she knew that for a long time, she'd be missing him.

From Missing:

Today, there would be an update. As much as she wished it weren't so, the only time she saw Deku was when it had to do with Pyromancer or for a brief moment before leaving the police station in the mornings. Any other time, she was missing him.

“I miss you.”

...

“I'm always missing you.”

That's probably how he wanted it - being Asuka, the one still missing Ai, was too painful.

It couldn't ever be the same again, and Ochako was happy for it, feeling like her life was now so full.

And not a thing was missing.

From Missing Out:

“Miss me?”

“Only a little.”

But even when she was being annoying as hell, I craved her, like I knew I'd miss her.

Still, after all that time in the cold, her lips seemed like a warm reprieve...if I could have ever gotten there...

I miss her.

I'm always missing her.

^This one’s a double whammy, for obvious reasons.

2. Using chapter titles to run with a theme, too.

This only happens in Missing and Missing Out, but, look:

Chapter titles for Missing are the life of a fire and also follow the level of stress in the fic, as well as Ochako’s feelings: Hot Coals, Rekindling, Reignited, On Fire, Blazing, Inferno, Burn Out, Backdraft

Those words are used in their respective chapters too AND we run through them when Ochako is considering confessing or not in the last chapter.

I pull the same kind of crap in Missing Out, except all the chapter titles are things Ai gave to Asuka. If it’s an object, the object is in the chapter, otherwise, it’s stated in the chapter, too.: A Desperate Lie, Lunch, Skills, Home, No Conditions, Second Chances, Worry, Agony. It’s also in reference to this, because kill me, I guess.

Bonus: Since the story is told from within the theatre of Asuka’s memories, the titles for chapters 7 and 8, “Worry” and “Agony”, are spoiled in Chapter 6 here:

I didn't know I'd missed my last shot at telling her...I didn't know that I really would be missing out on a life with her.

Because everything after this is worry and agony.

BONUS BONUS - THE TITLE OF THE FIC APPEARS HERE TOO BECAUSE I’M OBNOXIOUS.

3. Title allusions and character.

Particularly for “Fire and Brimstone”, the title sounds like it’s just about the main boys, Katsuki = Fire, and Kirishima = Brimstone. BUT BUT BUT it’s also referencing biblical shit, which is appropriate, given it’s an Angel/Demon AU. It refers to God’s wrath when people use it loosely, but it is also the torment in hell for the deadly sin lust. *hint hint nudge nudge*

Okay that’s enough about titles. How about the fact that

Krow is a Crow

So many little crow quirks, lore, and bullshit is put into this character, like wow.

1. The entire concept of his quirk is all about crow lore, in that they are often connected with death in a number of cultures. This is why, although he doesn’t like to explain it, his quirk isn’t literally a sense of smell, but a little more mystical than that. It’s a sense. His quirk also references the Carrion Crow, Corvus corone, for which he’s based, which is a scavenger and is heavily associated with carrion and is native to Japan.

2. The green and purple iridescence of his wings are also referred from the Carrion Crow in particular.

3. What’s not overly obvious is that crows and ravens have positive lore too - in a number of cultures they are guides and messengers, sometimes to people, sometimes to Gods, which Krow fulfills to both Ochako and Ai (with Ai’s quirk, she could be compared to a goddess, for which he acts as the messenger - this was how she figured their partnership would work). Krow kind of puts this and the negative lore together when he explains his quirk for real in Missing Out:

As a teenager, I ignored them. Death is everywhere and it usually isn't important. Whatever messages they need sending, I'm not the crow they're looking for.

He also actually has a messenger bag in Missing Out.

4. It’s referenced in Missing and outright admitted in Missing Out that he’s inexplicably attracted to shiny things, which is more or less also crow lore, rather than fact, but still.

5. Krow’s name “Asuka” is a unisex name that refers to scents, but also birds and flight. There are a bunch of different refs that say differently, but I’m sticking with that. “Dakuro” is Engrish for “Dark”, which, if you really wanna meta, is actually his last name, considering his father is British. “Dakuro” is just how the Japanese people around him pronounce it. XD

6. He admits to collecting random shit he finds aesthetic, in reference to hoarding and collecting as crows do.

7. Asuka and Ai’s “lunch for quirk fodder” exchange, as well as his giving her the necklace and the box of quirk fodder, is in direct reference to this adorable true story.

8. Asuka speaks more than one language and is capable of mimicry during his “feral response” while fighting the Bear Trap Villain. This is in reference to the fact that crows and ravens are capable of mimicking human speech like parrots.

9. Asuka likes to sit in high places and watch people, and squats in tree for the majority of Missing Out and often bitches about walking anywhere, unless it’s to protect Ai. He has the mentality of a bird. He’s also built like a bird, with hollow bones and air sacs to assist his properly sized wings during flight.

10. He’s actually incredibly intelligent, and uses it to finagle out of tough situations and generally be a trickster, as is crow/raven lore, but crows/ravens are considered the smartest group of birds besides parrots. Unfortunately, this gets balanced out by the fact he’s a teenage human boy, which makes him lazy and capable of dumbass moments.

11. The murder investigations - there’s a number of instances where Krow can’t help but be drawn to death from his death sense in both Missing and Missing Out. He can’t stop himself from investigating the building Pyro is hiding in, the murder warehouse, and when Ai dies. Crows and ravens will gather around fallen comrades in a mix of mourning and also in an effort to try and figure out what happened and if that threat still pertains to them.

:3 Birb <3

Secret Messages and Tells and Foreshadowing and Symbolism

-In Missed Chance, the duality split of Ochako and Uravity is referenced as happening at a particular moment. Throughout Missing, Uravity is treated as apart from Ochako until the end of Missing where they “agree” on letting Deku help. It’s a duality of self representation.

-At the end of Missing, I’m hoping its clear everyone but Iida was in on leaving the two of them alone. Aoyama initiates it by leaving first.

-There are at least two instances where there’s heavy foreshadowing of the end of chapter 7, once with Aoyama:

“Then where in this overcrowded city?”

“I see. Among the clouds, then.*”

And again with Deku:

“That's a relief. Now, I just need to make sure I don't float myself into the stratosphere and you'll be right!”

-There is SO MUCH symbolism related to flying and birds, I can’t really put it all here, but it’s there. Also so much symbolism to fire in Missing, not only with Pyro’s quirk, but Ochako’s feelings..

-Krow reacts to a memory of Ai before we know she exists (since he’s hiding it) while they are interrogating Necromancer: “That’s not bringing them back. That’s nothing like bringing them back.” He also lets it slip a bit that he’d speaking from experience when ragging on Ochako about Deku. Deku also introduces the idea that people’s quirks can kill them in the same chapter, which is in reference to Ai, but also what ends up happening to Ochako, more or less.

-If you replace Ai’s name with the literal meaning of her name in some sentences of Missing and Missing Out, the UwU angst goes up to an 11. Here’s the one that’s particularly the gut punch:

Ai saved me in every way someone could be saved.

[Love] saved me in every way someone could be saved.

-End of chapter 5 of Missing Out, No Conditions, it should be obvious as hell that if Ai wasn’t in love with Asuka before, she certainly is now. Particularly in the gift box scene, he gives her...butterflies...right?

-Ai is compared to the winter throughout Missing Out. This is more in reference to what she means to Asuka than anything else. Winter, as a season, is the great equalizer and although things die in the winter, it is also necessary to the bloom in spring. This refers to the shift in Asuka’s life because of her - his villain life ends and his hero life begins.

-In fact, that whole scene in the snow is based off this gif, particularly the alt comic. It’s of two crows sitting in the snow kissing UwU.

-In both Fire and Brimstone and Missing Out, it should be getting pretty obvious I like to have my winged beasties flutter their wings when they’re in love.

Referencing Literature & Real Life & Pop Culture/Memes

-Pyromancer’s first crime in Alaska is based off the McCarthy, Alaska massacre where a lone gunman gunned down 6 of the 22 residents and injured more. Guy almost killed the entire town. Pyromancer actually did.

-I’ve referred to “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe a number of times, particularly in Krow’s famous line

“Nevermore, bitch!”

But I also referenced the Telltale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, Frankenstein, The Wizard of Oz, and fanfiction in general.

-There’s a pop culture reference in Fire and Brimstone from Bioshock where Shinso says:

“Would you kindly go repent at the alter? Ashido is waiting.”

And I love it a lot, because in Bioshock SPOILERS, “would you kindly” is the trigger phrase that’s supposedly controlling the player, Jack, to do things for Atlas and in canon, Shinso’s quirk is brainwashing. Mineta upon hearing it just goes “okay” and promptly does what Shinso tells him. Shinso’s brainwashing is also referred to by Mineta just before that:

“Or get brainwashed into believing fairy tales,” Mineta said flatly from beside the Angel.

-There is indeed a motherfucking JoJo’s reference in Missing. And there’s more memes where that came from.

-Krow’s use of “my guy”, “lit” etc etc. is self explanatory. He is a whole ass meme chicken.

-In fact, I call Krow and the other birds of the Missing series “chickens” because of the meme of the girl pointing to a bunch of geese saying “look at all these chickens!” In fact, Irina calls and will call Krow a “cock” in Missing Out and Escape Artists, and it’s kind of a more sinister play on this. Transplant and Keeper, during their convo in Missing Out refer to the women captive under Keeper part of her “henhouse” and that she’d need a “rooster” to go through with her plans. Krow also refers to his fight with Irina as a “cockfight”.

-I’m not religious, but the lore is fun to allude to. The religious references should be clear in Fire & Brimstone, and a lot of the words I use relate to the topic, even casually in the narration, but also when the characters say “like hell!” Also in F&B, the real Angelic hierarchy shapes much of the worldbuilding, as do the references to real life racism, police brutality, and other shit like that.

In Missed Chance, the sun coming through the window puts a “halo” around Deku.

In Missing Out, Krow refers to demons on a number of occasions, sometimes towards himself, his family (which in comes the irony, since they look like Angels), but towards the end, it’s used to explain Ai’s mental illness. There are also these choice lines that entertain the notion of heaven and hell:

Below us was hell – mothers with agendas, school, dipshits, murderous villains, oh my! But up there? It was just us...

I was under no illusions about a heaven...hell certainly exists back down on the ground but I've been high enough now to rule the other place out. Unless this cold, quiet nothingness is supposed to be the intuitive opposite to the chaotic, unfair bullshit below.

-There’s a lot of references and characters with mental illnesses - psychosis, sociopathy, anxiety, depression and PTSD are all explored. In fact, Krow’s tendency to laugh at everything and get triggered by certain events (all of Missing Out is the result of him triggering himself in order to make Ochako realize her mistake) is a tell-tale sign he suffers greatly from PTSD, and Ai’s mental breakdowns are indicative of the anxiety I myself suffer from. Honestly, I just wanted some fics that look into it.

-In the same strain, all of the characters in Missing present different coping mechanisms towards what first-responders actively go through irl. Much of that was taken from my own life as someone with police in the family and being married to a firefighter/EMT.

Okay, that’s enough. Hope you enjoyed...I certainly had fun outlining all of it XD

#izuocha #my hero academia #uraraka ochako #my hero fanfiction #Missing Out #Fire and Brimstone #Missing #kiribaku #oc: Krow #writers ask games #encyclopika talk #THANK YOUUUUU

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bladekindeyewear · 4 years

Text

Bloggin’ bout HS^2 Commentary from start to Mid-Jan-2020

Sigh. Time to pay the piper. Someone’s gotta extract whatever plot-important and plothole mentions get mentioned in this commentary, even though reading behind-the-scenes stuff about Homestuck makes me even more nervous than reading frontend stuff ever could so I don’t really want to. FYI, that’s what you’re going to get out of my posts on these -- anything regarding plot stuff and plotholes, things we would’ve misinterpreted or missed otherwise, not any of the other paid content such as sketches or full quotes from them about things.

TWENTY FUCKING DOLLARS A MONTH!???!?? Is Andrew even seeing any of this cash? --no, not much of it I guess, he would want to make sure the WP folks get paid enough after the--

Yeah I’m not gonna even think about that.

Fuck it. I’m ponying up.

Alright, first commentary post on the Patreon, commentary and bonus sketches for Ghostflusters... whoa, this is long and extensive. Is it going panel by panel??

I guess I’ll give you a small quote just for a taste of how this starts...

Page 33: Not sure what any of this shit means. It’s pretty deep though. We were going for an echo of the beginning of the epilogue when John is dreaming in anime. Except here it’s Jake, and nobody is dreaming, at least not yet. Also an anime dream wouldn’t be a nightmare for Jake, since Jake likes anime. Or he used to. Now anime probably just reminds him of Dirk.

Good thing we’re never gonna hear from that guy ever again.

...because this commentary is sort of stylized. They’re kind of riffing on what they’re doing, and I get that -- when you have to write commentary you’re asking people to PAY for you can easily feel like you have to be entertaining. But they are describing the rationale for the shot choices they made and such. They’re also going for a sort of Andrew-recap sort of attitude, and I don’t blame them for that choice, either.

[Candy] Jade is...well, you’ll see.

GOD DAMNIT. Don’t remind me that Dave vanished on her forever while they were doing pro-revolutionary work and she’s probably going to be in a bit of a state! Stupid knowing author future allusions...

Then again, that’s exactly why I’m here blogging about the commentary for you guys -- for me to relay Authorial Intent on Stuff That Happened That Seemed Plotholey and Hints About What’s Going To Be Relevant.

I just, uh... didn’t expect there to be that MUCH of it. And that casual phrasing for that Candy Jade Is Going To Be Seen And Or Relevant hint is... kinda indicating to me that there’s gonna be a LOT more of that here than I wanted. :|

Continuing... there’s talk of why they started with Jake here, being unused to writing for middle-aged characters in Homestuck terms, et cetera, but again, I’m only here to relay anything with plot impact or SERIOUS perspective on how we should / the authors are viewing this. The rest stays behind the paywall for whichever of you all think it’s worth $20, I don’t really have a choice. At least now I know why there was no one to tell me what details were actually BEHIND the paywall. Seriously, that’s steep.

Speaking of how stylized the commentary is here, I can get why some might read it and view the authors as slightly callous -- I’m giving them PLENTY of benefit of the doubt, though. Andrew was FAR from callous and he hurt us worse out of love of artistic intent with the Epilogues than the HS^2 folks could EVER hurt us. Real Dirk-like, actually. Dirk is practically half of a self-insert, as we well know. No wonder Andrew thought the right thing to do was to take his hands off the story, what with Dirk’s villainous action being putting his own hands ON the story.

We like to make fun of Jake English as much as the next guy, but he probably is actually pretty good at “doing things” if the need arises.

Mhmm; there are some jibes at how screwed up Jake has made his life, but I don’t believe these authors actually disrespect Jake at all. He was dealt a bad hand by the story leading up to this point (quite INTENTIONALLY by Dirk’s narrative control in the Epilogues, too) and HS^2 and its bonuses so far have been exploring the heap of merits and potential he’s still got in him.

It’s kind of sweet how he wants to clean out his ecto-son’s house, even if most of that is to prevent the slow creep of mounting existential dread and narrative relevance.

Huh. So they think Jake can sort of feel that narrative relevance is seeping in around him, to him? That’s not out of the question at all.

Continuing... they’re going on a bit about the same sort of things I mentioned about their choices in detail or detail-less-ness when depicting people in this new format, considering ages and the paired text descriptions and such. That’s the sort of thing you’d traditionally want to pony up for commentary for, so rest assured that all that IS in their commentary posts if you want to do that. I’m kind of extracting the plot stuff out of the paywall just on principle.

A lot of making this comic--and every other comic ever--is trying to convey as much information with as little space as possible.

Quite so.

From this conversation we find out a couple things. 1) that Brain Ghost Dirk knows about Ultimate Dirk, and he thinks he’s a dickhead. 2) Brain Ghost Dirk knows who Jeff Bezos is, and Jake doesn’t. This could be a sign of a couple things, all of which are probably stupid.

This is ALSO what I came here for: Legitimate “don’t worry about it” handwaves about stuff that shouldn’t matter to us. I never ascribed the slightest bit of relevance or inference to BGDirk making a Jeff Bezos reference, and I’m glad I was completely justified in ignoring it. So far I agree with this probably-plural-but-acting-like-a-singular author’s train of thought.

Come to think of it, it’s maybe strange that in this Cool Future Earth where all of our characters are rich as hell, none of them have bothered to have any sort of corrective eye surgery. Jane, Jake, John, and Jade all still wear glasses. I guess they do have “signature looks” to maintain in regards to their brand.

I had to include this, I was legitimately curious. Understood it was probably an artistic decision to stay on-brand a fair bit -- and losing glasses even temporarily has a lot of thematic significance whenever it happens in Homestuck Proper -- but it’s nice to have some confirmation that this was the understandable rationale behind the choice.

Here we find out what Dirk thinks about Jake’s behavior of the last few years. In other words, we find out what Jake thinks about Jake’s behavior over the last few years. [...]

[Brain Ghost] Dirk is manipulating Jake here, but he isn’t actually saying anything demonstrably untrue.

Again, most of this was obvious at the time, but it’s nice to have authorial confirmation on what was being brought across as per the strange divide between Brain Ghost Dirk’s independent will and his mostly-part-of-Jake status.

Seriously though, shoutout to the conceit that god tiers can just fly endlessly, with no visible effort. It’s a really excellent form of narrative shortcut that fits perfectly into the bonkers vibe of earth c as a whole. Oh there goes one of the Creators, just flying over the Wal-Mart like an asshole.

You know... who IS doing the commentary here? One of the authors, all of them? One of the artists?? This really is a COLLABORATIVE effort between the authors and artists involved here, I think, and it shows in their clear surprise and appreciation for each others’ work that only settles into a full understanding instead of just knowing what one intended off the bat.

It calls into question exactly how much of the Condesce’s mind control was actually mind control at all, and how much was just a lowering of inhibitions.

Right, right.

We see Jane greeting Jake here with open arms, which makes you wonder exactly what is going on here. If you’ll remember from Candy, Jane has already served Jake divorce papers. A mystery in need of solving, for sure.

HERE we go! This is the potential plothole we were concerned about that got me alerted that the commentary had something to add in the first place. John mentioned toward the trail-end of the Candy epilogues that divorce papers had shown up for Jake. (And we also saw an HS^2 update ago or so that Jane hadn’t actually KNOWN Tavros was “awol” at all until he was literally a part of this whole clowncorpse logistics business.) So in light of what this post continues to say:

It could be that Jane has put aside the nasty business of their divorce in order to have a strong chest to cry on. Can’t really say I blame her. Jake English has many flaws but he does seem like a good person to drape yourself across and really let loose on. And without Gamzee there, Jane needs another punching bag.

...it all finally fits as pretty logically consistent, although the author is being deliberately coy in a way that leaves it open for more to be revealed later about exactly how this is happening. Good! No obvious plotholes in HS^2 (yet). That’s an honest relief. The more often they have something in mind where I’d previously worried they’d screwed up, the more often I can give them credit and speculate properly on those gaps in story-logic expecting something there, like we so often got to with Andrew before the retconsplit made even THAT kinda fucky.

If you’ve ever had a friend or family member go evil, you’ll know that one of the hardest parts is there’s always still elements of them that you like.

I can definitely say that from nearly personal experience.

Also, at this point in the story there is no lingering doubt that Jake and Dirk have had a sexual relationship. There’s a familiarity there that wasn’t around when they were teens.

I assumed so, but I guess I never thought ABOUT how I assumed so. Huh.

Do any of the creators have a moral leg to stand on if all they’re doing is curling up into a ball and hoping the world gets better without them? Actually, does anyone have a moral leg to stand on if they do that?

Almost Riddley, there.

These posts are certainly interesting! Steeply priced for what they are, but interesting. Moving on to the second of four so far... this one’s about Catnapped Part 1.

Taking over Earth C's business world certainly would have required rubbing shoulders with the already-powerful on the planet.

--yep, which I never doubted even when brought up in the Epilogues is a large part of her supply-side government views.

Ah, looks like the bonus commentary is a good deal shorter! But that bonus section was a good deal shorter than the story section covered earlier too, so.

On to the next one, for Clown Logistics.

Page 58: If you love Vriskas, i hope you enjoy more Vriska content. If you hate Vriskas, well. Here is another one that is kind of different. Feel free to contemplate nature vs nurture and how best to apply this dichotomy toward emoting about the vriskas of your choice how you see fit.

I’m starting to really enjoy this author commentary.

Tavros being named Tavros sure was a decision. Go back and reread the commentary for panel 58 but stop before the nature/nurture thing, since they are not clones, or even the same species. They just have the same name, which, in this universe, means you at least type kind of the same.

Hmhmm.

Page 65: Sometimes you try and come up with something to say about a page, and you cannot, and so you wait 8 hours, and go see Knives Out, and then you have 2 white russians, and then you still can’t come up with anything to say, but oh well! Commentary needs writing. Tavros is experiencing an emotion here.

Now THAT’s a mood. I gotta go see Knives Out sometime soon.

...Alright, I can see why some people think MAAAAYBE this author might be being a little disrespectful to the audience, but if they’re going based on THIS, I don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. This comment could have come from Andrew’s fingertips any day of the week!!! I honestly wouldn’t WANT replacement authors who couldn’ comment like this in there for a page in paid commentary, especially in a lighter section of the story that doesn't need too much said about it.

And I paid $20 for this shit.

...Continuing, I’m loving all this commentary on Harry Anderson. Representative excerpt:

Again, direct your eyes toward the boy. What a fucking asshole.

...these commentaries are honestly improving my mood! I didn’t expect that, really.

Ah, I didn’t even notice that the flying cars appear to be self-driving. I think maybe the back of my mind MIGHT have noticed but only a bit.

Referring to the corpse-carry crew:

Page 82: Pokedex entry for Magneton in Pokemon Sun: When three Magnemite link together, their brains also become one. They do not become three times more intelligent.

Ain’t THAT a mood.

(...I just had an internal “Wait, am I using that right, it being a “mood”? Isn’t that the hip new term, how do I have any right to latch onto that however much I feel it? Ohhh gosh I’m so fucking old” moment.)

It’s clear from the commentator’s complaints that the crew never viewed this commentary ALONE as worth upping the pledge to $20, but that’s... not quite a bad thing? I think it’d have been more disrespectful to think that they COULD make the commentary worth that. I doubt there’s a single person on their team who feels quite right about the business model (besides the artists they have plenty of context to know how deserving they are of a living goddamn wage), but it’s what they have to live with and go with, here. I feel weird for honestly understanding ‘em, and more than slightly pitying for how many people will look at all this and read “these assholes don’t care about us”. I really can’t think that’s anywhere CLOSE to true from this without more context. (And I really DON’T want more context, don’t send me any. I’ve got to read HS^2 and I’m enjoying reading it so far so let me keep enjoying it please. Background drama details make me nauseous, DON’T give me any if there is any (which I wouldn’t know about in the first place beyond an opinionated friend or two dropping hints in a bad mood).)

Did you know there are people who I’ve seen honestly believing “Undertale is pretty good but the creator is an arrogant asshole”?????

Because they saw his tweet about the game score passing Kojima’s MGSV on metacritic briefly and misinterpreted his wide-eyed disbelief, disbelief honed to nervous laughter to maintain sanity by Toby’s insecurity about his unprofessional work and work product??? They thought he was SERIOUS without any of the context of the usual insincere little dog persona they should’ve read into the game of his they played??

Awh man. That just ticks me off.

Anyway where were we.

Page 91: This is a flashback so I didn’t write this one, which means I thankfully don’t have to say anything about it.

Wait. What?

Are they trading off writers between chapters, or...? Hm.

Whatever they’re doing, it fits together pretty darn well SO far.

Alright, that finishes that off, time for the last commentary post on the second bonus update.

I don't know if you noticed, but everything is terrible right now. And I don't mean just in Homestuck's dumb fake earth. I mean in our dumb real earth.

Now that’s a mood.

I've been playing a lot of Death Stranding recently. Basically any media that you're making in 2019 has to either address what's going on around us or come off sanitized, sterilized, with its head in the sand. Kojima offers a simple power fantasy: Through Norman Reedus's sweaty, urine-filled labor, the things that divide us can be banished. America can be unified again.

Now THAT is a god damned MOOD.

The author(?) goes in about why this is happening, why Jane is being confronted this way, why she IS this way, et cetera.

Privilege, safety, and inherited wealth do funny things to the brain. People justify to themselves why they have what they have. If you have enough for long enough, you start to convince yourself you deserve it.

That’s one of the biggest goddamn reasons for the inequality and political landscape we have today IRL, yeah.

She saw a new world and chose, simply, to replicate the power structures of the 21st-century America she was raised in. Boardrooms, power pantsuits, formality and professionalism.

Jane's favorite comic, a noir-detective drama steeped in the pop-cultural trappings of pulp Americana, reflects this mindset.

So, our catgirl Seer of Light takes us through the looking glass, and we get to see an old friend.

Hm!

Nothing really to say, I just had to share this fitting context the author is giving. How things fit together even better than they seemed to, and this was all far from random.

I feel warmly ensconced in the womb of nostalgia, gently cradled on Norman Reedus's chest.

Pffffffff

Yep, more of what we already surmised and appreciated, how Swifer and Cliper were giving us some much needed perspective... the commentary post even has little traditional-Homestuck sprites for ‘em.

And... that’s it for the commentary so far! Again, I enjoyed all that more than I expected. $20 doesn’t sting for me as much as it does for others in general, but it stung a lot less after I was through reading all that honestly somewhat-entertaining stuff confirming a lot of the insights I’d thought the plot was having.

I’ll probably wait to check for further commentary posts until like... after bonus updates come out, in the future, and then just blog about whatever I’m not caught up on. Sound fair? I’m going to blog as often as a real or bonus upd8 comes out, but I’m not going to pop in more often than that for my own sanity’s sake. Have a good MLK weekend, y’all. :)

#Homestuck #hs2 #Homestuck Liveblog #bladekindeyewear #Homestuck Commentary #blastyoboots

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lordcharles01 · 4 years

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D&D Diversity Ramblings

I guess I'll open this by saying if I upset anybody with anything, that’s definitely not the intention. More intended to just be a ramble into the void on my thoughts about some of what was posted recently. (that probably sounds more ominous than it is, as overall I agree with the sentiment.)

So dropping the one big thing I’ll argue against, is the change to orcs and drow across the board. Naturally time will tell on if any of this is relevant but I like these two as they are. I like that there are versions of orcs that are just brutal combat driven religious fanatics, and I like there are versions that have all the complexity that one otherwise expects from a Shakespearean play. Similarly with drow, they range from just another variety of elf to a matriarchal society living underground with a deeps seeded hatred of the world above with undying dedication to their god Lolth. As a DM i feel both of these things have their place. There’s a lot to be said for having an enemy in your toolbox that needs no reason to be a terror on the roads during travel, and one that can be built with ranks, a hierarchy and be played strategically.

When it comes to drow, that’s actually one I’m kinda confused about. Drow society has been fleshed out significantly over the years with many characters of differing alignments coming from that species so that leaves me with a bit of confusion. I know there is an argument that has basis in these races being caricatures and stereotypes of real world people and because of that these need to change and that’s a very valid point. I also think it’s worth considering what changes have been made over the years, and when we can look at fantasy creatures as something of make believe. It’s not a be-all-end-all person x is right and person y is wrong, it’s a conversation.

The racial bonus controversy is one I overall don’t get. I’ve always felt this is just a component of the game and that it provides additional incentive to try another race out as opposed to just having it be a flavored meat sack I wear. Plus D&D is usually less, this one’s the black one, this is the white one, this one is in-between, and more like different species. I’ll reserve judgement for my thoughts on how it’s done, if it’s good or bad until this is released. I will just say i hope it’s something to add mechanically as a background as opposed to outright replacement. being able to say that a character has their hill dwarf stats and studied at a far away arcane sanctum to master the arts and gets a +2 to intelligence in addition strikes me as far more interesting than something to just saying pick a stat to get +2 in and pick a stat to get +1 in. I can already do that by talking to the dm without dropping 50 bucks on your newest rule book, thank-you. Side note to not bitch about something, can we all just be happy for the briefest of moments that it sounds like we’re finally getting something akin to Xanathar’s guide 2.0? We need more of that, like a lot more of that.

Going down the list otherwise, fixing insensitive language is a yup, like... I’m not sure how one argues that. If ya do then... well you’re kinda an asshole. The whole Vistani thing is kinda a meh to me... I won’t argue against the change, if it’s upsetting to people then yeah, let’s make it better. I kinda wanna see the changes they’re hinting at before I drop anything on if I like the new material better than the old, as far as a gameplay and fictional culture goes. I think what a lot of people won’t get is the term gypsy is a slur when referring to Romani people specifically, and not just the general aesthetic that comes to mind of someone who has had to watch the Disney version of Hunchback of Notre Dame one too many times. (The fact the text editor recognizes the slur and not the proper nationality I feel is proof of the disconnect. Seriously, can i go on a minor disconnected tangent about how Romani is suggested to be Romaine. I’m talking about people from a specific country and the editor wants me to talk about salad. This fucker is also insistent that that shit be capitalized, like that one type of salad component is very very important. Piss off text editor, I like iceberg better!!!)

So um... yeah if you stuck through that till the end, um... thanks for giving me a read. I don’t normally like posting things like this because it’s way too easy to give the wrong impression or for the tone to be off when reading as opposed to as-intended during writing. I like conversation so if i upset anyone feel free to uh... well strike up the conversation on the topic. I’m fairly certain most of us want the same thing, we just have different ideas of how to get there, and really this is just an idiot rambling... like an idiot.

TLDR: I think orcs and drow are in a good place currently with multiple interpretations across different worlds being able to be more in depth and “human” characters as well as having a more brutal version for DM’s to pull from in the arsenal and outright removal of either of these is less beneficial overall. I think racial bonuses should be added on to and not replaced outright, but we’ll see how that goes before bitching like a whining child again. I want a term that gets the pop-culture aesthetic that gypsy conjures without the racial connotation. It’s good that we’re bringing on proper support from within communities when accuracy is desired. I’m an idiot rambling on the internet like he actually matters for anything, and regardless a fuck ton of people in metric quantity will still be pissed at me for one reason or another, and I thank you for reading this massive fucking wall of text.

#D&D #Random Babbling #language is weird

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tommyparkerr · 5 years

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Promises BONUS III | Peter Parker x Reader

So...this is it, guys. The end of the road. :’( On the bright side, though, I’ve had so, so, so much fun with this series and I feel like I grew a lot as a writer through this. I explored a lot of new scenes and emotions and POVs which gave me an idea for a new series I want to start with an OC (@dahliaspidey knows exactly what I’m talking about here), and I never would have felt confident enough to write it if I hadn’t written Promises. These bonuses were kind of a last hoorah for me to finish off the series because I had so much left to say about Peter and Y/N’s future that I couldn’t not share it.

I want to thank everyone who has shown me support through this series, and even though it doesn’t have as many notes as I’d hoped when I first started writing, it’s been good for me. Especially now that I want to write an OC, and we all know how those go. However, I know now how to write for myself and that I’m always going to have someone who supports me. So, if that’s you you haven’t gone unnoticed. I appreciate you so much, and even if you only stick around long enough to leave a like I want you to know I appreciate you, too. :)

Anyways...Onward! This is the bonus I’ve been wanting to write since the very beginning, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It encompasses what this entire series was built off of: angst, frustration, tears, and a good dose of fluff to make up for it. I love you all!<3

Words: 6.6k

Warnings: Angst, tears, sadness, mentions of anxiety...then f l u f f

-Masterlist-

P R O M I S E S - B O N U S T H R E E :

“Mary-Jane Parker, you get back here right now!”

The four-year-old simply giggled from her hiding place in the closet, a large hand sneaking from behind her to cover her mouth. When it served no help in muffling the noise, which only seemed to grow louder at the attempt of being quieted, the hand offered her another one of her favorite cookies. She took it without hesitation, shoving it into her mouth and smearing chocolate on her white shirt.

“Oh, c’mon–did you really have to do that?” the cookie-offerer whispered in distress, attempting to brush away the mess she’d created. “We had a deal, Miss Virginia Parker, and now your mom’s going to kill me and it’ll be all your fault.”

Mary-Jane Virginia Parker smiled a toothy grin, tipping her head back to look at the man behind her. “Sowy Gwanpa Pops,” she said through the mouthful of cookie she still had, her words coming out jumbled and skewed but nevertheless warming the fifty-year-old’s heart.

“See? This is exactly what I’m talking about–how am I supposed to be mad at you when you say stuff like that? Please, please never learn how to pronounce your ‘r’s, because it’s the cutest damn–dang, sorry, and please don’t tell your mom I said that–thing I’ve ever heard.”

The girl giggled again and reached a hand out for the Chips Ahoy! package her grandpa still held. He rolled his eyes but gave her another, this time taking one for himself as well.

“How long aw we gonna hide fwum Mommy?” she asked after chewing and swallowing and grabbing another. Tony knew he was going to get into huge trouble by letting her have so many cookies and agreeing to hide her so she didn’t have to take a nap, but it was Christmas Eve and he just wanted as much time with his granddaughter as possible before the Parkers headed back home to Queens.

So, Tony shrugged. “Until nap time is over, I guess.”

The girl’s eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe it was possible to hide for so long. “But what if Mommy finds us?”

“You’ve played hide-and-go-seek before, right? The tag version?”

She nodded quickly, loving every opportunity she got to show her grandpa how much she knew. “I love that game, Gwandpa Pops! Sophia and Maggie and I play it all the time! I can wun fastah than anyone on the playgwound!”

Tony grinned, a sense of pride filling him even if there was no definite proof that was true. But with half of Peter's DNA in her, it was possible. Though, they wouldn’t know that for sure until she was older. Much older, hopefully. “Good. When your mommy finds us, we’re going to run faster than you ever have on the playground, all right?”

“All wight,” Mary-Jane nodded, now on a mission. “Can I have anothuh cookie pwease?”

Suddenly the closet door was yanked open and light filled the previously dark area. Mary-Jane reacted quicker than any of them could have hoped to themselves (except Peter, of course), snatching the package of cookies from her grandpa before squealing and sprinting through her mother’s legs into the hallway.

“Oh, I see how it is!” Tony shouted after her, now cookie and granddaughter-less. “Take the cookies and leave the old man to die!”

Of course, if the giant grin on his face said anything, he didn’t mean a single word.

There was a sigh and Tony sheepishly looked up, raising his hands in surrender. “Okay, before you say anything, I haven’t seen my granddaughter in, like, a whole month now, so if you want to steal her away from me on Christmas Eve to go take a nap like some wimpy little kid-”

Tony ignored the exasperated, “-she is a little kid, Tony-” from his wife and went on.

“-then maybe you should let her come stay at Grandpa’s more often. I’m just saying.”

While Pepper simply looked frustrated, a guilty look suddenly overtook Y/N’s face. It still didn’t change the fact that Tony was at the mercy of the two scariest women on earth right now, but at least he wasn’t alone. He had Peter, who looked oddly entertained but slightly guilty as well.

“Peter, can you go find our daughter, please?” Y/N said, sighing. “Tell her no nap, but we do have to have a family discussion in the living room.”

“Wait...” Tony said, looking between his wife and daughter-in-law with practiced caution. “Am I in trouble or not? Because on the one hand ‘no nap’ sounds like I won, but the family discussion part sounds like I’m walking to my deathbed.”

“Trust me, old man,” Pepper said with a roll of her eyes as she practically yanked him upright. “If we wanted to kill you, you’d have been dead ages ago.”

It was times like these where Tony was reminded just how terrifying his wife was. “Somehow, I know that’s absolutely true,” he agreed.

Pepper smirked, ushering Y/N to follow along behind them as they made their way to the living room. “Good to know old age hasn’t stolen all of your brains yet.”

Tony was about to protest when Peter and his granddaughter made their appearance, Mary-Jane sitting on her father’s shoulders while each of them chomped down on a cookie.

“Hey, Gwandpa Pops! Daddy wants to give you a cookie too since you only got one.”

Tony grinned and took the package Peter was stretching out to him, his eyes gleaming with mischief. Suddenly he wasn’t so sure about the situation but took the package anyway, looking inside it to find...nothing.

Tony looked up and glared. “You little sh-”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Pepper interrupted, giving Tony a dirty look. Tony winced and plopped down on the couch while Peter and Mary-Jane howled with laughter. Peter only shut up when Y/N gave him a nasty look of her own, which in turn made Tony snicker. Peter gently lowered Mary-Jane down and told her to go play in her room, then sat next to Tony.

“You’re whipped,” Tony whispered low enough so the girls (who were settling down on the couch across from them) couldn’t hear.

“At least I only answer to two women and not three,” Peter shot back, obviously referring to his wife and daughter. Tony chuckled, inconspicuously pointing to Pepper.

“I’ll believe that when I see you tell her no, Parker.”

Peter scowled but didn’t respond.

The mood in the room dropped from humorous to serious way too quickly for Tony’s liking, concern overtaking him when he saw Y/N holding Pepper’s hand and Peter suddenly leaning forward practically radiating anxiety. Although Tony knew there was nothing said that he hadn’t picked up on, he was positive he must’ve missed something that caused the mood in the room to become what it is. He thought about saying something but decided to let Y/N do the talking, which was probably the smartest choice considering his wife’s deadly stare.

“Okay, um…” Y/N looked at Peter, who nodded at her in support. “So, first things first, I guess. Um...well, the good news is that we’re pregnant again. A little girl.”

Tony simultaneously felt joy and dread fill his heart, and from the looks of it, Pepper was experiencing the same thing. This was nothing like the announcement for Mary-Jane, and the growing anxiety made his knee start to incessantly bounce.

“And?” Tony prodded impatiently.

Pepper’s jaw dropped. “Tony,” she hissed, her eyes aflame.

“What are you mad at me for?!” Tony exclaimed. “It was silent and I don’t do well with silence, you know that! And whenever there’s good news there’s bad news and I really don’t want to allow my head more time to dream up worst-case scenarios that keep me up all night! I was simply speeding the process along, that’s all!”

“Pepper, it’s okay,” Y/N assured her with a small smile. “Really. We all know Tony’s a blabbermouth, anyway. Were you really expecting anything else?”

“Hey, since when did it become ‘Gang up on Tony’ day? Because I elect to make it ‘Gang up on Peter’ day instead,” he said, ignoring Peter’s sputtered protests.

“Woah, that’s totally unfair!” he exclaimed. “And it’s so not cool.”

Tony shrugged, leaning back on the couch. “Yeah, well, life’s uncool. Deal with it, kid.”

“But you can’t just do that-”

“Of course, I can. I’m Tony Stark-”

“And I’m your son-”

“The doctor doesn’t know if the baby will make it through the pregnancy.”

The room fell deadly silent after Y/N’s interruption, and the hint of a smile that had started to form on Tony’s face dropped. His heart stopped beating for a minute and his head went blank, completely lost on how to process the information. When he finally snapped back to reality, he saw that Pepper had a hand over her mouth in shock but that her eyes were filled with tears, Y/N was wringing her hands in anticipation, and the boy next to him...well, Peter looked utterly defeated.

“How…” Pepper’s voice shook. “How far along are you?”

“Eighteen weeks,” Y/N answered, looking down at the floor. “We just found out the gender yesterday before we came here. I’ve been on strict bed rest for the past six weeks which is why...well, why we haven’t been here.”

Tony suddenly felt guilty for throwing his granddaughter’s missing presence in their face now. He’d meant it as a joke because he was sure they had their reasons and that they weren’t purposefully keeping her from him, but...he would’ve never guessed that their reason was this.

“Does Mary-Jane know you’re pregnant?” Tony asked, feeling some of his anxiety slip away at Peter’s shake of the head.

“No. We...we didn’t want to tell her yet in case...in case…” The rest of the sentence was never spoken but fell just as heavy upon the room’s occupants as if it were.

After a bit of silence, Y/N spoke up again. “It doesn’t mean that we will lose her, it’s just...it’s just not highly likely that we won’t.” At that she started to cry, no longer able to hold back her trembling jaw and dam in her eyes. Pepper immediately brought her into her arms, and Tony was about to make his way over as well when Peter suddenly jumped up and ran down the hall. He debated for a moment where to go and who to comfort, because it was plainly obvious Y/N needed all the support she could get right now and that meant that Peter probably did too, but he also wasn’t sure if Peter’s running off meant he wanted to be alone. Lucky for him, Pepper opened her eyes to see his turmoil and nodded her chin toward where Peter had gone. Following his wife’s instructions, because her instincts were always right, he shot up, placed a kiss on Y/N’s head, then went off to chase Peter down.

“Pete?” he called out after searching for him for what felt like ages. And, yes, he could’ve just asked FRIDAY, but this time he preferred to find him himself. “Peter, bud, where are you?” Tony didn’t get a direct answer, but he did see a certain room light on without any noise to accompany the sign of life inside. He took a breath before opening up the door.

Bright pink walls and a littered room floor filled his view, Barbies and stuffed animals and storybooks scattered all over the place like an intricate booby trap. Luckily there weren’t any Legos within the mess; he’d stepped on enough of Peter’s to last a lifetime. And, in the midst of it all, he saw the boy he’d been looking for.

Tony quietly lowered himself to the ground next to Peter, careful not to disturb the sleeping girl in front of him.

“She’s always needed her afternoon nap,” Peter said, his eyes not looking away from his daughter. Tony smiled at the Spider-Man toy she held as she slept, curled into a ball that made her look ten times smaller than she already was. “One time when she was two, she got so grumpy with us for not making her take a nap that she just laid down on the floor and took matters into her own hands. Slept hard as a rock,” he chuckled.

“And now here we are,” Tony said with a grin, not doubting for a second that the story wasn’t true. Mary-Jane Virginia Parker had been stubbornly independent since the day she was born, each passing day growing into a stronger leader than she was the day before.

“Here we are,” Peter agreed, a smile on his face. “Seven hundred and thirty days later and we’re in the exact same position.”

They both were quiet for a while, Peter eventually reaching out to brush Mary-Jane’s curly brown hair out of her face. It seemed that touching her was all it took for him to break, as his entire body immediately began to shake.

Tony didn’t dare touch Peter for fear he’d really start to cry and the four-year-old would wake up to the scene. “Let me get her into bed and I’ll meet you down in the lab, okay, Pete?”

Peter nodded and quickly stepped out of the room without a single comment; Tony thought it would be harder to get him to leave but, then again, Peter probably hadn’t wanted to wake Mary-Jane and cause her to ask questions they couldn’t answer about why her dad was crying.

Tony’s knees popped and his back protested as he picked up the little girl and carried her to her bed, tucking her in and giving her a kiss. He took a moment just to look and take her in—his only granddaughter and the only person he could love more than anyone else in the world. And now he was supposed to get two—two beautiful baby girls—and so was Peter and so was Y/N and so was Mary-Jane, but now it was possible she’d be taken away from them before they could get to know her and it wasn’t fair.

But looking at Peter and Y/N and how strong their first daughter turned out to be, he hoped—he knew—that that baby girl was going to live. She was going to defeat every odd in the book and come out stronger than anyone could have hoped; she was going to be the biggest miracle they’d ever experienced because there was no other option.

She was going to live. She had to.

Tony eventually made his way to the lab, feeling both hesitant and eager to get to his kid as quickly as possible. He wasn’t sure he would have the right words to say, but he could try.

He’d lost too much in his life, and fate be damned if it was going to try to take that baby girl away from him too.

When he got down to the lab, he half expected to see Peter sobbing in a corner somewhere he couldn’t easily be seen. However, it wasn’t what he got. Instead, he got what looked like a lifeless Peter sat on a workbench with head in hands, his body absolutely still. Tony carefully approached him, not sure what to do. He received no reaction as he got closer, leading him to perch himself on the seat beside his unusually quiet kid. Tony didn’t know if he was supposed to break the silence or not, but luckily he didn’t have to wonder long.

“Hey.”

Tony winced at the sound of his voice, raw and ruined. Maybe he’d stayed in the room with Mary-Jane longer than he thought he did–long enough, at least, for Peter to cry until his lungs gave out.

He lifted his hand and dropped it onto Peter’s shoulder, choosing to go with silent acknowledgment rather than verbal. Apparently that was all Peter needed to break down again, as his voice dropped to a whisper and he brokenly sobbed, “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me, Dad. I can’t-I can’t lose one of her. I can’t lose her, Dad, I can’t.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out who Peter was referring to, and normally Tony would have made some sort of quip about his ingenuity, but now all he did was reach over and wrap his kid up in his arms. Peter laid his head on his shoulder, and his hands shook as he clutched onto Tony’s AC/DC shirt. Tony couldn’t help it when tears pricked his eyes and a lump formed in his throat; seeing Peter like this–so broken, so afraid, so helpless–hurt more than he ever imagined it could. And Tony was afraid too, because that was his granddaughter and his kid and his daughter-in-law the world was messing with, but he had to be strong now. If not for Peter and Y/N, then for himself.

“You won’t,” Tony said, his voice firm but quiet. “You won’t lose her.”

Peter didn’t respond at first. “How do you know that?”

“Because I’m a genius,” Tony automatically quipped and immediately regretted it when he felt Peter stiffen. “Sorry, sorry–not the time for my not-so-genius wit, I know.” He took a deep breath. “Look, Pete, I know it seems like this is the end of the world for you, but let me tell you something: That baby you’re mourning right now? She’s still alive. Her heart is still beating and her brain is still thinking, yet you’re acting like she’s already gone. She’s alive, Peter. She’s alive, and she’s yours, and she needs every ounce of love and encouragement she can get so she can grow.”

“She’s not a plant, Dad,” Peter mumbled, voice muffled by Tony’s shirt.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Hear me out, okay? Yeah, maybe she’s small right now or the doctor is expecting some sort of health issues, but even if she was born a little small or with six toes, you’d still love her, right? And you better say yes, because if you don’t this whole plan I had laid out in my head just went to shit.”

Peter smiled–just a little bit–and Tony felt accomplished.

“Of course I would. I do.”

“Then what are you doing sitting here crying for her?” Tony asked seriously, pulling Peter off his shoulder and looking him straight in the eye. He was simultaneously going for tough love and compassion, making his next few sentences come out assertive yet soft. “You love her, so act like it. Look–if Mary-Jane told you she wanted to play on the soccer team but was horrifyingly bad at it, you wouldn’t stomp on her dreams, would you? You’d encourage her, Pete; you’d cheer her on, no matter what. Mary-Jane is strong and brilliant and braver than I ever could be–what do you think makes this little girl any different?”

It was silent for a long time as Peter simply stared at Tony with eyes full of unshed tears. Then he started to smile–a watery smile but one nonetheless.

“She is brilliant, isn’t she?” he tearily laughed.

“Of course she is,” Tony said. “I’m her grandpa.”

Peter smirked. “Grandpa Pops.”

Tony playfully glared as he pulled Peter back in for a half hug, half noogie. “Get over here, you little twit.”

—

The call came in the middle of the night at approximately 2:33am, disturbing Tony’s and Pepper’s rest alike (though Tony had only been asleep for an hour now). Pepper stumbled out of bed to grab the phone–whether it was his phone or his wife’s he didn’t know. He was expecting her to simply decline the call and take care of whichever important business person forgot time zones were something that existed in the morning, but she instead of picked it up with a too loud, “Hello?”

Tony groaned and grumpily mumbled, “Who the hell-” but was interrupted by the ‘zip it’ motion given by his wife. He turned over and put a pillow over his head, grumbling to himself and fully planning to murder whoever was calling at 2:33 in the morning. That was until he heard the next words from his wife’s mouth.

“Right now? She’s in labor right now?!”

Suddenly Tony was more awake, moving the pillow off his head and shooting upright. He looked at Pepper to hopefully get some answers, but all he got was a frantic waving toward the closet. Luckily Tony picked up on it and threw the sheets off of him, nearly tripping over his own feet as he picked out clothes for the hospital.

“Peter–Peter calm down, okay, hun? Take a breath–Peter, slow down!”

Tony’s heart clenched and he finished slipping on his chosen AC/DC shirt (he still couldn’t believe that the kid mistook them for Led Zeppelin) only to leave his pants behind as he rushed to Pepper. She was still trying to get Peter to calm down–unsuccessfully, it sounded like–but before she could say anything further Tony impatiently stuck his hand out and said, “Give me the phone, Pep.”

She looked relieved, not even bothering to tell Peter she was handing over the phone before depositing it into Tony’s hand and going to get dressed herself.

As Tony put the phone to his ear, he immediately heard the ramble the kid was in the middle of, panicked and breathless. He didn’t waste any time in reacting. “Peter? Pete, it’s me, kid. Breathe. I mean it, Underoos. Breathe. Breathe, and then we can talk, okay? I’m not talking to you until you pause for a minute and breathe.”

The rambling died almost immediately, replaced by gasps for air that were partially caused by not breathing for a good minute and a half and partially by the anxiety Tony was sure was coursing through the kid. Tony let the silence go on for a few more seconds before speaking again. “Okay, kid, that’s a good start. Now, when you’re ready to tell me what’s going on, I’m listening.”

Surprisingly, Peter took a few more breaths before beginning to explain. “It’s Y/N–she’s in labor right now. We just got to the hospital and the doctors are getting everything ready and oh my go-”

“Breathe, Pete. Remember?”

He took in a choked breath. “Yeah–right. Right.”

Tony waited a moment or two, contemplating on where to lead the conversation. “What’s up, kid? Are you all right? Is Y/N all right?”

“I don’t–I mean, yeah, Y/N’s fine, I’m fine, but like–what if it’s not, Mr. Stark? What if it goes wrong and something happens?”

“Listen to me, Peter,” Tony said seriously. “Everything is going to be okay. Remember almost five months ago when you didn’t know if you’d even make it to today? Well, today is here, Peter, and it’s waiting for you to get your head out of your ass and pull yourself together to go be with your wife and soon-to-be daughter. You got that? I know anxiety can be a pain in the ass, but you cannot let it win this time, okay, bud? There’s too many people who need you in that room right now, your unborn daughter being one of them. So know that Pep and I will be there, but you’ve got somewhere to be right now, and it is not in the hospital waiting room. You go there after little Anthony is born, okay?”

That managed to get a small laugh out of Peter, and Tony smiled in relief. “We’re not naming her Anthony, Mr. Stark; we’ve been over this.”

“Sorry Pete, you’re cutting out and I totally did not hear what you just said. But we’ll be there soon to meet little Miss Anthony Junior,” Tony joked as he sat on the bed and worked on putting on the pair of pants that Pepper handed to him; she was rolling her eyes and shaking her head at where their conversation had turned back to, but she had a smile on her face which told him she wasn’t truly annoyed. Besides, it had only ever been a joke; there was no way Tony would let them really name their daughter Anthony, which was why he found it so humorous when he entertained it.

Peter laughed again, then went quiet. Tony frowned. Just as he was about to check the phone to see if the call had dropped somehow, Peter spoke up. “Thank you, Dad.”

Tony genuinely smiled and finished putting his sweatpants on as he replied, “Anytime, Pete.”

The call ended.

—

The waiting room ended being pretty empty when they got there. Tony guessed it had something to do with the fact that it was three in the morning, but he knew for a fact that nothing good happened after midnight (nonetheless on a Friday night) so he was pleasantly surprised when he found that the only people he had to share a waiting room with was Pepper, May, Mary-Jane (who was sleeping on May’s lap when they arrived), Rhodey, Happy, and one night shift nurse who seemed close to falling asleep at the lack of patients. Rhodey and Happy had shown up a couple hours later at a more respectable hour, but only because Tony hadn’t called them until then.

They all took turns dozing off, making sure at least one of them was awake in case Peter would make an appearance. So far it had been radio silence, which was either really good or really bad, but no one but Tony seemed overly anxious about that so he forced himself to relax. He took Mary-Jane from May when she excused herself to the bathroom and went on a coffee run at about seven o’clock, knowing that at this point no one was going to be sleeping anymore; it had been close to four and a half hours now, so in about an hour they could start taking bets on when the next Parker would show up. Of course, there were no guarantees it would even happen until late afternoon, but he knew no one would bet that in order to avoid jinxing it. They were all eager, and hearing absolutely nothing for almost five hours was hard for all of them.

The waiting room started to fill up as time went on, but for a Saturday morning it wasn’t too bad. The poor night shift nurse left at seven o’clock, and May winced in empathy when she tripped over her feet trying to get to the time clock.

It was approximately seven-thirty when they started taking bets: May with her best guess being 9:30, Pepper with an optimistic 8:15, Rhodey with a strangely specific 9:52, Happy with a not-so-optimistic 11:45, Mary-Jane with a wild guess of 13:13 not knowing what exactly they were all talking about but wanting to participate anyway, and Tony with a guess he never got to speak because a familiar, more exhausted version of Peter Parker showed up. No one seemed to notice but him yet, so at Tony’s questioning look and Peter’s nod of his head, he wore a smile as he spoke past his throat suddenly closing up, “Seven thirty-seven?”

All heads snapped to the doorway now and May was the first to react, jumping up and rushing to her nephew to give him a hug. Peter closed his eyes and accepted the action, practically sinking into her arms. Mary-Jane went next, shouting an excited, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”

Soon the entire room followed, laughing and smiling through happy tears, and Tony had never seen Happy cry before, but now he was and he would hold it against him forever if not for the fact that he was crying too. All of those months endlessly stressing and worrying over Y/N and baby, praying that they would simply make it to tomorrow, finally could fade away. And the relief that resulted from that was enough to make tears arise in even the most emotionless man’s eyes.

“Not that I’m saying I don’t appreciate the hugs, but I think there’s some others who would like to see you as well,” Peter’s voice spoke, and suddenly everyone was stepping back and looking to him expectantly. He ran a tired hand down his face, accepting the coffee May handed him with a grateful smile. “There can only be two of you back there at one time for right now, excluding Mary-Jane. Everyone’s fine, but Momma and babies are exhausted and can’t handle everyone’s excitement all at one time.”

Only silence followed his statement, the only one not seeming to pick up on the heaviness of what Peter just said being the recently turned five-year-old currently clinging to her dad’s neck. Peter attempted a sly smirk, but it only came out as a half-smile.

“I’m sorry,” Tony said, still staring. “Did you just say babies? As in plural? As in babies, not baby?”

Peter’s smile grew slightly. “Oh, yeah–fun fact: Did you know it’s possible for an entire baby not to show up on a single ultrasound? Because I sure didn’t. Seems kind of ridiculous, right? But I guess that’s Parker luck for you. Leave it to us to beat the impossible; first becoming half-spider, then being discovered and mentored by the Tony Stark, somehow managing to get a girl way out of my league, then having a baby we weren’t even supposed to have, let alone two of them.”

May let out a breathy laugh and lifted a hand to her mouth to keep her cries muffled. Pepper did much the same, laughing as tears shone in her eyes. Rhodey simply laughed and clapped him on the back while Happy grinned and rested a hand on May’s shoulder. Tony still stood there, seemingly speechless, until Peter turned to him for a reaction.

“How do you miss a whole ass baby?”

Pepper gasped and hit him across the arm but he paid no attention to her, only staring at Peter as he threw his head back and laughed and May put her hands over Mary-Jane’s ears. Tony finally started to break out into a grin since the new announcement, itching to get his hands on his two new granddaughters.

When Peter finally settled down, his extended laughter probably due to sleep deprivation and complete and utter exhaustion, he held Mary-Jane closer to him and placed a kiss on her head before turning his gaze to Tony and May. He softly smiled, his eyes tired but never so alight with happiness. “Did you want to meet them?”

“Do you even have to ask?” May responded, using a tissue to dab at her eyes. Peter looked at Tony now, raising a brow inquisitively. He rolled his eyes, sniffing in an attempt to hide his previous tears (though he was sure there was no use, proven by Rhodey’s quiet snicker at the action).

“What Aunt Hottie said, kid.”

Peter nodded and turned to everyone else sympathetically. “I promise you’ll get to meet them soon. I just...we just feel like May and Tony should be the first considering…” He trailed off, his eyes begging them to understand.

Pepper stepped forward and kissed the boy on the cheek, smiling comfortingly at him. “Don’t worry about it, Peter. We understand, I promise.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rhodey said with a smirk. “Letting the proud parents go first and everything–it’s tradition.”

Tony rolled his eyes at his friend and shoved him half-heartedly back toward the waiting room but didn’t attempt to deny it. After all, Peter was his son and Y/N was practically a daughter, and he knew May felt the same.

As Peter led them back to the room, Mary-Jane participated in making funny faces from her place in her father’s arms, facing her Grandpa Pops and Grandma May and currently competing with them both to see who could make the goofiest face. Peter looked behind him at one point to see Tony’s attempt and burst into laughter, May hurriedly telling him to shush (as though she wasn’t laughing) before they woke up the babies. And considering they were right outside the door, it was probably a valid concern. Not one that stopped Mary-Jane, however, from squirming out of her father’s arms and opening the door himself, running into the room and yelling, “Mommy!”

Peter cursed and quickly followed, grabbing her just in time to keep her from jumping onto Y/N. Y/N looked at her husband gratefully and relieved before smiling at her daughter and gesturing for Peter to lay her down beside her.

“Hey, baby,” she greeted, combing her fingers through her hair. “Did you have a fun time with your grandparents and uncles?”

Mary-Jane nodded and snuggled into her mother’s side, closing her eyes with a yawn. “We played lots of games and I won them all.”

Y/N now turned her gaze to Tony and May, who were standing in the door still, transfixed as they watched Peter walk to the other side of the room to carefully scoop up a tiny, sleeping baby with a pink hat. She smiled at them, her eyes even darker than Peter’s, and said, “Who would’ve thought that all this time we were worrying for just one baby Parker, we were actually worrying for two?”

May laughed and finally stepped inside, going over to her daughter-in-law and giving her a gentle hug. “You did good, sweetheart.”

“May?” Peter interrupted quietly. When she turned around, he nodded his head toward the bundle in his arms and asked, “Do you want to hold her?”

May hurriedly nodded and stepped back, sitting on one of three chairs beside the bed. Tears reappeared in her eyes as Peter lowered the baby girl down into her arms and she choked on them as she whispered, “She’s so beautiful.”

Peter smiled and lowered himself beside her, staring lovingly at his aunt and newborn daughter. “She is, isn’t she?”

May only laughed and ran a gentle finger down the girl’s cheek. “Oh, Peter. She’s perfect.”

Tony blinked and fell out of his stupor, stupidly stumbling forward until he could peer around May’s shoulder at the tiny bundle of joy. He didn’t have to stare for more than a tenth of a second to decide that she was, indeed, perfect. He smiled, biting the inside of his cheek to fight the tears wanting to flood his eyes.

“What’s her name, Underoos?”

Peter looked at May with a loving grin. “We thought Bailee May sounded pretty good to us, if it sounds good to you.”

May snapped her head around to look at both her nephew and his wife, her lip trembling. “You...you’re serious?”

Y/N spoke up, her eyes drooping but her mind still conscious enough to respond. “Never been more serious.”

May choked on a sob, reaching an arm to Peter to pull him into an awkward yet suffocating embrace. “Of course. Of course, it sounds good to me, you guys.”

When Peter pulled away he stood, nodding at his seat while he looked at Tony, obviously wanting him to sit. Tony obeyed but couldn’t ignore the wide grin spreading on Y/N’s face as Peter went to get Baby Girl Number Two.

There was only one problem.

When Peter lifted Baby Girl Number Two out of the cradle, it was, in fact, not a baby girl at all. A blue hat adorned this baby’s head, along with a little blue blanket, and Tony wondered why he thought that both of them had to be girls, but he didn’t care.

“That’s not a girl,” he managed to say as Peter handed the baby over to him. He took the third chair beside him, leaning over to tuck his beanie back over his ear.

“No, I’d say not,” Peter laughed, Y/N chuckling as well. It was only then that Tony realized Mary-Jane had been unusually quiet, chancing a glance over to see her fast asleep against her mother’s shoulder. He smiled, and looked back down at the other sleeping Parker he held in his arms. It was silent for awhile as the room’s occupants admired the view, and for once Tony was completely content with the quiet.

A tiny noise escaped the equally tiny lips of his only grandson (his favorite grandson, now), and his little fists clenched and unclenched as he sleepily wiggled around. Without a second thought, Tony gently reached for his hand and stroked the back of it.

“What’s his name, Pete?” May whispered, Tony just barely picking up the question as his attention was focused solely on his grandson.

“Benjamin,” Peter answered, looking at his aunt with a sad but content smile. “I think he would’ve liked that.”

May bowed her head with a matching smile, nodding ever so slightly. “I know he would’ve liked that.”

“His full name is Benjamin Anthony,” Y/N spoke, sensing that Peter was too lost in thought to finish and May was too deep into her emotions to recognize that Peter hadn’t fully answered her question. But Tony was listening. “Benjamin Anthony Parker.” He froze, staring at his daughter-in-law with wide eyes. She simply smiled and nodded once in his direction. “No, we weren’t going to name our baby girl Anthony, so when we got a boy...well, that was really a no-brainer.”

Tony stared for a few more seconds at a clearly amused Y/N before turning to Peter. Peter was wearing the same look. The only thing he had to offer was, “Dad, meet your namesake. Benjamin Anthony, meet your grandpa.”

Another noise escaped the boy’s tiny mouth as if in acknowledgment, causing Tony to look back at him. Suddenly the weight he felt in his arms wasn’t only physical weight but the weight of his love. And as he looked around the room at his ever-growing family, that weight only grew heavier. But he welcomed it, the weight warm and pleasant and filling his heart with light.

Tears pricked his eyes and he turned back to the bundle he was holding, sniffing as he murmured, “Hey there, Ben. Guess you’re our little miracle. I think you and I are going to have a lot of fun times together, but just remember to admit nothing and deny everything.” Ben started wiggling again, uncontent with his inability to move even while asleep, causing Tony to chuckle. “Your chance of not having ADHD was already screwed with your dad’s genes, but with me in your name it’s practically a double whammy and I can’t even say I’m sorry about that right now. God, the world doesn’t stand a chance, does it?”

Ben made a noise again, and Tony would’ve commented on it had it not been followed by the opening of his eyes. He was speechless, mesmerized by the baby blues that he knew would turn brown like his sister’s when he got older. But they were absolutely perfect now, as were the little fingers now wrapping around one of Tony’s own. The tears that were swimming in his eyes fell, and he didn’t even try to hold them back. He smiled wider and with more love than he had in a long time, leaning closer and whispering, “Let me tell you something, Ben: you’re my whole world–you and your sisters and your mom and dad and grandma. And I promise that I won’t let you go a single day without feeling loved, because I love you so much, buddy. I promise I’ll never stop loving you–not for a month, or a day, or even a single second.”

Ben’s eyes fluttered back closed and he fell back into sleep, but his fist refused to let go of its grip on Tony’s finger. Tony closed his own eyes and gently touched his head to Ben’s, being careful not to let any tears drip on his face.

“I promise,” he whispered. “I promise.”

—

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sailormurkury · 4 years

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History3: MODC review I guess?

Word Count: around 2,080

Warning: Potential Spoiler for POSE Season 2. I’m not sure if it’s been streaming globally yet, but I mention the death of a character.

I fell in love with the BL drama HIStory this past August. It was after coming across a video on twitter of two men embracing, kissing and both breaking down in tears on the floor of a lavish, minimalistic, bedroom. After a bit of digging in the replies, I learned the name of the show, History3: Trapped. One google later, I’m on VIKI and I find the entire first half-season which had just wrapped up two months prior. The rest of that month was spent binging it and the first 2 seasons (and The Untamed). This week the second half of the beloved drama’s third season which has been hailed the best BL drama of 2019, possibly all-time, ended with a thud on the 18th. Prior to this week it had a solid score of 9.5 on MyDramaLive where it now sits at 8.5. (Rating seems to be falling slightly every 2-3 days, now sits at 8.4.) This season’s love story focused on the story between Yu Xi Gu, an orphan, loner, and presumptive valedictorian of Zenren High and Xiang Hao Ting, the carefree Mr. popular of the school. The show also follows a side couple, HaoTing’s best friend Sun Bo Xiang and Xi Gu’s boss, Lu Zhi Gang. This season focused on the blossoming of these two couples’ relationships in such a way that most of us thought “Oh wow they’re going for full on happy go lucky in love” and while they met challenges like HaoTing’s homophobic parents and entrance exams they managed to fight for each other with their relationship getting stronger every time. That was until this week’s finale when we were served with a plate of Deadly Distant Finale with a side of Bury Your Gays and a glass Gay for You.

I initially thought that I was okay with the finale in a similar way to how I was with the finale of HIStory3: Trapped. That was bittersweet yet common sense. Shao Fei was a cop, Tang Yi a mob boss who shot an officer, he “had” to go to jail. Yet the more I thought about it I felt grieved, insulted rather by MODCs finale. So, like everyone else is doing on social media, I’m going to nitpick the hell out of it as part of my “healing process.” Also, while all of us are upset, unfortunately as in the summer, some fans are attacking the cast and crew. In the words of the master heart crusher, Shonda Rhimes, “Don’t tweet them your crazy,” or...whatever the weibo equivalent is. So, before the nitpicking, a caveat. My beef is with the lazy writing of episode 10, this entire cast was outstanding from Wayne and ChuanChih to the ZENREN homies to The Xiang Family just outstanding. Possibly the best History ensemble since H2:Crossing The Line. Thankfully, this season was not written the same writer of H3: Trapped that would have been way too much for me. (Although, word in the fandom is that MODCs screenwriter wasn’t fond of Trapped’s screenwriter, or rather her treatment for the finale? Alexa, Play Ironic by Alanis Morrisette.) Also in this review, I’m going to be using the VIKI episode count when referring to episodes so just 1-9. *wink*

On to the picking apart, if you watched all of episode 9 last week, you probably had the same horrified realization as I that our first intimate moment in episode 2 where HT saves XG from getting run over by a moped was foreshadowing for the finale. I don’t want to dissuade anyone from watching the series again, I will, but with the ending we got? It’s going to be difficult to revisit that scene again without resentment. It’s bad enough that XiGu, the main character up to this point, dies off screen in a way that nearly renders him worthless. Especially in the way that this story said “meet this soft, pitiful, malnourished and overworked boy; fall in love with him as he allows himself to fall in love and watch as that love makes him bloom.” I haven’t been this upset over a needless character death since, well, I can’t even say that I have made peace with Candy’s death in season 2 of POSE and that was 5 months ago.

I don’t know why the writer chose this ending that says “fighting tooth and nail for love is meaningless, yet the memories make it worthwhile?” I’m being petty, we know for HaoTing this love was not meaningless, XiGu’s death is not meaningless. If XiGu’s death was meaningless he wouldn’t have thrown himself into his undergrad studies and gotten into Stanford grad to continue XiGu’s dre…hold the hell on. Wait a damn minute, isn’t that…the dead love interest trope? So, in the POV of this finale, XiGu’s existence was to get HaoTing to mature and become a physicist? Remember, high school HaoTing didn’t really have a dream outside of being with XG 24/7. He became a better student and chose to become a Physics major solely to be with XG. During the show, this particular plot point had some fans noting, while sweet in theory, pinning your hopes and dreams on teenage love can be costly in real life.

Six years on, it seems the only people that have been affected by XiGu’s death are HaoTing and Lin Cai Chu, his ex-girlfriend? I understand in real life we tend to be moved on after this much time. Yet, there was no mention of Xi Gu from the crew or the family, even when he was visibly upset around them. You could count Mrs. Xiang when she spoke to Hao Ting while he was packing, but she never names him, only implies, and, I feel we had to dive for that meaning. Also, there was no significant interaction from Sun Bo or his sister Yong Ching, who were the closest with HT during this whole relationship. Yong Ching listens to her brother cry after their father tears XiGu and HaoTing apart and she plays messenger between them during their parting. However, in episode 10 she’s enamored with Phoebe’s style? Sun Bo is HaoTing’s brother in the battle for love they share everything about how their hearts feel about their guys. But when HT drunkenly pours out his grief after six years, and he kinda gives a “damn bro, that sucks” vibe for a good part of the talk? (Sidenote: Wayne acted his whole ass off in this episode, do you hear me?) In Trapped, ShaoFei knew everything about TangYi. When Chen Wen Hao and Sister Lizhen were revealed as TangYi’s parents he grieves with and comforts him back at home. (Bonus: if you watch that scene again you can see Jake break down with Chris when they pull apart.)

I’m not touching that damn doppleganger moment, why even do it? These decisions have been made, yet the way both XiGu’s death and HaoTing’s potential girlfriend Phoebe are hinted and implied at, yet never really engaged with or seen. Which, to me, signals fear on part of the writer. These are the decisions you felt comfortable making so why not go ahead and give it to us full out. Show us XiGu dying in HaoTing’s arms, HaoTing visiting his grave a la Trapped episode 10, or show us the moment when Phoebe meets the family. We could have gotten more thought or effort put into these plot twists on the part of the writer. We see the way HaoTing weeps over XiGu and how he just shrugs off the mention of Phoebe from his family. XiGu and HaoTing lined and called each other daily, Phoebe can’t even email to let him know where she is? Worse yet, HaoTing does not even attempt checking up on her? Is on a 13-hour flight or about to get on one? Don’t really know, damn sure don’t care.

I “got” that he doesn’t think the love of his life can ever be replaced, but we also know through his actions that he doesn’t love her either. Even though he’s introducing her to his family, I ask, does he even like her? Where’d they meet? How old is she? Why bring her up if you aren’t going to flesh the concept of Phoebe out? If you really wanted to give a love story closure “well” you should have done all of this several episodes ago by breaking them up or even condensing the love story and killing XG earlier on rather than handing us this death/new gf cocktail in ONE EPISODE. So many HIStorians thought that the boys would split because of HaoTing lying about the rent, and this makes perfect sense as it’s a clear violation of XiGu’s desire to be as self-reliant as possible, even in a relationship. That could have given rise to the first big argument and potential breakup.

At first, I thought that the most insulting thing about this finale was that we didn’t get a happy ever after, or at least a happy for now like Trapped. Happy endings are an unofficial mission statement of the series. However, the most insulting thing about this finale, for me, was that death became final. Three years in a series, where death has NEVER been final, or even an option for its leads at least since season 1. (Which HIStorians like, but don’t really talk about for good reason.) Now, you could argue about Trapped because Shao Fei does get shot twice and if any storyline was primed for death it was theirs. However, even with the action element, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine type comedy never gave it the gravity that MODC unknowingly had. We were presented the stakes, the murders of Old Tang/LiZhen, and knew the threat, Chen WenHao. In MODC, there was a quiet unease I had for most of my watch along the lines of, “this is perfect. I love it, but it’s too perfect.” The “challenges” XG/HT faced they pretty much steamrolled every time so I assumed they were in the clear until the last 5 minutes of episode 9.

H1: My Hero and H1: Obsessed both had plots that dealt with the boundary of death, making it impermanent “because love.” While we’re at it, let’s talk about Obsessed shall we. Even abusive ass, stalker ass Jiang Jing Teng, a man who by logic and common sense shouldn’t have, got a chance to love again. He got to say goodbye to, spread the ashes of, and reunite with Shao Yi Chen. After his beard, who it just so happened was also a witch/sorceress, brought back SYC from the dead, not once BUT TWICE?!? (First, from rebirth. Second, it was all a dream.) Yet YXG/SHT, the most loved couple since CTL, can’t get a similar twist of fate? Make it make sense, especially given that this is likely the final season for HIStory.

That hurt to type, but, it looks like History3 is going to be the final season for the series. Since we haven’t had any official announcement from CHOCO. And with 2 major backlashes, the first based on misunderstanding with Trapped and the second due to MODC lazy finale, it’s looking like a done deal until the CTL movie comes out at the end of 2020. In which case, everyone involved is going to have to be on their very best behavior from now on. In the hearts of some HIStorians, this finale has done irreparable damage to MODC itself and the HIStory franchise. Which is sad, considering that up to this point HIStory was getting better and better with each season only to decimate that growth in one episode.

*cue Mariah* I still believe that MODC is the best BL drama of 2019. It’s the best to come out of Taiwan since CTL. Most of that is due to the phenomenal work of the cast, and… yes, the initial episodes written by our screenwriter. Even with my frustrations with the finale, I was conflicted as I said on Wednesday night. I was very disappointed, but the performances I did get, specifically from Wayne, kept me engaged to the point that I still enjoyed it. Does it make up for the cruelty to Yu Xi Gu not at all, but the previous 9 episodes pretty much put it in my top 5 all-time early on. What now? I’m waiting for the dvd drop next year and reliving every blissful moment. Oh, and I’m rewatching episodes 5/6 for Christmas.

If you made it this far, thank you HIStorians, you all have made this surprise journey most certainly worth it.

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes to all of you in 2020,

PS: word from Mandarin speaking fans is that the novelization of this series has 2 endings. One happy and the one we saw on Wednesday which…*sigh* at least there’s a universe where the boys are happy. I also have some notes on issues I had with HaoTing’s family in episode 10 that I’ll likely touch on after Christmas.

PPS: I can’t believe we got blessed with multiple Duke Wu appearances!!!

#History series #history 3: 圈套 #History3: MODC #history3: make our days count #MODC #make our days count #History BL #History: Obsessed #History: Stay Away From Me #history the series #history 3: 那一天 #history 3: trapped #Wayne Song #Duke Wu

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bluerosesburnblue · 5 years

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All Answered: 25 Emoji Asks

Tagged by @callmederok so I’m assuming this was about HPHM!

A bit of a long one (at least if you answered things the way that I did), so don’t feel like you have to do it, but I’m putting the usual tag list of @oveliagirlhaditright, @wilhelminafujita, @missnight0wl, and @batgirl-87 here.

🌟 When your OC loses all hope, who do they turn to first? What helps make them feel better? What calms them down and reassures them? Why?

The first one implies that Seren has a functioning support system, which at the current time she doesn’t. It used to be Jacob, and it will probably be Jacob again when they get things sorted out. When they were kids, he was all she had. Once they’re adults and able to stand on an equal level, though, I think it’ll be a lot better for her.

The whole problem is that once Seren gets upset, there’s very little that can get her out of it besides time. Her instinct is to withdraw somewhere private to just ruminate on everything. She used to cuddle plush toys to feel better, though I think those would get gradually replaced with the creatures that she adopts over time (it’s hard to stay sad with a crup pup licking your face!). But I think the main draw of finding solace in creatures is the fact that they make her feel “needed,” which for someone who constantly doubts their own worth is very reassuring

☀️ What makes your OC genuinely happy? A person, an item, their hobby? Where is the place they’re happiest, or most at home? What is the happiest they’ve ever been?

Again, taking care of creatures is something that genuinely makes her happy with no strings attached. Creatures don’t generally judge you and are incapable of comparing you to your brother, after all. Once she becomes an Animagus, I think turning into a raven and flying about wherever she wants would be something that makes her very happy due to the privacy of flying about unnoticed, the freedom of the movement, and the sense power that comes from mastering the skill. Also, being in animal form makes emotions simpler to process, so there’s very little that could make her unhappy for a prolonged amount of time in that form!

Relatedly, the happiest she’s ever been (at the current point in HPHM) would be her first Animagus transformation. The elation of knowing that you managed to get a very difficult bit of magic done right, pretty much by word-of-mouth on the particulars, and that the new skill would be unimaginably helpful combined with just the adrenaline of the transformation itself and relief of not having to deal with all of the precise timing stuff made it her happiest moment in recent memory

She’s happiest in private areas. Since she’s dorming and her home isn’t really a safe place for her, that ends up being the forest or the school rooftops that she can access post-Animagus

🌙 If your OC could have one wish come true what would it be and why? Would there be consequences to this wish or would they regret it once they get what they want? What would they give in return for this wish to come true?

Ooooof. Uh... that’s really hard because Seren is a Hufflepuff through and through. She wouldn’t be satisfied in the outcome of the wish unless she had to work for it. I suppose she’d probably use it on someone else or just ask them what they wanted and wish for that

If she had to wish for something for herself, though, then maybe she’d just wish for more restful sleep because she doesn’t get nearly enough. No regrets, she probably wouldn’t go out of her way to get the wish. It’d just be a nice, practical bonus to help her mental health

❄️ What makes your OC sad, so sad that they can’t help but cry all day? How do they cheer themselves up? Does their sadness upset any of their loved ones too?

Really, a better question is what doesn’t make her sad? She’s a pretty easily depressed, melancholic person when you get down to it. It wouldn’t even be sadness that would make her cry all day, but frustration at how everything seems to go wrong with the Vaults or with her friends. Stress and existential dread are huge issues for her

Covered it above that she doesn’t really cheer herself up, she just waits it out. I’m sure that the fact that she’s so difficult to cheer up makes her friends, and especially Jacob, upset, too. I guess he’ll just have to turn into a bird and incessantly attempt to cuddle up to her while tickling her with his feathers, huh?

🔥 If your OC known for having temper tantrums? If not, what gets them really angry? What makes their blood BOIL? Is there anyway to calm them down or are they unstoppable? What are they like when they’re angry? Do they take it out on their loved ones?

I wouldn’t really say that she has temper tantrums, but she does lash out a lot when she’s angry. Basically, a pissed off Seren is very volatile. She doesn’t resort to physical violence unless whoever’s offending her refuses to take the hint and leave her alone, but she’s very likely to get shouty, verbally aggressive and rude, and maybe take her frustrations out on objects in the environment. And it’s very hard to calm her down (honestly it’s hard to calm her down when she feels any strong emotions, and emotions for her are all or nothing so...)

There’s a reason that one of my best friends described her as “intense”

Things that piss her off include but are not limited to: people being hypocrites, Albus Dumbledore, unnecessary cruelty to people, unnecessary cruelty to animals or creatures, Merula Snyde, elitism of any kind (blood, species, living situation, etc.), potatoes, the implication that she likes potatoes, Albus Dumbledore and Merula Snyde, withholding of pertinent information for someone’s “safety,” being lied to, and being compared to Jacob

❤️ What would your OC’s ideal lover be like? Appearance, personality, voice? Would their family approve or would it be civil war?

Hold on, I have, like, a tiered list of Seren ships to reference here

So first of all, I don’t think she cares about appearance. Her self-confidence is low enough that the idea of anyone finding her attractive would probably far outweigh whether she finds them attractive. Though a little bit of messiness in their appearance and a bright smile certainly helps

I think the biggest thing for her would be whether they like creatures and animals. If the answer is no, then she won’t ever feel anything towards someone. It’s hard to like someone who doesn’t care for your passions. The other big things that I tend to take into account for her is the partner’s ability to handle her strong emotions. They usually always fall into two categories: cheerful and determined in a way that keeps her from falling too deep into her melancholy while also being laid back enough to counteract her anger, or quiet, calm people who sort of “absorb” her more passionate parts so that it evens out between the two of them. And being snarky doesn’t hurt

(For anyone curious, the ship list is:

Tier 1: Seren/Charlie and Seren/Talbott

Tier 2: Seren/Chiara, Seren/Orsino, Seren/Kirley, and Seren/Aurélie

Considered but Eliminated Because I Made Them Third Cousins: Seren/Barnaby

God Tier: Seren/Tuna Sandwich)

The only family who would care who she’s with would be Jacob and I think he’d approve of anyone on that list. Though fair warning: if you’re gonna romance Seren you have to be prepared for Jacob to third wheel the entire situation. You’re basically dating both of them he will not leave you alone

🕊️ Would your OC ever get married or are they already wed? If they’re married, describe what their wedding was like! If not, describe their ideal wedding (or do this if you feel like it anyway!)

I think she’d like to get married someday if she found the right person, but it’s not a particular priority. She doesn’t think about it much considering she uh... does not think she’s worth being in a relationship with

If she were to get married, I think her one specification would be that it be a small ceremony. She only has one family member who would show up and she’d be really upset if whoever she was marrying had more people there to support them than there were people there to support her (just rub it in that she’s been disowned yaaaaaaaay), so the guest list would be restricted to close family and friends only. I also think she’d prefer a wedding late in the evening and outdoors, maybe sometime in the spring or fall when the weather isn’t too hot or cold and there’s a nice breeze. Overall, it’d be a pretty casual affair

🍼 Does your OC have any children or want children? What names would they pick? Are they good with kids or a complete disaster?

Nope. Absolutely not. She has no desire for kids. She does not trust herself with kids. She is terrified that because she grew up in an emotionally abusive home that she’d be the same to her kids and she doesn’t want that. She also doesn’t want more responsibility and kids are A Lot, especially if you own a whole ton of pets already and you’re basically your brother’s entire sense of restraint. Not only does she not want kids, she hates her family line so much that she’s ecstatic that she might get to be the last Dwyn if she outlives Jacob

Ironically, though, she’s decent with kids. Though more so in the “cool aunt” way. She’s protective but also, like... an instigator who goads them into some stuff that I’m sure their parents wouldn’t approve of because Seren has weird standards of “normal and safe” (”Hey, kids! Wanna feed an Acromantula? I’ll teach you the safe way to do it!) Personally, I think Teddy Lupin considers her his aunt with how close she was to Tonks and he’s the closest to having a kid she’ll ever get

☕ Give us one (or more if you feel like it) of your OCs deep dark secrets! Why do they keep it hidden? Spill the tea!

The one thing she refuses to let anyone know about is the fact that her dad is a Squib. I know, that’s not really “her” secret to keep, but she’s a pretty honest person so she doesn’t have many. It’s not that she’s ashamed that her father’s a Squib, but just that she knows that there’s a lot of wizards who would find that something worth mocking and with everything happening with Jacob she just... doesn’t need the extra stress in her life

I mean, I guess her middle name being Aisling is a secret because she doesn’t want anyone to realize that her initials are SAD. Not really a “dark” secret, though. Her birthday’s another one, but that’s just because she doesn’t want people to go out of their way to get her gifts

And then there’s the whole “unregistered Animagus” thing that would surely get her sent to prison

(*cough* If she had a crush on someone that would be a secret, too. *cough* Wouldn’t want anyone to feel pressured to be in a relationship with her or anything. I don’t consider the First Date quest to be part of her story)

🍂 What are their opinions on the different seasons? Which one do they hate and which one do they love and why?

Hates summer because she can’t deal with hot weather, and because she’s forced to go home to parents that don’t want anything to do with her. Even when she’s an adult and doesn’t have to deal with her parents anymore she still hates it. Her birthday is in summer. She hates people celebrating it. Summer is just a sign that it’s gonna be her birthday again.

Winter is her favorite just because she likes snow (another point for being a raven Animagus: they really like rolling around in the snow and it’s adorable). The cold doesn’t bother her. And she loves Christmas.

She likes fall and spring because of the breezes, but that’s about it. She has no strong feelings for either one

🦋 If your OC could change everything (or just something) about their life would they? What would they change? What do they think would happen if they did? What would their loved ones think?

Everything? Maybe not. But not having emotionally abusive/neglectful parents would be nice. I really think that’s the one thing she’d change if she could, but there’s no good way to go about that that doesn’t screw up some aspect of her life. If her dad isn’t a Squib her never gets the job that he meets her mom at. If her mom isn’t a Muggleborn, then she doesn’t end up at the Cafe her dad worked at after leaving home. If she isn’t born a witch then she never goes to Hogwarts and meets any of her friends, and probably wouldn’t be as close to Jacob. So much of her life has been tied to it that there’s no way to change it without starting a horrible avalanche of consequences

💐 Does your OC like flowers? What are their favourites? Do they keep a garden of some sort? What flowers would they use in a flower crown? (and if you like, research the meanings behind those flowers!)

Yeah, she likes flowers a lot! Herbology’s actually her chill out class because she just likes being around them. At Hogwarts, she likes taking care of the Common Room plants (yes, I know Jane, they’re enchanted to be watered but I like to be sure) and will be keeping houseplants as an adult. Although, they’re mostly medicinal herbs and potions ingredients

She’s a big fan of water lilies and water poppies (gee, I wonder why), but she also has a fondness for odd-looking blooms like Bleeding Hearts. And the thing about flower crowns is that they’d be personalized for every person she makes one for. Actually, that would probably be a Christmas gift one year. Personalized flower crowns for everyone (probably sneak a blue water lily in each of them as a shorthand for “hey, this is from Seren!”)

🌼 Write a short drabble from your OCs POV meeting their LI (or if they don’t have a love interest, their best friend. If you don’t want to do a drabble, describe their first meeting instead!)

(The meetings for pretty much everyone are shown in-game... except for Charlie so let’s do it! Works for friendship because Seren’s slow to fall in love. Ain’t no love at first sight for her)

Her footsteps were just barely audible as she hurried down the spacious hallways of Hogwarts castle, until they were suddenly drowned out by a scream in the distance followed by a firm shout of “Riddikulus!” She didn’t stop until she was outside of the castle doors. The small Third Year leaned back against the cool stone of the castle’s exterior, closed her eyes, and breathed in the cool, late autumn air.

Ever since the boggarts had started appearing as part of the latest curse, Seren Dwyn had been making herself scarce. Part of it was due to the fact that her fellow students were quick to blame her for their appearance. Part of it was due to the fact that the boggarts always took the form of him, and she just couldn’t face him. Not yet. Not until she was certain that he was real, and that he was safe. (Besides, if any of the students who made fun of her found out that her boggart took the form of her brother, then they’d never let her live it down.)

She opened her eyes again and pushed off of the wall, kicking her feet against the ground and running her hand through the hair that fell over her shoulder. The stress was starting to get to her and she knew it. Walking around in constant fear that a boggart might show up only made them much more likely to show up, and she was far too smart to let that happen, or so she told herself. No, she just needed a way to take her mind off of them. Then she could return to the castle without the shapeshifting monsters impeding her search for the next Cursed Vault.

“...alright. Alright,” she whispered to herself in an attempt to bolster her confidence. She knew that she wasn’t technically allowed out this late, but there was only one place she was aware of to escape the boggarts and relax at the same time. And so the little Hufflepuff set off towards Hagrid’s Hut.

The long walk down had done wonders to lighten her mood, and she practically skipped up the steps to knock on the door to her favorite half-giant’s abode. She swung her fist up to pound the thick, wooden door loud enough for Hagrid to hear when she froze in her tracks. There was laughter. One of the voices was Hagrid, of course, who was so loud that he nearly drowned out the second voice. But she caught it.

Oh, stop being such a coward! she chided to herself, letting out a shaky breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Strangers always made her nervous, irrational as she knew that was. Just knock!

Her fist had barely touched the door when loud howling erupted from inside of the building. Taking that as her cue, Seren opened the door, gripped the edge of the doorway to avoid being knocked over, and allowed her favorite pup to leap up at her and start licking her face. He’d gotten so big! And, for the first time since the boggarts appeared, the girl started laughing. Genuinely, wholeheartedly laughing. And when her laughter started dying down, she noticed that it hadn’t just been her. The unfamiliar voice had joined in as well.

She looked up and her eyes finally met those of Hagrid’s guest: a boy of roughly the same age as her with a very familiar shade of red hair that he’d unsuccessfully attempted to tie back into a ponytail despite the fact that it was far too short. He was sitting on the floor, his back leaning up against the wooden crates that had been left in the corner and the pile of blankets next to him indicated that Fang had been laying down by his side. The freckles on his face highlighted his huge grin, an expression that extended up to his deep brown eyes. He was, by far, the cheeriest person she had seen in months.

He waved at her, and she could’ve sworn that she’d seen that exact same thing before. “Hello!”

“H-hi?” She waved back, and then quickly put her hand down. You’re making it awkward, ya eejit!

“You’re Seren, yeah? It’s nice to finally meet you in person! Not to be rude or anything, but Bill’s stories about you just haven’t been cutting it.”

“Oh!” That was it! She’d never talked to this boy before, but she had seen him around the castle. There were several times where it had seemed like he’d waved at her in the hallway and she’d just looked away and continued walking, assuming that he must have just been waving at someone else. But the red hair, the fact that he knew Bill... “You- you’re Charlie Weasley!”

Well, damn. Now she just felt rude in hindsight.

He didn’t seem to mind, though. If he’d even thought of those incidents at all, he certainly didn’t let it show. “Yeah! I was wondering if we’d ever run into each other. Hagrid said that you visit a lot.” He chuckled a bit. “I just thought it strange that we hadn’t once been here at the same time!”

“Charlie an’ I were jus’ talking abou’ tha’ purple Chinese Fireball tha’ they found las’ week! Ya hear abou’ tha’ one?” Hagrid asked.

Seren finally slid into the hut fully, closing the door behind her. “No. Been a bit busy,” she muttered, striding across the room and plopping herself down right next to Charlie, knowing full well that Fang would follow her to his little nest. Normally she would be nervous sitting this close to someone else, but something about Charlie just felt... safe. She glanced over at the boy and then quickly glanced away when he met her gaze. Maybe not that safe, yet. But she felt that she’d get there. “Tell me about it?”

Visiting Hagrid’s Hut that night had been a wonderful idea, she thought. And every time Charlie waved at her in the hallway after that, it took her mind off of the curses and the fear pervading the school. She had one more person around who was happy to see her, and that made all the difference.

🥀 Has your OC ever been hurt by someone they love? Ever been betrayed? Abused? Attacked? Give me the angst! (if you’d like, write a short drabble about it!)

Well, let’s see. Her mother resents the fact that she has magic and neglected her. Her father’s afraid of her because she has magic and he doesn’t and his mother used magic to abuse him. Her grandmother didn’t think she was good enough to be her heir and ignored her. Her brother disappeared on her... yeah, I’d say she’s been hurt by people she loves. Loved.

🏞️ If your OC could travel to anywhere in their world where would they go? Why? If they could live there would they?

Deep in the middle of the forest where no one can find her. Actually, despite the fact that she’s not very close to her mother, I think she’d still like to visit her mother’s homeland of the Faroe Islands. It certainly helps that they aren’t too densely populated. I think she’d mostly just want to visit because she thinks she might be able to figure out more about herself if she can see where her roots are and understand them better

I can’t see her moving there, though. It would remind her far too much of her mother and she kiiiiiiiinda wants to break away from that and just move on. That’s kinda the whole point. You can’t move on from something if you don’t really know what you’re moving on from

🏡 Describe your OCs ideal house! Give us a tour around! What’s their garden like? Their bedroom? Kitchen? Where is it and how many people live there?

So I’m just gonna describe her future shared apartment with Jacob because that’s pretty close to ideal

It’s not too big. Only a few rooms, but they each have a purpose. There’s the main sitting room and the kitchen right behind it. Down the hall is two bedrooms, a bathroom, and the “laboratory,” which is basically just a makeshift potions room because like hell are we paying for pre-made things when we can just prepare the raw materials and brew them ourselves (also experiment with potentially illegal brews just shhhhhh). Most rooms have some manner of houseplant in them. There’s a miniature Wiggentree near the front door for good luck that also houses Seren’s Bowtruckle, Durward, who protects the apartment from invaders

The whole place is filled with houseplants and small areas for Seren’s myriad creatures to settle into. Otherwise, the decor is pretty scarce, though Jacob has tons of framed pictures that he’s taken around. Muggle tech is in some spots where it would be easy to hide if they need to. Seren’s room in particular has a lot of fairy lights hanging around in it, and there’s books of every kind scattered about

There’s an entire shelf in that kitchen just dedicated to alcohol. Too much alcohol. Kids, please, I’m concerned about the way that you’re handling your mental health levels of alcohol (alcohol doesn’t do much for them. That’s what the Gillywater in the back is for.)

🔪 Has your OC ever killed someone? Ever had to defend themselves against violence? How did this make them feel? Or, alternatively, has your OC ever attacked someone? Seen someone die?

Not... yet. She has not killed anyone... yet. But she’s getting really close to trying. She’s never seen anyone die, either, but I can guarantee you that if that doesn’t change during the events of HPHM, then it will soon afterwards

As for violence and/or defending herself, well... *gestures in the direction of the entirety of HPHM* I dunno, you tell me. Though I will say that during the part where Rakepick breaks MC’s wand, I’ve always thought of it more as Seren waiting until after class to confront her and then attacking first, eventually getting her ass handed to her and her wand broken while she’s down. And I think she’d be more frustrated at herself than anything else because how could you be such an idiot of course you lost. You’re the worst. You don’t deserve to have these wounds healed just live with it. You useless failure

💎 Does your OC collect anything? Is there a reason? When did they start and is it beginning to turn into a little bit of a hoarding issue? What do they do with their collection?

Trauma. Actually, not really? Unless you want to count her creatures as her collection, but I don’t because they’re not really objects. And if you need a reason for them, I’ve mentioned it a whole bunch up above. It basically starts with inheriting Jacob’s owl and snowballs from there, though most of them are going to be given away at some point because it’s hard to take care of a lot of pets when you’ve been freshly disowned and are still unemployed

📚 If your OC was given some kind of forbidden knowledge, what would they do with it? Would they tell anyone? Use it for evil or good? How would it change their outlook on life, if at all?

Depends on what the knowledge even is. In general, she’s not big on keeping things from others for their own safety, so more than likely she’ll tell someone. But she’s also not an idiot and if it’s something like seriously, seriously so bad that it would be disastrous if even a hint of it may get out, then she may keep it between just herself and Jacob. Kinda hard to keep secrets from your mind-reading brother

There’s a very real possibility that she just will not care and continue on. Since she’s a detective it may influence the way she solves cases but... She wouldn’t use it for evil, that’s for sure. But she also may not use it for good because we never specified what the knowledge was and if it would be relevant to anything

🌗 Early mornings or late nights? What do they spend their time doing during these hours?

Late nights. The ones she doesn’t spend trying desperately to sleep and just not succeeding, she usually spends researching things that may be useful for the Vault search/detective work. Maybe a bit of experimenting or gift crafting if there’s a birthday or holiday coming up. She’s not an insomniac like her brother is, but she does share his tendency to just... not. Sleep. Sometimes. Though she’s far more likely to medicate herself to sleep

👑 If your OC was made royal (or is royal) how would they use their power? Are they a good leader or bad? Do their subjects like them or is it ‘off with their head’? Do they enjoy being royal?

If Seren was ever made royalty, then she would abdicate almost immediately. Use her position to establish a democracy and then leave. Like, that’s her whole thing. She’s a very competent leader. Very kind, but stern. Very good at shutting her emotions down and delegating. But she HATES being in charge. She prefers working alone or with 1-2 partners where everyone’s equal. So if she was ever made a royal, she’d use her power to plan for her absence, and then leave

💕 How is your OC like with physical affection? What are their boundaries? Do they enjoy being touched or is that a no-go? Is there any reason behind this?

In general, Seren is a “no touch” person. She doesn’t give affection to most people, she stiffens up when she receives it. And it’s because she’s not used to it and is constantly worried that she’s going to mess it up or intrude on others’ boundaries

She’s really only comfortable receiving physical affection from people that she’s very close to. Her brother, friends close enough to be considered siblings, potential love interests, and any possible future in-laws (though she’s more likely to reject them than others). I think the only person she’s totally comfortable giving physical affection to is Jacob. With him she can be pretty rough. But everyone else she’s much more shy about it with. She may get more bold if she’s been with a romantic partner for a long time, but in general you’d be lucky to get a hug from her

☁️ What’s something your OC wishes they could forget? Why is this? Or, what is something that your OC has forgotten? (or do both!)

Mmm. That’s hard, because Hufflepuffs are honest people and that includes being (or trying to be) honest with herself. So forgetting something would be going against that to her. I suppose if she had to pick something, she’d forget about MERULA SNYDE. Once she’s out of Hogwarts just ERASE HER FROM MEMORY SHE’S NOT WORTH YOUR TIME. Merula is just so insignificant to her and I want to see the look on “The Greatest Witch at Hogwarts’” face when, years later, the girl that she obsessively made fun of in school just looks over and goes “Who are you?”

I don’t think there’s anything specific that she’s forgotten about other than the general stuff, like some instances of kids making fun of her in Muggle school. You know, the normal stuff that just fades over time

👀 Describe your OC through the eyes of another person! (bonus + specify who)

From Jacob’s perspective:

She’s everything that he could’ve wanted in a friend. The perfect straight man to his funny guy, whose look of disinterest just makes all of his jokes sell harder. She’s smart enough to keep up with him, quick-witted enough to challenge him. But she needs to be protected. Protect her. That’s his little sister and he can’t fail her again. He loves the way her eyes light up when she starts rambling about creatures, how she takes every little adventure he comes up with and escalates it into a full-blown epic

When he sees her again it’s like that person’s not even there. Someone else is. Her eyes that were the color of the deep ocean look murky. Lifeless. The bags under her eyes rival his own. Her hair’s short now, and a mess, but he can’t help thinking how much it suits her. Makes her look like her own person and not like she’s trying too hard to be their mother. She always tried too hard to be their mother. She almost reminds him of himself, or she would if she hadn’t put so much of her own spin on everything. When she turns to him he’s worried about what she’s going to say.

“Jay, ya fecking dope. You stupid...” She sighs, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. “I missed you so much.”

Ah, there she is. That’s the Seren he remembers. So it wasn’t that she’d changed. Not really. She just stopped hiding who she was from everyone else.

❓ A random fact or short drabble! Or make up your own question to ask the OC!

Students shuffled out of the way as they saw her approach. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days (and she hadn’t) or like she was about to get into a gang fight. Her hair was even messier than normal, the bags under her eyes so deep that they could hold all of her schoolbooks and then some.

She’d stopped caring about the uniform a while ago. Her yellow tie was haphazardly thrown around her neck without even an attempt at tying it and her hands were stuffed into the pockets of the navy hoodie that she now wore at all times as she strode down the hallways. The scowl on her face was probably what kept her fellow students away, but that hardly bothered her. Better they get out of the “cursed student’s” way than risk being petrified. As though she had any control over that. As though she weren’t the one doing everything to stop those curses.

Five years. Five years of that nonsense and she was done with it. A sixth year now? Noooooo thank you. But a sixth year was what she was getting. Nothing much she could do about that except put a stop to it as fast as possible.

Find Sickleworth. Sickleworth leads you to Rakepick. When you find her, make her regret buying you a new wand. Find Sickleworth. Find Sickleworth.

Her mind was racing through all of the steps that she’d need to take and all of the possible ways that a fight with her ex-mentor could go down when something jolted her out of the mental rut she’d ended up in. A yelp, or perhaps more of a whimper. As she finally rounded the corner down to the Hospital Wing where she’d hopefully find her target, she spotted the source of the disturbance.

A tiny, tiny Crup puppy was shuffling about near the door to the Hospital Wing, doing its very best to avoid being stepped on by the throngs of students that payed it no heed. It let out a whimper again, the noise drowned out by the chatter of students, as it backed up against the wall. It seemed as if no one noticed it at all. No one except the girl in blue, anyway. She didn’t even hesitate to walk on over to the little pup and squat down in front of the trembling little thing.

“Hey, there, buddy,” she murmured, stroking the little creatures head as gently as she could. “What are you doing out here all alone?”

The tiny creature didn’t make a sound in reply. It only turned to lick her outstretched hand. She was glad that she was facing the wall at the time, because she suddenly found herself choking back tears.

“Did everyone leave you behind, too? Find some- find someone better to be around?” If anyone who knew her had heard her in that moment, they would’ve been shocked. No one had heard that kind of tenderness in her voice in months. Months that had felt like years to the quiet, somber girl.

She placed her hands around the pup as gently as she could before scooping him up into her arms and standing upright so that she wasn’t in the way of the Hospital Wing.

“I know what it’s like,” she whispered into the soft fur on the puppy’s head. “Everyone else may leave. But I won’t. That wouldn’t be fair to-”

Bang!

The tender moment was broken as an older gentleman came careening into the area, his artificial leg slamming hard into the stone wall that he must not have seen due to the decreased depth perception from his missing eye. If the students had been shuffling out of the girl’s way, then they were sprinting out of the man’s as he bellowed at the top of his lungs, “SPUD!? HAS ANYONE SEEN A CRUP- oh, Miss Dwyn!”

“Afternoon, Professor Kettleburn,” the girl said as she nodded towards the man, completely unfazed. Actually, she was much more impressed that nothing had been broken. That was a rarity with the good professor. “I ah... I assume this one’s yours?”

“Why, yes!” he replied, marching right on up to the young student. “One of our Crups just recently had a litter, you see. I was marching the little devils back to their room after a nice, long walk when I noticed that the smallest of the bunch had gone missing! Such a quiet little one, that Spud. Easy to overlook. But I see you found him! Of course you did! I should have expected one of my best students to come to a creature’s aid!”

“Yeaaaaaaaaah.” She shifted awkwardly on her feet, adjusting the puppy so that he was in a better position.

I should have expected as much. Why else would a Crup be here?

She glanced away from the man, before sighing and muttering under her breath, “So I... assume you want him back?” The magical dog licked her hand yet again, and she forced her eyes shut as she prepared to give him back.

Don’t cry in front of your professor. Don’t cry in front of your professor. Don’t cry in front of your professor. Don’t cry in front of your professor. DON’T-

“Miss Dwyn?”

Her eyes shot open as she finally met the gaze of the kindly professor. His expression was as soft as hers had been just minutes ago. Or at least, it seemed so. Sometimes it was hard to tell with the bandages covering his face.

“I’d feel terrible separating a creature from someone he’s bonded with. Especially if that person is one of my favorite students! You should keep him. He gets overlooked easily, but you... I’m certain that you would take good care of him.”

While the hallway was far from silent, it felt as though it was as the girl in blue processed her professor’s words.

“But- I- Wh... Are you sure?” she gasped out, hugging the pup closer to her body. “The... there’s no way that they’d allow me to keep him. A-a-and even if they did, I’m so busy that I couldn’t...”

“Sure you could!” The professor waved his artificial hand in a dismissive manner. “You’ve always gone out of your way to help with any and all creature related matters. I’m sure that with a good word from yours truly that Professor Dumbledore would let you keep him! You’ve more than proven that you could handle it.”

A little yip came from the girl’s arms in seeming affirmation, twin tails wagging. A few tears escaped the girl’s eyes.

“...thank you.”

“Think nothing of it, Miss Dwyn! If you wait here, I’ll go and fetch his things so that you can set up a nice little spot for him in your dormitory.”

And the man marched off, in the slightly clumsy but nonetheless upbeat manner that he always did. Still, the girl could have sworn she caught him say under his breath “No one deserves to be alone, after all.”

She leaned back against the wall, scratching her new pup’s chin and, when she thought that no one was looking, kissed his tiny head. Just being around the little guy made her feel more relaxed than... well, than she could ever remember feeling. She looked off down the way that the professor had left. She supposed that she would have to stick around for a while. Sliding down the wall into a sitting position, she placed the magical dog down on the ground to let him roam freely and smirked to herself.

“Of all things, though, why’d you have to be named after potatoes?”

#harry potter series #harry potter hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery #hphm #jacob's sibling #seren dwyn #'short drabbles' it says as i write full on mini fics in here #i'm glad that i finally got to show off a bit of her sensitive hearing though because iiiiiiiii forgot that i made that a thing!#i reference a headcanon that i have for charlie here #namely that for his first few years at hogwarts molly cuts his hair short and he ALWAYS tries to grow it back out even though she cuts it #over holidays. eventually she gives up midway through year 3 and that's when he finally starts growing the ponytail we see him with

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markoftheasphodel · 5 years

Text

Thoughts on the Jagen Club (FEH-centric)

So I drafted this last year, when I started playing with “Depression Meals” and then “This Could Be Us,” then sat on it for about a year. The rundown on Gharnefs compiled by @airlock inspired me to finish this up and get it out because it ain’t doing me any good sitting in my drafts, is it? This basically just served as my initial round of impressions on how FE Heroes was treating my beloved class of “veteran horsey-type knights” aka Jagens and why the Heroes representation inspired me to write crack ‘fic and less cracky explorations of the gang.

So, here goes...

Jagen: Good Grandpa

Jagen rocks. No, seriously, I love this guy and I love what Heroes did with him visually and character-wise (unit-wise... well, none of these are top-tier units and we will leave it at that). See, one gets the feeling Jagen's had a really good life up to at least late middle age. He came from a small but prosperous kingdom where life was good, he served a worthy king, and basically he's got joie de vivre animating him even in his obvious old age.

(This is one reason I kind of view Jagen as the actual ideal knight in FE. If you're a young knight and you end up like him, good on you. You end up like some of these others, my condolences. Kids like Roderick and Silas should take note.)

He's not that complex-- just a good-hearted old warhorse stomping around to prove he can keep up with the colts. My favorite line is probably the one he uses for a bad level-up, though-- a bracing shot of self-contempt: “I have dishonored my rank and my country.”

Gunther: Bad Grandpa

He looks like Axe Jagen. Past middle age, thinks himself as a parent-figure to his liege Corrin, offers to chat over tea. But unlike Jagen, his kingdom's a mess, his life is shot through with tragedy (the scar on his face is, as usual, representative of more than skin damage), and Gunther lets it all hang out during one of his specials quotes: “I will have my revenge!” That and the line “My armor has known...so much blood” hints that there’s more to this guy than tea parties. So what’s the deal with Gunther? Uh... depends on which route(s) of Fates you played. Heroes doesn’t really pick a “side” as far as Gunther goes so IDK look up Revelation on a wiki I guess. It’s wild.

But the way he presents himself is quite engaging! Would have tea with, etc.

Titania: Team Mom

Confident and chatty Titania is the resident ray of sunshine among veteran horsey-riders. She’s happy to take up menial tasks because they gotta be done, but she’s definitely working for a cause on a level beyond “money talks” or even abstract honor. She’s into training, but for the stated reason that practice and being on top of one’s game keeps one alive, and Titania is very, very invested in everyone staying alive. Training isn’t a quirk so much as it is part of her overall practical and constructive approach to life and duty... though there are a couple of hints that Titania’s beginning to feel her age (she’s like, 30!).

And then we get her Valentine’s alt, Warm Knight Titania, who keeps the practical “money can’t buy happiness” approach to life but is very obviously all wrapped up in the feelings for her Commander that went unspoken during his lifetime... and the prospect of a second chance thanks to all these alternate timelines colliding.

Overall just as Jagen IMO represents a damn good representation of an ideal knight at the end of the road, Titania-- despite or perhaps because she quit being an actual knight-- is a beautiful integration of Duty and Training and Covert Romantic Feelings and Familial Affection without coming down too hard on any one element.

Frederick: Wacky Uncle

As a 3DS-era character there's not much surprising about Frederick for anyone who's played Awakening. Endearingly voiced by Kyle Hebert, Freddy adores his lord Chrom and hates disorder and bear meat. He’s got an alt, summoned from a beach vacation, who is obsessively cleaning up seashells and confessions to “sinning” by which he apparently means taking a break.

I admit to holding a subversive view of Frederick in that his zeal to be a great knight is undermined by all of his tics and quirks and that's part of why he and everyone else ended up dead in the original timeline-- and Heroes doesn't change my mind on that point. His fixation on clearing the garden weeds and rising early to pick up pebbles sound less like doing the menial tasks that somebody’s gotta do and more like make-work that Frederick does because something compels him to. Still, Frederick's rocking so much joie de vivre of his own that it's impossible to not like the guy. The man likes what he does, what can I say?

Still should’ve had “Pick a god and pray” in his arsenal of voiced lines somewhere.

Finn: Hot Mess #1

When Finn-- the only member of this crew whose home games never came out worldwide-- hit FEH I remember one Redditor snarking that they didn’t understand why other fans were so excited about another Frederick-style “lapdog” character. Finn indeed presents as the latest model number of “stoic and dutiful knight” on the surface... and then the trauma, debilitating melancholy, and lack of self-preservation leaks out line by line (and given two of these tell-tale lines are at 1* rarity, it’s meant to be obvious).

His identity is all wrapped up not just in some conception of being a knight but in his lance (a gift from his late lord Quan, of course)-- an object, a tool. He's at least two decades younger than Jagen (and Gunter), but whereas the old guys are determined to prove they've got life in them yet, Finn's past caring if he survives the next battle. Unlike Titania, he’s not fondly reminiscing about the happy little moments raising his adolescent liege Leif or his “daughter”/ ward Nanna. He’s not interested in pulling weeds or doing the laundry-- he’s anxious to know the layout of the castle in case it gets torched... when he’s not obsessively repairing that lance, that is. He’s got zero quotes on the value of training compared to least three indicating he's fine with ending up dead. So yeah, Finn’s basically Antimatter Titania. Meanwhile he’s voiced to sound about twenty years older than he looks, which seems to be deliberate for both NoJ and NoA.

Finn’s more like a cautionary tale to the Rodericks and Silases of the world-- sure, you can be this guy, but who’d want to be? He sure looks pretty in his attack art though...

Seth: Hot Mess #2

Ooh, boy. Seth has what's arguably the greatest storyline scene FEH has afforded a supporting character in all of Book I... possibly in all the mainline Heroes chapters. It evokes his rebuke to Ephraim in Eph's version of Ruled By Madness and it's awesome. But the Seth we get in Heroes is a very... intriguing... look at what's underneath the shiny surface of the Silver Knight. There’s some Training stuff, a sense the man has Opinions but is struggling to stay in his place, a reference to the wound he got from Valter and an admission he’s not fun to be around. And then it gets a bit weird.

“Do not trouble yourself over my well- being. I would play the pawn gladly, would it bring us victory.“

He isn't just unattached to his own survival the way Finn is, Seth is actively advising the Summoner to keep enough distance to make it easier for them to send Seth to die. Repeatedly. Maybe the pain of his half-healed wound is driving him mad, maybe he's afraid unspoken feelings for Eirika will turn him to the dark side, but Seth is kinda messed up. And whereas honestly every iffy thing about Finn was already there in the Jugdral games and their side materials, Seth’s FEH presentation came as a shock to me and I’ve seen it flat-out called “Out of Character” elsewhere. The hint of a playful side from his support chain with Natasha, for instance, is nowhere to be found here. It’s odd and kind of compelling and yet not terribly likable, in my opinion. Frederick needs to chill and Finn needs a hug (and probably some anti-depressants), but Seth... I dunno. He needs friends, maybe? Cormag when.

“I answer destiny's call!” is a damn good line, though.

Bonus Clive and Mathilda (The Lovebirds):

The Legendary Knight and her Idealistic boyfriend are not technically Jagens (that’s Mycen, subverting the archetype almost as soon as it was established), but they’re veteran cavalier/paladin types in their late 20s, likely of an age with Seth and Frederick at least and not many years younger than Titania and Finn. So, how do they measure up personality-wise?

Clive and Mathilda have the advantage that their Heroes incarnations hit at virtually the same time their FE15 selves did, so there's not as much revelatory about them. Same VAs (Grant George is fantastic), consistent designs, consistent personalities. Clive struggles a bit with his dilemmas from FE15 and has a hilarious line where he’s taking care of his own horse because the Order of Heroes apparently has no staff (for the record, he says he enjoys caring for the horse). Mathilda meanwhile has a couple of quotes about her love for Clive and quite a bit about her concerns regarding Clive’s sister Clair. They’re not very extreme personalities-- even Titania, well-rounded as she is, comes across as more extreme than Clive & Mathilda thanks to her open zeal for life. I’m not quite sure how they’d come across to someone who hadn’t played FE15, as the nature of Clive’s doubts in particular are merely hinted at here.

They’re good supporting characters but there’s a reason my Jagen-club stories don’t use them as focal points.

Not available: Mycen, Arran, Oifey, Marcus... after two damn years.

#fire emblem meta #all sorts of emblems #the jagen club #fire emblem ficcing #text post #long post

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