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janewayintersection · 7 months

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I ... I really like how Kaidan is this man in his 30s who is confident and kinda quiet but exudes this aura of sureness in his words and actions - and then you have a strong presence in Shepard who is a leader, confident in their role as Commander, but not always sure of themselves when it comes to their subordinates/friends once the mantle of Commander comes off.

"Are you flirting with me?" - this line from Shepard sounds more like they're asking for confirmation that not only does a crew mate like them, but is interested in them. Interested in them, outside of the Commander title, and them as a person. Kaidan reassures them - even when he gets turned down the night before Eden, he still comforts Shepard.

I like that over the course of the series it seems to flip, where Shepard becomes confident in themselves in their work and relationships/friendships (much more out of necessity) and Kaidan falls more and more into this uncertainty with his personal connections, and most importantly, with Shepard. Just like Shepard, he doesn't compromise his work or his morals but you can see that on the personal side he's second guessing everything everything he knew about Shepard.

The ME3 romance is Shepard taking care of Kaidan the same way he took care of them in the first game. It makes me gush how much Kaidan gets back to his confident self from ME1 if your Shepard decides to pursue him again and how you build up that trust once more. Kaidan is much more confident in his relationship with Shepard, much like how he did to the Commander during the romance in ME1, and he allows himself to trust and be honest again.

Him asking if the Commander is flirting with him in the hospital? That's a mirror of what Shepard was doing - feeling - in the first game. Does Shepard feel the same way? Are they still interested after seeing him lose control of his anger at Horizon? Was he wrong to assume they wanted to end what they had?

I love me the dynamic between Garrus and Shepard (bros for LIFE), but there's something so wonderful about Kaidan saying he wanted to be that comfortable space, that safe person, for Shepard that just tickles my romantic side especiallg seeing how it looks like they swap roles by the time ME3 rolls around.

not to be too blunt or anything, but if i could make out with this ask and the meta you just wrote, i would. mwah. master craft. i am genuinely so honored and flattered you shared this with me - thank you! i literally never even thought about it this way before, but holy shit you are so RIGHT. right down to the fact that kaidan now technically outranks shepard as major in me3; he is a lot more confident in his profession and position as a leader in his own right. hell, its his main priority (up until the moment he decides to take shepard at their word during the citadel confrontation...).

it’s clear that romanced or not, shepard’s death hit kaidan and it hit kaidan HARD. no doubt that he recoiled back into his shell after that, and especially after shepard joins cerberus and causes a whole slew of misunderstandings, confusion, and people being kept out of the loop. it’s really, really sweet to see him bounce back after that.

even with a shenko that starts in me3 (with mshenko primarily, but also fshenko where the romance path is cancelled before it can even begin)… while kaidan never takes his shot in me1, and its directly stated that kaidan wants to avoid acting out of line with such a serious and professionally focused shepard (in his words, shepard was “always so focused on the work back then. the mission was everything,” to which shepard replies, “it’s true. i’ll never know what i missed.”). however, over the course of the plot he still manages to get shepard to warm up around him, becoming good friends w them and dealing with ashley’s death together.

so really, we’re back to our original parallel. kaidan was the one more assured in personal relationships while- wait. hold on. kaidan’s initial struggle in dropping formalities in this route could also be attributed to his uncertainty when it comes to working with shepard. this would be filed into kaidan being more uncertain when it comes to his work and interacting with his more ‘accomplished’ and emotionally constipated/serious commanding officer. SORRY. sorry. as i was saying, kaidan was the one more assured in personal relationships, while shepard was the opposite. and gah. GAH. taste. by design.

also, to add to your original take, his certainty in his actions are called into question in me3 too. he doubts his behavior towards shepard, he tries to sit down and think through the good people who were caught up in cerberus, he questions how the illusive man spiraled into the person he is and if he was ever a good person. its just good. sorry my thoughts are so jumbled and im just word vomiting as i write this reply. truly a failing grade paper on my part, i hope you dont mind!!

as for garrus, agreed! garrus feels like a really touching sort of “mentorship” ride or die comrades dynamic that builds over the course of the plot while kaidan definitely has the above mentioned parallels and has the “equals who can help bring out the best in each other’s weaknesses” thing.

also i made a meme just because of this ask.

#asks #mass effect #kaidan alenko #shenko #op ur mind is huge im sorry if this reply is incoherent. i have so many thoughts but im so bad at wording them. im so normal i promise. I P

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toukenramblings · 3 years

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Child Saniwa: Tsurumaru Kuninaga, Kasen Kanesada, Hachisuka Kotetsu

It’s meme time

Warnings: None???

Tsurumaru Kuninaga:

“Yo, I’m Tsurumaru Kuninaga. Are you surpr- what?” “......” “Why is there a child here?”

The minute Tsurumaru finds out that you, his saniwa, is a literal baby, he immediately begins to sign the adoption papers. Damn it all, he failed to protect a child int he past and there’s no damn way is he going to fuck this up this time!

A part of him was ready to fucking kick down the doors of the government though, ready to scream at them for sending a child into battle. Yes during times of war, such a thing can happen, but the modern world is different? Besides, what is ever wrong with the idea of letting a kid be a kid?

Tsurumaru is a bad influence, spoils the lil tiny kid saniwa rotten. THey ask something from him? Of course he’ll give it to them. Candy? Always has it in his long sleeves somewhere. A hug? Immediately will carry the lil tiny child around without hesitation.

If aNYONE looks at his charge the wrong way, expect a sword to their throat immediately and a very miffed off crane, “Oh ho, do you have something to say to them? Why don’t you say it to me?” yes he will threaten the president or some other government big wig. Don’t fucking test him.

Seeing them smile is what makes Tsurumaru beam more than anything. it almost reaffirms his vow to protect them as long as he still lives and breathes. In battle, Tsurumaru is focused yes, but most of all he wants to return to them. Gods forbid anyone getting hurt and the little one is in tears. No way will he ever let them fall.

It warms his heart when the lil Saniwa gets along with the rest of the swords, especially the Dategumi. It’s like having permanent baby sitters working around the clock for the lil one. He’ll probably cry if he sees Sada-chan and the lil saniwa cuddling together just napping.

Will also start sobbing if the said saniwa calls Tsurumaru their big bro/dad. Tells them to always call him that from now on.

Expect Tsurumaru to always be causing little tickle fights with the saniwa! He wants to see them smile, to hear them laugh! He will surprise them, appearing out of nowhere to scare them and maybe with a lil batch of treats to smooth it over. He’s not trying to scare them to death! No! He adores them!

Tsurumaru can and will be found cuddling with the little kid during nappy time, holding them oh so close to his chest, almost hissing at anyone who tries to take them away from him.

Tsurumaru cannot help but thank the gods, and fate for this second chance of protecting a little one. He was only a sword back then, unable to do anything. But now? Oh, every time the little saniwa smiles at him and clings on to his big white coat, the crane swears it to the spirits and his own lifeforce that he will protect them better this time.

Kasen Kanesada

“It is quite the pleasure to meet you, maste- oh?”

“....”

“.....What have I gotten myself into?”

Now Kasen is pretty decent with kids, he isn’t terrible as he can deal with Sayo, but dealing with a lil saniwa like this causes him to pause. What had he gotten himself into this time? How would this affect their relationship? If Kasen is the starter sword of the little one, then Kasen would obviously feel a much stronger need to protect them.

If Tsurumaru is the enabler, then Kasen is the responsible parent. He ensures they go to bed on time, eating the right meals, dressed properly for the occasion, so on and so forth! Yes he will melt under their puppy eyes and eventually give in to their whims, but Kasen does have his limits. Ever so gently will he scold them, wiping away any tears they shed.

Like Tsurumaru, Kasen will also hold little snacks in his pockets for them. Probably fruit compared to like candy but if the little one is a good kid he’ll slip them something sweet from Azuki. Has to stop the other swords from spoiling the little one rotten as well, even if he has to drag Tsurumaru away from them.

Whenever Kasen has to leave for a mission and has to leave the little one’s side, he leaves behind a poem and a note for them to cheer them up. In fact, his notes/poems are almost a frequent occurrence!

While Tsurumaru will full on bear hug his little saniwa, Kasen will mostly give little head pats. If they are desperate however, then he will give them a hug. It’s gentle, not at all suffocating. He would rub their back and maybe ruffle their hair a lil bit.

While Kasen is indeed protective, he won’t suddenly press a blade to the throat of the enemy...yet. His anger simmers before exploding, snidely making a quip about their lack of intelligence before threatening to kill them with his bare hands. He won’t lie and say that he isn’t angry at the government for having such a young one in the face of danger. They remind him of Sayo and how the tantou never got to be...well, himself.

Kasen is stern and strict yes, but he is not without method to his madness. He wants his lil saniwa to grow and become an elegant, proud, and move forward. He knows that he may not always be by their side and he worries of that day when he leaves them. He wants to spend much more time with them in his own way. It doesn’t have to be with words, it can just be existing together in the same space.

Kasen works a lot, and when the little saniwa asks him to relax, it’s very obvious that he is reluctant to do so. He has so much to do! The citadel needs him! But he will cave under their lil pouty face and sighs, agreeing to a nap with them in his arms. Expect the others to take pictures of this.

Kasen can and will cry if they refer to him as a big brother/father, compared to the outright crying of Tsurumaru, Kasen’s tears and sniffles can be seen but he won’t start bawling just yet. Pride does bloom within his chest and while Tsurumaru will ask them to always refer to him with the title of big bro/dad, Kasen will want to be referred to by his name or the big brother title. It will take some getting used to but he’ll fall into that routine.

Kasen fusses over the lil one over the smallest things. IF they trip and fall and hurt themselves? Kasen is by their side with a band-aid and ready to fight God. Can and will fight the time government by sending them letters to utterly burn them to the point they could never hope to recover from his words. Or just straight up kick down the door to an office and demand to see whoever the fuck is in charge.

Hachisuka Kotetsu

“I am Hachisuka Kotetsu, the true authentic-”

“....”

“??????????’

Hachisuka takes one good luck at this lil kid of a saniwa and he is confused. Why? How? What? Where? When? Though as he has experience of being a big brother, he will gently bend down to their height, questioning them oh so gently. Yes he is just as confused as they are, but Hachisuka will take it in stride. If Hachisuka is the saniwa’s starter sword, he will feel an immediate urge to protect them of course!

Sure he can handle Urashima but a whole ass child? Is there a manual for this???? Urashima, help! When he does have advice from other swords on how to take care of a kid, Hachisuka will dedicate himself to them.

Found taking pictures of the saniwa and Urashima getting along, no Hachisuka is not crying. What are you taLKING ABOUT

Compared to Kasen and Tsuru who are found crying when the saniwa refers to them as dad/big brother, Hachisuka is almost proud of it. “Of course, there is nothing I can’t do after all! If I will become family to my master, then so be it!” inwardly sobbing though.

If Tsurumaru is the enabler, and Kasen is the strict parent, then Hachisuka is the big brother who is trying his damn best. He is strict like Kasen but will submit to their will and ultimately spoil them in the end.

Can and will keep his lil saniwa away from Nagasone, but will relent if the saniwa adores his brother too. That won’t mean he’ll keep a close eye on them whenever they are together, worried about them. Maybe he’s worried about Nagasone too? He won’t admit it though.

If anyone threatens this tiny lil child of a saniwa, he immediately hands them over to Nagasone and Urashima, rolling up his damn sleeves and is ready to beat some ass. Nagasone has to hold him back though. It does mean Hachisuka can and will get into a shouting match with the fucker though.

Is that one father who does nothing but brag about the achievements of their child, proudly displaying their awards and adorable pictures of them for all to see! Has an entire photo album of the lil saniwa and their achievements, full of their smiles and they make him sob.

His affection isn’t as physical as Kasen or Tsurumaru. It’s soft headpats, sometimes awkward. But Hachisuka does care for them, tucking a lock of their hair behind their ear, telling them that he is proud of them, and bringing them into a gentle hug.

Hachisuka will carry the lil saniwa to bed and it’s during those times of quiet and peace where Hachisuka will think. Like Kasen, both purple haired warriors will appreciate these silent moments. As he strokes their head to sleep, Hachisuka knows that their time is limited. None the less, to be the best parental/familial figure this lil saniwa has ever had, he will do his best!

#touken ranbu #touken danshi #touken ranbu x reader #touken ranbu imagine #tkrb #tkrb x reader #tkrb imagine #my writing #tsurumaru kuninaga #tsurumaru kuninaga x reader #tsurumaru kuninaga imagine #kasen kanesada #kasen kanesada x reader #kasen kanesada imagine #hachisuka kotetsu #hachisuka kotetsu x reader #hachisuka kotetsu imagine #https://toukenramblings.tumblr.com/tagged/Chaotic%20Citadel%20Correspondences #Chaotic Citadel Correspondences

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commodorefluffypawz · 3 years

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Story time!! Almost 9 years ago now I met someone incredibly special to me because of Guild Wars, and it was the beginning of my persona I call Trist. We live in different time zones now and operate on opposite work schedules so chatting is difficult, but we finally got some time with each other last night and I drew this. I was raised not to make friends with “scary online people” and so the only friends I had were literally a few that I’d met at school and then moved very far away from them. I played a lot of Twilight Arbor and before LFG was a thing, we would stand in maps and shout for people to join our parties. Someone needed help with it so I joined up with them. We got in and I realized the leader had hit story mode, when I was promised a path and useful tokens at the end of it. The guy in the picture, Gabe, apologized and asked if it was ok cuz his friends needed to complete it anyway. I had a big sigh and said “ya, alright”. I like helping people. So we’ll get through this quick and then play the path and I can have what I came for. ........ Boy was I wrong XD I dragged their downed bodies through that dungeon. They were so bad! Finally I stopped ressing the others and just kept Gabe alive with my search and rescue, healing springs, and condition removals. He was the only useful thing in that party lol, being a zerker warrior. And when there were ranged parts that he just couldn’t do I solo’d the fights. It probably took at least an hour, and I was exhausted. They said thank you and Gabe apologized again at the end. He friended me and said he had to go to work but he’d make it up to me with an actual path run later on. I just waved it off and carried on playing, his name hovering in my followers list, and me thinking nothing more of the matter. A couple months later this happened:

Near the end of 2012 I was getting bored with the game and was considering quitting as I farmed for materials for my legendary at Southsun Cove. I’d only played with one other person from the place I moved away from and he’d left a while ago to play WoW. I was running along towards the area with the big karka and where there was an ancient logging node and I see this guy chopping it down with a bunch of little karka attacking him. So like a good citizen I rained a bunch of arrows on top of him to help out. I proceeded to collect my node and noticed he was just standing there. I squinted at his name....wait a minute. I pulled up my followers. There he is! That’s the dude! And we both did this:

He’d remembered me too. I noticed his armor. It was from Citadel of Eternity, a dungeon that I’d been trying to get a party for for so long, but I could never get a group filled for it. He said he knew it inside and out and that his friends could help me out. So we finished up our farming at Southsun and headed over. He rallied up his friends and then we got in the dungeon. Gabe said the boss is a bit tough and there’s a certain time for dodging or else you’ll get one-shot. He asked me to jump in Teamspeak with them so he could explain it better. ....... “What’s Teamspeak?” Now I’m like “oh no, online people want to talk to me, this is probably gonna be really creepy and weird and AHHH PANIC!” But something told me to just give it a try. No one made fun of me for not knowing what TS was, Gabe just simply walked me through where to download it and get the address put in and connect to the server. (Btw, at this point they all think I’m guy) I finally get in and they’re all like “sup, bro!” And then there’s me with a pause and a very small “hiii......” Silence. “Dude, it’s a chick!” And then we all laughed and the bond was set and we’ve never let go of each other since. We were the beginnings of the community we now call RaPa, Raining Pastel, and of many friends and adventures to follow~

#story time #nostalgia #bonds #hug #Guild Wars 2

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phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess · 5 years

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A brief list of other podcasts to look into:

1) Adventures in New America A world gone mad, in many formats and viewpoints.

2) Aftershocks A young woman placed in an institution must escape.

3) ALICE ISN’T DEAD A lonely truck driver must search through supernatural mystery and chaos to find her missing wife.

4) Archive 81 Literally someone paid to listen to found footage, strange and bizarre found footage... and goes on a journey of their own, down a dark, bizarre path.

5) The Adventure Zone The mcelroy bros take on DnD and it’s as chaotically hysterical as it sounds.

6) The Archivist An artificial intelligence looking into CM-001. But what... is it?

7) Attention Hellmart Shoppers! Working retail... on the hellmouth. Literally.

8) Audiodiary of a Superhero The rise, fall and mediocrity of being a superhero... and how it came about.

9) Beasts of Bardon College Anthropomorphic animals and the trials and tribulations of entering college.

10) The Behemoth From the ocean comes a towering behemoth that does not speak, he walks across state after state, on a direct line to the coast on the other side of the continent. A small human being feels a calling to save the behemoth in the only way she knows how. [Additional podcast in this series, is IZZY, which gives another perspective]

11) The Black Tapes Follow down a path of mystery, lead by your host Alex... and Dr Strand, as they take on the supernatural elements of the world.

12) The Blood Crow Stories Human suffering creates energy, dear subject. For this reason, you hear the echoes of history in three different yet unique time periods, follow the lives and deaths of humans that were touched by a dark entity. Season 1 follows the SS Utopia, trying to hide certain rich persons from the war. Season 2 Blackchapel joins a posse of avengers on a ride, trying to stop a mystery from killing again. And Season 3... well, ongoing, but the Neon Lodge is a world set in the future where humanity still isn’t safe from the darkness.

13) The Box Addison Gilmore found a lockbox... and her life hasn’t been the same since.

14) The Bridge A big transcontinental bridge, now falling into disrepair, hides horrifying secrets that are carefully puzzled out through each episode.

15) The Bright Sessions Dr Bright provides therapy to some unique individuals.

16) Critical Role A DnD podcast that will knock your socks off.

17) The Earth Collective Humanity’s last historian details how they adapted to a hostile world, by always moving along. And never looking back.

18) The Elysium Project A chemical that can make you superhuman... but what cost must you pay?

19) End of All Hope An Alien Invasion. Follow three survivors trying to get the hell out of the targeted zones...

20) The Enoch Saga Humanity found a way to become immortal... now imagine being the only person allergic to the cure to death.

21) GONE Waking up alone, with no understanding of what happened, one woman strives to keep her mind together. Where has humanity gone, and why did she get left behind?

22) Heretic A young man, disabled and excommunicated by a certain cult, has to investigate the sudden series of bodies turning up in his life.

23) IMMUNITIES Aliens, they take ahold of you with a single glance. Some people are carriers, others are just pawns... and yet a third, rare subset, are immune. The world has changed, and survival is as much mental as physical now.

24) Inhale Tamara Tracer was a hero, and now she wants nothing more than to bury the past.

25) KAKOS INDUSTRIES For all your evil needs, including research into doing evil better, try Kakos Industries!

26) King Falls AM A big-time radio host. A small town that sees nothing supernatural about its ghostly, demonic and crytpid inhabitants... what could go wrong?

27) Lake Clarity A mystery of five teens going to an abandoned camp grounds in the woods, and only one returning with a story no one believes.

28) Lesser Gods Humanity is down to six teenagers, all bred to be the ‘saviours’; ironically, born to hopefully naturally conceive a child amongst the small pool, and save the human race. Except... perhaps they’re not conforming as they should.

29) Limetown A whole town disappeared, something happened there, but the information has been buried. One reporter strives to find the truth, and avoid being killed for it.

30) MARSCORP Imagine waking up in the future... a lot further than intended, to find the world you were meant to terraform is run by idiots who won’t listen to common sense.

31) Marsfall A crew tries to survive on the Red Planet... what could go wrong?

32) Organism Not human, an Other. Trying to understand.

33) The Orphans Teenagers, a crashed ship, a hostile planet. You know what comes next.

34) Paralyzed Sleep paralysis is terrifying... but what happens if the creature you see, is slowly invading the real world? And is now threatening the lives of your friends.

35) The Penumbra Podcast Join Juno Steel, a futuristic detective on multiple mysteries. Join the Second Citadel for kooky, fun adventures!

36) The Phenomenon Forgot to put this on the FAVES list, actually. Something happened. The warning says do not look outside, do not look at the skies. Do not make noise. Do not make any more heat than you must. You will die... and what exists up there, is only the beginning.

37) Raising the Dead Again Necromancy in the modern age is a little more complicated than you’d think!

38) ReMade They died. All they had in common was death, and this strange rebirth. What have they been returned for... and why?

39) SAYER You are on a new world, part of an intergalactic workforce, in a station run by the AI SAYER. SAYER says jump, and you must... woe betide those who refuse.

40) The Strange Case of the Starship Iris A human adrift in space is saved by an unlikely crew...

41) Supervillain Corner A podcast by supervillains, for supervillains... no superheroes allowed!

42) Tale - A KNIGHT ADRIFT Join the lady knight fighting evil to defend her kingdom.

43) The Thrilling Adventure Hour In the style of old-timey radio hour, and with the occasional guest cameos, the most unique serials you ever will hear! Sparks Nevada the Marshall on Mars, Beyond Belief supernatural mysteries, and so many more!

44) Tunnels Find out what lives down there... and then regret it, for the rest of your short life.

45) Uncanny County Imagine the audio equivalent for the Twilight Zone. Enjoy yourself.

46) We Fix Space Junk Follow the insane adventures of space smugglers, and try not to get shot!

47) Welcome to Night Vale A normal little town, where we never question anything, and angels do not exist. If you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget.

48) We’re ALIVE! A zombie-survival story, and how the survivors coped in a world where flesh-eaters run rampant.

49) Wormwood A supernatural murder mystery, definitely engaging and exciting.

50) 2298 Profiles, as the network refers to humans, are cared for and raised for certain roles. Never deviate. Never.

#podcasts

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ferairia · 6 years

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Business as usual

September 11th/Day 2: Loqi as a spy

Loqi Tummelt, Cor Leonis, Monica Elshett. Mentions of the Chocobros and Caligo Ulldor

Rating: General

Word Count: 1656

Warnings: Disguises, mentions the Fall of Insomnia, mentions of the fight at Norduscaen Garrison, vague spy network, vague spy codes and code names. Picking lines directly from the game

Summary : Loqi is a spy for Lucis under Cor Leonis. Before the Treaty, Cor was already in trouble with the King. Now that Insomnia has fallen and Niffleheim side of the network is slowly and quietly being weeded out, Loqi has decisions to make. Thankfully, he didn’t need to wait long for answers.

AO3 Link : Business as usual

Loqi was sweaty and hot under all the hunter’s coverall that he managed to snag at the Prairie’s Outpost. He prayed to all the Six that the black hair dye or whatever he was wearing won’t get worn down with his sweat as he busied himself with a sword. He needed a temporary dye since he is now being posted beyond Niff territory. Had it been Gralea, all he had to do was style his hair differently and maybe some contact lenses.

Cor was supposed to meet him up at the Prairie Outpost but he hasn’t appeared yet.

He sighed to himself at the thought of the day being wasted but it’s a common enough not to cause him worry. Just annoyed.

“Sure is melting hot, out here.” A woman came. She was in full hunter’s garb as well.

Pausing in his blade sharpening, he looked up to the one who uttered it. That was the code. “With all the sun, can’t expect it to be freezing, Felicia.” He responded with a relieved smile. It wasn’t Cor but it was one of Cor’s subordinates, Monica Elshett.

Felicia nodded in response before settling beside him. She unsheathed her sword and set it before her, signaling for Loqi to continue what he was doing.

Rummaging through her pockets, she lets out a grouse. “You have an extra whetstone on ya, Al?” She asked. “I think I lost mine.”

Loqi gave her a knowing smile the whole time as he shook his head. He took a small box and gave it to her. “What’s big bro doing?” He asked as he watched Felicia fussed with the box and with a sleight of hands changed it with a proper box of a whetstone.

Felicia sighed. “Dad said told him to do some business out of town. Big bro didn’t want to budge so he’s trying to deal with dad and have someone else go for the business trip.” She explained, her hand barely moved as she explained. “It’s just that…” She began, trying word her thoughts properly. “Dad is pretty old, Al.” She said in a worried tone but the look on her face was more scrutinizing than worried.

It was Loqi’s turn to sigh. Long story short. Cor is on the verge of insubordination. Not that it’s the first time but as ‘Felicia’ said, the King is pretty old. And old people tend to not like it when their orders aren’t obeyed. Since it’s the King and not anyone else, Loqi smelt trouble.

“So, is big bro in trouble?” He asked frankly.

Felicia shook her head as she returned to whetting her blade. “Don’t know. Haven’t heard from him ever since. The Treaty is going to start this week. Just hope big bro is not going to get into too much trouble with everything’s that going on.” She said softly.

Loqi couldn’t agree with her more. If anything happens to Cor, he’s going to be in a pinch. Being a Brigadier General wasn’t easy and trying to escape is going to be a mess, if he survives it.

“Anyway.” Loqi began. “How’s the children?” He asked with a straight face. Knowing Monica, she had cats. Loqi never seen them but Monica had told enough of them to know how they were doing.

Monica or ‘Felicia’, snickered. “As rambunctious as ever. Broke a few of my plates just the other day.” She said. The two ended up talking about the cats for a while. Mission completed. Just to kill time until they could leave without suspicion. Being so near to a garrison and wary hunters had their difficulties. If the Niffs didn’t get them, the Hunters might just give them away accidentally.

Before their time was up, Felicia got a call. “Felicia.” She said curtly as she stopped fussing over her sword. “Uh, yes. Right at the old ruined house.” She informed whoever it is. “Ok. See ya.” She said as she ended her call.

“The client’s coming.” She said. The cold military discipline leaking into her voice before she cleared her throat and recomposed herself as a lighthearted Felicia. “No need to look like you’ve seen a ghost, Al.” She quipped.

Loqi shrugged. He paused in thought. “Do you think Big Bro got into trouble?”

“Don’t know, Al.” She answered as she turned to pack her stuff. “But my transport is just a short ride from here.” Code for – Cor is coming over as a Client. Act accordingly.

Al or Loqi, went about to pack his stuff, too.

They barely had gotten to their feet when a truck pulled towards their place. In it was Cor, waving at them.

“Hey, Felicia, Al.” He regarded with a nod. The two gave a nod back and Felicia got into the truck. “Melting hot here, huh?” He said as he gave Loqi a onceover.

Loqi replied with a tight smile. “If it’s freezing cold, it’ll be the end of the world.”

Cor gave a small smile at that. “Anyways, borrow Felicia here for a job. If I need more people, I might need to call you in, too.”

“Sure. Just make sure, you take care of her.” Loqi answered back amicably.

With that, they parted ways.

Almost three weeks passed since then.

Insomnia fell, the network collapsed and names were being brought up within the ranks and silently taken care off. Caligo made sure of that.

And Loqi, now without any form of communication, went after the only Lucian he knew that was on Niffleheim’s radar, other than the Prince. The very Lucian that his accolades in warfare were more or less based on. He went to confirm Cor Leonis’s status. Two birds with one stone, really. This way, he can decide whether to continue his work or get rid of everything.

He received word that the Prince was to escape via the Norduscaen Garrison. Even as he got on his ship towards the said drop site, he started to feel lost. Would he be forced to kill off the Prince? Something in him was screaming to back off and stop. But he was a soldier. He had his orders. He…could only pray he was doing the right thing.

The garrison came into view along with a slew of dissipating MTs. With them, he saw the iconic black coloured garb donned by the Crownsguard. Taking point was the Prince and Cor.

He was wildly relieved at that sight alone. Cor was alive! The Prince would be safe in his care, too. That feeling dimmed considerably.

He hovered over the opened courtyard. “Stay right where you are.” He declared imperiously from his ship. “Well, well. If it isn’t Cor the Immortal. So you’ve survived the Citadel.” He said before turning to man his Magitek Armour.

“But you won’t survive what I have in store for you. It’s past time your legend came to an end.” He declared grimly, knowing people from Niffleheim, especially, Caligo is listening through the comms.

The fight was more grueling than he thought and the ejection system was unpleasant despite saving his life.

Seeing off the prince, Cor dismissed Monica and returned to ‘watching the Niffs.’

Once he heard a truck and a car passed, he finally cracked opened the charred cockpit.

He was surprised to see Cor nearby, looking for him from the looks of things.

“Thank the Six, you’re still alive.” Cor said in relief with a smirk of satisfaction.

Loqi only managed a huff as he got himself out with Cor’s help.

Thankfully, the worse injury on him was a split lip. His armour seriously helped.

As the two recovered from the effort on the floor next to it, Cor held out a Potion for him.

He refused it. “It’ll get suspicious if I escape literally unscathed.” He explained.

Cor nodded in understanding. “How goes for you since the fall?” He asked as he made it dissipate into the ether.

“Unnerving to say the least. There was a leak in the network. Caligo has been on the hunt ever since.” Loqi explained. “Did not help that there was only static on my communicator.”

Cor’s lips pulled into a tight grimace. “At the very least, we’re confident that the leak is taken cared off with the fall.” He said cryptically.

“Well, for the time being, there won’t be much activities. If anything, I think I’ll be the only one going beyond enemy lines to meet up with you.” He said as he scratched his head. “Other than the Prince and his retinue, of course.”

Loqi raised his eyebrows at that. “Ah, the chamberlain is there too?”

“Yes, indeed.” He answered. “He was the one with the glasses.” He added, gesturing two fingers over his eyes.

“Well, then. The Prince is in good hands.” He said in an impressed tone. “A member of a network is with him after all.”

“Still, one must be cautious in times like these.” He said with a tired huff.

Loqi only chuckled in response.

“Well, then.” Cor said as he got to his feet. “It’s best we get moving.”

Loqi got to his feet as well. “As always, it was an honour to fight you.” He said as he stood straight and held out a hand, a proud look present on his face.

Cor mirrored him and shook his hand with a tight smile. “Likewise. Glad to still have you on board with us.”

At that Loqi lets out a mirthless cackle. “Careful there. You assume too quickly.” He warned. A gentle reminder that this could all end suddenly.

Cor’s smile turned into a knowing smirk. “If I was wrong, we won’t be standing here.” He said as he passed. “See you when I see you.” He said with a wave, not even looking back if it’s returned.

Loqi merely shook his head before getting his emergency beacon. When the ship came, it was already dark and none of the Lucians were in sight.

#ffxvloqiweek #loqi tummelt #cor leonis #monica elshett #chocobros #caligo ulldor #spy AU #spycatcher #spy network breakdown #in-game line #ignis scientia #ignis is part of the spy network #day2 #codename #canon fights

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rationalisms · 6 years

Note

mass effect for the ask meme (1/2/3 instead of seaons) ✨

ty tasha

the first character i ever fell in love with:i legit cannot remember, it honestly has been way too long since i first played me1!! i think it might have been tali? at least i’m pretty sure she was the one character i didn’t swap out once for someone else in the team config during my first playthru even when it was combat inconvenient lql

a character i used to love/like, but now do not:i honestly can’t think of anyone? i used to really desperately try to make myself like ashley but lately i’ve just accepted that i have always disliked her and never ever will find anything about her redeeming enough to make up for all the things i hate lol.

a ship i used to love/like, but now do not:when i first played mass effect 2 i actually thought joker and EDI were adorable and really loved the development of their relationship over the game. i was very excited for what me3 might hold for them and uh…. the actual content left me VERY cold lol. i think it’s a shame that their relationship was reduced to “lol hot robot bod” and all the actual development of EDI as a person and sentient being was completely concentrated on shepard alone. that was such a huge missed opportunity.

my ultimate favourite character:m o r d i n!! i love him so much and i have cried so many tears over just how much i love him so many times. he has the hands down BEST arc over the course of the games to me– i adore so much how he changes from someone who’s so remote and concerned with only the macro level of things to someone who learns to actually connect to people as more than just numbers or data. his self sacrifice is the most meaningful to me and i’m the proudest of his development.

prettiest character:samara, boob armor not withstanding lol. jack’s me3 design is gorgeous as well.

my most hated character:it’d be easy to give a p expected answer to this (kai leng or another easily hateable villain) but i think if i had to concentrate solely on characters on the normandy it’d probably honestly be james vega lol. i h a t e d that he was mandatory in me3 and usually avoid interacting with him. he’s the exact stereotype of male gamer self insert character i loathe and he was so discongruent compared to the rest of the team. also his interactions with f!shep made my skin crawl. h8 how you were forced into the dichotomy of ~ooOOOoo flirty~ or “i’m gonna be a huge dick to you for no reason”. just. delete him.

my OTP:f!shep/tali is REAL and i will DIE mad about bioware cutting it from the game!!! ESPECIALLY because they left the lead-up to the romance in and just cut the actual consummation!! i’m still just always crying overa) “you deserve better.” - “i got better shepard. i got you.”b) tali looking out over rannoch and saying “it’s beautiful” and f!shep NEVER EVER LOOKING AWAY FROM HER THE ENTIRE TIME and saying “yes it is” a HATECRIME tbqh fuck you bioware

the other is aria/nyreen they’re… so much….. lawful good and neutral evil exes who are still in love is the BEST set-up and i am still FIRMLY in denial about how they ended. as far as i’m concerned they’re running omega together.

my NOTP:literally any m!shep/female character ship. also f!shep/garrus. he’s SO my little bro to me and the one time i played their romance the content made me suuuper uncomfortable in how awkward it was lol i just can’t get with it.

favourite game and mission: (doing this instead of fav season or ep)me3. ik, ik, people dump on it all the time, but i honestly think it’s a masterpiece and i adore it to pieces. there’s been no other video game since that has affected me emotionally to the same level and there’s so many outstanding moments in it compared to the other two installments (even tho i love those as well). i have my issues with it (who doesn’t lol) but it’s still the best mass effect game for me.

as for fav mission, gotta be citadel dlc. ik, cliche answer BUT it’s such a perfect 3 hours of content i honestly wouldn’t change in any way.

least favourite game and mission:uuuuh i love me1 a lot but it’s my least fav out of the 3 mainly for gameplay reasons (i’m a huge completionist and i HATE having to do all the planet missions in the mako).

least fav mission is the fucking derelict reaper in me2 it’s the WORST and scares me so bad! i’m bad at survival horror type video games!!! as much as i love how much ME can swerve into a different genre so quickly i am a big baby and i can’t shoot straight

saddest death:man idk how to choose! mordin was saddest to me personally obviously because he’s my favourite character, but his death is also such a satisfying conclusion to his character arc so idk! shepard’s death is gutwrenching as well, but again, it really makes sense to me as a culmination of her story. maybe legion. partly because “does this unit have a soul?” will haunt me forever and partly because that’s the death i felt served the least narrative purpose.

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate:i don’t HATE him but i never warmed to grunt as much as everyone else seemed to. he’s fine but i don’t really emotionally connect with him as much as with the other squaddies.

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave:aria and the illusive man lmao. they’re both terrible people and i love them so very much for it. the illusive man is for sure my fav non-reaper antagonist and such an interesting character. and aria should hmu next time i’m free B)

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave:kaidan……… he has never done a single thing wrong in his life and it, like, actively pains me to have to put him through All That or have to hear about what he’s already been put through throughout the course of the games. let him retire to his parent’s canadian beach house in peace

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship:the way this question is worded is really annoying me lol. i also don’t think i have any ships i actually feel are like “omg bad dirty wrong” for ME. i want everyone to be happy.

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship:f!shep/liara and f!shep/kaidan. i like both their romances, especially liara’s, and esp later game content with them is rly good, but i will never care about the actual romances with them as much as i care about the potential of f!shep/tali lol.

#drscalvin #reply

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justahalfling · 7 years

Text

Vaishu finally watches... Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

Yes its liveblogging time again! Here goes...

HOLY SHIT THOSE 3D MODELS ARE AMAZING.

I feel bad for that elephant (i know its CGI but like). bruh that elephant just wants out of the land of crazy humans

oh great Baahu never a moment of not looking good huh... he could do with some depth in his character, but its only the first few min of the movie so I’ll withhold judgment for now

wow Mommy’s boy™

ewwwww bijjaladeva is so gross in the head wtf killing your own wife dude go get therapy for chrissakes

lmao Kattapa fucking rekt yall!!! Someone call the ambulance woo eee woo eee woo eee (sound of an ambulance, if you couldnt tell)

i have to say... rana has a really nice butt ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I LOVE DEVASENA ALREADY

but seriously, need to get me a girl like that

oooh someones has a crush (its me. also baahu)

robust appearance.... lmao

yea GO GURL UPGRADE YO SKILLS

okay the wild boar scene is funny and all but like... why cant the lady win for once why does the guy always have to one up her

i love how much of a loser kumara varma is, he is highly #relatable

boi did you literally get hit by a bull to keep your identity secret so that you can tease her properly. literally what.... straight people are so weird

how is devasena a literal goddess in every scene. how. ((pls be my wife))

i really like this song and i vibe HEAVILY with the aesthetic here. i love the clothes give the costume department an award already

look at bhalla’s content at the whole scheme why do you have to be like this dude. #beadecentdude2k17

look here Sivagami i love you and i would literally die for you but promising a girl’s hand in marriage without her consent is not cool bruh. dont be an accomplice in the crimes of patriarchy and sell out your fellow women like this.

LITERALLY HOW CAN DEVASENA BE SO AMAZING. YOU TELL IT LIKE IT IS, GIRL . CRUSH THE PATRIARCHY. MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICES AND EMPOWER YOURSELF

she is literally the “I will not hesitate, bitch.” kinda gal

wow sudden hero kumara varma good for you mah dude

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD THATS THE MOVIE POSTER POSE RIGHT THERE. MY WARRIOR BABIES THEY ARE SO GOOD TOGETHER

wow them cows though... (better watch out for the BJP lmao dont kill me for that joke)

my boi... he was wearing armor underneath... how XTRA ™ can you get

I love devasena so much my homegirl. MY BAE. even if she likes the guy she is not going to submit to the patriarchy. you go girl

that is a lovely... boat... the VISUALS IN THIS MOVIE ARE SO GORGEOUS MY EYES ARE SO BLESSED RN

wow they have such great chemistry. its better than avanthika and baahu jr’s chemistry

i love how she kisses first. yes girl make the first move!!! go get yo man!

wow that flag breaking is very... omimouse (not a typo thats just the word ominous in vaishu language)

but seriously is that supposed to mean something? im too dense to get it. is it that she has to break off her loyalty to kuntala now

Devasena is just like “you see this right here bitches? this is a no bullshit zone. no bullshit allowed yo”

“agangaram as alangaram” amazing line 10/10

but like that isnt even temerity. its literally standing up for her rights though

OOOOHHHHH SHITTTTT

dont people write the names of the potential groom? why are you people like this

oh wow the coronation scene is amazing. all the military stuff is cool. and the symbolism of the cheers making stuff come crashing down. good job rajamouli you played this well

what do you mean you’re just a slave. bro if you had to act as wingman you best believe youre family now. stop with that hierarchy bullshit its so uncomfortable for me to see

MOM NO *cries forever*

I LOVE THE KUMARA VARMA AND BAAHU BROMANCE SO MUCH. GIVE. ME. MOAR.

wow when bhalla was like “a pregnant woman doesnt want riches or possessions... she only wants her husband’s embrace” my gutter brain almost thought he was going to give them a bed or some fertility thing like a creep. but that thing he said already made my creep radar go crazy

you’re literally the worst my dude the worst

deva is such a firecracker holy shit i LOVE HER

ewww that is so gross. dude i will break your hand. i will break it and set it on fire. i am not joking.

well you did my job deva so anyways.... ufos more like identified flying fingers amirite... heh heh

but didnt ancient india invent plastic surgery anyways i dont see whats the huge deal here

i cant believe im saying this but devasena would make a much better ruler than sivagami. in fact i personally think she would even be better than baahu. girl’s got her priorities right

its interesting how baahu has a moon pottu and bhalla has a sun pottu. one would think the positions would have been reversed. maybe they wanted to show that baahu was more nurturing and stuff. but like. its sunlight that grows plants? anyways.

NOICE. COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL NO DOUBT NO DOUBT NO DOUBT NO DOUBT.

THERE GOES THE HEAD.

wow no you got it all wrong. “scorned the laws”? dont you know the highest form of patriotism and responsible citizenry is criticism!! what the literal fuck, why are you like this. i loved you so much why would you do this

wow baahu busting out some engineering skills right there. why is this the first time im seeing this. most of the times hes like a big fuck you to physics. but like engineering ex machina i suppose

man hes so tall he has to bend down so the lady can pat his head LMAO idk this is adorable. this reminds me of the time i was scrolling though the baahubali tag and someone called the beefcake that is prabhas a “smol bean”. wtf tumblr

omg bhalla let a guy live. so not cool mah dude

baahu has such a magnificent mane. he has better hair than me what the hell

bhalla is so fucking rude... how can you choke your actual dad... granted he’s the reason why youre like this

wow and treating a disable person like that... why are you literally so vile

why is he suddenly turning on his son... THIS IS HIGHLY SUSPECT

OH MY GOD I KNEW IT. SEE. I WOULDNT HAVE FALLEN FOR THAT. DUDE WHYYYYY

oh my god this is such a tire fire what the heck

man i would have said yes and just run far far away if i was kattapa

its so sad to watch this when you know its all going to end horribly

oh my god “as long as you’re by my side no man has been born yet to kill me” well this line killed me so

cant you follow your moral code instead! is your allegiance to the throne so important! an innocent man cant go through punishment like this its wrong

oh my god this is so sad

also uhm i just realised that baahu has wonder woman bracelets

that was the most dramatic death scene ive ever watched. it gave me the chills.

WOAH bhalla is SO messed up in the head good god

look this is all well and good but you should really wash and disinfect your hands before touching babies... as i always like to say, common sense is not so common

aw baby promise that is so cute

omg he called him grandpa that is so adorable

omg devasena i love you so much

okay but dont forget your adopted parents too

they dont have weapons! they cant succeed by their will alone! what i would do is create like an elite task force and infiltrate the place. boi you need some strategy. a map of the citadel at least

holy shit devasena is not to be messed with my lady literally carrying a dude’s head

that is so fucked up man the people behind this movie went so hard. they didnt have to but they went so hard

wow that was smurt

okay where is avanthika though dont tell me she stayed home

DEVA NO. WIELD YOUR SWORD BABY COME ON YOU’RE STILL STRONG

that is so.... creative...

HE JUST DID THE WONDER WOMAN SHIELD BOOSTED JUMP

omg i love the grandpa and grandson duo SO CUTE when he calls him “thatha” man grandparents are wonderful my thatha is so excited for me to get a job and i havent even entered uni yet (okay side tracking here)

AVANTHIKA YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

is his own classic tyrant statue gonna kill him cause i think it will. im calling it now everyone. poetic justice okay

aw her future daughter in law protecting her

oh yea the statue didnt kill him sadly

shes stepping on his face omg the symbolism

ripping out his heart omg how grosser can you get

omg is that... a blood abhishekam.... i have no words..

YAASS GAUNTLETS (but seriously... wonder woman)

Avanthika looks gorgeous and aw its his Ma

thats... baahu thats water pollution you cant do that

wow poetic justice huh

that was... amazing wow

#vaishusaysthings #mypost #vaishuwatchesbaahubali #part two of my adventures #Baahubali

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moonraccoon-exe · 7 years

Note

Mama!Ignis taking care of the Chocobros.

I’m going to assume this is Fem!Ignis you’re talking…and even if not, I’ll assume that anyway because I was triggered and I love Fem!Ignis, okay, I regret nothing. :)

(Beware a Read More line ahead, mobile users)

*cracks fingers*

Fem!Ignis, like our canon Ignis, is the best acting as nurse for the rest of the gang.

You’d think canon Ignis had a very overprotective motherly instinct?

Imagine Fem!Ignis.

She literally has a mother instinct, deep in the back of the mind, but it’s there.

She behaves cold and harsh with the guys most of the times, but really she loves them very dearly, and ain’t anyone lying a single finger on any of them without her knowing, glaring, and watching that you don’t press a single inch harder.

Ignis is going to set you on fire if you ever mess with her boys.

“I’m a year older than you, Iggy, I can take care of myself. I’m not a child.”

“Oh, can you? Okay. Good luck.”

Gladio’s dying without her.

It was a mistake acting more adult that her, you’re clearly mistaken, Gladio, I’m sorry.

“Iggy…I’m sorry…please stop ignoring me now… :’(”

Ignis is just putting him in place, but inside she’s really so relieved to be able to look after him like before.

Ignis has three different medical sets, each prepared according to the chocobro it’s tagged for.

Because, yes, each medical kit has a name to it (Noct, Prom, Gladio).

All have the basic necessary things, but each is prepared according to what’s most usual to happen/sicken the boys.

Noct’s kit is prepared for the pain in his knee/back.

Prom’s kit is prepared with stuff to ease stomachache and colds.

Gladio’s kit is prepared for bruises, cuts, concussions, bodyache, colds and stomachace.

Gladio’s a mess, tbh.

Remember this is Fem!Ignis, people. (Just casual reminder)

Ignis is attending each just like a mother would, despite the tiny age gap between her and each bro.

Prompto, more than the rest, wakes her motherly instinct a little more.

Not that she spoils him more or better, it’s just a different sensation, you know?

Ignis is so used to Noctis, it’s like attending a brother. So used to Gladio, it’s like attending theloveofherlife the best friend. But Prom, appearing out of the blue later in her life, with a blossoming, happy youth Ignis herself was denied while growing up, so juvenile, so adorable, so naïve at times, it’s just…different.

Ignis’ treatment with the guys if they’re hurt/sick is…soft.

They are so used to being constantly frightened of her, because she’s like the rudest and coldest, a 20 y.o. that puts 50 y.o.’s in Council in their damn places, she can make you cry with one sentence, will make you beg with only one look of her eyes, has this damn ass scary glare where she just raises an eyebrow and looks above the edge of her glasses, and she’s definitely slapping and knocking everyone out in training…

…that the treatment she offers when taking care of them is kind of odd.

It’s like a different person.

Once, Prompto had this very awful fever and rambled/digressed and asked her if she was “Ignis’ sweet twin I had no idea existed.”

Nope. It’s really Ignis.

Like, she’s going to speak soft, will leave the sass at a side for a moment, and while she’s not spoiling them or sharing jokes or doing stupid voices, it’s not like her usual “I’ll murder you if you move” treatment.

Fem!Ignis is making sure they stay in bed, warm, comfy, eating well.

Fem!Ignis is encouraging Noctis through the pain of his knee.

She’s treating it and helping him move it.

Noctis is hissing and groaning.

Sometimes it gets very bad and he can’t help but fall back onto the bed and hide the face in his hands, ashamed of crying.

Ignis is softly murmuring “it’s okay, you’re doing great. It’s going to be over, soon. See? It’s okay. You’re being strong. Nothing wrong on crying, Noct. Please, do not hold yourself back. You’re doing fine.”

Noctis is always calming thanks to her.

Ignis is going to make sure Noct has a good rest and is super comfy.

She’s not giving in to cooking pancakes for him, though.

…

Well, okay, only sometimes.

Prompto gets constant stomachaches out of eating junk food.

Ignis is going to lecture him with an endless speech…

…while attending him like a mom.

She’s really upset he insists on eating that garbage,so she really wants to lecture him, but her actions insist on being that of a caring mommy.

She’s giving Prom his medicine.

She’s asking him to be careful when lying down.

She’s going to prepare a special soup to ease the pain in his entrails.

And she’s definitely staying there until he both finishes it, and falls asleep.

Her motherly side shows more when Prom catches a cold.

You know, his…biology/genetics weren’t supposed to develop at all,so I guess his system must be kind of weak to that stuff.

So, constantly catching colds.

Sometimes it gets very bad, but no matter the size of it, Fem!Ignis is going to attend him.

She doesn’t want him to get out of bed.

She’s going to prepare the damn soup because it always makes him good.

She’s going to check his temperature and act accordingly to what’s required.

While Ignis is moving away from the side of the bed constantly, to clean around or cook, or entertain herself with some TV or reading or paperwork, she’s not leaving for the night.

She wants to keep checking the state/development of the fever across the night.

Ignis is waking up at certain intervals during the night to check up on him, and to change the damp cloth on Prom’s forehead to keep the fever cool.

She really doesn’t mind being taken from the already little hours of sleep she’s got.

Fem!Ignis, when Prompto’s asleep (because she’s refusing to let him see it), will caress the boy’s hair sometimes.

It’s the motherly side, Ignis, don’t worry, it’s normal.

Gladio… *sigh*

Gladio’s in constant need of her.

His daily rough training plus some goes on patrolling and/or few but eventual cases in which he’s caught protecting Noct or anyone else has him constantly ending up sat with Ignis to be attended.

Gladio doesn’t ask her to, though. Barely ever does.

It’s her who’s realizing/noticing his injuries and bringing him apart to heal him.

Even if it’s just a bruise.

“You’re an important person. You must always stay as healthy as possible to protect Noctis in any moment.”

“Right. But you also personally care, right?”

Fem Ignis is definitely NOT answering that.

Psst. She does care.

Ignis is constantly applying ice to him.

Constantly bandaging him.

Constantly patching him.

Constantly attending everything about this goddamn man that can’t stop getting hurt, dammit.

Just like Prompto, it may look like she’s upset out of the way she speaks, but her body actions tell otherwise.

Like, sure, she’s nagging Gladio and being uptight on him…

…but her fingers are so, so carefully holding his arm. It’s impossible. Like she’s scared of hurting or breaking him.

Her treatment is so soft, dammit.

She may show herself a little more uptight/less motherly with Gladio than she does with Noct or Prom.

…that is, until the drunken citizen tried to harm Noct.

You know, that canon story where Gladio prefered to receive the hit than counterattack a citizen, and it ended up on him earning this pretty long scar on the left eye.

You should have seen Ignis.

GODS. She almost cries.

Ignis. Almost crying. Ig-ni-su.

Do you now understand how MUCH she cares!?!?!

Of course, Gladio was attended by the royal doctor or something…

…but, post-first-healing, Ignis totally nursed him for days until the patch and stitches could come off.

Indeed, first thing Gladio saw after the first night spent at the Citadel doctor’s/medical room, was Ignis, barely awake and fighting off sleep, sat at a side.

“Ignis…it’s…like 3 in the morning…what are you doing he-”

“I’m not leaving, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Ignis is behaving a bit tsundere, now that I come to realize, hm?

Ignis was super worried. It’s so horrible. Gladio didn’t fall unconscious, there was no major blood loss, he’s not losing the eye…she knows, she knows.

Then…why is she feeling like Gladio almost died? :’(

Ignis’ treatment with him is especially soft this time.

Asking him with frequency how he’s doing, if it hurts, if he’s comfortable…

She’s even asking if there’s anything else “she can do for him.”

Remember she was just treating well and good and soft, but not spoiling?

Oops. Gladio just broke through that barrier.

Nothing happens to her boys without her growing paranoid to some point, really.

Mother hen Iggy!

So protective.

*le gasp* IT’S THE FFXV MAIN JOURNEY.

Fem!Ignis, of course, just packed her three usual kits, hahaha.

What would these guys do without her, really?

Fem!Ignis, just like canon Ignis, is in the realization that really she’s the only adult sent in this goddamn journey.

“why did king Regis do this to me, why”

Ignis is going to damn slaughter anyone that tries to lie a finger on them.

Well, there you have Iggy, the mass murderer of wild beasts and MT troopers.

When Loqi attacks…

Ohboy.

Ohboi.

Ignis is SO setting the guy on fire as soon as she lies hands on him, how DARE he TOUCH HER BOYS.

At the end of each day, Ignis will go personally with each of the boys and ask him if he’s okay.

It’s a daily ritual. Not a day goes without her reaching to see if they’re hurt, even if only a tiny bruise.

If any of them is hurt, she’s going to offer help.

Not like it’s a choice to them, Ignis isn’t asking.

Turns out that it’s like back in Insomnia, but a little more frequent on Noct and Gladio.

Prom’s stopped with the excess of junk food (not like he has a choice) and the open field is doing good to his constant colds.

But, in exchange, being the less experienced in the group leads him to have a lot of bruises each day. Not necessarily always from enemies, sometimes it’s harsh falls. Unlike Gladio or Noct or Iggy, Prom’s not trained for this scenarios.

Iggy is constantly healing Prom’s bruises.

The long walks make it harsh for Noct and his knee.

So, Iggy’s attending him with like four times more frequency than back in Insomnia.

Noct is a bit ashamed of letting the others see or know of his pain; he trusts them as friends, but, despite what we’d think, he’s very fully conscious of his prince/king role…and he’s a bit scared of discouraging them.

They all saw Regis’ weak state at only 50. Noct doesn’t want to remind them he’s next.

But it just…hurts.

That’s where mama Iggy butts in.

She understands very well, and she’s bringing Noct apart, asking the others for some space. They never question.

Iggy’s being as careful as back in Insomnia with Noct’s knee.

Out there in the haven instead of private in a room, he’s struggling more with fighting back the tears and groaning, but Iggy’s still encouraging him through it.

she understands he doesn’t want to make noise, so that’s only more reasons for her to constantly encourage him.

Iggy doesn’t explicitly show it, but she really does care for the chocobros more than anything else in her life.

She’s always going to do her every-night rounds of checking on them and their status.

…even after Leviathan’s battle.

:’(

Even when she can’t do much to help afterwards.

Even…

Even…(ノД`)・゜・。

I CAN’T CONTINUE, goddamit.

Hahaha, welp. Hope that’s enough, though.

I tried putting in Fem!Ignis and the chocobabies, too, but it’d have turned terribly long. Sorry!

#fem!ignis

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waterlilyvioletfog · 7 years

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Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 5: Eastwatch, A Summary, Warning: Full Spoilers. (You didn’t want to be spoiled? Well sorry, KAREN.)

Me: ... If Jaime doesn’t come back I’ll fucking murder you.

Bronn: *bursts out of the water*

Jaime: *bursts out of the water*

Me: Oh thank god.

Bronn: wHy ThE fUcK DiD yOu ChArGe A dRaGoN?!?!?!?

Jaime: Because I’m an idiot sandwich with a metric fuckton of PTSD.

Bronn: NO MORE CHARGING DRAGONS. You’re NOT allowed to die! That fucking dragon isn’t allowed to kill you! You’re not allowed to kill you! YOU ARE HARRY AND I AM VOLDEMORT AND ONLY I CAN KILL YOU. EVER.

-Meanwhile, Dany has “KILL THE UNBELIEVERS” still on her to-do list-

Dany: Yo. Ben D. Knee.

Lannister Soldiers: *still confused as they recover from severe smoke inhalation*

Drogon: DID MOMMY STUTTER? BEND THE FUCKING KNEE!

Lannister Soldiers: *get it now*

Randyll: I made my bed, I’ll lie in it until I die.

Dany: Fair warning, I will munch on your bones.

Tyrion: *seriously concerned* Well, I guess you could join the Night’s Watch!

Randyll: Did I fucking stutter bitch? DANY NOT MY QUEEN 2K17!

Dickon: No wait! I’m a good son!

Tyrion: We’ve already exterminated the Freys and the Tyrells this season, we don’t need to kill the Tarlys, too! You’re even more inconsequential! Bend The Knee like a good boy!

Dickon: DID I FUCKING STUTTER BITCH? I’M A GOOD SOOOOOOONNNNNN.

Tyrion: I hate you so much.

Dany: *murders Dickon and Ranyll via Drogon, though admittedly she looks very sad and disappointed in them while doing it, so wtf are Tyrion and Varys worried about? Jeez. Jon Snow wields a sword. Gendry Waters wields a war hammer. Dany wields her dragons. Fact. What, did you think she was gonna pull out Longclaw and use it on them? Nah bitch. Nah.*

-Meanwhile, in King’s Landing-

Jaime: We’re fucked.

Cersei: WE HAVE GOLD THO!

Jaime: WE’RE FUCKED. THIS GIRL HAS DRAGONS.

Cersei: Well, Dany won’t just let us go. Tyrion might try and get a redemption arc for murdering Joffrey and dad, but-

Jaime: Olenna Tyrell told me that she murdered Joff, not Tyrion.

Cersei: ... Tyrion ... did ... not ... kill ... Joffrey? DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Jaime: It computes, darling. It computes.

Jaime: Also, WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE.

Cersei: THEN I’LL GO DOWN SCREAMING AND FIGHTING BECAUSE I’M CERSEI LANNISTER AND I AM EXTRA.

-Meanwhile, there is ever more fresh hot goss at Dragonstone High-

Jon: *brooding on the edge of a cliff, cape flapping in the wind, looking sexier as a sad-faced zombie than most people do in their entire lives*

Drogon: HAI. MOMMY SAYS THAT YOU’RE MY NEW DAD. WE SHOULD PROBABLY HAVE SOME FATHER-SON BONDING TIME.

Jon: *pats Drogon’s head softly and probably offers to take him to a Mets game*

Drogon: *purring* *thinking* *oh hai targaryen, you can pet me, it’s okay*

Dany: I am both bewildered and extremely aroused.

Dany: WELL, you passed the kids test.

Dany: Also, are you a zombie-

Jorah: HAI HONEY I’M HOME, I CAME BACK, DON’T YOU LO-

Jon: Who the fuck is this bitch?

Dany: Jorah! *hugs for her sweet bear/ bro friend, who is, btw, like three times her age in the books just as a gentle reminder*

Jorah: DANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *hugs his WIFEY, who is, btw, like a third of his age in the books just as another gentle reminder*

Jon: wHaT tHe FuCk iS hApPeNiNg?!?!?!?!?!?

-Meanwhile, Bran has to do SOMETHING this episode-

Bran: *wargs into like a bajillion ravens so we can have some TRULY gorgeous shots this episode*

Night King: HAAAIIIII BITCHES I’M ON THE WAYYYYY!!!!!!

Bran: Oh fuck.

Bran: GUYS WE HAVE A PROBLEM.

-Meanwhile, we didn’t see Sam last episode so time for Citadel drama!-

Maesters: *refuse to believe in shit people keep telling them is real which they have no reason to believe is real*

Sam: UGH! Stupid maesters! LISTEN TO WHAT WE’RE TELLING YOU.

Maesters: Sam, we’re skeptics, we’re not going to listen, don’t be stupid.

Sam: I HATE YOU ALL.

Maesters: Well that seems a tad unreasonable.

-Meanwhile, there is ever more drama at Dragonstone-

Tyrion: *trying to rationalize his behavior*

Varys: Like, I know dragons are her thing and “FIRE AND BLOOD” is also her thing but like I didn’t think she meant it literally. Also, stop trying to rationalize your behavior, it makes you sound stupid.

Tyrion: Well, at least she’s not as bad as her dad.

Tyrion: ... So what’s in the raven.

Varys: It’s a sealed scroll for the KitN.

Tyrion: ... And?

Varys: Fair point. It says the world’s going to end.

Jon: MY SIBLINGS ARE ALIVE, YES. Also we’re all gonna die.

Jon: *turns to Dany* Bitch, I’m going home.

Dany: BUT YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH MEN! *internally screaming STAY STAY STAY*

Jon: So give me some.

Dany: Can’t do that. Cersei.

Tyrion: Well, if we were to prove it to her she’d come north. We capture a wight, we can bring it south and show it to her. I can talk to Jaime, he can talk to Cersei, and boom! We have our proof. Davos can row me into KL. We just need someone to deal with the wildlings and acquire a wight.

Jorah: I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE. *screaming internally KHAAAALLLLLEEEESSSSIIIIIIII*

Jon: *protective older brother instincts flair* *cockblocking instincts flair* The wildlings will never listen to you I WILL GO YES.

Dany: YOU CAN’T GO, I’M HOLDING YOU HOSTAGE. *STAY STAY STAY*

Jon: Fuck you, I’m a king. *gives another inspiring speech about trusting strangers that makes Dany look REALLY small actually* I’M GOING.

Dany: I hate you. But like, I also love you.

-Meanwhile, in Winterfell, the showrunners are DICKS-

Lords: WHERE IS JON. JON’S NOT HERE. CLEARLY WE WERE WRONG ABOUT ELECTING HIM AS LEADER. YOU SHOULD BE LEADER.

Sansa: NERP. JON’S KING. DAT’S DA WAY IT IS. IN THIS HOUSE WE RESPECT JON SNOW. (except she said it politely and in such a way that contextless Arya and anti-Sansas can bitch about her plotting)

Sansa: I did warn Jon. *sighs*

Arya: Those sons of bitches, plotting against Jon! We should cut off their heads! Not sit and listen politely!

Sansa: Watching this show for six seasons has taught me one thing: beheading people who give you support because they dissented is a REALLY FUCKING BAD IDEA. Being polite to everyone means that nobody hates you and you don’t get red-wedding-ed.

Arya: AHAH! I KNEW IT! You’re plotting against Jon, too!

Sansa: Oh for Christ’s sake. Just go away and let me nurse my chamomile tea as I do actual work to help defend the North.

-Meanwhile we have a quick trip to KL before we can go on our wight hunt-

Jaime: *being a reasonable general*

Bronn: Nope. You have too much family drama for any of that right now.

Tyrion: Hi Jaime. Long time no see.

Bronn: ... gonna step slowly away now...

Jaime: You killed Dad. I hate you.

Tyrion: That’s reasonable. But we do need to talk. Dany’s gonna win the war and you know it.

Jaime: Cersei will never kneel.

Tyrion: She doesn’t need to. We can have an armistice [you who don’t know what that is, it’s a cease-fire. It means I don’t like you and you don’t like me but we’re not allowed to fight because of reasons.] as long as she listens to us and doesn’t murder Jon.

Gendry: *exactly where we met him. huh. would’ve thought he was still rowing*

Davos: Hi.

Gendry: HAI DAVOS. YOU’RE HERE FOR A REASON. SIGN ME THE FUCK UP.

Davos: But it’s dangerous-

Gendry: I’VE BEEN GONE FOR FOUR SEASONS. I’M READY. I AM SOOO DONE WITH KING’S LANDING YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW. I HATE THE LANNISTERS. THEY KILLED DAD. [that’s kinda ooc of you to gaf gendry but ok] THEY TRIED TO KILL ME.

Davos: Fine. Grab a sword.

Gendry: Bitch, do I look like a fancy-ass knight to you? I’m a blacksmith, and a Baratheon. I’m using a goddamn hammer.

Davos: *sighs* Kids these days. So fucking EXTRA.

Davos: Okay, but don’t tell anyone Robert Baratheon was your dad.

Trouble: *proceeds to appear in the form of gold cloaks, but Davos pays them off to shut up and then Tyrion turns up so Gendry smashes their brains in and we’re all just like “damn Gendry.”*

Qyburn and Cersei: *plotting*

Jaime: Hi. I just talked to Tyrion.

Cersei: ...okay?

Jaime: Dany wants an armistice. Because zombies are on the way. And apparently soon they’ll have proof for us.

Cersei: Huh. Didn’t expect the conversation to be that but okay.

Jaime: ???

Cersei: Oh sweetie. I know everything.

Jaime: ?!?!?!

Cersei: I want to talk to her. It’s in our immediate interest to have her leave us alone. But in the meantime, you should know that Imma kill everything in our way. Because I’M PREGNANT, Y’ALL!!!

Jaime: ... am I the father?

Cersei: Yup! AND we won’t hide it.

Jaime: That’s a stupid idea.

Cersei: DADDY TOLD US TO IGNORE THE BULLIES AND CRUSH OUR ENEMIES TO DUST

Jaime: Fair point. *hugs Cersei*

Cersei: *smiles and hugs back* Oh and don’t ever betray me again.

Jaime: *thinking* *oh that’s riiiight, I fucked a crazy person*

-Meanwhile, as always, there is drama on Dragonstone-

Davos: DON’T TELL ANYONE THAT ROBERT BARATHEON WAS YOUR DAD. YOUR NAME IS CLOVIS.YOU’RE A SMITH. YOU’RE JUST HERE TO BE POLITE UNTIL YOU GO BE THE SMITH IN WINTERFELL.

Gendry: Got it.

Gendry: HAI JON SNOW. I’M GENDRY WATERZ AND I’M BOBBY B’S ILLEGITIMATE KID AND I’M HERE TO HELP YOU FUCK SHIT UP IN THE FAR NORTH. OUR DADS WERE BROS. WE CAN BE BROS TOO.

Jon: ... You know how to wield a sword?

Gendry: Nah. I wield a hammer. And I’m a badass.

Jon: ... okay.

Davos: Nobody mind me. All I’ve ever done is be the best person in existence and outlive literally everyone. Like, dude, I’m by far the oldest dude on this show.

Tyrion: Bye Jorah. I missed you. Not even Grey Worm can glower quite as well as you. Though Jon Snow has you beat in the brooding sadface category.

Dany: Good bye.

Jorah: Bye Dany. *kisses her hand and walks away because he sees Jon and knows he has to prove something*

Jon: Well. At least you won’t have to deal with me anymore if I die.

Dany: Pls don’t die. I want your babies.

Jon: ... okay. I’m still not your boyfriend though. *gives the trademarked goodbye which certified badasses give to people they respect*

-Meanwhile we need to reveal important exposition-

Gilly: *dithering on about boring ass shit*

Sam: *annoyed at her dithering on and also at the maesters and also at everything ever in the entire world*

Gilly: Oh, what does “annulment” mean?

Sam: It means a divorce.

Gilly: Huh. Says here that some Prince “Ragger” was given a divorce by the dude who wrote this book so that he could marry someone else in a secret ceremony in Dorne-

Sam: *EXPLODES IN RAGE at Gilly because he’s annoyed even though she didn’t do anything wrong* THAT’S IT. WE’RE LEAVING. THE MAESTERS ARE TOO STUPID TO BE AROUND.

Gilly: ... Okay?

Sam: *steals some extra books* *grabs Gilly* *grabs little Sam* *steals a horse I think????* *leaves because he’s BORED*

Gilly: You’re not gonna fulfill your life-long dream?

Sam: NOPE.

Gilly: Well that’s sad, but we’ll go with it.

-Meanwhile Arya vs. Littlefinger is on-

Arya and Littlefinger: *attempt to out-sneak one another*

Littlefinger: *OUT-SNEAKS ARYA?!?!*

Me: wtf I hate everyone and everything, stop it.

-Meanwhile, we have a new location! EASTWATCH-BY-THE-SEA-

Tormund: We’re fucked.

Jon: Indeed.

Thoros, Beric, and Sandor: HAI can we all go on this suicide mission together?

Suicide Squad: *establish that they all’ve got beef with each other*

Jon: Well screw that. We’re all alive, which means that we’re all in this together.

Suicide Squad: *walk out into the snow together, looking so fucking badass and I’m so excited!!!!!!*

#game of thrones #summaries by vi #game of thrones season seven episode 5 #game of thrones season seven #game of thrones spoilers #gots7e5 #game of thrones recap

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gloriousgwendolinechristie · 7 years

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Recap: "Game of Thrones" - 7.02 'Stormborn'

Be a Dragon.

EW – Game of Thrones delivered on its promised faster pace of season 7 with an episode so crammed with major events, reunions, a riveting battle, deaths, and twists that it almost played like a season finale — yet this is only episode 2! After last week’s foreboding and stately premiere, “Stormborn” floored the narrative pedal, with nearly every scene delivering some kind of major consequence for our characters, setting the stage for a cross-section of battles and major power-player meet-ups. We start with:

Dragonstone: It was, quite literally, a dark and stormy night. Daenerys unexpectedly grills Varys about his loyalty because, let’s face it, on paper, his resume admittedly doesn’t sound very reassuring. That he’s a far bigger fan of King Robert than he was of her father doesn’t help either. “Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty,” shoots back Varys, in what sounds like a rare bit of modern political commentary from GoT. “You wish to know where my true loyalties lie?” he continues. “The people.” Tough to argue with that, and Dany doesn’t — though also threatens to burn him alive if he ever betrays her.

Hey, speaking of burning people alive, here’s Melisandre! She was last seen banished by Jon Snow and told to head south for killing Shireen. She went south all right, straight back to her former home that she used to share with Stannis Baratheon. I wonder if she still has some clothes there she wants to pick up.

The Red Woman is brought before Dany. She fills her in on the prophecy of Azor Ahai — a messianic figure in her Lord of Light religion; lived thousands of years ago, forged a flaming sword which he used to defeat evil; he’s prophesied to be reborn as the Prince That Was Promised, etc. etc.

Or perhaps it’s Princess That Was Promised? Experienced translator Missandei corrects Melisandre’s prophecy description.

Melisandre explains she thought Stannis was The One. Then she thought it might be Jon Snow. Now she’s not ruling out Dany either. For being some powerful Lord of Light sorcerer, Melisandre’s less confident in her Azor Ahai theory than most Game of Thrones fan blogs. Not to mention, Stannis would be so pissed if he died because of a grammar mistake.

Matchmaker Melisandre successfully gets Dany’s curiosity up about Jon Snow. Tyrion notes that he’s a decent man. She has Tyrion pen a letter to the King in the North requesting to see him and ordering him to “bend the knee” (and the Jon-Dany shippers lean forward). As much as I’d love to see Dany and Jon Snow meet, anything that Melisandre suggests based on prophecy I’m inherently wary about.

Winterfell: But not as wary as Sansa! Jon gets Tyrion’s letter — yeah, just like that. I’m pretty sure Westeros is now using FedEx instead of birds. There’s a subset of fans who always pay very strict attention to how much time characters should realistically take to get from one place to another (they’re still annoyed about Varys getting from Dorne to Meereen so fast last year). But if you try to apply your own Waze travel time estimates to characters in Westeros you’re going to go nuts. It’s probably best to just roll with it and appreciate that we’re not seeing a lot of horse-riding and campfire scenes this season.

Jon talks to Sansa about whether he should go and see her. Sansa says he shouldn’t do it, because Sansa is wrong about everything now (I kid — if we didn’t know Dany, we’d be rather wary about meeting her too; after all the fatal Stark blunders in recent years, “pulling a Stark” is probably Westeros slang for getting yourself stupid-killed).

At first, Jon is talked out of going. But then he gets another r-mail, this from Samwell, informing him that tons of precious dragonglass can be found at Dragonstone (which sounds like one of those facts that you hear and immediately feel stupid for not knowing it already).

Given the chances of scoring loads of White Walker kryptonite, Jon tells the lords in the Great Hall his plan to meet Dany. Everybody hates this idea, especially Sansa, who channels Admiral Ackbar to trap-warn him. Even cute Lyanna Mormont, who everybody loves every time she speaks, yells at Jon for knowing nothing.

Jon won’t be swayed. Frankly, he probably wants to get the hell out of there and have some new adventures anyway. He’s been looking miserable moping around Winterfell making tough political decisions while Sansa explains how stupid he is.

He does leave Sansa in charge, though, which seems to please her. One suspects this decision disappoints all the lord-bros who hang around that hall drinking all day because you know she’s going to make some changes around there.

Before he goes, Jon pays a visit to the family crypt. In slinks Littlefinger, who starts purring sweet nothings in Jon’s ear, and you can see him getting increasingly annoyed. Don’t think for a second Jon hasn’t noticed the conniving twerp’s smirking and eye-rolling in the back of his class.

Then Littlefinger creepily goes, “I love Sansa as I loved her mother,” which triggers the protective big brother in Jon to slam Baelish up against the wall and warn him to never touch his sister. Now it’s the Jon-Sansa shippers who lean forward (you pervs).

Jon Snow mounts up and takes off. We’re not sure if he’s ever going to see Winterfell again. But we’re confident now that Jon will meet the Dragon Queen who is also — we are led to assume from last season’s Bran-guided flashbacks — his aunt. This seems pretty important. Can’t Bran send Jon a letter since everybody else is sending him letters?

The Citadel: Ser Jorah isn’t doing so well. His greyscale has spread and the maesters aren’t very helpful. Sam tries to convince the grumpy Arch-Maester to let him try some radical treatment, but he won’t approve anything without several phases of successful FDA trials and suggests Ser Jorah just go kill himself. He explains this along with a bunch of facts and logical reasoning but I’m really starting to hate this guy despite being played by congenial Jim Broadbent; he’s like the epitome of an Ivory Tower out-of-touch elite.

Sam tries to cure Ser Jorah anyway because he’s awesome and believes in actually trying to do things. What follows is one of the grossest scenes in Game of Thrones, which is saying quite a bit. Sam peels off the greyscale with a knife in a procedure that looks super painful and pus-squirting disgusting. (I wonder why Sam doesn’t give the man some Milk of the Poppy; surely they have some of that laying around?) Sam finishes, but it’s unclear if this experimental Dr. House M.D-evil operation was successful. Perhaps every episode this season will have Sam tacklin some new revolting task, like a Westeros edition of Dirty Jobs.

Riverlands: Arya stops by a tavern and runs into a character we never expected to see again — Hot Pie! He’s arguably the luckiest person on the show. Everybody else is scheming and plotting and fighting and dying, while Hot Pie just continues riding out the action and making his meat-filled pastries You would think this is the last dish Arya would crave after chopping up Freys and baking them into a pie herself, but hey, a girl’s gotta eat.

Hot Pie also has a side gig as a Game of Thrones recapper, and he fills Arya in on seasons 2 through 6 (he does a decent job, though I would have thrown in Tyrion’s trial and Oberyn Martell’s arc because those parts were really cool). Arya is unsurprised about Cersei’s season finale mass-murder plot, while Hot Pie marvels at Arya, who’s now all hardened and gulping wine. “You’re pretty,” he coos, and Arya looks slightly struck; she’s not used to getting compliments.

But it’s learning that Jon Snow is back at Winterfell that really throws Arya for a loop. You can see her brain-gears turning: Hmm, murder Cersei or return to my home and reunite with my family after being kept apart for years? … That’s a toughie.

Later, Arya is accosted by wolves, but not just any wolves. Is it…? It is. Nymeria! Her long-lost direwolf who bit Joffrey that she was forced to chase off in the first season. They regard each other. “I’m finally going home; come with me,” she pleads. But Nymeria just looks at her impassively like a dog at a human who doesn’t have any snacks. Nymeria and her pack turn away.

“That’s not you…” Arya says, which is such a great line. Because the direwolf is Nymeria (and Arya knows it) but it’s also very much not Nymeria, because so much time has passed and the direwolf has changed so much. So has Arya, as we just saw in the scene with Hot Pie. The scene not only answers a long-time fan question but, even better, is used as a metaphorical mirror for Arya. As the episode’s writer Bryan Cogman says in this week’s interview with Williams about this scene, “they’re both lone wolves” (interview links are at the end of the recap).

So Arya continues her journey home. You know if she actually makes it to Winterfell, she’s going to be super pissed if Jon is gone and she’s stuck with Sansa.

King’s Landing: Cersei summons her lords for something she’s not typically very good at: trying to win people over that she considers beneath her. It’s a bit like Hillary Clinton trying to hang out with local voters in a swing state diner; this isn’t really her thing. Present are Randyll and Dickon Tarly — Samwell’s jerk father and his sorta-okay brother — whom we first met last season (Dickon was recast, by the way: Freddie Stroma played him in season 6; Tom Hopper stepped in for season 7). I love that Jaime mistakes Dickon’s name for Rickon, as if even Jaime Lannister have a tough time keeping all these damn character names straight.

Cersei smartly brands Daenerys as the return of homicidal Targaryen crazy, just like ol’ Mad King Aerys II. Sure Dany’s got a huge army and three dragons, but she’s also nuts and will kill everybody if they don’t stand up to her. Cersei is basically doing a negative campaign ad: Vote Lannister or the Targaryen Will Burn You Alive. Of course, Dany hasn’t hurt anybody in Westeros (yet) while Cersei blew up a Sept full of church-goers and her daughter-in-law. If anybody has been playing the role of Mad Queen around these parts, it sure ain’t Dany.

Mad scientist Qyburn takes Cersei down into the dragon skull room. This gorgeous set is a terrific treat for readers of George R.R. Martin’s novels. This room is described in detail in the very first A Song of Ice and Fire book, A Game of Thrones. The show didn’t have the budget to portray this in the first season, but it does now.

Qyburn reveals they have a dragon-killing secret weapon, a large spear-firing crossbow-like device that, if aimed just right, can pierce through a dragon’s eye into its brain — sorta like how that guy in the disappointing Hobbit trilogy took out Smaug. Cersei just found a way to potentially even the playing field.

Dragonstone: Daenerys has a strategy meeting with her advisors, the Greyjoys, Olenna, and Ellaria Sand. Hot-headed Ellaria wants to wipe out Cersei in King’s Landing, but Tyrion has warned against that strategy. He’s thinking that sending dragons to nuke a city probably isn’t the wisest course of action to rally the great houses to their side, and Dany agrees.

Instead, this is the idea: Strike the Lannister stronghold of Casterly Rock with the Unsullied and Dothraki army, thereby seizing Cersei’s homeland while she’s holed up in the Southern capital. Also, send the Greyjoys and Ellaria to lay siege to King’s Landing to starve out Cersei into surrendering (thereby avoiding the apparently lousy PR optics of having “foreign” forces attack the capital).

This sounds like great plan! Too bad it all goes to hell in just a few minutes. But great!

Olenna and Dany share a nifty scene together where she warns the queen against putting too much faith in clever men like Tyrion. “Commoners won’t obey you unless they fear you,” she warns. “The lords of Westeros are sheep. Are you a sheep? No. You’re a dragon. Be a dragon.” Olenna is an upper-crust blue-blood who believes you need to govern with strong-arm tactics and crush your enemies at any cost. Dany is trying to break the wheel as a reformist. But Sansa would totally retweet everything Olenna is saying.

As Tyrion said, Dany in “the great game” now. But the same could be said for nearly all our favorites. After six seasons of watching characters try to rule — and fail miserably — the core cast have gradually all stepped up into leadership roles to make the big decisions. We wonder if they’ve learned the right lessons.

Meanwhile, Missandei and Grey Worm might never see each other again. This leads to an extremely touching scene whereby stern Grey Worm finally opens up emotionally to Missandei about his feelings for her. “You are my weakness,” he says. Missandei appreciates that, but also wants more than nice words — she wants to get physical. The Unsullied commander is hesitant. This is like being asked to joust without a lance, so to speak. But he overcomes his shyness to lay with her. As Nathalie Emmanuel says in our interview, “amongst this chaos they’re like this beacon of something sweet and pure and beautiful.” We hope they are as satisfied as they can be given the limitations involved.

Greyjoy Ship at Sea: We get a moment with the Sand Snakes bragging about who they’re going to kill. This moment plays a lot better after you know what’s about to happen. Then it’s Ellaria and Yara flirting in a cabin. Theon tries to leave, but Ellaria wants to make him stand there and watch. Poor Theon, everybody always wants him to be an awkward voyeur for some reason.

Then… disaster. Euron has found them. What follows is a thrilling sequence from director Mark Mylod. One of my favorite things about GoT action scenes is they’re always unique from one another; this frantic fiery ship battle plays like nothing we’ve seen on the show before. The energy feels like a reflection of Euron, who gets one helluva entrance: His ship The Silence pierces the side of the Greyjoys’ vessel, then a manic screaming Euron rides its jaw-like walkway that clamps down on the ship, both preventing the ship from escaping and providing a way to board.

It’s apparent from the outset that the Greyjoys are being overrun. Euron is a bloody nightmare of psychotic rage-joy. Ellaria and her daughter Tyene are captured below decks, and Ellaria’s request for death is denied while Obara and Nymeria fight Euron (yes, the Sand Snake played by Jessica Henwick is named Nymeria… only Game of Thrones would have two characters with pivotal sequences in the same episode who are both named Nymeria).

Their fight is raw and brutal, with Euron turning their signature weapons against each other, piercing Obara with her spear while strangling Nymeria with her whip. Two of the three Sand Snakes are down, their bodies left to decorate the ship.

Euron also captures Yara despite her Glow-like flying pro-wrestling leap down on top of him. Theon spots them, and Euron tries to bait him into attacking. Euron has no fear. Theon is full of fear. Hot Pie and Nymeria the direwolf aren’t the only long-lost characters to return this week. Reek is back. And Reek does what Reek does — he flees, jumping over the side. Yara is heartbroken at the betrayal. But it was probably Theon’s wisest move given Euron’s fighting skills. Theon rushing at Euron would totally be pulling a Stark.

Recap: “Game of Thrones” – 7.02 ‘Stormborn’ was originally published on Glorious Gwendoline

#gwendoline christie #game of thrones #got cast #Brienne of Tarth #star wars #Captain Phasma #The Force Awakens #Mockingjay 2 #Commander Lyme #THG #The Hunger Game

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esseastri · 7 years

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Literally everyone: AAHH MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA!!!! Me, seven years late with starbucks: so, I just finished ME2 and yowza, guys

Okay, so some of you might remember that a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (oh shit wrong fandom), I was liveblogging Mass Effect 2. For various personal reasons, I stopped the liveblog some time ago--I jumped ship and liveblogged all three Dragon Age games, and then, when I was meant to pick the ME2 blog back up, some personal shit happened and it was easier for me to just finish the game without the liveblog. I’m sorry if you were looking forward to live Suicide Mission reactions, but I can provide, in bullet point form, a summary of what would have been the end of the liveblog if I’d been able to finish it properly!

(Having now written it up, I guarantee, you’re not missing anything by this not being an immediate liveblog--it is JUST as funny this way, I promise!!)

It did get quite long, so here it is, under the cut:

I successfully scanned/probed every. planet. in the galaxy. I’m not joking. Every single one.

This made for a lot of boring scanning time, but it also revealed a lot of sidequests--all of which I completed.

This included taking out the entirety of the Blue Suns mercenary operation via fucking up their fake-distress-signal trap and stealing their stolen cargo after killing off several of their captains.

Also I stopped some missiles from crashing into a small colony? I think?

I successfully completed every sidequest that had anything to do with quarians.

Samara’s loyalty mission!

I flirted with her daughter so badly it was embarrassing, but hey, that’s the way to bait serial killers into getting KO’d by their moms, so...

Thane’s loyalty mission:

I’m still genuinely surprised that that security guard honestly believed I was a health inspector are you kidding me I’m fully armed and armored how does this outfit say ‘health inspector’ to you pls I fear for the security of the Citadel

But hey, we stopped the kid from killing anyone, so that’s good.

Also, what is up with my squadies having kids who want to murder people who we have to prevent from murdering people? Guys. This is bad parenting. Pls.

I scanned some more planets and did a few more sidequests.

Miranda’s loyalty mission:

there was some hinky shit with this whole situation, but it’s Miranda: of course there was hinky shit. But I’m glad her sister was WAY Chiller about the situation than I thought she was going to be.

I AM SAD I MISSED THE PARAGON QUICK-TIME-BUTTON AND MIRANDA MURDERED HER CHILDHOOD BESTIE THAT WAS VERY UPSETTING AND I’M NOT ABOUT THAT LIFE

Jacob’s loyalty mission:

TALK ABOUT HINKY SHIT WITH THE WHOLE SITUATION

tbqh, I’m still not 100% sure what the fuck happened on that mission. I got the toxic food made people wacky, but I’m unclear on the ten-year wait before activating the distress beacon. You cannot have just been chilling like a king while the crew got slowly more poisoned for ten years and been having a good time. Bro, pls.

I’m v glad Jacob was chill with me throwing his dad in jail.

I did some more sidequests. I cannot stress enough how many fuckin sidequests I completed.

LEGION: hoooo boy.

1. I fucking hate husks and fighting husks and getting swarmed by husks and dying a lot but it’s fine, I’m fine

2. Geth still make me nervous. I understand that there are good geth and bad geth, but I spent waaayyy too long fighting that Colossus on Therum in game 1 to fully be okay with them.

3. Tali’s non-reaction was the most ridiculous and out of character anything in the Bioware universe. There was NO REACTION AT ALL to us activating a geth on board a ship that has an AI installed on it. And no reaction to us recruiting that geth. The only reaction we got--finally, AFTER FINISHING Legion’s mission--was her anger over Legion trying to send info on the Flotilla to the geth. Which, yes, warranted a reaction, but sO DID A LOT OF OTHER STUFF. And the fact that Bioware was too lazy to write Tali some reactions to this geth just chillin’ in our AI Core offends me deeply.

4. Legion’s mission: I really, really didn’t want to do either option, tbh. One felt like genocide and one felt like mind control and I was 100% not there for either of those versions of events. (I eventually decided to blow up the station: see point 2 above.)

The second EDI was like “u should take everyone on the shuttle; the ship will be fine!” I was like, “OH JESUS FUCK NOTHING WILL EVER BE ‘FINE’ AGAIN”

There is nothing--nothing--more #relateable than Joker running through the ship as it’s getting attacked by Collectors and just repeating “shitshitshitshitshit” for the entire time.

It was about this time that I realized the next THING was the Omega-4 Relay and I had to do some googling. Did you know that the Mass Effect Wikia is 100% Useless when it comes to figuring out how to get through the Suicide Mission without getting anyone killed?

I spent a lot of time being TERRIFIED that I’d somehow missed a ship upgrade, even though there was no possible way for me to have missed a ship upgrade.

GARRUS AND I FINALLY DID THE DO. THERE WERE CANON FOREHEAD TOUCHES. HE WAS A NERD. IT WAS SO FUCKIN CUTE I DIED. IT WAS SO CUTE.

The fight with the Oracle in the basement was waaayy chiller than I thought it was going to be, and my sister, from across the room, just laughed and reminded me that I was playing on Casual mode.

The briefing room scene:

Miranda: “We’re going to have to split up into several groups.”

Me: “Worst. Idea. Ever.”

Miranda: “You have to pick someone to go in the vents. I volunteer!”

Jacob: “I also volunteer!”

Me: “Ahh, thanks, but I’ma send Legion, ‘cause Legion is the best tech guy we could possibly ever have? Considering it IS...tech?”

Miranda: “Ugh, fine. Pick someone to lead the second squad. Again, I volunteer.”

Me: “That’s nice. Hey Garrus, darling--meet me at that fucking door, and you better be alive, babe.”

Garrus: “Sure thing, babe.”

Miranda: “Uuughhh, at least we know he knows what he’s doing. Fine.”

SO WE SET OFF INTO THE COLLECTOR BASE, SPLIT UP INTO SEVERAL GROUPS, AND I ALMOST HYPERVENTILATED OUT OF NERVES AND MADE MYSELF COUGH.

I got Legion through the vents without it melting.

I spent a lot of time reminding myself that if you murder all the collector drones before you kill Harbinger, then you only have to kill Harbinger once, as opposed to once for every drone in the room.

There was a terrifying moment at the first locked door, when I was very certain we were all going to die.

No one died.

I WAS REALLY WORRIED THE CREW HAD BEEN LIQUEFIED BUT THEY WEREN’T, I SAVED THEM ALL! IT WAS AMAZING!

Also, the liquefying was suuppper gross and unnecessary, thanks Bioware.

The First Regrouping scene:

EDI: “Sorry, guys, but you need to go through that hallway full of seeker swarms, good fucking luck.”

Samara: “I could probably make a biotic barrier and keep them off us? It’ll be slow, but I can do it.” Miranda: “SO COULD I. Any biotic could do it! I VOLUNTEER!”

Me: “Uh, it was Samara’s idea, soooo...she’s gonna do it.”

Miranda: “FIIIINNE. Someone has to be a distraction and go the other way, though. I fucking volunteer, goddamit, Shep, just let me do my fucking job.”

Me: “Garrus. Darling. Babe. Be safe.”

Garrus: “Sure thing, babe.”

Miranda: “I’m. going. to. stab. you.” Doctor Chakwas: “Can someone get us back to the ship? We’re all in really bad shape.” Miranda: “We do not have people to spare, sorry.” Me: “Hey, Mordin, I love you, but you are not extra great in combat. Want to escort mission this shit?” Mordin: “Good idea. Joker: need coordinates for pick up.” Miranda: “GOOD. LET’S GO. WE’VE GOT SHIT TO KILL. COME ON.”

At this point, I did feel a little bad for Miranda, but listen: I googled who was best for what, okay. Everyone had to live, okay.

We hiked it through the seeker swarm hallway and it was actually a really cool mechanic! I was impressed!

Thane kept getting into cover outside the protective bubble though, ‘cause he’s a doofus, and Tali and I were just like “pls, son, get inside and stay alive, we can’t take all these collectors just the two of us. I mean, we can, but it’ll go much faster with you helping. get inside the bubble. pls.”

I legitimately thought Samara was going to die of exhaustion before we reached the door. I assume that if she’s not Loyal, she might die there? But everyone was super loyal so it was fine, but I WAS WORRIED.

I had a heart attack when Garrus called for help and we had to bust down the door and save him and the other squad and I WAS SO WOORRRIIEEDD

AND THEN IT LOOKED LIKE HE GOT SHOT IN THE STOMACH AND I LITERALLY SCREAMED I WAS SO TERRIFIED BUT HE WAS FINE AND IT WAS FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE

It didn’t happen, because the game doesn’t support public displays of affection, but if you think that Gen didn’t grab Garrus’ face and kiss the fuck out of him once she’d decided he was alive and not shot, then you and I are not watching the same show.

So, after the traumatized, mid-battle kiss:

The amount to which I wanted a v small, v scared scene in which Shep got to say a non-goodbye to the LI she is leaving to cover the door as she goes on ahead is astronomical, but the game did not provide, so I’m just going to have to fanfic the shit out of this.

The fucking human-reaper-larva was NASTY AF and I took half a look at it and went “NOPE, I’MA TAKE MY GLASSES OFF AND DO THIS FIGHT BLIND”

my sister laughed at me

I realized after two seconds that that wasn’t going to work ‘cause I couldn’t see the adds, and I had to murder them, too, sooo I put my glasses back on, and it was AWFUL

The “shoot the canisters” part of the fight was SOOOO easy, I was v concerned that I’d messed something up because it was so simple? Just waves of collectors? and then it just FALLS? I was Suspicious.

The Illusive Man chimed in with a “haven’t you people ever heard of working toward goddamned human supremacy” and wanted me to SAVE??? the collector base???? for “““RESEARCH”““???

So I said, “yeah, that’s fucking dumb, we’re not going to do that” and set the place to blow the fuck up

AND THEN I HAD TO FIGHT THE FUCKING TERRIFYING HUMAN REAPER THING AND IT WAS GROSS AND DIFFICULT BUT I WON IT WAS GR9 I DIDN’T EVEN DIE ONCE!!! OR RUN OUT OF AMMO!! IT WAS AMAZING! A MIRACLE!

So then everything blew up and THE PLATFORM STARTED FALLING AND I 100% FOR SURE THOUGHT TALI WAS DEAD

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TERRIFIED I WAS

I STARTED CRYING IMMEDIATELY AND THEN SHEP GRABBED HER HAND AND THEN LOST HER GRIP AND THEN THEY LANDED AND THERE WAS A GIANT BEAM ON TOP OF TALI AND I LEGIT STOPPED BREATHING

I STARTED COUGHING BECAUSE I WAS SO UPSET I STRESSED MYSELF INTO A COUGHING FIT IT WAS AWFUL I WAS CRYING AND MY SISTER WAS JUST LIKE “she’s Loyal, you’re fine, she’s fine” and I continued to freak out until she stood up and it was terrifying.

I then told the Illusive Man to fuck right off, stole the Normandy, and got my peeps together to murder some Reapers.

and BOY HOWDY THAT WAS A LOT OF REAPERS LIKE #YIKES???

SO That was the end of ME2!

A brief review: I liked bits of it, and viscerally hated other bits, tbh. I’m still not a fan of the mechanics, but once I figured out which guns to use against which enemies, things did get slightly better. I still hate the very idea of the Collectors--no one needs bug aliens who kidnap and liquefy people, I mean COME ON--but there was some cool stuff with that plotline as a whole. Also, I hate Cerberus, and I wish the game had let me more explicitly publicly pronounce myself as working WITH them out of desperation as opposed to FOR them because we believed in the same things.

Listen, Evil Martin Sheen, you underestimate how much I LOVE ALIENS and how little I care for the human race. So,

anyway

overall: not bad. Looking forward to the third one much more than I expected, tbqh, and that should be starting soon! I do plan to get back into the liveblogging swing of things, but that one WILL be over on the liveblog blog, found here. I’m hoping to start sometime next week, if not before then, as I’d really like to get to Andromeda before I have to fight the internet over spoilers. So, yeah! Thanks for putting up with this liveblog dying and being resurrected in this truncated form. I hope to see you on the liveblog blog for #Megan plays ME3 SOON! :D

#op #Megan plays ME2 #ladyknightliveblogs #Mass Effect #PHEW that's done then!!#I really did enjoy the end #getting to the end was a TRIAL but the end was rEALLY FUN #STRESSFUL AS FUCK but fun

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captaindoubled · 7 years

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So I was thinking about the Virmire Survivor plot, how much I hate it on terms of weak story writing but also because it just doesn't make sense for Kaidan and Ashley to have to exact same reactions to Shepard asking them to join.

Bioware couldn't be bothered to remember that they are individual characters and so it came off as shit compared to the rest.

Liara and Wrex both says they couldn't join for very valid reasons that were really no different from Ash and Kaidan's. They missed Shep and all but they got shit to do without them. Life didn't stop moving when they died. Big difference tho is that A/K had the added bonus of almost disgust and distrust in Shep, which again, shit on both as characters.

Not to say they couldn't worry that Shep was a clone. On the contrary, that's a pretty solid question and should have been a major source of personal conflict for the Shep dawg anyway. (You know, maybe instead of being just a self sacrificing hero, the idea that they aren't even the real Shepard makes it easier to throw life and limb into a cluster fuck of black holes, ya know, bit more depth and growth there). But they should have been given their own individual spin is all.

Spit balling but just to improve it:

Ashley, no matter what you do or say can't be recruited in ME2, while, depending on how you played in ME1, you got a shot in recruiting Kaiden.

Why?

Ashley's backstory makes sense for her lack of recruitment chances, not just to join Shepard but to leave the Alliance, to be absolutely believable. She's trying her damnest to rebuild the Williams name in the Alliance after her grandfather's surrender to the turians. And she feels like she has to make up for that. After being part of the group that saved the Citadel, and moving up in the ranks, there is no question: she would be absolutely against the idea of throwing that away to join up with Cerberus under their flag.

She also has 4 sisters to take care of that's she's raised most of their life and her own. I can not see her willingly joining onto a suicide mission when she does have family back home that she feels need her protection as their big sister. And def that should be a conversation prompt that comes up if you bring Miranda to the Horizon mission in order to give Miranda something to chew on later for her loyalty mission and help push her away from Cerberus faster.

For ME2, it would be one of those all roads lead to one point things for her, matter how pro or anti alien you push her in conversation either. She's a locked out squad mate in ME2.

Kaidan on the other hand, I could see that as something that can happen. Kaidan doesn't have the same pro alliance loyalty as Ashely does. And even if Kaidan is super pro alliance loyalty, his blood will literally never been as blue and silver and Ashley's. Also Kaidan's biotic school was not Cerberus run so that distrust of Cerberus other than past mission stuff shouldn't out way his trust in Shepard. The biotic school fact tho should def should be a dialogue prompt if Jack joins that mission, same way as Miranda, for something to chew on later. In ME1, the same way you can either confirm Ashley's alien Bias or make her deal with them, you can push Kaidan into more xenophobic views too. This could be def a reason why he could be recruitable but even if that wasn't, Kaidan's a pretty loyal guy. To people, not groups per say. They could def play on that and make it so that his loyalty to Shepard and choices you the player made in ME1 can effect the chance to get him as a squad mate. Like a strong red or blue Shepard in the previous games makes this path easier. If Shepard was wish washy in the middle, then Kaidan wouldn't follow them because they didn't hold strongly enough to their guns to be someone Kaidan could drop their life for, or him to join in on a suicide mission for. (Hard Blue Shepard and non Xenophobic Kaidan or Hard Red Shepard and Xenophobic Kaidan) If you can pass those checks, you get a bonus squad mate but also Shepard gets a chance for closure that they didn't lose as much as they thought in their death. And that worry of being a clone, at least in ME2, is lesser.

Even more changes to give A/K their own personal stories. Different locations!

Ashley can stay on Horizon to protect a settlement of folk because she's fucking tank of a woman. She's be a good fit to help protect folk like that because in the previous game she had armor stats higher than Wrex sometimes and he's a fucking Krogan.

Kaidan can go to a different colony for a different function. Maybe a research group in need of smaller, localized protection within the building. He's a biotic and a strong one but story wise he's still an L2. Sending him off the bumble snatch west fuck alone is just bad on the writing part because if he strained himself protecting folk without proper medical help, there goes Kaidan. Even if that doesn't happen, you gotta write with the possibility that it could.

You can't send someone in a snake pit, have them walk through fine and then don't acknowledge the danger of the situation because you didn't think of a scenario of where they got bit.

Ashley being a literal tank puts her in danger from the collectors because she can't punch and shoot the paralyzing bugs away. But she's got all those bunkers to get in. She's a good solider she'll be in danger but it doesn't kill her.

Kaidan in the other hand has a mega advantage considering biotic shields main plot device used to get through the fucking swarm in the end.

(Hell, Kaidan throwing up a shield bubble during that mission at any point would have been a bad ass way to introduce the concept early without saying it. Something that, in an Ashley play through, doesn't happen and puts back that how the fuck do we get past the swarm in the end. It makes the game slightly different and changes the difficulty a bit and make your choices really matter in ways other than characters you get. )

Just, he needs something else make it so he's in danger but doesn't KO him permanently. Also it gives Kaidan his own story line.

Because tbh, the Virmire Survivor plot sounds like it was written for a Male Shep who romanced Ashley so they banked on her sticking around. Or at the very least, a Male Shep player who at some point romanced Ashley or Liara (because Bioware pushed hard on that Liara romance) so again just having to account for the fact she'd be the most likely one alive out of Kaidan or Ashley. The stuff Ashley does makes sense, what she's doing and her even being sent out to a piss hole terminus system because of her name makes sense as a sort of punishment. I don't even like Kaidan that much but, while Ash's actions may seem like dick moves in ME2 they are understandable to her character backstory, Kaidan's make no fucking sense to him as a person and only make him look like an ass.

Now in ME3 though they could have flipped the script.

Ashley and Kaidan both go on the mission with Shepard to Mars Ashley and Kaidan having wildly different ideas on who Shep is.

Why?

Because of how non Shepard centric most of the plot of ME2 was. I enjoy the fuck out of ME2 for the same reason I love Dragon Age 2 (and I'll fight you on this game). You have to be emotionally invested in the growth of your team mates in order to make it through that last mission with them. It's very squad centric and forming that bond as a team I love that in story with a group dynamic element. The Citadel DLC in ME3 was peak that and the little moments just in ME3 they expanded on were even better.

But ME2 was missing something that DA2 had.

Moments devoted to the player character. In DA2, who you were as Hawke changed your party dynamic from the start and set up the pin of Hawke being a centric figure in the narrative of the story. If you were a Mage, say fuck off to your Mage sister. And if you weren't, bye bro. You picked who you wanted to be tacked on to in order to work in Kirkwall, your choices to take your brother or sister to the deep roads decided their life or death and subsequently, was also dependent on if you picked Anders as well. Your character's emotional investment for their family, can fuck up their life, and hurt their mother if done wrong but still lose that party member done right. But at least you still get letters from your sibling if you can keep them alive.

Then there is the plot line about the mother's boyfriend and her subsequent death that came in the form of small but in your face fetch missions. Like say what you want about that game, but at least all the little things you did to get gold in the first act built up and grew into their own stories across the next two acts. You feel a lot more for Hawke, understanding who Hawke is, what they are going through, each act taking away family members one by one until it is just Hawke in a mansion alone. But you walk around the house and touch things, books Varric recommended, wine and a mask that remind them of Fenris and their morbid sense of humor, Anders manifestos all over the damn place, and Isabela's dick scribbles all over the place. So even when you have that moment where Hawke can't go in their mother's room, the house still has family and love in it. It's fucking noice! 👌🏿👌🏿

Mass Effect 2 was one mission after the other for Shep to do but nothing really to grow as a character. And while you were out there getting folk, the game doesn't really stop to make them moments that Shep can relate to other than throwing a bone to the previous game. Por ejemplo:

Garrus and his missions. It is rightfully framed around Garrus' pain and loss of not just Shepard, but his life back home, his team, and his future. Getting through to him in one way or another is important for the mission but there isn't a moment of humanizing for Shep in it. If Shepard's backstory was Sole Survivor, Shep should have had a dialogue option to bringing that up and talk to Garrus to work through that pain. It brings Shepard the character, not just Shepard the player' character, back to the forefront. Like I said about Shep maybe being a clone should have been the major source of emotional conflict for Shep in ME2. It would have made moments where Shep has to be a person and relate to their squad mates as that person and not just the beacon of hope leader. You are going into a suicide mission and you barely get to know Shep's feelings on it aside from pissed off and "Duty".

Other moments could have been: Earth/Colonist Shep relating to Tali on the loss of their parents. Shepard talking to Thane about their own death and mortality. Sole Survivor Shep having major disadvantage on Grunt's loyalty mission. Moments where Shepard talks about their lack of a father in any bg with Jacob or even, for god honest Christ sake mention that Anderson played that role and a father that gave you DNA doesn't have to be your dad. You can find someone else. (Which could have set up for Jacob finding a mentor in ME3 but we aren't gonna talk about that 😤😤) Spacer Shep relating to Grunt and even envying the fact Grunt finds a place among the Urdnots when Shep never had a home planet to call home and all that. A Ruthless Shep or War Hero Shep having major conflicts with Mordin's mission because both Mordin and dude that worked under him thought they were doing was right by it was also a terrible path. I could go on! But the point is, ME1 gave the player little moments to have their back stories mean something and be specific to the player, even if it was one or two of them.

ME2, they were background hum on radios that you can ignore or just not pay attention to because you got fucking lost on Omega for the 10th time.

But why would all this matter in a Kaidan/Ashley story line?

Because they could have serviced as their loyalty mission but in different games. For Kaidan it would have been in ME2 and literally the boss battle before the boss battle. Joker has his own shit going on in ME2 (which I enjoyed the fuck out of) so someone has to be that ultimate question asker, are you the real Shepard? If Shep couldn't show they were the real Shepard, Kaidan isn't loyal. He doesn't die, he'd be the one life guaranteed character but it would fuck over your playthrough of ME3 if you can't convince him otherwise. You can be pissy, mad Shepard and not provide proof because who does Kaidan think he is? Loyalty failed. You can be emotionally detached soldier Shep and never had those moments. Loyalty failed. If you can't just gain the loyalty of enough members of your crew?? Failed! Who's Shepard if not the ultimate commander. If Shep can't get folks loyal to their cause, fucking that ain't Shepard. Least not in Kaidan's head. And as the player, now your thrown for a loop wondering the same thing going into a suicide mission! Imagine having to play the game and remember who Shepard is! Not just paragon or renegade pointed checks but actually Shep the character! What Shepard you made in ME1, why you chose that backstory and how it relates to the character you created and the folks around them. That would have been epic. Hell, it could have been put in that Kaidan only gets a partial loyalty and that's as high as you can get. Because Kaidan is still in mourning for Shepard and no matter how much like Shepard you are, it isn't enough to convince him that his friend is back!

Going into ME3, Ashley could still very much think that Shepard is a clone and doesn't have those major moments to test for herself if Shep is real or not before the robot rock misfortune. So in ME3, now Ashley is going to go through the same moments like Kaidan where observing and wondering if Shepard is real or not. There can be moments where how you acted toward folks in the loyalty mission comes into play in her decision. And since ME3 let your squad mates piss off to do what they wanted, moments where you go the hospital for example and find Garrus sitting with Ash and talking, but stopping when you enter the room, would create heart pounding suspense. Because since Ashley wasn't on the Normandy in the last hypothetical better Virmire Survivor plot, you don't know it's a loyalty check until it's the Udina show down. The part where Shepard insists they are the real Shep and not Cerberus and telling the truth is undercut by the fact Ashley (or Kaidan in the boring bad Virmire Plot as well) never got to check on if Shep was Shep, in just a really more complex paragon/renegade check. Give Ash a chance to check Shepard and also make the player play the Shep they created!

Again, Kaidan can have an entirely different show down point. Hell, he can have Udina and Ashley something else, just give their characters moments where they are doing something different if they are following the sameish plot line.

If you recruited Kaidan but failed his loyalty, you're fucked. You got the advantage of having an extra squad mate in ME2 so not that advantage is a disadvantage. Because if you failed his loyalty out right, you are probably going to have to shoot him or fuck over the mission . Same way there is jack shit you can do other than some complicated duck and dodge maneuvers with Wrex if you betray him and don't cure the genophage. If your at passed or in the hypothetical, just partial passed a Kaidan loyalty in 3, Shep has an easier time and doesn't have a moment of stand off at all. If you already paid your dues once, you don't have to do it again.

But even if you don't recruit Kaidan, you probably shouldn't have to go through so many hoops just because of Kaidan's character. The only way you get screwed in the end is if you don't play true to your character Shepard but insist on having him in ME2.

Again: just spit balling and the ideas can probably use some polishing on their own and I somehow ended up taking about another major flaw in Mass Effect but it's all good.

Because the major point is: the Virmire plot should have still let Kaidan and Ashley play their own characters and have their choices make sense, and also instead of just making the Virmire Survivor plot a thing that happened where you get characters one or character two, they serve as a check for your character to play true to who they are.

Because unlike the dragon age franchise, Shep is the main through line of that trilogy so there had gotta make the stories connect not just by the main lead but how they interact with the world.

Games like that came from the table top esk mechanics. You can modify your stats over time and make up for short comings and balance stuff out, but you gotta play the character you made.

Story wise, the fact that I can make a Ruthless Colonist Shepard and end with the franchise with them having more Paragon points than sin is fun and good Meta story telling for me and my fic purposes, but I should have had more resistance in game. I should have had the hardest time recruiting any sort of Batarians aid. The fact that I blew up the relay in the dlc and killed even more Batarians should have just sealed my fucking fate with them.

There is a moment in the Omega DLC that is my absolute favorite where if your Shep is an engineer, you can disable that barrier with no fucking problem at all with only the snuggest of comments. It is, out of all the moments in the game probably my favorite. Because that was my first Shep before I really got into the fandom and found out that Vanguard was actually the fandom favorite class. Most people didn't even pick engineer, biotic mains were the thing and there were like 3ish in the game. I didn't even play a biotic until my next run with a new Shep just to see what those powers were all about. But there were folks that I talked to that played and didn't know in the you could hack and fuck over mechs and how much fun that was for me.

I really like when choices like that, especially ones that are supposed to just matter in combat, work their way back into the story.

Because even though it was a choice I made for my Shep, it was so little, I barely remembered it was important to her backstory just the same as her being sole survivor and a spacer. I made me wish there were more times where the fact my Shep was an Engineer came into play with hacking mechanics in the game. She could have bypassed them entirely or had a slightly easier game compared to other classes.

Joker is thick and thin loyal but he spends most of his time at the front of the ship. The first characters you fight with on a team are Ashley and Kaidan (Jenkins) and their characters, Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan, should really connect more story wise.

I hate the Virmire plot so much because it takes two very important characters to Shepard and makes them 1D dlc characters and so only after you go through all the same checks and balances and gun point and yelling do you have moments to bond again in ME3 as individual like before. It's sad. And should have been ingrained in the plot before. Hell! Liara gets a whole dlc where you and her can talk about wtf happened while also doing shit again together. Fucking Ash and Kaidan get a letter and a big middle finger till 3 where they spend 1/3rd tof the game in a coma.

They would have been a good reminder that Shepard is who you made them in 1, the Shepard they remembered and loved and mourned and for the rest of the game, that's the Shepard you play. You could have not done that, just to see if the grass is greener on the other side, but there should have been a punishment system them. And they would have been a great checks and balances system to put it.

#mass Effect #Me thinking too much about how much I hate the virmire survior plot #If they had done that good #I wouldn't have even given a single fuck about the ending tbh #Because at least the trip to the end was satisfying

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starringemiliaclarke · 7 years

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Recap: "Game of Thrones" - 7.02 'Stormborn'

Be a Dragon.

Or perhaps it’s Princess That Was Promised? Experienced translator Missandei corrects Melisandre’s prophecy description.

So Arya continues her journey home. You know if she actually makes it to Winterfell, she’s going to be super pissed if Jon is gone and she’s stuck with Sansa.

This sounds like great plan! Too bad it all goes to hell in just a few minutes. But great!

Recap: “Game of Thrones” – 7.02 ‘Stormborn’ was originally published on Enchanting Emilia Clarke

#emilia clarke #game of thrones #game of thrones cast #GOT cast #daenerys targaryen #me before you #terminator

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