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maxwell-grant · 1 month

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This feels like the kind of ask someone should've gotten around to a million years ago, but it seems it falls to me: The Shadow vs. The Penguin. Is there anything there?

Anonymous asked: How would pulp heroes like the Shadow or Green Hornet respond to The Penguin. Characters like Joker or Ra’s I can see them gunning down but that feels weird to do with Oswald “Pengy For President” Cobblepot

(Penguin by Mike Mignola. The Shadow by Lela Dowling)

It's amazing, really, what you've built here. You had a vision and made it real. Every Batman in existence respects you for it, Oswald. In fact, I'll tell you a secret…people assume that Batman's last enemy on most worlds out there is Joker. Maybe Riddler, or Ra's…but it's you.

See, you grow this crime empire until he has to deal with you. - The Batman Who Laughs #3

What there is here is a bit of an impasse, because yes obviously this is brutally, comically one-sided against The Penguin. Pitting most if not all Batman villains against The Shadow is going to be already one-sided in The Shadow's favor. Pick a Batman villain, even the big ones that make Batman the underdog like Ra's and Bane, and you can name a similar threat that The Shadow already defeated. Even if you don't count superpowered cheating with whatever abilities The Shadow has this moment, he's already dealt with most of everything they can do, he's beaten these strategies and puzzles and countless death traps at their own game, and yeah there's the fact that he's known for the fact his villains don't tend to come back for round two even when they don't die facing him. Villains that he faces tend to die specifically because they try to kill him and he returns their fire (it's important to establish here that, unless his enemies have guns drawn on innocent people, The Shadow rarely shoots first - they always have a chance to lay down their arms and walk away, a chance that most obviously never take), and Penguin's known for his unwillingness to go down without a fight and for his signature move being a concealed sneak attack, which means his odds of dying are near dead certain.

In fact, The Shadow already fought a Penguin-esque guy as one of his few reocurring villains, via The Wasp, Gibson's latter day attempt to make another Voodoo Master/Shiwan Khan. The Wasp is a "Napoleon of crime" whose body and strange buzz voice and antics and operations are themed after his namesake animal/insects, who uses a concealed weapon part of said theme (an electric "sting" on his hand powered by batteries on his belt), who connects Cranston to The Shadow and was also the only villain to figure out that Kent Allard is The Shadow. He was cleverer and more resourceful and harder to defeat than most of the typical Shadow villains, and to his credit he did achieve a thing nobody else really achieved in the run, and it didn't really do him that much (learning the secret identity tends to be a death sentence for vigilantes, but for The Shadow it's really not that big a deal, given how easily he can make new ones) and he still went out like a chump, and he's only really remembered as the less impressive of the reocurring supervillains, lacking the outright superpowers of the others. It seems like a fairly closed case.

Problem is, the more comically one-sided the odds are against Oswald, the more likely he is to actually win or at least survive because of that. Going up against people who should have his goose cooked, getting away with things he absolutely shouldn't, slipping away to survive and put one over Johnny Law, that's his thing, it's been his thing from day one. He is no stranger to dealing with vigilantes or people much bigger and stronger and scarier than him, it wasn't that long ago he was walking off getting shot at point blank and later faking his death. Penguin is no common criminal, and he isn't just a guy who's unusually smart and competent at it enough to waddle among supervillains either. In his narrative domain, The Shadow is unbeatable, but in his narrative home, The Penguin is unkillable, and not just because he's a comic book villain who survives by editorial demand. He has protagonist survival clause now.

In his ups and downs over the years, he survived in large part by becoming a fixture of Gotham, someone impossible to uproot from the setting, with his ignanimous transformation into stool-pigeon and banal crimelord in part a consequence of said survival. After more or less retiring from villainy, the next step was to very gradually join the likes of Catwoman, Azrael, Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya in their careers as independent Gotham-adjacent protagonists, which is why he now gets to have his own tv series (the second one at that, because Gotham exists and if it achieved anything, it was proving that there's an audience for The Penguin Show - and yes it still is very much shitty, but also not remotely surprising, that the instant they made a version of Oswald thin, that guy became a critical and fandom darling overnight). The Penguin wormed his way into becoming irreplaceable and they tried, they tried very hard over the years to replace this guy, and he's taken some brutal lumps and fell off very hard from the Bat-villain totem pole, but even that just enabled him to ascend to a different pole and one that makes it he can't really be just another gangster or supervillain to be knocked around, and one that's almost specifically built to ensure his narrative survival. Someone who serves the story better by being alive.

Has The Shadow ever dealt with a guy like this? Yes, yes he has. The Shadow is no stranger to criminal protagonists, or the concept of nuance, or redemption. He is certainly no stranger to the gentleman of crime who is more than what he seems.

The man who entered was tall and well built. He had the manner of a gentleman. He was attired in a perfectly fitting dress suit, which he wore with the easy air of a man of the world - Kings of Crime

The gentleman of crime arose, picked up his hat and coat and reached for his cane. There, his form obscured, The Shadow stood close enough to overhear what Graham Wellerton was saying. The gentleman of crime was talking to members of his mob.

What was Graham Wellerton's purpose? How and why had the gentleman of crime parted from his men? Why was he no longer engaged in robbery? - Road of Crime

To all appearance, George Ellerby was a gentleman; and he was actually qualified to prove such a claim. But tonight, he was to be a gentleman of crime - Battle of Greed

"I wonder," said Sandersham, slowly, "just how much The Shadow can do, or intends to do. Who is he, Krengle? How powerful is he?"

"No one knows who The Shadow is," replied the lawyer. "But he is death on crooks, they say, and he considers crime to be much broader than its legal implications." - Battle of Greed

There's about 5 Shadow novels that specifically touch on the topic of redemption. There are others where it comes up, plenty of others where The Shadow goes the extra mile in giving criminals a chance, and stories that highlight the lines that The Shadow draws in deciding how to deal with criminals (“To murderers, The Shadow dealt death: to such schemes (robbery, fraud, etc), he dealt ridicule.” - The Third Shadow), but those 5 make a focus of it. In all of those 5, we meet characters that can be called a "gentleman of crime". They are cunning, respectable-looking young men who use their smarts for crime, largely because of social circumstances that force them into using criminal tactics for dealing with life-consuming problems that the law has failed them in, and The Shadow assists them in addressing and rectifying said problems and turning their lives around.

In Kings of Crime, blackmailer and swindler Hubert Carpenter. In Road of Crime, the protagonist Graham Wellerton, "bank robber deluxe". In The Broken Napoleons, engineer Curt Sturley. Battle of Greed opens with George Ellerby, although he's not really the protagonist and is stopped before he commits his first robbery, and that story has two other redemptions that pull more focus. And in House of Shadows, Kid Pell, whose tragic demise opens the story. With the exception of Carpenter, all of these young men are given understandable and even sympathetic reasons for having become criminals, as all of them became criminals specifically because the law failed them profoundly and allowed them to suffer horrible injustice and ruin upon their lives and families, while shielding those that inflicted it upon them and provided no other recourse for them, and The Shadow goes out of his way to directly or indirectly steer them away from the paths they're walking.

Out of these, only Hubert Carpenter had a body count: he is not a murderer outright, but his past deeds had pushed victims to suicide, and The Shadow fully intended to let him serve his sentence in full. It is through the involvement of innocent parties (he took a dive to get the money to his family, he was betrayed, and his wife fell ill, making him break out of jail and desperately try to get the money for her treatment by robbing an old man who turned out to be The Shadow in disguise) and Carpenter’s own serious efforts to reform himself and assist in the downfall of his far crueler former partners that he’s able to redeem himself and face a new life (The Shadow delivers a government pardon so that he serves a month instead of 10 years).

“Somehow, he knew that The Shadow would not see the innocent suffer for the guilty.” - Kings of Crime

Kid Pell, who had already shot at least 6 people and killed 2 before the story began, wasn't quite so lucky. Dying of blood loss after trying to shoot The Shadow, his last words are a plead for him to get the guy who pushed him into this path, and keep an eye on his brother Denry to stop him from going down his path (which ends up happening, but The Shadow is able to save Denry in time).

"They called me a public enemy," declared Pell. "What else could I be, after my first kill? You know what it is to be quick on the trigger. That's the way I am" - he hesitated, his smile dwindling - "or was."

"I tried crime," said the Kid. "It didn't pay. But I was in it - deep. So I stayed. I've got no excuses. I'm not even blaming the fellow that started me in it. What I did was on my own. Understand?"

"Do me a favor," muttered the dying man. "Let me be forgotten - as Kid Pell. I rigged this hideout, so I could close accounts. Let me go through with it the way I want."

The Shadow's whispered tone gave agreement. Pell's face relaxed. In the glow of the lantern, his features lost their forced hardness. It was easy to see why he had been nicknamed the Kid. His age couldn't have been more than twenty-two.

Even his surroundings spoke a pathetic story. The shelves of the trailer were provisioned for a long stay; and among the canned goods were a few jars of homemade jam; probably the very sort that he had swiped from his mother's pantry only a few years ago.

There were books, too, that dated back to boyhood. Even when he had embarked on his career as a public enemy, Kid Pell had taken these along. He was looking at them, eyes open, the jam jars and the books, and he was smiling again, Kid Pell was. But the dampness from his dying eyes was forming into little beads, like raindrops. Suddenly, the Kid's lips stiffened.

A hand was resting on the Kid's shoulder. He could feel the power of its grip: the hand of The Shadow, merciless to men of crime. To this dying youth, murderer though he was, the pressure of that hand had the warmth of friendship.

"Maybe, Shadow" - The Kid was choking the words - "I ought to have met you before. Maybe… if I had-"

The grip tightened. It brought an end to regrets that could not be remedied. It steeled the Kid for what lay ahead - House of Shadows

-the words that The Shadow delivered held Sandersham rigid. Never in his life had the millionaire listened to such pointed accusations; such words that jogged his memory, nor such tokens of prophecy. "Rupert Sandersham," came the voice, "you are a man condemned by your own avarice! You are a master, not of finance, but of greed!"

"While your wealth grows greater," resumed The Shadow's voice, "your life grows shorter. As your schemes expand, your soul shrivels. You have physical comforts, yes"—the tone was mocking—"but who knows how long you shall retain them?"

"Your power, Sandersham, is not equal to the strength of the law. There have been loopholes in your schemes, that certain eyes may discover before your attorneys plug them". - Battle of Greed

Is The Penguin sympathetic? In some ways, yes. Is The Penguin redeemable? Not a question I'm remotely interested in handing a firm "Yes/No" to, because it's kinda both and neither, redemption tends to be conditional and fickle like that, and also irrelevant to the matter here: We've established that The Shadow (again, speaking for the pulp version here, it's what I tend to do) does not go out of his way to execute criminals, but doesn't hesitate to kill them when they try to gun him or others down. Would The Shadow extend The Penguin an olive branch and spare his life in the hopes that he'd come around and use his impressive intellect and resources and drive for the better? No. It would be useless. The Shadow doesn't deal with that kind of "hope", and The Penguin would not be interested in doing so either.

There have been occasions where The Shadow was caught in a bad enough situation that he had to momentarily pause the pursuit of a criminal, but The Shadow does not compromise, nor does he ever really need to, and he knows a true villain when he sees it. He is not keeping Oswald around as a informant, because he doesn't play by Gotham City rules where that seems like a reasonable thing to do. The true villain of most Shadow stories is always the person who stands to profit the most from said calamity, and most of the time they operate beneath suspicion. There is 0% chance of him underestimating Oswald the way Oswald prefers to be underestimated.

There are two ways Oswald Cobblepot would walk away from meeting a quick death at the hands of The Shadow. The first would be if he never killed anyone, or did anything that led to anyone's death ever again. He'd have to commit to undoing the ruin he brought onto people's lives and give back as much to the city and his victims as he possibly could. Such was what The Shadow did in Battle of Greed to Rupert Sandersham, a millionaire who got a kick out of ruining others financially. He is not the villain, nor is he a murderer, but The Shadow manipulated and terrorized him into making amends and repaying all the people he destroyed. These would be the best, most impossibly nice terms The Shadow could offer Oswald, along with him serving time and spend his whole life looking over his shoulder when, and if, he gets out.

"Look at yourself, Sandersham! You are wearing stripes! In front of you are bars! Beyond you, the outside world. Regard it as an omen, and make your choice. Amend the past; rectify the wrongs that you have done—or face the future consequences that your present methods will bring you!"

Rupert Sandersham was staring downward. His startled eyes saw the stripes that The Shadow had mentioned: those alternate ribbons of dark and light, that came from the setting sun. They had turned his gray suit into a convict's garb! Could it be that he, Rupert Sandersham, might find himself within a prison cell?- Battle of Greed

And that is not happening. There is not a single version of The Penguin who would accept these terms or accept this as a thing he's going to do. Short of the most kid-friendly media and even then, much as I argue that he should have rules of conduct, I don't think there is a single version of the Penguin who'd balk at murder or who hasn't committed it with little to no remorse. Oswald Cobblepot may carry much bitterness and heartbreak, but The Penguin loves what he is too much to accept being anything else. He isn't scared of any of these terms and would find them deeply absurd, because who is this, trying to tell The Penguin he isn't allowed to rob this thing, or kill that guy getting on his nerves, or ruin that rich asshole over there. The audacity of this laughing clown! As if he didn't have one too many to deal with!

The other way he lives, at least for a while, is if he turns out to be right about the way Gotham City works, and it turns out that he really cannot be removed from his position without far worse things growing as a result. I don't think The Shadow would have issues with the Batman villains individually, but neither do Batman or most superheroes. It's Gotham City that's the real problem here, and it's a problem that Batman hasn't solved in nearly a hundred years, and neither has Superman or any of the billion superheroes in that universe, a problem that will never be solved so long as there's a profit to be made on Batman. The Shadow can and has cleaned cities of organized crime before, usually by manipulating it's players into destroying each other, but even he has limits and Gotham City is no mere gangster-ridden town, much like how the man who claimed it is no mere crimelord either.

So the final matter at play here is whether The Penguin is right, and if so, whether The Shadow can afford to kill The Penguin, when there are other more pressing matters. Because the biggest reason Penguin's able to position himself where he is, as a necessary evil in-universe and a reocurring side character/even protagonist out of it, is by never being the nastiest or most urgently threatening villain in the room, and therefore always being the one that the heroes have to compromise with or have to defeat quickly to get moving. He has weaponized a Kingpin-esque idea that he is a necessary deterrent, because Gotham can always get worse, and everyone else who can take power in Gotham from him is much worse than him, and therefore you save the most innocent lives by allowing him to do his thing under a leash. Refer that line above, about how The Shadow will not suffer the innocent for the guilty.

There has been at least one Shadow story where he's dealt with this dillemma, in Face of Doom, as I elaborate here. The Shadow defeated the Face through taking the long way around, disarming his individual lieutenants, luring them into traps and disguising himself as The Face and all kinds of strategies necessary to checkmate the guy, but in the process also giving The Face enough time to regroup and strategize and target his agent(s). A similar thing happened when he had to take down Benedict Stark, and had to considerably slow down the operations to rescue Rutledge Mann from kidnapping. Issuing any kind of harm or death to The Shadow's agents guarantees him unleashing carnage on you personally, refer to Gangdom's Doom where he obliterates organized crime in Chicago in response to the death of Claude Fellows, but The Penguin can play smart. He can refrain from doing that, and buy himself more time, as The Shadow goes after those that think they have what it takes.

I think The Shadow vs The Penguin would probably pull elements from all of these stories I'd mentioned. If The Penguin is right, The Shadow would have to defeat, or at minimum stall, crime in Gotham City in a way that could then remove The Penguin from the picture, which means The Shadow would have to go through the rest of Batman's Rogues Gallery. Difference being, he's not going to fight those guys forever, he might not even fight them at all.

For The Shadow, he's up against a particularly smart, resourceful and powerful "gentleman of crime". One with personal tragedies and codes of conduct, one who might have even been like the ones he'd been able to reform if life hadn't twisted him, but who at present poses an active danger to the lives of people of the city, and stopping that is the bigger concern. He's taking down not just one crime king, but an empire that the crime king holds at bay, and god knows how many crime kings in the way, and possibly others who would see the innocent suffer for the guilty and keep this stalemate forever. The Shadow doesn't do stalemates, and Oswald Cobblepot is going to repent for all he's done or die, and nothing in between.

For The Penguin? He might very well be in heaven. He's dealing with death itself arriving from nowhere to give him the greatest challenge of all: surviving. Which just so happens to be the thing he does best and takes the most pride in doing. It might even be the kind of thing that makes him feel alive again. Facing down someone every bit the implacable wall of terror the Bat is, but who is less about the martial arts brute showdowns and more about god knows how many other subtler espionage chessplay and psychological mind tricks, and zero hesitation in putting a bullet in his head.

And possibly taking it's sweet time wiping out all of the competition, going through the long list of wiping out all of Oswald's hated rivals and competitors for him, and possibly a few unfortunate friends. Years, decades of playing the long game, gathering his assets, putting pieces in place, keeping his head low, letting the Bats and the others walk over him and forget he's there, and he's rewarded with the game of a lifetime! To be the arch-criminal who took on The Shadow and won! You'd almost think he'd have planned for The Shadow to come after him, and getting very angry if Batman shows up to get on the case to stop this because huur I'm a big selfish brute who wants to hog all the fun, duuuh Oswald you can do better, we don't kill around these parts Shadow huurgh, god, Batman, *waugh* can you BE any more of a self-important killjoy?

Sure, if no divine intervention comes, he's absolutely going to die, he is not walking out of this confrontation alive even if The Shadow has to go through Gotham ten times to get to him. But, you know, the real problem with Icarus was that idiot drowned when he fell, because he forgot to pack a bathing suit.

And you know what penguins do best, right?

*WAUGH WAUGH WAUGH*

#replies tag #the shadow #superheroes #dc comics #batman #the penguin #oswald cobblepot #shadow magazine #pulp heroes

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ihatechosingnames · 8 months

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HSR Analysis about the Xianzhou Arc

With 1.3 Hoyo give us the official end of the Xianzhou Arc and I don't think everyone is satified with the last Trailblaze Quest. I think if they gave this mission with 1.2, it will have been a bit better. Not the best, but seriously, it was just a quest on going around places. But the final cutscene… was worth it the wait.

Let's go in order. 1.2 Starts with the unlikely quartet composed by Stelle, March, Welt and Tingyun managed to go to the Alchemy Commission where we see the fruits of Fu Xuan's commanding power as an acting general.

Let's skip fast and go to the moment when Fu Xuan tasked the trio to go and help by diving into the mist and turn off the Elixir Crucibles.

A precision, she asked the "unexpected guests" cit Jing Yuan because

Never once she says that Tingyun was to help them, Tingyun's job was to bring them to places, like the Artisanship Commission or the Alchemy Commission. If you paid attention, while we walked to the crucibles there was a piece of conversation

Here she sounds actually excited, while at the beginning Tingyun wasn't that happy to be in our company, she was nervous because the situation was unstable. So, here, I suppose, is Phantylia already talking. Or let more of her own personality shine.

Now, after the battle with Dan Shu, she said two things:

So, at first, it seems like Phantylia gave the Stellaron to the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus (DoSM for short) and made a promise with them. And it wouldn't be wrong to think this way, Phantylia is a Lord Ravager, a follower of Nanook, she should be able to have a Stellaron at ready. Actually, I read a very interesting post here on Tumblr about language, and I think that while the English translation is good, it may lose some context in between the translation. Like about the subjects of a phrase. The exact content of the promise between the DoSM and Phantylia is still missing, but we know one objective: fuse the power of the Abundance with the power of the Destruction.

And it's terrifying if you think about it: Destruction has a huge attack, Abundance can cure itself... and we already saw a character who has both: Blade, a character on the path of Destruction who is also struck with Immortality. In gameplay he sacrifices a part of his HP to do more damage, only to regain later.

Let's go back to Tingyun and Phantylia. Like Welt says, mostly to reassure both March and Stelle, there is no certain hint to say that Tingyun was working willingly with Phantylia, but without the body, we don't know.

Which is a good question. But, for me, no body, no death. It basically is a rule in writing a story: if you don't find the body, that character can always appear later. So, the fact that Phantylia didn't leave a body will lead only to one thing: the body was fake. If she left the body, Fu Xuan would have realized immediately that Tingyun's body wasn't the real deed. Which it will bring us, by doing a jump, directly to the last quest, the "funeral". We met a lot of people who knew Tingyun, but the entire thing about Tingyun left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Even Yukong says some things that contradict herself

But, after some reconsideration, it has some strategy to that. Phantylia says "It would've been nice to observe a little longer" before revealing herself in her ghost-flame-like appearance. Possibly, Phantylia didn't want to reveal herself at all, let the DoSM and the Cloud Knights kill each other while she stays in the background and sees how the Xianzhou Loufu destroys itself from the inside. By declaring officially that Tingyun is dead, doing the all funeral and letting the Trio gives the news, it would destroy every other chances for Phantylia to use that face again. Meanwhile, Yukong would search for her but not in an official way. Strange that we didn't find any letter like the voiceline says, or maybe they didn't search her shop.

My considerations: they did everything to say that Tingyun is dead without saying explicitly, but I stand my ground and say Tingyun is not dead, not yet anyway.

But let's go back to the past, after this Trailblazer quest, the narrative switches its main character and we are back to Dan Heng! Like I said, he is the second main character on this arc and it was done perfectly.

Seriously, the switches between our characters, Dan Heng's parallel but different journey to his past... well done, HOYO.

Our more unlikely TRIO, Dan Heng, Sushang and Luocha, arrive in the same place, probably a few moments later our other trio left.

Sushang went back to the Cloud Knights, Luocha has one more deal to see and Dan Heng needs to leave before they ask who he is.

The past haunts Dan Heng, literally, the ghost of the past lives of the Vidyadhara appear to talk to him and Blade, the man he usually he runs from is waiting for him.

that woman, perhaps Jingliu?

The one thing I can't explain is the transformation in Imbibitor Lunae, why the change in clothes? Dan Heng wasn't fashionably enough with his regular clothes and needed a change? Anime Logic, I know.

And poor Yanqing, that tries to fight literally legends, first Jingliu and now Dan Heng and Blade together.

Luckily, to babysit everyone there is Kafka. Look at Blade! He looks like someone who is regretting his choices.

Before reuniting with his friends, Dan Heng says a few words to Jing Yuan

which is something really important. Dan Feng and Dan Heng are two different persons, even if Dan Feng didn't go through the hatching cycle. Right now, he is Dan Heng of the Astral Express and I was almost in tears in reading it, since there were many red flags about Dan Heng leaving the Astral Express Family. Even the scene that is a call back to the beginning, with March and Stelle's hands stretched out to Dan Heng was touching

DO NOT SEPARATE! My babies çç

From here, everything seems to go fast. The cutscene with the music and the CGI that was the waves was so well done (basically all the money went to the waves), they went to fight Phantylia and what a fight it was. But unfortunately, our MC didn't get the power of the Hunt. Looking at how the story went, it was kind of assumed but not granted. The Xianzhou didn't lose faith in the Aeon of the Hunt, not like Cocolia did with Qlipoth. And in this Arc the moral protagonist was Dan Heng, with his past and his quest to accept but also move on with his future, it was not a time for our MC to get a power up. Maybe in the next world, unlike Genshin who has a fixed number of places (7 Archons, 7 Elements, 7 Nations etc), Honkai Star Rail is bigger, it has a lot more of Aeons and we have seen the powers of Aeon whose Path is not playable, who says that HOYO won't introduce more playable Paths?

Phantylia is merely playing with us, she is barely amused with our performance. In terms of boss fights, Cocolia is more emotionally charged and the best for music. Phantylia is part of a bigger story, the same story that Elio scripted and Kafka is directing and, as Kafka said, we gained a powerful ally in the Xianzhou Luofu

And I'm gonna bet that during the final fight with Nanook, the Xianzhou Loufu will appear as the cavalry, just like Jing Yuan did in the Dan Heng Companion Quest.

In the end, the Xianzhou Arc was different from Belobog Arc, the ending was unsatisfying because there were still a few things missing, and it didn't feel like an ending, like it did with Belobog with the nice pictures, it was more of a "see you later", so if I can guess, there will be another arc in the Xianzhou and it will be about the post cutscene.

I'm still a firm believer that Luocha is not Void Archives, but he played a part in this. He likely brought the Stellaron to the Xianzhou, possibly smuggled Jingliu to Xianzhou, all for destroying the Abundance.

It was an incredible cliffhanger that leads to more questions than answers. We now assume that Luocha smuggled the Stellaron to the Xianzhou, Jingliu wasn't on the ship only to search for Blade, Jing Yuan needs a vacation and never comes back to his place as General.

So, final consideration: we are not over with the Xianzhou, even with our jade abacus, we will need to go back and in that time the MC will get the power of the Hunt. This arc is like a chapter 1, a chapter where we met most of its characters, it explained the conflict between Lan and Yaoshi, the problems that Yaoshi's gift left, it gave us the first glance to the bigger story with Elio and his Stellaron Hunters and their objective to kill Nanook. While Herta Space Station was a tutorial and Jarilo-VI was an opening act for the ways of trailblazing (a story that have a conclusion and we are only witness to their efforts to move on), Xianzhou is the very first big world where there wasn't a real ending. Yes, we stopped the Stellaron, but the conflict is still happening. We have more information about us, about one of our friends, we have met the Stellaron Hunters, talked to them (Silver Wolf is the more social of the group and has visiting rights!), but it's like we have gained nothing because there is still so much to do in the Xianzhou.

I'm sorry if this is too long, but for me it's important to say that the last quest we did in v1.3 wasn't the final quest for the Xianzhou, we just put a stop to Trailblaze more, but we will be back for a second chapter on that ship, after all "there is still more to explore".

#honkai star rail #honkai stelle #honkai march 7th #honkai dan heng #honkai luocha #honkai jing yuan #honkai jingliu #honkai star rail meta #give jing yuan a vacation #all of his past friends came to give him hell #honkai star rail theory #honkai welt

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3mcwriting · 1 year

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Fading, Part 1

Warnings: sickness, death

Steve Rogers didn't have a soulmate. In a world where people's bodies are covered in the tattoos of their soulmate's favorite things, he had nothing.

A lot of times people would pass by him, a certain holiday, color, pet, or food, written on them. Almost everyone Steve ever knew, they all had the tattoos, they all had a soulmate.

But Steve, he had no trace of the ink forming words on his skin. Not a name, object, or hobby anywhere written on him. As the years passed, he started wearing larger clothes, making sure they always covered his skin. Which wasn't hard considering he was a very small man. The time rolled by, hope fading a little more after ever morning, when he'd check his body to see if even a letter of ink was inscribed across his skin.

And every morning was the same, nothing. Eventually he resigned himself to the fact that he didn't have a soulmate.

"Don't worry, pal, your soulmate is out there somewhere." Bucky said, patting Steve on the shoulder.

"I'm not so sure about that," Steve said, looking at his best friend. "What about you, Buck? Find any tattoos on yourself?" Bucky was the only other person Steve knew that didn't have the tattoos.

"Nope," he said nonchalantly. "But I'm sure they're out there somewhere."

"I wish I could be that optimistic. I'm sure I don't have one."

And when Steve went into the ice, his thoughts on that were still the same.

So when he came out and found words inked across his entire body, he was in complete shock. There was colors, names, hobbies, food, everything a person could love.

Steve was still grieving the loss of his best friend, who, to him only died about a week ago. When in reality it'd been 70 years since he last saw Bucky.

So he searched, and he searched, and eventually found the cemetery where they put his best friend's grave. Steve would go there often, telling Bucky about how he now had a soulmate and that Bucky was right. Every week he'd visit the empty grave, telling his best friend about the search for Steve's soulmate.

And every week when Steve looked at the tattoos on his body, he fell in love with his soulmate a little more. Parts of his body were so densely covered in ink that you could barely see the skin beneath, he loved that his soulmate loved so many things. It meant they were happy, and that made him happy while looking for them.

One day he noticed something strange though.

Ever since the tattoos shows up, his right arm was the most tattooed part of his body. The words inked on his forearm included their favorite colors, hobbies, and foods.

Every night, when he lay on bed he would trace the words written on his hand. It made him feel closer to her. But that night when he went to trace the words, they seemed a little faded. Steve dismissed it as the dark room not providing clear sight.

But when he woke up in the morning and looked at his hand, the fading was still there. But it wasn't just there, his left bicep was also lighter than before.

Every day it got worse, the words starting to disappear slowly. Now he searched for his soulmate any chance he got, and unlike before, he wasn't happy. He was panicked, desperate, and angry.

Sometimes he'd look in the mirror. Four weeks ago he was covered in the words. Now he had only 5 words left, all of them covering the skin around his heart. The things or people most important to his soulmate. They were names, probably their family.

But there was no name directly on top of his heart, which means he still hadn't found them.

"Steve, I'm sorry about all of this. But you volunteered to visit the hospital." Natasha said, clearly feeling guilty.

Steve shook his head, "I know. I'll go in a minute."

Natasha sighed. "No, you won't, Steve. If you don't go now, you're going stay in your room all day driving yourself crazy with this search."

Steve knew she was right, so he stood up reluctantly. "I'll go there for half an hour."

"You scheduled a 2 hour meet-"

"Half an hour."

•••••

"Can I have a picture please?" The little boy asked, sitting up in his hospital bed.

Steve smiled at him. "Of course."

Despite being away from the search, he was happy he came. Seeing the hospitalized people get excited or happy to see Captain America, made him happy knowing that he was lifting others emotions.

Steve took the picture with the child, then bid him goodbye. He looked at his watch, seeing that he had to go back soon. Deciding to visit one last hospital room, he walked down the hall and entered the first room.

There was a woman on the bed, another woman next to her, holding her hand.

"Captain America! Cool!" The hospitalized woman said, her voice raspy.

Steve moved a little closer, stopping when he felt a familiar feeling.

It was the feeling of a new word being added to his skin.

But It was right over his heart.

It all made sense now, the fading words...his soulmate was dying.

"Hey, Captain, are you ok?" The other woman asked.

No. He was not okay! He just found out his soulmate was dying after spending a year trying to find her! And after a time when he didn't even think he had a soulmate!

No, he was nowhere near okay.

"Yes, sorry. I just-when did you get hospitalized?" he asked, hoping desperately it wasn't around four weeks ago.

"A month ago," she answered, "wh-"

She stopped, a look of pain twisting her facial features. Then it started.

Convulsions.

Awful, horrifying, shaking and groaning. Steve rushed to the side of the bed, his earlier panic becoming one hundred times worse. Medical professionals rushed into the room in time to see the convulsions stop.

And then, she flatlined.

Her heart stopped.

And Steve could've swore his did too.

The other woman was sobbing uncontrollably, shoulders shaking as she watched her sister die. Steve was pushed back, the doctors bringing in the defibrillator. They started the pulses of electricity, but nothing worked.

Steve tried to comfort the other woman, feeling the need to be helpful since he was absolutely useless in the revival of the dying woman.

The doctors stopped.

"Time of death, 2:38 PM."

And there we go, you're dead. Hope you enjoyed.

Just kidding, it's not over.

"What?! No! Come on, doctors, you have to do something! My sister isn't dead!" The woman yelled, anguish evident in her voice.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, we did all we could," the doctor said genuinely.

She turned away, her eyes landing on the tall man still there. "Don't you have somewhere else to be, Captain." Her voice was sharp.

"No. She was my soulmate," he said, voice tight with grief.

The woman's face twisted, "Don't lie."

"I'm not."

She got angry. "Yes, you are." Her next words froze Steve. "My sister's soulmate died two years ago in a car crash."

"What?..."

He looked into her (e/c) eyes.

If his soulmate had been someone in that room...and it wasn't the woman who had just passed away..

Then that means..."You're my soulmate."

#steve rodgers x reader #steve rodgers imagine #steve rogers #marvel x reader #avengers x reader #soulmate au #steve rogers soulmate au #mcu x reader #mcu #reader insert

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null-is-sparing-you · 3 months

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Hell was always supposed to be Purgatory

A Hazbin theory by me

Vivzi has said that certain categories of sinners are simply vanished when they die. The categories of sinners she listed were what we would probably consider to be the worst classes of sinner.

There's the out of narrative reason for this, but I think this seriously changes the color of Hell as a place to punish Sinners - if you were building something to torture people, wouldn't you want the worst of the worst to be there and be tortured? Wouldn't you WANT their guts being eaten every day by canables?

Also it's a bit weird that Sinners are given magic powers after their deaths, isn't it?

So, let's revisit the origin story.

A single angel offered humans the fruit of knowledge. This angel was cast down to hell, but not before several events happened, including the angel's relations with two separate women.

When cast down to hell, this angel became the king of hell, and kept a massive amount of power. They even maintained contacts to hell and the ability to open portals.

That's a lot of power to maintain during a punishment. A lot of freedom. Things don't quite smell right.

So here's an alternative story, that I think works with all the facts:

Once upon a time, an angel saw a lot of potential in humanity. They had a lot of hope, and a lot of faith. They offered a gift to help humanity reach that potential, but humanity wasn't actually ready for it. Chaos erupted.

Not every human turned out okay. Some were cruel. Many more were broken by the cruelty. Something had to be done.

A system was set up.

The "good enough" would be separated from the "messy" were separated by the "rotten". The Good Enough are to be sent to heaven. They'd probably reach their potential most easily when they didn't have to watch their backs.

The "rotten" were to be erased. If someone really is that bad, there's no reason to keep them around.

That leaves the "messy". The broken, the desperate, the twisted, and the mislead. They're not... good... but with a little work, many of them could be turned around.

And who was assigned to do this work?

Who has the upmost faith in humanity? Who has bold ideas that are worth testing, and the will to carry them out? Who available has a chance to hold their own against the desperate, and recognize when a situation can be better? Who can see the best in people, even when they can't see it in themselves?

That's right, LUCIFER!

Only...

Lucifer didn't quite have the faith in himself that he needed to have. He failed to understand his role, and failed to understand the system that was set in place. Instead of rising to meet the challenge, he was crushed to see the damage in the people he was supposed to help.

Now, fast forward to Charlie.

Charlie looks around with a fresh version of her father's eyes and heart. She sees good in sinners, and has no reason to be shut down by guilt. She measures herself against the challenge and realizes it's too big. She doesn't have what it takes to fix everyone. So... She tries a wild idea. She puts her faith in those around her. She finds someone who can hold their own against the desperate and the twisted when need be. And she looks for the best in people, even when they can't see it in themselves.

Exactly as her father was supposed to do. Perhaps exactly as her father will do.

#hazbin hotel

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yllowpages · 1 year

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11. describe your ideal outcome/endgame for the muse you are currently writing. if you are a multimuse blog: do this for your current favorite muse, or the muse of the last reply you posted.

questions for muns.

i'm going to ignore basically all the parameters of the question re: multis and just mention dean. i didn't watch to the end of the show, but i do know how his story ended, and it feels ... unfair to him and everything he'd been through (but maybe i don't have the right context since i stopped watching long before the last season). i am a huge supporter of the fact that not every protagonist is a hero. and so not every protagonist deserves the happy ending. but it depends on their story and who their character is and the journey(s) and arc(s) they've had.

and dean is sort of your traditional hero. he's not a perfect person, but he holds all of those other traditional heroic qualities. he constantly puts himself in harm's way for other people, people he doesn't even know. hunting? he gets nothing out of it, really. he does it because he can and he feels it's right. who else is going to do it, if not him? (yes, he knows there are plenty of other hunters out there in the world, but he also just feels personally obligated in certain ways which is another discussion due to his upbringing but ... u know.) and he even says himself that "saving people" is just part of the "family business." perfect man or not ... he's selfless. and for everything that he sacrificed, everything he went through — saving his family, selling his soul, dying, going to hell, saving the world over and over again — he deserved a quiet, happy ending, i think. not the one he got. i'm not asking for the scenario of watching him grow to old age and die in his sleep sort of thing. i wouldn't need to go that far. but it would have been nice to get the chance to see him take a step back almost ... have that normal life he always dreamed of. then again ... would de.an wi.che.ster realistically make the choice even do that? again, idk where exactly his character was by the end of the show, but i focus on earlier-seasons dean and i think, if given the choice, just like the end of season 5 ... he would. if it was a world where sam was safe and happy himself, i think dean might stop.

i can also understand the viewpoint of dean's death at the end sort of being the way to show sam the value of having a normal life. and, in that way, i get it. even if it wasn't dean's intention, it makes sense that his death would be that turning point for sam — doing one last thing for the good of his little brother, and dean giving his own life for it.

but that doesn't mean i'll stop being upset dean died to a rusty nail in a barn or whatever happened. and i'm glad they apparently did those scenes in heaven of dean sitting with bobby and driving in his car — i think that's great. because he got there, he deserved to be in heaven, and maybe that is the peace he deserved all along. but he never really got to have a life. and i think that's what hurts.

also i'm aware he does come back somehow?? in the win.ches.ters series but i'm not watching it and therefore idk what the context is and that's all greek to me.

#ooc.#i feel like i contradicted myself about 10 times but AAAA #i simply don't think dean's ending #from what i've seen and know #was... the right one for him

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miraluking-respectfully · 8 months

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16 for Lyde, 18 for Savtas? Your OCs are so pretty and cool :)

AH thank you, you're so kind! ;-;

[questions here]

16. Who are their Forbidden Companions — i.e., characters who aren't companions in-game — if they have any?

I'm very pleased you picked Lyde for this, and I do hope you don't find my answer cheap, because the short version is "none in actuality"; but the longer one is Watcher X.

And also, Watcher X is dead. Lyde just has a lot more interaction with [the version of] him [her broken brain conjures up after his death] than is written into the game. In addition to using him as a proxy to navigate and rewrite her conditioning, he also shows up at her most isolated or troublesome moments to act as a mouthpiece for whatever problem is on her mind. He's her little Socratic Dialogue Puppet through Chapter 2.

This is mostly because I, like most hot-blooded SWTOR players, have always been very enamored of the Tripping Balls Sequences in the agent story after Chapter 1. It is also because I liked Harrow the Ninth a little too much.

One thing I'm still toying with is how I want Watcher X to manifest for Lyde. What do miraluka hallucinations look like, I wonder, when they don't have eyes to deceive them? If a person uses the unerring Force to perceive the universe, can that sense always be trusted? Is a miraluka communicating with the Force directly, or is a miraluka's brain translating the life signatures and interconnected energy written upon into information in the same flawed manner that human brains translate light into images?

If it's the former, she probably hears his voice, or feels him touching her, while knowing for certain he isn't really there. If it's the latter, she probably doesn't conjure him in front of her out of nothing, but is instead prone to mistaking the bodies of other real people in front of her for him.

Scary!

18. If they could have saved anyone the game didn't give them a chance to, who would it have been?

That is one helluva question to ask about a Jedi, anon, especially a bleeding-heart like Savtas. With the context of the Consular story, to which I hew pretty close, guess my answer is gonna be every Sixth Line Jedi on Ziost (including, fun fact, her best friend Ántonia), whether they survived The Fuckening or not, because it is a problem that Sav cannot help but feel like she should have been able to fix. After all, she built her "career", for lack of a better word, as a Jedi off of being the one person who could rescue people from the darkness in their own minds. And then she spent the rest of her life running up against situations where that skill was woefully insufficient. She had the ritual - was the only person alive who did - designed to drive out a similar poison, and it still wasn't enough, because Vitiate was too strong. There wasn't even a mistake she could learn from to improve in the future, short of not overestimating her own capabilities.

There are also two other answers I could give, but won't commit to for now, because I haven't decided how hard I'm gonna deviate from KOTXX's two cheapest and most offensive writing decisions: the fate of Vaylin, and the fate of Felix. In-game, those are Sav's biggest failures, but I find the writing around Felix's return especially so loathsome that I will probably not be playing it straight.

The only reason I'm using such wishy-washy language about those two story beats is that I haven't figured out what to replace them with yet.

Thank you for asking!! <3

#ask meme #swtor ocs #oc: lyde aniteon #oc: savtas thom #anonymous

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lysols-blog · 10 months

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DEATH - Melanie Martinez

“My body has died but I’m still alive."

Death by Melanie Martinez is a metaphor for the human experience of life, death, and rebirth. Several messages in the song provide a poignant reflection on mortality, the afterlife, and the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth that we live in. The song was written to encourage listeners to reflect on the nature of their existence. It also encourages listeners to embrace the belief that death is not the end of anything in life and that it is just the beginning. Even though one physical body may die, its spirit and essence continue to live on. In K-12, Litlth, Crybaby’s guardian angel tells her that empaths never genuinely die and their spirits are passed on to reincarnated bodies instead.

“You start in the womb and end in the tomb.”

In K-12, CryBaby was revealed to be an empath guided by Lilith. According to her, she's also lived multiple lives before. Her eyes turning black represent her being awakened to a higher level of consciousness. Being an empath is associated with several magical abilities. However, it has also given CryBaby the ability to reincarnate, physically, while her body decays with time but her soul stays intact. In her lifetime, she doesn't have any memories of the lives she's lived in the past. However, she learns and experiences new things as she goes along. Her music videos, storybooks, and songs all represent her life. As the album progresses, Crybaby grows as an individual and learns to overcome her struggles with confidence. She also understands what it means to be happy.

“Please don’t worry, I know it's morbid, but we all die one day.”

The song describes a supernatural relationship between her and those who loved her, just like people who experience a loved one's death. Melanie weaves a tale of sorrow and pain, a tale about the heartbreak of someone who has lost a loved one to the dead. It examines what the dead would want to share with us if there wasn't a barrier standing between them. The lyrics “Look over your shoulder, I’m back from the dead.” continue as if the ghostly singer is trying to reach out to the mourners, telling them to stop being upset about the fact that their bodies are no longer moving. There is no doubt that the deceased would like to reunite with their loved ones or the living if a barrier existed between them and the living. The pre-chorus sees the dead sing about missing their loved one, “You're always on my mind, I cannot help it.” However, even though death has come and kissed them on the cheek, they still promise to meet every time they get the chance.

“You must feel the physical pain of this world because the only way we can truly learn is through experience.”

Reincarnation is the belief that during a previous existence, a soul or spirit begins a new life in an unfamiliar body. This body may or may not be human, animal, or spiritual in nature, depending on the quality of the soul or spirit's previous actions from their previous existence. People also say that the soul is immortal and that the only thing that perishes is the physical body, rather than the soul itself. The religions that believe in reincarnation are Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism but a few Paganist religious groups do too. Although Christianity and Islam don’t necessarily believe in them, certain groups within these religions still refer to them. The same holds true for the religions I named. Some certain groups within those religions don’t believe in reincarnation and instead believe in the afterlife or spirit world.

#melanie martinez #k 12 melanie martinez #k 12 album #crybaby #portals #portals melanie martinez #melanie portals #portals album #cry baby #death melanie martinez #queer writers #writing #creative writing #writers #writeblr #write #author

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untoterxhund · 1 year

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[ Terry ] Damn this evening got cold really freaking fast! Shouldn't be too surprising though, this time of the year the weather is always super freaking weird. All nice and sunny all throughout the day and then boom! 5 pm rolls around and suddenly it's damp and cold and she just needs to constantly rub her palms together to keep feeling her fingers. Doesn't help that she naturally has cold extremities to begin with.

Fortunately though, she's not alone out here tonight, Khaz just kinda lingered around after their hanging out for the day and now she's waiting for the bus alongside him. It's just them here and there aren't a whole lotta cars around, but she's about 79% certain there should be another bus going on this route. Sooooo all that's left is to wait for it. While slowly feeling like freezing to death. Maybe it's the cold that got to her brain, but Terry could swear up and down that she could actually feel the warmth radiating from the man besides her.

So, as minutes passed by, she scurried closer and closer, at first just leaning her arm against him, then hunching over against his shoulder and... somehow she ended up curled up against his chest with her knees up to her chin. It was the perfect position to not be seem with how red in the face she'd become.

Don't get her wrong, she knew it was kinda awkward. Especially since she never actually asked him out loud to keep her warm, but the outside cold combined with a healthy dose of 'ok, we're doing this now' and there she is. Might as well ask for forgiveness than permission, right?

"...Hey---" she called out softly. "---You're really, really warm, ya know that? It--- it feels pretty nice." cue her slightly nudging her forehead up against his jawline in appreciation. "...Thanks for that."

@of-elitiism He was certainly used to the cold but that doesn't mean that he liked the cold, as a matter of fact sometimes that cold would make old scars ache and throb. Although the machine on his back kept him unnaturally warm without any negative repercussions, that is until the spine reaches critical-mass, in which case he will overheat and collapse.

Khaz noticed her inching closer and closer until she rested against his torso, face hidden behind her knees, her head resting just below his chin, enough space for her to nudge him with ease. Truth be told, he wasn't expecting this at all, at the very least he was expecting to be seated close, not having her practically curled up against him like a household feline and a space-heater. The albino's pale complexion would also take on a much noticeable blush against his scarred nose and along the tips of his cold-bitten ears. Gloved hands move hesitantly at first, second-guessing his own judgement for a brief moment before his touch finally connects gently with her shoulder while his other hand took a more secure hold of her elbow, stretching a little more of the warmth he'd supply as much as he could. Or at least he thought as much since they were already that far ahead of things. Ideally, he had his own home that he was even willingly to walk to if need be, he thought as much as that's how every encounter had played out so far but honestly? He was quite content with what was happening now, even if it was for a brief period, the coyote did not mind sharing his warmth, he was quite happy too.

She calls out to him rather gently, comfortably soft on his ears, a nice change for once. Terry thanks him for the service, despite it not being planned, purely coincidental, she even goes as far as thanking him. For what exactly? For being unnaturally warm, a result of something he'd rather not have happened to him if given the chance. Although, it has given the biproduct of plenty of positive uses to people who needed the help, feeding into the validation that he very much loves receiving. The addition of her forehead affectionately being pressed against his jawline was something certainly new but definitely also something he could go for again, her forehead was cool, pleasingly different from how he felt. "Don' mention it-- y' never mentioned when th' bus was supposed t' show up, reckon that's on purpose though? Or jus' city municipality bein' garbage as per usual?"

#of-elitiism

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swearingcactus · 2 years

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fc5 gameplay is ass

(yet another tumblr post bitching about fc5)

i think i finally can pinpoint what annoyed me the most about fc5. it's the way ubisoft tried to make this into a 'you can do whatever you want' kinda story where it doesn't have to be so linear (you get to pick which sibling you take down first, you get to pick which missions you want to do to get the resistance points up), but they didn't hash the story far enough for it to work properly.

i usually do little side missions first to get myself better weapons & get a feel for the surroundings before doing the main storyline and always, ALWAYS, i get too high of a resistance points than i like which just gets me into cutscene after cutscene when i would rather NOT progress the story yet. this wasn't the problem in 3 & 4 because you knew you're gonna progress the story if you choose to go meet certain characters.

it winds up making me feel like i haven't gotten a chance to do the little things i want first and meet all the side characters before i get thrown into the main story again and suddenly im dragged along to a level 3 resistance point and copters are shooting at me from all directions (which is BULLSHIT ASS GAMEPLAY TOO)

i read a comment from someone on youtube who also disliked this system cus they did side missions first and the npc dialogues weren't programmed to account for this. they got spoiled that eli dies because an npc said 'eli's death won't be in vain'. which, considering how big of a plot twist eli's death is supposed to be, is Big Oof. i got an experience with this too when i went with sharky and he said something about faith already being dead when she was Very Much Still Alive at that point of my run.

it just feels like this game was trying to be 'oohh you get to do whatever you want-- but choice has always been an illusion oooohhh'. which i wouldn't mind as much cus i mean. it's far cry. that's like the entire gist of the franchise: that you're stuck and hopeless somewhere. BUT i do think the resistance points and levels is a misstep cus what's the point of allowing 'freedom' when it just takes away the impact of the one story you wanted to tell?

i would also like to add that the way that they also made 'you can pick whichever sibling you want to kill first' thing also ruined the supposed 'family' dynamic imo. aside from joseph's little bitching video call every time you kill one of em, none of the siblings care/ever refer to one another. but then again, this is far cry and villains don't really interact with each other so imma give it a pass (side eyes the 1 (one) phone call between vaas and hoyt... pagan's little lunch with paul and short ass talk with yuma, none with noore...)

idk why i put this in a post cus i think ubisoft also realized this by themselves cus by the time new dawn rolled around they didn't do the same fc5 system and just kept the journal without the points

>> this is obviously just my experience and preference tho and other than that and the fact that easy mode in this game is NOT easy, the game has its moments. i mean it has john seed saying 'delivery free shipping' and jacob's entire only you sequence that even i who's read the storyline and knew what was gonna happen still left me just-- *chef kiss*

#far cry 5 #far cry #far cry analysis

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warm-starlight · 2 years

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Hi Eve! How are you?

I've been following you for a long time and as a levihan fan I really enjoy reading your interpretation on the ship, which is why I came straight to you for something that's been bugging me for days. The thing is, I used to read numerous comments about Eroori vs Levihan ship wars on twitter, but then I stopped at some points bcs there's really no end to it. Erooris could make you feel insecure to the point you'd even doubt yourself or what you believe what's right. Like how we've seen already how they slander Levihan as a ship or attack those who are simply here to enjoy the fiction world without drama. For example, I stumbled upon a certain discussion about how much Hanji needed encouragement through the post timeskip given the predicaments they had to deal with or how Hanji desperately needed somebody telling them "It's not your fault Eren chose this" but not even Levi said that to her. I tried to reason with them that it's mostly bcs Levi wasn't even there and we didn't their convo in the timeskip. There's also chap 126 wherein Levi once again encourages Hanji to fight, but then they told me "even up until 127 & 132 (moments before their death) Hanji was still feeling guilty about Eren. Levi encouraged Erwin every time he felt down for either having to sacrifice the recruits or when he was giving his life for the sake of humanity. He told the guy "it's only thanks to him they've gone that far" yet he never told that to Hanji and Hanji died in sadness thinking she's at fault because of what Eren put them thru" This really makes me feel awful. I'm not saying I believe them but at the same time their words are discouraging and they make me feel bad that the fandom misinterpret them so much. Could you please share your thoughts? I feel like I need your reassurance here. Of course if you're comfortable talking about it.

Wait what? Levi "always encouraged Erwin when he was down?"... When was that? He literally never missed a chance to rub the fact Erwin is throwing away human lives in his face.

Besides Hange was different from Erwin. When Levi encouraged Erwin, he was absolutely at the lowes point, ready to throw everything away, he confessed his selfish desires to Levi and literally Asked Levi to tell him what to do.

Levi's "It's only thanks to you that we've come this far" was his last words of condolence for a man he is going to send to his grave.

Now Hange is different. They felt down, sure, they felt guilty, but they never for one second stopped fighting for the right thing. Levi never needed to say anything to them, becauae they never asked him to. Levi is not a person who shoves his head into someone else's business if they don't need him to speak.

The dying soldier in ch 9.5 Asked him, Armin asked Jean and then Levi answered for him, Erwin asked him for help directly...Hange never asked him "please tell me i did good". But they didn't need to. Levi staying on their side for all that time already was a sign he isn't blaming them. And his "I know you...you aren't able to stay out of the action" was all the encouragement they needed.

#snk #aot #levihan #anonymous #ship wars

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bakugoukatsuki-rising · 4 years

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Bakugou Katsuki - Rising

So I told someone a while ago I’d be writing an essay on Bakugou’s lines from 284, and I’m keeping true to my word. If you’re wondering which lines, well my friend, these lines;

So this, to me, is one of the most emotionally packed pages of these recent chapters. For one, it shows us that Bakugou has always been watching Deku, the same as Deku has been watching him. Since they were kids, probably from the age of 4, Bakugou was able to tell Deku never thought of himself first, it was always what he could do to help and protect other people with no regard to his own safety or well-being.

“He’s always been like that.”

How would Bakugou know Deku has always been this way if he wasn’t paying attention to him? It goes beyond his bullying in Middle School, because he’s watched Deku stand up for other’s his entire life. The very first scene of the manga is Deku protecting a child from Bakugou and his group of misfits, despite being quirkless, and essentially helpless.

Despite being scared, and knowing he didn’t have the strength to take on those boys, he still stood his ground and did what he could to protect the other kid. Bakugou witnessed that first hand, since he was the aggressor. He was the one Deku was protecting someone from.

There was no way Bakugou wouldn’t remember something like that.

We know he remembered how Deku extended his hand to him when he fell in the stream, even though Bakugou was fine and didn’t need any help. Deku still waded through that water and even risked possibly getting himself hurt, to reach out to Bakugou and make sure he was alright.

Now, I am going to point out that the stream incident definitely happened before the scene of Deku protecting that boy since it’s evident they’re older in that scene, but it was presented first (literally the first panel of the entire manga), so it takes precedent.

Then we have the big one, which is the Sludge Villain incident, and Deku’s biggest show of self-sacrifice probably to date within the manga, since he was quirkless and would have certainly ended up dead if All Might hadn’t managed to power up. Even with the times he’s wrecked his body using OfA, he at least had some kind of fighting chance because of the power, but with the Sludge Villain, he had nothing. He was just throwing himself out there in hopes, by some miracle, he could do something to save his friend, even if it meant losing his life in the process.

Another instance of Bakugou witnessing firsthand the self sacrificial nature of Deku. Throughout the manga we’re given these instances, and the next big one is Bakugou’s kidnapping. Now, he didn’t see Deku’s fight with Muscular, but he did see the aftermath, he saw that ruined body running at him full force with no care to the damage done to himself, and even before that, he saw Shoji carrying him while Deku continued to plan out their plan of rescue, like his entire body wasn’t a crumpled mess.

Time and time again, Bakugou has been witness to Deku’s behavior, to this self sacrificial nature. The scene above is the first real time we see Bakugou acknowledge it. He tells Deku to stay back, he knows if he continues trying to fight looking like that, he’s going to die. I’ve seen other translations and I believe in the anime he says something to the context of “Don’t come, Deku.” Which, either way you look at it, it gives the same impression of Bakugou trying to protect Deku in that moment. Because he knew if there was an opportunity for Deku to reach, he would have fought until there was nothing left of him.

“And now that he can do so much more...”

This line is important because it is Bakugou acknowledging Deku’s current strength with OfA, but it is also his confession of worry because he knows who Deku is, and what this means for him. If Deku was reckless and willing to sacrifice himself when he was a 4 year old child with no quirk, well now that he has the strongest power essentially in existence, that means certain death. There is nothing stopping him from completely destroying himself, and we saw a brief example of that when Deku fought Muscular, though not even close to the level he was going at Shigaraki, and what Bakugou was actually getting to witness during this chapter and 285/286.

I use the above image because it kind of shows how bad off Deku was, which is far worse than when he fought Muscular, let me remind you. That scene is in chapter 285, after he’s essentially destroyed both of his arms hitting Shigaraki probably upwards of 10 times with 100% OfA.

Remember, Bakugou has been watching all of this from the ground.

“Something doesn’t feel right, it makes me wanna keep him at arms length.”

Well ya know, I don’t really blame you for feeling that way, Bakugou, I wouldn’t feel right if the kid I knew my entire life was willing to die at literally every turn without thinking for a split second about himself, either. It’s a little strange, but that’s what makes Deku the unstoppable force that he is, because he has the drive to save people no matter what. Now if he could master his power and depend on other’s, it would be even better, because then maybe he wouldn’t have to kill himself trying to protect people.

But seriously, that line shows Bakugou's uncertainty about getting close to Deku, because that kind of behavior is scary. It's intimidating. To just...throw your life away for the sake of someone else, that's gotta be scary to see someone do, and Bakugou has witnessed it over and over because of his closeness to Deku.

Now for the big one.

"Back then, I ignored my own weakness...so I ended up bullying him."

There's the kicker, folks. The real development we've all been waiting for.

I do want to point out that when Bakugo was 4, he didn't realize he had weaknesses like that. He was honest to God just a bratty kid that probably thought Deku was weird for caring so much about people despite, essentially, being useless to them. Because what could Deku do? Nothing. He couldn't help anyone because he was quirkless, but he still tried, and that's what affected Bakugou so strongly.

So strongly, in fact, that he never forgot it for a single second.

From 4 years old all the way up to 16 years old. 12 years. 12 years Bakugou Katsuki was witnessing Deku's self sacrificial nature. Again and again he watched as this boy who had nothing, continued to fight for something, and then he was granted power, terrifying power, and now Bakugou is left to wonder how the fuck any of this could have happened. Because if Deku had just stayed quirkless and accepted it, maybe, just maybe, he would stop that self sacrifical bullshit. Maybe he would see himself a bit more.

But then he was given OfA, and all of that hope was gone. Now he was given a power meant to take on the greatest evils and every person before Deku had died for the cause, so why would it stop with Deku, who was already ready to get himself killed to protect someone else when he was like 14 years old?

The scenes we have of Bakugou acknowledging Deku's behavior, and acknowledging his own behavior, it's such a raw scene. It takes a lot to acknowledge you've done wrong by someone else. It takes a lot of strength to sit back and recognize those ugly parts of you, and here Bakugou is, doing just that. And he isn't doing it for some self righteous get me off, either. He's doing it because he genuinely cares about Deku's well being, and he always has.

It never came out the right way, and he sees that now, but that doesn't mean the concern wasn't there. He just didn't know the right ways to express it, but as things have gotten more serious and now Deku is truly risking his life for this cause, he's come face to face with it. He can't hide from it anymore. The more OfA develops, the more Deku is going to put himself out there, and Bakugou isn't going to sit around while he kills himself when he could just learn to ask for help.

This stretches all the way into 285 and Bakugou's sacrifice, because he saw Deku about to end up seriously hurt or worse, and he knew he couldn't let that happen. Of all the years spent endlessly tearing himself apart for other people, Bakugou knew he needed to show the other in some way he didn't have to do it like that. He didn't have to fight alone.

That, and it was part of his atonement. It was a piece of his apology to Deku, to show him that he valued him, and he was willing to put his life on the line for someone, for him.

Bakugou didn't think when he rushed out to save Deku. It was instinctual, like breathing. He saw someone he cared about in danger, and his body moved on it's own. That, from the angry brat we get in chapter 1, is a beautiful showcase of perfect character development and growth. If you take into account everything I've discussed throughout this, it should be easy to realize or at least see a bit of Bakugou's perspective, and his thought process when dealing with Deku.

It never justifies any of his past behavior, but it gives us clarification, and then allows us to appreciate his thoughts and actions in 284 and 285 even more.

#bnha spoilers #bnha meta #bnha #mha #bkdk #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #kacchan #deku #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #bnha analysis #bnha manga #mha manga

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val-of-the-north · 2 years

Note

Okay you now gotta do 3, 4, 5 and 6 with Ludwig :eyes emoji:

Oh boy... what do I have for him?

3) Ludwig has to be the COOLEST design in Bloodborne. He is like, even more effective at being horrific than most of the eldritch gods in this game with how twisted and revolting he ended up becoming in his transformation. His neck-mouth disgusts me to no end and I love it.

Of course, the fact he gains the mannerisms of an honorable warrior mid-fight, transforming the disgusting pile of flesh he is into a semi-humanoid figure is just... it's incredible. When you first see him you would never think he could stand up in that body, yet he does and it looks so natural. Also he has a very kind voice. A true hero.

4) Ludwig is very manly. His hair doesn't grow fast, but he rarely shaves so he is always hairy to a certain degree. He is also incredibly strong, and when his power isn't needed in battle they use him to carry and move very heavy objects around, even stone statues at times. He doesn't mind, as it keeps him busy as well as being effective training.

Of course, he loves himself some good old arm wrestling, and he is almost undefeated. He needs a lot of energy to do all of this, so he is a big meat enjoyer. It isn't his favorite food though, because he has a soft spot for forest berries. They remind him of his childhood and home, as he used to eat plenty of them during his squire training.

5) He values the lives of everyone else above his own, but not because he thinks his life is lesser. In fact, he is rather confident he will make it alive and well every time whenever he rushes into danger to save civilians and hunters alike. He loves his close friends but he is not the best at showing feelings that are perceived as a sign of weakness, but that stems from his upbringing. He is incredibly kind by nature, so he ends up showing that side of himself if truly necessary. His father always thought he was too kindhearted to be a knight.

The people adored Ludwig. They trusted him more than they trusted the rest of the Healing Church. He gave them a chance to fight back, to not be powerless and at the mercy of the beasts, hunters, and even the Church itself. It's a shame that he would not be remembered fondly after the massacre he unleashed when he finally turned into a monster, but not just for the countless deaths he caused.

It's because his mythical status had disappeared, and with it, any hope of ever overcoming this plague of beasts. If even someone as just and courageous as Ludwig could become a monster, who couldn't?

6) Since youth, Ludwig was terrified of the dark. It was a real phobia. Of course, this weakness would prevent him from becoming the brave protector he dreamt of being in the future, so he would force himself to face his fear continuously, until he grew numb to it.

That's why the darkness of the night and the old labyrinth leave him unfazed, though dread still exists in his heart, just silenced and subdued. It wasn't until he found his moonlight that his soul felt truly at ease. He was never in the dark now, even when he closed his eyes. He could see the shimmer at all times but this made him vulnerable...

In the end, he closed his eyes and saw no thread of light. No matter how hard he tried to focus, his mind was devoid of any shine. And so he felt the terror of his kid self rush to him instantly. It was overwhelming... it was too dark, so dark he could not see. So he went on a blind rampage, like a cornered horse fearing for its life, kicking anyone who comes close. That's when he snapped and lost his mind to beasthood.

#bloodborne #ludwig the holy blade #ludwig the accursed #bloodborne headcanons #val-responds #it's katya #I love ludwig he is my boy #thank you for asking about him specifically

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pedropascalssimp · 3 years

Text

More then you'll ever know

Din djarin x fem reader

Summary: the reader and din have a hard to get along with relationship, mostly because her teasing and joke cracking nature. But one night din realizes he can't keep pushing his true feelings for reader aside.

Warnings: mild language. Fluff.

Since I said I'd write more for din. I gift you... DIN!!!!

*Not my gifs!*

If you had a coin for every time din wrecked his ship, you'd be a rich woman. He was a good pilot, he could maneuver his way through a canyon and manage to survive, but he was a little reckless. And whenever someone could easily go over that canyon, his mind never seen that ruote and instead takes the hardest path possible. Which is what left you, him, and little Grogu standing outside the razor crest while you chuckle at his pacing, hands on his hips while his visor was focused on the ground.

The planet he crash landed on was a icey cold snow planet, it was freezing out, and the fact the sun was long gone and replaced by the moon didn't help.

"oh c'mon din, I can fix this ship tomorrow morning... A slight delay to tython won't hurt our adventure" you try and reassure him, amusement thick in your voice. This little crash gave you the opportunity to further more tease him and his piloting skills, something he hated. But it was fun seeing him get all defensive over his flying, you'd even say cute.

"we can't stay out here, the ships inoperative. We'll freeze to death out here" he stresses, finally coming to a stop as he looks at you, then his gaze falling on the innocent little child that plays in the snow.

"before you crashed us all the way out here I thought I saw a town that way" you point in the direction where you had thought you seen a town while you spiraled out of control. Thankfully though the ship wasn't damaged to bad and no one was hurt. "we can rent a place to sleep tonight and I'll wake up early in the morning and fix the ship" you shrug while scooping Grogu up and taking his icey little hands in yours and warming them.

Din sighs, something he seemed to do a lot you've noticed ever since you started working for him. Not only did you serve as a mechanic and caretaker for Grogu, but also a skilled medic. It was no secret din loathed droids, sometimes he found himself struggling to patch his own self up when injured greatly, so he hired you to assist him in medical ways instead of seeking help from a med Droid. You helped him greatly in medical and mechanical ways, soon he found the child and you helped in nanny ways.

Din turns around, back facing you now as he looks towards where you said a town was. The sky just barely illuminated by the dim glow of lights from the civilization. Facing you once more now he walks closer through the snow, gloved thump stroking Grogu's cold cheek.

"it will be a long walk... Probably even a days time..." he trailed of in thought, taking his cape off in the process and handing it to you so you can wrap Grogu up. "we'd have to use my jetpack to make it there tonight" he sighed out, watching how you wrap the cape around the little one. Covering up his mouth and ears along with his little body. He was swaddled up snugly.

You grin at din, "you're just looking for an excuse to hold me aren't you Mando?" you tease him, loving how he always stuttered and got nervous. He always retaliated with a harsh comment or the silent treatment, brushing your harmless flirting off.

Oh how you fell hard for the man though, he was something special. He acted like the toughest bounty hunter in the galaxy, he was really, but once you got to know the man under the armor? He was a big sweetheart, a softie who was passionate about little things and protective over the ones he considered friends, the one's he loved. You grew feelings for him one particular night spent on Nevarro, he was meeting with karga, in a cantina. You had joined him of course because you needed a drink, once you was both in there this one man wouldn't leave you alone, flirting, eyeing you like he was a starved man and you was a feast, his hands shortly falling on the small of your back and trailing down lower much to your dismay.

Now you was a good fighter, but before you had the chance to break the man's wrist? Din had done it for you, grabbing the man's hand and twisting it, showing his vibroblade against the man's throat, "touch her again and I'll kill you" was what made the man flee without a word. Wrist broke. He offered you a nod and made you stay by his side. It had made you fall for him hard, the feelings only growing as time went on.

"I could always leave you out here to freeze" din shot back at your earlier comment, he said it more teasingly, a welcome surprise to you.

"like you could do that, I know under all that beskar you have a soft spot for me din" you smile at him innocently, Grogu smiling as if he agrees with you.

"for him maybe" din was blushing hard under the helmet, heart beating rapidly as if he was afraid. Truly he was, he feared that if he let himself love you like he so desperately wanted, you'd leave him, that the galaxy would rip you away from him like every one else he ever loved.

Perhaps that's why he put up the facade he wore good when you flirted with him, acting as if he couldn't stand you, as if he loathed your presence. If only you could see the way his brown eyes sparkle with wonder and longing when he watches you work or play with Grogu.

You scoff with a smile, acting as if his little retort didn't sting a little. "let's get going before we freeze to death then" you say, hating how your heart skips a beat at how close he stood now, shuffling in the snow to jerk you flush against his warm side. The beskar was ice cold though, making you gasp with a shiver.

"hold on to Grogu tightly" he warns, worried you'd drop him. You wrap him up in your right arm, holding him against your chest tightly, little green hands fisting your short tightly as he snuggled up against your chest.

Din wraps a arm around your waist, his other placing a gloved hand over your arm that held Grogu. "are you ready?" he asks, pulling you against him tightly. You felt a little nervous, not to fond of heights. Din noticed and chuckles. "don't worry mesh'la, I won't drop you... Maybe" he teased. Saying the nickname he gave you, you had yet to learn.

Snapping your head towards him with wide eye's you give him a fearful look, "maybe!?" you didn't get a response because he had already taken off, forcing a shriek from you and your arm to hold him tighter. Heart rapidly beating as you closed your eyes shut. You try and ignore how his touch sends a tingling warmth through your whole body, how you wished he'd hold you more....

Grogu squeaks out what sounds to be a laugh, his smile and wide eye's enjoying being high up like this, but once you open your eye's and look down, you knew you'd made a mistake. "oh no, no, no, no" you muttered, burying your face in din's neck.

"don't worry, we're almost at the town, I can see it" din reassures you, although he wanted to tease and poke fun at your silly fear like you do him most time's. He would never do such a thing to you, he hated how your small whimper tumbled from your lips. Soon though, you arrived at the town and he landed, only stumbled a little.

Practically clinging to him you refuse to let go, "are we on the ground?" you murmur, Grogu making a little sad noise upon the adventure in the sky ending.

"yes, you can let go now" he pulls you off of him and backs away. You open your eyes and sigh, happy to be on the ground again. Holding Grogu with both hands now, you walk with din to town.

The place wasn't that big, but it also wasn't small. There was markets, houses and one small place that looked like a cantina. The people all wore heavy duty clothes, prepared for the cold. But you wore a flimsy old t-shirt and cargo pants. You shiver while walking behind din, people giving you looks.

Din finally comes across a large building, entering the building you sigh at the slight warmth it provides. The room was near empty besides a fireplace and two chairs, a large door by the left wall. Behind a counter a older woman worked, Grey hair and aged face. She gives you and din a kind smile.

"hello! Are you looking to rent a room?" she asks. Din leans on the counter and nods.

"two rooms" he spoke with his stoic tone, the modulater making his voice sound deeper, more intimidating.

"I'm afraid there is only one room... We've gotten a lot of traveler's this week" the older woman said, watching how din sighs and his shoulders slump.

Were you really that annoying to be around? You shake the thought away and sigh, looking down at Grogu who let's his gaze flicker across the room curiously.

"I guess we'll take that one then" he huffed while sliding some credits across the table, soon taking the card to enter the room he just bought for the night.

He walks over to the door you spotted earlier and opens it with a swip of the card, leading you to a hallway full of various other doors. Following him he stops in front of a certain one, swiping the card as the whoosh was heard and the door slides open.

He sighs and flips the lights on, stopping instantly. His abrupt stop makes you walk into his back. "owe! You nearly made me fall" you snap and walk beside him, "why did you stop all the su -

"there's only one bed?" he spoke as if someone had just slapped him across the face, you look up and noticed that there was indeed, one bed.

"I can always sleep in the floor" you shrug and set Grogu down, letting him explore the room. He instantly crawls in bed though. "not anything new" you flash him a sarcastic smile. Referring to how din made you sleep in the floor of the crest during your early days of knowing him. Finally though he noticed how stiff and in pain you was and bought you a small cot to keep in the cargo area of the crest.

"I can take the floor, you sleep in the bed" he starts taking his cape from Grogu, tucking him into the large bed fit for almost three people as he folds the fabric up and sits in the floor.

Scoffing you stand before him with a hand on your hip, "like hell I'm letting you sleep in the floor, we can both obviously fit in the bed" you point out, not having a problem with sharing the bed with him. Not one problem at all in fact.

"like hell I'm sleeping beside you" he retorts coldly, his words striking you hard as your face fell. Turning away from him so he doesn't see his words sting, you shrug.

"I for one don't have a problem with sharing a bed, but if you want you're back hurting you tomorrow that's fine by me" you crawl into the bed after kicking your boots off, Grogu fast asleep already. Once under the covers you turn your back toward din.

Why he hated you so much was beyond you, but alas, he hates you.

You try and not let it bother you, but after a few minutes of silence you turn on your side to face him again. He wore his beskar still, it had to be uncomfortable. "do you always sleep in the armor?" you mutter while hoping he wasn't asleep.

"only whenever people are around" he grumbled while his visor falls on you. You knew he refused to show his face, something you always respected, but you hated for him to sleep uncomfortably because you....

"you can take it off din and sleep in the bed... I know how you're back hurts you, you old man" you joke lightly, knowing he was older then you. And although he hated how you always cracked jokes either with him or about him, he knew it was harmless teasing. So.... He sighs and stands up.

"I'm leaving the helmet on" he grunts while slowly taking his beskar off, gently setting it down neatly. You watch with a adoring look, mind to tired to realize you was doing so, but din saw it. The sight of your dazzling eyes practically glued to him making his face flush in a beautiful shade of red. But thank the maker beyond that he wore a helmet to hide it.

"okay but if you ever decide it's uncomfortable to sleep in you can trust me enough to take it off....I'd never look at you without it on y'know" you say while he now stood in his underclothes. A long sleeved black sweater and heavy duty pants. Taking his gloves off your eyes are met with the familiar tanned skin you loved, having seen his abdomen and arms bare before do to attending his wounds countless times. It seemed he wasn't only reckless when flying the razor crest, but aslo fighting a bounty apparently.

Din slowly walks shuffles over to the bed, almost shyly. Waiting for you to scoot to the other side. You do so after scooping Grogu up, being sure not to wake him as you placed him in the middle of the bed, him snuggling up to you in his sleep. Din crawls in bed shortly and makes himself comfortable under the covers, laid out on his back. His head though turns toward you.

"I know I can trust you, you haven't given me reason not to.... I just - I don't want to risk taking it off" he stuttered, you could easily detect he was indeed nervous. But why? You was determined to find out.

"I understand, I'm not pressuring you into taking it off" you giggle, subconsciously stroking Grogu's little hand.

"I know...." he whispers, his visor still on you as you looked at him with soft eye's. "I'm sorry if I've ever been... Harsh with you" he forced the words out, eye's locked on your own, the y/e/c eye's he'd always find himself lost in....

You was speechless, didn't know how to respond to his abrupt apology. It was unexpected, here you thought he hated you, found you to be nothing to him but a medic, mechanic, and caretaker for Grogu. Whereas you saw din as a friend, someone to rely on, someone to talk to whenever need be. Sure you teased him a lot and made some jokes up about little things he does, like being a big softie or cute when he plays with Grogu. You never meant no harm, but din always made it out that way, pushing you away or making harsh remarks whenever you had done so....

Blinking at him you let a soft grin tug at your lips, "you don't have to apologize, I know I'm a little irritating and a pain in the ass to be around" you shrug and look down at Grogu, heart full of love at the sight of his peaceful slumber.

"you're not that bad... Maybe a little bit of a pain in the ass" although he was hidden by the helmet, you could hear the smile in his voice. You chuckle quietly and look back up at him.

"you're something else din..." you whisper do to Grogu shifting around, rolling over towards din. His heart swells at how Grogu laid his little hand on his bicep, a smile on the little one's face as he slept.

"is that a good thing or bad thing?" din spoke just as quiet as you did, modulater making his voice even deeper as he whispers, a husky sound you found yourself hanging onto with a undeniable yearning. How you wish you could hear it without the helmet....

"it's a good thing, definitely a good thing" you smile up at him, the sight enough to make his heart flutter wildy. "you big softie" you murmur, unable to stop yourself from letting the words roll off your tongue.

"I'm not a softie, I'm a bounty hunter" he knew you didn't mean anything bad by the nickname you've given him. But he couldn't help the way it sometimes irked him, why? He didn't know. Because sometimes he saw what you meant when you called him a softie, deep down inside he knew it was slightly true.

"to the galaxy yes, but to him... You're a softie. You spoil him rotten din!" you laugh a little loudly but managed to stifle them. "you treat him as if he's the most fragile, precious cargo to ever be created, you always buy him little things whenever you come back from hunts, and you always let him cuddle you" you grin at him with so much fondness din's heart nearly beats out of his chest with how gorgeous you are, glowing with joy, smile as bright as any star he's ever seen. "you're a softie, no denying it"

"and you are definitely a pain in the ass" he chuckles and shakes his head, visor still looking over at you as he laid on his back. "but even though you can really get on my nerves...i do have a soft spot for you" he confessed, nervous all the sudden as his hands fiddle with the end of his long sleeve shirt.

The smile on your face widens into one of pure happiness, eye's staring at din with love. He knew you was fond of him, and he was quite smitten with you, but he was afraid.... Afraid of losing you, afraid of watching you leave him in more ways then one.

But he was done being afraid, he couldn't live another day without holding you close, staring into those eyes of yours he adores. He wanted to hold you forever, kiss you until his lungs beg him for air, love you for as long as you or the galaxy will let him. Because din djarin was didn't want to spend another day without doing any of these things again.

"I love you" he blurts out, desperately. His voice holding nothing but truth, he sits up in the bed, careful not to wake Grogu as he does so, back pressed against the headboard while he only looks down at you with love. "I - I love you so much...." his voice cracks at the end as he stuttered.

You sit up fast, smile morphing into a more dazed gap, like a fish who was taken out of water. "din... I love you too. I've -

"Im so sorry I pushed you away and would always give you the cold shoulder but dank farrik y/n I can't go another day without saying it.... I love you" he rushed out, cutting your words off.

Tears fill your eye's, ones of joy, happiness. Heart overflowing with love for him. You smile so wide it hurts as you can see how nervous he has become. You gently grab his hand to stop his fidgeting, placing a kiss to each of his fingers. The act sends electricity through his veins, warmth over his whole being as his heart swells at the softness of your lips against his skin.

"I love you din... I always have, ever since you had asked me to work for you, I love you so damn much" you laugh breathlessly, tears threatening to fall.

"you and him" he nods down at Grogu, "are the only things in this galaxy that mean more to me then anyone could ever know...." he muttered, taking his hand out of your own, your eye's widen as you see him place both hands on his helmet, ready to take it off. Upon reflex, you screw your eyes shut, making din feel a wave of affection wash over him knowing you had so much respect for him. "open you're eye's" he said, but it sounded so much more different, much more richer and real.

Reluctantly, you open your eye's. Heart skipping a beat at the sight before you, two brown eye's full of love staring back at you, glossy. His dark hair a mess as his scruffy face was one purely adorable, handsome nose and charming jaw. Maker was din djarin a beautiful, handsome man. You slowly crawl more towards him, sitting in his lap, being sure not to disturb Grogu as you gently trace every detail of his face, starting at the few lines on his forehead, down his gorgeous nose, giggling once you find your fingertips brush against his mustache. He smiles, revealing his dimples. You smile up into his brown eyes and can't resist anymore.

You press a firm but gentle kiss on his lips, soft and warm as you always imagined them to be. Your palms press flush against his cheeks, scruffy little patches of hair tickling them. Din's hand lands on the nape of your neck as his other finds purchase on your hip. His eyes fluttering shut as his nose bumbs against yours. This kiss was perfect, as if it was the seal to your and his fate. You never wanted to live without him by your side. Hesitantly, you pull away from his soft lips, giggling whenever he chases your own.

"you are the most handsome man in the galaxy din" you breathlessly say, his eye's sparkling. It's then you noticed the golden specks, amber swirls amongst the brown of his gorgeous eyes

"I'm not much of a sight cyar'ika" he strokes your cheek with his thumb, so much affection swimming in his eye's. His soft smile bringing out his dimples again, he was truly something special....

"you're more then a sight din... You're more beautiful then anything else in the galaxy" you say, running a hand through his hair, fingers lightly scratching at his scalp. He relaxes with a content sigh.

"you're the beautiful one here" he smiles up at you adorably, your heart fluttering. You lean your forehead on his and grin. "i love you..." he whispers in his husky deep voice you couldn't ever tire of.

"I love you more" you say back while placing a kiss atop his nose. He scrunched his face up and chuckles at you, the sound even more beautiful now that it came out natural. "but we better get sleep since I've got a long day of mechanic work tomorrow, because a certain brown eyed beauty is a reckless flyer" you poke his cheek while crawling out of his lap, crawling back into your spot in the bed.

Din scoffs before scooting closer, his forehead nearly touching yours now as you both placed your hands on Grogu gently. "I'm a good pilot, you have to admit it" he grins at you, loving how you roll your eye's at him.

"I know you're a good pilot, but you're reckless din... No denying it" you kiss his nose again making him sigh dreamily, "I love you're nose..." you yawn, smiling at him afterwards with a sleepy grin.

"I've noticed, if you don't stop kissing it I'm gonna put the helmet back on" he jokes while he yawns himself now, eye's drooping as sleep crept up on him slowly.

"oh, do you want me to stop kissing you?" you say with your usual teasing tone.

"no! I'm not saying that" he instantly said, almost to loud. You laugh at his reaction and shake your head.

"I was joking din... I'd never stop kissing you" you peck his lips, pulling away to quick for his liking. But he watches as your eyes slowly flutter shut, no matter how hard you tried to keep them open.

This was exactly what din wanted, his little family in his arms. He smiles down at Grogu who snores lightly and then looks to you, who slept peacefully now. He was beyond lucky to have both of you, and he'd do whatever it takes to keep you both safe, because he loved you both more then anyone would ever know...

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razrbladekiss · 3 years

Text

Tyrants | Chapter Three - Presage

WORD COUNT: 2.4k

WARNINGS: Brief mentions of Wendy’s drug use. Nothing explicitly *bad* goes on here, just some of the usual SOA shit is hinted at. :) Tig <3

MASTERLIST

Ninety degrees was horrendous. Ninety-six degrees saw Isla spiraling toward a fully-fledged mental breakdown, desperate to climb out of her own fucking flesh and melt into the parking lot outside of St. Thomas.

Seeing the Sons sporting leathers, hoodies, and long-sleeved shirts underneath their cuts made her skin crawl, too.

She'd thrown on the flounciest summer dress she owned, thin and wispy, and she was still roasting to death underneath the Californian sunshine.

It felt like they were living in the fucking ass-crack of hell.

Though, with their current state and Charming's infestation of ATF and other federal agents, hell wasn't too far off the mark.

"Thanks for the ride." Isla expressed her gratitude as she slid off of the back of Tig's bike, pulling the helmet away from loose blonde curls.

"No problem, baby--you good to get home, yeah?"

"Yeah. I'm meeting Gem here, so she'll take me back to T M in time to pick my car up," she confirmed, readjusting herself.

She couldn't risk Tig Trager getting an eyeful of her asscheeks today. Not again, anyway.

"Perfect. See 'ya later, beautiful." Isla leaned in for him to peck her cheek--which was habitual for the pair--and she did the same.

Her smile was wide. She was beaming. "Bye, Tiggy. I love you."

"Love you too, kid." He reciprocated the smile, squeezing her hand as she broke away and padded toward the steps, brushing her fingers through wind-tousled strands.

Things were, for the first time in about a week, finally looking up. Resuming a sense of normality, perhaps.

She and Trager had been on precarious terms since that day, and had been avoiding one another altogether. Which, for them, was strange.

Days went by without even so much as a word being uttered between the pair, no backhanded comments, or even sideways glances.

Usually, they'd be bickering like kids, arguing nonsensically until Clay or Chibs broke them apart--but it was all just their little bit of fun. Because they bounced off of one another.

They lauded the relationship they shared because, really, it was one of the strongest.

He'd been her official favorite since the very day that they met--he and Bobby were the two she liked to talk to whenever she felt that she couldn't confide in her father.

But the last few days were so fucking hard. She was struggling with the weight of all that she did, coupled with the stress of not being able to discern Tig's current feelings on her.

And after she'd lashed out, had bitched at him for no fucking reason, she was pretty certain that Tiggy didn't want to know anymore.

That was thrown out of the window this morning, however, when Isla's clutch blew out, and she needed a ride from the garage to the hospital to see Abel.

Of course Tig was there for her. He always would be.

"Hey." Isla spoke softly as she held the little blue bear close to her chest. "I stopped by the gift shop on the way up here--Jax said he's already got bears and balloons comin' outta his ass, so I thought what's one more?"

Gemma couldn't help but smile, gesturing for the blonde to sit with her opposite Abel's isolette.

"He'll love you for it," she joked, though she knew that she was appreciative. For her company more so the stuffed animal.

With their commitment to the club and the current battle against the ATF, Jax and Clay weren't as hands on as what they usually would've liked.

Of course, Teller was at that baby's side whenever he got the chance to break away from SAMCRO, but he wanted more. He wanted the satisfaction of knowing that his little boy was being provided with the best possible care at St. Thomas.

And he was. He absolutely was. But he needed to know--for his own peace of mind, he needed to see that. So, his mother was there every waking fucking moment, giving him that love he could only get from his Grandma.

"How's he doing?" Her query was braided around a whisper, worried she'd disturb Abel's peaceful rest. "Jax said he should be coming home soon."

Gemma simply affirmed with a nod, gazing affectionately at her grandson.

It was heartwarming to see so much love, so much adoration from a woman who had a reputation for being a fucking cunt--thus proving that Gemma's main priority was her family, and their health and happiness.

That, somehow, made Isla love her even more than what she already did.

It also made her a tad jealous of Jax and the fact that he still had his mother in his life.

"He's gettin' stronger and stronger everyday. Tara said he'll be set to leave Friday--"

"Tara?" Her brow lifted as she put the bear amongst the pile of gifts. "I thought she was a doctor, I didn't think she had anything to do with the babies?"

Gemma's smile faltered a little. "She's a pediatric surgeon. Been takin' care of Abel since the start."

"Oh."

Now, she would've known that if she'd taken the time to visit her best friend's kid since he was born. But she hadn't--she hadn't even considered taking a trip over to St. Thomas to check in on Jax's baby.

And it was for the simple fucking reason that she couldn't bear the thought of facing Wendy and having to be nice to her. Especially after what she fucking did to that poor little boy.

She subsequently landed her own flesh and blood in the hospital after shooting heroin while pregnant? And she wanted Jax to pardon her for it?

Isla wasn't a hateful person, she didn't care about what people did in their spare time because that was their time.

But the moment an innocent person was harmed due to the carelessness of others...That was when she felt a scathing animosity.

"She's good with him." Gemma stated bitterly, snapping Isla from her ire-fueled daydream. "Kills me to say it, but she's a gem. A real fuckin' star."

"I'd bet. She was always good with kids."

"Yeah?" Suddenly interested, the older woman crossed over her arms. "Who's kids?"

Finally, Isla took a seat beside her on top of plush blue leather.

"A few of the girls we were in high school with had kids pretty young and Tara was usually super keen to hold them, or just hang out at their places whenever we weren't at school. Or it could've just been the wannabe doctor in her, now that I think about it."

"She's pretty maternal," Isla hummed in agreement, "but I'm glad she and Jax never had kids when you were teenagers--I don't know how that would've looked for him."

Suddenly, she was staring at Gemma like she had two fucking heads.

"I don't trust her." She elaborated, drawing another confused glance from Isla. "She and Jax would have been a fucking disaster had she stayed--"

"And things worked out so much better with Wendy?" A little more vehemently than intended, the blonde asked.

Now Gemma was the one shooting dirty looks.

"Look, Gem, I'm just saying. Jax and Tara are history now, yeah? You don't have to trust her. Just thank her for what she's doing for your grandson because when he's outta this place, you won't need to worry about her."

"And you're so sure about that, huh?" Skeptically, she asked. Arms folded over. "You know what they're like--like two fucking magnets or something. They always find a way back to one another."

That line gutted her.

It hurt her--it was agonizing--but she wasn't sure why she was so beaten by it. Because it was the truth, wasn't it?

Tara and Jax were, at one point, the strongest couple she'd ever known, and when it fizzled out he was fucking broken. She hadn't seen him so downtrodden since JT had passed, and he was suddenly left without the strength and guidance of his father.

She was his everything. Isla was a fool to think he'd be able to see her back in Charming and not feel something for her. His first love.

"I think we should throw Abel a homecoming party on Friday--if he's coming home then, that is." Gemma shifted the topic of conversation, getting to her feet.

"Absolutely. I'll help."

"Yeah?" She asked a little doubtingly, reaching over to pick Abel up. "You don't have to--I know you work Friday's."

Isla waved her off, standing beside the brunette. "I do, but it's no bother. If everyone's gonna be there, then I wanna show my face too. Offer a helping hand of some sort."

"Alright, perfect," Gem stated softly, holding the baby close to her chest. "When we get back to T M, we can figure out what we need to get."

"Sounds like a plan--" Isla was cut off by a soft knocking at the door, irritating her a little bit because she'd only just gotten there and hated the idea of having to leave already.

She made a mental note to stop by a little earlier tomorrow.

"Hey, sorry to bother you--" Tara stopped herself when she needed her estranged friend, almost dropping the clipboard she was holding against her chest.

Isla Telford was the last fucking person she expected to see today.

"Hey," with a fake smile, she greeted.

The tension was palpable.

Gemma felt the irritation washing over her favorite of the duo, urging her to turn her attention back toward her grandson before she said anything to worsen the situation.

Because she would've.

"Uh, I've gotta run a few tests on Abel before we determine that he'll be ready to leave this week, if that's alright?" Tara gestured to Gemma, ignoring Isla's presence.

That stung a little bit.

"Yeah. It's fine." The response was blunt. Terse, to a point.

"Great."

Isla realized that she wasn't wanted in that space any longer. She grabbed her purse, turning toward the door. "I'll meet you outside."

"Yeah, alright," Gemma put the baby back into his crib, smiling at Isla. "You want my keys?"

"I'll wait on the steps--I'm gonna smoke--"

"Before you go," Tara cut in. She cleared her throat, trying to smile--but she just couldn't.

Telford sensed where it was going, however. There wasn't a reason for her to stop Isla in her tracks, in front of Gemma no less.

She wondered how long it'd take for it to be brought up.

"Thanks."

Gratitude genuinely swept over the doctor, letting Isla know she was truthful in her acknowledgment--or, was it more like a form of praise? Because Jax definitely told Tara what they both did for her, and she was astounded that the woman would even float the idea of helping out.

It was a strange notion. To know what she did--when she looked and acted like that--was fucking weird. And nobody would've believed her if she said that Isla helped to dispose of a dead body, which did make her laugh a little.

She knew how to hold, load, and fire a pistol, but she wasn't capable of committing the unspeakable the same way that Jax, or Chibs, or Clay were capable of it.

But she was slowly earning her title as 'Daughter of Sgt. At Arms/ Man of Mayhem.' And she wasn't sure how she liked that.

"You're welcome," she spoke plainly. "Hope everything is alright now, Tara."

"It is."

"Good." Her retort was immediate, laced with that same genuineness the other woman expressed. "You free this coming friday?"

Hesitantly, she nodded.

"If all goes to plan--and Abel is good to come home--we're gonna throw a little party for the boy," Gemma confirmed with a nod. "You wanna swing by? Everyone'll be there--Donna, Ope, their kids, Wendy, the rest of the Sons. You should come. It'll be nice for everyone to see 'ya again."

Wendy's name falling from those pink lips, in such a positive light, maimed Isla. She and Jax were starting to get along a little bit better now, but she was still wary of that woman.

"Yeah. It'll be great," the older woman added.

Tara felt cornered. She knew that she wasn't really wanted, and she also knew that was a way for Isla and her menopausal best friend--old enough to be her fuckin' mom--to keep the doctor as close as possible without explicitly saying that they wanted to keep an eye on her.

"Sure. I'll stop by."

"Brilliant." Gemma conceded, slipping past the pair. "Address hasn't changed, sweetheart."

It was passive aggressive, sickly-sweet, and it was Gemma to a fucking T. The woman was loathing every second she had to spend with Tara Knowles and she wasn't even trying to hide it.

But it didn't have to be for very long, she thought.

"What was that all about? Why'd she thank you?" Gem queried as they got outside, passing the lighter to her left.

"For not breaking her fucking neck when I had the chance to all those years ago, probably."

Isla sparked her cigarette, pacing alongside her as they headed toward the car.

"That's bullshit."

"How so?"

"Just is." She could read Chibs's little girl like a fucking book. "But I won't press--if it's something between you and Tara, I don't care to hear. Just lemme know if it goes south. I can put a bullet in her for you, baby."

Isla would've laughed had she not known that Gemma was deadly fucking serious about blowing Tara's brains out.

But it was a relief. For her to give it up just like that--uncharacteristically so--was a kind of relief that she never thought she'd feel from Gemma Teller.

She was used to being protected. Used to being viewed as the one that needed to be shielded from the horrors that shrouded the Sons. But Isla wasn't innocent, nor was she fucking stupid.

The security was appreciated, however. Because, lately, things just didn't seem to be going too great for her.

And, if she'd learned anything, they'd only worsen from here on out.

"You don't have to go full mama bear mode, Gem. I'm a big girl."

She laughed, turning to face Isla.

"I know," smoke blew from her nose, "but you've gotta protect the ones you wanna keep close, y'know? The ones you love."

The tip of Gemma's boot pulverized her cigarette into the sidewalk as she fished for the car keys, avoiding eye contact all together.

"I haven't been able to protect everyone I've wanted to from the shit that goes on in this town, honey, but I'm really tryin'. And I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you or my boy."

#tig trager #tig trager fic #tig trager fanfiction #sons of anarchy fic #sons of anarchy fanfiction #sons of anarchy fandom #jax teller x oc #sons of anarchy #jax teller fanfiction #jax teller

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k-s-morgan · 3 years

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Hi! This isn’t an ask, but more of a rambling that I deemed too long for the comments, that stems from your post claiming Book of Circus as your favourite Black Butler episodes. and to that I say - YES. Book of Murder is a masterpiece. It houses one of my favourite scenes - the one where Sebastian says: "This wasn't a scenario decided by God or fate, but one decided on by my master, with timing decided by my master. I was killed by the criminal expected by my master, by the Hione who came to torment my master", which really captures the essence of whole 'Ciel vs God' dynamic that's woven into the duration of the show.

Throughout the plot, there are three major instances in which an offering is made to Ciel - offerings of redemption. The first is from Angela - a chance to purify himself and have an afterlife - which he so vehemently rejects in the knowledge that he quite literally *is* his darkness, and therefore refuses to rid himself of it.

The second is comes from Abberline in his death, where in his final words he tells Ciel he has a chance to take back his future. And Ciel has to watch him die with the knowledge that he has already made up his mind about his fate. I don't think he's so affected because he regrets selling his soul. I don't think he suddenly wants to live, or no longer wishes for revenge. But I believe the reason he is so affected by Abberline's death is because he holds a sentimentality for him that is not dissimilar to the one he feels for Elizabeth. Ciel is cruel, I don't think he regrets the steps he has taken to get to this point, nor the ones he knows he must take in the future. But though he is cruel, I believe he has a sort of fond curiosity for the untainted goodness that characterises those like Abberline and Elizabeth. Like you said before, he feels condescension towards the man perhaps due to the naivety his blind heroism implies, but I think his attachments to him come from an underlying curiosity to see if such goodness can exist in such a corrupted world - a silent hope to be proven wrong in his cynicism. When Abberline dies, that very hope he didn't even know he had gets shattered. It brings about a sort of forced perspective that makes Ciel question himself in ways we haven't seen before.

Abberline's death had been avoidable and it was certainly in vain. Abberline had died for someone who had already made up his mind - someone who had rejected God once before and would do it time and time again as proven in the anime. Ciel is such an interesting character because, although he is dark, he still values the light and makes some sort of effort to preserve it in spite of the contempt he feels for them. It is the thought of dying in vain that seems to bother him so greatly, not death itself. No, Abberline dying isn't enough for him to want to live again, or to even think about throwing away his revenge - that was never in question. But it is enough to extinguish the lingering flicker of hope he had for humanity (despite being so distanced from term himself).

This, combined with the disappointment he feels at Sebastian's actions, causes the existential haze of uncertainty that leads to the third and final offering. And the most surprising thing is that this offering comes from Sebastian himself. He senses the doubt in Ciel and, like every thought the boy experiences, fails to understand it. He mistakes it for him second-guessing his revenge and decides to discontinue their contract. But he isn't angry - that much is clear. Instead, he wishes him to "forget everything and have pleasant dreams", with a rather wistful expression on his face. What this line ends up reading as is a bittersweet goodbye from the demon - an offering for Ciel to let go of his revenge and find happiness in the afterlife with his now soon approaching death. There is almost a strong disappointment in him, but is not resentful of it - Ciel is human and he can't keep expecting him not to be. His offering almost acts as a thank you for the moments of excitement their contract had given his monotone life and I believe that is why he makes it.

He sticks around to see if Ciel accepts his offer, though already expecting him to, and is there to witness the very moment the boy rejects it. Gone is the uncertainty of Abberline's death and the Paris crisis, and Ciel, the Earl of Phantomhive, returns to him - sharper, colder, more ruthless than ever. Sebastian realises his misjudgement and returns to his side, ready for the final battle. Killing an angel. It's laughably symbolic.

The rejections of God, the evasion of the Hope Diamond's curse (where he even wore two rings as if to taunt the fates), the references in Book of Murder - they all depict this metaphorical sort of battle between Ciel and God. And the ending of Kuroshitsuji II is the depicts how he triumphs over fate, claiming his rightful place as an immortalised creature of Hell.

I know I've gone on a bit of a tangent here in your inbox, but that one quote from Book of Murder is so symbolic to me in the way it sets up the comparison between Ciel and God (in which 'God' represents power over fate).

Before I sign off, though, I just want to make light of the existence of the show's final offering, occurring in the last few minutes of the series. This last offering has nothing too do with God, nothing to do with any complex battle between the Phantomhive and fate, but is much simpler than that. In fact, the final offering of the show comes from Ciel, and he gives it to Sebastian - it's almost poetic, is it not?

"Are you sure you don't want to pull it any tighter?"

In this single, unassuming line, Ciel is asking Sebastian if he wants to kill him, and release himself from the eternal contract they've found themselves in. Such a noble and dignified soul as Ciel would always be sure to make through on his word and, despite the loophole that now extends their contract, he would still be willing to let Sebastian kill him should he wish to do so. The man may no longer be able to take his soul, but the boy can still give the order to kill him and free himself. Ciel's respect for Sebastian is complex and contradictory at times, but what never changes is his willingness to die by his hands and see through to his side of the contract.

“Is it over? The one who plunged me into bottomless darkness… I don’t even know why she did it.”

In the episode where Angela is crushed by the Church, Ciel offers his soul to Sebastian. Even when unsatisfied with the result, his unwavering nobility led him to make good on their deal and fulfil his end of the contract. The earl faced the demon, his expression calm, and with a steady voice said “A promise is a promise. Take it.”

This unwavering dignity and nobility he holds in himself I believe is the reason for this offering and Sebastian's turn to reject it is almost a 'love confession' (as you have brought me to see it) in itself.

As a final sort of note - I just wanted to let you know that, since reading your reply to my comment on TGSTLTH (from a while ago), I brought myself to rewatch Kuroshitsuji II with your interpretation in mind and ended up really enjoying it. You've singlehandedly made me do a complete 180 on a season I previously hated - looks like I had just watched it from the wrong perspective. So, for that, I thank you

Hey! Sorry for getting to your ask just now. I absolutely loved it :D And yes, Book of Murder is a masterpiece - I still remember watching it for the first time. It was late at night, I had to go to bed, everyone was sleeping, but I kept watching because stopping just wasn't an option, I had to know what happened next.

Ciel vs God is such an interesting topic. In some ways, Ciel and Sebastian exist in their own universe where there is no place for anyone else. There is a God aka Ciel and a demon aka Sebastian. And they are both allies and adversaries at the same time - they are tormenting each other and uniting to torment others.

I agree absolutely that Ciel holds a fondness for certain people, with Lizzy and Abberline being a good example. He has a degree of contempt and irritation for them, but they do mean something to him. Ciel's curiosity is a big and detached thing, and this places him on Sebastian's level in such an interesting way because sometimes it's almost like Ciel isn't human himself - humanity intrigues him as if he doesn't belong to it. His fascination with the light just underlines his affinity with the darkness.

I have many thoughts about Ciel's behavior during the days following Abberline's death, and you certainly introduced many excellent points! My general opinion on Ciel's motives is... complicated. I agree that he never felt like really giving up his revenge and trying to live a 'happy' life - he knew it's not for him at that stage already. However, I feel like Abberline's parting words affected him a lot, even if briefly. When Abberline tells him that he can start everything from the beginning, Ciel sounds absolutely heartbroken when he confesses, "I don't have a future." The way he acts later, telling Sebastian to stop and not kill the angel, hesitating, reinforces this idea to me. I think you described it best - Ciel is having an existential crisis. It's not like he suddenly regrets his decisions, but he's temporary unanchored and unsure what he wants and what he should do. Having a dream where Abberline urges him to give up his hatred also seems to affect Ciel, but it's so telling that he wakes up and immediately says, "Sebastian." It's a fascinating arc and I can't wait to explore it.

I love your words about three offerings - so true. And I'm so happy you liked S2 when watching it from a new perspective! I used to be so confused as to why people hated it: it's not perfect, but I thought it was amazing in many ways, especially its bittersweet ending.

#black butler #sebaciel #ciel phantomhive #sebastian michaelis #my fics

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