#but if i think too much about how many people died as a direct result of his actions its just. oof.

[brother-emperors]

I love your Iliad fanarts 😳 they are do thoughtful and symbolic it captures the story perfectly. Have you considered making comic about the Peloponnese war?

thank you so much! and yes and no re: the Peloponnesian war. There's two separate 10-30 page comic scripts that I've written, and a half finished comic about Alcibiades, and something else about the horrifying nature of Sparta, but both of them are missing something for me to sink my teeth into, so I'm not really inclined to finish them right now.

also I'd have to do a lot of research on military equipment and boats to finish any of it and I just. eurghh. I just finished looking up boats for the Cassius comic, and I'm pretty sure all of that information slid right off of me like water on a smooth rock.

#the alcibiades one is interesting but it put me in a bad mood the last time i worked on it #cause hes kind of like this plague allegory. theres a book about the war called the plague of war. and a different book #that discusses how plagues cross boundaries and lines. and its all very alcibiades #but if i think too much about how many people died as a direct result of his actions its just. oof. #ask tag

[pollyanna-nana]

One of the most tragic and compelling aspects of Dunmeshi, to me, is that we’ll probably never know (unless Kui tells us lol) how Delgal actually felt about Thistle. I’ve seen people say that he genuinely cared for him as a brother and his journey to the surface was to save him from his madness as much as it was his people. I’ve seen people say that he saw Thistle as nothing more than a fancy accessory or tool that ended up going astray. Others I’ve seen (and personally agree with) say that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But honestly, I think any one of these interpretations has the potential to be correct… and that’s just heartbreaking.

After all, Delgal is dead. Like, dead-dead. The very first chapter of the manga starts with his spirit leaving this mortal coil, taking that answer with him. And…

How he talks about Thistle here… it’s interesting. He does not ask for him to be talked down, or captured or imprisoned, but instead “defeated”. Which Mithrun interprets as asking for his death… which is reasonable, because that’s likely how the vast majority of adventurers interpreted his words, too. Obviously as he was crumbling to dust he probably didn’t have the capacity to be particularly verbose or explain the complex backstory to how the kingdom ended up this way, but the effect is the same no matter how he may have felt with it. He asked for Thistle to be killed.

But… even in situations where he wasn’t under any such time limit to explain what was going on, he still seemed not to. Most glaringly:

Yaad seemingly has no idea that it was Delgal’s fault that Thistle sought the demon’s power. Obviously he couldn’t talk to him about it because Thistle was, uh, a little out there by that point, but why didn’t Delgal explain? Was he embarrassed? Mournful? Couldn’t find the words?

Delgal was scared of dying. He wanted prosperity at any cost, and how could Thistle possibly refuse? Did he even realize that what he was the one who pushed his own brother— One who basically helped raise him despite being a child himself, and in many ways is still a child— down this path? Or was it like watching an overzealous employee misinterpret directions?

The way Yaad describes things here makes it sound like Thistle simply dug too deep in his studies and fell into madness, but we know that’s not true. Delgal didn’t “suggest” he learn magic, he wanted a mage who could help himself and his people defy death, which he admits to Thistle openly:

So, why? Why not tell his grandson, at least, the truth of the matter? Did he worry it might make the remaining residents more likely to upset Thistle, and therefore suffer the consequences? Did he just not care? For what it’s worth though, Yaad does suspect the truth from Delgal’s behavior.

He “always blamed himself” for his descent into the dark arts. This is just Yaad’s observation, and that’s without knowing that it was quite literally Delgal’s fault Thistle went down this path. So, why? Why was it all kept a secret?

Of course, this made things ripe for the winged lion to manipulate to its advantage. Clearly despite knowing he’d pushed him into using it, Delgal still thought the lion was a force of good that was misused by Thistle as a result of his madness. His face in that last panel is particularly haunting. He looks terrible, gaunt and pale with overgrown hair and missing teeth. Had he gone mad, with grief and sorrow, as well?

Could he no longer see Thistle the way he did when they were younger? No one can ask him, because he died long before the story even began.

To go back to the original question, well, how did Delgal see Thistle? None of the previous points make a definitive answer any clearer, and I think that’s just brilliant. And so, so tragic.

#polly speaks #dungeon meshi #dunmeshi #dungeon meshi spoilers #delicious in dungeon #thistle dungeon meshi #Delgal #yaad #the winged lion #thistle posting #dungeon meta #This has been stewing in my head for a while #I just. sobs. I both hate and love Delgal bc it’s so ambiguous how much he actually cared about Thistle #he definitely wronged him in any case but the severity is up in the air. and more importantly Thistle will never know either which is part #of what drove him to go so far to prove he was worthy of his family’s love and affection #aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa #ok I’m normal. I’m normal #I’m so normal #(lying) #(sorry)

[last-flight-of-fancy]

hi hello i hope you don't mind but Special Interest Infodump Mode has been activated please keep hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times-

this explanation comes to us courtesy of Dark Road! You know, that cutesy little mobile game where literally the whole cast except the two protagonists dies. This is on brand bc the explanation has it's own fridge horror levels to it if i think too hard about it tbh.

So, worlds have hearts. We've known this since KH1, seen what happens to a world that loses its heart, and how they can be affected. It's rarely been expounded on beyond that however, aside vague allusions to the titular Kingdom Hearts being/harboring the Heart of All Worlds.

(which has. other implications now that i think about it but that's stepping into theorising territory. im sorry im trying really hard to stay on track honest)

fast forward to Dark Road, where we have a bunch of kids venturing out into the worlds for the first time, and as such have to have things explained to them (and thus the audience). NOW i will note here that KH looooooves unreliable narrators and characters imparting incorrect information without knowing it, so there is always the possibility that this could later turn out to be wrong, but currently I see no reason this would be the case and thus for now i feel safe in taking their words at face value unless otherwise contradicted.

Why are there no people? Because each world is alive, and after the Keyblade War sundering THE World into MANY Worlds, each needed to recover and restore what was lost; life, time, movement.

This bit here is important, bc as a result

All of this is the direct result of the Keyblade War of old. Even after so much time, the bits of worlds are *still* recovering, and I do think there's something to be said about how like... the repition between worlds and their apparent stagnation often *stops* after Sora visits them. I don't think it's because Sora's special(tm), but rather just because of who he is; the Dark Road kids are told never to interfere, and as a result the worlds they visit that Sora also visits later are exactly the same to Sora as they were 80+ years before.

But when Sora visits the same world only a short time after his first visit, things CHANGE. Hercules' story moves forward, Simba is having a crisis about being king, Jack Skellington has learned his lesson about Christmas and is on to new shenanigans. And that's only in kh2! in kh3 we see Twilight Town fill with people, barren Olympus expands into a full town (and there's more there too with BBS and how the Wayfinder Trio may have been Olympus' start towards restoring itself completely, and Sora's later arrival more speeding things along)

my point here is *connections*, which is a consistant and overarching theme of the series. Empty worlds are baby worlds, still healing and restoring from being broken away from the rest, and what helps along that healing? Being connected to others.

Which is to say that the keyblade weilder's doctrine of 'do not interfere' while most certainly well-intentioned (as Dark Road also points out, one persons darkness is anothers light, and morality is not a solid truth across worlds, so interfering is risky at best and dangerous at worst), the flip side to this is that without being connected, without that ''interferance'', the world's restoration stagnates and struggles. It will still get there eventually (the Tangled world seems to be doing alright for example), but chances are it might've been a little easier/faster if someone had done a little interfering.

tldr keyblade war broke the worlds and reset them all to zero. As the worlds heal time stops until it's People finally pop back into existance and their stories can resume. And that's how the invisible crowds in early kh games are canon.

#I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE INFODUMP MODE IS NOT ALWAYS GOOD AT BEING CLEAR #and also i kept slipping into speculation mode #im sorry i cant help it kh does this to me #its just so juicy #stop talking to yourself flight #kingdom hearts #meta

[pynkgothicka]

Ｇｅｎｅｒａｌ Ｙａｎｄｅｒｅ ＧＯＷ Ｈｅａｄｃａｎｏｎｓ

Synopsis - Just some general Headcanons for one of my favorite game series and characters!!

Tags and Warnings - Harm Towards the Reader, that's all I got.

Authors Note - THIS IS SO CRINGE (please don't unfollow me I'm going through a phase (I'm working on BTS reqs rn I swear))

A friendly reminder that all my works are dark fanfiction! Please if you do not like that do not read them! This is your final warning before hitting the keep reading button!!

Kratos

Literally is known for killing, and will gladly do it again

Your like family to him and he's seen too many of those he considered family betray him and die

Pre Norse Kratos would be at his absolute worst peak. Any little thing would result in someone else dying.

Looked at you wrong? Cut in Half.

Someone told you something? Eyes Gouged out.

And the worst someone did to you the more serious Kratos would punish them, or really kill them.

His rage is met with something that calms him, makes him feel grounded, aka you.

But my god is he gentle with you, no matter what. He touches you almost like you'd break if he used anymore force.

Even with the little words he uses when talking to you, he truly loves and cares for you. All he wants is for that love to be recognized and given back to him.

But one thing for sure, Kratos kidnaps you. Just to keep you in his sights and a place he knows and can see you whenever

Post Norse Kratos is much more pleasant to be around. He's more stern, more calm, much more approachable, even if needing a much more deeper urge too.

Plus if your good with Atreus, that only makes things better. He sees that maternal aspect in you instantly

However no matter what he keeps is past closer off to you because he doesn't want you to think any different of him.

(HE LOVES BIG WOMEN GUYS I SAID IT. HE GOT TOO. (all his dead wives are skinny (let me be delusional)))

You yelled out running into the middle of of snow. It was freezing cold but you couldn't stop anytime soon. Or else you'd be trapped back in that house, never to see the light of day.

You heard him.

Heavy, labored breaths behind you.

You ducked down behind a rock, trying to slow your breathing. This was hopeless, but you had to Atleast try. Maybe Freya would help you or something, she does a have a thing against your captor.

“Do you wish to die out here.”

A hand went to your mouth, refusing to give in to the fear that overtook you.

“You cannot survive the cold. Come back. Do you not want to be home? With us?”

His footsteps grew louder, he knew what he was. He was intimidating, scary, deep down a killer.

And did he know how to use those aspects to his advantage.

A hand grabbed at your ankle and you were pulled up by your foot. You made direct eye contact with the wall of muscle that you'd grown to fear. His breathing was labored but he took a deep breath in, and sling you over onto his shoulder.

“We are to talk about this later. Understand?”

All you could do was sob silently and nod your head.

Freya

Man when I tell you shes reminded of what love feels like, she is reminded hard.

She's already broken, having almost everything taken away from her by Odin. But you mend those tears in her soul, binding them shut with your mere existence.

Freya would've instantly been drawn to you, seeing as all you wish to do is care for the people around you, being free from Odin's eye, as your inconsequential to him

She would grow to envy your freedom, as you traveled the realms as freely as you wished. Your absence would plague her, growing to be that without you she feels empty.

And it gets worse after Bauldur dies.

Once he's gone you flee quickly seeing what she's turned into. Fueled by rage and regret, she would have these outbursts of just heavy emotion. And so you left, avoiding Midgard at all costs.

It wouldn't be long until she finds you, being free from her curse. Freya would tackle you to the ground and capture you, vowing go nrver let you out of her sights again.

And she doesn't, she wants you to either be locked up and with her. And majoirty of the time it's with her. She wants a new spouse, someone to actually call her love and mean it.

“There you are!”

You were tackled to the ground, bound by vines that were never apart of the vegetation of the realm you called home.

The sight of a angered Freya came into view as your eyes opened. Her breathing was labored as she moved her hands, the vines still keeping you stuck. Her hands came to your cheek and you winced at her cold touch. A paled man stood over in the distance watching silently.

“Your just as beautiful as the day you left…” She mumbled to herself bringing your attention back to her. Freya's hands pressed against your cheeks as she leaned in, kissing your forehead passionately. The action almost mimicked a mother, trying to clam her new born baby.

But this wasn't the situation for that.

“Freya please we can tal-”

“So you know how much you hurt me?! You left me alone. Alone with my thoughts, I spiraled without you.” She yelled at you. This is one of the reasons you left in the first place, her mood can switch so easily. “But that's in the past, and all I care for is the future. One where you and me spend eternity together.”

Atreus (But in a platonic crushing way cause ya know he a minor)

He's crazy, literally whipped for you. He's considers you to be his best friend, and does a bunch of harmless flirting.

Of course he thinks your pretty, one of the prettiest people he's ever encountered and has he seen some things. But he knows that staying friends keeps him happier, and less stressed

Being a mortal really didn't help your case, if anything it made Atreus more protective of you and your safety.

Any situation he deemed to dangerous and unsafe for you, he'd make you stay behind (he takes after his father a lot.)

You often are the subject to which he vents too, it's rather unintentional, everything that's happened and is currently happening to him is just so stressful. And god knows he couldn't vent to his father or Sindri.

He has this thing for showing you the world through his eyes. Like he'll tell you what animals are saying and how they're just like him and you. The beauty of nature is something he just has to show you

One thing that's worrisome is how impulsive he is. He's so quick to stand his guard and protect you when it comes to you and your safety. Key example is Heimdall, in which he never liked. Atreus hates how the blonde talks to you, in fact he would immediately pull out the wolf when Heimdall even mentions you.

Off note, Atreus will bring you to Asgard with him. No matter what you say he'll want you to be there with him. His excuse is that you'd make a great duo, but in reality he doesn't want to be alone.

“What is wrong with you!? Your trying or at least considering to go to Asgard?!” You yelled once inside of Freya's abandoned house.

“Its the next best lead I have. But I need you to go with me, I can't do it alone.” Atreus said as if it was the most simple thing ever. You furrowed your brows at the half god.

“Let me break it down for you. I'm a mortal. A mortal in a realm built for gods? Yeah your fucking crazy. Oh let me add this. I'm a child, your a child, WE'RE CHILDREN!"

“I'd say young adults, shit maybe teenagers. But the thing is we have to, we have to save my dad.” Atreus tried to reason with you.

“Since when is it a WE thing? Atreus this is your prophecy not mine. Hell not even Atreus, this is Loki's prophecy."

“Wait don't go I need you!”

“Goodbye Loki.”

“No!” He yelled before shooting a arrow at your arm, cut forming at your forearm. You hissed out and grabbed at the wound, the cold hitting your blood. “Your not going anywhere hurt like that. Step out there and the cold will infect the wound. If you come with me, Odin can heal you.”

“I'm-”

“Make a choice.”

“Fine. I'll go….”

#dark writing #tw dark content #tw yandere #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere blog #gow ragnorak #GOW #god of war #yandere kratos #yandere freya #yandere atreus #god of war ragnorak #yandere gow #yandere god of war #yandere headcanons

[greeenbeaaan]

What's your favorite scene from any season in Ninjago?

okok i have many scenes in ninjago that i just LOVE but my all time favorite scene has got to be the Oni Temple scene from season 8, episode 7. for multiple reasons:

first off the directing of that scene was phenomenal. the way the camera panned, how sometimes it hovered over the scene, the way everything flowed nicely, THE MUSIC??? I don’t know just every little detail the crew put into that scene was outstanding to me. the way the characters moved and interacted really had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Lloyd and Harumi are just two characters that every time they’re on screen together, it’s just so gripping and interesting to watch ESPECIALLY in this scene. the way she would cozy up to him and caress his cheek then BAM she’s trying to drive a knife into his side. like wow. or when the camera pans around Lloyd’s head like the gears in his head are turning as he’s piecing together the puzzle in his head about how Harumi is the Quiet One. just everything is fantastic.

the dialogue and voice acting was another thing i absolutely loved. No offense to Jillian Michaels (i love her) but i don’t think having her voice Lloyd for this season and especially this scene would have played out as well as Sam Vincent voicing him. Props to him for real, because the emotion he put into this scene was just so raw and you could really feel the heartache and anger that Lloyd was feeling. And credit doesn’t just go to Sam, it goes to Britt McKillip as well for her performance as Harumi because man- everything she said down to her little voice inflections was phenomenal. how she was able to go from this sweet and caring princess to this just evil and bloodthirsty villain was amazing. there is just so much to say about both of their performances in this scene and this season really.

AND THE MUSIC!! the way it swelled when lloyd was catching onto what was really going on. and if you notice, the music kind of backs off whenever Harumi is gaslighting him to make him believe it’s not her just for the music to kick right back in when he doesn’t fall for it and pushes her away.

i just love hearing Harumi explain all of her motivations for doing what she is doing and having the viewers sit there and be like “well shit i never thought about people dying during the Great Devourer incident” but like dude. people DIED. and we are like Lloyd, who definitely didn’t think about that either and when it hits him you can just see the range of emotions going through him. especially from something he caused (indirectly). like remember when you opened up all the Serpentine tombs? and remember how Pythor unleashed the Great Devourer? yeah people died that day. and yes we know you can’t save everyone and Harumi being a direct result of all of that was perfect.

who knew a like 6 minute scene of just two characters talking to each other could be so gripping? Sons of Garmadon is just incredible and I could talk about it for hours.

i don’t know i just really like this scene a lot and there is so much more i can say but i don’t want this ramble to be too long. long story short, i really love Sons of Garmadon and the Oni Temple scene is my absolute favorite sequence in all of Ninjago. some other favorite scenes i have are Garmadon’s sacrifice in season 4, “why would you touch the scary picture jay” “i didn’t know it would do that cole” in season 5, and literally the last 3 episodes Ninjago Seabound.

#lego ninjago #ninjago #sons of garmadon #season 8 #ninjago lloyd #ninjago harumi #lloyd garmadon #harumi jade #live laugh love harumi #lloyd garmadon needs a hug #so much appreciation for this scene fr #lord garmadon #ninjago garmadon #jay walker #ninjago jay #cole brookestone #ninjago cole #ninjago possession #ninjago tournament of elements

[misskriemhilds]

the jewishness of eternity from reverse: 1999, and why this is important to me

first and foremost: i doubt that any of the jewishness of eternity from reverse: 1999 was intentional on bluepoch's part. this is personal interpretation, and i am not trying to insinuate that it was intentional of the game developers. but nevertheless, i find eternity's character to be deeply comforting and resonant with me, specifically with regards to my own viewpoint as a young woman who is american jewish.

let us begin with her backstory:

at the end of the 19th century, torches constantly lit up the night sky of exeter, a frontier town in the usa.  the door of her store was closed. in a dimly lit room, on the shelves stood many candy jars. the last young buyer of these candies had been sent to that crowded, shabby cemetery (if you prefer to call it that) three months ago.  too many farms had been destroyed in the civil war, and plague was not the only terrible thing to develop from the ashes: fear of an unknown future also gradually turned into madness. the candies were taken down. instead, the store owners now stock their shelves with garlic necklaces and bottles of holy water.  more and more vampires were brought to trial, and the seed of suspicion grew in everyone's mind. the once-friendly residents became ruthless intruders and broke into the woman's house, despite the help she had provided them.  but they found nothing in her house. it seemed to have been long abandoned. the floor was covered with dead shellfish, under which there were marks of dried blue blood.  peace didn't come back to the town of exeter until the day when everyone heard about a disease called tuberculosis.

now, i retroactively found out that this aspect of her backstory was likely inspired by the mercy brown vampire incident, which i haven't researched all that thoroughly. what i want to emphasize in this context is that these trials in eternity's backstory were specifically a result of post-civil war paranoia causing exeter's townspeople to suspect others of being vampires causing misfortune.

it is important to stress that while not every portrayal of vampire characters in fiction are antisemitic portrayals, vampires being used as antisemitic caricatures is not uncommon. similarly, while jewish people have not necessarily been subject to the same legal discrimination or systemic oppression in the u.s. as much as other minorities (that said, it wasn't non-existent, and jewish people were definitely subject to systemic oppression and worse legal discrimination in other countries outside of the u.s.) it is not uncommon for us to be used as scapegoats when disaster strikes. that's why so many conspiracy theories have antisemitic routes; it's harder to acknowledge and analyze the complicated reasons as to why things in the world suck than it is to pin it on a more tangible scapegoat - more often than not, the jews.

i think with eternity from reverse: 1999, that definitely holds the same weight here. whether or not she is officially a vampire is a bit murky (to be honest, i'd say if she is then she's doing the vampire equivalent of keeping kosher by consuming the flesh of sea creatures, even if i'm pretty sure stuff like whales or jellyfish are officially considered treyf), but she was persecuted for being different.

in this jewish reading: it did not matter that she was one of "the good jews", it did not matter the kindness she had shown to exeter's people in the past, when their circumstances took a turn for the worse their memories of antisemitic imagery and myth they had subconsciously absorbed from all the fairytales they read flared to life and they realized how nice and easy it would be to get rid of all their problems if they directed it at the jewish woman residing in their little town.

surely, if the vampire - the witch, the jew, died - then their troubles would be gone, right?

on a broader, less concrete extent regarding eternity i'd also like to bring up her tagline when we first meet her - the one that all r:1999 characters have regarding their age and their ethnic background.

the exhibit was later displayed all over america.

i think this could definitely be a general reference to eternity's immortality. after all, if you've suddenly got all the time in the world you might as well tour your home country and hit the highlights, right?

from a jewish perspective, i think this feels very resonant with the experience of american-jewish diaspora. there are oftentimes when people like us are desperately searching for a place to call home and when we think we've found it, social antisemitism starts spiking up. we want a place to call home - not necessarily as a people, but definitely in the context of being jewish - and even in america where we've been here since its conception as a country, we're not even sure if we can find a place to call home.

and in a jewish context, eternity spends over a century in search of somewhere to call home. her traveling all across the usa takes on a more deliberate context - moving out of areas as soon as you realize maybe the spikes in antisemitism in your place of residence aren't going to pass as quickly as you'd like, and moving out as soon as you can because you have the luxury to. she looks for somewhere she can call home, but this there anywhere that can act as a true home for someone like her?

"there are no chill jews," is something we jewish people like to half-joke about from time to time; that is something that i certainly read into with eternity's voice lines. in particular: "my immortality allows me to be well-informed. no matter the dead or alive, you can have your answer from me as long as the pay is adequate. but just like anyone with a clear mind won’t touch a hot potato, i suggest you keep your little nose clean."

the reason there are no chill jews is because a lot of said "chill jews" died. as soon as our ancestors realized, "alright, people hate us and are using us as scapegoats, let's get the hell out of here" they left. that's how they survived. eternity's immortality allows her to be "well-informed", in a jewish reading, about how she is perceived as a jewish woman throughout time and across the usa. thanks to her old age, she has learned to be vigilant about this, and to keep watch so she can resume her life - maybe she'd have no reason to worry about death, being immortal, but at the same time it would be nice to just live and breathe in peace as a jewish woman. as she says in her voice line when you touch her head, "...what really matters is a good mind and a clear view of the time."

(as an aside, my dear friend @kingoffiends commented in our dms that eternity's voicelines remind him of his very frum grandmother from her phrasing and tone alone. this is only somewhat relevant but i thought i should put it here regardless.)

but not all is doom and gloom with eternity, even with the pains of immortality.

to quote rabbi lord jonathan sacks from his book studies in spirituality: "in judaism joy is the supreme religious emotion. here we are, in a world filled with beauty. every breath we breathe is the spirit of god within us. around us is the love that moves the sun and all the stars. we are here because someone wanted us to be. the soul that celebrates, sings."

where is the joy in eternity?

well, for all of the worst parts of immortality she has still been handed the opportunity to live forever. and eternity will live as happily as she will damn well please. though not all is sunshine and rainbows in her life, she delights in 29-inch crt tvs where she can wind down with a nice glass of warm milk before bed, and takes delight in the progression of technology as time has gone on. "...let's just call it a toast and watch a vampire movie in bed." if she has forever to live, then she might as well take delight in all the small joys she can find.

(while wealthy jewish people do have stereotypical or antisemitic connotations, as a jewish person i'd like to say that i'm definitely self-aware of that when approaching her character. while she is wealthy she is not malicious, and her "read the fine print" approach to the products of the sea for yourself shop seem to be more a result of playful mischief rather than any outright malice. she's got a sort of hershele of ostropol energy to her, if you will.)

all in all, it's so very jewish of her - and it's why her character, in a jewish context, is so resonant with me. there's something very comforting that this is a woman who has lived forever, longer than i have. she may not be real, but for all of the persecution and loss she has suffered throughout life, she is determined to find happiness in even the smallest things. that sort of fortitude and determination to forge her own joy is very meaningful to me as someone jewish, and it's why i approach her as being like me.

eternity may not be real - hell, she's likely not even officially intended to be jewish. but there's such a firm theme of sorrow and joy to her character in a jewish context, and to have even a fictional character who embodies those experiences of mine is why i hold her so close to my heart.

#rambling #reverse: 1999 #eternity reverse 1999 #jewish headcanons #reverse 1999 #r1999 #r:1999

[sketching-shark]

Okay so I’ve now seen multiple posts arguing about whether Clytemnestra of The Oresteia fame is one of the world’s first girlbosses or just a power-hungry monster, but personally (and keep in mind that this is my impression after just reading Agamemnon) i think there’s something more interesting and horrifying on a society-wide scale going on with her.

Because right after she murders Agamemnon and the chorus reacts by saying she’s done an “evil thing” and will “go homeless now/crushed with men’s bitterness,” she responds with:

“Now it is I you doom to be cast out from my city

with men’s hate heaped and curses roaring in my ears.

Yet look upon this dead man; you would not cross him once

when with no thought more than as if a beast had died,

when he ranged pastures swarmed with the deep fleece of flocks,

he slaughtered like a victim his own child, my pain

grown into love, to charm away with winds of Thrace.

Were you not bound to hunt him then clear of this soil

for the guilt stained upon him?

Yet you hear what I have done, and lo, you are a stern judge. But I say to you:

go on and threaten me, but know that I am ready,

if fairly you can beat me down beneath your hand,

for you to rule; but if the god grant otherwise,

you shall be taught--too late, for sure--to keep your place.”

So in other words, one of her main reasons for killing Agamemnon was for killing her daughter, but it also seems that somewhere along the way she became convinced that any claimed adherence to justice, morality, honor, and even love were complete bullshit, that the only thing which mattered was how you could wield raw power to get what you wanted. And in the context of Agamemnon, you can understand why she would come to think this. Agamemnon, after all, was a lauded king even though he had murdered his own daughter so that he could go wage war against Troy, he does in fact put this entire city to the sword (and goddamn do a lot of works go into the minute brutality of that slaughter), and his entire household runs on slavery, with him bringing back even more enslaved people from Troy. And in the eyes of their society, all of this is understood as completely fine and good, or at least something that shouldn’t be challenged.

So if Troy and its people were destroyed because Menelaus was pissed at Paris, why shouldn’t Clytemnestra kill Agamemnon because she’s pissed at him? If it’s okay for a king to spend ten years waging war, why not kill one’s husband and take his throne? If we’re working in a social system that ultimately always falls back on a “might makes right” way of organizing itself no matter how much human pain and death may be the result, why not take power however you can and then tell anyone who objects that you’ll kill them too if they step out of line? And who even has the right to act like you’re in the wrong when they made it clear they were perfectly fine with so many other atrocities?

So no, Clytemnestra is not a good person. While I haven’t read it yet, my understanding is that she acts in more and more monstrous ways throughout the other plays she’s in, even going so far as to continually abuse her surviving daughter Electra. But her individual monstrous actions also seem to be the direct result of her concluding that the fine sentiments others claim to be acting upon are nothing more than a tissue-thin veneer for their own greed and lust for power, and that she at least wasn’t going to pretend that hers weren’t.

The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragedies, but I do think it’s one that’s made even more discomfiting by the idea that this was tragedy produced just as much by the allowances of society as the individual actions of its characters.

#the oresteia #clytemnestra #agamemnon #iphigenia #house of atreus

[wuxiaphoenix]

Isekai Problems: Periodically

Sometimes we forget how many of the things we consider “old” when it comes to building our modern technology are actually very new, historically speaking. The periodic table is less than two centuries old; much less if you count from the time of some later revisions.

(I still side-eye berkelium and other short-lived radioactives. I can’t help but think that smashing things together that no sane man should smash contributed to some of the academic craziness from that direction.)

Face it. If you’re dealing with mostly natural materials and little to no access to electricity, some bits of the periodic table and its components make no sense. Consider common halite, NaCl, also known as table salt. Who in their right minds is going to believe that this pale crystal, absolutely necessary to human survival, is the product of a lethal greenish gas and a silvery metal that catches on fire in water?

Yeah, no. That makes about as much sense as mixing mercury and peach pits and coming up with an Elixir of Immortality.

Yes, I know people tried exactly that. It was a Very Bad Idea. The fact that one of these combos is valid and the other now considered base superstition is just the luck of how the physical world happens to actually work.

Sugar’s just as bad. Soot, a gas that burns, and another gas that keeps things burning, all combine to make a sweet white solid? Get outta here.

And what about air? Would any reasonable person believe that we only usefully breathe about 20% of it as oxygen; the rest (near 80% nitrogen, other trace gases) is just kind of there?

The periodic table is not intuitive. It’s the result of centuries of alchemy, chemistry, logic, the scientific method, and countless lives lost by experimenters accidentally poisoning themselves, blowing themselves up, or something else equally nasty.

(I had an Organic Chem professor who would gleefully recount how many people died from isolating fluorine gas. Organic Chem is insane.)

Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to reinvent the periodic table if they don’t have to. It’s too easy to kill yourself. Or somebody else. And yet, if you want a real Industrial Revolution, people are going to need it. So what do you do?

Well, honestly, in a lot of isekais it doesn’t come up. Worlds where magic and/or alchemy actually work already have interesting physical laws, and the modern imported character usually has to work on figuring out what they are to use them in ways the setting hasn’t thought of yet. Without killing themselves in the process.

On the other hand, if you want to write an isekai where real physics and chemistry exist, even if magic can modify them-

Then start by considering what your character might reasonably know about chemistry. And look up some compounds in history to start from. Zinc oxide as a sunscreen has been around a long time!

#creative writing #worldbuilding #chemistry #isekai

[the-clari-net]

i'll be dead before the day is done

Ao3

“Danny, aren’t you the literal Ghost King slash Prince slash whatever? Can’t you just make her go away?”

“If I could, I already would’ve,” Danny hissed back. “This isn’t fun for me to see either.”

Sam growled, as the Banshee’s weeping continued in the back of the classroom. Dash and Kwan in the back looked like they were about to pass out or deck her in the face. No one really blames them.

The Banshee coming to Amity Park was a new development for everyone. At first, she appeared as any other regular oddity that occurs in the ghostly town. A woman singing down the streets with her long dark hair covering her face in an old green dress wouldn’t arouse much suspicion in the town. That is, until she made it to the elderly care home.

Once there, the details get scrambled for everyone who heard of the incident later. Some recollect her approaching an old woman in a corner of the recreational area, another claims that they saw her approaching one of the young receptionists. Truthfully, no one knows who she was here for. And it really didn’t matter once she started screaming.

It was a terrifying yell that resulted in all nearby windows shattering, and several people fainted from the shock and pain to their ears.

In the end, two people died, both elderly. Whether it was through the shock of the woman’s scream or through natural causes, it’s hard to say.

Since then, she’s been seen around. Not often, and not for every death. Oddly enough, when investigations on the death were concluded, it resulted that she doesn’t seem to be the cause of the deaths. It’s akin to an eerie canary in mines; a warning rather than a cause. The police are in the process of figuring out her pattern and tracking her behaviors, but it’s still quite perplexing.

Phantom once tried to talk to her, but she completely ignored him, which is an odd approach for a spirit. Danny knows his role as future king in the Ghost Zone makes his presence noticeable to say the least and impossible to ignore to most ghosts. She never even glanced in his direction. He became concerned with it a week after her arrival and decided to do his own investigation on her.

He found his answer with the Ghost Writer. 

“Ahh, yes The Banshee,” Ghost Writer says to himself while moving some of his manuscripts into some infinite filing cabinet that Danny avoids looking at to prevent a headache. Too many dimensions in a tiny space is not something his human brain is capable of processing well.  

Ghost Writer continues, “She’s untamable. Think of her as a grim reaper of sorts. No one’s really been able to track down what her logic is to be quite honest. No one wants to be exposed to her wailing long enough to figure out,” he shrugged.

“So… I shouldn’t worry about her being in my town?”

“Wait, what?” Ghost Writer fumbles with his manuscripts and turns his entire focus onto Danny. “She’s in your haunt?”

Hesitantly, the boy nods.

“Well, I’ll be damned…I thought you just wanted to talk on an educational level, kid. This is more serious and bigger than I expected it to be.”

Danny scoffs a little at that, “Bigger than fighting Pariah Dark? I’m not sure I can go bigger than that. I mean, the town’s been sent to the Ghost Zone, how much worse than that could it be?”

“I’m just saying, if she’s in some place, that usually means a big death is bound to come. You might want to brace yourself.”

After that discussion, Danny stayed a bit to help with Ghost Writer’s endless organizing before heading home to think.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t given much time to think because the following day, Danny arrived at school to see the Banshee crying in his homeroom.

At this point, all Danny knows is that this Banshee has been weeping in his classroom this morning, and he’s been a nervous wreck all day. If Ghost Writer says that it’s going to be a big death, then it has to be his class that’s in danger. Danny’s not the only one struggling. The entire class has been silent, trying desperately to ignore her crying in the corner and focusing on their work. It hasn’t been very effective.

Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door. Their teacher ignores it, when suddenly the door blasts open and in enters two men in white uniforms and government issued ectoweapons.

Danny’s heart freezes. The Banshee’s weeping is becoming louder.

“Daniel James Fenton, you are to come with us immediately to be decontaminated. We have collected months’ worth of evidence, indicating that you are in danger of ectocontamination, and will be taken into custody by order of the United States Government.”

“What?! No!”

“Son, this is not a request. Our scanners are going off the charts at the amount of ectoplasm in your body. You are a danger not only to yourself but your peers.”

There’s more jargon being said but Danny can’t hear anything. Blood is thundering in his ears. His breathing is shaky, his hands have clenched, ready to fight something.

Danny can’t go, they’ll find out everything about him, they’ll try to cut him open, they’ll kill him.

“I said…no.” Danny’s eyes begin to glow green and the temperature in the room suddenly drops.

The Banshee’s crying becomes more hysterical. 

“This isn’t ectocontamination, this is body possession! Set your blaster to stun!” yells one of the agents.

A noise goes off and Danny’s body lurches back, and his vision blacks out for a moment. However once it comes back, he turns towards the agents. They’re pale, and their weapons have fallen on the ground. He then looks towards his classmates who look at him in horror.

Danny looks down where their eyes are pointing, and he sees a massive hole where his core used to be.

Oh.

Danny feels his vision dim, and his body collapses, unable to move.

The last thing he senses as he falls into oblivion are the Banshee’s screams.

#Ectoberhaunt22 #EH Order #Day 5 #Banshee #danny phantom

[sadviko-off]

1. What do they think about their home nation? How likely is it for their country to betray them?

For everyone! （。＾▽＾）/✨✨

1. What do they think about their home nation? How likely is it for their country to betray them?

SV and IL: Can we call our country a plot hole? We have a positive attitude towards our country, but there is little to say about it. It's sunny and fun, music plays often, the island of dreams. We can take a tour later.

(the chance that they will be betrayed is 0.5% due to their strange appearance, many thought that they were Satanists when they returned after building a new island, but the island knows that their lives depend on the results of the battles of these two, so everyone supports them and they love you, but if it turns out that they are involved in black trade, then the chance of betrayal will increase to 35% After all, this is still a terrible act)

Eragon: I can’t tell you all much… I value my country and would give my life for it… I don’t want to discuss it, sorry…

(the chance of being betrayed is 0% This guy loves his country, but doesn’t want to talk about it, he’s out of sorts, sorry)

Gorgon: I was born in an overly conservative country… the treatment of the people there was terrible… young people often died during spy missions… we were treated horribly… blackmailed… brainwashed… I don't remember half of my life… and I don't want to remember… this is my story old life… if it weren’t for Fluffy and SV, I would have stayed there… and maybe I would have died… My country betrayed me right after my birth… I consider Lily Island my home… I don’t want to remember this anymore…

(already betrayed by his homeland, the chance that he will be betrayed by Lily Island is 0%)

Fluffy: *took Gorgon by the paw to calm him down*

I love my country! It’s very nice and cozy there… *blushes* Everything is very unusual here////)… Living here, you won’t want to leave the country/////….

(the chance that he will be betrayed is 20%. Since he is sometimes too naive and a little stupid, the previous army took advantage of this and shamelessly used it for dirty pleasures. Later I will write in more detail about all the guys)

Sinbihan: There were no problems in my country, Fluffy and I came from the same island, but we didn’t know each other!) It’s a cool and very colorful country, I advise everyone to visit it! You will be received cordially and with joy, because you will be a long-awaited guest!) But be careful when mentioning warriors, we don’t really like this topic, but we respect soldiers and will not refuse a good-natured welcome)

(the chance of being betrayed is 60%. If they find out that he is a military man who kills victims for black sales, and is also not averse to drinking blood, this is a direct road to mistrust, the country will 100% consider such people dangerous and send him to jail. He should be careful on his missions, when he visits a country he has to hide bags of blood very well from prying eyes. Then why 60% and not 100%? He is from a rich family and it will be difficult for him to ruin his reputation in the eyes of his family and other people, they will count it gossip.)

Magnesia: Hmmm… My country?.. I love and respect it… It seems like nothing bad happened during my life… Life there has always been like a fairy tale…

(the chance of being betrayed… it’s hard to say, he is quiet and secretive, their people are good-natured, so most likely they will never betray him. This guy is not a wordy)

------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the question! ^ ^~❤

I'm looking forward to new questions!

sorry that there are few pictures today… I think that soon I will feel better so that the answers are brighter… I will be glad to continue the surveys)…

#squirrel and hedgehog #sah #squirrel and hedgehog oc #sah oc #squirrel and hedghehog au #sah au #my oc #my au #torhcs-j2 #TORHCS-J2 #sv #sad viko #commander sad viko #IL #invisible liquor #eragon #gorgon #flaffy #sinbihan #magnesia #my art #art #questions

[92fs]

I’m curious about how you’d write/work with Matt’s character in that case. I rarely see anybody talk about his fanon characterization with an actual critical lense rather than people just complaining about his presence in general.

Thank you for giving me a reason to complain, I'll put it under read more:

First, I don't think Matt is an unnecessary character. I see how anime-watchers might think that considering his cut-down screentime, but manga isn't much better either. Still, I don't think he's an unneeded character. I think he was written in at a later stage of plot development and then he wasn't really properly added into the story.

Let's assume I'm dealing with the plot of DN how we know it. How I would fix the issue of Matt's written off/killed off character? I'd take what we have in the manga and amplify it, then develop his individual self a little more.

So, Matt's given a very particular role. He's Mello's right hand, practically. But we barely see it even though I do not believe Mello would let go of his first/only friend so easliy. For all the talk about how Matt was "written in so Mello isn't lonely", there's barely any fucking interaction between the two.

Changes that I would make to canon Matt:

1. Write Matt into more scenes at Wammy's.

Childhood-teenagehood are important phases in a story that spans over nearly three decades in the manga (if we count additional one-shots). Seeing more of Matt at that stage would be detrimental to his idea as a character.

2. Actually let him interact with Mello at a near-constant basis in adulthood.

They are implied to be close yet there are only so many scenes of them interacting in canon. I really fail to believe Mello wouldn't have a plan for Matt to leave the orphanage and contact him. Matt should be actively there from the beginning of Mello's arc.

3. Give him at least one-two private scenes with Near.

Near is one of the prisms through whom we learn about other characters: he narrates L, Light, Mello from perspectives that no one else has. He'd be vital to help narrate Matt, but we don't even know what he thinks about him.

4. Let him have a memory-sequence/flashback in at least one chapter where we learn how he felt about being next if Near and Mello die.

When you think about it, if not for Mello's thinking, Near would have died. Matt was next in line. I know that fandom doesn't give his intelligence credit for SOME reason, but there clearly were at least a couple dozens kids at the orphanage at the time of their stay. He was next if Near died, too. I'm actually incredibly curious to know how he felt about it, how he would have dealt with Light. Matt is so elusive, not unlike blunt Near or brash Mello - or direct L. I genuinely wonder what he would have done if he was next L. If he even wanted to.

Comment here: I know he died before them, but I think it was a kill-off. Plus, he had plenty of time to consider his chances before.

5. Maybe let the reader hear his thoughts on L. It can even be indirect, through Mello's voice.

We know that Mello sees L as an ideal to become. That Near first doesn't care much, but then grows curious about L's result-matters kind of approach. What did Matt think? Did he know about Mello's meeting with L (if we consider LABB canon)? Did he share his passions? Did he feels suspicious? Did he not care? Is he even apathetic?

6. Show the reader his individual interests outside of being Mello's assistant.

This reminds me a little bit too much of cases when a girl character is characterized primarily through being someone's girlfriend first and her own person second. This shit is tiring. We know what Mello is outside of Near. We know what Near is outside of Mello. Where the fuck is Matt's personality? Why do we know of the SPK members and the Police Department more than we know of someone in similar position? We know he's quiet and avoidant, and seems to joke to handle stress. What else?

Overall, I would add depth to him. But, this is about expanding on scarce canon. Fanon-wise, I would give him a spine. We know nothing about him in the years of Mello's absense from the picture, and he apparently did not stay in contact with Near. How did he get where he was? I doubt that Mello would carry anyone if they couldn't handle themselves, so clearly Matt's not his lap dog. He's his own character, and a damn adult too. I don't like the headcanons of him being that pathetic submissive dog that needs guidance. I think he's fine on his own.

#DN #death note #mail jeevas

[sapphire-weapon]

since you're currently discussing the obvious romantic/fairytale nature of RE4R (there's no way all of these are accidental), in your opinion, why do you think capcom decided to keep it more as subtext? does it have anything to do with not upsetting the fandom (*cough* aeon shippers and dudebros who hate on ashley), or is it a way for them to create romantic dynamics without compromising the future of the characters so they're still mostly free to do whatever they want with them?

The second one, mostly.

I think that Capcom got it in their heads to make RE4make read/feel like a fairy tale in order to pay homage to how OG RE4 was so pivotal to so many people's childhoods. Like, that more than anything else was the goal.

The thing about fairy tales, though, is that -- not only are they romances -- but they usually end with "... and they lived happily ever after."

And we know that that can't be true for Leon. No matter what direction the Remake series goes in, his story can't end at RE4.

So, they had to try to balance what they wanted to do (create a fairy tale) with what they didn't want to have happen (lock Leon's character in place with an actual Happily Ever After).

As a result, they couldn't have a big, sweeping, dramatic kiss scene or something like that. To actually give Leon and Ashley an HEA, that would mean then taking it away from them in the future in order to continue to use Leon's character, and that creates a massive amount of headaches that just simply aren't worth it.

But also on a more meta level -- yes, this is to pay homage to people's childhoods, but RE4make also acknowledges that the kids who grew up playing OG RE4 are grown up now, and they know that fairy tales aren't real. As much as we might want our own HEAs and ones for the characters that we love, too, that's just not how life goes.

What's really interesting is that RE4make quietly tosses in Don Quixote on top of the fairy tale metaphor and has Luis follow that storyline all the way through. Spoilers for a 400 year old story, but Don Quixote acknowledges his wrongdoing and dies in the end.

But Leon and Ashley don't follow their fairy tale storyline all the way through. They both come back to reality in the ending, whether they like it or not.

It's almost like RE4make uses Luis to challenge the player: Are you really sure that you want this story to follow its metaphor all the way through to the end?

We might be rooting for Leon and Ashley, but what we're rooting for isn't real. Life doesn't turn out like it does in the stories -- or, if it does, not in the ways that you would hope. Eventually, we all grow up and look back on those stories from our childhood and realize that there is no such thing as a happily ever after; life continues on, and stories don't just end.

So, RE4make asks the question of whether an HEA is actually what you want. Are you really, truly, honestly sure that you want Leon's story to end here?

Well?

Are you?

#resident evil 4 #leon kennedy #ashley graham #eagleone #meta analysis

[kuwdora]

for the ao3 wrapped writers ask game: 17 and/or 29 pretty please!

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

Mmmm, this year?? Vilgefortz. I had a very Specific Itch to scratch and golly, I sure did indulge myself—and @reinvent-and-believe and @sidprescot too, mwahahaha. The TWN Thanedd episode came and went with Vilgefortz. His scenes with Geralt worked me into a froth because I absolutely needed more because how much I loved their book scenes. And honestly it’s not right how truncated Vilgefortz' dialogue is in the show. And thus my brain overheated and Ouroboros happened. It really was that saying—write for that group of like 3 or 5 people who are gonna lose their minds. And they did. I think @littlestsnicket's brain melted and I'm not sure @sidprescot will be the same lol. It was great. I winked so hard at my readers that my eye fell out and @reinvent-and-believe picked up my eye, cleaned it off and handed it back to me and @sidprescot is just foaming at the mouth and brain the whole fucking time (ilu all). I also managed to post more about writing/drafting this fic than anything else I’ve written in the last few years, lol god. I have 15 million witcher thoughts at any given time (mostly about yennefer and yennskier and geraskier) but this is what i manage to post the most about, sdflakjsdf. I love Witcher canon blending and riffing on themes, okay. My blending is not to everyone's tastes, but yeaaahhh I had quite the time writing Vilgefortz this year. All the Continental art history was so much fun to weave throughout the story.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Here’s my favorite passage from chapter 1 of Ouroboros, it’s about 900 words. I loved starting the fic off with the TWN characterizations and then running with it back to some book vibes and all my feelings about all the canons and aaaand and…lots of things. Love this whole passage. Indulgent.

“Doesn’t appear to be much glory in this gallery,” Geralt said, gesturing at the vertical diptych he was studying.

Vilgefortz nodded and strode closer to point out the relevant details. There was a curious furrow to Geralt’s brow that made Vilgefortz more confident in encouraging Geralt to voice his thoughts.

“This one is called Ships in a Desert and it’s a very controversial piece with multiple meanings. Each canvas represents a different interpretation of First Landing and encourages the viewer to engage with different possibilities. This bottom artwork is clearly not historically accurate because as you can see the ship and its wreckage is strewn across a desert landscape rather than the coast of Redania. The artist Yona Skanfall also intended this scene to subvert Ithlinne’s Prophecy.

“You can see in the foreground a future where the Continent’s water has dried up and its inhabitants are boiling their own skin as a direct result of humanity wielding Chaos. People did not take kindly to this kind of heresy against the prevailing narrative about the White Frost. But there were those who were ardent defenders of this piece because it held true to the original prophecy’s themes of a calamitous end by humanity’s hubris. But Aen Ithlinnespeath was a sacred elven prophecy and any minute deviations from the story caused an uproar. Yona certainly made no friends by implying the Hen Ichaer died before they could save the world—note the desiccated seed pod in this dune. If this scene alone had not gotten Yona banned from two kingdoms for smearing elven canon and laying waste to the kings of her day—see the scattered crowns in the sand here and here—her choice to depict Jan Bekker as a woman gave others all the more reason to ostracize her.”

“Why were people offended by Jan Bekker as a woman?” Geralt asked.

“Why indeed? Vanity. Sexism. Most primary sources and historical records suggested that Jan Bekker was actually quite a hideous man. In the early days of the Brotherhood mages had not yet mastered the art of cosmetic transformation. Many saw their ugliness as intrinsic to their character, especially those first survivors who bore the scars of scurvy from their journey. To remove that element and depict Jana Bekker as a buxom heroine was antithetical to their view of history.”

“You’re telling me mages are superficial in more ways than one? Color me surprised.”

Vilgefortz laughed and found himself warming even more to the witcher. He bit the inside of his lip and stepped closer, brushing against Geralt’s elbow.

“There have been other interpretations of Jana over the years. I myself have collected several woodcuts of her and Nina Fioravanti in mid-coitus from a series called Ars Orgasmica. I could show them to you, if you’d like.”

Geralt didn’t verbalize a witty retort, though Vilgefortz could sense the words propositions and pornography floating on the surface of his mind. Geralt turned his attention on the other painting from Ships in a Desert. He gestured. “Tell me about this one.”

Vilgefortz tore his gaze away from Geralt, carefully gathering his words. “This painting depicts a slightly different interpretation of her original interpretation. The wreckage of First Landing is in the foreground and the bodies of the ship's crew are barely visible in the sand. The emphasis here is on the future that was lost. Notice the verdant hills in the background, never to be discovered by the first mages. Perhaps if there was a lighthouse in this desert sea, these two ships would not have crashed and fallen to the dunes and become lost to memory. Perhaps they could have met, shared resources, and survived in spite of the hardship. They could have thrived and built a new world together.”

“The hills are better off without the mages,” Geralt murmured.

Vilgefortz turned back to Geralt and nodded solemnly. “A solid interpretation. The commonality amongst these pieces is suffering. Yona depicted it well.”

“Your lot is notorious for causing suffering.”

“Truer words have never been spoken.”

“Truth is something this ball is in short supply of.”

“Tonight there’s so much more on offer,” Vilgefortz said.

“If I wanted to have my fill of lies and subterfuge, I would have stayed downstairs eating from the bottomless pit of illusory caviar.”

Every one of Geralt’s conversational parries aroused more desire in Vilgefortz’s chest. He’d hoped to keep the witcher’s attention for more serious matters tonight, but the wry humor was an unexpected delight. Enticing and novel in a way that Vilgefortz had known others had been charmed by, but never believed he would also find so alluring. He wanted more of Geralt.

“I agree. Stay with me. At my table we would feast upon spiced boar and toast to our communion. No illusions, only the boundless companionship of two men appreciating art and history together.”

A grimace passed across Geralt’s features, like Vilgefortz’s words were little more than indigestion. The firelight from the braziers cast a warm glow upon Geralt’s face, and there Vilgefortz saw a world beyond the staid neutrality that Geralt wore like a tattered cape. A place where two outcasts would be respected and admired. A time where Vilgefortz could lose himself beneath the witcher’s broad hands and taste Geralt’s scars for the first time.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to go take a shit. Must be the caviar.”

read on ao3

ask game - ao3 wrapped

#lmao i have favorite passages from every chapter of this fic god i am in love with my fic so much and it exists and i finished it. love #i am unhinged about this fic ok #answerdora #ao3 wrapped #ao3 wrapped 2023 #writing #writing meme #fic meme #vilgywank

[siflshonen]

I wish the Bakugo family featured a bit more! I'd like to see more of their dynamic. I wholly believe little Katsuki was a genuine overachiever by nature, but were his parents too? Did they foster that in any way? Did they make an effort to make him so self-sufficient (proficient at cooking and cleaning, superorganized, etc.) from a young age or was that his own neurotic brand of rebellion? Does he share hobbies with his dad apart from hiking? I need moar bb!Kacchan crying and beating older kids

(In many ways I sometimes wish the series cut other characters and was instead more about him, which would include his family...)

From what I have seen in extra content (TUM omakes, comments, the main manga), I have every reason to believe his family made an effort to support all of Katsuki's most socially-acceptable-productive and anal habits. However, I don't think they had to try that hard.

I think part of the reason Katsuki gets pissy when people give him instructions like "put away your shoes" or "clean this thing" or "get that adversary" is because Katsuki is already in the middle of doing it so he thinks it's patronizing and annoying when people tell him to do it. As a result, him saying "Don't tell me what to do" doubles as him saying, "Don't treat me like I'm fucking stupid! God, how much of a fuckwad do you think I am?!"

...But that could also be me projecting because that's the way I felt as a kid, and the way I still feel about some instruction even now.

As for Mitsuki and Masaru's feelings on their explosive bundle of joy, I get the feeling they were excited. When his quirk manifested, I'm sure Masaru had a comical moment of "oh no he's a bomb!" but it was only for laughs. I'm sure Mitsuki took charge of that situation with an iron grip and a slapping hand.

Besides. If Katsuki misbehaved in overt ways beyond just being generally rude and grumpy*, I'm pretty sure Mitsuki just beat the hell out of him. She smacks him all the time for the minor stuff, so I'm sure it was more extreme for major infractions about things that actually mattered. Dunno.

But my sneaking suspicion? Katsuki's ultimate punishment whenever he did something really bad was likely making one or both of his parents cry, tell him how disappointed or upset they were in him, and not give any obvious punishment to him at all. If the size of his self-loathing and internal guilt and grief for other events that happen in the series are any indication, they probably made him sit and stew without the obvious feedback of a whack on the back of the head.

I'm sure baby Katsuki had cute little new quirk hijinks that he'd be mortified if we found out about. I'm sure Izuku knows about them all and may even have photo evidence somewhere. And I'm sure that, as a kid, even at his snottiest and most nasty, he adored his parents and this was for better AND for worse in both directions. I just get that sense. In some of the extra content we see him, like, kinda bullying his dad when they play together and acting like he's sort of a fuddy-duddy, but if watching Katsuki interact with his friends and Izuku tells me anything, well.

I think Katsuki gets attached very quickly even if he acts mistrustful, distant, and like a shithead about it. I think if anything major (more major to the sports fest's critical onlookers, of which 1-A themselves were mostly blissfully unaware) happened to the other students of 1-A and his parents (lost job, public ridicule, major family shame) as a result of Katsuki being in the public eye in conjunction with All Might's retirement, I seriously wonder if he might've crawled into a hole and died. Like, at that point, apologizing to and protecting Izuku might've been the singular thing keeping him going if that happened.

As far as Katsuki's room goes, based on Horikoshi's description, I think I have a good idea of what it looks like - and I think I already pictured it correctly the first time that scene came up in the anime. It doesn't bother me that we don't see his room because - and I know this is going to sound weird - I think, given the nature of his relationship with the public and other people getting into his personal business, it is okay with me that he has some privacy even from us, the readers.

*the Deku-Bakugo situation in middle school is complicated, has different cultural connotations than in the west, and we don't know how much Mitsuki and Masaru did or did not know about it, so I'm not counting it here.

#ask #bakugo katsuki #bakugo mitsuki #bakugo masaru

[obnoxiousselfdiagnosedneurosis]

There’s an AU I have, Team Hebi-centric, in which Obito never tells Sasuke the truth about the Uchiha Clan massacre (because he died where he was supposed to: underneath the rock. The Kyuubi attack was an accident of poor sealing while Kushina was giving birth) that I’ve been mulling over for a while. I don’t think I’m gonna get it written any time soon so I might as well share the ideas I had in mind!

Setting?:

After he’s killed Itachi, Sasuke is first found by Team Hebi and not the retrieval squad 2, so they hide away in a site where they can’t be found

Sasuke after the fight is kind of... unresponsive, more than usual, for a few days. The others get it, and give him the space he needs, but also Suigetsu tells him he needs to figure out what he’s gonna do next soon so they know whether to hand him back to the Konoha group or to find another mission to do while they’re still a team

Sasuke isn’t particularly inclined to head back home. He doesn’t think he can just go back and pick up where he left off-- and he suspects Team 7 will insist that he can, but as far as he feels, there’s too much baggage associated with the place already. Sasuke’s lived his life in a way where he’s continuously going back to his grief as a motivator, but now that there’s no obsessive focus on revenge behind it, and just grief... he doesn’t really want to deal with that. Going back home means going back to the compound means going back to the graves, and he doesn’t think vestigial affection from a time where it briefly looked that he could ever think of anything else would be enough to prevent the pain of it.

So his choice is that he stays with his new team, and that their next mission will be helping Suigetsu collect his swords.

The... plot?:

The idea is to focus on each member of Hebi, and have them wonder about their place in the world now that they’re so removed from the Hidden Village system.

Suigetsu’s the only one who starts off having plans to actually re-enter that world, but his hopes are dashed because due to the Akatsuki’s actions, there’s an increased hostility towards rogue shinobi in every village. In this AU, since Hebi are never called to capture Killer Bee by Obito, Kisame ends up doing it, actually succeeding, and the Raikage directs his anger towards Kiri to get its shit together concerning their nukenin. This + Pain’s destruction of Konoha means pardons are off the table for any nukenin, and any shinobi, regardless of what they actually do, working outside of the Hidden Village system becomes automatically suspect. Naruto and co. try to argue Sasuke shouldn’t count since he killed Orochimaru and Itachi but ofc Danzo isn’t having it.

Since they’re all on the run anyways, Hebi stick together, and their lives are spent taking any mission they can from whoever’s willing to pay to sustain themselves. They all grow closer, as a result, they learn about each other, and find out they have things in common. Little by little they start to empathize with each other.

Juugo and Karin, starting out aimless, find traces of their own origins little by little during their travels. And so along with helping Suigetsu find his swords (that he’s still looking for despite his situation with Kiri because fuck them anyways, he trained his whole life for this, and he will cut Chojuro’s arms off to steal his if he has to), they’re also looking for every trace of Juugo’s clan they can find and they pay a visit to the Land of Eddies for Karin’s sake, too.

Also during their travels, they meet a lot of different people of different backgrounds: nukenin turned civilians, many civilians who don’t few the Hidden Villages and/or the 5 shinobi countries and their Daimyo positively, people from countries/villages destroyed by the shinobi wars, etc. They learn through the eyes of others how shinobi violence is perceived, how it ruined so many of their lives, their own complicity in it, and... it’s a lot to process. It’s more difficult for Suigetsu, Sasuke and Karin: Suigetsu and Sasuke because they were raised shinobi and within the Hidden Villages, Karin because she has an aversion to empathizing with people in general since she had to stop doing it entirely to survive working under Orochimaru. Juugo has a better time understanding and accepting that because he was shunned by most people to begin with, and doesn’t have any particular attachment to the Hidden Villages anyways. In the end they all register what they’ve learned though, and Sasuke and Juugo in particular are more inclined to help the people they meet in their travels all they can: rescuing people from human trafficking, simply helping people in villages/towns they briefly stay in about their day-to-day activities, teaching people what they can about chakra so their day-to-day activities are easier, etc. Local kids who only know how to murder and do violence unexpectedly become humanitarians. They still sometimes do murder and violence though, but like in the productive way, like murdering the people who were selling kids to Orochimaru.

I intend for Sasuke to eventually learn the truth about the Uchiha Clan Massacre evetnually but he learns it only after experiencing all of the above. He learns it through Danzo specifically, but I haven’t worked out exactly how that happens yet. Anyways that firmly keeps him out of Konoha and with the collaborative effort of him, Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo, Danzo dies.

That’s about all I have on this, for now. I’m not as sure on how this story will end as how it begins and develops.

#send post #these are not fixed ideas like I've written these down for myself but it's still really brainstorming #The day I'll actually start writing it in earnest I might have changed some things #We're like fish in water #you are free to ask me any questions about this! in fact I welcome it sdkfkhsfdkjsd #It'll help me build this AU better

[olderthannetfic]

Seeing a few replies here that cause me to raise a few eyebrows. That anon is absolutely right, by the way. They know exactly what they're talking about. For context, hi, I'm iraqi-assyrian, we're one of the indigenous (political term, arab iraqis are also native) people of iraq and by large christian. Both genocides the anon mentioned were against my community.

My family and I? We're direct survivors of genocide, considering we'd just had one what with ISIS. It wasn't just killing us, though a lot of us died, it was erasing our culture, destroying our history, bombing our churches... amongst other things. ISIS did attempt to erase both traces of christianity and assyrian existence from the area — that's a genocide. They wanted to eradicate christianity from the area and by large, they've mostly succeeded. Iraq is relatively stable now, but its still not safe for us (christians) to return. Where Assyrians used to be majorly in our homeland, now a majority of us are in diaspora instead.

Again, not getting into the many people who died, of which I knew personally and of whom were my family (my grandpa and several of my cousins, to say the least).

To give further context: To us, Assyrians, christianity is interwined with our identity in a way that pushes the boundaries of ethnoreligion. We have our unique traditions, saints and scriptures. We're also a marginalised people and religion, we did not and still do not hold institutional power. So you'll see me tie the results of the genocide on both a religious and ethnic front, however do not be mistaken, the genocide was religion-motivated. They wrote ن (the letter N) on our walls for Nazerene, asked us to convert pay or die, and quite literally crucified us. I'll spare you the gorey details, I don't feel quite like talking about it myself.

But, I can see us in diaspora, desperately holding on and struggling to maintain our culture and our way of christianity (which wasn't recognised by white christianity anyway, considering they kept sending missionaries to convert us? even though we were... the first christians?) and I can see my younger brothers and younger cousins lose touch with who we are, our culture and history getting lost in spite of our efforts. My cousins speak our language with an Australian accent, sometimes brokenly, and I still haven't figured out how to feel about that. To feel grateful at all that they retained it at all, or to feel grief?

I can see our interpretations for certain biblical events being swapped away for a more western one in our younger generations, and I don't know how to feel about that either. I can see our specfic christian culture fading away to make way for Australian christian culture.

It doesn't help that we've faced countless genocides and massacres before this anyway, both for religious and ethnic purposes, so that what we've managed to preserve of our culture prior to this is in a way just an agglomeration of what was left over in a patchwork sort of way.

And if you think that's bad, then oh wow, you don't want to know about the yazidis. They had it worse.

So yeah, abolishing/destroying religion? Not the woke take you think it is. Abolishing/destroying christianity? Yeah, that neither. As that anon said, people have already tried! And very recently too! We did actually die and get massively displaced as a result, too.

Nothing wrong with combating religious extremism, heck, I'm with you on that too. But being against religion in and of itself? No. That's a call for genocide, plain and simple. And we've been through far too much to tolerate any more of those.

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