#but you can at least replace them with equally interesting characters | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

otomes-world · 12 hours

Text

Six impossible things before breakfast

Little twist with sentient twst au, yes, I didn't expect this either. Masterlist with more works here

We've probably all heard the joke about "How many light bulbs does it take to (insert whatever)." Who would have thought that you would use a slightly modified version of it: how many more coincidences must happen to realize the truth.

Although can anyone really blame you for not wanting to admit that you are a bunch of colored pixels created purely for entertainment purposes? No, it even sounds nice. After all, your purpose was to create extras, a stage on which the main characters performed and shone. Those who had faces.

Did you always have yours? Could you always see it in the mirror in the morning?

Did figurative shivers run down your spine every time a faceless classmate addressed you? One of ten, hundreds, exactly the same. Have the main bunch had the same problem? That's the question you'd been asking yourself lately. Did they shrug off empty, replaceable shells, or at least for a second consider them their equals?

Perhaps the question should have been asked differently. Was this in the order of things for them, because the thought of the incorrectness of worldly norms did not flash through their heads. Or it was something simple and very banal - they did not realize that they were part of the game.

Were you special? The thought was flattering, but it was stupid to start turning up your nose. Maybe the supreme programmer, like the smart guys from Ignihyde, could consider you a virus, a bug, an annoying nuisance, which can be gotten rid of in a couple of seconds. Click and that's it, your file would be deleted.

The idea that death could be more than just literal took you by surprise.

It all started with a strange feeling of déjà vu, with a strange cyclical nature of what was happening. How the seasons did not change according to the laws of nature or, on the contrary, lasted longer than expected. Sometimes you wondered what month was going on, at least by counting. Or how you couldn’t say with certainty what year of study you were in. When was your graduation? Would it ever come?

How many times did the main characters celebrate their birthday? How many times had you celebrated it? Did you celebrate it from the start?

Lessons

Breaks

Exams

Holidays

Lessons

Was there an end to this merging stream of eternal students? Was the dormitory assignment ceremony that important? How many real “first-year students” were admitted each year? Why couldn't your educational journey end? Time adjusted and obeyed an invisible force; it existed only when it was convenient for someone.

Catching the attention of the local spotlight and getting on stage was the best way to get labeled as a "bug" and ask to be removed. However, the main threat was only the erasure of memory.

The next discovery was doubt about one’s own “specialness.” When consciousness had nothing to do, it began to cling to different details, trying to look for differences in a series of events repeated in the film.

When you knew what to look for, small mistakes that were not noticeable at first glance stand out more than usual. A slight shadow of boredom on the faces of the main ones. Lack of interest in the educational process and exams. As if only one “exam” was important in a bunch of exactly the same events. When the first years of Heartslabyul signed a contract with Ashengrotto.

With new information in mind, it became easier to identify important “events” and track time based on them. By how many times they were repeated in the endless flow of time. Taking notes and somehow recording data was more dangerous than you thought, all that was left was to come up with methods known to you alone. For example, in a dorm room on the bedside table there was a cluster of glasses, each containing specific color of pencils.

Did your roommates start to think you were weird and obsessed with order and cleanliness? Their right. You didn't care what they thought, besides, they would forget about it with the coming of a new day.

In order not to completely go crazy, you began to peer into the “faces” of other students, trying to spot at least a feature that distinguishes one from another. Either this world was too lazy, creating copy after copy in every dorm, or there was no point in trying. If you somehow came to terms with the feeling of the meaninglessness of what was happening, then the appearance of one student in several places at the same time still caused rejection.

Disgusting

If this world was someone’s experiment, then why were events cyclical? If this was a cage, then where was the exit. If this was a prison, then who was being held in it?

You made a mistake in observing a person without magic from another world. Trying to figure out whether Yuu's "world" was truly different or just as much a part of predestination as everything around. Was “Yuu” really the main one or just an extra? You could have sworn they didn't have a face. At least such clear features as all the main ones. Just as there was no character, how in each of the repeating events they could behave differently.

It was a breath of fresh air in the routine of never-ending study. The watching of the only part capable of changing in the world, subject to the same rules.

That's why, when one of the main ones suddenly approached you, you thought you were dreaming. Whether it was possible to fall asleep in the simulation was another question. Usually you went to bed, closed eyes, only to open them the next second to the sound of the alarm clock.

"Can I help you with something?" You smiled politely, but was it worth it? Could the main bunch distinguish between persons different from their privileged group.

Hunt. Was that his name? You weren't completely sure. He was part of something forbidden, something to be avoided at all costs. Part of the three “don’ts”: don’t look for information;don’t mention; don’t give yourself unnecessary temptations. Returning to the present moment, he just looked into your eyes with his constant smile, as if trying to find confirmation of something.

Like a true NPC, you continued to stand, frozen in one position and waiting for his answer. Until awareness came as abruptly as his appearance in principle. He looked straight into your eyes. Could he see your face the same way you saw it in the mirror? How long ago? Could the rest of the main ones see you too?

A billion questions were spinning in head at the same time as you tried to come up with a suitable excuse and reason to leave. The changes turned out to be too unexpected and frightening. Perhaps with the advent of a new “day” everything would return to normal.

“Is there a knight in the world who is not ready to devote all his deeds to one and only one, if this opens the veil of secrets at least a little? Will it allow him to find out what thoughts are spinning in head?”

It's a pity he was not a knight. Even though each word was pronounced with a special intonation, you only thought about how much water there was in his speech. Unfortunately, saying this out loud was an unaffordable luxury.

"..Is that so?"

“You are right, an étoile (star), I may be not one of their noble number, but even so I am not able to deny their order.” You let him continue, mentally counting down the minutes until the bell rang for lesson. “I may not have a sword in sheath, but It won`t change a way I live! Your smile can make my whole heart melt. There isn't lie in way I felt”

“I’m not good at poetry, but the rhyme is lame, Sir Hunt,” if it’s there.

“You’re right, writing poems is just one of my hobbies, to which I devote my few free leisure hours,” he continued, as if your words didn’t hurt him at all. “I hasten to assure you that there was no malicious intent in my actions. This modest hunter only wanted to greet a new connoisseur of everything beautiful and interesting."

No matter how much you hate beating around the bush, doubts creeping in from randomly thrown words. Sometimes the phrases spoken directly were the most frightening. However, not wanting to part with your role as an extra - which was burdensome, but at the same time giving a semblance of freedom - you continued to pretend to be an NPC.

"Should I congratulate you?.. Congratulations!" Any member of the film club would envy your feigned sincerity. A bell in three, two, "I don’t dare detain you any longer.”

The unsaid `like you would me` hung in the air. You had to hold out for the few remaining hours until the end. Fortunately, the main one did let you go, but smile, saying that its owner knew everything in the world, left an unpleasant aftertaste. One that your intuition suggested would accompany you for the next days.

It's going to be a very long a few hours.

36 notes · View notes

irregodless · 2 years

Text

#people hate on season 4 of community and like its fair okay for the most part i get why #but it continues to give abed interests who just disappear #removes cast members and replaces them with very inferior characters #hickey is bland and all of his potential is used up by the time he locks abed to a filing cabinet #frankie is literally just a more mature less perfectionist annie #and more of a straight man than jeff at that point #elroys thing is just that hes out of touch slightly #tbh annie had no right staying she was the second least interesting character to troy #but troy was made interesting by his relationship with abed #so you replace pierce with a man as interesting as a block of wood #troy with an even less interesting version of annie the character who is left as the least interesting character after he leaves #and shirley with elroy or elrond im sorry this season just had no staying power for me im not #trying to be ignorant on purpose #like this is my skip season. its just dark and dreary and doesnt carry any of the magic the rest of the series did #and i mean dark literally it feels like theres never any lighting #i get actors gotta move on and there are behind the scenes issues and stuff #but you can at least replace them with equally interesting characters #what happened to greendales founder he wouldve been great to have around #but they did to him what they criticizr season 4 for doing #and the episode about the dean being gay was just uncomfortable?#it worked as his queerness just being something that went unsaid. even if it was played as a joke #using him for tokenism is a good concept but it came at the expense of the deans identity which he fought hard about #but nobody ever like. cared. about what he had to say about his sexuality. he never got the last laugh #chang was ironically like. the backbone. other characters faded into the bg or lost what made them interest #interesting. but chang had several solid moments. and its ironic because! hes just doijg the things hed BEEN doing #for the past like three seasons!#character growth is good but their flaws and old traits should be replaced with fun new ones #what was brittas personality come the end of it #she had activist moments sometimes but like..... eh....

2 notes · View notes

mamapyjama · 1 year

Text

I’ve been rereading the current anime arc in the manga, and finally got to The Apology™️, and I wondered what words Katsuki used before translation.

Disclaimer: I’m sure others must have posted about this before but I couldn’t recall reading it myself. I do remember there was a lot of talk about the way he used “gomen” as the Japanese fandom were saying how cute and childlike it sounded, so I thought I’d see if there was anything else interesting there.

Oh, my sweet sweet baby boy…

So, just before he says ‘Sorry for everything’ (ima made gomen), he says:

言ってどうにかなるもんじゃねェけど

本音だ

出久

“Itte dōnika naru mon ja nē kedo… Honne da…Izuku”

Which in the English translation, gave us:

And “speak my truth” is lovely and all, but the word from the original that stuck out for me was ‘honne’.

I’m not sure how familiar most people are with honne–tatemae (I only know about it because I go way way too in-depth when researching for my fics lol), but it’s a concept that every Japanese person is deeply aware of, and underpins much of their society.

Here’s the Wikipedia intro:

Ohhh, that is some extra juicy context for Kacchan’s speech. Essentially, he is saying that everything up until now has been his tatemae, a public façade to protect his own position (strong, powerful hero etc), but that he can’t keep that up and he wants Izuku to see his honne, his true, private self.

Excuse me while I melt from the cuteness.

But WAIT! There’s more!

How much do you know about second-person pronouns in Japanese? (Nope, this isn’t about ‘kare’ again this time hehe).

You’ve probably noticed in the anime that Kacchan says “Temee” a lot, and you may have also noticed that it tends to get translated as cursing. So it actually just means ‘you,’ but like a really rude way of saying it, such that the only way of reflecting that in English is to replace ‘you’ with something like Bastard or Asshole.

Again, have an expert explain:

This and the below are from a very excellent article about second-person pronouns and how they are used for context and drama in anime specifically. I’d recommend reading it as the context is really interesting!

So although pronouns aren’t actually commonly used or necessary in much spoken Japanese, when they are used, it’s a deliberate way to tell you about the relationship dynamic between two characters.

But why, you may ask, am I talking about pronouns again?!

Because, dear friends, throughout the first half of his speech, Kacchan uses ‘temee’ as usual to describe his past with Izuku. I’ve highlighted it below, and pls also note the shaky speech bubble showing his nerves during the ‘honne’ section. 🥺

HOWEVER, straight after he says he wants Izuku to see his Honne, Katsuki switches pronouns from ‘Temee’ (v rude), to ‘Omae’ (very casual/familiar). Below is the page after the apology.

Considering we now know pronouns are not necessary to convey meaning, that’s a hell of a lot of omaes on one page!! Boy cannot get enough of saying it.

If you want more about the different pronouns, see below for a helpful table of common uses for both. And please indulge my shippy heart for highlighting the second usage (but, like ‘kare’, you never know)…

Katsuki is showing Izuku immediately and repeatedly that this is who he wants to be to him and how he wants the world to see them. His honne, his inner desire, is to be close to Izuku, to treat him as an equal.

He’s not just saying sorry, he’s showing that—at least from his perspective—things are going to be different from now on. But, like, also, that this was how he felt about him in private the whole time?! GAHHHH.

So there you go, the apology that was already a massive turning point in their story/relationship was actually even deeper and more beautiful than we all thought. Yet again, Japanese conveys nuance and intention far beyond what can be translated. 😭💕

#mha 322 #bkdk #bakudeku #deku #bakugou #mha #bnha #Japanese wins #kacchan loves deku #the apology #izuku #kacchan #pyj obsesses

840 notes · View notes

egg-emperor · 5 months

Text

Like how these tweets are like trying to suggest Metal permanently leaving Eggman and becoming his own character separate from him but are instead emphasizing the reasons why I love that he isn't lol

Yeah Sonic is all about freedom and positivity. He's a light in dark times, a free spirit that has no master except for the wind that blows free, loves seeing the world and adventure. Meanwhile Metal is trapped under a master and fueled by hate and the desire to kill Sonic. Programmed by Eggman and makes for a bleak existence of constantly trying to prove himself as the worthy superior version Eggman created him to be.

Eggman wants Metal to be like Sonic to rival him but he will never make him exactly the same because he's missing the most important parts that make Sonic, Sonic. All Metal has got is hate and the desire to kill and prove himself. He's a cold killing machine with no freedom, programmed and controlled by Eggman. Unlike Sonic, he has a master that owns him and decides on his entire existence and freedom.

He lacks Sonic's soul, his positive passion and his freedom and he'll never have it, Eggman won't let him. He has tried to break free from that to do his own thing beyond his lines of code a couple of times to do his thing his way, which actually makes him closer to Sonic in an albeit twisted violent way- but was punished by Eggman and went under more restrictions to restore, force, loyalty and obedience.

And bringing Eggman having a clear new favorite into this can set a perfect example of what happens to even his most boasted prized creations when he's either finished or replaces them with another he finds better/most useful in that moment. Metal feeling hatred and jealousy towards other creations but still being unable to break free from Eggman is more interesting than being treated as an equal or betraying him.

He doesn't have a choice. He can be as pissed and jealous as he wants for not being praised and valued the way he was before but he still has to live under Eggman and serve him. Which can turn into working extra hard to try to please him too and Eggman would love and encourage it but never give him the reward of his full approval and praise, so it's neverending game. It's another way to get more good use out of him.

Eggman is exactly the kind of bastard to highly praise his newest favorite toy and specifically emphasize it in front of him and act like he's forgotten about him in comparison to get that reaction and drive out of him. It sets an example of how Eggman's praising of his creations always comes from a place of ego and self praise as their creator and has the interesting concept of him weaponizing praise.

In TMoStH he talks of programming creations with life like personalities and a bounty so they compete for his approval and a reward. This would be very useful with one of his most prized creations like Metal. But then he'd never grant it to keep him endlessly seeking it, another objective that keeps him under his control. He can't break free so he tries to please him to at least be treated better but can't even get that.

I'd love for them to explore it but without having him permanently betray and break free. Because Metal isn't as lucky as the ones that got away, they very rarely do get lucky enough like Omega. Hell, Gamma had to kill his own brothers and die to be free. If you keep letting his creations get away it'd water it down. If you let Metal stay under him with these feelings then fuck man the drama the tragedy, it's so compelling.

#got notified of this via twt notifs but gave me fun thoughts #dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #metal sonic #my post #eggdaddy and metal SONic

62 notes · View notes

fourraccoonsinacoat · 2 months

Text

Head Full of Ghosts | Chapter 4: Bumps in the Night

Pairing: Astarion x Dark Urge

Summary: Takes place during the events of Baldur's Gate 3 and explores the romance between Astarion and the Dark Urge, as well as the friendships and relationships she has with her companions. Plus, everyone gives shit to Gale about his cooking. Tags: Slow Burn, Angst, Pining, Humor, Violence, Friends to Lovers, Developing Friendships, Developing Romance, Spoilers for the Dark Urge and BG3 in general, Dark Urge as Original Female Character Rating: Mature (Will eventually be Explicit, just not there yet.) Current Chapter Count: 4/? Read on AO3 Current Word Count: 16,755

Author's Note: AND WE'RE BACK! I'm so sorry for not updating this fic in a hot minute. I ran into some gnarly writer's block going into the holidays and the new year, but I'm back on track. I even wrote two one shots featuring these two which can be found on my account. Please enjoy them, and this chapter, with my apologies. Thanks for sticking with me and these crazy idiots.

Astarion sat at the small round dressing table situated just outside his tent, fingers drumming idly against the worn wood as he leaned back in his chair. In his other hand, he held an open book outstretched in front of him, red eyes skimming across the pages.

Evening had settled in over the camp, bringing with it a chill in the air as the far-off rumble of thunder rolled in the distance. Candlelight flitted from a lantern he had set on the table, providing just enough light for him to feign interest in the words of his book. It was a collection of memoirs that had something to do with the dull and painfully tiresome life of an adventurer who had hunted a variety of beasts up and down the Sword Coast.

Or was it devils? Criminals, maybe?

Hells, he didn’t know. It was all terribly trite and uninteresting. The stories, if one could even call them that, were worth less than the paper they’d been printed on. At least they could burn the pages as firestarter for Gale’s cookpot.

Though…that was probably an equally ineffective use of the book. Gale was still a woefully dreadful cook, in Astarion’s opinion. Which was the only one that mattered, really.

The camp was abnormally quiet this evening, a stiff tension settling over them like a low-hanging fog that wouldn’t lift. The usual clamor and din of frivolous chatter and busymaking had been replaced by an eerie silence that was only broken by the pop and crackle of the central campfire.

Astarion could still hear Wyll’s accusatory bellowing reverberating in his mind. The vampire had burst into camp, alone except for an unconscious Eli who hung limp in his arms. He’d been calling for Shadowheart when Wyll came striding up, all pomp and lofty.

“What did you do!?” the warlock-turned-devil had demanded, reaching out as if to wrest Eli from Astarion’s arms.

Astarion had jerked her away from Wyll’s outstretched hands, snarling.

“I didn’t do anything! Get out of my way! Where is Shadowheart!”

He had tried to bully past Wyll, but the warlock grabbed his arm, working to hold him back.

“Where are Gale and Lae’zel? What in the hells happened!?” he’d berated.

Astarion wheeled on him with a vicious and manic grimace.

“Touch me again and I’ll become the monster you so desperately want me to be,” he’d spat with a low growl.

“What is going on – Nightsinger’s embrace!”

Drawn by the commotion, Shadowheart had approached and then stopped dead, eyes wide as they landed on Eli’s unconscious form. She directed Astarion towards Eli’s tent, waving off Wyll who had still been asking questions that weren’t helpful to the situation at hand.

“Lay her down on her bedroll. What happened to her?” Shadowheart asked as she and Astarion had approached the tent.

He explained about the encounter with the hunter and how Eli had charged the man just as he’d been taking aim at Astarion, resulting in a poisoned crossbow bolt to her shoulder. Despite the wound, Eli had surged forward, launching an Eldritch Blast ahead of her which took the man off his feet before he could reload for another shot.

Astarion had followed, cursing Eli for her foolhardy rush to play hero. The bolt had been meant for him, and if she got herself badly injured or worse during this debacle, he was going to be the one to have to explain everything to the rest of the freakshow menagerie back at camp. He was already on loose footing with the lot of them, the revelation of his vampirism having gone over about as poorly as he’d expected. Between the jabs, the glares and the threats, the only thing that had calmed everyone was Eli’s insistence that he was trustworthy.

Both Astarion and Eli didn’t mention the small detail of how he’d crept up on her while she lay in her bedroll, fully intending to set upon her while she slept. She had an odd definition of trustworthy…

The last thing he needed was for her to get herself wounded on his account. Which meant that was exactly what would happen, because when he got right down to it everything in his life amounted to nothing more than a shit stain in the annals of history. Nothing ever swung his way, so why not add to it getting the one person who seemed remotely okay with his existence killed?

Astarion’s jaw clenched as he stared at the open book in front of him, candlelight causing shadows to dance and flicker upon the page. He’d taken leave of Eli’s tent after laying her on the bedroll for Shadowheart to examine. The cleric had indicated she’d be able to heal the wound to Eli’s shoulder after they dosed her with an antidote.

Hesitantly relieved, Astarion had walked to his own tent, noting that both Gale and Lae’zel had returned and were currently engrossed in a conversation with Wyll as he questioned them for details about their trip to find Ethel. Ignoring the trio, Astarion had grabbed the first book he could find and set about making himself look busy in hopes they’d all just leave him alone after the events of the evening. He was agitated by the restlessness stirring in his gut, and every so often his eyes would flick to the closed flap of Eli’s tent which was situated across the camp from his own. The panic from earlier had settled into a vexed sort of impatience that sat heavy in his chest. His mind wandered to the other night, when he’d come upon Eli in the ruin and they’d sat together, talking. It had been…nice, just to sit and talk without all the tension and pressure of having to lure someone back to the mansion.

His nights in the city were always pressed by the driving need to bring some poor fool back for Cazador, less he be punished in any number of agonizing ways for his failure. The last time he’d returned to the mansion without a mark, Cazador had forced Astarion to peel the skin from the soles of his own feet and walk endlessly through the filth-infested kennels for three days. He’d trudged the same path, over and over, stepping on rocks and bone splinters and all manner of refuse and sewage. When he was finally released from Cazador’s thrall, he’d sank to his knees and howled out in wretched anguish, able to at last release the screams of pain that had been burning in his lungs for the past days as he wept silent tears and walked. Walked. Walked…

That had been only a week or so before the mind flayers captured him…

Astarion breathed in slow, not needing the air that filled his lungs but calmed by the action, all the same. He shoved the vile memories of Cazador and his enslavement down into a deep pit within himself and tried to think of other, less miserable things. The Barrel-Aged Callidyrran Eli had given him the other night, now tucked away in his tent unopened. It had been a strange thing, to be given something and told there was no expectation upon him to return the favor or provide any sort of reparation. He still wasn’t sure he trusted the gesture, but Eli had not brought the matter up since.

He wondered if she knew he couldn’t exactly drink the wine…or, well, not without adding a bit of blood, anyway. Otherwise it would just taste foul. Another side-effect of his condition. He vaguely recalled having enjoyed the drink once, and like all of his vague recollections he clung to that knowledge with a vice grip, desperate to not lose anymore of himself.

What the hell did Eli get out of all this, anyway? Giving him gifts, vouching for him to the group, letting him feed on her, literally throwing herself in front of a crossbow bolt for him. It frustrated him that he couldn’t parse her intentions.

Astarion’s eyes darted back to her tent, noting that the flap remained closed. He set his jaw, grinding his teeth in thought.

“She’ll be fine, fangs, don’t worry. Shadowheart’s got it under control.”

Astarion’s head jerked in the direction of Karlach, who was standing a few feet from his tent, arms crossed as she peered at him with a small smirk.

“And, hey, if she does end up kicking it, we’ve got weird cryptic skeleton guy who says he can bring people back from the dead, easy-peasy.” Karlach gestured over her shoulder towards Withers with a thumb. “Not sure if I’d bet my own life on the creepy bone man, but it’s an option.”

Astarion frowned at the tiefling who simply grinned back at him. His eyes dropped back to his book.

“I wasn’t worried,” he said flatly.

“Ooooooh, okay. I get it.”

Astarion quirked an eyebrow curiously at Karlach’s reply, looking up just in time to see her wink.

“Wasn’t aware not being able to read was one of those vampiric side-effects, but not to fret. I’ll teach you,” she said, barely able to suppress a laugh beneath her words as she continued to smile with a knowing look that made Astarion shift in his chair.

“What in the hells are you going on about?” he barked, both a bit indignant and confused.

Karlach uncrossed her arms, placing one on her hip and indicating his book with the other.

“You haven’t turned a single page since you sat down,” she explained. “So, you’re either the most eloquently illiterate person I’ve ever met, or your attention is elsewhere.” She jerked a thumb towards Eli’s tent and Astarion scowled at her.

Heaving a frustrated sigh, he snapped the book closed and dropped it unceremoniously on the table. Taking that as an invitation to join the vampire, Karlach sauntered over and grabbed the other bistro-style chair at his table. She flipped it backwards, straddled it, and sat, crossing her arms atop the chair back and leaning forward.

Astarion watched her curiously, but said nothing as she situated herself at the table. He and Karlach had exchanged pleasantries and idle chatter since she’d joined their little traveling circus, but he didn’t really know much about her. Well, other than the whole engine-for-a-heart-so-she-could-break-people’s-spines-in-the-hells business. She seemed friendly enough, but Astarion knew all too well how easy it was to put up a sociable front.

“I’m just tired of all the accusations and suspicion,” he grumbled, pointedly not looking across the camp towards where Wyll was sewing up a patch in his leather armor. “It’s not like I’m Gale, treating our collection of expensive artifacts like his own personal candy store.”

Karlach chuckled and Astarion leaned back in his chair, expression softening just a touch as he stared at the flickering candle of the lantern.

“I haven’t done anything, I just exist. And that’s always enough to disappoint people,” he said, voice low and sharp.

Karlach hummed, considering his words for a moment before she spoke.

“Well, I for one am glad you’re with us, and I know that one is, too.” Karlach nodded her head towards Eli’s tent. “You did good today, soldier.”

Astarion eyed the tent thoughtfully, feeling a bit less dour than he had earlier. He straightened up attentively in his chair when he noticed the entry flap being pushed aside. Shadowheart emerged and, seeing both Astarion and Karlach focused in her direction, began walking towards the pair.

“She’s resting and should be recovered come morning,” she said, waving off Karlach politely as the tiefling rose and offered Shadowheart the chair she’d been using.

Astarion felt a tension he hadn’t even been aware of, ease from him as his posture relaxed.

“Told yah,” Karlach said, giving him another one of her unsettlingly knowing smirks.

“Well,” he said, shifting slightly under both of their gazes. “I’m glad.”

A look passed between Karlach and Shadowheart that Astarion couldn’t quite read. He frowned up at them, but they remained impassive.

“Come on, Shadowheart. With Eli tucked in for the night, we have free rein on the wine!” Karlach spun on her heels and started off towards the camp’s stash of supplies with Shadowheart strolling behind her.

Astarion watched them go, quietly mulling over an idea that had slowly begun to form in his head. He remained where he sat for a long while, uncertainty darkening the lines of his face, before he shook his head with a small grimace and stood.

Turning, he entered his tent, eyes casting about in the gloom for something…

_________________________________

Eli was starving.

She could think about little else as her stomach roiled, slowing churning its own acids around and around. She was past the point of uncomfortable hunger, her gut spasming angrily with a ravenous nausea.

How long had it been since she last ate? Days? A week? She wasn’t sure…

A sickly convulsion gripped her abdomen and Eli sank to her bare knees, heaving bile onto the cold and dingy stone floor. Sweat dripped from her forehead and neck as her body revolted against the lack of food. She vomited until there was nothing left, coughing and hacking as the last dry heaves calmed.

She leaned back and suddenly felt lightheaded, swaying where she knelt then toppling backwards. She felt the back of her head collide with a solid wall, the sharp pain a momentary distraction from the ache in her stomach.

Eli stayed slumped against the wall, too tired to do much else. She could smell the sour stink of her own stomach bile mixed with a dank and stale scent of rot and decay. Blinking against a darkness so deep that even her darkvision struggled to cut through, Eli tried to remember where the hell she was.

Her head was swimming, dulled by dehydration and vicious hunger. She was so confused…

Footsteps echoed from somewhere distant and a flighty panic stirred in her chest. She was afraid. Desperately afraid.

The footfalls grew louder, then slowed. She heard the abrupt ‘thunk’ of a lock and the angry screech of twisting metal as a cruel bright light tore into the darkness, pouring in through a doorway just in front of her. Eli held her hands up to shield her eyes and with a shock noticed how small they were. They were grubby, scratched and scarred. Nails chewed down and skin cracked and dry, but they were delicate, too.

The hands of a child.

A harsh voice snapped at her from the doorway and Eli tried to see who was there, but the figure was blurred; drowning in the intense light which surrounded them.

“Pitiful. I thought you little spider-blooded mongrels thrived in the dark.”

The voice was familiar. Haunting. It caused a wild sort of terror to hammer at her ribcage.

“Maybe now you’ll be more compliant.”

Fear, hot and vicious tore through her as she felt a hand grip her hair and yank her forward. Her shoulder cracked as it hit the floor, pain burning up her neck and down her arm. She tried to scream as she was dragged out of the dark room and into that blistering light, but her throat was raw and dry…

No.

No. No! NO!

Eli jolted awake, scrambling to get her bearings as her lungs burned with the soundless screams of her nightmare. Her breathing was ragged, catching in her throat as she sat up and blinked wearily, trying to chase the fog from her brain. A dull pain flared in her shoulder and she groaned, mind clearing with recollection as the day before returned to her.

Her headaches, the hunter, Astarion, the crossbow…

Eli peered down at herself, twisting slightly to try and get a decent angle in order to view the closed wound. Her armor had been removed, leaving Eli in her undershirt and a pair of camp pants. She pulled at the shirt collar, trying to see underneath and inspect her shoulder as best she could. An angry scar had bloomed where the wound had been, and she mentally made a note to thank Shadowheart for what she assumed had been the cleric’s work.

Rubbing at her eyes, the ghost of a dull headache still thrumming away at the back of her skull, Eli pulled back the ragged blanket that had been laid over her…then paused. She held the cloth up and away from herself, inspecting it curiously. She didn’t remember owning a blanket…and the scent… Sharp and citrusy, with notes of evergreen and a touch of smokiness. And beneath that…the stale scent of death, slightly rotted and stagnant. She knew that odor. It was one of the reasons she’d pegged Astarion as a vampire upon their first meeting, aside from all of the other obvious hints. He could try and mask it with rosemary and the tang of bergamot, but Eli would know the perfume of death and decay anywhere. The familiarity of it was unsettling, because try as she might, she couldn’t pinpoint why the smell of necrosis was such a balm to her.

Eli rubbed the worn fabric between her fingers, eyeing it closely. She could see careful stitchwork in various places along the edges where meticulous effort had been taken to patch fraying hemming. The texture of the blanket was timeworn and there was a distinct air of mustiness to it. It was old – very old – but comfortable. Eli felt a pang of affection as she folded the blanket and set it aside, cautious to put it somewhere where she wouldn’t accidentally step on it. She stared at it for a moment, thoughts sizzling in her head like small sparks that might set alight a larger blaze if she wasn’t careful. She frowned at herself and turned away, standing with a tired grunt and slamming those nagging and sentimental emotions inside a mental box that she meant to burry deep down within herself.

She seemed only capable of bad ideas these days. Best not to humor anymore.

Stepping out of her tent, Eli took a quick survey of camp. Everything was still, the night dark and deep. Their campfire had burned down to embers that glowed faintly in the gloom and Eli guessed the hour must be early in the darkness of morning. She walked towards the riverbank, stretching out her shoulder and rolling it back tenderly. It would be sore for a few days, she mused, but that was a far cry better than what could have happened had they not had a cleric with them.

Crouching, she cupped water between her hands and splashed her face, still trying to sort through all the thoughts whirring in her mind.

“A saucerer? Really?”

Eli flinched, surprised by the cool, easy voice. She turned her head, grinning up at Astarion who stood a few paces behind her, arms crossed as he leaned against a tree that was growing out from the bank.

“I can’t help it if your sense of humor isn’t as refined as my own,” she said, sitting back onto the sandy shoreline.

A bark of laughter escaped Astarion’s throat and Eli caught herself staring at the delicate hallow between his collarbones.

“Thank the gods for that. Puns are the lowest form of humor, darling.”

A depraved rush sped up her heart and she felt a flush bleed down her neck as the unbidden image of hands pressing down on his throat entered her mind. Astarion’s eyes narrowed at her, shining in the silvery moonlight. He smirked, no doubt noticing her piqued heartrate and the blush below her jaw.

“Happy to see me, my dear?” he purred, uncrossing his arms and stepping out onto the bank.

Eli banished the foul thought from her head as Astarion sat beside her, a brow quirked slyly.

“Happy to see anyone, considering.” She shrugged, ignoring the suggestion beneath his words. He didn’t need to know that her mind wasn’t envisioning the sorts of things he thought it was.

The Urge thrummed distantly in her brain but remained mostly unroused.

“Did you leave a blanket in my tent,” Eli asked, changing the subject before Astarion could make any more quips.

She caught the briefest flash of surprise flit across his expression, but it was gone just as quickly, replaced by a composed air of hautyness. Eli wondered if Astarion hadn’t meant for her to know he’d been the one to leave it.

“Well, yes,” he said, suddenly rather interested in attending to a smudge of dirt on his trousers, brushing at it. “I noticed that shabby excuse for a bedroll in your tent when I brought you back and figured between the blood loss and poison, the last thing we all needed was for the only rational person in camp – besides me, of course – to catch cold and die.”

Eli brought the back of her hand to her forehead, frowning with confusion as she held it there. Astarion gave her a sidelong look, expression guarded.

“What are you doing?” he asked with slight unease.

“Checking to see if I’m running a fever. I don’t think all the poison’s out of my system yet,” Eli said, giggling as Astarion’s frown deepened.

“You know, I am capable of being a thoughtful and decent person,” he chided with no small amount of irritation cutting through his words. “From time to time,” he added after a brief pause.

Eli just smiled back at him, amused by his fluster and bravado.

“I’m teasing,” she said, unable to keep a note of fondness out of her voice. “It was thoughtful. Thank you.”

Astarion returned his attention to the smudge, brushing away at the remaining dirt.

“Don’t go making a fuss about it. I owed you, anyway. For the wine,” he reminded her.

“You didn’t owe me anything,” Eli corrected him warmly.

She was finding it more and more difficult to tune out that bothersome feeling of affection growing behind her ribcage. But, she’d deal with it later. The company was nice in the small, calm hours of the morning. Especially when she considered the nightmares that were likely waiting for her back in the shadows of her tent.

Yeah. She’d definitely, absolutely turn those feelings off. Later.

27 notes · View notes

fireemblems24 · 4 months

Text

Golden Wildfire Ch 14

Almost done guys. I can stick with it.

STORY

Oh no, The Empire is in danger. Anyways . . .

They're all shocked Edelgard is asking for help because she's putting her in debt to them.

Haha, they're considering just leaving her there and letting the Empire die. Lorenz came up with it. Based.

I know Claude will go bail her out, which is really stupid for a guy who claims he wants to end the war.

So . . . how does killing Rhea and sparing Edelgard cause the least amount of bloodshed? I knew that's what was going to happen, but it makes no sense. Claude even admitted he knows that Edelgard doesn't give a shit, she wants to conquer Rhea or no Rhea.

I really fail to see how on earth this is ending in 2 chapters. Unless Edelgard is so grateful to Claude she just gives up her ambitions? And Dimitri is equally OOC also suddenly gives a shit about what Claude thinks??

I've actually LOVED how they're written Edelgard and Dimitri in Hopes so far, and if GW ruins that with its shit writing I'm gonna be pissed.

Edelgard better not turn into some soft sissy who is all "oh, you saved me, Claude, now I'm going to play nice and make big eyes at you! Now that Rhea's dead and you did something nice, I'm going to give up the most core part of my character." Double gross if it's implied that she's flustered by his good looks.

And Dimitri better not not be pissed off that Claude invaded him for no reason and be like "You were so right, I wanted Rhea gone this whole time, thank you for saving me from her, please ignore Sylvain stewing in the corner, he'll just get over that you murdered his dad, just like I suddenly don't care how you murdered my citizens!"

If that happens, I'm calling this Claude's bizarre fanfic where he thinks his masterminded Edelgard and Dimitri so hard that now they're both hard for him no matter how OOC that makes them or how stupid Claude's been this whole time.

CAMP/SIDE MAPS

Haha, Shamir doesn't want to help the Empire. She wants revenge against them for the war with Dagda lol.

I don't think Holst has had an interesting thing to say in this entire game.

Oh yeah, I forgot. In GW and SB we're saving Bernie's father and helping him maintain religious power. Only in AG is he the enemy we're replacing. I swear, did nobody look at this and wonder if they made the Blue Lions unambiguously the only good guys?

Haha, right after I wrote this, some NPC was like wtf are we doing putting an Imperial noble in charge of the Monastery and religion?

Meanwhile, Lorenz is like, if we just let Edelgard die, the war ends right. But they must go save her because they're former classmates! For, like, a month! And Claude's like, Dimitri is too. And then crickets. I swear to God GW is borderline self-aware of how reaching and desperate the writing is to have Claude want to join the "I want to suck Edelgard's toes" gang for no logical reason.

Ouch, someone just compared Claude to Hubert. Like, I love Hubert, but he is NOT someone I want to be compared to.

I forget how boring GW is to play. Lorenz takes no damage from anything, so I just mash buttons. He isn't particularly strong either, so he's not nearly as fun to play as Dimitri and Hubert are with their ridiculous strength and magic stats, respectively.

So if I ever replay GW (lol, sure /s), I would def not pick Lorenz again. Lysithea seems like a way more fun character more suited for my play style but she's too far behind with class unlocks and etc . . .

Haha, Shez is like "if I ended up on another side, they would've been suspicious of my powers and thought I was an enemy" - side-eyeing Edelgard and SB.

Lamo, where did Claude get the idea that the church doesn't like people from other places or that aren't religious? Last time I checked, they didn't care?

Lamo, Shez is saying she might just leave Claude when the war ends. Same, Shez, same.

I had to fight Gustave :( And after that Sylvain :(

Guys, I'm feeding Claude recipes he dislikes. I've run out of supports to grind this round so . . .

I did the same to Holst too, because fuck you too, Holst

I'm giving my merc whistle to Lorenz. He basically did everything this route. And ohhhhh, he's right in front of Claude and Hilda too, haha. That means they're going to watch me give Lorenz a present and none for them.

And now to dump every stat boost on Lorenz too. I literally use no one else unless I absolutely have too. Hubert and Dimitri will get the same treatment. Probably also the 2 getting my merc whistle too. Which is hilarious since Hubert is pretty openly hostile to Shez.

SHEZ & CLAUDE A

It's funny. In SB, no one trusts Shez. In GW, Shez doesn't trust Claude. In AG, Shez . . . yep.

Wait, whut? Shez is like "we need to end the church to end the war." And Claude is like "right, because they they can try something again." My brother in Sothis, what the fuck? Did he just forget that Edelgard started the war? Rhea didn't do shit.

Also, didn't Claude say earlier he knows the church is just an excuse for Edelgard to make a land grab? Did he magically forget that?

SHEZ & BALTHUS B

Don't remember if I saw this yet.

Balthus wants to make a bet on battle. Shez doesn't want to.

Balthus likes to live on the edge and adding a bet makes battle more fun. Shez disagrees.

SHEZ & HAPI B

Still don't remember if I saw this or not. But it's another support about Shez's mysterious origins that go absolutely no where.

And I have a strong suspicion that we won't actually learn anything about who Shez really is unless her mom is like Arundel or something.

I think I may have seen this before. But Shez has more than one support like this so . . .

CLAUDE & MARIANNE A

Weird. They only have 1 support and its A.

Marianne gets a letter that implies that he wants Marianne to rule House Edmund and she's intimidated by it.

Claude shares that he worries too.

Claude says Marianne needs more resolve.

Sorry, that was boring as fuck.

CLAUDE & LYSITHEA A

Lysithea has a message from her father, who's taken maybe the worst beating in this game.

Her father doesn't want to complain, but to thank him for ending TWSITD chaos.

Poor House Ordelia really does get the shit end of the stick.

Claude is worry that Lysithea works too hard.

Lysithea doesn't really listen.

CLAUDE & LEONIE B

Their only support.

The crops of the territories that are at war are suffering because armies are trampling fields.

Common people are mad at Claude because of the battle making them starve.

Glad this game is acknowledging, even a little, how it's poor people who get screwed over the most when nobles bicker.

Leonie admits she could care less about this war. Which just make her not being in AG (so far) weirder. Since she's probably one of the one who cares the least.

This is more interesting than I thought it was going to be, because it's about how the commoners suffer in war, and how Claude needs a common born perspective. So that makes Edelgard the only one who never asks common born people what they want - and the one thinking she has the right to decide everything for them.

CLAUDE & CONSTANCE C

Claude is interested in Constance's experiments

Constance invented a spell that can change hair color and style, which Claude wants to use to escape but not to be her first test subject

She gives him a hard and sharp style, like literally - he complains, she's not happy

I don't know if she turned it back or not, if she didn't I'm tempted to not view their B so Claude is stuck with silly, awful hair for his final chapters because then his looks will match his clown behavior

HILDA & IGNATZ B

Hilda doesn't recognize Ignatz without his glasses on. So . . . she's an idiot?

Ignatz is basically blind without glasses, yet forgot where he put them. So . . . he's an idiot too?

Hilda thinks he's hot without his glasses. I . . . question her taste.

IGNATZ & HAPI C

Hapi finds his sketch book and there's a picture of her with cats in there, and she's disturbed that someone drew her without telling her

She figured out that it's him

She's mad he lied, but liked the picture

And . . . the Chicago Carolina game is more entertaining than that was (who may be the 2 worst teams in the NFL, for those who don't know)

SHEZ & IGNATZ A

Aw, that's sweet of Ignatz. He's like, we talk too much about me, talk about you!

And Shez teases him about a crush, lamo.

Shez only has 2 dream options: I don't know or easy going mercenary life

Ignatz asks Shez to be a bodyguard ones he's done being a knight and going after his dreams

Shez says she'll charge a lot lamo

Claude & Constance B

Oh, right, the hair magic stuff.

Constance doesn't appreciate his lack of enthusiasm

She turned his hair frizzy and uneven, lamo - like a bird's nest, and honestly, deserved Claude, you've sucked this route

He has a beard too

LORENZ & IGNATZ A

Their only support, weird.

Lorenz didn't make much of Ignatz when they meant, but now is impressed.

The improvement it because Ignatz is painting in his free time, helping his mental health

Lorenz feels bad because he realizes Ignatz wants to be an artist, not a knight, like he assumed

Ingatz is still grateful towards Lorenz for giving him a purpose after the school closed and he felt directionless

RAPHAEL & MARIANNE B

Bummed they only have 1 support. I like their chain in Houses.

Marianne can't get a horse to the stable bc it's sick (the horse told her, Raphael doesn't seem to care that a horse talked to Marianne)

Raphael offers to get the horse to the stable by putting it in a cart

He lifted it, Marianne is impressed, but now her horse can get the medicine and rest needed

Dumb horse ate bad fruit, honestly, accurate, they're all secretly pigs in horse-shaped bodies

Raphael . . . also eats rotten food. So, I guess Dimitri has competition for who has the most iron stomach

See, this was cute too. Marianne just feels naturally open with him

RAPHAEL & LEONIE A

They're out of arrows and surrounded by wolves

I think Raphael beat them back with her bow

He credits her for making such a strong bow (it didn't break)

So now Leonie will keep making bows until there's one Raphael can't break, and Raphael will keep working on muscles so he can keep breaking them

MARIANNE & YURI B

Oh, God, Yuri's always so mean to people in the beginning of support chains. I wonder how on earth this is going to go . . .

Yuri takes her off guard and asks questions, which just makes her more guarded and feel judged.

Marianne assumes he hates animals and herself. Because she saw Yuri glaring at her once. Girl, you have issues, but I love you.

Understandably, Yuri's a bit confused.

Marianne keeps assuming things are her fault and apologizing, and Yuri keeps getting more and more annoyed until she runs off.

A lot of this support felt pretty random, but let's see where A goes.

MAIN BATTLE

This battle is titled . . . salvation. You know, that may be the most clever bit of writing in GW so far (as in the ONLY clever writing)

Haha, Edelgard is surrounded by the Kingdom and Rhea.

Even Holst is like, are you sure about this Claude?

I really don't understand the logic of rescuing Edelgard if Claud doesn't want war. Like, Claude acknowledged that Edelgard only used Rhea as an excuse for expansionism. He knows she's just going to find another excuse for war, so all he's doing is making her enemies weaker.

Ok, that's enough. I forget that applying any sort of logic to this plot line is pointless.

Cut scene is cool though. Lamo, is this like the 5th time Edelgard needed someone to rescue her in this game? She looked really pathetic in cut scenes in this game. Like, I don't even like her, and I'm annoyed because one of the things I did like was her being a bit of a badass, not always needing saving from Shez, Byleth, from assassins all the time, etc . . .

Guys, there's a save Monica side quest. Should I just . . . not? You know what? I'm going to have fun with this. I want to see what happens.

Fuck, Ingrid appeared :(

And now they want me to save Bernie's dad. This chapter is really "rescue the most fucking annoying characters" and "kill the best ones."

Thank FUCK, she retreated this time. I wouldn't been livid if they made me kill her twice for no reason.

OMG, again, lamo, Edelgard is useless this chapter. She keeps getting caught. That's the 3rd time in 1 chapter she's needed to get her ass saved by Claude and co.

Now I have to fight Dedue :( He's better not fucking die. This route isn't worth it. Edelgard called him Dimitri's most loyal retainer though.

Oh, thank God, he retreated.

Now I'm going to have to fight Dimitri, I'm sure :( I'm really fucking glad Lorenz can't take damage. I'd be shitting myself otherwise. He better retreat too.

Why can't we let Edelgard die, Claude? Wouldn't that fix all the problems?

Oh, Rhea! Fighting Rhea will actually be a little cool, since you never get to see her or use her.

Dimitri retreated at least.

WTF Claude? "I'm just determined to see what the world would look like without you." Idk, maybe Almyra??? The writers really gave Claude nothing with that line lamo.

Took Rhea out. She retreated too.

Now Byleth is here and I think she's dying for good this time. Feel a bit bad about not recruiting her. Claude doesn't deserve Byleth's support on this route, but she doesn't deserve to die either.

Cut scene time. I wonder what's considered more cannon, recruiting Byleth or not?

Also, isn't it thematic that you kill Sothis on routes where you oppose Rhea and side with Edelgard?

Arval's way too happy about this, lamo. Shez is bummed. Honestly, I think I ship Shez with Byleth the most.

Edelgard was so lame this chapter.

Claude tries rubbing it in Edelgard's face that she owes him, and she threatens not to honor the debt. Like, Claude, my boy, if this person is willing to turn on you because you teased her . . . that isn't an ally you want, but whatever.

Claude is like, can we not destroy Faergus. Edelgard's like, no.

"We never spared a thought for Dimitri's motivation." Uh, how about "stop killing my people you bloodthirsty idiots." Also, not surprised. These two really are idiots. They can't fathom why Dimitri's . . . defending himself.

Claude sounds so pathetic in this chapter. He's like, sooooo desperate to be like, remember I did you a favor, Edelgard, remember! Like she gives a single shit, lamo.

#golden wildfire #fire emblem #fire emblem three hopes #three hopes #three hopes spoilers #golden wildfire spoilers

25 notes · View notes

banemmanan · 6 months

Text

U.N.C.L.E. statistics graphs

Part 2 of 3

[part 1] * [part 3]

All Man from U.N.C.L.E. data was compiled by @commander-kiranerys :

Series 1 * Series 2 * Series 3 * Series 4

Girl from U.N.C.L.E. data was compiled by myself and my sister:

* GFU *

Original graphs created by commander-kiranerys:

* :1: * :2: * :3: * :4: *

(more info and analysis under the cut)

Disclaimer:

As you can see from the data attributes, the mfu and gfu stats have been compiled by two different people. As such, results should be taken with a grain of salt as our views on what exactly constitutes 'torture' or a 'failed escape' may vary.

A word on graphs:

I felt that having compiling the separate info in one place in the form of bar charts was ideal for visual comparisons of the data, rather than jumping between posts. However, I cannot recommend enough commander-kiranerys's original graphs enough due to them being in the form of line graphs, thus giving a good view of change over time for the individual results of her statistics. This was not possible here due to gfu being part of a separate show.

Analysis:

Tied up: so if you're into bondage then MFU Season 3 is for you. Specifically Illya... (I see you Season 3 writers, I see you). As you can see from these graphs and the next two, the GFU villains weren't really very kinky. A shame tbh (who said that?).

Chained or handcuffed: I had combined these two separate categories into just the one in my data set and so I added together commander-kiranerys' results to create some compatible data. The MFU stats here remain very consistent before that good ol' Season 4 drop, they didn't get that same significant increase that being tied up saw.

Tortured: sad to see that Napoleon and Illya have never been tortured together. As the old saying goes, partners who get tortured together, stay together. Very tragic.

Drugged: a lot of the cynics out there will say that it's no surprise at all that GFU was on the most drugs of the series. But to that I say, just look at that MFU Season 3 stat! The least by a long shot!

Knocked out: the most impressive thing here is that if you removed all of April's stats, GFU would still be leading on getting knocked out. I'm more than a little worried about Mark; has anyone checked him for post-concussion syndrome?

Shot: my findings? Bullet wound Mark is an outlier and should not be counted. He is one gunshot away in his single series from equalling Illya in the entire run of MFU. The consistency of those MFU results is very satisfying to me, and then Mark has to ruin it! Someone get this man a touriquet or smth idc. Also April is bullet proof, aparently.

Wet: although I was too British and prude to tally-up instances of partial nudity (idk why I found that too embarrassing ok), I am not imune to fanservice and was more than happy to count instances of getting wet. Now, if you like your agents soaking wet, then aparently GFU is the show for you (yes this is a propaganda post). Though on average it ties with MFU Season 4; in terms of raw numbers it cannot be beat. Interestingly though, Season 1 Napoleon is tied with Mark for soggiest individual character.

I will freely admit that the analysis here is strongly skewed towards comparing the GFU results with the MFU results. Mainly due to commander-kiranerys having already created a set of graphs and gone over the MFU data there. I didn't want these posts to replace those in any way and instead to add to them. Please check out those posts (linked above) for a more MFU-oriented approach!

I hope you found this data useful or at least interesting! I would love to have discussions about these!

25 notes · View notes

adarkrainbow · 1 month

Text

As you might have noticed with my latest post, I have been looking into Frau Holle recently. And I just read an article by Dominique Peyrache-Leborgne which has some interesting points.

The article starts out by pointing out the difficulty of translating "Frau Holle", the very name of the tale/entity, in French. "Frau" can become easily "Madame" or "Dame", Miss or Lady, no problem... But what about "Holle"? The very name is a part of German folklore - and not just German folklore, a very specific regional folklore in Germany around Hesse - and as such it means nothing to a French audience. Not only that, but since French is a Latin-derived language, unlike German, the very name "Holle" does not bear any connotations, implications or echoes in French the same way it does in German or even English. As such, while there were translations as "Madame Hollé" as early as 1869, the idea of keeping "Frau Holle" as "Frau Holle" or just transliterating as "Lady Holle" is quite recent - and only applies to scholarly translations. Meanwhile, for older or more "common" translations, a specific trend appeared in France, a translation-tradition that still lasts to this day. Translating Frau Holle as "Madame la Neige" (Miss Snow), "Dame Hiver" (Lady Winter) or other cold-related names.

An habit that the author of the article severely criticizes, because while indeed snow plays an important part in the fairytale, Frau Holle is not supposed to be a spirit of winter or an embodiment of the snow - or at least she does not appear exclusively as such. Frau Holle is a very complex cultural figure with various functions and appearances.

To help the audience understand the complexity of Frau Holle, the article presents in a simplified and summarized version the list of supernatural beings that appear in variations of the "Frau Holle" tale around the world - a list extracted from a work by Warren E. Roberts, a "very complete synthesis" called "The Tale of the Kind and Unkind Girls" (1958). To highlight this intertextuality not only helps understand the various roles and elements surrounding the "part" Frau Holle is supposed to play ; while also proving how Frau Holle synthetizes all of those various aspects together.

In most fairytales of the type "The Kind and Unkind Girls", the supernatural being is a female entity of magic. For example, a fairy - fairies are very recurring in this type of fairytale though, unlike in Perrault's famous "Diamonds and Toads", there is never just one fairy, they are always three. It is exemplified by Basile's "The Three Fairies" in his Pentamerone ; they also appear within several Judeo-Spanish fairytales of the Balkans (there was a recent anthology of them translated in French published by the José Corti edition), and it is quite common for these three fairies to be washer-women, or at least tied to water/rivers (several variations in the French region of Gascogne have the fairies as washer-women by the river). There is also an equally important number of fairytales, among these "female tales", where the girls rather deal with witches - characters that very easily replace or are confused with fairies in folktales. The most famous of those witches tale is the one Afanassiev called simply "The Baba Yaga", and where the famous Russian witch plays the part of Frau Holle. A third option also exists for the female magical being: just "an old woman", "little old woman", who is clearly magic but never called by any specific name like "fairy" or "witch" (this type of character, the "magical old woman", not quite a fairy not quite a witch, is very common among the Grimm fairytales). The "simple old woman" appears for example in another one of Basile's tales "The two little pizzas", and in a Bulgarian fairytale "Girl of gold, girl of ashes" (a story which did reach France through the Père Castor collection for children). Sometimes the old woman will ask to have lice removed from her head (for example in Greek fairytales). Finally, in lands with a strong Catholic presence, of course, the female supernatural entity is replaced by the Virgin Mary - something very common among Christianized fairytales, where the Virgin Mary plays the part of every positive female magical character (an example is the Spanish fairytale "Three Balls of Gold").

So we have here a quite coherent group of female entities, though quite ambiguous, the fairy-witch group. There is also a share of those stories that have male characters as the supernatural entity. Usually these are earthly entities tied somehow to nature: in the Ludwig Bechstein's "Golden Mary, Sticky Mary", it is a "wild man" or "savage man", the "Thürschemann" ; in Afanassiev's The Old Grumpy Woman it is a leshy, a male "forest spirit" ; and in Grimm's own "The Three Little Men of the Forest" it is, as the title says, three dwarves living in the woods. When it comes to the male stories, having them be a specific entity related to the weather or the flow of time similar to Frau Holle is quite common: in England you have Jack Frost, in Russia Grandfather Frost ; and in many European fairytales the supernatural group of men embodies either the four seasons or the twelve months (Basile's "The Months" for example ; the article also notes a 1996 French children book "Adeline, Adelune et le feu des saisons", Adeline, Adelune and the fire of the seasons).

Finally, there is also a set of tales with more enigmatic and mysterioues entities, whose roots seem to belong in myths, religious symbolism or magical rituals. For example in the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic traditions, the entity is usually three disembodied heads within a well, that asked for their hair to be brushed, or simply to be treated with respect. Miranda Jane Green evoked this trope within her "Celtic Myths", and James Orchard Halliweel collected a version of it, "The Three Heads in the Well" for his "Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England".

And Frau Holle, as an old and ancient avatar of a lost Germanic goddess, manages to compile and regroup all of those aspects and all those various entities within her. Like the three heads in the well, she is associated with ancient myths and the world of the dead. Like the four seasons, the twelve months, and Jack/Grandfather Frost, she is a spirit of the weather and the cycle of time. Like the wild-men and forest-spirits, she is an entity of wilderness and nature (the Brothers Grimm, in their "German Legends", do note several times that she leads a "Wild Hunt" throughout the forest). And finally she is the ultimately fairy-witch ; she is the kind and benevolent wise woman... and the terrifying ogress-like long-teethed hag.

A complexity of character, a multiplicity of faces, that is retranscribed within the ungoing debate surrounding the etymology of "Holle". For those who want to study the German fairytales under a mythological angle (Jacob Grimm was one of the most famous names to do so, more recently Eugen Rewermann, a religion specialist, took back the Grimm theory), Holle is survivance of the old pagan goddess of Germany Hulda, a mother-earth goddess (hence why Frau Holle lives underground, down a well). This is notably this analysis that led Lucie Crane, the woman that translated the Grimm fairytales for the edition illustrated by Walter Crane, to translate "Frau Holle" as "Mother Hulda": it was an attempt to give back to her a mythological glory. But other scholars have argued that Frau Holle could also be a female version of this Norse winter-god associated with the dead that appears in the Eddas: Uller/Holler. Another analysis, that is tied to the fairytale, is the homonimy between "Frau Holle" and "die Hölle" - which is "Hell" of course, but since here Frau Holle rules over a benevolet underground "land of the dead", we can think of it as a generic term for the "Underworld" (the same way for example in some languages the Greek Underworld are referred to as "Hell" despite having the paradise of the Elysian Fields). And more so: "Holle" coul also be... "die Holde", which means kindness or benevolence.

Many, many possible readings all true in their own way, which not only testifies to the cultural wealth behind the figure of Frau Holle, but also reflects perfectly how the character is one of paradoxes, duality and multiplicites. Frau Holle is so powerful that she mixes the up and the down - her realm is underground and yet in it she makes it snow in the sky, as a goddess both chthonian and celestial... With Frau Holle, life and death becomes a blur ; and more importantly Frau Holle gathers within her all seasons, because she might make it snow like in winter, her domain is stilled filled with the fresh flowers of spring and the hot sun of summer...

[The author of the article did praise greatly John Warren Stewig's decision of translating the character's name as "Mother Holly" in 2001. "Holly" is close enough to "Holle" in sonority, but it also makes the character feel more familiar to an English-speaking audience since it is a quite common name ; and "Holly" also plays cleverly on both "holly", the plant, one of the defining symbols of winter, and "holy", evoking Frau Holle's alternate roles as a saint or a goddess]

#frau holle #grimm fairytales #mother holle #brothers grimm #mother holly #german fairytales #the kind and unkind girls #fairytale type #fairytale comparisons #supernatural beings #supernatural beings in fairytales #lady winter #mother hulda #european fairytales #mother winter

14 notes · View notes

myrskytuuli · 2 years

Text

So, confession time, when I was twelve I was like Huuuuge Kishigo shipper and that’s how I for the first time found my way tot he wonderful world of fanfics and fanart, but now as an adult I obviously see how toxic and problematic the ship- HAHAHAH GOT YOU GOOD! In this house I don’t grow and don’t become better.

Anyway, now that I’ve dusted off my almost 20 years old Kishigo ship-sails, let me just say how pleasantly surprised and absolutely hopeful I am about their dynamic in the reboot, based only off the short clip in the opening. Because we all know that the original Kishigo dynamic was fucked up as hell. It would be really funny and enjoyable most of the time and then briefly take a sharp turn to completely fucked up and then return back to the genuinely funny like nothing had happened. Oh early 2000s you were truly a different time and Ichigo’s three weed smoking boyfriends were all very much trapped in their 90s boyfriend harem archetypes. The gentleman. The tsundere with a heart of gold. The actual psychopath.

(As an aside, remember how fucked up it was that every girl with several suitors always had to have one of them being an actual sex offender. Like that was just a thing. Remember when we as pubescent girls said shit like “I wish I was raped by character X” like that was just a normal thing to say. And we would all blush and giggle. How did any of us survive puberty in the early 2000s?)

Getting back on topic, the fact that they replaced the nonconsensual kiss in the intro with Kisshu just jumpscaring Ichigo fills me with hope that they have gone the sensible route and toned down the uncomfrotable intensity of Kisshu’s “crush” and maybe kept him as an annoying flirt without it veering into disregarding Ichigo’s actual boundaries. (aside from the fact that they’re fighting obviously.)

The relationship between kisshu and Ichigo was really funny when they weren’t being weirdly sexual, and I want more of that best nemesis dynamic from them.

I want Ichigo and Kisshu to immediately have the very special kind of chemistry that only two people who understand each other at their base clown level can have, the kind of where they immediately dumb each other down and truly bring out the least dignified version of each other that there is.

The kind of where they both think that they are L and Light from that Death Note opening, standing on those colour-coded pillars, the only equals to each other’s genius, expect that they’re both dumb and make each other actively dumber. Casual strangers on the street describe them as “those two best friends who were yelling at each other in the park again.”

The kind where they will both ditch much more important tasks to fistfight each other in the 7/11 parking lot. Both of their teammates are begging them to please just focus on the mission and ignore the other, but the clown music taking over their minds the closer their proximity is to each other is too strong. Nobody thinks their rivalry is impressive expect them. They also know stupid amount of useless information about each other because they cannot help but overshare a weird amount of personal and emotional information to each other while punching each other in the face. One time while fighting Kisshu accidentally teleported them both inside a movie theatre. They were both so tired that they decided to take break and watch the movie together. It was okay, Kisshu thought the spacecraft in the movie looked stupid and unpractical, Ichigo didn’t like how only female character was a love interest, but they both agreed that the special effects were good.

Aoyama-kun, being the saint that he is, understands that sometimes a girl needs time with her alien nemesis. He just wishes that it was less often in the middle of their date-night.

#tokyo mew mew #kishigo #tokyo mew mew reboot #watch me already prepare to ot3 all three of them #also all the aliens are nonbinary obviously #they don't fit into human male/femal binary

160 notes · View notes

miffybnuy · 5 months

Text

i probably will not be finishing this unless i get a random spirt of motivation in the future. for those who dont know, this is my newly designed homestuck (+humanstuck) au based off the movie parasite 2019 that i will NOT shut up abt. information abt the au under the cut (THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR PARASITE)

mainly just going to talk abt the character choices just bc the au follows the same plot as the movie

the kim family (the set of main characters) includes karkat in place of the dad, terezi in place of the mom, vriska in place of the sister and sollux in place of the brother. none of them are related, its more of a tight knit friend group if anything

karkat: i chose karkat for this role as the dad due to the fact that he is known to be the "leader" in most situations, looking out for his friends and has their best interest in mind despite his anger issues and trouble showing it through words and otherwise. his love language is defending his friends at any cost

terezi: terezi in more independent although still looks out for the people she lives with, in this au i wanted her to be a bit more serious and more aggressive, labeling her as more morally grey. she believes the actions portrayed by the mom in the film as morally correct due to the fact that she sees it as a sort of way to get equal ground to those in the higher class. i thought this would be an interesting approach to the whole justice thing, personally. she wants whats best for her and her friends in a more financial state, considering the household of friends are in a state of poverty

vriska: i chose vriska for the role of the sister due to the fact the sister tends to be very easy to trick people for her own benefit, being able to twist lies to benefit her and her friends. she cares the least about the friends she has (although this doesnt mean she doesnt care for them at all), leading her to be more independent as well. vriska is more cold, and more snaky than the other people in the household

sollux: as the brother figure i thought sollux would be the best fit due to the fact that the brother in the film is more so concerned about the rich families daughter (who in this case is aradia. big surprise ik) who he wants to essentially get with. while his wants are a bit more selfish in this case, he figures he can try to make this a better thing for his group of friends rather than just himself considering the situation their household in being put in

the park family (the rich family) has more of a role that i couldnt really pinpoint character wise? some of these can be replaced with other characters, which also goes for the maid and her husband as well. i just chose these characters personally to fit my vision, others are allowed to modify them as you wish!

kanaya + rose: these are the parents, theyre both a married couple and the household is known as the lalonde-maryam residence. kanaya in this au is far more different than the wife from the family, while the wife was more clueless, kanaya is just more trusting. she suspects something is going on but doubts herself in the fact that she thinks shes doing the right thing for her family, ultimately believing the lies of the friend group household. rose is more skeptical as well, usually having kanaya be the one to tell her to not worry as much because kanaya thinks the extra help could benefit their family

the little boy and daughter are replaced with roxy (little boy (girl in this case)) and aradia due to the fact that there... wasnt really anything i could go off of since the characters in the film lack the screentime to really show character development or a major personality. these are essentially just fill in roles and can be changed in the future

the maid and her husband are nepeta and equius (bc i am soooo normal abt them /lie) (these characters can also be changed if wanted)

nepeta: as the maid, nepeta is very sweet and compliant, usually very caring of the family and values the job more than anything due to the fact of her and equius' living situation. she feels bad having to use the rich family for selfish reasons, but ultimately she has to do whats best for her and equius for them to survive and she doesnt want anything coming inbetween them or to take away what they fought to have in the first place

equius: as the husband, he has a sort of unspecified condition or illness that needs treatment and is unable to work and is mostly bedridden. the specifics are unknown as of now. the illness he has causes him to be more aloof although able to defend himself and nepeta. spending so much time in an isolated place also caused him to be more mentally unstable as a result, again, specifics are for the most part unknown

guh thats all i have for rn... i hope this is good just know im making my own shit up and these r not supposed to be lore accurate to the canon personalities they have in homestuck ok bye my hands hurt

7 notes · View notes

nitrateglow · 19 days

Text

Scattered thoughts on the West Side Story remake

In general, I really enjoyed the film, largely on the strength of the performances. Everyone ranged from pretty good to amazing, with Rachel Ziegler and Ariana DeBose being the standouts. And Rita Moreno's supporting part was brilliant-- I like how she was given a substantial role and not just a lame ass cameo.

The music and dancing were great too. Ziegler's voice is just gorgeous. One trend I don't like in some modern musicals is casting famous people who cannot sing (Russell Crowe in Les Mis and Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia still haunt my nightmares). While not everyone here is a 100% unknown, I like that everyone seems to have been hired because they can actually hit the notes.

I thought the beefed up backstories for some of the characters were really interesting. (Chino's buffed up personality and background were my favorite of these new touches. He goes from being a breathing plot device to a truly tragic figure in this version.) I know some people don't like how Tony was made into an ex-con, but I appreciate that this time around they wanted to make him feel more like a credible ex-gang member. That's something I never bought in the 1961 film.

Speaking of the 1961 version, I haven't seen it in a few years, so I can't compare the two in more detail, though I do remember enough to where I can say I preferred the staging and direction in certain scenes in the older film. A lot of it has to do with my personal aesthetic preferences though.

Like, I'm not as crazy about Spielberg's staging of Tony and Maria's first encounter at the dance. The dancing between the rival groups is spectacular, but there's so much going on that the lovers get overwhelmed by it. The blocking of the scene has them retreat behind the bleachers to have their first dance (a parallel to showing Romeo and Juliet's instant chemistry through a conversation in sonnet form). However, I much prefer the 1961 film's dreamy approach, where time slows and only the lovers remain in focus. I get not wanting to repeat such an iconic moment or it coming off as corny in the 2020s, but I don't think it was replaced by anything of equal inspiration.

Actually, this brings me to a general issue I had with the remake's more pronounced "gritty and realistic" approach. One on hand, it makes sense-- the original show and 1961 film were noted for their realism, or at least, their very expressionist-tinged realism. It's meant to contrast with the romanticism of the lovers, who like Romeo and Juliet, want to go "Somewhere" their love won't be poisoned by divided loyalties and violence.

However, the more pronounced sense of unvarnished reality has two drawbacks in Spielberg's version. One, it makes the "falling in honestly and truly love in less than 48 hours" thing a bit harder to swallow. I can buy love at first sight in heightened, operatic reality-- less so in a setting that wants to resemble everyday reality.

Second, there are a hell of a lot of moments where characters break into song and the extras around them give them "wtf" looks. It's like the gag in Enchanted where Giselle starts singing in the park and Robert's like, "what now," only that movie's a meta-parody of animated musicals and WSS wants me to invest in this world and these characters. Having other people go "0_0" when someone sings takes me out the movie. You can't have your old-fashioned musical and your 21st century "lol irony take nothing seriously" schtick in the same film.

But overall, I really enjoyed this one. It's a remake that isn't just a rehash of a beloved film and it makes decisions that distinguish it completely. I plan on rewatching the 60s version, actually, just to reintroduce myself to it, since it has been over half a decade now.

#thoughts

6 notes · View notes

roccinan · 4 months

Note

When and where did Andres meet a retired HITMAN, and what did he do that was so important that Jakov pledged undying loyalty to him, his brother, and his legacy??? That's such an interesting story I can't believe Pina ignored it for giving Andres a new group of people - YOU ARE SO REAL FOR SAYING THIS. To be very honest I didn't care much for the cormorants flashback in lcdp s5 but oh my god this spinoff is making me miss them too on top of Sergio & Martín. Bogota is understandable since they met much later on but Jakov's backstory has so much potential! He even chose the name Marseille which could be interesting if that has something to do with Andrés and if they met in France perhaps. I also think it's very interesting how Andrés is able to inspire loyalty in such a different group of people, I mean, an engineer and a hitman are so different but both are/were so loyal to not just him but Sergio & the Bank of Spain heist itself even after he's dead, now those kind of relationships would be interesting to watch to see how they started, ugh I really hate this 'golden gang' lmao they don't even know who Sergio is! (and don't get me started on how INSULTING it is to try and replace Sergio like that with an actual professor 😐)

Thank you for agreeing and adding on, anon! What else can I say except YOU ARE RIGHT AND YOU SHOULD SAY IT. I agree with Everything you mentioned, literally everything. I was bored by the Copenhagen heist, but omg at least it had Bogota and Marseille (and at least we Knew what Tatiana & Rafael's relationship was). I honestly missed those two so much. We know Bogota was pulled in by Martin later, so it's understandable (but unfortunate smh) that he wouldn't be part of Andres' "golden" years.

But the original show hinted so much at Jakov having some deep relationship with Andres that them not explaining is just ??? and his name is literally Marseille, a place in France. The spinoff would have been the Perfect place to slip him in as both a familiar face for old fans and an interesting subplot that's more thrilling/darker than just some kids going on dates.

Yes! The friendships Andres had with the cormorants was very interesting and actually added to his character because these were people from such different walks of life. A Croatian hitman, an Argentinian engineer, hello!???? Even when Bogota came into the fold, it was so refreshing to see a guy Andres' age constantly roughing him up. These men were his equals, and they felt like his friends, people who genuinely stuck with him even after his death because they are all freaks saw someone in him beyond the narcissistic delusional dandy front he's always putting up. There's something so intense and interesting there that I KNOW audiences would be glued watching how these relationships started and grew.

Like you said, the "golden gang" doesn't even Sergio(!!). Clearly, Andres didn't think they were worth introducing to his beloved brother. Replacing Sergio with Damian was also such a bizarre choice, I honestly thought there'd be more to it than Pina just wanting another professor character. Like, I found it insulting that they just expected us to believe Damian was Andres' dear friend without any explanation over -how they met -why they're friends -what the hell happened to Damian between the spinoff & lcdp.

#anonymous #berlin 2023 #SO TRUE ANON #pina in 2022: it's about love and heists people will love it!#the people watching: too much love not enough heists! where are our HeIsTs!????#(slowly but surely getting through the inbox! thank you for stopping by everyone)

5 notes · View notes

fragmentofmemories · 4 months

Note

oooo interesting! :0 hope the comp gets fixed soon!

34 and 56 sound interesting!

Thanks for the ask, and hopefully I can get my PC back soon.

34) Five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

Working on Dormouse 12's fourth remake because I wrote one extremely minor part wrong /j.

Honestly, I can see myself still writing fics, but alongside bigger original projects. That's what I'm hoping, at least.

56) What's something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Suspense and fight scenes, namely. The two of them often go hand-in-hand, so an explanation for this is pretty simple.

When I read other fics, I wasn't exactly sold on how they wrote action scenes. Either there was no buildup, or the fight itself was too short and one-sided, or it was basically a footnote as there was no payoff nor consequences. (Not calling out any specific story; it's just I've noticed in general).

Thus, whenever I write a fight scene I do so adding a sense of uncertainty to it. Establish the danger. Have both sides stand on equal footing and constantly switch between who has the advantage, and have the fight resolve in a meaningful way which affects the story one way or another.

And above all, keep readers guessing.

Admittedly, EO1 actually helped me practice this writing process. I'm not going to talk about it much because otherwise this will turn into a 20k essay praising the game.

But, in short, EO1's story revels in the horrors of adventuring. The labyrinth is dangerous, cruel even, and for as important as your characters may feel, the truth is they're just as feeble as everybody else — replaceable, even.

Thus, for the original Dormouse 12, I made it a goal of mine to maintain that oppressive atmosphere. To have that feeling that, at any point, things could go horribly wrong for any character.

As a fun fact, an old commenter told me they thought the main character was a fakeout and that I would kill her in Chapter 2 (which I didn't because it would be cheap). And it was then that I just knew I've struck gold (lol).

#misc #ask #gekkouka writing

2 notes · View notes

pianocat939 · 2 years

Note

Hey!!! It's 🇧🇷 anon here! How are you?

⠀

Well... can I request yandere Snake Fruit Cookie and Tainted Vanilla Cookie (separately) with a darling that is a dragon with a level equal to or higher than the Longan Dragon but instead of using it for evil they just don't use it or use it to help everyone?

Well... I don't know if this idea I had would fit with the yandere themes but... If you think it doesn't fit then you can make a normal relationship

And yes... I'm making a request for a character from your CRK AU (I hope you accept requests with your AU characters)

I’m sick, I guess to put it simply. This cold is getting worse and better at the same time. Tbh I kinda waited for something to come from you. Idk why I just expected something.

You didn’t specify headcanons or a fic so I just went with something in between.

Sorry last comment. Yes, I definitely do accept requests for my Villain AU. It helps me sort out thoughts and kinda get a better idea.

Tw: Kidnapping, snake bite/venom usage, mentions of murder, blood (strawberry jam), yandere itself lmao, feeling of being unaccepted (idk if this is a Tw)

(I made banners (⌒▽⌒))

Doesn’t use powers

Snake Fruit would have mixed feelings.

They hate the fact you’re a dragon at first. After all, you’re already what they strive so hard to be. So before they start to obsess, they interact with you in a malicious way.

Let’s say you were friendly or on good terms with Longan Dragon. So one day, while you were visiting the palace, Snake Fruit was taking orders from Longan. Curious to see who this new cookie was, you asked Longan.

“A snake who is desperate to become a dragon. They try to hide themselves and act like an obedient servant, but I know their intentions. All they want to do is overthrow my position. Such a disgrace indeed.”

Since then, you’ve been defensive whenever you passed by them in the long corridors. Likewise, whenever they greeted you there was underlying venom.

That was until they eavesdropped on your conversation with Longan.

“Why don’t you use your powers? Surely you must use them for something.”

“No, I just find no reason to use them. I don’t have any enemies, nor do I have the hunger for power like you.”

This piqued Snake Fruit’s curiosity. It’s quite ironic for a dragon to not use their powers. Especially one as powerful as Longan. Wanting to know more, they observed you more closely.

If you visit the palace they’ll greet you as per normal, but occasionally they’ll ask questions about your life.

“Ssay, you sseem to be living the liberty. Do you do anything elsse during your never-ending leissure?”

“I do like to observe the outside world from my living space. It’s interesting to see cookies do many different things.”

“You must usse your powerss to ssee around the world then!”

“Surprisingly no. I usually just sit next to my window and look at the civilization below.”

As they learn more, the more they appreciate your humbleness and neutrality when seeing other cookies.

In their mind, they see you as someone who believes power do not define social status. This especially makes them happy since they get called out at for being weak or fake. (From dragons at least)

Soon enough they become friendly and the poison between each other washed away; replaced with a friendship that soon turned into a more concerning relationship.

Snake Fruit now would follow you whenever they could. It was fine until one day, they appeared at your doorstep with tea and jellies in hand.

“Hello my friend! I’ve brought ssnackss for us to sshare!”

They would force themselves into your home and lounge around with you. Sitting beside you a little bit too close for friends. Staring into your cookie-soul with a smile that hid the true intentions. That’s when you started to get overwhelmed.

After a few months, you finally broke and confronted Snake Fruit; telling them that they’re being too unsettling. Finally, Snake Fruit hissed and in mere seconds they coiled themselves around you.

“We are on equal levelss you and I. You are the only who ssees my wayss, and treat with me with the resspect I’ve desired. I can’t sstop myself anymore. I need you by my sside, forever…”

In a state of panic, you struggled to decide your next action.

Should you use your power? No, you’ve sworn that you wouldn’t use them. Attack them? But what would occur in the future?

Your thoughts were stopped by a sharp pain going through your body. Snake Fruit had bit you.

You immediately started to feel weaker, limbs unable to struggle from the bind. Fatigue weighed you down, causing your brain to cease thinking properly.

“I’m glad you haven’t ussed your powerss. You really do love me don’t you? It’ss good that you only get weaker from my bite…And not death.”

In a few minutes your eyes started to droop, putting you to sleep. In your last moments of consciousness, you heard snickering and the feeling of being placed onto a cushion.

Snake Fruit had kidnapped you to their home, in their sedan with their servants. In power, just like how you once were.

Tainted Vanilla wouldn’t care too much. Except for the fact that you don’t care about status in terms of power. To him, that is a relief. After dealing with so much abandonment from his curse, it makes him feel accepted. (Snake Fruit and TV are similar for status lmao)

He definitely likes to ask why you don’t like using your powers.

“Say, you never use your powers. Even for the hardest tasks, you still don’t. Is there a reason why?”

“I like to think myself equal to all the cookies in this world. It makes me feel more in-touch with the present. Unlike Longan, who unfortunately cannot see the world is not only about power.” (Longan pulling a Raiden Shogun moment)

TV never liked change, it always made him feel uncomfortable; but seeing you wanting to accept all changes no matter what made him also want to accept change.

“Maybe I need to accept the fact Light Enchantress doesn’t see me as the same. Or is she just blind?”

There can be both a positive and negative end for Tainted Vanilla. The positive one being that he realizes people change, and so must he. The negative one being him going even more berserk and end up killing his beloved friend.

When he realizes he needs to change, he’ll stop wanting acknowledgement from Light Enchantress. Instead, he’ll just fight for the betrayal his comrades went through. It doesn’t mean he isn’t a little crazy though.

He won’t hesitate to bury his dough arms into strawberry jam.

Going back to the negative one, he’ll slowly start to doubt L. Enchantress even more and snaps. Before, he only wanted her to acknowledge the fact that he is still Vanilla cookie, and is only troubled with a curse that’s been cast upon him. Now, he wants total punishment.

He wants to see her in pain. For her to feel the torture he went through when she left him behind to crack. To see what devastation truly can be.

“You deserve this. You left me behind to the witches! Today, I stand here with demons and troubled souls haunting my mind and dough every moment!”

“I just couldn’t bare the thought of-”

You know the rest.

Keep in mind though, he’ll still keep you, no matter the ending. You are the only cookie to cure his curse temporarily when he’s around you. Although you’ll have more access to the company of other cookies if he’s happier. ——————————————————I think I just went raging fast with Tainted Vanilla’s…sorry about that.

When I was writing I realized how similar Tainted Vanilla and Snake Fruit are. They have similar problems, and are struggling to fix them.

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Unedited

- Celina

#cookie run kingdom #cookie run villan au #tainted vanilla cookie #yandere x reader #cookie run ovenbreak #snake fruit cookie #yandere cookie run #Yandere snake fruit cookie

47 notes · View notes

banemmanan · 6 months

Text

U.N.C.L E. statistics graphs

Part 1 of 3

[part 2] * [part 3]

All Man from U.N.C.L.E. was data compiled by @commander-kiranerys :

Series 1 * Series 2 * Series 3 * Series 4

Girl from U.N.C.L.E. data was compiled by myself and my sister:

* GFU *

Original graphs created by commander-kiranerys:

* :1: * :2: * :3: * :4: *

(more info and analysis under the cut)

Disclaimer:

A word on graphs:

I felt that compiling the separate info in one place, in the form of bar charts, was ideal for visually comparing the data, rather than jumping between posts. However, I cannot recommend enough commander-kiranerys's original graphs due to them being in the form of line graphs, thus giving a good view of change over time for the individual results of her statistics. This was not possible here due to gfu being part of a separate show.

Analysis:

Captured: here is where I think that April and Mark get a bad rep in terms of their competency as spies. They actually get captured less frequently than Napoleon and Illya do not only in Season 3, but Season 2 as well. And April's statistics are comparatively very even to Illya in both of these cases too, and not even bad when compared to Napoleon's Season 4 average.

Successful escapes: as pointed out before re: competency, April actually has one of the highest rates of escaping by herself. Equal first with Season 1 Napoleon, I believe. This does of course rely on being captured in the first place, though. It would probably be more accurate to make individual pie charts of escape vs rescue ratios (not a bad idea actually... excuse me while I make a part 3)

Successful rescues: if we are going to call April a damsel in distress for needing to be rescued so many times, then we must also acknowledge that Season 2 & 4 Napoleon and Season 3 Illya are also damsels in distress. That's it; that's my analysis. Just something to think about there.

Unsuccessful escapes: okay, nevermind, I retract everything I said about April and Mark being more competent than they seem. April especially. Big yikes that she can equal Napoleon and Illya's combined failed attempts all on her own. To be fair to Mark, he actually does very well for himself. Still not quite the 100% successful escape attempts of MFU Season 4.

Unsuccessful rescues: this graph may, on the surface of things, look worse than the previous one in terms of GFU. But to be fair to them, a rescue doesn't necessarily have to be launched by one or the other of the main characters, so it wasn't just them failing here.

I hope you found this data useful or at least interesting! I would love to have discussions about these!

10 notes · View notes

kerorowhump · 6 months

Note

Hi! You once mentioned your headcanon of Keroro being jealous of Giroro and Dororo, could you talk more about that? It sounds interesting!

hiiii thank you for the ask ヾ( ˃ᴗ˂ )◞ • *✰

for me to do that I have to put a big fat disclaimer upfrond and say that obviously, since I haven't finished watching the show yet, I haven't seen every single instance of this chibi trio interacting. secondly, I wanna be clear that this is based on vibes.

to me it's a headcanon that was born from multiple small things, I first got it while looking through the daisyugo books, as I noticed that more often than not, their dynamic ended up looking like... keroro as the black sheep being scolded by giroro who (rightfully!) defends dororo, and when not that, keroro acting out in stupid ways to get attention (and sometimes getting that scolding too), but more often than not, it seems the pair that actually got along without problems was dororo and giroro, and three's often a crowd. After noticing these "vibes" from the 4komas, I started thinking more indepth about episode 64, and the specific memory that triggers keroro. they had seen countless ones so far that day, so it was (and is) important to me to see just why that one was different. it's, to me, undeniable proof that the friendship was genuine from dororo's part, but more specifically the fact that it was him self sabotaging it that soured it. it was being believed and treated with kindness despite his constant selfishness.

which then makes me think more about, you know... where does this selfishness come from? first of all, again, as a motivator for this headcanon, the fox and the grapes... focusing on yourself is often a response when you think others won't, if you perhaps perceive a level of distance (more vibes on that later), it also makes for a nice parallel with keroro+kogoro and dororo, as I do equally headcanon that he was jealous of that friendship! it also makes their relationship sweetly tragic in a way if, you know, all they wanted WAS to be friends but they keep failing each other because of their complex situations, and of course, because of keron interference.

as much as I like the headcanon that much of the trauma dororo has in regards to keroro is also projection about all the horrible shit he went through with the army and being an assassin etc, I think it can extend so much more, I think their society fucked all of them up (and failed them).

when it comes to keroro... well... ok, I hope i'm not ridiculously wrong about this lol, but my vibes make me believe that keroro's always had a secret. I've talked about this before, I'm of course talking about that whole "I was hospitalized for a long time" deal, the fact we (or just me? - I hope not lol) don't know what motivated him as a child to conquer pekopon so much, the fact we don't know how he was able to obtain the keron star, or what he had to sacrifice for it. the specifics are not important rn (mostly because no one knows them fully...) but if we go with the assumption that he's dealt with this secret the whole time, since he was a child, then my first thought there is to reflect on how lonely that must feel. of course, even now as he's an adult, it seems every other plot he's got a complex about being alone - can barely stand it, remember the plots where he ran from home or was left homesitting? - episode 31 (feeling lost and lonely I think are two key factors in this character, that's why to me ep31 is very representative of like... keroro's arc/conflict as a whole) - even stuff like being left behind at home (ep21/that manga plot), not being included in the family (the hot spring plot with the rubiks cube), his friends n family liking someone else more than him (that one robot replacement plot in the manga...), his whole thing with not meeting expectations, seeking compliments, his whole fear of abandonment I think stems from this deep seated sense of isolation that comes from bearing this secret (or at least, it's a neat headcanon placeholder until I learn of the truth!)

[pictured - some examples of keroro's chronic loneliness ?]

which brings us back to how I think being in this situation and then seeing dororo and giroro get along in spite of your own acting out, would probably make you feel jealous of their closeness

but that is just, like, my headcanon, bro, or at least what i've been cooking in my brain with the information i've gathered so far... do what you will with that...

I hope this was a satisfying answer :^) and thank u for the fun ask

#ask #musing #keroro #headcanon #sorry for being insane god made me like this take it up to him

6 notes · View notes