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avirael · 24 days

Text

Stuck on Repeat

He wanted to scream.

To scream and to cry and to be anywhere but here. But the best A’viloh could do was try not to tremble and instead follow Rael‘s example, who - despite the fact of being shackled and pushed around - still maintained a certain stubborn grace. He wished he knew how they did that.

What exactly was going on? A‘viloh wasn’t sure of that yet and it would take a while for him to process all of this. Everything had happened so fast. Suddenly the sultana had gasped for air, her goblet falling to the ground along with herself, soaking the expensive carpet with its dark red content. While A‘viloh had only stared in shock, Rael had immediately jumped up and was by Nanamo‘s side only split seconds after she collapsed. The next moment there had been guards everywhere and also that mean Lalafell accusing them of regicide. They had barely been able to say anything before the guards had grabbed them both, checked them for weapons and tied up their hands.

Now, as the door in front of them opened, the soldier behind A‘viloh gave him a rough push. The miqo‘te winced and stumbled forward into the room filled with people, all eyes on him. He lost his balance and with his hands tied behind his back, he landed rather ungracefully on the hard, cold stone tiles. His head started to spin, his vision began to blur, his heart was racing. It was all just too much and also too late to stop the memories that had buried their ugly dark claws deep in his mind. Miserably he gasped for air.

Rael hadn’t fallen but still knelt down and leaned towards him, wanting to make sure he was alright. „A‘vi! Please stay calm. I’m trying to find a way to get us out of this…“, the viera managed to whisper before someone pulled them away.

A’viloh still struggled to sit up and at the same time tried desperately to see where Rael had gone, when someone grabbed one of his arms and a handful of his hair and yanked him into a kneeling position. He pressed his eyes shut and tried to breathe, tried to not let the fear and the memories overwhelm him, but a small whimper still made it past his lips. He fought against his own mind, racing and about to shut itself off from all of this.

„Stop it!“, Rael hissed angrily. What else than complain could they do with their hands tied behind their back. The brass blade turned his attention to the viera instead of A’viloh. „Shut up!“, the man growled and struck Rael across the face with the back of his hand. They gasped and when they looked up again a moment later, with a mix of shock and indignation on their face, their lower lip was split and bloody.

Ashamed A’viloh stared to the ground and tried to pretend that this wasn’t his fault while the voices and turmoil around him faded to the background. Instead his mind was filled with questions and fears. Would they be executed? Thrown in jail? What had happened to Nanamo? Would their friends at least get out of this with their lifes, if Rael and him were made responsible?

Suddenly something touched his shoulder and pulled him out of his thoughts. A’viloh gave an alarmed shriek.

„Shhh!“, Rael shushed him, leaning their shoulder against his. Worried they glanced at him. „You were gone for a moment weren’t you?“ A’viloh didn’t answer but that wasn’t necessary. Rael sighed deeply. „Give me your hands. Maybe I can loosen the knots…“

Working behind their backs Rael tried their best but it was impossible. The angle was bad, they didn’t see what they were doing and the knots were simply too tight. On their own the two of them would never make it out of their ties. “Seven hells!”, Rael cursed. “I would sooner chew through these things than get that knot open!”

It was a funny imagination and under different circumstances A’viloh would maybe have laughed about it. Instead he turned to look at them and offered a sad smile. “It’s alright. At least you tried…I’m sorry about your lip.”

The viera looked surprised and then shook their head. “Don’t worry. I can fix that.”

Suddenly the turmoil around them got even worse. A’viloh only now noticed the screams and the fighting. “What’s happening?”

“Raubahn killed Adeledji. Tried to kill Lolorito too. Panic broke out and now he is fighting Ilberd. But I honestly don't think he has a chance...”

As if to confirm this, one of the giant stone pillars exploded under a heavy misaimed hit and through the cloud of dust and rubble Raubahn was hurled through the air and landed right beside them. With a swift movement of his blade he cut their ties and only then as he stood up, rubbing his wrists, A’viloh noticed that the Flame General was missing an arm.

But there was no time to question how that had happened and what else he might have missed while dissociating. Confidently as ever Raubahn spoke up saying that he never doubted them or the Scions and that they should flee. A’viloh was still to dazed to argue against that and so let Rael pull him along, to Minfilia and the others and then out of the palace.

As they hurried down the stairs of the Royal Promenade Thancred ran towards them and with a sudden peng of guilt A’viloh realised that he had been so shaken until now that he hadn’t even noticed yet that the Hyur hadn’t been with them. Thancred warned them that Lolorito’s soldiers had already taken control of all important points in the city and that it would be impossible to just walk out through the city gates. Luckily he offered another plan. Rumours about very old secret passages leading out of the city and luckily he knew how to get there.

But just as they wanted to leave the heavy steps and yells of the brass blades got closer.

“Go ahead! I’ll handle this!”, Yda exclaimed and turned towards the soldiers.

Papalymo made an incredulous face. “By yourself?! …I suppose I shall just have to join you.”

Rael offered to help them too. Papalymo and the viera could cause quite the destruction together that was certain but the thought of leaving any of them behind made A’viloh sick. There had to be a different way. One were all of them got out of here together.

“Don’t!”, he croaked and hated how his voice sounded a lot quieter and squeakier than he had intended. Had anybody heard him at all? But before he could say anything else or before Rael could join Yda and Papalymo, the Lalafell shot a fireball at the mechanism that held the palace gate open and with a roaring sound it crashed down and cut of the path between the two of them and the rest of the group. It would give them some time but neither Minfilia nor A’viloh seemed to be willing to leave without their friends. Helplessly and pleading the Miqo’te reached through the bars with one arm and stretched out a hand towards his friends. A’viloh and Yda had quickly befriended each other after meeting for the first time. They had spent a lot of time training together and Yda had soon become one of his dearest friends among the Scions. The thought that something could happen to her was unbearable for him. “Yda! Please!”

But the girl laughed at him and locked her fingers with his for a second. “Don’t worry, A’vi! We’ll see you later!” Confidently she smiled at him before she let go of his hand and turned back around to face the soldiers that had almost caught up to them.

The others called out for them and reluctantly Minfilia and A’viloh followed. There was nothing else they could do now apart from making Yda’ and Papalymo’s efforts worth it and get out of here before more soldiers appeared.

In a haste they ran through the decorated corridors of the palace district and luckily the entrance to the secret passage was exactly were Thancred had suspected it to be. The tunnels were bigger and more complex than A’viloh would have thought and for quite a while they ran through dusty old corridors trying to find the right way that would lead them out of the city.

After a while the echoes of yells and footsteps appeared again and unlike them their pusuers seemed to know the ways down here. They tried to hurry but in no time the voices were coming closer and closer.

“I will stop them.”, Y’shtola exclaimed and abruptly stood still, making everyone else pause for a moment as well. “You go on ahead!”

“No…”, A’viloh protested, he wasn’t willing to leave any more people behind. But Thancred nodded. “Then I will stay too! It would be rude to let you fight alone…”

“No! This is all wrong!”, A’vi repeated a little more loudly. “Let me and Rael fight them, we can defeat them surely.”

Y’shtola shook her head. “Not that many of them…” and Thancred agreed, “The two of you are far too important to get captured...” He didnt say or worse but it was clearly there.

“But…” A’viloh wanted to protest but what was there to say? So he just helplessly stared from one of them to the other. Instead Rael nodded. “Alright!”

“No! Nothing’s alright!”, A’viloh exclaimed pleadingly. „There has to be another way!“

“No, there isn’t.” Thancred said and put his hands on A’viloh’s shoulders. „Listen! There is no time. You have to get out of here, do you hear me? And you have to get Minfilia to safety. Look at me A’vi!“

He slightly shook him and despite the closeness between them A’vi did as he was told.

“Can you promise me that? To get yourself and Minfilia to safety?”, the Hyur asked with a serious voice.

Pleadingly A’vi stared at Thancred’s face wondering if it would be the last time he was going to see it. He hadn’t stopped shaking since Ilberd’s soldiers had put him in chains but now it got worse again. Nonetheless he nodded slightly.

“Good.“ Thancred said and nodded too, but hesitated to let go of him.

A strange expression appeared on his face, one A’viloh never had seen on him before. A mixture of doubt and maybe fear? Thancred sighed and muttered “Just in case…“ more to himself than anybody else but A’vi was close enough to hear it anyway.

A’viloh hadn’t expected at al what happened next. Before he even realised it, Thancred had leaned down, closed the gap between them and kissed him. He was too shocked to react, too confused as well, so he just let it happen. Weirdly this made him feel better but also hopelessly sad at the same time. What was he doing here? This was crazy! Maybe he would later curse himself for allowing this or he would wish he hadn’t wasted this moment like this but before he had figured out how to feel or to react the moment was over. Thancred pulled back a little and looked like he already regretted either what he did or simply having to let him go. Or maybe that was just how A'viloh felt himself. “Consider this my lucky charm…“, the hyur whispered, barely audible, and weakly smiled at him.

Then he pushed A’vi away, as gently as the urgency of the situation allowed, and spoke up louder to all of them.

„Now, get out of here!“

„No!“, the Miqo’te whimpered, his hands tried to hold on to Thancred’s arm but he ignored him and looked at Rael instead. „Get them out of here, please. I’m counting on you.“

The viera looked annoyed, more than usually, but nodded without a word and only when A’vi felt their hands at his arms pulling him away, he realised they were all still here watching him. At any other occasion he would have felt horribly embarrassed now but all he could think of right now was that he couldn’t leave all of his friends behind here to fight, and possibly die, while he fled to safety. He didn’t want to run any longer. But Rael seemed to share Thancred’s opinion.

“Come on, A’vi. We can’t waste time now. Every single soldier in this twelves-forsaken city is after us now, we can’t fight our way out of this. There’s no way to set this right if we don’t get out of here first.”, they explained as calmly as they could in this situation, then grabbed A’vi’s hand and dragged him along as they ran. A’viloh followed on stumbling feet but only because his body had long since stopped listening to anything his brain screamed at him. Stop! Go back! Fight!

Rael’s words made sense but still… weakly he tried to look back and see what was happening behind them but then Rael and Minfilia took a turn into another tunnel and he lost sight of Y’shtola and Thancred. For another while he just numbly let the viera pull him along until they abruptly stopped at an intersection.

“There is light! The exit must be right around that corner!”, Rael announced pointing to one of the tunnels.

Minfilia nodded. “I think so too. But I have somewhere else to go. Hydaelyn speaks to me, I have to stay behind but you two, you cannot stay with me.”

Rael shook their head: “We promised to protect you and I don’t plan to break that promise.”

Minfilia smiled kindly.

“I release you from this promise. Instead promise me to flee and clear our names for us! You are the only ones who can do this. I have a different task to fulfil. Please, you must go on! You are the Warriors of Light! You are hope - for the Scions, and for all the realm! As long as your flame continues to burn, the light of the dawn may ever be relit! You must escape, and save Eorzea from those who would plunge it into darkness! This is the only way...”

Rael grimaced but nodded. “Fine…”

A’viloh on the other hand just weakly shook his head. Words had long failed him and with every minute all of this felt more and more like it was happening to someone else and not him. Like all of this couldn’t be real. Like it was a horrible, weird dream that he would wake up from every second now! How had everything escalated so fast?

Minfilia saw his expression and put her arms around him in a tight hug. “Don’t blame yourself for this, A’vi. None of this is your fault. Everything will be alright, I promise.“

Then she ran in the opposite direction and all A’viloh could do was watch her vanish in the maze of tunnels.

After a few seconds Rael took his hand again and A’vi snapped back to attention watching the Viera’s free hand point towards the light. “Let’s go, the exit is right there.”

But A’viloh refused, even if his voice was nothing but a weak whisper. “No, please go alone. I’ll follow Minfilia. Someone has to protect her.”

Rael growled. “Were you listening at all? Do you want all of this to be in vain? I know this is difficult for you, but so it is for me!“

“But-“, A’viloh tried to protest but Rael looked like they almost wanted to hit him and angrily yelled at him. “I want you to be safe too, you know?! I would gladly stay behind and fight if it meant you and the other’s were safe but the best we can do now is run!”

Before A’vi could say anything else a deafening crash sounded through the tunnels. Alarmed they both stared back the way they came. The walls and the floor seemed to tremble and a roaring sound echoed down the tunnel and came closer and closer.

“Oh no!”, Rael gasped. “The ceiling is coming down! We have to get out of here! Now!”

“The ceiling?!”, A’vi shrieked. “But what of the others? We need to — Let go of me!!”, he protested as Rael tried to drag him out of the tunnel.

“It’s too late now, A’vi. Please!”, the viera pleaded but A’vi struggled and screamed. They almost wouldn’t have made it out in time. Just as the cloud of dust and rubble hit the protective barrier Rael had summoned up to shield them they were catapulted backwards by a burst of magic the last few meters out of the ruins and into the late afternoon sun.

Both of them coughed from the dust and it took a moment until they could see anything again. The entrance to the tunnels had collapsed entirely, lots of small and bigger pieces of stones lay in a huge pile in front of what was barely recognisable as the tunnel entrance anymore.

Shocked A’vi stared at the rubble for a few seconds before he began to scream again. Quickly he jumped up and tried to get the stones out of his way, to find a way back in, but of course it was hopeless. The old broken stones were too many and too heavy for him. They wouldn't give in to his pleading. "No! Please, no..."

As calm and soothing as they could Rael took his hands and spoke to him. “A’vi. Not now. There’s nothing we can do now…”

Slowly he let Rael turn him around. He looked at the viera, his eyes filled with tears, before he wordlessly threw his arms around the Rael‘s neck. „I‘m so sorry…“

Rael shook their head. „Not your fault…“

A’viloh didn’t answer to that. Instead he sullenly looked at Rael for a moment before he dared to ask, „Do you think they are dead.“

Rael sighed and then grimaced. „I’m not gonna lie to you, A’vi. I honestly don’t know, but it really doesn’t look good…“

The Miqo’te just nodded weakly, the corner of his mouth twitching for a second. He appreciated the honesty but he had hoped for something a little more reassuring.

Rael carefully squeezed his shoulder. „But maybe they aren’t. We will figure that out, I promise. But first we have to proof that we did NOT kill Nanamo... We should really go now…“

„Thank you. I would be lost without you…“, A’viloh muttered and followed Rael along the railroads leading towards Blackbrush station, defeated and disheartened. Silently he wondered if there was a safe place now for them at all and how they possibly could manage to clear their names…

#ffxiv #ff14 #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14 #ffxiv writing #ff14 screenshots #ffxiv screenshots #ffxiv gpose #gpose #Aviloh Tia #Rael Hyskaris #good luck if you decide to read all this rambling! 🙈#I’ve been rewriting this thing over and over for weeks now!#or probably months even...#I was unsure how obviously I can make this a mirror of A’vi’s past without making it seem like he didn’t evolve at all #He’s clearly out of his mind here but if he wasn’t I’m sure there wouldn’t be a way to keep him from fighting alongside the others.#And then there’s the kiss! What was I thinking?!#Apart from the fact that I can’t write stuff like this I mean...#I was so unsure if I wanted it to happen like this but in the end I came to the conclusion that this would probably be very in-character.#It’s not romantic because how would it possibly be?#I imagine this is just another stupid overly dramatic ARR-Thancred thing!#He does this with good intentions but in reality it makes things worse than better... oops!#It is what it is is now! I don't know how to write this bastard and it shows haha...#I don’t even know where I’m going with this. tbh I just hope I can make sense of this along the way 😂#the pictures have the prettiest outfit I have for A’vi. maybe ther would have been something more fitting but I forgot to look up options🙈#Imagine Rael braided his hair a little more fancy than here. maybe with flowers or jewels.#just imagine he looks really insanely pretty alright? 🥰#but he also feels very weak and defenceless here without any armor or weapon to protect himself #please also imagine Rael in these pictures 🙈#HW will be more about Rael I promise! 😅

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ganymedesclock · 3 months

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Out of curiosity, any thoughts on the anime Bleach?

I consumed a fairly good chunk of it when I was younger. It's since faded in my passions. I think Rolling Star by Yui is by far my favorite of the openings but a lot of them are very good.

I think the visuals are fairly stylish but it suffers the shonen problem- granted, I think a lot of this is in the format of how long running shonens are produced- of starting out with a bold exciting concept and then sort of petering out in weird directions the longer it goes on. In Bleach's case, I really loved the design and concept of the early hollows, but from the Soul Society arc onward, this entire fascinating afterlife concept boils down to Fashion Sword Boys Fightin' It Out.

Most of my residual fondness for it has me eyeing @gallusrostromegalus's An Elephant Is Warm And Mushy, because it seems to be taking a lot of the later series and injecting that sense of weird monsters and afterlife ramifications back into it.

#Bleach #I actually really liked the intro episode of Don Kanonji #the idea of a 'hoax' TV medium actually having just enough of a foothold in this world to do damage #and then having to realize that and acknowledge his own relationship with it #I think this is why many of the later arcs disappointed; I was most interested in seeing how this world impacted and related to the mundane #similar powerful early episodes to me were the 'haunted cockatiel' and the episode with Orihime's brother #later arcs absolutely have their perks #I actually unironically like the 'king and his horse' speech #even though I think it plays to some limitations of the genre that everything has to be settled by hierarchical power levels and fighting #like I dunno maybe your ~EVIL SIDE~ isn't actually evil as much as someone who has not decided if they want to obey you or not #because why would they #do they respect you enough to actually want to help you with your goals #wouldn't anyone 'act up' in that situation trying to have their own priorities #ALSO ALSO it aggravates me that the closer to main character you get #the more boring your weapon powers get #some of the secondary characters and temporary antagonists and such #have REALLY COOL powers #but Ichigo is like ok. here's my power. it's basically a laser gun #pew pew #sorry Ichigo. you are trying to be main character while that one guy is over there with the executioner's weapon that weighs opponents down #Hanataro's the objectively best character though hands down y'all can fight me #(nobody actually fight me I have zero horses in this race)

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kyouka-supremacy · 6 months

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What's p/p?

Ah, I meant to say, pp, Psycho-Pass. I usually add slashes to avoid unprompted rambles to show up in main tags, sorry if that resulted confusing.

I love Psycho-Pass. I already made a post about why bsd fans might find it enjoyable, but honestly, there's so much more to it beyond what it has in common with bsd.

The prompts for reflection this series offers are just wonderful: on the relationship between citizens and government, on pervasive systems, on freedom of choice and free will, on safety vs. freedom, on discrimination of minorities and creation of scapegoats, on propaganda and brainwashing, on the increasing and treacherous presence of technology in everyday life, on how government uses technology to control and manipulate people, on fighting the system from the inside vs. fighting the system from the outside. I should watch it again too. It's crazy good.

Akane Tsunemori - the coprotagonist of the first season, the protagonist of the second season and overall the true core and heart of the franchise - is one of the most complex and beautiful characters I ever met. Her growth and character development is truly amazing: the way she starts off as unknowing and naïve, and grows so so much from there; how her writing finds this perfect balance between becoming more mature / hardening and staying true to her beliefs - even when everyone, the system, the people she relies to, the people she looks up to - tell her that there's no other way, that it can't be. It's breathtaking. She is a breathtaking character. The way alone that no matter how conscious and aware she becomes of how cruel the world is, how unredeemable people are, how beyond saving the system is, she still keeps believing in humans… It may sound cliché by itself, but believe me, it's wonderfully executed, and her character is truly amazing. Not to mention, the way she mirrors the coprotagonist Kougami is fabulous, but this is not really about him; she's an amazing character of her own right, and I will die on this hill.

The female cast in general is all amazing honestly. Don't get me wrong, the male characters are just as complex and multilayered (and I LOVE Gino and Kou, how couldn't I), but that's… Something we're more accustomed to, while finding well written female characters is objectively much harder. Female characters in Psycho-Pass aren't written as female characters, they're written as people, just as much as their male counterparts are. They have their fears and hopes and strengths and weaknesses just like any other character. I love Yayoi for being strong and coolheaded. I love (LOVE) Shion for being her fabulous self, kind and flirty and confident and with an heart so big, and for her subverting the trope of guy in the chair by being a glamorous woman who's also incredibly competent at her job of analyst. I love Akane's friends and I don't like season 3 but Mai is genuinely awesome and a joy every time she's on screen. I love Risa so much I could die, I love how strong and independent she is, I love the dilemmas she had to face, I love her choices and how they might have been the wrong ones and how it still haunts her, I love the tragedy of her character in general, I love the doomed friendship that used to be between her Gino and Kou. I love love love Fredrica, I love her being bossy and confident, diligent and determined. There's just a lot of… Strong and independent women in Psycho-Pass, and it's not just a way of saying, they really are.

I LOVE women loving other women, canonly, on screen. The confirmation may be delegated to a small moment in the last episode of the first season, but the fact that it's still there nonetheless, and how it confirms that all the previous moments and exchanges were indeed moments and didn't leave it to ambiguity… It's nice, to say that the first season of Psycho-Pass came out in 2012. And you might have to wait eight years, three seasons, five movies for it, but the phrase “I just want to go outside, dine somewhere nice, and go for walks with someone I love” may make it worth it.

And I LOVE how all the leader positions are filled by women. It's a little funny, honestly, in the best way– despite what I made it look like so far, the Psycho-Pass cast is still men-dominated (or at least a pretty equally split 50/50?); yet all the leader positions are always filled by women: Akane and Mika and Kasei and Frederica and Karina, it's always women.

Also, Mika is a brilliant character. Of course I love her. I'm so so sorry for how much hate and criticism she gets (over being a purposely annoying character! Insane! When Dazai exists!), when she does really and excellent job at conveying “look! A fucked up brainwashed individual in a fucked up brainwashing environment! I wonder how that could have happened!”. Not to mention that her growth, her long and devious way to admitting that the system is flawed, is truly well made, too. Unpopular opinion, characters with big flaws, characters who are unsufferable and make lives impossible to everyone around them, characters who mess up again and again, are actually great to watch.

Again, don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore Gino and Kou too ahah. They're both great!! But that you can probably see by your own. Gino in particular used to be my favourite, how his character does a total 180° turn. I love to see men admit their mistakes and make the choice to be better tomorrow.

About that, the relationships between the characters are AMAZING. Especially the main trio Akane / Kou / Gino, all the combinations within it are beautiful and deep and brilliant, so so enjoyable to explore and with their fair share of canon content, while still never straying to romantic territory (I mean, Akane/Kou may be going in that direction, but if that's true, that's the slowest slow burn I've ever witnessed in my life).

What's more. The world building / general premise - a dystopian world, where your predisposition to do crime can be measured and the government makes use of such technology to monitor and control the population and guarantee everyone's safety - is genuinely interesting and compelling. The aesthetic is genuinely cool (AH, now that I think about it, I've got my unfair bias for people in suits, and pp has a LOT of people in suits… ). The opening and endings feature great artists like Egoist, Ryo, Who-ya Extended and Cö shu Nie, so you're sure to love them!!

(Also, Psycho-Pass is something I used to spend entire nights talking about with a friend, and I'm always thinking about her and hold her tight to my heart in every moment so. That's worth mentioning for me, pfffttt. I love my friend so much.)

Finally, because the other Psycho-Pass post I made here keeps haunting me for the lack of trigger warnings, please be aware: Psycho-Pass DOES have trigger warnings. Pretty much for eveything you can think of. Sexual assault and gore and body horror on the top of my mind, but it's quite dark and gritty at parts in its entirety, so please please keep that in mind if you decide to pick it up.

Well, this is the end of my Psycho-Pass love letter for now. Please give it a chance if you can! I'll go rewatch it now. General watch order, in order of release, is season 1 → season 2 → movie → Sinners of the System movie trilogy → season 3 → First Inspector movie → Providence movie. I don't really like the third season or First Inspector movie (the characters are still great tho, even the newly introduced ones), and I've yet to watch Providence. The first season later came out with an extended edition of added scenes between episodes, and they're quite nice, so if you can't get ahold of it, you might want to look up for a compilation of the missing scenes still.

#Me: Psycho-Pass is great! I need to explain people why it's great by exposing different and various aspects of it!#My brain: WOMENWOMENWOMENWOMENWOMEN #To be fair that's just what b/sd did to me lol. I didn't use to pay much attention to it before...#Until it (good female characters writing) was taken away from me #people asks me stuff #Following up ask me what klk stands for so I can rant about it lmao #Although K/ill la K/ill is like. Media literacy level: extreme.#You really have to think it through to get why it's so good–#and the apparent unsuspectable fanservice that doesn't have anything to it doesn't help the case.#(Unless you wonder if the constant fanservice ties with the theme of “women will never be free of objectification of their own bodies–#because that's something coming from how other people decide to view them and thus is out of their control.#The only way to truly be free is to stop giving the things you can't control importance and act noncaring and independent from them–#while you keep fighting for your right to make your own choices in society.#All using as a commentary on how clothing is both women's nightmare‚ something they both desperately hate and yet rely on for strength‚#their biggest weapon‚ their greatest confinement‚ their closest friend and worst enemy.#Ultimately‚ true freedom will not be reached when others stop viewing women as an object for their own pleasure‚#but when women accept themselves and their body and their appearance‚ even naked‚ paying no mind to how others see them.”)

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oh-hush-its-perfect · 2 years

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ooh, a cool new series! Percy Jackson and the Olympians! And the male protagonist fights with a sword!! That's so cool!

the same author wrote TKC!! And the male protagonist fights with a.. sword! It's still interesting.

pjo now has a spin-off series! And the first male protagonist fights with a..... sword. Huh.

riordan wrote a series based on Norse mythology this time. and the protagonist fights with......... uh, yeah. a sword.

#Mr. Riordan there are SO MANY WEAPONS #Even the characters who usually don't fight with swords have swords. like piper and annabeth and kronos. none of those characters needed #to use swords. like just have them use their daggers and sycthe. those are also sick #riordanverse #rrverse #it has been forever since i read tkc so if i'm wrong about carter using a sword-like blade i'm sorry #mcga #magnus chase #heroes of olympus #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #the kane chronicles

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liloinkoink · 1 year

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cherri got an ask abt the martyn ghost ship au, so i agreed to post a bit of it. here's smth vaguely before the plot, abt... hm, would it be cliche to say an anglerfish?

They hear his voice long before they see him.

“Please help me! Somebody, please! I-I need help, please, I need help!” His voice sounds ragged, like he’s been calling for hours, and he’s running out of time to keep begging.

The man stands on the bow of a ship speared through on a tall rock, waving a piece of a torn sail. His movements aren’t particularly quick or large, like he’s running out of energy, though they pick up as he notices the Ochanoma approach. He jumps halfway onto the railing, waving his flag and screaming, “Help me! Please help me!”

They stop. Of course they stop! The man on deck nearly weeps with relief as the Ochanoma pulls up beside his ship, dropping his sail and running to the bannister.

“Oh, thank the gods, I-I thought I was going to die out here!” he says, “Please, my ship ran aground in a storm, I-I-I lost all of my crew, th-there’s nothing, I don’t have any food left, I-I can't sail, my-my ship, it's ripped open, I’m going to die out here!”

“You’re not going to die here,” Rosa says, raising her hands, placating the hysterical stranger as best she can, “You’ll be fine, you can come with us. Can you make your way onto this ship?”

“Thank you, thank you so much, I’m starving,” the man says. He climbs onto the Ochanoma with no issue, pulling himself up and over the taller ship's railing. He stumbles over to Rosa, grabbing onto her arms with both hands, pushing into her space. His eyes are wide and wild, and his palms are freezing cold. “I- We weren’t without money. If you want something to— I can repay you. Below— below deck, there’s a— anything you find down there, you can have, just please get me out of here.”

“I— thank you,” Rosa says. She looks over her shoulder, stepping back and away from the man’s grip. He lets her go, though he sways slightly on his feet, just a little unstable.

“No, thank you. You’ve really saved me. I thought I was going to starve,” he says. There’s something strange in his voice, some sharp edge to the words, to the relieved smile that he’s trying to give her. There’s an air to him Rosa finds horribly unsettling, but she doesn’t know how to place it.

It must be trauma, she thinks. He’s just shaken. With some food and some rest, he’ll be fine.

Still, Rosa’s hand hovers at her waist, above the hilt of her sword.

“Ricky, take a crew and check out his ship,” Rosa orders, taking another step back toward her first mate, “See what you can find that’s valuable and take it. Especially if there’s food.”

“On it!” Ricky says. He waves about half of their crew over, and one by one, they board the rotten ship of the strange man.

Something makes Rosa keep watching as they begin to disappear below deck of the other ship, though her eyes drift from Ricky to the man.

He’s covering the bottom half of his face with his hands, though Rosa isn’t sure why.

Shock, she reminds herself. It must be shock. She doesn't know what else it could be.

“Daisy, take… take him below deck,” Rosa says. Something about him seems… dangerous, not right. She wants him out of the way, behind a door they can lock. “Find him somewhere to rest. Tell the cook we need a quick meal for him.”

“On it!” she says. She walks up to the man’s side, offering an arm for him to lean on. When he pulls his hands away from his face to take it, he’s grinning from ear to ear.

Somewhere in the heart of the sinking ship, someone screams.

“Thank you,” the man says, grabbing Daisy’s arm. His fingers are white against her skin, and he leans down, smiling into her ear. “I’ve been so hungry.”

Daisy rips her arm away, jerking back, but the man doesn’t need her support. He reaches for his waistband at the same time Rosa’s hand closes around her sword, but the thing he pulls out isn’t a weapon; The man brandishes a stick.

It’s… a board, maybe. Probably a railing. The end he holds it at is jagged, and the end he holds out has been sharpened to a point. He thrusts it at Daisy, grinning somehow wider.

“What are you?!” Daisy yells, “What did you do to them?!”

“Hey, I didn’t do anything,” he says. His stance is stable, now. His shoulders are relaxed, all the fear and mania melting away into nothing. His knees, though, are bent, ready to lunge. “I’m just the lure.”

Rosa doesn’t wait. She yanks her weapon free, charging the man at full speed. He laughs as she approaches, and the sound is surprisingly free of cruelty.

“Ohh, you’re fast!” He says. He takes a few steps back as she swings, beating her blade aside with the railing.

“What did you do to my crew?!” she demands, “Give them back!”

“You’re not a good listener, though,” he says, “I just said—”

“I don’t care whether it was you or something else,” Rosa snarls, “Give them back.”

“I didn’t take them,” he says, “But I don’t think you’ll want to see them like this.”

“What. Did. You. Do?!” Rosa screams. Her next swing is harder, wider, and the man steps out of it easily, leaving Rosa stumbling. He steps into her space before she can recover, grabbing her wrist and shoving it down, bringing her blade to brush the board below.

“If you insist on asking, why don’t you go get them?” he smiles, “After all, you can’t stay here. Your ship isn’t very safe.”

“What?” Rosa asks. The man smiles, then jams the railing into the deck.

Like ice on a frozen pond, the Ochanoma shatters.

“I wouldn’t want to be here if I were you, Captain,” he says, voice pleasant, “It’s not safe. But lucky for you, my ship is right here.”

“I’ll kill you,” Rosa snaps. The grip on her arm suddenly turns bruising, harsh fingers closing on the bones of her wrist and forcing her hand open. Rosa’s sword clatters against the deck.

“Will you?” he asks, and as Rosa stares into his endlessly cheerful smile, she realizes for the first time she can see his ship through his teeth.

“What are you,” Rosa says.

“You asked me that already,” he replies, “A lure. Can’t you tell by my dashing good looks?”

“Rosa! Duck!” comes Daisy’s voice behind her. Rosa doesn’t think twice, and over Rosa’s head sails the tip of Rosa’s own dropped sword, passing through the neck of the strange man.

It does nothing. His neck flickers, wisps of him swirling away like smoke. He blinks, looking down at the metal, only a little bored.

“Ohoho, man,” he laughs, almost impressed, “When did you pick that up?”

The lure turns around, the spiraling strands of his translucent neck slipping back into place. He raises the railing, walking over to Daisy with the point aimed between her eyes.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he says, and he lunges, driving the point at her face. Her eyes widen, but Daisy was never much of a fighter—she doesn’t think to dodge.

The point hits Daisy in the neck, driving through her throat. It doesn’t stay, though—or, no. The point stays exactly where it is, newly-red and dripping with blood. It’s Daisy that moves, her body flying backward far beyond where she should go. Daisy slams into the bow of the ship with a loud crack, then drops into the water.

“Oops, missed the deck,” the lure says, slinging the railing over his shoulder. Blood drips from the point and through his arm, though he doesn’t seem to notice it splattering on the deck at his feet.

“You fucking killed her!” Rosa screams.

“And the other guys, too, yeah,” he agrees idly, “I don’t get a lot to eat, man, I’ve got to take what I can get.”

“I’ll kill you. I don’t fucking care what you are, I’ll fucking kill you! I’ll tear you apart!” Rose screams. She grabs her sword off the ground, and the lure makes no move to stop her. His disinterest offends her more than anything else, the blasé way he moves across her deck. She’ll tear that bored look off his face with her fucking teeth if she has to, but killing her crew will be the last thing the piece of shit ever does.

“C’mon, you have to know that won’t work,” he says. Rather than respond, Rosa screams, charging him again with another large slash. The lure takes a few steps back, defending himself only with distance, the railing still over his shoulder.

“I don’t think all of them are dead, if you’d like to check,” he says, “Not yet, anyway. You’ve still got, hm, four? Ah. No, three, sorry.”

“Fuck you!” Rosa yells.

“Not without at least taking me to dinner,” the lure says. He takes the railing off his shoulder, sidestepping another hit, and slams it against his own palm, as if something brilliant has just occurred to him. He grins, again without malice. “Actually, I guess you have.”

Rosa doesn’t respond, swinging her blade at the lure’s smiling face. He ducks, the railing coming loose from his palm and pointing vaguely in her direction. He’s still not really aiming, though. Not taking her seriously.

“Fucking fight me, you asshole!” Rosa yells. The lure takes another few steps back, but as Rosa follows him, her foot slams through a break in the deck. The lure watches as the wood shreds her leg, tilting his head as she shrieks in pain.

“Ouch,” he says, “Not really safe here, huh? What are you going to do about the rest of your crew?”

Rosa looks out, to the dozen or so crew members left. They’re non-combatants, mostly, the cook and the navigator and the doctor. They glance between her half-fallen form and the lure above her, uncertain and shaken.

“Why are you all standing there?!” Rosa yells, “Find a lifeboat!”

“But you’re—”

“Fine.” Rosa grits out, “Get to a lifeboat. Now. That is an order.”

The lure watches with a mild, polite interest as the crew clamors to the Ochanoma’s lifeboat, his hands folded as he leans against his railing, point driven down into the deck.

“Wow, they all fit on one little boat?” he asks, “Hm, are they gonna be able to get out? That boat’s on the side with my ship.”

“They’re probably getting Daisy,” Rosa says, teeth gritted. She shifts, starting the process of removing her bloody leg from the deck. The lure hums.

“She isn’t in the water anymore,” the lure says. The lifeboat splashes as it drops the last few feet into the water, and Rosa’s eyes narrow.

“What does that mean?” Rosa asks.

“Means you sent your crew to die, Captain.”

The wood of the rotten ship creaks, planks and nails screaming with sudden strain. The bow splits down the side, dozens of boards splintering apart in rows of jagged edges. They sort of follow the lines of the planks, but only as much as suits them—plenty more simply shatter, scraps of serrated edges sticking out into the sea. Most of the planks keep their nails, bent and rusted, sticking out in whatever direction their surely-drunk shipwrights thought was straight.

Rope and seaweed swing out from the inside, as if buffeted by an intense wind. The anchor rockets out and whams into the Ochanoma’s side, shattering another part of the deck and raining splinters down on the lifeboat below.

“Hey, it’s not all bad. You should be proud of yourselves! Not many crews require us to pull out all the stops.”

“No!” Rosa screams. She yanks her leg out of the deck at once, skin coming off her thigh in ribbons. A cavity opens in the side of the rotten ship, sucking in water that rushes to fill the void. Rosa doesn’t see the lifeboat as it's ripped inside, but she hears it—a dozen of her friends, screaming in fear, until the blackness of the ship’s maw swallows them whole.

“Mm,” the lure sighs, barely audible over the creaking of the ship. The wood stitches itself back together like nothing, the ropes falling flat against the ship’s side. “None of your original guys are alive. Thought you’d want to know. All the new ones are still— Ah, no, one’s just gone. Died of fright, I think? No, I lied, he fainted and fell, hit his head on an exposed nail. It’s an old ship, y’know—pretty dangerous down there.”

“I’ll kill you,” Rosa says again, absolutely seething. She turns toward the lure on a bleeding, shaking leg, eyes molten steel. “I’ll fucking destroy you for this.”

“Captain,” the lure says, “You can’t kill me.”

“Yes, I can.” she stalks forward. Her steps are slow, unstable, and she stumbles as she walks. The lure doesn’t move back, though he does raise the railing, pointing it between her eyes.

“No, you can’t,” the lure says, “I can’t die.”

“Everything can die,” she says. Her leg radiates pain, but she can barely feel it. She doesn’t feel anything at all, really, nothing except burning, fiery grief, “You will die.”

“No, you’re not getting it,” he says. Rosa is just a pace and a half in front of him now, raising her sword high above her head. Her eyes burn, red-rimmed, absolutely furious.

“Fuck you.” Rose lunges, slamming her weapon down, but it’s not enough. Her movement is too unsteady, too easily telegraphed. All the lure has to do is extend his arm, driving the point of the railing through Rosa’s chest, staking her heart.

She doesn’t feel it. She stares him down, furious still, but the fires are dimming.

Rosa’s weapon sails through the lure’s head. The center of his face curls like fog, and he sighs, pieces of his mouth twirling away with the motion.

“You’re not getting it,” he repeats, exasperated. Rosa coughs, bloody and wet. “I’ve already died.”

The lure yanks the railing from Rosa’s chest. Her eyes well with tears, though they don’t have time to flow before her knees hit the wood.

“Hah, jeez,” he sighs, scratching the back of his head, forcing it to reform under his fingers. Rosa collapses onto the deck, soaking the wood red. “You fought well, Captain.”

He slams the railing into the deck again, shattering the ship down the hull.

“Too bad it wasn’t a fair fight to start.”

#laughing a bit cherri posted two big fish rens and i posted the one thing from that au that doesn’t actually have ren in it. only ghost ship #if anyone recognizes the movie i stole the names from. lol. lmao even.#lew writes #what do you tag this as for a warning. we have several murders both on and off screen #but none of like. real characters. theyve just got names so i dont overuse pronouns #tw getting impaled. i guess?#anyway. shoutout to fencing. rlly did make my ability to write fights better. but only point weapons

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