#how do i put this... the arc about letting bianca go and the arc about beginning to accept his feelings for percy are the same

[heyitschartic]

The Goddess Did Nothing Wrong Essay

Goddess is one of the most mistreated characters in Ward, by the fandom and by the author. Check the comments under any of the chapters with her in it and you'll see exactly what I mean. It's a fucking shame because Bianca just doesn't get talked about or appreciated enough. Understandably I guess, she isn't a main character or anything, but she's easily one of the most interesting characters in Ward to poke at, tear apart, and piece back together. And despite what the people crying in the Ward comments say, Goddess didn't do anything wrong.

This is going to involve Ward spoilers just FYI, so I'll keep the rest below the line.

Alright, let's talk about Goddess.

It still shocks me that she's around for only like an arc, she's easily one of the best characters in Ward, from her swag to her powers, to the play she makes almost immediately. It feels like she should have been around much longer. When she died I got so mad that I dropped Ward for like a month. Better people than I have discussed her similarities to Vicky, but I think what interests me more are some things that are solely hers. Things that never really even get talked about in the story.

We don't know Bianca's trigger event and I really doubt Wildbow is ever going to tell us. Hell, he didn't bother to give her a sixth power, so I'm not holding my breath. But, we can look at her powers and sort of work back from there. (All of this was done by my great friend Maya, so thank you so much to her <3)

Human master that only affects capes, part influencer part control, with heavy doses of putting herself first, authority figures, and loyalty sprinkled through the themes her power works with. Her trigger was probably betrayal by an authority figure, likelya cape, that upended her entire world. Someone she implicitly trusted to do the right thing. Someone with power over her that she sought out for help.

Secondaries rely more on the person than the trigger, so they can help flesh out who she was. A danger sense that lets her know when things are happening, feel the impact of them, but she can't see coming or stop. A trump boost, something that could reflect a need to do or be better in critical moments. A trump defense that works best with long term trauma and pain, but struggles with sudden reveals or reversals. And finally a shaker effect, fractal telekinesis, reflecting a messy environment that she can't hold or control because of its complexity.

Whoever Goddess was before her powers, it was someone weak and without any control over her life. Someone hurting and powerless who didn't see this betrayal coming, didn't see how much danger she was in, until it already too late.

I think her master power is the most important thing to understand about her because of what it represents. It paints all of her actions in a very different light. Her most fundamental trauma was a betrayal by authority. Afterwards, she likely didn't feel safe around others, especially not those in power, didn't trust them to run things because she'd been betrayed by people promising these same things. Her taking over Shin may have been like Taylor going after the bay, convinced she was the only one who could fix it.

And a lot of the fucked-up dynamic with her cluster probably played into this. We know Goddess and Bill were the problems in the cluster, but I find it interesting Bill is noted as the monster, not her. In March's interlude, Megan paints a really fucked abusive view of how their cluster was working, getting hurt by someone and then hurting them back worse in turn as things began to spiral until Goddess took Bill's day. And from there everything exploded and she found herself on Shin.

I'm not really going to defend what she did on Shin. It might be a surprise in the Goddess Defense Essay, but obviously a seventeen year old (I believe that's approximately how old she was at the time) isn't going to make the best choices when put in charge of a planet. There's plenty of stuff to point at and go "that sucks" like the universal english thing (though I think that may have been a byproduct of needing to know she wasn't being lied to, again her trauma at play.)

Instead, I want to talk about why she was sent there. Again, speculation cause none of this ever got explained, but Wildbow had early issues of Worm that took place on Shin, where the Parahumans formed mainly hostile groups attacking larger power structures and enacting control over governments where they could. If this was true for Shin in Ward, Cauldron might sent Goddess there as a stabilizing force (something we know they did). Someone to corral the capes under her banner and allow them to use the world as a research ground for parahumans. Again, all conjecture on my part, but it would make sense why Ziz would pop open another portal there. Like she did with Madison and the Cauldron base, Goddess' absence likely led to some wild problems that tore apart crucial research they were on the cusp of finishing.

Her being forced to another world is another interesting part for me. This woman is a master, someone who takes complete control of others, but again and again she finds herself pushed from one point to the next without agency.

Speaking of which, then Gold Morning happens. She's torn away from the planet she controls, loses her cluster mates, and then...does nothing for two years. Honestly, this might be more character defining than anything else. She doesn't try to build back power, doesn't storm Shin intent on reclaiming everything, she sits on her hands. I don't care if the Wardens were watching her, if she really was as big a megalomaniac as people claim, she would have pushed to retake her world.

But she didn't. She stepped back. And I wonder if that wasn't something she wanted. The chance to step away, to not feel like she's always being pushed, always hounded by a danger sense warning of lurking dark clouds on the horizon. A trauma about needing to be in control over everything. A chance for her to finally be able to make her own decisions and not be wrapped up by the strings of others machinations or expectations.

And then Teacher came. Goddess makes it clear how relentless he was, trying to get her stuck in a position where he could kidnap her. I’ve heard the argument made she should have just gone to the Wardens, but let’s be real, what could they have possibly done to help her? They wouldn’t trust her enough to house her in the Wardens base so then what, drop her off in some corner world until Teacher found her again? Leave her with Ciara to watch over? Station guards on her twenty-four seven? They’d want concessions too, things that would hamper her if she really did run out of other options.

And, again, her trigger was very likely about a betrayal by authority figures. Going to the Wardens to plead for help would hit at her trauma in all the worst ways. To her, there probably wasn’t any other clear choice forward but using her powers on the prison. Of course that’s what she went for.

I think everyone knows what happened from there.

I've seen her relationship with Amy framed as the reason she gets so much hate, and yes that certainly played a role with the fanbase, but I think it's more than that. I think a lot of people saw her use her powers on the protagonist and just would not give her a single inch afterwards. Everything she did had to be wrong, she's forcing people to fight for her, she's being mean to the characters, she's stressed and angry and such a bitch. It’s probably part of the reason she gets killed off, and god that was the worst way to handle it. If the reflections of Vicky in Goddess were intentional, having Amy betray her might have been intended as a reflection of the way she betrayed Vicky. I hope not. It's a horrible way to end things.

Goddess' story isn’t one of a tyrant getting what she deserves. It’s a tragedy. It’s a woman who controls others but is all the while still not truly in control of her own fate. It was a woman pulled from one spot to another: by her cluster, by Cauldron, by her expectations, by Taylor, by Teacher. And in the end, it finished as it began. Betrayed by someone she trusted intimately.

Only this time, she dies for it.

#parahumans #Wardblr #Pounded this whole thing out in twenty minutes at work

[sustraiii]

TEAM ZRCN ARC 4 CHAPTER 16

Cherry, Neela, and Xanthos get more than they bargained for when encountering Maia Astrella.

Xanthos

Wisteria had fallen from a balcony, pulling Miho with her. In all likelihood, Wisteria was very much dead too. Xanthos didn't say it out loud of course - even he knew that was a bit tasteless - but it was something he believed. Even if by some miracle she had survived there was no way she was walking away injury free. If there were any justice in the world for his teammate, maybe she'd have damaged one of her legs.

Still, despite what issues Xanthos had with her - issues likely shared by his teammates - he would have felt bad if she had truly died. She had been an annoying presence when they first encountered each other, but it was hard to ignore how different she had been in recent weeks, as though her spirit had been dampened. In those final moments, she had not cared what had happened to her, she had just wanted Miho. And she had gotten what she wanted in the end. Even if it had potentially come at the cost of her own life.

"What are we going to do if Wisteria is actually dead?" Neela asked. Xanthos was quietly relieved she had asked the question that had been on his mind.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Cherry responded, sighing as she did. “Regardless of what her fate is, I just know there’s going to be a lot of backlash from the higher-ups in the military about it.” And then, in a softer tone, she added, “As if there wasn’t already enough to begin with.”

With everything that had happened with their arrival in Olympia and then reaching the O.R.C.A.S, Xanthos had almost forgotten that Cherry, Elio, and Morgan had all disobeyed orders in coming here. Not only would they be in big trouble with Wren but the General too. 

The three of them found a set of stairs and Cherry encouraged them to go down. They weren't sure how they had gotten three floors up with how backwards this place was, but they knew they needed to go down if they wanted to reach Wisteria and Miho. They had made it down two flights of stairs when the sound of a nearby voice gave them pause. Cherry held her hand up for them to stop and then raised a finger to her lips urging them to be silent.

It took a moment for Xanthos to pick up on what was being said, the speaker kept going from loud and clear to a lower mumble. 

"Why won't you answer me!?" The speaker suddenly yelled. Whoever the voice belonged to was clearly a woman, and by the tone, she seemed frustrated at something or other.

Xanthos could hear the sound of footsteps but they didn't draw too close. By the repetitive nature of her walking, Xanthos got the impression that she was pacing back and forth.

"Bloody Bianca…couldn't even maintain the connection properly…probably Lunick's fault…useless, useless, USELESS!"

At the woman's growing frustration, Xanthos and Neela shared a worried glance. Xanthos looked at Cherry, trying to see if she had anything to say on the matter, but she only had a furrowed brow and looked deep in thought herself.

The woman stopped pacing and began speaking quietly again. Xanthos had to really focus to hear what she had to say.

"Where are you, Uriah?"

By the mention of the name, Xanthos wondered if the woman they were listening to was his sister, Maia. They knew little about her but Wisteria had at least confirmed that she and Uriah were siblings. 

"Let's take her down," Cherry said, gesturing with a flick of her head. "Quietly."

Xanthos and Neela nodded slowly. Cherry led the way, putting her bhuj in its back holster before approaching. Xanthos and Neela followed suit, their own weapons holstered, cautiously looking ahead.

"Maia Astrella?" Cherry called out quietly, quickly drawing the other woman's attention. Maia was a young woman, in her early twenties from what Xanthos could remember, but with a youthful face that made her seem slightly younger. She had pale skin, wavy brown hair, and teal eyes. Although she seemed a bit startled at the call of her name, Xanthos noticed she seemed more curious than scared. One thin brow arched upwards as she studied the three of them. "It is advisable that you come quietly," Cherry continued, speaking with a calm and controlled voice. She took a step towards Maia but the woman took a step back. "This doesn't have to end in a fight."

The reaction from Maia was almost immediate. The curiosity disappeared in a flash, only to be replaced by red hot anger as she pulled out her weapon - a morningstar - and charged. Cherry hadn't pulled her weapon out yet, so narrowly dodged as Maia swung it at her head. Clearly Maia had put some force behind the swing, as whilst it missed Cherry, it got lodged in a nearby wall and she had to fight to try and pull it out.

"You don't have to do this," Cherry pressed. In response, Maia merely growled, putting both hands on the shaft of her weapon and finally tugging it free. 

"Piss. Off," Maia spat, stalking towards Cherry again. As she did, Xanthos noticed a pink sheen washing over Cherry, an indication that her semblance was kicking in. Xanthos recalled from a sudden training session that Cherry had hosted for him and Neela that her semblance granted her increased strength when people were emotional in her vicinity. He didn't know if it was intentional but Maia was obviously the perfect battery for that semblance.

Cherry and Maia exchanged a few blows, their weapons clanging off each other, but doing no major damage at the moment. As Xanthos watched, waiting for an opening to step in and help, he noted something odd. Whilst Maia was currently grappling with Cherry, her gaze kept drifting elsewhere…to Neela. And by the look on his friend's face, she had noticed it too.

A heavy blow from Maia against Cherry's bhuj, opened up a window for Maia to strike. For one so small, Xanthos was surprised at how vicious she became. Maia did not relent for a moment, kicking, shoving, punching, and swinging her weapon with dangerous intent. Cherry caught a swift blow to her right hand with Maia's weapon, pulling back with a grimace. Her aura flared dramatically which surprised Xanthos as the strike hadn't seemed that bad.

"How?" Cherry questioned, flexing her injured hand.

Maia grinned and dashed forward, about to swing at her with a downward strike, only to be parried by Cherry quickly raising her bhuj to counter. Maia seemed to falter slightly and desperately tried to pull back. However, she was too slow, as Cherry raised a foot and kicked her sharply in the stomach and sending her sprawling on her back.

Maia quickly righted herself, rising to her feet before Cherry or anyone else could get to her. With three people surrounding her, she seemed a bit unsure of what to do herself. Her gaze lingered on Cherry before shaking her head angrily and looking at Neela and Xanthos. Her eyes narrowed and with a small swish of her hand, she shifted her weapon to an alternate form. Xanthos watched as the spiked head dropped on a chain, turning it from a simple morningstar to a ball and chain weapon.

Her gaze followed Xanthos's downwards and when they met, she gave him a smirk before lunging forward again, this time going straight for her real target - Neela.

Neela lifted her weapon ready to intervene, shifting it from its spear form to a trident. Although she was ready, it was Xanthos who got to Maia first, whipping the ground in front of her to try and halt her movements. It did stop her momentarily but she was quick to continue moving, focused and determined to get to Neela.

Behind Maia they could see Cherry working her way up to her again, giving a gesture to Neela to create some sort of distraction. Neela pulled back her weapon suddenly, which Maia saw as an opportunity to move forward, only for Neela to slam the tip of her weapon into the floor, creating an icy formation where it had struck. Maia pulled back sharply to avoid getting skewered, the sleeve of her jacket tearing on the ice as she tried to shield herself.

“Bitch!” Maia hissed, glaring at Neela.

She was so focused on yelling that she didn’t notice Cherry sneak up and grab her from behind. 

Maia genuinely yelped as Cherry got her arm around her and pulled her back. She thrashed around in Cherry’s arms like some sort of wild animal, screaming, kicking, and generally making a lot of noise. Despite Cherry’s best efforts to restrain her, even she could not withstand the wild thrashing. Using her own momentum, Maia managed to plant both of her feet firmly on the ground, leaned forward and then slammed her back into Cherry’s chest. Cherry’s grip slackened as she gasped in surprise and Maia used the opportunity to break free out of her grasp.

Maia would take a few steps forward before turning on her heel and advancing on Cherry again. Although her weapon had fallen to the floor following Cherry’s surprise attack, it didn’t stop the young woman from throwing punch after punch at her. Alarmingly, with every hit Xanthos noted it seemed to be causing more damage, almost as if her attacks were growing in strength.

Cherry eventually got a window to retaliate, throwing up one arm to parry a punch, before using her other hand to land an uppercut against Maia. The other woman staggered back slightly and was then shoved further back by Cherry. Maia yelled something incomprehensible back at Cherry and then tried to punch her again. This time Xanthos noticed that Cherry appeared to almost shrug the hit off. And it seemed by the dawning look of realisation on her face, Cherry realised it too.

“Do not let her grab her weapon!” Cherry ordered, gesturing to Neela who was standing closer to the discarded weapon.

“Oh, you’re sharper than you look,” Maia said mockingly. “Figured it out did you?”

Cherry shrugged. Once again, the two women charged forward, Maia dashing her weapon and Cherry rushing to grab Maia. They got caught in a grapple, Maia fighting hard to break free, and Cherry fighting to keep hold of her. Xanthos could only watch as they grunted and tried to get in small hits against each other. 

Cherry eventually managed to get her arms lowered down on Cherry’s body, trying to twist her slightly and pull her to the ground. As she did so, her foot slipped slightly and Maia sensed this weakness and kicked it out with one of her feet causing Cherry to lose her balance. With Cherry’s balance thrown, it was Maia who managed to get her arms around Cherry’s waist, pulling her forward and then throwing her against the stairs she had come down with Xanthos and Neela.

As she landed against the stairs, Cherry landed awkwardly on her back crying out in pain as she did so. Her aura flared up and then promptly broke. Satisfied her work was done, Maia walked away, once again heading for her weapon. Cherry heaved herself off the stairs gingerly, resting on her knees in a defeated lump.

“You have to…” Cherry’s voice trailed off as she fought to regain her breath. “You have to break her aura!”

Xanthos nodded understanding what he needed to do. His golden eyes travelled over to Neela, who nodded back at him, her grip on her weapons tightening. With Cherry down for the count, it was down to the two of them to deal with Maia. Sure, she might have been able to hit hard, but it didn’t seem like she had much in the way of any sort of tactic. That and her aura was likely very low. One or two strong hits would be enough to break potentially.

Having retrieved her weapon, Maia was back up on the offence, but again she seemed primarily focused on Neela. Ironically, that worked out better in Xanthos and Neela’s favour though. Neela could engage her first and keep her distracted, whilst Xanthos could work around them and try and catch her by surprise. He knew they would need a strong hit to break Maia’s aura, and whilst Xanthos did not doubt Neela’s fighting ability, he knew that they would have better luck with his semblance.

A knowing gaze was aimed towards Neela and she nodded, seemingly understanding he was leaving things to her for a moment.

Neela carried herself well as she defended herself from Maia’s violent strikes. Even when not using her weapon in its trident or spear form, and merely using it to block, Neela moved it with expert precision. Maia did manage to get a few small blows on Neela but was parried more often than she managed to break free and land a hit. Clearly, this was frustrating her quite a bit as she started swinging and hitting out wildly, losing what little technique she had.

Finally, it was Xanthos’s time to strike. A quick strike with his whip, managed to stop Maia in her tracks as she tried to go in for another swing. As she turned, Xanthos rushed suddenly, already having used his semblance to alter his weight, meaning that when his punch caught her in the jaw, it hit hard.

So hard, in fact, that Maia ended up going flying backwards again, landing hard on her back. As hoped, as she attempted to sit back up, her teal aura flickered into life and promptly broke. 

“Stay down,” Xanthos said, uncharacteristically cold.

Turning away from her, he approached Neela and gave her a small smile, trying to gauge how she was feeling. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m alright,” Neela responded. “A bit sore but otherwise okay. We’re lucky Cherry tired her out.”

Xanthos nodded in agreement. She had a point, had Cherry not worn Maia down, he doubted they would have fared well against her had they tried to take her on individually. Speaking of Cherry, the woman was approaching them now, still walking a bit gingerly but looking a bit brighter than she had when instructing the two of them to break Maia’s aura.

“Nice punch, Ravi,” Cherry complimented. “Elio didn’t teach you that did he? I swear I’ve seen him throw a punch like that.”

“Nope all me,” Xanthos grinned.

Cherry chuckled a little but had to forcibly stop laughing as she was in some discomfort doing so. “I’m going to see if I can reach the others,” Cherry explained, gesturing to her earpiece with a finger. “Probably won’t get through but - oh hey, would you look at that it worked!”

Cherry promptly turned her head away, talking into her earpiece to what sounded like Morgan based on her words, explaining what had happened with Wisteria and Miho and that the three of them had then come across Maia. As she was speaking, Xanthos turned to look back at Maia having seen some movement out of the corner of his eye. The woman had managed to pull herself onto her knees and was now sitting there slightly hunched over mumbling away to herself. Xanthos tried to discern what she was saying, but it honestly just sounded like more of the incomprehensible muttering she had been doing earlier. With a small gesture, he made Neela aware of her talking, but like Xanthos she seemed unable to pick up on anything, merely giving him a shrug. Assuming she was just talking away to herself, Xanthos turned away again, instead focusing back on Cherry. Later he would curse himself for looking away.

“I will not lose another home to a fucking Oxford!”

It wasn’t so much the words that caught his attention, but rather the scraping of Maia’s weapon against the floor, as she recollected her weapon which had fallen when he knocked her down. He heard the sound of a weapon connecting with someone, the sound of pierced flesh, and then a startled gasp. Xanthos remembered Maia’s earlier determination to get to Neela and he turned fully expecting to see her with a morningstar lodged in her body.

To Xanthos’s relief, it was not Neela who was the injured party. It was Maia.

Maia was up on one knee, her weapon raised above her head, as though she were trying to stand up and hit Neela. Unfortunately for her, Neela had reacted quickly and had caught her before she could do any damage. The three prongs of Neela’s trident were wedged in her chest - one prong just below the clavicle, and two just below that. Xanthos tensed up as he took in the gory scene before him. Beside him, Cherry cursed, before hastily disconnecting from the call she had made.

Maia let out a horrible gurgling sound before she dropped her weapon and fell to the side, freeing herself from the trident as she did so.

Neela dropped her trident and quickly rushed to the woman’s side, her hands desperately trying to stem the flow of the heavy bleeding from Maia’s chest.

“No, no, no…” She mumbled as shaky hands tried to cover the wounds.

Xanthos’s heart ached to see her so distressed. He knew Neela would not have intended to kill Maia, though in the situation would have only had moments to react and defend herself.

"Neela," Cherry's voice called out softly. "I don't think-"

"NO!" Neela cried out. “I have to help her! I have to stop this! I didn’t mean - I don’t want her to die!”

Maia was continuing to make such horrible sounds. Not only was her blood steadily pooling around her but she was coughing it up too, leaving bloody spittle on her chin. Sudden gasping sounds could be heard coming from her and it didn’t take an expert to know that these were Maia’s final breaths.

As the light started to fade from her eyes, she had time to mutter one final thing to Neela. “Fucking…Oxfords.”

Her words were swiftly replaced by another gargle before her head lolled to the side and all was still.

“No…NO!” Neela yelled. Xanthos was quite taken aback when she suddenly began shaking the other woman quite violently, as though trying to will some life back into her.

Cherry moved to take a step forward but Xanthos held his hand out to stop her. When her pink eyes bore into him questioningly, he merely shook his head hoping that she would understand that he needed to be the one to comfort his friend.

Xanthos knelt beside his teammate, who looked at him wearily with tears in her eyes. “Nee-”

“Get away from me, Xanthos!”

“Neela, stop, look at me!” Xanthos said, forcefully gripping her shoulders so she would look at him. “She’s gone, Neela. You can’t bring her back.”

Neela shook her head a little. Xanthos wasn’t sure if it was denial or a slow acceptance of what she had done. “I didn’t mean to,” Neela choked out, bottom lip quivering.

His blue-haired teammate leaned forward a bit so her forehead was resting against his shoulder, mindful not to touch him with her bloodied hands. Xanthos carefully manoeuvered one arm around so that he could rest a hand on her back, patting comfortingly.

“I know you didn’t mean to,” Xanthos said. “Neela, it was self-defense. If you didn’t retaliate she could have hurt you or attacked me or Cherry.”

Neela sniffed. “I know, I know, I just wonder if it was the right decision?”

“You acted in the moment to defend yourself and the two of us,” Cherry said, quickly joining the conversation. “Maia’s death is unfortunate but do not fault yourself for defending yourself.”

Neela hiccuped awkwardly into Xanthos's shoulder and he felt her head shifting as if nodding again. There was little else said between the three of them after that. As much as Xanthos wished to continue comforting his teammate, he knew that in her present state, his words were likely to fall on deaf ears. No matter how much he and Cherry tried to assure her it was an accident, Xanthos knew the guilt would linger in his friend for a long time. He could only hope that in time she would forgive herself. For now though, he was content to support her and stand by her side. No matter where this went moving forward, he would be with her through all of it.

#team zrcn fic #team zrcn #neela oxford #xanthos ravindra #cherry linnet #maia astrella

[d34thbr34th]

Imo you are completely in the right taking about other nico ships cuz they are toxic and disgusting but it is hilarious you actually like weird abusive shit like solangelo 💀💀

ill start off by saying i dont necassarily need to explain myself to you, but ill take this as a chance to express how i feel about the ship.

i dont love solangelo. i dont hate it either. but you cant call it abusive. its not abusive.

im pretty neutral on solangelo, maybe some fanart i see is cute and ill reblog it, and i sometimes (barely) post hcs, but that doesnt mean im all for what goes on in the community. i know of the ableism that alot of solangelo truthers are desensitized to and promote without KNOWING it.

actually, for a long time i explicitly showed im against solangelo. ive actually once sat down and deleted all the solangelo content on my blog to PROVE IT. ive privated alot of the hcs i came up with as an 11 year old. you can LITERALLY go look in my tags, will solace is waaaaayyyy down. solangelo is practically nonexistent. IVE PUT EFFORT INTO SHOWING WHERE I STAND. seriously?

but now ive grown not to care. i dont hate it, i dont love it. its just eh. if i reblog something solangelo, okay. if i reblog something anti solangelo, okay. at the end of the day its my blog.

when i first entered the pjo fandom i was like.. what? 10 i think? and i found myself in nicos character. i related to him ALOT. i then found out about solangelo and thought it was the cutest shit ever. i reread every piece of media with them. i came up with headcanons. i had a whole ass phase where i was "in love" with will solace. now i realise that i found myself in nico, and seeing him in what seemed to be a happy relationship made me really really happy. now, ive grown. ive reread the series. i KNOW how solangelo is potrayed. sometimes i reblog anti solangelo takes that i agree with, other times solangelo content. its FINE.

now let me explain why i dont like jasico. jason is the first person that nico actually starts becoming friends with, and i find their friendship very sweet. when people tend to turn platonic dynamics into romantic ones it irks me alot. (my same issue with nipollo, even though thats already weird) nico should be able to have friends without constantly being shipped.

i dont like percico because of the obvious age gap, and the fact that nico developing a crush on percy was a major plot point to his arc. it makes his feelings complicated because nicos confused about how he feels about percy. he doesnt know whether to love or hate him, since, well, bianca's death.

i dont like solangelo either, because obviously, its disgusting the way will acts like hes nicos 'savior'. however, will's technically not really his healer. when it comes to mental health and such, will urges nico to talk to dionysos about it. sooooo... u cant really say they have the patient/healer trope, even though in fanon and fanfics it may seem that way

alot of other posts that I REBLOGGED explain this in further detail, if you want me to link some of them, ill go ahead and do that for you. but you shouldnt be asking me to justify why i reblog solangelo shit.

either way, ill redirect you to where user arabnico talks about it, here and here. i completely agree with her takes.

and anyway, the hcs i come up with use the basis of a pretty watered down version of solangelo. i dont keep in mind canon when i think of solangelo. i dont think anyone does, fairly enough. their og characters have been so lost and watered down. heck, i last reread hoo last year.

tldr; im neutral on the ship. jasico sucks because theyre bffs. percico sucks because pedophilia and a majority of nico's tragic arc was based off of liking percy.

i would like to add a final comment: ive previously stated that ALL nico ships suck, INCLUDING solangelo. so idk where this really came from but whatever. have a good day.

#hiding behind anon lol #😒😒 #the internet is asss

[iphido]

no i will never be over how making jasico canon wouldve made both of their character arcs so much more satisfying .

jason was obvs intended to be percy's foil (and apparently the main protag of hoo?). whether or not rick pulled it off is subjective but NARRATIVELY i think jason is a much better foil to nico bc percy is on another level lbr. jason isn't a good foil for percy because jason doesnt have anything percy WANTS. percy has everything he could possibly want. he has annabeth and his mom and their growing family. the only thing percy wants at this point — what he’s always wanted —is to be a normal teenager, free from the gods and their schemes. percy only does what he does in HOO because hera put him there. hes there bc he HAS to be. jason on the other hand would probably do everything even without hera's brainwashing bc he's chained by his sense of duty and justice. as a soldier, as a roman, as the son of Jupiter. percy comes off as static in HOO because he doesnt have a real purpose there ? neither does annabeth imo. they dont have real arcs.

nico and jason on the other hand... THEIR ARCS ARE PERFECT PARALLELS OF EACH OTHER. ‘Nico had talked about not belonging anywhere. At least Nico was free of attachments. He could go wherever he chose.’, putting my entire fist in my mouth rn cuz this is a canon quote (hoh, jason LVIII). the epitome of roman masculinity, the Golden Boy, vs the outcast that is literally cloaked in darkness. the top of the demigod ladder vs the bottom. jason was groomed to be this perfect model leader but throughout heroes of olympus he's incapacitated and knocked out and rendered useless, numerous times. meanwhile nico is underestimated and scorned yet he's vital to not one but TWO wars, and he's also capable as hell. like he survives TARTARUS on his own. he survives captivity. he's outed by a love god to someone he barely considers an acquaintance. he leads a group of STRANGERS to the house of hades. he brings a huge fucking statue across the globe and earns the respect of a roman praetor.

ITS JUST SO INTERESTING HOW EACH OF THEM HAS WHAT THE OTHER COVETS SO DESPERATELY. jason has physical perfection and acceptance by his peers, but he lacks direction and purpose. nico lacks the former, but he knows who he is, though he dislikes—even reviles—who that person is. nico knows his place and when/where he’s needed. nico has a family but jason doesnt. nico has hades’ love and, for a time, the love of his mother. jason has neither. zeus never gave two shits about jason. he pledged jason to hera before he was even born to placate her. the only 'mothers' jason had were an alcoholic starlet fallen from grace, a harsh wolf goddess who trained him to be a child soldier before he could even read, and his patron goddess who manipulates him to her own end. both of their older sisters joined the hunters — and while bianca did it to be rid of nico, i bet a million dollars that if thalia knew jason was alive during TTC, she wouldve become the prophecy kid if it meant she could be with him. nico  has hazel who cares for and defends him. he can see her whenever he wants. jason sees thalia like once a year. nico has the strength to scorn those who scorn him right back, but jason bears the weight of everyone’s expectations like atlas, and he just cant let go.

nico and jason complete each other. they just do. two boys who are on opposite extremes of the demigod world, looking to each other for answers. for love and acceptance. they see the worst and the best in each other. it’s about someone shattering your expectations and revealing something even more precious inside. IT’S ABOUT THE VAST, PROFOUND EMPTINESS INSIDE YOU. A DEEP SENSE OF LACKING THAT’S BECOME JUST A PART OF YOUR STATE OF BEING AT THIS POINT. AND SOMEONE COMES ALONG — NOT WITH THE INTENTION TO MEND OR FILL THAT HOLE — BUT TO STARE RIGHT INTO THAT CHASM AND NOT CARE. TO TELL YOU THAT THE HOLE DOESN’T MATTER. THE HOLE MEANS NOTHING, BECAUSE I LOVE YOU.

#jasico #pjo #meta #jason grace #nico di angelo #the last paragraph got cut off in my tags but LSDKFJSLKD as requested #ughdomenico

[pika-ace]

The Silver Phantom AU: I like good angst. But what if when they return to their jobs and Akari is off with Lucas and Barry just having being kids. And they were ambushed by both Team Galatic and Team Plasma?

It’s like the two evil organisations joined forced to grab this specific kid that somehow befriended Arceus and the other Legendaries?

This will definitely send both Ingo and Emmet into panic mode before it’s exactly like how Volo did it back in Hisui.

Lucas and Barry leading the rescue team to beat the absolute shit out of Cyrus and Ghetsis.

First of all, this got me thinking about just HOW LONG it's going to take for the three of them to reintegrate into society.

Like, they have to get some memories back, relearn modern tech, relearn social skills, find a way to cope with their anxiety of people that's accumulated over five years, it'll probably be AGES before it's safe to leave them alone in public! Not to mention the fact that Ingo and Emmet live in Unova and Akari lives in Sinnoh, and will likely want to go home with her parents once everything's okay, but we got separation anxiety too! We got a whole laundry list of shit to deal with!

But on the other hand, Galactic and Plasma do seem like the only pair of teams that could coherently work together, so they could be a decent threat. I wouldn't put it past them to plant spies around the place where the Phantoms are recovering and rehabilitating to take notes on how to approach this, because if they attack them out of the blue, they get their asses kicked (Team Rocket learned that the VERY hard way). But something to take note of if that if they were attacked outside without Elesa, Lucas, or Barry nearby, the Phantoms would likely revert RIGHT BACK to their wild instincts. However, unlike Hisui, they don't have a bunch of Alphas or wild Pokemon they've bonded with at their beck and call. They would be agile but defenseless, especially if Chadelure and Eelectross are taken out early. Basically, Akari needs Pokemon of her own and Ingo and Emmet need a decent team STAT if they wanna be prepared for whatever's waiting for them out there.

HOWEVER, I take your ambush, and add a bit of a twist to it. Yes, Akari gets attacked by the teams along with Barry and Lucas, but who comes out to save the day? Cynthia. That Champion has been keeping an eye on Akari, feeling the need to keep her safe from a distance. Cynthia knows Akari doesn't like her and why, so she's done her best to keep out of her way and make sure nothing is after her. Until now. Seeing Cynthia's Garchomp take out the grunts has Akari staring at Cynthia with wide eyes. This woman with Volo's face saved her, something Volo never would have done. It sparks a teeny tiny flame of budding trust that we can build on later, cause PTSD doesn't go away overnight. Cynthia makes sure the kids are safe, and immediately starts using her connections to let everyone know what happened aka phoning up her buddies in Unova. 'Uhh yeah, the bad guys from a few years ago are back and I'm pretty sure the other guys with them are from you guys, I think we have a problem.'

Ingo and Emmet are immediately flown to Sinnoh to act as protection for Akari, while Barry and Lucas spearhead the plan of attack along with Cynthia. These boys dealt with Team Galactic during the events of DPP, they can easily do it again (and Barry is MORE THAN ready to protect Akari). And maybe they could call up Hilbert and/or Hilda for info about Team Galactic if they're available (if not, Cheren and Bianca are valid backups). Basically, this could be the start of an arc that has PLENTY of angst potential. Hope that was satisfying enough for you :3

#silver phantoms au #pla akari #pokemon barry #pokemon lucas #pokemon cynthia #team galactic #team plasma

[thebigqueer]

Ok, here we go. Dark!Bianca idea. Shortly after the events in the desert, a severely injured Bianca is found by agents of the Titans who were shadowing the quest party off-page. She is brought back to Titan HQ and is convinced to join their crusade against the gods while her friends and family think she's dead. Jump ahead to BotL, instead of Kelli the Empousa, it is a mysterious masked assassin who attacks Percy and Rachel at Goode. The events mostly play out unchanged until Geryon's (1/8)

ranch, where instead of Bianca, it is the ghost of Maria di Angelo who is revealed to be sending Iris messages to Percy about Nico, while also strongly hinting that Bianca's still alive. Jump ahead to Mt St. Helens, Percy fights the assassin again, and during his stint on Ogygia, Percy begins to put two and two together after the assassin demonstrated skills similar to the Hunters. At Antaeus' Arena, the assassin is finally unmasked to reveal a still-alive but scarred Bianca, replacing (2/8)

Ethan Nakamura as the demigod enforcer. Percy is convinced that Bianca is being mind-controlled and goes to Mt Tam to rescue her as well as stop Kronos. However, when he confronts her, Bianca reveals that she's operating of her own free will, feeling vengeful against the gods for robbing her of her life and having pledged her loyalty to her new Titan master. Kronos intends to make Bianca the prophesy kid, promising her the free will she craves so badly as well as promising not to hurt (3/8)

Nico. Going into the Last Olympian, Percy and Nico are both determined to convince Bianca that she's making a mistake, and this time Nico's duplicity is not to simply learn about his mother but to try and summon her spirit to get through to Bianca. At the same time, Kronos gradually starts treating Bianca as less of an ally and more of a tool, and the Titans' actions cause her to have doubts even though she dosen't know what else to do. It all comes to a head in the final battle.(4/8)

Nico returns from the Underworld by himself early, giving Hades an ultimatum to come and fight or hide. Just before the final attack, Kronos sends Bianca to infiltrate Olympus to disable the magic defenses, but Nico arrives to intercept her and make one last bid to save her. They fight, with both begging the other to stand down even as they slug it out. Finally, just as Percy arrives to chase Kronos, the battered siblings' duel ends when Nico gives another ultimatum. He throws down his (5/8)

sword and gives Bianca, now reduced to fear and frustration-induced tears, the choice between perusing her grudge and allowing herself to continue being Kronos’s slave or doing the right thing. Finally able to make a legitimate choice of her own, Bianca chooses to turn her back on the Titans. She still ends up wounded, but unlike Ethan in canon, Nico manages to save his sister while Percy and Kronos have their final battle. After everything ends, Percy petitions for Bianca’s pardon along (6/8)

with the rest of his list, though Bianca turns it down, realizing the harm she almost caused to the person she loved more than anybody else. She is given a reduced sentence in service to her father, and though she does not properly forgive any of the gods that hurt her, she does recognize that the spite and anger she felt would only lead to more death. Nico gets to visit her occasionally, and she starts a road to redemption that Luke never got the chance to take. In HoO, Bianca is (7/8)

more of a background character, but it is she that finds Hazel in Asphodel and alerts Nico to her. Overall, dark!Bianca is an anti-villain who’s affiliation with Kronos is clearly drawn from her pain and grief over the gods’ interference in her life, but her saving grace is her brother. Nico manages to pull her out of the darkness and save her from becoming the same monster Luke became. What do you think? (bear in mind, this is my rough draft) (8/8)

Okay, WOW. Anon, I am actually going to start a petition to make you the new Percy Jackson author because that was such an interesting plot to read.

First of all, I love that you replaced Bianca with Ethan. As interesting as he was in the series, and as much as I loved his character, after reading through your rough draft, I feel like Bianca would have been a much better character to use throughout PJO. Her arc could have been expanded upon and completed thoroughly, and it could have made a lot of sense. Ethan felt more like a representation of "demigods turned to the other side," which I get is the point, but I loved the way you used Bianca because with your plot, her character could have been used so well to properly show how easily the Titan army manipulated kids.

Furthermore, I feel like your plot with Bianca could have been a much better way to use her character throughout the series. From my interpretation, in canon she seemed more like a stand-in tool just to enhance Nico's own character arc and his motives, but your plot for her would have actually given her some kind of foundation and an actual arc for her to go through. You've given her such an interesting character and I think it really provides more justice to what she could have been.

I also love the way that not only did you give her a better arc, but you also enhanced Nico's own arc and the plot, too. Her death in the books seemed more symbolic to him and a turning point in his character, but with her character in your AU, it's both important to Nico and Bianca. You've given her an actual character, and you've set up such an interesting conflict between Nico and Bianca.

Additionally, I love the divide you've created between them. I think that - based on what we know about her in the books - as much as she loves her brother, Bianca also feels very limited with him because of how she's been forced to grow up and be his savior. She understands that he's only a child, though, which I think could also play into her own hatred for the gods - they've not only destroyed her family, but now they're forcing her to take the role of an adult when she's a mere child, too? She was never angry at Nico - she was only ever mad with the gods.

Maybe that's something that Nico also feels bad about, and maybe he tells her about it when they're standing each other down. Maybe she lets him know that she never hated him or felt that he was bringing her down.

Also, I want to add that I adore the way you put them on opposite sides. It sets up such an interesting dynamic to their relationship because here you have two people who love each other so much, but they're on two different sides of a large war. They're both too stubborn to go onto each other's sides, and Nico knows Bianca's only going to get herself into more danger. I just love the potential that has for both of their characters.

I know Percy had a large fear about Nico being another kid to join Kronos' army, so I bet Bianca being on his team would have left Percy incredibly terrified for Nico, too, because he knew how much Nico loved Bianca. Would he have been nervous for Nico's ability to change his mind? Nico knows he'd never join Kronos, but would Percy have known?

And, knowing that Bianca's now on the Kronos side, how would Percy react? Because he felt pretty guilty about her death in TTC, right? Would he feel guilty that she's on the other side now, too? Would he try to reason with her, only to push her further away? I'd love to see how Percy would deal with knowing that Bianca - an important child of the Big Three - would react to her being there. He was already nervous about Nico joining sides, but having Bianca there would have really scared him.

And the part about Bianca finding Hazel instead of Nico? That was mind-blowing. I love everything about that situation because now that introduces Hazel into the narrative of Nico and Bianca's story. My question for you would be how does Hazel's character change now? How does she fit in with Nico and Bianca? Because in Heroes of Olympus she's clearly very insecure about her relationship with Nico and how he views her, but if she actually knew Bianca, how would she feel? Would she feel more left out (knowing that Bianca and Nico have known each other much longer and have a stronger connection with each other)? Would she be distrustful? And how would the three of them adapt to this additional family member? I have high hopes that by the end they would all love each other very much, but I'm just really curious into how Hazel's addition would influence the dynamic of all three.

And, essentially, it all ends into a somewhat win-win situation. Bianca's still living; Nico's got two new sisters; Hazel now has a new family.

I think this is such an interesting concept, and I'd love to read it. If you ever post it anywhere, please do share the link! This was such an intriguing plot to go through and, again, I think this could have been a much better use of Bianca's character.

Thank you so much for sharing it with me.

#WOW #I seriously wish you had a Tumblr because I just know you would post the most interesting takes #anon tag #asks #pjo meta #nico di angelo #bianca di angelo #hazel levesque #rick riordan #riordanverse #nico di angelo headcanon #bianca di angelo headcanon #hazel levesque headcanon #riordanverse headcanon #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #hoo

[epicspheal]

Heya! I hope your doing well!

Ever since swsh gave the rivals something to do after the fact( something that I believe only happened to Blue), I can't help but think of the rivals prior who haven't. What do you think they end up doing? I know that Blue ends up becoming a gym leader, but would still be interesting what you plan for him too! :3

Hi there @ihopethisendswell! So actually, it's the norm typically for the rivals to have something to do, even if it's just continuing being a roaming trainers. Being a roaming trainer is still just as valid of a career path as other routes given the way the Pokemon world works, it's just not as solid of a career path as say gym leader or research assistant. Pokemon Sword and Shield is one of the only main games that really puts emphasis on the rivals' alternate careers paths as part of the plot outside of the gen 5 games. So like you have Blue who becomes gym leader and also helps his grandpa with his research by still be a roaming trainer (much to the frustration of anyone trying to challenge his gym). By the time of Sun and Moon/USUM he has ditched the gym to become battle facility which ultimately given his status as a former champion ends up being a much more fitting role. Granted he needed that time as a gym leader as long standing humbling exercise so it wasn't a bad call at all. Then we have Silver, who remains a roaming trainer, though he kind of mainly sticks around the Dragon's Den because he really wants to avenge that loss to Lance and show how much he has changed. Then we have Brendan/May (when not the protagonist) who end up going back to being full time assistants professor Birch. Wally on the other hand, is much like Silver in that he continue to be a roaming trainer, with him staying around the Battle Resort in ORAS with him eventually going to the Battle Tree by the time the SM/USUM events occur.

Barry also follows the roaming trainer route with him staying Stark Mountain in Diamond/Pearl and with Platinum he hangs around the Survival area.

Gen 5 is where the rival's future goals get the most attention, and was the best well done (SwSh in my opinion failed hard on the rival's goals bar Klara and Avery's). Bianca is still my favorite "how to do a future career path" ending in the entirety of series which is she really doesn't know. She ends up taking up a position as Professor's Juniper's assistant. However it's this linefrom Bianca in Pokemon Black 2/White 2 that I really enjoyed:

"Actually, I'm not sure being a professor's assistant is really what I want to do... But when I do the work, I have lots and lots of fun!" I really appreciated that they allowed Bianca to have doubts that this is her final career path. She's still a child and I can remember when I was her age (God, I sound so old) how many career paths I thought about in that time frame...and only one of those comes even remotely close to what I'm attempting to go back to school for. I liked how she's just trying to things and aiming for experiences while not trying to commit herself to one specific path. Now obviously this could theoretically be true for any number of the rivals as with the exception of Blue (and Wally although for some odd reason they didn't give him an aged up model considering he'd be just as old as Red and Blue are) we don't see them as adults and their ambitions could very well have indeed changed over the years. Then you have Cheren who after that scolding from Alder really begins to question his pursuit of strength and what he really wants to do. Cue 2 years later in BW2 where we see him as the Aspertia City gym leader as well a lecturer at the trainer's school. Fitting as it shows his desire and capabilities as a trainer but also allowing a more concrete goal than just pursuing strength but actually overseeing the future generations. And Hugh, another one of my favorite characters, concludes his story arc on forgiveness (since he had absolutely none for Team Plasma at the beginning of the story) ends up a roaming trainer but also helping the good side Team Plasma in Driftveil City reunite Pokemon that were stolen during the events of Black/White to their original trainers. So he has a goal and really touching one I might add, one of the few that doesn't revolve around battling or researching.

Then there's the XY rivals who were admittedly the most shafted. They all pretty much end up as roaming trainers except for Trevor who already had the aim of completing the Pokedex for Professor Sycamore and he continues to do so.

The no specific aim works the best, in my opinion, for Shauna as she really didn't have much of a goal to begin with outside of travelling/making memories, and much like I said with Bianca, it's okay for characters to not have a specific end game (although I personally see Bianca's route as better as although she isn't quite sure what she wants to do, she does take initiative and actively pursue a goal to gain experience and see if it's for her).

Serena/Calem (again when not the protag) having no set aim also works because they were most competitive of the group and continuing to be a trainer makes sense, but since they get hardly any development it just feels hollow and not satisfying. At least with characters like Wally, Silver and Barry who are roaming they all went through some major development. Lack of major development plus no end game just makes Serena and Calem unfortunately just not stand out.

Then Tierno...poor Tierno. He's my favorite XY character and I hate that screwed over so poorly. He actually a goal but the game doesn't allow us to see how a dance team would work. Kalos really could've benefitted from a Pokemon Contest/Musical like sidequest where Tierno shines in. So him being a roaming trainer is just...meh.

Now moving on to Gen 7 and best boy Hau (Hau's up there with Blue and Leon as one of my favorite Pokemon characters PERIOD). In both Sun and Moon and USUM he's a roaming trainer but I argue that Sun and Moon actually wrapped up his character better, despite USUM giving him much more in the way of development. By that I mean he explicitly mentions to the player that he wants become strong enough to find his father who fled Alola because the pressure of being the Kahuna's son was too much. So yeah he is still just a regular trainer, but he does have an explicit goal that goes beyond just trying to continue to measure up to the player. He also helps to train the reforming Team Skull grunts in the art of Alolan SuMo. In USUM this is erased for a more generic roaming trainer scenario unfortunately. Gladion's fate also changes depending on what version of the Gen 7 games you play. With Sun and Moon he ends up taking over as Aether's president but also still trains on the side as he is one of the challengers that can come for your title in the post game. In Ultra Sun and Moon he actually takes the "I'm going to Kanto" route instead of Lillie although he actually back and is essentially a roaming trainer since Lusamine's villainy was nerfed and therefore allowed to stay as Aether's president

Then there's Trace who ends up champion then loses it, but keeps on going in this endless circle of trying to reclaim it from the player. And then finally the Gen 8 rivals where we have Bede, Marnie, Klara and Avery all become gym leaders and Hop is a professor. Despite this cast having the most focus on their future paths since the gen 5 rivals I don't think they were done that well. Like Klara and Avery's worked, really well and they're probably the only rivals bar Trace and Blue who actually their goals (with them actually maintaining there dream status because their goal didn't involve becoming champion).

I've talked about Hop's on this post before but the lack of genuine foreshadowing just made his sudden declaration of wanting to be a Pokemon Professor just come out of nowhere. And honestly considering the fact that he had just come out of a depressive stage and still hadn't quite addressed his idolization issues I think he would've been served better with the Bianca route where yes he becomes Sonia's assistant, but it's clear that he's still trying to find his new path and that he's just open to trying out research rather than making a rather bold claim that this was his new career path. Either that or do better in the foreshadowing where he shows he has a much clearer interest in academia but feels like he needs to be a champion like his brother.

Then there's Marnie who I've also stated was kind of screwed over. Because she made it rather clear to Piers she didn't want to be gym leader (which makes sense given that she saw how that position screwed over older brother that she admires). She's pretty much doing this because she still has the motivation to save her hometown which is extremely admirable and mature. But also it's sad, like if she didn't have to do this, would she honestly still be gym leader. I think not, at least not immediately. Considering that gym challengers can still compete on the big stage with the champion's cup rematches and some even can be invited to the Galarian Stars Tournament, I think if I had of written that I would've focused on how with Leon as the head of MC he's going to actually work with Spikemuth to revitalize without shouldering the responsibility on one single person, especially a minor. And let her be a roaming trainer and live for herself and not continue to be Spikemuth's martyr.

Then there's Bede who quite vocally states when crashing the Champion's Cup that he was ready to retire. Like poor boy goes from being used as Rose's wishing star collector and fall boy to Opal's reirement plan. Like yes it's great that Opal actually remembers his name and gives him a support system and teaches him some discipline. But still it's kind of sad as he was very much okay with retiring but more or less gets goaded into staying because of the stadium audience.

So this post got way longer than I what it was going to be but hey that happens. But yeah too long don't read, all of the rivals do have a goal, even if a lot of them end up as roaming trainers. If I'm honest in most cases (bar the gen 6 rivals because they lacked developent) the roaming trainer thing works. Because they're kids and they still have their whole lives ahead of them and they don't need to have concrete job just yet. Especially because in some cases the concrete plan just doesn't always fit the character. It works best when it feels like an organic part of the story and not just trying to wrap things up for the sake of wrapping things up.

Finally, to answer your question about how I deal with Blue. Well in my Pokeverse (dubbed cactusverse in case you see me refer to my AU as this), I tend to be fairly canon compliant to the games. So after he loses his champion title to Red he becomes Viridian gym leader, slightly patches things up with grandfather by helping with the research and eventuallya head of the Battle Tree as an adult once he gains the Battle Legend Status (which is an actual legitimate title in cactusverse held currently only by him, Red and Leaf, although one of my OCs gets this designation as well). So nothing that really deviates from canon except for some offscreen events. Basically the battle legend status is bestowed if a major event happens that is taken care of by an already established powerful trainer. So there's a rather major plot thing the Kanto Trio gets involved in that once they take care of gives them their status.

Also for cactusverse there's the whole issue of the Viridian City gym. So it eventually it gets passed down to Trace as Blue has shown that he's become a bit too powerful to be a gym leader. He was honestly when he first got it probably still a bit overkill for an 8th gym leader, but he also really needed an attitude adjustment. And with Lance being a far better father figure to him than Oak could ever dream of, with the help of Agatha tried to rein in his egotistical and self important ways by giving him the position. Which worked very well. Still in cactusverse there's rules on the win percentage a gym can have and that's determined by position. Win too many for your rank and you get moved, vice versa if you lose too many, and sometimes you might even lose your position. The first and last gym leaders are always the most at risk of losing their status. This actually happens to Wallace, Iris and eventually Raihan because they just end up exceeding the strength of most challengers who try to challenge them. Hence why all three of them end up champions at some point cactusverse (Raihan does not become Galar's champion, but Johto's champion since I really like the idea of him spreading his wings beyong Galar).

Blue between the time of BW2 and SM had ended up getting to a point that no one had gotten a gym badge off of him in a couple of years which is unacceptable by league standards and he would've gotten booted out sooner had Lance not personally asked my OC Terra to come kick his butt and get a badge off of him. And cue possibly the most iconic and brutal gym battles to have ever gone down in a region of outside of Galar because two heartbroken champion tier trainers, who broke each other's heart is a recipe for a frightening battle. Lance happened to referree that match and might be a little traumatized. Terra won and he was able to give out his last badge before Red came back from his latest global trip and said let's go to Alola.

#rival blue #rival marnie #rival hop #rival bede #rival silver #rival wally #rival barry #rival bianca #rival cheren #rival hugh #rival hau #rival gladion #ask epic spheal #rival klara #rival avery #rival trace

[aimmyarrowshigh]

Dark Greetings this Spooky Season Ms. V. Can we get a list of your favorite Halloween movies and specials? I know you have seen *everything* and I am trying to go beyond my usual rewatches this holiday month.

V. AIMMYARROWSHIGH’S CRITERIA FOR HALLOWEEN EPISODES

Does the Halloween element combine convincingly with the usual universe of the show (ex: Lizzie McGuire 2x09 “Those Freaky McGuires” is not good as a Halloween episode because it changes the rules of the Lizzie McGuire universe, whereas Community 2x06 “Epidemiology” is a GREAT Halloween episode because it manages to logically introduce zombies to the regular Community universe)?

Does the Halloween element advance the plot of the episode/series (ex: the reason Boy Meets World 5x17 “And Then There Was Shawn” is literally the best Halloween episode ever made is that it uses the horror movie tropes it satirizes to provide a CRUCIAL turning-point to the plot of the show)?

Is the Halloween episode in the forefront enough that it’s clearly a holiday episode (ex: HAVING ONE JACK-O’LANTERN ON A DESK DOES NOT A HALLOWEEN SPECIAL MAKE, LAW & ORDER 16x03 “GHOSTS”! You gotta go ALL-IN, like Bob’s Burgers 3x02 “Full Bars”!)?

Does the Halloween theme balance well between spooky and warm-n-fuzzy (ex: Criminal Minds 11x21 “Mr. Scratch” is too fucking bleak, but Criminal Minds 12x06 “Elliott’s Pond” has a joyous/celebratory tone to the ending despite being a genuinely scary episode)?

Is it generally a well-written, acted, and designed episode of television (ex: Saved by the Bell! 3x26 “Mystery Weekend” is seriously, not exaggerating, the worst thing I’ve ever watched in my life; Psych 1x15 “Scary Sherry, Or Bianca’s Toast” is a triumph of the medium)?

THE BEST, bar none, Halloween special ever made is Boy Meets World 5x17, “And Then There Was Shawn.” Period. There can be no argument, except MAYBE Community 3x06, “Epidemiology,” but I like “And Then There Was Shawn” better because the parody and homage as less… biting? And because I think it continues and addresses the emotional core of the regular BMW season better than “Epidemiology” does for Community s3. “Epi” DOES plant the seed (…heh) for the Season 3B major plot arc of Shirley’s pregnancy and Chang Deciding To Murder, but it gets some major minus points for mocking Yvette Nicole Brown’s weight with other characters’ responses to her costume, tbh. And “And Then There Was Shawn” is just fucking iconic. It is THE Halloween episode manual, IMO, if there were to be a textbook on how to write a perfect Halloween episode for your sitcom.

HOWEVER, I also have to give major props to Bob’s Burgers and Psych, as complete series, for their CONSISTENTLY excellent Halloween episodes. A lot of series that have multiple Halloween eps really phone it in after one or two, because they don’t have any more ideas for how to incorporate Halloween pastiches while maintaining the overall feeling of the series (tbh B99, while the Halloween Heists are excellent in general, is/has been coming very close to this line, and I think that if they HADN’T had to switch out the Heist to Cinco de Mayo in s6, they would have jumped their Heist Shark [and I think they know it, too, because it was lampshaded in the episode itself]) or they just straight-up don’t have any more ideas for what or how to have the characters they’re bound to parody or pay homage to a Halloween thing after they’ve already done one or two. And let’s be real: those one or two have probably been either The Shining or Rear Window, because those are pretty much the two that every show starts with.

Bob’s manages to make every Halloween episode feel very fresh and organic to the series, which I think they do have some leeway to do because of the nature of cartoons keeping the Belchers living a kind of loop of never aging, yk, but amazingly they’ve only done the “Tina feels too old to trick or treat, maybe? Nope, she’s not 14 yet, so there’s still time!” thing in a way that felt tropey once (in 3x02 Full Bars). They’ve been able to address Tina being 13/in 8th grade, and worrying about it being almost too late for her to keep trick or treating, in ways that were in-character and added to the overall episode in 4x02 Fort Night, 5x02 Tina and the Real Ghost, and 9x04 Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street, without me rolling my eyes at the screen and going “TINA, EVERY SINGLE SHOW WITH A TWEEN IN IT HAS ALREADY DECIDED THAT THE AGE AT WHICH YOU MUST STOP TRICK OR TREATING IS FRESHMAN YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, COME ON NOW” which… at this point, is a Feat. Because like, I’ve POSTED over a thousand Halloween episodes, right? But I’ve watched and screencapped ::checks folder:: 3,905 Halloween episodes since 2014. Which is, um, a. lot. The ACTUAL BEST Bob’s Burgers Halloween episode is 6x03, “The Hauntening,” which is just… achingly perfect television. I know I’ve posted about it before (probably a couple times tbh) but the way that it aired originally back-to-back with The Simpsons 27x04, “Halloween of Horror,” so that the evening of Sunday cartoons juxtaposed eight-year-old Louise whose family worked so hard to scare her like she wanted with nine-year-old Lisa’s family working so hard to keep her from being too scared and make sure that she felt safe… reader, I FUCKIN CRIED. Little girls being deeply loved while also Spoopy Things!!!!!! IS WHAT HALLOWEEN SPECIALS ARE!!! FUCKIN!!!!!! ABOUT!!!!!!!

Psych, though, has the benefit of not really having any, like… central tone to the series? Beyond “friendship” and “having fun with joking,” tbh? So it’s able to do what a lot of series get docked “points” for in my Foolproof Halloween Special Ratings System That Is Completely Subjective To My Tastes And Mood, which is really just run full-tilt into parody and homage without really worrying about overall tonal connection to the rest of the season or series. 1x15, “Scary Sherry, or, Bianca’s Toast,” while it DOES fall victim to the way-too-common Halloween episode trap of making mental hospitals into a Scary Thing (they are a medical normality and a necessary thing for health for many people and should not be feared), is delightful Spooky Fun AND has the benefit of having Shannon Woodward in it.* We all know by now that if an episode of any show has Shannon Woodward as the guest star, it will by default end up being one of the best, if not THE best, episodes of that series. It’s just how having Shannon Woodward as your guest star rolls. I also really like, with Psych’s Halloween episodes, that quite a few of them understand the underlying thematic scope of Horror, which is “The Monstrous Feminine Is A Thing And All Horror Tropes Are Actually About Women’s Interior Lives Because Men Can’t Write Women And Fear Women Always,” yk, in a way that is neither TOO Actual Horror, which I am too afraid of to Do, or too trite and demeaning, which is the other basic trap that Halloween stuff falls into A Lot. Like, Scary Sherry is very much about women villainizing other women, avenging other women, and being in very specifically-female pain, even though Shawn & Gus are still the lens through which we solve the mystery, and so are 4x04 The Devil Is In The Details And The Upstairs Bedroom and 6x03 This Episode Sucks. But they give their Monstrous Females dignity and breadth, which is impressive, ESPECIALLY since they’re one-off guest characters. Also, 3x15 Tuesday the 17th is just plain funny and well-done, like, just give it props for the title alone.

*(Speaking of Shannon Woodward, another amazingly good Halloween episode is Raising Hope 4x07, “Murder, She Hoped,” which is among my very favorite Rear Window homage episodes and has probably the funniest gag in ANY Rear Window ep, in Martha Plimpton floating across the screen in the Grace Kelly silk nightgown and peignoir and announcing that it was on sale at Walmart, can you believe?! and honestly, yes. Perfection.)

Also excellent:

• The Addams Family (1991) + Addams Family Values (1993) • Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU WERE GAY FOR SIBELLA AS A CHILD!) • Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU'RE GAY BECAUSE THE HEX GIRLS!) • Halloweentown + Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge • Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire! • Z•O•M•B•I•E•S (to a lesser extent, Z•O•M•B•I•E•S 2) • Clue (1985) • Coraline • Corpse Bride • 6teen 2x00 Dude of the Dead • Arthur 21x00 Arthur and the Haunted Treehouse • Lamb-Chop in the Haunted Studio • Arthur 8x04A Fern-kenstein's Monster • Arthur 10x02 The Squirrels • WandaVision 1x06 The All-New Halloween Spooktacular (I KNOW YOU, SPECIFICALLY, DEAR @plavoptice, HATE MCU!WANDA AND I DON'T BLAME YOU, YOUR REASONS ARE VERY VALID! But this is a good Halloween special so I'm putting it on my list In General.) • Boy Meets World 2x06 Who's Afraid of Cory Wolf? • Ghostbusters (2016) • Gravity Falls 1x12 Summerween • Leverage 4x02 Ten L'il Grifters Job • The Loud House 2x40 Tricked! • Mockingbird Lane 1x00 Unaired Pilot • It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (Classic, etc.)

I'm SURE I'm forgetting some that I'll rewatch this year myself. I'm a big Halloween Baking Championship fan, tbh, which is on Discovery+ now so I recommend that if you like mostly-relaxing nice people baking cakes that look like bats and such.

I'm also IMMENSELY INTENSELY EXCITED for The Muppets' Haunted Mansion on Disney+ next week!!!

#halloween #**halloween

[demigodlunar]

Scars - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Woman Up Levesque

Hazel looked down into the recent pages of her sketchbook, filled with drawings of gems and pictures of her mother’s face that she had drawn.

This day was the seventh anniversary of her mother’s death, and Hazel holed herself in her room every single year on this day, drawing her heart out until Nico came and sought her out to mourn together.

Pouring feelings she couldn’t share with anyone but Nico into the pages. A light knock at Hazel’s door startled her out of her reverie, and she let out a small noise she hoped sounded like ‘come in’.

Nico stepped into her room with red-bloodshot eyes and sat next to her on the bed. She felt bad for her brother… well, her half-brother. They had different mothers, but Nico was as brotherly as any brother was.

Nevertheless, she felt bad for him.

This was the same day that he had lost his real sister, Bianca, to the same people who killed Hazel’s mother.

Then, she felt angry. At herself.

She never came to comfort him on these days as he did for her. How could she be so selfish?

Nico pulled her into a hug, and Hazel was about to apologize for being so inconsiderate when the flashback hit.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Hazel, baby.” Marie Levesque whispered with an anxious expression on her face and a maniac look in her eyes, “Your father will be here soon. When he comes, go with him.”

9-year-old Hazel quivered in her stance, but nodded and tried to calm her beating heart. Then, her mother hugged Hazel to her chest and stood up. She straightened her back and walked into a room, where the door closed behind her.

Not five minutes after Marie went in, Hazel heard a gunshot and a cut-off scream. Suppressing a shriek, Hazel went to the door and pressed her ears to the thin wall, hoping and praying her mother was safe.

“... kill the girl as well.” a commanding woman’s voice demanded on the other side of the wall.

This time, Hazel couldn’t suppress a scream, and the room fell quiet. Suddenly, a hand fell on her shoulder and she would have screamed again if the other hand hadn’t been covering her mouth.

She turned her head around to face her captor, shaking so hard she felt she might never stop. Her gold eyes met ones of pitch black.

Hazel had only seen that pair of eyes once in her life, when she was just an infant. Her father, Hades Di Angelo.

Hades put a finger to his lips and motioned behind him, silently asking her to follow him quickly. She complied quickly, following him into a dark alley. They had just rounded the corner out of sight when Hazel heard the door to the room bang open and what seemed like hundreds of footsteps pounded afterward.

Her father pulled her arm to follow him, and he led her to a sleek, black limo. There was no way her mother would- would have been able to afford that.

Hazel was no idiot, she knew exactly what had happened to her mother, but her thoughts were too muddled for her to properly grieve at the moment.

As they approached the car, both of them heard two voices that were trying to be quiet but completely failing.

“... shut up, Nico!”

“You shut up, Bianca, you're such a fun spoiler!”

“Oh yeah, well you’re a-”

Hades interrupted them, “What in Zeus’s name are you doing here? I told you two to stay at home!”

Two figures emerged from behind the car and Hazel’s heart almost jumped out of her ribcage. But these people weren’t dangerous, no, they were just two kids. The younger looking one was a boy, with black hair and chocolate brown eyes, olive skin, and a chipped tooth when he smiled at Hazel.

“Hi! I’m Nico!” was all he had to say to have Hazel cowering behind Hades, while the other, older girl elbowed him.

“Nico, that’s not nice! She’s scared, can’t you see? Father, why is she scared, and why are you here, and why do you look so scared?”

Hades had started shaking too, and opened his mouth to speak when they heard voices in the distance.

“There, I see somebody!”

Hazel’s eyes widened, and Hades' voice took on an urgent tone, “Kids, all of you. Get into the car. Get- get in! Go!”

In the dark, Hazel could see Nico and the other girl- Bianca- rushing to the car with them. The misty night air was cool against Hazel’s fiery red cheeks, hot from the impending danger.

She could see Hades get into the front seat of the limo, and she and Nico filed into the left side of the long car. They could leave, but there was something, no, someone missing. Hazel could feel her heart beating out of her chest, as she turned her head to the right window of the car, and could see Bianca struggling to open the side door.

What happened next was something that none of them could ever forget.

Hazel heard a loud gunshot and looked in horror as she watched Bianca’s body arc backward and a splatter of blood landed on the window. Hazel turned away, feeling the contents of her stomach trying to rise, and swallowed hard.

The car was silent for a second before they all heard yells, and Hades stepped on the gas, propelling the limo forward. When they got to Hazel’s new home, they all filed out silently.

The days that came afterward were full of heartbreak, and some sort of recovery.

Bianca’s funeral was held the next week, and though Nico warmed up to Hazel, he and Hazel would never be the same again.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hazel opened her eyes, blurry with water, and saw Nico shaking her shoulders. She focused her vision on him and he visibly sighed in relief.

Pulling his arms away from her shoulders, Nico closed his eyes and murmured, “You had another flashback.”

Hazel groaned and sat back. She was sure that her flashbacks had ended last year, that she had been done with them. But as long as she remembered what happened that night, Hazel would never get over the flashbacks.

Nico clicked his tongue a couple of times just to break the silence, and Hazel cracked a smile. He smiled back, and a quiet pinging noise aroused from his pocket.

Nico drew his phone out of his pocket and squinted at the screen. After a couple of seconds, he spoke again.

“Jason is coming over. Thalia can’t make it, so I guess it's just the three of us,” he said, pursing his lips, and showing Hazel the screen.

Every year on this day, the two of them would mope, at least until their cousins came to drag them out of the dumps. And they would spend the rest of the day binging shows and movies and eating junk food. The fact that they still remembered brought a smile onto Hazel’s face.

They heard the doorbell ring from the other room. Neither Hades nor Persephone were home, so Nico and Hazel were home alone.

“Well, I guess Sparky is here.” Nico said with a grin, and he jumped off the bed and yelled: “COMING!”

Hazel got up too and followed Nico into the main room of the apartment. He was already at the front door, but when he swung it open, it wasn’t Jason standing there.

“Hey,” said someone who Hazel thought she would never see again.

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

-Blossom ;)

#percy jackon and the olympians #soulmates #percabeth #caleo #solangelo #jiper #frazel #heroes of olympus #pjo fanfic #pjo angst #nico di angelo #bianca di angelo #hazel levesque

[statdaddyalien]

The Alien and the Runaway (pt. 2)

Summary: Kris Statlander finds herself in a bit of a pickle. She needs to find a partner to ‘marry’ in AEW for storyline purposes. Enter the Runaway herself Ruby Soho, who is looking to make an impact. Can they learn to be a team? Will real feelings get involved? Is Kris actually an alien? Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

  Rating: T

  Pairing: Kris Statlander/Ruby Soho (Pt. 1 )

"So is she an alien or not? Because I am seriously thinking that she is, she picked up two whole girls."

"No, she's not an alien. I mean I don't think so. She is freakishly strong but I mean then again so is Bianca and Charlotte." Ruby rolled her eyes. She was sitting in her car outside the AEW taping, talking to Liv on facetime. No matter what company they were in or how far apart they were, Liv was always going to be her best friend.

"Some people really do get the best genes don't they?" Liv let out a dramatic sigh, before raising a brow. "So you're starting a storyline with Statlander?'

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, we're supposed to fake being married at some point, we're going to start traveling together on the road loops I think. She's supposed to save me from a beatdown tonight, and that will be the set up to us starting the story."

Liv smirked a little bit. "I mean she does kind of seem your type. She has tattoos and piercings just like you."

Ruby did her best not to blush, she really didn't want to give Liv more ammunition to tease her with. "I don't have a type Liv." She muttered, trying to downplay it. "Anyways I need to get ready for my match tonight, you'll be watching?"

Liv chuckled. "Of course Rue-Rue, I'll be watching. I got to see if your new girlfriend is an alien or not."

"Goodbye Liv." Ruby muttered with a groan, hanging up the phone. She didn't know what she was going to do with the blonde delinquent. She turned her attention back to the storyline at hand. She wanted to build something believable with Kris, something that the fans would buy into.

Ruby walked into the backstage area to find Kris already waiting for her along with Orange Cassidy, Chuck and Trent. Ruby couldn’t be certain but for a moment she was almost certain that Kris lit up when she saw her.

“Hey how’s it going?” Ruby asked, looking between them.

Chuck flashed a friendly smile her way. “Kris here was telling us, you ladies might be teaming up.”

“Yeah, I talked to the writing staff and they actually seemed to like the idea of us teaming up.” Kris said, once more sucking on her lip ring.

Ruby noticed that it seemed to be a nervous habit for the younger superstar. It kind of made Ruby want try and get her to relax. “That’s great, maybe we should go over our segment?” Ruby asked, wanting to make sure that they nailed it perfectly. She was a bit of a perfectionist in that regard.

“Yeah, I have a little bit of time. I am supposed to go with Orange to his match so as long as I am back in time.” Kris said.

Orange Cassidy nodded and gave her a thumbs up, before going back to chilling. He really did seem to embody his character, just a really mellow dude which Ruby appreciated. She had seen his works on the indies and she enjoyed seeing all the impressive things that he could do.

Kris and Ruby walked down the hall, finding a quiet spot for them to talk. Ruby couldn't pinpoint why she was feeling so nervous, but Liv's teasing words from earlier kept playing through her mind. She tried to clear her mind, focusing on what she had came here to do. She wanted to tell compelling stories and be able to wrestle.

"So I think Britt agreed to the beat down angle. I'm going to come and make the save again and maybe pick you up and carry you to the back." Kris explained, trying to fill Ruby in on what she had worked out with the other competitor.

"Are you sure you're okay having to carry me back up the ramp?" Ruby didn't want to make Kris uncomfortable.

Kris stared at her for a long couple of seconds, that really felt like a life time to Ruby. "I think I can handle carrying you Soho." Kris finally said.

Truth be told Kris was just feeling lucky that Ruby had agreed to the segment. A compelling story that would drive fans to tune in was exactly what she wanted.

"Alright, well I guess I should get changed into my ring gear. Um also my friend Liv told me to tell you hi."

"Is she the one who had the questions about whether or not I'm an alien?" Kris asked, a small smirk tugging at her lips.

Ruby blushed but nodded. "I think Liv is just naturally curious. Anybody she thinks is hot or weird, she wants to know everything about them. I guess I don't blame her."

Kris looked amused. "Which one is it?" She asked.

Ruby blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Which one am I? Hot or weird?" Kris asked, finding it hilarious to put Ruby on the spot.

Ruby's blush only deepened and she seemed to shrink back a little, her mouth opening and closing a couple of times like a fish.

Statlander just laughed and winked at her. "I'll let you think on it. See you out there, Soho." Kris replied, before leaving Ruby, so she could go back and meet up with Orange and the rest of her friends.

---

"So you and Soho?"

"Don't ask Chuckie, I don't want to talk about it." Kris mused as they stood ringside, watching Orange Cassidy wrestle Matt Hardy. It was hard to hear over the roar of the crowd, which was good for Kris because she didn't really want to talk about it.

"She's not a bad pick for a tag partner. She looks like she's creative enough to bounce ideas off of." Chuck continued, not taking Kris' cue to drop it.

Kris ignored him, focusing on Orange as he managed to hit the Orange Punch. She wasn't sure she had really been flirting with Ruby, maybe messing with her a little bit about the alien thing.  Relationships hadn't really gone well for her in the past and she didn't want to think about how a stupid little work crush could effect that. She highly doubted Ruby had come to AEW looking for anything other than opportunities to wrestle, and Kris wasn't going to get in the way of that.

She made her way backstage once Orange won, and found herself face to face with Britt Baker. Britt gave her a friendly smile, mainly since they were backstage and away from cameras and prying eyes.

"You excited for your new storyline?" Britt asked. She hadn't been filled in on everything, but she knew Kris was going to be making the save once she started beating down Ruby.

"Yeah, I think it'll be fun to mix it up." Kris said, trying not to sound to enthusiastic. "What about you, any chance you'll get to be in a storyline with Adam?" She knew how much Britt had missed her boyfriend when they were in separate promotions.

"It's good to have him here, good to be able to share the road with somebody I love. It's different going on road loops when it's you and your significant other." Britt replied, clearly excited for the prospect. "You'll be getting to travel with Soho now right? I know you usually travel with Orange and the boys."

Kris chuckled softly. "Maybe the car won't smell like feet for once. It'd be nice to get to the arena early for once. Trent always gets us lost." Kris really did love her boys, she was grateful for their friendship. She was excited however to be able to tell a story with Ruby outside of the ring though. To get to try and sell the audience on it, even when they weren't at tapings.

"I wish you luck." Britt said, before brushing past her as her music hit.

Ruby walked to the curtain, surprised to see Kris there already. "Were you waiting for me?"

Kris shook her head. "Nah, not exactly I was just talkin to Britt before the segment. Go kick some butt out there, I'll be watching." Kris said, noting that Ruby looked a little disappointed and crestfallen to find that Kris hadn't been waiting for her.

Ruby schooled her expression into a neutral one as her music hit. "See you out there."

The younger superstar watched the monitors intently as Ruby and Britt cut promos on each other. She had to give it to the two ladies, they were exceptionally talented mic workers. Kris listened as they roasted the ever living daylights out of each other. It was fascinating to watch, because it blended a fair share of personal shots but also wrestling shots as well.

It was so enthralling that Kris almost missed her cue as Britt's lackies, Rebel and Jamie Hayter began to beat down Ruby. Kris shook her head and grabbed a chair running down to rescue Ruby. She cleared the ring, smacking Rebel hard across the back with a chair.

"Thought you weren't coming." Ruby replied with a small laugh, as Kris helped her to her feet. She could see that one of Britt's kicks had actually busted Ruby's lip open.

Kris' eyes narrowed and she lifted her thumb, brushing it over Ruby's split lip. She noted the way Ruby seemed to flinch at the contact. Kris' gaze softened and she rolled out of the ring and then helped Ruby start limping towards the back. About half way up the ramp, Kris scooped Ruby up into her arms bridal style.

The roar of the crowd was almost instant, as if they didn't know what to make of the duo. Kris cracked a small smile and winked down at Ruby as the crowd started chanting for them. It was definitely the reaction they wanted for the beginning of their little arc.

"Hey Stat?"

Kris raised a brow. "Yeah?"

"About your question earlier, regarding which one? I'd say both. A little weird, but definitely hot" Ruby replied cheekily, taking great joy in the way Kris almost stumbled once they reached the top of the ramp.

Kris was thankful for the face paint hiding just how hot her cheeks felt suddenly. She could already tell that traveling with Soho was going to be an adventure.

#Kris Statlander #Ruby Soho #The Alien and the Runaway #Ruby Riott #My words #fanfiction #look a chapter two #maybe I'll cross post on my ao3 #please let me know what you think #aew #aew fanfiction

[indigosabyss]

Chapter 13: The Leader, the Pariah, the Victor, the Messiah; This is War

"Ghost King!" Another dryad came bursting out of the crowd, clutching desperately at his hand.

"Please..." She begged, "My family is in there! Please save them!"

The words caught at Nico's throat, struggling to come out as he stared at her.

I can't.

I'm not some paragon.

I'm just a kid.

Please don't trust me with their lives.

Don't make me do this.

He remembered Percy looking him in the eye, promising to bring Bianca back alive, and coming back having broken that promise.

"You can count on me." He conceded, charging back into the fray. He had to save every last one.

The hurt he had failed when his hero had failed.

Was this how Percy had felt?

No... He couldn't let that happen again. He needed to save them from that hurt.

Excerpt from my fic Fairy and the Angel! Please go read it! Picrew used to make the image is over here. Author’s notes under the cut.

Background info: Crossover fic b/w yoi and pjo. Yuri and Nico are pen pals after an accidental meeting. Nico still continues to fight monsters and go through his role in the books, and Yuri continues his canon arc, but in the middle of that they talk to each other too. Currently, Nico is in Canada, for the Second Titan War, to fight back the advancement of Hyperboreans and other nature spirits that are siding with the Titans. He is one of the only two demigods in the Canada Frontier, the rest being dryads and other nature spirits. 

A/N: Ok, so that scene was really raw for me. I loved it. It’s probably one of my favorite scenes in this story, I love it that much. For more context about this mini-breakdown he’s having, the thing is that Nico doesn’t actually care that much for the dryads who live in this forest. He came here to stop the advancement of Canadian/Alaskan forces, and hasn’t interacted with these guys all that much.

And now someone he doesn’t even know is looking him in the eye and begging him to save their family? He feels bad about not having felt bad before. Sure, he acknowledged how terrible it was that people were dying. And he wanted as many people as possible to survive, but there was nothing personal about it. Because of course it isn’t.

This is something I’m riffing off my own experiences, because if something doesn’t directly affect me in someway, I generally don’t find myself too upset by it. And then I make myself upset about not being upset.

He’s scared of the massive divide between these people, who are putting all their trust and hope in him (they’re not, they’re rooting for everyone fighting there, but Nico is the only Son of Hades on the battlefield, so its just like that) and he doesn’t even know any of these people. To him, it’s like someone looked him in the eyes and told him that all the families which were going to be torn apart by this skirmish, would be his responsibility. Because he wasn’t pushing himself as hard as he could’ve, the blood (in his mind) is on Nico’s hands.

So, yeah, hope you liked that extra bit of context!

#crossover #fairy and angel #yoi fanfic #pjo fanfic #Nico di Angelo #Yuri Plisetsky #picrew #ibis ficlets

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

(Pokemon Ask) I challenge you to name the best evil team, best champion, and best professor. Oh and your favorite rival if it's changed at all (you said it was N right?)

(As expected, I rambled on a fair bit.)

If we're assuming N counts as a Rival, then yes, he is my favorite. Because to me, he totally does. But if not, I might just go with Cheren and Bianca anyway. I am of the opinion that they're underrated, and easily the best interpretation of the "friendly rival" that everyone is so sick of. I don't mind the friendly rivals but they're getting a bit old, and starting to feel like caricatures of themselves. The worst rival in the entire series is Trace. I'm sorry, I don't know what they were thinking by creating him. Especially since they put Blue's character into Let's Go anyway. At least Hop has a character arc. Even if his personality is recycled from Hau, he's still a fleshed out and developed person who goes on a journey and I grew to care for him. Trace? Yeah, I got nothin'. As for the "jerk" rivals, I'm pleased to see them make a return in the form of Bede and (to a lesser extent) Gladion, but I wasn't one of the people clamoring for it, I guess.

My favorite evil team is either Team Plasma or The Aether Foundation - specifically the version of them that we saw in Sun and Moon. Don't talk to me about the Ultra games, because all they managed to do was skewer the story, and like much else, the Aether Foundation suffered as a result. But in general, they're very creepy, and I love the whole front of them being noble. In some ways, they are, but the uniforms, the music, the base...their twisted experiments...yikes. I also love how Team Skull is a decoy team to throw off suspicion. I really could gush for ages about Sun and Moon, but I'll just say that few things have disturbed me more than Lusamine's collection of "precious babies." She's evil in a wonderful way, especially in connection to Lillie.

But Ghetsis is just as creepy, and I like the story Team Plasma goes through. The fact that Black and White had sequels really plays into their favor. How they had the whole symbolism of royalty and knighthood, how N was their "King" and sure, the original costumes may be goofy, but it suited them. Especially with the castles as well. They had a unique motivation that could even be considered noble. It was cool to see Pokemon tackle the age-old question in the fandom about how "Isn't this technically slavery?" I like how the team divides in two during the sequels, between those who genuinely wanted to help pokemon and those who were just using it as a front. The N loyalists and Ghetsis loyalists. By the way, the redesign of Team Plasma's outfits, the ninja one? Easily my favorite uniform of any evil team to date. I dunno, it just really resonates with me. As for the other teams, Rocket is fine. Aqua and Magma were a bit one note but it was a unique concept to have two teams, and a creative motivation for them. Galactic and Flare were just goofy cults, and feel like they were underdeveloped for the sake of comedy.

My favorite Champion is a tricky question, and I once again have to talk about Sun and Moon. Because my favorite Champion battle in the entire series is the one where the player isn't even fighting the Champion - it's the battle with Kukui. (Again, don't talk to me about the Ultra games. I have much salt over them.) That battle was just, legendary. It was so cool to actually fight the professor, and with the knowledge that you are the Champion...and that fight's music is my favorite of any of the champion themes. It's your theme. And it's great. That very song is a love letter to the fans. Move over Leon, Alola did it first. That said, I can understand why people might say that doesn't count. Whether or not N counts as well is once again, questionable.

But who is the best Champion in any game? Oh who are you kidding, you all know it's Cynthia. Stephen is pretty cool too, but she just leaves him trailing behind. I love her theme, in and out of battle, she's got a powerhouse team of pokemon, a cool design, and she's actually pretty active in the story. I also enjoy Alder. Not really as a Champion, more of a character. He has a unique backstory. And the worst Champion? Not exactly a hot take either, but I'd have to go with Diantha. It's not like she was a lousy champion on paper. Her design is...fine, I guess. Her music is lovely. Her team is cool. But her character is flat, she just does nothing in the story. There's no development of who she is as a person beyond the most general and unspecific outline. She only appears twice and most people have probably forgotten about her by the Elite 4.

Best Professor? I dunno, most of them tend to blur together for me. Well, the early ones do. If I'm gonna be honest, they didn't really start to give the Professors memorable personalities until a few generations in. Oak is iconic, as are Elm and Birch, but...of the original four generations, Rowan is more three-dimensional as a person than all of his predecessors combined. I quite like Juniper, and Sycamore was a knockout character. Seriously, they really did a great job with him. It only got even better with Kukui, and then with Sonia. I love the twist that she's the true Professor of the Sword/Shield story, her character was pretty awesome. That said...I'm still gonna have to go with my boy Kukui for this one. He's just tons of fun, and I am an Alola stan, what can I say?

#Pokemon #Pokemon Games #Pokemon Sun and Moon #Professor Kukui #Team Plasma #Aether Foundation #Champion Cynthia #Champion Diantha #Ghetsis #Cheren and Bianca

[sustraiii]

TEAM ZRCN ARC 3 - EPILOGUE

Aaannndddd that’s a wrap for arc 3! We leave our main cast for the moment to turn our attention to Bianca and things in Olympia.

Once again, thanks to @neopoliitan for proofreading

BIANCA

“Are we nearly there?” Sparrow’s voice weakly asked from where they were sitting huddled in the passenger seat.

Bianca turned her attention from the window to the navigation system on the dashboard. She was driving slow and there was little in the way of obstacles this far out in the tundra, so she was willing to risk a look away. “Ten minutes out.” She informed her companion. “How are you holding up?”

“Eh, I’ve felt better,” Sparrow responded. They started to chuckle, but the action aggravated their injuries, and with a small groan they leaned back into the chair. “Looking forward to some of that sweet medication Theodora has got waiting for me.”

“Yes, I’m sure it’ll do more for you than the painkillers Miho managed to find for you back in Highpoint,” Bianca said, looking back out the window.

Sparrow made a small noise in approval, and remained silent for the remainder of the journey, only speaking up once the old, faded sign came into view.

"Ah, the O.R.C.A.S," Sparrow said, splitting the acronym into "orc" and "ass" as they said it. "Home sweet home."

The O.R.C.A.S was merely an acronym for the place where Bianca, her family, and most of their associates made their home. Also known as the "Olympia Research and Climate Analysis Station", their home was a now  disused military-sanctioned research base. It's original purpose was to monitor the weather, but had later been expanded to allow select research projects to be worked on within its walls. After the town of Olympia had been lost to the Grimm, many of the survivors had sought refuge at the base. Atlas had long since turned their gaze away from Olympia and it's old research base, and so they were left untroubled to do what they wanted.

Pulling up to the front gate, Bianca leaned forward in her front seat, watching as Euphemia Crest appeared, giving a small wave before slowly pushing the gate open. Bianca raised her hand in acknowledgement, before driving the vehicle through the reinforced outer walls and up to the front of the base. 

As Bianca parked, she saw the front doors open, and the last Crest sibling, Theodora, stepped outside. Bianca hopped out of the van, offering a small hello to Euphemia who had come over to join them after closing the gate. Sparrow meanwhile, struggled getting out of the van without causing any discomfort to themself, and had to be helped out the rest of the way by Theodora.

Theodora was about to lead Sparrow back inside when Bianca stopped her and called her over. "Theo, can I keep you for a moment?"

"Of course," Theodora responded, before moving their hands away from Sparrow. "You remember where my rooms are don't you Sparrow?"

"I haven't been gone that long," Sparrow smirked. "But sure, I know the way. See you soon, doc."

Sparrow trudged inside, leaving the three women together. Bianca gestured for the sisters to follow her to the rear of the van, where she warned them to brace themselves, before opening the rear doors, revealing the three people within. Whilst two of the passengers remained quiet, the youngest of the three glared at Bianca. "You're going to be in big trouble." She warned.

"I wasn't aware keeping prisoners was going to be a permanent thing after the situation with Lunick," Euphemia commented, looking at Bianca disapprovingly. 

"Blame Belle," Bianca answered with a huff. "This is her doing. She insisted I bring them with me when I returned for 'safekeeping' until she returned."

Euphemia and Theodora shared a glance between each other, and at that moment Bianca was aware of how much they looked like each other - and like their late brother Ulysses for that matter. All three of them shared the same dark brown hair and blue eyes, and all three were also caprine Faunus.

"You'd better take them to my rooms as well," Theodora said to her sister after a moment, putting her hands on her hips and sighing. "I'll want to confirm for myself they're all in good health and uninjured. Find some food and water for them too, Fee."

Euphemia nodded, and clapped her hands together, ordering the three of them out of the van. Once they were all safely out of the vehicle, looking around with a mix of curiosity and confusion at their surroundings, Euphemia clapped her hands together and gestured for the three of them to follow her inside. Bianca and Theodora watched them leave, and once they had disappeared inside the building, Bianca was aware of the other woman's gaze upon her.

"This isn't good," Theodora shook her head. "What was Belle thinking when she did this?"

"Probably about herself," Bianca said quickly. "Nothing good at least."

Theodora let out a faint laugh.

"Did everyone return?" Bianca asked, looking to the woman as the two of them made their way inside the building.

"Yes, all those you called have returned to base," Theodora nodded in confirmation. "Laurel and Biggs arrived yesterday."

"Good," Bianca smiled contentedly. "Once you have seen to Sparrow and our guests, I would like you to summon everyone to the meeting room and then come and find me."

"What will you be doing?"

"Saying hello to my father."

"Oh, well you had better go to the storeroom then," Theodora said, stopping Bianca from walking in the direction of where Alden's rooms were located. Bianca turned on her heel, and raised a brow at Theodora. The storeroom had once been a parking bay, but had been converted into a storeroom for her father's Sentinels almost a decade ago. It had been a long time since she had heard her father and the storeroom mentioned in the same sentence - her father's memory issues had meant that working on his creations as he wanted had been difficult in recent years.

"Since when has he been working on the Sentinels again?" Bianca asked.

"Oh, he's not working on them," Theodora explained. "He's been tinkering on those old drone prototypes he and Cala put together two years back. It's quite marvellous to watch actually. He becomes very talkative when working on them. He still seems a little confused and isn't aware of what the year is, but it's nice to hear him talking in a clear and concise manner once again."

Intrigued by this development in her father, Bianca was keen to make her way to the storeroom, finding her father tinkering away on the drones as Theodora had promised. He greeted her warmly, and gestured for her to sit with him where they sat and enjoyed a nice conversation. He looked tired, his white hair shaggy and unkempt, and as impossible as it seemed, there looked to be more wrinkles on his face than there had been the last time they had spoken. But there was a sparkle in his red eyes that hadn't been there for a long time.

As nice it was to talk with him, the moment was bittersweet; despite talking clearly and being more aware of what was going on then he had in years, he did not know who Bianca was. He admitted to some recognition, but could not put a name to the face, though he admitted she had a pretty name when she answered that question.

As they talked, Bianca tried to show an interest in what he was doing, but alas she had never had the aptitude for robotics and machinery as her father and sister had. Still, she could follow along well enough to participate in the conversation. 

“Bianca?” A knock preceded Theodora’s question, as the young doctor appeared in the doorway. “Everyone’s ready for you.”

“Seems like you have to go,” Her father mused, almost sounding disappointed as he spoke. “It was nice to speak with you, Bianca. I hope we are able to speak again soon.”

“I’d like that too,” Bianca smiled. “Farewell, da-Alden.”

**

Following Theodora into the meeting room, Bianca was greeted with a room of silence, and several pairs of eyes watching her as she moved. Unlike many of the rooms in the base, this one had never been altered for a different purpose, and was still used as a meeting room to this day. The room was dominated by a large oval table, with enough room that everyone could sit around with room to spare. Other than that, the room was sparse in terms of decorations - save for a few old posters proclaiming that “a happy worker is a productive worker!” and that Atlas “appreciates its dedicated workers!”. They had long since been defaced with crude swear words and drawings over the years, most of which had been the handiwork of Belleza and Miho.

Bianca took her seat at the end of the table - a place usually reserved for Belleza or their father - and took a moment to ready herself, taking the time to look round at those present. 

To the left of her sat Laurel, whose face was turned to the side to obscure her scars, and who currently seemed more interested in fiddling with her fingers than paying attention to Bianca. As always, Laurel was flanked by her Ursine companion Biggs, who looked ready to fight; his gaze never lingering on one person for long. Theodora and Lunick sat together; Theodora watching Bianca intently, Lunick looking extremely uncomfortable at being present and looking away.

To the other side of Bianca sat the Astrella siblings - Uriah and his younger sister Maia - a girl who was amazingly even more insufferable than her brother was. It was Maia who was currently watching her, her teal eyes boring into her with such intensity, that Bianca was surprised she didn’t spontaneously combust.

“Does Belleza know you are here?” Maia asked with an almost accusatory tone.

“Are you trying to accuse me of something?” Bianca responded with another question, meeting Maia’s gaze.

“Well, it’s a little strange that we all get called back, but Belleza isn’t here,” Maia pointed out. “And last I checked, she’s our leader, regardless of whether she is here or not...you should know your place.” With a cock of her head, Maia gestured to the seat which was currently occupied by Laurel, a position where Bianca would often sit.

“And you should know your place,” Bianca fired back, narrowing her eyes. 

 “Belleza’s not here right now,” Laurel chimed in, “There’s no need to keep kissing her ass.”

“Nobody asked your opinion, scar face.”

“How original,” Laurel mocked. “Next time hit me with something I haven’t heard a hundred times from Belle before.”

“You little-”

“Enough!” Bianca yelled, jumping in to prevent the two women from going back and forth at each other. It had been too long since the last time the two of them had been in a room together, Bianca had almost forgotten how contentious the two of them were. “If you two want to have it out in the courtyard later feel free, but right now we have things to discuss, and after a very long drive I would rather get this over and done with rather than drag it out.” Bianca paused and looked between the two women. “Now are the two of you going to behave yourselves so I can finish?”

When both women nodded their heads in agreement, Bianca smiled, glad that she would be able to get out what needed to be said.

“As some of you know, due to events that transpired in Atlas and Highpoint, we are moving forward with our timeline,” Bianca explained. “Which means that phase 3 of our plan is coming sooner than any of us expected - although I am no longer certain it will be just as my father and sister planned it.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I won’t lie to any of you, if Belle had her way, I don’t think we’d be sitting here talking about this now. Which is why I called you all home, to ready yourselves for what is to come - whatever that may be. The road to justice for what we lost has been long and hard, and now that we are close to the end, it will be harder than ever.

“I won’t be angry if some of you choose to leave,” Bianca said, looking over towards Laurel and Sparrow in particular. If she were in their position with no personal ties to the plans they had been working on for years, Bianca certainly would have considered it at least. Unfortunately, she did not believe herself to have that luxury.  “There is no doubt in my mind that what is ahead is going to be hard and messy. But if we work hard, and if we work together, I am sure we will endure. Are you with me? Are you with my family?”

Slowly, and with some reluctance from certain members of the assembled party, each and everyone nodded their heads and mumbled words of support. Bianca kept a neutral expression as she listened to their words, quietly glad that for once everyone was agreeing, without having to be threatened into complying as Belleza might have done had she been here.

“Good,” Bianca would say once everyone had the chance to speak. “Now that we are all on the same page, I believe some further preparations are in order.”

#team zrcn fic #bianca rossi #sparrow #laurel #biggs #maia astrella #uriah astrella #theodora crest #euphemia crest #lunick otieno #couple of new tags there haha

[achillesmonochrome]

Reverse!BiancaRoman!Nico update

Not sure if anybody follows me for that au, but hey I want to talk about this with somebody and since I’m unsure with who, I would just put a post about it. 

The reason why there is not part 4 yet is well, several.

1) I was starting to like this idea a lot, enough to write more about it and be scared that nobody would read it if I spoiled all what happens in it. Problem is I’m having problem writing so I only did one thing and I felt that was lacking.

2) The next thing to cover up is the Son of Neptune, and honestly? Fuck I hated that book. Ok perhaps hated is a strong word, but I was bored by it, I think I re-read all the HoH books years ago except that one. You could said that since I hated so much I could just do whatever I want, problem is: I don’t have the interest in it.  Ok not like that; the issue is that bizarrely enough, I don’t give two shit about adventure or actions, the reason why I’m draw to stories are the characters and relationships (what makes more puzzling how I like this series since the platonic bonds are mostly lacking and the romantic ones are mostly trash); not sure if anybody notice but nothing on this au or hell, any of my aus for that matter mention description of alternative action scenes or not, is because I don’t care.  Besides the focus of this au is Bianca, Nico, Jason and Reyna; and honestly? There is not a lot to say about, Jason is still in CHB, Bianca is going to Tartarus, Nico and Reyna are at camp, and thats about it. I guess I could talk about Bianca in Tartarus but honestly I’m scared that I’m getting too mean with her and this is becoming too edgy; seriously there is ideas in the back of my mind that I haven’t publish because I’m thinking “ok you are getting out of hand”

3) And this is a problem I just recently notice...because I’m cutting away stuff I don’t like about HoO, there is a lot of stuff missing, let me explain.  A lot of characters don’t really have an arc in all of this; like fact aside the arcs in the original HoO were mostly weak or even none existent in some cases, I just remove some of them.  Jason arc in the original HoO was that he didn’t know where to belong, despite being abundantly obvious in the Mark of Athena that he really didn’t want to go back to Camp Jupiter, his internal battle in the three books is where he belongs, and he goes to CHB at the end. As odd as it is, I like this arc because I also battle with not knowing where I belong and desperately want that.  Problem is, he already have the place he belongs, Reyna and Nico.  I’m the type of person who thinks the physical place doesn’t really matter, is the people in it; I had mention how precious is their relationship together and how the other two mean the world to the other. Sure he doesn’t like being a Praetor but he was okay with sacrificing that because he loved them so much; I try to still integrate the arc of “where you belong” in part 3, but even then I said how he misses Reyna and Nico dearly, because for the life of me I cannot break them apart.  I guess I could have him debate where he belongs and his place in this world, but making the decision be “with Reyna and Nico” feels redundant, specially because he has never doubted that is his place in his world; and I don’t know if I have the heart to make him doubt that, because the pain that Nico and Reyna would experience of the possibility of losing Jason is just too much. Like I love drama and angst but hey haven’t you notice that I made Nico, Reyna and Jason’s life a lot better than in canon? Yeah thats is not an accident, that was me wanting my babies to have a break for once.  Reyna has a similar problem; ok lets face it she was a side character for most of the saga, and her arc of “learning to trust” as much as I love it feels extremely rushed, like she didn’t trust in anybody for literal years and then opens up Nico extremely easy; as much as I love it feels extremely off.  Problem is, none of that is here either. She feeling nobody could loves her? Cancelled because Venus never told her that phrase (I have this idea where Venus told her something, but was how she learned to heal her heart herself and found the love she actually needed). Killing her father? Nico and Jason took care of that themselves; thrusting that to Bianca doesn’t that much of a big deal with that in mind.  Nico has an arc actually; he has a bit of “who you are” and his relationship with Bianca, and I think thats fine because they are really the protagonist (I mean their names are in the name of the au for a reason) but idk; Jason and Reyna had been big players in this au and they don’t have a lot to do here, you can guess how little I had planned for the rest of the characters.

I’m honestly thinking making a big shift in this story; like instead of having Gaea getting back to live, we have some monsters who decided to chain the death so they wouldn’t die; and because that bullshit both Romans and Greek meet each other (I’m surprised how come this hasn’t happen before, like shit Luke should had know about the romans, the demigods who fight with Luke should had know about the romans, Thalia should had know about the romans, the list goes on) and instead of automatically fighting each other they try to learn about the other with a lot of politic intrigue and people of both sides being suspicious about the whole ordeal. 

...wow that doesn’t sound bad. 

(For those who don’t know, the more I talk about my aus the more ideas I have, there is a reason I normally need somebody else talking with me about my bullshit and is that I have more ideas if somebody is talking with me about them) 

Also the only reason I want to chain Thanatos is that Hazel can be back, because I would not let Hazel just stay in the Underworld. 

So...maybe we would get a major shift soon? Idk. 

#heroes of olympus #hoo #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo #nico di angelo #bianca di angelo #jason grace #reyna avila ramirez-arellano #ReBiancaRoNico #if anybody has an opinion about this major shift #please tell me

[markantonys]

So many people hate late S2-S3 Lorenzo and I'm not sure if I'm thinking about his reasons because it's Daniel but I think he gets too much hate. All his actions after his brother died weren't the best, but some were good (for the situation.). Like, exciling his sister. He couldn't really let her and her husband stay. Her husband's family killed his brother, and Lorenzo had to kill them cause you know, he already got the city wanting their death. So, leaving Guglielmo to walk the streets is a death sentence for him anyways, not to mention his excile is kinda saving him from that. Therefore also saving Bianca and her daughter, even if it is cold blooded I'd imagine that was his only choice besides killing Guglielmo, which would've hurt Bianca more. Plus all his other choices Bruno was there and poor Tommaso paid for it by constantly trying to make Lorenzo see the manipulation. The poor boy just needed to go to Mass sooner (which seemed to be at the point he realized he was fucking up.), I kinda see him as a worse Francesco. Being manipulated by someone (uncle/Bruno) and not being able to justify why they are doing it, but still are even if part of them knows it's wrong.

now i don’t want to put words in the writers’ mouths, but it’s pretty blindingly obvious that we’re SUPPOSED to think lorenzo’s going too far in exiling bianca and guglielmo, and every time i see people trying to argue it was justified i’m just like damn they’re really reaching here in an attempt to overturn the narrative that was presented to us on the screen. the show itself condemns lorenzo’s vengeance-driven actions pretty clearly - think of the scene where clarice and sandro, who have already been proven to be moral compasses especially clarice, tell lorenzo he’s going too far, and lorenzo looks up at that painting of himself from when he was a kid that’s a symbol of the kind and just leader he’s supposed to be. sure i guess maybe guglielmo would’ve been in danger if he’d stayed in florence, but that’s PURELY lorenzo’s fault for stirring up the city so much against the pazzi (remember they were all set to side with them before lorenzo showed up) and he could’ve done something to publicly pardon guglielmo, or at the very least let him hole up in palazzo medici for a while until the mob calmed down and could be reasoned with. it’s bonkers to say that exiling guglielmo was the only option lorenzo had to prevent him from being killed. but when clarice and sandro ask him to be a leader and stop the destruction and calm the mob, he’s like “no i don’t think i will”

then in s3, same thing again where clarice and carlo and tommaso, our moral compasses, condemn lorenzo’s actions on multiple occasions, so safe to say the narrative intends for us to view lorenzo as being in the wrong. i’m not saying whether or not lorenzo was right to do what he did in a historical context, but speaking purely in terms of the fictionalized story narrative it’s clear that lorenzo’s overall arc is a loss of innocence, a descent into the dark side, an arc of someone who gets so lost in plotting and power grabs that he loses sight of what’s really important (his family: bianca, clarice, and all of his kids all suffer directly because of his actions).

i feel like i talked about this before but i definitely do see the francesco-jacopo lorenzo-bernardi parallels, except the huge difference is that francesco was raised and groomed by jacopo since he was a small child, whereas lorenzo was a grown ass adult, and allegedly a very clever and independent one (contrast how francesco was always shown as a follower rather than a leader), who just got taken in by this utter rando he met on the street one day. i can give more leeway to francesco for not being able to escape jacopo’s hold, but lorenzo imo really should’ve known better. plus if we really want to go there, lorenzo’s kill count is astronomically higher than francesco’s jdfkg he allowed the massacre of an entire town, got countless other innocents killed in the war he started bc he wouldn’t swallow his pride and apologize to the pope, and then there’s tommaso’s murder which lorenzo tacitly agreed to, whereas francesco only killed two (2) people (giuliano on purpose and nori by accident)

#i adore daniel too but i still think s3 lorenzo deserves all the hate he gets #answered #Anonymous

[blarfkey]

director’s cut, director’s choice of ⭐️Dear Fen’Harel⭐️? (Though generally speaking, I’m intensely curious as to how you develop characters because everyone you write is so brilliantly layered)

So um, this exploded. And I apologize. I am very much a character-driven writer versus a plot-driver writer. Also, how I develop characters is not a process I think about, it just happens, so this is also me finding out for myself how my own brain works, haha. If you want the full fucking three page essay this turned into, there’s more under the cut.

If not, and I don’t blame you, TLDR: I break a canon character down to their parts based on what I see in-game, I look at how their personal quest affects them, and I try to find a modern day equivalent to that. Each character has an issue they need to get past and I create situations to challenge those issues. And Ellana was created to be a foil for Solas and I dumped all my negative traits into her because neither she nor I can afford therapy so this is our best bet.

First of all, developing characters in fanfic is different than OC characters because I have a pre-set personality to work with rather than making someone from scratch. So for this, Ellana’s development is different from the rest of the cast.

For fanfic characters, obviously I look at the source material and see how they’ve reacted to certain situations and what they have canonically expressed about themselves in both deed and word. Honestly, I pay more attention to what they have DONE versus what they have SAID because a lot of characters tend to fool themselves into thinking they’re one way when they’re not (here’s looking at you, Solas).

Because DF is a modern AU, I take what I have seen in Canon (which is a lot because Bioware is very good at giving so much material to work with having all those different dialogue trees) and I apply it to the Modern Day. Some characters fit very easily – Dorian was made for Academia. Krem seems a more modern character anyway with how he constantly roasts Iron Bull. Josephine’s prowess in DA:I translates very easily to political science. Varric kind of has a modern writer’s career anyway.

Some are not easy – Solas is actually super hard for me to write in DF than he is in Thick as Thieves because so much of his characterization, his world views, his prejudices, are rooted in the fact that he is an ancient being out of time – which is impossible to have in this AU. I have crafted a sort of back story for him that might explain some things later, but it’s flimsy at best, haha.

So I’ve had to really look at what Solas is like in Inquisition when he’s pretending to be a “normal” hedge mage hermit from nowhere and how he behaves in his romance and extract from that. Solas is a nerd, he’s socially awkward from self-imposed isolation, he constantly struggles with what he wants and what is the morally correct thing to do and the temptation to be loved usually wins out over his convictions until the last second when he gets his common sense back and ruins everything.

It helps that in both DA and DF Solas is keeping a massive, massive secret from the Inquisitor about his identity that will shift the power balance between the two, so I’ve used that to guide me when I’m unsure. He still feels off to me, but it’s whatever at this point, lol. I did my best.

Once I’ve boiled a character down to their usual traits, I figure out how I’m going to have them grow throughout the fic and use their growth to help Ellana’s growth. I try to pull from their personal quests as much as I can, when I can get it to fit.

Some people, like Iron Bull, are static because they’ve already gone through their journey and have reached acceptance. I didn’t really know how to work his Leaving the Qun story line in the modern day, since it is tied so closely with war and potentially killing the Chargers, so by the time Ellana meets him, he has already left the Qun and made his peace with it. I use his static nature to help guide Ellana when she’s conflicted about her identity.

Some people, like Josephine, have personal quests that don’t fit with a modern era but I want to show them grow anyway, so I create something else for them. Right now, Josephine is mired in family drama and trying to figure out how to balance shouldering the weight of her responsibilities to her family with being her own person. That I drew from my own personal experience with being the only sane person in my family with their shit together, haha.

Or Cassandra, who is definitely NOT going to be Divine here, lol. So instead she gets to struggle with her art and how she can express herself in a way that leaves her vulnerable to scrutiny and yet can be so freeing.

Some people, like Krem, get a character arc that I think should have been explored but never was. Krem being trans is something that’s mentioned and talked about a little and never explored. I mean, he’s not a main character, so I get it. And I liked that Being Trans wasn’t his entire character. But there was no way to put him in the modern AU without his trans identity impacting some of his story and growth, even if he had already made his peace with it.

Now, I will say this upfront: I am not trans, and I haven’t had the opportunity to be close friends with a trans person, but I have done a lot of research on what trans people have said about their own experiences, and combined this with other research I’ve done over the years with other minorities and tried to put together what could be lingering insecurities for him and how he could overcome them.

I’m  definitely not saying that I’ve done this perfectly and I’m always open to any trans reader who would give me correction, but being trans was not an aspect of Krem’s character that I wanted to ignore just because I wasn’t familiar with it.

I will say that his romance with Josephine was Not Planned. It just kinda happened and I happily ran with it, haha.

Varric’s arc with Bianca is just wishful thinking because I hate her so so much and Bioware just dropped that bomb in Varric’s lap and then just lets him keep holding on to it and it’s bullshit.

The other character journeys are just ways to explore vulnerability in them that I didn’t think got enough attention in the game or I think they could realistically have even if it wasn’t in canon. Like Dorian dealing with his father. Now, in the game, Halward doesn’t have a disease and he dies unexpectedly. But I wanted Dorian to have a realistic reason why he would reach other to his estranged father in this AU and a ticking countdown to an inevitable death seemed right.

Now we get to see Dorian really struggle with this new-found connection with his father that he always wanted to have and now it’s temporary and heartbreak is inevitable and is it still worth it to him? I think Dorian has similar feelings in Trespasser when he found out his father was murdered because he still invested himself to rebuild a lost connection, only to lose it so soon after.

Zevran’s past with the Crows is also something that I really wanted to explore because in the game he is sad for a hot second and then moves on with the Warden and his newfound goal of destroying the entire Crow organization. So I wanted to see Zevran struggle with his inner worth, the fact that he can’t hide forever and his past puts his loved ones in danger, the fact that he can even HAVE loved ones and how it scares the shit out of him.  I wanted to have a character who puts on such a good front about not giving a shit about anything to hide how very deeply afraid he is. We are going to see more of this also before the story is over, lol.

Now, Ellana. Like all original characters, Ellana has a lot my personal experiences tied in her. But I originally created Ellana to fill a need for a type of character that I wanted to see with Solas and don’t really get to. I mean, I have not scourged the corners of the internet to find it so I’m sure there are other characters like her, but I haven’t found very many.

I see a lot of very beautiful, very delicate and feminine, very kind and gentle Disney Princess kind of Lavellans. I see a LOT of them. And I don’t hate that necessarily. I mean, Josephine is all of those things and more and I adore her and I sort of crack ship her with Solas anyway, in the secret recesses of my heart. And I love seeing a female character who is the epitome of a “weak” female use those “weak” traits to succeed.

But I am also not very beautiful, I am NOT delicate at all, I’m not gentle. I am not anywhere close to a Disney Princess or a Josephine. And it was disheartening to see Solas romance all these Ocs that were nothing like me after a while because it kind of gave me the message that someone like Solas, a character that I admire and def have a fictional crush on, would never want someone who looks like me or acts like me. That even with unlimited freedom in creating a romantic counterpart for him, I saw so much of what society already reinforces as an ideal that I will never match up to. It doesn’t help that Bioware’s body diversity for elves ranges is nonexistent.

So I made Ellana for me. Not because I want to hate on other Ocs or prove that mine is superior, but so that I would have something that I connected to. And I wanted to explore a dynamic with Solas that I didn’t get to see very often.

So when I first imagined Ellana, I wanted her to be strong and tall and muscular and powerful in a way that makes a lot of unenlightened men uncomfortable. I wanted somebody used to manual labor and dirt and the outdoors and solving problems with their fists and just totally unrefined because I wanted her to be the complete opposite of Solas. (So like Cassandra but in elf form, haha).

I did not want her to be soft or conventionally attractive at all. Ellana doesn’t shun femininity, because I don’t think femininity is inherently wrong, but she is uncomfortable with it and she doesn’t indulge in it.

(Just FYI I am NOT built like Ellana at all either, haha. This is the wish fulfillment part of the OC. I greatly resemble the dwarves, which is why I love them so much.)

But I also needed her to have a reason to leave home, and to have some points of commonality with Solas, so I made her a nerd. A jocky nerd who is insatiably curious and stubbornly independent. And then because I wanted Ellana to feel like a real person instead just a wish fulfillment fantasy, I needed her to grow. So I gave her all my complicated anger issues, my bluntness, my struggles with homesickness, the way I compartmentalize negative events in my life so I don’t have to deal with them just so they can bite me in the ass later, my experiences of going from a lifestyle where all my needs were met and I was oblivious to how great I had it to living with serious poverty for the first time.

And then I devised situations with her life and the other characters where Ellana has to confront these issues and learn to accept them and either move past them or learn to control them. Sometime she gains wisdom and imparts it to people like Sera or Dorian when their struggles come up. And her biggest challenge has yet to arrive, so she’s still cooking, so to speak. Ellana still has a long way to go before she really reaches maturity.

As far as her relationship with Solas goes, I wanted her to challenge him and give him a total upheaval everything he thought he knew about his own culture and his own self. And I wanted him to do the same for her. And then when all the pieces are done falling, they have grown into two people who can handle being together.

So that’s basically it. If there is any character in particular you want to know more about or why I made certain decisions, always feel free to ask!

#asks #dear fenharel #my fic