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quitealotofsodapop · 6 days

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Just imagining, in a world where Wukogn wasn't immediately trapped in the scroll of memory after Azure freed the rest of the Brotherhood, he'd have some things to say. I'm thinking TMKATI au post Wu is Wikong reveal

Wu: MK... who helped you get me out of there?

MK: Oh, this only friend of yours. Called himself the Azure Lion?

Wu, immediately going pale as a ghost: Azure Lion!? MK, please tell me you didn't listen to him or make any deals!

Pigsy: What? Why would it be such a big deal? He's your friend isn't he?

Wu: Azure is anything but a friend! He's the reason I was trapped on the Furnace and under the Mountain to begin with, him and his rebellion!

Tang: Uh, what? But all the stories say it was because of the Havoc you caused!

Wu: The Peach Festival I crashed and ruined was hardly important enough for Heaven to do what they did to me, even with the pills and immortal peaches and wine I had stolen. It was just the catalyst. I was still a cub back then, a stupid, reckless cub who was impressionable enough to trust the wrong person. And then Azure had left me to take the fall for the rebellion he had started! Whatever you do, don't trust Azure!

Tang, taking in the implications: ...I'll kill him.

+Bonus:

Even if Azure did not realise it himself, he had built Wukong up in his mind to be the matyr of the Rebellion. And when Wukong surrendered, rather than die for it, Azure became convinced it was a great betrayal.

There's even hints of Macaque recognising/suspecting this sort of manipulation all the way back during their carefree Brotherhood days. There's a split second in "New Adventures" just after Azure convinces the others to make Wukong the leader of the rebellion, when Macaque is clearly unhappy/thinking about the situation. The only reason he doesn't speak out then and there is because Wukong seemed so sure of it. We see a similar look again just before they head out on their first attack.

And of course there's the memory Tang wanders into in "Court of the Yellow Robed Demon" thats very telling;

Peng: "Wukong is a traitor! He'll end us the first chance he gets!" Yellowtusk: "Yes. The Stone Monkey is unpredictable. Now he's thrown his lot in with the Celestial Host, there's no telling where his true allegiances lie." Peng: "You're characteristically quiet, Macaque!" Macaque: "I just think we should consider all our options before we—" Peng: "What's to consider? Wukong's made his choice. I say we strike him down now while we have the chance!"

The Trio are discussing attacking Wukong for aligning himself with "the Celestial Host" [i.e helping Tripitaka on the Journey so he can do parole] - the memory taking place within Camel Ridge.

Macaque's reaction brings up a super interesting twist to the story told in JTTW. Was the whole plan of disguising himself as Wukong and taking the scriptures not his own? Did the other three or an unknown villain working in the background insist he do so? Did he do it to stall Wukong so that his best friend/mate did not fall into a trap from the rest of the Brotherhood? Did Macaque die trying to give Wukong another option less the Monkey King risk being captured or worse at the hands of his former sworn brothers?

Macaque recognised that *something* was super wrong in how the Brotherhood treated Wukong, especially how Azure directed the situation. But being the same, barely-a-cub, age Wukong was at the time, Macaque wasn't sure/confident enough to speak out about it.

And ofc this whole thing with the Brotherhood would come to a boil in the TMKATI au when Macaque and Wukong are having their Big Fight.

Wukong/Wu had long since recognised that Azure was grooming/manipulating him for the fall, but isn't sure why he tried attacking him afterwards. Macaque is a bit proud in a "I told you so"-way and says that Azure had expected Wukong to *die* in the war as a matyr rather than live as a prisoner.

Wukong: "Why didn't you say anything!?" Macaque: "I was as young and stupid as you were! I only wanted to see you happy!" Wukong: "Oh yeah! Like you did when you left me under that mountain!" Macaque: "You weren't exactly grateful for the company at the time." Wukong: "Uh, need I remind you that before I was imprisoned, I had just spent 49 days being broiled alive!? I wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders. You could have atleast tried to visit me after a few years!" Macaque, uncharastically quiet: "I wanted to..." Wukong: "Huh?" Macaque: (*goes silent and leaves the room*) Wukong: "Wait! Mihou! What do you mean "you wanted" to!?"

note: Tang is accidentally privy to this convo cus he was in the stairwell when it started and got nosey. Then he kinda gets kidnapped by a baby bull demon before he can ramble his discovery to Pigsy and/or Sandy.

Wu gives the clipnote version of events to the gang as he's trying The Big Stupid, and they are horrified. The Monkey King, one of the most infamous tricksters in folkore, was ultimately a groomed teenager at the time of his punishment! And the Macaque was in the same boat, just more cautious...

When things are said and done - Wukong and Macaque go out of their way to tell their kids to always be wary of powerful people who put you on a pedestal. Perhaps not delving into their personal history (they are Normal Demon Parents™ afterall), but using the story of the Monkey King and his Brotherhood as an aesop. The Monkey King had many friends who thought he should lead them, but they shrunk away for whatever reasons when he chose to live and not die in heaven.

MK thinks its the saddest "superhero backstory" ever.

So when S4 of TMKATI comes about and the memory curse gets loose...

Azure Lion: "Ah, Monkie Kid-" MK:

Legit the only reason Azure is able to get away unscathed is because he's the only one who knows how the Scroll works and MK and the rest of the babus want their parents back.

Red Son is on standby (fire ready) outside the Scroll in case Azure tries some sh-t. But of course that doesn't last long.

Tang, Pigsy, and Sandy: (*released from the scroll. Sees Azure Lion*) All three: "YOU."

Then again this is all with the idea that someone else was additionally pulling the strings to ensure the demons downfall...

#the monkey king and the infant au #the monkey king and the infant #sun wukong #azure lion #six eared macaque #liu er mihou #shadowpeach #lmk tang #lmk pigsy #lmk sandy #lmk mk #qi xiaotian #lmk golden winged peng #lmk yellow tusk elephant #lmk #lego monkie kid #lmk aus

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samberrybay · 3 months

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I truly am waiting for the moment Dragon Half-Blood will get a name. Also very much hope Cale or Sheritt would be the ones to think of it.

Because DHB was a dick who have killed lots of people for the sake of killing them... but so did Hannah. And both of them had reasons for doing what they did. Which doesn't forgive their wrongdoings, but does give them the opportunity to change and be better.

It saddens me that Hannah got her redemption arc while DHB- well, not entirely.

DHB suffered for HUNDREDS of years to yearn any ounce of care or affection from White Star, only much later realizing how foolish of him it was.

He was sold by his own parents and then got experimented on to become neither a human nor a dragon.

For god's sake, the first ever time DHB got to experience choosing by himself and for himself was when Cale, the enemy!!!, literally asked "Do you want to die now or do it later?"!!! How fucked up is that?

Plus even after all the fucked things he went through!! DHB didn't destroyed Raon's egg! He is a big reason for our baby being with us! A small rebellion against WS's order that could have literally costed him a life or more suffering!!

DHB gone through years of emotional abuse/manipulation and you know when he felt the happiest in his 900+ years of life? Washing enemy's dishes while feeling constant pain.

And my baby didn't even got to keep his body because he was dying. He is inside a bone dragon now!

(A bit Spoilers for the second part)

I don't read or even see much spoilers after murim arc, but i saw that on the next planet Cale takes DHB with them or smt and it makes me sooo excited for the possible moments!!

Give him a proper redemption arc, i beg!!

#sorry for the crude wording am sleepy but i had to get this out of my system #i love this awkward man he is very precious to me #tcf #trash of the count's family #lcf #lout of the count’s family #tcf novel #lcf novel #dragon half blood #tcf cale #lcf cale #cale henituse #raon miru #tcf spoilers #lcf spoilers #only a bit but still

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universitysunflowers · 13 days

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Ok I've had some time to process heres my detailed thoughts (TBB spoilers)

First I want to get my biggest issue with the finale out of the way - Tech and CX-2. I have been delusional about him but not to the point that I wouldn't accept his death or other clones as CX-2, and I was staying open. But then they went and did exactly what I hoped they wouldn't: they gave us no confirmation of his identity at all and left him thumbtacked to a wall with no face reveal. Not only is this exactly what they did in Ahsoka, but I also feel like it left a huge gap in the finale storyline. They put so much emphasis on him throughout season 3, including the last episode, and we got nothing out of it. I also felt like this made Tech's death kind of meaningless?? Which I absolutely hate saying because of what he sacrificed in season 2, but why kill him when the rest of the batch gets to live happily on Pabu and grow old with Omega? Maybe the writers had a good reason and I just didn't pick up on it?

I also felt like we were gaslit into thinking it was Tech, only for the ending to imply he's been gone the whole time. Domicile? Phee? CX-2's fight with Crosshair and the waterfall? the way he got the most screen time out of a group that was so clearly meant to be an imperial reflection of the original squad? Idk guys I feel like we got cheated there.

I also wish we got some idea of what happened to Wolffe and Cody, but maybe that is an opening for another show? perhaps?

Ok now that that is out of the way I can talk about how much I absolutely loved the rest of the finale.

Emerie's character development was amazing I've been routing for her since the season 2 finale and you know those Jango Fett genes are coming in strong she will take such good care of those kids for as long as they need. I also think it would be cool to see her again in future productions, her character definitely has potential.

Echo survived!! All the parallels between him and CW season 6 Fives had me terrified that he was about to die but that arc trooper experience paid off. His reaction to Omega freeing the zillo is by far one of my favorite parts of the episode he was so proud of her and I was glad to see him work so well with Emerie. I am also fully ready to enjoy Echo and Rex leading a clone rebellion whenever they deem us deserving of it (looking at you Filoni). I know we don't have proof of anything but there are still to many unanswered questions surrounding the clones, I hope they finish those storylines.

The last Domino is still standing, they would be so proud of him (and his dad jokes).

Hemlock finally got what he deserved and oh I was so happy that Hunter was the one who did it, especially after all the batch went through because of him. And what came after that? Even better. We finally got a Crosshair and Omega hug (plus Hunter) and they all made it off Tantiss alive I mean what more could we ask for?

I have so many feelings on the ending and the epilogue and I'm not really sure how to put them into words but my first instinct when I finished the episode was to spend 40 minutes c r y i n g

they got a happy ending? they have peace and happiness on Pabu and got to see Omega grow up? Omega is going to fly with the rebellion and fight back against the empire?

and Tech will be with her the whole time???

I am unwell. This has left me emotionally unstable. Not only is that the best ending I could have hoped for given the past seasons but it is also such an amazing last look at their family. No matter how you think of them you have to admit Hunter was right, she is their kid and that will never change. That line alone will be living in my head rent free from here on out. Her last talk with Hunter was so well done and is one of the best moments in the whole show, but honestly Tech's goggles on her ship's dash is what broke me; he would be so proud of her I need at least 3-5 business days to process this.

Yes I have my issues with the unfinished storylines but wow that finale was something I don't think I will ever recover from. It may be one of the best endings we have ever seen in star wars. Like I said, I have a lot feelings and if I tried to put them all in a post it would have to be a multi-volume novel.

If you made it this far thank you! Feel free to add your own thoughts I like hearing what other people have to say. I'm just going to go burrow straight into the ground now and pretend I don't have finals next week because honestly who can be productive after something like that?

Oddly enough this is making me want to go back and watch the Clone Wars again, maybe Rebels too? Definitely making me nostalgic.

#tbb #star wars #the bad batch #she took Lula and Gonky with her that was so cute #tbb season 3 #I'll just be here #sobbing #the bad batch season 3 #thank you for 3 amazing seasons #tbb tech #tbb omega #tbb echo #tbb emerie #tbb hunter #tbb crosshair

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ladystoneboobs · 2 months

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no of fence to jon snow fans who for some reason care about his exact age, but these discussions just annoy me no end. not only bc there's no way any weirwood flashbacks bran has to rhaegar/lyanna will come with time/datestamps, but also bc there's always comments like this:

SEVERAL turns of the moon (ie, months)?! have these people never seen a human baby before or just have no concept of their ages? even if we take into account travel time from the toj to wf, meaning jon was not a newborn too fresh out the oven when catelyn and robb arrived, there's still a difference between a newborn and a 3mo and an even bigger difference between those infants and an older baby 5-7mo. there's very good reasons these lines were cut. whatever birthdates can be worked out internally for jon and robb from when they're first mentioned as 15 and 16 don't matter in the end, bc grrm doesn't care about a consistent timeline and the actual text of catelyn's pov and ned's convo with robert about cheating on her should outweigh any guesstimates about jon's official nameday wrt robb's. catelyn may not have cared for jon, but she would sure as hell have noticed his nameday if it came before robb's and made him ned's firstborn. if jon's birthday canonically came before robb's then either ned's cover story would not involve adultery (not impossible for him to sire a bastard before his wedding), or he'd just give jon a new nameday along with his new name to fit the adultery lie. it makes no sense for him to lie about one and not the other, undermining the big lie with a little public clue of his story not adding up. whatever else she was as a stepmother, cat wasn't stupid and a bastard who was actually the eldest son being raised alongside her trueborn heir could be an even bigger insult than whether he was born of adultery or not.

BUT, the unknowability of jon's true birthday is not the only reason this annoys me, it's bc this is all based on the assumption that jon must be older since rhaegar/lyanna ran off together before ned married cat, as if both boys must have been conceived asap as robb canonically was when his parents consummated their marriage. and that's not how human reproduction works! even if you don't understand how fast babies grow in the first year, you should know that people who get pregnant do so through ovulation cycles and a lucky sperm finding an egg and all that, not just immediately getting knocked up as soon as one has p-in-v sex for the first time. not unless you only know mean girls sex ed where if you have sex you will get pregnant and die. (even tho lyanna did die, there's plenty of canon examples where pregnancy did not lead straight to death. also examples of people who did not get pregnant right away and even some who are/were sexually active and childless without always having moon tea on hand.) we can't know how long lyanna was having sex before that sperm+egg match happened or even how long she was with rhaegar before losing her technical virginity. if they were married, doesn't it make sense to think they didn't consummate their relationship until the wedding night either? that's the only leverage there is to ensure a status as wife rather than just mistress.

and while i just said grrm doesn't care about exact timelines and a lot is still foggy surrounding the rebellion and esp rhaegar, there is one timemarker wrt robert's rebellion he voluntarily threw in, time and time again: that stannis was besieged at storm's end for almost a whole year. that siege, which mind you, did not match the duration of the entire war. it only started after robert won his battles at gulltown and summerhall, returned to storm's end, and then went out and lost the battle of ashford, leaving his homeland open to the reachermen. the same siege which only ended when ned made a detour there after the sack of king's landing, before going to the toj. even if lyanna may not have given birth that exact day ned found her, she could only be waiting in that bloody bed for weeks at the most, not months. so if rhaegar knocked her up the very same night he carried her off and jon was still a newborn when ned found her after the siege of storm's end had ended, wouldn't that mean lyanna was pregnant for well over a year? that's not how human pregnancy works either! so, maybe that's proof that jon and robb, whichever order they were actually born in, were actually very close in age as babies, much closer than if they were both conceived asap.

and really, jon's actual birthdate does not matter imho, when he was raised not just as the bastard to robb's trueborn heir, but with robb also known by catelyn and the world as ned's firstborn (which he was, in any case, as jon was ned's nephew by birth). what difference could a birthdate before robb's make (even were there some means of discovery) after ned, cat, and robb are all dead? if one is looking only at his birth parents then he's only a firstborn child on lyanna's side, but definitely a second son on rhaegar's side. maybe he was always meant to be a second son with a not much older half-brother! even if the aegon fka young griff is not in fact rhaegar's son, he'll still be known as aegon vi targaryen, meaning jon will never be known as any father's elder son. if i may reference mean girls again, it's not going to happen.

#valyrianscrolls #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #robb stark #jonathan snowflake starkgaryen #i want him to succeed me as king in the north #jon snow #ned stark #lyanna stark #like this isn't prompted by anyone except that reddit post and its comments this has just annoyed me for so long #that's why i made that show!robb/show!jon coming of age gifset years ago bc narratively jon is always a second son #bc robb did everything first as elder bro and the only milestones jon will hit first will be the those robb can't since he's dead for good #(obviously starting with jon being first male stark to be brought back from the dead)#not that everyone interested in this debate thinks this way but it just feels tied to the idea of jon being a trueborn heir #not only was he never a bastard he was an eldest boy! eldest surviving boy with those pesky half-dornish sibs gone! point missed.#sorry i just dont think grrm means for a targ restoration with king jon any more than fake eldest boy kendall roy could win his succession #(c)lsb #i had to look up all the quotes on the big storm's end siege bc it makes me feel like i'm taking crazy pills #thinking what abt stannis starving for a year while others are like we just can't know how long rr was. was it even 9mons?#like yeah lollys's pregnancy doesn't add up but bc grrm really slowed the tl down postacok prob w/o really thinking #thats diff from repeatedly saying something lasted almost a year when he didn't have to give such a timeframe!

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broodwolf221 · 5 months

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forever thinking abt solas and sera as extraordinary foils of each other

elven history v. elven modernity is a big thing but just as major imo:

rebellion

solas is the dread wolf, the trickster god of rebellion and deception. we know now that it's more nuanced than all that, but he did lead a rebellion - and with good cause!

sera is a modern rebel, and what does solas do? he tries to share his experience with her. he talks about the tactics of rebellion, the choices to be made, the difficult things that lay ahead. sera listens and then rejects it and he's so confused. she's a rebel, she obviously cares about people, why won't she take it all the way?

but her reasoning is about avoiding his consequence and he doesn't even see it. she doesn't want to kill or ruin all nobles bc to do so would plunge everyone into chaos and she recognizes that. solas plunged all of arlathan into a chaos so profound it destroyed it

in a lot of ways, sera is wiser than solas, wiser about people, about reaction, about cause and effect. he went to extremes in order to free slaves and to punish the evanuris. she knows that nobles are awful and that servants and workers and all the people who provide for them are abused and misused, but she doesn't think wholesale destruction is the answer and she isn't wrong

and what's the difference? imo, community and experience. solas is such an academic, distanced from those he seeks to protect, and can be very paternalistic. sera has lived these things. she talks about how some of the red jennies make enough coin to retire and how the ones who do good are fine but others end up being the target of the jennies. she knows how people can change

also: the red jennies scare the nobles. there's power in that. it's far from perfect, but that doesn't mitigate the very real power in it. what if instead of destroying everything, solas had led a rebellion that put fear in the hearts of the evanuris? what if he forced them to confront that they, too, could face the consequences of their actions? it wouldn't have been easy but it would have prevented the absolute destruction that followed

and he! doesn't! fucking! see it! he doesn't see that sera's reasoning is about avoiding his mistake! he doesn't see that sera's wisdom grounded in experience counters his naivete grounded in an academic pursuit of justice!

which imo is all the more reason to believe he's a spirit. he had, and perhaps still has, a very simplistic view of things like this. if there is an injustice you fix it. you don't live with it and change it by degrees, you don't try to alter it at the root, you just Fix It, whatever form that takes. the evanuris are bad? imprison them. simplistic punitive justice. to sera, the nobles are bad? make them, THESE nobles, fear reprisal. give power and anonymity to the people being hurt. but don't get rid of all the nobles only to have to start the process over again

and we don't know the full form of solas' rebellion, granted. he may have tried many things for a long time. and arlathan appears to have been much worse than thedas is now - even tevinter doesn't seem as bad as arlathan is vaguely implied to have been. but he still destroyed... everything. he killed so many innocents. and yes, again, his situation was different - he talks about the evanuris destroying the world if he didn't stop them. perhaps he's right. it's not a 1:1 comparison, I get that. but they are still very profound foils of each other, and I find his insistence that sera should follow his path to be a fascinating bit of insight into his character, continuing to opt for extreme measures

#broodmeta #solas #sera #sera dai

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 2 months

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here's the thing. i think the reason why a lot of people let catra off the hook is because they think she wasn't in charge. like idk what show they were watching but they genuinely seem to think that catra only participated in the war because she was forced to, or because she wanted to live up to expectations. to which i want to say,

one, there were no expectations on catra. she wasn't very active during training and she wasn't particularly interested in participating in any of the horde's activities until adora left. if catra wanted, she could have easily left the horde and she wouldn't be missed.

it sounds harsh but it might have been a good thing for her. she didn't even have to go with adora and join the rebellion. she could just.. leave the horde and start a new life elsewhere. huntara did it, and no one ever tried to stop her.

two, did these people forget that halfway through the show, catra actively stepped up and took charge of everything? she beat the shit out of hordak and took away his life support. she basically took his place in the horde, people even praised her for it, for whatever reason.

hordak didn't have much say in the horde's activities after that. heck, catra didn't even listen to him when he tried to stop her from opening the portal. and she wasn't scared when he reprimanded her for it later.

catra was basically the leader of the horde from s4 onwards. she was the one making plans, she was the one carrying them out, she recruited double trouble, she planned the attack on salineas. and sure, hordak also played a part in it but catra was the boss at that point. i don't know how you watch all of that and still think that she was forced to take part in the war.

#spop critical #spop salt #spop criticism #spop discourse #spop #she ra #anti spop #anti catra #anticatra #anti stans #saying this because i see people saying that the diamonds' (from su) redemption was worse than catra's #because they were in a position of power #and while i agree that their redemption was shitty asf they're not that different from catra #she was in charge too she was in a position of power

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jedi-enthusiast · 1 year

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Ok, I know that I already reblogged @antianakin's post about why Anakin didn't need to murder an entire Tusken village because 2-3 of them killed his mom (original post here), but I just feel the need to talk about one of the most damning examples of why Anakin has no excuse for that response.

Post Order 66 Jedi/Clone interactions.

Let's just say, for the sake of the argument, that the entirety of the Tusken village--including the literal babies and children--all took part in the torture/murder of Shimi Skywalker. No exceptions.

Anakin's response to his mother's death is to murder everyone with no remorse or a second thought. Even when he confesses what he did to Padme, the RotS novel clearly shows that he doesn't actually feel bad about what he did. Most of his worry is about what others will think of him and, ironically, about how he's a "good Jedi" that should be better than this.

Now let's move on...

Every clone took part in Order 66 in some way.*

The clones murdered every single Jedi they could in cold blood (albeit without a choice), including the children, with only a miniscule few survivors. How many do we canonically have right now that didn't get captured and become Inquisitors? Obi-Wan, Quinlan, Cal, Caleb/Kanan, and Gungi are all I can think of at the moment.** That's 5 Jedi, out of thousands, that survived--and that's not even mentioning the destruction of their places of worship/cultural artifacts and the shitty propaganda spread about their culture.

* I'm not including the Bad Batch because, my own opinions about the show/characters/writing/etc. aside, we can all agree that the only reason their chips didn't activate was because they're Filoni's beloved OCs and he has a habit of trying to make his OCs "special" in some way.

** I'm not including Ahsoka in this because, like she says repeatedly as of Season 7 of TCW onward, she isn't a Jedi and doesn't see herself as such--and for the same reason I'm not including Grogu, since he's like...a Mandalorian apprentice now and not technically a Jedi. I'm also not including Luminara because she eventually gets captured and killed pretty early on and I'm trying to only include Jedi that are alive for a significant amount of time in the Imperial Era.

So, how do the Jedi treat the clones after they murder their entire family and destroy their culture? Let's look!

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Example One:

Obi-Wan Kenobi never learns about the inhibitor chips, as of current canon. He is 100% under the impression that Cody and the 212th (as well as all of the other clones) just up and betrayed him and the Order for no reason. He also watched the security tapes that, yes, showed Anakin killing children, but also would have shown the clones killing Jedi as well.

In the Kenobi show he runs into a clone veteran of the 501st--a veteran who, in all likelihood, probably stormed the Temple and was a part of its destruction.

Does he spit in the clone's face? Call him a murderer? Kill or harm him in any way?

Nope!

He gives the veteran some of his credits, even though it's made a point in the show that Obi-Wan is now working with limited funds and is very poor at this point in time. He doesn't have credits to spare and he is supposed to be looking for Leia, but he takes a moment to give some to someone who took part in the genocide of his people.

He also routinely thinks about Cody and the 212th in the comics! He remembers them fondly and still connects Cody to the feeling of hope, even though they tried to kill him! Even though he has no idea that they never wanted to!

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Example Two:

Kanan Jarrus/Caleb Dume knows about the inhibitor chips, but in Rebels it's made very clear that he thinks that it's just something the clones made up so that they didn't have to take responsibility for their actions.

In Rebels, Ahsoka makes the (objectively bad) decision to send Kanan out to find her "old friends" to help the rebellion.*** Kanan then finds out that her "old friends" are three clones, only after he gets there and sees them. He reacts in a panic and ignites his saber, clearly freaking out a bit.

*** I'll probably expand on this later, because I have a lot of opinions on this particular decision of hers, but anyway-

Does he try to hurt and/or kill them? Do they have to fight him off? Does he even lunge in their direction or deflect Wolffe's blaster bolt at him?

Again, nope!

He steps in front of Ezra in a defensive position and, when shot at by Wolffe, deflects the bolt into their ship. Then, when Ezra steps in and says that Ahsoka said to trust them, Kanan de-ignites his saber and they all have a conversation about them helping in the rebellion--even though Kanan clearly doesn't trust them at all and is dealing with his PTSD while being there. Eventually he even comes to get along with/trust Rex, albeit in later episodes.

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Example Three:

Gungi, in the Bad Batch, meets up with the Batch and immediately recognizes them as clones. Now, we don't know his opinion on them and their betrayal because it's never really expressed, but it's safe to assume that he has no idea about the chips (at least, until Tech tells him) and it's clear that he's very scared at that point in time.

What does he do?

He hides in the corner of the ship and is wary about the food they offer to him.

That's literally it.

And then later in the episode he works together with TBB and trusts them enough to let them help defend his village.

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So, even with most of the Jedi either having no idea about the chips or likely doubting that story, we're shown over and over again that the Jedi never seek revenge against the clones or try to kill them after Order 66. Even though their lives were ruined by what the clones did/took part in, they're never shown to be actively trying to cause them harm.

So there is literally no way you could possibly justify Anakin killing an entire village of Tuskens because of his mother's death, when--in arguably the same/a worse situation--the Jedi are actively shown not doing that.

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salmalin · 6 months

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Final Fantasy XII, Ashe, Vayne, "Us V.S. Them" Mentality, and What Makes a Hero

Something I really love about FF12 is that beyond the whole "free will" plotline that underscores basically every FF game, it actually has something else to say. And it gets pretty specific with it in a way that not many other media I've seen is willing to properly explore: the extremely thin line between hero and villain.

Possibly due to the disaster that was its development, Final Fantasy 12 was able to get extremely specific with its themes and messages, and the rush that occurred when a second team came in to finish for an entirely different team may have allowed for most of this to make it to the final game. It's also ridiculously topical and hits a modern problem on the nose—"Us Vs Them" Mentality, and the oversimplification that follows. This is something that I've only ever seen Terry Pratchett attack so violently.

The villains are not villains. They are people, like us. But more than this, they are only villains because of how they do things. But more than that...

The heroes are not heroes. They are people, like us. But more than this, they are only heroes because of how they do things.

In the eyes of a wider plotline, Vayne might have been the hero if not for his methods. This is made clear from the get-go. He's freeing man from the control of the Occuria, after all. He's fighting God—something you always do in the Final Fantasy games. What's worse, he was raised in a situation where his ruthlessness was not just an asset, but a necessity. He'd disposed of his elder brothers, and endeavored to build a world where Gods and Emperors did not dictate the movement of man—only him. It is, in my humble opinion, a response to excessive trauma from a young age. He is a brilliant character, beloved and loathed for his ability, and he is not arrogant about it.

Meanwhile Ashe is the last remaining descendant of Raithwall and seeks her country's freedom. Her characterization could have ended there and the audience would have been satisfied. Except it didn't.

She was angry. Arrogant. Uptight. She made rude assumptions about the people around her. And then...

Then Ashe decided to use the Nethicite.

And after her declaration, the first person to speak is the lowliest in standing of all in the room—a boy who'd seemed unimportant from the very start, who she'd degraded practically on sight. He'd been the most impacted by the war out of all of them; a boy who has had little to say up until this point besides seemingly shallow statements about theft, independence, and revenge.

"You even know how to use it?"

Vaan's words cut through the moment, changing the vibe instantly before Fran can take the scene. It's a good point, and highlighted a critical flaw in Ashe's thinking until that moment.

She doesn't. In a literal and figurative sense, this is the core of the entire story of Final Fantasy XII—Ashe does not know how to wield Nethicite. Not just as a weapon, but as a weapon.

There is rebellion. There is freedom-fighting. Then...

Then there's mass murder of civilians.

One of these things is not like the other.

But Ashe doesn't even see civilians. She's angry at Archadia as a whole for some reason—likely because they were "complicit" during the war. She sees them as all the same, and doesn't even think of them before suggesting using the uncontrollable Nethicite. She's convinced that her people will never get along with Archadians to the point where it's a plot point. She thinks they all want revenge. And seeing what we have until that point in the story... Yeah, that makes sense.

Until it doesn't. Until Vaan—the "unimportant" character mentioned before, the one who spoke, the main character everyone seems to overlook—actively does what she needs to do before it's even spoken aloud.

He trusts an Archadian.

He makes friends.

He puts aside his rage in favor of cooperation.

And he does this so casually that it's in the background when it happens. Until Basch brings it to her attention, Ashe didn't even notice. She was so fixed in her idea of what her people would want that it never occurred to her that yeah, maybe they do want this... in a moment of rage. A moment that would pass.

A moment that would pass in favor of guilt, horror, and disgust if she used the Nethicite.

We get to see Ashe's bloodthirsty nature before any of her other traits, but for Vayne we are shown he is charismatic, intelligent, and thoughtful.

It is Ashe who is the hero.

It is Ashe who is the hero because she does not fight with blinders on. Instead, she loses those blinders in no small part due to Basch, who points things out to her, and Vaan, who literally shows her the way. Vaan loses his rage first. Vaan moves on first. There's dialog around this a few times, and plot movements as well, and it's made pretty clear that every emotional development Ashe is going through, Vaan is going through directly in front of her and without the support that she had for so long. Vaan and Ashe are so acutely similar that it's almost alarming.

Vaan hates Archadians and then he changes his mind. Vaan hates Archadia until he changes his mind. Vaan hates soldiers until he changes his mind.

Vaan hates until he realizes that hate is a symptom, and to cure the symptom you can't just repeat the circumstances that led to the problem in the first place.

The main characters—the "heroes"—very nearly become the villains of a whole other country until they decide... no. No, we're not going to do this. No, we're not going to use this. Instead, we're just going to get rid of it. We're going to get rid of the chance of anyone using this great power again. This power would end the war in a split second before it could even begin. We've got so much of it, we could rule the world.

And then they don't rule the world. They destroy the ability to rule the world, and take that power out of the puppetmasters' hands.

You don't kill the occuria.

Heck, the only person they really kill is Vayne.

There is no "us".

There is no "them".

There are just people—people like us. And we are just as capable of being those people. One wrong step, and we become the people we hate most in the world.

There is no "us" and "them". You have no way of telling if a person is a monster on the inside. There's no way to look at them and know, or talk to them and know, or work with them and know. Vayne is charming and kind and gentle when he wishes to be, yet we only see Ashe's "undesireable" qualities.

She is the hero.

Ashe is the hero because where Vayne was prepared to burn everything and everyone to the ground for the promise of a day that might not come, she was not. Vayne was a battering ram where they needed a scalpel, and her team—six people with questions and some luck—was that scalpel.

Being a hero is not about being nice. It's not about being able to make connections or read a room. It's not even about how kind you are to others with your words. It's about what power we have, and how we are willing to use it. That is what makes a hero.

#ffxii #I'm gonna stop here because if I start talking about Drace I'll be here all day.#ff12 #final fantasy 12 #final fantasy xii #text #mine

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14dayswithyou · 11 months

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Teo being a nepo baby is so hot; do you have any info on his parents? (Not mha au no, just about normal them :3). Gotta meet my in-laws before I fight them for neglecting my husband.

✦゜ANSWERED: ROSIE PLEASE I AM ON MY HANDS AND KNEES BEGGIN U TO RECONSIDER!!!!! IT'S NOT TOO LATE!!! TEO NATION WILL STILL THRIVE I PROMISE

His father, Cristian, is the CEO of multiple research companies, one of the main sponsors for the NA University, and owns a few of the more luxurious properties in Corland Bay.

His mother, Kaori is a wealthy heiress and councilwoman, and is very close friends with the current mayor of Corland Bay.

Kaori also had an adoptive sister, but she passed away in a car accident alongside her fiancé. Losing someone so close to her was also part of the reason why she didn't want to give Teo any siblings.

His parents met in Aukland and instantly felt a spark, though they ignored it due to their busy schedules. But they ultimately kept bumping into each other in random tourist attractions, so they took it as a sign and finally became an item.

They also both had Teo out of wedlock, but shortly got married for his sake. And for the longest time, Teo believed the only reason his parents were still together was because of him. (it also influenced his beliefs on commitment and being tied down in a relationship)

Teo's parents often left the household staff in charge of taking care of him because they didn't have time to do it themselves. The head maid, a woman in her late 40's eventually took over as the role of his nanny, and is one of the very few people whom Teo has a soft spot for.

Kaori never saw Teo's rebellion as a cry for attention, and always blamed it on the household staff for bringing him up that way.

Cristian, however, did take notice of it, but assumed it was because Teo often felt coddled by his parents. So he had the entire right wing of the manor remodelled so Teo could have his own personal space.

Teo started bringing people home for... y'know... those reasons in an attempt to spite his parents, but they genuinely did not notice. He tried to ramp it up by blowing a hole in his wallet and staying out partying for weeks, but all his parents would do is look up from their phones and ask if he was hungry and wanted dinner to be served early.

Now that I think about it... fake marriage/relationship trope would 100% be up Teo's alley T_T He's definitely the type to use you by pretending to be his spouse in order to get some kind of reaction from his parents.

Overall I rate his family a solid -20000/10 and Teo a solid -5/10!! His nanny is the MVP though... I love her

#ROSIE PLEASE I BEG OF THEE #LOOK ME IN MINE OWN EYNE #THIS ISN'T YOU- OMG SHE'S GOING TO MEET HIS PARENTS ROSIE NOOOO #💌 — answered.#💖 — about teo.#💖 — 14 days with queue.#💜 — blog canon.#Also game canon but it won't ever be mentioned

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punkeropercyjackson · 3 months

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Okay so i'm thinking about punkness in Atsv and i'm gonna be so real,i can't help but believe they faked out with making Gwen punk like they did Hobie-By which i mean they just gave her the aesthetic and interests but not the mentality and certain actions too.Like yes,she's got the side shave that's partially dyed an unnatural color and eyebrow piercing,the swag costume,the civillian outfits,the being a drummer in a rock band,the snark,the respectfully cheeky flirty attitude to her crushes,the tragic backstoryTM,the rebellion,all that's great and i love her so much for it!!!But at the same time,i wish they'd gone full force with it,again,like they did Hobie,especially because they're literally best friends who're heavily implied to have blooming romantic feelings for eachother and act like a couple already,including living together????I know the last bit is due to George kicking her out but A)that makes Gwen x Hobie even more of a punk x punk love story and B)should've realistically given her motivation to take part in activism like charity events and protests and to HATE COPS.That's legit the whole reason her dad's abusive,that he prioritizes the force over her but she was forced to forgive him instead of giving trans kids an incredibly important lesson that you're under no obligation to love your parents if they treat you badly because that's not what a REAL parent does

For fuck's sake,Peter B was more belivable as her dad in Itsv than George was in Atsv and looking back on it this was probably an accident but notice how not ONCE does Gwen bring up her home life!!Hm,wonder why that is considering what happens only a few months later!It feels ooc for Gwen too because in the comics,she was brutal as SHIT and it was GOOD.She was an anti-hero!!She could even qualify as a Red Hood equivalent more than B*cky B*rnes does!And i get it,they had to make her more kid friendly for a pg audience but they deadass had Hobie use the word 'fascists' onscreen and all but outright saying he killed his canon event cop via the blue laces + 'Yeah,what of it?' combo so they didn't need to take pretty much ALL her edge away other than the death subplot!She dosen't even need to kill,i would've been fine with scenes of her being a bully beater in those flashbacks and peeks into Earth 65 and some offhanded references of her and Hobie doing activism together!

Plus her and Margo not even being friends?????Complete horseshit,bonds between black girls and trans girls are basically inherent and i'm speaking from experience and Margo also deserved as much screentime as Hobs and Pav!And Hobie would NOT fucking date someone without radicalizing them,that's not my son!!!!!I finally get a canon pastel punk trans femme in a franchise i was already into only for her writers not to put their whole pussy into it to make her palpable and quirky for whites instead.Can't have shit in the multiverse

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thegirlwhowrites642 · 6 days

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Ah thank you so much for your post on Harry's overprotectiveness and how it is deeply rooted in his fear of losing the only family he has by the end of the series not because he thinks Ginny is not capable enough

You spoke God's truth

But like seriously I have seen so many people pointing out the "problem" in Hinny and why they won't make it long term as a couple is that Harry after the war has to see Ginny as a peer not as something to be protected and that's why they are not equals... And I'm like what makes you think he doesn't see her as his equal?

Do I need to point out the number of times in HBP and DH whatever Ginny is doing Harry's reaction is a mix of "wowww my girl is doing amazing" and "OMG what is she doing, she might get herself killed and I'll die seeing just that, poor Voldy shorts would not have to put so much effort in killing me"

And I'm sure this has been pointed out before...A 15 year old Harry had a very similar reaction towards Sirius, a 30 something adult with 7 years of complete magical education, experience in fighting death eaters in Order of the Phoenix and then emotionally fighting the dementors for 12 long years.

You are welcome!

Harry in canon after he discovers Ginny is leading a rebellion:

This scant news made Harry want to see Ginny so badly it felt like a stomachache; but it also made him think of Ron again, and of Dumbledore, and of Hogwarts itself, which he missed nearly as much as his ex-girlfriend. - Chapter 15, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

What is true is that Harry hasn't properly processed how hurt Ginny was because he so desperately needed to believe she was safe that he would've needed to be slapped in the face with the reality, and in fact:

He spotted Ginny two tables away; she was sitting with her head on her mother’s shoulder: there would be time to talk later, hours and days and maybe years in which to talk. - Chapter 36, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This does not mean Harry doesn't think that what Ginny did was valuable, important or a huge risk:

Harry found himself taking it out simply to stare at Ginny’s name in the girls’ dormitory, wondering whether the intensity with which he gazed at it might break into her sleep, that she would somehow know he was thinking about her, hoping that she was all right. - Chapter 16, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry is worried about her physical and mental well-being. But there's a difference between knowing someone is in danger/admiring them for what they are doing and being in the mental space to properly process the information of the love of your life being tortured (something that he would need to deduce from Neville's tale and he is not in the mental space to do it). It would happen once he talks with Ginny (I think Rowling should've created the situation for it once Harry talked with Neville but for reasons that have nothing to do with hinny and everything to do with the devastatingly boring plot of this book).

[I wrote about this in Back to the Eclipse if someone wants to read it.]

It's like when people say that Harry wouldn't tell Ginny things because he didn't let her in the Voldemort stuff completely ignoring that:

Dumbledore tells him to talk only with Ron and Hermione about it and he dies before Harry might start wondering why exactly he can't talk to Ginny about it and ask Albus (I would have loved to see the answer to that question)

Harry has a pathological need to protect her (which I agree is something he needs to work on but it is a direct consequence of how important she is to him and I'll argue it's a flaw that in a moderate dose balances out one of Ginny's)

Harry ends up telling Ginny his mission (killing Voldemort) anyway because he is shit at keeping things from her, as pointed out since the fifth book

Harry is so shit at keeping things from Ginny he has a hard time keeping things from Molly because she has Ginny's eye colour

When Ron gets hurt in HBP, Harry and Ginny get into an obsessive conversation about what might have happened (he is clearly comfortable in discussing important stuff with her, including his beloved mysteries)

His only plan for the future after the battle is endlessly talking with Ginny

The only thing people should deduce is that Ginny most likely spent a good part of her life being an insane security breach of the Department of Law Enforcement (to be fair to Harry: the majority of spouses of people in law enforcement are).

#hinny #harry potter #ginny weasley

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angstywaifu · 10 days

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The Lost Sister - Part 25

Synopsis: Xaden is known as an only child due to his sister who 'died' during the Rebellion. Little do they know she didn't die and has been so close this entire time.

Garrick Tavis x OC The Lost Sister Masterlist | Masterlist

Holy shit.

Liam whirls towards me, his eyes wide with shock as he looks at me. Liam spoke in my mind. And I have no doubt that Holy Shit I just thought was spoken into his with the way he’s looking at me.

”D-did you just..” Liam starts before stopping mid sentence as if he can’t believe what’s just happened.

I nod. Yeah I did.

Liam jumps back slightly as my voice speaks in his mind again. I try and push further, but all I can feel in his mind is panic, stress and excitement. I breathe a sigh of relief. Seems I could only speak in people’s minds. At least for now. The thought of this developing into more terrifies me as memories of Jeremiah resurface, the crack of his neck echoing through my thoughts. Liam’s panic intensifies, pulling me from my thoughts. I look back up to see Liam looking at me worried, his hands placed behind his head as if trying to alleviate the pressure on his lungs to get more air in. A tactic I had been taught in my years of training to breath easier when under stress or strain from physically exerting myself.

”Why do you look like someone’s died?” I ask as I walk over to him.

I don’t miss the way Liam flinches at my words. Specifically when I had said died.

”What happened?” I ask urgently as I step forward and place my hand on his arm he’s now lowered from his head.

He sighs and looks down at the floor. “I fucked up O. I really fucked up. You’re brother’s going to kill me.”

I grab Liam’s hand and drag him over to the side of the corridor and pull him down to sit against the wall with me. He stretches his legs out in front of him as he rests his head against the wall and closes his eye’s.

”Why would Xaden ki-” I go to ask before stopping short.

The only reason Xaden could potentially want to kill Liam for screwing up would be Violet. Violet who had been on edge this morning as well as Liam. The panic that had significantly increased before they walked off to challenges after lunch. Something had happened to violet. Liam must sense the recognition in my eyes as he nods at me.

”Her challenge was against Jack Barlowe and she made me promise not to tell Xaden till it was too late for him to do something.” He says bitterly as he turns his gaze back to the floor. “She wanted to prove she could take him on I think.”

My heart stops. If she was dead or hurt badly, that didn’t bode well for Xaden. But something tells me she is alive if Liam is sitting here in the corridor.

”Is she ok? Is Xaden ok?” I ask.

Liam nods. “Barely. Jack used his signet on her and we couldn’t pull him off her because of it… But she had a vial of Oranges she used on him.”

”Oranges?” I ask, not stopping the laugh that escapes my lips.

Liam laughs as well as he looks over at me. “Yeah, apparently the bastard is allergic to them. She’s been hindering her challenge opponents with poisons. And when she found out she was against Jack, she took note of his allergy and made a vial of it. Without it she would be dead right now.”

Gods that girl was smart. But it made sense as to why all her opponents were suddenly weaker than they normally would be. How one week they could take down someone way stronger and bigger than Violet, then all of a sudden could barely go five minutes against her. Just like with the gauntlet, she had found a way to user her strengths to her advantage. And knowledge was her strength. And thanks to it she was alive. And therefore Xaden was alive.

”Main thing is she’s alive. I’m assuming you got Xaden in time?”

He shrugs. “She was unconscious by the time I got back with him, and by then they’d already started dragging Jack off to the healers to stop him from dying. From what I know he got there in time.”

”Damn, what a shame.” I say causing us to burst into a fit of laughter as it echoes off the walls of the corrido.

”What the hell are you two laughing about?” A familiar deep voice asks from the end of the corridor.

We both turn to see Garrick leaning up against the wall, an eyebrow raised as he looks at us. I can tell from the way he holds himself he must have been with Xaden when Liam got him. Despite the slight smirk on his face, I can tell he is tense. The same thoughts of what could have happened today playing on his mind.

”Oh just how we’re apparently attempting murder with oranges now.” I say as Liam stifles another laugh next to me.

Garrick just shakes his head at us. “You going to go around with vial’s of oranges as weapons now are you sweetheart?”

I can’t stop the smile that graces my features at Garrick’s newest nickname for me. Gone was the little one that he had called me for years. Now sweetheart and Mo Gradh had taken it’s place. But this was the first time he had used one of those in public. Even Liam looks shocked as he looks between us.

”I mean it seemed to work for Violet.” I add as Garrick walks over and holds his hand out to me to pull me up off the floor.

”Despite how smart it was, I don’t want you taking combat advice from her.” He tells me sternly as he pulls me off the ground.

I roll my eyes at him. “What if I wanted them as a snack? Little pick me up in the battlefield.”

I watch as Garrick struggles to hold back a smile at my comment, but eventually lets it through as he shakes his head at me. Liam snickering next to me.

”And speaking of combat, why weren’t you at challenges? I didn’t see you there when we arrived.” He asks, turning my attempt at trying to make the situation light hearted back into something serious.

”I might have been summoned to a private lesson with Carr and another cadet.” I tell him as I push my lips into a tight line.

Both boys go rigid at my words. Panic washing over them.

”Which cadet?” Garrick asks sternly as a muscle ticks in his jaw.

No point holding it back. “Dain Aetos.” Instantly Garrick’s hands are on my shoulders as he looks me dead in the eyes. “And no he doesn’t know anything. He couldn’t read my thoughts. Apparently I have a shield that’s impenetrable to mental signets. Anything innistic doesn’t seem to work on me unless I allow it. Which apparently isn’t easy.”

Garrick and Liam instantly relax.

But I can do this now.

Garrick jumps back instantly, eyes wide with shock as I push past him and make my way towards the dorms. Leaving Garrick frozen to the spot in shock as Liam laughs, glad to not be the only one shocked at what we had both learnt moments ago.

@riorgail @going-through-shit @fw-gt @bbkissme99 @xceafh @leptitlu @came-to-laugh-but-cried @onthewaytotimbuktu @daardyrnitta @lovemesomevesey @mxtokko @krowiathemythologynerd @callsign-blue @1islessthan3books

#fourth wing fanfic #fourth wing #garrick tavis x reader #garrick tavis imagine #garrick tavis x oc #garrick tavis #fourth wing imagine #fourth wing x reader

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figureofdismay · 3 months

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i want to know about the extreme outlier opinion on never again!

ooh, thank you for your interest and I hope I don't get myself in trouble with this lol!

So this opinion is in multiple parts.

The first part being the one most unpopular, which is that Ed Jerse was not to only man who was not Mulder that Scully, that Dana had a night or a mini fling with between Jack Willis and/or then getting assigned to the X files and when MSR got together (whenever you believe that might be), and probably not the only dangerous one to some degree.

She's got that thrill seeker side to her, which is to some extent satisfied by chasing Mulder around on the X files. But Mulder keeps her in a sexless box in his perceptions -- IMO this is partially self defense on his part because if he lets himself go there even a bit in thinking of her dating potential/as a potential romantic-sexual partner his already limited ability to hold onto any kind of boundaries would just collapse. And I don't think this sexless view of her is at odds with my belief that Mulder was in love with her within a few months of working with her and knew it, but he doesn't think he deserves a relationship like that and more importantly he doesn't think Scully wants a relationship like that with him, or maybe not with anyone at all because she's given up dating completely after Jersey Devil, and what they talk about is work and theory and science and case notes and things within the kind of fixed shadow of their partnership/the files. Thus he's got this view of her that's completely divorced from her hedonistic, risk taking, rebellious, attention seeking, obsessive side.

I believe her ruthlessly compartmentalized nature and her constant awareness of other people's expectations of her, especially the expectations of people in authority or pseudo authority combined with a need for a release valve and a clear thread of sensualism in her character make it highly likely that there were other times when she picked a near-stranger and acted out a role with him, letting herself act out parts of herself she doesn't often express and using him as a proxy for her conflicted and/or baser feelings towards the Ahabs and 'fathers' in her life in a very limited capacity that is both satisfyingly dangerous (near stranger, almost certainly someone she doesn't really trust or want to get to know, after all she's not looking for a real and lasting relationship) and very safe because she can just stop playing that character and stop seeing that man and he won't even have ever 'met' the person she is the majority of the time.

I don't think she does it a lot, but by 'never again' it had been 4ish very high stress years with Mulder and 5ish years since Jack Willis, which, since Ethan didn't make it into the Pilot, was her last relationship, so yes. Maybe once or twice a year there's a bit of an 'i'm crawling out of my skin i need to tempt fate' ritual. And since we see so little of their personal lives, not hearing about it doesn't rule it out, the reason we saw this time because it was such a disaster and became another X-file -- and because Jerse was so dangerous and violent, and because Mulder found out about it, that particular game stopped being interesting even in a self destructive way. Plus very soon she would realize she had cancer and would take stock of her life in a different way and get closer to Mulder on another level so there was less of a need for a pressure valve rebellion.

And I don't think that this idea cheapens her relationship with Mulder or means she was cheating on him if that did happen, because it would be about simple attraction and being not 'herself' and also a proxy thing for her feelings and frustrations about Mulder that she's too afraid of tarnishing his image of her to let him into directly. And if it would make Scully's jealousy of Mulder interacting closely with other women hypocritical, well, she's certainly allowed to be a flawed character and is shown to have double standards about a number of things.

Part 2 of my outlier opinion is that Ed Jerse isn't out of character for Dana. Going back to Jack again, instead of believing in possession, she thought he'd had a mental break after years of obsessive work and mutilated a cadaver and killed a guy and she was not surprised at all. She had a fairly long relationship with him while believing he had that level of instability and violence in him when pushed. That means Jerse lines up for her.

part 3 of my outlier opinion (I guess it is, I don't see it talked about directly afaik) is that the story is dark as fuck with Jerse and his ergot psychosis but at the same time the tone is not horror-bleak the way Blood is and many s2/s3 with similar types of plots, but more extremely darkly ironic or wry. Between Mulder in Graceland and the extended Rocky and Bullwinkle plot discussion, and the fact that all it takes is a divorce and an Evil!Rosie the Riveter tattoo to push this guy over the edge there's this air of like, pulp noir mundane and ridiculousness. Fandom generally treats it as this like this profound statement about Mulder and Scully's relationship and Mulder's selfishness and thoughtlessness and if he just brought her a bottle of wine and asked about her day a la Van Blunht in Small Potatoes she could've been flinging that fling with him. Except, no, she couldn't use him as his own proxy, so she'd have to crack herself open a lot more than she was ready to. But also it's a story about both of them spinning their wheels and not getting anywhere and ending up feeling dumb, it's absurdist, it's a comment that neither character is smarter than their narrative, it's not a statement about a fractured partnership.

Part 4 is a little more out there and whatever but I do think Mulder's reaction is interesting. He's obviously hurt and completely baffled because he can tell Scully's given him very little of the actual framing of her distress and because 'i'm bored at my job' is both hurtful to him and something he can't conceptualize as leading to 'so i'll have a one night stand with a violent man' -- because that isn't her complaint, it's just what he heard. But in that last scene he doesn't read as angry or jealous, even the hurt doesn't exactly read as sexual jealousy. He's confused, he doesn't know what she wants, and he gets in some cheap shots with his annoyed. But there's an interesting tone to it. Maybe i'm reading too much in. I think there's a combination of trying to laugh it off/brush it off because he can tell she's feeling too exposed, and aside from the 'was the professional dissatisfaction worth all this??' he was curious. He'd caught a glimpse of the barest silhouette of her wild child side.

like a combination of 'so you slipped off your pedestal and bounced a little, so your halo got dented, so what' (paternalistic, dismissive, kidding) (reassuring) and 'oh, so she's a little like that? what else does she like? can a person get her like that without actually being on the verge of snapping?' He knows about Willis and Jerse now. It's more than one, and Willis is now certainly not a fluke. He's got to be sure there's some fascinating things brewing in her subconscious, and he's got the idea that her sexual side is one part girlish wounded bird, one part manic live wire, and one part intellectual 3D chess. He's curious about what that means for him and them. Curious about what she might be willing to do with him now that he's been reminded she'll do it with other people. He's even optimistic, I think, about what he could coax from her.

Probably also reminded to be cautious about what entanglements with him that he could accidentally 'manipulate' her into with some of his more demanding behavior, though. But like, even though they're both feeling bitter at that moment i do feel like there's a 'positive' in the kind of colliding worlds event of the episode in Mulder being reminded of Scully being a human woman with a carnal side.

And that is... I think the bulk of what I wanted to talk about re: NA? I think? My brain feels overcooked now. But I rewatched it to refresh my memory (i'm now in s5) but I stand by this. And also I think I need to break my custom and do post-episode fic about it, honestly.

#character theory: scully #character theory: mulder #txf never again #txf s4 #i think this needs my #msr #tag so i can find it later but yes whether or not this belongs in the ship tag is debatable. feels shippy to me though!#i'm sorry this ask took so long it needed some thinking and a rewatch XD #txf #also sorry not sorry but i do Get It about Jerse like yes i agree Scully too bad he turned out to be *that* over the edge lol #also a good reminder to have an interpersonal relationship (no matter how brief and doomed) call her Dana #it'd been a few seasons

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mitsies · 1 year

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ultra violet ; dazai osamu

how unlucky you must've been, to have met dazai osamu. you don't think you ever had a chance.

dazai osamu x gn reader fluff to angst, falling in love, spoilers for dazai's mafia era, reader is a pt. mafia exec. - 3.6k

you had always known dazai osamu was a black hole.

to look at him was to look at a chasm, so effortlessly deep and empty that you couldn't see the bottom. his darkness was all-consuming and his profound desolation seeped out of the cracks in his veil like the blacktop of a playground.

for some reason, he had let you in.

you had first seen him in a bar, although you'd already known who he was. his existence wasn't a secret, and it's not like the port mafia's gossip chain would've cared if it was.

you regarded him briefly, from across the bar. he was seated near the bartender, chatting amicably. you wondered how many people he has killed this week.

the bartender smiles and laughs along, but you can see that he holds his wine glass tight as he cleans it with a beige rag. you suppose that dazai's reputation doesn't only precede him in the mafia.

dazai wasn't drinking anything, you had noted. perhaps he was meeting someone, or perhaps he was just a lightweight.

you weren't surprised when dazai approached you, in your little corner of the bar, taking a seat next to you. you also weren't surprised that he didn't ask. manners are hard to come by.

he greets you with your name, but he's never spoken to you before.

"how has your night been?"

his voice was different than you'd expected.

"a little boring," you had replied.

"that sucks," he sympathized with no sympathy.

the two of you had spoken for a considerable amount of time about normal people's things. he did not acknowledge the existence of the black blood shared between the two of you, so neither did you.

he was funny, and bright, but an eerieness followed him. you could see the sticky black tar following his movements, you could see it in his lungs and his eyes like a poison fog. you could see him drowning in it. you didn't know how to help, so you didn't.

"you're not drinking," you said instead.

"i'm not."

"you're at a bar."

"i was waiting for someone."

"who?"

he pauses. and he smiles. "you."

you didn't react, because you knew that your reputation would precede you, too. dazai osamu, a black hole, a candidate to fill the empty place of the 5th port mafia executive, smiled at you, a white light, the 4th executive.

you grin back at him.

you are unfortunate, you think.

joining the port mafia was not something you had intended to happen. you had your whole life planned out, scripted down to the very last details.

you came from a respectable area of town. you went to school. you studied. you passed all your tests. and then your parents were shot dead by the government.

(they never told you why. something about protests and abuse of power, something about fate, something about god. you weren't sure if you believed it.

you think it all started to go downhill when you smoked your first cigarette as an act of teenaged rebellion, 'just because you could', because this couldn't have been god.)

so your plans crumbled, and you decided that the earth beneath your feet deserved to crumble too.

in the world, you decided, there was nothing more precious than time. if you'd have asked yourself this question before, you think younger you would've said humanity with big puppy eyes and hands clasped like it was a prayer.

but time built humanity, and humanity was the basis of good and evil, and everything else followed. time was not just the most important factor of life, but the inventor of it. because what is life without humans to define it?

and so when the port mafia happened upon you, a young child with no one and nowhere and nothing but time, the obvious choice was to take you in.

your ability was to reverse the passage of the clock, to rewind the world into oblivion, with a touch. it worked on things, and it worked on people. you know because you've tried it.

to steal another person's years, to kill them, essentially, was an ability you would never have wanted until you realized you had it. because by the time you had recognized your ability to kill, you were already wading in the black waters of the port mafia under ogai mori's tutelage.

just like dazai, you were bound to be an executive since joining. just like dazai, you were the youngest executive until he came along.

so you realized his void before you met him- you pieced together that it would be similar to the one that followed you.

in a way, you and him were already familiar. you didn't like to think about that, though. because he was, quite frankly, a pain in the ass.

at first, you didn't mind him too much. but a few factors led to this conclusion- one of them being the fact that he was always in your office.

"your chair is so much more comfortable than mine," he explained on one occasion, as he occupied your one and only office chair. you had stood in the doorway, arms crossed, trying to look unimpressed but failing when a ghost of a grin creased your face.

that was a leading reason, among other things. he had a tendency to put empty containers back into your snack stash after taking them without permission. he frequently put chuuya into a bad mood when you really needed cooperation. he especially had a penchant for getting himself in stupid and easily avoidable situations, and then asking you to get him out.

despite all his fatal flaws, his generally unlikable demeanor, his irritating nature, and his god-awful humor, you took quite a liking to your co-worker.

in fact, the annoying qualities meant shockingly very little to you. it was a miracle to everyone, you think even to dazai.

you think that in his time in the mafia, and probably even before, he had grown accustomed to hate. the black sticky tar of anger and abhorrence clung to the walls of mafia territory like surgical gloves, for the purpose of coming out clean when blood is spilled.

(the inky darkness seeped into the skin of the people who walked over it, building under their flesh like plaque and disease, festering and becoming so normal that it was hard to remember what people looked like when they weren't blighted.)

and you think that the lack of cruelty and resentment you held was a magnet for him. dazai was so full of something dark and bitter, and in need of something to wash his hands- a moth to flame, a magdalene connection.

(the tar was well-hidden under your thick skin. dazai was a good seeker but you were a better hider. your artificial light tricked him. you might feel guilty if you didn't crave the connection.)

you had always known that dazai osamu was a black hole, and for a while, it was perfect because you were too.

you weren't sure how it happened, but at some point, you realized dazai had become familiar to you. he didn't speak of his upbringing and you didn't ask, but you could see the way his childhood flickered across his facade when he felt a genuine feeling and you could sniff out the nostalgia in him before he crushed it under his shoes like a bug.

he tried to hide his past, but you were born to rewind it. you think he knows, and you think he stopped trying as hard to veil himself once he realized.

the two of you had, at some point, become familiar to each other. you began to expect him to be in your office on thursday and sunday afternoons, and you began to anticipate what food would be missing from your stash based on his tastes.

dazai, on his part, learned the music you liked. it would be streaming softly when you entered when he was there. thursdays and sundays became your favorite days.

more and more time was spent together. you'd not only work with each other but go out afterward, too. you met his friends, ango and oda. he met your dog, snorkel.

"snorkel?" dazai had snorted upon hearing your pet's name.

"snorkel," you confirmed.

"why would you name an animal that?" the two of you were walking to your apartment building. dazai had insisted on accompanying you, despite you being fully capable yourself- something about evil enemies and their nefarious plans to kill you- you'd just rolled your eyes and complied.

"i don't see any issues with my dog being named snorkel."

your apartment building's lobby was cozy and sweet. the doorman greeted you with a smile and a nod, eyes lingering on dazai for a moment. you smiled back.

"it's a little strange, you've got to admit."

"well, i heard it on a tv show once and liked how the word sounded. so i named my dog snorkel. is that enough explanation for you, dazai?"

he pushed the button to summon the elevator before pausing, tapping his chin like a kid's cartoon detective. "i suppose that will suffice, my love."

you often wondered if dazai realized that you liked him. you didn't expect to feel this way about him originally, you never willed yourself to fall for this voided human being- but it happened. you weren't sure how.

(that seemed to be a pattern with a lot of things involving him; uncertainty clouded your mind like smoke in a way it never had before.)

dazai was the smartest person you knew, so when he first started treating you less like a co-worker and more like his partner, you knew it was an intentional change. everything with him was purposeful, a strategy, a game of chess.

(it was a game you'd let him win.)

that same day, when he'd met your cat, you realized that the feelings he held for you were mutual. in the elevator, he confessed his fear of dogs to you.

at first, you hadn't believed him- you'd laughed and joked. a port mafia executive, bathed in blood and soul untethered, was scared of dogs. but then he looked at you, and you realized: dazai osamu was afraid of dogs, and you were in love with him.

you could see his hesitancy as he opened your apartment door for you, and how his body stiffened as a snorkel leaped out to greet you. and you could see his fear diminishing as you interacted with snorkel, rubbing his side.

you watched his fear disappear and you wanted to kiss him right there, in the doorway to your apartment building. so you did.

you can remember his hands and how they landed at your waist and back, and how he kissed you back after a brief hesitation like he'd expected this, predicted it. maybe you were just one of his variables, but you didn't really care during that moment.

you kissed dazai osamu because you were in love with him, and he kissed you back because he was in love with you. (dazai osamu was a good hider, but you were a better seeker. you knew and he did too.)

the vignette that clouded your vision, the blackness and the fraying at the edges of your mind faded when you were with dazai. something about the daunting voids that followed the both of you negated each other. a strange peace followed you both, unlike the calamity of separation.

you were stupid in love, and so was he. you felt like a teenager again, the way you should've been not long ago and the way you never got a chance to be.

a teenager with a full time job as a murderer, basically, is how you felt.

"love of my life, my favourite ever, the apple of my eye! where are you?"

you often heard dazai before you saw him. he was not quiet when he didn't need to be. across from you, you could see chuuya grimace. you smiled at him sympathetically, an apology in advance.

it was only a matter of a few seconds before dazai turned the corner to where you and chuuya were stood, discussing some political uprisings in the west. he let out an elated noise and flung his arms around your shoulder.

"my honey-nut cheerio! my shmoopie-kins!" you hated him sometimes, honestly.

"you are not funny, dazai," chuuya had scowled, speaking your mind for you.

"i'll have to agree with chuuya here."

you might as well have told dazai you'd shot his grandmother.

"how could you say that," he had wailed, sinking to the ground theatrically with his arms still around your neck, nearly pulling you down with him.

chuuya kicked him and he let go, whining and grumbling. "get up, idiot, we have to go soon."

chuuya had then stomped away, and you grabbed his hands and pulled your boyfriend up off the ground. "you are insufferable sometimes."

dazai smiled, still holding one of your hands, and bumped your shoulder as he pulled you to walk to follow chuuya. "only for you!"

this was to be one of the last times you would speak to him.

(you were so, so unfortunate, to have fallen for dazai osamu.)

after that day, you couldn't reach him. the agency was falling into flames and sakunosuke oda was dead and ango sakaguchi was a traitor and dazai osamu was gone.

you could do nothing but obey orders and pray he'd return.

the night of dazai's leaving was the last time you saw him.

you had entered your office and found him sitting on your chair, like he always did. he didn't look at you when you entered, and you didn't speak a word. you'd expected to find him here.

"sit with me," he said. you obliged, sitting on your cluttered desk. you lit a cigarette and the air smelt of smoke.

the two of you sat in silence for a few moments before you said something.

"you're leaving." you meant it as a question, but it came out as a statement because you already knew the answer. dazai was leaving.

he only nodded once, and finally looked at you. "i'm sorry."

you took another drag of your cigarette and met his eyes. you gave him a sad smile. "don't be."

more quiet followed your words as both of you became lost in thought. dazai was an abyss. you had known this since before you met him. you weren't sure what brought on his change of heart, what made him want to abstain from his roots and change his fundamental being, but you think it was bound to happen. a black hole does not have infinite mass. he would reach the bottom of his void eventually.

dazai stood, and he was close to eye level with you now. "i'll miss you, so much."

you put your cigarette out on an ashtray by your desk. you planted your hands on the sides of his face and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. you kissed him for the very last time.

"me too," you had said, "come back for me one day."

"i will," he swore, "i will."

you had always known that dazai osamu was a black hole, but black holes were not infinite. you wondered when you'd reach the end of yours.

your lover did not return for you.

you knew what escaping the mafia entailed, especially in dazai's prestigious position. he'd have to go underground before resurfacing, for at least a few years.

for those years, you waited patiently. you continued your work as you always had, you let the blood run down your hands like it always had. you had nothing else to do.

in more ways than one, you helped dazai leave. you negated his darkness, you emboldened his actions, and you all but hauled him out of the port mafia himself. it was a two-man job, to disappear. you couldn't leave without help.

in his absence, a bitterness festered. the rot beneath your skin grew tenfold, like a viral disease or plague. and still, you waited.

(the saying of 'absence making the heart grow fonder' was a load of bullshit.)

you waited for him to come back. you waited for the blood to stop dripping. you waited for the infection of resentment to cease its track in your soul.

you waited, and you waited, and you waited, and you waited.

and you don't know when, but eventually, you gave up.

dazai osamu was not coming back for you, was the revelation. he had no reason to. there was no obligation, nothing but a promise. and dazai has lied before. (he was just like you, so you know he has.)

it was almost funny, how easy it became to hate him once you lost hope. you hated him, his lies and his voice, and how he'd say your name and how he made you feel whole for the first time in a long time.

you hated how you were without him now. you hated him for leaving even though you wanted him to go.

(the bitterness, the black blood, the decay bubbled under your ribcage and dripped down your spine. your chasm consumed you, brewing like a storm and infecting everything you touched.)

so you think you were basically fully gone by the time dazai really did return.

he didn't return to you, but he had resurfaced as a member of a new armed detective agency. you'd almost laughed when you heard.

this is what he'd wanted. he wanted to be good, to be a hero. he wanted to save people now. (was he still just like you?)

you threw yourself into your work. it was all you had left, at this point, your job. you have up on the idea of clean hands, of red blood, of everything being okay again.

you were born to steal life. you were born to take away time from others. you were born to be a villain. there was not much else you could do.

you had always known dazai osamu was a black hole. you feel stupid for assuming that he realized you were one too.

(you wanted to be saved. not anymore.)

(you are all you have, now.)

chuuya is angry when he sees dazai for the first time in 6 years. dazai wasn't surprised. but the genuine fury, the red veil that submerged his former partner- that was new.

chuuya and dazai had never gotten along, but they've never hated each other. not until now, because with the way chuuya is looking at dazai, he can tell that he wants him dead.

their fight is brief and over before it could really start. they're both holding back, but neither of them can really say why. the anger subsides and the fighting draws to a close.

"i'll have you killed one day, i swear," chuuya had promised on his way up the stairs, leaving the basement where dazai was formerly chained.

"by the way," the taller man dismissed, waving him away with his hands. "you're the one who broke my chains and freed me. if i run away now, you'll be suspected of aiding my escape!"

chuuya's temper flared, venom and fury spiking behind his gaze. "you bastard."

"if you do as i say, i could make it look like someone from the agency came to rescue me."

the former colleagues stared at each other, a sea of unspoken words surging between them. chuuya hated this man, he hated him with his whole heart, for what he'd done to you. but he was stuck now.

"why should i believe you?"

"i don't lie in these kinds of negotiations," dazai replied breezily.

a beat of silence passed.

"you lie, though. you lied to them."

dazai doesn't react. his face is stone, and chuuya watches in real-time as the mask slides on.

dazai doesn't reply. chuuya moves on. "if it's about the weretiger, akutagawa's in charge of that operation. he should have records in the communications storage room on the second floor."

dazai straightens. "and where are they?"

chuuya's face hardens, eyes narrowing like razorblades. he hopes that dazai can feel his stare cutting into him the way he wants to so badly.

chuuya was your closest friend. he, firsthand, witnessed your destruction as you stayed up for a man who'd never return home. he would never forgive dazai. he couldn't.

"dead."

dazai doesn't move. the world stops spinning on its axis. chuuya continues.

"almost a year ago now. they were assassinated by an enemy organization."

the air is suddenly so cold.

"i like to think," chuuya said, his voice dangerously quiet, "that it's all your fault, dazai."

they stand still, staring at each other for a few more beats before a small, sad smile cracks on dazai's face.

chuuya might hate this man with everything he has but he can't help the pity bound with anger crawling through his stomach.

"second floor, you said?"

chuuya wants to punch him. he wants to hug him. instead, he just nods.

"okay. goodbye, chuuya."

he doesn't reply. dazai walks past him on the stairs, and chuuya feels it- an incapacitating darkness, the tendrils of despair following the man in the trenchcoat.

(the void was back.)

(perhaps it had never left.)

dazai osamu had always known he was a black hole. he thought of it as ravenous, as all-commanding and omniscient, devouring him and his life. when he met you, he felt free of the binding chasm for the first time. and now you were gone, and he felt chained once more.

(dazai osamu was a black hole. you saved him from himself at the price of your life.)

(dazai osamu was a black hole. he wishes it would consume him.)

author's note: this is highkey bad plz follow me i will post better stuff later wink wink

#bsd x reader #bungo stray dogs x reader #dazai osamu x reader #dazai x reader #osamu dazai x reader #mitz writes

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