#i would've thought you would be your greatest ally | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thaisibir · 2 years

Text

The Dog In Her (post-Survive/Truthful route Aoi x Saki fic)

Rating: T Genre: Drama, Friendship, Romance, Hurt/Comfort Summary: Aoi and Labramon are inseparable. Together they conquered a murderous fog and beastly gods. But coming home with Labramon, Aoi finds her next enemy in her own mother, who’s allergic to all things furry and hates dogs, and from that finds her greatest ally in Saki.

Chapter 1/? Also on AO3

Egg salad sandwich wasn't her favorite. A lot of food from camp left much to be desired, really.

Still, Aoi was grateful to have something in her hands to keep them from shaking. She was sure that Labramon could hear her heart beating like a taiko drum in her chest. If she did, she was too nice to say it aloud.

A bright voice snapped Aoi out of her thoughts. "Who would've thought we live that close to each other?" Sitting beside Aoi on the wooden bench, Saki swung her legs back and forth. "You'll come visit, right?"

Aoi tried to break the tension inside her with a smile. "Of course I will. And you can always come see me too."

"It's a deal. I love that for us." Saki stretched her arms for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Did Shuuji finally get picked up or what?"

No sooner had she said that, the older boy came and went from a nearby window in a flash. A flash of him again, this time in the opposite direction. Still pacing around outside, Aoi guessed. She had caught a glimpse of his partner perched on his shoulders. Lopmon had one long brown ear draped over Shuuji to shield him from the sun.

Saki shook her head. "That guy doesn't know how to sit still."

Aoi frowned. "I can't say I blame him, knowing the kind of family he has…"

At least she and her friends had each other's backs when they came back to camp with their partners, trying to rein in the ensuing hysteria that had almost blown apart the school. Takuma had taken the lead, as he did for most things, to explain the existence of Kemonogami. Others have said that Aoi had also done a lot to calm everyone down with cool-headed rationale. That was out of the way now, but there were still families to deal with. That everyone had to sort out on their own.

Camp ended earlier this morning, with most of the kids picked up by their families within a few hours. Kaito and Miu lived in the area and didn't need to be picked up, of course, but they had to head home so they wouldn't worry their parents. Aoi, Saki, and Shuuji, on the other hand, lived the farthest away from camp. That left them the last waiting to be picked up. Sitting alone in the gym just with Saki and their partners, with no adult chaperones in obvious sight, brought Aoi back to the old, abandoned school she and the other Survivors had called their home for what seemed like a stranded eternity.

The Survivors, that was what they had called themselves. Or what Minoru had called their little ragtag band, to be exact. As often as Aoi would roll her eyes at the antics of the resident jokester, she had to admit that the name had a nice ring to it.

Dust motes made a slow, lazy dance in shafts of sunlight that streamed through the gym windows. Saki huffed a sigh, which turned into a sneeze that sent the nearest motes from a dance into a frenzy.

"We've been here forever," she whined, dragging out the last word. "If I could have my own car and drive, we'd all be home by now."

Aoi wrinkled her nose. "If you went a hundred-thirty kilometers an hour the whole way, maybe."

Saki giggled. "I would if I could!"

"That sounds like fun," Floramon said with a huge grin.

"That sounds dangerous," Labramon said with a small frown.

"Honestly, I don't mind the wait." Aoi felt like she needed all the time in the world to prepare for what came next.

The wild, harrowing, often death-defying journey through that other world was over. So was camp. Soon the two worlds would merge. Contact between humans and Kemonogami was inevitable.

"You're nervous about your family meeting me, aren't you?" Labramon gazed up at Aoi, her eyes as gentle as her inquiry.

"Yeah, I am." Aoi forced herself to take a bite of cold, bland sandwich. Anything to relieve her tight, dry throat. "But it can't be helped. Besides, if there's any Kemonogami my parents have to run into, I'd rather you be the first."

Labramon tilted her head. "What are your parents like? I didn't get the chance to ask earlier."

Aoi didn't get the chance to answer. She opened her mouth just as one of the teachers poked his head through the gym door and called for her.

"My dad's here. I have to go." Aoi rose to her feet, slung the strap of her bookbag over her shoulder, and glanced back at Saki. "You'll be okay here?"

The younger girl winked. "Don't worry about me. We got our fearless leader patrolling the block."

Floramon waved her frilly purple hand. "And she's got me, of course!"

Saki rolled up the sleeves of her pink jacket, putting on a very solemn game face. "We'll hold down the fort to bravely fight off our worst enemy: sheer boredom."

Aoi fought back a laugh. "I know you'll win." She played along with giving Saki a salute, then she turned, took a deep breath, and headed out of the gym to confront her own obstacle.

Her father waited at the curb in his truck, his build and frame not towering over his daughter only because he sat behind the wheel. Aoi picked up her brisk stride into what she hoped was an easy loping run, not a terrified scramble up to him.

"Morning, kiddo," he said as he rolled the window down. "Or should I say afternoon? Sorry for the long wait."

"It's all good, Dad."

His muscular hair-matted arm rested on the edge of the window. He looked down to address what his eyes had been tracking the moment Aoi had stepped outside the gym. "You must be the new friend my girl was talking about."

"Yes, sir," Labramon replied.

To Aoi's relief, her father didn't fall over in surprise at Labramon opening her mouth. Good thing she had that talk over the phone with her dad beforehand. She wanted to make this encounter as smooth and painless as possible.

Aoi forced herself to take in another deep, calming breath. "Dad, I'd like you to meet Labramon. Labramon, this is my father, Tatsuo Shibuya."

Labramon sat on her haunches to give a proper, formal bow. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Shibuya."

The ends of his dark moustache perked with his smile. "You are very well-mannered. I appreciate polite company. Hop in, it's a long drive back home."

Aoi opened the back car door for Labramon and helped her partner get strapped into the backseat before joining her dad up front. She almost collapsed into the front seat beside him. Mixed relief and exhaustion had turned her legs into boneless jelly.

A faraway shout made Aoi look out the window. Saki had emerged from the gym to stand beside Shuuji, and they waved at her as Tatsuo drove the truck away. Aoi waved back until her friends dwindled out of sight.

Her father glanced at the rearview mirror. "How's the air back there? Not too cold for you?"

"It's perfectly fine, Mr. Shibuya," Labramon replied.

Tatsuo shook his head and said in a lower voice, "Well, I'll be. A talking animal. And there's more of them too."

"There will be a lot more coming, Dad," Aoi said softly. "It's only a matter of time."

The car left the winding backwood roads and got on the freeway. Aoi caught a whiff of cologne from her dad. He'd put that on to mask the stench of sweat and smoke--just one of many quirks with having a firefighter dad. The familiar smell of family and home comforted her.

Tatsuo didn't turn on the usual rock music. No one said anything for a while. Then he said, "We have to talk about your mom."

Her fists on her lap and her gut clenched at the same time. "She needs to know. Labramon is very important to me. She isn't just some stray dog I picked up off the street."

"She definitely doesn't look and sound like she's from around here, that's for sure." Tatsuo glanced at his daughter. "Just what kind of mess did you get yourself into?" The naked disbelief in his eyes softened. "It's a long drive. We got plenty of time, kiddo."

There was so much Aoi couldn't talk about over text and call. He was right, this was a good time to explain everything. So she did her best to sum up the adventure she had, starting from the moment she and her friends had stumbled into that strange shrine. An hour passed when she finally stopped to wrap up and catch her breath.

Tatsuo stared ahead, as if there was a fork in the road and he contemplated which side to take. Finally he said, "That's a lot to take in."

"Yeah, and a lot of it is really weird. I don't blame you if you-"

"No, I believe you." He made a looping turn to merge into another freeway. "You got a good head on your shoulders, Aoi. You're not the kind of person to make up stuff out of the blue. You don't speak up unless there's real good reason to."

Relief filled her like rising warm air again.

"Besides, I can already tell that you've changed a lot since I last saw you."

"Really?"

"If it's only been a few days at camp but a lot longer in that other world, then yeah, there's been enough time for you to come out a very different person. In a good way, of course." Tatsuo reached over to briefly rest a hand on her shoulder. "This is the most I've ever heard you talk. You sound so sure of yourself. If you told me that the earth is flat, and I didn't know any better, I'd believe you. I'm so proud of you, kiddo."

Her cheeks warmed. "Dad…"

He sighed through his nose. "We need to figure out the best way to tell your mom, though. It'll take a lot more work to get through to her, if we can at all."

We. Dad was taking her side. That reassured Aoi immensely. Still, she didn't want to think about her mom now. As grateful as she was for her father believing her so easily, the combined efforts of explaining everything to the kids at camp and then him took a lot out of her. Talking to her mom about Labramon was a whole other hurdle to jump over.

Tatsuo seemed to take the hint as he exited the freeway to the nearest gas station. "How about a bathroom break and snacks for the road?"

When he got out to fill up the car with gas, Aoi turned in her seat to look back at Labramon. "I'm sorry, but you should stay in here. I don't know how people out there will react to you. I'll go in and get you whatever you want."

Labramon wagged her fluffy tail. "Sure, I understand. And I'll have whatever you're having."

Aoi was glad to have such an agreeable partner. She remembered Takuma telling her how much Agumon had put up a protest about staying hidden.

She couldn't help asking, "What do you think of my father?"

Labramon replied without hesitation, "He may look big and scary, but he's a kind and reasonable man."

"Good, I'm glad you like him."

"He reminds me a lot of you."

"Does he?" It had never occurred to Aoi that she took after her dad in any way. If anything, she had always wished she could be half as brave and strong as him. He could run into burning buildings while she couldn't even speak up for herself in class.

She was mulling over this as she browsed the snack aisle, and seeing the sweets jerked her out of those thoughts. She had claimed that Labramon was not an ordinary dog, but she wasn't sure if her partner could eat chocolate. Better to be safe than sorry, she thought. Aoi loaded up on the shrimp chips, rice crackers, and ramune instead.

She paid for the snacks and drinks in a sort of daze, every movement a second delayed. Back in the other world, she was so used to fetching rations for herself and her friends without going through anyone else. The idea of forking over cash in exchange felt foreign to her now.

Welcome back to the real world, she told herself.

Soon the "real world" wouldn't be even that anymore, but a new one as the world of Kemonogami would seep more and more into the fabric of reality. According to the mural, things would go back to the way it should be. Aoi didn't know what that would be like. The idea of it both excited and terrified her. No one, not even any of the Survivors, was truly ready for that new era. Didn't mean that Aoi wasn't going to do anything she could to prepare her family, though.

She returned to the car popping open a bag of chips for Labramon, then a bag of her dad's favorite brand of wasabi-flavored rice crackers for him to grab from the cup holder.

"These are so good!" Labramon had shrimp chip dust all around her snout. "I can't stop eating these! Human food is something else."

It heartened Aoi to hear her dad laugh at that. "I don't know what kind of food you had where you came from, but I can't argue with you there."

"Aoi's cooking is even better," Labramon added.

"Dad's cooking is the best," Aoi said modestly. "Everything I know about cooking, I learned from him."

When her dad wasn't busy putting out fires, he was an amateur cook who loved being around another kind of fire, the kind from the grill in their backyard. Despite the bag of shrimp chips she was eating from, Aoi now craved her dad's barbecue from home. She wanted Labramon to try it sometime.

Her four-legged companion through thick and thin was part of her family now. Aoi wanted to believe in that very badly. It wasn't up to her, though.

Aoi looked at the rearview mirror to meet Labramon's eyes, wishing she could face her partner properly for this kind of conversation. "I'd love for you to come home with us, believe me, but the thing with my mom…" She sighed. "Well, two things. One, she's allergic to anything with fur on it…"

"What does allergic mean?"

"It's um…the body's way of overreacting to certain things, like to peanuts or dust," Aoi replied. "In my mom's case, fur makes her cough, sneeze, and itch all over."

"I'll try not to touch her, I can keep my distance."

"Just you being nearby would set her off. Her allergies are pretty bad. But that's not even the worst of it. Two, she's terrified of dogs. Utterly, irrationally terrified of them."

Labramon frowned. "I'm not a dog."

"I know, but she won't."

"This huge fear she has, it's called a phobia," Tatsuo said. "When you're so afraid of something, you can't think straight. Your mind and body go into panic overdrive, fight or flight mode, as if you're in a life or death situation."

"That sounds terrible," Labramon said. Her pink ears drooped. "So it's probably for the best that she doesn't meet me at all."

Aoi bit down on her lip. "I wish it doesn't have to come to that…"

She hadn't thought about where Labramon could go besides her house. More like she didn't want to think about it. Now she forced herself. Her mind blanked out on the options, her stomach sunk lower and lower into a pit of despair…

Aoi's phone buzzed in her pocket, startling her. It was a text from Takuma in the Survivor group chat.

"Introduced Agumon to my mom," the text said. "He loves her curry so much that he ate two bowls in under a minute. He's a keeper in her book, she said."

Aoi wished that winning over her mother could be that simple.

Next came the string of laughing emojis from everyone else.

Another text from Takuma, this time asking if the late stragglers got home okay. "Still on the road," Aoi texted back.

Incoming call from Saki. Aoi picked up.

"Hey, beat you home," Saki declared from the other end.

Aoi could not help laughing. "It's not a race, Saki." That girl had a talent for lightening up the mood without driving her up the wall like Minoru would. "How are things at home?"

"Oh, just swell. It's love at first sight. Mom and Dad adore Floramon. 'You got what you wished for,' my dad said."

"What does he mean by that?"

"Try not to laugh, this is going to sound silly, but I'm in my school's gardening club and I'd talk to the plants. You know, complaining about boys and too much homework."

Aoi didn't laugh. "Talking to plants is actually good for them. Something about how they grow more from the sound waves and carbon dioxide we emit. I read that somewhere."

"Of course you did. You're so smart, Aoi." Saki said that with no sass whatsoever, but with genuine admiration. "Thank you for validating my craziness."

Aoi laughed then. "You're welcome, I guess."

"Anyway, I'd always wish that the plants could talk back. Well, I ended up with something better. I got Floramon!"

"Congratulations. It sounds like it couldn't have ended any better."

"Right? I hope it goes well for you, too."

"I don't know about that."

"Why not?"

Aoi paused, but not for long. With Saki, she felt like she could tell her anything, no holds barred. "My mom won't react well to meeting Labramon. She definitely wouldn't let her stay in our house. She's allergic to dogs and has a phobia of them."

Saki winced. "That's tough, I'm sorry." Then her voice went up an octave. "Hey, I got an idea. If you're having trouble figuring out where Labramon should go instead, why not let her stay at my place with me and Floramon?"

Aoi sat up straighter in her car seat. "Oh, Saki, are you sure?"

"That's a great idea," Floramon's voice floated in from the background. "Labramon should at least be with friends, if not with Aoi's family. Definitely not out on the streets alone."

"Definitely not," Aoi swiftly agreed. The very thought of Labramon wandering around without food and shelter like a stray sent a vice through her chest. "But Saki, is that really okay?"

"Sure it is! I have to let Mom and Dad know, but I'm sure they'll understand. There's plenty of food and room at my place for both our partners."

Aoi slumped in her seat, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. "Saki, I can't thank you enough. That's so kind of you…"

"After everything you did to keep all of us alive, it's the least I can do."

"No, this is huge. Thank you, really." Aoi's voice began to tremble. "How can I repay-"

"Uh uh, don't mention it. Labramon can stay rent-free for as long as she needs to."

Aoi couldn't get anything out now, her throat all choked up with emotion. Labramon spoke in her stead from the back of the truck.

"Thank you so much, Saki. Aoi and I are grateful from the bottom of our hearts."

"Just helping out friends in need. Oh, got to go. Dinner's ready. Call me back when you're going to drop off Labramon!"

Aoi hung up, still overwhelmed beyond words.

"So that's Saki, huh?" Tatsuo said. "She seems like a sweet girl."

"The sweetest," Aoi finally managed to say. And the bravest. And the strongest. Everything Aoi wanted to be but couldn't be. She couldn't help feeling a swell of envy rising with admiration for the other girl. Floramon was taken in and accepted just like that. Then again, with the unseen burden Saki had to bear, she deserved that much to have something go that easy when everything else in her life was so damn hard. A stab of guilt swiftly followed that ebb of envy.

"Labramon staying with your friend Saki is a really good start," Tatsuo said.

Aoi nodded in agreement. She could rest easy knowing that Labramon would be safe, and she could avoid being less than honest and upfront with her mom by sneaking Labramon into the house and hiding her somewhere. If there was anything her mother hated more than dogs, it was dishonesty. And if there was anything her mother loved second only to the family, it was being considerate.

Since the moment she had learned to speak, Aoi had learned next from her mom to always think of others before herself, always be considerate. Aoi was resorting to Labramon being housed elsewhere out of consideration for her mom. That much was true. She hoped her mom would come to appreciate that.

Tatsuo ran fingers through his short dark hair. "She's already worried about you as it is. She's been fretting since she last heard of the landslides near the camp."

Aoi was well aware of that. Back in the other world, in the deepest level of the shrine, she had been startled with the least garbled text she had seen so far. That text was from her mom. She could just hear the worry coming off those half-garbled words.

"Let's get back home and make sure Mom knows I'm okay," Aoi said. "Then when the dust settles down, we can try introducing Labramon to her."

A sensible plan, in her opinion. Too much all at once wouldn't go down well with her mom, or she'd have a full-blown panic attack.

Every second in the truck with her dad brought Aoi closer to home. After everything she went through, she should relax now. Unfortunately she felt anything but relaxed. Together with Labramon, Aoi had conquered a murderous fog and beastly gods. So why did her heart beat so hard and fast in her chest, as if she was about to face her greatest enemy yet?

#digimon survive spoilers #digimon fanfiction #aoi shibuya #saki kimishima #aoi x saki #compiled all my past aoi and saki headcanons into a proper fic woo hoo

3 notes · View notes

crystalelemental · 10 months

Text

Well. That was…a trial. Top 100 for the moment though, thoughts and strats under the cut. Take this as both my clears, and a general guide for what works well where.

Vs. Marlon I started with Marlon because he genuinely seems like the biggest bastard. Condition cuts Striker stats by like 80%, and he's got team Endurance on entry. That sucks, man. Your solution is to tech nuke everything, which is super risky, or to have multi-hit. It's basically a check for Dojo Gloria and NC Serena at that point, so hope y'all are whales.

(Un)Fortunately for me, I am. So I had Neo Champion Serena. I opted to go with some stall strats with flinch, as well as Lodge Adaman to top off special attack and otherwise wall. He did a pretty good job! Serena's function was to denial left, then focus damage on center. It won't be enough to KO at all, but it'll get you there. We actually lucked out here. I had the last sync go on the right to try a quick KO. It failed, so I had two options at low HP but not dead, as Adaman dropped. Meaning if I hit center, side would queue up a move, which it did, like a bastard. Thankfully, Serena's debuffing is hilarious, and the -2 accuracy paid off. Not doing this one again.

Vs. Archie This likely would have been much easier with 3/5 EX Dojo Gloria. Much, much easier. But, I didn't do that, like an idiot, so here's this crap instead. Honestly, even EX Lana would've made this less stupid. The double damage could really matter. As you can tell, I had to tone down the difficulty, because Lodge Rosa is bad.

The strategy is reasonably sound. Dojo Gloria rapidly debuffs for Rosa's sync. Gauges are a little iffy, but prioritize Gloria and Lana and you'll be alright. That said, Lana is the ideal tank here. Sincerely, use Lana. Leech Life is super-effective against Archie, you recover a good amount per action despite what he throws at you. The stage being all physical also means Lana just blocks a ton. Lana is very, VERY good at this stage.

Vs. Lana My greatest ally has become my greatest challenge. Seriously, if Marlon isn't the worst, Lana is. Lana's problem is raw offense. She's got high-BP moves with accuracy issues, that are rectified by +2 accuracy on entry. Combined with "no healing," this makes Lana a fairly significant threat.

SS Blue is a good pick here. He boosts defense, the primary consideration, very rapidly, and his passive healing sucks shit anyway. Team Endurance on sync is also incredibly helpful. I went with May and SS Lysandre, because Lys has all the firepower he needs under Rain and with an EX sync boost at his back. The strategy is to burn all opponents, hoping for +2 special attack from Team Shout, then firing Buddy move after the EX support sync. In my case, I gave my EX Lysandre second sync to quickly remove sides and consolidate May's DPS into Lana. It worked out.

Vs. Misty SS Kris stays winning. Archie is probably overkill with her, but mine's 2/5 and non-EX, so we needed this. Eevee Lyra is for gauge issues, which this team otherwise struggles wildly with. Lyra's honestly great, because Tech nuke on center, to complement DPS spread. The sides will easily drop first though, and thankfully Archie's Origin Pulse compresses, so good stuff.

Misty's only consideration is that she has Hail and Blizzard spam. Shut down Hail, you shut down Misty. Her condition is no status, which sounds scary because it includes flinch and sleep so there's no cheese. But all stages have Resilience activate after recovering from a flinch, so raw cheese strats fail anyway, her condition is redundant. I think she's the easiest overall.

Vs. Nessa Comparable to Lana, but with a few notes. First, I am running out of good, invested Water-types at this point. Second, Hilbert sucks in this mode. These fights are an endurance contest, boosting defenses is essential and he cannot do anything with that, so I had to rely on Marlon. Third, Kris' damage output in this mode is sadly lacking, so she needs another partner for offense. Eusine was that partner, not just because of spread damage, which...doesn't matter as much with her sync. But because of Buddy Surf's flinch. Two 20% rolls isn't much, but it's enough to block Nessa's first attack after sync and delay until Kris can finish the job. At 300 Strength, anyway. 400 was routinely too much for this comp. There's the possibility, albeit slight, that a 3/5 Eusine would perform better with just added Rain. I'd be willing to try it, if I had the resources. But I'm conserving.

Nessa is a pure fight. She has no conditions to speak of, and is kinda like a toned down Lana. Razor Shell has 95 accuracy, but she doesn't boost accuracy so it can miss. It won't, but you know. Nessa's biggest problem is Earthquake. It can really hurt sides. If she leads with it, you've basically lost already.

General Impressions With sufficient tools to actually meet these fights, this is...relatively fun? Like it's annoying in many ways, but this very much feels like an exchange of blows. Like, you know how Champion Stadium is more just "kill them before they kill you?" This is the opposite end of the 3v3 meta. This is the kind where survival skills matter. And it's interesting, because it means not just defensive buffs matter, but Master Passives matter. That damage reduction does stuff now. It's interesting.

I just wish it wasn't so rough. Like, the free Water pairs in the game suck. Water damage is handled mostly by Cyrus, who doesn't count. Hilbert sucks in this mode. Kris isn't too great either. May does alright for herself because Rain. Lana's good in one stage at least. Elio feels like dead weight; bad buffing and Sing is counterplayed. It feels very reliant on having some premium options to win with. I don't love that. And I love it less that the minimum for all rewards is 180k. And I extra super hate that they made a medal for placing top 10k in ranked. Fuck off, Masters. This is low importance enough I don't care, but consider me pissed. This better not lead to anything.

#high score event #at one point I will definitely go back to attempt 300k overall

1 note · View note

cosmicjoke · 3 years

Note

Hello! Thank you for sharing many great analysis posts. I'm rather new to this fandom and I only read some of your posts so I'm sorry if my ask is repetitive. So I came across this weird take on Levi today and I was surprised how some people degrade him in this way. The person said "Had Erwin supported the rumbling, Levi would've done it as well considering Levi as a character who has no backbone or foresight himself, and this is proven by the fact that killing Zeke by feeding him to a Jaegerist would leave Paradis unable to defend themselves with the founder" I can't disagree more with this interpretation because it's wrong in many ways, although I got curious about 2 things:

1) What do you think would've Levi done had Erwin really supported the rumbling (I know even that's impossible since Erwin would never do that but just in case :) )?

2) What do you think of the proof this person brought up? We all know Levi didn't kill Zeke in many occasions as he was prioritizing humanity predominantly; however, do you think since he suggested they could feed Zeke to a Jaegerist it confirms he was ok to doom humanity in the end? I mean perhaps he would've killed Zeke had he not been engaged in the explosion.

Sorry for the weird question. I absolutely disagree with the OP's viewpoint; but it made me intrigued at some point. I'd be happy to read your thoughts. Thank you :)

Hi there, and again thank you for the ask!

To answer the first question, in the highly unlikely scenario that Erwin would have supported the Rumbling, there's no way in hell Levi would have agreed with or supported it in turn. The only reason Levi chose to follow Erwin in the first place was because he believed wholeheartedly in Erwin's altruistic vision of freedom for humanity. It was Erwin's speech to Levi about fighting FOR humanity that drove Levi to join the SC, because he believed fully then in Erwin's ability to lead humanity to salvation. At the same time, there are multiple instances throughout the manga and anime of Levi showing blatant frustration and even anger at Erwin for some of the choices he makes, showing clear disagreement, and discomfort with some of Erwin's plans, so this notion that Levi can't think for himself and can't make his own choices is absurd. He chooses to follow Erwin because he believes in Erwin's good intentions and ability to lead. Levi's entire motivation is to save people. That's who he is. He follows Erwin because he believes doing so will help to save the greatest number of people. He wants, in every battle situation, to protect and keep alive as many of his fellow soldiers as he can. He's the most humanistic character in the entire series, showing a greater appreciation for the value of human life than any other. To not see this about his character is to show a gross misunderstanding of who he is as a character.

As to your second question, whoever this person is that made this "point" about Levi killing Zeke and feeding him to a Jeagerist being tantamount to dooming humanity, they left out the most important part of that plan, which is that he thought, once Historia had given birth, she could then herself eat the Yeagerist, and thus create the same situation between Zeke and Eren of being able to join together, only obviously, Historia would have been infinitely more reliable and trustworthy an ally than Zeke. Levi wanted to feed Zeke to a Yeagerist only temporarily, because he wasn't go to force a pregnant woman to turn into a Titan and eat Zeke. Levi wasn't willing or trying to doom humanity, he was working with what he had in a desperate situation. He knew he couldn't trust Zeke, and he wasn't sure as to Eren's true intentions, so he chose, wisely I think, to put more faith in Eren, someone who had been a trusted ally and fellow soldier for five years, over Zeke, someone who had done nothing but lie up to that point, and killed countless numbers of his comrades, including one of his best friends in Erwin. Levi had zero reason to trust Zeke, and he was right not to, because Zeke was planning his own form of genocide, the same as Eren.

Anyway, hope that answers your questions and thanks again for asking!

#shingeki no kyojin #attack on tian #Levi Ackerman #asks

10 notes · View notes

sou-ver-2-0 · 4 years

Note

I ended up killing Kanna in my game, but I would've voted Keiji to save both Kanna and Shin if given the option. I wish Keiji could've been an option because it would've been so interesting. Shin would've seen Sara sacrifice someone strong to protect the weak. I feel like that route would have Shin and Kanna be Sara's biggest allies taking the place of Keiji. I think about what a sacrifice Keiji route would be like often.

If I could kill Keiji to save both Kanna and Shin...

I wrote such a long response to this over the weekend, but I need to be more concise haha. I’ll do my best to cut down to the most important bits!

You see, my fellow Shin stan, your ask appeals to me on multiple levels. On the one hand, you remind me of my idealistic hopes for Shin and Sara. My dream is also to have a Shin-Sara-Kanna team-up. I fantasize about Shin and Sara making friends all the time! I love to imagine that they frequently befriended each other in the AI Simulations. They could have made a brilliant team! So long as Shin is staying true to himself, he would encourage Sara to protect the weak, while Sara could inspire him to be brave. I like to think that they could help each other hold onto their humanity even as the Death Game tries to strip them of it.

But you’re not just appealing to my higher ideals; this ask also brings out my darker impulses. You remind me of how my sister and I slammed the “Vote for Keiji” button when Sara is forced to choose a candidate in the first round of the Second Main Game. Even though Keiji is our “dependable ally,” he scares me more than anyone else in the group. He always has!

I like Keiji, and I want to help him, I really do, but he terrifies me. He tells me himself that I’m better off not trusting him, in one of his most honest and vulnerable moments. So why should I?

It’s not as though I’m especially inclined to sympathize with strong people. I sympathize with weak people! And within our little society in the Death Game, Keiji is absolutely a strong person! He seized a privileged position early on by lying that he’s a police officer, and using that job as a shield. Because he knows that when people are kidnapped, they’re dependent on law enforcers to step up, do the right thing, and save them. And thus he makes himself indispensable. He may be “always right” in his logic, but isn’t it so convenient how he’s “always right” in such a way that saves his own skin?

I could go on and on about all the ways Keiji gets under my skin, but the short version is this: even though Shin is the one who sent the Sacrifice Card to Sara, it hurts me more that Keiji did nothing in response. It hurts that Keiji made a grand gesture of giving Sara the Keymaster Card to win her trust, back when he thought she was strong and useful. But when Sara gets the Sacrifice Card—when she becomes a pariah—Keiji doesn’t even give Sara meaningful words of comfort. The character who brings comfort to Sara in her time of need is Gin. And the character who saves her life is Kanna.

Gin and Kanna are only children. Keiji is supposed to be our Protector. He’s supposed to be Sara’s friend. It hurts that in Sara’s greatest hour of need, Keiji abandoned her. That he instead made an alliance with the second-strongest person and devised a strategy that ensured his own safety above everyone else.

When Society’s Protectors fail to protect the vulnerable, isn’t it time to kick them out?

The thing is, if it were possible to vote for Keiji instead of Shin or Kanna, well… He’d have to be a weaker person, wouldn’t he? The fact that we literally can’t vote for Keiji shows just how strong he truly is. In the final vote, his portrait is there, tantalizing, next to the portraits of three of the weakest characters, and the game mechanic won’t even let you try to vote for him.

It makes me mad at him. That’s why your ask resonates with me so strongly. Because I feel as though my fury is righteous, and if there were only some magical way to kill Keiji instead, then wouldn’t I have the happy Shin-Sara-Kanna dream I want…?

As I was pondering how to finish this piece during my commute, I remembered Mr. Policeman’s words of wisdom.

Mr. Policeman: Fists of justice, eh… I’m fond of it, but that’s not really very nice.

Keiji: Why not…? I was in the right, wasn’t I?

Mr. Policeman: …Exactly. The more right you are, the less reason to stop you from throwing hands, right?

Universal principals are universal.

The truth is, deep down, I don’t want to kill Keiji. Even though he’s strong. Even though he’s manipulative. Even though he’s becoming a corrupt cop within our little Death Game society.

My anger towards him feels right, but killing him is still wrong.

If the foundation for a Shin, Sara, and Kanna friendship is that they somehow magically find a way to murder Keiji, even with his Keymaster Card… Isn’t that the darkest way to begin a friendship? Perhaps it would feel more heroic if Keiji had been using the Sacrifice Card to try to trick everyone, and then we somehow thwarted him, but even so… Isn’t that scenario still so pitiful for Keiji? As strong as he is, Keiji is a victim the same as everyone else.

In the Massacre Ending, when Sara and Nao walk home free, I don’t know if they can enjoy their friendship anymore with so much blood on their hands. Could Shin, Sara, and Kanna enjoy their friendship with Keiji’s blood on their hands?

I don’t know. But...I think it might not be the happiest dream after all. Even though I understand why you said you’d kill Keiji to save them both, because that’s what I was thinking too, and I really, truly want Shin and Kanna to both be alive.

This was a really intriguing question for me, even though you probably didn’t intend for me to take it this seriously, but you just offered me my happiest dream in exchange for my darkest temptation. I want to grab that dream, but I also want to resist that temptation!

Thank you for asking. This was so interesting for me to wrestle with.

(P.S. I love your blog!! Your headcanons are always so sweet!!)

#yttd #your turn to die #kimi ga shine #your turn to die spoilers #mine #asks #meta #i got really self indulgent in this i hope that's okay adlkfjhsdfg

88 notes · View notes

drifting-mindspace · 4 years

Text

Things we deserved to get from the Naruto manga and anime that we never got -

• JONIN NARUTO -

We followed him around as the lovable Genin knucklehead. Now it goes without saying that him being a Jonin is just a rank and honestly doesnt mean much. Rescuing Gaara, going after Kakuzo, Mount Miyaboku were all A & S-rank missions.

But I would liked to have seen him doing missions post war in a slightly more mature yet typically knuckleheaded manner instead of the passing phrase he made tonShikamaru about being too busy doing missions for the next 6 months.

We grew up with Naruto and now that he's older and stronger we dont get to see him in action.

• A Happily Married Kakashi & Shizune-

Hatake Kakashi has led a deeply traumatic life. His mother died when he was very young, his father committed suicide when he was 6 causing him to distance himself from everyone around him. The first person he opened up to and formed a bond with died moments later protecting him, the girl he deeply cared for and probably harbored feelings for which he was too afraid to confront died at his hands as he desperately tried to protect her, a year later his sensei died protecting the village. When he became a sensei to Team 7 he felt he was on a path to finding inner peace by ensuring these children avoid his traumas but his prized pupil went rogue shattering that hope. After all this I’d hoped he would’ve finally found a happy ending.

Why Shizune? Well I considered him and Kurenai getting together and him helping raise Mirai but Shizune has always felt like the only Kunoichi in Konoha who has her shit together. She is perfectly at peace with where she is in life. She is incredibly mature and level headed as she helps run the village with Tsunade. Someone who is at peace with herself and her aspirations is the perfect anchor for a man with a whirpool of trauma brewing in him.

Alas it seems like the showrunners have no intention of a romantic arc for Kakashi and the Hatake name will die with Kakashi.

• The Uzumaki Clan

Within a span of 3 months Naruto meets 3 Uzumaki clan members. Nagato, Karin and his own mother. While speaking with Kushina he finds out about the dark fate of the Uzumaki clan. How they were blessed with unimaginably high chakra reserves and were gifted in Sealing Jutsus, longevity and how it led to them being targeted by those who feared them leading to their village being wiped out and scattered across the shinobi world.

Instead of turning the Naruto saga into the Uchiha Chronicles Id have preferred a deep dive into the Uzumaki clan. Maybe even have a Sasuke-like venegeful figure who wants Konoha to suffer because they failed to provide aid to the village they called their strong allies in their greatest hour of need.

Like Sasuke this villain would’ve witnessed his fellow clansmen cut down, unlike Sasuke however he wouldn’t have had the likes of Naruto, Itachi or Kakashi to anchor him in the light leaving room for redemption.

This could have been the one villain that was so far gone in his pain and hatred that no amount of 'talk no jutsu' could have changed his mind and would've pushed Naruto to the very brink until he finally had to choose between killing his clansman or protecting his village.

Naruto would make the ultimate sacrifice for Konoha and this would all the more set his resolve to pulling Sasuke back from the darkness or dying with him.

An Uzumaki villain gifted in Fuijutsu and the use of the Uzumaki Kekkei Genkai, the Adamantine Chains along with massive chakra reserves would be the perfect power scaled villain for Post Pain Arc Naruto.

Instead we got Uchiha chronicles where everyone did whatever the fuck they thought of doing and chakra limits were all but history. This one really disappointed me. Which brings me to my next disappointment.

• Naruto Killing a Villain

Now I know it seems like an odd hang up. Naruto? Kill? But he is so fixated on redemption. That is exactly why I wanted this to happen. The series has gone out of its way to make sure Naruto hasn’t killed a character. The worst of it was against Kakuzu. The kind of attack unleashed upon Kakuzu SHOULD by all means have killed him. Yet somehow he was left in a ‘dying state’ and Kakashi was the one who did the deed.

Naruto being forced to kill a villain as a last resort and making a choice between saving someone dear to him or tainting his hands with blood was the ultimate moral conundrum for a shinobi whose biggest goal was rescuing his best friend from the dark. It would take him back to Itachi’s words where he asked Naruto what he would if Sasuke decided to destroy the village.

Instead we saw Rasen Shuriken and Rasengan getting scaled down to a point where they always injure and opponent but not kill him. For an S-rank jutsu, Rasen Shuriken happens to be quite lenient.

• Neji beoming the head of the Hyuuga Clan

This pisses me off the most. Neji was supposed to be to the Hyuuga was Naruto was to Konoha. I always expected Neji to overcome all the obstacles and get recognized by Hiashin who would then redeem himself and disband the branch system once and for all. Hiashin as a character was never redeemed. Here was a man who let his brother get executed to avoid punishment (albeit he was against it but it did happen), constantly abused his kind daughter and belittled her for being too soft and put her down to a point her personality was underdeveloped and she had deep seethed confidence issues.

Disbanding the branch system and making Neji the leader would redeem him in the eyes of the readers/ viewers and would clean up the Hyuuga clan.

Instead Neji was scrapped aside to give Naruto and Hinata a bonding moment. They had a bonding moment, it was when she almost died saving his life. Neji didn’t have to die for them to get together ffs. What a wasted potential.

• NaruSaku

Now I’m not a fanatic shipper. In fact when I read and watched the original series I absolutely HATED Sakura. My hatred for her reached it’s peak during the Zabuza arc when Naruto ran at the S-rank villain, got kicked away and got up to show he went in for his forehead protector. “What do you think you’re doing Naruto? Even Sasuke-kun wasn’t a match for him.” I just wanted Naruto to turn around and tell her to stfu in that moment. As the series approached the time skip I was well and truly content with NaruHina.

But Shippuden changed things. The hints towards Sakura’s changed feelings were sprinkled all over the series. One moment that stands out for me was the Clone Training arc where Sai tests her by abusing Naruto and she goes on a rage rant about how great he is. Let’s not forget that in her darkest hour, as she saw a ruined and destroyed village the only person she thought of and cried out to was Naruto. Not because she felt he could save the village (she was as shocked as Shikamaru as she found out he was facing pain alone) but because when things when bad for her the only person who she felt comfort around was indeed Naruto and that is indisputable.

She goes as far as ruining her friendship with Naruto, a bond she truly cherished as it was all she had left after Sasuke abandoned the village, and confessed her feelings to manipulate him. Yes manipulative, scheming and downright a bitch of a thing to do. But it was all she could think of to make Naruto stop chasing after Sasuke. She, more than anyone wanted to see Naruto become a Hokage and realize his dreams and dying while rescuing Sasuke was a risk she couldn’t take and she decided she’d have him hate her than die. Wrong yes. But oddly noble.

This combined with all the blatant attempts to establish her being like Kushina and Kushina saying she wants Naruto to find someone like her changed my mind from NaruHina. I still adore Hinata. She is a wonderful character. But organic plot progression is far more important to me than my ships being canon.

A Naruto-Sakura family would’ve been incredibly entertaining and the dynamics would be perfect. We’d see a Minato-Kushina couple on screen for the next series. Which brings me to my next disappointment.

•HinaShino

I don’t know if that’s the official name for the pairing but I always felt these 2 would make a great couple.They are both people of a few words and are both incredibly intuitive and understanding individuals. Shino would accept Hinata for who she was and vice versa. Being with someone who was happy with the person they were would go miles in helping them come out of their shells.

Altho this isn’t a massive disappointment for me. I’m happy that Hinata ended up with Naruto. But like I said organic plot progression matters to me and if Naruto ended up with Sakura I’d prefer Hinata to end up with Shino.

•Hiraishin No Jutsu

Sadly as the series progressed Naruto had become so OP that not letting him master his father’s improved version of Tobirama’s jutsu was a great decision. It would’ve just made him senselessly OP.

However instead of giving him all those God Tier power ups which he just gains in single training sessions I’d have preferred him working hard to master the Hirashin. Instead of sending him off to an island and treating him like a fucking idiot and asking him to survey animals I’d have preferred if Tsunade gave him an impossible task.

“You can’t fight in the battle. But I will only allow it if you can master your father’s jutsu.”

It was a period of 6 months between Danzo’s death and the start of the shinobi war. Ample time to show him training hard to learn a jutsu that for once required him to study. Hiraishin deals not just in physical acts of speed but also mastering seals. Seeing his friends go off to fight in the war as he was left behind would have only added to his frustration and motivated him more.

Showing Naruto training hard like they showed him training for Rasen Shuriken would’ve only made us cheer all the more harder when he’d make a badass entry on the battle field as Tobi came close to killing Kakashi and a three pronged Kunai swished between the two, an orange flash appeared and Naruto kicked Tobi away.

Sadly this was swapped for Pokemon evolutions where arc after arc Naruto levels up just like that. The show’s entire premise was based on hard work and guts.

Sasuke was the genius who gained his power through natural ability. Sure he trained hard but his strength came to him with ease. Naruto had to slog. He manged to make the Rasengan after nearly 15 episodes of training and even then he had to get stabbed to be able to use it. It wasn’t until another 10 episodes that he properly used it. His training for the Rasenshuriken took an entire season to yield results and even then he didn’t learn to throw it until he trained for another 3 seasons till the Pain arc.

Post pain all this is tossed aside. He sits at the waterfall twice and beats the darkness. He sits in the room once and tames Kurama. Later Kakashi and Guy are in trouble, he has an inner dialogue with Kurama and suddenly he mastered the two man team with no prior training. Rikkodu Sennin touches him once and suddenly he’s learnt how to grow eyes, stop death and fly just like that.

The series stopped being the Naruto series we grew up with post Danzo and it saddens me.

• Naruto Sensei -

And finally my last and greatest disappointment of all. Not seeing Naruto as a sensei. We’ve seen glimpses of his nurturing side in his interactions with Konohamaru but I’d have loved to have seen 40-50 episodes of him leading his own squad of genins. A perfect combination of Kakashi and Guy as he’d wow them with his brilliance and equally embarrass them in day to day interactions with his goofy tomfoolery. His genins would be in awe of him. Naruto Sensei - the hero of the war.

His students could have an arrogant son/daughter of a feudal lord who insisted he be trained by the war hero, Naruto and Kakashi had to cave in for diplomatic reasons. Naruto refuses to take anyone who doesn’t work hard to get where they are but after the bell test sees potential in the child. A child with no ninja background. His parents were farmers outside of Konoha who were very poor. His sole aim is to be a ninja so strong that he’s always assigned big missions that will help him ease his family’s financial burdens. A genin from the Inuzuka clan (or any other clan, maybe even Hanabi if the show wanted to push more Naruto-Hinata interactions) who thinks he’s better than the other 2 because of his family background but is taught humility by Naruto.

Sadly another development in Naruto’s life we were denied.

Well that’s my rant essay. I know a lot of people won’t agree with what I had to say but I wanted to get it off my best anyway. Why?

Because I wanted to dattebayo!

67 notes · View notes

thousandeyesand-one · 5 years

Text

S08E01

Ok so here's where D&D suck. They try to create an "open to interpretation" kind of scenario with most female characters, arya is definitely there but nobody is given a hard time over it more than Daenerys. They never explain or make her explain the why's & how's, because they want daenerys to be the "bad ass dragon queen whose impulse has given the show it's many epic cinematic moments"

GRRM does something quite similar too. He writes characters as faulted as human beings are supposed to be, he likes to conflict a reader's mind in the most tiring way possible. He said afterall he believes Faulkner's words "The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself".

He makes his character do an action/say some words that more or likely they HAD to. But then he introduces the consequences of the said action/words while at the same time he gives a reason & understanding of why such a hard decision was made/tough words were used. GRRM creates conflict in such a way that it is upto YOU. The Reader, to decide for themselves what they make of the situation. Which ultimately means it's only one's assumption to choose to believe the character was wrong because you choose to ignore the reason behind their action/words. While the one's who support the character chooses to accept the character not only with the reason behind the action/words but also with the consequences of it.

Your "hate" towards daenerys is just YOUR assumption, your villainization of daenerys is just YOUR assumption, your degradation of daenerys's efforts & experiences is just YOUR assumption. Not the actual story definitely not the author's intent.

The scene where daenerys takes the unsullied is the most bad-ass, jaw dropping & inspiring scene centered on a female character ever. When it dropped I remember GA being taken by how "bad-ass" she is. But now I see haters using Astaphor as a "brutality" condoned by daenerys. All because the show never cared to reflect upon a deeper more sympathetic thought process behind doing what she did. While tge book reading haters like I said above choose to ignore her reason & only care about the consequences.

Tv Show: "we never really get this sense .. of her capacity for cruelty. They are surrounded by people who are terrible people but haven't done anything to her personally. It's interesting to me how the sphere of her empathy widens the sphere of her cruelty widens as well."

-Dan Weiss ( X )

Books:

"I was alone for a long time, Jorah. All alone but for my brother. I was such a small scared thing. Viserys should have protected me, but instead he hurt me and scared me worse. He shouldn't have done that. He wasn't just my brother, he was my king. Why do the gods make kings and queens, if not to protect the ones who can't protect themselves?"

"Some kings make themselves. Robert did."

"He was no true king," Dany said scornfully. "He did no justice. Justice . . . that's what kings are for."

– Daenerys III ASOS

The show never showed this side of daenerys's story GRRM is literally giving a reason behind what she is doing at Astaphor while in the future books you get the consequences of those actions, THAT'S HOW YOU CREATE AN INTERNAL CONFLICT IN A READER (&/or) VIEWER.

What D&D do with dany all the time is leave her reasons behind & only show her actions & the consequences. Which over time lead everyone to believe she is descending into some form of madness, that she is an entitled power hungry monarch & that she is actually being a villain! Ignoring the fact that D&D draw inspiration for the show from a book series whose author treats all of his characters in a conflicting manner.

Something like that happened in s08e01. Am not talking about the s@nsa vs daenerys situation. I think it's a call back to Alaric Stark & Queen Alysanne Targaryen's relations. Alaric Stark was known to be cold & hard towards Queen Alysanne at first but eventually softened towards her in time being as he got to know her more. S@nsa stans don't need a reason to hate on daenerys so this storyline was like a gift to them to continue that petty hate.

No matter what their relationship prospers into I have to say s@nsa was being unnecessarily rude towards daenerys. Alaric Stark actually had a reason to be cold towards the Targaryens, his brother died defending the wall against a mutiny caused by some prisoners King Jaehaerys had sent to the wall. But there is nothing that daenerys did to harm the Starks?! S@nsa herself has no reason to hold a grudge towards daenerys or the Targaryens. The northern lords are being a bunch of ignorant fucks still dwelling on the politics of the past that which a "smart" person would overlook given the state of emergency they are in. Instead s@nsa is using that ignorance to incite more segregation in Winterfell. Knowing well that the wall was breached she is treating the dragons as a burden when girl! they are your best defence against the undead one that Night King controls. S@nsa might be smart but right now she is not acting smart!

Regarding the matter of food, I don't think s@nsa understands the level of danger that the oncoming army of the dead possesses against the living. Alaric Stark was judgemental of Queen Alysanne & the party that travelled with her because she wasn't necessarily there to defend Winterfell against anything, she was there on one of the many royal progression's that the king & queen did all over the kingdoms. But daenerys isn't here on some progress she is here to stand her armies beside the North men & Knights of the Vale in the fight. It is S@nsa's duty as the Lady of Winterfell to arrange for the food & other commodities for perhaps the greatest alliance northerners have.

I don't much tread into the doylism aspect of things but the way s@nsa said that she didn't account for the dothraki & the unsullied did she mean she was expecting Jon to die in the south? Because there was only two ways Jon's southern trip would go he might return with allies hence more mouths to feed or he might die. That sure don't sound all that smart of a deduction though!

When daenerys said "whatever they want" she defended her children reminds me of how everyone used to tell the direwolves don't belong inside the castle walls but out in the wild but the stark kids defended them anyways. Daenerys did the same thing too she defended her magical wild beasts who, just like the direwolves are dangerous & different.

Daenerys expecting respect from sansa isn't entitlement, Jon is S@nsa's king & daenerys is Jon's Queen. By that it is a certain decency to give daenerys that respect. In inside the episode video David nutter & Sophie say that s@nsa wants daenerys to know that this is HER home??! I mean daenerys doesn't want her home she wants your respect, she has a home it's called Dragonstone!

“No man has ever died from bending his knee,” her father had once told her.

“He who kneels may rise again, blade in hand. He who will not kneel stays dead, stiff legs and all.”

-the Kings Prize ADWD

I just can't wait until s@nsa softens upto daenerys like Alaric did towards Alysanne. So people can actually focus on other more important things in the storyline.

Then about the reaction Sam had when he learnt about his father & brother's death.. THAT WAS ABSURD. He clearly wasn't that sad when he learned of randyll's death but his brother's death affected him most. Which reminds me of a quote..

He wondered whether Dickon would shed a tear for his brother who died in the snow, somewhere off beyond the edge of the world. Why should he? A coward’s not worth weeping over.

-Samwell I, ASOS.

Do it now. Stop crying and fight, you baby. Fight, craven. It was his father he heard, it was Alliser Thorne, it was his brother Dickon and the boy Rast.

Craven, craven, craven. He giggled hysterically, wondering if they would make a wight of him, a huge fat white wight always tripping over its own dead feet.

Do it, Sam. Was that Jon, now? Jon was dead. You can do it, you can, just do it.

-Samwell I, ASOS.

Sam remembers his brother in the books with the likes of Ser Alliser Thorne & Rast. It is understandable that his heart might be broken to listen of his brothers death but to do what he did especially to the last remaining family of his mentor, Maester Aemon Who treated him 1000x times better than both his father & brother.. Maester Aemon felt so passionately about Daenerys & he only trusted that information to Sam.

"No one ever looked for a girl," he said. "It was a prince that was promised, not a princess. Rhaegar, I thought... What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years. Daenerys is the one, born amidst salt and smoke. The dragons prove it." Just talking of her seemed to make him stronger. "I must go to her. I must."

-Maester Aemon, Samwell IV, AFFC.

Daenerys is our hope. Tell them that, at the citadel. Make them listen. They must send her a Maester. Daenerys must be counseled, taught, protected."

-Maester Aemon, Samwell IV, AFFC.

Alleras stepped up next to sam. "Aemon would've gone to her if he had the strength. He wanted us to send a Maester to her, to counsel her & protect her & fetch her safely home." "Did he?" Archmaester marwyn shrugged. "Perhaps it's good that he died before he got to oldtown. Elsewise the grey sheep might have had to kill him, and that would have made the poor old dears wring with wrinkled hands." "Kill him?" Sam said, shocked. "Why?" "If I tell you they may kill you too" marwyn smiled a ghastly smile the juice of the sourleaf running red between his teeth.

-Samwell V, AFFC.

It is so awful that Sam has infact put the last two family members of Maester Aemon's blood against each other. He is treating Daenerys the way he treated Alliser Thorne when Sam realised if Ser Alliser becomes the Lord Commander his life would be hell so he literally uses Jon & raises him to be a Lord Commander in the hind sight to protect himself. When Jon actually (in the books) decides to fight for Winterfell & take stannis's offer.

Instead, he blamed Jon Snow and wondered when Jon’s heart had turned to stone. Once he asked Maester Aemon that very question, when Gilly was down at the canal fetching water for them. “When you raised him up to be the lord commander,” the old man answered.

-Maester Aemon, Samwell III, AFFC

“Dragons,” Aemon whispered. “The grief and glory of my House, they were.”

- Maester Aemon, Samwell III, AFFC

Not only was Sam's reaction a little over the top but it was wrong how he channeled it upon Jon as well. He ruined the most important revelation of Jon's life because of, again, himself. Jon also didn't seem to care about the fact that daenerys is related to her (lmao) but was more taken aback by Sam suggesting him treason against daenerys.

I do not want to play the oathbreaker, even for good reason.

- Jon VIII, ACOK.

Jon Snow flexed the fingers of his sword hand, remembering all he’d lost. Sam, you sweet fat fool, you played me a cruel jape when you made me lord commander. A lord commander has no friends.

-Jon X, ADWD.

"I had a frightening dream last night, m'lord," Dolorous Edd confessed. "You were my steward, fetching my food & cleaning up my leaving. I was Lord Commander, with never a moment's peace." Jon did not smile. "Your nightmare, my life."

-Jon VI, ADWD.

Daenerys: "We all enjoy what we're good at" Jon: "I don't!"

-GOT, s07e03.

Jon doesn't want to have power for the sake of power. Over & over again in the books & in the show he made it clear he did what he did to fight the Army of the Dead not for a crown.

Jon: "Do you think we can beat the Army of the Dead without her? I fought them sansa twice, you want to worry about who holds what title I am telling you it doesn't matter. Without her we don't stand a chance.. Do you have any Faith in me at all?

Sansa: you know I do.

Jon: she'll be a good queen, for all of us. She's not her father.

Sansa: no, she's much prettier .... Did you bend the knee to save the North or because you love her?

-GOT s08e01

There are two reasons why anyone would bend the knee.

•Out of fear, fear of cruelty, collapse or death.

•Out of love & respect & trust.

Jon bent the knee to daenerys for the latter, that scene with sansa & Jon was cut off annoyingly leaving the argument hanging but there was more than just love, yes Love is there My god if this isn't what every jonerys stan had been screaming since s07 ended. But there was more than love, there was respect for letting him mine the dragonglass regardless of no existing alliance, there is also trust when daenerys actually not only let him go beyond the wall but also flew all the way there, solidifying the trust he placed in her to come to his aid without an alliance in place.

Jon glanced over his shoulder. The shadow was there, just as she had said, etched in moonlight against the wall. A girl in grey on a dying horse, he thought. Coming here, to you. Arya. He turned back to the Red priestess. Jon could feel her warmth. She has power. The thought came unbidden, seizing him with iron teeth, but this was not a woman he cared to be indebted to, not even for his little sister.

-Jon IV, ADWD.

But instead he chose to be indebted to daenerys by asking for her help without giving her anything in return. Because he trusts her to be a good, reliable Queen & she won his trust.

Sam: "Don't you know?

Jon: know what?

Sam: Daenerys, she executed my father & brother. They were her prisoners.

Jon: ......

Sam: she didn't tell you

Jon: I'm so sorry. We need to end this war.

Sam: would you have done it?

Jon: I have executed men who disobeyed me.

Sam: you've also spared men thousands of Wildlings when they refused to kneel.

Jon: I wasn't a king.

Sam: but you were you've always been. Jon: I gave her my crown Sam. I've bent the knee am not King in the North anymore.

Sam: Am not talking about the king in the north am talking about the king of the bloody seven kingdoms.

.......

your mother was Lyanna Stark your father, your real father was Rhaegar Targaryen. You've never been a Bastard you are Aegon Targaryen true heir to the iron throne.

.............

You're the true king, Aegon Targaryen, sixth of his name, protector of the realm, all of it.

Jon: Daenerys is our Queen.

Sam: she shouldn't be.

Jon: it's treason.

Sam: it's the truth. You gave up your crown to save your people would she do the same?

She literally did the very thing in s07e06 when she left dragonstone with Drogon, Rhaegal & Viserion to rescue Jon.

Tyrion: "You cant win the throne if you're dead. You cant break the wheel if you're dead."

Daenerys: "So what would you have me do?"

Tyrion: Nothing. Sometimes nothing is the hardest thing to do. If you die we're all lost everyone, everything!"

Daenerys: "You told me to do nothing once before & i lostened to you ... am not doing nothing again."

There are moments in the story both in books & show where we do undeniably see daenerys put the people or her children ahead of her crown.

That morning she summoned her captains and commanders to the garden, rather than descending to the audience chamber. "Aegon the Conqueror brought fire and blood to Westeros, but afterward he gave them peace, prosperity, and justice. But all I have brought to Slaver's Bay is death and ruin. I have been more khal than queen, smashing and plundering, then moving on."

"You have brought freedom as well," Missandei pointed out.

"Freedom to starve?" asked Dany sharply. "Freedom to die? Am I a dragon, or a harpy?" Am I mad? Do I have the taint?

"A dragon," Ser Barristan said with certainty. "Meereen is not Westeros, Your Grace."

"But how can I rule seven kingdoms if I cannot rule a single city?" He had no answer to that. Dany turned away from them, to gaze out over the city once again. "My children need time to heal and learn. My dragons need time to grow and test their wings. And I need the same. I will not let this city go the way of Astapor. I will not let the harpy of Yunkai chain up those I've freed all over again." She turned back to look at their faces. "I will not march."

"What will you do then, Khaleesi?" asked Rakharo.

"Stay," she said. "Rule. And be a queen."

– Daenerys VI, ASOS.

Not that she must or she needs to give up her crown for Jon or anyone so Sam can be convinced with her being a good queen. Fuck that! Sam is being impulsive here (something that daenerys is blamed of, turns out everyone does it) she has on multiple occasions put her people first. Sam hopefully learns it in time because his knows I don't want him to be the A-hole he acted like..

If she had been some ordinary woman, she would gladly have spent her whole life touching Daario, tracing his scars and making him tell her how he’d come by every one. I would give up my crown if he asked it of me, Dany thought … but he had not asked it, and never would. Daario might whisper words of love when the two of them were as one, but she knew it was the dragon queen he loved. If I gave up my crown, he would not want me. Besides, kings who lost their crowns oft lost their heads as well, and she could see no reason why it would be any different for a queen.

-Daenerys VII, ADWD.

A queen belongs not to herself but to her people.

– Daenerys V, ADWD.

The red priests believed in two gods, she had heard, but two who were eternally at war. Dany liked that even less. She would not want to be eternally at war.

- Daenerys V, ASOS.

"We will have it all back someday, sweet sister," he would promise her. Sometimes his hands shook when he talked about it. "The jewels and the silks, Dragonstone and King's Landing, the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms, all they have taken from us, we will have it back." Viserys lived for that day. All that Daenerys wanted back was the big house with the red door, the lemon tree outside her window, the childhood she had never known.

- Daenerys I, AGOT.

She did take a dozen flasks of scented oils, the perfumes of her childhood; she had only to close her eyes and sniff them and she could see the big house with the red door once more.

- Daenerys VI, AGOT.

"He died for me." Dany clutched her lion pelt to her chest. Underneath, a sheer white linen tunic covered her to midthigh. She had been dreaming of a house with a red door when Missandei woke her. There had been no time to dress.

- Daenerys I, ADWD.

"Is it Daario? What's happened?" In her dream they had been man and wife, simple folk who lived a simple life in a tall stone house with a red door. In her dream he had been kissing her all over—her mouth, her neck, her breasts.

-Daenerys II, ADWD.

Dany had never known a home. In Braavos, there had been a house with a red door, but that was all.

-Daenerys III, ADWD.

Soon Dany was as clean as she was ever going to be. She pushed herself to her feet, splashing softly. Water ran down her legs and beaded on her breasts. The sun was climbing up the sky, and her people would soon be gathering. She would rather have drifted in the fragrant pool all day, eating iced fruit off silver trays and dreaming of a house with a red door, but a queen belongs to her people, not to herself.

- Daenerys IX, ADWD.

Isn't it amazing how the very episode in which Sam raises the question "will she give up her crown?" is the very episode where daenerys said this

She obviously didn't feel at home neither at Dragonstone nor at Winterfell. This romantic moment is the closest to a house with the red door this show has ever done.

Also notice how throughout the episode whenever Jon is speaking to others he refers to daenerys as Queen. But when he is alone with her by that waterfall he refers to her as "a southern girl". Jon loves the girl daenerys not "the floppy ears" of the dragon queen that she wears..

-Daenerys VII, ADWD.

"So we pray. I want to plant my olive trees and see them fruit." Does it matter that Hizdahr's kisses do not please me? Peace will please me. Am I a queen or just a woman?

- Daenerys VII, ADWD.

So the point is neither does it make sense for Jon to turn against daenerys all of a sudden for something like a title that he himself just said doesn't matter to him. Given that the third episode is where the battle for dawn is supposed to take place. Iron throne is not on Jon's mind. Plus I don't think Daenerys will be anything but shocked, confused yet happy to find a family member, none other than the son of her elder brother whom she idolizes, she is in love with Jon as he is with her!

A crown should not sit easy on the head. One of her royal forebears had said that, once. Some Aegon, but which one? Five Aegons had ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. There would have been a sixth, but the Usurper’s dogs had murdered her brother’s son when he was still a babe at the breast. If he had lived, I might have married him.

-Daenerys I, ADWD.

Ser Davos is already planning a better solution to all this. A just woman & an honorable man to probably get married!

Now I need Sam to somehow learn more & more about who daenerys actually is.

#jonerys #jon snow #daenerys targaryen #jon x dany #game of thrones #game of thrones season 8 spoilers

220 notes · View notes

karaxreds · 5 years

Text

Best Friends ( Part Three) - Dele Alli

It was probably one of the greatest night you've spent in the last couple of months, you were out on your date with Winksey and he really did make you forget everything for the night.

You two have literally been together all day not just for dinner and you were glad he called you in the morning.

You two just finished having dinner and he was driving you home, both of you singing your lungs out to the blasting music.

The only sad thing about the night is that he told you that he won't be able to play the second leg at the Etihad in the next couple of days, his injury was more serious than they thought and he might even need surgery, not sure yet.

Once you made it to your street, he parked in front of your building and you were kinda sad that your date was over now.

"Thank you, so much for today." You told him softly.

"I am the one who should thank you, for accepting to spend the day with me." He give you one of his charming smiles.

His gaze then dropped to your lips and he couldn't help but leaning a little bit as a sign of what he wanted to do.

You leaned in as well both your heads meeting halfway and he put his soft lips on yours, so gently and it felt so weird.

You kissed for a few more seconds, but you couldn't help but compare it to your kiss with Dele and everything about him.

Harry was the first one to pull away and by the look on his eyes, you knew he felt it too.

"I am so sorr-"

"It's okay." He nodded, giving you a sad smile.

And that's when you broke down sobbing, once again for a boy that you never thought you would feel like this.

You handed the freckled boy a cup full of tea, he smiled mumbeling a small thank you.

After shamelessly having a mental break down in his car he waited until you stopped crying and you invited him into you flat and he just didn't want to let you alone in that moment.

"I am so sorry, Haz." You lowered your head, looking down at your cup of tea.

"Hey." He said, lifting your head up with one of his fingers. "It's okay, you don't have to be sorry, babe."

"You're too nice." You sighed.

"And you're too beautiful to cry." He smiled, "No one deserves those precious tears not even Dele."

"How do you know that he's the reason of my break down?" You asked, wondering how on earth he knows anything about that story.

"When Dele first introduced us, I was so jealous." He chuckled, "I thought you were dating, but he clarified that you two were best friends and only that, but I never believed him."

"Why?"

"The way he looks at you and how he gets so protective." He told you. "But when he told me thay he was dating an other girl, I was kinda glad, I thought that I might have a chance with you but you also got into a relationship."

"Oh god, I am so sorry." You cried, hiding your face with your hands.

"Hey." He said, grabbing your hands. "I am not telling you to make you feel bad, just so you know that he doesn't see you as just a friend." He pointed out,making your heart skip a beat at the thought.

"It doesn't really matter anymore." You mumbled, sipping on your tea.

"I am sure he still does love you." He said, putting a hand on your thigh.

"You're making me feel bad, god." You whined, "I had such a great day with you, I swear-"

"But just as a friend, it's okay doll. I had a chance with you and I took it, it just wasn't meant to be." He give a genuine smile and hearing those words made you feel a bit less guilty.

"So...we're good?"

"Great." He nodded, squeezing your arm. "Now why don't you start from the beginning and tell me what happened between you two?"

You give him an indecisive look before you finally decided to tell him everything that happened between the two of you.

You could feel your head pounding along with the beat of the music, the house was pretty much crowded. It was supposed to be a small party he said, a small birthday party.

A few days have passed and you were spending much more time with Harry, as friends of course. Tonight was the birthday of one of his best friends and he insisted that you come with him so you can have a good time, he also promised that as soon as you felt uncomfortable you two would leave the party.

"Come on, gonna introduce you to the lads." He said, pushing you slightly through the house with his hand placed on the small of your back.

You didn't answer you just followed him silently as he lead you to a couple who were standing in the corner of the kitchen, with bottle of beers in their hands.

"There's the birthday boy." Harry yelled, smiling widely at his friend.

"Here's the semi-finalist!" His friend responded, referring to spurs' incredible win against manchester City a couple of days ago at the Etihad.

You watched as the two shared a brotherly hug then Harry give a quick hug to the girl next to him, murmuring something you couldn't hear.

"And who's this gorgeous girl?" His friend asked, smiling down at you. "Finally got yourself a beaucoup girl, I see."

Harry rolled his eyes, introducing you to both Kyle and his girl.

"She's my friend but she's my date for tonight." He wrapped an arm around your shoulder.

"I remember you now!" Kyle suddenly yelled, "You're Dele's best friend."

You grimaced as he uttered his name and Harry let out a sigh.

"He arrived just a few minutes before you two though." He told you two.

You felt your body freeze at the news, your eyes widened and you looked up at Harry who looked at his friends uncomfortably.

"We're going to go see the others, we'll see you in a few, yeah?" They both nodded and mumbled a quick 'see ya'.

"I swear I didn't know he was coming otherwise I would've never-" You quickly cut him off.

"Haz, It's okay." You genuinely smiled, "I know. We live in the same area, we're bound to bump into each others sooner or later." You shrugged.

"Okay." Was his only answer, he clearly didn't believe you.

"Let's go see the others yeah?"

"Sure, Yeah."

Half an hour later, the house was evem more crowded. You lost Harry through the crowd, last thing you know is that he said he'll be coming back in a few, he was going for a wee.

You were a bit tipsy to be honest, you decided to stop drinking before you get completely wasted.

You chatted for a bit with one of the girls Harry has introduced you to, she was a really nice. Once she excused herself too to go somewhere you were left all alone.

You wandered around the house with a pouty face looking for Harry, he was nowhere to be seen and you started to feel lonely.

Untill you heard someone call your name.

The voice you have missed so dearly, you stopped in your tracks and waited to see if you couls hear the voice again, because you had too many drinks so you thought that you were probably hallucinating.

"You're here." He said again, in half a second he was standing in front of you.

He looked hot, just like he always did when he wasn't wearing his tracksuit but instead a pair of black jeans and a simple white tee.

"Um, Hi." You nodded awkwardly, your eyes once again searching around for the freckled boy.

"You came here alone?" He asked curiously.

"Nope." You answered, "With Haz."

"You're here with Harry?" He mumbled, his face turning a light shade of red. "You two seem to get along quite well, I see." He added, his voice laced with jealousy.

"We've always got along pretty damn well, Alli." You suddenly snapped, "We just haven't been hanging out too much,which we are now."

You watched as his grip on the bottle he was holding tighten, his knuckles turning white.

"Are you two together?"

"It's none of your business, to be fair." You sighed, your eyes finally meeting his.

"I broke up with Ruby." He blurts out.

And you felt your heart beat race as if it was going to stop, once again.

Part Four will be out tomorrow night,probablu the last part as well.

I am sorry for any mistakes, this not edited amd my first language isn't english. I am sorry once more,I hope you enjoyed reading it ❤

#Football imagines #footballers imagines #footballers one shot #football one shot #one shots #imagines #Dele Alli imagines #Dele Alli #Dele #Tottenham Hotspurs

46 notes · View notes

books--andt · 7 years

Conversation

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver Review and Discussion

Hello lovely book people! Hope you're having a terrific reading year so far.

So Lauren Oliver was one of the first authors I read that gripped me. I was so attached and obsessed with her Delirium series; I couldn't put it down and it introduced me to the bookish community! That was nearly two years ago and since then I haven't read anything more by her. I know! Crazy!

Before I Fall is about a popular high school girl named Samantha Kingston. To the blind eye she has it all; popularity, a cool group of friends, a hot boyfriend. But Samantha soon realizes that these are not things that will be on her "greatest hits" list. On February 12th Samantha and her friends hit up a party and on their way home suffer a car crash. The peculiar thing about it is, Sam wakes up the next morning as if nothing happened, and once she checks the date and realizes that it's still February 12th, she understands that nothing really did happen. Sam lives February 12th over and over, frustrated and finally accepts that she must change events that happened that day to make things right.

I enjoyed this book. I had some problems with it here and there but all in all it was an interesting read that grabbed my attention and I really wanted to know how it ended. I have some deeper thoughts so I'm going to move into some spoilers now! If you haven't read this book read no further!

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Alrighty hey spoiler people! So first things first- Samantha. What. A. Bitch. I had a hard time reading from her perspective and actually liking her just because of the things she'd say or do. That goes for Lindsey an her other friends as well. While Elody and Ally may not have been as mean as Lindsey, they were followers and didn't stand up for themselves or anyone else. Samantha kept saying how much she loved Lindsey ad how great she was, despite all of the things she's done wrong. But for me I just couldn't see the goodness in her. She was fake; she could drop Sam any time she wanted and make her the least popular girl in school; she was mean to others and frankly didn't give a shit about their feelings. Sure she had problems of her own, but she would never face those problems because she was scared that others would find out and *over exaggerated gasp* she'd become less popular!!

This book can really bring back memories of high school. But for me, high school wasn't about popularity or parties or any of that. So I didn't relate to that level of the book either. I've always believed in standing up for others or what you believe in, no matter what, so when Samantha would laugh until her stomach hurt about a joke that Lindsey or Ally would make about Juliet Sykes or Kent I just.... Didn't find it funny at all.

However Sam did grow on me as the story progressed, which I guess is kind of the point. Sam lives the same day, February 12th, seven times. And I get that she had to relive the same day for an entire week before she comprehended what she needed to do, but sometimes the story just felt tedious. It didn't drag for me, I thought the pacing was actually quite good, but just certain things were said over and over and it bothered me a bit.

Okay so now for the elephant in the room; the ending. OH. MY. GAWD. I honestly wasn't expecting it and I don't really know what to think or feel and I'm slightly confused. Did she actually die on the seventh day???????? Or was she dead the entire time and just had to "make things right" before she could be fully accepted in the afterlife??????

I was waiting and waiting and waiting for Samantha to have this epiphany at Kent's party and STAND THE HELL UP for Juliet in front of EVERYONE. I personally think that would have been a lot more powerful; her telling Lindsey to back off and stop people from shouting "Psycho! Psycho!" and pouring their drinks on her, rather than her just following her to the highway and saying all this crap that made ZERO sense to Juliet and trying to stop her from jumping in front of moving vehicles. Maybe my preferred ending would have been too cliche, but I just think it would've been more powerful and would actually show us readers that Samantha HAS changed.

And alas... Samantha realizes that in order to make things right, in order to stop herself from living the same day over and over, she must sacrifice her LIFE for Juliet. I understand this and Lauren Oliver did a good job surprising me and making me FEEL something but like.... gahhh!!! What about Sam's little sister?? She would be devastated. What about Kent???? He's SOOOOO confused about everything that happened between them since, to him, they haven't spoken at all in years! And Sam was always such a bitch to him, then all of a sudden she's nice, but then NOPE PSYCH she dies?????

And what about her friends??? Does she really think that killing herself is going to stop Lindsey from being a bitch to others? I'd hope that Lindsey would make the connection, and realize that Sam saved Juliet Sykes but... I just don't know.

And of course, how is Juliet Sykes supposed to feel??? She'd probably feel horrible that someone else dies for her, and she probably doesn't understand the half of why she did it!

I can only hope that all is pieced back together after Samantha sacrificed herself. But what if she was dead all along? I'm only wondering this because Samantha says something at the end of the book like, "I saw hair so bright and white it looked like a halo" and she also says she can hear Juliet saying "you saved me" and "why did you save me?" sooooo was Juliet dead all along? Did they all die in that first car crash this whole time???

All in all I liked this book. If a book makes you think about it after you've read it, if you hate some of the characters, or if you really want to know what will happen next as you read it, then the author did something right!

I'm happy I read this book before the movie comes out and I can't wait to see it. I'm liking the casting that I've seen so far. The girl who plays Lindsey looks spot on, and I think Zoey Deutch will do a good job playing Samantha.

What are your thoughts on this book or on the casting for the movie? I'd love to know!

Star rating: 3.5/5 stars.

Psssst- I've been really active on my bookstagram lately and you should totally check it out --> books_andt

Thanks for reading!

- T

1 note · View note