#it would make sense for legends to have more abilities given how high their power level is

[kiame-sama]

One Of Many- (Yandere!BNHA x Reader)

Warnings; multiple yandere, reader has quirk, hero to villain thoughts, violence, blood, stalking, obsession, choking, near death experiences, demeaning words towards reader, sexism, casual murder, fear, mention of nsfw, threats of nsfw,

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"Tell me about All for One." "Wh-where did you hear that name?" "I was reading over the history of villains." "Oh, well, he was a wicked man who could steal another person's quirk and keep it or give it to someone else." "Is he still around?" "How do you- (y/n), where on earth is all the coming from?" "Tell me more about him and I will answer your question. Fair?"

Your father sighed as he looked down at his lap, blue eyes gazing in an unfocused way as he collected his thoughts. There were so many places he could start from and he had so many questions to ask you before a thought occurred to him. The way you worded your proposal made it sound like it wasn't just about All for One anymore.

That realization sent his mind racing with possible reasons, trying to think of what you could possibly mean. He needed to remember it was also possible that you just worded it strangely and didn't mean anything about it at all. It could be very possible that you just wanted to know about the man from the legends.

"All for One is rumored to be the first among humanity who started to be born with quirks. He had a quirk that allowed him to take and give quirks, but he was not a good man. He used his ability to be the world's most frightening villain, ruling from the shadows of every villain organization ever. Some say he is gone, but others believe he has several immortality quirks that have allowed him to remain in power all this time, operating in the dark."

You listened intently to the story and your mind churned with thoughts based on the information you had received. It made sense that such a powerful quirk could easily result in a powerful person regardless of how it was used. Such an idea was the whole basis for the quirk arranged marriage idea, pairing quirks to make them stronger or merge in the child. Even beyond that, there was the potential for mutations to occur.

You had much more to think about and consider now you had been given a clearer answer on All for One and his ability. There was so much you almost forgot that you agreed to tell your father why you asked in the first place. In fact, you had been so focused on learning more that you forgot the excuse you came up with.

"Your turn. Tell me why you wanted to know."

A part of you didn't want to uphold that bargain, but you were compelled to answer after the time you've spent hiding your ability. You didn't want him to be mad at you, but you also had been thinking about becoming a hero and possibly attending a hero high school. Due to the nature of your quirk, it had taken a while to figure out and you were around ten when you finally realized you had one.

Since then you had been practicing on your own and keeping it a secret from everyone, especially your father. It had only been a few years of keeping it secret, but you wanted to help people like he always did. But to convince him, you would have to confess the secret of yours and what you have been doing.

"(Y/n)?" "Promise you won't get mad?" "... Why would I get mad at you, honey?" "Because I've been keeping a secret." "Sweet heart, there is nothing you could tell me that would make me love you any less." "But it's bad and you'll be mad." "Have you killed someone?" "No..." "Then I won't be mad. I promise."

Your little heart wanted so desperately to trust your father that you decided to believe him. It wasn't easy for you to tell your father that you had done something bad several different times and kept it secret from him.

"I heard about All for One when I looked up Quirks that could take others away... You know, ever since that crazy guy broke in a few years ago and killed mom, I've known that I'm not actually quirkless." "(Y/n), are you-?" "I'm not done yet. The guy had a fear quirk, the ability to make other people scared. I was so mad and wanted him to know what it felt like so I- I took it away from him. He broke down after he realized his quirk was gone, then you came home and- I didn't know I took it until that girl at school pushed me. I wanted her to be scared so she wouldn't do it again... She started screaming and changed schools that day." "It could have just been a coincidence-" "I've taken more and I can use all of them. I looked it up because I wanted to know if there were others like me or any heroes who could do what I can. I want to be a hero like you, but the only one I could find was him, and you said he is the worst of all villains to ever exist."

You looked down at your hands, not wanting to meet your father's gaze and trying to avoid looking at him as best you could. He hadn't said anything despite the pause, so you felt the need to fill the empty space with something. Anything other than sitting in silence with your father.

"I didn't mean to take them at first! But then after I found out I could take them and how to take them, I kept taking instead of stopping like I know I should have. It was small ones at first, but then there were more that looked so cool and seemed so helpful... I think I've taken twenty quirks in total and I have tried to give one back, but it didn't work so I... I stopped trying."

There was another long moment of silence and you couldn't help the way your eyes filled up with tears. You were terrified to think that your father was angry or disappointed in you and it hurt your chest to think about.

"(Y/n), you shouldn't have taken more once you realized what you could do. However, I don't think you did it maliciously. You are still so young that you couldn't help but use the quirk you thought you didn't have. If you really want to be a hero, I will do what I can to help you get there."

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The room was quiet as Gran Torino took in the words of his past student, looking out the window at the youthful girl he had been introduced to. There were so many questions and no answers, but even so, he felt compelled to help his student. He still had a few things to ask though.

"You are certain?" "Yes." "Have you seen her take any?" "No. I've tried to not push her or upset her about it. She is a child, she didn't know the full effects of her quirk or realize just how serious her quirk actually is." "She is dangerous, All Might." "One for All is dangerous. Quirks are dangerous. She wants to be a hero and use her ability to help others, not keep them for herself. Treating her like a villain will only make her become one. All for One is supposed to be a legend, but if villains hear of her quirk, we may all learn if that notion holds any truth to it. She wants to do good and stopping her from that may just push her to do bad." "It would be better to get her started on the right path before she decides to take the easy one."

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Getting through a hero course pretending to have a specific quirk was needlessly exhausting to you and almost seemed tedious. You had an ability only one other person had and you had to practice it on your own, far from your father's watchful eye. Most people took quite a few years to become a fully fledged hero, but you managed to cut that time in half. Even when others sneered at you, you continued on and ignored them, never once telling your classmates about your father.

It many ways, you felt like it gave you an unfair advantage and mentioning him would put more pressure on you than you honestly wanted to deal with. If everyone knew, they would compare the two of you unfairly and it would be harder to keep your true quirk a secret. You acted as if you had a communication quirk, able to have mental 'group calls' with others and trained your true quirk any time you had alone.

Even when you started working on taking quirks faster and figuring out the conditions for activating it, you made sure to never take from anyone at the school. You also left heroes alone due to their intense press focus and instead began targeting people on long trips. As your father was constantly moving, you would often go with him whenever there was a break from school.

On those flights with many other random passengers you would choose a handful to watch during the trip, finding the quirk that interested you most and pursuing that person. By the time they would realize their Quirk was no longer responding, you would be long gone and no one would know.

You got faster at taking quirks and refined the conditions further to take more and use less energy. It was originally quite taxing to take one quirk, and it took more than an hour of close proximity to take. Now, you had cut the time and lengthened the distance, making it both easier and more efficient.

With your true quirk and the skill you gained from the hero course, you had become a rather terrifying force. The "hero" name you chose was a play on your true quirk and your hero focused quirk; One of Many. You had one quirk you used as a hero to make yourself a hub for information, and your true quirk let you take as many others as you wished.

Your father had kept your true quirk quiet from almost everyone as well as your familial status to let you stand as a hero without his assistance. He had not once brought up your true quirk since you started your hero training and you wondered if he had somehow forgotten. Regardless of which it was, you were feeling less and less inspired by the hero world or even the world in general. Perhaps it was because of your ties to All-Might and the ease at which you could change your own popularity that made you dislike it so much. Your father helped people and was seen as the Symbol of Peace, simply revealing you are his daughter or even just working with him would elevate you beyond what you felt you wanted.

When you thought of becoming a hero, you wanted to help everyone- not just the popular or rich- regardless of fame. Even so, the society that worshiped heroes made so many fame-seeking monsters out of a good thing and the villain side was no better. Part of you felt like the entire system needed to be reworked and the focus needed to shift, but you had no idea how to achieve that goal though.

Even as you watched the night streets with a distant expression, a sense of dread much like a heavy pressure seemed to weigh down on you the more you thought about the world. By social standards of age and knowledge you were a legal adult over eighteen, but times like that made you truly feel small and like a child.

As that pressure got worse, you began to realize that it had nothing to do with what you were thinking and everything to do with the deep feeling of danger all around you. A true killer was nearby. Someone who didn't hesitate to destroy life and someone who had already taken many lives. The very presence they had sent complete chills down your spine in a way that no other ever had or could.

"A lone hero should not be out so late at night, darling."

A gruff voice of some man sounded close to you, but you could tell this scruffy and low class villain was not the source of the impressive bloodlust in the air. If anything, it seemed as if the man had no idea there was anything wrong or nefarious nearby other than himself. But before the man could say another word, long spikes akin to metal components stuck out of the man's flesh with little rhyme or reason.

The limp body was lifted from the ground and tossed aside by whoever owned those spikes, the careless nature of the mysterious presence told you that you had found the source of the danger. Standing within a dark shadow of the building roof, far from the reach of streetlights near the edge, was a man you didn't recognize. If anything, he seemed like a regular well-built businessman, but you got a different sense from him entirely.

His silver hair was neatly trimmed and seemed to frame his bright red eyes rather well, the analyzing gaze locked onto you making you feel far less safe than you had moments prior. The only sign you got that he was likely not the age he looked were the deep circles beneath his intense eyes that told of years beyond measure. This was no man to trifle with and you felt rooted to the ground despite the intense desire in you to run.

You were a deer trapped in the gaze of a silver lion with few escape routes. The thought of fighting against such a force made your stomach drop painfully and discouraged you from entertaining the thought farther. Staying still likely resulted in the same tragic end that fighting would, leaving you with only one option that your own body fought to prevent.

Running away from danger was not exactly smiled upon in the hero world, but knowing when to quit was also drilled into your head. With the kind of 'role-model' you had in a father, running was considered to be the last option, but you weren't All Might. You were not Toshinori Yagi. You were Toshinori (Y/n) and your instincts were all screaming at you to run.

"It's a steep drop off the edge of this building, even with your skills, I wouldn't recommend it."

He looked at you much in the same way a starving animal looked at a plentiful meal and your anxieties raised. If you were to jump down and try to land, it would hurt you more than it was worth, but you must have had some kind of quirk in your arsenal that could help you. The smug and almost too knowing grin on his face told you that he was confident in having you primarily trapped.

"Don't try using that quirk of yours either, a perimeter has been set up to dampen that skill of yours. You know," he took a step forward, his full an intimidating figure seeming so much bigger at that moment, "I have had my eye on you and I think you are exactly what I need for a certain... 'Project' of mine."

You felt the cold bite of rough brick against the back of your legs, knowing you were just a poorly timed stumble away from hitting the pavement so far below you. The insane glint in the red pools of malice seemed to glimmer at you in mockery along with that patronizing smile he wore as he continued his approach. All you could do was send out a signal on your phone for help and stall for time, but you doubted it would get far if he had truly set a perimeter as he claimed.

"What project?" "Well, I have a certain thorn in my side that goes by the name 'All Might'. I have the feeling you know him quite well if your continuous meetings have any meaning." "We're friends." "More than that if my hunch is correct. The amount of time you spend around him, the meals together, I would wager something more intimate is taking place."

You couldn't stop the near involuntary gag at the idea of anything intimate involving your father in any capacity. The noise was interpreted instead as your own form of mockery and this seemed to anger the man at the perceived slight against him. That easy grin fell from his lips to a more irate scowl and his eyes seemed to turn to ice as they stared for an uncomfortable amount of time.

"Is this really the time to be playing with me, little hero?" "I-I'm not, I swear-" "So you are intimate with that nuisance." "No!" "There is no other explanation, so just admit it already." "I'm not-"

You cut off with a choke, that large hand wrapping almost fully around your fragile neck and squeezing with a clear threat of what will happen if you keep arguing. It almost seemed like the man was debating throwing you off himself before an annoying buzz rang from your pocket. He fished your phone from your hero suit with unnerving skill and looked at the contact calling you.

"If you aren't intimate, why have his number saved as 'Daddy'?" "It's not 'Daddy', you creep," you choked out as best you could despite the little air the man allowed to enter your lungs, "it's 'Dad' as in-" "Your actual father."

He dropped you suddenly and you stumbled, now up on the ledge of the building and flirting far too much with the sheer drop behind you. As you choked and hacked in an attempt to get your bruised throat to keep supplying you with oxygen, there was a clear shift in the mannerisms of your attacker. The way he now looked at you seemed all too much like the way a young arsonist looked at fire, somehow feeling even less comfortable with the monster of a man.

"You aren't his lover. You're his daughter."

His tone shifted like a hiss of realization as that grin returned, seeming so much more intimidating. The way his shock turned to delight did little for you in terms of how afraid you were feeling at that moment. So close to the edge of a steep drop you would not escape uninjured, and trapped on that drop by a man who oozed malicious intent.

"That's... Even better! I had intended to leave you a broken and bloody mess to break his overly affectionate heart, but how much easier would it be to rip that smiling idiot down by taking his precious daughter as my own personal cock-sleeve?"

The revulsion and fear burning inside of you returned with a vengeance and gave you the kick you needed to work out an escape. He knew of your hero quirk, that much was obvious, but there was no way he would expect any of your other quirks. You did have one such quirk that would allow you to flee from this man.

The moment you turned and leapt, you found yourself suspended in mid-air at least twenty feet out. You slowly drifted back to the man and fear shot through you when you realized he had easily caught you even though you had believed his quirk wouldn't help him in such ways. He seemed conflicted and almost annoyed as he easily brought you back to him with one hand.

"If you struggle too much, it will drop you straight down. But you got distance and lift with that jump which should be impossible. I know your quirk. I have seen you use it and I have studied it, flying is not your quirk. Not unless..."

He thought as he stared at your immobile form, knowing you wouldn't struggle given your own sense of self preservation. If you struggled, you would fall. He knew this and you knew this, so he felt he could take time connecting the information.

"Your quirk- as observed through your school and hero days- has been identified as a communication quirk. You should not have the sudden onset of a new ability or facet of your quirk at this point in your life. There has been no mention of flying being a quirk you have or should even be able to wield. Either you have a secret side to your quirk that makes no logical sense even in a biological standpoint, or you have more than one quirk. The only way you could have more than one is if I gave it to you... Or someone with a quirk like my own gave it to you. No one has reported such a quirk or has one recorded anywhere in the world other than myself, so what is it? What are you hiding?"

You glanced from the man to the pavement far below you, running through the mental list of abilities you had, but something he said caught your attention. He claimed to have a quirk that could take and give quirks, which you only knew one other who could have such an ability. The fear of who you were speaking with dawned on you fully and practically flooded your system with screams to escape.

"All for One..."

"You know me? Now, this is surprising seeing as so few know of me outside of legends. But," he narrowed those red orbs for a moment, "your father has One for All... Could you have possibly inherited a reverse-mutation as a result? That must be it, you have the same quirk as me because your father has one of my quirks. You are like me in more ways than I could have hoped. Another All for One I can claim as my own... As my other half. And even beyond your ability, taking you for myself will crush All Might's spirit. Put an end to the nuisance and leave him open for a killing blow..."

You were barely suspended over a deadly drop down to concrete by the whims of a man who planned to do deplorable things to you regardless. Now this man knew you were a much greater threat because you both shared very powerful and very similar quirks. A fall from the height you were at would likely cripple a person if not kill them, but to a cat...

Despite how hesitant you had been when taking such an obvious quirk, you were gone and far away in the minutes it took for the person to realize what had happened. Now you looked back on that day and cheered, knowing your own foresight had saved you once again. All you needed to do now was struggle and somehow manage to use a quirk you are not experienced with midair before you hit the ground.... Right.

~~~~~~~~

"Are you going to tell me what on Earth happened, young lady?" "Stop, or someone is going to think we're dating." "Is- is that why you leapt off of a building? Because someone thought we were dating?" "Yes and no." "Okay, start explaining because I can't think of any reason for reckless behavior like jumping 44 stories straight down!"

You were sitting up in your hospital bed with your father anxiously pacing in the room. The fall and the few bones breaking did little to deter you when it happened, but that didn't mean your father was any happier despite the top of the line healing quirks helping you mend. Truth was that you had been expecting your father to react the way he was thanks to the injuries you sustained for what seemed to be no reason.

You didn't dare report what had happened before you got a chance to talk with your father and you were honestly nervous even telling him. There was no guarantee that he would believe you, but you were hoping and betting on him believing.

Outside, people buzzed about All Might visiting the sick-bed of a small name hero and you knew that rumors would begin to spread like wild-fire among the staff. Outside of the room stood your father's one and only side-kick along with the pro hero Gran Torino, having stayed out of the room due to your father's request of privacy. But if you were certain of what happened when you met that man, you knew you would need more than just your father's help.

"Bring Sir Nighteye and Gran Torino in."

Your father didn't question your request likely due to the serious tone your voice had taken, knowing whatever you needed to say needed more ears. It was clear both men were curious as to why they were told to stay out only to be called in minutes later. You knew it would be best for everyone to be on the same page and you felt more comfortable doing that in the hospital room instead of some meeting room with countless potential for eyes and ears to be watching.

"Okay, Sir Nighteye, Gran Torino, I don't know how much he has told you," you gestured to All Might casually, "so I am going to assume nothing is common knowledge and lay the facts out here."

Though it seemed Gran Torino recognized you from the time you met him in your early teen years, you didn't know the extent of what he had been told. As you had never actually met Sir Nighteye, you figured he was as in the dark about you as any common person would be. Your father was nothing if not protective of you.

"My name is Toshinori (Y/n), daughter of Toshinori Yagi; the pro hero All Might. My quirk is the ability to take the quirks of others and use them as my own, though I don't know if I am capable of returning quirks to their original owners. As you all may have gathered, I fell quite some distance last night and it wasn't just for fun."

Anxiety writhed in you and you didn't even bother to look at either of the two men, choosing to close your eyes and focus on getting out what you did know. They would be able to ask you questions later if they had them.

"I was patrolling before a common villain approached me. I figured it would be no problem to deal with him and continue patrol but..." You tightly gripped the sheets beneath you, "but someone else got to him first. They ripped through the man and threw him from the building into the alleyway like trash. I was mostly cornered on the rooftop by this murderous villain and he- he was-"

You were gently shushed by Gran Torino and it was only then you realized you had begun to tear up. It had been years since you had last cried in front of your father, but you were honestly scared. All you could hope was that they took you seriously and didn't chalk it up to hysteria or something else like that.

"He had silver hair and red eyes. He was about as tall as dad- I mean, as All Might. He wore an expensive suit and talked like I was nothing more than a cheap whore. He said he had been keeping an eye on me and he needed me for a 'project' of his. I tried to send out a distress signal but he had set up a barrier to prevent it based off of my hero quirk. He claimed he knew I was in an intimate relationship with All Might due to the time he and I spend together. He didn't believe me when I said he was wrong until... Until my phone rang. He saw that the contact for All Might was named 'Dad' and believed it to be a kink before realizing that it actually meant All Might is my father. When he realized this, he- he laughed. He said it was 'even better' that I was not dating All Might but was his daughter."

You were shaking again and pushed through your fear, trying to calm yourself as you spoke. There was no other time in your life where you felt as small as you did at that moment. You had done nothing wrong, but admitting what had been said and done to you still tasted like hot vinegar.

"I tried to run with one of the quirks I had taken when I was younger and didn't know better... but he immediately caught me. He didn't even have to try too hard. When I realized he had more than one quirk I- I accidentally called him by his villain name... All for One. He laughed and said I was just like him because he had figured out our quirks are similar, or maybe even identical. He said he wanted to keep me as a second All for One and..." "Go on, it's okay to be scared, sweetheart." "... He said he wanted to hurt All Might, by keeping me as a 'personal cock-sleeve' instead of killing me like he planned. I was scared- I didn't know what to do... So I decided hitting the pavement was a better fate than whatever he had planned for me..."

You trailed off, trying to find a way to explain the extra quirks you were technically not supposed to have when a rough slam made you jump. Your father had put his hand through the reinforced wall of the hospital room, his face shadowed and his fists clenched. The heart-monitor you were hooked up to squealed to life with your frightened little heart fluttering in your chest before your father seemed to calm down, turning back to you.

"Are you certain of what he looked like? Silver hair, red eyes, tall bulky figure, expensive suit?" "Yes. He didn't deny who he was either when I figured it out. He... He made it clear he wanted to hurt you by using me and if I hadn't have broken myself out... He would have taken me away with him." "Did he use multiple quirks around you?" "Yes." "And he saw you use multiple quirks?" "Yes... He had learned about the quirk I am supposed to have and figured out through my use of other quirks that his information was false. He... He said something I don't understand. He said you have 'One for All' and that it belonged to him first." "Because it did. It is a long story, and I will tell you when we next have time, but it sounds like it really was All for One who attacked you, no one else with that description could possibly know. It isn't like him to let anyone get away easily, so you had the element of surprise on your side just this once and it gave you the upper hand. I don't think you will be so lucky next time, and there will be a next time. He doesn't leave loose ends for very long."

#kiame-sama #yandere #x reader #yandere x reader #reader insert #tw yandere #bnha yandere #yandere bnha #yandere platonic #platonic x reader #platonic yandere #tw murder #tw blood #tw threats #yandere all for one #yandere all might

[bebo-schmebo]

Avatar TLA/TLOK x Pokémon Legends of Arceus AU

I don't honestly know fully how it happened, but I was chattin with a homie, and well- one thing led to another, now there's an AU for submas. So welcome to the Fire-Forged Pearl AU! This is an AU that messes around with the idea of "What if humans in the Pokémon universe could bend elements like in Avatar, and what would that look like?"

Now we haven't thought too far into logistics because this was made for fun n all, but we have thought of some things- especially on how all this affects the Twins and what their roles are in a lot of this (might make a fic, who knows?). Our asks are open, so if ya want us to go more in depth on something don't be afraid to send it o7

Some notes & HCs under the cut :>

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Bender vs Non-Bender population is around the same as in The Legend of Korra I'd say- definitely more Non-Benders than Benders, but thankfully by the point of Ingo's disappearance into the past in PLA not as much conflict between the two parties. In a sense Non-Benders are seen as the Human equivalent to Normal-type Pokémon so there isn't an insane amount of hubbub over their existence (Not saying there aren't people who believe Benders are superior, there are unfortunately some scattered about in the world- just that the divide between Benders and Non is much smaller than in the past.)

Infrastructure and the general aesthetic of each Region varies, but buildings universally are more structurally sound and adjusted to accommodate both people and Pokémon more than they are in the canon Pokémon universe due to the added risk of accidental (or in extreme cases, intentional) damage Benders present. Aesthetic wise varies between regions but most commonly has a subtle fusion between the Nations in Avatar/Korra and the Nations in Pokémon.

Regulations for airspace and paths alongside roads are slightly different depending on where you go- it's not unheard of to see Fire and Air benders flying overhead, or Earth benders moving the stone paths to create makeshift travelators. Canals are usually more present in areas with larger Water bender populations as well.

The Avatar does exist, but not all crisis's are limited to the Avatar alone to solve. Other Chosen do exist in this world- The Avatar is just a person with a larger boost ability wise than others and has a more selective scope of problems they can help solve.

No, Benders don't channel the typings of Pokémon. They're limited to the four basic elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth) and the sub elements some individuals can learn to channel. (Lightening is incredibly common and even expected amongst Fire Benders, it and a few others are incredibly common. Though other sub elements? Not so much.)

Aura Guardians are still a thing, and even a little more common place- still very rare, don't get us wrong, but it's not unheard of to have between 3 to 8 maybe more maybe less at any given time in a single Nation.

Pokémon battles are the same, there's just another highly regulated track people can choose to go down- Unity Battles. Unity Battles are where not only do two opponents battle using Pokémon, but fight alongside said Pokémon partners. Most commonly it is Bender vs Bender and Pokémon vs Pokémon, but in some leagues trainers are allowed it go Bender vs Pokémon- essentially Unity Battles treat the Benders as Pokémon themselves, turning it into a new form of Double Battle.

You may have noticed we said Bender vs Pokémon instead of Trainer vs Pokémon- that is because though relations between Benders and Non-Benders are as well as ever, the high regulations of Unity Battles prevent Non-Benders from participating due to their higher risk of injury. The main reasoning behind this rule is that since Non-Benders do not have a feasible way to defend themselves against the elements of Benders & Pokémon, having them participate would be unethical due to the power difference. Some Nations have implemented a sub-section of Unity Battles that allows Non-Benders to participate in a form of Unity Battling that limits them to fighting certain typing's of Pokémon and only fellow Non-Benders, but not all Nations are following this movement.

Ingo & Emmet still have their Battle Subway! The only addition to their already present rules is that Unity Battles are not permitted within the trains or in the stations due to safety reasons. (Though Emmet does find them quite thrilling)

This list is getting rather long, so there's gonna be a part 2 later on o7

#submas #warden ingo #ingo #subway boss nobori #subway boss kudari #emmet #Fire-Forged Pearl AU #avatar x pla AU #pla #Pokémon Black & White #subway boss emmet #subway boss ingo #avatar the last airbender x pla au

[stupid-sloot-headcanons]

A penny for your legend of korra opinions?

Ok but I'm gonna preemptively pull out my Bisexual Card when it comes to bitching about Korrasami lol

The best parts of Korra are its animation, sound design, fight choreography, and production. Also JK Simmons is there.

Fucks the established Lore of ATLA. The spirit world is no longer a realm that exists beyond the physical, it's a place you can physically go to with portals even if you aren't the Avatar. Harmonic Convergence dictates that there apparently needs to be a set number of Airbenders in the world, so boom: we get random people getting Airbender powers. This could work with a bit of rewriting, but as it is it renders the near annihilation of the air nomads moot and pointless.

Retconned the origins of bending from imitating and working synonymously with nature and spirits to the Lion Turtles booping people on the head to give them powers. It's not something you had to train to do, Wan just got head-booped and can suddenly shoot fire from his arm. The origins of bending being a way to protect yourself from spirits also makes no sense, since humans used to not be able to access the spirit realm unless you were the Avatar or a guru. Even then, it was a kind of astral projection and not physically walking there through an Ultima-esque moongate.

Rava and Vatu are a concept of yin and yang that we already had with the ideas of balance and how the Fire Nation can't just be eradicated (they contribute to the balance of life like every other bender nation), as well as the two fish Twi and La that are the source of waterbender's powers (again, nature and spirits coinciding with the human realm is what powers benders: NOT LION TURTLES GIVING POWERS TO ANY SCHMUCK THAT ASKS). Also, for their importance in Korra, Rava and Vatu are never mentioned in ATLA ever. Why is Vatu an evil antagonist when the entire concept of balance in ATLA is that YOU NEED BOTH SIDES FOR BALANCE.

The aesthetic of the radio-era is cool, but doesn't fit at all with the story and world building of Avatar. Bryke admit that they added it because it looked cool and there was no other thought to it, and it shows. Republic City fucks with the world building painstakingly set up in ATLA with its aesthetic, and could have been fixed by simply not making Korra the very next Avatar. The rapid industrialization just makes no sense and doesn't meld with world building. There were trains in Ba Sing Se and a mail system, but they were powered by earthbending. How the fuck are there radios, zeppelins, cars, and high-rises when we had oxcarts less than a century before this?

Why are there more flying bison if Appa was the last one?

Korra is a shit protagonist. I'm fine with a cocky Avatar, but only if they're likeable and have the ability to back up that cockiness. She tries to get Mako to break up with Asami in the asinine love triangle of this fucking series, forces a kiss on him, dates his brother to make him jealous, and it's all handwaved because she's the Avatar and protagonist and you've got to deal with it. I dunno, I'm just saying if a male Avatar did this same thing to a woman, they wouldn't be given this much narrative leeway. Speaking of narrative leeway, Korra gets a fuckton of it despite being just as entitled as she is in Book 1.

Korra's inability to Airbend was an interesting idea that could have worked, but instead of the logical and well-written idea of her having to change her views on bending to follow Airbending teachings (like Tenzin was trying to show her before she ragequit and set a cultural artifact of a barely surviving culture in fire), but instead she just magically Airbends in the climax. "I can airbend? ....I CAN AIRBEND." Lame and nullifies the arc they were trying to set up for her character the entire first season.

The idea of nonbenders being threatened by benders is interesting and would have made narrative sense in ATLA, but the boom in technology and infrastructure means there really isn't much a nonbender struggles with anymore. Amon is cool and he and Tenzin are the only characters I like, but it turns out in a big dumb twist that the main nonbender antagonist of season 1 is actually a waterbender. A waterbender who can somehow waterbend without need of the full moon, which is a retcon that actively breaks the lore of ATLA.

Toph becomes the head of the police force in Ba Sing Se and so does her descendant despite being Toph fucking Beifong.

Tenzin's attempts to try and show Korra how to airbend and why she can't do it are resolved by him realizing he's being an old fuddy-duddy and that Korra just had to learn it in her own way. This is despite the fact that her emotional block and incompatibility with Airbending was never changed in the slightest and she suddenly could airbend just because.

Korra has seen the flashbacks to Wan (and the origins of the Avatar state are SO fucking stupid and lore-breaking but I digress) and knows that the spirit world inhabitants living with humans has not worked in the past; Wan even knows this and that's why he says goodbye to his friends in the spirit realm and seals the portal. Yet Korra somehow thinks keeping the portals open is a good idea because...I don't know, she's a dumbass I guess?

Asami and Korra have little to no chemistry until the very end of Book 3 if I'm being generous (and thats mainly the one hand hold scene). They're active rivals in Book 1, they talk in two or three scenes in Book 2 and 3 with the only one of them really interacting being them reminiscing in a jokey way about them both being with Mako, and the way they suddenly get over what SHOULD be a large emotional rift in a single conversation is unrealistic. Then they talk a few more times in Book 3 and by Book 4, boom! They were a couple the whole time. Pro writing tip: if you need paragraphs and paragraphs breaking down scenes to prove they were actually showing evidence of a romance, you have written your romance fucking poorly. This is odd considering Bryke have written well done romances in ATLA like Katara and Aang, and both of Sokka's romances with Suki and Yue. Sokka's romances were both given very little screen time compared to Kataang and still wound up hitting emotional points that made sense and were compelling.

Things like Korra mastering 3 elements by the time she's a 5 year old because fuck you she's just that talented and special cheapens the training characters like Aang and other avatars went through. Aang, the youngest airbender master in history, mastered his birth element in six years and it took months of rigorous training to develop skills in the other elements. (Remember Sozin outright telling Aang: "MASTERING THE ELEMENTS TAKES YEARS OF DISCIPLINE AND PRACTICE?") You can just show Korra putting in actual effort and taking a few years to develop her bending as opposed to mastering 3 OF THE 4 ELEMENTS BEFORE HITTING 6 YEARS OLD. She didn't even struggle with fire despite Aang struggling with earth, as they're opposites.

I don't know how much edgy humor you can stomach, but basically I agree with a lot of the points made by E;R's critiques/long-form shitting on of Legend of Korra.

#sloot bitches about things #.lok #amon's rad. tenzin's rad. and it looks pretty and the fights are cool. the end #sloot's essays #oh and lin. lin's cool

[hisuian-history-makers]

Throughout my years of being a Pokémon fan (and other fandoms fan), I have come up with several ideas for stories I wanted to write. Who hasn’t humored the thought of translating their ideas to reality. Except putting yourself out there is extremely nerve-wracking. Even more so when you are a somewhat perfectionist like myself. Improper grammar/capitalization can make potential readers not want to read fanfics. And I am not nitpicking the occasional errors.

To name a few: using too many commas, repetitive word choice, improper grammar, uncapitalized words throughout the entire story, thick blocks of text when you need to break up paragraphs, etc… You get the point. The last one seriously makes me mad because I will lose my place in a chapter. I understand the first drafts won’t be perfect from the get-go, but them not improving frustrates me. What I am trying to get at is writing something you are satisfied with is harder than it sounds.

Moving onto the main point of this post. The Pokémon world’s floating timeline presents a unique problem. Whether it is the eternal summer of the Anime or games remakes making concrete events more vague. I’m not going into the darker Manga events since I barely know them. It tends to be different from our own in many ways besides super powered creatures. Here are some questions I ask myself whenever I think up any fanfic ideas.

—Do all individuals of a species look the same? {Pokémon look like mirror copies no matter how many you catch in the games. I would like to think there are other appearance traits than the bigger size. Maybe some have shaggier fur, longer claws, and different colors besides being shiny considering the genetic diversity.}

—Why do some people have Pokémon before being ten years old? {We know being ten is the minimum requirement to take on the league. Yet we see visibly younger kids have Pokémon in several other regions. I think ten is the youngest age you are allowed to be to compete in official tournaments. Ash had a trainer’s license in the Anime which might relate to this.}

—Are talented/prodigy trainers granted special privileges? {In a short answer, yes. We see very young trainers like Tate and Liza appointed to co-gym leader status. It seems talented trainers are very sought after in the Pokémon world. The youngest high-ranking trainer has to be (SPOILERS) the Paldea’s Poppy. Her attitude and visible appearance make me think she is five to six years old. Poppy is strong enough to hold an Elite Four position in the game!}

—Why are we made the new champion after beating the old one? {This is one of the few things about the games that genuinely annoys me. We are not only the strongest trainer in-region but given a high authority position. League champions appear to be people who rank first in the tournament. What would make more sense is the former champion mentors whoever beat them for a few years. Champions hold the highest authority being able to go to places too dangerous for average trainers.}

—What exactly are Legendaries/Mythicals? {Not the easiest question to answer so let’s go over the basics. All species have the strength of fully-evolved dragon types. Each has a job to do in the world, some more important than others considering what they represent. One's like the Creation Trio and Arceus are actual real gods. Giratina itself was described as eldritch. People can go their whole lives without seeing one in any continuity. A lucky few can catch them and they will actually listen to orders.}

—Is it legal to have a Legendary Pokémon considering how important they are? {When you take into account their sheer strength and abilities this is a grey area. We catch the region’s legendaries/mythical in every game. I have personally used at least one box legend on teams to beat the Elite Four. In the universe though how often does this genuinely happen? Where they bond enough to let themselves be caught by a mortal. It would be so easy for Groudon or Yveltal to just kill us if they didn’t want to listen... Are there rules for this? A limit to how many you can use on a team. Does the trainer have to let the league know they have one if they take on the Pokémon League? Look at how easily Tobias swept the gym challenge.}

—How advanced is the technology? {Another odd area so rarely addressed in the Pokemon World. Bags, a staple thing, can hold several items including Bikes in them without weighing us down. Pokemon are transported by digitizing them across the internet/electric lines. Centers can heal our pokémon with a machine in just a few seconds. Teleport tiles have existed since the first freaking generation! The Pokemon World is much more advanced than our own. I would say they focused on medicine, science, and transportation the most.}

—Is battling similar to animal fighting? {PETA has kicked up enough fuss over the years when it comes to the Pokémon franchise. The games have shown that trainers make friends with their Pokémon enough to affect battles. Some even shrug off status effects to not worry the trainer. There are cases of Pokémon abuse and abandonment in the series. Yet tend to be much rarer than our cases in our world. Besides, wild Pokémon will battle to get stronger.}

—Are there any real-world animals? {Evidence for this is present when you look at species classifications. Cats, dogs, mice, crocodiles, and others like that are found in dex entries. Fish were seen in the anime’s early episodes. Pidgeotto ate an actual worm before Ash caught it... So kinda. Smaller animals seem to inhabit the Pokémon World from what we’ve seen. Makes the food situation less grim.}

—What is pokémon training actually like? {I imagine that it’s far less glamorous than the games show. Camping for months on end without access to showers. Having to feed six super-powered creatures three times a day. Not to mention having an unstable budget to rely on. I pity those who repeatedly lose.}

Now questions I don’t have answers/ headcanons/theories on currently.

—What was the Pokémon World’s reaction to parallel dimensions being real? Ultra Space

—Why are there two different types of Rangers? One that uses poke balls and one using stylers.

—Is time travel a somewhat regular occurrence and do people watch for timeline changes? The Hisui situation is not subtle with there being Porygon in the pokédex. Time-space distortions might appear in the modern day.

—Are humans in there more durable than us? Ash gets hit by Pokémon moves and Lance hyper-beamed someone in Mahogany Town.

—How can friendship be quantified?

—What’s the yearly number of Pokémon killing humans?

—Are psychics employed as lie detectors?

—Is it wrong for a psychic to read minds?

—Do mediums need special training?

—How do non-Pokémon related careers fare in a Pokemon training-focused world?

—Does ditto breeding have any side effects?

—What requirements are there to become a gym leader? Why is it only one gym per town?

—Can a trainer be charged with murder if one of their Pokémon kills a human in self-defense?

—Are there blacklisted species against the law to be trained without licenses?

—What happens to all the less-than-ideal babies from IV breeding? Shiny breeding?

—Where do Pokémon eggs actually come from?

—How often are Pokémon actually injured to the point if bleeding?

—Why does this crazy world let ten-year-olds wander in the wilderness?

—Are the evil teams' schemes years in the making? What were they thinking messing with the God-like Legendaries?

—How much does the league tell the public about us stopping evil teams?

—Are the additional non-native encounters in remakes caused by the Legendary Pokémon raging? Mass migrations away from danger.

—Can they take away our legendary Pokemon?

—Do the legendaries have cult followings?

—Would using Mega Evolution or Z-Moves to battle trainers who can’t be considered unfair?

—How rare is the ability to talk to Pokémon?

—Do badges/ribbons expire?

—Is evolving less maturing than just growing stronger? Can evolved mons still be immature?

—Are atheists a thing in the Pokemon world?

—How many grimdark or nuzlucke stories are just dark timelines?

—What if Legendaries are classified as genderless because nobody has studied them?

—Do Pokémon have to be re-caught if the trainer wants to switch their poke ball type?

—How rare are evolution items?

—How do TMs teach Pokemon new moves?

—Are ghost types immortal?

—What happens to Orre during the time skip?

—Does Ash age or is he stuck at ten?

—When does Ingo get sucked into the past?

—How long was he there before we show up?

—How do trade evolutions occur wild?

—Do we control the player character to save the region?

—What weapons if any exist in that world?

—How old are the Champions?

---------

I ask myself these when I consider any future stories history and worldbuilding. Hope to one day write quality fanfic that avoids the cliches.

#pokemon #pokemon games #pokemon anime #pokemon ranger #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon legends arceus #fanfic ideas #pokemon theories #ideas #random thoughts #floating timeline #aus #technically #questioning canon #plot holes #worldbuilding #long post #speculation #theories #writing struggles #writer struggles #anime logic #game mechanics

[govindhtech]

Larger iPad Pro vs Current Models: A Comparison

A supersized version of the iPad Pro with a display of 14.1 inches has been persistently pushed as part of the rumor mill, and there was a possibility that Apple will really launch this version of the tablet. However, Apple did not introduce this version of the iPad Pro. The rumor mill has speculated on several occasions about the possibility of Apple developing a larger iPad Pro model. However, you cannot buy this version of the iPad Pro just yet since it has not been released to the public. Unfortunately, the corporation has given up on its primary objective, which was to concentrate on the OLED variants, which were scheduled to become available the year after the next.

Apple iPad Pro 14.1-Inch 2023

There has been no official announcement made about the production of a larger iPad Pro; nevertheless, more established reports suggest that the business was testing prototypes with a more competent SoC. This is despite the fact that there has been no official statement made regarding the creation of a larger iPad Pro.

According to a story that was published in Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman’s ‘Power On’ newsletter, an unveiling was planned to take place this year; however, the firm finally opted not to go through with it. The model of the iPad Pro that is now available for purchase has a screen that is 12.9 inches in size and uses the mini-LED display technology.

This model is also the device that is currently being offered. According to AppleInsider, the company, which has its headquarters in the state of California, has opted to concentrate the majority of its efforts on enhancing the performance of the 13-inch model. This update is expected to be launched in 2019, and it will allegedly contain enhancements to both the OLED and M3 as well as support for a revised Magic Keyboard that will have an aluminum frame and a bigger touchpad. It is predicted that this upgrade will be available for purchase via Apple’s online store.

Regrettably, Gurman has not offered any comments on the future of the 14.1-inch iPad Pro, which indicates that even if it is in the process of being constructed, the Bloomberg reporter has not provided an update on the status of the device.

On the other hand, previous reports and rumors imply that work on the expansion to a larger screen is being carried out in a conscientious way. For example, one urban legend states that the larger iPad Pro would have a size advantage owing to the more screen real estate that it would have. This would allow for a better viewing experience. According to reports, it would also have the ability to concurrently connect two high-resolution monitors and would operate using a modified version of the operating system (iOS) found on the iPad.

According to a separate tale, Apple was said to be testing the bigger tablet with the M3 Pro rather than the standard M3, with the latter most likely being saved for the OLED model with a 13-inch display. The rumor was based on the fact that Apple was rumored to be testing the larger tablet with the M3 Pro. The rumor that Apple was trying out the larger tablet with the M3 Pro served as the basis for this hypothesis.

A version of the iPad Pro that has the M3 Pro would make perfect sense to add since Apple would need to offer the bigger iPad Pro with a considerable upgrade in its specs in order for buyers to feel secure buying it. We will continue to keep our readers up to date on this issue as well as any upcoming updates about other specs, despite the fact that there is no information on the display technology that Apple wants to deploy for this model. This is the case even though there is no information available.

#govindhtech #technology #technews #news #apple #ipad #ipadpro #pro #m3pro #oled

[creativeashproductions]

When Fate Intervenes // Luke Patterson

IN WHICH: Fate intervenes with a trio of musicians on the night that was supposed to be legendary. Fate puts the reader with a special ability that may or may not be able to save them. Fate puts a clairvoyant, an accidentally upsized pizza and thirteen year old oddly obsessed with a rock band.

Warnings: Swearing, food poison, death, and fluff

Words: 2.8k

A/N: Time to get rid of some fic ideas from my TOO LONG of a list. It’s Julie fault, she keeps encouraging each fic idea I tell her.

TO BE TAGGED SEND AN INBOX/ASK PLEASE!

Masterlist

The Orpheum, 1995

The line up comprised of countless girls wearing homemade band shirts for the new band performing. Your little sister, at thirteen years old, had pleaded for weeks if not three months to go watch it. It was odd since she was more in the pop scene than the rock music. Your parents would never let her go to the rock show at night, so it was you or no show. It took a promise of doing your chores for an entire month and her dessert for two months. That was why you stood beside Harper among the fangirls while you clicked through the camera you’d saved up for years.

“I’m so excited.” Harper buzzed dancing on your feet as the time on her watch dwindled down more and more.

Your eyes flitted from the screen to the ball of energy you called your little sister, “I can tell. Which one do you have a crush on?”

“Reggie. He’s the bassist and so fucking-sorry freaking cool.” Harper gushed, “A good portion of the fans are obsessed with the lead singer Luke. Bobby is the rhythm guitarist, and he’s a ladies man, but he’s sweet about it.”

“And you’d know that how?” You questioned letting go of the camera around your neck. Your e/c eyes meeting her matching pair of irises; well yours were a bit more vibrant.

“I just know.” Harper retorted before beaming as she roughly poked the pin she’d made herself, “This represents all of them. Red for Reggie’s plaid shirt he always has, orange for Bobby’s love of oranges, yellow for Luke’s energy and pink for Alex because he loves the colour!”

The pin had their band design with Sunset Curve on it with the words outlined with a sunset made up of red, orange, yellow and pink just as Harper had pointed out. By far, it was her best work, but that was expected from an art student at Los Feliz High School. An art school for artists and performers. You attended for photography and creative writing just as Harper attended for art.

“That might be your best work Harps.” You complimented your little sister who shivered in the cool night breeze. You didn’t even think about tugging off your warm jacket to place on her shoulders.

You’d rather be cold than your little sister no matter how much you fought with each other, the Y/L/N siblings had each other’s backs no matter what.

“Thanks.” Harper murmured, leaning closer, “So do I meet Reggie?”

Your eyes widened slightly at her subtle goading to a part of your life was cinematic. It was a piece of you that very few people knew about, only your parents and Harper. Like most of the women in your paternal lineage, you carried the ability to foresee events in the future. A clairvoyant.

“Harper!” You scolded the young teenager who blatantly was just over-excited to see the band she’d been talking about constantly.

Harper’s cheeks turned a cherry blossom pink under the crappy lighting from the marquee sign. Even in the light, you noticed the changes in her face as she matured into a young woman, her cheeks while still full didn’t have that baby cheek look now. You saw a stubborn zit that you could see under the makeup that didn’t entirely match her skin tone. It caused an ache in your heart to know that soon she’d have the experience of heartbreak.

“Sorry!”

“You told me these guys are my age. Need I remind you that you are thirteen? If anyone older than thirteen makes an advance I’ll put my softball skills to the test.” You sternly informed the shorter girl with the pout that screamed rebellion, “Just be a kid Harps.”

“Like you said Y/N, I’m thirteen. I’m not a kid anymore.” Harper dropped the attitude to adopt a more mature soft tone. You could see the tinge of sadness in her eyes at losing the part of life where it was easy.

“I know. I can wish you’ll stay that annoying little kindergartener that stole my clothing.” You chuckled, “You’ll always be the Stephanie to my DJ.”

The two Y/L/N siblings momentarily glanced around before hugging as quickly as possible, they still had reputations to uphold. Had you been actually paying attention, you and Harper would have noticed the commotion from the people behind you.

As you and Harper had the sweet moment, the very band performing had raced out the alley into the street. What brought you back to the surroundings was the pizza boy delivering the pizza box to you. 

“Wait, we ordered a small!” You exclaimed finding the boy holding an extra-large pizza. You only received a shrug in response with the right change given back. 

Two things happened with this food mistake, you didn’t have to pay more than what you actually ordered, and you still got the larger pizza. However, the Orpheum didn’t allow outside food, meaning you’d have to force-feed yourself all the pizza or trash more than half. 

“We could shar-” Harper was cut off as a blinding white light became your focal point. Harper knew what was happening by the specific groan coming from your lips.

A nauseating scent of cheap meat, gas and chemicals flooded your sense of smell in the dingy alleyway. It was nighttime with a few people in the general vicinity with a dilapidated table and mismatched chairs on the walls’ edge. A poorly made sign with Sam & Ella’s and going by the vendor selling the hot dogs the name fit. Sam & Ella sounded like salmonella.

From a distance, you couldn’t quite hear the conversation between three male teens, but you had a bad feeling. They all migrated to a ratty couch that had been better days, a rat wouldn’t even crawl on it you swore.

The first boy had slicked back hair with rosy cheeks you dubbed innocent and cute that juxtapositioned his rocker attire. He had polished black leather shoes, pleather if his choice of food was an indication, a leather jacket and a red plaid shirt around his waist. His attention focused on the two guys beside him. In the middle, the boy had the blue hood of his sweater pulled over his messy brown hair as if hiding. Nothing stood out about him, and it seemed like that was intentional. On the other side, the last one was the tallest with his blonde hair hidden by the backwards black hat. A distressed dark grey jean jacket open to proudly display his pink hoodie. Each one wearing black pants and adorning rings.

“This is awesome, you guys. We’re playing the Orpheum!” The middle boy joyfully spoke head in the clouds instead of the questionable surroundings. He arguably had the loveliest smile you had ever seen, and his friends had nice smiles at that as well.

Yet even if this hadn’t taken place, however, it still felt like you were intruding on something incredibly private, “Why am I being shown this?”

Your question went unsurprisingly unanswered.

“I can’t even count how many bands have played here! And then ended up being huge!” He happily sunk into the back of the couch, thinking of all the bands he had CDs to in his room, “We’re gonna be legends!”

“Oh.” You breathed as you caught a whiff from the boys that quickly gave you the understanding of why you saw this. You could only smell what you had dubbed as death, the scent unchanging from the first time you’d encountered it.

The death stench accompanied a clairvoyant vision if the object of your vision was sick or about to die. The first time you encountered, it was a vision of two cars colliding, the sound of shattering glass and crunching metal, the scent of burning flesh overpowering the milder stench. The next morning school was cancelled after a teacher died in a car accident on the way to work.

“Eat up, boys. ’Cause after tonight, everything changes.” The only vocal one continued with his two friends silently listening. The trio toasted their food together.

“No!” You exclaimed as each boy took a bite. You held your breath, hoping that the inevitable in the vision wouldn’t occur.

Unfortunately, it was right away the warning appeared. The blonde one the most affected, “That’s a new flavour.”

“Chill, man. Street dogs haven’t killed us yet.” The leather jacket guy proudly spoke, the least one concerned. 

Even the guy in the middle was concerned but ultimately continued eating.

“Stop it!” You shouted, but it was no use. As with every vision, you had the potential to stop it from coming true, but while in the vision, you couldn’t interact with the people or surrounding. No matter how much you wanted to slam the food out of their hands.

But one thing sends shivers down your spine. The one in the middle made direct eye contact with you. Something that had never happened before nor to any previous clairvoyants. He kept eye contact as he slowly grew sicker and sicker.

The three boys had no chance as the ambulance rushed to the alleyway to save them. The paramedics weren’t as quick as the vendors who’d already packed and fled to protect their own hides.

You watched as the paramedics did everything in their power to save the young teenagers with everything possible. Just like Luke sang in their last song, the boys felt the darker version of an electric hammer to the heart. The clocks freezing in place as they each took their last breathe in the oddest of deaths. You saw the blonde guy die painfully first before followed by the formerly hooded one, the terrified cries of the last one haunting your phantom ears.

How did three healthy teenagers die on the same night of the exact nature within minutes of each other without one surviving? Maybe it had something to do with the hot dogs chilling in the liquid that was a cesspool of bacteria compounded with tained condiments from battery acid.

You roughly came out of the vision shaking and pale-faced frantically scanning the surroundings. Harper had a grip on the extra large pizza box while the other tightly held yours to ground you in the present.

“Are you okay?” Harper softly questioned with the panic hidden inside her body. Harper knew that this vision had been one of the bad ones. The haunted look in your eyes hinting towards death in the near future.

“We need to go.” You frantically replied, grabbing the pizza that would hopefully have a hand in saving three hopeful teens.

Your gym teacher would be proud of the distance diminished and speed you kept towards the area that would further shatter you. Foreseeing death and sometimes unable to stop it always had a nasty impact on you. 

“Where are we going?” Harper yelled, “We’ll miss the doors opening!”

“We’ll miss them if we don’t hurry up!” You shouted back at the disgruntled little sister but at the moment that didn’t matter. 

What mattered was three hungry teenagers about to gorge themselves on death dogs if you didn’t make it in time. It appeared for the first time you’d actually manage to stop the deaths, unlike the previous three times. 

“-tonight. Everything changes.” The chill-inducing rasp helped navigate you to the disgusting couch. Your cold hand slammed the hotdog from the blonde’s hand, the shocked reaction halting the other two.

“Don’t...eat...it.” You heaved bending over at the waist to catch your breath. Wheezing sounded from your little sister as the running and seeing her favourite band up close settled.

“Excuse me! I paid for that hotdog!”

“You’d be buying yourself death literally. Your dreams of playing the Orpheum would be extinct.” You sighed, chugging the water from the pocket of Harper’s backpack for a few seconds before the owner took it back.

“Okay, look I don’t know how you found us but-”

“You don’t have to believe me ’cause I sure as hell wouldn’t have but don’t jeopardize your dreams. Look my little sister wanted to see your show so I brought her and we ordered a pizza. They fucked up the order by giving us an extra-large pizza. We’ll barely eat a quarter of it, and the venue is strict on the rules.” You rambled using tour hands to elaborate the story before Harper roughly elbowed your ribs, “Ow!”

“Oops.” Harper faked a sugar-sweet smile for your benefit as the interaction with the three musicians slowly dove into embarrassment.

“-sorry. You’d be doing us a favour by not wasting our money and food. What do you say?” You hesitantly asked the trio who didn’t speak vocally; their eyes meeting in a silent conversation.

Reggie sighed as he begrudgingly dropped his hotdog in the bin near the couch, “Pizza outranks street dogs even if the dogs are heaven and to die for.”

“Literally.” You grumbled forcefully pushing the obscenely large pizza box into the middle one’s stomach, “I’m Y/N, this is my little sister Harper.”

“Hi.” Harper shyly waved with cheeks turning a dust pink concealed by the dark of the alleyway. The boys’ lips all quirked at the sudden contrast from the confident sister slamming her elbow in you to the bashful teen.

“I’m Luke. This is Reggie and Alex.” The hooded one, Luke, introduced his bandmates as best he could with his hands occupied by the pizza box.

Without the threat of death by the hot dog, you actually took the time to look at Luke with appraising eyes. His eyes were like oceans of blues, greens and even a brown that both exhilarated you; the desire of studying them not surprising. His smile outshone the sun on the hottest day in August.

“Nice to meet you.” You informed the trio with a beaming smile that matched your starstruck little sister. The interaction gave you the opportunity for immense and untiring future teasing on the teen that daydreamed of the bassist. 

You had to admit the trio were incredibly attractive.

“Come back to the dressing room. We can eat there out of the cold.” Alex courteously invited the two formerly strangers. His blues sharing his pure intentions to repay you for saving their lives and offering pizza. 

“Of course.” Harper nodded her head with her eyes barely meeting the ones of the boys. The shell was broken when Reggie piped up.

“That’s a really cool pin! Where’d you find it?”

Gated Community, Los Angeles, 2002

An off-tune humming filled the modestly sized home in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California with the sound of water splashing. Doing the dishes was a mindless chore that typically didn’t bother you, but the pain in your lower back protested. You’d have used the dishwasher, but the thing was perpetually breaking down. Didn’t seen essential to replace when washing dishes by hand was just as productive.

Or it was when you didn’t have the extra weight in your midsection, a symbol of your love with your husband. In fact, you would have avoided doing dishes if you hadn’t just used the last clean plate and glass at breakfast plus Luke hadn’t been home in the previous week.

Sunset Curve had gone on a press tour for the upcoming album and tour planned for next year.

“Oof.” You moaned as the little rascal once more hit your bladder, “Are you breaking electric guitars in there?”

“Not a soccer player?”

“With you as their father? Not likely.” You snorted as the sudden appearance of Luke became clear. You hadn’t been expecting him, “I missed you. We missed you.”

As had it since you first told him Luke’s warm hand came to rest on the front of your swollen belly. In a short month, you’d be cradling the newest member of the Patterson family with Luke singing the lullaby he solely made for baby P.

“Still haven’t given in?” The lead guitarist teased you with a beaming smile splitting his face, “Go sit down. I’ll finish the dishes.”

You didn’t need to be asked twice. 

“I’m not abusing my clairvoyance to foresee our child’s gender, name and appearance.” You pointed one finger in his direction, “I refused Bobby’s pleading to see which models he would bed. The only time I did something like that was to reassure Alex that he would fall in love with a lovely guy.”

Luke’s heart burst with sheer adoration at how easily you had sunk into the friendship with the band after that one night. A night that had given birth to a friendship that slowly evolved into a romance and marriage. To this day, the group got together as much as possible.

“I love you.” Luke chuckled, “Even-”

“-if I came into your life like a completely crazy person?”

“We’re all a little crazy.”

Your house surely would be when a little tornado with Luke’s energy took over the home you’d made with Luke. The very home you would have more children and grow old together until soon you held your grandkids on your laps.

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#luke patterson imagines #luke patterson x reader #julie and the phantoms imagines #luke patterson x y/n #julie and the phantoms #luke patterson #charlie gillespie imagines #sunset curve #jatp luke #jatp fanfic #luke jatp #caitsy and ash productions

[highladyluck]

Why Egwene is really good at inventing weaves

I was talking about this with @bi-aviendha earlier, but had a bunch more thoughts about it afterwards, so here’s a mini-essay. Egwene was really, really good at weave development for three reasons: a) her raw magic abilities were very balanced and also very strong, b) she was extremely curious and ambitious, and most importantly, c) she had the broadest theoretical and practical magical education of literally anyone in the entire Third Age, including in Tel’aran’rhiod.

The fact that she was unusually balanced in her talents with each of the 5 powers (air, water, spirit, fire, earth) likely helped her develop new weaves. While strength with fire and earth is rarer in women then men, Egwene was able to use weaves that require those powers easily, which means she was likelier than other people to think about how to incorporate those powers in weave development, and also more likely to actually be able to work with them. Her raw potential being high also helped- not only could she actually do complex weaves that required more power, it's shown that people who are very strong in the power often are 'fast learners'. I think it's described in the books as a Talent. That's stuff she was born with, so it's not as interesting to me, but it is worth noting as an element of her success.

It also helped that she was very very curious and ambitious; she's the only person in the Two Rivers party who is leaving for fun, personal, career reasons, and she's always immersing herself in whatever culture she finds herself in, right from the get-go. Even where there's no magic to be learned, like with the Tinkers, she integrates socially into the Tinker camp in a way that is all the more obvious because Perrin and Elyas obviously can't/won't. And she was initially tutored by Moiraine, who was a wilder who taught herself a little, and so right from the start she knew that you could kind of teach yourself magic, and she obviously was never afraid of experimentation.

Egwene's big thing is that she wants to learn absolutely everything, and she's very much of the 'take what you want and pay for it' school- danger, morality, and the disapproval of those she respects are all subordinated to her desire to learn, as we see maybe most clearly when she's with the Aiel and metaphorically sneaking out to do Dreamwalking stuff. She's also absolutely the type to go out in a blaze of glory; live fast, die young unfortunately has Egwene written all over it. (I'm really sad she dies, but tbh I wasn't surprised; going out a la the last stand of Manetheren makes a lot of thematic sense for Egwene, and while I think she would also have wanted to hang on to power and make sure all her reforms got instituted, she was clearly a wartime leader and I don't know if she would have transitioned well to a less accelerated, high-stakes pace. Anyway, she has allies who can capitalize on her martyrdom and make that stuff happen.)

Finally, Egwene learned practical and theoretical magic from almost EVERYONE- it's absolutely the most eclectic education any Third Age magic user gets. She got early tutoring from Moiraine, like I said, who herself learned some things outside of the White Tower structure, and so from the beginning Egwene knew that the White Tower wasn't the only possible place to learn magic. Then she got taken by the Seanchan, where she was forced- artificially hurried along her natural learning/power growth curve- safely (since you can't burn yourself out while collared) and learned a bunch of new weaves and also got pretty traumatized. Then she had conversations with Rand about magic theory, which means she talked One Power with a) a male channeler and b) a male channeler who kind of sort of knew some stuff from the Age of Legends, which is an opportunity that not many people had or took advantage of. She also gets introduced to dreamwalking, first from the White Tower, then from the Aiel, where she also learns politics and other styles of channeling. Then she got theoretical hints/some actual weaves from Moghedien.

She only briefly got the 'there is only one way to channel and it's this way' indoctrination from the White Tower, and everything else that's ever happened to her- including being given access to a dream ter'angreal with instructions to try to learn about a lost Talent- has only reinforced her belief that there's a million different ways to learn about magic. Then, finally, she actually learns from a /non-channeler/, Perrin, after Perrin defeats balefire in Tel'aran'rhiod and tells her, 'It's only a weave.' Applying the things she learns in Tel'aran'rhiod- and being willing to get ideas from anywhere and anyone- leads to her reinventing Travelling and inventing the totally new anti-balefire weave. So, to sum up, Egwene learned magic from self-taught channelers, the Seanchan, a male channeler, the White Tower, the Aiel, Age of Legends channelers (male and female), non-channelers, and from messing around in an alternate dimension. She was also actively trying to network with the Sea Folk and the Kin, though I don't know if she specifically learned anything from them, and she also starts trying to learn about the Sharans when they show up. The only extant group of channelers Egwene has never encountered either directly or obliquely are the ones with the Amayar (RIP), the extremely fucked up Aiel male channelers that got Turned (RIP those guys too), and the ones on the Land of Madmen, and nobody knows what's up with the Land of Madmen. Egwene launched the saidar revolution because you could not keep that girl from making new connections if you *tried*.

#wheel of time #wheel of time meta #egwene al'vere #wheel of time spoilers #mostly no one tried to keep Egwene from making new connections #because they are smart and don't want to be steamrolled

[mexcraziness-art]

Monkie Kid/JTTW OC: Liang Xingti

Okay, so this bio is going to be pretty messy, mostly because I’m really tired these days, but also because I’m still reading Journey to the West, and still waiting on the new seasons of the show. So I can’t go into details too deeply until I find out more, this is more of a general outline of what I have in mind for her so far!

Name: Liang Xingti (亮星体),Tong Bi Yuanhou (通臂猿猴) Nickname: Gab Gender: Female

Liang Xingti, also known as the Long/Magic Armed Gibbon or just „Gab”, much like Wukong, she’s one of the Four Spiritual Monkeys, see the one and only mention in Journey to the West:

„The third kind is the magic−armed gibbon that can catch the sun or moon, shrink mountains, see what is auspicious and what is not, and fool around with heaven and earth.”

History: Xingti was born from a cloud after a full solar-eclipse, as the circumstances of her birth concerned Heaven she was soon taken in by Taibai Jinxing, the Gold Star of Venus, as a discipline. She grew up in the Heavenly Court, and was trained in combat by Erlang Shen. Despite now being a Heavenly Warrior she was mostly running errands for Jinxing and the Jade Emperor. After Wukong showed up in Heaven she was really intrigued by him, as she never met a monkey like her before. She developed a strange mix of appreciation and irritation towards Wukong as time went on, and after he became the Great Sage Equaling Heaven the two of them became semi-friends, usually sparring together. Wukong also showed her a new perspective on life, and she began to internally question her life and role in the heavenly court. When Wukong rebelled against and rampaged through Heaven she tried to fight him as well, and meanwhile normally they were pretty evenly matched, she didn’t stand a chance, as her doubts held her back and Wukong’s rage filled War Form was simply way out of her league at the time. After the Buddha trapped Wukong under the mountain her doubts in Heaven increased, now with added guilt on top. After Heaven banished Sandy, and their treatment of Bai Long Ma, she finally had enough and tried to leave Heaven. She was warned by her master Jinxing that Heaven might take this as an act of rebellion, so she was forced to stay, but she took more and longer trips to Earth. When she heard Wukong was freed she occasionally visited him and his company of their Journey, though his situation left a bad taste in her mouth. After this she spent the next few hundred years doing the same, running errands for Heaven and fighting demons on their orders.

(The following is mostly relevant to the 4+1 Monkeys AU)

In the present day she was sent by Heaven to Earth to find Wukong and get help to investigate and try to capture Macaque for reasons the Jade Emperor didn’t share with her, this lead to her being suspicious about her mission from the start. When she went to Flower Fruit Mountain to get Wukong’s help, she ran into MK, and soon found out that Wukong trains him as his successor, which lead the two of them to having a fight, and Xingti leaving to capture Macaque alone. However she was followed by MK who offered to help her, which she accepted, endangering MK in the process. Of course Wukong showed up last minute and the two of them captured Macaque. Later Xingti revelaed she doesn’t want to turn Macaque over to Heaven until she finds out more about their motivations, so she decided to stay on Flower Fruit Mountain with Macaque as their prisoner until they find out more, which left Wukong less than impressed.

Personality: Having grown up in Heaven, Gab was a model discipline, she never questioned authority, or the orders she was given. She was trained to be level headed and controlled as Heaven was vary of her possible wild nature. After she met Wukong and started to question Heaven she slowly became more rebellious, second guessing her orders and asking too many questions. As she spent more and more time on Earth and away from Heaven, she developed a loud, brash and snarky personality, she has a crude sense of humor, and likes to mess with people for the fun of it. She’s playful but likes to see just how far she was push someone by annoying them before they get pissed off. However also having grown up in Heaven, she grew up pretty isolated, and making meaningful connections is pretty hard for her. She doesn’t handle rejection well, and gets quickly angered when she feels confused or conflicted about something, specially if it’s relationship related. She also uses this to hide her sensitivity, which she views as a weakness. She mostly tries to show the affection and fondness she has for someone by being an absolute pest in their lives, and hope for the best.

Powers and Abilities:

She has all the standard abilities of a Spiritual Monkey and a Heavenly Warrior, including: -Immortality -Super strength and super speed -Chi manipulation -Cloud Generation -Flight

Other Abilities: -36 Heavenly Transformations (much like Wukong, she can’t change her tail) -Cloud Clones -She can use the essence of the Sun and Moon for various spells and magical abilities, she can also cause full lunar and solar ecplises by forcing the sun and the moon to move in place, this gives her a full power boost however this is also one of the things that can kill her. -Size changing of objects: She can change the size of anything to any size at will. -Fortune Sense/Opportunity Sense: She can sense how favorable a situation/decision could be.

Weapon: Her staff, made out of a droplet of Sun and Moon, is her signature weapon. She usually keeps it in her belt on her back, in it’s basic Handle form. She can command it to grow into a staff, which is how she usually uses it in combat. And at it’s strongest, she can summon a Sun and Moon blades on each end, as it’s third form.

Relationships:

Sun Wukong: She has sort of a back-and-forth relationship with Wukong. She loves to annoy and pester him and constantly challenge him to sparring matches, as they’re one of the few people who actually pose a challenge to the other. She likes to get a rise out of him, to knock him down a peg from his high and mightiness. She also loves to constantly remind him of his embarassing events in Heaven. Generally she’s just a little shit towards Wukong, but in a friendly, familiar way. To Wukong she’s more of an unwelcome nuisance that he’d rather avoid, but at the end of the way they both hold a fondness for eachother, just locked away deep, deep down, due to their shared experience with Heaven, and really both of them would rather die than ever admit it out loud.

MK: Much like Wukong, she likes to bully MK in the friendly way. She constantly pesters and makes fun of him, sometimes even „showing him some fighting moves” just so she can knock him around a bit. She sees the potential in him, how powerful he could become, and how he’s better than any of them ever were. However this is also the reason she doen’t go easy on him. Despite all this she has a soft spot for MK, when she’s not messing with him, she’s always telling him cool stories of her and Wukong’s old days, that didn’t make it into the legends. She also always makes sure to tell the embarassing bits about Wukong.

Macaque: Her relationship with Macaque is… complicated and a massive WIP to put it simply, so this one will be super brief.

After they captured him, Xingti basically became his de facto prison warden. She constantly followed him around and just kept an eye on him in general. Because of this she soon became super intrigued by him, not only beause he was the second Spiritual Monkey she ever met, but mostly because she felt as if they were on a common wavelength. After Macaque’s initial escape attempts, and various arguments with Wukong, she set out to try to understand him and his past. As time passed and Macaque actually warmed up to them they grew pretty close. As it turns out they have a similiar sense of humor, and both of their favourite hobbies is making Wukong miserable, she quickly grew a soft spot for Macaque and before she even realised it she had all but developed a crush on him. Macaque had soon noticed the obvious changes in her behaviour, and as he had been faking his redemption this whole time, he decided to take advantage of her feelings for him. He played along and peretended to fancy her as well, they have even developed sort of a romantic relationship, (this whole thing of course didn’t leave Macaque as unaffected as he liked to believe) and things were actually pretty good, until Macaque saw an opportunity to betray them and make it hurt. This of course left Xingti more than emotionally devastated, and she swore to make Macaque pay herself. This is pretty much what I have in mind so far, I'm sure I left out a lot, I'll add them later when I remember them! And hopefully I'll draw a ref of my other OC, Mandy, the 4th Spiritual Monkey soon as well!

Art by @mexcraziness-art

Liang Xingti and 4+1 Monkeys AU belongs to @mexcraziness-art

Monkie Kid belongs to Lego

#Monkie Kid #Monkie Kid OC #Monkie Kid AU #4+1 Monkeys AU #Liang Xingti

[heliosthegriffin]

Sacred Rites

“Do you swear to honor The Heavenly Champion in all your works, Jaune Arc?”

To be a Paladin, to be servant to the divine and defender of the innocent. That was his dream.

“Yes, I swear, from the day I entered the Victarion to now, I have been the Goddess’s to command and lead.”

“Do you answer to our Goddess, and only our Goddess?”

“To no other, now and forever, never shall I let man, law, or force of nature, interrupt me in my quests and duties, I answer to the Goddess and only the Goddess, or those that she speaks through.”

“Will you uphold the oaths of our order?”

“I will feed the starving, 

I will chastise the foolish, 

I will forgive the repentant, 

I will be generous to the poor,

I will help the needy,

I will act when needed, never just when called upon,

I will protect the young, the weak, the weary, and the innocent, I will fight for the common man! 

I will be honorable in all pursuits,

strong in body, faith, and mind,

Never shall greed or callousness, guide my path! 

For I make my own! 

I will guide the weary, tired, and directionless to the warmth of our hearths, and give them guidance, and I will let them go if they desire to be alone, but never close the door. 

I will live with freedom in my servitude, now and forever.”

He didn’t need to look up to know that tears crested the eyes of Champion Maria, with a crack in her normally stern voice she continued.

“Then as Champion of the Victarion, Maria Calavera, I name you Jaune Arc first Paladin of Pyrrha-Nikos, Heavenly Champion, Savior of the Commons, First Apotheosis, she who cast down the Old Tyrants! Hold your head up,”

Jaune did, looking into the silver eyes of the surprisingly youthful looking Champion. 

“you will carry your head high, as you are the first and only true Paladin of Pyrrha-Nikos! Take pride in position, but never let humility leave you, you will carry the weight of the faith on your shoulders, but with the strength of all those with the faith! Now go forth child, and meet those you would cherish and protect!”

With a tear going down his cheek, he turned and looked out at the full temple. He had finally realized his dream, one that he would live forever more.

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

Entering his chambers Jaune collapsed on the humble bed of his.

It had been a heavenly experience after the ceremony, full of friendship, feasting, games, dancing, along with promises and new memories being made. It beginning and ending on a high note, with friends from across the city and continent showing up, and them promising to meet once again as soon as he has leave to go questing. He couldn’t have had a better day if he tried!

It really made the last eight years seem like nothing in comparison. He let out a happy sigh, truly his hardships and sacrifices had paid off. What would the boy that he was at ten years old think of himself now?

Probably that he should have left home sooner. 

Hmm-pf, the thought making him crack up a little.

Laying on his bed looking around his normally bare chamber were full to bursting with the gifts, more than he knew what to do with, but it mattered not, he’d cherish them all.

The masterwork sword that Ruby made him.

The gambeson Coco had made for him.

The tabard Velvet made for him.

The bottle of fine whiskey that Yang made him promise not open till they did quest together.

Emerald had even gotten him back the coin purse that he lost! He enjoyed the embroidery on it that she had gotten done on it.

Brother Ren had come by with Sister Arslan to set up the party, nothing less than what he’d expect from Tenders of Sun Wukong, Second Apotheosis.

Ren had even given him a pair of fine gloves, some potions, and even an alchemy set and basic instructions!

Arslan just promised not to beat him too badly at the next inter temple championship. Also gave him a nice embroidered belt with gold inlays.

Old Port had come by with enough food to feed an army, and left him a nice antler handled skinning knife.

Tukson had brought him some books to read, ranging from philosophy to legend to stories from other continents.

So many gifts. 

A sharp knock on the door took him out of his thoughts.

Jaune quickly moved to answer the door.

On the other side, Champion Maria Calavera. A woman many years his senior looking no older than a decade his senior.

Jaune dropped to his knee, and paid respects. “I’m honored by your presence, my champion.”

“Lift your head and stand boy, we are both equals in Her eyes.”

Jaune rose to his feet, the tall young man towering above the champion, and  he beckoned Maria in.

Maria entered and sat at his desk, and Jaune took a seat on his bed.

“Pardon, my rudeness, My Champion,-”

“As I said we are both equal in Her eyes, so you may address me as Maria, or not at all. There will be no deferential treatment between the two of us, are we clear?” Maria asked sternly.

Jaune’s face blushed, and he scratched the side of his face. “But, My-” Maria raised an eyebrow sharply. “I mean Maria, how can I compare to a legendary figure of the faith such as yourself, when I just became a Paladin today?” Jaune argued weakly.

“Tut-tut, my boy, you sell yourself short, you are the first Paladin of this faith, a faith over a thousand years old and you are the first paladin, the first to actually channel Her power!” Maria jabbed a slender finger into Jaune’s chest. “The first to not be granted her power, but to be a conduit to her greatest, and the first man to join her side!” Maria sly smirked at him. “What makes you think that the Goddess’s chosen is not worthy to refer to her Champion by name?”

A blood-red color over took the poor young man’s face, and he weakly mumbled. “When you put it that way, I suppose I can’t really refute you, can I?”

“Hmm, nope!” Maria answered cheerfully.

“Hah, so onward we move forward, what brings you here at such a late hour, Ma-Maria,” Jaune asked with effort. “I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s getting late, and it has been quite the day.”

Maria smiled at him. “Well, that’s because it has passed Midnight and it is officially time for you to perform your first duties as Paladin, as I have been asked by the Goddess to come gather you to bring you to the sanctum.”

Jaune’s brow furrowed with confusion. “She has? Why has she not called me herself?”

Maria let out a laugh. “Oh, she’s just a bit excited, and didn’t think you could handle her voice right now.”

“Oh!” Jaune said understanding, as the power of Gods control directly related to their emotions. If too excited she might blast him with too much power by speaking to his mind. Conduit of her power he might be, but Maria had decades of time to acclimate herself to the presence of the divinity.

Maria nodded and got up, “Now come along, we shall not keep Her waiting, hmm?

Quickly he jumped to his feet ready to go. “Of course not, that would be folly.”

“Indeed.”

In truth Jaune knew his way to the sanctum, but he did doubt his ability to get in without Maria.

“So, do you know my first duty, Maria.” Jaune asked with any trouble this time.

Maria lightly smiled. “Oh, that between you and Her, Jaune. Hehehe.”

Cocking his head in confusion, Jaune could only wonder what she meant, perhaps it was a test of devotion or strength of character, or possibly his first quest!

Yang would be so proud if he got a quest!

They arrived at the sanctum fairly quick, as said before they both knew the way.

The doors that hid the sanctum were taller than two of Jaunes, and big enough for a dozen men to wall shoulder to shoulder to pass through. Made of a beautiful bronze inlaid with artwork of previous champions.

Maria opened the doors with one hand. “Go on now, try not to have too much fun.”

Jaune looked confused, but went inside anyway.

The door closed behind him leaving him facing a pool of steaming water and the idol of Pyrrha Nikos. 

The idol stared at Jaune down to his soul seeming to strip him down to his most primal components.

Jaune then fell to his knees. “I have come to you, my Goddess.”

A please hum seemed to come from the statue and the entire room.

“Raise my Paladin, it is time to attend to your duties.” The warm voice of his Goddess seemed to echo from behind his ear.

Jaune did as he was told and rose. “What would you have me do, my Goddess.”

Another pleased hum came forth.

A light whisper seemed to dance in his ear. “Oh yes, I like the way you call me that.”

Jaune looked confused. “Why would I call you anything but that?”

“Oh, you little charmer.”

Jaune’s confusion remained. “Ok, but what is my first duty?”

“STRIP!” His Goddess boomed around him, nearly knocking Jaune onto his butt. 

Jaune staggered around drunkenly for a second, a thin stream of blood falling from his ears.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, my little Paladin! I got a little excited for this!” His Goddess echoed again, as a holy glow healed Jaune.

“It’s fine, my Goddess, but, um, may I ask why I must remove my clothing?” Jaune innocently asked, finding his clothing rather comfy despite the humidity of the room.

The idol and the room went silent as though his Goddess was in thought, ha, surely not, she must merely be pondering me a fool. Jaune thought to himself.

The Idol’s cut emerald eyes glowed. “My Paladin, my dear sweet Paladin, how am I to embrace you and acclimate you to my power if there is a boundary between us?” The idol's clothes disappeared leaving only a naked metal idol.

Jaune’s face went blush. “Oh, I guess that makes sense...”

The idol seemed to smile at him, a little scary if he might add. “Now once again, STRIP!” The words seemed to drip out of the idols mouth like honey.

Jaune shivered under the Idols words, but did as he was told pulling up his shirt. “WAIT,” The idol cried out as he did. Jaune looked at the Idol again in confusion. “DO IT SLOWLY~”

Shrugging Jaune pulled his shirt down, only to grab it by the hem and then slowly rolled the fabric up, revealing inch by inch the naked, supple and muscular body of Jaune Arc.

The shirt rising like a curtain to show the sharp, deep cut v of his Adonis belt that led into his pants, hiding a treasure Pyrrha would see soon enough. The shirt continued it’s slow trip up, showing one at a time his flat, smooth, uncontainably powerful abs, and smoothly contoured sides of his waist, showing off his powerful core.

The next destination to be revealed was his broad chest that barely contained his two muscular pecs, each looking like they could crush a steel ingot between them! His arms looking like masterfully crafted pieces of art rather than flesh and muscle. Above them was his wide shoulders corded with powerful muscles under his skin, that held up a veiny neck coiled with even more muscles!

Then he folded the shirt and put it on the floor, turning around showing off a wonderfully sculpted back, one so well made she was going to give Maria even more regards. The idol's eyes trailing down his back to see two cute dimples on his back!

Then he pulled down the pants showing off a well rounded ass! They had dimples too! And-

The Idol’s emerald eyes cracked at the sight between his legs, and then instantly reformed.

“Now what would you ask of me, my Goddess?” Jaune said, feeling a little lost about what was going on.

His Goddess said nothing for a while just staring at him.

After a couple minutes passed, Jaune coughed awkwardly into his hand and pronounced. “If you do not speak, my Goddess, I will assume I have displeased you and leave.”

“What, sorry?” His Goddess asked him, must have spoken too quietly.

“I asked if I offended you, my Goddess.”

“Oh, noooo~, I am most pleased, most pleased indeed.” Jaune smiled. If she’s happy, I’m happy, he thought to himself.

“So what would you have me do now?”

“Clean thyself my Paladin, buttttt~, slowly~!” His Goddess asked of him.

Jaune nodded determinedly, as she asked, so it shall it be done!

Jaune slowly walked his way into the languidly steaming water, hissing a little bit at the bite of warmth it shot through his flesh, but endured for his Goddess! Also the hot water started to feel quite nice. Reaching the center of the pool, he was waist deep. He looked around for any soap or oils, a small wooden bowl full of various cleaning agents.

The idol of Pyrrha’s emeralds cracked once again, and then reformed in an instant watching her Paladin bathing.

Jaune eventually emerged from the pool clean as a whistle. “Uuuh, I need to do that more often, I feel brand new. You have my thanks my Goddess.” Jaune said reventently.

His Goddess’s idol did speak, for some reason it’s metal cheeks turning cherry red, why would it do that though?

Finally her voice blessed him again. “And you shall do this sacred rite before me everyday you’re here, my Paladin!”

Jaune then let out a muffled yawn. “Apologize my Goddess, I fear my fatigue has gotten the better of me.”

“It’s fine my Paladin, I have only a few more tasks for you. Anoint yourself with the holy oils, first!”

Jaune did as asked, slowly patting his body with a palm’s worth of holy oil across his body. Smearing a sheen of oil across his sculpted body, all across his body.

A loud crack caught his attention, looking up at his Goddess’s idol to see fragments of emeralds everywhere, but miraculously missing him.

“My Goddess! Are you well, is there an interloper that wishes you harm, please answer me!”

“I’m fine, I’m well! Just a little over excited is all.”

Jaune nodded and returned to finish anointing himself. Finally, his body was ready for whatever his Goddess wished of him.

“I’m finished, my Goddess, what task is next?”

A deep, smile appeared on the idols metal face.

“I require you to cover my idol with various oils to insure that it remain’s form and beauty, this my task for you!”

Jaune nodded. “I will be honored to clean you my Goddess!”

A melodic hum spread throughout the room, giving Jaune a pleasent vibration in his chest.

Jaune knelt before the statue coating his hands in the sacred oils, and put his hands on the feet of the idol, and began working his way up the statue, smearing the oil across the metal of idol, which felt oddly warm, and soft? He didn’t quite understand that, but he was sure that it made sense.

The melodic hum became louder as he worked his way up the legs of the statue making sure to get every inch of it! His duty demanded perfection, and perfection it will have. The grew even louder and louder, practically causing his hands to go numb as he worked in between the legs of the statue, getting each and every surprisingly soft and wet? Inche of the idol till the hum turned into a ringing cry, as he was blasted into the pool, blood leaking out of his eyes and ears.

Jaune would ask his Goddess what he did to offend her when he could see which way was up.

Another holy light descended upon Jaune healing him again.

“My sincerest apology, my Paladin! I merely became over stimulated.”

Jaune gave a shaky thumbs up and got back to work.

Jaune fell from what could only be described as a hole in space into his bed, clearly unconscious, blood leaking from his face before a bronze holy power covered him, cleaning and healing him.

Pyrrha noticed that the power was transfering into him slightly easier than before, her reasoning may have been bullshit, but not complete bullshit, if he was naked he would absorb her power much easier. By the end of the week he might even be able to do small miracles!

That said Pyrrha felt very content with her little Paladin, he even finished caring for her idol! Not even Maria could do that in her first year as her champion, requiring the help of several acolytes each day. Still that was no slight against her Champion, Jaune was just a rare breed that could accept divine power like a sponge absorbing water.

That said she didn’t expect him to make her climax three times, how was that even possible through a statue!

Pyrrha smirked down at her little Paladin, she was very much excited to watch him grow.

Pushing her from the heavens into the earth, Pyrrha put a pair of lips on his, and then whispered, “Oh my little Paladin, you are loved like no other. Now rest, for the world will have need of you soon. Your oaths pusted and pressure, but you’ll endure, and I will support you every step of the way. For you will be my greatest act in this world, this I swear.”

Then she receded back to the heavens. The various gifts in his room briefly shimmering before the light faded.

AN1: This idea came to me as Jaune being a Paladin and Pyrrha being his goddess sugar mama, who constantly feels him up at everychance, but Jaune doesn’t see anything sexual about it so doesn’t mind.

AN2: Unfortunately Jaune is about to learn despite his goddess being good, her mortality is definitely like the Greek gods in terms of consent and free will.

#Jaune Arc #Oblivous Jaune #Pyrrah Nikos #Goddess Pyrrha Nikos #Thristy Pyrrha #Maria Calavera #High Priestess Maria #High Fantasy RWBY AU

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The Desert Fox: Separating the myth and the man of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains saves both.

- Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

War hero or Nazi villain? Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is, to this day, the subject of heated debate. He was the “Desert Fox,” revered by Allied Forces for his supposed chivalry, and allegedly implicated in the “Valkyrie” plot to assassinate Hitler.

But present day historians have increasingly come to re-examine the life and the legend of this most iconic of World War Two generals.

I first became interested in this question after reading Corelli Barnett’s magisterial account ‘The Desert Generals’ back when I was in Sandhurst. I read other World War Two books before then of course but it was only at Sandhurst did I first give serious consideration towards Rommel as ‘the Good German’ general. I read other books too like General Sir David Fraser’s ‘Knight’s Cross: a life of Field Marshal Rommel’ as a stand out one on military stuff but a very cursory examination of his early life and beliefs.

Rommel was a legend in the making.

Whichever side of the debate one falls on there is no doubt that Erwin Rommel, was one  of the most celebrated and respected generals of the Second World War  and indeed, some even say one of the greatest generals of all time. His prowess on the  battlefield earned him more than a battlefield earned him the  admiration of both his men and his enemies alike, with adversaries  lining up to pay tribute to their greatest foe in the field.

“We  have a very daring and skilful opponent against us, and, may I say  across the havoc of war, a great general,” said no less than Winston  Churchill himself of Rommel, just after the war ended in his book on the  conflict, The Second World War. 

When Churchill came under fire in the press for praising a man seen as a  Nazi, he doubled down, commenting “He also deserves our respect  because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all  his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by  displacing the maniac and tyrant.

For this, Rommel paid the  forfeit of his life. In the sombre wars of modern democracy, chivalry  finds no place… Still, I do not regret or retract the tribute I paid to  Rommel, unfashionable though it was judged.”

Indeed,  the extent to which Rommel was a Nazi is one of the great questions that has been asked since the war and one that is debated to this day. Rommel, while respected by those who fought him from afar as generals  and indeed, thought of a genius to many of those who fought beneath him  in the Wehrmacht, has often faced criticism of his tactics and his  decision making, with some post-war writers holding him up as a man  prone to erratic behaviour on the battlefield and a great sufferer from  the stresses of the job.

“Rommel  was jumpy, wanted to do everything at once, then lost interest. Rommel  was my superior in command in Normandy. I cannot say Rommel wasn’t a  good general. When successful, he was good; during reverses, he became  depressed,” said Sepp Dietrich, who fought under Rommel in France and  ended the war as the most senior figure in the Waffen-SS.

A  similar sentiment was expressed by Luftwaffe field marshal Albert Kesselring, a contemporary of Rommel’s and an officer of similar rank,  who later wrote: “He was the best leader of fast-moving troops but only  up to army level. Above that level it was too much for him. Rommel was  given too much responsibility. He was a good commander for a corps of  army but he was too moody, too changeable. One moment he would be  enthusiastic, next moment depressed.”

Who  was this great man then? We know him today as a great tactician, a charismatic leader, a respected general and the last German participant  in the so-called “clean war”. But how true are those assessments? Was  the Desert Fox as chivalrous as his enemies thought him to be?

Rommel was far from just a Second World War hero – he distinguished himself in World War One too.

Rommel  graduated from the military academy in Gdansk – then known as Danzig  and an integral part of Germany – in 1912 and was immediately posted back to his home region of Baden-Württemberg.

When war  broke out in 1914, Rommel was ready to face his first major conflict posting. As a battery commander within the 124th division of the German  army, he would distinguish himself and gain his first recognition from  the higher-ups.

Erwin saw his  first action at the age of 23 on August 22, 1914, near the French town  of Verdun. Rommel led his platoon into a French garrison, catching them  by surprise and personally leading the charge ahead of the rest of his  men, earning credits for bravery and ingenuity. He would be awarded the  Iron Cross, Second Class, for his actions, a promotion to First  Lieutenant and a transfer into the Royal Württemberg Mounted Battalion  as a company – rather than platoon – commander.

Rommel  would go on to fight in the German campaigns in Italy and Romania, with  particular note being taken by the German Army hierarchy of his conduct in the Italian campaign. The Royal Württemberg Mounted Battalion fought  at the Battle of Caporetto, the twelfth battle to be fought along the  Isonzo River in modern-day Slovenia, and one that would go down as  probably the largest military defeat in the history of Italy.

Rommel  would play a central role, leading the Royal Württemberg, with just 150  men, to capture an estimated 9,000 Italians, complete with all their  guns, for a cost of just 6 of his own men.

The  young Rommel used the challenging, mountainous terrain of Caporetto – now known as Kobarid – to outflank the Italians and convince them that  they were totally encircled by Germans, when in fact there was just one  battalion. Fearing that they were surrounded, the Italians surrendered  en masse and were surprised to find that so few men were able to capture  them.

The efforts of the German Army to break into the  Italian Front through the Slovenian Alps – at the time, part of Italy –  were vital in furthering an advance towards Venice, though the Germans  were eventually stopped and turned back.

Rommel  was awarded the Pour Le Merite award by the Kaiser for his leadership  at Caporetto, but also gained the respect and loyalty of his men, who  were not only impressed by the way in which his tactics had won the battle, but also by the way that he had stood up to the German Army high command and argued for more and better food for his men. The legend of Rommel was growing apace.

Rommel was an effective teacher as well as a military leader.

It shouldn’t be too surprising that Rommel was a capable teacher: his father had been a headmaster, while the ability to communicate his ideas  effectively in the field would lead to some of his most enduring  military victories. There was no point coming up with a revolutionary  tactic to win a battle if you couldn’t then inform and inspire your men  well enough for them to then go and carry it out.

At  the end of the First World War, Rommel was entering his late 20s and  had already been widely feted for his military prowess. While it might  have seemed a little dull compared to the derring-do on the Isonzo, the  role of the Royal Württenberg Mountain Battalion lay much closer to  home, with German society slowly disintegrating into civil wars between,  on the left, socialists who wanted Germany to undergo a revolution  similar to that which had recently occurred in Russia, and on the right,  groups such as the Freikorps, disgruntled ex-soldiers and nationalist,  anti-communist paramilitaries that would go on to form the kernel of the  Nazi Party.

Rommel,  recently promoted again to the rank of Captain, was ordered to use his  soldiers in a policing capacity, putting down insurrections all over  southern Germany. It was during this period that he showed some of the  sense of restraint that would distinguish his conduct in North Africa  during World War Two, trying to avoid the use of force against crowds of  civilians where possible.

After  the Weimar Republic took hold, however, the country somewhat stabilised  and Rommel found himself in Dresden, teaching new recruits. He had been  promoted in turn to Major, then Lieutenant Colonel, placing him in the  very highest echelons of the Treaty of Versailles-reduced German Army.

He  was recognised as one of the prime instructors in that army and wrote a book, “Infantry Attacks”, that furthered his theories on warfare and  explained his experiences in the Izonzo – it sold incredibly well and  increased Rommel’s personal fame, as well as bringing him to the  attention of Adolf Hitler, who was known to have read the book.

Rommel met Hitler in Goslar, Germany in 1934, while Rommel was posted as battalion commander. Hitler’s charisma and promises to reestablish Germany as a world power after the crippling results of World War I inspired Rommel to become a fervent supporter of the Nazi Party.

The two men had several encounters following this, and Rommel rose through the ranks on Hitler’s personal recommendation. But it was ultimately Hitler’s liking for Rommel’s book Infantry Attacks that led to his becoming the commander of Hitler’s personal guards during his tour of the Sudetenland.

By  the 1930s with Hitler fully secured in power, the German Army, for whom Rommel worked, and the Nazi state were more and more inseparable. It would be this coming together that prompted a major dilemma for  the career soldiers such as Rommel: did the duty lie to their country,  and whoever might be governing it, or to the party, that was coming to  define what that country was about?

Rommel was a committed Nazi and not the “decent face” of the German Army.

Rommel’s antagonism wasn’t so much against Nazism as it was towards the Nazis in leadership who led it. His committment to Nazism eroded as the war took a wrong turn and as Hitler increasingly became erratic in his military decision making that Rommel grew increasingly frustrated.

Just  how much of a Nazi Rommel was is one of the biggest questions that is debated about him to this day. It is largely due to the Rommel myth that  was perpetuated by the likes of Winston Churchill after the war that  Rommel was taken by the victorious Allies as “the good Nazi”, or the  honest general who happened to be being ordered about by the Nazis,  merely a career soldier who followed orders and stayed out of politics.

Let’s  put that one to bed, here and now. Rommel was an early adopter of the Nazi Party and a committed believer in the ideals of  National  Socialism, while also being an officer who regularly disobeyed orders –  making both commonly held assumptions wrong.

That said, he  is one of the few figures of that period who is still revered in Germany, who still has streets named after him and memorials in his  honour. It seems that the myth persists in his homeland too, despite  countless books and articles to the contrary.

One  such author attempting to shake this idea from the public consciousness is Wolfgang Proske, a historian and history professor from Rommel’s hometown on Heidenheim, who has written 16 books about his town’s most  famous son. “Rommel was a deeply convinced Nazi and, contrary to popular  opinion, he was also an anti-Semite. It is not only the  Germans who have fallen into the trap of believing that Rommel was  chivalrous. The British have been convinced by these stories as well,”  he told British newspaper The Independent in 2011 when a new memorial to  the Field Marshal was unveiled.

“At  the time when Rommel marched into Tripoli, more than a quarter of the city’s population were Jews,” Proske continued, “There is evidence which  shows that Rommel forbad his troops to buy anything from Jewish  traders. Later on, he used the Jews as slave laborers. Some of them were  even used as so-called ‘mine dogs’ who were ordered to walk over  minefields ahead of his advancing troops.”

While  Rommel was never a member of the Nazi Party, it is widely known that Wehrmacht figures, particularly high-ranking ones such as Rommel,  welcomed Hitler coming to power. Those, like Rommel, whose backgrounds  had shut them off from the highest ranks of the Kaiser’s forces, saw the  new government as one that would see them move to the top of the tree  and as such were generally in favor of it.

Goebbels  himself wrote in 1942, when Rommel was in the running for the role of Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht, that the Field Marshal was ”ideologically sound, is not just sympathetic to the National Socialists. He is a National Socialist; he is a troop leader with a gift for  improvisation, personally courageous and extraordinarily inventive. These are the kinds of soldiers we need.”

Rommel owes a large part of his fame to the fact that he made fools of opposing general - well almost (Patton would disagree).

Rommel’s  prowess as a general is unquestioned. On the back of his heroics as a low-level officer in World War One added to by his role teaching at the forefront of modern military tactics, he was perfectly positioned to lead the Nazi war machine into the second conflict.

When  the war began, he was leading Hitler’s personal protection battalion –  so much for a man who kept a distance from the center of Nazi power –  and thus was privy to the highest levels of discussions regarding  tactics, particularly the way in which to use mechanized infantry such  as tanks. After the early successes in Poland, Rommel moved with the  front to France and commanded Panzer units, before distinguishing  himself against the British at Arras and leading the drive towards  Dunkirk.

With the British  regrouping on the other side of the Channel after a crushing defeat –  which, lest we forget, Dunkirk was – the focus turned to North Africa, where Rommel would lead the newly-established Afrika Korps. He was the superstar of the German Army, a reputation largely built on his ability  to vanquish the British, whom he would now face again in the desert. It was at this time that his nickname, The Desert Fox, was coined by the  British press, who sought to create a figure against which the war could  be fought.

The legacy of Rommel as the acceptable Nazi could be seen to stem from this point when the media in Britain saw fit  to create a worthy adversary for their troops to combat. Rommel was  thought to be an old-style soldier rather than an out-and-out Nazi:  though we have seen that he was a Nazi, and he had arguably committed war crimes by summarily executing prisoners in France just weeks before.

Come  the victory of the British at Tobruk and El Alamein, the British propaganda machine had even more than a noble adversary. They had a  noble adversary against whom they had lost in Europe and then  subsequently defeated: when the characters of the British side,  Auchinleck and Montgomery, were spoken of, they needed someone of equal  weight to make their victories seem even more heroic, a role that fit  Rommel perfectly.

With morale at home low after the  Dunkirk evacuation, the victories in North Africa were vital to keeping  spirits up, and a glorious victory against an equally glorious enemy  sounded even better. Churchill himself called Rommel an “extraordinary  bold and clever opponent” and a “great field commander” in the House of  Commons in 1942 – after he had just been defeated.

Rommel’s reputation for chivalry in North Africa might not just be down to his own intentions.

Of  course, some aspects the Allied propaganda about Rommel – that he was a  fair fighter, that he respected the ideals of chivalry when other  Germans didn’t – were generally true.

It is undoubted  that, by and large, Rommel adhered to the rules of war when plenty of  Nazi generals didn’t, but it bears mentioning that the reason that so many German generals were so callous is that they were ordered to be  like that. Orders within the Nazi war machine came down from high and  were often brutal in their nature: summary execution of prisoners,  rounding up of Jews and other minorities, scorched earth policies. That  was just the orders aimed at enemies: often generals would be ordered to  stand their ground to the death when all military logic told them to  make a tactical retreat.

Rommel’s dedication to upholding the “war  without hate” as he called the more traditional methods of war is up for debate, but certainly, he did take measure to negate the harsher aspects. That said, there are other factors that question whether his commitment to the “war without hate” was intentional, circumstantial or ideologically-driven.

When most German generals were likely to commit acts of ethnic cleansing, Rommel  was not generally faced with the question. North Africa, where this reputation was developed, had hardly any Jews, for example, and other potential targets for Nazi aggression were protected by being citizens of Italy and Rommel was wary of standing on the toes of their allies.  That said, many within the North African Jewish community are reported  as having felt that they were spared from the horrors suffered by Jews  in Europe by the actions of the Afrika Korps, led by Rommel.

It  is also widely accepted that he refused to execute captured Jewish prisoners and hated the use of slave labour. As far as his own troops  were concerned, Rommel repeatedly refused orders directly from Hitler.  When, at the end of the second Battle of El Alamein, Hitler commanded  him directly not to retreat and to show his soldiers “no other road than  that to victory or death.”

Knowing that it was impossible for him to defeat the advancing British, who massively outnumbered his forces,  Rommel chose to ignore the letter from the Fuhrer and fled all the way  across North Africa to Tunisia rather than face death in the sand. While he was way too politically powerful to be censured by Hitler, actions  such as this were contributory to a wider feeling among the Nazi hierarchy that Rommel was not one of them.

He was a PR superstar in Germany, but was both respected and later suspected by the Nazi leadership. 

Rommel’s  reputation within Germany might well have made him untouchable for the  Nazi hierarchy, even when he did things that were in direct contradiction of the ideological and military strategy of the regime. They had invested so much time and so much weight in making him the  poster boy of their propaganda regime that, when Rommel turned out to be  less than what they had hoped for, they could not easily dispose of  him.

On paper, he was the perfect fit for their media machine: he was an early adopter of Nazism, already a hero from the  First World War and an excellent general, with victories aplenty. Moreover, they could cite the Allies reverence for him in their favor,  and Rommel himself was comfortable in the spotlight and relished the  attention.

Hitler was always wary of building up any one single figure too far – lest he be challenged  himself – but Goebbels, the chief propagandist, knew an opportunity when he saw it and Rommel could not be passed up. As Rommel’s media image  grew and grew, he became the darling of the public back home, but in the  corridors of power in Berlin, there were plenty of higher-ups who were  less convinced of his powers.

Even from the early days of the war in 1941, when Rommel was in France, some of those who fought  alongside him were doubting just how effective he actually was a  general. By the time that the war in North Africa had turned against him  in 1943, the German furthest expansions were contracting: the Battle of  Stalingrad had been lost in February and Rommel departed Tunisia in May.

It might have made sense if the Nazis had thought Rommel their best general, to send him to the  Eastern Front where the war was being lost. Perhaps, too, the brutal nature of the war on the Ostfront was seen as beyond Rommel’s nature:  this was not the time or place for “war without hate”, in the eyes of  the Nazi leadership.

Instead, he was dispatched to Italy. As Italy fell, Rommel was demoted from the head of the campaign to second in command to Albert Kesselring, alongside whom he had served throughout the North Africa campaigns.

Later in France, Rommel was the man in charge of building the Atlantic Wall that would protect Nazi-occupied France from Allied invasion: though he had warned heavily that his experiences in North Africa had  taught him that land and sea defences would be nothing if air supremacy allowed the Allies to destroy the Nazi army from above, Rommel was ignored.

After the defeat in North Africa, the retreat through  Greece and Italy and the failure to stop the D-Day invasions, his  reputation as a superstar general back home was in tatters.

Rommel’s reputation got a huge boost because of a 1951 film.

If Rommel’s reputation as a great leader was undermined by the  catastrophic defeats on the African, Italian and Western Fronts in the  last two years of the war, why was it that the so-called “Rommel Myth”  was so pervasive after the war? The theories are numerous, but one major contributing factor must be the success of the 1951 film, The Desert  Fox. Rommel was played by the iconic actor James Mason who won critical acclaim for his role.

Rommel was a  well-known figure in Allied countries and in 1950, the first biography  of the “good German” was released in the UK. Written by Desmond Young, a British brigadier-general who had himself been captured by Rommel during the war, “Rommel: The Desert Fox” was incredibly popular in Britain and cemented the position of the vanquished general as the acceptable enemy.  

His later involvement in the 1944 plot against Hitler did a lot to wash Rommel of the stain of Nazism – conveniently forgetting  the decade or so that he had spent close to the top of the regime – and  his position as the general who was beaten “fair and square” endeared  him to a British audience. After all, it’s much easier to build heroes of your own generals when they have beaten a general that you also  respect.

The 1951 film of The  Desert Fox further spread the myth and was widely popular in the UK. The  narrative of Rommel, the good German, being defeated by the heroic British in the clean war in North Africa was a far more palatable one in the burgeoning Cold War than one that emphasised the horrible destruction that had come through the Soviet victory in the East.

There  could be little appetite for a war with Russia when people were constantly being reminded of the horrific images that had emerged from the Eastern Front. Thus, the clean general of the fair fight in North Africa was an enticing idea.

The Germans, too, were all too pleased to go along with Rommel as their figurehead. Their army had been severely curtailed after their defeat,  but there was a clamour to de-Nazify the Wehrmacht and remove the stigma  from the German armed forces. The Bundeswehr, the new German army, was  more palatable to a post-war world when it could be seen as the legacy of good soldiers lead by bad politicians rather than an integral and vital part of the Nazi war machine.

Thus, the idea of The  Desert Fox was created and, to a large extent, still persists. He  remains the only Nazi to be lionised within Germany: public squares and streets bear his name, as does the largest barracks of the Bundeswehr.  Whether such a status is deserved, however, is still a question about which historians continue to argue.

During the first half of 2020 many countries have been reconsidering the roles of their historical figures - remembered in statue form - due to their controversial views or actions from today’s point of view.  In Britain, France and Belgium, statues of figures associated with the colonial past have become the target of public criticism in some quarters.  In the United States, not only statues of Confederate figures who defended slavery during the American Civil War were destroyed or even demolished, but also, for example, the discoverer of America, Christopher Columbus.

In Germany a similar process was also underway. The monument to the Wehrmacht Marshal Erwin Rommel in Heidenheim came under severe renewed scrutiny.

Germany's memorial to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is perched on a hillside overlooking the middle-class town of Heidenheim an der Brenz where he was born 120 years ago. The words inscribed on the white limestone monument describe the legendary Second World War general as "chivalrous", "brave" and as a "victim of tyranny"

The monument, which was built in 1961 by the German Afrikakorps Association, aroused long-term controversy and in the past was repeatedly damaged by inscriptions that called Rommel a Nazi.  In 2014, Heidenheim City Hall expressed its intention to contrast the monument with another memorial building. By 2020 those calls took on a greater momentum.

The German artist Rainer Jooss was brought in by the municipal authorities to re-interpret the existing monument without having to destroy it completely. Jooss took as his starting point to focus on other parts of Rommel’s legacy. It was little known that Rommel had large minefields laid during the campaign of German troops in North Africa during World War II.  In Libya and Tunisia alone, at least 3,300 people have lost their legs and another 7,500 have been maimed since the statistics were kept in the 1980s. So Jooss designed black silhouette cut out of a maimed child victim of war to complement the monument.

“The monument does not represent the truth, but encourages us to look for it,” said Bernhard Ilg, Mayor of Baden-Württemberg, at the presentation of the monument’s design unveiling in July 2020. Jooss was more stoic. Joos believed it would be a mistake to remove the Rommel monument altogether,"If we let grass grow over it, that would mean the end of the important task of dealing with history.”

The artist behind the modification to the Heidenheim monument said his statue was purposefully made to look small next to the impressive limestone bloc."I wanted to confront the monumental (features) of the original memorial with the fragility of a land mine victim.” Jooss wanted and hoped that it was up to “the next generations to make a picture of themselves based on factual histography.”

Yet eminent historians have since dismissed the fresh silhouette plaque as a transparent attempt to avoid addressing the deep seated questions about Rommel. Indeed Rommel’s privileged position to being seen as the ideal role model for the Bundeswehr (the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities). While recognising his great talents as a commander, they point out several problems: such as Rommel's involvement with a criminal regime and his political naivete. However, there are also many supporters of the continued commemoration of Rommel by the Bundeswehr, and there remains military buildings and streets named after him and portraits of him displayed.

The politician scientist Ralph Rotte called for his replacement with Manfred von Richthofen. Historian Cornelia Hecht opined that whatever judgement history will pass on Rommel – who was the idol of World War II as well as the integration figure of the post-war Republic – it was now the time in which the Bundeswehr should rely on its own history and tradition, and not any Wehrmacht commander. Jürgen Heiducoff, a retired Bundeswehr officer, had written that the maintenance of the Rommel barracks' names and the definition of Rommel as a German resistance fighter are capitulation before neo-Nazi tendencies. Heiducoff agreed with Bundeswehr generals that Rommel was one of the greatest strategists and tacticians, both in theory and practice, and a victim of contemporary jealous colleagues, but argued that such a talent for aggressive, destructive warfare was not a suitable model for the Bundeswehr, a primarily defensive army. Heiducoff criticised those Bundeswehr generals for pressuring the Federal Ministry of Defence into making decisions in favour of the man who they openly admire.

Rommel has had his supporters from this avalanche of revisionist criticism. Historian Michael Wolffsohn supported the Ministry of Defense's decision to continue recognition of Rommel, although he thought the focus should be put on the later stage of Rommel's life, when he began thinking more seriously about war and politics, and broke with the regime. Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) reported that, "Wolffsohn declares the Bundeswehr wants to have politically thoughtful, responsible officers from the beginning, thus a tradition of 'swashbuckler' and 'humane rogue' is not intended".

According to authors like Ulrich vom Hagen and Sandra Mass though, the Bundeswehr (as well as NATO) deliberately endorses the ideas of chivalrous warfare and apolitical soldiering associated with Rommel. At a German Ministry conference soliciting input on the matter, Dutch general Ton van Loon advised the German Ministry that, although there can be historical abuses hidden under the guise of military tradition, tradition is still essential for the esprit de corps, and part of that tradition should be the leadership and achievements of Rommel. Historian Christian Hartmann opined that not only Rommel's legacy was worthy of tradition but the Bundeswehr "urgently needs to become more Rommel". 

There are other historians who have tried to take a middle path on the continued controversy of Rommel’s legacy. Historian Johannes Hürter believed that instead of being the symbol for an alternative Germany, Rommel should be the symbol for the willingness of the military elites to become instrumentalised by the Nazi authorities. As for whether he can be treated as a military role model, Hürter writes that each soldier can decide on that matter for themselves. Historian Ernst Piper argued that it was totally conceivable that the Resistance saw Rommel as someone with whom they could build a new Germany. According to Piper though, Rommel was a loyal national socialist without crime rather than a democrat, thus unsuitable to hold a central place among role models, although he should be integrated as a major military leader.

Whether one is for and against Rommel such debates take place because he is dead in conveniently ambiguous circumstances.

Recovering from skull fractures in hospital, he missed the main event - the 20 July Bomb Plot 1944 - insitigated by other senior German army officers. Hitler survived the blast, and immediately set about executing the plotters.

While Rommel had lots of contact with many key conspirators and was generally aware of the movement(s) to assassinate Hitler, there is no direct evidence that he knew about the July 20th plot in advance, let alone was involved in any detailed planning. Several conspirators allegedly confessed during interrogation that he was involved and, like Speer, his name was found on Goerdeler’s list of possible participants in a new German government.

Rommel was listed among various possibilities for Reich President. Unfortunately for him, there was no question mark or other notation, as in Speer’s case, which indicated that he was unaware of the designation.

He maintained his innocence when confronted by General Burgdorff on the day he died and also told his wife and son that he had played no part in the events of July 20th. But ultimately, there’s no way to know what he was or was not aware of. He took that with him to the grave.

The list of members of the 20 July plot doesn´t name Rommel as part of the attempt to kill Adolf Hitler. But: Rommel was blamed of having known of plans to do so. So he was forced to commit suicide.

On 19 th October 1944 Rommel met two german generals at his home. They showed him pretended evidence about his paticipation in “operation valkyrie”, which he denied to be true. They accompanied him away from his home, where he swallowed a capsule filled with potassium cyanide and died. The two generals Wilhelm Burgdorf and Ernst Maisel , members of german court of military honour, who had handed over the capsule to Rommel, drove back to his home and contended that Rommel had died because of ramifications of an injury he received on 17th of July during an allied bombardement.

Given a choice between a trial, involving his disgrace, execution and his family’s impoverishment - and suicide - he chose the latter.

The story given to the public was that he’d died of wounds sustained in the air attack. He was named a “german hero”, was “honoured” with a state funeral an d buried in Herrlingen, Germany.

Had he lived who knows what his real fate might have been at the hands of the Allies. At the main Nuremberg trials, the two army generals prosecuted were Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and General Alfred Jodl. Both were accused of conspiracy to commit crimes against peace; planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression; war crimes; and crimes against humanity. Both were convicted on all four charges and hanged.

The principal charge against Keitel was the infamous 13 May 1941 Barbarossa Decree, which condemned captured prisoners and ensured a high level of brutality by German soldiers against Soviet civilians. Jodl was the author of the Commando decree – ordering that any Allied commandos encountered in Europe and Africa should be killed immediately without trial, even if in proper uniforms or if they attempted to surrender. 

General Heinz Guderian is an example of a prominent German general who did survive the war but was not prosecuted for war crimes.

Another prominent example is Field Marshall Kesselring, who had commanded the defence of Italy after the Allies invaded. Kesselring was not prosecuted at Nuremburg, but did face a British military court in Italy. The Moscow declaration of October 1943 had stated that those accused of war crimes would be prosecuted in the country where they had committed their crimes. Although the trial was conducted in Italy, Italian judges did not participate as Italy was not considered an ally. Kesselring was prosecuted for the shooting of hundreds of Italian prisoners in retaliation for attacks on German soldiers. Kesselring was found guilty and condemned to death. British General Alexander, who had run the Italian campaign, and Winston Churchill pleaded for the sentence to be commuted - which it was. Kesselring was released in 1952 and lived until 1970.

By comparison Rommel was never accused of issuing similar decrees. Many felt that he was an honourable soldier. Nor was he ever accused of shooting prisoners in the way Kesselring was. Rommel’s military reputation is that of a highly professional soldier who carried out his duties according to a military code of ethics. His record is untainted by atrocities or unsavoury tactics against the enemy or civilian populations. He tended to live a charmed life early in the war.

Had he lived one can only speculate as to his fate and his legacy. Speculation regarding a possible role for him in the rebuilding of German forces for NATO, had he survived, is unrealistic. Rommel was never a strategically-minded commander. Indeed it is well known that Quartermasters hated him for his habit of outrunning his supplies on the battlefield.

The likelihood is he might well have been allowed to live without any kind of Allied retribution for war crimes as he was never guilty of any such departures from a strict military code of behaviour. But in trial - he would surely would have been put on trial even if he would be found not guilty - the messy details of his involvement with the Nazi regime would come to light. It would show that Rommel certainly benefited from the regime he served, and I think would have been considered guilty by association, even if his enthusiasm for Hitler waned in his final days.

Post-war, it would not have surprised me at all if the Allies had sought to build a West German government around Rommel. Staunchly anti-Communist, he nevertheless was seen widely as honourable and pro-West. But what role he would have been given - or what role the allies might have been able to make palatable to a war ravaged population - can only be speculated.

I suspect he would have served in some official capacity within the Bundeswehr before retiring to write his highly expected memoirs. It’s telling that Rommel’s chief of staff, Hans Speidel, drove the creation of the Bundeswehr and was the first to be named a generaloberst in that force. Later he was Supreme Commander of all NATO ground forces in Central Europe (which was almost all of it). It’s an intriguiing thought what Rommel might have played in a post-war Cold War Germany and Europe. Speidel and Rommel were inseparable and cut from the same bolt of cloth. Indeed it was Hans Speidel, who had been involved in the July 20 plot, wrote after the war that Rommel was a member of the resistance, (for which there is no evidence) that contributed towards Rommel and ‘The Good German’ Myth. 

Given all that was “overlooked” by both the Allies and the German people after World War Two. There’s no logical reason to think that Rommel would not have been as honoured, if not more so, after the war. After all, one of the main Bundeswehr barracks continues to be named after him in 1965.

To me he was a great general rightly lauded by his peers and military historians - but not the best. Rommel was a highly competent tactical commander, but there were many such commanders in the Wehrmacht. His prominence is due to a number of things. Firstly, he was always Hitler favourite; secondly Goebbels played him up in his propaganda; and thirdly he fought the British and Americans and thus received much more attention in the Western press and historians after the War than the German commanders fighting the Soviets.

Indeed an argument can be made that by fighting in the Western Desert in a sector that the British had logistical and material superiority (and thus difficult to defeat), Rommel essentially taught the British and the Americans Blitzkrieg tactics - essentially modern warfare. His very inflated legacy saved the British from admitting their military performance in North Africa was abysmal until the Axis forces overextended their supply lines and the American supply of goods was able to compensate for substandard British equipment. 

It’s also forgotten that Rommel also oversaw the building of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall which was essentially a fiction when he took over. Immense resources were poured into the project. The impact was to delay the Anglo-Americn invasion about 5 hours and only on one beach (Omaha).

And no matter how humane and honourable he was, Rommel was ultimately a weak man who chose to look away when it was convenient to his career to do so. Indeed I agree with many historians today that he was primarily bent on serving Hitler to advance his career. He was a man who believed he was serving a king and realises too late that he was a devil. I have little doubt that he was conflicted by that especially as it grew during the seven months of his life leading up to his death. Perhaps the best tactical military manoeuvre he made was to take the poison forced upon him and thereby save his family but also secure his legacy, even if that legacy remains mostly intact if a little more tarnished to this day.

#rommel #nazism #nazi #german history #war #second world war #battle #soldier #general #erwin rommel #allies #germany #afrikacorps #statues #culture #society #history #military #military history

[thewickedmerman]

My Redesigns of The Specialists

Well, since I finished with the Winx Club girls and The Trix, I figured it was time to do my redesigns of The Specialists. However, not all of them are going to be just powerless fighters. I felt it would be more fun to make their team be made up of fighters, fairies, and sorcerers. Plus, they get to have their own transformations too. The fighters get transformations similar to the Power Rangers/superheroes (Because it makes no sense for there to be an emergency and they just rush off to change clothes, which is an INSANELY dangerous time waster), the fairies will have transformations similar to the Winx Club themselves, and the sorcerers will have transformations similar to the ones from Miraculous Ladybug (Honestly, I don't know what to think for the sorcerers). Why? Because it's so much more fun that way.

Sky

Well, I got the most BORING of the boys out of the way, so that's something. For his design I used Eric's body from The Little Mermaid, the face of Derek from The Swan Princess (Or at least from a specific poster), used his second hairstyle from the show because it suits him better and look less like a surfer dude, and I used the uniforms The Specialists get in the later seasons because it's BADASS. Plus, considering that Eraklyon is related to geology, it makes sense to have some armor that looks like stones. I did change the shade of blue to match his signature color, which is sky blue (I mean, it's in his name). He is the prince of Eraklyon and the son of a sorcerer and a fairy, but they still loved him despite that he had no magic. However, that made them even more protective of him since he was a child and there was a threat of him being kidnapped and held for ransom by Yoshinoya. So Sky's best friend/squire, Brandon (Who is a fairy and has magic to protect himself and Sky) was to switch places with Sky for public appearances and in school, so that no one would know who Sky really is. The only ones who knew the truth were the royal family, the castle staff, members of the royal court, and Diaspro & her parents (Who Sky was betrothed to since they were babies). Despite having no powers, Sky refused to be helpless and studied fighting hand-to-hand combat and weaponry. Sky is a boring character but could be good if put in the right hands. Give him flaws, have him held more accountable for his actions, none of the bullshit conflict that happens with him and Bloom from seasons 4-8.

Brandon

For his design, I used the face of Edward from Enchanted, the nose of Rameses from The Prince of Egypt, the eyes of Joseph from Joseph: King of Dreams, and the body of Bolin from The Legend of Korra. I've always questioned what race Brandon was supposed to be coded as because he seemed pretty ambiguous. Was he just white but with a tan? Was he Middle Eastern? Was he Filipino? Was he Hispanic or Latino? I saw someone say he was Middle Eastern and pointed out some areas in the Middle East where they have lighter tan complexions, dark brown hair, and similar features to him. So I thought for some representation, I would go with the Middle Eastern coded option. I made him a little darker than he was in the original show by giving him Flora's skin color from the original show (Since I gave her a darker skin-tone in my redesign of her), sharper eyes, and more Middle Eastern looking nose. I didn't want to use Aladdin's nose because the noses of Aladdin and Jasmine were a little too exaggerated the same way that the noses in Lilo and Stitch were too exaggerated (Polynesians don't have potato noses). I also wanted to show some body diversity by giving him a plus-sized body. NO, Bolin's body isn't fat but it's very much plus-sized. Brandon was a fat little boy growing up because he was just built differently. However, as he got older and started training, he bulked up. He's still plus-sized but is also muscular. You're probably wondering why I decided to make Brandon a fairy. I don't know but it just works. He is the fairy of geodes! I got that idea from Diaspro's fairy form and powers. They come from Eraklyon, so the magic in that world must be related to geology. So he's basically an Earthbender lol. But his powers are rooted on rocks, stones, gems, ect. so it's no wonder his body is so solid like a rock. I also modeled his wings after Diaspro's, which I noticed are solid instead of transparent like other fairy wings. I figured that must be part of the geology themed powers. As for his costume, I based it on one of the background fairies that were seen during the destruction of Bloom's home planet, Sparx. It just looked like it suited him. He and Sky have been friends since they were little and he is Sky's squire. He's the son of one of the palace guards. Since Sky was in danger of being abducted since he was a little kid, Brandon was made to pretend he was the prince for Sky's protection. Brandon's parents were dead against it, but the king demanded it. However, it was ultimately Brandon who decided to do it, even if his parents disapproved of putting their son in danger. You may ask, how would people believe that two white parents had a brown son? No idea! I guess they just said he was naturally tan lol.

Riven

For Riven's design, I gave him the face/head of Proteus from Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, the body of Shang from Mulan, and the eyes of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. For his outfit, I didn't want to just give him the same outfit as Sky but with a different color because I wanted more individuality. So I gave him the outfits that were worn by Nex and Thoren (Sky's cousin). They looked less heroic and epic as the outfit I gave Sky, which suits Riven's more roughish nature and how he hasn't had an easy life compared to Sky (More on that later). It also has a bit of a low-key bad boy vibe to it. I still stayed true to his signature color, magenta, while making sure it didn't clash with his magenta hair, and giving him some purple to match his eyes. And I just had to give him an angry look on his face because it's Riven, so of course. Riven is my absolute LEAST favorite of the specialists. Sky may be boring as hell but Riven is ANNOYING as hell. He's poorly written, has terrible development, is always an asshole for no reason, has no backstory to justify the way he is, doesn't really change, and his relationship with Musa is absolutely toxic. In my version, I give him a backstory and better character development. His backstory is that he was born to a father that was a sorcerer and a mother that was a fairy while he was born without the ability to perform magic, which was a MASSIVE disappointment to his parents. They neglected him, emotionally abused him, and on occasion physically. This makes his actions and attitude all the more understandable. He's a show off because of how he never really got attention growing up from his own parents and is trying to make up for it, as well as prove that he is capable of great things and isn't useless just because he doesn't have powers. He's angry and a hothead but has more of a secret gentle side that he sometimes shows, MUCH MORE than the original Riven, which helps make it more understandable why Musa would have a crush on him. His emotional baggage also made it easier for Darcy to manipulate him, even giving him some magic (But takes it away when she dumps him). His backstory also gives him a reason for why he lashes out at his fellow teammates. In my version, Brandon is a fairy and Timmy is a sorcerer, so they can perform magic while he can't. He especially resents Sky because of how he was also born with parents that could perform magic while he couldn't but was still given love and attention despite this. It made him VERY angry and jealous because of how Sky manage to have parents that adore him, despite being born unable to do magic, while Riven had neglectful and abusive parents because of his inability to perform magic.

Timmy

For his face/head I used some old concept design of Milo from Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the smile, eyes, and body of Aladdin. I went with Aladdin's body because of how Timmy wouldn't be as masculine as the others but wouldn't be lanky. Aladdin has some muscles on him but he's not super built. I also gave him freckles because it's just too perfect for him. His outfit was tricky because of how I had to find a way of making him look like a sorcerer but also incorporate it with technology to go with his powers because of how he is the Sorcerer of Technology. For his scepter, I went with Tecna's Mythix wand, with some adjustments. Redheads look surprisingly really good in the color yellow. I decided to make Timmy a sorcerer because of how I feel it suits his personality. He's not as action-oriented as the other guys but more intellectual, even though he still fights. Imagine how amazing he'd be with technology with magic. He'd excel! No, I don't have him being from Zenith like Tecna but from another technology planet, though one that isn't considered as high up as Zenith. So this makes him feel a little intimidated by Tecna, that and him having a MASSIVE crush on her. He always is trying to prove that he is capable and isn't just some weak nerd. Out of all of the specialists, he's one of my favorite, if not my number one favorite. He's just absolutely awesome with how much of a dork he is.

Helia

Helia was the one that I was looking the most forward to doing a redesign of because of how I made him a fairy. Out of all of the Specialists, he's the one that really benefits the best from being made a fairy, especially when I got to his Believix and Enchantix. He has more of a feminine personality while still proving he isn't a wuss but rather a badass, despite being a pacifist. This gives him layers and depth beyond just being a typical good looking hero. Plus, his hair is just AMAZING! I used the body of Mako from The Legend of Korra, the eyes and nose of Shang from Mulan, and the head/face of Little Creek from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. I also gave him Brandon's skin tone to make him look more brown instead of just a light Asian. His outfit is very feminine but also clearly meant for a man because of how it's kind of toga looking. But I did his toga in a way that looks more Asian inspired instead of Greek inspired. Plus, this look suits his chill and relaxed personality. I made his outfit salmon pink with some orange because those colors just look so good on him and just suit his character. I made him the fairy of art, the same way that Musa is the fairy of music. So he can make art literally come to life, turn things like paint into ropes, can control paper (Particularly when in an origami shape), create portals, can jump into paintings to hide, and you get the point. Basically, his powers are awesome!

Nabu

And now we've come to my favorite of The Specialists, Prince Nabu. First of all, I want to make VERY CLEAR that in my version, Nabu DOESN'T die! That was a bunch of BULL CRAP! I mean, he's introduced in season 3 and then close to the end of season 4 they kill him off? Not to mention that out of all the boys, they chose the darkest one, who was also the love interest of black woman! She ended up having to suffer more than any of the other girls because of this. Not to mention that in season 5 they tried to replace him with a brown (But much lighter) man with terrible blonde hair and a terribly bland and boring personality to match, Roy. Then when that didn't work, they did a dumb love triangle in season 6 where the white man that has a personality mixture of Riven and Brandon, Nex. Yeah, all of this is TOTALLY not racist! And that's coming from a white man. Also, I wanna also point out that Nabu is NOT black! He is Indian, so he is coded as South Asian. Now that we got my rant out of the way, for his design I used the face/head of Naveen from The Princess and the Frog, the body of Flynn Rider from Tangled (I wanted to use Naveen but there wasn't a base of him to use or a tasteful nude picture of him), and the eyes of Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I also chose to keep his super long single braid instead of the two shoulder blade length braids he had in season 4. Why? Because it just looks SO MUCH better and is more badass. Non-white men just look amazing with long hair. He is still a prince but he doesn't come from Layla's planet, Andros. Why? Because that planet is water themed and his powers aren't related to water. His powers are illusions and healing, so it only makes sense that he comes from another planet, especially when the rules of Andros are black while Nabu and his family are Indian. He and Layla are in an arranged marriage, which she refuses and their relationship still goes the same way it did in season 3. Except, I'm having them meet during my Sirenix story line because that season would be about Layla, due to it being water themed. He still went by a disguised name, Ophir before revealing his true identity once they fell in love. So I'm giving true respect to the Sorcerer of Healing and Illusions.

And now for Brandon and Helia's Believix!

Just like the girls, Brandon and Helia are getting Believix and Enchantix forms. For the Believix forms I took inspiration from @teawithlemonacid, who did some fanart of The Specialists as fairies. I did make some adjustments of my own but still did take inspiration from that artist, so credit where credit is due. As I said when I did the girls with their Believix, the way they earn their Believix is pretty much the same way they earned their Charmix in season 2. They have to believe in themselves and overcome a personal struggle. I also took liberties with the Believix aesthetic because of how I want the fairy looks to be more timeless rather than dated-looking.

Brandon's Believix

For Brandon's design, I gave him a new hairstyle because if the girls get new hairstyles for each new fairy form, so do the boys. I gave him Nex's hair, apart from those dumb looking sideburns. I embroidered some stoned onto his outfit because of how he's the fairy of geodes. Since I also decided to have his race be Middle Eastern, I decided to incorporate some of that into his look as well. I gave him some curled toed shoes and some Middle Eastern inspired accessories. That was hard because of how most Middle Eastern jewelry are women's jewelry. I gave him Tecna's Mythix wings because they just really suit him for some reason. As for how he earned his Believix, well he had to overcome some hidden resentment he had for Sky that was starting to show during a trust exercise. He resented that he had to put his life on the line for Sky ever since they were kids. That really effects a child when they are having their lives in danger in order to protect someone else. Yes, Brandon did agree to do it in order to protect his friend but he also knew that if he didn't do it that he and his parents would be in trouble with the King and Queen. Sky's parents didn't really show much concern for Brandon's safety and that caused more resentment because Sky didn't really say anything to his parents about their poor treatment of his friend. Sky could tell something was up and it was only when Brandon stopped bottling up his feelings that things started to get better. It was emotional and difficult but Brandon felt better when he finally let it all out. It was then that he earned his Believix.

Helia's Enchantix

homeworldHelia's Believix was A LOT of fun to do. I loved getting to have his hair loose because it looks amazing. I didn't make too many changes to the outfit I modeled this after. I love how the gold has a paint-like feel to it. It really adds to his powers being art based. I used Flora's prototype Bloomix wings for his Believix wings because they just seemed to suit him. I also had the magic coming from his hand looking even bigger and more powerful than it was during his Magic Winx form. The way he earns his Believix was different from how others earned their Believix. instead of mainly being an emotional struggle, it was also a physical struggle because he had to overcome his passive nature. He has a lot of power but he holds himself back because of an accident that happened when he was a kid. Because he didn't restrain himself, a friend of his got badly hurt. The friend lived but his parents wouldn't allow him to be friends with Helia anymore. After that, Helia kept to himself, chose not to be aggressive, and wouldn't live up to his true abilities because of that accident. His grandfather, Saladin (The headmaster at Red Fountain), has been trying to break him out of it and live up to his true potential. It was only when his friends, specifically Flora, were in danger that he finally overcame his passive nature and started using his full power. This caused him to earn his Believix.

And finally for Helia and Brandon's Enchantix

We have come to Helia and Brandon's final transformations, Enchantix. Just like the girls, they must earn theirs by saving someone from their homeworld by making a big sacrifice. The boys were hard to do, due to how there wasn't really anything for me to go off of. However, I think I managed to do a pretty good job. I also wanted to have them be in revealing outfits just like the girls. I mean, fair is fair, after all. Let me know what you think.

Helia's Enchantix

For Helia, I wanted to do something that had an Asian influence to it that also showed his art powers being influenced. I gave him something that was very flowing to go with his sensitive and feminine personality while also having a rainbow theme to go with his powers. I didn't use the colors of the rainbow because I didn't want him to just look like a Pride themed look, which ended up looking awkward and busy when I first attempted it. So I limited the colors to the ones in his wings to make it look better. I still wanted to include his two main colors, salmon pink and gold while still making the rainbow colors pop. I went with a very Asian inspired hairstyle, which actually shows both of his eyes. The eye that is usually covered is actually blind, which goes with the childhood backstory I gave him that helped him earn his Believix, which will also play a part in earning his Enchantix, which I will get to in a little bit. I felt it would show him embracing himself while also showing the Asian culture. I took some liberties with the jewelry because of how most jewelry is meant for women, which is why most male looks are boring. I tried to butch up his shoes to make them look less girly and making the gems resemble a paintbrush. For his wings, I used Stella's Mythix wings because they look like a rainbow, which really suits Helia. I made his powers in his hand the biggest and strongest they've looked out of all his fairy forms. As for how he earns his Enchantix, I had him save his old childhood friend, who Helia had accidentally caused to become permanently blind because of his powers, which also caused Helia to become blind in his right eye. He had seen him but was avoiding him because of his guilt, despite his old friend trying to reach out to him during this time. He saves his old friend from an avalanche that was caused by The Trix, specifically Stormy. Helia not only almost died but his wings were crushed, so he wouldn't be able to fly. He said that he lost his friend once because of something he did and wasn't going to lose his friend again when he could do something about it. However, it was due to this sacrifice that he was able to earn his Enchantix and gain a new and MUCH stronger pair of wings. Not only that, but he had his old friend back after all this time. Helia apologized for what he did to his friend when they were kids, but his friend forgave him and said he missed Helia.

Brandon's Enchantix

Brandon's Enchantix was even more difficult than Helia's because of how Brandon's not as feminine as Helia. I took some inspiration from Tynix because of how Brandon's powers are related to geodes. I made his vest and best/waist thing look like diamonds. I even incorporated gems into his sash. I took major liberties with jewelry because Middle Eastern (Which is the race I decided Brandon is) jewelry is very limited in jewelry for men, at least from the google search I did. I love the one sleeve look I gave him with his emerald vest/armor. I even gave him some gems on the bottom of his pants. I gave him very Aladdin looking pants, only without the crotch being so low lol. I gave him the hairstyle of the character Thoren from Winx Club and Stella's Tynix wings. The way he earns his Enchantix was by saving Sky from being eaten by one of Valtor's minions, causing Brandon to be eaten instead. This cause Brandon to earn his Enchantix and his powers were enhanced to where he could destroy the creature from the inside. This earned him not only his Enchantix, but also finally getting respect from Sky's parents, who, AT LAST, apologize for how they treated him. Yeah, this is simple but you get the point.

ENJOY!

Credit for the character bases goes to SelenaEde, Credit for the backgrounds goes to SparxGuardian, credit for Helia's Believix wings goes to darkfairyofmadness, and credit for the Enchantix wings and Brandon's Believix wings goes to AstralBlu. All of whom are on DeviantArt.

#winx club #winx #sky winx #brandon winx #riven winx #timmy winx #helia winx #nabu winx #nabu winx club #sky winx club #brandon winx club #riven winx club #timmy winx club #helia winx club #fairy #fairies #wizard #wizards #sorcerer #sorcerers #warrior #warriors #hero #heroes #the specialists #redesigns #believix #enchantix #red fountain

[sleepykittypaws]

Celebrate the Olympic Spirit

Sure, the Olympics aren’t a holiday, per se, but the every-four-year, or two if you count both Summer and Winter editions separately, massive international sporting events sure seems like a reason to celebrate, especially given their recent, unprecedented delay. And what better way to get into the Games mood, than by watching a sports movie?

Here are my favorite motivating, inspirational, and aspirational tales of athletic derring do…

Favorite Sports Movies

The Cutting Edge (1992) - This figure skating romance was released around the 1992 Olympics, and actually name-checks that year's winter host city, Albertville, more than once.  It's not good in the traditional sense of great storytelling or athletic veracity, but I loved it so very much I saw it three times in the theater as a teen. Watching it at some point during every Winter Games is a tradition for me so, yeah, I can’t help it, I love this silly sports movie/romance, which also features a bit of holiday feels.

Wimbledon (2004) - It's a rom-com. It's a sports movie. It's a rom-com sports movie that really should be better known. Notting Hill but set at tennis' best-known event. Paul Bettany and Kristen Dunst have surprisingly great chemistry, and there's more sports-related tension than you'd think.

Friday Night Lights (2004) - A football movie for people who don't really like football. a.k.a. 🙋‍♀️. The TV series it spawned is also brilliant (”Clear Eyes, Full Hearts,” indeed), and well worth a watch, but the original movie, starring Billy Bob Thornton, is, honestly, a masterpiece. Definitely Peter Berg's best work and the original book, written by Berg's cousin, Buzz Bissinger, is a great read.

Muriel's Wedding (1994) - You mean you forgot this Australian export, which made Toni Collette a star, was a sports movie? Yep, one of my all-time favorite movies, of any genre, this absolutely brilliant, ABBA-soaked comedy is not only a girls-night go-to, but also a stealth Olympic sport classic.

Remember the Titans (2000) - OK, football isn't in the Olympics, but it sure does make for a good sports movie setting. Even if this early 1970s-set story is most definitely Disney-fied, Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Ryan Gosling and a baby Hayden Panettiere really sell this sort-of true story.

Invictus (2009)-Rugby isn't an Olympic sport, or even one most Americans know much about, but this Matt Damon-led, Clint Eastwood-directed, based-on-a-true-story tale made me care about a sport I'd only tangentially knew even existed before watching.

Hoosiers (1986)-I grew up in Indiana so, by law, I have to include this basketball classic on any "best of" sports movie lists. Also, it actually is really very good.

Rudy (1993)-Ditto the above. But, again, it's hard not to root for Sean Astin (and Jon Favreau!) in this love letter to the Fighting Irish. Plus, there’s no better scavenger hunt task or TikTok challenge than going into a bar and convincing a patron to allow you to put them on your shoulders and march around chanting, 'Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.' 

Miracle (2004) - Given how much more popular the Summer Olympics are, it's weird that the Winter Games seem to get all the good movies made about them, but this Kurt Russell-led true tale is another Disney sports movie classic.

McFarland, USA (2015) - Disney, and Kevin Costner, just really know how to make a sports movie, damn it! This movie made me care about cross country for which it, too, could have carried the title Miracle.

A League of Their Own (1992)-The best baseball movie ever. Yeah, I said what I said. Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty—even Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell are making it work. 1992 was a weirdly great year for sports movies.

Moneyball (2011) - A movie about baseball, and math, and yet it's also great, I swear. In addition to all of the above, it's also a stealth Christmas movie and maybe Chris Pratt's best non-Marvel, movie role.

Creed (2015) - This surprisingly effective Rocky reboot starring Michael B Jordan as Apollo Creed's illegitimate son has spawned its own movie series which, in many ways, exceeds the original Rocky franchise.

Rocky Balboa (2006) - Maybe it's because I was a toddler when the original Rocky came out, so only saw the ever-worse sequels as a kid, but this mid-aughts return to the character for Sylvester Stallone, as both writer and actor, is a triumph.

Eddie the Eagle (2016) - That Hugh Jackman features in as many movies (spoiler alert) on this list as Kevin Costner surprised me, too. This story of the English ski jumper who became infamous for being, well, less than golden, is one of those non-Olympic triumph stories that really works. If you're going to watch one underdog-at-the-Games movie, I definitely prefer this this to the more ubiquitous Cool Runnings.

Love & Basketball (2000) - Only because I'm an anglophile is this great, chemistry-filled Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps college basketball romance not my favorite sports-movie-meets-rom-com.

I, Tonya (2017) - Margot Robbie and a nearly unrecognizable Sebastian Stan are perfectly cast in this sarcastic, highly stylized look at the Tonya Harding scandal.

Pride (2007) - Apparently I like this swimming movie, which I think almost no one saw, better than critics, but I found this 1970s-set, Terrence Howard-Bernie Mac-starring story of inner city kids excelling in the pool emotional and entertaining.

Field of Dreams (1989) - This Kevin Costner magical realism baseball classic is often goofy and imminently tease-worthy and yet…It also works. Maybe it's no surprise that someone who loves cheesy Christmas movies as much as I do would have a soft spot for Field of Dreams.

42 (2013) - Chadwick Boseman is absolutely fantastic as legend Jackie Robinson. One of those movies that's ostensibly about baseball, but is really about so much more, except not in a pretentious way.

Race (2016) - Before Jason Sudeikis was Ted Lasso, he was famed track coach Larry Synder in this Jesse Owens biopic that is far from perfect, but still important. Plus, I honestly don't think Stephan James got enough credit for his relatively nuanced portrayal of Owens.

Goon (2011) - This overlooked gem starring Sean William Scott as a semi-pro hockey player whose main skill is his ability to take, and dole out, a beating, is surprisingly great.

Real Steel (2011) - This is a robot-boxing movie starring Hugh Jackman that is basically Rocky meets Over the Top—and yet it's actually really good. Yeah, I was surprised, too.

Forget Paris (1995) - OK, so maybe Billy Crystal playing an NBA referee doesn't really make this a sports movie, but it does begin and end (spoiler alert) at real NBA games, and I will die on the hill that this rom-com co-starring Debra Winger is wildly under-rated.

Bend it like Beckham (2002) - This girl-power sports movie has some highly questionable romantic dynamics (the coach is their love interest???) but this Parminder Nagra-Keira Knightley movie is also a heckuva sports movie and an inspiring immigrant story.

Bonus Pick: The Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso is one of the best things I watched in 2020, and I'm sure of that, because I watched it twice since, just to be sure. Jason Sudekis is absolutely perfect as an American college football coach taking over a UK Premier League team. This sweet show with a heart of gold is smart, funny, and absolutely impossible not to love—even for a cynic such as myself.

More Sports Movies Worth Watching

For someone not very into sports, I am, apparently, into watching movies about sports, so while not a comprehensive listing of the entire, vast genre, here are a few more suggestions I personally think are worth watching.

The Miracle Season (2018) - This movie about high school volleyball champs whose star player dies suddenly stars Helen Hunt and is a lot better than you'd think based on its tiny budget and, honestly, fairly small story. Just missed making my Top 25.

The Way Back (2020) - This Ben Affleck as a drunken high school basketball coach movie is a lot better than expected. Released just as the pandemic kicked into high gear, it was overlooked last year, but worth seeking out.

Fighting with My Family (2019) - Does it count if it's a show, not a sport? Either way (but that's why this isn't in my Top 25), this stealth Christmas movie/love letter to the WWE is a lot better than it ever needed to be thanks to some really great performances from Florence Pugh, Lena Headey and directer Stephen Merchant. Even The Rock reins it in.

Warrior (2011) - You couldn't pay me to watch an actual UFC bout, but this Tom Hardy story of (literally) battling brothers is incredibly compelling and well done.

Win Win (2011) - This movie isn't really enough about wrestling, even though its ostensibly centered around the sport, to make it into my Top 25, but it's still really good, and Amy Ryan gives an outstanding performance.

Fever Pitch (2005) - Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon star in this remake of a UK film whose ending they had to shift when the Red Sox unexpectedly won the World Series.

Fever Pitch (1997) - This Colin Firth-starring, Arsenal-centered original is much smaller, more realistic and arguably better than the big budget Barrymore-Fallon redux.

We are Marshall (2006) - A real-life sports tragedy made into a sports-movie tearjerker starring Matthew McConaughy. And my tears were very much jerked by the end.

Coach Carter (2005) - Samuel L Jackson plays real-life basketball coach Ken Carter and, because it's a Disney movie, doesn't use the F-word even once. Now that's a feat worthy of its own sports movie.

Invincible (2006) - Yes, it's Mark Wahlberg, and another based-on-a-true-story, Disney sports movie that hits all the cliches, but dang it, that works on me. It just does.

Glory Road (2006) - If you're sensing a theme with me and Disney sports movies…Well, you're not wrong. This look at the first all-Black starting lineup at the 1966 NCAA Final Four does, unfortunately, center white coach Don Haskins, played by Josh Lucas (though I always mis-remember it as Josh Charles), making the important story it tells less than what it should be, but it still mostly works.

Million Dollar Arm (2014) - Admittedly one of the lesser Disney sports movie entries, and another that centers a white guy in a film mostly about people of color (not a great look), this Jon Hamm movie about a scout seeking an Indian cricket star who can make it in the Major Leagues still mostly worked for me.

The Mighty Ducks (1992) - One of the few movies on this list aimed directly at kids, this beloved peewee hockey saga actually is cute, and mostly does hold up.

Cool Runnings (1993) - Kind of shocked this movie that is part White Savior-movie and part-wacky kids movie essentially making fun of a real group of athletes of color came out in 1993 and not 1973, but the earnest charm of John Candy and a general Disney gloss keep this from being totally unwatchable and mostly just mildly, rather than extremely, offensive. Not really recommending, but feels like it belongs on an Olympic movie list.

Nadia (1984) - This made-for-TV, mostly true biopic, starring Talia Balsam as Nadia Comaneci, was a Disney Channel staple in that network’s early days. 

Munich (2005) - It's a movie with the Olympics very much at its heart—namely the 1972 Israeli athlete hostage tragedy—that isn't really about the Olympics at all, but this Steven Spielberg-directed movie about national revenge is compelling, if problematic if you think about it for too long.

American Anthem (1986) - Is this Mitch Gaylord-Mrs. Wayne Gretzky (a.k.a Janet Jones) starring movie good, realistic and/or well-written? No, no and none of the above. But did I still watch it 8,000 times as a kid on HBO? Yes. Yes, I did.

Men with Brooms (2002) - Once, on a business trip to Canada, my husband was stuck in a hotel that only got three channels, and one of them always seemed to be showing curling, which actually got him weirdly into this obscure sport. This movie wasn't quite as fun as I hoped, but it's still a mostly charming, if slight, Canadian classic.

Unbroken (2014) - The harrowing and incredible real-life story of Louis Zamperini deserved better than this Angelina Jolie-directed movie delivered, but it's still a serviceable version of a worthy tale.

Chariots of Fire (1981) - I remember being bored out of my mind by this movie trying to watch this movie on cable as a kid, but no denying that, if nothing else, the score is iconic and indelibly linked to sports-movie magic.

Without Limits (1998) - Jared Leto’s Prefontaine beat this one to the theaters, but this Billy Crudup-starring film is the better of the two movies about the life of running pioneer Steve Prefontaine. There’s also a 1995 documentary, Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine Story.

Personal Best (1982) - Mariel Hemingway’s story of ambition at odds with love, is a sports and LGTBQ+ classic. 

Olympic Dreams (2019) - The story of how this small, meandering movie was made during the 2018 Winter Games is, unfortunately, more interesting than the movie itself, but there is some charm in watching Nick Kroll as an Olympic dentist making his way through the real Village, while interacting with real athletes.

Foxcatcher (2015) - This excellently-acted story is more true crime than sports inspiration, but if you're seeking a look at the dark side of the Games—and don’t want to turn on a doc like Athlete A—this is very dark tale indeed.

Seabiscuit (2003) - Every great athlete deserves to have their story told.

Any Given Sunday (1999) - Oliver Stone and Al Pacino take on pro Football. 'Nuff said.

The Replacements (2000) - I mean, the movie isn't amazing, but Keanu Reeves is super charming and Gene Hackman is always worth a watch.

The Program (1993) - Another bit of a dark-side-of-football take, worth it if only for the fantastic cast: James Caan, Halle Berry, Omar Eps, Joey Lauren Adams.

Everbody’s All-American (1988) - Not a movie I particularly love, but this Dennis Quaid-Jessica Lange football story that spans decades has always stuck in my memory.

Bull Durham (1988) - Just let Kevin Costner play actual baseball already.

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression, radio version - Ep.34, May 2016 - Death-row art, Bear cub mistaken for puppy, Japan's place in the World Press Freedom Index.

Kaoru starts by saying its the end of May, so  the weather is getting a lot hotter, and the air-con in the studio is extremely patchy. It gets very hot randomly, and a few episodes ago, he felt so hot recording the show when the air-con was playing up.

Kaoru's first news is that an art exhibition showcasing artwork produced by death row inmates will be given a second run, after making headlines the first time in 2013. Kaoru picks up on one piece from the exhibition, drawn by Hayashi Masumi, a woman facing the death sentence for putting poison in a pot of curry at a festival in 1998, killing four people and injuring many more. Her artwork consists of orange and black colours, and resembles 4 figures standing in the hanging chamber, with the ropes positioned above thier heads. Joe says Hayashi actually pleaded not guilty to the crime she was charged with. He explains that according to Hayashi's lawyer Yasuda Yoshihiro (a prominent anti-death penalty activist), Hayashi is on a mental decline due to her continued isolation from the outside world. This makes Joe think that this artwork differs from regular art, as it comes with quite a deep message from the inside. He comments that the artisic skill in the pictures is actually quite high. If you were unaware of the exhibition's theme, you would never guess the art was all made by death row inmates. It creates a brief sense that these people who have comitted such terrible crimes aren't really all that different from the rest of us. Kaoru agrees with Joe, and says that within that isolation the prisoners must have been able to concentrate quite closely on the art, it is quite detailed. He feels curious about how it feels to communicate with the outside world in this way. Joe says the exhibition will be held in Hiroshima, which is difficult to get to from Tokyo, but he wants to go in person and see the artwork with his own eyes, instead of just seeing it online. Going back to Hayashi's picture, Kaoru wonders why there are 4 figures in it, as 4 people would never be executed in a row like this in reality. He also says that these pieces of art have all passed checks in order to be released for public viewing, but there must have been more pieces that did not pass the checks. He wants to see those ones too.

Next, they welcome Dobashi for the Tokyo Sports corner. Dobashi is tired after being assigned to help out with covering the Rio de Janeiro Olympics by Hiranabe. Joe says Hiranabe is always too consumed by his own scandals to help out with stuff like this.

Dobashi's first story is about a man in China's Yunnan province who raised an Asian Black bear cub, believing it to a dog. He found it in the mountains and felt sorry for it so brought it home as his pet. When it suddenly started to grow massive he informed the authorities, and discovered it was a bear. The bear was returned to the forest after this. Kaoru says its a good thing the man realised before the bear got any bigger. He says he saw a video of the bear (still in the man's home) eating, and it really was eating a huge amount. Joe says this is way above the level that any dog would eat. Kaoru thinks the bear did look very cute when it was little though. He then says that he recently saw some news from Japan about a bear coming down from the mountains and entering the house of a celebrity. Dobashi, slightly flustered, says he hasn't heard that news, he has been too busy with the Olympics. Kaoru says he also heard something about someone in China mistaking a big dog for a lion. He's not sure whether this is true though. Dobashi then brings up the zoologist Hata Masanori, also know as Mutsugorō, who had raised some lion cubs, and then nearly got eaten by one of them after it grew. Joe says there is tonnes of crazy legends surrounding Mutsugorō, he is a super interesting/eccentric guy.

Dobashi gets serious for his next story, which is that Japan has fallen 11 places to #72 out of 180 countries in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by the NPO Reporters Without Borders. Dobashi says this is probably due to the enforcement of the State Secrecy Law, after which the media has lost a lot of its independence and autonomy. #1 in the ranking was Finland, and #180 was Eritrea. #179 was North Korea. Joe says that just before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan was ranking at about #10. Japan actually uses a Press club system, which to non-Japanese, appears quite restrictive anyway. But since the nuclear accident in 2011 and the way in which it was reported, Japan's ranking has plummeted. Along with the recent State Secrecy Law, and the comments from Minister Takaichi about shutting down politically biased content, the ranking has fallen further. Joe said he once interviewed the Tokyo bureau chief of the New York Times, Martin Fackler about this topic. Fackler said that although the American press is not very free itself, the main difference from the Japanese press is that in Japan, journalists tend to work for one newspaper for thier whole career, whereas in America journalists are overwhelming freelance. Japanese journalists are almost like 'salarymen', competing for promotion within thier own organization. The top level positions in Japanese media organizations come with huge salaries compared to overseas. For this reason, journalists in Japan strive never to write an unpopular article. Fackler thinks the ability to stand up to this kind of system is fading in Japan. Joe wonders what the purpose of media reporting is in light of this reality (i.e. desire to spread news honestly, or just a means of getting closer to a high income).

Kami then intervenes and asks if Hiranabe's salary is high. Dobashi says his is low. Kami reminds them that Hiranabe spent ¥150000 on champagne, and Kaoru then says that despite this, Hiranabe hasn't yet paid his taxi fee to get to the InterFM studio, he asks Dobashi to pay it. Joe thinks its strange that Hiranabe can pay that much for champagne, and at the same time not be able to afford his taxi fee. Kami reminds them of the teeth straightening treatment Hiranaba was apparently also paying for a few weeks ago. He thinks Dobashi must also be getting a high salary. Joe asks Kami what he did in Golden Week, and Kami says he had to work his night shifts because his salary is low.

Getting back on topic, Kaoru questions whether the government is trying to make fools of the people, something about the situation doesn't feel right. It looks like they are taking a too conservative stance, and banning things just to avoid dealing with problems. Joe comments that Tokyo Sports does a good job in the face of this. Dobashi says thats because no topic is off limits for Tokyo Sports. He also says its good to be aware of holding power in this sphere, as too much of it can become a hotbed for corruption. Kami joins them again and says the World Press Freedom Index probably didn't take Tokyo Sports into account. Dobashi replies that Tokyo Sports has no tabboos.

To finish, Kaoru reminds listeners of the new jingle campaign, and plugs the new single and the DVD/Bluray. He then says he is about to start rehersals for Mode of Vulgar, which is sold out. Lastly, he says he will give Dobashi a sticker in exchange for more juicy news in future episodes. Dobashi says he will look for the most tabboo stories he can find.

Songs - Dir en grey/'Yokusou ni dreambox' aruiwa seijuku no rinen to tsumetai ame.

#dir en grey #the freedom of expression #radio

[zaph1337]

Monster Hunter Rating 30: Fatalis, the Dark Demise

The world of Monster Hunter is a dangerous one. Monsters with powers unlike any animal we know run rampant, and some of them are so powerful as to be compared to natural disasters, or maybe even gods. These “Elder Dragons” are viewed as forces of nature given body and mind, and wherever they are, they’re almost always at the top of the food chain. But it begs the question: what is the strongest Elder Dragon of them all?

Some would say that Lao-Shan Lung, the Old Mountain Dragon, holds that honor. After all, it will destroy entire mountains if they stand in its path, and every hunt with one is a race against time to prevent the monster from reaching and destroying the fortresses that separate it from the settlements it would crush beneath its feet as it wanders. But why does Lao-Shan Lung wander? Why does it never go around the obstacles in its way? Why will it never fight back against the hunters that pose a serious threat of killing it? The answer is one that no one wants to accept: Lao-Shan Lung, what may be the living incarnation of an avalanche or some other seismic force, is not wandering. It’s running for its life. Elder Dragons may be the embodiments of natural phenomena, and though we may not like it, death is just as natural as landslides and lightning. We’ve come a long way, but it’s finally time to talk about the final boss of the first Monster Hunter game: the Black Dragon, Fatalis!

(How it appears in Monster Hunter 1)

(How it appears in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne)

Appearance: If the wiki had a third render of Fatalis that I liked, I would’ve put it up there. Anyways, Fatalis looks just like an archetypal European dragon; four legs, two wings, horned head, and a long tail. It looks pretty generic, but there are a few things that help it stand out. First off, it’s huge, being 4110.6 cm (134.9 ft) long in every main series game it appears in except for MHW:I, where it’s 4137.17 cm (135.7 ft) long. That’s 30+ ft more than Diablos or Gravios, and if you wanna see how big Fatalis is compared to a person, well...here’s an image from MHW:I:

Yyyeeah, it’s big. Something else that’s interesting is the fact that Fatalis has eyes which are literally made of crystal, which is why they look shiny in the above image. They still look a lot like traditional dragon eyes, though. In fact, basically all of its design elements are things that you’d expect to find on European dragons, which makes Fatalis look rather generic. You’d think that even in the first game, the devs would be more creative with their final boss considering the other dragons in the game, but that’s just it: Fatalis stands out when compared to a lot of the other dragons in Monster Hunter because it looks just like a European dragon and not much more. This makes it feel like it’s not just a dragon, it’s the dragon. When you hear stories of dragons wreaking mass destruction, you’ll likely imagine something that looks just like Fatalis, and I believe that that’s exactly what the developers of MH intended when they made it. It’s kinda genius, in that way, and combined with the overwhelming presence Fatalis has thanks to its size, I feel like I have to give it an 8/10.

Behavior/Lore: Since I like to cover the lore of a monster in this category anyways, I thought I might as well change its name to reflect that. Anyways, people don’t know a lot about Fatalis, such as how many there are, where there ideal habitat is, their mating rituals, stuff like that. The reason why we don’t know a lot about Fatalis is that it kills literally everything it sees, which tells us a lot on its own. Fatalis doesn’t always eat what it kills; it just kills for the sake of it, and since literally everything that breathes seems to be on its sh*t list, this has led to the conclusion that Fatalis hates all livings things on the grounds that they exist.

As I alluded to in the introduction, the natural phenomenon that Fatalis likely embodies is death itself. All other monsters are terrified of it, and, as seen with Lao-Shan Lung, will go to great lengths to stay as far from it as possible. How strong do you have to be to make a monster that bulldozes mountains run for mommy? Well, let me put it this way: Fatalis obliterated Schrade Kingdom in a single night, and now uses the ruins of the castle as its den; the very sky above the kingdom’s remains is a perpetual bloody red, with a miasma of purple clouds that hover over the fallen settlement. And that’s just what we know is true; according to legend, Fatalis could scorch all the world’s lands in a matter of days, causing the end of life itself. Obviously, this can’t be proven, nor do I know if they’re talking about one Fatalis or all of them (however many there are), but when legends like that are circulating, it’s a wonder that people aren’t living in constant fear that this thing will decide to visit their settlement one day and kill everyone. Well, not so much a wonder as it is a conspiracy; the Hunter’s Guild, fearing that the fear of Fatalis’ capabilities could lead to an outbreak of panic and anarchy, has done its best to relegate Fatalis and all stories related to it to the realm of fantasy. Only hunters who the Guild believes are skilled enough to possibly repel or kill Fatalis are allowed to know that it exists, and even then, when the Guild sends them on secret missions to fight it, they almost never come back.

Though Fatalis leaves few witnesses to its attacks, there are some who provide valuable information about the dragon’s habits. After Fatalis kills a hunter, it melts said hunter and their equipment down, then applies the remains to its body to armor its hide, making it even harder to kill. Now, some say that this is an instinctual behavior, like how the monster Nerscylla wears the hides of its prey for the same purpose, but Fatalis is only known to do this to humans, which wouldn’t make sense because killing monsters would give it more material to cover itself in. This has led some to believe that Fatalis knows that hunters make armor from the remains of the monsters they kill, so it makes armor out of them to mock them in death. If this is true, then not only is Fatalis smart enough to have a concept of irony, it harbors a special kind of hatred for humans in particular, and it presumably enjoys killing them. These things make Fatalis even more terrifying and dangerous than previously thought, and put its attack on Schrade Kingdom and its occupancy of Schrade Castle in a new light.

Speaking of equipment, the few times anyone has actually killed a Fatalis and made weapons and armor from its parts, they’ve almost always regretted it. Those that wear Fatalis armor have been victims of disturbing phenomena; horrible nightmares and periods of unnatural, unwanted strength are a common occurrence, and some have reported feeling as though something is possessing them and forcing their legs to move against their will. In extreme cases, hunters who have been knocked unconscious while wearing the armor report feeling that something was controlling their bodies before they awoke. But those people are the lucky ones; hunters who wear Fatalis armor for extensive periods of time often disappear without a trace, or even die for no apparent reason.

Not even the weapons are safe. Some cause the wielders to hear phantom screams, others induce feelings of gnawing despair or paranoia, and some are even said to corrupt the wielder’s soul, turning them into a force of bloodshed and chaos as Fatalis was...or is. In Monster Hunter Generations, a cave in Pokke Village contains a giant version of a Black Blade, a Great Sword made of Fatalis parts, which can be mined for Fatalis materials. It’s been noted that the damage done to the blade by mining it will regenerate in a matter of days; when you combine that with the symptoms of using Fatalis equipment, it gives credence to the possibility that Fatalis lives on through said equipment, controlling the bodies and minds of those that slew its corporeal form. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant; the fact remains that Fatalis equipment has a deleterious effect on those that use it, and as such, it’s recommended that none should attempt to utilize anything made from Fatalis’ remains at all.

If you thought that Fatalis as a life-form was fundamentally wrong before, then I have one last bit of absurdity for you: the one time anyone ever found a Fatalis egg, the newborn that hatched from it grew to its adult form in literal hours, and presumably hated everything that breathes from birth. Other than that, we don’t know anything about its life cycle or parental habits, and the wiki doesn’t say what happened after the baby reached maturity, but we can reasonably assume that it was a bloody event.

I’ve never been more enthralled by a monster’s lore than I have been reading about Fatalis. The developers really went out of their way to impress upon players just how unnatural and evil Fatalis is, and the result is the monster to end all monsters. I think my favorite parts are the fact that the Guild covers up Fatalis’ existence to prevent society from collapsing and how even its equipment is too dangerous to be around. And even with this, there’s still so much we don’t know about Fatalis, which makes it even more intriguing. With how much I’ve been thinking about all this the past few days, I feel like I have to give this category a 10/10.

Abilities: Obviously, Fatalis is one of the strongest monsters in the series. Its body is very durable due to its habit of melting down hunters to use as armor, and even the membranes of its wings are has hard as metal. It can both fly and charge at high speeds, with the latter doing massive damage thanks to Fatalis’ raw strength. However, its most famous ability--and its deadliest--is its fire breath, which is equal in power to some other Elder Dragons. The streams of fire that escape from Fatalis’ maw are even bigger than the dragon itself, and can be so powerful that they one-shot hunters caught in them. Fatalis can also spread a cloud of reactive powder around it; igniting this powder causes a devastating explosion.

Now, conceptually, these attributes and attacks aren’t too crazy, but there’s one more thing I want to mention: In Monster Hunter 1, you fight Fatalis in 4 quests (assuming that the wiki’s quest list for the game has all of them), and in all of those quests, the goal is “damage Fatalis as much as you can to drive him away,” not “slay Fatalis.” This means that Fatalis is so much more powerful than anything else in the game, the Guild does not believe you are capable of killing it. Despite all of your accomplishments up to that point, the Guild still doesn’t think you have what it takes to kill the darn thing. Now, considering the goal doesn’t say “slay or repel” or anything like that, I was under the impression that you couldn’t kill Fatalis in the first Monster Hunter, but a video on the wiki shows that you can, so I guess the devs phrased it that way to make you feel even cooler for achieving what even the game thought was impossible. It’s a nice touch. Anyways, Fatalis’ abilities may not sound like anything special for a dragon, but the sheer power behind its attacks, as well as how much work you have to put in to damage it in any meaningful way, gets it an 8/10.

Equipment: Since most, if not all of Fatalis’ equipment is inherently evil, I’ll mention if the descriptions say exactly what they do to the user. Let’s start ourselves off with a Hunting Horn called the Black Lute:

According to its description in MHFU, “[a]nyone who hears this Horn feels faint.” Kinda counterproductive, considering the Hunting Horn’s whole gimmick is that it buffs you and your allies with magical songs. Its upgraded form, the Fatalis Menace, isn’t much better, as “its song causes listeners to turn into disheartened beasts.” So already we see the dangers involved in using this weapon, but the description is lore that doesn’t impact gameplay, so strum to your heart’s content! As for how the Lute looks, I like the use of Fatalis horns as the majority of the main body, and the little red gem is a nice touch. Next up, something a little less evil, actually! The Dual Blades called Double Dragon require both Fatalis and Lao-Shan Lung parts, which I guess makes them okay to use?

I say that these aren’t evil because their description just says “[t]he Dragon element infused in these Dual Blades hits enemies from both sides.” Though, you do have to make them by upgrading the Fatalis Sword and Shield called the Black Sword, and according to its description, “[t]he void it creates envelopes all in its path[,]” which makes me think that these are probably still unsafe to use. Though I do like how the blades are different shapes and sizes to match up with the dragons they came from. But you know me, if a monster has a weird or goofy weapon, I gotta show it off, and Fatalis isn’t exempt from this. So here’s the Light Bowgun called the Black Parasol:

I was gonna make a JFK joke, ‘cause one of the theories surrounding his assassination was that someone used a gun disguised as an umbrella to shoot him from the side, but I don’t think I can make a joke like that without being tasteless, especially since this weapon apparently has “an assassin's thirst for death.” But here’s some tasty lore for you: the Black Parasol’s upgrade in the Japan-only MH4U, the Dark Parasol, was “designed behind the scenes by the Guild for assassination purposes.” This may be a translation of the Japanese description, so “assassination” might just mean “kill,” but it makes you think about how weird it is to call hunting a monster an assassination; there’s a chance that the Black Parasol was made by the Guild specifically to kill people, and that just raises more questions. As for the Parasol’s design, it’s so out of left field that I can’t help but find it amusing. The doily-like trim combined with the swirly handle makes it impossible to take seriously, which was probably the point.

Now, here’s where things get a bit messy; the wiki doesn’t have very many pictures of Fatalis armor. The ones it does have are small, not the standard Fatalis armor, or don’t have an image of the male armor to go with them. So, I have to resort to using the small images of the “S” armor from MHFU. I’ve made them bigger to avoid straining anyone’s eyes, but they’re all blurry now, so I apologize if I miss any details you think are important. Here’s the Blademaster armor:

Oh, my God, they gave the women’s set a helmet! Aaaannd it’s for the armor set with low-quali renders online. Yaaaay. Okay, that aside, this does look awesome. It definitely looks like armor that would make you evil if you wore it, and the curved horns on the helmet really add to that theme, as do the spikes on the arms and legs. As for the Gunner armor:

It looks really cool, too! Seems that the wings are attached to the arms in lieu of arm guards, like the ones you see on other Gunner sets. The horns on this set are pointed up this time, presumably for reasons related to peripheral vision or something like that, which is helpful for someone using a gun. The boots on the armor look like dragon feet, and combined with the wings and other design aspects, makes this armor feel like the one that’s most likely going to let Fatalis’ soul overtake you.

Overall, the equipment does what it was made to do: look powerful, yet evil at the same time. It seems like something that fanfic authors would make use of for their worldbuilding--something like how the greatest hunter in the land went missing after killing Fatalis and making equipment from it, only for horror stories of a black knight wielding cursed armaments wiping small settlements off the map and slaughtering travelers. This is the first time that equipment lore factors into the scoring for this category, and I might have to look at the descriptions of the equipment I choose in future reviews to see if that affects my opinion on it any. For now, Fatalis’ equipment gets an 8/10.

Final Thoughts and Tally: The creators of Monster Hunter wanted to make an unforgettable final boss, and they succeeded. The concept of a truly evil, apocalyptic monster in a world where most monsters are basically animals adds to its intimidation factor, and I can only imagine how kids felt when they saw Schrade Castle and the skies above it for the first time. It honestly makes me sad that I never had the original Monster Hunter as a kid, ‘cause the impression Fatalis and the fight with it would have had on me would likely have stuck with me to this day. One thing’s for sure, though: if I ever get a Monster Hunter game besides Rise, it’ll probably be Monster Hunter World and its Iceborne expansion, ‘cause aside from the Coral Islands, fighting Fatalis in a modern game would be exhilarating. 8/10.

#monster hunter #monster hunter rating #zaph1337

[arcadianstuff]

Birthday Magic

Got a request for a scenario where the reader is King Arthur's daughter and has magic powers she keeps hidden but Douxie finds out. Hope you like it ! Inbox is open !

—————————

Being the only heir to the throne of Camelot was stressful, especially as you were now coming of age. Turning 18 today should have been a fun experience, a day of celebration with maybe a party or a present.

But instead your father told you he didn’t have time for such trivial games. Gunmar had killed one of his knights and he was plotting revenge. Sometimes you couldn’t recognise your father. King Arthur he was no no more. The man you called father was a crazed and delusional killer, who wrongly persecuted magical creatures.

Personally, you saw the magical creatures as your people too and wished that you could care for them as you do for the people of Camelot. Maybe as Queen you’d be different, make a massive change to the way things are.

Long ago, legends spoke of a girl who’d be born with the gifts to unite both mortal and magical creatures, together in harmony. This legend was passed down through scriptures, etched onto stone, woven in tapestries. But after Gweneviere’s death, your mother, your father had every magical scripture and book in the palace library destroyed. Only Morgana’s, Douxie's and Merlín’s magical items were left untouched.

So you remained blissfully ignorant of you fate. For now you hid your powers with all your might, terrified of what you father would do to you. Your mothers death had made him volatile, unpredictable and you didn’t want to lose your only parent. To see him look at you with hatred for your gifts scared you, petrified you.

Sad and lonely on your birthday, you left the throne room which was now filling with knights. They were meeting with the king to plan their next attack. You wanted no part in the bloodshed, and anyways your father would never let you join them on a quest. He might be a delusional killer now, but he loved you and would protect his only child with his life.

Head hanging low , you shuffled past the knights trying not to cry at the fact that nobody seeemed to remember your birthday. A cry escaped your lips as you slammed the doors shut to the throne room, and you crumbled to the floor.

With the servants attending to their duties, the knights and king preoccupied with a looming war and Merlín teaching Morgana, the halls were empty. Silence filled the castle, except for your quiet sobs, as you cried into the fabric of your long gown.

Too preoccupied with your own self pity and sadness, you didn’t notice a certain cat approaching you until he nuzzled at your arm, soft fur tickling your skin. A small laugh left you lips as you picked Archie up, placing him on your lap and cuddling into his fur.

“Why are you crying princess ?” His question caused the small smile on your lips to fall, and you looked down at his sympathetic gaze.

“I know it’s silly Arch but....nobody remembered my birthday....” you mumbled into his fur, cuddling the cat closer to seek some sort of comfort.

That left Archie a little surprised but it wasn’t entirely unexpected. Before Gwen had passed your birthdays had been a huge cause of celebration. The whole of Camelot would celebrate and feast to commemorate another year of their beloved princess. Unlike your father you were kind and unlike your aunt you didn’t just want to protect magical beings. You wanted to help everyone and for that you were beloved by your people, even some trolls.

However your mother's death had changed everything. Without her, celebrating your birthday became painful; it was a reminder that she would never be there for one again. It broke your heart, but not as much as your father's who couldn’t stand the idea of you getting older and being in more and more danger. Sexist as it was, he wished he’d had a boy. You were so small, and maybe strong in character but you were no knight. He couldn’t lose you.

“Well that’s no good princess....come on follow me.” Archie leapt out of your lap, signalling you to follow him before scampering down the halls.

Although you still felt disheartened, you had nothing better to do and were a little curious about where Archie wanted to take you, so you got up, dusted off your gown and ran after him.

“Where are we going Arch ?” You asked as you followed him up one of the towers, rushing up the winding staircase after him. It felt like forever when you finally reached the top. Stopping as Archie pawed at the door, you watched it swing open greeting you with the sight of a very sleepy wizard.

“Good morning sleeping beauty.” You said, giggling at the sight of the dishevelled apprentice, who’s long hair was in disarray and eyes dropping with sleep.

“Whaaattts going on ? Princess why are you here ?” Douxie rubbed at his eyes, talking sleepily as he started registering his surroundings.

Douxie got one day off a week from his duties as Merlin's apprentice, and on that day he liked to sleep in. For once he wasn’t being summoned to do chores, whether it was collecting some materials to be used as ingredients or cleaning up the workshop. Yet here he was at 9 in the morning, woken up rudely by his familiar banging on his door. However when he saw you, beautiful as always in your long flowing gown, he suddenly wasn't so annoyed.

Plus as you entered his room in the tower, thanking him as he ushered you in, he noticed how puffy and red your usual sparkling eyes were. As if you’d been crying a lot.

Never before had you been up this tower. When Douxie had been taken in years ago by Merlín, your father had given him a room in the castle, a place to stay and sleep. Whilst you had some interaction with Douxie, exchanging pleasantries to snarky comments, you two were never that close. You feared he’d sense your magical abilities and tell Merlín, who’d then tell your father. Whereas he found himself nervous around you, losing his cool and charm and instead becoming an awkward teenager.

But here you were perusing his room, taking in what few things he had. You were drawn to the bookshelves he had, hand trailing over the magical books Merlín had given him to study. Preoccupied with the books you were looking at, you didn’t notice Douxie and Archie having a little spat behind you.

In a hushed but annoyed whisper, Douxie turned on his famialir who in turn laughed nervously, backing up a little.

“Arch you better have a good reason for waking me up so early on my one day off. And why in Merlín’s name is princess (y/n) in my room ?”

“Well you see Doux, it’s the princess’s birthday and it appears nobody remembered.” Archie’s answer made all of Douxie’s anger melt away.

That explained why you looked like you’d been crying, no wonder you were upset. This was your eighteenth birthday as well, and yet here you were alone. He smiled down at his famialir who let out a sigh of relief that his wizard was now calmer.

“Alright Arch, well I guess we’ve got a birthday to celebrate.” Both familiar and wizard now were determined to make sure you had a good day.

“Woah woah Douxie what are you doing ?” You were taken by surprise when the wizard started pushing you out of his room.

“I’m taking you out princess, for a birthday celebration.” He held his arm out to you, chivalrous as he could be. You might be friends but you were still a princess and also a pretty girl. He was going to be polite.

“Ohhh, yay !” For the first time that day you smiled. Finally it seemed like things were getting better. You gratefully accepted his arm, meeting his eyes for a moment.

That’s when he sensed it, something pure and warm flowed through you. He could feel something magical radiating through you. And then you looked away and it disappeared.

‘Strange..’ he thought to himself for a second he could swear you were magic.

————————

Out in the town of Camelot people stopped to greet you, wanting to wish their princess a happy birthday. It made you happy that at least your people had remembered, if your family would not.

“princess (y/n.....I made this for you.” A little girl with fiery red hair ran up to you, holding a flower crown made of roses and daises. It was lovely, and clearly carefully crafted by the little girl.

You untangled your arm from Douxie and crouched down to the little girl's height, smiling at her as you bowed your head and removed your tiara. She carefully placed it upon your head.

“Thank you. It’s lovely. May I ask your name ?” You spoke to her gently, as to not intimidate her.

“It’s Mary your highness.” She spoke with a slight lisp caused by her two missing front teeth. She was adorable.

“Well Mary this is the loveliest present I’ve ever had. Here I’d like to repay you.” You handed out you tiara to her.

She froze, eyes locked on the beautiful sparkling object.

“F-for me ??” Her voice wavered as you carefully placed it atop her head of red hair.

“Kindness makes one a princess. And a princess must have a tiara.” You stood up then and watched as she ran to her parents, giggling and shouting as she pointed to the tiara on her head.

A smile played its ways across your lips. Nothing made you happier than helping your people, magical and mortal.

“You are lovely princess.” Douxie slipped his hand through yours, sming at you. The compliment warmed your cheeks and you glanced the other way. The look of admiration he was giving you made your stomach flip.

“Thanks Douxie, it’s nothing really. I just love my people. I would do anything to protect them.....including the magical ones.” You met his eyes again as you spoke the last part of your sentence. This time it was his turn to blush as you basically confessed you’d do anything to protect him as well.

He let out a cough hoping to break the sudden tension.

“Umm well you’ll make a great Queen one day. But for now princess I’ve got one last thing to show you.” He trailed off before pulling you out of the town, hands linked together as you ran with him.

———————-

The enchanted forests had been a favourite place of yours since you were an infant. Before Gwen's passing she’d take you out here all the time with your aunt Morgana. For hours you’d play among the creatures of the forest, who found your kindness and innocence to be enchanting. Magical creatures in the forest were drawn to the light magic you radiated.

It was the purest form of magic, something only the old gods could bestow upon you. Trolls, pixies and even Nari the spirit of the enchanted forest had recognised you from the old prophecies. It was unmistakable. You were to be the last Pendeagon, to unite magical and mortal alike.

However after Gwen died, you were prohibited from even venturing out of Camelot. It was too dangerous according to your father, and he wouldn’t not lose another to the forests.

Douxie knew the risks of taking you here but he had sworn to protect you with his life. Even if he didn’t return from the forests you would. Plus he remembered how much you loved this place from your stories of your childhood.

It was worth it to see the way your eyes lit up as you let go of his hand and ran into the forest, running your fingers over tree bark, stopping to admire the many flowers that grew from the ground.

“This is incredible !” You shouted, cheering with delight as you rushed deeper into the woods, Douxie trailing behind you and laughing at your enthusiasm.

Giggles escaped your lips as you watched a tiny pixie skim across the trees, beautiful wings sparkling in the sunlight.

“Hey princess slow down....(Y/n) !” Suddenly you were starting to disappear out of sight. Douxie let out a panicked yell, noticing you were way ahead of him.

However you were too enthralled in your surroundings to notice the sudden danger you’d walked into. It was too late to turn around and run when Gunnar himself emerged from the shadows.

“Who dares enter my forest !” He let out a roar, swinging his sword down, the point centimetres away from your face.

A scream tore from your lips at the sight of the giant troll, who’d you only heard stories of. The sight of him turned your blood to ice and you could feel your petrification rooting you to the spot. Running wasn’t an option.

“Oh what do we have here ? The princess of Camelot.” A chuckle left the trolls mouth as he started circling you. He couldn’t believe his luck that the only heir to the throne had been so stupid to wander into his woods. And unguarded.

Your death would not be swift. He would make a show of it. Ripping away the last thing Arthur held dear to him. It would be his finest moment and your worst.

“I-I don’t mean any harm.” You started to back away, voice cracking in fear.

Not paying attention, you tripped over a tree root, colliding with the ground. Hastily you shuffled away until your back hit the tree trunk.

Gunmar laughed at your fear. There was no creature he hated more than King Arthur and he would make sure to leave your corpse unrecognisable. Vengeance would be served.

“This will be your last moment princess !” With a battle cry he swung his sword down, the steel metal glinting in the sunlight as you watched it descend upon you.

“Leave her alone !” A blast of blue magic knocked the sword straight out of Gumnar’s hands only milimetres away from your face.

It soared through the air and smahed to pieces upon impact with the ground.

“Douxie !” You cried out in relief, as you realised that your wizard friend hadn’t abandoned you.

His eyes flowed blue as magic rushed through him. He looked furious. You’d never send him angry before at it was frightening now to see the kind and funny Douxie you loved disappear.

“Get out of here princess.” He ordered, helping you off the ground carefully as Gumnar picked up the shattered remains of his sword.

“You’ll regret that boy !” An angry roar ripped from the beast's mouth as he charged at the pair of you.

You froze, terrified now of leaving Douxie here, who you were sure would die.

“I’m not leaving you Douxie.” You said stubbornly, clinging onto him.

“I swore to protect you (y/n), even with my life ! Now get out of here !” He shoved you away just as gunmar brought his fist down.

A scream left your lips as you watched Douxie fly through the air before crashing onto the ground, a small wheeze of pain leaving his lips. He couldn’t get up, he was pretty sure one of his legs was broken.

“Run (y/n) please...” he let out a ragged gasp before blacking out from the pain, the sight of your devastated face the last thing he saw.

Your eyes feverishly tore between the wizard, who you weren’t sure was even alive anymore, and Gunmar who was approaching him.

“I’ll eat you alive boy for your crimes !” Just as he was about to scoop Douxie up, you let out a feral scream.

“No !” Your fear, anger and pain flowed through you and your magic could no longer be contained. Your emotions overpowered it, and a ray of golden light shot out from both of your hands.

It struck Gunmar and sent him flying into a nearby tree. For a second the leader of Gumm Gumms laid still, grunting in pain. It was all the time you needed to rush over to Douxie and try to pick him up.

You attempted to get away as fast you could, but dragging the unconscious wizard's body made it a lot harder.

Gunmar didn’t stay down for the long and the pain he felt in his left arm from your magic attack angered him. Whatever patience he had before (which was basically none)was now gone. Mudderous with rage, he leapt towards you bringing his fists down.

“Die fleshbags !”

Dropping Douxie you brought both your hands up over your head, a force field of light energy surrounding the two of you as Gunmar brought his fists down again and again, trying to smash through the barrier.

Your magic normally would’ve weakened but the anger and fear you felt fuelled it.

“I’ll kill you troll ! For what you’ve done to my father and my people !” You screamed, letting the force field vanish. As gumnar brought his right fish down to smash you both to pieces, you brought you hand up and sent a burst of energy towards his fist.

The golden ray burnt Gunmar's hand like sunlight did, causing it to start turning to stone. He let out a screech of pain, surprised at your magic.

For the first time Gunmar started to retreat, turning his back and vanishing into the forest as you sent more blasts of magic after him. Momentarily, you contemplated following him, going through with your threat to kill the beast, but you heard a groan from Douxie behind you.

“Hey it’s okay. I’m here.” You knelt down by his side, cringing at the severity of his injuries.

“P-princess...” The wizard wheezed, coughing as he tried to speak.

You brought a hand to his cheek cupping it gently.

“Douxie you saved me. You were going to sacrifice yourself for me.” Tears started to stream down your face as you thought about the fact that Douxie could’ve died and it would’ve been your fault.

“H-hey why are you crying love ? It’s all okay. I’m fine and you, you sent Gunmar the Black running.” A chuckle left his lips which caused pain in his left side. Clearly a few of his ribs were broken.

You reached your hand gently down to his side and pushed lightly, feeling a few broken bones. A gasp left your lips as you looked down and saw one of his legs bent at an unnatural angle.

“Oh Douxie.....Im so sorry.” A sob escaped your mouth at the sight of the wizard, you’d grown so fond of, in pain.

“I’ll be alright love, luckily my face seems unharmed. Now that would be a disaster for the ladies of Camelot.” His joke made you laugh through your sobs, but even though he was making a joke you could see how much pain he was in. And it was all your fault.

Your magic called to you, telling you to reach out and help Douxie. Unsure of what you were suposed to do, you placed your hands over his leg gently and tried to let your magic glow through you. For a few seconds nothing happened and Douxie eyed you wearily before he started feeling a warm sensation course through his leg.

He looked down at you concentrating on your hands which were now glowing a faint yellow. A gasp left his lips as he watched his leg unbend, returning to normal as he felt the pain disappear.

“What in Merlín’s name was that ?...” he let out a gasp of surprise as he moved his leg, able to feel it again.

Eyes shining with admiration he looked admiringly at you, smile falling when he was how upset you looked. Fearfully, you started to back away from Douxie, looking between Douxie's fixed leg and your own hands.

He’d seen your magic, you’d fought off Gunmar and healed his leg. What would happen now. You couldn’t run away, leave your people to your fathers mercy and abandon your rule duties, but staying risked your father finding out. It all mattered on what Douxie would do next.

Douxie saw your terrified expression, the way you stared down at your own hands with hatred. He didn’t know you were magic, and he was pretty sure nobody else did. You’d hidden your powers. He’d sworn to protect you and that would now include hiding your powers.

"Love I promise I won’t tell anyone about your powers. It’ll be our secret." He said gently, attempting to get off the ground but stumbling. He’d forgotten about his broken ribs which were now doing their best to remind him of how broken they were,

You rushed forwards to catch him, no longer afraid of the possibility that he’d tell the royal court of your magic.

"Thank you Douxie." Without thinking you wrapped your arms around him, the hug filling you with warmth.

Surprised at first Douxie quickly returned the embrace. It felt like a part of him was completed in that moment. He’d never realised that he’d longed to do just this.

"So princess, did you have a good birthday ?" His question caused you to laugh, and you gave him a playful glare.

"The best one yet. Thank you Douxie." For a split second you kissed him on the cheek before looking at the ground. Douxie was left speechless, a hand reaching up to touch the spot on his cheek where your lips had just been.

‘Woah....' he thought to himself.

"Umm lets get out of here before we get in another fight..." Laughing awkwardly, you helped Douxie up, swinging his arm across your shoulder.

Truly happy for the first time a long time, the pair of you began your walk out of the enchanted forests back home.

—————-

This was a request I got but it kinda took a turn, I hope you like it though !

Tagged: @inyourfaceace

#douxie x reader #douxie #trollhunters #tales of arcadia #toa douxie #toa #toa wizards #troll hunters

[welllpthisishappening]

Okay can we talk about ACOSF???? Bc on booktok all I’m seeing is so much negativity about how people don’t like feysand or don’t like nesta but?? I read this book, loved it, thought nesta grew SO much and we got to see feysand from a different POV which gave them depth! Plus a baby!!! I can talk about it forever

We can absolutely talk about ACOSF. I have thoughts, feelings, opinions and this is going to get long. And, uh, any of those super negative critiques:

Alright, alright, alright, so initial feelings? I enjoyed it a lot. Like, way more than I thought I would honestly because going in I was like eh, Nessian, but I loved Nesta’s character development and the flirt-to-roast ratio with her and Cassian and every single time Cassian called her Nes or God help me ARCHERON, my soul reached another plane of existence. Don’t even get me started on that one time she called him General. The noise I made was not audible to human ears. 

That said, there were some parts that I was like: oh ok, that’s happening. So, because I cannot function without organization, let’s break down some of the major things that happened into a LIST WITH OPINIONS ATTACHED

Sexual Tension Fucking fuck, these two idiots. Pining after each other while both desperately wanting someone, anyone, to be like — please stay in bed and cuddle me all night?!?! Idiots. Both of them flush with power and the ability to make people legit terror before them and they’re so goddamn soft with each other. Which is kind of hysterical because they are also able to rip each other to shreds? Oh my God, some of those fight scenes, I just—my heart was in my throat. And I do not want to hear a single word of how CASSIAN IS MEAN TO NESTA? Were we reading the same book, internet? Bro is In Love. From the G E T. 

Which leads us to—

S O L S T I C E  God, rip my romantic-loving heart out of my body. Learning what was in the box from the solstice before made me screech and then the music. THE MUSIC. Can we talk about Cassian, feared general, dude who has canonically lost track of how many people he has killed, cornering an ENTIRE ORCHESTRA to recreate music for Nesta? I just—f u c k. It was a lot. A lot. And then we circle back around to how soft they were and there’ll never be another and I am going to have to pace around a bit. I loved it. I love them. I nearly screamed when it took Nesta a few more chapters to realize it was a mating bond, and then Cassian just bolted because he also couldn’t quite deal with it, and I am still not super sold on the mating bond, like, as a thing, but I kind of went into this book pretty certain this was going to happen, so...good. Also them arguing by the Sidra, oof. 

There was a lot of sex in this book. I knew there was going to be a lot of sex in this book. I must have told my husband four different times, “God, there is a lot of sex in this book.” Some of it was good. Some of it was kind of cloying in its descriptions. I genuinely lol’ed at Nesta fantasizing about being straight up railed by both Cassian and Azriel. (Why was that in there? Still don’t really know, felt a lot like very obvious fan service, but it was also kind of hysterical.)

JEALOUSY DIDN’T MAKE ME WANT TO RIP MY EYES OUT I hate jealousy plots. HATE THEM. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves in relationship writing, but I was super into it here??? Cassian cutting in on the dance and TAKING DANCING LESSONS. It was good. I enjoyed it. 

Nesta’s Power Yo. YO. This was really cool. She was terrifying and out of control, while also learning how to be in control and intimidating and I was like YES, GET IT. When Rhys flew into the House and Nesta was just wrapped in silver flames, that was super cool. Also Rhys being freaked out by her? Kind of bad ass, honestly. But. But! I wish it was explored even more. I wish we got to learn what she could really do and the extent to which she could do it, because I thought it was a fascinating possibility to parallel Nesta to Feyre and I don’t really think we got that. Like, Feyre Cursebreaker — with power given from all the High Lords, this bringer of new life and a fresh start for all the courts. Then her sister — with power stolen from the Cauldron itself and death at her fingertips. With all the comparisons of Feyre and Nesta, I really figured we’d be gunning towards that eventually ESPECIALLY with Feyre being pregnant, and the idea of life in that capacity. Also, what was the point of Lucien saying “Gods help you all” or whatever he said when he was watching Nesta train if...nothing ever really came from that? We’ll circle back around to that in a second, during what will be my ending-based soliloquy, but first let’s talk about—

Feyre Being Pregnant, Why That Kind of Felt Like Twilight and Why I Get Why Rhys Was Being an Idiot Listen, part of the reason I wanted to read this book was for what I assumed would be the Feysand crumbs we’d get. Most of me was convinced that this book would not take place in Velaris and I was mentally prepared for that. Color me pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t and we got an IC feast. But. But! Part two! I’ve mentioned how I’m never really here for...pregnancy being like this ultimate endgame, and I understand why Feysand wanted a kid and I get it, I do. Just the whole thing with she’s going to DIE felt very Bella Swan, was kind of dramatic in mela-sort of way and I TOTALLY GET WHY RHYS KEPT THE WINGS A SECRET. Was it idiotic? Yeah, of course. But I don’t think we talk about his trauma enough, really. Those fifty years under the Mountain are not just gong to disappear, and I cannot really blame him for totally losing his mind at even the idea of Feyre dying. This is not a dude who is trying to control Feyre. I’ve never felt that way about Rhys. At all. This is a dude who has already lost ALL of HIS control and is desperately trying to hang on. He’s already had his entire world shattered six ways to Sunday, this was obviously going to destroy him. Aside from, y’know, straight up killing him too. (That was dumb, guys.) And I think telling Feyre would have made it REAL for Rhys, which he obviously could not cope with. Was I surprised that Feyre’s pregnancy was such a big plot point in a book that was supposed to be super Nessian focused? Yeah, for sure. But also—I like established relationships and Feyre and Rhys could not stop making eyes at each other. Not totally here for the deadly pregnancy trope, not totally here for using family as a trauma recovery, but sort of understand it. 

Training, Valkyries and Friendship Bracelets Like I said, I thought this book was gong to take place in the Illyrian camps way more than it did, but I L O V E D the training sessions. Adored Nesta, Emerie and Gwyn’s friendship and how often they teamed up to snark Cassian and Azriel. I was painfully here for all three of them together and the sleepover in the House warmed the cockles of my cold, dead heart. Especially when the bracelets proved so important during the Blood Rite. Which—let’s talk about the Blood Rite. Didn’t expect that!! Was pleasantly surprised by that!! Nesta drawing the literal line in the dirt made me fist pump the air. (And is another parallel to Feyre and her taking inspiration from old Fae legends, but that’s neither here nor there, whatever I’m not here to harp on missed opportunity.) I thought it was really important that all three of them got to showcase their own power too, and how they worked SO WELL together and I was just really glad that there was such focus on this sisterhood outside of literal sisterhood. I thought those relationships were so well done and it was just such a joy to read about their growth and strength and I loved them. Am I here for Gwyn and Azriel? Maybe. Possibly more here for Emerie and Mor? Maybe maybe. 

The House I thought it was Amren, for a very long time. Like secretly helping Nesta still and I was really into that idea and really into Amren not being able to totally let Nesta go and I wasn’t really into Nesta bowing to Amren. 

THE ENDING Oh my God, so much happened. So quickly. With some occasionally jarring scene cuts. The Blood Rite surprised me, but I was not surprised by Cassian getting ensnared by the crown. Fully expected something like that to happen, was still making ridiculous noises when he tried to turn the dagger on himself instead of killing Nesta. LOST MY MIND WHEN NESTA UNMADE THE QUEEN. I’m still sort of...confused about the Trove, though. I know there are a fair number of hanging plot threads that are gong to lead into other stories, but I just—I don’t know, when they were talking about the High King and everything I sort of thought they were leading towards Nessian being that. I know the whole IC was very into Rhys and thematically it made sense, but also let’s consider—I don’t want that? Rhys needs to get his shit in order and his own Court to calm the fuck down and again I think the potential for LORD OF THE BASTARDS and LADY DEATH to ascend to this position of power and lead the world into this new era was there and I just, I don’t know, I liked the idea of it. Particularly when so many people have referred to Nesta as a Queen. That whole thing in the prison happened, y’know? I’m not sure (read: I’m fairly positive) that won’t happen now, especially because Nesta gave up so much of her power to save Feyre. And I know that’s a TALKING POINT™ but also...I was pretty cool with that? Once it came out that Feyre was going to die, it made sense that Nesta would be the one to save her—to twist death again, and kind of seize control of it. Granted, I’m still a little confused by the Trove and what everyone’s going to do with all that power, but Nesta saving Feyre was this perfect sort of wrap up. For me, at least. I think they balance each other out in a lot of respects, and that was really the last step of Nesta’s growth. Also, uh, back on my Feysand ‘ish and Rhys screaming and crying and trying to get to Feyre? o o o f. Also, also, RHYS BOWING TO NESTA. I CANNOT TELL YOU THE LAST TIME I CRIED AT A BOOK, BUT I CRIED AT THIS BOOK. RHYS, BABY, I ADORE YOU. 

Nesta Finding Herself I just really—liked it. I think sometimes in these sorts of stories we get people who are so focused on characters being “the bitch” and having an edge and we have a tendency to think that’s what makes them STRONG. Nah, that ain’t it, son. I don’t want to read about someone being a dick just for sake of being a dick. Nesta was NOT IN A GOOD PLACE. She was self-imploding and destroying herself and getting her POV made it blatantly clear that she thought she deserved that. That she truly believed she didn’t deserve anyone else. And as much as the romance was good and the friendships were fantastic, the key to this story was Nesta (as cheesy as it sounds) learning to love herself. To find worth in her own self. Reading about Nesta simply learning to want to live again, for no one except herself, was really, really good and I think, for the most part, well done. Which is why it makes sense that Nesta gives up some of her power. This isn’t about being A BAD BITCH, PATENT PENDING. This is about love, and joy and embracing your own faults. I get the disappointment over Nesta losing her power. I do. But I’m not sure she totally did? Maybe that’s too positive, or too naive, or something, but...whatever. 

Other things that I really enjoyed, include but are not limited to: Cassian having allergies Nesta absolutely decimating Tamlin. And Tamlin’s just like...a lion all the time now, huh? And, uh, also is Tamlin Gwyn’s dad??? Like, is that a thing? Am I crazy?  Nesta telling Elain to fuck off (Also, Elain—darling, I wish you got more character development. Elain is to SJM what Belle is to me in CS fic. Sometimes I think she just forgets about her.) Azriel calling out Cassian for getting BLOWN at the dining room table Azriel getting Nesta a Solstice gift and then THEY HUGGED Nesta wanting an over the top mating ceremony. Get it, girl.  Feyre going full on Court of Nightmares in the Hewn City Nesta making it down the steps

Other things I thought we’d get more of and just...didn’t Whatever the fuck Lucien has been up to, and more on the continent with Vassa and Juran More stuff in Illyria Reaction to the trio in the Blood Rite Amren and Nesta reconciling. I know Nesta apologized, but Amren kind of got on my nerves.  Nesta understandably criticizing the IC and their tendency to get a little sanctimonious.  THREE SISTER PEAKS. THREE BAT BOYS. THREE VALKYRIE. WHAT IS IT SARAH? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? 

#acosf #acosf spoilers #nessian #a court of silver flames #a court of silver flames spoilers #oh my god this is so long #i'm really not here for the negativity #so i will not engage with that #stealing-vengence #laura rambles #laura reads books