#it’s live action and we start off with a full blown genocide

[lawchan89]

“Well yeah, of course it’s not going to be as good as the original show!”

Then why?

Why does this thing exist?

Why does it need to exist in the first place?

This “defense” is not the flex you think it is

If you can’t remake it better

Why remake it at all?

#natla #atla live action #avatar the last airbender #i mean i know why it exists #it exists the same reason all live action remakes exist #because the showrunners hate animation #it’s ‘kids stuff’ #clearly WE can do better because this is the ADULT version #it’s live action and we start off with a full blown genocide #OOOOO look at us #we’re the dark and gritty ATLA #even though everyone looks like they’re cosplaying from the cartoon and it’s really fucking jarring #also literally no one was asking for a 1:1 remake #that’s what the idiots who were pissed off about the percy jackson series wanted

[ghostmartyr]

SnK 127 Thoughts

“Let us speak for 46 pages about how we still don’t actually have any real plan, we’re just all very against genocide (except Magath and Yelena) and very upset and feel like we should be doing something.”

The characters are sort of doing my job for me this month.

Maybe this whole post should just be illicit screencaps from Crunchyroll with me providing links and saying, ‘and here’s the panel that makes the point I whined about in this post here.’

That would probably provide more entertainment than whatever I’m about to come up with.

-sees the amount of swearing in the first section-

Hm.

First off, fuck Magath.

Like no, I’m sorry. This is not about what happened 2000 years ago. You know what it’s about? It’s about Marley sending in child soldiers to assault and rob a land that had caused literally no problems for 100 years. It’s about Marley doing this despite being aware of its own history, being that their personal hero collaborated with the First King of Paradis to make Marley’s independence possible.

You want to talk about history, Magath?

Jean isn’t the one who sounds like a child.

Jean is reacting to actual pain that he has experienced in his lifetime thanks to Magath’s very intentional military strategies.

Magath is blaming Jean and everyone else on the island for being born.

That is not equivalent.

That is not remotely equivalent, and while Eren is being a fucking bastard about it, Jean’s right. Eren has the power, means, and will to do all of this because of what Magath and Marley did to Paradis.

Magath doesn’t recognize Eldians as people.

The Eldian Empire was bad.

No one except Floch is disputing that. That is how you know that it is bad.

Marley, as well as the rest of the world, has been free from the Eldian Empire for over a hundred years, and in that time, all they have done is take every horrible thing about the Eldian Empire and exploit it for their own gains.

Magath doesn’t get to be angry that he lives off the backs of abused, brainwashed children that he treats like crap.

Years ago, the Eldian Empire was the worst terror in the world.

A year ago, it was Marley.

Now, it happens to be Eren.

And you know, I’ve been actively against pretty much everything Eren’s done. His plan, if he has one, has mostly managed to make everyone angry and get a lot of people killed who weren’t even involved in the beginning. He gets his head blown off close enough to his brother that he doesn’t die. That’s how the beginning stages of him committing genocide goes. He betrays his friends, makes his besties from childhood feel like crap, and honestly has just been a dick to pretty much everyone.

But at least Eren’s indiscriminate murder has the decency to actually be indiscriminate.

Marley takes children it despises and turns them into their willing slaves for the promise of a better life they have no intent of dispensing. They take these children, and full of hatred for the very ability, demand that they shorten their lifespan and murder people to prove that they’re a “good Eldian” who deserves to live.

Marley is why people can stomach rooting for Eren.

Because Marley is such an abomination that it almost feels worth it to destroy the world if it means Marley’s gone too.

Hell, I’m with Hange. There’s not an avenue where I accept genocide as a way to deal with any of this.

But if someone wanted to burn Magath alive, and we spent a dozen pages gloriously detailing his flesh curling off his bones, it would make me happy.

That’s a more dignified death than he’s given any of the children he’s forced into Marley’s wars.

He does not have the fucking moral high ground.

He's the one Jean should have punched. There is not a single person around that campfire that he has not damaged deeply, and noticing that Gabi is a little girl and he cares when she is in pain does not magically remove that.

Fuck Marley. Fuck Magath.

Grow the fuck up and stop viewing genocide as an acceptable response, you fucking halfwit child. You are the individual who saw four children off on their solitary mission to murder thousands of people. Two of them are dead. Two of them are deeply traumatized, with one of them wishing he had died.

But oh yes, Magath. You’re the victim, here.

Because you baited one angry idiot with the power of a god into destroying part of a city you didn’t give a damn about.

Truly, your justice is a thing to aspire to.

Perhaps Eren taking notes is the real reason we’re here.

Motherfucking fuck I hate Marley. I hate that Eren’s put any of these characters in the position where they have to put up with this shit for the sake of civility. I don’t have a problem with the Warriors. I don’t have a problem with the Survey Corps. I don’t have a problem with the kidlets. Hi Onyankopon, sorry about your life. Yelena has many problems, but she’s also attractive, so I don’t mind as much.

Magath, though.

Pieck, just eat him. Everyone’s too depressed to really throw down over it at this point, and the two small ones are so deeply traumatized that one more body really isn’t going to make much of a dent.

Jean’s clearly the star of this chapter, and a good deal of that comes from the potent hopelessness hovering over him like a rain cloud.

He can point to how bad everyone is at talking things out like it’s the key to the entire mystery, but the long list of problems Jean offers at the beginning of the chapter are still present. Unless they have a way to talk to every person in the world out of their (at this point, rather justified) fear and anger, Paradis and Eldians around the world are very much screwed.

Paradis has forever been running out of time against the hatred the rest of the world has for them.

They do have to fight against what Eren’s doing, and talking instead of blowing each other’s heads off is a good start, but it’s a good start thousands of years after the worst possible one.

And the last time they tried to talk to Eren, Armin punched him, and that was the most productive thing to come out of it.

Jean being the everyman who recognizes the heart of an average person because he is one has been a great tool. It’s still great, here. He wants to close his ears to all of this. He wants, desperately, to run away, because there is no good solution that doesn’t end in death.

When he joins the Survey Corps, they at least have Eren as a brand of hope. They can believe that years of the same tactics and bodies piling up won’t end the same way.

Joining this squad is all about stopping Eren, and despite having figured out their next course of action, no one has yet to provide a real idea.

Genocide is wrong, so you stand up and try to stop it.

That’s the only plan they have.

The Scouts from Paradis don’t even have the promise of saving the people they love if they stop Eren. Annie, Pieck, Gabi, Reiner, Falco... they have a home. The world might forget to hate them. They might get to go home and have a life after this.

The people sitting on the other side of the fire are fucking screwed. They’re fighting entirely for their principles.

...Also Yelena is here.

I do like Yelena.

She’s not the worst, because this manga has too many horrible people in it, but she’s delightfully terrible. I especially like how the fact that she’s actually from Marley hardly gives her any pause.

I do so like Yelena.

It’s a beautiful sentiment.

After all, everyone’s drunk on something.

If you can just save the world, what does the rest matter? What do the crimes that kept you awake at night mean, when you’ve accomplished something so miraculous? All the good deeds cleanse the rottenness, and maybe then the world rights itself and you can breathe again.

...Hey wait, where’s Reiner’s reaction shot to finding out Gabi killed Sasha?

...Did he even know Sasha was dead?

But I guess we’re doing Marco angst.

Wow. Marco angst in 2020.

I think my favorite thing about this chapter (outside of the fact that Mikasa still hates Annie and it makes me giggly because wow Mikasa) is that Annie does absolutely nothing while Jean’s beating the crap out of Reiner.

My less favorite thing is I’ve stopped enjoying Reiner getting the crap beaten out of him. It’s been done, and... really the kid just needs to have not been born into this particular life. Watching Jean beat him bloody is. not cathartic. It’s really just awful.

Annie dodging with her food is glorious, though.

Because while Jean beating up Reiner over Marco is sad and kind of miserable, Annie watching someone beat up Reiner after the years she spent putting up with Reiner and Bertolt brings it back to almost funny.

Until you look at Reiner’s face and go back to feeling bad.

-turns page back to Annie getting out of the way-

Much better.

Truly, I love Annie.

Her forgiveness status is interesting, though. I think besides Marco, she enjoyed more of the kills she’s responsible for than anyone feels a need to dig up.

She’s also been more alone than most of the others in the wagons, and essentially spent four years imprisoned for her crimes.

I’m not surprised she asked, because she’s Annie, but I’m a bit surprised we don’t have an answer yet. Probably too close to the end of the chapter to open up that can of worms.

If it makes everyone feel better, I think we know for a fact that Mikasa will never forgive Annie for anything, even if it only displays itself as petty brandishing of weapons every time they make eye contact.

It’s not even a ship thing.

I just love that Annie is the one person Mikasa can’t stand. They’ve been in one chapter together and Mikasa’s already pulling out swords. These two shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near each other. It’s perfection.

Then we get to plot complications that really don’t register as complications because like. Yeah, you guys need something to do while you figure out what the hell you’re doing.

Because you don’t actually have a real plan, just so we’re clear.

Killing Eren would result in all those Wall Titans operating under their own power.

That is not fundamentally less destructive.

Killing Eren has a nice ring to it, but much like talking to Eren, it does not solve any of the other problems looming ahead.

So you enjoy your little subplot with Floch!

It’s one of the last times your combined competence will have any meaning.

-looks over at Kiyomi-

Honest question, but why are you alive if Floch dislikes you enough to hold you hostage? If Eren’s gonna kill everyone, shouldn’t Floch be following suit and just do his Floch thing of murdering every slight inconvenience?

We’re in the boring stages of the finale right now.

No clear plan for either side to contend with. No real progress in any direction because the tiny squabbles are just a delaying tactic for the massive squabble that no one has an answer to. None of any of this chapter really matters except for clearing the air.

Which is not a useless investment, it’s just not very exciting.

At this point, no excitement is allowed, because there’s that One Huge Thing, and the entire story hinges on it. Maybe someone will die on the way to dealing with it, but that’s all the drama we’re going to get until we find out enough about the plot to have a future worth rooting for.

Right now, there is no good outcome for the people we’ve watched fight for 127 chapters.

Pulling a story along with that weight is hard, and I can feel my brain turning itself off until we’re back to a point where the story is permitted to address the stegosaurus in the room.

One more month.

Again.

Until something happens and we all regret everything.

#Shingeki no Kyojin #SnK 127 #shingeki no spoilers #SnK spoilers #spoilers #tl;dr #chapter post #fuck marley

[izvorposts]

Connie Springer - some thoughts; Spoilers chapter 125.

Connie is pissed off.

Connie is pissed off to hell and back and it shows.

Although, sadly, he’s another character whose backstory is incomplete, we do, in bits and pieces, get Connie’s development.

He starts off as a kid who pretends (even overly) to be self-confident (telling Eren he can’t help him master 3D maneuver gear, because he’s simply too talented), but that was a show no one really bought.

We then get to see the real Connie, Connie who, as a friend, is unfailingly willing to help, who overcomes himself and decides to join the Survey Corps despite his desire to help his family (he deeply cares about) live a more comfortable life.

And after that we finally see the pure Connie.

Connie is (after Eren when he didn’t believe that Annie is the Female Titan) the person who deals with treason worst, so badly, in fact, that he is screaming at Reiner and Bertholt while Reiner is in his titan form, he’s screaming at them to tell him the truth, and whether their friendship and comradery were lies. He can’t deal with it, he does not comprehend. Connie hurts so much there it’s unreal.

As the story unfolds, Connie somehow deals with the loss of his family (both full and partial), relying on his friends, but mostly on Sasha. To me they had this sibling-esque closeness (I’m an only child, so I might be way off) and when Sasha gets killed, I think that is the point after which Connie becomes aware of one segment of the full-blown reality: he is alone. In the most literal sense of that word. Eren, Mikasa and Armin, apart from having been a tight-knit group, are seen more often involved with Jean than Connie; his family is either dead or titanized, Eren is somewhere and very genocidal (Connie also feels betrayed by Eren), and finally, his best friend is dead.

Another thing that I think comes to his mind is that everything was in vain – the fight, deaths, strategies, fear, courage – everything he put towards fulfilling his role as a soldier was in vain. This is, that’s my impression at least, the point when Connie stops seeing the good in people. He sees their world for what it is – mindless, cruel and unfair.

At this point Connie is someone with nothing left to lose, so he goes for the kid.

Commercial break: I do not in any way support eating kids or grown-ups. It’s important you remember this for the next part.

A lot of people can relate to loss, loss is part of life and that’s how it is. And if I could, I really wouldn’t pick up a random or not random kid from the street and feed him to a loved one I have a chance to bring back to life. And I believe most people wouldn’t. But, what I would do if literally everyone and everything I cared for was gone (I know he cares a lot about his friends, but he lost HIS PEOPLE, people he was connected to on a deeper and more meaningful level), if I realized that I invested myself in something which has degenerated to an unrecognizable mass of mess, if my best friend was dead and I lost my family, and there was a chance that I get, best case scenario, 13 years with my mom… Falco, sweetie, do you want candy?  

What I’m trying to say is that his actions are not unexpected or unimaginable. He’s human, he has the right to break, to be weak and unreasonable.

But even though Connie is having a breakdown, and has lost a lot of what he was, I think there’s still a lot of purity in him, I think he’s just, among other things, and I somehow believe he won’t serve Falco to Mrs. Springer.  

If there’s something that can be described as a leitmotif of Shingeki no Kyojin it’s that there’s no black and white, there’s a gray filter over everything and everyone. Yes, it’s ethically questionable and begs for judgement, but good people do bad things and vice versa, and I have to quote Armin here: “I don't like the terms "good person" or "bad person" because it is impossible to be entirely good to everyone. To some, you are a good person, while to others, you are a bad person.”

He’s not the first and I’m certain he’s not the last person in the series who’s doing a shitty thing, but can that one (1) shitty thing (that hasn’t even come to its realization yet) overshadow all the moments when Connie was really awesome? This was rhetorical.

And if someone could kill Floch that’d be awesome, ok thanks.  

#connie springer #shingeki no kyojin #snk spoilers 125 #snk

[doctorlaelia-ffxiv]

speechless.

Throughout my life, I have been told to be silent.

My father didn’t tolerate me from the day I started to form my own opinions. Maybe I should have spared myself the headaches, but I would hide when he had his other warmongering friends over for drinks. I would listen to the ideas that this man I was meant to trust with my own life spew about the subjugation of others, listen to him toasting to the genocide and slaughtering of a nation.

And I was not able to hold my tongue.

My mother took to crying whenever my father and I argued, and it was often. Despite the doors of his office being closed, our voices rose through the house, and even when he hurled books and glasses at my face, I found that I could not stop myself from drilling my points down until my throat hurt too much to keep shouting. I always wanted to go in with a level head, and initially, I always did, but no one provokes me so much as Remus tol Caelius. 

I showed him military strategies that I had studied that could bring both peace and prosperity to the nations he’d rather see razed, as well as our own. I tried to be calm, quiet, and bring my point across without raising my voice. I raised the level of my arguments. 

He didn’t take me seriously.

“You’re a child,” he’d spit, and he was right. In age, I most certainly was a child. But I was smart. And I knew that I was right. Even if I wasn’t planning to become a great military strategist, I knew, at least morally, that I was right. 

As I rose higher and higher in the world of medicine, the men around me continued to resent me. I was better seen and not heard. It was better for me to be quiet and work hard rather than point out if ever my male colleagues were wrong. They told me I would get further if I smiled and was more agreeable, if I stopped being such an “ice queen” and let the professors and doctors above me advance my place in the hospital for me in return for a small fee. 

I never slept with anyone for a position. Not once. I worked, with my own blood, sweat, and tears. I worked so hard and was so valuable that no one could deny me, as much as they wanted to. I did not smile for anyone I did not want to smile for, I did not let up on my less skilled peers and colleagues, I didn’t relent. 

They all hated it. Still... No one could deny me. No one could deny that no one in that hospital was as good as I was, considering my age and relative experience. I was on par with the surgeons, professors, and doctors that had studied for far longer than I had. 

No one likes to see a woman succeed and be better than the men around her. It especially stings when that woman is young, when is attractive, and when she can confidently say that she earned everything she had by her own merits. 

I would not be silenced. Not by anyone. None of them were ever given permission to make me feel lesser, no matter how they tried, no matter the comments they made or the stumbling blocks they put in front of me. 

And now, now, after all of that...

All they want is to hear me speak. To make me justify my actions. 

To watch me fail.

I sit in a makeshift courtroom within a warzone, still dressed for surgery. My back is straight as I stare ahead at a point on the cloth tent, and the voices around me are just background noise. I am recanting why I’ve been brought in for questioning to begin with, recalling each and every reason I had for the course of action that I took.

If I was not Laelia lux Caelius, this meeting would not have been called. 

They’d not have made anyone else explain themselves for this.

“Laelia lux Caelius.” I look up as I hear my name spoken.

A steel beam that had slanted as it fell in a building that had been blown up. It was through the chest of one of the Doman conscripts who had been assigned to the building project, just missing his heart, while it just barely propped up a mass of rubble that would, ultimately, kill the foreman beneath it if shifted even a single ilm. We were running on borrowed time... 

“Do you know why you’re here today?”

The lights are so bright on my face that I can barely see the council of men who are gathered to question me to begin with. My jaw tics. 

“I was asked to make a medical decision as regards the two parties who were caught in the collapse of the new medical facility, sir, after a steel beam trapped both of them in the building.” 

I lift my eyes to zero in on who has addressed me, who is in the center.

It was a room full of damn mal Up-Your-Asses and mal I-Love-Killing-Savages. 

“And you made the decision to save the life of a Doman conscript rather than the life of kir Drusus, a most valuable architect and engineer to this project.” 

“Yes, sir.”

“Explain yourself.”

Explain myself? Fuck you, you crusty old bastard.

“I’m sure any medicus in this room would be able to answer this question easily, sir,” I reply, my voice tight. 

Kir Drusus was my friend. He was my friend, who had known me since I was just a little girl. I held his bloodied hand and sobbed as I told him the decision that had to be made, and he smiled at me with his face covered in dust and blood, told me that this was the right call, that it was okay. He had squeezed my hand. They think I killed a Pureblooded Garlean because I wanted to, because of my reputation and political alignment. 

“I’m an old, old man, Laelia,” kir Drusus had managed to laugh. “And I have lived a good, long life. I trust you. I trust you, above anyone else in this Legion.” 

They don’t know a damn fucking thing about me. 

“I was given two choices, sir, because it was simply not viable to save both parties involved in the accident. It was my job to assess each party and to assess who had the higher likelihood of surviving after the beam was moved. And it was Hansuke oen Watanabe who had the better odds of survival.” 

I had seen a lot, but I hadn’t seen anything like Hansuke’s situation in the field before. He was still gasping for breath as blood gushed out from around the beam that had gone through his chest, missing his heart just barely. He was white as a sheet, but he was... younger. Stronger. And he was on the high ground, on the second floor rather than the ground floor, where kir Drusus was. It would be easier and safer to extract Hansuke. 

There was only five minutes to make the decision. I had never felt such deep panic or such grief. But the beam could move at any moment. We had to work quickly. I couldn’t afford to hesitate.

I had to do what I knew was right.

“And why is that we expended resources to save a conscript that could easily be replaced rather than do everything we could have to save a valuable Garlean life, Miss Caelius?”

“Lux,” I said, looking back up at again. The silence that filled the room was so stifling, so still, that you could have heard a pin drop. 

“I’m sorry?”

“Laelia lux Caelius. That is my title, and it is a title that I have earned. I was given a decision to make, as a woman that has earned her place that she’s in, and I made the choice that I made because I am good at what I do.”

I shift, leaning closer to the microphone. 

“Hansuke oen Watanabe is a man who has served as a conscripted individual for twenty years. He is a valuable soldier, and now that he’s gained citizenship, could prove to be a valuable strategist, as we have - several times - followed his guidance and his knowledge in the field and come out successful. Know thy enemy, sirs, and he knows our enemy.”

Our enemy. His people. Doma, a people who did nothing to anyone. But I have to say this. I have to say this to keep Hansuke safe. To keep me safe, too. 

“Cyrus kir Drusus was a man that is far older than Hansuke, with a body that was weaker and less able to withstand trauma. He was also on the lower floor of the collapsing structure, and as with all things, the odds are better for those on the high ground. Even attempting to move the rubble off of him could have been disastrous, as it would move the beam likely directly into Hansuke’s heart. Instead of losing one man today, I can confidently say that if I had made any other decision, we would have lost two.

“You will address me as Laelia lux Caelius, and I hope with utmost sincerity that, since I have been granted this title and this responsibility, that you will acknowledge that I take it seriously and respect my decisions, as a medical professional, moving forward from today. The casualties of today are far higher than they should have been, and with all due respect, that is because the integrity of the building was weak. An explosion of that caliber should not have brought it to its knees like that, even if it was just in the infancy of its construction.”

Still the silence persists. I hear a ruffling of papers after a moment, a few murmured words, and I close my eyes, steady myself. 

“Cyrus kir Drusus was a friend and a man that I admired greatly for his devotion to his work, his family, his friends, and to seeing this war end peacefully.” I should stop. I should stop now. “He believed in a Garlemald that is better than the one we have now, and so do I. Hansuke oen Watanabe and Cyrus kir Drusus were like father and son. He did not see a conscript from a foreign land lesser than the men of his own. He simply saw another man of honor, and of integrity, who he could drink with and laugh with. 

“I have patients to attend to, and after that, I will be taking a day to mourn for the people we lost in this terrible accident today. I trust there will be no further issues. My decision today was made with a sound mind, and I am happy to say that oen Watanabe will make a full recovery and be able to return to the field.”

“Lux Caelius--” one of the men began, and I rose to my feet.

“Yes. That is my title. Thank you for recalling it, sir. Is there anything else?”

“...No. You’ve made your stance on this issue very clear. We... commend... your quick thinking under such a stressful situation.”

“If your intention was to commend me, then you’d not have a spotlight shining on my face and would not have pulled me in here for questioning before I could wash the blood off of my hands. Excuse me.” 

I will not go quietly into that good night, you motherfuckers. You shouldn’t have asked me to speak. Was this what you were afraid of? 

Were you afraid of the words I would speak once you gave me permission?

#i wanna be laelia when i grow up #ffxiv rp #ff14 rp #writing #garlemald #garlean #cw blood #cw death mention

[barefootdancinghospital]

“The world might be ending.

* * *

There’s a commonly replicated piece of anarchist folk art that means a lot to me. I don’t know who drew it. It’s a drawing of a tree with a circle-A superimposed. The text of it reads “even if the world was to end tomorrow I would still plant a tree today.”

I grew up into anarchy around this piece of art. It was silkscreened as patches and posters and visible on the backs of hoodies and the walls of collective houses. It was graffitied through stencils and it was photocopied in the back of zines. It’s a paraphrasing of a quote misattributed to Martin Luther (the original protestant Martin Luther, not Martin Luther King, Jr., although plenty of people misattribute the quote to him as well). The original quote is something like “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” The earliest reference to it anyone can seem to find is from the German Confessing Church, a Christian movement within Nazi Germany that sought to challenge Nazi power. The quote was used to inspire hope, to inspire people to action.

That’s something I can get behind.

* * *

There’s this book that means a lot to me, On the Beach, by Nevil Shute. I’ve never read it. I can’t bring myself to. I think about it quite often, regardless.

The novel describes a nuclear war destined to kill all life on earth, and it describes the last days of people living in Australia waiting for the inevitable death of all things. It describes how they live their lives, how they find meaning during the apocalypse. It’s a book about how to live without hope. It’s a book of resignation.

It’s too much for me, I think, at least right now.

* * *

The world might be ending.

A lot of people will argue with me about that. They will correctly point out that for large numbers of people all over the world, especially in the parts of the world long ravaged by Western imperialism, the world has been ending for a long time. They will correctly point out that the world itself isn’t going anywhere, that change is constant, and even if what is left behind by climate catastrophe and war is a scorched desert, it’s probable that life will continue. Human life, non-human animal life, and plant life will all, in some form or another, survive all of this.

People will argue, correctly once more, that most every generation has believed that the world was ending. The machine gun slaughter of World War I, the genocide of World War II, the Doomsday Clock of the Cold War, the AIDS epidemic, those all must have felt like the apocalypse. For entire peoples, they were. Yet here some of us are today, alive.

None of those arguments detract from the fact that it sure feels like the world is ending.

Mountains are blown up for coal to pump poison into the air, pipelines clearcut the last vestiges of the wild to help us pump more poison into the air. Oceans are swallowing islands, hundred-year storms happen every year, and it feels like every day we break new climate records.  A sense of urgency about coming disaster is fueling a rise of “I got mine, fuck you” nationalism, and climate scientists are being ignored to an unconscionable degree.

The world is ending.

It’s always ending, but it’s ending a lot right now. For me and the people I’m close to, it’s ending more dramatically than it was when I was born thirty-seven years ago.

That’s fucking paralyzing.

The news is full of extinction and fascism and death and death and death.

And we’re expected to get up in the morning and go to work.

* * *

For awhile, I coped by means of a cycle of denial and panic. The potential apocalypse was, basically, too-much-problem. I couldn’t wrap my head around it or its ramifications, so I acted like it wasn’t happening. Until, of course, some horrible event or reminder of the apocalypse broke over a certain threshold and sent me spiraling into despair. Then numbness took over once more and the cycle began again.

That didn’t do me much good.

About a year ago, I decided to embrace  four different, often contradictory, priorities for my life. I run my decisions past all of them and try to keep them in balance.

Act like we’re about to die. Act like we might not die right away. Act like we might have a chance to stop this. Act like everything will be okay.

Act like we’re about to die

Every breath we take is the last breath we take. You Only Live Once. Smoke em if you got em. Do As Thou Wilt. Memento Mori. Our culture is full of euphemisms and clever sayings that focus around one simple idea: we’re mortal, so we might as well try to make the most of the time we have.

Embracing hedonism has a lot to recommend it these days. It’s completely possible that the majority of us won’t be alive ten or twenty years from now. It’s completely possible, although a lot less likely, that a lot of us won’t be alive in a year.

I used to think, when I was younger, that I was a terrible hedonist. As a survivor of sexual and psychological assault and abuse, I’ve never had much luck with drug use or casual sex. But fucking and getting wasted, while perfectly worthwhile pastimes, aren’t the only ways to live in the moment. Hedonism is about the pursuit of pleasure and joy. The trick is to find out what gives you pleasure and joy.

For myself, this has meant giving myself permission to pursue music, to sing even though I’m not trained, to play piano and harp. To travel, to wander. To seek beautiful moments and accept that they might be fleeting. I’ll rudely paraphrase the host of the rather wholesome podcast Ologies, Alie Ward, and say “we might die so cut your bangs and tell your crush you like them.”

My hedonism is a cautious one. I’m not looking to take up smoking or other addictions. I’m not trying to live like there’s a guarantee of no tomorrow, just a solid chance of no tomorrow. Frankly, this would be true regardless of the current crisis, but it feels especially important to me just now.

Act like we might not die right away

Preppers have a bad reputation for a good reason. The people stockpiling ammunition and food in doomsday bunkers by-and-large don’t have anyone else’s best interests at heart. Still, being prepared for a slow apocalypse, or dramatic interruptions in the status quo, makes more and more sense to more and more of us.

Preparing for the apocalypse is going to look different to every person and every community. For some people it will mean stockpiling necessities. For other people, securing the means to grow food.

One thing I’ve learned from my friends who study community resilience and disaster relief, however, is that the most important resource to shore up on isn’t a tangible one. It’s not bullets, it’s not rice, it’s not even land or water. It’s connections with other people. The most effective means of survival in crisis is to create community disaster plans. To practice mutual aid. To build networks of resilience.

Every apocalypse movie has it all backwards when the plucky gang of survivors holes up in a cabin and fends off the ravaging chaotic hordes. The movies have it backwards because the ravaging hordes are, in the roughest possible sense, the ones doing survival right. They’re doing it collectively. Obviously, I’m not advocating we wear the skulls of our enemies and cower at the feet of warlords (though wearing the skulls of would-be warlords has its appeal). I’m advocating staying open to opportunity and building collective power.

There are infinite reasons not to count on holing up in a cabin with your six friends as an apocalypse plan, but I’ll give you two of them. First, because living a worthwhile and long life as a human animal requires connections with a diverse collection of people with diverse collections of skills, ideas, and backgrounds. It’s all fun and games in your cabin until your appendix bursts and none of you are surgeons—or you’re the only surgeon. Likewise, small groups of people who tend to agree with one another are subject to the dangers of groupthink and the echo chamber effect, which will limit your ability to intelligently meet challenges that face you.

Second, because by removing yourself from society, you’re removing your ability to shape the changes that society will go through during crisis. If you go hide in the woods with your stockpile and your buddies, and fascists take over, guess what? It’s kind of your fucking fault. Because you weren’t at the meeting when everyone decided whether to be egalitarians or fascists. And guess what? Now that rampaging horde is at your doorstep, and they want your ammo and your antibiotics, and they’re going to get it one way or the other. Fascism is always best stamped out when it starts. It’s never safe to ignore it. Not now, not during any Mad Max future.

Tangible resources do matter, of course. Any likely scenario that prepping is good for won’t be so dramatic as an utter restructuring or collapse of society. It might mean food shortages, power outages, water contamination. It never hurts to keep nonperishable food, backup sources of power, and water filtration systems around for yourself and your neighbors.

Still, this is a terrible basket to put all your eggs into. You probably shouldn’t live out your days, whether they’re your last ones or not, over-preparing for something that may or may not come to pass.

Act like we might have a chance to stop this

We can and we should stop the worst excesses of climate catastrophe. We can and should stop fascism by whatever means necessary. Throwing up our hands and walking away from the problem is no solution.

It’s hard to remember that we have agency. Unless we were raised ultra-rich, we’ve had the concept of political and economic agency stripped from us at every turn. We’ve been told there are two ways to effect change: vote for politicians or vote with our dollars. Politicians in western democracies are likely incapable of changing things as dramatically as they need to be changed, and they certainly won’t bother trying unless we motivate them to do so in fairly dramatic ways. As for economic agency, there is a small handful of men with more wealth—and therefore power—than the rest of us combined.

We’ve been told we cannot take matters into our own hands, politically or economically. We’re not allowed to have a revolution. We’re not allowed to redistribute the wealth of the elite.

You’ll be shocked to know that I don’t put a lot of stock in what we are and aren’t allowed to do.

Still, even if we give ourselves permission to undertake it, revolution feels like an insurmountable challenge. We’ve got, optimistically, ten years to completely overhaul the economic system of the planet. It can be done. It has to be done. Yet it feels like it won’t be done.

We’re all running the cost/benefit analysis of acting directly. We all have different “fuck it” points—the point beyond which we can no longer prioritize our immediate wellbeing but instead must act regardless of the outcome. In the meantime, we’re waiting until it seems like we can act and actually have a chance of winning.

All over the world, even in some Western countries, people are no longer waiting. They’re  acting. We need to be helping them, supporting them with words and actions, while we get ready to act here as well.

The revolution needs mediators and facilitators, medics and brawlers. It needs hackers and propagandists and it needs financiers and smugglers and thieves. It needs scouts and coordinators and it needs musicians and it needs people invested in the system to turn traitor. It needs lawyers and scientists and bookkeepers and copyeditors and cooks and it needs almost everyone, almost every skill.

One thing it doesn’t need, though, is managers. The people who claim to know how to run a revolution don’t know how to run a revolution or they would have done it by now. The authoritarian urge, to decide what the revolution should and shouldn’t look like, how people should and shouldn’t express their rage and reclaim their agency, will fail us every time. Authoritarian communism is the death of any revolution. Authoritarian liberalism is the death of any revolution. Even the more dogmatic anarchists will get in the way if given a chance. The revolution cannot be branded. Despite Hollywood representations of rebellions, they don’t work as well under a single banner. They are diverse, or they are not revolutions.

The revolution cannot be controlled by a vanguard of activists; if it is, it will fail. The revolution must be controlled by its participants, because only then will we learn how to claim agency over our own lives and futures.

We have a chance to stop this.

I forget that sometimes, but I shouldn’t.

Still, I can’t count on hope alone, or the days when hope fails me would lay me low.

Act like everything will be okay

All the times the world has come close to ending before, it hasn’t. It’s ended for some people, some cultures. Civilizations have collapsed. Ecosystems have radically shifted. Species have gone extinct—including the species of humans before homo sapiens. Colonization was an apocalypse. Some people survived those apocalypses, but plenty more didn’t.

Still, the world is still here and we’re still here.

Capitalism is a sturdy beast, quite adept at adaptation. Marx was wrong about a lot of things, and one of those things was the inevitability of the collapse of capitalism under the weight of its own contradictions. With or without capitalism, the society we live in might stagger on. We might curb the worst excesses of climate catastrophe through economic change or wild feats of geoengineering.

I won’t bet on it, but I won’t bet entirely against it either.

As much as I need to live like I might die tomorrow, I need to live like I might see a hundred years on this odd green and blue planet. Unless things change, I’m not burning every bridge. I’m trying to maintain a career. If I was certain to die under a fascist regime by 2021, there wouldn’t be much point in writing novels: they take too long to write, publish, and reach their audience. I get some joy from the writing itself, sure, but I get more joy from putting my art in front of people, of letting it influence the cultural landscape. With novel writing in particular, that takes time. That takes there being a future. I want there to be a future. Almost desperately. Not enough to bank on it completely.

I’m keeping some small portion of my time and resources invested in the potential for there to be a future is important for my mental health, because it keeps me invested in maintaining that health.

* * *

The world might end tomorrow, and it might not. If we can help it, at all, we shouldn’t let it end. We still ought to act like it might.

We ought to figure out what trees we would plant either way.

If you appreciate my writing and want to help me do more of it, please consider supporting me via Patreon.

“

#climate change

[sparda3g]

Attack on Titan Chapter 124 Review

It has been a stellar year for the series. I would argue it’s the best so far. I would also argue that it will end next year with the final anime season debuting next fall. It will be fantastic. As the year coming to an end, the holidays is around the corner. For the last chapter of the year, Isayama-sensei shared his holiday spirit with his fans with more of stellar content. It may be a coincidence, but I like to think that way.

The last chapter’s effect is still jarring. I’m still blown away by the revelation. If there’s a picture that described me perfectly, it’s the chapter’s cover with Annie’s father in PATHS. Even at Marley, he felt the presence of the tyrant known as Eren, and received the message that everyone will die. Others in the crowd also felt the effect. At least they received the memo, so they can die knowing. Seriously though, the endgame is here.

The good news is, Reiner is back. The bad news is, Reiner is back. I said this because his suffering continues, now with the sight of the world’s end. If that wasn’t enough, Falco was taken away by Connie and Jean. I remember a scene where it looked like Gabi was going to get killed off with Reiner shouting and all. Of course, that would put a smile on some fans’ face. That being said, she was actually in danger, but Reiner saved her. His armor came undone once the walls were destroyed. It’s an interesting note on its own, but it’s proven later to be incredibly essential.

Poor Reiner once again failed to do something, whether it’s to prevent the world’s ending or protect the kids. I want Isayama to end his misery, somehow, someway. At least he’s not alone in suffering. Add Gabi to the mix with Falco missing and words from Reiner that pretty much say, “The world will die…forever.” I love the guy, but he’s the last person to go for comforting words. True, with Eren in control of all titans, no one can touch him, but this is such a downer.

Reiner passes out, but Gabi has acquired Eren’s special trait: refuse to quit. After all, she is drawn based on him in a way. She’s off to bring Marley’s warriors back alone. I got to credit Isayama for developing her well; growing up to a proper warrior. I know she started off really rough, but it was intentional and she has gotten a lot better for a child who was manipulated. It gets better later on as well. Plus, she took good care of Reiner with food and blanket. Can’t hate on that.

The scene with Survey Corps regroup is really good. It turns out Jean and Connie did retrieve Falco, which would be tough for Gabi. What I like about this scene is the realistic reactions and damning questions that stemmed from long-term build-up. Jean sees Eren’s action as the consequence for the world to take on Paradis Island; constantly citing them as the devil.

Have they give them a glimmer of hope, this action may have been prevented. The startling part is if the Survey Corps had a chance to prevent it. One would argue they did, but they didn’t approach to Eren in a way that would have wise him down. One would argue they did nothing wrong. I can’t really fault anyone; even Mikasa in the last chapter. It was tough to read Eren. Hell, I was trying to wrap my head around with clues and ideas on his agenda.

The sickening part is, despite the fact Eren is aiming to mass genocide the world, it will benefit Paradis Island because his friends lived there. In other words, this is “fine” for Survey Corps; technically, they don’t have to do anything. They can sit back and enjoy the fireworks with red liquid spreading. It’s crazy when you think about the genre. Shounen focuses on the theme of friendship. Eren is certainly true to the core, but never would I thought on this level of mayhem. It’s riveting to see a different exploit on the said theme.

Although I said they don’t have to do anything, there are normal titans killing their people right now. I’m not sure if we are supposed to be questioning on the thought of Eren not controlling them, but Zeke was the one that controlled them. Perhaps it’s due to royal blood that they are negated from the Founder’s control. Then again, it’s probably best to keep this in mind. After this chapter, all clues, hints, and builds should not be taken lightly. Before stopping them, they have to do something about Falco.

It’s sad to hear them talking about feeding someone like Pixis with Falco to “resurrect” them. Yes, he’s an enemy, but as a fan spectator, this blows. It heats up really quickly, because Connie now has the chance to rescue his mother. I was wondering how that subplot will play out, but this is a direction that left me shaky. I credit Armin to try to avoid a possible clash by keeping Falco alive. Eren is practically factory resetting the world, so they might as well start over “fresh.” As good that may sound, Connie wasn’t having it.

All the build-ups to Connie leads to the outburst that have him running away from his friends, taking Falco. It made sense sadly. The guy went through so many hell and back without dying. He lost friends, death or backstabbed, and the one opportunity to save his mother was about to be lost. These developments matter so much; like a video game with picking the choice to define a character’s personality. As much as I appreciate Armin, he had no rights to speak. He was resurrected, yet he’s telling him he has no rights to do that. Can’t argue a shattered man. What a corrupted world.

Although there’s a massive-sized titan army, there are normal ones causing damages. Honestly, it’s the best part; well, minus the ending. The reason is due to the old familiar nature of the series. Not to say it lost its foundation, but the familiar atmosphere is a nice callback. The terror and devastation of titans are once more pronounced in its last ride.

Yelena looks defeated with her blank expression. I had a feeling it was coming, now that her dream is shattered into pieces. I’m not sure why Zeke wasn’t controlling the titans. Maybe he’s still unconscious or just gave up altogether. In any case, she and the faction are in trouble. Speaking of faction, those who backstabbed Shadis recently are also in trouble. Karma is on full throttle; however, not all deserved.

If there are people that don’t deserve it, it would be the Braus Family. What struck me hard is the very titan that’s attacking them is Nile. It pains me when I realized who it was. He was one of the few reasonable men that were kind enough to help the enemy. Now look at him. It’s tragic. The sensation grows darker with Kaya trapped with a titan; reminiscing the scene when she lost her family. This was like a sick joke. But it’s redeemed when the scene was truly repeated.

Gabi shoots down the titan with that powerful rifle of hers. For once, I’m glad the training benefits her well. She charges right at it, aim inside the mouth, and blast the hell out of it. I have to admit, the way how she gunned it down was pretty damn cool. Sad for Nile, but it’s best to put him to sleep. The moment reminds Kaya of Sasha, when she saved her. History repeats itself in a crazy way. It speaks volume on Gabi’s action. She didn’t have to save them, but after her developments, it made sense why. It pays off well.

What I really like is how the family continues to be possibly the best family in the series. The father still cares for Gabi despite all the mishaps. I am aware that they don’t want any more fighting, but this is comforting for once. On top of that, there’s a moment when soldiers ask them if Gabi is the same girl from the opposing side, and the one that defends her is Kaya. She lies about the identity and Nicolo joins in to explain the gunfire was his action. They bought the story and proceed to protect the family. That’s rewarding in many ways.

It showcase how family can stick together, even in the darkest day. It also shows how one can forgive another. It’s something you see in many series, but this one was done well, especially when considering their age. Both are young and trying to understand the reality. Gabi learned a lot, yet still challenged on the morality. Same can be said for Kaya for she doesn’t understand why Gabi saved her. Not to mention, she did try to kill her. That could have been karma itself, but fate brought them together once again.

These kids are lost on their sense of morale. With their bloodlust thoughts or action, what does that make them? The devil? It’s normal for them to feel conflicted. Nicolo puts it best: we all have a demon inside. Call it cheesy or not, it fits well with the series’ nature. It’s not like it was said to adults, so this was executed properly. I like the moral. It’s simple but relatable and understanding.

The new cadets are about to meet their end. I know I said they are dealing with karma, but I think this was going too far. Luck has it for them, because someone arrives to save the day. Out of all people, it’s Shadis, the same guy they pummeled badly. But it’s nothing personal; what matters the most is saving lives. The man is a true trooper. To think, he recovered quickly to save those who backstabbed him. I know it was on a whim, but broken trust can be unforgiving. This moment was really nice.

I wouldn’t mind Yelena biting the dust, but lucky for her, I suppose, Survey Corps does come to rescue her and the faction. They did have a cool entrance with a nice angle shot from the inside building. Jean has become a true leader with his commands and leads. He has everyone back on their feet, rally up to fight back. The growth of these characters are paying off nicely.

The best part of this retro sensation is the action. It’s been a long time since we last have human versus titan action. This is a pleasant treat to enjoy. The Survey Corps rally up and spring into combat; just like the good old times. They may be using updated weaponry, such as spears, but it doesn’t take away the nostalgia.

The emotional set piece comes in when Pixis and others approach to Armin and Jean. It hits them with the callback to the time when Eren was positioned as the savior. They must do the only option: putting them to sleep. Before finishing them, Armin and others express their gratitude, thanking Pixis for guiding them. It sucks that he and others have to die, but it’s possibly the best sendoff or burial they can get as titans. Rest in Peace to everyone who has transformed but never forget who they were.

If there’s one person that I hoped didn’t make it out alive, it would most certainly be Floch. The amount of disappointment I felt when he reappears can’t be measured. That punchable face of his irritates me to no end. Even Jean low-key hates the fact he survived; he speaks for us fans. He’s all excited for the end of the world. All the sudden, he points a gun at depressed Yelena and order her to gather the volunteers for he will arrest them. What the hell is with him? I pray this leads to his demise for his stupidity running too deep. Whether it’s Yelena’s time to die or his, I’m ready to say, “…And nothing valuable was lost.”

I didn’t expect Gabi to reunite with Armin and Mikasa, but I’m actually happy for this development. It’s a good thing they didn’t have a fallout or any bad blood left. Despite the world coming to an end, it sure has plenty of uplifting moments from many fronts. The only downside is Falco is held hostage by Connie. I know Gabi isn’t liked as far as I’m concerned, but I do feel sympathy for her. Again, she’s a child that was manipulated coming undone but sadly caused wrongful actions. She doesn’t want to fight anymore; at the very least, reunite with Falco, who promised to be her man.

There’s some interesting notes coming from Gabi’s outburst. If Eren has become the Founding Titan, couldn’t he revert back titans to their old self? I don’t think it’s possible unless it’s confirmed one day, but if so, that is a good point. It’s pretty telling on her development when she pleads Armin to stop Eren from destruction since fighting is no good. If she was like her old self, she would be thrilled, though her family is still in peril, but you get my point. Lastly, going back to first point, if Eren can undo the effect, does hardening counts as one? This chapter is packed with greatness, but the ending is undoubtedly the show stealer.

The one point that stood out to Armin was the mention of Reiner’s armor coming undone. He remembers Eren saying all hardening will dissolved and turns out, he’s right once he reign the titans. At that moment, I was muttering to myself if this means what I think it means. For our last gift of the year, Annie has officially returned. It’s about time. What was seen as a running gag has come to an end. This is how you end the year with a bang.

What a year. In anime, it had an incredible season with the announcement of the final season. In manga, it delivered top notch quality content; keeping it strong like its heyday. Some would even say it’s even better. Regardless, it end the year with a great chapter. The nostalgic tone was riveting, the developments were paying off, for better or worse, the presentation is pretty solid with heartfelt moments, and the action was exciting. Next year already looks very promising. Here’s to the new year with possibly one last ride.

#attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #chapter 124 #review #spoilers

[scorpio-karma]

Also, I know JP hates Kat/Bonnie and didn’t want to see her thrive, but if you had things your way, which 3 characters do you wish Bonnie had more interaction with/would have liked to see her have a romantic arc with?

So I'm going to eliminate Bonkai from this because everyone under the sun knows that's my OTP and I've talked about how is write them many times before and I don't have anything new to add. Plus I really want to talk about other Bonnie ships I like since I rarely do.

Also note, these don't exist in the same AU because the potential storylines I have for them can't exist in the same storyline. For how I would weave multiple ships for her refer to this ask.

Tyler: So if you've been on my blog you may know that Tonnie is one of my all time favorite ships and the only other OTP of Bonnie's besides Bonkai. If I was reading a triangle with them I would legitimately have a hard time choosing. This was my second choice of endgame for Bonnie because he's the only other character besides Kai I see being able to relate to what Bonnie has been through and having a positive long term effect on her because their experiences are so similar. This is my fluff ship.

This is actually a ship that kinda snuck up on me. I passively shipped it at first reading fics with them like Best I've Ever Had which spawned my first fic in the TVD fandom My Discarded Men which is more of a multi ship fic but it started out as a Tonnie oneshot. Then I started reading CarlyCo's fics All Warfare is Based on Deception (which is actually a Bamon fic) and Bitten and started falling in love with them, but it wasn't until I read Stranger Then Fiction when I fell in deep and realized their full potential.

What that fic did was put Tonnie in the context the show should have been doing with all the characters, as childhood friends and established them as being close as kids, falling off when he was a douche, but finding each other again when Grams dies. And I love this concept so much because it provides more insight to the pasts of characters who aren't vampires establishing how life existed before the Salvatores showed up, and gave us the one thing we always wanted for Bonnie which was comfort her while she was grieving and provided her with someone she was willing to take comfort from. Plus I love the concept of witches and werewolves being naturally connected to each other.

So I would start with that, Tyler being there for Bonnie after Grams died. It's also a great time for Tyler development wise when they started toning him down. They wouldn't go full blown friendship yet, but they'll be on touch with each other and the the finale happens which will intrigue Bonnie more about what happened when the device went off which she already was but they passed that on to Caroline.

Then that would get into my initial hopes during season 2 rooting for them before we got Beremy and Forwood, only one of those being disappointing. While I did like Forwood's first moment it kinda had to be forced. Instead I would have Bonnie continue her investigation into Tyler and why he was triggered by the Gilbert device which would lead to the discovery of werewolves. When he first transitions she uses her magic to ease the pain. From there they would get closer. Eventually it would come to light what happened to Mason and Bonnie would explain things herself because she knows he'd need to hear it from her. This would cause a rift and he'd leave with the other werewolves where he would learn more about being a werewolf.

Here's where I kind of have the dilemma of using both of their canon storylines and having them come together years later away from Mystic Falls and live out their lives happily; or I fix it for both of them and have them get away a lot earlier. I'd lean for the first option because the main issue with what they went through in canon is that there was no pay off later, I would give them that.

Klaus: This is Bonnie's rebellion ship in season 3 after they killed her mother and Jeremy cheated. First I would continue to keep Klaus' S2 characterization with his affinity with witches. Greta's dead, he'd need a replacement. Bonnie understandably wouldn't go for this especially with what happened to Greta. I'd also change how he'd approach the werewolves. Entitled whiny bitch who causes a mass genocide out of a temper tantrum does not a good leader make.

Instead of making hybrids I would actually have him explore his werewolf side and this werewolves. I'd also have an actual friendly approach with Tyler where they learn the werewolf stuff together. Maybe stop the coffins because that got annoying as well and have the only one he keeps is Esther's.

Then have the events of S3 with Bonnie and she is pissed. When Klaus needs her help she's willing. She joins in on the torture of Damon with Rebekah. People were pissed at her for doing nothing, why not give them a real reason to be pissed. She even goes so far as to fuck Klaus and unfortunately gets the feels. When it comes time to kill him she saves him for personal reasons and Tyler is in on it.

Damon: This I would start in S1. As I noted here, a lot of Damon's actions in S1 were counterintuitive to his objective, and his worst crime, raping Caroline, was gratuitous and served the plot in no way. So the first thing i would change is him approaching Bonnie, not Caroline, and actually having to charm her because compulsion doesn't work on witches.

Basically I'd have the first part of their relationship Bonnie finding out she's a witch and him trying to con her into opening the tomb to get Katherine out. Things would get personal and he'd grow fond of her the more he learned about, but his objective would be the same. She'd eventually figure him out causing her to become hurt and shut him out completely. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and he'd miss her, miss having a friend, which would cause the whole Vicki situation.

This is kind of a different tangent, but I would keep her alive because she would make a more interesting vampire than Caroline did; she would have had more obstacles. Weirdly, much like Caroline, she would be working on control for Matt. Due to their childhood I assume they were very close because they were all the other had.

The events at the Halloween dance would still occur but instead of her dying that would be her moment of reflection like Caroline's after she killed Carter, except she wouldn't have killed anyone. Her history as an addict would make Stefan be very relatable for her.

Tangent over, the point of that is it would also kick Damon into gear and work to get his friend back because he's dangerous otherwise and Vicki being dead would hinder that. They start over completely honest and Bonnie would eventually agree to open the tomb feeling bad for him.

When Katherine isn't there he'll spiral in booze like he dis in canon. While he's drunk and talking to Bonnie he'll have a self-deprecating moment where he'll blame himself about Katherine and Bonnie will attempt to comfort him. He'll kiss her, stunning her, but then stop realizing if that were to happen he wouldn't want it like that. After that i would develop a friends to lovers romance over the course of events from the series just now with his characterization changed to be a lot more productive and care about Bonnie.

#bonnie bennett #tonnie #tyler lockwood #klonnie #klaus mikaelson #bamon #damon salvatore

[wolf-with-a-pen]

Twin Skeleton’s Part 1

Trigger Warnings: Swearing, Death, Gore, Unreality, Murder, Being Watched?

Masterpost, Next

Please tell me if I have missed a trigger, and I will be sure to add it, if you want to be mentioned when I post a new part, ask, and if oyu want me to tag this with anything else, tell me.

This is a new series,hopefully shorter than Knockin' On Heaven's Door, it physically wouldn't let me work on it until I had wrote at least part of it. I should hopefully be able to work on it next week, but if not, expect another part of this.

Word Count:2909

I HAD BEEN dead for 6 years when they arrived. Unwilling to leave the hotel after the horrors they saw and the near-death experience they had. I watched as their friend took their last breath, just like I had so many years ago, albeit in a more... bloody way than mine. Almost reminded me of Psycho with the amount of blood that poured out of them, spilling on the yellowing carpet, pooling around both of them. However, this time I wasn't fully fixated on the dying people-not this time. No, I managed to dial 911 and somehow get an ambulance for them (I'm as surprised as you are) and made sure to memorise the perpetrator’s face in case I saw them again. Anyone willing and able to kill is bad in my books. Especially after that, but I refuse to talk about it. There's no point dwelling on the past anymore.

For the event that happened, it was quite a sunny day. Surprising since deaths almost always happen in the rain. (Yes, I'm looking at you authors. Why? Oh, and hi to the audience I suppose. Who knows why you are using my life for your entertainment, but who am I to judge? Still don't like you, but I guess I'll put up with you.) Anyways, where was I? Right, honestly, I didn't mind that day, for the life of a ghost is a lonely one- we are rare. Only people with unfinished business become ghosts. Surprisingly only a small amount of the population. Most say "I want to do X before I die", but most of those desires aren't strong enough to cause them to become a lost spirit. And even then, most leave within a few years, or their unfinished business isn't necessarily needed to be done on earth. The rest of us are doomed to stay in one room for most of eternity, invisible to almost all. Almost being important. There are a few who can see through the veil of death, but it is rarer than ghosts themselves. Imagine my surprise when I found out that 1) they are created, not born, and 2) when one found their way into my room. Are you imagining it? That's you audience. Yes? Ok, now times it by 100. Yeah, I was shocked.

It was a month later I found out. You see I believed that both of them had died. I only saw one of their souls leave, but I assumed the second's wounds were just as severe- severe enough they wouldn't survive. I was wrong. They stumbled in 4 weeks later, discharged but clearly not out of the wars. Way too many bandages were on them, almost excessively. Their entire body appeared to be covered, save for their head and hands, despite only one wound being present. And it was on their chest. They didn't need half of them. But, oh well, better safe than sorry I guess? Who knows. All I know is they were followed by one of the staff members- clearly to make sure they didn't get hurt. However, they ignored their aide to stare straight at me. Yes, that's right. At me. Not through me. In the background the aide started. “Here you are,” he announced. “It hasn’t been changed beyond the clean-up and we made sure it stayed empty the entire time,” he launched into a full blown speech- I could tell he would. I cautiously stepped to one side, sure that they couldn’t see me, and were just staring off to the distance. Their eyes followed keenly. I knew I had to react before they told the staff member. Quickly I put my finger to my lips, saying out loud. “They can’t see me, act like normal.” I saw them nod slightly, before turning to the staff member, pretending to be interested in what he was saying. But the whole time, they carefully cast sidewards glances at me, as if I would disappear if they didn’t constantly look at me, while trying to decipher if I was actually real or not. It appeared they couldn’t decide.

Only once the other human had left did they talk. “Who are you? And how can I see you?” they said tentatively.

“Who I am does not concern you as of yet. And I don’t know how you can see me. Probably something to do with being stabbed made you able to see through the veil – you can see through the divider that separates our world and yours, automatically making me visible to you.” I replied curtly.

“Wait, so are you a ghost or something?”

“Yes, I am.”

“So, I can see ghosts now?”

“Yes, you can see ghosts,” I replied, annoyed “you can also see angels and demons in their true form, though why anybody would ever want to do that, I don’t know.”

“And you saw me get stabbed?”

“Who d’ya think called the ambulance sweetie?”

“And I’m gonna ignore how you managed that. Despite saving me, you don’t want me to know who you are.”

“Of course not. You might get attached and do something stupid “to be with me” or worse, I might get attached and have to watch someone else die. No way am I letting that happen. I can’t do that again. I don’t think I’d last. Plus, the first thing is a fast track to hell- it wouldn’t work. The only reason I’m still here is unfinished business. You have none. And you have the rest of your life to live out. I don’t want to infringe on it."

“Fine, keep your secrets then. I’m staying here and talking to you anyway, whether you like it or not.”

“Great, just what I needed. A companion. I have been fine for the last 10 years, I think I’ll be fine for 10 more, or however long it takes for my spirit to disintegrate.”

“Don’t be like that. I might not be that bad.”

“Fine, you have one chance, don’t waste it. You have a month to earn my trust. If you don’t, you leave me and this place alone. If you do, I might let you stick around for a while. Deal?”

“Deal.”

The first day was relatively annoying. For some reason they decided to pester me until I gave them some information about myself, whether on accident or on purpose to shut them up. That and gushing about how they have always wanted to meet a ghost and asking me to explain how everything in the new world they discovered worked. I didn’t mind telling them that much. Why wouldn’t I when they would have to get used to it, and fast? Despite being a minority, they would soon see us everywhere. Well, us and angels and demons. God forbid they meet a Guardian. That’s why I don’t mind. They opened up a world of just new, unfamiliar and dangerous things. I kinda owed them an explanation of what was going on. How the world truly worked. I started with two concepts that most people already knew of: heaven and hell.

“So, what do you know of heaven and hell?”

“Just the religious speculations people came up with. Heaven is said to be a safe haven of angels you reach when you die- if you have done good deeds that is. Hell is supposed to full of demons, and where you get tortured for eternity for all the bad things you have done to others. I always hoped it would be the other way round cause everyone says I’m going to hell.”

“First, none of that is really right. Second, what do you mean by you’re going to hell?”

“Because I’m a demigirl and a lesbian, everyone says I should be in hell.”

“Well, we’re all going to hell- only those of pure heart or are naive enough to be manipulated go to heaven. There are few exceptions to that rule. The rest of us end up in hell for having too much personality. It’s better for us anyway- you don’t want to go to heaven. It is a dictatorship, ruled by one person with a hive mind to enforce their laws. Highly corrupt, anyone who even slightly misbehaves or shows opposite ideas to the leader has their soul removed and their shell is sucked into the hive mind- an army of ruthless soldiers with no feelings or general consciousness. All actions are controlled by the leader. Hell is much better. It is more of an anarchist government type thing, with no rules. What you can do is only limited by the strength of your moral code. Only those who are deemed the worst of the worst are punished- mostly the ones likely to disrupt the relative peace too much or are general pieces of shit. For example, genocidal maniacs, and the likes of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. From what I’ve heard, there is a special place in hell for those two to suffer. Plus, demons can come to earth, whereas the angels are trapped in heaven from the second they step foot in there by the guardian angels and the border guards.” I rambled on, forgetting who I was talking to, and the fact that most readers and listeners prefer to have shorter paragraphs.

“Wow,” they said once they managed to recover from the information overload, “So, technically I was right about the role reversal.”

“I guess.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot to introduce myself, I’m…” they started before I cut in.

“Ruby-May Johnson, but you prefer to be called Bee. You are 30 years old, and have been single all of your life. You were born on the 19th of May, which is likely where your double-barrelled name came from. You are an extrovert and sister to Lily August Johnson-Kennedy, who died in the attack.”

“How do you know all that?”

“Your passport says a lot. The rest are assumptions from watching and listening to you before, I had nothing better to do, so I watched you.”

“Right, OK. You still not willing to tell me about you?”

“Nope.”

“Alright. What should I call you and refer to you by? I’ll go first. I’m a demigirl, I like she and they pronouns, but prefer they to she. With relationship terms, I prefer the gender neutral terms, but I’m still fine with the female ones.”

“Ok Bee. Try not to refer to me. Nobody else knows I exist, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. If you have to use she/her or you’ll get she/hurt. If you need me, use Spectre. Everyone else does.”

“Thank you Spectre.”

“It’s late, sleep now.”

“No, I wanna know more.”

“No,” I announced, forcing them into their bed, “I refuse to tell you any more until you have slept.”

“Fine, but only because you leave me no choice,” they agreed begrudgingly, “Good night.”

“Good night,” I replied, making myself invisible to all- including veil-seers- and turning off the lights.

“Wait! Please stay until I fall asleep. And, can you turn the light back on.” I heard, their voice cracking slightly.

I made myself visible, flicking on the lights before inquiring, “Autophobia, nyctophobia or somniphobia?”

“A bit of all of them.”

“Ok, I’ll stay. I’m pretty sure in the bottom draw of the dresser, there is a night light if you want it.”

“Really? And yes, thank you.” They climbed out of bed, making their way towards the dresser grabbing the night light and pushing it into the wall. It illuminated the room nicely, I remembered that from when I had to use it. I simply answered her first question: “Yeah, I know what it’s like. Now, sleep. You are safe as long as I’m here- I will be watching you and making sure you don’t get hurt.”

“Thank you.” Bee whispered, closing their eyes and falling asleep.

“Sweet dreams. I hope.”

The second they fell asleep I turned invisible and ventured as far out of the room I was able to go. Here, the barrier between the possessed areas of the world were thinner, allowing me to talk with the nearest spirit to me. Or at least, what I believed must be the nearest spirit. And he probably wasn’t actually a ghost, but good enough for me. I called out to him, knowing he would most likely be there. “Ashton, are you able to talk?”

“Yeah, sure, nice to talk to you again Spectre. How long has it been? A month or two at least. Anyway, what did you need?”

“What, no, I don’t need anything,” I said. You know, like a liar.

“You only talk to me if you need something, whether information or more physical, you cannot fool me.”

“Fine. I managed to somehow end up with a veil-crosser.”

“Seriously? Cool. How did you manage that?”

“I called an ambulance.”

“You know we’re not meant to interfere.”

“It was them, they struck again. I couldn’t let it happen again.”

“I understand, but you still know the rules. If anyone found out you’d be doomed to stay there forever, unable to interfere anymore. You’re lucky that I’d be a hypocrite to tell them, if I was anybody else…”

“I know. And I need help. What can they do that I need to know about, and what do I need to teach them?”

“Firstly, you need to teach them about all of the aspects of death.”

“How am I meant to do that when I don’t know all of them myself? You refused to tell me more than angels, demons, ghosts and veil-breakers.”

“There are more, I’ll get my human to take the book to your room, and see if I can get him to talk to them, and teach them a bit. As for abilities, they depend on the person, you just need to wait for them to figure it out themselves. They only find them when they need them the most. It works on instinct, don’t force it.”

“Ok, thank you. It should be helpful. How are you getting on with yours?”

“Turns out he can give us temporary physical forms.”

“Is that how I could call the ambulance? Usually I can’t touch anything.”

“Probably.”

“Tell him thanks, if it was him. Also how is the asking out thing going?”

“Badly, I have tried so many times and it never worked. He’s just really oblivious.”

“Himbo?”

“Yes.”

“Ask him out straight. Well, since you’re gay, it wouldn’t be straight, but you know what I mean. Tell him outright that you want to date him.”

“I’ll try.”

“Keep me updated, I want to know if he accepts.”

“I will. I suppose I’ll speak to you later then?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Bye then.”

“Goodbye.”

I stayed in the bathroom a few minutes before making my way back into the bedroom. The first thing I noticed was that they were still asleep. “Good.” I thought, “At least they won’t be sleep deprived.” Then I noticed it- the door was ajar a crack. “Strange.” I thought. “I was sure I made them lock it.” That’s when I saw it. A singular eye, peering at them through the door, filled with a malicious intent I noticed instantaneously. I shivered. Bright blue with red streaks running through it- easily distinguishable and recognisable. It was the same eye I had seen 1 month ago, and again 10 years ago. They were back to finish the job. Gently, I used whatever power I could muster to push the door closed and lock it, leaning on it to make sure they couldn’t get in- I knew whoever it was had the keys. Quickly I remembered something Ashton had given me a while ago in case of a situation like this. Carefully, I fished a small silver charm with wood beads in white and yellow out of my pocket, and tied it around the door handle. Hoping it would work, I stepped away form the door. Their key turned in the lock, unlocking it again. I prepared for the worst, standing by the telephone- next to the door in case I could apprehend them.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” screamed the door as they tried to force their way through the door, quickly realising it wouldn’t open by the handle, after trying the key in the lock a few times. Despite it being just wood, they were failing miserably. Glad to know Ashton’s charm worked. For he believed it was a protection spell, given to him by a god looking like a crow, but at the same time, he could tell it wasn’t really a crow. Why wouldn’t a god choose a crow to parade around as- I mean, it’s jet black, sleek and pretty, and supposedly very clever. As I always say, who am I to judge? At least I knew the charm worked, and we had something to protect us until I could convince Bee to but some more security stuff for the doors and windows- especially the hinges that have a pin to lock them so it doesn’t pivot. Those would be a godsend. Then we’d only have to worry about the strength of the glass and the door- easily fixable with the charm. With that plan set, I sat in the corner, next to the bed, and with a clear view of the door. I sat, planning out a security plan for next time, before eventually losing consciousness- something I didn’t know ghosts could do.

#Twin Skeleton's #TW unreality #Original Content #TW death #TW gore #TW murder #TW swearing

[kindabraveandlittlestupid]

A love/hate review of the Star Wars The Last Jedi and also the disappointment in corporate Disney trimming the extended universe away from the Star Wars. Just to be clear, I don’t stand with those toxic males of the web who attacked Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran and the rest of the cast/crew. The movie is a work of fiction and I above all other emotions value decency as the foundation of my views and beliefs (or at least I try to make that my foundation). I am gonna share my opinions/views as always, I am just a guy on the web with little power what Hollywood makes. If you agree with me, that's great! And if you don't, that's fine too.

Goodbye J. J. (Hate) My first complaint is the change of direction from the first movie. J.J. Abrams had managed to establish some worthwhile intrigue with the characters/plot like Rey's background, the hunt for Luke, and Finn's moral crisis. Seemingly the new director/writer decided to take a step away from these established storylines/characters to explore his own take on these things. Luke is no longer interested in the good fight and embraces apathy, Rey comes from nowhere/no one, and Finns short coma results in him having the same cowardly acts from the first movie instead of giving him personal growth after his heroics at Starkiller Base. It's like whiplash where you have had expectations of these story/plot threads being followed only to have them be ignored or to become completely unremarkable in the next film.

Rose & Paige Tico (Love) I admit there is a lot of things about this movie that rubbed me the wrong way but the addition of Rose was not one of them. The Star Wars has always suffered from a lack of female characters in the movies and they seem to be making some strides to balance out the gender scales. She provided a new character to focus on away from the Roguish Pilot and the Ex-Stormtrooper giving us the optimistic/loveable Mechanic that we could invest out feelings in (which reminded me of another sci-fi female mechanic who I wish I saw more on screen).

What upset me about Rose was the fact I wanted to know MORE about her backstory and her relationship with her sister, Paige. The geek in me would love to have some webisodes dedicated to their relationship (as well as other characters) and how they got into the rebellion in the first place but alas the story relegated her to a secondary plot line on a gambling planet that showed off rich people being assholes which was ultimately pointless to the storyline and failed to further the plot.

I look forward to seeing how they develop her in the next movie, considering so few people are left in the Rebellion... I mean Resistance. On a parting thought, I am still not sure about the Fin/Rose kiss they tried to apply to the movie... felt a little forced if you ask me.

Marvel Humor (Hate) There is a noticeable change to the formula of the Star Wars movies and we know this new formula very well. Disney has been enjoying the tidal wave of cash coming in from the MCU with movies like the Avengers, Ironman, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy and so on which brings in billions (with a B) into the Magical Kingdom. Naturally, they think they struck gold (which they have) but now they are taking that Marvel Universe humor and projecting it into other franchises they own to try and milk money out of them.

This was on full display in Star Wars with the ‘prank call’ Poe used while talking to Hux. This universe enjoyed some banter in its previous movies but this very scene seemed foreign in the Star Wars Universe. As if Hux wouldn't have a laser cannon blow Poe right up. The movie continued to layer more and more MCU humor into the movie with Chewie eating the Porg in front of other horrified Porgs, Luke throwing a lightsaber nonchalantly over his shoulder, and tickling Rey with a piece of grass.

Granted there wasn't AS MUCH humor as you might see in Guardians or Ironman but they are starting to inject it into the films and in my opinion, it undermines the quality of the movie and the universe quite a bit by trying to make it something its not. This is why I enjoyed the grittier Rogue One so much that applied some humor with the android K-2SO but didn't allow shtick with other characters (which was good).

The point is their Gold Equation of humor connecting to the audience shouldn't be transplanted so easily from one franchise to the next, it robs the authenticity of Star Wars and what we know and love.

Vice Admiral Holdo (Love/Hate) Such a disappointing end to what could have been a good transfer of authority to a new female lead. I know we all mourn the death of Carrie Fisher and I appreciate the Luke and Lei scene at the end but the introduction of Holdo only to have her kamikaze the cruiser left me wondering why even make her a part of the movie? I mean really... her fight with Poe and his tactics could have carried into the next film, having her fill in as the new leader of the rebellion would have created a new strong female character and the very ‘heroic’ death she was given could have been done by Leia or Admiral Fucking Ackbar which would have been 10 times better then a random character added only to be killed off.

I blame this (like most things) on Director Rian Johnson who thought he was being clever but making the audience think "Oh she must be taking over for Leia!" only to kill her off as a sort of low-level plot twist. Frankly, it came off as less of a twist and instead of a pointless removal for an otherwise interesting character who could have moved onto the next movie.

Rey and Kylo Tag Team (Love) This might be hands down one of the best lightsaber fight scenes in the Star Wars Universe. If I am going to give the director any credit, it will be for giving us this gem of a scene where Kylo turns on his Master Snoke. This is the sort of action I crave to see in the Star Wars movies and making me wish (badly) that there was a Knight of the Old Republic film in the making. Hell, I just watched it again on Youtube just to remind myself how awesome it was.

Rey and Kylo Shipping (Hate) On the other hand with the whole force connection thing between Kylo and Rey, the idea of them being attracted to each other felt like a betrayal to well... Rey’s logic and mortality. Let us assume she has some attraction to Kylo would she have forgotten everything he did in the previous movie? Destruction of two villages on Jaku, slashing her new best friend in the back (Finn), stabbing her new father figure (Han) thru the chest, killing Lukes students, attempting to torture her for information and lastly being part of the First Order after shooting off Starkiller Base that destroyed 4 inhabited planets with billions (with a B) of lives on said planets? I know Rey might have temptations to the dark side but for fuck sake is she turned on by a literal genocidal maniac?

Rian Johnson & Disney Scaling Back the SWU (Hate) I realized this review is leaning more towards the Dark Side then the Light but I agree with some of the fanboys sentiment on the destruction of the Star Wars Universe. I am not sure if Rian is to blame 100%, I know Disney decided to cut all books, comics, and video games as NOT canon in the SWU but he seemed to have his hand in it with each rebel ship blown to pieces while escaping the Imperial... I mean First Order fleet.

This was hard for me to some degree, I played games like Knight of the Old Republic, The Force Unleashed, Jedi Academy, Shadows of the Empire, Republic Commando and read dozens of comics and books over the years. An yet because the franchise switched hands from Lucas to Disney and Disney had no hand in building all the extended universe they simply cut it away and said: “Nope! None of that counts”. I can understand why some people might get upset having invested time into exploring the Star Wars Universe only to have to evaporate before them like Thanos’s Infinity snap.

Rian drove this point home in the movie burning the Jedi texts (which contents weren't really important but symbolic of the Jedi Philosophy no longer being part of Star Wars), decimating the Rebels (Resistance) to the point the remainder all fit onto the Millennium Falcon, and even killed off or sent away new additions that could have helped expand the new trilogy into something great. Porg Plushies (Hate) *Sigh* I don’t like adding another hate to the list but few things in this movie made me personally feel good about it. We killed off interesting characters (Phasma and Holdo), had pointless side plots on Canto Bight (the Gambling Planet) and the scaling back of a great extended universe. An then we had the addition of Porgs...

I don’t dislike the concept of the Porgs, in fact, these puffin/otter hybrids are kinda cute. I dislike them as they seemed to have the pretty clear purpose of moving merchandise. Now, this isn't new for Star Wars if you know cinema you know that Lucas was highly protective of his own toy sales which is how Spaceballs was able to parody Star Wars so much as long as they didn't sell their own toys. They use the word Toyetic for this very thing of making a character or thing so they can move product off the shelves. Its why the Batmobile had so many changes with each passing movie in the 90′s.

The Porgs are no different, they maxed out the BB8 toy sales from the last movie and introduced an animal to sell plushies, slippers, bobbleheads and backpacks for kids and geeky adults. I am honestly not a fan of this sort of capitalism being pushed off thru movies but there it is and I am sure when episode 9 comes out there will be something new for them to sell us.

DJ (Love) Despite there being literally no good reason for DJ (Benicio del Toro) being in this movie with the pointless side quest on Canto Bight. This character might have some potential for future movies. We certainly explored the good smuggler scoundrel with Han Solo and Lando Calrissian but never explored the bad smuggler element quite yet (save some in the Solo movie).

I particularly liked the whole part with him explaining the manufacturing of weapons for both the First Order and the Resistance. It was perhaps one of the most insightful moments in the movie that could have easily reflected back on our own failings in regards to war. Just like how Canto Bight reminds us that the scum of the Galaxy don't just reside at the bottom but also the top. I hope to see him again but I am not sure how they will explore him in the next plot.

Super Leia (Hate) Lord knows when Leia became adept in the force that she could survive in outer space let alone fly around like Superman! This scene seemed crafted for the trailers making everyone believe this would be the way to double down on the ‘Evil Kylo’ angle and writing Carrie Fisher out of the Star Wars Universe but instead she survives as another pointless twist just like Holdo being the one to ram the ship into The Supremecy or DJ betraying Finn and Rose for money.

Just reminder if you're in space; your air escapes your body (including your butt), the saliva in your mouth begins to boil, air is cut off to your brain, and all the blood vessels on the surface of your body would break. I am glad she didn't die and had another scene with Luke but due to poor writing and trailer bait, they decided to keep this horrible scene in the movie.

Shallowing (Hate) Beyond the new additions (Holdo, DJ, Rose), the reoccurring characters become shallow in their roles. As I said, Luke now doesn't give a shit despite having 30+ years to mature, Hux is reduced to a punching bag for Kylo, Kylo is still emo as ever, Rey is becoming a Mary Sue (or perhaps not with her floundering romance with a mass murder), Finn had the same "coward, not coward" story arc from the first film, Phasma disappointingly is defeated by FN 2178 a second time, Poe is now a one dimensional reckless flyboy, and Leia is secretly Kryptonian. Point is there is no meaningful personal conflict with the characters, not enough time spent with the new ones, and a few of their portrayal betray canon for either a laugh or just because they simply didn't care.

Conclusion The point is, I liked the Kylo/Rey lightsaber battle against the Bodyguards, I enjoyed the battles in space, the silent ramming of the Raddus at light speed into The Supremacy and I still loved the new character (Rose). Most of the problems in this film start not from the characters but from Disney scaling back the universe and the new Director who changed the narrative. It bothers me just a little that everyone is celebrating the film despite these major flaws and aren't more pissed off those decades of content has just been expelled from the Star Wars Universe in exchange for the new “Disney Star Wars Universe" we will be forced to live with. About the only thing that is safe is Chewie and thats because the Wookie doesnt age like actors do. Thanks for the read.

Regards Michael California

#Star Wars #The Last Jedi #MovieReview

[coolman229]

Where Avatar Can Go From Here.

Have you ever tried brainstorming what to do with another work set in the Avatar world that happens after Legend of Korra? On my front, it’s occured to me that Korra leaving the portals open lets a future writer for the (damaged) Avatar brand have a way to trash LoK and scale the setting back by going Hokuto no Ken. Say:

>The Earth Kingdom falls apart ala Three Kingdoms China, Dark Age Roman Empire, Soviet Union into chaos. Kuvira’s followers carry on, after all, the remnants of the Earth Empire aren’t going to just step down and hand over the land to a stooge of foreign special interests. Other regional warlords fighter over a new power vacuum within the Earth Nation just look at Iraq and Afghanistan. Kuvira herself is called a traitorous weakling.

>Amon’s forces resurfaces. It was child’s play enough to pass off his death as a case of martyrdom, with the exposure of his benderhood denounced as a scheme by RC’s government to discredit him. They learned from the failure in Republic City to not engaging in full blown war alone, instead allying with other factions.

>The spirits, who already have contempt for humanity get even more sore at them. This is since spirits continue to be weaponized by remnants of Kuvira’s army, other EN forces, and in time other governments.

>The world falls apart from spirit blasting, spirit rampages, Amon and Kuvira’s followers rampages, until there’s a Dark Age for at least the core of the continent.

>The Avatar cycle is messed up from Korra’s antics and their rewards. Raava and Vaatu in actuality are a representation of the world that incarnates as the Avatar and a toxic birth from the Airbender Genocide respectively. Unalaq was merely a radical cultist with Wan’s story in Book Two cobbled together from Korra’s mistakes.

>In the Era of Chaos a team-up between humans and spirits who agree that the two should live separately manages to get all the spirits back where they belong. They proceed to close the portals and see to it that the horrors born of the Korra’s disastrous actions never return

>Once enough time passes, the cycle starts anew. Unfortunately the damage had been done and man lives in the ruin of the world.

Do you have any ideas?

I’ve brainstormed a few ideas about a follow up to Korra before, with mostly stuff dealing with a following Avatar

http://coolman229.tumblr.com/post/128810442127/suppose-for-a-moment-that-there-was-a-third-avatar

http://coolman229.tumblr.com/post/125102958232/i-read-your-recent-post-in-the-anti-lok-tag-and-it

If I had any choice in the matter I’d simply ignore LoK because it honestly does irreparable damage to the franchise. I have no real interest in continuing the numerous plotlines of LoK because the stories are either completely wasted or just plain uninteresting. As a writer I’d rather just completely redo LoK rather than continue it. But my ideas of a third Avatar series are more of a what if scenario that calls out Korra for the horrible selfish prick she is. Though I would have Korra there as a past life of the new Avatar having remorse for being the worst Avatar in history and the fact that the new Avatar has to fix things for her. It wouldn’t fix all the problems but it would at least mend a few issues.

Now as for dealing with something directly following LoK… that would be a headache to write but at least some bandaids could be applied to the series. I’d keep everything extremely simple in the story department because the story of LoK was already convoluted enough. Pick a few significant things and tackle those. Mainly closing the Spirit Portals since we have to deal with those, getting spirits out of the human world, and solving some issues like the nonbender oppression that was swept under the rug and the political instability. And to keep things simple the whole relationship with Asami will be gone (because it’s entirely stupid) and Korra will be alone having driven everyone away because no one likes her. Her Avatar State has weakened into basically worthlessness because the power up from Raava only lasted a little while before fading, leaving her at just her base power.

If I have to seriously do a direct continuation of LoK I’d have it pick up some time after Book 4 and Korra is completely hated by everyone and has damaged relationships with everyone save for Naga, which is really the consequences from how she treated everyone. And Korra actually hits rock bottom and has to redeem herself by fixing her mistakes, starting with regaining connections to her past lives and begging them to help her fix things. Then her story would follow Korra maturing and attempting to redeem herself. I wouldn’t try to overcomplicate things because the story needs to be simple. Just Korra and the fallout of all her mistakes, her having to look in the mirror and realize that everything truly is her fault. Korra has to not only fix the world, but also her personal life as she has to make things back up to the Krew, Tenzin, Raiko, her parents, etc. And in the end she could actually become a decent person.

It’d be hard to write, but Korra could be redeemed as a character (as well as everyone else who was ruined).

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