#it's way more intriguing to say yes this character was created to be evil. yes he was trained from before birth to be that way

[swallowtail-ageha]

Hey! Name 10 of your favourite Soulsborne characters! Doesn't have to be in any particular order, unless you want it to be!

SORRY FOR DELETING THE FIRST ONE AND MAKING YOU SEND THIS AGAIN

Also putting it under the cut because goood i love to get verbose and this shit is almost infinite for how long it got

Ok so *cracks knuckles*

1- Shanalotte

My precious girl!! My beloved!!! I have actually found most fromsoft level up maidens (bar her and melina) to be actually  pretty lacking in both relevance and story so she was a nice breath of fresh air! Her lore intrigues me very much like. She was created *specifically* with the purpose of being kindling (or that's what the "created to break the curse" implies to me).

She's one of the most normal looking dragon-human hybrids but it's ALSO implied that she's internally way more fucked up and unstable than them because she was pretty much left to rot alone by aldia in the dragon aerie. She can teleport propelled by the power of a funky feather. She has an emo haircut. Her intentions might not be the kindest as they might seem as instead of lettingherself burn she cultivated SEVERAL undeads to reach the throne instead of taking the throne for herself and she ALWAYS knows what is really going but refuses to tell the Bearer of the Curse anything that aren't the barest informations.

Forever will be salty that due to executive meddling we lost the time travel plot and didn't manage to see her as a child

2-Ranni

I think one of the biggest improvements overall of elden ring's ending questlines compared to the ones in other soulsborne is that they gave us a quest from a scheming character that ACTUALLY explains you what your schemes entrail and lets you through bosses and additional questlines forge a deeper connection to the npcs and Ranni (and her questline) are the epitome of that.

Like i have soo much to say about the fact that her ending is basically the classical courtly love story with the maiden in the tower rescued by the brave knight where the tower guarded by the dragon can both be her rise who is guarded by Adula (whom fights you to death before you can go to Manus Celes and marry her) and the cave in the lake of rot which is guarded by Astel.

AND WHILE PEOPLE MISCHARACTERIZE HER AS COLD AND UNLOVING SHE IS SO FULL OF LOVE. She's yes scheming and willing to do evil acts to reach her goals but she LOVES Iji and Blaidd THEY WERE HER FAMILY BLAIDD WAS HER BROTHER EVEN IF HE WAS ENGINEERED TO BETRAY HER IF SHE WENT ASTRAY AND THEY BOTH KNEW IT BUT THEY LOVED EACH OTHER SO MUCH THAT BLAIDD OVERCAME FOR A WHILE HIS SHADOW'S INSTINCTS. She didn't want you to continue your services for her because she knew that iji and blaidd were doomed and didn't want you to end like them AND YET. AND YET. YOU TRAVERSED THE LAKE OF ROT FOR HER. YOU KILLED ALIENS AND GOD TO SAVE HER. SHE FIRST INTENDED TO GO AWAY WITH NO ONE FOLLOWING HER BUT YOU DECIDE TO DEPART WITH HER. NEVER LEAVING HER ALONE IN THE COLD AND EMPTY SPACE.

I am sorry for the all caps and incoherent rambling but i genuinely love ranni so much. Elden ring in general is very dear to me and her questline was one of the first ones i've ever done in a soulsborne game :3

3-Rykard

Ok i admit that while at first i only liked him for "funny snake" stuff the more i learned about him the more i liked him.

He's like Ranni in the sense that where he did commit many atrocities one of his most overlooked characteristics is how he loved.

He loved radahn so much that he had paintings of him all over his home. He loved tanith so much because he knew what he would become once fused with the snake and offered her a way out of the suffering that it might have caused her (but we know tanith didn't mind) and trusted her so much to let her lead volcano manor in his stead. He loved rennala so much that he left his own Special Torture Device around the academy to hurt whoever wanted to kill her. He loved ranni so much that he helped prepare her great plan and was willing to take the blame and challenge MALIKETH HIMSELF in order to protect her if the plan went wrong. And he loved radagon so much that him abandoning them to follow the GW literally caused him to react so badly that he decided to infiltrate it's ranks as a loyal inquisitor to destroy it from the inside in the way it would hurt the most (like burning the minor erdtree). Also he's bisexual. Miyazaki you might have removed the daedicar's woe item description but he remains bi in the heart of us rykardpilled

4-Tanith

Aside from being the canonically freakiest person in bed in the lands between the whole rykard-tanith-rya storyline makes me go RAAAAH "my greatest distress would be forgetting you" and then she goes on to ask you to unconsensually do to rya the same thing that rykard consensually asked her to do!! Because for her it's better to live a lie than to know the truth!! And the fact that this is likely caused by her feeling inadequate to be a mother (as cut dialogue shows)!!!

Also undying loyalty literally wanting to have someone live on through you by ingesting them... her obsession with rykard and what he represented preventing her to actually move on after he gets killed by the tarnished but also her love for him is one of the reasons WHY volcano manor still stands + the fact that rykard married her not out of pure lust but because he sawnin her a dignity befitting of a ruler AND HE WAS RIGHT.... Miyazaki. Martin. I love you.

5-Nashandra

Ok i might not have papers upon papers to write about her but she's one of my favourites in the sense that she hits the extremely specific archetype of extremely cunty woman who exploits manipulates others but that's because she's an eldritch abomination whose existance is extremely fragile and literally just wants To Live (the other character who fits this is Ma evilliouschronicles and she's like my fave character 5eva).

The concept of the daughters of manus is very cool and i feel like there's some significance in her sharing the "shan" in her name with shanalotte but only miyazaki knows.

I really want to know what her and vendrick's marriage looked like i KNOW they were freaky

6-Maria

MARIA MY BELOVED MARIA... I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS (TM) ABOUT HER and the main one is that to me she is like one of those protagonist from those late 19th/early 20th decadent novels but if they were a girl.

The thing that appeals to me the most about her is how much of an utter failure she was in both life and death like her arc is such a downwards spiral. I am not okay with cainhurst's hunting thecniques? Ok! Let's join the victorian equivalent of the scalp hunters from blood meridian! Oh shit oh no oh fuck i ended up committing genocide and eviscerating a pregnant god and now i am extremely traumatized well i'll try to redeem myself by joining the blood murdercult and by committing experiments based on the evisceration of said pregnant god to help advance humanity. All the experiments i led are for naught and only led to more suffering? At this point i can't handle it anymore every single good thing i did led to death and misery i'm gonna kill myself AT LEAST IN DEATH I CAN'T HARM ANYONE :) RIGHT? :) [cue her upholding the nightmare and its inhabitants suffering and then dying against the good hunter causing them to rampage through the hamlet again]

I think her biggest flaw in the end was to keep denying the fact that her actions slowly got more brutal because she wanted to think of herself as a good person until things snowballed so much that they got out of her control and couldnt do anything to prevent damage from happening. Rip my sweet angel corrado silla and alfonso nitti wouldve seen you as their long lost sister

7-Sulyvahn

HE LIVED HE SERVED CUNT HE DIED. There is something oddly poetic and horrifying about someone who came from a place designed to keep away those rejected by the gods being the responsible of the fall of the gods himself. AND YET none of this came from rightful vengeance or a sense of duty towards his fellow inhabitants of the painter. No. He didn't give a single shit about it and hated the place. He only did that because he was power hungry and skilled and had the possibility to do that.

I am also OBSESSED OBSESSED OBSESSED with the fact that it's implied that he has more than a few grievances with women and i like to think of him as a huge misogynistic creep in the way fanon gehrman is. He is so insidiously manipulative and backstabbing and needlessly cruel he is up there in the alley of my favourite nasty old men. He might or might not have had beef in the past with aldrich which led to aldrich kicking his ass earlier and weakening him enough to permit the ashen one to kill him. We love a villain whose downfall is caused by his constant backstabbing

8- Fauxefka

I know that she's very barebone as npcs go but i am soo fond of her she's my canon oc. There is soo much implied about her aside from the fact that miyazaki considers her one of the only heroic people in game like. She is from the choir (and might have stolen the umbilical cord from willem) while Iosefka who looks exactly like her is implied to have been a defector from mensis so academic beef might be one of the motives for turning her into an alien i have SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THAT and if you send the suspicious beggar to her house he STILL turns into a celestial emissary which means she alone was strong enough to overpower him.

Also her voice gets me sooo <3333 and add that with the fact that she was brave enough to gobble down an umbilical cord without a single thought she's a lunatic but also probably the sanest person in yharnam and i'm here for it

9- Friede

Friede is another one in the halley of pathetic women like yass girl... doom a world where you found comfort in to ruin because you are so traumatized by your first death by burning that you refuse to let it happen again despite it being a good thing so she parallels nicely with gwyn.

Another thing that i found interesting is that aside from that she is ALSO motivated by love for the inhabitants of the painting but is willingly blind to the love wilhelm and yuria had for her

Side note but i found a really good wilhelm/friede fic where mid fuck she removes his ring that prevents him from looking like a beef jerky and muses that he'd never do that because he's too loyal for her and is happy of the power she has over him and that is sooo good i'll just incorporate it in my headcanons for her

10- Gwyndolin

I already joked about him being the joker for trans men but like. The tragedy of his story makes me go insane <3 Imagine being reviled by your father for literally every single part of your being. You have your older siblings. They are your father's favourites, THE golden children. And yet one by one they leave you all alone, one being kicked out and erased from history for siding with the enemy and the other flees as she always does whenever she encounters trouble. Your father who hates you throws himself into the first flame and leaves you alone with massive abandonment and gender issues and you spend literally every single moment of your life trying to continue his legacy even to the point of living in your father's tomb. You revile him and how he treated you especially regarding your gender so you try to be independent. To throw away your old identity he forced on you and finally live as a man and a king of your own right BUT you'll always be desperate for his love and will never separate from his shadow down to the bitter end. You raise what is your sibling or niece but also instead of actually making her independent you keep her naive and sheltered, every single place of power is purely symbolic.

And then the tree guy who works as your knight and whom you might or might not be fucking fucking overthrows you imprisons you and your sisterniece in the cathedral and feeds you alive to a guy whom you sent to his death by burning ages ago to continue the cycle your father started. Life really be like that sometimes.

So... here it is! I am sorry for how long it got lmaoo

#also i must specify #the list isnt in order i like them all on the same level #there are also other characters i love like l*urence mic*lash l*catiel or the dancer #i just dont rotate them in my mind as much as i do with them yknow #ask

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Cold comfort

By Steve Pratt    28th November 2013   (X)

CHARLIE COX is no stranger to period projects with movies The Merchant Of Venice with Al Pacino, Casanova alongside Heath Ledger, and Stardust opposite Claire Danes, as well as TV series Boardwalk Empire to his name.

The one-off 1970s espionage thriller Legacy might be another period piece, but he is at least moving forward through the decades. “It’s the most modern I have ever done,” he says.

Based on the novel by Alan Judd, the story is set in 1974 in the middle of the Cold War, when Cox’s character, Charles, joins MI6 as a trainee spy. “He has come from the Royal Engineers, which means he would have been posted in Belfast in the mid-1960s, and the back story we have mostly invented is that he was in the bomb disposal unit and probably lost his best friend,” says Cox.

“Because of that, he wanted to become more involved in what is referred to as ‘the front line of the war’, be it the Cold War or Northern Ireland, and saw the move to MI6 as being part of that.”

He is still training when asked to revive his former friendship with Viktor Koslov (Andrew Scott), a Russian diplomat he knew at university, with a view to “turning” him. But Viktor has his own agenda and reveals a shocking truth about Charles’ family that threatens to derail him personally and professionally.

“Andrew Scott happens to be one of my favourite actors of all time,” says Cox of the Olivier Award-winning star, who plays Moriarty in the Sherlock series.

“I had never met him, but we have the same agent, and I got his number and sent a text saying, ‘I really hope we get to work with each other’. Six months later, this came up.”

He knows another of his co-stars, Romola Garai, who plays fellow agent Anna, extremely well because he introduced her to his best friend, Sam Hoare, and the two now have a daughter together.

“Before I found out she was going to be doing it, I got a text from him saying, ‘Buddy, you’re going to be kissing my wife’.” Cox says.

In preparation, Cox watched “a few cool documentaries about the period” and understands the enduring fascination with the Cold War. “The fact that there wasn’t any actual fighting [in the West] is really intriguing,” he says.

“And I know in my life, impending doom is so much worse than something actually happening, because when it does, you can rationalise it in some way and take some action. “But when you are waiting for something that could happen, your mind goes into all the different scenarios, and living with that [creates] a sense of vulnerability.”

He has a small but pivotal role in a movie with the working title Dracula Untold under way. “Yes, more vampires, obviously we are not bored of them yet – or maybe we are,” he says. “I am only doing two scenes, but it is a bit different for me, very evil. He is described as the father of all vampires. Other than that, I am not sure what’s coming up.”

Maybe something contemporary? “Oh yeah,” says Cox. “I’d love to say ‘Mate’ in a movie.”

~*~

#well I found another old Charlie interview...just call me the Charlie Cox archivist lol 😊 #UGH ''very evil'' and ''the father of all vampires''...*cries about never getting to see his scenes as Caligula* T_T #charlie cox #charles thoroughgood #legacy 2013 #romola garai #andrew scott #sam hoare #interview #article

[dangermousie]

Before I get to the substantive meta post, let me just say that Sun Yi Zhou is ridiculously my RL type in terms of looks, and is 100% equipped to be one of those sexy general mains in danmei or het web novels. 

But also! The first time around and even more so on this run, He Xia is a wonderful character who is just as interesting and complex (and in some ways more so) than our OTP. This drama is 62 eps and sometimes it’s to its detriment (the separation near the end could have been shortened in terms of runtime) but most of the time it uses its time wisely and the run time allows all characters to breathe, not just focusing on the OTP, making it more epic and real. 

In another drama, he’d be the hero, a loyal, brave and competent general betrayed and hunted by his own king out of insecurity and returning to seek vengeance; Lan Ling Wang is actually about that very topic! (And is next on my rewatch list.) 

The pontentiality for him and Chu Bei Jie is actually the same - both of their rulers are insecure losers and CBJ’s king comes pretty close a couple of times to doing to CBJ what He Xia’s king did to him. The difference is solely in that CBJ’s king is somewhat more functional (and has a somewhat deeper relationship with CBJ than Yan ruler does with He Xia) and that CBJ is older and tougher. But in a less lucky universe, I can easily see the Jin king overstepping irrevocably and you know CBJ would embark on the path of vengeance. In a way, it is fitting that He Xia is CBJ’s ultimate and final opponent because it’s CBJ who created him by intriguing with Yan king against Yan’s best generals’ family. It is totally understandable CBJ would do that as a Jin subject but the concept of you sow what you reap is delicious.

Why yes, the Yan king is the type of man who decides to hunt down his best general(s) while he’s fighting an existential war. Clearly he doesn’t have TV and never watched The Young Warriors, Patriot Yue Fei, Rebel Princess, Lan Ling Wang or a dozen other dramas about perils of the same (and not even getting into reading a single rudimentary chronicle either.)

The thing that gets me in these early eps is that He Xia is just...good. He is a good person - a loyal subject, a brave general, a devoted son, a lovely quasi-brother/potential husband for Ping Ting and his incredulity about what is happening to him, to them, his attempt to believe that if he could only EXPLAIN, they would understand they are wrong and this is a good faith error, is heartbreaking.

By the end of the drama, he is a broken monster for whom death is a kindness, a man who amassed huge power but lost all humanity and everyone he’s ever loved. And he should be removed; a monster should not be allowed to rule the world. But when Chu Bei Jie kills him it isn’t a pure triumph of good over evil; it’s bittersweet at best and tragic at its base. Because CBJ is not the only reason He Xia is broken - the monster dimwit ruler is one, his psycho family (I agree with @mousieta his father’s “I am gonna off myself so he seeks revenge” is gross as hell), his own descent into darkness as the result of sufferings and humiliations he undergoes all play a part. But in a lot of way, Chu Bei Jie is putting down a monster he himself created, a man he once respected and who respected him, even if only as an honorable enemy, he is the one who set into motion a set of circumstances that turned a chevalier sans peur et sans reproche into a rabid animal. 

It’s interesting though because CBJ is ruthless but he has his own set of rules and honor. When he comes for the old prince of Jin’s head, it’s because the man broke his word to retire. Unlike so many others in this narrative (including later He Xia), he is willing to give you an out if you take it; it does not have to be blood. (Side note, hell of an entrance!)

Even here, he spares the old general because he realizes he’s too old to be a threat. Too bad the man is one of the characters who’d rather die that be worsted and live to fight another day. Old man, congrats, you are building a road for your son to become a psycho.

CBJ’s grim face at that. Old man ain’t wrong, he’s wrecked CBJ’s life for many years to come as payback (though ultimately works out.)

And He Xia survives his horrible battle and finding his mother having stabbed herself to death (a woman who did not think about her kid, both his parents are no good) only to find his father dead (I love love love that CBJ respected his fallen foe and made him a plaque.) PS when he starts digging into the burial mound with his bare hands!

PS This convo before it all goes truly to hell is super interesting because they are loving and affectionate but I do not get any romantic vibe on their part, just friends and quasi-siblings. The thing is, if nothing bad somehow happened and Ping Ting and He Xia got hitched, it would be a functional marriage with liking on both parts but not only is it not the passionate love she experiences with CBJ (or he with the Princess), Ping Ting would never truly be as fierce, as unleashed, as her own woman coming into her own as she is with CBJ. She’d always feel she owed He Xia’s family, and also much as I love him he’s not her equal the way CBJ is.

@renewedmotionforjudgment​ said that one of the things she liked that Ping Ting and CBJ are adults making adult decision in an adult way and that is so perfectly put! But also, the rest of the characters are the same. Even characters who are petty or self-absorbed or immature are so in an adult way, if it makes sense. This drama is so damn good!

#cdrama #general and i #angelababy #sun yi zhou #wallace chung

[lexsnotdead]

I absolutely loved BG1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark and Neverwinter Nights 2 too are among my most favourite RPGs. But Larians writing, particularly in D:OS2 turned me off so much :( How different is BG3?

big wall of text under the cut and before anything else i want to say that criticizing a game does not equal not liking it

i thought a lot about my response to this ask, since i must admit i have never played bg&bg2 and jumped straight into the hype train of bg3. and i'm genuinely curious what exactly about dos2 turned you off that much. here's what i personally think:

i played d:os1 and d:os2 and while i'm a big fan of the latter… dos1 couldn't keep me entertained even when playing with a friend in coop, which shows just how exhaustively boring and unmemorable it was. i really love dos2 and despite what i will say next, nothing is gonna change my love for this game. but. imma be honest, it was 3 and a half characters that kept me playing. i love sebille and lohse, i love malady — the mystery around her has its own appeal, but it's still a huge miss not to expand on such intriguing character as herself. i slightly care about ifan and fane, i couldn't give a lesser fuck about beast, i fucking hate the red prince and his writing is one of most unlikable from any rpg game i ever played (i can elaborate. but that's a post for another time). in short: lack of memorable characters, and those who are there have to make up in quality rather than quantity.

and larian is still... larian. their ambition makes them bite more than they can chew, you don't need to be nitpicking on purpose to notice just now empty act 3 of d:os2 was compared to fort joy or driftwood. in similar-ish way act 3 of bg3 feels less polished in terms of performance and content. like they even had to add an alternative ending to karlach's quest only after the game's release lol. there are quite a lot of bugs and players who are doing an "evil" playthrough like me found themselves deprived of content — sometimes you're just locking yourself out of quests, encounters, characters entirely because of decisions you made, quite literally making the game harder for yourself.

another important thing that i'd point out that dos2 felt kinda lacking in terms of the character creation because ocs always felt less immersive and shallow compared to the playable origins (i had the time of my life playing as lohse, tho). i know people who managed to have fun filling the blank spaces with their imagination, but i'm not one of those people, unfortunately. when i tried creating a drow character in bg3, however, every third npcs made sure to glare at me distrustfully and be fantasy racist towards the drow. like really? thanks for noticing! this might sound weird, but i liked that. it enhanced my feeling of immersion thus making it more satisfying to play. like yeees... yes... i indeed am a drow!

i'd rather stop focusing on its shortcomings because it feels unfair to larian when they are listening to the playerbase and trying their best to deliver patches as quick as possible. after all, what makes a good dnd adventure for me is always the story and characters — banal it may be, as long as it is fun, it is a good dnd game. and bg3 is very fun and addictive. there's this unique feeling when you're planning your next playthrough and considering what you would've done differently when still doing your first. i like it more compared to dos2, because... i'm not sure why myself? interpersonal interactions just feel a bit deeper, and i actually care about almost every companion, even the ones i did not expect to care about (like gale, astarion, shadowheart). and variety of the character creation, of course. and i can bet on bg3 being next the goty haha

to sum this all up:

if you like dos:2, you will like this game

if you like dnd e5, you will also like this game

if you like bg1 and bg2 then i genuinely don't know i'm sorry

#dude i accidentally published that from my drafts before finishing that... lol... if you saw it then no you didn't #lex.txt

[vergess]

Lads, I fucking get it that people who summarize books in a way you don't like are frustrating, but "the locked tomb is about lesbian necromancers in space" did a LOT FUCKING MORE to explain to me why I should bother learning more details than 7 months of people writing detailed meta about the characters did.

Because y'all habitually get in the fucking weeds wanting extremities if detail, but a TAGLINE is not the same as a SUMMARY is not the same as a REVIEW.

The fact that PUBLISHERS are increasingly replacing summaries with taglines is a problem, yes.

BUT THE EXISTENCE OF A TAGLINE IS NIT FUCKING EVIL IN AND OF ITSELF

Like, I get it. You want summaries for your books before reading them. I do too.

But 'lesbian necromancers in space' IS VALUABLE IN ITS OWN RIGHT.

If you as a person aren't intrigued by a given tagline, please consider for one singular moment that the tagline IS NOT FOR YOU THEN! Not everything is for you!!

Take up your frustrations with summaries being replaced with taglines with the publishers DOING THAT.

Not with people whi spent half a year watching y'all talk about people with Historically Men's Names doing Historically High Fantasy Acitvities while FULLY FORGETTING TO MENTION IT'S A SCI FI SET IN SPACE FEATURING MOSTLY FEMALE CHARACTERS.

God, fuck, you have got to get your fucking heads around the fact that a high level 5-word-or-less tagline HAS A FUNCTION TOO.

It svoujdn't 'replace' summaries.

BUT IT IS NECESSARILY GOING TO BE THE THING PEOPLE SEE FIRST THAT MAKES THEM INTERESTED ENOUGH TO READ THE FUCK DAMN SUMMARY

Jesus fuck.

Just stop letting publishers trick your godforsaken asses into thinking people who FIND BOOKS DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU are the goddamn enemy, when it is THOSE SELFSAME PUBLISHERS denying you as a reader AND authors as artists access to Basic GODDAMN Tools like summaries.

Like, hey Jackass, have you considered that the response to '2 of the 3 major tools readers use to judge books in the moment have been elminated and replaced with the third' is not and will never be 'therefore we should get rid of the third entirely to make space for the other two.'

God, fuck, the amount of situations created whole fucking cloth by predatory corporate publishing houses that people just insistently blame readers for instead is... fucking unfathomable.

But at least I get how living under a corporate propaganda system would teach you 'free access to books is evil because you are stealing money from poor innocent authors' in spite of every single study ever done on the subject proving repeatedly that free access improves author income but damages CORPORATE INVESTOR DIVIDENDS. Like, the propaganda is everywhere and often backed with the threat of state violence.

But what POSSIBLE fucking excuse does ANYONE have for saying shit like 'taglines are useless' or 'if you use taglines you're an intellectually bankrupted moralist.'

Fucking WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

Do you think you're exempt from critical goddamn thinking because you have the Right Opinions about how The Other Guy is stupid or deranged??

Fuck off and die.

#I have been seeing TOO GODDAMN MANY posts like that lately

[mirror-to-the-past]

Okay, I finished playing Re:Coded. Went through it pretty quickly; it was a shorter game. Also, very interesting and welcome in concepts. I was hoping for an expansion on the data world since KH2, because the prologue of that game made me extremely intrigued regarding everything with how it affected Roxas (Bonus, was also happy that Roxas, or at least an iteration of him, got some screentime in this game, too. Gives me more hope for a reappearance in the future.), and I'd say it delivered!

Just like the Nobodies, the data version of Sora definitely demonstrated questionably emotional displays for a being that "doesn't have a heart." With similar sentiments to Roxas and Xion, I seriously question whether or not a heart is all that important/necessary for a full scale of emotions if they act that real "without" one. I also question if people can't just create their own hearts out of pure strength of will (I mean, if the Org. XIII Nobodies were very strong willed individuals for coming into being, I don't see why the inverse can't be true- that because they are individuals of strong will, they can't just forge their own way and find their own heart/spirit.)... but I digress.

I joked earlier that "haha, for all of the fiction tropes Kingdom Hearts fully exploits, I'm surprised 'the prophecy' hasn't come up yet." Ding ding, another joke come true for me to add to the books, because Maleficent mentioned a whole damn book of prophecies. I'm strapping myself in, mentally. Hoo boy, here we go, create new worlds from stories, huh? Also once again, such a queen, she highlights the fluid nature of reality KH set ever since "Is this for real, or not?" I love when she chided Pete, with: "Ah, but who's to say a fairy tale's not true?" Hilariously meta, coming from her. Also yeah, Disney/FF game is slowly becoming aware of the fact that it's a Disney/FF game but it's owning it. Another one of the funniest aspects of this series is that, from the characters' perspectives, everything is fantastical in a normal way- there is no precedent set for what is "normal" when multiple worlds have phenomenon like talking animals, magical princesses, spells powered by love, antagonists like evil fairies, or other threats that are very real to them. It's only from us, as the audience, with our cultural awareness of Disney movies and the like that we laugh at the ridiculousness of Mickey Mouse being a plot relevant character. So, it's like the characters, completely and utterly serious about everything they interact with, are slowly learning the magical/fiction nature of their reality. I dunno, a bit of a disjointed ramble there, but it makes sense to me. Sure it's not exactly a groundbreaking sentiment- "woah, fiction is reality to the fictitious," but anywho. Still waiting for it to go the whole nine miles and make Earth canon as contrast to everything else- go full fourth wall breaking. I'll show you how fiction you guys really are, buster!

Anyway... uh... where was I? Oh yes, other Maleficent line that caught my eye (playing games on emulators afford me the opportunity to write things down more... :D):

"You should have stayed inside, boy. There, the worst fate to befall you would have been eternal slumber...

...Such a shame you understand so little of the darkness. The world desires its embrace! There is nothing in darkness. No sadness, no cause for hurt... In darkness, one cannot see ones mistakes, or the dreams that failed to be."

Here, darkness as an element adds a new layer to its characterization throughout the series from just ambition/power, knowledge, or the like. Here, darkness is more of a shield from pain, or an obfuscation. Darkness is more of the gentle lie than I've seen light as being. And that's... something. When someone is dealing with darkness within this series, or trying to gain a mastery over it- has it not been in a futile attempt to puff themselves up and disguise hurt/insecurities/unsteady ground that they walk upon? I can't say for sure for Xehanort, but it has been the case for Riku and Terra, so...

Contrastingly, that would make light the element that demands everything to be pure, honest, and open. It would have no inclination towards unsteady foundations, or soft versions of truths/white lies with good intent. Something something, soft moon versus callous sun. Funnily enough though, with both of these explanations, it's apparent that their respective foundations both lead to some sort of emotional repression, either out of a desire for utter individual control and strength emotionally (darkness) (not possible) or out of a desire for perfect order and lack of duplicity (light) (also not possible). And with that, maybe Xehanort's got something to the whole "balance of light and dark" thing, who woulda thunk extremes would be problematic? Of course, the whole genocidal tendencies is... eh...

Naminé! That was the other thing I wanted to speak on. Am I to understand that with Mickey's letter at the end of the game, Sora finally knows of Naminé and his relation to her, as well as Castle Oblivion, at least a little bit?? Literally on the edge of my seat, guys. Mickey said he'd tell our Sora about the Coded journey, so I hoped that'd be a part of the package. :/ I was happy to see "Thank Naminé" get concluded at least a little bit, even if it was just Data Sora, but pleaseee...

Also, oogh, Sora's consistent character conflict being centered around repression and its various forms continues to pull at my mind a bit. I transcribed part of Naminé and Data Sora's conversation because of how Relevant it was feeling. As well as addressing Sora's own hurt, Ventus' with the "they've been sleeping a long time," the conversation also doubled as serving as an explanation for events such as the Xion fever dream in Days where she/Sora by extension experienced Riku's memory from CoM:

S: "These are my memories?"

N: "No, not yours. These belong to people connected to you."

S: "What? Isn't it weird for someone else's memories to be inside me?"

N: "Right, it's not usually possible. When I first found them while repairing your memory, I thought I'd made a mistake. But all the evidence I found proves they belong in your heart, where they've been sleeping a long... long time. One day, Sora will have to call them to the surface. They're important memories... but very dangerous ones."

M: "Dangerous how?"

N: "These memories are too painful. Handled the wrong way, they could damage Sora's heart- even break it..."

Like when Data Sora told Data Roxas he'd carry his hurt from then on, Sora effectively symbolizes the individual who gives and gives of themselves to such a degree that the pain of others becomes his own- putting his own hurt and individualism eternally aside for the noble cause of "keep on keeping on." Of course, to be affected by the pain of others is to be human, but in such an identity defining way as is the case with Sora, as well as Naminé noting such things aren't typically possible (within this universe's rules) and that the others' memories "belong" with Sora, it's clear what this is doing to him- you can't help but wonder if Naminé's worry about Sora's heart breaking from having to confront internalized hurt and memories might be warranted. I'd dare to say that it makes sense why Xion saw so much of herself in Sora even outside of the memories, considering the way they unwaveringly waver on who they are, all for the sake of being what is perceived as needed for others they deem important. Am I looking way too much into it? Maybe. Do I care? No. I'll pathologize my boy with a case of "chronic people pleaser on a thematic level" all I want. Is he an Empath,™ a teenager being a teenager, or is he losing himself- perhaps all three? Find out... next episode...

(Can't wait to find out whatever the "research" is that Ansem stuck within Sora's sleeping mind. Can't help but assume its importance, given that it's been mentioned twice, now.)

Alright, that's everything on Coded, I'm now gonna hop to dumping some thoughts on Dream Drop Distance that I've started a little bit of, because.... :D

#kingdom hearts #kh recoded first playthrough #kh recoded #kh sora

[dateamonster]

hello tumblr user dateamonster!! do you have any recommendations for good zombie media? my gf rlly likes zombies but has burned through a lot of the good stuff to be easily found. movies shows anime games etc, anything goes. ty!

oof good question but one im not sure im totally qualified to answer since most of the zombie media i consume is on the campier, sillier side.

i do have some somewhat more Serious zombos i enjoy tho!

the girl with all the gifts is one of my alltime favs (and ive heard the book is good too tho i havent read it) it hits a lot of the beats zombie fans will probably already be familiar with but the main character being a sort of half-zombie (makes more sense in context trust me) as well as a child born into this apocalyptic setting creates a totally new perspective and to me is one of the strongest most thoughtful pieces of work to come out of this sorta subgenre in a long time

the resident evil game series is probably a given. on the off chance she hasnt played it or watched a playthrough, that shits mandatory.

z-nation i think kinda tippytoes the line between stuff fans of, for example, the walking dead will recognize and enjoy in terms of ya know a story focusing more on the interpersonal drama of a group of survivors living through an ongoing apocalypse, and the sillier doesnt-take-itself-too-seriously stuff i personally enjoy, like the ongoing bit where theres just a big ball of entangled zombies rolling across the scenery. its the delicious junk food of tv zombies (though granted ive only watched i think the first few seasons when it was playing nonstop on syfy)

and if you want to join me in enjoying only thee most quality campy schlock..

zombieland saga! literally one of my favorite anime ever! i consider it in this sort of less serious category because the concept of undead idol girls is obviously pretty ridiculous on paper and not gonna be everyones thing, but if the premise even remotely intrigues you, please give it a shot. the story is fun, the characters are loveable and surprisingly complex beneath the typical moe girl archtype exteriors, the humor is on point but doesnt undermine the actually pretty effective emotional moments, and the music fucks! we stan!

z-o-m-b-i-e-s is like c-tier early 2000s dcom realness with a 2018 budget, better choreography, worse songs, questionable moral messaging, all reeking with a dangerous level of green hair dye and party city greasepaint fumes. ive watched it like four times. i cant totally explain it but its got like nostalgic high school musical vibes except more paranormal and much much sillier. dares to ask the question: can cheerleading end all prejudice and bring about world peace? (the answer is yes but theyll be repeating that question for three movies)

zombie prom. very similar to the above in general vibe except the music is honestly kind of good? theres a stage play and a movie which is more or less just a slightly shortened version. in a lot of ways it honestly feels like the fully realized version of z-o-m-b-i-e-s. if you watch the movie ru paul is there, whether thats an incentive or disincentive.

and to wrap it up another game you probably already know about, lollipop chainsaw. yes its problematic but i am honoring my past teenage self who averted their gaze when they walked by it on the shelves in gamestop by saying tara strong sexy cheerleader zombie slayer game is fun and good.

anyway all this to say my taste is very questionable when it comes to this subgenre but i hope u get something out of it. a lot of zombie stories kinda flop for me because the horror element gets watered down into this more actiony survive the zombo apocalypse type thing but the concept of zombies is definitely something that interests me despite this and there are definitely some good pieces of zombie media out there.

oh! and i havent read it yet, but ive heard really promising things about the book manhunt by gretchen felker-martin. not explicitly a zombie story i dont think but draws from the same place for sure. would be worth checking out i think.

#ask #zombies #recs

[vulcandyke]

//

#not to take these shitty books seriously but like. i fucking hate the whole jace has demon blood no he doesnt thing #bc the big reveal that he doesnt have demon blood is like. surprise you actually arent evil #as if being good or evil is predetermined literally before birth in this instance #the idea that your blood or your dna can be inherently evil is so fucking wrong #also like. i know clary says the whole 'even tho they were difficult choices you still didnt choose to side with valentine' #but the aspect of free will is gone at that point. it's not interesting that the man who's part angel did the right thing #if the idea is that your morality is predetermined by your blood #how can sebastian even really be evil if he never had a choice to be good? #how is jace noble at all if the blood of ithuriel is what made him that way? #it's way more intriguing to say yes this character was created to be evil. yes he was trained from before birth to be that way #but he still chose to do the right thing in spite of it #bc as it is clare's statement here is 'oh it's okay bc he's a changeling! he's not ACTUALLY a bad guy bc he isn't actually part monster #this idea that monstrosity or otherness in general is inherently evil is dangerous and also frankly lazy writing. #it would've been way more interesting if valentine had been giving celine demon blood instead #also like. the dichotomy of jace/clary wouldve been way more intriguing if jace didnt also have the extra angel blood #the quasi-incest is fucking weird regardless tho. was that really necessary cassandra. really. #rambles #i have no idea if this is coherent im just thinking about how much i hate the idea that monster=evil and that your initial circumstances #define your whole life

[kagakuoniryu]

May I request the archon trio +xiao with an immortal female reader who has ice powers like elsa? Fluff plz

Synopsis :

With an immortal fem. Reader who has ice power like elsa

Characters :

Venti

Zhongli

Ei

Xiao

Warning :

None

A/N :

As requested in private I'm tagging @ravenina14 who were the one who asked about this request! Hope you enjoy it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venti :

He noticed your power before your immortality

Venti is really playful to say the least, so when he tend to be a bit too playful you tend to freeze his feet on the ground or his hands before he play the lyre

Usually to answer you when you started to use your power on him he started to whine loudly about how mean you are

He'll never ask question about immortality or such, he told you he was barbatos, so you knew the two of you won't die anytime soon, but he didn't

He promised to be at your side until your death when the two of you started dating, you answered him that forever was quite a long time and he better keep his promise

He thought you were joking

But 10 or 20 years later, when most people would have aged, you didn't

He smiled realizing this, kissing your forehead, and telling you that keeping a promise forever isn't that bad from this point of view

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zhongli :

Zhongli has seem many things in his life, but you were one of the most intriguing

You weren't a mortal, nor a god, nor an adeptus

You could live through century and century wuthout fearing erosion

It was a rare capacity in itself, but then you proved yourself all the way more fascinating with your ice power

Zhongli noticed them when he wanted to introduce you to cloud retainer to make her see if you were a threat to liyue or not

But while trying to reach the top of the mountain you fell

By reflexe you created under you a whole ice platform in less than 10 secondes

Zhongli was impressed to say the least but said nothing, he helped you uo and made sure you wouldn't fall again

Of course cloud retainer affirmed that you weren't a threat

And with your immortality zhongli that mayne, just maybe

He found the right person

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ei :

What drew ei to you was your immortality

That way she wouldn't lose you to the track of time

She didn't have any idea you had such power since you always visited her in her plain of euthymia

Ond time you asled her if she wasn't bored and asked you if you were without answering

You told her yes and that she should install a few things to keep guests entertained

She asked what exactly and with your power you made a fully functional carousel

She was impressed to say the least and tried it

She asked what else you could do and you showed her

She didn't asked if that power came from you or a vision, she didn't cared anyway

When you came back to the human realm you made a mental note to bring her some gift made with your power next time since she seems to like it so much

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xiao :

He honestly don't care much about your power

But the fact that you're immortal is intriguing to him

He thought you were a zombie, an evil spirit or a demon, but turns out you're just that, immortal

For once he let you get close, since you're immortal you won't be as affected by his karmic debt, at least he suppose so

And one time you were adventuring with him in the montain, when a group of hilichurls attacked the both of you

Since you're there he can't go fully on his power because that would hurt you, and that's how a mitachurl almost hit him

Almost because you used your power to stop it right before

Xiao didn't say anything at the moment but he found this genuinely cool

Back at wanshu inn he asked a few questions while trying to look as uniterested as possible

You answered happily and showed him how you could make a few trinkets, giving him one

He would never stop to have said trinket in the pocket of his pants

~I hope you'll like it~

🌸Request are open🌸

#genshin #genshin headcanon #writing #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #request #venti #venti x reader #ei #ei x reader #raiden shogun #raiden shogun x reader #Zhongli #Zhongli x reader #Xiao #Xiao x reader

[aemontargaryen-bloodraven]

Confession Time

Since, I will complete a whole month in this fandom, I thought I will make a confession.

So I have always been the silent stalker type of fan. I mostly read fanfictions. And Jonsa fanfictions. Because I was one. Yes, me. I was a Jonsa. Forgive me fandom for I have sinned.

I had only watched the show and its disastrous ending and Kit and Sophie had this chemistry so I shipped them. During the show, I liked Jonerys but the emotionless Daenerys of the show irked me and I was so disappointed because I was looking forward to Jonerys meeting. I remember being so fucking hyped that I literally jumped when Daenerys and Tyrion met and I was like yes, Queen, you are going home. Then I was like yes, Jon is going to meet Arya and that was blah... By the end of the show, every character was a caricature. But I still shipped Jonsa (Kit and Sophie).

For a while I just read fanfictions and then I used to stalk Reddit where Jonsa was a joke, which was a surprise to me. Then I came to tumblr, where you know in a certain part of the fandom, it is canon.

I have believed all those fuckall theories. Like for me Jonsa was canon. I liked Jonsa but I was a Jon Stan. But my Jon was supposed to be smart and ruthless (I had read some book quotes on Reddit), but the Jonsa Jon was an idiot and a prop.

The part which actually shifted my understanding of everything was that I was a Rhaegar and Lyanna fan. They were the IT couple for me because Jon is their son. The fanfictions I read had Jon completely hating his parents, and he never had any sort of anger for Ned Stark for lying to him. Jon was naming his daughter Catelyn. He refuses to ever be a Targaryen because they are evil incarnate (Red Flags, Red Flags which I ignored). The fact that one part of that side of the fandom criticized Lyanna and made fanart in which she literally had a horse face (horrible) and the other villified Rhaegar as a rapist and a murderer never sat well with me. Because I relate to that brooding Prince on another level. He is a guy who is surrounded by so much stress and emotional pain and he still can focus on the things that bring him joy and excel at them is personally inspiring for me.

Searching and searching I came across Rhaegar and Lyanna Blog, run by none other than, Lina. Then I read so much stuff and positive discussions happening that I was like, yay, finally, my people. (Still a Jonsa though).

I read every post of Rhaegar and Lyanna by Lina @aerea-targaryen whatever ID she was using and by @intheairwewilllookmonstrous and @imaginaryvane and @lorelei-4.

I loved an amazing post by @asongofstarkandtargaryen comparing Rhaegar and Jon.

I also came across the Original Outline where Jonrya was canon, and then I read some amazing posts by @vivacissimx, @valyrianwarg, @aleksandr-morozova, @duty-that-poxy-bitch (Needleheart) and it wasn't that hard for me to go back to Jonerys as well, @rainhadaenerys (your Jon || Dany post is so amazing), @fireismine (I love your takes), @asoiafdaenerysdaily (the book and show Dany comparisons are the best) @etherealdany (your patience of writing metas and your passion for Dany is fantastic.).

It was so fun shipping both Jonrya and Jonerys and being fine either way.

I read @jackoshadows, who made me understand Canon Jon better. @the-king-andthe-lionheart, whose takes on Arya made me fall in love with her.

There was a post by @lucyskywalker comparing Show and Book Jon that made me read the books. That is why I say this from experience if you are a Jon Stan, you cannot be a Jonsa. I fell in love with Dany. I loved Arya's arc. I have always loved Tyrion and the books just made it more so. Bran's magical story was something I found so intriguing.

I actually had been waiting for Jon Month since November, because I saw all these amazing posts celebrating canon Dany and I was like there should be one for Jon as well. Then there was an announcement and I was all IN. I actually created a tumblr ID in February since then I have interacted with so many of you, @ramblingsandposts, @confusedhummingbird, @bellenora, @ambitious-witch @jonsaflowers, @bicerose, @reignof-fyre and the others that I follow. I love your takes, metas and theories.

I have loved all the edits and fancasts for Jon during Jon Month and been in awe of the amazing creations for Arianne's Week and Theon's Month as well.

Just wanted to appreciate all of you for celebrating canon qualities of the Key Five. You are the one keeping this fandom alive and preventing canon from getting twisted to fanon.

[beyond-far-horizons]

Retrospective for Darth Maul

The more I get into Clone Wars/Rebels the more sadness I feel for Maul. Yes he’s a vicious character who’s done terrible things I’m not trying to deny that, but he really epitomised the result of the Dark Side path alongside Vader. 

Spoilers for Clone Wars, Rebels and a bit of Solo and the Mandalorian.

I always loved him as this Evil Badass in Ep 1 and in some ways I wish they hadn’t made him quite so pitiable esp in Rebels, yet his journey and character development is so rich and Sam Witwer plays him so well.  

What I find so sad and intriguing is that despite being so shaped and ultimately brought down by the Sith Code, he still at core driven by a need for loyalty and love. He craves a special bond with someone - his brother, his mother, Ahsoka, Ezra, even in some twisted way Sidious at least until half way though CW. But because he was kidnapped and raised by Sidious the only way he can conceive of such a bond is via the Sith Rule of Two. You can see how perplexed Savage Oppress is when Maul insists on it in their relationship. And how affected he is by being replaced by Dooku and later Anakin. He uses the Sith Code to survive for years after being cut in half by Obi Wan.

Ahsoka is interesting because they truly are equals in a way, he still at times tries to assert dominance (”follow my lead”, “the Padawan needs one more lesson...”) but he reaches out to her in a vulnerable manner the way he never does with others. Now people forget how cunning he is, he’s had info from Jesse and he was trained by master manipulator  - the effete Sidious - so he’s presenting himself in the way that would most appeal to her ex-Jedi sensibilities, but his need is palpable. Why reach out his hand like that? Does he seriously expect her to take it? And what - hold hands with him? Shake his hand? I know it’s a visual motif from Vader and Kylo Ren, but Vader makes sense - Luke is hanging off a bridge and needs to be pulled up, Kylo has touched hands with Rey before, they have a Force Bond and there’s definite romantic undertones to their previous interactions. Maul and Ahsoka have been enemies up til now, but it’s like he needs that physical connection with her. Yes he’s manipulating her and not to be trusted, but the underlying truth is that they are both outcasts, opposites on the same spectrum; they are in a unique position and as such it’s a real shame the creators didn’t take that forward in some way, because it would have been really interesting and a unique opportunity to explore both their characters and the use of the Force unrestricted by Jedi and Sith ideologies.

Ezra is the saddest though. Maul is much older now and has clearly been on his own or more cloistered away from others, despite his criminal empire, for a long time. His home on Dathomir is testament to that. He literally only has the vengeful spirits of the dead to keep him company ffs! I appreciated the Darkside Yoga impression and the tension this creates when Ezra meets him on Malachor (again another lonely hellscape to get marooned on - Maul do you want to go to Korriban/Moraband to make it a hat-trick? Maybe kick Darth Bane’s arse for his sh*tty ideology while you are there?). But after a while you realise just how desperate Maul is for some kind of companionship that is relatable to him in any way. It’s creepy but also weirdly understandable? Ezra in Maul’s twisted logic is tailor-made for such a bond - he’s an emotional Force sensitive orphan who hates the Sith/Empire and is looking for training, family and purpose - all the things Maul can relate to and can provide. But because Maul has been raised by the Nightsisters and Sidious and twisted by the Dark Side, his only way of relating to the kid is to take him as an apprentice which means the Rule of Two. Ezra’s friends and current Master are a threat, not more potential allies and companions. So Maul attacks them multiple times and loses Ezra’s trust and potential friendship. 

He says when Ezra confronts him about his betrayal of them on Malachor - “I betrayed your friends, I would have remained loyal to you.” And I think he would have. Now would that have been a terrible relationship if Maul’s character hadn’t changed - yes, completely. Maul only knows the Dark Side way of doing things but he does retain this core of attachment that both the Jedi and the Sith would deplore. 

His outburst to Ezra on Dathomir is so revealing (paraphrased) -  “Forget your memories! Forget your attachments! Our destinies converge on a planet with twin suns. We can walk that path together...as friends! As brothers...”

*Cries* He’s not even trying to hide it now, there’s no big bad Sith, no Master and Apprentice - one to embody the power, the other to crave it, Maul at his heart needs a friend, needs a brother. He might have been shouting to himself to let go of his memories and attachments and because he can’t we know it leads to his end on Tatooine which is heartbreaking. Obi Wan sees this and I’m glad he’s able to give his old foe rest at last. It speaks to Obi Wan’s character that despite what Maul has done to him he can ‘rise above’ the Dark Side and not hate Maul. But also I just wish it hadn’t ended that way? It doesn’t help that I thought Maul was still alive in the OT because of Solo and I was so hoping for a Maul/Ashoka reunion in the Mandalorian and her new show. I just wanted him to be this cool anti-villain that explores the spectrum of Light and Dark, maybe get some form of peace or balance...a Grey Sith? The fact he *still* calls Ezra his apprentice the last time he sees him just makes it worse. 

I wanted more for him... 

#darth maul #maul #clone wars #star wars rebels #star wars #ahsoka tano #ezra bridger #darth sidious #palpatine #villains #please don't interact with this post if you are just going to tell me to not like the character or equate his behaviour to RL stuff #I seriously do not have any more patience for fandom purity policing these days #if you are a fan and want to talk Maul though please do #flashing gif #maulsoka

[impalementation]

spike, angel, buffy & romanticism: part 4

part 1: “When you kiss me I want to die”: Angel and the high school seasons

part 2: “Love isn’t brains, children”: Enter Spike as the id

part 3: “Something effulgent”: Season five and the construction of Spike the romantic

* 

“But I can’t fool myself. Or Spike, for some reason.”: Buffy and Spike as a blended self

Before I get into seasons six and seven, it’s worth asking: why would the show do all of this? Why would it spend all of this time developing a supporting villain and joke id character? Why would it give him a romantic arc? I see people say that the writers only gave Spike these storylines because he was popular or they wanted to keep him around, but even that being the case, there was no need to give him the specific arc that they did. It’s more than possible to read meaning into the story that they chose from the array of possible options. 

Here is the thing about the id. It’s not actually something separate from you. It’s not a ravenous monster you can blame your weaknesses on while remaining pure and dignified. The id is part of you. The immediate and enduring appeal of Spike is, I suspect, strongly influenced by the fact that the things the id wants are so very human and sympathetic. His foibles and mistakes are often painfully familiar, even exaggerated through vampirism as they are. In fact, it’s precisely because Spike is allowed to show a full range of reactions to love, because the writing is under less pressure for him to do the “right” or dignified thing, that he can at times be compelling in ways other characters can’t. If Spike just did nasty things, his appeal wouldn’t be much more complicated than the appeal of Angelus, who people tend to like as a villain or storyline rather than as a relatable character. But Spike doesn’t want to dismember nuns or construct elaborate murder tableaux. He wants familiar things like love, identity and meaning, even if the ways he goes about getting them can reflect people’s worst impulses. 

Which brings us to Buffy, and Buffy’s story about growing up. Buffy is Buffy’s show, which means that every writing choice tends to revolve around her arc in one way or another. And this goes for Spike’s storyline even more than most. In the final three seasons of the show, the writing finally engages with how inextricable the id--and all of its impulsive, inarticulate romantic desires--really is from a person’s self. So instead of keeping Spike at a comfortable distance, both Buffy and the writing begin to take him seriously. They begin to invite him in.

Starting in season five, it’s telling how frequently Buffy herself projects on Spike, rather than just the writing setting them up as mirrors. She tells him that he’s the “only one strong enough” to protect her family, and later assigns Dawn specifically to his protection. In “Spiral” she describes him as “the only one besides me that has any chance of protecting Dawn.” This is a very intimate role that she otherwise only assigns to herself (and which is not really based on pure practicality, considering that she’ll later describe Willow as her “big gun”--yet never gives Willow the task of protecting Dawn). She tells him that he cannot love, which is the thing she fears most about herself. Her protests that Spike is a vampire, and thus cannot express or want human things like love, mirror her lamentations that as the Slayer, she cannot have a normal life.

From the Gilliland Gothic double essay:

More than any of her other lovers, Buffy and Spike overlap one another so often that at times their character arcs become nearly indistinguishable. With Angel, Buffy traveled a parallel path in attempting to master self-control. With Riley, her journey ultimately took her in the opposite direction. With Spike, Buffy’s journey is most closely shadowed, in that her interactions with him in many ways can be seen as metaphors for her feelings about herself.

So now Spike is multiple things. On the one hand, he’s the soulless id he’s been since season two. His vampiric behavior represents a morally uninhibited way of reacting to romantic frustrations, among other things. But on the other hand, his vampirism now also marks him as like Buffy, not merely her opposite.* Nor is he only her mirror in the realm of romantic love. The part of him that is a vampire is the part of him that is supernatural (ie, Romantically larger-than-life), that sets him apart from regular people, and dictates how he can and cannot behave. Just like Buffy’s slayerness. His vampirism is what makes him capable of protecting Dawn, while also making him (supposedly, according to Buffy) incapable of human feeling--again, just like Buffy’s slayerness. Instead of Buffy’s Slayer side being aligned with Angelus, who was an unmitigated evil, it becomes aligned with Spike, who is something more complicated. 

*(Though it must be noted that this was a process that began in season four, with the show aligning Spike with the Scoobies by making him a victim of the Initiative. Spike being supernatural suddenly marks him as non-normative, just like the Scoobies, in contrast to the institutional conformity that the Initiative represents. The evolution towards treating the Romantic supernatural as something positive and associated with identity plays a key role in transitioning the show to the more complicated attitudes of the last three seasons.)

This shift in the show’s attitudes towards the id affects how Spike is used. In “Blood Ties” for example, Spike assists Dawn in breaking into the Magic Shop and in “Forever” he helps Dawn resurrect her and Buffy’s mother. In both cases, Spike could be read as embodying impulsive behavior that Buffy is supposed to be better than. Yet both cases specifically involve Spike helping Dawn, who is repeatedly portrayed as Buffy’s human side. As Buffy says in “The Gift”: “[Dawn]’s more than [my sister]. She’s me. The monks made her out of me. [...] Dawn is a part of me. The only part that I--”. In other words, Buffy’s id becomes closely tied to her humanity, even going so far as to become its safeguard. “Blood Ties” ends with Buffy affirming her connection to Dawn, which Spike’s rule-breaking directly enabled, and “Forever” ends with Buffy acknowledging how desperately she wants her mother back too, and becoming closer to Dawn as a result. (Compare to “Lovers Walk”, where Buffy acknowledging her id results in her breaking away from Angel, not drawing closer to anyone). Or in “Intervention”, Spike building the Buffybot directly parallels Buffy’s own anxieties about what she thinks she should be. She thinks she’s losing her ability to love, and that effusive fakery is her only recourse (as she said in “I Was Made to Love You”: “Maybe I could change. [...] I could spend less time slaying, I could laugh at his jokes. I mean men like that right? The joke laughing at?”), a fear that even has some merit, given that her friends cannot tell her and the bot apart. Instead of Buffy and Spike having separate arcs in the episode, Spike learning the difference between real and fake dovetails with Buffy’s own relationship to her realness and fakeness. It turns out that neither of them want a bot version of Buffy. They want real emotion, things like sacrifice and heartfelt gratitude. If even Buffy’s id would let itself be killed for Dawn, then maybe she has nothing to fear from herself. Maybe there is some beauty in the emotional part of her nature that she thinks she must repress.

In other words, part of the writing (and Buffy) fully engaging with romanticism and the id, means engaging with the ways they can be bad and good. There’s this weird thing that happens with Spike as soon as he falls in love with Buffy, where suddenly his actions are more uncomfortable, and to many, off-putting, because their object is Buffy (instead of another vampire like Harmony or Drusilla, who either enjoy the same vampiric things he does, or the audience might be inclined to see as a moral nonentity regardless). His comic id quality becomes somewhat darker and more serious, almost like the way Angel’s early season two darkness becomes more serious after he loses his soul. But at the same time, Spike’s actions are also more intriguing, sympathetic, and even noble...because their object is Buffy. It makes no sense that a soulless vampire should not only fall in love with the Slayer, but genuinely attempt to transform himself into someone worthy of her love. And yet that’s exactly what Buffy inspires him to do. By loving Buffy Spike’s dual nature, and the dual nature of his romanticism, is thrown into relief: it’s something that can be selfish and creepy, yes, but also something that hints at the idea that real romanticism does exist. Something worth feeling romantically about does exist. Thus the writing can at once criticize, say, the way the chivalric mindset conflates love and suffering, while also suggesting that there are kinds of love it’s worth being transformed by. (Meanwhile, Spike’s fumbling bewilderment over how to love Buffy, and what the rules of loving people correctly even are, creates a human middle ground between monstrousness and heroism). By leaning into the way that Buffy and Spike have been used as mirrors for three seasons, and introducing the mythology-bending idea of Spike being in love with Buffy, the writing is able to fully engage with this complicated, contradictory nature of love and romance.

All of which is to say. Spike becomes a potential love interest, and is given a convoluted inner conflict between monstrousness, humanity and heroism, in precisely the season in which Buffy begins to reckon with her own inner conflict between her darker impulses, her human reality, and her supernatural role. It’s no coincidence that season five opens with Dracula, an icon of romantic vampire mythology, tempting Buffy with darkness and promising her insight into her nature. Or that a vampire kidnaps Dawn--again, her human half--in the next episode. Or that the season’s antagonist is a super-strong blonde woman who wants to destroy Dawn instead of protect her. Or that she says goodbye to Riley, the boyfriend who embodied her hopes for a more normative way of being (notice how Riley is progressively destabilized by everything non-normative about Buffy’s life, and provokes those anxieties Buffy expresses in “I Was Made to Love You”). Over and over in season five, Buffy fears that her Slayer half is cold, destructive, and otherwise dangerous. That these Romantic things like gods and vampires have it in for Buffy’s vulnerable humanity. Yet Buffy’s vampire id simultaneously gives lie to these fears by proving itself capable of heroism and genuine human feeling.

In other words, Spike becomes a potential love interest in a season that treats the Romantic--ie the grand and mythical--as something more than just an attractive lie to be disabused of. Rather, the question that season five seems to posit to me, and which will not be fully answered until the end of season seven, is this: once you do clear away the attractive lies, once you accept the hard realities, once you’ve seen the darkest underbellies, what are the things that are left that are truly grand and beautiful? What are the stories that are really worth telling, and the heroes that are really worth having?

And the show asks and answers these questions on both a very personal level, and a more meta, systemic level. On the personal level, Buffy and Spike are forced to confront their illusions not just about the world, but about themselves. They are made to ask themselves what constitutes a heroic role or a demonic weakness, versus basic, unromantic humanity. And on the meta level, the show asks questions about our expectations for how both love stories and chosen hero stories are supposed to go.

part 5: “Everything used to be so clear”: Season six and the agony of the real

#romanticism series #gen #s5 #buffy #spike #riley #btvs

[evilmortys]

okay,  so,  here  are  my  thoughts  on  the  finale,

i’m  gonna  start  with  the  things  i  didn’t  like,  just  because  of  who  i  am  as  a  person!  my  feelings  are  mixed,  but...  looks  lovingly  at  evil  morty.  he  truly  was  the  only  exception  as  usual  ♥

i’m  not  going  to  lie,  this  whole  thing  felt.  rushed.  although  some  of  rick’s  meta  commentary  about  not  touching  citadel  shit  because  it  was  canon  and  he  and  morty  were  supposed  to  be  going  back  to  lighthearted  one  off  adventures,  and  “the  second  he  reveals  that  he’s  evil,  we’re  out”  made  me  laugh,  it  also  felt  very  disingenuous  and  ham-fisted.  having  him  do  all  these  fourth  wall  breaks  honestly  took  away  from  the  impact  of  what  this  episode  could  have  been,  but  whatever.  

i  just  got  the  vibe  that  they  wanted  everyone  to  stfu  about  the  citadel  and  evil  morty,  so  they  quickly  stuck  together  this  episode  that  dealt  with  fans’  demand  in  one  fell  swoop  so  they  could  move  on  from  the  existence  of  both  plotlines.  i  honestly  thought  it  was  a  bit  wasteful  since  tales  from  the  citadel  resonated  with  a  lot  of  fans  and  it  was  an  interesting  bit  of  worldbuilding  with  compelling  narratives  going  on.

you  already  all  likely  know  how  irritated  i  am  with  morty’s  character  degrading  so  much  once  again.  this  entire  season  has  been  building  him  up  to  becoming  so  much  more  capable,  only  to  wrench  it  away  from  him  again  by  instead  having  his  co-dependency  with  rick  ramped  up  to  the  point  it  was  literally  out  of  character.  this  has  come  out  of  nowhere.  at  no  point  in  the  show’s  entire  run  has  morty  ever  been  this  needy  with  rick.  

again,  i  feel  like  this  may  have  been  written  around  what  eventually  ended  up  happening  at  the  citadel,  with  the  revelation  that  mortys  are  ‘bred  for  forgiveness.’  it  would  have  been  far  more  compelling  for  our  morty  to  have  continued  to  go  down  the  path  of  being  decidedly  unforgiving  of  rick’s  bullshit,  thereby  making  him  deviate  from  the  norm  in  a  similar  way  to  evil  morty  himself  and  implicating  that  the  cycle  of  a  morty  going  to  these  extremes  is  going  to  be  repeated  once  again.

rick  did  not  deserve  or  earn  voicing  the  recognition  that  his  dynamic  with  morty  was  toxic,  and  abusive.  are  you  fucking  kidding  me?  the  smartest  man  in  the  universe  only  JUST  clocked  onto  that?  bullshit!  he’s  known  all  along,  and  he’s  been  using  it  for  his  own  gain!  he  doesn’t  get  to  just  say  it  with  that  regretful  voice  as  if  he’s  been  clueless  /  oblivious  to  it  this  entire  time.  they  just  wanted  the  audience  to  feel  sympathetic  for  him  by  throwing  in  this  tidbit  and  a  tragic  backstory,  as  if  that  even  sort  of  makes  up  for  everything  he’s  put  his  family  through.  

abandoning  the  people  you’ve  hurt  is  ALSO  abusive  and  toxic  behaviour!  he’s  done  it  time  and  time  again!  how  is  acknowledging  the  fact  that  you  hurt  people,  that  you  hurt  your  family,  the  people  that  love  you  despite  the  fact  you  objectively  don’t  deserve  it,  then  ditching  them  once  again  instead  of  staying  with  them  and  improving  as  a  person  and  helping  everyone  heal  from  what  you’ve  put  them  through,  ANY  BETTER??  he  never  changes!!

i  also  couldn’t  really  process  the  fact  that  rick  just  handed  morty  his  portal  gun  like  it  was  nothing--  i  feel  like  him  topping  it  off  and  using  it  behind  rick’s  back  should  have  been  a  bigger  deal  than  what  it  was.  also,  morty  would  not  break  a  guy  out  of  a  mental  asylum  without  a  second  thought.  he  simply  wouldn’t  do  that.

we’ve  fallen  right  back  into  the  status  quo  of  morty  being  stupid  and  rick  being  the  smartest  one  in  the  room  who  always  knows  what’s  going  on,  even  when  he  actually  shouldn’t  for  the  sake  of  a  few  meta  jokes.  which  is  more  annoying  than  i  can  put  into  words  tbqh

obviously  i  hated  all  the  parallels  they  were  attempting  to  make  between  rick  and  morty  having  a  romantic  relationship  and  “breaking  up.”  never  has  morty  behaved  so  uncharacteristically  in  any  other  episode  of  the  show.  it  honestly  felt  disrespectful  to  all  the  growth  he’s  had  as  a  character  to  reduce  him  to  something  so  pathetic.

i  guess  this  is  less  of  a  thing  i  disliked,  and  more  of  a  commentary  on  rick’s  character?  but  once  again,  his  hypocrisy  really  leapt  out  at  me  once  it  was  revealed  that  he  always  has  a  hand  in  bringing  together  beths  and  jerrys  in  order  to  ensure  that  more  mortys  will  end  up  in  the  multiverse.  i  find  it  unbelievably  sad  that  he’ll  willingly  ensnare  the  two  of  them  in  the  throes  of  a  relationship  that  he  knows  is  likely  to  become  toxic  and  cause  the  both  of  them  to  be  miserable  throughout  their  time  together;  they’re  rarely  happy  /  compatible  together  and  always  end  up  sticking  it  out  for  the  kids.  it  also  makes  his  constant  shitting  on  jerry  even  more  egregious  and  almost  serves  to  call  his  love  for  his  daughter  into  question  for  me.  he’s  using  her  as  a  means  to  his  own  ends  by  manipulating  situations  so  she’ll  meet  jerry  and  they’ll  likely  end  up  together.  

don’t  get  me  wrong,  i  actually  really  loved  the  fact  he  had  a  hand  in  founding  the  citadel  he  now  loathes  so  much,  and  i  think  the  constant  creation  of  mortys  as  grandsons  ‘bred  to  forgive’  ricks  is  so  fucked  up  and  awful  in  the  most  intriguing  way.  it’s  akin  to  him  fiddling  with  the  concept  of  keeping  mortys  in  constant  pain  to  cloak  his  comings  and  goings  around  the  multiverse  (on  paper,  morty,  on  paper!),  except  this  time  he  did  it  in  reality.

evil  morty.  oh  my  god,  evil  morty.  my  saving  grace.  my  ray  of  light.  i’m  so,  so,  so  pleased  with  the  way  he  was  handled.  while  i  admit  i  was  looking  forward  to  more  of  a  slow - burn  thing,  getting  a  bit  of  insight  into  his  presidency  and  possibly  exploring  a  dynamic  with  him  and  c-137  (we’ll  get  to  that)...  i  honestly  still  really  loved  what  ended  up  happening  with  him,  even  though  i  still  believe  on  some  level  that  they  just  wanted  to  tie  up  his  narrative  thread  so  fans  wouldn’t  remain  fixated  on  him.

of  course  he  did.  of  course  that  motherfucker  rick  created  a  boundary  within  the  infinite  multiverse  that  ensured  he’d  always  be  the  smartest  man  within  it  as  far  as  mortys  and  other  people  in  his  life  were  concerned.  i’ve  always  found  it  odd  that  such  universes  were  never  brought  up  even  in  passing;  the  nature  of  infinite  possibilities  always  dictated  that  someone  smarter  than  him  must  exist  out  there,  and  that  worlds  existed  where  he  was  nobody  special.

him  being  morally  gray.  i  could  cry.  i  was  clinging  on  to  the  hope  that  it  would  be  shown  he  hates  ricks  more  than  he  looks  down  on  mortys,  and  it  absolutely  was.  while  he  was  okay  with  killing  and  hurting  mortys  to  achieve  his  own  “selfish”  ends,  it’s  clear  that  he’s  unhappy  with  the  cycle  of  abuse  from  their  infinite  grandfathers  that  pushes  him  to  these  extremes,  loathes  the  concept  that  mortys  are  not  supposed  to  defy  their  ricks.  “if  you’ve  ever  been  sick  of  him,  you’ve  been  evil  morty  too.”  he  hates  ricks  FAR  more  than  he  does  mortys,  and  you  can  pry  that  from  my  cold,  dead  hands.  he  believes  mortys  are  beyond  help  because  of  the  way  they  stick  by  rick--  the  fact  they’re  literally  created  with  being  yes-men  for  rick  in  mind.

he  didn’t  seek  to  make  changes  for  the  greater  good  of  other  mortys  within  the  citadel.  i  think  he  understood  on  some  level,  it  was  impossible.  i  think  he  has  this  belief  that  other  mortys  are  part  of  the  problem,  because  they  perpetuate  the  cyclic  dynamic  of  toxicity  and  harm--  they  don’t  move  to  break  free  from  it  the  way  he  does,  and  so  he  feels  no  guilt  leaving  them  behind  while  he  breaks  into  the  aspect  of  the  multiverse  where  rick  has  no  power.  it’s  honestly  heartbreaking  that  he’s  come  to  have  a  mindset  like  that.  

i  think  seeing  c-137  reach  out  to  help  rick  up  once  again  instead  of  accepting  what  i  hope  and  pray  was  a  semi - genuine  offer  to  join  him  as  he  departed  was  just  yet  another  instance  of  him  witnessing  a  morty  doing  the  most  to  save  the  man  who  makes  their  lives  a  living  hell.  if  he  was  truly  unsympathetic,  he’d  have  made  no  such  offer.  if  he  thinks  a  morty  is  capable  of  pulling  away  from  the  hold  ricks  have  on  them,  he  wants  them  out  of  this  shit  just  as  much  as  he  himself  wants  to  break  free  from  it.  i  think  he  has  the  mindset  that  i  know  they  tried  to  play  it  off  with  “haha  the  other  seat’s  a  toilet,”  but  i  don’t  think  that  was  the  case  and  they  were  once  again  just  undermining  the  moment  for  no  good  reason.  SCREAMS!!  don’t  get  me  wrong  what  he  did  WAS  selfish  and  evil.  but  in  a  way  you  can  understand  where  it  derives  from

again,  it  REALLY  irritates  me  they’ve  undone  so  much  of  morty’s  character  just  to  ensure  he  wouldn’t  end  up  taking  evil  morty  up  on  his  proposition.  if  morty  had  retained  even  a  tenth  of  the  character  growth  he’s  been  having  from  late  season  four  until  towards  the  end  of  season  five,  wherein  it  began  to  unravel,  he’d  have  left  rick.  undeniably.

the  yellow  portal.  oh  my  god............

it  made  me  so  fucking  emotional  to  see  that.  he’s  won.  he’s  free.  

#rick and morty #evil morty #okay this isn't even all of them but it will do #alex talks!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 292: You Say Jeans

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “well anyway here’s that Touya reveal I foreshadowed like a million years ago, viva la 2020.” Dabi was all “hello world, I’ve killed 30 people and today I’m going to explain to you all why” before he proceeded to explain ABSOLUTELY NOTHING but everyone was so distracted by his tale of child abuse and hero conspiracies that they didn’t much seem to notice. Can’t Ya See-Kun’s Shark Friend was all “IS THIS THE END OF HERO SOCIETY AS WE KNOW IT”, and Horikoshi was all “STAY TUNED”, and then Dabi set himself on fire and leaped off of Machia’s back like the chaotic evil, I-just-bleached-all-my-brain-cells weird little fire man he is, ready to burn everyone to crispy bits before they could even react properly to his whole big revenge speech. Fortunately he did not succeed on account of THE RETURN OF THE JING, THE JOAT, BEST FUCKING JEANIST, back from the dead by popular demand in what critics are calling “the best fucking comeback since Jesus himself.”

Today on BnHA: Best Jeanist snatches up Machia and the rest of the League with his fiber steel cables before you can say “more like BEAST JEANIST amirite.” Dabi gets all worked up and lights Hadou on fire which is a real JERK MOVE, and is all “THIS RIGHT HERE IS ALSO ENDEAVOR’S FAULT”, which, NOT SUPER CONVINCED ON THAT, BUT OKAY. Anyway so then he burns up all the cables holding him which is crazeballs btw, and then he and Shouto start fighting, and so basically the whole thing is a literal hot mess and we’ll see how that goes. Meanwhile Tomura wakes up and summons some Noumus, and poor Jeanist has to deal with those on top of the still-attempting-to-rampage Gigantomachia, and everyone else is all “we can’t help you on account of we’re all half dead”, and so it’s looking really bad. And then -- and I can’t stress enough how much I don’t even have the faintest idea how to segue into this next part -- the chapter ends with Mirio!?! just sort of POPPING UP OUT OF THE GROUND all, “SURPRISE, BITCH”, and it literally was so surprising that I am still just kind of speechless. WELL-PLAYED, I GUESS, lol wtf.

lol okay so the first page in the RHA scan is just the “three musketeers” movie promo image that we all already saw a few days ago. but it does confirm that (a) it is indeed a movie, and (b) that it’s set for a summer 2021 release! how exciting

okay so now back to our special Dabi edition of Making a Murderer

“ray of hope” oh hell yes. SAVE US MR. JEANIST

I guess he had a TV in his private hero jet or something?

gotta say, “dammit Dabi” does not even remotely sound like Authentic Best Jeanist Dialogue to me though. gonna need Caleb to see to this. well but what do you guys think? does Best Jeanist curse?? I personally feel like he’s one of those guys who NEVER EVER swears no matter what, except under the most hilariously trifling circumstances. like he’s eating an avocado one day and he accidentally stains the cuffs of his beloved jostume green and he’s all “FUCK”

btw how fucking rich is Best Jeanist though that he has his own fucking plane? the thought just suddenly occurred to me, you know? like even Endeavor, whose agency has its own on-site luxury apartment suites for all of his interns, still drives around in a dinky little car that Bakugou has declared to be too small. which, I guess we know why he felt that way now, seeing as the guy he previously interned with apparently gets around in Jeans Force One

anyway so back to the part where Jeanist shows up to save the day!! YEAH JEANIST WOOOOO

ILU JEANIST YOU REALLY ARE THE BEST!! HUGS AND KISSES!!!

lmao we just saw Gigantomachia take out like a hundred guys not ten chapters ago. and Best Jeanist shows up and takes him down in like two seconds. HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES LEAGUE OF VILLAINS. BET YOU’RE WISHING YOU’D TAKEN HIS QUIRK NOW, AFO. GET FUCKED YOU OLD SPUD

KACCHAN IS SO HAPPY TO SEE HIM AWW

SIDE NOTE, IIDA, YOU AND I ARE GONNA HAVE WORDS LATER ABOUT YOU ACTUALLY AGREEING TO PUT HIM BACK DOWN. YOU DO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS CHILD IS STILL DRIPPING BLOOD ALL OVER THE PLACE FROM HIS MULTIPLE STAB WOUNDS, RIGHT? WAY TO ASSERT YOUR AUTHORITY THERE. I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE CLASS PRESIDENT NOT THE CLASS CLOWN, COME ON NOW

LMAO DABI IS FRANTICALLY TRYING TO DO THE PLOT MATH

SHOULDA CHECKED MORE CLOSELY MY GOOD MARK. LOOKS LIKE YOU MISSED THE “MADE IN CHINA” STICKER ON THE BOTTOM. YOU HAVE BEEN BAMBOOZLED. OR ACTUALLY, I GUESS THE MORE ACCURATE WORD HERE IS JAMBOOZLED, AHAHAHAHA. JEANS

HOLY SHIT DABI

I legit almost thought that was Tomura for a second. you two look so alike now with the white hair and the crazy eyes

meanwhile, Shouto is still crying and it’s a lot to take, you guys. lotta feels

ffff come on Jeanist you better do something awesome again here, the mood of the chapter is starting to slip now

YES, GOOD, THAT’LL WORK

WELL YOU TELL ME, SPINNER. I GUESS THAT MEANS BEST JEANIST IS OFFICIALLY THE STRONGEST CHARACTER IN THE SERIES NOW. SORRY I DON’T MAKE THE RULES

ffff now Spinner is trying to wake Tomura back up. nah, how’s about we not do that

OH MY GOD HADOU YESSSS

MY GIRL OUT HERE WITH THE “NO THANK YOU” BOUT TO CURBSTOMP THE BIG BAD WITH HER QUIRK KSFHLKLK WHO HERE HAD “HADOU SAVES THE DAY” ON YOUR WAR ARC BINGO CARDS, YOU LOVE TO SEE IT!!

HEY!!!!

fucking son of a... fffkfkff... someone please reassure me that fire isn’t Hadou’s weakness. someone. anyone. also could someone please dial an ambulance and send them to Horikoshi’s house. but not just yet. first I’m gonna need you to wait about fifteen minutes or so while I take care of some things

well all right then, Dabi. so you wanna go on then and explain to us all how this, too, is somehow Endeavor’s fault?

oh I see, you’ve decided that since he’s responsible for “creating” you, everyone you hurt and kill is in truth really being hurt and killed by him! well now, that sure is convenient as fuck I guess

(ETA: that’s a nice effect with the panel sides getting all warped by Dabi’s quirk though, just noticed that.)

amazing how quickly you used up that sympathy card my guy. Shouto please kick his ass, I’m fucking done lol, you can all sort out the rest in therapy later

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE DIAL BACK DEKU’S EMPATHY STATS JUST A LITTLE BIT, HOLY --

“TODOROKI-KUN IS HURT THE MOST”, HE SAYS, WITH HIS ARM BONES SHATTERED INTO LITTLE TOOTHPICK-SIZED PIECES. I MEAN, HE’S PROBABLY TALKING MORE ABOUT MENTAL ANGUISH GIVEN THE CONTEXT HERE, BUT STILL. THAT’S ENOUGH HEROICS FROM YOU ALREADY FOR ONE DAY

NOOO JEANIST

LOTS OF SMOKE IN THE AIR RIGHT ABOUT NOW AND MY BOY’S STILL DOWN A LUNG. GOD DAMMIT

“if the number one suffers a total loss here, this country will fall to pieces” well okay, real talk though, I think the “country falling to pieces” part is pretty much unavoidable at this juncture. you all are just gonna have to try your best to pick up those pieces after the fact and see what you can do with them. if I were you I’d be less worried about the number one’s reputation and more concerned with the half-dozen child soldier interns who are still on the field and very much at risk of being burned to death should you suffer that “total loss.” please try to keep it together here for them

OH FOR FUCK’S

I really thought RockLockRock was gonna come into play here. USE YOUR QUIRK TO LOCK THE ROPES IN PLACE YOU DIP!! if he seriously just sits there and does nothing when his quirk could be the deciding factor I am cancelling his useless ass cute kid or no cute kid shfkjdls

(ETA: is he even there?? did he and Manual just hightail it out of there?? “well good luck, children.”)

also, we’ll put this aside for now to perhaps speculate about later, but what’s with Tomura remembering his dad’s house yet again in that far right panel?? and being itchy again?? I still have yet to fully work out the psychological mechanisms at work as far as his itchiness goes, so I’ll admit this is intriguing to me. it seemed like it was connected to his decay quirk, but then why is it acting up again now. what is this lol

yuh oh

forgot about these guys. looks like these heroes aren’t having such a fun time

oh fucksticks

excuse me ma’am but I don’t like this. you do know that my kids are all there, right. all burnt and impaled and broken-boned and the like. well except for Iida. he’s fine still. BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN I FEEL LIKE WATCHING HIM GET TORN APART BY FOUR HIGH ENDS, WTF

HORIKOSHI YOU MOTHERFUCKER I SWEAR TO GOD

god fucking... okay look. Horikoshi. you win, okay!? congratulations, you win, this is your show and we’re all just sitting here at your mercy. fine. go ahead and just kill off everyone ever, then!! what am I even gonna do about it. stop reading?? fuck

this whole thing really went from zero to fucked before I could even blink huh. I really thought this was gonna be a turning point chapter for the heroes. shows what I know I guess??

meanwhile this motherfucker is just SCREAMING

ngl, if I wasn’t currently terrified on account of things suddenly taking such a drastic turn for the worse, this would be the coolest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. Jeanist my man, I hype you up like it’s my job because you are the greatest fucking meme character in the history of time, but make no mistake, you are also highkey WORTH ALL THE HYPE AND THEN SOME

seriously, though. don’t fucking mind him you guys, he’s just standing here in the coolest pose of all time taking on Gigantomachia all alone with one fucking lung because the substance pumping through his veins is COLD-BLOODED LIQUID DENIM, and DENIM FEELS NO FEAR

Best Jeanist really needs to get his own theme song. -- oh my god I just finally thought of a title for this post. lmao and it’s the dumbest thing. omg

MEANWHILE THE TODOROKI BROS ARE OFF IN THEIR OWN DRAMATIC LITTLE FIRE WORLD

which one do you think is the Mario and which is the Luigi. well, but I mean, Dabi clearly thinks that he’s the Luigi though and that’s why he’s so mad. nobody wants to be Luigi. what a life

THAT’S IT, SHOUTO!! POINT OUT ALL OF HIS HYPOCRITICAL BULLSHIT, I WANT ANSWERS

JUST TO CLARIFY, IT’S THAT NATSU, NOT SOME OTHER NATSU!! SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF!!

OH, WELL IN THAT CASE

BUT OF COURSE. THAT WOULD MAKE IT ALL WORTHWHILE, holy shit. okay I’m just gonna go ahead and say it, Dabi is a piece of work. I really thought this arc would make him more sympathetic at long last, but it seems like it’s doing just the opposite?? this is like an anti-redemption arc. I don’t relish the thought of venturing into the fandom tags once I finish reading this lol

(ETA: well folks, I’ve done it. and actually it was pretty interesting because there are apparently like ten different things that people are mad about, and so it’s like. each post is a new adventure lmao.)

so Shouto is all “BRUH HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST IT” and Dabi is all “YES”, basically? like, he says he’s completely lost his feeling for anything. omg. but you were so sweet. how does that even happen

“finally I can kill you” okay for real what the heck is your damage bro?? can we not. I like Shouto just the way he is, un-killed

oh shit and now the Noumus are here

cue Bakugou diving in to save his mentor, STAB WOUNDS BE DAMNED!! actually it would make more sense for it to be Iida, but if Kacchan is really fixin’ to go full Shounen Dumbass here then he might as well go all out, y’know

-- unless of course, Deku decides to activate another quirk??

“last I checked, the main character of this series was still me” OH? WELL I SUPPOSE THAT IS TRUE, SO PRAY TELL, WHAT HAVE YOU GOT LEFT UP YOUR SLEEVE YOU SUICIDAL BRUSSELS SPROUT

fucking love how he’s all “HAHAHA WITH MY NEW QUIRKS I CAN STILL DO STUPID SHIT EVEN WITH MY ARMS AND LEGS GROUND TO A FINE POWDER” btw. what can I say. Deku gonna Deku

FMMFHDKUHK W H A T

HOLY SHIT. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. WHAT THE WHAT. QUE THE FUCK

(ETA: okay look, all the love in the world to the brave scanlators who take time out of their lives to translate the leaks every week just so we can read the chapter a couple of days early like the addicts we are. that said, translating Mirio’s signature “POWER!!” -- which was already written in English in the original scan -- to “POG-CHAMP” is just a whole new level of wtfuckery from them lmao. is the Lida person back at it again?? amazing.)

MIRIO!?!?! SHOWS UP TO SAVE THE DAY?!?! POGS HIMSELF UP OUT THE GROUND TO BEAT THE NOUMUS LIKE IT AIN’T NO THING. JUST LIKE WE ALL PREDICTED!? I’M SORRY, DID YOU NOT SEE THAT COMING?? YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOUR DAILY HOROSCOPE FROM ASTROLOGY DOT COM DIDN’T HAVE THAT ONE IN THE CARDS?? WAS IT NOT OBVIOUS?? TODOROKIS PLUS BEST JEANIST EQUALS MIRIO??

hot damn. Tintin really saw the writing on the wall with the impending Dabi Discourse and was all “NOT SO FAST” lmao. “HERE’S A BRAND NEW THING FOR YOU ALL TO DISCOURSE ABOUT” MIRIO YOU WILD CHILD. YOU GLORIOUS THUG

MEANWHILE LET’S NOT FORGET WHAT MIRIO HAVING HIS POWERS BACK ACTUALLY IMPLIES. HOLY SHIT. SUDDENLY WE CUT BACK TO ALL MIGHT’S OFFICE, ALL THE WAY BACK AT UA. ERI BRANDISHES HER TOKOYAMI-GIFTED BUSTER SWORD, A DETERMINED GLEAM IN HER EYE. “I HEARD YOU WERE TRYING TO HAVE A GIRL POWER ARC WITHOUT ME.” OH. MY. GOD

#bnha 292 #best jeanist #todoroki touya #dabi #todoroki shouto #midoriya izuku #hadou nejire #toogata mirio #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

[anxiouspotatorants]

Whoopsy daisy I made a Shadow and Bone random thoughts post:

The costumes in this show are impeccable. I was drooling over all the keftas and the ball gowns in 1.05 and the crow outfits. Hell, even the winter-camo outfits that Mal, Mikhael and Dubrov wore in 1.04 were amazing.

Am I the only one who isn’t surprised by the kruge pronounciation? Because I thought it would sound like how English people say Scandinavian words and I wasn’t wrong.

Coming in to this show as someone who had only read the Six of Crows duology, I expected to at least tolerate Malina based on the trailer clips. I kid you not: less than five minutes into the very first episode they owned my ass. That might be a new record for me.

Seriously the friendship? The pining? The finding home in each other and being able to acknowledge their faults and apologize to each other? Both of them having massive “fight me” energy and protecting each other? Hugs?? Why am I surprised that I ship this?

Some of those scene transitions/flashback edits were so good! Like I know they repeated that meadow scene a lot throughout the season, but the cuts from kid-Mal looking at the rabbit to grown up Mal psyching himself up for the fist fight? Poetic cinema.

The Darkling was horrible and I love it. He wasn’t a carbon copy villain, nor did his complexity redeem him. He was a perfectly complex and understandable monster and I am living for it. I have not been so happy to despise a character in ages and I genuinely bow in gratitude to both the writers and Ben Barnes, because I finally got to enjoy watching a character I did not for one second root for ( #writevillainswellagain)

Look I already loved Jesper in the book but his on-screen translation elevated him from a fave to the fave. I was worried that they would push him into a comedic relief-role, but he got to keep both his heart, his depth, and his humour. Kit Young did an amazing job bringing what was already a great character on page to an even greater character on screen and I once again applaud.

Am I a bit bitter that the casting had some interesting choices for certain roles (aka hiring light skin and mid-size actors for explicitly darker skin and plus-size roles)? Kind of. Do I think there are important discussions worth having about this? Yup. Do I also think that every actor hired for Shadow and Bone did an amazing job and deserve zero hate and massive amounts of love? Also yes.

I had Alexei for one episode and one episode only, and I still miss that poor sucker. This show did a surprisingly good job with making me care about a massive amount of characters considering the screen time they had and the amount of episodes this season had. Good job.

For some reason I expected Inej to be a lot more brooding based on how I perceived her in the books but I love what Amita Suman did with her. Her translation completely recontextualised everything I remember from the books and just brought this truly fresh character to life. Assassin with a conscience indeed.

Also I did love the Kaz we got in this season but I can barely contain myself as I wait for season 2 to be made and for a certain flashback to take place because that moment in the book was visceral and it stayed with me for a long time and I knew before the show announcement that this flashback could become a television moment. 

Speaking of Kaz the crows were so chaotic and messy and I’m here for it. Their interactions with each other and their improvised back-up plans were everything. I somehow didn’t expect the crows to become the comedic relief of the season but it honestly makes so much sense.

A couple episodes in I still didn’t get the Zoya hype (remember I haven’t read the books) but was a massive Genya fan. By the end of the season I was like “oh both of these girls are getting redemption arcs and I am here for it”.

Speaking of redemption I still don’t like Matthias. I’m sorry but I just don’t. I get that he is important to many and that they like his relationship with Nina, but I just don’t have the patience for him and feel like Nina can do better. I still want him to get a redemption... but maybe not through a romance with the grisha woman he repeatedly slutshames, is bigoted towards and chokes at least once (twice if that SoC scene from book 1 happens). That being said this is just how I see him, so feel what ever you feel about him and ship to your heart’s content!

Alina’s journey through this season made complete sense to me. It hurt to see certain things, but they were necessary in my eyes. Seeing her go from this essentially insecure but brave girl to a manipulated pawn to an even stronger and more self reliant girl in spite of everything was amazing. It did feel like a well-written hero’s journey and I’m looking forward to seeing where she goes next.

Apparently a lot of book-readers don’t like Mal (and I am not here to change anyone’s mind about that) but the Mal I saw on the show was amazing. I actually kind of wish we had seen more of who he was outside of his relationship to Alina (f.ex. other flashbacks than the meadow, maybe something about any of his missions while separated from Alina pre-show), but I also loved what we got of him with Alina. We still got to see a guy who was brave, stubborn, flirtatious, a bit judgemental but with a strong sense of humour, and a lot of loyalty (to Alina but also to his friends). I can hardly wait to see what’s next for him.

Milo the goat. Where do I even begin. Not only did we get that Jesper-scene, but their farewell actually became a Chekhov’s gun for Mal in 1.07? Milo is the true hero of the season.

Speaking of 1.07 I loved the tent scene between Alina and the Darkling. She both got to be realistic about her feelings for the Darkling and stand up for herself and for others and call him out. The way I interpret the Darkling, he is the kind of villain who creates a saviour narrative around himself but cares more about power than anything else. He’ll say he’s doing everything to protect his people but is the first to kill the very people he claims to love. And Alina’s tent-speech really hammered that in for me.

I adore Baghra. Is she morally dubious? Yes. Was she incredibly mean to Alina during training to the point where it might have been excessive? Yes. Did she not take any of the Darkling’s bullshit and act as the proper mentor for Alina when the Darkling had said that he was going to train her? Yes. Am I kind of a Baghra stan now? I mean maybe.

The antler-collar was so evil and gross but from a visually narrative stand point it was perfect. 

Also I still have no idea who David is but I want redemption for him too. Honestly I feel like half the supporting cast is gearing up for redemption arcs next season and I am excited for most of them.

Nina’s reaction when she hears Kaz on the boat? Priceless. Actually the whole boat scene from when she goes up on deck again to the cut back to the fold was priceless.

That being said the final scene had me even more ready for season 2.

Jesper kind of gave me messy period-fantasy James Bond? Does that make sense?

And Mal kind of gave me Lois Lane energy? As in he’s the mortal love interest that many assume is the hero/heroine’s weakness but actually functions as their emotional strength and inspiration? Am I reaching here or am I getting somewhere?

Mikhael and Dubrov. What a duo. Absolute madlads.

Also I’d like to see more Nadia if that is possible? Because the few scenes we had of her had me intrigued but then she sort of disappeared? Is she going to be important or was she just more of a temporary supporting character? 

I entered this show a casual Six of Crows fan with mild interest in Kanej and I finished this season a mess. A mess who ships Kanej and Malina and Genya with that David guy even though they had about 30 seconds of screentime together and Zoya with redemption and Jesper with main-character status (hey we’re not getting Wylan until season 2 at least) and kind of those two Ravkan army guys and Nina with anyone else and Matthias with a better redemption storyline and the Darkling with karma! Also, a mess with a whole new set of comfort characters!

#I don't even think I got all my thoughts out #this post is just getting too long #so if I have more I shall simply make more posts #I've lost count of how many times I wrote that I loved something #this isn't even my favourite show ever I just have a lot of thoughts and like sharing them #shadow and bone #six of crows spoilers #inej ghafa #kaz brekker #jesper fahey #alina starkov #malyen oretsev #mal oretsev #nina zenik #anti darkling #anti the darkling #anti matthias helvar #zoya nazyalensky #genya safin #david kostyk #alexei shadow and bone #shadow and bone spoilers #sab spoilers #baghra morozova #malina #alina x mal #kanej #inej x kaz #genya x david #the potato rants

[authoressskr]

Tracking Death and Magic, pt 2

Characters: f!Reader [known in this fic as Duchess], Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Phil Coulson, Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Sam Wilson, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, Clint Barton, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, mentions of Dr. Strange, OFCs

Warnings: Language, death, angst, and no Beta   ::    Notes: this was written for @captain-kelli’s #ckcomebacktour – WELCOME BACK!!    ::   Word Count: 10,414

Mythological + Fairy Tale Creatures AU feat. Alpha Werewolf/Vampire!Bucky, Alpha Werewolf/Vampire!Steve, Giant!Hulk side Bruce, Born Witch!Wanda, Hellhound mix!Reader

Someone is hunting down those with Fae blood in New York. And no one can figure out why or who is behind the crimes. So higher ups in the city hand the case over to SHIELD, who deals with the more difficult supernatural cases. But even after two weeks, this small elite team can’t seem to figure out where the person or persons responsible will strike or the reasoning behind it. Anyone with a drop of Fae blood is scared…scared of being kidnapped or killed. Time to call in some outside help.

Prompt: [*In Part 1*] “All of those people are alive right now - all because of her.”

[ Please do NOT repost, copy & paste, translate, post or share my works on any other platform without my EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION. 18+ ONLY PLEASE, all content providers don’t want serious repercussions from underage interactions, myself included. ]

-+- REBLOGGING is fine and *very* appreciated! -+-

Part One

You could feel it as you walked up to the sidewalk where Cyrus had been killed. The now dried and cleaned sidewalk not hiding it’s dark shadows from you in the waning late afternoon light.

The creeping, underhanded power of the Seelie Court brushing against you.

The poison is a prominent smell to your hound side still since it’s only been a day and a half. Cyrus’s soul hasn’t lingered, so that at least is a blessing, but the conversation with your uncle and this fresh site is putting your nerves on the very edge. You can ‘see’ the faint magic outline where he died, you knew he’d be wearing his homemade medallion to ward off evil. Swallowing, you kneel where his feet would have been, reaching out with your magic.

The flashes that echo painfully through your mind make you gasp.

The cloaked figure is stealing magic. Taking it violently. To him, the more violent and quick, the better. It honestly just makes your stomach roll, the saliva building in your closed and clenched mouth.

But why? You can taste the lighter magic associated with the Seelie Court - the Court of Light - the kind that humans and others often think of when they think of the fair folk. The court thought, it doesn’t deal with humans or others unless absolutely needed…

When you told Hades you suspected a member of the higher courts on your little walk, you hadn’t anticipated to be able to feel it. The boots, the glistening silver swords, the escape when you had moved a forgotten tiny part of the sithen under the alley -- now it all makes a lot more sense now. The shiver that runs down your spine at the implications this creates. May the God and Goddess spare all those innocents involved, you pray quickly.

A henchman for the shining Seelie Court, sweet baby Jesus. What had you gotten yourself into?? What had SHIELD stumbled into??

The residual death is quick, but still it steals into you, taking away what little baited breath you had. Feeling the tears prickle your eyes as you try to figure out these new pieces of the puzzle.

Hades can’t help you - Gods can’t interfere with other pantheons businesses, good or bad.

Hades can’t save you from the other half of yourself.

It was something you had always known in the back of your mind, but the harsh slap of it hurt more than the death and falling pieces of this horrible plot. But...just maybe there could be a light in this cave of fae intrigue and murder. There are others whom you can save.

The three stolen wouldn’t be taken to the sithen, that would be too obvious of their involvement. Plus, they were fae and thus could leave as long as not put into a dungeon there and theoretically had enough power and know-how to do so. But had the cloaked figure been draining them, you weren’t sure if they could get out or away.

So, that would mean they were still somewhere close by.

The last traces of magic from the murder, Cyrus’s own traces, and your hellhound senses in overdrive to track everything - you’re drowning as the sun sinks just a tad lower in the sky, creating the beginnings of the lovely orange autumn color you adore. Fall was closer than you remembered. You can vaguely hear your name being said, like being underwater almost. Then you can smell sage, lemon and juniper - the sweet smells of the entrance to the Underworld.

The way the newcomer says your name grounds you, while Bucky calling your name brings you closer to the surface - your mate...Bucky brings you back to reality. And he’s protective and bristling slightly at the other man who is holding your arm’s firmly.

You’re looking up at the slightly blurry face of a traditionally handsome Greek man, all muscle and blurry smile, with thick black hair and sweet honey brown eyes.

“I hate your human disguise sometimes,” You grunt and turn to plop down on your ass as Bucky watches as the man lean in and proceed to lick from your chin up to your hairline. “Okay, okay...thank you Cerb,” You shove his chest gently to get him to release you, reaching for Bucky’s hand automatically. “This is my mate, Bucky. Don’t snap at him.” Cerberus gives you puppy dog eyes, his nerves calming down slightly to hold his form better. So at least now it was one face instead of the three blurry ones superimposed over each other.

“Did you just say Cerby?!” Wanda sounds astonished.

“As in Cerberus?” Natasha questions calmly. The guardian to the Underworld stands up and he’s visibly excited looking from you to Natasha and Wanda.

“Yes,” You coo. “This is my best friend in the whole world and Underworld, Cerberus. Cerberus, this is Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers is his best friend. Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Phil Coulson. Wanda Maximoff and her twin, Pietro.”

“Pleasure,” His deep voice almost has an echo to it. “Lord said you needed looking after, pup. He was right. Too close.”

“I know,” You sigh out as your hand subconsciously clenches Bucky’s a little tighter even after he helps you up.

“No,” Cerberus growls. “Close.”

“Fucking great,” You growl out in reply, anger rising.

“See anything?” Phil asks, forehead furrowed just so. You sigh again, anger dissipating as quickly as it had boiled up.

“We are in a shit ton of trouble.”

“We are aware of that, kid,” Steve states, crossing his arms over his wide chest.

“Nooo. Like real shit ton of trouble. Seelie Court trouble.” Phil lets out a string of curses as Clint’s stance gets more rigid. “The cloaked asshole is working for the Seelie Court. I can taste the residual light magic. And he’s stealing magic. That’s why he’s been killing most of them. Kidnapping the more powerful ones to drain them continuously, I’m guessing.”

“He can’t take them back to the golden sithen,” Phil states, following where you’re leading. “So they’re still in the area.”

“I think he took them where there’s more greenery and nature, it would make it more comfortable for him. Someplace secretive to drain and hide them.”

“Central Park,” Bucky reasons. “It makes the most sense. It would be easy for him to hide them there, especially if he was -” He stops as you start exhibiting nervous energy beside him, enough to upset his wolf and your scent to change. “What is it?”

“Only royalty can move the sithen,” You whisper, eyes focused solely on Phil.

“I have to let Fury know…” Phil looks at you with pity and sadness appearing in his blue eyes. “Everything.”

“I figured as much when I tasted their magic,” face contorting with a pained expression is all Bucky sees on your lovely face as you whisper the words defeatedly. He’s on edge now with your changing emotions and scents, trying to keep his eyes from shifting too much or his fangs popping out to prepare for the impending fight, the need to protect and soothe you almost overwhelming him internally.

“I’m sorry,” He offers, moving forward to squeeze your shoulder sympathetically, withdrawing the phone from his pant pocket as your free hand shoots forward to grip his wrist tightly, a plea written plainly for all to see on your almost panicking face.

“Please Phil...delay it til the morning. I can’t...they’ll -” Bucky and Steve can taste the fear that’s rolling off you now, raising his hackles as Cerberus eyes him with interest before returning his gaze to Duchess.

“I won’t let your other side harm you,” Cerby snarls, his handsome olive face contorted with anger as you wince hard. Bucky tugs you into him as much as he can with your iron grip still on Phil, soothing the pacing and snarling wolf in his head as much as he is soothing you.

That’s why you said you should be better at wording things, Bucky thinks to himself, nuzzling his nose into your hair, fangs no longer a worry as your scent shifts yet again to worry. Only now he realizes you are concerned about how he sees you.

“Do you care I’m a werewolf and vampire crossbreed 100 year old plus former assassin?” Bucky mumbles softly against your head, making you pull away to look up at him, shock and confusion making you wrinkle your forehead at your mate. Your scent shifts to calm Bucky now, eyes tearing up just a tad as his wolf shakes and settles down. Mate needs reassurance.

“No!” You release Phil’s wrist to cup Bucky’s cheek, thumb moving over the course hairs of his beard. “I don’t care what you are. You’re mine, James.” The light in Bucky’s eyes stun you with his smile, his eyes crinkling beautifully. Just radiating his happiness in that simple little motion of his elated smile, your inner hound almost dopey at the tenderness your mate is exuding.

“Then why would I care if you're half fae?” He presses his forehead down against yours, making you squeeze your eyes closed to prevent the tears from falling. “You’re my mate, Duchess. I don’t care what you are, as long as I get to keep you. Understand, doll?”

“I just don’t want to be known as one of them...as one of the Shining Court. That’s not me.” You keep your eyes squeezed close, taking comfort in your mate’s touch and his surrounding scent, blocking out everything but Bucky.

“You moving that fast with that sword was hot though,” Bucky rumbles out, making laughter just peel out of you, opening your eyes to be met with those intensive cerulean orbs.

“You’re too good,” You copy his statement from the closet earlier, smiling up at the most important person in your life.

But that comment does make you think, yanking your forehead away from Bucky to snap back to Coulson.

“Phil! It’s for my father!”

“You sure?”

“It has to be! Only royalty can move the sithen! The High Prince has probably a quarter of the fae power I do and his son probably barely enough to magically open a doorway in the sithen.”

“Wait,” Clint starts, twirling a toothpick between his front teeth before pointing it at you and continuing. “So you’re a fae princess?!”

You wince again, Bucky’s metal fingers slipping under the edge of your shirt bottom to stroke your skin to ease the emotions swirling in and around you - at least they are much more in control and subdued than minutes ago. “Technically, yes.” You admit in a defeated whisper. “My grandmother is the Queen of the Seelie Court.”

“Which is why Peter said you were ordering the cloaked man to answer you,” Steve states, rolling his shoulders to relieve some tension. Too late you realize that since Steve and Bucky are actually pack that he was getting some diluted effects of your emotional rollercoaster just now just by being so close to the two of you. ‘Sorry,’ You mouth to him as he gives you a soft smile in return.

“So that’s why the ground shook?” Bucky asked, forehead slightly furrowed at Phil then down to you. “How can you move the whole sithen?”

“Oh, I can’t. I couldn’t do that unless I was Queen and would need a whole lot of blood magic to back it up to move it. And honestly, the sithen is a living thing, so it would need to be...um...convinced. But moving pieces of it - especially forgotten or ‘dead’ spaces that the court don’t access - is fairly easy if you know what you are doing. Hades is Lord of the Underworld. Is the “Underworld” just under Greece? No. It’s everywhere AND a specific place. The same properties apply to the sithen,” You shrug as if it hasn’t really occurred to you the schematics of it all.

“Ahh, sort of like the Sanctum Sanctorum of Dr. Strange’s,” Pietro supplies, tapping a finger against his chin with a small grin.

“Yes and no.”

“I was thinking more like the jet,” Wanda supplies to her twin who frowns at her.

“So if Dr. Strange had a Sanctum Sanctorum jet?”

“Jesus. Christ.” Coulson and Natasha mutter loudly in sync, sighing and turning away slightly from the twins and Clint who is nodding along with their continued discussion.

“So could you find the piece of the sithen in Central Park?” Steve moves the conversation back to the kidnapped victims, you watching him unclench and clench his right hand slightly. You move a little more into Bucky and reach for Steve’s right hand. His head snaps over to you almost comically fast, while you just try to exude a calming energy. Bucky whispers a soft ‘thank you’ against your temple before gently reaching over to squeeze Steve’s shoulder. You can almost feel Steve’s blood pressure drop once both you and Bucky are calm and now working on calming him.

“Yeah, I could. I’ve scented the magic signature he’s used both attacking me and at the crime scenes, so shouldn’t be too hard to locate it. I mean, I won’t be exactly spot on, but will be close enough to be able to move the sithen bit to me and manipulate it open hopefully.”

“So that’s the play,” Natasha states as Phil whips out his cell, causing another spike in anxiety to roll through you, but Bucky and Steve both quickly whisk it away with their touch.

“Yes, sir,” Phil states evenly. “We may have located the kidnapped parties. I request a team to subtly clear and surround Central Park. Yes, sir.” His right eyelid gives one lone twitch. “Yes, all Avengers to the Park. We are dealing with Seelie Court involved matters. Yes, she is here and will be leading us to the kidnapped hostages. Affirmative. Will do, sir.” He hangs up to find everyone staring at him. “Tony will be bringing everyone’s gear and then we’ll head to Central Park. If you have any requests or needs, please bother Stark. I have a whole ops to coordinate.” A black suv pulls up behind him, which no one even flinches at. “I’ll meet you all in an hour. Stark will know the location.”

“Onward to probable death!” Pietro mutters with fake enthusiasm and you frown at him, Cerberus moving closer to you until his arm is brushing. The scent of sage, juniper and lemon - overlapped with the scent of coffee, cinnamon, cedar and a soft ocean breeze, things distinctly Bucky to you, even the scent of orange faintly coming from Steve - do nothing to help the pit in your belly.

How true, you muse morbidly, glancing up into sad honey brown eyes. You can both catch the faint, trace smell of death.

And you both know it’s from you.

-----*****-----*****-----

Tony had brought you several SHIELD jumpsuits in various colors: gray, blue and black, smirking as you had raised an eyebrow at him. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously, little hellhound. They’ll all form to fit you. Bucky and Peter mentioned swords, so I brought some thigh holsters as well as a back holster, since I didn’t know the length of your swords. Natasha has extra guns aboard the jet if you are into that. Also, we don’t have time for you two to be frisky, so -”

“Shut up, Tony,” Bucky had growled from behind him, just making Tony smile wider. Seeing Bucky in his hero suit was a whole different sexy than last night and this morning. Well, you now understood why Tony was having concerns about you two because - dear gods did you want Bucky to bend you over something and take you with that suit on. You’d be equally happy to just drop to your knees and thank your mate for this look. Bucky obviously can see and sense the changes as you are basically drooling and clenching your thighs, while having an iron grip on the dark blue suit you had been favoring.

“Remember!” Tony says loudly while shaking a finger at you before Steve comes up beside Bucky and herds the grinning man from the room where you’re surrounded by suits and weapons.

“Eyes are glowing again, doll,” Bucky purrs as he comes to a halt before you.

“Can’t help it, it’s an emotional reaction most of the time,” You breath out, a smile playing on the corner of his lips at your answer. “Used to just do it when I was extremely pissed off. Now apparently it decides to pop up whenever I’m -”

“Horny?”

“Focusing. On. My. Mate.” You insist as he rumbles out a laugh, bending forward to kiss your forehead sweetly. You tilt your head up to catch his eye again, giving him a small smile as you reach out to take his flesh hand. “But just FYI, I can smell you’re horny too. And them pants is tiiight.” He captures your lips in a searing kiss, pulling you so tight against his chest that the buckles dig into you a little, just making you all the more riled up.

“Mate,” Bucky’s voice is part plea and warning in it’s roughness after you two pull apart, you nosing along his throat, kissing the skin where your mark should adorn.

“You could leave to let me get dressed…?”

“Where the hell is the fun in that, doll? Huh?” Both of you are chuckling, touching each other as much as possible but struggling to keep it PG.

“Bucky, I know you don’t want to bring this up…”

 “Don’t.” 

“But this could be it, ya know? So I need you to sort of brace yourself if it does.” His back is now ramrod straight and his jaw clenched tight, but holding your gaze.

“I won’t let it happen.” The determination from your first meeting is back, but you can only muster the softest look in reply, letting the suit fall to the ground as you cup his face with both hands.

“Sweetheart,” You coo gently, watching the sadness dance in his eyes that he’s trying hard to hide. “I adore you. I trust you inexplicably. I would happily spend the rest of my life with you. To mate you, to marry you...to have a little baby that looks just like you, that’s all I want. You deserve some peace and so. much. love.” His hands are gripping tight onto your waist, you can feel the fingertips digging in as you continue. “But you know I’m marked for death, Bucky. They’ve tried most of my life to circumvent it, stop it, undo it. But death comes for me regardless. I need you to not pull away from everyone if that happens. You’ll need them. Please.”

“I don’t - I don’t want to deal with that. I can’t. I can’t lose you too. I said I would protect you and keep you safe. I’m no Alpha if I don’t try. I’m no mate if I don’t try.” You’re at a standstill, both now in emotional turmoil over this topic, trying not to let it bleed into the other. He presses his forehead against yours hard, staring into each other’s eyes. “I love you,” He whispers and it’s all you ever wanted to hear. Right now, you had all wanted right here - a wonderful mate who loved you and would try to move heaven and earth for you, who didn’t care what you were. One of the most beautiful men in the whole world who looked at you like the sun rose and set by your whim. The whole thing was unfathomable.

“I love you, Bucky,” You breathe out in reply, longing for any other outcome but the one you know is coming. “And I will love you as long as you live.” Bucky makes a noise in the back of his throat, a couple tears sliding down his cheeks as yours begin to fall freely, letting him wrap his arms so securely around you as his beautiful blue jacket absorbs your quiet sobs.

-----*****-----*****-----

The sun is nearly set, the sky streaked a hundred hues of dark pink and red as New York slowly descends into darkness.

Bucky is standing right beside you, outfit bringing out his eyes as he surveys the scene stoically. You’d chosen the dark blue jumpsuit to match his, arms brushing subtly as you stand just outside the magic lines - and sight lines from the sithen - of Central Park.

Although you can’t see them, you can vaguely sense the score of SHIELD agents and Avengers scattered on the edges of the treelines. But you can ‘see’ the edge of the piece of sithen just shy of the Azalea Pond at the center of the Ramble. Bucky had been the one with his tablet naming things off to you - you had only moved to New York two years ago after all - trying to help you narrow down areas where it could have been. You wish you had had the time for him to show you around New York, around Brooklyn, and places that still stood from when he was younger.

Cerberus is on the other side of the pond, should the cloaked figure try to escape, swathed in the grip of Underworld magic to keep him invisible and thus much more easy to herd or pounce.

Wanda is piggybacking off your abilities, twined with yours temporarily so she could sense the heartbeats of the victims now that you had a location. Sam is in the trees to the left of the pond with Peter, Steve and Tony on the right while Clint, Natasha and Pietro cut off any other possible exit points. Bruce is staying by the ambulances, ready to Hulk out should the need arise, although you could tell from his face he was radiating the bright hope it absolutely would not.

Any way the cloaked figure ran, he’d be funneled where the Avengers chose. There would be no escape. As a failsafe, Pietro would be the only one to engage with him except you, since he would be the most able to take him on with the fae speed.

You drag yourself back to reality, turning to gaze over at Bucky and steeling yourself with one last deep breath before starting down the short path to the Azalea Pond.

“Be safe for me, doll,” Bucky says softly, almost as soft as the small breeze suddenly around you two. You manage to nod, throat closing up again. The fair folk do not lie. It had been beaten into you, quite literally, when you were little at court. You want nothing more than to lie to Bucky in that moment. To reassure him you will be safe for him. But the fair folk do not lie.

Good thing you are not solely fair folk. You reach for his hand, grasping just his flesh fingertips in your grip and squeezing them hard. It’s a millisecond in time, but it seems like one of those Lord of the Rings moments that are in that slow, dramatic, longing-filled motion. “I’ll do my best, handsome.” Dropping his hand before you lose your resolve, you take the barely visible path towards the pond. Your magic is swirling with Wanda’s, your senses all in overdrive - so much so you can’t even register the smell of the flowers blooming along the landmark.

Pursing your lips, you whistle a simple five note tune that fae had used for time beyond memory.

From behind you comes that deep, craggly voice, “Greetings, highness.”

“Greetings, servant,” He gives a little hiss at the title you bestow. “SHIELD has sent me to inform you that if you cooperate, you will not be sentenced to death.”

“They are mostly human. I do not fear the humans.”

“You are not wise to not fear them,” You give a pregnant pause, making sure you give that haughty look the court loves to disperse. “If you do not accept this offer, I am to inform you that I, Princess Duchess Propolos Hekatos, will be judge, jury and - if need be - executioner.” He pushes back his cloak hood back, allowing you to finally see his scaled face. He was probably one of very few left over of those lizard scaled dwarves who stayed closer to the caverns around lakes and seas when humans first emerged as semi-civilized, with beautiful almost translucent rainbow sheened scales around his eyes and cheeks, his mouth set in a thin line with no lips.

“I was damned from the get go, princess.”

“We are only as we choose to be - it doesn’t have to be that way,” You insist, leaning a little forward, softening your eyes. Even if you disliked court life, the snobs of court who’s magic had begun to dwindle long before you were born, and how you were treated there - he was the same as you; a discarded fae. He doesn’t reply, though there is a flicker of something in his eyes, simply just unsheathes his double swords and gestures to you with his chin.

“Prepare, half breed,” Although his insult has less venom than the alley last night, you huff out a sigh at his tone. Like he’s just going through the motions. Asshat.

You shift your feet just so, straightening your spine as you wait for his move. Physically you are in that moment, but your power shifts the sithen opening to the side where Steve and Tony are waiting, causing the cloaked man to hiss, baring slightly sharpened front teeth at you. “Little bitch!” And his steel meets yours. “We will both die for this!” He snarls as he tries to drive you back towards the trees and brush opposite the pond, you holding the line as you wait for Wanda to signal you that the people had been recovered.

“I’ll deal with them when the time comes,” You growl low, blocking his blades yet again with a heavy clink, shifting just so that you can reach for Bucky’s favorite knife at the small of your back, tinged with the poison that your cloaked friend had been favoring and stabbing it into his side and piercing his lung with a squelch.

“The poison will do nothing to me,” He spits at you as you twirl your wrist to disarm him of one of the swords and slide Bucky’s knife back into its sheath.

“It will now. Dr Banner mixed it with another, a heavy iron involved one - infused with belladonna - to make you human slow,” You lean in as you block another wide swing from him with the one sword left, smiling wide. “And heal human slow.” The whole of Central Park shakes as you show your hand.

“No! NO!” He screams and hisses, attempting to swing his meaty fists at you now that he was without a weapon.

“I am still my grandmother’s first born grandchild. I am still the High Prince’s first born. I am a Princess of the Seelie High Court.” You lean in as your tone becomes more malicious with each word, watching true fear alight in his mossy green eyes. “And with all the inbreeding and decline for the last century,” You straighten up, your blue flames engulfing you as he attempts to scurry away from you, shielding his eyes against the light you emanate as he falls on his ass in the dense brush and dirt. “Let’s face it - I am probably the most powerful fae aside from the Queen of the Seelie and the King of the Unseelie.” Leaning down, fisting your hand in his cloak, you yank him back upright, snarling as your power dances behind your eyes, careful still to at least to not burn him with your flames. But watching him flinch at the heat, the basic fear all animals have towards a large flame, sets you more alight at the taste of that fear. “And absolutely the wrong person to piss off!”

“Spare me! Please!!” He screams, more high pitched than you had imagined, nearly making you wince as you see the red sparks above the tree line and see a blue clad shadow moving along the treeline coming closer to you. Pietro blurs past you, slapping old iron cuffs on the cloaked man, which sends him quite literally howling and screeching from the burn of the metal. 

Your flames give off a few large flickers before they begin to die down when Pietro says that they’ve gotten the kidnapped people to the ambulance they had on stand by, Bucky coming down the path towards you with a small smile on his lips as your eyes meet. Your magic shrinks back towards you, the weight of all the magic and your now overworked abilities settling back into you, your shoulders sagging a little with relief. It wasn’t over, but once your grandmother learned about your father and half-brother then she would be the one to end it.

The look in his cobalt eyes shift quickly, widening and moving to glare directly over your shoulder, his mouth moving in slow motion as he begins to barrel towards you, you begin to turn - only to feel the jerk of your body going forward instead. A glance downward shows a shiny red tip of one of the cloaked man’s swords protruding from just under your breasts, when you hear the mournful howl echo in and around your ears - only to realize it’s three distinct howls. The tang of blood spills into your mouth in a surprised gasp, turning slightly to see who has murdered you.

Your half brother’s hand is shaking slightly as he backs away from you, surprise written on both your faces as the scent of death finally fully fills your nose.

“I never thought -” You wheeze out, taking a few shaky steps towards your half-sibling as Bucky slides to a stop before you, his boots kicking up the fallen green leaves on the grass, both hands grasping your hips firmly as his eyes wander all over your body and face, tears already tracking down his cheeks. “You would have the balls!” You finish with another wheeze, the metallic taste much stronger now.

Bucky turns you to face him as Tony and Peter keep your half-brother from escaping, the darkening greenery of the world around you narrowing down to just Bucky. It’s a beautiful world to be relegated to actually.

“No. NO. Come on, doll. You - you gotta stay with me.” His voice is raw sounding, like he’s trying to not be loud, his metal hand putting pressure on the front wound as if it would help. His forehead is shoved against yours, your entire gaze narrowed to his blue eyes and his damp cheeks as he pulls you into his lap, collapsing the both of you to the ground. It’s funny almost to you in the moment...like you can still hear his loud, pitiful howl like a haunting melody behind everything he’s saying. “Doll, you gotta...come on, gotta fight. I need you to fight. Cerberus, he - he went to get Hades and Hecate. They’ll fix it. Just hold on til they get here, okay?”

“I love you soo much, James Buchanan Barnes,” You’re heartbroken to watch him see your bloody bottom lip tremble, and the color seeping from your face. You can see him weighing all his options through his tears, trying to move your tired hand up to touch him, to comfort him.

“I love you too, babydoll, but please God, please … just stay with me.” The choked up sound of his voice makes you want to cry for causing him this pain. No amount of forewarning could have prepared you for this feeling - the feeling of slowly breaking and killing your mate.

“Mate,” is the last thing you manage to get out before you just go limp in his arms, those jewel eyes he loves so much already just staring up at the first stars twinkling in the sky unseeing. In the back of his mind, his vampire side offers up the idea which he swore to God he would never do. But all too late.

The howl that rips from his throat is pure misery and heartache, his body bowed over his mate’s, his grip still holding her in a vice. The blood cloys her scent, furthering his heartbreak.

He looks up, needing Steve on a near visceral level, only to not see anyone at all. Confusion slightly mars his grief, looking over his shoulder and all around the darkened area, but met with no familiar faces or words in his comms. Confusion gives way to his war training, the alertness on it’s highest notch as he scans around, sniffing delicately at the air as the world seems much darker now than it had just been. When he turns back towards the pond, on edge at the very tampered down scents surrounding him, he spots three almost identical women standing there with those dark pink azaleas framing behind them almost like a fresco - just appearing as if from nowhere like Hades had earlier on the street.

“James Barnes,” The one on the left begins, long dark brown hair falling freely to her waist. “We are sorry for your loss,” the one on the right continues, her hair half up in intricate braids. “But now that we have fulfilled our ill-spoken creed,” the middle speaks, all that dark mahogany hair piled atop her hair like a crown, before they all join hands as the hairs on the back of his neck and arms stand to attention at the sudden surge of power that surrounds him, his arms tensing as a wave of azalea scent blows around the two of them, bringing Duchess as close to him as possible again. “We will return our little cousin back to you.”

His mouth goes dry, forehead wrinkled in not understanding as he looks down at his mate, her eyes still open and her skin still dampened with that death pallor. Bucky gently uses his metal digits to close her eyelids, grief and nausea rolling through him simultaneously while the ground beside Bucky gives a small shake and splits open, Hades climbing so elegantly and easily from the ground below with Cerberus - in three-headed giant black dog form - with a wispy blue thing dangling from the middle head’s mouth. There isn’t even enough room left in him to be shocked, there is just acceptance of whatever this shit show was.

“Turns out, sometimes you just have to accept Fate and go through it in order to stop it,” Hades murmurs in his deep molasses voice, bending down just so, his long fingers gripping the back of Bucky’s neck loosely. “Will you accept your fate now, Bucky?”

“I’ll do anything for her,” Bucky rasps out with conviction shining in his tear-riddled eyes.

“Splendid,” Hades motions with his free hand for Cerberus to come forward. “You must take a mouthful of this first.” He orders sternly as a beautiful blonde woman, shorter than Duchess and with a more heavy hourglass shape, emerges from the crevice to the Underworld with a black and golden chalice. Bucky marvels at the tiny wild roses popping up in her wake as she walks around Cerberus to stand between himself and Hades. She sniffles as she looks at Duchess, one hand leaving the chalice as she frowns over at the Fates before brushing two fingers down his left cheek to his chin, the warmth from just her fingers seeping quickly into his icy feeling skin. He doesn’t even notice the Fates disappearing just after that, he’s so focused on the goddess before him.

“Remove the sword, Hades.” It’s gone with a wave at the woman’s order, Bucky unconsciously tightening his hold once again on his mate. “Now, Bucky, sweet little honeysuckle boy, take a mouthful of this - but don’t swallow.” She brings the cup to his lips and tips it up. “Now, when Cerberus drops her soul back into her body, kiss her and push all the ambrosia into her mouth. It’ll take a few seconds for her soul to readjust and the ambrosia to heal her before she comes back to consciousness, okay honeysuckle?” Bucky manages a jerky nod, rewarded with a pat to his cheek before she backs up towards Hades, Cerberus giving a huff as he leans down towards Duchess’s body.

“Three. Two. One.” Hades counts down, Cerberus’s light brown eyes locked onto Bucky’s before the middle head gently opens it’s very large jaw and the blue wisp floats down to her body. “Now.” Bucky smashes his lips against hers, feeding the liquid into her mouth with an edge of desperation barely restrained within him.

“Now we wa-” A gasp startles you all, her jewel-toned eyes blinking rapidly as her hands claw at Bucky’s waist where they’re trapped between them, until they’re focused on Bucky. Bucky lets loose a sob as she smiles up at him, blood now gone from her face.

���Hi handsome,” A tiny little cough to clear her throat. “Bucky,” Duchess manages to rasp out before she’s crushed to Bucky’s chest.

“I lost you,” Bucky half gasps/half sobs into her hair, the scent of blood seemingly long gone, a terrible dream from which he can now finally awaken...it was just her again. Just his mate.

“But you found me, handsome.”

Bucky manages to get out a soft chuckle as he pulls back to cup her face in his hands. “You do anything like that again, doll, and I swear I’ll -” She cuts him off with a kiss but he doesn’t miss the smile and silent eyeroll. When they break apart, she brings her hand up to cup his cheek, rubbing her thumb over his cheekbone repeatedly as Bucky just reveals in the warmth of her fingers and palms against his skin.

“You are mine,” She whispers so damn gently, like a breath of life gently fanning over his lips as her forehead bumps against his softly. Bucky understood this was her sign that everything was alright, that closeness of foreheads pressed together and reading every emotion in each other's eyes. 

“And you are mine,” Bucky affirms, electricity buzzing down his spine before he smiles wide at his mate, happy to see her own smile widen as he does so. “You’re stuck with me for forever now.” She tries to feign a disappointed look and tone, to school her eyes and keep her lips from twitching up in a grin is poorly executed.

“Oh, no. What a terrible thing, Sarge,” It comes out more as a purr, lighting a warmth and fire from within Bucky, elation now bleeding as a scent out of him at this tiny but monumental moment with his mate. A deep voice clearing his throat behind you brings you both a bit back more to the present, Bucky glancing to the left as your smile stays gracing your gorgeous face.

“Welcome back!” The goddess burst out, tears opening flowing down her lovely and soft olive oval face, falling to her knees behind Duchess and throwing her arms around her shoulders, squeezing her fiercely. She even pulls Bucky closer, smoothing a hand up and down his back as she hugs both of them just this side of painful.

“Thank you, theía.” Duchess grunts out from the tight sandwich she’s in, looking over to her uncle. “Theíos, what happened to that little motherfucker?”

Hades stern looking face breaks out in a tiny smile, looking so kindly down at the scene before him as Cerberus’s three heads lap and nuzzle at the three on ground. “He’s still being held on the other plane. And speaking of which, we should return quickly. Hecate might actually kill him and start a bigger conflict than which we already have on our hands.”

“Well that answers some of my questions,” Bucky mutters just behind her right ear, nipping at the earlobe gently as Persephone releases you all, gently wiping away her tears.

“I’ll fill you in as best I can later. After someone fills me in, that is,” Duchess promises with a quick but warm kiss to his lips. Hades helps his wife up, kissing both of her palms and exchanging a long, loving look before extending his hand for Duchess, Bucky shooting up beside her as they each have a hand hold on her and help to steady her as she sways just a touch.

“Much later,” Bucky agrees with the barest hint of a nod, just needing to soothe his mate still. Frankly, just needing to reconnect and optimally be alone with his mate. Hopefully uninterrupted for at least two weeks, a month - two months would be absolutely dreamy and very, very far fetched with all the shit they’ll have to deal with afterwards regarding this case. But Bucky would move whole cities to make good on what she’d said to him aboard the jet too. Finally get him some of that apple pie life that he, Steve and the Commandos had talked about all those years and years ago.

He watches as you roll your neck, gently pushing away one of Cerby’s heads to shake both your arms out before reaching up to finally scratch at each of Cerberus’s heads one by one, kissing at their muzzles with gusto as the giant hellhound wiggles it’s butt with abandon. “I didn’t get that warm of a welcome,” Bucky remarks with a smirk, his mouth breaking into a wider smile at the look she shoots him.

“Because that is something personal you’ll get later on, Sarge,” 

“Geallaidhean, an dannsair beag agam,” Bucky growls softly, making sure to seal it with a deep, hard kiss. Promises, my little dancer. She looks a little flustered when they break apart, eyes not as focused as before. He knows she can smell the very pleased scent rolling off of him at her reaction.

“Such an Alpha,” She mutters with a teasing eye roll, keeping her hand on his chest. “You wear that jacket and you can have whatever you like,” comes the whisper against his lips, a soft growl punctuating the end before he takes another kiss. “Okay. Okay. Now, let’s go shank the little fairy prince,” Baring your teeth is more cute to Bucky than terrifying initially, but knowing what you’re capable of does make it scarier. And sexier, he wasn’t going to lie to himself. He loves that his mate is that intimidating.

And quite honestly, what will be more scary to the little prince than someone he feared and loathed coming back after watching them die? What's more, coming back for their retribution on him from the other side. Bucky can bet anyone that it’s not a hell of a lot actually.

“Brace yourself for it,” She whispers, hand wrapping tight around his metal one. Bucky feels a tug at his navel as the whole world around him seems to lighten at least ten shades, the overwhelming scent of blood returning, along with the pond waters, and Steve suddenly all fill his nose at once, Steve’s hands suddenly wrapping just this side of painful on his upper arms.

The scent of confusion and awe fill the area around them like a sudden breeze, the fair folk Prince calling for the God and Goddess to protect him in a whisper which might as well be a shout in the eerily quiet park. It seemed like even the regular wildlife noises in the Park had shown restraint, watching the otherworldly conflict in reverence.

“Did you miss me, brother?” No one on the other side of Manhattan could mistake the venom in her voice for anything other than deadly.

“You don’t understand!” The man - if you could call him that, no one in Central Park would though - shouts defiantly with a slice of whining at the end, his pupils blown as his eyes dart around the small clearing with barely restrained panic, nearly everywhere but on Duchess.

“Spare me your bullshit, Bradye,” Duchess growls, the lights beginning to dance behind her eyes as she moves closer to him, leaving her mate behind her. She smiles a bit triumphantly, maliciously. “You have come into this realm and by doing so are now subject to its rules and punishments. That useless title you hold will do you no good.” A few tsks come from her, “For you will face a death punishment either way. Hecate has requested the Queen come here and you and our father will pay for, let’s see, eight deaths and three kidnappings.”

“The fair folk do not lie,” He reminds in a taunt, thinking he’s won something. Her dangerous smile makes his millisecond of gloating worthless.

“Oh, of that I am well aware. I was schooled in that rule with leather. And steel. And sharp blows...and I think it may have slipped your mind, but I DID die. Charon saw me waiting upon the shore of the River Styxx. And he cannot lie about the souls he sees and ferries. Is the shaking of your hand as you drove your servant’s blade into my chest so quickly forgotten? Don’t worry,” Flames begin to gather around her ankles, slowly creeping upward like a nonsensical dance. “I have worked with SHIELD to document all you and our father have done. Did you know that there are some cameras opposite where your servant was seen entering and exiting? And that it has files that date back to before the first murder? Where you can make out two male figures walking into the park and it has a slight shake to it? Almost like an earthquake...or perhaps even a sithen moving…” The color drains from his already pasty face as Duchess strides closer, the blue and white flames now licking up her hips and lower back. There is a slight odor of urine, making Steve and Bucky both wrinkle their noses as Tony takes a small step away from him.

It’s a power move, not just the ever shifting flames but Bucky can clearly spot how sharp her teeth have grown, how her midnight blue fingernails are now black pointed tips. She’s allowing her fae side out as well, those multicolored lights bobbing and dancing behind her irises as each step she takes results in tiny little faerie rings, the tiny flowers blooming in the colors of the pinks, greens, and light blues that dance behind her eyes as small little beings descend from the trees and pixie-looking fae flit from the flowers around the Azalea Pond.

“You have no proof,” The haughtiness returns, looking down at Duchess, and had his voice not shook, might have pulled it off. He also eyes the fae joining the group in the clearing around the pond, his eyes catching sight of the faerie rings behind her and the shock that shows in his eyes is nearly equal to watching her appear back on this plane - alive.

“You hear that, Grandmother? Everything I asked Hecate’s handmaidens to give you is not proof.”

Bucky will remember that look forever. The snapping up of his head so fast it looked like it hurt, the look of complete and utter stunned surprise that seems to echo through and around him and actually make a tremor run through the little slimeball as Fury, Coulson and a lovely looking older woman with hair that went from silver at the top of her head and slowly gained a darker red as it came to rest at her waist came behind him into the clearing.

“I have heard all in this park. I have watched your hand slay your sister.” There is a flash of fury in her eyes, which Bucky notices are mismatched. One green as freshly mowed grass and the other a dark pine bark brown. “And had she not been preoccupied with keeping everyone in this park safe, sealing the sithen closed, and focused on her mate, you wouldn’t have stood a chance, you preposterous, moronic, useless child!” Her voice raises but her face never changes from an indifferent look that Bucky had seen Queen Elizabeth sport more than a few times on tv. “You and your father will be punished to the fullest extent of this plane’s laws. Before that you both will be brought before both courts of Fae and stripped of all your titles, rights, magic -” She looks down her nose at him with a sniff of disdain, “This applies more to your father as he actually has abilities. And you will also be made to pay for restitution to the families of those you had killed and of course those three whom you stole magic from and tortured. By our laws and the old ways, your sister has death rights on all three of you involved. And I must say, if I was her, I would drag your punishments out slowly...meticulously...painfully.”

Duchess strides back over to Bucky, hands already reaching out for him as the fire dies down around her - not as consuming, but still a bright warmth that shadows her entirety. Wrapped safely in his arms, Bucky rests his chin on the top of her head as Steve gently brushes his hand up and down her arm a few times, just reassuring her of their pack bond before taking a small step back to let them bond more. She pulls back a little from the comfort of his arms, tilting her head back to look up at him, Bucky knowing exactly what she wants. This was all very familiar to what happened just before she died...and honestly they all need that reassurance that everything is okay still. And this is the simplest and best way he can do it now; Her lips are soft and easily molded to his own. His sensitive ears can still pick up the little chirps and flitter sounds of small wings of the tiny fae that had climbed into this plane at Duchess’s silent command, gathered closer to her than her Grandmother, waiting for something else it seems.

A sharp featured man dressed in a black suit jacket with heavy, shining gold threaded designs along the wrists, collar, and lapels comes into the clearing with two men trailing behind him dragging a third between them.

The tiny beings begin a high pitched whine as the dragged man is thrown at the Faerie Queen’s feet. The man in black eyeing the tiny creatures with an unreadable something in his eyes.

Bucky is shocked at how much Duchess shares her face shape and nose with her father. Everything else must have come from her mother, making her features softer. Her eye color - she had told him last night - had come from her mother’s father, her mother’s side also responsible for her more soft Greek eye shape and supple body as well. Her father’s face however is harsher, more weathered looking than even his mother’s face. His eyes are a muddy brown and he looks to be maybe an inch or so taller than Duchess herself, unusual for a male - and even most women - of high Fae blood to be that short and not claim Brownie or Goblin blood, both of which a high Fae would absolutely loathe to admit to tainting their line. Him and his son seem to have been the tailings of a long and powerful bloodline, while Duchess was an anomaly of both sides of her family tree which was probably why she was so powerful. She was seemingly that red-headed gene in a sea of black hair which came about once every few generations.

Steve moves closer to the two of them again as the Queen looks down at her son with even more disgust than her grandson, which Bucky would not have thought possible a second ago. The sharp featured man comes to stand before Duchess and gives a deep nod, the two men behind him taking a knee as they come to a stop, the High Prince of the Seelie Court and his son watching from behind the Queen with shock and anger mixed on both their faces.

“Your highness, we at the Unseelie Court are thankful to you as it was a forgotten part of our court that was taken.” His bright green eyes look almost hesitant for his next words. “We are indebted to you for clearing this up. And also for clearing our court of involvement. The Unseelie Court is indebted to you, Princess Duchess Propolos Hekatos.”

Duchess pulls away a little from Bucky and Steve to sink into a deep curtsy, “Thank you, King Odhran. May your debt be cleared swiftly.” The two men behind him rise and they all go over to the Seelie Queen as Duchess’s flames die down further, pulsing softly in time with soft flutters and swayings of the tiny fae that have moved closer still.

“I will be seeing you later for their merited punishments, cousin,” The man says indifferently while also containing a hint of malice.

“Good evening until then, Odhran.” He and his men disappear as the Queen waves her hand to the men and women holding the prisoners formerly known as her family. “Fury. Coulson. We will be off now. They will be put into your custody in a week’s time. My granddaughter will, of course, be there for the handoff as a representative of the good will of my court.” Bucky doesn’t like that she’s ordering Duchess, fighting to suppress a growl. Does she not know he has plans for his mate?? She turns to address said granddaughter. “You will attend this handoff as a Princess of the Seelie Court. Come see me the morning before the handoff, as we have things we need to discuss. Please thank your goddess, Hecate, again for her swift actions and Hades for his too.” Duchess sinks into that deep curtsy once again before nodding at the trees and pond, the tiny creatures melting back into the waters and darkening branches like shadows, her Grandmother watching with something close to fondness on her face as the guards and prisoners disappear first, then her elegant frame takes a few steps and is gone as fast and quietly as the others.

Fury holds his hand straight up in the air after they vanish, no one making a move, just light breathing as everyone glances around the clearing, looking at Duchess and then Coulson who both give a firm nod before he lowers his hand and clears his throat. Fury’s good eye looks tired as fuck to Bucky.

“Alright people, shit shows over. Wanda, please begin magically cleansing this spot with Pietro, I want to be out of here in under an hour. Coulson, get me updates and signed paperwork from the three rescued for prosecution. Tony and Vision, keep the area contained until after the cleansing. SHIELD agents, please collect photos and evidence before the cleansing. Originals we keep, copies to the NYPD. Falcon and Spidey, back on patrols for the next few hours. Barnes and Rogers, take the lady home. I think she’s done and had enough for tonight. Everyone else, find something to do to make this go as fast as goddamn possible.”

“Roger, roger!” Bucky and Steve call out, Bucky tossing his flesh arm over her shoulder, Steve on his left side as they all wave silently to their friends and begin their way out of Central Park.

“This is one of the most terrible evenings of my life,” Steve mutters as Hades, Cerberus - in his human form - and a third figure, who Bucky can scent and see is definitely not the extra curvy Persephone, wave from further up the treeline ahead of them. “And I was just on the edge of the whole thing - witness and secondary pack feelings between you two. I might need a cigarette.” Steve mutters as he runs one hand through his hair and then down his face after taking a deep breath and letting it out.

“You haven’t smoked since 1938,” Bucky remarks with an eyeroll. “And that was before we knew it was bad for you, punk.”

“And this was one of the most terrible evenings of your life so far!” Steve turns his light blue eyes towards her with his Captain America signature disapproving glare at her overly perky tone. “The Seelie Queen says thank you. In that special fair folk way,” Duchess lays on the happy sarcastic tone as they approach the trio.

“As if I give a single fuck,” The woman’s dark voice growls out, her full lips set in a frown at the news. “How do you feel, mikrí mou skoteiní?”

“I told you, your little dark one is fine,” Hades reiterates with an eyeroll.

“I feel wonderful now, eroméni.” Duchess squeezes Bucky’s hand before ducking under his arm and pressing her forehead against Hecate’s as they intertwine both their hands, the power swirling softly around the two of them.

Bucky can feel the comfort in the darkness and mist that surround them temporarily, the two pulling apart and grinning at each other more like sisters or best friends than what they were.

“Mistress, this is my Bucky,” She stretches her hand out to him, Bucky forever heeding her siren call as he slips his hand into hers. “And that is our Steve Rogers.”

“I am honored to be in your company, gentleman. My mikrí mou skoteiní needs more family. I am glad she has found not only her mate, but a pack.” Her face shifts minutely from ecstatic to a little teasing. “One that will surely grow soon?”

“My baby doesn’t need to be having babies just yet!” Cerberus says in his deep honeyed voice, the slight echo noticeable now.

“My ma raised me right, ma’am. I got to mate and marry her before we go that path. My girl hasn’t even been to Coney Island.”

“Psssh. You haven’t been to Disneyland.”

“I was starting with Brookyln and Coney Island, doll.”

“Whatever you say, handsome,” She sighs out with a smile as Hades chuckles.

“And so it begins, Bucky.” Bucky grins down at his mate.

“I can’t wait.”

“Cheeseballs...the both of you,” Steve laughs out as Hades pulls Duchess into a hug, kissing her forehead before pulling away.

“Bring the boy down in a few days for brunch. Persephone will be elated, well more elated, to see you mated and bonded. Steve is welcome as well. You know how we love certain companies in the Underworld.”

“I shall bring the handmaidens as well. Perhaps we can get Mr. Rogers a mate as well,” Hecate teases again as Steve’s ears and neck turn bright red.

“We’ll call to check in tomorrow,” Hades continues, hand stuck out to Bucky who shakes it more firmly than last time which makes the God of the Underworld’s smile widen. “Gentlemen.” He extends his hand to Steve, giving him his own hard handshake before stepping back for Cerberus to enthusiastically hug all three of them.

“I love new pack members!” His echo-y deep timber reveals his obvious happiness, Hecate eye rolling good-naturedly beside him.

“I’ll text you later,” a smirk is painted on her full lips as she stares at Duchess. “But I understand if you are busy.”

“Goodnight Hecate!” comes Duchess’s embarrassed reaction, Bucky wrapping his metal arm around her waist and winking at Hecate. “Stop that!” She swats at Bucky’s chest playfully, just for him to catch it and kiss her fingertips.

“Let’s head home, doll.” Her eyes brighten instantly.

“Ooooh! I’ve never been to Stark Tower!” She states as Steve full belly laughs.

“He meant your bar or our shared apartment in Brooklyn.”

“But I’ll take you to the Tower in a few days,” Bucky promises with a kiss to her open palm as her temporary puppy dog eyes brighten.

“Goodnight all,” Hecate and Hades state simultaneously as Cerberus gives Duchess one last kiss to her cheek before rubbing his own cheek against it.

“Goodnight!” Steve, Bucky and Duchess chime in reply, watching the gods and guardian take a handful of steps before disappearing further up the path to the right, Bucky leading his pack down the left path towards 74th Street. 

“So, whatcha up to later, Sargent?” Duchess begins as they enter the area just before the Boathouse Restaurant, squinting just a bit at the brightness.

“Well, I got this mate who smells like fresh baked bread, lemon squares, cayenne, and a little hint of mint - who is in dire need of a mating mark and bond. And lots of baby making practice. Then I was thinking I take her for lunch at the Tower in a couple days to show her off.”

“Can you schedule an old school tour after the Tower lunch?”

“Of course, doll,” Bucky’s accent thickens a little as her eyes soften as she looks up at him. “I’ll even show you everywhere we got our asses kicked when we were young.”

“And by ‘ours’ he means mine after 1934,” Steve says from Bucky’s other side with a scoff, sending Duchess a wink as they get past the Alice in Wonderland bit and start on the path down towards the Model Boathouse.

“Whatever you guys wanna show me,” Duchess sighs out happily, leaning into Bucky and reaching around his back to take Steve’s hand. Steve squeezes back before kissing the back of her hand and releasing it, happy to have her in the pack.

“I’ll grab some stuff, but I’ll stay near - up in Natasha’s apartment a few floors up. Just let me know when it’s safe,” He chuckles out as a flustered look passes over her face. “Don’t worry, kid, it’s natural. Just lots of good luck to our furniture in the house with this Alpha.”

“Is Natasha’s floor far enough away, punk?”

“Well, I love my pack already,” Duchess murmurs as Bucky and Steve continue ribbing each other, watching the stars compete with the New York City lights as a few leaves rustle in the breeze and fall on the bright path ahead of them.

“Doll, as corny as it sounds, it’s amazing how I could try but I could never explain what I hear when you don't say a thing. Just your scent and hearing your heartbeat is a different kind of magic,” Bucky whispers against her hair before kissing her soft cheek, his metal fingers entwined with hers naturally.

“If every bit of magic was stripped from me tonight, I would be okay with it. Because the best magic I’ve ever received is you.”

Bless ya’ll for making it through my long ass rambling stories <3

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