#tri-FOURce

[mythsee]

4, lege, and win

#legends of zelda #linked universe fanart #loz #loz art #lu wind #lu legend #lu four #linked universe four #linked universe wind #linked universe legend #tri-FOURce

[anonymous-harpy]

Hi! I don't know if it's strange to ask, but how do you write Cooler?I've been struggling with it.

(You're really good at writing btw! )

Aww thank you!

Now how do I write Cooler?

Well in my Cannon timeline I like to write him as being mostly a serious, no-nonesense, work focused man- but when I put him up against Gelid and they start interacting... I just love the idea of him being shy and awkward when being flirted with by someone, especially when they're as forward as Gelid. (And when Gelid has his name change into Geliaden the boldness increaces to Cooler's delight) he's very sweet and kind, but he's also unsure of himself in regards to romantic stuff. He's a businessman and struggles to figure out what to do.

I also like the idea of him actually being honorable, like... He's really a good guy deep down, underneath his messed up childhood and the lazer focused exterior. He's nicer to his soldiers than Cold and definitely Frieza. He's more friendly with his Armoured squadron, yet at the same time keeps things kinda serious.

But he's also very practical. He's nice when he can be, but he is prince of the Planetary Trade Organization. He has to stick to a more serious attitude most of the time.

So he's also kinda lonely.

And while I haven't had the chance to show it too mucg or even at all, I'd like to think that there's a tipping point in his life, which is of course Frieza. After he's brought into the world, Cooler gets very short tempered. He's glad he's not going to be the new emperor, but watching Frieza grow up- there's obviously a double standard between the brothers and Cooler is in fact resentful, though he tries to not take it out on Frieza until he starts becoming a true brat. He even tries getting along with his baby brother, but Frieza wants to be difficult.

And due to all that family drama Cooler keeps himself at a distance... Angry and training to prove something.

I'm kinda rambly, sorry if I'm not being overly clear, but uhm, yeah. I generally write Cooler as being serious, work-focued (a bit comically so sometimes), but mostly well meaning. A bit awkward in certain circumstances, but a nice guy... As nice as he can be given the occupation he's kinda been fourced to fall into.

I think insecure is also a good way of describing him too...

#anonymous_h #ask #dragon ball #headcanon #dbz #dbz fandom #cooler #dbz cooler #midnight posting

[theshamankight]

Waterdown Report:

The large village was quite at this time of night. the shops had closed quite early though so Ryuji should not have been surprised.

The inn keeper had begged him not to go out tonight. she was nearly to his shoulders but had still tried to fource him from the door, even after learning he was an exorcist. He was the tenth exorcist to vist the village. the other nine had made it to the village, checked in and then were never heard from agian.

there were no bodies and no one knew where they went.

Ryuji ran his hand down his face in frustration. the mission was suppose to be simple, yet not a single person could accomplish it. they had probably fallen for the demons tricks and ran off in shame. that tended to happen when succubi were added into the mix.

the mission report had said there was maybe ywo to three of them in the area. All kinds of people were going missing and those that were found were long dead.

a small pepple of dread sat in his stomach. the amount of missing people were a bit to much for just two to three succubi. Added in the missing exorcist and that made the count close to a hundred in a yeo month span. maybe there was another factor no one was seeing? maybe some of the people were just run aways?

a light giggle pulled Ryuji from his thoughts. He had made it to the entrance of the village and was walking towards the open fields to his left. the crescent moon gave him just a hlance of the demoness behind him. He felt her hands on him a moment later. Her sent did nothing to him as she moved in front of him. Ryuji played along though a smile on his face as she lead him away from the village. she would caress his arms and face as she giggled. Ryuji just smiled like an idiot at her. He would 'stumble' every now and agian if she got to close. if she found out that he had his pistols under his jacket he wouldn't be able to find anyone she was working with.

a couple minutes later found the two at a large house built around several large trees. in front of the house was not one, not two, but five more succubi. sweet started to form on his brow. two he could handle. three was a bit difficult, any more and he needed back like ten minutes ago.

as he took in the situation a sweet sent drifted in the breeze towards him. it was light and soft. the dread in his stomach grew as an incubus stepped from the shadows. he had a smug look on his face as he walked towards yhe frozen exorcist. Ryuji took note of the slow sway of his hips and the movement coming from the house.

two to three succubi his ass! more like fifteen and an incubus rooming with them!

the demon cupped his check with one hand as he pulled ryuji flushed against his chest.

the poor man was screwed now, neither in a good way.

#blue exorcist #ao no exorcist #ryuji suguro #demon #succubi #incubus #please ignore errors #its 1:30 am #one idea out of twenty started #yay 😭 #my writing #this will end up being hurt/comfort as well as non-con

[jinxthequeergirl]

Dad Ash Williams Headcanons

Thanks to @laing-caster you all get this master piece that makes my heart melt

I've also made the kid sorta Gender nuteral as possiable

I've meantioned it before

Ash

Is

Ecstatic to hear he's gonna be a dad

Cause after having Brandy In his life for a while now he thinks its a breeze

Even though you tell him A seventeen year old is a lot easier to handel than a new born

It still makes you really happy to know hes excited about it

Dudes got baby fever

Sees a mom and her baby

Points

"We're gonna have one of those"

Likes to show you baby things he finds anywhere

Hes also very attentive to you and your needs

Always making sure you are comfortable

He very much starts worrying about it half way through

What if he doesn't actually want this?

What if hes a bad dad?

You reasure him the best you can

Telling him he was the best when it came to Brandy so why wouldn't he be the best for the full ride

That makes him feel better

He forgets all of that however when the baby is actually born

Has to fource himself to not lift the baby up and show everyone

He doesn't mind doing a lot of the dirty work

But at the same time he does

He 100% males sure you stay in bed when they baby wakes up crying at night

He'll sit in the nursery

Or the living room with them and tell them stories until they fall back asleep

Probably likes to whisper cute ass shit like "you gotta give mommy a break she may be tough but she could use the sleep"

Many times have you woken up to an empty bed

Only to find that he's fallen asleep with the baby in his arms

He loves being around the baby

He loves playing with them

Napping with them

Everything

Hes the protective parent having adopted that trait from constantly fighting off evil

He wouldn't understand baby proofing things until the baby began crawling around

You laugh at him when he gets super worried about things

Has made a poor excuse of a sock puppet to entertain them

He loves cuddling both of you together

He gets a soft warm grin everytime both of you are asleep in his arms

As they grow older he would absolutely spoil them

Buys them plenty of toys

Clothes books

If your first kid is a daughter

Then hes gonna buy those little dresses

Every doll he ever comes across is instantly bought

His son?

Buys Anything he would've likes as a kid

He hasn't played piano in years

But he sits his child down and teaches them what he can

Loves giving piggy back rides and having them sit on his shoulders

Sometimes when your cooking you can hear a joyfull cry from the child as ash chases them around the house

And plays deadwhen hes to tierd to keep playing

Brandy likes playing with her siblings too and will join the two when they do

Holidays are always fun now that you have a family

Christmas is one of those quante kinda things

Christmas eve is hosted at your house and all your friends and family come over and Hes acts like a dad hosting a party would

And of course he and his kid are gonna hop on that piano and play something and make everyone cry

Ash isnt the biggest fan but

During halloween all four of you Brandy included dress up together and go out

He'd be the proudest when they are older

And learns they've adopted his cocky personality

And picks up on the one liners to pick up dates

"Ahah! Thats my kid!"

Teen years are tough

And Ash Attempts to be The cool Friend parent

So he lets them know hes cool to talk to about whatever

And gets a little hurt if they prefer to talk to you or Brandy instead of him

He tries so hard to relate to them

Memes? He gives a sensible chuckle and later asks you to explain

If it so happens that they decide they are LGBTQ+

He pulls out the

"Hi_____I'm dad."

Trying to easy the nerves they had

But right away you both let them know you are there for them no matter what

Get him a shirt that says "I support my (Insert Identity here) kid!"

Always trying his best to be respectful of pronouns name changes whatever if it comes to that

He enjoys it when he can talk girls with them

But tries his best to talk Boys too

He's always very careful to never get them involved in The whole Evil Dead stuff

Besides some basic self defense and the stories you've both told them

When they go off to college hes always kinda saddened that Both his kids are all grown and doing there own things

But extreamily proud and loves to brag about them

Both of them

At some point after talking about how much you miss them

He'll ever so slyly ask

"Wanna do it again?"

#horro imagine #horror x reader #slasher imagine #slasher x reader #ashley williams x reader #ash williams x reader #evil dead x reader

[thevelvetlotus]

💔I’m living in a nightmare. She is still not home. I’m making flyers now and have some hand written ones on some big buildings in my area already. Everyone in this neighborhood knows Lulu and the idea of our precious girl being gone is too much for me. I was feeling hopeful until I spoke to the animal control officer who said that cats have been being picked up left and right from local coyotes. I PRAY that this is not the case. When I moved here 4 years ago LunaLu was an outdoor cat that visited us from time to time, and eventually it became full time. I TRIED to get her to stay inside but she LOVED being outside and I didn’t feel good keeping her in when she’s lived outside her whole life. I wish there was an animal psychic out there who could tell me if they sense her life fource or not. I’m flip flopping on it. One moment I’m hopeful and determined that she is going to come walking around the corner and then my mind imagines her being carried away by a coyote. It was literally the day before she went missing that her I.D tag fell off and I said “I need to get you chipped!” and now she’s missing. If she doesn’t come back I will have the heaviest GUILT pressing down on me for the rest of my life. Please God, please bring my baby home!💔Please call me if you have any info 781-901-3643 https://www.instagram.com/p/CBnoWYSBvkH/?igshid=1gn609ywk8iso

[whoneedssexed]

(1) Hey there , I am looking for some tips or advice on how to deal/manage a habit. So I have a hitting reflex that has become a problem within my relationship. I tend to just either hit or push away my partner at times. This is in no way as aggressive. They are mostly low energy pushes or shoves that occur when I get upset, at times they have been with a bit of fource but I am very small compared to him. I have tried my hardest to stop this habit, I do it with close friends and even siblings.

(2) my partner had an abusive father growing up so I understand why he get annoyed when this becomes constant. I so feel bad when he points it out bc I do not notice it. I do not do it in purpose whatsoever. I would never hurt him in that way either. I have tried my best for months to control it & it has worked but it recently spiked up again. I do not know why I do this, i grew up with older brothers so i think I developed it bc of them in a way to protect myself but i was unaware until now.

Relapsing bad habits is common and doesn’t mean you’ve failed at controlling or stopping them, just like relapsing self harm or addiction doesn’t mean that either. Keep working on it. Eventually you’ll put a permanent pattern into your brain that will keep it stopped for good.

It takes time to rewire your brain, and you’re doing good. 

Tell your partner about your struggle and ask him to help you stop by continuing to point it out, even if it’s not done to him (that is, when you push others). Ask others to do the same to help reinforce it throughout your daily life.

Here’s a few articles on stopping bad habits:

The 6 Keys to Breaking Bad Habits

5 Science-Approved Ways to Break a Bad Habit

How to Break Bad Habits

Top 10 Ways to Break Bad Habits

How to Break a Bad Habit and Replace It with a Good One

3 Scientifically Proven Ways to (Permanently) Break Your Bad Habits

- mod BP

#bad habits #breaking habits #habits #relationship advice #Anonymous #asks

[darklingandy]

Spirits of the Earth and Air

Chapter Thirty-Two: Human Error

It was the first peaceful morning in a long time. They slept in, warm and comfortable and sleeping off their exhaustion.

Everything was soft and quiet. For a moment, before he opened his eyes, Hiccup felt just like he used to on Saturday mornings when he got to sleep in, before he finally got up and raced downstairs to eat his special sugary weekend cereal and watch cartoons with his mom. But that had been another lifetime. That had been a different Hiccup.

This Hiccup's eyes fluttered open to soft light and a faery asleep next to him. 

Jack was still half asleep with the hoodie pulled up over his nose where he'd snuggled into it. His eyes were half-open and bleary. When he saw Hiccup was awake, a slow, shy smile spread over his face—so unlike his usual mischievous grin, Hiccup couldn't help his own answering smile.

"Hi," he said.

"Hey," Jack answered. His voice was croaky with sleep.

Hiccup propped himself up, and Jack squawked as the covers slipped off, which Hiccup ignored. At some point, Toothless must have found them, because he lay curled up between the lump of their legs under the blankets, snoozing peacefully. "Hey buddy," said Hiccup groggily. Toothless let out a tiny purr of greeting and rolled his head against Hiccup's leg, his tail twitching happily.

The late morning light filtering inside was pale and diffused. They had left the window open the night before; a faint breeze puffed in, setting the window blind cords swaying back and forth.

"Oh." Hiccup blinked as a few flakes of snow drifted in and settled on his desk. He wasn't cold; on the contrary, he felt warm, the way he was supposed to feel in bed in the mornings. And that alone was weird, but when he glanced down at Jack, he could see the faint frost patterns that followed Jack everywhere encrusting the sheets. "Do you feel warm?"

"Uh… Not too much? I guess?" Jack gave him a confused look.

"But you don't feel cold?"

"No? Should I?"

"No, but you're a frost sprite."

"So?" Jack yawned, his nose crinkling up, and turned his face into the pillow.

"So, I don't feel cold. I feel warm. And it snowed, and the window has been open all night and you've gotten frost on the bed."

Jack's eyes slid toward the frost he'd left on the sheets. His expression grew more somber; when he turned his glittering blue eyes onto Hiccup, there was something sad, and a little lost, hidden in them. "Yeah," he said. "Weird things happen when you eat the food of the fair folk."

Toothless chirped agreement.

"…right," said Hiccup weakly. He fell back on the bed and curled up again with his forehead pressed against Jack's chest. Jack draped a lazy arm over him. "Will I ever feel normal again?"

"I don't know," said Jack. He pulled the blankets back over their heads and closed his eyes again.

After a long moment, Hiccup mumbled, "Astrid's probably going crazy…well, crazier…wondering where I am. We should head back."

Jack groaned. "…fine."

Before they left, Hiccup took the opportunity to go through his own stuff. He got dressed like a normal human again, with boots for the snow and his favorite jacket layered over another old comfy hoodie. He packed some extra clothing to keep at Astrid's house for a while, and he looked around his room one more time. When he would be able to come home to it again?

They snuck back out the window and walked to Astrid's.

The driveway at Astrid's only held Astrid's car; her parents' were gone. They were able to walk in the front door. Hiccup pulled his sleeve over his hand to grasp the metal doorknob.

"I kinda thought she'd be waiting for us," said Jack, as the door clicked shut behind them. "Like she'd have her face pressed to the windows looking for something. Is that weird?"

"Yeah…" said Hiccup slowly. "I mean, no. That sounds like Astrid." He glanced around. If she'd gone out to look for him, surely she would have taken her car? And surely his own house would have been one of the first places she'd look? Unless she was at the library or the school…but the car…

Toothless ran off. His paws made little pad-pad-pad sounds on the floors as he raced through the rooms looking for Astrid, and then trotted back to Hiccup, mewing distress.

They went upstairs. Her room was empty. Hiccup dumped his bag in her closet and looked around. The bed was unmade, but it was cold. There was a used coffee mug Hiccup recognized from two days ago sitting on the bedside table with half-dried dregs in the bottom of it. The window was cracked open, and snowflakes had built up into a drift on the sill overnight and part of it was melting down the wall.

"She has the eye serum with her," Hiccup noted. He'd left it sitting on the desk by the coffee, but it was gone now.

"She's… not here?" Jack stared around in confusion. He toed at the snow-puddles and turned them into ice patches on the hardwood.

Hiccup went to the window, opened it all the way, and leaned out. From here he could see the garage, and specifically, the window to the room above it, where's Astrid's 'secret' workshop was; that window was dark and still. She wasn't in the workshop either.

"Is she at the school place?"

"It's… just school." Hiccup shook his head and shut the window. "And her car's still here. Unless she took the bus for some reason…"

"Why would she take the bus?"

Hiccup bit his lip, trying to squash the uneasy feeling that was rising in his chest. "Maybe… she left it for me? In case I came back and needed to use it for some reason?"

"Would she do that?"

Hiccup had never driven Astrid's car and he didn't even have a permit. He shook his head. "No, she wouldn't." With a sigh, he sunk down on her mattress. He sat on something hard; when he fished around in the blankets, his hand found something smooth and cool. It was Astrid's phone. He pushed the power button, but it was dead.

Astrid hadn't been home.

"She hasn't been here," he said, his voice too quiet, too level. Suddenly, the stillness of the house felt awful. Oppressive and damning. "Where would she go?"

Jack curled his hands into his hoodie pocket. "You would know better than I would."

"What do you think happened to her?" Hiccup tried to keep his voice from shaking.

"What do you mean?"

"Like… do you think one of the fair folk did something to her?"

Jack's mouth thinned into an anxious line. "Not while she was here. Not if I know anything about Astrid. You think she'd just let that happen?"

"No. She doesn't 'just let' anything happen," said Hiccup with a reluctant smile.

"Exactly."

Astrid's phone was heavy in Hiccup's palm, cold with disuse. He kept wiping his own fingerprints off the screen. He should have come back here yesterday, should have come back and waited for her to come home from school. Where could she possibly be? She never would have been a part of this whole mess if it weren't for him. She would have been living a nice normal human life—the kind of life Hiccup had to admit had never been a possibility for him—but instead she'd stuck with him through weirdness and insanity and magic, and now she was… missing.

"Jack," said Hiccup in a low voice, "would Pitch take Astrid? Would he have any reason to?"

Jack stood in the middle of the room, fiddling with the aglets on his hoodie drawstring. "I… Yes. I think he might."

"But… Why?" Bubbling with frustration, Hiccup stood and pace around the room, pressing his hands against the wide of his head. "Why her? What did she ever do to him?"

"It's getting close to Samhain; he…" Jack licked his lips, thinking. A faraway look crept into his eyes. "He'd be getting desperate. There's not much time left; the sacrifice must take place tomorrow night. Technically, he could take any human from Berk—the victim need only be a creature of free will. But he wants you now that he knows about you and your sight. But if he can't get to you, someone close to you or I would be a bonus to him, a small way to get back at us for all the inconvenience we're causing him."

"Inconvenience?" Hiccup snorted. "Is that what he thinks of us?"

"Yep."

"Ugh." Hiccup made a noise of disgust and curled his lip. "How does Pitch get away with taking so many people from Berk?"

"He himself doesn't take all who go missing." Jack shrugged when Hiccup cast him an unamused look. "He only requires a victim every seven years."

Seven years?

Hiccup went very still; his mouth dried up. "…Jack?" he rasped. "What did you just say? How long ago was the last sacrifice?"

Jack blinked at Hiccup, confused by his reaction. "Seven years ago. Why?"

Oh god. It had been under his nose the entire time, but he hadn't… he'd never even… He fourced out the word: "My mother disappeared seven years ago. On halloween."

Hiccup could see the moment Jack realized what was happening, what had happened. The blood drained from Jack's face. He didn't say anything. He shrunk away from Hiccup, shame creeping into his eyes.

Hiccup knew it wasn't Jack's fault. He knew there was no point in asking or accusing or even talking about it right now, but he couldn't stop himself. It tumbled out of him. "Jack," he said again, his voice low and dangerous. "Did you bring my mother to Pitch to be sacrificed?"

"I…" Jack's voice trailed away. He squeezed his eyes shut. "I'm sorry. I don't know. I can't remember."

"Jack."

"It would make sense," Jack said in a rush. "The timing is right. And if she had the Sight, as you do, she'd be a powerful victim for the teind."

"Why is that so important?!" Hiccup deflated, shoulders slumping as he ran a hand over his face. Maybe everything that had happened to him had been unavoidable. Maybe his path and Jack's path had been intertwined for far longer than he'd thought—maybe they'd crossed seven years ago and been on the same trajectory ever since.

"The Sight?" Jack made a noise that was half groan, half thoughtful hum. "I don't understand how the old magic works—I don't think anyone really does. It defies explanation. But I know a sighted victim makes Pitch more powerful. Like it's an extra layer of magic he absorbs or something."

"So she really has been dead for the last seven years." Hiccup stared out the window, where he could just make out the tops of some evergreens brushing the brumous sky. A pit opened up in his stomach, hollow and dark. It was hard to admit, but there had always been a small part of him that hoped she was still alive somewhere—whether under the hill in the folk realm or in another town somewhere that she'd run away to—and that he'd be able to see her again. Maybe even bring her back home and make his dad happy again. He felt stupid now, but more than that, he felt wounded.

"I'm sorry." Jack's face crumpled.

"We don't have to go through this again."

"I…" Jack sputtered and fell silent.

"I'll get your memories back." Hiccup's voice hardened. "I promised. And I'll find out what happened to her, one way or another. And I know none of this was your fault, okay? You don't have to apologize every time somethings new comes up that you don't remember."

One corner of Jack's mouth twisted into a sad smile. "Yeah, I might never stop if I did." He let out a harsh laugh, scraping his hands through his hair as a crazy look came into his eyes. "Gods, I should never had talked to you in that library."

Startled, Hiccup went to Jack and pulled Jack's hands away from his face. "Whoa, stop. If you hadn't, I never would have met you. Besides, it's too late now to change it. Let's just focus on fixing what went wrong, okay?"

Jack stared down at the floor as he chewed his lip and didn't meet Hiccup's eyes. His body was a stiff line of tension; he was wound tight, feet rooted to the floor. Hiccup pulled on his hands and he stiffened at first, but after a moment, he breathed in, nodded once, and relaxed. "Okay. Okay. You're right. How are we going to find Astrid?"

Hiccup let him go, and as he did so, he caught sight of something glittering on the bedside table.

It was a dagger. As soon as he picked it up he knew she'd made it for him; it fit his hands perfectly, the weight of it comforting and solid. He could feel the metal through the sheath, and it made his skin prickle and his nerves sing like pins and needles. She had used cold iron.

It was beautiful. The blade honed to shining perfection, the handle made of heavy ebony and carved with Celtic knots that continued partway down the blade itself, where Astrid had inlaid it with gold leaf. Even the sheath was beautiful, a deep red leather with a matching Celtic knot design on the sides. How much time had Astrid spent on this? When had she had the time? A knot formed in his throat thinking about how much she must have pushed herself to get it done.

"I wonder when she left this…" he murmured.

"Hiccup." Jack's voice, heavy with fear, pulled Hiccup away from admiring Astrid's handiwork. He sheathed the blade and tucked it into his waistband. Jack stood at the window, staring out at the drive. When Hiccup joined him, he saw the problem.

Among the ever-present loitering fey on the other side of the gate stood several tall dark figures. It took Hiccup a moment to recognize the menacing, sinuous forms; but when one shifted and he caught the glimmer of its golden glowing eyes in hollow sockets, he remembered with a shiver: he'd seen them on the night Jack had swept him off his roof and carried him into town because it started pouring and they'd taken shelter in McDonalds.

Fearlings.

But that night, the Fearlings had come for him en masse, and they'd been formless in their ranks, like a tidal wave of darkness the swept over everything. These few stragglers alone looked different: skeletal and haunted and inhumanly tall.

"What are they doing?" Hiccup whispered.

"I don't know," Jack whispered back. "I'd heard that Pitch lost control of them, and they'd begun acting independently. I don't understand."

"You think they're here… independently?" Goosebumps had risen on Hiccup's arms while he was standing there under the watchful gaze of the Fearlings. They didn't approach; they studied the house silently. All the other fey left a wide space around them. "Do you think they'll go away? I don't want to go out there with them watching."

"I can't blame you," said Jack heavily. "Let's wait a minute and see what they do."

Hiccup put his hands on the window and slid it shut, one slow inch at a time, trying not to make any loud noises that would attract the attention of the Fearlings. He and Jack stood and watched them, close enough to the glass pane that Hiccup's breath fogged the glass. Jack edged back, pulling on Hiccup's sleeve, but Hiccup was unable to tear himself away from the window.

One of the Fearlings moved its head, its body still but curling like a column of smoke, and Hiccup caught again the shine of its eyes as it looked up at him. "They're curious," he said suddenly. He didn't know how he knew they were curious, but he could feel it, a whisper in the back of his mind. What are you?

"What?"

"They're looking for me," Hiccup continued. "They want to know about me. That's why they're checking out the house. They…know I come here a lot."

Jack stared at him in silence. When Hiccup turned to look at him, Jack's gaze was alarmed and confused. "How do you know that?"

Hiccup shrugged helplessly. "I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe I'm wrong. It's just a…weird feeling that I have."

"I don't like it," said Jack at once. "I don't really understand what's happening to you, but this is not normal.

"None of this is normal. What are we going to do about it?"

He turned back to the window and locked eyes with the Fearling who was staring at him. After a moment, it nodded once, then turned, shifted into smoke, and vanished on the breeze.

Jack, at Hiccup's shoulder, let out a breath and tugged on the back of Hiccup's jacket. "Let's leave before more come."

Hiccup retrieved the spare key to Astrid's car from its secret spot in her bookshelf. They rushed downstairs and peered out the front door to make sure the Fearlings weren't moving in before they went outside. They both burned their hands opening the car doors.

"Where are we going?" asked Jack. He still looked like a scared rabbit, his eyes wild, his shoulders hunched.

Hiccup turned the key in the ignition. Astrid's music blared to life, rattling the car with the sound of Young Heretics, and Hiccup jammed the off button. He put her car into reverse a bit nervously; he technically knew how to drive, but he didn't exactly have a lot of experience with it. "We'll start at the school," he decided. "I'm…pretty sure it's a weekday. If she's not there, I'll find a way to talk to her friends. Maybe someone has seen her." An undercurrent of panic still hung around in his ribcage, but he pushed it down and focused on a plan of action.

"Sure," said Jack. He was holding onto his seat tight enough to whiten his knuckles. He looked like he wasn't even hearing what Hiccup was saying. "Gods, I hate cars."

"I'll roll the windows down."

They sped into town and headed to the high school with Jack holding his head halfway out the window. Hiccup parked on the side of the street where there was room, and they got out. Jack took deep breaths of the outside air. There were dark circles under his eyes.

"I'm okay," he said weakly.

Hiccup knew how he felt. He was a little nauseous too; the air in the car smelled like metal and chemicals, and it sickened him. Toothless didn't seem to mind it; Hiccup held the door open and waited for him to jump out, but Toothless stuck one paw in the snow and immediately retreated back into Astrid's car.

"Alright, guard the car then," said Hiccup, shaking his head at Toothless. Toothless just twitched his tail and curled up on the seat.

It was snowing again, giant fluffy flakes that piled up on the ground fast. The one inch of snow they'd gotten overnight had already turned into several more inches. Hiccup was glad that he'd thought to grab his boots that morning.

"Come on," he said to Jack. He zipped his jacket up and took Jack's hand, lacing their fingers together. As they began to trek across the parking lot, a blanketing fog rolled in, tendrils of mist curling through the cars and lamp posts. It muffled all noise until Hiccups boots crunching the snow down seemed loud.

"Does it seem quiet to you?" said Jack, his voice hushed.

Hiccup cast a glance over his shoulder. He was feeling it too; the unnatural silence that sent a shiver down his spine. Something was off. It took him a minute to figure it out, but when he did, it raised hairs on the back of his neck. "It's empty," he said. A sluggish breeze dragged across the lot, pushing the snowflakes around. Eddies and currents of snow flowed over the asphalt. The fog was getting thick. "There's not a single other faery in sight." Folk had been in the background of every moment for his entire life in Berk. Now, there wasn't a single one, and the empty space they left behind was ominous and haunting. "Where are they?"

Jack's grip on Hiccup's hand tightened. "I don't know, but I don't like–fuck!"

It happened so fast. One moment they were walking hand in hand toward the buildings; the next moment, dark figures on black horses surround them on all sides and hemmed them in. These weren't Fearlings. They were knights, tall aós sídhe in sleek black armor, carrying spears and swords. The knights lowered their weapons at Jack and Hiccup in complete silence, and they stopped in their tracks.

A lump formed in Hiccup's throat and he swallowed against it uselessly. "Oh."

Jack's face went blank. "Pitch," he said hollowly. He turned to Hiccup, squeezing his hand one more time. "Hiccup, listen. Whatever happens next… I'm sorry."

Jack still couldn't disobey a direct order from his master.

Hiccup nodded, trying to keep the fear he felt from showing on his face. "I know." He squeezed Jack's hand back. "It's okay, Jack. I know."

The knights parted. An enormous black horse, more shadow than flesh, approached. It was darkness made corporeal, void wrapped over bones and sinew, and the ether of it evaporated into the winter wind like black smoke, churning and trailing away. Pitch sat atop its back. He was wearing a wide, cold smile.

Hiccup had only seen the Shadow King once from a distance. Up close, he was horrifying, his skin a sickly mottled grey, his eyes a dull yellow. With him, he brought the smell of death and rot that even the wind couldn't carry away.

"Well, Jack." Pitch looked down at them, his eyes glittering with frozen rage. "Your little game of hide and seek is over. You've had your fun. You know, I had quite a time hunting you down."

Jack bared his teeth in a grimace. "Happy to entertain. How did you find us?"

With the stamping of hooves, the knights shuffled, revealing another faery who was cringing behind Pitch. He was prodded forward with a spear in the back. "Get off me!" he snarled. He came forward. It was sharp-teeth, the same faery that Hiccup and Astrid had encountered in front of the library. Not the one who had baited Astrid so effectively; the one blue all over.

"What are you doing here?!" Hiccup snapped. "I thought you weren't part of the court!"

Sharp-teeth leered at them. "I'm not, but after this I will be. As for how we found you… well, your little girl friend has been spending some time among the fair folk. She was quite the center of a glorious party last night. What do you think of that?"

Furious, Jack leapt at him in a flash of blue and white anger. Before anyone could do anything, his fist had connected with sharp-teeth's jaw with a dull thud, and sharp-teeth was sprawled out on the ground, Jack on top of him, raining down blows. The knights looked on with expressions of distaste.

"Be still," ordered Pitch, and Jack froze in place. Unable to move, he trembled, and his eyes flashed their contained rage. Sharp-teeth spat blue-grey blood into the snow and shoved Jack off of him. Pitch looked down his nose at them both. "So inelegant," he sniffed coolly. "You've spent too much time with humans. It's clear how much you've spoilt. Now. Stand up and stay still."

Jack rose stiffly and stood at attention, his hands trembling and restrained at his sides. "Where's Astrid?!" he spat at sharp-teeth. "What did you do with her, you miserable groveling little—?!"

"And stop talking," said Pitch, cutting Jack off. Jack's words were swallowed up mid-sentence, and he stood with his mouth opening and closing like a fish, fuming silently.

"She's busy elsewhere," snarled sharp-teeth. There was blood trickling down his face; he wiped it away with the back of his hand, glaring up at Jack sulkily. "She should be the least of your worries right now."

Jack's eyes were full of murder.

Pitch gave his knights a nod, and the two at the forefront dismounted and seized Hiccup before Hiccup could gather his wits together. They twisted his arms behind his back and held him tight. He couldn't move without hurting himself. Something sharp—a knife or spear point—pressed against his ribcage painfully. He sucked in a breath.

"No!" Jack cried. He was shaking in place. "Let him go!"

"I thought I told you to be quiet," said Pitch.

"You said to stop talking," said Jack, "and I did. And now I'm starting again! Let Hiccup go!"

Pitch rolled his eyes at Jack as he dismounted his horse. "This has gone on long enough, I think," he said. "It was amusing at first, but I am through indulging you."

"I'll come back," said Jack desperately. "I'll be obedient. Whatever you want. Let me make you a deal."

Pitch laughed at that. "A deal? From you? I already own you. There's nothing you have that you can offer me."

Jack tried once more, speaking through gritted teeth. He was rigid with frustration, seething with it. "There must be something I can—"

"No." Pitch cut him off. He bent over Jack, cupping his face with one hand. Jack flinched. "You don't seem to understand, Jack. I am past the point of toying with you. You've been a nuisance long enough."

Pitch, Hiccup realized, didn't intend for Jack to live past his disobedience.

The knowledge of it settled into Hiccup's stomach, a deep penetrating cold that weighed him down. He saw the moment Jack understood, too: the hope went out of his eyes. He flicked his gaze to Hiccup and then away, back to Pitch. He licked his lips. "Fine," he said slowly. "Kill me. Torture me. Do whatever you want. Just let Hiccup go, please."

"No!" Hiccup struggled against his captors but pain shot up his arms.

"I don't have to listen to this," said Pitch to Jack, completely ignoring Hiccup. "Be silent and stay silent this time." Jack went quiet. Pitch straightened up, towering over Jack, and held his hand out. "Take it," he demanded. Hiccup twisted to see what Pitch held and caught the dull shine of cold metal: an iron blade, not beautiful like Astrid's gift, but twisted and cruel.

Jack took it. His face had become a blank mask. He remained impassive as the metal burned his hand with a soft hiss. The sound was swallowed up by the wind.

"Jackson Overland Frosti," Pitch began. He was smiling, an eerie uncomfortable smile that looked wrong on his pointed face. "I sentence you to death. With this blade, I command you to take your own life within the next sixty seconds."

Still blank, still emotionless, Jack turned the blade on himself. He shut his eyes softly and laid it against his own throat, his flesh hissing and spitting, turning red under the metal. His lips moved silently. A prayer? A plea? No one could hear.

Hiccup let out a scream and fought to get to Jack, but it was useless. One of the knights struck him on the back of his knees and he collapsed, his kneecaps sinking through the snow and hitting the asphalt hard enough to bruise.

The point of the knife, dull as it looked, was still sharp enough to draw blood as Jack pressed it harder into his throat.

"Wait!" Hiccup choked out. "What about me? I'll make you a deal!"

"Stop." Pitch raised a hand and Jack stopped. Blood welled out around the blade and trickled down his neck. Pitch turned toward Hiccup as everyone stared; behind Pitch, Jack shook his head and mouthed words at Hiccup. No. Stop. Please don't do this. "What kind of deal?" Pitch asked slowly. There was a cunning gleam in his eyes.

Hiccup licked his lips. What could he possibly have to offer the faery king of the shadow court that he couldn't take by force? He had to try something. "Free Jack. And free Astrid. Take me instead." At least then Jack and Astrid would be safe.

Pitch chuckled. "Trade this stubborn traitor and the other human plaything for you? And what will you offer me to make that tempting?"

"I…" Hiccup racked his brain. What did faeries value? Their currency was all riddles and promises, free will and servitude. "I'll come with you willingly."

"Hardly enough to tempt me."

"What do you want, then?"

Pitch fell silent. He came closer and loomed over Hiccup, menacing and thoughtful, and took Hiccup's chin between his fingers to study his face. "Why do you do this?" he asked at last. "Has my little pet put you under his spell?"

"Does it matter why?" Hiccup met Pitch's gaze and refused to look away.

"Hmmm. I see you've eaten our fruit." Hiccup's heart rained nervous beats, but Pitch said nothing else about the fey changes in Hiccup. He withdrew and ran a hand over his chin thoughtfully. "I'll take your deal," he announced. "And I'll even do you one better. I want you to give up your true Sight to me."

"My sight?" Hiccup couldn't stop the note of shock that crept into his voice. "Why?"

"Does is matter why?" Pitch echoed Hiccup's words mockingly. His eyes, thin yellow slits, cast him a scornful glance. "A willful sacrifice is always more powerful than an unwillful one. Here is the deal I offer you: you give up your sight, and I will release Jack from his oath to the court and leave you here unharmed. You can go back to your mortal life, normal and un-sighted."

Pitch didn't know about the serum. Good; Astrid had somehow managed to keep that secret. It was better than Hiccup had hoped; it gave him a chance to find Astrid and the serum and come after Jack. If he was careful they would all still come out of this.

Hiccup swallowed and tried to will himself calm. This was his one chance to fix everything, maybe even get his life back. He couldn't let anything slip by. "And what about Astrid?"

Pitch's gaze slid sideways toward sharp-teeth, who was still lurking behind him looking pissed-off. There was a question in that look. Sharp-teeth squirmed and gave Pitch a small nod. "She is free to go back to her own life," said Pitch.

"And my father?" asked Hiccup. "What about him? Will you take the infection out of him?"

"Your father?" Pitch frowned. "Ah yes. I take it that is the man under my shadows." He heaved a bored sigh. "I will withdraw all my shadows from Berk, including those that have infected anyone there. Your father will be left alone. Will that satisfy you?" Pitch smiled politely at him, and Hiccup stared.

There must be something he was missing, some catch he couldn't think of. Everything he wanted was within reach–Astrid, his father, Jack's freedom–but it was too easy. When he looked at Jack, Jack was standing behind Pitch and shaking his head furiously, mouthing warnings at Hiccup. Don't do it.

What was he missing?

"Do we have a deal?"

Hiccup's eyes flicked between Pitch and Jack, his heart thundering in his throat. Jack was still shaking his head; furious tears streaked his face, and his eyes were pleading with Hiccup. Please please please please please… his lips moved. Hiccup shut his eyes and steeled himself. It was worth it if it would save Jack.

"My offer will not last long," Pitch pressed him.

"I…"

"You have three seconds." Pitch held up three fingers. "One…" He put a finger down. "Two..."

"Deal!" Hiccup set his jaw and looked up at Pitch. "It's a deal."

A wicked grin split Pitch's face. "Done," he agreed. He held out a long bony hand, and Hiccup shook it, his own hand dwarfed in Pitch's clammy grasp. A wave of electricity—that raw, static feeling Hiccup had woken up with—pulsed through the air. Hiccup felt it in his chest, and it stole his breath away.

He tried to pull back, but Pitch didn't let go of his hand. His grip tightened until Hiccup's knuckles felt like they were grinding together.

He yanked Hiccup forward, hard, and Hiccup fell to his knees again with a sharp cry. Pitch's thumb pressed into his forehead between his eyes, and it hurt, it was burning him and stabbing. Pain swelled in his head. It felt like his brain was bloating. Blackness burst across his vision. Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut and ground his teeth together, willing himself not to scream, not to whimper, not to make a sound. Not where Pitch and Jack could hear him.

"Wonderful." Pitch's voice was gravel in Hiccup's ear, speaking low so that only Hiccup heard him over the roaring in his head. "You have so much power in you. You've held up your end of the bargain, so your father will be freed from the shadows and Jack is no longer bound to his oath. As you wished."

Through the waves of pain and rushing darkness, relief flooded Hiccup. He'd done it. He'd fixed everything.

But Pitch wasn't done. "You'll have your father and your friend… whatever state they're in. We'll see what I do with Jack, but he won't see Berk again. It's too bad you didn't say what condition you wanted them in when they were freed. Human error, I suppose."

"No!" Hiccup's eyes flew open, but it was already too late.

The pressure, the pain, and the blackness lifted from him, puffed out of existence like a candle extinguished. He was alone in the snowy high school parking lot, breathing fast. He scrambled to his feet, looking wildly around, swinging his arms to feel for anyone unseen, but it was useless. All that was left were the cars, the snow drifts, the silence. Not another voice to be heard. Not another living being to be seen. Complete peace for the first time in his life, and he hated it with every piece of his soul.

"Jack!" he called. There was no response. Even the wind had quieted. "Jaaaaaaaack!"

Snowflakes fell silent all around him, cold and uncaring. Flake upon flake, they blanketed cars, piled against curbs, and erased all footsteps, until it was an untouched world. Until it was like no one had ever been there.

next chapter >>

#soteaa #hijack #frostcup #spirits of the earth and air #my writing #fanfic

[flowermist7432]

Have you tried talking with everyone doing that to you from your vent comic? They might not realize they're making you feel that or something unless theyre all bullies or mean

The thing with that is i cant exactly do that, dear anon.

People in my real "outside of the internet" life, do not actually listen to me. They've..acknowledged that they; Cut over my words, ignore, and just stare at me like i said something stupid and go "tch, okay" before they go back to talking to eachother, they have not make an effort to fix that. They claim if i keep asking them to stop it, i'll be a "problem child" . So ive stopped and just let them. And over all, stopped talking and attempting to interact. Now im considered a mushroom and absent.

Online is much more tricky, as ive had experiences with anxiety and poor self esteem, and even easily tipped over anger which makes me fear that if i speak up about it, i'll only push them away and or get fourced attention. (That's the worst feeling to be honest for me, getting fake attention is a sulky and awful lingering feeling that only hurts your heart further)

It could all more easily go wrong, id much rather bottle up feelings and learn to dwell and let go than loose my friends. I love them all so much, who am i to complain when they gave me so much?

I only posted that vent as i know others feel the same, and if they do than maybe they can relate! Im seeing a therapist soon to help my anger and poor self image soon. I know theres gonna be people that say "Well what if they understand?" For me? Id rather not take that chance..they arnt bullies. They are the bunch of nicest people ive met. So im just probably over reacting. But i guess it still doesnt stop me from feeling bad. (look in the tags for more)

#im not about to go attention seeking #i refuse to be that sort of person #im better than that #i know it seems dumb and easy to solve #but for me its much more complicated and a war with my brain #but all in the end- id rather not be a problem #id put my loved ones before my own thank you very much

[manypersons]

I was writing and tried to spell force like four different ways before I got it

forth, fourth, fource, forse???

#manypersons writes

[mythsee]

Triforce heroes doodle

#legends of zelda #legend of zelda #loz #loz art #triforce heroes #legend of zelda triforce heroes #tri-FOURce #lu legend #linked universe legend #linked universe fanart

[smashmusicideas]

Actually I'd really interested in learning how each of these sources are used.

Cool! Just to note, this one’s gonna be kinda long. So Star Wars is made of a huge smorgasbord of sources, and I’ll have missed a few, but here are at least the ones I can immediately remember.

Akira Kurosawa: probably more than any other single source, Kurosawa’s classic samurai movies loom large over Star Wars. Lucas is an unabashed Japanophile, and you can see dozens of details in the movies, the first one especially. Darth Vader’s beetle suit is a stripped down samurai armor, the lightsaber battles were modeled on samurai duels more than fantasy sword fights, and several of the characters were given “pseudo”-Japanese names like “Kenobi” to create a sense of exoticism. The plot of the first movie is basically The Hidden Fortress, a film about a general and princess’ escape from a villainous army both with the help and from the perspective of two lowly peasants - peasants who became the series’ Greek chorus C3PO and RD-D2. Lucas even wanted Kurosawa’s most famous collaborator, Toshiro Mifune, to play Han Solo.

1950s car culture: So even though the plot steals from Kurosawa, the premise came from Lucas’ teenage years. He was a fairly typical California kid obsessed with cars, and Luke Skywalker’s desire to get out from under his aunt and uncle’s care was modeled after his own desire to drive away from home in the seat of a classic American car. Most of the spaceships are part-WWII biplane, but also part muscle car, with fins and a smooth design. Instead of planes being generic units, everyone just gets their own; it’s actually kind of like Cowboy Bebop, which also drew from a broad swath of mid-century American culture.

WWII era adventure movies: This one’s fairly well known, I think. The space battles are basically dogfights, the high adventure takes a lot from Errol Flynn movies, and like those, the plots are heavily based around a very clear “good versus evil” plot. Some of these movies have a fatalism that’s really deliberately avoided in Lucas’ stuff, with characters knowing they’re going off to die, but his an have that there - it’s just in the background. And falling in with the prism of “everyone teaming up to fight the villains" through which we typically view World War II, there’s a sense of camaraderie and almost “building up the team” that happens, usually during a grand heroic climax.

Nazi imagery: This is sort of a weird one, because while the shadow of Nazism does loom over Star Wars - the term “Stormtrooper” literally comes from a contingent of the Nazi party that went around assaulting Jews and communists, some shots of villains mimic Triumph of the Will - it’s not really used in a political context. There are political elements found throughout the series (most infamously Lucas’ somewhat tin-eared criticism of Bush-era government overreach), but the Empire isn’t really representative of the Nazis or any other villainous fource, just as I don’t really think the Death Star is emblematic of, say, nuclear weapons. The Empire just represents evil at its most generic, a Rorschach test that can be whatever vaguely oppressive force the viewer wants. Star Wars is an interesting bridge that led the films of the late Sixties and Seventies into the Eighties, and a big part of that is a deliberate avoidance of overtly political storytelling in the name of more broadly popular, non-confrontational “popcorn flicks.” But there’s still an interest in these more difficult political elements at the fringes.

Planet of the Apes: we forget, but Star Wars wasn’t the only big science fiction franchise. There were five Apes movies, and there are a few parallels between the series (notably an emphasis on softer structures, a distrust of technological encroachment of nature, and a sort of Sixties New Age fetishization of the natural world), but what where the influence can really be seen is in the toys. Somewhat weirdly for a series so cynical and fatalistic that thee of the films had to be prequels because humans annihilated the world with a nuke in the second, Apes was one of the first big licensed toy lines, with a whole variety of dolls and playsets. The relationship between the Star Wars films and the Star Wars toys was in place from the first movie, and a lot of how it sold its dolls and playsets was definitely influenced by how Apes did it.

Film serials: we don’t really have these anymore, but classic film serial series of the Thirties through early Fifties were a big influence. For those less familiar, often in that period of time, film showings could be a longer affair; you might see a full-length film, but also documentary newsreels, a cartoon, and short films. Some of those would be serialized, but would include dialogue and writing to help people if they’d not seen the previous episodes. Star Wars shows that from the word go; the entire concept of it being an “Episode 4″ is itself a joke, a recap for a preceding story that doesn’t exist. And tonally, the movies take a lot from these series, with a generally upbeat tone, runtimes and plotting that take a lot from the attitude of those multiple-hour shows, problems that take no more than another episode to solve, and cliffhangers that promise an all new adventure coming up. Revenge of the Sith even puts a point on this by naming a minor character after one of the most famous serials: Commando Cody and the Radar Men from the Moon.

Sixties and Seventies Sci-Fi: This is a case where Lucas was looking at, among other things, his own source: the techno-dystopia TXH-1138, whose title gets a little reference in Star Wars as the cell Princess Leia is held in. Science fiction of those two decades often struck a line between smoother and blockier design, each associated with more optimistic or serene or more cynical and paranoid attitude that kind of defined American cultural attitudes in the mid to late-Seventies. Star Wars kinda bridged the gap; it was optimistic but decidedly apolitical, a world where both sides of the technological divide could exist. The machinery in particular takes a ton from those moves, all monochrome rooms and constant lights and switches. Unsurprisingly, these streams are all mostly tied to Seventies softcore hippiedom, an interest in light transcendental thought. But it’s not really about those; the science itself isn’t the focus. It’s why people - myself included - sometimes discuss Star Wars as not “really” science fiction. I’m not really as interested anymore in having that argument, but it’s certainly indebted to science fiction.

New Hollywood: More than anything, though, Lucas was part of the New Hollywood crew, a new breed of filmmaker that dominated the late Sixties to late Seventies in America. These were (almost all white and male) graduates of newly founded film schools. Influenced by Japanese and French cinema and inspired by communist revolutions (though very much not communist dogma; they viewed themselves as rebels from both marxist and capitalistic conformity), people like Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Tobe Hooper, Woody Allen, Roman Polanksi, and Ridley Scott tried to create a “revolution” in western and particularly American film. Lucas’ big pre-Star Wars films were THX and American Graffiti (as well as working on Apocalypse Now for a few years), and each represented two parts of Star Wars: oppressive technological social machinery and nostalgic small town chill. Eventually this culture died, partially from Lucas and Spielberg themselves; Jaws and Star Wars became cultural monoliths, altered film distribution, and indirectly began the slow death of both New Hollywood and drive-in theater culture.

There are other touchstones of less importance. Pretty much everything in Jabba’s Return of the Jedi palace comes from fantasy comics, and especially the art of Conan and death metal album artist Frank Frazetta. The pod-racing sequence in The Phantom Menace is a high-tech chariot race from religious epics like Ben-Hur. And certainly the tropes of fantasy storytelling are huge. Luke and Anakin aren’t just skilled young men; they’re heirs to a great legacy (and in one case, a comically absurd genetic superiority) that only justifies their importance and worth. The unfortunate racial caricature aliens in his films also come from those, along with many of the war movies and serials, ranging from the more benign (Chewbacca is essentially based on a classic cliché of a parter or servant from a “noble race” who follows his friend, but he’s likable and not indicative to any one culture) to, well, Watto.

And I think this is one of the bigger reasons why I find most of Lucas’ sequels less good, even in many ways preferring Star Wars to The Empire Strikes Back. As the films went on, this wealth of sources contracted, a sign of his becoming less voracious or engaged a consumer of not just pop culture but art as a whole. It’d pop up in a few ways, like the Ewoks’ defeat of the Empire alluding to the Vietnam War (whose end was still being processed in the culture), but generally those sources stayed unchallenged: Monochrome halls, dogfights, samurai duels, and fancy ships. As much as I’ve little interest in relitigating the prequels, I still maintain that their fundamental problem comes from Lucas not updating those sources, not using mysteries or film noir to craft a story set in the past.

And, of course, then came J.J. Abrams, and while I certainly enjoyed The Force Awakens far more than the prequels, it gets even worse under him, because that’s a Star Wars film where the only reference is just Star Wars itself. If the best parts of the film are about Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren struggling to live up to the legacy of Star Wars and its iconography - the shot of Rey eating under the giant mass of overbearing Star Wars trash is a favorite - than the worst is when it’s just redoing that iconography, most intensely in yet another X-Wing battle against yet another, dumber Death Star. And that one didn’t even kill off Greg Grunberg. I try to avoid “X fan-fiction” when describing something like this, but it’s reminiscent of modern superhero comics that are only about modern superhero comics, only really interested in the same tropes and icons.

And that’s also one of the greatest reasons I loved The Last Jedi so much, because it went back to those sources and reimagined them. So we get World War II culture, but instead of dogfighting it’s Casablanca, with two characters descending into a sleazy, corrupt world that’s ostensibly free from these endless space battles. We get this interest in politics, but it goes from focusing solely on the evil First Order to this idea that all these battles are more at the whims of an unseen military-industrial complex than anything else. And it even introduces new ideas of its own, from humor more akin to Mel Brooks than anything Lucas could ever do to a cheeky enjoyment of hinting at high octane violence in an otherwise family movie. Playing at the latter in particular leads to some brilliant visual splendor, with exploring red salt and crimson wall carpeting substituting for geysers of blood, and one major character’s visceral demise feels like something from an Evil Dead movie, equal parts horrific and hilarious.

But more than anything else, it’s the Japanese influence. Rian Johnson is another Japanophile and otaku, but he brings in his own wealth of influence, from other Japanese directors - mostly those who worked in the debatably trashier sections of the “chanbara” samurai genre - to even fatalistic manga and anime. Laura Dern’s awesome purple hair makes it implicit, but that sequence of her ship’s destruction comes so clearly from something like Gundam or Evangelion, a single gorgeous image conveying incredibly destruction. Even his Kurosawa lifts are different; he draws from the man’s color movies (which emphasized an intense, painterly use of color), and a major plot thread is based on Rashomon (that sequence in particular is interesting for also being on the few times we see a scene in Star Wars that’s dependent on character perspective). The film’s best sequence even ends with Rey and Kylo Ren fighting literal space samurai over walls of metaphorical blood.

There are also a few times where the film seems to bring in some of the prequel influence, with that casino planet or the more heavily choreographed fight scenes, and others when it outwardly deconstructs some of the series’ tropes. It all leads to this film that felt, at least to me, to be the first really “necessary” (such as it is) Star Wars film since the first, something as idiosyncratic as Lucas’ original.

I’m not sure exactly how to conclude this, other than to say when creating art, it’s easy to fall into a trap of just reusing your sources. I do that more often than I’d like, certainly. But bringing in new things can help. I recently started watching Cowboy Bebop again for the first time since college, and thinking about how that show used spaceships as car and plane analogues made me think about another way artists were able to come at the same ideas. And I don’t think knowing that Lucas was cribbing from these (and that his various producers and editors were keeping him under control to make a comprehensible final product) lessens any of the “magic” of them; at least to me it enhances it.

Though I should also note again that this is nowhere near a comprehensive list, and there is definitely a huge wealth of material he and everyone involved in the making of the movie exploited or used that I forgot about or haven’t noticed. But that often is how the process works; you bring in all sorts of ideas.

[jazzy-beautiful-crazy-life]

I felt the danger surrounding me. I tried to come to your rescue. They held me down while I was screaming the said it was time to shed a little more of my soul. While I am on the ground shaking and screaming in your blood. If only I could of been here earlier to save you. Now I'm compermising my own life for you. Time is running out quickly please God release these demons and tell me I can save this man I love. There is no time I must lay u to rest. They fource me to watch as they rip you apart and steal your soul. As your blood is dripping all over me. As a puddle of your blood covers me. I close my eyes and take my last breath. I then hear ur voice calling out to me. I wake up covered in sweat n feel paralyzed. Tears in my eyes when I realize I am all alone stuck in another night mare.

[mythsee]

I feel like Four would go : I only have known the colors (the 3 little shrimp that bite ppl) for a day and a half but if anything happen to them I'll kill everyone in this room and then myself.

Four would get attached cuz he’s found someone who splits like him but would also feel like an older brother/dad to them because they’re causing all sorts of trouble and he’s the one getting them out of it

#hurt them and you’re non existent #linked universe fanart #lu hyrule #lu wind #lu warriors #lu wild #lu legend #lu four #linked universe four #linked universe legend #linked universe wind #linked universe warriors #linked universe wild #linked universe hyrule #tri-FOURce #triforce heroes #legends of zelda #loz #loz art #shmyth requests

[mythsee]

I was super busy these few months with school(about to graduate actually!) but i had some spare time and so i drew Four and the Tri-force heroes again

I headcanon that Four knows how to cook bread by watching the baker from his local bakery, and also a doodle of four trying to find out who ate Wilds coat

Also im calling four and the dopples “Tri-FOURce”

#legends of zelda #linked universe fanart #four swords #linked universe four #linked universe legend #triforce heroes #loz art #loz #tri-FOURce

[mythsee]

Question! Why do you make Legend/the Dopples eyes violet? They look really nice on him!

For the dopples, I’ve always thought they’d have violet eyes because since they don’t have a fourth link(vio) I made them have violet eyes as a reference to them. So it’s basically just four swords BUT vio’s just the eye color. For legend, since the dopples are still technically him I just made him have vio eyes too (and mainly because he look awesome with it)

#legends of zelda #loz #loz art #tri-FOURce #triforce heroes #legend of zelda triforce heroes #linked universe legend #lu legend

[mythsee]

Strong small man holds even smaller men and he is tired of everyones bs ‘cause the bites aren’t that strong(it actually is but Four cant feel it somehow) and Wind is grumpy since he woke up to a blue Link munching on his clothes

#legends of zelda #linked universe fanart #linked universe four #linked universe legend #triforce heroes #four swords #linked universe wind #wind waker #loz #loz art #tri-FOURce