What Could Have Been - Tumblr Posts

What Could Have Been - Sting

"I am the monster you created. You ripped out all my parts. But worst of all, for me to live, I have to kill that part of me that's sore and I needed you more."

A sketch of Rhaenyra and Aegon, because they're siblings 💙

If aegon is the sun and helaena is the moon are jaehaerys, jaehaera and maelor their world? The moon revolves around the earth, and both the moon and the earth revolves around the sun, finding warmth. And the sun gives it to them, it gives them light, warmth and life. During the day the sun grants its light upon the earth and during the night, the moon looks over its world, glistening even in the darkest night, with the light it borrows from the sun, and the sun never asks for anything in return. They exist in the same panel yet they never meet, their world is their middle ground, the string that connects them. And if the sun and the moon ever met, we know it would be an apocalypse.

Moon is goddess, wife of sun

The fact that he tried to cover up the theft from Yugi implies that he wanted both the Blue Eyes AND Yugi's friendship and was forced to choose between them when he was found out. It implies that deep down there was a genuine connection with Yugi that he valued and wanted to maintain. All I can think about is what would have happened to their relationship had the Blue Eyes not gotten in the way? (Example: Yugi's grandpa didn't have any sentimental value and was willing to sell it to Seto, meaning Seto would have had no reason to betray Yugi.)

obsessed with this interaction tbh

There's a lack of Sigyn so imma draw it myself. Would've loved to see content of this trio goin on adventures or something tbh. 3 kids burdened with horrid fates, how would they have coped?...

Do you think suguru would trust gojo to take care of mimiko and nanako?

i think it'll depend on the situation if we're talking about this AU

and your ask made me draw a whole comic out of it lollol

“helloooo~!!”

Omg guys we would've had a whole season on dickkory if the show didn't get cancelled 😩😢

Romance options for Eivor that I would've liked to see in AC Valhalla.

If someone hasn't finished Valhalla's main storyline yet, SPOILER ALERT.

Men:

BASIM. Not Loki-Basim, just Basim. Real Basim. For Hytham's exasperation.

Tyr. Come on, there's not a sensible reason not to have the possibility of a relationship with him before Havi acted like the asshole he was and betrayed him.

Ubba. He was the only not-insane man between the Ragnarsson brothers and those at Ubisoft just killed him offscreen at the end. Bastards.

Ivarr. You can't convince me that they didn't have a thing for each other before things went to shit in one of the worst plot twists of the game. He could've got his revenge on Rhodri while simultaneously adopting Ceolbert with Eivor without that betrayal bullshit.

King Aelfred. I like and respect him.

Women:

Soma. Don't get me started on the Hamtunscire story arc.

Roshan. I know she is in her 70s, I do know she is Basim's mentor, but she is awesome. She'd probably reject Eivor's proposal (she seemed less than unimpressed during their quest together. Guess who Basim's got it from) but it'd have been worth it just to see Basim's jaw fall to the ground. Definitely worth it, regardless of the outcome.

Kassandra. She is funny and I like her interactions with Eivor in the crossover quest.

I haven't played the DLCs yet, so the list is probably still incomplete.

@missarrancar

Sith Rey by RamenDoodlesArt

This would've been amazing and actually focused on the original hazbin hotel premise like we were promised.

Daily reminder that there was already an actually interesting layout for Hazbin Hotel that ACTUALLY felt like it took place after the pilot but it very likely got scrapped for the bs that we got now-

Like THIS genuinely feels like some thought was put into it, unlike the official 'hey let's have a war with fucking Heaven as a season 1 finale and not put any work into getting to know any of the main characters'.

(And YES, I will be using this scrapped layout as groundwork for Limbo Ave. and possibly another au that's just basically the pilot version of HH continued for this storyline-)

(And DOUBLE YES, despite some of the plots being used in the official release I don't consider or accept it because it's obvious af that they just took the description from the scrapped work and just fucked off with everything else because no one could be bothered to take their time and think of a way to make the new stuff actually FLOW well)

I was doing relatively okay until "What Could Have Been" of Sting started playing and then I wasn't doing okay anymore because now I can't stop thinking how much that song fits him.

Someone make a edit, please. Or stop me from doing one myself.

"I am the monster you create"

"I hope you know we had everything"

"And you broke me and left these pieces"

"I want you to hurt like you hurt me today and

I want you to lose like I lose when I play what could have been"

Oh, what could have been"

"Why don't you love who I am?

I can’t be the only person who has thought about this…

Damn I really missed my chance-

I could've had a girlfriend right now guys I could've been in love😭😭

As I’m fascinated by What Ifs and alternate scenarios, and I’m going over back how I felt about Dex and Sylvie, I would LOVE someone to explore an alternate version of their lives.

(I also have a soft spot for rare-pairs, or in defiance of ‘the big destined love’. Every now and again. For balance and literary roughage.)

———————-

Across Dex’s life there’s reinforced messaging that Dexter doesn’t know what he wants, that he lacks purpose and drive and care, and this frustration only adds to lots of his other struggles.

But there is one thing we’re told Dexter once cared about: at some point in his childhood Dexter *loved* photography.

His mum mentions it when they get lunch, and thought we realise later that she was dealing with lots behind the scenes then, her remembrance of this hobby and her retelling of it then are actually quite hurtful and ham fisted. She (in a loving way) disparages this hobby, implying that Dexter wasn’t very good at it, and that this obsession confused his parents who (by the sounds of it) didn’t support or nurture this love.

And that would be interesting enough, coming in the same conversation that she bemoans Dexters lack of purpose and worries that it will cause him unhappiness in his life. But Dexter’s reaction to this memory is fascinating.

Its startling to see him so uncomfortable. He seems genuinely hurt and confused by this summation of his hobby; whether this is in response to the general sense that his mum didn’t think he was very good, or specifically that it was directed at his fascination with photography we can’t know for sure. But it gives an impression that there *was* once something that Dexter loved to do, or was fascinated by, and it was disparaged by his parents who didn’t support his interest and now he is seen as generally lacking any purpose or anything he’s interested in.

However you look at it it’s an interesting juxtaposition within one conversation. (I also kind of wonder if other interests were also treated this way, and so Dexters lack of care or interest is partially a learned behaviour…but I digress)

We get a call back to this photography again much later in the series, when the camera focuses on several taped up photos of gravel on his childhood bedroom wall. Again whatever the intention of this, it does remind us as the audience of Dex’s previous hobby that was important enough to him that he still keeps mementoes of them on the wall.

And though Dexter struggles massively with purpose and direction, we see in his last years with Emma that with the right support (and probably following on from a period where he reached the right level of desperation to swallow his pride and self motivate) he can choose a direction and job that he enjoys.

So I kind of love to wonder what other way his life could have gone.

What if, for whatever reason, Dex and Sylvie don’t go to Tilly’s wedding? Whatever the reason, probably combined with Dex both wanting to see Em again but also being slightly terrified of it, they can’t make it.

So Dex and Em don’t get their emotional reconciliation scene; they still likely make up and become friends again (Sylvie is still preganant, they’re still getting married, Dex will likely still invite Em and Tilly at least) but without them having that time and privacy at Tilly’s wedding to lay out all their cards…. are they *as* close afterwards as they could have been?

Does a Dex who hasn’t fully regained that romantically-tinged friendship with Emma (they shared a quick kiss minutes after he shared he was engaged and about to be a father!) then turn to Sylvie more than he did in the series? With Emma back as a good friend but not kind of a flirty-friend does Dexter emotionally commit a bit more to Sylvie and their marriage?

As they don’t re-meet Callum at Tilly’s wedding I think it’s unlikely he’s invited to theirs, hence Dex probably doesn’t get an offer to work for him.

So a Dex who is still professionally unfulfilled, looking for job options and a change, right when everything else in his life is also changing (marriage, fatherhood)… does this Dex now have a similar level of desperation/motivation as the one who we saw in Paris? Could this Dex also find the motivation to retrain in a new field, but not as a chef (as he hasn’t worked in a cafe) but instead…. as a photographer?

There was *something* there that drew his attention and held it as a kid, something which a appealed to him and made him proud of his little foray into that world. And when people are struggling with purpose and direction, don’t they say go back to what you once liked?

A Dexter who rediscovers this childhood love, now with the focus and need of an adult to try something new: that would be interesting. Also I think Sylvie is a model (?) in the book, so if that’s the case she probably has contacts or friends to help her new husband learn the ropes. It might even help their relationship to have her able to help him work on that passion, and for him to have something he is definitively working towards: both for them and also to reassure her family.

Plus if they don’t meet Callum at Tilly’s wedding, who then doesn’t offer Dex a job, Sylvie won’t be having an affair with him. In addition being with a Dexter who is slightly more emotionally attached to Sylvie, with a new career to focus on, and who hopefully feels less impotent might mean Sylvie doesn’t feel the need to cheat at all?

Do I ultimately think they would stay together? Probably not. They do appear to have differences in personality which would mean they aren’t the best of bedfellows. Dex’s sense of humor is shown to grate when Sylvie needs reassurance, and Sylvies inability to relax comes across to Dexter to be a lack of trust or belief in his competency. I don’t think different circumstances would have magically ‘fixed’ these differences in attitude and personality.

But I do think they could have ended better, and had a nicer and more interesting middle-period, before they went their separate ways.

But a Dexter who got to explore that tiny bit of passion and interest we’re told he once had? That would have been a fun version of him to get to see. And the poetic irony of Dexter finding purpose in the field his mother once disparaged, who found that interest and passion she worried he lacked in something she dismissed and mocked, would have been so narratively satisfying and well tied off!

I had been thinking about it a little bit and I don’t know if pity is the right word. More just sad probably that this person who was able to talk circles around her when they first met now can barely say a handful of words. And probably a lot of anger on his behalf too. It’s like seeing a shark or some other predator in a state of starvation and sickness, just wrong to see something that was so fierce and dangerous reduced.

I was also thinking how different it would be if her Starscream was alive or dead at this point as well. If Starscream is still alive but still in jail I can see Windblade seeing it more as a pet project to take on but not really devote herself entirely too. She would still try but would probably acknowledge how useless it could be and such.

But if it was after her Starscream died somehow, then you have guilt to deal with. Not to mention the whole “how do you grief the death of someone right in front of you”. I can see her dedicating herself to this Starscream a lot more then.  I wonder if she would even get angry or frustrated and lash out that this Starscream is neither the one she knew nor the one she wants. Like of course Windblade is a good person, but even she has her limits on such things.

Also Windblade is in an unique position compared to everyone else because she does know the basics of what Starscream and Megatron’s relationship is but probably not about the abuse or how bad it got. I don’t think Windblade has ever even personally see Megatron in canon. So I wonder if she would try to steer Starscream away from wanting to see Megatron? Maybe be like “I knew the real you, the ‘real’ you more than he ever did”. Starscream would probably thing she was full of shit most of the time since he can’t even think properly, how the hell would he have become leader of Cyberton. Especially since I can see Windblade trying to gloss over all the bad things he did which makes Starscream distrust her more since he would be able to tell when she was lying by omisson about something. 

Megatron also knows even less about Windblade than Windblade knows about him. So I wonder if he would think she was just another bleeding spark like Clicker or something else. Maybe he would like Windblade just wants to restore Starscream to gloat over her victory? Or take revenge by proxy for all he did to her? Or maybe he would think she wants to use Starscream as a dangerous weapon that would then be loyal to just her in a way Megatron could never even dream of? Megatron knows Clicker just wants to help but to him Windblade is pretty much a complete unknown.

Sorry, I haven’t been able to get my proper Windblade fix since TAAO ended and really love the scenario your story creates.. I just love how Windblade in the comics is always a person who does and wants to do good first and a good person second, if that makes any sense.

Hey, Question about Futile Effort, since I don't see it occurring in the story proper: How do you think Windblade would react to this version of Starscream after knowing the "real" him?

Hm. So I’ve been thinking about this question for about an hour, and honestly? I really don’t know. I want to say she would take pity on him, especially considering she’s seen his “real” self. She has two versions of him in her head, and this third person is not shaped by experience, nor is he shaped by his own attributes and personality. He’s been molded from the outside in. I think she would take up the same position as Clicker. There is a Starscream in there that’s not this one. And like Clicker she would put her best efforts into getting him out. She doesn’t seem like the type to give up entirely on a person, even if that person seems beyond help. Though, on the same note, I almost think she might try to shape him to be better than he is. The Starscream trapped in Starscream’s mind is a biting, bitter fighter. He’s still a little mean, but not shaped by the same experiences as the Starscream she knows personally.  If they ever unlocked Starscream’s mind and helped him heal he would be unrecognizable to her. He would be Neither her Starscream, or the one she tried to forge from his Spark. But someone entirely different. And I think she’d acknowledge that. How do you think she’d react? 

In honor of @nerdhunk‘s reign as bronyshiro and Nonnie’s ask, I present:

Champion of the Moon, Luniro

Please click for the best quality!!