#blow my mind with the characters' wits and ideals and plans! show me how it's done and tell me how it was planned after showing me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ikuzeminna · 3 years

Text

Scene Analysis - Heero’s Farewell

AKA The Helmet Scene

This is one of the most famous scenes in the entire series. And it’s certainly one of the most interesting as well, thanks to a number of factors. We have a mood change, we have Heero finally fulfilling his promise to Relena to bid her farewell, we have a clear picture of how their relationship has evolved throughout the series, we have a retcon of the previous episode to make this scene work and a million other things, frankly. So, let’s get to dissecting it.

First, the setup. The previous two episodes, episode 46 and 47, present us with a Heero who, in my opinion, acts a lot like during the beginning of the series. It may just be me, but he comes off as rather brusque. Sure, he and Relena may be throwing compliments at each other, but there is a curtness to his tone and the ordering around (”You’ll stay here with me”) that annoy me personally. When Relena initially asks him if he came for her he even deflects, claiming that Noin and the others are worried about her. Sure.

Again, I don’t like it.

If I had to guess, I’d say Ikeda’s intention of not making their relationship romantic but keeping it symbolic paired with being unable to write normal teenager relationships is at play here. I’m putting the blame on him since he is the director, but I may be wrong, so sorry if I am. In any case, the farewell between Heero and Relena is just a loaded glance. They don’t speak, there is a huge distance between them, they just look at each other meaningfully and then Heero gets ready to fight. It’s pretty much Earth and Space, ever at a distance, yet bound by ...uh, something.

Come episode 48, the other writers apparently bound and gagged Ikeda, locked him up in a closet and gave us take 2 of the farewell, which the fandom knows as the helmet scene. And it really shows that someone else was in charge during the last two episodes because we suddenly have the most gentle, most tender sounding Heero in the entire series, complete with sparkly eyes and teddy bears.

And this, I like because the point of Heero’s character arc is regaining his humanity. So having him act like in the beginning kinda ruins that. So thank you, person, who made these decisions.

To clarify, episode 47 has Relena in a dark hangar with her helmet in her hands looking up at Heero who is about to board Wing Zero. He then enters the cockpit and closes it. That’s apparently the end of their interaction. Come episode 48 though, the hangar is lit, the helmets are on and the cockpit is wide open for Relena to jump up and talk to Heero one last time.

And here we see the aforementioned mood change. Gone is Heero’s brusque tone and his weird reluctance to admit any kind of fondness or affection. Instead, he freaking pulls her in during the conversation, because an inch from your face is the ideal distance when speaking to a person apparently. And not just that; he is softly smiling at her the whole time and instead of making it an order, he gently asks her to let him go.

I trust everyone can see how glaringly different this is from their interaction in the previous two episodes.

And there is so much more still. In their conversation Heero reveals his newly made promise to protect Relena (and the Earth Sphere). This goes aaaall the way back to Cinq, where he initially told Quatre he didn’t see much sense in fighting for Relena or her country. Through the various events, he did end up protecting her though, then he was forced to attempt to assassinate her again as Chief Representative of Romefeller and now we are at the point where the peace Relena promises, or at least wants to fight for, is something that Heero believes in.

This is so important for his character because he was the guy who would spout stuff like peace only being the result of war and not believing in it. This is also the lesson he later tries to make Wufei see in their fight in Endless Waltz. Heero is not a soldier anymore at that point; he has become a normal kid who belongs to and wishes for a peaceful world. So yeah, very important moment here.

It really makes me wonder why anyone thought the loaded stare of ep. 47 was enough.

Even more so because here Heero finally fulfills the promise he made Relena back in Cinq: he bids her farewell before leaving. Back in Cinq, and frankly, in all their previous interactions, Heero would just up and leave without a word. It started in episode 6, it happened in 10 and again in Cinq when he went on the suicide mission to Luxembourg. And Relena didn’t even ask anything special of him. She just wanted him to let her know when he’d leave. She didn’t demand a reason, she didn’t want to give him permission, it was just a simple goodbye she wanted.

Yet, Heero does all of the above when they talk. He tells her why he leaves to fight, he asks her to let him go and when she refuses, thinking he is intending to kill himself again for the billionth time, Heero shines even more light on his character development by telling her to believe in him. He isn’t trying to die on the battlefield.

Heero pushes Relena out of the cockpit at this point and gives her a look that honestly creeps me out a little even to this day, as the cockpit closes and he maneuvers Wing Zero into position to take off. Relena, placated by his plea and stare, says the she does believe in him.

And then, because he may not plan to die but is prepared to do so nonetheless if it can bring peace, he actually holds up his end of the promise and tells her that which she previously wished to hear. And it’s wonderful, because he really shouldn’t have.

See, at this point Relena has witnessed and heard of seven attempts and brushes with death of Heero’s. On the beach, at the harbor, falling down the side of the hospital, blowing himself up with his Gundam, asking the Noventas to kill him, nearly getting slaughtered by Zechs and then later by the mobile dolls in Luxembourg, this girl has seen a lot with him. So it’s a very reasonable assumption of hers to think he would do the same thing again here and throw his life away. Which is why Heero has to assure her that’s not his intention.

But because he knows the risks, he knows this might be the last time they talk, so he kinda chickens out a bit there after that bold “believe in me” and bids her farewell nonetheless, just to be on the safe side, I assume. Because he later also tells her not to worry over him since his life isn’t worth much anyway.

And while getting her wish of hearing a goodbye should normally make her happy, Relena freaks here. Here he is, a friend she has known for a long time and who means a lot to her, as he was what gave her the strength to carry on after her father died, sounding like he isn’t going to return. And Relena is heartbroken because Heero is important to her. The parallels to her father show us how much Heero’s death would affect her.

Her crying out Heero’s name in that agonized manner isn’t meant to be taken romantically. This is a girl fearing her friend will die.

I really love this entire scene because it not only gives us heaps of character development and normal human interaction, which those two sorely lack, it also brings a bunch of stuff full circle, illustrates their personalities well and makes for another interesting break from traditions.

What I mean with the last point is that normally (or at least in the 90s), the guy is all business when he has to go out and fight, being all stoically manly about it, while the woman will be emotional and initiate one final time of intimacy, and the guy may respond before going off to battle. I have this overblown image of Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Clint Eastwood type of flicks in my head. You know, the manly stuff.

And here we have Gundam Wing, where Relena doesn’t even care about herself or her feelings for him, but instead is only concerned about Heero’s well-being. Which is why I would have totally bought Relena’s feelings for Heero being purely platonic had Endless Waltz with that super tender caress not happened.

Which also portrays her natural selflessness, in contrast to Heero’s credo of living life acting on your emotions. And boy does he act. He is very much cranking up the romance here with how close he pulls her to him and how very tenderly he speaks to her. Ship it or not, it’s obvious here he likes her. Which in turn tints all their previous interactions.

Ikeda might have wanted a purely symbolic relationship between them, but the geniuses behind this episode ruined that. They gave us Heero displaying his feelings for her, which in turn made all that came before a massive slow burn of sorts.

Hah.

This is something I find highly amusing personally. If you removed the helmet scene and that caress from Endless Waltz, I wouldn’t see it. But those two scenes are enough to make me believe there are feelings there and it’s amazing to see how little it takes to make me change my mind. Then again, Gundam Wing is big on subtlety so this is practically on par with screaming it from the rooftops.

But still, thank you. Thank you writers for inserting this scene and generally giving us two amazing final episodes. You hit all the right marks in my book.

#gundam wing #meta #analysis #extra large #episode 48 #heero yuy #relena peacecraft #1xr #episode 47 gave us too little #episode 48 kinda too much #but if I have the choice 48 it is #progress is always better than regression #and I ship it :P

89 notes · View notes

ariel-seagull-wings · 3 years

Text

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: THE VALIANT LITTLE TAILOR

TAGGED BY: @princesssarisa

@superkingofpriderock @astrangechoiceoffavourites

Favorite Thing About Them: His confidence, cunning, wit and sense of adventure. How can one not like a guy who genuinelly believes that killing seven flies with one slap automatically qualifies him to kill giants and capture unicorns and boars, and the best part is that its not just boasting: he really can do those things. In adaptations and retellings, he tends to become a frightened reluctant hero, wich also is another character archetype that i enjoy.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: Let’s face it: the original ending to his tale aged poorly. In that ending, he is once sleeping and dreaming with his work as a tailor. The princess who married him, whom we may simpathize with due to the fact that she is unhappy with being given to him by her father as a reward, while still being conscious that she is contributing with the classist and toxicly masculine ideals of her society, complains about it to her father, and the two plan to kill the Tailor if he dreams again of working as a tailor (never mind that he just saved their asses of giants, a wild unicorn and a boar and maybe deserve some rest of battles). Fortunally for the heroe, the King’s armour-bearer, who is his friend, warns him of this plot, and the Tailor pretends to sleep and dream of battles and saves his skin. I read this and am like: “Dude, you are clever enough to seek fame and fortune somewhere, maybe you should get away from those classist ungratefull assholes”. Thankfully, most adaptations cut this altogether, make the Princess (and sometimes her father) know he is a tailor and not care, and develop his relationship with the Princess as a genuine confidence and consent based love story instead of trowing her at his arms as a reward.

Three Things I Have in Common With Them:

Sense of humour.

I enjoy bread with jam.

I believe that sometimes lying is needed in order to preserve our lives.

Three Things I Don't Have in Common With Them:

I have no patience for sewing, and can barely be efficient to hit one flie, imagine seven.

I am not brave to face wild mithological creatures stronger than me.

Like i sayed, i wouldn’t want to continue living with a royal family that wanted to kill me.

Favorite Line:

This line from when he kills the Giants.

‘The work is done; I have finished both of them off, but it was hard work! They tore up trees in their sore need, and defended themselves with them, but all that is to no purpose when a man like myself comes, who can kill seven at one blow.’

This line from when he receives the mission of capturing the Unicorn:

‘I fear one unicorn still less than two giants. Seven at one blow, is my kind of affair.’

brOTP: The Armour-bearer, who is loyal enough to warn the Tailor of the plot against his life.

OTP: In the original tale, also the Armour-bearer, who genuinelly likes the Tailor as a person and is loyal to him. In adaptations, the Princess with whom he develops a genuine love story.

nOTP: The Princess in the original tale. It is clear that was not a happy match.

Random Headcanon: There is a variant of the story from Portugal where he is a cobbler named ‘João’, wich is the portuguese version of the name ‘John’. So, John is my name for him.

Unpopular Opinion: Like i sayed, i would prefer that he just accepted money and half the kingdom as his reward and asked the Princess if she genuinelly wanted to marry him or not. It would have avoided so much trouble.

Song i Associate with Them:

All three songs from the El Chapulin Colorado loving fairy tale parody three part episode, wich combined elements of The Valiant Little Tailor and The Emperour’s New Clothes.

Hermano Francisco (Brother Francisco), where he tells to the Princess (disguised as a peasant) about the kindness of Saint Francisco of Assis

youtube

No me lo van a creer (They won’t believe me), where he celebrates having killed three flies, but people misread him as having killed three local bandits (it was actually a Giant who did that)

youtube

Campeón (Champion), where the Chapulin Colorado, the story’s narrator who is played by the same actor as the Tailor, celebrates the fact that a heroe can come from unlikely places

youtube

Favorite picture of them:

This illustration by Johann Seipp

These illustrations by Hermann Wohler

This illustration by Karl Fischer

This illustration by Daniela Drescher

The 1938 portrayal by Mickey Mourse, wich was my introduction to the character

Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños (more known as Chespirito) in the three part Chapulin Colorado loving parody episode, my favorite version of the character

Actress Florinda Meza, who would later become his wife, portrayed the Princess, and their chemistry was really starting to show in that episode

Kostja Ullman in the German TV Movie Series Grimm’s Finest Fairy Tales (2008)

19 notes · View notes

leeknow-bestboy · 4 years

Text

If You Close One Eye - Chapter Three

Ships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Bang Chan/Yang Jeongin | I.N, If you really squint you can notice Lix is into Binnie, Hyunjin was into everyone once

Characters: All the kids, The ex kid isn't here I edited him out, Other Character Tags to Be Added

Trigger warnings: panic attack, ptsd, original character death, homophobia, original character cheating, descriptive imagery.

Word count: 5172

Chapter: 3/?

Next (Out soon!) / previous / first

Tags: Murder Mystery, amateur detective minho, Soulmates, not your typical soulmate AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, Slow Burn, Slow Build, good things take time let it slowburn, minho is singlehandedly responsible for the slow burn so blame him, no soulmates in this universe only they are, criminology student minho, art student jisung, POV Third Person, chan deserves better and he does indeed get better don't worry, art references please look stuff up, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, best sibling bond ever.

"If you close one eye, you can see what your soulmate sees"

Born with one eye an unnatural golden color, Minho and Jisung have been forced to cover them up with colored lenses in order to blend into society.

The magic to their eyes? Even they still didn't know.

This is the story of how criminology major and dance minor Lee Minho found himself hopelessly in love with the serial killer, local artist Han.

[Alternatively, let's see how long I can make these two dumbasses pine without one of them snapping. Edit: they finally did]

[Also WARNING: a HUGE amount of Jeongchan ahead, it's not subtle at all! So much fluff--]

"As impressed as I am with you, I think the right thing for now would be to take time off. You can probably tell this had been quite a destructive journey for your mental state." Jae commented.

Now back in the office, the two detectives had stood opposite to Minho with Sungjin and Wonpil supervising from the back of the room.

"I found her though! Her case went cold from how long it's been, and I found her under 24 hours! Now you tell me to take a break?" Minho's voice cracked, almost offended by the idea.

"Minho, we never thought you would find her. Nobody planned to show you a second corpse a week into your training, it's too much." Young k insisted.

In the back of his mind Minho knew he had a point, but he couldn't accept that he'd be put to rest. Not like this, not while the prosecution started working on locating Min-ra's killer.

"I'm involved! I can't stay home and do nothing while they work on this, it's my case." Minho pleaded, only to be met with two pairs of sad eyes. Didn't they get it?

"I understand, I do, but you're still young- these are a lot of horrors for someone to go through before their twenty second birthday." Young k reasoned, hand lifting to Minho's shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze before letting go.

"You guys... How do you cope with this job, then? How come you hadn't gone crazy?" Minho asked, now despaired. He made his way to the usual chair- a comforting source of routine in the madness that was going on.

"We have. In case you hadn't noticed, we all are a little crazy around here." Sungjin spoke up, hand smoothing out the stress gathered between his eyes. That might have been a good point too, had Minho known what this team had gone through in the past few years.

"You might think we're toughened up, for me I'm fine as long as I keep god in mind- I remind myself of heaven and hell, so death doesn't scare me anymore, but it still stays with me, so I can't sleep so well." Jae revealed, earning a shocked glance from the younger.

"Me too," Confessed Young K, shocking Minho farther. These guys were professionals... did they really not adjust yet?

"I used to be a cop, in my time- a serial killer went on a spree, and I was the one who always found his victims.

Always, on my shift-"

He paused.

"I kept dreaming of them, waking up in cold sweat with red marks from scratching myself in my sleep.

It got into my head that I had to find the killer to put them at rest. I was denied access to the case though, so I did my digging independently without a team. Sungjin scouted me after I found him, and I kept working since."

A long silence followed, broken when the black-haired detective continued. "It didn't help; finding him, I mean. What helped was doing things, investigating, staying occupied. We're a little similar, I think."

Minho didn't know how to respond, so he didn't. Instead, next it was Wonpil who spoke up.

"Me and Dowoon, we hadn't witnessed as much gore as these two, but we get to face a lot in real time. Back when I started, some people scared me so much I couldn't sleep- Just people, looking in their eyes and knowing they wanted to hurt me, knowing they could, might, and that I was responsible for getting it under control.

I didn't get to shoot anyone; I hope I'll never- but Dowoon did. It's the reason he only deals with phone calls now… he's always been too kind for this job, that softie. He never did anything to deserve his emotional baggage."

Minho sagged. Cops as well, then… if he hadn't signed for the internship, he still might have ended up the same way. The thought was jarring, suggesting something Minho never considered when he picked his ideal career path.

"I have too many stories to tell, you'd probably rather not sit through them all.

I do think, as far-fetched as it might sound to you right now, that you have a spot in this team. Minho, let your sunbaes ease you into this- after that, you can prove yourself as much as you'd like." Sungjin summarized.

Minho let his head hang, struggling to accept that they've all felt the same. Then… there was no getting better, was there? As time went on, the burden only got heavier.

"I will, I'll take a break." He surrendered, leading to Wonpil releasing a sigh of relief and opening the door they had closed earlier for privacy. As he did both eavesdroppers toppled over, landing on the floor with a hard thump. Seeing as Chan was the one on the bottom, he had it a bit worse, softening what could have been a rough fall for the younger.

"You two are insufferable." Minho commented, stifling a chuckle. Paying closer care, he couldn't help a sigh at noticing that, despite the embarrassing situation, the first thing Chan managed to refocus on was the intern atop him whining softly from being startled so bad.

The blond groaned, gently checking the other for injuries. What was it now, had he hit his head when he fell? Did he fail to notice everybody's eyes on him? The excuses have been slowly running out one by one.

"I'm heading home." Minho announced, walking around the two laying on the floor and waving on his way out. This had almost distracted him, but… not really.

From that point onward, it was bound to get worse.

"Ryujin? Are You there?"

Minho sat in his car, a light rain shower tapping against all windows as he waited. The month of march has been full of sunshine and clear sky, and so far it seemed april only had those as well- so of course for the weekend of his sister's birthday there had to be a drop of temperature.

Ryujin hummed, sounding bothered. "Oppa, you're calling me now? Last time we talked..." She trailed off. That's right, he should have checked up on her- it was inconsiderate of him, but frankly he didn't know how to broach the topic after telling her the bad news.

"Where are you? Let's talk." He pushed on, intending to apologize in person. That, and make up for all that he should- he's thought up a plan to cheer her up and celebrate her birthday properly.

"Why does it matter? I'm home, it's raining." She replied, voice betraying the fact she was upset, and for a good reason.

"Put on something comfortable and come down, I'm outside." He instructed, a small smile spreading across his face at the sound of her shuffling quickly about her room without hesitation. Five minutes later she was already stuffing her umbrella at the feet of the shotgun's side.

"Oppa!" Ryujin smiled, wrapping her hands around Minho in a hug that said it all; I'm not mad anymore, I missed you, are you okay?

"Put your seatbelt on, we have a reservation to catch." Minho ordered mischievously. That implied he's reserved a table, but to a person who's known him for years growing up, it should be easy enough to tell what he really has in mind. As such Ryujin smiled back, sitting obediently and tacking her belt into place before grabbing his aux from the hatch and playing some music.

When they arrived, the studio was dark. For a platonic date between siblings Minho hadn't bothered to light up candles or scatter flower petals and had instead left the studio as it was. He pulled open the trunk, taking out a short vanilla cake with whipped cream topping that he's bought on the way to Ryujin's.

Covering the cake container with his umbrella, Minho gestured for Ryujin to head in first. She did, stepping into a stairwell that headed up towards the studio he rented. After joining her he struggled with the umbrella and container, trying to pull out the keys he's been given. Eventually he succeeded, making a short happy sound before unlocking the respective door.

Ryujin stepped inside, smiling wide and letting her hands swing about. The sight had been endearing, causing Minho to smile softly. He set down the cake container, placing the cake atop it before laying down himself and crossing his legs. Ryujin sat on the other side, watching him place candles and carefully light them up with a newly purchased lighter he got for the occasion.

"Happy birthday, to my favorite nerd." He congratulated, laughing at her content smile.

"I missed you. I didn't think you would come, but you even prepared all of this... What about college?" Ryujin Interrogated.

"Make a wish first, the wax is melting." Minho avoided neatly. They can talk for a while afterwards.

Ryujin took in a breath, blowing out the candles decisively. "Not telling." She announced before he could ask the usual question.

Minho chuckled, messing his little sister's hair only a little while considering if it'd be too much to sing her happy birthday. Deciding against it, he took out a knife from the container, realizing he forgot napkins. Whatever, it's no mousse. He passed her the knife, watching her cut out a slice and crumble it quite messily as she ate.

"Ryuddaeng," Minho started, tone straightening out. "How have you been?"

Ryujin's smile faded, swallowing what was left of her slice before responding. "I don't know what to say. Everything feels frustratingly normal."

Minho felt relief wash over him at that. "You're sleeping alright? Eating too? How about any birthday plans with friends?"

Ryujin moved her hair behind her ear, uncrossing and then crossing over her legs. "I'm okay, I did cancel my plans with the girls though, it felt disrespectful."

Minho sighed, rolling a shoulder. "You know it had nothing to do with you, the estimated time of death is the last day she was seen, over a month ago."

Ryujin averted her gaze uncomfortably, picking her nails before forcibly setting them behind her. "I didn't know, I don't know anything about what happened, I didn't think you'd know either."

Minho raised a hand to his face, realizing he kept Ryujin in the dark to an unfair extent. "I've been looking, like you asked. I was the one who discovered her, so the police offered me an internship and shared their findings."

Ryujin straightened, interest piqued. "You intern at the police now? Is that okay? Wait, you found her? Yourself, you mean… god."

Minho nodded.

"You're not joking right?" Ryujin asked again, shocked expression turning sad.

"I'm serious. I came to check out a field she drew for her Instagram, right outside seoul. I don't know what I was expecting, I don't think I was ready to actually get somewhere searching for her." Minho added, trying to keep his composure as memories came flooding back. Ryujin rushed over, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. He guessed she wasn't expecting it, either.

"After results came in, they ruled it a suicide; she shot herself." He ended, hoping to wrap up the story so that they could lighten up a little. He was startled to feel tears drip down on his neck, figuring he's caused the opposite of his intentions. What for? Chelle was never worth his little sister's tears, she just wasn't.

"That must've been so scary." Ryujin mumbled, and Minho was hit with the realization she was crying for him, rather than her late ex-girlfriend. That made things both better and worse, leaving him lost on how to comfort her.

"Ryujin, I'm fine. I got talked through it by the police team, they calmed me down and fixed me up, I'm as good as new." He promised, petting her hair awkwardly. In truth he wasn't, and they didn't, but she didn't have to know that.

He didn't tell her about Min-ra.

Pointedly didn't about Chelle's cheating, either.

After Ryujin calmed down a little, a small smile showing with lot of effort from Minho's side, the two ate a few more cake slices and stood up. Minho swiped the crumbs to the nearest trash can and plugged his phone to the studio's aux cord, playing a steady beat. "Remember this?"

Ryujin smiled, dancing lightly to show that she does. "Come on! it's a good occasion, let's clear the air." Minho commented, raising the volume and dancing a little on his own, smiling through the mirror at his sister, perfectly coordinated with himself.

Since young both had loved this pastime more than any other hobby, helping them bond and providing good stress relief. When they were dancing, it was as if everything went away: their dad, school, occasional homophobia, bad days and broken hearts. Here they were, pretending to be Chanhyuk and Suhyun, dancing to how people move.

"You're taking it easy on me! I hadn't rusted yet." Ryujin complained as the song came to a stop.

"What are you feeling?" Minho asked, grin spreading across his face. Now they're talking.

"I still have my playlist for these, let's start with Taeyong and Ten." Ryujin suggested, already on her way to fix them up on Min's phone.

"Steamy." He commented with a chuckle, swiftly followed by an "Only if we do good-bye baby too."

Ryujin rolled her eyes. "You're so embarrassing."

"We can try cover hard carry after." He offered.

"Taemin's Move, too! You told me last time you figured out how to do the part we were stuck on, I want to see." She turned, eyes challenging him silently.

"Deal." He assured, recalling his practice with Dahyun of the girl's class, a same age friend who had offered to teach him. At that Ryujin smiled, rushing up to his side for the start of next song.

"Jisung! You scared the life out of me!" Seungmin whined, making annoyed motions towards his stubborn roommate who's been up all night as per usual.

"I'm almost done, give me a minute." Jisung assured, knowing that was an obvious lie. This time he hadn't been drawing in the living room or kitchen, but had instead set up his stand in the bathroom, hence scaring sleepy Seungmin on his nightly pee break.

"No, Jisung, you need to go. I need to pee really bad." He insisted, and had he been anything other than upset the crudeness of his own speech would have made him blush. Frustrated Jisung stepped out, carrying his canvas with him.

"I hate anatomy, why do I do this to myself?" He asked aloud, only to be answered grumpily with a "because you religiously draw every single one of your fever dreams, you weirdo." From across-the-door Seungmin. He had a point, too.

Today's painting had been only a sketch for now, something that's been on his mind since an insect of some sort came crashing into his eye at random. The vision of people dancing, beautifully so. Really, he could have been more focused on the vision if he wasn't panicking and batting the thing away, but the thought was enough. He knew for sure his professor would appreciate it as well, since the work of Edgar Degas was included in their future study course.

It was around a week ago that the same professor picked an interest in Jisung's art and asked him if he'd like to have them presented in a proper show, which was the dream of every art student ever.

Of course he agreed, but since then his anxiety kept growing. He knew he was good, he loved his own art dearly, but he wouldn't know what to do if others did not.

Rather than letting it eat him up, he decided to push forward with all his might, doing his absolute best for every new piece he wanted to enter.

So far, he had drawn almost seven out of ten pieces for the show: A tall grass field, a city view through a window, an iced coffee cup, a drawing of a park and a drawing of a cat- although that one might not be good enough to show. After that came a short block, and then he drew the club scene, and then today he started on the dancers. As for the showering man, he considered it shortly, only to decide it felt way too intimate to showcase.

Jisung hadn't considered himself a landscape artist, but by what he's been inspired to paint lately, that might have been the direction his mind wanted to go.

More than that, Jisung always drew mundane small things that made life unique in his eyes, and although he couldn't find himself excited at his own cups of coffee without context, there was something about those moments specifically that made him feel like they were meant to be cherished.

"Okay, I'm done. You can have the mirror back now." Seungmin informed, having caught on to the reason Jisung has been drawing in the restroom to begin with.

"Sleep well Seungmin-ah" Jisung wished affectionately, quietly cooing at his sleepy roommate as he made his way back to bed and flopped down.

Although Jisung was the night owl, Seungmin often had stress keep him up, then the next day he'd be extra exhausted and ready for sleep. Today seemed to be one of those days, judging by his friend's unmoving figure so soon after collapsing in bed.

He couldn't help but admire him. The two have been sharing a room for give or take a year of college, and have known each other since high school by chance. Seungmin was taking up animal science as major, claiming he was attracted to the idea of a straightforwardly good profession such as veterinary medicine. Not only that, but he also minored in photography, making him stand out from the other nerds in Jisung's eyes.

While the two came in contrast with each other in many ways such as; how neat they were, their favorite subjects, favorite creative outlets, how they got down to studying and the way they dealt with stress, they both found enough in common to bond over easily.

They both liked the same music, found the same things pretty or gross, both liked to capture and preserve chosen memories in their own way, and most importantly they were both caring and tended to each other's needs. The result was, expectedly, a strong friendship that grew almost immediately after moving in.

Focusing back on his work, Jisung's mind wondered with some three AM thoughts. How much different will their lives turn out? A vet and an artist, in college they may live together well, but years will tell of the gap between the two.

Life had a way of doing that, tying different people together naturally or forcibly. How many chances will he get to befriend someone like Seungmin? And just how many unlikely things like it are left for him to experience?

Although he believed himself to be highly likable, Jisung didn't have many friends in college, only Seungmin and Changbin from his minor. It's been different in high school, but in college being an introvert really took its toll, isolating Jisung until he felt too late to join the already formed friend groups all around him. That's fine, he assured himself- his art, what mattered most to him, at least he still had that. When he was drawing, he never seemed to get lonely.

Closing his eyes, he recalled again the dancers; a boy and a girl. Should he attempt a new concept? If the boy was the moon, the girl was a star. Their poses suggested they were close friends rather than coworkers, and Jisung wondered if boosting their contrasts would add or take from that fact.

For some reason, his instinct told him to shine more light on the boy, and he only half frowned when he realized he's been putting so much more effort into him rather than splitting it equally. Alright, he reasoned. Let's not do that, brain.

He sighed quietly, looking to where his finished pieces were laying against the wall in a stack. Should he pay a visit to the dance majors in his college? The thought made him anxious. No, he'd rather stay inside- he could look up references if he wanted. Lightly slapping his cheeks, he turned back and continued his work in silence.

Minho spun, goofing around rather than practicing a specific choreo. At the corner of his eye he could see Hyunjin doing something similar, half clinging to Felix at the other's laughter.

"Hyung!" Felix called him over, worry ghosting over his face for a moment as if he noticed something was off. Minho smiled uneasily, walking over to the two. What was it?

"Did you sleep well? You seem tired, you have bags under your eyes." Felix questioned, cupping Minho's face with both hands. Minho pursed his lips, causing Felix to let him go with an eyeroll.

"I'm fine, I just have a lot of work. I'm jealous sometimes- I wish I majored in dancing, then at least I'd be stressed about something I like."

Hyunjin made a face, almost offended that Minho made their lives sound like a dream when in truth the two dance majors were working long and hard hours just as he did. "Change your major then." He challenged.

"I can't do that." Minho sighed for the hundredth time. It was clear to him that his mother would fund whatever he set out to do, but he never felt comfortable relying on her, they didn't know each other well enough- a strange thing to say about one's mother. No, he decided years ago already, he wants to make a living for himself without her support.

"I got an internship too." Minho added, using his bragging rights for once after refusing to do so in front of Ryujin.

"You did? Where?" Hyunjin asked, offense long forgotten or at least bottled down to where it won't bother him. If Minho got something cool going for himself, then what's there not to support?

"In the district nine police station, I'm working with the detectives there." Minho dropped the information as if it wasn't a big deal. He knew it was, but after the things he's been through it seemed more like a curse than a blessing- not that they needed to know that.

"Oh right!" Felix called, tone raising with a smile spread across his face. "Chan-hyung told me you were working with him! You two are interns then? I thought he was doing volunteer work." Minho paused, reminding himself that Felix and Chan did in fact know each other quite well.

"He's volunteering at the emergency call center; I intern with the investigator team. It's a bit different, but we do work in the same office block." He explained, noting with slight fright the ray of sparks flying from both his friends' eyes.

"That's so cool! It's like you're a movie star!" Hyunjin hyped, the other nodding furiously.

Minho reached to rub his neck, pulling the hat of his hoodie over his head to relieve his fluster. "I'm still new, I don't know anything." He lied, wishing he could be praised for something good like his hair, his face or his dancing… not like this.

"We can say we danced with a detective like Sherlock Holmes." Felix added, clinging onto Hyunjin's shoulder with the other instinctively reciprocating the affection. Obviously he was blowing things out of proportion, but they both tended to be overly supportive of Minho in everything he did.

Minho hummed, hoping they'd cool off after a moment.

The dance instructor entered, giving them a once over before calling for the rest of the class members' attention.

As embarrassing as it was, Minho Felix and Hyunjin were all sophomores despite their age gap due to the fact Minho spent a little over a year working and saving money to fund himself, while the two of them enrolled immediately after high school.

Normally he shouldn't have been allowed in the majors' class at all, but it was the minor's squad instructor's call at the time to up his studies, which led to his current instructor always keeping an eye out for every flaw and mistake that could justify kicking him out.

Unfortunately for him, Minho's spot was well deserved.

Calling him out for demonstration, the instructor asked him to dance what their class had practiced last time, which was four days earlier. Relying on his fogged-up memory from before the Min-ra incident, he still managed to execute it perfectly, mentally patting his own shoulder in pride.

"Okay." The instructor went on, not finding any particular flaws to pick on this time around, yet infinitely patient for them to show up sooner or later. "Let's begin."

"Minho-hyung! Are you up for ice cream?" Felix's voice sounded not thirty seconds after the instructor dismissed them. Minho turned, drying his hair with a towel. He had a gap in his class schedule of forty-five minutes, which meant he probably could take the younger up on that offer even after a quick shower.

"Sure. Hyunjin too?" Minho asked, making eye contact with the friend in question.

"Yeah." Hyunjin smiled before making his way to the shower room.

After they were clean, the three headed to an old ice cream place that had survived impressively in that spot for at least ten years. Ordering three cones of a combination they all love; strawberry vanilla, they left the place with a feeling of satisfaction at treating themselves for a change. For Minho especially, a treat was a good call during the week he was supposed to recover in.

He only managed five or so well-earned licks though, before he felt an itch at his right eye. He groaned, signaling the others to halt in their walk for him to rub the dirt out real quick.

Art, multiple pieces spread across the floor. One of the field, another of the club- a third one of a park, an iced coffee and a city view that seemed eerily familiar. Minho froze, unmoving. The common interest was clear: they were all signed HAN.

The sound of Felix and Hyunjin screaming in unison brought Minho back to reality, lowering his hand and realizing to his misery that he dropped his cone of ice cream. Felix passed his cone to Hyunjin before wrapping his hands around Minho and patting his back gently, an attempt to comfort his friend over the loss of vanilla-strawberry ice cream rip. Minho could swear he was crying a little, too.

"Felix, Felix I'm fine." Minho attempted, glancing over to where Hyunjin was standing, eyes teary and sniffing heavily. Oh for fuck's sake.

"It's just ice cream! I can go get a new one." He added, although he had no such intention.

"But you're broke." Felix sniffed, tightening his hold. Minho's lower lip trembled. That's true, he is broke.

"It's okay, don't worry, I don't need it. I'm good." He lied.

"You can have mine." Hyunjin offered, wiping his eyes awkwardly on his forearm since he was still carrying both cones.

"Really?" Minho asked, touched. That meant a lot, coming from Hyunjin. All three of them needed this treat after feeling so stressed for a long time…

"I'll remember this." Minho promised, Felix taking his que to let go so he could take Hyunjin up on his offer. Under different circumstances he might have declined, but he had his class on white collar crime in less than fifteen minutes.

Hyunjin took one last lick before longingly passing his ice cream to his friend. "Make sure to hold it well." He requested, giving Felix's cone back to him as well and pulling out his phone to check the time.

"Yongbok, we have to go; theory's at the other building." He informed, pulling Felix to him before pushing him towards the right direction.

"Bye hyung!" he called, Felix waving with considerably less enthusiasm at the prospect of dance theory.

Walking toward his lecture hall, Minho entertained the thought that maybe his hallucination was an attempt made by his subconsciousness to divert his attention towards anything of actual importance. Following the thought, he decided a small checkup wouldn't hurt. Sure, there were plenty of Hans, it was a common surname- but maybe if he searched for Han artists in his area, he could narrow it down to a list. Why artists? Regrettably, only for the sake of the context the name was brought in.

Looking up the name on google under his table with one hand, Minho made use of his ambidextrousness to write down the list of Han artists from district nine. After farther thought, he expanded the search to include Hans in his living area around the college and from around Min-Ra's home. If he was lucky, he wouldn't have to include all of seoul.

Narrowing it down to two artists, Minho found that neither of them drew in the style he saw. Was he overdoing it? And just what was he searching for, anyway?

Annoyed, Minho typed down "art signed HAN, seoul", and hit a tumblr account for first result. That couldn't be a reliable source, and yet he entered in search of anything useful.

The url read hansquirrelart, which was only somewhat promising. Reading the description, Minho could tell why google directed him there.

"Han Jisung, 00', seoul." He read, assuming this couldn't be the guy he's looking for, since the world of a nineteen or twenty-year-old squirrel aesthetic art blogger wouldn't seem to have any overlap with Minho's. However, since Minho himself had no idea of what he was expecting from his search, he scrolled down a bit to see the content. After a few memes, a first art piece showed, marked big and red with "WIP".

Minho's blood froze, recognizing the style of the drawing. The caption read "Peek of my recent classwork, might not finish. Not very into this one." And the end was signed clearly with HAN, the same way the works he hallucinated were.

Now driven, Minho followed links from the tumblr to a similar twitter and Instagram that wasn't private, all under the same name. "Guess what?? Ya boy got a spot in an art show this saturday!! Come see me, everyone's invited :D" read a recent post. Minho jotted down the details before moving to the Instagram, breath hitching as he saw a picture of a guy with his face crossed out by a filter. Despite everything, he seemed oddly compelling.

"Mind sharing these notes with the class?" Called the professor, upset at the sight of Minho furiously writing what seemed to be minor details while others listened.

"Ah? No, I'm sorry." Minho apologized, quickly turning off his phone and throwing it in his bag with the resolution to continue later. For now he should focus on passing his classes.

22 notes · View notes

calliecat93 · 4 years

Text

Top 5 Things I Liked About Red vs Blue: Season 2

(Top 5 Dislikes)

One post down, one more to go… and then twenty-six more to go for the rest of this series. Why did I decide to do this again? Meh, whatever. Let’s just get on with it as we resume looking over Season 2.

#5. Machinima

Okay, this might sound weird, but hear me out. The machinima last season was… basic. Not bad mind you, there is only so much that you can do without a lot of creativity and resources. Resources that RT didn’t have at this point in time. But mostly, they just went through the default motions. Nothing really stood out. It had some cool stuff, like them somehow managing to blow the Warthog on top of Red Base. I think they even said in the commentary that trying to replicate it for the remaster was a pain in the ass. Still, it just didn’t stand out, though the humor made you not notice.

Clearly, the RT guys wanted to push themselves a little more now that they knew how Halo operated and they could machinimate better. Which they did. I noticed a lot of little things when watching the season. Like having Caboose jumping up and down during the opening gunfight while behind a rock, or even Doc just pretending to fire his blaster. Or having Simmons more or less trembling in the finale when his… ugh… fax parts act up and you can tell what Grif is staring at when he questions it. Or adding in things like Lopez’ note in the finale, and even having it written in binary. Heck, we even have smoke come out of Grif’s helmet when Simmons catches him in the act.

These are small things, but it helps make the world and characters feel a little more alive. Clearly, machinima has its limitations, and we’re a long way away from them adding in animation. But creative people will find a way to work within their limitations, and even use those limitations to their advantage. Considering how long this show has been going, I’d say that they succeeded.

#4. Caboose’s Mind

One of the most memorable parts, and one with some actual effects on the characters, is when Church and Tex go into Caboose’s mind to kill O’Malley. It’s one of the weirdest, yet funniest parts of the season. We get to see how Caboose views everyone, with Tucker being stupid and Church being obsessed with being Caboose’s best friend. He gets them wrong, but it makes sense because it’s how /Caboose/ interprets these individuals. They aren’t supposed to be accurate. It’s especially funny when we see the Reds and only Simmons is close to right Grif is Yellow (which they outright did to prove that he was Orange to viewers), Donut is a girl since that’s what Caboose thought at the time, and Sarge has a pirate accent instead of a Southern one.

It’s just funny to see Caboose, who at this point had been portrayed as the most dim-witted, and how he views these people. It kinda reflects what he wants with Church being his best friend and the Reds fearing him and his greatness. His ideal version of himself is pretty much a cool version of himself, though otherwise not too different. Church’s reaction and frustration at all fo this, especially Caboose!Church, only makes it funnier as is Tex being unfazed by all of it. It did kinda throw me off when I watched it the first time, but God it’s funnier on rewatch now that I know what’s going on. It’s a nice look into Caboose’s mind, and we got to see glimpses of the others int he S14 episode Head Cannon.

I think the biggest things though were for one, we got a location that wasn’t Blood Gulch finally. Sure it’s pretty much a standard video game map with a bunch of cubes, but after having the only setting be a canyon, it was refreshing. We also have some major impact with this since due to all the chaos, Caboose’s character becomes what it is now. We can debate all day how we should view Caboose and his intellectual level, but I do think that this helped endear the character to people and allowed him to stand out much, much more. Even now I know very few people, if anyone, who dislikes Caboose so while maybe they should acknowledge that he was more or less brain-damaged, the character himself has become better due to this. Which is nice~

#3. O’Malley Subplot

Speaking of Caboose’s mind, the O’Malley plot was by far the standout in this season. At first, it wasn’t too much since only Tucker cared about Caboose’s sudden murderous behavior. But once Tex came back, things picked up. While the backstory wasn’t totally accurate, it would certainly lead to more ahead. The fight in Caboose’s mind was fun. Tucker got to show some genuine competence when he came up with the plan to make the Reds turn their comms off and even using Lopez as a backup plan. With how much more competent Tucker grows later once circumstances pretty much force him to, this was an early sign showing that he is capable. He just needs to be pushed into doing it.

O’Malley himself didn’t stand out too much, just being kinda murderous. Then he escaped into Doc. I’ll go more into this next season, but this was the best decision ever. Doc is a whiny goody-two-shoes while O’Malley is gleefully, over-the-top evil. The contrast of the two personalities works super well and is just really funny to watch, though again it applies more for the next season. By the end, O’Malley makes his move and firmly sets himself up as the first proper Big Bad of the series, and he’s the perfect villain for the Blood Gulch Chronicles.

Overall, the whole subplot was really fun even though it did kind of have a slow start. It brought back Tex, had some really funny moments like the Reds' reactions to Lopez’s horrible love song. At least Donut liked it, haha~ It gave us our first proper villain, which led to one Hell of an insane finale. Even everything in between with Donut getting captured by the Blues and them trying to use this to make Sarge build them new bodies was fun to watch. The first half of S2 s super fun, but the second half is, without doubt, the best part for me. O’Malley was the catalyst, and to this day is one of my favorite villains. Love it~

#2. Improved Production Standards

Season 1 was good but flawed. It was clear that the RT guys weren’t really sure what they were doing. Audio quality was meh, jokes could drag, and the pacing was rather slow. It makes sense though when you read about what the original plans were. RvB was meant to be a miniseries, and nothing more. But pretty much a combination of them not getting to what they planned as soon as they thought (Donut was supposed to be in pink armor much sooner for example, and they realized how long it was taking to get there) as well as just coming up with more ideas extended things to a nineteen episode run. So there was no long term plan and things like writing and machinima were done in mere days in between releases. Plus there were only two main machinimators, Burnie and Geoff, and if you listen to the original S1 commentary they are both clearly exhausted. Burnie even said on a one-on-one podcast with Geoff on how they had pretty much had every conversation ever and they’d be like some old married couple just staring at each other. You can find it here if you’re interested, it’s a fun one~

So yeah… when you look back you can kinda tell that S1 was a bit of a rush job, and a tiring one at that. It’s still very good and like I said, they found ways to use so much you barely notice things were made up on the fly. But clearly, they needed a better system. Enter Matt Hullum. He had already been voicing Sarge, but he ended up stepping in to play a larger behind the scenes role. He joined Burnie on writing and directing, and thus they started planning things much farther ahead. As such, they knew the general plot and thus things could be tightened. The pacing is much better with episodes feeling faster, but having plenty of things happening. I already talked about the machinima improvements, which having Matt as well as Gus coming back from Puerto Rico also helped there. The voice acting, while still amateur, improved as well as the audio mixing. The filter is still a little distracting, but it and the general audio mixing is greatly improved. Pretty much every aspect of S1 was improved big time. It wasn’t perfect, but still, they clearly put a lot in creating a more quality product.

Season 2 had a hard job. Season One had to prove that this was a show worth watching. Season 2 had to prove that it could keep going and wasn’t just a one-hit-wonder. And ho boy did they. It’s funnier, it’s more ambitious, and even starts adding in some story. This season got the viewers from last time to come back, and probably brought in some new ones. It proved that this was a show that was sticking around and that RT had staying power. If this season failed, RvB would probably just be remembered as this funny Halo show. But it succeeded because they wanted the show to keep succeeding and be good, and that effort shows.

#1. Improved Characterizations

The thing that I enjoyed most about Season 1 was the character interactions. They just had natural chemistry and their interactions were funny. The characters themselves though were a little one-note. They had personality, but they didn’t really stand out when you compare them to other comedies like The Simpsons or South Park. I guess that RT realized this as well because this is where the characters really begin to become the same ones that we know now. Not all of them mind you like Simmons and Tucker are the least fleshed out here, but even then the signs of who they would become are there with things like Simmons clinginess to Sarge and the joke about Tucker’s rock, as well as the previously mentioned show of competence when pushed.

Donut and Grif show more of their personality, with Donut expressing his hobbies like home decor and growing to like his lightish-red armor. Grif shows his more lazy slacker attributes, like sleeping during meetings and forgetting the ammo, and his unhealthy habits like smoking and his constant eating. Which he’s pretty much doing intentionally to annoy Simmons and mess up the parts that he got from him. Lopez also got a lot of personalities now that he can talk. Namely, after the Reds nearly kill him and the Blues use him for their own means, he hates them all and his apathetic personality has stuck ever since. Poor guy has had such a hard time, haha. And I already went into Caboose, so there's no need to repeat myself. Even Shelia got sassier this season~

The one I think got the most improvement though is Sarge. In S1, he was just kind of a standard sergeant character you could find in just about any military movie, and the voice reflected it. Here? Matt just goes off the wall. He said in the S2 commentary that Sarge is pretty much the combination of various 50’s character tropes, like the grumpy old guy and the mad scientist. It shows. Sarge’s hatred of Blues and love of warfare are much more evident, especially in the finale. His hatred of Grif is also much more played up. We see that he is absolutely insane with his conspiracy theories about Lopez being brainwashed by the Blues instead of reprogrammed and turning Simmons into a cyborg instead of just getting a new robot. Sarge is the opposite of sensible, and having this guy be the leader and forcing everyone to follow his plans due to it is freakin’ hilarious. Matt exaggerating the accent from this point on only adds to this characterization and is much, much more fitting.

The characters, in my opinion, are the best part of Red vs Blue. This season demonstrates that very well. Unlike S1 where there were only shades of their later portrayal, this one uses broad strokes. I think some of the better voice acting can also be due to this since the cast now has more of a character to fool around with instead of just having to more or less act like their everyday selves. The characters were stronger, and as such the interaction and humor were even better. As such, it is my favorite part of Red vs Blue Season 2. Can they keep it up in Season 3? Well… we’ll find out soon~

#rvb #rvb reviews #top likes/dislikes

6 notes · View notes

themasterofcider · 6 years

Text

Reasons to Ship Markus & North (Marth/Norkus) 4.2

Markus Reawakened North's Fire (CONT)

The start of the freedom march sees some interesting characterization for North. In this moment it is as if she has swapped roles with Simon. This was clearly not her idea, and she's terrified. She pleads with Markus to not do things this way and drops her head when she understands that he's going to go through with the plan regardless. At first this baffled me. North rarely shows this level of cowardice. Initially it felt out of character, but it actually may not be. I mentioned her just now becoming actualized and owning her feelings. It makes perfect sense that she would be nervous about not only dying herself and losing touch with those emotions, but having her people die too. If we come at the scene from this perspective, then her caution makes a lot of sense. There's logic behind it from the way she wants to handle the situation. She wants to fight, because she saw how effectively it worked (or how ineffective peace was) at Capitol Park. In her mind a peaceful march makes little sense, as it's not a language humans understand. It could lead to everyone getting slaughtered for no reason. We then have God Droid summoning his fellow androids with something as small as a glance, and none of them question him. North and the other advisors witness this firsthand. Suddenly the police show up to assault unarmed, peaceful protestors. Markus is faced with a choice. To either fight, flee, or stand his ground. North urges him to fight. She knows they have greater numbers and can win if they choose to face them. She is quite forward about this. There's an eager, nervous confidence to her as she speaks. She believes this is the best choice. It would mean less death for her people and would teach the humans a vital lesson. Should Markus go through with the more aggressive option there's a huge battle, in which North is a skilled, eager participant. She's kicking the hell out of their rivals, beating them with nightsticks, and firing rifles as well as pistols. She even has a powerful moment where she fights directly alongside Markus. She also helps him up, should he take a bullet for her. I don't believe North needs Markus to be successful in combat (we see her picking up the slack numerous times should you as a player screw up), but I do think she feels much more energized doing so. They're fighting back to back, surrounded by three or four enemies, and together they still win. The odds are against them, but through sheer morale and determination they pull through. Briefly looking back at the situation in Capitol Park we know North loves fighting back, and she loves the validation Markus gives her when he chooses to do the same. Getting the chance to fight directly beside the person who understands you and inspires you would make anyone feel like they could take on the world. This is no doubt what North is experiencing. We can see this after she helps him to his feet. They hold each other's gazes for a moment. From her expression (and relationship meter) she's both touched and surprised that he would risk injury for her. She's in the middle of battle with the opportunity to get back at the humans but stops for several seconds to admire Markus. For someone so focused to do this, one can tell how impactful this man is. When the police flee there's an option to shoot or spare them. If you shoot, North jumps in, following Markus' example. Seeing the humans defeated everyone drops their weapons to examine the battlefield. The androids lost several, but they won. It's just as North predicted. They could take the humans, and they did. Her fiery, soldier spirit has once again been vindicated. As such, she has no reason or desire to back down from her position.

Jericho squad is in the captain's quarters discussing the effects of the march. There are serious repercussions for fighting, and everyone is fearing for their people's lives. Josh is understandably furious with Markus, and once again Simon mediates. North agrees with him, and doesn't want to dwell on the past. She's ready to move forward. In order to do this she encourages Markus to guide them. This is a pivotal moment in the game for North's character. If the player has messed up too many times, North takes control and the three kick Markus out. If the player has done well, you have her support, and everyone has no issues leaving you in charge. North is a fully fledged warrior at this point. She's acknowledged her past, is motivated, and isn't afraid to fight for what she wants. The narrative has told you not to make too many errors, or she will show you what she can do when inspired. All this is due to Markus. Good or bad. If he hadn't have shown up, she wouldn't have been moved to action. Thankfully this strong soldier still more than approves of Markus' leadership and allows him to make the choice. He has done so much good, and made everyone more spirited. She has no reason to doubt him even when things look bleak. If your next move is to talk to the humans North does her old avert gaze maneuver and pleads with Markus not to do this, because she feels that he will get killed. He's her inspiration and everyone's hero. Of course she doesn't want anything to happen to him. He means a lot to her. When Simon and Josh dismiss themselves North affirms this. "Since you've been here you've given us hope. You've given me hope." That quote encompasses this entire post. It's so sweet, open, and loving. Those words hit me right in the heart. It also proves the effect he had on her. Becoming a bit more serious North hands Markus a bomb. She could have kept it for herself, since her judgment is second best in Jericho. She doesn't, however. She gives the detonator to Markus and lets him decide if such measures are necessary. Some people may read this as her being unnecessarily cruel, but it's not. This is a worst case scenario usage only. It is also in order to protect her people. This is a war now, and in order to win a war you have to do what you must to win. Meaning I take the detonator just in case. After that North bears her heart to him. She tells him she's glad they met, and the two share their memories as well as a kiss. Shortly after North also departs . She pauses to let him know she doesn't want to lose him then is gone. Her body language and tone of voice in this scene are so telling. We know emotions have been something that she's kept deep within her. The fact that she steps closer to him before speaking emphasizes how much she trusts him and how much she's changed. She looks down again but not out of fear or in an attempt to close herself off. She's preparing to talk, to open herself up about not just how she feels but what her fears are as well. She doesn't want to lose this man. It would tear her apart to witness the death of the one who gave her the courage to be who she truly is. She lets him share memories with her once more, knowing the heavy impact it had on her the last time. What made her run away before now keeps her there. She has accepted the strength of feelings he brings out in her, and is willing to let him know her in the most intimate manner. When she's leaving she does it in such a slow, almost pained way. She stops to look at him once more. She doesn't want to be apart from him. She knows this could be one of the last times they're together, and the thought is killing her. If Markus dies she loses a friend, a supporter, a source of hope, and a lover. She's not ready to let go of someone who motivated her so intensely.

Jericho is attacked, and while fleeing Marth/Norkus run into each other. North is understandably panicked. From the way she speaks, it's clear she has her own plan, but she puts her trust in Markus by letting him make the choice. She doesn't like the idea of him risking his life to blow up the ship. From the alarmed tone of voice as well as the look in her eyes, she wants him to reconsider. Her ideal is to have him flee with her and Connor. We have to remember this is a chance to save some of the other androids from being killed. North knows this, but doesn't think it's worth it for Markus to risk his life. This means she could potentially end up losing Simon and Josh as well. I wouldn't say this is an honorable moment for her, but it is one that shows how deeply she cares for Markus. He's done a lot for her and everyone else that the thought of him dying is more painful than the thought of losing some of her people. The team regroups, and North is the first to notice Markus' return. She gives him a small, relieved smile before turning and running with the others. For some reason North pauses then gets shot. North doesn’t cry or plead for her life even with Simon encouraging Markus to leave her behind. She may not want to die, but she knows that if nothing else Markus needs to be protected. If she has to lose her life for him to continue helping others so be it. Luckily for her I don’t believe the android leader is the type to ever abandon a friend, so he rushes in to save her. They fight in tandem once again, harkening back to the freedom march and Capitol Park. Injured or not, North still gives it all she has. She is feeling well supported by Markus, and the extra assistance enables her to keep up the battle until their enemies are defeated. Connor covers them, and the five manage to escape safely. This is another one of those scenes that had me scratching my head in regards to North’s characterization. I’m not surprised that she would value Markus over everyone else. He is the soul of the revolution after all, but fact that she wouldn’t insist to go with him when this was a chance to save their people and provide him backup is just odd. It’s not like her her. Based on everything we’ve seen it doesn’t make sense. We know she’s more than capable of a fighter and puts her people’s safety way over hers. Then for some reason she stops running when bullets are flying. I could try to logic it out and say she was waiting for Markus, but I don’t really think that’s the case. Aside from the writers wanting an excuse to have North be rescued by Markus I can’t see why they’d have her behave this way. She’s not a damsel in distress, and it’s too far along in the story for her to be a coward due to emotional sensitivity based on how they’ve developed her so far. This was character regression for the sake of drama, and I’m disappointed with it.

In the aftermath of the destruction the remaining androids take shelter in an abandoned church. North is sitting alone. Silently pondering the events that have transpired over the past few hours. She's pensive but not defeated. She's alive, Markus is alive, and not everyone is dead. This woman has every reason to feel confident. More so when you consider that what her leader did was not in line with a pacifist regime. When we examine their discussion we get several, very telling verbal and non-verbal cues that confirm North's state of mind. From the moment Markus decides to sit beside her, North's eyes are on him. She's no longer deep in thought. In fact, North appears almost relieved that he asked how she was. She gives him a little smile as she affirms that she's fine overall. She gently scolds him about going back for her. She's happy to be alive, but he very well could have died. In an ironic twist, he actually breaks eye contact with her. This alone tells me how deeply North's words resonated with him. This is a serious, impactful thing to mention, but North doesn't turn away. She's now okay with facing the risks that having deep, emotional conversations entail. It's a little extra special that she gets to share this development with Markus as he's the one that gave her the strength to fight in the first place. Maybe him being beside her is affording her the confidence to have this discussion as well. This is supported by her telling him to prioritize the many over her. North truly is okay dying for the greater good, because at least her death would've helped change something. It's slightly different to how she was in earlier chapters. She has always been a proponent of her people, but facing her own death was slightly harder. Now we know she's absolutely unafraid of passing on. She also attributes the survival of the remaining androids to Markus' quick thinking with the explosives. To her the cause is still alive and well. Markus' actions have given her not only the numbers but the morale to keep their fight for equality going. This is very late in the game, but he can still be an inspiration to his actualized girlfriend. They mention the androids being rounded up in camps. North looks down for a moment, seemingly sad for those who were captured. She doesn't even flinch as she talks about the potential of every android dying. Her head is high and, she's staring her leader directly in the eye. She's okay with meeting her end, so long as she goes down trying to make a change. She tells Markus that he has to make a choice, and that she will support him regardless. For someone who also has the qualities of being a leader to allow someone else to make the decision on her fate - and the fate of everyone else like her - requires trust, respect, and humility. Markus has yet to steer them wrong, and she believes he won't anytime soon. With him at her side she is ready and willing to do whatever she must. He just needs to give the order. In a very tender moment she tells him she loves him, they do their precious hand connection, and Markus gets up to rally his people. This whole time North is watching him. She's waiting for his words as much as everyone else. The other androids may have survived, but they need guidance now. What happened was no doubt frightening. At this point only Markus' words can give them the comfort and motivation they need to carry on. Markus is truly something special. When I first watched this scene I wondered my Markus didn't tell North he loved her back, but I thought about it more as time passed. He doesn't need to say words to do this. He reaches for her hand to express his emotion in a physical way that only androids can. The other reason, is to make this moment bigger for North. We've seen her run from such intimacy in the past and suppress her feelings. The fact that she is able to admit this so calmly and with such certainty emphasizes the Markus affect even more. He really helped bring out so much of this woman. It's incredible.

Long live the revolution! Our heroes charge the camp, taking out all who stand in their way. Markus slams their flag into a barrier. As the four Jericho leaders step forward they stare down the opposition. With guns drawn and an unwavering gaze North speaks first. "Freedom or death." She’s ready to fight until the very last android is dead. Or until her people are freed. There is no hesitance or fear in her now. Only raw determination. When Markus echoes her words it is as if he is seeking assurance from her now. This is a small but important role reversal. Markus not only confirms that her stance is right, but it’s a sign that North has elevated to the point of being able to uplift the one who gave her the inspiration to be standing there now. When Markus gives the command they rush into battle under a barrage of gunfire and explosions. The Jericho quartet goes for cover immediately. North is reasonably shaken. She is aware of the odds, but Markus' plan of overwhelming their rivals gives her the push she needs to keep believing. "We're gonna do this. We're gonna get to that fucking camp, and free our people." She's assuring herself as much as Markus is. It’s very nice how they seem to be feeding off each other and keeping the morale up. If someone feels unconfident the other says or does something to erase the doubts. They are very much on even terms now. With his orders promising a success North jumps back into the fray. Simon and Josh eat lead, but she continues on bravely. Her group takes out the people operating the machine gun, and she announces that they're nearly there. She's much calmer than she was before. Clearly with each, little step her confidence grows. Justice is only a few feet away. Markus does some cool stunt with a rocket launcher, destroys a tank, and sends the humans fleeing. With their enemies in retreat, North turns to Markus in awe and announces that they won. She may have had hopes, but the reality causes her to simply stare in admiration.

They did it. What remains of team Jericho have liberated their people from an extermination camp, and Connor has summoned an army. With such a victory the humans must accept the changing times or perish for their defiance. The era of android equality has just begun. North is flanking Markus as he examines his new charges. She breathes and utters a line that embodies everything she is as a character. "We're free." Then she looks at him, wanting Markus to encourage the newly rescued androids. She wants him to speak to them in the same way he spoke to those broken, defeated souls inside Jericho. She wants him to ignite their spirits as well. He will, and she knows this. First, however he wants to take North in his arms, kiss her, share memories, and never let go. He has a job to do and professionalism to uphold as a leader, but he seeks solace and relief in her instead. A gesture North more than appreciates. She's looking deeply into his eyes, grinning almost the entirety of this scene, and basks in his love. When Markus does make his final, grand speech, North doesn't just smile. She beams. It's the happiest she's been in the whole game, and probably in her entire existence. Yes indeed, she's free. Free to fight, free to feel, free to love, and free to live. She is a person in every sense of the word. This woman opened her heart, confronted her past, fought hard for her rights, and is ready to begin her life. North would never have become actualized, never have become inspired, never have become human if this stranger with a wild imagination hadn't fallen into her life. If he hadn't spoken with charismatic, uplifting words that ignited the once quelled fire inside her. If he didn't take actions that shook her to her very soul. Without Markus she would still be sitting stone-faced on a crate, throwing a tennis ball between scavenging for spare parts. He gave her the motivation to be the dedicated, noble, courageous warrior that she kept buried deep within her.

If you’re interested in seeing 1-4.1 of my Marth/Norkus analyses click the link below:

http://themasterofcider.tumblr.com/tagged/reasons-to-ship-marth

LET'S GET READY FOR NORKUS NOVEMBER GUYS! IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS CHECK OUT @markusandnorth

#detroit become human #Detroit: BH #dbh #dbh markus #dbh north #markus x north #north x markus #otp #marth #norkus #reasons to ship norkus #reasons to ship marth #dbh analysis #dbh analyses

53 notes · View notes

zephyrthejester · 6 years

Text

Code Geass Deadblog: Episodes 45-46

Holy shit! ANSWERS! ACTUAL FREAKING ANSWERS, AT LONG FREAKING LAST. IT'S TIME, IT HAPPENED, ACTUAL AAAANSSWEEEERSSS

Starting off, I kicked myself for not seeing the possibility that Marianne would come back into play. She's been talking to C.C. all this time, and even accounting for that C.C.'s current amnesia, there'd be no reason to think she still couldn't. In a stunning twist, it was revealed that Marianne and C.C. had forged a contract once; Marianne's Geass must have been extraordinarily powerful, because she puppeteered Anya's body from beyond the grave and got close to C.C. Close enough to enter her mindspace and have a hearty conversation with her, which restored her memories.

Even more shocking, we next had a stunning turn of events with Suzaku and Schneizel. In full view of Gino, Lloyd, Cecile, Kanon, and Cornelia... Suzaku resolved that his ideals up until now were naive. The ends do, in fact, justify the means. And to that cause, he and Schneizel conspired to assassinate the Emperor! How in the everloving fuck does Suzaku manage to walk around with those massive balls of his? I guess this is what happens when the fallen paladin squashes out every last spark of Lawful Good in his heart. Schneizel's point of view was that the Emperor has completely failed to uphold his duty as an Emperor, placed himself before others. Man. I feel really bad for thinking Schneizel was a snake! I didn't dare trust him, but at this point I'm really sure he's genuinely a good dude who wants good things.

Suzaku intercepted the Emperor at the mouth of the cave on Kamine Island, but Bismarck intercepted his blow upon the Emperor... Not that he could have killed him, anyway. So, turns out the Knight of One had a Geass of his own, kept hidden under that sewn-shut left eye of his. You'd think I'd have seen that coming...

Lelouch arrived on the Island then. He had gone wild with his Geass, sending a huge swathe of the Britannian forces into chaos, fighting each other indiscriminately. Marianne (as Anya) and C.C. used it as the perfect cover to infiltrate the scene. And Lelouch... well, he confronted his father in the Sword of Akasha just as he was beginning Ragnarok. There was a creepy intertwining pillar of human bodies writhing around there, which was super creepy, and I still have no freaking idea what that was supposed to be. But anyhoo, Lelouch claimed a victory by rigging the exit to explode behind him, sealing both himself and his father in the alternate realm!

From there, Lelouch and Charles began to speak about the nature of lying, which tied into a conversation held between Marianne, Suzaku, and C.C. At long last, we learned what "C's World" is: A collective consciousness of humanity's memories. It was at this point where I realized that, yeah, Mao is probably dead. Whoops. I was convinced that was a dart gun C.C. fired into his neck...Oh well. C's World sounds like a place that's a one way trip, if you catch my meaning.

Evidently, Charles wants to get all of humanity into C's World so that there could be no barriers, no masks, between people, and therefore conflict would end. So in other words, it's literally Human Instrumentality, but with a lot less sexual metaphors. Anyhoo, Marianne's ghost thingy slipped out of Anya's body and went into the Sword of Akasha to meet with Charles and her son, and things got really spicy from there.

Marianne was able to personally explain the mystery of her death: It was at the hands of V.V., who killed her because Charles' love for her was threatening to lead him astray from completing the Contract between them. In Marianne's dying moments on those stairs, her Geass activated for the first time, and she just so happened to be looking one Anya Alstreim in the eyes. Anya, then a child, was cowering behind a pillar and just so happened to be there at the wrong time. Marianne's power turned out to be the power to transfer her consciousness into another person, and from that day on Marianne lived in poor Anya's body, and eventually worked out that she can telepathically communicate with C.C.

C.C. learning the truth of what happened is what caused her to give up her leadership of the Geass society to V.V. and disappear. Charles, meanwhile, swiftly learned of V.V.'s murderous deception and that planted the seed of a future betrayal right then and there... Dear lord, man. V.V. was truly an absolute scumbag. Forged an identity and relationship out of ridding the world of lies and breaking down barriers, then murdered his brother's dearly beloved and tried to cover it up. How disgusting.

Then, in a shocking twist, it was revealed that the Emperor kinda sorta had good intentions for Lelouch and Nunnaly all along??? Sent them to Japan to not make them potential targets for V.V. Oh, and he used his Geass to make Nunnaly convinced she was blind, just to ensure she couldn't have been a witness. Yeah, no, sorry, I'm 100% sure this was the show pulling this out of its ass. I guarantee you the Emperor wasn't meant to be sympathetic early on, and I personally do NOT want to feel any sympathy for this monster. He's done plenty of stuff that's inexcusable, among them his big goals. Like... Why couldn't Charles have let Nunnaly be "blind" at first, then once the heat died down a few weeks later, reversed it and also meddled with her memories to leave no evidence? Everyone thought it was psychosomatic, anyway! Her recovering her sight would have been believable!!

With that reveal neatly wrapped up, Suzaku and C.C. entered the Sword of Akasha thanks to Code powers, and stuff. Don't ask me how... With all the pieces in place, with Marianne fully supporting Charles' plans and Suzaku having his one question answered... Charles raised his hand, channeled C.C.'s Code, and began Ragnarok.

Then Lelouch did the most Lelouch thing he's ever done and used his Geass on God. To not stop the march of time. To not let the world grow stagnant, and ungrowing. To let the world remain in chaos! Because that's the world Nunnaly wanted. And it wasn’t a command... It was a request.

With that, the swirling towers of human bodies that was rising to God fell to pieces, and those who attempted to kill God similarly disappeared... Charles and Marianne vanished into dust, while C.C. looked on and realized that all along, they only loved themselves. Well, damn. Turns out Code Geass' story was a metaphor for toxic familial relationships all along. Sometimes, yes, father and mother do NOT know best. Also, humanity’s consciousness uniting to wipe someone out of existence gave me huge Elder Scrolls vibes, which was nice. There’s a “Brass Tower” joke with the Thought Elevator somewhere...

One month later, and Tokyo had been mostly rebuilt. The world's eyes turned upon the imperial palace over in Britannia, where the Emperor was due to make a speech. YOU KNOW WHO WALKED OUT? YOU KNOW WHO WALKED OUT AND SAT ON THE FREAKING THRONE? Lelouch vi Britannia... 99th Emperor of the Britannian Empire. And at his side, standing proud, was Suzaku Kururugi... The newly dubbed Knight of Zero.

I've never facepalmed so hard. The Knight of Zero. The Knight... of Zero. The Knight of Zero. Jesus christ I am convinced this entire show was conceived just so they could do this one thing. Jesus. The Knight of Zero, you guys. He's the Knight of Zero now. Literally, and metaphorically.

And that's where the episode ended... With the world watching in stunned shock (notably, the Black Knights and poor, poor, poor Rivalz, whose mind exploded), and Lelouch using his Geass upon Odysseus and dozens and dozens of important nobles in the hall to make them view him as their Emperor.

Good lord. There are four episodes left!? If I didn't know any better, I would think this was the finale! The big bad thwarted and killed, the "hero" sitting on the throne, ability to achieve his goal at his fingertips... But no, there's a lot left unresolved. What's next for C.C.? What will the Black Knights do? What is Schneizel scheming!? And why is Suzaku loyally serving Lelouch? These are questions I can't wait to see answers to.

Boy. When Code Geass goes in, it goes in hard.

Other Thoughts:

Um. One of Odysseus’ lines HEAVILY implied that Nunnaly was alive. So holy shit, that’s a thing. What. I am not sure how to feel about that.

Marianne was caught in the act of trying to doodle on Suzaku's face with a permanent marker while he was unconscious, which secured her spot as the best character in the show. Shame she turned out to be a massive asshole, dethroning her and returning the title to Cheese-kun.

I encountered the famous "Notto diso shitto agen" frame of the Emperor, and it was glorious. I now completely understand the context, and that pleases me greatly.

So what's up with Anya? Does she have any memories at all? Was Marianne more of a passive host or was she in full control the entire time? Gods, imagine how fucked up it would be to one day witness a murder while you're a kid, then suddenly wake up on some random island while the world is nearly ending and you're a teen suddenly.

C.C. was wearing her old straightjacket at the very end. Which is super weird. Who finds those comfortable?

Beyond "What's next?" the only question I still really have is "What's C.C.'s name?" Though, truth be told, I'm not expecting an answer to that at this point.

#Code Geass #Code Geass Liveblog #Code Geass episode 42 #Liveblogging #Liveblog

25 notes · View notes

shinkanefanatic · 6 years

Text

One More Time Ch 1, A Shinkane (Psycho Pass) Fic

Summary: 2 years have passed since the incident at Shambala Float. Kougami Shinya finally returns to Japan, with one thing on his mind: To eliminate Sibyl once and for all. Inspector Tsunemori, however, has no intentions of allowing that. What is to become of the former Inspector/Enforcer duo as tragedy finally rears its ugly head?

Disclaimer: Psycho Pass and its characters belong to Gen Urobuchi. I own nothing (sadly)

Set in a potential season 3 timeline, after the canon movie.

Chapter 1: Deafening Silence

______________________________

“You fool…You fool…”

A young woman’s voice choked out the same words like a broken record as she sat all alone on the dark streets of Japan. The female was covered from head to toe in red, her entire being soaked in blood. It looked as if someone had poured a large bucket of it on top of her. Mixing with the blood were her tears that ran down at an astounding rate, showing no sign of stopping anytime soon.

All that ran through the brunette’s mind as she remained there, broken and sobbing, were the horrifying events she had just witnessed. She had been through many awful things leading up to this moment, partly due to her work as a detective for the MWPSB. She had lost many people she cared about. It was a surprise to many how her crime coefficient never clouded because of the horrors she’d witnessed during these past 6 years in her job. Still, if there would be any time her hue would be called into question because of such traumas, tonight would be it. Out of all the things she’d been through, tonight was simply…No. There were no words to describe that night. No proper words whatsoever, could explain the unbearable agony that the Inspector known as Akane Tsunemori felt at this very moment in time.

“Why…?!” Akane screeched, plowing her fists into the crimson soaked pavement. She pounded away, again and again, somehow hoping such actions would put a stop to her pain. Soon, her own blood began to pour out of the tears created by the mashing of her knuckles with the rigid ground. Still, the actions continued own, regardless of this fact.

Why the hell is this always what happens?! The Inspector stopped hitting the pavement and wrapped her arms around herself tightly, Why…am I so powerless to save anyone…? Out of everyone, he was the one…The one person I wanted to…

Akane’s sobs sped back up again, her body collapsing into itself like a falling building in a disaster. Her cries echoed throughout the cold, deafening silence as Akane’s mind thought back to a few moments ago that had led up to this.

______________________________

“Follow me.”

“…Inspector, look-”

“Just shut your mouth and hurry up, Kougami-san.” The mushroom headed brunette spun around at the tall male standing behind her, handcuffs around his wrists- now her prisoner, with no way to go. This man was her former subordinate and senpai- formally known as an Enforcer. His name: Kougami Shinya.

Akane pulled Kougami along like a farmer herding their cattle as the two went in and out of various alleyways, around sharp corners, and carefully dodging every street scanner they came across.

Just a little more. A few more streets and Akane could reach her police vehicle to transport the criminal in her custody down to the PSB. Once there, the Inspector planned to make sure everything would fall into place. No matter what.

After looking both directions in case of anyone spotting them, Akane proceeded on with pulling Kougami along again. The raven haired man followed silently, watching the back of the woman he almost couldn’t believe belonged to the same little girl he had met 6 years ago. What used to be a naive, innocent child had now grown into a strong woman with nerves of steel and a heart of stone. Kougami had to admit, he was impressed with her growth.

One thought hit Kou as he followed behind her- he should have known of all people he would run into after returning to Japan, Akane would be the first. Hell, perhaps it was even what he had subconsciously wished for. Shinya was more then aware that coming back to his home country now was tantamount to suicide. That was fine. While the former detective didn’t want to admit he had grown older, that was only a very small part of his reasons for returning to Japan. He was simply…tired. After all the traveling he’d done after running from the very law he used to follow himself, the idea of living the rest of his days out in peace or quiet were a fool’s delusion. So before leaving Shambala Float and hopping onto an illegal ship set for Japan, Kougami Shinya made what he believed to be the last decision of his life. To take Sibyl down…either with him, or die trying.

From the information the 34 year old had gathered about the system’s expansion over the last 730 days, Kougami knew there was no better time to try his plan than now.

Sibyl of present was far more ferocious than years prior. So many things had changed. For instance, the collars that had been previously tested in the city of Shambala Float had been upgraded and placed around the necks of every one of Japan’s citizens. From newborn babies to the elderly. Even pets. Every single living creature in Japan wore such a device at all times, no exceptions. 24/7, everyone’s well being and actions were monitored. It made no difference, even if one’s hue was clear and pure. This was one of the new laws established by Sibyl. Also regarding the subject, the law pertaining to peoples psycho passes had also grown more merciless than ever. Now, it wasn’t simply one’s career and spouse Sibyl decided for them. No, from your child’s first name and entire life plan, to how one would grow and die. Sibyl controlled everything imaginable.

People would be better off dead then living like this…if it could even be called living at this point. At least that was Kougami’s feelings on the matter.

To add to it, at least 70% of Japan’s population was made up of people deemed unfit for society now. The standard percentage of a person’s psycho pass had changed quite dramatically, in hopes that it would keep the country more peaceful with less crime rates and drama. Today, if someone’s crime coefficient reached at even 50, you were immediately deemed a latent criminal and hauled away to the newest mental facility. Those left alone by Sibyl were the same ones who all had the appearance of a mindless zombie. It was terrifying, at the very least.

Thus what had brought Kou and Akane back together again, under less than ideal circumstances.

“Hurry.” Akane ordered sternly after having finally spotting her car a few ways away.

Before Kougami could respond, he was being dragged along again, once almost tripping from the force of the Inspector’s pull.

After finally reaching her goal, Akane quickly unlocked the car and prepared to force the latent criminal in if need be, “Don’t try anything, Kougami-san. If you do, I’ll be forced to get rough.”

The stoic man’s lips curled upwards at the cold-sounding remark. His mind instantly flashed to their brief fight 2 years ago and how she had managed to pull one over on him by throwing him backwards and pointing an actual gun at him, he who was supposed to be a much more experienced fighter. If there was one thing that hadn’t changed about Akane, it was her guts.

“Sure thing, Inspector. After all, wouldn’t want you to blow out my leg.” Kou joked, poking at Akane’s threat from 6 years ago during the Makishima chase.

6 years…it was short, but felt so long at the same time.

Shinya started to enter the car but stopped when he came to a realization. His sky blue eyes found themselves locked with hazelnut colored orbs that peered back at him with slight suspicion. From her eyes to everything else, Akane stood there before him- looking so powerful, so determined. It was enough to take his breath away.

Akane grew increasingly annoyed at this, however, “What are you doing? I already told you, don’t try to run.”

“No…” Kougami’s eyes softened warmly at her as his smirk developed into a calm smile, “Think I mentioned this to you before, but…getting arrested you like this. It’s not the worst thing that could happen to me.”

“Ginoza would definitely call you a pervert if he had heard you just now, Kougami-san. Enough stalling, and get in already.”

A low chuckle escaped the ex-enforcer as he gave in with an almost happy sounding, “Yes, ma'am.”

Just as Kougami leaned down to take a seat, a loud and all too familiar noise rang out towards the two.

Tsunemori’s eyes swelled widely as her instincts quickly carried her over to Kou’s side. Without warning, Akane pulled him to the ground as if to make him duck from something. The sound grew louder and louder until it seemed to swiftly zip past them, barely missing their ears. An explosion soon followed from the direction of where the sound had gone, blowing up a light post instead of its intended target.

Akane caught her breath as she processed what had just happened.

Kougami, who laid under her, was staring at the destroyed light post with a fowl glare, only knowing who the target should have really been.

Akane picked herself up as she noticed the source of the shot approaching from the shadows.

An old woman with short silver hair with glasses, wearing a black dress appeared with a sinister grin upon her face. In her hand was a dominator switched into enforcement mode.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t know about this, Inspector Tsunemori?”

“…Chief.” Was all Akane said as she stood in front of the gun’s barrel, acting a shield between it and the criminal behind her.

“You do realize this man is a wanted criminal…” Kasei looked over Akane’s shoulder. After catching his attention, the MWPSB head’s smile widened, “Much like Shogo Makishima was. How the mighty have fallen, isn’t that right…Enforcer Kougami.”

Kou remained silent but felt his blood begin to boil as anger rose up from the depths of his soul. Though he had never learned the truth about the Sibyl system and its chief, he had always known there was something…not right about her. Hell, Makishima had hinted it to him as well. The old woman’s current domineer and sudden apperance only served to confirm Shinya’s suspicions.

“Guess it has been a while,” Kougami forced a bitter smile, “Looks like you haven’t aged a bit, Chief. Is that a result of Sibyl’s ‘power’ too?”

Kasei’s eyes grew thin, like that of a fox staring down its prey before devouring it, “…You’d be surprised. The system does work miracles after all. For everyone living in this country now. Even the…mentally unfit.”

Another chuckle left Kou at the bluntness spoken to him. Before, it was 'latent criminals’. Now, society’s undesirables were flat out labeled as something as pathetic as 'mentally unfit’. It should have been no surprise. Not only had Sibyl grown bolder, but its overseer as well.

At that moment, Akane reached up and gently took hold of the dominator’s barrel. Anxiety replaced Kougami’s previous feelings of resentment as he carefully studied his ex-boss determinedly speak out against the one person no one in the PSB ever dared to cross,

“I apologize for taking this matter into my own hands, Chief.” Akane stood strong as she breathed steadily, praying she could encourage Kasei to lower the weapon against the man she had sworn to protect from death at any costs, “I realize your orders were to shoot on sight-”

“That’s exactly right.” Kasei nodded firmly, recalling back to their meeting in the PSB office a few hours prior after having found a street scanner that spotted Kougami entering the country, “Not only is the man a fugitive of the law, but a murderer as well. We cannot allow such a…plague to roam freely. You should understand this, Inspector. For the sake of our citizens trying to live peacefully here…”

All Akane could muster was an, “I know.”

Kasei continued, “Imagine what would happen if people encountered a man like Shinya Kougami. Just breathing the same air could cloud their hues to the point of no return. What would you do them, Inspector Tsunemori? How would you atone for such a crime? Allowing this man any form of freedom or existence would only add to the headcount he has already managed to pile up.”

The PSB’s director didn’t let her hand stray as she adjusted her gun’s aim directly towards Kougami’s head. The entire dominator glowed blindingly bright, ready to rain death upon it’s target’s head at the pull of a trigger.

“Just wait…!” Akane reinserted herself between the two in a desperate attempt to change the flow of the situation, “I realize the consequences of allowing Kougami’s freedom. That’s why I made the decision to come out here and arrest him immediately. I planned to take him directly back to the PSB and then-”

“And then what? You’d allow us to do a memory scoop of his memories from where he’s been since fleeing Japan and gather information as a result. A fine idea- using such knowledge could speed up the process of expanding Sibyl to other countries, as we had attempted years ago.”

Akane felt her heart catch in her throat at the mention of the memory scoop. The last time she had seen such a process be used on a criminal, the poor soul ended up violently dying in the chair due to shock. The brunette didn’t want to imagine the same fate befalling Shinya.

“That…isn’t…” Akane became increasingly concerned at the situation. Both she and Kou were backed into a corner, with very little chance of any escape.

“Then what would you have us do, Tsunemori?” Kasei’s eyes became darkly glazed over as her smile returned as if she were amused. Soon the dominator in her hand was closing further in towards Kougami’s face. A finger clenched the trigger just slightly, “Do you still refuse to accept it, despite all you’ve seen? Allow me to spell it out for you, Inspector- Tonight, the former Enforcer fugitive Kougami Shinya, will be erased for good.

Beneath her bangs, Akane’s chocolate colored orbs were trembling painfully. The Inspector’s teeth dug into her pale lips, nearly drawing blood.

Something had to be done immediately. Anything. Back when Kougami had fled the country after killing Makishima, Akane had promised- swore- to one day bring him home alive. The Inspector refused to simply let him die. Kougami had to live and atone for his crimes, so he could understand that what he had done, was wrong. For murdering. For breaking his promise to her. For betraying his entire division. Kougami couldn’t lose his life here. No matter what.

Not only that, but in the event that former detective did lose his life, Akane had a horribly, sickening feeling about what would soon follow afterwards. She had lost so many people over her time in this job, but Kougami…he would be the last straw.

It can’t happen. No matter what.

Yuki, her grandmother, Kagari, Masaoka, Aoyanagi; the countless victims of Akane’s past haunted her dreams nearly every single night she laid down. Bearing Sibyl’s truth alone and bearing such regrets were a recipe for anyone’s hue to cloud the darkest of colors. However, two things were keeping Akane from such a fate- or that’s what she told herself anyways. It made her feel better than believing she was an unfeeling monster due to the fact that her hue never clouded despite all the nightmares she’d been through. Of the two things keeping the Inspector going, one was her sense of justice. The other was the man her subconscious constantly showed her in the form of hallucinations in her times of need. The one who was finally physically at her side again.

Akane would never admit it to anyone, but Kougami’s existence had become a necessity in her life- hallucination or otherwise. Whether he were truly by her side or not, the thought of him never existing anywhere anymore was too much to think about. Therefore, Akane wouldn’t allow it.

"Chief, if you please.” Akane slowly turned around so she was facing both her boss and Shinya. The 26 year old raised her face from behind her bangs, the raging fire of determination burning brightly in her eyes, “Allow me to take him in for interrogation. I will personally see to it that something positive for the PSB comes of it.”

Kasei gave Akane a faraway frown, pulling back the gun’s trigger a little bit more, “…oh?”

“If not, you can have…” Akane reminded herself that Kougami was still in the dark about the truth of the things that made up the Sibyl system. She paused for a minute, carefully choosing her words before continuing, “…You may use me in any way you see fit.”

Kasei held back a laugh as the brain inside her head radioed their conversation back to the other brains of the system using the dominator as a communication device. Though no one could hear them, the brains speak out, “What a foolish girl. We already do. Still…”

The Chief’s eyes lit up as a thought came to mind. A very…pleasant idea of sorts. One that would quite indeed work to Sibyl, and Japan’s advantage, “…Yes. This will do nicely.”

The dominator lowered away from Kou’s face, surprising both Akane and Kougami at the signs of Kasei backing off.

“Very well, Inspector. I’ll allow an exception, but only this once. I just have one condition on the matter.”

Akane didn’t question it and agreed, “What is it, ma'am?”

It was then that Kasei’s face lit back up with a disturbing joy, “If Kougami really is as harmless and obedient as you claim him to be, see to it that he is transported via the proper vehicle for escorting criminals.”

It was then a large MWPSB van pulled up suddenly, parking on the other side of the street parallel to Akane’s car. The car shut off and out stepped Akane’s former boss, Ginoza Nobuchika.

“Well, I’ll be damned. So he really did return.” Gino’s tone was as cold and unfeeling as it had ever been when it came to his 'best friend’. The Enforcer’s gaze was glued at the pathetic sight of how far Kougami had fallen, now laying there strapped in handcuffs and at the law’s mercy, “Here I thought I had told you to stay away from us back on Shambala Float. Looks like your listening skills are as bad as they ever were. Or perhaps your just losing your hearing in your old age.”

“That’s rich, considering we’re the same age, Gino.”

“…Shut up, dumbass.”

While Ginoza and Kougami exchanged words in the background, Akane frowned deeply at this new development. Back in Kasei’s office, Akane had understood it that the news of Kougami’s return would be kept as secret as possible, and to not involve anybody unnecessary. If an Inspector had arrived, it would have made more sense. But Kasei had called for an Enforcer- much worst, someone Kougami knew. To add to it, Gino was also unaware of any truth regarding Sibyl and the Chief, yet she had taken the risk and personally requested Ginoza here, despite there being a chance Kougami knew something and spilled any information in front of Gino. Something didn’t feel right about this, not one bit.

Of everyone in the PSB, why request Ginoza to assist with Kougami’s escort? Not only that…Akane realized something else while she glanced at the dominator Kasei still held, A moment ago, Kasei was ready to kill him on sight. She just agreed to my suggestion now…so how did Ginoza know to come here so fast…?

Gino turned his attention away from Kougami and took notice of Akane’s brows furrowed anxiously. The man’s grew eyes softened warmly as he looked towards her with a calming smile, “Don’t worry, Tsunemori.” He began, walking over and placing a hand on her shoulder, “I will follow any orders you give- even if it’s sparing this fool here before us.”

Nobuchika’s stare flashed in Kasei’s direction for a second before he leaned further towards Akane’s left ear, keeping his voice as quiet as he could be as he continued,

“Listen, the rest of division 1 is hiding around the area on Kasei’s orders. If Kougami even acts like he’s attempting to run, he’ll be killed on the spot. The chief didn’t give us any clear details on the situation- she just suddenly came to the office an hour ago and ordered us to help in arresting an ex-hunting dog. None of us plan on killing him so you talk some sense into Kougami’s empty head.” Gino stepped back and looked at Akane strongly, “You’re the only one who can do this, Akane.”

Said woman gave a small smile and nodded. She still wasn’t sure what Kasei was up to, but at least for the moment, she knew she could count on Gino who had probably given a similar speech to the rest of the division. He knew as much as she did that Kougami needed to live, to atone. Simply dying on the streets like a dog, didn’t suit Kougami. Or at least, it didn’t need to. One thing was certain, and Akane couldn’t be more thankful- Ginoza was on her side.

“What’s the holdup, Inspector?” Kasei seemed to be growing more impatient by the minute, “Hurry and take the criminal in.”

Gino gave Akane a confirming nod, to which she responded with walking back to the spiky haired fugitive.

Like before, Akane grabbed Kougami’s arm and began leading him towards the PSB van. The two of them exchanged no words as they approached the back of the car and waited for the doors to open.

As the car opened, Kougami suddenly broke his silence, “Brings back memories. Never thought I’d ride in one of these again.”

Akane wanted to say something smart but she bit her tongue.

As the doors finally came completely open, her grip on Shinya tightened immensely. So much so that the force of the grip made him wince.

“Already starting on the torture, I see.”

“Shut up.”

“First Gino, now you tell me that.”

Kougami turned his neck to peer at her over his shoulder. At first, he held an amused smile but it quickly faded as he noticed something unusual about the woman who was always so collected and together.

The Inspector was trembling, quite violently too. She stood next to him, frozen in place like a statue.

“I don’t know what it is exactly, but something feels…wrong about all this.”

Akane just couldn’t believe how easily Kasei had been convinced to simply arrest Kougami. What was the PSB, or rather, the system really playing at? What did they really intend to do to him once Kougami was brought in?

Terrible thoughts plagued Akane’s waning mind as she held onto Shinya tighter and tighter.

Will they torture him, followed by disposing of him? Experiment? Do a memory scoop like Kasei had suggested earlier?

Her thoughts only worsened as Akane’s brain twisted the situation more and more, hoping to make sense of what was happening. Just as Tsunemori’s anxiety was hitting its peak, a sudden warmth grasped her right hand that was placed on Kougami’s shoulder. Akane snapped out of her trance and looked up. Her eyes widened, a handsome smile being reflected in them at the person before her.

“This isn’t like you, you know.” Kougami spoke in a hushed tone. His hand traced Akane’s carefully, “The Inspector I know would keep her cool under any situation. After all, that’s what makes a detective so good at what they do. So just calm down for a minute, all right…Akane.”

The Inspector was awestruck for what felt like several minutes. Though in realty only a few quick seconds had passed, leaving her heart to return to normal beating speed and her normal composure coming back.

Tonight hadn’t been the first time she had been on the receiving end of one of Kougami’s talks, but it was certainly just as effective as it had been all the times before.

Akane held back a smile as she felt the center of her chest tingle.

“…It’s pretty sad when I get lectured by a fugitive.” Akane gently removed Kou’s hand from her own, “Looks like I still need more training.”

Kou’s smile slightly grew at the sight of her returning to normal. Akane always did bounce back quickly when it came to serious situations. The Inspector was the very definition of strong, in every sense of the word. Perhaps it was one reason the raven haired man didn’t mind being arrested by her.

“Now that that’s settled, looks about time-” Just as Kou took a step towards the van’s interior, Akane pulled him backwards until he was within earshot.

“I need you to promise me something, Kougami-san. Do that and I’ll make sure everything works out.”

Kougami had several questions rise at that moment but instead of asking for answers, he replied, “And what exactly is it that you want me to promise, Inspector?”

Akane pretended to inch the two of them more towards the car as she mumbled, “Please, no matter what happens, don’t try anything stupid. If you even look like you’re about to attempt anything, you’ll be immediately killed. I know you may not care at this point about your life one way or the other…”

A part of Shinya silently agreed with her. Yeah. At this point in time, it didn’t matter what happened to him. It shouldn’t matter to the Inspector either, as far as he was concerned. However, he continued to listen carefully,

“Look, you may not give a damn whether you live or die tonight. But I’m saying you have no right to choose death.” Akane moved her arm downwards towards his forearm. Without warning, the detective gave it a good twist. Kougami flinched at the sudden action and peered back at her, where she responded with a quite angry look, “After all you’ve done, you really think you’ll just be allowed to die and that’s the end of things? I wont’ allow it. I can’t allow it. Chief doesn’t understand and neither does Sibyl- but I’ll make sure you aren’t simply shot like a dog. You have to live and atone.”

“Live and atone…huh.” Kougami hadn’t thought of it like that before. Not once had he ever felt an ounce of regret for murdering Makishima. To him, it was a crime that needed to be committed, no matter the cost. The only thing he wished had turned out differently was perhaps how it had happened. Akane had been hurt back then, Masaoka killed during the chase after Makishima at the time. That was his only regret otherwise though.

“Kougami, I’m not blind.” Akane tightened her grip on his arm, “I know you plan on dying tonight. Knowing you, I’m sure you had only one reason for suddenly returning to Japan after all this time- to do something about Sibyl, correct?”

Shinya wasn’t even surprised at this point. Akane’s detective instincts were as spot on as ever. Or perhaps it wasn’t her instincts that told her the truth of his return. Maybe Akane just knew him that well. Either way, it made no difference. At least, it shouldn’t have.

“Whatever you plan to do, I need you to put a hold on it until I say otherwise. I know more than you realize and if you charge in to attack Sibyl now, I guarantee it won’t be pretty. So please, right now, just promise me two things- Survive at any cost, and obey my instructions until we’re back at the PSB. All right?”

The latent criminal thought long and hard about Akane’s words. She made sense. And he had to admit, he was curious about what she meant when she claimed to know more then 'he realized’. But the part of her lecture that had stuck with Kougami the most, was her telling him to live. That it was…okay to live. That there was a reason, for him to continue existing in this world.

By this stage in his life, Shinya knew there should have been nothing tying him to this world any longer. He’d lost so much and knew his desired life of peace was all lost at this point. However, for just a brief moment, for the first time in 6 years…Akane had made him think, that perhaps he wanted to live, even just a bit longer. If nothing else, it was so he could be near the Inspector as long as possible before his end came. If that could happen, then he could die peacefully without any pain when he finally did reach his end.

A weight suddenly felt as if it had been lifted on Kougami’s shoulders. To think Akane could still tell him all those things, even after his betrayal…she really was a remarkable woman.

“…Akane.” Her name echoed softly as Kou barely parted his lips to say it. Spheres as blue as the ocean tenderly stared down at the female detective, unable to avoid her breathtaking gaze peering back at him. Without any more thought, he replied, “…Okay. You have my word, Inspector.”

Akane breathed a sigh of relief, “Good. Now, one more thing.”

“You’ve become awfully demanding after all this time,” Kougami’s face softened further with amusement, “Maybe you’ve been hanging around Shion too much?”

“Maybe. Had you the common sense to stick around, you would have known this already, Kougami-san.”

All Shinya could do was whistle and hold back a chuckle.

“More to the point…”

“Before that, may I say one thing, Inspector?”

Akane’s brows furrowed impatiently. They didn’t have much time and if they kept stalling, Kasei was sure to become suspicious.

“What?”

“You’ve really developed into one hell of a detective. Not to mention, a tough woman to boot.” Kougami leaned down until his height was on par with the shorter girl’s, “I gotta admit this now- I completely understand Gino’s over-obsessiveness of you.”

Confusion was the only thing Akane felt an such an offhand remark. Had he just…? No. This was Kougami Shinya, not Shion. He would never flirt, least of all, at a time like this.

Kougami finally shut up and turned to enter the car. His back still facing her, more surprising words escaped him as he stepped inside, but these fell on deaf ears.

“Always knew you’d grow into your own like this. No wonder you’re the one I often…”

At that moment, time seemed to bolt to a grinding stop.

Out of no where, Kougami felt his instincts screech out at him from the very depths of his being. He didn’t even have to think as he spun his body around as fast as he could.

For a moment, his left eye caught sight of a shimmer a few feet behind Akane. The man’s stomach dropped to his feet when he realized the source of the all too familiar shine. Before his own body even knew it, Kougami was making a mad dash towards Akane.

His arm grabbed onto Akane and swung sideways. Before the Inspector could question what was happening, her body was thrown away at incredible speed. As her body tumbled backwards, Shinya’s face reflected in her brown spheres. The look she saw on his face was enough to make her pupils dilate. When her brain registered what the reason for the expression on Kougami’s face was, Akane’s heart became like glass, getting ready to be shattered the moment she landed on the ground.

Though it was hard to hear through all the rapid movements, Akane then heard Kougami’s voice call out to her. It sounded…more faraway than it ever had before.

“Akane-”

The world went utterly silent. Tsunemori was still staring right at the man in front of her with an unwavering look of questioning and bewilderment. A second passed. Everything surrounding her felt like it shut down- time included.

The only thing Akane could hear was her own heart beating. The only thing she saw were Kougami who’s lips as they formed a few words.

…I’m sorry…

Akane’s lips also parted. Her voice screamed out as loud as it could but it reached no one.

…I couldn’t keep my promise again.

At that, the only sound that the world could hear was the firing of a dominator…set on execution mode.

______________________________

Author’s Comments: End of chapter 1 for a possible 3-4 chapter fic, based on my idea of events that would potentially happen in the event of a 3rd season of Psycho Pass. This was originally only going to be 2 chapters, but I decided to extend it. I’ll say this now- This fic, unlike so many of my others, WILL be finished. I’ve already got all of chapter 2 and part of 3 started. So please, please, please, leave me your thoughts and let me know what you guys thought of this. I apologize for any errors, misspellings, bad punctuation, and OOC-ness.

*Edit: Read Ch 2 here

#psycho pass #shinkane #shinya kougam #akane tsunemori #anime #otp #fanfiction #ginoza nobuchika #kasei #ko #akane x kougami #ship #please let me know your thoughts

35 notes · View notes

lovemesomesurveys · 3 years

Text

How do you handle stress? Not well.

Is there anywhere you like to go because you find one of the employees attractive? Nah.

What's the closet coffee shop to you? Starbucks.

Choose: a million bucks or to be able to fly? Money, please.

Is it currently cold where you live? Yes and I love it. We’ve been having windy, rainy, stormy weather the past few days.

Have you been to the movies in the last 7 days? No, it’s been almost a year since I last went to the movies for obvious reasons. I miss it.

What are you doing after this survey? Another one, of course.

Are you watching anything on TV right now? No, I’m watching/listening to an ASMR video.

Last person you kissed, are they into any type of sports? Which ones? Nah, he’s more the artistic type.

How many children would you ideally like to have one day? Zero.

If you could have any car right now, what would you want exactly? I don’t drive, so I don’t have a need for one.

Do you like clunky rings? No.

Are you on the pill? Is it for contraception or for other reasons? Nope.

Are you addicted to any kind of soda? Not anymore. I used to be a regular soda drinker for many years until about 3 years ago.

Is your keyboard missing any keys? No.

When's the last time you took a relaxing bath in the dark with candles? I’ve never done that.

When's the last time you were outside in the rain? About a year ago.

What are you tired of? Being sick and tired and the way things have been these past few years. I’m just tired.

Do you have an older brother? I do.

Have you ever broken a bone? Yes.

Do you have any giftcards? For where? Nope.

How old are your sibling(s)? My younger brother is turning 22 next week and my older brother is 37.

Have you ever sold anything on eBay? No.

Do you ever read your old surveys? Yeah, every once in awhile.

When was the last time you received flowers? A few years ago for my birthday.

What was the last series you finished watching? Do you have any plans to begin another? This show called Dare Me on Netflix. I was so upset because it ended on major cliffhanger and they clearly planned on a season 2, but I found out afterwards it had been canceled. D: It originally aired on TV, so I’m hoping Netflix picks it up.

When was the last time you had a headache? These past few days because of the stormy weather. As much as I love it, it also causes me body aches and headaches.

Do your parents use social media? If so, which ones? Yes. My mom uses Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram and my dad just uses Facebook.

When writing stories, do you have trouble coming up with character names or do they come to you easily? I don’t write stories. I used to when I was like 12 and 13, though, and dabbled some with fan fiction when I was like 15. I loved writing short stories.

Are you saving money for anything? Nothing in particular right now; I just like saving what I can.

What was the last thing you scratched? My neck.

Are you content with the current weather? Yeah, I’ve been loving the stormy weather we’ve been having the past few days.

What all different pieces of furniture do you have in your bedroom? My bed, a bookshelf, my dresser, a 6-cubed shelf, an ottoman, and two 3-drawer storage things.

Did any bad situations happen for you today? Nothing as of now.

What search engine do you prefer online? I always use Google. It’s the only one as far as I’m concerned.

Are you usually wide awake in the mornings? Pfffft, no.

Do you normally have nightmares or good dreams? My dreams are usually just super random.

Have you ever done surveys someplace other than your house? Yeah, at a hotel.

Are you better at science, maths or art? None of those were my strong areas.

Do you have any songs in your head at the moment? Not at the moment.

Do you ever get more than one song stuck in your head? Yeah.

What is your favorite kind of cheese? I love various different kinds. I just love cheese.

Are you happy with your height? Would you change it if you could? No, I wish I was taller.

Did you ever call any teachers by their first name? Who? There were some in college.

How old were your parents when you were born? Early and mid 20s.

Were you born in a hospital, or somewhere else? I was born in a hospital.

Do you often have doors held open for you? Yes.

Have you ever shoplifted, even just once? What did you take? When I was a kid I thought the candy in the big candy bins at the grocery store was free to take.

Have you ever witnessed someone else shoplifting? Did you say something? I have, but no I didn’t say anything.

Do you know anyone who volunteers a lot? Not currently.

Have you ever been cheated on? Tell me your story. No.

Which would you choose between chocolate chip cookies and oat & raisin cookies? I like both actually, but I’d probably just pick the chocolate chip cookies.

Write the first person you think of whose name begins with T? My grandpa, Thomas, comes to mind. RIP. <3

When was the last time you got a haircut? Last February. Jeez, almost a year ago.

What did you have for dinner tonight, or last night if you haven't yet? It’s only 4:42AM, but I know I’ll have Wingstop cause it’s Friday and that’s what I always have.

Do you plan ahead for your dinners? Sometimes.

Do you have a night of the week where you usually get takeout? I get takeout most days.

Is your hair thick, thin, or somewhere in between? Somewhere in between.

Are there many baby photos of you? Where are they kept? Yeah. We have all photos and photo albums stored away in the garage.

Are you the eldest child? No, I’m the middle kid.

Have you ever been in the same class as someone named Emma? Probably.

Have you ever kissed someone named Luke? No.

Do you have any neighbors with loud animals or children? My neighbor’s dogs used to bark obsessively and it was super annoying, but they finally got it under control.

How old were you when you had your first crush? I was 9.

When was the last time you were so sick you couldn't get out of bed? Two years ago when I got hit with the flu and bronchitis. It knocked me hard on my ass, it was horrible. I wasn’t back to my normal for a few months and it caused setbacks for me with some of the health stuff I was dealing with.

Do you blow-dry, towel-dry or air-dry your hair? I let it air dry.

Are your parents smokers, or have they ever been? My dad did when I was little, but he quit.

Can you count to ten in any other languages? Which one(s)? Yeah, in Spanish.

What have you eaten today? So far just ramen. It’s only 4:49AM, so I’ll eat more later on.

When was the last time you stayed in a hotel? Where was it? Last February during my Disneyland vacation. I can’t believe that was a year ago already. This time last year we were getting ready and I was super excited. I miss itttt D:

Do you drink alcohol? Nope, not anymore. It’s been 8 years since the last time.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

0 notes

jessicajournal · 4 years

Text

Journal - continuation

FMP Editing week | Week 18th of May

This week I have been focusing only on editing, this is one of my favorite parts, it is when I get to be creative with images and story-telling. I haven’t found a music yet, so I am just editing to the rythim of the poem.

Wile doing research to stay inspired, I found the short-film: Quiet Zone by David Bryant and Karl Lemieux. It has been a huge reference during the editing process, it is a beautiful film and has inspired me to experiment with premier: overlaping, manipulating images, kaleidoscope effects, etc.

In Quiet Zone, the filmmakers take us deep into the world of those who suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity. These “wave refugees” settled in West Virginia around the Green Bank observatory, in an area known as the National Radio Quiet Zone. Combining elements of documentary, film essay and experimental film, Quiet Zone defies genres, weaving together an unusual story in which sound and image distort reality to make the distress and suffering of these people palpable.

Through the use of complex imagery and sound, mind-blowing cinematic moments are born – moments of grace during which viewers witness electromagnetic waves take shape in the environment, travel through walls and invade spaces with their powerful vibrations.

I haven’t found the music yet, but I am really happy with how the film is going.

FMP Visual reference | 16/05/2020

JONAS MEKAS!!!! Where have you been all my life!?

https://film-makerscoop.com/catalogue/jonas-mekas-sleepless-nights-stories

This week, I’ve discovered the work of Jonas Mekas and I am so happy I did! I am in love with his short-films, the way he combines poetry (and text) and images is genius. His films are so so beautiful and a huge inspiration for me.

I have been struggling the most with sound and text, my concerns are around wether I should have a voice-overreading the poem or just in subtitles (and experiment more with text). Jonas Mekas uses both voice-over (the sound of his own voice) and text, it is a briliant combination of both.

FMP Sound and background music | Week 18th of May

I am really happy to share that I think I have found the perfect music.

My friend, Pedro Frias, sent me some recordings of melodies his been working on lately, as soon as I heard one of them, I thought it fitted perfectly with my film, it is not professionally recorded so its has a homemade vibe, he simply recorded in his bedroom with his phone, for me, this is perfect: its real and original. It has also a Portuguese feel because of his acoustic guitar it gives me nostalgia and makes me smile, it’s perfect because, this film is in Portugal, the character is Portuguese, the voice over will be by a Portuguese girl and I am Portuguese.

I’ve been looking for a song that works just has a background and doesn’t overpower the voice-over (poem) or images, so I don’t want something that is very popular. I want something purely instrumental, not too sad nor too happy.

My film is a journey of different emotions and feelings so, I think this music creates a perfect balance between being up and down.

FMP Tutorial 05 | 22/05/2020

In today’s tutorial I showed my first version of the film. Overall, the feedback was really positive. The only thing I need to focus now is the sound, Kieron felt the imagery was really strong and the sound is in second plan. I explained that I want both to be in a perfect balance, so when you’re watching the film, you’re also paying attention to the poem, my feedback from friends so far, is that when watching the film you forget to look at the words (I don’ t want this to happen because for me, the poem is just as important as the images). Kieron suggested experimenting with a voice-over and with the subtitles, make a version where the text is bigger and more experimental: he suggested looking a Jonas Mekas work, for the way he combines sound and text, which I had already encountered.

FMP Tutorial 06 | 28/05/2020

Following last week’s tutorial, as I felt the visual part of the film was ready, this week, I wanted to focus only the sound. I have been debating wether I should put a voice-over or not, usually I enjoy hearing a voice-over, I think it brings harmony to short-films (I have done used voice-overs before), but at the moment, with this film, its not sounding right, I feel like when I put someone reading the poem it breaks the rhythm of the film, because there are pauses, frames with no text, the poem is not continue - so it sounds strange, like something is missing.

I recorded my younger sister Sofia, she has a sweet voice and I think she sounds beautiful when she reads the poem, but again it doesn’t go well with the film, so, I recorded different people, thinking this might be the problem. I recorded myself, my mother (who is English) and a male voice, my brothers. However, none of them seem to work. Kieron suggested to have voice-over only on some parts, and I tried but it seems like I would need help from someone more expert in this to help me make it right.

Now, that I decided not to have a voice-over, I realized I needed to intensify the music and the subtitles. But I don’t know how to do this. I want to intensify and accelerate the second part of the film, because from the quote “but how can she drown if nothing pulls her down?”, the images become stronger and darker, its not as peaceful and sweet as the first part, the ideal was for the music to get louder, stronger, quicker in this part, but I can’t change the music at this stage.

I am happy with how the film is at the moment, I just think I could push it a little further to make it better. I am struggling in this final stages to get the sound right so, I think after the hand-in, because I don’t have much time now, I will ask help from someone who studies music and sound for films.

In terms of my submission deck, I decided to keep it fairly simple. I want my work to speak for itself, I like my presentation and I think it comunicates well my film.

vimeo

FMP Final Project review and evaluation | 02/06/2020

Overall, I am happy with my final project although, I started with a much different idea, I believe it was a smart decision to change it and make the film and I am proud of it, its very personal and I put all my heart in it. I enjoyed the whole process, and for me, that is very important, I need to stay happy and love what I am doing to want to share my work. I enjoy the most making this short-films, it is through moving image and poetry that I can express my feelings and views on the world.

Looking back at my work this year, I think all my projects can go a step further and this is disappointing, because I know I can get there, I always work really hard on my projects but my time management skills are really poor and to respect a deadline my projects sometimes feel unfinished. However, I worked differently this time, I stayed organized and focused and I accomplished all the goals I set on myself. I am very passionate about this idea (and I think that made a difference), this is my final project for university and I wanted it to be my best work, especially because I am quite disappointed at my performance this year.

I think my film can still go a step forward, but I am happy, I am confident and most of all I am inspired and motivated to keep doing art, to keep creating. This year, I’ve struggled the most with self-motivation and lack of confidence, but making this film and, in the circumstances we are in, has made see things in different eyes, and realize I need to make work that I like and not care too much on what people will say. All I need is an honest message and that is the first step to make something valuable.

This course has enabled me to experiment and try new things that I have never explored before, to learn and to make mistakes and now, after 3 years, I know what I am capable of, what are my strengths and my weaknesses. I have always felt that maybe this wasn’t the best course for me, but I have learned so much and I am so grateful of how much I’ve grown, I am a better person now, I am better thinker, I am confident in my own decision making, I am more aware and most important I am not afraid to take risks. Maybe this was the best course for me…. I still have a lot to learn and discover, but I am excited for what’s coming next.

0 notes

thisisthetyty · 7 years

Text

The Superhero

It was only two days. I know how that sounds. I spent two days with him and now I’m – what? Head over heels in love? I’m not that type of person. Or at least I wasn’t before him. I was one of those people that sat around with their friends and laughed at that type of person. He’s the ideal dream guy though: only slightly older than me, put together, broad shouldered, big arms, heartfelt smile and a calming voice. I’d have to be dense as hell to not fall for him instantly.

Our meeting was so out of character for me. We met and then we’re in his hotel room and then we’re kissing and then I’m staying the night with him. It was all so lightning paced compared to my usual sloth-like process of talking to a guy for weeks before anything remotely close to a ‘move’ was made. He talked me into it though, and I trusted him completely. When we were together he was more caring and present than any one I’ve ever been with. He made me feel more important than anyone else ever had. Those two days were nothing short of magic.

“He still hasn’t even texted you back,” my friend said over drinks one night.

“I know. His work schedule is crazy though. He has no control over his time,” I said.

“You’re making excuses for him.”

“But it’s the truth. Whenever he’s in town it’s because he’s working. That’s the only reason he’s here. It’s the only reason we met. So sometimes when he’s out of town working he just has no time.”

“He doesn’t have time to even text you back?”

I know she’s right on some level. He can take up to days at a time to respond to a single text. It makes me feel unimportant. Then I feel myself justifying his actions. It’s been going on like this for six months. Six months of very little interaction, two magical days spent together and I’m racked with emotion. I swear, I’m not crazy. Immediately after those first two days he reciprocated these feelings. He made plans to see me again. He told me he missed me. He offered to fly me across the country to spend weekends with him.

“I saw him on the news the other day,” my friend said after a sip of her beer.

“The San Diego riot thing?” She nodded. “Yeah, I saw that too.”

“That was crazy. How many people died? Like six?”

“Eight. He didn’t even text me back that night either.”

“That’s awful.”

“Downfalls of dating a super hero.”

I mostly kept up with his whereabouts on the news or social media. I’d see footage of him all the time: using those arms that held me to hold a kid he just saved, using that smile that warmed me to comfort crying victims or using that voice that made me fall for him to speak about peace. I see all of the comments on those videos online; adoring fans showering him with praise. If only they knew what it felt like; what he felt like. He chose me.

I’m sure he’s been with other people since we’ve met. He travels all over. He meets tons of people. He looks the way he looks, acts the way he acts. I’m not offended by the idea. I’ve been with people too. Which is exactly why him being with others doesn’t threaten me. I know what we had was rare. I know all of those other people won’t be able to give him what I did. I haven’t found it with anyone else.

“Someone who really wanted to be with you, would make an effort to be with you,” my mom told me over brunch.

“I hear that, but honestly I haven’t even had a chance to tell him where I’m at emotionally. He doesn’t even know that I’m wanting more. We’ve never had that discussion,” I said.

“You deserve someone that actively wants to be with you; someone who appreciates you, who cherishes you; not someone who needs to be to told to want you more.”

“I know it comes off like he’s shitty when I just list to you everything that he’s done. Like yeah, everything he’s done has been shitty, but that doesn’t mean he is shitty, you know?”

“That’s bullshit.”

“I’m not an idiot. I wouldn’t put up with this for nothing. When we were together, he was perfect. That’s why I feel like this.”

I count myself lucky to even have had the time we did have together. He’s a super hero. It’s everyone’s dream. He saves lives by choice. He’s undyingly happy. He’s in the best shape imaginable. He has the body people would kill to have in bed with them. He’s the dream. So, he doesn’t communicate ever, and he never has time for me. Does that make him a bad lover? It’s part of his job. And it’s his job that makes him so desirable. The bad comes with the good.

“Do you have any plans set to see him?” My friend asked one night at dinner.

“He’ll be here at the end of the month.”

“And you’re going to see him?”

“He doesn’t promise his time to me because he doesn’t want me to get my hopes up.”

“He leaves you completely at his mercy. You’ll only ever get to see him if he wants to, if he has time, if he shows up.”

“It’s not his fault. He does his absolute best.”

“He doesn’t make you a priority. Meanwhile, whenever he’s in town you sit at home doing nothing, waiting on him to text you.”

“What else am I going to do? Make plans with friends, go out and then ditch everyone when he tells me he has time for me?”

“There are so many things wrong with what you just said.”

There were all these rumors a month or so ago that he was dating another superhero. I tried not to listen to them too much. It was all circumstantial evidence. TV shows would string together news footage of them stopping gang fights or saving hostages together and zoom in on them having lingering glances towards each other or holding each other for protection. They’re just coworkers, clearly. Stories would come out with people saying they saw them at a bar or restaurant together. So they went out to blow off steam after a day at work, what’s that prove? Some paparazzi caught them making out at clubs a few times. Who hasn’t had too much to drink and made out with their friends from time to time?

“I don’t know. It seems like they’re together,” my sister told me at the store one night.

“I know him. They way they look at each other, the way they act; that’s not real. That’s not deep.”

“How well do you really know him though?”

“I know the time we’ve spent together is minimal but have you ever had that kind of experience before? Where someone opens up to you so completely? An experience so raw and unfiltered that you get to know them nearly instantly? Like they just exposed their entire soul to you?”

“I can honestly say I can’t relate to you.”

I spend some nights scrolling through Twitter to cheer myself up. He’ll tweet something about seeing a nice sunrise and all these delusional, thirsty, inappropriate teens will respond with crude sexual comments. They’ll say all the things they want to do to him, all the things they want him to do to them. And it brings a smile to my face. I smile reminiscing on our time spent doing just those things. I revel in the fact that I’ve done everything all these people wish they had done. Me.

“Check out table seventy-three. Hottie,” my friend said at work one day. It’s a server thing to do; graciously let your coworkers know when there’s eye candy in the restaurant. I headed that way at once. I could see the mark from a distance: big arms, broad shoulders. You couldn’t have seen his facial features until you’re practically on top of the table. And when I got to the end of the table I saw his. The nice hair. Pretty eyes. That smile.

wIt hit me like a buss. My heart sank into my stomach. The room froze. Everything went silent. There was he and I. I stood still staring at him — my hero. He was just sitting in my restaurant. We hadn’t talked in a while. He didn’t tell me he was coming to town. He looked up and finally saw me. His ever-present confidence left his face for a fleeting second. Then he smiled his usual smile.

“Hey,” he said like a friend. The three people he was sitting with looked up at me. “How are you?”

“What…” I couldn’t find words. My heart pounded. My mind paced. I felt all their eyes on me like hot pokers. I didn’t know which question—which emotion—which grievance to present first. “I…” I walked away. I headed in one aimless direction with intent. The room now felt deafening and cramped. Everyone and everything was closing in on me.

“Wait.” His voice was behind me. I didn’t stop. I found the door. I was welcomed by the openness of the parking lot. “Hey,” his voice hit me again. I turned, and he was right in front of me. “What’s up?” Everything about him – voice, posture, expression – was dripping with nonchalance.

“I…” I tried to breathe but his stare was choking me. “You didn’t tell me you would be in town.”

“Oh? Well, this trip came together very last minute. It’s been crazy hectic. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah…”

“I’m glad I get to see you though.”

I smiled a weak smile as my brain still processed. “And you just came to my work?”

He laughed. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Yes… Yes, you did. We’ve talked about it. A couple of times.”

He shrugged. “It must’ve slipped my mind. How ironic we chose to eat here. That’s funny.”

“I guess so.”

“When are you off? You can come to my room.”

“Um. Yeah. It’ll be late.”

He stepped towards me. “That’s fine.” He ran his hand up my arm so gently for such a strong man. “I can’t wait.”

I stepped back instantly. His hand fell to his side. “And what?”

He did something like a soft chuckle. “What do you mean?”

“We have tonight and then you leave and then nothing changes?”

“What?... I’m sorry, I thought you enjoyed our time together.”

“I do—did. But that’s all? That’s all it is to you? This?”

“Oh no.” He sighed. “I see what happened here. I’m sorry if you thought I was capable of giving you any more than what I can. With my work there’s nothing I can do.”

“But you said… You wanted more. You wanted to see me again. You wanted me to come visit.”

“I still do. We can still make all that happen. I’m here now.”

“Can we go out for a drink when I’m off here? Get to talk?”

“Well, I don’t really have a lot of time. I’ve got an early morning.”

“Oh.”

“But you’re more than welcome to come over tonight.”

“Tonight.”

“Yeah,” he smiled.

I just noticed how cold it was outside, the sound of cars driving near us, the chatter from inside the restaurant.

I said, “No.”

#writing #short story #fiction #superhero #comedy #funny #Relatable

1 note · View note

throwingideasatthewall · 3 years

Text

The Clone Wars Duchess of Mandalore

Season 2 Episode 14

......

You know I want to believe this is going to be an episode focusing on Duchess’s actual character . . . . But the track record of writing female characters (Never mind blam ing trauma for their personality )

Doesn’t leave much Good Faith Or trust . . (especially how often their Characterization gets to Ret-conned. to fit the episode,)

(Padme turned into a nag, Ahsoka In unchildlike abomination that goes with a plot needs her to)

Duchess;

From Relat iv-ely Reas On Able Leader . . . Turned exquisite and Ex- - cess -ive (Pe tty)

Con trast- With Semi- Constant Smart “laziness” avoidant Obi-wan And “Do It Sky wal -ker-

I don’t expect this to stick

(Al-ways the female characters,”

Any. Way

And war, truth is the first casualty,

[It’s actually accountability but good try]

Deluding them selves of the goodness usually comes after the bad action

Any way.

The terribly designed ship

(I’m sorry but that thing doesn’t even look even slightly aerodynamic)

(The shark ship at least had that)

[it was one apparent smoke bomb and she wasn’t allowed to do anything to try and fix it,]

But sure... let’s go with that . Allies

[Never got a feel for that and one dude was always snarking at her,] No shit

everyone can see that

And it was one dude

[They haven’t heard of this yet]

[This plot- isn’t very good]

Right - ok now they’re im-portant-

Sit and and wait

As Duchess makes her case that this is just one splinter group that she can handle

Some thing you wouldn’t think would need a trial

[Only becoming a problem when it affects other people]

[suffering from the Luminara problem, where if she doesn’t meet up to high unreasonable standards. In an unreasonable amount of time (Little) Instantly lambasted by her colleagues. With the nar-rative showing no signs of painting this is wrong Or the fact of the male characters can feck around screw everything up, And that isn’t considered serious

[Narrative’s a Cheater. .)

How long

These are actual good evil minions

(No this could actually be good with them becoming something like the clone troopers to the, Darkside

Making up for a lack of human faces in the ranks up to this point,

Establishing that while they may be the instigator of tox, Actions are about ~now~ Less abhorrent than the Empire’s / Coun- cil-

‘the Plot,’

Completely irrelevant

(And stupid)

Relying on everyone being a complete un- accountable- Idiot.

Great plan you got there Dooku,

How’s Duchess’s explaining that’s-not-at-all-what-happened-and-we-don’t need a foot hold and all security, going?

Like you think he’d be more mad Considering what seems like the only plot, Intercepting the vehicle in transit, Failed horribly,

Unless, the guys didn’t tell him - And he still thinks they have Duchess -which would make sense...because of course they sent troops for the lost foreign leader

(Would’ve been a good episode for both of them)

(Not sure that would cause a riot though-)

(-Which would make sense if Obi-Wan was the last one they saw around here- Thinking, that a Jedi captured their leader,

]

But I’m getting ahead of myself let’s focus on the actual plot. .

Whoa rows

To Coursant

I thought you just said to . . .sit still and leave.

What? ...

What

Oh so we’re focusing on another cliché plot instead of the actual characters

(*Note; Cliché As in a badly established already done plot . . . There’s nothing wrong with doing repeat plot so long as you do them well

What you bring into it is the fun part (Ideally)

Aight?

How?

They’re just there

Also yeah you already know that there there you already know what they’re doing you still haven’t done anything about it

So?

[I was about to say where is the courier guy but he’s dead]

R.I.P shortly lived villain Killed off for a shitty written romance-

-He deserved better

Whatever

Why

[i’ve seen that image multiple times but I never realized the city was in the ball

[also how is this the palace where several important officials meet And the nice forest is supposed to be this mining hell hole

The environments- They’re-

So yeah we know it’s there, but like last time we’re not going to do anything about it

[like I said Saltine did get back at some point and everyone’s logic was just ok let’s go complain to the council for no reason,]

[I dislike this logic)

Why?

Just...? Why

Also yeah who’s in charge while she’s away?

I mean we’ve already got like a lot of senators’ sus

What?

Things Happen Ing

Also yeah palace right back to the way it was,

I guess it was a smoke bomb. .

Right?

You left the Boomer in control?

Also, so yeah I’m surprised he didn’t run out to be a mastermind either

Like, yeah That can happen

But given the “legacy and proud of everything thing,”

You’d think he’d be the main target

[Makes a lot more sense than Random Sen ator #4

And he was the only one in that hallway with Obi-Wan-

During their argu- ment-

Prime Minister- It Makes Sense -

You found the deathwatch armies - isn’t hard - It was like five guys last time

Now just like them, you have allowed, the situation to get worse

Good job smart guys.

Battle

Really because they seem like the same group of nerds

What?

??...

Deathwatch will never be strong enough

Yeah, no shit

Guess you shouldn’t do anything stupid

[how long until something stupid happens?]

Beyond the normal . . .

Here

Seriously how does this plan make any sense?

Jedi- come here - everyone- Loses their shit

How? - like I know it be unpleasant to have some guys stomp into Your House

But there’s literally no need for that..

Considering the situation isn’t out of control

And Satine should be fully capable of handling the situation

- And telling the Senate to feck off

- And don’t tell me he’s doing this because she’s passive because he’s been everything but passive in defending her passive beliefs,

[Something not really elaborated on]

Stop

NOT BE AN IDIOT!

Also,

[I really don’t like this plot it makes no sense,”. ]

Whelp-

Fuck-

That Got Dark-

[but possibly make sense if this is how she sees members of the republic, As a dark brooding force that will hurt everyone if she’s not careful,

Significant deadly threat

How?

They- smoke bombed one building

[That’s juvenile]

[The situation is not out of control]

In the narrative’s attempt to over blow this isn’t done ,correctly

You need to have self aware ness.

Bumper cars

Good

[Also you had to come to the Senate to say that]

(This could’ve been an email)

Or a photo op/ State -ment-

Duchess why did you come here you knew they were going to pull this shit

Like this helped nothing

And the narrative,

What was a good situation that was supposed to come out of this?

You stand before a council of people who decided to fight, saying I don’t fight

[ and these are toxic people mind you]

There was no way this is going to end up good;

And I don’t.. know what the narrative?

Padme?

Also what is with the weird bumper car rules?

Because it seems like anyone can come up at any time and ask any question?

[Like, how is that not chaos?]

Wo rking under toxic assumed authority. .

“People-

‘ I call to the stand Obi-Wan (Kenobi) and Anakin Of the Jedi order, to provide testament,”

That’s all that had to be said..

On top of;

“My government will submit to peace keepers actual peace keepers - Un-armed- For Eval -uation,’

That would make sense

And work off Satine’s Ad- vers Ion- To Obi-Wan, and the Jedi Council,

True

Dick,

-Jedi

Yeah, she didn’t reject, she allowed the Jedi to do a full investigation,

Also as brutal as the scene is, it is a good show of you reap what you sow and enablers turning on a enablers

Even though Satine should’ve known better than to argue peace with a war council...

Obi-won says nothing . . .

Fuck You (Good)

Bad Ass

Lots of politicians speaking,

Wait-

Dick-

Appro priate-

Ser-iously touching someone without their consent?

Dick entitled move.

Spec. Ifically.

After he stood by and watched that happened - Senate - Yeah cause you were there and you did nothing

Better;

Saltine calls Obi-Wan as a witness (Both Obi-Wan and the others. (Anakin) standing watch over her home planet

They failed to respond due to being in the middle of some thing

Or just distracted

This makes looks Satine Look extremely bad, That Jedi are not Re-sponding On her home planet

The vote gets passed

Satine is more than distressed

When Obi-Wan Coms her In

They argue, Satine Sni,pping. A. Bro-ken Promise

“You said you’d be there for me (This Time)]

“You’re never there when I need you,”

“You’re never there when it matters most,”

With that, the conversation ends

Satine possibly getting ready to defend herself against the republic

Coming to invade her home

Im-bittered Sweet

Didn’t help at all but okay,

We’re friends

Good

[To be fair the romance was so forced, that friendship is honestly best,]

Ah, Lady, You just got a friendship last block,

No need to act surprised.

Nothing More

Good because there was no chemistry between you up to this point,

State of mind

....

What?

What state of mind?

...

She’s fine!

Yeah she over reacted to the dude

But - got everything together when it mattered-

THANK YOU!

That was an asinine statement

Hysterical

No they wouldn’t be

That isn’t a compliment.

That’s Invalidation.

Dick Obi-Wan

Point!

So much

point in this!

I am so

pleased..

(Though

regular,”

I only -

Gas-

lighting

“I’m-

Yes!

Mhm

This is some

Bomb ass tea

De-licious

(I just realized my phrasing of words I’m so-)

It’s good is the point

(Doesn’t it make up what happened in the previous episodes,

But, Makes it easier to forget . . .

Accoun- tability - Is the word you’re looking for (The character, not the writer,”) They’re doing good . ... You live with a child groomer (Are One)

Does make sense. Obi-won closest to the problem (Groomed specifically in benefit of it) Still sad that they just gave up

Even if he does have a point That Two generations have essentially grown up Anakin and their time as the present is over

Bit too late to have a regrets

(Only when it screws you over..

Not the future generations)

And...

My sympathy is officially gone (Not the storytelling’s fault, I think they work -ed this conversation pretty well - Just the facts to narcs arguing - Still made me think about what exactly what was wrong - That’s good (narc)Con versation,

Any way,

I love this song

Obi-Wan gets roasted for all his bad behavior 2.0...

It’s nice

Crusade

This Convo was good

(It made me feel better about all the times the writers used cheating tactics)

*Not for giv-ed

just- better

[That expression- was concerning]

There

Aight

That- Was-

Chilling

[You just spent the whole time getting yelled out for his deeds, just continued on, emotion less]

The “respectable” kind (Approp-riate for an adult)

Aight

[Oh- no are they going to have the Obi-won rescue her and that proves that all her opinions are wrong?

Not actually; she made some really good points

But in the narrative treating?

(I don’t want to see that)

Okay, whelp,

Coursant has the worst security ever,

How?

Damn Frick

Is a bad day for her,

Filed

Some random dude hijacked your car

Who are you going to sue?

Bitch

Queenie, dude’s obviously an asshole

Leave

Also if there was no proof then why aren’t you charging her for vandalism terrorism, etc?

(See his logic is bullshit,)

also this is a good example of obstructive bureaucrat . . .

Or avoidant

Because how do three people nearly dying not constitute as proof?

[Like if she died.]

Also, what’s the plan if she did?

Like; Oh yeah deathwatch is such a threat that they killed a senator

Those dudes don’t care

They only pissed at her because she’s a pacifist coming into a Offensive summit

Accident

[she accidentally drove her car. [Yelling at the villain]

Not what she said

This dude could give Obi-Wan a run for his gas lighting,

Whelp

Fuck Off

Oh yeah the council of war mongers will really respect the pa- cifist

No bias here

None whatsoever

Satine

Hey at least this time he had the common decency not to grab her-

dick

Oh yeah defender of the gaslight-ing committee she’ll definitely help

Worry You

Don’t give into the gaslight-

Also guilt tripping

“ i’m afraid on that account,”

No,

Dick

Valid re-ac- tions

Shit-

“Victim blaming” (Toxic blaming)

Pretty sure they’re all enablers at this point

Tox-

Ma’am

Leave the ball of tox known as Obi-Wan

Man has turned from a garbage fire to a gas fire,

Coursant

Yeah, you should leave,

Also, That Moment,

You are one of them.

You’re not backing down

👉 This Not,

Con

Don’t listen to Obi-Wan He sucks

Also none of the guards are going to zap him for touching their queen unannounced? - - - Friends

You’re not her friends

You’ve been nothing but a dick

Gas lighting

Nope

Tox.

[like listen to that ag-gressive tone, How he’s holding her

Tox

[Still good on the animators who did that scene, Very good work,]

Occ-upation

Shit

Happen

Oh Shit-

Obi-won distracted her?

Aight

Meeting

What

How-

Hm,

Wait- Huh

[this is some kangaroo Court logic

It’s Good.]

Before

“Relying on the Republic is a mistake,”

Yesssss

More Acc- Toxic initiative (Since there’s no to little way they end this) Based on circumstance only (No different sources)

Any-way Um

Okay

Right Just Vibin’g

Aight Whelp,

Am I?

Oh is that the Senator guy?

Death watch?

Also- okay

Al- right.

Wait What?

Hm?

Green

We know two greens And one changeling That should be in custody-

Wait- ?

What?

? ? ?

EXPLAIN

Who-

What

At-

This was a pretty a’ight episode

(Trust me I wish I could give it higher praise)

However the unfortunate clankiness of the introduction

Keeps it stubbornly between a decent and good

With that being said;

That does not take away from the fact that is a ____ whatever it is

-it has good characterization for Satine

- it handles heavy morals like enabling, tox, abuse and pro- blems With Assumed Autho rity- Includ Ing Police Bru- tality And Fram -ing Very Well

(With the appro- priate dignity it deserves,

[there’s a small bit of better done romance/ fond-ness, near the End]

*Villain was neat

[More of sidious and on the [Main] villains

There were few Moments that Made Me Go Wtf (Obi Wan’s Abuse Of The Word “Saw You,” The Insist Ence That Death Watch Was In Tim i- dating

As For Fix -ing;

Episode; Instead of to defend, Wise Saltine is called To ident ify a Death Watch Member- Or Re New Her Neu- Trality Pledge In Person (Due to Change ling (Over Lap) Attack

Episode Pro Gress Es

Arc Fixes;

Obi- won delivers news, that he’s supposed to escort her Pers On Ally, Saltine expects everything to go over swimmingly after all she hasn’t done anything wrong, Quickly find out otherwise, Loyalty over her vs the government

Leads to a small break (Episode continues as normally)

(Death watch- if want)

Fix Arc Continue; (Note no offense to the author meant I just started some thing and I should finish it as an accountable writer)

Satine Is Forced Into Either Defend Ing Or Leaving Anakin To Her Irate People, Soon After Obi-won’s In- Cid ent Pri med

Hope Spot Or Depres. Further. Push Ing Ana -kin’s Dec- Ision To Snap) End

[Generally I thought this was a pretty ____ episode, the animation and set design will really good/ On par and it seems to have made up. (Corrected) A majority of flaws I had with previous episodes . . . Moving On...

0 notes

fatalezr · 4 years

Text

A form of justice - Part 2

“What do you think is the most important quality an officer can have?”

“A strong moral compass” answered Rebecca, “this job is hard, it’s meant to be tough. You have to keep in mind why you’re doing it at all times - to serve your community, to save lives, to make a positive impact”.

The Assistant Commissioner looked at her and smiled. “I agree”, he said, “you’ve a sharp mind Miss Davidson. Keep that compass pointed in the right direction and you’ll have a bright future”. He stood up, straightened his uniform and offered his hand.

“Thank you sir” said Rebecca. She stood and shook his hand before he showed her out of his office. She smiled when the door closed. The meeting with Assistant Commissioner Locke was the final step in her recruitment to the Metropolitan Police and knew she had aced it. She was not sure what team she would be assigned to, but her results in testing had been exceptional and the interviews with top personnel had gone well.

“Well done love”, the Assistant Commissioner’s secretary said. She was an older woman with a thick cockney accent. Rebecca thanked her and headed out of the office towards the street. This called for a celebration. As she walked out of the building on to Victoria street, she spotted her colleague Kate Belmont wearing a leather jacket, jeans and a blue shirt and leaning on a lamppost carrying two cups of coffee. Rebecca hugged her.

“It went well?” asked Kate.

“Very well” said Rebecca.

“Then it’s congratulations to you, Constable Davidson”, said Kate, handing her one of the coffee cups. They touched cups together and walked down the road, Rebecca catching a glimpse of herself in a shop window and approving of the professional way she had presented herself. She was wearing a black blazer and pencil skirt with a white shirt and looked pretty good in her opinion. Today was a good day. It had been over two weeks since they killed the bike thief Jack Meadows. His body had washed up downstream and whilst it was clear he had been murdered there was nothing to link him to the ongoing Mulvaney investigation. Detective Chief Inspector Sullivan and his team had been focussing their time on identifying Mulvaneys lieutenants. They had been observing the movements of several characters, trying to determine who reported to who, what business lines they were connected to and how Mulvaney could run his underground empire. It had been painstaking work but Sullivan had kept the team motivated. Kate has been out of the office most days working leads in the field and Rebecca had not had chance for the two of them to catch up.

“We’ve not seen you much” said Rebecca, hoping to learn where the Sargeant had been and her plans for their next hit.

“I’ve been working on a gambling angle” Kate said, “we looked into the accounts of a couple of amusement centres last year that are run by Patrick Hanlon. They were buying their machines from a supplier I’ve never heard of. Unregulated stuff, rigged most likely. The DCI reckoned Hanlon was running it all on behalf of Mulvaney but we couldn’t find anything in the accounts or physical evidence to link them”.

“Could you ask your friends to help?” Rebecca knew Kate had some connections to some powerful people in counter-terrorism that had access to some tools they didn’t.

“This isn’t one of their hotspots. But...”, Kate took out a photograph from her jacket pocket, “I did get to snap this”. She showed Rebecca the photograph. A white van was being loaded with large boxes. “Old machines”, said Kate, “they’re bringing in new stock. But look here” she pointed to two men observing the work. The first was tall, wore a flat cap and coat and was smoking a cigarette. “Patrick Hanlon”, Kate explained, “nothing wrong with that yes, observing his work. But look at that other man in the shadows.” Rebecca peered over the photograph to try to see the second man but he was hidden by shadows. His hair was dark and shaggy and it looked as if he was dressed plainly, but Rebecca recognised the profile of his face.

“That’s...Mulvaney. Kate you found the link!”, she said excitedly.

“You’ll like this next picture then” Kate said. She showed a second photograph. Mulvaney was completely hidden from view by a box that was being wheeled past him but Rebecca could see a bit of his hand passing a black duffel bag to Hanlon.

“Is that enough for a warrant?” Rebecca asked.

“It might be” Kate replied, “but I don’t think I want us to get one”.

Rebecca looked at her puzzled. “Why not?”

Kate quickly turned down a side road. She checked that her and her colleague were alone. “Because I can’t be certain that we don’t have a leak”.

Silence passed between them for a few seconds as Rebecca processed the revelation. A leak? Could Mulvaney have a mole in the department? Was that how he’d be able to dodge the police for so long? It was a plausible enough explanation.

“Think about it” said Kate, “that witness withdrawing their testimony. I think they were threatened but we had them in the protection scheme. The only way someone could have reached him...”

“Is if they had access to the files”, Rebecca finished her sentence. “But who?” she asked, “surely not one of the team?”

“I can’t be certain but until I figure it out I want to keep this off the books. There’s information in that arcade and there’s evidence in that bag. We can strike tonight but i can’t do this alone. Are you in?”

Rebecca nodded.

———

Five hours later they were sat in Kate’s car down a quiet side road in Bethnal Green. Both women had changed to being totally in black, Rebecca in a long sleeved black top, leggings and sunglasses while Kate wore a black sleeveless athletic top and leggings. Rebecca also donned a long red wig. They had already armed and suppressed their Glock 17 guns and gone over the plan. Ideally they would be in and out quickly and make this look like a robbery. Mulvaney would be furious but have no reason to suspect police or another gang’s involvement. Kate knew the office would be around the rear of the building, away from the arcade machines and they both suspected the duffel bag and other evidence would be there. They went over their plan again and then got out of the car. Kate put on a shoulder holster and stowed her gun. She slipped around the block so she could approach the back of the arcade unseen.

Rebecca tucked her gun into the back of her leggings next to the spare ammunition she had stashed there. It felt cold against her skin and she took a moment to compose herself. This was no longer target practice. The people she would encounter here would not be bound and gagged like Jack Meadows had been. She had to remain focussed and be ready to react. Consider all angles, not leave herself open to a counter attack. Mulvaney would be ruthless with them if they were caught. She remembered the training Kate had given her and the feeling of dominance she had as she shot Jack. Killing was not the main objective tonight but she had to be ready if the situation changed. She walked around the corner to the back of the arcade. The building was relatively old, probably built in the 1950s and had dreary white weather-beaten walls. There was a heavy black steel door that led to the back. Outside was a middle aged man with long curly hair smoking a cigarette and wearing an old brown jacket and blue jeans. He was stood by the door, paying little attention to the world around him. Rebecca had expected him to be there. Her job was to distract him whilst Kate subdued him. She flicked her red wigged hair over her shoulder and walked towards him.

“Excuse me”, she smiled politely, “do you have a phone inside? My car won’t start and my phone is out of battery”.

“Oh no lovie”, he said mockingly in a thick cockney accent, “well I think we can help out with that. Where you trying to get to love?”

“Enfield”

“Give me a sec and I’ll get my cousin Lenny to take you that way. Anything to help a beautiful damsel in distress”.

Rebecca smiled but didn’t fancy meeting cousin Lenny and getting in his car. “Thanks”, she said, “what about the car?”

“Don’t worry about that, I know a thing or two. I’ll be happy to sort it out. Favour for a favour basis”. He was looking at her breasts, the outline of her bra showing through the tight top she was wearing.

Rebecca bit her lip and wondered how much longer she might have to keep him talking. The smell of cigarettes on his breath were disgusting. Luckily she spied Kate slowly creeping up behind him, gun raised. “Well, let’s see what we can offer each other”, she said and backed away from him towards the door. He advanced slightly and Kate made her move behind him.

Chik-chak. “Don’t move”. Kate chambered a round on her Glock and spoke with authority. The guard froze. “Keep your hands high” she commanded. Kate nodded at Rebecca who reached in to his jacket and pulled out an old Beretta handgun.

“You stupid fucking sl-ahhh”, the guards insults were interrupted by Rebecca smacking him with the butt of his own gun around the head. He collapsed on the floor. Kate smiled at her, impressed by her apprentice’s vicious blow.

“Hands behind your back”, Kate ordered and the guard dutifully linked his hands around the back. Rebecca handcuffed them and then his legs and put a gag over his mouth to secure his silence. She drew her own gun from behind her back and for a second felt a strong desire to shoot him and feel that excitement at pulling the trigger. She was disciplined and did not do so, instead taking the keys out of his back pocket. He was faced away from the two women now so Rebecca took her wig off, keeping her dark hair tied up in a bun. Kate handed her a black balaclava that covered her face and donned one herself. Kate raised her gun whilst Rebecca unlocked the back door. She opened it slowly and Kate peered down the dank corridor it opened to.

“Clear” she said. Kate entered the door and led Rebecca down the corridor slowly. The wallpaper was not in great condition. It smelled of industrial cleaner that had evidently been used on the plastic flooring underneath them. At the end of the corridor was a large double door. They heard the bass of pop music tunes playing alongside the pinging, whizzing and whirring of the amusement machines and guessed it led to the front of the shop and the desperate punters attempting to win money on the slot machines. There was one other door on the left that must be the office. Kate lowered her gun and listened at the door for noise. She tried the handle but it was evidently locked. She pulled a lockpick from her leggings and began to work on the door while Rebecca covered her with her Glock. Her heart was pounding. Kate finished with the door and softly opened it before both women slipped inside.

The office was well-furnished with an antique wooden desk and two plush leather sofas. There were a couple of filing cabinets and a bar cart with a selection of spirits. Kate holstered her gun and started looking through the cabinets while Rebecca went to the desk. There was an old desktop computer that she turned on but found it was password-protected. She decided to look around the desk and saw the duffel bag hidden underneath it. She pulled it out, opened it and gasped. It was almost completely filled with cash - bundles of 20 and 50 pound notes. There must be thousands of pounds within. She couldn’t fathom that amount of money in cash. It was staggering. She saw a business card inside and pulled it out to examine it. The card was white and had elegant writing advertising “Madame Rouge Gentleman’s Club”. She put it in her pocket, resolving to study it more later. Kate was busy flicking through a series of files she had pulled out of the cabinet.

“Kate”, Rebecca said softly and showed her the bag of cash.

“Holy shit” Kate said, picking a bundle up and flicking through it, “I was right - he was laundering money here. Look at these” she pointed to some of the files, “accountant details, suppliers, a couple of contracts. This is huge”.

A noise from outside broke their conversation. It sounded like a lorry pulling up and two men getting out. “Hurry up Harry”, one voice called. Patrick says we have to get these inside and set up for tomorrow’s trade”.

“Lovely bit of kit” said another voice they guessed must be Harry, “I’d have a gamble myself if it wasn’t rigged”. The two voices laughed.

“Shit” said Kate. It must be the new amusement machines being delivered. She put the files in the duffel bag of money and pulled out her pistol. “We need to get going. This place doesn’t need to be left intact right?”

Rebecca nodded. An accidental fire would be best. She went to the bar cart and spread the alcohol around the room. They would light it to cover their escape. Kate had slung the bag over her shoulder and was slowly opening the door, checking the corridor with her gun. There was the faint noise of two men talking. Rebecca wondered if they would find the guard they had gagged around the corner. She moved out in the corridor past Kate and covered the door at the end with her gun. Kate pulled out a small packet of matches and lit one, throwing it on the carpet of the office where the alcohol caught fire.

“Go, go!”, she said to Rebecca and they swiftly moved to the end of the corridor by the door. The voices were still chatting to one another and grunting a little as they took the machines out of the back of the van. Rebecca was on the left of the door, Kate was on the right grabbing the handle. “Like we drilled”, she said, “one, two, three!”

Kate flung the door open and her and Rebecca both swung around the door, suppressed guns ready to fire. There were two men on either side of a large box. Both were dressed in casual jackets and jeans. Rebecca found the one on the left, while Kate aimed at the one on the right.

Pfft-pfft pfft-pfft pfft pfft. They eached fired three shots, stunning the men and hitting them in the chest. Pfft-pfft - Kate shot twice quickly into the skill of her target as he sank to her knees. Rebecca’s man had fallen flat on his back and she walked over, gripping her gun tightly. She fired a final pfft into his head and felt a rise of pleasure within her. The adrenaline was addictive. Without asking Kate, she found the guard around the corner. He had been struggling at his bonds.

Pfft pfft. She slowly and deliberately placed two bullets in his back. Pfft - she placed a coup de grace into the back of his head. His body went limp as her nipples hardened beneath her top. She went back to Kate who was lighting another match and throwing it on to the cardboard boxes in the back of the van. Rebecca turned and saw smoke pouring from the door they had burst through. Evidently there was no fire alarm as no bell sounded but it was clear the arcade was on fire. The women ran to Kate’s car and dived in quickly, ditching their balaclavas as they did.

They were both excited. They’d pulled off a job, killed three lowlifes, set a Mulvaney business on fire and found more evidence to help them in their pursuit. Kate would use one of her contacts on the street who would claim to have found the documents and cash in a bin near the arcade - it would look like he’d disrupted a drop and the police would have a lucky break. As they drove towards central they saw a fire engine driving past them, sirens blaring.

Rebecca sat back and reflected - it had been a very successful day all in all!

#silencer hitwoman #hitwoman #assassin #female assassin #femme fatale

0 notes