#coming in from nothing you lose a lot of meaning from the narrative
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yakuza 0 is a good place to start the series, but it maybe makes more thematic sense coming between yakuza 5 and 6, since it continues 5's downbeat themes better than it leads into 1's plot, and majima's relationship and eventual separation from makoto prefigures kiryu's final abandonment of haruka and the morning glory orphans in 6 pretty strongly.
majima learns in 0 what kiryu doesn't learn until 6:
that attempting to live in both worlds harms the people from the straight world you want to protect, and that in order to keep them safe, you have to abandon them despite the love between you and resign yourself to be a dog without agency for abusive and powerful men who will use you and discard you without a second thought
it's a garbage lesson, to be sure, and you can see how much harm it does to both of them, but the thematic throughline is clear from 5-0-6; kiwami 1 and 2 in particular are active rejections of that idea, so the resonance of the games is a little muddled when played in internal chronology order, or at least it makes majima's role as protagonist less clear, since he doesn't recur with anywhere near the same tragic nobility in the rest of the series. he's not a foil for yakuza 0 kiryu, but he is a foil for the kiryu of 5 and 6, someone who suffered, who was out, and who saw his connections actively weaponized against the people he cared about. it would have been nice to have some of that conveyed in dialogue between the two of them — and it would have been EXTREMELY NICE AND CORRECT to give haruka the same narrative presence and agency in 6 as makoto got in 0; makoto at least got to end the relationship on her own terms in a way that haruka just didn't (and i'm still mad about) — but the game possibly functions better as a flashback than it does as an introduction as a result.
#yakuza 0#yakuza 5#yakuza 6#makimura makoto#majima goro#kiryu kazuma#sawamura haruka#it's also a nice glimpse of majima after his presumptive death for most of y5#coming in from nothing you lose a lot of meaning from the narrative#it functions as a story but not as well without that surrounding context
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Did Sia insult topic of autism somehow?
Oh honey, it's sooooooooo much worse than that.
Sia wanted to make a movie about an autistic girl that manages to connect to people/feel safe and confident through music. So far, nothing outrageous, just a simple concept that would obviously put Sia's music front and center while doing something nice and educating people on autism.
There was controversy about her not casting an autistic actress as it would have been nice representation, but she could have totally gotten away with that since, come on, hollywood hasn't even figured out Rain Man isn't exactly true to life, they're not ready to have an autistic person playing an autistic character. Baby steps.
The real problem started when Sia started promoting the "charity/support group" that was helping "educate" her on the topic to make the movie. The "charity" in question was Autism Speaks - which is absolutely HATED by the autistic community for things like:
1 - Spreading the myth that autism is a mental illness that one can develop/catch like the freaking flue and potentially be cured of, instead of a neurotype, aka something starts in the woomb and cannot be "cured" because to do that you'd need to replace someone's entire nervous system, which is impossible.
2 - Using that myth to get outrageous amounts of money from people so they "search for a cure" - that doesn't exist and will never exist because curing autism is biologically impossible, AND despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of autistic people don't even want to be "cured" (plus, since said "cure" would essentially mean giving the person a new brain, it leads to the question of "Would I even be the same person, or would that just kill and replace me?")
3 - Using the myth of "We don't know what causes autism" (we do, it's genetic) to, of course, get MORE money from people so they can "do research to find the missing puzzle piece" (if you ever see autistic people complaining about a puzzle piece being used to represent the condition, that's why, it was started by Autism Speak's massive disinformation campains).
4 - Falsely "confirming" things like soy milk cause autism with one of the world's most ridiculous "research", losing only to "vaccines totally make kids autistic, buy MY vaccine instead, guys, I am totally not an unbelievably biased person, it's ALL the other doctors/scientists lying to you. GIVE ME MONEY!"
5 - Pushing the narrative of "autism is inherently a tragedy" to distract from the fact that all the money they waste on stupid shit could be used to help autistic people and their families. Instead, they focus on creating more and more panic, making parents in particular despair even more - to the point that one of their "awareness videos" includes a mother talking about how she wants to murder her autistic daughter and then kill herself... while sitting right next to said daughter.
6 - Promoting ABA "therapy" - which was created by the same guy responsible for the attrocity that is gay conversion "therapy." Both have led to unbelievably high rates of confirmed PTSD and suicidal ideation in patients (victims), and ABA in particular has been compared to literal dog training. Very fitting since it was created by a guy who famously did not believe autistic people truly counted as thinking, feeling human beings, and said as much several times. Despite that, it is still praised by some utter bastards because "it makes the patients act less autistic when they're not crying in the corner or trying to jump out a window"
So yeah, working with these guys is a genuinely horrible thing to do since they're basically a scam/hate group pretending to be a charity - and people were STILL willing to give Sia the benefit of the doubt, since Autism Speak uses all their resources to make sure they're the first thing people see when looking up how to help autistic people.
Lots of Sia's fans, both autistic and allistic, warned her repeatedly, politely, that she needed to supporting them IMMEDIATELY as their goal was the exact opposite of the one she claimed to have - aka raise awareness through an accurate portrail of autism. People were even kind enough to name organizations like ASAN as replacements to help her fix any damage done to the project.
And instead of being a decent human being, Sia decided to cry on twitter about how the mean retar-I mean, autistics were bullying her even when she was so kindly using them for her vanity project.
Because yes, that's how the movie turned out. An unwatcheable piece of garbage, with the autistic "character" being so fucking bad even the people who actively use "autistic" as insulted being offended on our behalf - and of course, she was used just a prop to show how awesome Sia's character was.
Seriously, it was so bad the actress playing the autistic girl was sobbing in between scenes because she knew how it was horrible and she didn't want to insult anyone, but Sia is literally her godmother and helped her career by putting her in nearly all her music videos so she felt obligated to go along with it.
So yeah, fuck Sia and fuck Autism Speaks.
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One thing that I deeply love about HxH as a whole is how seriously it takes the trauma of its characters.
Rather than things that happened in the characters' pasts being relegated to just simple flashbacks, their pasts legitimately feel like they shaped who they are as people in the present of the series, in both obvious and subtle ways.
I love how the significant events of their past and how they grew up are shown continuing to affect them even many years later, and not just in a straightforward "Oh, that's sad," or "This one personality trait/goal and nothing else came from that," kind of way. They make decisions based on what they've been through, the ways they understand the world are different as a result of it, what they prioritize and strive for often comes out of it, even their nen choices are often related to it.
It gives the characters a strong sense of being human, and I think this theme of trauma and how it affects people is something Togashi explores with unusual sensitivity, care, and weight. HxH doesn't lose sight of how much a deep loss or a life of abuse or neglect or abandonment shapes someone, and at the same time the narrative offers so much hope for the way connections with others provide second chances, meaning, and eventually healing.
I could go into examples, but honestly the series is full of them, almost wherever you look. All of the main four especially exemplify this. It's one of the elements that makes HxH so special to me, why it resonates with me so deeply. Plenty of stories explore this kind of theme, and a lot of them do it well, but HxH does it in an especially convincing and beautiful way, in my opinion. Because the way the characters are affected is so genuine and multifaceted, it's easy to empathize with them and find meaning in their struggles.
#hxh#hunter x hunter#meta#my posts#just something I think about a lot#it's hard to express this because a lot of stories do explore these kinds of themes#but the way hxh does it is just different and really effective and meaningful imho#it feels incredibly well-rounded and integrated#incidentally this is why I increasingly think kurapika will likely survive somehow
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”Why do racists always invoke MLK…?”
This is a comment from Reddit. I swear to god, it’s like the redditor who wrote this transcribed all the shit my racist, entitled, privileged, Boomer parents said my entire childhood. Like, word for word.
”Why do racists always invoke MLK…?”
First, you gotta understand their position, which is “Racism doesn’t exist anymore”. Because black people aren’t lynched, because there are wealthy rappers and basketball players, and because there was a black president, racism doesn’t exist in the US anymore. And this is especially important; when black people get upset about their lot in life, it is because they are lazy and want a handout rather than earning their way like white people do. When a black guy is killed by cops, he was a criminal and deserved his fate. When a black woman loses her access to food stamps, it is because she was taking advantage of the system. When black people get into college, it is because they are given special privilege they didn’t earn. And when black folks talk about reparations, it is because they want to punish innocent people so they can be handed their success rather than earn it.
Because there is no racism, and anytime some white person is called a racist it is likely because they don’t support simply handing success and money over to people who haven’t earned it, and not at all because they act racist in any way. And the term “racist” has become toxic in the US lately; people lose their jobs after being called racists unfairly. Heck, one could suggest minorities call white folks “racist” in retaliation, knowing there will be social consequences which are completely unearned. So to combat this unfair and, in their view inaccurate, narrative they employ a couple tactics;
1) “I’m not racist, you are for even suggesting it”. Since racism is defacto non-existent, playing the race-card is introducing a factor that doesn’t belong. When a black person calls a white person racist, they are not only lying, but specifically targeting someone based on their race and falsely labeling them something socially toxic with intent to cause harm. And the white person is defacto innocent because they would see anyone as insert accusation here, not just black/brown/gay/muslim/female/handicapped/immigrant people.
2) “Black people don’t know how good they have it”. Classic myopic delusion that assumes the complete lack of racism in the US also means any ongoing hurdles faced by black/brown/gay/women/etc people are their own fault. The fears behind CRT are great examples of the struggle to maintain this delusion, and not have people delve too deeply into history and see how cause/effect resulted in the current socio-economic imbalance. And since there are successes in the black community, that is proof that racism is over. Black folks had a black president, now shut up and stop making waves. There is an attempt to show that any calls of racism are not only unfounded, but examples of success in the black community disprove systemic racism; wouldn’t MLK be proud? And not only proud of the success, but would side with the white folks who are now experiencing reverse-racism as the lazy black folks ask for more. Racism, they think, is simply targeting another race purposefully, and has nothing to do with power imbalance.
3) “I earned my success, so black folks need to earn theirs”. And this is the crux of it all; white folks today don’t believe they are in a position of privilege because they work hard and their success was difficult. Many of them come from poor families, struggled to pay for college, don’t have a family history of slaver ownership. They see any minorities complaining as trying to get privilege unearned. They assume that, because there is no more racism, there is balance and parity among the races. Illegal immigrants are trying to circumvent the law, reparations and affirmative-action programs are unearned handouts, and special months/parades celebrating a particular group/race is promoting racism by giving them special attention they don’t deserve. Many white people see themselves as victims because they don’t receive any overt benefits from being white, meanwhile minorities are showered with unearned benefits all the time. The Great Replacement Theory is constantly being reenforced for them as they watch society take the side of minorities anytime someone attempts to call out this apparent imbalance in their favor.
But underneath all of this is the undeniable knowledge that they are, indeed, racist. Whether it is a jealousy, or a fear of socio-economic parity, or ethnocentricity, they know that society isn’t accepting overt racism anymore. And because of this, they have to hold back, watch what they say, watch how they treat people. “Make America Great Again” was a call to return to a time when casual racism was fun, and didn’t mean anything, and people weren’t so thin-skinned. Being “Woke” is forcing people to take difficult looks at the fact racism still exists, which is uncomfortable and threatens to challenge the current socio-economic stability, so terms like “woke” are being dismantled, misused, redirected into something that seems illegitimate. There is an active, desperate avoidance of acknowledging racism still exists, because admitting otherwise means admitting their world-view is wrong. invoking MLK isn’t done out of malicious intent, but out of desperate denial of a world that doesn’t fit their assumptions. Many, perhaps most, white folks in the US have no consciously ill will towards minorities, and would recoil in distaste at the notion of being considered racist. And they will spend all day explaining why they are perfectly justified in accepting a racist position on a topic and how that doesn’t make them racist because the minorities in question are to blame. Deflection. Denial. Dismissal. And then vote to prevent change.
(Source)
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When 'Star Wars' dilutes the impact of a "Kurosawa samurai standoff"...
It's no secret that one of the major inspirations for Star Wars was Akira Kurosawa movies. The Hidden Fortress influenced the basic structure of the first film, was a basis for Lucas' character archetypes and his use of narrative POVs.
But, really, all of Kurosawa's films were an influence on the making of Star Wars. Including the duels seen in his and other samurai films from the 60s.
Dunno if you've seen a kendo fight, but they're pretty similar.
The duelists size each other up, and there's a lot of mind games going on before the strike actually happens.
If you hold your sword this way, the other guy adjusts his stance.
You move your foot that way, the adversary responds accordingly.
Cinematically, this process allows you to play with a whole treasure trove of elements to build up the drama and suspense. We see this slow-yet-tense approach to dueling reflected all over the Original Trilogy. And we've seen it again in recent Disney-released content.
The perfect and first real example of this in Star Wars is the fight between Ben Kenobi and Maul, in Rebels.
The tension increases more...
... and more until the two fighters move, the music swells...
... and then it reaches its climax.
Beautifully executed.
Dave Filoni's done his homework, it shows, and while it's an awesome homage, narratively it also holds weight. There's a reason why this fight is so quick:
This time, Obi-Wan isn't fighting to avenge the death of his master, he's not fighting to save his own life... he's fighting to protect Luke's. And that means there's no time to fuck about. He'll end the conflict swiftly and decisively, he won't let it come to a prolonged acrobatic fight. So he lures Maul in by making him think he's taking Qui-Gon's form, and strikes true when Maul, increasingly consumed by his own rage to the point of blindness, falls for it.
Again: a wonderful fight and an excellent homage.
Then we get to Luke's stand-off with Kylo on Crait, in The Last Jedi.
An interesting take on the trope, also with meaningful narrative impact. As Rian Johnson writes in the TLJ screenplay:
"This is not like a saber fight. This like an old-fashioned samurai duel."
Here too, the tension gets built up...
... and every time we're close to getting that climax, Luke dodges.
It leaves a feeling of dissatisfaction, which is exactly what Kylo is feeling as he boils with rage.
Suddenly, we do get the climax...
... and a twist. Luke was never actually there. Boom. Those inserts during the build-up phase? If you look at them again they're clues (Luke doesn't leave a mark on the ground, salt doesn't land on his clothes, etc). Luke wasn't engaging because he wasn't actually there, he was buying time for the Resistance to escape.
Okay. Cool.
Next time we see a "Kurosawa" duel... it's here, in The Mandalorian.
Again, a lot of posing, slow movements and patience, as is expected from the trope.
But we know nothing about the opponent Ahsoka is fighting other than her name is Morgan... so no emotional impact, there.
At some point, Ahsoka loses a lightsaber. The apprentice to the Chosen One is struggling against some rando.
We find out later on that Morgan is a Nightsister from Dathomir, and that's cool... but we already know how Jedi-trained folks fare against the Dathomiri.
If you ask me, it feels like manufactured stakes. But that's beside the point. In fact, y'know what? It's fine.
Though the impact of this duel isn't as great as its predecessors, the whole episode is filled with visual homages to Kurosawa's work.
It makes sense that the duel would be too. Also it's the first time we're seeing Ahsoka in live action, in a lightsaber duel, the hype is real. Let's cut 'em some slack.
So we come to the series Ahsoka... where almost every duel in the the show has the Kurosawa posturing and tip-toeing and... I dunno. I was bored?
Like, the primary purpose of this approach to duels is that it's meant to be suspenseful and intense... and now it's not.
Because we know Ahsoka is gonna beat the crap outta these droids...
... so why even bother faking some semblance of "what's her next move gonna be?" suspense? There's a hole right behind her, gee, I truly wonder.
Oh, you think putting her against an Inquisitor's gonna make us fear for her life, wonder if she's gonna get outta this situation unscathed?
She was wiping the floor with two of them at the same time, a decade prior. At 17, she was killing Inquisitors while disarmed.
Do you really expect your audience to fear for her life in a fight against Marrok?
So we get to the fight with Baylan, and the posturing and studying opponent's next move would be welcome here (two Order 66 survivors, knew Anakin, both well-trained former Jedi)...
... if we hadn't literally seen that same dynamic with Marrok who, again, we knew was gonna die.
No tension was built in either moment, the only thing it achieved was me pressing >> on my keyboard.
It's not captivating anymore, it's just slow and un-dynamic.
Bottom line:
Tributes to Kurosawa are nice. They're part of what makes Star Wars what it is. But c'mon, we get it already.
Lightsaber duelists don't need to tiptoe around each other and change poses at every fight. Because when the actually meaningful duels come up (like the one with Baylan), the impact will be lessened.
The "Kurosawa samurai duel" is artistic and interesting, but it should be used sparingly in order to maintain its charm and not get old and trope-y. AKA too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing.
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my tears ricochet
treech x female 7th district reader
warnings: no use of y/n, third-person narrative, angst, headcanons (9th hunger games winner, treech's family), l-bombs, violence, deaths.
summary: she did everything to prevent him from losing her too, eventually losing him herself.
word count: 859
author's note: my first time writing on tumblr, i had a huge wave of inspiration after listening to sad songs and watching edits of treech. english is not my first language, so i apologize for any mistakes. this is a songfic to my tears ricochet by taylor swift. enjoy, loves.
her name was pulled. among hundreds of others. everything around her is in slow motion, she doesn't hear anything, doesn't see her mother's frightened eyes. she only notices treech's hand rising, he is now ready to volunteer, so she wouldn't be taken to the games. she manages to grab him with both hands and whispers, calming herself rather than him.
"it's going to be okay, i'll be fine, treech."
he shakes his head in disbelief. she can't leave him, leave her mom. die.
and she doesn't understand how she can cope. this is not a self-preservation instinct. it's an instinct to save those she cares about.
"listen, aspen is going to be with me. you can't come with me, please, i can't stand it if you die."
"i can't stand it if you die!" he repeats after her. "i can't lose you!" treech breaks down, despite the huge crowd.
burning tears flow down her cheeks, blurring the dirt on her face, and leaving long streaks.
"that's why i'm not going to die," she looks at him, reassuring. "i'm not going to die, treech. please take care of mom," she says when the peacekeepers grab her when they hold on to each other with the last of their strength.
cause I loved you, I swear I loved you
till my dying day
"i love you, okay? forever," their hands separate and soldiers drag the girl to the stage.
"let her go!" treech hisses, trying to fight the soldiers who are holding him tightly from running after her.
the doors close and she hears him scream.
we gather here, we line up,
weepin' in a sunlit room
when the counter counts down the seconds before the games begin, she can't think, there's a white noise in her head. there are no places to hide in the huge arena. here you can only fight and try to survive. she needs to survive because they are waiting for her at home. treech has no one but her. his parents died in a forest fire, as did her father.
and if I'm on fire,
you'll be made of ashes, too
she starts running towards the center with all her strength and grabs an axe, while two tributes attack two more. they die in seconds. she backs away and a guy from district 4 grazes her arm with a sword, trying to pierce it. she turns around and stabs him in the head with an axe.
the games lasted for several hours, the remaining three tributes, including her, are sitting on opposite sides of the arena, exhausted. aspen was killed by a girl from district 9.
and she's just waiting for the attack.
and so the battleships will sink beneath the waves
you had to kill me, but it killed you just the same
this is not a victory, but a simple accident. but it doesn't matter now, because she's going home.
we gather stones, never knowing what they'll mean
some to throw, some to make a diamond ring
they are sitting by a small lake, throwing stones into it, which leaves circles, a month after the hunger games. they devote all their time to each other, and treech is insanely happy that she is with him, that she is alive. she didn't leave him.
"soon I'll earn a lot of money and buy us a house, and we will live there. just the two of us. and then I'll buy you a diamond ring and we'll get married," treech often voiced his thoughts, to which she always laughed and said that they would have to work very hard.
and when you can't sleep at night
(you hear my stolen lullabies)
at night, she was tormented by terrible nightmares that she was back in the arena, she was shaking and nothing could help but funny songs sung to her by her beloved lumberjack in a hat, wrapping her in a warm blanket by his embrace and words about how brave she is.
when his name is pulled at the next reaping, she can't breathe. this just can't be happening. they've been through so much together that they've been torn apart again. she's broken up by games. killed by the reaping. at that carefree time, treech guessed that such an outcome could take place, so he was ready. as much as it was possible.
"you were able to come back to me, and i will do everything to come back to you," he strokes her cheek with one hand, and with the other he puts a ring in her deathly cold ones. "i love you."
the peacekeepers take him away.
she falls to her knees and a frantic scream pierces the entire square.
when the neighbors talk about tributes returning, she joyfully runs to meet treech, confident of his victory. there are two coffins at the square, in one of which lies lamina, and in the other her brave beautiful boy. he didn't come back to her.
you know I didn't want to have to haunt you
but what a ghostly scene
you wear the same jewels that I gave you
as you bury me
#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#tbosas#tbosas x reader#treech x reader#treech tbosas#treech fanfiction
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This person genuinely thinks that Aang would be a better character if he kidnapped a baby?? Or would be more interesting?? Honey, why would he do that. That's not him being boring, that's just him not committing an actual, terrible, crime. Alos it's his show, it's literally called 'Avatar the Last Airbender' of course he's going to get more episodes focusing on him, it's his show???
"Aang being a main character limits him to being a role model'' by brother in Christ, this a Nickelodeon show. Even Zuko is a bit of role model, in the sense of him being a way to teach kids "Just 'cause you're hurting doesn't mean it's okay to be a dick to others. Please apologize if you ever hurt someone."
Also Aang DOES make morally questionable, and downright incorrect, choices that the narrative address. Fleeing when the other airbenders want to send him away, hiding the map to Hakoda from Sokka and Katara, trying to learn firebending before he's ready and then vowing to NEVER use that bending again, trying to trigger the Avatar state, wanting revenge on the sandbenders, shutting off emotionally to not deal with his pain over losing Appa, refusing AND accepting to ignore his love for Katara to fully master the Avatar state, his innitial refusal to continue pretending he is dead to hide from his enemies, the Ember Island kiss, and even his refusal to kill Ozai (before the actual Deus Ex Machina happens).
Aang is challenged all the time. He grows all the time. He is allowed to be wrong all the time. Yall are just mad he was the protagonist instead of your favorite.
And while I agree Sokka didn't have much of an arc, I disagree about Toph never growing even if there were some issues with her storyline. She went from someone who was terrified of accepting help from others as that had always meant "lose all agency" her whole life, to someone that consistently relies on her friends. She went from uncooperative because "she carries her own weight" to being a team player that even offers her friends emotional support. She even makes the first step to reconciliate with her parents.
LOTS of characters had arcs (Iroh, Jet, Mai, Azula, and even King Kuei- that's how stories work. The reason some of these were handled better/given more or less screentime is because Bryke insisted on having only three seasons, even though the show clearly needed a fourth. It had nothing to do with "the problem of having a protagonist" - that's not a problem if you're a competent writer with enough time.
Also, if you see Katara in the FIRST DAMN EPISODE talking about how much she wants to learn waterbending AND how grateful she was to be allowed to be a kid again, yet you're suprised to see her become such a badass whose happy ending is helping end the war and thus be allowed to be a kid again because "she's just Aang's love interest", that says a lot more about YOU than about the show.
Avatar's writting has problems, yes, because no work of fiction is perfect because no writer is perfect. But the overwhelming majority of complaints from some fans come not from acknowledging those flaws, but from a complete inability to understand some REALLY basic storytelling stuff that the show handled with excellence.
That's what happens when you're too focused on what you want to see to actually look at the story playing out in front of you: you miss incredibly obvious things that the writers made as easy to follow as possible since the show is aimed at 7-year-olds.
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The thing about the hand loss and how people attach things behind it like “it was as a result of Jaime’s arrogance,” or “he lost it because he saved Brienne from rape,” is that neither is true to what actually happens in the text. Those actions still hold meaning, sure, but the chop itself is also independent to it all (the maiming is symbolically karmic in a lot of ways as it is tied to his greatest sins, but that is not what i am talking about). The capture itself is different, but the right hand and his fate was doomed the moment he landed in Hoat’s hands for reasons out of his control. What is so good about it is that the hand chop is not really about Jaime as a human being (which makes it causing one of the biggest existential crises in the series all the more interesting), and more about Jaime as a token. Ironically, his status and relationship to his father is what ends up dehumanizing him entirely. There are so many things going on outside of Jaime. He is an integral political piece, every side is scrambling for him for different reasons, and he is fully treated as such in the Riverlands.
Hoat had his own motivation, that is much bigger than Jaime, due to his previous betrayal of Tywin, which turned into a death sentence following the results of Blackwater. As Roose implies throughout the dinner conversation, Jaime’s hand chop was, above all else, the result of Tywin and the ruthless foundation of much of his authority (the Reynes and Tarbecks are brought up again). And what I like about it, other than the emphasis on the players constantly making moves solely for their own benefit in war while everyone else suffers the consequences, is that it does address and criticize the Lannister method a whole lot. The hand chop almost feels less karmic for Jaime himself than it does for Tywin. It is another reason that I find the perspective that these books were heralding this kind of sociopathic ruthlessness as competent and uber effective while completely condemning the relatively more “moral” Starks so funny. Like without even getting into where we are headed in the aftermath of the WoT5K, the holes within the “Tywin method” are already being explored. And the results are creeping towards Tywin himself, invading his family, because it is his very heir that suffers directly from it. The more we move along in the story the more the distance lessens between him and his putrid actions to cement his authority and power. “I’ve lost a hand, a father, a son, a sister, and a lover, and soon enough I will lose a brother. And yet they keep telling me House Lannister won this war.” is a Tywin/House Lannister thesis when it comes to the events of ASoS. For a start, he is the one who brought in the Bloody Mummers. The cruelty he unleashes on the smallfolk ends up coming back to him directly through his heir being the one experiencing it full force. There is the layer of loyalty vs utilizing sellswords, which is one way the conflicting sides in the war foil each other, and it is a root cause of the betrayal to begin with. If you use these men, you can end up suffering the consequences yourself, loyalty can only be bought if you remain the highest bidder. Relying on greed is fragile. Then, the part that Jaime is repeatedly faced with throughout his narrative: fear ≠ trust.
Hoat is smart enough to realize by now that his betrayal will not be pardoned by Tywin. Jaime’s offer means nothing in terms of his safety. He is aware of his low status and the meaning of his action to Tywin. That is what truly dooms Jaime and his hand. Hoat needed that token, and he needed to secure a path for himself (without losing his token along the way to Roose) to the Karstarks. He made sure that he brought Roose down with him, and put him in a difficult situation. Sure, Jaime’s skill itself is a huge threat and liability, but that is not the primary motivator. It is his sole ticket to safety from Tywin’s ruthlessness.
Then the goat gets outsmarted by Roose, and Jaime catches on to that part, so Hoat does take the L ultimately I fear, but these layers remain and it adds a lot. I also like how in ASoS, Jaime’s status is constantly fluctuating between dooming him and saving him. It often depends on how clever he is being in the moment.
#i do not do this type of analysis that much but i do like that dinner convo a whole lot#and it does certainly get overshadowed by the fact that it happens after the bath confession#valyrianscrolls#jaime lannister#roose bolton#tywin lannister#and then j becomes another ticket for roose instead 😭#honestly being tywin’s heir and what it puts jaime through is incredibly funny considering the aerys hostage situation and all this#also love love how roose is playing w his words#like his sentences are layered and carefully chosen#and all so deliberate#he is still in the process of calculating
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Shadow and Bone season 2 is a string of scenes that might be intriguing as one shots of a fanfic, or might be direct adaptations of single scenes, but the surrounding context either does not support the scenes at best and absolutely ruins the scenes at worst.
If the show is viewed in gifsets of the conversations, a casual viewer might get excited. There are direct lines from the books! There are scenes from the books! There are lovely little shipping moments. But if you actually watch these things in order, adding in the absolutely garbage pacing of the show and you realize that most of these moments are just forced into the narrative for reasons of hollow fan service, they kind of lose their meaning.
There are lots of classic Darklina lines from the books, for instance. But all of the emotional complexity is gone.
There are lots of Kanej moments, but they’re from Crooked Kingdom, which means they are happening WAY too early.
There are lots of Wesper moments, which are of course adorable, but it means there’s very little direction for their dynamic to go in the spinoff and will probably involve creating shallow conflict for the sake of drama
There are Helnik moments, but Matthias really has NO reason to be in the show at all.
There are lots of Malina moments, but the pacing of their relationship is such that it feels like an after thought at best and forced at worst. Like the writers suddenly remembered: ‘oh right, they’re supposed to kiss...ah, well, lets just throw that into the first episode, that’s a normal time to have a romantic relationship begin’.
Kaz’s confrontation with Pekka Rollins is great until you realize that his main emotional arc has already been explored and nearly resolved before the Crows spinoff. Inej’s emotional arc is removed completely as not only she is robbed of a confrontation with Tante Heleen, but also doesn’t seem to have any aversion to romantic touch. Her trauma is just...completely deleted.
Jesper is a grisha! And he has already accepted and embraced it in this show, so he can’t have that arc in the spinoff.
Matthias, Nina and Wylan still have lots of stuff left, but you’ve basically spedrun the arcs of half the Crows.
And while the Crows have some good moments but in the wrong place, the actual shadow and bone characters are absolutely decimated. Alina is given ‘girl boss anger’ because the writers think that means agency. Mal has practically nothing to do accept die. The Darkling has all pathos and care for saving/protecting Grisha removed in favor of making him a one-dimensional evil guy so that the characters can be justified in fighting him. Zoya has no purpose at all and could be removed from the story.
Nikolai might come off the best writing wise but even he is given the character inconsistency of working with the Crows to justify their actions in the previous season.
There are a lot of things to talk about in how bad this season is. But ultimately, its that the whole is SO much less than the sum of its parts. The cast is incredible and they make a lot of terrible lines work as well as they can. But add it all together and you get a terrible mess.
#shadow and bone#shadow and bone season 2#anti shadow and bone#anti s&b#s&b season 2#s&b spoilers#shadow and bone spoilers
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Yes at like 1AM last night I DID start thinking about Dean as the narrative heart of Supernatural, particularly (this time) in 3.10 "Dream A Little Dream Of Me", where Dean saves Bobby's life by expressing how much Bobby means to him.
We see that Dean feels a special connection to Bobby that we don't get an indication Sam feels as deeply yet (or maybe Sam does, but he can't bring himself to express that, which makes sense in the season 3-4 context). There's the overt expression of love for Bobby—Dean begging Bobby to wake up, telling him that Bobby is like a father to him and he can't lose him. There's the parallel—the way they both make the same mistake—drinking beers the bad guy offers them. There's Dean being listed as Bobby's emergency contact.
However, we also see a lot of Dean and Bobby's connection in the silence or in visual form only.
I mean, first of all, Dean's little lip tremble right after saying, "You're like a father to me" drives me wild.
But what REALLY gets me is this little moment where Dean is sitting alone at Bobby's bedside just as Sam comes back from research.
And how, after Bobby wakes up, they don't talk about Dean saying he sees Bobby as his dad, but there's something about the way Dean looks—uncertain—vulnerable—the way he has trouble looking Bobby in the eye when Bobby starts thanking him—how maybe he isn't sure if Bobby is okay with what he said.
Bobby doesn't address it directly of course—that's not how Bobby likes to express his care. Bobby generally tells people he cares about them by being there for them—helping them... words don't usually come unless he's mad hsbdfjsbhdfhdbhfj. But he looks at Dean straight on and narrows his eyes at him and I'm obsessed with it. "There's nothing for you to be worried or uncertain about."
And then I snicker when Sam, who has not been a part of this episode's father/son developments with Bobby, walks in like "???????"
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I swear Rhaelyas will cling to their delusions with bloody fingers nails if they can could. Ned Stark doesn't think anything bad about Rhaegar. Like dude, the grand sweeping statement was Rhaegar wasn't the type to go to brothels and then comparing the child prostitute who was asking Ned to tell the king how wonderful their baby is to the memory of Lyanna. And who else doesn't Ned think a lot about? AERYS. Almost like Ned as Trauma and doesn't like to think about it.
Extremely delusional - it serves the narrative for Ned Stark to not think on Rhaegar Targaryen and we are told he actively suppresses him from his mind.
Suddenly, uncomfortably, he found himself recalling Rhaegar Targaryen. Fifteen years dead, yet Robert hates him as much as ever.
For the first time in years, he found himself remembering Rhaegar Targaryen. He wondered if Rhaegar had frequented brothels; somehow he thought not.
Ned Stark has trauma. Absurd amounts of trauma after he loses his entire family and he suppresses and avoids.
Ned Stark doesn’t spend time lavishing on thoughts of torturing those who are dead. Ned Stark has absurd amounts of grace for those who have wronged him. Ned Stark is compassionate to those he deems innocent.
Ned Stark doesn’t think much on Aerys Targaryen except to describe him as a Mad King? The man who burned his father and brother alive? Not just that but actively emotionally tortured them before their death? Logically wouldn’t he want vengeance on Daenerys Targaryen for what her father did to his beloved father and brother?
He doesn’t because unlike most characters in ASOIAF Ned Stark is satisfied with those he went to war against having died. He doesn’t sit around wishing them ill because that’s simply not his character.
Despite what Aerys did to House Stark Ned speaks in defense of Daenerys Targaryen.
This time, Ned resolved to keep his temper. “Your Grace, the girl is scarcely more than a child. You are no Tywin Lannister, to slaughter innocents.
When Robert retorts something along the lines of what do Targaryens know about honor? Why not ask Lyanna?
Ned responds by first stating Lyanna was avenged
“You avenged Lyanna at the Trident,” Ned said, halting beside the king. Promise me, Ned, she had whispered.
Ned doesn’t actively ever disagree with Robert. He instead sits somewhere in neutrality not praising but not hating.
Perhaps because he is traumatized. Haunted by his sister’s dying wish that we presume was to protect her son. The son of Rhaegar Targaryen. If Robert is right and Targaryens have no honor what does that mean for Jon Snow? For his beloved nephew, for his sister’s son? Her dying wish? Ned loves Robert and knows he’s wrong in this. They can’t all have been bad. Surely Jon is innocent regardless of his father? Surely if Lyanna went willingly he wasn’t all bad?
This is of course disregarding sections of the text that people love to ignore such when he at one point even compares Rhaegar Targaryen to Tywin Lannister romanticizing Robert avenging himself on them.
If he could prove that the Lannisters were behind the attack on Bran, prove that they had murdered Jon Arryn, this man would listen. Then Cersei would fall, and the Kingslayer with her, and if Lord Tywin dared to rouse the west, Robert would smash him as he had smashed Rhaegar Targaryen on the Trident. He could see it all so clearly.
Ned Stark isn’t a clear cut character he’s nuanced and a key point that people ignore in using him to defend Rhaegar is that once again it has nothing to do with Rhaegar and everything to do with Jon Snow & Lyanna. Ned has spent years raising the son of Rhaegar with all the trauma that comes with it and he loves him because of Lyanna. He refuses to think on Rhaegar and when he does what does it serve to speak horribly about the father of his nephew? The boy who is a Targaryen like it or not. The boy whose life he vowed to protect (at least that’s my interpretation).
No Ned makes it clear that when he and Robert rose in rebellion it was just. However it was unjust to blame the likes of Daenerys, Viserys, Rhaenys, Aegon, or Jon Snow for the crimes of their fathers. They are innocent.
Ned never extends that level of innocence to Rhaegar or Aerys - he doesn’t think on what happened to them as unjust - and I think that speaks volumes.
When Ned is horrified at the level of hatred Robert has towards the Targaryens he isn’t horrified on behalf of Rhaegar. He’s horrified on behalf of the innocents like Jon, like brutalized Rhaenys & Aegon.
Ultimately Ned didn’t know Rhaegar and refuses to think of him and when he does what does he have to say? Between remembering the by all reports fine young prince who perhaps in some lights looks like Jon and surely doesn’t visit brothels- does Jon?….. He wondered if Rhaegar had frequented brothels; somehow he thought not.…And the man he remembers fondly as having his chest caved him by his best friend. and if Lord Tywin dared to rouse the west, Robert would smash him as he had smashed Rhaegar Targaryen on the Trident. He could see it all so clearly…
Ultimately, I’m of the belief that Lyanna Stark went willingly at first and later realized the gravity of her mistake, seeing as Ned Stark had to fight to the death the guards left by Rhaegar so he could be by her side before she died alone.
In the end she wanted to come home and have her son safe. Ned Stark accomplished that for her and her alone.
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One Kiss - Nick Bosa Part 4
Contains 18+ content ahead
Natalie sat in her chair, staring blankly down at the floor where the puddle had now soaked into the carpeting.
Her face was a mess. She just knew it from the dampness of her cheeks. Any makeup she applied lightly today was likely ruined now, yet she couldn’t find it in herself at the moment to really care.
The deep pain in her heart was suffocating.
She wanted so badly to be out of this situation with Mark and be done with him. Yet, she knew that by the way he acted just a bit ago that it wasn’t going to be easy.
He had his moments over the years of being rude and mean, maybe not as cruel as he showed today, but he had a temper. Normally it was never directed at her, but at others - especially when he wasn’t in control of a situation.
That’s what he was losing now. Control of her, of their relationship, and soon the reliability of financial support she provided him all of these years.
It was ending and even if they weren’t addressing it right now explicitly, they both knew it.
Natalie was done with him.
As her phone rang on the desk in front of her and broke her out of her daze, she saw that it was Nick attempting to Facetime her.
She rejected the call and texted him to give her a moment.
He didn’t and immediately called again, this time a regular call.
She sighed quietly and picked up the phone to accept the call. “Hey.. sorry I’m not feeling up to a Facetime right now.”
“What’s going on Natalie?” He asked with concern, already picking up on her change in demeanor through her tone.
She was quiet for a few moments, breathing in a shaken breath and trying her best to not cry again. She was overwhelmed and stressed.
“Natalie?” Nick called her name urgently through the phone. “Listen, I’m coming over there now to pick you up.”
“What? No! Nick, you can’t show up here while I’m working! You have no affiliation with the company or me as far as anyone knows. Do you know how bad people will talk?” She spat out.
“Well, then what the fuck is going on Natalie? I’m fucking worried here. You have obviously been crying and you’re upset. What did that fucking piece of shit say to you? Did he touch you? Hurt you? I swear to god I’ll kill him.” Nick said darkly, his voice raising with each question.
“No, no. He didn’t touch me or cause any physical harm.” She insisted.
“But he said something or did something that upset you.”
“He was just being a dickhead, trying to sweeten me up and was digging around in my business.. Then when I told him to leave after implying I knew about his infidelity and the rumor about his mistress.. He lost his temper… He swiped the vase of flowers you bought me off my desk and they shattered everywhere..” Her breath hitched as she finished rushing the words out. She was about to cry again.
Nick said nothing as he heard her begin to cry softly once more.
“He’s so fucking awful. I’ve seen him this way with others.. But normally not like this with me. We rarely fought because I normally gave in and shut up to avoid conflict..” She spoke listlessly, staring blankly at the wedding ring on her hand.
In that moment she decided that she would never wear the goddamn ring again. Or the engagement ring from this point out.
“Natalie, can you take the rest of the day off?” Nick asked her calmly.
She was silent as she pondered the idea. She still had stuff to deal with at the office, but she was exhausted and she had a lot of unused sick time she could tap into.
Looking at the mess on the floor, she sighed. She’d have to clean that up herself. There was no way in hell she was going to get the day time maintenance crew to do it, or ask the department secretary to call for her.
As much as she got along with most people in her department, and the various other departments, the gossip culture here was insane. She wasn’t interested in being part of the latest narrative being spun around.
“Yeah, I can.”
“Good. When you leave, head over to your place to pack a bag for a few days. You’re coming over to stay with me for a bit until you see your divorce lawyer. This shit? It’s done, Nat.” He sighed through the phone. “I know you don’t want me involved in this to keep it as stress free as possible, but if he’s showing signs of violence, I’m not about to have you in your apartment with him while he still has access to the place. That’s a big fucking no.”
She was silent again as she processed what he just said. “What if he tries to contact me?”
“Tell him you are staying with a friend and you are not interested in seeing or talking to him right now. Let your supervisor and the building security at your work know he has no clearance to be visiting you and that you don’t want him on the premises. You don’t have to give a reason beyond a current safety concern.” He rationalized calmly.
Natalie felt silly at that moment. She worked in HR herself, and yet she was here depending on Nick to help her make an action plan and solve her problems. ‘You’re too old to be depending on someone else to help fix this shit.’ She thought bitterly.
“Natalie.. Stop.” Nick sighed through the phone. “I can practically hear the gears in your head shifting on my end. I know you don’t want me involved in all of this.. Ok? I know, but I am now and I’m not staying out of it when it comes down to your safety. I don’t care if this is a once or twice thing that he’s shown physical aggression towards you. The fact that he felt comfortable enough to slip up and show that side to you is reason enough for me to keep you safe from him.”
She knew he was right. Something felt off with Mark. There was a malicious vibe that he was giving off when she attempted to set her boundary with him firmly. His mask had slipped and she saw something ugly under the surface staring back at her before he destroyed her gift.
“Ok.. ok.” She said, breathing a few times to calm herself. “I’m going to let my supervisor know that I’m taking the rest of the day today and tomorrow off due to a stomach bug.. He shouldn’t say anything against that.. I’ll call you when I get to my apartment and get my stuff packed, ok?”
“Ok, and Natalie?”
“Yeah, Nick?”
“I love you. It’s going to be ok. You’re going to be ok. We’re going to be ok. Once this is done and over with, he’ll never be able to bother you again. I swear on it.” Nick said firmly.
And the double meaning to that last part wasn’t lost on Natalie.. Mark would either leave her alone as the law ordered him to in the end.. Or he would be forced to one way or another by other parties..
“I love you too.” She said back, smiling slightly at the sound of his chuckle. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, nothing.” He insisted, sounding happy and relaxed again. “It’s just.. When you say it back to me, it makes me happy. That’s all.”
She felt her cheeks flush and her own grin take over. “Well, you make me happy and give me butterflies too when you say you ‘love me’.”
“Yeah I tend to have that effect on people.” He brags jokingly, before saying, “But only you have that effect on me, babe.”
The call ended and she sat back with a loud sigh. It was time to start handling this shit now before it got worse.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Natalie was beyond happy when her supervisor suggested she take the next week off to get her affairs in order. It was an extremely difficult conversation to have, but one that needed to be addressed. Her cheeks were still flushed red with embarrassment over how she had broken down crying while spilling her situation to her boss.
Fred Matthews was a kind man and one too good for the cut throat business they worked for. Often someone who reminded her of her own father, she was relieved when he offered her sympathy for her situation and assured her, “Natalie, you have my word that Mark Collins will not ever be allowed to step on company grounds again. We’ll update security for the building to have him on the ban list. And this situation? We’ll be sure that no one takes part in gossiping about it. If you hear anything indicating so, please let me know and we’ll take action. Domestic violence is not a joke.” His eyes were burning with anger as he spoke to her calmly.
They set up a game plan which gave her a week of work while he excused her for a family emergency. During that time, she would have the opportunities to change the locks on the apartment, update her apartment’s building security on not allowing Mark on the premises, file a PFA, and meet with her divorce lawyer.
Nick was anxious about the whole situation as well. As soon as she got out of her meeting and packed her office away, he was calling to see if she was ok.
He called again sometime after she spoke with her building manager, got the locks changed on her apartment, and updated building security.
She felt bad over how worried he was about the situation. “Nick, baby. I am finishing up packing my last bag now. I’ll be there in 30 minutes.”
“I know.. I’m sorry. I have been going crazy waiting here for you. I keep waiting for you to call and something bad happening again.. Are you sure you don’t want me to come over and help you finish packing?” He pleaded.
“Nick.. I can’t allow that. I am almost done, ok? 30 minutes.” She sighed.
He was silent on the other end and she worried for a moment that he hung up. “Ok.. Just.. Nat, know that you don’t have to do this alone. I know you worry about what others will think about you or say, but honestly? Who gives a fuck? Your marriage is over and you’ve been all but legally single for months. You know that and your lawyer will argue that too in court when they bring forward how he was the one to not only break his vows to you, but also was stealing money from accounts that he did not have his name on or access to. You don’t have to walk alone and I am not letting you do that anymore.”
She nodded and wiped her eyes that were beginning to tear up while he spoke. She knew he was right, but she just wanted to divorce quietly and not attract additional attention - much less from media given who Nick was and did as a professional. An NFL player having an affair with a married woman over 12 years his senior? Yeah that would make a great news story.
She knew if they made it long term, they’d go public and her age would be picked at, but being labeled an adulteress was not something she was keen on - especially by people who didn’t know the circumstances for why she and Nick grew close and started the affair.
“You’re right. I’m sorry I’m making you feel like your support isn’t needed. It is. You’ve done so much for me, Nick.. so much. And I’m thankful you’re in my life and came when you did. Thank you.” She said tearfully.
“You’re welcome, Nat. Anything for you.” He said back. “I’m holding you up on finishing up. I’ll let you go and I’ll see you soon. I have burrito bowls made up for dinner tonight. Hope that’s ok.”
“Absolutely,” She said cheerfully. “You know I love Mexican food. I love you and I’ll see you soon, ok?”
“I love you too. Drive safe and call if you need anything.” He insisted.
After the call ended, she quickly finished packing up. Just as she was getting ready to carry both duffle bags and her backpack out of the bedroom, she stopped for a moment and slid both her wedding ring and engagement ring off her finger. Looking down at them, for a moment, she contemplated just how freeing it would be to no longer be Natalie Collins. Soon, she would be Natalie Romaine once more.
“I won’t miss you.” She mumbled to the set and dropped them into the jewelry box on her dresser.
Heaving her bags up in both hands, she exited the room, gently kicking the door shut after her.
After she closed the apartment door and made sure to lock it securely, she sighed once more. Staring at apartment 113 made her think back to the first time she ever bought this place, newly wedded and in her 20s. She dreamed of hosting dinners here with colleagues she would meet and befriend. Maybe the spare room they used initially for home office work would someday be converted into a nursery. She had so many dreams and so many plans.
Looking at the same door now, she felt nothing but melancholy. This place brought her pain. Many nights alone and crying. Coming home to an absent husband and eating dinner on her own, the silence being her only companion. Dinners left in the microwave that went uneaten. Bottles of wine consumed on the couch as she cried to her friends about Mark. And Mark and her arguing about his absences and rumored infidelity.
The only good thing that came from that apartment in the last few years was her drunkenly messaging Nick in her bathroom.
Funny enough that was the changing point to everything and more.
She knew she’d be back here in about a week or so to get more belongings and get her mail. However, she wasn’t keen on the aftermath of Mark’s freakout when he realized that she cut him off from access to not only her apartment, but all of her financial accounts that weren’t joint accounts. She was going to leave him to drown in his mistakes. Her sympathy for him was non-existent.
After making her way down to the parking garage and loading up her stuff, Natalie got into her car and headed out to Nick’s place.
Things had a funny way of moving both fast and slow at the same time. Mark’s freakout in her office was only mere hours ago, but it felt like days to her. Her decision to divorce was only a few weeks ago, but it felt yesterday.
Time was a social construct after all, and it left Natalie disoriented with the actual time passed between events in her life.
She knew, however, that no matter how disorienting time and reality was for her currently, Nick was the one thing to anchor her to reality. She decided then, that going forward, she’d make sure he knew that his presence was appreciated and wanted.
If not for him, she would have never made the move to end her marriage.
Love was strange.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nick was waiting for her in the parking garage at his apartment complex. She called him just as she pulled in the parking garage.
She was surprised with how quickly he made it down to her just as she pulled her car in next to his Tesla.
She turned the car off and was unbuckling her seatbelt when Nick opened her car door for her and pulled her into a hug as soon as she got out.
She happily sighed as she snuggled deeper into his embrace. She felt warm, safe, and loved. In his arms she felt like she was home.
He buried his head into her neck, breathing in the scent of her perfume and pressing a kiss against her pulse. He pulled back just enough to press a kiss to her lips, groaning slightly when she nipped his lip playfully. He opened his mouth and squeezed her ass playfully as her tongue slipped in to play with his.
After a few moments, they separated, both gasping slightly and grinning at each other.
“Man, it’s only been two days since I got to touch you and it feels like it’s been an eternity.” He complained. “I kept checking the time on my phone and double-checking my messages and calls to make sure I didn’t miss any calls from you.” He admitted with a sheepish smile on his face.
“Awww. My bear was feeling needy.” Natalie cooed, playfully poking his cheek.
Nick pretended to bite her finger and instead captured her hand, pressing a kiss to the top of it and staring at her lovingly. “I was. I hate being away from you for more than a day.”
“I missed you too.” She bit her lip. “I am happy that I’m finally here now though. In fact,” She gestured behind herself, “wanna help me get this stuff upstairs and we can eat? I’m starving.”
Nick nodded and moved to the trunk of her car. “Pop it and let’s go.”
She popped the trunk and moved to help Nick, pouting when he gently swatted her hands from the bags. “I can carry one, Nick.”
“Nah it’s fine. I got the duffle bags. You can carry the backpack and purse.” He insisted.
“Ok.” She backed off on that, knowing Nick was definitely not letting her lift anything above 5 lbs at this point. And honestly? Compared to her, those duffle bags probably felt light as a feather to him. Why throw her back out when he had no problem lifting them?
In the elevator, Natalie turned to stand in front of Nick and wrapped her arms around his waist, she nuzzled her head into his chest, stopping to press her ear against the left side of his chest, listening to the soothing sound of his heart beat.
Nick said nothing and allowed her to do so.
When the elevator dinged and the doors opened to his floor, he looked down at Natalie with a smile. “You’re home, Nat.”
She smiled back at him and they headed for the apartment’s front door.
After making it inside, Nick gently sat her bags down and took the backpack from her as she shrugged it off.
“I hope I didn’t overpack.” She joked as she sat her purse down on the coffee table. “I put so much stuff in them.”
“Well,” Nick stretched his arms outward, “You could bring all your stuff here if you wanted. If anything, you probably won’t be wearing half of your pajamas anyways. You know that.” He shot a cheeky grin her way.
Natalie shoved him playfully as she made her way into the kitchen, him following after her, no doubt eyeing up her ass in the leggings she was wearing. “You have a one track mind.”
She knew what he meant though. The nights she spent over usually ended with them sleeping naked or next to practically nothing. Nick was a skin contact person and loved to have Natalie’s nude form pressed into him.
She never slept that way before and was extremely shy the first time it happened, but over the last couple of months she had grown accustomed to it.
Nick had wandering hands a lot too. They would be laying in bed, completely spent after lovemaking and she’d feel his hands smooth up and down the slope of her back and lower body.
When they laid snuggled together, his hand would trace circles on her hips or knead gently into her stomach area. He’d plant kisses on her shoulder and neck and nuzzle into her.
She realized that his love language was touch. They didn’t always have to verbally communicate what the other needed.
One evening, when she stayed over, she spent time on her computer responding to emails she missed the day prior.
Nick, who was watching game film on the other side of the couch from her, had gotten up without a word and came back with a cup of hot chocolate made for her.
After pressing a kiss to her head, he went behind her and gently kneaded her shoulders.
Back to the present, he was warming up the burrito bowls his professional chef had made for them. Knowing Natalie would be staying with him for a while (or indefinitely if he could get her to seriously consider it), he went ahead and asked his chef to start doubling the prep amount.
Natalie was snacking on a bag of tortilla chips near the island counter. She went ahead and poured herself a glass of red wine and was sipping on it as she absentmindedly watched Nick finish warming up the food.
Between bites, they chatted about how Nick’s practice was today. At one point, he lamented about one particular reporter, Grant Cohn, and how much of a pain in the ass he was every time he was there with the press.
“He baited Kinlaw into an argument and then tried to use it to escalate shit further. I don’t understand how this man still has a press pass. It doesn’t help either that he’s constantly trying to egg on players with his articles, video titles, and tweets. The man is just looking to get his ass kicked so he can sue. He’s a weasel.” Nick grumbled.
“Did your coach push to get his pass revoked? Surely there’s some type of repercussion for this guy?” Natalie wondered.
“I don’t know. I know Shanahan was pissed about the whole thing. He was mad about how Grant Cohn hides behind his daddy any time shit hits the fan.. And he was mad as hell at Kinlaw for engaging with Cohn. None of us like Cohn. For a guy who’s supposed to be a Faithful, almost all of his content is just him shitting on us left and right.”
“I don’t follow sports journalism much.” Natalie started to say, stopping to ponder for a moment, “They use a lot of yellow journalism tactics similar to political media journalists and gossip/mainstream entertainment journalists.”
“Yellow journalism?” Nick wondered aloud. “What makes something yellow journalism?”
“Didn’t you study communications in college?” Natalie teased.
He chuckled at that, “Yeah well I was a good student, just doing enough of my school work to keep good grades and my place on the team. Beyond that, I didn’t really delve too much in my studies. I kind of regret that now. In a couple years I’d like to go back and finish my degree with Ohio State.”
“I get it,” She said, taking a sip of wine, “Yellow journalism is when journalists engage in exaggerated or false content without actual evidence or citation. Meaning, they can spread gossip and allege an anonymous source, but there is really nothing concrete to prove their claims are true.”
“Like fake news?” Nick asked.
“Yep.” She said, “Exactly that. Yellow journalism is lazy journalism. It’s a shame too because there are amazing journalists out there that do a lot of work for their communities and sometimes even sacrifice their safety and career security to publish pieces. Not all journalists partake in yellow journalism, but it’s enough that the opinion on the profession has gone to shit by the general public.”
“You know a lot about this.” Nick raised his brow in interest, listening to her explain things.
“My dad was a local journalist.” Natalie smiled sadly. “He wrote an expose that caused a shit storm back home. I was a kid growing up, but I remember us having to leave our house due to the media wanting to interview him. He spoke with many victims that were former patients of a nearby state-run mental hospital. Many of those victims or their families spoke to him over a series of a few years in which he gathered and published a damning story about the various forms of abuse that were going on there and being left undocumented, and how the administration were committing health insurance fraud.” She stared absentmindedly at the glass.
“Wow.” Nick said, impressed by what he was hearing, “Your dad sounded like a great man, Nat.”
She smiled sadly at him. “He was. I miss him everyday.”
Nick reached his hand over and grabbed hers gently. He gave it a comforting squeeze and said, “I’m sure your dad would be super proud of who you’ve become. I can’t imagine how anyone wouldn’t be.”
Natalie smiled back at him and lifted his hand up, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of it. “Thank you, baby.”
“Anytime.” He smiled.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At some point they had made it into the shower.
Nick wasted no time in pressing Natalie up against the shower well, lifting her to wrap her legs around his waist. He moaned loudly as he pressed his lips roughly to hers, prodding her lips to open up so he could dive inside.
Natalie gave him entry, her hands making their way up, around his neck, and into his hair, tugging at the brown tuft at the top of his head.
“Fuck.” Nick gasped as he pulled away from her momentarily. He eyed her up for another moment or two before moving to press his face into her neck. He sucked a few hickies on her collar bone area, knowing they had to be in places she could hide a little easier.
He adjusted her position so he could grind his hardened erection into her core. The spray of water against his back, couple with the steam of the shower and Natalie’s panting felt like a warm fever dream that he didn’t want to come out of.
“Please.” She begged. “Please fuck me.”
“You want it?” He teased her, “How bad.”
“So bad.” She pleaded. “Please, please Nick.”
Nick pretended to think for a moment before grinning devilishly at her and bring his one arm in front of him, his other supporting Natalie’s weight.
He grabbed his cock and tapped it on her pussy a few times, listening to her breath hitch when he did so. Lining up at her entrance, he pressed himself in and immediately moaned at the sensation. “Fuck,” He grunted as he continued to thrust into her, finally buried as much as he could be in this position. “God, you’re so fucking tight.” He rolled his eyes upwards in pleasure when he felt her squeeze around him tightly.
Natalie was no better, her head was thrown back, mouth agape, as she was gasping at the amazing sensation of being so full.
Nick was above average in size. Even fully clothed you could tell he was packing down there.
No matter how many times they fucked, it felt like the first time all over again. He was big all over and it took a few moments to adjust to the sheer size of his cock entering her.
As he started to thrust shallowly, Nick kept his eyes glued to Natalie’s face. “Baby, look at me. Let me see those pretty eyes.”
Natalie did as he demanded and stared at him with hooded eyes, “Hmm?”
Nick bit his lip and smirked for a moment as he picked up intensity and momentum, his free hand moving to rub her clit. “If only you could see yourself right now.” He taunted. “So drunk off my cock. You love it don’t you?”
“Mhm.” She nodded, unable to articulate words in that moment.
“I love this pussy so much,” Nick gasped. “Your tight, pretty pussy. So soft and so sweet. It’s my pussy, right?”
“Mhm.” She hiccuped.
“Tell me, Nat. Whose pussy is this?” He suddenly jerked his hips forward with one particularly rough thrust.
“Yours!” She cried out.
“That’s right, baby.” He grunted.
Suddenly he stopped thrusting and lowered Natalie onto her wobbly legs, being careful to support her as she stared at him in confusion. “Why did you stop?” Her legs were shaking from how electrified her body felt. She was horny and wanted to finish getting fucked.
Nick pressed a kiss onto her lips, reaching his hand out to pinch one of her nipples as he did so. He pulled back and gave her a commanding look. “Turn around.”
Natalie blinked but did so. “Nick?”
He adjusted her stance and lined himself back.
She knew right then and there what he wanted to do. “Please.”
Nick pushed in and got to work. His thrusts were hard and rough, just the way he knew Natalie liked him being.
He was in awe as he stared at her form from behind. His hands were holding her waist as he pounded her, watching the way her ass shook with each thrust, the dimples in her back more pronounced as she arched his into each thrust, hungry for me. She had her head thrown back with her light brown hair tossed over one side of her shoulder, its soaked strands sticking to her skin as she pressed her chest into the cool tile in front of her.
Nick was mesmerized at the sight of his cock thrusting in and out of her with the shaking of her ass in tandem.
His hand let go of her waist and he smoothed his hand over her right ass cheek, careful in lining his hand up just right. He wanted it to sting the way she liked it, but he didn’t want to hurt her.
She knew what was about to come and moaned louder as her hand reached down to rub her clit. Had they not been in the shower and soaked from the water, she was certain her wetness would have dampened her thighs with how turned on she was.
Without warning, Nick’s hand clapped down on her ass cheek, making her cry out loudly. He did it three more times, stopping to rub the reddened skin each time.
“Fuck..” Natalie moaned.
“You like that?” Nick egged her on.
“Yesss.” She whined. “Pound me, baby. Please, please, please. I want it so fucking bad.”
That was all Nick needed to hear.
He picked up his pace, pounding into Natalie from behind as his hands gripped her hips tightly.
He was balls deep in her, head thrown back when he felt her suddenly squeeze around him tightly as she tensed up.
He continued to throw rough thrusts forward into her, letting her ride out her orgasm as he felt the familiar tell-tale signs of his own orgasm building.
“Fuck..” Natalie whined at the aftermath of her orgasm, feeling super sensitive as Nick kept thrusting into her, it was so intense. “Cum for me, baby.” She pleaded. “Give it to me.”
“You want it inside?” He checked with her, his words coming out winded as his thrusts started to falter with the stutter of his hips.
“Hmm.” She moaned, her head turned to look back at him with pleading eyes. She bit her lip and nodded. “Feel me up. Give it to me, baby.”
Nick moaned loudly at that and felt the familiar band of pleasure snap, his vision going white for a few seconds as he pressed himself tightly into Natalie, feeling his cum shooting streams into her. His hips reflexively thrusting through it.
After a few moments, he leaned forward and pressed his head into the crook of her shoulder. He pressed a few kisses there, panting against her neck. He stood back up carefully, and pulled his spent cock free from Natalie’s warm heat. He hissed at the sensation, but quickly turned his attention to the cum slowly dripping out of Natalie’s opening.
He reached forward, scooping some of it up and pressing his fingers into her, in a way to shovel it back in.
“Hmm.. what are you doing?” She giggled, her hips wiggling at the sensation.
“Didn’t want any of my guys to go to waste.” Nick answered back, faking seriousness before breaking into a silly grin.
“Your guys?” She asked him, shooting him a look over her shoulder.
“My swimmers.”
“Nick, you know I’m on birth control, right?” Natalie asked seriously.
“I know. Doesn’t mean a man can’t dream.” He answered her seriously, staring directly at her as he said it.
“You want kids with me?” She asked in surprise, turning around to face him.
“I want everything with you.” And he meant it. “You could wake up tomorrow and tell me you want a baby. I’d give it to you.”
“Nick.. a baby is a big responsibility. I mean.. You’re young and you have a whole career that requires a lot out of you.” She said gently.
“Natalie… there are people younger than me who do my job and have kids. Hell, there are guys coming out of high school and into college, that want to go pro and do, all with kids and a girlfriend.” He said with frustration. The age situation was for sure a touchy subject for him. “I’m just saying that if you want a baby someday, then I do too.”
“There’s always a chance that you might change your mind later,” She said, trying to be careful in her word choice, but knowing that what she just said hurt him a bit from the flash of pain in his eyes.
“Natalie.. I’m not Mark. I didn’t change my mind the night I found out you were married and invited you over. I didn’t change my mind when I took you on dates and canceled my plans with teammates to be with you instead. I didn’t change my mind when I decided to tell you I loved you and asked you to divorce Mark. I have never changed my mind. I am here. I will be here tomorrow, next week, and forever as long as you’ll have me. I’m not changing my mind. I want you.” He said, frustration and pain clear on his face.
She nodded and reached up to cup his face with both hands, forcing him to look into her eyes when he tried to turn his head.
Even in the water, she could tell his eyes were tearing up slightly from the frustration. She gently wiped the tears away and smiled up at him sadly. “I’m sorry, Nick. I keep making you feel like you’re just a kid and it’s not fair. I’ll continue to work on changing the way I look at things. It’s hard sometimes, I won’t lie. I’m just so scared of stuff going to shit before we can even get off the ground properly… Right now, I don’t have plans to have a baby,” She watched him nod and could see the disappointment just briefly in his eyes before he schooled his expression, “But someday when I’m ready and we are no longer having to be together in the shadows from others, I’d want one with you too.”
He smiled at that and pressed his forehead into hers. “I’d do anything for you, Natalie. I fucking love you.”
She smiled back, staring into his eyes, enamored with the pure look of want and love in his eyes, “I love you too, Nick. So fucking much.”
They stayed like that for a few more moments, basking in the comfort of the other’s company.
Natalie was scared for Nick’s reputation and future. She knew they’d have to talk more about it another time, but a baby just wouldn’t be a good idea at the moment for either of them.
While drying off and watching Nick brush his teeth, her hand instinctively went to her abdomen, pressing into it as she thought about it. ‘Yeah.. not now.’
Life, however, had other ideas on the matter.
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Elriels covering as “pro Elain” want to push the narrative that Elain is not coddled or babied in the Night Court and its just ???
Yes her sisters were also helped, were also cared for… Thats not what being coddled or babied is referring to here. Elain is always undermined and thought of as incapable of doing anything on her own, thats where the coddling comes from them.
Coddling =/= getting help
Even Rhys and Feyre have a conversation about this in a bonus chapter and you mean to say I’m reading her character wrong?
Also, just read in the same sneaky post that accepting the bond with Lucien is the “safest” option for her? It is literally the most world shattering decision she could make. Its the most permanent, the most radical, the most vulnerable road. After having lost so much, losing her own fiance, her father, her whole life, you mean to say that Elain simply accepting the bond or getting to know Lucien is not the MOST pressuring road she could take? It would literally only have two outcomes: either she isn’t compatible with him or he is her one true soulmate and she will be with him forever. This after all that she has been through is not the riskiest most permanent path she could take???
Kissing Azriel without rejecting her bond first is what’s easy. As that person said, Elain is intelligent and observant, she probably knew Azriel was once (probably still is) in love with Mor. He never hid that from people around him and she was around them enough times to tell. How would the kiss with Azriel be the “tough” decision, the thing that changes her life and love and future? She knew what she was doing here and she obviously risked a lot by almost kissing him but it screams to me how she was in need to get a grasp on her own life again, on her own decisions. I respect that, but there were no actual stakes in kissing him, not the way there would if she wanted to try and kiss Lucien.
No I don’t think Elain is infantile. No I don’t believe she’s not capable of doing her own thing. No I don’t believe she can’t make decisions for herself because YES she is canonically the one sister that had the opportunity to pick and choose what her life was supposed to be like until being made fae and now having a mate, but nonetheless is still having all choices laid out for her to take.
Yes I see the way she is treated in the NC, as nothing more than a nice company to Feyre, as someone too pure to be stained by darkness, as someone who is trying to fit into the court but is forcing it, as a lap dog, as someone who cannot be exposed to things she WANTS to do for the sake of protection.
Sounds a lot like the way Feyre was coddled in the Spring Court, albeit in a less abusive and dramatic way.
Stop trying to gaslight people into thinking she is completely fine where she is and how she is treated. Like SJM did not put THAT much effort into telling Elain’s story and settling down her arc and her weaknesses and the people who are wrong about her and the one who is right for her because its so obvious it hurts😭 Like be for real, I get offended by the sheer disrespect of my intelligence
#pro elain archeron#anti e/riel#pro elucien#elain archeron#stop making her already flawless and healed#she is badass but we still need to see her become what we know is inside of her#thats literally what a female main character is supposed to do in her own damn book#elucien
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u kno on the topic of interview answers/authors notes with mxtx, I tend to take it with a huge grain of salt. Considering how I keep hearing that she once said that wangxian were the only gay characters in mdzs, yet everyone I seem to come across agrees there was nothing heterosexual about LXC and his interactions with JGY. Like which is it.
well, right. I hold the perhaps controversial opinion that authors... can be kinda wrong about their own works. and I swear I don't mean it like that post about losing custody of your characters in court-- I actually think the wangxian/xiyao thing is a really good example of what I mean.
however you feel about xiyao as a ship or the two of them as characters, there is no denying that they are set up to parallel wangxian in a lot of really key narrative ways. just taking a few broad examples:
both are pairings of a Lan brother and someone who was born in a marginal social position but has entered a place of relative outward security and respect
this position of security and respect is rapidly dismantled due to a combination of WWX/JGY's own actions and snowballing rumors and anger based in part of social prejudice, ultimately driven by an individual (JGS and NHS) who wants to see them ruined
both Lans, in defiance of social expectation, try to trust that there is a reason their partner has made the choices they made and to understand where they are coming from (LWJ over a longer span, LXC in a very compressed period in the temple)
there is a divergence, as LWJ decides he will fight and die for WWX no matter what he's done, and LXC has a moment of doubt and stabs JGY
but then they converge again, as both are pulled into a violent final confrontation/climax and make the decision to die for/with their partner, only to be prevented
both are finally left with feelings of regret and a lack of resolution, as LWJ feels like he didn't stand by WWX early enough or fight hard enough, and LXC feels he wasn't given the opportunity to really understand who JGY was or why he acted as he did
to be completely obvious about it, narrative parallels convey meaning. it tells the reader "something about these two events/sets of characters is fundamentally the same." narrative parallels have also been a very common way historically to subvert censorship when it comes to queer content: you parallel a queer person or couple and a straight couple, and let the viewer draw the lines. i'll be perfectly honest, i don't know as much about the history of this trope in China, but you can certainly see it in CQL itself, and the ways wangxian is paralleled to Yanli and Zixuan to draw attention to the fact that they are both, in fact, romantic couples.
MXTX has said this is not what she was trying to indicate! but she did put in these parallels, and a reader cannot be blamed for interpreting them as indicating something-- or for interpreting them as indicating that the fundamental sameness that the parallel points to is that both wangxian and xiyao are and were in love. maybe it was an accident, but it's a very specific, and very specifically crafted literary device that is inescapably present in the story.
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So I had the idea that all of the JSE Egos get possessed by Anti at some point- but all of their possessions look and work completely differently in comparison to each other because rather it being based on what's possessing them- Anti is utilizing what they perceive as their own worst traits/the image they have of themselves (in an extremely /neg way).
It's worth mentioning that it doesn't necessarily mean that these perceptions are true or not- the only thing that necessarily matters is that the Egos themselves think that it's true.
I'm going to go through each ego, describe what their possessions are like and go into detail as to why they're like that.
Buckle in dudes this is gonna be a long one
Chase Brody:
Chase to me has the most unstable variation of the possessions. His plays on the fact that they're constantly questioning their reality and feeling like a danger to not just himself but to those around him. Right now it's unclear if Chase has been experiencing alcoholism or his unstable view of reality before Anti but I do think Chase's entire life has been nothing short of turbulent it's a constant crashing rollercoaster, with the carriages shaking uneasily and sparks flying everywhere and the only thing he's able to do is hold onto the ride and hopes he gets to the end of it unscathed. Chase's possess has ALL of this on full display- it's the closest thing to the original Anti and it's far from pretty.
Visually I think the closest thing to Chases possession is Jinx's Hallucinations in Arcane. They're made up of the faces of his lost family mocking and taunting him while everyone else can only see Chase as an extremely unstable individual with unnatural eyes
[This shot in particular with the glowing eyes is what I imagine P!Chase to be like]
Marvin The Magnificent:
Now I've already briefly shown how I imagine Marvin's possession- and if I'm being honest it's my favourite one!! Marvin would by far be the hardest Ego to possess out of all of them, he's the only one with actual knowledge on Anti and the only one with the power to fight back against him. With that I think that Anti would only be able to possess Marvin with the help of IRIS- be honest, IRIS would JUMP at the opportunity to see what effects Anti could have on an individual with magic the way Marvin does. However, Marvin's biggest flaw is definitely his arrogance and his isolation. His "trust nobody" mindset has left him cold and uncaring to others and in my opinion this is something that he doesn't do because he enjoys it- something about Marvin screams that he wants to be able to connect with others but can't at every turn and that's what is portrayed in their possession. They're cold, robotic and uncaring. Their magic has been locked away deep in their subconscious because Anti knows it's too risky to let them utilise it. They've been forced into a state that's far removed from who Marvin really is. In a way it would make sense with how much of Marvin's memories have been tampered with for god knows how long- at a certain point there's only so much of yourself you can lose before you become unrecognisable to yourself.
The inspiration for P!Marvin is Chipped Catra from She-Ra Princess of Power
JackieBoy Man:
Jackie was by far the hardest to come up with- mostly because I couldn't come up with something that narratively would make sense. But I came to the conclusion that Jackie's worst perception of himself would come from the idea that he's not a true hero and only hurts the people around him, that he's a danger or a monster. That his powers make him a threat rather than a saviour. I personally think this would be a lot more effective if Jackie was possessed after an experience that left him doubting his role as a hero- maybe he couldn't save someone or someone he was trying to save and ended up dying instead. His grief and self loathing would come together into being possessed into being a weapon.
P!Jackie is nothing short of a weapon made for destruction- something that was designed to destroy. Part of the horror would be for him to wake up from his possession, only to realise that the ones he cares about the most and the only people he has left are now afraid of him and wants nothing to do with him.
The idea for P!Jackie is Infected She-Ra from She-Ra Princess of Power
Henrik Von Schneeplestien:
Henrik was another one that took me a while to figure out but I did eventually get to it!! Henrik would come from his insecurities as a doctor, the weight of people's lives being on his shoulders day in and out would wear him down over time and the idea that he could be at fault for the deaths of many whether he could've actually saved them or not plays in his brain so much its unbearable. Henrik's possession would take form as moss- or a general depiction of something rotting, a walking contamination that he can't heal or fix and he knows he's the route problem and to keep everyone else safe he'd need to remove himself from the equation. For the most part I don't think he'd be aware of how far his corruption goes, at first he'd write it off as being unwell, overworked maybe, but he has seen the others get possessed and harmed by their own possessions and he would never let himself succumb to that. Doctors do make the worst patients after all.
The inspiration for this has came from The Corruption in The Magnus Archives and Belos from The Owl House
Jameson Jackson:
JJ's possession is the one I'm most proud of and it's the one that's the most loyal to his debut in 2017. However the way I perceive JJs possession is that he is almost the exact same. But it's not him. He's fully conscious and aware of everything around him but he's trapped in his own skin with movements that are not his own. He's forced to watch and able to do nothing when those around him drop dead by his own hand. And the worst part about all of it is that Anti is clever enough to make him continue his daily routine, to carry on as normal. To let JJ see those closest to him not notice that something is deeply and horrifyingly wrong, that the person they're interacting with and bonding with isn't who they think they are. And no one notices. And there's nothing he's able to do about it. It's a play on his fear of no one really seeing him for who is is, no one notices something's wrong because they didn't know him to begin with. The entire experience makes him think about how much he actually spent time with these people. How much of him do they actually see and how much of Anti has painted over that.
If anything I might tweak Chase or Jackie's possessions slightly because they are extremely similar to each other??? BUT part of me wants to keep the similarities between them a constant thing because I personally see them as being two sides of the same coin
JJs possession was inspired by The Stranger and The Web from The Magnus Archives
AND THATS EVERYTHING‼️‼️ FEEL FREE TO REBLOG WITH THOUGHTS AND ANY ADD-ONS YOU WANT‼️‼️
#jacksepticeye#jse egos#jse#jacksepticeye egos#marvin the magnificent#jackieboy man#chase brody#jameson jackson#henrik von schneeplestein#jse ego lore#jse ego theory#kals thoughts#kal rambles#kal writes#kalcifers blog
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Chapter 1088: Ethics 101
This write-up is a bit delayed, but I definitely wanted to comment on a few things.
For one thing, Garp’s lesson feels like he’s teaching a philosophy class.
So, that’s probably why it reminded me of Chidi in The Good Place, particularly when he was going over the Trolley Problem. (It’s not an exact replica of the ethical dilemma here but there are similarities.)
Garp gets lectured for telling his proteges to protect the future...
Of course, the Marines declaring “All lives are equal” is downright laughable. These are the people who serve at the whim of the Celestial Dragons, wiped out Ohara, Flevance, and, recently, Lulusia.
They’re also content to sacrifice troops rather than take on an Emperor, so it takes a SWORD Member (Koby) to step in.
It’s interesting that Koby volunteered here; Blackbeard wasn’t actually interested in him in the first place.
Still, the fact that Blackbeard took this deal means Koby’s reputation is widespread. Rocky Port reveal when, Oda?!
Back to the present day, is it weird to say that Garp reminds me a bit of Luffy here?
Luffy has unwavering faith in his nakama. He has people on his crew who can do things he can’t, and he can do things they can’t. Garp here, like his grandson, puts his unmitigated faith in his people--though in this case, it’s more a case of handing the baton to the next generation. We’ve been focusing mostly on the next generation of pirates in the Worst Generation, but this is the next generation of the Marines stepping forward into the limelight.
Once the youngin’s are off, Garp returns his focus to his former protégé.
And all I can think of is Monty Python.
Okay, fine. It’s quite compelling that we’ve got Garp protecting and encouraging his current batch of proteges while facing off against his former protégé in Kuzan. (Kuzan’s line last chapter about Garp raising enemies is still ringing in my ears; that was cold.)
We also get a flashback, learning Koby’s been doing the “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” training montage from Mulan after training.
“You must be swift as the coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon”
Koby is so wholesome that even his attack has a wholesome name.
Still, this is very impressive. Koby stocks on the rise.
Garp, Grus, and Helmeppo get back to the ship, just leaving Garp remaining on Hachinosu.
Look, I have plenty of issues with Garp, but to his credit here, he’s willing to walk the walk when it comes to saving the future generation over the old generation. He sacrifices himself so they ship can escape.
(Also, what was the point in Tashigi being here? I was really hoping we were going to see Smoker at some point, but nope. She’s just hanging out in the background doing nothing. Yeesh, let the woman do something for once, Oda.)
This looks bad for Garp. It feels like a sendoff, and Garp--a D.--is laughing in the face of death.
I don’t think he’s dead, though. For one thing, this is One Piece where death is made up and the points don’t matter. And the narration box says he’s MIA, which is quite different than some of the other more dramatic descriptions of defeat we’ve gotten in recent chapters.
Second, this is not the first time we’ve seen a D. face death with a smile and survive. (Remember Law’s smirk when Doffy had a gun to his chest on the rooftop in Dressrosa?)
Third, if Saul survived Kuzan’s attack, I’d imagine Garp could, too. I could see the ice here is actually saving him from what looks like an ugly stab wound.
More than that, though, it’s makes little strategic sense to kill him. Blackbeard wants a hostage to bargain with the World Government for Hachinosu’s sovereignty. Garp is a significantly more high-value hostage than Koby; it would not be smart to kill him and lose their leverage when they could use him.
Narrative-wise, there’s also a lot left to settle between Luffy and Garp. And what about Dragon?
There’s so much setup with Hachinosu that we’re definitely going there with the Straw Hats at some point. I still think Luffy and Law team up again now that Law is both crewless and shipless, and if Blackbeard takes the surviving Hearts hostage, that will give the renewed alliance reason to go there. Law would also likely be able to save a frozen Garp using his fruit.
All of that being said, I’m looking forward to returning to Egghead next chapter as the Marines arrive.
#One Piece#One Piece 1088#One Piece chapter 1088#One Piece spoilers#One Piece chapter 1088 spoilers#Chapter write-up#Monkey D. Garp#Koby#Kuzan#Tashigi#Trafalgar Law#Monkey D. Luffy#Jaguar D. Saul#Blackbeard#Hachinosu
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