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duhragonball · 3 years

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Battle Tendency Liveblog JJBA Ch.48-52

This is the “Joseph vs. Straizo” arc, so I’ll just lead off with one of my favorite moments from the entire JoJo franchise, when Joseph furiously declares war on Straizo with tears in his eyes. In the anime, voice actor Tomokazu Sugita delivered this with such intensity that it actually overshadowed the machine gun.

None of the dubs or translations can do it justice, including this panel from the JoJo’s Colored Adventure scanlation project. This is a faithful translation of Joseph’s line, as far as I can tell, except they always leave off the last part: “宣戦布告だぜ!!” In romanji, that’s: “Sensen fukokuda ze!!” And it means “This is war!!”

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Last time, we saw the Joestars treating their new friend Smokey Brown, to dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant. Some mafia jerk caused trouble, Joseph whooped his ass, and then a second mafia guy apologized and shared a rumor he recently heard: Robert Speedwagon was found dead in a Mexican riverbed, apparently killed by a Tibetan monk.

From there, we see that Joseph immediately realizes that this must have been Straizo, and Erina suspects that it must have something to do with the Stone Masks and the battle with Dio fifty years ago. Smokey warns Joseph to consider the source, but Joseph is pretty sure it’s credible information, since mafia guys are all about money. I’m not sure what that has to do with whether he’s telling the truth, though. Either way, Joseph slugs the guy for just blurting out such terrible news in front of Granny Erina.

Now, at this point, Joseph and Erina are making all these Phantom Blood references, and Smokey has no idea what they’re talking about. And I think seeing this panel helped me understand Smokey’s role as a viewpoint character. When the Part began, it seemed like Smokey was sort of the narrator for the thing, which works because he’s a good viewpoint character, and he seemed to be settling in as a sidekick like Speedwagon and Poco in Part 1. But shortly after this he just vanishes from Battle Tendency altogether, and then he shows up at the end like it’s no big deal. I never quite understood that, and I think this is the sort of thing that fuels the “Araki forgot” memes, but it actually makes a lot of sense.

See, Smokey’s primary function is to be the viewpoint character, specifically for the readers who missed out on Phantom Blood. BT is a direct continuation of the previous part, in a way that none of the other JoJo parts are. Most of the main BT cast was deeply affected by what happened in Part 1. A few of them lived through it, and the ones that didn’t have personal connections to it. So they constantly talk about Stone Masks and Dio without really stopping to explain any of it. Well, if you don’t know what they’re talking about, you can take heart in the fact that Smokey doesn’t know either. So as long as he can keep up with the story, so can the uninitiated readers. For now, all that matters is that he’s impressed by the Joestars’ great kindness, and he’s intrigued and disturbed by these hints of a tragic past in their family.

And eventually, Smokey learns just what happened to the Joestar Family, or at least everything that the reader needs to know to follow Part 2. But that doesn’t happen until near the end, which is why he shows up to hear the secrets revealed. But for most of the story, he steps aside, because that’s mostly about Joseph dealing with events in the here and now, so Joseph can act as his own viewpoint character.

But is Speedwagon truly dead? The story flashes back to the previous night, after Straizo killed his own disciples and clobbered Speedwagon. They’re in this temple where Speedwagon discovered more Stone Masks, like the one Dio used, but Speedwagon also discovered an immortal man petrified in a stone column. Straizo was enlisted to destroy this “Pillar Man” with his Hamon power, but instead he wants to use one of the Stone Masks to turn himself into a vampire.

Before he does this, he reads Speedy’s translations of the writing on the walls of the temple. The ancient Aztec cultists who built it said that the Pillar Man was immortal and had many powers, but he was vulnerable to the sun, just like the vampires from Part 1. But the writings warn that the Pillar Man created the Stone Masks because of this weakness, and one day, “when he befriends the sun, the world will be his.” That doesn’t seem to follow, since the only thing the Stone Masks seem to be able to do is make new vampires, who are just as vulnerable to sunlight as the Pillar Man.

Anyway, Straizo doesn’t seem to care. He just doesn’t want to die of old age, and he’s become disillusioned with the Hamon power he has, so he’s turning heel and going full goth on us. To avoid Dio’s mistakes, he plans to eliminate any witnesses, including Joseph and Erina. Then he’ll go into hiding and figure out a long term plan, with the rest of the world unaware of his existence.

You know, now that I write that out, I’m amazed by how similar that plan is to what Dio ends up doing in Part 3. In Part 1, he set about turning a whole town into zombies, and planning to unleash them on the world without any real agenda. But in Part 3 he eventually holed up in a swank mansion in Cairo and took great pains to stay hidden while he acquired more power. Parts 5 and 8 carry that same idea even further, with villains who go to great lengths to cover up their very existence.

At any rate, we only see Speedwagon pass out in this scene, so it’s unclear whether he actually dies or not. Really, using Speedwagon in this way is a pretty smart play. He’s an old man, and he was never going to survive another 50-year time-skip into the next part, so it’s safe to assume that Part 2 is his swan song. But how will he die, and when? It could be at the very start, or maybe somewhere in the middle.

Anyway, Straizo just walks up to a cafe in New York to confront Joseph, and Joseph whips out a machine gun and shoots his ass. This whole time, Straizo had assumed that the untrained grandson of Jonathan Joestar would be easy pickings, but Joseph’s a lot more skilled with Hamon than he expected, and he’s tricky too.

As Joseph fires on Straizo, he recalls how worried Erina was about all this. The story kind of glosses over it, but Joseph seems to have worked out Straizo’s entire plan. I guess that’s not much of a stretch. He and Speedwagon were together with a temple full of Stone Masks, and then Straizo turned on Speedwagon. Why else would he do that, unless he used the Stone Mask to turn into a vampire like Dio did? And once you arrive at that conclusion, it isn’t hard to figure out what Straizo’s next move would be. And that’s how Joseph was so prepared for this. After the shooting stops, Smokey freaks out about Joseph murdering a dude, but Joseph was expecting a vampire the whole time.

I also like Joseph’s line in the flashback. Erina isn’t worried for herself, but for Joseph, because it looks like he’s being pulled into this same tragic fate as the rest of the family. But Joseph resolves to face this head on. “If this is my fate, then I accept it.” Pretty sure Will Zeppeli said the same thing when he discovered that he would die saving Jonathan.

There’s similar “call-to-adventure” moments in the other parts. Jonathan has his when he accepts Zeppeli’s offer to train him to battle Dio again. Jotaro has his when he defeats and saves Kakyoin, then learns what’ll happen to his mother if he doesn’t go. Josuke has his when Angelo shows up and he has to avenge his grandfather. Giorno kind of always had a hankering to take on Passione, but I think things got serious once he had a choice between killing or sparing Bruno. There could be no turning back from that point. For Jolyne, it was the moment she had a clear path to escape the prison but decided to go back in because that was where her enemy was. For Johnny, it was that one battle where he chose to crawl towards the danger to save Gyro instead of withdrawing to safety. For Gappy... I’d have to study that a bit.

But for Joseph Joestar, it’s this moment. Erina never sent Joseph to learn the Ripple from the Hamon monastary, and she seems to have taken great pains to keep him out of trouble, but now trouble has come to them, and Joseph isn’t about to back down.

So yeah, bullets don’t actually kill vampires, but Joseph was hoping to destroy his head with some of those shots, or at least slow Straizo down long enough to finish him off. Instead Straizo reveals that he has the power to shoot high pressure fluid from his eyes, the same move Dio used to kill Jonathan at the end of Part 1. He calls this “Space Ripper Stingy Eyes” which is either stupid or brilliant depending on your mood, I guess. He used it to protect his head from the machine gun fire, and then he uses it again to shoot Joseph... except he hits Joseph’s reflection in a nearby mirror, and I guess he didn’t notice the real thing standing behind him.

What makes this fight so awesome is that these two are determined to kill each other, and they each have extremely simple moves to defeat one another, but they have all these tricks and schemes to protect themselves. Joseph manages to hit Straizo with Hamon, but it does nothing... because Straizo was a Hamon master before turning into a vampire. He can’t use the Ripple without destroying himself now, but he still knows how to defend against it. For instance, he’s got this scarf woven from dead bugs, because it conducts Hamon energy far more effectively than his own body. So it just absorbs Joseph’s attacks and disperses the energy harmlessly away.

Does it really have to be made of dead bugs? I feel like Tonpetti just told him that as a prank. “No, really (snort!) the only thing that works is dead bugs. (tee-hee!) It smells awful but you have to wear it (ha!).”

But Joseph has his own tricks, like... putting a dozen grenades on his opponent’s back when he isn’t looking! Seriously, there was zero opportunity for him to do this. One moment he steps over Straizo’s body to see if he’s still alive, and the next moment he supposedly planted all these things on his scarf. I get that he could pull a string connected to the pin without being noticed, but that’s the only part that makes sense about this. It’s still awesome, though. If Jonathan had access to explosives, Part 1 would have been a lot shorter.

I really think this was the battle that set the tone for Stand Battles in later Parts. Araki loves these off-panel tricks in combat, and they’re a lot easier to explain when all of your characters have magic super powers. If Joseph had Hermit Purple in this fight, there’d be no problem at all. He could just use Hermit Purple to snake through the ventilation shafts and hook up all the grenades. In fact, it’s tempting to suggest that Joseph was unconsciously using Hermit Purple throughout Part 2, but I don’t want to get into that right now.

Anyway, explosions don’t stop vampires any more than machine gun fire. Straizo’s body is in pieces, but the pieces just slither back together and regenerate. Wait, wouldn’t his head have been vaporized in that blast? Also, Straizo spends the rest of this battle in the nude, so we know that stupid scarf is out of the equation. Why didn’t Joseph just go back in the cafe and finish Straizo off while he was still in pieces?

Again, it’s easy to say “lol Araki forgot”, but I think it’s a lot more sensible to suggest that Joseph forgot. As clever as he is, he went in with the Ripple, a machine gun, and a dozen grenades, and Straizo had an answer to all three. He doesn’t want to press the attack because he’s out of tricks. All he’s got left is another Hamon attack, which means Straizo will see it coming. Or he’s still worried about the scarf, and hasn’t realized that it’s gone now. In any event, he’s running away, creating some distance before Straizo can make his next move.

Also, there’s a lot of bystanders gathering around, so it makes sense to take the fight elsewhere. Some guy named “Bruty” tries to stop Joseph to impress his girlfriend, but that backfires spectacularly. Was Bruty in the anime? I feel like he wasn’t, but I don’t want to check.

The one I do remember is this girl photographer. Spider-Man hadn’t been invented yet, so in those days photographers just sort of wandered around with their camera, waiting for Spidey to debut. This exploding vampire diner is the best she could do in 1938.

I just really like this lady. There’s a spark in her eye and I just assumed she would end up being Joseph’s love interest by the end of the story. Well, we’ll get to that.

Instead, she’s a hostage. Joseph and Smokey run to the Brooklyn Bridge? I guess? It’s a bridge, I’m sure of that much. Anyway, Straizo catches this lady and takes her with him to intercept them. He threatens to kill her unless Joseph faces him again. But Straizo offers to spare Joseph and never trouble him again if Joseph runs away. This is because Straizo figures that if Joseph chickens out now, then he’ll never be a threat to Straizo in the future, no matter how powerful his Hamon abilities become.

Joseph tries to call his bluff, but then Straizo rips out one of the girl’s teeth to prove he means business, and Joseph gets furious all over again. I don’t think he was ever planning to abandon this fight, but he was probably hoping to get Straizo to give up his hostage at least. Now he’s just pissed, and Straizo is impressed. Joseph tries to act cool, but he just can’t hide his passionate feelings. This is in stark contrast to Jotaro, who wagered his own soul in a poker game and bluffed his way to victory.

So Straizo tries again with the Space Ripper Stingy Eyes, but this time Joseph blocks it with two shot glasses charged with Hamon power, and then he lands the decisive blow. But before Straizo dies, Joseph demands to know why Straizo dumped Speedwagon and the others in the river. Not only does Joseph want to give him a proper burial, but he doesn’t understand why Straizo would have dumped them in the river, since that was how Joseph knew to expect him.

Wait, I thought Straizo wanted Joseph to know he was coming. Oh well.

Anyway, Straizo explains that he had to do it, because the Pillar Man was absorbing the blood from his victims. Straizo was worried that the Pillar Man might awaken, so he put them in the river instead to be safe. Nevertheless, he suspects that the Pillar Man will reawaken eventually anyway, and Straizo now realizes that it will be Joseph’s destiny to face him some day. Then Straizo just uses the Ripple one last time, and self-destructs.

It always seemed strange to me that Straizo saw the danger of the Pillar Man and just left things the way they were. Maybe he planned to deal with him later, or maybe he just didn’t know or care about it until Joseph defeated him, and he felt a moral obligation to warn someone.

I guess he could have destroyed the Pillar Man like Speedwagon wanted him to do in the first place, but it seems like Straizo didn’t realize that blood would wake him up until after he was already a vampire, and unable to use the Ripple. For that matter, it remains to be seen if Hamon will work on Pillar Men.

Anyway, what else is going on? Oh, yeah, Europe is getting closer and closer to World War II. The official start of the war is usually considered to be September 1, 1939, but Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, and Japan invaded China in 1937, and Germany annexed Austria and conquered Czechoslovakia in 1938, the year Battle Tendency is set. So we’re in this weird time period where there’s Nazis in the story, and the British-American protagonist doesn’t care for them, but isn’t trying to kill them on sight. I’ll be coming back to this topic later on.

I think the main reason for including Nazi Germany in this story was to draw parallels between their goals and those of the fictional villains. The Nazis believed themselves to be the “Master Race”, the most “evolved” people, and this made them worthy to rule the world. Araki notes that they turned to all sorts of sci-fi/occult/fantasy stuff in their war. Similarly, you have villains like Dio and Straizo turning to mysterious Stone Masks for spooky powers, and then you have the Pillar Man himself, who apparently sought the means to “befriend the sun” and rule over the world. So the Nazis fit into this theme of trying to claim some sort of supremacy over other beings.

But what’s their role in this story? Well, the Germans have an “information base” in Mexico, run by a guy named Stroheim. He makes pretty ladies shave him with a straight razor, and if he gets a nick he makes them lick the blood off, and then he threatens to cut off their tongues. Also, he trained his dog to not eat treats until given permission. He’s a sick fuck, is my point.

Wait, no, my point was that his staff discovered the bodies that Straizo dumped in the river, including Speedwagon, who’s still alive, somehow. I guess Straizo was going to finish him off but he got in a hurry when he saw the Pillar Man absorbing the blood from the others. Not sure how Speedwagon survived that ordeal, but Stroheim’s men have been taking care of him this whole time, and he was unconscious until recently, so it might have been touch-and-go for a while.

Back in New York, Joseph doesn’t know what this is all about, but he decides to go to Mexico himself to get to the bottom of it...

#jojo's bizarre adventure #battle tendency #joseph joestar #erina joestar #smokey brown #bruty #straizo #rudol von stroheim #santana #robert e o speedwagon

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nellie-elizabeth · 4 years

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Supernatural: Inherit the Earth (15x19)

That was somehow simultaneously a crowded mess, and a complete anticlimax. I'm literally just like... super confused and afraid about what the finale is going to be now.

Cons:

Sam's the dog person. That's part of canon. I liked the moment when Dean found the dog, or whatever, but I wish Sam had gotten a moment with the puppy too, before Chuck took it away. A small thing, but one of those typical wrong details in Buckleming episodes, where it just honestly doesn't seem like they know the characters very well.

Lucifer and Michael have a fight in the Bunker and Michael takes Lucifer out really, really easily. So like. Remember when the first five seasons of the show were the buildup to the Apocalypse, and Sam sacrificed himself for an eternity in Lucifer's Cage to stop it from happening? Apparently a fight between the two archangels is just a bit of fisticuffs, nothing to get worked up about. That annoyed me. But I guess consistency has never been something this show has cared much about...

Also just... Lucifer in general, coming back for like five minutes so he can mug at the camera and then be unceremoniously killed? Here's the thing: we had Billie as Death, and she hated them but maybe it would have been interesting to see her and the boys team up to figure out Chuck's ending... but instead, she's gone, Lucifer gets a pointless return, provides us with another Death, who is there for two seconds, says a couple of vaguely funny lines, and then dies... and we still never find out what's in the book.

The fight with Chuck was so badly edited! It was so weird to see him just wail on Sam and Dean, and repeated shots of him hitting them, and them getting up, while he kept saying "okay fellas, enough, please stay down" over and over again. Given that the whole "erasing the people from the world" thing was so much like Infinity War, I kept comparing this fight with God to the climax of Endgame. In that instance, you have a small group of intrepid fighters going up against a big bad evil, and then just at the moment when they're run down and helpless, the whole crowd of friends returns and joins in the fight. Instead of that, it's just Jack showing up and absorbing God's powers, and then they leave him begging on the beach. Not a bad ending for Chuck, which I'll get to in a moment, but the epic-ness was seriously missing from this final showdown.

So, when Jack returned the world to its normal state, did he bring back all of their friends, too? I want to believe this was something that Covid took away from them, where instead of seeing shots of Charlie and her girlfriend, of Donna, Jody, the girls, Bobby, Eileen, they were forced to use stock footage of just random people around the world returning. Would have been cooler to see the epic return... and also super weird that Sam and Dean sit quietly in the bunker talking about free will, and we don't see Sam pull out his phone and call his girlfriend, like... I get not wanting to muddy the ending of the episode with a lot of fallout stuff, and I'm sure we'll get that next week? Like, I hope, anyway? But as it stood for this hour of television, it was super weird to me that the boys didn't immediately want to check on all of their friends to make sure everyone had returned from the dead.

Jack becoming the new God is actually a totally appropriate ending, people were speculating that he'd be the new God or Death or Empty, or some cosmic entity, anyway... and this honestly felt very fitting... BUT, I will say that there are two really, really stupid things about it. One, his "I'm everything and everywhere now" speech was super cheesy... "I'm in the air and the rocks and every drop of rain" or whatever. Such a cliche, I was almost painfully embarrassed listening to him. I honestly would have preferred less is more, here. Like, what if he'd said the stuff about how humans can be their best when they need to be, that was a good line... and then Sam says "what if we want to see you? Grab a beer?" And Jack just says "I'm around" and then vanishes, leaving it vague? I think the idea of a hands-off deity is perfect, of course... makes sense for the "free will wins the day" ending we've got going here, but I didn't think stating it outright was the best move.

The second reason Jack becoming God was rendered kind of comedically awful in the way it happened is... well, elephant in the room, let's talk about how Cas was handled in this episode.

Here's a quote from last week's review:

"I'm worried that Cas dying is gonna get swallowed up with everyone dying and not get its due, thus making the confession completely isolated. Like, here you go, gays, have this one scene, which, in isolation is quite heartfelt from Cas' perspective, but can be carefully boxed up and not touched for the last two hours of the show. If they don't want to touch on how this would affect Dean specifically, they don't have to. He can be generally angsty and sad about Cas, but they could get away with never bringing it up again, and that is some grade-A level bullshit right there, my friends."

And... yeah. Look, I know there are people on Tumblr right now saying that this episode being the "brothers only" ending means that next week we'll get Cas back and Dean will confess his love or whatever... but y'all, it's not going to happen. I'm sorry. I'd love to be wrong. If I'm wrong, I will gladly eat crow and celebrate along with the rest of you, but I just... I've been burned before. I know what's going on here, and it's not what you think it is.

Dean was undeniably devastated in this episode. We see him drinking to excess, falling asleep on the floor, grasping onto tiny moments of joy like with the dog and then being furious and upset when they fall through. But that devastation was not textually about Cas specifically. Sure, there were moments, like him telling God to bring everything back, and then namedropping Cas specifically. Or the way he ran up the stairs when Cas' voice was on the phone. But what I'm saying is? Those are crumbs, there for those of us who care to gobble up, easily ignored and subsumed by the larger losses the boys are suffering. Sam is devastated too, guys. About his girlfriend, about Charlie, about Donna, and Jody, etc. etc. etc. Who's to say their grief is any different from one another, even though they're handling it with different coping mechanisms? The "I love you" wasn't even on the "previously on".

Like. There's a universe where Dean does get a moment of Cas-related catharsis in the finale, even though Misha's not coming back. Maybe he has a private moment to grieve just for him, to contemplate that specific loss. But I'm telling you: I don't care if an openly gay man wrote 15x18, I don't care that Misha found it moving. The bottom line is, Cas confessing his love for Dean was the moment of catharsis the show was willing to offer us. We ain't getting much else.

So going back to Jack, why on earth does nobody suggest that maybe when he's popping the rest of the world back to the way it's supposed to be, he also brings Cas back? This is what I'm talking about with contrived sacrifices. Last week, they could have written a way for Dean to get out of that scrape without Cas dying. And this week, Jack's determination to be a "hands-off" God is not enough to explain why he wouldn't restore his father Castiel from the Empty. Especially since Chuck brought Lucifer back from the Empty, proving that God can do that. Even though that contradicts earlier lore but whatever. The point is, I'm saying it's sloppy. Cas' death, Cas staying dead, does not feel like an earned inevitability to me. I'm prepared to eat my words if they bring him back in the finale, but even if that happens (which it won't), he's not going to be smooching Dean Winchester on the mouth, y'all. He's just not.

So then that ending. "Finally free," says Dean, completely unaware that he's echoing the theme from the end of season five but making it hopeful now for some reason? And that end montage felt like an ending 100%, and I won't say it was bad to see it, see all the memories, the characters... I mean, Charlie dancing in the elevator, getting glimpses of Ellen and Jo, Bobby, Crowley... I'm not going to complain about that, it was honestly quite fun, but it also felt extremely anticlimactic and gave us no sense of where the characters are going to go from here. And yes, I know we have an episode next week, it's just...

Here's the thing I'm scared of, and I'm going to go ahead and put it here in the "cons" section because I don't know where it belongs yet. Despite my complaints about this episode, thematically there was one thing it got right: the answer to defeating Chuck wasn't destined, it wasn't in a book of preordained endings. They had to come up with it by themselves, using the tools at their disposal, and they won, and they get free will now, they get the release from having someone else tell their story. Great. So... what does that leave us next week?

As mentioned above, I really don't think the final 43 minutes is going to be an epic gay love story where Dean fights to get Cas back, I really don't. That leaves us two options: either a tepid re-tread of the themes already established, an epilogue of sorts where we just get to see a life in the day, a new normal for the boys. I wouldn't be furious about this, but I also think it won't really feel like closure for me. They just keep hunting? They keep saving people? That's fine, I guess, but they can't really walk back the fact that God is their son, can they? When they die the next time, do they go to the Empty? Who is Death, now? Are Heaven and Hell okay? Are we meant to be convinced that nothing will ever come back to bite them in the ass, they'll live long lives, and a benevolent afterlife is waiting for them when it's over? I'm not convinced I believe in things being that simple, so it sort of seems like the show would end by saying "okay, and more of the same."

The second possibility is worse, though, that being a total status-quo shift, like the end comes and the Empty is after them and they have to become the new Death and Empty as some speculated, or some wild harebrained plot twist gets thrown in at the last second and undoes the actual good parts of the theme established here. I hope for the first, but I don't know that it'll make me happy, to be quite honest. I really don't want it to feel this way, but Cas being gone is the big elephant in the room, for me. It truly is.

Pros:

I did like the earlier parts of the episode, the eeriness and the helplessness of them being alone. Continuing with the Avengers comparisons, it was very similar to the long, slow opening to Endgame, where we see a lot of grief, a lot of helplessness, an lot of directionless moping. That felt appropriate and it made it all the more invigorating when Michael showed up, giving us a spark of direction in which to move.

While I thought the fight with Chuck was edited really strangely and didn't work for me, I did like this ending for Chuck. Very much like the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Chuck doesn't die, which he honestly would have found a satisfying, creative ending for his story. Instead, he gets to live on as a normal human, sans powers, and be forgotten. Brutal and appropriate! It ties back into the free will thing. Chuck can do whatever he wants with his remaining time, but he can't steal other people's choices from them any longer. It's the black and the white, the good and the bad, of being just... human. Which ties in with Sam and Dean being more or less hopeful about their outlook moving forward. (God, I'm so fucking scared they're going to screw up the few things I liked about this episode in next week's finales.)

Like I said, I did find Jack becoming God an appropriate ending for him as a character. It's the right type of bittersweet: he's there, and we can imagine that in the future, he does go visit Sam and Dean for a beer. Or maybe he doesn't, and that's okay too. Knowing he's at peace, knowing he's benevolent, and that he'll do the best he can for the people of the world(s). It's nice, a comforting deity instead of a manipulative overlord. And the fact that his benevolence and kindness and compassion are born out of a human mother, and two human fathers, and an angel who embraced humanity with everything in himself... instead of from Lucifer, who tried to create him in his image? Well, that's a lovely resolution for a character that became a surprising favorite over the years.

As I think I mentioned last week, I'm willing to let this show manipulate my emotions here at the end, when it can manage to do so. So yeah, of course I loved that Cas and Jack's names are added to the table along with SW, DW, and MW. Obviously that's adorable as hell. And as I said, the montage worked for me, it was certainly quite lovely. I just... like I said at the start of this, I'm just frankly terrified of what's coming next week.

I mean, here's the thing, I want an ending that honors Sam and Dean as the protagonists of this show, but I want it where they live in the bunker, and Eileen and returned-from-the-dead-Castiel live with them as their partners. If someone told me I couldn't change a thing about what's happened so far, but I could decide how the last episode went, that's how I'd end it. Showing a network of hunters getting support and able to live more stable, reasonable lives while still doing a dangerous job. Sam embracing his intellectual prowess and running things from the bunker, Dean and Cas going out on the road, Sam and Eileen going out on the road, or any combination therein. Jack watching over them benevolently from above. Jody and Donna and the girls living their best lives. Kaia and Claire as a couple, onscreen. A glimpse of a more stable afterlife, now that Jack is there to run things, the confirmation of a peaceful ending whenever our human protagonists do finally shuffle off this mortal coil. Peace, but change, too.

I just don't believe that's what we're getting. I can't believe it, and that makes me really frightened for what comes next week. I'm prepared to be pissed off. Quite frankly, I'm expecting it.

6/10

#review #supernatural #supernatural review #spn 15x19 #spn

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haec-est-fides · 4 years

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Octavian in The Tyrant’s Tomb

Or rather, the lack thereof. You all know I’m salty about this, so here’s the official rant.

First, let’s look at where he was mentioned. Exactly twice.

“The legion had no high priest, no pontifex maximus. Their former augur, my descendant Octavian, had died in the battle against Gaia. (Which I had a hard time feeling sad about, but that’s another story.)”

This one really hit me because it’s primarily just another instance of Apollo’s unnecessary sass. In The Hidden Oracle, he seemed to at least recognize his own fault in the matter for a split second: “A voice whispered in the back of my mind. This time I thought it might be my conscience: Who was the stupid boy? It wasn’t Octavian.” What happened to that? I get it, Rick knows that most fans hate Octavian. Ha ha. What’s important is that Apollo also thinks this way about Gaius Caligula and Nero, who are also his descendants. For all his character development, and for all the similarities between himself and these people he despises, Apollo can’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that yeah, they all got this from him. It’s one of the last bastions of Apollo’s ego and hypocrisy, and I don’t think it’s ever going to be addressed.

It’s half-heartedly joked that there are no “adults in the room” in New Rome anymore. Reyna notices a difference in the dynamic of the Senate. Apollo is expected to do all the ceremonial duties regarding Jason’s funeral. Beyond this, the book never once directly admits that Octavian’s absence has otherwise impacted New Rome. Or how his family reacted to his death. Sure the chaotic state of the community may play a role in this, but more on it later.

Apollo has mentioned in ToA that, of all his godly memories, he specifically remembers his talks with Octavian. I for one am very interested in this “other story” that Rick refuses to explore.

““Praetors often partner up. In power. But also romantically, I mean. I thought Jason. Then for a hot minute, Percy Jackson. Gods help me, I even considered Octavian.” [Reyna] shuddered.”

This mention is purely throwaway; it’s meant to show how truly desperate Reyna was feeling. For the record, I respect Reyna’s subplot, for all I care about it at all. I think it’s hilarious how clearly repulsed she sounds at herself for even considering dating Octavian. Let’s be clear: this isn’t her admitting she ever liked him, or - gods forbid - had a crush. This is Reyna commenting on how oppressive the expectations of society are on single women. What’s funnier to me is that Octavian would have 100% turned her down, and her self esteem would have been toast. Good for her for sticking to her heart and not letting the world tell her what to do.

Moving on, what’s more important is how Octavian wasn’t mentioned. I've said before that Riordan’s decision to flat out ignore Octavian has led to some minor but annoying continuity issues.

On a purely practical note, Octavian was a prominent, active member of a religion, a government, and a military. New Rome doesn’t have an augur. As Jason’s funeral shows, Apollo had to take up the associated religious duties. But how did New Rome handle honoring those who died in the war with Gaia? Or those who were more recently lost, in the fighting with Tarquin? How has the operation of the legion and senate shifted? Who replaced him as centurion of the first? What is it like to not be able to seek the gods’ approval via augury? Who approves new recruits, checks their credentials and assigns them to cohorts, and eventually gives them their tattoos? Who awards mural crowns and other military distinctions? New Rome has been without an augur before, as it’s a rare gift, but these questions still need to be answered for the community to operate.

Back to Octavian’s family! His family is said to have been the oldest, richest, and most influential family in New Rome. Octavian is at least a 3rd generation camper, his family going back a hundred years or more. This is stressed in HoO because it’s used to show just how “entitled” and stuck up he is, but now? It’s not mentioned at all. No mourning, no help in Rome’s time of crisis, nothing. Unless by Octavian’s “family” Riordan was solely referring to the Triumvirate and Octavian was a member of an Imperial Household the whole time, this is ridiculous. I need to write a whole post about this, because Octavian’s life is fascinating when you consider what implications this has.

As Gaius and Commodus are attacking New Rome with their fleet of yachts, New Rome’s navy gets brought up. I know Apollo isn’t the best narrator on this point, but all that’s mentioned is the sad boat Percy used for the Alaska quest. That small fleet of very nice speedboats that Octavian funded for the attack on Camp Half-Blood? Nope. Is this just Apollo being out of the loop? What happened to New Rome’s fleet?

With New Rome in chaos, this last point is really more of a nit pick, but can we please remember that Octavian led a very willing camp to war? Even before the Argo II disaster, even before Octavian spoke out at the Senate, the lares and legionnaires in the streets showed anti-Greek sentiment. The 5th cohort was “Greeks and geeks.” When Octavian proposed war, he had the legion on his side. As soon as Reyna left to go help with the Athena Parthenos, the centurions were ready to disobey her and follow Octavian. Even in the final battle of HoO, only the 4th and 5th cohorts really start to turn against him. All of this backs a very important, but largely ignored, point: you can lead a horse to the Senate, but you can’t make it vote. We see none of that tension in New Rome now. I get that most of the legion is dead, and that’s a huge part of it, but no one spoke out at all. We don’t see anyone with the opinion that Octavian did save Rome and defeat Gaia. We don’t see him get any funerary honors (which makes the book’s message concerning death all the more hypocritical). When Gaius confronts Frank - “Praetor Zhang, you are duty-bound to recognize Roman authority, and we are it! Together, we can rebuild this camp and raise your legion to glory!” - he’s right. But we don’t see a single legionnaire hesitate.

I get that New Rome isn’t Riordan’s favorite, and that to develop the Romans would require a whole series of its own, but the sheer shallowness of New Rome just felt lazy. Even mentioning Octavian’s legacy would have done so much to show us more about Camp Jupiter. How is he remembered? A hero? A tyrant? A martyr? A fraud?

#octavian #trials of apollo #toa #heroes of olympus #hoo #new rome #camp jupiter #rick riordan #filodox!

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ziracona · 4 years

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Thinkin about how the NOES 2010 movie is so good. Listen…listen. It has really unusual structure. Most of the time, a horror film follows either a single unit (one person, one family) through a whole plot (The Witch, The Babadook, Saw, Halloween) or a group of victims with one pretty obvious final girl in the mix (Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I Know What You Did Last Summer), but NOES 2010 doesn’t do that. It takes you through several protagonists, one at a time, moving on from one teen to another when your initial protagonist is killed, starting with Dean, moving on to Kris, then Jesse, and then Nancy and Quentin when they’re the last two standing. It’s a fresh take, which makes everything so much less sure, and gives narrative weight to the characters who die instead of just making them bodycount. Everybody gets treated like the final girl, not canon fodder, which is extremely important to the story the film is telling. Nancy and Quentin don’t even become the film’s focus until almost halfway through the story.

Probably someone who is unfamiliar with the original film would assume Kris is the protagonist until she is killed thirty minutes in a little ala Psycho. It makes everything seem less certain, and makes the characters who you lose as important as the ones who make it, which is a really responsible way to tell something. A lot of the time, the characters in horror are kind of assholes (which is great and another rant for another day, because since the stakes are so low [literally you just have to care enough to not want the character to be brutally murdered], you can get an audience invested in an willing to explore the complexity of even a shitty person—but like I said, that’s a wholeass other rant), but in NOES2010, they’re not, which I think is important. Never does the film want you to feel like the characters either suck and deserve something happening to them, or are stupid (look, when the publicist in Scream 4 got out of her car in an unlit parking garage in the middle of a Ghostface chase, I saw the wholeass theater stop cheering for her to live because she was so stupid we just couldn’t root for her anymore—it happens) and to care less about their outcome that way. Everyone fights hard and tries hard and it’s just not enough.

Obviously it’s a slasher, but NOES 2010 is really like a thesis work film on CSA and how it affects people, and the commentary is both responsible, and really, really well done. As someone who has had to write a character who has committed that kind of crime, and walk the fucking razor’s edge between making them duly awful, and not crossing the line into anything exploitative or gratuitous, I can say with certainty that is not an easy thing to do. Because you want to give weight to the suffering that has been inflicted and realistic portray of the depravity of your villain, but again, you really don’t want to show anything more than you have to. That’s not what it’s about, and honestly, you can talk about that kind of a serious issue without actually showing things on screen. A film about CSA would be kind of defeating its own purpose if anyone who had ever experienced that shit went to watch the movie and went away more traumatized. The film does a really responsible job of walking that line. Freddy is awful, and there’s a constant threat with him—especially in the film’s climax—but he never actually assaults anyone onscreen (or off, except in the referenced past. The worst thing he does onscreen is lick someone, which is still incredibly disgusting), and the film still manages to keep how awful he is very, very real.

CSA is a really shitty thing to go through, obvious, it feels incredibly of dumb to type that—any assault is. Obviously. One of the big things in dealing with it after is a lot of the time, victims can feel broken, or damaged, and even worse, be talked about like they’re some kind of ‘damaged goods’ by incredibly shitty people in their life, but the film doesn’t even give that enough weight to bring it up. There have always been two big ways in film to combat ideas, one of which is direct confrontation (IE a film specifically about something being wrong—Do The Right Thing talking very openly about racism for instance) and by just straight up not doing the thing (Star Trek dropping a woman of color in as both a major cast member, romantic interest for people of other races, and someone working in a position of power, and just being like Yup. This is just normal). Both of which are very necessary and useful approaches. In NOES 2010, all four of the protagonists are in romantic relationships at some point (and so is Dean, the mini-lead protag). It’s not played out voyeuristically, and you don’t get any hot makeout seshes, but they’re definitely in comfortable, functional, physical relationships. In a silent but fucking hardcore stance, while Kris and Jesse spend the night together early in the film, there is not a single on-screen kiss until Quentin and Nancy have found out the truth about what happened to them as kids, and a few minutes later, right before their final confrontation, they kiss. Not even a second thought about anything, except how much they really need and want to kill this piece of shit coming after them, as it should be. It’s a rockhard solidification that not only do the characters not see each other differently because of what happened, but it has done nothing to change who they are or what they can be.

The movie is only an hour and a half, which isn’t that long, but still manages to pack in not only multiple different realistic reactions, (Quentin goes through some hardcore withdrawl/denial after finding stuff out initially, Nancy gets fucking mad), but to cover some of what this is like for their parents. In one conversation with Alan, Quentin’s dad, he tries to explain the mob enacted justice on Krueger years ago by telling him that he hopes someday when he’s a parent, he never has to experience how it feels having utterly failed to protect your child. Even though they only have like thirty seconds of flashback to work with, the script gets in one of the parents in dismay asking what other choice they have about hunting Krueger down, because the alternative is making their three-four year olds get on a stand and tell a room full of strangers what happened to them. It’s a horrible, awful situation to be in. Although it would be really easy to make some drama between characters and their families, even the characters who die have good relationships with their families, and neither the dead teens or their parents are ever narratively ‘punished’ for anything that happens. Kris’ last words to her mom before she leaves on a flight, about eight hours before Kris is murdered, are, realistically, “Love you.” The last thing Nancy says to her own mother is, “I know you were just trying to protect us. Thank you,” and her mother’s last words to her are, “I’m just glad you’re safe.” Characters still die, but they at least get the peace of deserved last words to each other. The film also not only definitely does not vilify the parents for burning Freddy to death for assaulting their preschool aged kids, but comes down in its finale openly supporting that vigilante justice decision, with Nancy’s last words in the film being thanking her mother for protecting them.

Even the whole nightmare theme fits in well with the story being told, because nightmares are a very common side-effect of past trauma, symbolically, there’s a lot people have to fight through in their lives when that kind of shit happens to them, even years later, and it genuinely isn’t given enough weight by most people. As kind of icing on the cake in the film, not only does Nancy get to kill Freddy, he dies in a very ugly, undignified way, with a slit throat and gross expression on his face, after getting his ass handed to him in a like a thirty second fight in reality with two very motivated teenagers.

Plus, Quentin Smith is canonically ADHD, and Nancy Holbrook is a really underrated protagonist who reads autistic and I love her.

Anyway. This movie does a great job about using horror as a medium to talk about a topic usually only people already interested in that specific topic would check out, plays out its narrative very responsibly, comes down hard with a big two thumbs up to murdering your local pedophile in a bonfire, and says fuck you to assault victim stigma. My only real beef with this film is that they were so dead set sure they would have a sequel that instead of ending with real resolution, it’s got a stinger at the end (on rewatches I always skip the last scene lol).

Not that it’s a flawless film—it’s got budget parents, which I think is both hilarious and fantastic (meaning everyone except I think Dean has only one parent, the same gender as them, and it’s hilarious and I adore it). They had rushed filming for some of the end. Etc. But it’s really solid, and doesn’t get enough credit as a film. It’s very different from the original—less campy, less funny. But it’s supposed to be. It’s telling a different story. And it’s telling a really good one.

#a nightmare on elm street 2010 #anoes 2010 #a nightmare on elm street #noes #I finally wrote that rant #CSA/pedophilia mention #someday I will write a proper-er rant but damn I love this film #quentin smith #nancy holbrook #nightmare on elm street #long post

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mythandlaur · 4 years

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alright. test of redemption. and also dissonant counterpoint and "are ya winning the tournament son" for good measure. go.

The WIP Tag Game

Couple repeats, but I have more snippets for both of them so it’s fine.

Long post once again!

The Twins: Test of Redemption (old title) - Terraria - 2016

Ah, yes. My baby, and the bane of my existence. A piece that makes me both smile and cringe whenever somebody happens to find it on AO3. A piece that embarrasses me now because I didn’t know “sp*z” was a slur at the time and now I can’t figure out what to nickname Sp*zmatism thanks Re-Logic. And also embarrasses me because I couldn’t think of a better title. I didn’t even think it was a good title back then I just couldn’t think of another one. This story is a specter that sometimes leaves for a while, but occasionally returns to remind me of its existence, and when it does I look on it with as much fondness as I do shame. I had so much planned. To an extent, I still do. It sits in the back of my mind, waiting for me to get the courage to try again. Maybe I will someday, but for now it sits in a massive series of documents on my computer and Google. And here, now.

Randall and Sherwin Spencer, chosen heroes of Terraria, failed, and died. However, a pact Randall made with an otherworldly power both damned and saved them, and twenty years later, with the world shifting more violently than ever, the stars align to see them revived--without any memory of either of their past lives, man or monster. Guided by the displaced and irritable Keeper of the Underworld, who's trying and failing to remain low-key, the two eventually make their way to a refugee town founded by those the Spencers had abandoned long ago. And so their fight for Terraria begins anew, though now more difficult than ever with the Moon Lord trying to hinder them, the land's strengthening corruption pulling at their very souls, and a few key members of the Lunar Cult keeping a too-close eye on them, one of whom has more than a little bit of a bone to pick after a hasty decision invokes the Moon Lord's favoritism. Meant to be a story of companionship and family, hope and guilt, making up for mistakes and facing the people you hurt without running away, and saving the world--even when it's hard.

Okay, big spiel over, you can tell I still love this stupid thing. Have a bit I wrote slightly more recently (during NaNo 2018) of our green lad being outrageously stupid and summoning a boss, but it’s fine because the moon told him to do it, and then the boss screwed off because the cult told it to go and try to destroy the town so the twins didn’t have any support network. Instances of the character’s name have been replaced by [S]

The next orb was in another dip in the ground just before the main cavern closed itself off into a dead end. A grin spreading across his face, he swung practically before he even reached it.

This time, when the orb broke, dropping an odd-looking spear at his feet, the ground immediately began to rumble.

All at once, the gold light he’d been emitting winked out, leaving him in the purple-tinted darkness. He jolted as if suddenly waking from a dream, his thoughts quickly slipping back into focus as he leapt forwards to avoid being knocked down. A great quake shook the world around him, sending his teeth rattling in his head as he tried to figure out exactly where he was and how he’d gotten here.

He—he’d been on the roof, hadn’t he? The moon…but…how had he gotten here?

Another tremor. [S] grit his teeth and braced himself against the stone with both hands, hammer discarded at his side. He could swear he heard something in the distance; the earth turning, stone crunching, the low rumble of a creature’s roar…

The ground exploded behind him.

[S] scrambled forward, but found himself hitting the cavern’s dead end. He quickly pushed himself around to face the threat, and all the blood drained out of his face.

It was a titanic worm, thicker around than a man with mandibles the size of [S]’s head. Its skin was a sickly purple that almost blended in to the corrupted landscape, and it was covered in innumerable yellowed eyes, all focused directly on him with a look of absolute hatred as it rose up out of the earth, roaring loud enough to shake some loose stone from the walls.

[S] staggered backwards, back hitting the wall as he gaped up at the creature. Was this the worm he’d been told about? There was on time to worry about it—he was unarmed, he needed to get out—

The worm lunged forward with surprising speed, and [S] cried out as he launched himself to the side, back roughly smacking into the wall of the cavern. Hammer was quickly replaced with shield, and he scooped up the thin spear from the orb, testing its weight before plunging it down towards the worm’s body as it raced past.

The spear itself didn’t connect, but with a pulse of mana, it shot out a spike that made the worm roar in pain. [S] quickly dashed further down the cavern in an attempt to get more room to move as the worm burrowed itself into the ground, then burst out of the dead end towards him.

[S] quickly grappled the ceiling, feet barely an inch above the worm as it raced by underneath him, then burrowed back into the ground. Another roar shook the cavern, and the world around him rumbled and lurched, before the head of the worm popped out again above him, and its undulating body twisted up to try and encircle him.

Teeth clenched, he used the power of the shield to dash forward and past the worm, though it nicked him on his way by, causing him to hiss in pain and fumble his landing. He rolled along the ground until his head smacked into a Demon Altar, and stars shone in front of his eyes even as he struggled to get his legs back under him. He could hear the worm burrowing, hear it getting closer, closer, he forced himself up and started running without being entirely sure in which direction he was heading—

And then, the faint moonlight shimmering down from the surface seemed to brighten. The worm burst straight down vertically out of the ceiling where [S] had been standing, but it burrowed straight down into the floor without paying any mind to him. Its next appearance was traveling straight up, up, and out of one of the chasms, leaving [S] frozen as he watched it disappear and heard its roar fading into the distance.

A minute passed, then two, [S] listening intently to ensure the worm wasn’t about to come back. Three minutes later, [S] crumpled to his knees, gasping for the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and letting the shield and Vilethorn drop to the stone beside him. His hands reached up to his head, and his face twisted as a massive headache blossomed behind his eyes.

His mind was racing. What was he doing here? Hadn’t he been on the roof moments ago? What had made the worm so upset at him?

Why had it left? And…where was it going?

[S] pushed himself into a proper sitting position, throwing his head back, eyes shut. The allure of the Corruption had absolutely left him, replaced by fear and guilt. Just what had he done, and why? Had Ret been right? What was he supposed to do now?

Ungodly screeching and scrabbling from creatures deeper in the cavern snapped him out of his endless questions, and he scrambled to his feet. He—he couldn’t go back to Rifdale, not yet, so without thinking he ran, he ran until he reached an alcove where one of the orbs had been (he remembered that, somewhat, vaguely, it was difficult to tell) and curled up inside, staring up at the opening as some of the Corruption’s strange mandibled creatures tried and failed to figure out a way through the opening.

Once he was certain they wouldn’t get in, he buried his face in his arms. He wasn’t sure how long he was going to stay there, but if he hadn’t been able to face Ret before…he certainly wasn’t ready to now.

---

Dissonant Counterpoint - Crypt of the Necrodancer - 2017

Talked about here, but here’s another bit dated January 2018, from near the fic’s tragic end, immediately after the undead Fret’s been incinerated by a red dragon.

"It seems a shame to just leave you here like this. You did have so much...potential."

He wasn't sure how he could see or how he could hear--it was something beyond him, now, some sort of magical tomfoolery he'd never wanted to deal with. But he could see Octavian's boots in front of his face and could hear his constant song pulsing inside his head.

"Ah, don't worry. I think I'll be able to get you set up with something you'd like."

Anger flared again.

You don't know a single fucking thing about what I'd like, he thought, You don't know anything about me. You never did. You just know what you made up.

He wasn't sure how he could stand, either, but he did, compelled by a command. He stared at his former friend, who now looked somewhat uncertain and spooked. He wanted to yell, he wanted to scream, but words were something else beyond him.

He could see and hear when he shouldn't be able to. He could stand when he shouldn't be able to. He could live when he shouldn't be able to.

And yet whatever cruel joke the universe wanted to play on him still refused to let him speak.

"Still have nothing to say to me, old friend?"

The anger burned away, just like everything else had. And all it left was a grim, defeated sort of certainty.

His final act of defiance would be to give in.

He refused to give Octavian the fight he so clearly wanted. He would not let this man tease and torment him, control him however he liked and know he was still there watching it all in despair. He refused to despair.

He couldn't move on his own anymore. He was no doubt unidentifiable. No one would know it was him except Octavian.

How's it gonna feel to get everything you wanted? He wished he could somehow convey his own bitterness, but he was frozen. To know there's nothing more for you to do?...I bet you're gonna hate it. You always wanted to be something more. How's it gonna feel when there’s nothing left to be?

Octavian ducked out of his sightline, and then something was shoved into his hand; the familiar shaft of his halberd. His fingers closed around it, though he wasn't sure how that was possible. Octavian looked...perhaps the least bit upset.

"Er, here. I'll get you something better later. Come along."

The song pulled him forward behind Octavian as they walked deeper into the crypt and away from his own coffin. The only thing that made him question his decision was the thought of Maria--his weird little half-sister that he did care about so much--sick, dying, clutched by fever like he was and all because of him. If she came here...If he wasn't here...

But maybe it would still be better, because she and whatever ghosts she could conjure to her aid would destroy him. And then it would be a double loss for Octavian. Something he could never fix.

Give him hell for me.

But he was going to free himself. He would not let himself stay trapped here anymore.

...You win. How's it feel?

The song seemed to grow louder in his head, rattling him to the core, overwhelming him, and the anger came back, burning hot and bright, and he stopped. He saw Octavian turning back to face him in confusion.

In one final act, he gathered up all of his strength.

He threw his head back, and broke whatever curse had left him speechless.

And he screamed.

---

are ya winnin the puyo tournament son (doc name) - Puyo Puyo - October 2020

Talked about here, but have another bit.

“Yes? Did you need something?” She looks them over. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. Are you new?”

Ajisai gives a small bow. “Yes, very much so. I only just arrived here a little while ago, but I heard that you were arranging a Puyo tournament--and that more than just the magic school students were able to participate. Is that true?”

Accord turns her head, glancing at them out of the corner of her eye. “Yes, though the prize will only be for students this year. We had some...unexpected guests vying for it last time, and I’d like for my students to have incentive to show what they’ve learned.”

“Of course.” They nod respectfully. “I’m not interested in the prize, but I would like to participate if I’m able. I’ve been told I have some skill.”

There’s a moment’s pause as Accord looks them up and down searchingly, then shares a glance with the cat. A sly smile spreads across her face as she meets their eyes. “So, you’re participating by yourself this time?”

Ajisai’s eyes widen slightly, but they manage to recover. “Ah...yes, yes I am. Good eye.”

Accord giggles. “You could say we have a nose for this sort of thing.”

“And we don’t trust mew,” the cat adds, baring its teeth.

Ajisai turns their focus to it, a hand to their chest in mock offense. They know what the cat’s about, of course. “You don’t trust me? Why, we’re practically family.”

The cat hisses, and Accord laughs again, though tries to hide it behind the feather of her cane. “He’s a bit high strung,” she offers, stroking the cat’s head with a finger--it appears to try and pout, but leans into the touch anyway. They’re almost positive they hear purring. Her gaze becomes serious. “Though I do hope you don’t intend to cause any trouble.”

“Of course not.” A hand over their heart, this time genuine. “My wits are about me again, and that is all in the past.” ...They can’t help a slight smirk. “...well, mostly. But I don’t want to cause any harm.”

Accord nods slowly, taking a second to judge their sincerity. “I’m going to choose to trust you.”

“I appreciate it.” Another, lower bow.

#apprenticenerd

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purrincess-chat · 5 years

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In your opinion, what are all the things that ML writers could do to fix the show and make it better?

Oh, Lord, how much time do you have?

I don’t even know how to begin gathering my thoughts for this, so if this ends up being a big incoherent brain dump then, uh, I’m sorry. XD

So, first and foremost I guess, they need to balance their main characters better. Why is all of the plot tied to Adrien? Why does Adrien have a more fleshed out backstory than Marinette? This is supposed to be a girl power show, and yet it revolves more around the boy’s life from the girl’s perspective basically. Marinette really doesn’t have a dog in that fight outside of the fact that she was asked.

Marinette needs some kind of tie into the plot that doesn’t revolve around her love interest which is basically all they are willing to give her in this show. Everything about her has to relate back to the boy somehow, and if girl power is their message, then they are kind of defeating the purpose. Sure, they have episodes that are supposed to depict that the girl doesn’t need the boy, but then when you pile on top of that dozens of other instances where she gets pushed aside in favor of the boy, including words coming out of the creator’s own mouth (or off of his two thumbs onto a screen) then it doesn’t exactly hold the same weight.

If your protagonist doesn’t have a tie into the plot, then why are they the protagonist? Take other shows, for instance: Avatar: the Last Airbender, Aang is the avatar and it’s his destiny to keep the balance in the world, She-ra, Adora was destined to become She-ra, it’s in her blood. But you have Marinette who is Ladybug because….the greater good? Some fairy sprite bug thing asked her to be?

The villain isn’t personal for her, there is no mark of destiny that deems that she must be a hero, she’s just kind of there. Even her family barely gets fleshed out in comparison to Adrien’s. I mean, her parents are just blindly supportive of her meanwhile Adrien’s mom is in a magical coma, his father is cold, distant, and neglectful, which for some reason turns his assistant on and makes her want to sacrifice her fucking health even though Gabriel looks like a dried up soft pretzel. They canceled the special where we were supposed to learn about Marinette’s family, and I think that about sums up my point.

Secondly, I think they need to abandon the idea that Adrien is perfect because it’s not doing his character any favors. Thomas is so far up his ass about Adrien being a perfect example to boys that he has actually looped back around and made Adrien a poor example to boys. He gets away with all of his bad behavior because Thomas just covers his eyes if you call it bad behavior, he refuses to take no for an answer from the girl he likes, he thinks standing up for yourself is being unkind to the other person regardless of how unkind they are being to you, he conveniently turns a blind eye to the abuse of his friends, but god help you if you try to assert yourself against your aggressor because “you should just be nice to them and eventually they’ll change” like um, and maybe they won’t, in the mean time, I don’t want to put up with their bullshit!

By insisting on this perfect image, they prevent Adrien from growing because you can’t improve perfect. I have said it before numerous times, but Adrien reeks of amateur fanfiction author’s self-insert OC. He’s described as being perfect, he’s good at a lot of activities just because, he’s wildly attractive, charming, smooth, can generally do no wrong, everything revolves around him, the narrative is constructed in a way that usually puts him above the everyone else. The fact that more people don’t realize that, especially the creator himself, is laughable.

“But Cat, Chat Noir gets mind-controlled and thrown around and is goofy and-” Okay, but when Chat throws a tantrum about Ladybug not returning his feelings, who apologizes sincerely? Who is painted as being wrong in that situation? When Chloe puts a train full of people in danger just to play hero for a day, who does he scold? And of the two, who does the fandom adore more? Bonus: who do the Chibi specials revolve around and pity?

Thirdly, they need to actually delve into shit more. It’s season 3, they’ve only been greenlit for 2 more seasons, and what plot do we have? Gabriel wants to bring his wife back from her magical coma, Master Fu messed up something in the past that led to two Miraculouses being lost as well as their temple to be destroyed where presumably everyone else but him died making him the last member of that magical society. That’s it. We don’t know how Emilie got to be the way she is. We have suspicions, but nothing explicit in canon yet. Same with Fu. We don’t know what his mistake was, only that he made one. We barely know any lore about the Miraculouses, the origins, how they were made, when they started working with humans, why they were created.

If you want my honest opinion, with how slowly they’re dragging out this Agreste plot, they could have accomplished it in two seasons if they actually made every episode count and mean something. We get like maybe 1-2 minutes of actual plot relevant information once every few episodes, if that, and sometimes that “plot relevant information” is just the villain learning that there’s a guardian. Hang onto your asses, guys, they’re really laying it on thick for us.

Seriously, they give us breadcrumbs of plot, and they don’t even go into any of the cool shit (like fucking Master Fu and his ancient magical fight club perhaps??) because obviously the villain’s assistant being in love with him despite the fact that he’s married, has a kid, and is doing all of this to resurrect his comatose wife whom he loves and devotes everything to is WAY more interesting and important than all that froufrou magical ass Chinese bullshit, right? Like, this show has all of this Chinese lore and a biracial lead, and they still somehow manage to make it all about white people. but ya know, the French are proud of themselves I guess

Fourth, chunk the status quoyo out the fucking window. I get that this decision may not have been the writing team’s, but in fact a higher up decision, but it’s still a stupid ass decision. For a show that is trying to introduce deeper plot, you cannot progress anything if you constantly have to set everything back to the way it was at the end of the episode, and that much is evident. The relationships are getting stale, characters aren’t developing, plot is moving at a snail’s pace, all because they are so bound by this idea that everything needs to be right in the end to maintain an episodic format. If they wanted to keep the series episodic, they shouldn’t have gone in for all of this lore and backstory that they say exists, but never tell us what it is because that just leaves a lot of people unsatisfied.

Fifth, for the love of god learn how to write dynamic characters. Not everyone needs to be dynamic, but your main cast should probably be. Adrien, I love him to bits, but he is static as all fuck. Which, again, see point number 2. One of the biggest complaints floating around about Stormy Weather 2 is that the characters haven’t changed. With the exception of Marinette, none of the other characters have really learned anything. Adrien hasn’t, Nathalie doesn’t have enough focus to learn shit, Nino and Alya really haven’t, Chloe sure as hell hasn’t, and Gabriel can’t decide if he’s an abusive piece of shit or a sympathetic, heart broken sad man, so I barely count him.

In fact, 3 of those characters’ “development” just revolves around being in love. Nathalie’s “change” is that she for some reason wants to fuck Gabriel (I guess the whole gray-ass pompadour, candy cane aesthetic really does it for her), and then Alya and Nino’s “change” is that they fuck love each other now which them being a couple has basically just become their entire character. They’re barely separate anymore, particularly in Nino’s case more than Alya’s. I’m sure that Chloe’s bit about having changed juxtaposed with flashbacks of her not being nice coupled with how she wasn’t nice in this episode was just for humor because they like to make the point that mean people will never change, but for some reason they still feel the need to teach the protagonist a lesson about being nice to mean people so that they can change, but they don’t do that, they just think that you should keep hoping. :) :) :)

I honestly think that the writers don’t know what “character development” means, and Stormy Weather 2 was just proof of that. All they did was show that the characters have been in a number of different situations, but none of them have really learned anything or grown from those situations, so it’s kind of a weak argument to say that they’ve changed when they’re all intrinsically the same. Except for Marinette because she is constantly the writing teams’ punching bag in all of these morals of the day cause can’t teach shit to perfect boy cause he’s perfect, but of course they don’t reflect on all of the lessons they forced her to learn, what are we, stupid? No, her only importance to the plot is the fact that she loves the boy that the plot really focuses on, so of course her only significant development of character is that she can talk to him sometimes without foaming at the mouth. Not a peep on how she has learned to overcome her jealousy and hotheaded nature, gained confidence in herself, and learned to maturely accept when someone doesn’t return her feelings, a lesson that a lot of us wish good old perfect boy would fucking learn, but he can’t because he’s perfect. :) :) :)

Another part of the problem with characterization in this show, is that often times characters behave in such a way to push the moral of the day rather than giving them established characters. It’s why Alya only questions Marinette’s sources in Chameleon while she just lets Lila claim a bunch of wild shit without batting an eye because she only cares about journalistic integrity when she can use it to beat down her friend so she can learn a lesson about turning the other cheek. :) :) :)

Sixth, pick up a fucking romance novel every once in a while cause hot damn is their relationship progression a heaping pile of hot garbage. Their love drama is so forced and there’s no real development because of the #status quoyo because they must drag this shit on until we’ve all basically lost interest. I’ve seen more people dropping off the love square in the last half season than I’ve ever seen in any other show. Part of that has to do with Adrien becoming a real “nice guy™” but a good chunk of it also has to do with the fact that they don’t really know how to write love drama or romantic tension in a way that makes you care. We all pretty much know that Adrien is never going to figure it out, even if someone grabs him by the shoulders and screams it in his face that Marinette is in love with him, so why should we care? We know that Chat Noir is never going to stop loving Ladybug, but Ladybug is never going to stop loving Adrien so why should we care? We know the show is never going to break the square because they’re endgame so why should we care about the love rivals?

Seriously, Captain Hardrock didn’t give me a reason to care about Luka or ship him with Marinette. I still stand by my opinion that their chemistry was incredibly forced and inorganic, and it still is, and as much as I love Kagami, I wasn’t convinced that she was interested in Adrien at the end of Riposte either. The only reason we know Luka likes Marinette is because Winny said he “fell in love with her at first sight” on Twitter (which the whole love at first sight trope is bullshit, but that’s a post for another day). Somehow in Frozer Kagami was randomly into Adrien all of a sudden, and no one likes to bat an eye about the fact that she told him to change targets because the girl he likes doesn’t like him back and then at the end of the episode when Adrien admits that he still likes the other girl over Kagami, Kagami is all “well, it’s fine. I’ll wait.” like bitch, again on characterization. A strong and confident character like her would know her worth and would show that boy the door. But of course she would contradict herself because they need her for #love drama later even though we all know it doesn’t matter.

I love the love square, and I live for soft moments between them, but I’m ready for them to turn up the heat and give me some actual drama and tension that doesn’t revolve around Chat being a pouty pissbaby or Marinette fucking up another love confession. Cause when you do that too many times, it stops being interesting. You have to throw us a bone somewhere or else we’re gonna stop caring, and lots of people already have.

Seventh, can we please stop pitting all of the girls against each other while the boys just get to be cool with each other? For a show that promotes itself as being a “girl power” show, there are a metric fuckton of misogynistic undertones to this show. See: why does the plot revolve around the boy even though the girl is the slated protagonist. See: why does the girl learn all the lessons while the boy gets to be right all the time. See: why two teenage girls are “the worst things I can think of” while an actual neglectful father gets to be sympathetic and “do anything for his family” uwu

Seriously, I think making Kagami and Marinette rivals while Luka and Adrien are just chill dudebros is so tired. Girls fighting over boys is tired, especially because we have it not once, not twice, but three fucking times in this show. Chloe and Marinette don’t often fight over Adrien, but in Despair Bear Chloe sure as hell didn’t want them dancing together. Marinette initially follows Lila because she’s hanging off of Adrien, and even at the end of Chameleon, Lila makes it known that she is still gonna try to steal Adrien. Kagami basically tells Marinette that she better stop hesitating or she is gonna steal Adrien away, and we have Backwarder where Marinette is basically plotting to cockblock them even though we had Frozer where she decided she wasn’t going to be jealous of them because Adrien liked her. Again, see: characters behaving in a way that is convenient for the plot of the episode. All of the drama is between girls. All of the women in this show are described as being terrible, the worst things they could think of, never going to stop being mean. Seriously. Chloe and Lila? Worst things Thomas can think of. Audrey is constantly shown intimidating her husband who is extremely corrupt himself, not that anyone bats an eye at that. Nathalie/Mayura was described by Jeremy as “making Hawkmoth look like a baby.” Any time they show a man being problematic, they have to bring in a female to be ten times worse, and the worst part is: they don’t even know they’re doing it. #girl power, am I right?

Eighth, speaking of making people bad, can we stop half-assing redemptions? Honestly, they’re so back and forth on whether or not they’re going to redeem Chloe. First it’s “mean people will never get a miraculous” then dingdong, who’s that? Queen Bee, motherfuckers. Then it’s talk about how they’re not going to redeem Chloe then bam bitch, “why don’t you love me?” But even after that they reset the status quoyo and have her go back to being mean. Even after they give her a second chance to be a hero and do good, she still goes right back to being her nasty self. I think they really highlighted in Stormy Weather 2 how much they haven’t changed her at all, and yet somehow she still gets to play the hero.

Additionally, now we have them trying to make Gabriel sympathetic? Boo fucking hoo my wife is in a coma so I terrorize the fucking city on a daily basis, pity me! Also I neglect my son, verbally abuse him from time to time, and I don’t even let him see his friends or feel any happiness, and even though my superpower revolves around feeling people’s negative emotions, I never seem to care about my own son’s unhappiness, but hey, I’m doing it for his mommy, so that makes me better than the 14 year old girl. :D

Shit or get off the pot, Zag. Either you’re going to redeem these characters, or you’re going to leave them the way they are. Make up your damn mind.

Ninth, be diverse in more than name only. For a show that prides itself on its biracial female lead and its ties to Chinese culture, uhh, they spend a lot of time focusing on not those things. I said it before, but they focus all of their plot attention on rich ass white people drama more than the vastly more interesting Chinese lore they have going on. Their black characters were paired together just cause, and their only real important quality now is that they love each other. Their ship is basically their character now, and we barely have a reason to root for them outside of the fact that they’re canon. They have such shallow relationship development that my feet wouldn’t get wet if I stood in a puddle of it. Can we have more on them, please?

This show is diverse only on the surface. They use diversity as decoration then fill everything else with less interesting shit, and even then they get a lot of shit wrong. It drives one of my Asian friends nuts that Sabine’s neckline is facing the wrong direction. (for those unaware of what I mean, it should look like a y. hers is backwards) They use diversity to pat themselves on the back and say they are diverse, but they have no intention of doing anything meaningful with it. It’s just a gold sticker they wanted to give themselves to draw in an eastern market. It’s cheap, and several of us see through that shit.

And last, but certainly not least: Shut the absolute fuck up on Twitter. Just shut the fuck up. Every time Thomas opens his mouth, he just pisses off more people or makes everything more convoluted. Shut the fuck up. Please.

Now, I know a host of you are going to be like “buhhh, it’s a kid’s show, go outside, hur dur, I’m so smart and mature,” but like, honestly that’s a weak argument. Yes, Thomas’s audience is young now and they may not be able to see all of this shit, but when they get older and decide to go back and watch one of their favorite childhood cartoons, all of that shit is gonna come out. They’re not gonna be so naive forever, especially if our generation is raising them, and just because they can’t see all of this shit now, doesn’t mean that it’s not still there just because they don’t notice? That doesn’t make it any less problematic. One thing I love about several shows I used to watch as a kid is that they aged well. When I go back and watch them now as an adult, I find things that I missed as a kid that I appreciate now as an adult. I can’t say that the same is going to happen with Miraculous, especially in this day and age.

Additionally, kids learn a lot through media. I never believed that I was any less than the boys growing up because I consumed a lot of media that taught me that, and going back and watching it over now, I still get that from those shows. Clearly, if you apply two ounces of logic to this show, it falls apart, and that’s not because it’s a kid’s show, it’s because it’s bad writing. I can always see what they are going for, but they always miss just a little bit. sometimes a lot

A lot of us complain because we are concerned with the message being spread to the next generation because those kids are going to grow up one day and be influenced by what they are consuming now. If we teach our girls that the perfect boy is going to chase after us no matter what we say to them and if we teach our boys that in order to be the perfect boy we have to continually chase after the girl until she says yes, how are those kids going to approach relationships? That mentality is actually something that we are trying to combat in the world. That mentality is why rape is so prevalent because we teach boys that they are entitled to a woman’s affection if they’re “nice” to them, and if she doesn’t give it to them, then she is wrong.

Media has an impact on kids, whether we like to admit it or not. Yes, parents can still teach them, but sometimes things get into your subconscious and it can determine how you see yourself and the world. Lots of kids engage in make-believe play where they put themselves in that character’s shoes and play pretend. I just think it’s important to give them the right things to look up to.

#ml salt #ml spoilers #meta #miraculous ladybug

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gamerwoo · 5 years

Text

Jihoon: The Last Of The Real Ones

Characters: Jihoon x reader (gender neutral)

Genre/warnings: superhero/superhuman au, angst, fluff, mild violence, blood, mentions of kidnapping and torture

Word count: 6,406

Summary: ‘Cause you’re the last of a dying breed. Write our names in the wet concrete. I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me. I’m here in search of your glory, there’s been a million before me. That ultra kind of love you never walk away from. You’re just the last of the real ones.

a/n: this is inspired by The Last Of The Real Ones by Fall Out Boy. I also wrote reader to be taller than Jihoon bc that’s just how I pictured them, but I tried to keep it gender neutral :]

Seventeen Song Series

Supers were hard as hell to come by. They typically stayed in hiding due to all of the people in the world that would kill to get their hands on one to shape and mold it into whatever kind of weapon they wanted. They were so hard to find, in fact, that people had thought they were completely wiped out or something.

Jihoon had known better. He knew they weren’t completely gone because he wasn’t gone. But the world didn’t need to know that, so he continued to live his life under the radar. He went to college like a normal kid, he walked to and from the bus stop and took public transport to school and then back home, and he did his shopping while keeping to himself. To the world, Jihoon was average, and he had yet to find anybody else like him.

Until he met you.

Jihoon was walking home one night from the bus stop, his backpack hanging off his shoulders as he kept his hands shoved deep in his pockets. He didn’t like making eye contact with people, and he didn’t like letting his eyes wander to see what other people were doing. He just liked to keep to himself and mind his own business, so his brown eyes stayed on the ground.

“Get off me!” he heard a voice grunt off to his right.

As an instinctive reaction, his eyes flashed up before they found an alleyway off to his right a few feet away. His feet continued to bring him forward before he was peering down the alley, just wanting to glance to make sure it wasn’t anything dangerous before carrying on his way. However, he saw a man pushing himself up against a girl, the girl’s back against the brick siding of the building behind her as she tried to shove him away from her.

While Jihoon did like to mind his own business, he knew this was a situation he couldn’t just ignore. He was about to shrug off his backpack and go intervene when he saw a shadow drop down from one of the rooftops, landing on the top of a dumpster with a bang. The person landed on the ball of one foot and their other knee, one hand holding them up. It was such a stereotypical superhero stance straight out of a cartoon, and yet, Jihoon couldn’t help but think it looked damn cool.

The shadowed figure looked up, eyes glowing a dusty lilac color that was easily visible in the darkness of the night. The girl gasped, and even the man started to back away. None of them had ever seen anything like that before, but Jihoon recognized eyes like that. He saw his own in a mirror a few times when he tested his power. His glowed a grey-ish color, though, but he was still used to the weird glow.

The figure raised their bare hand, palm out to the man before pushing away from them. Without even touching the man, he went flying back, his back hitting the wall of the opposite building as the air left his body with a huff. He collapsed onto the ground as the figure casually slid off of the dumpster, standing protectively in front of the girl.

Now that they were completely standing, Jihoon could see they were dressed in tight, black clothing with a black mask that covered half their face. Their hair was pulled back out of their face and tucked into a hood that was tight around their face, and he could barely make out their silhouette in the dark alleyway. Jihoon was surprised by their attire because they looked like they were trying to be some sort of ninja.

“Go,” they said over their shoulder to the girl, nodding their head toward the opening of the alley.

“Thank you, Void!” the girl said breathlessly before running off in the direction of safety, pushing passed Jihoon.

The person -- Void -- made eye contact with Jihoon, the glow in their eyes dulling before they swiftly kicked the man without even looking as he ran at them before they quickly lept back onto the dumpster, jumped to reach the fire escape, and made their way back to the rooftop where they disappeared.

Maybe he wasn’t the only super after all. He just wasn’t sure who that person was, but he wanted to find them again.

You were a superhero of sorts -- the city had deemed you one, anyway. News headlines, pictures, articles all about you -- you were like some sort of real life Batman with the way you hid in the shadows and only came out to defeat bad guys. Nobody even knew what you looked like, but they could recognize the all-black outfit you wore.

Jihoon had learned all of this that night when he couldn’t fall asleep. His mind was racing with thoughts of this other super that willingly showed themselves to normal people. But now he understood -- you were there to protect them, and they recognized you as a friend and hero. He had thought the ‘superhero’ idea had all but died out with the supers’ hope of fitting in, but here you were to shine some sort of beacon of hope -- not necessarily for Jihoon because there was no way he was going out of his way to be noticed when he tried so hard to stay under the radar, but for other supers that might be out there.

But the fact you were some sort of vigilante that protected people in danger gave Jihoon an idea on how he’d see you again. He had questions for you that needed answers. It was almost an odd instinct that Jihoon had to try to befriend this other super since he was all alone.

Maybe that was it -- he felt lonely.

So Jihoon did something really stupid the next night. He went out to a bar not too far from his apartment and started a fight with the first big dude he saw outside. The guy clearly had a couple beers in him, and he was leaning up against the side of the building smoking a cigarette. Jihoon went right up to him, kicked him in the shin, and then punched him in the mouth when the guy was bent over.

That explained why you found Jihoon the way you did. This poor, tiny boy had blood running from his nose and down his lips, and already had a bruised eye. You thought this was just some big, drunk guy pounding on somebody significantly smaller than him, but it was actually just Jihoon causing trouble just for the hell of it -- well, technically to see you, but still. So you ran to jump in, pushing the man off before you stood protectively in front of the smaller boy that had fallen to the sidewalk. Your eyes glowed their soft purple as you prepared for a fight. Thankfully, the man’s tipsy state had him terrified of your eyes, screaming that you were a ghost before he ran off down the street.

You turned to the boy still on the ground behind you. He looked completely harmless with wide brown eyes and a baby-like face as he looked up on you. Actually, he looked straight-up innocent -- adorable, even. You weren’t sure why some giant man with tattoos would beat on somebody like this.

You crouched down to examine him, your head tilting to one side as your eyes went back to their normal color. Jihoon was in awe of how close you were, unable to think of what to do or say next.

“You okay?” you asked, your voice slightly muffled by your mask.

Hearing your voice speaking to him, Jihoon came back to his senses, shrugging as he didn’t want to come off as weak to you.

“I guess so,” he mumbled.

“Here,” you sighed as you stood up, holding a hand out to help him up, “I’ll get you home. You look like you’re in pretty bad shape.”

While Jihoon would’ve declined the offer from anybody else, he took your hand and let you pull him to his feet. He had to look up at you to see your eyes, and you almost chuckled because this guy looked like you could carry him all the way home without a problem. But instead, you moved to stand beside him, motioning that you wanted to put an arm around his waist.

“May I?”

Jihoon just shrugged, lifting his arm so you could get yours around him. He rested his hand on your shoulder closest to him before you started to help him limp home. You had to bite your tongue to not ask if you could just carry him on your back since it would be faster.

After a few minutes of complete silence other than Jihoon’s soft grunts and hisses of pain, he finally asked, “So...you’re...Void…?”

You chuckled with a nod, “Yeah, I guess so -- that’s what everybody calls me.”

“Because of all the black you wear?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Your power doesn’t even have anything to do with a void.”

“What are they gonna call me? Force?” you snorted before turning serious. “Wait, that’s not bad…”

“You seem to really like this superhero thing…” he noticed with a grumble. He wasn’t sure why that annoyed him. Maybe because he was afraid of having a power while you were almost worshiped for it.

“Enough about me,” you decided, looking down at him. “What’s your name?”

He stared back up at you in silence for a moment before finally breaking. “Jihoon.”

“Alright, Jihoon,” you began, “what’s a kid like you doing getting beat up outside a bar by a guy like that?”

“I’m not a kid,” he stated, a harshness to his voice. “I’m an adult -- I was born in ‘96.”

“Sorry,” you laughed softly, “I didn’t mean it like you were a literal kid.”

“Oh… Sorry, I’m just used to the jokes like that since I’m...y’know…”

“Height doesn’t mean shit,” you scoffed. “Take that guy outside the bar for instance -- he was taller than both of us and still ran away.”

“I think any normal person would run away if they were up against a super,” Jihoon figured before he was gesturing to the building you were walking up to with his other hand. “This is my building.”

You turned to help him up the steps, mumbling to yourself, “I should clean you up and stuff.”

Jihoon had to bite his tongue to not let out an automatic response like ‘I can do it myself’. He still wanted his answers, and to do that, he’d need to talk to you in private. If he had to let it be known he was a super, too, he wasn’t going to do it in public. He refused to have anybody know what he really was but he had to gain your trust.

When you got up to the door, Jihoon unlocked it before you helped him into the elevator. He pushed the button for his floor and the two of you continued to stand there, your arm around him while he kept his hand on your shoulder for support. Standing in a silent elevator alone made you feel awkward suddenly, like you were too close. You weren’t sure why.

Finally, the elevator dinged softly before the doors opened. Jihoon hobbled out and turned to go to his end of the hallway before he stopped at his door and unlocked that. He pushed the door open and you helped him inside, turning on the lights by the door. He kicked off his shoes so you did the same before you asked him where his bathroom was. He led you to it before he leaned back against the sink with a groan.

“Do you have a first aid kit?” you asked, looking around the small bathroom since you didn’t want to be rude and just dig through his stuff.

“No,” he chuckled, dabbing at the blood on his upper lip with the side of his index finger, “but I have peroxide and cotton balls under the sink, and bandaids in the cupboard behind the mirror.”

“You just sit. You shouldn’t be standing since you were limping most of the way here. I’ll get everything.”

Jihoon moved to sit on the toilet seat cover while you got down to get the materials you needed. Then you grabbed the bandaids and set everything on the floor by Jihoon’s foot before you got on your knees in front of him and gingerly held his chin in your hand, tilting his head toward the light to get a better look at his face. Thankfully, the shadows outside definitely seemed to make him look a lot worse than he was.

As you examined him, Jihoon couldn’t help but examine you -- at least, what little of you he could see.

“Do you still have to wear all that?” he wondered.

Honestly, you’d forgotten you still had your hero gear on. It was actually pretty comfortable and breathable so you didn’t mind it. But you weren’t about to suddenly take it off in a stranger’s house. There was no way you were going to expose your identity to somebody you just met, no matter how cute they looked.

“Yeah,” you replied plainly.

Jihoon went silent for a moment before quietly saying, “I’ve never met a super before. I didn’t even know there were any in the city. I guess I was too caught up in school and keeping my head down that I didn’t notice the news.”

“You’re that oblivious, huh?” you chuckled as you began to soak a cotton ball in peroxide and clean the blood off his face and out of the small cuts on his face.

He sucked in a sharp breath at the sting, and you quickly began apologizing repeatedly.

“It’s alright,” he coughed, trying to just breathe through the pain.

You stopped, giving him a little time to relax. You tossed the used cotton ball in the trash before looking back up at him again.

“For what it’s worth...I’ve never met anybody like me, either,” you admitted quietly, your eyes casting downward. “Honestly, I’m starting to think they’ve all been wiped out or something. I know they’re all probably just hiding but it’s getting kind of...discouraging, I guess.”

“Lonely,” Jihoon offered.

You nodded, “Lonely, yeah…”

“I know what you mean…”

You looked up at Jihoon again, his gaze looking down and off to the side. You cocked your head to one side, “What, do you not have any friends or something? No family?”

“No, I mean…” Jihoon sighed as he trailed off.

His eyes hesitantly met yours before you saw them slowly start to glow to life, their dark brown turning a grey color that reminded you of cloudy skies. Your jaw dropped as your breath left you, realizing that there was only one explanation for this: Jihoon was like you.

You were at a loss for words. Jihoon didn’t show you what his power was, and he didn’t say anything. He just looked at you with his glowing eyes, his expression unreadable. But he had no idea what you were thinking, either, with your mask covering your expression. All he could see was the shock and wonder in your eyes.

Slowly, Jihoon reached forward. Your eyes didn’t leave his even though you knew he was reaching for the hood that was secured to your head. He slowly pushed it away, letting it fall to your shoulders. Then his index fingers hooked into the black mask and slowly tugged down, waiting to see if you’d stop him.

But you didn’t.

You watched as Jihoon looked your face over, his expression still unreadable. But inside, he was beyond happy to finally see the face of somebody like him. He wasn’t alone now if you trusted him enough to let him see you for who you really were. But he was a super, too, so how could you not trust him?

“What’s your name?” he asked quietly, his eyes dulling back to brown.

“_____,” you replied just above a whisper.

He nodded, repeating, “_____…”

“You seem a lot more chipper since our last session.”

You didn’t even look at your therapist, staring out the window that overlooked the city instead. Her office was on a higher floor of a skyscraper in the middle of the city, so you always loved the view. It wasn’t uncommon for you to prefer looking out the window rather than at Dr.Yoo.

“Do I?” you asked, not really paying much attention to her observation, but you were curious as to how you gave that away. You didn’t think you looked or acted any different since two weeks ago.

Dr.Yoo only hummed in response as she observed you before she asked, “What caused the change?”

You shrugged, “I made a friend.”

“You did?” she smiled, seeming genuinely happy about this turn of events. Dr.Yoo was aware that you lived alone and didn’t speak to many people, so this was improvement in her eyes. “When did this happen?”

“Last week.”

“How’d you meet them?”

You wanted to go on and on about Jihoon. You wanted to tell her everything you’d learned about him since that day -- his personality, what he looked like, the way he made you feel, and how he finally made you feel like you weren’t alone in the world. But you knew you couldn’t reveal any of that. Jihoon didn’t like people knowing too much about him, and that was something you learned almost immediately after the two of you silently agreed to be friends.

“Fate.”

Months had gone by since then. You visited Jihoon on a regular basis, and he was more than happy to have you around -- even if he didn’t directly show it. But you quickly picked up on the small ways he showed affection, like remembering little details or buying your favorite takeout or the biggest way he tried to protect you.

“_____, don’t go.”

Those words left his mouth almost every night you decided to hang out at Jihoon’s -- which really was almost every night. Whenever you had to go out looking for any signs of trouble, Jihoon would immediately insist you stay -- even stay the night if you had to.

Tonight was the same conversation.

The thing was, the more he got to know you -- you, not Void -- the more he fell for you. Yes, the fact you were the only other super he knew had to do with it, but it was also just you -- what was inside you. You as a person was what really pushed him over the edge, and he was falling, falling, falling for a superhero that couldn’t save him from it.

That was why he wanted you to quit being Void. He knew it was dangerous. It wasn’t even just the ‘bad guys’ out there, it was the real bad guys -- the people who wanted to get ahold of a super and use them for themselves. He knew with you being public about yourself, that would make you a huge target. Hell, you could’ve been being tracked. He just wanted to keep you safe.

But he didn’t want to tell you about the people who were the real danger. He didn’t want to scare you, so he kept it to himself.

He knew about them. He was captured by them before.

“Jihoon, I promise I’ll be back in a couple hours,” you insisted, already grabbing your bag of clothes from where you left it by the door.

“A lot can happen in a couple hours,” Jihoon stated, standing up from the couch. He stayed in one spot but his eyes followed you around his apartment. “You know I’ll have no idea where you are if anything happens.”

You just scoffed, slinging your bag over your shoulder as you made your way to his bathroom, “Remember that time you got beat up outside a bar? How are you going to protect me?”

You entered the bathroom and shut the door, so Jihoon walked up and stood right outside the door while you changed.

“What if you run into somebody that you can’t handle?” he asked.

“I can handle anything,” you promised from the other side of the door. “With my power, I can keep people as far away from me as I want.”

“Until you meet somebody who is prepared to take on your power.”

“Like who?”

Them.

The door flew open and Jihoon looked up. You were pulling your hood up, tucking stray pieces of hair back into it. Your mask was pulled down under your chin as you smirked down at him, both eyebrows raised like you were still expecting an answer to your question.

He sighed, running a hand through his silver hair, “I’m just saying, _____ -- we’re not the only supers and maybe somebody out there has your anti-power or something.”

“Maybe it’s you,” you joked, your expression turned almost fond. “You still haven’t shown it to me.”

Jihoon looked away, grumbling, “I told you, I don’t like using it…”

You just chuckled, brushing passed him as you pulled your mask up to cover the lower half of your face. As you reached the window where the fire escape was, you pushed it open before turning back to look at Jihoon.

“I’ll be fine,” you promised him, giving him a serious look. You knew he cared deeply for you, and returned that, but you also knew that this was what you were made to do. “I always am, aren’t I?”

Jihoon didn’t look at you while he stayed silent, and you thought he wasn’t going to say anything, but he finally sighed and softly said, “I know you think this city needs you...but I need you more.”

You froze, unsure of what to say. Jihoon was more of a shower -- a tsundere one at that -- than a teller, so the fact he openly told you how he felt was almost shocking. It definitely took you off guard, that was for sure. But you were still a little confused by his statement.

“Why…?” you wondered, though the word was barely heard.

You could tell it took all of Jihoon’s courage to make his eyes meet yours. He took a couple breaths, trying to build up the guts to admit it.

“I love you.”

Again, you were surprised, but this time, you weren’t at a loss for words. You knew exactly what you wanted to say.

“Jihoon--”

“You don’t have to say anything,” he said quickly, turning away from you completely. “I know you’re still going to leave either way, so just go.”

You decided to just drop the subject as you swung one leg out the window before the other.

“I’ll be back before sunrise at the latest,” you promised.

And then you were quickly climbing the fire escape, making almost no noise with how stealthy you’d learned to be. Still, Jihoon knew when you were gone, making your way to the rooftop.

Jihoon never bothered closing the window. He always left it open for when you came back because he’d always find you crashed on his couch in the morning. But each time he left it open, he always wondered if this time would be the time he’d wake up to an empty couch.

Never once did Jihoon stop thinking about you ever since he met you -- especially after getting closer with you. You had become his top priority, and he made sure to always look out for you. His main priority was your safety, and even after his confession last week that was never brought up again, he put that at the back of his mind in favor of protecting you.

The fact he was so inconspicuous came in handy. He may have kept to himself, but he always paid close attention. So he could easily recognize the ‘incognito’ men who were wandering the busy streets of the city, all mumbling into earpieces as their sunglass-covered eyes observed the area. Thankfully, none of them seemed to pay him any mind. It had been years since he escaped, and he made sure to keep his appearance different than how he looked as a teenager -- which was easier since he’d grown up since then. But he knew that meant they were here for someone else.

There was just one problem: he didn’t know where you were.

Shops and food stands lined both sides of the street. It seemed almost like a slightly larger alleyway, but you liked the aesthetic of it. Glowing signs lit up above the street as you walked, your phone in one hand as you slightly readjusted your bomber jacket with the other.

Ever since Jihoon’s confession, you’d been trying to figure out how to bring it up again. Jihoon was supposed to be on his way to class when you decided to go for a walk to do some thinking. You weren’t sure just exactly how to tell him you felt the same. You didn’t want to just blurt it out but you didn’t know how to bring the subject up.

You were brutally pulled from your thoughts when you felt an arm shove against your neck, pushing you up against a nearby food truck. Suddenly, men all dressed in black clothing, bulletproof vests, and helmets were surrounding around you and the man -- who was wearing the same thing -- and aiming black guns at you that looked like something straight out of a crime show. Your phone had dropped to the pavement with your surprise, a gasp barely able to leave your throat.

Some sort of device was held up to your face before a bright light scanned down the upper half of your face. The man in front of you nodded before you heard him declaring that Void was caught.

“W-what’s going on?” you asked, your voice shaking more than you would’ve liked.

“You’re coming with us.” he stated, trying to turn you around.

You still weren’t sure what was going on, but it didn’t feel right. You had an awful feeling about this situation, and your fight or flight instincts started to kick in as alarms screaming danger were going off in your head.

“Get away from me!” you screamed, your eyes squeezed shut as you shoved away from yourself.

The man stumbled backwards as you opened your eyes, showing that they were glowing their dusty lilac color. You held one palm out to the man before flicking it off to the side, expecting to see him fly through the air in the direction you sent him.

But nothing happened.

Guns cocked, and you flinched as you went into panic mode. Why weren’t your powers working? Who were these people? Why did they want to take you and what did they want to do with you?

“Void, if you don’t come with us calmly, we will shoot,” the man warned, drawing his own gun.

But you wouldn’t go. You were afraid because you weren’t sure who they were, but they definitely seemed bad. Not only that, but you wouldn’t just leave Jihoon behind. You wouldn’t leave him wondering what happened to you, and you wouldn’t let him be lonely again.

You tried again, this time moving a food cart and throwing it into a few of the men to the left of you. People nearby were already hurrying away from the scene when they saw all the guns, but now they were screaming because of the chaos erupting.

“Fire!” the man ordered, realizing that you weren’t going down without a fight.

You shrunk back, holding your arms protectively in front of your face as if that would do something. You braced for the pain, your eyes closed as your face turned away. But seconds continued to tick by with nothing happening.

You peeled one eye open, looking around until you saw a shorter figure standing in front of you.

Jihoon had his arms out in front of him, the bullets that flew at you slowing down so much that they seemed suspended in air. He stared down each man with his silver eyes, somehow feeling fearless even though these men were one of the only things that could shoot true terror through him. But it was to protect you, so he’d face a million of them if he had to.

Due to his ability to blend in, it wasn’t hard to follow the men to find you. He apparently had shown up just in time, too.

The men in front of him wore the same shocked expression as you. Until the man in the center came to, shaking his head as realization hit him.

“Subject 217!” he gasped before he was pointing at Jihoon. “Capture him!”

Jihoon wasted no time, grabbing your hand, leaving the bullets suspended until he could tug you away.

“Run!” he ordered before he was dragging you off behind him, running down the strip as quickly as he could.

The shock had you stumbling behind him, but you quickly began pumping your legs as fast as they would allow, keeping up with Jihoon with his hand still gripping yours tightly. He didn’t look back as he bobbed and weaved through the crowd, but you attempted to look over your shoulder to see if they were chasing you.

Of course they were.

Who were ‘they’, though? And who was Subject 217? And how the hell did Jihoon find you? You had so many questions but you knew now probably wasn’t the time to ask. Still, you figured one question was one that could and should be answered now.

“Who are these people?” you asked, your breathing jagged from running as you looked ahead again.

“The bad guys I was worried about,” Jihoon replied before he turned sharply around a corner, pulling you with him. “I’ll answer later, just keep up.”

You did as he said, dropping the conversation in favor of paying attention to where you were going. Jihoon seemed so sure of what he was doing, so you decided to just trust him and let him go wherever it was he had in mind.

Truthfully, Jihoon didn’t have a set plan, he just knew he had to get you out of there. He planned on just finding a way out of the city that would effectively lose the men after you, and then find somewhere to stay for a short period of time until he could figure shit out. He just had to--

An opening. A public transport bus was just about to close its doors so Jihoon picked up the pace even though his legs were screaming for him to stop. He could hear you panting behind him but he forced you to go faster, refusing to let go of your hand even if you did slow him down a little. But he had to make it onto the bus.

When there was just a sliver of space between the doors, Jihoon shoved his hand through, keeping them open. The bus driver was forced to open the doors so you and Jihoon could get on. The doors closed as he walked down the aisle of the bus, glancing out the window to see the men dressed in the black anti-power vests running out of the alley as the bus pulled away. He knew they’d try to track down the bus and find its route, but for now, you were safe.

He gestured to a free seat, letting you sit on the inside before he sat down beside you. The two of you were still trying to catch your breath, and you were still trying to figure out what the hell happened. But now that both of you were sitting down and resting, you started to feel absolutely fatigued. Maybe questions could wait until later.

Wordlessly, you slid down in the seat and rested your head on Jihoon’s shoulder. He put an arm around your shoulders before he laid his head on top of yours, deciding he’d let you sleep for a little bit while he kept an eye out for anything suspicious. He had to stay awake to think of a plan, anyway.

“You can’t do that!”

But he did it. He emptied his savings to buy two tickets to Japan where he insisted the two of you were going to live.

“They’ve been after me before,” he had explained in the motel room the two of you shared that night, “and I relocated to a different city. Now that you’re with me, I need to make sure they don’t find us again. I’ve heard good things about Japan, so why not try it? It’s away from here, at least.”

He knew it would cost him everything he had to buy plane tickets and get a place to stay, but he knew that the two of you could save up again together. So despite you insisting he shouldn’t blow all his money on this plan, that’s exactly what he did.

You felt safe on the plane, and you could tell Jihoon did too because he finally closed his eyes for longer than it took him to blink. But you also decided to use that opportunity to get the answers you wanted, keeping your voices hushed just so nobody would pick up on what you were talking about.

“I’m not completely sure who they are,” he began, his eyes closed as he let his head lay back against the seat, “but I know they’re trying to get supers. I’ve seen and experienced the shit they do to them, and it’s nothing you want to be subjected to. You’d rather die, trust me.”

You frowned thinking about Jihoon going through that, “That bad…?”

He opened one eye to look at you, “It’s like brainwashing but through sadistic tactics.”

“Oh…”

You felt Jihoon’s fingers lace through yours. You could tell he was a bit embarrassed about doing so from the pink tint his cheeks and the tips of his ears got, but he still looked you in your eyes when he spoke, making sure you were completely reassured.

“I’m okay, and we will be okay,” he promised. “They won’t get us -- I’ll make sure of it.”

You sat up a little straighter, figuring this was finally your opening.

“Jihoon?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

His face flushed a deeper red as he tried to hide the wide, happy smile that wanted to spread across his lips. But his eyes still crinkled at the corners, his brown irises twinkling.

“I love you, too. Let’s get some rest before we get to Tokyo, okay?”

You pushed the armrest up so you could lean into him. He kept his hand in yours, resting them in his lap as he put his head on yours and let his eyes close, content that you were not only safe, but you were his.

[Two months later]

“You’re even shorter now.”

“Alright, _____, fuck you.”

You giggled as you balanced on the short concrete wall that separated the sidewalk and all the shops from the beach, Jihoon more than a whole foot shorter than you because of this. It was too cold to actually go on the beach, but you and Jihoon decided to go out since neither of you were busy, and the beach was the place he thought to drive to. You were walking along the wall while Jihoon chose to walk beside you on the sidewalk, glancing up at you every so often to make sure you didn’t fall over.

“Get down, you’ll get hurt,” Jihoon scolded. “You’re taller so you have a longer way to fall.”

“Ha-ha,” you deadpanned before jumping down from the wall. Your hand immediately found Jihoon’s on instinct before the two of you were walking again. “Do you wanna go back home?”

“Cold?” he guessed, looking up at you to see your pink cheeks and nose. Even your lips were chapped by now.

“Yeah, kinda,” you nodded as Jihoon slid your intertwined hands into his jacket pocket.

So the two of you went back to his car and made the drive back home. Jihoon played his playlist softly in the background while you looked out the window and admired the views on the way back. He asked how you were feeling which was something he usually did because while he’d had to leave everything behind before, you never had to, and you had to speak to your therapist over the phone now and less often which he knew must’ve been taking some sort of toll on you. He never really knew what you needed Dr.Yoon for other than it had to do with something before he met you, but he also never pried, either.

When you got back to the house, the two of you changed into comfier clothes before you decided to climb into bed, turning in early for the night. Jihoon still had the lamp on the nightstand on as the two of you laid together under the covers, your head on his chest as you looked up at the ceiling. Jihoon and you had jumped on the bed and placed glow-in-the-dark stars on there to mimic the stars that you missed seeing since you lived deep in the city now. You used to be able to explore outside the city when you were back in Korea and went around at night as Void, but you couldn’t do that anymore.

“What’re you thinking?” Jihoon murmured when you stayed silent, fidgeting with his fingers.

“Just basking in the moment, I guess,” you shrugged.

“Really?” he chuckled. “Why? Nothing’s happening.”

“I like just laying with you. I wish we could do it forever.”

“Me too,” he said softly, pressing a kiss to your head.

Jihoon used to hate using his powers, but he was using them little by little now since the two of you moved to Tokyo. Because little did you know that it was moments like these when it was just the two of you, that Jihoon would use his power to slow down time around you, letting the both of you lay in your little own infinity.

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3wisellamas · 5 years

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Hey, remember my pet cracktheory that Darrell is a clone of Laserblast, or is somehow connected to him in some way? I finally cleaned up and sorted out my full list of weird things I’ve noticed that they both have in common, or that otherwise support that, or are just weird about this stupid robot in general. Because I wasn’t fucking joking about there being a lot of it. Probably not gonna actually amount to anything, especially with not much series left, but meh. It’s fun. Enjoy.

---

Appearance/Body:

(Okay, I admit most of this section was pretty much killed by Darrell's canon human form in OK AU, which looked NOTHING like Laser at all. But just in case...)

-Identical body shape/proportions to LB/SF, with wider torso/hips and very thin waist -- maybe a little smaller because he's a teen (and a robot)

-Very close head shape to LB/SF/PV: square jaw (when it’s not exaggerated to make him cuter), similar rectangular shape and proportions if you include the braincase (since it would normally be inside his skull)

-LB's mask looks a LOT like Darrell's head, with the entire top half and most of the sides of his head covered and with circular ear...things

-That mask also tends to be quite expressive, almost functioning as a single eye sometimes

-Their big heavy boots are also kinda similar (Though honestly Darrell's boots look slightly more like Chip Damage's...)

-LB is based off of the superhero Cyclops, and Darrell is literally a cyclops

-Only robot that really seems to have an organic, human brain, and has human feet too along with Shannon -- even for just the feet, someone's DNA has to be cloned to make him, and not necessarily Boxman's.

-Darrell can grow stubble, according to that one tiny joke shot in Let's Watch the Boxmore Show; his face may be organic just like his brain and feet. Also worth noting, the specific spots on the side of the jaw where LB's/SF's stubble shows are covered by metal for Darrell -- when comparing Darrell and LB, each character's most distinctive visible features (one eye and brain, cheek stubble) are covered up on the other!

---

Costumes:

-Darrell seems to enjoy dressing up as a HERO -- when he's in cowboy mode he plays a sheriff, and when the bots play Golden Statues he always plays the museum guard, both specifically hero roles!

-In fact, the costumes in general -- he definitely likes pretending he's someone else, rather than just being fashionable like his siblings.

-LB and SF both hide their eyes, and may have something unusual/distinctive about them, especially with Laser because of his eye-based powers. LB!SF in particular would hide his if there was something that might immediately get him recognized as his former identity. Perhaps only having one eye (hence the visor acting as one on occasion like I pointed out)? (We got to see behind LB's mask once in Gar's fear sequence in Face Your Fears, with one red eye showing where the mask was broken, but there it did look like he had two. However, Gar would never have seen what was ACTUALLY under there...)

---

Habits/Personality:

-LB was an anti-hero, willing to do some fucked-up things in the name of good, while Darrell is an anti-villain, who focuses more on just doing his job, having fun, and trying to make his father happy than crushing the heroes out of malice

-Darrell's also just a terrible villain in general. Of course, he's directly killed another villain (or tried to anyway), and his idea of doing the most evilest thing was reporting Boxman's lies to the board and stopping him, AKA doing the RIGHT thing -- even with the betrayal, not very villainous of him, huh?

-Weird shared oral fixation? There's a very unusual emphasis on food/mouth things with Darrell (his lowkey obsession with eating, spitting Boxman into the spitoon in his office, brushing his teeth), and LB's trademark was always having that lollipop in his mouth.

-Hugging soft cute animals, like Rippy and Fink

-Darrell writes in concrete in You're Level 100, and LB does the same using his eye laser in Glory Days (in the POINT theme song)

-Neither one is a big fan of new members of their respective teams right away. LB refused to take junior members with him in both Glory Days and Let's Take a Moment, and doesn't seem to think much of them in either episode at all, aside from Silver Spark (and then, he still left her behind as one of his lookouts). Darrell...just freaking HATES new siblings at first, having a problem with every single one he gets, at least the ones we've seen (we didn't get to see his and Mikayla's introduction). He's also like this to siblings he considers inferior to him, to a point -- he and Shannon both got pretty jealous when Boxman started praising Jethro's "new moves."

---

Boxman stuff:

-Timing is correct, Darrell and the others were created right after LB disappeared according to Lad and Logic, since Boxman only drew the first three members in his original plans to attack POINT, and Gar was already building the plaza by the time Boxmore was opened. This means the Boxbot quadruplets and KO were actually born around the same time, making them all 6-11 years old, roughly the same amount of time that's passed since the Sandwich Incident.

-Boxy was obsessed with POINT at that time (and still is, since he's kept the coordinates for POINT HQ memorized), and possibly LB himself (given his later attraction to PV)

-Boxman may also have some POINT tech and connections of his own? First off, access to a huge supply of glorbs, the easiest and closest source of which Foxtail and Carol have been protecting and heavily monitoring, and are normally very hard for non-heroes to get their hands on. Second, those boxes he sends the robots to attack in might use the same wormhole tech as POINT Prep's bus, since it looks a little similar both in transit and emerging at its destination, plus its driver sounds exactly like Ernesto. And speaking of Ernesto, that one time he straight-up drew a POINT drone as part of a family portrait…

---

POINT stuff:

-There were six members of POINT before the Sandwich Incident, and LB was one of the original three, and seemed to function as co-leader alongside Foxtail. There are six Boxbots, and Darrell was one of the original four, and kinda leads them in battle alongside Shannon, especially once he becomes CEO.

-And coincidentally, the original six members of POINT also share colors and in some cases roles with the Boxbots -- Shannon and Foxtail are orange, Greyman and Ernesto are purple, El-Bow and Jethro are blue, Rippy and Raymond are green, Silver Spark is...difficult but her hair is pretty distinctive and works with Mikayla for yellow, and of course, Darrell and Laser are red. The robots' colors and relative ages even match POINT'S senior/junior members, with Greyman, Laser, and Foxtail representing three of the older Boxbots, and then Rippy, Silver Spark, and El-Bow representing the two newer ones and Jethro, who only recently was able to show his true personality/potential.

-"Junior Members" = "Junior Deputies"

-"Code Vermillion." I made an entire post on this a while back, but to summarize, Vermillion is a bright, slightly orange-y red, and in most episodes is Darrell's exact color. And Vermillion, as a red pigment, tends to darken over time into purple and black -- and SF and PV have connections to both glorbs (which Code Vermillion refers to), and to LB as well.

-Darrell has a bunch of weird similarities to Chip Damage as well, who is basically Laser's replacement at POINT, minus being the Charisma discipline rep: Robots made right after LB got iced, green powers, special limited-edition costumes/POW cards, similar dark gray boots, the remote controls (Wisdom class blackboard for Darrell, Final Exams for Chip), possibly both made with actual brain tissue (The flashback to Chip's creation had a brain on one of Greyman's screens), etc. Also, a dumb one, but...remember those Double-Dipped (KO and TKO?) Laser Chips (self-explanatory), that are "probably just a limited-edition" (Darrell).

---

Other assorted weird things:

-Darrell’s laser eye attachment shown in Stop Attacking the Plaza -- still being worked on in the episode (and it looks like it has been for a while, since it had been some time since Boxman was in that specific lab...), but used by a Big Darrell in the opening, where it produces a very similar (green) copy of LB's beam.

-Darrell is right-handed, in a left-handed family -- he's shown eating with his right hand in Stop Attacking the Plaza while everyone else is using their left, looks like he’s wielding a lightsaber right-handed in Plaza Film Festival, and draws with his right hand in Villains Night In. Left-handedness is often associated with villains in fiction, so he may not be a full one? (Definitely not as sinister as the rest of them, hehe.) Though, some instances of Darrell using his left hand too, and other bots using their right, so I dunno how strong this particular point is.

-Line to keep an eye on: "Just reboot yourself into a new body! I do it all the time for funsies!" from Rad Likes Robots. Related, Darrell reboots by exploding himself, which is how LB may have "died" and took on a new identity (if he's SF)

-Weird shit from Let's Not Be Skeletons: Potato demonstrates a skeleton remote wearing a cowboy hat, and in addition to turning people into skeletons they remove powers, just like that red orb, and they also left Rad's and Enid's boots intact for some reason. Darrell's also one of the biggest customers of the remotes, using his foes' weapons against them ("What do you say we snag more of them before they fall into the wrong hands? We could even use them against our foes!")

-When we first saw TKO's power manifest in You're Level 100, it was while KO was trying to defeat a giant superpowered Darrell. When we first saw TKO in physical form in Face Your Fears (as KO's "evil burp"), he was sent out to defeat a giant superpowered Laserblast head. When we next saw TKO in, well, TKO (as his true self for the first time), he defeated another giant superpowered Darrell!

-Really dumb one, the letter right before C and D is B, so the acronyms LB and LCD may be a thing?

---

Turbo/SF/TKO connections, just in case those turn out to be related to Laser as well:

(Under the cut, since this is long enough already!)

-SF hints that negative emotions, particularly anger, fuel Turbo powers. Darrell has quite a few jealousy and anger issues in general -- "Gets flustered by petty insults," HATES new younger siblings (or existing siblings showing him up and getting more of dad’s attention), etc -- and seems to be way more capable of mayhem than usual when running on these emotions. They even gave him the power to defy his programming and (attempt to) kill Boxman!

-He can also have his power boosted by a ton in a very short amount of time, from level -4 up (down?) to level -100 and able to destroy the plaza in one shot, and for as brief as that level -100 thing was he STILL has yet to be topped as the most powerful villain in the entire series! But, Boxman doesn't do it often -- even regular Big Darrells are implied to NOT be that powerful normally. Perhaps he's holding Darrell back for a reason?

-A lot of emphasis on his brain, similar to TKO: the visible brain is obvious, he has the most noticeable hivemind, and he pilots Big Darrells from inside their braincases similar to how KO and TKO controlled Big KO (even the name's similar!) in TKO's House

-Also, he doesn't have to glitch or change colors with his mood like Shannon does, he can make decisions and go against his programming all on his own -- perhaps he runs mostly on that meat brain? Or maybe his brain is actually a mass of pink glorbs like Jethro got in I Am Jethro that unlocked his intelligence and potential?

-SF's speech to KO in TKO: "Everyone holds you back because they're afraid of your raw, natural ability. They want you small and nice, blissfully unaware of your true potential." Darrell in Lord Cowboy Darrell: "Nobody's gonna hold me back." Shannon to Darrell in Plaza Film Festival: "Where do you think you got all that natural talent?"

-TKO ultimately came out of wanting recognition from his boss. LCD ultimately came out of wanting recognition from his boss.

-That VERY noticeable purple glow in the "I'm the Daddy now!" scene in Lord Cowboy Darrell. Like, to the point it seemed specially painted for emphasis, rather than the normal animation.

-Also, Junior is pretty heavy evidence that Turbo powers do not necessarily = purple, as Junior's powers were all green (and so were Chip's Turbo-ish powerups!) Darrell also has green powers (that even carried over to his human alternate in OK AU, despite Shannon and Raymond getting Enid’s and Rad’s exact same powers and colors), and is sometimes surrounded by Turbo-esque greenish lightning when he's angry, the best example being at the beginning of Legends of Mr Gar after being trash talked (remember that he can't take petty insults; he was PISSED there!)

-(If it looks like I’m insinuating Darrell’s secretly got more power under the hood than even he realizes, I absolutely am.)

-Darrell still has his dark hooded cloak from the pilot, which looks a little like SF's.

-Darrell's the only one who wasn't invited to Junior's funeral, and doesn't give half a shit, instead using it as an opportunity to betray people and take on a new identity. Possibly like LB faking his own death, therefore not attending his own funeral, and taking on a new identity as SF?

-Sneaking through the vents = sneaking through the pipes (SF, maybe how LB survived given that pipe in Let's Take a Moment)?

-Weird broken halo imagery shared between both Darrell and SF in TKO. (Not my observation actually, pointed out by @david-yells-about-cartoons ) Darrell's cloud halo thing in that episode also looks almost exactly like the clouds swirling above KO as he shoots a power fist for the first time at the end of Let's Be Friends…

#ok ko #ok ko let's be heroes #ok ko darrell #ok ko laserblast #ok ko shadowy figure #emtheories

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theonceoverthinker · 5 years

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Season 3 Overview

Another season has come and gone. And now that the season is over and I’m all Smash Bro’d out, it’s the perfect opportuni-THREE to talk about it! XD

Season 3 was a whirlwind, but in the best way possible. Once Upon a Time really took this season to come into its own, blending the real emotions of a drama with the fantastical elements of a fairy tale. And with two seasons of developed dynamics at its back and the buildup of having all of our main characters finally on the same side though still with the same qualities that allowed for real and interesting conflict, this was shaped up to be an incredible season.

And what an incredible season it was!

Damn, it feels so sad closing the book on Season 3. Look, this is my favorite season, both critically and emotionally and rewatching it only proved that twice over for me. In terms of its final score, it got 94%, the highest of the three seasons I’ve reviewed so far. Additionally, HALF of the season scored Golden Apples, the highest honor I can bestow on an episode!

So, with all that, what more specifically did I like about it and what (if anything) went wrong? Well, let’s get into it under the cut with our Pro/Con lookback!

Pros

The Concept of Belief - Often in other seasons, belief is something that acts as a platitude and while it doesn’t bother me as much as other platitudes on the show, it wasn’t especially effective either. However, Season 3 did something different. Here, belief was made both tangible and intangible. To elaborate, it’s more than a meaningless platitude. It’s belief in something real and exuding the energy to make it happen. In Neverland, believing in each other was a strong point and that belief came through trusting others that they normally wouldn’t in pursuit of a grander cause (Saving Henry). It’s the belief that everyone wants the same thing and that there might be some strength in the others’ mindsets. This continues in the Wicked Witch Arc and it’s the reason why Regina is able to defeat Zelena with light magic. This concept is present all throughout the season and the practical terms and language that the characters use as well as the actions that follows them transforms that belief into something that can actually be used to solve problems rather than something vague that is just said because it sound right. It’s like Tiana’s dad says in the opening of “The Princess and the Frog,” wishing is only half the deal. You have to make the rest happen and by trusting each other, that’s exactly what the Nevengers did.

Villains – Season 3 had the best villains, plain and simple. I wrote an entire essay about Pan and I wanted to write one about Zelena, but to put it simply, both villains had big and hammy personalities that made them intimidating and memorable, strong connections to our main cast that allowed for them to be characters in their own right with a thematic presence, strong effects on both the plot and story, interesting motivations that lent themselves to high stakes, and satisfying defeats and “deaths.” Rebecca Mader and Robbie Kay both additionally contributed performances that positively OWNED their interpretations of The Wicked Witch of the West and Peter Pan. They were intimidating, but at the same time, had their own bits of charm that still made them villains that I wanted to see on screen. Like, they still did terrible things – their villainy was never questioned – but at the same time, I never felt an urge to fast forward past their scenes because it was so engaging to watch them do their things.

Redemptions – I feel like I could talk so much about Rumple, Regina, and Killian’s individual redemption arcs in Season 3. There’s this understanding among the writing staff of the people these characters are and what they want them to be and with that cohesion, they put their all into making that happen this season. Because of that, all three characters got emotionally satisfying developments that were carefully built up over eleven episodes. And, what I like about these developments is that those changes did account for bumps in the road and allowed for some pretty sensible deviations from those roads to redemption. At some point in the season, Rumple, Regina, and Killian do villainous things to some degree that take their redemptions down a few notches, but it doesn’t undo the work they’ve done.

Cinematography and Locations - I feel like Season 3 was the most diverse the series ever got with its locations and camera work. The camera work this season allowed for the locations, moods, and characters come alive. Storybrooke has such a rich geography and so often in later seasons as I was watching this one, we don’t get to see it. The mirror shot lake stands out the most to me and I want to give out more honorable mentions, but…well, this is why you don’t wait so long to do an overview XD! But if you’ve read my reviews, then you know that there were too many locations that I called pretty and amazing and I feel like it’s a failing that a lot of locations in the coming season just stick to the some of the more common places. The woods never look so beautiful afterwards.

Cons

Walsh’s Framing - ...Look, I had very little to complain about this season. Thematically, shit just came together nicely. BUT there was a failing or two, as small as they were and Walsh’s was a really small but strange fuckup. Like, Walsh is supposed to be framed as a bad man who got his just desserts by being turned into a monkey and later killed. The latter part of this works well enough since he does attack Emma before he dies, but the former half…well, it doesn’t. Glinda’s justification for finding Zelena’s punishment of him to be appropriate is that Walsh promised hope he could never fulfill. The only thing is that in the one instance of Walsh being the Wizard that we see, he is not only helping Zelena, but gives her something that physically allows her to do what she wants them to do, only asks for a payment as an afterthought, AND advises Zelena about her jealousy, which is just needed advice for her. He’s not shown to be callous or make unfulfillable promises. He lies about his abilities, yes, but how he keeps up his ruse still enriches the lives of others, and if it’s not, it should have been better shown. Have Walsh not give the advice, or maybe set a deadline for when Zelena has to get the item from Rumple. Like, make him more of a douche! As it stands, I just feel bad for Walsh and hope he moves on to the better place in the afterlife.

The Island of Machismo - This isn’t a critique of Neverland, per se, but dammit, this aspect of the arc was just frustrating! It feels like if one was a male in this series and present on this island, they got affected with a bug far more dangerous than Dreamshade: Machismo. At least once per episode, the men of this show would argue over something stupid for no other reason than showing that they’re a “real man” to either their opponent of the object of their affections. The dumbest example was of course the lighter fight in “Dark Hollow,” but dishonorable mentions to a lot of David’s behavior prior to and during “Good Form” and the attitude of the Lost Boy’s at Pan’s camp. Just...it really shows that this show was made by guys and as a show that normally doesn’t do this, it’s really disappointing.

...And honestly, that’s really it. As I said, in terms of broad strokes, this season gave me very little to complain about. While some episodes or scenes were off in either their framing or the sturdiness of their stories, they were more or less one offs!

Okay! Now that we’re done talking about some of the season’s less than stellar qualities, let’s go back to talking about the good shit again! That’s right, it’s time to talk dynamics! Now, like last season, these are in no particular order, and that’s because...well, when you spend the better part of two weeks playing Smash Bros, you kind of forget some of the intricacies of dynamics and thus which ones you think are better! XD But honestly, there were so many good ones this season that I could’ve extended this to a top ten without even trying (Honorable mentions go to Emma and Regina, the Charming Family, Zelena and Regina, Regina and Snow, and Killian and Henry).

Captain Charming - Killian and David’s dynamic is mostly a dynamic that develops under the surface, save for “Good Form” where it’s given its day in court. What I like about it is how David’s never portrayed in a negative light for his distrust of Killian. It comes from a sensible place given Killian’s misdeeds, but is still shown as something that he’s better off for moving on from. And Killian’s struggle to get his approval is not without its merit. Killian’s real effort is portrayed. Additionally, they have a nice bit of snark between them. Seeing these two guys grumble as they work together and comment on their budding friendship is funny and quickly becomes endearing as the snipes become just a little kinder over the season. I finally want to point out how David warming up to Killian is one of the few instances of The Island of Useless Machismo failing in that regard as by the end of “Good Form,” they trust each other enough to let the fucking toxic masculinity go for half a second.

Swan Believer - Believe it or not, a lot of what makes the Swan Believer dynamic so good is the fact that Emma and Henry are separated for so much of it. Through each other’s absences, we see so much of their feelings for each other come through. That’s not to say I like them apart but every moment that that was the case, we saw further just how much that separation made Emma determined. Henry blatantly informs every decision she makes and allows for her character to explore her magic, understanding of morality, and identity. And in the latter half of the season, we get this fantastic mix of frustration and love from Henry as he deals with the truth being kept from him. He knows his mother has his best interests at heart, but every piece of information that he knows isn’t being shared and every time he’s left on the sideline proceeds to make him angrier. And on Emma’s side, no matter what her approach is to where she wants to be, what doesn’t change is how much she wants Henry with her. But when they are together, we see just how close the two of them can be. “New York Serenade” has so many great moments where we see a possible life that Emma and Henry could’ve had and they’re so emotionally comfortable and aware of each other. One can understand why Emma wants to return to their simpler life upon seeing how cozy they were in their New York apartment. To summarize, the Swan Believer dynamic was one of the most subtle and loving dynamics of the season and I happily ate it up!

Regal Believer - Like with Swan Believer, so much of the season doesn’t involve Henry and Regina being together. But unlike Swan Believer, they get a different means of development. There are certainly similarities between the two, but I want to focus on what makes them unique. First, I’m gonna do that by pointing out a similarity! XD Just like how Henry’s absence informs all of Emma’s choices, the same can be said for Regina’s too. She puts up with the Charmings for far longer than she normally would like to, explores the type of role she can play in the group dynamic (A mentor to Emma’s magical skills and a willing user of dark magic), and faces off against all manner of dangers without a moment’s hesitation. Her determination is so fierce that one can completely understand when she’s had too much of the group and needs to hit the highway. And of course, I have to touch upon the “Save Henry” flashback. We really see that for as much growth as Regina is doing and for as much remorse as she has for her sins, she can never fully regret any of it because she loves Henry that much and we know exactly why. He gave light and purpose to her life and was enough that she was willing to put herself at a disadvantage in order to give him the love that he deserved. And that love, while held back by two seasons of villainy, finally gets to show itself from Henry’s side. Now that Regina’s doing better, Heny reciprocates her love fully. And in the latter half of the season, watching every small interaction between the two of them as Henry doesn’t know his mother, but still really likes her company is so heartwarming and makes the moment where he reclaims his memories and they break the curse together a moment of utter triumph. They fought so hard to be together and now that they are, I couldn’t be happier.

Pan and Rumple - I could go on and on about Pan’s dynamics with practically all of our mains, but let’s focus on the best one. Rumple is a character so steeped in nuance that one has to wonder about his origins. With Pan, that was partially delivered on and so effectively at that! Pan is an utter monster who knows every one of Rumple’s buttons to push and partially because he laid the foundation for some of them. Even as Rumple tries to be noble in order to save his grandson, Pan presses those buttons relentlessly and without mercy, no matter if it comes at the cost of destroying his son’s confidence or severing Rumple’s tepid connection with Neal. Nothing is sacred. And Rumple reaction to this is fascinating as well. His hatred for Pan is without question present, but at the same time, Rumple is not entirely immune to Pan’s powers of suggestion. He nearly falls for the fake Belle’s scheme and when the doll first shows up on the island, Rumple meets it with tears. With the possible exception of Cora, no villain has ever intimidated Rumple like this before. And watching Rumple have to use every supply in his arsenal to take Pan down as it culminates in Rumple realizing the sacrifice he must make is such an integral part of his character growth this season. And every time that happens, Pan just becomes more and more of a threat to the audience. It’s a dirty, disgusting, and utterly despicable dynamics that they share and I love every second of it.

Rumple and Neal - I feel like Rumple and Neal’s dynamic really gets the attention this season that it deserved last season but didn’t get. While their time together was shorter, every second of it counted. Neal’s distrust of Rumple really gets to be explores and it was further kicked into high gear as a result of the urgency of their mission. Because Henry was taken, both an initial alliance was able to take place and in the same breath for that same reason, destroyed. And then, it was rebuilt. Rumple and Neal’s reconstructed parent/child relationship is so satisfying for me because Rumple really has to earn trust back from a situation that he got himself into. That entirely deserved bitterness on Neal’s half is given the attention it’s deserved in an entire episode dedicated to it as well as a few follow up scenes in future episodes. And it’s brutal. Nothing is held back as Neal tells Rumple exactly how he feels and why he’s worried about a chance at betrayal and every word cuts like a knife. Because of that, the moments when Rumple disproves those doubts feel so satisfying to behold and the ensuing reconciliation is applause worthy.

Okay, not that all’s been said and done about dynamics, it’s that time again! Yes, it’s time to tackle the best writer of the season! And may I just say, this season was FANTASTIC for everyone! We had TWO writers get a perfect score and A&E were just one point off from joining them! But as they did not, let’s crown our winners!

And the best writers of Season 3 are…

Christine Boylan and Robert Hull!

Both writers finished off the season so remarkably! When looking back at their work, not only did every episode get a 10/10, but ALL of them received the Golden Apple, a score I reserve for episodes of exceptional quality and a first for writing accomplishments for this rewatch. These are classic episodes like “Save Henry,” “Think Lovely Thoughts,” and “Snow Drifts,” as well as two new absolute favorites of mine like “Nasty Habits” and “The Tower.” All of these episodes have powerful and effective themes, compelling character interactions, and risks that take the story to new heights.

Well, that’s everything for you. We can close the door on this season and move on forward!

So now that Season 3, often regarded as OUAT’s best season (By myself included) is over...where do we go from here?

I love the Frozen Arc, and I’m really excited to watch it again. In fact, I’ve already started it, and I just finished reviewing “White Out!” XD The Frozen cast rocks, I get some fantastic dynamics and storylines out of it, and it feels quite balanced. I’m also excited to start this season as well because this is the point where I started watching the show live when it aired and because of that, I think my reviews and rewatch will transform into more of a discussion of my experiences and changes with these episodes and less as basically reviewing them for the first time. As you’ve already noticed if you’ve been reading my most recent reviews, I’ve condensed the format so that I can spend more time focusing on the core elements of episodes.

That said, I know there is a drop in the quality of OUAT going forward. I’m positive, but not naïve in that regard. That also having been said, I’m going to go into this new season like I always do: With anticipation for the good! And I hope you’ll be there to join me!

Thanks as always to @watchingfairytales and @daensarah! See you all...well partially through the next season! XD Puns, critiques, and gushing galore await you there!

#ouat #once upon a time #watching fairytales #season 3 overview #ouat rewatch #jenna watches ouat

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kalico-to-the-letter · 6 years

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REVIEW: RWBY – Vol. 5, Ch. 11: “THE MORE THE MERRIER”

Salutations to all celebrating this little holiday period. I’ve never been one for festivities, but have no choice in this particular one – hence me being in another country and expecting to be late with this review. In the end, it’s thankfully on schedule.

This week gave us: All the shounen manga-style fighting you could want from RWBY, and a really dumb thing.

The Internet here is so poor that it can’t handle .gifs, to my great dismay. So in lieu of my usual “spoiler warning” .gif, please enjoy this picture of a cat – people on the Internet like cats, apparently.

See? It’s telling you not to progress any further if you don’t want the spoilers.

In “The More the Merrier”, RWBY takes us straight into the endgame of the season. It relies a lot on shounen manga-style storytelling, which is a good and a bad thing. And ultimately, this is an episode which is about building to a singular moment – the problem being that the moment in question takes a spear to the abdomen and falls flat on its face. Oh wait, too soon?

I don’t see why I should beat around the bush any further, so let’s just get into it. If this show kills Weiss, then I’m going to have a major problem.

This is so different to Pyrrha. With Pyrrha, a significant part of Volume 3 was spent building up something major for her – certainly from the midpoint onwards. I can justify how the show used her – for the most part – because her arc was leading her to a definitive destination. She was either going to triumph over Cinder or lose and die – or something similarly massive, anyway – and because the story was to build up Cinder, and Ruby by extension, Pyrrha was doomed the minute the scenario was drawn up.

Again, this thing with Weiss is so different to Pyrrha’s situation that it’s insane. Weiss’s last major arc was in Volume 4, and nothing has suggested that she could be heading to the same fate. She’s been ancillary for so much of the season – she’s been fantastic in that role, but there’s no denying that her story this season has existed on the fringes, compared to the likes of Yang and Blake, whose arcs have driven the season.

Some argued at the time and since that Pyrrha’s death was a fridging. My opinion was that it could be seen that way, but only in a very narrow context. To me, her death was the bedrock of the entire Volume 4, and, like it or not, death is a very effective and useful narrative device – not that the decision to kill a character off is easy, but sometimes it is the answer. Cinder killing Pyrrha was the right move for the direction of the story – one that Monty himself planned. Sure, I’ll bite on how it affected Jaune, as that plays into the Weiss issue as well. But that argument only goes so far before one has to look at what benefitted the overarching direction at the time, and it certainly would have been a bit pointless for Pyrrha to just defeat Cinder and for Beacon to never fall.

If Weiss dies though, then I will jump on the fridging bandwagon – hell, I’ll start the engine.

Jaune has been a nonentity this season. He – as well as Nora and Ren – have been the fringiest of fringe. He’s had less story than Weiss. So why on Remnant is he so central to this episode? Ignore the problems I have with involving Weiss in the first place – why is he the one attached to her moment?

(Of course I know why, but I’m loathe to actually write it down, because it’s a horrendous thing.)

I get it. Pyrrha kissed him before she died, she was the only one who really gave him a shot, and he’s torn up about it; seeing Cinder again sets him off. But I don’t like that the show is now making Pyrrha’s death and Weiss’s situation all about him, when it wasn’t before. Like, at all. I’ll say it again. To me, Pyrrha’s death was about the narrative, but now the show is retroactively making it central to Jaune, when that was not originally the case.

And to go even further, Weiss has had nothing to do with Jaune for years. I would be similarly animated if Cinder threw her spear at Ren, for instance, because it makes no sense. The only one I would be okay with being put in this scenario is Qrow. He’s the one who has been built up to be the fall guy for two years now. Why is Weiss being put in a situation that he has been groomed for?

There are still three episodes left, it is important to remember. In fact, I’m still sure that Qrow will die before this season is over, and this Weiss thing is merely a fake-out for another purpose, like triggering Jaune’s semblance or something, which is problematic in itself. But if anything, that’s a reason why I’m sure she’ll survive.

This was a move pulled for shock value, hence its placement at the very end of the episode; hence the show cutting to black before she even hit the floor. With so much time left in the season, there is still a lot of story to tell. Consider all of the above just my warning shots – my preemptive salvo – in case the show does decide to do something stupid, like actually killing off Weiss right now.

But the fact that this is even happening is why I can’t consider this a great episode. There was a lot in it, but to break it down is to realise that this episode was relying on the stuff with Cinder and Jaune to make it gold. Nothing else could touch the depth that this subplot was trying to mine (keyword trying); it was the hook and the line, but the involvement of Weiss is what sinks it, and it taints the rest of this episode.

Forget the other fights for a second; this episode was all about building to the moment where Weiss falls, and that moment did nothing but confuse me.

Up until the ending, though, I liked the rest of this. And I’ve tried to grade this episode with that in mind – this was on track to be a great episode until all the big stuff happened.

I like that the show is really kicking off the endgame with so much time left. It suggests that there will be room for the conclusion to breathe and feel smoothly paced.

Even though it’s cheesy, I like the shounen anime feel of all the confrontations and fights. I picture a scene from Naruto, with two warring shinobi talking well-scripted trash and interlacing it with bursts of action. Every fight in this episode starts with this formula, and it’s fun.

I like that Ruby did the silver-eyes thing again, even though it felt oddly-placed and proved entirely useless. Just seeing it again was a big deal.

Yeah, Weiss was the first to struggle against her opponent, but that makes sense because it’s Vernal and we haven’t seen her fight yet – we have to see evidence that she’s strong. We became aware of some vulnerabilities in the link between Oscar and Ozpin, which was intriguing. Jaune held his own against Cinder, but she didn’t look particularly troubled by him – which makes me think that it’s been five years and he’s barely progressed, but whatever.

This would have been a great way to start this last little run of the season. But it ends up just being weird and making this review sound angry. Of course I’m holding my breath a bit as I await the next episode, which will probably provide the clarity necessary to make my preemptive salvo moot, and will probably give us a way for Weiss to survive.

But as a whole, I’ve still gotta give this episode the side-eyes, while still acknowledging its positives. And I’ve gotta give that ending a hard pass.

Additional Observations:

- So we’ve got Jaune v Cinder, Ruby v Emerald, Yang v Mercury, Weiss v Vernal, Qrow v Raven, Oz v Leo, and Ren & Nora v Hazel.

- It’s out of nowhere, but I wouldn’t half mind if Jaune’s semblance was healing-related and he saved Weiss. I would prefer it if she just pulled through on her own – or with someone else’s help, sorry – but I wouldn’t mind if this whole thing is a build-up to the awakening of his semblance. It would be corny and dumb and manipulative and dumb, but writers have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves to make anything seem plausible, and these writers are no different.

Grade: C+

Final Thoughts: “The More the Merrier” is, overall, an okay attempt to set up RWBY’s endgame for the season. It’s come at an opportune time, surely allowing the stories to develop properly. The episode is a competent packaging of shounen-style confrontations and fights, and the ending sets the stage for a momentous conclusion to Volume 5. But the ending itself is a dud. Whether it’s intended as a fake-out or the actual death of Weiss, the handling of the moment is clumsy, grossly constructed, and reeking of one of the worst kinds of story manipulation. No surprise that it hurts the episode as a whole. – Kallie

#rwby spoilers #rwby reviews #rwby5 #rwby volume 5 #rwby

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the-desolated-quill · 6 years

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Flatline - Doctor Who blog (Clara Who)

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Yesterday @upslapmeal sent me a very nice message saying that I was going to love this episode. Thanks @upslapmeal :D

So did I love Flatline? Well... there are bits of it I loved. There are other bits I didn’t. And I’m sure you can all hazard a guess as to which bits are which.

My eyes lit up when Jamie Mathieson’s name cropped up. He’s the guy who wrote the pretty damn good Mummy On The Orient Express. (Two episodes in a row? Now you’re just spoiling us). Something I’ve been complaining about a lot this series is the lack of original ideas and the constant back-referencing, and it’s great to see Mathieson take the show into uncharted waters this time around. The idea of 2D aliens from a 2D universe is a genius one and it lends itself to some very creative imagery. The cold open of the man screaming inside the wall was chilling, as was the bit where that policewoman gets sucked and flattened into the floor, but I think the bit that ultimately wins the creepiest scene ever award is when that community support worker gets sucked into the wall unbeknownst to the others, and when Clara looks at him from an angle, we see that he’s been flattened and stretched across several objects and ledges. That actually sent shivers down my spine.

I also really liked the shrinking TARDIS. Admittedly this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a shrinking TARDIS in Doctor Who, but it’s never really been done like this before and I love it. It’s a good way of keeping the Doctor out of the action and it does raise the stakes ever so slightly. I think my favourite bit was when the Doctor used his fingers to move the TARDIS out of the path of an upcoming train. Doesn’t really make sense because its been stated numerous times in the past that the TARDIS is indestructible, but it’s still cute.

Oh and let’s quickly talk about the Doctor. Even though this Doctor is much darker and less sure of himself than previous incarnations, it’s nice to see the character’s trademark optimism is still very much intact. Right up until the end, he’s prepared to give the 2D aliens the benefit of the doubt, assuming (or rather hoping) that this is all one giant misunderstanding. That maybe the aliens don’t realise they’re actually killing people and are just trying to research and understand us. That’s always been one of the central characteristics of the Doctor. He can’t help but think the best of everyone until proven wrong. And when the Doctor gives his final dramatic speech to the aliens before banishing them back to their own dimension, not only is there the usual rage and authority you often get in these speeches, but there’s also just a hint of disappointment in there too. He was eager to converse and get to know these aliens, and he’s genuinely saddened by their malicious intentions.

I must confess he’s not the only one who’s disappointed. As much as I love the concept of 2D aliens, they’re pretty weak as villains. I wish they really were just misunderstood explorers that were trying to make sense of this new 3D universe they had discovered because that’s a lot more interesting than what we ended up getting. When they started reading the numbers off of those people’s overalls as a way of identifying targets, I started to sigh, and when they started making 3D zombies, i just let out a massive groan. They’re just yet another monster that needs to be defeated. What’s worse is that their plan and motives are left unclear, which I’m presuming is an attempt to inject some ambiguity and mystery into them, but it actually just makes them really flat (sorry) baddies and they very quickly just descend into repetitive killing machines.

The characters too aren’t very good. Rigsy is probably the best of the bunch. Joivan Wade gives a decent performance and the character seems like a nice enough person, but like with most of the characters in Mummy On The Orient Express, he’s not very interesting or compelling. That old guy got on my fucking nerves. He’s just a moaning, grumpy caricature with absolutely nothing to counterbalance it whatsoever. It even gets to a stage where he callously dismisses the dead, saying they were scum. And don’t get me started on that stupid scene where he tries to wrestle the miniature TARDIS out of Clara’s bag for no reason other than as a contrivance to split the Doctor and Clara up. It’s just sloppy writing. Beyond that, the other characters are really little more than nameless redshirts. Who cares?

And then there’s Clara.

Obviously I don’t have a problem with assertive companions and I don’t necessarily have a problem with the whole role reversal thing. What I do have a problem with is Clara’s personal brand of smugness as well as the arrogance of Moffat trying to insert his own shitty creations into vital parts of Doctor Who lore. We’ve had numerous instances where we see Clara trying to out-Doctor the Doctor, such as in The Day Of The Doctor and Listen, so to have an episode where Clara literally takes on the role of the Doctor felt to me like being forced to drink a cup of cold vomit.

I mean you could do something interesting with that idea. Have Clara realise the massive weight that’s constantly on the Doctor’s shoulders as she has to take on the responsibility and make the decisions he has to make, but that’s not what this episode is about at all. They try to suggest that at the end, but I’m not convinced. The episode is more about trying to convince us how cool and impressive Clara is, which I’m just not buying. I’ve mentioned before in Asylum Of The Daleks how she’s like the physical manifestation of that feeling you get when someone scrapes their nails over a chalkboard, and it’s the same here. Clara is just so smug and so obnoxious. You never believe an actual person would behave the way she behaves, and there are several scenes where her attitude really starts to grate. One example is when Rigsy plans to sacrifice himself by ramming the 2D aliens with a train (which is stupid in and of itself because, hello, they’re 2D. Somehow I don’t think a train is going to hurt them) and then Clara starts to mock him for his decision, saying how she’ll always remember how he died to save her hairband. You know you could have just led with the hairband thing Clara. No need to be such a prick about it.

And then there’s the scene when the Doctor and Clara discuss what to do next, and Clara suggests lying to the survivors and give them false hope because ‘that’s what the Doctor would do.’

I’m getting so sick to death of the whole ‘the Doctor lies’ crap because it’s not even remotely true. The Doctor doesn’t lie to people to give them false hope. In fact he doesn’t lie to people at all. He’s genuine when he says he’ll protect someone, which is what makes it heartbreaking when he occasionally fails. I do wish they’d cut this shit out. But worse than that is when Clara suggests the idea, it’s almost as though she’s condemning the Doctor for lying and doesn’t approve of what she’s about to do, which caused me to let out a hollow laugh. It’s a bit rich criticising the Doctor for his supposed dishonesty Clara when you yourself have been lying to both him and your boyfriend. Not because you’re trying to protect them, but because you’re too selfish and spineless to admit that you overreacted at the end of Kill The Moon (that’s the explanation I’m going with because I still don’t understand why she’s lying to either of them in the first place).

Her whole attitude just fucking stinks. Even at the end, she’s more concerned with getting the Doctor to admit she did good whereas any normal person in her shoes would probably be more disappointed and slightly ashamed that they didn’t manage to save everyone. Remind me, why am I supposed to like Clara again? I’ve had nettle rashes that were more tolerable than her.

It’s such a shame because the central idea is really good and very original. It’s just the stuff orbiting around it that drag it down. Nevertheless, I would like to see Jamie Mathieson come back and write some more Doctor Who in the future. Please tell me he does.

#flatline #jamie mathieson #doctor who #twelfth doctor #peter capaldi #clara oswald #jenna coleman #steven moffat #bbc #review #spoilers

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notjustabadguy · 7 years

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“Ghost” Characters in Hogwarts Houses

Sam Wheat - Gryffindor

Sam is about as Gryffindor as you can get. The defining traits of a true Gryffindor are bravery and chivalry. These are often accompanied by a strong sense of right and wrong, an unwillingness to concede ground or admit defeat, and an affinity for action in times of crisis.

Like every House, though, Gryffindor qualities have both positive and negative aspects. The strong moral code can make some Gryffindors see the world in terms of black and white, blinding them to the grey areas. The reluctance to admit defeat can become stubbornness, and the desire for action can lead to rushing into danger, without stopping to properly assess the threats in a situation.

Sam shows all of these qualities, both positive and negative, in spades. He proves his bravery and chivalry by literally giving his life to defend Molly. In the struggle with Willie, another Gryffindor trait is displayed as well: the trademark recklessness shows in his attempt to get the jump on an armed mugger.

His strong sense of justice is shown as he unravels the truth behind his murder and makes it his mission to punish those responsible. And his persistence in this mission, despite being at a distinct disadvantage (being incorporeal and unable to communicate traditionally with the living) demonstrates the strength of his determination and his unwillingness to surrender.

All in all, Gryffindors are good people to have on your side. Some of their qualities may be slightly irritating to those who prefer calm rationale and trying to see both sides of a disagreement, but when you’re in any kind of trouble, a Gryffindor is the best asset you can have. They’re big on standing up for the little guy, loyalty to their friends and loved ones, and fighting the good fight. As such, Sam is an excellent representative of the Lion House.

Molly Jensen - Ravenclaw

Ravenclaws are best known for their intelligence, creativity, and reasoning capabilities. Though primarily regarded as the House that scores well on tests and overachieves at all things academic, Eagles are also the artists of Hogwarts—the writers, painters, musicians, etc. As such, Molly was fairly easy to place, being a sculptor.

She also displays other Ravenclaw qualities: intelligence, a reliance on academia, faith in the system and the rules that have been set in place, a healthy dose of skepticism, and an aptitude for calm, rational discourse and problem-solving.

As with the Lions, many Ravenclaw characteristics are a two-sided coin: for example, they tend to have too much confidence in the system, assuming that the established rules to govern any situation will do exactly as intended, without taking human error into consideration. Ravenclaws also like to talk disagreements out calmly, which is usually a good strategy, except some people don’t want to talk—they just want to hurt you. And that skepticism can lead to an inability to set logic aside sometimes and just have faith.

Molly’s speech patterns indicate high intelligence, and her reliance on systems of authority is demonstrated at several points—from her worry over the critic from the Times, to the outcome of her visit to the police station. The Ravenclaw affinity for talking things through shows in her attempt to inject cool rationale into the situation between Sam and Willie, inadvertently making it worse instead. And of course, her skepticism is displayed in her disbelief of Oda Mae; despite her heart telling her it was the truth, her rational mind couldn’t conceive of a world where spirits existed.

Despite their shortcomings, Ravenclaws are excellent to have around. They help provide much-needed perspective to the Gryffindors and Slytherins in their lives, who are often all too willing to go full steam ahead and damn the consequences.

Carl Bruner - Slytherin

Putting the villain of the film in the “evil House” may seem like a pretty straightforward decision, but as many of my Followers may have already guessed, there’s a lot more to it than that.

Most of the villains in the Harry Potter series are Slytherins, which makes many Potterheads see Slytherins in a negative light. But the Snakes have had their share of good guys too: Snape and Slughorn are excellent examples, and both of the Cursed Child heroes are Slytherins as well. And some of the nastiest antagonists in the series are from other Houses (Quirrell and Lockheart are Ravenclaws; Wormtail is a Gryffindor).

In fact, “evil” is a concept that has nothing to do with Sorting. The defining traits of Slytherin House are ambition, resourcefulness, and cunning. Snakes also traditionally prize self-preservation. In addition, Slytherin shares a number of characteristics with Gryffindor, including determination, pride, and, as Dumbledore points out, “a certain disregard for the rules.” Gryffindor and Slytherin are, in fact, very similar Houses in many respects: most of the talents of Gryffindors are shared by Slytherins, and it is only in values that they truly differ. Lions are guided by morality, whereas Snakes are guided by pragmatism.

In the Slytherin mindset, if you want something, you should take it; if you don’t need to endanger yourself, don’t. Guilt is an abstract concept which has little place in practical doings. However, this does not erase the concepts of friendship or loyalty, and can even make them stronger in certain personality types. Snakes often form strong bonds with others, because one’s friends or family are seen as an extension of oneself; therefore, it is in a Slytherin’s best interest to look out for those they are close to.

Carl’s ambition and self-serving qualities are shown over and over throughout the film—even early on, before the big reveal. In fact, one of the earliest lines references him as being “obsessed” with money, something he willingly admits. His “certain disregard" for the rules of law and morality—essentially considering them obstacles to the quickest and easiest way of attaining his ambitions—is demonstrated at several points, most notably in his laundering money, but also in his pursuit of Molly.

The Slytherin pragmatism is also showcased in this instance: while Sam was alive, the knowledge that Moll was his best friend’s girl stopped Carl from making a move. Harming his friendship with Sam would have harmed him personally on an emotional level, so it would have been going against his own interests to risk it. But when Sam died, he was removed entirely from existence in Carl’s limited worldview, leaving no “real” obstacle to a relationship with Molly, only that abstract concept of guilt.

And of course, Carl’s value of self-preservation ultimately became his downfall. Everything he did to extend his own life, even to the point of endangering Sam and Moll, only led him more surely to his eventual death. This is the great flaw in the “practicality” of the Snake House: what many Slytherins view as abstract sentiments are quite real factors in life, with real consequences.

Slytherins can be some of the best friends you’ll have: they can help the Eagles in their lives loosen up, aid their Lion pals by doing things a Gryffindor might find morally ambiguous or distasteful (usually without the Gryff’s knowledge), and they’ll fiercely protect those they are loyal to by any means necessary. But they can also be dangerous enemies if those loyalties shift. Carl’s loyalty to his friends was eventually outweighed by his loyalty to his own ambitions, and that proved disastrous for everyone involved.

Oda Mae Brown - Hufflepuff

Oda Mae was the hardest character to Sort. She has some qualities of other Houses: Slytherin’s cunning and self-interest are most prominent, but she also shows a Gryffindor’s bravery in times of great peril, and even some Ravenclaw creativity. In a way, though, that made the choice to place her in Hufflepuff even more obvious.

Hufflepuff is the “odd House out" in Hogwarts. The fandom doesn’t quite know what to make of them, nor do other Hogwarts students. Voldemort’s infamous words about Cedric Diggory as a “spare” echo the sentiments of many. A lot of Potterheads can strongly relate to the confusion demonstrated in a line from the well-known fan parody A Very Potter Musical: “What the hell is a Hufflepuff?”

The problem with Hufflepuff is that, while many Badgers display certain supposedly defining traits—hardworking, cheerful, friendly, honest and genuine, patient, and modest—there really is no requirement for being Sorted into Badger House. As the Sorting Hat quoted Helga Hufflepuff, “I’ll teach the lot, / And treat them just the same.” Hufflepuff is essentially the House for those who do not have strong tendencies for any of the other Houses: those who are not particularly brave, ambitious, or intelligent. While Hufflepuffs can certainly be all three of those things (look at Cedric Diggory for bravery, Newt Scamander for intellect and creativity, and Ernie Macmillan or Zacharias Smith for ambition), the point is that, while they may all exist in Hufflepuffs, none of them are the driving personality traits behind any Badger.

Oda Mae fits into this “not fitting in” bracket fairly well, as well as displaying some of the more common Hufflepuff traits: namely, being open and genuine, upbeat, and fairly impartial in questions of morality. While the Gryffindors and Slytherins are busy butting heads and the Ravenclaws are either trying to separate them or rolling their eyes at the whole silly affair, ’Puffs will just get on with their own business.

Oda Mae also, in the end, demonstrates another of the Hufflepuff tendencies. Many people, both wizards and fans, tend to underestimate Hufflepuffs. They are considered rather dull, even downright stupid (“Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o’ duffers”), and quite timid. None of this is true. Hufflepuffs are often quiet about their accomplishments, but that should not fool anyone into thinking the Badgers are not a force to be reckoned with. Their House mascot is subtle evidence of this: a real-life badger may look cute and cuddly, but a single African honey badger is able to kill three lions on its own. Oda Mae doesn’t seem like a hero for most of the film—she just wants to stay out of danger and get on with her life the way it was before she met Sam. She is easily mistaken for strictly comic relief. But she ends up being the deciding factor in pretty much everything.

It’s additionally worth noting that one of my favorite fan theories is that Hufflepuffs are the House with the most natural talent in Divination, which is the closest thing in the Potterverse to Oda Mae’s psychic talents.

Willie Lopez - Slytherin

As previously stated, Slytherin’s defining traits are ambition, cunning, a strong sense of self-preservation, and an emphasis on achieving goals rather than on how said goals are achieved. Willie displays all of these, in practically every scene he’s in.

Willie certainly doesn’t have the intelligence of a Ravenclaw, but he does possess a sort of animal cunning—probably the only reason he survived as long as he did in the dangerous life a small-time thug. His selfishness and value of his own life above others are demonstrated in his flight from Sam’s spirit, abandoning his erstwhile partner and leaving Carl to fend for himself when things got ugly. And of course, his ambition and lack of respect for laws and ethics are displayed by his profession as a hired gun.

The trademark Slytherin pragmatism is even more pronounced in Willie than it is in Carl... this is made especially clear in the scene where Carl confronts him over his violent methods. “You killed a man,” Carl accuses him. “You were supposed to steal his wallet!” Willie simply returns, “That was a freebie!” He seems genuinely frustrated by how upset Carl is. The idea that Carl might have actually valued Sam’s life, not just his address book, is apparently unimportant to him.

Willie reminds me a lot of Crabbe and Goyle, Draco Malfoy’s goons: a somewhat dimwitted, amoral, violent personality kept around so that Draco (or Carl, in this case) doesn’t need to personally dirty his hands. He certainly isn’t a good representative of Snake House’s positive traits, but he belongs there just the same.

Image Credits:

Background: Hogwarts Sam: Harry Potter (House Crest from this image) Molly: Ravenclaw Student 1 by akirastock Carl: Draco Malfoy Oda Mae: Hermione Granger (tie and House Crest from this image) Willie: Gregory Goyle

Images of Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Tony Goldwyn, Whoopi Goldberg, and Rick Aviles taken from Ghost (1990).

Edited with iPhoto, Preview, and Paintbrush on Mac

This is my first real attempt at photomanipulation, and I don’t have Photoshop, so please be gentle with me!

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moshimichi · 7 years

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Day 5 – Role Reversal

ZarcRay Week: Day 5

Fandom: Arc V Ship: Zarc/Ray Rating: T (for the one instance of language) Genre: Drama(???) Warning: Character deaths

AO3

The truth comes to light.

—

Yuya’s screams rang out as the very air exploded around him. The others shielded themselves with their arms from the sudden onslaught, crying out in concern for the boy. Why was this happening? Since Yuya won the duel, Zarc shouldn’t be able to revive!

The winds eventually died down, allowing them to be able to look at Yuya’s transformation. His now silver hair hung limply in front of his face and obscured his features. However, everything else could be clearly seen. While it wasn’t completely monstrous, the one who stood before them wasn’t outright human either.

Gray scales littered the skin of his arms, becoming more concentrated as they went down until his forearms and clawed hands were completely covered in them. Scythe-like blades extended from his wrists in deadly curves and sharp horns protruded from his messy hair. His ears were now elfin with wing-like appendages bordering along the ridges. While his size didn’t seem to have changed much, his clothes were still ruined by the dark wings that had emerged and punctured cloth. Lastly, a tail, easily four times as long as he was tall, curled around him on the ground with its barbs pierced through the ground as if it was butter.

“Yu…ya…?” Sora hesitantly took a step closer to the still form. That one motion was enough to rouse the other boy. Clawed fingers twitched and barbs sliced cleanly through concrete as scales slowly slithered against the floor. Silver strands shifted and the group found themselves pinned to the spot by burning, molten gold.

Zarc’s gaze wandered over each Lancer in a searching manner. Not finding what he was looking for, he tilted his head back in a manner almost like a beast sniffing out its prey. Lips parted and a rough voice broke the stifling silence.

“R…ay…”

Reiji tensed at the word. Why was he looking for Ray? Pushing Reira behind him, the teen stepped forward. Reira’s footsteps could be heard as the boy stepped away, but unwilling to call Zarc’s attention to the child, he refrained from commanding him to stay put. Voice firm, he called, “Ray isn’t here, Zarc.”

Upon hearing his name, the draconic being’s eyes snapped towards Reiji. There was a flash of recognition as gold met amethyst just seconds before wind whistled past him. Reiji stood frozen, not daring to move so the barbs of Zarc’s tail wouldn’t cut even more into his neck.

“…Oh. You’re not her…” The sharp objects moved away and suddenly Reiji wasn’t so numb. A small trail of blood slipped down his skin, bringing to attention just how close he had been to death.

“Your eyes… Reiji… Ray’s…” Judging by Zarc’s mumbling, it could be concluded that the demon wasn’t completely coherent. Perhaps Yuya’s resistance had some part in it. He shook his head fiercely as if to clear his mind.

“Where is she?” he demanded. “I have to— She needs to be stopped. Where is she?!”

“You plan to stop her before she can stop you again?” Reiji made sure to not look back in Reira’s direction. If he gave any hint that Reira had a connection to Ray, who knew what that demon would do to him? “Before you worry about her, perhaps you should focus on us.”

The bespectacled teen raised his arms, activating his duel disk. The others quickly followed his example. There was no guarantee that Ray would revive. Even if she did, Reiji did not want to place any bets on the chances that she could seal Zarc away once again.

Reiji, the Lancers, and their allies would make sure to defeat him and bring back Yuya and the others by their own efforts. Of that, he was determined.

Zarc stared at the opposing group ready to fight him for a moment. Then, a loud, rumbling growl, a sound of a far greater magnitude than someone of his size should be able to make, tore free from behind bared fangs.

“Are you fucking stupid?!” he snapped. Taken aback, his opponents—dear gods, children—looked on in confusion. “We have to stop her! If she revives, she’ll try to destroy the world again!”

Looks ranging from outrage to disbelief scattered amongst the children. Reiji—Ray’s brother with those same, near identical eyes as the girl Zarc even now still admired—frowned. “Don’t try to tell us such preposterous lies, Zarc. Akaba Leo told us everything about your past.”

Now that the spirits of his counterparts were somewhat settled, Zarc could see bits and pieces of their memories. And likewise, they could see parts of his. He could just feel the whirling confusion and denial, but he ignored them for the more important situation at hand.

“You are stupid,” he growled. If it weren’t for the dire situation, he would have found the offended look on the younger—no, he would probably be considered older at this point—boy’s face rather funny. But now wasn’t the time. “Akaba Leo is her pawn.”

He wouldn’t be able to get anywhere if he didn’t explain to these kids. He knew they were skilled. If they continued to operate based on Ray’s fabricated lies, they would likely wear him down enough that he wouldn’t be able to stand a chance against her once she returned.

So he told them everything. Yes, he had caused that first incident of violence, launching an era of gladiator-like dueling. Yes, the monsters had been pained because of it, screaming in anger for vengeance. But no, he had not gone insane from it all. With how long he had been able to hear duel monsters and due to his bonds with his own forged by years of companionship, Zarc had been able to at least calm his monsters enough that they wouldn’t drive him off the deep end.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the Speeding Diva.

Akaba Ray’s ability to feel the spirits’ emotions had been to a far lesser degree than his. But when the monsters suddenly gained mass, their voices had become so loud that it was as if her ability had strengthened a hundredfold. Unable to deal with the burden of the monsters’ rage and fear, she was quickly overwhelmed and went insane.

Ray concocted a plan to destroy all of humanity, as per the monsters’ wishes, and fed Leo a tearful sob story about her ability. In the hopes of helping his daughter, the man created four cards from the power of nature so that she could perhaps suppress her ability.

However, Ray ended up using those cards to augment her power instead. She became able to summon monsters into physical form on her own much like the kings of old and, connected to them as she was, formed them into an army able to use formidable strategies even the best strategists couldn’t beat.

As a fellow person with the same ability to hear duel monsters, Zarc had taken it upon himself to put an end to Ray’s rampage. On his own, he wouldn’t have been able to match her strength. So he fused himself with his four most loyal monsters, his dragons, and threw away his humanity in order to stand on the same ground.

But he made a mistake. Zarc pitied Ray. He sympathized with her. If things had been different, it could have easily been him who would’ve gone insane and tried to destroy the world. Unwilling to actually hurt her, he had instead tried to suppress her long enough to take the nature cards and used them to seal her power away.

Seeing that she wouldn’t be able to defeat him, Ray had decided to regroup. She split them into four so that one day she could revive herself and return to destroying the world with him out of the way. She manipulated the memories of Leo, the one person with actual blood ties to her, so that he would try to single-mindedly revive his daughter without even a thought to the resulting death and destruction or even to his own family.

At those last words, Reiji grit his teeth. So this was the true reason why they had been abandoned? Why his mother had been made to suffer his father’s absence?

“I admired her,” Zarc admitted. Ray had even been a sort of celebrity crush for him. “So I allowed my counterparts to nurture feelings of affection towards those girls. That way, should the girls ever disappear from their respective dimensions, they would be sure to follow.”

Should Ray’s revival ever become imminent, so would his own.

“Then, why were they so scared of you?” Sora butted in. He remembered Yuya’s fear-filled eyes whenever he thought of going berserk. “If it was for a good cause, why were they so against becoming one?”

“Because becoming one meant the worst was about to happen!” Zarc yelled. “They might not have known, but Ray’s revival not only meant the destruction of humanity, but the disappearance of the one most important to them. And they didn’t want that!”

“It’s kind of flattering, though, that parts of you were so attached to parts of me.”

Zarc’s body froze. That voice… It couldn’t be! Everyone’s eyes turned towards the direction that voice came from. There, standing tall with an amused smile on her face was…

“Ray!” he growled. She looked very much like how he remembered, though years younger like he was. Such was the effect of having their counterparts fuse together when they were younger than their original ages.

“Zarc,” Ray greeted back. Cold, violet eyes roved over his body in amusement, sending chills down his spine. “You look so cute when you’re small like that.”

“Cut the crap,” he snarled. “How did you come back?”

The smile on her face became a rather cruel smirk.

“Children are so susceptible to control,” she mused. Reiji’s eyes widened and he jerked around to look for Reira. However, the boy wasn’t anywhere to be found. His gaze whipped back to Ray—his sister—and she giggled when their eyes met. “The machine just needed a bit more fuel for me to return, if not the original world. So I just suggested to Reira that he take Father on a…walk.”

Zarc heard more than saw the thud of knees against the floor. “No.” Reiji’s whispered words echoed with despair. “Reira… Dad…”

“You bitch…” Yuya’s spirit cried and writhed within Zarc. He might not have known the child personally, but he knew just how much his counterpart had cared for the boy.

Tinkling laughter answered his angry words. Ray held out her hand and Zarc realized with a jerk that the four bracelets once again adorned her wrist. One of the gemstones glowed, causing a gust of wind to blow.

Rin.

Distracted by the turmoil in the back of his mind, Zarc jumped when Ray suddenly appeared before him with the aid of the wind. Gentle hands gripped his face and his eyes widened as he soon found her lips on his. Everything inside him stilled, a cold yet warm pit in his stomach. When a tongue trailed over his lower lip and teeth nibbled teasingly, however, he quickly pushed her away and jumped back. A good distance between them now, he wiped his mouth to hopefully rid himself of both the sensation and the burning blush across his cheeks.

“What are you playing at?” Zarc demanded. The girl smiled, a gesture that pulled his attention unwillingly to her lips.

“I just wanted to see if such a relationship could work between us.” He knew what she was alluding to. Between Yuya and Yuzu, Yuto and Ruri, and Yugo and Rin, thoughts of a relationship between Ray and himself were easy to come to. If it wasn’t for Leo’s interference, maybe even Yuri and Selena would have had at least some sort of friendship.

“Don’t toy with me, Ray,” he hissed. Zarc had learned from his mistake. There would be no pity from him this time, no holding back. This time, he would be sure to take her down, even if it meant killing her.

“Oh, but Zarc…” She gave him a toothy smile that was much more malicious than her looks would have people believe. “What is it you say again? The fun has just begun.”

(The title of “Speeding Diva” for Ray belongs to @pendulum-sonata)

#arc v #zarcray #zarcray week #michi's stuff #michi's fics

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mongoose-and · 7 years

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Class Order Hall Campaigns: Rated (7.1.5)

From Best -> Worst

Druid

Shaman

Death Knight

Warrior

Monk

Mage

Warlock

Demon Hunter

Rogue

Priest & Paladin (Tied)

Paladin & Priest (Tied)

Hunter (get wreckt)

Reasons below the cut (Spoilers)

For the sake of discussion, I will absolutely be conflating the Artifact quest lines in with the class Campaign quests.

1. Druid - Druid's campaign basically breaks the curve by sheer scope. The campaign focuses on one major theme for this part of the expansion, and just expands on it beautifully. You are charged with protecting the Emerald Dreamway, rescuing Malorne, and eventually saving the Emerald Dream from the forces of both the Legion and the Emerald Nightmare. Between the beauty of the different zones, the massive gatherings of druids, exploration of Druid lore, and getting to relive the War of the Ancients at Mount Hyjal, none of the other class campaigns quite compare to sheer magnitude of history and lore that Druids get to explore. It also doesn’t hurt that Druid is an amazing class to play in its own right and each artifact quest is clever and interesting (except the Balance questline. That was pretty weak TBH). This campaign really made me feel the ‘class fantasy’.

2. Shaman - Close contender for being almost as epic as the druid campaign. The major theme of the Shaman questline is leading the Earthen Ring and uniting the Elemental Lords against the Legion, which is kinda like bargaining with a bunch of perpetually angry, murderous children to team up and fight Communism. Nonetheless, the shaman campaign has fun and interesting quests as well as insight to how the Elementals work (or don’t work) with each other, and they make good use of a variety of former instances and questing zones (including a finale in the Firelands that is beautiful and hectic).

3. Death Knight - Another top contender given THAT FINALE THO. GET WRECKT PALIDANS YEAH- oh, nevermind. Really, my only complaint was that the very end of the finale fell short (should’ve just let us do it, Blizz), and that it wasn’t Dark Souls Hard the whole way. Everything else about the Death Knight campaign was fantastic - raising the new Four Horsemen, killing lots of people, causing mayhem, Lich King Bolvar. Superb stuff, all the way.

4. Warrior - The quest line that starts meh, gets good, gets great, then settles back into “good” again. Sadly, I think it was a missed opportunity to explore the warrior cultures of the Horde and Alliance, and instead focused entirely on the lore and history of the Titans / Vrykul. For what it is, though, I think Blizz did a great job, and I don’t see the quest line they built fitting into any of the other classes nearly as well. It wasn’t the story that we wanted or needed for Warriors, but it was the best damned way to tell the story they did. Also, lolz Ulduar quest zone~

5. Monk - This is a fine quest line that falls short by virtue of just not being as epic as the others. It’s also the questline that convinced me that the Vrykul story only really paired well with the Warrior class hall. It starts strong by basically trashing the set in at the Peak of Serenity in Pandaria, and takes you back to the Wandering Isle (remember there?). Then it proceeds to utterly destroy shit in Pandaria at literally every chance it gets, which is great fun. Then you make God Beer and defeat a winged commie space goat.

6. Mage - This is where the class hall quests start to get a bit underwhelming, TBH. The whole quest line revolves around Archmage Vargoth being weird, only to reveal that he was possessed by demons. Honestly, it’s not great on it’s own, and if it wasn’t presented as a ‘mystery’ that we all could solve within the first five seconds of stepping into the order hall, it probably would have been more interesting. However, throughout the quest line, you do get some cool lore, elves, stupid Khadgar tricks, more elves, vomiting deaders, gaggles of elves, a blue-haired dragon husband, too many elves, Milhouse Manastorm, and a free trip to your most hated (my favorite) dungeon from Wrath of the Lich King, THE OCULUS! Also, so many elves... even though they are shit at magic.

7. Warlock - High School Drama: The Anime: The Quest Line. Seriously, you could probably make a decent anime out of just about anything that happens with Warlocks - the angst, the interpersonal drama, the cute/disgusting monsters they subjugate to serve them, the unlikely capture/escape scenarios, the pink hair. It manages to be clever and more interesting than some of the other quests, but it ultimately boils down to a whole lot meaningless drivel and a weird “choose your favorite girl to join your cool kids’ clique” decision at the end. And then you have the orc who keeps leaving butt-cinders *everywhere*.

8. Demon Hunter - Basically you finish what you started with the Demon Hunter starting zone. And then you fight twins in what is probably one of the better finales of all the quests. However, apart from a cool finale and the fact that you get your own space ship, there’s not really much about the Demon Hunter quest line that really excited me. Demon Hunters are insufferable characters in general, Korvas Bloodthorn doesn’t get to be your bodyguard, and if you picked Kayn Sunfury then you spend most of the time being just as terrible as Illidan was. I probably would have enjoyed this more if I didn’t pick Kayn, but I did and I regret my life choices, even if the Illidari CANNOT be STOGHPPPED!!!!

9. Rogue - Good: Tactical Espionage Action. Pirates. Mattias Shaw is a dreadlord. Garona, Vaneesa VanCleef, Taoshi, and Valeera Sanguinar’s thighs all become your girlfriends. Bad: Trolling the AH for mats while Noggenfogger sits on his ass and blackmails you. Amber Kearnan dies offscreen and zero fucks are given. Getting killed in Stormwind repeatedly by Fury warriors (okay, I lied about that last part, that was pretty lolzy). Worst: you have to play a Rogue in order to experience any of it. Also, exactly one of the artifact quests are fun to do and it’s not the one it should be.

10. Priest & Paladin (Tied) - I have to tie these because they’re basically the same flipping thing, with only the artifact quests and maybe half of the actual campaign quests to distinguish them. I wanted to praise Blizz by showing overlap / interaction between the different classes, but they basically went overboard here, by recycling plot points and even the finale, altogether. Also, Netherlight Temple is a dumb idea, akin to moving NORAD into a base in Afghanistan because Al-Qaeda would NEVER think to look there (....well, until they do). Priests arguably have it worse because they don’t even get to be the hero of their own class hall mission (that goes to the Paladins) - AND you have to play a Priest for the privilege of this nonsense, which is arguably the worst punishment one can experience. Paladins, on the other hand, get meaningless choices and suffer the indignity of watching every single champion of theirs make fools of themselves at the first opportunity. Also, both sides visit each others halls, but nobody gets murdered in the process. Also also, wtf is a Lothraxxion and why - I did this shit twice and I still don’t know, he just shows up like a shiny sparkle vampire. Also also also - sigh - Night Elf Paladins when, Blizz? :/

12. Hunter - My beloved Main’s class campaign was also arguably the weakest and least interesting. The artifact quests are fine enough (though Marksman could have just dropped a bigger dime on Allleria than “she ain’t here, but she was”) but the main core of the hunter quest - while probably the most grounded and true to the Hunter’s ‘class fantasy’ - was a snooze fest compared to the other campaigns. The Unseen Path as a concept is cool but overall underwhelming to me - their super-clandestine nature means that they try to stay out of the way of cool things happening, but they don’t have the benefit of being a bunch of spies and thieves to have any intrigue to back it up. They swear an oath and then sit around a lodge and snack, occasionally plinking arrows at targets literally right in front of them. There are cool, all-too-brief detours when you go to recruit champions like Rexxar, Nesingwary, and Addie Fizzlebog, but even they aren’t enough to uplift an otherwise boring plot involving hunting down a felguard and his super felstalkers. In terms of scope and grandeur: If the Druid campaign was ‘class fantasy’ being used to tell an epic tale of saving the planet and exploring history with an army of allies, the Hunter campaign was ‘class fantasy’ being used to tell a story about how you did a crossword puzzle while on vacation this one time. On the plus side, the Hunter quest line has you play with a dog, and the Druid quest line does not.

...

...I take it back. Hunter quest line 12/10. Best quest line. Best ever. <3 <3 <3

Come on Baron! Let’s go~

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allthevmff · 5 years

Text

Scoobies in Neptune

by lateVMlover

I began writing fanfiction in 2010 due to my obsession with Veronica Mars fanfiction. Many of you may not know that the VM in my handle stands for that show. Although it's not even my top ten favorite show, I LOVED the characters that Rob Thomas created, so I spent years writing several stories only for Veronica Mars. In fact, I've written 1,259,643 words that were solely about Veronica Mars. Then I grew bored and now almost exclusively write Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossovers. However, I've had this idea for a story percolating in the back of mind for a few years now. I've finally put it down on paper.

This story is set after BTVS season 4 and Veronica Mars season 3. It's beginning in the summer after Veronica has left for her summer internship with the FBI. I've altered some key things in the Buffyverse. Faith didn't go evil in season 3, but instead was killed long enough to activate a new slayer. Kennedy is called in her place and makes Sunnydale so unbearable that the gang decides to move away. Neptune is not too far, and Buffy, Willow, and Tara transfer to Hearst while Giles and Faith are guarding the hellmouth in Ohio. Season 4 of BTVS had some serious deviations as Spike isn't a part of the story, and Riley and Buffy were never a couple. This story will not be as plot driven as previous stories. I'm focusing more on the two worlds being thrown together and new connections, friendships, and loves developing.

Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not own either Veronica Mars or BTVS.

I will be moving this story to the crossover page after a bit. It's just been so long since I've written anything for VM that I thought I'd start with it here first. If you are unfamiliar with BTVS this story might not be for you. However, if you know the characters from the show, you should have no trouble following it as it's set entirely in Rob Thomas' Neptune world.

Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

*****Neptune*****

Buffy looked at the small house her mom had bought in Neptune in satisfaction. The one-story dwelling was so much easier to unpack than their other place had been four years ago. The square footage wasn't that different from their old home in Sunnydale, but she did have a bit more space in her room. The third bedroom, however, was on the small size. Happily, they each had their own bathroom, so Buffy had no reason to complain. The large formal dining room that their Sunnydale home had boasted was absent from this house, but it had a large kitchen that their table could fit into as long as they kept the extension out of it. Of course, the main thing the house had was a large basement that she could use to keep up her training.

Her phone rang. "Hey, Will. Are you and Tara unpacked?" she asked. "I'm finally done."

"Not even close," Willow said. "Tara and I found this amazing coffee house by campus called Java Hut, so we're totally distracted. Things are so bright and shiny here, Buffy, so we're not sure what to do."

Buffy laughed. "I know what you mean. Just being away from the hellmouth makes me feel warm and happy," she said.

"Exactly!" Willow agreed. "The reason I called was to tell you that Xander called and said that he got called in for the interview for the maintenance team at Hearst. It's in five days."

"That's great!" Buffy said. "I can't imagine not having our Xander-shaped friend around. What about Anya?"

"Anya doesn't want to leave the hellmouth or her job. Giles made her a partner in the Magic Box before he and Faith left for Ohio," Willow said.

"Doesn't she know she will have to deal with Kennedy if she sticks around?" Buffy asked.

"Well, you know Anya. She'll just tell Kennedy exactly how she feels in that special manner of hers," Willow said in amusement. "Xander did say she threatened to get a vengeance demon friend of hers to hex Kennedy if she tried ordering her around again."

When Kennedy's bullying ways had made Tara cry a month before, a big fight had broken out. Buffy had already planned to relocate shortly after Faith had died and been brought back, thus activating Kennedy the Bitch.

"We can all learn from Anya," Buffy said. Of course, Buffy was action girl. Actions speak louder, and her leaving town said all she needed to say.

"So are we going to the beach this evening?" Willow asked.

"Most definitely," Buffy said. She said goodbye after planning where to meet up and then decided to go shopping for a new swimsuit.

She took a leisure stroll and thought about all the changes that had occurred the past year. After her second month in Sunnydale, Faith had been nearly drained by Mr. Trick. Buffy had thrown Faith over her shoulder and rushed to the hospital, but Faith had flatlined almost immediately. Luckily, they managed to revive and transfuse her. At her mother's instance, Faith had spent a week recovering at their house. The experience had bonded the two slayers like nothing had before. Because Giles had allowed Faith to stay in his spare room, Buffy had been really jealous of Faith. An only child, sharing didn't come easy to Buffy.

However, Kennedy, the new sixteen-year old slayer, coming to town had united the two slayers even more. She was such a stuck-up bitch that the two older slayers just could not work with her. Luckily, Kennedy showed up after graduation and their defeat of the Mayor. For the first time ever, there were three active slayers. Faith and Kennedy had come to blows three times before Giles and Wesley decided that the three of them needed to be spread out across the country. Buffy asked to be allowed to ease out of slaying if Kennedy survived her first year on the hellmouth, so Wesley and Giles had flipped a coin to see who'd get Faith.

Faith and Giles left right after Christmas at the beginning of the new year. That meant that Faith stayed in Sunnydale long enough to seduce Buffy's psychology TA, Riley, and found out he was hiding a very big secret. The military was playing on the hellmouth, and she and Buffy knew it was not a good thing. When Faith discovered they'd chipped a newly returned to town Spike, she'd been pissed—equating it with tying up a dog and leaving it to starve to death. She was going to put him out of his misery and stake him, but Buffy decided sending him to Los Angeles for Angel to deal with was a better option.

A new town was definitely the right way to go for her and her friends.

She was hoping that the new location would work some magic on her love life because Buffy was tired of being single. She'd had the one-night stand with Parker the previous fall and that was it. The very yummy Graham had asked her out, but after discovering his entire fraternity was a front, she couldn't trust him. Now she was ready to have fun or something real. Without the burden of the hellmouth weighing her down, she was free to be a normal college student.

Her mother had decided to leave the dangers of the hellmouth and move to Neptune with Buffy. Willow had been the one to mention Hearst to Buffy. The small liberal arts college was only an hour from Sunnydale, so Buffy could easily get there if Kennedy needed a hand. Willow and Tara had been very eager to leave with Buffy, joining her at Hearst.

Giles won Faith in the coin toss and moved to Ohio with her at the beginning of the year. Although Kennedy had arrived in town with her own Watcher, the woman had been too sensitive to the dark forces radiating from the hellmouth and had asked to be relocated. Her abandonment had worked to make Kennedy even more difficult. Faith, though, was loving being back in a state with real winter as the Boston native really loved the snow Ohio had.

Buffy missed Giles a lot. Although Wesley was better as a Watcher in his second year, she hated that Giles was so far away. Talking on the phone was not the same thing. She and her friends did go to Ohio for Spring Break, though. The hellmouth was much tamer than Sunnydale, but they slayed a few vamps while patrolling with Faith.

She found a shop that looked promising and went in. Neptune had outlet shops scattered around town. The ones close to campus, though, seemed to cater to girls Buffy's age. Luckily, her new house was only five miles from campus. For Buffy, it was merely a nice walk.

"Oh, this is cute!" she said as she grabbed a summer dress. She saw three more and went and tried them on. Her dad allowed her to use her emergency credit card for school clothes, so she didn't feel guilty when she decided to buy all four of them.

Then she went to the swimsuits. A murmuring voice caught her attention, and she looked up. A girl around her age and height was looking at swimsuits with a mulish expression on her face. The attractive brunette had blue tipped hair, which intrigued Buffy as no one back home put colors like that in her hair.

"I don't know why she expects me to waste my hard-earned money on stupid crap," the girl mumbled to herself.

"I take it you don't love clothes shopping?" Buffy asked, giving her a friendly smile.

"I'd rather have a root canal," the girl replied.

"I love shopping," Buffy said.

The girl looked Buffy over and smirked. "You would love shopping," she said.

"I'm taking that as a compliment even though I feel like you didn't mean it as one," Buffy said.

"Sorry," the girl said. "It's just you're wearing one of those cool summer outfits that makes a woman look sexy without effort. Your blonde and beautiful with the long, flowing hair. Are you an 09er?"

Buffy laughed, never having had someone call her beautiful as an insult before. "I don't think so. I'm Buffy. Buffy Summers. I just moved to town," Buffy said.

"Buffy?" the girl said with a smile. "Well, I think you'll fit right in with the 09ers. I'm Cindy Makenzie, but people call me Mac."

"Nice to meet you, Mac," Buffy said. "Do you attend Hearst?"

"I do," Mac said. "Computer science major."

"Oh, my best friend Willow is a computer whiz, too," Buffy said with a bright smile. "She's going to be going to Hearst, too. You might have her in some classes."

"Another girl in the computer science program?" Mac asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Yep. If you're not doing anything later, we're going to the beach behind the campus dorms," Buffy said. "I can introduce you to her and her girlfriend Tara. They are both taking a summer class, so they got into the dorms early."

"Well, I'm leaving in the morning for my family's summer vacation," Mac said. "But I can drop by and meet your friends."

"Oh, so you're buying a new suit for the trip? That's nice. Mine's like two years old," Buffy said. "But in my old town, I seemed to go from one crisis to another and no real beach time."

Mac had to revise her initial impression of the blonde Barbie with the ridiculous name as she was way too friendly to be an 09er. Openly admitting to struggles was also not an 09er trait.

"Where's home?" Mac inquired.

"Well, I was born and raised in Los Angeles, but when my parents split up almost five years ago, I moved to Sunnydale. It's about the size of Neptune but an hour from here," Buffy explained.

"The town with the weird outbreak of laryngitis?" Mac asked, intrigued.

Buffy was surprised she knew that. "Oh, well, yes. The town had a few weird and bad elements," she said.

"I'm not sure Neptune is an improvement," Mac warned. "The 09ers rule it, and there's oodles of corruption."

As no one could ever be more corrupt than the former Mayor of Sunnydale, who turned into a giant snake and ate students at Buffy's high school graduation, she wasn't worried. Of course, she said nothing about that. "What are 09ers?" Buffy asked, frowning. Mac kept saying it like Buffy should know, and she was starting to feel stupid.

"Neptune has two zip codes, 09 and 02. 09 is where the uber wealthy live like the Kanes," she said.

"I take it you're an 02er?" Buffy asked with a grin since she found this zip code division more than a bit silly.

"Yep. Class warfare is very real in this town," Mac said.

"I can't believe it's big enough for two zip codes," Buffy said. "Sunnydale has a USC campus and still only had one zip code."

"That's probably because it wasn't full of elitist snobs that got the city to alter the town charter and give a few neighborhoods their own zip code," Mac said.

"Well, we had a real gang problem in Sunnydale," Buffy said.

"We have that here, but they're not the worst thing," Mac said.

Buffy now had to wonder if Giles was right about Neptune not being hellmouthy. Then again, Los Angeles had no hellmouth, but it had a combination of evil people and dark elements.

The girls finally stopped gossiping and tried on some bathing suits. Buffy decided on a two piece and one cute piece while Mac got a dark blue on piece, not much different than her old black one piece. She refused a red one that Buffy tried to talk her in to buying. Her reluctance reminded Buffy a lot of Willow, so Buffy was quick to like the girl with blue-tipped hair.

Buffy paid for her purchases, and Mac gave Buffy her cell phone number. Mac couldn't believe she didn't have a cell phone.

"Me and technology are unmixy things," Buffy said with a careless shrug. "Willow and Xander, my other best friend, have them, though. If I'm not home, I'm with them normally." Cell phones were superfluous in her line of work. Of course, fighting would be hell on one. Now that she was not really slaying, though, maybe she should get one.

At her confession, Mac gave her a look of horror. "You're a luddite?" she asked.

"Since I know what that word means, no," Buffy said, grinning. "Willow called Giles, our librarian, that once as he called her computer that infernal machine. I can use the computer if I have to, but Will's so much better at it."

"So why bother?" Mac asked in bemusement.

"I'm action girl. I'd rather be running or sparring or fencing," Buffy said.

"You're a jock?" Mac asked in surprise, forced again to reevaluate Buffy.

"I guess you could say that," Buffy said. "But I'm not really into team sports. I did do cheerleading in middle school and ninth grade, but I got bored with it. The cheerleaders at Sunnydale took it way too seriously," she said, thinking of Amy and her mom.

"Hearst does have a track team and a fencing club you might check out," Mac said.

"Okay, I might," Buffy said. Not having monsters to slay was going to leave her with way too much energy. "I'm not really interested in competing, though. I just like things that are physical because I have way too much energy."

Mac grinned, deciding that she liked the girl with the totally airhead name. Clearly, she was no airhead. She might resemble another pixie blonde Mac knew, but Veronica channeled her boundless energy into doing a dozen tasks in twenty-four hours rather than exercise.

"I better head home and prove to my mom that I did buy a new swimsuit," Mac said with a sigh.

"See you later, I hope," Buffy as she walked out the door with Mac.

Mac assumed the woman would head to a car, so she walked toward her own. However, as she pulled out to the road, she noticed Buffy hoofing it, carrying her two bags. Frowning, Mac pointed her green beetle toward Buffy, pulling up alongside her. She rolled down her window and called out, "Buffy, do you need a ride?" she asked.

"Oh, no. I don't live far," Buffy said with an easy smile.

"What's your address?" Mac asked.

When Buffy rattled it off, Mac looked aghast. "That's five miles! You can't walk that far! Get in, and I'll give you a ride," she said.

"It's really no big deal," Buffy said, amused at Mac's look of horror.

"I insist," Mac said firmly. Buffy shrugged and got in the car.

"Well, thanks," she said. "I walked everywhere back home."

"Your friends don't drive?" Mack asked.

"Yes, Willow and Xander have cars," she said. "Sometimes, they'd pick me up. Mom dropped me off for high school, but I always walked home. Then I lived on campus my year at USC Sunnydale. I don't even notice the walking anymore." Five miles was nothing for a slayer.

"You don't have a license?" Mac asked.

"Nope," she said. "Mom says I'm too terrifying behind the wheel and refused to teach me after I dented her car that one time."

"They have professionals that can teach you, you know," Mac said.

"Yea, one day I suppose I'll get one of those," Buffy said with a grin.

Mac laughed and shook her head. "Maybe, this summer I can show you how to drive," she found herself offering. Normally, she'd never make an offer like that to a stranger. But the idea of a woman not being completely independent bothered her.

"My friends will tell you no to that," Buffy said. "Xander and Giles both tried. Giles has taught me lots of things, but he said that the world was safer if I stayed a pedestrian." Of course, she knew it had more to do with her slayer reflexes than anything else.

Mac pulled into Buffy's driveway and looked at the modest sized home—definitely not an 09er. "I just live three blocks from here—well, my parents do. I'm home for the summer but dorming it in the fall," she shared. "I can't believe you walked so far."

"I told you I have lots of energy. It didn't seem that far," Buffy said. I don't get tired like normal people."

"I so can't relate," Mac said dryly.

Buffy laughed. "It looks like my mom is home. Do you want to come in and meet her?" Buffy offered.

"Next time," Mac said. "If I'm going to have time to meet up with you and your friends later. I need to get home."

"Okay," Buffy said. "Thanks a bunch."

She got out of the car, waving to Mac.

Mac grove away, surprised that she made a friend so easily. It took her almost three years to make two friends in high school.

Of course, Mac had no idea how gifted Buffy was at seeing the best in a person and bringing it out for others to see.

As for Buffy, she skipped inside and happily shared with her mom all the details of her encounter with Mac and modeled each outfit.

Joyce happily listened and watched the small fashion show, so happy to see her daughter this way. It'd been years since she had seen Buffy so carefree and excited to be alive. The burdens of being a slayer were gone, and she was free to be young. For the first time in years, she was free to enjoy life to the fullest.

Joyce knew that moving to Neptune with Buffy was the right decision. Life was short, and Joyce didn't want to miss a moment with Buffy. She'd come too closing to losing her daughter too many times.

"I think this move was a good decision," she said to Buffy.

"Absolutely!" Buffy agreed. "A fresh start for all of us."

Buffy believed Neptune would finally be the home Sunnydale never was.

*****Chapter End*****

So what's your thoughts? Veronica will be in this story, but not until the summer is over. I hope you won't miss her too much, but when she returns, there will be fireworks. Reviews are the best. Thanks!

via FanFiction.Net: Veronica Mars, Last Updated http://bit.ly/2IkqBG0 April 8, 2019 at 03:02AM

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