#meanwhile the game only BARELY seems to recognize that this dude is in fact the Actual Villain Of The Game. Like. Eve's justified.

[regallibellbright]

Honestly I think I'd hate Arthur Cantabella less if they'd simply removed the whole "Yeah no this is a government-condoned psychological experiment" aspect.

TESTING WHAT?! No, genuinely, what? Using the contaminated groundwater/weirdass Silver Fainting Allergy and/or the flower ink as a drug? Because uh, if that's the case, then I'm pretty sure using them both in conjunction contaminates your results.

Is it something about mob mentality? In-groups and out-groups with the elaborate tech crew made of convicted witches and victims maintaining the whole illusion? In that case, I think the fact that you're drugging and gaslighting the entire experiment group is also contaminating the results.

Also the whole fantasy setting is probably a confounding variable for Something.

Okay sure parents could consent to taking part in this experiment for their children, but uh, I'm pretty sure some of these kids were born AFTER the experiment began. Given the aforementioned Large Amounts of Drugging From Multiple Origins going on here, I have some concerns!

No seriously. Please. PL vs PW writers. Give me the grant proposal Arthur Cantabella submitted to get anyone to fund this project. I know it's Bill fucking Hawks, but even he's got limits! I don't see how he benefits from half this shit even if he wants to use the other half (I assume the drugs.) Why is he paying for the rest? There's a reason why Clive is established as being a lone schemer with obscene amounts of money who's keeping all his scientists in the dark and/or coerced to keep building, and it's so that we don't have anyone there questioning why he's building an elaborate fake town populated by actors in addition to his Underground Vengeance Mecha!

The fact that you somehow managed to get this cleared as a psychological experiment establishes that you know the field of psychology exists. Why in the name of all that is holy did you think building an elaborate fake fantasy town with an elaborate magic system which you make real through the power of drugging people, knocking the ENTIRE TOWN out every time a spell is used, changing things around them to simulate "magic" using the most ridiculous Renn Faire stage crew ever, and manipulating the clocks so no one's aware time is passing, with a system that prosecutes witches and burns them so that they can join the Renn Faire Stage Crew along with their victims, and positioning yourself as the all-powerful Storyteller who writes their reality into being would be a better solution than therapy?

Honestly I'd respect "I had a god complex, lol" more. Especially for that last one, but like. In general. Descole's out there living his worst life, he KNOWS he's an asshole supervillain agent of chaos, and I respect this because he has clearly CHOSEN to be Like This. You do you, man. Ditto for Don Paolo but like, less effectively.

This is not how any of this works.

Okay, setting... ALL OF THAT aside, you're doing this because your and your best friend's young daughters are understandably incredibly traumatized because they wanted to ring the bell early and the Weirdass Groundwater-Induced "Allergy" That Makes You Faint When You Hear Silver Ringing caused them and everyone else to pass out, and as everyone in the square below was having a fire festival, this caused a massive tragic conflagration. Okay. Yeah, this is bad. (I have. MANY questions about how this bell was made, excavated, and mounted in the square without anyone ever ringing it and realizing something had happened, but we're going to gloss over those for now, it's Professor Layton and I would otherwise be all over this incredible bullshit. It's great up until it asks us to think THIS was ever a remotely reasonable idea.) One of your daughters is all but catatonic because a story you told her earlier has convinced her she either is or will be taken by The Great Witch Bezella. Sure. (You suck.) Why the FUCK is your solution based on the other one unpersoning herself to her best friend and doing all the work to make the magic real? Yeah, sure, she agreed to it. SHE'S LIKE EIGHT TO TEN. HER BEST FRIEND THINKS SHE'S AN AWFUL MONSTER AND WON'T REACT OTHERWISE. OF COURSE Eve's gonna help, but that doesn't mean you should put the entire burden on her! She is ALSO horribly traumatized to the point of repressing what happened. Get her help too. The fact that the game seems to put their actions on remotely even footing when one of them has been treated like shit since she was TEN and one of them was an adult who PURPOSEFULLY AND INTENTIONALLY set up a system that would put her in this shitty situation means that yeah, no, they fundamentally are not. Of course her decisionmaking is misguided and terrible! She's a twenty-year-old who's been horribly mistreated for more than half her life! HER DAD JUST COMMITTED SUICIDE OUT OF GUILT FOR HIS ACTIONS IN SETTING UP THIS SYSTEM.

No one's going to hold them responsible for the deaths. This was a sequence of events so thoroughly unforeseeable that literally no one could have predicted it. It won't even reflect poorly on you and Belduke, because you two somehow managed to find the bell, excavate it, and mount it without ever ringing it and realizing it knocked you out and you all had an environmentally-induced silver "allergy" and at that point this goes into "acts of a cruel and malicious Writer-God" territory.

Also it was totally predictable that this elaborate system of misogyny would not actually help Espella in the long term as she instead repressed her memories and further internalized the whole witches = evil thing so that when those memories inevitably came back she would be in EVEN WORSE shape, this is why you should have gotten an actual psychologist who could have told you this whole thing was a terrible plan to write your grant.

No like does he drug all his requests to whoever he reports to (it has to be directly to the person signing checks) in the mind-control ink? This is my only explanation here.

Why. In God's name why. Did you not. Simply. DESTROY THE FUCKING BELL TOWER. You have a crane here! What possessed ANYONE to think just covering it up with Vantablack and gaslighting so people couldn't see it was a reasonable solution to the Trauma Tower? (There may be an explanation for this, it has been ten years, but this man's problem solving has been established to be so poor I award him no points.)

And if you were going to do this, why didn't you tell Newton? Or was it just that the lightning strike burning up the Vantablack was itself a reminder to him that you can't repress the past away and he was suddenly aware of how overwhelmingly POINTLESS all this suffering was? (Edit: I think it was this. No but seriously you could’ve just taken a fucking wrecking ball to that thing while you were rebuilding the town.)

Seriously why the fuck did Newton Belduke go along with letting you use his traumatized daughter like this? What the hell, man. What an asshole.

Also. Your problem was that you had two severely traumatized little girls (even if you only acknowledged one of them was traumatized.) Your solution was... to traumatize a shitload more young girls?

TO THE POINT WHERE AT LEAST ONE OF THEM ATTEMPTED SUICIDE?!

And then your best friend actually committed suicide?!

Like. Seriously. If these are the actions of a single, seriously traumatized person, the fact that you are making Literally The Worst And Most Inexplicable Decisions Ever Which Make The Problem Worse For Literally Everyone Involved is more... well, conceivable. I buy a traumatized eighteen-year-old with an obscene amount of money building an elaborate fake London that is allegedly London ten years in the future, hiring actors to populate it, kidnapping scientists, making them build an Underground Vengeance Mecha to destroy the city, and then kidnapping the Prime Minister who is the source of that trauma and hooking the engine of the mecha up to his heart. And then roping in the one guy who could conceivably solve the whole problem and stop him and Clive would let it. It's a bad idea on EVERY conceivable level, don't get me wrong, on an UNPRECEDENTEDLY terrible scale, but it's a bad idea in which it is very clear no one at any point has asked the person what the fuck they think they're doing here, what they are trying to accomplish, and why they are doing so with this objectively absurd method. Because they have not let anyone in close enough to key them to The Full Absurd Terribleness. It's either this or become Batman.

But Arthur? Apparently his decisions have been vetted by OTHER PEOPLE, and this just boggles my mind. I refuse to believe this. I refuse to believe NO ONE went "have we considered this is like eight hundred terrible ideas bundled up into The Worst Idea Ever?" And I refuse to believe he's anything but a massive asshole when his plan had so many awful consequences for literally everyone BUT himself!

Like, don't get me wrong. There are SO MANY examples of unethical experimentation on human subjects in the real world, psychological and otherwise. But most of them are not this incredibly convoluted, implicitly expensive, and we all generally recognize these days that they were bad.

Also, none of them were enacted as an elaborate setup to (incompetently) handle the trauma of the experimenter's daughter after he told her if she was bad a scary evil witch would possess her and then she and her friend accidentally enacted a tragedy whose scale and fundamental absurdity rival the Boston Molasses Flood, but without corporate greed. There were solutions to this that were so much easier, less convoluted, less EXPENSIVE, and less harmful to... well, everyone else involved, except Arthur Cantabella.

#drugging #gaslighting #attempted suicide #suicide #psychological experiments #unethical science #mass death #pl vs pw spoilers #pl spoilers #going to try to avoid maintagging here inasmuch as I can because uh. Yeah. Preeeeetty critical. #the thing is I genuinely LOVED like 90% of this game. Adored it. Had a blast RIGHT up until the reveal. #and then the reveal and the ways it's handwaved just kill it for me even though I usually enjoy Layton Plot Twist Bullshit #(the Underground Vengeance Mecha is my favorite thing ever. Unironically. It's delightful.) #because it's like... multiple people vetted this terrible idea in-universe? Why the fuck?! #and we DWELL on the consequences in a way we rarely do for most Layton Bullshit and see that oh THEY ARE /BAD/. #(I'm pretty sure it's established Jean's still a teenager. She was under Belduke's care /for five years./) #meanwhile the game only BARELY seems to recognize that this dude is in fact the Actual Villain Of The Game. Like. Eve's justified. #but she's still given more of the Sympathetic But Misguided Layton Antagonist treatment whereas he's MAINLY 'sympathetic but misguided.' #which... no. just. no. You're an adult and you had options and you were in a position to choose them. Why was THIS your choice? #again I respect Descole so much more for being like 'well I'm gonna make myself Everyone Else's Problem but mostly Layton's.' #own that you're terrible. Embrace it. Laugh as you seek your revenge on the entire world.

[haikyall]

time and time again

Summary: Soulmates will always find each other in the end no matter how longe they've been apart, but Bokuto and Akaashi don't know that. Heck, they each don't know the other person even existed. WC: 3k Genre: Fluff Pairings: Bokuto Koutarou/Akaashi Keiji

This is my entry to the bokuaka big bang!

Kuroo opens the door for Bokuto and Daichi as they enter unfamiliar territory. Their curious eyes scan through the place, embracing the peaceful ambiance. It was busier than most cafès; this cafè, in particular, was very noisy.  Bokuto, on the other hand, felt a sense of familiarity about the place, yet he has never set foot in this cafè.

Kuroo spots a booth with empty seats and leads the trio to sit there. He also offers to do the ordering given the fact that he was the only one who knew how to do so, as it was evident that their way of ordering differed from usual cafès.

Bokuto sits down and can���t seem to sit comfortably on the cushioned seats. It was like something was bugging him, something just really kept on poking Bokuto’s brain to just keep looking for something, although he didn’t know what exactly he’s looking for.

To Daichi, this mannerism of Bokuto's is quite a normal sighting, especially when he enters a new shop. To him, Bokuto is taking in the new place by trying to remember every single little detail it has like how the table and seats are very low, or how there were high stools that show the contrast. He also notices how Bokuto’s leg keeps on bouncing. He assumes that the owl is anticipating his order or is just excited.

“Excited, Bokuto?” Daichi tests his theory, and Bokuto is caught off-guard at the sudden boom of the fellow captain's voice. He had forgotten that he was with other people. This sense of familiarity and restlessness was mentally killing him.

He scratches his head. Maybe it was that, yeah, he’s just excited.

“YEA! HAHAHA~” He laughs out, deciding to brush off the fact that something was indeed bugging him and he can’t seem to point his finger as to what it is. He proceeds to tell Daichi about how a cashier from another café asked him out one time.he was asked out by a cashier when he was in another cafè. “There was this one time, my friends and I were in this other coffee place and the cashier kept on asking, like, these personal questions like ‘are you more of a bacon or egg person and I didn’t UNDERSTAND HER BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH~”

“Mhmm?” Daichi hums out, he was interested. He didn’t necessarily understand how it was personal, but he kind of knows how Bokuto feels being asked the question.

“IT WAS THE CASHIER’S WAY OF ASKING IF I WAS STRAIGHT HAHAHAHAHAHA”, Bokuto explains loudly, and Daichi’s brain doesn’t believe it, but Bokuto was genuinely laughing and he’s physically unable to lie. His eyes go wide and he finally starts laughing at how lousy of a conversation he was hearing.

“PFFT HAHAHAHAHAHA,” he laughs till his lungs can’t take the lack of oxygen and deeply inhales, and Daichi slowly realizes how Bokuto lays out the story, “Wait, you didn’t understand?”

“NOPE, MY FRIENDS ONLY TOLD ME WHAT IT MEANT AFTER OUR ORDERS WERE TAKEN,” Bokuto explains, and Daichi nods his head, understanding why Bokuto wouldn’t think it was more of a sexuality question rather than a general preference question.

“So what did you say?”, the crow asks the question.

“Egg, whICH MEANT I WAS STRAIGHT HAHAHAHAHAH,” Bokuto excitedly explains starting to laugh, and Daichi joins with a chuckle as he thinks about the stupidity of the question and how innocent Bokuto could be sometimes, and his chuckling deepens. Kuroo finally comes back with a tray of their orders and sees the two gasping for air in laughter and is interested as to what’s got Daichi laughing.

“Oya, oya, what are we talking about, here?” Kuroo asks, and Bokuto was the first one to regain some sanity,, explaining while laughing,

“I just —heh— told D-Daichi about the —hehe— cashier story,” he explains as Kuroo gives each of them their order and starts to settle down. Meanwhile, Daichi just keeps on laughing and banging the table. It was rare to see Daichi lose his chill like this.

“Ah, the cashier that didn’t know that’s not how you check out a guy and ask if they’re straight, damn, she does not get laid a lot,” Kuroo says, chuckling as he remembers the story, and shakes his head at the obliviousness of both parties in that conversation.

“SHE WORKS IN A CAFÈ, GODDAMMIT HAHAHAHAHA,” Daichi says, and everyone laughs again at the thought of the scene playing in their brains.

The laughter seems to die down as people enter the café. Bokuto turns around as he unconsciously follows the sound of the bell ringing with each movement of the door. He sees an exasperated, lean, and messy, black-haired boy, holding a laptop bag, along with a silver-haired, livelier guy, and a smaller guy with bleached hair with roots starting to grow out. Bokuto feels like he knows the exasperated guy.

Bokuto doesn’t know the guy.

The bugging sensation is back, more intense than ever, and Bokuto is restless again, appearing to look at anything but the new arrivals.  He tries to calm himself down, but his eyes stray back to the trio that recently entered the building, and he’s back to being fidgety and restless yet again.

“Boku-dude, you okay, there?” Kuroo asks, clearly disturbed by Bokuto’s hyperactivity. Bokuto recognizes the nickname and realizes that somebody is talking to him, and he finally relaxes, looking at Kuroo as he replies.

“Yea,  it’s the coffee in the drink,” Bokuto quickly explains and Kuroo raises an eyebrow, he’s been watching Bokuto the entire time since he sat down and he hasn’t touched his drink yet. Both Daichi and Kuroo know this, and they both let it slide as they see Bokuto might get his emo mode out of schedule and both of them are not in the mood to handle it.

“Told you, you should cut down the sugar, seriously, black coffee for breakfast and then WHITE CHOCO MOCHA FRAP? YOU’RE FUCKING INSANE,” Kuroo continues, not showing that he knew that Bokuto gave the wrong reason for his hyperactivity.

“HAH! JOKES ON YOU, I DIDN’T DRINK BLACK COFFEE THIS MORNING,” Bokuto says, indicating his attention is back on them. Both of them sigh in relief, but Kuroo is impressed, Bokuto isn’t drinking his usual black coffee.

“Oya? Is that so? So what did you drink for breakfast?” The former Nekoma Captain asks, and Bokuto is silent, probably remembering what exactly the owl did drink for breakfast.

“… egg?” Daichi says after a moment of silence, and laughter breaks the momentum of peace, and Kuroo starts scolding Daichi after that bad joke.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, YOU CAN'T DRINK EGG, YOU DAMNED CROW”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I HAD TO OKAY?” Daichi explained,

“…. red bull…” Bokuto says quietly and both of the other captains he was with nearly stand from their seats in shock.

“You drank RED BULL FOR BREAKFAST?!?!” Kuroo asks, and Bokuto puts his hands up in defense, ready to explain.

“WE RAN OUT OF COFFEEEEE!”

Daichi facepalms, “Yeah, but Red Bull is worse than coffee.”

Kuroo finally calms down and sighs, “Bokuto, you suddenly have a ticket to go to the mental hospital, signed by me,” he says.

“HEY! I WOULD DRINK RED BULL RATHER THAN…. Eggs,” Bokuto points out, and the three of them start laughing once again.

“BOKUTO, NO— HAHAHAHAHAH”

As Bokuto and his friends continue to bicker, the exasperated man he found himself ever-so-fond of settles his laptop bag under their table while his friends seem to be taking turns going to the counter.

“I haven’t been here at all,” the dark-haired man starts, and it leaves the two men with him bewildered. The man pushes up his glasses to take a look at the menu on the café wall. Alas, the font is too small for him, and he’s far enough that, even with glasses, he can barely make out what the menu is offering.

“It’s not that far from where you work, Akaashi” The blond dude says. He says this without looking up from the little Switch console he brought with him.

“Yeah, work is kinda building up on me so I don’t exactly have the time to go out,”

“Guess, I’m ordering for you,” the silver-haired friend chirps, and Akaashi nods. It turns out to be, this friend over here, might be the most cheerful of the bunch.

“If it’s not coffee, I’m not drinking it,” Akaashi warns, and his silver-haired friend lets out a sigh. He may or may not have a different idea for an order.

“… Darn it,” his cheerful friend says in defeat as he walks away. Akaashi looks for a table and immediately lays his laptop bag on the ground, leaning on one of the legs of the table.

As Akaashi and his blond companion settle down, he gets a notification from his phone. He grabs it in his pocket by instinct and instantaneously looks at what caused the sound. It turns out that there’s a last-minute meeting to be held in 10 minutes by his boss. Akaashi sighs, was a day-off too much to ask?

The gamer boy across Akaashi notices the dismay on his face and asks, “Really? Still working even now?”

Akaashi sighs, “Yeah, not as flexible of a schedule as you, Kenma,”

“Aren’t you on your day off?” Kenma points out as Akaashi chuckles at the observation of the CEO. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t get a lot of those.

“That’s also what I thought till I got the text that my presence suddenly matters,” Akaashi answers and sighs, “you don’t do much though,” he continues.

“Yeah, but then meeting assholes murder you every time for it so I think we’re even,” Kenma says, rolling his eyes at the thought, causing Akaashi to chuckle again at not just the action but because of Kenma’s.. colorful choice of words.

“I agree, then they take all the credit,”

Kenma then pauses his game to massage a budding headache just from thinking about his company’s growth and welfare, “then come crawling back to you when something goes wrong,” Akaashi nods in agreement and comfortable silence fills the air. The silence doesn’t need to dissipate. Akaashi is also aware that both he and the person in front of him are generally quiet people and would prefer silence over the conversation.

Akaashi suddenly feels it. The uneasy air, the stuffiness, the stillness. Akaashi looks around the café to see what exactly is causing the sudden change in atmosphere. He looks over to Kenma and he sees the gamer boy fiddling away with his switch. Akaashi knows it's not from the man across the table.

“This place feels… odd,” Akaashi says, shifting in his seat, trying to sense what exactly is making him uncomfortable. It doesn’t seem to be his seat, no. It’s the atmosphere, it feels stuffy as if something is going on. He turns around to see if someone is staring at him.

No one was giving him a single glance, but his eyes fell upon one person. A man with white hair and black highlights. A guy with his friends, who was probably peeing his pants in laughter as they bantered on. He seemed ecstatic, attractive, like the entire room was watching them, although no one was.

“Is that so?” Kenma says, not feeling a single strand of discomfort. He looks at Akaashi, wondering what’s got the editor so fidgety. Akaashi fidgets around so much that it causes Kenma to look around just in case he could see something that would cause Akaashi to be so unnerved.

“Yeah, I’m not exactly sure why or how, though.”

Kenma, seeing that there is nothing that could make Akaahi want to leave, shrugs. “Maybe it’s cause you haven’t been to this place before.”

Akaashi nods. That’s a good argument, he’s never been comfortable in new places, he always felt like some puppy in a wolf’s territory. “Yeah… maybe.”

“Hey, here’s your drink— Akaashi—,“ the silver-haired boy finally comes back with all the drinks in-hand, and Akaashi takes the drink given to him and starts to get up from his seat.

“Sorry, Sugawara-san, I have an emergency meeting to attend,” Akaashi says, looking at the time, completely forgetting he had a bag on-hand when he first arrived at the store. He was already a few meters away due to him jogging.

“Oh, it’s fine! Take care, though!” Sugawara and Kenma both bid farewell to the rushing editor as they see him brisk-walk farther from the café.

“Isn’t today a day-off for Akaashi?” Sugawara mentions as he takes Akaashi’s seat, settling down.

“That’s what I said, too… his bosses are honestly merciless,” Kenma mentions, shaking his head in slight frustration at the fact that Akaashi simply can’t rest. His eyes then rest on the forgotten laptop bag of Akaashi and his eyes go wide, “Suga-san…,” the gamer boy says, pointing at the bag. Sugawara was taking a sip of his drink when he looked under the table where the object in question remains untouched. The man sipping his drink then nearly spits it out and panics.

“Oh shit, Aka—“

A new voice enters the conversation, “Is it fine with you if I return the bag to him? I can catch up to him; noticing his speed, he would be near the subway station by now,” the pair looks up at the new voice and sees a lean man with black highlights on his white hair. The silver-haired man silently smirks before replying.

“Uhm… yeah, sure I guess,” Sugawara says, knowing Kenma is too shy to rebut and say the stranger might steal the laptop. He hands over the laptop bag and the stranger takes off. Kenma watches the whole scene unfold with both eyes.

“You are stupid.”

“No… I just feel like being cupid. That guy has been staring at Akaashi the entire time he’s been there. He only looked away when the two of you were looking around,” Sugawara says, taking another sip of his coffee.

__________________________________

Bokuto runs as fast as he can, keeping the man he's pursuing in his line of sight. “Hey! Wait!” He screams, but as he’s too far, and Akaashi can't hear him. Bokuto makes it his mission to be faster. He’s a volleyball player anyway, he can get faster, right?

“HEY!!” He tries again after closing some distance, though not much of it. He’s still far and Akaashi heard him this time, but he feels like he wasn’t the person the voice was calling out to, and it would be embarrassing on his part if he turned around, assuming it was him.

“ AGAASHI! ” Bokuto finally reaches Akaashi and suddenly blurts out his name. It freezes both of them because they do not know each other. Bokuto is freaking out internally, what did I just say? He starts to think of some lousy excuse. He scans the laptop bag for a name tag at least and finds nothing. He tries to remember if the stranger’s friends even said his name before he interrupted them. Everything moves in slow motion in his view as he tries to make up for an obvious mistake.

“How do you know my name?” Akaashi turns around, cautiously.

“You forgot this” Bokuto says, and just like that, they are both transported to a temple, and both of them are wearing hakamas, and the laptop bag is non-existent. Bokuto is holding a katana.

Akaashi is shocked. He looks at Bokuto to see if he is just as shocked, but he doesn’t seem fazed at the fact that they were just surrounded by buildings and are now surrounded by mountains and trees, empty streets, and ancient temples.

“What?” Akaashi says, still bewildered at the part about suddenly traveling to some olden time. He looks around to process where on earth they are.

“Your katana, you forgot your katana… W-weren’t you leaving, Agaashi?” Bokuto says, poking at Akaashi’s arm. Akaashi’s attention is back on Bokuto. It was only then that he noticed this man’s features, the jawline, the golden eyes, the bright smile, the radiant personality. He seemed… attractive. “You can’t leave training without your katana, Agaashi~” Bokuto teases with an eyebrow arched.

Akaashi couldn’t help but feel a little tug deep inside him when he saw the taunting look of his new formed friend. So many things are rushing through his head right now, it felt like he’s in a world one of their clients back at work made. The details, the sounds, the feeling was so surreal Akaashi swears this might be some daydream.

Akaashi wanted to ask where they were but Bokuto didn't seem to know what he was talking about and it was like he couldn’t change what his mouth was saying as he says, “Oh, yes… thank you, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi’s eyes go wide as his hand mindlessly reaches to grab the katana by the handle and Bokuto gives a slight smile. He doesn’t know this man.

Suddenly, everything is back to normal; they’re in front of the subway station entrance, the katana has disappeared, and the laptop bag returned; the two men are both back in modern clothes. Bokuto seems to be the first one knocked out of the daze, as it seems that both of them were stuck in some trance. Akaashi sees that he’s already holding the handle of the bag,“Hello? Sir? You forgot your laptop bag… Your friends were supposed to chase you but I figured you’d be too far to reach so I offered to do it instead. I’m sorry, the name just blurted out and I swear I don’t know how—” Bokuto tries to explain but Akaashi cuts him off.

“Did you see it, too?”

“I- I mean, YES, I DID SEE IT. I MEAN, THE VISION? NONONO, IT WAS LIKE SOME—“ Bokuto freaks out as Akaashi takes the bag and smiles softly at him. Bokuto finally calms down and realizes that the man in front of him has a nice smile.

“You can ask for my number from my friends back in the café… and thank you, Bokuto-san, ” He says as he waves away from the volleyball player.

#bokuaka #bokuto koutarou #akaashi keiji #akaashi #bokuto x akaashi #hq #haikyuu!! #haikyuu

[rosedavid]

Cyrus is at the park. TJ is at the park. Cyrus sees TJ “he’s cute.” He thinks. TJ sees Cyrus “he’s cute.” He thinks. Cyrus checks the time. He has errands to run. He drops his house keys in a hurry leaving TJ to make it his mission to follow “cute park boy” and return his keys.

Thanks so much for the prompt! :) I hope you enjoy it

Send me more prompts here

Cyrus definitely hasn’t been staring at a cute boy in the park for the last ten minutes. No, in fact he’s just enjoying the scenery of the park since it’s such a beautiful day. Stopping by the park on his way to the store has nothing to do with the blonde he spotted laughing with his friends by the basketball courts. It just so happens that Cyrus has a perfect view of him from the bench he randomly chose.

His eyes flicker back and forth as he watches the boy play. Despite Cyrus’s severe lack of knowledge about basketball, this boy is obviously talented. As he watches them, he absentmindedly twirls his house keys in his fingers to distract him from his racing heart. The sun peaks just high enough that light filters through the trees, sending a scattered pattern across the boy’s skin. He’s just barely close enough to see the details on his face; a slender jawline, long nose, and what looks like a dimple on one side of his cheek all catch his attention.

Then, just as the boy dunks the ball into the basket, he turns and looks at Cyrus. Afraid he’s been caught, Cyrus immediately flips his head the opposite direction, pretending to admire the trees around him. He twirls the keys faster.

Meanwhile, at the basketball courts, TJ wipes off the layer of sweat forming on his brow. His friends snicker to each other, leaving him clueless as to what they’re so amused at.

“What’s so funny?” He finally asked, tired of their secretive looks.

Reed, one of his best friends, rolls his eyes. “You didn’t notice?”

“Obviously not.”

Another friend, Lester, finally explains, “That boy has been staring at you ever since he got here.”

TJ follows Lester’s line of sight, spotting a small brunette sitting cross legged on a nearby bench, fiddling with the keys in his hand. They make brief eye contact before the boy’s cheeks light up and turns away. The rest of the team giggles at TJ’s awed expression.

Now that they’ve pointed him out, TJ can’t seem to stop glancing over toward the bench. His soft look and warm expression make TJ swoon. Not to mention, he wrinkles his nose every so often and licks his lips which is very distracting. In other words, TJ realizes that this boy is adorable.

“Come on, let’s start up a new game!” One of his friends prods.

TJ agrees, but he remains distracted by the cute park boy. He misses passes and shots that he could normally do in his sleep. Not captivated by the game anymore, he ogles the other boy whenever he can. He’s so transfixed by him that he doesn’t hear the warning shouts of his friends as the basketball hits him smack in the middle of his forehead.

“Ow!” He gasps, clutching his head as he bends over. The basketball bounces a few times before rolling off into the grass a few feet away.

“Damn, TJ, how did you not see that coming?” Lester asks.

Reed smirks knowingly. “He was too busy staring back at loverboy to care.”

TJ growls, standing up straight to punch Reed in the arm, face burning. “Shut up, no I wasn’t.”

“Maybe now that he’s gone, you’ll be able to concentrate better.”

At those words, TJ flips his head back toward the bench which, like Reed said, is now unoccupied. That’s when he spots a glint of something in the sunshine. He frowns, walking closer.

“TJ! Where are you going?” His friends call him, but he ignores them.

When he reaches the bench, he squats and latches onto the item that caught his attention. Keys. They look like the same keys the boy twirled as he sat on this bench just moments ago. TJ dumps the keys in his front pocket. He needs to return these to brunette. After all, they could be important. It has nothing to do with how cute he is. He’s just another good citizen returning some missing keys. 

There’s only one flaw with his plan: How will he find the cute boy when he knows nothing about him?

TJ pulls the keys back out of his pocket and glances over them to try and find anything to help him. There’s only one thing useful that he finds. On the lanyard that the key dangles on, a name is painted on in loopy writing. Cyrus.

He hears someone come up behind him and hopes that it’s Cyrus coming back for his keys. Unfortunately, it’s just Reed with the basketball tucked under one arm.

“Dude, what are you doing?” He questions. “Forget about the friendly game?”

Figuring he can use all the help he can get, he responds, “Do you know anyone named Cyrus?”

“Cyrus?” Reed frowns. “Is that the kid who was sitting here a bit ago? I didn’t recognize him, man, and I don’t know anyone by that name.”

“Ugg. Thanks for nothing.”

“But I did see him heading toward that grocery store on the corner—”

“Why didn’t you lead with that?!”

“I don’t know!”

Tired of arguing, TJ sighs and thanks him before heading toward the store. Hopefully, Cyrus hasn’t gone anyway different yet. If so, then TJ might never find him.

Inside the grocery store, Cyrus debates back and forth between two brands of cereal. He can’t remember for the life of him which his mom and stepfather preferred but didn’t want to call and ask either. All he knows is that he needs to hurry up or both sets of parents will ground him for a month.

Sighing, Cyrus randomly picks one, throwing it into his kart. Only one thing left on his list. He heads toward the back of the store to grab it. As he meanders around the aisles, his mind wanders back to the cute boy in the park. He would’ve gladly stayed longer to watch the boy, but after realizing the time he knew he had to go. Now, Cyrus wishes he at least got the boy’s name as he might never see him again.

After a bit of searching, Cyrus manages to find the correct aisle. He scans through all the brands, finding the correct one which is perched on the top shelf. Being as short as he is, Cyrus strains on his tiptoes to try and reach it. He barely manages to brush it with his fingers. “Come on,” He murmurs, tongue poking out between his teeth in concentration.

A shadow looms over him. “Need help with that?”

The voice startles Cyrus so bad that he knocks his shoulder into the shelf, sending numerous items tumbling to the ground. Miraculously, nothing seems to break, but now an entire row of products is splayed out in a mess.

“I’m sorry, Cyrus, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

How does he know his name?

Cyrus turns around, numerous questions sitting on his tongue, but they all die away when he sees who it is. The boy from the park, the basketball player, the cute boy.

“I-It’s you,” Cyrus says. “The cute boy.”

He doesn’t register what he says until he hears the boy laugh. The tips of Cyrus’s ears turn red, color spreading down into his cheeks.

“That’s what I called you, too,” he replies, which is not at all what Cyrus expected to hear.

Then, the boy holds out a familiar looking lanyard. Cyrus gasps, hands flying to his pockets which, of course, have no keys in them. He must’ve dropped them at the park when he went to put them away again.

“My keys!” Cyrus smiles. “Thank you so much. My parents would’ve gotten so mad. I tend to lose things a lot, especially shoes.”

“I guess you’re a real-life Cinderella, then,” TJ grins, holding Cyrus’s keys out for him.

Cyrus grabs them and hangs them around his neck. “That would make you my prince charming, then, I suppose.”

This time, it’s TJ’s turn to blush. Is he actually flirting back? Is he dreaming?

An idea forms in his head suddenly, and he crouches down, finding the item that Cyrus was trying to grab earlier. Once he finds it, he goes down on one knee as if to propose. In one hand, he holds the item up to Cyrus.

“I think this is yours,” He says in a faux deep voice. It sounds ridiculous, but manages to make Cyrus giggle.

With dilated pupils, Cyrus accepts the box of noodles and drops them in his kart, unable to contain his laughs. “Why thank you, Prince…?” He trails off, waiting for a name.

“TJ,” He introduces, grasping Cyrus’s offered hand to help pull him up off the grocery store floor. Cyrus’s hand is soft and smooth and warm. TJ wants to hold it all day long.

“Prince TJ,” Cyrus repeats, head cocked. “It’s nice to meet you.”

It feels like they’re trapped in their own little world. Nothing else around them seems to matter. Packages still clutter the floor, people push their karts up and down the aisles, and pop music plays from the speakers, yet it all fades away when they meet each other’s eyes for the second time. Being closer to each other, they can appreciate the other even more.

A ding brings them back to reality. Cyrus immediately pales as he pulls out his phone. He types something out quickly.

“I am so late,” He groans. “I really have to go, I’m sorry. But would you like to go on a date sometime?”

TJ’s mouth falls open, stunned, even though they were just flirting a few seconds ago. “I, yeah, that would be great.”

Cyrus smiles, handing him his phone. “Here, type in your number.”

Shakily, TJ takes his phone and types it in. Before he hands it back, though, he changes the contact name. Cyrus takes it back, chuckling at what he wrote.

“Text me later then, Prince Charming.”

#andi mack #tyrus #tj kippen #cyrus goodman #fanfiction

[tumblunni]

“SO WHY DO U WANT 2 HUG THIS TRASH GRANDPA, BUNNI” post

Okay, i figured since, well, that one goddamn wifi event is That One Goddamn Wifi Event, I may as well make a short post about it so people who weren’t able to see it can understand how it fuckin Blew My Mind when I was a teenager and plunged me into the fandom hell for the most obscure unloved jerkass grandpa who may or may not even be the guy this vague tantalizing mystery plot point is even about, and AAAA

So yeah here we go, transcript of the event text (thanks, Bulbapedia!) and some general summary of the context of who da fuk dis Charon is, and hopefully maybe at least one more person shall now understand this tiny fandom for a tiny gremp!

~The Context Of Charon~

(skip all this if you just wanna get to the wifi event transcipt)

If you haven’t played DPPT and don’t plan to: The villain team of Sinnoh is Team Galactic, a bunch of silly guys in space costumes with a rad jazz theme tune and a surprising level of competance in a terrifying plan to erase the universe and replace all emotion with infinate silence. Also, interesting moral ambiguity cos most of them are either oblivious or outright good, just being manipulated by the team’s super scary badass leader Cyrus who’s led them to believe they’re going to ‘fix’ the world to end all sadness for everyone. This weird complexity behind goofy nonsense hair people is what got me hooked on them as my faves!

So who is Charon in particular? Diamond and Pearl got a third version called Platinum that fixed a bunch of glitches and unfinished graphics and expanded upon the rushed endgame, etc. It also (for some reason) added one single extra member to Team Galactic, as seen here on the second furthest from the right. Charon is a grumpy grandpa and he literally does nothing in the plot. Its really confusing why he was actually added, he only gets more than two lines of dialogue if you pursue a secret sidequest waaaaay in the postgame, and he still gets like.. SIX lines of dialogue and not even a boss fight. Poor dude barely exists in this game! So what’s weird is that this wifi event kinda contains more dialogue for him than he ever got in the main game, and it at least gives him a purpose for being here- to introduce the new transformations for Rotom that were added in this wifi event. But it just seems pretty badly handled cos he never even appears in the event and there’s a lot of fan debate that it isnt even meant to be him, blablabla. And he still doesn’t do anything UNLESS you get this wifi event, which is really unfair and probably contributes a lot to his unpopularity, okay sorry I’m starting to ramble...

Basically, all you need to know is that Charon is a grumpy grandpa who does literally nothing in the plot.

The Establishing Of The Grump Gramp This is... kinda necessary to know why this thing hit me so hard in the emotions? This is why I don’t think it would work as well if Mystery Wifi Event Flashback Person actually ISNT Charon. All we see of Charon in his VERY FEW non-optional dialogues is that he is vain, cynical, pompous, greedy and for some reason obsessed with talking like a complete tool. And he’s SO MUCH this that he doesn’t even have any loyalty to his fellow villains, he exists to be like.. The More. Everyone else is some degree of honorable dude doing what they do cos they believe in a good cause, Charon is that one teammate that’s too evil even for the rest of them. Or, like, at least too petty? He’s an eternally incompetant comic relief dumbass who never even has enough imagination to do anything genuinely evil, he’s somehow less dangerous than his morally ambiguous teammates! He’s just sitting here like ‘fuq yeh i luv bein evil cos i can swipe the pocket change outta dis vending machine’, then somehow it falls on him and shatters his old man spine. Meanwhile his boss is being all ‘I want to make a world of smiles!’ *collapses the universe into a black hole and literally summons poke-satan* So ANYWAY the relevant point is that you can see why he’s THE SINGLE MOST UNEXPECTED person to suddenly get a sympathetic backstory!

Some transcript of his tiny non-wifi-event dialogues for comparison of how much of an absolute prick this man be:

” It seems quite obvious to me, Charon, the genius even the boss recognizes.” "Humph. Saturn and even Cyrus fall to a mere child... Perhaps another option needs to be considered. One befitting the genius of Charon!" [This is basically his only dialogue in a normal game run, aside from expositioning a few things that were said by other people in the previous version.]

Postgame optional dungeon text:

“What do they see in Cyrus? Immature, overthinking buffoon. He goes through the trouble of assembling Team Galactic for what? Ultimately, he destroys his own creation for his ludicrous vision. It's no thanks to him that I have to struggle with the pieces." “The young can live with their dreams. I prefer to remain firmly in reality. And for that, money is paramount.” “ With this Magma Stone, I will awaken the legendary Heatran! I will control the volcano's eruptions to extort money by the millions! Fear me! “ [cue him being defeated offscreen in a cutscene by someone else] "...Uh, what are you saying? I know nothing! Extorting with Heatran? Merely the blathering of this harmless old man! All said in jest! Besides, among Team Galactic's Commanders, I was the most junior..." [Seriously, you don’t even get to see what Heatran even is! its just an optional scene to go back after he’s gone and catch the thing.]

So yeah he does literally nothing and all we know is that he’s a jerk and he betrays his evil team only to fail horribly at being his own villain also that he has a Rather Specific Speaking Pattern, which will come up later in linking him to that wifi event BUT ANYWAY literally the rest of the team walks away and leaves him to his fate cos he’s such a jerk literally Jupiter says he’s ‘not fun anymore’ literally a man dressed in a boulder costume bitchslaps him with a giant frog its like the biggest fuckin smackdown and the player didn’t even need to participate, he just self-destructed mid cutscene farewell two paragraphs of dialogue granddad, we will probably never remember you ever

B U T

~ The Transcipt Of The Fabled Wifi Event ~

Extra context: this was probably the worst handled of all the horribly handled wifi events. Makes sense at least, sinnoh was like the beta test for whether such a thing could actually be possible in this series. i’m glad they’re more accessable nowadays, but what sucks is that now we don’t seem to even get as many Actual Events, instead they’re just a plain gift of a pokemon via trade without a fun cutscene :( But yeah it was only accessable for a one month period when the game first released, and the item you got in the vent didnt have enough clues about where and how you were meant to use it in order to find the secret room, unless you already knew it was connected to Charon.

The item for the event is the Secret Key, which is somehow charmingly the least secret secret of all time

You take this to one random spot on a random wall in one of two separate Team Galactic HQs in this game, and the whole damn wall vanishes to reveal Charon’s Secret Lab/The Rotom Room

Here, you can turn Rotom into any of its new transformations. And then, completely optional, is a hidden backstory for this one terrible granddad! The notebook on the bottom desk explains how the transformations work, gameplay-wise, and also ‘hey this secret lab belongs to me specifically, Charon’ The notebook up to the top right on top of the box which you might not have noticed, and might have assumed would just contain more boring tutorials? Hoo boy dude, 99% OF THE EVENT DIALOGUE is in that thing! And you’d think a second hand flashback entirely through longwinded narration would be terrible but man somehow it really just worked for me. RIP my soul, cause of death: this

SO LETS GET GOING TO THE MEAT OF THIS POST, MY FRIEND

If you don’t feel like scrolling thru this textdump, I’d reccommend Chuggaaconroy’s excellent lets play of platinum, where he read out the journal here. (16:25, talks about the various wifi event failures first.) Or if you watch this earlier episode (17:15) you can see the whole mini-dungeon where you can catch Rotom in the first place, which isn’t necessary to understand all this but its still super cool. If you do feel like scrolling, here have the appropriate music, or the appropriate music: anime orchestrated version

+++

"It's an old notebook. There's no telling how old it is."

Our encounter was a sudden one. It was when I found my toy robot, one that I had earlier misplaced. At that instant, a Pokémon startlingly emerged from the lawn mower's motor! Clutching my robot, I stared, transfixed by the peculiar Pokémon.

The Pokémon hovered in the air, held aloft by a power unseen. As if curious and unafraid of my presence, it floated toward me. Crackling sounds accompanied it, as if from static electricity in the air. Remarkably, it seemed the Pokémon was the source of this power! In alarm, I flinched, certain that my face would be subjected to a shock. Much to my surprise, the Pokémon seemed to favor me with a smile.

Finally, I came to realize that the Pokémon only wished to be friends. I have decided to name this most wondrous Pokémon 'Rotom.' Simple though it may be, Rotom emerged to me from the motor of a lawn mower. Motor and Rotom... Surely the link is obvious?

Rotom is a Pokémon that is simply sensational. The fact that it can turn invisible is simply the beginning. What makes Rotom unique is its ability to enter and operate machinery!

Rotom and I became fast friends. We were perpetual companions. The electricity from its body forbade contact, however. We could not touch, let alone hug or hold hands, but we cared not. For we were bonded on a much deeper, incorporeal level.

A feeling of mischief got the better of me one day. Seeing Rotom hovering, I decided to startle it--normally I would not. Perhaps frightened, Rotom discharged power beyond its usual range. I fell, stunned, into the arms of unconsciousness...

When I came to, to my horror I realized that Rotom had disappeared. I searched high and low for my friend in dismay and desperation. 'Don't chastise yourself. The fault is mine. No harm done. Let us play as we always have.' Though my words poured out, my friend could not be found to hear them...

My search for Rotom carried me far from home. It was in the town's rubbish heap that I again found my old toy robot. Curiously, our eyes met, then the robot waved a hand as if in greeting. I knew then that I had found my lost friend. I ran to it and hugged Rotom tight, talking on and on.

The robot's eyes lit up happily as I held it. I'm certain that, within it, Rotom was emitting lots of electricity. Somehow, I felt I could understand Rotom's thoughts better than before. Also, I realized that we would remain friends throughout our lives...

"The notebook ends with this page..."

+++

+++

And this is his one and only trading card, and the biggest canon confirmation that he was indeed intended to be the mysterious author of Eighteen Pages Of How Much I Love To Hug My Friend Don’t tell me he doesn’t become INFINATELY more interesting with this knowledge!

Fuckin hell I would give my left foot to see an expanded plot upon this man’s secret good side seriously HOLY SHIT would you ever have imagined he cared about anyone, let alone THIS MUCH? Just sorry seriously i could talk for hours about this aaa dear god...

Oh and another minor transcript, you can get some dialogue from Rowan the first time you transform Rotom into one of its new forms. Its kinda interesting cos it gives some more Vague Potential Lore that inspires a cool headcanon that him and Charon might have known each other in the past? Cos he seems to know at least some details of that hidden journal...

"A Pokémon that slips into electric appliances, you say... Hmm... That is somewhat off from what I've heard about it. Hmm... This is what I've heard. Long ago, there was a Pokémon that merged with a toy robot. Should that Pokémon be recognized as a new species or not... Debates over the issue were about to start when they were rendered moot. The very topic of discussion--the Pokémon-infused robot--disappeared..."

Also that leads into another possible less-heartwarming interpretation of the whole thing that is actually EQUALLY interesting and ALSO makes Charon way more deep as a character! The idea that maybe this heartwarming thing is completely in the past, and nowadays he actually is 100% a horrible prick. Cos I mean, the one rotom you can find in the game is in that mysterious abandoned fancy old house, which is pretty heavily implied to be the notebook-writer’s childhood home where they met it. You can find a fragmented extra notebook page which seems to be the day before the start of the entries you can read in Charon’s lab. It says "Som...hing so pecu...r shou... make off ...ith the mot..." , which was confirmed to be "Something so peculiar should make off with the motor..."  aaaaaallll these years later in an episode of Pokemon Generations. So there’s the interpretation that maybe this rotom you can catch is the same one described in the journal, which makes you wonder why its all alone here if Charon supposedly cared about his friend so much. Perhaps he really was a decent guy once, but when he grew up to be such an evil prick he abandoned his pokemon? or maybe it saw what he became, and ran away? or maybe some other sort of mysterious thing happened to cause them to become separated? There’s so many potential interpretations of this whole thing, aaaa!! Why was such a tantalizing plot point wasted on a super hidden wifi!!!

But of course I like the version where trash gramp has one shred of redeemability in his soul and then hypothetically you could have a sidequest to reunite him with his tiny tangerine friend and convince him of the error of his ways and then EVERYONE CAN HUGS AGAIN

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

srsly its got the power to make me never stop thinking about this damn wifi event for all these fuckin years giv grandpa justice, dammit

#commander charon #edit cos i linked the wrong video #im sorry i talkd a forever again #i know ive blabbered this repetitive stuff in other posts but this is like a masterpost introduction for newbs to grandpa fandom i guess #plz join our fandom it is like three people #also i wanna see more cute gijinka designs for rotom seriously i never get sick of those #semi unrelated thought lol #i wanna find more rotom fanart in general i think ive reblogged it all lol #i can reccommend Ray from @daily-haunted-tv

[choupetit]

GOT Recap: Eastwatch

Airdate: 8/14/17 ; Season 7, Episode 5 

 Watching tonight’s Game of Thrones was like watching an elaborate set of dominoes being lined up - so many pieces of pertinent information, so many players coming together, so much anticipation for the final two episodes of the season! Not my fave episode and at times it felt like some mighty convenient revelations were coming to light, but the season is coming to a close, so I guess they are trying to pack as much stuff into one episode as possible. That said, let’s do this! Grab your warmest furs and snuggle on in for the recap of “Eastwatch”: 

When Queenie Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy

We pick things up shortly after where they ended last week. Bronn and Jaime Lannister emerge from a river and we see a smoke-filled sky in the distance - the aftermath of Dany’s dragon attack. I vaguely wonder how they managed to get this far from Dany, when it looks like they just took their first big gasp for air after plunging into the water to narrowly escape death by dragonfire. Bronn gives Jaime some flack of the “What the hell were you thinking with a stunt like that? The only one who gets to kill you is me!” variety. Jaime lays out that they are pretty much screwed, considering they just encountered what Dany can do with only one dragon - and she still has two more. Bronn tells him dragons are where his loyalty to the Lannisters ends and gives Jaime a “Good luck breaking the battle news to Cersei” quip. 

 Meanwhile Tyrion is gravely surveying the devastation of the battle his Queen just won - charred bodies and ashes are everywhere. All the surviving Lannister soldiers have been rounded up for a brief speech by Daenerys Targaryen. “I know Cersei has been trashing me as this sadistic, horrifying invader, who goes around burning people to a crisp when I don’t get my way, but I want you to know, I’m not like the other dragon moms. I’m a cool dragon mom. Seriously though, right now I need you to support me or be burnt to a crisp. So…who’s with me?” A handful of soldiers kneel before her. Randyll Tarly and his permafrown, however, are not game. He and son, Dickon, stand defiantly. Tyrion attempts to sway them, and whey they refuse, he tries to get Dany to lessen the punishment by taking them as prisoners instead. Denied. “Tyrion, my catchphrase is ‘Dracarys’, not ‘Hey, let’s handle everything reasonably on a case-by-case basis, filling up my entire week as I dole out fair and just verdicts against my enemies’. It just doesn’t roll off the tongue, damnit!” And so, Randyll and Dickon are flambéed in front of all their fellow soldiers, who quickly bend the knee to their new queen. 

 At the Red Keep, Jaime is once again conveying terrible news to Cersei, which seems to be the only other thing he does when he’s not banging his sister. He lays out Daenerys’ awesome and terrifying strength, what with her dragons and insane Dothraki posse. He concludes they are totally screwed and should just give up the Iron Throne. Oh and btw, Lady Olenna was responsible for killing Joffrey. Cersei’s all “I knew you should have let me make her suffer!!!!” You half-expect her to ask Qyburn to resurrect the old lady just so Cersei can kill her the right way. 

As for Queen Dany, Cersei counters they have the money to hire new soldiers and they can either fight and die, or submit and die…and we all know Cersei subscribes to the “Take down as many enemies as you can on your way out” school of thought. She throws in a little barb at Jaime for good measure: “I know which decision a REAL soldier would make.” Zing! What’s it gonna be, Jaime? 

Say Hello To My Little Friend

At Dragonstone, Jon Snow is taking a walk outside and looks like he’s about to break out into glorious song (“The hiiiiiiills are alive, with a stash of Dragonglass, la-la-la-LAAAA!”) when Drogon and Dany fly up and the dragon gracefully lands right in front of Jon. Warily, Dany watches as Drogon roars and bares his teeth at Jon…and lets him pet his snout. “Yup, yup, just a little to the right - ahhhh, that’s the sweet spot!” It seems clear that Drogon recognizes a Targaryen is standing before him. 

 While Dany engages Jon in some dragon appreciation chit chat, one of her Dothraki guards arrives and presents a man who claims he’s a friend of hers: It’s Ser Jorah! Daenerys’ face lights up and I expect her to run over to him and give him a huge hug, but no. She just gleefully introduces him to Jon Snow - who served his father, Lord Commander Mormont, at the Wall. When Dany asks Jorah if he found a cure to his greyscale, he’s all “Gurl, I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.” At this point I totally want him to drop Samwell Tarly’s name - he doesn’t. Daenerys finally gives him a warm hug…now that she knows he doesn’t have cooties anymore - that’s right, we all noticed, Dany! 

 We cut to a great sequence of a flock of ravens as they fly near Eastwatch and cross North of the wall. Their eyes intermittently go white for the briefest of seconds as they continue to fly - Bran Stark is using his warging abilities to do a little Night King reconnaissance. As the birds continue to fly north, they suddenly come upon an enormous mass of snow zombies which are slowly advancing southward. The birds circle overhead and we catch a glimpse of some Whitewalkers below. The Night King is among them and he looks sharply at the flock as though he knows Bran is spying on him. The birds disperse and a very startled Bran is jerked back to consciousness. He tells the maester they need to send out some ravens, stat. 

 In Oldtown at the Citadel, upon receiving the news from Winterfell, a group of archmaesters are gathered to discuss the scroll they received about the Army of Dead. Samwell Tarly is in the room performing whatever menial duties he’s been assigned that day, but he listens in. The majority of the maesters scoff at the idea of Whitewalkers, while archmaester Marwyn concedes it could be true…or it could be a trick by Daenerys to get Queen Cersei to move resources to the Wall, leaving the realm defenseless against the foreign invader. Sam can’t bite his tongue and admonishes them for their cavalier attitude.  He tells them he’s seen Whitewalkers in the (rotting) flesh and they are, in fact, a real and horrifying threat. He implores them to spread the word to the realm. Since everybody trusts the Citadel, it’s in their power to sound the alarms and get all of Westeros on board. But the men laugh him out of the room. One maester asks Marwyn if that’s the Tarly whose father and brother were killed by Daenerys Targaryen and Marwyn confirms it, but says he hasn’t had the heart to tell Sam of their deaths just yet. I mean, is there ever really a good time? RIP, Tarleys!

Back at Dragonstone, Tyrion and Varys are chatting. Tyrion is like, “Dude, it was really gnarly when Dany nonchalantly torched the Tarlys because of their loyalty to Cersei, but I couldn’t talk her out of it. She kinda freaked me out with that move.” Varys cautions him that he really needs to find a way to get through to Dany, because there’s a thin line between commanding respect and turning into a merciless ruler. Varys recalls, regretfully, the many times he simply wrung his hands and did nothing while serving the Mad King during his brutal regime. Tyrion changes the subject and points to the scroll Varys is holding - it’s the news from Winterfell, and of course Varys took a sneak peek.  He tells Tyrion it’s not good. 

What Could Possibly Go Wrong? 

In the war room, Jon and Dany have gathered with their respective advisors and Jon tells them he has to head home since Whitewalkers are practically knocking on their door up North. Collectively everybody wonders what can be done to stop the Whitewalkers while they’re in the middle of a war with Cersei. They all agree that Cersei won’t simply believe the news - she’ll need living (dead) proof that the threat of the Army of Dead is real. So they decide they need to get her a soil sample, if you will - that is, they gotta bring a snow zombie to Cersei, no big deal. 

But once they have the zombie, they still have to actually get it in front of Queen Cersei. Tyrion points out that the only person Cersei trusts or listens to is Jaime, and maybe Jaime will hear what Tyrion has to say. Ty will just need Ser Davos to smuggle him into King’s Landing for a meet-up. 

 Jorah steps up to go snow zombie poaching - probably because he knows that the only way to keep impressing Dany is by constantly putting his life in danger. Plus, distance makes the heart grow fonder…maybe. 

Not to be outdone in the hero department, Jon says he’ll head to Eastwatch, too. He’s the only one familiar with Whitewalkers and their army, after all, and he can convince his Wildling pals to help in the snow zombie retrieval efforts. It all seems like a weird Ocean’s Eleven plot. Frankly, I’m baffled that nobody suggests they simply send a dragon out to airlift a snow zombie and drop it at the Red Keep during Cersei’s daily outdoor yoga sessions. But what do I know? 

 At Winterfell, the Northern Lords are getting cranky about their absentee King, hinting they should have chosen Sansa to lead them. Sansa gives a measured reply, “Jon’s our king and he’s doing what he thinks is best” while Arya watches on, glowering. Later, the two sisters are walking the hallways. Sansa vents that she knew the Lords would start to turn on Jon for abandoning them all. Arya is ticked that Sansa didn’t say more to defend their brother. Sansa counters she needs to make sure they keep their alliances strong by listening to what the other Northern houses have to say, but Arya thinks what’s really in play is that Sansa is preparing for a scenario where Jon doesn’t return. Her big sis denies it, but Arya creepily says “You’re thinking it right now, you don’t want to, but the thought just won’t go away.” You can tell Sansa is kinda wondering, “Did Arya pick up novice psychic skills now, too?” At this point, nothing about her siblings would surprise Sansa. 

 At the shores of Kings Landing, Ser Davos and Tyrion arrive to attend to their respective business - they sync their watches and agree to meet back at the boat in a few hours. 

 Bronn and Jaime are walking through the dragon skull basement of the Red Keep, where Bronn plans to train with Jaime - but guess what? Psych! It’s really a set-up for Tyrion to covertly chat with Jaime. Seems a bit unlikely, considering the last time Tyrion saw Bronn, the latter had unceremoniously betrayed him. Jaime meanwhile is kinda pissed, ya know, because Tyrion killed their pops. But Tywin was an a-hole trying to have his own son killed when he knew he was innocent…so really Tyrion can be forgiven, right? Considering Jaime always liked his little bro, and he’s stuck with the only other living Lannister who is kinda psycho, Jaime grants Tyrion a moment of his time. Tyrion tells him Dany will win the war, but there may be a way to put all the bloodshed on hold. 

 While Tyrion is busy convincing his bro of the existence of snow zombies, Ser Davos walks the alleys of Flea Bottom and he comes upon a blacksmith’s shop where lo and behold, Gendry is working! Davos is all “Yo, so I figured you’d come back here, because nobody would expect it. How do you feel about joining me on –” and “Gendry grabs his bugout bag and a big ol’ hammer staff and goes “Yup, let’s go!” I’m torn. I mean, I really like Gendry and all, but I don’t totally see where he fits in here or why Davos felt the need to recruit him for Team Jon, but I guess we just go with this? Yay, more Gendry!

 Back at the boat, Davos and Gendry wait for Tyrion and there’s a little trouble with some King’s Landing guards, which just turns out to be an excuse to see Gendry in action with his hammer staff thing - turns out, it’s really great for bashing brains. Who knew? The three men hurry away into their boat to head back to Queen Dany. 

 Jaime, post-chat with Tyrion, visits Cersei’s chambers to tell her of his meeting: Dany wants a ceasefire on account of dead people heading towards Westeros. Cersei is amused at the suggestion of zombies, but is surprisingly open to a truce with Dany, because they need to regroup, rebuild their army and come up with a better winning strategy - oh, and also: she’s pregnant. And this time around, she DGAF about hiding the fact that Jaime is the dad. Ahhh, it’s so liberating to be Queen and do whatever you want without fear of judgment or consequences! Nobody even stops to consider what this might mean for the Lannister/Greyjoy alliance. I can’t imagine it’ll go over well with Euron.

The Short Goodbye

Moving right along, the next few scenes are all quite brief - man, a LOT is happening in this episode! Davos, Tyrion and Gendry have returned to Dragonstone, where Jon and team are on the beach, prepping to sail to Eastwatch. 

Davos wants to keep Gendry’s identity under wraps when he introduces him to Jon Snow, and intends to send Gendry to Winterfell. But the first words from Gendry’s mouth are “Hey, I’m Robert Baratheon’s bastard. You’re Ned Starks bastard. Our dads were buddies. Let’s jam!” The two exchange some short “I met your dad this one time!” niceties and it appears Gendry is now coming along to catch a zombie with Team Jon. 

 Tyrion and Jorah have a pleasant farewell and Tyrion gives Jorah a talisman - the coin he was going to use to buy his and Jorah’s freedom, back when they were captured in Slaver’s Bay two seasons ago. He offers the words “Don’t die, Dude. I want that back.” Next Dany approaches to say goodbye to Jorah. They grasp each other’s hands and share a soulful look, but before Jorah can utter any unforgettable words of farewell, Jon pops up to say goodbye. Poor Jorah walks away, likely stewing in the boat screaming silently “Khaleesi, I love you soooo bad, please just LOVE ME BACK!!!!!“ 

 In Oldtown, Samwell Tarly and Gilly are sitting at the table, and Sam is busy with clerical gruntwork, making copies of old books. Gilly is throwing out various trivia facts that from one of the tomes she's reading - it’s by a High Septon who meticulously documented every single thing in his life. Sam is still wound up from his earlier chat with the maesters that he barely even notices when Gilly drops some key info from the book she is reading: Apparently some Prince Rhaegar dude got an annulment from his wife and married another chick in a secret ceremony. Yah. Let that sink in. Pretty sure the other chick is Lyanna Stark, which makes Jon Snow the legit heir to the Targaryen throne. Ooh, move over, Auntie Daenerys! 

Sam is fed up with the uppity maesters. His talents seem wasted at the Citadel, and the scholars, whom he admired so much, neither believe in nor care about the imminent Whitewalker threat. He breaks into the super secret Citadel library once again to swipe some scrolls (presumably containing pertinent info for defeating Whitewalkers). Next, he packs up Gilly and Little Sam and they peace out. He tells Gilly he’s tired of reading about the achievements of better men. I assume they are on their way to Winterfell, but who knows, really. 

My Shadow and Me 

Speaking of Winterfell, Arya has decided to pass the time by secretly following Littlefinger. I mean, what else are you gonna do as a highly skilled assassin at your childhood home? As she clandestinely stalks him around the grounds, snooping on all his interactions, I get the sense that Littlefinger must know he is being watched. At one point, the maester of Winterfell knocks on Littlefinger’s chamber door and Arya overhears him say he’s found a scroll from the archives - the only copy of its kind. Arya waits for Littlefinger to leave his room and then she goes a'snooping and finds the scroll. We don’t see the full text but "steal his throne” and “swear fealty to King Joffrey” stand out, and it’s signed “Your faithful sister Sansa.” As Arya leaves Littlefinger’s room, we see him lurking around the corner, watching her re-lock his door. Hmm, what’s he up to? 

Snow Zombie Safari! 

Jon and his team have arrived at Eastwatch. They sit down with Tormund Giantsbane and fill him in on their mission. Tormund thinks it’s crazy, and Jon tells him they need some help from Tormund and his men. Davos says he’ll stay behind so as not to be a liability. #survivalstrategies. Tormund informs them a few others have arrived at Eastwatch and want to go north of the wall as well. 

He leads Team Snow to the prison cells at Eastwatch. Inside are Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr and the Hound. It’s like the Dream Team only where various members have a beef with one another: Gendry doesn’t trust the men of the Brotherhood, seeing how they sold him to Melisandre for some good old fashioned blood magic fun. Tormund hates Mormonts on account of the late Lord Commander who had the Night’s Watch hunt and kill Wildlings. And the Hound just likes to call everybody the C-word. But for better or worse, Jon points out they are all on the same side, because, ya know…they’re not snow zombies. Well, I mean…technically Dondarrion and Jon both sort of are zombies, but we probably don’t have time to get into that. The North-facing gates of Eastwatch open and the men head out into a blinding snowstorm. Roll credits.

 For an episode called Eastwatch, there was surpisingly little Eastwatch action, I’m just sayin’. This episode sure was jam-packed with info and lots of set-ups, though. I feel like people were just teleporting back and forth between locations. I suppose this is what the showrunners meant when they said things move fast this season. 

Time for my post-Game two cents:

 Not entirely sure what is going on at Winterfell and what tricks Littlefinger is up to. Is he looking to pit the Stark sisters against each other? 

 The Cersei pregnancy seems all too convenient, which bugs me just a little. Suddenly she has a new Lannister baby to look forward to and a reason to work so hard for the Lannister dynasty? Ugh, please. But if we do have a preggers Cersei, I hope the next two episodes just show her taking naps and enduring all-day morning sickness. 

 I still don’t totally get why Gendry is back in the picture. I think he’s great and all, but it seems like a contrived “let’s please the fans” plot more than something that makes sense. Like, why did Davos want to initially send him to Winterfell in the first place? Just to be nice? 

 And I feel like nobody knows what to do with Jorah so they just keep sending him away. Poor Jorah. 

Sam doesn’t know it yet, but with his dad and bro gone, I’m pretty sure this makes him the rightful heir to his family home.  Unless his dad really screwed him in the will.  So, nice to know that he and Gilly potentially have a nice manor to go to once/if all the Whitewalker madness dies down.

 There have been so many “Jon is a Targaryen” references in this season, which after the big revelation of Season 6 kinda makes it a bit meh every time they allude to it. Please, let Bran finally get word to Jon to clue him in already! Seriously, Bran couldn’t have included that tidbit in his scroll about the Army of Dead? But it’s an interesting reveal that Jon’s not just Rhaegar’s bastard. Again, though, that info works out pretty nicely for Jon. 

 The disconnect between Jaime sinking into the abyss during last week’s cliffhanger only to see him and Bronn pop up a few miles from where they entered the water at the top of the show was disappointing. It totally cheapens the ending from the previous episode, imo. It would’ve been interesting for Jaime to go missing for a bit after the battle, and to see how Cersei would react to her twin possibly being dead. But hey, now he gets to focus on being a new dad again and practicing one-handed diaper changes.

 I do enjoy the coming together of so many characters. Especially the group heading north of the wall. Oh, the adventures they’ve all had! I feel like everybody needs to sit down over a round of drinks so they can share their stories and see how many mutual acquaintances they have - everybody besides Tormund seems to know Arya! 

 All in all, this episode wasn’t terribly thrilling. It wasn’t bad, but more like a hurried data dump. It definitely paved the way for some big things, and knowing that the last two episodes are going to be super-sized, I’m pretty stoked to see what happens next. I’m a tad concerned that now that they are off of the books, the writers are hastily tying up loose ends willy-nilly in a way that doesn’t always feel like Game of Thrones. We haven’t had any big character deaths of consequence, which on the one hand is great, because who wants to lose a favorite? But it also lowers the stakes when you feel like your fave key players will always be safe. Maybe that will all change next week. We’ll just have to wait with baited breath.

#gotrecaps #game of thrones #gameofthrones #eastwatch #daenerys #jon #jon snow #arya #stark #tyrion #jorah #longclaw #samwell #gilly

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Revelations and Truths

So it’s been building up to this moment, the first encounter between the Teen Titans and Mary Grayson the Talon. This story here is based upon “Mary the Talon”, “Mission” and “Investigation” so i highly recommend those stories before immediately going for this one. 

WARNING: this story contains blood, gore and scenes unsuitable for little children. Parental Discretion is advised.

Also I would like to thank @lightdusk  and @nightglider124 inspiring me to make this story come true. If you have requests and ideas for future story, please ask it would be very appreciated. :-) 

Prologue: May 6th, Location: Unknown

“Arise.”

She was rose amongst the voice she had heard.

“You have shown excellent progress throughout the years…and yet we could not fully grasp your trust in us.”

“Master, if I may, my missions have been successful upon the first day I have taken my oath upon thee and further more…”

“Silence”

She fell into silence. The vision however began once more as the Master spoke. Words flew through her eyes, and deep into her mind, no her very soul.

“Mama, m-Mama d-d-Daddy? Please be okay. Please”

Mary unintentionally began breathing heavily. Her Little Robin was calling out to her. He needed his Mama and he needed her now. A crack bounced across the Labyrinth as the Master strikes his whip on the ground in order to gain her attention.

“Dear Madam, have you blocked your ears from hearing these graceful words of your trust in us?”

The owl dressed woman quickly nodded to the Master’s question as more of that young boy’s voice began to pierce her soul.

“Mama, are you hurt?”

“Mama, please be okay!”

“Just hang in there, Mama! The doctors are going to help you and Daddy!”

“Mama…I Love you”

“…Love is a weakness”, The Master concluded.

The Talon had realized whose Love was told by her Master was weak, her love for Richard, her love for her husband John….her love that comes with being a mother…was a sign of her being weak?

“It is not.” Mary speaks.

The master behind his Owl mask has his eyes widen “What WAS THAT?”

Mary raises her head with her glowing goggled eyes staring in spite towards the gathering of Owl masked men and women before her.

“Love builds strength, Love binds one’s soul with the souls of others, and Love should NOT be treated as weak.”

A much younger man with an Owl mask speaks right behind the Master jokingly, “It appears we have upset Mama Bird here”

That foolish man seals their fates however, for with those words uttered, a dagger that was on the top of Mary’s knife belt suddenly found itself into said man’s throat in a matter of seconds, with precious red fluid immediately leaking profusely. The other Owls couldn’t help but feel a sense of horror at the grisly sight.  

“Why yes, Mama Bird is quite upset. My personal advice is….RUN.” Mary says this as the two mini swords strapped to her back suddenly became within her hands as she begins to dash towards the platform the rest of owls sit upon. Before Mary can climb the ledge however, a massive man dressed in similar albeit different owl-like uniform arises, knocking Mary on her feet.

“Mary Lloyd, the Masters have sentenced you to death.”

Mary with a tiny smirk coming on her masked face whereas the Owls flee simply responds, “You are talking to a dead woman so I’m afraid that sentence is rather moot.”

Jump City, about two days later.

It was a seemingly calm night for the city as children rushed to their beds and the parents prepared for the next day at work. The street crime was relatively low for the night as the villains hadn’t planned any major scheme threatening the city or even its banks. Nonetheless it was nights including this one in which even the slightest of criminal break-ins can happen.

This was a possibly one family in the city’s richer districts takes note of as they lock their doors with extra bolts hoping to prevent the criminal scum of the city from reaching their wallets or perhaps more importantly their daughter when they’re asleep. However, in the midst of locking the final bolt, two distinct eyes of their servants, the Talon, are seen in a relatively close distance. Obviously, the fellow Owls have sent the Talon as a messenger. With such both parents take their white Owl masks as the Talon enters their home.

Perfect, Mary thinks with her feet barely stepping unto this couple’s front door. They do not expect or even have the slightest clue of what had happened with the rest of Jump’s Owl Nest and how most either fled back to Gotham or more commonly met the nasty end of her blades, both short and long. Her new ‘mission’ was a simple one: let the Court know now of their precious talon has finally realized who she is, why she is the way she is, and takes into account of all the lives slain by her hand and all the other talons. Now she demands one simple choice to them: leave the innocents in this City and these supposed heroes called Titans alone or suffer the terrifying consequences with her blades. Now it was this family’s to see that first hand.

“What news from the Court?” the woman of the two asks.

The Talon at first remains utterly silent.

“Speak quickly” the woman’s husband asks.

“I must first ask”, Mary says while keeping her voice mostly subdued in which should make sure they do not recognize her, “is your daughter well informed of our ways?”

“Oh, most certainly Yes”, the woman says with utter glee in her voice, “she will be delighted to meet a fine servant to our cause like you.”

Mary couldn’t help but feel a tinge of disgust in that statement since during her indoctrination into the Court, many children, especially girls, cheered in joy as her torture in the Labyrinth played on, as if this whole thing was one giant game to them. Thank God almighty, Richard never was friends with these….monsters in his time at the circus. On a quick note, where is Richard at the moment? Mary can only pray that he’s safe, at least under police protection since it was a crime scene, not really an accident that happens on that one performance at Gotham.

But yes unto the matter at hand with these savages….

Meanwhile…

Robin had just completed his sixth turn around within the ghettos of Jump City. This city in which he had been living in since about 3 years ago has done much to him within that amount of time. From his first crook to catch robbing the banks, meeting Starfire and the others, and of course the ever looming presence of Slade in which he knows can exploit his feelings of self doubt and desire for absolute justice to once again attempt a hostile takeover of the criminal underground.

However, at the moment, Slade was not the one uber mysterious criminal not yet captured that currently holds Robin’s attention. That distinct honor goes to Chucky Sol’s murder whose electrum ‘blood’ sample has left him baffled to…what exactly it is. This especially becomes a forensic nightmare for Robin since he and Cyborg have recently discovered that Sol was NOT this mystery person’s only kill; far from it actually, that very same electrum has in fact been recorded with various crimes and unsolved murder cases that had been appearing since he was at least eight years old ranging from St Louis, New York, Boston, and most prominent of all Gotham.  Yes, these were murder cases not even the Batman can solve and apparently they followed him all the way here. They needed to find this person and fast.

“Kid Flash, how goes your end?” Robin asks through his T Communicator to his old friend Wally West, the Kid Flash for he covered the ghettos outside of his range thanks to his trademark super speed.

“Wish I can say I found something Dude, but apparently the lack of pretty much anything here more apparent than my lack of dinner for today. That’s short for flat out nothing” Kid Flash shrugs rather sadly in reply to Robin’s call.

“Got nothing over here either” Beast Boy states on his end of the call

“Dead zoned over here, man” Cyborg mumbles tiredly

“Nada” Raven deadpans out for an answer.

Then however came in Starfire’s response, “I have found something, something flying through the air…like one of your Earth’s ‘birds’”

Robin immediately perked at that finding, “track it Star and send us the coordinates.” He ordered and immediately to every one of the other Titans, the address of Starfire’s latest location were sent; 1940 Bill Finger Drive. In one of the richer parts of the cities was this creep showing up. They needed to get there NOW.

And so, the Teen Titans all converge to that address and a mission they don’t know yet but will bring a new spin on the term ‘criminal’

1940 Bill Finger Drive, five minutes later…

Beast Boy arrive the last while everyone else has met at Starfire’s coordinates in which was in fact a luxurious building of a mansion of house in which pretty much only people of a $100,000 and above income can indulge within. Apparently the winged figure Starfire seen had entered into the building in seemingly friendly manner and she considered simply calling the area clear…at least until she heard the doors lock…and the screaming began. She immediately tried bursting into said doors to stop whatever was happening, only being met with a painful dosage of electric shock in which left her paralyzed for a brief bit, in which by the time she awoke the other Titans plus Kid Flash had arrived.

Now all seven Titans stood outside the beautifully crafted home with Owl shaped gargoyles hanging from its granite pillars with such prestige, as if the Owls themselves guard the very city they reside within. Come to think of it, a lot of today had seemed full of owls and other birds of prey being mentioned tonight. This type of coincidence reaches to Robin’s mind, in particular bringing to mind something from his childhood not only his ever favorite nickname ‘Little Robin’ but also of a certain lullaby he heard…

But these thoughts were brushed aside the second glass was broken inside the home, they needed to get in.

“Cyborg, blast open that door!”

With that, the locked marble doors were burst open with Cyborg’s trademark sonic canon and the Titans enter the home. Probably they should’ve brought barf bags inside given what they see next.

“P-p-ple—e-ease….h-h-help us” moaned the pale and weak female voice coming out of the mangled bodies filled with numerous cuts and slashes across their torsos, legs, with a bit of stab wounds going on both their genitals and their arms held with steel chains both surround and impaling the arms, holding the young couple to the wall with their blood leaking from all mentioned and then some. Frankly, even with Kid Flash and Robin immediately working to get them down, this gruesome sight makes even the toughest of soldiers most likely want to run away and cower into the corner. Believe it or not, it was only bound to grow worse from here, starting with a howling yet high pitched scream erupting from some other room of the mansion.

“We must search this place for that little girl IMMEDAITELY” roared Starfire as the screaming continued and did not let up in the slightest.

“Split up!” says Robin in an equal state of worry and panic for that little girl. Thus the searching begins.

Apparently the search across the house goes about as well as trying to urinate in a tiny glass cup while spinning around in a spinning top like manner, mainly it was near impossible. Each of the two preciously wasted minutes passed by with numerous rooms marked with a “Clear” from each of the Titans in their respective rooms. Even though Kid Flash provided a massive boot to progress, they still head that poor little girl’s screams echo through the mansion with no sign of her.

“Ok ok Ok! I’ll do what you want just please don’t hurt me!” the little girl screamed as the Talon throws her to the nearest wall after she was done shattering said girl’s fingers and toes.

“All need to do honey is say that you and your family will move out of this city and never come back.”

“Why would we do that? Why are you doing this?! You’re part of Daddy’s friends, they won’t do this!” wailed that girl through her sobs as she staggered to get away from this monster.

“It easy sweetie, because you wouldn’t leave anybody you didn’t like alone and only hurt other people for fun” The Talon coldly replied, “I’m simply here to put a stop to it.” She then grabs the girl by the collar of his PJs and lifts her into the air “I want you with your momma and daddy to know, no matter who comes in my way or the Titans all right behind our backs, you better start running, leave us alone and peaceful, or you’ll be expecting a visit from me.”

Talon stares fiercely then into the girl’s ever so scared eyes “Do I make myself CLEAR?”

“y-y-yes” sobbed the little girl.

“Good” replied the Talon. All the sudden however,

“Cyborg, blast it!” in that second a blue beam shot across the room with every Titan that had been searching the home from the better part of these few minutes entering in almost instantly. The horror in all of their eyes at the sight of this owl like creature holding a little girl mercilessly off the ground while said girl was full of tears and pain proves being an understatement. Also an understatement would be the anger that quickly consumed their horror as they draw out either their battles stances or weapons to combat this threat.

“Who…are you?!” asks Robin with a twinge of horror mixing with pure fiery rage at the psychopath who was harming this girl to no end. At least Slade target someone like Terra and him, individuals who can actually fight back against him and not target 6 year olds like her.  

Talon simply remains silent in the presence of these teenagers, analyzing their technology, powers or talents they can posses against her. She had heard of their exploits amongst her missions here at Jump and their weaknesses which was how she was able to use two of her daggers with an electric charge to keep Starfire out the first time. While analyzing the group, Robin himself actually caught her attention the most. She knows that R on that red breasted vest anywhere.

“Mama, how come there’s an R on my shirt?”

“Easy Dick, it’s meant to be your full name Richard. And it’s also because you’re my Little Robin, flying through the air with little to care. Just like Mama and Daddy do.”

Now normally a brawl against all seven Titans will prove nearly futile right here given her situation and the simple matter of fact, Robin is at the same time her top priority target and the one person she NEVER wants to hurt.

“Answer me!” suddenly yelling Robin, tightening his grip on his bo-staff and snapping the Talon out of her thoughts.  

With that Talon realizes, what’s use of hiding it? From what she can gather, Satan himself resurrected their arch nemesis in front of their eyes so maybe this won’t be too hard for them to get. With that, she silently throws that little girl into their direction, Kid Flash catching her in his arms, and without a single word, slowly begins to remove her mask.

As her features began to show, each of Titans found themselves widening their eyes once again as the noted not only the feminine curve of her lips but more prominently, the gray skin with covered her face right down to bone. Lightly blue glowing blood vessels also showed themselves, thus finally wrapping up where that black electrum had come from. The nail in the coffin though came with this woman letting loose a ponytail made with dark red hair, so dark one can easily mistake it for black from a distance. This beautiful woman would’ve been a general shock for every Titan there given her beauty. But the minute she opens her now golden tinted eyes and speaks, it went from just being a simple shock…

“Hi Richard, it’s nice to see you again.”

Robin nearly drops his staff at that statement, “m-m-Mama?”

“This woman…?” Starfire chirps out

“Is your mom?!” Kid Flash blurts

Raven’s hands began to glow with pure dark magic “Do you honestly think we’ll believe that statement?”

Beast Boy’s own hands began to morph into claws and he began snarling “Lady please tell us your talking out of your butt.”

Cyborg, however, scanning the electrum in her body and comparing to that one sample, nods “She isn’t lying y’all it’s really her. Her DNA matches the sample and since that DNA’s supposed to be dead…she’s really Robin’s long lost mother.”

Robin couldn’t help but gulp his throat as he processed all this information, “you’re really back?’

Mary nods slightly, with a rather…calm and affectionate smile on her face “In a manner of speaking, yes I’m really alive again Little Robin. Now before you ask there’s a lot more at stake here that you don’t realize is real and I don’t your friends getting hurt by it.” Her face then loses its smile, now somewhat resembling her “listen to me son” look “whatever happens from here on out, you will not get yourself caught in it, Mama’s just simply doing her work to make sure every one of you is safe and sound.”

Robin couldn’t help himself from gritting his teeth towards that last statement, especially given the sobbing girl in Kid Flash’s arms, “What do you mean? Why do…This? Who should be your problems and not ours mom?! Especially something SO BAD, it makes you into…THIS?!?”

Mary Elizabeth Lloyd Grayson, the Talon of Jump City, the Rebel, the Romani, simply picks up her mask from the ground and in her most somber tone the Titans there had heard, as her eyes now glowed, her voice, now slightly made almost ghostly yet very firm, began to speak:

“Beware the Court of Owls,

That watches all the Time,”

“Ruling their nest from a shadowed perch,

Behind granite and lime,” Robin continues as he drops his staff in absolute terror. He knew that poem, that lullaby he heard as child.

“They watch you in your hearth,”

“They watch you in your bed,”

“Speak not…”

“…a whispered word about them.

They both say at the same time, “Or they’ll send a Talon for your head.”

With that, major puff of smoke erupts out of the blue, reeling back all the Titans and blinding them. By the time said smoke cleared, she was gone, leaving only a golden bracelet behind. Robin picks it up with his eyes in a dazed state; this was the bird themed bracelet he gave to her on the last birthday he spent with her.

Epilogue: Titans Tower, three hours later, Robin’s Room

Richard John Grayson Llodveski couldn’t help but sit on his bed in his sweat pants and loose t shirts cross legged as his bare feet began to feel dumb, making him curl his toes to keep on the blood flow. But his feet meant little to what was on his hands, his mother’s bracelet.

It was all there and yet he didn’t know until now. The files from Haley Circus were cracked open and the words in them couldn’t deny facts: the first ever home he had was in fact a training ground for living undead killing machines that harm all sort of people, criminals or not, for the urban legend that is the Court of owls, an urban legend meant to scare children into listening to their parents before bedtime. Now, his mother, the woman whose ‘accident’ had been the bear root of Robin himself, was a killer. More than that, she had been killing since he began as Robin, since he was that inexperienced but ever so quipping eight year old boy in a bright yellow cape and green pixie boots running across the rooftops of Gotham. While he made his new life from the circus saving lives, the woman he loves from birth until rebirth was taking them.

This truth cannot be any more devastating than some saying Hitler himself had came back to life was voted President of the USA. But then comes the fact…it his mother…

Tears started to build in his eyes, so Richard puts the bracelet back on his dresser before promptly grabbing his stuffed elephant Peanut and smacking his face in his pillows, muttering in his native Romani

“This is just (sob) wrong.”

Little did Robin know he wasn’t the only one left a sobbing wreck from tonight…

Meanwhile, at an unknown place in Jump’s waterfront district…

The now lone Mary Grayson, sitting on her own custom bed with her armor off, leaving only a bra, sweatpants and bare feet on the cushions, was glaring angrily and mournfully at her owl mask, the mask she had worn since her resurrection, the mask that had frightening so many innocent children both with and without her control…even her child was afraid now..

Mary throws the mask towards the wall and buries her face in her own pillows, muttering in her own native Romani

“This is just (sob) wrong.”

#mary grayson #court of owls #tt animated #dick grayson #koriand'r #wally west #my posts #fanfic #side note #I missed counted the Titans as seven instead of six #whoops

[ramblingsrantsreviews]

Season Review: Never Have I Ever (Netflix, 2020)

I’m a little late to the party since Never Have I Ever released on Netflix on April 27th but there’s just so many amazing shows nowadays that it can be hard to keep up. At least I joined the party!

Co-created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, Never Have I Ever is Netflix’s latest coming-of-age dramedy to take the world by storm. The show centers around 15-year-old Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) who is desperate to change her social status and redeem herself from her disastrous and traumatic freshman year of high school. Let’s just say, the only thing worse than being known as the freshman who lost her dad during a recital is being the girl who lost the ability to walk because her dad died and she went into shock. Just as quickly as she lost the ability to walk, she gained it back and now Devi is determined to redefine herself and make sophomore year her bitch. With her friends by her side, Devi devises a plan to get them boyfriends so they can start climbing the high school social ladder. In addition to her plan, Devi must also learn how to finally grieve her father’s death, deal with her nemesis Ben (Jaren Lewison), and figure out how she’s going to get her crush Paxton (Darren Barnet) to fall in love with her.

In true coming-of-age fashion, the show deals with friendships, crushes, parties, and the general displeasure that comes with being a teenager. It’s cringey, hilarious, heartbreaking, and emotional all at the same time. Plus, it’s a fun and easy binge you can knock out in a day or two if you’re a hardcore binger.

Now, here is my review of Never Have I Ever.

As always, spoilers ahead. Proceed at your own risk.

Favorite Episode: 1×10 — “…Said I’m Sorry”

Season finale episodes can be hit or miss but Never Have I Ever knocked it out of the park. It truly did the impossible by tying up loose ends while still leaving us on a cliffhanger of sorts so that we beg Netflix for a season two.

With the title, “…Said I’m Sorry,” it’s safe to assume that episode 10 is going to be the redemption episode for Davi. What’s so incredible about this episode is that it’s not just Davi who is saying sorry for her actions, everyone around her is. The episode begins at Ben’s house since she has moved in with him so that her mother can’t force her to move to India. When Nalini shows up at Ben’s house Devi is less than pleased. Her displeasure soon turns to anger when Nalini tells Devi that she plans to spread her father’s ashes today, on his birthday. Devi freaks out and refuses to attend because she fears this is another “spring cleaning” attempt so they can go to India.

When Ben finds out that Devi isn’t going to the beach to spread her father’s ashes he springs into action. He convinces Devi’s best friends Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez) and Eleanor (Ramona Young) to put aside their annoyance with Devi and come convince her that she needs to do this with her mother. The girls show up and eventually convince Devi that she needs to do the right thing. Ben offers to take Devi to Malibu and though they face some obstacles, Devi makes it and is able to reconcile with her mother.

Meanwhile, Paxton gets a reality check from his sister Rebecca (Lily D. Moore) and shows up at Devi’s house. When she’s not there he calls and leaves her a voicemail. Devi doesn’t get the message right away though since she discovers Ben waiting for her in the parking lot of the beach. Instead of checking her phone, Devi and Ben kiss.

All of that happens in less than 30 minutes so its a pretty intense episode but an amazing one nonetheless.

As I mentioned above, I love this episode because everyone gets their apology moment.

Devi must first apologize to Fabiola and Eleanor, again, for her shitty behavior. What I love though, is that it’s not just Devi who’s apologizing, Fabiola and Eleanor also recognize that they’ve been a bit unfair to Devi too. One line that really stands out to me is when Eleanor says “just because we aren’t talking doesn’t mean we don’t care about you.” It speaks volumes about what teenage friendship looks like. It’s messy and there will be fights but true friends will always be there for you when needed. And they’ll always be there to call you out on your bullshit and point out harsh realities.

The true emotional moment of this episode comes when Devi and Nalini reconcile on the beach before spreading Mohan’s ashes. While it’s Devi who begins apologizing for her terrible behavior and for telling her mother she wished she had died, it’s Nalini who steals the show by apologizing for making Devi feel like she didn’t love her. It’s the perfect mother-daughter moment for these two and one that is so important because it shows that these two do love each other despite everything they’ve said and been through.

There’s one more apology within this episode, though it’s more subtle. To me, Devi and Ben finally apologize to each other for their years of bickering and nonsense fighting when they kiss in that car. Not only did Ben prove that Devi can count on him in the hard times, but Devi also proved to Ben that she could appreciate his presence.

Least Favorite Episode: 1×06 — “…Been The Loneliest Boy In The World”

Before you yell at me, it’s not what you think. I absolutely adore Ben; in fact, he’s my favorite male character in the show. And I don’t even hate that they decided to give Ben a stand-alone episode, what I hate about it is that it didn’t do anything to further tell us who Ben Gross really is.

The episode, which is narrated by Andy Samberg, opens with Ben on the bus on the way home from the disastrous Model UN event. Not only is he hurt that Devi turned on him causing him to lose, but he’s also hurt because he thought they really had a breakthrough moment at the hotel party. Things only get worse for Ben when he gets home and finds out his mother is leaving for another retreat so she can “be a better mother.” In addition, Ben’s father informs Ben that he’ll be unable to go to an NBA game with Ben.

Things aren’t much better for Ben at school. Sure, he has a girlfriend but she’s only with him for his father’s money and he’s definitely lacking in the friend department. In fact, Ben becomes so overcome with loneliness that he agrees to meet some dude he met in a Reddit forum. Of course, that goes about as well as one might think and Ben flees the restaurant after the dude is revealed to be a middle-aged man who asks him to “blow on his pizza.”

After a large pimple finds a home on his face, Ben goes to Dr. Vishwakumar’s office to get it dealt with. While in the chair, Ben breaks down and Dr. Vishwakumar ends up inviting him over to her house. Let’s just say Devi is less than pleased to have her nemesis sitting across from her at the dinner table. Despite it all, they end up having a great time together. In fact, Devi and Ben even have a moment while doing dishes together.

See, I told you it wasn’t a bad episode!

As I was researching the show I stumbled upon an article published on Forward.com that exposed the show’s “Jewish problem.” The author, Mira Fox, makes some good points, and its one of the reasons I decided to pick this episode as my least favorite.

Fox points out that while the other characters are either not defined by their backgrounds or are allowed to have nuanced opinions about their backgrounds. Everyone that is, except for Ben who is trapped under endless Jewish stereotypes.

Ben’s stand-alone episode could have given us the depth to his character and his personality. It could have introduced us to his family and his life that is drastically different than Devi’s. It could have even explored his Jewish background in the same way that Devi got to explore her Indian heritage in episode 4.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that this episode lacked depth until the final scene with Devi and Ben in the kitchen together. When I realized it was Ben’s point-of-view episode I had high hopes for it but unfortunately, all I got was a bunch of character backstory I already knew and a weird catfish scenario.

Favorite Character: Devi Vishwakumar

I’ll be honest, I had a really hard time picking a favorite character because there were so many amazing ones to chose from. My honorable mentions include Ben, Kamala, and Mohan but I eventually decided to pick Devi since I had more to say about her as a character.

Devi is insufferable at times and she’s selfish pretty much all the time but that’s why I love her so much. All too often we expect the female characters to be nurturing, to be selfless, and to be this perfect stereotypical version of what a woman should be. It’s refreshing to see a teen girl who’s allowed to be a mess because let’s face it, teenage girls are messy.

While it might seem that Devi stays static for most of the season, it’s simply not the case. With every minor mistake and fall out with a person, Devi is getting closer and closer to working through her grief and trauma to become a better person.

One of the things I love about her is that she’s so ready to have the best sophomore year ever that she doesn’t stray away from asking for exactly what she wants. Is her asking Paxton to have sex with her even though they’ve barely talked weird and probably qualifies as harassment? Yes, but when has a teenage girl ever been allowed to pursue what she wants so stubbornly?

More importantly, I think Devi is an extremely interesting and important character because of how she deals with her father’s death. While it might be an odd statement, I found that a lot of people I knew in high school, myself included, went through their first death while in high school. High school is hard enough with the pressure to succeed academically and socially but when you add in the need to grieve it gets so much more complicated.

Devi’s grieving process explores one that’s not traditional but is common. She’s so affected by her father’s death that she simply cannot process it. Dr. Jamie Ryan (Niecy Nash), Devi’s therapist, nails it when she tells Devi that all her issues with people stem from her trauma from her father’s death and the fact that she hasn’t been able to grieve it. And while I don’t condone Devi’s constant need to use her father’s death as an excuse or pass for her behavior, I do understand it.

Lastly, I want to briefly discuss Devi’s relationship with her Indian heritage. I love that the series chooses to introduce her right from the start as someone who isn’t “traditional” or rather is “Americanized.” We further see her complex relationship with her heritage explored in the fourth episode of the series. In fact, she even states that sometimes “she doesn’t feel Indian enough” to a family friend who used to feel the same way but after going to college has reconnected with his heritage.

It’s a theme we’re seeing explored a lot with characters who are both American and from a different ethnic/religious/racial background and one that is so important. I’m glad we got to see Devi’s version of her struggle to fit in and I hope (assuming the show is picked up for a second season) we get to see it explored more later one.

Least Favorite Character: Eleanor Wong

Similar to my disclosure before my least favorite episode, I also don’t really have a least favorite character from Never Have I Ever. Part of the reason why this was so difficult that all because all the characters are sort of terrible which is the point of the series!

While I could have picked a guest character, I decided to pick a character that was a bit more permanent to the story at large. In the end, I ended up choosing Eleanor as my least favorite character. While I did like aspects of Eleanor’s character, I felt that she was just another stereotypical theater kid. While it’s true theater kids can be over the top and dramatic, it’s not true for everyone. I wish the media would understand this and diversify it’s theater kid characters.

I also wasn’t a fan of her plotline with her mother. While it was interesting and unique it didn’t pull the same emotional weight as Devi or Fabiola’s storylines. I had a lot of questions regarding the plot. Why was her mother hiding from her? Was she ashamed? Why did Eleanor decide to give up acting when she finally was finally the lead? I know it’s because she didn’t want to be like her mother but by giving it up she became her mother.

Again, I just wanted more from her both in her character personality and in her storylines.

Favorite Pairing: Devi and Josh

Like most teen shows, Never Have I Ever does have a love triangle but unlike most shows, this one doesn’t seem forced. You’re either Team Paxton or Team Ben and I am 100% Team Ben.

While Devi and Paxton are cute (if you can get past the fact that the actors are literally 10 years apart in age), but they’re nothing unique about them. The cool guy falling for the nerdy girl is a tried and true trope and Never Have I Ever doesn’t do much to make it fresh. Nemesis to lovers, on the other hand, is something I haven’t seen done in quite some time which is why I was so excited when the show decided to explore Devi and Ben’s relationship.

Ben and Devi just get each other, even if they don’t think they do. They’re both competitive and smart, they both deal with familial struggles, and they’re both desperate to figure out who they are so they can fit in. In fact, the one thing constant in these two lives is each other’s presence. Even in their most vulnerable moments, these two seek each other out because they know they’ll be real with each other.

I mean come on, Ben ends up at Devi’s house after being neglected by his family and his girlfriend and Devi literally moves into Ben’s house when she has nowhere else to go. Not only that, but Ben literally rallies Devi’s best friends because he knows they’ll be able to convince her to do the right thing.

When will your favs ever?!

I knew I was shipping them the entire season but what really sealed the deal was the fact that Ben stayed at the beach when he didn’t have to. He could have dropped Devi off and left which would have forced her to work things out with her mom or else she’s been stranded at the beach. instead, he chose to stay because he didn’t want Devi to be forced into any situation she didn’t want to.

In my eyes, there is no love triangle after that kiss!

Complaints:

One of my biggest complaints regarding Never Have I Ever is that the series didn’t utilize it’s reoccurring characters as strongly as they should have. Obviously, the show is mainly about Devi and her struggles but that doesn’t mean that the other characters couldn’t share some of the action. There were several episodes where they were MIA completely. I would have loved to see Fabiola struggle to figure out the right way to tell her family that she is a lesbian. I would have loved to see Eleanor in action in the theater club and how her relationship with a crew member made that better or worse. I wanted to see more of Paxton and Rebecca’s relationship. I really really wanted to get to know Kamala better. It almost felt like Never Have I Ever was pulling a Twilight by having all these amazing secondary characters who didn’t get the time they deserved. I hope we get to see more of them in season 2!

Another complaint of mine was the arranged marriage storyline. While I’m not Indian and I can not speak to the culture at large, I personally felt like it was an outdated stereotype. For a show that’s so diverse and progressive, I felt they could have done something else with her character that was equally as entertaining and conflict inducing. Or, at the very least I would have wanted them to dig deeper into why she was being subjected to an arranged marriage. I guess what I’m saying is that I didn’t like that the storyline was played for laughs instead of actually digging deeper into it. It still could have funny elements but I wanted a deeper meaning out of it. Who knows, maybe that’s something that’ll happen in season 2.

Lastly, and this one is minor and has nothing to do with the writing, I was displeased with the fact that they cast two actors who are ten years apart to play romantic love interests. Look, I get it, when an actor is right for the part they’re right for the part but at some point, you have to be cautious of age. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan who plays Devi is only 18 and yet Darren Barnet who plays Paxton is 29. Maybe I’m too old but I just can’t ship a couple knowing that there is an age difference of 10 years! Ramakrishnan and Barnet are both amazing actors and they did an amazing job portraying their characters and I wouldn’t want them re-casted. I just would prefer it if they weren’t love interests.

Praise:

I haven’t loved a show so quickly and so deeply in a long time so it was refreshing to have that moment again while watching Never Have I Ever.

The humor and the dialogue was spot on from the beginning to the end. I literally laughed through every episode of the show not because I had to because I genuinely thought it was hilarious. From one-liners to entire conversations I seriously couldn’t believe how funny the show is. And it’s not just cringe humor nor is it purely physical humor. It’s not even just the humor that the dialogue nailed but also the serious and awkward moments. I cried through the entire final five minutes because of the dialogue leading up to that moment and the dialogue in the moment itself.

Never Have I Ever completely nailed the awkwardness of being a teenager in high school. I don’t know what exactly it was but watching the show immediately transported me back to my sophomore year of high school which is both a bad and a good thing. The friendships dynamics were spot on. I loved that they explored a friendship break in an authentic and positive way instead of it being a bigger moment than it needed to be. Had friendship breaks been acceptable when I was in high school I probably would have had more friends. Even the relationships were spot on — both romantic and familial. In fact, I really appreciated that Devi and her mother weren’t the perfect mother-daughter duo and that they both were still grieving Mohan’s death.

I absolutely love the show’s diverse characters. One thing I think was groundbreaking about the show is that none of their sexualities/races/ethnicities/religions specifically defined who they were. Devi wasn’t just an Indian-American character. Fabiola wasn’t just a lesbian. Eleanor wasn’t just Asian-American. Ben wasn’t just Jewish. Paxton wasn’t just Japanese-American. They were those things but they were teenagers first and foremost. Were there times I wished we got to know more of their backgrounds? Of course, but I also appreciated that it wasn’t the focal point of their characters or the story at large.

Finally, I did love that they gave Ben a stand-alone episode — even if it was my least favorite episode. It was refreshing to have a different point-of-view character and it helped keep the series fresh and entertaining as I binge-watched. I really hope they continue with this trend and that we get to see Ben have his own episode again but also that some of the other characters get there’s too. I’d love to see Kamala and Paxton get one to explore their characters more. Fabiola and Eleanor would also be interesting too. Even Devi’s mother would be interesting!

* * *

Overall, I did really love Never Have I Ever. I thought it was fun, fresh, diverse, and entertaining. I will definitely be rooting for the series to get a second season because I’m not done with these characters.

You can stream Never Have I Ever on Netflix.

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